A Monster's Influence: Route B

Volume 1 - Chapter 3

Ayanokouji's POV.

*yawn*

Another day in the story of my ordinary life. I sat up from my bed, stretching my arms before I looked at my clock to see I had an hour before class. I took a quick shower and dressed in my school uniform before I headed to the kitchen to make a simple breakfast. Absentmindedly, I checked my phone and decided to scroll through the texts in the class group chat that Kanzaki invited me into... there were an awful lot of texts. Ichinose had apparently made quite a lot of friends in class. It looks like she was on her way to fulfilling the first part of her goal. I guess this is what the life of riajuus is like. The texts have been going on through the night and even in the morning. It was a good thing I had turned off notifications on my phone or else I wouldn't have gotten an ample amount of sleep because of the constant buzzing.

I brushed my teeth and exited my dorm to ride the elevator and leave for the classroom. Inside the elevator, I met with Kanzaki and a few new faces that I had seen yesterday.

"Hey, you're Ayanokouji-san, right?" the blue-haired boy asked me, to which I nodded silently, "Nice to meet ya! I'm Shibata Sou, and these are Hamaguchi and Beppu," he jerked his thumb at each person.

The boy with glasses waved cheerfully while the other one just stared quietly at me. I felt threatened that someone was going to replace my role as the silent one so I just gazed back silently into his eyes. No one had made a sound until the elevator dinged again and we both looked away. The other three held their breaths for some reason.

"What are you doing?" Beppu had asked, looking at the weirdos. I childishly pumped my fist in victory and I saw he had a visible tick mark on his head.

"...Why exactly did you stare at each other for that long?" Kanzaki asked. What a fool. He cannot begin to understand the inner machinations of our minds.

"We mutually decided to have a contest that I obviously won," I commented. Shibata snorted while Hamaguchi chuckled.

"It looks like you're more down-to-earth than I thought," Hamaguchi said, "The way you carried yourself yesterday and your natural looks almost made you look untouchable. A lot of the girls have been talking about you,"

I furrowed my brow and asked, "Was that supposed to be an insult?" If I recall, untouchables are people that are ostracized.

"No, no, don't misunderstand me," he replied, waving his hands apologetically, "The girls were going on about your supposed maturity and your good looks. Say, are you from an upper-class family?"

"Just the opposite. My family background is rather average, you know. I'm not the wealthiest. My biological father may be considered nouveau riche, however. He has acquired considerable wealth from his previous ventures in the political world as an éminence grise until he was kicked out, considering that he owned a mansion and hired a family butler. 

The four of us chatted until we got to class and went to our respective seats and talked with our relative friend groups. I shot out a text to Himeno that was immediately read and received a reply quickly. She was hanging out with Ichinose and the other girls in Pallet Cafe. She was exasperated at the happy-go-lucky nature of our classmates. Apparently, trying to keep up with the conversation was draining and she'd rather talk to me. I simultaneously texted Himeno while I chatted with Kanzaki about future class matters.

"The best time for Ichinose to present will be after homeroom. We have a few minutes before the next class, anyway," I said, regarding the matter about student evaluation, "I think this will cement her status as the class leader and representative,"

"I see. I think it will be pertinent to back her by offering support to secure the position. You said we will have to work as a collective in order to match our competitors, right?" Kanzaki asked rhetorically.

Ichinose definitely has the natural charisma to be a leader and will likely unite the class with her electric personality. She is also naturally cunning and has a keen intuition. However, from what I gathered from Kanzaki, she unfortunately possesses a naive outlook on things, being rather benign and pacifistic in nature. She'll be likely to disengage in matters of an underhanded nature. I'd have to do something to change her worldview somehow. I can't just replace her with Kanzaki, who does not have the charisma to lead the class even though he possesses the intelligence. I'll have to train him into being a tactician for the class, moving independently from the rest. I'll also have to manipulate the class so they'll be willing to take underhanded tactics for the class' survival and success. I need to find the external stimulus to act as a trigger. Perhaps I'll use Ichinose one way or another. If something happens to her, the monolith will bear its fangs towards the enemy, whether Ichinose likes it or not. I have to tread carefully— it has to happen naturally. It wouldn't be in my favor if it doesn't, as Ichinose may suspect me and I may lose trust. It is entirely possible the other classes will target our class, but I doubt they'll directly attack Ichinose right away. After this month, we may probably be probed by competitors that are willing to play dirty.

My monologue was interrupted by Himeno and the other girls arriving to class. Unlike some of the other girls, Himeno decided to forgo the blazer in favor of a more laid-back look, wearing a grey vest over a collared shirt and a short skirt. We chatted a bit before Hoshinomiya-sensei arrived and began homeroom.

Timeskip

After homeroom ended and sensei left, Ichinose walked to the podium and was met with the stares of the whole class. Ugh, I'm glad it wasn't me up there. Facing all these stares would be nerve-wracking for me. 

"Ohayo, minna! I'd like to have a word with everyone before the next class begins. Do you mind if you all spare a few minutes?" she said.

"Go ahead!"

"We can hear you out,"

Resounding affirmatives were heard throughout the class.

Ichinose asked the class, "Isn't it odd that we were given 100,000 points right away with seemingly no drawback?"

"Yeah, that is kinda weird,"

"Something is going on, huh,"

Ichinose continued, "I was talking with Ayanokouji-kun, Kanzaki-kun, and Himeno-san yesterday at lunch about this. Ayanokouji-kun found it was suspicious, considering there are around 480 students every year at this high school. It would be unlikely for us to receive a total of 48 million yen per month, even if the school is backed by the government."

"Wow, he really is a detective,"

"Tanteikouji,"

Kanzaki also stood up from his seat, saying "Sensei has mentioned in her speech that we will be evaluated one way or another. I'm sure you've noticed that there are plenty of cameras across campus as well as in the classroom,"

Our classmates looked around and spotted a few cameras around the class, exclaiming in surprise at the situation at hand.

"Huh, that's kinda weird,"

"What could this mean?"

"Did they notice that girl who nicked a can of beer?"

"We made the conjecture that the amount we receive is tied to our evaluation," Kanzaki continued, "We also believe that given that we're being evaluated, it's likely we will compete with the other classes for some other reason. Ayanokouji-san said that it would be cumbersome for our evaluators to grade us all individually. It's likely our behavior will be graded as a whole."

"That's why I want us all to be on our best behavior. Everyone, let's work hard together and do our best!" Ichinose said jovially, punching the air. Cute. 

The class all visibly agreed and cheered before they all quieted in preparation for the next class.

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Tantei means detective. I hope I portrayed Ichinose well. I'm picturing Himeno as sort of being like Ibuki with less social awkwardness. That's my take on her. She's sort of like Kushida in a way that she hides that she dislikes the happy-go-lucky and naive nature of her classmates because she feels it's too overbearing. Bye for now, got a marketing exam around noon tomorrow. Gotta sleep.