Changed

On the other side of the classroom, Horikita Suzune had taken it all in.

Her slender fingers unconsciously tightened around the mechanical pencil in her hand, her knuckles turning slightly white.

Failing the exam meant expulsion.

For Class D, already precariously close to losing its Class Points, this would only add insult to injury.

She couldn't predict how much having someone expelled would affect their chances of advancing to Class A, and she didn't dare take the risk.

I can't just let this happen... The thought kept circling in her mind.

She wanted to do something, like tutor Sudo and the others in the library.

But as soon as the idea came to her, the cold reality doused it. How could she bring it up? What excuse could she give?

She couldn't even strike up a conversation with them naturally.

Horikita realized with some frustration that she had next to no social network in the class. She was so isolated she might as well have been invisible.

The only way she could think of was to ask Hirata for help.

But Hirata's invitation had just been rejected.

Ike and Yamauchi hadn't responded because Sudo wasn't interested, while Sudo himself had shown outright hostility toward Hirata.

Hirata's influence clearly wasn't enough to get through to the three of them.

Another name came to Horikita's mind—Kushida Kikyo.

The girl with the sweet smile and countless friends. If Kushida invited them, the Idiot Trio might actually agree.

But the thought only made Horikita furrow her brows more deeply.

An indescribable intuition—or perhaps a subtle sense of unease built up through repeated observations—made her deeply distrustful of whatever Kushida hid behind her perfect facade.

Ask Kushida for help? The idea instinctively repelled her.

Is this all I can do? Horikita silently asked herself. A trace of unwillingness coiled around her heart like a slender vine.

She understood that she could see the problem, but couldn't find a way to solve it.

Change required an opportunity, a force to set it in motion. But right now, she was like someone trapped inside an invisible glass dome: she could see the troubles outside, yet couldn't find a hammer to break through, and lacked the courage to reach out and touch them.

The sense of helplessness weighed heavily on her heart.

She knew all too well that, at this moment, she simply wasn't capable of doing it.

That night, near the student dormitory.

The alley was narrow, and the high walls blocked most of the moonlight.

Horikita Suzune's footsteps came to a halt.

The figure in the shadows turned around, moonlight glinting off his lenses.

"Suzune, you really did follow me here."

"I'm not the failure you remember, Older Brother." She clenched the hem of her school uniform. "I came here to catch up to you."

"Catch up?" Horikita Manabu took a step toward her. "You've been assigned to Class D, and you still say things like that. You're so focused on watching me that you can't even see your own problems."

His tone turned cold. "Choosing this school was the biggest mistake you ever made."

"I'll make it to Class A! Soon—"

"Impossible." Horikita Manabu cut her off, twisting her wrist and shoving her toward the concrete wall.

Her spine struck the wall with a dull thud, mixed with a pained gasp.

"You've brought shame to Class D, and you've brought shame to me." He gripped her jaw and forced her to look up at him, his expression stern. "Drop out at once. Don't make me say it twice."

A choking sensation washed over her, and Suzune's vision darkened, but she still managed to force out, "I... won't drop out!"

"Stubborn!" Anger flashed in Horikita Manabu's eyes as his other hand suddenly swung toward her.

His fist cut through the air, only to veer away at the last inch and slam into the wall beside her head.

The dull impact echoed through the cramped space, making her eardrums ring.

A few tiny flecks of concrete dust trickled down and clung to her pale cheek.

"See how weak you are, Suzune." Horikita Manabu's voice was low. "Your so-called 'catching up' is nothing but a way to disguise your weakness with my goal. You can't even admit the reality of Class D, so what makes you think you can reach Class A?"

Horikita Suzune slid down the wall and sat on the ground.

The back of her neck hurt, but her chest hurt even more.

It felt as if her brother's words had torn apart the very thing that had been holding her up.

As the footsteps beside her gradually faded, her brother's words echoed in her mind—

He wasn't denying her abilities. He had completely exposed the deepest thing she'd been running from.

All these years, she had tied her entire life to "catching up to Horikita Manabu," never once considering what "Horikita Suzune" herself should do.

That obsession had become her excuse to avoid facing herself.

Perhaps her brother had another reason for saying she brought shame to Class D.

He had pushed her to drop out because he believed she couldn't survive and succeed here, and wanted her to put an end to it before she experienced an even greater failure.

The dull pain in her shoulder remained, but the pressure on her throat had left her strangely clear-headed.

At last, the pain in her body made her understand something.

Her pride in being alone had only shut her off from everyone else;

relying on her own strength alone would only make it impossible for her to get anywhere at this school.

She touched the sore spot on her neck and suddenly let out a quiet laugh.

"You were right, Older Brother..." She lifted her head. "I've been using the idea of catching up to you... to avoid seeing myself clearly."

She took a breath, braced herself against the wall, and struggled to her feet.

Dust clung to her skirt, which stirred in the wind.

"Starting today," she said with no one to hear her, yet with remarkable clarity, "the person I have to surpass is the 'Horikita Suzune' I am right now."

Back in her room, Horikita Suzune sat on the floor with her back against the door.

She took out her phone. The light from the screen was a little harsh.

The name "Kushida Kikyo" showed in her contacts.

She'd gotten it from a Class D student she'd run into in the hallway.

Her tone had been stiff, but the other student had kindly given her the number.

Her daytime aversion to Kushida still lingered.

But her brother's words and the stark reality of Class D's zero points stood like enormous obstacles, completely blocking her retreat.

That intense humiliation finally crushed the last of her resistance.