Is This the Point of the Question I Asked?

"Hey, Suzune, what the hell is Class D doing? All this noise—are you letting anyone study or not?"

Yuki Gyakukai arrived and blocked everyone back.

The Kuroya trio, who had been about to leave, shrank their necks at the sight of Yuki blocking the door and instinctively stepped back two paces.

Even Ken Sudou felt a chill run down his neck.

"Gyakukai, this isn't your business. This is an internal matter for Class D. Please don't interfere."

At that moment, Yousuke Hirata, who had been tutoring classmates nearby, hurried over as well.

"I didn't want to interfere either, but the problem is you've already affected our class's study progress."

"Sorry." Aware they were in the wrong, Yousuke Hirata could only apologize on behalf of his classmates.

"Forget it. Even if I asked you, you'd just dance around the issue and never solve the real problem."

Yuki stepped past Hirata, who was blocking his way, and sat down next to Suzune Horikita.

"What happened? Explain."

Suzune Horikita furrowed her brow coldly and began recounting everything that had just occurred.

Leaving out the insults Suzune had thrown, the rest was all about how the Kuroya trio refused to listen to discipline and how furious Suzune was.

It was understandable, really. Yuki Gyakukai, familiar with the original story, knew exactly how rotten the Kuroya trio were in the early stages—though Suzune Horikita wasn't much better either.

"So you lot fought this hard over that?" He glanced around at the awkward expressions of the Class D students and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault for keeping everyone from studying properly."

Next to Suzune Horikita, a girl with light brown hair, an excellent figure, and a very pretty face apologized to everyone with deep guilt.

"This has nothing to do with Kikyou-chan. It's clearly all Sudou and the others' fault."

"Exactly. If their grades are bad, why drag the rest of the class down?"

"They should just drop out already."

As the crowd continued to condemn the Kuroya trio in a flurry of voices, the two-faced Kikyou Kushida was in a great mood, though she knew when to quit while ahead.

She quickly urged everyone to stop pursuing the matter, using the excuse that they were all in the same class and playing the role of the good person.

"Suzune, grades don't determine a person's worth. I won't comment on the others' issues for now, but you should reflect on yourself."

The Kuroya trio and the students from other classes who had gathered around all wore subtle expressions.

They never expected Yuki Gyakukai to actually scold Suzune in defense of three bad students.

"I don't think I did anything wrong, so the one who should reflect isn't me."

Suzune Horikita frowned and retorted sharply.

"Sigh." Yuki looked at the hopeless Suzune Horikita with a troubled expression. "Your goal right now should be leading the class to Class A, and their goal right now should be avoiding expulsion. Even if your goals aren't the same, your direction is identical. Pushing each other away will only take you further from your targets."

"What you say has some logic, but I don't trust them. They're genuine idiots."

Seeing Suzune Horikita still refusing to give an inch, Ken Sudou clenched his fists, the veins on his forehead that had subsided bulging again.

"Stop."

Seeing the conflict about to flare up again, Yuki quickly called both sides to a halt.

"I roughly understand the point of your conflict. How about this—I'll ask Sudou and the others one question, and then you can decide for yourselves."

With that, Yuki turned to face the Kuroya trio.

The stared-down Sudou and the others couldn't help but tense up.

The students from other classes who had been drawn over by the commotion stopped discussing the dispute and instead watched Yuki Gyakukai with curiosity, wondering what question he could pose to resolve the incident.

"Ken Sudou, Kanji Ike, Haruki Yamauchi—you three have no objections, right?"

The three shook their heads. After all, they didn't want to drop out either. The benefits of staying at this school were far greater than one might imagine. If they were expelled, they might end up at the bottom of society.

"Good. Then the question I'm about to ask is a common-sense life question. You'll definitely know it."

"Here it is: Guy A has a not-so-bright girlfriend, Girl B. One day, Guy A asks Girl B, 'What's 3 times 4?' Girl B says she doesn't know—they'll teach it next semester. That's the question. You can answer now."

(Everyone, think back—what grade were you in when you learned your multiplication tables?)

Everyone who heard the question, including the doppelgänger Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, wore strange expressions.

Ken Sudou puffed up with confidence: "Isn't it just 12? What's so hard about that?"

Haruki Yamauchi chimed in: "That little b in the question really isn't too bright, doesn't even know 3×4=12."

Kanji Ike, whose expression was off, quietly tugged at his two friends' sleeves, signaling them to stop talking.

"Ike, what do you mean? Isn't it just 12? I already told you."

Pfft!

Hearing that answer, someone finally couldn't hold it in, burying their head and covering their mouth with a hand, shoulders shaking nonstop.

And that seemed to be the signal, because the next moment, the once-silent library erupted in wave after wave of laughter.

Not joy, but wave after wave of mockery.

Not far away, seated Sakayanagi Arisu couldn't help but set down her cane and laugh softly.

She had anticipated that some in Class D would be terrible, but she hadn't expected it to be this bad.

The Class D students closest by—those with a shred of class loyalty—cringed in embarrassment, while those without it joined in the ridicule.

Ah, damn Ken Sudou, what kind of brain comes up with an answer like that?

Kikyou Kushida strained to keep her smile, doing her best to maintain her persona and control her facial expressions.

Yousuke Hirata awkwardly lowered his head, unsure whether to speak or stay silent.

As for the other party in this dispute, Suzune Horikita simply turned her head away, struggling to suppress the corners of her mouth.

Idiots. Being friends with a few specimens like this is the biggest mistake I've made at this school.

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, his expression indifferent, silently rebuked himself inside.

"What happened? Why is everyone laughing?" Ken Sudou, still clueless, looked baffled.

Yuki Gyakukai, finding it a bit exasperating, answered casually:

"Maybe they're marveling. People like you—only four out of a thousand turn out this way, and your class has two."

"Oh, really?" Ken Sudou perked up, thinking he'd been praised.

"Yeah, two two-hundred-and-fifty-fives."