Koenji Rokusuke's sky hadn't fallen, but everyone in First Year Class A felt like theirs had.
Until the class bell rang and Hoshinomiya-sensei packed up her English textbooks and left the classroom, Katsuragi Ren still hadn't arrived.
Immediately, the entire Class A fell into chaos.
Just one summer vacation, and our Ren-sama ran away?
Everyone in Class A looked at each other, no one knowing what had happened.
"Class Rep Ichinose?"
Kanzaki didn't know where Katsuragi Ren went, but he believed that Ichinose, who was close to Katsuragi Ren, must know.
He just had to ask.
"Does Kanzaki-kun want to ask about Ren-kun? Ren-kun transferred to Class D."
Ichinose, who had been told by Katsuragi Ren yesterday that he would go to Class D to play for a while, felt no surprise that Katsuragi Ren was not in class today.
In Katsuragi Ren's words,
Honami-chan, I can't watch over you forever.
Everyone has their own path to walk. I have no obligation or necessity to lead everyone.
You must learn to huddle together for warmth and face the enemy together.
Instead of waiting for me to give you orders.
"By the way, Ren-kun asked me to pass a message to everyone."
Thinking of Katsuragi Ren's last instruction to her, Ichinose imitated Katsuragi Ren's tone and said solemnly: "Don't think that just because I transferred to Class D, you are free. Don't forget to hand over the ransom at the beginning of each month."
Silence. The noisy class instantly became quiet.
"I understand."
Kanzaki nodded and began to comfort the classmates.
Most of the reason for everyone's panic was because Katsuragi Ren left Class A, and everyone was unsure if the promise made back then was still valid.
Everyone saw Katsuragi Ren's actions in the first semester. Katsuragi Ren was undoubtedly the backbone of Class A.
When the backbone takes the lead in running away, anyone would panic.
Now, the words Katsuragi Ren conveyed through Ichinose quickly calmed everyone down.
Katsuragi Ren's sentence meant that everyone in Class A had not been abandoned by him; he might really just be going to another class to play.
"Um... Mochi is still in the class..."
Airi-chan, who hid Mochi in her desk during class, held Mochi in her arms and spoke weakly.
The appearance of Mochi greatly increased the credibility of Ichinose's words.
After all, the cat raised by Katsuragi Ren represented Katsuragi Ren to a large extent.
"Honami-chan, we rely on you! And Kanzaki-kun."
Yume Kobashi stood up and pointed out two guiding lights for the still confused classmates.
"Mhm, Yume-chan! I will protect everyone in Class A."
Knowing that the class couldn't fall into chaos because of this, Ichinose took the step offered by Yume Kobashi and walked down.
"Meow~"
Mochi, lying in Airi-chan's arms, tilted his head, blinking his innocent big eyes, looking at the crowd in Class A whose mood had obviously improved with confusion.
These two-legged beasts are so strange. Their loss was palpable just now; how did they cheer up all of a sudden?
Cat doesn't understand; cat only knows how to meow.
"Meow~"
Airi-chan leaned her head close to Mochi's furry ears and meowed softly, imitating Mochi's cry.
Airi-chan didn't dare to implement such shameful behavior on Katsuragi Ren for the time being.
Before transferring to Class D, Katsuragi Ren entrusted Mochi to Airi-chan's care.
Airi-chan, who took over this heavy responsibility, treated Mochi as a small Katsuragi Ren still in Class A and began her desensitization training.
"Meow?"
Rolling over on the table, Mochi's eyes were full of doubt.
Why does this two-legged beast imitate my speech?
"Meow~"
"Meow?"
"Meow~"
One person and one cat had a great time playing in the corner.
...
"Horikita-san, is something the matter?"
Looking at Suzune Horikita, who ran towards him as soon as class ended, Katsuragi Ren asked indifferently.
"Katsuragi-kun, the bet between the two of us still counts, right?"
[Bet?]
Hearing gossip about Katsuragi Ren, Koenji Rokusuke retracted the foot he was about to step out without a trace.
Taking out a compact mirror and a small comb from the desk, Koenji Rokusuke slowly began to groom his hair, which wasn't messy at all.
"If you want to listen, just say so. Stop pretending."
Katsuragi Ren kicked the back of Koenji Rokusuke's chair, straightening it.
Seeing Koenji Rokusuke put away the mirror and stop being narcissistic, Katsuragi Ren turned to look at Suzune Horikita.
"Horikita-san, the bet still counts."
"Then what is your purpose in coming to Class D, Katsuragi-kun?"
"That doesn't have much to do with you, does it, Horikita-san?"
"It has a lot to do with it!"
Suzune Horikita wanted to get to the bottom of it. She had to ensure that Katsuragi Ren wouldn't hold them back in the upcoming special exams.
