Classroom of the Elite: Reaction

by KavkaShin

Karuizawa Kei and the other first year students receive a mysterious message that takes them to the theater, where they are told to watch something they would never have thought of before.

9. Volume 1 Part 7

Almost all of the students took the same amount of time they were given to rest as before, but this time they really needed to rest and cool off from the tension of the previous video.

Starting from Sudou and Horikita's fight, Horikita's words that really offended them, the controversy between Ayanokouji and Horikita Manabu, and the biggest surprise with the revelation of the other side of Kushida Kikyou.

After seeing the series of tense events it was certain they needed some time to calm their minds.

"Haaaaah…"

A long sigh escaped Shinohara's mouth. She was one of those who desperately needed time to rest after the previous video.

How come? One of the people she admires and respects, turns out to have a hidden trait that is cold and cruel. That fact shocked her and it took her a long time to calm herself down. Even now the effects still remain.

"Shinohara-san? Are you alright?" asked a worried Satou, she could also see Matsushita looking at her.

Shinohara stared at the two worried friends silently, thinking she was already familiar with this sight. Shinohara's mind was filled with sad questions when she saw her friends.

How many times has this happened? How many times had she made her friends worry about her own discomfort?

Such a question popped up in Shinohara's mind, she regretted herself for being so easily swayed by the things she watched and consequently worried her friends.

"Sorry, I made you two worry again," Shinohara said with a sad smile.

"You're still thinking about Kushida-san's secret just now, right?" asked Matsushita. She had been observing Shinohara from earlier, so she was quite familiar with the reason.

"Yes. How should I put it, I admire Kushida-san. How she is always cheerful and full of smiles, always helps our classmates selflessly, and always tries for our class to always be united. I've even seen the lecherous boys stare at her that disgusts me, but Kushida-san is still friendly to them. I think of her as the perfect girl."

Shinohara paused for breath before continuing.

"But now I find out that she also has a secret that surprises me, another side of her that is the complete opposite of her that I know. I never expected that she would use such harsh words and vicious expressions. My fantasy of the perfect girl was instantly shattered."

Shinohara ended her words with another sigh, she leaned back against the chair to release her tension.

Satou and Matsushita could only stare at their friend with concerned looks. They can feel what Shinohara is feeling, knowing that the person you admire is not what you imagined will definitely disappoint you.

Satou herself was also very surprised at first when she learned about Kushida's true personality and the secret she kept, she was too shocked to make any reaction. But after hearing Ayanokouji's words and seeing Kushida's cries, she was able to accept her as she was.

"Kikyou-chan… actually is a nice person, it's just that she's misguided," said Satou softly.

"What do you mean?" Matsushita asked curiously, Shinohara also looked confused.

"She has a desire to be noticed by others. At first it was just a simple desire that the people near her paid attention to her, but that desire gradually became so big that in the end it ate Kikyou-chan itself. A desire that turned into an extreme obsession, and that continued until she entered this school."

"I see, her desire now is to get the attention of all the students from this school," concluded Matsushita.

"Her words at the beginning of the class introduction... made friends with everyone..." Shinohara muttered, Satou nodded understanding what Shinohara meant.

"But such a goal is certainly not as easy as imagined. There are some people who have personalities that are difficult to approach," said Matsushita.

"Like Horikita-san, huh," said Shinohara.

"There are difficult times when she wants to achieve those goals, and when things don't go according to plan, she takes out her frustrations in a quiet place like we saw on the screen earlier," said Satou.

"…I see," said Shinohara weakly with a complicated expression.

Satou looked at Shinohara, she could still feel the conflict inside Shinohara. It seems Shinohara's disappointment had run deep, Satou couldn't imagine what would happen if Kushida's deepest secret was discovered.

"Shinohara-san," Satou said softly, Shinohara turned to Satou, "I know you are uncomfortable with the truth about Kikyou-chan, but please remember one thing."

Satou looked straight into Shinohara's eyes with conviction.

"Indeed, what Kikyou-chan has been doing all this time is just to get other people's attention, so that other people will notice and admire her, because that's her hidden desire. But the fact that she did help other people is a real thing."

Shinohara's eyes widened at that, Satou continued her words.

"She has helped us a lot, she often listens to our complaints and gives encouragement, she also helps us study and improve our grades, and many other things. Please don't forget about that."

Shinohara looked down and thought about Satou's words, but Satou still hadn't finished, there was still one thing she had to tell her.

"But you don't have to worry about Kikyou-chan pretending anymore, she won't do that anymore." Satou said, Shinohara looked up and looked at Satou in confusion.

"What do you mean?" asked Matsushita.

"You two saw her reaction when Kiyotaka-kun accidentally discovered her secret, right?"

"Yes, she without hesitation threatened Ayanokouji-kun so he wouldn't reveal her secret," Matsushita replied.

"Now then, why isn't Kikyou-chan reacting like that now? Why did she even admit what she did and act calm?" Satou asked.

Shinohara and Matsushita looked at each other, on second thought Satou's words made sense to them. Why did the past and present Kushida have such different reactions?

"Because she was outnumbered?" Shinohara asked a little doubtful, meanwhile Matsushita contemplated thinking about the answer.

Satou shook her head "That's a reasonable answer, but no, Kikyou-chan won't budge just because of that."

"Even she still has a weapon that can mess everyone in this room," thought Satou.

Then Matsushita who had been thinking from earlier raised her head as if she had discovered something.

"So that's it, I see. Kushida-san has abandoned that desire," said Matsushita, Satou nodded.

"That's right, Kiyotaka-kun and Suzune-san persuaded Kikyou-chan to abandon her desire and the three of them finally reconciled," Satou said with a smile, then she turned to Shinohara, "So when we talk to Kikyou-chan in the future, then we will talk to her real self, not pretend anymore."

"I see," said Shinohara leaning back in her chair, then she gave a small smile, "It's as you said, Satou-san. What Kushida-san does for everyone is real, and I'm thankful for that because she helps me a lot too."

Satou was happy to hear that and smiled because Shinohara was able to clear away her doubts about Kushida, but she was still worried about Kushida's dark secret being kept, maybe she could consult Ayanokouji later.

"I must say, Satou-san. You have changed," said Matsushita suddenly.

"Eh?"

"Matsushita-san was right, you look wiser now," said Shinohara.

"W-Wise?" said Satou in shock, she then asked shyly, "I-If I may ask, what do you think the previous me was like?"

"Plain."

"Innocent."

"Easily affected by the atmosphere."

"Loves spending money."

"Stu-"

"Okay, enough!"

Satou immediately stops her two friends when all they say is gloom about her. She then took a deep breath while leaning back in the chair.

"You two might be right about that change," said Satou, "Ever since I came out of that meeting room, somehow I see the world with a different perspective."

Shinohara and Matsushita looked at each other before looking back at Satou.

"Okay, now I'm really curious about what happened in that meeting room, I feel like you guys are doing more than just talking," said Shinohara curiously, Matsushita also looked at Satou with the same expression.

"I could tell you guys, but it's going to be a long talk. With this short break, there's no way I can tell everything," said Satou.

"Then how about after this session, I'm sure Eve will give us a long rest after we finish this session," said Matsushita proposing.

"I think that makes sense," said Shinohara.

"It's decided then." Satou said with a nod.

After that they just had an unimportant conversation while waiting for the five minute break to end.

---

Meanwhile at Ayanokouji's group line up, they were talking to each other discussing various things, until a voice reached their ears.

"Ayanokouji!"

Ayanokouji turned to the source of the voice and saw Ike walking closer to his seat.

"What is it?" Ayanokouji asked confused, not understanding Ike's purpose for calling him.

Ike stopped at Ayanokouji's seat and then gave a deep bow, startling the people around him.

"Thank you very much for helping me," said Ike who bowed sincerely.

Ayanokouji was silent for a moment before he understood what Ike meant.

"I also want to thank you, Kiyotaka," said Sudou who also lowered his head.

"You don't have to thank me, you know. You've seen for yourself that I didn't do it all for you," said Ayanokouji.

"Well… even if you say that, I still feel awkward due to the fact that I still got saved," said Ike scratching his head.

"That's right," said Sudou nodding.

Seeing that they had no intention of backing down, Ayanokouji had no other choice but to accept their gratitude.

"Okay, if you insist," Ayanokouji said, giving in.

"Thank you very much," Ike and Sudou said in unison. After that Ike returned to his seat, but before turning back he looked at Kushida and nodded slowly in greeting.

Ayanokouji and Kushida stared at Ike who was walking towards his seat, after which Kushida brought her head closer to whisper.

"What do you think?" whispered Kushida to Ayanokouji.

"You mean Ike's condition? Well, there's no need to worry about that, I'm sure he'll recover sooner or later. After all, he's not focusing 100% on you right now," said Ayanokouji.

"So you know about Ike-kun and Shinohara-san," said Kushida in amazement.

"Seeing their behavior when they were alone let me know about it."

"I see. Ha ha, I didn't expect them to like each other, do you think their relationship will work out?"

"Well, as long as they continue to deny each other's feelings, I don't think that they will ever be able to date," said Ayanokouji.

"I see. I hope that one day they can express their feelings," said Kushida, Ayanokouji nodded in agreement.

Soon the five minute break ended and everyone turned their attention back to the screen.

The Failures Mobilize Once Again

"Looks like we'll see their efforts to revive once again," said Ichinose.

"I guess so, as I recall Class D didn't have any students drop out as a result of that exam, right? That means Sudou-kun and the others managed to survive," said Amikura curiously.

"I wonder how Horikita persuaded them? She and Sudou are complete opposites on screen," Shibata said wonderingly.

"That's probably what the screen will show this time, let's keep watching," said Kanzaki.

A month and a half had already gone by since I started high school. For the most part, my days had passed without incident.

"Hey, can you hear me? Is your head okay?"

Horikita rudely smacked my forehead, then touched a hand to her own head.

"You don't seem to have a fever," she said.

"Of course I don't! I was just lost in thought, that's all." I let out a deep sigh, already regretting that I'd told Horikita I'd help her.

"Well, it's too late for that, isn't it?" said Hashimoto, crossing his legs.

"Yeah, Horikita definitely won't take that well," said Kitou.

I suppose there was no use crying over spilled milk. I'd offered to help as a means of encouragement, but, thinking back, it really struck me as being out of character.

"So, my honorable tactician. What should I do, hmm?" I asked.

Several people laughed at Ayanokouji's words.

"Let's see. Obviously, we'll need to persuade Sudou-kun and the others to participate once again. That means you'll need to grovel and beg for them to return."

"Huh!? Why didn't she do it herself? She's the reason why the group split up," said Ishizaki in disbelief.

"Hmph, with that high of an ego do you think she would ever humble herself and beg others?" Ibuki asked with a snort.

"I don't think so," Ishizaki replied, feeling apologetic for asking such a pointless question.

"Why should I have to do that? You're the reason the group split in the first place."

