Near noon.
The girls' dormitory.
Horikita Suzune glanced at the watch on her wrist as she studied. It was almost time for the meal she'd scheduled.
On the time-planning chart on the wall, the area allocated to studying took up 70 percent. Sleeping and meals combined accounted for less than eight hours.
What a freak!
Horikita closed her book and put it away.
She stretched her shoulders, gradually relaxing, then let out a soft sigh and fell into deep thought.
Her efficiency had been far worse than usual these past few days.
Whenever she tried to focus completely on studying, something kept distracting her, leaving her unable to concentrate.
That something was Chabashira-sensei's explanation of the midterm exams.
In the upcoming midterms, the classes that earned excellent results would receive a certain number of Class Points as a reward.
For Class D—and for her, who longed to climb higher—this was undoubtedly an opportunity.
What worried her, however, was the punishment for failure:
Anyone who failed would be expelled.
It wasn't that she thought the punishment was too severe or unreasonable.
She was only concerned that a class with students on the expulsion list would be at a disadvantage in the competition for a place in Class A—or perhaps lose the chance to advance altogether.
After all, the school hadn't clarified the matter. Given the way it had assessed students' conduct retroactively after the first month of school, it wasn't impossible that it would do the same again.
At the thought, Horikita pressed her lips together and furrowed her brows.
The school's competition was based on classes. 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 completely to helping her class.
At present, she had no other way...
After Chabashira announced the midterms, most of the class had taken steps to avoid expulsion.
Hirata, the boys' leader, had already organized study sessions. Even so, a few students kept doing things their own way, acting as if the midterms didn't matter at all.
The biggest headache was the trio of slackers: Ike, Sudo, and Yamauchi.
As for Koenji Rokusuke, Horikita didn't want to comment. She couldn't begin to understand what that man was thinking.
The most urgent thing now was to make sure those three at the bottom got through the exams safely. Then she wouldn't be affected.
Horikita rubbed her forehead and let out a breath.
She opened her phone contacts and looked through them. It seemed... there wasn't anyone she could discuss a plan with.
After pondering for a moment, a poker-faced boy who annoyed her came to mind.
In all the time since the school year began, he seemed to be the only one who had spoken to her normally.
With a faintly displeased look, she called the landline in the dorm.
"Hello, could you connect me to Ayanokoji in the boys' dormitory?"
Third floor, Room 306.
A phone rang behind Ayanokoji.
?
Ayanokoji paused on his way to the convenience store, slightly taken aback.
At this hour... was someone asking me to lunch?
He went over to the phone and picked up the receiver. A cool voice came through.
"Ayanokoji-kun, I need to talk to you."
Click!
Ayanokoji hung up immediately.
Wrong number.
It had to be a wrong number.
He hadn't expected someone else at this school to have the same name. What a good choice of name.
Ring, ring... The phone rang again.
A little surprised, he picked up and asked, "Who is this?"
"Are you doing that on purpose?"
The same voice came from the other end.
All right, she really was calling for him.
"Horikita, what is it?"
Ayanokoji looked indifferent. He only wanted to hurry to the convenience store and pick out lunch, so his tone sounded a little impatient.
"Come outside. I need to discuss something with you."
"? What is it? Can't you tell me over the phone?"
"No!"
The girl hung up with a sharp command.
"But you didn't say where to meet..."
Ayanokoji sighed and slowly walked to the entrance, where he changed into his outdoor shoes.
She really was a pain!
Downstairs, a girl in casual clothes stood with one hand stroking her chin, deep in thought.
A short while later, she looked toward the boy approaching her.
"What did you want to see me about?"
Ayanokoji got straight to the point. He knew that saying anything unnecessary would only annoy her.
"What do you think about the upcoming midterms?"
"What do you think? You mean the fact that anyone who fails will be expelled, right?"
"I think we should just let things take their course."
Ayanokoji spoke calmly, making it seem as though he didn't think he was at risk of failing anyway.
Horikita pursed her lips. "Do you think those three can pass?"
"You mean Sudo and the others? I'm not sure."
"I haven't interacted with them much."
Looking at Horikita, Ayanokoji felt that her thoughts were unusually tangled today. A hint of worry had crept into her delicate brows.
Suddenly, for some reason—or perhaps because he remembered a book he'd read about analyzing subtle changes in girls' expressions—a strong urge to put it into practice welled up inside him and came out as words:
"Horikita, do you like Sudo?"
In an instant, a chill seeped into his skin, and Ayanokoji felt as if he'd fallen into an ice cellar.
The girl shot him an absolutely frigid look.
Her eyes resembled those of a deranged murderer eyeing a target on television so closely that they made his skin crawl.
Looking at Horikita like this, Ayanokoji felt every hair on his body stand on end. Suddenly, he wasn't hungry anymore!
"I was joking..."
Ayanokoji said, sounding slightly conciliatory.
"Was it funny?"
Horikita's lips lifted faintly. Her eyes narrowed, and she wore a smile that wasn't quite a smile. The look was downright chilling.
Scary. So scary!
A terrifying mood killer.
After the oppressive silence had hung over them for a while, Ayanokoji changed the subject. "Their grades were awful before, but I think we might be able to help them a little."
Horikita seemed to see a glimmer of hope. Ignoring the irrelevant matter, she asked, "How do we help them?"
"It's too late for them to cram now. Whether they're willing or not aside, with their foundations, they'd only just barely scrape by if they studied from now until next week's midterms. It'd be risky..."
As he spoke, Ayanokoji glanced sideways at Horikita.
She was so beautiful in casual clothes—just like the cool, long-haired beauty from an anime or a novel.
If this had been his past self, he might've been bewitched by her looks and turned into a simp.
"So? Is there another way?"
Horikita picked up the conversation.
Ayanokoji blinked and looked ahead.
"We could look for similarities in past exam papers, then have them study and memorize those questions."
Horikita paused, looking at Ayanokoji's calm expression.
"Are you sure the exam questions are similar every year?"
Ayanokoji looked at her, unwilling to be too blunt.
He held out his right hand and slowly took his phone from his pocket.
He unlocked the screen and opened a chat.
Several replies from someone saved as Senior Maruko stood out.
"Kiddo, the questions on past exams are basically the same every year..."
"Rather than saying they're the same, it's more like they copy them directly. They only change a few of the numbers."
"I'm impressed you noticed that. All right, your senior has repaid her favor. Now we're even!~ (two cute orange emojis)"
Horikita stared at the date of the messages in the chat, stunned and more than a little disbelieving.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, when did you start planning this strategy...?
Before you continue