someone extraordinary

by vamer

don't read

COTE: Someone Extraordinary (Kiyotaka x Honami)
Paiges898

Published: 2022
Source: https/

Arc 1 Chapter 1: A Fresh Start

Arc 1: The First Term Arc

Part 1

Monday morning. I'd never rode on the metro before, and although it was a brand new experience for me, I had no desire to ride on it again anytime soon. I sat down with my eyes wandering, taking in my surroundings with my legs crossed and my arms folded a little awkwardly.

All the windows on the train were shut tightly, the air gradually grew so stuffy that it was as if the trailer was full of thick smog. I was struggling to breathe. The lights were annoyingly dim as well, which cast a darkened shadow over the many faces of workers and students alike packed tightly into the trailer car. The seats weren't big enough, the people who sat on either side of me were being pushed up against one another as if we were sardines in a can.

The smell wasn't refreshing either, a mixture of the festering garbage tucked deep underneath the seats and the odours emitted from my fellow commuters quickly blocked my nose. I was instead forced to take deep breaths through my mouth which wasn't much better.

This may seem harsh as it was my first time on the metro. I'm sure most of the people commuting have already gotten used to scenes like this, during the morning rush hour on Tokyo's metro system.

Furthermore, I was far too excited to dwell on it for too long. If I wasn't surrounded by so many people I'd be practically squirming in my seat in anticipation.

I was on the way to my new high school that I would be starting today for the first time, The Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, a prestigious school that is rumoured to nurture only the best of Japan's future generation. It had a high placement rate for students graduating and moving on into the workforce or a university of their choice, 100% to be precise. With their thorough and state-directed teaching methods, they spare no effort in pursuing the nation's desired future.

However, the big downside was that you would have to remain on the school's campus for the duration of your time at high school. That's a whole three years without seeing your family or friends not involved with the school.

I had made so many wonderful and caring friends in middle school, and I was going to miss them greatly, but I had to look forwards and prepare myself for my new school life properly.

I was on the student council at my old school, and I eventually worked my way up to be the President, so I intend to join the council here also. I had to make sure to make lots of friends as well and bring as many people together as possible, otherwise, it would be a very depressing three years.

I was going to miss my family too. My home life wasn't easy, to say the least, because my mother had grown sick and was struggling to provide for me and my younger sister.

My father left shortly after I was born, but I don't blame him for it, I'm sure he had his reasons. However, he had shifted a large burden onto my mother which she was struggling to cope with.

Part of the reason I chose to apply to this school was to help her. The school fees and my basic living expenses are covered by the government, so my mum won't have to provide for me anymore. In return for me not being able to see her for the next three years, she wouldn't have to provide for me during that time. It seemed like a good deal.

As I was daydreaming, the metro pulled into the next station, stopping with a piercing screech. It was my last stop. I got up and gently pushed through the crowd of people still standing huddled in the trailer and hopped off the metro and onto the station platform.

I'm glad that's over.

At the very least I won't be riding that metro for the next three years and was grateful for that, as I watched the train take off again down the track and behind the wall obscuring it from my vision.

Alright, let's go!

I walked briskly through the scores of people navigating their own way through the metro before boarding the escalator and riding it out of the depths of the station. I scanned my ticket and then walked out onto the street into the warmth of the mid-spring sun.

The moment I got my first breath of fresh air, all the negative thoughts I had in the metro seemed to evaporate instantly.

"Amazing what a bit of fresh air can achieve" I muttered to myself happily before walking off towards the direction of the school.

The school was situated on a man-made island based on the coast of Tokyo. It occupied approximately half the island, meaning the campus must be huge.

I walked down the pavement admiring the new-looking brick wall with metal fencing mapping the school's borders, and what I presumed to be the dormitories peering from just over the top of it. Sitting just behind it were rows of pine trees that swayed gently in the light spring breeze. They looked nice, but I preferred the Sakura trees planted on the other side of the street. I can never get enough of them when they are in full bloom.

I could see what could only be the school's entrance approaching in the distance. It was a little taller than the rest of the wall, complete with four grey pillars made of natural rock bridged together from the top, with small round statues protruding from the two inner pillars. I could see that just behind the entrance the school too had Sakura trees lining the path to campus, heightening the school's natural beauty.

Before I could position myself in front of the entrance, a bus pulled into the stop just in front of it, and students began pouring out from the bus's passenger side door. They all looked to be first years, they had to be considering no student already enrolled is allowed to leave.

Most of the students walked into the school grounds quickly, not bothering to admire the entrance or their surroundings, except for one boy, who was gazing at the front entrance with a seemingly neutral expression.

He had brown hair, brown eyes and a calm, mysterious aura surrounding him. Even from this far away and looking from the side I could tell he was attractive, as he cautiously analysed the front entrance, the wind blowing his bangs lightly over his face. He stood there for another few seconds before a girl standing elevated above him called out to him, bringing the boy out of his thoughts.

It didn't seem like a particularly long conversation, a few sentences at most before the black-haired girl turned on her heel with a stern expression and entered the school grounds.

The boy remained in place as I casually walked past. He turned in my direction and our eyes met coincidentally, so I gave him a smile and a little wave to which he gave me a small nod in return before I too entered the school.

"Wow, he really is good-looking," I mumbled subtly under my breath.

I could feel his eyes on me as I passed through the entrance and into the school gardens. Hopefully, he didn't overhear me, that would be way too embarrassing!

Anyways, my first point of call was the entrance ceremony. This was going to be a good chance to see my new classmates and get an idea of what this school is actually like. Hopefully, it doesn't drag on for too long though, even I find these kinds of things tiresome.

Ok! You've got this Honami!

Part 2

...Are people equal or not...?

It's a question that has deeply fascinated me over the last year or so.

A proper society will always attempt to strive for equality. There are those who clamour for men and women to always be considered equal. So we raised the employment rate for women through positive action, we made specialised metro cars just for women, raised their pay to that of men and so on.

Public opinion of disabled people was also forcibly changed. We're encouraged to not use the term "disabled people" when referring to them, so we don't discriminate against them, and children are taught that all people are created equal.

However, is that really true? I certainly have my doubts. Men and women are undeniably different and have different strengths and weaknesses, so having them take on different societal roles shouldn't be unthinkable. Also, people with disabilities are still disabled, no matter the way we address them, the meaning of the word doesn't change.

So, my answer would be "No, we are not equal." To be human is to be unequal. Equality doesn't exist.

However, I don't think it is right to simply accept that we are unequal and then live our lives based on pure instinct. In my own words, although "equality" is a complete lie, and a complete farce, we cannot accept inequality either. I was curious to see if there was a way to come up with a new answer to humanity's eternal question.

These were my thoughts as I was sitting down at a bus stop near my house waiting patiently for a bus that would take me to my new home for the next three years.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School. It is a government-funded institution with a 100% advancement rate to the workforce or a university of my choice. The catch would be that I couldn't leave the school without prior authorisation, nor could anyone visit me. It was like it was completely cut off from the outside world.

It wasn't long before I spotted the bus slowly approaching from a distance, weaving around the parked cars in our suburban neighbourhood, getting out of the way of the nearly endless stream of vehicles travelling in the other direction.

I picked my bag up from the floor and turned toward the man next to me.

"looks like this is it..." I said meeting the man's eyes.

The man got up as well and looked at me solemnly. "Indeed it is Kiyotaka-kun."

"This is your last chance to stop me, if you're having any doubts, now would be the time to change your mind. I can't say for certain what will happen if I leave," I said firmly.

The man just shook his head and put both his hands on my shoulders. "I want you to have a normal life Kiyotaka-kun, like every other high school student. I could never regret doing something as simple as this."

I wasn't totally convinced he was telling the truth, he definitely knew he was taking a risk, but I'm not one not to capitalise on an opportunity like this. This school basically guarantees me success for crying out loud!

The bus finally pulled into the stop and a couple of residents jumped off. "In that case, thank you, I hope to see you again soon and good luck," I said turning around and boarding the bus.

"Goodbye Kiyotaka-kun, I wish you all the best," he said from behind me. I didn't know what expression he was wearing right now, but I hope he wouldn't come to regret doing this.

I paid the fare, a one-way ticket to the ANHS and sat down as the bus gradually began to pull out of the stop, waiting for a gap in the traffic. I shot one last look at the man who held up his hand in farewell, I returned the gesture before the bus pulled out onto the road, leaving the man on the sidewalk with an undoubtedly eerie feeling and an uncertain future.

I lived pretty far from the coast, so it would take me a while to reach my new school. I decided to just idly look out my window, as I bobbed gently up and down in my seat. I watched as the scenery changed from suburban greenery and detached housing to taller city office buildings and apartments. If I had to choose between living in either of these two areas it would have to be Tokyo's suburbia. It's more peaceful and relaxing in general, despite there being less to do around you.

I was one of the few people on the bus this morning when I got on, but the bus slowly began to fill up, as more passengers got on than they got off as we moved further into the urban sprawl. A lot of them were students wearing high school uniforms, and a few of them were wearing the same uniform as me, meaning that they were going to attend the same school as well.

One of these people was a black-haired girl next to me who I snuck a glance at without her noticing. She had a fair complexion and dark purple eyes but had a noticeably stern and stuck-up look about her. It sort of ruined her beauty.

It wasn't just high school students on board the bus however, office workers were making their daily commute to work, most of whom had their eyes glued to their phone screens, their necks stiff and pointing downwards.

There was also an elderly lady standing on the bus, hunched over and wobbling so badly it looked as if she was in danger of falling. She was unfortunate to have not found a seat, I guess I was reaping what I'd sown by getting on myself.

I ignored the unfortunate elderly lady and tried to clear my mind as I waited patiently to reach my destination. The weather was especially fine today, not too cold, not too hot, not to mention that there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. My mind began to clear as the refreshing sensation threatened to ease me back into sleep right there and then.

However, it was not to last.

"Excuse me, shouldn't you offer up your seat?"

My eyes which were already half-closed then snapped back open in a panic. What? Was the person talking to me? Luckily that wasn't the case, and someone else was being asked to move.

A well-built blond guy who looked around my age had sat down in one of the priority seats. He was wearing my school uniform as well. He was sat down resting his hands behind his head just in front of the elderly lady who continued to sway dangerously. Another woman had joined her side and propped her up a little. She seemed to be an office lady.

"Can't you see that this elderly woman is having trouble standing?" She continued.

It was clear that she was telling the blond boy to give up his priority seat. Her voice echoed throughout the rest of the bus which was almost silent up to this point, thus attracting the attention of the majority of the passengers.

"That's a really crazy question, lady" the boy finally responded.

He was being oddly confrontational about the whole thing. I didn't know whether he was angry, unobservant or just being brutally honest. He grinned broadly and crossed his legs. "Why should I offer up my seat if there is no reason for me to do so?"

"Since you're sitting in a priority seat, it's only natural to offer those seats to the elderly," she remarked.

"Priority seats are just that: priority seats. I have no legal obligation to move. I'm currently the one occupying this seat, so I shall determine whether I move or not. Age has nothing to do with it, to even say so is preposterous."

He didn't speak like a normal high school student. He had a superior condescending tone and his hair was dyed blond, which made him stand out like a sore thumb.

"I wouldn't find standing inconvenient, but I'd obviously expend more energy by standing than I would do sitting, and I have no intention of doing such a pointless thing. Or are you suggesting I should act a little livelier I wonder?"

"Wh-what kind of attitude is that! You should watch your mouth when talking with your superiors!" she said now clearly irritated.

"Superiors you say? Well, I suppose it is true you and the lady next to you have been alive longer than I have. However, the word 'superior' would imply that you are of a higher position than me. Additionally, even though our ages are different, wouldn't you admit that you have an impertinent attitude and are being extremely rude?"

"Huh?! You're just a high schooler! You should be quiet and listen to what the adults tell you!" she exclaimed reaching her wit's end.

The elderly lady then stepped in and tried to diffuse the situation, seemingly not wanting to cause any more commotion as she tried to calm the office lady. After being insulted though, the office lady still seemed rather upset.

"Apparently, this woman is more perceptive than you, which is nice. I haven't given up on Japanese society yet, that I can assure you off. Please enjoy your remaining years."

He flashed the pair a toothy grin before he slid his earphones back in and started listening to some rather ear-splitting music. The office lady was still seething with anger. Though she tried to probe the boy further, his smugness and self-importance wore out her own insistence, as his attitude remained fixed.

If I'm honest, if you ignored the morality of the situation I partly agreed with the guy. It was perfectly true that he wasn't legally obliged to give up the seat.

The office lady apologised to the elderly lady, still distraught after being openly disrespected.

It was just a minor incident on the bus, but I hated trouble and I was relieved that I wasn't caught up in it. I couldn't care less about giving up my seat for an elderly person.

The boy with blond hair had clearly won. At least most people had secretly thought so.

"Ano... I think that the lady is right."

I said most people because the woman received support from a girl standing next to her. She like myself and the egotistical blondie wore my school uniform. She had straight beige hair with a thin headband, coupled with light crimson eyes and a big bust. She would definitely be considered attractive by most of the guys, myself included of course.

"It would seem I am rather lucky with the fairer sex," He said eyeing up the girl with a slightly lecherous look.

"This poor woman has been suffering for quite some time now. While you may consider a courtesy such as giving up your seat as unnecessary, I think it would contribute greatly to society."

What a stupid opinion. How could the simple act of giving up your seat for an elderly woman be considered "contributing to society?" I agreed wholeheartedly when the boy responded by stating he didn't care for such things. What he said next however made me a little nervous.

"Oh and one more thing. You're asking me, the person in the priority seat, to give up his spot, but couldn't you simply ask one of the other people to move on this crowded bus? If you truly cared for the elderly, then something like priority seating would be a rather trivial concern, don't you agree?"

The boy's attitude remained unchanged. The office lady and the elderly woman simply wore bitter smiles in response, knowing complaining would be pointless. The girl didn't back down though.

"Everyone please listen to me for a moment. Won't someone please give up their seat for this woman?" she asked looking around the bus with pleading eyes.

I never thought someone could pour so much courage and compassion into so few words. That was no simple ability. The girl might have appeared to be a nuisance to those around her, but she appealed to the other passengers earnestly and without fear.

I wasn't in a priority seat, but I was near the elderly woman. I could offer up my own seat and that would resolve the matter instantly.

However, the boy's attitude and his remarks aside, it would seem the whole bus had agreed with him and nobody looked to move.

I noticed that there were two kinds of people. Some simply pretended that they'd heard nothing, while the others looked on with hesitancy presumably weighing up the pros and cons of giving up their seats.

The girl sitting next to me, however, was slightly different. She alone wasn't swept up by the drama and her face remained expressionless.

I had unintentionally stared at her a little too long, and our eyes met for an instant. Even without conversing, I could tell we had the same opinion. Neither of us deemed it necessary to give up our seats.

Shortly after the girl had finished her appeal to the passengers, a lone woman couldn't bear the guilt any longer and reluctantly gave up her seat. The elderly woman thanked her repeatedly as she guided her to the now-vacant seat.

With the issue settled, I closed my eyes and the rest of the journey continued in relative peace. Soon, we arrived at our destination, and my fellow high school students began to disembark.

I was confronted with the school's front entrance, composed of various pillars built from natural rocks, accompanied by small round statues at the front. The rest of my peers passed through the gate without a second thought.

The government created this school with the sole purpose of developing this country's future leaders. I was lucky enough to be able to call this my home for the next three years.

I stopped for a moment and admired the scenery before me. I took a deep breath and was about to walk in when-

"Wait!"

Just when I was about to make my way up the stairs, the girl who sat next to me on the bus called out to me from above.

"You were looking at me? Why was that?" she asked narrowing her eyes at me.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It wasn't anything important. I just thought that you didn't think about giving up your seat to the old woman, right?"

"Correct. I didn't even consider giving it up. I don't think there is anything wrong with that."

"Yeah, that's fine. I didn't want to give up my seat either. I dislike trouble"

"You dislike trouble? You and I are nothing alike in that case. I didn't move from my seat because I thought it would be pointless, that's all."

"Doesn't that seem worse though?" I countered.

"I'm just acting in accordance with my own beliefs. That's different from someone who just dislikes trouble. I don't want to spend any time around people like you."

"Right back at you," I muttered under my breath.

"If that is all I'll be going ahead then."

With that, she spun around, flicked her sleek black hair and walked into the school grounds.

Sheeesh, she had one hell of a superiority complex. I had only wanted to share my opinion with her, so I wasn't bothered with the way she conducted herself for the most part. It's statistically unlikely I would have to frequently interact with her anyway.

Again, I was about to follow her onto campus, but I had sensed someone's gaze on me for a while so I stopped myself. I turned to my right and saw a girl walking past me towards the gate.

She had waist-length strawberry blonde hair and ocean blue eyes, which immediately captivated me effortlessly and drew me in as our gazes met one another. I struggled relentlessly to avert my gaze from her well-endowed figure, which could even leave most models envious and wanting. I didn't want to be considered a pervert this early on.

She donned a scintillating smile and waved at me slightly. I couldn't begin to explain how cute that was. I was so nervous I could only manage to nod my head back at her in response.

She ascended the stairs ahead of me and entered the school campus, her hair fluttering gently behind her in the breeze.

I could faintly hear her mumble something as she walked passed. Hopefully, I didn't do anything to unsettle or creep her out.

"Ughh! I gotta get my shit together," I mumbled hitting my face a couple of times to re-focus myself.

With that out of my system, I finally made my own way through the gates and onto campus.

Part 3

The entrance ceremony was not very engaging in the slightest. I'm sure most of the first-year students would agree with me.

The principal and senior students exchanged repetitive words of gratitude, too much time was being spent standing in lines, and, all the other irritating things just added to create a very bad experience.

Although entrance ceremonies may vary from school to school, they all serve one core purpose, and that is to announce and commence a new major trial for the students. In order for us to enjoy our time at school, it was crucial to make at least a couple of friends, and there are only a couple of days into the school term to properly do that. If you fail, it could be a very upsetting 3 years.

In order to establish proper relationships with my classmates, I'd spent yesterday planning and running various scenarios through my head.

For example, should I burst into the classroom and take the initiative to talk to people? Or should I try to secretly pass around a note with my email address? This may sound odd but someone like me needed to practice this type of thing. The environment I was walking into was just so different from what I've experienced thus far. It was like I had ventured alone into a battlefield, and it was do or die.

I arrived at my classroom door, signposted Class 1-B. I poked my head through and saw about half the class already sat down, chatting amicably with one another. As a result, I concluded a dramatic entrance was out of the question, so I walked toward my seat located in the far right corner by the window and sat down silently.

I looked around with envy. Most of my classmates were already talking in small groups or pairs and the few others who weren't seemed to be immersed in their study materials, making them basically unapproachable. To make matters worse, nobody was talking within my immediate vicinity, making it hard to join a conversation without being extra proactive.

I was screwed.

A couple more minutes passed and more and more students filled the classroom, and to my dismay, I couldn't muster up the courage to talk to anyone at all. I thought I heard someone say "Is he still alone?" Had I heard chuckling? Maybe it was all happening in my head. What the hell are "friends," anyway? Where do they come from? Can you become friends with someone by walking along with them for a little bit? Or by sharing a meal? I had no idea. What even is friendship? Is it something deep and meaningful, or something more superficial? I couldn't piece it together.

I had read somewhere that human relationships tend to form naturally. Trying to make friends so far had proven incredibly hard. I just couldn't do it. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this, and it had been pre-determined that I would forever be alone during my time at high school.

Reflexively, I let out a deep sigh. My high school experience seemed destined to be exceptionally dour. Then, someone sat down in the seat beside me.

"Hmph! That's quite the pathetic face you're pulling there. You haven't bothered to try to talk to anyone yet? You're practically asking to not have any friends."

The girl looked at me with a bored expression and then turned away cupping her face in her hand. Why was she being so rude?

Well, this is a start. At least someone had come and talked to me. Nothing ventured, nothing gained I suppose.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ayanokoji Kiyotaka."

She looked over at me still bored as ever and made a slightly bemused face. "You're still going to introduce yourself after I said all that huh?" she said.

"You said I hadn't bothered to talk to anyone yet, so I'm trying to do so now. Isn't it fine for me to try?"

I had wanted to introduce myself to someone anyway, so it wasn't as though I could just keep quiet. At the very least I wanted to know my seatmate's name, even if she was some audacious girl.

"Well, I guess that is fine, do you mind if I refuse though?" she asked.

"I don't think sitting next to someone for an entire year without knowing their name would be comfortable" I pointed out.

"I don't know, there are plenty of other people for me to talk with," she remarked looking away and scanning the classroom.

She was a fairly good-looking girl. She had long brown hair tied in twintails with light violet eyes. Like the girl who confronted me by the entrance this morning though, her sour face ruined her beauty. I knew I wouldn't be very good at this, but I breathed in deeply as I prepared to probe her for information.

"Do you have a friend from another class here? Or did you enrol here by yourself?" I asked.

"Uhhh, what is it to you?" She asked a little irritably, refusing to meet my gaze.

Oops. Looks like I've begun to piss her off. Are all high school girls like this? I shouldn't have thought so because of that pink-haired beauty's kinder look this morning. I wish I could have spoken to her instead.

"If I'm bothering you, you can just tell me to be quiet."

"Be quiet," she snapped.

Ouch. Don't think I'll be making friends with her anytime soon in that case. It's not like I was aiming to be friends with everyone, but being rejected so badly right of the bat stung a little.

Things couldn't seem to get any worse, and luckily, it turns out I was right. It was as if my wish I made meer moments ago had just been granted, as the girl that had caught my eye this morning happily skipped into the classroom. She donned a captivating smile and immediately began introducing herself to the people nearest the door, boys and girls alike, with expert social prowess.

She was clearly going to be one of the popular ones. She caught everyone's attention almost instantly, as the multiple pairs and groups began to swarm her and introduce themselves as well. The energy she projected was immense and the class atmosphere brightened and become more energised almost instantly. That's not to say that the class wasn't already upbeat, but she had lifted it to new heights.

I looked at her intently, I was practically begging for her to notice me. She eventually did spot me and flashed me an even brighter smile than before, reassuring me that she had at least remembered me from this morning.

Well, that's something I guess.

A few minutes later, she sat down in the second row in the middle of the classroom, as the first bell rang out signalling the start of homeroom.

A woman who was most likely our homeroom teacher entered in almost perfect synchronisation with the bell's final chime. She seemed just as energetic and excitable as the pink-haired beauty as she trotted into the classroom holding a pen and clipboard. She was a young adult, probably in her early thirties if not younger. She had shoulder-length chestnut brown hair with violet eyes and a voluptuous figure, which was amplified by her short skirt, high heels and light pink blouse.

"Good morning first years! I'm Hoshinomiya Chie, and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next three years! I'm looking forward to getting to know the whole lot of you and I hope to make this year the best year of your school lives! Let's all do our best~!"

All of us were a little confused by her over-the-top and cheerful introduction, some began chuckling to themselves and others looked slightly perplexed. I was struggling to tell if she was being serious or not.

"First, we need to get the boring stuff out the way," she said pouting playfully. "People at the front, please pass these books to the back. One contains the admissions guide, the other contains the school's special rules!"

These were documents that I'd seen before coming here, I'm sure the rest of my class would of at least briefly scanned through them. Regardless, the people at the front slowly passed the books to the rest of us at the back.

This school was different from other traditional Japanese high schools. All students were required to live on campus in co-ed dormitories for the next three years, as I previously mentioned. Students were forbidden from contacting anyone outside the school, including our immediate family. Leaving campus without prior authorisation was also prohibited.

To strike a balance, the campus had many excellent facilities. It featured a large Mall, which included a karaoke spot, theatre, cinema, cafes, boutiques and much more. It was comparable to a small city, spread out over 600,000 square meters.

What was most unique was the school's S-System.

"These here are your student ID cards! You can use these to purchase goods, access facilities and so on. It's like your own little credit card!" Hoshinomiya sensei said exuberantly. "But be careful, it is important to pay attention to the points that you spend. At this school, you can use your points to buy anything. Anything located on the school premises is available for purchase!"

Her tone changed when she talked about being able to buy anything with your points. It was as if she suddenly switched to reciting a script or something. Weird...

Regardless, It seemed that these points were going to act as a kind of currency to be used at school. It was safe to say that the school was providing these points free of charge, but I felt like I should still limit my spending to a minimum, just in case.

"To use them, all you need to do is to swipe them through or tap them against a machine scanner. It's really simple, so you shouldn't get confused! Points are deposited automatically into your account on the first of every month. You should have already received 100,000 points already. What's great is that 1 point is equal to 1 Japanese yen, isn't that amazing?!" Sensei said clasping her hands together.

The class gasped and cheered in utter astonishment.

Even the uninterested girl next to me couldn't hide her surprise, and who could blame her? We had just received a 100,000-yen monthly allowance from the school simply for being admitted. It wasn't completely surprising when you consider the government backing of this school. 100,000 yen is a huge amount of money for a high schooler.

"Don't be so surprised by the number of points you've been given. This school evaluates its students' talents. Since everyone here has passed the entrance examination, the school has considered you all to be of immense value with unlimited potential! In simpler terms , the amount of points you receive reflects the evaluation of your worth."

She did it again! Why is she changing the way she speaks every now and then?! Is nobody else realising this? Is she being too subtle? Should I say something?

I looked around for any signs of unease from my peers, but there were none. The class seemed oblivious to the weird way she was explaining things. Maybe I'm just overthinking this. They're not concerned because they obviously know better right? Yeah, that must be it. This is all new to me after all. There is still so much I don't understand.

"Don't hold back! You can use your points without restraint because if you have points remaining after graduation, don't go thinking you can exchange them for the real thing. It all gets returned to the school. This means that there isn't really any advantage to saving them, so once they're in your account, spend them to your heart's content! If you don't want to spend some of your points, you can always transfer them to someone else. Ah! But if you try extorting points from people, you can expect to be severely punished! We monitor bullying here very seriously, so play nice, hehe~" Sensei explained giggling a little towards the end.

It looked as if she was finished and was now looking to take questions, but the information overload coupled with the allowance had put our class into a state of bewilderment.

"Well, it appears no one has any questions. I hope you thoroughly enjoy your time here as students and that we get along swimmingly!" She declared with a wink. "I'll see you all for classes tomorrow, don't be late, bye bye~"

Sensei then walked out of the classroom with a spring in her step. What a weird teacher we had landed ourselves.

Most of my classmates couldn't hide their surprise because of the huge number of points we'd been given.

Despite all the restrictions we had been put under, nobody seemed to have any complaints. In fact, you might even say we'd gotten so lucky that it was like we'd been placed in a paradise. The points coupled with the expectation of being guaranteed a job or a place at a desired university, definitely made this school befitting of that characterisation.

This school had no unique specialisation. Its students are guaranteed success no matter what field they choose to pursue as a career. Only this school had that kind of brand-name value. I expected that the atmosphere would be a little more cutthroat, but the majority of students gave an average high school student vibe.

Still, we hardly knew anything about this school. It was like a veil of ignorance had been cast over everything. This kind of school could make a lot of wishes a reality, I thought there would be more risk involved.

With nobody to talk to, I kept my thoughts to myself. I watched as everyone excitedly discussed what to do next with a tinge of sadness.

"Wanna do some shopping with me on the way back? I can't wait to check out the mall!" one girl called out.

"Sure! With this much money, we can buy anything we'd like, this is the best!" another responded.

Everyone was beginning to grow restless now that Sensei had left and they let their desires freely pour out.

"Ahem... Everyone, would you mind listening to me for a moment?"

A certain girl with strawberry blonde hair had cleared her throat and stood up and turned to face us, addressing the whole class.

"Since not all of us have had the chance yet, I thought it would be good for all of us to introduce ourselves to the class individually, so we can get more familiar with each other quickly. What do you all think?" she said looking around expectantly.

She'd just done something incredibly brave. I thought she was the social type when I saw her introducing herself earlier, but this exceeded my expectations.

Most of the class seemed reluctant at first, but a diligent-looking guy with dark blue hair who sat towards the front voiced his support. "I agree, I'd like to give everyone a chance to introduce themselves so we can settle everyone in."

With the ice now being thoroughly broken, the rest of the class got on board with the idea.

"Great! In that case, I'll start us off! My name is Ichinose Honami, but feel free to call me by my first name. I enjoy playing sports and studying, but most of all, I enjoy helping others, so feel free to come and talk with me if you're ever having any trouble! I can't wait to get to know the rest of you more and hope we have a great school year together. Please take care of me!" she voiced finishing with a polite bow.

Ichinose had just introduced herself as if it was nothing! She didn't even break a sweat! There's no way I was gonna match her introduction. Her popularity must have increased two or three folds. There wasn't a student in the class who wasn't smiling back at her. If Ichinose became the person responsible for holding the class together, I wondered if she could help the class maintain this level of positivity until graduation.

Everyone politely applauded her and complimented her for that flawless introduction.

"Thank you, everyone! Now, who'd like to go next?"

"Allow me," the blue-haired boy spoke up. "My name is Kanzaki Ryuji. I'd describe myself as a diligent and serious person, and I pay attention to my studies but don't let that put any of you off from me. I hope to become good friends with all of you soon as well."

Kanzaki spoke in a confident manner but was reserved enough so that he didn't come across as belittling. He too received polite applause as he sat back down.

The rest of the class then slowly began to introduce themselves. Some did longer introductions and noted their achievements and hobbies, while others opted just for their name and a simple greeting, but everyone seemed to engage with the process regardless.

A girl named Shiranami Chihiro had to be reassured by Ichinose to get her introduction out, while others like Shibata So and Amikura Mako could have gone on for hours if they didn't control themselves.

Next was the turn of a rather raw-boned kid with glasses.

"The names Tabata Gengyo. I was the star of my middle school's tennis team, competing in national tournaments periodically. But, I got injured not too long ago and I'm now undergoing rehabilitation. Nice to meet you all."

I didn't want to say it aloud but I think it was clear that nobody believed him. He got a lot of complicated smiles and was applauded, albeit reluctantly so. Maybe I'm reading this wrong and he was just trying to crack a joke or something?

Anyways, I had more important things to think about right now.

What should I say when my turn inevitably came around? Should I tell a joke like Tabata? Should I try and emulate Ichinose's high energy? Nah, neither of those would fit the personality I'm going for and would just ruin the atmosphere.

I wrestled with my anxiety as the introductions continued, slowly but surely the students sitting up and down were making their way to my seat. It was like a dark shadow was slowly approaching me in a bad dream.

Damnit! What do I do? I had absolutely no idea! What was everyone else doing again? I can't even remember! Should I just say my name and then be done with it? No! Then people will think I'm a loser! What about-

"Himeno Yuki, nice to meet you all."

Huh? The girl next to me hastily stood up, introduced herself and sat back down again. Wait doesn't that mean that it's now my turn-

"Thank you Himeno-san! Ok, Next up is you!"

"Huh?"

Ichinose looked over at me gently with her dark blue eyes, threatening to draw me in as if she were trying to hypnotise me.

Shoot! I'd been busy daydreaming and my turn was upon me! Everyone else then turned and locked eyes with me waiting for my introduction.

Oh, God. Why are they all looking at me with so much anticipation?! Guess there's no getting out of it, may as well give it my all.

I stood up, trying to combat my nerves and prepared to speak.

"Uh. My name is Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. I'm not particularly good at anything, but I enjoy playing the piano, reading books and practising calligraphy. It's nice to meet you all, and I'll do my best to get along with everyone," I finished bowing slightly.

There was a very brief silence... Before pleasant applause slowly filled my ears as I slowly fell back into my seat with a sigh of relief.

What? Where did that come from? I didn't think I had it in me to speak like that, it was so instinctual that I barely even realised I was talking at all. Looks like the class enjoyed my introduction. Yes! I did it!

"Thank you, everyone, and you too Ayanokoji-kun. I'm sure we'll be good friends. Let's do our best everyone!"

"Yeah!"

Ichinose rallied the class to a cheer, and I reflexively joined in. I was just glad that I hadn't made a fool of myself, and that I felt, was something worth cheering for.

Part 4

After we'd all finished our introductions, we left and started going about our own business.

I thought it would be good to get a layout of the rest of campus, so I decided to go off by myself and take in the sights.

Yeah, I still hadn't been able to make any friends. There was still time though and my introduction didn't turn out half bad, so hopefully, that will help me, even if it's only a little bit.

Not many of the places I went to interested me all that much, not until I found the library. It was a large circular building, with a dome on top. Inside was a mostly wooden interior that appeared glossy in the afternoon sun, and it came with plenty of tables for group or independent study. It wasn't the biggest library I'd seen, but I was sure I'd come back here frequently to read, it was one of my hobbies after all.

70-80 per cent of the students had gone back to the dormitories. The few lucky enough to have made some friends already, went towards Keyaki Mall, probably to go for food at a cafe or to sing at Karaoke. As for myself, I left the library and headed into a convenience store to get some basic necessities for my dorm room.

"Ah! Good afternoon Ayanokoji-kun!"

I walked into the store and Ichinose was near the door browsing some skincare products. She put down some lotion and skipped over to me.

I was so glad she remembered me that I internally started furiously pumping my fists into the air.

"Hey, Ichinose. Is this your first-time grocery shopping too?" I asked her.

"It's my first time doing it myself, I just need a few things though, it's not like I'm here to buy the whole store, Haha!"

There was no shortage of things you needed when starting a life in a dorm, especially for the girls. I could see that Ichinose already had a variety of products, including shampoo, various foods and a few bottles of water.

"What about you? Are you here to buy some essentials?" she asked flashing me a warm smile.

She was so adorable when she did that.

"Yeah but I'm not really sure what to buy though," I admitted. Like I just mentioned, I'd never done this sort of thing before.

"Really? In that case, let me help you. I can show you around if you'd like."

"I'd really appreciate that, thank you," I said.

"It's no problem at all! This way, this way," she said beckoning me to follow her.

She toured me around the convenience store practically throwing things into my basket. They included some bread, tea bags, a few medicines, snacks, basic toiletries and even some ice cream. We were about three-quarters of the way through the aisles and my basket was beginning to become full.

"Don't you think I might be buying a little too much?" I asked glancing down at my basket. If I put any more in then perhaps it could become too heavy for me to carry.

"Haha, it's fine. You can never have too many essentials Anyanokoji-kun. Besides, this will save you from having to come back for a while," she reassured me.

"If you say so."

We continued roaming around the convenience store. Even though I had only just met Ichinose on a personal level mere minutes ago, she was surprisingly easy to talk to, even for a guy like me. Being around her didn't feel uncomfortable at all.

"Whoa! There are even tons of noodle cups to choose from here! This school sure thinks of everything!"

Two rather noisy guys stood in front of the instant food. They tossed a substantial amount of noodle cups into their baskets before running off toward the cash register. Besides noodles, they'd chosen to get other snacks and juices as well. They had thoroughly bought into the idea that they should spend all their points seeing as it was unlikely that they'd ever run out.

"Noodle cups. They have so many different kinds," I remarked picking one of them up. I guess these were as good a reason as any to come to the convenience store.

"Do you like instant noodles Ayanokoji-kun? I heard they were kinda unhealthy," Ichinose said examining them closely beside me.

"I don't know. If I had to say, I guess I like them in moderation."

"I see. Maybe I'll try some for myself then!" Ichinose said happily throwing a few cups into her basket.

I looked at my own cup I had picked up and saw its price tag which read 156 yen. I was aware that this wasn't a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but I didn't know whether it was expensive or cheap for what I was getting. Even though the school used points to refer to its credit system, everything here was priced in yen.

"Ichinose, do you think this price is high or low?"

"156 yen? I'd say that's fairly reasonable, do you think we're being ripped off?"

"No, I was just wondering that's all."

1 point did seem to equal 1 yen like Hoshinomiya Sensei had told us. Given that the average freshman's allowance was around 5,000 yen, the amount of money we'd received was astounding. Ichinose seemed to notice my odd behaviour and shot me a quizzical look, so I took another cup noodle to avoid suspicion.

"Looks like there are different sizes as well like this one is enormous. It's a G cup huh?" Apparently, it stood for "Giga Cup." Just looking at it made me feel full.

"That's for the people feeling especially hungry I guess. I'd never need that much food, especially when it comes to instant noodles," Ichinose explained.

"So you don't think I should buy it?"

"I guess if it's just one you should be fine. Although, there are healthier foods you should consider as well. It's best to avoid junk food as much as possible!" she declared full of energy.

We'd nearly made our way through the whole store by this point, and I was almost ready to go to pay.

"By the way, your introduction today was really good Ayanokoji-kun. It caught me off guard because you seemed to be dreading your turn a little bit, Haha! It was as good if not even better than my own, you should be more confident," Ichinose proudly declared.

"I've never really been that good at stuff like that so it means a lot coming from you." Damn. Was it that obvious I was panicking? I thought I was good at hiding my emotions. "How did you know I was panicking?" I asked.

"Hmmm? I don't know. It was just my intuition I suppose." She said putting a finger to her chin.

Ichinose sure was a perceptive one. I wonder what else she had noticed.

"It seems like we've hit the jackpot with the amount of money we've been given right?" I continued changing the subject.

"For real! It was so shocking that I was thrown into a daze when Sensei told us."

"Same here. So you wouldn't think that anyone would run out of money while they are here right?"

"I guess it would be pretty hard to do so unless you weren't good at budgeting for the month or something like that."

