Special Exam 6

The next day, in the morning.

Class had just ended, and the Class D classroom was already buzzing with activity.

Yamauchi Haruki walked over to Karuizawa, who was chatting with her friends, looking pleased. He tapped on her desk and said:

"Hirata's looking for you. He's waiting on the rooftop of Building 2."

"Hirata's looking for me?" Karuizawa Kei instinctively glanced at Hirata's empty seat, then said, "Okay, got it."

After saying goodbye to her friends, she got up and left.

When Yamauchi saw Karuizawa walk out, he instinctively tightened his grip on the Student Terminal in his pocket, then returned to his seat.

He looked around. Once he was sure no one was paying attention to him, he took out his Student Terminal and sent a message.

Yamauchi Haruki: "I've passed along the message."

Hashinoue: "Mm-hmm. Then let's meet in Room 312 tonight, big brother Haruki~"

Yamauchi Haruki: "Okay."

Yamauchi maintained his usual composure, but the hand holding his Student Terminal couldn't help trembling.

Three months! Three whole months! Someone was finally going to confess to him!

Thinking this, Yamauchi couldn't help grinning lecherously. "If she's asking me out tonight, should I prepare a few things?"

Just then, a hand landed on Yamauchi's shoulder. "Yamauchi, what are you grinning about?"

He turned around. It was Kanji Ike.

Yamauchi's face filled with pride. "I'm done hanging out with you single losers. A cute girl's going to confess to me tonight."

"What? Are you kidding me?" Ike looked utterly shocked.

Seeing Ike's expression, Yamauchi's lips curled up even more.

Meanwhile, on the rooftop of Building 2.

Manabe Shiho deleted a contact named Yamauchi Haruki, her face full of disgust. "That guy's so gross."

The girl beside her, Yamashita Saki, covered her mouth as she laughed. "Shiho, I can't believe you made that story up. Yamauchi's completely wrapped around your finger. This is hilarious."

Another girl, with short black hair, asked curiously, "By the way, Shiho, whose room is Room 312? The one you mentioned in your message?"

Manabe Shiho shrugged. "No idea. I just made it up. Who cares? As long as he leaves me alone."

Just then, the rooftop door slowly swung open. Karuizawa muttered, "Seriously, why did Hirata call me all the way up here?"

The sunlight on the rooftop was a little too bright, making it hard for Karuizawa to open her eyes. When her vision finally focused, she suddenly froze.

Hirata was nowhere to be seen. Instead, three girls stood in front of her, looking smug.

Seeing the hostile expressions on Manabe Shiho and the other two girls, Karuizawa Kei furrowed her brows, then pretended nothing was wrong. "Oh, I must've come to the wrong place."

She turned to leave, but Manabe grabbed her by the arm.

"Now that you're here, you're not going anywhere." With that, she yanked Karuizawa back.

"What are you doing?" Karuizawa demanded, wrenching her arm free of Manabe's grasp.

"What are we doing?" Manabe gave her companions a pointed look.

Yamashita and the other girl nodded, then turned around to shut and lock the rooftop door.

The moment Karuizawa saw the door close, a flood of unpleasant memories surged into her mind. She panicked.

"What are you trying to do?"

Karuizawa started toward the rooftop door, trying to open it.

But Manabe stepped directly in front of her, her expression cruel. "I haven't told you you can leave. You're staying right here."

"Do you know this is against school rules?" Karuizawa said firmly.

She put on a tough front, but the tears welling in the corners of her eyes gave her away completely.

"Aw, are you going to cry already?" Manabe and the other two closed in on Karuizawa as she retreated, until she was backed into a corner.

"What... what do you want from me?"

Meanwhile, Etsuka and Suzune were walking down the hallway.

Suzune asked in surprise, "So... you think Ryuen might resort to violence?"

"Yeah." With a lollipop in his mouth, Etsuka analyzed the situation. "After what Ryuen did last time, I wouldn't be surprised if he used violence."

"Etsuka..." Suzune slowly came to a stop.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Horikita Etsuka stopped too and turned to look at Suzune, who wore a serious expression.

A breeze stirred her hair.

Suzune's expression was stern as she said:

"You're in Class B. Why are you helping me so much? Even if we're family, this much help doesn't make sense."

Etsuka smiled. "Sis, you know there are things more important than winning."

"There are things more important than winning..." Suzune murmured.

"Come on, don't overthink it. Let's go tell your classmates first." Etsuka guided Suzune to the entrance of the Class D classroom.

Etsuka curiously poked his head inside. "Wow, Sis, your class is a lot livelier than ours."

The classroom was in complete chaos. Students playing games were shouting, and some boys were playing some kind of chasing game, running all over the room.

The girls were more refined, but their conversations were loud enough to be heard throughout the entire building!

"Huh? Senpai?!" Kushida spotted Etsuka standing at the entrance at once. She said goodbye to the friend beside her, then walked over.

Etsuka's expression didn't change. Instead, he waved at her.

He'd heard about her impressive exploits, but she hadn't done anything like that to him, at least not yet. So to Horikita Etsuka, Kushida was still a good girl.

"Senpai, you still haven't told me what happened last time," Kushida said with a shy smile.

Etsuka waved a hand. "You know we're in the same year, so you can stop calling me senpai."

"Oh, come on." Kushida stuck out her tongue, making a cute face. "I can't help it now. It's all your fault, Senpai. You made me call you that."

"Then just call me senpai. I don't mind," Etsuka replied.

Of course, I'd like it even more if she called me something like big brother...

Although it wasn't his first time meeting Kushida, Etsuka had to admit that her cute appearance was devastating.

It was off the charts!

Kushida folded her hands in front of her stomach, then tilted her head up at Etsuka and blinked her beautiful, lively eyes. "So, Senpai, why did you hide the fact that you were an upperclassman from me?"

Etsuka wagged a finger. "No, no. Think about it, Kushida. I never said I was an upperclassman."

Kushida pressed her index finger to her lips and thought it over. "Hmm... I guess you really didn't, Senpai."

Seeing the two of them chatting away happily, Suzune's expression darkened. She turned and headed for Hirata's seat, as she usually left the task to him.

Unfortunately, Hirata wasn't there.

Suzune looked over at Ayanokoji, who was leaning his head on one hand as he gazed out the window.

"Ayanokoji, have you seen Hirata?"

"Hirata? I think he's on the rooftop of Building 2," Ayanokoji said calmly.

"I see." Suzune returned to her seat and sat down, planning to wait until Hirata got back.

Ayanokoji glanced at Etsuka, who was still chatting away at the doorway, and said flatly, "Horikita, I think I just saw that Hirata wasn't on the rooftop."