Class D's Ensemble Drama, Part One

He thought back to the time he'd spent with Kushida Kikyo today: her outstanding qualities, keen powers of observation, and knack for quickly getting close to strangers. Taken together, those traits made it clear that she was an exceptional talent.

And yet someone like Kushida had been placed in Class D. That could only mean one thing.

The school knew about her past. And even knowing that her overall abilities were far from poor, it had still assigned her to Class D.

"Maybe her past is so complicated that the school had no choice but to make that decision."

The boy clicked his tongue. He'd thought the newly listed stock would be an easy girl to raise in value, much like Ichinose Honami. He hadn't expected to learn so much after getting to know her.

A hidden true self? Wanting to get a classmate expelled? They were all just teenagers, so why did she have so much baggage?

"Whatever. Where there's a will, there's a way. I'll find out once I get to Class D."

Hajima Hikaru looked at the newly listed [Kushida Kikyo Stock] on the System Interface. Her starting price was 10 points, and even a one-point increase would earn him a decent amount of money. He figured that if he found out, as he spent more time with Kushida, that she really was a hassle, he could always cash out and run.

A little while later, another idea came to him.

As for Ichinose Honami, Hajima Hikaru had always been her partner in the fight. And since he had a bit of a crush on her, he didn't want to do anything that would lower her stock price. But now that Kushida had entered the picture, he could afford to experiment.

[Kushida Kikyo Stock]

[Suggestions for raising the stock price: Build a relationship of trust, help her hide her past, get Horikita Suzune expelled.]

[Risk of lowering the stock price: Spend time with Horikita Suzune and become her companion or friend.]

"If I raise her stock price first, then spend time with Horikita Suzune right in front of her, will it go down?"

Hajima Hikaru leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. He had to admit, the idea instantly tempted him. If the experiment worked, Kushida Kikyo would be a perfectly reliable ATM for system funds, and she'd surely cough up a lot of coins.

"Hope you don't disappoint me. See you Monday, Kushida."

A light smile appeared on the boy's face. With his analysis finished, he was looking forward even more to the day he'd go to Class D.

Once the relaxing weekend was over, the second week of school arrived. Hajima Hikaru had spent the holiday cooped up in his dorm. Apart from chatting with his classmates in Class B on his phone, he didn't want to go out unless something important came up.

After his usual hour of exercise that morning, Hajima Hikaru walked into the Class 1-B classroom. He immediately spotted Ichinose Honami sitting at her desk. The girl still wore her energetic smile, bright enough to lift anyone's spirits.

"Good morning, Hashiba!"

"Morning, Ichinose." Hajima Hikaru took his seat and turned to her. "Let's go to Hoshinomiya-sensei's office first and print out the contracts. Then we can go to Class D before school lets out and sell them the rules."

"Mm-hmm. I've already prepared a brand-new handwritten copy of the rules."

Ichinose nodded and took a brown notebook from her schoolbag. She'd volunteered for the task yesterday. Since Hajima Hikaru had written the rules sold to Class A last time, she'd insisted on taking her turn.

"Before we go to Class D, shouldn't we message Kushida?" Ichinose asked, phone in hand. "We could ask her to have the Class D students stay after school and tell them there's something we need to announce."

"Did you spend time with Kushida on Sunday too, Ichinose?"

"Yes. I want to get along with her. She's Hirata's assistant, and he's the leader of Class D. She also has a lot of influence in the class."

Ichinose Honami spoke with a confident, easy smile. "I learned a few more things from Kushida yesterday, too. Do you want to hear about them, Hashiba?"

"Oh?"

Seeing the girl take the initiative, Hajima Hikaru felt pleased. Ever since she'd cried that one time, Ichinose Honami had really grown. She'd even been acting behind his back. Not bad at all.

"Then tell me, Ichinose. I'm all ears."

"Heh heh." The pink-haired girl gazed at Hajima Hikaru beside her, a serious glint in her eyes. "Yesterday, when we were talking about studying, Kushida said that quite a few students in her class were really good at it."

