After everyone apologised, I quickly made sure to forgive them because even though my plan was deceitful, I was still done wrong, but now I made sure to not be bitter towards them.
"Don't worry, guys, I completely understand. You don't need to bow—"
"No, we do," Yoshida said, her head still bowed. "I don't even think we deserve your forgiveness."
That may be a bit too much.
"You don'—"
A teacher suddenly entered—I completely forgot we still had class today.
Anyway, we greeted him, and it was now time for class. I was told to go back to my seat since everything was fixed.
I actually preferred my present seat since it was close to the door but oh well.
I moved back and class started—and yes, it was as boring as always so I looked outside the window.
All my plans went well from step one down to step four. From when I got expelled, a lot of stuff was to be handled.
My reputation was in the mud, there was a supposed traitor, and there was a special test—to top it all, I was told by the chairman to lead my class to victory.
After some investigation and deduction, I created steps of a grand plan to handle each problem.
Step 1 was to handle my reputation and find the traitor.
Step 2 was to handle my reputation.
Step 3 was to handle the special test.
Step 4 was to finalise the reputation matter.
The steps were distinct yet interconnected and while they were detailed and fully planned, they relied on luck.
Moreover, I still had step 5 and some questions that I would ask Suzuki.
"Hey," I called her. "Are you helping Satou?"
"No, we all are trying to individually expel you, no teamwork. That being said, Satou made a contract that he would give me 2,000,000 Rp if I successfully expelled you. Of course, I already had a hatred for you so it aligned—does that answer your question?"
"Yes, also you have 2 million Rp?"
"No, I mean, aren't you still here? It only counted if you stayed expelled."
It explained why she helped him and it also made me understand a bit about Satou's wallet, though he could make such a deal without the money but I was sure that Suzuki would make sure to confirm it so that was out of the question.
And also made me know who called Yumemiya on the night before my expulsion.
It was Satou. While I had a hunch, I wasn't sure, but now it all fit in place except for why he asked for student records, but I left that out of my mind for now and texted Yoshida.
[Me: Did you get the Rp?]
[Yellow Bear: Yes, how'd you know?]
I already cracked the code for how Rp worked. While yes, it depended on reputation, it didn't mean you had to take a long time building Rp up.
There was a sure way to get a lot of Rp or lose a lot of Rp. This school existed like a prison but also like a political space.
What helped Rp the most was either a scandal or amazing news.
A scandal worked better but amazing news was also good, particularly good news that changed the view of a person.
Also, in both cases it didn't matter what the scandal or amazing news was but how people reacted to it.
That was why Suzuki cried to elicit more attention, and that was why the rumor about Takagaki didn't work.
Plus, proof also helped.
I combined all these elements to get as much Rp from my class as possible.
I had 63,000 Rp in my account. While I didn't know how they decided the numbers, that didn't really matter.
Another thing was that people who helped build the story would also benefit from it.
[Me: I promised, didn't I?]
[Yellow Bear: You planned this?]
[Me: Yes.]
[Yellow Bear: Thank you, thank you, thank you.]
I could feel the enthusiasm through the text. It was a shame that she would momentarily lose said enthusiasm.
[Me: Anyway, I need your help.]
[Yellow Bear: Sure.]
[Me: We need to confront Yumemiya.]
Yoshida saw the text but didn't answer. It seemed she was still shaken by Yumemiya because she knew her weakness.
[Yellow Bear: Do we need to? Everything's already fixed, isn't it?]
[Me: Yes, we do. She's a traitor.]
[Yellow Bear: Yes, but I'm sure she's learnt her lesson right?]
[Me: Don't worry, I have a plan.]
[Yellow Bear: Are you sure?]
[Me: Do you trust me?]
It took some minutes for an answer but it was the answer I expected.
[Yellow Bear: Yes.]
After all, Yoshida was a simple girl.
She turned to look at me from her phone and I grinned and gave a thumbs up and she seemed to be ok.
