"Is that supposed to be a joke?" asked Manabu.
"No." I replied bluntly.
"What exactly are you trying to state?"
I whipped my phone out and navigated to the web browser. After providing my credentials, I checked inside Ayanokouji's secret-massage profile. It was as I had expected. Ayanokouji recorded a good portion of our brawl. He was quick enough to send me the clip immediately for me to blackmail "senpai".
"The evidence of the student council president Horikita Manabu's attempt of attacking two first year students."
What amazed me the most was the fact that I didn't even discuss about doing something like this with Ayanokouji. I jumped in completely out of the blue without telling him anything. Yet he had caught on to my plan and quickly adapted himself accordingly. Truly a one in a million prodigy...
The elder Horikita carefully analyzed the contents of the video. In the video the moment when Manabu backhanded me, thus initiating the attack was clearly shown.
"This...? Oh, I see."
See what exactly?
"Judging by the perspective of the cameraman, there was someone else who recorded this clip."
"You're surprisingly calm about this. Are you not afraid? What if we complain to the faculty office? This should be viable enough to file a complaint. And if that's not enough, than I shall publish this on our school forum and every single social media, slandering your name with everything I have thereby."
"Are you threatening me?"
"Yes. I am threatening you with the possibility of expulsion."
"Wait, Levent-kun. What are you-" at that moment Horikita finally managed to speak up again. But was immediately shut off by Manabu.
"That's not going to happen." Manabu said calmly.
"May I ask what your reason is for thinking like that?"
"Because if you truly intended to suspend me, you would've done that without saying anything. You would've kept your mouth shut and attacked me from behind. But instead, you warned me immediately. There has to be a reason for why you did that. I don't think you are doing this for mere good will. Are you perhaps trying to exploit me?"
"Bingo." I said while closing my phone. "Word it however you will. At the end of the day, your graduation ceremony depends on me. Say, where do you go from here, president?"
Manabu silently glared at me for a good few seconds. I'm sure that he was agonizing over his head due to the humiliation caused by me alone. But unlike Suzune, Manabu wasn't egoistic. He was a man with a clam and collected head. He knew that his actions now would greatly influence his future. There was only one option which could ensure him complete security.
"Sigh" Manabu seemed to understand what that option was. "Tell me, what is your price for the deletion of that video clip."
"You're on the right path, but not quite stable on it."
"What?"
"It's not points that want. What I want is nothing more than your cooperation. I need your help on certain occasions. That's why I'm doing this on the first place. And one more thing. It's upto me to delete, isn't it? There is no way I am going to delete this now. This will not be a one-time agreement. Whether you like it or not does not matter. Instead of saying 'deletion of video', I'd rather 'temporarily keep my mouth shut.'"
"You!"
"That's as far as my generosity falls."
Pushing him to the boundary was the only path I had deemed necessary. Given the pride that runs in the Horikita family, Manabu would rather die than being accused of assaulting his little sister and a kouhai.
"It seems that I have no other option. Alright I will cooperate with you. But bare this in mind. If it's something that would harm this school and it's pupils in any way, I would forfeit this agreement regardless the consequences."
"Don't worry. I'm not going to give you any unreasonable tasks that would potentially harm the school. Instead, I am wholeheartedly doing this for the sake of development."
"Is that so?" Manabu offered his hand.
That could've been a trap. Once I took his hand, he could've easily launched a fatal attack. Then he could've snatched the phone away from me and deleted the video. That way I would've lost the only leverage I had on him...
...or so would you think. The video file was sent to me by Ayanokouji. Meaning that the video was saved on the messenger cloud and on Ayanokouji's phone. Even if he deleted the offline copy, the original one would always remain. Besides, if he actually dared to attack me, then I'd honestly hold no barriers against him.
I firmly took his hand. No attack, no defense. A mutual agreement from both sides.
"I'm sorry about all of this. I wish these were under better circumstances." I gently bowed in apology.
