It Seemed to Have Lowered Class D's Bottom Line

Bang!

"...So from now on, we're going to be looked down on by the others too?"

The sound of someone kicking a desk came from behind him, as fragile and pathetic as his shattered pride.

Even Chabashira Sae was surprised by how much he cared about saving face. She then explained to the students that class points were linked to class rankings.

The main topic was drawing to a close. After pinning Class D's quiz score sheet to the blackboard, Chabashira Sae explained once more.

"This is a class full of idiot students, but even the students here should understand what these numbers mean, right?"

Her high heels tapped rhythmically against the floor. She glanced at the students, then at the zero on the score sheet. Her mouth twitched before she mocked them again.

"These are the results of the last quiz. The class is full of elites, and we even have a top student who scored zero. Your teacher is so pleased. What exactly did you learn in middle school?"

Other than the students near the top of the rankings, most of the class had scored around sixty.

The bottom four were Ike Kanji with twenty-four points, Yamauchi Haruki with twenty-one, Ken Sudo with fourteen, and Kamigami Haruo with zero.

How wonderful. Ken Sudo was finally no longer in last place.

"How wonderful. If this were an official test, seven people would be expelled just after the school year began."

After saying that, Chabashira Sae answered their questions, mentioning that "for this test, every student who scored below thirty-one would be subject to expulsion."

Then she mocked them once again.

However, this time, the passing line was 31.4 points, rounded down to thirty-one. A student named Kikuchi had scored exactly thirty-one, barely passing. Even 0.1 points less and he would have failed.

(64.4 × 40 = 2576

2576 - 64.4 = 2511.6

2511.6 ÷ 40 ÷ 2 = 31.395)

Seven failures, six wails of despair, and one person left speechless.

Apparently tired of the class's noise, Kamigami Haruo took out the manga he had disguised as a textbook yesterday.

Blocking out the clamor around him, he focused on reading. In everyone else's eyes, he was a poor student cramming at the last minute to avoid expulsion.

It could be said that the classroom had never been this lively before.

First they were mocked by the teacher, then by Koenji, and now they had to witness a conflict between Hirata Yosuke and Yukimura Teruhiko. Even reading a book wasn't peaceful.

Luckily, Ken Sudo lowered his head in shame and remained silent. Otherwise, they might have started fighting.

Yukimura Teruhiko cursed the heavens and the earth, then flew into a rage from embarrassment after being comforted.

Meanwhile, Hirata Yosuke had kindly tried to comfort him, only to have his collar grabbed, yet he remained calm.

He really couldn't understand why this class had to be so absurd.

Next, Kushida Kikyo had to step in and mediate. Normally, seeing her hold someone's fist would have made plenty of people roar with jealousy, but the boys had no energy left to worry about that now.

Thanks to Kushida Kikyo's reassurance, the class temporarily calmed down, leaving only a group of students howling in despair after squandering all their points.

"Ah! You're reading manga!"

A cute voice that immediately lifted his spirits sounded beside his ear, making Kamigami Haruo look away from his book.

He looked at the person in front of him, who had just passed by his seat and noticed the manga in his hands.

"Haruo-kun really has no sense of urgency. Everyone's feeling terrible, you know~"

Kushida Kikyo placed her hand on his desk and propped her cheek against it, wearing an anxious expression. But paired with her cute face, she looked more like a little girlfriend who had been wronged.

"What's there to worry about? With angel Kikyo here, I'm not afraid of anything."

Kamigami Haruo spoke words he didn't mean while thinking, Just wait. There'll come a day when you break down. I'm really looking forward to it. Hehehe.

"Stop it, I'm not that amazing."

She reached out and lightly punched Kamigami Haruo's arm, then voiced her question.

"Aren't you worried? If you fail the midterms, you'll be expelled."

"It's fine. At worst, after I'm expelled, I'll become a host and win girls over. Remember to come support me then."

"Haha... You're teasing me again."

Hearing the seemingly sarcastic remark, Kushida Kikyo's mouth twitched. She awkwardly responded, recalling that those were the very words she had used to scold him last Sunday.

Remembering the noise from the woods beside them that day, her heart tightened, though her expression remained perfectly composed.

Although she had checked that place afterward and found no one there, perhaps whoever had made the sound had run away. Still, she couldn't put her mind at ease, so she probed further.

"Haruo-kun, have you still been working out lately? You seem much stronger now. You look really manly."

"Yeah, I've kept at it. Maybe I just eat a lot, so my muscles grow quickly."

Though that was what he said, he had merely gone from skin and bones to having a normal layer of muscle.

"You're really diligent. On Sunday night, I saw you exercising with Horikita-san on the field."

"That day? We didn't work out for long. We had class the next day, after all. After she left, I ran a few laps and went back to sleep. I didn't expect you to happen to see us."

The moment she mentioned Sunday, Kamigami Haruo understood what this was about. It seemed his earlier comment about becoming a host had made her suspicious. A lie slipped effortlessly from his mouth.

Just as Kushida Kikyo wanted to press the advantage—

"Everyone, before class starts, I hope you'll listen to me seriously for a moment. Especially Sudo-kun."

Hirata Yosuke walked to the podium, drawing everyone's attention.

Seeing this, though somewhat displeased, Kushida Kikyo kept her smile and turned around.

After a round of discussion, arguing, and rule-setting, Ken Sudo seemed unable to endure the looks and atmosphere from his classmates anymore. He threw out a sentence and walked out of the classroom.

After Ken Sudo left, the class erupted with insults and complaints about him.

Fortunately, Kamigami Haruo had merely scored zero and had not done anything as irritating as Ken Sudo.

At most, people would gossip about his grades a little.

As for the extra times he had been late or played with his phone, who would pay special attention to that...

Ahahaha... There really was someone. He should just run off after school.

As he thought that, someone appeared before him without him noticing.

"What is it, Hirata-kun?"

"It's like this. After school, I'm gathering everyone to discuss ways to increase our points, so I hope you can join us. What do you think?"

Hirata Yosuke invited him with a gentle, humble demeanor.

"I see, but unfortunately, I already have plans this afternoon. How about this? You all can discuss it, and just tell me the results. I'll definitely follow the rules properly."

Kamigami Haruo couldn't bring himself to bluntly refuse someone so polite, so he could only turn him down tactfully.

"I see... Then let's exchange contact information. I'll send you the results. But if you change your mind before school ends, you're welcome anytime."

"No problem. We'll talk about it then."

Kamigami Haruo answered vaguely as he took out his phone to exchange contact information.

"Thank you for taking the time to talk with me."

After they exchanged contact information, Kamigami Haruo watched Hirata Yosuke head toward the back of the classroom.

It seemed Hirata would be disappointed. After all, it was Horikita. Although she considered others a little when she was with him, when it came to everyone else... that was hard to say.