Arisu Sakayanagi: [My, my~ Natsuki-kun really flatters me too much.]
Arisu Sakayanagi: [I just happen to have a few good friends like Natsuki-kun in Class D.]
In the Year 1, Class A classroom, Arisu Sakayanagi smiled as she replied to Natsuki Subaru's message.
Because of Natsuki Subaru and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, Sakayanagi had always maintained a very high level of attention toward Year 1, Class D, and she had even developed a few seemingly very good 'friends' within that class.
Earlier, when Suzune Horikita was only halfway through her speech, Sakayanagi had already received the news.
The reason she waited until now to message Subaru was entirely because she intended to wait for Horikita's speech to finish. After all... interrupting others while they are speaking is a very impolite thing to do.
Sending messages to Subaru while Horikita was speaking, thereby distracting him, would be equally rude. Regarding her prey, Sakayanagi possessed ample patience.
Subaru: [Am I actually Sakayanagi-san's good friend?]
Subaru: [That's truly a bit unexpected. Since Sakayanagi-san is telling me this now, it seems you aren't planning to counter the move?]
Arisu Sakayanagi: [Does Natsuki-kun have such high expectations of me?]
Arisu Sakayanagi: [I've really disappointed Natsuki-kun then. Horikita-san's plan is a fair and square overt conspiracy... Since it is an overt conspiracy, it is quite normal not to have a way to stop or even resist it, right?]
Arisu Sakayanagi: [After all... compared to Class D, our Class A is composed of decent people.]
'My, my~'
'Although it's not like there is no way to counter it, it really is a bit troublesome.'
Having sent the message, Sakayanagi put down her student terminal and looked at the scenery outside the window, a smile revealing itself on her face.
Horikita's self-destruct plan was indeed somewhat unsolvable. However, to say that there was no way to even receive the attack would be an exaggeration.
In the end, the self-destruct plan Year 1, Class D prepared to implement was something that couldn't be brought to the table. Many things are fine as long as they stay under the table, but once they are brought into the open, the matter becomes significant. As long as things are blown out of proportion, there will naturally be corresponding handling plans.
Of course, that would merely be 'receiving the attack.'
Year 1, Class D's self-destruct plan was an overt conspiracy played out in broad daylight. This had already been stated very clearly during the chat with Subaru. Since it was an overt conspiracy, it was basically impossible to stop. Even if Year 1, Class A successfully parried the blow, the most they could do was minimize their own losses as much as possible.
If they did nothing, Class A might be deducted two hundred, three hundred, or even four hundred class points before the school officials could no longer sit still and stepped in to remedy the situation.
However, if Sakayanagi actively engaged, she was confident she could control Year 1, Class A's loss of class points to within two hundred. If operated well, it might not even exceed one hundred.
As for the specific operation, naturally, it would be to self-destruct along with Class D when they initiated their plan.
The target of this self-destruction would be set on the other two classes that were prioritized for attack by Class D, excluding Class A.
If luck was on their side and Class D prioritized attacking Class C, which had the fewest class points, then once Class D's attack came to a pause, Class A would launch a suicide attack directly on Class C. This would beat Class C's class points down to an extremely low figure, or even directly to zero.
When that time came, the school officials would have to step in, even if they didn't want to.
As long as luck was good and Class D attacked Class C first, it would work. If luck was bad, they could simply wait quietly—a turtle-style defense—waiting for the right time. Class D couldn't possibly stare at one specific class to the death without letting go. They could even actively pay a little 'protection money' when the time came to make Class D switch targets.
Masumi Kamuro: [Class D is about to start racketeering and self-destructing indiscriminately, yet you're smiling so happily?]
Just as Sakayanagi was feeling leisurely and content, sitting firmly on her fishing platform, Masumi Kamuro, on the contrary, anxiously sent her a message.
As Sakayanagi's number one loyal dog, naturally, Sakayanagi shared her chat logs with Subaru with Kamuro. After all, there would be many things in the future that required Kamuro to run errands and handle matters.
Therefore, there was no need to hide many things from Kamuro. In fact, if Kamuro wasn't clear about the causes and consequences, there was a significant possibility she might botch things up.
Arisu Sakayanagi: [Little Masumi is still so kawaii, as always.]
Arisu Sakayanagi: [Class D is prepared to self-destruct directly; I don't really have a solution either (helpless shrug).]
