RedGlitchFox: Hey, sorry for the delay. If you'd like an excuse as to why this took a while, blame Xenoblade 3, Genshin Impact and Dragon Ball Super/GT. Also, no 3 chapter curse here.

DarkDrawerJ: I will not apologize for the delay. Xenoblade 3 is just too good. Also, my other stories are crying out to me at this point.

Hot off the press. This is Crossposted on Wattpad on LanceSennin's account since the COTE scene is there for some reason. Enjoy

It turns out that tracking down Sakura was a task and a half. Not only was she very evasive, she had the free perk of having 0 presence within the class despite her appearance. I had to give her props as she even outclasses my own mastery of disappearing.

As expected, if I couldn't get a girl's time under normal circumstances, trying to get her attention when she seems to hate the idea of socialization is much worse.

I thought I'd run into her that night with how convenient things had already been, but I ended up giving up finding her room. It'd be pretty creepy of me to ask for something like that, so I made the educated choice to not do so.

I think I made the right choice.

So, of course, I planned to ambush her after class, the most reasonable choice to get a girl's attention… However, like I said before, this was a challenge. It seemed like after swim class, I had a lot more eyes on me whether they be from the jealous bottom 10 of the class or the scheming top.

In hindsight, I really let my greed blind me, as trying to win really set too many eyes on me.

Kushida calling me out wasn't a one time thing either. Her and many others continued to interrupt me to try and pick at my time. I had to give props to Hayato for once, that fake bastard makes this look easy. At the very least, I had a plan for Kushida with how reckless she was being.

Also, my excuse for talking to Sakura isn't really working now. It's not like she actually needs those glasses to see after all. If anything, they're a cheap prop that gives me a slight use for maybe convincing someone else of my intentions. Sakura herself doesn't care about those glasses at all.

At this rate though, she's going to end up in a worse spot in canon. If she actually believes that I am going to expose her as her Shizuku persona, then she is either too paranoid about that to do anything else or she absolutely panics, both will result in her removal from this school which is something I want to avoid.

While both of these options may seem too extreme of steps for a simple mistake such as dropping your fake glasses for a stranger to have to return, Sakura has her own demons to fight and her self preservation instincts put her in fight or flight very very quickly. Being recognized could very easily mean unwanted attention which is not something someone of her disposition can handle.

Basically, I need to stay on my toes for the time being with her. Like so:

"Sakura, you dropped these yester- ah, she ran away."

My luck with women is correct as I expected.

"Did you do something to Sakura-chi? She doesn't seem to like you very much," One Hasebe Haruka comments after class, having noticed my absolute failure. She was the only friend of Sakura actually, this being an event happening earlier than expected. This is a good thing though because Sakura has someone to rely on. I just need to clear this part.

From memory, she acted like a doting and overprotective mother to Sakura in the original story, so I can only assume the same here.

Madam, I would like to have permission to talk to your daughter and I promise that I am not a creeper nor do I have any ill intentions for her.

"She dropped her glasses, can you please return these to her?" With this maybe she'll think I haven't recognized her? That's a gamble that I'm only using as a pretext for resolving her initial problem.

"Oh is that all? Sure, I'll do that for you. I guess Sakura-chi must've been scared of your dead-looking eyes, huh?" She dropped that statement as if it wasn't hurtful.

Even in this world, I can't escape comments on my eyes. I thought Horikita was merely the outlier, but I guess she was speaking what everyone was thinking. Tragic. I can tell she didn't mean it in a harsh way, but seriously.

Ouch. You aren't supposed to just swing like that! You have to ease into hurtful comments. Ask me some questions, feel me out and THEN you lay on me about flaws that aren't my fault!

"Thank you. Please give Sakura my regards," I said formally before escaping the classroom. I don't need to get caught up in anything directly right now!

(-)

A week slowly passed, and I made 0 progress with Sakura despite my efforts. She just stonewalled any attempts I had to talk with her, so I rediverted my attention for the time being into more important tasks, such as asking the author for a time skip.

What? I'm technically a character in a story now, aren't I? Why can't I experience a timeskip too? Why do I have to live through two more weeks before the month ends? School will always be boring, especially when you actually do know almost everything they're already teaching AND you have to pretend like you're paying attention, lest you risk losing your allowance.

That's right by the way, there's two more weeks before the S-System gets revealed if my memory is correct, and my classmates remain as hopeless as ever. The perverted duo continue to spend their points without a care in the world, while the rest of the guys aren't even suspicious of the whole thing. The girls don't care either, and I've seen a lot of them spending their time at the mall when there's no classes. At least there's a caveat in Sudou not lumping himself with the duo, but that just means I've defaulted as his closest friend.

At first, it didn't bother me. But now I'm feeling quite affected. I personally don't care about reaching Class A since I only want to change some events from the original timeline while figuring how to either return to my old life or succeed massively here, but seeing these guys act as if there's no problem in the world makes me want to confront them about their attitude.

In the end though, I still kept my thoughts to myself. Talking to my classmates about the points we receive and the class system will just bring me unnecessary attention, and that's the last thing I wanted to happen. Not to mention I couldn't fully blame them. Ignorance is bliss and they were just enjoying their time as students. All I could do is try and direct them in the direction of behaving like normal students in a high school.

I know, it's insane. Look at me coming up with wacky ideas like behaving like properly raised students in a prestigious high school.

Although, maybe I can talk to Karuizawa about saving her points. If my memory serves me right, she spent a lot of it in the first month of classes alone, going so far as to even borrow some from Kushida and I can see why. Outside of her troubled past, she's a typical girl who cares about her appearance, connections, and image in front of others.

I can consider her a riajuu if it weren't for the mask she's putting up.

"Hikigaya-kun, can I talk to you?"

Speak of the devil…

I turned around to see Karuizawa standing right in front of me, wearing her blazer around her waist as she always does.

Immediately, I looked past her shoulder and behind me to see if there's anyone else in the hallway but fortunately for me, there wasn't any. Still, this is a bad move on her part.

"Don't you think it would be dangerous for your reputation if you talk to me right now?" I asked in a deadpan voice. "Save it for later. Or better yet, just shoot me a message."

"What are you talking about? Dangerous? Is there something wrong with wanting to talk to you?" She returned my question with one of her own, a frown appearing on her face. "It'll be quick anyways, don't worry, especially after that little show with Kushida. I just want to ask you something real quick."

Oops. That was my mistake. I forgot that I'm not really the most hated guy in school anymore since I'm not even in Sobu at the moment. Not to mention Kushida has put a rather large target on my back anyways, so if anything, her talking to me would only at worse serve to make the boys hate me more. Oh well.

