Chapter 6: Chapter Six
The cafeteria was mundane at best, even on breaks, there weren't many people there. Eyes roaming around, Kenji observed the people eating, looking for someone he could make a simple deal with.
Finally, his eyes focused on a boy sitting by himself, looking at his food with a dejected look in his eyes.
Standing up from his seat, he walked over to the empty table.
This was tedious, and it would not make much difference to him, but still knowing a few facts wouldn't hurt.
Sitting down next to the upperclassmen, he began the first of his few negotiations.
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"She bribed you with food?"
Kenji snickered, looking at Ayanokoji with a smirk as he bit into the contents of his bento.
"Yeah, I didn't really have much of a choice in the matter."
He sighed and Kenji could only chuckle at the poor bastard's situation. Imagine being bribed by food.
"So, the three idiots of the group, how is that going?"
Ayanokoji just sighed again, closing his eyes.
"As well as you might think..."
The shred of sympathy was overshadowed by amusement, as he chuckled again, poor guy, seriously.
"Well, you could try using Kusida."
Kenji offered. The plan was simple, play on their hormones to get them to study. Simple but effective for a little while.
"But there are more problems with that than reward, so it's not worth it."
He offered a shrug, not really wanting to take the blade if it didn't work out.
"What kind of problems?"
Looking down at his bento, Kenji picked at the food inside, grabbing a piece of tomato.
"Well, Horikita is one of them, the most prominent one, in fact."
Ayanokoji looked at him after that sentence, paying more attention than previously. It was funny how he could not figure it out. It was a good thing he got his intellect from his mother.
"Due to her attitude, she might just piss the guys off enough to leave."
Ayanokoji blinked and looked to the front again, nodding.
"I see..."
Kenjin bit down on the tomato, enjoying the taste and going for the slice of chicken breast next. The sound of a phone receiving a message reached both of their ears in the loud chatter of the classroom and Kenji put his chopsticks down, reaching for his phone and taking it out, looking over the picture that was sent for a moment and humming in approval.
A few taps on the screen and the phone was put down on the table as the boy went back to eating.
Ayanokoji did not pry, it wasn't his business, after all.
"Well, you could try to convince Sudo with basketball, if he gets expelled, his chances of going pro will plummet."
Kenji offered again, getting a nod from Ayanokoji, as the silence descended again between the two, the chatter of other students acting as the background noise.
Putting the lid on the bento, Kenji straightened himself from leaning on the desk and walked a few steps to get to his bag, putting the half-full bento inside.
He needed to make sure Horikita didn't mess up the Class points more than they already were.
Walking past Ayanokoji and offering a wave over his shoulder, he walked out of the classroom, heading in the direction of the cafeteria.
On the way there, he ran into the one he was looking for. Horikita was walking back to class most likely.
"Hey, Horikita, can I have a word with you?"
Kenji asked, pointing at the windowsill. She narrowed her ruby-red eyes at him for a moment, before complying.
Kenji leaned against the wall next to the window, looking at the bustling students as she stood next to him, facing in his direction, her arms crossed.
"I heard that you want to make a study group for those who got low scores."
Kenji pointed out, still not looking at her.
"Yes, what of it?"
Finally, his head turned to her, looking her in the eyes.
"Tell me, Suzune, what do you think will happen when you try to teach them?"
She narrowed her eyes, her eyebrows scrunching up into a frown as she glared at him.
"I don't remember giving you permission to use my first name."
Kenji just shrugged unapologetically.
"Sorry, habit."
Suzune quirked an eyebrow, looking unimpressed at the excuse.
"Did your mother not teach you manners?"
Kenji's eyebrow twitched minutely, slightly displeased at the mention of his parent.
"Don't bring my mother into this, Horikita, using first names was the norm in the country I grew up in."
Her eyebrow came down again into a frown but she just shook her head, getting back to the subject.
"What do I have to do with anything concerning the studies of the three idiots?"
Kenji sighed, looking back forward at the crowd.
"Everything, Horikita, the way you treat them will be a deciding factor if they will study or not."
She narrowed her eyes, seemingly in thought.
"Either way, if they fail, that will be three fewer students to worry about, they won't drag the class down."
Humming in thought for a moment, Kenji sighed in disappointment.
"Horikita, you are not looking at the bigger picture, The class already has no class points, meaning they are trying to behave to their best efforts, but that will not last for long... If you don't give those three a path to walk on, the one who will drag the class down the most will be you."
She made a sound that he immediately assigned to offense. True, he may have offended her, but the truth often hurts.
"What do you mean by that?"
By her tone, he could guess that she was pissed, but he went on nonetheless.
"Play on their interests, play on their hobbies, on their passion, getting idiots to do something that you want is easy, you just have to know how to bait them... Like a carrot on a stick."
Horikita looked at him, her red eyes seemingly looking into Kenji's soul, and finally sighed.
"And how do you suppose I do that?"
The said teen chuckled in amusement.
"Sudo is the most likely to explode first, the other two are followers, keep Sudo there by using basketball, and everything will work out."
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