Beyond the bustling thoroughfares of the shopping center, in the relative quiet of a secluded pedestrian street, Ryuuen Kakeru leaned against the rolling shutter of a closed shop. His sharp gaze was fixed on the distant dormitory entrance. Ishizaki Daichi and Yamada Albert stood behind him like twin sentinels of silent, solid mass.
The plan had been half-successful.
Sakamoto had appeared.
Though the method was… unexpected—setting up a coffee stall, of all things, and conjuring a queue of students from thin air—the target had been drawn out. Sakamoto's very presence proved Ryuuen's first move correct. The bait, Kamuro Masumi, had worked. A cold, satisfied smile touched Ryuuen's lips.
His mind traced back to two days prior, when he had begun consolidating his control over Class C and working to improve its collective "quality." One of his first actions had been to confiscate every student's phone. The stated reason was to audit point usage and prevent reckless spending. The true purpose, however, was far more invasive: to map social networks, dissect spending habits, and uncover hidden points of contact.
Shiina Hiyori's phone had been a secondary target. The meticulous girl was his most valued strategist at the moment. Her records were impeccably clean, her point usage flawlessly reasonable, with no overtly suspicious activity. Just as Ryuuen was about to set the device aside, however, his eyes snagged on a single name in her contact list.
Sakamoto.
His pulse quickened. Shiina Hiyori had Sakamoto's contact information?
He scrolled through the chat history with urgent fingers. The result was both disappointing and deeply unnerving: a complete blank. No messages. No call logs. Nothing.
This silence was more suspicious than any conversation. How did a Class C student, a new enrollee of only a few days, possess the private contact of that famously solitary Class A anomaly? And with zero communication between them? It defied logic.
A torrent of possibilities flooded Ryuuen's mind. Was Shiina a spy? A plant by Sakamoto within Class C, gaining trust to relay information? The chilling notion sent a thrill down his spine, but he dismissed it just as quickly. Shiina's contributions to Class C—her sharp observations, her analytical support—had been genuine and valuable. For now, she had acted in the class's interest.
That left another, more intriguing possibility: a private, pre-existing connection between Shiina Hiyori and Sakamoto. A shared history, or a secret. Whatever the truth, the fact that Shiina possessed this link and had concealed it from him, her nominal leader, represented both a risk and an opportunity. She was keeping secrets.
He had not confronted her then. Premature action was the hallmark of a fool. He needed to observe, to gather more evidence. But the discovery had given him a crucial fulcrum for his plans.
Sakamoto… Kamuro Masumi… Shiina Hiyori… In Ryuuen's strategic mind, the pieces began to click into a bold and ruthless design.
He had noticed Kamuro Masumi—that purple-haired Class A girl—visiting Sakamoto's café with clockwork regularity, her attention fixed on him with an intensity that transcended casual interest. It was a fixation, likely one-sided, but potent. That "concern" was a perfect vulnerability.
And Shiina Hiyori? Her secret line to Sakamoto was the perfect, invisible lever.
Ryuuen would use Kamuro as live bait, and Shiina's hidden connection as the delivery system, to craft a trap Sakamoto would feel compelled to spring.
The plan, divided into stages, was a calculated gamble. The first move: using Ishizaki and Albert's intimidating presence to herd Kamuro into a secluded alley dead-end during the weekend, isolating her and inducing panic. He had gambled on her reaction, and won.
The second: Ryuuen's personal appearance, hurling insults and probing questions to gauge her connection to Sakamoto and break her composure. This, too, had succeeded brilliantly. Kamuro's fierce, defensive reaction was all the confirmation he needed—her tie to Sakamoto was anything but ordinary.
Phase One: Complete.
Phase Two was the core of the entire operation—and the most ingenious part.
Ryuuen understood that merely manufacturing a crisis around Kamuro Masumi was not enough. Sakamoto was far too calm, far too unreadable. More importantly, Sakamoto had no way of knowing what was happening to Kamuro in real time.
If Ryuuen wanted Sakamoto to move, he needed something stronger.
A signal.
A direct, undeniable trigger.
That was why he activated Shiina Hiyori—his "secret channel."
And for the execution, he dispatched Ibuki Mio.
