Fumino and Rizu sat down and chatted. From that conversation, they began to understand the identity of the man in front of them and just how much of a "monster" he was.
Broadly speaking, they had already heard from Hiyori that this man was the mastermind who made the current Class D (formerly C) fall so badly. He could be said to be the big boss behind the scenes at this school.
Hiyori deliberately portrayed Ryunosuke as scary as possible, as if he were a terrifying monster. She did this because she was afraid these two girls would be attracted to him...
However, unfortunately, Hiyori's efforts to badmouth Ryunosuke actually produced the opposite result.
Fumino instead looked at Ryunosuke with a burning gaze, as if there were sparks of admiration in her eyes.
(This is bad!)
Hiyori sensed a threat. Fumino's gaze was the same as her gaze when looking at a new book; she knew very well that was a look of extreme interest in something.
Fumino basically had a slightly cunning (hara-guro) side. Knowing there was such an amazing "Demon King" in front of her, she was naturally very interested. She immediately approached and started talking to Ryunosuke.
"Hey, hey, can you tell me how you brought down that homeroom teacher? I want to learn too!" Fumino's eyes sparkled, making Ryunosuke feel dazzled.
Hiyori puffed out her cheeks, clearly jealous. Although her relationship with Ryunosuke was clean and had no special bonds, she had very good feelings toward this man who could always produce books she liked. For her, as long as this man was writing books for her, her life would never be boring.
Hiyori already considered him hers and couldn't be taken by other women. She immediately sat right between Fumino and Ryunosuke, completely separating them, then smiled sweetly at Fumino.
"Furuhashi-san, there are boundaries between men and women. Please mind your distance and manners."
While speaking, Hiyori stepped on Ryunosuke's toe under the table to vent her frustration.
Ryunosuke could only gape in confusion, not knowing what this girl was doing. Because Hiyori's strength was very weak, he didn't feel pain at all; in fact it felt slightly comfortable... So, he chose to remain silent and keep his mouth shut.
"Eh?" Fumino murmured in surprise.
Seeing Hiyori's attitude, she seemed to realize something. She glanced at them both several times with an expression full of curiosity.
"Don't tell me you two are dating?" Fumino asked bluntly without thinking twice.
That question instantly froze Hiyori and Ryunosuke. They exchanged glances for a moment, then turned their faces away simultaneously and said:
"No! (x2)"
This instead made Fumino feel strange. Hiyori's reaction earlier was clearly jealous of her. If they weren't dating, then the only possibility was... unrequited love?
Fumino glanced at Hiyori again.
(Hmm... seeing her behavior of kicking that man's foot out of jealousy, 80% my guess isn't wrong...)
Her eyes sparkled again; she really was the type who liked watching drama.
Rizu only looked up briefly, then looked down again to continue eating calmly. Really an obedient child.
On the other side, Hiyori was still demanding the book. Ryunosuke finally finished eating and handed over the draft of the new book he wrote to the girl.
Hiyori hugged the book happily and smiled broadly. "Thank you, Akasaka-kun. I'll take good care of it."
Ryunosuke waved his hand indifferently, then took out his phone. "May I have both your contacts?"
Rizu and Fumino were stunned for a moment.
"Eh? Is that okay?"
Fumino took out her phone and exchanged contacts. Rizu did the same.
Hiyori's gaze began to look unfriendly. After getting their contacts, Ryunosuke carried his tray and prepared to leave, completely unaware of Hiyori's annoyed gaze like a neglected wife.
Hiyori showed great displeasure with his action of asking for those two girls' contacts. However, Ryunosuke didn't realize it; after all they weren't a couple, so he didn't think in that direction.
Seeing the man leave, Hiyori felt a bit disappointed. She actually wanted to chat more about books with him, because they hadn't had a relaxed chat like this in a long time.
She tightened her embrace on the book and said to her two friends: "Let's go back, Ogata-san, Furuhashi-san."
Anyone could see that Hiyori's mood was down, except for Ryunosuke. Fumino and Rizu exchanged glances; they began to understand the complexity of feelings between the two.
Everything was clearly written on Hiyori's face.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Meanwhile, Ryunosuke who had left was immersed in his thoughts.
"Furuhashi Fumino and Ogata Rizu, huh?"
"Although since Kato Megumi came I knew this wasn't a single world, I didn't expect to meet other anime characters this quickly."
Ryunosuke recalled memories from his previous life about them.
Fumino was an expert in literature subjects. She was a girl who liked sweets but had weak digestion. Meanwhile Rizu, her height was only 143 cm and her family owned an udon shop. Her specialty was science.
Both were geniuses in their respective fields, but they instead liked things opposite to their talents. Fumino was talented in literature but wanted to study science, while Rizu was talented in science but preferred literature. Because they forced themselves to study what they weren't good at, no wonder they ended up in Class D (C). Those weaknesses were indeed very glaring.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Time passed another month.
Now there was one and a half months left before the exam on the cruise ship began.
The rankings of Class A and Class B were almost equal, their point difference was less than 20 points. It was estimated that next month Class B would catch up.
However, Hoshinomiya Chie didn't feel at a loss. Her salary had increased many times over during the past four months. The 600,000 personal points she gave to Ryunosuke had returned in just half a month.
Class C's (Ryunosuke's) points stood at 145, which meant they received 14,500 points per month—enough for normal expenses if frugal. And the debt of 9,000 points from his classmates to buy exam questions was finally collected and paid this month.
Ryunosuke could only shake his head; it took them two months to collect just 9,000 points.
Meanwhile, Class D led by Hiyori had 95 points. They didn't need to worry about money because they still had a reserve of 10 million points previously obtained.
Today, the homeroom teacher of Class A (actually B, but called A here because of ranking), namely Hoshinomiya Chie, wanted to discuss business with him. Ryunosuke knew exactly what she wanted: to use him to maintain Class A's position.
Ryunosuke opened the teachers' room door roughly.
Chie was already waiting for him there. Without hesitation, Ryunosuke immediately sat down and crossed his legs.
Chie was hugging a drink bottle while smiling foolishly, clearly she was drunk.
Ryunosuke didn't care about that; he only cared whether this business would be profitable and how many points he could get.
Chie walked staggeringly toward him, sat next to him, then burped.
"Hic~"
Ryunosuke covered his nose because of the pungent alcohol smell.
"How much did you drink, Hoshinomiya-sensei?"
He opened the window to find fresh air.
Chie waved her hand casually. "What's the problem? I'm an adult, just drinking a little won't be a problem, hic~"
She slumped on the desk, barely able to open her eyes.
Ryunosuke disgustedly took the drink bottle from her embrace.
Chie tried to take it back but was prevented.
"If you dare drink again, this business is canceled."
"Eeeh~ why are you so cruel~"
Chie whined, but she knew what was more important. She patted her own cheeks to try to sober up.
After a while, she took a deep breath and returned to her normal mode. She looked at Ryunosuke and said:
"I want to continue maintaining Class A's position. Name your price, how many personal points are you asking to help?"
Ryunosuke's eyes immediately sparkled hearing the word "points." He approached enthusiastically and rubbed his palms together.
"Last time was our first cooperation, so I gave you a discount price. This time there's no more promotional price. 2 million personal points, not a penny less."
Chie was clearly not satisfied with that price and tried to negotiate.
"Last time it was only 600,000, why has it now increased more than threefold? Can it be a bit cheaper?"
"No way!"
Ryunosuke crossed his arms forming an X sign, flatly refusing.