Climb.
After school.
Having parted with Himeno Yuki, Sakura Airi, and the others, Hikigaya came alone to the door of Year 2 Class C.
"Hikigaya!"
Ishizaki and the others, who had just left the classroom, were shocked.
Class C also figured out that the leader of Class B had already changed, and Ryuuen had strictly warned them.
Clearly.
Compared to Ichinose, Ryuuen had a higher vigilance towards Hikigaya.
Although he knew Ishizaki and the others were surprised, hearing them speak and it being rare to run into acquaintances, Hikigaya still went along with it.
"Oh, isn't it Ishizaki? It's really been a long time."
Ishizaki didn't feel anything, but someone beside him had their mouth twitch.
Those who didn't know would think they were very good friends.
Just at this moment.
Shiina Hiyori walked out of the classroom and saw the scene before her.
"Hikki? Why did you come to our class? Is there something the matter?"
"Phew."
Looking at Shiina Hiyori, who had walked up to him, Hikigaya also breathed a slight sigh of relief.
During this period of time.
He had also been exchanging books with Shiina Hiyori.
It was just that he had become busier after all, so the frequency had decreased, from once a week before to once every two weeks now.
But they were still good fellow book lovers.
Although he could force himself to act enthusiastically and talk to Ishizaki, it was indeed still easier to talk to Shiina Hiyori.
"Yeah."
Hikigaya nodded and looked towards the door of Class C: "Is Ryuuen in..."
Before he finished speaking, he saw Ryuuen walking out of the classroom.
Accompanying him were Albert and Ibuki Mio; the few walked up to Hikigaya and half-surrounded him in the middle.
"I didn't expect you would actually come to find me. What's the matter?"
Ryuuen's eyes were sharp as he scrutinized Hikigaya.
The Sports Festival had just ended, and the detailed rules for the Cultural Festival were not yet complete for the time being; Class B was also cooperating with Class A.
He truly didn't know what Hikigaya came to find him for at this time.
"You could say that."
Although surrounded by so many people, Hikigaya didn't take it to heart.
"I have a piece of business I want to talk to you about."
Implicitly, there's money to be made.
Talk feelings with people who have feelings, and with guys who only talk about interests, Hikigaya naturally only talked interests with them.
Tea Ceremony Club.
Hikigaya was sitting on the floor, looking at Ryuuen in front of him as well as Albert, Ibuki Mio, and Shiina Hiyori beside him.
Clearly, they had come to find a place for a private conversation, yet they had all followed along.
"What business?"
"Ryuuen."
Hikigaya said in a deep voice: "You should also know about Class D making Sakura drop out, right? What do you think?"
"Of course."
Ryuuen said somewhat playfully:
"You've already written the whole process on the forum; it wouldn't work even if we didn't want to know. However, I truly didn't expect that Horikita would also grow to her current state. What, do you want to deal with Horikita?"
"You could say that."
Hikigaya nodded and took the tea Shiina Hiyori had brewed with both hands.
As expected, in the eyes of people like Ryuuen, Horikita Suzune was also considered to be growing, and growing significantly.
"Reason?"
Ryuuen narrowed his eyes, saying with some concern:
"You are Class B now, and after this Sports Festival, the class point gap between you and Class D is still more than four hundred points. There should be no need to deal with Class D at this time, right?"
"Or is there some reason you absolutely have to act against Horikita?"
"That's right."
Before Ryuuen could speak.
Ibuki Mio stared at Hikigaya with somewhat fierce eyes.
"You shouldn't have any conflict with that Horikita fellow, right? Forget it, regardless of what reason you have, Horikita must be defeated by me."
"???"
Hikigaya gave her a confused look, and then saw Ryuuen's face was unsightly.
As expected.
Class C also had some problems.
Although during the voting exam last time, Ibuki Mio had exhausted her efforts to prevent Ryuuen from dropping out, she was also not convinced by Ryuuen's methods.
Somehow it felt like Ibuki Mio had some conflict with Horikita Suzune.
Forget it.
Anyway, it was a matter between Class C and Class D, and the two classes currently seemed to be cooperating.
Falling out was a good thing, and not falling out was fine too.
