Nagumo Begins His Little Schemes

And so.

Ever since that day he went to the clothing store with Hiyori, Kujo had been pondering the issue of his own fashion sense.

"So, Kujo, have you reached the point where you're consulting me about your taste in clothes?"

Faced with Kujo's inquiry, Ayanokoji pointed at himself and asked back with a flat, indifferent reaction.

Confronted by Ayanokoji's water-calm tone, Kujo felt that he must have lost his mind.

To think he would actually ask such a question to someone like Ayanokoji; he must have truly gone insane.

As the two talked, Koenji, who had been busy fixing his hair nearby, laughed brightly toward them as if this were his own personal stage:

"No matter what they wear, those who are not beautiful can never hide their ugliness."

Hearing this, Kujo let out a sigh.

Thank goodness the guy didn't start spouting that "Emperor's New Clothes" nonsense.

It was pathetic, the kind of questionable friends he had surrounded himself with.

Kujo felt deeply wounded that he couldn't integrate into the world of normal youths, but instead found himself immersed in two bizarre worlds.

What was even more heartbreaking was that he could actually understand and agree with what they were saying.

This only made Kujo feel even more wounded.

Suddenly.

A notification sound chimed from Kujo's phone.

It was the special ringtone that only played when a message arrived from Ichinose.

It was a piece of cello instrumental music.

She was asking about the midterm exams.

Kujo unlocked his phone and began typing a reply.

Ayanokoji, having already developed the habit of being thick-skinned, began openly peeking at what Kujo was doing.

Kujo's phone didn't even have a privacy screen, so Ayanokoji successfully saw the relevant information.

Then, Ayanokoji asked Kujo:

"Do you already have any particular thoughts regarding this midterm exam?"

Facing the other's curiosity, Kujo indifferently revealed exam intelligence that the average student would have no way of knowing:

"The subjects are the same as the entrance exam, and the difficulty is just the pre-enrollment knowledge plus the content taught in the first month. However, there is a strategy: the midterm exam papers are the same as those from previous years."

In other words, the papers for this midterm were not only identical to the ones the current upperclassmen took when they were first-years, but the order of the questions might even be exactly the same.

Ayanokoji nodded at what Kujo said, indicating he understood.

This meant that for the academic exams they would face later, the test papers could be purchased directly from the upperclassmen.

But even knowing this strategy didn't mean this year's first-years could easily clear the exam.

Because the class points of the four first-year classes this year were unusually high.

There was likely no other batch of students in the school's history that could compare to this year's first-years.

These were all things Chabashira had said.

Ayanokoji remembered them very clearly.

Moreover, due to Ryuen's maneuvers, the school and the Student Council had already taken notice of Koenji earning points from the third-years.

It was evident that the current third-years had already formed a basic level of vigilance against the first-years.

Although he didn't know the situation with the second-years, they likely wouldn't consider this year's first-years to be easy to deal with either.

When it came down to it, even if the upperclassmen didn't take any special actions.

Who could guarantee that the test papers bought from them were the real ones?

If one were to buy three different test papers from three different upperclassmen.

Then which one would be the real one?

There was simply no way to know.

It was even possible that all three papers were fake.

Ayanokoji would think about these random things when he was bored lately.

He also knew that he had probably been completely corrupted by Kujo.

His train of thought always seemed to veer off track unexpectedly.

Although it was still a boring exam, if a normal student were to think this way, then Ayanokoji felt he could also learn to be a normal student.

On the other hand.

Kujo did not have the rich internal monologue that Ayanokoji possessed.

At this moment, he was thinking about what kind of clothes would be best to buy for Hiyori.

To him, this matter was far more important than a boring midterm exam.

Compared to Kujo and Ayanokoji, Koenji had absolutely no interest in such a tedious exam.

No matter how difficult the questions were, even without the so-called original papers, it wouldn't be a problem for Koenji to rank in the top ten of the grade based on his academic ability.

The only reason he might not take first place was entirely due to the existence of subjective questions on the exam papers.

And the answers Koenji wrote, filled with his own personal flair, always deviated slightly from the standard answers.

Just as Ayanokoji had guessed.

At this moment, Nagumo was beginning to make his move.

He was launching an operation targeting this year's first-years based on the upcoming midterm exam.

Using the influence of the Student Council and his status as the leader of the second-years, Nagumo utilized various conveniences to collect the exam papers from the previous year—that is, the midterm exam papers from when everyone was in their first year—from the second-year students.

The specific method was not difficult.

He simply claimed the school required them back, and the second-year students had to obediently hand them over.

However, not everyone followed Nagumo's arrangements completely.

