Chapter 183: Today's Intel: The true identity of "Miao Miao Cat" is...
The next day.
Shimizu Akira sat in his seat.
Having nothing to do, he tapped on his phone to browse the information for shops around the school. He discovered to his surprise that there was a KFC on campus, and since it happened to be "Crazy Thursday," the prices were significantly discounted compared to usual.
He thought to himself that he might go try it after school—after all, it had been a long time since he'd eaten that kind of junk food.
But before that, he had to handle some point transfers between his accounts.
Yesterday, the Captain had given him 50,000 points; adding that to the 30,000 from Kamuro Masumi and the 60,000 he had reserved for himself, and then deducting the costs of yesterday's date with Ichinose, his main account now held a total of 130,000 personal points.
Actually, he had wanted to explain to Kamuro Masumi yesterday that he had already received 50,000 points from the Captain. But on second thought, he decided against it—Kamuro looked like she had something she wanted to ask of him.
If he returned the points now, she would likely feel awkward and embarrassed, bottling up whatever she wanted to say. She might even spend the next few days avoiding him in disgust. He knew Kamuro Masumi's temperament all too well; she was definitely capable of doing exactly that.
To avoid any unnecessary complications, he decided to transfer 100,000 points to his alt account, leaving only the 30,000 she had sent him in the main one.
Then, he logged into the alt account he hadn't used in a long time. Come to think of it, aside from the first month, he rarely logged into this account—after all, he had long since stopped trading with other classes. As he focused, he saw that someone had actually sent him a message.
And it was his old acquaintance—Sakayanagi Arisu.
Sakayanagi Arisu: Was the incident regarding the midterm exam your doing?
Sakayanagi Arisu: Why frame Class C? How exactly did Ryuen Kakeru offend you?
Shimizu's lip twitched slightly. He switched back to his main account and scrolled through the messages she had sent him yesterday.
Sakayanagi Arisu: Shimizu-kun, you must have noticed something off about that question on the midterm, right?
Sakayanagi Arisu: The answer actually pointed to Class 1-C. Sakayanagi Arisu: Thinking about it, it must have been Ryuen Kakeru's doing!
'Wait? Does this person have a split personality?'
Comparing them side-by-side, he felt more and more that she had been drinking too much coffee lately; her words were completely inconsistent. Her main account was playing dumb, saying she didn't know who did it, yet she was directly questioning his alt account if it was his doing.
That message had been sent the day before yesterday. Just one day apart, she had thrown two diametrically opposite questions at him using his alt and main accounts.
Shimizu stared at the screen, a giant question mark forming in his mind. However, after thinking it over, he still replied:
Yue: It wasn't me.
Sakayanagi Arisu replied almost instantly: It wasn't you?! Then who else could have come up with such a method?!
Shimizu couldn't help but suspect: was this person holding her phone all day just waiting for his reply? He decided to ignore it for now. Before he could untangle the logic behind it, his phone vibrated again, and a new message popped up.
Miao Miao Cat: Shimizu Akira, did you get that midterm question right? Choosing C was correct.
Miao Miao Cat: Are you satisfied with the surprise I gave you?
Miao Miao Cat: Tell me your thoughts.
Shimizu was left completely speechless.
Sakayanagi Arisu was messaging his main account from her main account, and messaging his alt account from her main account. Now, this "Miao Miao Cat," who he suspected was her alt account, was messaging his main account—this was already the third identity she was using to talk to him.
If this was really all Sakayanagi Arisu's doing, wasn't she playing three roles at once? Even with his toes, he could guess that if this play was indeed orchestrated by that woman, she was probably hugging her phone right now, hiding in some corner and giggling, perhaps feeling smug about her interlocking schemes.
'Surely not! After all, I don't have ironclad proof that Miao Miao Cat is Sakayanagi Arisu.
I must be overthinking it! She wouldn't go as far as using three identities to talk to me!'
He rubbed his aching temples, feeling his guess was likely flawed. Sakayanagi Arisu shouldn't be that bored—she was the leader of Class A; with the daily affairs of the class to manage, where would she find the leisure to play these games with him?
But before that thought could finish, the notification for the daily intelligence refresh sounded in his mind.
