Upon hearing Sakayanagi Arisu's words, Shiki Natsu looked at her with a hint of surprise, his pale golden eyes flickering with amusent.
This girl… had she actually developed a taste for selling people out?
He understood perfectly well why Sakayanagi Arisu had chosen to do this. After all, the first ti he had ever rewarded her with anything was the occasion when she had successfully dragged Horikita Suzune into becoming his maid. Every other interaction between them had been either a transaction or an act of tornt. In short, all of it had been, for this silver-haired beauty, a source of considerable dissatisfaction.
The one genuine bright spot in her mories of him was that single massage — and even that, the one he had given her before the cruise ship exam, had nearly reduced her to tears. For Sakayanagi Arisu, that was probably a rather traumatic recollection.
Among all her mories involving Shiki Natsu, that solitary occasion was the only ti anything good had co of it — the only ti he had done sothing genuinely nice for her. So, having once tasted that particular sweetness, Sakayanagi Arisu had decided to repeat the strategy: sell soone out.
And the target she had selected this ti around was, naturally, Shiraishi Asuka — the girl who had been trailing after Shiki Natsu not long ago.
As for why she had chosen Shiraishi Asuka specifically — honestly, even Natsu wasn't entirely sure. Outside of their first conversation at the coffee shop, Shiraishi Asuka had barely exchanged more than a handful of words with him. Even in the classroom, she kept mostly to herself around him.
The most they had spoken was after he and Nishikawa Ryouko had returned from fishing — but that hardly seed like enough of a reason for Sakayanagi Arisu to have zeroed in on her.
Not that it mattered. Even if Sakayanagi Arisu had chosen soone else entirely, Natsu had no intention of indulging this little sche of hers.
He thought to himself: Sakayanagi Arisu really never learned.
She had proposed so many things to him over ti — had he ever once agreed to a single one?
Especially when it ca to proposals like this — the kind that made Sakayanagi Arisu feel like she held all the cards, like everything was proceeding exactly according to her design. In situations like that, Natsu had never once given her an answer she found satisfying.
He enjoyed watching that expression of hers — brimming with self-assurance, utterly convinced she had him figured out — crumble into adorable, helpless deflation.
His gaze settled once more on Sakayanagi Arisu's exquisitely self-confident little face. She still wore that faint, composed smile, and those violet eyes of hers glead with quiet certainty.
Of course, no matter the occasion, Sakayanagi Arisu almost always maintained that sa air of supre confidence — as though victory were already hers. The only problem was that every ti she had ever gone up against Shiki Natsu, she had never once co out ahead.
That composure of hers had been forged through years of victories. She had lost to Natsu several tis over — he had even, on occasion, dismantled her confidence completely with nothing but words — and yet her psychological resilience was genuinely impressive. She bounced back quickly.
That said, those defeats had at least taught her sothing: she had co to recognise the gulf that existed between them. She had shed any habit of looking down on others — especially the girls who stood close to Shiki Natsu.
The physical performance Kamuro Masumi and the others had displayed earlier had already exceeded what her enrollnt assessnt records had attributed to them. If those ratings were revised from scratch, their physical capabilities would almost certainly land at an A across the board.
"As for the trade Sakayanagi-san has proposed — I decline."
Not a flicker of surprise crossed Sakayanagi Arisu's delicate face upon hearing his clean, unhesitating refusal.
She rely arched one eyebrow slightly, as though she had already known perfectly well what he was going to say.
After all, she had dealt with Shiki Natsu enough tis by now to know exactly how disagreeable this man could be. If he had simply agreed without a fuss — now that would have been shocking.
No matter. She had co prepared.
Sakayanagi Arisu understood clearly: Natsu's refusal wasn't just a rejection of the trade itself. It was also a signal — a very explicit one — telling her not to ddle where she wasn't wanted.
He didn't like people poking their fingers into his affairs. Especially not where matters of the heart were concerned.
Sakayanagi Arisu had no desire to bring his wrath down on herself over this.
She simply muttered a private complaint inside her head: she really hadn't imagined that Shiki Natsu would be the type to enjoy gas on the hardest difficulty setting.
With her help, winning over Shiraishi Asuka could have been so much simpler. And yet here he was, refusing.
Did he really trust his own personal charm that much?
If not for her own nudge from behind the scenes just now, Shiraishi Asuka wouldn't have co over at all in the first place.
Although — even after she had co over, Sakayanagi Arisu had to admit that the two of them hadn't made much visible progress. She knew full well that one small push didn't amount to much. But still, she had at least proven that she had a role to play in this — and that was enough.
If Shiki Natsu's so-called personal charm could truly solve everything on its own, then Shiraishi Asuka wouldn't have spent the whole ti feeling like a third wheel.
Sakayanagi Arisu gave a quiet, inward scoff. A flash of indignation crossed those violet eyes of hers — but she chose not to press the point any further.
