Exploration

"But isn't that a little strange? You should have a life of your own too, shouldn't you?"

"But I think it's fine to deal with your own things later if a friend is having trouble."

"That won't do, Ichinose-san. Love others only after you love yourself—aren't you leaving yet?"

Mikage Touji turned around in an instant and saw Ichinose Honami still following close behind him with a smiling face.

"I thought you might need help, Mikage-kun, so I came along." Ichinose Honami held a basket of groceries and said it openly.

"Ichinose-san, this isn't anything important. Besides..." Mikage Touji pointed at the basket in her hand. "Don't you have your own plans?"

"This won't take much time, and you seemed a little troubled just now, didn't you?"

Mikage Touji stopped and looked directly into Ichinose Honami's bright eyes.

Ichinose looked back at him without even blinking.

"Why do you like helping other people so much?"

"Why do you refuse other people's help, Mikage-kun?"

"I'm not refusing help. It's just that we don't know each other very well yet, and I don't think it's necessary to take up a new friend's time over something this small."

"I believe we'll get to know each other. There's nothing wrong with helping a friend in advance."

"..."

Mikage Touji looked away and said helplessly, "You're kind of strange."

"You're kind of strange too, Mikage-kun."

Seeing how stubborn Ichinose was, Mikage Touji simply gave in. "In that case, if you run into trouble next time, you can ask me. I'll help you too."

Ichinose Honami's body visibly stiffened, as if she had remembered something.

"What's wrong?" Mikage Touji frowned.

Ichinose shook her head without saying anything, then said softly, "It's been a long time since I heard anyone say something like that. Wouldn't it be a bother to you, Mikage-kun?"

Mikage Touji tilted his head and slowly formed a question mark. "Why is helping me not a bother, but me helping you would be?"

"Because we're friends."

"Exactly. Since we're friends, isn't it only natural for us to help each other?"

Ichinose Honami, who was usually so socially adept that she could handle all kinds of friends perfectly, was at a loss for words.

"Let's go."

Seeing Ichinose Honami standing there in a daze, Mikage Touji continued toward the kitchenware section. "I hope this won't take up too much of your time."

Ichinose Honami came back to her senses and glanced sideways at Mikage Touji.

"What is it?"

"N-nothing."

With Ichinose Honami's help, Mikage Touji picked out his own set of kitchenware again and named them the Eternal Spirit Blade! The Dragon Turning Pot! The Jade Dragon Pot... He forgot the rest.

Since the supermarket offered delivery, Mikage Touji didn't have to worry about carrying everything back to his room.

After picking out groceries at the supermarket, the two headed out together.

Just then, a red-haired man with his hands in his pockets hurried past them, his face full of killing intent, drawing the attention of passersby.

"Isn't that the pervert from the forum?"

"Ew, don't look at him. I don't know why the school even admitted someone like that."

"He's looking over here."

"Let's hurry."

Two upperclassmen girls quickly left the area.

Ryuen Kakeru glared at them viciously. His lips moved a few times, but in the end he just clenched his fists and stormed off angrily.

"Looks like Ryuen-kun has had a rough few days," Ichinose remarked.

"You even know Ryuen Kakeru?" Mikage Touji asked, suppressing a laugh.

"They've been fighting since the first few days of school. I tried to stop them, but it didn't work at all. Still, they were suspended for a week, so things have been much better these past few days."

"That's a problem, then. His suspension is almost over, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I hope he'll tone it down."

The elevator doors opened with a ding, and the two parted ways.

"I'll be going, then. Thanks, Ichinose-san." Mikage Touji held a shopping bag in one hand and waved goodbye with the other. "Don't wear yourself out. And if you really need help, come find me—but just this once."

"Sure. Bye!"

The elevator doors slowly slid shut, and Ichinose Honami's gentle smile disappeared behind them.

Mikage Touji slowly lowered his hand, the smile on his face fading as he let out a breath.

"What a strange girl."

Evening.

The finest ingredients often needed only the simplest preparation. He boiled the greens in a pot, sliced the beef thin and stir-fried it over high heat, then pan-fried the bonito with fine salt and sesame oil until golden on both sides.

After a busy day, Master Mikage sat down at the table and took a bite.

"..."

Ten seconds later, a bonito with a strange gleam in its eyes lay silently in the trash can.

At the same time, a rich aroma drifted in from the balcony and entered Mikage Touji's room, slipping into his nose as if taking advantage of an opening and stirring his taste buds mercilessly.

Master Mikage expressionlessly took out his phone, opened the group chat, and sent a message.

[Hikari, when are you coming back: Morishita, Yamamura, let's go out to eat. My treat!]

Exploration

On Monday of the third week of school, Kanzaki Ryuji checked his school supplies one last time as usual, then opened the door and left his room.

The weather was nice today, and the temperature had warmed up a little. After walking for a while, his body got moving, and breathing in the fresh morning air filled him with energy.

When he arrived in the classroom, Ichinose Honami, the class representative of Class B, was already seated as usual.

"Good morning, Ichinose-san," Kanzaki Ryuji said with a nod as he passed by.

"Good morning, Kanzaki-kun..."

Strangely, Ichinose Honami didn't respond with her usual energy. Instead, she rested her chin on her hand and stared out the window, lost in thought.

"Is something wrong, Ichinose-san?" Kanzaki Ryuji stepped closer and asked.