"Looks like that holds true for some people. Look behind you," I said pointing to a basket full of products tucked into a corner of the convenience store. At first glance, they appeared to be the same as the other items, but there was one big difference.

"These items... They're marked down as being free?" Ichinose asked slightly bewildered. "The students here are being given 100,000 points a month and yet there are free items being casually thrown into a convenience store?"

Apparently, Ichinose also found it strange. She picked up one of the items and examined it. The items mainly included bandages and toothbrushes. There wasn't any food.

"The quality doesn't seem to be any worse, but it also says here that you can only take 3 items per month."

"They must be emergency relief supplies for students who use up all their points for the month. This school is incredibly lenient," I said.

Ichinose didn't look convinced. To be fair, I had also begun to wonder how far their leniency extended.

"Hey, shut it! Give me a second! I'm still looking for it!"

A loud voice suddenly pulled us out of our thoughts and drowned out the store's background music.

"Hurry up, there's a line of people waiting on you!"

"Really now? Well, if anyone has complaints, they can take it up with me!"

Trouble was brewing over by the cash register. Two young men were glaring at each other but I didn't recognise either of them. One had distinct fiery red hair and an ill-tempered look on his face. He had his hands full of cup noodles.

I and Ichinose headed for the register.

"Should we see what the problem is and try and help?" Ichinose asked looking concerned.

"The situation looks volatile. We should probably just keep our distance and wait for it to blow over. Neither of us needs to get hurt over something like this," I reasoned.

"That may be true, but I want to see if I can help. You don't want to wait in this line forever do you?"

I preferred to avoid trouble, but I could tell Ichinose was going to intervene regardless of what I decided to do.

"Fine, let's check it out, but we should be careful," I relented.

"Right," Ichinose affirmed.

We cautiously approached the guy, passing the people in line towards the register.

"Sorry, what appears to be the problem here?" Ichinose questioned.

"Huh!? O-Oh, well..." He trailed off.

Just the sight of Ichinose was enough to cool the guy right down again. Looks like her charms have an effect on a multitude of people, not just myself.

"Yes?" Ichinose asked again.

"Well, I forgot my student id card in my dorm room. I kinda forgot that it basically acts as our money from now on, too."

"I see... It's still kind of hard to take in, isn't it?" Ichinose agreed.

He had put down the cups of noodles and looked to leave, probably to go and retrieve his ID card. What he did was understandable. The fact that the student id was necessary for payment hadn't sunk in for me, either. His attitude could be a problem though.

"I'll tell you what. Just this once, I'll pay for your cup noodles. It would be troublesome for you to go back all the way to the dorms just to pay for this, no? There are also people waiting in line behind us whom I'm sure are itching to get on with their day, including me and my friend here."

She called me her friend. I felt so warm inside that I could almost feel a smile creeping onto my face.

The guy thought for a moment and glanced back at the ever-growing line of people piling up waiting to pay. The store wasn't particularly far from the dorms, but by the time he got back, the queue would only have grown longer.

"Ugh! I feel bad for letting you do this, but you make some good points. Thanks," he said a little more reservedly.

"Don't mention it, I'm happy to help!" Ichinose declared happily swiping her card for his noodles, costing her just over 500 points. I felt like we didn't get anything out of this situation though. However small, Ichinose did something more or less completely selfless. I couldn't understand such a thing.

"My name is Sudou," he said packing his noodles in a bag. "Thanks for helping me out, I owe you one."

"Don't worry about it Sudou-kun, It was the natural thing to do. My name is Ichinose Honami, and this is Ayanokoji-kun."

"Right, thanks for the help Ichinose, I'll see you around," He said walking out of the store.

I and Ichinose then walked to the back of the queue and patiently waited in line to pay.

"That was a selfless thing you did for him Ichinose. You could have just let him leave without paying for his noodles. I don't see what you got out of that situation."

"Well, I suppose that is true. But, I'm the kind of person that will help someone out if I can. Whether they are a stranger or someone I know is irrelevant, if I can offer help I will offer it. Besides, we did gain something out of it, we've become acquainted with a student outside of our class already, that's something right?" Ichinose said cheerfully.

"Hmmm, perhaps you're correct."

Personally, Sudou seems like the kind of guy you don't really want to become too familiar with. I guess someone like Ichinose wouldn't see it that way. Who was someone like Ichinose anyway? To me, it was possible that she was just a truly good person, who will blindly help anyone, even if they hated her or didn't even deserve her help. I was sceptical as to whether it was even possible for such a person to exist, but I wanted to find a definitive answer.

It was now our turn to pay for our goods, so we presented our student id cards to the machine by the register. The transaction was swift because we didn't have to deal with small change.

"You really can use it like money.." I muttered.

The receipt I was given showed the price of each item and the remaining amount of points. The payment had gone through without a hitch.

Anyway, this school is strange.

I get that the students here are meant to carry Japan into the future, but is that really enough to warrant such a massive allowance? If we presume that there are 160 people in each year, that's a total of 480 students, each getting 100,000 yen a month, for a total of 48 million a month and 560 million in a year. I would consider that overkill, even when you factor in the backing this school has.

I and Ichinose walked out of the store together after paying for our goods, a couple of bags each in our hands.

We saw Sudou storming off into the distance seemingly having gotten irritated by something again. Ichinose didn't bother to go ask what had happened and chose to watch on as he trudged his way in the direction of the dormitories.

"Hey, Anyanokoji-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"You were talking earlier about what I got out of helping Sudou-kun with his payment, right?" she said shooting me a side glance.

"I remember that."

"It got me thinking. How does the school benefit from giving us this much money?"

Looks like she was thinking along the same lines as me.

"I wonder about that too. This school has more than enough facilities for the number of students, and I honestly think the school is being too generous with the allowance. Students slacking off isn't that hard to imagine due to the money we're going to be getting."

Perhaps it was a kind of reward for working hard and passing a test or something. We'd all technically passed the entrance examination after all. Students' motivation might increase when offered an incentive such as money, but the school had just handed out 100,000 yen to everyone with seemingly no strings attached.

"It might be me just being paranoid, but I feel like we shouldn't be spending our points without any restraint as Sensei told us. What do you think Ayanokoji-kun?"

"I agree. Once a person gets used to an easy life, they find they need more and more. When you lose it, the shock can be great. I'll definitely keep what you said in mind Ichinose."

"Great! It's important to be careful with your money, especially when we're older. We don't want to get into any bad habits!" she said smiling happily.

I wasn't a very materialistic person, nor did I intend to spend a lot on miscellaneous junk, so I would be ok if something were to happen. However, I can't say the same for everyone in my year.

"So you were curious about the free items as well right?" Ichinose asked me as we continued walking towards the dormitories. "You were the one who spotted them ultimately."

"I did find it odd. It could be that a lot of students here have become detached from reality and blow all their points quickly at the start of the month, then get by for the rest of the month on free items. The thing is though, we still don't know anything about this school, or exactly how it works. That's why I think what you said was important. We should tread carefully before we know exactly what we're dealing with," I explained.

"I see. I'm glad you feel that way Ayanokoji-kun, hehe~," she chuckled.

"What is it? Did I say something weird?"

"Not at all Ayanokoji-kun. It's just that I realised that you are oddly perceptive, that's all," she elaborated analysing me closely with a quizzical-looking smirk.

It was nerve-racking having her look at me like that. Her ocean-blue eyes were more seductive this way. They exerted a weird kind of pressure on me, forcing me to avert my gaze.

"I haven't done anything really, nor am I especially perceptive. I just happened to notice the free items in the corner and found it weird."

"Hmmmmm? Reeeeeally?" Ichinose questioned cutely. She drew a little closer to the point where our arms lightly brushed as we walked, still looking directly up at my face.

OMG! She's so close right now! Ok, ok! Just keep cool, keep cool. Just concentrate on your breathing, and act natural.

"R-really." I forced out.

Ichinose let out a little chuckle and moved back again.

"Very well, in any case, I'm glad you spotted that out for me. If it were just me I probably would have missed it," she said. "Thank you Ayanokoji-kun."

"Don't mention it, although, I really didn't do anything."

"Haha, sure, sure," she said laughing and covering her mouth lightly.

This certainly was a weird school, with a very obscure points system that we still didn't fully understand. It also seemed like Ichinose was impressed that I spotted out the free items in the store. I don't even know why, I didn't even consider what I did to be that perceptive or amazing.

Ichinose herself was also an interesting person. There was no doubt she was cute, but she was also a selfless individual and seemed like a truly good person. I desperately wanted to know more about her.

Part 5

I and Ichinose parted ways once we reached the dormitories, waving goodbye to one another. I wasn't 100% sure, but I feel like I just made my first friend, a thought that filled me up with delight. She said so herself when we helped out Sudou, that's something I still haven't calmed down from.

At the reception desk, I got my keycard for room 401 and a handbook detailing the dorm's rules, before boarding the elevator and riding it to the fourth floor. I quickly flipped through the handbook which contained information on garbage disposal, avoiding excessive noise and advising against wasting water and electricity. However, they stopped short of charging students for water and power. I'd assumed it would have been deducted from our points. This school definitely went to great lengths to care for its students.

I was a little surprised that a high school decided to implement co-ed dormitories, seeing as unsuitable romantic relationships were frowned upon. Sex was obviously strictly forbidden. I mean, a member of the clergy wouldn't say that engaging in illicit sexual activity was okay.

I wasn't sure that such pampered students could develop into upstanding adults, but it would be foolish not to make the most of the situation for now. My room was approximately 8 tatami mats wide, more than enough. Although this was a dorm, it was the first time I'd lived alone. I would have no contact with the outside world until graduation. When you take my situation into account, I unintentionally cracked a smile.

Even though this school boasted a high employment rate upon graduation, as well as world-class facilities and student services, I found such things trivial, however. I'd chosen this school for one fundamental reason.

Attending this school meant people were not allowed to contact students without permission, even if they were a student's immediate family. I appreciated that fact. I was free.

Freedom is simply the best. When I wanted to eat something, I could eat it. If I wanted to do something I could do it. Before being accepted, I'd honestly thought I would be fine either way, that I wouldn't care whether I passed or failed. But my true feelings now finally boiled to the surface. I was so glad to have been admitted here.

I could begin anew entirely. A new life. I had decided to enjoy my time here to the fullest, but without drawing attention to myself. So, without bothering to change out of my uniform, I dived into my pre-made bed. I didn't feel tired though. My eyes remained wide open with excitement.

End of Chapter

Arc 1 Chapter 2: The Club Fair

Part 1

On our second day of school, we spent most of our time going over the course objectives and other annoying admin work. Many of the students were surprised by how friendly and warm our teachers were acting, maybe assuming that they would have been more solemn or intimidating. Most of my class paid attention and were scribbling down notes, but some thought it necessary to whisper to one another and sneak a peek at their phones every once in a while. I was sure the teachers would reprimand them. They weren't even being especially discrete about it, but none of the teachers showed any signs of doing so. I guess they took the view that it was up to the students to listen during class and it was their loss if they refused to listen. Did all high school teachers take this view? Is this how they interacted with students when they weren't in compulsory education?

I made it through this morning's classes, and soon it was lunchtime. Students gradually stood up and left with their new friends and acquaintances, most likely heading for the cafeteria. I couldn't help but feel envious as I watched them go. Despite hanging out a little bit with Ichinose yesterday, I didn't have it in me to go join her for lunch, that being because she had almost a third of the class asking her the exact same thing. "She really is popular," I murmured.

So excluding Ichinose, I still hadn't managed to befriend a single one of my new classmates. I saw Ichinose leave the classroom with around ten other people. She looked over at me and her face turned a little bit sad before she was shepherded out of the classroom by her entourage. Looks like she was the only person who realised the way I felt.

"How pathetic."

Scratch that, two people had noticed, and this particular person met my pain with pitiless laughter.

"What? What's pathetic?" I asked.

"You're practically begging for someone to invite you along for lunch. It's written all over your face." Himeno said scathingly.

"Is it?"

"It is. I wouldn't keep your hopes up, Ichinose seems to be the one getting all the attention."

She wasn't wrong. Most people had gone off with or followed Ichinose from a distance. I almost wanted to do the same and follow her large group in the hope of getting invited in. However, that would seem lame, and the girls might think I was some sort of creep.

Before I could say anything more, Himeno walked off, joining up with a couple of her own friends. It seemed like even stuck-up girls like herself could make a couple of friends. Hopefully, the ability to make friends extends to me as well.

Reluctantly, I got up and decided to head toward the cafeteria on my lonesome. If I couldn't muster up the courage to eat alone in there, or if by some miracle somebody offered to sit and eat with me, I'd have to get something from the convenience store instead.

"Ayanokoji-kun!"

On the way out, a beautiful girl suddenly called out my name. I recalled from yesterday's introductions that her name was Amikura Mako. I hadn't gotten a good look at her until now, and it made my heart pound in my chest. She had long, dark blue hair, tied up in a ponytail. While it wasn't inappropriate, the school had approved kinda short skirt lengths. I had a feeling she was wearing one of the more recent uniforms, that complimented her well-proportioned figure.

"I'm Amikura Mako, do you remember me?" she asked.

There was a group of four other girls from our class waiting about half a dozen meters behind her, smiling at the pair of us. They were probably her friends.

"Yeah I remember you, do you need something?"

"Forgive me if I'm getting this wrong but..." she said trailing off looking downwards.

What's with this weird attitude? She'd been rather energetic until just now. What did she need from me?

"Yes?" I said urging her to continue.

"Are you perhaps feeling a little bit lonely?"

Lonely? Well, it's true that I would like to make some friends to go and eat with, but I wasn't sure how Amikura could help with that.

"I suppose. I was planning to go and just eat by myself I guess." I responded.

"I see, that does sound rather lonely," she said looking back up at me. "In that case, would you like to come and eat with the five of us?" she boldly suggested.

Her friend's eyes noticeably lit up and smiled when she said this. That's weird, was I unknowingly popular with some of the girls in my class? As I looked over at them, my nerves got the better of me as the idea of eating with them all crossed my mind and I broke out in a cold sweat.

Damnit, I'm so not used to this yet! What if I ended up doing something embarrassing? What if they hated my personality? There were too many variables at play here for me to keep up with. I did think about accepting her offer, but eating alone with five girls might paint me as a playboy, and I wasn't looking to stand out that much.

"Uhh, sorry, but I don't think that's a good idea Amikura."

"C'mon! It will be fun!" she affirmed.

"I don't know, it's just I'm not really acquainted with any of you girls," I said meekly.

"Hehe, that's all the more reason to join us Ayanokoji-kun~. To get acquainted with us I mean," she said curving her lips into a sugary sweet smile.

Gosh, seems like I had made it even harder to refuse, as Amikura flawlessly took a negative and made it a positive. She was a far more skilled conversationalist than myself. With her friends looking on at me expectantly, I concluded it would just be rude to refuse her offer at this point, so I relented.

"When you put it like that you make it hard to refuse," I said sighing a little. "I'll tag along I guess."

"Yaayyy! Thank you Ayanokoji-kun! Everyone, he's agreed to come with us!"

Her friends smiled warmly as I and Amikura walked over to join them. I didn't really know if I had gotten extremely lucky or extremely unlucky. I guess it all rides on whether I can keep my nerves under control during lunch.

Part 2

We all went to the cafeteria together. It was exceedingly crowded. I guess there is always a rush to get your meals and a table before they are all taken. People eating alone may want to be extra quick so they don't have to take the initiative to sit down right next to anyone.

I looked to where people were queuing up. First, you had to go to the menu selection section and pay for a ticket indicating what meal you'd selected. You'd then go to the counter and redeem your ticket and then receive your meal. I noticed that there was a free meal option as well, just like there were free items in the convenience store. It seemed students were careless to the point of not having enough money a month for food.

Me and the girls who'd essentially kidnapped and dragged me into the cafeteria, pushed our way through the crowd of people and sat in the middle of the cafeteria, after redeeming our tickets.

If I'm completely honest, I don't remember what happened or the conversations we had, very well. It felt like they were doing all the talking and I was forced to answer question after question. They were along the lines of "Where did you go to middle school?" and "What are your other hobbies?" and so on. One girl even asked if I had a girlfriend already which I vehemently denied, to their apparent amusement. I didn't want to push any of them away this early on. I answered just about well enough to satisfy most of them I thought, but I was still uncomfortable.

Perhaps sensing this, they let me leave after I'd finished eating, using the excuse that I had to use the bathroom. I wouldn't call what happened a negative experience, but it certainly wasn't pleasant either. I had eyes on me almost the entire time from jealous-filled boys, probably wishing they could have taken my place. A lot of girls also looked at me judgingly, suspicious as to what my intentions were.

Additionally, although I tried to conceal my nerves, they still got to me in a bad way, and it felt like everything I said or did was under scrutiny. I thanked Amikura and the rest of them for inviting me as I left, in which they assured me it was no problem and to hang out with them again soon. Although they said that, I doubt Amikura would be able to catch me out again the way she did before. I didn't really feel like going through that twice.

I got back to the classroom with about 20 minutes of lunchtime remaining. Himeno came back from her lunch a few minutes later. She sat back down beside me with a look obviously letting me know not to talk to her, so I just ignored her and looked out of the window in the meantime. I was starting to get bored when an announcement began playing over the school's speakers.

"At 5:00 pm today, we will be holding a student club fair in Gymnasium No. 1. Students interested in joining a club, please gather in Gymnasium No. 1. I repeat, at-"

I'd never joined a club before now that I'm thinking about it.

"Hey, Himeno-"

"I'm not interested in joining a club."

"What? I didn't even ask you anything yet."

Himeno heaved a huge sigh. "What is it?"

"Are you interested in joining a club?"

"Are you being serious? Do you have dementia or are you just an idiot? I just told you that I'm not interested in joining a club."

"That doesn't mean going won't change your mind though" I replied.

"I am NOT, interested in joining a club, Ayanokoji-kun."

"Okay then."

It seemed every time that I tried talking to Himeno I just end up getting on her nerves. I'm not saying I'm an expert or anything on friendship, but I find it astonishing that a spiteful girl like her had the ability to make any friends at all. Maybe it's a gender thing? She might just not have any interest in talking to guys.

"You don't really have any friends do you?" she suddenly asked.

"Hey! I ate lunch with five other people today I have you know! Plus, I can at least talk to you pretty well now."

Himeno shot me an annoyed-looking smirk. "First, don't count me as one of your friends. Second, I saw you with Amikura's gang and it was obvious they were just pitying you for not having anyone to talk with. Having lunch with people doesn't make them automatically your friends."

"O-Oh..."

Why was she going to these kinds of lengths to put me down?! To be fair, none of them had referred to me as their friend like Ichinose did yesterday, so she could be telling the truth. I still think she mostly said that out of spite though.

"Well, since you're going there, without me, do you want to join one?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm still thinking about it, but I probably won't."

"You don't plan on joining a club, but you're going to the club fair? That's weird. Are you going to try and use the fair as a pretext to try and make some friends?"

"Not necessarily, but joining a club would be a good way to make friends. Having shared interests goes a long way I'd bet."

"Can't you just invite somebody else?" she questioned.

"I'm asking you specifically because I don't have that option!"

The only person I could think of would be Ichinose or maybe Amikura. However, if they do end up going, it will be with a bunch of other people, so it would just be too awkward for me.

"That's understandable, but if you really wanted to make friends, you would try and be more insistent. You're not going to get anywhere by just observing people," she said.

I guess she didn't understand that I wanted to make friends more than anything, but I couldn't.

"Have you ever been in a club, Himeno?" I asked.

"Nope, never been in one."

"Then, do you have experience? You know, doing this or that?"

"What do you mean when you say 'this or that!' Do you want me to punch you?!"

"Not the face please, and why are you getting so angry? Did I say something-"

A fist came sluggishly flying out from my periphery and hit me on the shoulder.

"Ouch! What was that for!" I cried wincing a little.

"For being an idiot! I'm definitely not going with you now. Why don't you just leave me alone and ask one of your 'friends' from Amikura's gang," she sneered at me.

Yeah, definitely not making friends with this chick. I wasn't going to muster up the courage to ask Amikura or Ichinose either. Guess I'm going by myself, lucky me.

Part 3

"There are more people than expected," I muttered under my breath.

After classes had ended for the day, I went to the club fair by myself and was wandering aimlessly around the edge of the gymnasium, waiting for the fair to start. Nearly all of the students attending were freshmen, I counted around 100 of them waiting around. I glanced over the pamphlet I received when I walked in, which contained detailed information on club activities.

Although the school didn't seem like a top-tier institution for things like baseball or ballet, the clubs themselves looked great. The facilities were substantially better than ordinary schools. They had luxurious equipment that could give professional clubs a run for their money.

"Still busy avoiding trouble?" a girl said randomly appearing in front of me.

What is it with girls randomly calling out to me today? It was the black-haired girl from yesterday who confronted me by the front entrance. For a moment I didn't know what she was talking about before I remembered our brief conversation in full. She strutted alongside me with a sour expression and her arms crossed.

"I guess so, I thought you said yesterday that you didn't want to spend time with people like me?"

"So you do remember our conversation. I just thought it was funny how you dislike trouble so much that you can't even go through the trouble of making even a single friend," she said.

"Wha-?! How could you possibly know if I've made friends or not?!" I said.

"You came here by yourself, didn't you? That's as good a reason as any."

"That's just an assumption! I may have friends that aren't interested in joining a club and decided to go straight back to the dorms instead!" I replied.

"'May have friends?' That's a weird way of saying it. If you actually did have any, you would have said that more definitively. Also, you're being oddly specific and going into a lot of detail as to what your 'friends' could have done instead of coming here. You're just embarrassing yourself at this point."

Ughh! What is with this girl?! What gives her the right to belittle me like this anyways? She's also here at the fair alone.

"You're one to talk. You came here by yourself also. Does that mean you don't have any friends either?"

"That's right, I don't. Not because I'm avoiding trouble, but because I simply don't deem it necessary to do so."

"You don't think it's necessary to make friends? That's a sad way of going about your life in my opinion."

I wouldn't be surprised if she was the type only attending high school to graduate and advance to university. With that mindset, I guess you didn't need to make any friends.

"Not as sad as wanting to make friends and failing miserably," she smirked. "I bet the only reason you came here was to try and make a friend by walking around, undirected and hoping someone would take pity on you enough to strike up a conversation. I guess it partly worked. I came over and struck up a conversation with you after all, but it's not like I pity you or anything. All I see is someone in a tragic situation who is way out of his depth."

Arghh! Again?! I'm pretty sure Himeno said something similar. I don't even know her name yet! Wait, I don't even know her name yet.

"Ahem! Anyways, my name is Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. What's yours?" I asked.

"Eh? Ayanokoji-kun? Was that your attempt at trying to make a friend? I'm really trying not to laugh here, but that was pathetic."

"That wasn't an attempt to befriend you, not even close. I just want to know the name of the girl who is borderline bullying me."

"Borderline bullying? Perhaps it's best that I don't give you my name, since you might report me to the school."

"I don't need your name to report you to the school. If I was going to do that, I would have left for the faculty office already."

The girl stared at me through her radiant purple eyes. She had a sour-looking face, but if you could see past that, she was pretty cute. Not on Ichinose's or Amikura's level, but cute nonetheless.

"Were you thinking of something inappropriate just then, Ayanokoji-kun?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I quickly rebuked her. "Your name?"

She grew silent again, before letting loose a slight sigh.

"Hmph! Horikita Suzune. Happy?"

"Horikita is it? Well then, Horikita, would you like to stay and watch the fair with me, seeing as we're both loners with no friends?"

"We both have no friends, but seemingly only one of us actually cares about that," she sniggered. "I guess watching you flail about as you fail at making friends is somewhat interesting."

While she was definitely unpleasant, at least I had someone to talk with while I waited for the fair to begin. We both re-focused our attention on the pamphlet we received.

"Are you planning on joining a club, Horikita?

"I wasn't planning to join one. I came here to see if they had any clubs that were particularly famous, something like karate perhaps."

"I've read through the pamphlet already, I didn't see a karate club, unfortunately," I said.

"I see."

"Are you interested in karate or something?"

"No, not particularly."

"Right. It seems like it'll be hard for new students to get into the athletic clubs. Even if a first-year was able to make the cut, they'll probably end up being a benchwarmer for the next year. That wouldn't be much fun," I theorised.

They had things fairly well laid out. It almost seemed too orderly.

"I think it would be down to a person's individual efforts. Surely training for one or two years could get anyone to the level required for a club."

Training? I didn't think I'd even be able to put in half the effort required to join a club, no matter how desperate I was.

"I didn't realise the concept of training even existed for an individual who likes to avoid trouble, such as yourself," she continued.

"What does not liking trouble have to do with that?" I asked.

"Someone who avoids trouble also tends to avoid unnecessary manual labour. You said it first. You should stand by your principles and keep to your word, I think."

"I didn't really think about it that deeply."

"You keep acting so non-committal. You're never going to make any friends if you continue the way you have," she said.

"You wound me, Horikita."

"Thank you all for waiting, first-year students. We will now begin the club fair. A representative from each club will explain their function. My name is Tachibana, the student council secretary and today's club fair organiser. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

After Tachibana finished her opening remarks and left the stage, representatives of various clubs took her place. It was quite a diverse array of students. There were athletes dressed in sportswear and martial arts uniforms as well as girls dressed up in beautiful kimonos.

"Why not join an athletic club," Horikita said. "The judo club looks good, doesn't it? That senior student looks kind, and I'm sure he'd encourage you."

"Kind?! Do you really think he looks kind?! He'll kill me for sure with those gorilla-like limbs!" I snapped back at her.

"He'll want to converse about how easy judo is with you."

"Stop it!"

I actually thought we were having a nice conversation for a second there. She can't help but stick it to me apparently.

"The athletic clubs look really intimidating anyway. Even if I'd wanted to join, I get the impression they don't accept beginners."

"Beginners should be welcomed. The more members a club has, the more funding it will receive from the school. That's how they improve their club equipment, their training regimen and so forth."

"Sounds like they're using the beginners for funds..."

"I suppose that's true. A club could recruit newcomers and then bench them for the rest of their time, just like phantom members."

"What an unpleasant world. You have a weird way of thinking, Horikita."

I didn't especially want to join an athletic club anyway. If I was to join a club, it would have to be a nice quiet club, with little responsibility."

"Tch!"

Horikita suddenly tensed up. She looked up to the stage, her face much paler than before.

"What's the matter?"

She didn't seem to hear me. I followed her line of sight to the stage, but I didn't find anything of note there. Just the representative of the school baseball team, dressed in uniform. Had she liked his appearance and been put in a trance of some kind? No, not a girl like Horikita. Surprise? Disgust maybe? To be honest, Horikita's expression was complex and hard to read.

"Horikita, what is it?"

"..."

Still nothing. It was as if she couldn't even hear my voice anymore. She kept her eyes firmly on the stage, so I decided to stop probing her and wait for an explanation instead. There wasn't anything special about the baseball team's introduction, at least I didn't think so.

It wasn't just the baseball club though. Every club's introduction was similarly ordinary. If there was anything to be surprised about it was the vast number of small art clubs like the tea ceremony and calligraphy club. I was also surprised that you only needed three members to start a new club.

There was a brief pause between introductions which allowed the first-years to talk about the club and what they thought. The gymnasium's atmosphere was rather lively. Each club's representatives continued to explain their organisations to the unruly first-year students without a hint of displeasure or annoyance. They were probably eager to have new members on board, even if their ranks only increased by one.

A reception area had been set up in the corner of the gymnasium. After the representatives finished their presentations, they all gathered there behind many plain white tables. Eventually, everyone walked off the stage until only one man remained. Everyone focused their attention on him, and I then noticed that Horikita had been staring at that specific person this whole time.

He wasn't very tall, about 170cm, with a slender build and sleek black hair. He wore sharp glasses that intensified his piercing and calculating gaze. He stood in front of the microphone, not saying a word, calmly looking over the first-year students. Which club did he represent, and what in the world was he going to say?

He remained in place, not saying a word. ten seconds, then twenty seconds. Maybe he was drawing a blank, or was nervous to the point where he couldn't speak?

Some first-year students closer to the front of the stage began to heckle him mercilessly and started to laugh. However, the upperclassman continued to stand on the stage calmly, not trembling in the slightest. The laughter and comments from the front didn't seem to bother him. When the laughter had reached a crescendo, it abruptly died down. The man still wore an apathetic expression.

While the gymnasium was still abuzz with people talking, the guy on stage didn't move a muscle. He simply stood there, motionless, staring fixedly at the crowd beneath him. Horikita hadn't taken her eyes off the guy and continued to stare at him with an intense gaze, not breaking her line of sight even for a second.

The relaxed atmosphere then began to gradually change, and things took an unexpected turn. Now, an unbelievably tense and quiet mood dominated the gymnasium. Even though no orders had been given, the silence was awkward enough to gag virtually the entire gymnasium. Nobody dared to open their mouths to speak, as the silence continued for another thirty seconds or so.

The student, probably deciding the silence had lasted long enough, started his speech, slowly scanning the crowd.

"I'm the student council president. My name is Horikita Mananbu," he said.

Horikita? I glanced at Horikita next to me. So they were related? It could be that they just happen to have the same surname, but judging by their appearances, I doubt this was just a coincidence.

"The student council is looking to recruit potential candidates among the first-year student body to replace the graduating third-years. Although no special qualities are required, we humbly ask those considering applying to not be involved in other club activities. We don't accept students who are involved elsewhere."

Despite speaking in a soft tone, the tension around us was so palpable you could cut it with a knife. Horikita Manubu had managed to silence a gymnasium full of students, not because of his position as student council president, but because of his overwhelming presence that dominated everyone around him.

"Furthermore, we in the student council do not wish to appoint anyone who possesses a naive outlook. Such a person would not be elected and would sully the sanctity of this school. It is the student council's right and duty to enforce and amend the rules, but the school expects more than that. We shall gladly welcome anyone who understands this."

His speech was so eloquent that he didn't pause once. Immediately after finishing, he hopped off the stage and left the gymnasium, the students unable to utter a single word as he left. We didn't know what would have happened if we'd tried to talk. Everyone in the room shared the same thought, apparently.

"Thank you all for coming. The club fair has now ended. We will now open the registration area to anyone interested in signing up. Also, registration will be open until the end of April, so if any student wishes to join at a later date, we ask that you please bring the application form directly to the club you wish to join."

The more laid-back approach from secretary Tachibana allowed the tension in the air to dissipate. The third-year students in the reception area started taking applications.

"..."

Horikita remained as still as a statue, not showing any signs of moving.

"Hey, Horikita, What's wrong?" I asked.

Still nothing. I guess she was done talking with me for now.

"Excuse me, Ayanokoji-kun?"

As I was lost trying to figure out what to do with Horikita, two guys from my class approached me, pushing their way through the droves of students making their way to the reception or leaving. It was Kanzaki and Shibata.

"Oh, hello Kanzaki, Shibata," I said greeting them.

"Yes, hello Ayanokoji-kun," Kanzaki said reservedly.

"Sup bro!" Shibata said a little livelier.

Well, this is a slight change. This is the third time I've been called out today, only this time it was by a pair of guys. At least this might be a little easier to manage.

"Are you two here to join a club?"

"Sadly I am not, but Shibata-kun here has already signed up for one."

"Yeah! I've been playing soccer since elementary school, so it was only natural that I'd join the club here as well!"

Shibata looked like the athletic type, His slim but lean build was well suited for soccer.

"How about yourself Ayanokoji-kun? Are you going to join a club?"

"Uhm, probably not. None of the clubs really caught my attention," I admitted.

"Is that so? I would have thought at least a few of the clubs here would have attracted your interest. Didn't you mention yesterday that you enjoyed playing piano and calligraphy?"

Yeah, I guess I did mention that yesterday.

"You're right about that, but I'm not passionate enough to enter clubs for either of them though."

"Ah! But-"

"Before you say I should join the reading club Shibata, if I wanted to read, I could just go to the library and do it by myself," I said cutting him off.

"O-Oh, haha! I guess you have a point there."

"I and Shibata were just with Ichinose and her friends. She's aiming to join the student council," Kanzaki said.

"The student council?"

I guess she was suited for the role. She definitely had some good leadership qualities and a good head on her shoulders. From what I've seen from her so far, there shouldn't be a reason they'd reject her.

"The student council president really was awe-inspiring. The way he silenced the whole room from his presence alone was incredible."

"He has some crazy hidden power, that's what I think!" Shibata declared firmly.

"I know, right? He made everyone shut up without saying a word. That's something I could never hope to do," I replied.

"Ah yes, before I forget, Ichinose asked me to invite you to the Class B group chat. It would be great if you could join, Ayanokoji-kun. You're one of the few people not in it," Kanzaki said pulling out his phone.

"Huh? Is that really ok?" I asked.

"What are you talking about? Of course, it's ok! We're all in the same class remember?" Shibata said. "While we're at it, why don't you take our numbers as well? It would be good to get to know you a bit better man!"

This was a rather unexpected development. I was elated to be invited into the group chat. This was the perfect chance to make friends! I readily accepted Shibata's proposal and got my phone out to exchange contact information with the pair of them. However, as I did so I noticed Horikita had ditched me and vanished into the crowd. Not that I cared. I was too busy doing this instead. I joined the group and added Kanzaki and Shibata to my contact list.

"Great, let's get along, Ayanokoji-kun." Kanzaki said offering his hand.

"Sure," I said shaking his hand firmly.

"Same here!" Shibata said slapping my back hard.

It kinda hurt, but I didn't care. I felt like I had made a couple of new friends, and that thought overrode any negative feelings I could have right now.

End of Chapter

Arc 1 Chapter 3: Time For a Swim

Part 1

"Yo! Morning Tabata!"

"Good morning Terumento!"

Tabata Gengyo, the man who boldly claimed to be his middle school's star tennis player, walked into class with a massive grin. He called out to his new best friend, Terumento Yanai, who was also donning a mischievous-looking smile. It was a little unusual for these two to arrive early. It'd been a week since the entrance ceremony, and they would always arrive just before the bell. To their credit, they hadn't been late as of yet.

Terumento was far different looks-wise compared to his friend Tabata, as he was taller and had more meat on his bones, but didn't necessarily look athletic either.

As they sat down next to each other, they started talking in low voices to the point where they were out of my earshot. It was likely that they were discussing something regarding swim class today. I was told we'd be taking the class with the girls, so it was probably related to that. If I'm honest, it was difficult to resist the urge to think about Ichinose and Amikura in their swimsuits, but I didn't want them to think I was like those two.

Some of the girls, perhaps realising what they were discussing, started frowning at them deliberately, which made the pair of them tense up. They frantically stopped talking to one another and buried their faces in some of their study material instead.

Despite the contents of their recent conversation, I was jealous of their easy-going banter. I desperately wanted friends as well. I'd got Kanzaki and Shibata's numbers, but hadn't really held a conversation with either of them yet. I couldn't call them friends.

"Pathetic," an all too familiar voice said.

"Oh, hey there Himeno," I responded casually.

"Don't act so familiar with me, I'm not here to be your friend. If you want some though, why not join in with their conversation? I'm sure the subject of their conversation will be of the utmost interest to you."

"Shut up, I want friends but, I'm not so desperate that I would risk myself being labelled a pervert."

"I see. Well, it's good to know that even you possess a little common sense."

"Wow, thanks a lot."

She glanced at the two idiots who had gone back to snickering at each other and indulging in their fantasies.

"Are you going to be joining in for the swim class after lunch, Himeno?" I asked.

"Should be. Why? Do you think some idiots taking bets on the girl's tits is gonna stop me from swimming?"

"Won't you be uncomfortable?"

"It doesn't bother me in the slightest, what they decide to look at isn't any of my concern, even if they look at me," she huffed. It looks like she actually didn't care. I thought most girls would be annoyed if the guys ogled them too much.

"By the way, are you doing ok keeping up with the work in class? You seem to listen more than I do, but I never see you writing anything down."

"Are you worried about me Himeno? That's sweet."

"Shutup! It's not that. I just want to know if I'm seatmates with a complete idiot or not."

That was a harsh way of saying it.

"Don't worry about me, I'd learnt everything we're doing in class by the time I was 8," I said a little jokingly.

"Pffft! Yeah right! If you're not bothering to write anything down, you haven't got a chance for the exams. What are you gonna do? Memorise everything you see?"

"Could do," I said nonchalantly. "Don't worry Himeno, you're kind-hearted warning is much appreciated, but I'll manage somehow.

"Don't be an idiot, Ayanokoji-kun," she said sitting down and resting her head on the table facing away from me. Clearly, she wanted to end our conversation.

I looked back towards Tabata's and Terumento's tables and it looks like the number of guys had increased to five.

"They really are taking bets huh?" I muttered. I wonder if the majority of the girls would be willing to overlook this. They were now talking louder and with more confidence. They were less worried about being overheard.

The girls who'd already arrived were clearly beginning to get uncomfortable and I was certain one of them would lash out at the group sooner or later. However, to my surprise, it wasn't one of the girls that made the first move to put a stop to it. Kanzaki stood up and strode over to the table, with an irritated expression. The atmosphere became noticeably heavier.

"You guys, what are you discussing? Mind letting me join in?" he said with his ever-serious tone.

I looked over at the brewing commotion. Most of the guys understood that Kanzaki wouldn't approve of what they were doing. However, this didn't extend to two people in particular.

