Chapter 95

Chapter 95

Before I knew it, I'd somehow ended up chatting to Ibuki like one would a friend. How strange.

"Hmm? But, in the event that it escalates and gets out of hand, the whole of Class C could be affected by their behaviour. Is it not best to quell the flame while it is small?"

I probed her to see how she'd respond.

"Well, in that case, they'll be having a little chat with Ryūen."

As expected, the looming threat of Ryūen's wrath seemed to stop any of the Class C students from stepping out of line. They were more scared of him than they were the actual school's penalties.

"Ryūen is the absolute authority, huh..." I murmured.

"...That's how it is," Ibuki confirmed with a reluctant nod.

"Hm?" I tilted my head to the side as I glanced at the girl walking beside me. "Does that disturb you?"

"Well, I can't say I like Ryūen. In fact, I hate him."

"But you still follow him?"

"I acknowledge him as the only man who has the ability to bring us to Class A. That's it. Nothing more."

So, Ibuki respected Ryūen's ability, but hated him as a person, huh? Well, it wasn't entirely unexpected, considering Ryūen's nature.

"The ability to take you to Class A, huh..."

"That's right. I find his methods completely distasteful, but I can't deny that he can bring results."

I raised an eyebrow. "Bring results? Last I checked, all Ryūen's done so far at this school is fail."

First, it was with his plot to pick a fight with another class and frame them for it, and then again on the island exam. No matter how you look at it, Ryūen's schemes have all failed thus far.

"Well, it's true that as far as Class D has been involved, Ryūen is yet to succeed. However, he has executed a number of successful schemes behind the scenes. Even on the island, although he failed to gain any class points, he still managed to steal the key cards and find out Class A's leader. Plus, he achieved his true objective, did he not?"

"You mean the contract he formed with Class A?" I asked.

"So you knew, huh?"

Ibuki looked half as if she was expecting me to already know, but also seemed frustrated by it. Did she say that unsure of whether or not I actually knew about it? In that case, she risked leaking something unnecessary to Class D.

Why? Did she believe that Class D would've already figured it out on our own? If so, that meant that she held a certain degree of acknowledgement for abilities. She must've taken this into account before speaking, perhaps prodding to see how I'd respond

My opinion of Ibuki Mio went up.

"Well, I figured that he had something going on with Class A, going by the fact that they didn't spend a single S point during the whole island exam yet still ended up with water bottles purchased from the school. Linking that back to the one class that'd spent all their points on luxuries wasn't hard. I don't have a definite idea of what Ryūen got in return for all that, though."

I explained my reasoning to Ibuki, seeing no reason to withhold such information now that the exam is over. If she reports this back to Ryūen, then so what?

That guy probably already figured that Class D knew about his alliance with Class A.

"I see... you're a sharp one."

Unexpectedly, Ibuki gave me a compliment.

"Well, you're also pretty smart, Ibuki. You said that bit about Ryūen's true goal because you predicted that I already knew about it right, and wanted to see how I'd react to gauge me?"

I daresay that this girl is even above that Horikita in Class E in terms of overall prowess. Such were my true thoughts.

"Speaking of, why did you do that?" I inquired inquisitively.

"Well..." Ibuki began hesitantly. "In a way, you remind me a little of Ryūen. And after the special exam on the island, I came to think that you have tremendous ability too, just like him. I wanted to confirm that, I suppose."

So the whole reason she approached me was because she wanted to test my ability? It certainly explained the coincidental meeting, but I couldn't help but wonder why she'd singled me out among all the students in Class D.

Perhaps it's because I was the one who appeared before Ryūen and Ibuki after she knocked out Horikita?

Or is it because I remind her of Ryūen, whatever that means? Or maybe both?

Well, whatever the case, here we are. I'm now acquainted with Ibuki Mio. Whether or not that's a good thing is yet to be discovered.

"I remind you of Ryūen? How so?"

"Well, for one, you give off that same air of superiority and flippant attitude that he does. And you don't seem averse to using others as pawns for your own gain, similarly to Ryūen too, to name a few things." Ibuki explained as we walked.

"Exuding an air of superiority and flippantness, and using others as pawns? Aren't those traits that make you hate Ryūen? Shouldn't you then also hold a dislike towards me, too?"

I expected Ibuki to admit that she did indeed hate me, and only approached me to confirm her hunch, but she subverted my expectations and shook her head.

"Nah. Pushing others down for your own benefit is pretty much what every successful person does nowadays. What I dislike about him is how he's so quick to exercise violence."

I visibly narrowed my eyes at her. "What, coming from the person who didn't hesitate to beat Horikita down two-on-one back on the island?"

She shot me a harsh glare in response. "Hey, that was a last resort and you know it. What else could I do? She was so insistent on fighting me for the key card."

Fair enough, I thought to myself. If somebody was insistent on fighting with you that much, then I suppose there was only one move available to you.

"So, it's more like, you hate Ryūen because he thinks of making people submit to him through violence first, as his primary method?"

"Exactly."

"Though I must say, for somebody so opposed to using violence to win your battles, you're pretty strong." I said.

Ibuki rolled her eyes. "I didn't become strong so I could beat people up. Also, I'm not sure if that's a good thing to say to a girl?"

I stared at her in confusion briefly.

"You don't seem like the type to be offended by such words anyway." I brushed off what I presumed to be a joke.

"Heh. You're lucky that I'm proud of my strength." Ibuki proceeded to glance up and down my figure for a moment before speaking again. "Speaking of strength, are you strong, Lelouch?"

"You'd beat me up," I answered immediately. "Honestly, it wouldn't even be a fight. More of a humiliating beatdown on my end, to be honest."

I had to say that before she got any scary ideas. You know, for my own safety.

After realising what I'd just said, I thought that I ought to tack on an extra bit at the end.

"But don't tell anyone, okay? If it got out that Lelouch could be beaten up easily by a girl, my reputation would plummet!"

Ibuki stared at me in disbelief for a few beats, before she let out a few hearty laughs.

So she can laugh, huh. Interesting.

"You're an idiot, you know?"

"Oi, what did you say about my ability earlier? 'Tremendous,' was it?" I shot back with a laugh.

"Shut up."

Before I realised it, we'd ended up quite far from the rooms, standing on the breezy deck of the ship. Realising that the exam period was over and we'd already walked far enough away, I decided to end it here.

"Well, we'd better part ways here," I told Ibuki. "I bet Ryūen has quite a bit to say about the meetings just now, too."

"Tch. It'd be more surprising if he didn't."

I turned my back to Ibuki and began walking in a different direction, but not before dropping a departing line, of course.

"See you around, Ibuki."

"Yeah," she called out.

Well I might as well just go back to the guest room for now. It's not like there's any urgent need to meet with the whole class right now anyway. Every discussion seems to have gone similarly.

I briefly wondered whether anybody else would've returned to our room yet, but quickly realised that it didn't really matter.

Whether I got some rest or made idle talk with those guys, both were acceptable.

Hmm, what's this? It seemed like I'd started subconsciously referring to such things as 'acceptable,' rather than 'mundane,' which I usually use.

... That's a good thing, right?