He stood where he was and silently swept the surrounding area with Psychokinesis and his senses.
But everything seemed normal. There were only a few students hurrying by, none carrying anything dangerous or showing any hostility toward him.
"Tsk." Lin Mu pursed his lips and grumbled to himself, Forget it. I can't figure it out.
"Anyway, with my abilities, no one at this school should be able to actually hurt me. I'll think it over after the exam tomorrow."
Then he set off again, habitually patting the pockets of his uniform trousers. But all he had left was a single grape-flavored lollipop.
He peeled off the wrapper and popped the candy into his mouth. Then he remembered that the snacks and spare lollipops he'd stocked up on in his dorm were almost gone, too.
His brows immediately knitted together.
Restocking... What a pain.
(Actually, the school offers home delivery, but I have to trigger the plot.)
He'd have to go to the convenience store, pick things out, and carry them back... Just thinking about all those steps made him feel his laziness flaring up.
But... a life without lollipops and snacks was unimaginable! Could that even be called living? It'd be like a monk's ascetic practice!
Though he was deeply reluctant, his dependence on sweets and snacks, along with his excuse of needing to stay in "peak condition," eventually won out over his inertia.
Lin Mu sighed and resigned himself to changing direction, heading for the school convenience store.
As soon as he entered, he switched into "shopping spree mode."
His eyes went straight to the candy section. Lollipops of every flavor—milk, strawberry, grape, orange, cola, mint... He grabbed two large bags of each.
At the potato chip shelf beside it, he took several large bags of every brand and flavor, too.
(Cucumber-flavored chips are delicious.)
Cookies, chocolate wafers, little packets of nuts, and a certain probiotic drink he'd recently taken a liking to... Before long, his shopping basket was piled high.
When he checked out, the terminal deducted a considerable number of points, but he didn't even blink.
He carried his two heavy bags of "strategic supplies" out of the store, the cool evening breeze brushing his face.
"Well, since I'm already here..."
He looked at the neon signs glowing along the school's nearby shopping street, and the classic thought came to mind.
So he veered away from the direct route back to his dorm and turned toward his favorite dessert shop on the shopping street.
Two strawberry cream cakes;
One chocolate lava cake, since it looked good;
A box of matcha and red bean pudding, light and not too sweet;
And the new mango crepes...
("Flying Horse Year Wang Wenwen, Lu Bu jumps in with his ultimate.")
By the time he left the dessert shop, thoroughly satisfied, he was carrying two more elegant paper bags stuffed to the brim.
And so, during the final stretch back to the dorm, Lin Mu cut a rather comical figure: a handsome, cold-faced, white-haired boy, 178 centimeters tall, with a lollipop in his mouth.
He carried two bulging bags in each hand. His steps were slightly heavy, but he still kept up his languid pace as he walked along the campus path at dusk.
Fortunately, there weren't many people around. Otherwise, he would probably have drawn even more stares.
Just as he passed a fork in the road leading from the shopping street to the dormitory area, a familiar voice called out delightedly:
"Lin Mu!"
Lin Mu turned toward the voice and saw Honami Ichinose coming from another path, carrying a small shopping bag that seemed to hold some stationery and snacks.
Her golden hair glowed warmly in the evening light, and her face shone with a sincere, radiant smile as she hurried over.
"It really is you! Long time no see!"
(Is that your older cousin?... He's your younger cousin!)
Ichinose stopped in front of him, her voice full of gratitude, her eyes shining as she looked at him.
"Thank you so much for what you said to me last time! After I got back, I thought about it carefully and realized you were right, Lin Mu.
"So afterward, I worked with everyone in Class B to maintain good habits around school and take every class and quiz seriously..."
The more she spoke, the more excited she became, her tone bright and lively. "It's really worked!
"Even if our Class B isn't the very best, our Class Points have stayed steady this month. We haven't lost any points, and everyone's been working together! That's all thanks to your advice back then!"
Lin Mu looked at her energetic, determined expression. Comparing her to the mess that was his own Class D, he felt nothing in particular and simply nodded.
"You're the one who managed things well. Your classmates in Class B were willing to listen and work together."
He was being honest. "If it were Class D..." He paused, thinking of the faces in his classroom who still acted as if their own thoughts were all that mattered, as well as Ken Sudō pounding on his desk, and shook his head.
"Even if I warned them, I doubt many would take it seriously. They'd still lose points when they lost points, and get zeroes when they got zeroes."
His words were blunt, even a little cold, but Ichinose knew he was telling the truth. She wasn't offended; instead, she nodded even more earnestly.
"Yeah! That's why I feel so lucky to be with everyone in Class B.
"And I'm lucky to have met someone like you, Lin Mu... um, a friend?"
She hesitated slightly when she said "friend," as if she wasn't sure the word fit, and her cheeks flushed faintly.
Lin Mu neither confirmed nor denied it. A friend? Maybe. At least he was more than a stranger.
The two of them stood by the roadside and chatted briefly.
They talked about the usual things: how their classes had been lately and their slight anxiety over the upcoming midterm exams. Ichinose's anxiety was real; Lin Mu's was an act. At one point, Ichinose asked him what he thought of one of the new snack shops on the shopping street.
The atmosphere was easy and peaceful. They were just two ordinary classmates who had run into each other and stopped to chat.
After saying goodbye, Ichinose headed off in the opposite direction, walking briskly.
Lin Mu continued carrying his four large bags of "supplies" and ambled back to his dorm.
Time flew by, and before long, the day arrived when the midterm exam results were officially announced.
The air in Class D's classroom seemed frozen, filled with a strange mix of tension, anticipation, unease, and a touch of relief.
Everyone held their breath, staring intently at Sae Chabashira at the front of the room, waiting for her to deliver the verdict that would decide their fate.
Thanks to the answers Kikyo Kushida had obtained "with great difficulty," most of the students had gone into the exam feeling "confident" and had found the questions unusually easy to answer.
When they compared answers privately after the exam, most of them seemed to have gotten almost everything right.
A barely contained joy and anticipation rippled through the classroom. This time, they'd finally get Class Points, right?
They'd finally escape the nightmare of getting zero points, wouldn't they??
Sae Chabashira stood at the front of the room, her expression as cold as ever.
Her gaze swept slowly across the expectant faces below, as icy as frost. The corner of her mouth seemed to turn down almost imperceptibly.
"To be honest," she began, her voice flat and emotionless, echoing clearly through the silent classroom, "I'm a little surprised."
Several students in the audience were delighted. Was she surprised by their improvement?
But Sae Chabashira's next words instantly sank their hearts.
"I didn't expect you to get scores like these."
Her tone gave no hint of whether she was praising or criticizing them. "I acknowledge your... 'effort' on the surface."
"But," she said, abruptly changing tack, her icy gaze spearing the back of the classroom like a scalpel and fixing on a particular seat, "one student failed."
(Sudō was sitting in the last row, near the door.)
She paused, then clearly pronounced the name:
"Sudō."
"Boom—!"
It was as if a bolt of thunder had exploded in Ken Sudō's mind!
He jerked his head up, all the color draining from his face. His eyes widened, and his pupils shrank slightly with shock and fear.
He froze in his seat, completely motionless, and didn't react for several seconds.
"N-no way!" (Masaka...)
At last, he came to his senses. Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, he slammed his hands on the desk and jumped to his feet. The thunderous bang shook the entire classroom.
His face flushed red, and his voice twisted with panic and hysteria as he pointed at Sae Chabashira and shouted:
"Don't mess with me! I definitely... I definitely memorized the answers! How could I have failed?! You must have made a mistake!"
Before you continue