The Three Idiots

"What do you mean, Horikita?!"

Sudo, who was sitting nearby, finally couldn't sit still when he saw Kushida looking so pitiful. He stood up and pointed angrily at Horikita.

As far as he was concerned, Horikita was probably picking on Kushida on purpose.

"Yeah! We wouldn't have come if it weren't for little Kushida. Isn't that right, Yamauchi?"

Ike chimed in, deliberately raising his voice as he addressed Yamauchi.

"Yeah. If little Kushida hadn't asked me, I'd still be back at the dorm enjoying myself," Yamauchi replied.

"You..." Horikita had naturally heard what they said.

Just as Horikita was about to explode, Ayanokouji tugged at her clothes.

"What are you doing, Ayanokouji?!"

"Come on, Horikita. Everyone came here to study. There's no need to hold this against them."

"But..."

"Think about it. What good would it do you if they failed and got expelled? Isn't that why you organized this study session?"

"I'm worried the class will get negative points. It's not because I care about my classmates." Horikita hesitated after saying this. "Fine. I understand."

Once Horikita had calmed down, Ayanokouji went over to Sudo and the other two to talk to them. Before long, they quieted down and sat back to study.

Kushida was there too, of course, and Horikita had no choice but to accept her presence.

A little later, Horikita spoke up. "Everyone, I've tried to put together a simple summary of the material for this exam. Reviewing this should make your studying much more efficient."

After saying that, Horikita handed each of them a few sheets of handwritten notes. "Of course, if there are any problems you don't understand, you can come ask me."

Everyone looked over the notes they'd received. Kushida, Okiya, and Ayanokouji seemed fine. Horikita had clearly put a lot of care into preparing them, and they really would make reviewing much more efficient.

But the three in Sudo's group frowned as they looked at the notes.

"Hey, Horikita, I don't even understand the first question."

Sudo stared at Horikita, still seemingly annoyed about what had happened earlier.

"Take another careful look. You can't improve if you give up right away."

"But... I really don't have much interest in studying. I like basketball, and I'm confident I'm as good as anyone on our team. I'm about to become a regular member, too."

"Did I ask you about that...? Never mind. It's thanks to your basketball skills that you got into this school."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sudo couldn't tell whether Horikita was insulting him or complimenting him, and he looked confused.

"Actually... I don't understand the first question either," Ike said. He scratched his head in frustration. It looked like he'd thought it over but still couldn't figure out how to solve it.

"I can't believe you all got into this school. Even middle schoolers—and maybe even clever elementary schoolers—could solve this problem."

Horikita glanced around and saw that only the three in Sudo's group couldn't solve it. Okiya, who had come with them, had already figured out how to approach the problem, while Kushida was helping him.

"That's right, Okiya. Now calculate this formula, and you'll get the answer."

She'd just said she was worried about failing, and now she was helping Okiya? Was she trying to provoke Horikita...?

"Are you saying we're worse than elementary schoolers?" Sudo was clearly unhappy with Horikita's taunt.

"Listen. Here's how you solve the problem." Ignoring Sudo's question, Horikita immediately began writing on the paper, laying out the steps in detail.

But Sudo and the others still looked bewildered.

"I still don't get it."

"Are you messing with me?"

Horikita thought she'd explained the method in great detail. If they still couldn't understand, it could only mean they hadn't even mastered the basics.

It was like a student tackling an English reading comprehension exercise without knowing what the words meant. If they didn't understand the words, they couldn't even understand the questions, let alone answer them...

"That's it. I give up. You guys study on your own." Sudo dropped his pen.

Horikita glared angrily at Sudo. His habit of backing down at the slightest problem infuriated her.

"Wait, Sudo! Just try a little harder and you'll get it. Believe in yourself. You can do it, okay?"

Seeing that Sudo was about to give up and leave, Kushida finally spoke up to stop him.

"Sigh. I was going to leave, but since little Kushida said that, I'll give it another try... Though I'd probably be a lot more motivated if you were the one teaching me."

"Yeah. If little Kushida taught us, I'd definitely pay attention."

"Little Kushida, why don't you teach us?"

Seeing Sudo say that, Ike and Yamauchi chimed in too.

"But..." Kushida hesitated. After all, Horikita was the one who had organized this study session. She'd only helped Okiya because she'd wanted to provoke Horikita a little.

But if she actually took over as the teacher, it would be overstepping her bounds—and word might get around and damage her image...

Thinking this, Kushida looked at Horikita.

Horikita remained silent. This situation put her in a difficult position. No matter whether she agreed or not, she stood to gain nothing, and she might even make things worse.

When Kushida saw that Horikita still hadn't responded, she finally couldn't wait any longer. If they dragged this out, Sudo's group would only become more determined to give up.

"This problem, like Horikita explained earlier, goes like this first, and then like this..."

The three in Sudo's group listened very attentively as Kushida explained the problem. Their attitude was a stark contrast to how they'd acted when Horikita had been teaching them, though whether it would actually help remained to be seen...

After all, Kushida wasn't as good at studying as Horikita. Horikita had explained everything in detail and believed she'd used the simplest method, and they still hadn't understood.

Kushida's method was much more complicated than Horikita's, to say the least.

"All right, that's the final answer."

After writing out a long series of calculations, Kushida finally arrived at the answer and smiled. She seemed pretty pleased with the calculation process.

"You got the answer so quickly? That's our Kushida! But why does this give us that answer?"

"Yeah, the final answer seems pretty surprising."

Kushida: "..."

As expected, they still didn't understand. At that moment, Kushida finally realized just how painful it was to teach a bunch of idiots.

"Looks like having someone else teach you makes no difference. You really are the Three Idiots."