A little over a week had passed since Kamuro became Arisu’s hand—or rather, her collaborator.
Now past the midpoint of April, Mamoru found himself spending most of his time on campus in a group consisting of Arisu, Kamuro, and occasionally Hashimoto.
Even now, during lunchtime in the cafeteria, Arisu sat right beside Mamoru, with Kamuro seated directly across from her.
“So far, nobody seems dissatisfied with Katsuragi running the class.
Totsuka’s practically taking the initiative to follow his lead, but everyone else seems pretty indifferent about the whole thing.” Kamuro’s current task primarily involved gathering intelligence within the class.
While Kamuro wasn’t particularly good at socializing—making it seem like she was ill-suited for this kind of work—her interpersonal skills were actually far better than Arisu’s.
Though her eloquence might trick people into thinking otherwise, Arisu’s communication skills were by no means high.
Because her relationships were fundamentally built on vertical, hierarchical dynamic, she lacked basic experience with normal, equal friendships.
On top of that, due to her physical handicap, many classmates hesitated to invite her out to social activities.
Thus, as awkward as Kamuro was with people, her ability to pick up basic rumors proved immensely useful to Arisu.
“I see.
And what of the movements in the other classes?” “Don’t ask for the impossible, will you?
There’s no way I can look into other classes in detail.” “I am not expecting high-level intelligence.
Are there any individuals whose names come up frequently in casual conversation?” Prompted by the question, Kamuro wore an annoyed expression, pausing her meal to think for a moment.
“…Among the girls, the names I hear most often are Ichinose from Class B and Kushida from Class D.
As for the guys, maybe Hirata from Class D and Shibata from Class B?
Though for the guys, it’s mostly shallow talk about who’s handsome and who’s not.” “My.
If that is the nature of their chatter, I am sure your name comes up quite often as well, Mamoru-kun.” Arisu turned a teasing glance toward Mamoru.
“Probably, right?
Apparently, people have been making a handsome guy ranking or something, and you’re included in it.” “Fufu, so it seems, Mamoru-kun.
How wonderful for you.” “Yeah, thanks.” Having long grown accustomed to people teasing his looks, Mamoru brushed it off with a half-hearted reply and silently continued eating.
In the first place, being complimented on his appearance held little charm for Mamoru.
Having an older brother whose striking looks bordered on inhuman made Mamoru feel like a cheap, inferior knockoff whenever he looked at their shared facial features.
“Honestly, this is so unfair.
Why am I the only one forced to look into all this?
Gojo, you have more friends, don’t you?” “Hmm?
In this school, I don’t really have any friends other than Arisu-san.” Faced with Kamuro’s dissatisfied gaze, Mamoru nonchalantly shot down her assumption.
“Huh?
You get talked to by people in our class all the time.” “Well, sure, people talk to me.
But I haven’t actually hung out with anyone.
As for guys like Hashimoto-kun or Katsuragi-kun, it feels like they talk to me out of calculation rather than a genuine desire to be friendly.
Does that really count as having friends?” Since Mamoru dedicated almost all his free time to patrolling the school campus, he turned down most invitations to hang out.
In those moments, others assumed he was declining simply because he preferred spending time with Arisu, letting them back off easily—which is ironic for Mamoru, who is unhappy about the rumors surrounding him and Arisu.
As Mamoru casually declared his lack of friends without a hint of shame, Kamuro cast a look of genuine pity at him.
“You really have a twisted mindset, don’t you?” “About what?” Though Kamuro seemed to misunderstand, Mamoru didn’t hold the concept of friendship in any sacred, untouchable regard.
He used the word casually for people he was close with.
The actual issue lay in his work-centric lifestyle.
It wasn’t the fault of his peers, but without ever hanging out or having conversations beyond dull, administrative matters, Mamoru saw no reason to label them friends.
If the other side called it a friendship, he wouldn’t deny it, but he felt no urge to claim it himself.
“Fufu, so you do consider me your friend, then?” “Well, you were the one who brought it up first.” Arisu was the one who had initially labeled him a friend.
While he suspected she might harbor ulterior motives, if that was what she wanted, he saw no point in stubbornly denying it.
Incidentally, while Mamoru turned down invitations from others, he accepted Arisu’s requests quite naturally, considering her too precarious to leave alone.
Naturally, this only deepened the misunderstandings among those around them.
“…So what is the deal between you two, anyway?” “Like I said, friends.” “Indeed.” Observing their back-and-forth, Kamuro sensed a lingering, deeper meaning, yet their answers were remarkably offhand.
