Hiyori's attention was quickly drawn.
Was it because Houtarou wasn't carrying her phone?
A few days ago, Kakeru had implemented her strategy to first identify potential spies to use as backups. If they encountered a situation where someone had to be expelled, these spies could be immediately selected for removal.
Because they had betrayed the class, everyone would agree to their expulsion. This would help stabilize the class.
The class had already lost everything — not only did they have no Points, but they were also in debt. It was predictable that if someone needed to be expelled, the class definitely wouldn't be able to gather 20 million Points to prevent it.
After learning that Points could be collected by the school at graduation and exchanged for cash, the true value of 20 million Points became immediately apparent.
If 20 million Points were placed in front of Hiyori, she would seriously contemplate whether to convert them into cash to take out of school or use them for promotion to Class A.
Her future career plan was to become a librarian, but 20 million in cash was equivalent to 10 years of savings without spending on necessities.
One option was the opportunity to advance to Class A, and the other was 10 years' worth of salary.
She felt that if faced with such a choice, she might choose the latter.
She wanted money. Even if she became a librarian, she might leave the job for various reasons.
But having 20 million right in front of her would be reassuring.
She completely disagreed with spending 20 million to save a classmate.
After all, most classmates were just classmates, without that kind of value. If the person was someone like Kakeru who could lead the class, she might hesitate and consider splitting the Points. But if she had to pay 20 million by herself, even for Kakeru it wouldn't be worth it.
So Hiyori had her own views on values and interests.
And now, Kakeru and his group wanted to go further. In their struggle for Class A, they wanted to obtain Houtarou's weaknesses from Kei.
Although she didn't believe it would definitely succeed, Hiyori also knew that without trying, there would be no hope at all. So she participated in the small plan. She didn't need to actively participate, so she merely knew about it.
She knew Kakeru had arranged for Kei's classmate to trick her into going to the physics lab in the special teaching building. The response indicated she had taken the bait.
Then today at three o'clock, Kei would go to the teaching building with disabled cameras as agreed. Kakeru would be waiting there to perform psychological control.
He was naturally skilled at psychological control, and he had specifically borrowed related books, showing he had prepared. All they needed was for Kei to arrive alone at the special teaching building.
But now, it was almost time for the appointment.
So… why are you still here, Kei?
And more importantly... your phone. You're not... carrying your phone now?
Hiyori felt something was unsettling. She hurriedly continued to listen.
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"Ah, my phone actually broke yesterday afternoon." Kei said, "So I didn't bring it. I took it for repair."
"I see. That must be troublesome." Maya said, "Without a phone, it's inconvenient everywhere."
But…
"It's just that your phone location is moving, Kei." Maya took out her own phone, opened the GPS location, and searched for her friend Kei.
She found the red dot on the GPS was moving.
With the school phones, once you added someone as a friend, you could check their location at any time, which was convenient when needing to find someone.
And Maya and Kei had added each other as friends. So naturally, they could view each other's locations.
And naturally, this exposed the lie.
Kei: "..."
Well…
"Satō…" Kei felt hurt.
Now she could somewhat understand how Houtarou felt yesterday when she gave her phone to him and then called his number right in front of him.
"Fine." She admitted, "Actually, my phone has been borrowed since yesterday."
"Borrowed? Why?" Maya looked intrigued, "And Kei, you would lend your phone to someone else…"
Hmm? The eavesdropping Hiyori instantly felt something was wrong.
Borrowed? Does that mean Kei didn't receive the threatening message from Kakeru yesterday?
Could it be that Houtarou has already taken action? Does this mean the other side has already discovered the plan?
How is that possible!
But if not, then why would Kei's phone be borrowed?
Hiyori felt utterly defeated in that moment.
As she was pondering this strange turn of events, she suddenly noticed a shadow darkening her table — someone had approached, their shadow falling directly on her desk.
She gently raised her head and found that Kei and Maya had somehow already arrived in front of her. Both were staring at her coldly.
Ugh…
"Oh my…" Her heart pounded, but Hiyori blinked cutely, "Can I help you with something?"
She behaved politely, presenting herself as a harmless literary girl.
"Isn't that obvious."
But Kei and Maya were gyarus from school.
They placed their hands directly on her table, with Maya tapping it, "You've been watching and spying on us just now, right!"
"Exactly." Kei said, "And you were muttering to yourself. Dissatisfied with us?"
Hiyori: "..."
Your counter-intelligence abilities are too strong.
She instantly felt a headache.
"It seems that's indeed the case."
However, a voice came down from the second floor. It was Suzune, the girl with beautiful straight black hair.
After going up to the second floor, Suzune could see all of Hiyori's movements from above. If Kei and her friend could spot the girl eavesdropping, Suzune's elevated position made it even more obvious.
Now the three people surrounded Hiyori.
"Is your class up to something again?" Suzune asked coldly, "Previously, Ryūen surrounded Kōenji, but he actually wants to do something more, right? I don't like his methods. But I also hate being targeted constantly! So confess, what does he want to do now?"
Ugh... This girl had appeared too.
Hiyori found herself surrounded by three girls. From her private inquiries, Shiho had indicated that Houtarou wanted to protect Kei and had specifically called Suzune to confront all four of them.
So that was why Shiho's foot was sprained on the ship!
That means Suzune really would use physical force against girls.
And besides, during the sports festival, Kakeru had arranged for Minori to trip Suzune. If she were to settle all accounts now...
And now it's three against one?
Instantly, Hiyori felt a mountain of pressure.
"I'll tell you — please don't hit me!" After weighing the pros and cons, she quickly defected for her own safety.
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Meanwhile, on the other side.
The time was 2:58 PM.
A two-meter-tall man stood behind a pillar on the first floor. He had received Kakeru's order to guard downstairs.
As soon as Kei arrived, he would guard the stairway entrance, preventing anyone from approaching. And Kakeru would perform psychological control to extract Houtarou's weaknesses.
But… what?
Albert watched in surprise as a student came alone to the first floor of the teaching building just as the appointed time approached.
But it wasn't a girl — it was Houtarou, the man who had repeatedly frustrated Kakeru.
Albert was very tall and had martial arts experience, giving off a powerful, intimidating presence.
Yet he was surprised — why would Houtarou come here at this precise moment? Could it just be a coincidence?
I need to call Kakeru quickly.
As he was thinking this, Albert suddenly noticed a flash before his eyes, and a boy with black hair and green pupils appeared in front of him.
"You're Albert, right?" The other person said.
"Uh... yes." Albert didn't react in time and realized the other part was already standing before him.
"Kei won't be coming." Houtarou said, "Your plan has failed. I knew you were targeting me since you surrounded Kōenji. Now take me to see Ryūen."
Cold sweat instantly appeared on Albert's forehead.
Does that mean Kakeru's plan has failed again?
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