"We're taking bets on the girl's breast size, Kanzaki-kun. Wanna join in? It's 1000 points a bet."

Tabata was seemingly completely oblivious to the situation he was now in. Terumento was the same, as he nodded enthusiastically along with Tabata's words.

Kanzaki's gaze fell to the tablet that they had both been using, probably something to do with the bets they were placing.

"May I see the tablet?" Kanzaki asked.

"Sure!" Tabata responded eagerly handing it over.

By this point, the other guys had made themselves scarce and scurried back to their own seats. These two's ability to read the room was absolutely abysmal. Himeno could only shake her head exasperatedly. As if It couldn't get any worse for the pair, Ichinose then walked into the classroom, with Amikura and Chihiro in tow.

"Ichinose-san, perfect timing," Kanzaki said.

"Eh? Perfect timing? What is it Kanzaki-kun?" Ichinose asked tilting her head.

Tabata and Terumento realised what could be about to happen, so they began voicelessly signalling Kanzaki to stop, flailing their hands around and zipping their mouths. They couldn't allow Ichinose to realise what they'd been planning, they understood that much.

"Tabata and Terumento here are placing bets, care to join the pair of them?"

"Placing bets on what?"

"Come over here, it's written all here on this tablet I'm-"

"OK! OK! Time out! We're sorry Kanzaki-kun! We'll stop what we're doing immediately!" Terumento said getting up and bowing deeply to Kanzaki.

"Yes. We're sorry Kanzaki-kun. It was ill-judged of us to do something so distasteful." Tabata followed up.

Ichinose just looked a little puzzled, but Amikura seemed to catch on and began scratching her cheek, sighing in exasperation.

Kanzaki then turned and looked at the other guys who were involved. "This applies to you guys as well," he said sternly. The guys looked frightened and immediately nodded their heads frantically.

Kanzaki had established himself as the class's effective second in command, just behind Ichinose. He was good at keeping the guys in line and preserving the peace between the boys and the girls. He'd recognised that what the two idiots were doing would pose a threat to that peace and acted swiftly so that it didn't spiral out of control.

It seemed that Ichinose's role was a little different as the class's perceived leader. She was the class's figurehead, helped keep morale high and made sure everyone was happy to the best of her ability. She was quite good at making everyone as comfortable as possible and tried her absolute best to be friends with everyone. Was this the best way to lead a class? I wasn't so sure, but that's just my own unimportant opinion.

Thanks to Kanzaki's intervention, looks like I won't be placing any bets anytime soon and morning classes would soon begin. Since Himeno said I haven't been writing anything down, maybe I'll try my hand at doodling a little bit. At least then I can say I did some work of my own.

Part 2

"Time to hit the pool!"

After lunch had ended, it was time for swimming lessons. Shibata was just as excited as the two idiots were, but for very different reasons. Despite Kanzaki's scolding earlier today, Tabata and Terumento were still excited to see the girls in their swimsuits. Most of us made our way there from the classroom, Tabata and Terumento leading the way.

"Come on let's go Ayanokoji-kun!"

"Oh? A-alright I'm coming."

I got a rather weird invitation to make my way there with Shibata, who was walking towards the indoor pool purposefully alongside Kanzaki.

We all entered the locker room and began to change. Most of the guys wrapped themselves up in towels and changed slowly, but Shibata wasted no time before removing his shirt, showing off his physique. He'd clearly worked hard, I remember from his introduction that he was a soccer player, so his muscles were quite well defined.

One of the more nervous guys, Tetsuya Hamaguchi, couldn't help blurting something out.

"Shibata-kun, you're pretty bold. Don't you get nervous being around other people like this?"

"Nervous? Oh, I guess I used to, but not anymore. I'm kinda used to it by this point. I've played soccer for school and for clubs outside the school for a while now."

"Of course, you did mention that the other day," Hamaguchi remarked.

He could say that again. In his environment, it was likely that the more sneaky guys were mocked.

"You're body seems well trained Shibata-kun. The hard work you put in is obvious and worthy of respect." Kanzaki said.

"Really? I don't think it's a big deal. I'm not a bodybuilder or anything like that."

Shibata indeed wasn't close to being a bodybuilder but was easily one of the most athletic guys in class B. Kanzaki was right, his hard work was commendable.

With that conversation now over, I got to changing myself. I was rather looking forwards to my first swimming lessons, for various reasons.

The whole changing room then grew noticeably quieter. What had happened? Everyone seemed to be looking at me for some reason.

Huh? Did I look funny? Was there something off with my body? What was their deal?

"W-what is it?" I said struggling to speak under the weight of their gazes.

"BROOO! You never told me you played sports! How'd you get a killer body like that!" Shibata exclaimed loudly.

"O-oh, that. Uhh, I don't know. I guess I've got good genetics or something, I've only done a little bit of light conditioning."

"Are you being serious?! There's no way! You don't get 8-pack abs without doing some serious training Ayanokoji-kun!"

At this point, it was getting a bit out of hand, and everyone had their eyes on me. I hated it. Kanzaki, realising my discomfort, stepped in to help.

"Everyone, this is clearly making Ayanokoji-kun uncomfortable. Mind your own business and get ready to swim."

"Yeah! We've got more important things to be worrying about right now, haha!" Tabata said clearly looking forward to all the eye candy.

Kanzaki didn't seem to like his comment, but it helped get people's attention off of me, so I was thankful for it.

"Hmmm, I'm not convinced, Ayanokoji-kun. You've definitely done some sort of exercise curriculum, but I'll leave it at that. I'm going on ahead."

Shibata then quickly left the locker room and head out for the pool. I quickly finished changing and followed him in.

Shibata and I were the first ones out of the locker room and we marvelled at the size and quality of the ANHS's indoor pool. The water was clear and beautiful, and we didn't need to worry about the weather. This was the perfect environment.

"Have you ever seen a pool so extravagant Aynokoji-kun?!" he asked.

"It's definitely nice, although it's not the biggest indoor pool I've seen."

"For real? You've seen one bigger than this? Where?"

"It might just be me, but my middle school's pool seemed bigger than this."

This was only a 50m pool after all. Although it was Olympic-sized, bigger recreational-style pools were everywhere.

"Really? What middle school did you go to then?"

"You wouldn't recognise the name of it, it was in a fairly remote part of the country. The school was quite successful though, so it could afford a spacious pool, maybe even bigger than this one."

"I see. I just love swimming. It's a great way to boost your endurance and your stamina and great for injury recovery!"

"I agree. There's no better way to start recovering from injury than swimming."

Wait a second. What was going on here? Had I just begun talking more naturally to Shibata? Just this morning I was too afraid to even approach him. It seemed like I had one foot in the door, so to speak. This could be the start of a new friendship!

"Hoooh~ What do we have here?" a sweet voice suddenly rang out.

It was Amikura. She was dressed in standard-issue school swimwear, which showed off her curvy figure. I and Shibata could only avert her eyes, and look on towards the pool in embarrassment. She was a lot bigger than I had thought, she must have been a D or an E cup. Her butt and thighs were also more alluring like this. I struggled to keep composed.

"Hey. You two, where are you looking? I'm right here, hehe~."

"I and Ayanokoji-kun are in the midst of an internal battle," Shibata said in a low voice.

"Haha, is that so~?" she said turning around and looking back at us with a mischievous smile.

She was clearly having fun tormenting us two and she started flaunting her curves in front of us. Her long smooth thighs and eye-catching butt were clear for me and Shibata to see. By now she'd worn us down to the point where we'd periodically steal a glance at her. She was unexpectantly bold. I didn't peg Amikura to be this proactive.

"Keep composed, Ayanokoji-kun," Shibata murmured to me.

"I'm trying," I responded.

I wouldn't be able to keep cool for much longer though. Amikura wasn't letting up, and she was now only a few feet away from us.

Just then, a bunch of the guys including the two idiots emerged from the locker rooms.

"Awh, guess my fun's over huh?" Amikura said dejectedly. She stopped posing and quickly folded her arms and walked back into the girl's locker rooms, more than likely to wait for more girls to get ready, so she wasn't all alone. I could imagine it being intimidating for a girl if you've got twenty guys looking at you in a swimsuit.

"W-what just happened?" I asked Shibata.

"Bro, I don't know. I wouldn't say that a bad thing happened, but I was too shocked to really make the most of it, haha," he responded scratching the back of his head.

Tabata then strutted in front of us with a seemingly mortified expression. He really was as skinny as he looked.

"Shibata! Ayanokoji! What were you bastards doing to Amikura-chan!"

"W-what?" I exclaimed.

"We didn't do anything. Leave it out, Tabata-kun!"

"If I find out that you assaulted Amikura when she was alone with the pair of you out here, you'll have to deal with me!" he said weakly pounding his fist into his palm.

"Calm down Tabata-kun," Kanzaki said appearing behind us suddenly. "Need I not remind you what you and Terumento-kun tried to pull off this morning?"

"Ugh!"

Tabata shuddered at the thought of this morning when he tried to get the guys to place bets on the size of the girl's breasts.

"No, please. I'm sorry Kanzaki-kun."

Kanzaki's authority was even more far-reaching than I imagined. He could force anyone to apologise for absolutely nothing if he wanted I bet.

A few minutes of waiting later and the rest of the girls were finally ready. All of them emerged at once, quickly streaming out of the locker rooms in quick succession.

"Amazing! The pool they have here is huge! Don't you think Ichinose-san?" Chihiro said excitedly.

"This pool is really something else," Ichinose said.

Ichinose, also dressed in the school swimwear, was even more beautiful than Amikura. Her legs were longer, her skin was smoother, not to mention the rest of her assets were just levels above her main competitor. Coupled with her usual strawberry blonde hair and deep blue eyes, Ichinose stood shoulders above the rest, when it came to her looks. To say she was captivating was an understatement, she felt almost irresistible!

What the hell am I even saying? Is it like me to go that over the top? I wasn't sure, Ichinose was just that good-looking.

The girls reflexively began admiring the pool in all its beauty. Meanwhile, the guys and I were struggling to be as respectful as possible. This was an obvious challenge though and Tabata and Terumento were seemingly at their limits.

"Haugghhhhh! Is this heaven or what, Tabata-kun?!"

"At last, I can finally die peacefully."

Their outbursts earned them each a slap on the back of the head by Kanzaki and were immediately scolded for their inappropriate reactions.

"Shibata-kun, Ayanokoji-kun, Amikura told me you were the first two out. Are you looking forward to swimming?" Ichinose asked.

She walked over to us with her arms by her side, smiling up at us innocently. It's like she didn't realise that she was the centre of every guy's attention right now.

"Yeah! I can't wait to swim. It's been a while since I've actually swum properly after all. It's just been recovery baths after soccer for a while now." Shibata said.

"Hehe, I'm glad. How about you, Ayanokoji-kun?"

"I don't know, I don't hate nor like swimming. I'm not very good at it either."

"Is that so..?"

Ichinose walked closer to me and began examining me all over.

"You seem like you would be a good swimmer though. Do you exercise Ayanokoji-kun?"

"Eh? No, just a bit of conditioning. I think my parents just blessed me with good genes that's all."

"That's what you said back in the locker room!" Shibata exclaimed.

"Good genes you say..."

Ichinose then walked up to me until our toes nearly touched. She gently poked my stomach with her index finger, which caused me to instinctively tense up.

Heh?

"Haha," Ichinose just giggled at my reaction.

What? What on earth was she doing?

She continued up from my stomach to my shoulders, then gently traced my left arm with her hand from my bicep right down to my forearm, with a curious smile.

The boys behind me all spontaneously held their breath and the girls watching from a little away couldn't help but start giggling rhythmically with one another, as Ichinose's fingers slid smoothly down my arm.

She eventually let go and moved her eyes down to my legs, still just a couple of feet separating us. How was I even going to swim after this? Ichinose's body was now the only thing I could think of in this adolescent mind of mine.

She stopped and then met my gaze with the same quizzical smile, which had been all over the place for the last twenty seconds or so.

"Good genes? More like the best genes in history! You're truly blessed, Ayanokoji-kun," she said.

"Y-yeah, I guess I am."

I didn't have much else to say in response considering what just happened. Ichinose crossed her arms and walked back to the girls who were still gossiping relentlessly.

"Ayanokoji-kun, you bastard!"

"How are you getting all touchy-feely with Ichinose-chan!"

Looks like the two idiots had finally reached their limits and confronted me head-on with tears in their eyes.

"Whoa, Whoa! Hey! I didn't even do anything!" I complained.

The rest of the guys were still too shocked to even try and back me up. Ichinose, although probably unintentionally, had thrown me into a bit of a predicament.

"Cool it you two," Kanzaki interjected. "Like he just said, Ayanokoji-kun didn't do anything wrong, and neither did Ichinose-san. So be quiet and behave yourselves. Don't make me tell the two of you again."

Kanzaki was like a father telling off his children. Even so, I was glad to have a level-headed guy like him back me up. Thank you Kanzaki, you're presence here is much appreciated. I silently thanked him.

"All right, is everyone here?"

A stocky-looking man, probably in his mid-forties, gathered everyone together and started swim class.

"All forty of you? That's much better than some other classes. Let's get started!"

It was clear from this reaction that in some of the other classes, students decided to ditch swim class. He didn't seem to be more happy or frustrated about it though. His face remained predominantly apathetic.

"Make sure you do a proper warm-up, then I want to see you swim. Get in there and give it your all!"

"Yes sir!" The majority of the class responded earnestly.

"Sorry sir, I can't really swim though..."

Tabata sheepishly approached the instructor and spoke up. I found it odd that Tabata, considering he was his middle school's star tennis player, couldn't swim.

"Don't worry about a thing. With me as your instructor, you'll be swimming before you know it."

"But sir, do we really have to force ourselves to swim? It's not like we're going to the beach anytime soon."

"Absolutely not. It doesn't matter how bad you are now, I'll make sure you can swim adequately by summertime. Being able to swim properly will come in handy later on. That I can promise you."

It could be that he wanted to prevent students from sinking like rocks and drowning, but having a teacher say something like that set off some alarm bells. I could be wrong though, knowing how to swim on its own is convenient after all.

Everyone began doing their warm-up exercises. Tabata and Terumento were trying their best to not ogle the girls, in order to avoid Kanzaki's wrath. The instructor asked us to swim fifty meters, and students who couldn't swim were allowed to touch the bottom of the pool with their feet. I hadn't been in a pool since last summer. I entered the pool, adjusted quickly and began to swim leisurely.

After I'd swum my fifty meters, I waited for everybody else to finish.

"Heh hey! That was an easy win! Did everybody see my super swimming skills?" Terumento proclaimed.

He'd swum expertly with flawless technique and got out of the pool with a self-satisfied grin. In actuality, he hadn't won anything, nor were his swimming skills any different from the majority of the class.

"I'm impressed, for the most part, it looks as if everyone can swim. We're going to hold a competition. We'll separate groups by gender. Fifty-meter freestyle," the instructor announced.

The less competent swimmers shuddered at the thought of competing, while the more athletic people like Shibata & Ando got themselves fired up.

"We'll separate the boys and girls into four groups of five. The winner of each group will then face off in a final round to determine the two winners. These two will get a special bonus of 5,000 points. However, the girl and boy who has the worst time will have to take supplementary lessons, so don't think about taking it easy."

I never would have thought that the school would hand out points as a prize. I guess it would serve as a good motivator.

There were thirty-nine of us competing, as Tabata couldn't swim. There would therefore have to be one group of four guys instead. The girls set off first, while the boys sat on the sidelines, watching on in excitement, and a little bit of lust.

"Amikura-chan, Amikura-chan, Amikura-chan!"

It looked like Amikura had swept Tabata off his feet, as he continued to cheer for her in an annoyingly metrical tone.

Shibata reprimanded him along with Kanzaki, as he was being overly enthusiastic, to the point where he began to scare the rest of us.

Amikura narrowly won the first round, just ahead of Himeno, which was met with loud cheers from the rest of the girls, still lined up behind the diving boards at the start.

Ichinose's group was up next. Despite her large rack, she was a good swimmer. She glided through the water winning first place and was loudly applauded by the boys and girls alike. Sayo Ando, arguably the most athletic girl in the class, won the third group with a time of 27 seconds, the fastest swimmer thus far. She was most likely to win the reward for the girls.

After the fourth group had finished, I and the rest of the guys got ready to swim, taking up positions near the diving boards at the start. As the first group set off, Shibata who was in the group before me in the same lane, turned around giving me his game face.

"How you feeling Ayanokoji-kun? Confident?"

"Oh, definitely. I just need to make sure I don't come in last."

"C'mon! You should aim a little higher given your physique! I expect you to be my toughest competition!"

"I'm not that good at swimming if I'm honest. I don't even really like competing. I just don't want to have to deal with any trouble," I said.

"Well, that's a shame. Regardless, I hope to see you in the last round!" he said giving me a thumbs up.

"We'll see," I responded.

Shibata's group started their race, which he won easily with a time of 24 seconds. Everyone cheered in admiration of his speed. He lept out of the pool without even being out of breath. If he wasn't so committed to soccer, I'm sure he would have landed himself a spot on the swimming team.

As for me, I just needed to make sure I didn't take those supplementary lessons. Coming in first out of the guys wasn't even something I considered doing. I planned to come somewhere in the middle of my group, just not last, because that would run the risk of me having to take up those extra lessons. With that in mind, the instructor blew his whistle signalling the start of my race, and we dove in.

Looks like my classmates were slower than I had anticipated, and I ended up finishing first despite taking 32 seconds. I could hear people cheering and clapping for me as I pulled myself out of the water. Looks like I'll be heading to the final round after all. In any case, I'd managed to avoid those extra lessons, so I wasn't that bothered.

"Hey, that wasn't half bad Ayanokoji-kun. We'll be competing against each other after all!" Shibata gave me a slap on the back congratulating me.

"I guess, it's not like I have any chance of beating you though."

"Don't be like that, even though it's probably true, haha."

After the next two groups of guys finished their races, it was again time for the girls to swim. Amikura, Ando and Ichinose were among the five finalists. They dove in, and while Ichinose and Amikura both gave it their best, Ando was much too fast for the both of them, as she glided like a homing torpedo through the water. She comfortably won with a five-meter margin, followed by Amikura in second and Ichinose in third.

Even though Ando had won, most of the cheering was for Ichinose and Amikura. It was clear that those two were the biggest social hearts among the girls, almost as if they were competing for popularity within the class. Despite that, they didn't seem to dislike one another, far from it. They hugged and congratulated one another for their efforts, and there was little sense of rivalry between them.

It was now my turn to swim again, so I lined up alongside the four others who made it to the final round. Shibata was to my left and Kanzaki was to my right. We dove in on the coach's whistle and sped down the width of the pool.

By the time I'd swam twenty meters, I was coming in fourth place just behind Kanzaki. I could faintly hear the girls cheering for us on the edge of the pool as my head dipped in and out of the water. I could have sworn I'd even heard my name being cheered for specifically. It almost made me want to go for first place, so I sped up a little bit so as not to disappoint them too much.

Despite my efforts, I was only able to come in third place, with a time of 28 seconds. Shibata came in first, again getting just above 24 seconds and winning the 5,000 points. It was clear that Shibata was levels above me athletically, considering he finished four seconds ahead of me. The whole class surrounded him to congratulate him on his victory.

Everyone except for one girl.

"So you heard me cheering for you then?" Ichinose walked up and asked me with a kind smile. She was still dripping wet from the pool, which made her thighs more alluring as the sun reflected through the windows behind us. I had to calm myself down before I entered a state of emergency, as my heart pounded in my chest.

"C-cheering for me? So you were the one shouting my name, Ichinose."

"Yeah! Well, not just me, there were some others cheering for you as well, but mostly it was me!"

That made me happy. It was nice knowing a cute girl like Ichinose was rooting for me.

"I see, thank you then. There's just something I don't understand though. Why would you ask me whether I heard someone cheering for me?" I questioned.

It was weird that she would approach me in this manner. I would have thought she'd congratulate me and then just admit to cheering my name without asking if I heard or not.

"You sped up didn't you?"

"Sped up?"

"Yeah, you were lagging behind in fourth at first, then I started cheering for you and you went up to third. On another day you could have even finished second," she explained. "Also, if you'd started the way you finished, it's likely you and Shibata would have been right alongside one another. You were holding yourself back slightly, weren't you?"

Observant, as I've now come to expect from Ichinose. It's a shame that in this case, s he is wrong.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just got lucky in the last round, probably just the adrenaline of being in the final race."

"I suppose that's plausible..." she said thoughtfully. "Well, even so, something seems a little off. Isn't it a bit early to be having swimming lessons?"

"I don't know. I thought it was because we had a really good indoor pool."

To be fair, the swimming season doesn't really start until June, which then runs through into September. So if I'm honest, it was weird that we were starting it up this early. This was why I was concerned by what the instructor said to Tabata before we started.

"I didn't think Japanese high schools held swimming lessons this early in the year. Back in middle school, we didn't swim until at least the start of June. What about you Ayanokoji-kun?"

"I didn't really like to use the pool back in middle school, so I skipped swim class. I didn't really remember when the season started or finished."

"Oh come on! You expect me to believe that after you finished third out of the boys in our class?" Ichinose said in apparent disbelief.

"I just think I'm average, I don't swim regularly after all. This was my first time in over a year."

"Nope. You're much, much faster than average Ayanokoji-kun!"

She got closer to me, nearly as close as before, and cast her eyes down somewhat to inspect my abdomen. Damnit! I was getting nervous again, just as nervous as before.

"I-Ichinose, I was just born naturally muscular. There's no special reason behind it. I wasn't even in any clubs back in middle school. Don't read too much into this."

Ichinose didn't seem to hear me and kept examining my body, although she refrained from poking me like last time. It was as if she were thinking "Really? Really?" in near shock and awe. I didn't really know what to say, as I continued to stand still as a statue as she examined me over and over.

"Well, there's no doubt in my mind that you are more capable than you let on. You shouldn't be so humble, Ayanokoji-kun. Open up to us a little more, we're all your classmates after all~." she said smiling at me genuinely.

Open up a little more huh? I thought I was doing pretty well, but I guess I still seem a little standoffish. At the very least, I've proved to myself that I can make friends, and get along with people, but I guess I still have a lot to learn.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Great! Can't wait to continue hanging out with you, Ayanokoji-kun!" she declared full of energy. "Looks like swim class is over now, I'll see you this afternoonnn~."

"Yeah, see you later."

Ichinose and the rest of the girls started funnelling out of the pool area and back into the changing rooms. Tabata and Terumento were making the most of it, staring straight at their butts as they jiggled lightly as the girls skipped off and out of view.

After they'd left, Terumento met my gaze and zeroed in on me, his face contorted unpleasantly.

"What the heck is going on, Ayanokoji-kun?"

"Um, nothing really. I didn't do anything special. I'm not that amazing at swimming or anything."

"What? That's not what I was talking about!"

He then wrapped his arm around my shoulders and whispered in my ear. Seems like I misinterpreted his original question slightly.

"I'm aiming for Ichinose-chan. Don't get in the way!"

I wasn't planning on getting in the way, but his goal was unrealistic in my opinion. Ichinose may be kind-hearted, but she wasn't the type who'd stoop to being with someone like Terumento. Of course, I didn't have much hope that I'd ever get a shot with Ichinose. She seems a little out of my league...

End of Chapter

Arc 1 Chapter 4: A Suspicious School

Part 1

"The head of the Yamato government was known as the 'o-kimi'. He controlled the powerful families of each region using the uji-kabane system-"

It'd now been three weeks since the entrance ceremony. It was currently the first period and we had history being taught by Sae Chabashira-sensei, Class 1-D's homeroom teacher. Suffice to say, her way of teaching wasn't very engaging.

"Uji referred to groups that shared the same bloodline, while kabane referred to post and status."

Our class, while often attentive and studious for the most part, found these lessons the most difficult to sit through while remaining focused. This was especially true for Tabata and Terumento. I could see Tabata scrolling through some sort of book on his tablet and Terumento was fast asleep. The pair of them had been dubbed the "idiot duo" by some of the nastier people in our class because of their antics.

I would have thought Chabashira-sensei would lash out at them, considering the cold and miserable aura she gave off. However, she didn't seem to care and kept on teaching regardless. It's been the same with the other teachers as well for the last few weeks. I guess the fact that most of the students are studying diligently is deterring them from taking any action that is immediately noticeable.

The bell rang ending the first period.

"That's all for today, make sure to revise the material thoroughly," she said unenthusiastically exiting the classroom, not even looking back as she left.

"Ayanokoji-kun, haven't you made quite a few friends?" Himeno suddenly asked me.

"Well, sort off," I said.

"Sort off?"

Although I was worried at first, I'd luckily managed to talk to a couple of guys that I could now call friends. Shibata and I seem to get on reasonably well and I talk frequently with Kanzaki too. However, I was far from having someone I could call a best friend, friendships like that I bet take longer to materialise. Nevertheless, I had made a couple of friends before I had even realised it myself. Human relationships are mysterious after all, for example, I couldn't pinpoint exactly when I and Shibata started being friends.

"Yeah, I and Shibata get on fairly well."

"I see. Anyone else you consider a friend?"

"You?"

"No."

"Thought so," I said sighing heavily.

Looks like Himeno was still as cold as ever towards me. I'll probably never be able to make friends with her. I don't have the patience for something like that. I certainly wouldn't want someone like Himeno to be my girlfriend. I'd like a kinder, more lady-like girl, like Amikura or Ichinose.

For the third period, Hoshinomiya-sensei skipped into the classroom as cheerful as ever. The class quietened down and prepared for her lesson.

"Hey, guys and girls! Today's lesson will be quite important, so make sure you all pay close attention~."

The class noticeably straightened up when she said this. Although Hoshinomiya-sensei was rather aloof and easy-going, the class seemed to understand when she was being serious.

"What do you mean, Chie-chan-sensei?"

The whole class except for Terumento of course. Looks like he's given her a cute pet name as well.

"It's almost the end of the month, so we're going to do a short test. People at the front, please take one and pass these up to the people at the back."

Ignoring her new nickname, sensei handed out the tests to the people at the front. Eventually, the single-sheet test paper reached my desk. It contained questions on the 5 main subjects, 4 questions for each one, for a total of twenty. I could see that each question was worth 5 marks, allowing for a maximum score of 100 points.

"Although you should reeeeally try your hardest on this test, if you happen to do poorly, don't worry too much. This test will not be reflected on your report cards. As there isn't any risk here, I don't expect any of you to make sensei sad and cheat, are we clear~?"

"Yes!" the class responded in unison.

Although her phrasing was odd, I didn't see the need to worry too much. Since she said that this won't be reflected in my report card, there isn't a need for me to be too cautious. This was especially true after I saw the questions themselves.

After Hoshinomiya-sensei started the test, I found that most of the questions were unbelievably easy. The questions looked to be one or two levels down from the ones I faced on the entrance examination. It was almost like this was too easy.

However, as I worked through towards the end of the test, the questions became harder. The last three questions required a lot more thought than the rest of the test. The maths question was especially challenging, as it required complex formulae that I didn't think a high schooler could learn.

Quadratic Modelling? Seriously? In a first-year pop quiz?

I went through the questions over and over again in my head... Yeah, no way. These questions are way too hard. They couldn't be geared towards a high school student in the first year.

I thought that maybe they had been put on the test by mistake, there just isn't much hope for the people in my class to answer these questions.

Despite the fact that these results won't be reflected in our grades, what are they supposed to be evaluating when they throw questions like this at us?

Well, I guess I'll just solve these questions the same way I did before, just like I did on the entrance exam...

Part 2

"Whew! That test was so damn easy!"

"You can say that again, it's a shame it won't count towards our grades, I would have done well."

Shibata, Hamaguchi and Kanzaki invited me to have lunch with them in the cafeteria. We started talking about the test as we walked leisurely through the school corridors. The former two couldn't help but state the obvious about the test.

"I agree, but those last questions were difficult. I didn't even understand them," Kanzaki said.

"Yeah, I didn't get those ones at all," Shibata agreed. "How'd you find the test Ayanokoji-kun?"

"O-oh, well yeah the first questions were easy enough, but I don't even know why those last questions were on the test. There's no way the class could have answered them."

"Did you attempt the last three questions?" Hamaguchi asked me.

"Yeah, but I came up empty like everyone else."

"I see," he responded.

"Don't worry about it too much. I don't know anyone yet who has come out and said they understood those last questions."

"Yeah they were tricky," I said.

We arrived at the cafeteria and we all selected our meals. This was my second time here and the free school meals hadn't disappeared. If anything they were more popular than before, probably due to some of the first years running out of points.

"I still find it strange that they offer people free meal sets. It's just inviting people to waste their points, especially the students who don't enjoy their food so much," Kanzaki said as we all sat down.

"I wouldn't be able to function with that garbage full time." Shibata scoffed.

"What is it? Some sort of vegetable soup?" Hamaguchi asked.

"Yeah, it's not very filling, or nutritious for that matter," Shibata said. "I'd waste away into nothingness if I ran out of points for food at lunch."

"Even if you were silly enough to let that happen, it's not like the class will let you starve for a long period of time. We'd band together and help you out. Isn't that right, Kanzaki-kun?"

"Of course, I'm sure the whole class would be willing to help out."

"That's just how tight-knit we all are," Hamaguchi said through a mouth full of chicken.

Class B was a very united class from the sounds of it. I didn't really understand though, I didn't talk to that many of my classmates. I guess if I ever end up in trouble for whatever reason, I could fall back on my classmates, hopefully.

"We owe it all to Ichinose-san," Kanzaki said. "She's very good at bringing people together."

"She's a perfect leader. Our class is much friendlier than my middle school class," Hamaguchi said.

"She's pretty cute as well," Shibata said a little quieter.

"Haha, very true. It's too bad though Shibata, I'm convinced she's already smitten with Ayanokoji-kun," Hamaguchi said with a grin.

"What? Me?"

"Yes, you! Don't you remember that little moment during swim class a little while back?"

That was true, I found it weird how she took such a keen interest in my body. I liked Ichinose, she was the kind of girl that a lot of guys would be naturally attracted to. However, that in itself is a problem. If so many guys are already competing for her, what chance do I stand? I'd much rather try my luck with a girl almost just as good but a little less popular. Someone like Amikura for example.

"I guess that did happen, but I think she was just curious about my physique. I don't think she thinks that much of me if I'm honest, as sad as it is."

"I suppose that could be the case," Shibata mused. "Even still, a lot of the girls in our class have noticed you since swimming class. They were impressed, to say the least," he continued with a smirk.

"R-really?" my heart started pounding a little faster.

"He's right Ayanokoji-kun," Hamaguchi said agreeing. "But remember Shibata, you're probably the most popular guy in the class now."

"You think so?"

"Well yeah, you're athletic, good-looking, and you have a good head on your shoulders. I think girls look for those things in a guy."

"Boy, what a load of pressure," Shibata said sighing and looking nervous.

"Hey, guys! Mind if we both join you!"

Terumento and Tabata approached our table and asked if they could sit down.

The three of us excluding Kanzaki just averted our eyes, but Kanzaki didn't seem to mind.

"Of course, we don't mind at all."

"Thanks a bunch. So, what were you guys just talking about?"

"We were just talking about Shibata's popularity with the girls, that's all," Hamaguchi said lightly elbowing Shibata.

"Bro! Not in front of those two!" He exclaimed angrily. I knew why he reacted that way as well.

"Aha! Well, it's a good thing I am here! There is nobody with more experience with the ladies than me, Tabata Gengyo!" He proudly boasted.

Kanzaki shot him a doubtful-looking glance.

"Seriously? You of all people?" Shibata said.

"Who are you aiming for then? Huh? Ichinose-chan, Shiranami-chan maybe Kobashi-"

They continued giving pointless love advice to Shibata which I obviously ignored. Despite me not knowing that much about love and relationships, I feel like listening to those two wouldn't be the smartest idea, despite their self-proclaimed experience.

After a while, we decided it was time to leave the cafeteria and return to class.

On the way back we passed a vending machine.

"Yo! Ayanokoji-kun, get me something to drink!" Terumento said. It was almost as if he was demanding me to do it.

"If you want something from there, buy it yourself."

"No can do. I've already used up all my points. I've only got around 2,000 left. Plus, you still haven't apologised for trying to seduce Ichinose!"

I think I'll pretend he didn't say that last bit.

"How'd you end up using over 90,000 points in just three weeks?"

"I bought all the stuff I wanted. Like this, for example, check this out, guys!" Terumento said, taking out a handheld gaming device.

The four of us gathered around him and his new purchase.

"I bought this with Tabata. It's a PS Viva! It was pretty convenient that the school sells this kind of stuff."

"How much did it cost?" Kanzaki asked.

"About 20,000. With the extra stuff, I bought it with, it was just over 25,000."

He should not of spent that many points. Kanzaki looked like he agreed.

"Why are you being so wasteful with your points?" He asked.

"Huh? It's not like we're ever going to run out, right? Sensei said there wasn't any point in saving them."

"You probably don't understand yet, but you never know what can happen in life. Having close to zero yen is never a smart way live."

It didn't seem like the two idiots cared, as they just stared blankly back at Kanzaki.

"Whatever, you guys should buy one as well, so we can play with each other," Terumento said handing me the game to play. On the screen was a sort of medieval warrior, with a huge sword standing emotionless as she surveyed the forest around her. This was really weird, what kind of world even was this?

"I'm not that interested, honestly. What even is this? Some sort of fighting game?"

"It's a game called Hunter Watch. It's sold more than 4.8 million copies worldwide! I've been a god at video games for as long as I can remember. Overseas professionals continuously scouted me. I always turned them down though," Tabata said brimming with confidence.

So he's a professional tennis player and a top-level gamer? I didn't find him to be very convincing. Maybe another one of his jokes perhaps?

"Anyways, how in the world can such a small girl wear such heavy equipment? Is her armour fake or something? If it were real steel or iron, she'd collapse onto the ground from the weight of it all."

"You really want that level of realism in your games? People who say that kind of stuff are the kind who are ok with games where you can automatically regenerate your life. Are you one of those? If you ask me, those western-style games that allow you to do that while shooting in a warzone, are the most unrealistic!"

I couldn't get a grasp of what he was saying at all. It looked like Tabata was about to start a fight over it.

"Tabata, Terumento, I can see that you are both very passionate about this. However, I don't think forcing your hobbies onto others is a particularly nice way of sharing your interests. Tone it down a notch." Kanzaki explained.

"Eh? C'mon Kanzaki-kun, we're just trying to fit in a little better," Tabata complained.

I didn't doubt their reasons for coming to talk to us, nor do I doubt that they have good intentions. The harsh truth is that these two, sort of like myself, won't fit in anywhere except in their own company, no matter how accepting the class is.

"We understand Kanzaki-kun, we'll go on ahead. See you in class, c'mon Tabata."

"O-oh, right. See you guys later!"

The pair of them sped off toward the classroom ahead of us. The more reasonable of the two seemed to notice his friend was making the rest of us irritated.

"I'm glad they're gone," Shibata said exasperatedly.

I didn't want to admit it, but I silently agreed.

"Maybe we're too harsh on them, everyone has their quirks after all," Hamaguchi said.

"You might be right, but they disrupt the harmony within the class sometimes," Kanzaki said.

"You got that right."

"Let's hurry back to class, I don't all of us to be late."

"Yeah! Let's go!"

Before leaving, I took a second look at the vending machine.

"Wait for a second," I suddenly said.

"Hmm? What is it, Ayanokoji-kun?"

"So they have free water as well?"

There was a button towards the bottom of the drinks list for mineral water, which was free of charge.

"What's wrong?" Kanzaki asked again.

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if the cafeteria offers anything else for free."

"Yeah, we were talking about that stuff earlier. Do they offer free drinks as well?" Shibata asked.

"Yeah, only water though. There were quite a few people picking up those free meal sets now that I think about it."

Despite only going to the cafeteria twice, I can tell they were more popular than they should be.

"I don't think they eat them because they like it. It's probably because it's coming up to the end of the month."

"Maybe." While I was a little uneasy about it, I pressed the button for the mineral water and a bottle came tumbling down, which I swiftly picked up and opened, taking a sip. We then continued walking back to the classroom.

"Ah yes. Before I forget Ayanokoji-kun, we three, Ichinose and her friends are heading to the mall after school today. She asked me to extend the invitation to you." Kanzaki said.

"Oh yeah! How about it bro? You'll get more time with Ichinose after all," Shibata said lightly punching me.

While I didn't think that Ichinose was that interested in me, I had no reason whatsoever to refuse their request. I was desperate to get to know people better and to hang out as friends. This was the perfect opportunity.

"Sure, I have nothing else going on."

"Nice! Looking forward to it, I'm sure Ichinose is as well."

Part 3

"Ichinose-san! What do you think of this one?"

"It looks good on you Chihiro-chan, it's totally something you would wear!"

"Really? Thank you! I think I'll take it in that case."

I and Chihiro were looking around a women's boutique and clothing store, along with my other friends Mako and Yume Kobashi. They were currently looking through and smelling various perfumes on the other side of the store.

The guys were waiting outside chatting normally with one another. They said they didn't have any interest in this store, which is understandable I suppose. Then again, It is a shame really, I would have liked their opinions on some of these outfits I was trying on.