Watching a relationship that seemed intimately close yet somehow strangely dry, Kamuro felt as if she were witnessing something bizarre.
“Um…
excuse me, do you have a moment?” Right as the conversation lulled, a voice called out to the trio from the side.
The three turned simultaneously, finding a girl with a rare shade of strawberry-blonde hair standing there.
“Mind if I sit next to you?” At the girl’s question, Mamoru kept a poker face while harboring a slight doubt.
There were plenty of empty tables in the cafeteria; there was no need to deliberately sit next to complete strangers.
In other words, this person had approached them with a clear intention.
When he cast a glance at Arisu to gauge her response, she offered a polite, welcoming smile.
“Yes, please go ahead.” The girl offered a bright, open smile in thanks.
“Thank you!” With that, the female student took a seat next to Kamuro, directly across from Arisu.
“Um, since we’re here, we should probably introduce ourselves, right?
I’m Honami Ichinose from Class 1-B.” It was the very name Kamuro had brought up moments ago.
Looking at her lively, cheerful demeanor, Mamoru mentally agreed that she certainly possessed the kind of bright personality that would attract a wide social circle.
“How polite of you.
My name is Arisu Sakayanagi from Class 1-A.” “Same here.
I’m Mamoru Gojo.” “…Masumi Kamuro.” Arisu and Mamoru offered standard introductions, while Kamuro bluntly gave her name alone.
“Great!
Nice to meet you all!” “Yes, likewise.
It is a pleasure to meet you.” Arisu offered a sweet smile as she spoke, but to Mamoru and Kamuro, who watched from the side, it looked like the subtle grin of a apex predator.
Either way, given Arisu’s willingness to engage, Mamoru decided to leave the talking to her and quietly resumed eating.
Kamuro similarly went back to her meal, acting completely indifferent.
“To be honest, I’ve heard rumors about Sakayanagi-san and Gojo-kun, so I really wanted to chat with you at least once.” “Rumors?
To think our names have spread to other classes…
What kind of rumors might those be?” Sipping his miso soup beside her, Mamoru listened with a dull sense of exasperation, expecting another round of gossip about them being boyfriend and girlfriend.
Tracing the predictable path of denying those claims made a wave of melancholy swell inside him.
However, the words that spilled from Ichinose’s mouth were completely out of left field.
“People say there’s a princess straight out of a picture book, and a prince who takes care of her with utmost devotion!
My friends from other classes were all talking about it.” In that split second, Mamoru envisioned his older brother rolling on the floor, clutching his stomach in hysterical laughter.
He nearly crushed the bowl in his grip.
‘…A prince?
What on earth is that supposed to mean?’ He knew he stood out to some degree, but being called a princess and a prince was entirely beyond his expectations.
‘Wait…
come to think of it, didn’t Hashimoto-kun use that title too?’ He had assumed Hashimoto was just messing around, but apparently, he wasn’t the only one.
Or perhaps Hashimoto himself was the origin point of the rumor.
‘I’ve never been happier that this school is completely cut off from the outside world.’ If his brother ever found out about this, Mamoru would be teased for it not just for a week, but for the rest of his life.
“My little brother was actually called ‘Prince-sama’ back in high school~!” He could easily picture his brother blabbering that to every acquaintance they knew.
“To be referred to in such a manner is a bit embarrassing, I must admit.” Arisu offered a carefree response, but Mamoru was quietly trembling in fear, realizing that embarrassing dark history was being generated behind his back without his consent.
‘Well, rumors fade after seventy-five days…’ Mamoru briefly wondered if he should try to stamp out the rumor, but getting worked up to deny it would only invite more weird looks.
Reluctantly, he decided to accept his fate and wait for it to fade naturally.
“So you guys didn’t know?” Beside Mamoru, who was silently crushed without letting it show on his face, the conversation between Ichinose and Arisu continued.
“Rumors rarely reach the ears of the parties involved.
That said, I have heard a rumor or two regarding you as well, Ichinose-san.” “About me?” In truth, she had only just heard her name from Kamuro, but Arisu spoke as if she had known for a long time.
“Yes.
Word has it that you are a central figure in Class B—someone deeply trusted by boys and girls alike.” Whether that was an actual rumor was unknown, but after chatting for a bit, discerning that much about her character was trivial for Arisu.
“Ahaha.
Ah, it’s really nothing that grand!
