Koji Deserves It

Wednesday.

In the past few days, Ayanokoji had genuinely been getting a headache.

The nickname "Idiot Trio" really wasn't given without reason.

They truly didn't put any effort into studying; their heads were full of nothing but dirty jokes.

And guys like Yamauchi Haruki especially came up with terrible ideas, even planning to have him take the exams for them.

He snapped back to reality. Maybe Yamauchi Haruki, Ike Kanji, and the others weren't representatives of ordinary people... maybe they were representatives of low-ability students.

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

Should he really not be following the moves from this kind of H-manga that Yamauchi recommended?

Last time, drugging Horikita Suzune to put her in a weakened, passive state, then letting Yamauchi Haruki threaten her, and finally stepping in himself at the critical moment—that should have been fine, right?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka held no malice toward Horikita Suzune or You En, nor any goodwill. Everything he did was for the sake of learning and practice.

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

He judged that while success and failure were hard to define, these guys were definitely failures. That meant they weren't positive samples for learning—only negative examples.

Arriving at the classroom.

Ayanokoji saw You En and took the initiative to greet him.

He figured that if he found a way to apologize, the other party would eventually forgive him, because this person's mindset was more tolerant than anyone he'd ever met.

And Ayanokoji always felt like You En had seen through him from the very start.

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

What terrible idea was this again?

He, too, had snapped back to reality. Ayanokoji might claim he could do anything without restraint, but he wasn't absolutely evil.

You En thought of him as a kid just born from the "White Room"—someone who hadn't been exposed to much beyond artificially designed tests, exams, and competitions.

If someone gave him proper guidance, it would probably be fine. But the fear was that he'd end up with idiots or scumbags, and then he'd do nothing but harm.

You En asked, "Is there something you need?"

Ayanokoji said, "Mm... just saying hello. Greeting a classmate should be normal, right?"

"Oh."

You En had no interest in men. He replied casually and went to his seat.

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

"Did you go apply to Chabashira for a retake?"

Horikita Suzune had already known he was there when he sat down and was just waiting for him to speak to her.

She looked up and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I already applied. Saturday morning, retake the first week's content; afternoon, the second week's."

You En said, "With how hard you're working, you'll definitely pass. But still, do your best."

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

"What for?"

You En put on a wary expression. "I sell my skills, not my body."

"Who wants your body?"

Horikita Suzune punched him lightly.

"Help me see where I'm still lacking."

"There's no gap in academic ability. Our panel's Test-Taking skills are both at Professional level. But you haven't fully mastered your own learning system yet."

"I'm trying,"

Horikita Suzune said. "Summarizing and organizing, repeating the process. And then?"

You En said, "I can't really teach you anything about that either. Everyone's system is different. I can only help you take a look... Fine, I'll come to your room tonight."

"Um..."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka walked over and said, "Could you help me with something?"

"?"

You En and Horikita Suzune exchanged glances. He didn't say anything—it depended on Horikita's attitude, since she was the victim.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Horikita Suzune wasn't particularly angry. Things like this had happened before junior high, though this time was a bit more severe. If the previous incidents were pranks, this one could fully be called a malicious act.

But what was done was done. She didn't plan to hold a grudge, but she couldn't just let it slide either.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said, "Go ahead and ask."

Horikita Suzune barely glanced at him before looking away again.

"Why are you doing something like this? What's your reason? It can't be that hanging around with Yamauchi and the others has filled your head with nothing but perverted garbage, can it?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't know how to answer. If he admitted it, then it would be as good as saying he was the one behind this. But if he didn't, it would be incredibly difficult to ask for her help afterward.

"..."

Seeing his silence, Horikita Suzune waved a hand.

"Looks like there's nothing left to say between us."

Ayanokoji decided to skip straight past that conversation. "So, do you two have time to help out or not?"

Horikita Suzune only looked at You En. In her eyes, Ayanokoji was now on the same level as Yamauchi. Even if the other party was foolish and shameless, it had nothing to do with her, and she wouldn't feel a thing.

You En understood she didn't want to talk to Ayanokoji anymore. He took over 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 I could ask Horikita to come teach them. Maybe if a girl teaches, they'll actually listen."

You En pulled out his phone, opened the class group, tapped on Hirata's profile picture, found the chat history, and saw Ayanokoji's group assignment. He couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Haha, serves you right."

"?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka judged that getting them to help was probably impossible now, but he still had to make one last attempt.

"Um, don't you two want to get promoted to Class A? If someone in the class ends up dropping out, it could cause some losses..."

