Horikita raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced, but she didn't press the matter. Her attention was focused more on the test paper itself.
"If you really want to move up to Class A, you have to learn how to make use of resources and cooperate with others," Natsukawa continued, his tone guiding. "Break the question types on this paper up and incorporate them into different practice tests, so Sudo and the others can get familiar with them ahead of time. That way, they can master the material while ensuring nothing goes wrong. But there's no way you can write that many adapted practice questions by yourself in time."
He took out a second test paper. "I'll give this one to Hirata and the others. They can help write questions too, so you can share the workload. I'm sure Hirata will be happy to cooperate for the sake of the class. Remember to talk to him."
Horikita furrowed her brows, a hint of displeasure on her face, but she didn't argue. Her attitude made it clear she accepted the idea. Then she seemed to think of something, and her usual haughty expression quickly returned.
"But is this what you're relying on? What a clever little trick." Horikita seemed to have finally found Natsukawa's weak point, and she mocked him as if to get back at him for making her swallow her pride in front of Kushida a few days earlier.
"Who knows?" Natsukawa didn't explain himself in response to Horikita's taunt. Instead, he smiled at her. Her jab landed like a punch into cotton, and she didn't manage to pry out a single scrap of information.
Kushida put the remaining test papers back in her locker. When she returned, she happened to hear Natsukawa explaining his plan to Horikita. Her face was still pale from the blow, and at the mention of "Kushida bought them," she even pouted slightly, wearing a faintly resentful expression that said, "You were so mean to me just now." Yet deep down, she couldn't help but be impressed by Natsukawa's plan. She truly hadn't thought of an approach that took the whole class into account.
As class time drew near and students gradually arrived, Natsukawa stood up with the test paper and walked over to Hirata Yosuke's seat.
Hirata had been speaking quietly with Karuizawa Kei. When he saw Natsukawa approach him of his own accord, obvious surprise crossed his face.
Natsukawa called Hirata out of the classroom. Once they were in the hallway, he handed him the test paper.
"This is the actual test from the upcoming midterms. Kushida bought it from an upperclassman. Horikita doesn't plan to hand out the actual paper right away. Instead, she wants to break the questions up and put them into different practice tests, so everyone can get familiar with them without disrupting the class's current study atmosphere."
"But Horikita can't make that many tests by herself, so she asked me to work with you."
Hirata's face immediately lit up with a sincere smile when he heard that. Much of his earlier fatigue seemed to melt away. "That's great, Natsukawa! This test paper couldn't have come at a better time! Thank you and Horikita!" he said excitedly. He looked into the classroom and sent Kushida a grateful glance as well. "Please thank Kushida for me, too! Don't worry—we'll get everything organized as soon as we can. We'll all work together and make sure everyone can pass!"
As Hirata returned to the classroom full of energy, Kushida stood beside her seat, her feelings complicated and hard to put into words. She looked at the mastermind, who had already returned to his seat as if none of this had anything to do with him. Her desire to win him over and rely on him, along with her faint fear of him, had grown deeper and more tangled.
Kushida's actions were naturally the result of Natsukawa's guidance. After all, her little brain wasn't capable of coming up with particularly far-reaching schemes. The fact that she'd tried to leave fingerprints on a piece of fabric was proof enough.
From the moment he'd caught Kushida losing control in the stairwell, he'd begun planning how to tame this ticking time bomb and put her to use. He had exploited her desire for approval, hinting that she could win people over by handing out test papers while everyone was feeling uneasy. Then, through a series of calculated put-downs, he had planted seeds of self-doubt in Kushida, leading her to start seeking his advice. The strategy was already showing its first results, but he would have to think carefully about how to bring her completely under his control.
Over the next few days, it was as if someone had flipped a switch in Class D's classroom. The usual atmosphere of apathy and despair gave way to a somewhat awkward but genuine spirit of studying.
Horikita and Hirata began working together to write test questions. Horikita prepared three tests each for Japanese and English, while Hirata, Yukimura Teruhiko, and the others handled the rest. After a week had passed, they handed them out under the pretext of "checking everyone's progress." The class's study habits got on track, and even Sudo asked the Basketball Club for time off under the pressure of the upcoming exams.
Natsukawa was just as happy to take it easy. After "entrusting" Sakura Airi to Ichinose, he found it remarkably efficient to complete the system's required four hours of daily study in the quiet of the library. In his spare time, he stopped studying for exams and instead wandered between the towering bookshelves, pulling out whatever caught his interest—classic detective fiction, natural science, even casual travelogues and essays. Without the pressure of exams breathing down his neck, he could read purely to satisfy his curiosity and broaden his understanding. It let him experience the pleasure and ease of reading again, as if he'd returned to the days in his previous life when he'd explored knowledge freely in the gaps between high school classes.
Still, this peaceful routine was occasionally interrupted by a subtle sense that something was off. He often felt an indistinct gaze brush the back of his neck like a delicate strand of spider silk. But when he discreetly looked around, he could never find its source. At first, he'd been on guard, but given how often Kushida Kikyo had been appearing around him lately, he chalked it up to her passing by and watching him.
Whenever he thought of Kushida, the corner of Natsukawa's mouth would lift in a barely perceptible smile.
The energetic angel who always seemed flawless in front of everyone else appeared to become a different person when she came to sit near him in the library. She no longer forced herself to use that sickeningly sweet voice, and her steps grew more casual. Sometimes, she even seemed weary after completing her social obligations, walking straight over to the empty seat across from him, dropping her bag beside her, and letting out a soft, genuinely exasperated sigh.
"Ugh, I'm exhausted..." she might begin, rubbing her stiff cheeks after smiling too much before slumping over the table without a care for appearances, her brown hair spilling loose. "Those people are so... They ask the same question over and over, and I have to keep smiling while I answer them..."
In front of Natsukawa, she complained without holding back about the people and things in the class she found "stupid" or "troublesome," her voice full of irritation and disdain she would never normally show. The brightness she deliberately put in her big eyes would fade, leaving them at times lazy, at times angry. And whenever Natsukawa made a perceptive remark, she would reveal a genuine flash of frustration at being seen through, along with curiosity.
She seemed to have marked off the space around Natsukawa as a "safe zone" where she could temporarily drop every disguise. Here, she didn't have to be the universally adored Kushida Kikyo. She could show her exhaustion, her dark side, even her sharp tongue. This special "trust" was less a matter of closeness than a kind of letting go, born of sharing secrets and acknowledging each other's true nature. She relied on the freedom of being able to relax without pretending, and on the sense of security she found in Natsukawa's ability to show her different perspectives.
Natsukawa usually listened quietly, occasionally glancing up at her with a calm expression. He neither comforted nor criticized her, as if she were simply letting out emotions she needed to release. That attitude only helped Kushida relax even more.
Sometimes, after she'd complained enough, she would sit up straight again and run a hand through her hair. Her perfect mask would slowly return, though a trace of her genuine feelings remained in her eyes. She would glance at the books beside Natsukawa that had nothing to do with studying and ask curiously, "What's the point of reading those?"
Natsukawa would usually answer calmly, "Reading is building your own thoughts with the help of other people's ideas."
Kushida seemed to understand, more or less, but didn't ask anything else. In her mind, Natsukawa's mysterious, unfathomable nature had long since become a given. She enjoyed the strange freedom of being able to be herself for a little while beside him, while becoming ever more determined to bind him firmly to her cause.
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