A Class A Where All Is Calm

"Horikita, you came too?"

Horikita Suzune stared coldly at Sakayanagi Arisu, her long black hair fluttering in the wind.

"I've been suspicious for a while now. The timing of the announcement, the points of the students in our class—all of it is too convenient. The mastermind couldn't have learned those two so well unless they were from Class D. Classmate Sakayanagi, did you deliberately create this situation?"

"What are you talking about?"

Sakayanagi Arisu tilted her head, the corners of her mouth curling into a pleased smile. "I don't understand what you mean, Horikita."

"Why did you stand by and do nothing? What did you have to gain from it?" Horikita Suzune pressed her.

"You said yourself that they deserved to be expelled. So why are you saying I stood by and did nothing when I was the one who found a solution?"

"They deserved to be expelled for failing the exam. I'll never argue otherwise. But you knew there was a way to save those three. If you'd just spoken up a little earlier, our class could have avoided getting to this point. Class D is now on the verge of collapse. What did you gain from all this? Please tell me, Classmate Sakayanagi!"

"What a fierce interrogation..." Sakayanagi Arisu didn't seem frightened. Instead, she laughed, quite happily.

"Then what does it have to do with you? Weren't you the one who said at the start of the school year that you didn't need friends?"

"I—" Horikita Suzune was left speechless by Sakayanagi Arisu's question, too.

Sakayanagi Arisu leaned on her cane and slowly walked over to Horikita Suzune.

"Horikita, you believe you can do anything by yourself, don't you?"

Sakayanagi Arisu watched Horikita Suzune's face grow increasingly pale and commented in a lilting voice.

"You're so arrogantly confident. You thought your academic ability alone would get you an admission notice from Advanced Nurturing, but you were placed in Class D. You thought you could bring those three back to normal on your own, but you parted on bad terms because of your attitude. Horikita, you really do make me laugh."

"..."

Horikita Suzune clenched her fists and closed her eyes. After a long silence, she let out a deep breath.

"Yes, I admit I was too immature in the past. Now I see that I can't do it alone. What about you? Do you really have no desire to move up to Class A?"

"That's right."

Sakayanagi Arisu nodded with a teasing smile.

"I have no interest in graduating from Class A. What you treasure is worthless to me! Looking at you, I suppose you still want to drag a class like this up the ranks."

"Yeah." Horikita Suzune admitted it frankly. "Even now, I still want to try."

"You can't do it."

"That's why I want you to help me!"

"Sorry, I'm not the least bit interested in that."

Sakayanagi Arisu lifted her skirt slightly and gave Horikita Suzune a shallow bow.

"Then... what exactly was your reason for coming to Class D?" Chabashira Sae asked, finally breaking her silence. "Honestly, when I first saw that you'd been assigned to our class, I thought we'd hit the jackpot."

"There's someone I've always wanted to beat. I thought he might be at this school, and I assumed he was in this class, but I haven't found him." Sakayanagi Arisu didn't mind sharing a little information with them. "Maybe he's playing hide-and-seek with me?"

"Then why don't you work with me—"

"You're not qualified!"

Sakayanagi Arisu cut Horikita Suzune off. The faint smile on her face vanished in an instant.

"Someone like you has no right to take part in the contest between us."

Just then, Sakayanagi Arisu's phone rang. She took it out and glanced at the screen.

"Well, that's enough for today. Please excuse me, but I have a prior engagement."

After politely bidding the two of them farewell, Sakayanagi Arisu left, leaning on her cane.

"Classmate Sakayanagi!"

Horikita Suzune suddenly called out to Sakayanagi Arisu.

"If the person you're looking for has an entire class behind him, you won't be able to beat him either, will you? You'll need the strength of the class to make that happen!"

Sakayanagi Arisu stopped and looked back.

"I know that. From now on, I'll shape Class D into what I want it to be. As for my classmates as they are now, forgive me, but I can't even be bothered to order them around."

