Trap

"Heh, it seems the people in this class aren't completely brainless." After class, Ryuen approached Sawahara. Regarding this exam, he felt Sawahara must have had other plans in mind.

"Ryuen, you need to hand over an extra ten percent of your points this month." Sawahara looked at the transfer records on his phone; all 39 students had complied without exception.

"Huh!?"

"Fighting and brawling are strictly prohibited and subject to fines." Sawahara put his phone away and spoke indifferently.

"..." Ryuen was speechless. He'd been beaten up, and now he had to pay a fine for it?

"Just a joke. Not funny?" Sawahara felt a bit puzzled. Was that joke not funny?

"What kind of joke is that?" Ryuen rolled his eyes. "Even a dad joke would be better than that. Let's talk business. What do you plan to do for this exam?"

"Take this opportunity to completely crush Class D."

"Hello there, Kushida."

The next day at noon, Sawahara invited a highly popular girl from Class D to meet him.

"Hello, Sawahara-kun. And didn't I tell you to just call me Kikyo?" Kushida Kikyo greeted Sawahara with a vibrant, energetic smile before sitting down across from him, complaining about how he addressed her.

"Sorry, I'm not used to calling people by their first names." Sawahara smiled faintly, completely unmoved by the cute complaint from the girl across from him.

"Eh, is that so?" Kikyo blinked. "But Sawahara-kun, is there a reason you suddenly asked to meet me?"

"Yes, it's about the upcoming midterm exam." Sawahara nodded, skipping the small talk and getting straight to the point. "Failing means expulsion. It's quite disadvantageous for the bottom two classes."

"Oh, that... studying is indeed a bit difficult for some students in our class." A troubled, bitter smile appeared on Kushida's face, but she quickly clenched her small fists and said with high spirits, "But I believe we will definitely pass this exam."

"Is that so." Sawahara nodded, then stated his purpose. "I'm not sure if you're aware, but it's possible to buy the answers at this school."

"Eh?" Hearing this, Kushida looked at Sawahara in surprise.

"Our class has confirmed the authenticity of this information and has already found a seller." Sawahara continued, "Our class hopes to split the cost of the answers with Class D and share them for this exam."

"This..." Kushida never expected Sawahara to invite her out for something like this. The deal he proposed was indeed tempting, but...

"Sorry, Sawahara-kun, I can't give you an answer right away." Kushida's face was full of apology. He had shared such important information with her, yet she couldn't agree.

However, after the competitive relationship between the classes had been laid bare, one had to be cautious. While agreeing might win the favor of the struggling students in her class, if this were a trap set by Class C... Kushida didn't want to take that risk.

Besides, wouldn't it be just as effective to take the information back to her class?

"But, may I ask?" Kushida hesitated before asking, "Why did you tell me such important information, Sawahara-kun?"

Because you're the only person I know in Class D, Sawahara thought to himself. He didn't usually engage in much social activity, and most information was gathered by Ryuen and the others.

She was the only person he knew in Class D, and that was only because she had approached him when they met in the cafeteria previously.

But he couldn't exactly say that.

"Because you and I are friends, Kushida." That was how Sawahara answered.

However, when Kushida heard this, she interpreted it in a completely different way.

"Sorry, Sawahara-kun, I don't have any plans for romance at the moment." Kushida said to Sawahara with an apologetic look. "Let's just be friends."

"Hm? Oh." Sawahara was stunned for a moment, not immediately grasping what Kushida meant.

By the time he realized it, Kushida had already stood up and left.

"Did I just get rejected?" Confusion filled Sawahara's eyes.

Not long after leaving, Kushida began to regret it. If Sawahara had told her the information because he liked her, then the intel was likely true. She should have asked where he was buying them from first.

After hesitating, Kushida decided not to go back, thinking she would just ask him via text message that night.

Back in his room, Sawahara didn't wait for Kushida to message him.

He took the initiative to send a message.

'Regarding this afternoon, Kushida, you misunderstood. I simply thought that we are the only two classes in the first year that need the answers, and buying them together would reduce the cost for our classes.'

'Oh, I understand.' Kushida replied, though in her heart, she felt this was just a young boy's pride at work. She didn't point it out, however.

'But I think it's better if we buy them separately. Could you tell me where you're buying them from?'

'...I can, but it will cost 10,000 points.'

Seeing this message, Kushida replied with a "sure" while silently grumbling to herself that men were all the same—turning on you as quickly as flipping a page.

However, she was now even more convinced of the information's authenticity.

The next day at noon.

"Sudo-kun, could you come to the cafeteria with me at noon?"

Kikyo Kushida looked at the message on her phone, stood up from her seat, and found Sudo Ken sitting in the back row of the classroom.

"Oh, is there something up, little Kikyo? I can help out too, you know." Before Sudo could reply, Yamauchi, sitting nearby, volunteered himself.

"I can help too!" Ike, sitting in front of Sudo, raised his hand. A chance to eat with the little angel of Class D—no one wanted to miss that.

"Sorry, it's better if Sudo-kun handles this one." Kikyo gave an apologetic look, then looked at Sudo with an expectant expression.

"Oh, noon? Sure, that works." Sudo agreed immediately, drawing a round of complaints from Ike and Yamauchi nearby.

"Wait, so it's possible to buy the answers to the midterm exam?"

On the way to the cafeteria at noon, Kushida Kikyo was explaining the purpose of this meeting to Sudo, but before she could finish, Sudo started shouting in surprise.

