Ayanokoji Deserved It (3K)

Wednesday,

These past few days, Ayanokoji had been getting a bit of a headache.

The name Idiot Trio really was spot-on.

They had absolutely no interest in studying. Their heads were full of dirty jokes.

And Yamauchi Haruki was especially good at coming up with terrible ideas. He had even planned to get Ayanokoji to take the exam for them.

Ayanokoji came back to himself. Perhaps Yamauchi Haruki, Kanji Ike, and the others weren't representative of ordinary people... Perhaps they were representative of students with poor abilities.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka pulled the manga he'd borrowed from Yamauchi out from under his bed and opened it on the bed.

Should he really be copying the moves in this kind of hentai manga Yamauchi had recommended?

Drugging Horikita Suzune to leave her weakened and vulnerable, then having Yamauchi Haruki threaten her, before stepping in at the crucial moment himself... There shouldn't have been anything wrong with that plan, right?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had neither ill will nor goodwill toward Horikita Suzune, You En, or the others. Everything he did was for the sake of learning and putting what he learned into practice.

But there was no need to learn from people like Yamauchi...

He considered the matter. Though success and failure were hard to define, these people were undoubtedly failures. They weren't positive examples to learn from; they could only serve as cautionary examples.

When he arrived in the classroom,

Ayanokoji saw You En and greeted him first.

He figured that if he found a way to apologize, You En would probably forgive him in the end, because he was more open-minded than anyone Ayanokoji had ever met.

Besides, Ayanokoji had always felt that You En had seen right through him from the very beginning.

You En also found it strange. Why was Ayanokoji greeting him today?

Did he have another harebrained scheme?

He'd actually come to his senses, too. Ayanokoji might claim he could do anything without scruples, but he wasn't entirely bad.

You En thought of him as a child who had just been born in the White Room. Apart from the exams, tests, and competitions designed by others, he hadn't experienced much else.

With the right guidance, he could turn out fine. But if he fell in with idiots or bad people, he'd end up doing nothing but evil.

You En asked, "Is something up?"

Ayanokoji said, "Well... I was just saying hello. It's normal for classmates to greet each other, isn't it?"

"Oh."

You En wasn't interested in men. He gave a casual reply and went to his seat.

He turned to look at Horikita Suzune, who was still studying.

"Did you ask Chabashira to arrange a retake?"

Horikita Suzune had known You En was there as soon as he reached his seat. She'd been waiting for him to speak to her.

She looked up and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"I already applied. I'll retake the first week's material on Saturday morning and the second week's in the afternoon."

You En said, "With how hard you're working, you'll definitely be fine. Still, keep it up."

Horikita Suzune looked at him. "Mm. Come to my room tonight."

"What for?"

You En looked wary. "I'm a performer, not a prostitute."

"Who wants your body?"

Horikita Suzune punched him lightly.

"I need you to check if there's anything I'm still weak in."

"Your academic ability isn't lacking. We're both at the professional level in the Test-Taking skill on our status panels, but you haven't fully mastered your own study system yet."

"I'm trying,"

Horikita Suzune said. "Summarize and organize, then do it again. And then what?"

You En said, "I can't really teach you a specific method. Everyone's system is different. I can only help you check... Fine, I'll come to your room tonight."

"Um..."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka came over and said,

"Could you help me with something?"

"?"

You En and Horikita Suzune looked at each other. He didn't say anything; it was up to Horikita, since she was the one who'd been wronged.

"Can I ask you something?"

Horikita Suzune wasn't especially angry. She'd dealt with incidents like this before middle school, but this one had been particularly nasty. The earlier ones could be called pranks, but this one could only be called a malicious act.

But it was over now, and she didn't plan to hold a grudge. Still, she couldn't just let it go completely.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said,

"Go ahead."

Horikita Suzune only glanced at him briefly before looking away again.

"Why would you do something like that? What was your reason? Don't tell me that hanging out with Yamauchi and the others filled your head with dirty thoughts?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't know how to answer. If he admitted it, then it would be as good as admitting that he'd done it. But if he denied it, asking her for help afterward would be extremely difficult.

"..."

Seeing him stay silent,

Horikita Suzune waved a hand.

"Looks like there's nothing left for us to talk about."

Ayanokoji decided to skip the conversation. "So, could you help me if you have time?"

Horikita Suzune simply looked at You En. In her eyes, Ayanokoji was no different from Yamauchi. Even if he was incredibly stupid and shameless, that had nothing to do with her, and she felt nothing about it.

You En understood that she didn't want to talk to Ayanokoji. He picked up the conversation.

"What do you want us to do?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said,

"Hirata's been running that study group lately, right? I'm in charge of one of the groups, but my group members... How should I put it? They lack motivation to study. So I was wondering if Horikita Suzune could help tutor them. Maybe they'd be more willing to listen if a girl taught them."

You En took out his phone, found the class group, tapped Hirata's profile, and looked through the chat history. When he saw Ayanokoji's group, he couldn't help laughing.

"Hahaha, serves you right."

"?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka figured there was little chance of getting the two of them to help, but he still had to make one last attempt.

