[The Next Day, Early Morning]
Saiki arrived at the classroom early. While no one was paying attention to him, he used his psychic powers to check Ai's position.
At this moment, Ai, disguised as Ryuen, had already entered the classroom.
[Ryuen actually came to the classroom this early today?]
[Normally, he always comes right at the last minute, doesn't he?]
[Just don't make eye contact with him…..]
The students of Class D, upon seeing "Ryuen," all showed a faint expression of fear on their faces.
'Yare yare, so normally he really does just come right on the bell, huh. This is a bit different than usual…..' Saiki thought to himself.
'But fortunately, with Ryuen's extreme personality, he doesn't usually interact with many students anyway. That should cut down on a lot of trouble, listen, just make sure you don't interact too much with anyone today. Just keep it this way until school's over, understand?'
[Relax, leave it to me!]
Ai responded with full confidence.
"Good morning, Ryuen….. You're here early today?"
Just as the bell was about to ring, Ishizaki Daichi came into the classroom and greeted Ai with extreme respect in his voice.
[But Saiki told me not to interact with anyone.]
Thinking that, Ai deliberately turned his head away, shifted his gaze elsewhere, and ignored Ishizaki completely.
'Oi oi oi, that's a bit too much…..'
Saiki felt a little uneasy inside.
[Ryuen….. Ryuen is still mad? He must still be too hung up on yesterday….. This is bad…..]
But compared to Saiki, Ishizaki Daichi was even more panicked.
"Um, Ryuen, I promise, today I'll keep following Yamanouchi! I'll definitely get more intel!"
Ishizaki hurried to say.
Yet Ai still didn't acknowledge him.
Feeling awkward, Ishizaki pursed his lips and went back to his seat.
'Yare yare, somehow it actually worked out okay, huh?'
Saiki sighed inwardly. Everything would just have to be dealt with tonight.
———
Time finally passed, and the sky gradually darkened.
Saiki brought Ai back to the place where he had met Ryuen yesterday.
'Yare yare, everything should be about ready now.'
Saiki placed Ryuen's stone statue back at the spot where it had stood before. He also held the same kind of shopping bag as yesterday, though this time, instead of the limited edition pudding, it just contained a regular pudding.
"Man, today was exhausting."
Ai stretched with a yawn.
She had indeed been busy all day.
Classes at school were fine, but after class she nearly walked into the girls' bathroom by mistake, almost causing a scene.
"He only has one minute left before he reverts, right? He won't remember anything during this period… so what do we do then…..?" Ai asked worriedly.
"As long as his memories before and after don't have any big discrepancies, it's fine." Saiki replied.
"But what if he happens to look at his phone and notices the date is off?"
"It's fine, don't worry." Saiki answered.
Saiki possessed mind control powers, and this ability could even distort perception.
For example, the fact that everyone in this world had brightly colored hair, that was entirely due to Saiki's doing.
He had also used this power earlier to some extent, dulling people's awareness of time in this world.
'After all, if I didn't set it up like that, the story's timeline would probably bug out.' Saiki thought.
"All right, you should get going now."
"Eh? I help out and then you just kick me away?"
Ai puffed her cheeks slightly.
"If he sees you the very moment he reverts, it'll just cause more trouble."
"Fine, fine, just don't forget our promise later!"
Ai said and quickly left.
Saiki focused his attention on Ryuen in front of him, there were only a few seconds left before he reverted.
'Yare yare, this should pass without issue… but for some reason Ryuen kind of smells faintly like mothballs, almost like something left in an empty locker. Weird.'
'As for memories, I've kept the setting and actions basically the same as yesterday…..'
'But I can't let things develop like before. I need to make sure it doesn't escalate.'
Saiki thought, then stood in front of Ryuen, keeping the same position as when his glasses were just about to be taken off yesterday.
At the same time, the stone on Ryuen's body began to crumble away,
"Don't blame me if I'm not gentle with you now!"
Ryuen's voice rang out. He had fully returned to normal, completely unaware of what had happened to him earlier.
'Yare yare, looks like he hasn't noticed anything strange. Good….. he'll never imagine his head was bouncing around like a soccer ball a while ago.'
At that moment, Ryuen had already pulled Saiki's glasses halfway off, about to see his eyes,
Suddenly, Saiki jerked back, dodging Ryuen's grab.
