Ibuki Mio was very confident in her attack. She had put all her strength into it, hoping to take down Saiki in one strike.
However, she had no idea just how vast the gap in their abilities was.
With a casual wave of his hand, Saiki sent Ibuki Mio flying like a fly.
'Yare yare, if I let her fly out like this without doing anything, the consequences could be disastrous. She might end up embedded in the wall.'
As Saiki thought this, he immediately activated his telekinesis to control the speed at which Ibuki Mio was flying, ensuring she wouldn't cause too much damage.
In the end, Ibuki Mio flew several meters, tumbled on the ground a few times, and passed out.
'I can't let her stay unconscious.'
Saiki then used his powers again to wake Ibuki Mio up.
"What happened…?"
Ibuki Mio sat up from the ground, seemingly unaware that she had briefly lost consciousness. However, she was well aware that Saiki had taken her down in almost a single move.
"What… what kind of technique did you use?"
"Superpowers."
Saiki said deliberately, knowing she wouldn't believe him.
"Stop talking nonsense. Was it Aikido or some other martial art? How did you, as a high school student, learn something like that?"
"Just a hobby."
Saiki casually made up an excuse.
Although he had undoubtedly left a lasting impression on Ibuki Mio, she definitely wouldn't consider the possibility of superpowers.
"Anyway, it's clear who won, right?"
Saiki looked at Ibuki Mio.
Ibuki Mio stood up from the ground, brushed off her skirt, and though her face was filled with frustration, she nodded.
"I lost. I won't bother you anymore. That's the deal. Don't worry, I won't go back on my word."
"That's a relief."
Saiki let out a long sigh.
"But before that… there's one last thing I want to ask your opinion on."
"My opinion?"
"Since you were able to plant a virus in Ryuen's phone, you must know about his plans, right?"
"…"
Saiki thought for a moment, then remembered that he had made up an excuse about being able to create phone viruses to hack into phones in order to explain the recording.
"To rise to Class A, one person needs 20 million points. For the entire class, that's a total of 800 million points. Do you think it's possible to save up such an absurd amount of personal points before graduation?"
Ibuki Mio asked.
Earlier, when Ryuen Kakeru had claimed he was going to drop out, he had thrown his phone to Ibuki Mio. It was then that she noticed a plan recorded in Ryuen's memo.
[I saw this plan in Ryuen's phone earlier. Although Ryuen acts like he doesn't care about anything, it seems he's really planning to get the entire Class D to rise to Class A.]
'800 million points? That's a bit too much…'
Saiki thought to himself.
'Although I could probably do it, it seems impossible for ordinary people… Should I just deny it? No, I'll give a vague answer.'
"Maybe, maybe not."
Saiki said, then turned around.
"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave. The others are waiting for us."
Saiki quickly left the storage room, leaving Ibuki Mio standing there in a daze.
"Is Saiki saying… it's actually possible?"
...
A few minutes later, Saiki used his clairvoyance to locate Aiura Mikoto and the others, then rejoined them.
"How did it go, Saiki-kun?"
As soon as she saw Saiki, Sato Maya eagerly asked.
"Mikoto told us everything! About you and Ibuki-san!"
'Yare yare, you've only known each other for a few hours, and you're already calling her by her first name?'
Saiki turned to Aiura Mikoto and communicated with her telepathically.
[Girls become best friends as soon as they start gossiping! I'm calling her Mayako now!]
Aiura Mikoto smiled at Saiki.
'Gossip?'
Saiki had a bad feeling about this.
"Ibuki-san has been pestering you relentlessly, hasn't she? It must be so annoying! But Saiki-kun, you're so kind."
Sato Maya looked genuinely concerned, and Sakura Airi seemed to share the sentiment.
'??? I sent her flying, and you think I'm kind?'
Saiki's gaze toward Aiura Mikoto carried a hint of murderous intent.
'What did you tell them?'
[I said that Ibuki girl has a crush on you and has been pestering you, but you didn't want to hurt her feelings, so you decided to confront her today and reject her outright.]
'??? What kind of nonsense story did you make up?'
[I had no choice. You asked me to keep them occupied, so I had to come up with something. This way, Mayako and the others wouldn't disturb you.]
'...'
[And technically, it's not wrong. You did tell me that girl was going to bother you.]
'...'
Saiki was too tired to complain.
He turned to the others.
[Saiki-kun is so responsible!]
[Kusuo-kun… is so kind…]
Unbeknownst to Saiki, his favorability in the eyes of Sakura Airi and Sato Maya had risen.
Meanwhile, Karuizawa Kei, who knew the truth, remained silent.
She understood that Saiki was hiding his abilities, so she guessed that Aiura Mikoto was helping him cover up the truth. She didn't expose the lie.
However, a more serious question arose in Karuizawa Kei's mind.
[What's the relationship between Kusuo and Mikoto?]
[Why is she helping Kusuo cover up? Does she also know about his true abilities?]
[But she's not even a student. She's just the owner of a shop in the school… She only ran the fortune-telling shop during the summer… Did she know Kusuo before?]
'Yare yare, looks like another problem has popped up…'
Saiki sighed.