"Um, don't you want to get into Class A? If someone in the class dropped out, wouldn't that cause some kind of loss..."

You En shook his head. "No. And that's without even getting into what someone dropping out has to do with getting into Class A.

"First of all, if someone drops out, that's their own business.

"If they really don't want to drop out, they should ask someone else for help, rather than making others beg to help them. Ayanokoji, don't you think that kind of relationship is ridiculous?"

Ayanokoji thought over and absorbed what You En had said, then glanced at Horikita.

Horikita Suzune acted as though he didn't exist and didn't respond at all.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka understood that he'd have to find another way. He looked around and spotted Kushida Kikyo talking to Wang Meiyu up ahead. An idea immediately came to him.

You En watched Ayanokoji head toward Kushida and scratched the back of his head. Ayanokoji was definitely going to put Kushida on the spot. What could he do about it?

He glanced at Horikita Suzune, who was resting her cheek in her hand, making it look a little chubby. Remembering their conversation just now, he came up with an idea.

You En sent Kushida a message.

Kushida Kikyo's phone chimed with a special notification. She glanced at You En's message, saw Ayanokoji approaching her desk, and roughly guessed what was going on. She immediately began acting.

"Can I help you, Ayanokoji?"

"My group members might not get the required scores, and they could end up dropping out. So I was hoping you could help them."

Kushida Kikyo looked troubled.

"Sorry, it's not that I don't want to help. I just have to help my own group improve their grades... And I have to take the retest, too, so I really don't have any time."

"You must have some time, surely?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka kept trying.

Kushida Kikyo was annoyed. She'd made her refusal obvious, yet he was still pushing. At least someone had thought of even that for her.

"Sorry, I really don't have any time. But you seem to have plenty, Ayanokoji.

"Besides, there were some really difficult questions on the last exam, and you got them right. It feels like you're not incapable of getting a high score—you just don't want to."

Ayanokoji couldn't pick up on the implication. He could only try to break down what she'd said and analyze it rationally.

The first sentence had tossed the problem right back at him. It meant that this was his responsibility in the first place.

The second sentence meant he could get a high score but chose not to—in other words, he could teach Yamauchi and the others well, but didn't want to.

There was no helping it.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't have any good ideas for the moment. But he seemed to remember hearing that Kushida Kikyo had some kind of secret, something from middle school. Maybe he could bring it up and threaten her with it?

Feeling the gaze on his back,

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka decided it would be better to do that kind of thing in private.

You En looked away, lay his head on the desk, and took a nap, temporarily slacking off.

There was no helping it. He practiced archery every day at a fixed time in the early hours, and had to tutor Ando Sayo and the others in the evenings. Fortunately, the tutoring sessions weren't every day, so he could manage.

His phone chimed. He picked it up while still lying down. It was a message from Kushida.

"Kushida: Thanks, You En. Without you, I might've been driven crazy by that bunch of idiots."

"You En: You were the one who found the courage to say no. I just made a suggestion."

"Kushida: Are you free tonight?"

"You En: Sorry, I already have plans."

"Kushida: Is it Horikita Suzune again? Can't you come over to my place? I'm willing to do anything."

"You En: Anything? Then go tutor Yamauchi and the others."

"Kushida: ...Don't gross me out. I'm just asking if you're coming or not."

"You En: I'll see if I can free up some time during dinner."

"Kushida: You have to make time for me. Go cancel your date with Horikita Suzune!"

"You En: I'm sleepy. Going to bed."

You En turned off his phone, laid his head on the desk, and went to sleep.

Kushida, seated up ahead, looked over. Seeing that he really was asleep, she looked thoroughly unhappy and glared at her desk mate, Horikita Suzune, who was absorbed in her book.

Her friend Maezono noticed Kushida's mood. "What's wrong?"

Kushida said, "Sigh. I saw a really annoying cat."

"Where's the cat?"

Maezono looked around the classroom.

"Maybe I was mistaken."

Kushida Kikyo composed herself and added silently,

A black stray cat.

The faculty office,

The four homeroom teachers, the head of year, and an elective-course teacher were all there.

Director Sakayanagi looked at Annie, who stood before her, with a helpless expression.

"If you violate the school's rules, the consequences will be severe. If you're not prepared for that, you'd better not go. I'll arrange for another teacher to take your class."

"I'm the one going,"

said the young woman with wild red hair.

"I've already considered the worst-case scenario."

"Are you sure you're ready?"

Director Sakayanagi was a cautious person, and Annie had been her colleague for many years. She couldn't bring herself to make this decision.

"How about we wait until after the first evaluation?"

Although Annie had already made up her mind, those words were genuinely meant for her sake, so she nodded.

Meanwhile,

You En received a notification.

[You En, the elective course you signed up for, "Amateur Sailor," has been suspended. It is expected to reopen in May.

To make up for the inconvenience, the school has decided to refund the 60,000 points you paid to enroll. If the course reopens, you will still be entitled to attend it for free.]

You En took a look. His personal points were back.

And if the course reopened, he could still take it, which meant he'd get a course for free.

That worked out nicely.