"The reason we split was because they couldn't take studying seriously. Don't get that twisted."

Jeez. Did she even intend to help Sudou and the others?

"We'll never get them back without Kushida's help. You understand that, right?"

"I understand. Sacrifices are inevitable," she grumbled.

"She seems to be making some progress," Kamuro said.

"Fu fu, I wouldn't call progress if all she was doing was walking in place and waiting for someone to push her forward," said Sakayanagi unimpressed.

She appeared to hate the idea of Kushida's involvement. Still, she agreed despite her dissatisfaction. This was a major compromise for Horikita, who didn't want Kushida getting close to her at all.

"Okay. Can you get Kushida-san to help us immediately?" she asked.

"Me?"

"Of course. We made a deal. You agreed to be my workhorse until we reach Class A, so you have to do as I command."

Everyone tilted their heads in confusion, they didn't remember seeing Ayanokouji agreeing to such a deal.

I didn't remember making that kind of deal.

"So it's a one-sided deal then," said Onodera.

"I guess so, we all know how selfish Horikita-san is," Mori replied.

"Here, look at this written contract."

Wow, a real contract. It had my name and my seal on it and everything.

"She even bothered to make that," said Azuma in surprise.

"Is she really seriously using that plan? It could be document falsification," Nishimura said.

"I don't think so, Horikita-san couldn't be that stupid. She just wants to mess with Ayanokouji-kun," Ishikura said slightly amused.

"You realize they could charge you with forging documents, right?" I asked.

I tore up the contract and tossed it away. Horikita got up and went over to Kushida, who was tidying her desk.

"Kushida-san. There is something I would like to talk to you about. Would you care to have lunch with me?" Horikita asked.

"If we don't find out the real reason, I'll consider this a miracle," Minamikata said when she saw Horikita taking Kushida out for lunch.

"Agreed," Andou said.

"Lunch? It's unusual to get an invitation from you, Horikita-san. Okay, I'll go." Kushida didn't waver at all. She walked with Horikita toward the school's most popular café, Palate.

That was the scene of Horikita's previous anger, when I'd invited her under false pretenses. Horikita said that she'd treat Kushida, and paid for her drink. Of course, I had to pay for myself.

"Thank you. So, what did you want to talk about?" Kushida asked.

"I'm putting together another study group for Sudou-kun and the others. Will you help me one more time?"

"What's your reason for doing this? Is it really for Sudou-kun and the others?" Kushida clearly understood that Horikita likely wasn't doing this out of altruism.

"No. This is for me."

"Wow, that's frank," Shibata said as he whistled.

"It's better to be frank like that, cooperation based on lies never works out well," said Kanzaki, even though he was sure Kushida would eventually agree to work with Horikita, whatever the reason.

"I see. So, you look out for yourself as usual, Horikita-san."

"You won't help someone whose motives are selfish?"

"You're free to think whatever you like. I just didn't want you to try to lie to me. I'm glad you were honest. Okay, I'll help. We're classmates, after all. Right, Ayanokouji-kun?"

Some people felt uncomfortable hearing Kushida's words, even though on the surface she acted very friendly, the fact was that she hated Ayanokouji and Horikita.

"Y-yeah. You're really helping us," I muttered.

"There's something I want to ask you though, Horikita-san. You're not doing this for your friends or to get points. It's so you can get to Class A, right?"

"Yes."

"I can't believe that, though. I mean, isn't it impossible? Oh, I'm not saying you're stupid, Horikita-san. How do I put this, though? More than half of the class has given up, you see."

"Because the gulf between us and Class A is so vast?"

"Yes. To be perfectly honest, I can't imagine how we'd catch up. I'm not sure we can even get any points next month. It's disheartening."

Horikita smacked the table. "I'm going to do it. Definitely," she said.

"Ayanokouji-kun, are you aiming for Class A, too?" Kushida asked.

"Yes. He's working as my assistant."

"Horikita-san really wanted Ayanokouji-kun to help out, didn't she? She was so adamant about dragging him into the team," said Amikura.

"That's probably because she has seen Kiyotaka-kun's potential," said Ichinose.

"That's right, she has seen Ayanokouji-kun's academic and combat abilities so far, maybe that's why she wanted Ayanokouji-kun to help out so much," said Kobashi, her friends nodding in agreement with her.

Horikita had given me a title without asking me.

The students laughed hearing that.

"Hmm. I understand. I want in, Horikita-san."

"To help us with the study group."

"No, not for that. I want to work on getting into Class A with you. I want to help with everything else you'll be doing."

"Huh?"

The students stared at the screen in confusion after hearing Kushida's words.

"Huh? But…"

"So, you don't want me to join?" Kushida asked.

She looked at Horikita with wide eyes, prompting her to answer.

"Fine. If everything goes well with the study group, I'll accept your help moving forward," answered Horikita.

The Class C students stared at the screen with interested eyes, even though they were still uncomfortable with Kushida's hidden side, but hearing Kushida start working with Horikita made them excited. They think that this is the reason why their class got the most class points this year.

Kushida probably had some ulterior motive. Even so, Horikita understood that she had no choice but to acknowledge Kushida's value. Having coaxed a victory from the usually stubborn Horikita, Kushida excitedly sat up.

Everyone was slapped again by reality hearing Ayanokouji's words. Kushida hated Ayanokouji and Horikita, but now she insisted on working with the two of them. They couldn't help but think that Kushida did have ulterior motives.

"Really?! Yay!" Kushida cheered, a look of genuine delight on her face. She looked really cute this way. "I look forward to working with you again, Horikita-san! Ayanokouji-kun!"

She extended her left and right arms toward us. A bit perplexed, Horikita and I shook Kushida's hands.

"Getting Sudou-kun and the others on board again will be a problem, though," Horikita said.

"Oh great, another problem," said Shinohara with an annoyed sigh.

"I think Ike-kun and Yamauchi-kun are easy to persuade, but Sudou-kun is a different matter," said Matsushita.

"Yeah, he hates Suzune-san. I wonder how they gather those people," said Satou curiously.

"Yeah. Considering the current state of things, it will probably be difficult," I agreed.

"Well, can you leave that to me? It's the least I can do after you've let me join you," Kushida said.

I felt a little overwhelmed by how quickly Horikita and Kushida were moving.

Kushida took out her cell phone, ready to leap into action immediately. Soon after, Ike and Yamauchi arrived, looking like they were on cloud nine after receiving Kushida's invitation.

"I'm sorry for calling you two over. I have something to ask you, or rather, Horikita-san does."

"Wh-what is it? What do you want from us?!"

What an overreaction. They backed away in fright.

"Are they afraid of Horikita?" Ishizaki asked raising his eyebrows.

"Pathetic," Ibuki said reproachfully.

"Don't be like that, Ibuki-san," Shiina scolded.

Ibuki only snorted in response.

"Are you two joining Hirata-kun's study group?" Horikita asked.

"Huh? S-study group? No. I mean, studying's so boring, and Hirata is annoyingly popular. Besides, we planned to cram the day before. Things should work out. We've gotten by since junior high doing exactly that."

Yamauchi nodded at Ike's words. They were counting on an all-nighter to save them.

"That's why they are stupid, do they really think that such a method applies in this school?" muttered Karuizawa.

"How about you, Kei? You're too lazy to study yourself, right?" Ayanokouji asked, making Karuizawa flinch.

"Eh? A-Ah, o-of course I'm studying, you see my grades are higher than theirs," Karuizawa stuttered.

"Is that so? As I recall Ken's grades are higher than yours now," Ayanokouji said sharply.

Karuizawa froze. Indeed, ever since Sudou had feelings for Horikita, his will to study increased so drastically that he was able to get average marks in exams. It was all thanks to his study session with Horikita, being taught by someone you like increased Sudou's motivation to study.

"T-Then teach me," said Karuizawa after breaking out of her frozen state.

"Hm?"

"Teach me to the best of your ability! I don't want to fall behind Ken and the others," said Karuizawa with determination, of course she had a purpose to it.

"Of course. Isn't that what we all agreed on before?" said Ayanokouji, previously the members of the Ayanokouji group had determined that Ayanokouji would lead the next group study.

Karuizawa froze and just glared at the boy, Ayanokouji raised an eyebrow as he could sense that Karuizawa was upset.

And indeed… the girl was currently upset inside her head.

"You stupid, stupid, stupid! That's not what I mean! What I want is to study alone with you! Why would I ask personally if what you're doing is putting me in a group!"

Karuizawa angrily shouted those words inside her head, it took her a moment to calm down.

"Kei?" Ayanokouji said, feeling confused by Karuizawa's actions.

Karuizawa sighed, "Kiyotaka, there's a lot to teach you after this."

"Huh?"

Yes, Many things.

"That certainly sounds like an idea you two would have. But if you do, it's highly likely you'll be expelled."

"You're acting the same as usual," Sudou said, showing up. He glared at Horikita. Apparently Kushida had caught Sudou in her honey trap as well.

"You're the one who should be worried, Sudou-kun. You don't seem to have any fear of being expelled."

"I know that. Drop it, or I'll beat the crap out of you. I'm busy with basketball now, anyway. I'll be just fine if I cram before the test."

"C-calm down, Sudou. Okay?" Ike was acting like he didn't know what they'd said in the chat.

"Sudou-kun, won't you try studying with me one more time? You might manage to squeak by if you pull an all-nighter, but if that fails, you won't be able to play basketball here anymore. Right?" Horikita asked.

"Well, I…I don't want any of your stupid charity. I haven't forgotten the bullshit way you spoke to me the other day. If you want me to join, I want an apology first. A completely honest one," said Sudou, displaying open hostility toward Horikita.

Several students leaned their bodies in, wondering whether Horikita would apologize to Sudou or not. There were also those who were indifferent since they could already tell what Horikita was going to do.

Although Sudou probably realized the danger he was in, he couldn't dismiss Horikita's insults. Of course, Horikita would never give him an apology. No one could ever take pride in saying something that untrue.

"I hate you, Sudou-kun."

Everyone immediately sighed in annoyance, instead of apologizing Horikita said something completely opposite of what she should have been, making the situation even worse.

"To be honest, I don't know what Horikita's mindset is anymore," Shibata said while shaking his head, feeling tired at Horikita's high self-esteem.

"Same," said Hamaguchi, just as tired as Shibata.

"What?!"

Instead of apologizing, she spat harsh words at Sudou, throwing fuel on the fire.

"However, our mutual abhorrence is trivial right now. I will teach you for my own sake. You will do your best for your own sake. Am I wrong?"

"You really want to get up to Class A, then? Even if that means inviting someone you hate, like me?" he muttered.

"Yes, exactly. Otherwise, why would anyone willingly involve you?"

Sudou grew more openly annoyed in response to Horikita's incredible bluntness.

"I'm busy with basketball. The others on the team never take study breaks, not even before a big test. I can't fall behind everyone else by doing something as boring as studying."

