"Come in... Hmm? What is it, Horikita?"
When I heard Chabashira-sensei, I swallowed the sigh that had nearly escaped me. I deserved to give myself credit for that.
The reason was simple—I was terrible at dealing with Horikita Suzune, my classmate.
We'd never spoken, but for some reason I couldn't stand her.
She always kept to herself, and even when Hirata, the class's popular guy, or Kushida tried to talk to her, she coldly brushed them off.
I occasionally saw her talking with Ayanokoji, but it was usually just Horikita berating him.
Horikita always reminded me of the person who'd infuriated me most back in middle school—Yukinoshita Yukino.
That girl put people down for no reason, never cooperated properly when asked for help, and was unbearably full of herself.
In the end, she was just a shoddy imitation of her older sister.
Before I knew it, I'd started lumping Yukinoshita and Horikita together, so I naturally kept my distance from Horikita too.
Of course, I knew they were different people. If Horikita could act like a normal person, I should be able to respond normally too—though the odds of her approaching me were practically zero.
Anyway—
So when Horikita showed up in the faculty office, I almost let out a groan.
I pressed my ear to the wall and eavesdropped on their conversation.
Maybe it had something to do with us being locked up here.
"Pardon my bluntness, but why was I assigned to Class D?"
"Straight to the point, I see."
Ah, I knew it.
Horikita thought highly of herself and was dissatisfied with the school's decision.
That arrogance, with not a hint of self-doubt, was just like Yukinoshita too.
"This morning, you said that excellent students were assigned to Class A, and lousy students to Class D."
"What, you don't agree? You think you're excellent?"
"Of course."
She answered without the slightest hesitation.
But to me, it was ridiculous.
Her grades might be decent, but she was failing in every other respect.
It was a little rich coming from me, but her attitude in the classroom was a problem. She probably confused being aloof with being lonely.
"Actually, I answered most of the questions on the entrance exam."
"Most of them, huh... We normally don't show students their entrance exam results, but I'll make an exception today. As it happens, I still have your answer sheet."
Yeah, right.
What were the odds that they'd just happened to keep an entrance exam answer sheet?
"You were well prepared. Almost as if you expected me to come and complain."
"I'm a teacher. I can get a decent read on my students' personalities. Horikita Suzune, your written exam score was tied for third. You were only a little behind the top two, so you really are capable."
"Then my interview evaluation was poor?"
"No. The interviewers gave you a fairly high rating."
"Thank you for telling me. Then—why?"
"First, answer my question. Why are you so dissatisfied with being assigned to Class D?"
"Would anyone be pleased to receive an unfair evaluation?"
Most people probably wouldn't.
But I didn't mind being in Class D.
"Hahaha. You have an absurdly high opinion of yourself."
It was the same mocking laugh I'd heard that morning.
Was it exasperation? Or scorn?
"An unfair evaluation? Then tell me, what exactly is the standard for a fair evaluation?"
"Well... Naturally, academic ability?"
"The school has never stated its evaluation criteria. You simply assumed they were based on academic ability."
"...But, Chabashira-sensei, isn't that common sense?"
"That common sense is precisely what's wrong. These days, people take it for granted that good grades mean you're excellent... It's ridiculous. Academic ability is important, of course, but this school aims to cultivate truly excellent people. If classes were assigned based on grades alone, someone like Sudo wouldn't even have been admitted."
She had a point, but that was a pretty outrageous thing for a teacher to say.
At an ordinary high school, the board of education would've been on her case already.
So grades weren't the only factor in class assignments after all.
Based on my grades, I shouldn't have been in Class D. They must've taken other things into account, like cooperation and athletic ability.
Otherwise, as the teacher said, someone like Sudo wouldn't have gotten in.
That was kind of terrifying when you thought about it.
If athletic ability was also a factor, then the fact that the hopelessly unathletic Sakanayanagi had made it into Class A meant she had to excel in other areas.
"Besides, claiming that no one would be happy with an unfair evaluation is also an overgeneralization."
"Please don't joke around. How could anyone be like that..."
"Take Koenji, for example. He's the heir to a conglomerate, and he has no complaints about being in Class D."
It was true that Koenji went on about inheriting the conglomerate all the time. He didn't seem to care about his class at all.
"...That doesn't prove anything. I want to know whether the school made a mistake in its judgment. Please look into it again."
She hadn't doubted herself for a second... She really was cut from the same cloth as Yukinoshita.
"I'm afraid there was no mistake. You were assigned to Class D for a reason."
"...I understand. Then I'll ask the school directly."
It seemed she hadn't given up entirely.
She'd probably decided Chabashira-sensei wasn't the right person to negotiate with.