"Fine, what is it?" I asked, relenting this one to her.

"Let's keep on walking while we're at it." I simply nodded in agreement, and we began walking through the hallway side-by-side. I also thought of what she wanted to talk about. "All right, I want to ask… is there anyone in our class who has their eyes on me? Like, someone who might target me in the future?"

Oh, so it was simply about her image in front of our classmates. I thought she was going to ask me again if I'm really going to help her.

"Not really. You're doing a fine job befriending the girls, Karuizawa." Maybe except Kushida, but I don't think she'll go after Karuizawa. She hasn't done anything to gain that two-faced woman's ire as of now. I'm sure Kushida will go the idol route as opposed to straight up the queen of Class D anyway.

"Are you sure?" She asked, sounding skeptical. Why ask if you don't even trust my answers?

I gave her a nod before answering.

"Honestly, the only people that could target you would be students from other classes but as long as you keep your head out of people's business, there's no need to worry about that, either."

If I recall how things went originally, she was doing completely fine in Class D until she pissed off some girl from Class C, leading to her becoming targeted.

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" She looked incredibly confused, furrowing her eyebrows and squinting her eyes at me.

I shrugged. "Just be careful when you're around people from other classes, that's it. Try to befriend them, don't piss anyone off."

Karuizawa bore a look of clear surprise. "You want me to go out and be friends with people who aren't our classmates?"

"Why not? The more friends you have, the more your influence will spread to others. It's the same thing that Kushida does. Plus, wouldn't you like to be surrounded by more people who'll stick up for you when trouble happens?" I gave my reasoning, trying to get her to understand the importance of good PR.

Since I, Hikigaya Hachiman, am a loner who prefers to be in the background instead of the spotlight, I can't be by Karuizawa's side all the time after all. Heck, we don't even talk inside the classroom and everytime she texts me, I have to break out a codebreaker to understand the many symbols she sends me! Either way, if she has a lot of friends or allies like Kushida does, then they would stand beside her if she ever gets into trouble and defend her from other people.

"Are you dumb? That also means I'll be a potential target for students who are more popular than me!" She snapped, looking angry all of a sudden. Man, it really feels like I'm dealing with a clone of Miura here.

"That's also right, but that's where I come in, don't I? I told you that I'll keep an eye on students who might bully you and I'll deal with them. Do you think I wouldn't?" I rolled my eyes, feeling tired from having to explain this so often to her.

That made her stop walking for a moment. What's with her, honestly? I keep on saying that I'll help her and Karuizawa gets caught off guard when she hears it. Maybe there's never been an instance of someone helping her in the past that it's almost impossible for her to believe that someone was going to help her now, with no strings attached even.

"I guess…" She muttered, calming down somewhat. She stayed quiet for a moment as if she was considering what I said. "I don't want to be around too many people, though. I think I'll just stick with our classmates for now. But if someone else from another class asks me if I want to be friends with her, then I'll think about it."

"If that's what you want, then go for it. The more friends you have though, the easier my work becomes," I smirked.

"Eh?!" She almost shouted, now looking alarmed out of nowhere. Quiet down, will you? "D-Does this mean… you really don't want to help me, Hikigaya-kun…?"

I could feel myself sweating when I saw the hint of tears in her eyes. Where the hell did this come from? What did I even say to offend you? How did you go from nervous to lost to angry and now you look like I just told you that the Mars Rover died on his birthday?

"Oi, I didn't say anything like that at all. And stop with the tears, will you? What, you want me to say the same promise again?" I snapped a bit too quickly, which I then realized was a mistake.

Karuizawa then smirked, before she wiped off the water in her eyes. All the signs of her being close to crying suddenly disappeared. "Hoooh? Then I guess seeing girls cry really is your weakness, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. Why did I even fall for it? "Don't test me, woman."

"Oh, come on, it was just a joke! Lighten up, Hikigaya-kun!" Yeah, I'm sure it was. And because of that, I'm not giving you any more atten—

"Ah, Hikigaya-kun. May I have a word?" Another voice calling for me for reasons I don't know. These days, people have really been wanting my attention.

Turning my head to the voice that spoke, I noticed that Hirata was standing in front of us, flashing his usual smile as always.

"Hirata? What is it?" I asked him, caught off guard and confused as to what he would want with me.

Hirata shifted his attention towards me and Karuizawa alternately several times, as he realized what was happening. "Oh, were you talking to Karuizawa-san just now? I apologize, I'll approach you later then."

"No, no, it's fine. We weren't talking about anything serious." I shook my head and sent a little glance at the girl beside me. Karuizawa only shrugged and stood back, but she didn't go anywhere.

Oi. Why aren't you leaving yet? Won't this be a bad thing for your reputation? Ah, whatever. I can never understand how girls like her work. Even Miura wasn't this complicated.

"What do you want to tell me?" I asked Hirata.

"It's about Horikita-san."

Of course it was. Why are people coming to me for things relating to her? Am I her butler or something? Do they think I plan out her schedule and can just slip them into a nice and easy 6 in the afternoon meeting? Ugh, anyways, hm, I think I have a pretty good idea what this is about, but that doesn't mean I like it.

"What about her?" I asked, trying to fish for his intentions.

"Well, ever since the start of the school year, I've noticed that she doesn't talk with anyone in our class other than you. Am I right to assume that the two of you are friends, Hikigaya-kun?" Hirata's smile was actually pretty irritating in how he seemed to actually think she and I were close.

Me? Friends with that ice witch? I want to laugh at Hirata's assumptions so badly, but I don't want to look like an asshole in front of him. Really though, friends? What signals is everyone getting from us? Ah, right, they thought Ayanokoji and Horikita were friends or even dating in canon too. Guess that's why you're in Class D too, huh, Hirata? Not too bright along with the rest of the rejects here.

Oh wait, I'm here too.

Also, I said canon as if this was still a story. Does that make me non canon? What an existentially confusing question…

Either way, Horikita is even worse than Yukinoshita. I'm just waiting for Ayanokoji to swoop down and take her off my hands, which I hope happens one of these days. Arguing with that woman everyday gets tiring too, and the fact that we're actually next-door neighbors just makes it worse… I swear, I will rent a horse with points as well as put him into a tux if it means he'll go and sweep Horikita off her feet.

