193-194

193 The art of escaping gambling and stripping the family tree

Mibuomi Aoi seemed as if all the energy and spirit had been drained from him. Looking lost and defeated, he followed Momobami Kirari into the student council meeting room ahead of the others.

Igarashi Sayaka, the vice president, and a young woman with white hair stood side by side behind Kirari.

He sat at the other end of the long table, directly opposite Momobami Kirari. The confident spirit he once had when proclaiming he would disrupt her peaceful life had vanished. All his dreams and schemes had been crushed to dust today.

At this point, he could only accept reality.

His status within the family would plummet, and his once-bright future would now appear dim and uncertain.

In a defeated tone, he spoke, "Momobami Kirari, you've won."

"I'm leaving the school."

"I went through all that trouble to form the Full-Bloom Association and launch a revolt, trying to defeat you and become student council president. But in the end, you saw through everything. I lost."

"As expected, defeating you was an impossible task."

Mibuomi Aoi pretended to sound carefree, but what he had done wouldn't withstand scrutiny. If Kirari decided to investigate the Full-Bloom Association afterward, he might not even get the chance to leave with dignity.

"…What are you even talking about?" Kirari tilted her head, seemingly confused. "You mentioned the Full-Bloom Association? A revolt? What's that?"

"Huh?" Aoi froze, staring at Kirari's genuinely puzzled expression. A wave of deep humiliation welled up inside him. "President, if you've got something to say, just say it. I'm no longer your enemy."

"Ouri-chan, did you know anything about this?"

Kirari tugged gently on a leash in her hand, drawing attention for the first time to someone hidden under the table—Shimotsukiuri Ouri.

Shimotsukiuri Ouri slowly crawled out from under the table and knelt by Kirari's legs, discreetly wiping some sticky threads from the corners of her mouth. Her once-neat Hyakkaou Private Academy uniform was now wrinkled and disheveled.

"The Full-Bloom Association is…" Her eyes were devoid of emotion. After giving Mibuomi Aoi a fleeting glance, she expressionlessly recited everything about the Full-Bloom Association.

Kirari listened quietly, occasionally patting Ouri's head in reward.

"I see... Mibuomi-kun was just putting on a one-man show the entire time."

A one-man show?!

Aoi staggered backward several steps. He had put all his efforts into orchestrating today's situation, and this was how it was being dismissed?

"If Ouri-chan says so, then I understand. Sayaka, please report the results of your investigation~"

"Yes!" Sayaka, excited at finally being useful, immediately pulled out a file and began reading.

"Student Council Secretary Mibuomi Aoi founded the Full-Bloom Association…"

"A total of 233 people participated in this 'National Theft Game'."

Kirari raised her hand with a questioning look. "But according to Ouri-chan, most of the Full-Bloom Association members are livestock, right? Where did they get the money?"

"According to our investigation, it came from Mibuomi Aoi's family loan business, which issued loans using the members' collateral at extremely low prices."

"According to Japanese law, today's participants no longer have the ability to pay the penalties issued by our student council."

Put simply, the value of these Full-Bloom Association members had been squeezed dry—until fifty years into the future.

The forced smile on Mibuomi's face stiffened. How… How could even such private matters have been investigated?

That was his last resort!

Before the gamble began, he hadn't thought he would lose. But out of habit, he prepared a backup plan—coercing the lower-tier members to mortgage their family assets, then issuing loans at dirt-cheap rates himself.

If things became irreversible, he could still sell off the assets and recover part of the loss. One way or another, he wouldn't lose.

But now that this had been publicly exposed, he had lost all dignity.

"Ara, as expected from the student council's treasurer. You really are good at scheming."

"That's enough, Kirari. What's the point of humiliating me at this stage?"

Seeing all his disguises torn apart, Mibuomi Aoi dropped the pretense: "I'm transferring to Advanced Nurturing High School. I'll spend my last semester there and prove I'm not inferior to you!"

With that, Mibuomi turned to leave dramatically.

"I'm afraid you can't leave~ If you go like this, Hikigaya-kun would get angry with me."

"What do you mean?!"

