Shirogane met Sakayanagi Arisu at noon, and by evening, he was already on high alert.
And sure enough, when he went to the library to borrow and return books, he noticed someone following him.
At first, he only had a vague feeling that someone was trailing him when he stepped out of the dorm building.
But he didn't act right away—after all, the person hadn't done anything yet. He needed to catch them in the act.
Yes.
Shirogane planned to catch the stalker that Sakayanagi had sent after him.
Originally, he could have just approached Kushida from Class D and used her information network to verify Class A's student details. But now, he realized that why bother with outsiders when he could get the info straight from Class A's own students?
If he could make a Class A student spill the truth about their own classmates, the information would be even more valuable.
Of course, Class A was divided—some students sided with Katsuragi, while the ones who followed Sakayanagi tended to be the smarter ones.
Would someone handpicked by Sakayanagi really surrender so easily?
Probably not.
But there was a high chance they would betray the Katsuragi faction. They might even fill in the gaps in the information that Shirogane hadn't gathered yet.
This was the downside of having a divided class.
Instead of uniting, they were busy fighting amongst themselves—and some were even willing to sell out their own faction just to gain an advantage.
Like the old saying goes: "Not great at external conflicts, but number one in internal strife."
From how the desks in Class A were arranged, it was clear the class was completely split into two factions. There weren't even any neutral students left, meaning the rivalry was intense.
So, capturing a Class A student might actually get him information far more useful than the class roster Sakayanagi had spent money printing.
In other words—
A Class A student was bound to show up soon.
[Someone's coming.]
A voice echoed in Shirogane's mind.
He held his breath and focused.
Before long—
A figure appeared from the other side of the bookshelves on the second floor, walking toward the shelf where Shirogane had just been.
Judging by the way they moved, it was a girl with black hair.
She stopped where Shirogane had been standing, hesitated for a moment, then walked over to the library's search computer.
She pulled up the search interface.
But instead of looking up a book title or something she wanted to borrow, she typed in—
[Shirogane Miyuki]
She was searching for Shirogane's name.
She was checking his borrowing history.
It was clear now—this student was definitely here for him.
No time to waste.
"What are you doing?"
"Do you know how many points your class will lose because of your stalking?"
But the moment Shirogane stepped in, he realized something—he knew this girl. And she didn't seem to be from Class A.
She had strikingly good looks, a sharp and refined face, and a cold, serious aura.
This was Horikita Suzune from Class D.
"Why is it Horikita Suzune from Class D?"
Shirogane muttered, as if asking himself, but really directing the question to the narrator.
According to the narrator, Sakayanagi Arisu was the one who arranged for someone to follow him. But the one caught in the act was Horikita Suzune.
Did that mean Sakayanagi's influence had already extended so far that she had even recruited Class D students?
[Well, I'm not too sure about that, but at this point, Horikita Suzune and Sakayanagi Arisu shouldn't know each other yet.]
[However, Sakayanagi sees Horikita Suzune as a potential rival.]
[Sakayanagi's assessment: She's dangerous.]
Hmm… Shirogane started piecing the information together.
If Sakayanagi and Horikita didn't know each other yet, that meant they would meet later.
And not only that, Sakayanagi would remember her.
So, does that mean Horikita is actually a big deal too?
Shirogane had briefly encountered her in the elevator before and had even tricked her into revealing her name by mentioning she was the student council president's sister.
But…
Even though she seemed cold and composed, she didn't give off the impression of being particularly powerful.
And yet, Sakayanagi considered her a threat.
Maybe he had underestimated her?
With that in mind, Shirogane turned to Horikita.
"Horikita, do you know Sakayanagi?"
"Sakayanagi?" Horikita Suzune looked slightly confused.
It seemed like she had never even heard the name before.
If she was faking it, she deserved an Oscar. But judging by her reaction, she genuinely had no idea who Sakayanagi was.
So she wasn't sent by Sakayanagi.
Which meant… this was her own decision?
"Why are you following me?" Shirogane asked.
"Following—"
Horikita seemed to catch on to the odd phrasing. "I'm not following you. I'm studying you."
"Even though I hate to admit it, I lost. So I had to go with plan B."
"And that plan is to learn from you."
"I want to get stronger." Horikita's expression shifted, filled with frustration.
But.
"…"
Hmm.
Shirogane understood every word she said, yet he had no idea what she meant.
"Anyway, this isn't the right place to talk, Horikita. Let's go somewhere else," Shirogane said after thinking for a moment.
And so—
Twenty minutes later.
At the dormitory.
Chabashira-sensei had just finished showering and was standing on the balcony, letting the evening breeze cool her down. Her mood was a bit heavy.
She had already broken the rules by giving Horikita Suzune some inside information and even pushed her to take action.
But—
It didn't seem to be working.
For three days straight, Horikita Suzune had indeed started investigating the school, but she kept hitting dead ends.
She had found the small blackboards placed separately for each grade.
She even took pictures of the class names and numbers written on them. But she couldn't figure out what they were for.
She also tried to gather information from upperclassmen, but she failed again and again. She didn't even have the courage to approach the third-years.
Even if her attempts didn't work, she should have at least gained some clues.
But she didn't. She was terrible at socializing.
If she had a better relationship with Kushida and asked her to help gather information from upperclassmen, she probably would have learned something.
But if Horikita Suzune could rely on others and build relationships so easily, that would be unusual for her.
That's right.
On paper, Horikita had solid stats—her academic ability was high enough to qualify for Class A, and her physical ability at a B level was enough to hold her own among Class A girls.
But when it came to social skills, she was completely hopeless.
Learning to rely on others, making friends, gaining support, and working as a team—these were all things she needed to figure out at this school.
By now, she had probably given up on investigating the school and decided to approach Shirogane instead.
Actually, two people had been standing out in Class C lately.
One was Ryuen Kakeru.
The other was Shirogane Miyuki.
These were the two students that Sakagami had been proudly boasting about in the staff office.
Class C was ambitious. Their homeroom teacher, Sakagami Kazuma, was in a great mood. And their class was indeed acting strange—their evaluation score hadn't changed in three days, which meant their unity was through the roof.
That wasn't something Chabashira wanted to see.
Just as she was thinking about this—
*Beep!*
Her phone chimed with a new message. It was from Horikita Suzune.
Since Chabashira had assigned her a task, she had added Horikita as a contact and even set a special alert for her messages.
And now—
What had Horikita sent?
Did she manage to get information from Shirogane?
As she thought about it, she opened the message.
[It didn't work. I tried to approach Shirogane, but he figured out that the hints you gave me were against the rules. If he reports it, you'll be in trouble too, won't you?]
"..." Chabashira.
"..." Chabashira.
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