"That's because they believe in their academic abilities, whereas you don't Ken. Your grades are terrible," Yukimura warned.

"I know," said Sudou with a groan, his only thought at that moment was to get as far away from Horikita as possible before his emotions exploded.

As if she'd predicted Sudou's remarks, Horikita opened her notebook and showed it to him. On the page, there was a detailed schedule leading up to the test.

"During the last session, I noticed that style of studying didn't work for you. None of you understand the fundamental basics. For example, it would be like tossing a frog into the ocean. The frog wouldn't have any idea where to go or how to swim. Also, I understand that taking time away from your hobbies will only add to your stress. Therefore, I've come up with a plan."

"What kind of sorcery did you use to come up with that? All right, tell me the plan."

He could make time for studying and club activities. Sudou, believing such a thing to be impossible, snorted in amusement.

"The test's two weeks from today. You'll all study every day during class like your life depends on it."

"Huh? During class? What does it mean?" Hondou asked not understanding, he then turned to Ike who was at the crime scene during the discussion.

"Horikita will explain after this," Ike replied.

I couldn't believe what Horikita had said. No one else could, either.

"You three don't usually work seriously during class, do you?" she asked.

"You can't know that about us," Ike objected.

"Everyone already knows about that," Shinohara muttered.

"So, you work seriously?"

"Well… No, we don't. We just sit around 'til class is over."

"So, in other words, you waste six hours a day doing nothing. Rather than struggling to study for the one or two hours available after class, we're wasting a far larger and more precious period of time. We must use this time better."

"Well, certainly… Theoretically that would work, but…isn't that unreasonable?"

Kushida was right to be worried. They wasted time precisely because they couldn't study normally. If they couldn't manage to discipline themselves during class, I doubted they'd be able to understand the problems by themselves.

"I can't even keep up with class at all."

"I know. So we'll hold a short study session during our free time."

"During free time? Can such a short amount of time be effective?" asked Shinohara confused.

"Considering the understanding level of Sudou-kun and the others, I think that's impossible. Unless Horikita-san has a plan to deal with that problem," Matsushita answered.

"What is Suzune-san planning…" said Satou wondering.

With that, Horikita turned to the next page, spelling out the details of her plan. After first period, we'd all meet up and discuss what we hadn't understood in the lecture. During the ten-minute break, Horikita would explain the answers to those questions. We'd repeat the process over the next several periods. Of course, this wasn't as simple as it seemed. Since Sudou and the others couldn't keep up naturally, they might not be able to learn the material in such a short time.

"So if they keep repeating the process, there's a chance they might succeed?" Kamuro asked raising her eyebrows.

"I didn't know about that. Increase grades? It probably does. But saving them from expulsion? I don't think that's enough," said Hashimoto with a shrug.

"That means there must be an additional plan to save them," said Kitou, Hashimoto nodded.

"W-wait a minute. I'm kind of confused here. Is this really going to work?" Ike could tell this would be difficult.

"Yeah. I mean, won't it be impossible to understand that stuff in just ten minutes of break time?"

"Don't worry. I'll compile answers to every question and make them easy to understand. After that, Ayanokouji-kun, Kushida-san, and I will each teach you individually, one-on-one."

Some people were a bit enlightened by Horikita's plan, they slowly started to understand the girl's plan.

"So that's it," Shibata said.

"That might be effective," Hamaguchi said as he placed a finger to his chin.

"Now it is up to them whether they want to stay or not. What's more important is whether they accept the proposal or not," said Kanzaki.

"Ah, that's right. They haven't accepted the proposal yet," Hamaguchi said in realization.

"But only in this way can they survive, right? I can't think of any other way to save them with such a short amount of time," Shibata said frowning.

"Indeed. But bringing it up now is pointless, for now let's just keep watching," said Kanzaki. His two friends nodded.

After that they turned their attention back to the screen.

If we used this system, we might just be able to make them understand in short blocks of time.

"It's just a matter of explaining the answers. You two can handle it, right?" Horikita asked.

"But I still don't think we can do it in that little time. Studying's so hard."

"One class period covers surprisingly little content. Typically, there'll be one page of notes, two at the most. If you narrow it down to only the things that will be on the test, you can probably whittle it down to a half a page of information. If we somehow end up not having enough time, we can always use our lunch period. I'm not saying that you have to understand the material. I just want you to memorize it. During class, you must focus on the teacher's voice and what's written on the blackboard. Forget about taking notes for right now."

"Eh? Does that mean they didn't take notes?" asked Onodera confused.

"I… think so," said Mori who was just as confused.

"So, you're telling us not to take notes?"

"Trying to memorize things is surprisingly difficult when you're writing down notes."

She was probably right about that. A focus on note-taking would simply waste precious time. At any rate, Horikita had laid out a plan that didn't use up any time after school.

"Just try. Give it a go before you say no."

"I don't want to. I'd rather spend my time differently than a bookworm like you. Besides, I don't even think I could learn to study with such a simple, cheap trick." Horikita had carefully come up with a plan tailored to the three of them, and yet Sudou still wouldn't agree.

"It seems you've misunderstood. There are no shortcuts or cheap tricks when it comes to studying. You just have to spend your time carefully. That applies not only to studying, but to everything else as well. Or are you telling me there are shortcuts and cheap tricks in something like basketball?"

"Of course there aren't. You only improve by practicing, all the time." Sudou inhaled sharply, surprised by his own words.

"For people who can't focus or work seriously, it's impossible. However, you put all of your effort into basketball. I want you to apply some of that effort to studying, even if it's just a fraction of what you have. Put in the effort so that you can continue to play basketball at this school. Don't throw away your own potential."

Horikita's compromise was small, but real. Sudou hesitated. However, his pride still got in the way. He seemed incapable of agreeing to the plan.

"Yeah, I'm still not doing it. I get what you're saying, but I'm not convinced."

Several sighs of disappointment could be heard in the room, the long discussions and negotiations only ended in failure.

"There is no point. Both of them are stubborn, neither would acknowledge the other if they held onto their pride," Ibuki said angrily at the gibberish conversation that ensued.

"Aren't you also like that when it comes to Horikita?" thought Ishizaki while frowning.

"The negotiations have failed, how are they going to proceed with their plan?" said Shiina wonderingly.

"Our only option is to continue watching" Ryuuen said and everyone agreed with him.

Sudou made to turn around and leave, and Horikita couldn't stop him. If he left now, the study group was probably dead. Normally I'd stay out of it, but this called for drastic action.

Everyone stared at the screen curiously, wondering what Ayanokouji would do.

"Fu fu, what are you going to do, Ayanokouji-kun?" thought Sakayanagi with interest.

"From his casual demeanor, it seems he already has a plan. What will he do?" thought Matsushita curiously.

"Hey, Kushida. Do you have a boyfriend?" I asked.

"…"

The room fell silent, everyone was unsure of what they heard, it took them a few moments to come to their senses and when they did, a furor erupted.

"EEEEEHHHHHHHH!?"

The students shouted in unison, the reason being because of all the things they could think of, they had not expected Ayanokouji to ask that.

"KU HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

"Fu fu fu…!"

Sakayanagi and Ryuuen immediately laughed at those words, they immediately knew what Ayanokouji was planning.

"W-W-Wha…!?" Sakura stammered.

"W-Why is he asking that!?" Satou asked worriedly.

The girls who had feelings for Ayanokouji immediately panicked hearing Ayanokouji's question.

"W-Why is he asking that!? D-Did K-Kiyotaka-kun ask Kikyou-chan out!? I-Is he…? No, that's impossible, Kiyotaka-kun can't possibly have feelings for someone, at least not yet. But why did he say that? In front of Ike-kun and the others of all people- wait… Ike-kun?"

Ichinose's thoughts stalled and her eyes widened when she realized what Ayanokouji was planning, her anxiety instantly dissipating to be replaced by relief.

"He he, so that's what Kiyotaka-kun is planning," Ichinose thought with a giggle.

"Huh? What? I don't. Why would you suddenly ask me something like that?!" she cried.

"If I can get fifty points on the test, will you go out with me?" I extended my hand to her.

"Huh?! Wh-what are you saying, Ayanokouji! No, date me, Kushida-chan! I'll get fifty-one points!" Ike cried.

At that moment, everyone finally understood what Ayanokouji was planning.

"S-So that was the plan," said Satou with a sigh of relief.

"Considering that idiot, a plan like this must be very effective," said Shinohara boredly.

"No, no, me! Go on a date with me! I'll show you! I'll get fifty-two points!" Yamauchi said.

Kushida immediately understood my plan.

"H-how embarrassing… I don't just judge people based on something like test scores, you know?" she said.

"But they need a prize for trying. Look at how eager Ike and Yamauchi are. They'd probably be motivated by a reward."

Ike looked down in embarrassment when he saw how pitiful he was on screen. But it was only for a moment, at least now he knew not to fall into the same trap.

"W-well then, how about this? I'll go on a date with whoever scores highest on the test. I like people who work really hard, even when they don't like doing it."

"Whoa! Yes! I'll do it! I'll do it!" Ike and Yamauchi breathed heavily in their excitement. I called out to Sudou.

"Hey, Sudou. What about you? This might be your chance."

That was a bit subtler than yelling, Do you want to date Kushida?

I generally understood Sudou's personality, but it was still difficult to predict whether he'd agree. So I had to find some common ground.

"A date, huh? That doesn't sound too bad. Jeez, guess I don't have a choice. All right, I'll join," Sudou said, his voice small. He didn't turn around.

Kushida sighed deeply in relief.

"Remember, boys are the simplest creatures on earth."

Many laughed at that.

"Gosh Kiyotaka, if you say it sooner, the problem will be solved quickly," said Miyake chuckling while shaking his head.

"That's right, Kiyopon. Why didn't you say it from the start?" Hasebe asked.

"I did it on purpose. I want to see how Suzune solves a problem she created herself," said Ayanokouji, immediately earning a glare from the girl in question.

Ayanokouji had been preparing himself to be punished, but fortunately for him Horikita sighed and turned her attention forward with a frown. Maybe she also felt that she was the one at fault here.

Horikita probably agreed with me. We welcomed Sudou to our group.

---

We gathered in the library one minute later than we'd agreed. Everyone had their notebooks open, ready and waiting. The library was a popular study spot, it seemed. First through third years fought to move up in the rankings. I understood it with a glance.

"I thought I might need more help on this, but geography is actually pretty easy."

"Chemistry wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be, either."

Ike and Yamauchi sounded pleased.

"Most of the problems boil down to memorization, right? You can't solve many problems in English or mathematics if you don't understand the foundation, though."

"Don't let your guard down. I think there might be current events questions on the test, too."

"Current…events?"

"Events of the recent past related to politics or the economy. That means that the questions may not be limited by what's written in the textbook."

"Ugh, isn't that against the rules? That means we have no idea what's going to be on the test, doesn't it?!"

