After dealing with Nanase's situation, Yukio returned to his own class. Coincidentally, Ryuuen—who should've been back ages ago—also came in through the classroom's back door right then.
Ryuuen hadn't gone to the bathroom or anything. He'd taken a detour on purpose, and now walked over to share what he'd dug up.
"Earlier I had Albert snap a brutal photo of Housen."
"I took it to First-year Class D and casually asked around. Got the answer immediately—Housen's just like we were when we started last year. He used violence to unify his class."
You could tell how meticulous Ryuuen was. He hadn't even gotten the full picture from that hallway clash, yet from a single incident, he was already trying to probe Housen's background.
And sure enough, he confirmed it: Housen was basically the same as Yukio's class last year—he'd used violence to force unity, using that method to temporarily glue the class together.
That approach had pros and cons.
The upside was you didn't have to argue. Decisions were fast, and you could mobilize the whole class to deal with anything—unlike Second-year Class D, where a lot of situations always brought out internal disagreement and different voices.
The downside was that if Housen failed to bring benefits to his classmates, dissatisfaction would pile up and eventually bite back harder and harder.
And now, thanks to that photo Ryuuen spread among First-year Class D's underclassmen, Housen's authority had taken a huge hit.
Yukio couldn't help smiling. "So you really hold grudges, huh, Ryuuen."
Ryuuen shrugged, wearing a playful look. "Learned it from you. Housen just bared his claws at you a little and you sent him to the infirmary. He mouthed off at me twice—am I not supposed to return the favor?"
"Fair enough." Yukio nodded. "Tit for tat."
The Housen incident ended there.
In just a single afternoon, he'd already become a laughingstock for both the first-years and the second-years. Both grades mocked him for not knowing his place—charging straight at the student council president and getting disciplined hard.
They even heard that in First-year Class D, a lot of people were already unhappy with Housen's arrangements.
But afterward, it seemed Housen beat them up, and they had no choice but to obediently fall back in line.
Either way, it had nothing to do with Yukio.
After school, he went with Shiina and Ibuki to the Keyaki Center for dinner, then returned to the dorm and started thinking through the exact training plan for Nanase tomorrow.
After a little while, a knock sounded at the door.
Yukio walked over and cracked the door open just a sliver—only for a small head to immediately try squeezing inside.
The only one mischievous enough to do that was the underclassman Amasawa.
Her dark reddish hair still carried a faint sour-spicy scent of tom yum. She probably ate it and came straight over.
"Hehe, senpai, good evening~" Amasawa didn't seem to care what she looked like right now. She greeted him through that tiny door crack, bright as ever.
Yukio slowly opened the door all the way and let her in. Once it was fully open, he noticed she was also carrying a small pastry box.
"You even brought a gift?"
"Obviously~ Isn't that basic visiting etiquette?" Amasawa said it like it was common sense—so much so it pulled Yukio right out of the mood.
Seriously… White Room students really are something else?
Even normal students—especially ones raised with good manners like the kids on Japan—weren't going to bring gifts every time they popped into someone's dorm.
Only a place as abnormal as the White Room could teach people to be this rigid about proper etiquette.
But aside from that surface-level politeness, Amasawa actually felt pretty normal in other ways—at least, she was incredibly familiar and casual. She didn't even need Yukio to guide her; she treated the place like it was her own and strolled right in, then plopped down on the sofa with her knees together.
Then she decided even that wasn't comfy enough, lifted her legs up, braced her heels against the sofa cushion, and hugged her knees with both arms.
Those black stockings—showing off a clear strip of absolute territory—pressed tight as her knees drew together. Because of that motion, a few taut creases formed in the fabric, pulling from both thighs and calves toward the hollow behind her knees.
And with her arms wrapped around her legs, her pleated skirt naturally rode up a little.
If she wasn't careful… he might end up seeing treasure.
Yukio wasn't about to be polite with some little underclassman. He admired openly while asking, "So? You came over because of Housen? After I injured him, did it mess up your plan?"
"Nope, nope~" Amasawa set the little gift box on the table, sounding completely unconcerned. "That gorilla went looking for trouble and got taught a lesson—he deserved it. Why would I come deny your way of doing things over someone like that, senpai…"
"I'm just here to report progress. Senpai—our plan is already halfway done. We successfully got Ayanokouji-senpai to buy a new small knife."
Reading between Amasawa's words, she clearly didn't care whether Housen lived or died. And like Ryuuen said, Housen had been infamous in their area back in middle school too.
In other words, Housen was definitely not a White Room student. The only reason he'd joined this expulsion plan was because he'd been tempted by Tsukishiro's offer of twenty million points.
"Looks like you've already made contact with Ayanokouji." After acknowledging that, Yukio shifted his focus to Amasawa's contact with Ayanokouji.
Amasawa nodded, pretending she knew absolutely nothing about the White Room or the so-called "masterpiece" Ayanokouji.
"Mm. He looks kind of low-energy, but he seems like he's hiding something deep, too."
"It feels like he's already noticed our plan, but he's acting indifferent… maybe he's got his own play."
"Honestly, I still think your plan has a lot of holes." Yukio shook his head, then brought up the original arrangement. "But since you've already made contact…"
"That means Second-year Class D already reached a deal with you. You're going to help one of the failing students get through a special exam, right? You remember who I told you to help?"
Amasawa nodded cheerfully. "Don't worry, senpai—leave it to me. Even if I'm a lone wolf right now, there are still a few girlfriends in First-year Class A I can ask for help."
"Alright, serious talk's done~" As she said it, there was a rare spark of liveliness and craving in Amasawa's eyes. "Come on, senpai—let's play a suuuper exciting game!"
Her mood was like a July wind—fast one second, slow the next—impossible to pin down.
Without waiting to see whether Yukio agreed, Amasawa had already opened the gift box smoothly on her own, revealing two cute, colorful mochi-like dumpling pastries inside.