Within Class D, the initial shock of the rumors had settled into a low, persistent hum. The seeds, watered by Kushida's subtle manipulations, were taking root. Whispers coiled through break times and lingered in the corners of the classroom.
"Who do you think is behind it?"
"Definitely another class. They're jealous."
"But why target Kushida-san? She's done nothing wrong!"
"Did you see the one about Class C? Calling Ichinose a criminal... that's dark."
Kushida Kikyo navigated this terrain with masterful duality—the wounded victim and the steadfast peacemaker. "Everyone, please, let's not give in to speculation…" she'd sigh, her voice laced with a performative weariness. "I just wish we knew who was doing this and why… so the other classes would stop thinking there's something wrong with us."
She artfully steered the class's nebulous anger toward a concrete goal: find the source. And all the while, she funneled every shift in the class's mood, every new suspicion, directly to Ryuuen.
Ryuuen received the updates with a cold smirk. Perfect. Class D was behaving exactly as predicted—a petri dish of paranoia. Now, it was time to let the infection spread.
He picked up his phone and dialed a long-prepared number. Not an ally. A tool. Hashimoto Masayoshi of Class A. Their previous, aborted 'alliance' had proven Hashimoto's usefulness lay in his ambition, not his loyalty. And with Sakamoto casting his long shadow over Class A, Hashimoto's capacity for major disruption was conveniently limited.
"Hashimoto. Heard the interesting gossip making the rounds?"
"Oh? You mean the creative writing about Ichinose's criminal past, or Yamauchi's crush on Sakamoto? Quite the imagination. Are you interested, Ryuuen-kun?"
"Hmph. Not my style. But it's curious. The chatter… it all seems to be bubbling up from Class D first."
He let the implication hang, thick and suggestive.
"Those D-class failures can't even keep their own house in order. Now they're trying to drag everyone into the mud with them. That nonsense about Ichinose… it reeks of a desperate attempt to claw at Class C's heels. A pathetic move."
A pause for effect.
"Just a friendly warning. Your Class A is a prime target. Sakamoto especially. Wouldn't want you getting splattered by D-class filth and losing your footing. It's a competitive environment."
The call ended. Ryuuen's smile was razor-thin. Hashimoto, with his desperate need to prove his worth to Sakayanagi's faction, was the perfect vector. Feed him a half-truth, and he'd race to 'verify' and weaponize it, believing it was his own discovery.
Simultaneously, Ryuuen's own agents in Class B began 'casually' discussing the rumors in public spaces—the hallways, the cafeteria—always with the same footnote: "Yeah, I heard it from someone in Class D. They're really pushing the 'Ichinose is a criminal' thing hard…"
The contagion spread with viral speed. Within a day, the rumor mill of the first year had a new, feverish focus: Class C and Ichinose Honami.
The atmosphere in Class C shifted palpably. The usual warm, unified light was dimmed, replaced by a chill of sidelong glances and hushed conversations. Ichinose still wore her smile, but it was strained at the edges, the shadows under her eyes betraying the silent pressure.
Her choice to not publicly refute the rumors—a decision born of dignity or strategy—was, to some, misread as confession.
"Why isn't she denying it?" a classmate murmured.
"Maybe… maybe there's some truth to it?" came the uneasy reply.
Kanzaki Ryuji watched the fracture lines spread across his class with mounting fury. He didn't believe a word of it. He needed to act, to find the source and cauterize the wound before the poison set in. He thought of Hashimoto Masayoshi—a contact from a previous, more straightforward time. Class A was often a nexus of information.
He reached out immediately.
Hashimoto, armed with Ryuuen's planted intelligence and his own 'investigation,' presented his findings: the rumor epidemic had patient zero in Class D. Ryuuen's guided narrative had found its mark.
After school, the stage was set for the next act.
Ryuuen's carefully orchestrated finale was approaching its cue. Though it was only the first day, the groundwork was laid. The gossip had metastasized through the first-year body.
He dispatched two agents from Class B. Their mission was simple: a "private" conversation held just outside the Class C classroom, their voices a carefully calibrated murmur meant to be overheard.
"It's definitely Class D! They can't stand seeing anyone else succeed!"
"Yeah, especially that hothead Sudo Ken. He's got 'troublemaker' written all over him."
Their words found their intended mark: Shiraha Chihiro, whose heart still ached from her aborted confession to Ichinose, was passing by. Her small face flushed with indignant anger. Without thinking, she began to trail the two boys, straining to catch more of their poisonous chatter.
The Class B students led her on a winding path, finally arriving at a busy intersection near the gymnasium. And there, as if by script, entered Sudo Ken, fresh from basketball practice, sweat-soaked and radiating exhaustion.
The agents immediately pointed, their voices rising in feigned outrage. "Look! It's him! Sudo from Class D! He's the one stirring up all the lies!"
Sudo stopped dead, bewildered. "Hah?! The hell are you talking about? What lies?!"
Shiraha, now right behind them, couldn't contain herself. Her voice was a furious, trembling whisper. "You… you people from Class D! You're the ones spreading horrible things about Ichinose!"
Sudo's patience, already thin, snapped. The accusation from a stranger, from a class that was supposedly slandering them, was too much. "Shut up! We didn't do anything! Stop making crap up!" He took an involuntary, aggressive step forward.
Shiraha flinched back, her eyes wide but still defiant.
Kanzaki Ryuji, who had been shadowing Shiraha from a distance, saw the escalation and moved. He stepped between Sudo and Shiraha, his posture protective, his voice stern. "Control yourself! If you have an explanation, give it calmly. Do not threaten my classmate."
Sudo, feeling cornered and outnumbered, saw red. "You're all in on it! Ganging up to frame Class D!" He lunged, not with a fist, but with the raw, clumsy aggression of a cornered animal.
Kanzaki's body tensed, bracing to intercept.
In the space between one heartbeat and the next—before Sudo's momentum could translate into contact, before Kanzaki's defense could harden into a clash—a third presence materialized.
It was less an entrance and more a sudden, absolute fact.
Sakamoto stood between them.
His right hand moved, a blur of impossible precision. Index and middle fingers formed a spear-hand that flicked outward, striking not Sudo's body, but the precise neural point on the inside of his swinging elbow.
Tap.
A sound like a pebble dropped on marble.
Sudo's entire arm went dead, the force dissipating into useless tingles. He stumbled, off-balance.
Simultaneously, Sakamoto's left sleeve swept forward in a gentle arc. It didn't push; it redirected, creating a baffle of air that halted Kanzaki's forward impulse, allowing him to regain his footing without confrontation.
The violent potential of the moment was neutralized, disassembled into two separate instances of startled imbalance.
Sakamoto adjusted his glasses. The lenses caught the fluorescent light, flashing opaque.
"Physical altercations in public corridors are prohibited," he stated, his voice a neutral instrument of order. "Disputes are better settled through dialogue."
Sudo stood panting, cradling his numb arm, staring at Sakamoto in confused rage. Kanzaki slowly lowered his guard, his sharp gaze fixed on the intercessor. Shiraha simply gaped.
Sakamoto's calm eyes moved between them. "Rumors perish in the face of reason. Violence is their fertilizer. I suggest you all… decompress."
Sudo's fists unclenched, not out of agreement, but out of sheer, bewildered impotence. Kanzaki took a slow, measured breath, the fight draining from his posture, replaced by a wary, calculating stillness. The stage Ryuuen had set was now occupied by an unscripted, confounding variable.