"That's why we have to learn everything the teacher tells us to do," Miichan muttered.

"T-That's really troublesome," Inogashira said, thinking that she had to study all the material for the exam where she didn't know what questions would come out.

"Of course. But when we do, it's so satisfying, right? The hard work we put in paid off," said Miichan.

"Right," said Inogashira with a small smile.

"So that's why you should study everything."

"I suddenly hate geography…"

"Here's a question for everyone. Who came up with inductive reasoning?"

"Hm?"

The students tilted their heads in confusion, they were wondering why Horikita was bringing up that matter now.

"Um. It was that guy we learned about in class before, right? That was…" Ike wracked his brain and spun his mechanical pencil.

The students' confusion grew upon seeing Ike deep in thought. They were wondering if Horikita was really serious about the material or just testing their memory.

"Oh, that's it. That one guy. His name made me super hungry."

Laughter immediately erupted upon hearing Yamauchi's answer, Sudou and Ike shook their heads in embarrassment at their friend's answer.

"Francisco Xavier! Or something like that, right?" Sudou asked.

Close, but no cigar.

"I remember! Francis Bacon!" Ike cried.

"Hey, tell me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that question came up on the exam, right?" asked Hashimoto.

"Indeed, they didn't come out in the exam," said Kitou nodding.

"Then why are they talking about it now?" said Hashimoto frowning.

"I'm just as confused as you are."

"Maybe she's just testing?" Kamuro guessed.

"I don't think it's that simple," said Sakayanagi. She narrowed her eyes at the screen, she could sense something wrong was happening right now.

"That's correct."

"Yes! I'm definitely going to get a perfect score!"

"No, not really…"

If we all managed to keep up this pace for another week, everyone might just avoid failing.

If before everyone was still doubtful, now they firmly believed that something was terribly wrong right now after hearing Ayanokouji's words.

"Wait, wait, wait! I'm pretty sure questions like that aren't included in the exam," Shibata shouted in astonishment.

"That's right, haven't the teachers already given us the material we're going to study for the exam?" Asked Amikura who was also surprised.

Horikita and the others cringed at that, the fact that their homeroom teacher forgot to tell them what to study was still a bitter memory for them.

How come? They had spent a week of study wasted because of that problem.

"Suzune-san, why are you guys talking about that? That's not included in the exam, right?" Ichinose asked.

"Keep watching, it will be explained in a moment," Horikita said with a sigh.

"Oh, okay," Ichinose said nodding, then she turned her attention to the screen.

"Please be mindful of your health, everyone. If you get sick, you'll have less time to study!" Kushida understood that we had no wiggle room left.

"Don't worry. Not about those three, anyway," Horikita grumbled.

"Just as I'd expect from you, Horikita-chan! I feel like you're starting to have some faith in us!"

Actually, she probably meant something more like, "Idiots don't catch colds."

"HEY!"

Ike and Sudou simultaneously shouted angrily and glared at Ayanokouji with annoyed looks, while the other students burst out laughing.

Meanwhile, Ayanokouji was trying hard to ignore the glares being directed at him.

"Hey, quiet down. Your yammering is getting annoying." A nearby student turned to look at us.

"Oh great, this bastard," said Sudou with an annoyed snort, in the distance Ike also gave a disgusted look at the screen.

"Who?" whispered Hasebe to Miyake.

"That's Yamawaki from Ryuuen's class," Miyake replied, then he turned to Sudou, "You know him, Ken?"

"A little, and it wasn't a pleasant encounter. You'll find out in a moment," Sudou said.

Miyake nodded and looked back at the screen curiously.

"Sorry, sorry. Guess I got a little carried away. I'm just so happy I got something right. Did you know that Francis Bacon was the guy who came up with inductive reasoning? I won't lose points on that question!" said Ike, laughing foolishly.

"Huh? Hey, could you guys be Class D students, by chance?"

Immediately the mood of the Class C students immediately deteriorated, from those words alone they already knew where the conversation was going to go. Some of them have even sent sharp glares at one of the students in Ryuuen's class.

Yamawaki suddenly shuddered when he felt something sinister.

A group of boys all looked over at us at once. Sudou, seemingly irritated by this, sounded mildly angry as he said, "So what? What's the big deal if we're in Class D? Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, no, there's no problem. I'm Yamawaki, from FClass C. Nice to meet you." Yamawaki chuckled. "I have to say, I'm glad that they separate the classes in this school by ability. That way I don't have to study with losers like you."

"What'd you say?!" Sudou's anger flared.

"Don't get mad. I've only spoken the truth. I wonder… If we happened to fight, how many points would you lose? Oh wait, you guys don't even have any points to lose, do you? In that case, you'd probably be expelled, right?"

The thirst for blood was growing in the room while Yamawaki was speaking, while the boy himself was now shrinking away from the glares of the Class C students. Yamawaki simply couldn't stand the pressure he was now facing.

If this had happened a year ago, then he would have joined in the laughter and insulted Horikita's class, but things are very different now. His class had lost to Horikita's class, even though his class after this would rise back to class C, but the fact that his class was defeated by a class below him still damaged his pride.

"Fine with me. Bring it!"

Sudou's shouting attracted attention and looks of disgust. If things got much worse, then the teacher would probably hear about it.

"He's exactly right. We're not sure what'll happen if you create a ruckus. You should remember that you might be expelled as a worst-case scenario. I don't particularly mind that you're bad-mouthing us, but you're in Class C, right? Honestly, you shouldn't really brag about that," Horikita said.

"Clearly there were errors of calculation in placing Class C and A. But you guys in D are on a completely different level."

"That's quite an inconsistent standard of measurement. The way I see it, everyone outside of Class A is lumped together."

Everyone was again reminded of how cruel this school was, no matter how many class points one had it would be of no use if they didn't graduate as class A, because only in class A was their dream of getting a job and entering the university they wanted.

So Horikita's words about everyone outside of Class A being the same does make sense.

Yamawaki stopped laughing and now glared at Horikita.

"Hah! Eat that, I like that expression," Hondou said with satisfaction.

The other Class C students also smiled in satisfaction, they silently thanked Horikita for silencing Yamawaki.

"Wow. For a defective product that can't make a single point, you're pretty sassy, aren't you? Did you think you could say whatever you like just because you have a cute face?"

"Thank you for your wholly incoherent and irrelevant statement. I was never very concerned about my appearance until now, but after being praised by you, I must say I feel rather uncomfortable."

"For the first time I feel happy hearing Horikita-san's vicious words," said Onodera in admiration.

"Same," said Mori nodding in agreement.

"Tch!" Yamawaki slammed the table and stood up.

"Heh, look who's provoked now," said Hasebe grinning with satisfaction.

"H-Haruka-chan, your face is terrible you know," muttered Sakura from Hasebe's side.

"Hey. Relax. If we're the ones who start fighting, then word will get around and we'll be in trouble." The other Class C students tugged at Yamawaki's sleeves, holding him back.

"You do know that you'll be expelled if you fail the next test, right? I'm looking forward to seeing how many of you get kicked out."

"Unfortunately for you, no one from Class D will be expelled. Before you worry about us, though, perhaps you should worry about your own class. Pride cometh before the fall."

"Ha ha ha! Us, fail? Don't joke around."

"Hmm, you know, people like him often appear to be losers who always annoy the main character in the anime I watched, a character that ends up being a by-product for the main character's progress. I never thought that in the real world there would also be people like that," Sotomura said, pushing up his glasses.

Ike and his friends stared at the professor with their mouths agape when they heard what he said, they didn't expect the bespectacled student who was always aloof to say something out of character.

But other than that, they couldn't agree more with what Sotomura said.

"Ooooh, you put out the best words I've ever heard from you, Professor!" shouted Ike excitedly.

"That's right," said Hondou nodding.

"Great Professor!"

"Good work."

"You made our class proud."

Ike and his friends praise Sotomura for his courage making the bespectacled boy scratch his cheek in embarrassment.

"H-Hey, please stop it, guys. It was quite embarrassing," said Sotomura.

In the distance, Yamawaki was grinding his teeth loudly in utter humiliation, but no matter how much he wanted to return the insult, no one dared to support him, even Ryuuen as the class leader was indifferent.

In the end he kept the annoyance to himself.

"We're not studying just to avoid failing. We're studying so we can improve our test scores. Don't lump us together with you," Yamawaki said. "Also, being happy because you know who Francis Bacon is? Are you nuts? Why are you studying things that aren't even on the test?"

"Huh?" Horikita looked stumped.

"Wait, do you guys not know what's on the test? No wonder you're called defective products."

"That confirms it. They really don't know," Minamikata said confidently.

"But if they really don't know, that means…" Shiranami said.

"Chabashira-sensei didn't tell them," Ichinose added.

They glanced at the row of teachers in unison. Information on what lessons must be studied for the exam is provided by the respective homeroom teacher, if a class does not know what subject they must learn, then the error should come from their homeroom teacher.

Chabashira as usual kept her expressionless face to ignore the stares directed at her.

"But why didn't she tell them, did she forget?" Asked Amikura surprised.

"Perhaps we'll see in a moment, for now let's keep watching," Ichinose said, her friends nodded in agreement and turned their attention back to the screen.

"That's enough out of you." Sudou, on the verge of really losing his temper, grabbed Yamawaki by the collar.

"Uh-oh, this is going bad," Miyake said.

"Well that guy is quite the bitch I guess he deserves what he started" Hasebe said gruffly.

"But Ken-kun will get into trouble if he starts a scene," said Hirata worriedly.

"It's okay, Yousuke. It's already passed and I'm still here too, that means I'm not in trouble, right?" said Sudou.

Hirata then widened his eyes when he realized that, "Ah, you're right," said Hirata with a relieved smile, he had almost forgotten that this incident had already happened.

"Hey, hey! You're really going to get violent even though it'll lose you points? You're okay with that?"

"We don't have any points to lose!"

"Humph, how ironic to think zero points could be our advantage," said Karuizawa with a wry smile.

"Yeah, but at the time we didn't know what trouble we'd get into if we messed up when we had zero class points," said Ayanokouji.

"Wasn't that the case until now? Since we no longer have zero points, we will never know if there is such a punishment?" Karuizawa asked raising an eyebrow.

Ayanokouji only shrugged in response.

Sudou pulled his arm back. Uh oh. Was he really going to beat the crap out of this guy? I knew I should stop him. I got up, then—

The students especially the girls stared at the screen tensely, they were anxious and wondering if a fight would break out. Some of them do not want to see scenes of violence.

"Okay, stop. Stop!"

The Class B students straightened up after hearing that, they recognized that voice very well.

A female student shouted at us. Sudou stopped in response.

"Ah! It's you, Honami-chan," said Amikura excitedly.

"As expected of Honami-chan, always making sure things are always safe," said Minamikata nodding in satisfaction.

"Hm hm~, leave it to Honami-chan for matters like this," Andou said with a big smile.

Ichinose can only scratch her cheek in embarrassment at the compliments from her friends.

