Protection

"Ryuen and Sakayanagi were both difficult to deal with," Hoshino murmured to himself, his fingers continuing to tap at the keyboard as he replied.

He wasn't acting purely out of kindness. Ichinose's candor went both ways—she mostly confided in him about her personal feelings and the class's general difficulties, never anything about specific strategies or point distribution.

Even when she trusted him, she only discussed private matters with him, carefully observing the boundary around class secrets.

That sense of discretion made Hoshino feel at ease.

From the fragments of information she let slip now and then, Hoshino Kanade could piece together that Class A, led by Ichinose, was under immense pressure.

But interestingly, even beneath that mountain of pressure, he could sense the astonishing rate at which Class A's members were growing. If they weren't, their unity alone would hardly have been enough to keep them from collapsing under the combined pressure of Ryuen and Sakayanagi.

"Thank you so much for listening to me, Hoshino-kun..." Another message appeared on the screen.

Hoshino Kanade's fingers hovered over the screen for a moment.

Class A had the title of the top class, but its current situation was like that of a fat sheep surrounded by wolves. "Unworthy of its position" couldn't have been more apt, and the internal pressure was easy to imagine.

As one of the class's core members, Ichinose was under pressure that was amplified many times over.

Unexpectedly, she was willing to let her exhaustion and vulnerability show in front of him, a student from another class. That inexplicable trust stirred a faint ripple in Hoshino's heart.

By now, messaging Hoshino had largely become a way for Ichinose to ease her stress.

Looking at the screen, Hoshino could imagine her forcing herself to stay cheerful in front of everyone in Class A.

With him, "Hoshino-kun" from another class, she had unexpectedly let down some of her guard.

She showed him her vulnerability under pressure, yet always upheld her responsibilities and kept Class A's secrets.

As a result, almost everything she confided in him revolved around the troubles and personal stress caused by these external conflicts.

He took a deep breath and began typing a careful reply, choosing each word with care. "It's natural that you're under far more pressure than most people. But leaders are human too. Finding ways to relieve stress isn't weakness. As for Ryuen and Sakayanagi..." He furrowed his brow slightly as his fingers tapped away. "Remember, their main goal is always to achieve their objectives. Conflict is just a means to an end. Sometimes, the conflict you see on the surface is precisely how they test Class A's limits. Don't let them lead you around by the nose... Try to separate their real objectives from their actions, and you'll be able to respond more effectively."

Thinking back on the snippets from their messages, Hoshino pondered.

Ichinose had mentioned that "everyone in class is more united now," that "their strategies are being adjusted quickly," and that "things are tough, but they can still hold steady for now"... These details confirmed his judgment: under pressure, Class A was demonstrating tremendous resilience and an ability to adapt.

Come to think of it, he had Ichinose's Class A to thank for bearing the brunt of the pressure. Those troubles hadn't reached Class D, allowing him and his classmates to enjoy a relatively stable life.

For that, Hoshino Kanade didn't mind playing the role of comforter and adviser in their messages. Sometimes he offered seemingly casual suggestions; other times he helped her sort through her thoughts.

"Thank you, Hoshino-kun," Ichinose replied quickly. "Talking to you makes me feel so much better." The rare sense of dependence between the lines was unmistakable.

After all, Ichinose was the one in Class A who had the most reason to worry.

Separated by a cold screen, their messages were one way to build rapport. For Hoshino, they also served as an effective way to guide her.

Hoshino Kanade looked at the final message on the screen—"Talking to you makes me feel so much better"—and let his fingers hover over the send button for a moment before slowly drawing them back.

He turned off the screen of his terminal and set it on the desk. Its smooth casing made a barely audible sound as it landed.

His fingers unconsciously tapped a few times on the equally smooth wooden desktop. He leaned back slightly in his chair, relaxing his shoulders and neck.

The afternoon sun slanted through the window, casting long, warm shadows across the floor.

A lazy afternoon atmosphere filled the classroom. Muted laughter drifted from the back rows, while the scratch of pen tips against paper came from the front.

Hoshino's gaze aimlessly followed the dust motes floating in the air. A clear, icy thought surfaced in his mind: When all was said and done, the other classes' life-and-death struggles—the wildfire raging right now—had yet to reach Class D's little patch of ground.

With Class A acting as a wall at the front, perhaps not an especially sturdy one, neither Ryuen Kakeru's brute-force charge nor Sakayanagi Arisu's calculated game had anything to do with Class D for now.

This rare peace even made everyday class life seem a little... dull.

In the brief lull in his thoughts, the homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, came into view at the edge of his vision.

She was standing by the classroom door, quietly talking to a teacher from the neighboring class.

Her profile, which usually seemed capable of seeing through everything, looked indistinct in the play of light and shadow. Yet it was like a stone thrown into a still lake, instantly shattering his calm. Hoshino's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

Chabashira-sensei... Could she really let go of her almost obsessive fixation?

The fixation that Class D would rise to Class A, rooted in the regrets of her past.

If she dared to fabricate a lie about that man—Kiyona's father—demanding that the school force Kiyona to drop out, all for the sake of that ridiculous fixation, and even abuse her authority as homeroom teacher to invent a baseless reason for Kiyona's expulsion and threaten her... forcing her to become the spark that set Class D ablaze...

A cold, murderous glint flashed through Hoshino's eyes.

If she dared to do that, she'd have no one to blame but herself.

Almost instinctively, Hoshino Kanade turned around and looked behind him.

Kiyona was sitting quietly in her seat, head slightly lowered as she focused on the open book in front of her.

The slanting sunlight gently traced the contours of her delicate profile.

As if sensing his gaze, Kiyona looked up, and her eyes met his.

She didn't say anything, only curving her lips into the tiniest, almost imperceptible smile. Like a point of light on a lake, it vanished in an instant, yet its image remained clear in Hoshino's eyes.

There was pure trust and dependence in that smile.

I have to... protect this peace. Protect her.

As if to confirm the need for that protection, Hoshino let his gaze sweep across the classroom once more.

One of the two boys in the back who had been hunched over their games finally got elbowed by his companion. Reluctantly, he stuffed his game console into his desk and slowly pulled out his textbook. A few girls chatting in the front seemed to realize the time had come, too. Their voices dropped as they hurriedly rummaged for their notes and stationery. Even the guy by the wall, who had been lost in his own world with earbuds in, raised his eyes and glanced toward the podium.

Progress? Maybe. But it was too slow, too scattered, like isolated seedlings in sandy soil.

Compared to the classes ahead of them, Class D's current carelessness and passivity were still separated from them by a vast gulf.

Given the way things are now... Chabashira-sensei, do you still have even the slightest hope of raising us to Class A?

Hoshino Kanade sneered inwardly, though his eyes held a trace more genuine doubt.

In the face of current reality, the hope itself seemed so absurd.

He wasn't sure.

He told himself that, his fingers ceasing their unconscious tapping.

In the classroom, the sporadic, halfhearted discussion of the material they were supposed to review gradually grew clearer, reaching his ears.

But... the final conclusion was that he needed to stay on guard. To preserve this hard-won, reasonably satisfying daily peace, he had to keep any potential source of trouble in sight and remain vigilant, even if the possibility of a threat was only the faintest one.