After finishing the pole-toppling competition, Saiki had no other events for the time being and could finally take a short break.
However, even during his break, Saiki was surrounded by "trouble."
"Saiki, you did great out there!"
"Such good luck! I didn't expect you to be so amazing!"
"Thanks to you, Saiki, our Red Team was able to win!"
Because of his outstanding performance in the competition, Saiki had gained quite a bit of attention, not just in his class but across the entire school. Many girls gathered around him, asking all sorts of questions.
"I just got lucky. It was all thanks to Sudo and the others."
Saiki could only respond with such excuses, while inwardly complaining about the situation.
'Yare yare, this is such a hassle...'
[Damn Saiki, why is he so lucky? All these girls surrounding him... I'm so jealous...]
Yamauchi Haruki's thoughts reached Saiki's mind without any attempt to hide them.
"Kusuo, you did great!"
At that moment, Karuizawa Kei pushed through the crowd and made her way to Saiki's side, smiling as she spoke to him.
Karuizawa Kei stood very close to Saiki, almost as if she was declaring some kind of ownership over him in this situation.
'Come to think of it, I don't even remember when you started calling me by my first name. Was it last chapter or the one before that?'
Saiki asked in his mind.
"Kusuo, did you see me during my race?"
Karuizawa Kei asked expectantly, her expression clearly waiting for praise.
"Yeah..."
Without hesitation, Saiki nodded. Although his attention had actually been elsewhere, he used his telepathy to find out what had happened.
"Third place is really impressive. I'm going to the restroom now. I'll be back later."
To avoid further trouble, Saiki decided to leave the area and find somewhere else to hide for a while.
Just a few steps away, Saiki overheard some unfamiliar girls talking to Karuizawa Kei.
"Are you Saiki-kun's girlfriend? You two seem really close."
"Haha!"
Karuizawa Kei responded with a laugh.
'What are you laughing at? Deny it already!'
"Well, as of now~ I'm not~"
After a second, Karuizawa Kei deliberately used a suggestive tone and ambiguous words that could easily be misunderstood.
"....."
Saiki sighed inwardly, but he couldn't deal with Karuizawa Kei right now. He simply continued walking toward his destination.
"Kusuo-kun..."
At that moment, Sakura Airi, her body completely exhausted, slowly approached Saiki.
She was drenched in sweat, her eyes filled with fatigue, and her body swayed unsteadily. Sakura Airi had just finished one of the sports festival events.
'Hey, hey, hey, you only participated in one event. Why do you look like some heroic character from an anime or movie about to sacrifice themselves? And your eyes look so empty... Are you really okay?'
Saiki was about to speak, but Sakura Airi beat him to it.
"Kusuo-kun... did you watch my race?"
'I definitely didn't.'
Saiki thought to himself, but he knew better than to say that out loud. He quickly nodded.
"Yeah, I saw it. It's amazing that you managed to finish..."
"This is the first time... the first time I wasn't in last place!"
Upon hearing Saiki's words, Sakura Airi's eyes seemed to light up, and her energy instantly returned. A victorious smile spread across her face.
"Yeah... second to last is still great."
Saiki nodded, but Sakura Airi, as if she had fulfilled all her life's wishes, closed her eyes and collapsed forward.
Saiki quickly caught her and immediately used his telepathy to call Aiura Mikoto for help. Fortunately, Sakura Airi had just overexerted herself, and giving her some sports drink should help her recover.
After dealing with Sakura Airi, Saiki continued walking. He entered the restroom, activated his invisibility, and then headed to another location.
Class D's rest area.
After the pole-toppling competition, Saiki had been concerned about Ryuen Kakeru's actions and had even used his clairvoyance to observe Ryuen's movements.
He had clearly heard Ryuen's thoughts earlier and knew that Ryuen still had other plans. However, since Saiki had already drawn too much attention, he couldn't observe Ryuen further.
After all, making a scene in public by going cross-eyed was something no sane person would do.
Wait, on second thought, there aren't many sane people in this school to begin with.
Regardless, Saiki wouldn't do something so foolish.
Saiki quickly arrived near Class D's rest area and could clearly hear Ryuen Kakeru's voice.
"Listen up. Our next target is Horikita Suzune from Class B. Here's what you need to do to sabotage her—Kinoshita, you're in the same group as Horikita, right? When the time comes, just bump into her like we practiced. Make it look like she's the one who hit you. Turn it into an accident."
Ryuen Kakeru was instructing his classmates.
Before the sports festival officially began, Ryuen had his class practice how to injure others, how to fake injuries, and how to make falls look natural.
"You need to get hurt, and the worse, the better. If it's not bad enough, I'll personally make it worse."
Ryuen Kakeru spoke to a girl named Kinoshita, his tone full of authority.
"Um... isn't that a bit much...?"
Kinoshita's voice trembled. She knew exactly how terrifying Ryuen could be.
During the uninhabited island test, Ryuen had even severely injured Ibuki Mio to ensure her infiltration into Saiki's class. That injury wasn't something that could be healed in just a few days.
