Haruki Yamauchi: I'm Better at Infighting Than You!

Suddenly, Horikita Suzune's pupils narrowed as her gaze settled on the subjects where Kanji Ike and Yamauchi Haruki had scored nearly perfect marks.

"Tea—Teacher, are Sudo and the others really going to be expelled? Is there any way to make up for it?"

Hirata Yousuke immediately rose from his seat and anxiously asked Chabashira Sae.

"Don't be so naive. Didn't the school tell you the rules from the start? Failing the exam is your own problem." Chabashira Sae raised a hand to her forehead and sighed helplessly. "Also, I'd already guessed this might happen, so I brought your papers. Go ahead and check them if you want."

As she spoke, she took a stack of exam papers from beneath the lectern.

"There must be some mistake. Ike and I should have gotten really high scores!"

"Yeah! Something must have gone wrong. I should've done great on this exam!" Kanji Ike chimed in.

When they saw Chabashira Sae bring over the papers, Kanji Ike and Yamauchi Haruki rushed to the lectern and practically snatched their own papers from the stack. They started comparing them against the answer key.

But it didn't take long.

Their expressions visibly shifted from confidence to confusion, then to sweat pouring down their faces, and finally to stammering incoherently.

"W-why is this wrong? This question... shouldn't it be like this?"

"What went wrong? Haruki, why don't the answers match?"

Horikita Suzune opened her eyes, her arms folded as she pondered the problem. Her icy gaze pierced Ike and Yamauchi.

"You two—why were you so sure you'd get high scores?"

Their frantic movements stopped at once.

Yamauchi Haruki's face flushed red. He stuck out his chin, trying to recover his earlier bravado, but his voice lacked conviction. "W-what's it to you? Ike and I are geniuses, okay? Right, Ike?"

"Yeah, Haruki and I are geniuses, so what?" Kanji Ike said, summoning his courage and puffing out his chest.

"Ha ha ha!"

The heated argument jolted Kouenji Rokusuke out of his world of self-admiration. He took out a hand mirror, fixed his dazzling blond hair, and stroked his face as he spoke nonchalantly.

"You two are making quite a spectacle of yourselves, boys. Even now, you're covering for the enemy who put you in such an unbeautiful position. It's truly an eyesore."

"What do you mean?"

"Still don't understand?"

Horikita Suzune sighed with a headache. "I don't know how you two got your hands on the answers for this Midterm Exam, but there's no doubt that some of them were wrong."

"H-how could that be?" Yamauchi Haruki stammered. "He told me they were correct."

Hirata Yousuke, who had been pleading with Chabashira Sae, finally realized what had happened. For the first time, a serious expression appeared on his gentle face. He walked over to the two boys, his eyes lowered.

"Ike, Yamauchi, show me those answers."

"W-why should we—"

"You're about to be expelled!"

Hirata Yousuke's voice immediately rose an octave. Not only Kanji Ike and Yamauchi Haruki, who were closest to him, but even the girls in Class D jumped. They instinctively shrank back.

"F-fine, I'll take them out." Trembling, Yamauchi Haruki pulled his phone from his pocket, unlocked it, and handed it to Hirata Yousuke.

Hirata Yousuke said nothing. He grabbed both boys' exam papers and began checking them against the answers.

Seeing this, Horikita Suzune stood up as well. She picked up another exam paper and took Kanji Ike's phone.

"I'm curious what kind of answers could have fooled you two into staying clueless until now."

Nobody in Class D said a word. They held their breath, silently watching the middle of the classroom. Slowly, the two boys' expressions changed from calm to confused, and finally—

"Bang!"

The loud thud of a fist striking a desk reverberated through the classroom. All the girls stared in alarm at Hirata Yousuke, who stood in the middle of the room, seething with fury.

"This isn't an answer key at all! It's a trap designed from start to finish to get Ike and Yamauchi expelled!"

Yukimura Teruhiko, the strongest student in Class D academically, frowned and asked, "Hirata, what do you mean?"

"I'll explain."

Horikita Suzune grimaced and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"These answers—or rather, whoever made them seems to have had a copy of the Midterm Exam. They're 90 percent identical to the exam. Japanese Literature, social studies, math, and science are all the actual Midterm Exam papers, but..."

"Only the English section is different. The answers at the start are correct, but further on, either the punctuation has been changed, a letter has been moved, or a question has been phrased differently. You wouldn't notice anything wrong without looking closely."

Horikita Suzune turned to the two boys, who were completely stunned, their eyes vacant.

"Especially since English was the last subject, and most of it was multiple choice. Knowing their personalities, they probably glanced over the answers, saw that nothing seemed too wrong, and happily copied them down!"

Horikita Suzune paused and sighed, unable to keep her composure.

"The fact that they still missed passing by so little means they even memorized some of the answers incorrectly."

"If they'd worked through the whole exam from start to finish, this crude trap, so precisely designed to target their weaknesses, wouldn't have worked. Their enemy really understood their personalities."

