Chapter Summaries

Feng Qi arrived at Kōtō Ikusei High School and noticed the unnaturally silent atmosphere on the new-student bus. After recognizing several classmates, including Horikita Suzune and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, he followed the other students toward the entrance ceremony and decided Horikita would be his first target.

• Feng Qi rode the school bus to Kōtō Ikusei High School and assessed the students’ unusual silence.
• Feng Qi identified Kushida Kikyo, Ken Sudō, Yukimura Teruhiko, and Horikita Suzune among his classmates.
• Feng Qi sensed Ayanokoji Kiyotaka watching from behind and recognized him.
• The bus reached campus, and the school directed the new students to the gymnasium for the entrance ceremony.
• Feng Qi followed Horikita Suzune toward the ceremony and chose her as the starting point for his plans.

Fūki Ran watched Class D react to the school's promise of 100,000 Private Points, recognizing that Chabashira Sae had withheld important information. He tried to get Horikita Suzune to question the points and work with him, but she rejected him and walked away.

• Chabashira Sae told Class D that each student would receive 100,000 Private Points every month, and the students excitedly discussed how to spend them.
• Fūki noticed that Horikita Suzune remained wary while most of the class celebrated the points.
• After homeroom, Kushida Kikyo invited classmates to exchange contact information, but Horikita left alone and ignored her.
• Fūki caught up with Horikita in the corridor and suggested the points might conceal rules worth investigating together.
• Horikita refused to discuss his suspicions and told Fūki to stop following her, then continued toward the dormitory.
• Fūki accepted her rejection and headed to the Boys' Dormitory, believing he could wait for a better opportunity.

Fūki Ran attended the freshman ceremony and recognized the school’s meritocracy as a sign that students’ resources and opportunities depended on their abilities. After the ceremony, he held back from approaching Horikita Suzune and waited for the school’s rules and conflicts to emerge.

• Fūki took an aisle seat in Class D’s section and observed Horikita Suzune, Kushida Kikyo, Ken Sudō, and Yukimura Teruhiko before the ceremony began.
• The chairman welcomed the freshmen and emphasized that Kōtō Ikusei High School operated on meritocracy, with students needing to win and protect their resources, respect, and future opportunities.
• Horikita reacted to the chairman’s words with a flash of fighting spirit, while Kushida quietly assessed how the speech affected the students around her.
• After the ceremony, students discussed meritocracy, their Ten Thousand Points, and their worries about the other classes as they left the auditorium.
• Fūki watched Horikita head off alone and chose not to follow, deciding to wait until the school’s rules became clear and conflicts emerged.

Fūki Ran observed how Class D students spent their initial points at the campus supermarket and spoke with Horikita Suzune about the school's rules. He returned to Dorm 129, recording the early divisions he saw and anticipating conflict when the points ran out or the rules became clear.

• Fūki Ran studied the points system and went to the campus supermarket to buy necessities and observe his classmates.
• Yamauchi Haruki and Kanji Ike filled their cart with expensive goods, while Yukimura Teruhiko urged them to spend more cautiously.
• Fūki crossed paths with Horikita Suzune and warned that the rules behind the points might be more complicated than they seemed; Horikita dismissed his speculation but briefly considered it.
• Fūki met Kushida Kikyo, who expressed concern about classmates' spending while buying items suited to sharing and socializing.
• Fūki compared Horikita's modest purchases with Yamauchi and Ike's stuffed bags, then returned to Dorm 129 and noted the emerging spending divisions in his notebook.

Fūki Ran used his strategic skills to turn his ten thousand points into 1,150,000 points through private club challenges. He returned to Dorm 129, planning to use the fortune later to shift the balance of power in his class and year.

• Fūki entered the Strategy Game Research Society’s concealed basement and exchanged his points for chips.
• Fūki solved a difficult Go endgame and won 125K chips.
• Fūki defeated two opponents in a blind chess match and raised his total to 275K chips.
• Fūki quadrupled his stake in a financial simulation, bringing his chips to 1.15M.
• Fūki cashed out 1,150,000 points and returned to Dorm 129 without drawing attention from his classmates.