I averted my gaze from the rows of clothing and looked at the boy I was most fascinated with as of late. Unlike the others, he was still wearing his school uniform, so he stood out quite a lot. We even went home and agreed to meet up a little later after school, precisely because we wanted to go in casual clothes. Maybe he didn't have any casual clothes? Or maybe he just preferred his school uniform?

In any case, his name is Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. I was happy that he decided to tag along today because he doesn't have that many friends, and I see him by himself a lot. I asked Kanzaki to keep an eye on him, not just because I'm worried he's feeling a little left out, but also because I think he's a really mysterious person.

I haven't seen his expression change once. Not even getting up close to him and prodding his body could break his composure. Even I can barely believe I worked up the courage to do that, but at least on the outside, it didn't even phase him.

He's a calm and seemingly stoic guy, with decent athleticism and a trained physique. He's also quite perceptive, I remembered the way he spotted the free items in the convenience store that one time. He seems a little bit uninterested in what goes on around him, which explains why he's having trouble talking to some people I suppose.

Whatever his situation may be, I wanted to get him more involved in the class. He was the only person, excluding Terumento and Tabata, who was mostly living in his own company.

"Honami-chan? Honami-channn!"

"Ah! Sorry, what is it Mako-chan?"

Mako and Yume had finished looking over the fragrances and snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Who were you looking at just now? Ayanokoji-kun perhaps~," she said teasingly.

"Eh? I-I mean yes I was, but it wasn't like that Mako-chan!"

"Hooah? In what way were you looking at him then~?"

Mako always throws me off with these weird questions.

"You know, he comes off as a very mysterious kind of person, so I want to know what he's really like," I said.

"Hmmm, I see, I see. So what you did at the pool was because you thought he was just a mysterious guy?" she asked with a smirk.

"Yes, actually. I wanted to see his expression change for once, so I tried to make him a little bit uncomfortable that's all."

"That's true I guess, I've never seen his composure broken," Yume said.

"That's a big no, no Honami-chan. You can't be going around as our class rep making your fellow classmates uncomfortable like that, haha," Mako said.

"Maybe I overstepped my bounds," I said sighing.

Now that I'm thinking about it, if our roles were reversed, I'd probably feel a little bit uncomfortable as well. The people around us wouldn't have taken it so jokingly either, and he'd get in trouble for sure, regardless of what I thought.

"Haha, don't worry Honami, it's not like Ayanokoji-kun didn't secretly enjoy all the action," Yume said reassuringly.

"Are you sure?"

"Hmu, almost definitely~."

Well, that's a relief. I wouldn't want Ayanokoji-kun to hold a grudge against me or something like that.

"Since we're on the topic, does anyone else here have a boy on their radar?" Mako asked suddenly.

"Hmmm, Nobody in particular at the moment, but I think Shibata-kun is cool," Yume said putting a finger to her chin.

"A safe choice Yume-chan, but there's going to be a lot of girls vying for his attention soon enough."

"I get that, it's not like I like him though, so it doesn't bother me. How about you Chihiro?"

"Umm, Nobody really interests me at the moment, except..." she said trailing off.

"Excepttt~?" Mako said expectantly. Chihiro threw me a couple of weird glances as she was hesitating.

"Is there something wrong Chihiro-chan?" I asked.

"No! Nothing at all! I'm not interested in any guys yet!" she said hugging herself in embarrassment.

"Haha! Don't worry Chihiro, there's plenty of time for you to fall in love with someone. We have a whole three years here after all," Yume said hugging her from behind.

Putting Chihiro on the spot like that seems to have upset her a little bit. I wonder why she reacted that way?

"Honami-chan, anyone you'd like to mention~?" Amikura said finally meeting my gaze.

"No, I don't think of any guys in that way yet," I said.

"Reallyy? That's a shame. You might have even made Ayanokoji-kun cry if you'd said that in his presence."

"You think Ayanokoji-kun is interested in me?"

"Honami-chan, you did feel up his body in front of the whole class the other week. If it weren't for Ayanokoji-kun being so aloof, he'd think you were into him," Mako said. "But since it's him, he probably thinks he has little chance with you. Almost the entire year knows you by now, so he won't be keeping his hopes up."

"Why do you say that, Mako-chan?"

"Well, he isn't very popular and since there are plenty of guys interested in you, he doesn't stand a chance."

There are plenty of guys interested in me? That's the first I've heard of something like that.

"Awhh~. Honami you're too innocent for your own good. You're going to have to strengthen your resolve a little bit if you want to stave off all the hungry guys who'll be after you~."

Yume spoke soft and teasing words, but her gaze was sharp, conveying how serious she was being.

"Don't worry Yume-chan, Honami isn't the kind of girl who will go out with just anyone. I'm sure your standards are fairly high, right Honami-chan?" Mako asked.

I wasn't really sure how to respond. I didn't really have a type. Although this may sound horrible, if I was to date someone, he'd have to at least be somewhat good-looking. That's just how humans work. Our initial attraction to one another is based predominantly on what the other person looks like. Of course, that isn't the most important factor. He'd have to be kind and caring, and be willing to give his all to a relationship. That I believe is the most important.

Besides, I'm not interested in any guys that way yet, but if someone comes along, I wouldn't mind trying to learn about love. I know so little as I am now, so it could be a thrilling experience.

"I don't know about that. All I know is that there isn't anyone I like at the moment. If someone does come along though... I wouldn't mind trying to date him," I said trailing off towards the end.

"Kyaaah~!" Mako and Yume cried in unison.

"Oh my god!"

"You're so cute Honami-chan!"

"Eh? G-guys! Just wait a moment!"

The two of them pounced on me and hugged me so tight, that it was as if they were trying to suffocate me. Again though, Chihiro just averted her gaze and looked a little sad. She was acting really strange. This wasn't like her.

I also didn't like the way Mako casually disregarded Ayanokoji like that. Now that I think about it, she was rather cheeky with him and Shibata the other day by the pool, so I heard. Ayanokoji-kun is plenty good-looking. Does she secretly like him and is trying to keep me away? Wait, no, then why would she tease me about me looking at him? Ugggh! I don't get these things at all!

"Hehe, anyways, let's not keep the boys waiting any longer. I wanna buy this and then get something to drink. How about it?" Mako said.

"Yup!"

"Sounds good!"

With that, we made our way over to pay for our goods and then quickly rejoined the boys before heading back into the mall.

Part 4

After the girls had finished up in the boutique, we made our way to another part of the mall and entered one of the most popular cafes. Everyone seemed to have come here a few times, as we entered without much hesitation and little discussion.

Generally, I wore my school uniform on weekdays, and since I almost always stayed in my dorm on my days off, I didn't bother to buy anything casual to wear when going out. It made me stand out a little, which I hated.

The cafe was swarming with students, mostly upperclassmen, who were happily chatting and enjoying their drinks, sandwiches cakes and all the rest. The atmosphere was lively, so lively that it made me feel anxious and intimidated. It wasn't a place I would usually go to at all.

There didn't seem to be any available tables that could facilitate the eight of us at first, but a large group left soon after we'd entered and we didn't hesitate to pounce on the opportunity.

A waiter came over and took our orders and we began to settle down and chat casually with one another.

"What did you guys buy in the boutique then?" Shibata asked.

"I got this new perfume. Wanna smell some?" Amikura said.

"Sure."

Amikura leaned over to Shibata and gently sprayed some of her perfume onto the top side of his hand.

"Wanna try as well, Ayanokoji-kun?"

"I'll try some," I said quickly.

"Hehe, here you go~," she said chuckling as I held out the bask of my hand to her.

"Thanks," I said.

Shibata and I both smelt the perfume together. It was nice, and it made my head go a little light. Floral bouquet and vanilla is it?

"It smells good, what is it exactly though?" Shibata asked.

"Take a guess." Amikura teased with a smile.

"Flowers and vanilla, right?" I said.

"Ooooo, very good Ayanokoji-kun. You have a keen sense of smell."

"It was nothing really."

"I'm guessing this is one of the more popular amongst you girls, right?" Hamaguchi asked.

"Yup, that's right. There aren't many better fragrances than this." Amikura said with confidence.

We talked about what else they ended up buying. Shiranami meekly held up a bright yellow dress she'd bought, while Kobashi showed off some sort of bracelet and other smaller, less notable accessories. They were all nice, I guess. I didn't really see the point in buying things like this though. Ichinose didn't see the need to buy anything either.

The drinks we ordered then arrived.

"Thanks for waiting," the waiter said. "Please enjoy."

We all thanked her one by one as she laid down the drinks in front of us before we each took a sip.

"Whew! That really hits the spot, I feel a little more relaxed now," Kobashi said.,

"They don't say the drinks are the best here without good reason," Kanzaki said agreeing.

We all finished our drinks before we moved the conversation on to something else.

"So, have you all gotten used to this school yet?"

"If I'm honest, at first, I was really perplexed, but now I've settled in perfectly. It's like we're all living a dream. I don't ever want to graduate!" Shibata exclaimed.

"Haha! You haven't spent all your points yet I hope, Shibata-kun."

"Don't worry about that, I'm being careful, I just wish we had more points. Maybe 200,000 or 300,000 points a month. Then I could truly live like a king!" Shibata said folding his arms.

"Don't you guys think it would be abnormal for a high school student to get 300,000 points a month?" Kobashi said.

"Well if you put it like that, of course. Even getting 100,000 points is ridiculous. I'm a little concerned, to be honest. I'm wondering what life will be like after graduation if people keep on spending their school lives like this." Ichinose said clearly worried.

"You mean like losing the sense of what the real value of money is? That is a problem I guess," Amikura said.

People felt differently about our monthly allowance. Shibata, although being careful, clearly wanted more freedom to spend as he pleased, while the rest of us were clearly sceptical of the school's intentions.

"Ayanokoji-kun, what do you think?"

I'd only intended to listen, but Ichinose wanted to hear my thoughts on the matter also.

"Hmm, well, if you consider that most students wouldn't even get a fraction of 100,000 yen a month, it seems almost unbelievable. I don't really get why they'd give us this much money. It almost seems like a test or something, but we can't be 100% sure of anything at the moment."

"I understand that completely Ayanokoji-kun. This is honestly different from any normal school. It's hard to understand it without knowing all the details," Kanzaki said, his eyes clouded with contemplation.

"There was something else I found weird as well, this school is supposed to be for nurturing Japan's future leaders or whatever right?" Shibata said.

"That's what they say at least."

"Well, not necessarily so much in this class, but in some other classes people have been frequently sleeping through lessons, showing up late, talking over the teachers and other stuff like that. Can students like that really call themselves Japan's future leaders?"

"Hmm, I guess you have a point Shibata-kun. Terumento and Tabata don't seem like the smartest people in the world either. I suppose all will be revealed after the short quiz's results."

"Maybe they don't base their admissions on people's test scores alone. Honestly, if this school only took people in based on standardized tests, I wouldn't have taken the entrance exam at all," Kobashi said.

"Terumento and Tabata don't seem like the kind of people who would pave the way for the future. That's just based on the bare minimum I know of them to be fair," Shibata clarified.

Despite being one of the best high schools in Japan, with stellar rates of advancement into higher education and employment, this school didn't appear to determine the criteria for passing or failing through test scores. I don't think people like Terumento and Tabata would have stood a chance, there's a chance even I could have failed. If that was the case, then how in the world did it, select potential students? This question certainly piqued my interest.

End of Chapter

Arc 1 Chapter 5: Classroom of the Elite

Part 1

The bell rang announcing our first class of May. Today was supposed to be another joyous occasion, as it was the day that our points were scheduled to be allotted. However, the class was instead engulfed in a silent cloud of worry and anxiety. It was fairly obvious to me as to why this was.

It was a given that Hoshinomiya-sensei would arrive at class either exuberant and cheerful or drunk as a skunk. Today though, she strode in with a much sterner expression than we were all used to.

"All right, your morning homeroom is about to begin. Before we get started, does anyone have any questions?" She spoke similar to her usual kind tone, but her words were ever so slightly sharper and her smile was much less fake and appeared thinner. She seemed convinced already that at least someone would want questions to be answered. Ichinose immediately raised her hand.

"Yes, Ichinose-san~?"

"Sensei, I think the whole class is wanting some sort of clarification regarding the number of points we got this morning. We were supposedly due to get another 100,000 right? Everyone in class B only received 65,000. Has there been some mistake?"

Hoshinomiya-sensei continued to smile sweetly at Ichinose before she blinked a few times deliberately as if she was trying to process what she had said.

"Sensei?" Ichinose asked concerned.

Sensei then chuckled to herself before clapping lightly.

"Hehe~, well done, well done! It seems that for the most part you have all been very well behaved this past month! I'm honestly a little surprised, Class B rarely does this well in the first month."

Ichinose made a confused expression and looked at the people around her for help. I'd checked my point balance this morning as well, and saw that I'd only been given 65,000 points.

"What do you mean Sensei?" Shibata called out.

"Didn't I tell you at the start of term, Class 1-B~?"

I was starting to get a slightly ominous vibe from her. Although she was still smiling sweetly at us, Hoshinomiya-sensei was becoming more and more baleful. At the same time, it seemed like she was also trying to compliment us, in a roundabout way.

"Yes sensei! You said we'd get 100,000 points a month! Now please stop with these weird words and tell us what's going on!" Tabata suddenly lashed out.

Hoshinomiya-sensei shot Tabata a sinister-looking glare just for a moment, before returning to normal again. I don't think the majority of people noticed though.

"Ahhh, But I don't remember saying that explicitly now do I, Tabata-kun. Did I ever say you were going to get 100,000 points per month? If you search your memory, you will most definitely not hear me say that."

"What? You never said that?" Tabata said his eyes going wide in shock.

"Of course, I didn't. What I said was that you are all examined based on your value and you're worth."

Now I get it.

"Sensei, I recall you mentioning that, but what does that have to do with the class having their allowances reduced?" Ichinose asked. Even now Ichinose was trying to take the initiative.

"It's just the way the school has evaluated you. Last month you were all given 100,000 points as you all met our standards for admission. Now that the school has evaluated you all further, it has been decided you are collectively worth less than before."

"W-would you mind elaborating sensei?"

Hoshinomiya-sensei's smile grew wider.

"Why of course! There was a total of 11 unauthorised absences and late arrivals and 42 incidences of talking or using a cell phone in class. The infractions that you committed during this month are all carefully observed and add up over time. Put simply, your class's results are reflected in the points that you receive. Because of this, 35,000 points were deducted from the points you started with. That's all that happened," she explained sweetly.

Her voice reverted to the weird script reader voice from the start of the term. I knew that was weird! She was giving us a hint!

"It's kind of a shame. If I had told you all of this before, on the day of the opening ceremony, you may have kept all of your points."

The class looked extremely downtrodden. Himeno was staring directly at sensei in disbelief like she didn't believe what she'd just been told. Kanzaki was furiously writing down notes, his face fraught with concentration. Shibata as well was speechless and furrowed his brows as he surveyed the rest of the class.

"That's right sensei!" Chihiro suddenly spoke up. "If the whole class had known that we were being evaluated sooner, we could still have 100,000 points right now. It's not fair sensei!"

Chihiro spoke forcefully and without fear, that wasn't like her at all. I silently clapped for her in my head.

"Chihiro-chan, you're correct when you say that I never mentioned it before, that much I do admit. However, talking during class, phone use in class and being late to class, are all things you were taught to avoid doing at elementary school, wouldn't you agree~?"

"B-but that's-"

Chihiro had a point, but she couldn't possibly refute Hoshinomiya-sensei when she puts it like that.

"I'll add this, Chihiro-chan," she said cutting her off. "I must congratulate you personally, as well as many others in the class. Most of you were extremely well behaved and didn't cause a single point to be deducted. Despite this, a few students here ruined it for the rest of the class, by committing most of the infractions this month. I won't name them, but maybe you can work out who they are for yourselves, hehe~," sensei said throwing an obvious glance at Tabata and Terumento.

The rest of the class soon followed her line of sight and frowned in disappointment. The two of them held their heads low, clearly displaying their guilt.

Himeno too averted her gaze. I caught her using her phone and sleeping a couple of times during class. She was luckier though, I don't think most of the class noticed since she was set at the back with me.

"Sensei!" Ichinose said suddenly standing up.

"Yes, Ichinose-san?"

"You mentioned we had 11 lates and absences, as well as 42 infractions during class, right?"

"Yes, that's what has been recorded."

"What would happen if next month we didn't have any lates or class-related problems? Would our points go back up again?"

"Right, I was just coming on to that. Let's say that next month you're all so well behaved to the point where you had no lates, absences or other infractions during class... Even though no points would be deducted from you this month, that doesn't mean your points will increase either. You would all still receive 65,000 points."

The class became noticeably grimmer as she said this.

"Buuuut~," she said teasingly. "That's not to say your position is completely hopeless. Remember what I said towards the start of homeroom?"

I did. She was impressed. She said that Class B rarely does this well. Had the other classes also lost points? I remember Shibata saying Class D was particularly misbehaved.

"You guys shouldn't feel too down about the situation you find yourselves in. After all, it could have been a lot worse," she said smirking almost uncontrollably.

Sensei had walked in this morning holding a tube. She took out a rolled-up piece of white paper and stuck it up on the board with some magnets. We all stared up at the piece of paper.

"Are these the results from the other classes, sensei?" Ichinose asked. Class A through to Class D was listed. To the side was a row of numbers that went up to a maximum of 4 digits. Class D had 0, Class C had 490, and Class B had 650. Class A had the most points and was listed at the top with 940 points. Going by this table, 1,000 points would equal 100,000 yen. Looks like every class had lost points. I reflexively let out a sigh of relief.

"Isn't something about this strange?" Amikura said.

"Yes, these numbers look much too even," Kanzaki said.

Looks like the two of them had noticed something interesting.

"These rankings may seem a little unfair at first. Poor Class D, all the way at the bottom with 0."

Hoshinomiya said that, but she didn't look upset in the slightest. If anything she looked happy about it.

"And then you have Class A, the class that only lost 60 points. This is rather impressive, even for Class A students. No class has ever retained this many points," she said now looking a little displeased.

"All classes were evaluated using the same set of rules. Despite this, some classes seem to have lost more points than others."

"Sensei, what are you suggesting here? What do these numbers mean?" Kanzaki asked.

"In this school, students are sorted based on their abilities. The most superior of the students are placed in class A and the least capable are put into Class D. The system we employ is similar to most major cram schools."

The class was slowly catching on to what sensei was saying.

"So, students of Class B. What this means is that the school has judged you superior enough to avoid being placed in Classes D and C, but not capable enough of being placed in Class A. That's what this table shows."

The class had mixed reactions. Some of the students looked relieved to be in this class, maybe because they were struggling academically, and had been lucky to be placed in class B. Kanzaki meanwhile, looked rather unimpressed. Maybe he was disappointed to not be in the superior class.

As for me? Well, I was just happy to be here at all.

Hoshinomiya-sensei continued her explanation. She explained how our class points weren't just tied to the number of points we would receive, but it was also an indicator of our class rank. For example, if we were to get more points than class A, we'd then become Class A and they'd be demoted to Class B. I noted to myself how sensei had, therefore inadvertently told us that points could be gained back.

"Ok! Moving on..."

Hoshinomiya-sensei then stuck another long piece of white paper on the board. It listed the names of everyone in the class, along with a number next to them.

"These are the results of the short test you took last week!" she remarked happily. "The majority of you scored well, it's clear that most of you were all good students back in junior high!"

Except for a few lower scores, including my own, almost everyone tested higher than 65. Ichinose scored the highest with 93 points, meaning she'd managed to get at least a few marks from the harder questions at the back. The average score was 72.

"However, for those towards the bottom half of the table, I would recommend a little extra studying from now on, m'kay~. We don't want any of you being forced to drop out now, do we?"

Tabata, Terumento and a few others suddenly stiffened.

"D-drop out? What do you mean?" Tabata asked, uneasiness spreading all over his face.

"Ah! Sorry, Tabata-kun~. I forgot to mention that if any student fails a mid-term or final exam, they'll be expelled. However, if we apply the rule to this exam, only students who scored a 36 or below would have been kicked out. Seeing as nobody scored below a 40, you shouldn't be too afraid."

The class then let out a huge sigh of relief in unison.

"This doesn't mean that any of you should slack off. The passing score could change based on the exam results. So again, if you were towards the bottom, make sure you study plenty to avoid dropping out. Seeing any of you leave us would make sensei very sad, so heed my words!" she exclaimed full of energy.

"Yes, sensei!" the class shouted.

Her warning also seemed to apply to me, considering I had scored a 50 and was in the bottom 5 students. Looks like I'll need to work much harder to score higher next time. Being in the bottom 5 draws attention after all, negative attention at that. I'll aim to be in the median next time, to keep the attention off of myself.

"Unfortunately, I have one more piece of bad news for you all. As I am sure all of you are aware, this school is famed for its near 100% advancement rate to higher education or the workforce. It is likely, that the majority of you have already chosen a university or placement position in the job market."

Well, naturally. There were rumours that it was possible to get into a highly competitive university or company just by graduating, including Tokyo University, the most prestigious university in all of Japan.

"As some of you may already understand, nothing comes easy in life. I hate to inform you all that for your future to be secure, you will have to surpass and graduate...From Class A"

The classroom went silent. It remained that way for another 5 seconds, then 10 seconds. The classroom's usually normal and cheerful vibe had never been as heavy as it was now.

"N-no way," Himeno slowly said aloud. Even she couldn't remain composed after hearing that. I imagine most of the class felt an arrow pierce their hearts right about then as if it were a bubble waiting to be popped.

Angry and dismayed cries then followed soon after, the class struggling to come to terms with this revelation.

"This is absurd!"

"3 year's alone for this?!"

The outbursts continued relentlessly and without restraint.

"They lied to us! All of us!"

"This isn't fair!

I thought the verbal panic would continue indefinitely, until...

BANG!* "Silence!"

Hoshinomiya sensei brought her hand down and slammed the desk with as much force as she could muster, and silenced the class.

The class looked incredibly surprised by the way she brought the class back under control, and could only look on at her as the tense atmosphere lingered in the air.

She exhaled deeply in exasperation before regaining her usual smile.

"While I understand that this will be hugely disappointing for all of you, this isn't a time to be bickering and complain, ok?" she said with a new calmness about her. "I want all of you to know that I'm not against you. I want you to succeed more than anything in the world. Fight with every fibre of your being, come together as a class and overtake the current Class A."

Her words began to have a stunning impact on the class and the mood was slowly turning in a more positive direction.

"I believe in every single one of you, just make sure that you believe just as much, that goes for yourselves and your classmates around you. If any class can dethrone the current Class A, it's the class right on their heels. So, who's with me?!"

"YEAAAAH!"

Her call to battle had rallied Class B to such a large extent it made the floor shake as if there was an earthquake. Loud cheers reverberated through the room, out the windows over the school grounds and right down the first-year corridor.

What Hoshinomiya-sensei had done was nothing short of incredible. She was able to turn a massive negative and turn it on its head to become the single biggest motivator for the whole class. This made any student who was previously distraught with the circumstances, rally to the cause of dethroning Class A. She did this so flawlessly that it can't have been the only time she's done this. It seems like she's had practice in some previous classes perhaps.

After we had settled down a little bit, Ichinose stood up again and asked sensei a question.

"Sensei, I have a request."

"Yes, Ichinose-san. What is it?"

"If possible, could we please see the test scores for the small test from Class A? I'd like to get a bit of insight into how people are sorted into classes."

"Aha! I like your sharp line of thinking Ichinose! Come here, come here~."

Ichinose walked up to the front of the class and looked to where sensei was pointing at the computer. Her eyes widened and she quickly grabbed a piece of paper and began furiously scribbling something down.

In the meantime, I turned to Himeno.

"So?"

"So what?"

"You regret using your phone in class now?" I said jokingly.

"Shutup! Someone will hear you!" she snapped back. "Besides, it looks like you are nearly as dumb as those two idiots over there."

I couldn't argue with her at this stage. They'd both scored 43 and 45. To be honest, I wasn't far off from them. I need to make sure I don't let this happen again.

"I guess I can't argue with that, but unlike you, I didn't cost the class any of their money this month."

A fist came flying through the air as I finished. I quickly shuffled over to evade it.

"You idiot! For all, we know physical assault could be costing us points!"

"Then stop saying stupid things like that!"

"It's not stupid if it's the truth."

"Be quiet!"

Hehe, I've begun to kind of enjoy pushing Himeno's buttons now and again. Her reactions are quite funny.

By this point, however, some of my classmates looked at us with confused and irritated expressions, so I moved ahead with what I was planning to do. I took out a piece of paper and speedily noted down the class point totals. Himeno took notice of this and looked at me quizzically.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm trying to figure out how points are calculated."

If I could find out how many points were being deducted for being late or talking in class, it'd be easier to develop countermeasures.

"Are you trying to get into college as well?" I wondered.

"Why do you ask?"

"When we learned of the differences between the 4 classes, you looked shocked."

"As was the rest of the class. If they'd told us from the start, that would have been one thing, but this is absurd."

She was definitely right about that. There was probably a lot of anger in Class C as well. The scenes in Class D are probably far worse. I could almost picture the inevitable shock on Horikita's face. It was understandable, the school treated every class except Class A as if they were leftovers. Fighting to get there was probably our best option.

"How many points did you spend last month?"

"Me? Just under 20,000. I was fairly careful with them. How about you? I heard girls had quite a few necessities."

"I only spent around half my points, so I have more points than I did at the start of last month. I'm feeling fairly good about my situation everything considered."

A thought then crossed my mind. If there was anyone as stupid as Tabata and Terumento in Class D, which there probably is, what were they going to do for the rest of the month?

If they used up all their points last month and didn't get any for this month, their only option is to live off the free stuff or try and sell some of their belongings.

The school essentially baited us into spending all our points this month. Those in Class D who fell for it will suffer the most.

"Ok! Everyone listen up." looks like Ichinose had finished what she was doing. "Despite Class A students supposedly being superior to us, they only averaged 74 points on the small test. That's only 2 more than us!"

"That's correct, Ichinose-san~," sensei said smiling happily.

"What does that mean Ichinose?" Shibata asked.

"On the surface, it means that Class A aren't that much better than us, at least from an academic standpoint. So I guess that the school must evaluate us in other ways as well. Perhaps our physical and social abilities?" Ichinose speculated looking back at Hoshinomiya-sensei for confirmation.

"Hehe~, unfortunately, I can't disclose all the ways the school evaluates its students and how it sorts them into classes. However, your theories could have merit."

Wow, she was essentially admitting that Ichinose was indeed, broadly correct.

The bell went off signalling the end of homeroom.

"Looks like we've run out of time for today," sensei said standing up and getting ready to leave. "Just remember, I have faith in every one of you. If you are ever in doubt about the mid-term exam, there is always a surefire way to pass it, regardless of academic ability. Be on your best behaviour and work hard to become the strongest class in the school!"

I don't think the class will have picked up on it because of the way she hid her words in a long list of seemingly more important motivators, but a part of what she said was incredibly important.

"Yes sensei!"

With that, sensei then made to leave the classroom. She opened the door, but then turned around and met my gaze, her light violet eyes locking on to my own. It reminded me of how beautiful Hoshinomiya-sensei was, despite being older. Her eyes reflected a distinct seductive glint that went with her naturally alluring smile.

It was a form of communication. It was almost like she was silently saying "I'll see you later~," or something along those lines. The weight of her gaze made me inadvertently gulp. My nervousness couldn't be more obvious.

We gazed at one another for another couple of seconds before she chuckled sweetly and finally looked away. She then exited the classroom, gently closing the door behind her.

What in the world could she want with me?

Himeno was the only one who seemed to notice my discomfort and narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Can I have everyone's attention for the moment?"

There was still a couple of minutes before classes started and Ichinose made her way to the teacher's podium, as she looked to have a few words to say. Her ocean-blue eyes gently surveyed the class as her warm angelic smile captivated the room in its entirety.

"Since our class points were reduced for this month, I'd like to set a few ground rules for the class to prevent the loss of more points in the future."

Makes sense. Ensuring the whole class is on board with reducing the number of points being deducted will be important going forwards.

"Agreed, we can't afford to fall further behind Class A."

Kanzaki quickly voiced his support.

"We all need to aim to be in class on time and in the event, we are unable to, we need to make sure to provide a reasonable and truthful excuse."

The class nodded slowly in agreement.

"Furthermore, there will be no talking during the lecture and mobile phones are strictly prohibited."

The class offered no objections as Ichinose continued her small announcement.

"And since we're running out of time I'd like the whole class to remain after school today so we can continue to make plans for the mid-term exams and the rest of the term."

The class unanimously agreed to do so just before the bell rang out signalling the start of this morning's classes.

Ichinose returned to her seat and received an onslaught of compliments and praise. She truly was proving her worth as a reliable leader... For the moment.

Part 2

Class had now ended for the day. Ichinose, as promised, walked up to the podium with her ever-confident smile. Thanks to her strong social pull and charisma, the whole class opted to stay behind as we agreed this morning. I for one wasn't that keen on remaining here, but out of respect for everyone else, I decided to stay and listen.

"First of all, I want to thank all of you," she said bowing deeply to the class.

"Eh? What for Honami?" Kobashi asked.

"All of you have worked extremely hard this past month, both with your studies and with deepening our bonds as a class. You should all be incredibly proud of yourselves."

Ichinose then started clapping loudly to emphasise her thanks. The rest of the glass instinctively joined in and whistled.

"It's all thanks to you Ichinose-san!"

"We love you Ichinose!"

The class then continued to compliment her loudly over the sound of applause. I didn't feel like her thanks could extend to someone like me though. At least for this month, I hadn't done anything along the lines of studying hard or deepening class bonds.

As the applause reached a crescendo, Ichinose looked ready to continue.

"This past month has proven that we are a very strong class, I have no doubts about that. Additionally, in terms of our academics, we aren't far off class A. We are more than capable of replacing them on top!" she said energetically.

Murmurs and small discussions then broke out amongst the class. It was clear that the majority of students here were indeed strong students, at least above average. Their remarks were coming off as borderline cocky.

"I guess that is only natural. It is a fact that Class B is the second-best class out of the four of them. It's only natural to suggest that we're a strong class," Hamaguchi said.

"That's right Hamaguchi! The classes below us must be full of idiots, especially the people in Class D. How do people behave so badly to the point where they don't even retain a single point?" Shibata exclaimed.

"Now, now Shibata-kun. I think you know that isn't entirely true," Ichinose said giving Shibata a slightly scornful look.

"Eh? How come Ichinose?"

"If everyone sorted into the lower classes were academically inept, there wouldn't be much hope for them to advance up the ranks. This school may be unfair, but I don't believe they'd make it impossible for the lower classes to compete."

I think Ichinose was right. We'd already established the week before that it was unlikely that classes were sorted based solely on a student's academics. Horikita seemed to be a capable student as well. I doubt the school would have assigned her to Class D if she didn't have that attitude problem.

"Ichinose-san is correct," Kanzaki said clasping his hands together. "Although the difference between our class and Class D is night and day, I am personally aware of some very intelligent students in that class."

"Wait, now that I think about it, Hirata-kun from the football club had a good head on his shoulders. But, he was placed in Class D. Something feels off," Shibata analysed. "He's athletic and a good talker as well. I don't see why a person like him would be placed in Class D."

"Exactly. We shouldn't be writing off the classes beneath us just because the school has decided they are weaker students. We should be able to draw up our own conclusions for ourselves," Ichinose continued.

"Ichinose-san, would you mind if I suggested something?" Himeno suddenly asked.

"Of course not. Suggest away Himeno-san!"

I was surprised, to say the least. It's not like Himeno to take the initiative on class matters.

"Since seemingly good students are being placed in classes that don't make sense, could it be that behaviour in previous schools could influence which class we're sorted into?"

That sounds plausible. Ichinose didn't seem to like her suggestion though, as her face stiffened for a brief moment before contemplating Himeno's suggestion properly.

"W-well that's certainly a possibility. It could be that, or maybe not. I'm sure other factors contribute to which class we're assigned to."

"Yeah... It was only a thought, feel free to forget it if you'd like," Himeno said dismissively.

"Not at all, Himeno-san! I'm glad you decided to contribute, I am. I'll certainly think about what you said." Ichinose said before thanking Himeno.

After that conversation was wrapped up, the subject focus shifted to what to do regarding the mid-term exams.

"Regarding the mid-term exams, I think we should prioritise boosting the overall average of the class, but also ensure those less academic won't fail the exams."

Kanzaki nodded in agreement.

"Agreed, what do you suggest, Ichinose-san?"

"It's simple. I think we should form at least a couple of study groups to help us retain more of our class material and to study properly for the exams."

Voices rang out in support.

"Good idea Honami-chan! I'll be more than willing to help out!" Amikura boldly said.

She had gotten a pretty high score of 79 on the short test. She'd be a huge help for the study groups.

"Excellent, now-"

The conversation continued for some time. In the end, it was decided that Ichinose would take one group after school on weekdays, while Kanzaki will take another group during lunch.

11 people in total came forward and volunteered themselves for the study groups. Ichinose's group of five and Kanzaki's group of six.

Ichinose encouraged other people to study in their free time even if they weren't in either group.

As for myself, I did not want to join either study group. Although it could be an opportunity to bond as friends, studying is something I'd rather do by myself and I wasn't about to go and waste my friend's time by having them tutor me.

This was despite me being the fifth lowest scorer in the class. I was confident enough that I could turn things around by the time of the mid-term exams.

Despite my thoughts on the matter, Ichinose was constantly throwing speculative glances in my direction during the discussions. She was practically pleading for me to volunteer myself.

I sighed exasperatedly. This was all because I got exactly 50% on my test—what a pain.

Thinking about it differently, if I ignored my thoughts on study groups and if I was put in Ichinose's group, it might not be so bad. Spending time with the pink-haired beauty would be nice. I imagined her breasts pushing up against my arm as she tenderly reached over to tutor me, " Kiyotaka-kun~, you made a mistaake~. Look here~."

My mind began to run wild. Her deep blue eyes, her plump ass and thighs, her citrus perfume, her perfect smile. Maybe I would volunteer after all... Nah, not worth the hassle.

I awoke from my daydream to discover that the conversation had finished and most of my classmates had now left the room.

With nothing else to listen to, I grabbed my bag and walked out into the corridor.

"Ah! Ayanokoji-kun, do you have a second?"

Oh no. This is the one time I didn't want to speak with Ichinose. I was certain I already knew what this was about. It looked like she had been waiting for me in the corridor.

"O-oh, hey Ichinose. Do you need something?" I asked.

"Yes, it won't take long, I promise," she said.

Ichinose has likely already sensed my uneasiness.

"Just so I'm making myself clear, I'm in no way suggesting that you aren't intelligent and I'm not suggesting you are being a drain on the class or anything like that."

I didn't think she thought that either of those things was true, just like she said. However, it was clear that some of her friends thought so. After all, she was the one to bring it up and her friends are looking at us from behind with tentative gazes. Come on Ichinose, just ask me to join your study group.

"It's just that I don't want to run the risk of you being expelled Ayanokoji-kun. You're a valued member of our class after all. If something were to happen to you and I didn't take measures to prevent it, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

Ichinose looked genuinely concerned for me, as she met my gaze head-on, her eyes threatening to draw me in closer to her. I had to keep composed, or I might start freaking out. Her good nature seemed to have limitless bounds.

"I understand Ichinose, you want me to join your study group, right?"

Ichinose slowly nodded. "So, will you?" she said looking up at me expectantly.

The way she was asking me was making it hard to refuse. Her friend's gazes from behind her were also hard to ignore. If I refused her now; their opinion of me might drop.

Ugh... Damnit, I have no choice. Hopefully, this will work out.

"Ok, I'll join in after school, I promise."

"Really?! Thank you, Ayanokoji-kun! That makes me really happy!"

Her group of friends also heaved a sigh of relief. I guess this class does care about everyone, regardless of ability.

"I don't know if you heard, but we haven't worked out the exact time for the study group yet. It will probably start straight after classes, but take my number just in case," she said pulling out her phone.

"Your number? Is that ok?"

"Of course! We're friends, aren't we?"

Ichinose smiled so brightly it could melt a man's heart.

"Yeah, I guess I'll give you mine as well."

"Thank you, Ayanokoji-kun."

"Don't mention it."

We eagerly exchanged numbers. I was secretly happy that this turn of events landed me my first girl's phone number. I felt oddly elated.

As we finished swapping phones, the loudspeaker came alive with a soothing sound effect. What followed was a rather grim, robotic announcement.

"Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Class 1-B. Please come and see Hoshinomiya in the faculty office."

"Sorry Ichinose, looks like sensei wants something to do with me."

"I wonder what she wants? I hope you're not in trouble Ayanokoji-kun~," she said flashing me a mischievous smile.

"I sure hope not."

I cast my mind back to this morning when sensei looked at me directly by the door.

I had a bad feeling about this.

"Well, I won't hold you up any longer, Ayanokoji-kun. I'll see you later. I'm looking forward to the study groups with you!" she said waving her hand lightly goodbye.

"Yeah, talk to you then," I said turning and heading for the faculty office.

I hope this doesn't drag on, I've had a lot of things to process today and I'd just about had enough...

Part 3

I trudged my way over to the faculty office. I poked my head through the door timidly and saw Hoshinomiya-sensei casually checking her appearance in the mirror. It looked like she was paying close attention to the way she looked, as she gently rearranged her hair and checked her makeup. I decided to call out to her.

"Uhm. Sensei?"

