Natsukawa's True Strength

The classroom during the break still lingered with the excitement of having passed the exam. Natsukawa walked over to Sakura Airi's seat, watching her head remain slightly bowed, though her demeanor was much better than before.

"How did you do, Sakura?" he asked casually, his tone calm.

Hearing someone speak to her, Sakura gave a slight start as if startled. She looked up, and upon realizing it was Natsukawa, her blue eyes—framed by her glasses—shimmered with an irrepressible light. Her cheeks flushed with a faint, excited red, and though her voice remained soft, it carried an unprecedented clarity and a hint of small pride:

"Yes! Th-thanks to the tutoring from Natsukawa-kun and Ichinose-san... and that past exam paper... I... I scored over 85 in every subject this time!"

For someone who had always lacked confidence in her academics, this was undoubtedly a massive breakthrough.

Natsukawa watched her try to straighten her back, looking as if she were waiting for praise, and a flicker of imperceptible amusement crossed his eyes. He reached out and naturally, gently ruffled her red hair, his movements carrying a sense of encouragement.

"Well done."

"Uu..." Sakura's face turned even redder, like a ripe tomato. She subconsciously shrank her neck, but this time, she didn't shy away in a panic as she usually did. She simply let that warm palm linger on her head for a moment, feeling the reassuring touch, her heart beating so fast it felt like it might break out of her chest.

After a brief moment of shyness, Sakura seemed to remember something. She tilted her face up and asked with pure confusion, "Natsukawa-kun... what was the point of Chabashira-sensei giving us the wrong exam scope?"

Natsukawa continued to stroke the girl's hair, his tone indifferent. "Sae has many little schemes. You should have heard it when we were discussing it with Ichinose in the library; the goal was to filter out those capable of discovering methods like the past exam papers."

"But... no one found it, did they?" Sakura's eyes widened, her voice tinged with lingering fear. "Wouldn't... wouldn't that mean many students would be expelled?"

"Chabashira wouldn't care about that." A cold, sharp arc hooked at the corner of Natsukawa's mouth. "What she wants has never been for everyone to be safe and sound. She is merely filtering—filtering out the 'seeds' who possess information-gathering skills, initiative, and adaptability, those who can truly rise to Class A. As for the others, in her eyes, it doesn't matter what happens to them."

His words were cold and realistic, making Sakura shiver involuntarily.

This conversation reached the ears of Horikita Suzune, who was organizing her notes nearby, without missing a single word. Her fingers, gripping her pen, tightened until her knuckles turned white.

Natsukawa's words exploded in her mind like a thunderclap.

She had been puzzled by the deviation in the exam scope before, but she had been so busy tutoring Sudo and the others that it consumed all her energy. She had simply attributed it to Chabashira's negligence or some school mechanism, never giving it deep thought. Now, with Natsukawa pointing it out, she suddenly realized—this was a test meticulously designed by Chabashira Sae!

A surge of anger at being looked down upon and fooled, mixed with frustration, instantly rushed to Horikita's head.

She stood up abruptly, the legs of her chair scraping against the floor with a harsh sound that drew glances from those around her. She didn't care, however; with an icy aura, she walked straight out of the classroom and headed quickly toward the teachers' office.

Inside the teachers' office.

Chabashira Sae sat alone at her desk, holding an exam paper. Her fingertip tapped lightly on the answer area of one of the major questions, and she let out an almost inaudible "tsk-tsk." Her stern face actually wore a rare, playful expression, as if she had discovered some interesting toy.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door, and after she gave a response, the door was pushed open rather roughly.

Horikita Suzune stood at the doorway, radiating a chill.

"Chabashira-sensei!" Her voice sounded somewhat stiff. "Please explain why you intentionally gave us the wrong exam scope? Do you distrust the class's ability that much, assuming we could only pass the exam by finding past papers?"

Chabashira looked up at the student who was hissing like a cat. The playfulness on her face vanished quickly, replaced by her usual indifference. She set the exam paper down gently and folded her hands on the desk.

"What are you talking about? What intentional wrong scope? I don't know what you mean." Her tone was flat, showing no ripples.

However, Horikita keenly caught that when she finished saying "I don't know," the corner of Chabashira's mouth twitched upward imperceptibly. It was by no means a look of denial; rather, it looked more like... a subtle pleasure after a plan had succeeded.