Arisu Sakayanagi: [Besides, don't forget, Little Masumi, the actual leader of Class A right now isn't me~]
As she spoke, Sakayanagi glanced at a seat not far away, slightly toward the front row. There sat a large bald head—the current actual leader of Class A, Kohei Katsuragi.
This was one of the main factors for Sakayanagi's inaction.
Currently, Class A was divided into two factions: the Kohei Katsuragi faction and the Arisu Sakayanagi faction. The two factions were roughly equal, but Sakayanagi did not directly fight Katsuragi tit-for-tat for the class leadership rights. She was prepared to wait for the time to ripen, then naturally become the actual leader of Class A.
Now, in Sakayanagi's view, Class D's desperate self-destruct behavior was the moment of ripening.
Undoubtedly, in the face of Class D's self-destruct attack, Sakayanagi believed that even she, who had received the news in advance, would find it quite tricky to handle and would inevitably have to bear certain losses.
Katsuragi, who had not yet detected the danger, would absolutely enter a state of panic when facing Class D's total self-destruction. Class A might pay an even greater price.
When that time came, Katsuragi, having responded improperly and caused Class A to suffer heavy losses, would naturally have no way to continue staying in the position of class leader.
The ratio between the two factions was originally about the same. Now that Katsuragi made a mistake, Sakayanagi, who temporarily hadn't made a mistake, would naturally have her chance.
Masumi Kamuro: [Since you've already thought it through yourself, I won't say more.]
Arisu Sakayanagi: [(Head pat) (Acting cute) (Meow meow)]
'My, my~'
'It seems I've made Little Masumi sulk a bit again~'
Looking at Masumi Kamuro, whose expression seemed a bit colder than before, the smile on Sakayanagi's face grew somewhat thicker.
'I'll take Little Masumi to have some afternoon tea later to properly soothe her.'
'However, although the taste of that shop is not bad, going there all the time is somewhat uninteresting...'
'This time, let's try a different one~'
'Ah, I'm really looking forward to it.'
'When the time comes, shall I properly taste Natsuki Subaru first, or taste him together with Kiyotaka Ayanokoji?'
With such thoughts, Sakayanagi refocused her attention on the scenery outside the window.
It wasn't time to make a move yet... If things went smoothly this time, Sakayanagi believed Kohei Katsuragi should step down ahead of schedule, and she would become the leader of Class A on the eve of the first semester's end.
The special exam during the summer vacation would be the time when Arisu Sakayanagi truly tasted her prey.
...
The afternoon held nothing special.
Class D did not immediately rush to carry out the self-destruct plan with fiery urgency. The morning was merely Suzune Horikita conducting a pre-battle coordination. The true, specific action plan still needed to be formulated in detail after the meeting ended tonight.
At the start, they had to fight a beautiful battle.
Subaru's own afternoon schedule remained as featureless as ever: reading books in the Library.
While reading, he would occasionally chat a few sentences with Hiyori Shiina.
After the 'misunderstanding' was clarified last time, Hiyori had become natural again in front of Subaru. At most, she would occasionally glance at Subaru with eyes that carried a hint of resentment.
Mainly, Hiyori had realized something in hindsight.
Given Hiyori's understanding of Subaru, he had definitely seen through some of her inner thoughts, but in the end, he still behaved that way. There was clearly a bit of intention to deliberately watch her 'make a fool of herself' in there.
However, having said that, Hiyori's impression of Kikyo Kushida was still very profound.
Aside from the incident that day which made Hiyori feel a sense of urgency, there was the matter of the 'specialness' Subaru had mentioned.
"Are Kushida-san and I considered the 'special' kind to you, Natsuki?"
Hiyori looked at Subaru, who acted as if he knew nothing and nothing had happened, and asked somewhat curiously.
Looking at Hiyori, Subaru said with some amusement, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"I just feel that you, Natsuki, shouldn't be someone who easily calls others by those relatively intimate addresses."
According to Hiyori's observation, the time she had spent with Natsuki should be the longest. Yet, the address between them was not as intimate as his address for Kushida-san, even though, in Hiyori's view, her situation should be the normal one.
But wasn't there a Kikyo Kushida?
If she weren't there, Hiyori might not have reacted yet, or rather, wouldn't be in a hurry. But now that there was a 'rival,' if she continued to develop slowly, wouldn't her base be stolen?
"Where exactly lies Kushida-san's uniqueness to you, Natsuki?"
"So you've been concerned about this matter recently?"
Upon hearing Hiyori's words, Subaru smiled slightly.