"Chabashira-sensei! Can they... get away with this?" Hirata Yousuke seemed to be clinging to one last hope.

"R-right! It's all the other person's fault! Surely something like this isn't allowed, right? They'll void our scores and let us retake the exam, won't they?"

Desperate, Yamauchi Haruki and Kanji Ike shouted at Chabashira Sae as if she were their last lifeline.

"Don't be so naive. As long as they haven't violated school rules, everything they did is in keeping with this school's principle of survival of the fittest."

Chabashira Sae pressed a hand to her forehead, helpless. She hadn't expected anyone to specifically set a trap for these two hopeless students. The same trick, used against Class C, could probably send them plunging into an abyss with a single blow, never to recover.

Chabashira Sae's words mercilessly extinguished the last glimmer of hope in their eyes.

"H-how could this happen? I've only been here for two months! I haven't even gotten a girlfriend yet! I haven't had the amazing high school life I dreamed of, and I haven't even done that kind of thing! How can I be expelled just like this?" Tears streamed from Kanji Ike's eyes as he fell to his knees and broke down sobbing.

"I don't want to be expelled. Going home with my tail between my legs would be so lame. I already told everyone! It's all that guy's fault for sending us those exam answers. This is all his fault!" Yamauchi Haruki continued to blame everyone but himself.

Their distress infected Ken Sudō, who was also facing expulsion. He waved his arms as if venting his frustration and growled again and again.

"Ah! I'm about to become a regular on the basketball team this month! I can't stop here!"

"Wait, Chabashira-sensei." Hirata Yousuke seemed to remember something. "What about Sudō's paper? He didn't memorize those answers, and he only missed by three points. If we look, maybe we can get him to pass."

"Give up, Hirata. If he were one point short, we might be able to find something if we worked at it. But three points? Chabashira-sensei wouldn't make such an obvious mistake. And isn't this only natural?"

Back at her seat in the corner, Horikita Suzune folded her arms and watched the three boys wailing with their heads in their hands. She spoke before Chabashira Sae could open her mouth.

"If you can't even stick with something as simple as studying, you might as well give up on dreams like basketball now. You knew this exam could get you expelled, yet you couldn't care less about studying. Isn't this outcome exactly what you should've expected?"

At first, Horikita Suzune had organized a study group, but it had ended in failure because neither side was willing to cooperate. Horikita Suzune hadn't made any further attempts, and the result was now plain to see.

"What did you say? Say that again, you woman! I'll beat you to a pulp, yeah!"

Ken Sudō instantly flew into a rage. He kicked his chair, sending it tumbling into the wall with a crash that echoed through the classroom and made everyone's hearts leap.

He raised his fist and charged at Horikita Suzune, but Hirata Yousuke rushed over and stopped him.

Horikita Suzune paid no mind to Ken Sudō charging at her in a fury. She sneered.

"Am I wrong? When it's time to study, you don't bother. You toss your textbooks aside with some lame excuse and go off to have fun, thinking you can just flip through them in the days before the exam. Then, when the exam comes, you comfort yourself with excuses like, 'It'll all work out somehow.' I can't think of a single reason why someone like you shouldn't be expelled. When you go home, you'll probably end up working part-time at a convenience store just to support yourself."

Horikita Suzune had struck a nerve. Ken Sudō struggled against Hirata Yousuke and roared at her, "I'll kill you, you woman!"

"Sudō, calm down. Horikita, you should stop, too." Even though the class had descended into chaos, Hirata Yousuke was still trying to keep the peace.

The other students in Class D sat in their seats without making any effort to intervene. The three boys were generally despised by their classmates; aside from a few cliques of their own, they had managed to offend almost everyone.

"If you fight, you'll be expelled on the spot. And since you'll no longer be a student here, everything you do will be handed over to the police. You'll not only be expelled, but you won't be able to play basketball anymore, either."

Chabashira Sae's words calmed Ken Sudō at once. As if all the strength had been drained from his body, he helplessly sank back into his seat.

She glanced at the time, then discreetly watched a certain spot in the classroom from the corner of her eye. A trace of anxiety flickered in her gaze.

"First period is about to start. You three should enjoy your last day at Kouiku. After school this afternoon, I'll notify your parents to come and take you home. I have class, so I'm leaving."

The classroom door slammed shut, leaving Class D shrouded in silence.

In just twenty minutes, they'd gone from heaven to hell, from smug satisfaction to despairing wails. Quite an entertaining little drama, wasn't it?

In a corner of the classroom, Sakayanagi Arisu, who hadn't said a word throughout, took a graceful sip of tea and smiled with pleasure.

Yamauchi Haruki: My Infighting Is Better Than Yours!

Silently, Hirata Yousuke righted the desk Ken Sudō had knocked over.

Faced with the wreckage of the Class D classroom, Hirata Yousuke forced a smile and helped Kanji Ike up from the floor. "It'll be okay. I'll go ask Nagumo-senpai later. Maybe there's another way."

