It's terrifying to think about, do you like Suto?

It was nearing noon.

The girls' dormitory.

Horikita Suzune, who had been studying, glanced at the watch on her wrist; it was approaching the time she had scheduled for her meal.

On the wall beside her, the study schedule showed that study time occupied 70% of her day, with sleep and meals combined accounting for less than 8 hours.

Pervert!

Horikita Suzune closed her book and put it away.

She straightened her shoulders, her expression gradually relaxing, before she let out a soft sigh and fell into deep thought.

Her efficiency over the past few days had been far lower than before.

Whenever she was fully immersed in her studies, something would always disturb her thoughts, leaving her in a frequent state of distraction.

And that something was the explanation and elaboration Chabashira had given regarding the midterm exams.

In the upcoming midterm exams, classes that achieved excellent results would be rewarded with a certain amount of class points.

For Class D, and for herself as she yearned to climb higher, this was undoubtedly an opportunity.

However, what worried her was the punishment for failure:

Anyone who failed to achieve a passing grade would be expelled.

It wasn't that she felt the punishment was too severe or inhumane.

She was simply worried that a class with students on the expulsion list would be at a disadvantage in the competition for a seat in Class A, or rather, would lose the qualification to advance to Class A entirely.

After all, the school had not provided any specific clarification on this, and given the behavioral assessments from the first month of school, it was not impossible that they would continue with this kind of retrospective settling of accounts.

Thinking of this, Horikita Suzune pursed her lips, her brows slightly furrowed.

The school's competition was based on the class as a unit; if she wanted to rise to Class A and catch up to the towering figure of her brother, she had no choice but to devote herself entirely to helping the class.

Other than that, she had no other way forward at the moment...

After Chabashira announced the information, most of the class took countermeasures to avoid being expelled.

Hirata, as the leader of the boys, had long since organized study sessions; however, even so, a small number of people continued to do as they pleased, completely disregarding the midterm exams.

The most troublesome among them were the trio of academic underachievers: Ike, Sudo, and Yamauchi.

As for Koenji Rokusuke, Horikita did not want to comment; she could not fathom what that man was thinking at all.

The most pressing matter right now was to ensure those three bottom-dwellers could safely pass this exam so that she wouldn't be affected.

Horikita rubbed her forehead and let out a sigh of air that smelled like a beautiful girl.

She opened her phone's contact list and scanned it; it seemed... there was no one she could discuss countermeasures with.

After a moment of contemplation, a poker face that annoyed her slightly surfaced in her mind.

Having been at this school for so long, the only person who had spoken to her normally seemed to be him.

With a slightly displeased expression, she dialed the landline phone in the room.

"Hello, please connect me to Ayanokoji in the boys' dormitory."

Third floor, Room 306.

A telephone ring sounded from behind Ayanokoji.

?

Ayanokoji was slightly startled and stopped his steps toward the convenience store.

At this hour... wanting to invite me to eat?

He walked over to the phone, picked up the receiver, and a cold voice came from the other end.

"Ayanokoji-kun, I have something to discuss with you."

Thud!

Ayanokoji hung up immediately.

Wrong number.

It must have been a wrong number.

I didn't expect there to be someone else at this school with the same name as me; what a discerning choice of name.

Ring, ring, ring... the phone rang again.

He was a bit surprised, picked up the receiver, and asked in confusion: "Who is this?"

"Are you doing this on purpose?"

The same voice came from the other end of the line.

Alright, it was indeed meant for him.

"Horikita, is something the matter?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka wore an indifferent expression, his mind solely focused on getting to the convenience store to pick out lunch, his tone slightly impatient.

"Come out for a moment, I have something to discuss with you."

"?, What is it? Can't you just say it over the phone?"

"No!"

Following that commanding tone, the girl on the other end hung up the phone.

But you didn't even say where to meet...

Ayanokoji sighed softly, slowly walked to the entryway, and changed into his outdoor shoes.

This woman is truly annoying!

Downstairs at the dormitory, the girl in casual clothes was stroking her chin with her small hand, looking deep in thought.

A short while later, she cast her gaze toward the boy walking slowly toward her.

"What did you want to see me for?"

Ayanokoji went straight to the point; he knew that saying anything unnecessary would only invite the girl's disgust.

"What are your thoughts on this upcoming midterm exam?"

"Thoughts? You mean the fact that failing the exam leads to expulsion?"

"I think we should just let things take their natural course."

Ayanokoji said with a flat expression, giving off the impression that he wouldn't fail regardless.

Horikita Suzune curled her lip and said, "Do you think those three can pass the threshold?"

"You mean Sudo and the others? I'm not sure."

"I don't really have much interaction with them."

Ayanokoji looked into Horikita's eyes and felt that her thoughts were particularly complicated today; her pretty brows were furrowed with a hint of worry.

Suddenly, he didn't know what had gotten into him, or perhaps he recalled some psychological analysis on female micro-expressions he had read in a book, but a strong desire to experiment welled up in his heart, manifesting as words:

"Horikita, do you like Sudo?"

In an instant, a chill seeped through his skin; Ayanokoji felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

The girl shot him an extremely cold look.

That gaze was identical to the expression of a perverted murderer looking at a target that Ayanokoji had seen on television, making his hair stand on end.

Looking at Horikita like this, Ayanokoji felt the hair all over his body stand up, and his hunger vanished in an instant!

"I was just joking..."

Ayanokoji said, slightly showing weakness.

"Is it funny?"

Horikita's lips curled slightly, her eyes narrowed in a smile that wasn't a smile, her expression truly terrifying.

Terrifying, absolutely terrifying!

A mood killer, truly formidable.

After the air remained frozen for a while, Ayanokoji changed the subject: "Although their grades have been disastrous, I think they might be salvageable."

Horikita seemed to see a glimmer of hope and, setting aside the irrelevant matter, asked, "How do we salvage them?"

"It's unlikely they'll be able to cram effectively now. Setting aside whether they're even willing, given their foundation, if they study from now until the midterm next week, they'll at best barely reach the passing line. It's very unstable..."

As Ayanokoji spoke, he glanced at Horikita out of the corner of his eye.

Dressed in casual clothes, she was truly beautiful to an excessive degree, the very image of the cold, long-haired school beauty from anime and novels.

If it were his past self, he might have been bewitched by her stunning appearance and become a sycophant.

"So, is there any other way?"

Horikita took over the conversation.

Ayanokoji blinked and looked ahead.

"Find the similarities in the question types from previous years' exams and have them refer to and memorize those."

Hearing this, Horikita was slightly stunned and looked at the calm Ayanokoji.

"Are you sure the question types are the same every year?"

Ayanokoji looked at her, not wanting to be too explicit.

He reached out his right hand and slowly took his phone out of his pocket.

He unlocked the screen and opened a chat window.

A few replies from someone named Senior Maruko were particularly conspicuous.

"Junior, the question types from previous years are basically the same..."

"Rather than saying they're the same, it's more like they're copied, with only some values changed slightly."

"I'm impressed you noticed this. Alright, the favor is returned, and we're even from now on~ (Cute orange emoji x2)"

Horikita stared blankly at the dates of the messages in the chat window, finding it hard to believe.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, just when did you start planning this strategy...