Chapter Summaries

Bai Lan confronted Horikita Manabu after Manabu attacked him, while Horikita Suzune tried to intervene. After learning Manabu was Suzune’s brother, Bai Lan reconsidered why he had attacked and declared their fight even, though he refused to apologize.

• Bai Lan told Horikita Suzune that Manabu’s sneak attack justified his retaliation and moved past her to confront him.
• Horikita tried to stop Bai Lan by warning that Manabu was the student council president, but Bai Lan welcomed the prospect of being expelled and continued toward him.
• Horikita Manabu told Suzune to move aside and admitted that he had attacked first, while Bai Lan demanded compensation and asked who he was.
• Manabu introduced himself as Horikita Manabu, and Suzune explained that he was her elder brother.
• Bai Lan decided Manabu had attacked him because Bai Lan had admitted bullying Suzune, then said he would consider their fight settled while insisting that Suzune had started their mutual bullying.

Bai Lan learned that Horikita Manabu had tested him because he considered him a potentially disruptive student and wanted to understand his character. Manabu concluded Bai Lan was a good person who had protected Suzune, leaving Bai Lan hoping he might still give Manabu a reason to expel him.

• Horikita Manabu explained that he had attacked Bai Lan to assess him and confirm that Ryuen had been the aggressor in their earlier fight.
• Manabu said Bai Lan’s role in Class D’s 620-point special exam result and his rumored connection to Suzune had made him wary.
• Bai Lan tried to convince Manabu that he had not helped Suzune, but Manabu caught inconsistencies in his story.
• Manabu recalled that Bai Lan had stepped in before recognizing Suzune and concluded that Bai Lan had a strong sense of justice and was probably a good person.
• Manabu explained that he had tested Bai Lan to protect the school and Suzune, while Bai Lan wondered whether future misconduct could still get him expelled.

Bai Lan asked Horikita Manabu to explain what would disrupt the school's normal operation, and Manabu offered him access to the information if he joined the Student Council. Bai Lan accepted and sought a Disciplinary Committee position, leaving Manabu questioning whether he would knowingly break rules and accept the consequences.

• Bai Lan explained that he might accidentally cross the school's limits and asked Horikita Manabu to clarify what counted as disrupting normal operations.
• Horikita Manabu offered to provide the information if Bai Lan joined the Student Council, and Bai Lan refused Manabu's offer to pay for it.
• Bai Lan accepted the invitation after Manabu promised to punish Student Council members more harshly for breaking rules.
• Bai Lan asked to become a Disciplinary Committee member, hoping to gain authority without much work, and Manabu explained the position was mostly ceremonial.
• Bai Lan pointed out that surveillance cameras left blind spots and said he wanted to fill them, then claimed he would openly accept punishment for any rules he broke.

Bai Lan won Horikita Manabu’s trust and was asked to keep an eye on Suzune. Suzune then asked Bai Lan how she could earn her brother’s recognition, believing Manabu now saw a chance for their class to reach Class A because Bai Lan was in it.

• Bai Lan assured Horikita Manabu that he would make up for the school’s loopholes, and Manabu asked him to keep an eye on Suzune before leaving.
• Bai Lan bought orange juice from a vending machine, and Suzune approached him to ask what he thought of her.
• Bai Lan questioned why Suzune cared about his opinion, and she explained that she wanted to understand how to earn her brother’s recognition.
• Suzune described her admiration for Manabu, his disappointment in her Class D placement, and his earlier urging that she drop out.
• Suzune concluded that Manabu’s request to Bai Lan to keep an eye on her and his encouragement to work toward Class A meant he believed Bai Lan could help their class succeed.

Horikita Suzune asked Bai Lan to tutor her so she could keep their class from falling to Class D and earn her brother’s recognition. Bai Lan agreed in order to avoid arousing Horikita Manabu’s suspicion, but planned to give Suzune ineffective guidance in exchange for her acting as his romantic shield.

• Horikita Suzune explained that she wanted Bai Lan’s help improving so she could gain Horikita Manabu’s recognition and keep their class from falling to Class D.
• Bai Lan considered refusing, but decided he needed to maintain Horikita Manabu’s trust until he obtained information and the Disciplinary Committee privilege he wanted.
• Bai Lan agreed to help Horikita Suzune while intending to give her guidance that would prove largely useless.
• Bai Lan made Horikita Suzune agree to act as his shield against unwanted romantic attention, and she accepted while complaining that the job sounded troublesome.

