Celebration Banquet

In the corridor.

Multiple electronic screens were displaying the class points for each grade and class. Two figures, a man and a woman, stood there—Arisu Sakayanagi and Kohei Katsuragi.

Katsuragi crossed his arms and said, "Class C is starting to lose steam. Is it Ryuen playing tricks again? He truly is a dangerous man."

Having confirmed the data, Arisu Sakayanagi leaned on her cane and slowly walked away. Without looking back, she said, "Ryuen? Dangerous? You've got the wrong target, Katsuragi. But at least life won't be boring from here on out!"

As the sun set, Zhuge Linghao felt completely relaxed after finishing his exams and began wandering aimlessly once more.

On a park bench sat Ayanokoji and Horikita.

Zhuge Linghao decided to approach quietly to listen to what they were discussing.

"Don't you think there's something strange about this exam?" Horikita asked.

"Is there a problem? I think the results are quite good," Ayanokoji replied.

"Class A currently has 1004 points, while we only have 100. That's a tenfold gap. Honestly, it's almost impossible to promote to Class A," Ayanokoji continued.

Horikita turned the page of the novel in her hand and said, "I won't give up. I will definitely promote to Class A!"

"Still, thanks to your tutoring, Sudo and the others managed to pass."

"Hmph, I told you already, this was for my own sake. After all, no one knows how many points would be deducted if someone were to drop out."

"But you intentionally scored 51 in English. You were afraid Sudo wouldn't reach the 50% average, so you deliberately scored that low, didn't you?"

"I really don't like that attitude of yours, Ayanokoji..."

"Yaho! Good afternoon! Are you two dating?" Zhuge Linghao chose the perfect moment to appear and dropped a bombshell!

It was impossible to tell what expression Horikita had under her long hair, but her right hand was already reaching into her bag, fumbling for something.

"I get it, I get it, a secret rendezvous in the woods!" Zhuge Linghao chuckled.

Ayanokoji kept signaling to Zhuge Linghao with his eyes, but Zhuge Linghao misinterpreted every single one.

"No need to hide it, Ayanokoji, I won't tell anyone..."

At this moment, the compass-wielding warrior Horikita was ready. Her voice sounded like a demon from the underworld: "Would you rather regret it in pain, or regret it in despair? Which do you choose?"

Zhuge Linghao, still oblivious to the situation, said with a grin, "Huh? Which one? That's a tough choice..."

"Hiss..."

"That hurts!"

In Ayanokoji's room, a few people were having a party.

"Cheers!"

Ken Sudo took a big gulp of cola and said, "Thanks, Zhuge. It's a good thing you reminded me to ask Horikita for her English notes, otherwise I'm afraid I would've failed!"

Zhuge Linghao waved his hand. "Small matter."

Seeing the group celebrating, Ayanokoji couldn't help but retort, "I don't mind you guys having a victory party, but why does it have to be in my room?"

No one paid Ayanokoji any mind.

Haruki Yamauchi said with high spirits, "That was really dangerous this time. If Kushida hadn't had the past papers and answers, Ike and Sudo would definitely have been finished!"

Kanji Ike clinked his cola against Haruki Yamauchi's and teased, "Nani? Didn't you barely pass with a low score yourself!"

The other guy gave a cocky thumbs-up, looking like Vegeta in his prime, and said, "That's because I wasn't using my true power!"

Zhuge Linghao thought to himself: No, even if you used your full power, you'd still be that pathetic.

At this point, Kikyo Kushida snuck up to Zhuge Linghao and whispered, "Zhuge-kun, how did you get those three to study so seriously?"

Zhuge Linghao turned toward Suzune Horikita and praised her loudly, "It's all thanks to Suzune-chan! She is so responsible. Before the Midterm Exam, she held no less than 10 study sessions for us, and every single one was free tutoring!"

Horikita looked up from her novel and started to explain, "Wait, that's not..."

