Vol 6 Chapter 4 Part 2 COTE

"What are you doing all on your own, Sakura?"

"Hyaa!?"

Sakura jumped a little in her seat and looked up fearfully.

"Uh… A coincidence, really, Ayanokōji-kun!"

"Oh, so it's a coincidence?"

"A coincidence, yes!"

"Haven't you been looking back at us from time to time?"

"That was… that... I-I'm sorry…"

Since Sakura didn't have the confidence to carry out the lie from the beginning, she immediately confessed.

"It doesn't seem like you necessarily have anything to tell me, or do you?"

So there was no need for her to come here. If it was urgent, she would have called or sent an email.

She didn't have any errands or business here, and she's not the type who would ask someone else, so looking at it this way…

"Do you want to join the study group too?"

"Wha, why, w-why!?"

"Well, the reason is rather simple. I can see your study materials inside your bag."

It's not necessary to take all of your notebooks with you whenever you go somewhere, but a study group would be a different story.

There are a lot of students here who were studying on their own, but Sakura would never choose to study in a place like this.

"Oh no..."

She panicked a bit and attempted to close her bag, but it was too late. That reaction itself was just like saying yes.

"If you don't mind our study group, would you like to join us? I'll ask the others."

"B-but I… I've hardly ever spoken to any of them…"

Sakura couldn't get close to our table because she wasn't good at coming in contact with other people. I understood this much even though she didn't say it.

"You've come this far on your own? If it's the Sakura that I know, you wouldn't have even been able to take the chance to come to Pallet and risked the chance of meeting people."

It's no easy task to lurk alone in a place that is filled with both large and small groups of people. The idea of escaping and heading back should have crossed her mind several times already.

Despite that, she still managed to remain here, which shows Sakura's current state of mind.

"It's up to you to decide what to do. It's better not to consider just my opinion on this. You have to consider how Yukimura, Hasebe, and Miyake would think and feel about it as well."

Sakura may be discouraged by these words.

She might resent me and think: 'He doesn't want to take a stance on it and accept me.'

However, Sakura's passive attitude has its good parts and bad parts.

Since it's a matter of her progress as a person, keeping my distance and waiting to see what she chooses to do on her own is the best policy.

Of course, I have a reason to think this.

Despite being in a group now, the threshold for communication with Yukimura and the others seems to be lower than with the other classmates. I feel like that in my own way. Sakura must also have a similar feeling.

"Just think about what you want to do. We'll be staying here for the next hour and studying."

Although it seems a little cold, I left Sakura after saying only those words. Even though the cafe was crowded, if I was to spend too much time next to Sakura's seat, I would soon be spotted by Hasebe.

I casually returned to my seat. Yukimura only glanced at me and said nothing in particular.

After waiting for about 2 minutes, we were approached by the others.

"What a long wait. So, have you finished going over everything yet?"

"I'm almost done."

Yukimura sped up his pace.

"Oh yeah! That's right Ayanokōji-kun, I wanted to ask you something. Okay?"

"Stop it, Hasebe."

Miyake stops Hasebe from trying to ask something.

"Oh come on. Like, it's not a big deal if anyone else hears."

"That's not the issue. Consider the time and place, you know?"

"It's after school, and this is the school cafe, so right now is really the perfect time to start on the subject, right?"

After Miyake saw that Hasebe had no intention of backing down, he shook his head as if to give in.

What on earth is she trying to ask me?

"Ayanokōji-kun, are you going out with Horikita-san?"

"I am not."

"An immediate response? Should I say that answer sounds pretty rehearsed? To me, it seems pretty suspicious indeed."

"I've already been asked by various people before. Horikita and I don't always work together."

"That may be true. But they say that rumors about love are only half false, you know."

A girl like Hasebe who prefers to alone seems to also be seriously interested in the topic of romance.

A sensible guy in this situation wouldn't forget to check with Hasebe to see if she has a boyfriend.

Of course, there's no way that I was going to do it (it simply isn't possible), so the topic ended with that.

"Okay!"

Yukimura suddenly raised his head in full force. It seemed that he had finally finished his revision.

"Somehow, I feel like I was able to grasp where exactly the two of you are having difficulties. This is the detailed plan I would like to focus on moving forward."

He announces this and passes over the various notes he had written to Miyake.

"I tried to come up with some liberal arts questions. I'll also have Hasebe answer them too, so don't answer them directly in my notebook. Write them on your own. The time limit is ten minutes for all ten questions."

Miyake took out his notebook without any complaints about the impromptu questions. Since he understood that this was in order for him to produce the best results he obeyed the instructions. After ten minutes of struggling, he passed the questions over to Hasebe like a baton. The purpose of these questions was to conduct a more in-depth investigation of their weaknesses.

Then, after a total of 20 minutes of exams, Yukimura immediately began writing out their scores on his notebook.

"Honestly, you guys..."

Yukimura finished grading the impromptu exams, and with a dumbfounded sigh, presented them with their scores.

They mutually got three answers correct, six incorrect, and the last one was half correct.

Their exams were the same, but it was surprising that they managed to get the exact same questions right and wrong.

"You're not only good at the same subjects, but you each have the same tendency of memorizing information."

"Awesome! Doesn't it feel almost like our destinies are intertwined, Miyatchi?"

"I don't feel it."

"Ah, as always your responses are dull. But, isn't this kinda a problem?"

Hasebe returned to her senses and began to feel anxious, but in fact, the opposite was true.

"It would be better to say that this situation is perfectly fine. It will only take half as much effort to solve."

If their learning ability and tendencies are almost exactly the same, as Yukimura says, the burden should become rather light.

The number of people who need to be taught can essentially be considered to be just one person.

Of course, because they are so similar, there should also be a couple of trivial differences, but when those situations come up, as long as they follow their instructions, it should carry on smoothly.

"Do you feel like this will be easy?"

"It depends on how much effort you put in from now on. These questions were some of the less difficult ones, but your grades were still a bit disturbing. I think it's necessary for us to gather like this a bit regularly… In short, we will need to study more. Counting backward from the day of the final exam, I'd like to have seven or eight opportunities to gather. A certain amount of time between each meeting will be preferable so you can do a bit of self-studying as well. Are you three alright with this? Miyake should also have problems with club activities."

