"Hey, Suzune, what's going on with you D-class students? You've been arguing back and forth. How's anyone supposed to study?"
Yuki Gyakukai hurried over and ushered everyone away.
The trio from the White Room had been about to leave, but when they saw Yuki Gyakukai blocking the doorway, they shrank back and instinctively took two steps away.
Even Ken Sudō felt a chill run down his neck.
"Gyakukai, this has nothing to do with you. This is an internal matter for Class D, so please don't interfere."
Just then, Yousuke Hirata, who had been helping his classmates study nearby, hurried over.
"I wasn't planning to interfere, but you've already disrupted our classmates' studying."
"Sorry." Knowing his class was at fault, Yousuke Hirata could only apologize on their behalf.
"Forget it. Even if I asked you, you'd just try to smooth things over, and you wouldn't solve the actual problem."
Yuki Gyakukai walked around Yousuke Hirata and sat down beside Suzune Horikita.
"What happened? Explain."
With a cool expression, Suzune Horikita began recounting everything that had just happened.
Leaving out the insults Suzune Horikita had hurled along the way, the rest was all about how the trio from the White Room had refused to listen, and how angry Suzune Horikita had gotten.
It was understandable. Yuki Gyakukai knew the original story well, so he knew just how hopeless the trio from the White Room had been early on. Of course, Suzune Horikita wasn't much better.
"So you argued this much over that?" He glanced around at the awkward expressions on the faces of the Class D students and raised an eyebrow.
"None of this was Kikyou-chan's fault. It was all Sudō and the others."
"Exactly. Their grades are already terrible. Why should they drag down the rest of the class?"
"They should just drop out already."
While everyone continued taking turns denouncing the trio from the White Room, Kikyou Kushida was in a very good mood. Still, she knew when to quit while she was ahead.
She hurriedly used the fact that they were all in the same class as an excuse, putting on her good-girl act and asking everyone to let the matter go.
"Suzune, good or bad grades don't define a person's success. I won't get into everyone else's problems, but you should reflect on yourself first."
The trio from the White Room and the students from the other classes who had gathered nearby all wore strange expressions.
They never imagined that Yuki Gyakukai would reprimand Suzune on behalf of three problem students.
"I don't think I did anything wrong, so I'm not the one who needs to reflect."
Suzune Horikita frowned and shot back sharply.
"Ah..." Yuki Gyakukai looked at Suzune Horikita as if she were a lost cause and sighed with exasperation.
"Your goal right now should be to lead the class to Class A, while those three should be trying to avoid expulsion.
"Your goals may be different, but you're all headed in the same direction. If you keep working against each other, you'll only get further from your goals."
"You make some sense, but I don't trust them. They're genuine idiots."
Seeing that Suzune Horikita was still giving them no quarter, Ken Sudō clenched his fists, and the veins that had subsided on his forehead bulged again.
"Stop."
Seeing the argument about to flare up again, Yuki Gyakukai quickly called a halt.
"I think I understand what you're arguing about. How about this? I'll ask Sudō and the other two a question, then you can decide for yourselves."
Yuki Gyakukai turned to face the trio from the White Room.
With Yuki Gyakukai staring at them, Sudō and the others couldn't help feeling nervous.
The students from the other classes who had gathered to watch the argument stopped discussing it and looked curiously at Yuki Gyakukai, wondering what question he would ask to resolve the whole mess.
"Ken Sudō, Kanji Ike, Haruki Yamauchi, none of you have a problem with that, right?"
The three shook their heads. They didn't want to be expelled, after all. The benefits of staying at this school were far greater than they'd imagined.
If they got expelled, they might end up at the bottom of society.
"Good. My question is a matter of everyday knowledge. You should all be able to answer it."
"Here's the question:
"A is dating B, a not-very-bright girl.
"One day, A asks B, 'What's 3 × 4?'
"B says she doesn't know and that they won't teach her until next semester.
"That's the question. You can answer now."
(Think about what grade you were in when you learned your times tables.)
Everyone who heard the question, including the impostor Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, wore odd expressions.
Ken Sudō looked confident. "Isn't it 12? What's so hard about that?"
Haruki Yamauchi chimed in, too. "B in the question really isn't very bright. How could she not know that 3 × 4 = 12?"
Kanji Ike, looking a little uneasy, quietly tugged at his two friends' clothes with both hands, signaling for them to stop talking.
"Ike, what do you mean you don't know? It's 12. We already told you."
Pfft!
At that answer, someone finally lost it. They lowered their head, covered their mouth with a hand, and shook with laughter.
It was as if that had set off a signal. A moment later, wave after wave of laughter rang out through the previously silent library.
It wasn't joyful laughter, but mockery.
Not far away, Sakayanagi Arisu had sat down. She couldn't help setting aside her cane and chuckling softly.
She had expected some of the students in Class D to be hopeless, but she hadn't expected them to be this bad.
The Class D students closest to the scene were somewhat embarrassed along with everyone else, since they felt a little sense of belonging. Those who didn't feel much of a connection to the class joined in the mockery.
Ah, damn it, Ken Sudō. What kind of brain did he have to come up with an answer like that?
Kikyou Kushida struggled to keep smiling. She was doing her best to maintain her image and control her expression.
Yousuke Hirata lowered his head awkwardly. He didn't know whether to say something or keep quiet.
As the other person involved in the argument, Suzune Horikita simply turned away, struggling to hold back the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Idiot. Making friends with a bunch of weirdos like them was the biggest mistake I've made since coming to this school.
Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, his face impassive, couldn't help berating himself internally.
"What happened? Why is everyone laughing?" Ken Sudō asked, still confused.
Yuki Gyakukai felt a little speechless and answered casually:
"Maybe they're marveling at how people like you only come four to a thousand. And there are two of you in your class."
"Really?" Ken Sudō looked excited, thinking he'd been praised.
"Yeah. One for every two hundred and fifty."
Before you continue