Chabashira didn't mind Horikita's gaze, which seemed ready to spit fire, and instead asked with interest, "The past papers... were they discovered by you?"

Horikita took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, and replied coldly, "No comment."

"Heh." Chabashira chuckled, the sound carrying an indescribable nuance. "If you truly want to rise to Class A, Horikita, I'll give you a piece of advice. Fighting alone is far from enough. You need your own base of support, and you need companions you can trust and rely on."

Her gaze swept over Horikita with a pointed meaning. "Remember, keep a good hold on the two people sitting next to you."

Horikita felt a jolt in her heart and blurted out, "Ayanokoji and Natsukawa? Is there something special about them?" She didn't understand why Chabashira would specifically mention these two, especially Natsukawa, who in her eyes only knew how to play petty tricks.

The smile on Chabashira's face deepened slightly. "I hadn't even specified who, yet you identified the people yourself? It seems you aren't completely unobservant." She paused, her gaze falling back to the exam paper on the desk. "That's right. Originally, my impression of Natsukawa Sosuke was limited to 'mediocre.' However..."

She pushed the exam paper she had been looking at toward Horikita.

"Take a look at this."

Horikita took the paper with doubt and a hint of dismissiveness. It was Natsukawa Sosuke's midterm sociology exam.

She scanned it quickly. At first, she expected to see content highly similar to the standard answers of the past papers. However, as she read further, her brows furrowed tighter. The dismissiveness in her eyes was gradually replaced by surprise, eventually turning into profound shock.

The answers on this paper, especially the essay questions, were not just copying the answers from the past papers at all! The logic in the arguments was rigorous, citing sources and references, and in some viewpoints, he even proposed insights that differed from the standard answers but were deeper and more original! This was not something that could be achieved by rote memorization of past papers; it required a true understanding, digestion, and mastery of the textbook knowledge, as well as the formation of one's own system of thought!

She looked up abruptly, staring at Chabashira with eyes full of disbelief.

"Can I see his exam papers for other subjects?" Horikita's voice carried a hint of urgency she hadn't even noticed herself.

Chabashira seemed to have expected this; she unhurriedly took four more exam papers from her drawer and pushed them toward her.

Horikita grabbed them and began to read.

The math paper—the problem-solving approach for the final question was clear and ingenious, using a simpler auxiliary line method completely different from the standard answer; the reading comprehension for modern literature and English...

Except for the objective questions with only one correct answer, almost all of the subjective and complex calculation questions showed Natsukawa's steps and logic to be vastly different from the reference answers provided by the past papers! Moreover, the level of knowledge mastery and the problem-solving logic displayed were far beyond the level of a passing grade.

Horikita asked herself if she could do this, and she could, but only based on her long-term, solid study. But Natsukawa? She clearly remembered that in the classroom quiz a month ago, Natsukawa's sociology and Japanese scores were struggling on the edge of failing, and the way he scratched his head in confusion didn't look like an act at all.

What on earth... had happened in this month?

He hadn't attended any study groups! And she had seen with her own eyes in the library that he spent most of his time reading miscellaneous books unrelated to the curriculum! So how did he complete such a transformative change in just one month?

Was he hiding his true ability before? Horikita wondered. But was there any need to pretend to be someone who could barely pass? And that genuine confusion when facing the questions didn't look like something that could be faked. Could it be... that his grades really did skyrocket in just this month? How could that be possible?!

Countless questions and intense shock battered Horikita's perception. Her previous dismissive impression of Natsukawa as someone who "relied on petty tricks and past papers" was completely shattered in the face of these exam papers and Natsukawa's ease in pointing out Chabashira-sensei's goal.

An unprecedented feeling, a mix of confusion, surprise, and... a hint of conviction in Natsukawa that she herself was unwilling to admit, quietly sprouted in her heart. She suddenly felt that Natsukawa's previous behavior of forcing her to bow to Kushida didn't seem so unacceptable anymore. If he possessed such strength and foresight, then perhaps his actions really did have their reasons.

Horikita Suzune silently handed the exam papers back to Chabashira, said nothing more, and turned to leave the office. Her footsteps were no longer as aggressive as when she arrived, but instead carried a hint of heaviness and contemplation.