Demon Slayer: I was taken home by Shinobu Kocho at the beginning.

He then quickly received a phone call from Kamuro complaining.

"If you want to see that guy, why don't you just ask him out? I remember you have his contact information, right? Why do you have to go through me to pass on the message?"

"Um...should I report this to them?"

Then, there was a brief silence on the other end of the phone, followed by Kamuro's increasingly heavy breathing.

"What nonsense are you talking about? You have no obligation to report to me! You idiot!"

Before Tatsuya Kamio could reply, the call was disconnected. When he tried to call back, the line was busy.

Although he seemed to be being sarcastic, his actions betrayed him; he must have gone to inform Sakayanagi.

As if to verify Tatsuya Kamio's conjecture, he soon received a reply from Sakayanagi.

[It's rare for Kamio to ask me out, how could I refuse? See you at the library after school tomorrow.]

The library...

Hopefully, Hiyori won't misunderstand after seeing this.

The following afternoon, when Tatsuya Kamio finished packing and went to the library, Kamuro was already there.

"Hey, long time no see, Masumi."

Then he was glared at by the other person.

"I don't have any reason to be glared at, do I?"

"follow me."

"Huh? Sakayanagi has already arrived? I thought I would get there first given her speed." Kamio Tatsuya laughed and followed.

"That guy skipped school right after class so he could see you sooner, completely missing the after-school class meeting." Kamuro said without turning his head, his tone slightly sour.

"I never imagined I had such great charm."

"Yes, not only Sakayanagi from Class B, but also Ichinose from Class B and Shiina from Class C seem to be on good terms with you."

Hearing Kamuro's almost sarcastic tone, Tatsuya Kamio was stunned for a moment.

"Who is spreading rumors?"

"Is not it?"

"While I do have a good relationship with Hiyori, I'm really just a regular friend of Ichinose, and I didn't contact Sakayanagi because I wanted to see her."

No, why should I explain?

"is it?"

"Yes."

Then I felt like something was off. I hadn’t seen Kamuro for a long time, so how come she seemed to know everything?

"How come you seem to know everything?" Tatsuya Kamio asked suspiciously. "Were you following me?"

"Hmm, who knows."

Soon, Kamuro led Tatsuya Kamio to a private booth in the library. Arisu Sakayanagi was sitting on the sofa, with a whole set of chess pieces on the table in front of her.

The guy's posture was as upright as ever, and his cane was within easy reach.

Although the white stockings were still attractive, seeing her figure immediately killed any interest.

"Good afternoon, Kamio-kun. I've been waiting for you."

"There's no need for such a grand ceremony; I'm not some important person."

Kamio Tatsuya placed his schoolbag inside the sofa facing Sakayanagi, and then sat down directly opposite Sakayanagi.

Chapter Ninety-Six: Shall we take a gamble?

Looking at the neatly arranged chess set in front of him, Tatsuya Kamio casually spoke.

"What, do you want to play a game with me?"

"Oh? Judging from your tone, Kamio-kun seems to be quite good at Go." Sakayanagi's face showed an expression of great interest.

Facing Tatsuya Kamio, she might not be so confident of victory in other events, but in chess, Sakayanagi felt she couldn't possibly lose.

"You only know the basic rules, right? Eating the king is considered winning?"

Tatsuya Kamio picked up his king chess piece and fiddled with it.

"Well, it's not entirely wrong to put it that way."

Since you've put it that way, then I won't stand on ceremony.

Tatsuya Kamio believes that playing Go requires not only thinking three steps ahead, but also understanding the current situation on the board.

So, ten minutes later, on the chessboard, Tatsuya Kamio's pieces had been almost completely wiped out.

Seeing that Tatsuya Kamio was gradually falling silent, Arisu Sakayanagi's smile became even brighter.

"Although Kamio's chess skills are only so-so, I don't know why this game made me feel so happy."

"Really? You think you've got this in the bag?"

Given this disadvantage, Tatsuya Kamio's question puzzled Sakayanagi.

With only a few pieces on his chessboard, how was he planning to turn the tide? Sakayanagi Arisu was very puzzled.

This situation is like Tatsuya Kamio facing a hundred enemies armed with light machine guns all by himself, unarmed.

Moreover, he was surrounded by a hundred enemies, and there were snipers aiming at his head in the distance.

How exactly does he want to win?

"Of course, I don't think you can turn things around in this situation."

"Is that so?" A strange smile appeared on Kamio Tatsuya's lips. "How about we make a bet? If I win, you'll grant me one request, how about that? Of course, if I lose, then I'll grant you one request instead."

A brief silence fell over the room. Sakayanagi Arisu looked at Kamio Tatsuya's face, then at the Go board on the table, and remained silent.