"Hmm? Oh! Ayanokoji-kun, welcome! Please come on in."

I stepped into the office as sensei put her mirror away and got up from her desk.

"I need to have a little chat with you, in private~," she said a little inappropriately. Her attention then shifted to another teacher I recognised, looking depressed and dissatisfied. I guess she was the reason we couldn't have this discussion here.

"Let's go into the guidance office, we can be alone there then," she said with a wink.

What kind of chat was she thinking off?

"The guidance office? Have I done something wrong, sensei? I'm trying to keep a relatively low profile here," I said.

"Don't worry Ayanokoji-kun, you aren't at all in trouble. I'd just like to chat, nothing else~."

Why didn't that ease any of my concerns? Hoshinomiya was an attractive and mature woman. I'm sure a lot of people my age would get the wrong idea from the way she was talking.

We passed where Chabishira-sensei was sitting looking glum, cupping her chin with her hands and staring blankly at her computer screen.

"Awh~, cheer up Sae-chan. I'm sure one day you can have your dream of being dominated by a younger man come true," she said deliberately.

Why'd she put it like that?

Chabishira-sensei only sparred us a glance before staring back ahead into the depths of the monitor's screen. She was probably recovering from having to deal with announcing Class D's term performance.

We both entered the guidance office. It was furnished with a sofa, a large table, a wall clock and a few office desk booths. There was also a small kitchen built onto the side of it.

"Would you like some tea, Ayanokoji-kun?" she said walking into the kitchen and grabbing the kettle.

"No, it's fine. I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible."

"Ooh. So you're playing hard to get huh~?" she said peering at me playfully.

No, that's not what I'm doing.

"I wanted to discuss a few things with you, Ayanokoji-kun."

Sensei sat down on the sofa and placed some papers on the table facing downwards. She beckoned me to join her by gently patting the spot beside her.

"Come on, don't be shy~."

I sighed internally and resigned myself to sitting next to her on the sofa. I sat down about half a dozen feet away from her, but as soon as I got settled, she jumped and saddled up right next to me, to the point where our shoulders and thighs smashed against each other.

"W-Woah!" I instinctively let out a small yelp.

"Hehe, did I break your poker face? Did I do it? Did I? I could have sworn I saw some surprise on your face at least for a second~," she said whispering into my ear.

"I don't think so. My expression never changes sensei." I said.

"Is that so..?"

She then began running her fingers tenderly up my leg and started gently playing with my hair. I remained facing forwards looking toward the clock on the wall, but I could see sensei's face looking intently at me from the side in my periphery.

She smelled amazing. A blend of fruit and flowers invaded my nostrils to create an oddly seductive feeling. If I were to look down just a little bit, I'd easily be able to see her chest moulding itself around my left arm. I could feel myself growing faint.

Now I was by no means an expert, but I believe that Hoshinomiya was now overstepping her bounds as an educator. This could end badly if we were caught.

"You know Ayanokoji-kun?" she said her fingers now moving up my chest. "I'm surprised you aren't more popular. You've got a mysterious and mature vibe around you that girls just adore. Physically you are incredible for your age and you're incredibly handsome. Nice eyes, nice hair, nice jawline, the lot."

Sensei's fingers then reached my neck and moved towards my face. She cupped my cheek with her hand and whilst gently massaging it, she moved my head so we were facing one another.

Her eyes had the same seductive glint from earlier when she left the classroom.

"The only area in which you fall flat is your academics, right?" she said gazing deep into my eyes, not breaking eye contact for a second.

"I suppose. I'm not particularly special in the other ways you described me either."

"Hooah~? So you expect me to say that you're not good-looking? Do you expect me to believe that you got this body all through your genetics? Is all that really the case, Ayanokoji-kun?" she said clearly not convinced.

"Think what you want. But my academics are lacking. I'm sorry I brought down the class average. I'll work harder to improve in time for the mid-terms," I said.

No matter what I said, it seemed as though sensei had already formed a very high opinion of me. I wanted to know why. It can't just be because of my looks or my physique. If that were the case, Shibata would likely be in a similar situation. Maybe he'd already been through this and never mentioned it? No, he was never called on the intercom. What did she know?

"You're academics are lacking you say? Well on the surface it would appear so. But~."

"Sensei?"

She kept one hand on my head but finally let go of my cheek to retrieve the papers she'd laid down on the table in front of us.

"These are your entrance exam results, Ayanokoji-kun. Does this look familiar?"

I blankly stared at my results from the exams.

"50 in Japanese, 50 in English, 50 in Maths, 50 in Science and 50 in Social Studies. How do you explain this?" sensei asked with a wide grin.

"Coincidences can be freaky, sensei," I said nonchalantly.

"But you scored 50 in the short test as well. Are you going to lie to sensei again and say that too was just a freaky coincidence? Or are you going to admit you did this all on purpose?"

"Sensei, what could I possibly get out of manipulating my scores in the first place? If I was intelligent enough to get high marks, I would have tried to score perfectly."

"But Ayanokoji-kun~," she said drawing close to my ear. "Question 19 was a math question on Quadratic Modelling, pretty advanced stuff. It had a successful solve rate of only 3%, yet you answered the question perfectly, with all the correct workings."

Sensei started to erotically whisper to me. Her hot breath gently tickled my ear and made me tense up.

"Question 10 was a simple science question. You seem to have already forgotten the formula for photosynthesis. That's no good, Ayanokoji-kun, nor is it normal. Sensei may have to punish you after all~."

"I don't really know what normal is, sensei. My test scores were just a weird coincidence. I don't know what else to say."

There was a moment of silence and Hoshinomiya-sensei just looked at me in awe for a moment. She licked her lips suggestively and eyed me up, like a tiger taunting her prey.

Umm? What was she planning?

Eventually, she made her move and...

~Smack~

Hoshinomiya-sensei forcefully turned my head away and then kissed me hard on the cheek.

Her lips were wet and soft. My mind almost went blank from the shock of the hot sensation. She firmly gripped my opposite cheek which prevented me from moving away and massaged the inside of my thigh with her other soft hand. I had no choice but to surrender myself to the kiss.

Yeah, teachers weren't meant to be doing this, but there isn't really much I could do about that now is there?

After about five seconds of bliss, her lips eventually parted from my cheek with a loud smack. A warm sensation slowly spread from the area she kissed out onto the rest of my face.

"Naughty boy, I knew you would have to be punished~."

I was speechless. Was Hoshinomiya-sensei really this fond of me? Or was this some weird way of disciplining me?

"Hehe, I certainly lucked out with some of my students this year," she said smiling sweetly at me.

Lucked out?

"Listen to me and listen well, Ayanokoji-kun."

I looked back at her and her eyes were now illuminated with a sharp gleam. Her usual smile was also now replaced with the more devious and thinner smile from this morning.

"Fortunately for you, you ended up in my class, the other teachers wouldn't have been so kind as to let you live your life normally. This goes especially for Sae-chan, she would have no qualms about using you for her own ends."

I was unsure about whether or not she was joking before. I could safely say that now she was being 100% serious.

"I don't mind students like you. I'm sure students have their reasons for hiding their abilities. That in itself is a great skill. Wielding great power and having the power to hide it is certainly commendable."

I wordlessly looked back at sensei, waiting for her to continue.

"But, I have to warn you. If I start getting desperate, I'll have no choice but to make your life more difficult. Understand?"

"Sensei, what is it that would make you so desperate? What does that have to do with me?" I asked.

"Let's just say the teachers have an incentive to be the teacher of Class A. Your abilities will be most helpful in achieving that. If I see our class losing its way, I might just have to pull you out of hiding, so to speak~."

"An incentive?"

"Yup! But I can't tell you more than that, sorry~."

It sounds like the teachers get some unspecified benefits for being the teacher of the most superior class. Maybe an increased salary or further work opportunities.

Also, she'd pull me out of hiding? I didn't like the sound of that.

"Ahh! Would you look at the time! It's about time you went back to the dorms, Ayanokoji-kun. If I keep you here any longer, people will get suspicious~." she said looking up at the clock.

"I'll be taking my leave then, sensei," I said as we both stood up.

The left side of my body was still warm from Hoshinomiya's voluptuous frame. I opened the door to the guidance office to leave, but sensei grabbed my shoulder from behind stopping me.

"Don't forget what I said, Ayanokoji-kun," she said her tone more serious than ever.

"I understand sensei."

She nodded seemingly satisfied.

"Good! See you in class tomorrow! Make sure you are on your best behaviour. The schools always watching after all! Bye, bye!" she said blowing me a kiss before closing the door to the guidance office.

I walked through the faculty room and back out into the school's corridors.

That was much more problematic than I had anticipated. My mind was just about ready to explode.

End of Chapter

Arc 1 Chapter 6: Mid-term Preparations

Part 1

People had been studying together informally for the last week, following the revelation on May 1st. Today, a week later, the scheduled study groups were due to begin in earnest.

The night before, Ichinose had messaged me confirming the study group would begin right after class, for 2 hours in the library. I hoped those 2 hours would be more enjoyable than I was expecting them to be.

After an especially long day, class finally finished and Ichinose gathered the study group members before we all walked to the library together.

"Maaan! I hate studying! Amikura, can you try and make it somewhat enjoyable?"

"Haha, I don't know Shibata-kun, I'm not a teacher. But I'll do my best for you and the rest of us. I won't allow anyone to drop out."

Shibata and Amikura chatted loudly ahead of us. Amikura had agreed the week before to help tutor for the study group. Shibata on the other hand didn't perform amazingly in the short test, scoring 54 points. He came along to boost his grades.

I and Ichinose walked slightly further behind with the other group members who were also struggling. Chihiro, Sayo and Taira Hikari had all agreed to work hard to boost the class average.

Hikari was a quiet and reserved girl but was well-liked within the class. She had blond hair tied up in a short ponytail extending down to just the nape of her neck and had light blue eyes. It's a shame she scored the lowest out of everyone in the class though, 40 points on the dot. Ichinose was clearly going to have to tutor her extensively to ensure she passed.

"Remember when you were called to the faculty office, Ayanokoji-kun?" Ichinose suddenly asked me.

"Yup, what about it?"

"Oh, nothing really. I just wanted to know what you discussed. Did you get anything valuable information-wise from her?"

Valuable in what sense?

"If you mean information on the school, then no. It was nothing like that."

"I see. Did you perhaps discuss something more personal then?"

"You could say that, it wasn't anything interesting though, I assure you of that."

I was able to answer her vaguely, so I admitted to it.

"I understand. I won't force you to talk about something personal to you."

"Thanks, if I discover something interesting you'll be the first to hear about it."

Ever since the reveal last week, Ichinose had been obsessed with finding out more about the school. She was convinced they were hiding a lot of information from us.

I had to agree. Even as early as homeroom last week, Hoshinomiya-sensei wasn't even going to reveal Class A's average scores on the test, until Ichinose asked for them directly.

I guess you can discover almost anything about the school, just as long as you have the bravery to ask about it.

If I wanted I bet could ask Hoshinomiya-sensei every question about the school I could think off and I'd get at least something useful out of it. I was too lazy to do that though. Dealing with her is tiring, to say the least.

"Honami-chan, what do you want us to cover in today's session?" Amikura asked turning around.

"Hmm? Since it's the first session, we'll just review what we covered in today's lessons, just to keep it simple."

"Okay!"

"I'd like that Ichinose-san. I was completely lost in English today. I didn't understand what sensei was saying at all," Sayo said worriedly.

"...Yeah me too," Hikari said meekly.

"Is that so? Well in that case I guess we'll focus on English today. Does that sit with you ok as well, Ayanokoji-kun?"

"No, I don't mind."

"Excellent! Let's give it our best!"

We arrived at the library and sat down near the entrance. It was just how I remembered it. The sun shone directly through the large glass window, which slightly obscured my vision. The glossy wooden tables and furniture also reflected the afternoon sun which lightened up the library significantly.

"Would anyone like some water? There's a water fountain in the corner."

"I'll take some, Ichinose-san."

"Me too!"

Hikari and Sayo both took up Ichinose's water offer. She walked briskly to the water fountain and got three cups of water, before returning quickly.

"Ahhh, that feels better. Thank you." Sayo said.

"No problem. Now, let's start the session. Everyone get your books out, and we'll start going over today's English material," Ichinose announced confidently.

As I was opening my bag to retrieve my English book, a familiar girl with long black hair strutted into the library. She was accompanied by another unfortunate Class D member that I didn't recognise.

Horikita spared me only a brief glance before securing a table towards the far end of the library. It seemed like she was expecting more people than just that guy to join her.

Sure enough, not even a minute later, four others entered and joined them at their table. I recognised a couple of them from the first day of school.

I redirected my attention back to our study group. I was seated in between Amikura and Shibata, while Ichinose and the rest of the girls sat opposite us.

"Right is everyone ready?"

"I guess. I'm worried I'm gonna fail Ichinose-san," Chihiro said.

"Don't worry, none of us here are going to fail. Sensei said the pass mark was 36 for the short test right? My goal is to make sure everyone gets at least above a 50." Ichinose affirmed.

She placed a reassuring hand on Chihiro's shoulder.

"Eh? Isn't that... Isn't that going to be too hard for someone like me?" Hikari said.

"Not at all! If we all work together and push ourselves, we won't just be scraping by. You'll all easily be meeting the threshold in no time!"

With that now being said, we got to studying. We started off with some simple translations and interpretations. Ichinose focused on the girls while Amikura helped me and Shibata. I casually began translating the words in front of me.

"Wow, Ayanokoji-kun. You seem to understand this perfectly," Amikura said looking over my shoulder.

"It's nothing really. I guess English is one of my stronger subjects," I said dismissively.

"Ughh! This makes no sense. Amikura, help me, please."

It looked like Shibata was having more trouble with his translations.

"Yeah, yeah, don't panic Shibata-kun. We have plenty of time before the mid-term exams, haha," she said chuckling.

Damnit. I shouldn't have answered these so easily. Now Amikura is giving Shibata all the attention! How stupid of me!

I decided to finish the shorter sentences quickly. When we moved on to the longer pieces of text I would feign incompetence so she could help me more instead of Shibata.

A few minutes in, there was a loud bang, as if someone had smashed a table. We all reflexively turned around and saw two students standing up and glaring at one another. It was Horikita and Sudo. It seems like their study group wasn't going that well.

They stared one another down, not caring for the people around them. It was like two cowboys facing off against one another. Either one of them could shoot first.

The argument seemed to escalate further and Sudo became so enraged that he grabbed Horikita by the collar. Seems like Sudo shot first.

Amikura audibly gasped and Shibata narrowed his eyes and looked ready to dash over at any second.

Ichinose stood up.

"I'm going over to help them-"

"No," I said cutting her off.

Ichinose looked at me in confusion.

"W-what? Why not, Ayanokoji-kun? I need to help them calm down. That girl could get hurt and Sudo-kun could get into a lot of trouble."

"Your interference would only annoy Sudo more, especially when he is that wound up. Besides, it looks like someone else has already stopped him."

Ichinose looked back at them and a familiar-looking girl with beige hair had grabbed Sudo's arm and separated the pair of them.

Sudo gave Horikita a few scathing words before storming out of the library. The rest of the study group, seemingly fed up with all the commotion, followed after him. Only three of them, including Horikita, remained.

"Well that was tense," Shibata said sighing exasperatedly.

"You can say that again," I said.

I didn't think Horikita would be the kind of girl who would be willing to lead a study group. Looks like I was right.

"Do you know that girl?" Ichinose asked me.

"Which one?"

"The one with the black hair, she was close to being hurt badly. I hope she is ok."

"Yeah. Her name is Horikita. We've spoken briefly on a couple of occasions."

"Will she be alright? A lot of girls would get shaken up after being confronted like that."

"Yeah, she'll be fine. She's pretty headstrong and tough. It would take more than that to impact her seriously."

"I see. Thank goodness. Well, let's get back to what we were doing. I don't want that incident to derail our session."

We tried to get back into studying, but Amikura was still watching over the three leftovers from Horikita's failed study group. She was looking at the girl with beige hair specifically with an idle gaze, not looking away for a second. She was trying to decipher what was being said.

"Amikura, do you know that girl?" I asked.

"Eh? A-ah! Yeah, I do. Her name is Kikyo Kushida from Class 1-D. We know each other quite well."

"How did you get to know her?"

"Oh. Well, haha. It's kinda a long story. It's not that interesting anyway. It would bore you and distract the rest of the group. Let's just get to work."

"Ok."

That was weird. I didn't think Amikura knew anyone outside of our class yet. I'd never seen her with Kushida, nor had she ever mentioned her. She was being oddly evasive about it too.

Then again, I didn't really know anything about her. I could only go off her introduction and our short and infrequent interactions. It wasn't really my place to pry either.

Kushida, looking frustrated, left Horikita and the last remaining guy soon after. The guy with Horikita looked defeated but opted to stay with Horikita to try and study something.

I looked away and moved on to the larger paragraphs of text, and as planned, I asked Amikura for help.

"Amikura, do you mind giving me a hand with this?"

"Hmm? Of course not! That's what I'm here for after all!" she said cheerfully.

We worked through the English translations for another two hours, Amikura helping me most of the time.

I had fun, to say the least. It was nice to have Amikura teach me and the atmosphere was friendly and cooperative. If I hadn't come here, I would have been sitting in my room idly browsing my phone with nothing to do. Maybe these study sessions weren't so bad after all. Shibata, despite claiming to hate studying, seemed to have fun as well.

However, the group was beginning to show signs of tiredness. So Ichinose, being ever observant and mindful of her friends, clapped her hands together to draw our attention.

"Right! Good work everyone, I think that's enough for today. I don't want to burn the lot of us out this early on," she said looking satisfied.

"Auughh," Shibata let out a loud yawn and stretched out wide. "Man, that was tiring, but I had fun though. Thanks for the help Amikura."

"Yeah, you really helped me out," I followed up.

"Awwh~, it was my pleasure boys, I had fun as well," she said packing up her belongings. "So, we meeting here at the same time tomorrow, Honami-chan?"

"That's right. I think we'll focus on maths for most of tomorrow. Chihiro-chan and Hikari-san struggled with the maths in the short test," Ichinose said.

"Fine by me. Wanna have a turn tutoring the boys tomorrow, Honami-chan~?"

I'd like that very much. I'm not saying that because I don't like Amikura, I do. It's just that having the most beautiful girl in the class focusing all her attention on you is something I would almost kill for.

"Eh? I wouldn't mind that at all, but why did you say it like that, Mako-chan?"

"Oh, no reason at all. I just thought tutoring and being close to Ayanokoji-kun would excite you, that's all~.," Amikura said smiling teasingly.

It would excite her? I thought I would be the one getting excited.

"Wh-what do you mean? I would be more than happy to teach Ayanokoji-kun."

"Haha, I was only joking Honami-chan! I'll teach the boys if you're not up for it. They may be too troublesome for you after all~," she said smirking.

"No, I can do it. I'm sure Ayanokoji-kun and Shibata-kun will be well behaved, just like they were today, right guys?"

"We won't cause you any trouble Ichinose!" Shibata said.

"I'll behave," I said bluntly.

"It's settled then. I'll take charge of teaching the boys and you can tutor Chihiro-chan, Hikari and Sayo, ok?" Ichinose said.

"Sure, sure, I get it. Just make sure they stay focused. You're quite the distraction for the boys you know, hehe~"

"Eh? I'm a distraction? How come?" she asked obviously not getting Amikura's double meaning.

"You're so innocent, Honami-chan," Sayo suddenly chimed in.

"Hehe, I know right," Chihiro agreed.

Ichinose just looked blankly at all of them as Shibata was stifling a laugh. I was beginning to wonder whether Ichinose was really this oblivious to her charms or if she was just feigning ignorance to avoid the embarrassment.

Regardless, we all got ready to leave and head back to the dorms for the day.

"Oh! Ayanokoji-kun, wait up for a second."

"Hmm? What is it Amikura?"

"Good work today, if you're English skills are anything to go by, you shouldn't have a problem passing the mid-term exams."

"I'm not so sure about that. As I said earlier, English is one of my stronger points. I lose marks in the other subjects which puts me in danger of failing," I said.

"Well then, I guess you'll just have to work extra hard for these next two weeks, right?" she said cheerfully.

"That's the plan."

"Naturally. But, if you ever feel like you need some extra help, or you don't understand something, gimme a call, kay?"

She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to me. And just like that, I had my second girl's phone number.

"If something comes up I'll be sure to ask, thank you."

Amikura nodded and gave me a bright smile before picking up her bag to leave the library.

"Also," she said facing me again. "If you ever want to talk about anything else, feel free to call as well, hehe~," she said flashing me a quick wink before skipping off happily.

Wow. Was she inadvertently calling me her friend? Isn't that what friends do? They call each other and talk about whatever, right? I was so happy that it almost showed on my face.

I decided to act on this instantly.

Before leaving, I reached for my phone and entered Amikura's number and decided to check the class group chat.

"Are you coming back to the dorms with us?" Shibata called out to me.

"Huh, oh yeah. Just go on without me, I'm gonna wait here for just a minute."

"Alright, see you, bro."

"See you tomorrow, Ayanokoji-kun," Ichinose said giving me a cute little wave.

I lightly waved back as they left before concentrating on my phone again.

I carefully read through the class group chat. It was full of people talking about what happened today in class, including what we learned, what was hard to follow, etc.

There were also people discussing what to do after the exams. Looks like Amikura had been trying to organise a class-wide karaoke party or something. I absolutely hated singing, but I wouldn't mind going to enjoy the atmosphere.

Just then, it hit me. Amikura had given me her number, but I hadn't bothered to give her mine.

What if she wanted to call me first? At this moment in time, she couldn't.

I could just call her so she could add my number from her recent calls or something, but I didn't think it would be polite to call because of that. For all I know, she could get irritated at me for calling for such a stupid reason. Although she didn't seem like the type to get mad at small things like that, I didn't want to take that risk.

Strengthening my resolve, I got up and picked up my bag and set off after Amikura.

Part 2

I left the library and scanned my surroundings. I saw Ichinose and the rest of the study group, minus Amikura, heading back in the direction of the dorms. This meant it was unlikely Amikura had done the same, she would have waited for them.

It was getting late though, it was almost 7 pm. She wouldn't be around campus for much longer.

As I continued searching, I caught a glimpse of someone that looked like Amikura from behind, entering the school's main building. I found this odd because the only people meant to be in the building were people involved with clubs and their instructors. Perhaps she was waiting for a friend to finish a club. Amikura was popular after all.

I entered the school building after her. For a second I thought I had lost her, but I soon heard the faint clacking of shoes making their way up the stairs.

I followed her up to the second floor, then the third floor, and then up onto the level of the roof. What was she planning by going there at a time like this? I thought the roof would have been locked after classes. I hid my presence as best I could in case she was meeting someone and continued up the stairs, stopping partway.

I carefully leaned up against the handrail and peeked through the rooftop door, which was partially open. Amikura was there, but she was with someone else.

It was Kushida, the girl she knew from earlier.

They spoke in a slightly hushed tone, but Kushida was wearing a friendly expression. Amikura had her back to me. They were probably just exchanging pleasantries and talking as friends. But still, why meet somewhere as secluded as the rooftop for a seemingly normal conversation?

...

Well, it wasn't any of my business. Deciding this wasn't a good time to interrupt, I turned away and was about to descend the stairs and head back to the dorms.

...

But suddenly, the atmosphere took a very dark turn and the air became much, much heavier.

...

"Were you followed?"

...

Who's voice was that? It didn't sound like Amikura's. Was Kushida's voice really that low and sinister-sounding? She seemed like she would have a bright and cute-sounding voice. That's the impression I got from her just moments ago. Wait, no. I'd already heard her voice on the bus that one time. It was so much different.

...

I stopped myself from leaving and peered back through the small opening in the door.

...

"No, I made sure of it. I can tell when someone's tailing me anyway."

...

Was that... Amikura? Her voice was unusually cold.

...

Kushida, who had been facing me up until this point, sighed heavily and looked out onto the horizon.

...

And then...

"AUGH! So annoying! She's seriously so annoying! It'd be better if she just died."

Kushida began grumbling to Amikura vexingly. Was she annoyed with someone?

"Who, Horikita? Yeah, I don't like the look of that bitch either."

Huh? Why was Amikura speaking that way? It felt like I had just heard something she didn't want most people to know. I felt a little betrayed.

"Yeah! I hate stuck-up snobs like her who think they're above everyone else. Why is she such a bitch? A rotten girl like her could never tutor me!"

Kushida relentlessly spewed unpleasantries about Horikita.

"She's the worst, the absolute fucking worst, Mako! Horikita is so annoying! She's so annoying, annoying, annoying!"

It was probably fair to say Kushida didn't normally act this way either. We're they confiding with one another?

"I've also got a few things to get off my chest," Amikura coldly stated.

Kushida then immediately calmed her rage. Although she was still facing away from me, I could tell her expression was still menacing. It felt like Kushida liked hearing someone else's grievances, especially when someone else is concerned

"Oh? You do? Do tell, I'm all ears."

Who was she going to bad-mouth?

"Ichinose... I fucking despise Ichinose!"

What?

"I hate her stupid face! I hate her stupid hair! I hate her stupid friends! I hate every part of her! Look at me, I'm Ichinose Honami, and I'm perfect in every way possible with zero flaws. Fuck off!"

This was unbelievable. Amikura and Ichinose seemed to be close friends and now your telling me Amikura would go as far as to say that about her?

"Fuck, I hate her! I hate her so bad! It would be so much better if she just... Didn't exist."

A voice in my head had begun to tell me that I was stupid for staying here. But I resisted for the moment and continued to watch this verbal onslaught.

I stayed mainly because I had a few questions for myself. Why would Amikura act so familiar with Ichinose if she secretly despised her? They even called each other by their first names.

Why would she force herself to hang out with her? She went as far as to join her study group. It didn't make any sense to me.

Kushidas's situation was a little different. I didn't have enough information to suggest why Kushida may hate Horikita. It could be something as simple as her attitude.

"Feel better now?" Kushida said still as vicious as before.

"Yeah, it's good to just let all your anger out in one go... Fuck, I hate her so bad." Amikura responded in a low voice.

"What took you so long by the way? We were meant to meet here almost 30 minutes ago!"

"Uhh, sorry not sorry, but I was busy teaching some idiots how to do some basic English! God, those two guys are all brawn and no brains. How'd they even get into Class B?"

...

Oh.

I guess me and Amikura weren't friends after all. I don't think real friends would say that about one another.

If I'm honest, going off what I know now, I was sort of relieved she thought of me that way. I didn't really want to hang out with people who treat people like this, especially behind their backs.

"So that's how it is huh? What were their names again?"

"Ayanokoji-kun and Shibata-kun."

"Whatever, there are far worse guys in my class! Ike and Yamaguchi are so fucking disgusting! They're complete perverts!"

"There are guys like that in my class too to be fair. Tabata and Terumento are just like that, with no sense of shame at all! They're a menace to the rest of the girls at this school! They should get lost and drop out!"

Ouch. The idiot duo don't seem to be in Amikura's good books. Actually, I don't think they were in anyone's good books at all.

Right, I'd heard and seen enough of this. I needed to leave without them noticing. Whilst still hiding, I tried to ease my way back through the rooftop door.

Thump!

...

Damnit! I'd kicked the door much louder than I had expected to. The pair instantly tensed up and held their breath. They turned around quickly and they both set their sights on me. Their faces were more twisted than I'd thought they'd be.

After a brief silence, Kushida opened her mouth to speak.

"W-what..?" she said her voice trembling with anger.

"Ayanokoji-kun? What...are you doing here?" Amikura asked in a similar tone.

"Oh, umm. I just got a little lost, that's all. Sorry about this, I'll be going now."

I slipped through the rooftop door and was about to disappear down the stairs.

"Stop!"

"Don't you dare!"

They both followed me through the door and pinned me against the wall. Amikura's forearm was placed at the base of my throat. She was surprisingly strong, her adrenaline levels must be through the roof.

"Did you hear?" Amikura asked.

I'd never seen such an intense gaze before. I didn't think that cute girls like them were capable of pulling something like this off.

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't?" I replied.

Amikura and Kushida shared a quick glance before nodding purposefully to one another.

Their expressions didn't match what I'd seen of both of them so far. Everything about the Amikura I'd known was now different. Her expression was terrifying.

The loveable and caring Kushida was also completely gone. I wouldn't have believed this girl had helped that elderly woman on the bus that day if I hadn't seen it.

Amikura looked back up at me. "If you tell anyone what you heard today, you'll pay."

Her words were cold as ice and it seemed like she had a plan to back up her words.

"What if I did tell?"

Kushida then edged closer. "We'll tell everyone that you tried to rape us," she said.

"That's a false charge, you understand?"

"You're wrong, it wouldn't be false," Amikura said releasing my throat. Kushida also walked forwards.

The two of them took my wrists and opened my hands. They then pushed my palms onto each of their breasts.

"What are you girls doing?" I asked. I tried to hurriedly free myself from their grips but they pushed against the backs of my hands, not allowing me to move them off.

"Your fingerprints are on both of our blazers. That's all the evidence we need. We're being serious. Do you understand?" Kushida said coldly.

"I get it, so get off."

"I'm gonna leave this blazer in my room without washing it. If you betray us, I'll hand it to the police." Amikura said.

"So will I. With two women testifying as to what you did, your position in school will be unsalvageable."

...

I glared at the pair of them for a couple of seconds. They were being serious.

...

"It's a promise," Amikura said.

...

A promise?

...

"Are you... threatening me? "

Amikura and Kushida's expressions faltered for a second. They let go and reflexively took a few steps back.

Oops. Looks like I said that a little too coldly. I needed to keep calm and focused. I can't have them panicking and running to the police, it would be more than just a hassle. I needed to gain their trust.

I wouldn't talk out of line again, but I didn't have any intention of playing nice from here on out. Their plan is despicable.

"Amikura, Kushida, which versions of yourselves are the real ones?"

They both looked at me with angry suspicion. They finally shook off my earlier words and began scowling at me even harder than before.

"What's real and what isn't real isn't your business, Ayanokoji-kun," Amikura said scathingly.

"I see, in that case, I was thinking. If you both despise Ichinose and Horikita why
do you go through the trouble of being around them all the time?"

I was sure they'd dislike this kind of question, but they're reasoning interested me.

"You don't get it, Ayanokoji-kun," Kushida said.

"Is it such a bad thing to want everyone to like you? Is it such a bad thing to want to be the most popular among your peers? Do you understand how difficult it is to accomplish that? Someone like you can't know, can you?" Amikura asked.

I guess Amikura was upset about Ichinose being the class rep, and how she couldn't match her popularity.

"I don't have that many friends, so no, I don't understand."

"At least on the surface, I want to appear like I get on with Ichinose. Anyone who doesn't isn't really that popular after all."

Himeno sprung to mind. She wasn't very popular and didn't seem to gel with Ichinose's cheerful aura.

"You know Horikita, don't you?" Kushida suddenly asked me.

"Yes."

"She's the only one in my class who refuses to get along with me. It frustrates me so much! The stress of it keeps piling and piling on, but it's what gives my existence meaning, getting along with everybody."

Amikura and Kushida were similar, but there were differences.

Amikura wanted to be seen as the most popular girl in the class, but Ichinose had put a stop to that and Amikura grew to despise her.

Kushida simply wanted everyone to like her, but the frustration of Horikita's attitude had gotten to her, and led to her outbursts.

How these two came to know each other like this wasn't really a mystery to me, even though they hadn't told me. It was likely that one of them stumbled upon the other letting of steam and found that their personalities were similar, kind of like what happened today. Having someone to vent to can be productive in some circumstances.

"You know, I don't get it Ayanokoji-kun," Amikura said.

"Get what?"

"I absolutely hate bland and ordinary guys like you and yet Ichinose can't help but constantly sing her praises for you any opportunity she gets! It's so irritating! What is it that she sees in you? Huh? What are you hiding?" she said drawing closer and narrowing her eyes at me.

"I'm not hiding anything, and I don't get why Ichinose has such a good opinion of me. Back off..."

I lowered my tone again but was careful not to overdo it and scare them. Amikura reluctantly obeyed. I didn't want her within arm's reach when she was like this. I didn't know what she would try next.

It's fair to say that my fantasy of a cute and likeable Amikura had been completely shattered. I wasn't that surprised though. A lot of people had a public and private self after all.

On a side note, Ichinose was praising me? That's a seriously soothing and heartwarming thought.

"While I have the chance to say so, I don't take offence to being called ordinary or bland or anything else like that. If anything it's a compliment. If people see me as just ordinary then I'm doing well."

"You don't take offence to that?" Kushida suddenly said. "In that case, I think you're a fucking gloomy weirdo! Offended now?"

Harsh

"Augh! Hearing the two of you ramble on is pissing me off! I only want to confirm one thing with you, Ayanokoji-kun. Do you swear you'll never tell anyone what you learned here today?"

"Fine. It's not like anyone would believe me anyway."

Most of the class trusted Amikura, I don't doubt the same can be said for Kushida in Class D. The difference between us is vast and obvious.

Kushida and Amikura looked at each other briefly, before they sighed heavily and donned more familiar expressions.

"Ok, we believe you Ayanokoji-kun, but it's not because you said you'd keep quiet," Kushida said.

"Then why did you choose to believe me?" I questioned.

"It's because you're indifferent to what goes on around you. You don't care in the slightest."

I wasn't sure what made her have that impression of me. I and Kushida hadn't really interacted all that much. I gave her a puzzled look.

"My judgement isn't based on nothing. On the bus to school that one time, you didn't give up your seat for that elderly person, remember?"

So she'd picked up on that huh? I guess she'd understood that I was one of the people that had no interest in giving up my seat.

"Ok! Let's head back to the dorms together, Ayanokoji-kun!" Amikura said with a cheerful smile.

"Right, let's go!" Kushida followed up.

"Umm, sure."

Their attitudes had drastically changed, like something out of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. It was so drastic that I wondered whether it had all been a bad dream. They were their usual sunny selves once more. I couldn't tell which versions of themselves were the real ones. The atmosphere on the walk back was extremely awkward.

Part 3

Back in my dorm room, I opened my window and listened to the buzzing sounds from the insects in the surrounding trees. The night's gentle breeze rattled the outskirts of my window.

I reflected on my time here at school.

At first, I couldn't get along with anyone. I couldn't make even a single friend at first. But slowly, I was able to join a group of friends. Shibata, Kanzaki and Hamaguchi are reliable people. There was also Ichinose and her friends, including Amikura who helped me settle in more. I thought I could continue living that way for the rest of the year.

But this was no ordinary school. Its special rules had thrown me off course and my life seemed as chaotic as ever. First with Hoshinomiya-sensei and her overly-friendly attitude towards me. Then there's the problem with Amikura and Kushida, and the study groups. I feel like I could name over a dozen annoying problems I now faced.

I let out a long sigh.

I began to wonder if I was being too careless. Scoring 50% in every test had only made me a greater target of suspicion and had landed me in the study groups. That then led me to be found eavesdropping on Amikura's conversation and making two troublesome enemies.

Some certain words became stuck in my head as I pondered my current predicament.

"Only a fool wouldn't use his innate abilities."

A fool huh? Maybe I was a fool after all.

I carefully closed the window and hopped on top of my bed. I tried to put my thoughts to one side and get some sleep.

...

...

...

I couldn't sleep. My mind was full of thoughts that floated through the depths of my brain, making it impossible to relax.

I got up and left my room. I rode the elevator to the lobby and got some juice from the vending machine.

I was heading back to the elevator when I noticed it had stopped on the seventh floor. I didn't think anyone else would be up at this time of night. Curious, I looked at the CCTV in the elevator. Horikita, still dressed in her school uniform, was making her way down.

I didn't really need to hide and there was a chance she wouldn't even get off in the lobby, but... Seeing her now would be awkward. I, therefore, hid behind the vending machine and waited to see if she'd come down.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the elevator made its usual chime indicating it had stopped at the lobby. Horikita slowly got off the elevator, cautiously surveying her surroundings.

She exited the building and disappeared into the night. Unsure of what her intentions were, I decided to follow her, just to make sure she wasn't planning on doing anything stupid. She looked genuinely concerned when she got off the elevator after all.

She didn't go far. After exiting the building she turned two corners and walked down the side of the dorm building. From my hiding spot, I peered from behind the corner and saw that she had stopped dead in her tracks. There was somebody else with her.

"Suzune, I'm surprised that you decided to follow me this far," the guy said.

For a moment I thought Horikita had left the dorms to have a rendezvous with some upperclassmen. However, it wasn't like her to do something like that, considering what I already know.

"I'm far different from the girl you once knew, nii-san. I came here to catch you."

"Is that right?"

Nii-san? It was hard to see in the dark, but it was likely the person she was talking to was the student council president, or rather, her brother.

"It seems like you were placed in Class D. In that case, nothing seems to have changed in the last three years. You've been fixated on following me, but you don't even notice your own flaws. You shouldn't have enrolled here."

"But... You're wrong. I'll prove it to you. I'm going to reach Class A right away and then-"

"No, you won't. You will never reach Class A. It's likely your class will collapse soon enough, things aren't as simple as they seem at this school."

"I will definitely reach-"

"I told you it's pointless. You're as disobedient as ever, Suzune."