"Just... maybe I care a tiny little bit."
Hiyori made a 'tiny bit' gesture to Subaru.
"I thought your 'special treatment' of me was the kind of 'special' that implies a bit of intimacy."
As she spoke, Hiyori paused slightly, her heartbeat accelerating faintly.
Subconsciously, Hiyori adjusted her sitting posture slightly and said, looking somewhat calm, "Unfortunately, this 'special' wasn't the kind I imagined."
"Clearly, I had even prepared myself mentally~"
"As a result, it feels like you appear much more intimate with Kushida-san."
Hiyori's tone carried a bit of special meaning.
Internal conflict was impossible.
Hiyori would not keep things bottled up in her heart, at least not for long. During this period, Hiyori was indeed somewhat concerned about the matter of Kikyo Kushida.
Also, there was the matter of the disparity involving herself.
She was more or less a tiny bit depressed.
She had clearly prepared herself to accept Subaru's confession, only to ultimately discover that it was entirely a feeling of her own misunderstanding... While shy, she also felt somewhat embarrassed.
The main thing was, Hiyori clearly felt that Subaru had seen through some of her inner thoughts.
Because Hiyori knew herself very well.
She was not someone who could hide things very well, especially when she had somewhat lost her composure.
"I think I understand."
Subaru looked at Hiyori's feigned natural face, gently closed the book in his hands, and leaned forward slightly.
He narrowed the distance between himself and Hiyori a little.
And this action of Subaru's directly caused Hiyori to subconsciously hold her breath.
"Does Shiina want to use a similar type of nickname as Kikyo-san?"
"Just like with Kikyo Kushida-san, whom I address as Kikyo... if I were to address Hiyori Shiina-san, should I also change it to something more intimate... like Hiyori?"
To be honest, Subaru didn't really hope to see the current situation, because he had no experience in this area.
Up until now, Subaru still couldn't figure out why Emilia ultimately lost her color. Speaking of love, it couldn't be counted as love; Subaru imprisoned Emilia for nearly two years—it was impossible for it to be love.
There wasn't even much communication, let alone affection.
However, since Hiyori had already said so, Subaru was fine with it either way.
It was nothing more than changing from the original slow and steady route to something more radical. Originally, it might have taken longer to reach the final result; now, failure might come sooner.
The time Subaru could enjoy peace would be shortened... assuming Hiyori was destined to be unable to possess color.
"However, if we do this, our relationship might very well be misunderstood."
In the eyes of the vast majority of people, the address between Subaru and Kikyo Kushida could definitely be called special.
And as Subaru's voice fell, Hiyori's face went 'poof' and turned completely red.
This was a method of answering Hiyori had absolutely not thought of.
Hiyori had thought Subaru would chat with her inconsequentially for a sentence or two, and the topic would naturally shift to a new one, or perhaps... anyway, absolutely not this situation.
At this moment, Hiyori felt her cheeks burning; even the roots of her ears were heating up.
The presets and contingency plans she had originally prepared were completely unusable.
Hiyori...
When she heard Subaru address Kikyo Kushida before, Hiyori didn't have too obvious a feeling.
At most, she felt the address between Subaru and Kikyo Kushida was somewhat intimate, and Kikyo Kushida's attitude gave her an inexplicable sense of tension and urgency.
But when Hiyori really heard Subaru call her name, she discovered it wasn't like that at all. She completely couldn't be as natural as Kikyo Kushida.
As for why, Hiyori was actually very clear on it too.
Kikyo Kushida might not have considered the possibility of being with Subaru at all, so having a slightly more intimate address with Subaru didn't affect Kikyo Kushida one bit.
Her own case was completely different.
She had really considered the matter that if Subaru confessed to her, she might accept him.
The angles were different, so the impact faced was naturally completely different.
If someone she had absolutely no feelings for, someone she absolutely wouldn't consider being with, addressed her this way, Hiyori wouldn't have any feelings about it. At most, she would just think the other party was somewhat rude.
"Directly... directly calling by name or something..."
"It's not that you can't."
Hiyori wanted to be reserved for a moment; being a girl, being reserved was normal.
But after thinking about it, she decided to be a bit more open.
Compared to the two different addresses of 'Shiina' and 'Hiyori,' Hiyori felt that she would obviously be a bit happier if Subaru called her 'Hiyori' directly.
After all, Subaru definitely started calling Kikyo Kushida 'Kikyo-san' a long time ago.
____
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