Sakayanagi Arisu of Class 1-A purchased an alt account from her homeroom teacher last month and named it "Miao Miao Cat" (Cheshire Cat), inspired by the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Sudo Ken of Class 1-D will violently attack three students from Class C at 6:10 PM tonight. Kusuda Yukitsu, an electronics store clerk, knows the true identity of Sakura Airi from Class 1-D. As a idol fan with ill intentions toward her, he has already sent over a hundred harassing letters expressing his "love."
'Wait, what?!'
Shimizu's eyes widened, staring at the first piece of intel in utter disbelief.
It really was her?! Sakayanagi Arisu really was "Miao Miao Cat"?! Even the meaning behind the name was clear—it was actually the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
'Arisu! You still say you aren't Alice?!
No way... is she really that bored as a person?!'
It turned out Shimizu's logic was entirely correct. Sakayanagi Arisu had indeed guessed his identity and intentionally bought an alt account to add him and tease him.
The corners of Shimizu's mouth couldn't help but twitch upward slightly. He wasn't exactly angry; after all, Sakayanagi Arisu had technically helped him out.
He just felt this operation was beyond ridiculous—the leader of Class A, ignoring class affairs, was wasting her mental energy acting out this play for him, even burying a fairy tale reference in the alt's name. It was... a bit of a waste of talent.
From the looks of it, she probably didn't know that he had already guessed she had seen through his identity long ago. To put it simply, his "layer" was higher; he was always one step ahead of her.
However, there was no rush to deal with this Princess Arisu. He continued reading the second piece of intel. To be honest, he was quite surprised—he hadn't expected Sudo Ken to actually decide to hit people.
Had the people from Class C pushed him to the limit, or was there another reason? Sudo was impulsive by nature, but it was unexpected for him to snap at this specific juncture. If a brawl really broke out before the hearing, the school would definitely increase the punishment—it might be more than just a suspension.
Then he looked at the final piece of intel. Sakura Airi always kept her head down and spoke in a small, timid voice; her shy appearance indeed made it easy for people to think she was weak, which inevitably invited bullying.
However, in class, with Kushida Kikyo, Hirata Yosuke, and Karuizawa Kei around, no one bullied her.
But evidently, she had been targeted when she went to the electronics store to buy a camera. Although he didn't know this man named Kusuda Yukitsu, there were only a few staff members at the electronics store. It shouldn't be hard to find him with a bit of inquiry. He strongly suspected the guy was that middle-aged man he encountered when he went to the store with Shiina Hiyori last time.
Looking at the info on this middle-aged man: he was actually a fan of Sakura Airi and had sent her so many harassing letters—this was a textbook stalker and Idol fan. More importantly, based on the intel, the other party seemed to be planning further action?
Faced with this kind of creep, his first instinct was to call the police—handling such matters was a job for the professionals. But then again... could one even call the police directly in this school? For a moment, he couldn't recall if he had ever noticed such a thing.
What puzzled him even more was that even though Sakayanagi Arisu knew his identity, she still chose to help hide it.
What exactly was her logic?
.
.
.
Class 1-A.
To Katsuragi Kohei, Class A's recent development had been relatively smooth. In last month's exams, the class achieved an impressive average score of 93. Through his continuous contributions to the class, he had gradually consolidated his own power—Totsuka Yahiko, Takemoto Shigeru, and others had joined his faction, and he now had many supporters in the class.
Of course, the momentum on Sakayanagi Arisu's side was equally strong. That woman had successively brought Yamamura Miki, Kito Hayato, and a few others under her wing.
Especially Kito; in Katsuragi's view, he was a rare "combat type" who would certainly be of great use at certain times. Although he regretted not being able to recruit him to his own side, he felt his lieutenant, Totsuka Yahiko, wouldn't necessarily lose to him.
Totsuka was a bit impetuous and had been restless since middle school, but his physical fitness was excellent. He didn't quite fit Katsuragi's own steady style, but under his restraint, he should be able to handle heavy responsibilities.
Another thing that brought him regret was that strange question from last month's midterm. At the time, he was certain the answer was Class 1-A—emotionally, he never considered leaving his class and wanted Class A to always maintain its status as the winner; logically, Class A's overall strength was indeed the strongest.
He hadn't expected the answer to be wrong. The correct answer was actually Class 1-C. This was the "correct" answer modified after someone purchased the question.
