Chapter 1

I was looking at my phone screen, waiting for something to happen.

"Ne ne, Shiro-san, look up."

Kei called me

"Wanna go shopping for some clothes after school?"

Maya asked

"Oh come on, what about points?"

I asked them. I still had about 40,075 points. I would have had more, had I not been so influenced by these girls. A certain Karuizawa Kei to be frank.

"Liven up, today is the day."

"You too, Chihiro?"

To be honest, she was the last person I expected to hear that from. Much like she me, she preferred to preserve her money, rather than spend it. She simply shrugged, then responded

"Can you blame me? I've been looking forward to today."

"We all have."

Maya added.

Of course I knew why they were all excited. I myself had been looking forward to today. It was the first day of July, and that meant we were getting points delivered to our cell phones.

Hopefully that incident wouldn't ruin it. I had decided to keep quiet about it, as spreading the story would create unnecessary confusion at the moment. Sudou had told me that they started the fight and he ended up beating them, but that was a hardly believable. The part about them starting the fight was no doubt true, but I couldn't believe Sudou fought those three and came out unscathed. They must have been plotting something, so I was on high alert.

It didn't take long for the bell to ring. I left the girls and returned to my seat at the backrow, third column. Sensei walked in, beginning homeroom.

"Good morning. Looks like everyone is more excited than usual."

"Sae-Chan-Sensei! Do we have 0 points this month too!? When I checked this morning, I didn't even have a single point!"

Ike went straight to the point.

"Oh, so is that why you guys were restless?"

"This month, we worked our asses off! We got past the midterms…. So isn't it cruel to still be at 0? We weren't late to class, weren't absent and didn't even whisper!"

"Don't go off deciding things on your own. Let me talk first. Ike, you've certainly worked harder than I've ever seen you try. We recognize that. Naturally the school understands how you feel too."

Ike sat down with his mouth shut.

"Well then, these are this month's point totals."

She put the paper on the board, and as usual, it started with A class. I was a bit surprised, because if I compared these points to before, I would say every class had received about 100 points. Every class except for Class D of course.

Class A was leading with a total of 1004 points, whereas Class D was at the bottom with an amazing 87 points. Quite the gap.

"….Not a pleasing development. Have they already figured out how to reliably increase points?"

The girl sitting next to me, Horikita Suzune must have been thinking out loud, because she would know that I wasn't interested in whatever she had to say. It seems she was worried about the other classes. Contrary to her, most of the students only cared about our class points.

"Huh? Is that, 87… did we actually increase our points!? Woohoo!"

Ike jumped up in excitement. We had successfully earned 8,700 private points. Not much compared to 100,000 private points, but I could live with that.

"Don't be so excited already. All the other classes increased their points about the same amount you guys did. The gap didn't get any closer. This looks like a reward for just passing the midterm. Everyone was paid about a 100 points"

Everybody, including class D, huh? Which meant our points were actually in the negative. Is this because of Sudo or how attitudes at the beginning of the term.

"I see. I thought it was strange that we were awarded points so quickly."

Horikita seemed to be also disappointed by the results.

"Are you disappointed, Horikita? Because the gap has slightly widened."

The cause of all my suffering, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka asked.

"It's nothing like that. I got something out of it this time, after all."

Oh? I take back what I said earlier. I was interested in what she had to say now.

"What's that?"

I asked her.

She looked stunned. I snapped her back into reality and just as she was about to answer me, Ike interrupted.

"What do you mean you got something out of it?"

He had drawn everybody's attention and this caused Horikita to sink back into her seat. Seems like she had no interest in sharing with the class. Or was she shy?

Yousuke Hirata-kun, then stood up, coming to Horikita's rescue.

"The deductions we got during April and May…. In other words, along with whispering and being late to class, there were no deductions, is what I believe Horikita-san was saying."

Was that it? If so it seems I got excited for nothing. I looked at my note book and began drawing out of boredom. I ended up drawing a chicken. Why? Don't ask me, my hands did all the work. I hadn't been paying attention until Ike asked,

"Huh? Then why didn't we get any points?"

"This time, there's a bit of trouble. The points for the first years were delayed. Sorry, but you'll have to wait for a bit longer."

"WHAT!?"

I have absolutely no idea why it happened, but I suddenly screamed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As soon as it was lunchtime, I decided to head for the library. I heard that Shiina-chan had gotten back from the hospital some time back, but I had never gotten the chance to see her. Thinking that I might have been able to meet her in the library, I always came here during lunch to see if she was here. It seems I was lucky today, because sitting in the far corner, was Shiina. She looked so involved in the book that I just didn't want to disturb her. I was glad, because she looked healthy.

Shiina Hiyori was a Class C student and also my reading buddy. I had never seen anyone who liked books as much as I did. Except for maybe that person. So instead, I would just say 'hi' then move.

I got close to her without she noticing my presence. I tapped her lightly on the shoulder and she lifted her head up.

"Hey."

I waved at her with a bright smile. Her eyes sparkled for a moment and she had a shocked look on her face, but it soon changed to sad expressions. It was a forced smile. Its like she wasn't even trying to hide that something had happened.

I sat down across her.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Please, whenever somebody says that, it means something happened. So what happened?"

She let out a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry, but I'm a bit busy now. Can we talk later?"

OK. So, that's a first. Shiina had never responded like that before. Anyway I would respect her wishes. I don't want to create another scene today. The embarrassment from that time is still getting to me. Why did I do that?

"Very well then, I'll see you later."

