Chapter 88: Innocent Elementary School Student

  “Hahaha! Did you hear that? That scream just now was definitely from Ryuen! That was so much fun!”

  Haruno clung to Hachiman’s arm, ughing with delight.

  Feeling the softness against his arm, Hachiman discreetly pulled it away. Looking at Haruno’s smug smile, he sighed and compined, “You sure know how to py, huh? Ryuen’s almost broken by you. His mentality is probably completely shattered by now!”

  Honestly, at this moment, Hachiman felt a bit sorry for Ryuen. Originally, he just wanted to teach him a lesson, make him submit, and have him apologize to Haruno—that would have been enough.

  But Haruno was too ruthless! Not only did she force Ryuen into a dogeza (deep bowing apology), but the crazy part was that Ryuen actually abandoned his pride and did it!

  This was beyond outrageous!

  “Hehehe, I was just borrowing a tiger’s might.”

  Haruno puffed out her chest proudly and grinned. “If Ryuen was really that weak, he wouldn’t have done a dogeza in the first pce! Hehe, every time he sees us, he’ll remember this humiliating bck history! Hahaha!!”

  “……”

  Bck history… For some reason, Hachiman suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

  “Wait a sec, let me take this thing out. It’s too uncomfortable.”

  Saying that, Hachiman pulled a book out from under his shirt, then let out a sigh of relief.

  Haruno blinked in surprise.

  Feeling a bit awkward under her gaze, Hachiman expined, “This is just in case. If Ryuen and his guys really went all out on me, this thing would at least offer a little protection.”

  And indeed, thanks to this, he didn’t get knocked out by Albert’s punch.

  Haruno stared for a moment before suddenly bursting into ughter.

  “Hahaha! I thought you were so brave, taking on four guys by yourself. Turns out you were faking it all along!”

  “Well, yeah, it’s a bit embarrassing, but this is just self-preservation! Taking care of my body is important. You just don’t understand!”

  Hachiman, blushing, defended himself with righteous conviction.

  Haruno crossed her arms and smirked proudly. “Yeah, I don’t understand, because I can take on ten people at once!”

  “Take on ten? What do you think you are, Ip Man?”

  “Oops, maybe ten is a bit of an exaggeration.”

  Haruno scratched her head sheepishly. “But taking on five Hachimans would be no problem at all.”

  “……”

  That hurt!

  And the worst part was—Hachiman couldn’t even argue against it.

  So he decided to stay silent. If he didn’t say anything, then no one could hurt him!

  “Ehehe~”

  Seeing this, Haruno fshed a victorious ‘V’ sign. Once again, she had won in her ongoing mission to tease Hachiman.

  No matter how much she provoked him after that, Hachiman ignored her completely, fully committing to his ‘turtle-shell defense’ strategy.

  “Hmph!”

  Haruno stomped her foot in frustration. Then, an idea fshed in her mind. The next second, she leaned in close again, wrapping herself around Hachiman’s arm, gazing into his eyes with a soft, affectionate look.

  “I had such a great time tonight. I thought you had forgotten about this promise, but you actually remembered. So, what kind of reward do you want?”

  “……”

  Feeling the soft yet slightly bumpy sensation pressing against his arm, Hachiman suddenly recalled Haruno’s words in the alley. A surge of heat rushed to his head, and he instantly froze in pce, his face turning red.

  Witch! This woman was too much of a seductress!

  Hachiman internally screamed, completely unable to handle it. How could someone be this devilish?!

  Haruno tilted her head in confusion. But when she saw Hachiman’s flushed and awkward face, she couldn’t hold back her ughter.

  “Hachiman, your reaction is way too innocent!”

  She poked his cheek while ughing uncontrolbly. “You’re like an elementary school boy holding hands with a girl for the first time—so flustered and unsure of what to do! Hahaha~ This is too pure, too youthful!”

  “Wait, don’t tell me—have you never had this kind of close contact with a girl before?”

  “Hey! The way you’re saying that makes me sound like some kind of pervert! Besides, keeping a proper distance between boys and girls is just common sense!”

  The dead-fish-eyed boy protested indignantly.