Class D discovered that its poor evaluation had cut off its monthly points, leaving students in crisis. Feng Qi persuaded Horikita Suzune to work with him on improving the class before the Midterm Exam, beginning with helping Ken Sudō pass.

• Class D students found their Student Terminals showed zero points, and Chabashira Sae explained that absences, poor discipline, low exam scores, and reckless spending had caused the class to rank last.
• The students struggled through lunch without enough points to buy food while Hirata Yousuke urged them to seek a solution.
• Feng Qi followed Horikita Suzune into the hallway and argued that she could not solve the class’s problems alone.
• Feng Qi proposed combining their academic strengths to organize study groups and improve Class D’s Midterm Exam results.
• Horikita agreed to hear his plan, and Feng Qi suggested starting by helping Ken Sudō pass his exams.

Feng Qi organized a study group and shared free-ingredient recipes to help Class D recover from its loss of points before the Midterm Exam. As Sudō began studying and Hirata offered to help, Feng Qi prepared to ask him about something.

• Feng Qi gave Hirata math notes to help tutor struggling classmates and gave Kushida recipes made from free ingredients.
• Feng Qi offered Sudō homemade Energy Bars and invited him to join a study group ahead of the Midterm Exam.
• At the Library, Horikita, Hirata, Kushida, and Feng Qi helped Sudō study, and Feng Qi found a way to explain a math problem he understood.
• Feng Qi told Horikita he wanted to prove Class D's worth, leaving her newly curious about him.
• Kushida shared Feng Qi's recipes with the girls, while Sudō reviewed math formulas in his dorm.
• Hirata offered to help Feng Qi with the study group, and Feng Qi said he had something to ask him.

Fūki Ran bought past exam papers, turned them into study notes, and sold them to students across the classes for nearly a million points. After Ryuen Kakeru exposed the deals, the school investigated Fūki during the Midterm Exam but found insufficient evidence to punish him, leaving his rivalry with Ryuen unresolved.

• Fūki bought genuine past exam papers from Third-year Students and compiled them into a targeted review guide.
• Fūki sold his study materials to Ryuen Kakeru, Ichinose Honami, and several Class A students, earning nearly a million points.
• Kushida Kikyo warned Fūki that Ryuen was spreading rumors about his sales, and Chabashira Sae announced a school investigation.
• During the Midterm Exam, Student Council President Tachibana Kiyomi and Chabashira questioned Fūki, but he argued that he had sold ordinary study notes.
• The school warned Fūki against making similar deals, while Horikita Suzune cautioned him about the risks and Fūki anticipated further conflict with Ryuen.

Feng Qi Ran accidentally damaged Sakura Eri’s camera, paid to have it repaired, and helped her feel more comfortable around him. When he later protected her from three Class C students, Sakura began to trust him and developed a quiet affection for him as the Special Exam approached.

• Feng Qi Ran collided with Sakura Eri in a Corridor, damaging her camera, and took responsibility for getting it professionally repaired.
• While they waited for the repair, Feng Qi Ran talked with Sakura about photography, helping her relax and ask questions.
• Feng Qi Ran found three Class C students cornering Sakura and drove them away.
• Sakura told Feng Qi Ran that the students had pressured her to take secret photographs of their bullying, and he urged her to seek help from him, Hirata, or Kushida.
• Sakura gradually grew more comfortable around Feng Qi Ran, secretly photographed him, and developed affection for him.

As Class D settled after the Midterm Exam, Fūki Ran quietly helped classmates and earned their trust, prompting Horikita Suzune to reconsider him. Horikita lent him an umbrella in the rain, and Fūki left knowing their silent contest would continue into the Special Exam.

• Fūki Ran explained a physics problem to Ken Sudō by relating it to pushing a box up a slope.
• Fūki continued helping classmates and became a behind-the-scenes coordinator in group work with Hirata Yousuke.
• Horikita Suzune watched Fūki and wondered whether he was guiding Class D or secretly manipulating it.
• Horikita gave Fūki her black folding umbrella and walked into the rain with another one.
• Fūki accepted the umbrella and anticipated that the Special Exam would be the next stage of his contest with Horikita.

Fūki Ran discovered Kushida Kikyo’s hatred and ambition in the garden and promised to keep her secret in exchange for her private trust. He left with leverage over her, while Kushida remained shaken by their new contract.