Bai Lan and Horikita agreed to maintain their human-shield arrangement by walking together occasionally, and Horikita took the job unusually seriously. The next morning, she rushed Bai Lan into a carefully timed walk to class, leaving him wondering what she would do next.

• Bai Lan warned Horikita not to do anything beyond the human-shield job, and she promised to compensate him for any harm caused.
• Horikita walked back to the dorm with Bai Lan, explaining that their public interactions would keep their rumor believable.
• The next morning, Horikita called Bai Lan and urged him to leave immediately so they could walk together during the busiest part of the commute.
• Bai Lan hurried downstairs, met Horikita, and walked with her toward the classroom building.
• Horikita asked Bai Lan how to say “hearing” in Chinese because she wanted to make their conversation look convincing.

Bai Lan challenged Horikita’s claim that she could live independently, arguing that everyone relied on other people and that true independence required wilderness survival skills. Horikita accepted his point and began quizzing him about survival, while her attempts to build their relationship continued under the cover of her mission.

• Bai Lan questioned Horikita’s belief that she could rely only on herself and argued that people depended on others for basic necessities and work.
• Bai Lan asked whether Horikita could survive alone on a deserted island, and she admitted she had never learned how to handle such a situation.
• Horikita decided to study basic survival skills, then asked Bai Lan about choosing a campsite and dealing with rain.
• Bai Lan continued answering Horikita’s questions as they walked to class, where she followed him with a notebook and kept taking notes until the morning meeting bell rang.
• Horikita asked Bai Lan to lend her a notebook, then messaged him that borrowing things was part of developing relationships and was merely a mission to use him as a shield.

Bai Lan tried to rein in Horikita’s elaborate plan to make their classmates believe they were close, but she insisted on taking her shield mission seriously. The chapter ended with Bai Lan proposing a simpler plan: interact normally and let Horikita pose as his girlfriend only if someone pursued him.

• Horikita repeatedly borrowed supplies and notes from Bai Lan to make their classmates notice their closeness.
• Horikita explained that they needed to interact frequently for three days, then make going to and leaving school together part of their routine.
• Bai Lan told Horikita she was making the shield mission too troublesome, and she asked him how to gain her brother’s approval in return.
• Bai Lan admitted he had no advice yet, so Horikita proposed spreading a rumor that he disliked girls or pretending to pursue him unilaterally to discourage other girls.
• Bai Lan rejected Horikita’s plans and suggested they interact normally, walk out of class together when convenient, and have her pose as his girlfriend if someone pursued him.

Bai Lan and Horikita argued by email over how much help and effort their deal required, until Horikita used her role as his pursuer to pressure him into helping her earn her brother’s recognition. Bai Lan threatened to find a new shield, but Horikita argued she could overcome any replacement before class interrupted them.

• Horikita interpreted Bai Lan’s deal as a reason to increase her efforts, while Bai Lan insisted she do only the bare minimum and admitted he planned to give her only minimal help.
• Horikita said she would increase their interactions until Bai Lan found a way to help her gain her brother’s recognition, using his discomfort to pressure him.
• Bai Lan threatened to end their deal, but Horikita said she would continue pursuing him and explained that she had learned her tactics from him.
• Bai Lan threatened to find a girlfriend or a better shield to stop Horikita, but she argued that his strict requirements would make finding a replacement difficult and that she could overcome one who was inferior.
• When the class bell rang, Bai Lan sent one final threat that he could find a better shield in minutes, and Horikita replied that she would break through it before he put away his phone and prepared for class.

Horikita thanked Bai Lan for helping her by giving him a bento, while using the gesture to reinforce classmates’ belief that they were close. Bai Lan took the bento and headed to the student council office to meet Horikita Manabu, where he encountered a girl on the stairs and then heard someone greet him.

• Horikita gave Bai Lan a bento as thanks for helping her the previous night and explained by email that it could also help their relationship progress.
• Bai Lan refused the conspicuous gift at first, but took it to avoid wasting food as classmates speculated about their relationship.
• Bai Lan left for the student council office, intending to obtain Horikita Manabu’s information and become a student council member before Manabu learned he had fallen out with Horikita.
• On the stairs, a girl addressed as the class president changed plans and joined Bai Lan in going upstairs instead of going to lunch with Chihiro-chan and the others.
• Finding the student council office locked, Bai Lan planned to wait on the stairs to the rooftop and eat his bento while watching for Horikita Manabu.
• As Bai Lan returned to the stairwell, someone greeted him with, “Good afternoon, Bai-san.”

Honami Ichinose found Bai Lan to thank him for warning her class about the special exam and apologize for ignoring his advice. After confessing her guilt over the class’s losses, she insisted she wanted to repay him by helping with the trouble she sensed he was facing.

