That afternoon, just as expected, Sakayanagi Arisu came looking for him.
"Good afternoon, Hasegawa-kun. Hashimoto told me something very interesting at lunch. Do you know what it was?"
"Ah, being called to account at my doorstep gives me a strangely odd feeling. How strange."
Seeing the faint smile on Sakayanagi Arisu's face, Toru Hasegawa honestly shared his thoughts.
"Hehe, you really are perceptive." Sakayanagi Arisu smiled, then asked, "I can't understand your actions this time. What exactly do you stand to gain from this?"
"Maybe I just wanted to get on the girls' good side?" Toru Hasegawa casually gave the real reason.
But Sakayanagi Arisu was clearly unsatisfied.
She frowned slightly. "For that sort of reason? Although I don't mind Class D finding out about the exam, I still can't accept that explanation."
"What kind of reason would you accept, then?" Toru Hasegawa asked.
"For example..." Sakayanagi Arisu paused, then continued, "Perhaps Ayanokoji-kun was the one who figured it out, and you acted as a smokescreen for him."
"Hey, that's way too far-fetched. And why would I do something like that?" Toru Hasegawa protested.
Sakayanagi Arisu smiled prettily. "Who knows? Perhaps you two reached some sort of agreement behind my back."
"You have a little too much imagination," Toru Hasegawa said darkly.
He tried to work out why Sakayanagi Arisu had said that. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't want to attract attention, while Sakayanagi Arisu wanted to have a battle with him, and now Toru Hasegawa had conveniently appeared.
So Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had passed all the credit to Toru Hasegawa, an outsider from Class A... and the key point was, that really was what he'd said...
Holy crap, I'm the wingman?
At the thought, Toru Hasegawa's expression turned incredibly strange.
Did it all add up?
No, there was still one major hole in the theory.
In this version of events, Toru Hasegawa had nothing to gain. That was why Sakayanagi Arisu had said he and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka must have reached some kind of agreement.
"Unfortunately, this was something I did entirely on my own," Toru Hasegawa stressed again.
"If that's the case, then there's nothing to be done." After making a pointed remark, Sakayanagi Arisu left.
Kamuro Masumi glared at Toru Hasegawa from behind her, and he could only return an awkward smile.
The next day arrived: Monday of the second week.
As usual, everyone in Class A kept quiet and focused on their studies. Even those who weren't good at studying pretended to look diligent.
Just then, Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly gestured to Teacher Mashima at the podium. Mashima Tomoya didn't know what she wanted, but he nodded to indicate that she could speak.
"Everyone, listen to me."
The sudden voice broke the quiet, but no one in Class A showed any displeasure. Instead, they all looked toward the speaker.
Sakayanagi Arisu was petite, but other people's attention didn't make her nervous. Smiling, she spoke slowly. "Yesterday, a traitor appeared in our Class A."
"He told the people in Class D that we've been undergoing an exam this month. Am I right, Hasegawa-kun?"
"Yes, it was me." Toru Hasegawa nodded and calmly admitted it in front of the entire class.
"Huh? What's going on?"
"Yeah, why would Hasegawa tell Class D?"
"This was information Sakayanagi worked so hard to obtain."
Class A grew somewhat confused, but then another voice cut in:
"I trust Hasegawa."
The speaker was Masayoshi Hashimoto.
As one of the first students to attach himself to Sakayanagi Arisu, he was well known to many in Class A. Yet now he had taken Toru Hasegawa's side.
Masayoshi Hashimoto stood up and looked around. "This school sorts students by ability. Class A is the best, and Class D is the worst. I've observed Class D too, and found that it's basically full of... problem students. If you don't believe me, you can go see for yourselves during your free time. It's the same in the second and third years. Most of the students eating the Mountain Vegetable Set Meal in the cafeteria are from Classes C and D."
"At the same time, the information Her Highness just mentioned was something Hasegawa told me directly, and I passed it on to Her Highness. So I hope everyone can look at this matter rationally."
The person most astonished by those words wasn't Toru Hasegawa, but Sakayanagi Arisu.
Although Masayoshi Hashimoto still called her Her Highness, there was no doubt that what he'd said amounted to betrayal.
She'd once suspected him, but quickly dismissed the thought.
He'd always faithfully carried out every task she assigned him, completing each one perfectly. So she'd stopped thinking about it.
And yet...
Could the thought that had flashed through her mind over lunch that day really have been true?
Masayoshi Hashimoto and Toru Hasegawa had a connection she knew nothing about.
"Sorry, I'm not trying to contradict Her Highness. I just felt that Hasegawa was being treated unfairly, so I added some details without permission."
After hearing Masayoshi Hashimoto's explanation, the class still held some hostility toward Toru Hasegawa, but it had clearly lessened.
Many of them wanted to verify Hashimoto's claims for themselves after class.
"If that's the case, then there's nothing to be done." Sakayanagi Arisu turned her gaze away from Masayoshi Hashimoto.
The words were exactly the same as the ones she'd said to Toru Hasegawa yesterday, but their meaning was entirely different now.
Mashima Tomoya had watched the whole thing from the sidelines and sighed to himself.
Sigh, this Class A is certainly full of outstanding students, but there are too many who have their own ideas.
There can't be two tigers on one mountain...
Meanwhile, Class D was also holding a lively class meeting.
"What? What do you mean this month is an exam for us? And it's tied to next month's points!"
The shocked students of Class D fired questions at Kikyo Kushida, who was standing at the front of the room.
"About that... I'm not quite sure either." As she spoke, Kikyo Kushida cast a pleading glance at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who was seated at the back.
She wasn't suited to being the class leader. Even though Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had told her the reason yesterday, she couldn't bring herself to say it now.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka glanced slightly toward Suzune Horikita, who gave him a look that said, "If you dare, I'll kill you."
"One of the students in Class A told me. I'm just passing it along—that's about it." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stood up. "Didn't the teacher tell us at the start of the year that points represented the school's evaluation of us? It's probably something along those lines."
"Is there really any basis for saying that?"
Kanji Ike looked worried. As one of the more unruly students in the class, he was completely reckless during lessons. In the little over a week since school started, he'd been late or absent more than a few times. Just like today, he'd walked into the classroom and heard Kushida speaking at the front, which startled him.
"Everyone, could I have your attention for a moment?" Hirata stood up too. First, he gave Ayanokoji Kiyotaka a grateful look, then said, "Only a week has passed. There's no point complaining about what's already happened. What matters is what we do now."
He first headed off the complaints that were about to break out, then said what was only natural.
"We need to do our best over the remaining three weeks and try to improve the school's evaluation of us."
"Hirata's right. Let's all work hard together!" Kikyo Kushida chimed in with a smile.
With the class's two central figures saying this, even the students who wanted to complain could only swallow their words.
Sae Chabashira watched the situation unfold with a strange expression.
She didn't understand. Everything that had happened over the past two days left her completely baffled.
Why had someone from Class A told Suzune Horikita about this? Why had Ayanokoji Kiyotaka taken the initiative to act? All of it was beyond what Sae Chabashira had expected.
But now, all she could do as their homeroom teacher was watch from the podium as the Class D students reined in their usual unruliness.
Even Sudo couldn't stand the thought of having no personal points in the future, so he managed to hold himself back.
And so, everyone in Class D entered the second week of the school year.
Before you continue