  “Hah! So you’re not denying it!”

  “…O-of course not! I’ve had simir experiences with Komachi when we were little.”

  Blushing furiously, he tried to argue back.

  “But that’s your little sister! Yeah, I definitely need to call the cops now.”

  “As long as it’s a little sister, it’s fine!”

  “???”

  In the end, the so-called ‘heroic’ Hachiman was thoroughly tormented and ughed at by the ‘Demon Queen,’ successfully unlocking the new achievement title: Innocent Elementary School Boy.

  —

  In front of the dormitory—

  “Alright, alright! It was my fault, okay? I already apologized. What more do you want?!”

  Haruno pouted her lips, putting on a ‘Fine, I was wrong’ expression as she stared at the boy with slight annoyance.

  “If you could at least wipe away that smug smile at the corner of your mouth, maybe I’d actually believe you.”

  Hachiman completely ignored her attempt at fake sincerity.

  “Tch~ Innocent little elementary schooler!”

  Realizing he wasn’t falling for it, Haruno immediately changed her attitude.

  “I’m already in high school! I’m not some elementary school kid!”

  “See? You didn’t deny being innocent.”

  “……”

  Hachiman was speechless. No, wait! I’m just not going to argue with a woman! The boy kept reassuring himself in his mind.

  “But tonight, I really had a great time!”

  Haruno said softly, “I didn’t know what it felt like for someone to stand up for me. Hehe, this is my first time experiencing something like this.”

  “As for the contract I signed with Ryuen tonight…”

  “That’s all thanks to your own skill, Hachiman. So don’t worry, I won’t interfere or… put you in a difficult position.”

  Haruno seemed to see right through him and smiled lightly. “But to be able to so easily pull off this ‘empty-handed wolf-pulling’ trick, you really deserve the reputation of the man who caused such chaos at Sobu!”

  Now that Hachiman thought about it, he had indeed pulled off a cssic “empty-handed wolf-pulling” maneuver. He’d gained a rge number of personal points and an opportunity to make Ryuen submit with almost no cost.

  All he did was slightly design the situation by leaking the crucial information about the exam. After that, everything unfolded naturally into the events of tonight.

  Of course, there were also considerations regarding Ryuen’s personality and his way of doing things. A very obvious example was that even though Css C and Css D had both received the previous exam, the outcomes were completely different.

  If Ryuen’s Css C had followed the strategies of people like Kushida and Ayanokouji, tonight’s events would have had nothing to do with Hachiman. But if that were the case, Hachiman wouldn’t even have called Ryuen.

  So, just as Hachiman had said earlier, this was a well-pnned scheme.

  “It looks like you’re already familiar with how this school operates, and you’ve started to grasp the rules of this ‘game.’”

  Haruno suddenly cpped her hands, genuinely impressed. “The way you got Ryuen to submit was really brilliant.”

  “I was just using the student council’s influence as a cover.”

  Hachiman waved his hand dismissively.

  “Hehe, that’s not quite right.”

  Haruno stared deeply into Hachiman’s eyes. “Your method of dealing with Ryuen may seem simple. It looks like anyone could have succeeded in your pce, but that’s not true. You understand the result, but not the reason behind it. If you think that simply using the student council’s influence would have made Ryuen submit, you’re very mistaken.

  If you don’t understand and truly comprehend this school’s ‘social rules,’ then your perspective will always remain that of a [student]. Even if you look up at the sky, you will only see the inside of a well.”

  Hachiman remained silent.

  He understood what Haruno meant. It was essentially a shift in thinking. Unlike the ordinary ‘school rules,’ this school ran on ‘social rules,’ imposing the complex and multifaceted societal rules and values onto its students.

  What Haruno meant was that, as a student in this school, one had to shift from the original [right and wrong] perspective to a [benefit-based] perspective. In reality, this was exactly what Horikita had said before—benefit-based retionships were the best way to communicate and interact in this school. This was also the true reason why Hachiman had been able to make Ryuen ‘submit.’

