"I don't want to be disturbed. To bury the fake genius, this kind of thing, only I am suitable."
On Arisu's face appeared a smile, and the cane in her hand lightly tapped the ground.
"This boring school life has, just a little bit, become interesting."
"Is that so? Then can I ask you one thing?"
And right at this moment, Ayanokoji opened his mouth and spoke.
"To be able to receive a question from you is truly an honor. Please ask as much as you like. If you want to know the reason I recognize you, I can tell you as well."
"No. I have no interest in that. I only want to know one thing, just by relying on you, can you bury me?"
Ayanokoji's expression had no change at all, and in his eyes there existed no trace of emotion.
"Ha ha, truly sorry, I accidentally laughed out. But I am not insulting your words. After all, I am very clear about how formidable of a person you are."
"From now on I will begin looking forward to it. To destroy your father's greatest masterpiece, that can be considered the fulfillment of my long-cherished wish..."
Arisu's face kept its smile, looking as if she was extremely confident in her own ability.
Only, her words were not finished when Ayanokoji continued to speak, "There truly does exist a person who might bury me. But it will not be you. I have already met that person."
"Mm?"
Arisu's eyebrows twitched slightly.
She was very clear, Ayanokoji right now was not lying.
"My earlier words also were not lies. In each incident that happened before, I practically did not participate at all."
"They were the work of others, and I think, at present, only that person has the possibility of defeating me. But Sakayanagi, you still do not have the qualification."
After Ayanokoji finished speaking, he did not stay. He took steps and walked straight away.
[Defeat me? That truly is something I eagerly desire. My own defeat is that man's defeat. In that case, it can prove that all the actions that man has taken were wrong.]
[Of course I hope someone can destroy this sorrowful contradiction in my heart. Only, Sakayanagi Arisu, you are not the suitable candidate. And the one who possibly can defeat me, I have already met.]
[Although at present we are in a cooperative relationship, perhaps one day we will become opponents. At that time, if a duel unfolds, you are the only one who might be able to defeat me, Saiki.]
Thinking so in his heart, Ayanokoji soon had already left the Special Teaching Building.
And after Ayanokoji left, Arisu remained in place, somewhat dazed.
"Besides Ayanokoji… there is another person? Horikita Suzune? Hirata Yosuke? Impossible…"
———
At the same time, Saiki, who had just finished tidying his things in the classroom, was preparing to go to the school's dessert shop to buy a coffee pudding to take back to the dormitory and enjoy.
About the situation on Horikita Suzune's side and Ayanokoji's side, Saiki did not know.
'Yare yare, today too many things happened. Compared to the usual exams, it's even more tiring.'
Saiki let out a sigh in his heart.
Although for the whole class this exam was without doubt a great success, for Saiki, who wanted a peaceful life, it was a great failure.
Because of the previous competition events, Saiki became a little more noticeable at school. This was not a good thing.
Saiki quickly left the classroom. The dessert shop would close soon, he could not waste time.
But at that moment, Saiki heard a familiar inner voice.
[I must pull Saiki into the student council. After I leave the student council, he will be the strongest power to oppose Nagumo.]
'Yare yare, so it really is this situation?'
Saiki was very clear about the source of this voice, it was precisely Horikita Manabu.
'Damn, he's standing right at the only exit. To leave the school building, I can only go from there. And the student council should be able to freely view the surveillance too. I can't casually use superpowers.'
Saiki knew he had no choice. In order to eat pudding as soon as possible, Saiki could only grit his teeth and choose to make contact.
He walked forward a few steps, and Manabu also noticed his presence.
"You came."
Manabu pushed his glasses, and his gaze immediately shifted to Saiki.
[Why does the president care so much about this Saiki? He even asked me to record the process of their running earlier… Although in the first half he did seem to run fast, but in the end he was only fourth place. Doesn't feel like anything special… Truly strange.]
At Manabu's side, in Tachibana Akane's eyes flashed a trace of doubt.
"Is there something you need?"
Saiki asked. Although he already knew the purpose of Manabu being here, he still pretended not to know and asked.
"Our student council happens to have a vacant position. Would you consider joining the student council?" Manabu asked.
[Joining the student council is practically the dream of almost all students. To join means in school having authority above other students, even being able to change the school's rules.]
Hearing Manabu's words, Tachibana Akane at the side was dumbfounded.
"President, are you serious?"
[President wants to specially approve this Saiki to join the student council? Is that for real? Apart from the sports festival, he has nothing special.]
[I checked his grades, also very average. Clearly earlier, Ichika and Katsuragi were more capable, but president rejected them. Yet now he wants to invite Saiki into the student council?]
"What's wrong? Are you doubting my decision?"
Manabu turned his head, expressionless, to look at Tachibana Akane. But from his body emanated a strong pressure.
"N-no." Tachibana quickly shook her head.
"Then, Saiki, your answer?" Manabu shifted his attention back to Saiki.
