Threatening Kushida

If it weren't for those three bastards, Class D would have had around five hundred Class Points left, which would have been more than enough to cover the Personal Points lost to Aoyama's scam.

She resented Yamauchi and the other two idiots from Class D far more than Aoyama, who had scammed her.

How could anyone be that stupid?!

Sitting up in bed, Kushida's expression was a hundred times colder than Horikita Suzune's, who was known as an ice beauty.

The thought of having to smile at Yamauchi and the others at school made her want to throw up.

I wish I were in Class A.

With 940 Class Points, just seeing that number told Kushida that Class A didn't have students like Yamauchi.

And with that woman, Horikita Suzune, in her class, every day in the Class D classroom was torture.

[I heard from Aoyama that you're probably short on Personal Points right now. I think I can lend you some.]

Her phone chimed with a notification. After stretching, Kushida opened it.

Then her world came crashing down.

"I've sent Kushida a private message in the group chat. Has she asked you for help?"

"Is this your way of earning her favor, so you can get her to persuade the others to accept me as leader?"

Meanwhile, in the school cafeteria, Horikita Suzune set her phone, its screen still lit, on the table.

Just now, she'd contacted Kushida based on what Aoyama had told her.

"Uh, the goal is right, but you got the process wrong." Aoyama paused, chopsticks holding a mouthful of noodles in midair.

Horikita Suzune still had no idea that the student Kushida Kikyo most wanted to see expelled from the entire school was her.

That private message wasn't meant to earn her favor. It was a spark meant to fan Kushida's anger into a blaze.

"It wasn't to earn her favor?" Horikita tilted her head, looking confused.

To avoid further questions, Aoyama brushed her off. "Anyway, I'll get Kushida to speak up for you. I'll let you know when I've got things ready. Probably in the next day or two."

To keep Yamamura from getting too worn out, he'd already put pressure on Kushida once through Horikita.

And when Kushida returned to the Class D classroom, Karuizawa would find an excuse to put pressure on her a second time.

There was no way Kushida wouldn't blow up in the next couple of days.

"Thanks for the trouble. I'll try tackling the Midterm Exam challenge on my own first."

"Okay. Class D has two ways to handle this Midterm Exam. If you can't figure them out, come ask me."

Aoyama lowered his head and continued devouring the free breakfast.

Horikita Suzune was covering not only his dinners, but his breakfasts too. That was one of the rewards for helping her become Class D's leader.

The biggest, most important reward was that he would be in charge of Class D during the First Year First Special Exam.

Although he was required to make sure Class D won, the school was generous with the first special exam of the first year. There'd be no shortage of money to skim—at least seven figures.

"Two..."

Horikita murmured to herself, her expression thoughtful.

"Two? Aoyama, you're amazing. I could only think of one."

On their way back to the dorm after finishing Student Council business, Shiina Hiyori smiled and complimented the boy beside her.

"You came up with one on the second day, Shiina. That's impressive too. Much better than Kamuro Secretary."

"Sure, sure. Then promote Shiina to secretary and fire me."

Kamuro rolled her eyes. She didn't even bother arguing with Aoyama. After learning the "yeah, yeah, you're right about everything" approach, she felt invincible.

And in fact, she was. Faced with Kamuro's complete lack of motivation, Aoyama could only turn his attention back to Shiina.

The cute girl hugged her books as she walked, surrounded by a soft, light, airy aura.

"You're thinking of lowering the class average, aren't you, Shiina?" Aoyama guessed.

At Kouiku, students didn't fail because they scored below a certain number. They failed if their score was below the average.

The average was calculated by adding up everyone's scores in a subject and dividing by the number of students who took the exam. In other words, the higher the good students scored, the more likely the poor students were to fail.

The reverse was true as well. If everyone scored low, the average—the passing line—would be very low.

Shiina nodded to confirm Aoyama's guess, then looked curious. "Aoyama, have you already sold your solution to Class D?"

"Shiina, you're like a worm in my stomach. You see right through me."

Aoyama paused, then answered with a sigh.

If he was telling a competitor his solution so casually, that meant the solution was no longer useful. Shiina's powers of deduction were excellent.

Aoyama glanced at the cute girl smiling beside him, and a mischievous urge rose in him.

"My second solution is—"

"Stop!!! Stop!"

Clutching her books, Shiina panicked and shouted as she bumped into Aoyama.

"I won't say it! I really won't!"

The touch of her soft, smooth body against his arm made Aoyama quickly steady her by the shoulders.

He'd known that Shiina, who loved solving mysteries, would get worked up, but he hadn't expected her to bump into him.

"Mean." Realizing Aoyama had only been teasing her and hadn't meant to reveal the answer, Shiina pouted.

"Sorry. How about I treat you to a meal sometime?"

Aoyama believed there was no problem a meal couldn't solve. If one meal wasn't enough, he'd treat her to two.