Only in this way could this bet be considered fair.
The gap in student configuration between the two classes was already very obvious. If Katsuragi Ren specially came to Class D to hold them back...
Then Suzune Horikita would have absolutely no hope of getting her brother's leverage back.
"It really doesn't matter, Horikita-san."
Katsuragi Ren first denied Suzune Horikita's naive idea, then kindly let Suzune Horikita face the truly cruel reality.
"In addition, I'll provide Horikita-san with a piece of information for free."
"The punishment the school imposed on Haruki Yamauchi, Kanji Ike, Ken Sudo, and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji was not simply clearing the class points to zero."
"Instead, one hundred class points were deducted for each person for their class. Because the matter was too egregious."
"This deduction adopted a negative point system that the school has never implemented before."
"In other words, Class D's current class points are not zero on the surface, but negative 380 class points."
"Horikita-san, how long do you think it will take for everyone in Class D to pay back these class points?"
This information Katsuragi Ren provided to Suzune Horikita for free was not encrypted in any way.
Everyone who hadn't left after class heard it clearly.
It turned out that their class was not only penniless but also in debt.
All of this was thanks to the four classmates who were caught peeping.
The crowd, who had long accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction with the four, exploded completely at this moment.
"Ken Sudo, why didn't you, a peeping tom, just drop out during the midterm exam?"
"And Kanji Ike, it's one thing to only know how to talk big every day, but doing such shameful things is disgusting!"
"How can there be such disgusting people in the world?"
Thanks to Sae Chabashira guiding public opinion in advance, successfully pinning most of the blame for the peeping incident on Haruki Yamauchi and Kanji Ike, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, as a marginal figure, was not affected too much.
Not being affected too much didn't mean not being affected at all.
There was still a small number of people looking at Kiyotaka Ayanokoji with resentful eyes.
This is the root of human nature.
If the Class A students hadn't seen it and let Haruki Yamauchi and the others succeed, maybe this group of boys in Class D would have brazenly begged them for a copy of the "study material."
If Katsuragi Ren wasn't strong enough, perhaps the students who were blaming Haruki Yamauchi and the others now would turn around and blame Katsuragi Ren.
Blaming Katsuragi Ren for being a busybody.
Truly pathetic.
Katsuragi Ren didn't care about the reaction of the rest of Class D. He just wanted to see what reaction Suzune Horikita would have knowing all this.
How would Suzune Horikita make up for these negative 380 class points of Class D?
Before making up these class points,
In every special class exam experienced, the bet between Suzune Horikita and Katsuragi Ren was destined to be a loss.
With such a terrible Class D now, did Suzune Horikita really have the ability to make up the deficit?
The answer is no.
"Horikita-san, actually you have another choice."
Suzune Horikita buried her head so that Katsuragi Ren couldn't see any expression at all. Katsuragi Ren decided to add fuel to the fire for the girl.
Sure enough, upon hearing Katsuragi Ren say she had another choice.
Suzune Horikita raised her head abruptly, her fox eyes staring straight at Katsuragi Ren: "What choice?"
"Gather 20 million points to transfer to Class A. The bet will also change from a competition of class points between Classes A and D to a competition of class points within Class A."
"And a draw sometimes means a win-win."
"I return your brother's leverage to you, and you still promise me one request."
Admiring Suzune Horikita's fox eyes, Katsuragi Ren only said half of it.
"I understand."
At this moment,
Suzune Horikita's initial goal of leading Class D to Class A quietly dissipated.
Gathering 20 million points to transfer to Class A became Suzune Horikita's new obsession.
As long as she could achieve this goal, she could not only become a student of Class A but also get her brother's leverage back from Katsuragi Ren.
It wouldn't be bad no matter how you looked at it.
As for which goal was more difficult, gathering 20 million points or leading Class D to Class A, the latter seemed more difficult no matter how you looked at it.
"Why help me?"
Suzune Horikita, who had made a decision in her heart, looked at Katsuragi Ren in confusion. She didn't understand why Katsuragi Ren told her this.
Could it be...
He likes me?
"I didn't help you. I just simply wanted to make the first year more interesting."
Katsuragi Ren, twirling his ballpoint pen in boredom, stopped the movement of spinning the pen and drew an upright coin on a new piece of white paper.
Is this woman a bit too easy to deceive?
It's not really deception.
Katsuragi Ren just hid a small part.
There is a win-win,
Of course, there is also a lose-lose.
And the price of lose-lose is,
Manabu Horikita's leverage is still held by Katsuragi Ren, and Suzune Horikita doesn't have to agree to Katsuragi Ren's request.
Win-win or lose-lose,
From the beginning,
It was Katsuragi Ren who had the final say.
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