Chapter 32

Class E got distracted soon after Karma's reveal, with the interclass baseball competition.

Sugino's worsening relationship with his friends on the baseball team, lit a fire under the class. They ended up training with Koro-sensei for the match.

Gakushuu and Karma had no time to meet, not even crossing by occasionally. Gakushuu cursed the placement of class E in his head.

He was trying to decrease the sudden rise in resentment for Karma in class A while trying not to reveal that the girl in the picture was him.

Apparently, a girl from the broadcasting club had captured the moment on her phone, but she hadn't been able to even tell Gakushuu where she had taken the picture.

When the inter class baseball was announced, the class drew an unprecedented amount of energy out for Gakushuu's pre-event training. Even Ren seemed frustrated beyond belief.

Either way, they wouldn't be confronting class E, so he didn't see much harm in them working out their energy.

The girls played almost more ferociously. Anaya and Hinata especially had a fire lit under them.

Gakushuu would have been thankful if the girl wasn't actually him in the first place.

He wasn't sure if he should be relieved or not about class A being completely unable to play against class E.

On one hand, discrimination. On the other, class A would either destroy class E or self destruct tremendously.

Self destruction being more likely.

Class A managed to win the first match and lost the second but that was a bitter struggle where the other class almost conceded at one point.

Then they gathered to cheer for Mori, who was the only one amongst them in the baseball team against class E.

Thankfully, he generally didn't give a fuck about class matters. So Gakushuu held out hope.

The hope died a sad death when he saw Mori glare at Karma along with half the school.

Karma shot Gakushuu a confused look and Gakushuu shrugged in response, an amused smile flickering over his face for an instant.

Karma rolled his eyes at him before turning back to face his classmates.

Class A stubbornly held out under the heat, in spite of Gakushuu's requests otherwise, and boo'ed for every single play Karma was involved in.

At a certain point, Karma stopped trying to stifle his grin and openly mocked the loudly boo-ing crowd.

(Gakushuu laughed).

It wasn't as funny when Gakuhou came to the field.

Class A changed targets and stopped booing, though that didn't stop the rest of the school. A few got uncomfortable at the confrontation and left.

Gakushuu stayed and watched the coach get carried off. Then watches his father encourage the baseball team.

Or could it even be called 'encourage'?

Some of them looked dazed. They played aggressively against class E, risking their bodies in a way that was unlike the way athletes should play at all.

They took risk after risk, pulling off plays at times that were high risk, low return. The strategy changed completely into something much more brute strength instead of the steady gain of points they had been aiming for.

A tension, even unlike an official game, fell over the field, and suddenly, Gakushuu noticed students start to silently rooting for class E's victory.

When Karma stepped into the baseball range, Gakushuu wasn't looking at Karma or even Shindo, the batter. He was looking at Gakuhou.

Gakuhou was staring at Karma with a scrutinizing expression, something ugly underneath. He turned away from the two confronting Shindo to look at class E and then Koro-sensei.

When the baseball team finally collapsed, Gakuhou was staring back at Gakushuu from across the field.

Gakushuu felt a shiver of premonition watching his father walk away.

Gakushuu put together a fee more things after that.

The girl from broadcasting being unable to remember where the pictures were taken, the perfectly edited lone picture in her phone, her lack of memory of the event itself.

Then Shindo, a trained athlete aiming for nationals playing aggressive enough to injure himself for a meaningless school event. A blurring memory, actions led by a single meaningless motivation, and finally, a deep reluctance to hurt causing a breakdown mid game.

His father keeping a hand on Shindo as he whispered encouragement to the rising star that almost made him throw his talent away.

He was putting together a pretty ugly picture, and worse yet, no one else was.

Gakushuu was the student council president. One of the roles of the student council was to carry out the will of the Principal.

Gakuhou was subtly increasing the workload of the main building, the range of topics increasing ever so slowly to include almost twice as much.

Gakushuu and the motivated class A burned through the constantly updating syllabus at a fast pace. The Principal, pleased, increased the workload more.

The finals were always more difficult than the midterms, but the pace, even in the start, felt almost unprecedented.

While Karma was mostly freed up again, Gakushuu was practically drowning in work. Never mind Karma, he didn't have enough time to stay updated with his own class.

He tried not to let it affect his schedule, but his sleep time had decreased to an almost risky degree, even with Ren, Anaya and the people around him helping out.

They were still busy with their own matter too 

Even Kiyoko, his Vice President, had started eyeing his eye bags with pity.

Overall, Gakushuu was absolutely not prepared for Karma interrupting his music class by setting off the fire alarm, then grabbing him and making a run for it.

Gakushuu got dragged off to Karma's house for a nap with the cats, and a surprisingly quiet evening. And also the absolutely delicious sorry-for-making-you-miss-lunch snack.

Gakushuu was, once again, reluctant to go back home, but forced himself to, anyway. He slept through dinner, a call from his music teacher, and somehow woke up in time to finish his homework and rush to class the next day.

