"Something interesting might happen tonight. Want to come along?"
On the way downstairs to buy some hot milk, Makoto struck up a conversation with Ayanokoji.
"Interesting... What kind of thing could be called interesting?"
In response to Makoto's invitation, that was what Ayanokoji wondered.
"Um... I guess anything unusual that sparks someone's curiosity or gets their heart racing would count?"
Makoto said uncertainly, since most people wouldn't normally ask a question like that.
Oh, right. The other guy wasn't normal.
"Then you must be pretty interesting to me. So this is what interesting means?"
Hearing Ayanokoji say that, Makoto nearly forgot what the word "interesting" meant.
"Ahem."
He cleared his throat and quickly paid Class Points for two bottles of hot milk at the vending machine.
"Didn't you just eat? Aren't you full?"
"I have a second stomach for milk."
"What does that mean?"
Ayanokoji clearly didn't get what was supposed to be funny about the joke, so he asked outright.
It was nice not having to think too hard when talking to him. For once, Makoto felt a little at ease.
"It's like how some girls say they have a separate stomach for dessert. I was joking."
"I see."
That was new information to Ayanokoji, and he silently filed away the expression "a second stomach."
"So, are you coming with me?"
Time waited for no one. The sunset glow from a little while ago had vanished, leaving only darkness behind.
"Can I ask what exactly is going to happen?"
"Horikita and her brother's family dispute."
Makoto's answer was brief and to the point. It was an event he'd been looking forward to for a long time.
Students who had added each other as friends at this school could check one another's locations. That was how Makoto had noticed Horikita Manabu's unusual movements that day, and guessed he was meeting with his younger sister that very night.
"Is that really so interesting?"
Ayanokoji asked, puzzled. He couldn't understand.
"Aren't you curious about how Horikita acts in front of her brother?"
Makoto tried to tempt him.
"Sorry, I don't really want to get involved with her."
Ayanokoji wanted to refuse.
Before, he might have wanted to glean some useful information from the situation. Now, though, he just wanted to stay out of it.
Chabashira-sensei's threat had been a bluff, so there was no reason for him to keep trying... right?
What was this strange feeling?
Ayanokoji was confused by it.
He asked outright.
"Why do I feel so strange?"
"Maybe because you're still a normal man after all."
The prospect of seeing a beautiful girl's unknown side with his own eyes was undeniably tempting to men.
Instinct led Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
"Then... I'll come along?"
Ayanokoji shamelessly changed his mind, but Makoto didn't mind.
"So what now? We just wait here?"
"Relax. It won't take long."
After checking Horikita Manabu's location on his phone, Makoto pulled Ayanokoji around a corner.
The elevator was descending from the seventh floor, and Makoto found himself holding his breath.
"Do we really need to do this?"
"Then why don't you go out there?"
After Makoto asked him that, Ayanokoji fell silent.
He didn't dare.
The two of them waited quietly for the elevator to reach the first floor.
The elevator doors slid open, and a beautiful woman with foxlike eyes stepped out. Her black hair fell to her waist, with a bow on the left and a long braid beneath it.
Who else could it be but Horikita Suzune?
She scanned the area, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
Makoto and Ayanokoji had already ducked back out of sight. Horikita couldn't see them from there.
After confirming there were no other students around, she stepped out into the night.
"Go, go, go!"
Makoto whispered, setting the mood as if they were agents on a secret mission.
Ayanokoji quietly followed behind Horikita Suzune with Makoto.
They stopped behind a shrub.
Horikita Suzune had already found the person she was meeting that night.
"Suzune, you came after all."
"I came because I wanted to catch up with you, Brother."
At his sister's answer, disappointment was written all over Horikita Manabu's face.
"So, have you figured out why you were placed in Class D?"
"That's... That's because..." Horikita Suzune's expression wavered, though neither of them could see her face. "There must have been some kind of mistake!"
"Looks like you still haven't understood your shortcomings."
As if he'd given up on something, Horikita Manabu stepped forward, grabbed his sister by the wrist, and forcefully pinned her against the wall.
"Then I'll just have to make you suffer a little, like I used to."
Meanwhile, Ayanokoji quietly asked:
"Aren't you going to stop him?"
"Why should I interfere in someone else's family business?"
Makoto answered calmly.
"Then can you tell me why you're recording this?"
Ayanokoji looked at Makoto, who was secretly filming with his phone. He was curious.
If he wasn't planning to stop them, was he going to use the recording to threaten them?
If this so-called "ability" turned out to be nothing more than that...
Honestly, he'd be disappointed.
"He's the leader of Class 3-A, and the Student Council President of this school. How valuable do you think this recording could be?"
"So? Are you planning to use it to threaten him?"
Ayanokoji watched without expression as Horikita Suzune was thrown onto the concrete a short distance away.
"You'll find out soon enough."
Makoto smiled slightly, then strode casually out from behind the shrub where they'd been hiding.
"Hey there, my dear Student Council President. Long time no see."
"Miyano, what are you doing here?"
"Sometimes people like me just happen to use our friends to stalk other people's whereabouts~"
Horikita Manabu's expression darkened.
If Miyano was saying that, then he was an enemy, not a friend.
"Were you behind the recent changes in the second year?"
Before bringing up what had happened just a little while ago, Horikita Manabu wanted to confirm something first.
"I'm just a first-year student. Of course the things happening in the second year have~ only a tiny little bit to do with me."
"You really have surprised me."
The current Student Council President smiled faintly.
"So, what do you want in exchange for deleting the video?"
He'd just seen Miyano standing up with his phone raised.
"Let's not talk about that yet."
Makoto said, looking expectant, though he still kept a fair distance away.
"Since I've already fulfilled your previous request, what's my reward?"
Horikita Manabu was a little confused.
What reward?
Hadn't he already given him his reward?
Was joining the Student Council really that easy?
"I'm not talking about some empty reward like joining the Student Council."
Though members were guaranteed 100,000 Personal Points a month, Makoto honestly wasn't interested.
"What I want is points!"
Makoto finally revealed his true objective.
——
Question: The term starts in early April, and midterm exams take place in the third week of May. In the original story, Sudo's fight happens in late June, and the events related to Class C begin in early July.
So where did Class D's 87 Class Points in early July, and the points the other classes gained, come from?
If they were a reward for making it through midterms, shouldn't they have been awarded in June? Why wait until July?
Could this be the legendary missing month of June?
∑(❍д❍ฺlll
Before you continue