[Airi Sakura: Um, thank you for what you did today.]
[Toru Hasegawa: Don't mention it. If anything, I went a little too far. Sorry.]
After they parted, a message from Airi Sakura appeared on Toru Hasegawa's phone almost immediately.
It seemed better to communicate with her through online chats.
Thinking that, Toru continued exchanging messages with her, chatting about this and that.
Then, on his way, he ran into Masayoshi Hashimoto.
"What a coincidence, running into you here." Hashimoto raised his hand with a speed that caught Toru off guard.
Toru eyed him suspiciously. "I don't think this is a coincidence. How did you find me?"
Although every student at the school was forbidden from leaving the grounds without permission, the campus was so enormous that the chances of the two of them crossing paths were still very slim.
Considering how quickly Hashimoto had greeted him, it was hard not to suspect something was up.
"Oh, you caught me?" Hashimoto scratched his head, but didn't look embarrassed at all. "It's because of this. This thing."
As he spoke, he explained the reason in detail.
"If you log into your friends list on the phone the school gives you, it shows where the other person is."
Toru saw his own location on Hashimoto's phone, accurately marked on the tree-lined path outside the Special Building.
"Tch. I don't even want to imagine what you've been doing with this feature." Toru gave him a look like he was garbage.
With this, he could secretly spy on his female friends. What a creep.
Though the fact that Toru had immediately thought of that was pretty bad too...
Hashimoto protested loudly. "I didn't! This is the first time I've used this feature, okay? And you're the only person I've used it on."
Somehow, that made it even creepier.
As Toru wondered how he could get away from Hashimoto, he found himself opening his own friends list.
There were nine friends neatly listed, only three of them boys.
Well, whose location should he check first?
"Hey! You're the one with ulterior motives here, aren't you?" Hashimoto protested when he saw Toru staring at his phone.
"Yeah, maybe it really is hard to resist wanting to know where someone is. And you dared to tell me about this feature? You're guilty of a serious crime."
As he spoke, Toru pretended to grab Hashimoto by the neck.
The human desire to pry really was strange.
"Have mercy." Hashimoto played along, raising his hands in surrender.
"Okay, that's enough joking around." Toru let go. He hadn't used any real force, and he wasn't about to. "You must have wanted something if you came looking for me, right?"
"Huh? Don't we have plans with Kushida from Class D this afternoon?"
"So what does that have to do with coming to find me now?"
It wasn't even noon yet. Toru didn't believe Hashimoto's reason was that innocent.
"There are some things I can't really talk about then." Hashimoto's expression turned serious. "I think I've more or less understood what you told me before."
That is, the things about Sakayanagi Arisu and this school.
"Let's go somewhere else."
At Hashimoto's suggestion, Toru returned to the nearby Special Building.
During the holidays, hardly anyone came here. It was a good place to do all sorts of things.
"I went to observe the other classes yesterday. It was only for a short time, but apart from Classes A and B, Classes C and D were practically a mess. What you told me was probably all true."
He was that quick to take action?
Toru gave Hashimoto a surprised look.
In the end, he'd only been thinking of getting a girlfriend while picking up some information about Class D. What a failure...
"And then there's Her Highness. You probably know something about Ayanokoji, right? To me, he just seems like a quiet person who goes unnoticed."
Hashimoto seemed even more proactive than Toru had expected.
"Yeah. If someone goes out of their way to hide their abilities, it's only natural that you wouldn't notice them." Toru agreed with Hashimoto.
But Hashimoto shook his head. "No, that's not what I really wanted to talk about. What I really wanted to say is..."
He looked at Toru with an intensely serious gaze. Toru couldn't help turning his head away.
"There's something else you haven't told me, isn't there, Hasegawa?"
"Why don't you just say what you mean?"
What could have made Hashimoto come looking for him like this? Toru soon got his answer.
"Teacher Mashima said at the start of the school year that there's nothing in this school you can't buy with points, right? So does that mean changing classes is something you can buy, too?"
Given Hashimoto's intense interest in the school's advertised 100% college advancement and employment rates, it was only natural that he would reach that conclusion.
Hashimoto watched his expression and got his answer. "I knew it. You already knew about this, didn't you? But you didn't tell me back then."
"...I just didn't think it was very realistic," Toru explained.
But that explanation didn't convince Hashimoto. He stared straight into Toru's eyes. "Why?"
Generally speaking, someone who had been in Class A from the start wouldn't think about something like this.
But Hashimoto wasn't just anyone. He would think through every possible method and put them into practice.
Toru had failed to consider that.
"I'm not blaming you. What you said might be true. But that leaves me no choice but to wonder if you're hiding some other motive, if you don't want to contribute to Class A."
At that, Toru sighed, realizing it was time to come clean.
"I think I told you this already, but the main reason I came here was because the tuition and all the other expenses are covered."
Hashimoto nodded slightly, but still didn't look away.
"The 100% college advancement and employment rates sound wonderful, but if you don't have the ability to back them up, it's all just a pipe dream. You understand what I mean, right?"
You could get into your ideal company or university through a recommendation from Advanced Nurturing High School, but if you weren't suited for it, you'd be dismissed soon enough.
"But even if we just use the school's recommendation as a foot in the door, that's fine. Are there really so few people in society whose talents go unrecognized? At least this place will give us a chance—a chance to prove ourselves. Also, you still haven't answered my question."
"I did, just now."
"..." Hashimoto fell silent, quietly reviewing what Toru had just said. It didn't take him long to realize what he meant. "You mean we should work on improving ourselves?"
"Exactly. If all you do is rely on others, then graduating from Class A won't mean much. You got what I meant."
"You really have no plans to change classes using points?"
"Wouldn't it be strange for someone already in Class A to have that kind of plan?"
Hashimoto replied calmly, "What if we fall out of Class A someday?"
As long as you got into Class A, everything would be fine. The school wouldn't do something like that; otherwise, these three years would be meaningless.
"You really..." Toru laughed in disbelief. Had Hashimoto even thought of that? Then he continued, "That would only mean we weren't capable enough to deserve a place in Class A. Besides, I don't have any particular reason to graduate from Class A."
Even though there's an easier way right in front of you, you still want to graduate from Class A, Hashimoto...
After hearing that, Hashimoto spoke slowly. "So even if our class really does fall, you won't step in. Is that what you mean?"
"I don't know." Toru shook his head. "And you've expected too much of me from the start. Neither changing classes nor keeping our class from falling is easy."
At least for now, while the truth about the school hadn't been fully revealed, he had no confidence in his ability to do either.
Besides, if he really did get a girlfriend from another class, that relationship would become a major factor to consider. Whether the Class A students would accept him as their leader was still an unknown.
"That's true... Come on, let's go get lunch together." Hashimoto suddenly smiled cheerfully.
Toru wasn't surprised. "Yeah, let's go."
Before they knew it, it was already noon.
Before you continue