11.5 Chapter 3.3: Lost Lamb Part 3

Part 3

On the same day, 11:30am.

At the 2nd-floor men's toilet of Keyaki mall.

Two men stood there, conversing.

One of them was Ryuuen Kakeru, who once stepped down as a leader, but returned to the front stage once again.

And the other student was Hashimoto Masayoshi, of Class A, the class that had maintained its leading position for the entire year.

They did not meet by accident, Hashimoto contacted Ryuuen, and they chose this secluded location to meet up.

"So? What kind of prank are you trying to pull on me, calling me out here?"

"Calling it a prank doesn't sound very good. I just wanted to summarise what happened this year."

Hashimoto nonchalantly replied.

Ryuuen didn't necessarily hate this type of mysterious and unpredictable person.

However, he didn't necessarily like it as well.

Muscle-bound idiots like Ishizaki and Ibuki were easier to understand, and they gave more of a favourable impression.

Of course, Hashimoto didn't trust Ryuuen, nor did he think Ryuuen trusted him.

Their relationship was based on mutual interests.

However, both of them knew that in some cases, that kind of relationships might develop into something more stable.

"You defeated Class B in the final exam of the year. Can I interpret this as your complete return?"

"Who knows. Maybe it's just a whim."

Ryuuen casually replied, raising his arms and flashing a cocky smile.

"A whim? If that's the case, what a terribly frightening whim. I cannot take it if you're aiming for Class A on a whim!"

Hashimoto gently raised his hands to show that he didn't want a fight, as if he were raising a white flag.

"Are you that cautious of me?"

"You, who once retreated back into the shadows, showed up once again in front of everyone. Being cautious of you is normal."

People always paid special attention to others who might obstruct them from accomplishing their objectives.

"Are you here on Sakayanagi's orders?"

"Unfortunately, this isn't an easy question to answer."

Although Hashimoto was vague, Ryuuen knew that he wasn't doing this on Sakayanagi's orders.

To understand the situation, Ryuuen purposefully threw Sakayanagi's name out there to gauge Hashimoto's reaction.

"So, now what? What do you plan to do in the future?"

"Do I have any plans?"

Ryuuen approached Hashimoto with a sneer.

Hashimoto, who stiffened up, went into a defensive stance, just in case.

Although Hashimoto chose this place himself, it was still an inaccessible toilet.

There were no surveillance cameras that could provide any kind of protection in case something happened.

Although if Hashimoto had known earlier that this was going to happen, he would have used his phone camera to record all this, but if he was discovered, his relationship with Ryuuen would be destroyed.

"Don't think you can win just by wandering in the middle of the two sides as a double spy."

Although he was smiling, the pressure he exerted was not something that could be from an ordinary person.

"Ha! Even after getting defeated and coming back, you're acting superior. How bold!!"

Although Hashimoto felt a bit anxious, he still felt a bit happy at the same time.

Although Class A's current position was stable, this could change at any time due to Sakayanagi's whims.

And if their ranking dropped, there was a high probability Ryuuen's class would be the one to replace them as the new Class A.

Therefore, preemptively taking action would be the best action he could take.

Because of this, Hashimoto pointed out what was wrong with what Ryuuen said.

"Sorry, Ryuuen. I don't plan on saving myself by just relying on two classes."

"Oho, what does this mean?"

"Although it's a bit early-"

Hashimoto took his phone out and showed Ryuuen what was on the screen.

While proving that he wasn't recording the conversation, he called someone. Soon, the other person picked up.

Ryuuen quickly realised that the other person was waiting for his call.

"Come here. It's the place we talked about in advance."

After that short message, the call ended.

"Who do you think that was? Ryuuen."

"Who knows."

"It's Ayanokouji."

"Ayanokouji? Ah, for a moment I thought it would be him."

Ryuuen didn't seem to be affected by Hashimoto mentioning that name.

Hashimoto's hopes of trying to gain whatever information he could unexpectedly fell through.

However, he felt it was too early to give up, and stubbornly continued to pursue what he wanted,

"Can you think of a reason why I called Ayanokouji here?"

"No."

Ryuuen bluntly replied, and then quickly continued.

"Did you really call him over? I don't think you did."

The original objective was to feel him out, but now, Hashimoto was being felt out himself.

"...Really! It seems like vague lies won't work on you."

Hashimoto tried to test Ryuuen by saying Ayanokouji's name and seeing if it would bring out a reaction from him.

But Ryuuen acted as if he heard nothing at all, and was being a bit troublesome.

"What you're talking about is a complicated and chaotic situation. Do you have an inside story about it, Hashimoto?"

Instead, he asked the suspecting Hashimoto if he had gotten any information from an insider.

Ryuuen wasn't putting on an act, saying those words.

Even so, it didn't eliminate the doubts that Hashimoto had around the situation with Ryuuen and Ayanokouji.

It was because there was no way the all-powerful Ryuuen could be easily defeated by Ishizaki and the others.

He could also see Ayanokouji's shadow behind Sakayanagi's actions.

If he had just one more clue, his doubts on the matter could be removed.

"The one who's really coming is──."

