Chapter 103: Yamauchi Haruki, You Didn't Think I Liked You, Did You?
"Horikita, how did you do?" Sato Maya asked.
"...Performed as usual," Horikita Suzune replied.
"What rank is 'as usual'?"
"Second."
"...You really aren't humble at all."
"I am merely stating facts. Furthermore, I cannot bring myself to be happy about being second." As she spoke, she cast her gaze to the side.
Katsuragi Keima walked out of the classroom, handheld in grip, walking forward without lifting his head. As long as Katsuragi Keima was around, Horikita Suzune could only ever be second. Although she was extremely unwilling to accept it, she had gradually come to terms with this reality. After all, Katsuragi Keima was an existence beyond the norm.
Keima likely scored full marks in every subject again.
"Keima!" Sato Maya called out to stop him.
"Mm?"
"How did you do on the exam?"
"Fine."
"What rank is 'fine'?"
"First."
Sato Maya's mouth twitched. "You two really are... one more arrogant than the other."
"Stating facts." Keima's answer was identical to Horikita's. Sato Maya froze for a moment, then burst into even louder laughter. Even Horikita slightly curled the corners of her mouth.
Just then, a staggering figure rushed out of the classroom.
Yamauchi Haruki.
His face was deathly pale, his eyes unfocused, looking as if his soul had been hollowed out. He stumbled forward a few steps, then leaned against the wall, gasping for breath.
"Yamauchi?" Ike Kanji followed out from behind. "What's wrong with you?"
Yamauchi didn't answer. He was staring deathly at his phone screen. On the screen was a new message Sakayanagi Arisu had just sent.
[Sakayanagi Arisu: Yamauchi-kun, thank you for your hard work on the exam~ Was it difficult? Were the questions I gave you useful?]
Useful? Useful my ass! His hands shook as he tried to reply, but he didn't know what to say. Question her? Curse her? Beg her for an explanation?
But before he could type the first word, the next message arrived.
[Sakayanagi Arisu: Yamauchi-kun, I assume you reviewed in advance~ These kinds of problems certainly shouldn't be hard for you~]
"..." His voice was hoarse beyond recognition.
Then, another message popped up.
[Sakayanagi Arisu: Yamauchi-kun, do your best for this exam~ I believe you will definitely score well~]
That final smiling emoji looked exceptionally piercing under the cold light of the phone screen. Yamauchi's hand holding the phone was trembling. His face turned from deathly pale to a bruised purple-green.
"Sakayanagi... Arisu... you...!" He didn't finish. Because he didn't know what to say. Curse her? But he had taken her answers; he had believed her.
Is it possible... that Sakayanagi actually meant well?
Surrounding students walked past him, whispering: "Isn't that Yamauchi?" "What's wrong with him?" "Who knows..."
Those voices pricked his heart like needles. But he no longer had the strength to retort. He just sat there, staring at the screen with hollow eyes.
At the other end of the corridor, Keima put away his handheld and glanced at Yamauchi. Then he pushed up his glasses and turned to leave.
"Kami-nii-sama!" Elsie popped up from nowhere, skipping along beside him. "Did you see? Yamauchi looks so pathetic!"
"Mm."
"Did he cheat again?"
"Most likely."
"Then he deserves it!"
Keima didn't speak. He simply continued walking forward.
"Kami-nii-sama," Elsie tilted her head, "What do you think the person who gave him the answers was trying to do?"
Keima was silent for a second, then shook his head. "Who knows? Forget it, let's go back."
"Mm, Kami-nii-sama."
Just at that moment—
"Yamauchi-kun~"
A sweet voice rang out from behind. Yamauchi snapped his head around. Sakayanagi Arisu stood at the far end of the corridor, leaning on her signature cane, a gentle smile on her face. But in Yamauchi's eyes, that smiling face was now more terrifying than a demon's.
"..." His voice was completely shot.
