Seeing that Narumori was unwilling to solve the problem for him directly, Ryunosuke was forced to pivot. He leveled a finger at Ichika and turned back to the Chairman.
"In that case, am I permitted to use 20 million private points to have her expelled immediately?"
Ichika flinched, a genuine tremor of fear finally breaking through her smug exterior. For the first time, it sank in: her opponent didn't just have a mountain of points; he had the cold-blooded resolve to pull the trigger.
If she were expelled, her connection to Ayanokouji would be severed forever.
At that thought, Ichika's fists clenched white. A faint, crimson glint flickered in her eyes—a clear manifestation of her intent to eliminate the threat named Ryunosuke.
Physically. Permanently.
Ryunosuke, sensitive as a radar to shifting atmospheres, felt the sudden drop in temperature. How could he not know what she was thinking? That tidal wave of bloodlust was as real as the floor beneath his feet.
He immediately pointed at her, looking at his future father-in-law with an "I told you so" expression.
"See that?! If you let her off the hook today, I'm as good as dead tomorrow!"
"You wouldn't want your daughter to become a widow before the wedding, would you?"
Narumori let out a weary, long-suffering sigh. "Becoming a widow seems a bit dramatic... but I take your point." He then turned a gaze toward Ichika that was suddenly stripped of all warmth.
"Amasawa-san, your father—Tsukishiro—entrusted your school life to me."
"But if you continue to sow this kind of chaos, I will no longer show you any professional courtesy. My patience has limits."
It was a final warning. If she stayed a "bad girl," the promise to her father was null and void. After all, Arisu's happiness outweighed a hundred promises to a disgraced colleague.
Ryunosuke, listening from the side, took a second to connect the dots.
Ichika's father? Tsukishiro? As in, the guy I hung from the school gates to be publicly humiliated and punched twice?
Well, that certainly explained the grudge. Ryunosuke had essentially sent her old man to rot behind bars. He looked at her with a fleeting, mocking pity.
"My bad for making you fatherless. But business is business. You come for me again, and I'm booting you into the stratosphere. Points be damned."
His stance was ironclad. Strike him again, and he'd bypass every rule in the book to end her career.
Ichika let out a sharp, cynical laugh. She felt absolutely nothing regarding her father's fate. They were strangers sharing a bloodline; his existence was a footnote in her life.
Shifting gears instantly, she plastered a sugary, innocent smile on her face. She reached out, grabbing Ryunosuke's sleeve and tugging it playfully like a spoiled child.
"Akasaka-senpai~ I won't do it again, I promise! Please forgive me~"
It was a blatant tactical maneuver. As long as she could stay in this school to complete her mission, she didn't mind providing a little "fan service" to her enemy.
She pressed her chest firmly against his arm as she hugged it. Ryunosuke could feel the softness, but his pulse didn't skip a beat. Compared to the proportions of Haruka or Airi—or even Honami—Ichika was strictly "Junior Varsity." She was only big enough to bully the "Flat Chest Brigade."
Arisu, Hiyori, Mei-yu, Himeno: (Can you please be a little more respectful?!)
Himeno and Hiyori suddenly realized something was wrong: (Wait, why are we in that group? We have curves, don't we?!)
Ryunosuke's internal monologue: (Your sizes are barely an A-cup, maybe A+ on a good day. Into the bin you go.)
Hiyori & Himeno: "😐"
Back in reality, Ryunosuke snapped out of his assessment and looked down at Ichika with cold eyes.
"I'm giving the Chairman face this one time."
"If there is a second time, start packing your bags."
"Don't think for a second I'll hesitate to burn 20 million points to delete you. I'm cheap, sure, but the cost of keeping you around is way higher than the price of your expulsion."
"Don't gamble on my mercy. You'll lose."
"Heh," Ichika smirked, but since she'd secured her stay, she didn't argue.
Ryunosuke was playing this strategically. Since Narumori had a personal debt to the girl's father, he didn't want to force his father-in-law into a corner. It was a show of respect, albeit one with a very sharp boundary.
Narumori appreciated the compromise. He'd promised to look after her; if she went out of her way to jump into the woodchipper, that was on her.
With the matter settled, Narumori shooed them out so he could get back to work. The two rivals exited the office together.
Ichika walked with her hands behind her back, her tone breezy but resigned. "Looks like I can't launch any more sneak attacks on Akasaka-senpai~ Truly a tragedy~"
Ryunosuke stopped, looming over the little devil.
"Just remember: I have 240 million points. I can expel you twelve times over."
"Before you move against me, ask yourself if you're prepared to die twelve deaths."
Ichika responded with a mischievous wink. "Then I suppose I can't sneak into Senpai's room anymore either. Such a waste of a good fruit knife."
"I knew it was you," Ryunosuke muttered, though he blamed his own carelessness more than her thievery.
Ichika shrugged helplessly. "What can I say? Orders from the Boss."
"The Boss? You mean Atsuomi Ayanokouji?" Ryunosuke had a hunch, but he couldn't grasp why the man was so fixated on him.
He still hadn't realized that his previous antics had cost Atsuomi his seat in Parliament. The man didn't just dislike him; he wanted Ryunosuke erased from the map. Ryunosuke assumed it was just fallout from the Tsukishiro incident—he had no idea he'd decapitated Atsuomi's political career.
Besides, he didn't think a man like Atsuomi cared about his subordinates. If he did, he wouldn't have driven his own butler to suicide—the very event that fueled Tsubasa Nanase's burning hatred for the Ayanokouji name. Her childhood friend, the butler's son, had died in the aftermath of that pressure.
Nanase arrived at the door of Class 2-C—Ayanokouji's class. She took a deep, steadying breath, her eyes reflecting a cold resolve, and stepped inside.
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