Are You Also a Flawed Product?

In the library, Takahashi wrote out the detailed steps for a math problem on scratch paper and carefully explained which fundamental knowledge point each step relied on. He was being very responsible, to say the least.

Takahashi's modeling wasn't bad either, but unfortunately, there was Dio. This left Ike, who had been assigned to Takahashi, feeling listless. He kept glancing over at Yamauchi and Sudo, who were getting one-on-one tutoring from girls—especially Yamauchi, who had been paired with his beloved Kushida.

Ike looked at the happy smiles on Sudo and Yamauchi's faces, then back at Takahashi. His looks were so good—no wonder he was ranked second on the handsome guys list among the girls. If he interacted with girls more, he'd probably surpass Hirata. Takahashi's lower eyelashes were so long, and his skin seemed fairer than many girls'. What would Takahashi look like in women's clothing? As he thought about it, Ike swallowed hard.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"Ah... well... this..."

"Is there something I explained that you didn't understand? Point out what you're stuck on, and I'll go over it again."

"Haha, got it right." Sudo's voice rang out from the side.

"Hey, keep it down, will you? You're chattering away over there and disturbing others who are trying to study, you know?" a student reviewing for exams nearby said.

"This... sorry, sorry. I got a bit too excited." Sudo rarely apologized.

"You're not those defective products from Class D, are you? You don't even know the exam scope and you're still reviewing here in the library. How ridiculous."

"Hey, what did you say? You bastard, you want to fight?" Sudo flared up instantly.

"Resorting to violence in front of so many people in the library—I have to say, you really are a defective product! My name is Yamawaki. Nice to meet you, hahaha."

"You..."

"Alright, alright, stop your provocations. You're disturbing everyone else in the library." Ichinose walked over.

"Who are you to meddle so much... Haha, sorry about that, Ichinose. I didn't mean it." Seeing that it was Ichinose who stepped in, Yamawaki's arrogance immediately deflated.

"Let's go. Studying with defective products from Class D will turn you into an idiot." Yamawaki said to his Class C companions.

Seeing that the situation had calmed down, Ichinose turned and came over to Takahashi. When Ike saw the beautiful girl Ichinose approaching, he immediately pretended to study hard.

"Takahashi, didn't your teacher give you the exam scope?"

"She did. Is there something wrong with what we're reviewing?"

"Hmm... I don't know what scope Miss Chabashira gave you, but I suggest you go ask her if she made a mistake."

"Alright, thank you, Ichinose. I'll go right away. And thanks for stepping in just now. Want to hang out this weekend?"

"It wasn't much help. If I go out this weekend, just send me a message. Bye~"

After saying goodbye to Ichinose, ignoring Ike and the others' questions about whether he was dating Ichinose, Takahashi looked at Horikita and said, "We should go ask Miss Chabashira about the exam scope right now."

Seeing Horikita come out of the teachers' office, Sudo and the other two rushed over to ask, "How did it go?"

"The exam scope changed, but Miss Chabashira forgot to tell us."

"How could the teacher..." Sudo wanted to get angry but deflated before finishing.

Everyone fell silent. The only sound in the hallway was Takahashi shaking a fortune stick as he sat on the floor against the wall.

"Kushida, please take the exam scope to Hirata and the others. We can't let them keep reviewing the wrong material." Horikita's voice was clearly trying to sound calm, but Takahashi felt some irritation too—after all, he had been seriously explaining things to Ike for days.

Suekichi? Looking at the stick in his hand inscribed with "Suekichi,"

"Sudo, Ike, Yamauchi."

"What's up?"

"I want to ask you—are you okay with this? All these days of effort, reviewing things that won't even be on the test."

"How could we be okay with it? But there's only one week left until the exam."

"Alright. Then from now on, leave everything to me."

"What do you want from me? Don't tell me you're going to throw a tantrum like a child because I forgot to give you the latest exam scope?" Miss Chabashira looked at Takahashi, who was standing by the railing on the rooftop.

"I'm not that childish."

"Miss Chabashira, I invited you here to ask you a few questions. You just need to answer yes or no."

Without waiting for Miss Chabashira's reply, Takahashi said directly:

"In this school, there are hierarchies not only among students but also among teachers, right? So leading our class, which is full of defective products—does that mean you, Miss Chabashira, are also a defective product?"

Miss Chabashira ignored Takahashi and just lit a cigarette.

"Our class points for the first month were zero. But you saw a glimmer of hope in me and Ayanokouji—a hope that could let you shed the label of defective product too. So you wanted to use this exam to directly weed out the most crippled and hopeless defective products. Isn't that right?"

"I admit it was a mistake on my part not to update your exam scope in time. But Takahashi, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Takahashi stepped forward, snatched the cigarette from Miss Chabashira's hand, and crushed it out. Then he leaned in, lowering his head to bring his mouth close to her ear, and said, "Do you think we haven't fully understood the school's rules?"

With that, Takahashi left the rooftop. Miss Chabashira stared at his retreating back, a hint of a smile curling at the corner of her mouth.

After finding a trash can to toss in the crushed cigarette butt and the lighter he'd swiped from Miss Chabashira, Takahashi opened a door. From inside came a sweet voice:

"You're here, Takahashi."