Cote : I Just Want to Grant Your Wish!

The discussion ended quickly.

Totsuka Yahiko's suggestion received the class's silent approval, and the task of aiming for first place was handed over to Mitoma Kaoru, Katsuragi Kōhei, Sakayanagi Arisu, and the others.

"Has Mitoma-kun already decided who he wants to team up with?"

Arisu turned around and leaned back against her chair, smiling so sweetly that one could almost imagine a fox tail swaying behind her.

The gazes around them became even stranger. Everyone pretended not to hear, but plenty of people had probably already placed Arisu, Kamuro Masumi, and Kaoru into the same group in their minds.

Two girls and one boy.

It perfectly fit the school's team requirements, and all three were strong. There was no real reason to object.

"I'm still thinking about it."

Kaoru gave a vague answer.

He felt like this was a deadly multiple-choice question. Setting aside Ichinose Honami, Karuizawa Kei definitely wanted to team up with him.

"So I'm not Mitoma-kun's first choice?"

Arisu looked at him for a moment, then at Masumi, before showing a faint expression of realization. "Are you considering Kamuro-san?"

"What? I don't want to team up with this guy."

Masumi sounded slightly annoyed, completely unaware that everyone else had already mentally assigned her to Kaoru's group. "And you too. You only just recovered, and you're already planning to participate in the uninhabited island exam? What if something happens to you on the island?"

In her eyes, Arisu was still a newly recovered patient.

If things became too intense, the heart disease that had finally been cured might relapse again.

"Thank you for worrying so much about my body, Kamuro-san. I may end up troubling you then."

"Do you not understand what I'm saying?"

"I've always regretted missing the uninhabited island. Because of my physical condition, I lost the chance to fight alongside everyone. Luckily, Mitoma-kun helped me. Otherwise, I would have been lonely on the ship."

"..."

This girl really only said whatever she wanted.

Masumi became even more annoyed and decided to simply toss this troublesome woman over to Kaoru. She had no intention of dealing with her.

"Hehe. What is Mitoma-kun's answer?"

Arisu propped her chin up with both hands, the faint smile at the corner of her lips never leaving. "I can sleep in the same tent as you."

Kaoru admitted that he was somewhat tempted.

However, he had no intention of deciding his team so quickly.

"Teaming up only with classmates is too conservative. It doesn't seem like your style. Why did you agree?"

"Is Mitoma-kun planning to cooperate with other classes?"

"Emotionally speaking, forming groups within the same class does maximize our benefits. But doing so is equivalent to rejecting communication with the other classes. That kind of distrust and hostility will inevitably cause the other classes to band together against Class A."

"That is true. Especially since Mitoma-kun has provoked Nagumo-kun. If everyone joins hands, Class A may end up surrounded by enemies."

"You want to act together with me?"

"Hehe. Someone clearly understands everything, yet didn't say it out loud earlier."

"Fine. It's all my fault."

"It's all right. I forgive Mitoma-kun. After all, being surrounded by enemies also makes my heart race. The more dangerous the situation, the more it can display my ability."

Kaoru was momentarily speechless.

Looking at the smile spreading across Arisu's face, he saw the eager light in her eyes.

Originally, she would have missed this uninhabited island exam as well and could only watch from the sidelines. But now, her body was no longer a burden. Naturally, all sorts of thoughts began stirring in her heart.

Just as she said, the harder this uninhabited island exam was, the more she wanted to conquer it.

That was why Arisu had, for once, not opposed Yahiko. The suggestion of having several elite groups aim for the top three was practically tailor-made for her.

"In that case, why do you want to team up with me?"

Kaoru said, "If you team up with me, even if you go all out, everyone will think I deserve part of the credit."

If Arisu wanted to prove herself, she could not team up with Kaoru.

Unless she simply wanted to have a honeymoon trip with him on the uninhabited island, nobody would fully recognize her ability if they were in the same group.

"Eh? I never said I wanted to team up with Mitoma-kun."

Arisu looked at him in surprise, then showed a faintly hurt expression. "I simply didn't expect that I wasn't someone Mitoma-kun was considering. That hurt me a little. As expected, I can't let you have Kamuro-san."

Who exactly was that pitiful act supposed to fool?

Kaoru was speechless.

This silver-haired girl was playing with people's feelings again.

"Oh my. Mitoma-kun looks so disappointed. Did I say something wrong?"

Arisu smiled wickedly. "I think plenty of people would want to team up with you, so it doesn't matter if you don't consider me or Kamuro-san."

At this point, it was hard to tell whether she was teasing Kaoru or roundaboutly acting jealous.

"I didn't consider teaming up with you, but I also haven't considered teaming up with anyone else."

Seeing Arisu pause slightly, Kaoru continued, "For this uninhabited island exam, I'll act alone."