Her brother stepped forwards and closed the distance between them. He had an emotionless expression. It was like he was looking at an uninteresting object. He grabbed his sister by the wrist and pushed her up against the wall. Horikita couldn't do anything, so she offered little resistance.

"Even if I continue as I have, ignoring you constantly, the fact remains that you're my little sister. I'd be humiliated if everyone here learned the truth. Drop out of this school, immediately."

His words were deliberately cold in order to personify their meaning. He was serious about wanting his own sister to withdraw from the school.

"No! I-I can't do that... I will reach Class A. I'll show you!"

"How incredibly stupid. Do you want to relive the pain of the past?"

"Nii-san, I-"

"You possess neither the skills nor the qualities needed to reach Class A. Get that through your head."

It looked like he was about to throw her! Despite the situation being fraught with danger, I couldn't let a girl get injured by her own brother like this. I leapt out from my hiding spot and went to intercept her brother.

Before he even realised I was there, I grabbed his arm, which he was using to pin his sister.

"What? You..." He stared at his arm, which was now firmly within my grip. He slowly turned and faced me with a sharp gleam in his eye.

"A-Ayanokoji-kun?!" Horikita cried out.

"You were about to throw your sister to the ground, were you not? You do realise the floor here is concrete, right? You might be siblings, but you should at least know what is acceptable and what isn't."

"Eavesdropping isn't an admirable quality either."

"Fine. Then let go."

"That's my line."

We looked at each other in complete silence.

"Ayanokoji-kun, please stop it," Horikita said in a low and strained voice. It sounded like she'd wished I didn't involve myself.

Albeit reluctantly, I did as she asked and released her brother's hand.

Instantly, he tried to backhand me in the face. I instinctively leaned back and took a step away from her brother to evade it. For a lightly built guy, he was a rather nasty attacker. He then launched a sharp side kick aimed at my unguarded spot. I sidestepped to my right as his foot shaved the tips of my bangs, just barely avoiding it.

That was a close call. He had enough power to knock me out in a single blow. Looking a little confused, he resolved himself and extended his right arm towards me and opened his hand.

It was clear he intended to grapple. I would be at a disadvantage if I were to grab his hand, so instead, I simply slapped his hand away.

"I'm impressed, you have good reflexes. I didn't imagine you could evade all of my blows so quickly. It seemed like you also understood what I was trying to do. Have you been taught?" he asked lowering his stance.

"I do piano and calligraphy and won a national music competition," I said.

"What an interesting person you are. Suzune, do you know this boy?"

"I-I know him, but we're only acquaintances. We're not even in the same class," Horikita said facing her brother like she was trying to deny him. At some point, she'd staggered over and fallen on her butt.

"What a pity. If you had each been put in Class D, you'd have a chance of advancing higher," he said shaking his head a little. "Suzune, you continue to mistake independence with solitude. If you want to grow in any meaningful way, that is your first fault to fix. And you, Ayanokoji, with you around, things might get interesting. I'll be watching you with great interest."

With that, he walked past me and vanished into the night. The student council president was quite a distinguished and intimidating figure. His presence certainly explained Horikita's weird behaviour on the day of the club fair.

I walked over to Horikita, still sat on the ground and muttering to herself. Something about getting to Class A I think.

"You ok?"

I held out my hand to help her up but she ignored it and got up herself.

She leaned back against the wall of the dorms and sighed heavily. The night was quiet once more, now that her brother had left. I feel like I'd just brought more attention to myself by getting involved and made the situation a whole lot worse. I was about to head back when Horikita called out to me.

"Did you hear everything? Or was it just a coincidence?"

"Well, sort of. I got some juice from the vending machine in the lobby and saw you come down. I was concerned so I followed you and ended up hearing your conversation. I didn't mean to meddle in your family affairs."

Horikita didn't respond.

"Your older brother is tough and doesn't lack ferocity."

"He's ranked fifth dan in karate and fourth dan in aikido."

Damn, he was really strong. If I hadn't withdrawn myself a little, it could've ended badly for me.

"I guess you also must hold a dan rank, Ayanokoji-kun?"

"Didn't you hear me? I just do piano and tea ceremony."

"Wait, didn't you say calligraphy before?"

"Yeah, I did calligraphy as well."

Horikita just gazed at me in silence, as if pondering what I'd just said.

"I don't believe you, you definitely have some sort of training. Nobody can fight my brother and evade him as easily as you did."

She must hold her brother in extremely high regard.

"Let's go back. If anyone sees us out here alone, they'd get the wrong idea."

I guess she was right about that. Rumours of a boy and a girl hanging out alone in the dark were bound to make the rounds.

Horikita walked slowly back towards the dormitory entrance. It was actually kind of convenient that we met here by coincidence. I wanted to talk with Horikita about what had happened in the library today.

"Horikita," I called out.

"What?"

"Are you really happy with the way your study group went today?" I asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know I was there, you looked at me as you walked in. I know it didn't pan out very well."

"Tch!"

Horikita tensed up and seemed upset about something.

"Why would you even care? You're in Class B. I don't think any of your classmates are in any danger of failing. It doesn't even matter what happened today. Someone else is tutoring most of our failing students. It was pointless of me to even try and teach the most challenging students myself. It's not worth trying to fix their academics every time there's a test."

She was certainly right about what she said about me being in Class B and how I shouldn't be worrying about it. It was also true that she was attempting to teach students who will fail the midterm exams, without extra tuition. Suppose neither of us did anything, they'd all be expelled.

"Is there any chance of the people in your group going to the other person's study sessions?"

"Hirata-kun's group? Probably not. But, it is their decision, which has nothing to do with me and with you for that matter. If expulsion is on the table, they shouldn't complain about trivial nonsense."

I guess the argument they had was a rather stupid one, or Horikita is just refusing to acknowledge her share of the blame for the altercation. Sudo was angrier than he was in the convenience store that one time after all.

"My only goal is to reach Class A. However, that's for my own sake and no one else's. I don't care about anyone else."

Maybe you should care.

"If we can just dump the failures on the upcoming exam, only the better students will remain. That will make it easier for our class to rise up the rankings. Yeah, everything will work out perfectly."

It felt like she was talking more to herself than she was to me. On her point, she wasn't entirely wrong, but she doesn't see the bigger picture at all.

"Horikita, that way of thinking is flawed," I told her straight.

"Flawed? What's flawed? I hope you're not going to give me some sort of self-righteous lecture about how there's no future for someone who would abandon her classmates, are you?"

"Of course not, that would be meaningless."

"Then what is it? Even if there were some failing students in your class, you would probably have come to the same conclusion that I have."

"That isn't really my decision to make. The dynamic in our class is different, I don't get to decide whether we leave behind a classmate or not."

"What do you mean?"

"That's not the point. With regards to abandoning failing students, there are certainly advantages to doing that. However, keeping failing students in school helps prevents potential setbacks."

"Setbacks?"

"There's little doubt in my mind that the school hasn't considered this. We already know that they deduct points for being late or talking during class. Let's say that your study group members are all expelled, what would the penalty be for that?"

"That is-" she tried to cut in.

"Even though they haven't explicitly told us the penalty for having classmates expelled, who's to say that they are simply withholding that information from us again? You could lose more and more class points, which would make it even more difficult for your class to rise up the ranks."

"I think Class D's situation is rather unique. I'm sure you've noticed that we're currently on zero points because of our particularly poor behaviour. From my perspective, it's better to offload the dead weight before we even think about regaining points. We're already at rock bottom, we can't go any lower. It's the same as suffering no damage at all."

"What about penalties that we're not even aware of? Do you think you can afford to take a risk like that? What if your points go below even zero? How do you think you could stand a chance of reaching Class A in that scenario?"

"I-"

"But Horikita, I'm certain that you've already thought of something similar to this. Am I wrong?"

"What are you talking about? It was my decision to abandon the failures."

"Really? Then what about when you decided to make the study group? If you were serious about this new strategy, you would have abandoned Class D's failures from the beginning."

Horikita eyed me with conflicted suspicion. Honestly, I didn't exactly know why I was starting to sound so worked up. Maybe it was because I'd actually started to bond with Horikita a little more. I maybe even started to see her as a friend. But most of all, I didn't want Horikita to regret her decision.

"I don't understand why you're so fixated on telling me all of this. If anything you should be glad that a rival class is beginning to crack, and I'm more than satisfied with letting go of these burdens. It's a win-win for both of us."

"You seem to think of everyone as a burden and so you detach yourself and push many good people away. It's just like your brother said, you're mistaking independence for isolation. Isn't it possible that you were lobbed in with the so-called 'defectives' because you consider yourself superior to everyone?"

Horikita cast her eyes downwards in deep contemplation. It seemed like she was actually starting to listen.

"You're awfully talkative tonight for someone who dislikes trouble."

I sighed exasperatedly.

"Give me your phone," I said.

"Eh? What are you planning?"

"I'm not planning anything. Just hand it over. You can watch every button I press if that will give you some comfort."

Reluctantly, she handed me her phone. Quickly, I memorised her number and then input my own before hastily returning it.

"Why did you give me your phone number?" she asked

"There's a way you can save Sudo and the rest from expulsion, even without tutoring them properly."

"What?! You said you weren't planning anything though."

"I'll contact you sometime next week when I'm ready. Until then, you should focus on getting the study group back together, in case of the small chance my plan doesn't work out," I said ignoring her previous statement.

"I told you already, that study group is dead. Even if I wanted to continue with it, they'd never come back anyway."

"Then you're stuck with the wrong mindset. Switch from thinking 'they won't come back to the study group' to 'how can I make them come back to the study group.' I think Kushida will be most helpful with that. It's unlikely she'll refuse to help someone, even if their motives are slightly selfish or dubious."

"Huh? How can you be so sure of that?"

I'd seen enough of Kushida to know that for certain. I started walking back into the dorms and towards the elevator. I could feel Horikita's gaze on my back as I turned away.

"You would feel a great deal of regret if Sudo and your classmates were expelled. Forget about my motives for a little while, and do your best to get them studying again. But most importantly, when the time comes, don't refuse my help," I said whilst walking away.

"You say that, but I still don't understand you one bit. What could you possibly achieve by helping me?" she asked calling out from behind.

I didn't respond to her, choosing instead to continue back to my room. But, I muttered to myself quietly...

"I want to know what an individual with true merit looks like... What is equality?"

End of Chapter

Arc 1 Chapter 7: Trade Offer

Part 1

The study group continued after school over the course of the week. I made sure that Ichinose was the one teaching me, I didn't fancy getting chummy with Amikura anymore, considering what I had found out. Despite that, Amikura didn't cause any problems during the sessions whatsoever. It was like she wasn't even aware I knew about her secret self. She was quite the actor, no wonder she had the whole class fooled.

Speaking of our class, everyone's behaviour had improved substantially, including the behaviour of the idiot duo. Considering they were in danger of expulsion, they stopped sleeping and being late to class and frantically copied everything Hoshinomiya-sensei wrote on the blackboard, concentrating hard in order to further their understanding. Furthermore, I didn't see Himeno use her phone in class once. Her behaviour was now very good.

The exemplary students like Ichinose and Kanzaki continued to lead by example, not losing focus for even a second. I wondered how this school even defined an exemplary student. Considering people weren't admitted based on their academics, it cant be down to just one factor like intelligence or physical ability. But then again, it was odd the system they employed was designed to expel students for just one failing grade. The two ideas seemed contradictory, at least from the way I saw it.

When the bell for lunch went off, signifying our 45-minute lunch break, everyone made a mad dash for the cafeteria. I hadn't been invited for lunch by Shibata, Kanzaki or Hamaguchi, sadly. Looks like I was heading off to the convenience store this time.

I sighed rising from my seat and picking up my bag, getting ready to leave, when a lovely surprise skipped in front of me.

"Hey, Ayanokoji-kun! I was wondering if you'd like to join me and my friends for lunch. Shibata and Kanzaki will be there as well," Ichinose said smiling brightly at me.

"Is that ok? I don't want to intrude."

"Of course it's ok. Whatever you get is on me, as a reward for working so well in the study groups."

Looks like that hard work had paid off to an extent. A free meal at the same table as Ichinose? Not bad.

I was about to accept when suddenly someone crashed into me from the side, grabbing tightly onto my arm in the process.

"Ayanokoji-kun! I don't have any plans for lunch. Would you like to join me instead? It will just be the two of us~," Amikura said with a thin smile.

Great.

Ichinose's face stiffened for a second as she mentioned that, but reorganised herself as quickly as she could. From the way Amikura was grabbing onto me, it looked like we were dating, so her reaction was understandable.

"Ugh! Move. You're in the way," Himeno scoffed. She barged my opposite arm with her shoulder as she forced her way past.

I couldn't catch a break. I didn't even know what to do in this situation.

"Uhh..." I stuttered.

Silence followed for a few moments after.

"I didn't realise the two of you had gotten so close," Ichinose suddenly said.

"Mhm, you could say that," Amikura said laced with a double meaning.

"You're being really bold, Mako-chan. Are the two of you a couple perhaps?"

"Hehe, I don't know~. Are we, Ayanokoji-kun?"

"Absolutely not," I said.

"Auhh, you meanie~," Amikura said lightly hitting me.

Why was she trying to act so familiar with me? There's no room for doubt in my mind that she had started to hate me ever since I eavesdropped on her and Kushida on the rooftop.

"Haha, I see," Ichinose laughed a little exasperatedly. "I guess I'll leave the two of you to it. See you after school, ok?"

"Yeah! See you then!"

Amikura waved at Ichinose as she turned and walked into the school corridor. I wanted to call out to Ichinose and say I'd eat with her and her friends, but couldn't find the courage to follow through with it. Amikura released my arm and faced me.

"So, shall we go, Ayanokoji-kun?"

"I guess."

"Don't be like that. This will be fun, I promise."

I don't think Amikura would go this far to hang out with me just because she considered me a friend. It's possible she's just trying to keep tabs on me because I know something she wants to keep hidden at all costs. Although the two of them said that they believed I wouldn't tell anyone, it's natural for them to suspect otherwise. We didn't go to the cafeteria as I had expected. Instead, we went to a cafe. There was one thing about the people in the cafe that I noticed immediately.

"Huh? There's an insane number of girls here."

Approximately 80% of the students eating here were girls.

"Yeah, this isn't really a place boys like to come and eat."

Having taken a glance at the food already served to others, I noticed that the portion sizes were quite small. An athletic guy like Shibata would probably complain about something like that. There were a few guys eating here, but they were either coupled up or playboys. Every guy was either eating with another girl or surrounded by multiple ladies.

"Can we just go to the cafeteria? I feel a little bit uncomfortable here," I said voicing my concern.

"Don't worry about it. You'll get used to it eventually," Amikura said dismissing my protests. "Now, we need an empty table..."

We both scanned the bustling cafe.

"There!" she said pointing to a free table near the back. We briskly made our way over to the table and sat down. Nearby, I recognised a guy I saw on the bus on the first day of school. He had long blond hair and was surrounded by second and third-year girls.

"Who's that guy next to us?" I asked.

"Him? Oh, that's Kouenji Rokuske, from Class 1-D. Kushida has told me a lot about him. They say he's quite wealthy and heir to the Kouenji conglomerate, but his attitude is a real problem for their class."

So those girls were just after his money?

"He seems really popular. those girls are all second or third-years."

He didn't look nervous whatsoever. He simply ate his food while the girls pressed themselves up against him.

"His name is everywhere at the moment. People keep on talking about him."

"What a sad world."

"C'mon, Ayanokoji-kun. Those girls are just being realists. Dreams can only take you so far," she said.

"Are you a realist then, Amikura?"

"Nah. I'd say I'm a bit of a dreamer. One day I hope to just be swept off my feet. Something like a knight in shining armour would be nice."

"A knight in shining armour you say, hmm?"

"What about you? Do you like girls like Ichinose?"

"What's this have to do with her?"

"I told you didn't I? She's always talking about you."

I didn't respond. If I went too much into that, it would only make her angry.

"What kind of girls are you into then?" she asked lifting the silence.

"I'm not really sure. I guess I'd like an upbeat and positive girl, who likes to have fun. Kind of opposite to me I suppose."

"Well, in that case, wouldn't Ichinose be perfect for you?" Her eyebrow twitched unnaturally while cupping her chin with her hand.

"You might be right, but I don't think a guy like me would have a chance with her."

"You're probably right about that..." she said smirking. "To be fair though, you've been on a lot of girl's radars for a while now. Look here, you're on a first-year's ranking chart."

"Ranking chart?"

Apparently, the guys had been ranked without us even realising.

"Yeah, there's lots of different rankings, you know?" The hot guy rankings. The rich guy rankings. The creepy guy rankings. And-"

"That's enough. I think I get the picture."

"Haha! Dont worry, Ayanokoji-kun. You're ranked pretty highly in fifth place in the hot guy rankings. Congratulations!"

"Should I be happy about that?"

"There's no reason to be unhappy about it. However, there are a lot of other rankings as well though..."

I looked over at Amikura's cell phone. My eyes fell on a ranking called "Gloomy Guy Rankings."

"Gloomy guy rankings?"

"Hmm? Oh, right. You're ranked pretty highly on that list as well," she said.

Figures.

I continued looking through the various lists. There really were many different ranking charts. Some were more offensive than others, but the "Boys Who Should Die Rankings" easily won out in that category. Probably best not to look at that one, although it was easy to imagine who would be ranked on that list from our class.

"Are you really not happy about being ranked in fifth?" she asked.

"Not really. If I cared about being popular maybe I'd feel differently, but I don't really feel anything." It's not like a girl had confessed to me or written me a love letter. "Does everyone participate in these rankings?"

"Not everyone, but lots of girls do. Nobody knows the exact number of votes. The comments are also anonymous."

In other words, many unknown variables made it difficult.

"You're definitely an attractive guy, Ayanokoji-kun. However, the fact that you don't stand out as much puts you at a disadvantage. You're not smart, not very outgoing and you're not a great conversationalist. There's something missing, some element of attractiveness, you know?"

Wow. So in other words, there wasn't very much to like about me at all.

"Ouch. I feel like someone just stabbed me through the heart."

"S-sorry. I should have held myself back a little bit," Amikura apologised sheepishly. "Hey, did you have a girlfriend back in middle school?"

"No, I've never had a girlfriend before. Is that bad?"

"Haha, no. It's not a bad thing."

Amikura's attitude today and over the course of last week had started to throw me off. Except for her small, inconspicuous jabs from time to time, she didn't appear to be treating me any differently than she had before. I'd assumed things would have changed more significantly since that day on the rooftop.

"Listen. You don't have to force yourself to talk with me if you don't want to," I said to her straight.

"No, it's not that I don't want to. I enjoy our conversations, Ayanokoji-kun."

She was lying.

"You said that you hated me before, didn't you?"

"Ahaha. I guess I did say that. Sorry, but that's how I really feel."

Well, that wasn't unexpected, but it still hurt. Even though she was smiling up at me sweetly, she hated me. This was the worst.

"Honestly, the reason I invited you out to lunch today was to confirm something with you."

"Confirm what?"

"Hypothetically, if some trouble were to occur between myself and Ichinose, who would you side with?"

"I'm not gonna side with anyone."

"You can't be disinterested and ignore what's happening around you forever, Ayanokoji-kun. It's wonderful to oppose conflict, for example, but you might find yourself in the middle of turmoil at some point, don't you think? If I and Ichinose happen to clash, I hope that you'll cooperate with me."

I now understood why Amikura had been so eager to pry me away from Ichinose. Neither Amikura nor I understood one another fully yet. Maybe one day I'd come to have a deeper knowledge of her, and vice versa.

Part 2

"Everyone! Listen up for a second! I know it's lunchtime, but this is serious!"

Ichinose stopped the class from fleeing the room for lunch. Her tone of voice seemed to suggest an announcement of great importance was about to be made. She quickly marched to the front of the classroom and stood behind the teacher's podium.

"Yesterday evening, I heard rumours from some other classes that the material on the mid-term exams had been changed. I asked Hoshinomiya-sensei about it in between classes and she confirmed the material had all been changed last Friday!"

The whole class gasped in disbelief.

"How can they do that?!"

"There's only a week before the mid-terms!"

Their complaints were understandable. We'd spent the last couple of weeks working hard on class material that likely wouldn't even appear in the exams. Additionally, the timing of this revelation only further convinced me of something. I didn't think Hoshinomiya-sensei was the kind of person to neglect to convey this information to us.

"I understand your concerns and I know it all feels unfair, but we just have to remain focused and tackle this challenge as a class," Ichinose said.

"Naturally," Kanzaki said rising from his seat. "Is there anything we can do to immediately improve our situation, Ichinose-san?"

"Thank you for asking, Kanzaki-kun. Firstly, I'd like the two study groups to come straight to the library to get an idea of the new content that will be in the exams. Of course, anyone else who is also worried is welcome to join us as well. I've already posted the updated content that needs to be studied in the class group chat. We can discuss what to do next after school," Ichinose responded confidently.

Looks like the class already had a plan. Unfortunately, I had a plan of my own. I wouldn't be attending the group study session this lunchtime or any more of the sessions after school for that matter. I was more than satisfied at this point that I could pass the mid-terms without needing to attend.

Once the discussion ended, I leapt to my feet and began to make my way out of the classroom. It looked like around half the class decided to give up their lunchtime and go to the big study group. I started walking toward the cafeteria.

"Ayanokoji-kun, where are you going?"

Ichinose had noticed me rushing out of class in the opposite direction of the library and stopped me in the corridor. Her concern was clear and obvious.

"Lunch. I'm kinda hungry today, so I'm going to give this session a miss. I'm sorry," I said.

"But... Are you going to be ok? The material you need to learn is completely different from what we already practised. It's like starting from square one. Are you sure you don't want to come and join us?"

"I'm sure. I'll see you later." I said walking past her.

"Ah... Ok, I'll see you for the afternoon group then!" she called out from behind.

I had to nod in admiration. Despite my obvious lack of motivation for studying, Ichinose couldn't bring herself to give up on me. It was obvious to me that Ichinose cared deeply for her classmates, at least on the surface. I continued on my way to the cafeteria. While I did so, I texted a certain girl to meet me there in five minutes.

...

...

...

"Ayanokoji-kun!"

I was about to enter the cafeteria when a voice called out to me. Amikura appeared from behind me, nearly out of breath. It looked like she had just jogged all the way from the classroom to catch up with me.

"What is it? You trying to work up a sweat or something?" I said.

"Of course not silly. I was just wondering what you were up to."

"It's lunch. I'm getting food from the cafeteria."

"Hmm. Well, it's a good thing I caught up with you then. Can I go in with you?"

She's still keeping tabs on me I see.

"I don't mind. In fact, your presence might be kind of useful."

"Huh? What do you mean?" she asked tilting her head.

To be honest, if it were anyone else I would have said no. I had planned to only do this with the person I messaged, but I could make an exception for Amikura. I'd come to learn her secret by sheer coincidence. I was positive she wouldn't do anything stupid.

"There's something that I wanted to investigate. I'll let you help me if you promise not to tell anyone."

"Okay, I'll keep quiet. I'm good at keeping secrets."

If that were 100% true I wouldn't have discovered her two-faced persona, but I didn't say that aloud.

"Let's wait here. I'm expecting one other person who I doubt will keep us waiting," I said.

"One other person? Who else is helping you?"

"She's not really helping per se but-"

"She?" Amikura asked narrowing her eyes at me.

"Yes?" I responded a little nervously.

"You're being joined by another girl?"

"Yes, is that weird?"

"No, just surprising that's all."

I wasn't sure why she reacted that way. There wasn't even a chance she was jealous of me hanging out with another girl, so her reaction was puzzling. I decided to just ignore her weird attitude and wait just inside the cafeteria.

Not even a minute later, the person I was waiting for strutted towards the pair of us, arms folded together tightly and looking as sour as a lemon.

"Ayanokoji-kun, I hope this isn't going to be a waste of time," Horikita said.

"Why do you say that? You made any progress on the study group?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. I managed to get all three of them back into my study group. Kushida was oddly helpful for some reason, just like you said she'd be."

"Told ya," I said smugly.

Horikita rolled her eyes in obvious annoyance.

"Whatever. Who is this?" Horikita asked.

Amikura had been slightly tense and in a bit of a trance ever since Horikita arrived. I'd already anticipated this considering the fact that she's very familiar with Kushida.

"Ah, right. This is Amikura, she'll be eating with us today," I said holding my hand out to her.

Amikura blinked and recomposed herself, coming back to her senses.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Amikura Mako. I hope we get along well!" she said trying to appear as upbeat as possible.

"Eating? Ayanokoji-kun, I didn't call of the study group today just to chat and eat lunch with you. I came here because I thought you had a plan."

"Don't worry. I didn't bring you here just to kill time. Follow me."

The three of us walked into the thick of the cafeteria, navigating our way through the crowd until we reached the meal ticket machine.

"Order something for your lunch quickly. If you don't get it now you won't get another chance," I said.

"What's your game?" Horikita said with a tinge of anger.

"Just do as I say, or go hungry. I don't care either way."

"Ugh!" Horikita groaned before quickly ordering a basic meal. Amikura followed suit right afterwards.

I as well got a meal ticket for myself, but I didn't lead them to the pick-up counter. Instead, I went to the side of a vending machine and looked at the students behind us reviewing the menu.

"What are we doing?" Amikura asked. She shot me a confused-looking gaze.

"Just wait, this might answer what was bothering me."

I continued to watch the students as they bought their meal tickets from the machine. It took a while, but I finally found an appropriate student. He purchased his meal and headed to the counter with a rather bored-looking expression.

"Okay, let's go. Amikura, follow my lead. I might need your help with this," I said.

"Oh, sure thing! I guess..."

"Horikita, stay out of this and don't say a word."

"What-"

"I mean it," I said as seriously as I could.

"Ugh, whatever. I don't even know what you're planning," she said sighing whilst shaking her head.

We exchanged our meal tickets and sat down in front of the student I spotted earlier.

"Excuse me, Senpai. Can I have a moment of your time?" I asked.

"Huh? Who are you?" The student responded in a calm but disinterested manner.

"I'm Ayanokoji, from Class 1-D," I said winking discretely at the two girls sitting opposite me. "You're in Class D as well, aren't you?"

"Eh? How can you know that for sure?" He asked me slightly annoyed.

"Because you're limited to eating the school's free meals, just like some others in our own class. I doubt it's very tasty, am I right?" He was eating the free wild vegetable meal set.

He looked at his tray in disgust. "What do you want? You're already irritating me." He grabbed the sides of his tray and was about to leave, but I stopped him.

"I want to ask a favour of you. Of course, I'll make it worth your while if you agree to listen."

"A favour?"

The loud chatter drowned out my voice in the cafeteria. The students were all engrossed in chatting with their friends and enjoying their food.

"Have you still got the problems from the mid-term test you took in the first semester in the first year? If you don't, could you refer us to someone from your class who does?"

"Huh? Do you even know what you're asking of me?" he said.

"I don't think it's particularly strange. I didn't think it was against the school rules to study using old test problems."

"Even if you think that, why are you asking me?"

"That's easy. I thought I'd have the highest chance of success if I bartered with someone who doesn't have any points. That vegetable meal set doesn't look good at all, seriously. However, things would be quite different if you genuinely enjoyed eating that. What do you think?"

The upperclassman looked conflicted for a few moments. He looked back and forth between me and his lunch before nodding slowly.

"How much are you going to pay?"

"10,000 points. No higher than that."

"I don't have the old test problems, ...but I know someone who does. If you want him to help you out, you're gonna need to offer 30,000 points at the very least. If you have that, you'll get the old test problems."

"That's a no-go, I don't that have that many points."

"How many do you have?"

"10,000, that's why I said no higher than that."

"What?! Man, you were even worse than me after my first month. It's a no-deal then-"

I locked eyes with Amikura, signalling her to make her move.

"Wait just a minute!" Amikura stood up and lunged forwards, taking the guy's hands in her own.

"A friend of ours is going to be expelled if we don't do something! I beg of you, please help us," she pleaded desperately.

Amikura made sure to show him as much of the goods as possible. The upperclassman quickly choked up and inadvertently gulped under the pressure. Men could be rather simple creatures sometimes. Horikita just huffed in exasperation and looked away in displeasure.

"Damnit! If you'd go as far as to ask someone like me for old test questions, you must be really desperate. To be fair, the school will mercilessly expel any student who gets a failing grade. None of my friends are even here anymore," he said sighing in exasperation. "Fine, 10,000 points. We have a deal. You'll have to transfer the points in advance though."

"Fine, but if you do anything to stab us in the back, I won't forgive you. Even if you're an upperclassman, I'll do everything to ensure you'll be expelled."

"What the? You're a freak, I swear. Fine, I get it. Besides, when you transfer someone's private points, a record is made of it. If I were to do anything that may compromise our deal, it would only look bad on me."

"Good. Also, can you toss in a small bonus? I'd like to see the answers to the surprise quiz that we took after being admitted."

"Hmm, ok. I'll toss those in as well. I think your concerns are pointless, though." Despite him saying that it seemed like he understood what I was after.

"Thanks," I said.

"Thank you very much!" Amikura said exuberantly.

After we completed our deal, he promptly left the cafeteria. It was likely that he didn't want to be noticed. We left after we finished our lunches as well and reconvened in the school gardens, getting down to business.

"Horikita, about the points I paid. Transfer me half." I said.

"What? Why should I have to do that? You're the one who negotiated that deal, not me," she said.

"I said I would help you, I never said anything about helping you for free. Hand them over."

"What are you talking about? What you said before has nothing to do with this. There's no evidence to suggest that these test questions will help me whatsoever. I'm not transferring you a single point until I see something worthwhile."

Horikita was still as stubborn as ever.

"Um, Ayanokoji-kun?" Amikura said.

"Hmm, what is it?"

"About what you did earlier, was that really ok?"

"It shouldn't be a problem. The school rules allow for students to transfer points to one another, so there wasn't a violation."

"I suppose that's true but isn't getting old test questions cheating?"

"Not at all. If the school wanted to prevent the sharing of old test questions, they would have said so in their rules. Also, I don't think things like this are as uncommon as you think. He didn't seem to be that surprised by my request. It was almost as if he had done a deal like this before. In short, the trading of test papers isn't a rare occurrence."

"I guess that's true," she said.

"Not only did he have the answers for the mid-term exam, but he also saved the answer sheet from the short quiz we took soon after being admitted. The fact that he saved both leaves me to believe that he anticipated something like this would happen."

Amikura seemed to understand what I was getting at as her eyes widened in shock. Horikita however, still seemed unconvinced.

"There's no reason to believe that the past test questions are related in any way to the questions we will face this time around. If that's the case, the points you spent would have been for nothing."

"The problems may not be exactly the same, but I am in no doubt that there will be similarities."

The three questions that appeared towards the back were harder than the rest of the questions. I'd just so happened to find out that those same questions appeared on the second and third years' tests, so the majority of our class wouldn't be capable of solving them. It would be pointless for the school to give us questions we weren't supposed to be capable of solving. They weren't there to measure our academics.

If the problems on the short quiz that we took were the same as the ones on the old mock test, we'd be able to answer every question if we'd seen the old quiz in advance. This logic would likely apply to the mid-terms as well. I avoided explaining this aloud when Hoirikita was here. I didn't fully trust her yet, or Amikura for that matter.

Just then, the upperclassman sent me a message with an image file attached to it. I opened it and found the old test questions.

I checked the short quiz first. It was important to know whether the last three questions were the same as the quiz we took. The pair of them must have been equally as curious as they drew closer and peered over my shoulders to review the questions.

"Well, are they similar, Ayanokoji-kun?" Amikura asked.

"They're not just similar, they're exactly the same. They are identical. The short quiz from that year is the same as the one we took, in every way."

"Huh? Let me see!" Horkikita said sticking her nose inches away from my phone screen. She analysed the questions for a short while before backing off and gazing off into the distance.

"What do you think, Horikita?" I asked her.

"Hmm, I suppose it is highly probable that the mid-term questions will be the same as the ones you've obtained, going off your logic about the short quiz."

"So? Do you want the test questions or not? Of course, you'll have to pay me half the points I spent to get them as I mentioned earlier."

Horikita continued looking off into the distance, deep in thought. I thought for a moment she would be too prideful to accept my offer, but she quickly then brought out her phone and began tapping away rapidly on its screen. I then received a notification saying I'd received the 5,000 points from her.

"Pleasure doing business," I said snickering a little.

"Shut up! Just send me the file with the test papers already," she barked back at me.

"Just one more bit of advice."

"What is it?"

"I would show these questions to the failing students immediately and have them go over them constantly until the day of the exam, just to be sure they won't be expelled. However, I'd hold off until the last couple of days before the exam to show the rest of your class. That's if you can find the courage to do so. You don't want to lose all the momentum your other study groups have at the moment."

"Huh? What do you mean if I have the courage to do so?" she said scowling at me.

"Don't worry about it."

Horikita averted her gaze to the ground and started frowning as if she was contemplating something serious, before looking back up at me.

"You say that, but we're still not 100% sure these questions will be the same as what appears on the mid-terms. What do I do if they're different?"

"It doesn't matter. I don't know exactly how bad these failing students really are, but the fact you came here today tells me that if these questions aren't the same, it's likely they will be expelled. It won't even matter how hard they study or how good their tutor is, they'll be forced to drop out regardless." I said.

"Hmph, I suppose you're not entirely wrong about that," she said shaking her head. She turned on her heel and began walking away. "I sent you the points. I expect the questions sent to me by the end of the day."

"I can do much better than that," I said.

I got my phone and sent her the image as soon as she disappeared back into the school. Horikita and her students would likely be fine now. I wouldn't lend her a hand like this again though. She would be on her own from here on out. I hope she doesn't disappoint me.

"Ayanokoji-kun, was it really necessary to help Class D like this? I feel like helping them will only make things harder for ourselves," Amikura said.

I suppose from her perspective I had nothing to gain from this.

"I owed Horikita a favour. I decided this was the best way to pay her back. Besides, it's not like she got the questions for free."

"Oh, well if that's true, how did she help you?"

"She helped me with getting to know some pretty interesting upperclassmen, not including the one we spoke with today."

That wasn't the best excuse, but she was asking a lot of annoying questions.

"Horikita is in contact with some of the upperclassmen? That's news to me."

Amikura didn't seem entirely convinced but didn't pursue the matter any further.

"Anyways, what should we do with the questions we've got?" she asked.

"Since it's unlikely that anyone in our class is in danger of failing, I'll hold on to them until the day before the exam. This is so we don't discourage them from studying hard and becoming overconfident."

"Who's gonna distribute them to the class? Can you do that?"

"No, not me. I don't really like standing out that much. I'll leave this to you and Ichinose." I said.

"I-Ichinose? What has this got to do with her?" Amikura said her voice twitching with anger. We were alone in the gardens so I guess she felt confident enough to let her mask down just a little bit.

"Whether you like it or not, Ichinose has greater social pull than you do. I believe that having both of you distribute the questions will ensure the whole class reviews the material thoroughly. Just take joint credit or something. It's not like you have the right to take all the credit for yourself now, is it?" I said meeting her icy gaze.

She bit her bottom lip in frustration before sighing. "Fine. I'll talk with Ichinsoe about helping me the day before the exams."

Although she said that, it looked like the fact that she wouldn't get to take all the credit for the questions had cast new doubts in her mind regarding my plan.

"Ayanokoji-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"If nobody is going to fail the mid-terms anyways, why are we bothering with this plan at all?" she asked.

"Don't you remember when Sensei told us that we can overtake and become the new Class A or get demoted to Class C?"

"Yes, I remember that."

"It's true that she said that good behaviour during class won't bring back our lost points, but she never mentioned that it's impossible to regain them. She's basically admitting that class points can be gained back when you consider that classes can overtake one another. I believe that scoring well in exams is one of them."

Amiukura looked at me as if she was sizing me up, carefully analysing my expressions and tone of voice. It was like she was looking at me as if I were a completely different person.

"Tell me, when did you come up with the idea to get the old test questions?" she asked.

"Well, I got the idea when Ichinose said the exam material had changed but I had a hunch way back when Sensei told us about the mid-term exam."

"What?! Way back then?"

"I don't know if you recall, but Hoshinomiya-sensei said something along the lines of there's a surefire way for people to pass these exams no matter how smart you are, something like that. I think this is what she meant. If everyone had worked this out, it would be possible for the whole year to get perfect scores. That's the way I see it."

Amikura had relaxed her expression somewhat and appeared normal, but still eyed me with caution.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's just, that you really are a very observant person, aren't you?"

"I'm just a little more cunning than most people. Plus, I'm kinda worried about the exams myself. If you factor out the favour I owed Horikita, I was just trying to make things easier for myself for the most part."

"Righttt~," Amikura smirked slightly as if she were conjuring up some plan in her mind.

"Just remember to not mention my name to Ichinose. I'd like to draw as little attention as possible."

"Hmm, ok. That's fine, I won't mention that you were the one who actually got the questions. We can keep this a secret between the two of us."

"Yeah, I think that's for the best."

"Don't you feel that a strange bond of mutual trust builds between people who share a secret?"

"I don't know about that. Maybe."

"I see. Thank you, Ayanokoji-kun."

I had a rough idea, but I wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that.

End of Chapter

Arc 1 Chapter 8: The Mid-term Exam

Part 1

It was now Thursday, the day before the mid-term exams. Hoshinomiya-sensei ended class and was about to leave the classroom. Before she could, however, Amikura and Ichinose nodded at one another before they each leapt into action. They walked towards the front of the classroom together. Amikura was carrying the printed copies they'd made at the convenience store and stood alongside Ichinose at the podium.