Even amidst his tiredness, he didn't miss the quick addition of a teacher in class E, and then back out again.

He didn't ask about it, and neither Gakuhou nor Karma provided him with an explanation.

The pool opening up was just one more problem on his list of work he had to do. The maintenance, overseeing of work, and even the daily check, almost half was under the student council preview.

Gakushuu barely had time to implement more efficient systems between all his work.

The work slowed down as the heat rose and the transition period between the seasons got over. Most of the work would be done by other staff, not unpaid students, thankfully.

That meant that Gakushuu had more time to prepare for his finals, along with his class. He arranged the pre-exam tests and everyone tiredly bragged about their marks.

They had somehow kept up with Gakushuu's studies through sheer resentment alone. He was honestly surprised his classnates weren't dying due to caffeine overdose already.

He had no excuses for himself aside from genetics that let him stay awake and functioning as long as he was. His classmates didn't even have that.

To be able to keep up with his study schedule, no matter how busy he was...

He was genuinely impressed by how much they actually hated Karma.

(He was also surprised by how much they had managed to read up on his feelings throughout the years.)

He had managed to go to Karma's house once, but it had been an unplanned gap in his schedule so Karma hadn't been there.

Gakushuu had ended up playing with the cats, stole some of Karma's pre-cooked food before leaving for his next lesson.

And then the finals began with a bang.

Or, an almost fight, as it went.

Apparently a few of class E planned to study in the main school library when they were spotted by the oddest combination of people- Seo, Hinata, Anaya and Koyama.

He had no idea what they were doing together, but they caused a ruckus through the school.

There had been taunting, resentful words and at one point, Seo going overboard. Oddly, everyone actually approved of Seo's dramatic personality this once.

Even Anaya, who had taken the abrupt challenge to class E for the finals marks, on the go.

But everyone had been startled when class E had responded to Seo's 'betting his life' by grabbing the nearest deadly object and pointing it eeriely close to the students' lethal points.

That was when class A started baring their teeth too. And it started from a surprising person.

Hinata had snarled (apparently) and grabbed hold of Nakamura Rio's hand and dared her to stab her in the public library. She threatened to sue her to hell and back until she couldn't take a foot into proper society.

Anaya had been extremely impressed and completely unbothered by the pencil that stopped right in front of her eye.

She had given them a cold smile and told them to accept their bet unless they all wanted to be sued for attempted murder, with dozens of witnesses.

Class E, had been completely riled up.

Class A, was similarly riled up.

Class A didn't really care about the conditions for losing, just that they could rub it into their faces after.

So Gakushuu had just assigned class E mandatory, year long servitude to the Self Defence club. Which was funny because they were basically mini-assassins.

And something they might or might not have time for, but since he was the president of the club, he would decide to just cancel the whole thing if they couldn't.

He could always do with more people who actually knew what they were doing, but they weren't really necessary.

On the other side, Isogai was looking at the recently received email from Gakushuu about class A's part of the deal and frowned at the message he had just sent.

Okinawa trip for club attendance was far too uneven a bet. He would have immediately changed their terms of the bet, if half the class hadn't been reading Gakushuu's email over his shoulder.

It was Karma who stopped the few people from class from resending new terms for the bet.

"Isn't this fine as it is?" He said, interrupting his class from their arguments.

Isogai frowned at Karma.

"His side is losing out though," he pointed out, upset.

"That's because we don't have anything to offer them," Karma shrugged casually, "and do you think if we lose, Gakushuu wouldn't put us to work, in spite of the assassination we actually need to do? He's asking for time we can't give him, because our assassination skills will suffer," Karma lied through his teeth, unflinchingly to the whole class.

Nagisa and Isogai gave him a few odd looks, but most people weren't really personally acquainted with Gakushuu, and to be fair, Karma was actually the closest person to Gakushuu aside from class A.

Though class A seemed to intensely hate Karma one-sidedly, from what they had seen.

"I wonder how you became friends with him in spite of your personality, Karma," Isogai shook his head while the class got convinced by Karma's words.

"That's because we aren't friends," Karma smirked, completely honest for once.

Isogai raised a doubtful eyebrow. Karma simply shrugged before going back to bothering Nagisa.

Koro-sensei nurufufufu'ed in the background and everyone ignored it in favor of talking to each other.

The finals started with anticipation and confidence for class A.

They were certain at being able to capture victory. Gakushuu wasn't sure about the state of class E students, but he still felt relatively certain that beating class A for top scores (his scores) would probably be impossible, or at least very difficult.

Gakushuu couldn't imagine someone actually beating him.

He ignored the three people that automatically popped into his head.

Gakuhou was his father and Itadori was his senior, and he wasn't sure if Karma would actually manage to beat him, because well, he did have a bit of a cheat too.

No matter how good Karma was, beating Gakushuu in middle school when he had half remembered memories of some random woman in his head was almost impossible, right?

He was pretty sure he could beat Itadori too, and his father-

Well, maybe another day.

