Chapter 146 Exposing Ayanokouji
"According to school rules, fighting and brawling are prohibited!
Especially during the exam period, those who use violence will, in the most serious cases, be expelled!"
On the other end of the phone, Chabashira Sae issued a stern, righteous warning. It absolutely disgusted Ryuen Kakeru.
On the very first day of school, he had used violence to beat his classmates—first to integrate Class C, and second to test the boundaries of the school's management.
At the time, many students went to complain to the teachers, but without exception, they were all met with cold indifference from Sakagami Kazuma.
From that moment on, Ryuen Kakeru understood that teachers generally would not intervene in conflicts between students. This was the fundamental reason why he ruled Class C through force without anyone daring to resist.
However, he never imagined that Hikigaya would use this exact "ineffective" move to neutralize his physical intimidation.
"Quite boring, isn't it?
This is high-level nurturing intellectual warfare.
Kukuku!" By the end of his sentence, Hikigaya couldn't help but laugh himself. Though he wasn't laughing at Ryuen, but rather at the broken rules of this school.
"Tch! You really are a guy who's unpleasant from head to toe!" Ryuen Kakeru spat hard on the ground, his face full of frustration and resentment.
"Let's go, Matsushita." Hikigaya ended the phone call.
'By the way, everything is fine now, can you stop clinging to me?'
"Ohh~ as expected of Hikigaya-kun, that was pure dominance!" Matsushita Chiaki gave a thumbs-up with a look of admiration.
"Don't joke around. How is telling the teacher 'dominance'?
Directly using your fists to knock them all down, that would be dominance." Hikigaya felt powerless to retort.
"No, if you used force to solve it, wouldn't that put you on the same level as Ryuen and the others?" Matsushita Chiaki's evaluation was also very sharp. Ryuen Kakeru and the others looked pale, appearing miserable to death!
"You'd better not get too cocky!
Whether it's Dead-Fish Eyes or X, sooner or later—I will take you down!" Ryuen Kakeru couldn't resist leaving a parting threat.
Hikigaya suddenly paused his footsteps and stared at the other party with a strange look.
"From a moment ago, this guy has been saying 'X'. Who is that exactly?" Matsushita Chiaki was completely unable to understand what the other party was talking about.
"Keep pretending. You're doing a good job of it."
Although Ryuen Kakeru was certain Matsushita Chiaki was X, for some reason, seeing Hikigaya's "looking at an idiot" gaze from the side gave him an uncertain premonition.
"Ryuen, is this the limit of your IQ?" Hikigaya offered an evaluation with a serious face.
"What do you mean by that?" Ryuen Kakeru's face darkened, a trace of impatience showing in his eyes.
"Then I'll be blunt: the X you've been searching for is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka from Class D." Hikigaya directly revealed the answer.
"???" The scene fell into a bizarre silence.
"A-Ayanokouji?!"
"Who was that again?" Ishizaki Daichi looked bewildered, feeling as though he had never heard of this person.
Ryuen Kakeru frowned, searching his memories carefully before finally recalling such a character: "The Class D boy who hooked up with Manabe?"
"Ayanokouji..." Matsushita Chiaki looked thoughtful: "That person's reputation among the girls isn't very good. But I always feel like that guy is hiding something."
"Why?" Ryuen Kakeru stared at him with a gloomy gaze.
"What? You don't believe it?" Hikigaya asked him back.
"No. Whether I believe it or not is beside the point.
I just want to know why you're telling me about this person." Ryuen said in a heavy voice.
"Because you're too stupid. I gave you the chance to find him, and you couldn't. In the end, you actually suspected Matsushita..." Hikigaya looked at him, feeling quite speechless.
"Hikigaya-kun, is this for my sake?" Matsushita Chiaki's eyes lit up, and a strange look flashed across her face.
"No, I just want to see Ryuen and Ayanokouji fight like dogs." Hikigaya spoke the plain, honest truth.
"Fight like dogs... you really have the nerve to say that!" The corner of Ryuen Kakeru's mouth twitched wildly; he was fuming with rage just listening to it.
"Boss, Hikigaya is not to be trusted at all!
Maybe he just picked some random bystander to fool us!" Ishizaki Daichi was still unwilling to believe that the one who had set them up before was someone as obscure as Ayanokouji.
"That kind of thing—as long as I investigate a little, I can always find some clues."
Ryuen Kakeru narrowed his eyes and made a judgment: "Dead-Fish Eyes wouldn't resort to such a low-level tactic."
"Anyway, I've pointed out the Big Boss to you. Go play with him as much as you like. Stop bothering me." Hikigaya stated his stance clearly.
"What's that phrase again?
Lure the water... what?"
"Lure the trouble toward the East." The one who answered was Albert. Although his pronunciation wasn't perfect, the usage was correct.
"Ryuen, aren't you embarrassed? Your Japanese level actually can't beat a foreigner's." Hikigaya mocked him mercilessly.
"Hmph! Why do Japanese people need to learn so many Kanji anyway?"
Ryuen Kakeru tried to save face, but seeing the usually stoic Albert's large lips curling slightly, his expression became difficult to maintain.
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The conversation ended. Hikigaya and Matsushita Chiaki left the room.
"I'm really thankful to Hikigaya-kun today." Matsushita Chiaki expressed her sincere gratitude to him once more.
"It was just a small effort." Hikigaya spoke non-committally, trying his best to downplay his role: "Besides, even if I hadn't come, Ryuen and the others most likely wouldn't have dared to touch you."
Firstly, Class C has a high score and must avoid point deductions as much as possible.
Secondly, Matsushita Chiaki is strong-willed and dares to resist; if it had been Karuizawa Kei, she probably would have just knelt down and cried.
To put it bluntly, Ryuen's gang can only bully the weak; they have no move against a "hard bone."
"That may be so, but the fact that Hikigaya-kun came to save me... I'm really happy!" Matsushita Chiaki gazed at him intensely: "It was very cool!"
"What? Don't tell me you like me?"
Hikigaya deliberately tried to kill the conversation topic. Once upon a time, he had asked a girl the same question, only to get responses like "gross" or "can you not say things like that," resulting in instant awkward silence.
"Hikigaya, honestly~
If I said yes, what would you do?" Matsushita Chiaki turned her head, looking at him with a smiling face.
"Th-that..." Hikigaya's eyes wandered; his heart was shaken. Fortunately, his inner strength was great enough to hold on!
"Speaking of which, I think Karuizawa and Sato are quite nice." Praising other girls in front of a girl—a classic point-deduction move!
"Really?" Matsushita Chiaki's expression suddenly became subtle: "In that case, do you need me to play matchmaker for you?"
"Sure!" Hikigaya feigned a look of surprise. He thought that by doing this, Matsushita's favorability toward him would drop further.
"Pfft~" Matsushita Chiaki suddenly revealed a playful smile. Immediately after, she pulled her phone from her pocket; it showed an active call.
"Did you hear that? Kei, Maya—Hikigaya-kun has designs on you!"
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