Chapter 140: Katsuragi, Shall We Cooperate?
Ryuen Kakeru? Why was he here?
Katsuragi Keima's mind raced as he analyzed the current situation.
Normally, after Ryuen woke up, he should have believed that what he experienced was merely a hallucination; furthermore, he shouldn't have seen Keima at all.
How did he find his way directly here?
Ibuki Mio was also following beside him.
Wait, why was Ibuki Mio with him?
In that case...
Could it be that Ibuki Mio had been following him the whole time?
Keima bit his lip. When he was playing games, his sensory abilities could expand several times over. However, just now when he went to find Ryuen, he hadn't been playing games on the road because the weather was bad—after all, the handheld console he bought wasn't waterproof. Combined with the pouring rain obstructing his vision and affecting sounds, he hadn't noticed Ibuki Mio's presence.
However, in just an instant, Keima guessed the reason why the opponent might have appeared here.
The students of Class D who witnessed this were all dumbstruck; they never expected Ryuen Kakeru to appear in this place.
"What? Ryu—Ryuen?"
Ike Kanji poked his head out of the tent, his mouth wide enough to fit a fist.
"Why would he show up here?"
Sudo Ken looked at him in disbelief.
"Didn't Class C withdraw from the exam?!"
Sato Maya's voice was piercingly sharp. She instinctively took a step back, nearly bumping into Sakura Airi behind her.
Sakura Airi shrunk behind Sato Maya, peeked out for a moment, and then quickly pulled back.
Kushida Kikyo maintained a smile, but it was visibly stiff, and her fingers unconsciously gripped the hem of her clothes.
Almost everyone was incredibly surprised, while only Horikita Suzune looked at Ryuen with a serious expression.
Her brow was furrowed, her gaze moving back and forth between Ryuen and Keima. Her lips were pressed into a line, but she said nothing.
'As expected, it's just as Katsuragi Keima said.'
If it were a normal day, Horikita certainly wouldn't have overthought it and would have truly believed Class C was just here to enjoy a vacation.
But Keima had previously reminded her that Ryuen was very likely still on the island.
The facts proved it.
However, why did Ryuen appear here?
If he wanted to hide himself, why choose to expose himself now?
Her gaze landed on Ryuen's face.
There were mud stains, ash, and exhaustion on that face—but there was also something she couldn't quite read.
It wasn't anger or resentment, but a kind of... calmness?
It wasn't the look of admitting defeat.
It was the relief of having realized something.
Sitting under the tree, Keima watched Ryuen walk over step by step, his mind already formulating how to handle this.
"Kami-sama..." Elsie whispered, "Wh-why is he here?"
Keima didn't answer.
He just sat there, watching Ryuen walk up to him and stop.
Ryuen was half a head taller than Keima, and he now looked down at the boy sitting beneath the tree.
The two stared at each other, neither speaking. The camp was so quiet one could almost hear the sound of water droplets sliding off the leaves.
"A word in private," Ryuen spoke first.
"Mm."
Keima nodded and followed Ryuen to a deserted corner nearby.
"You knew all along."
Ryuen's voice was raspy, carrying the exhaustion of someone who had just woken up, but every word was articulated clearly—as if each syllable had been ground in his throat for a long time.
"Since before the exam started, you knew."
"Knew what?" Keima asked.
Ryuen stared at him. Those eyes held no anger or resentment, only a cold, sharp clarity, like he was looking at an opponent he had studied for a long time.
"You knew Class C was faking the withdrawal. You knew I would stay on the island. You knew where I would hide. You knew Ibuki was a spy. You knew how she communicated with me. You knew Katsuragi made a deal with me. You knew everything!"
Keima bit his lip.
Indeed, Keima was aware of most of that information.
He had even guessed a bit about the possibility of Class C cooperating with Class A.
But...
Keima hadn't known where Ryuen was hiding; in fact, he had never even thought about it.
