After clearing out his stocks, Hikaru gazed at the girl in front of him—Kushida Kikyo—and spoke slowly.
"Now, Kushida-san, you and I share a secret. You don't o worry about me spilling it. After all, you still have leverage over me."
"Hmph!"
The blush on her face faded as the short-haired girl reposed herself. She lightly patted her cheeks and shifted her gaze toward the distant sea.
"Hikaru-kun, after seeing this side of me… what do you think?"
"Hmm. I think everyone has a bit of darkness in their hearts," Hikaru replied calmly as he stood beside her. "Letting it out isn't necessarily a bad thing."
"But the way I acted just now must have been terrifying, right?" She tilted her head, watg Hikaru's profile.
"To me, it just means I uand Kushida-san a little better now. That's all. It's not a big deal—it's not like you actually hurt anyone."
"Well… It might have hurt the railing." Hikaru chuckled, deliberately shifting the topic to ease the tensioween them.
Now that he had liquidated his Kushida Kikyo shares, Hikaru's move was tically lower her stock value by dispying a friendly retionship with Suzune in front of her.
This meant that a direct fallout with Kushida wasn't ideal—not yet. He might o buy back her stocks ter, and with 5,000 shares of this treasure stock, keeping an open line of unication was the smart py.
"You really know how to say all the right things, don't you, Hikaru-kun?"
After some casual versation, Kushida's expression had already returo her usual friendly and charming persona—the ess from before had pletely vanished, as if nothing had happe all.
Women truly are born actors.
Hikaru sighed inwardly as he observed her. Then, he brought up something that had been on his mind.
"How's the search for the eyewitness going?"
"We've got a lead," Kushida turo look at him and expined. "Horikita-san said she noticed someone in our css who might have withe i."
"Someone from your css…?" Hikaru immediately asked, "Who is it? Are you close to them?"
"It's Sakura Airi," Kushida recalled their limited iions. "She's really shy and doesn't have many friends in css."
"If that's the case, how did Horikita determihat she might be the witness?"
Just hearing that name made Kushida annoyed again. Ba Ayanokoji's dorm, Suzune had analyzed the situation, expining that when Kushida asked the css if anyone had seen anything, everyone had instinctively looked up—except for Sakura, who kept her head down and seemed visibly uneasy.
And that was where Suzune had stopped, dropping a few cryptic remarks before leaving, while everyone else praised her dedu skills.
That moment had ignited Kushida's frustration, drivio this secluded spot to vent.
"Horikita said that when I called for witnesses in css, she was the only one who kept her head down and looked unfortable. It's likely that she's involved in some way."
"Is that so?"
Hikaru nodded. Whether the dedu was accurate or not, simply talking to her could yield useful information.
Besides, right now, his objectives aligned with Css C's. They wao prevent Sudo's expulsion, while Hikaru o ensure Ryuen's pn didn't succeed—he couldn't allow him to expand his influehin the css.
"So, how do you pn on approag Sakura-san?"
"Hmm… Everyone decided to leave it to me. Since she's so shy, it might be easier for her to open up if it's anirl talking to her."
"Iose-san must be keeping a close eye on your situatiht?"
"Honami-? She said she'd wait for my versation with Sakura first. If she's not the witness, we'll have to keep searg."
"Makes sense. Right now, everything is still specution. Without crete proof, we're w in the dark."
Hikaru stroked his . He wao find a way to monitor the search process personally—it could also serve as valuable information for the uping Student cil hearing.
But from the way Kushida described her, Sakura didn't seem like someone easy to approach.
For now, it was best to let Kushida take the lead.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Kushida-san. Hopefully, you'll get a breakthrough. I'll be keeping an eye on this matter."
Hikaru nodded, indig his tinued involvement.
After chatting a bit more, the two finally parted ways auro their dorms.
---
Onside his room, Hikaru immediately pulled up his system panel.
[Character Information]
Name: Hashima Hikaru
Age: 15
Intelligence: 7
Charm: 8
Physical Ability: 4
Owock: Iose Honami × 3,000
Funds: ???
"I mao secure a huge amount of funds in one go. The question is, which stock should I i i?"
Hikaru sed the Stock Market Interface, reviewing the options that had been listed but he hadn't bought into yet. There were three avaible stocks:
1. [Horikita Suzuock]
Initial Stock Price: 100
Shares Issued: ???
2. [Chabashira Sae Stock]
Initial Stock Price: 50
Shares Issued: ???
3. [Shiina Hiyori Stock]
Initial Stock Price: 30
Shares Issued: ???
"Horikita Suzune's initial stock price is ridiculously high—100 points! A full iment would cost 300,000… that's way too risky. Plus, I haven't evehe Stoalyzer on her yet, so I have no idea how her value might fluctuate."
"As for Chabashira-sensei… I'll put her aside for now. We're not in the same css, so she's not a priority."
That left Hiyori as the st option.
During his previous rule-selling operation, Hikaru had already used the Stoalyzer on her, and the results were clear—she was a cssic bookworm.
[Stocrease Reendation]:
Befriehrough shared i in literature
Discuss mystery novels with her
Gain her personal reition
"These as don't directly involve css petition… That might actually make things easier. It keeps things simple and avoids unnecessary trouble."
With that thought in mind, Hikaru made his decision—he would find an opportunity to approach her soon.
If this stock turned out to be an easy iment, all the better.
~~~
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