Ryunosuke arrived at the library. Sure enough, that familiar silver hair strand appeared in his view.
That girl sat in her favorite chair as usual, turning pages of a book titled Sherlock Holmes: Revelation.
Ryunosuke walked in front of her. That girl seemed to be sulking; she kept staring at her book and ignoring his presence.
Ryunosuke sat across from Hiyori and said half-jokingly.
"Yo! The library NPC has respawned."
Hiyori closed her book with a slightly annoyed face. "Treating other people as NPCs is too much, Akasaka-kun."
Seeing Hiyori finally willing to respond to him, Ryunosuke's goal was achieved. He said in an apologetic tone. "Sorry, this time I destroyed Class C quite badly, even though I already held back..."
Ryunosuke stopped his sentence. Hiyori covered her face with a book and rolled her eyes sweetly.
"I truly felt that 'mercy' of yours. Thank you for releasing 10 million personal points and giving Class C room to breathe."
Facing Hiyori's sarcasm, Ryunosuke felt somewhat awkward. After all, he had made all of Class C's points zero, and caused their homeroom teacher and class leader to be expelled from school. Daring to show his face in front of Hiyori now indeed required quite thick shamelessness.
Ryunosuke said awkwardly, "Um, Shiina-san, are your points still enough? If lacking, I can lend you some, the kind that doesn't need to be returned..."
This was the first time he was so generous to someone. Usually he didn't want to spend a single penny. This showed how important Hiyori was in his heart.
Hiyori closed her book softly. "No need, Akasaka-kun. Thanks to your 'charity' of 10 million points, each of us could get a share of 250,000 personal points. If we're frugal, that's still enough for half a year. Thank you very much for your generosity."
Hiyori smiled sweetly, but her tone was full of sarcasm. It seemed being betrayed by a fellow book-loving friend wasn't something she could just forget in a short time.
Ryunosuke was indeed quite thick-skinned; having just stabbed from behind, he already wanted to make up as if nothing happened. Truly shameless. But Hiyori didn't really blame him. She still chatted as usual, while collecting the new novel.
That was her main purpose. If not for Ryunosuke releasing a new book she really wanted to read, she wouldn't have forgiven him so easily.
Hiyori happily received the new novel given by Ryunosuke as a bribe to coax her, namely the beginning part of Your Lie in April (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso).
Ryunosuke felt a bit guilty. Considering the ending of this novel's story wasn't too happy, he felt like he would stab her for the second time. But Hiyori, who had only read the beginning part that didn't contain sadness yet, didn't notice any oddity and really enjoyed its contents.
She even forgot time until the day already showed 7:30 PM. Ryunosuke kept accompanying her, watching her...
Long after, Hiyori let out a long breath, still mesmerized by its contents. "A very beautiful story. The story of Miyazono Kaori and Arima Kosei is truly sweet. Surely the ending is happy and warm, right?"
The corner of Ryunosuke's lips twitched, he didn't dare answer.
Hiyori just assumed that man hadn't thought about the story's ending yet, so she didn't mind. She didn't know that later she would cry sobbing because of this book and would confront Ryunosuke. But that was for later.
Seeing the day was already dark, Hiyori prepared to go home. The two of them walked together toward the school dormitory. Because the boys' and girls' dormitories were in the same building (just different elevators/access), they walked side by side.
In the middle of the way, Hiyori asked her curiosity. "Can you tell me how you arranged the plan against Class C? I'm very curious."
Ryunosuke's steps stopped. He looked at her strangely. "You want to know?"
Hiyori nodded. There were several things she hadn't fully understood. Besides, the incident had passed, telling it now wouldn't affect anything. Ryunosuke agreed and summarized his explanation.
"Actually, that first contract was just a backup option. The contract I signed with Ryuen worth 10 million points was money he extorted from the other two classes. I deliberately waited for him to finish deceiving those two classes, then it was my turn to deceive him."
Hiyori puffed her cheeks. "Akasaka-kun, you're really evil!"
Ryunosuke shrugged. "There's more evil stuff, want to hear?"
Hiyori hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.
