Having secured a three-day breathing window, Suzune Horikita felt the pressure of time. She had to find evidence that Class C was framing Ken Sudō within these three days; only then would there be a chance to turn the tables.
Kiyotaka Ayanokōji followed behind Suzune with an expressionless face. For the first time, he felt that someone could be this bothersome.
Sudō, who had initially thought he was destined for suspension and eventual expulsion after the midterms, had been given a three-day delay by Suzune in the conference room. After learning she would do her best to help him clear his name, he felt as though he had found true love.
This… this is love.
Sudō never thought a "trash" person like him would one day have someone come to save him. He was moved beyond words. This is a life-saving debt; I can only repay it by offering myself in marriage…
Consequently, Sudō spent the whole way back whispering nonstop to Ayanokōji about how great Suzune was. In this moment, the concept of a "simp" had a concrete form.
Meanwhile, after the rest of Class D learned that Sudō's fight required a 500,000-point compensation to Class C, they stood on a rare united front.
"Huh? Why should we have to pay for Sudō hitting people? I don't have any points," Kanji Ike said in disbelief. To afford food, he had already sold the game console he bought at the start of school for almost nothing. Now Suzune was telling him to use his points to pay for Sudō's mistake?
Are you crazy?!
"I don't have any points left either. If it's too much, just let Sudō be suspended," Haruki Yamauchi chimed in, echoing Ike. Having no points himself, he chose to abandon Sudō. Part of the reason was that when Ren hit him in class previously, Sudō—as part of their "four-man group"—hadn't helped him at all.
"You two… what happened to the bond we talked about?" Sudō grew anxious at their words. Was the four-man group that had vowed to work together really going to break up just like that?
Turning his gaze toward Ayanokōji standing beside him, Sudō hoped the last member of the group would support him. "Ayanokōji, what about you?"
"Uh… I'll do my best to help."
Ayanokōji, wanting to maintain his status as an ordinary student and prevent the group's relationship from completely collapsing, could only choose to appease Sudō for now.
"I knew you'd help me! We're best bros!" Having received the answer he wanted, Sudō threw an arm around Ayanokōji's shoulder.
The rest of the class was equally unwilling. With Ike and Yamauchi setting the tone, complaints spread quickly.
"All my points are used up. I want to help, but I can't."
"Exactly. No one has extra points for compensation now. If it really comes down to it, it's not like Sudō being suspended for a while is the end of the world."
"Miu-chan, should we go shopping later?"
Everyone had something to say, but not a single person was willing to step up and help Sudō gather the points. They couldn't even produce 5,000 points, let alone feel sympathy for the hot-tempered Sudō, who was "causing trouble" again. Many had long disliked him in silence.
Yōsuke Hirata, having experienced the death of a close friend in the past, stood up. He didn't want anyone in the class to be expelled. He began calling on everyone to help Sudō through this crisis.
"Please, everyone, try to pool your points to help Sudō. I'll also go to the upperclassmen in my club to try to borrow some."
Seeing Hirata stand up, Kei Karuizawa followed along.
"Please, everyone! I'll also go ask friends in other classes to borrow points."
Borrow points from other classes? You make it sound so easy. If you're so good at borrowing, why don't you pay me back the points you owe me first? Kikyo Kushida thought with disdain, mocking Karuizawa in her mind.
But Kushida seemed to have forgotten… aside from Rokusuke Kōenji, she was the one in Class D with the most points.
Since the central figures of the two major groups in the class had spoken, there was no way Kushida—the most popular person in class—could stay out of it. Seeing everyone look toward her, Kushida cursed them all in her heart but forced a bright smile onto her face.
"Please, I'll go and ask my friends to borrow points too…"
As soon as Kushida finished speaking, the students' eyes lit up.
"Kushida-san, you're pretty close with Ren from Class A, right? We'll leave it to you then."
"Yeah, yeah! He gave you 80,000 points just for meeting him back then."
"You can borrow a lot from Ren this time, right? Maybe you can borrow a little extra for us too!"
They pinned all their hopes on Kushida—or rather, on Kushida's connection to Ren. They had heard rumors about Ren's generosity in Class A, and greed immediately followed. He has so many points; it won't matter if we take a little, right?
Hearing their delusional fantasies, Kushida's mouth twitched slightly.
"Ayanokōji, do you have any thoughts on this?" Suzune asked, holding her compass.
After a moment of thought, Ayanokōji offered his suggestion. "Let's go to the scene of the incident and look for surveillance cameras. If there are cameras, it'll be much easier."
"Alright." Suzune accepted the idea.
At the same time, Ryuji Kanzaki went to Class C to find Kakeru Ryuen. Seeing someone from Class A at the door, Ishizaki shouted, "A guy from Class A? What are you here for? Get lost!"
"Ishizaki, shut up," Ryuen said impatiently. Hearing that, Ishizaki immediately backed off.
Only then did Ryuen look toward the door. "What do you want?"
Ren felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He adjusted his posture so he wouldn't wake Honami, who was sleeping against him. When he looked at the screen, he saw the caller ID: Kikyo Kushida.
He declined the call and sent a text instead.
Ren: Kushida?
The reply came instantly.
Kushida: It's me, Katsuragi-kun… I…
Kushida seemed to be struggling to say it, as if too embarrassed to speak. Ren couldn't help smiling. Still playing that push-and-pull game, huh?
Ren: Do you need to borrow points? I've heard about the Sudō incident in Class D. That's fine.
(Transfer: 300,000 points.)
Without giving Kushida a chance to say how much she needed, Ren transferred a lump sum to her. For Class D, it was enormous—more than enough to trigger greed and jealousy.
Just as Ren expected, the moment the transfer went through, some of the curious students in Class D noticed it. That meant if Sudō really had to pay the compensation within three days, Kushida's "borrowed" points would cover most of it.
Kushida stared at the transfer on her phone, internally screaming without tears.
"Ren-kun, do you have a relationship with Kushida-san too?"
Honami, who had woken up when Ren moved, peeked out from his arms and saw the chat. She asked out of curiosity.
Ren didn't hide it and answered honestly. "Not yet."
Seeing she was awake, Ren started to get up to leave—only to be hugged from behind. Honami buried her face against Ren's neck, breathed in his scent, then let go reluctantly.
"Ren, I am yours."
"Mm. You can only be mine."
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The Black Dragon of the Katsuragi Family now has 188 chapters.
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