Horikita Suzune's Troubles

One day in early June.

For a while after the midterms in May had concluded.

The first-year students at the school enjoyed a period of leisure that had been long overdue.

However, not all first-year students were enjoying their free time.

Among the hundreds of students, there were always some outliers.

We generally refer to such people as either "geniuses" or "fools."

Perhaps this is the principle of staying vigilant in times of peace.

Horikita Suzune, from Class D—the lowest-ranked class among the first years—discovered a very important issue.

That was the fact that the class points of the four first-year classes were becoming far too close.

Horikita Suzune had a chart in her notebook recording the historical changes in class points for the four first-year classes; she had even obtained the historical data for previous first-year cohorts.

The compass in the girl's hand circled repeatedly between the letters A, B, C, and D.

As for the current first years.

Class D was now only about 200 points away from the top-ranked Class A.

Class D was nominally defined by the school as a class of "defective" students, but now, there was essentially no difference between it and the higher-ranked Class C.

Whether it was the behavioral conduct exam in the first month or the midterm exam in the second month with its newly added guessing rules.

Everything revealed the bizarre nature of this school.

The first month's behavioral conduct exam originated from rumors on the internet, and it turned out those were not just rumors.

The second month's midterm exam was the optimal solution reached after discussions between her own class, Ichinose from Class B, and Kujo from Class C.

Everyone had worked together in unity to handle the school's exams.

Everything appeared reasonable and logical.

The results were also positive.

However, there were too many oddities reflected in these various events.

Why did rumors about the school's rules spread on the internet during the first month?

Who was spreading them?

And what was the purpose?

The same went for this midterm exam.

Why were the other classes able to know that the questions for this midterm were based on original exams taken by upperclassmen in the past?

Why, after announcing the syllabus and the expulsion rules for the midterms, did the school add a guessing segment? Calling it a "special exam"?

Why did Class B and Class C cooperate with Class D?

Why was it that even with Class B, C, and D working together, they still couldn't surpass the current Class A?

Could it be?

Is Class A really such a powerful existence?

In this school where only graduating from Class A has any meaning, can they truly trust each other completely?

Could it be?

Is this the truth behind why she was assigned to Class D?

Is it because she is unable to fully trust others?

Two months after enrollment, the cruel reality stood right before Horikita Suzune.

Even Horikita, who had always believed in her own abilities, now had to start reflecting on her own shortcomings.

The boys' dormitory.

Horikita Suzune intended to go directly to her classmate Ayanokoji to ask him.

Whenever she was indecisive, she wanted to consult him.

This was a habit Horikita Suzune had developed since enrollment.

Yet, when Horikita Suzune actually saw Ayanokoji, the answer he gave was as perfunctory as ever, which made Horikita feel that he was still that same infuriating guy.

"I'm not good at discerning other people's thoughts, and I can't judge whether a person is right or wrong, good or bad."

Ayanokoji could not help Horikita figure out where her shortcomings lay.

In fact, Ayanokoji was not lying; he was speaking his absolute truth.

Ayanokoji was indeed not good at discerning others.

Take Kujo, for example.

Ever since he first met Kujo, Ayanokoji understood.

Kujo is an existence completely different from those around him.

It is not that he is superior to others in physical ability or academic prowess.

In terms of physical ability, if his opponent were Koenji, it would not be a sure thing for Kujo to win.

As for academics, one could only say he is barely getting by; although he possesses a certain level of test-taking ability, his literary cultivation and knowledge base are not even as good as his girlfriend's.

Even so, Kujo is in a league of his own at this school.

He clearly knows his own bottom line, and at the same time, he has now cultivated a considerable number of reliable helpers; the amount of information he possesses is likely unfathomable.

Is he someone who knows things from birth?

Ayanokoji could not help but think of this term.

Horikita Suzune sighed as she watched Ayanokoji, who would start spacing out from time to time.

She had no choice but to pour out all her previous thoughts to Ayanokoji.

Horikita Suzune had come over specifically to brainstorm with Ayanokoji.

The most important question now is, where should Class D of the first year go from here?

After all, if they can defeat Kujo and Ryuen of Class C, Class D will be able to promote to Class C.