"Hell no. I don't know where you got that notion, but we're not friends. The only label I can think of for our relationship is that we're seatmates." I shouldn't tell him that she's my neighbor, who knows what Hirata will say if he finds out about that? The only person who knows is Ayanokoji and fortunately, that bastard doesn't really care.

"I see," he nodded and bowed his head afterwards in an apologetic way. "Forgive me for assuming, then. Nonetheless, I would like to ask for your help regarding her."

I threw him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Since you are the only one that she talks to among all of our classmates, can you please ask her if she can get along with everyone else too? I understand that she doesn't want to be bothered, but I don't want her to become an outcast in her own class."

Ugh, again why did I have to be the one who has to deal with this? Forget Ayanokoji at this point. I have a bone to pick with her precious big brother who ignores her like she's a new Sword Art Online series. Hey, is it too late to redo everything? Maybe I can do this all over again and keep myself from talking to Horikita in the first place?

"Believe me, that's what I've been trying to do since the beginning, Hirata. But Horikita is too stubborn to admit her own faults. If you want to have a go at asking her though, be my guest. Maybe you can try and get through to her." I suggested, despite knowing how much of a crash and burn this would be.

"I see. Thank you for your time then, Hikigaya-kun. I shall try talking to her myself."

Thankfully, Hirata knew to stop when there's nothing else to talk about. After I gave him my answer, he just smiled and walked away without saying anything more. Bless his soul.

Now there was only one other person to deal with, and she was still here with me. She was pretending that she wasn't listening but she actually was thanks to the obvious look on her face, but I don't really care. Whatever questions she had in mind right now, I'll ignore them.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me? Other than pretending to cry in order to get me to feel for you?"

"N-Not really," She shook her head with a blush, before walking ahead of me. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Wait a moment," I quickly called out to her, as I remembered something important that I should bring up.

"What?"

I'm not sure if this idea will work, but what's the harm in trying? Karuizawa already trusts me enough to tell her secret, she'll listen to what I say. Plus, this will benefit her anyway.

"How many points do you have left?"

Karuizawa blinked a few times, before rubbing the back of her head in confusion. As I thought, she was careless with her points and spent a lot just because she had so much. "Uh… I think about 50,000? Why?"

So she still has some left. This is surprising considering Karuizawa spent almost all of her points before the S-System got revealed in the original story, but this is good.

"Then do me a favor. Save as many points as you can, at least until the month ends."

"Haaah? What for?"

"I have a bad feeling about this whole '100,000 points each month' thing. I don't think it's that simple."

I have to be careful with what I say around here. I don't want to reveal too much of what I know about this, but it's worth giving Karuizawa this bit of information to help her out a bit. Whether or not she takes my advice is a different matter, though.

"What are you talking about? Chabashira-sensei already explained it, didn't she? We receive a hundred thousand points every month, no need to worry about running out."

"Just hear me out, will you?" I narrowed my eyes on her. "I just think it can't be that easy. For one, the school's not that rich to give 100,000 yen to each student here every month for three years, especially if you count our senpais. There has to be a catch to this."

Karuizawa didn't look convinced, but she was definitely listening to what I'm saying. "What kind of catch?"

"I have no idea but it involves the points we get every month. Who knows? The points we receive next month might be lower than 100,000."

"I see your point," She nodded slowly, before shaking her head, "b-but still, I can't just sit around and do nothing with my points, Hikigaya-kun! I have a life outside of school, you know?!"

This girl, really. I'm so glad that I'm here to stop her from being stupid and careless. If only I can tell her that, but I'm not looking to get slapped or kicked where the sun doesn't shine.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't buy anything until the month ends, Karuizawa. I'm just telling you to save up as much as you can. That shouldn't be hard to do, right?"

Karuizawa looked at me for a moment and contemplated my words while I was internally hoping that she would understand what I'm trying to say. After a while, she sighed and raised her finger at me.

"No promises," She said with a huff.

"Fair enough." On the outside, I only shrugged in response but on the inside, I'm relieved that she will at least consider my warning. "I'll see you tomorrow."

From there, I expected to be able to head to my room to relax, maybe treat myself to some MAX coffee before going to sleep.

That did not happen.

"Oh, you're here, Sakura. Did Hasebe deliver the glasses?" I asked casually to the wandering idol. She must've been on her way to the dorm as well before running into me.

Thankfully, she wasn't running away this time, so this situation could actually sort itself out. "Y-Yes. Thank you very much," She spoke softly, her voice wavering.

She was very cautious, almost on edge. She's probably giving it everything she has talking to me when she's as anxious as she is right now, but she has yet to look up at me.

"It was no problem. I hope you'll be alright with your glasses back. I saw that you had spares, but I think your normal ones probably are the ones you're most comfortable with, right?" Some light conversation to lessen her caution.

"R-Right," She murmured, squirming in place. I guess nothing will work too well right now. Although, I do have something planned. This move might also cause a lot of unneeded trouble, but for you to change yourself, even a little, I'll take that chance.

I continued walking, going past her before turning, stopping her in her tracks.

"Sakura."

"Uh wah what?" Sakura tripped over her words, surprised by me addressing her, clearly having expected that to be the end of the conversation.

"It looks like you're carrying a lot of baggage from your past. I may not know you very well, but I or better yet Hasebe would be more than happy to help you with whatever troubles you are in. I sincerely hope you will gain some courage while here. This isn't a school to take lightly, after all."

Although this may be both embarrassing to say and a little outside my usual means of operation, it was important to give her the peace of mind before it would inevitably be broken later. It's easier to grow if given the proper means to.

Slowly but surely, Sakura's wavering eyes looked up to meet my own. Her eyes widened as if surprised. Hey, respond please, Sakura. I'm going to misunderstand that my looks are inadequate if you react like that!

Aside from my self-conscious criticizing me, I saw Sakura's lips quivering before her face dropped with her gaze.

"Also, if you wish to hide your appearance, you should probably not make such a huge deal over your fake glasses," I commented. She was about to run off, but my words stopped her in my tracks.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Her legs were shaking as if her whole life had fallen apart. She thinks I know her secret, which I do, but she doesn't need to know that.

"It means exactly what it means. Take care of yourself, Sakura. And if you gain the courage to ask someone for help, remember to also help yourself in the process." I left before my words destroyed any more of her world as she knew it.

Her caution levels probably skyrocketed, but this is all to push her in a better direction. As a reader, this feels like a responsibility of mine, all to stop this wavering place in my heart.

(-)

I have no idea how I managed to go through three more weeks of skipped material, but here I am. The Light Novel gods are just cruel to me that they didn't give me a free pass. I wanted to experience a time skip to the important parts of this story but no, they want me to suffer like these characters here.

