Chapter 365: Drawing a Knife
"I've got it. I'll go with you to negotiate with Housen."
Faced with the unanimous questioning from everyone in Class D, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had to step up. Of course, in truth, he had intended to take action himself anyway. He needed to personally confirm whether Housen Kazuomi hailed from the White Room.
Hikigaya had no interest in this; regardless, the White Room's target was Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, which had nothing to do with him whatsoever.
Class began and ended. After school, Hikigaya followed his routine of taking Karuizawa and the others back to the dorms for tutoring, while Hirata Yosuke, Sudo Ken, and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka headed toward Year 1 Class D.
Through Nanase Tsubasa, they obtained an opportunity to meet with Housen Kazuomi.
"8:00 PM, meet behind the school gymnasium..."
"Why did he set it in such a remote place?" Sudo Ken was baffled.
"That place likely has no surveillance cameras," Hirata Yosuke said in a low voice. "Everyone be careful; there is a high possibility Housen will use violence."
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka remained expressionless and did not speak. If the other party used violence, it would play right into his hands.
At 8:00 sharp, the agreed-upon time, the three of them stood under a dim streetlamp. After waiting for half an hour, they saw two people approaching from not far away. One was Housen Kazuomi, who stood over 1.9 meters tall with an imposing physique, and the other was Nanase Tsubasa, who had long golden hair and appeared to be a quiet, ladylike girl.
"Good evening, Hirata-senpai, Sudo-senpai, and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka."
Nanase Tsubasa greeted them very politely, though she used the full name when addressing the last person. Hirata Yosuke gave Ayanokouji a strange look upon hearing this, as if asking if there was any conflict between the two. Sudo Ken, being thick-headed, didn't notice this and shouted with an unfriendly tone, "You're too slow! You didn't show up at the agreed time!"
"Hey, hey! Get your position straight, Sudo-senpai. It's you guys who are here begging me now!"
Housen Kazuomi was as arrogant as ever. He scanned the three people in front of him and then looked at them with complete disdain. "What is this? Why didn't that dead-fish-eyed guy come? Is he afraid of me?"
"Housen-kun, I advise you not to easily offend Hikigaya-senpai," Nanase Tsubasa advised earnestly. "I don't think this will benefit our class at all."
"Tch! I'll put my grudge with that dead-fish-eye on hold for now." Housen sneered.
"You three, I suppose you can represent Year 2 Class D, right?"
Housen Kazuomi had checked their OAA profiles beforehand; they were all guys with excellent athletic ability. In other words, the other side was prepared for a physical confrontation with him.
"Housen-kun, there are only two classes left for the current exam partners. To pass the exam smoothly, I think we should cooperate as soon as possible," Hirata Yosuke said, trying to reason with him first.
"Sure." Housen Kazuomi made an outrageous demand. "Five million personal points. As long as you transfer them to me, I'll order the people in my class to cooperate with you."
"Five million?! I think you're crazy!" Sudo Ken glared at him.
"Six million." Housen Kazuomi added casually.
"Housen-kun, please be rational." Hirata Yosuke's voice deepened.
"Heh! It's you senpais who need to be rational!" Housen Kazuomi jeered coldly. "The only ones who will be expelled for failing the exam are the second-years. For us first-years, it's just a deduction of three months' worth of points. We can afford that loss."
Hirata Yosuke and Sudo Ken's expressions turned ugly. The situation was exactly as he said; the risks borne by both sides were not on the same scale.
"Since it's something that benefits both sides, why must you insist on mutual destruction?" Hirata Yosuke still attempted to persuade him.
"Too bad, I hate 'win-win' situations the most. Either I win everything, or we all lose!" Housen Kazuomi made his stance clear—he would rather sabotage them than gain nothing, intending to force Year 2 Class D into submission.
"...!" Sudo Ken was furious, clenching his fists and longing to rush forward to land a few punches.
"Yo~ Sudo-senpai, are you planning to spar with me?" Housen Kazuomi's words were full of provocation.
"Calm down, Sudo," Hirata Yosuke desperately held him back.