"Ah, I remember. If I'm not mistaken there used to be commotion when we studied at the library, right?" said Kobashi.

"I remember that too. So I see, this is the commotion we heard then," said Amikura while looking at the screen.

"What? This doesn't involve you. Stay out of it," he said.

"Doesn't involve me? I'm trying to use the library, so it does involve me. If you want to get violent, might I suggest that you do so outside?"

In response to the blonde beauty's disinterested yet logical argument, Sudou let go of Yamawaki.

"Besides, don't you think you're provoking him? If things continue like this, I'd have to report it to the school. Do you want that?"

"S-sorry. We don't want that, Ichinose," Yamawaki said.

Ichinose. I'd heard that name once before. Wait… That was the Class B student who'd been talking with Hoshinomiya-sensei.

"Come on, let's go. If we try studying here, we'll catch the stupid going around."

"Yeah."

With those last words, Yamawaki and his group left.

"If you're going to study here, please act like adults. Thank you," Ichinose said.

Watching her gallant departure, I had to nod in admiration.

"Oh~ you amazed him, Honami-chan," said Amikura grinning.

"S-Stop it, Mako-chan," said Ichinose with a blush on her cheeks.

"Unlike Horikita, she managed to keep everyone in line."

"Pfft! You are too direct, Kiyopon," said Hasebe with a laugh.

"But what he said is true," said Yukimura pushing up his glasses.

"I didn't intend to create chaos. I only spoke the truth."

The truth had led to chaos, though…

"Hey. He said that this question wasn't on the test, didn't he?"

"What do you mean?"

We exchanged looks. Chabashira-sensei had told us that material about the Age of Discovery would be on the test. Horikita and I had written that down.

"Did she forget to tell them?" Kamuro asked raising her eyebrows.

"Or she deliberately didn't tell them," thought Sakayanagi narrowing her eyes, from the beginning of the meeting she could already feel something was wrong but for now she didn't know what Chabashira Sae's goal was.

"Does this mean that each class gets a different test?"

"That seems unlikely. The test should be the same for everyone in the same grade."

Horikita was right. The same fundamental problems from the five main topics should be featured on everyone's midterm. Otherwise, it'd be unclear how to judge our aptitude. Had Class C learned that the test would change before anyone else?

Or was Class D the only group being left out of the loop? We were mystified in the light of this new information. What if every class's test had different social studies questions? No… What if it wasn't just social studies? What if all the test questions were completely different? If that were the case, then we'd wasted a whole week's worth of studying.

Many of the students from Class C snorted in annoyance. How come? They've wasted a week's worth of time studying material that didn't make it to the exam. And it all happened because their homeroom teacher forgot to tell them, just remembering that incident pissed them off.

Meanwhile Chabashira braced herself for what was to come, knowing she would definitely be the center of attention once again.

---

We dismissed the group ten minutes before our lunch break was over. We packed up and headed toward the faculty room. We needed to confirm exactly what the test would cover.

"Chabashira-sensei, we have an urgent question."

"Phew. Get to the point," said Hashimoto, whistling.

"The situation is very urgent for them," Kitou said.

"Quite the theatrical entrance. You surprised the other teachers," she said.

"I sincerely apologize for the sudden intrusion."

"It's fine. We're in the middle of something, so please keep it brief." Chabashira-sensei continued to write in her notebook.

"Chabashira-sensei, last week when you told us what material the test would cover, did you make a mistake? A little earlier today, some Class C students told us that the test's material would be different than what we were expecting."

Chabashira-sensei listened in complete silence and didn't even bat an eyelash as Horikita spoke. Then, she put down her pen.

"That's right. The test's topics changed last Friday. Sorry, I must've forgotten to inform you."

"HUH!?"

Everyone gasped at what Chabashira casually said.

"What the hell! Did she just say she forgot!?" Ibuki said unexpectedly.

"I heard that too, Ibuki-san. Chabashira-sensei did say that," said Shiina covering her mouth in surprise.

"What?!"

She scribbled something down on a page in her notebook, tore it out, and handed it to Horikita. She'd written down textbook page numbers that referred to material we'd already covered in class. Most of the new material was from before we'd started the group, stuff that Sudou and the others hadn't learned.

"Thanks to you, Horikita-san, I was able to correct my mistake. I'm grateful to all of you. That's all. Thank you."

"Thank You!? Is that all she said? We wasted a week because she forgot!" said Yukimura irritably, he still remembered himself trying so hard to study the exam materials only to be shocked when Kushida announced in front of the class that the exam materials were changed.

"C-Calm down, Keisei-kun," said Sakura trying to calm Yukimura down.

"Airi is right, Yukimu. There's no use getting upset now, the most important thing is that we all pass, right?" Hasebe said.

After hearing what his friends were saying, Yukimura sighed and rested his body, "You guys are right, I'm sorry. I just felt annoyed earlier."

"Don't worry, Keisei. We're used to Ken making noise," Miyake said waving his hand.

"Hey!" shouted Sudou angrily.

"See?" said Miyake grinning seeing his words come true.

Everyone laughed while Sudou just grunted in annoyance with his arms crossed.

"Wait a minute, Sae-chan-sensei! Isn't it way too late for this?"

"I don't think so. You still have one week. If you use that study time wisely, it should be easy. Right?"

Chabashira-sensei tried to shoo us out of the faculty room without the slightest hesitation. However, none of us moved.

"Chabashira, I hope this is the last time you make a fatal mistake like this," Mashima said sharply, he really didn't like Chabashira's negligence.

"Calm down, Mishima. I won't do it again, won't," said Chabashira seriously, she had stopped playing games with her students, this time she would support them seriously.

"Even if you stay, nothing will change. You understand that, don't you?" she asked.

"Let's go."

"B-but, Horikita-chan! We can't just accept this!"

"As Chabashira-sensei said, staying would be a waste of time. Instead, we should begin studying the revised test materials."

"It's not fair to them," muttered Shiranami with concern.

"They are, but there's nothing they can do. All they can do is accept it," Ichinose said softly.

"But!"

Horikita turned on her heel and left the faculty room, Sudou and the others reluctantly following after her. Chabashira-sensei didn't even glance at us as we left. I'd thought she would apologize for making such a mistake, but she didn't. If anything, I'd thought that some of the other teachers might react to this incident.

Despite the fact that this was a pretty serious mistake for a homeroom teacher to make, none of the other teachers seemed to care. Hoshinomiya- sensei was seated nearby. Our eyes met. She gave a small smile and waved hello. Well, that was something, at least. However, I didn't think that our teacher had simply forgotten to tell us what would be covered on the test.

"I also feel that Chabashira-sensei deliberately didn't tell us, her behavior has been weird ever since she revealed Ayanokouji-kun's entrance exam results. I don't know what the purpose is but I feel like it's all related to Ayanokouji-kun."

Inevitably Matsushita thought about it all when he saw the strange behavior of his homeroom teacher.

When I stepped into the hallway, the afternoon class bell rang.

"Kushida-san. I have a small favor I want to ask you."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"I want you to tell the rest of Class D about the changes to the test."

"That's fine, but…is it okay for me to do it?"

"You're the best candidate we have. There's no doubt in my mind. Besides, we can't take the test when we don't know what's going to be on it."

"Okay, I understand. Leave it to me. I'll tell Hirata-kun and everyone else."

"I'll get ready for tomorrow. By then, I should have narrowed down everything we'll need."

Horikita tried hard to appear calm, but I could sense her anxiety. That time we'd spent studying had been squandered, and we were back to square one. Plus, we now only had one week left.

However, our greatest concern was keeping the Idiot Trio motivated.

"Horikita. I know I've been difficult, but I'm counting on you." Sudou bowed to Horikita as he spoke those words. "Starting tomorrow…I'll take a break from club activities. Will that work?"

Everyone was staring at the screen with widened eyes, they couldn't believe that Sudou was bowing to Horikita, someone he hated. What's more he decided to take a break from the club and focus on studying.

"Oh, looks like the incident just now finally woke him up," said Sakayanagi raising her eyebrows in amusement.

"Maybe he didn't want his hard work to end in vain," said Hashimoto with a shrug.

"Or maybe he's just feeling annoyed with everything that's going on," Kamuro said crossing her legs.

"That…"

Considering that we had only one week left and time was of the essence, it was a rational decision. However, the offer so surprised Horikita that she couldn't immediately accept.

"Will that really be okay with you? It'll be a lot of work."

"Studying is a lot of work, isn't it?" Grinning, Sudou patted Horikita's shoulder.

"Sudou-kun, are you serious?" she asked.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm pissed at our homeroom teacher and those jerks in Class C now, too."

"Oh, you're right Kamuro," said Hashimoto with a grin, Kamuro only snorted in response.

You could call this a blessing in disguise. After being backed into a corner, Sudou had finally developed a positive attitude about studying. He probably realized if he didn't do his best, he couldn't pass the test. His declaration inspired Ike and Yamauchi.

"Guess we don't have any choice. We'll try harder, too," Ike said.

"I understand. If you're prepared, then we can work together. However, Sudou-kun…" Horikita coldly removed Sudou's hand from her shoulder. "Please do not touch me. If you do so again, I won't show you any mercy."

"Pfft ha ha, Kenchin's cool moment was instantly destroyed," Hasebe said laughing.

"Tch! Shut up Haruka!" shouted Sudou in annoyance.

"You're not cute at all, lady…"

"We're definitely gonna do this!"

"Yeah! Me, too!"

Kushida, who also seemed motivated, stuck out her fist. "Come on, Ayanokouji-kun. You do your best, too!" she cried.

"Huh? No, I—"

"Don't tell me. Did you already give up on studying?"

"I've thought about it a little."

"You promised you'd work with me. Did you forget?" asked Horikita while glaring at me.

"I'm not a good teacher. People have different strengths and weaknesses, right?"

To be honest, Horikita and Kushida were better teachers than I was. I didn't consider myself really capable of tutoring others.

"Your test scores weren't that bad, were they?"

"There isn't much time left, so it might be more effective if Horikita and Kushida work together to teach those three rather than tutoring one-on- one. Also, something else is kind of bothering me."

"Bothering…?" muttered Mii-chan tilting her head in confusion, not understanding what Ayanokouji meant.

"Something bothering you?"

What had happened in the faculty room was far too serious for me to overlook.

This time not only Mii-chan, but almost everyone now tilted their heads in confusion at Ayanokouji's words.

"Huh? What happened? Is there something we missed?" asked Shinohara confused.

"I-I don't know," Satou said shaking her head, she was as confused as Shinohara.

Meanwhile Matsushita crossed his arms in deep thought, "What, what did I miss? According to Ayanokouji-kun, the incident in the faculty room was too serious for him to ignore, but what happened was only about the change in the exam questions. Is that the case? Ugh… I didn't get a single clue…"

Matsushita clutched her head while wincing from too much thought, she then shook her head and looked back at the screen, waiting for the answer to come out on its own.