"What does that mean, exactly? Were their total scores in certain subjects high?"

"Kushida said that sometimes their teacher asked difficult questions that no one could answer right away. But one student could respond immediately, which really impressed her."

"Who?"

Hajima Hikaru suddenly thought of something, and a knowing smile curled at the corners of his mouth.

"Kushida said her name was Horikita Suzune. She's a very pretty girl."

So it was her after all?

The boy pressed his fingers to his brow, confused about how Kushida felt about Horikita. If she wanted to get the other girl expelled, why would she bring up her name to someone else? Were they on good terms or not?

"Hashiba, do you know this Horikita?" Ichinose Honami, sitting beside him, had noticed the look on his face. Her heart tightened, and she quickly pressed him for an answer.

"No, I don't know her. Why do you ask, Ichinose?"

Sensing the mood shift, Hajima Hikaru quickly explained. It was true that he didn't know the other girl; he'd only seen her once, and from a distance.

"That's good. I was worried you were hiding something from me."

"Heh... no, of course not..."

The D-Class Ensemble, Part One

When the bell rang, the Class B students settled into their lessons. Since the previous week, they'd gotten into the habit of concentrating on their studies at Hajima Hikaru's urging, so class always seemed to fly by.

Before long, it was time to go home on Monday. Everyone knew that Hajima Hikaru and Ichinose Honami were going to Class D to sell the rules, so after the teacher left, they gathered around.

"Hashiba, are you heading out?"

"Yeah, we're going to Class D now. This is the second step in our points-collection plan."

The boy smiled and took the contract documents they'd printed at noon from his desk. Just like the ones for Class A, there were forty copies, one for every student in Class D to sign.

"Good luck, Hashiba! We'll be waiting to hear the good news!"

"I'm sure you can do it, Hashiba. Everyone's seen what you're capable of."

"Good luck to you too, Ichinose! We hope you manage to collect the points."

"Mm-hmm. Don't worry, everyone."

Ichinose Honami nodded to the Class B students. There was no time to waste. She'd already messaged Kushida, and they had to get going.

"Let's go, Hashiba."

"Sure."

The two of them picked up the notebook containing the rules and a stack of contracts. With their classmates watching them off, they headed for the Class D classroom.

As the lowest-ranked class, Class D was some distance from Class B. Hajima Hikaru and Ichinose walked side by side, drawing admiring glances as they crossed the hall at the end of the school day.

When they reached the classroom door, Ichinose was a little nervous. Hajima Hikaru, on the other hand, was unfazed. He gave the girl beside him an encouraging look, then walked in with her.

Since they'd contacted Kushida Kikyo in advance, the Class D students hadn't left yet. Instead, they sat impatiently at their desks, looking around. When two people appeared in the doorway, everyone turned to look.

"Good afternoon, Class D! I'm Hajima Hikaru from Class 1-B."

Hajima Hikaru greeted everyone in the classroom with a cheerful smile. He looked completely at ease. They were all first-year students, after all. What were they going to do to him?

"Hashiba, you're here."

When Kushida Kikyo saw Ichinose Honami and Hajima Hikaru enter, she hurried over with a bright smile.

"Hi, Kushida," Ichinose said, giving her a nod before stepping over to stand beside Hajima Hikaru.

Just then, a handsome boy approached them. Looking at the young man and woman, he asked politely, "Good afternoon. I'm Hirata Yosuke from Class D. Kushida said we should all wait after school. Were you the ones she was waiting for?"

"That's right, Hirata."

Hajima Hikaru nodded at him. The guy was handsome, no doubt about it. With his gentle demeanor and confident air, it was no wonder girls liked him.

"Could we take up a little of Class D's time? There's something we'd like to tell everyone. That's why we asked Kushida to have you stay."

"Kushida told me you had something important to tell us, right? We have time. I trust her judgment."

Hirata seemed easy to talk to. After listening to Hajima Hikaru, he turned to the Class D students and said, "Could everyone look this way? These two are friends of Kushida's, and they have something to tell us."

