"Phew — intel really is the most profitable business there is!"
Kushida Kikyo stretched her arms above her head with a satisfied groan, the number sitting in her phone account already dancing behind her eyes. She couldn't quite keep the grin off her face.
"Just a little sweet-talking, and a clean 1.5 million points slides right into my pocket... At this rate, I'm basically outpacing a bank robbery."
She turned to Ichinose Honami, and something in her smile softened — just slightly — into something that looked almost genuine.
"Though, I really do owe you one this time, Ichinose-san. Without you to make the introduction, I'd still be knocking on doors and getting them slammed in my face."
"So — as a thank you, I'm sending you 500,000!"
"Eh? No, no, you really don't have to—"
The reflex protest barely made it out of her mouth before Kushida had already completed the transfer.
[New points received: 500,000 points.]
Ichinose's smile came out a little strained.
Even as the de facto treasurer of Class B, holding the lion's share of the class's collective funds, this was still an enormous sum by any personal measure.
But in her eyes, right now — it looked less like a windfall and more like a lit grenade.
Because just before they'd parted ways, Nagumo Miyabi had materialized out of nowhere and cornered her with a request.
'Ichinose, since you seem to be on good terms with Ryuuen — could you maybe... smooth things over for me?'
'I don't mind spending points. Just get him to add my contact back.'
'He must have misunderstood something... He unfriended me so decisively, and the last two days every message I've sent him just bounces back as a red exclamation mark...'
The memory of Nagumo's expression — that desperate, quietly aggrieved look — made Ichinose's scalp prickle.
What... exactly was that about?
Nagumo Miyabi was the Student Council Vice President. A figure who sat comfortably at the very top of this school's hierarchy, looking down on everyone below with practiced ease. So why on earth was he so hung up on a first-year delinquent? To the point of throwing real money at the problem?
Pure talent-scouting? Or was it something... else entirely?
Ichinose Honami genuinely did not understand. But she was, frankly, shaken to her core.
If she was being honest with herself, she was deeply conflicted right now.
Female intuition whispered that the reason Nagumo had agreed to Kushida's intel deal so smoothly — beyond the value of the information itself — was largely because he wanted to butter up Ichinose as the middleman. To get her to go work some behind-the-scenes magic on his behalf.
But that kind of weird errand — how was she supposed to bring it up with a straight face?
And yet...
Taking the money and delivering nothing felt kind of terrible, didn't it?
While Ichinose wrestled with her conscience—
Kushida Kikyo let out a small, startled sound.
"Is that... Chris-kun?"
Ichinose followed her gaze.
Around the corner of the connecting corridor across the way, Chris was strolling past at a leisurely pace. And trailing five or six meters behind him, close enough to follow but far enough to seem coincidental, was a small figure leaning on a cane.
"Sakayanagi Arisu?" Ichinose blinked, caught off guard. "Is she... following Chris-kun?"
"Looks like it," Kushida murmured.
She narrowed her eyes.
"That, um — Kushida-san, if you need to get back, don't let me hold you up. I just remembered I have something to take care of in Class B, so I'll be heading off—"
Kushida shook her head, smile still perfectly in place.
She didn't know what had drawn the scheming queen of Class A to Chris. But that self-righteous, superior air of hers triggered an instinctive comparison to Horikita Suzune.
Kushida ran a quiet, internal risk assessment.
And decided: for now, discretion was the better part of valor. Better to step back and keep clear of whatever that was.
"If you're in a hurry, Ichinose-san, please don't mind me — go ahead," Kushida suggested with a warm smile.
Ichinose gave a small nod, already half-distracted.
——
At that same moment. The connecting corridor around the corner.
Tap. Tap.
The sound of a cane striking the floor cut off abruptly.
Sakayanagi Arisu stopped walking, staring at the empty hallway stretching out ahead of her.
She'd lost him.
He'd been right there a second ago.
She was just reaching into her pocket for her phone to check his location when Chris's voice drifted over from directly behind her.
"Didn't expect you to have this kind of hobby... You really can't judge a book by its cover, can you."
Sakayanagi's heart jumped. She spun around.
Chris was leaning against the windowsill at the far end of the corridor, watching her with a perfectly placid expression.
That spot was squarely in her blind zone. If he hadn't spoken up voluntarily, she wouldn't have had the faintest chance of noticing him.
"You actually slipped past my observation..." Sakayanagi recovered her composure quickly. "When?"
"From the very beginning."
Chris said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Naturally — he'd used the Time-Stop Watch. If Sakayanagi had somehow spotted him through that, that would have been something genuinely supernatural.
"So then," Chris said, studying her, "what did you need? I thought whatever connection we had wrapped up last night."
"My, how cold of you, Chris-kun."
Sakayanagi let out a small, displeased pout. "That's clearly not the type that girls tend to fall for."
Chris showed absolutely zero interest in taking that bait.
Sakayanagi, getting nothing for her efforts, simply dropped the act and got to the point.
"You're aware, I'm sure, that the Black Sphere's transfer mechanics are rather inflexible," she said.
She tapped her cane lightly against the floor, her tone tinged with mild resignation. "When it pulled us in last night, my cane didn't come with me. If the same thing happens tonight — for someone with my mobility issues, that's a serious problem."
"Unfortunately," Chris said, shaking his head, "I'm not participating in tonight's Special Exam."
"What a coincidence — neither did I sign up."
Sakayanagi gave a soft laugh. Rather than backing off, she stepped forward and, without the slightest hesitation, looped her arm through his.