"Sudo-kun, keep your voice down." Kikyo looked at Sudo with a troubled expression; how could he say something like that so loudly?

"Oh, oh, oh." Sudo realized his mistake and quickly lowered his head, pretending nothing had happened. However, with his burly physique, being overly cautious only made him look even more suspicious.

"But I've heard that the upperclassmen aren't easy to deal with, so you'll have to protect me when the time comes, Sudo-kun." Kushida Kikyo put on a pitiful expression, which instantly ignited Sudo's desire to protect her, and he immediately patted his chest to guarantee it.

"Leave it to me."

Because he had been too extravagant during the previous month, Sudo didn't have many points left. However, not wanting to lose face in front of Kikyo, he felt embarrassed to order the vegetable set meal, so he just sat there pretending he wasn't hungry.

Yet, this situation did not escape Kikyo's eyes. She had Sudo hold their seats while she went to the counter to order food herself.

When she returned, Kikyo pushed the extra portion she had ordered toward Sudo.

"Thanks to you protecting me today, Sudo-kun, this is just a small token of my appreciation, so please don't be shy." Kikyo winked at Sudo and said with a smile.

At that moment, in Sudo's eyes, Kikyo was undoubtedly the very definition of an angel.

They ate in the cafeteria while waiting for the upperclassman they had arranged to meet.

However, even after they finished their meal, the upperclassman had yet to arrive. The long wait made Sudo increasingly restless.

After waiting for quite a while longer, the upperclassman finally sat down across from them.

"Senior..." Kikyo just started to speak when she was interrupted by the upperclassman opposite them.

"Cut the small talk. You want the midterm exam papers, right? Thirty thousand points." As the upperclassman spoke, his eyes flickered over Kikyo before he began scanning his surroundings, looking somewhat anxious, while placing the items prepared for the transaction on the table.

"You bastard!" Sudo roared in annoyance. Did this guy not even have the decency to apologize for being late? He stood up from his seat.

"W-what are you trying to do!" The upperclassman across from them seemed startled by Sudo's appearance, instinctively pulling his hands back and shielding himself.

"Sudo-kun, calm down." Kikyo hurriedly tried to dissuade Sudo; there was no telling what the consequences would be if they started a fight under surveillance.

Hearing Kikyo's words, Sudo hesitated for a moment before sitting back down, though he slammed his hand heavily on the table to express his dissatisfaction.

He couldn't help but feel a pang of regret; why had he brought him along?

"Senior, wasn't it agreed that it would be ten thousand points?" Seeing Sudo sit down, Kikyo breathed a sigh of relief and asked the upperclassman. This price was far higher than what had been discussed.

"You're from Class D, right? Your class must really need these papers. Besides, you look like you have plenty of money, seeing as you can afford to eat this in the cafeteria."

Without a doubt, this upperclassman was raising the price on the spot. Just as Kikyo was wondering how to handle this, Sudo, sitting beside her, became even more enraged.

"Ha! So that means you've been watching us from the sidelines the whole time, you jerk!" Sudo cursed angrily. They had been sitting here for nearly an hour, and he had been playing them for fools!

"Y-you, you really are a bunch of defectives." The upperclassman shrank back, muttering under his breath.

"You bastard!" Sudo was furious. Ever since school started, people had been mocking them as defectives, and the accumulated frustration instantly set Sudo off.

"F-forget it, I'm not selling." Seeing Sudo looking like he was about to throw a punch, the upperclassman instinctively tried to grab the papers and run.

"What did you say!"

How could Sudo allow him to walk away? As a member of the class's underachievers, Sudo knew this was his best way to pass the upcoming exam, so he instinctively slammed the table again.

The upperclassman was even more terrified. His hand, which had been reaching for the papers, instantly recoiled. He turned pale and fled the cafeteria.

"Sudo-kun..." Kikyo looked at Sudo with a wry smile. While it was a good thing they hadn't been ripped off, all their previous efforts had gone to waste.

"Damn it, that bastard." Sudo continued to curse, then noticed the items the man had left on the table.

"This looks like the midterm exam paper, doesn't it?" Sudo didn't stand on ceremony, picking it up and looking it over.

"It seems so." Kikyo took a glance. Sure enough, the words "Midterm Exam" were clearly printed on the paper. Seeing Sudo intending to take the papers with him, Kikyo hesitated, "Isn't it a bit wrong to just take them like this?"

"What's the problem? He's the one who left them behind; we just happened to find them." Sudo didn't see any issue at all. In fact, he felt like he'd hit the jackpot—getting the midterm exam papers for free, while also saving Kikyo ten thousand points or more.

Yes, in Sudo's eyes, the points saved were Kikyo's, even though these papers were intended for the class's underachievers, and he was one of them.

"Is this really okay?" Kikyo felt that something was off, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was, so she could only attribute it to her own intuition.

"That should do it, Nomura-senpai." Sawahara said to the person in front of him with a smile. That person was none other than the upperclassman who had been preparing to trade with Kikyo and the others.

"Your acting was quite good, Senpai."

"Hahaha, it's all thanks to your coaching, underclassman." Nomura-senpai laughed awkwardly. In truth, he had been genuinely frightened by Sudo earlier; there hadn't been a shred of acting involved.

"I'll leave the rest to you, Senpai." Sawahara smiled as he saw the upperclassman off.

Everything was prepared. Now, they just had to wait for the harvest.