A Simple Battle Plan (Bonus Chapter for Meeting the Gift's Special Conditions)

Ever since the school announced the new rules at the last minute, the first-years had grown more or less dissatisfied with the school.

The exam rules can change at the last minute? That's ridiculous!

But the exams still had to go on. For ordinary students, all this meant was one more rule about voting for a leader.

The school's rules were absolute, and the students' complaints wouldn't change a thing.

If they didn't want to be expelled, ordinary students could only grit their teeth and swallow their complaints.

As time went by, their dissatisfaction could only slowly fade away with it.

Classes continued as usual for the first-year Classes B, C, and D.

Some were used to listening to teachers' lectures, some preferred free discussion in groups, and some were already capable of teaching others themselves.

Whichever method they chose, the one that suited them best was the right one.

As for Kujo, his preferred method was slacking off.

Although Kujo had once boasted and made all sorts of grand claims,

his weakness was actually obvious.

He didn't like studying. It wasn't that he was bad at it; he simply didn't like it.

Returning to student life and facing a bunch of tadpole-like characters was enough to drive anyone to despair.

"Kujo-kun, you got this question wrong. Actually, you didn't get a single question on this page right."

Hiyori took the neatly organized Japanese and modern literature notes from her bag, placed them in Kujo's arms, and said with a smile,

"You have to memorize all of them by the end of today."

At that very moment, Kujo sorely missed the gentle, cute, and adorable Hiyori he'd known before.

"Can I do English first?"

English was probably the easiest of the five subjects for Kujo.

Hiyori casually confiscated Kujo's English notes.

"Then you can memorize English last."

"..."

Do your best, Kujo-kun.

The library.

"Kujo, Shiina, hello. And hello to you too, Ayanokoji."

Ichinose rested both hands lightly on Hiyori's shoulders and warmly greeted the students around them.

Ayanokoji nodded expressionlessly in reply.

Kujo was sprawled across the table, looking as though he'd collapsed from exhaustion.

Hiyori gently patted Ichinose's right hand on her shoulder, then turned back and said,

"Kujo-kun's a little tired. Let him sleep for a while."

Ichinose smiled and leaned close to Hiyori's ear to reply,

"Okay. I won't disturb Shiina's boyfriend, then. May I sit beside you?"

Hiyori smiled back and gestured to the empty seat next to her, inviting Ichinose to sit down.

Usually, no one else dared sit near Hiyori.

At first, the students from Classes B and D hadn't understood why the students from Class C acted that way.

But after spending some time with them, they quickly understood.

No one wanted to be subjected to a couple's public display of affection.

Only someone like Ayanokoji from Class D dared sit across from them.

No wonder Ayanokoji had become one of Class D's leaders.

In everyone else's eyes, he was practically superhuman.

How could he stay so calm while eating all that dog food?

Ichinose was well-known throughout the entire first year.

Not only was she pretty and well-built, she was also the only first-year member of the Student Council. She had a wonderful personality and got along with everyone. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her completely flawless.

Hiyori, who was sitting beside Ichinose, was also one of the most beautiful and refined girls in the first year.

The two of them sitting together naturally drew the attention of many first-years.

Ayanokoji sat across from Kujo, casually studying the biology textbook in his hands.

Although the subject wasn't even on the midterm exam syllabus,

Ayanokoji was the kind of person who didn't need to review knowledge he'd learned when he was only a few years old.

Even the sleepy Kujo noticed the growing buzz around them. He rubbed his eyes, yawned, and stretched.

Kujo felt around on the table for something.

He couldn't find his phone, though, and absentmindedly ended up touching Hiyori's hand beside him.

Noticing the commotion, Ichinose looked over.

Hiyori leaned her shoulder against Kujo's and reminded him,

"Everyone's watching."

At Hiyori's quiet words, Kujo let go of her left hand.

Only when other people were around could Hiyori just barely hold back her embarrassment.

Once he was fully awake, Kujo finally realized that Ichinose was sitting beside Hiyori.