Calm After the Storm in Class A

After the Midterm Exam, June officially began in Tokyo. The afternoon sun shone with its full warmth through the wide, spotless windows, casting dazzling patches of light across the classroom floor.

The central air conditioning had kicked in inside the Class A classroom. A steady hum accompanied the cool air pouring from the vents, making the open textbooks on the desks flutter slightly.

The atmosphere in Class A was a far cry from the gloom of Class D. When it came to the Midterm Exam, Class A's general attitude was something like:

"So... you eat yet?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Me too."

That was it.

They'd crushed the exam head-on, scoring an average of nearly eighty.

"What Midterm Exam? It was nothing."

What they cared more about was—

Katsuragi Kōhei stood at the lectern, resting his hands on its edge. With a faint smile, he announced to the class, "The Student Council has sent over the notice. I passed the screening and became a member of the Student Council."

The Class A students, who had each been busy with their own things, looked up.

The next moment—

"Whoa!"

Mikage Touji sprang from his seat and led the cheering, setting off a wave of celebration throughout the class.

"Although I'm only a clerical assistant on the Student Council."

"Aww..." The students drew out the sound together, their disappointment tinged with teasing.

"It's fine. Right now, I'm the only first-year on the Student Council."

"Whoa!"

The cheers reached their peak, ringing through the entire classroom.

"Katsuragi, you really are the best!" Totsuka Yahiko shouted from below the lectern, waving his arms wildly.

"Katsuragi is invincible!" Mikage Touji took the steps two at a time, ran up to the lectern, and raised both arms high as he shouted to the class.

"Katsuragi is invincible!" all the boys in the class echoed in unison.

"Damn it!"

Totsuka Yahiko watched Mikage Touji whip the class into a frenzy with ease. He clenched his fists in bitter frustration. For the first time, he felt so useless as Katsuragi's sidekick that he couldn't even outdo someone else at cheering for Katsuragi.

The faint smile on Katsuragi Kōhei's lips froze. His face twitched as he watched Mikage Touji enthusiastically sing his praises beside him.

No one knew better than Mikage Touji how Katsuragi Kōhei had gotten his position as a Student Council clerical assistant.

Katsuragi Kōhei didn't know exactly how Mikage Touji had gotten in touch with the Student Council President, but there was no doubt that Mikage Touji had pulled some strings behind the scenes.

And Mikage Touji's antics now gave him an oddly familiar feeling—

"To celebrate Katsuragi becoming a Student Council clerical assistant, he's treating everyone to a meal! Meet at Keyaki Mall in half an hour. He's paying!"

"Yeah!"

Deafening cheers rang through the school building.

"Wait—"

Before Katsuragi Kōhei could finish, Mikage Touji led a crowd of Class A boys out of the classroom, scattering like startled birds and beasts.

Katsuragi Kōhei and Totsuka Yahiko were left standing frozen in place, staring at each other.

Twenty minutes later.

"All-you-can-eat barbecue..."

"Kaiseki cuisine..."

"Premium steak..."

Mikage Touji and the other Class A boys kept murmuring the names of the dishes they wanted to eat. Then they looked up at the square sign for the Student Cafeteria and lowered their heads in unison.

"Sigh..."

"I don't mind treating you all, but please think about my wallet, too."

Katsuragi Kōhei caught up with the group from the rear and spoke helplessly.

If the Class A students went to a restaurant in Keyaki Mall and ate to their hearts' content, his modest savings would probably be gone after one meal. He'd then have to borrow money from Totsuka Yahiko to get by for the next few months.

"Fair enough. It'd really damage Class A's image if its esteemed leader lived on the Mountain Vegetable Set Meal every day." After muttering a couple of words, Mikage Touji walked into the cafeteria.

"Mm." A group of Class A boys nodded in agreement and followed him inside.

The cafeteria was filled with the mingled aromas of all kinds of food.

