December 23rd, Friday.
Around 4 hours before Kushida Kikyou's confession, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka made his way to the teachers' faculty.
"You're here. Alright, let's go." With an unperturbed look on her face, Chabashira Sae took the lead and started walking to a very specific place.
"Is this really needed?" Ayanokouji asked.
"The chairman insisted on it. Your whole ploy may have been successful, but it took a considerable amount of effort from the people in the background."
"I see. So the chairman wants to make the costs clear."
Chabashira didn't respond and continued walking. After a while, they reached a certain room and knocked on the door.
"Come in," said the man inside.
The two entered and were greeted by Chairman Sakayanagi.
"Good day to you Chabashira-sensei, Kiyotaka-kun." He gestured for them to take their seats and have some tea.
"Good afternoon, Chairman." Chabashira bowed before sitting on the sofa.
Ayanokouji was silent but he took a seat anyway.
"Now then, shall we recount everything involving your plan?" He asked, wanting to get straight to the point.
"Yes. I assume you've listed every detail?" Ayanokouji responded.
"I'm not sure, so please do mention anything that I miss."
The chairman started retelling each circumstance right from the start.
"On the 17th of May, you asked Chabashira-sensei to look up Kikyou-kun's records with the goal of knowing more about her past." (1)
Ayanokouji began his master plan all the way from there. However, the chairman didn't know everything. After getting a hold of Sakuragaoka Academy's name, he did his research as to how some things came to be. Of course, public information on the internet was his only lead, but luckily, almost every big school in Japan has its own functioning website, and Sakuragaoka wasn't an exception. He saw the news page and decided that his plan would center around it.
With a brief review of what he knew about IP addresses, WiFi, SIM cards, and other adjacent topics, Ayanokouji started doing some tests. One of which would be the time when he helped Katsuragi through Sudou during summer vacation. He consulted Chabashira Sae about the rules related to these things and gathered the needed information. He even procured a SIM card that wasn't under the school's jurisdiction in preparation for a worst-case scenario. (2)
Going over his initial plans, Ayanokouji's first objective was to collect as much information as he possibly could before coming up with a tangible plan. Once he'd done this, all he needed to do was wait for the right pieces to fall in place. He wanted an opposition that would serve as a driving force for this plan.
As expected, Ayanokouji's patience would bear fruit and the perfect person came along. Ryuuen Kakeru had finally entered the scene. He made it so that Ryuuen could not beat him head-on no matter what. This would force Ryuuen to attack someone close to him instead just to get an edge.
On the island, he managed to manipulate Ibuki who relayed everything she knew to Ryuuen. (3)
Ayanokouji predicted that Ryuuen would want to confirm this information, so he engineered a situation where the latter would be able to observe just how "important" Kushida was to him. First, he manipulated Kushida into sneaking up to their secret meeting, knowing she'd get caught by Ryuuen. Then, if Ryuuen decides to check Ayanokouji and Kushida's relationship by provoking them, Ayanokouji would fool them by acting overly despondent to give them the impression that he's trying too hard to look unbothered by the provocation. (4)
After that, he finally made contact with Chairman Sakayanagi to talk about the plan.
"Sometime later, Chabashira-sensei reached out to me, saying that you'd like to get in touch. And on the 13th of August, we finally got on a call while you were on the cruise ship. After giving my approval, Chabashira-sensei explained the details of your plan to me." (5)
Ayanokouji asked the chairman for a favor.
First, he'd have him contact the Sakuragaoka Academy's School Board and relay some concerns regarding Kushida Kikyou and the incident. Ayanokouji's goal was to deceive not just Ryuuen, but the entire student body. In order to not cause any damage to Sakuragaoka itself, only the ones who use ANHS's network will be able to access the news page of their website for a certain amount of time. In other words, it will be closed to the public. So, any changes that happen within the page will only be known by ANHS students.
"As planned, I handled Sakuragaoka Academy's Board of Directors on the 3rd of November. Kikyou-kun is indeed an auspicious student, so it's not like we've told any lies. Thanks to your preparations, my meeting with them went well," said the chairman.
"Not at all. If it wasn't for Chairman Sakayanagi's identity, I doubt the higher-ups of Sakuragaoka Academy would entertain the proposal." Ayanokouji shook his head.
Apart from his reputation and authority, the chairman proposed that the school deems Kushida as a promising student. However, she could not overcome her past. He said that some changes related to her are about to happen and his request will greatly help Kushida's development as a student.
Of course, it wasn't easy. The chairman may have been powerful, but Sakuragaoka's Board of Directors was still cautious, and they wanted to know all of the details. According to Ayanokouji's instructions, the specifics of his plans on their news page should be hidden from those narrow-minded old heads if possible. He predicted that they would end up prying too much should they find out he wanted to create a fabricated article containing Kushida's "fake past" as well as a public apology post.
In the end, the thing that convinced them was the fact that Kushida's potential graduation as an accomplished student of ANHS (along with Horikita Suzune) would give their school a lot of prestige. This was a very attractive outcome, and they were about to see its first example with Horikita Manabu being dubbed as the greatest Student Council President in the history of ANHS. If two more of their former students graduate with similar accolades, Sakuragaoka's reputation should see rapid growth in the years to come.
Around this time Ryuuen had also started moving forward with his plans. After eavesdropping and recording Kushida and Ayanokouji's conversation, he found out about the former's true nature. Ryuuen managed to use the recording as a bargaining chip to destroy the contract compelling him to cooperate with Horikita's class should they demand it. (6)
While it is true that Ayanokouji didn't sense Ryuuen's presence when he was hiding, his appearance was still within his expectations. In fact, things would still be in his favor because Ryuuen finding out about Kushida's true nature would make him curious about her past. And of course, this is what Ayanokouji wanted.