"As we get closer to the final exam, the number of club activities will cool down a bit, but let me ask to be sure."

Yukimura nodded to this natural request. Then there was Hasebe.

"Ah, let me know one thing before I answer you, okay? Is this kinda what it will be like to study normally? I don't like, like studying, but when it comes to reviewing this and that, I think I can still do it on my own. Is there any benefit to studying in a group like this? Yeah, I know that having a smart person teach me will increase the efficiency, and I came here because of Miyatchi's advice, but I'm still kinda dubious about it all."

"You don't seem to be dubious about only my teachings."

Yukimura noticed the overtone of Hasebe's response, which explained the policy.

"I'm not going to be holding a regular study group. This is because while the questions for past exams were written by the school, this time around they're going to be written by other classes. The school's problems are usually targeted at assisting to move on to university and are standardized to content that is either basic or relatively easy to study for. To put it simply, it's a matter of course. On the other hand, the fact that questions will be written by other students is an unknown. It's difficult to formulate tendencies and countermeasures for it. This is why after considering this, it's necessary to study for these exams."

Miyake was convinced with Yukimura's explanation.

"That's right. Class C is definitely going to give us very tricky questions."

"Ah, well, it's not entirely impossible to formulate tendencies and countermeasures. It might seem unthinkable to come up with the problems Class C will have for us, but what if we think of the individual who will come up with them? As far as I can predict, I think the question-writer will be 'Kaneda'."

Although I'm not completely familiar with the name, it's not one I've never heard before.

"He's that disgusting creepy-looking guy with the glasses, right?"

"I'm not too sure if I agree with that, but that's probably the guy. He's the best student in Class C."

If the Yukimura's information is correct, it would be appropriate to assume that the students who have done well in their studies would be the ones writing their questions.

"Ah, but if the problem's turn out to be really distorted, it may also be one that was written by Ryūen or Ishizaki, right?"

"That's impossible. Even if there is a trap question, it's impossible to come up with one without first having a firm background in the subject. Try to imagine it yourself. Do you think you can come up with a social studies question that can't be solved easily?"

"...No, not at all. I can't even think of a topic in the first place."

"Same thing here. What kind of social studies questions will be put on the test?"

"That's the way it is. Even if you think about it, your mind will only flash over the obvious content. Difficult problems and trap questions aren't something you'd be able to easily create even if you wanted to. If you look at the textbook and aim for the difficult parts of the content, the school will probably end up rejecting the question since the problem wasn't set up correctly."

His conjecture made a good point. However, it was just a little too weak to instill confidence.

"Is it up to the school to ultimately decide if a question is acceptable or not?"

I gave a slight interjection into Yukimura's story.

"If so, do we need to know the clear standard which the school determines a question to be acceptable?"

"That's true. If we knew that, we wouldn't have to work as hard."

"I think it's possible to figure out. In short, if Class D prepares a number of highly selective questions, and gives them to the school for review, would it not be possible to come to a clear answer to the question based off which questions get accepted?"

"Ah, that's right. That's actually a really good idea."

"You're pretty sharp, Ayanokōji-kun."

"In this case, we seem to have to submit these questions as early as possible in order to identify the benchmarks that the school has. I'll try to think about a few questions myself, but will Horikita or Hirata be willing to help as well?"

"I don't know… we're totally split up from them now, so the details are unclear."

"That's troubling. You're the only one of us who can keep in touch with them."

Miyake and Hasebe also nod almost simultaneously.

"I get it. I'll see what I can do… but don't expect too much from me."

Do both Horikita and Yukimura plan to use me as a convenient middleman for them?

"Yeah, I see."

Hasebe's doubts seemed to have been settled, and there was a smile on her face.

"Well, I don't do any club activities, so let's decide how to do this based on what works for Miyatchi, okay?"

By saying so, she gave up all the decision-making rights.

When Miyake heard this, he looked at Hasebe in surprise.

"I thought Hasebe was still going to refuse. How unusual, you don't usually want to get involved with guys."

"It seems like it would be kinda bad if I didn't join in the study group. It would be my own fault if I was going to like, drop out of school, but I don't want to get Miyatchi involved, alright?"

She appeared to have agreed for the sake of her friend Miyake instead of for her own.

"Well, that should be it for today. I plan to hold the first study session the day after tomorrow."

Yukimura summed up the first session. Did he plan on going over the topic trends and formulate countermeasures today and tomorrow?

After that, even as we announced that we were finished and left Pallet, Sakura still didn't come over to talk to us.

(Part 4 End)

(Part 5)

"This is very useful information. We definitely want to attempt to see what type of questions the school will be accepting."

After I had separated from the rest of the group and gotten back to my dorm room, I immediately contacted Horikita.

The goal was to convey Yukimura's information to Horikita and ask for further instructions moving forward.

"Hirata and I are already working on questions for Class C, but I do want to know how far we can go with trap questions. I'll share the information with you. It's great that everything seems to be going well, but can we be confident that Kaneda-kun will be creating the problems for Class C?"

"There is absolutely no guarantee. But considering the questions that Kaneda might come up with is only one way to tackle the questions during the study sessions. There shouldn't be any harm in doing that, right?"

"That's true. If this exam is full of difficult problems, even we might have to try our best to get 80 or 90 points."

If it ends up being more difficult than a test given by the school, then there will be a limit to how high we can score on it.

"By the way, how did the study group go today? If you don't mind, can you tell me about it?"

It wasn't something I needed to hide, so I told the truth about what happened today. However, I did exaggerate to her a little. I made it clear to her that I had made friends. Horikita listened and didn't touch upon that aspect at all.

The only thing she made notice of was that there were many similarities between the academic abilities of Miyake and Hasebe.

"They don't appear to be doing it on purpose, but it's still quite the coincidence."

"Right?"

It's not unusual for two people to have occasional overlaps, but for it to be this similar is very strange.