With that done, I became bored again.
"Hey, Suzuki."
"Yeah?"
"Wanna date me?"
"Hell no," she replied quickly.
"Damn, at least act shocked or blush a bit."
"I, for one, hate deception."
"Liar," I said under my breath.
"What did you say?"
"N-Nothing."
"Please refrain from sullying my reputation with you words because even the walls have ears," she briefly glanced at Yumemiya—Suzuki had been whispering since but was extra careful to make sure that I didn't raise my volume.
Not that I would make such a mistake.
Anyway, the rest of the day went uninterestingly; I went to the library and enjoyed my lunch break with Kagura and Fuji.
"Girls really care about make-up, huh?"
Kagura was schooling us on make-up and felt so out of place—Kagura apparently started teaching Fuji about it on the day I wasn't with them and even gave her a little assignment to research it.
"Good work, Fuji. You learnt about eyeshadow, lipstick, lip gloss, and even mascara."
"That's not all. I also learnt about foundation."
What are these strange words? Is this Japanese?
"Now, it's time for practice," Kagura brought a strange box—it was probably a make-up kit from the looks of it.
"Practice on myself? I don't really think I can do that yet," Fuji stated.
"Yeah, that's expected. But I never intended for you to practice on yourself."
"Hmm? Who am I going to practice on then?"
Kagura looked over at me with a wide smile.
I was turned into a girl but luckily, I ran away when they were halfway through the process.
At any rate, during class Yoshida would occasionally turn back to look at me for reassurance for what was going to happen, to which I gave her a thumbs up.
Anyway, after class ended, I left the classroom but before I did, I gave her a side glance that told her to keep Yumemiya to stay in class.
I went to get a soda and waited outside class, overhearing their conversation.
***
I texted Yumemiya to stay in class but Nakamura didn't really tell me what to do so I tried to just talk but she spoke before me.
"Why'd you tell me to stay?" Yumemiya asked, engrossed in her phone and barely paying attention to me.
I have to come up with a reason or else she might leave.
"You said you'd help me with my Rp, but you didn't."
"Hmm...? Didn't Nakamura already help you? Think I didn't notice his schemes. Or don't tell me you want more Rp? Well, since you're an attention whore, I'm not exactly surprised," she replied, her tone condescending.
"...That doesn't change the fact that we made a deal."
"Hey, you do know that you should have denied what I said, right? Now I know that Nakamura did help you."
Shit!
"And you don't even know how to control your facial muscles either. I'm not surprised if Nakamura knows your weakness too. So does he know? Wonder if you guys are partners. I'm right, aren't I?"
"..." I made sure to keep my face as calm as possible; I also kept quiet.
"I told you to deny, not to stay mute. Idiot."
"Shut up!" I screamed.
"Hey, who do you think you're talking to? I have your weakness, remember?"
"And I have yours," Nakamura walked in.
***
"And I have yours," I said, stepping into class.
It's time for the final step of my plan—step 5.
"Was that staged? Cuz that was some amazing shit, man," Yumemiya grinned as she slowly clapped. This was the most talkative I had ever seen her. "So, what's my weakness?"
"I have a recording of your conversation with your sponsor."
"Huh?"
I could only do this because of my huge increase in Rp; moreover, Yumemiya wasn't really close to anyone in class.
That was why she could instigate. In fact, I had barely heard her voice in class even after being here for quite a while.
"You're kidding?"
"No, I am not. I was there when you had a call with your sponsor—"
Yes, I was there but I didn't know something might emerge from that conversation so I didn't record it so I was just bluffing.
"Bullshit!" she screamed. "If you do that, I will also include Yoshida."
"And I won't care," I shrugged, my tone having a hint of indifference—of course, I did but I couldn't let her know.
"Shit," she swore. "If you do that, then it will interfere with me and Satou-senpai. Shit. Shit. Shit."
You literally told Yoshida to deny but here you are just blatantly giving away information.