Only by promoting to Class C will there be an opportunity later to face Class B, led by Ichinose, and Class A, led by Sakayanagi.

If they cannot even beat Class C, there is no need to even mention Class B or Class A.

Looking at Ayanokoji, who had no emotional fluctuations, Horikita simply made the question more specific:

"Ayanokoji, what do you think about setting Class C as our target for the next exam?"

Ayanokoji did not want to answer this question.

Because he did not know the answer to this question either.

If it were just him alone, it would be simple.

But if he had to take Horikita with him to defeat Kujo, for Ayanokoji, it would be equivalent to destroying his entire peaceful school life.

Ayanokoji only wanted to be a normal Class D student.

So, Ayanokoji mimicked Kujo by sighing, and said to the girl in front of him in a meaningful tone:

"Horikita, if you want to take Class C as your opponent, why not go find Kujo and see for yourself? Facing an opponent directly to discover their strengths and weaknesses—wouldn't that be better?"

Actually, this was the thing Ayanokoji was most curious about.

After all, he and Horikita had met Kujo several times already.

Even someone like Horikita, who did not have the word "friend" in her dictionary, should be able to communicate with him normally.

However, considering that Kujo likely knew Horikita's personality like the back of his hand, she would probably only make the situation worse if she went directly.

Hmm...

Ayanokoji did not understand.

He felt that there was still a lot he needed to learn.

Horikita Suzune put her hands on her hips and pointed at Ayanokoji, questioning him:

"It sounds like your relationship with Kujo isn't as good as I imagined. You don't know anything when I ask; could it be that you know something but don't want to say it?"

Ayanokoji shifted the topic back to Horikita's previous question.

How should Class D proceed from here?

Ayanokoji then replied:

"If Class D wants to improve, what we should be considering now is helping those students in the class with weaker academic abilities."

Seeing Ayanokoji finally offer some constructive advice.

Horikita sighed and shifted the topic back to the future development of Class D; she nodded and began to consider the feasibility of the plan Ayanokoji proposed.

Because they had the original test papers early for this midterm exam, the students of Class D were barely able to pass without anyone being expelled.

But even with the original papers and the corresponding answers.

The final results of the Class D exam were still unsatisfactory.

Because some students in the class had only barely passed the passing line, and it was impossible to tell that they had used what was essentially cheating to answer the questions.

They barely passed relying on the original papers.

It is hard to believe that they will be able to pass smoothly in future academic exams.

Among the boys in Class D, Sudo Ken, Yamauchi Haruki, and Ike Kanji all belong to the bottom tier in terms of academic ability.

From the voting rules newly added by the school this time, one can discover the special nature of this school.

The so-called special exams must be exams where classes compete against each other as units.

When necessary, every class will need a fixed, overall leader.

Class D currently lacks a singular leader.

However, according to the law of the minimum, the most urgent task—the primary contradiction among the primary contradictions—is to address the shortcomings of Class D, which means getting those underachieving students to at least adopt a normal attitude toward their studies.

Developing a concrete plan to save the underachievers of Class D is the top priority.

Horikita intended to hear Ayanokoji's opinion once more.

Ayanokoji had a bold idea.

That was to have them all expelled.

But he did not intend to tell Horikita.

Because this idea would certainly be rejected.

Ayanokoji also wanted to see what kind of answer the girl before him could come up with.

So, Ayanokoji kicked the ball back to her and said:

"Why don't we ask Hirata or Kushida and the others?"

Regarding Ayanokoji's suggestion, Horikita pondered for a moment.

In the end, Horikita Suzune decided not to contact anyone else yet; she would personally go to visit the three of them.

Ayanokoji could only follow silently behind her, watching her head toward the other dormitories.

Horikita.

Don't forget that you're a girl.

Aren't you a bit too familiar with the route to our boys' dormitory?

"I have club activities, maybe next time."

"Eh, I haven't finished my game yet."

"Ayanokoji, you traitor."

The above were the responses from the trio of Class D.

Looking at Horikita's darkened face, Ayanokoji silently sent a message to both Kushida and Hirata asking for help.