The sounds of footsteps approached the second-floor toilet, and then a male student appeared.

"Ah? Looks like you called out an interested person, Hashimoto!"

Appearing in front of Ryuuen and Hashimoto was first-year Class B's Ryuji Kanzaki.

These three people who normally didn't exchange words came together.

"He said he really wanted to talk to you. So I acted as a middleman to bring you two together."

"So? What do you get in return?"

"Isn't it obvious? Of course, it's a cooperative relationship with Class B."

"Sayakanagi framed Ichinose. In other words, they're enemies. Do you really think Kanzaki could accept it?"

"He'll accept it. Right? Kanzaki."

"I won't trust you, Hashimoto. But you're of value."

"You heard him!"

Hashimoto showed Ryuuen that as long as their interests were the same, even he and Kanzaki could cooperate.

Then, Hashimoto put his hand on Kanzaki's shoulder while laughing out loud.

"Listen to what he wants to say, do it for me."

"So that's it. You don't plan to save yourself with only 2 classes.

Until now, Hashimoto had only been interested in Ryuuen's class.

But after Ryuuen stepped down, he seemed to have expanded his connections.

"Ah. I intend to plant my seeds in Ayanokouji's class too."

Hashimoto declared his intent to save himself, no matter which class came out on top.

But Ryuuen's attention had moved from Hashimoto to Kanzaki.

"You're not going to bore me, are you?"

"Although I don't know what you're expecting from me, I'm not going to say anything which will please you."

Kanzaki continued without fear of Ryuuen.

He came here to say these very words.

"The end of year exam. That's what I want to talk about."

"Are you going to recount your feelings after suffering that crushing defeat?"

"I'm sorry Ryuuen, I don't think we lost to you."

In response to his resolute statement, Hashimoto whistled.

"You played dirty to steal the win from us. Don't forget this!"

Kanzaki's complaints were not hard to understand.

It was because he had the confidence that he could beat Ryuuen in a head to head confrontation, but the victory was snatched away from them due to Ryuuen's despicable strategy.

"How boring. Did you come here today to specifically talk about that?"

In Ryuuen's eyes, there was no difference between a clean and a dirty strategy.

A victory was a victory. And Kanzaki's defeat was something that would never change.

"Anyways, what dirty strategy are you talking about? Is it about me being the commander?"

"Don't act stupid! I'm talking about the stomach ache and your mental attacks on my class on the day of the exam."

Hashimoto, who didn't know much about the details of their exam, applauded happily.

"No wonder he's that angry. What a beautiful attack, Ryuuen!"

"I'll say this now, this kind of vile behaviour will not work against Class B in the future."

"Hahaha. Do you think Ichinose can defend against my attacks? Or do you intend to cry and complain to the school?"

"No, she shouldn't be able to do anything about it."

Kanzaki immediately denied it. Because this was not something that a kind-hearted person like Ichinose could do.

"Then who can prevent it?"

"I will."

Facing off against Kanzaki without hesitation, two conflicting thoughts emerged in Ryuuen's mind.

Was he just bluffing, or──

"But as Ichinose's follower, what can you do by yourself?"

Ryuuen tried to feel out what Kanzaki meant by saying those words.

"Throughout the year, I stood by Ichinose to support her as her assistant. But that's because at the moment I came to this school, I decided that her leadership skills were superior to those from the other classes. That's it. My trust in her hasn't wavered yet, but she lacks the ability to deal with these emergency situations. She also has a huge weakness in being unable to abandon the weak."

"Oho? I thought this was going to be a bore, I didn't expect you to be this interesting. Who would have thought that someone from Class B, valuing cooperation and friendship and all that, would have such thoughts."

But Ryuuen was not at all worried.

"But you're all talk. Even a dog can yell out empty threats."

"Watch me. I'll prove it."

Hashimoto only helped Kanzaki in order for him to establish a relationship with Class B, but now his evaluation of Kanzaki had changed. Maybe he was more capable than he initially thought.

"Sure. If you wish, I'll beat you down even harder next time."

"I don't know what dirty trick you still have up your sleeve, but I'm not the same as Ichinose. I won't show mercy. I hate that we lost in our own territory, so I'll fight with everything I've got."

"Then let me look forward to when your class isn't so shit."

Ryuuen laughed half-heartedly and started to relieve himself.

Hashimoto, who wanted to continue talking, walked towards where Ryuuen stood.

"It's getting interesting, Kanzaki. If anything ever happens, you've got to talk to me about it."

Hashimoto thought that Kanzaki would leave after his declaration, so he left him with a parting message.

Instead, Kanzaki walked towards Hashimoto, and ended up next to him.

He exerted a pressure that was felt by everyone present, to show that he had no intention of losing to them.

After finishing off his business, Kanzaki once again spoke with conviction.

"Remember what I said, Ryuuen."

He left the toilet after saying that, a step ahead of the other two.

"Hehehe. How scary!"

"So are you going to completely destroy Class B now?"

"Who knows."

Ryuuen laughed as he avoided the question, and then remembered something completely unrelated.

And that was the conversation involving Hashimoto and Kanzaki, which happened about an hour ago.