"I will keep my eye on them as much as possible, they seem easy enough to control anyways."

"Please do. In addition, there's another thing I'd like to ask of you. When Yukimura-kun's study group is taking a day off, would you please come to my study group to keep tabs on everyone?"

"This isn't what we had originally agreed upon, is it?"

"It's not any different. You don't need to teach, I just want you there for management."

The word management is vague. It's so vague that I have absolutely no idea what she means by it. To me, it's as confusing as the meaning of the term 'less than a lover, but more than a friend'.

"...What kind of management?"

I asked, which she responded to with a deliberate sigh.

"The problem is that compared to how many teachers there are, there are too many people to tutor. In any case, I can't supervise everyone. I'd like you to monitor whether or not everyone is studying well."

"The school teachers manage to teach dozens of students all by themselves. Don't be naive."

"It may be self-righteous, but teachers aren't able to supervise everyone on their own, so students end up falling behind like Ike-kun. Even if the classrooms are equipped with surveillance cameras like they are here, the situation stays the same. In class, their attitude is faked successfully, but in the end, they're not focusing on their studies, so we're being forced into a desperate situation like the one we're in now.

I had thought that I had given her a daring and resolute response, but in a single breath, she had managed to strike back and crumble my argument.

"Yukimura-kun is struggling because he isn't used to teaching, but I'm having difficulties due to the sheer number of students on my end. Ike-kun and Yamauchi-kun are particularly problematic since they're less attentive than kindergarteners are."

Ike and Yamauchi appear to be attending the study sessions, but also seem to be doing whatever they wanted to do during them.

"Do you have any objections?"

"None."

"Good."

"I can skip the night sessions, right?"

"That's fine. The night session is much better than the day one. Though compared to the boys I'm dealing with, some of the girls are the issues in that group."

I see. Was the situation that the girls who hadn't planned on participating, chose to do so to be with Hirata? Even if Karuizawa was his girlfriend, it wouldn't be bad to interact with such a handsome guy, and it might not be a bad thing for the ikemen under Karuizawa's control to rise in popularity.

I didn't actually take part in it, but the interesting scene of their study group comes to mind.

Come to think of it, Sudō's name hadn't come up as one of her complaints.

"Has Sudō been behaving himself?"

"Yes, he's working seriously. Although his level hasn't quite reached a middle school student's yet."

Study content aside, he seems to have been putting in the effort to improve his attitude.

"Please take care of me starting tomorrow."

At the very least, I definitely don't have a good feeling about this.

"By the way, other than the matter with the study group, I want to make sure of something else. How's Kushida?"

"What do you mean?"

"Has nothing particularly changed with her?"

"Certainly. I think she will be able to help out to the best of her abilities. She has also promised to attend the study sessions every day."

That's not what I wanted to ask about, but from Horikita's point of view, she doesn't seem to have anything in particular to say on the topic. After all, it was only the first day of the study sessions, so she shouldn't have had an opportunity to get to the bottom of it. But from my point of view, it's also true that I can't sit back and simply watch the issue.

"Have you already started creating the questions for Class C?"

"Of course. As a basic guideline, I plan on incorporating the opinions of Hirata-kun and Yukimura-kun to create the questions. I originally wanted to ask more people for help, but the more people we have working on them, the higher the risk there will be that someone will leak them to Class C, so this is a very troubling situation for me."

Right, the questions and their accompanying solutions are the key points to Class D's defense. Even if we try to plan out an attack, if our defense is defeated, we wouldn't be able to survive. Our test problems cannot afford to be leaked by any means. It's also possible that we might come into contact with someone who is looking to explore the information.

"Even so, it will be hard to definitively get rid of outsiders given Kushida's character and her actions so far. Aren't you unable to attend the evening sessions? It would be hard for you to have a meeting with Hirata about it."

"Well, I can't really deny that, but she can't act carelessly herself either. I think that as long as we avoid asking for her help with the questions, she won't end up doing anything out of line."

This was only mutual speculation. The actions Kushida would take moving forward are something that neither of us can predict.

"These questions and answers are the lifeline of Class D. Don't forget that if these leak out, Class D will be sure to lose."

This is something I'll have to consider separately from the desire to pull Kushida over to our side.

The present state of affairs wouldn't allow for us to leave an eyesore unattended.

"I'll avoid making any information public, but that's probably not enough to solve the issue."

"I'm not worried about the process of making the questions, it's what comes after when we make the proposals to the school. As long as the questions and answers are confirmed with Chabashira-sensei the day before the final exam, the enemy will find out what they are."

During the sports festival, Kushida had used a technique like this in order to look at the participation table.

It's more than likely that Ryūen will come to request this of Kushida again.

"That is to say, there is no way out of this other than by talking with her."

"Even then, what are you going to do if the information leaks out to Class C?"

"That situation… I don't want to think about it."

"You can't afford not to think about it. This involves the entirety of Class D. No matter how much we study and improve our scores, if they get nearly 100 points across the board, we have no chance of winning."

If our answers are completely memorized by the opponent, we lose.

"Yes, I understand that you're anxious, but I also have some countermeasures that I've been thinking about on my own. Now that it's past 10 o'clock, I'd like to come up with at least one more question before I go to bed. So can I hang up now?"

I agreed with her and ended the call. I found that the battery was low, so I plugged it into a charger attached to a socket on my bed.

The current issue is similar to the one we faced during the sports festival. This is because the questions that we make act as the lifeline of our class for the final exams just as the participation table did during the festival. Ryūen and Kushida aren't going to be using the same strategy as one another. They will certainly think of separate strategies.

Horikita said she would think about countermeasures, but I don't know to what extent they will be.

She should try to convince Kushida head on.

I'm not trying to laugh at Horikita's strategies at all. It's more like there's not much else that can be said about it.

It's just hypothetical, but if I'm going to win Kushida over to my side, I should be using the kind of threatening behavior that I did with Karuizawa. No, I'd would have to do more than that to bring Kushida to her knees. However, I still don't know the details of Kushida's past, so that's not an option for me in this situation. Plus, there's no guarantee that I can successfully threaten her since the way we each go about things is so different. They might seem similar, but they aren't really the same.