"You're going to act alone?!"

Masumi immediately lost her composure, reacting far more strongly than expected.

"It's more efficient alone."

Perhaps feeling that the reason was not convincing enough, Kaoru added, "And I can't team up with you."

"I wasn't planning to team up with you anyway!"

Masumi seemed a little angry. "Team up with whoever you want. Who cares?"

Apparently, she thought Kaoru meant he wanted to team up with Honami and the others, which was why he said that.

"Wait, Kamuro-san."

Arisu put on a gentle smile. "Let Mitoma-kun finish explaining. I want to hear his reason."

Masumi gave a cold snort and said nothing more.

"The reason is simple. If I team up with Arisu, I'll get in her way. She should still be bothered by what happened during our last competition, right?"

Kaoru said softly, "Now that such a good opportunity has appeared, I think Arisu wants to compete with me again."

"How terrible. I can't seem to refute that."

Arisu's smile became even richer and more alluring. "Compared to teaming up with Mitoma-kun, I really am more interested in defeating you."

The last uninhabited island exam had left her rather unwilling to accept the result.

If only she had taken Kaoru more seriously back then.

Even now, Arisu still believed she had underestimated Kaoru too much at the time. She had treated the entire situation like a cat playing with a mouse, watching Kaoru move without properly interfering. As a result, she had never been able to regain control of the situation afterward.

If she could do it again, she would definitely go all out.

"So this time, I'll act alone."

Kaoru smiled. "Whoever ranks higher wins."

In other words, Kaoru's group would contain only himself.

He would face Arisu alone, while her group might have as many as six people. The ratio was heavily skewed.

However, everyone understood Arisu's physical condition. If she had to face Kaoru in a direct one-on-one match, she would definitely lose.

Recovering her health was one thing. Having weak stamina was another.

Being free of heart disease did not mean her physical endurance could suddenly surpass ordinary people's, let alone Kaoru's. At most, she had gone from being unable to exercise to barely being able to run four hundred meters. She was still physically weak.

If the two of them really competed one-on-one, Kaoru would simply be bullying Arisu. Letting her lead a group was the only way she could properly display her strength.

Arisu naturally understood that he was taking her condition into consideration, so she immediately said, "I won't form a large group. My members will only be Kamuro-san and Hashimoto-kun."

Masumi could help at her side, and Hashimoto Masayoshi's ability was not bad either. He could contact others, monitor targets, and serve many other purposes.

Those two would be enough.

Arisu had her own pride. If she still could not beat Kaoru under those conditions, she might as well remain his maid for the rest of her life.

"And if you lose?"

"Hehe. I'll obey your arrangements together with Kamuro-san. Whatever you want to do to us—mmph!"

"What do you mean, together with me?!"

Masumi angrily covered Arisu's mouth, stopping her from continuing. "At least ask for my opinion first! He's a pervert, and you're still throwing yourself at him!"

"Ahem, Masumi."

Kaoru cleared his throat. "I accept this condition."

"What are you accepting? I haven't agreed!"

Masumi was both embarrassed and angry.

Because she genuinely felt that Arisu might lose. When that happened, she and Arisu would probably end up placed together in front of Kaoru, obediently waiting for him to do whatever he wanted.

"Even without this condition, I'd still be thinking about it."

Kaoru admitted his thoughts openly. "I think Masumi should discuss this properly with Arisu. If you lose, I really won't be polite."

Masumi's face turned bright red.

Her first time had been taken by this man right in front of Arisu.

If he dared to say something like this, then he definitely dared to do it. There was no need to doubt that at all.

"Hehehe, Kamuro-san, there's no need to be so nervous. It's only a competition."

At some point, Arisu had removed Masumi's hand and spoke as though nothing had happened. "The worst result is simply that he gets to tease us a little. It's not much different from usual."

Masumi froze, then became even angrier.

How could it not be different?

Had this girl already been trained into an idiot?

"Enough, enough! Being around the two of you makes me feel like I'm turning stupid too!"

Masumi glared irritably at Kaoru. "What if you lose?"

"I'll do as you wish."

Kaoru spread his hands.

He was very fair.

Whoever won could command the loser.

Masumi began to sneer.

She had already thought of how to punish Kaoru. For example, making him hold back for an entire month and forbidding him from touching anyone.

If she really made that demand, Kaoru would definitely obey.

Then, once the abstinence period ended, he would immediately vent everything on her.

Of course, Masumi did not think that far.

She simply wanted to teach Kaoru a lesson.

...

After class ended, Kaoru did not leave the classroom. Instead, he found Morishita Ai.

"Morishita-san, how many private points do we have right now?"

Seeing that it was Kaoru, Ai, who had originally planned to leave, stopped and took out her phone.

"Including this month, 28.82 million."