You En shook his head. "No, I don't. First of all, I don't see what getting promoted to Class A has to do with a classmate dropping out.

And more importantly, if someone drops out, that's their own business.

If they really don't want to drop out, they should come ask for help themselves, instead of making others beg to help them. Ayanokoji, don't you think that kind of relationship is a bit ridiculous?"

Ayanokoji absorbed those words, thinking them over, and glanced at Horikita.

Horikita Suzune acted as if he didn't exist, giving no response at all.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka understood he had to think of another way. He scanned the room and spotted Kushida Kikyo up ahead, chatting with Wang Meiyu. An idea immediately came to him.

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

He glanced at Horikita Suzune, who was propping up her slightly chubby cheeks with her hand. Remembering their earlier conversation, an idea struck him.

You En sent a message to Kushida.

Kushida Kikyo's phone rang with a special notification tone. She glanced at You En's message, then noticed Ayanokoji approaching her desk. She roughly understood what was going on and immediately started her act.

"Is something the matter, Ayanokoji?"

"The students in my group might not reach the required scores. They could end up dropping out, so I wanted to ask for your help, Kushida."

Kushida Kikyo put on a troubled expression.

"Sorry, it's not that I don't want to help, but I have to improve my own group members' grades... and I also need to retake the exams myself. I really can't spare the time."

"There's always time to be found, isn't there?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka kept trying.

Kushida Kikyo just found it annoying. Even after such an obvious refusal, he still kept pushing. But thankfully, someone had already thought this through for her.

"Sorry, I really don't have the time. But Ayanokoji, you seem to have quite a bit of free time yourself.

Besides, you got all those difficult questions right on the last exam. It feels less like you can't score high and more like you don't want to."

Ayanokoji couldn't pick up on the subtext here. He could only try to break it down and analyze it rationally.

The first sentence threw the problem right back at him, meaning this was his own issue.

The second sentence said he could score high but chose not to, meaning he could teach Yamauchi and the others well but simply didn't want to.

No way around it.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka felt he had no good ideas for now, but he remembered hearing something about Kushida Kikyo having a secret—something from middle school. Maybe he could use that as leverage?

Feeling the gaze on his back, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka decided it was better to handle this sort of thing in private.

You En looked away, flopped onto his desk, and started catching up on sleep, taking a break from his intermittent slacking.

He had no choice. Every morning at dawn he had to go practice archery, and at night he had to tutor Ando Sayo and the others. Luckily, the tutoring wasn't every day, so he could still manage.

His phone buzzed. He picked it up while lying down and saw it was a message from Kushida.

"Kushida: 'Thanks, You En. Without you, I'd probably be driven crazy by those idiots.'"

"You En: 'You had the courage to refuse on your own. I just said a few words.'"

"Kushida: 'Do you have time tonight?'"

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

"Kushida: 'With Horikita Suzune again? Can't you come to me instead? I'm willing to do anything, you know.'"

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

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

"You En: 'Let me see if I can free up dinner time.'"

"Kushida: 'You have to free it up. Cancel your date with Horikita Suzune!!'"

"You En: 'Tired. Going to sleep now.'"

You En turned off his phone and flopped onto his desk to sleep.

Kushida, sitting in front, looked back and saw he was really asleep. Her face soured, and she shot a glare at the person behind him—Horikita Suzune, who was immersed 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's gaze swept around the classroom.

"Maybe I was seeing things."

Kushida Kikyo composed herself and added in her heart, A black, thieving cat.

In the faculty office, Four homeroom teachers, the grade head, and one elective course teacher were present.

Sakurakoji, the grade head, looked at the red-haired teacher, Annie, with a helpless expression:

"If you violate school rules, the consequences are severe. If you're not prepared, it's best not to go. I'll arrange for another teacher to take your class."

"I'm going,"

said the wild-looking young woman with long red hair.

"I've already thought of the worst-case scenario."

"Are you really ready for this?"

Sakurakoji was a steady person, and the other was a colleague of many years. He couldn't bear to make this decision lightly:

"How about we wait until after the first assessment? What do you think?"

Though Teacher Annie already had her own plans, she knew his words were for her benefit, so she nodded.

Meanwhile, You En received a notification.

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

To compensate for the inconvenience, the school will refund the 60,000 points registration fee. However, if the course is reinstated, you will still retain the right to attend free of charge.]

You En glanced at it. His personal points were back.

And if the course reopened, he could still go—essentially getting a free course.

Now that felt good.