"You're certainly an interesting kouhai. I'm keeping an eye out on you. Like I said, with you here things might get interesting."
Oh, I wonder about that.
••••••
"Did you really have to do that to nii-san?" rasped Horikita, clearly infuriated by my method of manipulation.
"I had no other choice but to do that."
Horikita and I were sitting next to each other by the vending machine near the alleyway.
"No, you didn't have to go as far as to threaten him."
"Believe me when I say this. Having him on our side would eventually help us in the long run."
"But did you really have to be so forceful?"
"Sorry, that's just how I operate. I was programmed to accomplish tasks this way." to ease the tension, I try to crack a joke.
Horikita visibly gave a frustrated sigh.
"You've seen an embarrassing side of me today."
"Actually I- umm... Nevermind." I stopped my honesty midway when she fiercely glared at me.
After what she had gone through, I could at least give her a little space of comfort.
"Now that I think about it, how did you manage to catch me and nii-san?"
Simple, I read books.
"I couldn't get any sleep. So I came outside to get some fresh air. That's when I noticed you frantically walking outside the dorm."
"And so you decided to stalk me?"
"Yes. I decided to stalk you."
"Sigh."
I went to the vending machine. After scanning my id card, I proceeded to buy two drinks at random. After receiving my products I resumed towards my original position.
"Here. Take this." I offered her one of the drinks.
"Although I don't like the thought of drinking matcha tea, I appreciate your kindness." She replied.
"Matcha tea is good for you, Horikita. It would help you ease your stress and anxiety."
"Oh, how kind of you."
"Or do you want my lemonade?"
I waved at my bottle, which I had already taken a sip on.
"It's fine. Drinking lemonade at night doesn't fit well with me."
That's your reason for rejection this drink? Wow, she may be smart, but I guess even she can be clueless from time to time.
"Ehh... How picky~" I commented silently.
"What? You were saying something, Levent-kun." Horikita seemed to have caught onto my rant. How sharp~
"Nothing. Nothing at all, mademoiselle."
"You're humorous, aren't you?"
"Thank you for your complement."
It was almost midnight. Under the moonlit night, both of us were leaning over a railing together. Insomnia had already snatched away our sleep as we both sat there in silence, taking small sips of our drink while being completely submerged in the beauty of the moon.
"Ayanokouji-kun was the one who recorded the video, wasn't he?"
"Who knows?"
"There's something that is telling me our previous encounter wasn't a coincidence."
"That is a false assumption on your side, believe it or not." it was a half-lie considering the fact that "Ayanokouji" happened to be a coincidence.
"Then how do you explain Ayanokouji-kun being there with you."
"Simple. We were both insomniac. I ran into him when I was coming down. The rest is history."
"Somehow I am very skeptical of your explanation."
"I did not lie. And whether you believe me or not has absolutely nothing to do with me."
"Fine. In that case I will no longer interrogate this matter any further."
The air was suddenly tense. We both went silent again. To avert the awkward environment, I spoke again.
"Let's change topics. What is your true reason for coming to this school?"
"Isn't that obvious?" she asked, glaring at me.
"Ah, right. You're stalking on your brother." I chided.
"Levent-kun, I'd much rather you remain silent."
"Sorry, but from an outsider's perspective that's what it looks like. Aren't you simply trapped in his shadows?"
"What do you mean? I don't understand what you're talking about."
"Listen, I understand that you like your brother. Bu-" I was cut off midway.
"Wait, I never said I like my brother!" shouted Horikita.
What a pain~
"In any case, you are only chasing behind his ideals. I get it that you want to attain his acceptance. But I think you're doing this the wrong way. Simply imitating your brother would only make this infuriating for him."
"How can you be so sure about that?"
"No one wants to have anything to do with a clingy sibling. Being clingy would only deduce your value to him. Imagine this, would like someone if they kept following you, copying whatever you were doing?"
