The Trap

"Looks like this class isn't completely stupid after all." After class, Ryuen came over to Sawahara. As for this exam, he was sure Sawahara had another plan in mind.

"Ryuen, you'll have to pay an extra ten percent of your points this month." Sawahara looked at the transfer records on his phone. All thirty-nine students had paid without exception.

"What!?"

"Fighting is expressly forbidden, and you get fined for it." Sawahara put down his phone and spoke calmly.

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

"I'm kidding. Wasn't that funny?" Sawahara asked, a little puzzled. Wasn't that a funny joke?

"What kind of joke is that?" Ryuen rolled his eyes. "Even a terrible pun would've been funnier. Seriously, what's your plan for this exam?"

"Take this opportunity to completely crush Class D."

"Hey, Kushida."

The next day at noon, Sawahara invited one of the most popular girls in Class D to meet him.

"Hi, Sawahara. And didn't I tell you before that you could just call me Kikyo?" Kushida Kikyo greeted him with a bright smile, then sat down across from him, complaining about the way he addressed her.

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

"Oh, is that so?" Kikyo blinked. "But why did you suddenly ask to meet me, Sawahara?"

"It's about the midterm exams." Sawahara nodded and got straight to the point. "Anyone who fails will be expelled. That puts the two lowest-ranked classes at a serious disadvantage."

"Um, well... Studying is pretty hard for some people in our class." Kushida gave an awkward smile, then clenched her fist, brimming with determination. "But I believe we'll all pass this exam."

"I see." Sawahara nodded, then explained why he'd asked to meet her. "I don't know if you've heard, but you can buy the answers at this school."

"Huh?" Kikyo stared at Sawahara in surprise.

"Our class has confirmed that the answers are really for sale, and we've already found a seller," Sawahara continued. "We'd like to split the cost with Class D and share the answers to this exam."

"Well..." Kushida hadn't expected Sawahara to ask her out for something like this. The deal he'd proposed was certainly tempting, but...

"Sorry, Sawahara, I can't give you an answer right away." Kushida looked apologetic. He'd told her something so important, but she couldn't accept his offer.

But now that the rivalry between the classes had been laid bare, she had to be careful. Agreeing might win her goodwill among the weaker students in her class, but what if Class C had set a trap? Kushida didn't want to take that risk.

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

"Could I ask you something, though?" After hesitating, Kushida asked, "Why are you telling me something so important, Sawahara?"

Because you're the only person I know in Class D, Sawahara thought. He didn't socialize much, and he usually had Ryuen and the others gather information for him.

Kushida was the only person he knew in Class D. They'd met in the cafeteria before, when she'd introduced herself to him.

But he couldn't very well say that.

"Because you and I are friends," Sawahara replied.

However, Kushida took his words to mean something else.

"Sorry, Sawahara, but I'm not looking to date anyone right now." Kushida gave him an apologetic look. "Let's just stay friends."

"Hm? Oh." Sawahara froze, not understanding what she meant at first.

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

"Did I just get rejected after confessing?" Sawahara looked bewildered.

Not long after leaving, Kushida began to regret it. If Sawahara had told her because he liked her, then the information was probably true. She should've asked him where to buy the answers first.

After hesitating, she decided not to go back and thought she'd ask him about it on her phone that evening.

When he got back to his dorm, Sawahara didn't wait for Kushida to message him.

He sent her a message first.

"About what happened at noon, you misunderstood, Kushida. I just thought that only our two classes in the first year needed the answers. Buying them together would cut down on our class's expenses."

"Yeah, I understand," Kushida replied. But she thought it was just a little boy's pride acting up, and didn't say so.

"But I think it'd be better for us to buy them separately. Could I ask where you're buying them?"

"...Sure, but they cost ten thousand points."

When she saw the message, Kushida replied that was fine, while inwardly grumbling that all men were the same—they changed their minds as fast as they turned a page.

Still, she was now even more certain the information was genuine.

The next day at noon

"Sudo, could you come to the cafeteria with me at lunchtime?"

Kushida Kikyo glanced at the message on her phone, stood up from her seat, and went to Ken Sudō, who was sitting in the last row of the classroom.

"Oh, Kikyo, do you need something? I can go in his place," Yamauchi offered before Sudo could answer.

"I can go too!" Ike raised his hand from the seat in front of Sudo. Who would want to miss the chance to eat with Class D's little angel, Kikyo?

"Sorry, but it'd be better if Sudo came with me." Kikyo apologized, then looked at Sudo expectantly.

"Oh, at lunch? Sure." Sudo agreed at once, drawing a chorus of complaints from Ike and Yamauchi.

"Huh? You can buy the answers to the midterm exam?"

On the way to the cafeteria, Kushida Kikyo explained why she'd asked Sudo to come along. She hadn't even finished before Sudo started shouting.

