In an empty classroom that had not been used for a long time, there was a single table and two groups of people. There was no tea, no water, and no greetings.
"Ryuen-san, do you have any business with our class?"
Ichinose sat at one end of the table. She spoke first, asking Ryuen Kakeru, who sat at the other end with a rebellious look.
After learning that the special identity in her class was the Hunter, Ichinose was about to discuss plans with Kanzaki and the others. At that moment, Ryuen Kakeru came to Class A with his followers.
Hearing Ryuen say that Class C wanted to discuss potential cooperation methods for this special exam with Class A, Ichinose agreed to this meeting between the two classes.
"Ichinose-san, does your boyfriend not want you anymore?" Ryuen Kakeru, who had no sense of manners, made a sharp comment as soon as he spoke.
Katsuragi Ren was not present at this meeting, so Ryuen's courage emerged again.
Meetings are always like this: the first person to get emotional will lose an advantage in the negotiation.
It just so happened that Katsuragi Ren had now transferred to Class D, which was a very good excuse to stir up trouble.
When Ryuen started provoking, Ryuji Kanzaki and Kohei Katsuragi, who stood behind Ichinose, frowned and stepped forward to pressure Ryuen.
When Kanzaki and Kohei Katsuragi moved, Daichi Ishizaki and Albert, Ryuen's loyal supporters, did not back down either.
Each side faced off; the situation became tense, as if a fight could start at any time.
Ryuen Kakeru was not bothered by the pressure from Kanzaki and Kohei Katsuragi. He grinned and prepared to continue provoking them.
"Ryuen-san, if my man hears you say that he doesn't want me anymore, do you think he will come to find trouble with you?"
"I think my pillow talk should work better than voice recorders or anything like that."
Ichinose did not get angry at Ryuen's words. She replied calmly, her tone steady.
Katsuragi Ren's possessiveness was terrifyingly strong. Ichinose was not worried about this bullshit Ryuen was spouting; these little tricks were already ineffective against her.
"If Ryuen-san asked to meet us today just to provoke me, then we don't need to continue talking."
Ichinose's blue eyes became sharp. Her usual gentle expression disappeared completely.
Now, Ichinose looked like a real leader.
"You've really changed a lot, Ichinose-san."
Ryuen stopped the rude comments he had prepared and finally looked at Ichinose seriously.
"The content of this negotiation is very simple. Our class will completely expose our special identity to your class."
"It will be up to your Class A to choose whether to slaughter us directly, or for our two classes to cooperate and hunt the other two classes together."
"You can also be more thorough: cooperate with our Class C to hunt first, and after hunting Classes B and D, then hunt down our Class C."
This was Ryuen's purpose for coming to find Ichinose immediately.
With the precedent of checking phones during the White Cat special exam, Class C quickly found their class's special identity this time and kept a strict watch over it.
If they relied only on their own class for this exam, it would be too troublesome.
Ryuen decided to find one of the other three classes to cooperate with.
Class B? With Arisu Sakayanagi's personality, she would likely betray Class C in the end. Class D? They probably could not even find out who had their class's special identity.
Class A became Class C's first choice for cooperation.
The point difference between Class A and Class C was very big, so Class A did not need to worry about Class C catching up. But the smaller gap with Class B made Class A feel more pressure.
This sense of urgency could easily become the reason for cooperation.
"Ryuen-san, what price does our Class A need to pay?"
Ichinose did not agree to Ryuen's cooperation proposal immediately. She calmly analyzed Ryuen's purpose for wanting to cooperate with her class.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. If there is, Honami, you should be careful.
Since childhood, whenever Katsuragi Ren gave Ichinose snacks, he would remind her of this lesson as she enjoyed the treats.
Ichinose kept it firmly in mind.
"If it is simply cooperating with us to hunt the other classes, then the two classes only need to share intelligence. As for how many Class Points the two classes can get in the end, that depends on their own abilities."
"If you choose to directly slaughter the special identity of our class, then we require Class A to remit 15,000 Private Points to every student in Class C every month after this special exam."
"Please don't think the Private Points payment is too much, Ichinose-san. The first 'prey' gives 100 Class Points. Also, it stops the other classes from getting the 'Butcher' result. So, it is not a bad deal."
"If you choose to cooperate until the end and then defeat our class, this costs more. Eighty percent. We need Class A to give us eighty percent of the Private Points they get from this exam every month in the future."
"If Ichinose-san chooses to cooperate, regardless of which cooperation item you choose, to show sincerity, I will tell Ichinose-san directly what our class's special identity is."
"As for informing you which student holds the special identity, that depends on which kind of cooperation Ichinose-san chooses."
Ryuen calmly explained the cooperation terms and prices. Then, he pushed a notebook with the terms written down in front of Ichinose.
"Rule 2: There are no rules in the dark forest. Naturally, no contracts will be signed. In this special exam, any contracts made inside or outside the venue are invalid."
"Ryuen-san, aren't you afraid that our Class A won't honor the debt in the end?"
Taking the notebook pushed in front of her, Ichinose reminded Ryuen of Rule 2 in this special exam.
"Other classes might, but Class A won't." Ryuen shook his head, not surprised at all that Ichinose reminded him.
This was one of the reasons he chose Class A as a cooperation partner.
Class B and Class D wouldn't care about things like reputation. As long as they could get the benefits, they would just use the special exam rule that contracts are invalid to welch on the deal in the end.
But Class A was different. Ichinose always protected her class's reputation. She would not let her class feel guilty just to make a profit.
And there was a more important point.
Ichinose was Katsuragi Ren's girlfriend. Even for his sake, she would not let herself get a bad reputation for breaking a promise.
It could be said that among the four classes in the first year, the class that could be trusted most for cooperation was Class A.
"You really trust me, Ryuen-san." Ichinose said pointedly.
Obviously, Ichinose also understood why Ryuen chose to cooperate with Class A even under these exam rules.
"So, what are Ichinose-san's thoughts?"
Not tangling too much on this matter, Ryuen went straight to the main topic.
"We can cooperate. Let's go with the first option."
Ichinose pointed to the first cooperation item in the notebook—sharing intelligence, every class for itself.
"No problem. Then the first option it is."
Seeing the successful cooperation with Class A, a brilliant smile appeared on Ryuen's face.
"Ichinose-san, the special identity of the student in our class is..."
"Hunter."
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