• Honami Ichinose stopped Bai Lan on the fourth floor and admitted she had followed him there intentionally.
• Ichinose apologized for failing to heed Bai Lan’s warning, explaining that she blamed herself for her class’s poor exam results and offered to resign as class representative.
• Bai Lan accepted her apology but said she did not owe him anything, since her class had not used the information he provided.
• Ichinose offered to give Bai Lan her personal points or help him in any way she could, and said she had sensed he was troubled.
• Bai Lan considered whether Ichinose could help him deal with Horikita Suzune and compared Ichinose’s influence and abilities with Horikita’s.

Bai Lan sought Ichinose’s help to keep Horikita from disrupting his life, but Ichinose mistook his question about boyfriends for a romantic overture before learning he also did not want to date. After Ichinose offered to teach him how to reject pursuers, Bai Lan stayed guarded and claimed he could handle it himself.

• Bai Lan reasoned that Ichinose could stand up to Horikita and eagerly told her she could help him.
• Bai Lan asked Ichinose whether she had a boyfriend, and she reflexively said she did not plan to date while she was a student.
• Ichinose recalled her family’s financial struggles and her mother’s insistence that she continue her education for her own sake.
• Bai Lan clarified that he also did not want to date and was troubled by someone using pursuit as an excuse to disrupt his life.
• Ichinose recognized that Bai Lan had gone to the fourth floor to avoid his pursuer, then shared lunch with him and offered advice on rejecting people.
• Bai Lan, wary of well-intentioned meddling, denied being bad at refusing kindness and said Ichinose’s approach did not suit him.

Bai Lan proposed that he and Ichinose pretend to be a couple so their suitors would stop pursuing them, arguing that the arrangement would not require them to act intimate or deceive anyone. Ichinose remained reluctant, and Bai Lan warned that sincere rejections might not stop persistent suitors, leaving her reconsidering how dangerous people could be.

• Bai Lan explained that suitors and rejecting them were exhausting, then asked Ichinose to help him deal with the interruptions.
• Bai Lan suggested that he and Ichinose pose as a couple to discourage people from pursuing either of them.
• Ichinose worried that the arrangement would require lying to classmates who trusted her, but Bai Lan argued that a fake couple could simply respect each other's boundaries.
• Ichinose refused, saying she preferred to respond sincerely to anyone who confessed and offered to help Bai Lan reject his suitors instead.
• Bai Lan warned Ichinose that persistent suitors might ignore sincere rejections and use despicable tactics, citing how students had already tricked members of her class into breaking rules.

Bai Lan challenged Ichinose’s belief that her classmates and the people around her were inherently good, arguing that her influence had shaped her class and warning her about the school’s more ruthless students. Ichinose began reconsidering her approach and resolved to treat Nagumo Miyabi as dangerous, while Bai Lan left her free to decide whether to accept his proposal; as they finished lunch, someone appeared on the stairs below.

• Bai Lan explained that Class B was not generally made up of unusually virtuous students and cited Nagumo Miyabi’s expulsion of more than thirty second-year students.
• Bai Lan argued that Ichinose’s influence had helped make her class behave well and warned that she would encounter people who ignored her ideals.
• Ichinose took Bai Lan’s warning seriously because her decisions could affect the classmates who trusted her, and she began reconsidering her beliefs.
• Bai Lan told Ichinose to let him know if she changed her mind, while Ichinose suspected his fake-couple proposal had been a way to make her consider his advice.
• Ichinose marked Nagumo Miyabi as dangerous, and she and Bai Lan ate lunch in silence until a figure appeared on the stairs below.

Bai Lan recognized Nagumo Miyabi sizing up Ichinose and decided to interfere with his pursuit of her to provoke him. After Nagumo introduced himself, Bai Lan grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the stairwell, leaving Ichinose behind.

• Bai Lan spotted Nagumo watching Ichinose and realized Nagumo was looking her over rather than trying to recognize her.
• Bai Lan drew Ichinose's attention to Nagumo, who introduced himself as the Student Council Vice President and said he remembered her application.
• Bai Lan saw Nagumo's interest in Ichinose as an opportunity to investigate or provoke him and planned to obstruct his advances.
• Bai Lan stood up, rushed toward Nagumo, grabbed his arm, and dragged him out of the stairwell.

Bai Lan dragged Nagumo to the Student Council office after claiming Horikita Manabu had invited him to serve as secretary. Nagumo concealed his suspicion and tried to maintain his seniority, but Bai Lan continued to humiliate him as they approached the door.