"So..."
"All you need to do is stay with me until the time limit passes and confirm we won't be forcibly dragged in. After that, your obligation ends naturally."
She tilted her head up toward him, a faint, almost medicinal sweetness layered over the natural warmth of her presence drifting up toward him.
"And if you do get pulled in..."
"You wouldn't mind carrying one extra piece of luggage along, would you?"
Chris tried experimentally twisting his arm free. He found — somewhat to his surprise — that this small, delicate-looking girl had a grip that was anything but fragile.
You'd actually have to put in some effort to shake her off. And if he yanked too hard, she'd probably stumble — and from there it was a short trip to a very inconvenient accusation.
He couldn't help the mildly exasperated note that crept into his voice.
"No compensation or anything? Is this just a habit for young ladies of your background — drafting whoever's convenient as your personal servant?"
Sakayanagi considered this for a moment.
She released one hand and pulled up the transfer screen on her phone.
"Mm... you're right, that was inconsiderate of me."
"Then — 5,000 points per hour. Does that work?"
"Boss's generosity knows no bounds! Long live the boss!"
"Pfft—"
Watching him flip into that shamelessly mercenary act, Sakayanagi couldn't hold back the laugh that escaped her.
She knew perfectly well it was mostly a performance. But she had to admit — spending time with this particular person was genuinely more entertaining than facing the sea of quiet, either-boring-or-checked-out faces that populated her own class.
There was an inexplicable sense of ease around him that she didn't dislike at all. Kind of adorable, really.
And so the two of them strolled on, side by side, much as they had the night before.
After a while, Chris seemed to remember something, and asked offhandedly:
"By the way — Class A's territory isn't exactly next door to Class D's. How did you even find me?"
"Ahh, well..."
Sakayanagi paused for a moment, then shook her head with an air of theatrical mystery.
"Technically, that's premium information. But seeing as our relationship is what it is — I'll give you this one for free~"
She stopped walking.
Using his arm as a pivot point, she rose onto her toes and leaned in close — close enough that the warmth of her breath brushed against the side of his neck.
"The truth is... once you've added someone as a contact—"
"You can check their real-time location. Any time. No permission needed~"
"Well? Is that little privacy-adjacent piece of information worth at least something toward last night's cane-substitute services?"
"..."
Chris had already known, of course. But hearing it come directly from Sakayanagi Arisu's mouth still gave him a moment of quiet, genuine exasperation.
I knew this school's system design was going to encourage all the wrong behaviors.
Look at this. Even a refined, well-bred young lady from a prestigious family had been reduced to stalking people in real life, tailing classmates through the halls like some kind of low-budget private detective.
The psychological impact on adolescents was genuinely incalculable.
Critique: mandatory.
That said...
This little walk hadn't been entirely aimless on his end either.
The main reason was that today's daily item had just refreshed — and what it had dropped was the Imperial Arm: Omniscient Eye.
He was itching to take it out and put it through its paces.
The Omniscient Eye — an auxiliary Imperial Arm with five distinct visual abilities: X-ray vision, telescopic sight, penetrative sight, future-prediction sight, and illusory sight. Admittedly, the future-prediction component was the knockoff budget version of the real deal, relying entirely on reading micro-muscle movements to anticipate actions rather than seeing actual futures.
But the other four abilities... more than made up for that particular limitation.
As its chosen wielder, Chris had spent a moment debating whether to wear it on his head or simply slip it in his pocket and run it as a passive background ability.
After all, Leone from the Night Raid could turn her Lionelle transformation into something she wore as a belt. His Imperial Arm was hardly going to be more inconvenient than that.
And the experiment had, in fact, just confirmed it worked fine that way.
Chris let his gaze drift — just briefly — down toward Sakayanagi, who was still quietly pleased with herself over her successful little ambush. His expression took on a subtly complicated quality.
Yeah. Nothing worth looking at.
He switched the ability off.
The exam roster was fully submitted at this point. Things were about to get started. He didn't particularly want to contaminate his own eyes with what was about to come.
Honestly, as much as the Omniscient Eye was impressive, it still had room for improvement. Could it not, like a certain study app, come with a filter — males: skip? It would have been a much smoother experience overall.
Felt distinctly inferior to the penetrative sight on the Psychic Power Training Box in that regard.
Perhaps that momentary shift in his expression had been a fraction too obvious.
"It seems Chris-kun's heart is gradually opening up to me."
The girl let out a soft, theatrical sigh, her tone laced with a hint of wistful sorrow.
"Alas, this cursed charm of mine."
"But please — do try to exercise some self-control~"
"The two of us, right now... would not have a happy ending."
"..."
The corner of Chris's mouth twitched.
This girl is absolutely unhinged.
Just as he was about to open his mouth and fire back a suitably deflating retort — the arm Sakayanagi had been holding onto suddenly tightened.
"Chris-kun."
Her voice had gone quiet. Almost distant.
Chris looked down.
Sakayanagi Arisu's legs — slender and pale beneath white socks — were dissolving from the feet upward. Not in any dramatic or violent way, but slowly, piece by piece, like a data scan sweeping up through a system, her body breaking apart into scattered motes of blue light.
Her cane remained standing perfectly upright where she had last placed it, undisturbed.
"It seems we really are something special after all~"
As the stream of data-light crept upward past her waist, Sakayanagi tilted her head back to look at him, her smile unhurried and warm.
"Well then..."
"I look forward to working with you again~"
____
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