After all, no matter where Ryuen hid, it had nothing to do with him.
But Elsie had stumbled upon Ryuen by mistake.
And she had given Ryuen a "sleep like a baby" treatment.
It had to be said, Ryuen was quite pitiable.
However, Keima couldn't say those things directly, so he could only nod awkwardly.
"Indeed..."
"You had Elsie find me," Ryuen continued, his voice getting lower as if recounting something shameful, but he didn't stop.
"You knocked me out and left me lying in a tree hollow like a dead dog. You let Ibuki see all of it so she would come back and tell me. You weren't showing off; you were telling me—you can find me anytime, knock me out anytime, and destroy Class C anytime. But you didn't. You let Ibuki wake me up, and you didn't even take my transceiver. You were waiting for me to make a choice."
Keima's lips twitched.
He really wanted to say that wasn't it. He hadn't sent Elsie to find Ryuen; Elsie had found him because she got lost.
'This person actually just wanted to find a place to hide her 'Hell ingredients' and happened to run into you...'
Ryuen wouldn't believe it even if he said it.
And he hadn't told Elsie to knock Ryuen out; Elsie had done that on her own.
Everything that had happened was a total coincidence—the result of Elsie's clumsiness and luck colliding.
But looking into Ryuen's eyes, he saw a light he had never seen there before—not violence, not arrogance, but an almost pious seriousness.
Keima knew that no matter what he said, Ryuen wouldn't believe him.
"You knew Katsuragi made a deal with me," Ryuen continued.
Keima didn't answer.
"You knew." Ryuen looked into his eyes. "You know everything."
Since things had developed to this point, all Keima could do was improvise.
Keima pushed up his glasses and replied, "I guessed."
Ryuen stared at him and gave a cold laugh.
'Guessed.
Guessed again.
This person can guess anything and calculate everything.'
He truly was a monster. But Ryuen didn't say it aloud; he just stood there, waiting for Keima's response.
His lips were cracked, his face was covered in dust, and his hair was a mess, but his back was straight and his head was slightly raised, as if looking at an opponent worthy of his serious attention.
"I came to you because I want to cooperate," Ryuen said.
Keima looked at him. "Cooperate?"
"Yes," Ryuen said. "On the last day of the exam, the 'Guess the Leader' phase. I'll help you guess the leaders of Class A and Class B. we'll exchange information. You don't need to tell me who Class D's real leader is; you just need to tell me if my guess is correct. Of course, I won't write down your class leader's name, and you won't write down ours."
Guessing another class's leader correctly grants bonus points, while guessing incorrectly or having your own leader guessed results in a penalty.
Ryuen knew that once his existence was exposed, Class C's points would be wiped out.
Knowing this outcome, the best Ryuen could do was minimize the losses as much as possible.
Keima thought about it. "What are you offering in exchange?"
Ryuen's eyes lit up slightly.
"Intelligence. Information on Class A and Class B. I know Katsuragi's plan, I know Ichinose's deployment, I know who the leaders of the other classes are. Just like Ibuki, I sent others to Class B, and I am also clear on the identity of Class A's leader."
Keima looked at him. "Are you going to betray Katsuragi?"
"It's not betrayal," Ryuen said. "It's a choice. I choose to stand on your side."
Keima fell silent, merely looking at Ryuen in front of him.
"Very well," he said.
Ryuen was taken aback. "Really?"
"Mm," Keima said. "But I have one condition."
"What condition?"
Keima looked at him. "After the exam ends, you will have Ibuki join the Class D study group."
Ryuen froze. "What?"
"To put it simply, consider it something like a hostage," Keima said.
Ibuki Mio was one of his capture targets; naturally, he had to find a way to close the distance between them.
Pulling her into the study group was a simple method.
"Don't worry. If she joins the study group, I will tutor her seriously and improve her grades. It's not a bad thing for your class either, especially since you probably want to know Class D's movements."
Keima's words left Ryuen momentarily unable to refute.