She watched as that familiar mocking smile surfaced on Shiki Natsu's face once again. To her, that smile was insufferably obnoxious.
She straightened her posture, let the elegant curve return to the corner of her lips, and spoke.
"My, my. If Shiki-san isn't interested, then so be it."
Her tone was perfectly breezy — as if the trade she had just proposed had been nothing more than an idle remark, sothing she hadn't given a second thought.
"In that case… I'll simply wish Shiki-san a pleasant evening ahead."
As she said it, her gaze drifted aningfully around the spacious little cabin, a playful gleam dancing in those violet eyes.
"After all, Shiki-san does have three adorable girlfriends right now. There's no need to rush the campaign on yet another cute girl, is there?"
She paused, as though deciding that wasn't quite enough, and added with a continuing smile:
"That said, my offer remains open. Anyti Shiki-san has a change of heart, I'll be ready and waiting. The assistance is always available."
She leaned forward slightly, her violet eyes eting his gaze directly.
"Whenever Shiki-san is willing, there's no problem at all. This deal stands for the entirety of our three years at this school."
"If Shiki-san were ever to leave this school… catching up to Shiraishi-san might beco considerably more difficult. So… I would advise Shiki-san that if he genuinely intends to make a move on Shiraishi-san, the window while we're all still students here is the best one. After all… we are still students."
Those parting words carried a weight of implication that made Shiki Natsu mildly curious. The way Sakayanagi Arisu spoke, it sounded as though she knew quite a lot about Shiraishi Asuka. Then again — she was Sakayanagi Narumori's daughter. Within this school, she was practically omniscient. It seed as though virtually everyone's information passed through her hands at so point.
"And all you would need to do is agree to one condition…"
Shiki Natsu's pale golden eyes t the cunning gleam in Sakayanagi Arisu's violet ones. He smiled — and spoke before she could finish.
"The condition would be… helping Sakayanagi-san obtain a healthy body. Am I right?"
Upon hearing this, the smile on Sakayanagi Arisu's face beca, for just a mont, sothing more genuine. She nodded without hesitation, freely admitting it.
"That's right."
The very next second, her expression shifted completely. She arranged her features into a portrait of pitiful fragility, her violet eyes shimring with a watery gloss, her voice softening to sothing delicate and small.
"After all… this is the only thing I've ever truly wanted."
She let out a quiet sigh, the picture of a helpless young girl long tornted by illness, pleading for the smallest scrap of compassion.
"Shiki-san… could you really bear to watch a cute girl suffer like this, in agony because of her own body?"
One had to admit: Sakayanagi Arisu was a girl who genuinely adored performing. Even now that they knew each other quite well — and even though she was perfectly aware that no amount of theatrics would actually move him — she still went ahead and put on the show anyway.
Was this what they called a theatrical personality?
"I have never once seen Sakayanagi-san appear to be in any particular suffering on account of her illness."
He spoke in that unhurried, languid way of his, his pale golden eyes brimming with amusent.
"If anything, Sakayanagi-san — despite her congenital condition — continues to conduct herself with remarkable disagreeableness. And with an air of supre superiority, no less."
At that, Sakayanagi Arisu's expression of fragile helplessness froze instantly on her face. Her brow furrowed involuntarily.
No matter how disagreeable she might be — could she possibly be as disagreeable as Shiki Natsu?
She thought this with no small amount of indignation.
This man had a vicious tongue, a rotten personality, and an unending fondness for tornting people. He had nearly made her cry on multiple occasions — actually made a move on a defenceless girl — and yet he had the audacity to call her disagreeable. Shiki Natsu was genuinely outrageous.
Sakayanagi Arisu looked at him, drew a slow breath, and pushed down the small surge of emotion rising inside her.
She knew that in a battle of words, she was unlikely to get the better of this man.
So she changed the subject.
"Shiki-san, may I ask you sothing?"
Under ordinary circumstances, their conversation should have ended so ti ago — or at the very latest, when she had wished him a pleasant evening. But judging by her current posture, it was clear she had no intention of wrapping things up.
Natsu had nothing pressing to attend to at the mont, and having soone around to chat with — soone he could tease a little — suited him just fine. So he gave Sakayanagi Arisu a nod and spoke at an easy pace.
"Go ahead."
Then he added, almost as an afterthought:
"Though I reserve the right to decide whether or not to answer, depending on the question."
He was curious to see just what new sche that little head of hers had cooked up.
Upon receiving that response, Sakayanagi Arisu thought to herself — with genuine feeling — that Shiki Natsu really was irredeemably petty. Imagining her as the type who would ask sothing designed to embarrass him? Was she really that kind of person?
Still, she smiled, her violet eyes fixing directly on him, eting his gaze without flinching.
She supposed that among everyone who knew Shiki Natsu, she was probably the only one who could hold his gaze like this without going shy and looking away.