• Bai Lan pulled Nagumo away from Ichinose and challenged his composure, then said Horikita Manabu had invited him to join the Student Council as secretary.
• Nagumo learned Bai Lan was from First-Year Class B and suspected he had led the class’s rise from Class D, while questioning whether Bai Lan’s claimed ignorance of Japanese etiquette was genuine.
• Nagumo decided to go along with Bai Lan for now and seek out his weakness later, presenting himself as a senior kindly indulging a junior.
• Bai Lan ignored Nagumo’s act, sped up, and carried him so his feet no longer touched the ground on the way to the Student Council office.
• At the office door, Bai Lan released Nagumo’s arm and grabbed his hand.

Bai Lan provoked Nagumo in the corridor, and Nagumo threatened to expel him within six months. Horikita Manabu arrived and criticized the Student Council members for making a public scene, while Nagumo hoped the President would restrict Bai Lan’s role.

• Nagumo lost his temper after Bai Lan’s prank and threatened to expel him.
• Bai Lan was pleased that his provocation had worked and questioned why Nagumo needed six months to make him leave.
• Horikita Manabu interrupted the argument and reprimanded Nagumo for failing to regulate his words and actions in public.
• Nagumo assumed Horikita Manabu would punish Bai Lan and hoped the President would limit Bai Lan’s Student Council responsibilities.
• Horikita Manabu noticed the crowd watching and decided the internal matter should be addressed indoors.

Horikita Manabu explained why he trusted Bai Lan and why Bai had chosen to join the Student Council as a Disciplinary Committee member. Bai argued that students should both find and repair the school’s changing loopholes, and Horikita began outlining the insight needed for the role.

• Horikita Manabu brought Nagumo, Bai Lan, and Tachibana Akane into the Student Council office, then asked Bai what Nagumo had done to provoke him.
• Horikita Manabu revealed that Bai Lan would join the Student Council as a Disciplinary Committee member, and Bai clarified that he had chosen it over the Secretary position Horikita offered him.
• Horikita Manabu said he trusted Bai’s abilities and explained that Disciplinary Committee members could address violations in blind spots beyond the school’s surveillance cameras.
• Nagumo argued that loopholes helped train students, and Bai responded that loopholes changed over time and that students should learn to discover and repair them.
• Horikita Manabu accepted Bai’s reasoning and asked Nagumo whether he had further objections; Nagumo said he would oppose the plan if he found a problem.
• Horikita Manabu began describing the insight a Disciplinary Committee member needed to find violations that surveillance cameras could not detect.

Horikita Manabu defended Bai Lan’s appointment to the Disciplinary Committee by describing how Bai had disciplined Class C and Class D and explaining why he trusted Bai’s judgment and character. Nagumo, shaken by learning Bai had defeated Manabu, declined Manabu’s proposed additional penalty and demanded that Bai explain why he had punished him.

• Horikita Manabu cited Bai Lan’s success in reforming Class C and Class D as proof that he could maintain discipline across the school.
• Nagumo challenged Bai Lan’s character, but Horikita Manabu said he had personally received righteous punishment from Bai.
• Horikita Manabu recounted how Bai had intervened in a misunderstanding, fought him, and accepted responsibility by leaving evidence of the fight.
• Nagumo realized Bai Lan had beaten Horikita Manabu and worried about provoking someone so formidable, though he felt Bai had wronged him first.
• Horikita Manabu said he trusted Bai but would punish him if he abused that trust, and offered Nagumo a similar arrangement in exchange for an additional penalty.
• Nagumo ignored Manabu’s proposal and asked Bai Lan to explain what he had done to deserve punishment.

Bai Lan had to choose between telling Horikita Manabu why he sanctioned Nagumo and preserving Nagumo’s trust. After Nagumo demanded an apology, Bai Lan chose to explain his actions, leaving Nagumo accused of leering at Ichinose and Bai Lan unapologetic.

• Bai Lan weighed whether to tell Horikita Manabu the truth or stay silent, knowing either choice would damage his relationship with one of the two men.
• Nagumo claimed he had done nothing wrong and demanded that Bai Lan apologize in front of everyone.
• Bai Lan rejected Nagumo’s demand and told Horikita Manabu that Nagumo had stared rudely at Ichinose while she ate with Bai Lan.
• Nagumo denied the accusation and demanded evidence, but Bai Lan said the cameras could not capture Nagumo’s eye movements clearly.
• Bai Lan said he had dragged Nagumo away to stop him from disturbing Ichinose, and declared that he did not regret acting without proof.