The Outcome

The tense midterm exams finally came to an end. When the last test paper was collected, an air of relief mingled with anxiety filled Class D's classroom. Ken Sudō, Kanji Ike, and Yamauchi Haruki immediately gathered together.

"Hey, Sudō! Did you guess the answer to that last big math question?" Kanji Ike asked, scratching his head with lingering apprehension.

"Ha! That one? I think I managed to plug the formula in just right!" Ken Sudō slapped the desk hard. His voice sounded a little uncertain, but he couldn't hide a flicker of excitement at his good luck. "Feels like... I might've just scraped by?"

"Me too, me too!" Yamauchi Haruki chimed in excitedly. "I couldn't understand half the words in the English reading section, but I think I guessed a bunch of the multiple-choice questions right! Feels like... I probably didn't fail, right?" His voice was full of the uncertainty of someone who'd narrowly escaped disaster, but compared to his despair before the exams, a faint glimmer of hope had now appeared in his eyes.

Their discussion wasn't exactly quiet. Kazama In, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, and Horikita Suzune were each packing up their stationery. Their gazes happened to meet, then all settled on the three "problem children."

The tension in Horikita Suzune's lips seemed to ease by a fraction, and a trace of her usual coldness melted from her eyes. She soon pressed her lips together again, returning to her cool composure. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka remained expressionless, silently observing the three and calmly assessing their state of mind. Positive emotions, favorable feedback. Their chances of passing have risen significantly. The plan is initially successful.

As for Kazama In, the assassin known as "The Arbiter," as he watched Sudō and the others jump around in excitement at the prospect of passing, the corners of his mouth involuntarily and quite naturally curved upward. It was a clear, genuine smile, filled with a touch of relief and satisfaction, like a ray of warm sunlight piercing through cracking ice.

The smile was fleeting, but unmistakable. Horikita Suzune, who had turned her head, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who had glanced up, both caught it.

"..." Horikita Suzune's eyes widened slightly, as if she'd seen something unbelievable.

"...Kazama," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said in his utterly even tone, stating a simple fact. "You smiled."

Kazama In paused for a moment. The smile didn't disappear entirely; instead, it took on a hint of helplessness and candor. As he put his stationery into his pencil case, he pulled the beautifully illustrated copy of Love Song of Green Seasons from his desk. His tone was casually matter-of-fact. "Is that strange? Being cheerful is part of my nature, isn't it? Besides..." His fingertip brushed over the cover, and his gaze grew slightly more serious. "This book seems to suggest that people who smile are more likely to receive kindness from others and make friends. Maybe there's something to it." He paused, then pulled another book from deep inside his desk. Its cover was completely different in style. It was School Days. "I heard this is also about school life, so I borrowed it from the library to take a look."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's gaze swept over the cover of School Days, and a series of cool assessments flashed through his mind. Negative example. Extremely exaggerated content. A textbook case of how not to handle interpersonal relationships. Kazama In's social awareness is still at the exploratory stage. Exposure to this kind of work may distort his understanding. There is a risk. Reading it is inadvisable. But in the end, he said nothing and simply looked away.

At last, the day the results were announced arrived. The air in Class D's classroom seemed frozen. Everyone held their breath, eyes fixed on Chabashira Sae as she walked to the front.

Chabashira-sensei adjusted her glasses and scanned the classroom, lingering for a moment on Sudō, Ike, and Yamauchi. She cleared her throat and began reading out names and scores.

"...Ken Sudō, math: 57; Japanese: 42; English: 48..."

"...Kanji Ike, math: 52; social studies: 45..."

"...Yamauchi Haruki, English: 51; science: 43..."

Once it was clear that all three had scored above 40 and below 60 in every subject they struggled with, the classroom fell silent for a moment before erupting into a huge cheer! Sudō and the others were so excited they nearly jumped into each other's arms. Their scores weren't high, but they were safely over the line! They had avoided expulsion!

Watching the lively scene, Chabashira Sae wore a faint, almost imperceptible smile—an extremely rare sight on her usually stern face. She raised a hand to quiet everyone. Her voice was a little gentler than usual. "It seems your efforts weren't wasted. Some of you, in particular, managed to pull back from the brink and earn yourselves the chance to keep studying. As a whole, Class D showed... improvement on this exam. Class Points..." She paused, then announced, "105."

