Classroom of the Elite: Standing Firm in Class A — Chapter 29

Chapter 29: The Wager with Sakayanagi

“If my actions were going to be misinterpreted as some clumsy attempt to curry favor with the Katsuragi faction, why would I bother doing something that causes a misunderstanding?”

Kaedehara Tetsu’s voice was smooth in the quiet confines of the library. His gaze slid over the delicate, porcelain lines of her face, lingering with deliberate intent. “After all, I wouldn’t want to make my primary investor unhappy.”

“Oh? So you rejected him entirely for my sake?”

She tilted her head, the conclusion clearly pleasing her quite a bit.

Tetsu looked at her expectant appearance and suddenly let out a low chuckle that broke the heavy silence of the reading area.

“Of course. To be perfectly honest, I simply prefer your body.”

The frivolous, borderline scandalous remark hung in the air between them. Yet, Sakayanagi Arisu’s reaction remained perfectly placid.

“Fufu… Kaedehara-san, do you really enjoy using such crude words to mask your true thoughts?”

Her cane rested lightly against the floor as she continued, her tone steady and analytical. “Using straightforward, even somewhat vulgar desires as a smokescreen is indeed an effective sleight of hand. It forces the majority of people to focus their attention on your frivolous exterior, thereby blinding them to the true motives lurking beneath the water’s surface. However, against me, such cheap tricks have no meaning.”

She dissected his confession with surgical precision, mercilessly reducing a man’s stated desire into nothing more than a cold, calculated strategy.

Tetsu slowly straightened his posture, peeling his back off the wooden bookshelf behind him. He let out a faint, exaggerated sigh.

“Sometimes, the absolute truth is far harder for people to believe than a well-crafted lie. That truly is an interesting paradox.” His tone carried a distinct hint of helplessness. “Sakayanagi-san, in your eyes, is it really so impossible for me to just be a shallow man who simply covets your beauty?”

“A genuinely shallow man would never go around announcing his own shallowness. What I am actually interested in is your academic prowess…”

Arisu instantly pulled the topic back to the battlefield she was truly invested in. “During a test where only a handful of students could even attempt one or two of the hidden questions, you solved them all, and you did so in an extremely short amount of time. Kaedehara Tetsu, you have been hiding your true strength in your academic ability. No… perhaps I should say, academics is not the only thing you have been hiding.”

The air between them grew dense.

“Chess is a game of logic, calculation, and psychological warfare. Written exams, however, test the pure accumulation and application of knowledge. You defeated me on the chessboard, and I freely admit my skills were inferior that day. So now, I am incredibly curious to see who is truly superior in the academic realm.”

Deep within her violet eyes, a fierce flame called competitiveness ignited.

Ever since the sudden appearance of Kaedehara Tetsu, she had developed the recognition of a genuine rival for the very first time. What she craved now was to achieve an absolute victory in a direct duel against him.

“Is that so? Does Sakayanagi-san want to compare who gets the higher score on the midterm exams with me? However, just comparing scores is a bit too boring. There has to be some kind of prize on the line to get people motivated, right?”

Tetsu threw the question effortlessly back at her.

“A prize?”

The corners of Arisu’s mouth lifted slightly. She seemed to have anticipated he would pivot exactly like this. “Of course there is. Since this is a duel between us, the wager naturally cannot be light.”

Her playful demeanor vanished, replaced by a serious, icy authority.

“We will base this on the total score across all subjects in the upcoming midterm exams. If my aggregate score is higher, Kaedehara-san, you will become my personal possession. Whether I order you to target Katsuragi or dismantle the other classes, you must act solely to achieve my goals.”

What she proposed was an extremely harsh, draconian condition.

This was her true objective all along. She wanted to take this unpredictable, dangerous variable that she could not control and chain him to her chessboard as a loyal pawn.

Rather than recoiling, the smile on Tetsu’s face did not disappear. Instead, it became even brighter and sharper.

“Truly… a tempting proposal.”

“Becoming the exclusive knight to Her Royal Highness the Princess? That sounds not too bad.”

He stepped forward, bending down to bring his face perfectly level with hers. The physical distance between the two shortened once again, close enough to feel the faint shift in the air.

“I accept your wager.”

“However, Sakayanagi, a gamble goes both ways. Since there is a penalty if I lose, there naturally must also be… an equal price extracted from you if you lose, right?”

Arisu met his dark gaze without flinching. “That is only natural. If you win, I can pay you all the Personal Points that I am able to control, or I will satisfy any single request of yours within my capabilities.”

What she offered was an astronomical compensation, a blank check of material wealth and political power within Class A.

However, Tetsu slowly shook his head.

“Points? I can earn that kind of thing myself. A blank request? Too vague, I don’t like it.”

He stared deeply into her flawless face and stated his own uncompromising terms.

“If my total score is higher than yours, even if it is just by a single point. From that day forward, you, Sakayanagi Arisu…”

The corners of his lips curled into an extremely wicked, unrepentant smile.

“…will be my girlfriend.”

No beating around the bush, no subtle probing, only the most direct and raw declaration of intent.

If the wager proposed by Sakayanagi was the absolute control of his ability, then the wager he proposed was the total possession of her person.

The polite smile on Arisu’s face disappeared for a split second.

She had run countless simulations of this conversation. She anticipated that Tetsu might propose all kinds of conditions, such as forcing her to become his political ally, demanding a vow of non-aggression, or even some more outrageous material requests.

But the one thing she did not anticipate was the word girlfriend.

This mundane word was completely out of place with the cutthroat nature of their conversations up until now. Tetsu had taken a battle of academic supremacy and violently twisted it into a war of conquest between a man and a woman.

The reading area was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Arisu did not answer immediately.

Her brilliant brain worked at high speed, rapidly evaluating everything hidden behind this wager.

‘Accept, or reject?’

Analyzing it from a purely rational perspective, this was a high-risk gamble. Once she lost, what she would forfeit was her own personal independence and bodily autonomy.

But on the other hand, the sheer audacity of his condition exposed his raw desire. What he wanted was her, as a person.

This realization of being so aggressively coveted by an opposite sex she actually acknowledged gave her an unmatched, dizzying mixture of excitement and stimulation.

More… ‘Would she actually lose?’

in the world of academic ability, a domain where she was supremely confident, how could she possibly lose to anyone?

This wager, to her, was a golden opportunity. Not only could she completely subdue Kaedehara Tetsu, but she could also stomp his arrogant, masculine desire for her underfoot, making him understand exactly who the real master was.

The winner takes all.

She would win.

After a long time, just when Tetsu thought she might actually refuse, a new smile bloomed across Arisu’s face once again.

That smile was breathtakingly beautiful, yet infinitely more dangerous than at any time before.

“A very interesting wager, Kaedehara-san.”

Her voice returned to its signature, aristocratic composure.

“Since you hold such strong expectations for me, if I were to refuse you now, it would simply be too unromantic.”

She raised her chin, a lethal glimmer shining in the depths of her violet eyes.

“I accept this wager.”

[Task: Defeat Sakayanagi Arisu on the midterm exam]

[Reward: 300 points]