  Haruno extended her slender finger and lightly traced it across Hachiman’s chest. “Some people say that power is a poison, but if used properly, this ‘poison’ can become a medicine. There’s no such thing as an absolute here. Ryuen is smart, yes, but his vision is still too narrow. He can only see the pieces on the chessboard, while… you’ve already seen the pyers.”

  Haruno leaned close to Hachiman's ear. "I look forward to the day you become a chess pyer."

  "Chess pyer?"

  Hachiman looked puzzled. "Are you trying to say I'll become a pro?"

  "Ha ha ha!"

  Haruno froze for a moment, then couldn't help but ugh out loud, "Never mind, anyway, I'm looking forward to that day. But Hachiman, aren't you thinking of becoming a comedian? You really have a talent for it~"

  "..."

  Hachiman sighed, then changed the subject.

  "The contract I signed with Ryuen includes at least 800,000 personal points per month. You really don't want them?"

  Hachiman had no intention of hiding anything and fully revealed the details of the contract.

  "Wow, Hachiman, you’re really generous!"

  Haruno lightly twirled her hair around her finger. "But I've already said I don’t need it. Or do you think 800,000 a month is some big deal?"

  When converted, that’s only 9.6 million a year, which is indeed above the level of many regur employees and white-colr workers. Even their retirement savings might not reach that level of income.

  To reach an annual sary of 10 million, one would either need to have a high-paying elite job or have been in the workforce for a long time, with only about 5% of people in Japan achieving such a high sary from their regur income. For ordinary people, 10 million a year might seem very satisfying.

  But for someone like Haruno, who was already in the upper css, this amount was just ordinary.

  The gap between them was insurmountable.

  "You’re just worried that I’ll deliberately cause trouble, so you want to 'bribe' me. Don’t worry, since you’ve already gotten revenge for me, I won’t make things hard for you."

  Haruno seemed to see through Hachiman's thoughts, lightly tracing her finger across his chest.

  Why was Ryuen willing to be humiliated and submit at Haruno’s feet? It wasn’t just because of Hachiman; more importantly, Haruno was also a member of the student council!

  So, as long as Haruno followed Hachiman's example, Ryuen, or rather, Css C, would definitely be finished. This was exactly what Hachiman was concerned about, but Haruno had already seen through everything.

  "Thank you for understanding, Haruno."

  Hachiman had just sighed in relief, but in the next moment, his school tie was lightly pulled by someone.

  In an instant, the distance between Haruno and Hachiman was less than ten centimeters. He could clearly see her face, eyes, and even her eyeshes.

  "But, Hachiman."

  Haruno’s expression gradually turned cold. "Being merciful to your enemy is being cruel to yourself. If it were me, I wouldn’t give Ryuen any chance."

  "I don’t dislike kind people, but kindness comes at a price."

  "I originally pnned to report 'Css C students using the exam questions to cheat' to the school through the student council after the first exam tomorrow. At that point, I’d have everything in hand..."

  Haruno revealed a meaningful smile. "I think you can guess what will happen next, right? Even if the school ultimately doesn’t punish everyone, a few scapegoats will definitely be sacrificed. Once that happens, all I have to do is manipute things a bit..."

  Just as Haruno had just said, this pn gave Ryuen no room to escape. It was even harsher and more decisive than Hachiman’s current pn.

  "Enough! Haruno! I’ve already told you, leave this matter to me!"

  Hachiman stopped Haruno from continuing, grabbing her wrist. His expression was more serious than ever.

  "Heh..."

  Suddenly, Haruno smiled, like snow melting under spring’s warmth, radiating an indescribable beauty. "So, Hachiman, did you choose to handle this yourself from the very beginning to stop me?"

  Hachiman looked into her eyes in silence, not answering the question.

  However, Haruno seemed to have already gotten the answer from the dead-fish eyes of the boy. She then showed a sly smile.

  "Hehe, so I’m very understanding, aren’t I~"

  She lightly spun around, in unexpectedly good spirits.

  "I’ll give you another piece of news. There’s a rumor going around that students who perform well in this mid-term exam will be rewarded with personal points from the school."

  "Eh?"

  Before Hachiman could ask more about it, Haruno hummed a little tune, tapping her foot to the rhythm, and disappeared from his sight.

  Bckghosts