I'm not a light novel character, you hear me? You took me from my world out of nowhere and forced me to live here. I never asked for this to happen but I have no choice, do I? To top it all off, I already did most of this in my own school! It's agonizing to have to pay attention to something you already know, like watching a new season's Isekai or playing the newest Pokemon game.

Now would be a really good time for a nap but unfortunately, I can't afford to slack off now. If I'm not mistaken, today will be the day where Chabashira will give us a little mock exam that's unofficial, so it wouldn't affect our grades in the future. On a more serious note, this is the exam that happens before the class rankings get revealed. She will surely call out those people who didn't get a passing score.

As the bell rang, Chabashira-sensei entered the classroom holding a stack of papers.

"Everyone, settle down. We'll be having a test today."

The reactions from everyone came in an instant, especially from the loud ones.

"A-A test?! We didn't know anything about having one!"

Oh gee willikers, I wonder which of my many classmates didn't expect for there to be a test in a school called "Advanced Nurturing High School." That's like not expecting there to be a vehicle in a Triple A game.

Chabashira ignored Ike's complaining and began distributing the papers to everyone. Looking at everyone else, they were surprised but nothing too drastic.

"Don't worry, this exam will not be included in your academic report. It won't affect the school's evaluation of you, so there's no punishment for failing this test. However, if you are caught cheating, then you will immediately be expelled. Nonetheless, I expect all of you to answer as you would for a regular test."

Straight to it, huh? She's probably been waiting for this day the same way I have, except she REALLY enjoyed telling us how low Class D was on the totem pole a bit… TOO much. After listening to sensei for a while, I looked at the test paper and observed the questions on it.

Hm, they don't seem too hard. There are only about seven questions that look confusing to me but apart from that, this is pretty much an average exam that anyone can answer if they actually paid attention to school. I'm sure I can even ace this if I really search deep within myself and recall the things Hiratsuka-Sensei said in between piledrives.

After I finished the test, I buried my head into my arms and tried to take a well deserved nap, but not before taking a glance at everyone around me.

Unexpectedly, the ones who struggled before seemed to be struggling still. I made sure my eyes didn't linger on anyone for too long, lest I be accused of cheating.

I may not have been the best student, especially when it comes to math, but being a whole 2 years ahead of them is doing wonders for my grades here.

I'll have to study harder if I want to keep my grades up in later years. Then again, whether I stay in this school or not doesn't really matter to me. I'm just here to change events to my liking.

While I was stuck in my thoughts, Chabashira-sensei called for everyone to pass in their exams. If you were someone of the likes of myself, you were comfortable in the fact that most of your answers were right, but if you were like Sudou, you were comfortable in the fact that the test didn't count.

This is exactly what he told me the next day when we were walking to class.

"So, you don't mind leaving over half of the question blank?"

"Not really. It's not like the test counts or anything, so why sweat so much over it. Are you worried about your results?" Sudou asked.

"No, I'm completely fine. I know my answers would be fine if the test was real. I just find whatever Chabashira-sensei does suspicious." Am I leading them on too much by always being critical of our teacher? No, not really. This is Sudou we're talking about. If he's not crazy over Horikita yet or angry as an ape, he's a cool, calm, collected idiot.

Not that I'm going to hold that against him or anything. "Hey man, don't worry about her! This school is prestigious or something so you should probably accept the perks and move on."

Oh Sudou, if only you knew. "There's still things to be worried about here. You hear about the possibility of our points lowering right? That matters a lot if you want to grab an expensive bite later. Also, this school is about "Nurturing" us, I doubt they're not going to make us sweat too much," I said, rolling into class only to see Chabashira-sensei there early.

Chabashira-sensei is very consistent in that she comes and goes on the dot, not taking any more time or any less time than needed. That could only mean one thing, the mock exam results were announced.

My phone showed not a few more points since it was the end of the month. That meant, whatever I did, I managed to change the 1st big pitfall of this class.

I quietly slid into my seat in anticipation. This would be a shock to half the class, but all of this kickstarts the plot to actually move, something I desperately needed it to do.

A quick glance over to the protagonist showed that he was like always, a blank average face. He has the emotional range of an untuned TV, but over the past month he at least seemed to have warmed up to me as he gave me a look of acknowledgement.

When the clock struck class time's start, Chabashira-sensei immediately waited for us to quiet down before she spoke.

"Alright, homeroom is now starting. Do any of you have any questions? From the look of your faces, it seems quite a bit of you have something to say, so speak up." Our ever so loving teacher crossed her arms underneath her chest as her ever expressive face remained as cold as the first day she spoke to us.

Naturally, many students raised their hands to no one's surprise.

"Yes, Ike?" Chabashira gestured towards one of the idiot duos who asked what was on everyone's mind.

"Hey, Sae-sensei, I didn't receive as many points this morning as I thought I had and Yamauchi didn't either. Are the points distributed throughout the month or something?" Ike asked with a confused look on his face.

"No, you are to receive all your points at the beginning of every month. There is no error or witholdment, you have received the correct amount." Chabashira answered in a matter of factly tone.

"I thought we were supposed to get 100,000 points per month though!" The poor fool protested, looking somewhat agitated about the situation.

I could already assume why, as not too much has changed in terms of behavior for the students of Class D. Despite my best efforts, I only had so much influence and it was hard to change people as is. I was simply glad that we didn't bomb on the first month somehow.

"I'm disappointed, Ike. I truly hope you aren't the only one incapable of understanding what is going on right now." Chabashira sighed like a disappointed mother.

"W-what? What's going on?" Ike looked to Yamauchi and to his credit, Yamauchi was bluffing incredibly well in regards to him knowing what was going on as he nodded sagely like he had known the situation they were in all along.

"Sit. It appears I must now explain to you why you are here." Our ever so kind teacher ordered and Ike sat back down looking rather sheepish.

Chabashira went into the explanation going over the class points system that I had already been expecting and this went about the same way as it did in the original story, except this time Koenji was quiet.

"Sensei, may I please ask a question?" Hirata raised his hand, to which Chabashira nodded to signal he was allowed to speak.

"I don't believe it's really fair to be penalized when we didn't know the rules to begin with. If we were told at the beginning, we would have endeavored to try and avoid losing as many points as we did." Hirata tried to reason with our teacher, but sadly, even if he did get through to her, it wouldn't have changed the outcome as things were already set in stone.

