On the first floor of the Special Teaching Building's Physics Laboratory.
The students from Class C were confronting Rokusuke.
Kakeru felt the scene was familiar. Before the Island Exam, he had been tricked out of money by Houtarou.
The situation back then was that after Houtarou learned he had 800,000 Points, he arranged for Rokusuke and Ken to come over. He created a scene where both sides appeared to be fighting. Then without hesitation, he reported them for fighting.
And now, Rokusuke was still here.
"I don't think I've ever offended you, Ryū Boy." Rokusuke said.
Kakeru: "..."
He didn't like that nickname.
"Kōenji, I've tolerated you for a long time." Kakeru said, "Last time was a mistake, but today you'll have to properly entertain us."
"Oh my... but I have work to do next." Rokusuke continued nonchalantly looking at his face in a small mirror.
Even without him saying anything, one could guess his inner thoughts were probably something like "I'm so beautiful".
Rokusuke was extremely narcissistic. The work he mentioned was probably related to the prep classes before the pairing exam.
His prep classes were impressive; it seemed that anyone who attended and persevered would see their grades improve. Even Mio's appalling grades could improve.
So if Kakeru said he wasn't interested... that would definitely be a lie. At least 10% interested. But his pride wouldn't let him bow his head.
And now, he had no choice but to act like he was surrounding Rokusuke.
That's right. This was just for show.
Even after discovering that Shiho and the others were Houtarou's spies, he hadn't made a move. After all, he didn't want to alert them.
But simply letting it go completely wouldn't work either.
His target was Class A. And targeting Class A meant that sooner or later he would have to face Houtarou who was in Class A.
In his view, Kōhei wasn't scary, Arisu wasn't scary, but Houtarou was disgusting.
So, if he could get hold of his weakness, that might be the only way to advance to Class A. And if he could grasp that guy's weakness, then perhaps like Hiyori's fantastical idea of buying Houtarou into their class, it might be possible.
At the same time, he couldn't forget that he had kowtowed 17 times just for a loan of 4 million. He definitely had to get even.
Therefore, the current encirclement of Rokusuke was fake, actually just meant to divert Houtarou's attention, and then obtain his weakness from Kei.
And now, first to make a show of force.
"That's not up to you anymore."
Kakeru gave Daichi Ishizaki a look, who immediately walked in front of Rokusuke.
"What?" Rokusuke blinked, "Are you guys looking for a group fight? Haven't you realized the gap between us yet?"
Witnessing this scene, some students gathered at a distance wanting to watch the show, while others quickly left, not wanting to get involved.
Rokusuke surveyed the 10 students from Class C. Compared to when he previously fought Kakeru, the number had nearly doubled, and each one seemed to be skilled at fighting.
But there was no sign of anxiety or unease in his eyes.
"What do you think? Are you afraid?" Kakeru smiled somewhat pathologically.
"Causing trouble here might create issues." Rokusuke said, "However, given the situation, I'll pretend I didn't hear that. I'm very tolerant, you know. You'd better sign an agreement accepting responsibility for the consequences after fighting, though it doesn't matter whether you sign it now or not. With so many people watching, others will probably think you're going to gang up on me."
So that's why he was staying here talking to them.
"And Ryūen, you haven't forgotten, have you? You have a record with the Student Council. I think, if I just pretend to be injured, you'll probably have to leave school."
Damn!
Isn't this what he instructed Minori to do during the Sports Festival?
And now Rokusuke was going to blackmail him? No wonder Houtarou would team up with him; these two were the same — both wanted money.
And this was the truth, so when Mio and Satoru were found to have been injured by Class B, he felt tremendous pressure.
But…
"However, I'm very tolerant." Rokusuke said, "I still have work to save Japan's future later. So I don't have time to play with you."
Oh… he didn't want money? That made him different from Houtarou.
"Talk about beating up." Kakeru said, "I just don't like you! So! Enjoy the next month."
As he finished speaking, three of the students who had been following him stood behind Rokusuke.
"And now you can get lost!" Kakeru said.
"…??"
Rokusuke seemed a bit confused.
But he walked forward two steps, then noticed three students from Class C followed him two steps. And when he walked forward five steps, the three students from Class C followed him five steps.
"I see." Rokusuke understood.
Kakeru also knew he had a record with the Student Council; fighting again would not only risk expulsion but also bring a deduction in Class Points, so now he was directly harassing him.
Having students from his class follow him. Annoying him. Being constantly followed would create various inconveniences in daily life.
Is that so…
"I won't mind at all." Rokusuke laughed, "After all, I've been followed since birth. Just like having attendants…"
He said this as he strode forward.
"Tch!" Kakeru clicked his tongue.
Then he left with Albert.
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"Looks like we arrived a step too late."
