The piece of meat slid off the tip of his knife.
Staring at the chunk that had fallen back onto the plate, Asakusa Tetsu set the knife down and switched to chopsticks.
A knife was great for cutting, but the deeper you stabbed, the more unstable the meat became.
Just like Kushida Kikyo right now.
It was fine to hold her down with leverage for a bit—but if he kept pushing, she'd probably self-destruct in his face.
So.
Enough was enough.
"If I really wanted to make things hard for you, I would've taken your clothes earlier," Asakusa said casually—delivering something utterly terrifying as if it were small talk.
Kushida's face darkened.
"Are you a demon?"
If he had really done that, even if he opened the door himself, she probably wouldn't have dared step outside.
…Why did she have to lose her mind and do that so-called perfect dogeza?
"See? I didn't make things difficult for you." His devilish logic seemed to exist solely to prove that point.
Kushida: "..."
"Fine, fine. You didn't make things difficult for me. Let me ask it differently." She sighed and decided not to nitpick semantics.
"What do you want?"
"Are you planning to use the photos and recordings to slowly test my limits and turn me into your toy? Or make me your informant in Class D? Or just squeeze my wallet dry and make me keep paying you tribute?"
"Or… all of the above?"
She lightly patted her cheeks and looked at him with deadly seriousness.
"If that's your plan, I'll call the police. Then I'll withdraw from school."
Kushida Kikyo lived on superiority.
She enjoyed feeling above others. She enjoyed being trusted. She enjoyed excelling at anything and everything.
Being trampled beneath someone, stripping and laying out her clothes in humiliation to perform a dogeza—was something she would never have done under normal circumstances.
That was emotional impulse.
There would not be a second time.
If Asakusa's goal was to shatter her superiority—
Then they could both burn.
"You wouldn't," Asakusa said calmly.
Before she could sneer, he added softly,
"And I have no intention of doing that."
"If anything, you're the one who walked into this."
"If you hadn't messed around on my rooftop, none of this would've happened."
He hadn't even intended to capture Kushida in the first place. He hadn't even bothered grabbing Masumi Kamuro, who would've been easier.
Why Kushida?
"So it's my fault now?" Kushida laughed in disbelief.
Especially seeing his "well, obviously" expression—it made her blood boil.
This guy always knew how to say the most infuriating things.
But arguing about fault was pointless. Even if she "won," nothing would change.
And then—
"Wait. What do you mean 'your rooftop'?" she suddenly remembered something that had bothered her earlier.
"How the hell did you open that door?"
She genuinely didn't understand.
He was a student.
How did he unlock an electronic door?
"Well, Miss Kushida," Asakusa replied calmly, "have you considered that I opened that door? That I shut off the power? That the rooftop was always mine to begin with?"
It made no logical sense.
But Asakusa didn't need logic.
With a universal access card, every electronic door was effectively his.
Yes.
Your dorms too.
"…I completely fail to understand your logic," Kushida said flatly.
This guy was absurd.
And yet… she was starting to get used to his absurdity.
"It's fine. Just remember the rooftop is mine."
He leaned back slightly.
"But we can't leave things like this. Even if I tell you I don't plan to do anything, you won't believe me."
"So instead of claiming I want nothing… I might as well actually ask you for something."
He clasped his hands together, arriving at what he clearly thought was a brilliant conclusion.
If he asked for something concrete, she wouldn't have to keep worrying.
When someone claimed to want nothing, that was suspicious. But if they were clearly aiming for something specific, at least you understood their motive.
"Your stress levels are high."
"Or rather—keeping up that friendly mask with everyone is stressful for you."
"You don't plan to reveal your true self."
"So you ran to the rooftop, somewhere you believed was safe, and started venting. Trying to relieve pressure that way."
His fingers laced and tapped together as he spoke, delivering a clean psychological dissection.
He didn't need godlike knowledge.
Everything he'd seen on the rooftop was enough.
"But clearly, the rooftop isn't as safe as you imagined."
"There are many ways to relieve stress. Screaming into a 'tree hollow' isn't a bad one—but venting without an audience doesn't quite hit the same."
"And you obviously can't pick just anyone to dump your emotions on. You don't intend to expose your true self."
"But if it's someone who accidentally saw your true self… me, for instance… perhaps I could become that person."
He didn't even look at her as he continued.
"If I became your emotional trash can, your stress would probably drop significantly."
"But here's the problem."
"I don't want to be someone's trash can."
"I don't want to absorb someone else's emotional garbage."
Only then did he raise his head and meet her gaze.
"Unless I'm not just a trash can," he said.
Then suddenly—
He shifted topics entirely.
"Miss Kushida, do you know what a normal, healthy high school boy desires most?"
"Surging hormones. Suppressed fantasies. The thrill of freedom after leaving parental oversight."
Just as Kushida was about to answer—
"The opposite sex,"
Asakusa snapped his fingers.
"No."
"It's power."
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