Axel End knew exactly what he was doing.
Wasn’t he just being a player?
But all he wanted was to give these ill-fated beautiful girls a warm home—so how could anyone call him a scumbag?
Was loving many people no longer pure love?
Pure love was hardly such an inconvenient thing.
[End-kun, could you keep this secret for me?
I don’t want anyone to know what I look like right now…]
After a long while, Airi Sakura sent her reply.
Axel End told her that of course he could, and that from the very start he’d never even thought of telling anyone.
“Sharing joy beats hoarding it” depended on the situation—something this uniquely wonderful ought to be hidden away and savored alone.
[Of course, because it’s a request from Sakura-san.]
[Saying it like that is just too sly…]
Behind the screen, the innocent girl’s face had already flushed red.
She had no choice but to hastily change the subject.
[End-kun, are you free right now?]
[Didn’t I just say I wanted to buy a digital camera… If you’re free, could you come along with me?]
The “Read” marker appeared almost instantly.
That meant Axel End had never once left the chat screen, and this tiny little detail alone was enough to make Airi Sakura’s heart bloom with delight.
But the reply that followed made her feel as though she’d tumbled from the clouds down to the ground—so disappointing.
[Sorry… right now isn’t really convenient.
Something urgent just suddenly came up that I have to deal with.]
[Would tomorrow work?]
Even so, she wasn’t the type to throw an unreasonable tantrum.
If End-kun said tomorrow, then tomorrow it was—she wasn’t short one day of her time anyway.
“E-excuse me!
I’d, I’d like to check out…”
That whole business about the photo “taken with the help of the counter clerk.”
In reality, she’d taken it herself.
Airi Sakura sensed that Axel End surely wouldn’t fail to notice, yet this unspoken, mutually understood rapport filled her with a little thrill.
…
…
But at this moment Axel End was rather irritated.
For no other reason than that the ambiguous atmosphere he’d nearly brewed up with Airi Sakura had just been interrupted by someone.
It wouldn’t have gone all the way in one leap, but he’d at least have made some pleasing progress.
But as it turned out…
This bro was really steaming right now—it seemed it was high time to bump the “female-levitation” technique up on the agenda.
From now on he shouldn’t burn through his Task count so fast; he really ought to keep one in reserve.
“Oh my~ It seems we’ve interrupted, haven’t we~”
A white-haired loli appeared in his field of view. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
How to put it about this Arisu Sakayanagi…
She looked every bit the image of an elegant, adorable little princess, and yet the instant she opened her mouth—and the things she later went on to do—gave off a full-blown Bratty Little Girl sort of déjà vu.
Wasn’t that its own kind of striking contrast?
“Sakayanagi-san, are you aware that asking questions you already know the answers to is actually a rather detestable habit?”
Axel End shot this Bratty Little Girl a glance, then looked over at Masumi Kamuro, who stood off to the side like a stone-faced bodyguard.
Come on, sis, really?
It’s only the second day—don’t tell me the craving’s already kicked in?
That’d be a truly sorry sight.
“So, what business do you two ladies have with me?”
“If it’s about the contents of that document, I’d think a student of Class A’s caliber ought to grasp it with ease, no?”
Faced with Axel End’s undisguised, barbed jabs, Arisu Sakayanagi wasn’t the least bit angered.
Geniuses were all conceited about their talents.
Having no temper would be the abnormal thing.
“While it does have some connection to that document, I mainly came for you yourself, End-kun.”
Arisu Sakayanagi glanced at Masumi Kamuro.
The latter immediately headed for the window to buy food.
Hold on—why are you so practiced at this?
Seeing Masumi Kamuro’s reaction, Axel End felt too drained to even bother snarking.
“Sorry, but I sell my talents, not my body.”
He could guess a little of what Arisu Sakayanagi was thinking.
She was certainly interested in him, but more likely it was mostly about the System.
People with a heavy suspicious streak were like this, and there was always the sort who only ever trusted their own judgment.
On the principle that the more you say the more you err, Axel End chose to dodge the crucial points and fob her off.
“You’re quite the comedian, End-kun.”
Someone as clever as Arisu Sakayanagi could easily see that Axel End was deliberately playing dumb.
But the more he did so, the more she felt he had something to hide—the matter of the System was probably tangled up with him too.
Before coming to find Axel End, she had already communicated with the System once.
A Community of Fate?
Destined to be entwined for a lifetime?
You had to understand that Arisu Sakayanagi had always been an absolute believer in scientism; matters of the metaphysical she’d always regarded as mere entertainment.
But when something like this actually happened to her, she couldn’t simply turn a blind eye to it—especially not when this System didn’t look the slightest bit like it was joking.
So she wanted to see for herself just what was so special about this Axel End fellow.
“I heard that yesterday at noon you had lunch with students from Class B.
I’d guess they were trying to win you over—am I right?”
Axel End said nothing, just single-mindedly kept eating.
Arisu Sakayanagi took Axel End’s silence as tacit agreement.
“Then if it’s cooperation you’re after, I don’t think there’d be a more fitting choice than Class A.”
“After all, you intend to use personal points to buy a spot in Class A, don’t you?”
Axel End still ate in silence.
Arisu Sakayanagi wasn’t annoyed either. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
She had always trusted her own judgment.
The more Axel End held his silence, the more it proved she was right—and she’d also found the most compelling, ironclad piece of evidence—
“On this matter I’ve already consulted Mashima-sensei.
He said that transferring classes using personal points would require twenty million—now that is hardly an easy figure to come by.”
“But Class A can help with that.”
At this moment Masumi Kamuro returned carrying two set meals, but she said nothing; after setting the plates down she simply ate in silence.
None of my concern!—
Axel End suddenly set down his chopsticks.
“How very lofty of you, Sakayanagi-san.”
“I think you’ve probably gotten one thing wrong.”
He met Arisu Sakayanagi’s amethyst-like eyes, his expression and tone exactly as they’d been at their very first meeting.
“As things actually stand… it isn’t that I need Class A’s help—it’s that Class A will need mine.”
“After all, who told your Class A to stand, right from the start, at the very finish line every other class dreams of?”
“And he who would wear the crown must bear its weight.”
Arisu Sakayanagi narrowed her eyes.
Admittedly, if Class A found itself pitted against Classes B, C, and D right from the outset, it really would be quite the headache—especially given that Class D could play the self-destruct tactic.
“You seem to have plenty of ideas, End-kun.”
“In that case, let’s talk again next time.
I trust that by then you’ll be willing to hear me out.”
“Perhaps.”
Axel End shrugged, rose to fetch several servings’ worth of set meals from the window, then moved to a different table and sat down.
After his body had been enhanced, his appetite had grown a bit as well—very much in keeping with the conservation of energy.
Back at the original table, Arisu Sakayanagi watched Axel End eat from a distance, unable for the moment to tell whether this man was merely putting on an act, or whether the System really had nothing to do with him.
Perhaps she ought to talk it over with her father.
First she’d dig up Axel End’s personal details and look into his background—was it possible he was yet another White Room student?
“Kamuro-san, let’s go.”
Masumi Kamuro said nothing, simply obeying the order.
Axel End took all of this in, but for now he couldn’t yet issue a Task to the Miss Thief, so he’d just have to let Arisu Sakayanagi babysit the kid a while longer.
As he mulled it over, a message suddenly popped up.
“Oh?
So the money’s finally come through.”
Smiling, Axel End sent the document he’d long since prepared over to Ryuen, then sent another message to Suzune Horikita—
[The money’s in.
Time to get to work.]
____
👻🔥Read More: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: COTE: Counterattack System
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