After being in this school for nearly two months, he had heard many rumors about Class C's overall style—it was likely a dictatorial class led by Ryūen Kakeru, composed of a group of thugs and punks. He didn't think Class C was qualified to be Class A's rival, but he also didn't think Ryūen was stupid enough to specifically buy a question from the school just to reduce the points of other classes by two—after all, that person hadn't reached such a level of arrogance yet.
That meant the question likely wasn't Class C's doing; someone had clearly framed them. However, he didn't plan to investigate further—after all, it served as a means to weaken his opponents. He understood the principle that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
'The priority now is to quickly find people in the class with outstanding physical fitness.'
In his own faction, he could handle the intellectual work himself, but regarding physical force, it seemed only Totsuka Yahiko was holding down the fort. Considering the school would surely hold events like a sports festival in the future, they would definitely need more strong and capable people to join the faction.
'The one from Class D who is very good at fighting... I think his name was Sudo Ken? I heard he took down three people by himself without getting hurt.'
He suddenly remembered the name mentioned by the homeroom teacher yesterday when notifying Class A to help look for witnesses. Regardless of whether Sudo had hit people intentionally or fallen into someone else's trap, the fact that he could fight three-on-one proved his physical fitness was excellent. To an extent, he met the expectations for a "combat type" member.
But the other party was from Class D, and based on his actions, his character seemed questionable. Though Katsuragi coveted that combat power, he had no intention of wining him over—one must have a bottom line.
The class had set a goal to slowly save up 20 million points to recruit talent, but this wasn't something he could decide alone; he still needed the agreement of Sakayanagi's side. He planned to wait; there was no rush for this. He might as well observe for a while. After all, at Class A's current rate of point accumulation, it would take at least seven or eight months to
reach the target amount—Class A's class points currently exceeded 1,000. Don't look at the long time span; this speed was actually very fast. Other classes would likely take about a year.
Moreover, there might be combat talents in other classes who were even more outstanding than Sudo and had better character.
As he was thinking this, he had unknowingly walked in front of Sakayanagi Arisu. He cleared his throat to signal his presence, but the other party acted as if she hadn't seen him, staring at her phone and smiling, her gaze not moving from the screen for a second.
'What is this woman planning now? Smiling so triumphantly!'
Katsuragi Kohei felt an inexplicable chill in his heart. Sakayanagi Arisu's happy appearance always gave him an uneasy feeling—after all, she seemed to always want to push him out of the core leadership.
But he truly had business to discuss this time, so he deliberately raised his voice: "Sakayanagi-san."
"...Oh my, it's Katsuragi-kun." Only then did Sakayanagi Arisu reluctantly look away, her gaze toward him carrying a clear hint of displeasure. "Did you need something?"
Katsuragi Kohei pretended not to notice her coldness and said directly: "Sakayanagi-san, I want to discuss the matter of saving up 20 million points to recruit talent."
"Oh? Do you already have a suitable candidate?" Sakayanagi arched an eyebrow.
"Let's hear it."
"I don't have a candidate yet," Katsuragi shook his head.
"I just hope that the people we look for in the future will have physical fitness as their primary criterion. Or rather, I am more inclined to value just one thing—as long as they are a qualified combat-type talent, other aspects are secondary. Though, of course, I still hope for someone with better character if possible."
"A combat-type person?!"
For some reason, someone in the class suddenly looked over with a look of surprise. Katsuragi Kohei turned around and found the person who spoke was a girl named Kamuro Masumi. This student had been very close to Sakayanagi Arisu last month, but later when he asked specifically, she had said with a hint of disgust that she was not one of Sakayanagi's people.
This was one of the reasons why Katsuragi ultimately did not count her as part of Sakayanagi's faction. Katsuragi was somewhat puzzled why she was so surprised and asked tentatively: "Kamuro-san, is there a problem?"
"...Khem, it's nothing." Kamuro Masumi quickly regained her usual cold expression, crossed her arms over her chest, and replied flatly.
He initially thought Kamuro Masumi might have a suitable candidate in mind, but on second thought, he felt it was unlikely.
As far as he knew, although this student was exceptionally good-looking, she was aloof in class and hard to approach, with no close friends. It was probably just his imagination, a simple misunderstanding.
However, she was a classmate after all, and she hadn't joined any faction yet, making her part of the neutral group. If she really were willing to recommend someone, he wouldn't mind putting them on the list of priority considerations.
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting