A new day.
For once, Kazehara Tetsu found himself with a little time on his hands.
He had no plans to go to the Library. He wandered aimlessly around Campus, watching the students come and go.
As he reached the plaza between the Teaching Building and Keyaki Mall, a familiar figure entered his field of vision.
Horikita Suzune.
Her posture was as straight as ever, her long black hair falling over her shoulders.
But Kazehara Tetsu could tell at a glance that something was wrong.
She wasn't reading or looking at her phone. She was simply staring blankly at the ground ahead.
On her face, usually cloaked in a layer of frost, there was now a trace of something called "exhaustion."
Kazehara Tetsu stopped walking.
He regarded her with interest.
He had already heard about Class D's Midterm Exam results.
Just as expected, there were students who had failed.
But even today, no announcement had come from the school about any Class D students being expelled.
There was only one explanation: the students of Class D had pooled together that astronomical sum of Personal Points and forcibly "bought back" the "Flawed Products" who should have been eliminated.
Kazehara Tetsu set off toward the bench.
Horikita Suzune's shoulders twitched. Her unfocused gaze snapped back into focus, and she warily looked up at the uninvited visitor.
When she recognized him, her brow furrowed even more.
It was him.
The man who had used a string of vicious remarks in the Library to strike at the insecurities in her heart.
Kazehara Tetsu came over and plopped down beside her.
"Are you daydreaming here all by yourself, Horikita?" His voice held a hint of amusement, as if they were close friends.
Horikita Suzune didn't answer. She simply looked away from him and stared ahead again, using silence to convey that she wanted him to leave.
"There's a café nearby with pretty good reviews. Want to go sit down together? My treat." Kazehara Tetsu extended an invitation.
"No need."
"Is that so? What a shame."
Kazehara Tetsu wore a look of disappointment, but made no move to leave. "But, Horikita, you don't look too good."
He asked as if he didn't already know, like someone genuinely concerned about a classmate.
"You look like someone who poured everything into building a castle, only to discover when the storm came that all you'd worked so hard to protect was a pile of sand, ready to be washed away at any moment. That sense of exhaustion after all that effort came to nothing—is that about right?"
Horikita Suzune's hands, resting on her knees, suddenly clenched into fists.
Her nails dug deep into the tender flesh of her palms, bringing a sharp sting.
"This has nothing to do with you."
She spoke one word at a time, as if forcing each one through clenched teeth.
"Right, it doesn't. I'm just musing a little."
"Saving your classmates... It always sounds so noble, doesn't it? But noble things tend to come with a hefty price tag. When a group has to sacrifice everyone's interests to fill a few bottomless pits, how long do you think that 'unity' can last?"
"When those who gave everything they had look back and see that the 'classmates' they saved are still hopeless as ever, will they feel relieved... or resentful?"
Horikita Suzune's body began to tremble slightly.
Not from anger, but because every word he said hit the truth.
She had witnessed it all with her own eyes.
Time rewound to the day the scores were announced.
The classroom in Class D was filled with a mixture of tension and anticipation.
When the bell rang and Chabashira Sae walked into the classroom with the Report Cards tucked under her arm, everyone instinctively held their breath.
She walked to the podium, her face wearing the same impassive expression as always.
Her gaze swept slowly over everyone in the room.
She slapped the Report Cards onto the blackboard with a sharp smack, her movement brisk and economical.
"Woohoo! I passed! I passed!"
Kanji Ike was the first to cheer. Pointing at his score, he nearly jumped out of his seat.
"Thank goodness! Me too!" Ken Sudō shouted, his face alight with the joy of having escaped disaster.
The classroom erupted.
"Awesome! We all passed!"
"Just as I thought. With last year's questions, this exam was nothing!"
Joy spread through the class in an instant. Ken Sudō even slammed his fist onto his desk with a loud thud, his face brimming with barely restrained excitement and arrogance.
The students who usually ranked at the bottom were now celebrating their "victory" as if they had won a decisive battle, completely carried away.
Chabashira Sae stood at the podium with her arms crossed, watching the students dance around with cold eyes.
She didn't interrupt them, simply letting their cheap joy ferment and swell in the classroom.
Only after the excitement had subsided a little did she speak.
"Are you celebrating a little too soon?"
Her words drenched them like a bucket of ice water.
The classroom fell silent at once.
"What do you mean, Chabashira Teacher? Didn't we all pass the Passing Score?" Kushida Kikyo asked, confused.
"Who told you the Passing Score was the same as the Quiz?"
She picked up a piece of red chalk and wrote a formula on the blackboard.
Total subject score / number of students / 2 = Passing Score
"Anyone below this score will be considered to have failed."
The red chalk in her hand scraped across the blackboard with an ear-piercing sound.
English Passing Score: 41 points.
Mathematics Passing Score: 40 points.
The air in the classroom seemed to freeze.
"H-how can this be..." The smile froze on Kanji Ike's face. He stared wide-eyed at the numbers on the blackboard, then looked down at the Report Cards, comparing them back and forth.
Kanji Ike, Mathematics: 38 points.
Two points short.
On the other side, Ken Sudō was in no better shape. His face, flushed from all his excitement, had now turned deathly pale.
Ken Sudō, English: 37 points.
Four points short.
"Shit! What kind of bullshit rule is this?!"
An angry curse shattered the dead silence in the classroom.
Ken Sudō shot to his feet and kicked his chair over with a bang.
"Why did the Passing Score change? Are you messing with us, you woman?!"
Kanji Ike finally reacted too, his voice turning tearful.
"Chabashira Teacher, please, don't expel me! I'm only two points short. Give me one more chance, and I'll study hard for the next exam! Please!"
His words tumbled over one another, tears and snot mixing on his face.
Yet Chabashira Sae's expression remained unchanged.
"I told you from the start: the true rule of This School is Might Makes Right. This school isn't a charity. It won't change the rules just because you cry and beg. I'm merely an enforcer. I have neither the power nor the obligation to change anything."
With that, she ignored the uproar in the classroom, turned around, tucked her teaching materials under her arm, and walked out at an even pace.
The door closed behind her, seeming to shut out the last of Kanji Ike and Ken Sudō's hope as well.
The classroom fell silent.
Before you continue