• Fūki Ran found Kushida Kikyo alone in the garden, cursing her classmates and revealing her desire to crush them.
• Kushida noticed Fūki watching and panicked as he confronted her with the threat of exposing her true nature.
• Kushida pressed Fūki’s hand to her chest and declared that he held the power to destroy her carefully built reputation.
• Fūki promised to keep her secret and told her to come to Dorm 129 when she needed to reveal her hidden darkness.
• Fūki left the garden, believing he now had control over Kushida’s vulnerability.

After the Midterm results left Class D demoralized, Feng Qi tested the possibility of working with Horikita Suzune and continued watching Kushida Kikyo’s growing fear of him. A few nights later, Kushida slipped into Feng Qi’s room, just as the Special Exam approached.

• Class D’s Midterm results were announced, and the class sank into low spirits.
• Feng Qi and Horikita discussed Class D’s resource allocation and the possibility that the Special Exam could give them a chance to reshape its rules.
• Feng Qi noticed that Kushida’s smile had grown stiff and fearful since their deal in the Old Garden.
• Feng Qi analyzed information about past Special Exams in his dorm room.
• Kushida arrived at Feng Qi’s door at night and hurried inside after he let her in.

Fūki Ran brought Kushida Kikyo to his dorm room and coaxed her into revealing her hatred and exhaustion beneath her cheerful façade. The chapter ended with Kushida feeling trapped in Fūki’s control, yet strangely relieved and drawn to it.

• Fūki locked Dorm 129, prepared tea, and told Kushida she could be herself there.
• Kushida broke down and confessed how exhausting it was to maintain her cheerful image while privately despising her classmates.
• Fūki silently recorded Kushida’s outburst as she insulted her classmates, school, and everyone who made her keep up her mask.
• After Kushida collapsed, Fūki said he wanted the real Kushida and claimed Dorm 129 was the only place she could remove her disguises.
• Kushida realized she had fallen into Fūki’s hands and felt both frightened and strangely relieved.

Kushida Kikyo increasingly visited Fūki Ran in secret, revealing her true self and responding to his tasks and control with growing dependence. The chapter left her voluntarily bringing him limited-edition cookies, a sign that she was beginning to maintain their dangerous relationship herself.

• Kushida Kikyo repeatedly visited Fūki Ran’s room at night and let her anger and private habits show.
• Fūki Ran observed Kushida’s emotional shifts and gave her information-gathering tasks, while she began to crave his approval.
• Kushida crushed a pack of cookies in anger, and Fūki told her to wipe her hand clean as she calmed herself.
• Kushida brought Fūki a carefully wrapped box of limited-edition cookies she had bought without being asked.
• Fūki thanked Kushida and accepted the gift, while she felt a mix of humiliation and pleasure.

Kushida Kikyo’s private honesty with Feng Qi began to disrupt her public persona, and Feng Qi warned her that the cracks in her performance could expose her. She left the conversation more dependent on him and agreed to keep observing and reporting while learning to control her mask.

• At Hirata Yousuke’s tea party, Kushida Kikyo briefly faltered while responding to praise for Ken Sudō, and Horikita Suzune and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka seemed to notice.
• Kushida later told Feng Qi that she had handled the exchange perfectly, but he said he had noticed her hesitation and measured it at about 0.4 seconds.
• Feng Qi warned Kushida that relaxing her mask in private was making it harder to perform flawlessly in public.
• Kushida panicked and clutched Feng Qi’s trouser leg, asking him what she should do.
• Feng Qi told Kushida to keep observing and reporting, control her switching, and treat the outside world as a stage; she agreed.

As Class D’s dwindling points sparked conflict over a shared fund, Fūki Ran directed Kushida Kikyo to quietly build support for Hirata Yousuke’s proposal by appealing to students’ concerns about the coming Special Exam. The fund passed narrowly, while Kushida grew more invested in acting as Fūki’s behind-the-scenes pawn and a greater conflict remained ahead.