Hikigaya judged it probably didn't matter.
In anyone's eyes, the fact that he was dealing with Horikita Suzune now was probably an incomprehensible thing.
If it weren't for the agreement with Horikita Manabu, Hikigaya wouldn't want to act against Horikita Suzune either.
Even with such an agreement.
In the eyes of most people like Ryuuen, it was probably still an incomprehensible thing; as long as he pretended nothing happened, it wouldn't be difficult.
However.
Since it was something agreed upon, and Horikita Manabu had generously given him 27 million, Hikigaya still wanted to do his best to fulfill the promise.
Otherwise.
He couldn't be bothered about what kind of person Horikita Suzune would become.
Strictly speaking, what Horikita Suzune became had nothing to do with him; Sakura Airi herself didn't take it to heart nor did she ask him to seek revenge.
Hikigaya was naturally even more indifferent.
As expected, feelings are the hardest thing to repay.
"There's no need for you guys to know this."
Hikigaya said with a flat expression: "Since you know about the matter, it's easy to handle. As long as you have the people of Class C continue to discuss Class D making Sakura Airi drop out."
"Strictly speaking, have your friends continue to mock the people of Class D when they run into them."
"I'll give you 500,000 every month; as for the duration, it will depend on the situation, but it will at least be no less than three months!"
"Furthermore, we will sign a contract. How about it?"
Hikigaya was very confident.
It was just about having Ishizaki and the others continue to scold Ike Kanji and the others.
It was simply zero difficulty.
It was simply money earned for free.
500,000 was already very high; 10,000 per person per month, and the remaining 100,000 would be Ryuuen's reward.
There should be no reason not to agree.
Rumors indeed stop, but malicious rumors do not, much less when it is the truth.
This matter didn't necessarily have to be done by Ryuuen's Class C.
However.
Maliciously scolding others was ultimately a bit improper.
Hikigaya didn't want the people of Class B to do it; with the 'good baby' personality of Class B, even if they agreed, they would mostly feel some guilt.
As for Class A.
As long as Katsuragi didn't betray the cooperation first, Hikigaya wouldn't do anything detrimental to Class A.
This kind of thing would certainly also cause hostility from Class D, evolving from an ordinary competitive relationship to enmity.
It could be seen as a foolish idea, but Hikigaya would rather have it so.
They might suffer once.
But they certainly wouldn't a second time.
"Eh?"
Shiina Hiyori and Ibuki Mio were slightly stunned, and even Ryuuen was somewhat puzzled.
"What's the point of you doing this?"
Ryuuen Sho frowned and said: "Do you actually think you can defeat Horikita through such a method?"
To be honest.
It wasn't that Ryuuen Sho didn't understand the effect of such a means.
But such a means was only useful against a 'bleeding heart' like Ichinose; only a 'bleeding heart' like Ichinose would blame themselves.
Horikita Suzune probably wouldn't take it to heart at all.
Shiina Hiyori and Ibuki Mio beside him clearly shared the same view; as for Albert, he drank his tea in silence.
"That's none of your business."
Hikigaya said indifferently: "How about it? This shouldn't be a difficult task for you guys, right?"
"Hehe."
Ryuuen sneered with disdain: "Don't you know that we are currently cooperating with Class D?"
"Would someone like you care about such things?"
Hikigaya frowned with some confusion.
Ryuuen was clearly the type who cared about his companions, but if one said he would even care about allies, Hikigaya was somewhat skeptical.
"You might have misunderstood."
Ryuuen said through gritted teeth: "We and Class D are the dearest of friends, hand and foot brothers; you have to add more money!"
"Fine."
Hikigaya didn't quibble either.
In the end, he directly doubled the amount and signed the contract, hiring Ryuuen's Class C to continue mocking Class D at a price of one million a month.
The specific duration would be determined by Hikigaya, at least for a period of three months.
Private points were a small matter.
Where money should be spent, do not be hesitant.
Although Ryuuen wanted to continue raising the price to demand hush money, Hikigaya let him be; he didn't require Ryuuen to keep it secret at all.
The point was to let Horikita Suzune know she was wrong.