Today was awesome.
Finally, I managed to get some shit to work.
It's been pretty bullshit how so far everything I've tried has been fucked over, outplayed by my opponents, but now it worked. Single-handedly, I managed to cripple Class A, and badly damage Class D.
Except it wasn't single-handedly. And I didn't damage Class D.
I didn't manage it on my own. It would have, if he hadn't interfered, but that monster Ayanokouji got in the way, improved my own plan, and then gifted it to me as if he was the one who made it. As if it had been his plan the entire time, and he was simply presenting me with a win.
To take my strategy and improve it like it was his really pissed me off. It made my efforts and work to ensure it happened feel useless. Once again, Ayanokouji interfered with my strategy, and the result was a hollow, bitter victory.
Class D also didn't suffer, once again because of that fucking monster.
A two-month plan, with my entire class on board, executed to perfection. Fourteen members of Class D out sick for the second half of the day, missing some of their best athletes. I got to toy with Horikita all I wanted, and it was amazing to watch her dance in the palm of my hand.
But even with that deficit, the monster couldn't be stopped.
It was complete bullshit. Almost a third of their teammates missing from capture the flag, and he and that bastard narcissist just run at us and forced their way through to win.
How the fuck do you beat that?
Even when I get the numerical advantage, outmanoeuvre him completely, he still finds a way to win through brute strength. How OP is that?
That pissed me off even more. He let me do it. I was sure Ayanokouji knew what was coming. I had expected him to react, to make some plan to counter me. To someone like him, a master of mind games, there was no way he didn't expect my plan.
But the bastard let it happen, he let me win like it didn't even matter to him at all. And in the end it didn't.
It was that disrespect that ticked me off the most. That he would just sit there and let me attack him and his class, because I wasn't worth his time. It was insulting, it was demeaning, it made my blood boil.
Oh, I would show him. This was just the beginning after all. Just my first proper attack on his class. There would be more, plans and schemes that I would come up with far beyond this one. A two-month operation? That was easy, especially when my class just had to keep one secret. Even those dumbasses managed that pretty well.
This wouldn't end here. Class A was on the verge of collapse. One more loss and I was confident many of them would give up. Their wins had been gifted by god, and now he wasn't on their side they would be taken away.
It was appalling how weak Class A was. To think that they, the distraction in my plan, not even the main focus of my attacks, the main reason, was defeated harder than Class D. It was pathetic how easily they had fallen apart, but once again I couldn't claim that complete credit to myself.
That monster stole that as well, giving me better opportunities, inciting Kanzaki for my moment, acting as if he perfectly knew my mind.
It would have worked even without his help, but the fact that it worked better with an external assistant...
I'm gonna kill that fucker. I'm going to crush him, defeat him even though no one else has yet. Everything that happens in this school, he's involved somehow. Every time, he turns the situation to his favour, no matter how impossible.
This time, it was sheer physical ability, and that is something I simply can't overcome. In a physical confrontation, I will lose. It wasn't a scary though. I'd lost many times in my life, and I'd seen him defeat Horikita on the island. I was confident he hadn't even been trying.
He cannot be beaten through physical means. That is an undisputed fact.
I had thought I knew his limits. I thought such actions were impossible, overcoming such ridiculous odds, predicting my plans and stealing the joy from victory. But even then, he was stronger than I thought. Beyond human comprehension.
Sakayanagi had warned me.
She told me my plan wasn't good enough, that it wouldn't be enough to stop Ayanokouji. It galled me to think she was right.
The stupid petite bitch had known how powerful he was, had told me, and I hadn't listened. And then, she abandoned our plan somewhat to save her own class. So, while I fell into third place, she came out in first.
I was lucky my class saw today as a victory. I had explained to them from the beginning that we were going to lose out on points, that the white team was at a disadvantage. And so, they believed that crushing Class A, that outplaying Class D was the end goal, and that we had achieved that. They believed that we had met all our goals for the day, and that losing 150 class points didn't matter.
Thank God for that.
Really, I had been planning to get second place, since I knew getting first would be impossible. Coming in third was damaging. We weren't that far from falling to Class D anymore, our buffer window practically gone. They were hot on our heels climbing the ranks, in fact if he hadn't cruelly expelled some useless flotsam from his class, Ayanokouji would have already passed us.
I was going to have words with Sakayanagi. She knew about him, more than most people did. Somehow, she knew him before coming to this school. Out of everyone he interacted with, she was probably one of his closest relationships outside of his own class. My spies had informed me every time they met up, and it was often.
Sakayanagi had known how smart he was, how strong he was. That was why she had warned me that my plan wouldn't be enough. I bet she'd been laughing as it fell apart when I didn't believe her.
Oh, there would be a reckoning one day, but for now I had my target. Ayanokouji. I would beat him. It was a promise I had made multiple times, but up until now I hadn't understood what it would take.
A man that was almost omnipotent, understanding everything that was happening. Who knew about imminent danger, and did nothing to stop it, in fact he let it happen. Who, despite all odds, consistently came out on top.
I had no idea how to defeat him.
I knew I would. It was inevitable, but going up against him was an entirely different challenge. A leviathan in our grade, and it would take a combination of forces to beat him. But even so, even if it took everything I had, Ayanokouji would lose to me one day.
But as for today, it was his victory. My plan had executed perfectly, and it still hadn't been enough.
In the end, even though I won, I lost in all the metrics I cared about.
And in the end, today was disappointing.
Authors Notes:
Another Ryuuen SS. This one was interesting as i had to include his frustration at his plans never working, and then when they work it wasn't even him. Ryuuen is a proud character, so he's pretty pissed at this point. He doesn't care if everyone else sees him as successful, to his own hind he hasn't won yet.
As always, hope you enjoyed!