Among the hundred-plus people, there were still a few who claimed they "didn't know where their papers were."

Nagumo knew their little schemes, but after noting down their names, he let them be.

Truth and lies.

Who could really tell?

All Nagumo had to do was openly use the Student Council as a shield.

He collected the papers to show the first-years the current attitude of the second-years.

Do you want the points for the midterm exam?

Do you want to ensure no one in your grade gets expelled?

Then use your points to trade for them.

One must know that students who fail this midterm exam will be expelled by the school.

If a student is expelled from a class, the corresponding class will lose a certain amount of class points.

And the standard for a passing grade is half of the class average.

In other words, as long as you score 50 points on a 100-point test in every subject, you are safe.

But if even one student falls below the passing line in a single subject, then a first-year student will be expelled.

This was a strategy that only Nagumo, who currently controlled the vast majority of the second-years, could employ.

Student Council.

Ichinose also noticed Nagumo's actions.

After all, the other party had no intention of hiding them at all.

This was an overt scheme.

But her entire attention was currently focused on the student files in front of her.

The daily work of the Student Council was extensive.

It could be said that the work was never-ending.

After finishing one task, there was always a second one waiting.

It was better to do one task well per day than to finish two poorly.

Doing so not only earned her higher evaluations from the seniors but also reduced her own work pressure.

Regarding future special exams and evaluation reports for students of each grade, the Student Council always dealt with various proposals from students and various voices from the outside.

They were responsible for coordinating the various problems encountered by students in the school, summarizing them, categorizing them, proposing their own solutions, and feeding them back to the school's top management so they could make decisions.

Ichinose was currently responsible for both calculating club funding and integrating the personnel data of the first-year students, all while waiting for Secretary Tachibana to teach her how to classify files.

However, the work she was actually assigned tended more toward face-to-face coordination, which was initially intended to utilize her excellent interpersonal skills to contribute to the Student Council.

But at some point, all sorts of tasks that didn't belong to her began to pile up on her.

Thinking of Kujo's request for her to strive for the position of Student Council President, Ichinose was constantly working toward that goal.

Break time.

[Nagumo Miyabi is collecting past exam papers from second-year students; some second-years have kept the originals]

With a simple sentence, Ichinose shared the information she had gathered with Kujo.

Soon, her phone began to vibrate.

Kujo's response speed was truly fast.

Ichinose took a glance; it was the rules for the midterm exams and a strategy for dealing with them.

[Failing the midterm exam will result in expulsion.]

Staring at the word "expulsion," Ichinose quickly became alert.

This was an extremely important exam.

Gaining class points wasn't what mattered; what mattered was not allowing any of her classmates to be expelled.

Ichinose quickly devised a countermeasure, her fingers flying as she messaged Kujo back:

[Then I will organize everyone to form study groups with students from Class C and Class D.]

This was a proposal that perfectly fit Ichinose's personality.

Having a top-tier class like hers provide academic tutoring for Class C and Class D was undoubtedly the most effective strategy for passing.

Furthermore, this cooperation would allow Ichinose to gain significant support among the students of all three classes.

It would lay the foundation for friendship between the classes for future exams.

Kujo typed a reply back quickly.

[You can ask the teachers to help you with the tutoring; you have plenty of points right now, don't you?]

[Yes. Who should I approach in Class C and Class D?]

[For Class D, find Kushida first, then find Horikita. Remember, find Kushida before Horikita. Tell Kushida that you have a way to pass the midterms and ask her to lead everyone in working hard together. Then, tell Horikita that her brother also organized a grade-wide study session in the past.]

[But President Horikita didn't actually do that, did he?]

[Just say it like that.]

[And for Class C?]

[I will go talk to Ryuen.]

[Got it~ Thank you for your hard work.]

A complete plan for the B, C, and D class study sessions quickly formed in Ichinose's mind.

[Where do you think would be a suitable place for the study sessions?]

[The library. You can have Hiyori help you talk to the librarian.]

[Anything else?]

Following that, Ichinose asked about almost every difficulty she had encountered recently.

Unlike usual, Kujo answered almost all of them.

After all, Ichinose's existence was very important for this exam.

This was an exam that required mutual trust.

Finally.

[Come see me at the karaoke bar tomorrow.]

[OK.]

Looking at Kujo's instruction, Ichinose felt a bit of anticipation.

[Come alone. I will bring Hiyori with me.]

Ichinose tapped the screen twice.

[Okay.]

< src="https://e1.kuangxiangit./uplos/chaptersnew/507/178683/250525/1748181747-100437152-113280460.jpg" alt='Ichinose Honami'>