"Sorry. I have no intention of joining the student council."
Without the slightest hesitation, Saiki immediately gave his answer.
'Yare yare, I don't want to invite more trouble. Members of the student council draw people's attention. And usually there must be lots of work to handle.'
Saiki muttered in his heart. Joining the student council was something he would absolutely not consider.
'Not to mention, that guy called Nagumo in your student council seems like an extremely troublesome existence.'
"Huh?!"
At the side, Tachibana Akane was even more shocked.
[This person actually directly refused the president's invitation?! Joining the student council is something many students long for!]
"Is that so?"
At Saiki's reply, Manabu did not seem surprised. He only slightly nodded, then adjusted his glasses.
"If you later change your mind, you can come find me anytime."
After saying these words, Manabu left with Tachibana Akane. Saiki quickly sped his steps toward the school dessert shop.
———
About half an hour later, Saiki, holding a bag with pudding inside, impatiently walked the road back to the dormitory.
'Yare yare, at the very last moment, I finally still managed to buy the last coffee pudding. And today's even seems to be a limited flavor, tomorrow there will be no more.'
'They say it uses a special imported coffee. I really can't wait. This one, I'll slowly enjoy in my room. By the way, I can also make some milk tea.'
'Although today was full of troublesome things, as long as I can eat this pudding at the end, it can be considered perfect. Food gained after hard labor is even more delicious.]
At this moment, Saiki's entire mind was fixed on his pudding.
Now the sky was already somewhat dim. In the campus, there were not many students still lingering outside.
But just then, a figure suddenly appeared in front of Saiki.
"Really now, you made me wait a long time."
That somewhat careless voice belonged to Ryuen.
'Yare yare, another troublesome guy.' Saiki complained in his heart.
[Saiki, he's Shiina's friend. But I must get from his mouth information about Yamauchi. The grudge from the sports festival, I must pay back many times over!]
[The matter of Kushida's betrayal, Yamauchi already knew. And he also guessed some of the methods I used. He's not a simple guy. Most likely all the earlier incidents were his doing.]
[I need to know as much information about him as possible. Right now Saiki is the most suitable person.]
'?'
Hearing Ryuen's inner voice, Saiki was stunned for a moment. After several seconds he realized what was going on.
At the sports festival, in order to hide his identity, Saiki had been forced to use a series of methods that led Ryuen to a misunderstanding.
That made Ryuen believe everything was Yamauchi Haruki's scheme.
Only, Saiki had not thought this "boomerang" would ultimately return to himself.
'Yare yare… I finally dumped the trouble on Yamauchi Haruki, and in the end it comes back to me… Really… Is this karma…' Saiki sighed in his heart.
"Don't be so scared you can't say a word, Saiki. Relax. As long as you obediently cooperate with me, I won't do anything to you~ After all, you are Shiina's friend."
On Ryuen's face appeared a ferocious smile as he looked at Saiki.
[Although Shiina Hiyori is an important existence in our class, in necessary situations I still must pry out information from Saiki's mouth.]
"May I ask, what is the matter?" Saiki could only go along and ask.
"You and your classmate Yamauchi Haruki, your relationship is quite good, right? You are friends, right." Ryuen narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Just ordinary. Not that good." Saiki answered without thinking.
[We are not friends.]
"Oh? But what I know is different. I saw you two often together. Speaking of which, in this sports festival, you seemed to have an especially outstanding performance. Earlier I couldn't see it at all, you were hiding your strength the whole time?"
"I had trained before."
Hearing the words "hiding strength," Saiki's heartbeat sped up slightly. But soon he calmed down again. After all, Ryuen's level of cleverness was just right, perfectly avoiding suspicion of him.
"Is that so? In the pole-knockdown game earlier, you appeared in a place no one expected…"
'That was just me spacing out for a moment. Coincidence.'
"Was it Yamauchi Haruki's order?"
"Just coincidence." Saiki immediately answered. He was not lying.
Only, Ryuen did not buy it. He directly took out his phone and played the earlier video of Manabe Shiho and Karuizawa Kei. At the end of the video, Saiki appeared and stopped the situation from escalating.
"You appeared in the video. That proves you weren't the one filming, but it also proves at that time you were very close to Yamauchi Haruki, the one filming!"
"If I say the one filming wasn't Yamauchi, will you believe it?"
"Such a low-level lie is meaningless."
Ryuen's face instantly changed. Killing intent spread from his body. He slowly approached Saiki. Saiki, by reflex, held tightly the pudding in his arms. Nothing was more important than this existence.
"You've already reached the limit of my patience. I said before, as long as you cooperate with me, I won't do anything."
"In other words, if you're unwilling to cooperate, then I'll have to use some means to make you cooperate."
"I'll help you take off your glasses. Careful, or later the lens might cut you~ After all, in a moment I might beat your face fiercely."
Ryuen quickly reached out and took off Saiki's glasses.
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