After sitting in the Student Cafeteria for a little while, the Class A girls arrived too.

The ticket machine at the cafeteria let out a beep. Under Katsuragi Kōhei's hollow gaze, Mikage Touji calmly picked up a Deluxe Extra-Topping Udon.

Carrying his prize, Mikage Touji scanned the Class A students, who were all gathered together, eating amid lively conversation, then headed to the corner where the Class A Weirdo group usually gathered.

Morishita Ran, sitting beside him with a serving of curry, sipped her miso soup in small mouthfuls. She glanced at Mikage Touji's dinner without a word.

Yamamura Miki had also ordered udon and ate it quietly, taking small mouthfuls.

After setting down his udon, Mikage Touji took out his phone and opened his chat with Horikita Manabu, intending to lighten Katsuragi's workload on the Student Council.

He also planned to send Horikita Manabu an audio recording, in the same old style, of Horikita-imouto's method of asking to borrow money: her tone was so stiff it sounded like she was reading out a ransom note, but her words were so awkwardly coy that she sounded like she was confessing to a crush. The overall effect was like going to borrow money from the family of the person who'd killed her father.

He should have finished his Student Council work by now. It was time to give him another shock from his little sister.

A few minutes later, after sending the message, Mikage Touji rubbed his hands together and eagerly picked up his chopsticks. Then he suddenly stopped, his face blank as he turned to look at Morishita Ran.

"Where's the beef from my bowl?"

Morishita Ran casually looked away from Mikage Touji's bowl. Her cheeks bulged as she chewed, and she swallowed her food faster before speaking with complete confidence.

"The Special Exam is coming in two months. I need to hurry up and replenish my energy. The book says beef is an excellent source of protein. It contains all the protein the human body needs, so it's the best choice for storing energy."

"..." Leaving aside the fact that nobody knew what the Special Exam would involve yet, what was with stockpiling energy two months ahead of time? Was she planning to hibernate?

"Morishita," Mikage Touji said amiably, "perhaps you could order another serving?"

"I can't finish it, and I can't waste food." Morishita Ran, who'd once eaten only five and a half noodles at a ramen shop, stuffed a mouthful of curry into her mouth.

"What about me?" Mikage Touji's smile grew even more kindly.

"Didn't I give you my carrots? They're the most well-known source of nutrients, and they can strengthen your immune system." Morishita Ran pointed with her chopsticks at the heap of bright red carrots in Mikage Touji's bowl. Their edges had softened a little after soaking in the broth.

"If I remember correctly, Miss Morishita doesn't like carrots, does she?"

"How could that be? Not eating carrots is something only children do." Morishita Ran held her face rigid, trying her best to look more convincing.

"Really? Doesn't she often feed her leftover carrots to the fish, so that the fish in her tank keep getting replaced?"

"Lady Morishita would never lie." Morishita Ran puffed out her chest.

"In that case," Mikage Touji said with a mischievous smile, "let's have a contest! We'll eat carrots, and the loser will forfeit the right to lead the way during the Special Exam in two months."

"..." Morishita Ran stopped chewing.

For a while, the only sound at the table was Yamamura Miki quietly eating her noodles.

"Well? What do you say, Lady Morishita, who always keeps her word?" Mikage Touji deliberately drew out the last few syllables.

For a moment, Mikage Touji thought he saw conflicted disbelief in Morishita Ran's eyes, along with a trace of resentment, as if to say, "How could you not give way to me?"

"Gulp..."

Morishita Ran, who was usually expressionless, was now chewing the beef in her mouth with all her might, as if she wanted to bite it into pieces the way she would some particular person.

"Fine... You can have some of mine, actually."

Yamamura Miki, who had been quietly watching the two of them bicker, cut in. After hesitating for a long time, she reached over and picked up a piece of beef from her serving for Mikage Touji.

"B-because I haven't really eaten mine yet. W-would that be all right?" Yamamura Miki glanced shyly at Mikage Touji.