Sakayanagi walked closer slowly, her cane tapping the floor with a rhythmic tok, tok. That sound hit his heart one beat at a time.
"How was the exam?" she asked, her tone as concerned as if she were checking on an old friend.
Yamauchi's face went from pale to livid. "You... those answers you gave me..."
"Mm? What about the answers?" Sakayanagi blinked, looking completely innocent.
"Not one! Not one of them was on the test!"
"Oh my, is that so?" Sakayanagi giggled behind her hand. "That really is a shame~"
That smile, that tone, that dismissive attitude—Yamauchi's brain exploded with a buzz.
"You did it on purpose!" he roared, drawing the attention of several nearby students. "You gave me the wrong answers on purpose!"
Sakayanagi didn't deny it. She just looked at him with a smile, her clear eyes devoid of any ripples.
"Why would you do this?!" Yamauchi rushed forward, wanting to grab her collar, but he was stopped by a girl who suddenly appeared.
Kamuro Masumi had emerged from nowhere, grabbing his wrist and saying coldly, "What do you think you're doing?"
Yamauchi struggled, but he couldn't break free. Kamuro's strength was much greater than he imagined. "Let go of me!" he shouted.
Kamuro didn't let go; she simply looked at Sakayanagi. Sakayanagi nodded slightly. Kamuro released her grip and stepped aside, but her eyes remained fixed on Yamauchi as if watching a rabid dog that might bite at any moment.
Yamauchi nearly lost his balance and fell. He gasped for air, glaring at Sakayanagi. "Why? Why are you messing with me?!"
Sakayanagi sighed softly, looking at him like a troublesome child. "Yamauchi-kun, you really are pitiful."
"What did you say?!"
"I said, you are pitiful." Sakayanagi's tone remained gentle, but her words were like knives. "From beginning to end, you were nothing more than a tool."
Yamauchi froze. "A... tool?"
"Mm." Sakayanagi nodded. "During the last monthly exam, the answers I gave you were correct. Do you know why?"
Yamauchi's mind was a blank. Why? He had never thought about why. He only knew someone gave him answers, and he had gladly accepted them.
"Because..." Sakayanagi paused, her smile deepening, "I needed you to trust me~"
Yamauchi's pupils constricted. Trust? So the correct answers last time were just to trick him into trusting her?
"You... you were calculating against me from the very start?"
"Calculating?" Sakayanagi tilted her head, as if tasting the word. "I wouldn't call it calculating, just... a small experiment."
"Experiment?!"
"Mm. I wanted to see to what extent a person as... well, how shall I put it?" She tilted her head. "A person as foolish and greedy as you would go for the sake of unearned grades."
Yamauchi's face turned from livid to a dark purple-red. The last bit of luck in his heart was completely destroyed. "What the hell are you saying?!"
"I am speaking the truth." Sakayanagi's tone remained gentle, but every word was nailed into his heart. "I gave you answers, and you took them. I told you the questions would be different this time, and you believed it without a doubt." She paused and chuckled. "From start to finish, you never doubted me. You never once thought about why I would help you. You never wondered why a top student from Class A would be so kind to a piece of trash from Class D."
Trash. The word was a blade that stabbed precisely into Yamauchi's heart.
"..." He was speechless. Because everything Sakayanagi said was the truth. He really hadn't doubted her. He really thought she helped him because she was a good person. He had even fantasized that she might like him.
"Oh, right," Sakayanagi said as if suddenly remembering something. "Yamauchi-kun, did you think before that I liked you?"
Yamauchi's face flushed instantly. "How... how do you know?!"
Sakayanagi laughed. That smile was as gentle as a spring breeze, but her words were bone-chillingly cold.
"You didn't actually think that I would like someone of your caliber, did you?"
Yamauchi felt as if he had been struck by lightning. "I... I..."
"I what?" Sakayanagi tilted her head. "I am pretty? My grades are good? My family background is good? And you—" she looked him up and down, her gaze like one looking at an ant on the side of the road. "What are you?"
