[What kind of person is Saiki?]
At this moment, behind a tree, Tsukishiro Tokinari was intently observing Saiki.
Although Ayanokoji Atsuomi had instructed him to maintain the status quo, Tsukishiro Tokinari's curiosity about Saiki was growing stronger.
He seemed so ordinary, yet he had managed to enter this school...
This made Tsukishiro Tokinari unconsciously draw a connection between Saiki and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
Perhaps, there were many secrets hidden within Saiki—secrets that even Ayanokoji Atsuomi might not know.
[Saiki, who exactly are you...? Why is he walking towards me? Did he notice me?]
Tsukishiro Tokinari noticed that Saiki was walking in his direction and felt a pang of doubt in his heart.
Meanwhile, Saiki was preparing to have a face-to-face conversation with Tsukishiro Tokinari.
If it were the old Saiki, he would have tried his best to avoid drawing attention to himself.
However, after spending a year at this school, Saiki had learned that if he didn't take the initiative, trouble would come knocking on his door.
Especially with someone like Tsukishiro Tokinari, who had already decided that Saiki was special and wouldn't stop until he uncovered the truth.
In a sense, Tsukishiro was targeting him. No matter how much Saiki tried to hide, it wouldn't be effective. It was better to confront him directly and see what he wanted.
At this moment, Tsukishiro Tokinari stepped out from behind the tree and looked at Saiki.
"Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to the faculty office?"
Tsukishiro asked, pretending to be clueless.
[He shouldn't have noticed me, right? I've done my best to hide my presence. If he were an ordinary student, he shouldn't have...]
"You've been following me for a while now. What do you want?"
Saiki already knew the answer but asked anyway.
[He noticed me?! How is that possible?! Or is he just bluffing?]
Tsukishiro's eyebrow twitched, and his eyes filled with doubt. However, he quickly put on a smile and asked, "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a new staff member at the school, and I got lost on my first day here..."
"I know you've been following me, and you were the one who sent me that text earlier, right?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about..."
"Then let me see your phone."
Hearing Saiki's words, Tsukishiro's expression instantly turned serious.
[This guy's insight is so sharp? He's definitely not ordinary...]
'It's telepathy that let me know, but I guess you could call it insight too.'
Saiki replied in his mind.
After a year at the school, Saiki had come up with a new way to hide his identity as a psychic.
He would give others a glimpse of a "false image," letting them see some of his special traits.
While this might increase the attention on him slightly, it would prevent his identity as a psychic from being exposed.
'This guy is here to test me. If he doesn't get any results, he'll keep bothering me. It's better to show him a little something.'
Saiki thought to himself, then spoke up.
"If I'm not mistaken, you're the newly appointed chairman, right? Your original target wasn't me, but someone else, wasn't it?"
Hearing Saiki's words, Tsukishiro became even more convinced that Saiki was someone who couldn't be ignored.
[This guy's insight is astonishing. When did I expose myself? I didn't even notice... How strange...]
[But aside from his insight, how is this guy's physical ability?]
[Should I test his abilities here? There are no cameras around...]
As Tsukishiro thought this, his gaze shifted to Saiki's throat.
At such a close distance, he could easily grab Saiki's neck in an instant—
However, all of Tsukishiro's thoughts were already heard by Saiki.
'Yare yare, go ahead and try.'
Saiki remained expressionless as he looked at Tsukishiro.
Just as Tsukishiro was about to make his move, his phone suddenly rang.
He frowned, took out his phone, and upon seeing the caller's information, his expression changed drastically. He quickly answered the call.
"Ayanokoji-sensei..."
Tsukishiro said in a low voice.
"Don't do anything reckless, especially towards that student named Saiki... Under no circumstances are you to do anything harmful to him!"
Ayanokoji Atsuomi's voice trembled slightly, carrying a hint of fear.
[What? Is this a coincidence? Why did he call at this exact moment? And why does Ayanokoji-sensei sound... panicked?]
Tsukishiro was filled with confusion.
"Ayanokoji-sensei... May I ask..."
"Shut up! Just do as I say! Your only goal is to bring Kiyotaka back. Do not take any other actions! Do you understand?!"
On the other end of the phone, Ayanokoji Atsuomi's stern and commanding voice came through.
[What... what's going on? Why is Ayanokoji-sensei reacting like this?]
Tsukishiro's confusion deepened, but he had no way of getting answers. He could only put down his phone and glance at Saiki.
[This guy... what exactly is his background?]
Tsukishiro swallowed hard, then quickly left the area.
'Huh?'
Meanwhile, Saiki stood there, completely baffled.
He had naturally heard the voice on the other end of the phone.
But what exactly had happened?
'Could it be...'
A certain thought crossed Saiki's mind.
"Isn't this cooperation going well, Ayanokoji-sensei?"
At this moment, in a secret White Room facility, a screen displayed the image of a boy who looked a year or two older than Saiki. He smiled as he looked at Ayanokoji Atsuomi.
Ayanokoji Atsuomi was drenched in sweat, his eyes unable to hide his panic.
As a seasoned politician with decades of experience, Ayanokoji Atsuomi knew better than to show his emotions in most situations.
But in front of this boy, he couldn't help it.
Saiki Kusuke, Saiki's older brother. Ayanokoji Atsuomi had only just learned his name.
