Horikita: I Demand a Protest

Damn it, what did you say?

Never mind whether we were teammates—how could you try to sell me out right off the bat just to save yourself?

You filthy traitor!

Oh, right. You were Japanese to begin with, and I'm Japanese now too.

Traitor!

"Come when I call you, and don't talk back." Chabashira-sensei said to Ayanokoji, then turned to Hoshinomiya, who was trying to follow them. "You're not coming with us."

"Don't be so cold! It wouldn't hurt to let me listen in, would it?" Hoshinomiya-sensei said with a smile. "Besides, Sae's been acting a little strange lately, so I was wondering... Sae, you're not planning to stage an overthrow, are you?"

An overthrow?

That was a pretty obscure term.

Kamio Tatsuya preferred its opposite: picking on the weak!

But in this school, did that mean she was planning to get Class D promoted?

Who would've thought? Chabashira-sensei, who seemed not to care about anything, actually had such ambitions.

"Hoshinomiya, there's no need to let your imagination run wild. There are just a few problems in Class D that need sorting out."

"Oh, really? Then I can come along too, right? I could offer some advice!"

Just as Hoshinomiya-sensei was about to stubbornly tag along, a girl walked over.

She had long strawberry-blonde hair and was exceptionally beautiful, making a powerful impression—especially with the pair of weapons on her chest.

At fifteen!

I'd thought seeing someone like Hasebe Haruka at this school was already incredibly lucky, but now I'd found a second one.

And compared to Hasebe Haruka, this girl's presence was clearly even more striking.

This was bad. She was too dazzling.

Kamio Tatsuya even wanted to look away. Especially when their eyes met—she was so dazzling he might go blind.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei, could I borrow a little of your time? There's something I'd like to discuss with you about the Student Council."

The room fell silent, and the atmosphere grew a little awkward.

"Um, did I come at a bad time?"

"Ah, well, it can't be helped. Let's meet another time, then. Ayanokoji, sorry to keep you waiting. Ichinose." Hoshinomiya waved at Ayanokoji with an expression full of regret.

As for Kamio Tatsuya, she hadn't looked him in the eye even once.

Did you think Kamio Tatsuya would get angry?

No, no. Hoshinomiya was obviously someone you didn't want to mess with. Kamio Tatsuya had no desire to get involved with her, and besides, his attention had been on that girl named Ichinose the whole time.

She was something else.

Chabashira-sensei watched Hoshinomiya-sensei leave.

Then she irritably scratched her head and inexplicably sighed, leaving both Kamio Tatsuya and Ayanokoji Kiyonaka speechless.

Was she... hitting menopause early?

Kamio Tatsuya thought maliciously as he followed Chabashira-sensei to the Counseling Room.

"So... why did you call us out?" Ayanokoji asked.

"Well..." Chabashira-sensei glanced a few times at the clock on the wall. "Before I explain, come over here."

Then Chabashira-sensei opened the inner room beside the Counseling Room. It looked like a kitchenette, with an electric hot plate and a kettle on top.

"Just make some tea, right? Is hojicha okay?" As he spoke, Ayanokoji picked up the teapot and turned over the teacups that had been upside down on the tea table.

"Then I'll have a cup of black tea, thanks."

Kamio Tatsuya sat down without hesitation in a chair beside the tea table.

"You two, that's enough. Put down whatever you're holding. Also, stay here quietly until I tell you to come out. Not a sound. Understood? If you disobey, you'll be expelled."

Ayanokoji was the one who'd suggested having tea. Why was Kamio getting yelled at too?

As for the threat that they'd be expelled if they made a sound, he'd take that with a grain of salt.

Then Kamio Tatsuya took out his phone, typed a text message, and sent it.

[Asahina-senpai, can teachers at this school expel students just like that?]

Horikita: I Want to Protest

A while later, at three thirty in the afternoon, the door to the Counseling Room opened. The expected guest had finally arrived.

"Come in, Horikita. What did you want to talk to me about?"

As expected, it was Horikita. Kamio Tatsuya wasn't surprised.

"I have something to do later, so I'll get straight to the point. Why was I assigned to Class D?"

Hearing this, Kamio Tatsuya shook his head to himself. This girl was still hung up on the same question after a whole month?

Maybe that was what you got with fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds.

Confucius said, "Every day I examine myself in three ways." She clearly hadn't taken that to heart at all.

No, that wasn't necessarily true. Maybe she really had been reflecting on herself—only, when you fixated on one thing, your perspective narrowed.

That was why she couldn't see what her problem was.

People like this needed reality to smack some sense into them.

As the saying went, "You can teach a person all you like and they won't learn, but one lesson from experience is enough!"

Hopefully, when she stumbled in the future, she'd be able to pick herself up.