Kamuroku, who was watching from the side, found this situation very strange.

Although her chess skills weren't great, it was clear that Tatsuya Kamio was at his wit's end, and even the world chess champion couldn't turn the tide.

Yes, that's what I said!

So, what are you thinking about, Sakayanagi?

Shouldn't we just agree at this point?

The two remained silent, which greatly annoyed Kamuro Masumi.

Do you want to agree?

Sakayanagi is still struggling with himself.

Judging from his past deeds, Tatsuya Kamio is definitely not the kind of person who would make baseless accusations or come up to his death without a reason.

I'm afraid that I'll be tricked by the other party the moment I agree.

Kamio-kun, do you really think I'm falling for your tricks?

Why don't you tell me what you want me to do first?

Upon hearing this, Tatsuya Kamio smirked.

"You're scared."

"You're actually afraid of such a great situation?"

Kamio Tatsuya's smile grew increasingly unrestrained, which infuriated Sakayanagi Arisu.

Even so, she did not lose her mind, and upon closer reflection, she realized that this might be a provocation from the other party.

At that moment, Sakayanagi realized something: if I didn't try to take advantage of the man in front of me, he would never be able to take advantage of me!

Then, a smile appeared on her face again.

"When dealing with someone like Kamio, you can never be too careful."

Looking at Sakayanagi in front of him, Kamio Tatsuya felt a pang of regret.

This guy isn't as cute as he used to be.

"I'll bet with you!"

Just as the two were about to give up, Kamuro finally couldn't hold back any longer and jumped out.

"You're going to bet with me?"

Kamio Tatsuya's expression turned strange, and Sakayanagi also looked at Kamuro with great surprise.

"Masumi-san, are you sure you want to make a bet with Kamio-san?" Sakayanagi Arisu looked at her with interest. "Although I don't know what tricks he'll play, I think you probably can't win this bet."

"That's not something you need to worry about. If I really lose, I'm willing to accept the consequences of my bet."

Kamuro's attitude was very firm, and Sakayanagi was completely unmoved.

Are you sure you want to bet with me?

"That's right, the bet is what you just mentioned. If I win, you have to promise me one thing; if you win, I'll promise you one thing."

In order to confuse Tatsuya Kamio, Kamuro specifically mentioned the contents of the bet again.

"Alright, since you want to bet, I'll bet with you, but I'll have to finish talking to Sakayanagi first."

Since someone had come to deliver it to him, Kamio Tatsuya naturally accepted it without hesitation.

"So what exactly does Kamio want to talk about?"

Now that things have come to this, Tatsuya Kamio is no longer going to keep everyone in suspense.

"I've received intelligence that our first year will soon be facing an exam that will allow us to earn a lot of personal points."

Although I'm not yet clear on the specific exam content, I hope to get your assistance.

Kamio Tatsuya readily stated his needs, unafraid that Sakayanagi would make exorbitant demands, since he held leverage over Sakayanagi's offer.

That's Ayanokouji. Sakayanagi seems to have a strong obsession with Ayanokouji, so he specifically went to Kamio Tatsuya before and told him not to do anything to Ayanokouji.

At the time, Kamio Tatsuya readily agreed without even mentioning any conditions, which meant that Sakayanagi owed Kamio Tatsuya a favor.

That's why he's so confident and assertive when he makes this demand now.

He hadn't originally intended to use this favor, so he set a trap in the game just now, but that little rascal Sakayanagi didn't fall for it at all.

Therefore, he had no choice but to make his needs public.

Hearing Tatsuya Kamio's words, Arisu Sakayanagi didn't seem surprised, as if she had known all along that first-year students would face such an exam.

However, while she wasn't surprised, others were.

"An exam that can earn a lot of personal points? How much... do you mean by 'a lot'?"

"I don't know the specifics, but based on my estimate, the first-year students as a whole can earn at least 20 million private points."

A total of twenty million?

Kamuro was somewhat surprised, but Sakayanagi Arisu remained expressionless.

"May I ask if you intend to use these points for class transfer?"

Sure enough, the other classes also made this condition public.

Tatsuya Kamio nodded; that was indeed his idea.

His idea was this: transferring classes would require 20 million private points, but it would be too difficult for him to obtain 20 million private points from the school on his own.

So the first thing to do is to get the students to work together to get a lot of points from the school.

Then he tried to get the points from the first-year students... to take them.

This makes things much simpler, at least easier than getting points from the school.

However, this first step—getting students to work together to earn a large number of points from the school—is clearly not a simple matter.

That's why he wanted to unite the four classes together.

That's why he went directly to Sakayanagi today.

If Sakayanagi agrees, then the only difficult thing left is dealing with Ryuen.

Chapter 97 See, I won!