"...What am I going to do?"

Unfortunately, I can't think of any other means right now.

After I had turned off my phone and rested for while, an email arrived. It was a message from Ryūen.

After the sports festival, I had asked Class C's Manabe for Ryūen's email address, and sent him the audio file. I hadn't gotten a response from Ryūen until now.

[Who are you?]

This sentence was the only thing that was written.

"Another meaningless email…"

I'm a nice enough person to give Ryūen a response. I'm using a free address that wasn't able to be traced. He should be able to understand such a thing, and was probably the game that Ryūen was playing.

I decided to ignore the email and go to bed.

(Part 5 End)

(Part 6)

It was pretty lively with a lot of students at the library after school even though it was still pretty early.

Although it was crowded, it wasn't as though all of the students were noisily immersed in chatter.

Usually, nearly half of the seats wouldn't be filled with students, but right now it was only about 10%. Of course, most of the students weren't reading or chatting with their friends, but instead were immersed in studying for the final exams.

"Huh, so this is what the library has become?"

A student beside me muttered out of interest.

Yes, I had a little problem next to me.

It seems that Satō had decided to attend the study session, so she ended up coming with me to the library.

I hadn't been in contact with Satō after we had exchanged contact information the other day, so this was very awkward.

"This is my first time in the library. How about you Ayanokōji-kun?"

"...I've been here several times."

"I see. You're surprisingly studious."

"It's more like I'm killing time instead of studying."

"So in order to kill time, you come to the library? That's strange."

I gave a tentative answer, but I felt like my attitude had become somewhat absent-minded.

This was because I didn't know at all what type of mood Satō would have in mind. However, Satō is also a girl. She wouldn't miss the subtleties of these feelings either.

"Err… Ayanokōji-kun… am I bothering you?"

"What do you mean, Satō?"

"Hah, well, I did suddenly say that I was going to attend the study session."

"I'm not particularly bothered. Horikita and Kushida who are teaching today also shouldn't be. Honestly, I'd expect them to be happy right?"

Having someone from your class get expelled isn't exactly a thing anyone would be happy about, and there's also not any benefits to it. I attempted to somehow shift the topic of discussion with this point.

"It's not like that..."

Of course, that's not the answer that Satō was hoping for. She became a little depressed.

However, the location of the library was a bit troublesome. I whispered to avoid disturbing other students, ultimately making the distance between me and Satō unexpectedly close. I could just barely feel Satō's breathing.

Perhaps this can be classified as one of the precious scenes of youth? If so, youth may be an unexpectedly harsh thing since this situation is not a happy one for me at all. I feel unnecessarily nervous, and can't help but worry about Satō. I'm speculating on her feelings and choosing my words carefully to respond to her emotions.

The single thing that I desire the most right now is to go back home soon.

No, is that really the case?

I calmed down a little and began to rethink the situation.

I'm at a loss when it comes to things that I haven't experienced before. It's too abstract a feeling to be classified as "in love" and there isn't a clear answer for it. From my perspective of living in a world of zero or one in the past, it's only natural for my immediate reaction to be rejection.

But didn't I come to this school looking for something other than zero or one?

"Everyone is so serious, using the library and everything."

"It's pretty routine to hold study sessions here."

By chance, Horikita heard what Satō said and responded on her own.

I regained my composure and put these thoughts out of my mind. For now, let's concentrate on overcoming this study session safely.

Horikita, who had visited the library yesterday, didn't seem surprised at its current state of things.

"You two, spare me from the commotion like the one you made yesterday. Today you might not just get away with a warning; there's a chance that you'll be kicked out of the library."

"I know, I know."

Horikita found a vacant seat while admonishing the two problem children, Ike and Yamauchi. Although more than half of the seats are empty, that doesn't mean you can sit anywhere you'd like.

It seems to be a common phenomenon in every school, where the space available to the upperclassmen is separate from the underclassmen. It had become an unspoken rule that the seats next to the windows with the nice view, and the seats in the cafe near the free drinks were priority seats for the senior students.

In this kind of territorial division, the section that the first years were allowed to use was the noisy place close to the entrance. However, this time there is something else to look out for.

If possible, we want to avoid being in the vicinity of any Class C students.

"Horikita, what are you going to do?"

"If that's what you're worried about Ayanokōji, you don't have to worry about it. I've already taken countermeasures for that."

Someone in our line of sight moved in the area used by first years. A student who spots Horikita stands up and waves at us, beckoning us over.

She was a first-year student from Class B, Ichinose Honami. A total of eight Class B students were with her.

It seemed like there were four guys and four girls, so if you add Ichinose there were nine in total.

Based on Horikita's expression, this didn't seem to be accidental. She came over as if to introduce herself.

"Have we made you wait?"

"Oh no, not at all. We just got here ourselves. Right everyone?"

"Yesterday, I met up with Ichinose-san here in the library and suggested a joint study group. Since we aren't competing with Class B in this exam, I think that we can help each other out a bit."

On her own accord, Horikita made a proposal that involves a lot of people. This is what she wanted to show me yesterday.

Lights are usually followed by shadows. Ike and the others had managed to settle down before they had arrived at the library, only to have their spirits soar in a strange direction.

"Ike-kun, didn't I just warn you?"

Horikita grabbed Ike by the arm as hard as she could. He was scared just like a frog being watched by a snake.

Was this the reason why Ike had become so excited about the study session? If you're going to study together with the girls from Class B, it's understandable that he would be overjoyed about it.

"Ah! Ayanokōji-kun also came today?"

"That's because I'm close to getting a failing mark. You might have to take care of me for a while."

"That's right."

The library is a quiet place, but it's not like we're unable to have a conversation. Of course, it's still necessary to speak in a low voice. Since Ichinose had managed to secure good seats in the corner of the room, our conversation also wasn't very noticeable. In addition, the music flowing through the room wonderfully masked our voices from others. It was Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, 'Pastoral'.

I don't know who picked the song, but it's a relaxing and pretty good choice.