Taciturn, agile, and—most importantly—simple-minded, Ibuki was the ideal piece for this role. She wouldn't overthink the task, nor would she hesitate once given clear instructions.
On the weekend, Ibuki approached Shiina Hiyori in the library, where Hiyori was reading as usual. During a brief moment—while Hiyori was fully immersed in her book, or when she momentarily left her seat—Ibuki was to act.
Using Shiina Hiyori's phone, she would send a single, extremely short message to the contact labeled "Sakamoto."
[Kamuro is in danger]
After the message was sent, she would wait approximately one minute, then use the phone's recall function to withdraw it.
Immediately afterward, she would erase all traces of the message.
Fast. Clean. No evidence left behind.
The entire plan hinged on two calculated gambles.
First—Sakamoto would see the message.
Even if it was recalled, as long as he checked his phone within that narrow window, he would have seen the content. For someone as alert as Sakamoto, that was more than likely.
Second—Sakamoto would believe it.
The message came from Shiina Hiyori: a Class C student who possessed his contact information and whose behavior appeared stable and unremarkable. The message itself was abrupt, urgent, and alarming—exactly the kind that bypassed rational filtering and triggered instinct.
Whether Sakamoto trusted Shiina or doubted her motives didn't matter.
As long as he saw the message, he would move.
At the very least, he would go and confirm Kamuro Masumi's situation.
And once Sakamoto appeared—no matter how he appeared—Phase Two would be a success.
Because his appearance would prove several things at once.
It would prove Sakamoto's concern for Kamuro Masumi.
It would confirm that the "Sakamoto" saved in Shiina Hiyori's phone was indeed him.
And most importantly—it would prove that Sakamoto was not omniscient, nor untouchable.
He, too, could be misled.
Today's result, although Sakamoto's method of appearance was irritatingly unexpected, still fulfilled the objective.
Sakamoto had come.
He appeared precisely near the location where Kamuro Masumi had been cornered.
That alone was enough.
It meant he had seen the message.
And he had acted on it.
Phase Two: Successful.
A cold thrill ran through Ryuuen's chest.
Sakamoto… you've finally shown a weakness.
Phase Three was the aftermath—the part Ryuuen had been looking forward to the most.
If, after receiving the message, Sakamoto not only took action but also proactively contacted Shiina Hiyori—questioning the message, expressing doubt, or seeking clarification—then things would escalate naturally.
Shiina Hiyori would feel confused.
Uneasy.
Suspicious.
And inevitably, she would come to Ryuuen to report this anomaly.
If that happened, Phase Three would be triggered.
That outcome was ideal.
Because it would confirm not only Sakamoto's deep concern for Kamuro Masumi, but also expose a hidden connection between Sakamoto and Shiina Hiyori.
A Class A student proactively contacting a Class C girl?
That alone was damning.
Enough for Ryuuen to conduct a deeper "interrogation."
Enough to suspect her as a potential traitor.
At the same time, it would shatter the image of Sakamoto as some spotless, upright paragon. He wasn't above using private contact, probing information, or moving behind the scenes.
However, whether Phase Three would activate depended entirely on Sakamoto's next move.
Ryuuen waited for the moment Shiina Hiyori would come to him on her own.
As for Sakamoto's final act—coldly ignoring him and walking away without a word—Ryuuen merely snorted.
It didn't matter.
Today's objective had already been achieved.
Sakamoto's seemingly flawless shell had cracked.
Kamuro Masumi.
Shiina Hiyori.
Both lines were now firmly in Ryuuen's grasp.
Sakamoto… this is only the beginning.
Ryuuen turned his gaze toward the shopping center.
And beyond it—
Sakayanagi Arisu.
That woman thought she could control Ryuuen Kakeru through "information stratification"?
How naïve.
Now that a breakthrough had been made with Sakamoto, the plan to deal with Sakayanagi could finally be placed on the table.
The same methods.
Fire against fire.
Ryuuen straightened, his gaze briefly sweeping over Ishizaki Daichi and Yamada Albert.
"Let's go."
He turned away without another glance toward the dormitory area and strode into the bustling crowd of the shopping center, his figure quickly swallowed by the flow of students.
The game had begun.
The outcome was undecided.
But Ryuuen knew—
The initiative was slowly, inexorably shifting into his hands.
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