Leader

The midterm exams passed without incident.

A day in advance, Hirata had distributed the actual exam questions. With the help of those questions, even struggling students like Sudo and Ike all managed to pass.

It was worth mentioning that even with the original questions in hand, Ike and the others had only barely passed. Sudo in particular scored a miserable thirty-nine points in English, scraping past the passing line by the narrowest margin.

After school, Hoshino politely declined Sato and the others' invitation to go sing karaoke. He came alone to the cafeteria, took a free mountain vegetable set meal, found an empty corner, and ate at an unhurried pace.

Before long, someone stopped in front of him.

"May I sit here?"

"Of course. Please, have a seat."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka sat across from Hoshino.

"You said before that you always ate the mountain vegetable set. So you really weren't joking."

"What would there be to joke about? Your meals are pretty frugal too."

Though Ayanokoji's meal was not one of the free sets, it consisted of some of the cheapest dishes in the entire cafeteria. It was clear that he had chosen them for value while still considering nutritional needs.

"My recent expenses have been a little high, so I have no choice but to save where I can."

Ever since their face-to-face conversation last time, Ayanokoji seemed too lazy to put on an act in front of Hoshino. When he was with the other students in the class, he would still make an effort to show expressions and reactions. Before Hoshino, though, he wore nothing but a blank face.

"Let me guess. Did you buy points for Sudo?"

"Nothing gets past you."

"You say that as if you actually wanted to hide it."

Naturally, Hoshino could tell that Ayanokoji had brought up his expenses because he wanted to discuss this subject.

"I never expected Sudo to still score below passing even after getting the original questions in advance."

"According to him, he 'accidentally' fell asleep while memorizing them."

"Accidentally, huh? Heh." Hoshino smiled. "How many points did you buy for him?"

"One point."

"Oh, then that's not too bad. How many points did it cost?"

"One hundred thousand points."

"Tsk, tsk." Hoshino shook his head. "So homeroom teachers really do have the authority to view their students' point accounts. Teacher Chabashira has a bit of a mean streak too."

"That person is beyond merely having a mean streak, isn't she?"

"Mm, fair enough. I'll find some time to look into her background."

"You seem pretty motivated."

"Because Teacher Chabashira is a cool, gorgeous beauty."

Ayanokoji neither agreed nor disagreed with Hoshino's words.

"By the way, you spent more than just one hundred thousand points buying that score, right? Getting the exam questions from an upperclassman before the test must have cost you quite a few points too."

"Fifteen thousand points."

"You're really rich. Do you have any good ways to earn points? Could you share them with me?"

"There aren't any good ways. Horikita split the cost of buying the score with me, so I only paid fifty thousand points myself."

Hoshino blinked. "Horikita, huh... Come to think of it, I noticed something else. Horikita got perfect scores in every other subject, but only scored fifty in English. With her academic ability, she shouldn't have scored that low even without relying on past exam questions."

As Hoshino spoke, he watched Ayanokoji's expression closely. Yet Ayanokoji looked as though he had not heard a word, his face completely unmoved.

"Horikita is really sharp. She saw through the fact that the passing line was related to the class average, and in order to save Sudo, who might have failed, she decisively lowered her own score."

"Though I don't particularly want to praise her, her insight and decisiveness are pretty good at times."

Hoshino narrowed his eyes and stared at Ayanokoji for a while. "From the sound of it, you think quite highly of Horikita."

"I wouldn't say that. At least for now, Horikita hasn't earned my approval."

"But at the very least, you've earned Horikita's approval." Hoshino grinned. "Whether boys or girls, that Horikita barely talks to anyone else. You're the only exception."

"I'm just being run ragged by Horikita's selfishness."

"Though from where I'm standing, you seem to be enjoying it."

"Give me a break. As the other person who can talk to Horikita, please save me."

The two sitting across from each other happened to be the only two people in the class capable of speaking normally with Horikita. Hoshino had struck up a conversation with her after accidentally witnessing a conflict between Horikita and her older brother, Student Council President Horikita Manabu. As for Ayanokoji, aside from having been Horikita's neighboring desk from the start of school, he and Horikita seemed to have become entangled even earlier through some ill-fated connection. That was why Horikita treated him differently as well.

"You want me to save you? Sure. I'll find time to tell Horikita to be careful around a hypocrite like you, someone who says one thing and means another."

Hoshino said it jokingly, but Ayanokoji's reply was serious. "Horikita won't easily change her attitude just because of a few words from someone else."

Hoshino raised his brows. It sounded like Ayanokoji placed a great deal of importance on Horikita.

"Say, are you planning to have Horikita lead Class D?"

Ayanokoji hesitated slightly, then nodded.

"As things stand, Horikita isn't the best choice."

"The best choice is actually you. But I figured you definitely wouldn't want to take on that responsibility."

"I really can't be much of a leader. I'm not interested, and I can't be bothered to shoulder the responsibility." Hoshino could not help laughing at Ayanokoji's words. "The leader you've chosen, Horikita, still can't communicate normally with the rest of the class. She might not even remember everyone's names."

"I'm the same."

"Uh... At least you should remember their names, right?"

"Just remembering names is useless. At the very least, you need to speak with someone face-to-face before you can claim to have a basic understanding of them."

Hoshino nodded in agreement. Ayanokoji was right. With his abilities, he could quickly memorize not only the names of an entire class, but even those of the whole grade. But a name alone was far from enough to understand someone.

After thinking for a moment, he asked tentatively, "What do you think of Hirata and Kushida? On the surface, they should be the most suitable leaders for Class D right now."

"Hirata and Kushida..." Ayanokoji pondered for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "When it comes solely to uniting their classmates, the two of them are capable enough. But..."

Hoshino understood exactly what he meant. At an ordinary school, students might only face academic pressure. But at Advanced Nurturing High School, the competition students faced was far more complex and intense.

For example, during the first month after school began, Class D accumulated a large number of rule violations, causing its class points to drop to zero. This could be considered the first test faced by Class D, as well as the other classes. That test exposed Hirata and Kushida's shortcomings. When faced with a situation that required opposing most of their classmates, even if they realized something was wrong, neither of them could step forward and guide everyone down the right path.

"Come to think of it, if Horikita had Kushida's social skills, she'd be perfect."

"Then she wouldn't be Horikita." Ayanokoji swallowed his final bite of food. "I believe Horikita's refusal to be assimilated by others is an important factor in her potential to grow into a leader."

As he spoke, he rose from his seat. With his meal finished, he seemed to want to end their conversation as well.

"Ayanokoji Kiyotaka." Hoshino remained seated, looking up calmly at the boy across from him. "Throughout your life, you have always been alone. You have never been a leader, and all your ideas come from the education you received."

"...Yes. So what?"

"I believe an important quality of a leader is the ability to influence others. Or, in your words, the ability to assimilate others. A leader does not need to be right all the time, but there must be people willing to follow them."

Hoshino stood as well. He was slightly taller than Ayanokoji, and his calm gaze from above made even Ayanokoji feel a trace of pressure.

"I've already chosen my protagonist too. Let's wait and see."