The Third Term Began as Scheduled

January 8 was the first day of the third term at Advanced Nurturing High School.

At 7 a.m., the alarm blared with its usual grating ring.

The faint morning light filtering through the gap in the curtains traced a soft line across the ceiling, heralding the start of a new term.

Chang Shui Jing got up, washed his face, and brushed his teeth, just as he always did.

After leisurely changing into his uniform, Chang Shui looked at the ends of his hair sticking up at the back of his head in the mirror and splashed some cold water on them.

After a week of rest, he looked full of energy and raring to go.

He pressed the familiar elevator button, walked along the familiar path, took in the familiar scenery, played the familiar music, entered the familiar school building, and stopped outside the familiar Class 1-D classroom.

Muscle memory impatiently urged him to hurry up and open the door.

"Am I really a Class B student now?"

He let out a rueful quip and ambled along. Even a rag worn to shreds could become dear to you if you used it long enough.

An unfamiliar route, unfamiliar surroundings, and a version of himself who was practically a stranger to his new classmates.

"Phew... Why does this feel like a job interview?"

He opened the door. The Class B students were taken aback for a moment, but quickly recovered.

That was right. From today onward, Chang Shui Jing was officially part of Class B.

"Everyone, welcome Chang Shui," Ichinose said, taking the lead.

"Welcome... welcome..."

Ah, ah. They didn't even know what to call him. How were they supposed to greet him politely? It seemed he'd have to ask Nagumo-senpai for advice more often.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Chang Shui Jing. I like working out and reading."

"That's all."

Compared with his self-introduction in Class D, he'd stood there for a few seconds longer. They'd better appreciate it.

"Um, that was really brief."

"What a spirited introduction."

Everyone gave him polite smiles that weren't awkward at all. They'd heard about him already and had prepared themselves.

"Oh, this is a nice seat."

His new seat was in the back row by the window, and Chang Shui liked it.

"Everyone, we're now only 65 points behind Class A after this Special Exam. Let's keep working hard together this new term!"

"Let's push harder and overtake them!"

"With Ichinose here, we can definitely do it!"

After Ichinose's pep talk, the class erupted in motivational slogans.

Something suddenly occurred to Chang Shui. His monthly allowance of points had increased after transferring to Class B, but the percentage deducted had gone up too. Didn't that mean his income hadn't really increased after all? He'd heard the cut was 50%.

Primeval Forest Special Exam Results

Class A 940+280+20= 1240

Class B 775+300+100=1175

Class C 390+280+20=690

Class D 307+260+50=617

"Hey, Chang Shui. What's the deal, you traitor?"

Sotomura confronted him first.

"Huh? Why don't you look at which class I'm in?"

Late at night, everyone in Class D had gathered in front of the homeroom teacher's office after the Special Exam ended.

"Kagami, what's going on? What exactly happened between you and Ayanokoji?"

Kushida pushed through the crowd and grabbed Chang Shui's arm.

Everyone had far too many questions that they wanted Chang Shui to answer.

"Of course it was Ayanokoji's doing. He used Devour Permission. There wasn't enough time, so I had no choice but to leave."

"But you didn't have to transfer classes, did you?"

Yamauchi pressed him.

"If Water Ghost and Ayanokoji were working together, how could I just sit there and do nothing? If I'd been expelled, would you have taken responsibility? You idiot!"

"Uh..." Yamauchi shrank back, intimidated by Chang Shui's voice.

"Impressive. I never thought my plan would work. I discovered something new: if the person designated by Water Ghost withdraws from the exam, their permission gets locked."

Ryuen slowly walked to the front and took all the blame upon himself.

"Nice expressions, everyone. Wondering what happened? I'll be merciful and explain it to you."

"What would you do if you suddenly found out you'd been eliminated while alone with someone? And the other person had your Trust Card. Obviously, you'd run first and ask questions later."

"As I expected, I started by using Manabe's Water Ghost permission to make Chang Shui withdraw from the Special Exam. That drove a wedge between the two of them."

In the end, they'd turned against each other.

"Sorry, this was my fault. Chang Shui and I were on our way to check in when he suddenly ran off. My first thought was that he was going to take his points with him to Class A."

Ayanokoji explained.

"I used Devour without telling anyone because I wanted to stop Chang Shui from gathering enough points to transfer classes. That would've put us at an even greater disadvantage."

"I lied at the time because I was thinking of the class."

"If you hadn't deliberately misled everyone, no one would've thought Kagami was a traitor. Besides, when Kagami withdrew from the exam, why didn't anyone hear the announcement? You must've been behind it! And you'd prepared Karuizawa's recording in advance just to eliminate Kagami!"

Kushida had a rough idea of what had happened, but she didn't believe Ayanokoji at all.

"Class D was having a party at the time. It makes sense that they couldn't hear the announcement if the speaker at the base was too quiet. When Koenji was eliminated, no one heard it either."

Sotomura sided with Ayanokoji.

"That's possible. The speaker at the base was really quiet when Karuizawa was eliminated."

Horikita also chose to believe Ayanokoji.

Ryuen of Class C explained it, covering for Ayanokoji's lie: Class C had used Water Ghost to drag Chang Shui into it, causing him to withdraw from the exam and preventing him from contacting anyone by phone. It hadn't been Ayanokoji who'd schemed against him.

Chang Shui had mistaken it for Ayanokoji using Devour, so he ran away and asked Ichinose for help, spending four million points to transfer classes.

Ayanokoji had thought Chang Shui was going to betray the class, so he'd asked Karuizawa to use Water Ghost permission to get Chang Shui expelled.

And he'd taken half the points for himself. That really did seem to have been for the class's benefit, to keep too many points from falling into enemy hands.

Everything fit together, and Class C's Class Points added up too.

A perfect lie! No one but the people involved knew the truth.

Those who believed Ayanokoji thought Ryuen of Class C had turned their classmates against each other.

Those who supported Chang Shui thought Ayanokoji and Ryuen had planned the whole thing.

Ryuen had been working with Ayanokoji from the very beginning.

Chang Shui still wanted to say something. There were far too many suspicious points.

How had Ryuen known when they'd set out? What about the Virus File Ayanokoji had prepared?

"It wasn't like that at all, you idiots. Don't you think the timing was too perfect? How could Ayanokoji and Ryuen have pulled it off without working together?"

"Hey, Chang Shui. Ryuen was behind everything. Why are you still trying to smear Ayanokoji? You're not in Class D anymore."

Sotomura's words jolted Chang Shui back to his senses.

He suddenly remembered playing Biohazard Mode. When everyone was human, they worked together just fine. But after they became ghosts, they showed no mercy to their former teammates.

That was right. If he'd still been on Class D's side, everyone would've believed him. But now he'd switched over to the other side—their rival.

Honami couldn't use a Revival Ticket on him now that he was in Class D, so the only way to avoid expulsion had been to transfer classes.

Now that things had turned out like this, helplessness washed over him.

Interesting. This was really interesting.

Ayanokoji, had you really calculated things to this extent?

"Phew..." He took a deep breath.

He had to admit it. For now, Ayanokoji was stronger.

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