Seeing all the members of Class A already waiting for him in the hall, Ryunosuke stepped forward without a shred of fear and greeted Honami.
"Yo, Honami-chan, long time no see~"
Calling Honami like that in public made everyone stare at him with strange looks. Honami felt embarrassed; she pursed her sweet lips and let out a quiet grumble.
"Akasaka-kun, could you please stop calling me Honami-chan?"
"At the very least, don't call me that in front of so many people…" Her voice grew smaller.
In truth, she didn't mind being called that by Ryunosuke, but he could at least hold himself back a little in public!
Honami covered her reddening face with both hands, wishing she could sink into the ground right then and there.
Everyone was watching them — how was she supposed to explain their relationship? She shot Ryunosuke a look of blame.
"Shuu~ shuu~"
Ryunosuke whistled, turning his face away and pretending not to notice. Honami puffed out her cheeks in irritation. If it weren't for so many people here, she would have already kicked and hit him.
Seeing this, Ryunosuke stopped joking and started the serious conversation.
"I want to cooperate with the current Class A. I'm only representing myself, not my class."
Ryuji felt curious. "Why represent yourself and not your class?"
Ryunosuke shrugged helplessly. "It's not like I'm trying to make you laugh, but my class still hasn't united until now — we're still divided into three factions."
"Hirata Yosuke leads a small group of 18 people."
"Karuizawa Kei manages 5 gyaru girls."
"Kushida Kikyo holds 8 people."
"The rest are loners or in pairs."
"The situation is so bad that we can't even agree on opinions — I can't represent the whole group at all."
Ryunosuke laid out his difficulties, and it was indeed a bitter truth.
Even though Suzune was the leader on the surface, the real power lay with Hirata. Meanwhile, Kei was Hirata's current girlfriend, which meant they controlled more than half the people. And then there was Kushida, whose majority sided with Hirata as well.
Honestly, Suzune simply wasn't suited to be a leader. She was far too antisocial. If she could have inherited even half of Kushida's social skills, she wouldn't have ended up with no one to rely on and wouldn't need to depend on Ryunosuke and Ayanokouji alone to prop up her "leader" status.
Ryuji seemed to understand the difficulty and didn't press further. Both sides then sat down in their chairs.
Ryunosuke sat alone on one side, while the other side was led by Honami, with Chihiro on her left and Ryuji on her right.
Curiously, Ryunosuke searched for a certain someone, and right at the edge of the crowd, he found a pair of iconic "dead fish eyes." He waved his hand to greet her.
"Yo, hello, Miss Dead Fish Eyes."
The girl called "Miss Dead Fish Eyes" was none other than Himeno Yuki.
The moment she felt herself being called out, Himeno immediately cursed under her breath and tried to slip into the crowd to hide her presence.
Unfortunately… being called out by someone as prominent as Ryunosuke, there was no way she could be ignored. Everyone's gaze turned to Himeno at once.
Himeno's body went stiff for a moment. She let out a long breath, then walked out toward Ryunosuke with a displeased expression.
"Hey! Calling someone by a nickname like 'dead fish eyes' out of nowhere is very rude, you know."
"But you really do have a pair of dead fish eyes."
Faced with Ryunosuke's provocation, Himeno stomped her foot up onto the bench and glared down at him from above. As though she wanted to kill him with those very dead fish eyes of hers, she stared at him dead straight. The atmosphere in the hall grew awkward.
Ryuji didn't know what Ryunosuke's purpose was in provoking Himeno, but he intended to intervene. However, Ryunosuke raised his hand to stop him, giving a signal for him to stay seated and not get involved. At the same time, he turned his gaze back to the girl in front of him.
This girl, despite her iconic dead fish eyes, was actually a high-class, beautiful girl if not for her eyes. Much like Hachiman from Oregairu, her appearance was somewhat obscured by the way her eyes looked.
Facing Ryunosuke's probing gaze, Himeno refused to back down and returned the stare. The two locked eyes, neither willing to give in.
Seeing the tension build, Honami wanted to stop them — but once again, Ryunosuke cut her off.
"We're not going to fight. Why are you all so tense? Sit down." Ryunosuke said flatly.
"Oh~" Honami sat back down limply, this time choosing to stay quiet and not get involved again.
Ryunosuke nodded in satisfaction, then resumed his staring contest with Himeno.
Himeno felt like cursing.
(What are you, jobless? You keep staring at me — my eyes are already tired, you know!!!)
Even so, she forced her eyes wide open without blinking, continuing to glare at Ryunosuke, her foot still planted on the bench and her arms crossed over her chest.
Ryunosuke smiled faintly. Even though he already knew this girl's name, he asked anyway.
"What's your name?"
Himeno glared at him with irritation. "On what basis should I tell you my name?"
Right at that moment, the little angel beside her — Honami — raised her hand and stood up, delivering a "backstab."
"Hehe, her name is Himeno Yuki-chan, you know~"
Himeno slowly lowered her hands, feeling the urge to hit someone just to let out her frustration. She wanted to scream at Honami — whose side are you actually on? Why did you just give out my name like that?!
Honami realized her mistake. She scratched the back of her head awkwardly, then sat back down with her head bowed, not daring to say another word.
Seeing that, Ryunosuke couldn't hold back a small laugh, but he suppressed it and spoke with a teasing tone.
"So your name is Himeno Yuki. Nice to meet you — my name is Akasaka Ryunosuke."
The moment he finished speaking, Ryunosuke extended his hand for a handshake.
Himeno stared at his hand with disgust and didn't take it. She felt that this man had ill intentions — as though he had been targeting her from the very start and seemed to know her far too well. It made her deeply uncomfortable, as though she was being read like an open book by him.
"A handshake won't be necessary. I have no interest in getting to know you."
Himeno firmly rejected Ryunosuke's offer of friendship. To her, befriending someone dangerous like him would only throw her otherwise ordinary high school life into chaos — and that was the last thing she wanted.