Unimportant

I reached my seat right on time. As soon as the bell rang, our homeroom teacher, Sae Chabashira, strode briskly to the front of the classroom. She slapped the lesson plan and test papers down on the desk, then looked over the students before her.

Her gaze eventually drifted to Kiyotaka Kiyotaka, curiosity in her eyes. She ignored Beihai beside him. He was an utterly ordinary character; she only needed to keep a reasonable eye on him in case he suddenly acted up.

Of course, today's main task was to discuss yesterday's exam.

"Not bad. I thought you'd all let yourselves go, but unexpectedly, you all scored high. Sudo and Yamauchi, however, you failed."

As it turned out, the May exam wasn't based on individual scores. Since the four classes were competing against one another, and even the class rankings could shift, the exam was scored using the class average.

The average score of the whole class meant that even though Horikita had deliberately held back and scored poorly, Beihai had gone all out this time. Once the scores were averaged, Sudo and Haruki Yamauchi had failed.

Sudo himself wasn't the most anxious. All he managed to say was, "Why?"

Yosuke Hirata, on the other hand, couldn't hold back. He stood up first. He didn't want anything bad to happen to anyone in the class, nor did he want anyone to harbor resentment toward their classmates.

"Is there really no way to make up for it?"

D Class's Little Angel, Kikyo Kushida, saw Yosuke Hirata stand and draw everyone's attention. She hurried to plead on Sudo's behalf, too.

But the answer she received wasn't what she wanted.

"Failing is a fact. Sudo, Yamauchi, come to my office later and get this taken care of as soon as possible."

Her words left no room for argument. She was much like the homeroom teacher of Class A. As a teacher, she couldn't give them any answers outright; at most, she could hint at them. But in the end, she still had to handle things by the book.

It was like the first day of school: she'd laid everything out with convincing logic, but the students themselves still had to find the so-called truth hidden in the traps of her words.

After making the announcement, Sae Chabashira left the classroom. As soon as she was gone, Kiyotaka Kiyotaka followed under the pretext of going to the bathroom.

Suzune Horikita narrowed her eyes. Watching the two of them leave one after the other, how could she not know what Kiyotaka Kiyotaka was thinking?

She didn't know exactly what he planned to do, but there was no harm in following to find out. She became the third person in the class to prepare to go after them, but paused in front of Beihai on the way.

Beihai was seriously studying the test paper, writing down the questions he'd gotten wrong. He fit the stereotype far too well: he looked like a complete bookworm, and even seemed a little inflexible. How could someone like that be useful?

And yet Suzune Horikita had to admit that what Beihai and Kiyotaka Kiyotaka had discussed beside the vending machines made some sense.

She realized how ridiculous she'd been. That day, Kiyotaka Kiyotaka must have been the one steering the conversation.

She put the thought aside for now and hurried out of the classroom.

After they'd left, Beihai lifted his head slightly. The dark circles behind his glasses looked uncertain. That girl had seemed to be watching him for no reason just now. Had he imagined it?

There was no helping it. With Beihai's inhuman constitution, anyone else would have dropped dead from exhaustion long ago. Now he devoted himself entirely to studying and thinking, with his physical functions barely sustained by the system.

Beihai had no idea why the two of them had gone to see their homeroom teacher. He only knew that Sae Chabashira returned to the classroom and canceled their expulsions.

On top of that, Black Long Hair had latched on to Expressionless Guy again.

Beihai could hear their conversation from where he sat, and he could more or less guess what had happened. They must have used points to resolve the expulsion issue.

"What's with the points on your Terminal?"

"I don't think I have to answer you. Or rather, I have absolutely no obligation to answer you. You should be satisfied just knowing that the problem's been solved."

Sae Chabashira tapped the lectern to quiet the class. She'd already reached her own conclusion: that boy really was capable. Maybe D Class could actually rise to Class A this time.

But when she thought about how far the leaders of the other classes were ahead of D Class, she couldn't help feeling that the gap was still enormous. D Class didn't even have a leader right now. When it came to making decisions, its several small groups could split apart in an instant.

To put the gap into perspective, Class C could readily produce two million points. But if D Class had to come up with two million, asking everyone to contribute a few points was like asking them to give up their lives. They simply wouldn't do it.

On top of that, Class B was the biggest problem this year. They'd made two moves in a row, and each one was different. It was fortunate that neither move had targeted D Class.

At least this time, the exam had only targeted Class A.

Otherwise, if they'd switched the test papers, one round would have been enough to end the year early. The school's higher-ups would definitely have stepped in directly. Even Sae Chabashira wondered whether Class B's leader had some kind of fake personality.

But she quickly dismissed the ridiculous idea. If that person were really that twisted, they couldn't possibly be in Class B. They'd have to be in her class. Then it really would be a cause for celebration—if only she could do more than dream.

When the day's classes ended, Beihai walked back to the dorm with Airisu Sakura beside him. She was adjusting her camera.

When they went downstairs and reached the hallway, they could see the class points posted there.

To Beihai's surprise, Class A had fallen from its original position. The May exam had barely changed its points; they hadn't decreased or increased much at all. It was strange.

After all, one or two people holding back their scores was enough. Surely it couldn't have been a whole group?

Class B, meanwhile, had climbed one place, gaining more than a thousand points. The former Class B had overtaken the others in its second month and become the school's new Class A.

Just then, Beihai's Terminal rang.

Honami Ichinose: [Hehe, we did it.]

Looking at the message and then at the class points, how could Beihai not understand?

[Impressive. You really went through with it. How many Personal Points did it cost?]

Honami Ichinose: [Having our homeroom teacher switch out the file folders cost us a lot, but it was worth it today. Next month, everyone will have more than 110,000 points.

The exam is over, and there are only two days left until next month. Thanks for this.]

[No need. But even I didn't expect you to actually use that strategy.]

Beihai sent the message. He hadn't expected Little Angel to turn a little devious so quickly and go after the other side. This school really was determined to cultivate little devils.

Honami Ichinose: [Not at all. I thought about it for a long time, too. For everyone in Class B, and with the school's deadly rules, it seemed like this was all I could do.

I think after this, I can stop being so aggressive.]

It seemed Little Angel wanted to switch to a defensive strategy. She didn't want to launch a fierce attack.

If anyone else had taken the lead, they'd have wanted to crush everyone else while they still could. But Honami Ichinose wouldn't.

That was the difference between her and someone who'd replace Class A's test papers.

If that thug from Class C found out, he'd definitely do something outrageous to everyone.

But now that she'd beaten all her opponents, she was switching straight to defense and refusing to fight anymore.

As far as Beihai was concerned, though, nothing had changed. As long as she studied hard and improved her academic and thinking skills, that mattered more than anything!