However, Horikita had actually thought to create a joint study group. The final exams are likely to be more efficient if it's based on the premise of actually working with each other. For example, by exchanging information between classes, a large number of people will have a relatively larger number of viewpoints to consider for writing the test questions.

But at the same time, we will also be facing some risks. If there are students in Class B who are close with someone in Class C, the information might leak out. Of course, Horikita already understands this point, but she had chosen to unite together because of the positives that it would bring.

The students from each class freely fill up the empty seats.

"Let's sit here, Ayanokōji-kun."

"Ah, alright."

Satō beckoned for me to come over, and just as she requested, I sat down in the seat next to her.

"Ooh, Satō. You've been around Ayanokōji a lot today."

"Naturally. We are a pair, after all."

To avoid looking inept in front of Ichinose, I took out my textbooks and notes after I got to my seat. Even if it's just a formality, I will have to study.

"Hey, Ayanokōji-kun. I wonder how I should study?"

"...Ask Horikita questions like that."

"Is this not a good opportunity? You're a pair, so why not take care of teaching Satō-san?"

Horikita doesn't understand other people's feelings and said such an irresponsible thing.

"There was only a slight difference between my test scores and Satō's, so there's probably nothing I can teach. I want to receive some instruction myself."

Because Ichinose was right in front of me, I quickly responded, but it might have failed.

"Is that so? I get it. In this case, I'll teach you how to study well."

She responded in such a way as if to draw out my commitment.

"Let's work hard together, Ayanokōji-kun."

"Ah, okay..."

The really troubling study group seems to be about to begin.

This hunch almost came true.

"Ayanokōji-kun you're always so calm, and you kinda give off this feeling of maturity. What were you like back in middle school?"

Satō suddenly turned and leaned forward, then looked up into my eyes and asked me. Her uniform was undone a little bit at her chest, and for a moment, her valley of cleavage catches my eye. I felt like her breathing did seem to be a little intense, so I wonder if Satō noticed this.

"It was pretty normal. Nothing particularly eye-catching or inconspicuous, and not really all that different than now. Maybe it's the reason why I'm so gloomy?"

I tried to distance myself from Satō by passing off my past as something boring.

No, it's not that Satō can't have a crush on me, but instead that there were several uncomfortable pairs of eyes that are looking at the two of us.

In particular, Ike and Yamauchi were giving me a blatantly skeptical look.

"Ayanokōji-kun isn't gloomy. Ah, should I say that you feel pretty cool or collected?"

"I don't think cool relates to me very well."

"Really? I don't know about anyone else, but I think it describes you well."

It seems that no matter what I say, Satō will interpret it to be interesting and positive.

In which case, I'll have to get out of this situation with the standard response.

"...Well, let's start by asking what your weaknesses are. Do you have your old midterm exams with you?"

"I do."

She took crumpled test papers out of her bag and spread it out. Her scores for each subject hovered around 50 points. It was outside of the failing range, but her answers were rather rough. Her simple questions were answered correctly, but the ones of higher difficulty were devastating.

It's incredible that Satō has managed to overcome all of the exams so far without studying.

"How is it? Is it that bad?"

"Yeah... We will need to study together since I have about the same..."

"Yes!"

Satō nodded in high spirits, but I wish she could have used a quieter voice.

"Aren't you two being too intimate with one another?"

Ike said this while watching our conversation from afar, and then cast us a suspicious look.

"We're paired together, so it's a given that we work with each other, right?"

In the face of his suspicions, Satō defended the test with a dignified response.

"Prepare for yourself instead of commenting on things you don't understand."

Horikita didn't care about who got along with whom, and immediately proceeded to rebuke Ike.

"Tsk, I know that."

Ike seemed very dissatisfied, but he hastily began to prepare to study.

This was really the fruit of education... He's been tamed very well.

(Part 6 End)

(Part 7)

The study session wrapped up with any issues, and all of the students began to prepare to go home.

"Ah, I'm too tired to stand!"

For Ike who couldn't even maintain focus in regular classes, after school studying sessions are simply hell.

We weren't under the supervision of the teachers, yet there was no free time so it was difficult to endure.

Ike had a radiant expression, but Horikita's eyes were cold to the sight of it.

"It's not over with just today. Don't forget that there is another study session tomorrow."

"I, I get it. Isn't it okay for me to be just a little bit happy? I've worked hard!"

As fast as rabbits, Ike and the others left the library.

"Class D seems so lively, so much so that I almost want you to share some of that with us."

"It's worse than you think, but I understand what you mean. I envy the stability of Class B."

Although both Ichinose and Horikita were desiring the things they didn't have, the environment of Class B was truly enviable.

The students participating in the study group had a higher level of capability than the ones in Class D, and they were all also very focused.

Above all, they were quiet, calm, and their intention to work together as a class was a strong one.

"Then, goodbye. Horikita-san as well, Goodbye."

Kushida also left the library with a bunch of other girls.

"Yeah, goodbye."

She did these short exchanges and left without incident. At the moment, there wasn't anything conspicuous about Kushida's approach. It felt like they were investigating and testing one another.

"Ichinose-san, can I ask you a few questions?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

"I'd like for it to just be between you and me if possible. It should only take a few minutes."

Horikita set her sights on the Class B students who were looking to return with Ichinose.

"A few minutes, huh? Alright, I'm sorry everybody, could you all wait in the hallway?"

"Yeah okay. We can chat while we wait."

The students from Class B seemed willing to accept it. Ichinose then agreed to stay behind.

All of the students in Class B and Class D finished up their work and left.

"Should I stay?"

"It's the same whether you're here or not, so do whatever you want."

For a moment, I thought she was being sarcastic, but she probably made it easier for me to stick around by saying so.

"So what's the story?"

It feels strange for two people to be alone like this despite the fact that I was also present.

Ichinose and Horikita, two people with contrasting personalities lined up shoulder to shoulder.

"Perhaps this goes without saying. Ichinose-san, you would help your friends if they're in trouble, right?"

"Uhhh? Isn't it natural to want to help if a friend is in trouble?"