Ryunosuke continued about the second contract. "Actually, the second contract conflicted with the first contract. The reason is, if I wanted to get 10 million from the first contract, I had to release claims against Yamauchi Haruki. However, if I chose the second contract, the result was seven people from you would be expelled and your class points would become zero."
"Although your leader, Ryuen, chose to bear everything alone, the others were still considered accomplices and had to bear responsibility. Although not expelled, your class points would still be cut to zero. But, I wanted to maximize profits."
"So, I used invisible ink pen to hide the first contract's validity period. As long as I didn't bring it up, Ryuen would misunderstand and think the Yamauchi matter was finished. So, I used the second contract's contents first to drain almost all your homeroom teacher's personal points, Sakagami Kazuma."
"He had been teaching for 5 years. While our homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, only 3 years and her salary was only half of your homeroom teacher's, but she could save almost 8 million points. From there I deduced that Sakagami-sensei must have more than 20 million personal points. So, I immediately chose to drain all his money."
Hearing this devil-like explanation, the corner of Hiyori's lips twitched, and she slightly moved away from Ryunosuke. "Are you a devil, Akasaka-kun...?"
Ryunosuke waved his hand casually. "Not at all, this is nothing yet. There's more terrible stuff, want to hear?"
He brought his face closer, teasing Hiyori.
Hiyori bit her lower lip. Her curiosity was already piqued, how could she stop now? She puffed her cheeks signaling Ryunosuke to quickly speak.
Ryunosuke explained about the first contract which was the final "checkmate."
"I deliberately declared the first contract invalid and released claims for those 10 million points to plunge Class C into a deadly situation. At the same time, I baited your homeroom teacher to attack a student so he'd be removed from his position."
"A class that loses its leader while also losing its homeroom teacher basically won't be able to do anything anymore. That's why I left those 10 million points for you. Actually not because I wanted to, but because I 'had to' do it. Between getting 20 million plus destroying you, or just 10 million without other results, I knew which was more profitable."
"So, you didn't leave those 10 million because of our friendship, but purely because the profit on the other side was bigger?" Hiyori pondered for a moment and finally understood.
Indeed, because the contracts conflicted, if he wanted to destroy the opponent, Ryunosuke had to give up the first contract. If not, he would only get 20 million and the matter would just end without being able to expel Ryuen or remove the homeroom teacher. Yes, removing the homeroom teacher was actually just a bonus that happened to pass before his eyes.
Class rank increase didn't always have to be by adding points. Reducing opponent points also worked. As long as he had remaining points, he just needed to drag the other three classes to zero, then he would become Class A. That was the madness of an Akasaka Ryunosuke.
Currently, Ryunosuke's total personal points were:
20 million from Sakagami Kazuma.
2 million from Chabashira Sae.
2.6 million from Hoshinomiya Chie.
500 thousand from extorting Horikita Manabu, plus 200 thousand Student Council salary.
After deducting spy camera costs and living expenses, his remaining points were 25.04 million points (not including pocket change).
Hiyori realized how terrifying Ryunosuke was, but she had no other choice. Currently her position was very weak. She only relied on the help of Albert and Ibuki left by Ryuen. Without them, she definitely couldn't lead Class C (which had now dropped to Class D).
Hiyori might be quite capable as a strategist, but to become a class leader, she felt it was impossible. She was just a gentle literary girl. She had no authority to lead.
Hiyori took a deep breath as if having steeled her resolve. She stood straight in front of Ryunosuke and pleaded.
"Let's cooperate, Akasaka-kun!"
Ryunosuke seemed to have already expected this. His lips grinned, showing a smile that was hard to interpret, different from the gentleness he usually showed to Hiyori.
"Think carefully, Shiina-san. Seeking profit from a tiger isn't a good choice."
Hiyori sighed. "Do I have any other choice? I can't protect Class C alone. Now we've even become Class D..." she smiled bitterly. "Without Ryuen Kakeru, our class is just a scattered pile of sand. Although he used to lead with violence, at least we were united. Now, those wolves won't want to obey a literary girl like me. Besides cooperating with you, is there any other way?"
Ryunosuke shook Hiyori's hand. "In that case... pleased to cooperate with you."
Hiyori shook back. "Pleased to cooperate with you, Akasaka-kun."
The two officially formed a secret cooperation.