"Did you really need an explanation?" She asked, earning a confused look from Hirata. "I'm honestly shocked about how rude and dismissive you all were in regards to a highly prestigious school called "Advanced Nurturing High School". Really, are you aware of just how badly you all behaved not just in front of me but as a whole?"

"I don't believe we did too badly." Hirata murmured in defense.

"Well, you're partly right." Chabashira began as she held up a clipboard and began listing off numbers. "24 total absences and tardies. 112 incidents of using your phones or talking during class. This results in your current monthly allowance being much lower than you were expecting."

The room was dead silent as Chabashira continued to lay into us.

"I believe I should be the one asking questions, really. What were you all thinking? Is this how you behave in High School? You expect to be rewarded?" She scoffed before her eyes sharpened into a harsh glare. "Even if we didn't tell you about the points system, there is an expected level of respect given and many of you have not displayed such a thing for me or this class that I teach."

Everyone gulped as the offenders in question began to look guilty.

Chabashira was on a roll though. It was weird seeing her heated when in the original canon she had been so cold. I wonder why she had been so agitated as of late in comparison to her original counterpart.

"I'll give you credit where it's due. Congratulations for you are all no longer Class D. You have defied expectations to become Class C." She praised us, but it didn't seem sincere in the slightest, bringing out a roll of paper that she stuck to the board with a magnet.

Class A: 940 points

Class B: 900 points

Class C: 490 points

Class D: 550 points

The results surprised me that we actually managed to pull out ahead against Class C even if just barely by a mere 60 points.

My classmates however weren't too happy since we were receiving only a little over half of what we had started off with at the beginning of last month.

If only they knew how much worse things could have been, they wouldn't be acting so privileged.

"B-but I had plans to try and ask out these girls from Class C on a date… How am I going to be able to do that with my allowance cut in half?" Ike lamented loudly, getting some cold glares from the other girls of Class D.

Ike, buddy, I'm pretty sure that you need to succeed with asking out a girl first. So at the very least your dilemma isn't an actual problem.

"So if we were to behave, will we be able to receive the original amount of points we had been expecting next month?" Hirata asked with a hopeful tone.

Chabashira laughed, which somehow reminded me of a certain teacher who was also single back in my world.

"No, you cannot bring back your points just by simply changing your attitude to be good boys and girls from now on. However, it can be decreased at any given moment should you choose to continue to channel your behavior from the past month."

"Then that means… we'll be stuck earning 50,000 every month for three years?! I can't live like this!" Yamauchi cried out, holding his head in his hands as if he was about to have a mental breakdown.

"If you keep your mouths shut for the next minute, then I can tell you everything you wish to know." That was very effective in silencing all of the noisy ones. "Now then, the rankings that I showed you earlier show the different class points for the four classes. At the start of the year, 1000 class points are given to each class. 1 class point is equivalent to 100 private points for each student. Since you had 1000 class points, all of you were given 100,000 points at the start of the year."

Hirata rubbed his chin in deep thought. "So that means, the reason why we only received 55,000 points this month is because the number of our class points decreased."

"Precisely. All of the offenses you've committed in the past month affected the number of your class points and in turn, your private points as well." The atmosphere around here became somber as everyone took in Chabashira's words like they were being drilled into them. "However, like I said, I'll give you credit where it's due. You managed to overtake Class C and defied everyone's expectations. Not bad for a class of defects."

Oh, boy…. she's dropping the bomb. I'm so lucky that I already know what she's talking about, not that it matters.

"Defects? What do you mean by that, sensei?" Asked Yukimura. If I recall correctly, he's someone who has great pride in his academic ability, so being called a 'defect' has to feel like a punch to the gut for him.

"I'm saying that you were considered defects by the school when you enrolled here. Hence, you were put in Class D. To give you more insight, the classes here work like a hierarchy of sorts, with Class A at the very top and Class D at the bottom. I hope that's enough for you to realize how grave your situation was a month ago."

And realize, they did.

Nobody could say anything in response to Chabashira-sensei's words at first, likely because they were taking all of this deeply.

"Then isn't this a good thing, sensei? We managed to become Class C now!" Even though we're in a situation like this, Kushida still manages to put on a smile and stay optimistic, huh?

"A good thing? You were barely able to beat them in the rankings, Kushida. That's not an accomplishment at all, more like luck… which brings me to my next announcement."

"Here are the results of your mock exams. Words cannot describe how lucky all of you are that this test wasn't official, otherwise the students who failed would have been expelled."

"Expelled?!"

"We can be expelled for failing a test?!"

"You mean we actually have to study?!"

Chabashira then wrote several names on the board with a red marker. I'm guessing these are the students who failed the mock exam and yep.

I can already tell that we had a lot to work on… It was easier to list who I WOULDN'T have to work on since more than half were under 60.

"I am actually truly impressed by the students who defied expectations and managed to overcome a class above them in the first month. You really showed how capable you were with Sudo's 14 points which was then followed by Ike's 24. What did you all learn in middle school?" Chabashira was laying on the sarcasm thick as she glared heatedly at some key students who I didn't even need her to list off to know were some of the few who bombed. "If this had been recorded, 7 of you would have been expelled on the spot and you would have to go home to explain to your families that you slacked off the very instant you came here and ended up not paying the smallest amount of attention to your teacher, resulting in this joke of a score."

The 7 who would have failed looked white as a ghost and I couldn't help but feel… bored. Don't get me wrong, this was a very serious thing, but after a whole month of spending time with my classmates, I can safely say that seeing this coming and watching them blatantly break rules that would be easy for a KINDERGARTENER to follow… I just feel numb.

It was like watching someone use their bare hands to claw at a wall in my house until they hurt themselves in the process of destroying it, so they had to get an ambulance using my health insurance.

"Don't fuck with me, Sae-chan-sensei! Don't joke about dropping out of school!" One of the 7 voiced loudly, becoming visually angry.

"The only joke here are the results I was given. You all must have thought you were so amazing just to be able to enroll in this school. I teach here in this prestigious school expecting some of the best, but many of you have not shown me that in the slightest." Chabashira didn't even flinch in reaction to the crude language.

If I was a betting man, I'd bet she was bottling up her emotions in excitement for today. She either had a lot of excitement counting up all of our discrepancies or she was just about to blow and really needed to relieve stress.

"Truly, there are a lot of fools here like the teacher said." Koenji spoke up, surprising me since I have not had any issues with him as of late.

Really, isn't this one of the characters that the fanbase really hated? I didn't have any issues yet, though I'm sure handicapping us for future events will be quite irritating.

