Chapter 12: Unseen Trap

Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Unseen Trap

Shion’s monologue, POV

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Wait I can remember Mataguchi saying "all talk will get you no way, you better watch your back"

I’m starting to think this is what he meant.

"I see, you wasn’t serious. Well I guess I don’t have a problem with that but what about now? Any change of heart?" Kinto added.

"No sorry, not really. I do like this position as vice president though"

"Well that’s no fun." Kinto sighed.

"Look here... why don’t we have ourselves a little contest?" I proposed. "Whoever loses does whatever the winner says."

Now that I think about it. I do have something I was going to ask him to do though I can’t disclose it to him without him refusing. I mean since it’s about Oota.

​"And why would I do that?" Kinto asked, leaning against the desk.

​"I said I’d do whatever you asked if you won. Unless... you’re afraid of actually losing?"

​Kinto’s sharp blue eyes locked onto mine. Without missing a beat, he replied, "Be my girlfriend."

"Uh?"

"Uh?"

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

The group and I all muttered in surprise, I wasn’t expecting him to be so direct with his feelings or try to throw me off like that.

"If you agree to that term, I will gladly do anything you want of me" he added.

"Wait did he just-" Anna muttered in confusion, she seemed to not have believe what she had just heard.

Tanya looked for a second before turning back to her phone she had just brought out.

"Mama already has papa as her partner and wouldn’t be needing anymore" Fuuyu interrupted.

Strangely, the thunder stormed. The sound echo across the classroom.

"Ahh!"

"Arrrhh!"

Both Fuuyu and Anna screamed in fear, moving to me side. Everyone eyes turned to the window. It started raining with no sign of first starting.

I think I remember the weather report saying we will be having a bright and clear sky today.

The silence that followed the sudden clap of thunder was heavy, broken only by the aggressive drumming of rain against the glass panes. Outside, the sky had bruised into an ominous, overcast gray, completely betraying the morning’s weather forecast. Inside Class 3-D, the atmosphere had turned just as turbulent.

​"Be your... what?" I managed to squeak out, my voice cracking slightly as the weight of Kinto’s condition landed in the room.

​Kinto didn’t blink. His expression remained entirely composed, his sharp blue eyes cool, as if he had just asked for the time rather than dropped an absolute nuclear bomb on our conversation. He stood there, leaning casually against the desk with his arms folded across his chest.

​"You heard me," Kinto said, his tone flat, measured, and completely devoid of any playfulness.

"If I win the selection test, you become my girlfriend. If you win, I’ll comply with whatever demand you have, no questions asked. You were the one who asked if I was afraid of losing, Shion. I am simply setting the stakes."

​"Hold on a minute! That’s completely unfair!" Fuuyu instantly stepped forward, her hands balled into fists at her sides, her cheerful demeanor completely replaced by sharp indignation.

"Mama already has Pops! They literally just fixed things between them! You can’t just swoop in and make a bet like that out of nowhere!"

​"We aren’t..." I tried to interject, feeling the heat rising up my neck again, "Oota and I aren’t officially..."

​"It doesn’t matter!" Fuuyu cut in, waving her arms in protest. "Pops is the only one fit for Mama! Right, Anna?"

​Anna, who was still clinging tightly to the sleeve of my uniform, looked up at Kinto with wide, trembling green eyes behind her glasses. Her posture was tense, her fingers tightening on my fabric as if Kinto were about to physically drag me away right then and there. It was like watching my own child.

​"N-No..." Anna stammered out, her voice barely louder than the rain pounding against the window, but filled with absolute defiance.

"Mama... Mama can’t accept that. If Mama becomes your girlfriend, then... then you’ll take her away from us. From... from me."

​"I am not ’taking’ anyone anywhere," Kinto replied smoothly, his gaze shifting slightly to Anna before returning to me.

"It is a simple conditional contract. A challenge proposed by Shion herself. If she is confident in her ability to outscore or outperform me, then the terms of my victory shouldn’t concern her at all. Unless, of course, you don’t actually believe you can win."

​"Is he serious...?" a whisper rippled through the small group of boys sitting a few desks over.

​"No way, man. Kinto’s actually making a move on Shiwogata-san?"

​"Wait, she can’t actually say yes to that, right? She’s the heart of the class! If he takes our queen, Class 3-D loses its entire morale!"

​"Don’t do it, Shiwogata-san! Don’t let him corner you!"

There were over 400+ students in the classroom currently, needless to say I couldn’t tell who was speaking.

​The low murmuring of the classroom buzzed around us, mixing with the rhythmic roar of the downpour outside. I could feel dozens of eyes locked onto the back of my head. My mind was racing. Kinto knew exactly what he was doing. He was using my own provocation against me, laying down a condition so absurd that backing down now would mean admitting defeat before the selection test even started.