Kirari's gaze was full of amusement. "You even hired assassins to target Hikigaya-kun's family, didn't you? And today, you stationed a large number of yakuza around the Hikigaya residence. But unfortunately, all of them have already vanished."

"You also tried to spread a scandal about the vice president and Hikigaya-kun online."

"What I hate the most is using methods other than gambling. If you had won today's National Theft Game, I would've overlooked it all."

"Unfortunately, you lost."

"So what? He's just some disgusting commoner. For your sake, Kirari, I won't bother him again—as long as he doesn't provoke me again."

"There's no longer a chance for that."

"…?"

Mibuomi froze.

Beside him, Momobami Ririka, wearing her metallic smiling mask, raised her phone and waved it.

"I've already spoken to the Mibuomi family head on the phone. He agreed to strip you of the Mibuomi surname. From now on, you have no ties to the Mibuomi family and are at our full disposal. They'll also send a direct family member to Hyakkaou Academy to atone for your sins."

Mibuomi Aoi's pupils dilated sharply. He couldn't believe what he was hearing through Ririka's voice, altered by a voice changer—his father had stripped him of the family name?

For families like theirs, parasitically rooted in Japan, a surname meant everything. To lose it meant—

He would lose everything.

Everything in the truest sense.

He would no longer have any right to participate in family affairs. The wealth, connections, and status he held would all be stripped away.

"You… You're lying to me, right?!" Mibuomi shouted, eyes red with rage.

"You can call and confirm it now." Ririka had no sympathy for someone who tried to fabricate a scandal between her and her soon-to-be brother-in-law, Hikigaya. Even through the voice changer, her icy tone was unmistakable.

"Impossible! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Mibuomi Aoi fumbled with shaking hands to dial his father's number.

All he got was a cold busy signal.

He then called his old butler. This time, the call connected quickly.

The butler spoke rapidly: "Young master, the family head has stripped you of your surname. You… must now fend for yourself."

194 - Do you want money or special rewards

"That's it. Young Master, don't contact me again. I'm afraid the family head will misunderstand."

After saying this, the old butler hung up the phone. Clang—Mibuomi Aoi's phone dropped to the floor.

"I really detest illegal and criminal behavior, Mibuomi-kun." Momobami Kirari swayed her toes slightly, drawing the gaze of Shimotsukiuri Ouri. "Now I give you two options: One—turn yourself in and confess to hiring a hitman to kill someone. Two—be imprisoned without trial."

This was the reward Momobami Kirari unilaterally bestowed upon Hikigaya Hachiman for being the victor.

A favored courtier who pleases the empress is, naturally, lavishly rewarded.

Otherwise, under the rules of Hyakkaou Academy, the most Mibuomi Aoi would suffer from losing a gamble would be paying a financial penalty. But under Momobami Kirari's manipulation, he not only lost the support that allowed him to commit evil, but was also going to be imprisoned.

"Uhahahaha! Do I even have a choice?" Mibuomi Aoi laughed hysterically. Kirari Momobami was so close in front of him, and yet so far—her gaze, as if looking at an ant, seemed to grind him into the dust. "So this is it... Everything I have can be taken away by just a single word from Momobami Kirari... So once I'm beyond the rules of Hyakkaou Academy, I'm not even worthy of being acknowledged by her anymore..."

His fiancée was gone. His followers were gone. His wealth, power, and family—gone. It was as if each loss corresponded to one of the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch. All five human senses seemed to be slipping away from Mibuomi Aoi.

How many years does hiring a killer get you in prison? Mibuomi Aoi, now cut off from his family's operations, didn't know. But Kirari's words gave him inspiration: just get locked up without trial.

The joy and sorrow between people are not mutual. Until now, Mibuomi Aoi didn't understand why those driven to desperation would choose mutual destruction. But at this point, he suddenly understood. Under an unequal system of power, it seems the only thing equal is life.

And you only get one.

Then… I'll just kill you, Momobami Kirari.

Mibuomi Aoi's voice was incredibly low. The woman in black leather from before was still outside the door with Hikigaya Hachiman. Inside, only four girls remained. They couldn't possibly stop a grown man like him.