"Sudo, keep your voice down," Kikyo said, looking at him with concern. How could he say something like that so loudly?

"Oh, right." Sudo came to his senses and quickly lowered his head, pretending nothing was wrong. But his burly appearance made him look even more suspicious when he tried to act inconspicuous.

"I heard the upperclassmen can be difficult to deal with, so you'll protect me, right, Sudo?" Kushida Kikyo put on a pitiful expression, stirring Sudo's protective instincts. He immediately thumped his chest and promised,

"Leave it to me."

Since he'd been spending too freely the previous month, Sudo didn't have many points left. But he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Kikyo, so he couldn't bring himself to order the vegetable set. He sat there pretending he wasn't hungry.

Kikyo saw right through him. She told Sudo to save their seats and went to the counter to order.

When she returned, Kikyo pushed the extra meal she'd ordered toward Sudo.

"Thanks for coming to protect me, Sudo. This is just a little something from me, so don't be shy." Kikyo winked at him and smiled.

At that moment, there was no doubt in Sudo's mind: Kikyo was the very embodiment of an angel.

They ate in the cafeteria as they waited for the upperclassman they'd arranged to meet.

But even after they'd finished eating, the upperclassman still hadn't arrived. The long wait made Sudo increasingly restless.

After quite a while longer, the upperclassman they'd arranged to meet finally sat down across from them.

"Senpai..." Kikyo began, but the upperclassman cut her off.

"Enough small talk. You want the midterm exam papers, right? Thirty thousand points." The upperclassman glanced at Kikyo a couple of times, then kept looking around nervously as he placed the item he'd brought for the deal on the table.

"You jerk!" Sudo shouted angrily, standing up. This guy was late and couldn't even apologize?

"W-what are you trying to do?" The upperclassman seemed startled by Sudo's appearance. He instinctively pulled his hands back and held them in front of himself.

"Sudo, calm down." Kikyo hurried to stop him. They were under surveillance, and she had no idea what would happen if he started a fight.

At Kikyo's words, Sudo hesitated, then sat back down. But as he did, he slammed a fist onto the table to show how angry he was.

He couldn't help regretting bringing him along.

"Senpai, weren't we supposed to pay ten thousand points?" Seeing Sudo sit down, Kikyo breathed a sigh of relief and questioned the upperclassman. The price was far higher than before.

"You're in Class D, right? Your class must really need these papers. Besides, you seem to have plenty of money—you can even afford to eat this in the cafeteria."

Without a doubt, the upperclassman had raised the price at the last minute. As Kikyo tried to figure out what to do, Sudo grew even angrier.

"Oh, so you've been watching us this whole time, huh? You bastard!" Sudo cursed furiously. He'd watched them sit there for nearly an hour and treated them like fools!

"Y-you... You really are a bunch of defective products." The upperclassman shrank back and muttered under his breath.

"You bastard!" Sudo was furious. Ever since school started, people had kept making fun of them as defective products. All the anger he'd been bottling up exploded, setting him ablaze.

"F-fine, I'm not selling them!" Seeing that Sudo looked ready to hit him, the upperclassman instinctively reached for the papers, preparing to run.

"What did you say?"

Sudo couldn't let him refuse to sell. As one of the weaker students in class, Sudo knew this was his best chance of passing the exam. Without thinking, he slammed the table again.

The upperclassman grew even more frightened. His hand, which had been reaching for the papers, snapped back, and he fled the cafeteria, his face pale.

"Sudo..." Kikyo gave him an awkward smile. It was a good thing they hadn't been ripped off, but hadn't all their effort been wasted?

"Damn it, that bastard." Sudo kept cursing, then noticed what the man had left on the table.

"These look like the midterm papers." Sudo picked them up without hesitation and looked them over.

"Looks like they are." Kikyo took a look and saw the words "Midterm Exam" clearly printed on the papers. When she saw that Sudo planned to take them with him, she hesitated. "Is it really okay to just take them?"

"What's the problem? He left them behind himself. We just found them." Sudo didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He even felt like he'd gotten a bargain: the midterm papers for free, and he'd saved Kikyo ten thousand points or more.

Yes, in Sudo's mind, the points he'd saved were Kikyo's, even though the papers were meant for the weaker students in class—and he was one of them.

"Is this really okay?" Kikyo felt that something was off, but she couldn't figure out what. She could only assume it was her imagination.

"That should do it, Senpai Nomura," Sawahara said with a smile to the man in front of him. It was the very upperclassman who'd been about to make a deal with Kikyo and the others.

"You acted really well, Senpai."

"Hahaha, I only did what you taught me, Kouhai." Nomura laughed awkwardly. The truth was, Sudo had genuinely scared him earlier. He hadn't been acting at all.

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

Everything was ready. All that remained was to reap the harvest.