Study Session

Sunday.

Seven in the morning.

Akiyama Shin woke amid a faint soreness.

When he opened his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling and the sofa beneath him, which was clearly too short, forcing him to curl up for the entire night.

He sat up, stretched his stiff neck, and glanced at the room's only bed.

Chabashira Sae and Hoshinomiya Chie were wrapped in blankets without a shred of decorum, sleeping like the dead. Their breathing was even and deep; evidently, the effects of last night's alcohol still lingered.

"What a miscalculation."

Akiyama Shin muttered under his breath, his tone carrying a rare hint of helplessness. Last night, the two homeroom teachers had completely let loose at the izakaya. After a few cups of sake, they had lost all clarity of mind, staggering and swaying as they walked.

In the end.

He could only take on the responsibility of escorting them back.

By the time he got the two of them back to Chabashira Sae's teacher dorm, which was practically bare-walled and did not even have spare bedding, it was already close to one in the morning.

The student dorms had long since gone under curfew.

Fortunately, there was no need to clock in on weekends.

And since he had gone out with two homeroom teachers, it did not count as a violation.

With no other choice.

He could only sleep fully clothed on this tiny sofa that barely accommodated him, enduring an uncomfortable night.

He picked up the Terminal beside the bed. As the screen unlocked, a new message notification caught his attention.

He had been added to a three-person group called "International Intelligence Investigation Association."

The senders were Kamuro Masumi and Morishita Ran.

Akiyama Shin raised an eyebrow and opened the group chat.

Inside were several documents and a long series of messages that Morishita Ran and Kamuro Masumi had sent one after another between two and three in the morning. The documents contained detailed records of every Class B student's scores on multiple past quizzes and their ranking fluctuations, as well as brief notes analyzing each person's strong and weak subjects.

[Morishita Ran]: Reporting to King Arthur! Observer Morishita Ran and Violet Shadow have preliminarily completed the detection and recording of Class B's strength! Please review it! (〃'▽'〃)

[Kamuro Masumi]: (A clearly organized Excel spreadsheet) I'm exhausted. Here's what you wanted! If you give us rush jobs like this again, you'll have to pay more!

[Kamuro Masumi]: (3:15 a.m.) Hey? Did you see it?

[Morishita Ran]: The King may already be resting! We shall report again tomorrow!

As Akiyama Shin looked through the detailed data, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.

In just one day, the two of them had acquired such comprehensive, well-organized intelligence. Their efficiency had indeed exceeded his expectations. He tapped the screen and replied with two words.

"Nicely done."

After the message was sent, he ignored whatever reactions might erupt in the group chat.

He got up and headed to the bathroom, using Chabashira Sae's brand-new disposable toiletries to freshen up.

He glanced at the two teachers, who were still asleep, then silently left the teacher dorm.

The campus air was fresh in the early morning as Akiyama Shin headed straight for the library.

At this hour, the library was practically empty, making it the perfect time to handle business.

He found a secluded seat, took out his Terminal, and began contacting the relevant people.

To Horikita Suzune, Kushida Kikyo: 8:30, library. Class D study session. We'll assign tutoring groups.

To Honami Ichinose, Ryuji Kanzaki: 8:30, library. Class A will participate in tutoring Class D. Please arrive on time for group matching.

After sending the messages, he used the available data to draft preliminary pairings of stronger and weaker students from Class A and Class D, so they could be matched efficiently during today's study session.

While handling this surface-level work, his mind was already racing as he calculated the next, more crucial move.

Among the three first-year classes—A, B, and D—the potential S-Rank and A-Rank lists had already become roughly clear. Next, he had to obtain past Midterm Exam papers from the second and third years.

He analyzed the situation calmly.

By analyzing the question types, difficulty, and distribution of tested material in past upper-year exams, he could infer the school's preferences and patterns when setting questions. This would not only help him predict the ranking ranges of upper-year students more accurately, but more importantly, it would allow him to determine whether the first-year Midterm Exam would directly reuse or adapt question types from previous years.

A deeper thought took shape in his mind.

If he confirmed that the question types overlapped heavily, he could selectively feed those high-frequency question types and classic difficult problems to the somewhat better-performing Class D students who had a chance of reaching high ranks, ensuring they gained an advantage in the exam and further solidifying Class D's control over the high-score range.

However, buying upper-year exam papers would have to wait until Monday, when he could find a suitable opportunity and channel to arrange it. After all, today he had to dutifully appear at the study session and maintain the image of someone exhausting himself for Class D's grades, without arousing any unnecessary suspicion.