"Don't worry. After this is done, I'll compensate you with 500,000 private points."
"500,000?"
Kinoshita's tone changed.
"That's right. I don't want to ask twice. I'm sure there are others willing to take on this task."
Ryuen Kakeru's face showed a meaningful smile.
While not many people would willingly injure themselves, 500,000 points was a different story. For an average student, that was no small amount.
Ryuen Kakeru didn't plan to pay the points himself, though. He intended to extort Horikita Suzune for them later.
At the same time, Ryuen Kakeru's mind was racing.
[Manabe is a potential traitor. I found a good excuse to keep her out of this meeting to avoid being recorded.]
[As of now, Kushida Kikyo might have been exposed. Since she's inside Class B, she should have reported any changes, like the participant list, to me immediately. To be safe, I tampered with the pole-toppling competition, but they still managed to counter it...]
[They not only saw through my plan but also countered it. How arrogant! But I'll make sure to give you a proper welcome, Yamauchi!]
'Yare yare, it seems Ryuen's hatred for Yamauchi has grown even stronger.'
Saiki, still invisible, narrowed his eyes slightly. While eavesdropping, he had quietly taken out his phone and recorded the conversation.
'This is just a precaution. If I send this to the student council, Ryuen will definitely face consequences.'
After preparing everything, Saiki took a detour and returned to his class's area as if nothing had happened.
Sakura Airi had finally regained her composure and managed to force a smile, nodding at Saiki.
Aiura Mikoto had been watching over Sakura Airi the entire time.
"The next event is the girls' obstacle race. Horikita-san... is participating."
Sakura Airi said to Saiki.
"Right."
Saiki responded, then turned his gaze to the field.
Horikita Suzune was warming up on the track, and next to her was the girl who had made the deal with Ryuen Kakeru.
According to the participant list, Saiki learned that the girl's full name was Kinoshita Minori, a member of the school's track and field club. She had achieved good results in several events earlier.
Kinoshita Minori was a strong contender for the top three. If nothing went wrong, she should have secured a good position.
But for Class D, making Horikita Suzune suffer was more important than anything else.
The race began quickly, with a girl from Class C taking the lead. Her speed far surpassed the others, and even Horikita Suzune couldn't catch up. However, Horikita Suzune knew everyone's abilities well, and her primary goal was to secure second place.
Horikita Suzune maintained a fast pace, staying in second place behind the leader—
But behind her, Kinoshita Minori was closing in, forcing Horikita Suzune to glance back.
However, looking back at your opponent is a major taboo in track events, and Horikita Suzune's speed slowed as a result.
The distance between the two narrowed, almost to the point of contact.
[Now! Just bump into her!]
Kinoshita Minori thought to herself, then charged toward Horikita Suzune.
Her speed was actually slightly faster than Horikita Suzune's, but she had deliberately slowed down earlier to set up this moment.
Kinoshita Minori had practiced countless times how to bump into someone while making it look like she was the one who got hit, thus framing the other person.
The distance between them closed in an instant.
'Yare yare, I can't let you succeed like this.'
Not far away, Saiki narrowed his eyes and used his psychic powers to untie Kinoshita Minori's shoelaces—
Thud!
With a clear sound, Kinoshita Minori lost her balance and fell to the ground.
"What?!"
Everyone watching was stunned, completely unprepared for this turn of events.
"Wasn't this part of the track flat?"
"Did she not tie her shoelaces properly?"
"Wasn't Kinoshita part of the track and field club? How could she make such a mistake?"
People began to murmur.
At that moment, Ryuen Kakeru's face turned purple. He hadn't expected things to turn out like this.
Kinoshita Minori had been so close to framing Horikita Suzune, but she had fallen just one step away.
The distance was close, but everyone could clearly see that there was a gap between Horikita Suzune and Kinoshita Minori, making it impossible to blame Horikita.
[What the hell?! How did this happen?!]
Ryuen Kakeru clenched his fists in anger, his knuckles cracking.
[Was that girl trying to bump into her just now?]
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had caught the moment Kinoshita Minori made her move and noticed something unusual, but he wasn't surprised. This was just Ryuen Kakeru's style.
On the field, Horikita Suzune only heard a loud thud behind her as Kinoshita Minori fell to the ground. With no competitors behind her, Horikita Suzune secured second place in the event.
[Oh no... this is bad...]
At that moment, Kinoshita Minori had just gotten up from the ground. She knew she had missed her best opportunity.
She turned her head and saw Ryuen Kakeru's furious gaze.
Fear instantly spread through Kinoshita Minori's heart.
[Nothing has gone right during this sports festival!]
[Is this all part of their plan? No, something like untied shoelaces is just an accident...]
[I need to come up with another plan! Damn Class B!]
Ryuen Kakeru cursed in his mind, his confident demeanor from earlier completely gone.
'Yare yare, no matter what methods you try, they won't succeed.'
What Ryuen Kakeru didn't know was that Saiki had heard every single one of his thoughts.
'Provoking a psychic is never a wise move.'