"I won't let you do this," she brought out a taser. "Drop your phone or else."
"Alright, relax. I'll drop it very slowly," I slowly dropped my phone but before I knew it, she ran away.
I quickly followed her—inadvertently leaving my phone in the process.
I slowed down when she was in my line of sight because if I didn't, then I would run faster than her and I didn't want to catch her but to see if she'd lead me to Satou.
If she tried to lead me to a weird place, then I would catch up and overtake her and force her to make a contract with me.
If she ran to her room, then I would force myself inside and force her to make a contract.
In any case, she led me to the special building but the more I ran, the weirder this felt.
Why would Satou want my class' records? Was my information even there?
Unless maybe he was targeting someone else. Doubt it. And if he was targeting me, he could always check the information in the student council so why?
The weird feeling got weirder when we arrived at the student council office.
I stepped in with Yumemiya and saw Satou waiting with a wide grin.
On entering, Yumemiya started laughing hysterically.
"Ha ha ha," she could barely contain her laughter.
So it was a trap.
"I'm sure you've already guessed that it's a trap, and yes, we know that there's no recording."
"..." I kept my expression calm, like it didn't bother me. I was thinking of what to do.
"I already know that trick; remember, we had similar childhoods."
He was right. The trick of acting composed in danger was something I was sure that he knew.
Should I run?
"I suppose I should cut to the chase. So, at this moment someone I sent is putting the picture of the class records on your phone."
"...?!" I wanted to leave but I knew better. He probably had a condition.
"I have a message that said Yumemiya caught you with the information and that you sided with Yoshida. If I tap this button, you'll lose a lot of Rp by morning like last time but this time it will be worse since the whole school knows. The chairman won't be able to help you."
It was checkmate because last time I escaped expulsion because only my class knew about it and the chairman made sure to contain it but if everyone knew, then I would have no way to escape because it would be a clear sign of nepotism.
"But there's a silver lining," I said.
"Yes, that's right. I'm not surprised you saw through me; after all, you are the Magnus Opus," he said, his tone condescending, as he clapped for me.
He was insulting me because I wasn't able to figure out his strategy.
But now I understood what he did; he orchestrated this to happen.
He made me overhear Yumemiya, allowed Hayashi into the student council, made me meet Hayashi, made me help Yoshida, and made me confront Yumemiya.
I was in over my mind—no, I completely underestimated them because of my constant winning streak.
And as a result of that, I lost.
"So, what's the silver lining, Satou?" I asked.
"No honorific, huh? Well, no matter," he said. "I have no plan on expelling you; let's do this instead. Let's have a match at the sports festival."
"What kind of match?"
"Aren't you supposed to ask why I'd reveal such crucial info to a student? Or act surprised? Well, you're not really one for theatrics. Anyway, you choose the match. The ball is in your court."
While he said that the situation was completely the opposite. Moreover, I hadn't played a physical sport in a long time.
"Let's play basketball."
"Fine," Satou grinned.
I chose a sport that I was decent at even without training in a while but the thing was, if we had the same background, then Satou would definitely have trained in this sport within the last two years or so and may be better than me.
However, regardless of how screwed I was, I would have to win or else.
[There's an illustration here: Nakamura looks troubled and he had a slight frown with a drop of sweat coming down his face.]
***
Author's Note:
"And that's the end of volume 3. Woah! The next volume is, unfortunately, not coming out tomorrow. Y'all will have to wait till December 15th.
I know, I know, I suck but even I need to prepare well or else you guys will get mediocre content—not that I'm not a mediocre writer but yeah," Or at least that was what I initially wanted to do but I'm, like, super lazy and need to prepare for Christmas so to that I say this.
Personally, I want to post chapter 22.0, or rather volume 3, in January 2026 but alas, I write for the readers so if I get enough of your comments, then I'll post 7 chapters out of volume 4, though I doubt I'll get that many comments.
Anyway, if you guys really do want it, then try and post it before 8th December.
I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.