"That's..." she failed to produce a reply.
"What I'm asking you to do is to break that limiter. If you aim towards the sun, you may not be able to reach your goal. But your mark will end up somewhere higher." I replied.
"But that's impossible. Nii-san is perfect at everything, whereas I am nothing compared to him."
How can a girl have both superiority and inferiority complex at the same time?
"If you compare yourself with others, you are only insulting yourself. If you really put your all into it, I'm sure you'll be able to reach your goal."
"Hmm..."
My drink was finished. After gulping the last bit, I tried to throw the bottle inside a recycle bin from afar. I stood up, aimed the bottle, took a deep breath and threw the bottle!
.....
And the bottle landed two feet off the mark.
"Sigh." I silently went to the bin and put the bottle where it belonged.
"Well it's up to you to decide whether or not to change your way of thinking. I'll be heading home." I began my journey towards the dorm. Horikita silently watched me as I resumed towards my destination. Then all of a sudden, I heard a voice from behind.
"Thank you, Levent-kun."
"For what?" I asked without looking back.
"For telling me all of this. And for saving me."
.....
"You are welcome." saying that, I walked towards the bright and luminous dormitory.
••••••
"You were really brave there, Sakura-san."
"You gave me courage. I was happy," she said, with a small smile.
"It's a given. I had complete faith in you."
"T-thank you. I an really happy... that you believed in me."
"It's not just me. Horikita, Kushida, and Sudou too. All of our classmates believe you."
"Yeah... But you came out and told me directly, . You said it."
"Well it's embarrassing if you say it like that haha.."
I giggled, which seemed to have served it's purpose. Sakura was not crying like in the light novel. She was in a good mood because of the change.
"But to think that Ishizaki-kun, Komiya-kun and Koundo-kun are getting expelled... This school is really strict isn't it?" Sakura asked timidly.
"It was for the best. They committed the deed, they enjoy their demise. You don't have to beat yourself up for this."
"I'm really scared Levent-kun. What if I fail to live up to the school's expectations? What if I get expelled in the future."
.....
"That's not going to happen Sakura-san. I will not let that happen. I promise."
"Levent-kun..."
I will make sure that I reach my ultimate goal. That's the reason why I'm doing all of this in the first place. Even if it meant dehumanizing myself again, I'll do it with a straight face.
"U-um, well... I don't think I should be saying this now, but..."
Oh, umm... that I forgor.
"Actually... I... Right now..."
"Yahoo! You're really late, huh?" Talk about poor timing.
Ichinose and Kanzaki were waiting for us by the entranceway. They must've been on tenterhooks about the trial's results.
"Were you waiting for us?" I asked.
"We were wondering what happened."
I stopped and signaled Sakura to wait for me. Sakura gently nodded as response.
"We won. The accusing party were punished thoroughly."
"Really? That's a great news!" exclaimed Ichinose.
"Sudou's name will be cleared after this. He should be able to resume his basketball club activities." Kanzaki commented.
"We're not completely out of this yet. Not only did we overtake their class, we also eliminated three of their potential manpower. Not mention their class points are reduced. Surely they wouldn't be holding back their grudges."
"Unfortunately so... Oh, and by the way, congratulations on moving up to class C."
"Thank you."
All of it went exactly according to my plan. In this school, if a student gets expelled; a total of 100 class points are deducted from the expellee's class. I had expelled three students from Class C, no, the current Class D. Before the incident, Class D had an amount of 490 class points. But after exploiting their own strategy against them, they were left with only 190.
Dragon boy underestimated his risks. The loss was greater than what he could ever imagine. Three students full of potential were compromised, especially one of the most influential characters from Class C, Ishizaki. Now he only had two options.
Either he sit this one quietly and digest this humiliation. Or...
The rules did say that, you can counter an expulsion by spending twenty million private points and 300 class points; per student. Ryuen could easily spend the class points like money that grows in the tree. But the private points would instantly snap his chances.