I left Shiina-chan and walked back to my classroom. I wonder what caused her to react that way towards me.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After school, I began packing up my stuff.

I wanted to catch Shiina before she got to the dorms, but then something I had been anticipating happened.

Like he normally does after school, Sudou was trying to quickly leave the classroom for basketball practice. However, this time, Sensei stopped him.

"Sudou. I have something to tell you. Come to the staff room."

"Hah? What is it? I have basketball practice now."

Sudou showed her his uniform as proof.

"I already talked to your advisors. You don't have to come, but youll face the consequences later."

Sudou tensed up. I was guessing she was talking about the fight. It seemed Sudou was also thinking same because I caught him eyeing me.

"What the hell… Is this going to end quickly?"

"That depends on you. Just by staying here, we're wasting more time."

Sudou clicked his tongue and reluctantly followed after sensei.

I myself quickly left the classroom and headed towards Class C. When I got there, I bumped into a girl.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

The girl complained. It was Manabe-san. I hadn't really talked to her much apart from the time at the library when we first met.

"Oh, sorry. I was in a bit of a rush."

She eyed me for a while, but then changed moods instantly, replacing her frown with a smile.

"Shiro-chan?"

Umm… I don't remember being on a first name basis with you, but ok.

"Yeah, that's me. And you're Manabe, right?"

We were just acquaintances from the time I was searching for Shiina who had been hospitalized. I had entrusted her with one of Shiina-chan's books. She was supposed to call me as soon as Shiina had returned from the hospital, but she had never made any sort of contact with me.

"I haven't seen you since that time. What brings you here?"

"Funny thing about that. You see, remember when I told you to call you as soon as Shiina-chan comes from the hospital?"

She started scratching her head.

"Oh that? Sorry but I forgot."

"Yeah, I could sort of tell. Anyway where is she?"

"Oh, she already left."

"Hmm? For real?"

Seems like I was too late. She had already returned to the dorms. Airi too had strangely gone to the dorms earlier than usual. Maybe its because of what happened the last time. I presume she must have seen the fight between Sudou and the three class C students and ran away. Kei and the girls were probably aso in dorms, seeing as they didn't get any points to spend.

I went to the dorms alone. Today was a really bad day for me.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

KUSHIDA POV

Today was turning out to be a bad day for me. I had run low on points, so I was excited since we were getting our points today. However, they didn't come and when Chabashira-sensei we were informed that the school was experiencing some minor issues. She said our points would be delivered later, that is if we still had any point left.

I managed to get through the day quietly but this night was horrible. That annoyance, Sudo, a delinquent in my class, gave me a quick call, saying that he needed my help with something. When I asked what he told me he had gotten into a fight with three class C students and he had beaten them up. Apparently they lodged a complaint against him and it was a whole mess.

Seriously, that idiot had created a huge mess. I then went to the only person I thought could help. Ayanokouji-kun. He may have seemed like the quiet uninterested type, but I was always good at reading a person. I could tell he was better than what he let on. That incident where he got the old exam papers from the third year, proved he was cunning.

Together with Sudo, I went to Ayanokouji's room. It was a quite plain and uninteresting. Seriously, he had nothing in his room. It were almost as if he didn't live here. When we told him, he asked us to talk to Horikita. I wanted to glare at him, since he knew why I couldn't talk to Horikita. But because Sudou was here, I restrained myself.

The worst thing was happening right now, while the three of us were discussing what steps to take.

ZZZZZ!

My cell phone vibrated during the conversation. I took the phone to find out who it was, and it was from an unknown line. That was interesting, since I had acquired the number of many students in my grade. I saw that the person had sent a video with a message saying "Hey".

I don't know why, but I felt like I shouldn't be in Ayanokouji's room while watching it, so I decided to leave.

"I'm sorry but could you guys excuse me for a few seconds?"

"Sure"

"Yea, just hurry it up."

It didn't take long for me to get outside and luckily, there was no one walking around. I then played the video and was shocked to see it. It was a video of the night Ayanokouji found out about my true personality. The person had recorded a video of the incident, clearly and with good audio too.

"How!?"

In shock I screamed and dropped my phone. I wanted to be as far away from it as possible. Someone else knew my secret. The person had been watching me an hadn't said anything till now. Why?

"Kushida!?"

"Is everything alright?"

I could hear Ayanokouji and Sudo through the door. I scrambled towards my phone.

"Y-yea, everything is fine."

I tried to go for a cheery tone, but I don't think I managed it. I was so shaken up by the video. I took it and texted the person back.

ME : Who is this?

Surprisingly, the response was quick

STRANGER : Oh? So you were awake? I thought I would get to talk to you tomorrow.

ME : Cut the talk. Who are you? What do you want?

STRANGER : Crimson Red eyes, a crooked nose, and a black hat. Glares like ice, wart on her face, now who is that?

This person was getting on my nerves.

ME : What's with this riddle? What do you want?

After that, there were no more responses. No matter how many messages I sent, the person did not respond. I was in trouble. Someone had seen me talking to Ayanokouji. But how? There should have been no one there.

I scratched my head thinking of who it could have been. Nothing came to mind about that night. Ayanokouji had seen my ranting on about  how I hated Horikita, but I was safe because I managed to blackmail him with false evidence. I also made sure to look around, but there was no one else. What is happening?

I looked at the riddle once again. This was a kindergarten riddle. Not very creative at all. Still, this riddle was meant to tell me the person's identity. All I could get was Witch. Still, the person added their own bit to the normal riddle I remember. Crimson red eyes. Seems this mysterious figure wanted to be known as Witch.

What the heck!?