Not long after, Ryunosuke left Class B. Arisu exhaled quietly with relief.
(Thank goodness he didn't push further. If he had, my cover would have come apart sooner or later.)
(But, Ryunosuke-kun really is sharp. I was his first suspect.)
She looked thoroughly pleased with her own man's perception, proud of him and faintly inconvenienced by him in equal measure.
(You're a little too sharp. It makes it rather difficult to act freely.)
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Elsewhere, Kamuro Masumi wasn't complaining. She had accepted the situation with unusual calm. She couldn't exactly argue against the footage of herself stealing a can of beer.
She had done it purely for the thrill of it, and now it had turned into a catastrophe. She considered it her own bad luck and no one else's. She grabbed her bag, intending to make the most of her last day at school, since the administration had already informed her that tomorrow would be her final one. She didn't even feel like going after Hashimoto. As far as she was concerned, this was entirely her own fault.
Ryunosuke was uncertain about what to do. He was still turning it over in his mind, whether to step in or not. This situation was connected to him in a small but real way, because early in the semester he had used Masumi to get himself through a critical period. He had started from nothing at the time and she had been part of how he survived it. Letting her situation pass without doing anything would leave a bad taste.
He checked his personal points. He had started with 40 million, but after lending Manabu 20 million in exchange for 40 million yen in cash, collecting Nagumo's 17-plus million, and sweeping in the combined total from the entire second year, he was now sitting at roughly 218 million points.
On top of that, the 40 million yen cash from Manabu and 20 million points expected upon graduation put him well beyond what he needed to settle his debts. His plan was to request permission from his future father-in-law during the summer break to step out briefly and clear everything. The school was a closed dormitory campus, but the chairman was the one who controlled that. As a future son-in-law, getting temporary leave shouldn't be difficult. Once the debt was gone, the pressure on him would lift entirely, and he would still have a comfortable amount left over.
He made up his mind. "Fine. I'll save her."
At that moment, Arisu appeared at the door of Class C and knocked. She smiled sweetly. "Ryunosuke-kun, could you step out for a moment? There's something I'd like to talk about."
Ryunosuke walked out without hesitation. They were publicly a couple, after all.
Across the room, Ayanokoji's usual stillness shifted by the smallest degree. The video that Hashimoto had submitted was, in fact, something he had provided. He wanted to confirm one thing: what was Ryunosuke's weakness.
If Ryunosuke moved to save Masumi, then what had happened with Airi earlier was not coincidence. Ayanokoji knew that Ryunosuke had used Airi to collect a significant number of points. Masumi had been used more than once as well, and had already given quite a lot for Ryunosuke's sake.
He had obtained this information from Arisu. She had approached him about working together; they each had their own goals.
Arisu wanted to maneuver Masumi into Ryunosuke's orbit. Ayanokoji wanted to understand Ryunosuke's vulnerability. Ryunosuke had been acting outside his predictions too often lately, and the incident with the garden bench still bothered him. This particular piece on the board was becoming harder to manage. He needed a point of leverage, just in case.
Meanwhile, Arisu was getting to the point. "Kamuro-san has feelings for you. Did you know that?"
Ryunosuke nearly lost his composure. "Why are you telling me this?"
Arisu only smiled and said nothing more, walking slowly on with her cane. That was enough. Telling Ryunosuke that Masumi had feelings for him was the key move. Knowing him, he wouldn't be able to leave things as they were.
Put plainly, Ryunosuke was incorrigibly soft toward girls who liked him. He was never going to let an attractive girl who cared about him simply disappear. Certainly not without helping her.
Arisu had read that particular quality in him thoroughly. If she hadn't, there would never have been anything resembling a round table gathering in the first place, which at this point was starting to resemble the Espada of Hueco Mundo in terms of headcount, all presided over by Morishita Ai.
As much as it cost her to be this generous, she didn't have a choice. Among the current Espada, she was the physically weakest, full of vulnerabilities, and without any bodily advantage to offer. That meant she had to build alliances. Since her own body was the problem, she looked for allies whose bodies were not. That was her way of staying competitive.
Especially with the fourth Espada, Ulquiorra Cifer, well, Shiina Hiyori. That girl was not to be underestimated. Something had clearly happened between her and Ryunosuke, because he had been staying close to her ever since. Hiyori had the presence and capability to hold her own against the first Espada, Morishita Ai.
The second, Sakura Airi, was equally dangerous. She had already slipped ahead of everyone twice, and her closest ally was the sixth Espada, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, otherwise known as Hasebe Haruka. The two of them were effectively operating as a unit.
Arisu, by contrast, had no exceptional cards to play. She was alone and the most fragile among them. She couldn't give Ryunosuke children in the future, and there was always the possibility that she might not be there at all someday. That was precisely why she was so open about him finding other women. Love didn't have to be possessive. She couldn't hold him captive forever and leave him without a future.
So she had selected two candidates for him. One was Kamuro Masumi, and the other was Yamamura Miki. Both were trusted members of her inner circle, and both had feelings for Ryunosuke.
The plan was to get Masumi in first. If that worked, bring in the second. With all three of them aligned, they would have nothing to fear from anyone else.
The corner of her mouth curved slightly. Everything was falling into place without any visible seams. She had even routed the video through Ayanokoji deliberately, to keep suspicion off herself.
The two of them had separate agendas, but the outcome each wanted was the same. Arisu wanted allies she could count on. Ayanokoji wanted something to hold over Ryunosuke if he ever needed to pull him back.
It did create a small additional problem for Ryunosuke-kun, admittedly. But she trusted that her man could handle it. That was what trust in your partner looked like.
👨🏻💻Support me by reading on my Patreon: Patreon.com/cw/transenden or bit.ly/4uObLvf
☕Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/lovefanfiction
🛍️Benefits:
🎁Access 180+ chapters: [Anime Crossover: Making Money in Classroom of the Elite]
🎁Access Kamikawa Naoki
🎁Access 30 chapters: [Journey to Planar Word]
🎁Access 120+ chapters: [Infinity Reincarnation]
📜Update Schedule:
📨Translated Fanfiction: 3 chapters per day
📨Original Fanfiction: 1-3 chapters per day
👍🏻Thank you so much for your incredible support, everyone!👍🏻