​If I backed down, I’d lose all leverage. But if I agreed...

​I cast a quick sideways glance at Tanya. She hadn’t said a single word since the thunder struck. She was leaning back in her chair, her long black fringe shadowing her dark, heavy-lidded eyes, her face a completely blank mask. Slowly, she pulled the lollipop out of her mouth, released a long, tired sigh that practically radiated exhaustion at our class’s endless drama, and put the lollipop back in, turning her eyes back down to her phone screen. She clearly wanted no part in this circus, but her sigh said it all: You walked right into this one.

​"Shion, don’t listen to him," Fuuyu pleaded, grabbing my other arm. "Just call off the bet! You don’t have to prove anything to Kinto! If Pops hears about this, he’s going to lose his mind!"

​"This isn’t about Oota," I said softly, though my heart was hammering violently against my ribs.

​I looked at Kinto. He hadn’t moved an inch. His expression remained completely neutral, like a stone wall. He wasn’t doing this out of spite, nor did he seem to be doing it out of some grand, passionate romance. He was placing a heavy piece on the board to see if I had the stomach to play. This little devil thingy.

​"The terms are set," Kinto stated, his voice steady. "Accept or decline, Shion. The choice is entirely yours."

​I bit my lower lip, my fingers tightly gripping the edge of the desk behind me.

I need his cooperation for the selection test. If I win, I can use his position to protect Oota’s standing and maneuver around the lower-class restrictions. But the risk...

​"Fine," I said, the word slipping past my lips before I could stop it.

​"Mama, no!" Fuuyu shrieked.

​"Shiwogata-san, don’t!" one of the boys shouted from the back.

​"Mama... please..." Anna whimpered, her eyes watering as she squeezed my sleeve tighter.

​"I accept the terms," I repeated, louder this time to drown out the sudden wave of groans and panicked chatter erupting through Class 3-D.

"If I win, you do what I ask without question, Kinto. If you win... you get what you asked for."

​Kinto didn’t smile. He didn’t gloat. He simply nodded once, a crisp, professional gesture as if we had just finalized a formal business transaction.which to me was weird, because I was expecting him to actually show a bit of mischief even if it’s fabricated.

​"A fair agreement," Kinto said neutrally, pushing himself off the desk and standing up straight. "I suggest you prepare thoroughly, Vice Representative. I won’t be holding back."

​Without another word, Kinto turned on his heel and walked calmly back toward his own seat at the front of the classroom, seemingly entirely unaffected by the utter chaos he had just left in his wake.

​"I can’t believe you actually said yes!" Fuuyu wailed, clutching her head with both hands.

"Mama, what are you thinking?! If you lose, you’re going to have to date him! What about your feelings?! What about Pops?!"

​"I’m not going to lose, Fuuyu," I said, trying to sound far more confident than I actually felt. My throat was dry, and the warmth in my face had completely evaporated, replaced by a cold pit of anxiety settling in my stomach. Honestly I’m cooked y’all.

​"B-But..." Anna looked up at me, her green eyes wide with genuine distress. "What if... what if something goes wrong? I don’t want you to belong to someone else..."

​"It’s going to be fine, Anna, I promise," I murmured, gently patting her head to soothe her, though my hand was trembling slightly. "It’s just a test. I just have to score higher. That’s all."

​Tanya let out another quiet sigh from her desk, tapping her screen with a rhythmic clack-clack-clack. "You really like putting yourself in difficult situations, don’t you, Shiwogata?" she muttered under her breath, not looking up from her game.

​"I didn’t plan for him to say that," I whispered defensively, dropping my hands to my side.

​The classroom noise slowly dissolved back into the background, though the glares directed at Kinto’s back from the other boys were practically lethal. Everyone was on edge now. The upcoming selection test was no longer just an academic evaluation—it had suddenly turned into a high-stakes battlefield that none of us were prepared for.

​I turned my head toward the window, watching the rain pour down in unrelenting, dark sheets. The drops smashed violently against the glass, blurring the view of the courtyard below into a smudge of gray and green.

​Why do things always have to get so complicated?

​I pressed a hand against my chest, feeling my pulse still racing out of control. Mataguchi collapsing on the floor, the secret we were forced to keep, the lingering confusion over my feelings for Oota, and now... a bet that could completely destroy the balance of everything I was trying so hard to maintain.

​I leaned against the windowsill, letting out a long, exhausted sigh that vanished into the sound of the storm outside.

​I really, really hope I know what I’m doing... because if I lose this, there’s no turning back.

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"We pretend the world is built on choices, but really, it’s just a sequence of bets we make to keep from being swept away. I don’t step into the storm because I want to win, I step into it because taking control of the chaos is the only way to keep the people I care about from drowning in it."

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