I want to join the student council, so listening to my classmates’ voices is just my first step toward that.” “My, what an admirable ambition.” Faced with Arisu’s praise, Ichinose showed a genuine, modest blush.
To Mamoru and Kamuro, however, it sounded like nothing more than hollow pleasantries.
“If that is the case, though, lunchtime must be a valuable opportunity for you to foster friendships with others.
Why did you decide to come here all by yourself?” Framing it as a question, Arisu stared at Ichinose as if seeing right through her true motives.
Ichinose offered a bitter, sheepish smile, as if trying to play it off.
“Ahaha, you really see right through me, don’t you?
Yeah, to be honest, there was something I wanted to ask, but I thought bringing a crowd over would be rude, so I asked my classmates to go ahead without me.
Ah, but I really did want to talk to you guys too, okay?” “Fufu, I am honored to hear that.
And what might this question be?” “Um…
do you three happen to know anything about the rumor that our monthly point allowance might drop next month?” The moment those words were spoken, Kamuro’s eyes widened slightly, but Mamoru and Arisu remained entirely composed.
To those two, no matter how strictly they enforced a gag order within Class A, information leaks were always factored into their calculations.
With mid-April already past, they had anticipated that word would start circulating to other classes right around now.
“That points might drop?
I have indeed heard such a rumor, but where did you come across that, Ichinose-san?” While answering the question directly seemed like a poor tactical move, the fact that Ichinose had targeted them specifically meant she already possessed a degree of certainty.
Claiming ignorance on something she clearly knew would only give her further confirmation.
Arisu instantly put her mind to work, turning the question back on her to locate the source of the leak.
“Actually, I don’t know who said it first.
A few of my classmates mentioned that they heard some people talking about it.” “My.
Then why come to us with this topic?” “Um, where should I start…
If our points are going to drop, that’s a huge deal, right?
So after I heard the rumor, I went straight to our homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya-sensei, to ask about it.
But she didn’t give me a direct answer.
Instead—” “Hmm, well, I don’t know why a rumor like that is floating around, but if you’re curious, why not ask Gojo-kun and Sakayanagi-san from Class A?
Those two are super smart and stand out a lot, so I bet they know all about those kinds of rumors.” “—that’s what she told me.” Hearing that story, Mamoru and Arisu immediately understood the picture.
While teachers couldn’t give direct information to students, they could indirectly point them toward students who possessed it.
The fact that she offered such a nudge suggested that teachers in this school—not just students—were subject to evaluations based on their class’s performance.
Hoshinomiya likely didn’t expect Arisu’s group to spill information easily, but if they dropped even a subtle hint of hiding something during questioning, that alone would serve as valuable intelligence.
Even if the attempt failed, she lost nothing by trying.
‘She’s sharp, that one.’ Remembering her relaxed, casual vibe in the faculty room, Mamoru revised his assessment of Hoshinomiya, realizing she possessed a rather cunning streak beneath her laid-back exterior.
“I see, so that was the case.
If so, I am afraid we cannot live up to your expectations.
We know no more than the rumors ourselves.” Naturally, Arisu had no obligation to hand over unnecessary information, offering a smooth denial.
“I see…
Sorry about that!
I shouldn’t have asked something so strange.” Ichinose backed down easily enough, but to Mamoru, her attitude looked like that of someone who had already extracted the exact answer she came for.
‘She probably figured it out.’ She claimed not to know the source of the rumor, but a little digging would quickly reveal that Class A was the origin.
Connecting that to the names provided by her homeroom teacher was a completely natural step.
The moment Hoshinomiya mentioned those names, Ichinose had likely realized that Arisu’s group sat at the very center of the issue.
This conversation was merely a confirmation check.
And Arisu was fully aware of that fact as well.
The battle between classes had already begun.
Watching the two girls exchange pleasant smiles, Mamoru felt the reality of the situation sink in.
‘…Man, this school really is a pain.’ Constant political mind games on one hand, beating up Curses on the other.
He genuinely caught himself wondering which side of his life was supposed to be the easier one.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Author’s Note: Revised on October 25, 2022 Initially, Kanzaki-kun was supposed to appear alongside Ichinose-san in this chapter.
However, with the release of Year 2 Volume 8, it was revealed that Sakayanagi and Kanzaki actually knew each other in the past, so I cut Kanzaki-kun’s appearance entirely.
While it’s not like the two were actively avoiding each other, having them act like complete strangers or go “It’s been a while” felt out of place here.
Since there wasn’t much narrative necessity for him to appear in this chapter anyway, I decided to cut him out completely.