But the higher-ups at the school probably felt the same way as Chabashira-sensei.
"No matter how many times you take it to the administration, the result won't change. And there's no need to be so pessimistic. You're in Class D now, but who knows? You might make it to Class A by the time you graduate."
"That won't be easy. I'll take my leave for today. But remember, I haven't accepted this outcome."
Who cares?
Your personal opinion doesn't matter to the school.
"Understood. I'll remember that... By the way, two more students are coming to the guidance office. They're classmates of yours."
"Classmates..."
"Come on out, Ayanokoji, Hikigaya."
Of all the times to call us out.
Honestly, I really didn't want to go out there...
"If you don't come out, I'll have you expelled."
That wasn't something a teacher should say.
But I didn't want to be expelled, so I sighed and came out of the break room with Ayanokoji.
"How long were you going to make us wait?"
"You were eavesdropping?"
Horikita frowned.
"Pretty much."
"Forget Ayanokoji. I don't see what I have to do with Horikita."
"No, you're classmates, so you're connected. Though you do seem more interested in students from other classes."
Chabashira-sensei replied to my question without batting an eye.
But if she was calling us classmates, I couldn't exactly argue with her.
"Sensei, why are you doing this?"
Horikita asked, her anger obvious.
"Because these two are key to helping your class move up."
"...Please get to the point."
At that, Horikita shifted her posture slightly, ready to listen.
"First, there's Ayanokoji. You're an interesting student."
"You're still no match for a teacher with a rare surname like 'Chabashira.'"
"Should I get on my knees and apologize on behalf of everyone in the country with the surname Chabashira?... Let's put that aside for now. Ayanokoji, you scored exactly 50 in every subject on the entrance exam, and you got 50 on the recent quiz too. Do you know what that means?"
The score report the teacher showed us really did have an exact 50 in every subject.
It was impressive in its own way, but who would find that interesting?
Ayanokoji himself didn't seem to care at all.
"Coincidences are scary, huh?"
"Oh? You insist that all those 50s were coincidences? Only three percent of students got question five on the entrance math exam right, but you solved it perfectly. Meanwhile, you got questions that over seventy percent of students answered correctly wrong. That was a coincidence too?"
Ayanokoji... If you wanted to score 50, couldn't you just answer the easy questions?
"I told you, it was a coincidence."
I had to admire Ayanokoji's poker face.
Horikita, on the other hand, stared at him as though he were an alien.
"You... Why would you do something so bizarre?"
"I told you, it was a coincidence. I'm not some hidden genius."
"Maybe he's smarter than Horikita."
The teacher's provocative remark made Horikita frown again, while Ayanokoji sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead.
I understood why she'd called Ayanokoji over, but...
"Then why did you call me here, Chabashira-sensei? It can't just be an ordinary guidance meeting, can it?"
I didn't think so.
"Oh, right. Hikigaya, show Horikita your points balance."
Tch! This teacher...
"I refuse—'If you don't, you'll be expelled'... Fine, fine."
I sighed and pulled up my points balance on my phone.
Horikita's eyes widened as she looked back and forth between me and the screen.
"Also, I happened to record an interesting conversation."
As she spoke, the teacher took out a recording device—
"So? Why did you guess that the points would go up and down on the very first day? I just thought it was suspicious that they were giving us such a generous hundred thousand points every month."
"Just so we're clear, this is only my guess, so don't take it seriously."
"Suppose the school has 400 students. If each student gets a hundred thousand points a month, how much would the school have to spend?"
My conversation with Shiina on the day we arrived had been recorded in full.
I hadn't expected anyone besides Sakanayanagi to be listening in.
"Plenty of people understood the points system before May, but Hikigaya was the first to analyze it thoroughly and act on it on the very first day. Add in the fact that his grades are among the best in the year, and his overall abilities may far surpass Horikita's."
The teacher's words made Horikita's expression even darker.
Wasn't she just stirring up trouble?
"In short, Ayanokoji is a mystery, and Hikigaya is quick-witted. If you want to reach Class A, you might be able to make use of these two."
As she spoke, the teacher stood up and locked the door.
In other words...
"Are you done? Can I go now?"
This conversation had clearly been meant to get under Horikita's skin.
Now that the teacher had achieved her goal, there was no reason for me to stick around.
"Sure. I have a faculty meeting to attend. Ayanokoji and Horikita, you can leave too."
The teacher ushered us out, then hurried off toward the faculty office.
All right, time to go find Sakanayanagi and the others for coffee.
Just as I was thinking that—
"Wait!"
Horikita called after me.
Ah, I had a bad feeling about this.
Before you continue