Just Want to Be a Slacker

"Could she be one of those self-righteous girls?"

Kamio Tatsuya felt a pang of stomach pain—had he been too hasty in asking her to help him study?

Upon hearing Horikita Suzune bring up the entrance exam results, Chabashira-sensei's face broke into a smile, and she produced a test paper from somewhere.

"I see. Normally, entrance exam results aren't shown to others, but since you've said that much, I'll make an exception. I happen to have your paper right here."

No way...

There's no way it's that coincidental.

Kamio Tatsuya and Ayanokoji Kiyonaka exchanged a glance, both reading the same thought in each other's eyes.

Man, Chabashira-sensei really has it out for Horikita, messing with her like this.

This is the Counseling Room, not the faculty office—normally, she wouldn't have something like this prepared on purpose.

Chapter 34: That's a Separate Price

Horikita, though flawed in some respects, at least had basic intelligence.

So she saw through Chabashira-sensei's clumsy lie at a glance.

"You came quite prepared... as if you knew my purpose here was to protest."

"I am a teacher after all, and I pride myself on having some understanding of my students' personalities."

Tch, here we go again.

If you really understood your students' personalities, you wouldn't have called me here—you completely failed to see my true nature as a slacker.

Can't you just let me quietly coast through life?

Why drag me into this kind of trouble?

He didn't know what would happen next, but he had a bad feeling it wouldn't be anything good.

"Horikita Suzune, your entrance exam results are exactly as you judged. Your written test tied for third place, with scores nearly identical to first and second. In the interview, as you said, you made no major mistakes—in fact, your evaluation was quite favorable."

"But..."

"Thank you. Then—why?"

"Before that, why do you believe you don't belong in Class D?"

"Because I haven't received a fair evaluation from the school. Besides, this school's class divisions have a huge impact on the future—it's only natural to be dissatisfied with that."

"Fair evaluation? Hahahaha, you really think highly of yourself."

Chabashira-sensei mercilessly mocked Horikita Suzune.

"Indeed, your written test scores are excellent—I admit that. But who said that outstanding academic ability guarantees placement in a good class? We've never once stated that."

"That's—that's common sense in society."

As if hearing something hilarious, Chabashira-sensei laughed again.

"Common sense? That self-righteous 'common sense' of yours is the problem itself.

Being good at studying is indeed a valuable ability, but this school exists to cultivate truly excellent people. In other words, being good at studying alone isn't enough.

If the school divided students solely by academic ability, Sudo and the others wouldn't even be here."

At that, Horikita was momentarily at a loss for a rebuttal.

"That's how it is. Regrettable as it may be, your placement in Class D is not a mistake on the school's part. You are simply a student of this caliber, and thus you were inevitably placed in Class D."

"...I see. I'll re-verify this with the school administration."

The school administration—wake up. Right in front of you, Chabashira-sensei represents the school administration.

Everything she just said was said on behalf of the school.

Saying that is like suspecting Chabashira-sensei didn't properly convey the school's results, like suspecting she's meddling.

Honestly, Kamio Tatsuya thought it was generous of Chabashira-sensei not to get angry.

"Do as you please. If you have that much free time, you'd be better off thinking about how to lead your class upward."

"Dragging along so many deadweights to surpass nearly a thousand Class Points—that hardly seems achievable... Whatever. I'll be going now, but please remember, I do not accept today's outcome."

"Understood. Since it's your request, I'll keep it in mind. Oh, and I also called in people connected to you to the Counseling Room."

"People connected to me... Could it be my bro—"

"Ayanokoji, Kamio, come out."

Hearing this, Kamio Tatsuya felt utterly speechless. What a pain—now he might end up getting on her bad side.

But the honest Kamio Tatsuya obediently stood up from the sofa and prepared to leave.

Then he saw Ayanokoji, who hadn't moved a muscle.

This guy—even if he didn't want to get involved in trouble, now that trouble had landed right on his head, he shouldn't be thinking about running, but facing it.

Besides, this tea room had no back door—where could he escape to?

Stepping out of the tea room, Kamio Tatsuya shot Horikita Suzune a helpless look, signaling that he'd been forced into this.

"Where's Ayanokoji?"

"He escaped through the window."

Then Chabashira-sensei walked straight into the break room and saw Ayanokoji, who had just stood up.

"Ayanokoji, do you want to be expelled?"

"Please go easy on me."

