Chapter 44: The Invisible Smoke Between Class D and Class C

An hour later.

Yamawaki was completely exhausted, lying on the ground. It took him a while to recover enough to stand up.

"Too bad. You need to work on your physical fitness. Your basketball potential is quite limited."

After saying this, the basketball coach led the others back to practice. Yamawaki had failed the basketball team's assessment.

The various tests had drained Yamawaki's energy, and he could only drag his tired body out of the gym.

[This is bad... The plan failed... When I go back... Ryuen will definitely beat me half to death... But there's nothing I can do...]

Yamawaki felt helpless, as he hadn't expected things to turn out this way.

[These damn shoelaces... What's going on?!]

Yamawaki cursed in his heart.

Behind him, Saiki was still using his invisibility to follow his every move. Although invisibility could only last for ten minutes at a time, Saiki could use it almost continuously.

'While you are indeed unlucky, if you're planning something malicious, you should be prepared for the consequences.'

Saiki thought to himself. Now that Yamawaki's plan had failed, he would likely go report to Ryuen Kakeru.

Saiki was curious about Ryuen's intentions, so he continued to follow Yamawaki, wanting to see what their plan was.

Soon, Saiki followed Yamawaki to the school's KTV. As a school with all kinds of entertainment facilities, a KTV was naturally included.

Yamawaki's destination was clear. He walked straight into a private room.

Inside the dimly lit room, Ryuen Kakeru was sitting on a sofa, swirling a cocktail glass in his hand. The clear liquid inside sloshed around, while Albert Yamada, wearing sunglasses, stood silently beside him like a bodyguard.

'That's just juice, right? Minors aren't allowed to drink alcohol.'

'But they chose a KTV for their secret meeting? This is my first time here.'

'There don't seem to be any surveillance cameras inside the room. Is that why they chose this place?'

Saiki pondered. Although he knew the school had a KTV, he had never been there before, as karaoke was usually a group activity—something Saiki hated.

"What happened to you?"

Even Ryuen was puzzled when he saw Yamawaki's disheveled state.

[I just told him to provoke Sudo Ken. How did he end up like this?]

"Sorry, Ryuen... I failed."

"Failed? Why?"

Ryuen narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze filled with a cold, murderous intent.

"I..."

Yamawaki didn't know what to say. The fact that he had fallen twice because of his shoelaces coming undone was too absurd to explain. He himself didn't understand what had happened, but under Ryuen's intimidating presence, he had no choice but to explain everything in detail.

After hearing Yamawaki's story, Ryuen was stunned.

[What is this guy talking about? Falling twice because of shoelaces? No carbon-based life form with functioning limbs should be able to do something like that.]

[Given his cowardly nature, he wouldn't dare lie to me, especially with something this ridiculous. I was only planning to test the waters today, but since it didn't work out, forget it. We have plenty of opportunities.]

[Still, Sudo Ken's explosive personality is something we can exploit. If we can get him expelled, it'll deal a significant blow to their class. We'll start with Class C, slowly chipping away at them... Let's do it after the midterms.]

A meaningful smile appeared on Ryuen's face.

'Yare yare, so that's how it is.'

Saiki, hearing Ryuen's thoughts, immediately understood the general outline of his plan.

As he had guessed earlier, Ryuen wanted to use Sudo Ken's personality to get him expelled.

'Is this really what a high school student thinks about every day?'

Saiki muttered to himself.

'But how did they know about Sudo's temper? During their surveillance, Sudo shouldn't have lost his temper...'

At that moment, there was a rapid knocking at the door.

"Oh, is that them?"

Ryuen slightly raised his chin, and Yamawaki, despite his exhaustion, hurried to open the door.

'Yare yare, no wonder.'

Saiki narrowed his eyes slightly, as the person standing at the door was someone he was very familiar with.

Kushida Kikyo.

"You... you are?"

Yamawaki was surprised. He hadn't expected Kushida Kikyo to show up here.

"Although we've communicated via text before, this is our first official meeting, right, Kikyo?"

Ryuen maintained his smile, looking at Kushida with the gaze of a predator.

[What a terrifying woman. I never expected her to proactively share information about her classmates with me. With her help, we should be able to bring down Class C even faster.]

"Nice to meet you. Please take care of me!"

Kushida greeted him with a smile, appearing like a cheerful and adorable girl.

But Saiki knew exactly what her true intentions were.

[Ryuen wants to target Class C—perfect, I don't care about the class. My only goal is to get rid of Horikita Suzune. I need to get her expelled, and Ryuen is a tool I can use.]

Both of them were trying to use each other.

It was Kushida who had informed Ryuen about Sudo Ken's personality, leading Ryuen to decide to exploit it.

'What troublesome people.'

Saiki thought to himself. This would only bring more trouble to the class.

"You're willing to betray your own class to work with me. What's your goal?"

"Just to get rid of someone I believe must be expelled from the school."

In that instant, Kushida's expression changed. Her previously clear eyes now reflected a cold, calculating gaze.