MrBlackWing
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❂ Chapter 199 ➺ The Other Weapon ❂
🕑 Added 2025-05-22 17:42:03 +0000 UTCKikyō felt that Suzune and Houtarou were truly cut from the same cloth — they both exploited her weaknesses as leverage.
And yet, she couldn't refuse when they did this.
Houtarou knew her true nature, while Suzune had gone further by recording it, ready to expose everything at any moment.
With Houtarou, she could still counter using her feminine charms. She wasn't naive — she could tell he didn't entirely disapprove of her true self. This made her comfortable enough to confide certain things in him.
But Suzune was different. Kikyō knew instinctively that any refusal would lead to the immediate release of that recording.
What made it worse was that the recorded content was far more damaging than her dark history. While past misdeeds could be explained away or spun into a victim narrative, this recording captured her authentic self.
If everyone discovered "So this is the real Kushida", her empire would crumble instantly.
Feeling utterly defeated, Kikyō prepared to leave. She needed space to compose herself — not only could she no longer move against Suzune, but she'd have to keep appeasing her to avoid exposure. The thought was unbearable.
"Wait!" Suzune called out, "Let's go eat together."
Twenty minutes of lunch break had passed, leaving them another forty — enough time to eat.
But...
"...?" Kikyō gave her a puzzled look, "You still want me to join you? Don't you hate me now?"
She couldn't make sense of it.
"Yes, I don't like you." Suzune said, "But I got a message from Oreki. He said we should meet him after lunch. At the usual place."
Oh. This can't be good.
Kikyō's composure threatened to break. This was absolutely terrible!
After all, Houtarou had told her that despite having no romantic feelings for Suzune, he would eventually marry her.
Which meant that when she and Kakeru's alliance had hurt Suzune, they'd effectively attacked his future wife.
She was definitely done for.
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15 minutes later.
Suzune and Kikyō arrived at their usual meeting spot — a secluded area at school with a table and chairs.
There they found Houtarou, apparently napping with his head down on the table. Despite his relaxed appearance, his awareness remained sharp — he had already lifted his head by the time they reached him.
"So you're here." Houtarou said, "Let's settle the accounts then. In this Sports Festival, I got 10 million points from Ryūen's side: 6 million paid now, with 4 million in debt to be paid over 4 months. I also gave Mashima-sensei 500 thousand as hush money."
"I got 3.67 million from Ryūen's side, though I was short 330 thousand." Suzune said, "I gave Chabashira-sensei 500 thousand in hush money. And just now, the 330 thousand deficit was covered."
"Looks good." Houtarou nodded, "Ryūen's class has been squeezed dry."
"Huh?" Kikyō was taken aback by their strange accounting.
"You probably don't know yet." Houtarou said, noting her confusion, "This Sports Festival was actually designed to extract points from Ryūen's class. But since he's cunning, we had to set a trap."
"To be precise, I manipulated your class's participation form to make Ryūen take it seriously and break the rules. When he did exactly that, he had no choice but to pay up."
Kikyō: "..."
So that was it. Once again, she'd been left out of the loop.
Moreover…
"You mean you knew I would betray you from the start?" Kikyō asked quickly.
"Including you. You weren't the only traitor in Class C. It was quite easy for Ryūen to get the participation forms." Houtarou said, "Several students in your class are also my class's spies, so I knew your exact participation lineup."
Oh. So he was saying that one Class C participation form had actually reached Classes A, B, and D?
This meant that even after being promoted to Class C, her classmates remained unreliable. After all, Kikyō had only leaked the form to Kakeru, not to Class A.
"However…" Houtarou looked at her, "You actually let Horikita get hurt. Kushida, you crossed a line."
Kikyō: "..."
She knew it. Now came the difficult part.
Kikyō and Suzune came from the same school. Though she wasn't certain whether Suzune knew about her dark history, Kikyō felt she needed to deal with her to protect her current life.
That's why she had acted. She had schemed to ruin Suzune's reputation, hoping to find an opportunity to get her expelled.
But now she had failed and been caught by Houtarou.
"There are three punishments." Houtarou said, "For all the upcoming competitions Suzune was supposed to participate in, she'll forfeit. However, there's another option — you can substitute for her as the price for your betrayal. If you agree, everything will be forgotten, and any points you earn will count towards her total."
"...The upcoming competitions are recommended events." Kikyō said, "If I'm to substitute for her, it'll cost 100 thousand points per person to make the switch."
"Yes." Houtarou nodded, "And you'll have to pay those points. That's your punishment."
The morning's individual events were finished. The afternoon had the recommended events: the Scavenger Hunt, the Four-Way Tug of War, the Mixed Gender Three-Legged Race, and the All-Grade 1200m Relay.
Suzune had been told by Houtarou to give up the Mixed Gender Three-Legged Race, but she remained signed up for the Scavenger Hunt and Four-Way Tug of War.
Then there was the All-Grade 1200m Relay — with each slot replacement costing 100 thousand points, would she have to pay 300 thousand?
Kikyō was already participating in the Scavenger Hunt and Four-Way Tug of War. This meant she would have to complete two Scavenger Hunts, two Tug of War events, and then the 1200m relay without any rest.
She was also running the fifth leg of the 1200m relay, while Suzune had the fourth leg position. Whether they could switch or not, she felt this would be physically impossible — it would kill someone from exhaustion.
So...
"...What if I refuse?" Kikyō turned back to look.
"Then I'll release the recording of your conversation with Suzune." Houtarou said calmly.
"!" Kikyō immediately looked at Suzune, "If I promise not to target you anymore… then that recording..."
"I won't release our conversation." Suzune said.
Despite her lack of expressiveness, there was something trustworthy about her character — you could tell she would keep her word.
"So now Horikita won't release our conversation." Kikyō said.
"Are you sure?" Houtarou said, "I never said that was the recording I would release."
What did that mean?
"Come here for a moment." Houtarou said to Suzune.
Under Kikyō's watchful gaze, Suzune limped over to him.
Then Houtarou embraced her.
Oh no. His hand reached into the right pocket of her track pants and pulled something out.
It was a red voice recorder. And it was still recording.
The recorder must have been running since it was placed there, capturing everything — Suzune's participation in the Sports Festival, her injury after the 100m race, the 200m race, Kakeru's provocation, and Kikyō's true face being exposed... all of it, right up until now.
This included irrefutable evidence of her true nature and betrayal of the class — information that would destroy her instantly if released.
"This is—" Kikyō's expression finally cracked.
She realized Houtarou would certainly punish her now, perhaps even severely.
After all, that's how protective he was of Suzune.
But this situation revealed something more. If Suzune had been given just one voice recorder, it would have suggested simple self-defense against Kakeru.
But two recorders? The second wasn't meant for Kakeru at all — it was meant for her.
"This was insurance from the beginning." Houtarou said, "You were obsessed with Horikita, so we couldn't predict what you might do. With this recorder, everything becomes evidence."
This meant he had anticipated her betrayal from the start. When she finally did betray them, she would be caught red-handed.
So... had these careful preparations been deliberately designed to give Suzune herself a weapon to control this unstable element?