Unlike Saiki, Saiki Kusuke had no psychic abilities—but he possessed terrifying intelligence.
Originally, he had given up after never being able to defeat Saiki and moved to Cambridge University. However, he had recently returned to Japan and, thanks to his incredible intellect and abilities, had become a key member of the national scientific research institute. He was regarded by the higher-ups as a talent that absolutely could not be wasted.
Some even believed that Saiki Kusuke's inventions could potentially trigger a world war.
In a sense, Saiki Kusuke's status in the country surpassed even Ayanokoji Atsuomi's.
No matter how capable Ayanokoji Atsuomi was, he was merely a powerful bureaucrat. Saiki Kusuke's value far exceeded that.
Earlier, Saiki Kusuke had used his influence to help Saiki enroll in Advanced Nurturing High School.
Just moments ago, Saiki Kusuke had effortlessly hacked into the White Room's systems, disabling all security measures and paralyzing the entire facility.
Despite the White Room's extremely tight security, it was completely powerless against Saiki Kusuke.
Not only that, but Saiki Kusuke had also projected all of Ayanokoji Atsuomi's dark secrets onto the large screen—information so damning that anyone who knew about it would be silenced. If this information were made public, Ayanokoji Atsuomi wouldn't just lose his position and go to prison—it would be far worse.
In other words, Ayanokoji Atsuomi's life was now in Saiki Kusuke's hands.
At this moment, Ayanokoji Atsuomi was drenched in sweat, his body trembling uncontrollably.
[This guy... is he a monster? How could he disable the White Room's security so easily...?]
[And those documents and conversation records... no one else should have known about them...]
[Why? Why is this happening?!]
"You must be wondering how I was able to hack into your system so easily."
On the screen, Saiki Kusuke maintained his smile. His keen observational skills allowed him to guess what others were thinking.
"To me, your security measures are like a child's sandcastle—easily washed away by the waves. Also, you're probably curious how I know so many of your secrets, right?"
[This guy... he's read my mind?!]
Ayanokoji Atsuomi felt like he was struggling to breathe and didn't know what to say.
But at that moment, the pen on his desk suddenly began to transform, turning into a small spider-like robot.
"What?!"
Ayanokoji Atsuomi was shocked by what he saw, momentarily wondering if he was hallucinating.
"It's not a hallucination. You've got a few of my little toys around you."
Saiki Kusuke said with a smile—
Though the way he looked at Ayanokoji Atsuomi was as if he were looking at an insignificant ant.
Saiki Kusuke's inventions were on a completely different level compared to the world's current technology.
Ayanokoji Atsuomi couldn't help but gasp.
[What... what kind of new robot is this?!]
[So... this guy has been watching me all along? Has he seen through all my actions from the start?]
[A monster... he's a monster...]
A sense of fear began to spread through Ayanokoji Atsuomi's heart, something he had never experienced before.
"Don't worry, I'm not interested in your little comeback plan. You ants can do whatever you want—it has nothing to do with me, and I can't be bothered to expose your secrets."
Saiki Kusuke's smile faded, and his cold gaze fell on Ayanokoji Atsuomi.
"But you ants dare to mess with Kusuo? Do you have any idea how out of your depth you are?"
"I-I'm terribly sorry..."
Ayanokoji Atsuomi forced out an apology through gritted teeth.
Only now did he realize what Sakayanagi Narimori had meant when he warned him earlier.
Saiki's background was far beyond anything he had imagined.
"Your little White Room project, your so-called masterpiece, is so boring. It's just picking a cockroach out of a bunch of ants."
Ayanokoji Atsuomi bit his lip. The project he had dedicated his life to was nothing in Saiki Kusuke's eyes.
How ironic.
Not only that, but Saiki Kusuke had been monitoring him for who knows how long, and Ayanokoji Atsuomi had never noticed.
A monster... he was truly a monster...
Even setting aside his abilities and inventions, Ayanokoji Atsuomi had no power to do anything against Saiki Kusuke.
"By the way, your subordinate is at that school, right? There's something I need you to arrange for me. I could do it myself, but to avoid some paperwork, I'd have to use the brainwashing machine on a few people, and that's a bit of a hassle..."
"Brainwashing?"
Ayanokoji Atsuomi thought he must have misheard.
"Never mind, you heard wrong. Just arrange something for me."
Saiki Kusuke's smile returned.
"Next semester, assign a new staff member to the school."
Meanwhile, in the school's KTV room, Yamauchi Haruki hurriedly entered a private room.
It was the place where he had agreed to meet Sakayanagi Arisu.
"What's wrong, Yamauchi-kun? We just met yesterday, and you're already so eager to see me again?"
Sakayanagi Arisu smiled as she looked at Yamauchi Haruki.
However, she noticed the panicked expression on his face and realized something must have happened in Class B.
"It's bad, Sakayanagi... the plan you told me to carry out... it didn't work!"
Yamauchi Haruki stammered, his voice trembling.
"Why?"
Sakayanagi Arisu asked, puzzled.
"I... the class found out about your plan..."
Yamauchi Haruki naturally couldn't admit that he had accidentally let it slip.
Sakayanagi pursed her lips. She had known that Yamauchi Haruki's betrayal would eventually be discovered, but she hadn't expected it to happen on the very first day.