"Yeah. Class B is now helping out with the study sessions. However, even if you want to help, there are all sorts of situations where it can be a handful. Situations like helping to improve academic ability, stop bullying, solve money problems, or fixing relationships between friends or teachers. People can be in many different types of trouble. Despite all of this, if a troubled friend were to still ask for your help, would you still reach out to them?"

"Of course I would. I would do everything I can."

Although the question was difficult, Ichinose answered it immediately. There wasn't a single ounce of doubt in her eyes.

"Well then, is there a clear criterion as to whether you consider someone to be a friend or not?"

Horikita was unable to find the answer due to her confrontation with Kushida.

Perhaps she was seeking relief by asking Ichinose these questions.

"Hmm... I'm a little confused. What do you mean by that?"

"For example: As long as they're a student from Class B, would you unconditionally be willing to help them? Even if it's a student that you don't normally interact with very much?"

"No matter what I think of the other person, I am a companion to the entirety of Class B. I will definitely help them if they are in trouble."

"I guess that might have been a foolish question."

In the face of Ichinose's unhesitatingly quick answer, Horikita sighed at the stupidity of her own question.

"Let me foolishly ask you another question. Let's suppose that there is someone in Class B who hates you, it follows that you would usually have a bad relationship with them. Would you be able to like that person? Or would you end up hating each other?"

"I don't know… That might be a little difficult. If the other side was really physically disgusted by me, I probably wouldn't be able to do anything about it on my own, so my only option would be to avoid contact with them to prevent irritating them further."

"So, if such a person was in trouble... What would you do then?"

"I would help them. Absolutely."

Ichinose answered this last question immediately.

"Even if they're physically disgusted by me, that would be my own problem. After all, I am a companion to the entirety of Class B."

"Class B is really important to you."

"Yup! Everyone in there is a good kid. At first, I was disappointed that I wasn't in Class A, but now I feel like I've been placed into the best class. Do you feel differently about your own class, Horikita-san?"

"Well... there is no place like home. Class D is surprisingly not that bad."

"...Oh…"

"What is it, Ayanokōji-kun? Do you disagree with something?"

I had been surprised by her praise of Class D. Horikita glared at me.

"Although it's rude of me to insert in the middle of your conversation, may I also ask you something?"

"I'll listen to anything you have to say."

"I understand that Class B is an unconditional partner. Horikita and I are both vaguely aware of that idea. I even feel that making friends with people in our same situation is something that's necessary. However, can you really say that people in Class A, Class C, or Class D are truly your friends?"

"To me, Ayanokōji-kun and Horikita-san are very important friends."

"Then, what if we run into trouble and need help? What if we begged you to borrow one million points?"

"If there's a good reason to, I would help you. The amount doesn't matter, I would do everything I could."

"Honestly... you're generous to a fault. At this rate, you'll end up trying to help everyone am I right?"

"Well, that would be ideal, but reality is not so naive. There's a limit to the things that I can do on my own, and I think I understand this. Even if Ryūen-kun was to run into problems, I wouldn't be able to help him like the others. Hmm... But, well, as long as it's no big deal, I'd still choose to help you."

Let me add something. Most people can't normally handle those 'big deals' in the first place.

"That's probably my answer. As long as I consider you to be a friend, the size of the situation isn't an issue."

"Although I appreciate it, I wonder if you can say something like that very easily. You'll welcome me even if I cry and beg for your help, right?"

"I would definitely welcome you. I believe all the people who I consider to be friends also fall into my 'partners' category."

When Horikita saw this level of goodness, she seemed to think she was being teased. She responded in contrast to her usual calm demeanor:

"So, what would you do if Kanzaki-kun and I ran into problems?"

"Choosing to help both sides... isn't allowed, right?"

"If I allowed you to do that, you'd definitely choose to help both sides."

"Nyahaha, I give up."

Being presented with a very unreasonable imaginary scenario, Ichinose is at a loss for what to do.

"Sorry, there's probably no real answer. Based on what I understand from the information available, two friends are both in trouble with each other, and both have come to me looking for help. Whichever side I choose to help, I'll both be staying true to my beliefs, while also lying about them."

The answer that Ichinose had finally arrived at was very much her style.

When she heard this, Horikita was both genuinely surprised and impressed at the same time.

"I don't believe in purely good people. I think most people are creatures that seek rewards for their actions."

The ideals that Horikita stood for, what she upheld and believed in, made a noise and collapsed.

"But after hearing your words… I'm beginning to think that truly good people may be real."

She spoke her honest thoughts, but for some reason, Ichinose wouldn't accept them.

No… Would it be better to say that to her, she couldn't accept them?

"That's... That's giving me too much credit, Horikita-san."

Ichinose has been straightforward and honest this entire time, but this was the first time her eyes wandered. She got up from her seat and went to the library window.

"That's not true. At least, you're a better person than anyone that I've ever met. That's what I think."

"I'm not such an upstanding person."

She seemed so shaken that she couldn't even look Horikita in the face.

"Really, it's not a very big deal…"

Horikita also noticed that Ichinose had responded strangely to the praise, and made amends to her.

"I'm sorry. All I had meant to say is that you're a good person. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"It's fine. I don't feel uncomfortable."

She was obviously shaken.

Based on what we've previously seen of Ichinose, I thought that there was nothing that could dampen her spirits.

But perhaps I may have misunderstood that part of this.

"Is that all you wanted to talk about? I don't want to keep Chihiro-chan and the others waiting, so I'm good to leave right?"

Ichinose stood in front of us as if looking to escape from the situation.

"Thank you for your willingness to answer my inexplicable questions."

"No problem. Well then, I'll see you tomorrow."

After Ichinose had left the library, there weren't very many students left. There were a few third-year students, as well as some who were librarians.

"Let's go back. I still have work to do today."

"Although this just repeat confirmation, what are you going to do about Kushida? The way you're talking, it sounds like you have a plan."

Horikita probably doesn't like to be asked several times either, but I have to make sure.

"She's special. In any case, I'll have to make sure to be careful with my persuasion."

"Special?"

