After cluding his strategy meeting with Ibuki, Hikaru returo his dormitory. Sitting at his desk, his mind couldn't help but repy the se from earlier.

  Iose had fixed her deep blue eyes on his face, demanding to know whether he would ever lie to her. The suddeion caught Hikaru off guard, but he quickly posed himself and responded.

  "Of course not. Iose, you and I will always be close allies. I would never lie to you."

  "But even if you did lie, you could do it fwlessly, without any trace of deception, couldn't you?"

  "You're overthinking it. I only act this way for the sake of css petition."

  "But I suddenly have a feeling… If you ever did lie to me," Iose's gaze lingered on him, her tone carrying an inexplicable nuance, "I wouldn't be able to tell."

  "..."

  "That's just your imagination. If it weren't for Css B, I wouldn't resort to lying. You think of it as a tactical choice."

  "Alright, let's get you back to your dorm. Don't dwell on it too much."

  "…Okay."

  Iose nodded, but there was still a subtle unease on her face. Hikaru didn't offer any further expnation and instead urged her toward the elevator.

  "Something feels off. Did I say something wrong?"

  Refleg on his as throughout the day, Hikaru wasn't sure what had triggered such a rea from Iose. He recalled that the Iose Honami Stock had a risk warning, stating that lying to her would cause its value to drop.

  "But I didn't lie to her. There's no doubt about that."

  Opening the system's interface, Hikaru checked the [Iose Honami Stock], which remai 120 points. This firmed that today's events hadn't ively affected her perception of him.

  Moreover, if Iose were someone who truly olerated lies, she wouldn't have covered for him earlier. When it came to css petition, she wasn't the type to blindly adhere to personal principles.

  "Could it be… she was testing my attitude?"

  His thoughts drifted back to the stock pricrease notification:

  [Iose Honami is deeply moved by your 20-million point pn. She has developed airely new level of emotion towards you.]

  Ever since acquiring the system, Hikaru had been very clear about his goal—everything he did was to ensure his smooth graduation from this school.

  It wasn't as though he disliked Iose. In terms of looks and figure, she was undoubtedly top-tier. Her personality was gentle, and she genuinely cared for others. If they were to date, he might just ugh himself awake in his dreams.

  But right now, Hikaru had far too many things to aplish. He o help Css B rise through the ranks, train his body, discover more stocks, and utilize the system's power to transform himself. That was the only way to make full use of this sed ce at life.

  When the system first appeared, his initial pn had been to cash out ohe stock price rose, then disappear before dealing with aional fallout.

  However, after using the Stoalyzer, he uood that to lower a stock's price, he would have to hurt the person involved.

  At this school, where csses weren't reshuffled, he was bound to spend a lot of time with Iose. If emotions beyond friendship ever developed between them, would he really be willing to iionally upset her just to manipute stock prices?

  The answer was clear—no.

  Hikaru's stanotions was straightforward: if he liked someone, he liked them; if he didn't, he didn't. If he ever truly fell for Iose, he would never do anything to hurt her. That was his bottom line as a man.

  That being said, it was still too early to dwell on such thoughts. His priority right now was Css B's petition and seg more funds from the system. There was no room for roman his pns.

  "I'll keep it at this level for now. Staying friends is just fi this stage."

  Summing up his refles, Hikaru shook off his distrag thoughts and refocused on pnning the uping css petition. That was the real issue that needed his attention.

  ---

  The m, after pleting his now-routine early m training, Hikaru grabbed breakfast and headed into Css B's . As always, his cssmates greeted him warmly.

  "Good m, Hashima-kun!"

  "M, Hashima!"

  "Yeah, m, everyone."

  As he took his seat, he noticed Iose was already there, her head lowered as she diligently took notes in her notebook.

  "M, Iose." Hikaru decided to greet her first.

  "Good m, Hikaru-kun."

  The pink-haired girl fshed her usual eic smile and immediately followed up, "I'm anizing the intelligence everyohered on Css d Css D over the past two days. By Friday, you'll be able to use it right away."

  "Thanks, Iose. I could've dohis myself, though."

  "It's no trouble at all. You've been w hard pnning strategies for the css. You must be even more exhausted than me." A trace of flickered across Iose's face as she spoke softly. "Even though I'm the leader of Css B, I've been relying on you a lot."

  "Well, since you're so eager, I'll take the opportunity to sck off a bit."

  Both of them instinctively avoided mentioning st night's versation, as if it had never happeoday, Hikaru and Iose remaihe leading figures w toward Css B's success.

  As for whether that versation had ged anything—only their hearts truly khe answer.

  ---

  Around 2:00 PM, while Hikaru was focused on solving a problem, Iose suddenly tapped his shoulder. Turning to her, he saw her holding out her phone.

  "Ibuki said she's reached an agreement with Ryuen. We're meeting at 4:30 PM, sed floor of the Special Building."

  "The sed floor, huh? Got it."

  Pressing against his temples from prolonged tration, Hikaru recalled that the sed floor tained several special-purpose s. If they were pnning to secretly record evidehey'd need access to one of those rooms.

  "Just the two of us going? Or should we bring more people?" Iose asked.

  "Hmm… Let's bring Kanzaki and Shibata. o involve irls."

  "Uood."

  "Actually, Iose, maybe you shouldn't e," Hikaru suggested tentatively. "We're baiting Ryuen into physically attag someone. We 't predict how he'll react. It could get dangerous."

  "That's not an option."

  The usually gentle Iose immediately shot down his proposal, her expression firm. "Sihis pn was devised by the two of us, I o be there to firm the results."

  "Even if Ryuen pletely disregards sequences, Ibuki will be there. I trust she handle him."

  Seeing that Iose wouldn't back down, Hikaru had no choice but to nod in resignation. He could only hope the p smoothly.

  Before the end of the school day, Hikaru borrowed a key to one of the sce s from Hoshinomiya, the its location to Ibuki.

  After firming the details, he gathered Kanzaki and Shibata, expining their roles.

  "Got it," Shibata grinned. "We'll be hiding nearby, secretly rec evidence of Ryuen making a move."

  "Well then," Hikaru said, rising from his seat. "Let's get moving. The operation against Ryuen starts now!"