So—kill her. Kill Momobami Kirari! Anyway, he was no longer part of the Mibuomi family. Even if her family wanted revenge afterward, let them go and destroy the Mibuomi family to their heart's content.

"Hahaha! All of you will die with me!" Mibuomi Aoi roared, spitting saliva from his mouth. His legs exploded with power, launching toward Momobami Kirari at frightening speed. His hands were already posed like iron pincers, ready to strangle this wretched woman to death.

But among the girls he thought were weak, there was Honebami Miroslava.

With no expression on her face, Miroslava stepped sideways. To her, Mibuomi Aoi's actions were like a child's game. She raised one of her long, strong legs high and, with a sound that tore through the air, swung it hard toward Mibuomi Aoi's neck.

Bang.

With both their forces combined, Mibuomi Aoi's body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, defying gravity. Blood spewed from his mouth as he drew a graceful arc through the air and crashed heavily to the ground.

Spurt, spurt.

Mibuomi Aoi twitched all over, gasping for breath like a drowning man. But more blood poured out than air came in. He lay on the ground—life or death unknown.

"Miroslava, have your people treat him a little, then tie him up at the sports field." At this Momobami , Kirari's lips curved slightly. "Let the members of the Full-Bloom Association who were involved in the gambling scheme each slap him to erase 10,000 yen of debt, and spit on him to erase 20,000 yen of debt. Then, send him to the same prison as before."

"Understood."

, have your people treat him a little, then tie him up at the sports field." , have your people treat him a little, then tie him up at the sports field." Miroslava' control of her strength was exquisite—enough to half-kill someone without taking their life. The victim would be trapped in endless pain. If unlucky, they might even lose control of their body below the neck.

As for the prison Kirari mentioned, it was the same one where Kiwatari Jun had been held.

Sending someone paralyzed from the neck down to that place… For the first time, a trace of pity appeared on Miroslava' face.

Without a doubt, it would be worse than hell.

But before entering hell, he would have to endure endless humiliation. If his former subordinates beat him to death beforehand, that might be a mercy.

She gently pressed her earpiece. Two male members of the Honebami family entered quickly through the side door. One dragged Mibuomi Aoi out like a dead dog, while the other, masked and holding a burlap sack and air freshener, cleaned up the blood rapidly.

The whole process took no more than ten seconds. Once done, they bowed deeply to Kirari and left the room.

"President, who were they?" Still shaken, Igarashi Sayaka clutched her small hands and asked curiously.

"They're kind of like distant relatives." Kirari didn't dwell on the topic.

Because next came—

Reward time!

Excited, she tugged on the leash in her hand. "Sayaka, there's still work to do for the Great Bloom Festival, so you and the vice-president go take care of it now~"

"Eh? B-but…" Igarashi Sayaka instinctively wanted to protest. She just wanted to stay by the president's side and compete with Shimotsukiuri Ouri for her affection. But she couldn't disobey Kirari's order.

So she pouted and left with a hint of grievance, muttering to herself: "I wanted a reward too, President…"

.

.

.

Hikigaya took the initiative to hold Yumeko's hand and entered the student council meeting room.

He felt that at this important moment in his life, Yumeko—as his girlfriend—should be there.

Important moments should be witnessed together.

"President."

Hikigaya nodded in greeting.

"Are you happy, Hikigaya-kun~" Momobami Kirari stroked Shimotsukiuri Ouri, who was curled up beside her leg, watching the two holding hands with a flicker of excitement in her eyes.

If Yumeko's fetish was being a cuckolded victim, then Kirari's kink was being the blonde instigator.

These two distant relatives didn't know each other's secret preferences.

"Yeah, I'm pretty happy." Having eliminated the nightmare of his childhood, Hikigaya Hachiman felt immense relief.

Compared to that, the commemorative prize for the Great Bloom Festival wasn't that important.

According to the rules, he was supposed to receive 600 billion yen. But… even if Kirari offered it, he wouldn't dare accept.

"Based on the current data, Hikigaya-kun will undoubtedly receive the commemorative prize for the Great Bloom Festival. Now I'll give you two options~" "Do you want the prize money… Or… a special reward?"