"What are you afraid of? Isn't there no surveillance here?" Sudo Ken's face was filled with rage.
"Be careful, he might be holding a voice recorder," Hirata Yosuke warned in a low voice.
"Huh?"
"A voice recorder? That kind of boring little trick, I wouldn't bother with," Housen Kazuomi continued to mock them.
At this moment, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly spoke: "Housen-kun, you are deliberately acting like a brute, but in reality, that's not the case, is it? As the saying goes, 'once bitten, twice shy.' I don't think you would repeat the same mistake."
The other party had personally come to provoke them, only to be beaten up by four people when they were surrounded last time.
Housen Kazuomi's cheek twitched; he was clearly stung by the remark.
"Ayanokouji-senpai, is it? You really are good at angering people. But you're right; I was too careless and underestimated you last time..."
He clapped his hands, and four students with strong physiques walked out from the dark corners behind him.
"Makiwaki, Kaga, you guys...!" Sudo Ken recognized two of them; both were new members of the basketball club.
"Sorry, Sudo-senpai. For the sake of the class, we have no choice but to be your enemies." The physiques of the two were only slightly inferior to Sudo's, but not by much. The other two were from the soccer club and the swimming club—classic athletes.
"Five against three. Now we have the numerical advantage." Housen Kazuomi cracked his knuckles with a malicious grin. "You senpais wouldn't want to get beaten up, right? Just honestly agree to my conditions and save yourselves some pain."
Hirata and Sudo both looked hesitant, unsure of how to deal with the predicament before them.
"Hirata, Sudo, abandon your fantasies and prepare to fight!" Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's sharp gaze locked firmly onto Housen Kazuomi. Even though Housen was restraining himself and trying to avoid direct eye contact, Ayanokouji could still discern the true purpose behind the greed unintentionally revealed in the other's eyes.
"..." Hirata and Sudo were confused. It sounded like the other party's true purpose wasn't to demand a bribe—so what was it?
"AHA!" Housen Kazuomi laughed recklessly. "You guessed right, Ayanokouji-senpai. Since you knew you would be ambushed, why did you walk right into the trap?"
"Is that so?" Ayanokouji Kiyotaka replied calmly. "Then, is there a possibility that the one who walked into the trap is you?"
Ayanokouji's heart remained untroubled, but even Hirata and Sudo were startled.
"Ayanokouji-kun, you already anticipated this situation? In other words, you prepared a countermeasure?"
Hearing this, Housen and his group became vigilant, checking around for any signs of an ambush.
"I checked, no one else is approaching," Nanase Tsubasa reported after a careful search.
"So what? You were just bluffing," Housen Kazuomi said with disdain.
"The one bluffing is you. Do you really think that increasing the number of people means you'll definitely win?" Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's calm words carried incomparable confidence.
"So noisy!"
"This poker-faced senpai, a guy whose OAA physical ability is only C, what are you pretending for?" Makiwaki Takashige rolled up his sleeves, preparing to strike. Plus, he always picked the softest target! Sudo looked tall and troublesome; Hirata was the ace of the soccer club with strong leg muscles. Only the unremarkable Ayanokouji Kiyotaka looked easy to handle.
"Go ahead, Makiwaki." Housen Kazuomi let his subordinate act, his eyes fixed intently on Ayanokouji.
'I'll let someone go first to test him!'
Upon receiving his boss's confirmation, Makiwaki Takashige decisively charged forward, kicking at Ayanokouji.
THUD!
Makiwaki's vision flipped. Before he even realized what happened, his arm was grabbed, his wrist locked, and he was thrown to the ground with a shoulder throw.
A one-hit KO! The people on both sides couldn't help but cast looks of shock.
"Ayanokouji, you..." Hirata and Sudo were dumbfounded.
"AHA!" Housen Kazuomi seemed to have expected this. He waved his hand immediately. "Lads, get him together! Take him down, and I'll give each of you one million!!"
The four of them swarmed him.
"Don't even think about it!" Although they had their doubts, facing the enemy's attack, Hirata and Sudo chose to intervene.