As he began to rile up Ike and the other low scorers, Chabashira spoke over them, uncaring at whether or not they missed what she said.

"This school has the highest percentage of alumni going to a higher education or having a high employment rate. I'm sure you all know this, but many students in this school will likely go on to college or manage to find work at a company." Chabashira closed her eyes, crossing her arms and going into teacher mode. "But it isn't that easy. Low level students like you guys will likely struggle. Even if you do manage to get employed, if you acted like you did this month, I highly doubt you'd be able to keep it."

"So all we would need to do is keep our rank as Class C at least and we should be able to fulfill our dreams?" Hirata asked in a hopeful tone, probably trying to keep up morale for the class.

"Hahaha. If only it were that easy. Only Class A is guaranteed. Why should the school pour their resources into anyone but the very best? Those who work hard are rewarded and those who lag behind are forgotten." She cracked a smile and it was rather cruel.

So this really was letting off steam. Poor Chabashira, she must have really been stressed.

"I-I never heard about this!" Yukimura stood up so fast that the chair nearly fell over as he protested against what our teacher had said.

"How pitiful. Met with something you don't like and you lash out like so." Koenji sighed, getting a glare from Yukimura.

"Koenji, don't you feel any resentment at all from being placed in Class D?" Yukimura asked in a heated tone.

"Give it up, Yukimura. Koenji doesn't have to worry about a single thing here. Even if he were to be expelled right now, he has the benefits of nepotism. His family will surely bail him out of whatever situation he gets in, so he can do whatever he wants with such a massive safety net." I finally spoke up, causing him to jump as I was pretty sure he was not used to me ever talking.

Horikita and Ayanokoji beside me raised an eyebrow while the classes eyes turned towards me.

"Oh ho? Someone here was aware of the greatness of the Koenji Conglomerate?" The heir looked genuinely amused, but I didn't respond, not caring to talk with him directly, choosing to finally take my turn to talk.

"Yukimura, while I understand your frustration, there's nothing you can do about it. Everyone here treated this school as a normal one, but really we should have expected this." I directed my attention to Yukimura trying to keep his pride from fracturing.

"But…!" He tried to think of something to say, but I wasn't having it.

1 month of watching everyone act like this was a summer camp irritated me too after all.

"The school is a renowned school in all of Japan with an incredibly high success rate for students to find their dream jobs. Since day 1 we should all have expected that this would not be like any other school since they even went so far as to confiscate our personal belongings and completely banned any contact with anyone outside." I listed off every red flag since we got here. "They gave us a rather large allowance where instead of money, they gave us digital currency in the form of "Student Points". To top it all off, Chabashira-sensei didn't even care to correct any misdemeanor that we should KNOW is the wrong behavior in a classroom."

My eyes drifted between each of the students I was able to recognize, including the idiots.

"When I lay it all out like that, does it really seem like we were in the right? I even tried to tell some of you to be wary and to at least act your age, but in the end, we're left with our current situation and blaming everyone but ourselves." I met eyes directly with Sudou who would have likely exploded in anger under normal circumstances, but even he knew I was right.

The class became silent. Something that was incredibly rare for this group of students.

"It looks like your usual mood has been dampened. If you all were able to understand this harsh environment from the beginning, we wouldn't have needed such a long homeroom. The midterm is in three weeks, so please, do your best to not get expelled, okay? It's rather embarrassing to lose so many students as a teacher before the year has even started." With those cold words spoken in such a callous way, the class couldn't help but feel their mood worsen.

Chabashira took that as a cue to leave, closing the door behind her.

It was a while before people began to lament their situation.

"I can't believe this… why didn't I notice sooner?"

"We lost half of our allowance in the first month…! There's no way we'll be able to hold onto this for long… what'll I do if we run out?!"

"What's the point of coming here if I just fail? My parents will kill me…!"

God, will they ever stop complaining? They're actually lucky to get points this time around. In the original story, you guys earned nothing after the first month here, so I'd say they are all safe. Heck, I'm fine with 50,000 points since I didn't even spend much.

"Everyone, please, calm down." Hirata had made his way to the front of the class, trying to take charge.

I too began to move, getting a look of interest from my two seatmates in regards to what I was doing. They wanted to say something, but I didn't have time. I needed to start doing my job.

"How can we calm down?! We were EXPECTED to fail! She even called us defects!" Yukimura was livid again.

"Even if that's the case, we were able to go against expectations by surpassing Class C without even knowing, right?" Hirata tried to reason.

"Don't you think this is unfair?! Some of us here worked hard and now we're being held back by idiots we can't even control!" Yukimura was raising his voice even louder as I made my way to Kei who was watching with intense curiosity like everyone else.

"I understand how you feel, Yukimura, but we won't get anywhere by complaining like this. It's pointless to keep arguing like this." Hirata held up his hands in defense to try and soothe the angry high schooler.

"What?!" Sudou's intellectual opposite was now holding Hirata by his collar and it seemed things were going to escalate, but I pushed Kei up front, surprising her as she didn't seem to notice me at all.

"Go. This is your chance." I whispered into her ear.

I could see Kushida was getting ready to defuse the situation and win herself angelic points, but luckily I already remembered how this went at the very least.

"H-Huh? O-Oh, okay…!" Kei moved as I commanded and thankfully, not too many people were too caring of my presence. I may not be as good as Sakura, but I was still rather masterful at erasing my presence.

"H-Hey! Calm down you two! There's no reason to be acting like this! It'll only make things worse if a teacher comes in to see us!" Kei expertly maneuvered her way between the two.

If there was a difference between Kei and Kushida, it would be that Kushida had the sweet sugary girly charm to contrast with Kei's more outgoing and outspoken strongwilledness.

Both were incredibly capable of moving a crowd in their own different way while also appealing to different audiences, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be competition.

I could see Kushida to the side. She had clearly been getting ready to stop the argument, but Kei had made it there first. I could see a slight glimmer of a scowl before she returned to her normal expression.

"It's only been a month too! We have 3 years to get better so please, don't give up so easily." Kei continued with a nervous look.

I could tell she was nervous about whether or not she was doing the right thing for her own popularity, but everyone else seemed to have mistook her nervousness as not wanting 2 people to get hurt.

There were murmurs about how Kei was surprisingly caring, before Yukimura looked away with an embarrassed look, still heated but realizing he was causing an unnecessary scene.

"S-Sorry. I lost my composure… I shouldn't have tried starting a fight with you, Hirata. I'm just very upset…" Yukimura murmured out his apology.