Yamauchi's mind was empty. What was he? He... he was nothing.
"But... but why did you mess with me?!" His voice now carried a sob. "I have no grudge against you! Why would you do this to me!"
Sakayanagi's smile pulled back slightly. "No grudge?"
"That's right! I didn't even know you before!"
"Is that so?" Sakayanagi sighed softly. "Yamauchi-kun, your memory isn't very good."
Yamauchi was stunned. What did she mean?
"Didn't you say some nasty things about someone in your class before?" Sakayanagi said slowly. "Calling him a freak, asking why he attracts so many girls, saying he tricked me out of points for his own enjoyment?"
Yamauchi's pupils shrunk. That was after Sakayanagi's first visit to Class D. He had said those things in class. But that was a long time ago!
"How... how do you know?"
"I know, of course." Sakayanagi smiled slightly. "Because when you said those things, I happened to be present."
Yamauchi was utterly dumbfounded. He had almost forgotten those things. Why did Sakayanagi remember them all?
"You might not have noticed," Sakayanagi said softly, "but my ears have always been very sharp."
Yamauchi's legs began to feel weak. "Just... just because I said a few bad things about him, you'd do this to me?!"
"A few bad things?" Sakayanagi repeated. Her smile was still gentle, but her eyes had turned cold. "Yamauchi-kun, you might not understand me very well." She paused. "I, too, can develop an interest in certain people. But if someone belittles or insults my prey, I will naturally make them pay the price."
Beside her, Kamuro Masumi swallowed hard. Even though she knew Sakayanagi's true nature, she hadn't expected her to go this far.
"You are merely garbage, so please pay a little more attention to your place~"
"What... what is your relationship with him?!" Yamauchi's voice was so sharp it cracked.
Sakayanagi didn't answer. She just looked at him with a hint of pity. "Yamauchi-kun, do you know?" she said softly. "From beginning to end, you have been nothing more than a clown."
Yamauchi completely broke down. His legs gave way, and he knelt directly on the floor. "Why... why..." he muttered to himself, tears and snot smearing his face. "I just said a few things... I only said a few things..."
Sakayanagi looked down at him without a shred of sympathy. "Just said a few things?" she whispered. "When you insulted him, did you ever consider that he might be a hundred times better than you? Did you ever consider how disgusting your behavior is—relying on cheating, deception, and stepping on others to lift yourself up?"
Yamauchi couldn't speak. In front of Sakayanagi, he had insulted Katsuragi Keima. But in reality, behind his back, he had said much more. Sakayanagi didn't need to guess; she knew. In their private chats, Yamauchi had used plenty of insults against Keima.
He just knelt there, shaking all over.
"Yamauchi-kun," Sakayanagi said finally, "The results of this exam will make you remember this lesson forever."
She turned around and walked away slowly, leaning on her cane. Kamuro Masumi followed. Before leaving, she looked back at Yamauchi and coldly spat out: "You deserve it."
The two disappeared at the end of the corridor. Yamauchi knelt on the ground, surrounded by a ring of curious students. "Isn't that Yamauchi from Class D?" "What's wrong with him?" "I don't know, but he looks pathetic."
Those voices rushed in like a tide, drowning his consciousness. He knelt there, motionless. Like a walking corpse whose soul had been erased.
.
.
.
At the other end of the corridor, Katsuragi Keima leaned against the wall, handheld in grip, still playing his game, unconcerned with anything.
Elsie popped out from somewhere and leaned in to whisper, "Kami-nii-sama, did you hear all that?"
"Mm."
"That Sakayanagi... was she standing up for you?" Elsie looked confused.
Keima didn't speak. He just looked in the direction Sakayanagi had disappeared, the light behind his glasses flickering slightly.
"Kami-nii-sama?"
"...It's nothing. Let's go. It's time to go back and play games."
He put away his handheld and walked away as if nothing had happened. Elsie quickly followed.
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