"I've been thinking about it a lot. About what kind of school life Kushida Kikyō would have if I hadn't chosen to come to this school. I knew the answer immediately. She would be just as trusted and depended on by everyone as she is now, and she would be able to do sports and study without a single flaw. She would have carried on that way all the way until graduation. I accidentally took that future away from her. Even now she's working with our enemy, Ryūen-kun, impatiently working to get me expelled. She didn't hesitate to participate in an act of hostility against her own class. Of course, none of this is my fault. It's just bad luck we ended up at the same school. But even so, for me, it's still not irrelevant."

This was why she's trying to convince Kushida.

Horikita feels more responsible now than I had expected.

No, is it that she's just trying to fulfill her obligations?

"I have some suggestions. May I have your attention?"

"What kind of suggestions?"

"I feel like I've found a piece of the puzzle for your reconciliation with Kushida."

"What do you mean?"

"Ichinose is a good person. Whether or not she is purely a good person is another matter, but wouldn't you agree that she is a good person in general?"

"Yes. To put it mildly, she is undoubtedly a good person."

"Why don't you borrow the power of a good person and ask her to mediate you two? Honestly, having a one on one conversation with her won't get you what you want. And if we ask someone from Class D, Kushida would never reveal her true nature."

"Wouldn't it be the same for Ichinose-san? No matter who it is, as long as they go to this school, the outcome would be the same."

"Well, is there any other student who would be able to mediate it?"

"That's..."

"If you had to choose anyone from the entire school, you would pick Ichinose, wouldn't you?"

"I can't deny it. But even so, I don't think this is the right solution."

"I didn't say that this suggestion would solve everything. It's just a piece of the puzzle, a fragment that helps lead to the solution. Right now, you two aren't even able to open up discussion. If Ichinose were to mediate, the conversation would move forward."

In fact, I think the existence of Ichinose is the starting point of getting to the solution.

All that remains is the difference in the way the pieces are used.

"You've really put me in the hot seat, but I'm not going to get involved in something like this. I'm going to go meet with other people right now, and then I'm going to take care of this issue with Kushida-san myself."

In other words, she has no intentions of involving Ichinose?

(Part 7 End)

(Part 8)

After we got out into the hallway, an unexpected person was waiting. She waved and smiled, and ran over as soon as noticed us. Horikita wasn't surprised. Instead, she approached her and responded positively.

"Kushida-san, I've kept you waiting for a while."

"It's alright, there's still some time left until the appointed time. What were you talking about with Honami-chan just now?"

"Just a trifling topic."

"I'm interested. Or is it something you can't tell me about?"

Her tone and smile remained the same, but I could feel a heavy pressure that seemed to be directed at Horikita.

"Yeah, after all, it wasn't something unrelated to you. Let's talk."

Horikita began to naturally recount the conversation that she had with Ichinose, making slight changes where necessary.

"I asked her about what could be done to treat everyone equally."

"Really...?"

"I'm not going to beat around the bush about who it was about. I had been referring to you, Kushida-san."

"You see, Horikita-san. Maybe I can't really get along with you, but I'd rather you not share such a story while Ayanokōji-kun is present."

The true meaning of Kushida's words was that she didn't want Horikita to increase the number of people who knew her secret.

"Or… is it that Ayanokōji-kun and Ichinose-san now know something else?"

A sharp gaze pierces through Horikita. She accepts her gaze head-on.

"Or, I'm sorry Ayanokōji-kun, but could you please head home without me?"

"...I guess I'm in the way. In which case, I'll go back first."

I left the two of them and went to the entrance. After changing my shoes, I began my trip back to the dorms. On the way, I was called by Horikita and picked up the phone.

"You and I came from the same middle school, and because I know your past, you want me to drop out of school. These are the facts, correct?"

Then, a muffled voice came through over the phone.

It seems that she had put her cell phone in her pocket and dialed me directly. It appears that Horikita was doing me special service by allowing me to listen in on their conversation directly.

"What short notice, why bring up the past so suddenly? I don't like that topic."

"I don't want to look backward either. However, this is something we can't avoid."

"Let's see, after all, we hardly ever have the chance to be alone. Yes, sure, I do hope you disappear from this school. This is indeed because of the fact that we came from the same school, and that you know about my past."

"I've thought about it many times. I did hear about the incident, but it wasn't interesting to me as I didn't have any friends back then. All I ever heard were rumors, not the truth."

"There's no guarantee that you don't know the facts, is there?"

"Yes. That's the reason why this issue we have has yet to be buried. No matter how much I deny it, you won't be able to ignore the possibility that I'm lying to you. Not only that, I don't think you'd be comfortable with me knowing anything about the incident at all, and would choose to kick me out of school regardless."

Kushida doesn't deny it, so Horikita continues.

"Do you want to hold a bet with me, Kushida-san?"

"Bet? What does that mean?"

The other end of the cell phone went silent.

They seemed to stop their conversation and start thinking. Horikita offered to make a bet. This was not something she came up with on the spot, but something that she had thought of in advance.

"You don't like the fact that I exist. It's a helpless question, right?"

"Let's see, as long as Horikita-san is in this school, my mind will not change."

"However, we are all students in Class D. If we don't help each other in the future, we won't be able to advance to Class A."

"That depends on your way of thinking. I think that the problem will be solved as soon as you drop out of school."

"Do you have any plans on dropping out yourself?"

"No way. If anyone is dropping out, it would be you, Horikita-san."

While the quality was low and there were many choppy parts, the voices of both of them were calm.

"I'm not going to drop out of school either."

"Then there's no way. No matter what, I don't think we're going to get along."

"Yeah… Maybe so. From that day until now, I've been thinking about it. Thinking about what to do to coexist."

A solution doesn't come to me either. Even now.

"Then I came to the conclusion that no matter how much I struggled, it was impossible."

"I think so too, Horikita-san. It wouldn't be over unless someone didn't disappear."

"But we're not children. I'm not going to move forward just to pushed back again, but you still don't trust me."

Shrouded in a brief silence, Kushida then asked:

"Well then, what are you going to do? What did you mean by bet?"