"Everyone, wait just a minute before you all dash back to go and study. We have something to give all of you," Ichinose said.

Everyone obediently waited behind. I wouldn't have minded taking the credit for finding the test papers, but this was something only Ichinose could pull off. It's not like I'm someone who's able to speak to the whole class openly like this.

"Firstly, I'd like to commend all of you for the hard effort you've put in over the last few weeks. Despite some unforeseen circumstances and unexpected problems, you have all adapted and studied extremely well. Good job!"

Polite applause broke out followed by words of congratulations and other forms of praise.

"However, to increase the chances of the whole class passing, Mako-chan has kindly gone out of her way to get some old test questions that we believe will be of immense importance. Mako-chan, if you will."

Amikura began handing out the question and answer sheets to the people nearest the front.

"Test questions? Did you make these, Amikura-san?" Himeno was surprised by this sudden development.

"Actually, I got them from an upperclassman the other day. These are the old first term, mid-term exam problems," Amikura said.

"Old test problems?" Kanzaki said analysing the questions before widening his eyes in surprise. "These questions... Are these questions going to be on the exam tomorrow?"

"Yes! To be honest, I was told that the mid-term exams from the year before had the exact same problems as this one. So, if we properly memorise what's on this test, it will definitely boost our overall grades."

"Hoho! For real? Thank you, Amikura-chan!" Tabata couldn't contain his excitement and gazed at Amikura with hearts in his eyes.

"What on earth? If we had gotten these sooner, all that studying would have been completely pointless," Terumento said.

That's exactly why we waited until today, Terumento.

"I'm sorry Terumento-kun. I only received the questions recently and didn't get a chance to get them printed off until today. Besides, you still got to improve your academics overall because of the studying you already did, right?" Amikura said.

Terumento seemed to agree, even if only a little bit. His academics were not the best after all.

"Just one more thing, make sure to keep this a secret from other classes. Let's all do our best and aim to do as well as we can!" Ichinose decreed with renewed determination. Although I would usually agree with her, I'd already given the test papers to Horikita. I wouldn't usually send information to an enemy, but this was a special case. Regardless, everyone started returning to the dorms in high spirits.

Hoshinomiya-sensei had stopped herself from leaving and observed the class over the course of the discussion. After it had finished, she nodded to herself looking satisfied and glanced at me with the same speculative gaze as last time before leaving. Had she figured me out?

I was about to make my own way back when someone interrupted me.

"Why does she keep looking at you like that?"

"What?"

"She looks at you strangely from time to time. I'm asking if you know why."

Himeno approached my desk and started questioning me relentlessly.

"I don't know. Maybe she has a thing for me," I said jokingly.

"Pffft, yeah right! As quirky as she is, she'd never stoop so low as to date a teenager."

If you'd been in the guidance office that day, you wouldn't have been so confident of that, Himeno.

"Anyway, Amikura and Ichinose are really reliable, aren't they?" she said.

"Of course, if what they say is true about the test questions, we've got the mid-term exams more or less in the bag."

"I think what Amikura did was clever as well. Releasing the papers to us a day before the exam makes sure everyone studies properly beforehand and gives us enough time to memorise the questions."

"Yeah, I would have done the same thing if I were in her position," I said. "I didn't realise you were so committed to your studies, Himeno."

"Eh? What makes you think that?"

"Well, before we found out about the class rankings and everything else, you seemed bored and uncooperative. You slacked off during class and didn't socialise so much. Now, you pay attention in class and you are more aware of what happens around you. Plus, you looked really happy when we got given those test questions," I observed.

"Yeah, because I don't have a free ride anymore, so to speak," she said averting her gaze.

"You mean because of the thing with graduating from Class A?"

"Exactly. Before I thought it wouldn't matter which class we were in. I thought we were guaranteed success just for enrolling. But now, I actually have to apply myself to have a future. I can't cut any corners."

"Looks like the school's way of doing things have had a positive impact on you."

"It seems that way, doesn't it," she said sighing. "You gonna be ok for the test now?"

"I should be fine as long as the questions on these papers are the same as the real thing tomorrow. If they do end up being different, I might panic and draw a blank on the test."

"Relax. Just make sure you bring the mentality you had during the study groups, it will boost your confidence and help you during the exam, regardless of what questions are on the paper."

That was actually good advice.

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you," I said.

"Well, see you tomorrow. Don't think about being late."

"Yeah, yeah, see you."

It was hard to tell, but Himeno was really ecstatic to have gotten those test questions. Not just for herself but for the whole class. She seems to have picked up on what this could mean in terms of our class points.

Part 2

Hoshinomiya-sensei called our names one after the other and registered our attendance. The day had arrived, it was time for our mid-term exams.

"Glad to see everyone is here! Does everyone feel prepared enough for the exams today?"

"The whole class has studied to the best of their abilities. Nobody in this class is going to fail."

"Ara~, I like that confidence coming from you, Ichinose-san."

The whole class wore a smug and confident expression. Sensei started handing out the exam papers. She eventually made her way to my table and set my exam paper down on the table with a cute wink. It was like she was trying to wish me luck. Thank you sensei, much appreciated.

Our first exam was social studies, most likely the easiest exam out of all of them. If anyone was going to fail an exam, it was highly unlikely to be this one.

"The first exam is social studies. Since you are all looking so confident, I'll give you a little more motivation. If you pass these exams and your finals in July, you'll be rewarded with a vacation this summer!"

"A-A vacation!"

"That's right! It will be out on a tropical island to the south. I'm talking beach parties, swimming, bomb fires and much more!"

The class rejoiced. I was also pretty excited, a break on an exotic island sounded good. It also meant I could see the girls in their swimsuits. Ichinose in a swimsuit... Nice.

"Wh-what? I'm suddenly extremely nervous. What's going on?" Tabata muttered.

"Everyone! Let's all do our best!" Ichinose said, rallying the class.

"Let's do this!" Terumento shouted full of passion along with our classmates. I shouted as well, but my quiet voice was drowned out by the class's thunderous applause. Looks like Himeno noticed my contribution to the jeer. She shot me a scathing look which screamed "pervert". That look she gave me forced me to settle down.

On sensei's signal, everyone opened their exam papers and began writing. Instead of starting immediately, I decided to observe everyone's body language and facial expressions. Everyone seemed to write frantically and at a hurried rate, a clear sign of a good understanding of the questions. Ok, time to check the exam. I slowly opened and flipped through the paper.

Good.

Despite my earlier concerns, the questions appeared to be the same as the ones we got yesterday. I had only skimmed through the paper, but I didn't notice any differences at all. If I'd bothered to memorise the old questions, there was a chance I could score perfectly.

I glanced around the classroom one more time. Again, everyone was working diligently and there were no signs of anyone looking flustered or stuck. It was clear that almost everyone had memorised the questions the night before and studied hard on top of that. After finishing my observations, I then started my own paper and worked through the various questions at a slow pace.

Japanese and science were next. If we hadn't had the old questions these two exams might have been harder. However, nobody showed any signs of discomfort. These two exams proceeded much like the first.

Then came the fourth period. Time for Mathematics. The harder question from the short quiz was featured again, but the content like the other exams was the same as the old test questions. Even if the less academically gifted students such as Hikari and Tabata didn't understand the questions, they could still write down the answers if they'd memorised the material properly.

After the maths exam was over, it was time for our lunch break. Instead of going to the cafeteria, we had our lunch brought in for us free of charge so we could get back to work quicker.

I sat by myself, quietly observing the rest of my class as I slowly ate my lunch. Everyone had zeroed in on Ichinose and Amikura and began to relentlessly thank them.

"You've really saved us a lot of stress. Thank you Ichinose-san!" one girl said.

"Yeah! Thanks to you, I feel like I can score perfectly in all the exams!" Terumento exclaimed with a confident smile. Other less academically gifted students like Shibata and Hikari must be feeling the same way because they didn't seem upset or stressed whatsoever. They exuded just as much confidence as Kanzaki or Ichinose would have done.

"It's no problem guys. But, everyone should really be thanking Mako-chan. She's the one who got the old questions after all," Ichinose said looking over at Amikura.

"Yeah! Amikura-chan really saved the day!" Tabata shouted agreeing.

"Awh~, you guys. It was nothing really," she said blushing.

"No, what you did has really boosted the overall average grade for the class. Without the questions, there's a chance someone could have dropped out. Good work, Amikura-san."

"O-oh. In that case, thank you very much, Himeno-san."

Himeno gave out some rare praise to Amikura which based on her reaction, kind of shocked her. Himeno's desire for the class to succeed forced her to applaud Amikura for her discovery. I wonder if a day would come when she would praise me for something. I honestly couldn't see it happening.

After lunch, it was time for the English exam. This exam would probably be the hardest out of all of them because it's harder for people to memorise the answers. Our languages were just much too different.

Most of the students calmly went through their papers, but there were a couple of people who stopped and began tapping their feet or twirling their pens in obvious confusion.

I couldn't be 100% sure, but despite them looking puzzled, I couldn't imagine any of my classmates failing the exam because of the old questions we'd been given. I finished my paper and looked out the window in satisfaction.

I wonder how Class D will fair?

Part 3

Hoshinomiya-sensei stumbled into the classroom with a pale-looking face. It was obvious she was extremely hungover and looked like she was about to vomit any second.

"H-Hello Class B, today I'll... WOOOAH!"

"Sensei!"

Ichinose and Shibata rushed to the front to stop sensei from falling and hurting herself. She'd had way too much to drink last night.

"Owie, Owie, Owie" sensei said rubbing her head. The pair of them had somehow managed to catch her just in time, but her head must still be hurting a lot from the alcohol.

"Geez, you have to control yourself, sensei."

"Yeah, what she said."

"Mouu~, it feels weird for me to be lectured by my students. I can't really argue with you though."

That she can't. Although I'm by no means an expert, I don't believe a teacher should be coming into school to teach while being hungover. It sets a really bad example.

"A-anyways, thanks for the help you two, I'm fine now. You may go back to your seats." Ichinose and Shibata helped Hoshinomiya-sensei lean over the teacher's podium before anxiously returning to their seats. "Ok! Wait, what was I going to say again?"

Looks like Hoshinomiya-sensei's memory had gone awry.

"Sensei, we were told that the results of our mid-term exams would be released today. Is that true?"

"Hmm..? Ah! Of course! You will be getting your results today!"

The class began holding their breath in anticipation. Even though we were confident, it was only natural for most of us to be worried regardless.

"Edo...? Where are your results?" She wobbled over to the front desk and began to slowly open and close various cupboards and drawers. "That's really weird, I thought I'd have them here already."

The time she was taking to find them was only making the class restless. The idiot duo were practically shaking in their seats as they anxiously bit their nails. Kanzaki shook his head with displeasure, also beginning to grow annoyed.

"AH! I left them in the faculty room!" Sensei said leaping up from behind the desk. "I'll be back in a minute!" she yelled running out the door and into the corridor. I'd never seen her move so fast. It was impressive when you consider the situation she was in. But, it looks like our class's sense of anxiety wouldn't dissipate for another couple of minutes, thanks to her forgetfulness.

Himeno let out a deep sigh from beside me.

"What is wrong with her, honestly? How is it acceptable for a teacher to come to class in that sort of state?" she said scathingly.

"I guess she doesn't understand her own limits," I said.

"Yeah, for real. She's carefree to the point of being reckless."

"I wouldn't say she's carefree."

"Huh, why do you say that?" she asked shooting me a glance.

"Well, she seems to care an awful lot about us, at least," I said. "She also takes care of her appearance. I haven't even seen her without makeup."

"Huh?! What are you even saying? Don't tell me you've fallen for our teacher, Ayanokoji-kun?!" she said shooting me a cold glare.

"Of course not. I'm just saying that she isn't quite as easygoing as you would think," I explained simply.

The conversation then entered a lull and Himeno continued to scowl at me in annoyance.

I briefly scanned the classroom which had now become more abuzz with noise and casual chatter. Sensei was seriously taking a long time.

"...Well, in any case, you'd agree it isn't normal for a teacher to come to class hungover, right?" She asked me a few moments later.

"Naturally."

"Then I believe my point still stands. She seems to be carefree to the point of being reckless, yes?" she asked.

What was she trying to do? She really wanted to prove me wrong for some reason.

"That wasn't your point though. Your point was that she was carefree," I said.

"Have we seen anything that would suggest otherwise?"

"Remember the day we learned about the S-System? She seemed to support us quite a bit back then. She even appeared more serious. Even someone like you would notice such a drastic change."

"Someone like me? What on earth are you talking about?!" she said glaring daggers at me.

"I must have misspoken. Please accept my sincerest apologies," I said without a hint of sarcasm.

Himeno just scoffed and faced away from me once more.

I only said that because back then she didn't care what went on around her. She's now changed quite a bit and is much more aware, but she was certainly apathetic to her surroundings before that moment.

I could have mentioned how sensei interrogated me the same day but thought better of it after coming to the obvious realisation that she wouldn't believe me.

The rapid sound of high heels smacking the floor in quick succession then emanated from the corridor, before Hoshinomiya-sensei burst back into the room with a rolled-up piece of white paper.

"Hah! Hah! Hah... Alrighty! I've already wasted too much time, so without further ado, here are your results!" she said as she rapidly unrolled and spread out the paper onto the blackboard.

Everyone's names and test scores were now visible to everyone.

Despite the presence of over a dozen perfect scores in various subjects, the class remained silent as they analysed the scores towards the bottom of the table. All that mattered was whether or not anyone would be expelled.

I too looked towards the bottom of the scoreboard.

...

The lowest score was 64 points.

"YESSS!" the idiot duo leapt out of their seats and jumped high into the air. They danced so vigorously that you'd think they'd just won the lottery.

The rest of the class soon followed and joined the celebrations. Ichinose let out a sigh of relief before she joined in with the rest of the class, hugging and high-fiving the people around her.

"We did it Ichinose-san!"

"It's all thanks to you Honami-chan!"

"Stop, stop, we all did our part. The whole class avoided expulsion at the end of the day. We should all be equally proud of ourselves!" she shouted with pure joy.

Amikura got a lot of praise as well, but not as much as Ichinose, a fact that must be driving her crazy despite her cheerful exterior. She shared a group hug with her friends before the class began to settle down.

"Guess I have to congratulate you," Himeno said from beside me as the class descended into normal chatter.

Despite us being in homeroom, Hoshinomiya-sensei showed no signs of cutting in, looking content to simply watch us with a satisfied-looking smile. That or she was too tired to cut in and continue homeroom because of the alcohol.

"Congratulate me? For what?" I asked.

"For your test results obviously. Looks like I was wrong to worry about you since you do seem to have half a brain cell up there somewhere."

"Geez, I feel really congratulated right now, thanks."

Looks like my work in the study group wasn't completely a waste after all. I managed to get at least 80 points in each of the subjects, putting me safely out of the danger of being expelled.

"But in all honesty, well done. Considering you barely got the majority of the questions correct on the short test, what you did here was a massive improvement. Before you were in 35th place, now you're in 13th," Himeno said giving me some surprising but genuine praise. I was taken aback slightly since she was able to remember exactly where I placed last time.

"It wasn't anything special. If I hadn't studied the test papers Ichinose and Amikura got, you wouldn't be congratulating me right now."

"I also looked over the questions quite a few times, and yet you still outperformed me."

I took another look at the scores. Himeno placed in 21st place, with an average score of 78. I can't remember exactly where she placed on the short test, but I knew straight away she'd improved.

"Well done Class B. I honestly didn't expect you to perform this well. But your hard work was blatantly obvious to me and your other teachers these past few weeks. You were right to be confident from the very beginning. These results are much higher than what we would normally expect from the newly enrolled first years. Well done!"

The class shot confused looks at our homeroom teacher as she effortlessly composed herself and delivered a well-thought-out speech that clearly communicated her praise.

"Aw, come on! Sensei can handle her alcohol pretty well you know. If I want to praise my students properly, I can."

She received some doubtful looks but the class decided not to pursue it any further and waited for sensei to continue.

"Well, this seems like a pretty good place to stop. Homeroom will be over soon and I need to go sober up a little bit. Enjoy your morning classes!"

With that unusual farewell, Hoshinomiya-sensei hobbled out of the classroom.

Just then I received a message from someone on my phone. It was from Horikita.

It simply read, thanks for your help. It was fairly obvious to me that their class had safely navigated the mid-terms without losing anyone.

Well, I guess I can finally relax and consider this a job well done...

End of Chapter

Arc 1 Chapter 9: Someone Extraordinary

Part 1

"Congratulations everyone!"

"Yeahhhh!"

Half the class had come to the cafeteria together for lunch on the same day we got our mid-term results. We formed one massive table in the middle of the cafeteria so that everyone could sit and celebrate with one another. This seemed to annoy some of the smaller tables around us and even though I felt bad for them, the rest of the class was too ecstatic to care.

We'd all been studying hard to ensure none of us had to drop out and to score as highly as possible. We were all relishing in a much-needed mental reprieve. There wasn't a student here that wasn't smiling, we were all completely overjoyed from the outcome of the mid-term exam.

"Whew! I gotta say though, those mid-terms were dangerous. Even without Amikura-chan's help or the study groups, I would have been fine, but Terumento and some others would have been in some seriously hot water!"

"What are you talking about Tabata? You got the lowest score out of everyone!"

"That's where you're wrong, my good friend Terumento. If I actually went all out, I would have easily gotten all perfect scores."

"Yeah right! Even if you dedicated the rest of your life to studying, you wouldn't even come close to scoring perfectly."

"You wanna bet?"

"Gladly."

Tabata and Terumento were sharing a rather loud conversation towards the opposite end of the table. Yume looked at them with exasperation.

"They never change those two, do they?" she said signing.

"Hehe, I was waiting for someone to say something like that," Chihiro said chuckling. She turned and looked at me from the seat next to me. "It's good that everyone got through this, right Ichinose-san?"

"Of course, I'm over the moon because everybody passed without issue. Still, we have to keep everyone, including those two, on the right track or we could have problems leading up to the finals," I said.

"Ugh! The school doesn't give us any room to breathe! That vacation they promised us can't come any sooner," Yume said still exasperated.

"Ooh, I'd nearly forgotten about that. They only just mentioned it today after all. We should go shopping for some new clothes for the beach. What do you guys think?" Chihiro said excitedly.

"That's a great idea! I don't know about you guys, but my swimsuit doesn't really suit me anymore."

"Why do you say that, Yume-chan?" I asked.

"Well, to put it bluntly, the one I have now doesn't show off as much skin as I'd like it to. Also, it's kinda small. I've grown quite a bit since I've last used it."

"Woah. I have to admire your confidence, Yume-chan. How about you Ichinose-san? Do you want to come with us?"

"A new swimsuit hmm?"

I thought about it for a few moments. I would indeed like to have a new swimsuit, but I already had the school one that they issued when I enrolled. Considering the number of points I have, it would be bad if I were to spend them on something like this.

"I'll happily join you guys, but I'm not sure if I'll buy a new swimsuit for myself. I already have the school swimsuit and I'd feel bad if I used points on something that isn't essential," I said.

"Eh? Why Honami-chan? You don't have to worry about being the class treasurer that badly. I'm sure the majority of us are gonna be buying something like this soon enough. You should at least treat yourself to one extra." Yume said resting an arm on my shoulder.

"Yume-chan is right. We made you treasurer because we trust you, Ichinose-san. Nobody will complain over every little thing you buy."

The two of them reassured me despite my lingering concerns. The girls had unanimously agreed to transfer 80% of the points they receive each month to me for safekeeping. This was to mainly help limit our spending to reasonable amounts. They'd all put a lot of trust in me by doing this. As a result, I now had just over a million points. If the boys followed suit, I'd be responsible for well over two million points.

"Is that so? Well, maybe I'll think about getting an extra one after all then," I said.

"Yay! Thank you Honami-chan! Ah! But make sure you don't get anything too revealing. The guys wouldn't be able to handle you that's for sure."

"Handle me? What do you mean Yume-chan?"

"C'mon! Surely by now, you understand that the boys will fall head over heels for you the moment they see you in anything too revealing. I've said this before, but you need to be on your toes, Honami-chan." Yume says nagging me purposefully.

"Yeah! The world doesn't deserve you at all, Ichinose-san," Chihiro said averting her gaze.

Haaah, I don't really understand these things yet.

"I hear you guys. I'll do my best to pick something appropriate, I promise."

"Good to hear," Yume said nodding her head.

Being the class treasurer doesn't just involve holding onto everyone's points. If someone runs out and needs more, I'm responsible for assisting that person. I basically function as the class's communal bank account. It will also be up to me if someone asks for extra points for non-essential items, amongst other smaller details.

"Hmm, I wonder what kind I should get? My chest isn't nearly as big as yours," Chihiro said with a sigh.

"Don't be like that, Chihiro-san. You should wear whatever you think suits you. Anything cute that compliments your slim figure will be perfect. I'll happily give my opinion, but the decision should be yours at the end of the day," Yume said striking her chest confidently.

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll find something perfect for you, so don't worry about it at all, ok~," I said reassuringly.

"Oh... I see, thank you Ichinose-san." Chihiro smiled bashfully before she averted her eyes with a faint blush appearing behind her ears. I was about to ask whether she was ok when...

"AUGH! Hey! What the hell!"

Tabata, covered in some sort of juice, leapt up and confronted a group of guys standing a few feet behind him.

"What on earth was that for!" Tabata continued and squared up to one of the guys behind him.

"Haha! Check this out, guys. This garden gnome figured out how to speak!"

His friends beside him started cackling viscously. He was quite a menacing person. He was fairly well built and had green hair and a messy uniform. He had the look of a typical delinquent and a persistent troublemaker.

"Tch! Listen here-" Tabata then tried to grab the guy's collar but before he could, he lightly pushed Tabata backwards causing him to trip and land on the back of his chair.

"Ow! That seriously hurt, you idiot!" Tabata said pulling himself up again.

"Stay down squirt. I accidentally spilt some juice on you, no need to get so annoyed, alright? You still have a lot of growing up to do, so have some respect for your superiors why don't you? Heh," he said smirking widely.

"Ok, that's it!" Tabata said getting ready to attack them. Before he could, however, I and Kanzaki quickly ran over and got in between Tabata and the group.

"Alright! That's enough. Enough! Let's stop this before you both end up in trouble," Kanzaki said irritably.

"He's right. Nothing good will come of fighting here. Just move along and mind your own business."

"Hey, this is between me and that midget, not you two. Step aside," he said aggressively staring me down.

"Actually it does involve me because he is my classmate and you're interrupting our lunchtime. If you're looking to cause trouble, go and do it somewhere else," I said.

He furrowed his brows and started scowling at me angrily and I could hear his teeth begin to grind against one another. Why was he so set on messing with Tabata?

"Oi, listen here woman, this guy just tried to-"

"Back off, Ishizaki." Another man suddenly spoke up from beside us a little further away and started walking over with his hands in his pockets. The guy looked over and grew noticeably tenser as he slowly made his way over. The way he approached us made me suspect he'd been watching the commotion for a while.

He had shoulder-length purple hair, a uniform without a tie and a sharp gleam in his eyes. He carried a heavier, more intimidating presence than his friend and had a stronger build.

"Ah... Aha, Ryuen-san, this guy just tried to grab me from out the blue-"

"Shut it! And back of! Jesus Christ you really are an idiot, aren't you Ishizaki?" he said staring right through to his soul.

"Y-yes, I'm sorry, Ryuen-san," he said as he meekly put some distance between me and Kanzaki. It seemed like Ishizaki was deeply afraid of this Ryuen individual.

"Get lost."

"Y-yes! Alright, let's get out of here guys."

With a simple command, Ryuen ordered Ishizaki and his friends out of the cafeteria before sighing heavily.

"Haaah, why can't they just do what they're told correctly?" he said annoyed.

Correctly? Did he tell them to come and cause trouble for us? What were they trying to get out of that? Did they do it on purpose?

Ryuen and Kanzaki's eyes met one another and a brief stare-down commenced. It was like they were sizing each other up, trying to get a read on one another.

"What are you looking all serious for huh?" Ryuen asked smirking tauntingly.

"If I find out that you told them to harass us on purpose, I will have no problem with reporting you to the school," Kanzaki said folding his arms. Seemed like we had the same suspicions.

Ryuen then folded his own arms as if he was trying to mock him and scoffed. "Pfft ha ha, go right ahead, Kanzaki," he said laughing hoarsely. "It doesn't mean shit if there's no evidence. What's the school even gonna do? Just turn around and keep talking to the rest of your softies over there," he voiced lightly lifting his hand and pointing at our large table.

Kanzaki shook his head in exasperation before moving back to his seat.

I haven't heard much about Ryuen, other than that he's the de facto leader of Class C, a ruthless one at that. It would seem that his reputation presides him in that regard. I can imagine him causing problems for us in the future.

I was about to go back to my seat myself when-

"You're the leader of Class B, right?" he suddenly asked me. I turned back around and saw that a curious smile now covered his face.

"Yes, I suppose. My name is Ichinose Honami."

"I'm well aware. I hear your class has blind trust in you, almost as if you have them under some sort of spell. You and I are rather the same, but also different," he said narrowing his eyes.

I didn't understand what he meant. I don't think we're similar at all.

"Sorry, but I can't see how the two of us are in any way the same. Our class's unity is built on mutual trust, we trust everyone and that's what keeps us together."

Ryuen continued to gaze at me inquisitively for a few moments before his face contorted into a wide, toothy smile. It was so wide it sort of began to frighten me.

"Well then, I'm looking forward to seeing how long that unity of yours lasts. See you around."

With that, he placed his hands back into his pockets and disappeared into the large crowd which had been watching the drama unfold. Once he left, the crowd quickly dissipated and people resumed their seats or left the cafeteria.

I gently walked over to Tabata. "Are you alright, Tabata-kun? You aren't hurt or anything are you?"

"Oh me? Nah, I'm fine. Just a little worked up because that idiot pushed me over."

"I see, well that's what's most important in the end."

"Any chance the school will reprimand them, Ichinose-chan?" Terumento asked from beside him.

"I doubt it, not much really happened."

"But he pushed him! Everyone here saw it, as well as many others in the cafeteria! We could get them in serious trouble if we wanted I bet," Terumento voiced passionately.

"I'm not trying to play down the seriousness of what happened, but since nobody has any physical injuries, anything that did happen could be written off as an accident or speculation," I explained.

"Ryuen seems like a dangerous individual, just like his lackeys back there. We should be cautious when dealing with them in the future," Kanzaki said chiming in.

"Yeah, they're bad news for sure," Tabata said.

"What do you wanna do? Just ignore them for the next three years?" Terumento asked.

"We should do what Kanzaki said and avoid being overly friendly with them. Of course, you shouldn't outright ignore them either. Doing so could end up provoking them and lead to conflict. So just make sure you act rationally and carefully, ok?" I said.

"Sounds like a plan."

"Naturally."

The whole table nodded in understanding. In truth, I suspected that Ryuen or his classmates would try instigating something again sometime in the near future. I had to make sure the class were aware of the possible dangers.

"Ichinose Honami, Class 1-B. Please come and see Hoshinomiya in the faculty office."

The loudspeaker suddenly came alive, drowning out the noise of the cafeteria and requesting my presence in the faculty office.

"That's odd, I wonder what she wants with me now?" I muttered to myself. I'd never been called to the faculty room at lunch, I hope it's nothing serious. "Guess I'll have to leave you guys, see you later!"

I bid farewell to my classmates and promptly left for the faculty room.

Part 2

"Hello? Hoshinomiya-sensei?"

"Ah! Ichinose-san, come on in," she said smiling brightly. Looks like she had made a full recovery since this morning.

I casually walked into the faculty room and sat on the chair next to her particularly cluttered desk. To say it was a mess was an understatement, which wasn't entirely surprising considering the way she is. Random pieces of paper lay scattered across her keyboard and pencils and pens littered the floor beneath it. I was left asking if she was able to do anything productive with a workspace as disorganized as this.

"You don't normally call me here during lunchtime, Hoshinomiya-sensei. I was wondering if there was a problem," I said adjusting myself in the seat to be more comfortable.

"Not at all, Ichinose-san!" she said shaking her head furiously. "If anything I should be congratulating you on your perfect mid-term scores. I would have done so earlier, but I was a little out of sorts back there this morning. So, congratulations, Ichinose-san!"

She sure is energetic at the moment. Her delight looked fairly genuine. "Thank you sensei. I'm relieved there weren't any issues," I said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Of course, there are no issues. You and the rest of Class B performed the strongest out of all the classes on the mid-term exams, you even beat Class A! That's something to be immensely proud of," she said pumping a fist into the air.

"That's amazing! It really couldn't have gone any better in that case," I said.

"You lot are in for a treat next month, that's for sure," she said with a cute wink.

Her words prompted me to ask her something that had been bugging me for a little while. "Sensei, may I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, no problem. Ask away!" she responded crisply.

"Well, ever since you mentioned the need to pass Class A to secure our futures, I became convinced that there were ways to gain class points back. I was just wondering if these exams were one of them?"

Sensei nodded to herself and started clapping politely. "You're 100% right. These exams will contribute to your class point totals. That's why I mentioned that you were in for a treat next month!"

Wow, it felt like she was trying to get me to ask that question from the very start.

"Is it ok if you tell me how many more points we'll be getting next month, sensei?"

She put her hand to her chin and closed her eyes as if she were thinking extremely hard. She reopened her eyes a few moments later. "Hmm... Normally I wouldn't say, but since you all did so well, I'll give you a general idea. You can all expect to get a little under 10,000 points more next term!"

"That's good news. A few extra points a month and getting closer to Class A is nothing to scoff at!"

That was a sizeable increase. Considering we performed the best on the mid-term exams, nobody should be gaining more than us. This is a huge step in the right direction.

"It's great for you especially, no? Since you're taking care of all the girl's points at the moment, right? Hehe~" she said letting lose a small chuckle.

"Ah, so you noticed?"

"Of course I did, your point totals are free for the school to monitor to prevent extortion or fraud. You have the trust of most of the class, that's an impressive feat," she said firmly.

"We all trust each other greatly and that's what makes us strong as a class. We're gonna go all the way and reach Class A in no time, I just know it."

"You have a lot of confidence, that's good. Keep up the good work," she said praising me.

"Thank you sensei."

It was nice for her to cheer me on, but I didn't think she called me here to praise me or to question me on the number of points I had. Besides, she had understood how I had that many points from the beginning.

"Is there anything else you wanted to talk about? If not I'll start heading back," I said.

"As a matter a fact, yes there is. I'd rather we talk about this in the guidance office. This talk will be a little more serious," she said standing up. "Follow me."

Sensei suddenly dropped the energetic and cute act and became much more intense, just like the day of the S-System reveal.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong sensei?" I asked entering the office.

"No, there's nothing wrong. I just don't want anyone else overhearing this conversation. It won't take especially long either. I'll have you back to class on time, don't worry," she said reassuringly.

"I see, in that case, do you mind if we stay standing?"

"Not at all, I'll get straight to it then."

Sensei then closed her eyes and crossed her arms, followed by a long inhale and exhale, before starting to talk again.

"Amikura was supposedly the one who got those old test papers, right?" she said more serious than ever.

Supposedly? Did she not believe her?

"Yes, that's what she told me," I said.

"Well, what do you think?"

Where was she going with this? The way she asked that question gave me an eerie vibe.

"What do I think? Umm... Well, there's no question that what she did was a massive help to the class. It allowed us to maximise our class points and prevent any unnecessary expulsions. It also increased our confidence massively, doing better than Class A only reaffirms my belief that we're not much worse than them-"

"Let me stop you just there, Ichinose-san~," she said interrupting me sweetly. "While that's all well and good, that isn't quite what I was getting at. I'm asking you whether or not you think Amikura was actually the one to get the papers."

So that's what she meant. I guess that's why she said that she 'supposedly' got them at the start. I found it a little odd that Amikura could pull something like that off. However, I didn't see any reason for her to be disingenuous about it. It didn't really matter whether she got them or not, the result would have been the same either way. I want to believe my classmates no matter what because we trust one another completely. Despite this, I feel as if Hoshinomiya-sensei is already convinced that she lied. Why would she bother calling me here and asking if she didn't?

"At the very least I don't think she would lie about it, sensei. I don't really see why she would need to unless you know something that I don't," I asked urging her to explain.

"Let me ask you something," she said partly ignoring me. "Amikura is a smart girl I must admit but is she someone capable enough to do this on her own?"

"Hmm..." I thought about it a little bit. Would Amikura try something like that? If she did, why bother helping with the study groups? If she had a plan to do this from the very beginning why bother helping? It was certainly suspicious.

"Are you suggesting that somebody else got the papers?"

Hoshinomiya-sensei's smile grew wider. "That's exactly what I'm saying, Ichinose-san!" she voiced with pure delight.

So Amikura wasn't the one who got the old papers. She also probably wasn't the person who figured out the two exams would be identical then. However; if it wasn't her, who was it?

"I see, in that case, I can only believe what you have said, sensei. But if Amikura didn't get the questions I haven't got a clue who actually did," I said.

"When did Amikura give you the test papers?" Sensei asked me.

"That would have been about four or five days before the exams. We agreed to print them and hand them out to the class just in time for the mid-terms. The day before, I'd sent her off to keep watch on..."

I stopped mid-sentence as a sudden thought sprang to mind.

"Oh? You sent her to keep watch on who now~?" sensei asked full of interest.

"The day after we found out about the content change on the exams, Ayanokoji refused to come back to the study group sessions. I got worried and so I sent her to keep an eye out for him. However, the next day Amikura approached me with the old exam questions and neither of them came back to the study groups for the rest of the week." I said.

"My my, that is quite the list of coincides, don't you think?" she said.

Normally I would have sent Kanzaki, but it's true that this time I sent Amikura to keep watch on Ayanokoji, but that doesn't mean that he was the one who got the questions. Although...he does have a very elusive and mysterious vibe. He doesn't give anything away and dodges a lot of my questions, nor does he go into much detail about himself or his life before high school. My gut tells me that he's somebody who is actually quite remarkable and intelligent, but I'll never know for sure unless I ask him directly.

"Hehe, would you like to know who actually got the questions, Ichinose-san?"

Sensei giggled slightly before speaking. I guess it was somebody else who got them after all.

"Yes please; I'd like to thank them for their quick thinking as soon as possible."

I mentally braced myself. If it wasn't Ayanokoji, I haven't got a clue who it is.

"Sorry, Ichinose-san~. I may have misled you a teeny tiny bit," she said pressing her fingers together.

"Huh? What do you mean, sensei?"

She chuckled lightly and inched closer to me.

"Well, I'll just come out and say it. Your initial suspicions were correct. It was Ayanokoji who got the test questions that day." she said with a thin smile.

"I-it was him after all? Are you sure?" I asked seeking confirmation.

"Of course, there's no doubt about it. He was the one who got the test papers. He went with Amikura to the cafeteria and spoke with a third year who just so happened to have them. I have camera footage to prove this if you don't believe me, but I think you already had your suspicions regarding Ayanokoji, no?" Sensei said smiling mischievously.

"I guess your right about that," I admitted.

"If I had told anyone else about this, I doubt they would have been so ready to believe me. You are not as surprised as the rest of the class would have been that's for sure."

So he did get the papers. In other words, he was the one who masterminded our class's top performance in the mid-terms. This was obviously unexpected but not necessarily unwelcome or incredibly surprising either. Now that it's come to this, I can't simply pretend that Ayanokoji is some obscure and quiet individual. I'll have to talk to him head-on and without holding back, otherwise he'll just manoeuvre his way around my questions like usual.

There were so many things I needed to understand. Where did he get the idea? How did he know the old papers would be the same? What is his...relationship with Amikura?

"I'm guessing there are still a few things you don't understand, like how he knew the old test questions would be the same?"

Sensei as if reading my mind, asked one of the multiple questions I was pondering.

"Yeah, I do wonder about that. How did he know they'd be the same?" I questioned.

"Hehe~, now, now Ichinose-san, I can't give you the answers to everything now, can I? This is something you can only truly know by asking the man himself," sensei said with a cheerful smile.

"I suppose your right," I said sighing.

I was honestly hoping to hear it from her first. That would have given me an advantage when I speak with him and would make it harder for him to play down his role in the scheme. I was almost certain that's what he'll do because if he wanted people to know it was him he wouldn't have bothered enlisting Amikura's help in the first place. He might have even come straight to me.

But he didn't.

He used Amikura to conceal his involvement. If I were to ask him now, he's likely to say it was Amikura's idea like she had told me.

Speaking of Amikura, they seem to hang out a lot more nowadays. I haven't had the opportunity to talk with him properly outside the study groups for a while now. It's making me wonder what their relationship has actually become. Are they still just classmates, or are they something more?

...

The thought kind of bothered me for some reason.

"You seem troubled, Ichinose-san. What's the matter~," sensei asked sweetly

"It's nothing, sensei. It's just I haven't been able to speak with him much recently. Ayanokoji-kun seems to talk mostly with Amikura now," I said.

"Ara~, could it be that they are dating one another?" sensei asked straightforwardly.

"I-I don't know," I said.

"Hehe~," sensei let out a small chuckle. "Well, whether they are just talkative friends or actually dating one another, there's only one obvious thing to do, right?"