"It's okay. I should have chosen my words better. Please, Yukimura. I know you don't like the circumstances, but at least try to persevere." Hirata held no malice towards the boy with glasses, giving a gentle smile which defused the situation entirely.

Thus the class began to become just a bit more cordial with one another in spite of the shocking news revelation.

It seemed that there was a massive difference between having nothing to lose and still having something to lose.

Nobody wanted to go any lower than their current allowance. If it were 0 like in the original story, they'd just give up as things couldn't get any worse from having nothing.

I take this as a complete success.

As the class began to discuss what to do, I made my way back to my seat, getting a curious look from Ayanokoji and Horikita.

"Hey, sorry. I needed to help a friend." I explained to Ayanokoji, completely turning my back towards Horikita.

He didn't say much, simply nodding before turning his attention towards Hirata.

I wonder what he thought of that. I hope that didn't put me in a list of suspicious people… Yikes, I do not want to go up against him.

The class eventually came to a consensus to meet up again later to discuss our situation, except Horikita who declined to show up.

This was still an improvement as Sudou actually agreed to participate in spite of his basketball practice.

(-)

After class I sighed as I made my way to my seat with an irritated look, because really I'd rather be anywhere than be in class for any longer than I had to.

Upon entry I could see Yamauchi trying to scam someone into buying his game system.

"Hikigaya-kun…!" Kei pulled me right back out into the hallway, surprising me as I had not seen her.

"H-Huh? Karuizawa?" I asked dumbly, to which she nodded her head, before she moved her hands behind her back, looking somewhat timid and shy about something.

"U-Um. I-I have something to say…" She began.

What was going on? Why is she turning red? Was this… Was this going to be a confession? I mean, she wouldn't have been my first choice, but she was still making my heart beat at the idea.

She seemed to have composed herself, taking a deep breath before she seemingly gathered her inner courage to ask me what she had been wanting to say.

"I know you told me to save, but I used up almost all of my points and 55,000 points is not enough. We're friends right? Can I please borrow like 2000 points? " She asked in the sweetest tone she could muster, while giving me the biggest puppy eyes she could muster.

Yeah, fair enough. That one is on me. I think I'll go back to having absolutely no expectations with women ever again.

"That is not my fault. I warned you and I honestly hope that you did not ask any of the other students for points either." I sighed in exasperation.

"Of course not! You're the only person I can ask since you know me!" She looked offended at the accusation. "Also, don't you know anything about girls? I have needs so of course I'd spend my points. Seriously, Hikigaya, you should really start trying to understand women."

Kei crossed her arms with a pout.

"Ugh, okay. I can give you 2000, but I need you to do something for me and I am trusting you with this, okay?" I emphasized how important this would be and she seemed to understand, immediately giving a serious expression.

"If anyone asks to borrow your points, give it. I'll give you whatever they take back. I'm trusting you to not lie to me." I explained carefully, getting a curious look from her.

"Why? I don't think anyone would mind too much if I said no…" Karuizawa looked really lost, prompting me to shake my head.

"Of course not, but it would make you look better if you were more generous. If you're really in need of so many points, then I'll give my own money for just this month to help you buy some good will."

"Ohh! Wow. I didn't think of that! You sure think ahead, Hikigaya. I'm still surprised that you had me stop Hirata and Yukimura from fighting." Her expression turned into one of understanding, which was nice.

"Yes, you need to be able to find out when your moments to take advantage of things are. I can't always be around so you really need to find opportunities to improve your reputation." I reminded her, getting a nod from her before she gave me a warm smile.

"OF course, thank you. I'm glad to be friends with you." She said with sincerity, catching me off guard. Anyways, lemme have 2000!"

She exclaimed, immediately ruining whatever positive feelings I had had of her.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing… Just take the points…" I responded in a defeated tone. Why did I even want to help her again? Oh, right because Kushida is a problem.

I could see her in the back of the classroom talking to a few girls with the most angelic face ever.

The "meeting" we were supposed to have seemed to have just been Hirata going around gathering ideas. Understandable. As it turned out, many had made the compromise to come at some point, but we all would not likely be here at the same time.

Sudo for example did go to basketball practice anyways, but Hirata had offered to stay behind all day to talk to those who would come and go. Really, he's much too nice.

That reminds me, "Yukimura, could I get your assistance here?" The guy seemed very surprised for me to address him. Oh don't you worry, Yukimura. I know who you are and I know your strengths.

"What is it, Hikigaya?"

"I require your insight. Do you know where I could get a decently priced laptop?" I asked bluntly.

"Uh, w-well, Hikigaya. If you would be so kind, you could buy a slightly used laptop for a reasonable price?"

At that pitch, I instantly recognized Yukimura's plight. Wasn't this guy basically arguing over him being capable? Alas, he is still Class D.

"Hey, I know what you're thinking, but I simply 's not that big of a deal or anything!" He seemed very insecure over how I was judging him, but really, he shouldn't be.

It has come to my attention that almost everyone here is an idiot in some capacity. The biggest idiot of all being Horikita of course.

"Hmm maybe I'll buy your laptop, Yukimura, but what type do you even have?"

I saw his glasses glitter as a smirk came onto his face. "Ah, of course I bought the latest Gtx 3000 Xvac hardpack flash drive XLR 32000 Intel Core Trinity edition Optimus Prime Model No. 24! It was the latest rig!"

He seemed to be a bit too proud about what he had bought and while I wasn't exactly a huge tech guy, I can tell that he probably got scammed. Whatever word salad he just threw at me sounded like some guy thought of every robotic thing in his head and mismatched it altogether to sound fancy.

"And how expensive was it?" I questioned, nodding along with his enthusiasm.

"Ah, but that's the problem. It was kind of… around 140 thousand yen," He whispered out the last part.

I simply gave him a dumbfounded stare while he looked even more nervous. He was supposed to be the smart one! "You're in debt aren't you? We weren't even given enough points for purchases like that."

"M-Maybe it's something like that. Anyway, we're getting off track here. Would you like to take this off my hands?"

"I'm not going any higher than 50 thousand," I flatout said, almost hurting him physically with the large price difference.

"Can't you spare me a little more than that, Hikigaya? You're killing me here."

"Aren't you supposed to be smart? Even if you paid off your debt with us getting the full amount of points, that's still a grossly large amount of points for something you're not going to get to use much anyway."

"Well what do you so badly need a laptop for?" Yukimura sulked.

I glanced over to the reason in question and grimaced. 'This is all for a nerfed Kushida, this is all for a nerfed Kushida,' I thought over and over again.