Just as Kakeru had left, several students from Class B approached from the side. They were members who had gathered thinking Kakeru was going to fight.
Many of Class B's students were little angels, and their class president Honami was a big angel. She had a strong sense of justice. When they discovered Kakeru's side was about to fight, everyone immediately went to find the homeroom teacher.
But when they arrived at the scene, it was empty.
"It's so good that no fighting broke out." Honami said, "Ryūen and his group are quite aggressive."
She actually felt a bit regretful.
They had brought their homeroom teacher, Chie Hoshinomiya. If Kakeru and his group had been fighting, they could have intervened to stop it. After all, fighting wasn't a good thing.
But it would have been advantageous for Class B. Bringing the teacher would serve as a witness, allowing them to deduct points from Class C.
During the previous incident where Mio was beaten, for the sake of VIP Points, they ultimately gave up on prosecuting Kakeru. However, in the end, the Mio beating turned out to be just a ruse.
In other words, Kakeru, who could do such things, was a very dangerous person.
The current evaluation scores of the four classes were quite different, with Class C and D having the closest gap — only a 10-point difference.
Because this month was a holiday, there wasn't much sense of it, but Kakeru and his class had indeed returned to Class C. As soon as the new semester began, he and his group would officially be Class C again.
In the recently concluded pairing exam, their Class B had received a 50-point Class Points reward.
But... it wasn't obtained from Class C.
And Class C also got 50 points.
After consulting teacher Chie, they learned that the board of directors had held a special meeting for this year's first-year pairing exam. The reward of 50 points each was recognition for both classes.
Both classes had achieved perfect scores for all members. Whether it was seeing through the core of the exam or the final execution, they showed their efforts. So a special reward was given.
And thus, it became the current situation. Kakeru and his group had climbed back up.
Then, probably next semester, he would specifically target their class.
Thinking this…
"The Student Council people are here…" A classmate said.
Everyone noticed that by the bulletin board next to the physics lab, members of the Student Council had arrived at the Class Points bulletin board. They were updating the numbers.
Among them, Classes A, B, and D remained unchanged.
But for Class C: -20 points.
"I remember that Kakeru and his group destroyed the physics lab's camera yesterday. And now..."
They were penalized.
And so the first-year bulletin board became:
「Class A: 2051 Points」
「Class B: 920 Points」
「Class C: 530 Points」
「Class D: 520 Points」{Kakeru} [20⇩]
Class C had fallen behind again. Back to the position of Class D.
This made Ryūji touch his head. Just as he thought Kakeru was dangerous, Class C got points deducted.
What were that guy and his group trying to do?
Isn't it quite clear what they are trying to do?
Houtarou is someone who has been in contact with Kakeru for half a year, and he knows very well that Kakeru is a person who will use any means to achieve his goals. He's also an impatient person, so once he begins to act, he moves with incredible speed.
Now that he has sacrificed Rokusuke, it indicates that he may begin targeting Kei today or tomorrow.
Yes. In Houtarou's view, Kakeru's interest in going after Rokusuke isn't something that just started now, so targeting the ego king is probably to disguise his true objective.
Now, according to reports from Class A students, Rokusuke is being followed by three of Kakeru's lackeys.
Presumably, Kakeru will next arrange for people to follow him as well, making it seem like he wants to harass him too — trying to divert his attention.
But before that, Houtarou had arranged to meet with Kei.
The two met at the staircase next to the girls' dormitory.
"Hmm..."
Houtarou was being stared at intently by Kei, who seemed curious and even sniffed a bit.
"I've been learning chess from Arisu Sakayanagi. I was in her room, so I probably picked up her scent." Houtarou confessed.
He was aware that Kei had some M-like tendencies.
Actually, Masumi is Arisu's dog. But Houtarou thought that Kei also had the potential to be a loyal dog. Tasks entrusted to her, though she might complain a bit, were completed very conscientiously.
Also, he knew that her feelings toward him were at maximum. So he wouldn't be so cruel; thus, he just now confessed that he'd been spending time with Arisu lately.
"Oh. By the way, do you like the loli body type?" Kei asked.
?? Why would she bring that up?
"So the reason you specifically called me here today is because..." Kei was confused, "Don't tell me there's another task or something?"
At first, she didn't want to trouble Houtarou, so she pretended to be tough, like the leader of the gyarus, but maintaining this state required effort and could potentially lead to problems.
So on the ship, Houtarou made a deal with her. He would protect her, but she also needed to complete some tasks for him. A fair exchange.
"Something like that…" Houtarou nodded, "And for the next two days, I want you to give me your phone."
"Eh? Phone?" Kei blinked slightly.
But even as she said this, she still handed over her phone.
But just as Houtarou was about to take it, she showed resistance.
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