All Pass

The second day of May.

Chabashira Sae walked into the classroom as usual.

The only difference was that her century-old ice-block face actually bore a faint, rare hint of a smile.

She swept her gaze across the class with slightly approving eyes, then turned and wrote several numbers on the blackboard.

"You really managed to pull this off."

Her tone was unusually calm, as if she were talking to herself.

"In this exam, first-year Class D... everyone passed!"

"Whoa--!!"

Cheers instantly ignited the entire room, sweeping away all the negative emotions from before.

Sudo, Ike Kanji, and the others were so excited they were practically dancing.

This was amazing!

They didn't have to drop out anymore!

Suzuki Tsubame watched their ecstatic expressions.

Ah... too bad about Yamauchi, falling at the last moment before dawn.

Rest easy, Yamauchi. We'll carry your effort with us and climb higher!

Chabashira raised her hand, signaling everyone to quiet down.

"Also, your results this time surpassed Class A, ranking first in the entire grade."

Chabashira pointed at the numbers on the blackboard.

Class A: 1010

Class B: 650

Class C: 430

Class D: 100

"The school has additionally awarded 100 class points. These are your class points for this month."

"That means next month, you'll receive 10,000 points."

Buzz--!

Silence lasted only a moment.

Then... cheers erupted even more fiercely than before!

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!!!"

"Awesome! I'm getting a big portion of braised pork rice!"

"Finally, no more eating grass! Waaah..."

"I want ramen! With ten portions of chashu!"

The light of hope had truly shone into this class, long trapped in darkness.

Everyone turned their grateful gazes toward the class's greatest contributor.

"Kikyo, you're my goddess!"

"Kushida-san, I can never repay your kindness!"

Facing the crowd's praise, Kushida wore a standardized smile, handling their adulation with ease.

But for some reason, she felt their voices were oddly noisy.

Almost instinctively, she shifted her gaze to the person in the corner.

Suzuki Tsubame looked as calm as ever. Like everyone else, his eyes were fixed on Kushida.

Their eyes met...

[Ding! Long-term quest: Kind Mask, progress: 20%. Reward: Opposite Sex Affinity. When interacting with the opposite sex, the other party will subconsciously trust you. (Note: Not unconditional trust. Absolutely do not stray onto the path of crime.)]

Huh?

Suzuki Tsubame tilted his head in confusion. The quest completed just from a glance?

Kushida's pretty face flushed hot, and she quickly averted her gaze.

All that remained for Suzuki Tsubame was her back, with only the redness at the tips of her ears still telling of the girl's inner turmoil.

Class A.

Katsuragi Kohei stared at the numbers on the blackboard, his brow deeply furrowed.

With both parents dead, he still had a younger sister to take care of.

Unlike Sakayanagi, he had no fallback. He had to graduate from Class A!

Class C's indiscriminate strike had left only Class D, with zero class points, unscathed.

The other two classes were handling it quite passively.

To counter Class C's targeting, Katsuragi Kohei sought out Sakayanagi, hoping to gain her assistance.

"Sakayanagi, you can see it too, right?"

Katsuragi's tone was heavy.

"Class C has big ambitions, and Class D has someone skilled making moves this time. The class needs your strength!"

Sakayanagi sat in her chair, idly toying with an exquisite silver cane in her hand.

Though she no longer needed it... occasionally looking at it reminded her of the path she had walked.

She lifted her head, revealing a pair of pale violet eyes.

"Katsuragi-kun, if you're finding it too much to handle..."

The girl let out a light laugh.

"Handing the class over to me... would be fine too."

Katsuragi's face turned ashen.

Hand the class over to this second-generation heir?

Don't be ridiculous—in her eyes, the class was probably nothing more than a toy at best.

He had come with hope and left with disappointment. Katsuragi could only seek solutions elsewhere.

Unlike the frustrated Katsuragi, she was now very curious about how Class D had surpassed Class A in this exam.

Turning her head to look at Kamuro, Sakayanagi said in a calm tone:

"How's that thing I asked you to look into going?"

Kamuro looked thoroughly annoyed.

Just ask anyone, wouldn't that work? They'd spill everything anyway.

"Two days before the exam in Class D, someone suddenly noticed that the past midterm papers had all the exact same questions."

"So she found a senior student, spent points to buy last year's midterm paper, distributed it to everyone, and passed easily."

Kamuro said it lightly, but to Sakayanagi, it sounded utterly baffling.

She probably never dreamed that Class D's success all stemmed from Chabashira's chaotic meddling.

"Oh, right, that person was apparently named Kushida Kikyo."

Kamuro suddenly recalled.

"Kushida Kikyo?"

Sakayanagi fell silent. Her memory was far better than Kamuro's.

Wasn't this girl Class D's social butterfly? It seemed she was just a decoy.

"Kamuro, you keep an eye on Suzuki-kun. I have a feeling Class D's performance in this exam is tied to him."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it."

Kamuro agreed readily. Suzuki Tsubame's daily habits were extremely monotonous.

Other than going to class, he just holed up in his dorm, rarely even visiting the mall.

That cut her workload down by ninety percent.

Meanwhile...

The faculty office.

"Phew~"

"Suzuki Tsubame, you did well this time."

Chabashira crossed her legs, casually blowing a smoke ring. Her behavior and profession couldn't be more mismatched.

Suzuki Tsubame frowned as he watched. Making a student inhale her secondhand smoke—only she could pull something like that.

"Just mutual help."

Suzuki Tsubame's tone was calm, with no intention of taking credit.

A few days ago, Chabashira had provided Suzuki Tsubame with a private account for free.

In return, Suzuki Tsubame naturally delivered the top rank in the grade.

"Chabashira-sensei, I hope you understand... respect goes both ways."

He raised a hand to wave away the smoke. Suzuki Tsubame hated the smell of cigarettes.

"Oh?"

Chabashira raised an eyebrow and stubbed out her cigarette.

"Am I not showing you enough respect?"

Her tone carried a hint of displeasure.

"During class, no matter what you do, I've never interfered with you. Even when you wanted a private account, I provided it for free."

"And you still have the nerve to be dissatisfied with me?"

Chabashira abruptly stood up.

Because the two of them were currently in the break room, and since the break room was converted from a partitioned office space, it was somewhat cramped.

This meant that as soon as Chabashira stood up, the two of them were practically pressed together.

The scent of a mature woman immediately wafted over.

Suzuki Tsubame felt a bit overwhelmed—mainly because he was getting dizzy from the headlights.

"Chabashira-sensei, is there any need to get this worked up?"

Suzuki Tsubame's expression was somewhat awkward. He noticed that little Suzuki Tsubame seemed to be on the verge of waking up as well.

The main reason was... Chabashira happened to be exactly his type.

Horikita was still a bit too immature for now; her allure was far from matching Chabashira's.