Since Shirogane was also an older brother, he understood these things sometimes.
"I have a task for you." Shirogane looked straight at Horikita Suzune. "You give me the student roster for your class, and I'll give you the roster for Class A."
"We'll trade."
"This is part of gathering intelligence," Shirogane said. "And in this school, that's a very important thing to do."
"Your brother still hasn't agreed to see you, but if you can bring him some information about Class A when you do, you might be able to turn things around."
"I've been working on that these past few days too," Shirogane said.
Stare—
But Horikita fixed her sharp gaze on Shirogane. She had a feeling he was hiding something.
Even so—
Shirogane not only earned a reward from the school, but he also received high praise from Chabashira-sensei.
And in just one meeting, Chabashira had figured out that she was the student council president's sister.
Since she hadn't been able to uncover the true nature of the school, this might be the only option she had left.
"I understand," Horikita said. "I'll take responsibility for gathering information on my classmates."
"Alright." Shirogane nodded.
With that, the two of them left the café without ordering anything.
The staff member who had been keeping an eye on them let out a sigh of relief.
Finally, no last-minute customers delaying closing time today.
…
Meanwhile—
At the student dorms.
It was already 10 p.m. in Sakayanagi Arisu's room.
"Sakayanagi, the people we sent out just reported back. Looks like Shirogane is pretty cautious—he noticed someone was following him and even tried to catch them."
"But he got the wrong person."
"Right now, he's meeting with a student from Class D," said Kamuro, the girl with purple hair, looking displeased as she relayed the report to Sakayanagi.
Kamuro was briefing Sakayanagi.
She couldn't understand Sakayanagi's way of thinking.
Earlier that afternoon, when Sakayanagi saw Shirogane alone, she had taken the initiative to approach him.
But when she returned, she immediately ordered someone to follow him.
It was like their conversation had suddenly gone south.
The one assigned to tail him was Hashimoto Masayoshi, who was supposedly quite skilled at this kind of thing. And judging by his performance, that seemed to be true—when he noticed Shirogane was on high alert, he backed off to keep his distance. Otherwise, the one Shirogane caught wouldn't have been that Class D student—it would have been Hashimoto himself.
Now, Hashimoto had reported the situation to Kamuro, and Kamuro was passing it on to Sakayanagi.
It was an odd arrangement.
Sakayanagi was supposed to be the leader of her faction, yet she left the job of gathering intel to Kamuro, who then relayed it back to her.
It felt unnecessary—like an extra step in the process.
But Kamuro had a different perspective.
It wasn't that Sakayanagi was suspicious of them—it was more like she didn't really care about the class at all.
Even though she understood how this school worked, she didn't seem too invested in Class A's status.
And she had made that clear before.
"I'm a genius. There's hardly anyone in this school who can truly challenge me."
"Class A? It's just a dull little school game."
Such arrogance.
She was so small, yet so full of herself.
And she had the right to be arrogant. The Katsuragi faction in her class was a direct result of her attitude—it existed because she allowed it. She had control over the class from the start but never put effort into fully holding onto it.
As she put it:
"School life is pretty boring, but I know how to make it interesting."
"There are monsters in the lower-ranked classes worth competing against. And only when they rise up can I go all out."
"I'm looking forward to the lower classes climbing up and competing with us. But my Class A is just too strong."
"So I have to show some weaknesses for them."
So, in other words, Sakayanagi Arisu was raising her own rivals.
But as a member of Class A, why would she want the lower classes to rise up? Did she really think there were strong people among them?
Wouldn't that make Class A more dangerous?
That's why Kamuro resisted Sakayanagi.
And now—
"Let's have Hashimoto go back for today," Sakayanagi said. "No need to continue the surveillance today or tomorrow. Shirogane must have already prepared for it."
"He seems to understand my patterns really well. He even figured out I'd have people following him, like he knows exactly what I'm thinking."
Sakayanagi paused.
Wait—
Did he realize he was being watched and decided to change his approach?
She didn't like wasting effort on things that wouldn't work.
But…
Sakayanagi suddenly turned to look straight at her "pet."
"This might sound a bit forward, but most boys should like my appearance, right?" Sakayanagi said.
She was quite confident about this.
She knew she looked cute and had a soft, frail aura that could easily attract ordinary guys who didn't know better—or kind-hearted guys who just wanted to help.
But most of her classmates viewed her with a mix of respect and fear, and she didn't interact with many people.
Still, she noticed that Shirogane, despite being smart and sharp, was strangely good at tracking her moves.
Unless…
Unless he had been paying close attention to her.
And for someone at their age to be that focused on the opposite sex, to know them that well—
There was only one possible explanation.
"You're saying Shirogane Miyuki likes you?" Kamuro suddenly had a terrible thought.
It made sense. Sakayanagi was cute. It wasn't unusual for a regular guy to be drawn to her looks.
But Kamuro had a different concern.
She was already stuck under Sakayanagi's thumb, forced to help with all sorts of daily errands.
Like during lunch breaks—she had to go get food for Sakayanagi.
Sure, going straight to the third floor meant she could skip the line, but carrying two meals at once was already a hassle.
If Sakayanagi suddenly started dating Shirogane, it would be a disaster for Kamuro.
That would mean carrying three meals.
Her already annoying workload would double.
"..."
No way.
"Hehe—" Sakayanagi didn't answer directly.
But she quickly added, "Though, it seems like he has bad taste."
Kamuro agreed.
She also thought that anyone who liked Sakayanagi had poor judgment because Sakayanagi was so wicked—like a little devil.
"But he also has good taste," Sakayanagi continued.
"..." Kamuro.
Kamuro was completely lost.
What did it even mean to have both bad and good taste?
But she had already noticed that these two seemed to have a pretty good relationship. Even though they were from different classes, they could often be seen talking alone on the field.
PS: Today's update! The schedule is changing—I'll be posting at night now, between 9:30 and 10:30 PM.
PS: You guys know what I'm about to say, right? Monthly votes, recommendations, blades—give me everything!
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