Kanji Ike slapped Hirata Yousuke's hand away and pointed at his nose as he cursed. "Don't give me that fake sympathy. You look down on us too, don't you? You'd be happy if we got expelled, wouldn't you?"

"N-no, that's not true. I've never thought that." Hirata Yousuke shook his head desperately.

"This is all your fault, when you get down to it! If you'd tried harder to convince me to study back then, I wouldn't have to get expelled today! Yeah! It's all your fault! It's all the school's fault! It's all the fault of the guy who sent us those answers!"

Yamauchi Haruki shoved Hirata Yousuke away as he tried to comfort him. After muttering to himself for a while, he eagerly pinned the blame for their failure on Hirata Yousuke.

Hirata Yousuke staggered a couple of steps across the classroom before collapsing onto the floor. His eyes slowly turned dull, and he couldn't say a word.

Ken Sudō, the only one who had accepted the reality of his expulsion, leaned back in his chair and stared blankly at the pale ceiling.

People were like that. They only learned to cherish something after losing it.

That red-haired first-year student was pretty good!

Sudō, try to keep your temper under control. There's plenty of contact on the basketball court too, but you manage to keep it together there, don't you?

Ken, do your best on the exam. You're a student with a real talent for basketball. Someday, you could play professionally. But if you can't stay at this school, all your efforts will come to nothing.

Even though the coach and upperclassmen had warned him—why hadn't he been willing to settle down and study back then?

The basketball club coach's and upperclassmen's words echoed in Ken Sudō's mind as he questioned himself again and again.

In contrast to Ken Sudō, lost in his own world, Class D was noisy.

"Hey, how can you say that to Yosuke? He tried so hard to plead for you!" Some of the girls stood up for Hirata Yousuke.

"You're no better!" Kanji Ike pointed at the girls and swore. "Especially you, Shinohara. You're always following Karuizawa around. Anyone who didn't know better would think she took a dump and you crawled out of it."

"And Karuizawa, what's with the gyaru act all day? You're only popular because you're riding Hirata's coattails. Without him, you're nothing."

"And you, Kouenji Rokusuke! All you ever talk about is beauty while you sit there staring at yourself in the mirror. Your beauty isn't even one ten-thousandth of mine!"

"And what's with this lousy school? It cheats its students! I never wanted to be here anyway. When I get home, I'll appeal the decision and expose this disgraceful school!"

Having given up on himself, Kanji Ike started cursing everyone in the class he disliked, spraying spittle everywhere.

The girls weren't about to back down. They immediately joined the fight, and the two sides clashed. Class D plunged into chaos.

Of course, some students weren't affected by the incident at all.

The blond boy named Kouenji Rokusuke crossed his legs on his desk and admired every inch of his skin, occasionally exclaiming, "Ah, I'm simply too beautiful."

The two-faced mastermind, Kushida Kikyou, verbally tried to stop everyone from fighting while secretly stoking the flames. She looked sad on the surface, but inside she was laughing wildly, eagerly anticipating a brawl.

Horikita Suzune sat in her seat, coolly observing the chaotic scene in Class D as she silently considered what to do.

The argument continued from morning until the break before the final class of the afternoon.

Sakayanagi Arisu glanced at the clock on the wall, the corners of her lips curling upward.

The time was about right...

Just then, Karuizawa Kei, who had barely been noticed during the whole farce, raised her hand toward Hirata Yousuke.

"Um... Yosuke, a girl from an upperclassman told me we could use points to buy marks. Is that really possible? She said private points could buy anything in the school, and marks were no exception. If you were buying a lot, maybe you could even get a discount."

As soon as she said this, the three boys who had given up abruptly lifted their heads. Even Hirata's eyes lit up again.

"Really? You're not like those useless people after all. I always thought you were the cutest girl in our class." Yamauchi Haruki eagerly edged over to Karuizawa Kei. Just as expected, she looked disgusted by his doglike expression.

"If that's true, I won't have to go home after being expelled." Ken Sudō stood up excitedly, muttering to himself.

"..." Kanji Ike, who had been arguing with the girls since morning, froze in place. The girls watched him with amused expressions, making their attitude clear.

"Really? Let's go ask Chabashira-sensei right now!" Hirata Yousuke immediately went to find out.

"I knew there'd be another way!" Yamauchi Haruki laughed aloud.

In the next moment, Hirata Yousuke returned and dashed his hopes completely.

Midterm Exam marks cost 60,000 private points each. Ken Sudō was three points short, Kanji Ike was eight points short, and Yamauchi Haruki was six points short. Altogether, they needed 1.02 million private points.

And since the previous month, their class had received—zero points!

More importantly, this was the break before the final class of the day. They couldn't even go to friends in other classes to borrow points; they could only contact them by phone.

After hearing this, the whole class fell silent for a moment. Then, like a pot boiling over, everyone started talking at once.