Chapter 24

The Principal was huffing up a storm. He seemed irritated by the blatant disregard of the rules that Koro-sensei seemed to be doing.

Gakushuu found the whole thing hilarious. And was rather grateful that it wasn't him caught up in the middle.

It was doubtful that he would manage to stay away from the mess the whole time, but it was already pretty great that Gakuhou's focus was the superhuman roaming around class E.

Also, Gakushuu had also found out about Gakuhou's visit to class E but he hadn't actually managed to get an idea of what exactly happened, since all electronics in the teacher's lounge were taken out.

But it had put Koro-sensei up to the task of making his students aim for the top 50. Gakushuu almost laughed.

While class E had excellent students like Rio, Karma, or even Isogai. A few months of good teaching wouldn't suddenly get them all into the top 50.

Class A was a consistent high scorer, but class B tended to hold a close competition. Araki, Hinata and Ren fought closely for the second spot and depending on what kind of tests were given, Karma tended to fall in 4 or 5th rank.

Ren excelled in English, Japanese and Social Studies. Though his English was still slightly weaker. He was improving though.

Hinata was either excellent at Math or would confuse all the formulae and fail terribly, depending on the day. She surprisingly liked biology and scored well when she worked for it.

She and Koyama bonded over their interest in biology, though it was on different ends. Hinata was considering medicine while Koyama seemed like he couldn't wait to start dissecting animals.

What was even more interesting was the way Koro-sensei rejected the students opinion and forced them to change the way they viewed their scores.

A completely different refraining take on the same monotonous thing along with the added motivation…well, it worked like a charm.

Gakushuu found the being to be surprisingly nice.

He taught as much as he could without scruples or any amount of self consciousness. He dedicated his whole being to educate his students.

There weren't many people who could dedicate themselves so completely for something.

Gakushuu felt slightly envious of class E to have gotten a better version of Gakuhou as a teacher. And he also felt like he was looking at what his father had once been.

Wasn't that why his father had been so beloved by his students in the beginning? His complete and utter dedication to the growth of his students?

But even then, Koro-sensei was a humorous person who made everything incredibly cheerful. He had a natural charisma that let everyone take things both seriously but also lightly.

He was bringing out the true talents of all his students.

The mid term preparation was tough as usual. Class A spent time in the library and met up in groups outside to study together.

Though they took mid term preparation relatively lightly compared to the finals of the semester exams, they still had a high level of dedication not to mention the silent competitions inside their groups or classes.

Class A took their grades seriously, it was another method of showing 'results' after all. Where there was a slight antagonistic relationship, superiority was marked by their ranks.

Gakushuu could show his superiority to sport enthusiasts by beating them at a game, but he had to dominate Kunugigaoka with his marks alone. Gakushuu's extracurricular activities were just a cherry on top, but wasn't the sole reason for his unparalleled renown over Kunugigaoka.

Class A had to work hard to get the privileges it received, and similarly the other classes tried to receive them by working harder. Class E had just always been left out of everything.

So in the sudden assembly turned to a class headed by the Principal, no one really expected to see class E in the first place.

But it was class A that found the Principal's sudden outright exclusion of class E odd. He was proud to find his classmates use their own methods to find out what exactly had ticked off the Principal.

Of course, they didn't have to wait long. The day before the midterm exam, a tornado seemed to randomly form on the mountain of class E. The students stood and gawked at the sight and Gakushuu found that his father had met with the teaching/assassination staff of class E.

It was too bad that some of his devices were damaged and he had had to destroy them to prevent traces of them being left behind.

Gakushuu had only found out about the ultimatum later. Koro-sensei deciding to leave if the students didn't get in the top 50?

That was a far more complicated suggestion.

Koro-sensei wasn't a being who could just roam around or do whatever he wanted, as he pleased. And as far as they were aware, he destroyed the moon.

What if he got bored and destroyed Earth too?

Unfortunately, Gakuhou wasn't someone they could just ask to increase the marks of class E. Even if it was falsified, Gakuhou would never allow anything to interfere with his education policy.

Not to mention, he had experienced an amazing success and was tasked to teach the children of many of the upper class citizens.

Kunugigaoka lent itself well to introduce connections among unlikely yet strong people.

Of course, Gakushuu's year was unique in this matter as well. Class A wasn't just a hub, it wasn't simply even the sole focus of the round of connections. The whole year had connections that spread across classes and backgrounds.

Class E was almost always cut off, but even then, there were people who admired the pretty Isogai or the ever violent but good looking Karma, or even Rio, who was known for her foreign looks. Not to mention Kanzaki Yukiko.