"Heh? What do you mean, sensei?" I asked slightly confused.

"You're just going to have to get him back from her of course!" she said exuberantly.

"What?! B-but sensei, what if they really are dating? Wouldn't that be disrespectful? I'm not even romantically involved with Ayanokoji-kun." I said.

I could feel my face burning up, I probably look extremely flustered.

"Hahaha, I'm sorry Ichinose-san, I was just teasing you and got a little carried away~," she said laughing. At the same time, she closed the distance between us and gently rested her hands on my shoulders. Her serious expression had returned.

"You may have won this time, but if you're serious about getting to Class A, that won't be enough, you have to win every single time. To do that, you have to utilise every asset you have available to you, to the best of your ability. Do you understand where I'm going with this?"

I slowly nodded my head in response. She was making it clear that our class won't be able to overtake Class A unless everyone is committed to doing so. There's a good chance that getting to Class A wasn't everyone's main priority at the moment.

"If Ayanokoji is as capable as I think, he could very well be the difference between you reaching Class A or falling by the wayside. Do your best to learn as much as possible about him and get to know him as deeply as you can. It won't do to allow him to hide behind someone else forever. Do you understand, Ichinose-san?"

I've been able to tell when sensei is fooling around or being serious for a while now, but this was different. I could tell that this was likely the most important piece of advice she will ever give me.

"I understand, sensei,"

"Then you know what you must do now?"

"I think... I think I'm going to go and speak with him today after-school," I said.

"I see. But, I heard there were plans for the whole class to go to the karaoke parlour today?"

"That's true, but some things are more important."

If I leave it too late, Ayanokoji could think of new ways to subvert my line of questioning. Best to strike when the iron is hot, for the lack of a better saying.

Hoshinomiya-sensei nodded with satisfaction. "That's what I like to hear, looks like I can leave everything else to you now," she said letting me go and stepping back.

Just as she moved back, the bell signalling the end of lunch went off.

"Would you look at that!" sensei said gasping. "Looks like we timed our conversation almost perfectly."

"It would seem so," I said.

"Anyways, you know what to do now, right Ichinose-san?"

"Yes. I'll speak with Ayanokoji after school today. Aside from that, I'll make sure to talk with him a lot more going forwards and I'll find out what he's truly capable of."

"Sounds like a plan," sensei said smirking. "Alrighty! Thanks for coming here today Ichinose-san, head back to class quickly and don't be late!"

"I won't, thank you sensei."

"Ah! And don't forget to ask him if he's dating Amikura-chan!" she said as I opened the guidance office door.

I rolled my eyes and sighed as I closed the door behind me, but yet... There was a small part of me that was hoping they wouldn't be dating one another.

Part 3

Everyone was practically squirming in their seats, itching to be finished with today's classes. It was because the class had all planned to go to the karaoke parlour straight after school to celebrate the result of the mid-term exams.

However, I hadn't been paying attention to class all afternoon. Instead, I was pondering whether I should join everyone else at karaoke or not.

I began to go through all the pros and cons in my head.

On one hand, I was a really terrible singer, and if my worst fears were confirmed, they may force me to sing a song on my own. I couldn't think of anything more terrifying than that, the levels of embarrassment would be off the charts.

There will also be a lot of people there in general, which wouldn't help with my nerves whatsoever. It might get to a point where my awkwardness would begin to creep people out and make them keep their distance. That's something I wanted to avoid at all costs.

Ughh! Who am I kidding?! There's no way I'm gonna go. The risks are just far too great! I can't just throw myself into the deep end when it comes to something like this. I should have given this a lot more thought beforehand.

As soon as my mind had seemingly been made up, the bell went off marking the end of class for today.

Everyone began to stream out of the classroom, their faces plastered with excitement. I don't think we'd done something as a class altogether out of school times like this before.

Hang on, wouldn't it be impolite of me to be the only one not to go? Would people begin to mark me out as the only guy in the class that didn't attend? Would I become an even bigger outcast than the idiot duo? What would Ichinose and Kanzaki think of me? Aghh! What if-

"Excuse me, Ayanokoji-kun?"

"H-huh?! Oh hey, Ichinose."

As I was agonizing over whether to change my mind and go, Ichinose surprisingly walked over and greeted me with a cheerful smile.

"Sorry, it looked like you were lost in thought," she said.

"Yeah, I was daydreaming a little bit, to be honest. I was wondering whether I should go to the gathering after school today." I replied.

Ichinose closed her eyes and raised a finger to her chin before she nodded a couple of times and looked back at me. What was she thinking about now?

"You're worried about being forced to sing or something along those lines, right?" she said smiling mischievously.

She'd seen right through me.

"... Yeah, you pretty much nailed it. That was probably my biggest concern, among other smaller things that were bothering me," I admitted.

She let out a small chuckle. "I see, that's completely understandable," she said before pausing for a moment. "Well, for next time, you can tell me if you're uncomfortable with singing or something similar and I'll make sure you won't have to do anything you don't want to. You shouldn't have to worry about anything when hanging out as a class, right?"

Seems like Ichinose understood what I was getting at. Maybe I should have raised my concerns with her from the very beginning. However, her wording kind of bothered me.

"Thank you, Ichinose. It's nice to know I can rely on you if I have any worries, but I have to ask, what exactly did you mean by 'next time' just now?" I asked.

Her smile vanished from her face in an instant and a more nervous expression took hold.

"W-well, the truth is, since you weren't so keen on going to the gathering, would it be possible if me and you could..." she paused for a moment. "G-go and chat with one another instead?!" she asked a little flustered.

Did I hear that correctly?

"Sorry, I don't understand Ichinose. I thought you were going to the karaoke parlour with everyone else," I said.

Ichinose took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "That was my original intention, but I really have to talk to you, Ayanokoji-kun. Since I noticed you were uncomfortable with going out with us all, I figured this was the only chance I was going to get to speak with you today properly."

Well, this was a little unexpected, and she's acting a little suspiciously too. She had all the time in the world to speak with me before today and I didn't understand where her sudden sense of urgency had come from. Furthermore, she was less composed and more fidgety than usual, she was constantly playing with her hair that stretched down to her hip or rubbing her elbow with her hand.

The whole thing was completely bizarre. And to leave the rest of the class high and dry at a social event such as this was just so unlike the Ichinose Honami I knew. I would argue that it even seemed a little selfish.

Regardless of that, I wasn't about to turn down a little one-on-one time with her. Who knows, I might even get lucky. Still, I wanted to make sure she was committed to skipping the karaoke and leaving her friends.

"Have you spoken with Hoshinomiya-sensei today?" I asked suddenly.

"Huh? Yes. I-I guess I did do that. I spoke with her during lunchtime today. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," I said simply. "To answer your invitation, I don't mind one bit, I'd be happy to speak with you. Although, I'm sure everyone will be disappointed that you won't be going with them to karaoke. Are you sure you're ok with this?"

Ichinose immediately brightened up again. "Don't worry about that, I'll message the group chat that something important came up and to go without me. Thank you, Ayanokoji-kun," she said happily.

She brought out her phone and began rapidly typing something. I retrieved my own phone from my pocket and opened the group chat. Sure enough, a message from Ichinose soon appeared apologising and saying something important came up that prevented her from coming to the karaoke.

This message was quickly read and was met with some confusion, but the majority of the class seemed to understand. This message was necessary because everyone had already ditched the classroom.

"H-Honami-chan? Is it true that you can't come now?"

Everyone except for Amikura, who had been patiently observing us from the hallway up to this point. Having seen the message, she had come back into the classroom a little hurriedly and now seemed upset.

"Yes, I'm really sorry Mako-chan, I won't be coming to the karaoke parlour after all," Ichinose said bowing her head slightly.

"Did something happen? Does it involve Ayanokoji-kun?" she said throwing a speculative gaze toward me. It was almost as if she was asking me what on earth I was doing.

"I and Ayanokoji-kun were going to have a casual chat for a little bit, but it can't wait so we decided going now would be best," Ichinose replied.

The way Ichinose described it made it sound like she was contradicting herself. She wanted to chat with me casually, but it couldn't wait for whatever reason. It was easy for Amikura to pick up on this.

"I-I see. You and Ayanokoji-kun are..." Amikura said trailing off.

She stood there silent for a few seconds, which made the atmosphere all the more awkward. I was finding it more and more difficult to sit normally.

"Mako-chan, are you ok?" Ichinose asked worriedly.

"Eh? Oh yeah, I'm totally fine!" she said breaking out of her trance. "Anyways, this is quite daring for you isn't it, Honami-chan~?" she continued regaining her cheeky and cheerful aura.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Hehe~, this meeting with Ayanokoji-kun must be pretty important, no? You certainly made it sound like it was in the group chat just now. Ahh! Could it be...that you were planning to have a secret rendevous with him?! Oh my, how scandalous! Ayanokoji-kun you fiend, taking the innocence from the most beloved girl in the whole class~."

"Huh?! What are you talking about Mako-chan? Didn't I just say that we were only going to talk with one another?"

"Is that so? You're only speaking with him? Casually right? In that case, if you are only speaking casually, do you mind if I join the two of you as well? It cant be about anything that important if you're just talking with one another casually, right?"

Amikura bombarded her with questions and repeatedly through the word 'casually' back at her. It was obvious she was trying to make her more uncomfortable but, I doubt Ichinose would see it that way.

"Well..." Ichinose trailed off. "I'm sorry Mako-chan, this is actually quite important and I'd rather this conversation only be between me and Ayanokoji-kun. I'm not trying to be mean but, please understand. I'll make it up to you somehow I promise."

Ichinose bowed low to Amikura. This was probably the first time Ichinose had to stand up to one of her friends. At the very least, this was the first time I'd seen her do so. Amikura was slightly taken back by Ichinose's words.

"I see. Well, in that case, I'll leave the two of you in peace, for now,~" she said with an audacious-looking smile. "I'll see you guys tomorrow and don't worry about anyone knowing the reason you bailed Honami-chan! It'll be a secret between the three of us. Cya!"

After giving me one last look, she swung her hair around and headed out the door and down the corridor. The awkward atmosphere didn't dissipate once she had left and I and Ichinose gazed at the doorway in silence for a few painfully long seconds.

Ichinose wasn't doing anything to relieve the situation as she continued staring at the doorway, watching Amikura leave. So to get rid of this tense atmosphere I took the initiative and stood up and grabbed my bag.

"Shall we go then?" I asked.

"Oh... Yes! Let's go. I'm sorry about that Ayanokoji-kun, I should have let Mako-chan know I was stealing you ahead of time," she said apologetically.

"Stealing me? What are you talking about?"

"Aha, it's just, that you and Mako have been talking a lot, so I was wondering if there was something going on between the two of you."

"Something going on?" I asked as we both exited the classroom.

"Well, you know..." Ichinose said shrinking back.

I knew what she was getting at, but again, this was so unlike her. She was usually confident when she spoke and controlled the conversation perfectly. This different side of her was refreshing and kind of cute.

"I think your perception of mine and Amikura's relationship is a little off. We aren't dating, nor are we especially close with one another. Amikura and I are classmates, nothing more."

"Is that really how it is?"

"That's how it is."

"So the pair of you aren't even friends?" she asked.

"Well, maybe. I'm not really sure if I'm completely honest," I admitted.

Ever since that little incident on the rooftop, I hadn't considered Amikura my friend anymore. Someone like Ichinose, who wasn't aware of these unique circumstances, would obviously find this weird and hard to understand.

"I see," she said averting her gaze. "But... Do you consider me to be a friend?"

Do I consider Ichinose a friend? Well, she was everyone's friend, so I suppose that would suggest that we were. I'd learnt recently that friends tend to invite others out to talk with one another as well, just like she was doing now. However, there are many other factors that determine whether someone is a friend. For example, Amikura invites me to talk from time to time, but I wouldn't consider her a friend, mainly because of the way she thinks about me and what she did.

"Yes, I'd say me and you are friends, right?"

"Yes! I'd say that we are as well!" Ichinose said regaining her bright spirit. "Thank goodness..."

She whispered that last part under her breath and I could see that she was relieved.

"Anyways, what's the plan? You didn't steal me from Amikura just to aimlessly walk around campus for the next couple of hours right?" I asked teasingly.

"Haha~, of course not. I want to go somewhere so we can talk with one another properly, so I was thinking we could go to a specific cafe. It's not usually very crowded on a Monday afternoon. What do you think?"

"Sounds good, I have no complaints," I said.

"Perfect, let's head there now then," she said cheerfully.

I and Ichinose arrived at the cafe. To my slight dismay, it was much more crowded than both of us were expecting. This particular cafe is a branch location for a large corporation outside of the school, which is apparently quite popular with the girls. The prices here were fairly expensive for most high school students, but since most of us have a large allowance given to us by the school, the majority of students can come here very often without any issues.

Luckily, it wasn't so full that we were unable to find a place to sit down and we wouldn't have to raise our voices to hear one another either. We were able to find a pair of seats and sat down opposite one another. Most people here appeared to be second or third years, but we drew a lot of attention regardless. Ichinose's notoriety seemed to have extended itself into the years above us as well.

"Ok! What would you like Ayanokoji-kun? It's on me, so don't hold yourself back. We're meant to be celebrating after all," she said looking up at me from behind the menu.

"You don't have to do that, I have plenty of points to spare."

"No please allow me, I have more than enough points. Consider it a thank you for all of your hard work."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, now what do you want?" she asked assertively, leaving me little room to refuse.

I didn't really know why she was trying to thank me since I haven't done anything of note for her recently. I should just make the most of this situation I suppose.

"Alright, I'll get a green tea and maybe something small to eat. What are you planning to get?" I asked.

"Ah! Would you like some ice cream?" Ichinose said excitedly.

Ice cream? I'd never had the luxury of trying that. This could be kind of fun, I haven't really made the most of my freedom to eat what I want when I want yet. I heard there were many flavours, so I should probably ask Ichinose for a recommendation.

"What flavour do you think I should try?"

"Hmm, I was going to get strawberry, but I think you'll prefer the chocolate chip flavour over anything else. It's just a hunch, and if you don't like it you can always have mine instead since I like both."

"Chocolate chip it is then," I said.

A waiter soon came and Ichinose ordered our food and drinks before focusing her attention back on me.

"Phew, aren't you glad that we dealt with the mid-terms without any complications?" Ichinose said.

"Yeah, it would have been bad if we had to say goodbye to someone this early on. The study groups were a big help and so were the past test papers, our good performance was mostly because of you and Amikura."

"I wonder about that, haha," Ichinose chuckled.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"Don't mind me, I'm glad you think that way but it was nothing really. At the end of the day, what made the most impact were the old test papers and I didn't do anything to get those. You should feel proud as well, Ayanokoji-kun. Had you performed as well as you did last week at the start of the year, I wouldn't have forced you into the study groups~," she said teasingly.

"You never planned to take no for an answer did you?" I said exasperated.

"Looks like I've been found out," Ichinose said holding up her hands with a smirk.

Ichinose was incredibly sharp. I remember back when she asked me to volunteer myself for the study groups. She engineered a situation that made it almost impossible for me to say no. Her friend's gazes, her desperate pleading and her genuine concern over my possible expulsion all contributed towards my participation. I also figured it would be nice to be close to her for an extra hour or two after school, but I would never say that aloud.

"Regardless, congratulations on your mid-term results! Your level of improvement was astonishing. An overall score of 440 is nothing to scoff at."

She remembered my overall score? I Guess she's observing me pretty closely now...

"I just memorised the test papers really well, it wasn't anything special, especially when you consider your own scores."

"Well I studied the test papers as much as I possibly could, so my score wasn't anything special either. Thank you though," she said smiling.

Ichinose was one of three people who all scored a perfect 500 points in the midterms. Even with all the answers given to her, memorising the harder questions was no easy feat.

"However, you scored roughly 35 points higher on each of your exams compared to the first test, your academic abilities are on a completely new level. How much did you memorise those test papers?" Ichinose asked full of interest.

"I don't know really. I just read through all the questions a couple of times I suppose. We only had a day to revise them after all."

"I see, so you're good at memorising things?"

"I have my strong points."

"That you do, Ayanokoji-kun. Very much so~," she said with a hint of laughter.

Our food and drinks arrived. The waiter carefully placed our drinks to the right of both of us and our ice creams in the middle.

"Thanks for waiting, please enjoy you two,"

"Thank you!" Ichinose said energetically.

I carefully examined my ice cream. I was given a generous three scoops, two chocolate wafers embedded in the side and topped off with a little bit of chocolate sauce. Although you'd think ice cream was simple enough to make, this cafe made it seem quite elegant and complex. I can see why this cafe was popular and expensive to add.

"Are you going to try it? It won't bite you or anything, hehe~" Ichinose said playfully.

"Oh, right. I'll give it a try."

I dipped my spoon into the ice cream and brought it into my mouth, allowing it to slowly melt away.

"Hmm...not bad," I muttered.

The rich sweetness of the cold chocolate shivered through my whole body. This was amazing, I never knew ice cream would be this good. If I'm not careful, this could turn into a nasty habit. Too much ice cream is bad for you after all. I scooped up another mouthful and quickly ate it.

"Wow, it looks like you're enjoying that. Could it be that you've never had ice cream before?" she asked curiously.

"I'll admit it, I'm genuinely surprised. I didn't know ice cream would taste this good and yes, it is my first time eating it," I said before taking another mouthful. "My parents controlled my diet quite strictly so I was never allowed anything that sweet or unhealthy."

"Yeah, that makes a lot of sense..." Ichinose said casting her eyes downwards. It looked like her vision had clouded over as if she was remembering something.

"You ok?" I asked waving my hand in front of her.

"Huh? O-oh yeah, yeah I'm fine," Ichinose said looking a little flustered. "I was just thinking how hard that must have been for you."

"Nah, I got used to it fairly quickly. That diet was basically all I knew of food anyways," I said.

"They seriously managed your diet to that high of a degree?"

"Yeah, but I didn't really mind it. I'd much rather eat what I was given than run the risk of being out of shape," I said.

"Wow, that takes a lot of discipline. You never thought of sneaking a few unhealthy snacks here and there in your diet?" Ichinose teased.

"Never," I responded firmly.

"I see, you must have a lot of respect for your parents to go along with that for so long."

"I suppose."

Our conversation continued for a while longer. Ichinose explained her admiration and her desire to join the student council. She further explained how she was a part of the student council at her middle school. I remembered Kanzaki saying Ichinose was set on becoming a member a little while ago now. Couple those facts with her intelligence and her class status makes her the perfect candidate for the council.

She also explained that the girls had entrusted her with most of their points. It was very impressive and was something only Ichinose could successfully pull off. I doubt any other person would be capable of essentially hoarding half a class's private points. They apparently took a unanimous vote on their phones to decide. Some people said no, but the vast majority of the girls agreed with the idea. In my view, it was only a matter of time before the guys also followed suit.

Our conversation had in fact been weirdly casual up to this point. Talking about what we like to eat and discussing class developments and affairs were nothing particularly unusual. We'd been talking for so long that I'd already finished my ice cream and most of my tea. I was still waiting for her to cut to the chase and it looks like she was about to grant me that wish.

"Are you enjoying your time here at school?" Ichinose asked me.

"I'm certainly not unhappy, nor am I having any issues. I'm more than satisfied with my life here at school, there's no need for you to worry about me," I said reassuringly.

Ichinose nodded and looked relieved. "I'm really glad to hear that. It's just that I often see you by yourself during our free time or at lunch. Would you like it if I invited you out more often?" She asked.

Hanging out in groups that are too large might be troublesome, but if it's just her and around half a dozen others, I shouldn't have any issues.

"Yeah, that sounds good. I'm not somebody who is particularly worried about being perceived as a loner per se, but I'd like to hang out with you and everyone else whenever I can. Thank you, Ichinose," I said.

"It's no problem! I really enjoy hanging out and speaking with you after all."

"Really? In that case, I'm glad that I can at least keep you entertained with my bad conversations."

"Don't say that. I don't think you're as bad at talking to people as you think you are. In fact, I don't think I've had a single conversation with you that could have been considered dull," she said kindly.

I wasn't sure I believed that point, but Ichinose is the kind of girl that can make almost any conversation interesting. That's just how charismatic she is.

"You... You really are a talented individual, aren't you, Ayanokoji-kun?" she asked me hesitating slightly.

"Huh? Where did this come from?" I asked.

"I-I don't know exactly what you're thinking, but maybe you don't realise how capable you really are or perhaps you don't want anyone to know... D-despite that, I know there is more to you than meets the eye, I just know it. I've known ever since that one time in the convenience store, the first time we spoke to one another..."

Ichinose continued to falter with her words, but she was clear enough for me to understand pretty much everything. I was well aware as to why she'd called me here. It would appear my actions in the cafeteria were a little more conspicuous than I had thought. The school must monitor its students very closely.

"Ichinose, what is this about?" I asked urging her to explain.

She briefly averted her gaze before nodding to herself purposefully.

"Ayanokoji-kun, would you mind making a promise with me?" she asked sheepishly.

"Uh, I can try," I said.

"Just...promise me that when I ask you this next question you'll be honest with me, ok?"

I must have looked confused because Ichinose was growing more and more restless.

"Ok," I repsonded breifly.

Ichinose took a deep breath in and out before continuing.

"I remember you skipping and not coming back to the study groups with Mako a week before the exams. The next day she came to me with the old test papers..."

I remained silent waiting for her to continue.

"Could it be that... No, were you involved in getting the old test questions with Mako, or was it all your idea from the start?" she asked straightforwardly, looking me directly in the eyes.

There it was, the moment I'd been waiting for, the reason I'd been called here had just been laid bare for me. She didn't even give me an opening to deny it with the way she asked the question. Furthermore, denying my part in the scheme would probably be counterproductive at this point. Hoshinomiya-sensei already told her. I'd known the moment she asked to speak with me.

I sighed outwardly before responding.

"Honestly, you're right. I was the one who got the old test papers. However, Amikura was the one who discovered the link between the short test and the old papers, I just did the talking. Nothing I did was overly clever or intelligent. The majority of the credit still belongs to her," I said.

Hopefully, my explanation should suffice. Sensei could only have seen me talking with that upperclassman. She still had no way of knowing whether it was my idea or not.

"Hmm... But I thought you were the one who wanted to skip the study group that day. I only sent Mako to watch over you after all," she said cracking an innocent-looking smile.

"The timing was just convenient for her. She asked me to help her so I obliged."

"But why would Mako ask you to do that for her? Isn't she the better talker of the pair of you?"

Ichinose might be becoming internally frustrated. She was being more straightforward with her questioning.

"She just thought I should be the one to do the talking. The upperclassman was a guy, so maybe she thought I would be able to negotiate with him better," I speculated.

Ichinose looked to be pondering something. She looked up at me with a curious gaze, processing my words carefully. She finally nodded to herself and smiled so brightly at me that my heart nearly stopped.

"Whatever the case, at the end of the day you still helped the class enormously through your actions. You deserve as much credit as Mako for your part in the plan. So thank you, Ayanokoji-kun," she said beaming at me.

That adorable look coupled with her heartfelt gratitude made me in awe of her for a few moments.

"Come on, I didn't really do anything of note. Your ability to get everyone to study and read over the papers was far more important," I said.

Ichinose pouted. "Ayanokoji-kun, the bottom line is that you helped our class secure a big increase in class points next term. Therefore, I am going to thank you and you are going to accept it. Please? Just this once?" She asked me pleadingly.

The face she made was so cute! Honestly, deflecting her thanks at this point would just be straight-up rude. Looks like I don't really have a choice in the matter now.

"Alright, I really didn't do much, but you're welcome, Ichinose," I said nonchalantly.

"Hehe~, thank you, Ayanokoji-kun," she said chuckling at me.

"For what?"

"Hmm? For accepting my thanks of course."

This definitely wasn't a part of my original plan. I would have to change my behaviour going forward in order to account for the school's ever-vigilant gaze. However, getting thanked like this every once in a while might not be such a bad thing, especially when it's coming from the most popular girl I know.

Our conversation came to a natural pause so I decided to take a sip of my tea. However, it didn't seem like Ichinose was ready to call it a day just yet. It looked as if she still had something she wanted to discuss.

"Something still on your mind?" I asked finishing and setting down my tea.

"Yes there is, but would you mind if we spoke while walking? I'd like to get some fresh air," Ichinose said.

"Sure, I don't mind one bit. Thanks for the meal," I said.

"It was my pleasure. Let's go."

We both stood up and left the cafe. It was nice, so nice that I might come here again, even if it was by myself.

I and Ichinose slowly strolled down the path heading back towards the dorms.

"I think our class is really special. I care for everyone equally and everybody has each other's backs. I think our class is becoming the strongest class there is amongst the first-years, don't you agree?" Ichinose asked me.

I thought that she was mostly correct. If I was being 100% honest, I'd mention Amikura's double personality and the idiot duo, but instead...

"I agree. Our class has become something exceptionally unique thanks to your influence. Everyone has absolute faith in you and admires you for your abilities. Our class will likely prosper with you at the helm," I said looking at her.

"Yeah, I hope you're right..." Ichinose paused looking off into the distance. "It's my goal to help the whole class to ascend and graduate as a part of Class A. It will be hard, but I have to constantly be at my best in order to make that dream a reality."

"It will be a long road no doubt, but with you, as our leader, it's more than possible," I pointed out.

"Yeah, I have to play my role to perfection or we might never succeed. But... What about you, Ayanokoji-kun?" she asked looking up at me.

Her blue eyes looked even more inviting than usual. The orange evening half-light contrasted her pale white skin and light pink lips beautifully making my heart beat even faster.

"M-me?" I said a little panicked.

"Yes. I'm sure by now you know how highly I think of you. I think the class needs you just as much as they need me," she said firmly.

"Don't you think you're overestimating me a little bit?"

"Absolutely not!" Ichinose shouted whilst running out and stopping in front of me. "I happen to think you're one of the most, if not the most talented student in our class."

"Awh, come on. There's no way that's the case. There are plenty of talented people in our class that easily exceed my abilities," I said stretching out my arms in protest.

Ichinose heard me but didn't seem to care about what I said. She closed the distance between us and took my outstretched hands in hers.

"Ayanokoji-kun..." Ichinose said sheepishly looking into my eyes.

Woah! Her hands are so damn soft! Looking at her this close-up was exhilarating but terrifying at the same time. I was forced to fight off the urge to pass out there and then.

"Y-yeah?" I asked nervously.

"I know this may seem a little selfish, but..." Ichinose cast her eyes downwards and bit her lip. "Will you help me realise my dream of getting our class to graduate from Class A?"

Graduating from Class A huh? I've never really been bothered with the thought of getting to Class A. That's still how I feel for the most part even now. However, there was a tiny part of me that didn't want to betray Ichinose's expectations. For once in my life, someone had shown faith in me, and to a large degree at that. The look she was giving me was making it very hard to turn her down.

Ah, what the hell! The least I could do is give her a bit of help. I better tone down her expectations though...

"...Fine, I'll help us get to Class A to the best of my ability, but please don't expect too much. I really am not as gifted as you've been lead to believe," I said with a sigh.

"Really! Thank you, Ayanokoji-kun!" Ichinose yelled with joy.

She then threw herself at me at lightning speed and wrapped her arms around my back in a tight hug.

Omg! At first, I just stood there trying to process what had just occurred. I could keenly feel her breasts pressing up against me suffocatingly. It was an amazing feeling, it was like two fluffy pillows wrapping around the front of my waist. I shortly surrendered myself and hugged her back lightly in return. I couldn't help but stroke her strawberry blonde hair slightly as it swayed gently in the wind. That too was ridiculously soft.

"Thank goodness..." Ichinose whispered quietly, still embracing me. "Thank you, Ayanokoji-kun."

A few moments later she finally released me and drew alongside me once more, a keen blush clearly visible. A part of me wished it could last a little longer, but that was kinda creepy so I dispelled those thoughts as quickly as they came.

"Hehe~, still can't crack your expression today it seems," she teased looking up at me brightly.

"I guess not," I responded.

"It doesn't matter if I expect the world or nothing from you, Ayanokoji-kun. The fact that you said you would help is more than enough for me."

"If that's the way it is, I have no issues. let's do our best, Ichinose," I said looking straight at her.

"Yeah! Let's do our best!"

Ichinose was dead set on reaching Class A. Her will was unshakable at this point, like so many others at this school. Considering our current performance, all it would take are some slight adjustments and a little bit of magic to make her dream a reality. The question for me now, is how exactly do I take things from here? What do I do next? Well, for the time being, I'd do my best and I wouldn't mind seeing Ichinose smile some more...

End of Arc 1

Author's Notes

For those of you who have reached this point, welcome to COTE Someone Extraordinary! I seriously don't know exactly what to write here or if anyone will even bother reading it. Regardless, I guess I'll just give you all a brief overview or a summary of changes in the story so far as it relates to the LN and the plans for the future.

So obviously, the biggest change was Kiyo being in Class B. I used this first volume to outline some of the characters and to flesh out the dynamic I'm aiming for each of them in the way they interact with Kiyo. Another big change was Amikura being similar to Kushida. It was an idea I'd had for a while and I think it helps add some more interesting sticking points for Kiyo and Class B going forwards. Obviously, it's quite a steep deviation from the LN, but I'm not trying to keep it the same. Although this volume was very similar to the LN, I have started implementing my own ideas and volume 2 will deviate even more so.

I'm aiming to get volume 2 done within the next 3-5 months as I outlined in the description. I don't really like uploading one chapter at a time because it might mess with the overall flow of the story, which I don't want. This volume took me roughly 3 and a half months of on and off writing, so I'm confident I'll get it done in a similar timeframe.

Feel free to voice your opinions and feedback or whatever, I will read them. I've kept it brief and I don't really have anything more to add, so thanks for reading and goodbye!

Arc 1 SS: Amikura Mako

Our Karaoke room was filled to the brim. The largest room they had could only accommodate twenty people at most, so everyone had resorted to leaning on the backs of the sofas and sitting on one another's laps.

We ordered and stuffed ourselves full of french fries and burgers until the room stank of grease. We sang our hearts out over and over again either all at once or in smaller groups or duets.

I was even given the honour of performing a solo, and I showed everyone just how good my singing really was. Not a single note was out of tune.

Maybe we were overdoing it, we still had to pass the end-of-term exams after all, which were right around the corner. It's possible that we were singing so loud that we were bothering other people or something. Perhaps we were partying too prematurely.

But I didn't see it that way. I didn't see it that way at all. Not because of the exams or because of the amount of noise obviously.

It was because, for the first time in what felt like a decade, I was the centre of attention.

It felt amazing. Everyone wanted to speak with me, sing with me, share their food with me, even as much as be on the same sofa as me. Ten people were all trying to squeeze onto my sofa, which looked like it could barely accommodate four people at most. That fact brought me so much joy that I felt invincible, I was on cloud nine and nobody could pull me down. For once, the whole class's favourite person in the room was me.

I didn't imagine that this outing would turn out this way. I didn't think it would be this fun nor did I think that I would be the centre of everyone's attention. I was fully under the impression that I would again be overshadowed by the one I hated the most.

Back in middle school there wasn't a person around that was more popular than me. People showered me with compliments, boys and girls, upperclassmen and underclassmen even parents and teachers fawned over me.

Furthermore, my academics were the best, I was the fastest girl on the running track and I was the cutest girl in the entire school.

Every morning I walked into class, there wasn't a single person who didn't go out of their way to greet me with a smile.

During the lunch break, I always had the largest group of friends sitting with me, desperate boys always offered to buy me food, and everyone came to me for advice. Whether they wanted romantic or academic advice, it didn't matter what they needed, they'd always come to me for help.

And at the end of the day, countless people offered to walk home with me. They asked me to go out with them on the weekends and come and hang out at their houses. They confided in me and told me about their toughest problems, their darkest fears and their deepest secrets.

I had a close group of friends that would stick to me like glue. They were the ones who I could truly call my friends. People noticed my closeness with them and they became almost as popular as I was.

Then there was the rest. I made them feel as comfortable as possible and spoke kindly to them, but discarded them like trash if they ever went against me or even annoyed me a little. It didn't matter. Anyone who said ill or spoke up against me was roundly shut down and ostracized until they came to me begging for forgiveness. I always did of course to sure up my popularity, I didn't want to be seen as unreasonable or cruel.

I was living a very privileged social life, I had a high feeling of superiority and was universally adored and I loved every moment of it.

Transitioning into high school, I was confident I could replicate this success. I would introduce myself and be as energetic, caring and open as possible. I'd extend my hand to everyone in my class not caring whether they were cute and sociable or quiet and repulsive. I'd become the leader of my class and become the most loved and appreciated in the entire year.

Small problem. Well actually, it turned out to be a massive problem. That problem was one person. Ichinose Honami.

At first, I thought Ichinose was just like me, cute, outgoing and kind , on the outside at least. However, everyone decided that she was the most beautiful instead of me. They'd decided she was the best at talking instead of me. They'd decided that she was most suited to lead the class, that she had the most charisma and that she had what it takes to lead properly. And as for me, I was cast aside.

I was forced to settle for second place. In every department that makes a person popular, academics, looks, charisma, benevolence, I was always forced to play second fiddle to Ichinose Honami.

At first, I thought that this was ok, that as long as I could get along with her everything would be the same as before, that I could ride her popularity and have the same highs just as it was back in middle school. But pretty quickly, it became clear that this wasn't going to work.

Ichinose wasn't the same as me at all. She didn't have a super close group of friends and she didn't discard anyone that annoyed or went against her.

She was friends with literally everyone. She had an inner circle but as time went on, I found it harder and harder to tolerate the status quo. I was forced to choose between the few people who looked up to me and the people looking up to Ichinose.

Being around her began to irritate me more and more. It made me angry, depressed and physically sick even. I began to lash out in my room and in secluded areas around campus. I smashed my desk, bit my nails and kicked the walls. The thought of not being the best was beginning to slowly eat away at me. At one point I even considered dropping out and attending a different school.

Those thoughts began to stop when I met Kikyo.

I was venting behind the special building a few days before the S-system reveal when she suddenly approached me wearing a twisted and eerie expression. I'd heard of her beforehand and this was completely contrary to my impression of her.

It turned out she was facing a similar problem. At first, her different persona startled me and I couldn't fully trust her. However, Kushida had a clever and tactful way with her words, no matter which persona I was talking to.

After a while, along with further meetings and conversations, we really hit it off and we told one another our problems and the secrets of both of our classes.

Then she offered me a solution. "Help me expel Horikita, and I'll help get rid of Ichinose," she said offering her hand to me. 'Get rid of Ichinose?' The idea of dropping out vanished almost immediately there and then. It was so obvious. Instead of dropping out, I could simply force Ichinose to leave instead. I didn't need to think twice and shook her hand eagerly.

We haven't made any plans to achieve either of our goals yet. For now, we're helping each other relieve stress by venting our frustrations to one another. However, getting rid of Ichinose is my main priority. With her in this school, I will never be at peace.

But recently, another problem has been brewing.

That one particular meeting with Kikyo on the rooftop was a disaster. Ayanokoji-kun saw us in a really bad way. He must have been left completely stunned by what he saw of the two of us.

At first, I didn't think he'd pose a threat. Ichinose praised him a lot, but they didn't seem particularly close and Ayanokoji-kun didn't seem like an incredibly intelligent person either. I thought I could win him over and keep him quiet. He might have even helped me get rid of Ichinose if I was persistent enough over the following days.

However, it's clear that he's become wary of me and Kikyo. He's more careful with his words around me and only interacts with us when he absoloutely has to or when I don't give him a choice.

What's worse is that with each passing day, he seems to be aligning himself more and more with Ichinose. If she can gain his complete trust it could end disastrously for me. He might even tell her about my disgust for her.

I knew that the blazers were a good deterrent but if Ichinose is extra insistent or something, he could end up telling her anyway. Heck, he could be talking about me right now!

...

I thought about the day he asked for my help in the cafeteria. He just said he was more cunning than most people, but I'm not sure I believe him.

...

How could he possibly know those answer sheets were the same as the exam questions? The more I think about it the more absurd it sounds. To draw those conclusions from just a few difficult questions on a pop quiz is ridiculous.

...

Maybe I should voice my concerns.

"Sorry guys, can you give me a minute? I need to make a phone call," I said standing up and brushing off some stray salt from my skirt.

"No problem Mako-chan! Hurry back though, I wanna do a duet with you!" Yume said looking up at me.

"That sounds fun! I'll be back in a minute."

I walked out of the karaoke parlour and into a secluded place in the mall. Making sure there wasn't anyone nearby I dialled a number. It was answered within a couple of rings.

"You alone?" Kikyo said as coldly as ever.

"Yes."

"What's the matter?"

"It's not urgent, but I have some concerns about Ayanokoji-kun," I stated plainly.

"What?! Don't tell me he's gone and told someone about either of us!" she screeched splitting my ears.

"Of course not! I said it's not urgent for a reason!" I snapped back quietly, making sure I wasn't being overheard.

"Ugh!" she huffed over the phone. "I swear we're gonna have to rid ourselves of him as well!"

"Yeah, whatever. Look, remember when we had that long discussion about him?" I asked.

"Yeah, I thought we agreed he was a harmless nobody."

"Well, things have changed," I said.

"...What do you mean," Kikyo said holding back her anger.

"What I mean is simple. I think we're gonna have to change our evaluation of this guy..."

End of Short Story