cote react to

part 19

"You injured her?" Katsuragi asked shocked.

"What the hell, Ryuuen-kun?!" Kanzaki yelled.

"What if you accidentally, no, what if you broke her bones?!" Ichinose said worried.

"You're insane." Tachibana shook her head.

"Sensei, are you hearing this?!" Shibata asked the teachers.

Sakagami hesitantly answered, "If... If the injury was agreed by both parties with enough compensation, we can't hold Ryuuen accountable."

"Huh?!"

"What do you mean if the two agreed?!"

"You injured...her?" I asked.

"She agreed when I told her that I'd pay her 500,000 points. Man, the power of money is a terrifying thing, isn't it?"

So, he'd decided from the very beginning that Kinoshita-san would sustain a serious injury. His schemes, and his ability to execute them, were both terrifying. He'd do anything for the sake of winning, but I was shocked that he'd speak of that so openly.

Is it really okay for you to just blab on and on?" I asked him.

"What?"

"If I happened to be recording your confession, what would you do?" As I asked that question, I pulled out my phone.

"Did you come up with that bluff just now?"

"I bet everything on it. Still, I'm surprised you told me so much." I pushed a button on my phone and played back the recording from a specific point.

"Before the sports festival, I had Kushida get her hands on Class D's complete-"

"Yahoo!" Yamauchi cheered.

"Ha take that!" Sudo pointed at Ryuuen mockingly.

Ryuuen smile never faded. "You think I wouldn't have thought of that?"

"Huh?"

"If you complain about me, or demand that I pay you points or bow before you, I'll use the evidence I now hold in my hands. If I do, which of us will be in trouble?" I asked.

"Wha-?!" Ryuuen-kun's smile disappeared for the first time. His words failed him. "Suzune...you..."

"I don't want to cause any panic. That's why I'd like to settle things."

"Heh heh! Ha ha ha ha!" Ryuuen-kun suddenly burst out in laughter."You really are an entertaining woman, you know that? I said so from the very beginning, didn't I? The contents of our current conversation are, at best, complete fiction. I was just humoring your delusions. All I did was anticipate the story you conjured up inside your own head," he replied.

"I could delete the part where you said it was a delusion and edit the recording, couldn't I?" I asked.

"Well, in that case, I'd just have to hand over the original recording. Then there would be no problem at all." Ryuuen, smiling boldly, took his own phone from his pocket. "Do you know what this is? The full audio recording, from beginning to end. In fact, I actually took video."

"You were saying?" Ryuuen asked them.

Class Det out a tch and glared at him.

"Would you look at that," Sakayanagi said in a fake shock voice. "Who knew that you could use your brain?"