"This is the second time you've come to ask me about something like this, isn't it?"

The second time?

Kamio Tatsuya was taken aback. She'd asked once before?

Could it have been around the time she got the information from him?

Let's go back about a month.

After getting the class assignment information from Kamio Tatsuya, Horikita Suzune had kept thinking about it. But how could she accept that she was the same as the people in Class D?

So, the day after getting the information, she went to ask Chabashira-sensei about it.

She'd been quite direct with her question.

"Sensei, I heard that the class assignment rules at this school are a little different. Is that true?"

When Chabashira Sae heard Horikita Suzune ask that, she was incredibly moved.

After all these years, was Class D finally going to produce someone extraordinary?

Wait, she said she'd heard?

"You said you heard that from someone. May I ask who told you?"

"I promised them I wouldn't tell anyone."

Chabashira Sae was a little disappointed, but judging by Horikita's expression, she probably couldn't get the girl to reveal the person's name.

"Then I'm afraid I can't tell you either. There are a lot of things about this school that I can't tell you during your first month. If you want to know, come ask me on the first of next month."

That was how Chabashira-sensei had brushed Horikita Suzune off. After she returned, Horikita Suzune had also observed the students in Class D.

She admitted that Class D had plenty of students who didn't take things seriously, but there were also some excellent students.

For example, Hirata Yosuke.

So she thought the information Kamio Tatsuya had given her must be wrong. She was so outstanding—how could she possibly be a bottom-of-the-class student like those people in Class D?

Even after Chabashira-sensei had said the same thing as Kamio Tatsuya herself that day, she still didn't believe it.

So, as soon as school let out, Horikita Suzune had arranged to meet Chabashira-sensei. As soon as they met, she asked again about the class assignments.

And judging by her tone, she still thought she shouldn't have been placed in Class D.

Chabashira-sensei had also found out that day that Horikita Manabu, the current Student Council President, was Horikita Suzune's older brother. So she'd wondered whether Horikita Manabu had told Horikita Suzune about the class assignments.

"It doesn't seem quite fair for me to be the only one answering questions. How about this? I have a question for you too. At the start of the school year, who told you about the class assignment rules?"

Hearing that question, Kamio Tatsuya felt trapped in the kitchenette.

He'd told Horikita not to reveal his name, but that was then and this was now. Back then, the information hadn't been made public.

Now the whole thing had been exposed. Would she keep his secret?

"I promised him I wouldn't reveal his name."

Hearing Horikita Suzune's answer, Kamio Tatsuya quietly breathed a sigh of relief. At least she kept her word.

"Then let me ask another way. Was he an upperclassman? He didn't forbid you from telling me that, did he?"

Horikita Suzune tried to remember, then nodded.

"He's a first-year student, like me."

So her brother hadn't helped her after all.

But Chabashira Sae quickly caught on. A first-year?

Horikita Suzune's social circle was incredibly small—so small that she barely spoke to her classmates. There were very few people she interacted with.

And if the student in question was someone she knew, the most likely candidates... were in that kitchenette.

Those were the only two people who normally talked to Horikita.

Who was it?

Ayanokoji Kiyonaka?

Or Kamio Tatsuya?

Chabashira Sae couldn't be sure. But if it wasn't one of them, then there was a good chance it was a student from Class A.

After all, Class A had only lost six points in the first month this year, making history just like Class D. But while Class D had set a new low, Class A had raised the school's record to a new high.

Still, it wouldn't be strange if there was someone in Class A who could see through the rules ahead of time.

There couldn't be worse news.

The more Chabashira Sae thought about it, the more irritated she felt.

"Sensei, today you said that excellent students are assigned to Class A in order, and that Class D is the school's last bastion for those at the bottom. But I don't think I'm the same as those people."

"What, you don't accept that? Seems you think you're pretty outstanding."

"Of course! I'm confident I solved almost all the entrance exam questions, and I don't remember making any major mistakes in the interview. I can't imagine why I'd be assigned to Class D."

A major mistake?

How was that any different from saying the school had singled her out?

To put it bluntly, who did she think she was? Why would the school single her out?

If the school wanted to target her, it could simply refuse to admit her.

Even now, with the school's rules out in the open, it was still much better than most schools outside.

The fact that the students in Class D hadn't left made that clear. This morning's information had undoubtedly been a huge blow to them, but not a single one had chosen to drop out.

Even an idiot knew this school was better than the alternatives.

Even without special privileges.

Besides, ordinary high schools didn't offer those privileges either, while here there was still a chance to earn them.

And Horikita wasn't the only student in Class D with good grades. Kouenji, Yukimura, and Hirata all did well academically.

Kouenji and Hirata were also more athletic than Horikita.

They weren't making a fuss. So why was she?