"If I get a higher score than you on this upcoming final exam, I want you to cooperate with me in the future without being hostile. No, I won't expect you to help me. However, I hope you won't continue to interfere with me in the future. That's it."

"Does that mean you want to have a personal battle, regardless of the total points that your pair gets?"

"Yes."

"That's a bad bet, Horikita-san. I didn't score higher than you during the midterms. Even if we did it based on total score, it would be even harder for me. Besides, I don't think that there would be much in it for me if I won."

"Yeah. It's only natural that the odds would be relatively different. Therefore..."

At this point, Horikita's voice became very hard to hear.

"Let's base it off of the eight subjects on the final exam instead of the total score. You are free to choose a subject that you're good at. Then if your score is higher than mine, I will take the initiative to withdraw from the program."

Horikita offered an unbelievable bet.

It would be hard to establish the bet if the two people had a dramatic difference in ability.

However, everything changes if the bet includes Horikita willingly deciding to drop out of school.

It also sets a good condition Kushida by letting her pick a subject that she excels in.

If Kushida loses, there is no need to drop out, she only needs to stop attempting to have Horikita do so. While on the other hand, if Kushida wins, Horikita who has been in her way will drop out.

"This also might just be a mere verbal agreement. You could lose and then just treat the bet as though it had never happened. Of course, I also might not keep my end of the agreement. Can we really establish this bet based on just trust alone?"

"In order to avoid that kind of situation, I think I have prepared a reliable witness."

"A reliable witness?"

"If you would please, nii-san."

"Eh-!"

Kushida sounded really surprised when he showed up. So was I.

I heard Horikita's brother's words from over the cellphone.

In order to improve the credibility of her proposal, she actually enlisted such an unexpected guy as her witness.

"I'm terribly sorry, nii-san. I absolutely had to borrow your power, so I called you here."

So, the witness turned out to be Horikita Manabu. He is both the former student council president and the elder brother of Horikita Suzune.

"Long time no see, Kushida."

"...Do you remember me?"

"I won't forget the people I've met."

They were probably referring to their experiences from back in middle school. The Horikita siblings should have come from the same school. However, due to his graduation, he should be completely unaware of the situation surrounding Kushida.

"He is the person that I trust the most in this school. He should also be someone you can also trust to some extent as well. Of course, I didn't tell my brother any of the details."

"I was just called in as a simple witness. I'm not interested in the details."

"Are you alright with this, Horikita-senpai? If your sister loses the bet-"

"My sister is the one who made the bet, so it's not something I should weigh in on."

"I also swear that I will not say anything to anybody in the case where I lose. My brother's reputation would be hurt if it became widely known that his sister was the type of person who goes back on her promises. I would never behave in such a way."

This is the best absolute margin for a deal.

"You're serious, Horikita-san."

"I am someone who cannot stop and wait forever."

"Alright. I'll play this game with you. The subject that we'll compete over will be mathematics. The terms of the bet are just as Horikita-san had said earlier. If our scores end up tying, is it okay to invalidate the whole bet?"

Horikita assents to this, and the bet was confirmed in front of Horikita's brother. There was no way to back out of this for either of them.

"I'll do my duty as a witness. If one of you decides to break the agreement, you better be prepared."

Even though he was now the dethroned student council president, Horikita's brother's authority should still be large.

At least under her brother graduates, Kushida would have to keep her end of the bargain.

"Thank you very much, nii-san."

After this thank you, the phone temporarily became silent. It felt like they were waiting for Horikita's brother to leave.

"I'll be looking forward to the final exams, Horikita-san."

"Let's do our best for each other."

"Yeah. For Ayanokōji-kun as well."

"...Why are you bringing him up now?"

"Because I'm not stupid. You told him, didn't you? About my past."

"This is-"

"Ah, you don't have to answer that. Either way, I don't trust you, so it doesn't matter. I'm not going to break my side of the bet, so you can rest assured. Since Ayanokōji-kun has already seen a little of my bad side, it doesn't matter anyway."

After being sharply reprimanded, Horikita's anxiety and restlessness were transmitted to me over the phone.

"Even so, I still have to answer it. I did discuss your situation with Ayanokōji-kun."

"I know. For some reason or another, I knew this after looking at you. Moreover, are you also using your cell phone right now? I've tried calling you many times already, so it's almost as though you've been in the middle of a call for this entire discussion."

It wasn't just intuition, Kushida had both the proof and the conviction to go on the offensive.

"Can you come and join us at once, Ayanokōji-kun?"

The voice of Kushida came from afar.

Apparently, I'm being called for. It's probably better to obediently respond to her.

(Part 8 End)

(Part 9)

I went down the stairs and joined up with Horikita and Kushida.

"Yoohoo-"

Although she looks like the usual Kushida, it's impossible to know the true feelings hidden beneath her expression.

"I'm at a loss, Kushida-san. Your insight and ability to act on it are amazing."

"Thank you, but don't think of me like that. I simply regularly observe a lot of people.

"Why did you call for Ayanokōji-kun? I thought that our conversation was already over. If you have any issues with the fact that I told him something, just say it to me."

"I have nothing to complain about. It's just that I thought I'd explain things to you face to face. I was wondering if I could add another condition to our bet."

"Condition?"

"If I beat your score, I also want Ayanokōji-kun to drop out."

Kushida really proposed it. I had been thinking about this possibility since the topic of betting first came up.

"It's impossible for me to agree with that idea."

"As far as I'm concerned, if there are people who know about my past, I would like to make them disappear all at once. Even if Horikita-san leaves the school, if Ayanokōji-kun stays, the seed of my troubles will also stay."

"Maybe so, but this is my personal bet, so I cannot afford to get Ayanokōji-kun involved. If one of the conditions is to add him, it's a pity, but I won't go through with this bet."

Horikita seemed to have prepared an answer for this and withdrew her request before I could answer.

This is why she never told me about the bet. She wanted to avoid behaving in a way that would make me an accomplice.

"Well, that's a pity. I could have killed two birds with one stone and saved myself the effort."