Where is he going to get twenty million private points?
Forget about the others, Ishizaki matters. But what can he do to help him? Even if he squeezed all of his classmates dry, they still wouldn't be able to get twenty million. He could go beg to the seniors, but his reputation among the first years would give out a negative feedback against him.
Nagumo. He could turn to Nagumo. But to do that would mean that he would have to turn into his slave. There's no way Ryuen would go that far for his classmate, but who knows?
Maybe he would sell his soul to the devil.
Either way, former Class C would lose three hundred class points, which would ensure Class D's promotion to Class C to upto eighty-five percent.
"Wow, you guys are promoted to class C this quickly? Congrats! I guess we have to be more careful around you, huh?" not sure how much of it was a joke, and much of it was her being serious.
"As I mentioned before. Nothing is absolute. Who knows, maybe we'll drown back to Class D in no time." I murmured.
"Hey now, don't be so negative. I'm sure you guys will be fine."
"That's right. Have confidence in yourself."
"But really, are you going to be okay? With a person like Ryuen-kun, there's no saying what will happen. Remember to tell us if you want help with something."
Perfect...
Classic emotional blackmail never fails...
"Eh, you're going to help us?" I pretended to be surprised. "We're now on your opposing class, aren't we?"
"True. But Class D's Ryuen-kun is an even formidable enemy. That's why it's not a bad idea to obliterate them with a joint effort." Kanzaki replied nonchalantly.
I don't know what exactly it was that had led Ichinose into cooperating with Class D, but I'll take it. Whether it was pity or genuine humility, it didn't matter. What mattered most was the fact that 80 people are better than 40. If we work two classes combined, taking down Class C would be easier.
"Well... I guess we will be seeing each other more often huh?"
"Glad that you agreed, Levent-kun." Ichinose raised her hand proposing a handshake.
....
As I took her hand, I had discovered something euphoric. Ichinose's hands were soft, small and pale. Her fingers were tender and smooth. Each second I held onto her, my arms seemed to keep digging into her unbelievably soft skin.
"We're on mutual terms." I replied.
Not wanting to go any further, I immediately ended the handshake.
"Kanzaki-kun and I will be off then. See you."
"Meet you again, Ichinose-san."
After Kanzaki and Ichinose left, it was only me and Sakura.
"Shall we get going?" I asked turning to Sakura who'd been silently listening to our conversation.
"R-right. Hmm..."
We resumed our march towards the dormitory. On our way I remember Sakura being mostly silent or frowning, as if concerned about something. It wasn't a long walk so I didn't bother trying to initiate a conversation.
It didn't feel awkward to me. It was the sacred conversation between introverts.
"You... seem to be quite popular." maybe not?
"What made you think like that?" I asked.
"I mean even Ichinose-san from class B seems to know you."
"Well, we had the honour of meeting each other from time to time. She is a really nice person."
"Do you like her?"
Eh?
"Umm... How exactly do you mean by that?"
"Uwa! Please forget about that question!"
"It's... fine. You don't have to worry about it. By the way can I have your number?" I needed it for location sharing.
"Huh? Why so suddenly?"
I stood up and looked her in the eyes as deep as I could.
"If you're ever in trouble, I want you to contact me immediately."
Sakura was staring at me in surprise. I am well aware of hold bold my actions were. But as long as I receive the intended results, I'll be fine.
"O..O..Of course! We can share contacts... if that's you want!"
"Thank you." we pulled each other's phone and shared numbers.
Of course, even if she contacted me during the event, it would only take me so long to reach her completely blind. This isn't the light novel nor the anime. This is real life inside a book. I can't magically get the coordinates, I have to aquire them manually. Once I'm done with the preparation for the event, I would immediately take action. But one things for sure...