Putting aside their personal relationship, Ichinose Honami was currently the heart of Class B. She handled most of the class's affairs, big and small. If something happened to her, it would be difficult for the class to function.

"I was wondering... Were the four classes in our year, Classes A, B, C, and D, assigned in order from the very beginning?"

Kanzaki Ryuji's heart jolted, and he asked with a frown, "Ichinose, why do you think that? Did you notice anything unusual?"

"Well, these past few days, some students from Class D have often told me that they're finding the lessons taught at school a little difficult to keep up with."

As she spoke, Ichinose picked up a textbook and showed it to Kanzaki Ryuji. "I was worried some of our classmates might be falling behind too, so I checked the assignments we usually collect. They were all normal and up to standard."

Kanzaki Ryuji took Ichinose Honami's textbook with a serious expression and quickly flipped through it. "They really are standard textbooks covering the usual material. Nothing here goes beyond the curriculum."

"Then I started to find it strange, so I went and asked some students from Class C too," Ichinose Honami said with a troubled look. "Some of them also said there were parts of the lessons they couldn't understand at all."

"And Class A—"

Kanzaki Ryuji had just started to ask when he froze. As far as he knew, several students in Class A attended extra tutoring classes after school.

Ichinose Honami smiled bitterly. "Not at all. Even the few who said something was difficult only found a single subject hard."

Being better at some subjects than others was perfectly normal. Everyone had subjects they were good at and subjects they weren't; the difference was only in how good they were.

"It's possible."

After thinking for a while, Kanzaki Ryuji opened his eyes, his expression grave. "It's entirely possible!"

But the next moment, he thought of Sakayanagi Arisu, whom he had known since childhood through family gatherings, and his confidence wavered.

"But there are students with excellent abilities and good grades in Classes C and D too, aren't there?"

"That's why I'm troubled right now." Ichinose Honami lowered her head and sighed. "The first thing I did last night was ask Hoshinomiya-sensei. She said it was forbidden to discuss."

"So, Kanzaki-kun, could you come with me in a bit? I want to observe what's going on in each class."

A moment later, Ichinose Honami had composed herself and made the request to Kanzaki Ryuji.

"No problem."

Kanzaki Ryuji nodded without hesitation. Then he thought of the 100,000 points the school had given them at the start of the term, and the strange answers Hoshinomiya-sensei had given when he asked her about it...

"Ichinose, if your theory turns out to be right, don't tell students from the other classes about this for now," Kanzaki Ryuji warned.

He couldn't yet figure out the specific reason the school was doing this, but his instincts told him it definitely wasn't anything good. Kanzaki Ryuji didn't believe the school would actually give students 100,000 points every month.

Without knowing what the problem was, the side with the information would have the advantage.

"I understand." Ichinose Honami nodded in agreement.

Class A.

"Hashimoto-kun, how's that guy in Class C, Ryuen? He's out now, right? Is he still trying to unify the class?"

In the bottom-left corner of the classroom, Mikage Touji perched on his desk and took some eraser crumbs he had collected from his drawer. He aimed at Morishita Ran's head and tossed them lightly... A direct hit between the eyebrows.

The eraser crumbs landed silently on Morishita Ran's desk. They rolled around a few times before coming to a stop.

"I have to say, he's quite difficult to deal with." Hashimoto Masayoshi sat in the seat in front of Mikage Touji. As he flipped through the textbook for the next lesson, he sighed helplessly. "Even after taking such a huge hit to his reputation and losing so much influence, he's still trying to unify Class C."

Morishita Ran slowly raised her head, a murderous look on her cold face, and took out her battle-scarred eraser.

That's right. All the eraser crumbs Mikage Touji had collected had been shaved off her eraser. Morishita Ran had fired the first shot!

After cutting off a piece, Morishita Ran pulled a rubber band over her pen, aimed at Mikage Touji...

Fire!

"How long do you think it'll take him at the earliest to pull it off?"

Mikage Touji dodged left and right, but realized he couldn't escape Morishita Ran's aim. He immediately got off the desk and hid behind Kito Hayato, who was leaning against the window and quietly listening.

"To be honest, I really don't know." Hashimoto Masayoshi scratched his head in frustration. "Class C is reacting very strongly right now. They're fighting almost every day, and that guy Ryuen keeps charging in to fight them even though he can't win."

"Then we can leave Class C alone for now. At least until the S System announces things, that class won't be unified. Do you know what's going on in Class D?"

Seeing how shamelessly Mikage Touji was using someone as a human shield, Morishita Ran got up too and chased after him, firing away.

The two of them started circling Kito Hayato.

"Class D..."

Hashimoto Masayoshi wore an intrigued smile. "Actually, I think that even if we do nothing, Class D's final score probably won't look very good."

"Is that so..."

In that case, the only class that posed a threat to Class A was Class B.

Mikage Touji thought over his options as he fled in a sorry state.

"Mikage-kun..." Kito Hayato, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke.

"Hmm... What is it?"

"Class B..."

Kito Hayato looked in a certain direction and tilted his head to indicate it.

"Hm?"

Mikage Touji stopped and turned around. Morishita Ran, who had been firing at full strength, couldn't brake in time and crashed headfirst into Mikage Touji's arms.

The tremendous impact instantly left Mikage Touji with internal injuries.