A little while later, inside the Counseling Room.

"You heard what was said just now, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about, Chabashira-sensei?" Ayanokoji answered first. "I did hear you two saying something, but I couldn't make it out clearly. These walls are surprisingly thick, aren't they?"

Hey hey hey, you're still trying to dodge this even now?

It's useless!

Accept reality!

Honestly.

"I heard you. It's just that I have this bad habit—things go in one ear and out the other. So, what exactly did you say?"

As he spoke, he put on a flawless look of confusion.

"Enough with the poor acting."

Poor acting? You really don't appreciate good performance.

"Sensei, why did you do something like this?"

"Don't rush. These two are key to the class's future advancement. Listening carefully won't do you any harm."

Hearing this, Kamio Tatsuya raised his hand and cut her off mid-sentence.

"Hold on. I have no interest in advancing to Class A. If you called me here for that, I'm leaving."

Up until now, Kamio Tatsuya had no intention of reaching Class A.

He'd already amassed over three million Private Points, and his average monthly living expenses were close to a hundred thousand. If he spent carefully, he could coast comfortably until graduation.

Why bust his ass to get to Class A when he could just coast through three years?

Of course, Kamio Tatsuya wasn't lazy.

He didn't mind putting in effort to reach Class A.

What he minded was why he had to drag the idiots in Class D up with him.

Especially that bastard Yamauchi.

If they wanted him to contribute, fine—expel Yamauchi first.

Everyone gets the same pay, so the capable should do more work?

A good person deserves to have a gun pointed at them?

Don't make me laugh. Kamio Tatsuya wasn't some pushover like Hirata Yosuke.

So Kamio Tatsuya had no plans to exert himself. He could coast through Class D without any real risk of expulsion anyway.

If they absolutely needed his help, that was a different matter—but it came at a price.

Simply put—pay up!

Looking at Kamio Tatsuya, who had flatly refused, Chabashira Sae felt a headache coming on. She recalled the interviewer's evaluation of him.

Though the interviewer had written a long assessment, if you read it carefully, it boiled down to just two words.

Lazy!

At the very end, there was even an added note: If his lazy disposition can be corrected and his latent abilities unearthed, he has a promising future.

Seeing him now, the reputation was well-deserved.

From the very start, he'd been making excuses to avoid getting involved in trouble.

That's right—even Chabashira admitted that dragging Class D up to Class A was a troublesome affair.

Chapter 35: One Joke Is Enough

Glancing at Kamio Tatsuya, Chabashira Sae decided this wasn't her headache to deal with.

Someone else was more anxious than her about getting Class D to Class A. Thinking this, she looked across at Horikita Suzune.

"Whether you want to rise to Class A is your own choice. As a teacher, I'm just giving advice to students who want to advance."

Hah, easy for her to say.

Kamio Tatsuya curled his lip. As long as she didn't try to convince him to work for Class D, he didn't mind listening to what this sly teacher had to say.

Glancing at Kamio Tatsuya, Chabashira Sae decided to start with Ayanokoji.

"Fifty in Japanese, fifty in math, fifty in English, fifty in social studies, fifty in science... And for the record, this quiz result is also fifty. Do you understand what that means?"

Fifty?

That wasn't his score, and it definitely wasn't Horikita's. So it had to be Ayanokoji's?

Kamio Tatsuya glanced at him, then silently edged away.

Horikita, too, stared at Ayanokoji with a shocked expression.

"Coincidence really is terrifying, isn't it?"

Coincidence?

How could this guy say something like that with a straight face?

Kamio Tatsuya was starting to hate him. Sure, he could be a jerk himself sometimes, but compared to this guy, it was like heaven and earth. This guy was just treating everyone like fools.

In other words, he didn't give a damn about anyone.

Remembering that he'd even invited this guy to eat earlier, Kamio Tatsuya felt sick.

Just then, Kamio Tatsuya felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Was that... a reply?

Completely ignoring the others, Kamio Tatsuya pulled out his phone. Sure enough, there was an unread message.

[Junior Kamio, I don't know what you're dealing with, but I can tell you this clearly: this school has a very complete set of rules. As long as you don't break them, no one can make you drop out except yourself.]

Reading that, Kamio Tatsuya suddenly found his confidence, and spoke up.

"I'm going back."

Kamio Tatsuya's sudden interruption caught all three off guard, none of them knowing what was going on.