There were always people like that in every class, and Gakushuu had been one of the first to start making connections across classes, starting with Kimiko.

It was natural, the way his class had followed his lead.

But the thing was, the more Koro-sensei destabilized the class E system, the more Gakuhou would realize exactly the sort of power Gakushuu had gained among the other students.

Gakushuu just had never been given the right opportunity to exert that power, but he would. Gakuhou would definitely try to involve the students in his dirty politics to maintain a hold on class E.

It was honestly, intimidating, if Gakushuu thought about his father shifting opinions enough that the nations actually let Gakuhou do whatever he wanted, even with a world destroying creature on the other side.

The amount of power Gakuhou had truly accumulated couldn't just be considered by his money or connections. His power had already become an overwhelming influence that could guide opinions around the world, if needed.

Not to mention the amount of money even Gakushuu could see pouring in from the government.

His father took full advantage of having the superbeing in his backyard and yet, wanted none of the cons as well?

That was naive.

Gakushuu was well aware that his father was a flawed even if amazingly competent human being. But the one against him wasn't simply a human.

It was a being who had also studied Gakuhou's habits and features with the same intensity Gakuhou preserved for teaching Gakushuu.

Just like the way Gakushuu had learnt to take the backlash of being taught for 20 hours, he bet that Koro-sensei could take on all of Gakuhou too.

Or at least, he hoped.

Because he wasn't sure if anyone else in the world could stand up against him.

There was only so much Gakushuu could take up on himself without burning out.

So Gakushuu sent his notes to Nagisa, and told him very very clearly to hide his personal involvement.

Nagisa just had to pretend that someone from the main school had decided to send them Gakushuu's notes. Anyone in the main school could take those and it didn't just have to be Gakushuu himself or even class A.

It could have easily been a fan of someone in class E and most people in class D were aware of Karma and Nagisa's general friendship, at least.

Isogai might have been more effective, but Gakushuu wasn't sure if he could keep the whole thing quiet. But Nagisa seemed to be the kind of person who would keep the secret, even from Karma.

Of course the moment Karma saw the notes, he sent a 'lol' message to Gakushuu and he had to roll his eyes at the other boy.

Karma was the only one in Gakushuu's vicinity who found him relatively predictable, for some reason. It would be funny if it was a little less heartwarming.

Karma always acknowledged every single attempt Gakushuu made to help. He would mock them but he had never taken it for granted.

Gakushuu had always been grateful for that. It made him feel valued, it felt like he was someone who was cared for.

Gakuhou had never let him feel like that, at least. He could only take comfort from the care and concern his friends had for him.

And so, the midterms arrived and the week dragged on slowly and flashed by in a moment. Gakushuu put in his effort into revision and studying as much as possible, and his constant rank 1 showed his success.

He had once again fallen short of a single point in Japanese, and Ren bemoaned the fact that Gakushuu was more likely to lose points in Japanese than English.

Gakushuu wasn't surprised to see Karma's rank rise to third nor the sparse few who had managed to eke out a decent score and rank in the top 50.

He was actually pretty satisfied by his subtle mocking of Gakuhou's efforts 

Gakuhou was furious.

He wasn't used to having his actions nullified by mistakes.

He tried to find the culprit but he could only suspect class D or class A. Someone smart enough or stupid enough to defy him.

Of course Gakushuu met both requirements, not that his father knew that.

He had been scolded about letting his notes be taken by anyone, and he should be maintaining his absolute dominance over all the students by not sharing.

Gakushuu let that in from one ear and out the other, but he nodded seriously and to Gakuhou's credit, did decide to find some alternates.

To find ways to go over the restrictions, that is.

Gakushuu wasn't stupid.

With the way the year was starting out, it was quite likely that Gakuhou would be making more attempts against class E.

If Gakushuu didn't stand his ground against his father, he could be thoroughly used up as his father's prized and favored pawn.

What he wanted, was to make a neutral zone on the side of the chess board with Koro-sensei and Gakuhou on each side.

He, himself or class A wouldn't have the option to back out, but that didn't mean everyone needed to get caught up in the crossfire.

The assembly turned classroom had shown Gakushuu had his father had no compunctions about using all the students he had under him to the fullest.

And Gakushuu was planning to take a few of his cards away from him.

Gakuhou had never suffered losses well, and this time wouldn't be any different. He hated anything that even remotely resembled a loss.

And this was just the start.

Gakushuu had plans to start the downfall of his own father.

He didn't know how far he could go.

He didn't even know how far he would go.

But he wanted his father to accept and live with that loss.

(Was he talking about losing against Koro-sensei or Ikeda's death?

Gakushuu wasn't sure.)