Everyone at the table looked at Kazehara Tetsu, waiting for his response.
Kazehara Tetsu fell silent for a moment, looking utterly speechless.
"Hoshinomiya-sensei."
He set down his drink and looked at her. "Let me ask you something."
"Go ahead."
"If you want to do well on an exam, what should you focus on?"
Hoshinomiya Chie blinked. "...What?"
"Shouldn't you focus on improving yourselves?"
Kazehara Tetsu wore an expression that said, How do you not get this? "If your class wants to win, you should go back and study properly, understand the rules inside out, and train every student to stay composed. That's the right way to go about it. But instead of thinking about any of that, you came to someone from another class-me-to ask for tricks.
"Tricks belong to other people. Ability is your own. If I give you a strategy today, what will you do next time when the exam format changes?"
"You're so stingy."
Hoshinomiya Chie pouted and leaned back in her chair, clearly displeased. "I only asked you a couple of questions. It's not like I asked you to steal the exam papers. Did you really have to make such a big deal out of it?"
"This isn't about being stingy. It's a matter of principle."
"Hmph. Principle."
Hoshinomiya Chie huffed, then abruptly changed tack. Covering her face, she turned toward Ichinose Honami with a look of utter heartbreak.
"Honami..."
She drew out the words in a tearful voice. "Just look at you. Now that you have a boyfriend, you've forgotten all about your teacher."
"A boy from another class rejected your teacher to her face and left her looking foolish, and you didn't even say a word to help. You just sat there watching."
Hoshinomiya Chie made a show of wiping away tears that weren't