The scene quickly turned into: 1-on-1, 1-on-1, and 2-on-1. The trickiest one, Housen Kazuomi, joined forces with another person to take on Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. Surprisingly, Ayanokouji showed no signs of falling behind while fighting two opponents. Instead, he found an opening and successfully KO'd one of them with an uppercut.
The price was that he also took a punch to the face from Housen. Housen's punch was heavy, leaving a bruise on Ayanokouji's cheek. However, Ayanokouji didn't even emit a sound of pain, calmly returning a kick to the other man.
"ACK!" Housen clutched his stomach, kneeling on one knee and coughing up acid.
"Housen?!" His two subordinates were shocked, unable to believe that Housen Kazuomi, who had once beaten Year 1 Class D into submission, had been kicked down so easily.
"Housen-kun, your previous injuries shouldn't have fully healed yet, right?" The spot Ayanokouji attacked was exactly the wound Housen received when he was surrounded and beaten by Ryuen's group days ago.
"Tch... damn Ryuen, I'll kill you sooner or later!" Housen Kazuomi endured the pain and stood up stubbornly. "Don't underestimate me, Ayanokouji-senpai! Do you think you can take me down with just this?"
"Better not push yourself too hard. The human body has limits." Ayanokouji Kiyotaka remained calm throughout.
"Hmph! You're right. No matter how much you train the human body, it's nothing but flesh and blood." A flash of madness crossed Housen Kazuomi's eyes. He took a long object wrapped in a bandage from his pocket. After unwrapping it, it revealed a gleaming fruit knife!
"What?!"
"Housen, are, are you crazy!" Sudo Ken's face changed drastically, his body trembling involuntarily. Even with his dull nerves, he knew the lethality of a blade.
"Housen-kun, please calm down! This isn't a joke!" Hirata Yosuke tried to use words to stabilize him.
"..."
"We agreed on a fight; why bring out a knife?" Even Housen's subordinates were panicked. Only Nanase Tsubasa kept observing calmly throughout.
"Shut up! If you don't want to die, get out of my way!" Housen Kazuomi's eyes were fierce, looking as if he had been blinded by rage.
"..."
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka remained silent, and there was still not a hint of fear on his face.
"Great nerve! Ayanokouji-senpai, you truly are a remarkable prey!" Housen Kazuomi held the fruit knife in a reverse grip and walked toward him step by step. "I want to see if your fists are sharper, or if my knife is sharper!"
SLASH!
Blood splattered. Under the horrified gaze of everyone, they saw Ayanokouji Kiyotaka meet the knife point with his bare hand, letting the tip pierce his palm without regard.
"It...?! Ayanokouji Kiyotaka!!!" Even Housen Kazuomi, the person involved, was frightened.
"This knife, specifically, is a fruit knife. I've used it before in school during Home Economics class." Ayanokouji Kiyotaka ignored the piercing pain in his palm and gripped the knife tightly.
"You specifically snuck into the classroom to steal my fruit knife. Then, you led us to this remote place. Forcibly triggered a fight, and forced me to take out the knife I carried for defense—and then you stabbed yourself with it..."
"This is the battle plan you designed, right?
One look and I can tell, your posture while holding the knife isn't meant to stab someone.
Your real target was to stab your own thigh. And then frame me for intentional injury!"
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka calmly laid out the other's entire plan.
"Tch... after being seen through, you actually rushed forward to be stabbed. Are you a lunatic?" Housen Kazuomi's voice was filled with a trace of indignation.
"Because to stop you, this was the best way. Besides, our methods are not that different, are they? You were also prepared to take a serious injury to frame me."
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's gaze was sharp as he continued, "Among you first-years, it seems some people have accepted a task similar to a special exam, right? And this task is to get me expelled."
With the conspiracy exposed, Housen Kazuomi let go of the fruit knife.
"Tch! Sure enough, stealing my own knife—the flaw was too big. It's all because of that self-righteous woman. She had better targets for her scheme, yet she changed the plan midway..."
"Self-righteous woman?"
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka confirmed that there was a collaborator behind this.
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