The exam week ended almost as quickly as it had started.

The moments of anticipation for the upcoming exam, the stress of preparation and the delight of high scores in Gakushuu's tests faded into simple exhaustion.

And then finally the results were unveiled.

Asano Gakushuu was still rank 1, but he was no longer unrivaled.

Hinata and Gakushuu had tied for second place in Science, while Okuda Manami got 99 and became the highest scorer.

Gakushuu had 99.5 in English, and normally it wouldn't be a problem, except Nakamura Rio had actually received a full 100.

Maths and Social Studies was completely dominated by Gakushuu, but Gakushuu must have fallen asleep because he was pretty sure he saw a second 98 in his scores in Japanese.

Gakushuu had literally never scored worse. Even his classmates were staring at Gakushuu's eye bags and wondering if the lack of sleep had caused his unprecedented lower marks.

He had lost a total of a rounded up 5 marks. He had never lost 5 marks as Gakushuu for anything.

He wasn't even surprised at being called to the Principal's office. Class A didn't even care about the bet, they were simply concerned about Gakushuu.

(And he didn't miss the 'rank 13 Akabane Karma' written on the overall score either.)

Gakuhou didn't talk about the bet at all, only about Gakushuu's sudden drop in scores.

He promised to get his sleep schedule up straight, with a threatening smile, and managed to leave without losing anything.

But class A winning meant nothing to them. In fact, class E had done something almost unprecedented.

They had bested Gakushuu in 2 different subjects.

Gakushuu had been sure that class E wouldn't have been able to actually reach him. He had been arrogant.

Gakushuu hadn't gotten his scores because of something miraculous happening in past life, he had gotten them because he worked for them.

The midterm's failure on the class E's end, even after he ended up sending them his notes wasn't the end all, be all. He hadn't focused much on it, but it had been a frantic time for class E.

The few people who had managed to score well were exceptional. Okuda Manami and Nakamura Rio were in the top 50 then too.

Gakuhou hadn't mentioned the bet at all because he won, but that also gave him leeway.

Gakushuu went back to his class to tell them about his plans.

The end of term assembly, once again, gathered all the students in school including class 3-E.

E class formed up in a group, their shoulders hunched up defensively, even though no one had pointed fingers at their loss. It had been an obvious loss, and everyone thought that.

They themselves did too.

Class E also thought that once again, no matter how hard they fought, class E was always meant to be the Dead End class.

They weren't the same people as they were in the start of the term, but that also didn't mean they were different people.

Gakushuu entered the hall un-assaulted, his class behind him. They started spreading out, some carrying out the council duties Gakushuu was supposed to while he talked to class E.

His eyes swept over the students of class E, stopping for a brief moment on Karma, who looked him dead on. His eyes warmed, but he gave the class his polite smile.

"We lost the bet," he announced straightforwardly. "Six people in class E managed to beat me."

Six? Every student's brain stuttered for a moment, before the whole hall turned in unison to stare at the four Home Ec. high scorers.

They all stiffened, their eyes widened as they stared at class A, who had turning up their nose at them.

Gakushuu smiled.

"I have never been beaten in English before," he stepped forward, lowering his voice to talk to the class. He seeked out Nakamura Rio's blonde hair among class E while they stood gaping.

He nodded in acknowledgement at the flustered wide eyed girl, then again at Okuda Manami. She got flustered as well, making a soft panicked noise when their eyes met.

"Congratulations on your win. I hope you have fun on the trip," he smiled, nodded and joined Hinata, who he had forced to take over his duties as Student Council President until he was done talking.

He left Isogai thanked him, and rest of the class stood gaping.

"I can't believe you just gave up your win like that," Hinata grumbled at him the moment he reached her. He laughed.

"It was the class' win, we all gave it up," he physically turned her away from the mic stand she had been about to break.

"As if. Even if we had a majority of the highest rank, the only one competing for the highest scores has always been you," Hinata's shoulders dropped. Gakushuu patted her head.

"You tied with me," he reminded, "and Ren did well in Japanese too. Just because you don't get consistent 100s doesn't mean you're not amazing. I failed to get the top scores in a few subjects too, does that mean I've become a failure?"

Hinata stiffened at his reasonable tone then sighed with a pout.

"Kimi said the same thing," she admitted, "but I don't like that you gave up your win to them. Even if it's for a good cause," she dropped her voice to an almost imperceivable level.

Gakushuu won, but winning here didn't just mean he had better scores than class E. Class E wasn't just a simple class.

No matter how reluctant they were, Gakushuu would force them to accept the Okinawa trip. Or send them to another beachside place.

Water was Koro-sensei's biggest weakness yet and the class needed to be together for the assassination attempt.

Gakushuu wanted them to win, so giving up the trip to give them a good opportunity was easy enough.

Besides, he had a better plan for his classmates. After all, they had studied quite hard too. They deserved some fun time together too.

Gakushuu might not like what would await him at the end of the day, but he would make do.

Just like always.