A few minutes earlier.
Sakayanagi Arisu lay on her bed, wearing a pink nightgown adorned with many white paw prints. Long sleeves covered her arms, but beneath the dress, her legs were exposed.
She looked like an innocent girl next door. But in reality, she was one of the leaders of Class 1-A, secretly gathering subordinates.
But even a Class A leader needed ti to rest.
Before falling asleep, Sakayanagi Arisu reached out and picked up the small bear doll placed by her pillow, hugging it close. She closed her eyes, enjoying the comfortable feel of the soft bed, and was about to drift into a sweet dream.
Just then, her terminal vibrated, signaling a new ssage.
"Is it from Kamuro-san?" She slightly opened her eyes, feeling a bit displeased.
Even she would get a little angry if her sleep was disturbed. However, the fact that Kamuro Masumi chose to send a ssage at this ti ant the situation was urgent.
Today, she had arranged for Kamuro Masumi to follow Takada Hikaru of Class 1-B. She had originally asked for any news tonight to be reported tomorrow morning. Unless the situation was extrely urgent.
"Eh?"
After picking up her phone and seeing who sent the ssage, Sakayanagi Arisu was stunned for a mont.
The sender was actually Takada Hikaru, the one being tracked, not Kamuro Masumi, who was responsible for the tracking.
Was she discovered?
Sakayanagi Arisu received the ssage, and upon seeing a photo of the purple-haired girl, a faint smile appeared on her face.
Imdiately after, she called Kamuro Masumi.
"Sakayanagi, I..."
"Kamuro-san, you'd be cuter if you smiled when taking photos."
After teasing her newly acquired subordinate, Sakayanagi Arisu instructed, "Could I trouble you to hand the phone to Takada-san? There are so things I'd like to discuss with him."
"Why don't you just call him directly?" Kamuro Masumi complained from the other end of the line.
But Sakayanagi Arisu knew her well. Kamuro Masumi would definitely hand the phone to the boy beside her. This was the so-called 'saying one thing but doing another'.
"Hello."
As expected, Takada Hikaru's voice ca from the other end of the line.
"Takada-san, I didn't expect you to be able to spot Kamuro-san. I underestimated you."
Sakayanagi Arisu shifted into a comfortable position.
"There are more people at noon and after school, but fewer at night, so it's easy to spot her." Takada Hikaru replied from the other end of the phone.
Sakayanagi Arisu's lips curved into a faint smile. "Takada-san's answer is truly sly. Deliberately using wording that easily causes misunderstandings might lead us to believe you discovered Kamuro-san much earlier, but just didn't say it on the spot. But the true situation is only clear to Takada-san himself."
After hearing what Arisu said. Hikaru's expression was calm, but he felt a little surprised inwardly.
'Oh. You actually found out. I really did intentionally phrase it that way.'
Just as Arisu said, his statent was very easy to misunderstand. If Kamuro Masumi only tracked him at night, she would certainly only focus on the reason for her exposure. But if she also tracked him during lunch and after school, she would think she had been exposed much earlier.
This kind of talk might work against Kamuro Masumi, but it seed insufficient against Arisu.
However, since this is a special plot that will be seen by the audience later, he should say a bit more.
"I did say, there were too many people at those tis." Takada Hikaru only said half of his sentence, leaving the rest for the girls to figure out themselves.
Kamuro Masumi, standing nearby, was bewildered.
Sakayanagi Arisu, who was talking to him in her dorm room, however, reacted.
"Is Takada-san considering Kamuro-san's feelings, which is why he was unwilling to expose her on the spot?"
Her voice carried a faint smile. "Takada-san is truly a kind and gentle person."
'You're right, I wanted to create that kind of persona.'
Takada Hikaru wished she would say more.
"Kamuro-san told you went to the Chess Club after school?" Sakayanagi Arisu began to bring up the topic she was interested in.
"I collected their tuition..."
Takada Hikaru briefly ntioned teaching the Shogi Club and the Chess Club.
"I didn't expect Takada-san to be highly skilled in shogi, in addition to mastering Chess." Arisu's complintary voice ca through.
"Actually, I'm also very good at Go."
"Hehe..." Sakayanagi Arisu chuckled on the other end of the line. "I'm very curious about Takada-san's teaching level."
"Then, when I have ti, I'll ask the senpais from the Chess Club to have a match with you." Takada Hikaru understood what she ant.
"I look forward to it."
After a brief chat, Sakayanagi Arisu hung up the phone, a faint smile still on her face.
"Takada-san, no matter how you teach them, you won't be able to defeat a true genius."
Sakayanagi Arisu had once been to the White Room and seen the geniuses created there.
For the "Artificial Genius" project, the White Room was secretly nurturing many children her age, hoping to mold them into mass-producible geniuses.
Upon seeing children her age subjected to brutal education, Sakayanagi Arisu decided to defeat these fake geniuses and destroy this aningless educational facility.
With this mindset, she didn't exactly scoff at these efforts of hard work, but simply felt it would be difficult to bridge the gap between geniuses and ordinary people.
"I look forward to another showdown with Takada-san."
In Sakayanagi Arisu's view, if she defeated Hikaru's "disciples," Hikaru, as their master, would surely have to step in personally to reclaim his honor. Competing with Hikaru in Chess was one of the things that had made her happiest in recent years.
She had racked her brains, thinking she had achieved final victory, only to fall into a trap and have victory snatched away by Takada Hikaru.
If a hunter can catch prey with a trap, it ans the hunter's intelligence is far superior to that of the prey.
Sakayanagi Arisu, having fallen into a trap in her area of expertise, seed to imply that her strength was inferior to Takada Hikaru's.
Discovering soone potentially stronger than herself, her heart couldn't help but fill with excitent.
Now it's just minor skirmishes in deception. After burying the masterpiece, the next one will be you, Takada-san.
"Haa... ti to sleep."
Sakayanagi Arisu felt her eyelids heavy. After hugging her small bear doll, she closed her eyes and drifted into dreamland.
(End of Chapter)
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