Chapter 25 Oral Cooperation

  Sitting on the bench next to the lockers, Hikigaya closed his eyes to rest for a while. Eventually, Ryuen, who had been lying on the floor, slowly came to and got up without a word, taking a seat beside him.

  "Are you used to getting beaten up?" Ryuen asked, touching the bruises on his face. "Your body doesn’t look tougher than mine, yet you can take a hit. You don’t seem to have any fighting experience either."

  Although Ryuen nded more punches, the one still standing in the end was Hikigaya.

  "Don’t ask," Hikigaya smiled inwardly. "Ask and the answer is: I’m just built different."

  Even when overpowered, Hikigaya was still Hikigaya. In the end, he wasn't wrong—what was wrong was this messed-up world.

  "How did you threaten that idiot Yamauchi?"

  Though "idiot" was Yamauchi’s bel, even he had a peanut-sized brain that could grasp the competitive retionship between Css D and Css C. If it came out that he’d betrayed his css, his pce in D Css would be gone.

  "That dumbass? I just had Yabu Nanami send him a fake confession voice message and he went skipping off to a blind spot under the cameras," Ryuen said mockingly. "I just circled him and scared him a little, and he immediately submitted a token of loyalty. I was pnning to rough him up, honestly."

  "Those kinds of cheap tricks won’t get you to Css A."

  "As long as they work, that’s all that matters. If the school doesn’t see it, then it never happened. Isn’t that the whole system?"

  Indeed, the school’s policy was as Ryuen said—freedom. They didn’t invest all that money just to raise naive geniuses with high IQs and strong bodies, but rather to cultivate people who could thrive in the real, complex world.

  However, Ryuen was overlooking—or maybe didn’t have the insight to grasp—one crucial fact: this school was created under the backing of a political party to score political points. Trash wasn’t worthy of graduating under the Advanced Nurturing School’s name.

  He had heard this once from a certain young dy from a prominent family.

  If the school was supposed to be cultivating elites but ended up producing trash, it wouldn’t be a success story—it’d be a scandal.

  As long as Css C didn’t actually raise their overall capabilities, no matter how many css points Ryuen earned through underhanded means, the school would rig special exams in favor of Csses A and B by their third year.

  Even though the school talked a lot about student autonomy, when its interests were threatened, it would act faster than anyone else.

  "This school’s investment, if you just estimate it, is enough to raise tens of thousands of students into successful people. But right now, there are only 160 first-years, and only 40 of them will graduate. Ryuen, don’t tell me you actually think the current students in Css C deserve a graduation certificate?"

  "Of course they don’t," Ryuen coughed up some bloody phlegm. "My goal’s the same as yours: to collect as many personal points as possible. So what’s all this talk about? You want to cooperate?"

  To middle school teachers, the students of Css C and D were basically all troublemakers. Those with good grades had personality problems or shady pasts, and those who were good at sports were academically poor.

  Violence and intimidation might make people behave outwardly, but Ryuen didn’t have the ability or motivation to force Css C delinquents to study tirelessly. And no amount of beating could "fix" bad personalities.

  "Yeah, cooperation. You control Css C, and that gives you the ability to earn points together."

  Hikigaya had set all this up to get Ryuen to say those very words. Even the fight was part of proving himself.

  As for whose personal points they’d be earning? Naturally, from whoever had the most to take.

  "Then how do you prove you’re qualified to cooperate with me? The leader of Css D is Hirata, not you."

  "Ichinose listens to me. And as long as my opinions don’t go against Hirata’s core values, he takes them seriously too."

  "You really are a cold, heartless guy, Hikigaya," Ryuen said with a bitter ugh—but started wincing from his injuries, he couldn’t ugh properly.

  In his eyes, maybe Ichinose was just another tool being used by Hikigaya. Maybe the future of Css B wasn’t so bright after all. Perhaps the current alliance of the three lower csses banding together to take on Css A was the right move.

  "Fine, I’ll agree to this alliance, Hikigaya," Ryuen looked around. "Where’s the written contract? Bring it out, let me see it."

  "As long as our wills are united, we don’t need something like that."

  "How ridiculous."

  After verbally reaching a consensus, the two of them cleaned up the mess from their fight, then each put on their jackets and left the locker room to rejoin their respective groups.

  "Did you get punched stupid or something? Why are you acting all buddy-buddy with Ryuen?" someone asked.

  The uppercssman Fujiwara, borrowed from Horikita Manabu, left after Hikigaya thanked him. Ichinose, Horikita Suzune, and Sudo sat with Hikigaya on some benches outside a closed café.

  "Who won?"

  "Does it still hurt, Hikigaya-kun?"

  As soon as he sat down, he was hit with a triple whammy—sarcasm from Horikita, curiosity from Sudo, and concern from his so-called girlfriend, Ichinose.

  "I’m not stupid, I won. And yes, it still hurts," Hikigaya answered quickly, then looked at Ichinose, who seemed hesitant to speak. "We’ll talk more back at the dorm."

  "I confirmed from Ryuen that it was Yamauchi who sold me out. Horikita, tell Hirata and figure out how to deal with it."

  "That bastard Haruki!" Sudo smmed the table. Though Hikigaya had warned him to mentally prepare, he still couldn’t contain his anger.

  After venting, Sudo awkwardly smiled, "Hikigaya, can you please not tell the rest of the css? I’ll beat some sense into him and make him change."

  Even though he betrayed the css, Yamauchi Haruki was still one of Sudo’s few friends.

  Under Horikita’s surprised gaze, Sudu bowed his forehead to the table. "Please, Hikigaya, just let Haruki off this once."

  "Shouldn’t you be cutting ties with him, Sudo?" Horikita asked, confused. "Isn’t Hikigaya your friend too?"

  Hikigaya had helped Sudo during his fight incident and midterms. Horikita assumed they were friends—after all, in her mind, people only did selfless things for friends.

  "It’s not quite the same," Sudo raised his head, avoiding Hikigaya’s gaze. "I feel like I understand Yamauchi, and he sees me as a friend. But with Hikigaya... it’s different. I don’t feel equal when I’m with him."

  "Unequal isn’t quite right either. How should I put it?" Sudo scratched the back of his head and then lit up like he had an epiphany. "Being around Hikigaya feels like hanging out with an adult, not someone our age."

  "An adult, huh?" Horikita stared at him for a moment. "Well, your eyes certainly look like one—dead."

  "That’s defamation, and I could sue you."

  "I’m just stating facts, not something worth suing over."

  "Keep being full of yourself, then." Hikigaya turned away from Horikita and looked at Sudo, who still had his hands pressed together in a pleading gesture.

  "Starting next month, all the personal points the school gives to Yamauchi go to me—until we move up to second year."

  The special exam that would forcibly expel someone at the end of first year hadn’t come yet. Until then, Yamauchi’s remaining value was going to be milked dry.