"Can't whatever it is wait? I've got club activities. Don't make me late!"

A red-haired boy sat at his desk and spoke in an abrasive tone.

After he spoke, two more boys chimed in behind him.

"Yeah, I need to get back to the dorm. I've got something important to do."

"Can you hurry up? Three minutes enough?"

"Hey, Yamauchi, are you just rushing back to the dorm to play games? You can spare a few minutes." Someone teased him, sounding like a friend.

"What do you know? Time is money. I have to take every opportunity to farm materials so I can get stronger."

The boys had suddenly started chatting loudly. A troubled look appeared on Ichinose Honami's face. She hadn't expected the Class D students to be so uncooperative. She glanced worriedly at the boy beside her.

To her surprise, despite the Class D students' rude attitude, Hajima Hikaru still wore a smile, as though he didn't care in the slightest.

"Um, everyone, could you settle down? This won't take long. Please trust me."

Hirata showed the authority of a class leader. After glancing at Hajima Hikaru, whose expression remained unchanged, he told the heckling boys, "Please stop fooling around."

The Class D students quieted down a little at Hirata's words. After all, they got along pretty well with him.

"You're impressive, Hirata. No wonder you're the class leader."

Hajima Hikaru offered a casual compliment, then walked up to the podium to speak.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Some of you may have been distracted or not even noticed me come in, so let me introduce myself again."

"My name's Hajima Hikaru. I'm a student in Class 1-B. Nice to meet you."

"If you've got something to say, just say it. I don't care what your name is! Quit wasting my time!"

The speaker was still the red-haired boy, who looked thoroughly impatient. He was tall and gave off an intimidating air.

"Easy there. I'm about to get to it."

Hajima Hikaru wasn't offended by his rudeness. He was here to collect points, and since the school had deemed Class D the worst class, he had no interest in making friends with these people. He didn't care what they thought.

"What I want to tell everyone in Class D has to do with what makes this school special."

Hajima Hikaru casually picked up the chalk the teacher had left on the podium. He turned around and wrote the words on the blackboard, then faced the Class D students. "We've been at school for a week now. Haven't any of you noticed something strange?"

Before coming to Class D, the boy had thought through how to carry out his plan.

Class D wasn't like the excellent Class A. If he simply showed them the contract, they might not believe him. They might even walk out, which would make things much more complicated.

So Hajima planned to first draw their attention to a few obvious problems, then bring out the contract, and finally make the deal for the rules.

"Something strange?"

Hirata and Kushida exchanged looks. Neither of them had expected Hajima Hikaru to bring this up.

"What strange stuff? I haven't noticed anything."

The boy who'd spoken earlier wore a disdainful look. He thought the handsome classmate in front of him was just putting on an act.

"Yamauchi, settle down and let Hashiba finish," Hirata said, turning to signal for him to be quiet.

"Tch!"

Yamauchi Haruki muttered but didn't argue further.

"Heh. You've all been living here for a week, so you've probably noticed some of the school's unusual features." Hajima Hikaru's gaze swept over the students, his tone relaxed.

"For example, why are there free items in the store? And why does the cafeteria offer a vegetable set meal that doesn't cost anything?"

"Think about it for a moment. If we get points every month, why does the school still provide free basic options?" The boy smiled. "Isn't that redundant?"

"Hashiba, have you discovered something?" Hirata asked after considering it for a moment.

"Don't rush, Hirata. Let everyone think about it first. What we're trying to do requires everyone's cooperation."

Hajima Hikaru glanced warmly at Ichinose beside him, signaling for her to hand him the stack of contracts she was holding.

"Once everyone figures it out, I'll continue. That's the best way to persuade you."

"But..."

Kushida Kikyo's mind raced. She didn't know what Hajima Hikaru and Ichinose were planning, but she quickly thought back to the time she'd spent with the two of them over the weekend.

Were they trying to get information out of me?

Was that what this whole thing was about?

"You're saying that some people might run out of points later on, aren't you?"