Ichinose met his gaze and smiled, giving him a little wave.

Seeing her smile reminded Kujo that he still owed her 2.5 million points. His sleepiness vanished at once.

Sitting up straight, Kujo turned to Ayanokoji and asked,

"How long was I asleep?"

Ayanokoji replied,

"Thirty-three minutes."

Hiyori was already used to Ayanokoji's quirks.

Ichinose, who had never seen anything like this before, was surprised.

You were reading the whole time.

How did you know?

Kujo nodded and said to Ichinose and Ayanokoji,

"Then let's start the strategy meeting."

Kujo had arranged to meet with Ichinose and Ayanokoji well in advance.

Ichinose represented Class B, Ayanokoji represented Class D, and Kujo represented Class C.

As for what the other students in their classes were doing,

Horikita Suzune was running advanced lessons for Class D's top students, Kushida was tutoring the students who were falling behind, and Hirata was on backup duty—in other words, he was the substitute.

Chabashira-sensei, Class D's homeroom teacher, was also the only teacher who'd accepted an invitation to the study group. She was responsible for teaching the students from Class D.

Hoshinomiya from Class B was the school nurse. Although she was academically capable, she'd refused outright.

Sakagami from Class C had declined on the grounds that he wasn't comfortable in large groups.

So Kanzaki and Shibata took turns looking after all the boys in Class B, while Amikura was responsible for all the girls.

Class C's representatives were the boys' representative, Kaneda, and...

"Excuse me for a moment."

Shiina closed her book, left her schoolbag with Kujo, then stood and headed over to where the Class C students were sitting.

Class C's students with stronger academic skills, Kaneda and Hiyori, took turns tutoring the others. Chabashira-sensei would fill in when needed.

Of course, Kujo had paid her points for it.

As for Ryuen, no one had any idea where he'd gone off to.

With his poor academic skills, he was in a predicament during this kind of exam—like a clay statue crossing a river, unable to save even himself.

Ever since he'd learned from Kujo that the questions on this exam were taken from past exams for the upper grades, Ryuen had lost all motivation to study.

Ishizaki and Albert were both getting tutored. As for Ryuen, he was probably still up on the rooftop taking a nap.

It was as if he was bound to the rooftop.

Kujo silently made a decision.

Next time, he absolutely couldn't arrange to meet Ryuen on the rooftop.

That place had practically become Ryuen's territory. It was far too dangerous.

After Hiyori left Kujo's side,

Kujo shifted his seat farther away. He'd gone from sitting one seat away from Ichinose to sitting two seats away.

Ichinose smiled, understanding what Kujo meant. She moved one seat closer to him, so that the three of them formed an equilateral triangle.

Ayanokoji didn't notice what the other two were up to at all. He didn't dare speak out of turn, either, and simply continued looking at his textbook.

And so, the strategy meeting officially began.

Kujo spoke up,

"So our next objective is to figure out how to get the original midterm exam papers. After that, we need to decide what to do about the newly added voting exam."

Ichinose nodded, watching Kujo expectantly.

Ayanokoji closed his book, ready to see what surprise Kujo had in store for him this time.

"As for the voting exam, Class C will vote for itself in fourth place, Class D will vote for itself in third, Class B will vote for itself in second, and Class A will vote for itself in first."

Before the two could give it any more thought, Kujo continued,

"As for the original exam papers, I bought a copy from a third-year student last month."

Ayanokoji nodded. That took care of the most difficult part.

Ichinose nodded, even getting her hands ready to applaud.

Kujo cautioned Ichinose,

"Don't tell Hoshinomiya-sensei, your homeroom teacher, about any of this."

Ichinose nodded to show she understood.

Kujo took a stack of copied papers from Hiyori's schoolbag and handed them to Ichinose and Ayanokoji.

"It'd be best if you waited a little before handing out the original papers to your classes, but do whatever you think is necessary."

"Okay." *2

After everything they'd been through, the three of them had naturally fallen into a rhythm with Kujo at the center.

That was all there was to their so-called strategy meeting.