Even his three girlfriends, after sustained eye contact with him, would eventually flush and glance aside. The girls who weren't his girlfriends — needless to say.
Being watched by soone that absurdly good-looking — how could your heart not race? How could you not go red?
Not that Sakayanagi Arisu fully understood what exactly she was thinking about. But at least in this one regard, she could call herself the winner.
After being tornted by Shiki Natsu for so long, she had begun finding her sense of victory in increasingly sideways places. And her competition wasn't even Shiki Natsu himself — which, admittedly, carried a slightly lancholy undertone. But no matter. As long as Sakayanagi Arisu herself felt like a winner, that was sufficient.
Having savoured that small, private victory for a mont, she opened her mouth and posed her question.
"Shiki-san… when exactly do you plan to make your move on Horikita Suzune-san?"
She hadn't asked whether he would make a move on Horikita Suzune — she had asked when. As though she already knew for a certainty that he would.
It was a probing question.
If Shiki Natsu truly intended to pursue even soone as troubleso as Horikita Suzune… then perhaps he also had sothing in mind for her as well.
Because in Sakayanagi Arisu's estimation, Horikita Suzune's personality was far more of a headache than her own — the girl was like a stone: both stinking and unyielding.
If Shiki Natsu had designs even on soone like Horikita Suzune, that proved he was a man who didn't shy away from difficulty.
And moreover — Horikita Suzune's initial attitude toward Shiki Natsu had been far colder than anything Sakayanagi Arisu had ever put him through. A wall of ice that kept the world at arm's length — though, granted, things had ward up considerably lately on account of that friendship ga. Still, her prior track record of frigid hostility couldn't simply be ignored.
And from what Sakayanagi Arisu had observed, the way Shiki Natsu treated Horikita Suzune wasn't any gentler than how he treated her — which made the comparison a reasonably useful reference point.
The trouble was that, so far, nothing about Shiki Natsu's behaviour toward her read as the least bit romantic.
If this were a gal ga, Shiki Natsu hadn't triggered a single event that would raise her affection rating. Not one.
On the contrary — if this truly were a gal ga, everything he had done to tease and tornt her would have long since killed this route entirely. Bad End, no question.
But this wasn't a gal ga. This was reality. And in most gal gas, you could only pursue one girl at a ti — single routes, or solo paths, with harem routes practically nonexistent. Shiki Natsu, however, was walking the harem route. And he was already well underway.
So Sakayanagi Arisu couldn't be certain whether Shiki Natsu had any intention of adding her to that harem.
If he didn't — wouldn't that just make her look like a fool who had been reading too much into things?
And if that were the case, her plans would hit a dead end before they even began.
As much as Shiki Natsu was genuinely fickle, and very much walking a harem path — she had also observed that when it ca to girls he had no interest in, he truly felt nothing. Not even if they threw themselves at him.
He simply wouldn't accept it.
Of course, even though he had never done anything that might be called affection-raising toward her…
Sakayanagi Arisu had noticed, sowhat to her own surprise, that she didn't actually dislike Shiki Natsu.
His personality was rotten. He enjoyed bullying her and watching her make a fool of herself. And yet… she felt no dislike toward him whatsoever.
In fact…
In fact, it seed as though she might have, just a little, fallen for this thoroughly disagreeable boy in front of her.
The mont that thought surfaced, Sakayanagi Arisu's heart skipped a beat — but she suppressed the feeling almost instantly, keeping her face perfectly composed. What she couldn't suppress, however, was the flush creeping up the tips of her ears.
Upon hearing Sakayanagi Arisu's question, Shiki Natsu did not answer right away.
He simply watched her with those pale golden eyes of his — a smile that wasn't quite a smile playing on his lips — as though that gaze could see straight through her and leave none of her thoughts anywhere to hide.
He looked, for all the world, like a man with zero intention of answering.
Sakayanagi Arisu read that perfectly well. Clearly, this was a question he wasn't going to dignify with a response.
She had no intention of pushing. Pressing the matter would only make her look desperate.
She gave a soft, self-aware laugh, murmuring almost to herself:
"It seems Shiki-san won't be answering that one."
She let the probe go and moved the conversation along.
Sakayanagi Arisu's gaze drifted away from his face and swept around the cabin — a simple, unhurried scan of the space Shiki Natsu had built with his own hands, as though checking whether anyone was about to walk in. Then she brought her eyes back to him.
Her first question had gone unanswered, which ant she had no basis to proceed with that line. So there was only one thing left to do — escalate.
"Then… a different question. In Shiki-san's eyes — do I have any feminine charm?"
As she spoke, her fingers lightly lifted the silver strands of hair at her ear, her tone soft and unhurried.
____
👻🔥 40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Danmachi: Summoning Ruri Gokou, And other Chuunibyou Brats
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