#41 Seducing me?

The next day I arrived at the meeting place much earlier but it seemed that Ayanokoji and Yukimura arrived even earlier than me. The only one who was missing from our class was Karuizawa, not like it mattered since we were the first class to arrive. Not even Ichinose was here and she is the type of person who comes earlier than others.

"Good morning" I greeted them and sat down.

"Oh, good morning, Walker-kun" Yukimura seemed to be startled by my sudden greeting. I guess he didn't hear me enter the room.

Ayanokoji just nodded at me.

I would like to ask him about yesterday's thing with Manabe but I guess I should wait until we are alone.

"Can I ask you something, Walker-kun?" After a few minutes of silence, Yukimura spoke out to me.

"Ask right away" I replied with a polite smile.

"You seem to be closer to Karuizawa-san than me or Ayanokoji-kun. Can you tell me if we can actually expect her cooperation?" Yukimura was still skeptic about Karuizawa but he paid attention to how to formulate the question. He was careful not to give any necessary information to Ayanokoji-kun. I guess I can trust this guy a bit but I won't hasten my decision yet.

"Hmm...that's a good question but I don't think I am able to answer for her. But there is a good chance that she will cooperate with you even if you aren't her favorite classmate" I answered with a thoughtful expression while holding my chin.

"What makes you think like that?" He asked with a slightly surprised expression due to my answer.

"Didn't you notice small changes in her attitude since the survival test?"

"Well...yes but-" Yukimura was interrupted by the sound of the opening door.

Karuizawa walked in and looked at three of us sitting near each other.

"...Mornin" She said shortly and then sat down next to us.

Yukimura had confused expression since he expected her to at least throw a few disgusted looks at him or totally ignore him at best however he still returned the greeting.

After a few minutes, students from Class B arrived together and then Class A with Class C.

The discussion wasn't really getting us anywhere so Ichinose suggested that we play cards and Class A once again decided to not play or even talk, however, this time Ichinose was able to taunt some responses from them. She is getting closer and closer to figuring out who is the target. If she will be able to determine that the target isn't among the Class A then it will be much easier for her to find it. And here comes the strategy of not telling anyone of me being the "target", if no one knows then no one will act suspiciously.

Class C continued to lightly harass Karuizawa but she simply ignored their presence. This fact made them extremely angry but whenever it looked like they will make it physical, I just coldly glared at them which made them calm down a bit. Of course, I don't expect them to behave nicely when I am not around Karuizawa but that's her problem. Even if it sounds cold, I have no way to protect her when I am not around her and I don't plan to constantly worry about her every time I am not around.

1 hour quickly passed and Ichinose with Ayanokoji decided to go meet Katsuragi. Ichinose was probably already fed up with them not cooperating.

I left the meeting room and went to grab some lunch but on my way, I kept having a feeling that someone's tailing me. I tried to take a secretly look around me by using reflections in windows and such. I was able to spot one pretty suspicious student.

Isn't that Yahiko Totsuka aka Katsuragi's lackey from Class A? Is he the one tailing me?

I decided to take a few laps around the entire ship while occasionally checking my surroundings and Totsuka really followed me anywhere I went.

I don't know him very well personally but just from a few meetings, I know that he is really loyal to Katsuragi and he won't do anything without telling him first which quite surprise me how he could get into Class A with such an attitude. Katsuragi probably instructed him to tail me, but why?

I don't remember having any close contact with him... I moved closer to the railing and looked at the vast sea.

*sigh* Ryuen, isn't it? He definitely has nothing to lose by informing Katsuragi about me being suspicious during the survival test. Katsuragi wouldn't believe him after what happened but he is still a cautious man and sudden Class D's increase of class points made him probably feel uneasy.

Now, what to do about him? It's not like I can just go to him and tell him to fuck off since he is free to follow me as long as he isn't invading my personal space...

After a while of thinking, I took my phone out of the pocket and texted to Hirata.

[Hey, can I ask you for a favor, Hirata-kun?]

[Oh? Sure! How about we meet up and grab a bite?] Reply came almost immediately and it seemed like he was even eager to help me. I wonder in what kind of light does he see me...

[No problem, where do you want to meet?] I am the one asking for a favor, of course, I will agree.

[How about you just text me your location and I come to you? It seems that in front of the "Dragon" room is a pretty heated discussion, I will tell you about that later]

It seems that Ichinose and Ayanokoji are the cause of that heated discussion. It's pretty good that Hirata was there, I will be able to know what exactly happened without being actually there. Making "friends" is surely profitable.

Even though I wanted to ask Hirata for a favor through the phone, it probably doesn't matter. I will just have to be aware of our distance between us and Totsuka. He can't really get suspicious of me for just having lunch with a friend.

...

"You finally came, Hirata-kun" I instantly waved to him after I spotted him. I was already sitting at the table with my meal ready to eat but I decided to wait for Hirata. Thankfully I chose just salad with meat so there was no need to eat it quickly since it was a cold lunch.

"Sorry about that, the discussion delayed me a bit more than I anticipated but I have pretty interesting information thanks to that" Hirata threw me an apologetic smile when he saw my still intact lunch.

"It's ok, just sit down and order something" I just waved my hand at his apology.

While we were waiting for Hirata's meal, he told me what exactly happened.