In contrast to Matsushita, the class leaders didn't think too much or rather thought nothing of it.

Sakayanagi Arisu, Ichinose Honami, Horikita Suzune, and Ryuuen Kakeru. The four class leaders already knew Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's true abilities, so they didn't need to think about what was confusing everyone because it was pointless, instead they were excited now to see what Ayanokouji would do about the problem he was about to face.

---

When lunchtime came, I jumped to my feet and headed toward the cafeteria with purposeful strides.

"Where are you going?"

Kushida had noticed me rushing out of class and followed. She popped up before me, stopping me in my tracks.

"It's lunch. I thought I'd go to the cafeteria."

"Hmm. Mind if I go with you?"

"I don't really mind. But there are a lot of other people you could ask, you know."

"It's true, I do have a lot of friends to eat lunch with, but you don't have anyone, Ayanokouji-kun. Even though you'd usually reach out to Horikita-san, you haven't talked to her today. The other day, didn't you say something was bothering you about what happened in the faculty room? What was it?"

Those who were confused by Ayanokouji's previous words stared at the screen curiously, maybe they could find out what Ayanokouji meant earlier.

Kushida, as usual, was quite observant. To be honest, I hadn't wanted to do this with anyone, but I decided that Kushida was probably fine. I'd come to learn her secret by sheer coincidence. She wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Did I bother you back then?" Kushida asked Ayanokouji.

"Not really, even the negotiations went smoother with you around," Ayanokouji replied.

"Eh, really?"

"Yeah, sometimes boys can let their guard down if there's a pretty girl around, that's why I was able to easily carry out my plan back then," Ayanokouji said casually, not paying attention to the impact his words had.

"I-I see," Kushida stuttered and blushed, even though on the outside she was trying to stay calm by putting on a smile, but on the inside she was really messed up.

"P-Pretty! Hwa wa wa wa, why did he say that! And moreover why is my heart beating so fast now. Uuu… this looks like… did I… to Kiyotaka-kun…"

Kushida quickly shook her head to clear her mind, but the blush on her cheeks hadn't gone away. It took her a few moments to calm herself down.

And… it took her some time to understand her own feelings.

And one more problem...

Because Ayanokouji was too indifferent to his surroundings while staring at the screen and Kushida who was trapped in her own world. Neither of them realized that their conversation was loud enough for those around them to hear.

The strongest reactions are produced by girls, while boys are just indifferent or don't care.

Karuizawa gave him a fierce and burning glare, if looks could kill then Ayanokouji would be dead by now. Sakura gave a worried and worried look, worried because the boy she liked was getting away from her reach. And lastly for an inexplicable reason, Horikita and Hasebe gave displeased looks, but those glances were so fleeting that neither noticed even for themselves.

However, things became more difficult for Ayanokouji in the future.

"I can tell you if you promise that you won't tell anyone else."

"I'm good at keeping secrets."

Immediately the members of Ayanokouji's group stared at Kushida, making the girl shudder under their gazes.

"Good at keeping secrets, eh…" Hasebe said with a flat look.

A drop of sweat rolled down Kushida's face, "G-Guys, I promise I won't do that again," she said nervously.

"Ha ha ha, I was just kidding. We already know that," said Hasebe, laughing.

"Mou, Haruka-chan! You worried me earlier," Kushida said with a frown.

"Ha ha, sorry, sorry."

Kushida and I headed to the cafeteria together. We navigated our way through the crowd and finally reached the meal ticket machine. I bought tickets for two portions but didn't line up at the counter. Instead, I went to the side of the vending machine and looked at students perusing the menu.

"Hmm? What is he doing?" Mori asked confusedly.

"I don't know," said Onodera who was just as confused.

"What is it?" Kushida tilted her head and looked puzzled when I began studying the machine.

"This might answer what was bothering me."

I continued observing students as they bought lunch sets from the ticket machine. After I'd observed about twenty students, my target appeared. He purchased his meal ticket and walked to the counter with heavy, plodding footsteps.

"That… an upperclassman, right?" Kobashi asked.

"Yes, I've seen him at the graduation ceremony," replied Amikura nodding.

"But why did Ayanokouji meet that senpai?" Shibata asked confused.

"Maybe it's all to do with what's bothering him," Kanzaki said looking at the screen seriously, he had a feeling that what Ayanokouji was about to do was quite important.

"Okay, let's go," I said.

"Hmm? Okay."

We quickly exchanged our tickets for our meals and sat down in front of the heavy-footed student.

"Um, excuse me. Are you an upperclassman?" I asked.

"Hmm? Who are you?" The student regarded us calmly, a look of complete disinterest on his face.

"Are you a second-year student? Third-year?"

"Third-year. Let me guess, you're a first year?"

"I'm Ayanokouji, from Class D. You're also in Class D, aren't you?"

"Why does he know?" Ibuki asked confused.

"Ku ku, don't you know, Ibuki? It's so easy just by looking at that person," Ryuuen said grinning.

"Huh!? What do you mean?"

"Ibuki-san, that senpai brought free meals," said Shiina answering in place of Ryuuen.

Ibuki paused to process Shiina's words, after a moment of silence she widened her eyes.

"Wait, if he's eating free meals, that means…"

"He doesn't have any points, and if he doesn't have any points he's definitely Class D."

"I see," said Ibuki, satisfied that her confusion had been cleared. To be honest if it was any other student, she would definitely be surprised to see that student have such keen observation. But this was Ayanokouji talking about, so she wouldn't be surprised, instead she would be disappointed if Ayanokouji didn't find out.

"What's that got to do with you?"

Kushida looked at me with surprise, as if asking, "How did you know?"

"Because he's limited to eating the free meals. It's not very tasty, is it?" I asked. He was eating the free vegetable meal set.

Everyone finally found out how Ayanokouji knew the senior class, and they had mixed reactions.

"Eh, he found out just from that hint?" said Azuma surprised.

"I guess so, haven't we experienced the same thing before?" said Ichihashi.

Because they had been in Class D for a long time, they had already experienced the same thing as that senior, eating free meals when their points ran out. But lately they haven't had that anymore because of the class points they earned and they've been pretty frugal now since their meltdown on May 1st in their freshman year.

"You're right, I did it a few months ago. Leaving that aside, I'm curious about Ayanokouji-kun's dealings with that senpai," said Ishikura curiously.

There were no complaints about that, they were also curious about Ayanokouji's actions. Because as far as they knew, Ayanokouji was just a gloomy student, but after seeing these videos, they should probably take that statement back.

"What do you want? You're really irritating." He took his tray and made to stand, but I stopped him.

"I want to ask you something. If you listen, I'll show you my gratitude."

"Gratitude?"

The cafeteria's hustle and bustle drowned out my voice. The students were all engrossed in chatting pleasantly with their friends.

"Do you still have the problems from the midterm test from the first semester of your first year? Or, if not, do you happen to know someone from your class who does?"

"Huh!?"

Everyone was confused by Ayanokouji's words, they wondered why the boy would ask an upperclassman that.

But for the Class C students to have a feeling beyond confusion, they somehow felt familiar with the current situation.

It didn't take long for the smart people in that class to realize why the situation was familiar to them.

"Wait! Exam leak paper! If this is true according to my guess, then it's Ayanokouji-kun who gets the old test questions!" thought Matsushita widening her eyes, although now it's just an assumption but when she saw the scene on the screen she was very sure that her guess was right.

Just like Matsushita, several students in class C also came to the same conclusion as her, including Wang Mei-Yu or also known as Mii-chan. The girl was now frowning in confusion.

"If Ayanokouji-kun was the one who got the questions, then why was Kikyou-chan the one who distributed them?" thought Mii-chan about the only thing that confused her.

Meanwhile, Horikita stared at Ayanokouji with a complicated expression before turning her attention forward. Back then she believed that Kushida was the one who got the old test questions, but now it's revealed that Ayanokouji was the one who did. Actually she wasn't too surprised by it, but it still left a bad feeling inside her.

Ayanokouji was doing something behind the scenes that she didn't know about, that's what she didn't like. How much does he do? How much has Ayanokouji been doing behind the scenes without her knowledge? How come he never told herself about it?

Questions like that arose in her mind, why is that? She herself did not know the answer.

But one thing for sure is that she doesn't like being left out. She wanted Ayanokouji to rely on her and be acknowledged by her, not as a tool to be used but as a partner who helped each other. Especially now that she knows Ayanokouji's true abilities, making that determination even stronger.

Horikita sighed as she leaned back in her chair, thinking that made her even more excited now to see more of Ayanokouji in this school.

"Do you even understand what you're asking?" he said.

"It's not particularly strange, is it? I didn't think it was against school rules to study using old test problems."

"Why are you asking me?"

"That's simple. I believed I'd have the highest chance of success if I worked with someone who doesn't have any points. Honestly, that free vegetable meal doesn't look good. Of course, things would be quite different if you actually liked eating the vegetable set. What do you think?"

"How much are you going to pay?"

"Ten thousand points. That's as high as I'll go."

"I don't have the old test problems, but…I know someone who does. If you want him to help you, though, you're going to need to offer at least 30,000 points. If you've got that, you're fine."

"I'm afraid that 30,000 is a no-go for me. I don't have that much."

"How much do you have?"

"Twenty thousand."

"Then 20,000… no, 15,000 should do. Nothing under that."

"15,000, huh?"

"If you'd go so far as to ask for old test problems from a stranger, then you must be pretty desperate, huh? Well, the school will mercilessly expel any student who gets a failing grade. None of my classmates are even here anymore."

"I see. I understand. I'll pay the 15,000 points."

"Fu fu, as expected of Ayanokouji-kun, sharp as ever. Because of my class' academic ability, it never occurred to me to buy those questions," thought Sakayanagi with a wide smile.

"Ku ku, so that's how he was able to escape these idiots from being chased away," Ryuuen thought with a grin.

Meanwhile along the line of teachers, apart from Chabashira, the other teachers were surprised by what Ayanokouji was doing.

"This kid, he managed to see through the little clues the school gave him and used those clues for his own benefit," said Mashima in awe.

"How did he end up in class D?" said Sakagami wonderingly.

While the male teachers were amazed, Hoshinomiya was grumbling inside her head, "Sae-chan, you're sneaky!" she thought irritably.

Due to personal issues between the two of them, Hoshinomiya didn't like this development at all. While Chabashira's class continues to advance with the growth of her students, Hoshinomiya's class is on the verge of dropping to the bottom of the class.

Chabashira stared in satisfaction at the teachers' expressions and hid a smirk at Hoshinomiya's dissatisfaction. Oh, she couldn't wait to see their reactions when she saw another genius of Ayanokouji.

"Then we have a deal. Of course, I'll have to ask you to transfer the points in advance."

At this point, after hearing the conversation that was going on, the Class C students finally fully understood the sense of familiarity they had. Of course, an uproar erupted between them.