After that, Ryuuen finally started putting pressure on Kushida. He was locked in on uncovering her secret past, and on the 5th of November, he finally bought the necessary information from Chabashira-sensei. He found out about the name of Kushida's middle school and saw all the information needed to use against her. (7)
On top of that, he prepared the location where this final confrontation would happen. His large-scale attack involved many classmates and even weapons. Ryuuen wanted to go all-out. (8)
The crux of his plan was to make both Kushida and Ayanokouji suffer. So, after tormenting Kushida, he'd crush Ayanokouji with violence until he submitted— at least, that was the plan.
In the end, Ryuuen realized that he was the one dancing on top of Ayanokouji's palm. The guy swiftly took out Sonoda and Ibuki before beating Albert, Ishizaki, and eight other Class D students all at the same time. Ayanokouji's fighting prowess was too much for them and they were all defeated without landing a single hit on him. Ryuuen didn't back down, however, and fought Ayanokouji until the end. Of course, he was thoroughly beaten up until he was no longer conscious.
As all of that was happening, Chabashira Sae, a few of the chairman's trusted men, and a number of their associates from Sakuragaoka (in charge of the website) handled the changes on the news page. And with the help of Horikita Suzune, the exposé about Kushida Kikyou's "past" on ANHS's online forum was properly diffused.
December 22nd, on that fated day, everything unfolded... and ended.
Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's POV
"According to your report, everything went smoothly in the end. Is that right, Chabashira-sensei?"
"Yes, Chairman. Sakuragaoka has regained total control of its website. The news page will once again become accessible to the public tomorrow as soon as the apology post is taken down."
The chairman nodded, his expression pleased.
"I have a few clues as to what your confrontation with Ryuuen Kakeru-kun was about, but I've decided to turn a blind eye to it."
"That would be appreciated. I've only expended the necessary amount of effort to get the ideal result, so please rest assured. The situation won't escalate any further."
"That's good." The chairman relaxingly sipped his tea as if he were waiting for something.
Of course, I'd noticed this. I sighed and decided to speak up.
"Thank you for your help, Chairman. May I ask how I can repay this favor?"
"Haha," he chuckled. "There's no need for such formalities, Kiyotaka-kun. You're Sensei's son. It wouldn't be proper if I demanded something from you because of this. In fact, I don't mind helping you out again as long as your request doesn't disrupt the competition between classes. As I said before, I just want you to remember my goodwill when you grow up."
As expected, he's not backing down on that. It's convenient right now, but I feel like it'll be a nuisance in the future.
"If that's the case, then I would like to at least articulate my gratitude. This wouldn't have been possible without your help."
"I'm sure you've already accounted for other possibilities in case I didn't accept your request. You've made this plan ever since May and you've managed to perfectly execute everything to get your desired result. It's to be expected, but you really are a spectacular mastermind, and it would be foolish to think that you don't have at least two or three backup plans in case something goes awry." With Chabashira-sensei around, the chairman was mindful enough to not mention the White Room. "Regardless, you're very welcome. Since we're now clear on everything related to your request, I think we can finally close the book and move on from this success."
"Thank you for your time, Chairman." Chabashira-sensei stood up and bowed.
Of course, I did the same.
"Thank you for your assistance, Chabashira-sensei. And Kiyotaka-kun, as the chairman of this school, I hope you can continue enjoying your time here."
Seriously, I just don't know what to think of the chairman. I did nothing but sigh after exiting the room.
"You've really done it now, Ayanokouji. Was everything worth it?" asked Chabashira-sensei.
"I'm not sure. At the very least, Kikyou won't have to worry about her past being weaponized against her again," I answered as the two of us started walking back to the teachers' faculty.
"Hm, Kushida must be over the moon for you to go this far for her."
"Is that so? Well, that's better than a negative reaction."
Chabashira-sensei stayed silent, but it didn't seem like she wanted to end the conversation. After a few seconds, she finally decided to speak again.
"I'm going to ask a personal question, Ayanokouji. I don't mind if you refuse to answer."
"What is it?"
"Are you in love with Kushida?"
"That really is a personal question. Sorry, but I don't feel like answering."
"I see. That's totally fine. I'm not trying to encourage or forbid you from forming that sort of relationship with anyone, but I want to give you a fair warning. Given your position, it's going to be a hard path. Even if you're not a leader anymore, you're still a prominent student in the class. You don't have the same luxury as normal students."
"Don't worry, Sensei. I'm well aware of that."
It almost sounded like she was speaking from experience.
Still, even if I didn't confirm my feelings for Kikyou, I never denied it either. The answer will never be clear to Chabashira-sensei.
This begs the question. Why did I create this plan if I didn't love Kikyou? Why would I go to such lengths to change Kushida Kikyou?
There are two answers. One was to sate my curiosity. And the other was to create the perfect tool.
What would be the end result of this plan, I wonder? Will I succeed or will I fail?
Author's Notes:
You may have forgotten about some of these events, so I'll be putting the related chapters for those who want some refreshers.
1. Vol. 1: Chapter 15.2.2 - Pulling the Strings
2. Vol. 4.5: Chapter 9.3 - For Someone's Sake
3. Vol. 3: Chapter 9.2 - Small Blunder
4. Vol. 4: Chapter 9.3 - The Devil's Warning
5. Vol. 4: Chapter 9.5 - The Marionette
6. Vol. 5: Chapter 4.3 - To Prevent a Disaster
7. Vol. 6: Chapter 4.1 - Mise-en-Scène
8. Vol. 7: Chapter 6.1 - Trying to Live