Their points were still the lowest, but those 105 points were like rain after a long drought, igniting hope in everyone in Class D. It meant they had finally escaped the shame of having "0" and gained points they could use! The classroom grew even livelier, filled with the joy of having survived and anticipation for the future.

To celebrate this hard-won victory and thank the core members who had worked so hard during the final study sessions, Hirata Yosuke and Kushida Kikyo took the lead in organizing a small dinner for the study group at Kazama In's dorm. The reason for choosing Kazama In's room was obvious: the past exam papers he had provided had been the foundation of their success.

That evening, Kazama In's dorm room was unusually lively. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Horikita Suzune, Kushida Kikyo, Hirata Yosuke, Karuizawa Kei—who naturally attended as Hirata's girlfriend—and the three "main characters," Ken Sudō, Kanji Ike, and Yamauchi Haruki, were all there.

Everyone was slightly surprised when they walked in. Kazama In's room was unexpectedly neat, almost to the point of being rigid. The books were arranged meticulously by size and color; the bed was so neatly made that not a single wrinkle showed; and the desktop gleamed like a mirror, bare except for the necessary stationery and his copy of Love Song of Green Seasons. The air held a faint, chilly scent, like a mixture of disinfectant and books, which seemed to suit his identity as "The Arbiter."

"Wow, Kazama, your room is way too clean!" Kanji Ike exclaimed.

"Just a habit," Kazama In replied simply, bringing out the drinks and snacks he'd prepared with his newly earned points.

The gathering soon grew lively. Holding their drinks, Sudō, Ike, and Yamauchi solemnly thanked Horikita Suzune, Kazama In, Ayanokoji, and Kushida Kikyo.

"Horikita! You're still as harsh as ever... but thanks!" Sudō said awkwardly to Horikita.

Horikita Suzune gave a slight nod. Her cool face showed little emotion, but the distance in her eyes had undeniably lessened. "You earned this through your own efforts. For the next exam, I hope you'll actually understand the material instead of relying on last-minute cramming." Her tone was still firm, but it no longer had the bite of before.

Kushida Kikyo beamed sweetly and chimed in naturally. "That's right, that's right! Suzune really is so responsible! We all worked together this time!" She moved close to Horikita, trying to link arms with her. Horikita's body stiffened almost imperceptibly, but she ultimately didn't pull away. Her expression was simply a little awkward.

Kazama In sat a little apart, sipping his drink as he calmly observed. When Kushida Kikyo called her "Suzune" in that exaggeratedly saccharine tone, he keenly caught a fleeting look of deeply suppressed irritation and disgust in Kushida's eyes. It was not the look of someone offering sincere praise. His fingers tightened around his cup for a fraction of a second, and he understood. A superficial reconciliation. Kushida Kikyo's hostility toward Horikita Suzune hasn't gone away; it's grown even stronger. She's still determined to get Horikita expelled. Kazama In silently adjusted his assessment of Kushida Kikyo and decided to be even more cautious about bringing the two of them closer until he had fully uncovered her hidden motives and secrets.

Throughout the gathering, Kazama In smiled much more often than usual. Most of the time, it was no more than a slight upward curve of his lips and a gentler look in his eyes, but his relaxed manner and occasional faint smiles in response to the conversation still seemed novel to Sudō and the others, who were used to his usual cold demeanor.

"Hey, Kazama, you're in a great mood today!" Yamauchi Haruki bluntly pointed out.

Kazama In nodded without hesitation. "There's plenty to be happy about, isn't there?" His gaze swept over the three who had passed safely, the class that had earned points, and also... the copy of Love Song of Green Seasons resting on his bedside table.

After the gathering ended, the dorm room returned to its usual quiet. Kazama In stood by the window, watching everyone's figures recede below. His gaze eventually settled on Kushida Kikyo's seemingly cheerful back as she walked away, her pace a little hurried. The expression of restrained irritation she'd worn earlier surfaced in his mind again.