Christmas wasn't over yet, and there was still at least half the day left.
What should they do next…
...
As the sky grew darker, Saiki and the others finally wrapped up their day.
The four girls each gave Saiki a Christmas gift. Sakura Airi gave him a pair of gloves, Sato Maya gave him a scarf she had knitted herself, Karuizawa Kei gave him a necklace, and Aiura Mikoto gave him a strange charm that seemed to be made from some kind of animal part.
Saiki had also prepared gifts for them in return—cakes he had carefully selected, knowing they tasted good.
Although Saiki didn't enjoy the complicated social interactions that came with holidays, he didn't want to owe anyone any favors.
After the outing ended, Saiki parted ways with the others and prepared to return to his room.
But as he approached, he saw a familiar figure standing at his door.
Horikita Suzune.
"You're finally back, Saiki-kun."
Horikita Suzune's sharp gaze fell on Saiki.
[I've already questioned everyone else. Ayanokoji can't be ruled out as a suspect, and neither can Saiki.]
'What's this about?'
[Ryuen has changed since that day. It's probably because of one of them.]
'Yare yare… Horikita has figured it out to this extent? This isn't good.'
Saiki thought to himself.
Although Saiki had shown his strength in front of Ryuen Kakeru and the others, it had been a last resort to completely resolve the trouble with Class D.
Moreover, he was certain Ryuen Kakeru wouldn't reveal what had happened.
Even so, Saiki didn't want more people to know about it. At most, only Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Karuizawa Kei in the class needed to know. The more people who knew, the more trouble it would cause.
"What's the matter?"
Saiki asked expressionlessly.
"I think Ryuen was likely defeated by someone in our class. Do you have any ideas?"
"Our class? Not at all. Wasn't he defeated by Ishizaki?"
Saiki feigned ignorance.
"Then let me ask you this: on the night of the last day of last month, why did you leave the dormitory?"
Horikita Suzune pressed further.
"That night…"
Saiki's mind raced as he tried to come up with a plausible excuse.
But just then, a voice sounded from behind.
"That night, Kusuo and I were on a date!"
With light footsteps, Karuizawa Kei approached Saiki and smiled.
"You… were on a date?"
Horikita Suzune's face showed a hint of surprise.
'Hey, hey, isn't this just creating more trouble for me?'
Saiki almost screamed internally, but if he denied it outright now, Horikita Suzune would likely dig deeper.
"Yep! Do you want to know what else we did that night?"
"No, I'm not interested in that. I just wanted to know that much."
Horikita Suzune nodded indifferently.
[Saiki and Karuizawa… how? No, their relationship has always been somewhat close. At the very least, it's clear that Karuizawa pays a lot of attention to Saiki.]
[If Karuizawa says so, then it makes sense. It also explains why she's here to see Saiki now.]
[Saiki is temporarily off the suspect list. So, it must be Ayanokoji who took down Ryuen?]
'Looks like I dodged a bullet.'
Saiki sighed inwardly.
"Couldn't you have just called to ask about this?"
Karuizawa Kei asked, puzzled.
"No, some things need to be said face-to-face. Only by meeting in person can you see the other person's expressions and demeanor. Sorry for the intrusion."
After a few brief words, Horikita Suzune left the floor.
[For now, Ayanokoji is the most likely suspect. He always acts so unmotivated. Is he hiding his abilities? Although we've already reached an agreement, it seems he's still holding back. If only I could fully convert him into a force to help us rise to Class A…]
'She's really persistent.'
Saiki complained inwardly, then turned to Karuizawa Kei.
"Why did you come?"
"I just wanted to ask you something in person!"
"What is it?"
"What's your relationship with Mikoto?"
'I knew it.'
Saiki had guessed her intention. Of course, he couldn't tell her that both he and Aiura Mikoto were psychics.
"We were classmates before."
"Classmates? But when she was doing fortune-telling earlier…"
"We were elementary school classmates. It's been years since we last saw each other, and our appearances have changed a lot. I didn't recognize her at first, but we reconnected later."
Hearing the words "elementary school classmates," Karuizawa Kei couldn't help but imagine what Saiki looked like as a child.
'You probably wouldn't believe that I was walking in mid-air when I was one year old.'
"I see… Does she know about your… true abilities?"
"She knows a little. I just asked her to help me cover up today."
"I see… By the way, what happened with Ibuki today…"
"She couldn't let go of what happened last time, so she came to challenge me."
"Did you fight?"
"Not really. I just convinced her. She won't bother us anymore."
Saiki replied.
"You could've said all this over the phone."
"Ah, right, right. But I have something to show you!"
As she spoke, Karuizawa Kei took out a small box from her bag.
"Ta-da!"
"What's this?"
"It's a cake I made myself! I've been learning how to bake for a while now!"
Karuizawa Kei had noticed Saiki's love for sweets and decided to try making a cake herself. After some practice, she had finally succeeded.
"Thank you."
Saiki accepted the small cake.
"If you're grateful, you'll have to repay me tenfold—no, a hundredfold—for New Year's."
"Is that so?"
A slight smile appeared on Saiki's lips, though he didn't notice it himself.
"Try it! How does it taste?"
"Hmm, not bad."