Ryuen looked surprised. Saiki was quicker than he'd expected, but then a grin of excitement spread across his face.
"Oh? Not bad reflexes. But the more you resist, the more fun it is. I'm really not in a good mood today, so I'll just vent the anger from losing the sports festival all on you!"
'Actually, that was yesterday already.'
Just as Ryuen stepped forward to attack, his phone suddenly rang.
"Oh?"
Ryuen pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and narrowed his eyes.
At the same time, his own voice started playing from the phone's speaker.
"Listen up, here's our next target. I'll tell you now how we're going to frame and crush Horikita Suzune, Kinoshita, you're in the same group as her later, right?"
"So just crash into her, like we practiced before, and make it look like she bumped into you. We'll disguise the whole thing as an accident."
What came from Ryuen's phone was exactly his previous discussion with classmates on how to set up Horikita Suzune.
Just now, Saiki had used his powers to control Ryuen's phone and send that recording to him.
This was the method to resolve today's conflict with Ryuen.
Since Ryuen believed Class B had some mastermind behind the scenes, then Saiki would just let him keep that illusion.
That should save him a lot of trouble.
"Hahaha, hahahahaha, hahahahahahaha!"
Hearing the recording, Ryuen burst out laughing at the sky.
"Interesting, very interesting. So he actually managed to catch me on tape?"
Though Ryuen looked calm on the surface, inside he was full of confusion.
[What's going on? Why is there a recording? That shouldn't be possible.]
[Our traitor Manabe wasn't even there at the time, so who did the recording? Is there another traitor? No, impossible…..]
[Could it have been Class B's Yamanouchi Haruki himself? Did he sneak into our Class D rest area and secretly record us? Could anyone even pull that off?]
[And he sent it to me at this exact moment, just to flaunt his ability? To show me everything is in his grasp, even the fact I would come to Saiki today….. What a terrifying guy…..]
'Actually, I'm the one who recorded it…..'
Saiki stood expressionless before Ryuen. Though Ryuen looked like he had everything under control, Saiki knew he was already losing composure inside.
[Yamanouchi Haruki….. really is an extraordinary guy…..]
[Ever since the special exam, everything has been according to his calculations.]
[I've already suffered two losses. Next exam….. no matter what, I have to win it back.]
'Yare yare….. His hatred toward Yamanouchi just keeps getting stronger…..'
Saiki pursed his lips. He had expected things to turn out this way, but it couldn't be helped.
Let Yamanouchi bear it all. He deserved it.
"Well, well, fine. Our classes' match will be settled in the next exam. Tell Yamanouchi this, you won this time, but we'll be watching him. The moment he shows even the slightest flaw, we'll rip him apart without mercy!"
"And Saiki, you too, just a lackey dog. Even if you're Shiina Hiyori's friend, I won't let you off easy."
"Wait and see. We'll crush you all underfoot."
After saying this, Ryuen waved his hand and left.
"Weird… what's that smell on me? Did I get something on my clothes?"
Watching his back as he left, Saiki finally let out a deep breath. At least in this first phase, Ryuen hadn't noticed anything wrong. But the problem wasn't completely solved yet.
———
A few minutes later, behind the dorms in the grass.
Albert, Ibuki, and Daichi gathered there again.
This was because Ai, disguised as Ryuen earlier, had ordered them to repeat yesterday's mission and meet here again.
Ryuen himself hadn't arrived yet, so the three were chatting.
"Feels like Ryuen was acting strange yesterday and today, but I can't pinpoint how."
"Probably just a bad mood….. He treated me like that this morning….. Clearly he's not happy with us."
"Either way, let's just avoid talking about the sports festival anymore….."
At that moment, Ryuen's footsteps suddenly approached.
"You guys, how did the job go?" Ryuen strode up and asked.
[What's that smell on him?]
[Mothballs? Mixed with a little mold?]
[Did he not wash properly… or does he just not wash his clothes?]
The same thought appeared in all their minds almost simultaneously. But they knew better than to provoke Ryuen now.
No one wanted a beating.
Ishizaki glanced at the others, then turned back to Ryuen,
"Ryuen, I tailed that Yamanouchi guy all day and recorded all his info."
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