The attempt of sexual violence upon Sakura must happen! There's no way out of it. Or maybe I had rendered other alternatives as ineffective or inefficient. It was the only event that the author had intended for the character development of Sakura. If I protect her from cruelty or if I keep ignoring her like our protagonist Ayanokouji, then Sakura's fate would be the same as the one in the novel.
That's why you must lose that smile, Sakura Airi.
••••••
After giving Sakura a reason, I rushed towards the opposite side of the hallway. At the beginning, I thought that we would encounter Horikita on our way, but that didn't happen. As the trail had ended WAY before the intended time, things seemed to have randomized quite a bit. When you make severe changes to the original plot, the story also changes accordingly in order to... well you know... exist.
I, as a sentient existence, had been playing around with the plot since the beginning. It wouldn't be surprising if there's a day where I wouldn't be able to predict anything.
When I reached the other end of the hallway, I was met with the two familiar figures engaged in a conversation. After noticing me, one of them ran towards me.
"Levent-kun, how did you do that?"
"I am fine. Thank you for asking. And how are you?"
Horikita gave a slight glare, visibly irritated. Looks like she didn't like my joke. How sad~
"Don't want to hear your jokes. Please tell me seriously, Levent-kun. How did you manage to record that clip?"
"Look we're now Class C. I have provided results. That should be enough to satisfy you. Now I request you to give me some space to recuperate."
"That won't do. I want answers."
Ayanokouji was standing beside her. "She's too persistent." is what I could make out from his expression. He sighed in exasperation. In any case, given how 'needy' Horikita was, it was pretty much inevitable.
I sighed.
"It wasn't me. I didn't record the event." I replied. It wasn't a lie per say, as I hadn't recorded the video while being physically present at the spot.
"That's a lie, isn't it?"
"I didn't lie. Just how much of a liar do you think I am, fool."
"If were to voice my opinion, I'd say you are the living embodiment of lies."
.....
Maybe she's correct.
"That statement is an exaggeration, Horikita. In any case, it wasn't me, or any of us who'd sent the video." I replied, calmly.
"But before the trail you sai-"
Not good! If this woman keeps probing me for answers, Ryuen would immediately know that it was me!
I looked towards Ayanokouji and urged him to do something.
"Then who was that mysterious person who sent the video?" Ayanokouji stated, trying to mislead any evesdropping attempt.
As Horikita was somewhat confused, Ayanokouji seemed to have caught onto my warnings. Now it was up to me to enlargen the façade.
"Either the person in question happened to be there as a coincidence. Or..."
"Or?"
"It's a possibility but, maybe it was someone from their own class."
"Wha-? Why would someone betray their own class?"
"I don't know the details. From what I heard, former class C was being led by a person named Ryuen. His methods of persuading his classmates were extremely violent. Maybe someone had enough of their tyranny and decided to backstab him."
"I see. If the person had Intel about the brawl from the very beginning, trapping wouldn't have been that hard for them to accomplish."
"And here I was, thinking that it was one of you bastards who'd sent the video." speaking of the devil...
"And you are?" Horikita asked Ryuen, devoid of expression.
"Oh me? Don't worry about it. Next time, I will personally come for your class!"
He walked past us in a violent demeanor. It wasn't the usual smug and quirky Ryuen that I had initially thought of him to be. This Ryuen was beyond angry. Not only did he lose the battle, he'd also lost three of class C's valuable assets. His frustration was understandable. However, it was far from over for him.
"The person in the magenta hair; he is none other than Ryuen Kakeru, the leader of the former class C." I replied to Horikita's unanswered question.
"So he is the one behind Sudou-kun's incident."
"More importantly, Horikita, do you understand the severity of our current situation?" Ayanokouji asked with a voice filled with urgency.
"By that, do you mean-"
Expelling three students obviously triggered Ryuen, which meant that he wouldn't be standing down any time soon. He'd come at us with no barriers held. It was a chaotic situation. A situation perfect for an intense clash.
"This is war, Horikita."
To be contacted...
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