"Wait, wait, wait! In that case, does this mean Ayanokouji is the one getting that questions!?" shouted Ike in surprise.

Many widened their eyes upon hearing Ike's words, after which one by one they finally realized one very important thing.

"Then was it Ayanokouji-kun who actually saved us?" asked Sonoda surprised.

"I think so, he's the one who gets the questions," said Nishimura admiringly.

"T-That's amazing," said Inogashira in awe.

"Yes, it's amazing," said Mii-chan with the same admiration, but something still puzzled her, "I'm still curious, what made Ayanokouji-kun think of a plan like this?"

The excitement was still going on, many Class C students admired Ayanokouji's plan and some of them thanked him.

But even so, with the facts so clearly laid out there were still people who foolishly denied everything.

"Come on, Kanji! Do you really believe that he planned this!?" Miyamoto asked in disbelief.

"Huh!? What do you mean?" Ike asked raising his eyebrows.

"I mean there's no way Ayanokouji came up with this plan," Miyamoto insisted.

"What the hell!? Then how do you explain the events on the screen?" said Ike who was surprised to see his friend's loud denial.

"T-That… must be Kushida-chan! Yes, it must have been Kushida-chan giving him instructions, there was no way the gloomy guy had thought of such a plan. Right, Kushida-chan? You're the one giving the instructions, right?" asked the panicked Miyamoto and then turned his attention to Kushida.

Kushida herself looked at Miyamoto with disappointment and disgust. She was quite happy that Ike had the common sense to see right from wrong, it seemed like Ayanokouji's words about Ike no longer completely fixating on her were true.

But Miyamoto is an entirely different case, the man is too blind to adore her and misses all the important details to the point of disgusting. He also insulted Ayanokouji with his words that made Kushida's blood boil. Therefore, she will give the behavior he deserves.

"Are you idiot?" said Kushida in the coldest tone she could muster.

Miyamoto flinched at Kushida's words and trembled in fear, "W-What?" he stammered.

In the distance, Ryuuen looked at the scene with a grin, "Interesting. Looks like she's not hiding anymore. Ku ku, things should be fun now," Ryuuen thought with a chuckle.

"I asked are you idiot?" Kushida repeated, "I'm amazed how you ignored the fact that I didn't speak at all there, and also that I'm not that good to come up with such a plan."

"T-That-"

"And don't insult Kiyotaka-kun like that again, he's much better than you" Kushida said ending her words.

Miyamoto looked down weakly at Kushida's cold words, Ike and the others looked concernedly at their friend but there was nothing they could do since Miyamoto was the one in the wrong here.

The room fell silent after hearing Kushida's words, this was the second time they had heard her cold voice in person and they were still not used to it. Even though they still had something they wanted to ask, no one dared to ask Kushida now.

Seeing that situation, Hirata decided to step up and ask on behalf of everyone.

"Kikyou-san, if I may ask, why were you the one who distributed those questions in class? Why not Kiyotaka-kun?" Hirata asked, everyone focused their attention to hear the answer.

"Well… it was at Kiyotaka-kun's request himself," Kushida said softly, the cold demeanor just now gone as if it never existed. The tension in the room gradually dissipated after that.

"Kiyotaka-kun?" said Hirata confused, he then turned his attention to the person in question, the other students also turned their attention.

Ayanokouji felt everyone's stares and decided to answer, "Yes, that is my request. Keep watching, the me over there will explain in a moment."

"I understand," said Hirata nodding with a smile. He and everyone else turned their attention back to the screen.

"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 anything and everything I can to make sure you're expelled."

"Uh-oh, you're being intimidating there Kiyopon, is that really necessary," said Hasebe.

"It's necessary for precautions in case he cheats, even if there is a transfer point record, as long as there is no written agreement on it then it will be useless," Horikita explained.

Ayanokouji nodded, "Like Suzune said, it's as a precaution. If he cheats, then my points are wasted."

"Is that what you care about?" Sudou asked frowning.

"Hey, that's still a lot of points, you know? As a Class D student, private points are needed," Ayanokouji replied.

Everyone sighed, but no one argued back. Because they were Class D fellows, they knew how Ayanokouji felt about using private points.

"You're a freak. Fine, I get it. Besides, when you transfer points, there's always a record of it. If rumor spreads that some first-year students ripped me off, it'd look bad."

"All right then. Since I'm paying you 15,000 points, can you toss in a little bonus? I want to see the answers to the surprise test that we took after being admitted."

"Surprise test? Why does he need that? As far as I remember there was nothing special about the test except the difficulty level of the last question- ah!"

Sakayanagi's eyes widened when she thought of Ayanokouji's actions, she then smiled broadly.

"Fu fu, I see, I understand. So that's where he found the clue to use the old test questions, and now Ayanokouji-kun is asking for the surprise test to confirm whether his guess is correct or not."

"All right. I'll toss that in, too. I think that your concerns are pointless, though." It seemed he understood what I was after.

"Thank you very much."

After we made our deal, he quickly left. He probably didn't want to be noticed.

"Hey, Ayanokouji-kun? What you did just now. Was that really okay?" Kushida asked.

"It's no problem. School rules allow point transfers, so there was no violation."

"You might be right, but isn't getting the old test problems cheating?"

"Cheating? I don't think so. If the school didn't allow it, they would have outlined it in the school rules to begin with. Also, I felt more confident after seeing that third-year student. That is to say, it's not unusual for students to barter points like this."

"Huh!? How did he know?" Shibata asked confused.

"From the look on senpai's face, he's not the least bit surprised by Ayanokouji's request, which means he has experienced something like this before," Kanzaki replied.

"Isee. Wow, Ayanokouji isn't your average student, is he? I don't really know him but after seeing this video I can say he's amazing," said Shibata in admiration.

"Yeah, for that we must be vigilant because he could become a serious threat to our class," warned Kanzaki.

"Huh?"

"My request didn't particularly surprise him, and he accepted quickly. This probably isn't the first time he's negotiated like this. Not only did he have the answer sheet for the first-year midterm exam, but he also had the answer sheet for the mock test we took after being admitted. If he saved those, it's clear why."

Kushida's eyes widened in shock.

Not only was Kushida on the screen, the students also widened their eyes in surprise.

"So that's it, I was wondering why the senpai still kept those old questions and it turns out that for this, I didn't think those questions would still be useful until the third year," said Matsushita surprised.

"I'm still confused, how exactly did Ayanokouji-kun come up with this plan? I don't remember seeing any clues before," Shinohara said, very confused.

"I'm confused too," Satou said.

"Ayanokouji-kun, what you did was unexpectedly daring."

"It's just a bit of insurance to prevent Sudou and the others from getting expelled."

"Thanks again, Kiyotaka," said Sudou.

"No need for thanks," said Ayanokouji, but Sudou wasn't listening.

"But, if the old test answers are useless, then it will have been for nothing. I mean, the past test questions are old, aren't they? They might be completely unrelated to what's featured on this year's test."

"That's right, there's no way the previous year's test would be the same as the current year's."

"Yeah, that's impossible. What is this person thinking? He's just wasting points."

Students outside of Class C expressed their disbelief in Ayanokouji's plan, according to them there was no way the school would use the same exam questions for years.

The Class C students didn't say anything and only grinned at the other students' words, instead they couldn't wait to see the expressions those people had when they realized how wrong they were.

"Heh, we'll see," muttered Sudou with a grin.

"The problems may not be exactly the same, but there will definitely be similarities. I noticed a hint on that last mock exam we took."

Everyone focused their attention on the screen, they wondered if they could now figure out the clue Ayanokouji was referring to.

"A hint?"

"You noticed the really difficult problems alongside the simple ones, right?"

"A very difficult problem?" said Ishizaki tilting his head in confusion.

"He meant the last question that appeared in the mock test," explained Shiina who saw Ishizaki's confusion.

"Oh I remember that. I can't answer that at all, that question is so impossible to answer as if it's on a different level," said Ishizaki grumblingly.

"Different levels…?" muttered Shiina repeating Ishizaki's words, for some reason those words resonated in her head.

After thinking for a while, her eyes suddenly widened as she managed to deduce something.

"I see, I understand now. The last question is not to be answered, but a hint. The questions were on a different level which meant they were for second or third year students. The reason the school included that question is because it's a hint to connect first year students with the years above them."

Shiina smiled after thinking it all over, her mind set on a certain boy.

"He he, as expected of Kiyotaka-kun, it's not surprising that he was able to find the clues the school gave him so quickly."

"Yeah, I did. The final questions, right? I didn't understand them at all."

"I did some investigating, and I found that those questions were on the second- and third-year students' tests. In other words, a first-year student generally wouldn't understand how to solve them. Wouldn't it be pointless for the school to purposefully throw us problems we can't solve? Those questions aren't there simply to measure our academic ability. Now, suppose that the problems on the mock test we took were exactly the same as the problems on the old mock test. What would happen?"

"E-Eh, does that mean we don't have to answer that question?" said Inogashira surprised.

"I guess so, since those are questions for second and third year students," said Mii-chan, "So that's where Ayanokouji-kun found the clue to get the old mock test, it's pretty awesome."

"If I'd seen the old test, I would have been able to answer every question," she said.

The same thing would likely apply to the midterm exam as well. Shortly thereafter, that third-year student sent me a message with an image file attached. It was the old test questions.

First, I checked the mock test. The key was whether or not the last three problems were the same. Kushida must have been curious as well, because she drew closer and tried to peek at my phone.

"Well? Well?" she asked.

Everyone subconsciously straightened their bodies just as curiously as Kushida.

"They're the same. Every single word is identical. The test from that year and this year are exactly the same, in every way."

An uproar immediately erupted in the room after hearing Ayanokouji's words.

"I-Impossible!"

"It really is the same!?"

"T-This is impossible."

"Shit, if I knew about it. I can get a perfect score!"

Everyone expressed their surprise at what was going on, they never expected that the school would use the same questions as in previous years.

Meanwhile the Class C students grinned with satisfaction seeing the shocked faces of the students outside their class.

"It's been really great, now all they're doing is sharing it," said Hashimoto impressed, he's really excited about this development as it could give him clues as to who he should approach.

"Fu fu, not that fast," said Sakayanagi with amusement.

"What do you mean? Don't they have to hand out the questions to pass the test?" Kamuro asked confused.

"Yes, but like I said, not that fast."

Hashimoto and Kamuro looked at each other in confusion not understanding what Sakayanagi meant. Not getting an answer, they decided to look back at the screen.

"That's amazing! So, if we show this to everyone in class, that would mean an easy victory! We should show this to all of our other friends, not just Sudou-kun!"

"No, we'll hold off. We won't show it to Sudou and the guys yet."

"Huh? Why? Shouldn't he be sharing it?" said Komiya in surprise.

"Could he want to take those questions to himself," said Kondou suspiciously.

