Chapter 68: Katsuragi-kun, You Really Aren't Simple!
Sakayanagi Arisu looked at Katsuragi Keima with great interest. This was the first time someone had taken the initiative to challenge her to a game.
Sakayanagi loved chess and was exceptionally skilled at it. To this day, she had never lost a single match. And now, the boy in front of her was actively seeking a duel?
How fascinating.
"A very fine proposal, Katsuragi-kun. However, I feel it necessary to remind you: do not assume I am merely at an ordinary amateur level. If you enter this duel with such a mindset, I'm afraid you will suffer for it."
Sakayanagi narrowed her eyes slightly, staring intently at Keima.
"That goes without saying." Keima nodded.
"In that case, a plain game would be far too dull. Let's add something interesting to the mix, shall we?" Sakayanagi scrutinized Keima, as if trying to capture a single flicker of emotional change on his face.
"What do you want to add?" Keima inquired.
"A wager. If I win, you will owe me a favor. You must repay it whenever I deem it necessary," Sakayanagi said with a smile, a hint of cunning flashing in her eyes.
"Fine. Then if I win, you must agree to one condition of mine as well."
"Speak. What is your condition?"
"Eh? So straightforward? What if it's something you can't do?"
"Something I can't do? As long as it isn't anything too absurd, there shouldn't be a problem. Besides—" Sakayanagi lifted her chin, her smile gaining a touch of arrogance. "I haven't even considered the possibility of losing~"
"Quite confident, aren't we?"
"It has been quite a while since anyone invited me to a game, so I shall graciously accept your terms. Tell me, Katsuragi-kun, what is it you want?"
"If I win, Sakayanagi-san, will you give me your contact information?" Keima said.
"Ha?" Sakayanagi thought for a moment that she had misheard.
'Just exchanging contact info?'
A second later, she burst into a giggle. "You truly are an interesting person, Katsuragi-kun! But why do you want my contact information?"
"I simply wish to communicate more with Sakayanagi-san."
"What an amusing statement. However, I don't believe such a condition is equitable. If you can provide me with even a bit of entertainment on the board, I could simply give you my contact info directly."
"Then if I win, buy me a game console. Plus a monitor."
"That is not a small sum," Sakayanagi responded.
The points required for such a setup weren't few—though she had a vast surplus of points, and as a member of Class A, she would receive a significant amount next month as well. Still, she was curious: did Keima truly value games that much?
"I assumed that with Sakayanagi-san's abilities, you would have a considerable amount of points by now. It seems I was mistaken."
"That is a very poor attempt at provocation, Katsuragi-kun. If you think such words will sway my emotions, you are sadly mistaken," Sakayanagi said with a smile. "But I accept. After all, the match only becomes interesting when the stakes are fair. Now, shall we—"
"We have to wait a moment. After all... Kamuro-san hasn't woken up yet."
Keima looked down at the still-unconscious Kamuro Masumi and bit his lip. Then he looked at Elsie, who was currently struggling to cover the hole in her bag. "Elsie, you go back first."
If those strange creatures from Hell escaped again, the consequences would be unthinkable.
"Okay!" Elsie fled the scene as if escaping for her life.
"Since things have turned out this way, I suppose we can only wait." Sakayanagi sat on the bench, her hands resting gently on the handle of her cane.
Keima, meanwhile, had already pulled out his handheld console and started playing, acting as if the girl sitting next to him didn't exist. Sakayanagi observed him from the corner of her eye; he seemed to have completely ignored her presence, fully immersed in the digital world.
She tapped her cane lightly against the ground, but Keima gave no reaction. An awkward silence drifted between the two. Sakayanagi was a naturally sharp-tongued person, yet this was the first time she sat with someone and didn't know what to say.
Finally, unable to contain herself, she was the first to speak. "Yesterday, you met with my father?"
"Mm. Chairman Sakayanagi asked about what happened last night." Keima's eyes remained fixed on his screen, not sparing her a single glance.
"Last night? What happened? I only heard on the school forums and message boards today that security was dispatched."
"Don't you already know? Kamuro-san has been following me; surely she reported it to you."
"How direct, Katsuragi-kun. I did indeed hear some things from Masumi-san regarding last night, but as for the specifics of what happened, I truly do not know." Sakayanagi shook her head. "In school, my father and I have very little communication. He didn't tell me anything about it."
"A school clerk was harassing some of my classmates, so I contacted security."
"But I heard from Masumi-san that before security arrived, the man had already been taken down—"
"He tripped and fell," Keima said immediately.
"Tripped and fell?"
"Exactly. The Chairman asked me the same thing, and that was my answer."
"Katsuragi-kun, you seem to take me for a fool."
"In that case, should I tell you the truth?"
"I am curious."
"Actually, that man suddenly encountered a creature from Hell and was swung around like a yo-yo."
"Haha, what an amusing joke."
"See? You don't believe me." Keima shook his head.
In a sense, he didn't really need to explain much. Even if he told the truth, no one would believe it.
"Katsuragi-kun, you really are a man of hidden depths. Taking down an adult like that... and Masumi-san told me that when the man was being taken away, he was screaming that you were a monster."
'That man actually did see a monster, though.'
"Speaking of which, that time you 'accidentally' bumped into me and then fainted yourself... that was an act, wasn't it?"
