Chapter 174: Are You Some Kind of Champion of Justice?
"Of course there is. I'm neither lying nor deliberately being mysterious," Sakayanagi Arisu replied with a smile.
"Impossible," Kei said decisively. "Our class isn't like your Class A, which is practically split in half! Everyone trusts Yuto!"
Arisu's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
Those last two sentences really didn't need to be said.
The students in Yuto's Class C might not match Class A academically, but they possessed one major advantage that neither Class A nor Class D could compare with.
Unity.
Yuto's Class C, much like Ichinose Honami's Class B, was extremely united. Class A was divided between the Sakayanagi faction and Katsuragi faction, while Class D lacked any proper leader at all.
Even so, the unity in Yuto's class was fundamentally different from Ichinose's. Class C had gradually submitted to Yuto because of his authority and ability, while Class B's students were simply a group of kindhearted people who willingly stayed united.
Yuto looked at Arisu, who had fallen silent after Kei's remark, and smiled. "Sakayanagi, what exactly is this information you claim could affect my control over the class?"
"Shimizu, by asking that, are you saying you agree to my trade?"
"Actually, I can't. I'm not the student council president, so I don't have the authority to overturn the president's decision."
"You want my information, but you're unwilling to find a way to stop Katsuragi Kohei from entering the student council. You really are greedy, Shimizu."
"That isn't greed. It's simply the truth," Yuto replied with a completely serious expression.
That was a lie.
As vice president, Yuto could certainly find a way to stop Katsuragi from joining if he genuinely wanted to.
But Katsuragi was highly capable and far more suitable for student council work than most people. Yuto had no interest in training some incompetent idiot instead.
If he was going to recruit students to work for the council, naturally he would choose people with actual ability.
"Sakayanagi, let me ask you something. Is this information about someone in our class?" Yuto suddenly asked.
"Yes," Arisu admitted immediately.
"Koenji Rokusuke?!" Kei blurted out.
Almost everyone in Class C now followed Yuto's leadership. The only exception was Koenji, who continued doing whatever he pleased and showed no intention of cooperating with the class to reach Class A.
"No, no. Koenji could certainly affect Shimizu's control to some extent, but he isn't the person I'm talking about." Arisu smiled. "Don't bother guessing. You'd never—"
"You mean Ayanokouji Kiyotaka?" Yuto asked with a peculiar tone.
"..."
Arisu fell silent.
Judging by her reaction, Yuto had actually guessed correctly.
"Ayanokouji Kiyotaka?" Kei looked surprised.
She knew that classmate. He had been friends with Ike and the others, usually remained silent, had almost no presence, and was so ordinary that he barely attracted attention.
Someone like that could threaten Yuto's control over their class?
"Turns out you know about the White Room too."
Yuto and Arisu spoke the same sentence at exactly the same time, then looked at each other and smiled.
Kei puffed out her cheeks slightly.
Why did those two suddenly seem so perfectly in sync?
She hated being the only person who had no idea what they were talking about.
"Yuto, what's the White Room?"
"It's just an institution created by a group of self-important lunatics." Yuto smiled at her. "By the way, Kei, our food should almost be ready. Could you bring it over for me?"
"...Okay."
Kei immediately understood that Yuto was deliberately sending her away so she wouldn't hear his upcoming conversation with Arisu. Pouting slightly, she stood up with the meal tickets and headed toward the cafeteria pickup counter.
"An institution created by lunatics, huh? So that's how you view the White Room," Arisu said with a smile.
"Isn't that what it is?" Yuto curled his lips. "On the surface, it claims to cultivate geniuses. In reality, it does so by stripping people of their rights and eroding their minds. What else would you call an institution like that?"
"Indeed. It seems our views of the White Room are surprisingly similar."
The White Room—also known as Howaito Rumu—had one ultimate goal: mass-producing extraordinary geniuses.
Not producing a single genius.
Producing countless geniuses.
Because very young children whose minds had not yet fully developed were easier to shape, the White Room used children as its experimental subjects.
But young children were difficult to control and force into obedience, so the organization used all kinds of terrifying methods to erase the children's minds, reducing them to pitiful beings who understood nothing beyond following orders.
That was also why Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was so emotionally detached and lacked so much ordinary common sense.
"Since you know about the White Room too, would you be interested in helping me bury that institution?" Arisu asked seriously.
Yuto laughed. "What are you, some kind of champion of justice?"
"I'm certainly no champion of justice. I simply think the White Room's ultimate goal is ridiculous. They genuinely believe geniuses can be mass-produced, so I intend to bury their so-called Masterpiece, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka."
"That would show those people that genius cannot simply be manufactured. And it would also make my boring school life a little more interesting."
Yuto looked at Arisu's proud expression and replied with a subtle tone, "Sakayanagi, I wonder if you know that one of the founders of the White Room—Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's father, Ayanokouji Atsuomi—already came to this school and tried to have him expelled."
"Huh?"
Arisu froze for a moment. "That actually happened?"
"Yeah. But your father blocked Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's expulsion. And because I acted as an intermediary, Ayanokouji agreed to cooperate with me in managing the class and leading it toward Class A."
Yuto smiled.
"So Ayanokouji Kiyotaka isn't remotely someone who threatens my control over the class."
"...He's actually helping you maintain it."
"Exactly."
Yuto nodded with a smile.
"..." Arisu narrowed her eyes slightly, visibly disappointed. "Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is supposed to be the White Room's Masterpiece, yet he's willing to serve under someone else?"