Several Class C students were affected by Kondou's words, some bad thoughts seeped into their heads. What if Kondou was right? What if Ayanokouji wanted to take advantage of those questions for himself? Such thoughts arose in their minds.

But then they remembered that Ayanokouji had previously told Kushida to share out the problems, which meant their negative thoughts were completely untrue.

However, there are still people who ignore that fact.

"Ha! I'm sure he wants to use that for himself, I knew it. Kushida-chan must have awakened him to pass it on to the class," shouted Miyamoto excitedly and acted as if he had won.

"H-Hey, stop it, Soshi," said Ike admonishing Miyamoto not to embarrass himself again.

"Huh, why!? I'm the right one here, right?" said Miyamoto confidently, ignoring Ike. Deep down, Miyamoto had hated Ayanokouji ever since he found out that the brown haired boy was touching Kushida's breasts. So he wanted to take this opportunity to teach Ayanokouji a lesson.

Meanwhile Kushida was giving Miyamoto a murderous look, she was furious now.

"This fool never learns!" she growled in her heart. She was about to say something but stopped when something unexpected happened.

"Oi."

A voice sounded from behind Miyamoto, he turned around and saw Sudou standing in front of him. Sudou then grabbed Miyamoto's collar as hard as he could and lifted him up, making Miyamoto have to tiptoe to support his body.

"Stop it, Sudou!" Chabashira shouted when she saw the change in the situation, but Sudou didn't listen at all and glared at Miyamoto.

"W-What?" asked Miyamoto with a shallow breath, he was trembling with fear now.

"I hope you stop insulting Kiyotaka and spit out that crap from your rotten mouth, if you do this again then I will beat you mercilessly. Understand?" growled Sudou.

"H-Huh!? Why me- argh!"

Miyamoto was about to argue back but Sudou tightened his grip on Miyamoto's collar making him wince.

"Understand?" repeated Sudou with a sinister look, sending shivers down Miyamoto's spine.

"I-I understand," Miyamoto stammered.

After that Sudou threw Miyamoto onto his chair, making the boy cough from being pushed too hard.

Sudou didn't care about Miyamoto's state, he then turned to Ike, "Watch him, Kanji."

"O-Okay," Ike stuttered out of intimidation by Sudou's presence.

Silence fell on the room as Sudou returned to his seat, some of them were intimidated by the incident, others didn't care and were enjoying it just like Ryuuen.

"Whoa, Ken. You really scared him," said Miyake impressed.

"He deserves it," Sudou replied with a snort.

"You don't have to do that Ken. You already know that something like this won't affect me, right?" said Ayanokouji.

"I know. But his words were really annoying, so I wanted to silence him."

"Well, if it's like that, there's nothing I can do," thought Ayanokouji.

After a while the tension in the room eased and everyone returned to their shows.

"Wh-why? You went to all of the trouble of using up so many of your points for this!"

"If they learn that the old test questions would be effective, their motivation to study would go up in smoke. We need to be wary of overconfidence. After all, even though the mock tests were identical, it's possible that the questions featured on the midterm this year might not be the same as last year's."

"I see, if the old test questions were handed out sooner then everyone's attention would be drawn to it and make them abandon their study activities. And in the worst scenario, if the old test questions are not the same as the exam questions, then we will be finished," said Matsushita.

"So you could say this old test questions as insurance?" Shinohara asked to confirm, Matsushita nodded.

"Kiyotaka-kun is amazing," Satou said with a smile, she was amazed how Ayanokouji had taken everything into account.

Meanwhile Miyamoto looked down in embarrassment when he saw several Class C students, especially the girls, glaring at him for accusing Ayanokouji carelessly.

These old test papers were insurance.

"Okay, then how will you use them?"

"I'm going to release them on the internet the day before the test. We tell everyone that the problems from the old test are generally the same as the ones on the new. Then what do you think will happen?"

"That night, everyone will be hunched over their desks, frantically trying to memorize all of the problems!"

"Exactly."

The students with a poor grasp of the basics probably wouldn't be able to memorize everything in a single day. However, we weren't shooting for perfect scores this time around. The crucial thing was to avoid failing. If we got greedy, we might end up digging our own graves.

With this plan, we could probably get everyone in Class D to pass.

Horikita let out a tired sigh before turning to Ayanokouji "You planned everything so perfectly, I didn't know if I could come up with such a plan" Horikita said expressing her honest thoughts.

"Don't lower yourself like that, there is still plenty of time for you to improve. You have great potential, I can feel it. And also you just started your new life, right?" said Ayanokouji.

Horikita widened her eyes at Ayanokouji's words, after which her expression softened, "I understand, thank you."

"…"

Ayanokouji fell silent, rather frozen. He was speechless when he saw Horikita Suzune smiling gently with her cheeks flushed. It was a pure smile and it seemed like the girl didn't even notice that she was smiling.

The effect also didn't affect just Ayanokouji. Karuizawa and Kushida who were listening in on their conversation also froze when they saw Horikita smile. Their mouths opened at the sight that they rarely saw.

Horikita noticed the changes in her friends and looked at them in confusion, "What's wrong?" she asked.

Ayanokouji and the others broke free from their frozen state when they no longer saw Horiktia's smile. Kushida cleared her throat to calm herself then she held Horikita's shoulder and looked at her with sparkling eyes.

"Suzune-san, smile often, you look really cute with that smile," Kushida said excitedly.

"Huh!?"

Horikita was flabbergasted by what she heard, she then turned to Ayanokouji.

"That's a killer smile, good progress," said Ayanokouji with a thumbs up.

"What-"

"WHAT!? Suzune smiled?" said Sudou in surprise, cutting Horikita off. Because Horikita had her back turned to him, Sudou couldn't see the amazing sight.

"Eh, what? Suzune smiled? Where, where? I want to see!" said Hasebe interested after hearing Sudou's words.

"He he, you guys missed it. Suzune-san's smile is really beautiful, you know," Kushida said in awe.

"Please stop..." Horikita said weakly, she was still processing the information just now.

"I-I want to take a look, Suzune can-"

"No!" Horikita said firmly, her mind immediately clearing up after hearing Sudou's request.

"Oh, come on! Just once," Hasebe said disappointedly.

"My answer is still no. Now let's continue watching," Horikita said, leaving no room for debate.

Seeing that, Sudou and Hasebe couldn't help but give in and sigh before they turned their attention back to the screen.

Meanwhile Ayanokouji and Karuizawa watched the whole situation silently not wanting to get involved.

"Nice development, isn't it?" said Karuizawa.

Ayanokouji turned to her before answering, "Yes. At this rate I hope she can return to her old self and unlock her true potential."

"I wish you could also smile like that, like you showed in the meeting room just now."

Ayanokouji pondered Karuizawa's words inside his head, after a while he expressed his honest thoughts.

"To be honest, I still think about whether I can change or not," said Ayanokouji. The one who knew the most about himself was himself, but the question of whether or not he could change was one he couldn't answer because it was something that happened in the future, and the future was something that couldn't be predicted.

"You can do it," said Karuizawa confidently, "I'll make sure-no, we'll make sure."

Ayanokouji looked right into Karuizawa's eyes, he could see her strong determination and sincere intention to help him. Hence, what answer could he give other than sincerely accepting that determination?

"I will look forward to it."

That was all he could say.

"When did you come up with the idea to get the old tests?" she asked.

"I considered it when we learned that the test material was going to be different. However, I had a hunch back when they first told us about the midterm exam."

"Way back then!?" said the surprised students.

"Huh?! Way back then?"

"There was something very peculiar about the way Chiyabashira-sensei told us about the test. As our homeroom teacher, she had a clear understanding of everyone's grades and academic performance. Despite that, she seemed absolutely certain when she told us that there was a way for us to pass this test. In other words, she indicated that there was a surefire way for us to save everyone."

"And that's…the old test papers?"

"This might be related to why Sudou, Ike, and Yamauchi were admitted to this school despite being academically poor. Even if they couldn't get good grades by studying ahead, perhaps there were other means of addressing the problem, a backup plan they could use to avoid expulsion. This meant that it was possible for anyone to get a near-perfect score if they could get the old test papers. That's what I took from the situation, anyway."

Everyone fell silent, they were too surprised to hear Ayanokouji's words. It couldn't be helped because they could never think of things like this. Even if they could, they thought it was people like Ryuuen and Sakayanagi who could come up with this plan.

But now they find out that someone from the bottom of the class who has a quiet and aloof personality managed to come up with a plan that can save his classmates.

"Extraordinary."

"He can come up with such a plan."

"And none of us knew about it."

"I thought all this time he was just a lone and gloomy student, it turns out I was very wrong."

Class C couldn't hide their admiration and gratitude that Ayanokouji was from their class.

"Thank you for saving us, Kiyoakan-kun," said Hirata with a smile, showing his sincere gratitude.

"No need for thanks, I did this for myself," said Ayanokouji.

"Even so, it's a fact that you still helped everyone, just accept our gratitude," Horikita said sharply and demandingly.

"O-Okay," Ayanokouji stuttered, "Sigh, this character of her hasn't changed at all."

"Ayanokouji-kun, you really are an incredibly observant person, aren't you?"

"I'm just cunning. Besides, I didn't believe that I could pass the midterm without some help. I was just looking to make things easier for myself."

"Hmm." Kushida grinned like some gears were turning in her mind.

"I have one more favor to ask. Could you please tell everyone that you got the old test papers, Kushida? I want you to say that you got them from a third-year student you're close to."

"That's fine, but…are you okay with that, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"I like to avoid trouble. I don't want to stand out. Besides, our classmates trust you, Kushida. I think it would be better if you told them."

"So that's the reason he asked Kikyou-chan to share those questions," said Satou relieved.

"I understand his reason, I also probably wouldn't believe it if he suddenly came to the front of the class and handed out those questions," Shinohara said with a sigh.

"Because Ayanokouji-kun's social status is quite low in our class," said Matsushita.

"Yes, but I'm sure after this not anymore. Look, our classmates are praising him now," said Shinohara turning her attention to her classmates.

Satou and Matsushita followed Shinohara's gaze and indeed they saw their classmates talking about Ayanokouji with great excitement.

"This will definitely be troublesome for Kiyotaka-kun," said Satou laughing bitterly.

"I understand. If you say so, Ayanokouji-kun."

"Thanks. Don't say anything else, though. We need to avoid drawing too much attention."

"Okay, we can keep this secret between us."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

"Don't you feel that a strange bond of mutual trust forms between people who share a secret?"

"I don't know about that. I sure hope so."

"Thank you," replied Kushida.

I didn't really know what she meant by that.

Video ends.

"Do you really not know?" Kushida asked.

"I don't know what 'Strange Bond' you're referring to, and didn't you hate me back then," Ayanokouji replied.

"Well, I guess that makes sense," said Kushida giggling.

After that Eve announced her usual five-minute break.

---

Thanks for reading!

Sorry if there are mistakes in words, repeated words, or language errors during writing.

That's all I'm saying, see you soon.