I need more information. Kazama In turned and sat down at his desk, opening a laptop that looked ordinary but had been heavily modified. The cold light of the screen illuminated his expressionless face, and his slender fingers flew across the keyboard as if playing a silent melody. Firewalls were pierced one after another like sheets of paper; encrypted files were cracked in turn... Fragments of information about Kushida Kikyo's time in middle school, tinged with an unsettling darkness, began appearing on the screen—bullying, betrayal, the complete collapse of her social image, and... an extreme hatred of anyone who knew about her past.

Kazama In's pupils contracted slightly. So this is the root of it. Horikita Suzune learned about the past she refuses to face and became a stain on the flawless mask she can't tolerate. She has to be eliminated completely...

Just then, something occurred to him. Kushida Kikyo hadn't headed toward the girls' dorms when she left. She had taken the quiet path along the river behind the school. Considering her suppressed emotions when she left and the information he had just uncovered... Kazama In didn't hesitate. He closed his laptop and left the room silently, like a leopard disappearing into the shadows.

The night breeze along the river was chilly. Kazama In hid in the dense canopy of a large tree, his presence blending perfectly into the surroundings. He soon spotted his target: Kushida Kikyo stood with her back to him, beside the railing by the river.

The Kushida standing there bore no resemblance to the sunny, sweet girl from the gathering. Her face was twisted, her eyes bloodshot, and she radiated a violent fury. She kicked the metal railing over and over, hard, producing a muffled clang each time, while snarling in a rage and hurling the vilest curses at Horikita Suzune. "...Damn Horikita! Why won't you just die?!... Hypocrite! Always putting on an act!... I'll make sure you get kicked out of this school! Get out!!" Her twisted expression and hateful voice revealed the truest version of herself, one she had never shown anyone.

Kazama In watched it all from above, still as a cold statue, without a ripple in his ink-black eyes. He quietly activated a miniature high-definition camera, recording the shocking scene. Just then, his keen eyes caught sight of a figure behind another large tree nearby, almost perfectly blended into the surroundings—Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. Evidently, he too had been drawn here or had followed her.

What happened next played out like a reenactment of a set script. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's phone rang, abruptly shattering the silence by the river. Kushida Kikyo whipped around like a startled snake, instantly locating the source of the sound. When she saw Ayanokoji, the fury on her face was immediately replaced by a mix of utter madness and calculation.

"Ayanokoji-kun... you heard me, didn't you? You heard everything, didn't you?!" Her voice trembled, breaking with tears as she approached step by step, a strange smile spreading across her face.

"Kushida, I'm just here to return your phone."

"I can't let you tell anyone! Absolutely not!" she shrieked, cutting him off. As Ayanokoji tried to retreat, she suddenly grabbed his wrist! Then, under the cold gaze of Kazama In's camera, Kushida Kikyo made her false accusation: she forcibly took Ayanokoji's hand and pressed it against her chest through her uniform shirt!

"If you dare betray me, I'll tell everyone what happened." Her cold voice rang out across the quiet riverbank, dripping with calculated pretense and malice.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's body stiffened instantly, and for once, a crack appeared in his poker face. He quickly pulled his hand away, his eyes turning dangerously cold. But Kushida Kikyo stared at him with a crazed, threatening gaze, silently warning, Deny it, and I'll ruin you completely.

Just as the tension reached its peak and Ayanokoji was about to be forced to respond, a voice devoid of warmth rang out from above, as calm as a sentence being passed.

"So, your true nature has finally been exposed?"

Kushida Kikyo and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka both shuddered and looked sharply upward.

Kazama In had silently dropped down from the tree and was now standing in the shadows not far from them. Moonlight outlined his tall, cold silhouette. His ink-black eyes were like an abyss as he calmly looked down at the two stunned figures. In his hand, he toyed with a small camera, its screen casting a faint glow across the barely perceptible, chilling curve of his lips. And without Ayanokoji Kiyotaka noticing, a grain-of-rice-sized miniature recorder had already been secretly attached to a hidden corner of the lining of his uniform, using a technique so subtle it seemed almost supernatural, before he approached Kushida.

The Arbiter had already secured the crucial evidence and witnessed everything that had happened in the darkness.