Zhuge Linghao interrupted, "Suzune-chan is truly amazing. For the sake of us academic underachievers, she stayed up until 12 midnight preparing for every session! She's just so diligent and put so much heart into it!"

"Wait, how do you know she was preparing until midnight?"

"Ah? Haha, don't worry about the details!"

Kanji Ike was the first to show his support: "I never thought Horikita was so awesome! Thumbs up to you!"

Haruki Yamauchi also said happily, "Looks like we had some misunderstandings about Horikita-san!"

Sudo looked at Suzune Horikita with a confused expression, his mouth slightly agape. "Why? You actually went this far for a loser like me..."

"Hmph, I... I was just acting for my own sake!"

The loudmouth Zhuge Linghao joked, "Horikita is the best! Looking closely, this ice-cold girl is actually pretty and reliable!"

"Hahahaha!" A burst of laughter filled the room.

And Kikyo Kushida, having lost the spotlight, was biting her lip again...

The party ended.

Zhuge Linghao and Kushida Kikyo stayed behind to clean up the mess.

Ayanokoji tied up the last trash bag and said to the two of them, "I'm really sorry to make you help out."

Kushida Kikyo smiled and said, "No need to thank me, I should be the one thanking you for being willing to provide your room."

Then, she hesitated before asking, "Do you guys like girls of Horikita's type?"

Ayanokoji replied, "Uh, don't overthink it, Horikita and I are just classmates."

Kushida Kikyo swept her gaze toward Zhuge Linghao: "Zhuge-kun, what about you?"

Zhuge Linghao avoided Kushida's gaze, stammering and acting bashful as he said, "I like them big! BIG! You guys get it, right?"

"?"

"Um, Zhuge-kun, could you come to my room in a bit? I have something to discuss with you!"

"Holy crap? Just me? Alone in a room together?"

"Yes! It's something very important!"

This was Zhuge Linghao's first time stepping into a girl's bedroom, and he was incredibly nervous and excited.

His eyes darted around like a timid hamster, his face was as bright red as a monkey's butt, and steam was 'hissing' from his head.

He took a deep, intoxicated breath of the room's air: It smells so good!

Kushida Kikyo poured a cup of tea and took the initiative to hand it to the flustered Zhuge Linghao.

Unable to handle the heat, Zhuge Linghao naturally drank it all in one gulp.

Then, Kushida Kikyo walked step by step toward Zhuge Linghao, looking up to stare directly into his eyes.

Hey, hey, hey, you're too close! The hot breath from your little mouth is blowing right onto my nose! It's so itchy!

Zhuge Linghao was already overheating and losing control, on the verge of fainting!

Suddenly, Kushida Kikyo grabbed Zhuge Linghao's right hand and slammed it onto her left chest!

Dark Kushida has logged on!

She said in an icy tone, "Now, I have evidence of you sexually assaulting me too. I order you to delete that video."

It was like a bucket of cold water being poured over him; Zhuge Linghao was shocked, damn it! I fell for it!

I originally thought I had perfectly avoided the Kushida Kikyo hand-pressing incident.

But I never imagined I would still fall into the trap!

I was careless, I didn't dodge!

Damn it!

But thinking back to that soft sensation just now, I have no regrets even if I die!

Zhuge Linghao had no choice but to tremble and fumble to take out his phone, deleting the video of Kushida cursing and destroying public property right in front of her.

"You don't have a backup, do you?"

"N-no, absolutely not!"

"Is that so? I'll believe you for now. You should be very clear about the consequences of betraying me!"

"Y-yes!"

Kushida Kikyo switched back to her original persona in a second: Heh, men, so easy to manipulate!

Back in his dorm, Zhuge Linghao gave a wicked smile.

His right hand fiddled with his collar, removing a pinhole camera he had spent a small fortune to buy.

Sorry, little angel Kushida, not only do I have a backup of the original video, but now I have an extra video of you threatening me!

Hehe! Another day of playing with Kushida-chan!