Study Group

"First of all, here, solve this problem." Horikita handed papers to us. The moment I read the math problem she just handed me, I frowned and looked into Sudo's paper.

"Hey, why is my problem much more complex than Sudo's?!" I complained while pointing at Sudo's paper. Despite having a much easier problem, Sudo didn't look like he knew how to solve it.

"Just focus on the problem in your paper." Horikita coldly dismissed my complaint and continued staring at her notes.

'So she really saw my individual quiz results. Is she trying to find out my limits or whether I was just lucky? Anyway, I don't really gain anything by solving it either way.'

10 minutes passed since Horikita's task to solve the math problems and I got to the middle of the solution before I gave up and told her I don't know necessary math formulas to solve it.

"Ugh! I can't take this anymore! I don't understand anything! How is it study group when all you have done is hand out problems for us to solve?" Sudo finally lost it and cross out his entire paper from the corner to corner.

I was honestly surprised he managed to keep the act for 10 minutes straight.

"It's one thing to be incompetent and stupid, but you can't even keep your focus on studying for more than 10 minutes."

"What's it to you?! -"

And they began arguing as I expected though it was more like Horikita was insulting and trampling on his dreams. I genuinely felt like Horikita was going a bit too far with the way she was looking down at him.

'Is this still based on the original? She seems more ruthless than I can remember and Sudo is more aggressive than before...Is it because of Kushida's absence?'

"Even Ike-kun who used to be the same idiot as you until recently has shown that he can be more if he puts in the effort. You are getting left behind by your friends and even your dream is secretly distancing itself from you without your knowledge...I pity you."

"What did you say?!" Sudo slammed his hand against the table as he stood up and caught Horikita by her collar.

"Sudo, calm down" Yamauchi and Ayanokoji tried to peacefully calm him down without touching the hot iron.

"Sudo, that's enough." I caught the wrist of his hand that was holding Horikita's collar. Reason for that? I certainly did not do that with foolish thoughts of raising Horikita's affection if it would even increase. No...I had other reasons in my mind.

"You-!" The moment I touched him, he glared at me and instantly changed his target. He was already angry enough but I knew Horikita's sentences mentioning me only added oil to the fire which served me well.

He let go of her collar and grabbed mine which honestly started making me feel annoyed. I hated Sudo's type of people who only knows intimidation action "Collar-grab"

'Even with this weak body, I can headbutt you in your nose and then knock you out with even the weakest punch in your chin. What's the point of this action?' I had to admit that Sudo's height was quite impressive and his wild appearance definitely made him more intimidating than much more dangerous people like Ayanokoji.

Maybe Sudo was expecting me to back down or back him up against Horikita, however, I had no plans of doing that...for his own good.

"Heh" I snickered and showed a mocking smirk while staring right into his eyes.

"?! What's so funny you fucker?!" Sudo like everyone else was surprised by my unexpected response. He shook me by my collar a few times while tightening his grip which indicated that he was truly on the border.

"Are you also going to grab Chabashira-sensei's collar once she tells you that you failed and are about to be expelled? I would certainly love to see that though I would most likely place my points on Chabashira-sensei, sorry." Since Sudo was too tall, I tilted my head back to make it look like I was looking down on him but I think my mocking tone was more than enough for him to take action.

"?!" Sudo finally recovered after hearing my next words which prompted him to punch me in my right cheek.

*bam* I fell down and knocked a chair on the ground with my back. I must have bit the inside of my cheek since I could feel a metallic taste inside my mouth.

Iron Will lv. 1 (11/100) -> Iron Will lv. 1 (12/100)

"SUDO!" This time, everyone raised their voice aside from Ayanokoji who instead approached me as if to check if I was alright.

"....Tsk!" Sudo seemed a bit surprised by his own actions but he still just clicked his tongue.

"If I were a student from a different class and reported you assaulting me just now, what would you do? With just this one incident, I could end your entire career as a basketball player" I took a napkin out of my pocket and spit my saliva mixed with blood into it. I was still sitting on the ground and staring at Sudo.

"Tch!" Sudo didn't reply, instead he grabbed his bag and left without saying a single word.

When I glanced at Horikita had her eyes wide open as if she just realized something.

'Did she realize what I was trying to do?'

"Are you alright?" Ayanokoji finally asked me when the "bully" left.

"What do you think, my saliva is mixed with my blood. Of course, I am almighty fine." I said with a sarcastic tone but a smile never disappeared from my face, though I wasn't smiling to reassure them.

'This one punch and taste of my own blood made me recall those times I was causing trouble at my old school. While I promised myself to never go back to that life, I couldn't help but ache for that thrill once in a while.'

.

.

This study group ended up as a failure and no one was really interested in studying after what happened so Yamauchi got up and left. I couldn't help but glance at Horikita who was still sitting peacefully in her seat before I glanced at Ayanokoji who was about to leave too.

With Kushida absent, I wonder if he is going to see Kushida's real self and I wondered if he was even planning to get the old test papers without her involvement. I can't have that... I won't be able to take a place in the top 5 without them and I don't feel like paying for them either, sorry for being a cheapskate. In that case...

"*SIGH* This is so exhausting." I released an exaggerated loud sigh to garner Horikita's attention.

"What is?"

"The studying and helping others study. Why can't we just...I don't know, get old test papers from the upperclassmen?!" I laid my head on the table and muttered in a tired manner.

"And you think they had exactly the same questions as we will have on our midterms?" Horikita raised her eyebrow and I noticed that Ayanokoji stopped in his tracks to look back at me.

"I don't know, maybe they had. The questions could be similar and if no one won't be willing to give them to us, we could buy them for private points! Though I don't have many points myself..." I raised my head in high spirits before dropping it on the table in disappointment once again.

"We won't know that until we see our midterm tests so it's a high risk to study questions from the old tests. Plus cheating once won't improve your overall academics" Horikita retorted but her tone wasn't completely confident either as if she was considering my idea.

"Then...what if we try to compare other tests before trying to buy the old midterm tests? They must have done the same quizzes as we did before midterms, right?"

"...Your relentless when it comes to cheating is truly admirable" Horikita said in a sarcastic tone but she didn't disagree with me this time. When I glanced behind, I no longer could see Ayanokoji around.

"Hehe!" I laughed like an idiot while rubbing my neck.

"That wasn't a compliment...Does it not hurt?" Horikita said with a frown before her expression slightly relaxed while looking at my bruised right cheek.

"Oh...you bet, it hurts like hell. Ouch!" Even if this was a different body, I was too used to this kind of pain that I ended up completely ignoring it which made me most likely look suspicious.

"...Here, take this" Horikita started preparing to leave without questioning me further but before that, she offered me a textbook.

"What's that?" I gave a textbook a suspicious look.

"I summarized everything important from all subjects aside from math and English. ?!" The moment she finished her sentence, I swiftly grabbed the textbook and snatched it from her hands surprising her a bit.

"Thanks!" I smiled at her, finally getting what I wanted so badly without her making me do something else for it.

"Anyway, I will be going now" I told her goodbye but before she disappeared from my sight, she stopped at her tracks and turned back at me.

"By the way, tha- ... never mind. Do your best." She shook her head and left.

---Suzune Horikita---

Affection: -1 -> 1

???

???

'That was weird...was she trying to thank me? Nah, that's too soon for something like that, in the original, it took her a long time to say genuine thank you'