"I see, so Ryuen apparently already knows all the "targets" from Class C" I mumbled while having a bit skeptic face just for appearance's sake. It was pretty obvious that he already knows that, he is known as a tyrant in his Class so even though he can't force anyone to show their phones, they still know what will happen after the exam if they refuse.

"That's right he also wanted to form an alliance but no one accepted it" Hirata nodded at me with a serious face.

..

I occasionally used reflection in my spoon to look behind me, checking our distance from Totsuka but it was getting on my nerves since I wasn't even able to eat peacefully.

"Hirata-kun, do you see that student sitting at the table around 7 meters behind me?"

"Hm? Yes, isn't that student from Class A? Is there something wrong with him?" Hirata had confused expression after hearing my question but he still looked carefully behind me.

"He has been following me for a while now. I just want you to be careful what you speak about with him around"

"What?! Why would someone from Class A follow you?" He asked in a low voice with a surprised face and he looked more vigilant than before.

"I don't know but I think he is acting according to Katsuragi's orders"

"Why is Katsuragi interested in you?" Hirata looked shocked upon hearing me mention one of the leading figures in Class A.

"You are asking me?" I lightly chuckled and shrugged my shoulders to show that his attention on me didn't bother me. It also served as showing that I have nothing important to hide from him.

"...Ok Oh- I almost forgot about the main reason why we met up. What can I do for you?" Hirata asked me with an eager smile.

"I wanted to ask you if you know the "targets" from our class" I said casually while calmly enjoying my meal but Hirata stopped eating when he heard my words.

"...I know" He said with a slightly hesitating face.

"I see...I wanted to ask you if you could tell me who are they but I guess you wouldn't tell me right?" I asked with a neutral smile.

"..." Hirata looked like he was considering it for a while, he also occasionally checked my expression but I was just calmly enjoying my meal, waiting for his answer.

"*sigh* They told me because they trust me so I don't think I can tell just anybody-" After saying that he quickly checked for any changes in my expression but nothing changed and I still appeared calm as if I was expecting him to say it.

"...BUT, I think that Walker-kun isn't just anybody. I trust you so I don't mind telling you but I guess I should text you their names later with your stalker around" Hirata continued with a slight delay between his first sentence.

"Thank you for trusting me" I said with a big smile.

I thanked him for his trust and not for the information. Hirata is a smart person and he would get from the context that I actually value his trust more than the information which is practically true but not for the same reason as he thinks.

...

So Kushida is the "target" of the Dragon group, huh? I will have to investigate her a bit more since I practically don't like her for no reason except for my instincts telling me to do so.

I was currently sitting in the Rabbit group's meeting room, this was the second meeting today.

The door got opened and girls from Class C came in but instead of sitting down great distance from me, they actually sat down right next to me where usually Karuizawa sat down.

"Walker-kun?" Manabe called out to me in a cute voice.

"What is it?" I replied neutrally without expressing any hostility or friendliness.

"We would like to apologize to you for everything we said to you. We didn't really mean it and all of it happened because we care for our friend so we were acting out of the anger without thinking rationally" Manabe and other girls looked at me with puppy eyes and guilty faces.

Hehe, what are you thinking girls?

"It's fine, no offense taken" I decided to play along with them so I replied with a friendly smile.

After a while, Karuizawa entered the room and Manabe quickly made her move.

"You know, due to our conflict I have never noticed that you are so handsome. Would you like to go out to play with us after this meeting ends?" Manabe said cutely with a blushing face while holding my hand.

Hahaha, do I appear to you that I think with my dick?

Yukimura shook his head after seeing their act and boys from Class A appeared to be slightly jealous.

Before I could reply to her question, Karuizawa who perfectly heard everything quickly came to us.

"Hey. That's my seat!"

"I know, wait a minute, will you? I just want to hear Walker-kun's answer!" Manabe said while gripping my hand.

Karuizawa's eyes widened in fear upon seeing this.

"By the way, why is your hand so cold, Walker-kun?" She got her face closer to mine as if she wanted to inspect me.

While I had a neutral smile on the outside, inside I was cringing after seeing her half-assed flirting/seducing. If you want to flirt or at least have a slight chance to seduce me then go and take on Sae-chan's appearance. You are still a little kid, literally... I thought while throwing indifferent glace at her small cleavage.

Manabe also seemed to notice my glace but the indifference in it avoided her detection. She put on a proud smile and stood up.

"Nevermind, I don't want to cause another conflict. Karuizawa-san, you seem to be shaking are you ok?"

Karuizawa didn't reply to her and just sat down next to me with a blank expression.

"*sigh* Walker-kun, we will be waiting for your answer after the meeting" Manabe sighed upon seeing Karuizawa's attitude and threw me enchanting smile.

Manabe and other girls went back to their usual spot.

"*Do you really think that I would be seduced by them, Kei-chan?*" I whispered to Karuizawa after seeing her blank expression.

"Huh?" She finally woke up and looked at me with a confused face.

"*You should worry just about yourself getting stronger. You can't let such small things to affect your state of mind. I know that you have it hard after what happened to you but you could at least put more trust in me*" I reassured her for the last time.

"*...I am sorry!*" She clenched her fist and bit her lip in frustration.

I guess she is at least trying.