Kaoru was not very surprised. It was within his expectations.

Kōhei, who had been trying to approach from the side, was startled.

"The reserve has already recovered to its previous level this quickly?"

Kōhei's surprise was genuine.

His impression of the class reserve was still stuck at the expulsion exam in March. Back then, they had paid twenty million private points and only had a little over ten million remaining.

"Mm. We used 1.5 million private points earlier to buy over first-year honor students. Otherwise, we would have passed thirty million this month."

Ai looked at Kōhei strangely.

They received nearly 4.6 million private points every month now. Was it really that surprising for the reserve to be high?

Kōhei felt a little awkward.

It seemed he had been worrying too much. With Class A's current level, there was no need to fear someone being expelled.

"What an astonishing number. How do you plan to use those private points?"

At that moment, Arisu also came over.

"Buy some item cards."

Kaoru said, "Since we've already decided to form groups within the class, we don't need to consider students from other second-year classes. We can use private points to cooperate with first-years and third-years."

"Buying over a group of people like before?"

Arisu spoke with interest. "Since we have an existing basis for cooperation, I think getting them to agree to help won't be a problem."

"No. Buying some item cards is enough."

Kaoru shook his head. "If the cooperation is too deep, it will expose our reserve funds. In the future, they'll raise their prices."

Everyone was not stupid.

If they saw Class 2-A casually spending millions of private points and then connected that to their class points, anyone would realize that they were a bunch of deep-pocketed whales.

"However, we can't pretend to be poor either. Our class points are right there. Anyone who does a little calculation will understand."

Kaoru thought for a moment. "If we're going to buy, we should buy openly and generously. Let them take the initiative to flatter us and want to cooperate with us, not make it look like we're begging them."

Although both were cooperation, there was a difference.

Right now, they were the sponsor with money.

The others were the ones who should be lining up for a meal.

"What item cards does Mitoma-kun want to buy?"

Arisu sounded slightly regretful.

"Useful ones. Cards like Double and Free Ride."

Kaoru added, "It would be best if we can get them before certain people start buying."

The "certain people" he mentioned was probably Nagumo Miyabi.

The only person with the ability to purchase item cards on a large scale was Miyabi.

"Leave it to me."

For some reason, Arisu agreed before Kōhei could.

This action surprised Kōhei.

Then Arisu looked at him. "Katsuragi-kun is worried that some students may fail to keep up with the group and get expelled, right?"

Kōhei nodded. "Some students don't have very good stamina. They may not adapt well to outdoor survival."

"Can we pick those people out?"

Arisu said, "Have them form a large group together, then give them private points. That way, we'll have no worries."

Kōhei froze.

What she meant was equivalent to giving up on the classmates who could not keep up.

It sounded a little uncomfortable, but it was the best choice. Because they had a large amount of private points, even if those students were abandoned by the class's main strategy, they would not be expelled.

"I think twelve million should be enough. It's simpler than giving one million to everyone, and the remaining private points can still be used."

Arisu smiled lightly, then turned toward Kaoru. "Is that all right?"

"I have no objections."

Kaoru answered.

"That's good. Aside from buying item cards, does Mitoma-kun have any other ideas?"

Arisu cared a lot about Kaoru's thoughts, as if she would help no matter what request he made.

"Buying item cards is enough."

Kaoru only wanted to prevent Miyabi from making a comeback.

The existence of item cards could possibly allow Miyabi to recover completely, so Kaoru had to suppress that possibility in advance.

Arisu seemed surprised. She looked at Kaoru for a while before smiling.

"I almost forgot. I found my ring, so there's no need to trouble Mitoma-kun tonight."

Kaoru knew what she meant.

If he had proposed cooperating with other classes, Arisu would have helped persuade Kōhei, Ai, and the others.

Because in this uninhabited island exam, Kei and the others did not have enough private points to avoid expulsion.

If Miyabi attacked them like before, someone could be expelled because of it.

Even knowing that, Kaoru had no intention of using the class reserve.

Those private points belonged to everyone. They were not his personal wallet.

Buying item cards was a normal class usage. Even if Miyabi did not buy them, he still would. But protecting specific individuals was a private matter and could not be mixed together with class interests.

The praise votes from before had to be used no matter what. It had not mattered who they were given to, so everyone had basically been indifferent. That was why Kaoru could borrow that force.

But using the class reserve was a different matter. Some people would definitely feel dissatisfied. Even if Kaoru did not care, that dissatisfaction would eventually be directed toward Honami and the others.

Kaoru did not have a hypnosis app.

He naturally had to consider the class's opinions.

Besides, if he needed to use the class reserve to deal with a weakened Miyabi, then Kaoru would feel like he had been a clown all this time.

With so many good cards in his hand, even including magic, if he still could not protect Kei and the others, he might as well surrender directly.