Yamaguchi's Expulsion

"Sorry... I refuse."

Suzuki Tsubame cleanly rejected Sakayanagi's proposal.

The girl did not react much. Or rather, Suzuki Tsubame's answer had been exactly what she expected.

The strongest class in the school's history versus the weakest class in its history—ordinary people would choose the former without hesitation.

But that was merely how ordinary people thought.

True strong people preferred to go against the current.

"Heh... as expected of Suzuki."

"Then... let me witness your splendid form, Suzuki."

How had this suddenly turned into such a bunch of nonsensical grandstanding?

Suzuki Tsubame scratched his head. He did not want to change classes simply because Class D had more beautiful girls, and their overall quality was higher.

Besides, what Suzuki Tsubame had actually wanted to say was this: their previous two meetings had both ended with a hug.

Now that they were about to part ways, shouldn't they have another hug?

Sakayanagi seemingly failed to notice Suzuki Tsubame's oddness and headed for Class A's classroom on her own.

"Wait."

Suzuki Tsubame was not the sort of person who overthought things. If he wanted to do something, he did it.

He quickly stepped in front of Sakayanagi. Under her surprised gaze,

Suzuki Tsubame spread his arms and pulled her entire body into his embrace.

Sakayanagi's body was undoubtedly the softest in Classroom of the Elite.

After all, compared with everyone else, she had lacked exercise for years and barely had an inch of unnecessary muscle on her body.

The two embraced each other without saying anything.

Before the class bell rang, Suzuki Tsubame had already returned to his seat.

Did anyone else have that feeling? If you arrived at work or school a few minutes early, it felt like you had lost out.

Suzuki Tsubame could not explain exactly how he had lost out, but he had definitely lost out somehow.

"What did Chairman Sakayanagi's daughter feel like?"

Strange. Who was talking?

Following the source of the voice, Suzuki Tsubame saw Horikita sitting upright as usual, no different from before.

"Suzune, did you hear something?"

"Heh..."

Horikita let out a cold laugh, set down her textbook, and looked at Suzuki Tsubame.

"Bilateral deafness is quite serious. Do you need me to call an ambulance for you?"

Awkwardly scratching his head, Suzuki Tsubame wore an innocent expression.

"Chairman Sakayanagi's daughter? Sakayanagi Arisu from Class A?"

"I do have some acquaintance with her. If Suzune wants to meet her, I can introduce you."

Horikita and Sakayanagi were two people who had absolutely nothing to do with each other at this point in time. Why had Suzune suddenly asked about her?

Could there be a mole?

Wait, where had Kamuro gone...

Suzuki Tsubame's expression stiffened. He had assumed that this was Sakayanagi Family's thank-you banquet, so it had been perfectly normal for Kamuro to avoid them.

But upon thinking about it carefully... no, something was very wrong. Nine parts out of ten, something was wrong.

Sure enough... Horikita's next sentence made Suzuki Tsubame give up completely.

"The kind of acquaintance where you hold hands?"

Expressionless, Horikita took out her phone and held it in front of Suzuki Tsubame.

Suzuki Tsubame took a closer look. Wasn't this the School Forum?

The title above read: "The Story That Must Be Told Between the Chairman's Daughter and the Handsome Guy Ranking's Top Spot."

The attached image showed Sakayanagi holding Suzuki Tsubame's hand as they walked toward the mall.

The photographer had probably been on the second floor of the mall at the time. The angle was good, and the preparation had been thorough. Even the photo was high-definition.

The title made Suzuki Tsubame's face darken. Did this count as repaying kindness with enmity?

That Sakayanagi seemed to enjoy playing little tricks.

They did no actual harm, but they were incredibly irritating.

Fortunately... Suzuki Tsubame was not entirely unprepared.

"Suzune, it's not what you think. Chairman Sakayanagi had something to discuss with me, and Classmate Sakayanagi was merely helping lead the way."

After saying that, Suzuki Tsubame took his phone out of his uniform pocket and fiddled with it a few times.

He opened his photo album and held it in front of her.

On the screen was Chairman Sakayanagi, dressed in casual clothes.

Chairman Sakayanagi really had sought out Suzuki Tsubame, and Sakayanagi really had helped lead the way.

Case closed. Everything Suzuki Tsubame said was true.

Looking at the photo before her, Horikita revealed a suspicious expression.

They were both first-year students, so how had he ended up sitting at the same dinner table as the Chairman?

"My family sent me a message. Chairman Sakayanagi was merely passing it along on their behalf."

Suzuki Tsubame explained to her. That was the truth as well.

He, Suzuki Tsubame, could not bring himself to deceive Horikita.

"Then it seems... Suzuki's family circumstances are quite good. Even the Chairman, who handles countless affairs every day, specifically found time to pass along a message for you."

Horikita casually teased him, then stopped paying attention to Suzuki Tsubame. She picked up her book again and returned to her previous state.

"Just average, I suppose... normal standards?"

Suzuki Tsubame felt that he still needed to keep a low profile. He was only among the top three in the island nation, after all. It was nothing special.

It seemed Sakayanagi's little scheme had come to nothing this time.

"By the way, Suzune, don't you usually ignore this sort of thing? How did you find that post?"

Aside from studying and exercising, Horikita usually had no interest whatsoever in gossip like this.

Even the so-called handsome guy and beauty rankings had only caught her attention slightly because too many people around her had discussed them.

Suzuki Tsubame did not think Horikita would browse the forum for gossip out of boredom.

Horikita did not turn around. Holding her book, she casually said,

"Before you came in, Yamaguchi and the others were discussing it."

Sure enough... Yamauchi had started working again. Suzuki Tsubame did not know whether he had been bought off.

In any case, he truly wanted to leave.

Late April.

Only three days remained until the midterms.

In Class D's classroom, the atmosphere was unusually bleak.

Anxiety, unease, impatience, and other negative emotions lingered in the students' hearts.

Just yesterday, two major events had occurred in the class.

The first naturally involved the old performer Chabashira. Every exam topic she had marked as important had been wrong.

The key point was... Class B had been the ones to inform them. Who knew what Hoshinomiya would think after finding out?

The second matter was Yamaguchi's expulsion.

Well... compared to the previous matter, Yamaguchi's expulsion seemed rather insignificant to the students.

After all, Yamaguchi was hated by everyone. They only felt a little sympathy because his fate could have been theirs.

His charge was molesting a female student. Since the evidence was conclusive, he was directly found guilty in less than half a day.

Because he had not committed any grave offense and the victim did not intend to pursue the matter further, Yamaguchi ultimately... received only the punishment of expulsion.

That was fortunate amid misfortune.

The successive blows had left the class even more unstable.

Even cheerful and optimistic Hirata now looked gloomy and depressed.

Suzuki Tsubame turned his gaze toward Kushida.

She had clearly not been having a pleasant few days. After all... the class environment was simply too oppressive.

Although Yamaguchi's expulsion had made her happy for a while,

what followed were even more complaints and grievances.

Furthermore, because of Cupid's Arrow, her guard against him had dropped considerably.

It seemed he could try approaching her again.