"......" Keima bit his lip.
He absolutely couldn't bring himself to say he had collapsed simply due to a lack of physical stamina. Moreover, if others found out his constitution was even weaker than Sakayanagi Arisu's, he would definitely be ridiculed.
Fortunately, he currently needed to build an image of being profound and mysterious in Sakayanagi's mind.
"You finally noticed. It was later than I expected." Keima pushed up his glasses.
"I must admit, your disguise was superb. Even I couldn't tell you were faking; you looked exactly as if you had lost consciousness." A smile of "total insight" appeared on Sakayanagi's face, as if she had seen through Keima's entire plan. "In truth, you investigated Class A long ago and targeted me, correct?"
"In a sense, that's not wrong."
"Intentionally approaching me, then luring Masumi-san into stalking you so you could invite me out—everything was within your plan. You want to use me to further understand Class A, don't you? I must admit, even though you are from Class D, your intellect and methods are quite remarkable. Even I didn't see through it immediately."
Sakayanagi cast her gaze toward Keima. "Masumi-san's fainting was also your doing, wasn't it? Though I haven't seen it myself, I've heard that with the right force and angle, a single light strike can cause temporary unconsciousness. I know Masumi-san; she is quite skilled. An ordinary person could never make her faint like that. You did it on purpose to draw me out."
"Even if I said she also 'accidentally' tripped, you wouldn't believe me, right?"
Sakayanagi seemed to ignore Keima's words and continued, "Perhaps everything was within your calculations. You deduced our relationship early on because the Chairman shares my surname. So, after approaching me, you manufactured an incident to get close to my father... while simultaneously luring Masumi-san to continue stalking you. I truly want to praise you from the bottom of my heart, Katsuragi-kun."
"But you saw through it anyway."
"After all, I cannot afford to be underestimated." The smile on Sakayanagi's face became even more pronounced. "So, I've responded a little bit as well. Consider it a courtesy. You're likely aware that many posts about last night's incident appeared on the forum. Naturally, I had the students of Class A post them. I didn't name names, but surely some students will take notice and begin investigating~ It's only natural that some of that attention might accidentally shift to you."
"Who would be that bored?" Keima shook his head.
If it were him, he wouldn't care even if he saw such things. Nothing was more important than his games.
"I imagine Ryuen from Class C would definitely be curious about this."
"Don't know him, and I'm not interested," Keima answered simply.
He didn't care about anything outside of games and conquest missions. However, in Sakayanagi Arisu's ears, his words took on a different meaning: 'Ryuen Kakeru is not worthy of my interest.'
"Katsuragi-kun, it's truly wonderful that we aren't in the same class~ This way, we can be rivals to our hearts' content."
Just after Sakayanagi finished speaking, a moan came from beside them. Kamuro Masumi opened her eyes in pain, rubbing her temples with her hand. She looked around with a confused face. "Sakayanagi? Katsuragi? Wait... what happened? Why am I here?"
Kamuro's memory was a bit fuzzy. She vaguely remembered displaying her theft skills in front of Keima to gain his trust. Then she met Elsie... after that, she couldn't remember anything. In the haze, she felt like she had seen some strange existence? No, that must have been a dream... how could something so eerie exist in the real world?
"Masumi-san, Katsuragi-kun just said you accidentally tripped on the road and lost consciousness." Sakayanagi looked at Kamuro meaningfully.
"I... I tripped? How is that possible?" Kamuro couldn't believe Sakayanagi's words, but she couldn't recall what had actually happened.
"Do you remember what occurred?"
"No... I don't remember..."
Hearing Kamuro's words, Keima let out a long sigh of relief.
"How is your body feeling?"
"I don't think there are any problems."
"That's perfect. We were just about to change locations; we've been waiting for you to wake up."
"Where to?"
"To the library. They have chess sets available for rent there." A hint of anticipation appeared in Sakayanagi's eyes.
"Chess?" Kamuro had no idea what Sakayanagi was talking about.
"Katsuragi-kun just issued a challenge to me. We have a small wager on the line."
"..." Kamuro glanced at Keima. She knew very well how terrifying Sakayanagi's chess skills were. High schoolers—no, even professional players—might not be her match. Katsuragi Keima wanted to challenge her? Was he insane?
"What is the wager?"
"If I win, Katsuragi-kun has to do one thing for me unconditionally. And if I lose, I have to buy him a game console."
"Ha?" Kamuro thought she had misheard and turned to look at Keima. Keima's eyes didn't move even a centimeter away from his handheld console.
"Let's go."
They rose and prepared to head to the library.
At that moment, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka happened to walk out of the supermarket. In his hand was a handheld console and a box containing a game cartridge. Although Ayanokouji had all kinds of knowledge at his fingertips from the White Room, he was a total blank slate when it came to gaming.
To better understand Katsuragi Keima, Ayanokouji had chosen to buy a console to see if there was anything special about games. While buying it, he had even asked the clerk some basic questions.
"Katsuragi?"
The newly emerged Ayanokouji saw Keima's back in the distance. He was accompanied by two unfamiliar girls. They weren't students from Class D.
'What is Katsuragi going to do?'
Feeling curious, Ayanokouji followed them.
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