It was true; this condition was acceptable.
As for Ibuki...
She would probably agree as well.
"Fine," Ryuen replied.
Keima nodded and said no more.
Ryuen stood there, waiting for him to continue, but Keima said nothing. He simply took out his handheld console again, lowered his head, and his fingers began dancing over the buttons once more.
Ryuen waited for a few seconds, then a few more, and finally couldn't hold it in.
"That's it?" Ryuen asked.
Keima looked up. "What do you mean 'that's it'?"
"The cooperation—is that it? Aren't you going to ask me what intel I have? Ask about Katsuragi's situation? Ask if I know the plans of the other classes?"
Keima looked at him. "You'll tell me eventually."
Ryuen stared at him. "How do you know?"
Keima pushed up his glasses. "Because you came to me."
Ryuen went silent.
He realized that in front of Katsuragi Keima, anything he said was redundant.
This person always used the fewest words to say the most.
He took a deep breath and was about to say something when Keima spoke again.
"However, I can't give you points."
Ryuen was stunned. "What?"
"You want Class D's personal points," Keima said. "As a reward for the exchange of intelligence."
Ryuen's pupils contracted slightly. He did indeed have that plan. He hadn't come to Keima just for cooperation.
He needed points; Class C needed points. While Katsuragi had agreed to give points, that was based on him providing real intelligence.
If he couldn't provide it, Katsuragi wouldn't pay. Moreover, now that he had decided to change his target of cooperation, the agreement with Katsuragi Kohei would be void.
But...
How did Katsuragi Keima know he wanted personal points?!
"How did you know?" Ryuen asked.
Keima looked at him. "Because Class A is capable of cooperating with you and providing an immense amount of personal points. Since you gave up on the cooperation with Class A to come to us, you would naturally want to compensate for that in other ways."
Ryuen fell silent.
He realized that in front of this person, he couldn't hide anything.
"Then will you give me points?"
"No," Keima said.
Ryuen's expression changed. "What?"
"Because it's not necessary," Keima said. "Class D doesn't have many points; we need to keep them for our own use. Besides, the benefits this cooperation brings you won't be less than what you'd get from personal points."
Ryuen narrowed his eyes slightly. Keima kept his gaze fixed on the screen, as if Ryuen were an insignificant existence.
This was the only person who dared to treat him like this.
"Furthermore, the value Class C can provide isn't all that much," Keima said slowly.
"I've already mostly guessed the identity of Class B's candidate. After all, Kaneda-kun, who infiltrated Class B, doesn't know that his transceiver fell into my hands. Through the information he sends you daily, I can guess who the other party is. I could also simply write down your class leader's identity and cause you to lose points. Therefore, the one setting the terms is me, not you."
Ryuen swallowed hard.
He realized that from beginning to end, Katsuragi Keima was the one holding absolute initiative.
"You—"
Ryuen suddenly burst into loud laughter. "Interesting. Keima, I really didn't misjudge you."
He realized the gap between him and Keima wasn't just in strength.
This person hadn't viewed Class C as an opponent from the very start.
It wasn't contempt or indifference; it was that—he didn't need to view Class C as an opponent. He only needed to do his own thing to win.
"You..." Ryuen said, "Are truly a monster."
Keima didn't answer. He just continued playing his game.
"On the last day of the exam, I'll tell you who the leaders of Class A and Class B are," Ryuen said. "I'll keep in contact with Katsuragi's side. If you need any intel, let me know anytime."
Keima nodded without looking up.
Ryuen turned to leave. After two steps, he stopped.
"Katsuragi."
"Mm?"
"One day, I will defeat you with my own hands."
"Um, could you pick someone else? I'm not very interested. The only reason I'm participating in this exam is to play games."
Ryuen didn't know what to say for a moment and simply shook his head.
"What a strange guy, Katsuragi Keima."
After saying that, he strode away and disappeared into the forest.
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