"Reasons, ok? Anyway is the deal on or do you want to try your luck with someone else?"

"No! I'll sell it. As much as it hurts, I don't really have any options at this point," He whined. It seemed that karma was making him pay for his earlier display of hubris. Pride cometh before the fall, huh?

He passed it along while I transferred over my points. "Just work hard for the class and we'll get those class points back up, don't worry," I said, attempting to comfort him.

"Yeah, I'll try my best. I'll buy an even better laptop once I save up!" He said rattling off about the newest "Plutonium-grade graphics card" and other such nerd ramblings.

Not having the energy to make up my reaction to a subject I have little knowledge of, I quickly ran off to the dorm. My plans were quickly shaping up.

Before I even entered the building though, I ran into a distraught Sakura being comforted by Hasebe. "It'll be alright. We'll study together, ok?"

"It doesn't matter! I'm useless at everything. How can I raise my grades that high in such a short amount of time!" cried Sakura. Considering that she's not in her room to hide herself away from this news, it's probably Hasebe who is trying to quell Sakura's fears early.

My options were to confront the rather extroverted Hasebe with her adopted introvert, getting into a hassle that I never have energy for because I'm really not too good with dealing with Type B personalities or I deal with this later.

Well, I'll leave them to it!

"Hey, it's you! Hikigaya, right?" Damn it. No… I can't get upset. This one's on me.

"Yo," I said. What an awkward entrance. Sakura didn't know what to do with me there. Hasebe was just doing whatever she wanted. I didn't get to do anything I ever wanted. We all balanced out perfectly here.

"You didn't look too worried about the exam. In fact, if I recall correctly, you made the top 5 for the mock exam results." She's been paying an awful lot of attention to me. This could get dangerous. "That means, you would be the perfect tutor to Sakura-chi!"

"What/W-wait a second!" The two of us responded to that deduction. This was going way too fast. If I was reading this right now, I'd be rolling my eyes from how convenient this was going.

"Oh come on, Hikigaya is a pretty swell guy! He's harmless!" Hasebe assured Sakura.

I- can't even deny this, but I wonder why she seems so confident in that. Also, she warmed up to me pretty quickly. Is this plot armor?

"Do I even get a say in this?" While helping Sakura was always my goal, these situations always seem to love me.

"Nope!"

"U-uh, please take care of me," Sakura said, nervous about the whole thing.

Huffing a little, I said, "Fine then. I already had someone in mind to join us anyway. I'm sure you'll want to join as well, Hasebe?"

She gave a wink as she replied, "Of course! I couldn't leave Sakura-chi alone after all!" Yeah, it's definitely not because your grades are iffy as well. Although… her math skills are probably going to come in handy later on. Who knows when I reach my limit with that horrid subject!

After giving the time and place we'll study, it was decided (by Hasebe) that it'll be in my room. Hasebe Haruka is indeed not a nice girl.

Finally reaching my room, I hacked away at the computer to find just exactly what Kushida was hiding, her blog.

Ah yes, Kushida, the outlet of all your frustration with your middle school peers is there for the world to see. The picture perfect nice girl simply isn't Kushida here. While I would critique her faking her whole persona, to an extent, most people do the same anyway. The main difference here though is that Kushida is a loose cannon. She hates Horikita solely because of her own paranoia and we can't have that now can we?

I'll give her credit, she did a pretty good job of trying to erase any traces of her blog, but the internet isn't so kind as to easily forget. Your many classmates have screenshots and they were heated enough to share them all around. Oh ho ho, I can even use the wayback machine. I'm almost certain that she should know how easy it'd be to find her past no matter how hard she tried to bury it, but there was simply nothing she could do about it.

I wish Ayanokoji would do all of this instead of me, though. He really is better at putting up a cold persona than I am. I can only do so much before embarrassment takes over. I left all this chuuni stuff in middle school, and yet to proceed, I can only see myself having to play along with these freshmen.

But… I'll play. Even if it means manipulating events beyond what my canon knowledge tells me.

After perusing through the remnants of Kushida's blog, I quickly backed it up and sent it over to my phone, just in case.

What was left for me to do was to satisfy another curiosity I had, as well as providing material I would need for the future.

"Shizuku": the alias of Sakura Airi as a gravure model. I had found her role in the original story to be confusing with how little she had done up to her expulsion, but had been a fan solely due to my weakness for the meek characters who couldn't do much for themselves.

That being said, these photos were anything but "meek", is what I can say. I had to look over my shoulder constantly, despite knowing that my door was locked and no one would try to break into my room as I scrolled through Airi Sakura's more provocative photos.

I had to admit, each photo was meticulously taken at such a specific angle where your eyes can see JUST enough to get a rather amazing idea of what human genetics has given her, but covered enough for one to be wanting for more.

Oh no. What was I thinking? Those idiots have tainted me…

I really should be getting to sleep if I was getting this descriptively critical over my classmates' photos…

(-)

The next day rolled around with little fanfare as the class acted as model students for once in their lives. Even Sudou was sitting up straight and paying attention. Good good, we won't lose anymore for idiotic reasons. Funny how well-behaved students could be when they have something to lose.

With class done, all that was left was to prepare for tutoring. Now to get Sudou to join… welp, he left quickly. He must've been holding back quite a lot to behave. I'll get him later then.

A quick jog over to the dorms and I was left with an empty room to look presentable. I put up some cushions surrounding a low table and got out a few of the textbooks for the classes and then waited. Haaahhh, why did I agree to do this again? Oh yeah, to change events from the original story.

I didn't have to wait long though before I got a knock on the door.

I opened it up only to find Sakura alone. "Is she not coming today?"

She better not have left me alone with her. I needed Hasebe's safety aura to calm Sakura down after all.

"She said she'd be late, but she said to go on ahead of her." Sakura answered nervously, looking anywhere but into my eyes. Fair enough, really.

"Ah, come on in then," I said, motioning to one of the seats. The room is starting to feel stuffy, huh.

We situated ourselves pretty quickly.

"So, what's your weakest subject? We can start there." I asked, taking my seat near her.

"Uh, I think it's math. All those numbers are hard." She said nervously. Ah, a kindred spirit I see. All the more reason to save her from her terrible fate.

"Then we'll start there, Shizuku."

Her eyes widened out of shock as she covered her body reactively as if she felt revealed from hearing that name. Her hair fluttered as she calmed herself down. She was clearly shocked.

Sakura carefully took off her glasses as she said, "So, why are you doing all of this?"

Looks like it's now time for me to focus on a character who has never been focused on.