The conversation between the two class leaders officially began.
Honami had just been about to speak, but Hachiman raised his hand to stop her.
Hachiman knew very well that Honami's character wasn't suited for negotiation, so he himself would represent the entire class in this discussion.
Honami was aware that her close relationship with Ryunosuke could make her tend to favor the opponent during negotiations, so she closed her eyes and chose to remain silent, letting Hachiman speak in her place.
Seeing this, Ryunosuke furrowed his brow. Facing Honami was very easy for him, but if his opponent was Hachiman, he felt slightly less confident...
The man before him was very skilled at reading emotions; the slightest opening Ryunosuke showed, Hachiman could immediately seize control of the conversation. He was very wary of this "Grand Master," precisely because he knew him too well, his sense of vigilance was even higher.
Hachiman sensed the unfriendly gaze from him and felt somewhat strange.
(Have I ever offended him? Why is he looking at me like that? Whatever... thinking about the reason would just be troublesome, better not think about it.)
Hachiman shook his head to dispel that unimportant thought, then began official negotiations. He hunched his back, put his hands in his pockets, and looked at him with his signature "dead fish eyes" gaze.
Ryunosuke felt uncomfortable being stared at like that, but he still sat upright and treated him as a serious conversation partner.
Hachiman didn't waste time and said in a flat tone:
"Our side wants to form an alliance with the Class C leader, Akasaka Ryunosuke."
Ryunosuke noticed the diction used; Hachiman didn't say cooperate with Class C, but specifically cooperate with him personally.
He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Hachiman's gaze slightly avoided—he really wasn't suited for situations like this—but for the sake of the class, he gritted his teeth and endured his discomfort with this intense social situation.
"We're not interested in Class C." Hachiman said word by word. "What we're after is you as the leader. We only want to cooperate with you, not with Class C as a whole."
Class C had just been looked down upon by Hachiman. After all, in terms of performance, Class C looked very messy. Before Ryunosuke stepped in to integrate them, that class's general performance was even worse than Class D. Because of that, Hachiman assessed Class C as a burden; he was only willing to cooperate with Ryunosuke individually.
If Class C caused trouble and sparked a big problem, Hachiman was afraid Class A would be dragged in. For example, if a Class C student got caught stealing women's underwear, all of Class A would also be suspected. Hachiman didn't want to take that risk.
Ryunosuke, sitting on the opposite sofa, crossed his legs and swayed them, clearly disagreeing with that answer. He said in a slow tone:
"I don't agree with your condition. Cooperation must involve the entire class, why only choose me personally? Are you trying to split me from all of Class C? What's your real intention?!"
Ryunosuke questioned loudly to apply mental pressure so the opponent would make an error in judgment. Hachiman's body really did tremble slightly; he still couldn't adapt to standing in the spotlight, dark corners were more suited for him.
Hachiman retreated slightly and glanced at Ryuji, signaling for help because he could barely withstand the pressure anymore.
Ryuji, resigned, was forced to step forward to replace Hachiman's position for negotiations.
The two argued back and forth, but Ryuji gained no advantage at all. Ryunosuke stubbornly insisted that cooperation include all of Class C, while Ryuji stated he only wanted to cooperate with him because he didn't want to deal with the "hot potato" called Class C.
Neither side would yield, so the negotiations reached a deadlock.
Himeno, who had been standing to the side while sucking on a lollipop, finally couldn't take it anymore. She stepped forward, pushed Ryuji aside, and sat right in front of Ryunosuke. She rested her hand on the sofa while crossing her legs, displaying the style of a true leader.
Ryunosuke raised an eyebrow, thinking: (This time it's Himeno-san's turn?)
He didn't care much, he closed his eyes to rest and ignored her in front of him. Seeing this, without hesitation Himeno kicked his leg until the man's eyes widened in confusion.
Seeing Ryunosuke finally willing to look at her, Himeno showed a victorious expression and said:
"Can we talk about cooperation now?"
Ryunosuke replied in a resigned tone, "Is there anyone who negotiates by kicking their opponent? By the way, do you have more candy? Give me one."
"Oh."
Himeno just grunted, then pulled out the lollipop she was sucking from her mouth and held it out.
"Only have this one, want it?"
Unexpectedly, Ryunosuke accepted it without any disgusted expression like Himeno had imagined. He immediately put the candy in his mouth and said:
"Thank you."
Himeno: "😐"
Her face immediately turned bright red. She threw away her image and directly lunged at Ryunosuke to take back the candy already in the man's mouth.
"You shameless bastard!"
"That's candy I already ate! How dare you eat it!!!"
Ryunosuke held the candy up high while holding back Himeno (whose head was one level shorter than his) with his other hand. He said in an arrogant tone:
"The saying goes, wasting food is disgraceful behavior. I'm being frugal here, appreciating the hard work of farming grandmothers, and cherishing food."
"Cherish your eye!!!"
"You bastard!!!"
Himeno bit Ryunosuke's arm. Her small sharp canine teeth left two marks on the arm, but didn't draw blood.
Clearly, even in a state of fury, Himeno still hadn't lost her reason and didn't actually hurt him.
Ryunosuke felt a sting, but the pain didn't compare to Suzune's punches, so for him this was nothing. He slowly stroked Himeno's head like calming a small child.
"There, there, stop biting. Didn't you want to negotiate? Where's your dignity like this?"
"Look at your classmates behind you, they're staring at you with strange looks."
"Who do you think is to blame for this?!!!" Himeno shouted loudly, the red flush on her face still hadn't disappeared. Clearly she hadn't recovered from what just happened.
After all, she didn't expect Ryunosuke would be bold enough to eat candy that had just come out of her mouth.
That was called an indirect kiss!
Her first kiss in life had been accidentally given to this bastard in front of her, not to her future husband.
She, Himeno Yuki, felt she would never be marriageable again...
Today's match result: Himeno Yuki suffered a crushing defeat, sugar content reduced by 50%.