The school building rooftop during lunch break was a world of wind and desolate silence. The gusts whipped across the empty concrete, tugging at the uniforms of the two figures who had arrived first.
Hashimoto Masayoshi leaned against the rust-speckled railing, his small golden ponytail flicking in the breeze. A perpetually cynical smile played on his lips as if he were merely admiring the view. Beside him stood a student with purple hair and a composed demeanor—Kanzaki Ryūji, a core strategist of the current Class 1-C, formerly 1-B.
Footsteps echoed from the rooftop entrance. Ryūen Kakeru ascended without hurry, hands in his pockets. His eyes immediately locked onto Kanzaki Ryūji, performing an open, appraising scan of this "defeated adversary."
At Ryūen's appearance, the wariness in Kanzaki's eyes crystallized into something harder. This was the man who had forcibly welded a chaotic Class C into a weapon and used it to crush his former class underfoot in a single month. Rumors painted him as a mere thug, but Kanzaki knew better. A pure brute could never have engineered a 910-point victory. This man possessed a ruthless, tactical intellect.
"Relax, Kanzaki-kun," Hashimoto said lightly, sensing the tension. He patted Kanzaki's shoulder with feigned camaraderie. "We're here to solve a puzzle today, not rehash old battles. Right, Ryūen-kun?"
Ryūen scoffed, stopping before them. "Heh. Obviously."
"Allow me to introduce," Hashimoto continued, as if oblivious to the edge in the air. He gestured casually. "Kanzaki Ryūji, currently a key figure in Class C." He then turned his smile to Ryūen. "And Ryūen Kakeru, the de facto leader of Class B… though I doubt he needs an introduction."
Ryūen ignored the preamble. He pulled the stack of exam papers from Manabe from his pocket, tapping them against his palm. His sharp gaze fixed on Hashimoto. "So. You specifically asked me to bring this. What's the play? Don't tell me Sakamoto took pity and 'bestowed' these upon his own class as well?"
He kept his tone deliberately probing. During their prior phone call, he hadn't revealed his own conclusion that this was a frame-up.
Hashimoto didn't answer directly. Instead, he turned to Kanzaki with a meaningful look. "Kanzaki-san. Show him yours."
Kanzaki silently retrieved an identical stack of papers from his folder and handed them to Ryūen.
Ryūen glanced at them, one eyebrow arching slightly. "What's this? Proof the forgery has good distribution?"
"Kanzaki-san," Hashimoto prompted. "Explain how your class acquired them."
Kanzaki took a steadying breath, his voice calm and measured. "The day before yesterday. A student in our class was also approached by a second-year senior claiming to be from Class C. The same script: impressed by our potential, willing to sell 'last year's actual exams' for ten thousand points. He also claimed… it was at the request of Sakamoto-kun from Class 1-A, who wished for our class to perform well."
A cold smirk spread across Ryūen's face. "Heh. As expected. So it's not just my Class B. Your Class C got the 'special delivery' too. Then I suppose the bottom-feeding Class D probably wasn't spared either, were they?"
He posed it as a question, but it was a statement.
If B, C, and D were all targeted, what about the conspicuous absence—Class A?
Hashimoto took over, his expression shifting to something more serious. "That is the crucial point. Sakamoto-kun has never mentioned anything about exam papers within Class A. In fact…" He paused, meeting Ryūen's gaze. "…he appears to be entirely unaware of their existence."
"So," Ryūen concluded, his voice cutting through the wind as he looked between Hashimoto and Kanzaki, "this matter is fundamentally unrelated to Sakamoto. It's a clumsy frame job. And the architect… is from a higher grade."
Hashimoto's smile returned, edged with genuine curiosity. "Oh? And what gives you such confidence, Ryūen-kun? Enlighten me." He'd reached the same deduction privately, but he wanted to hear Ryūen's reasoning.
Hashimoto's "alliance" with Ryūen had begun with calculated coincidence—lingering near Class B until Ryūen's vigilant stare found him. Through several exchanges, Hashimoto had traded harmless Class A trivia for a sliver of Ryūen's wary trust and a contact exchange. He'd positioned himself as a "factionless information broker," facilitating "flow" between classes. The move was now paying dividends.
But the first to reach out had actually been Kanzaki Ryūji. Cautiously, Kanzaki had revealed his class's acquisition of the papers and Sakamoto's implicated name—a revelation that had sent Hashimoto's mind reeling, as it violently contradicted his profile of Sakamoto.
Then, Ryūen had contacted him. And thus, this unlikely, tripartite conclave on the windy roof was born—a temporary alliance forged not by trust, but by a shared suspicion of a shadow moving in the year above them.
Ryūen's reasoning was sharper than Hashimoto had anticipated. "The method is clumsy," Ryūen spat out, dissecting the plot with contempt. "Casting a wide net, dropping a name—as if terrified people wouldn't connect it to Sakamoto. That kind of charitable handout combined with a signature isn't his style. It reeks of a rat hiding in the shadows, trying to borrow a knife to kill. Stir up chaos in the first-year ranks and land a blow on Sakamoto in the process."
His analysis mirrored Hashimoto's private conclusions perfectly.
"It seems our assessments align," Hashimoto nodded, synthesizing the data. "So, consolidating the facts: a widely distributed exam paper of dubious origin; a single, repeatedly invoked name—Sakamoto; and a puppeteer operating from the shadows, likely a second-year."
A brief silence settled over the trio, broken only by the lonely keen of the wind across the rooftop. From this shared suspicion, a temporary, interest-based compact began to form.
"Here's a proposition," Hashimoto offered, assuming the role of coordinator. "I will take responsibility for determining Sakamoto-kun's actual awareness of, or reaction to, this situation. Ryūen-kun, Kanzaki-san—you will each utilize your respective networks to investigate the second-year agents who made contact. And, most critically, verify the papers' authenticity. Are they genuine past exams, or an elaborate fabrication?"
Ryūen and Kanzaki exchanged a glance. The mutual hostility and wariness were still palpable, a live wire between them. But faced with a larger, common puzzle and a potential threat from above, pragmatic cooperation won out.
"Fine."
"Understood."
Their replies came almost in unison.
Thus, on the wind-swept rooftop, a rare and fragile alliance was forged. Representing the three contending first-year classes: the opportunist from Class A, the ambitious conqueror from Class B, and the calculating strategist from Class C. United not by trust, but by a shared target and a common, shadowy enemy.
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