• Class D argued over whether students with points should contribute to a public fund, until Horikita Suzune urged them to focus on earning more points instead.
• Fūki told Kushida to privately persuade Yukimura Teruhiko and other students by presenting class unity as protection against future risks and the Special Exam.
• Kushida planted concerns about the class’s division in casual conversations, and Yukimura and several other students shifted to support the fund.
• Hirata’s proposal passed by a narrow margin, establishing a small pool of public points for Class D.
• Kushida reported her success to Fūki, who praised her as she became more enthusiastic about influencing the class from the shadows.

Fūki Ran identified Ayanokoji Kiyotaka’s ordinary demeanor as a possible disguise and noticed Horikita Suzune beginning to pay closer attention to Class D. He tasked Kushida Kikyo with observing Horikita, leaving Kushida reluctantly committed to the assignment and Fūki planning to exploit the information.

• Fūki marked Ayanokoji as someone whose deliberate ordinariness warranted long-term observation.
• Fūki noticed Horikita had begun watching class activities and had intervened to help Yukimura with a difficult math problem.
• Fūki ordered Kushida to record Horikita’s behavior and any changes in her attitude toward class matters.
• Kushida resisted the assignment but agreed after Fūki described Horikita as a promising variable and spoke of their plans as shared.
• Fūki decided Kushida’s observations would help him understand Horikita while deepening Kushida’s dependence on him.

Kushida observed Horikita for Feng Qi and began noticing signs that Horikita was quietly studying other people, while comparing Horikita’s solitary life with her own exhausting social performance. Feng Qi’s questions unsettled Kushida and sharpened his understanding of Horikita as he prepared for his next approach.

• Kushida reported Horikita’s strict routine and academic reading to Feng Qi, who asked her to watch for signs of interest in other students.
• When Hirata Yousuke and Karuizawa Kei disagreed about how to spend the Public Fund, Kushida noticed Horikita watching with subtle confusion and secretly photographed her.
• Feng Qi interpreted Horikita’s reaction as evidence that she was trying to understand group dynamics and told Kushida to watch how she responded to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
• As she continued observing Horikita, Kushida compared their opposing ways of life and felt envy of Horikita’s ability to rely on herself.
• Kushida told Feng Qi that Horikita showed little interest in Ayanokoji, and Feng Qi urged her to question what she truly wanted while he prepared for his next approach to Horikita.

After Ken Sudō fought Kinoshita Masayoshi, Fūki Ran suspected Class C had provoked the incident to test Class D ahead of the Special Exam. He approached Horikita Suzune in the Library and proposed a practical exchange of information, leaving her to consider whether cooperation could help her reach Class A.

• Ken Sudō fought Kinoshita Masayoshi during basketball practice, and the incident stirred anxiety in Class D.
• Hirata Yousuke offered to mediate, but Teacher Chabashira said the school would handle the matter while Kushida Kikyo calmed the class.
• Fūki Ran suspected Ryuen Kakeru had arranged the provocation to test Class D's unity and saw a chance to approach Horikita Suzune.
• Fūki told Horikita that the fight could affect Class D's rating and make it a target during the Special Exam.
• Fūki proposed that he and Horikita share information and make independent judgments, and Horikita said she would think about it.

The school punished Ken Sudō and Kinoshita Masayoshi equally, but the ruling weakened Class D and reinforced its reputation for being easy to provoke. Feng Qi reassured Kushida Kikyo, investigated Ryuen Kakeru’s role in the incident, and concluded that he needed to consolidate his resources before the Special Exam.

• The school gave Ken Sudō a severe warning and a two-week Basketball Club suspension, while warning Kinoshita Masayoshi for provoking him.
• Hirata Yousuke and Kushida Kikyo tried to restore Class D’s morale, while Horikita Suzune took the outcome as evidence that the class’s instability could harm everyone.
• Kushida Kikyo questioned Feng Qi about his meeting with Horikita, and Feng Qi reassured her by calling her his information network’s key while describing Horikita as a blade he needed to assess.
• Feng Qi asked Kushida for her thoughts on the Sudo Incident, and she blamed Ryuen Kakeru for trying to sow chaos and weaken Class D before the Special Exam.
• Feng Qi discreetly gathered information from Class C students and concluded that Ryuen had at least approved of the provocation and was probing Class D for weaknesses.
• Feng Qi recognized Class C as a major threat and resolved to gather his forces before the Special Exam, considering Kushida, Horikita, and the hidden Ayanokoji.