Free food was the best.

"Don't look at me. I'm not in that kind of relationship with him," Kamuro said, unfazed, when Shiina's gaze suddenly drifted toward her.

She was used to looks like that. Shiina had apparently mistaken her for Aoyama's girlfriend again.

He was good-looking, sure, but he didn't make her heart flutter.

At least, not yet.

"I want to ask for something else, Aoyama." Shiina ran her fingers over the book cover in her hands. The raised lettering of the title helped ease her nervousness.

Since Kamuro wasn't Aoyama's girlfriend, Shiina could boldly invite him.

That ordinary afternoon in April.

Aoyama had suddenly come up to talk to her, breaking the monotony of her school life.

His words, "When I start liking reading, I'll ask you to recommend me a book, Shiina," came back to her from time to time.

"Whenever you're free, Aoyama, would you go to the library with me?"

"I want to get you to like reading too."

Shiina smiled gently, her cheeks tinged with pink.

What books will cute Miss Shiina recommend to me?

Mysteries? Philosophy?

With the dormitory, its lights mostly extinguished, as a backdrop, Aoyama walked along a quiet path.

There was still an hour until curfew. Several dozen meters ahead, Yamamura was following Kushida, who had left the dorm alone, her nerves on edge.

"Once you see Kushida's hidden, vicious side, remember not to scream," Aoyama gently reminded Yamamura through his Bluetooth earpiece.

Just as he'd expected, under the combined pressure from Horikita Suzune and Karuizawa, Kushida was finally sneaking out that night to vent her anger.

He was worried Yamamura might be startled when the angel suddenly turned into a demon and give herself away to Kushida.

"Kushida has a vicious side?"

"And, by the way, Hirata does too. That's why they were both placed in Class D."

Hearing Yamamura's soft, timid voice through the earpiece, Aoyama casually let slip that he knew a lot of things he shouldn't.

"Hirata does too?!"

And me too.

Thinking this to himself, Aoyama casually snapped off a small branch hanging over the path.

Following Yamamura, he reached a wide, deep stretch of sea, its color almost indistinguishable from the sky.

The campus was built on an artificial island near the coast. One of the perks of being a Kouiku student was that you could enjoy the view of the sea anytime.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The dull thuds of someone kicking the metal railing shattered the cold, quiet atmosphere by the sea.

Kushida's icy curses rang out, drowning the sound of Yamamura's increasingly ragged breathing.

Knowing that Kushida was already venting and had let her guard down, Aoyama quietly moved to Yamamura's side.

Her fingers were interlaced and clasped tightly. Her deep blue-green eyes, usually half-hidden beneath her eyelids, were fully visible.

In Aoyama's view, Yamamura stood frozen like a block of wood, stunned by Kushida's change in demeanor.

You forgot to record, adorable little Yamamura.

Carefully taking out his phone and opening the camera, Aoyama first recorded Yamamura's stunned expression, then turned the camera toward Kushida.

Kushida kept kicking the railing and swearing.

Horikita Suzune, Yamauchi Haruki, Ken Sudō, Karuizawa...

In just a few minutes, Kushida had mentioned more than ten names. Some belonged to people Aoyama knew; others didn't.

His name was among them, of course.

"You look decent enough, so how come you're so rotten inside? That bitch Karuizawa gets all the benefits."

"When did you get cozy with that bitch Horikita Suzune again? Why don't you two just go die together?"

"You two sluts! You two sluts! You two sluts!"

With every shout, Kushida kicked the railing.

Her short hair flew as she revealed her delicate profile, utterly devoid of even a trace of her usual kindness.

"Ah!"

"Who's there?! Come out!"

Snapping out of her daze, Yamamura let out a small shriek when she noticed Aoyama beside her.

The sound wasn't particularly loud, but against the night sky filled with Kushida's shrill voice, it stood out like ink on white paper.

"Go back to the dorm. I'll take it from here. You're my precious little secret—I don't want anyone finding you yet."

Aoyama stepped in front of the bewildered Yamamura and gently patted her cute little head.

"But..."

"Be good. Do as I say."

Seeing her pitiful expression, like a child who'd done something wrong, Aoyama couldn't resist pinching her soft cheek. Then he nudged her back to get her moving.

After that, he stepped out from behind the cover and walked unhurriedly toward Kushida.

"Hey, good evening, Kushida."

"I got something great on camera tonight."

Staring at Kushida's tightly pressed lips and knife-sharp gaze, Aoyama smiled without a hint of goodwill.

He knew Kushida wasn't a good person, and he didn't think he could make her do what he wanted by appealing to her emotions.

If Kushida hated him, so be it. What mattered most was making her do as he said.

"Delete it." Kushida's eyes stayed fixed on Aoyama's right hand hanging beside his leg. He held a phone loosely in his much larger hand.