"Well, everyone has their own priorities," Yuto replied with a shrug.
Arisu was genuinely disappointed.
She had assumed someone raised as the White Room's Masterpiece would never willingly place himself beneath another person.
The truth was that Arisu simply didn't understand Ayanokouji.
Because of his upbringing as the White Room's Masterpiece, Ayanokouji had little emotional attachment and lacked many ordinary feelings. His main reasons for enrolling at this school were to understand the true meaning of "equality" and "ability," while experiencing an ordinary high school life.
He had absolutely no desire to compete with anyone for control of the class.
Ayanokouji preferred remaining in the shadows and avoiding unnecessary attention.
He would never willingly become a visible leader.
At most, he would serve as a strategist behind the scenes.
At that moment, Kamuro and Kei returned toward the table, each carrying a tray covered with steaming food.
Yuto and Arisu naturally ended their discussion about the White Room and Ayanokouji.
The four of them ate dinner together in an unexpectedly peaceful and ordinary atmosphere.
...
About twenty minutes later, Yuto and Kei said goodbye to Arisu and Kamuro before leaving the student cafeteria and heading toward the first-year dormitory.
Arisu, however, remained distracted.
She took out her phone and called her father, Chairman Sakayanagi Narumori.
"Arisu? Why are you calling me at this hour?" he asked in surprise.
"Dad, I want to ask you something. Is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's father trying to force him to withdraw from school?"
"This... Did that brat Shimizu tell you?"
"More or less. Judging by that reaction, his father really is trying to have Ayanokouji expelled?"
"Yes. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka himself refuses to withdraw, so that man has been applying pressure to the school through various outside channels, hoping to force the administration into expelling him."
Chairman Sakayanagi's voice carried a trace of helplessness and pressure.
It seemed Ayanokouji Atsuomi was exerting considerable influence.
He clearly wanted to regain control of Kiyotaka.
"Then you absolutely cannot let him be expelled. If he leaves this school, it should only be after I defeat him first!" Arisu declared with complete seriousness.
Her father sounded exasperated. "What difference does that make...?"
"Of course there's a difference. The White Room considers Ayanokouji Kiyotaka its Masterpiece. If I defeat that supposed Masterpiece, then it proves the greatest result they produced after all that effort is nothing special."
That alone would be enough to undermine the White Room.
The organization endured enormous criticism and pressure because it erased human nature in pursuit of mass-producing geniuses.
That meant Ayanokouji Atsuomi desperately needed to produce an example so extraordinary that everyone would be forced to acknowledge the program's value.
That example was their so-called Masterpiece.
But if Arisu defeated the person Atsuomi himself called the Masterpiece, then it would suggest that even the White Room's greatest manufactured genius was nothing remarkable.
The entire project could then be dismissed as worthless, and the institution that erased human nature in pursuit of genius would have to close.
That was Arisu's method for destroying the White Room.
She would defeat its greatest achievement.
Chairman Sakayanagi looked at his phone after Arisu hung up and sighed.
"Arisu... there's actually a much easier and more direct way to destroy the White Room. You only need to wait patiently for three years."
Because three years from now, the current first-years at this school would all graduate.
And then...
Everyone would discover what a true genius actually looked like.
...
"Achoo!"
Yuto sneezed.
Kei, who was holding his arm affectionately, looked at him with concern. "Yuto, did you catch a cold?"
"No. Someone's probably talking about me behind my back." Yuto rubbed his nose and looked toward her. "I'll walk you up to here."
"We're already at the dorm entrance. Yuto, don't you want to come up and sit for a while?" Kei said softly, her cheeks flushed with a beautiful blush.
"Is it convenient?" Yuto asked with a smile.
"Of course it's convenient! Let me tell you, Yuto, I have several problems I couldn't understand today. I want you to help me go over them!"
"Then let's go."
Around ten o'clock that evening, Yuto gently covered Kei with the thin blanket. Her face still carried traces of satisfaction and flush. He tucked the honey-colored hair clinging to her cheek behind her ear.
Smiling, Yuto kissed Kei's crystal-clear, burning lips, then left her dorm room.
Instead of returning directly to the detached apartment, Yuto first went to Keyaki Mall and bought some temporary hair-color spray, glasses, and a beret.
He would need all of them tomorrow.
For a disguise.
After buying everything, Yuto returned to the detached apartment.
It was already close to eleven-thirty, so Airi had gone to bed.
Yuto quietly entered his room. Because bright moonlight streamed through the window, he could see the delicate, beautiful figure lying on the bed without turning on the light.
"Mm, mm~"
Looking at the sweetly sleeping Sakura Airi, Yuto's eyes couldn't help but soften a little. He quietly took off his clothes and slipped under the thin blanket covering Airi.
Since he had already showered at Kei's place, Yuto didn't need to shower again.
"Mn..."
The familiar warmth and reassuring presence made Airi let out a soft moan. She turned her plump, mature body and naturally, skillfully nestled into Yuto's embrace.
"Yuto." A soft, lazy voice murmured from Airi's lips. "You're back."
"Mm." Yuto gently stroked Airi's smooth, fiery-red hair and gave a soft response.
Half-asleep, Airi breathed in her childhood friend's warm scent. Yuto stroked her hair, and an incredibly warm and sweet atmosphere filled the space between them.
But gradually, Airi's cheeks flushed red. She opened her quivering eyelashes, revealing beautiful eyes full of shyness and a pounding heart.
"Yuto..."
…
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