The sports festival had been going on for four days, and now had entered the third day.
Currently only two competition branches remained uncontested: chess and tennis.
Hirata had just finished the basketball match. He walked over with a somewhat awkward expression.
"Sorry, I lost."
"There's a very skilled player in Class B."
Ryunosuke raised his hand to stop those words, signaling he already understood. He had predicted this situation from the start.
In the original story, Class B—namely Arisu's class—indeed had a tall, thin, and very skilled basketball player. Originally there was Sudo who could match them, but now their side didn't have a basketball genius, so this result was quite normal.
Hirata smiled bitterly. "If only Sudou-kun were still here now..."
"Enough!" Ryunosuke quickly interrupted, "The person has already left, don't think about it too much."
Hirata nodded. "Then I'll go rest. For the next two matches, it seems you don't need me anymore, right?"
Ryunosuke leaned his hands on the table while sitting casually on a long bench.
"Don't need anymore, go."
Ryunosuke waved his hand, signaling Hirata's business was finished.
Hirata obediently left. Facing Ryunosuke's attitude, he didn't hold any grudge at all. After all, it was Ryunosuke who saved Airi. He felt very grateful so it was impossible to have complaints.
Not long after, Hiyori came while hugging a book with a slightly surprised facial expression.
"Do you usually always order people in your class like that?"
"You're really not embarrassed."
Hiyori pulled a small chair and sat beside him. Ryunosuke lowered his legs from the table and said in a somewhat resigned tone.
"What can I do. You don't know how difficult it is to manage our class. If I don't act firmly, I won't be able to manage those people."
"Especially there's the 'Lucky Trio' who occasionally appear to provoke me."
"If my fist isn't strong enough, I really won't be able to manage them."
Ryunosuke swung his fist, showing he had physical strength. Hiyori laughed softly while covering her mouth. She didn't care about such trivial matters, instead slowly opened her book and began reading quietly beside him.
Ryunosuke smiled thinly, didn't say anything, then lay back relaxed. Their way of interacting was already very natural because they knew each other inside and out.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
On the other side, Ayanokouji had passed various elimination rounds and finally arrived at the final round. And the person before him now was none other than Arisu.
The two of them were now competing in chess.
As promised, Ryunosuke handed over Ayanokouji to be faced by Arisu. With this, both major factions in Class B now supported him. Both Arisu and Asuna owed him favors.
Asuna owed about the game club application, while Arisu owed about the duel with Ayanokouji. With support from both sides, Ryunosuke would get all votes from Class B in the next Student Council President election. With that, he would be more confident in facing Nagumo.
Who told the opponent to control the entire second year? The pressure felt by Ryunosuke was indeed quite large.
Meanwhile, Arisu couldn't wait anymore. Even because she was too enthusiastic, her body was trembling.
"It's been five or six years since we met, right, Ayanokouji-kun?"
Ayanokouji didn't answer. He was thinking in his mind, had he ever met this person? He really didn't remember ever meeting Arisu.
Arisu smiled sweetly. "It's natural if you don't remember, because we indeed never met officially. I once saw you in the White Room."
A flash of bloodthirst briefly appeared in Ayanokouji's eyes, but quickly disappeared. He asked with a flat face.
"What's your relationship with the White Room?"
"Your name is Sakayanagi, you must be the daughter of the Foundation Chairman. Is this school's Foundation Chairman also related to the White Room?"
Arisu didn't answer. So that Ayanokouji would bring out all his abilities, she deliberately provoked.
"If you can defeat me in this chess game, I'll tell you everything I know."
Proven, Ayanokouji was provoked. He had no choice but to be provoked to find answers; he had to win this match.
The game began. It didn't take long for Arisu to finally lose.
"You're indeed very amazing, Ayanokouji-kun." Arisu said in a slightly regretful tone.
Ayanokouji didn't want to waste time and asked with an expressionless face, "Now can you tell me what I want to know?"
Arisu answered his doubts one by one, while giving a warning with good intentions.
"Your father, Ayanokouji Atsuomi, already knows you're at this school. I think he'll soon come to pick you up, you must be careful..." She said with a serious expression.
Ayanokouji nodded indicating he understood and expressed thanks.
"Thank you for telling me this, I can make some preparations early."
Arisu smiled. "You're welcome. In a bet one must be ready to lose, this is part of our promise, so I'll tell you honestly."
Finally, Ayanokouji left with a flat face without saying another word. Arisu stared deeply at his back.
"You really don't remember me? But that's right, we only met once through glass. Based only on that brief meeting, it's natural if you don't have any impression."
Arisu felt relieved.
At that moment Ryunosuke came over and tried to comfort her.
"Do you feel dissatisfied?"
"If you still want to compete with him, I can trap him and force him to compete with you once more."
Arisu rolled her eyes beautifully. "You're really wicked, Akasaka-kun."
Then, she raised her hand.
Ryunosuke was stunned. "What does that mean?"
Arisu looked directly at him without saying anything, but she swung her hand. The meaning was already very clear: [Help me stand up, be my support.]
Ryunosuke smiled resignedly, extended his hand, and Arisu grasped that man's hand to stand up.
"Escort me home, Akasaka-kun. I don't want to watch the next match anymore. My wish has been fulfilled, I won't be obsessed with Ayanokouji Kiyotaka anymore."
Ryunosuke looked at her with a strange gaze. "Why do you have to explain that to me?"
Arisu didn't speak anymore, just sighed deeply in silence.
"Whatever... escort me home, my mood is bad."
Ryunosuke felt this was very confusing, but he didn't say anything.
There's no way Arisu liked him, right? How could that be? Ryunosuke didn't believe at all this petite girl would like him.
Because the impression from his previous life was too deep; Arisu was willing to resign just because of one sentence from Ayanokouji. He didn't believe Arisu had feelings for him.
This was the weakness of having knowledge of the future. A person tended to only believe what they knew, rather than believe that people could change.
Ryunosuke escorted Arisu back to the dormitory.
Tomorrow was the last day, namely the tennis match.