The Mask Removed

"Get in here first." Kushida Kikyo grabbed Shiraishi Makoto by the arm and yanked him into the room, closing the door behind her.

"How did you even get into my room?" Shiraishi asked, puzzled.

"I got the spare key from the dorm manager." Kushida pulled a key from her bag and waved it in front of him.

"The dorm manager just hands out keys without the person being there? Aren't they worried about problems?" Shiraishi was genuinely taken aback. Was the management at this prestigious school really this lax?

"You guys wouldn't be able to get keys to a girl's room, but it's not hard for us girls to get keys to a guy's room." Kushida snorted, then changed the subject. "Where were you this morning? I saw you heading to the classroom."

After adding someone as a friend on the student terminal (what they usually called their phones), you could check each other's locations. But the location wasn't very precise—it only showed broad areas like "cafeteria," "teaching building," or "gymnasium."

"I had some personal business. Nothing to do with you."

"If you don't want to say, fine." Seeing that Shiraishi wasn't offering more, Kushida didn't press further. She had come today for another reason.

"Did you already know things would turn out like this?"

"What are you talking about?" Shiraishi realized why Kushida had come, but he still played dumb.

"I'm talking about how I had to borrow money to stop those three idiots from getting expelled." The more Kushida spoke, the angrier she got. She punched Shiraishi's forearm again, her voice full of irritation. "Now I'm in debt for over two hundred thousand points!"

"It's no big deal. Class A doesn't really care when you pay it back. Besides, everyone sees it as a debt owed by Class D as a whole, not just you. No one's going to come after you." Kushida's punch wasn't hard, so Shiraishi didn't bother stopping her. He smiled as he explained the situation.

"Even if you say that, I'm still in debt. And you still haven't answered my question."

"Well, I guessed it might happen, but I was only about fifty percent sure." Shiraishi said slowly.

"What do you mean, fifty percent sure?" Kushida didn't quite understand.

"It's simple. The rule that you can buy grades with personal points isn't public knowledge. Someone had to discover it and then step up to warn everyone." Shiraishi explained.

"That damn Horikita woman!" Thinking about how she'd been at odds with Horikita Suzune ever since she arrived at school, and how everything seemed to go wrong whenever she crossed paths with her, Kushida gritted her teeth.

"Oh? Horikita?" Shiraishi was surprised. It seemed that, thanks to his involvement in the plot, Kushida still hadn't figured out who really called the shots in the class.

"What do you mean?" Kushida was taken aback by his tone.

"Horikita Suzune couldn't have done this." Shiraishi shook his head. "Organizing a study group, or actively trying to save three students from expulsion—that's never been something Horikita would do."

That was right. The Horikita Suzune who had no friends, kept to herself, and could drive people away just by joining a study session—how could she possibly go out of her way to help the "weak" in her class?

And besides Horikita, there was only one other person who had been involved from start to finish.

"Ayanokoji Kiyotaka?" Kushida's tone was questioning, but in her heart, she had already made up her mind.

"That's right. Horikita is just a puppet following orders. The real mastermind is Ayanokoji." Shiraishi paused, then dropped another guess. "And I have a feeling he's already figured out that you're working for me."

"Don't talk nonsense. What do you mean, working for you?" Kushida made a disgusted face, pretending to shiver, but she couldn't help asking, "Why do you think that?"

"For the same reason Horikita couldn't have discovered the personal points rule—you couldn't have found the old exam questions."

"How could I not... fine, I admit I didn't realize it." Kushida wanted to argue, because it made her sound stupid. But the truth was, she still didn't understand how anyone could figure out that the school reused the same exam questions every year without knowing the answers beforehand.

"So I won't be exposed, right?" Kushida's heart tightened. Would Ayanokoji Kiyotaka reveal her as a spy?

"No. Because I have a cooperation agreement with him too." Shiraishi glanced at Kushida. "It's not quite the same as your situation, but as long as you don't deliberately provoke him or let anyone else catch you, he'll probably ignore what you do."

"But isn't he the one pulling Horikita's strings? You know how much I can't stand her." Kushida continued. "So does that mean I can't mess with Horikita anymore either?"

"His relationship with Horikita isn't like ours." Shiraishi smiled.

"Ayanokoji uses 'getting into Class A' as bait to subtly drive Horikita into action. So she probably doesn't even realize she's being manipulated the whole time."

"What an idiot." Hearing this analysis, Kushida felt a lot of her frustration melt away.

"Don't laugh at her. Your leverage is in my hands."

"Ugh, you bastard! If you can't talk properly, just shut up!"

Kushida, embarrassed and angry, rained her little fists down on Shiraishi. But as they tussled, the atmosphere in the room subtly shifted.

She suddenly came to her senses. This was already the second time she had come to Shiraishi's room alone.

Though each time had a different purpose, in the two months since arriving at this school, only when she was here could she completely drop her mask and vent her emotions freely.

And unlike being in her own room, here there was someone who knew her past but didn't hate her—and someone she didn't exactly hate either.

"What an idiot."

"What did you say?" Kushida's voice was too soft for Shiraishi to hear clearly.

"I said you're an idiot, and everyone in Class A is an idiot too. If you hadn't lent us the money, those three would have been expelled, and I'd have saved tens of thousands of points." Kushida vented her frustration again, this time more aggressively.

"There's nothing we can do about it. That's just how our class is." Shiraishi helplessly raised his hand to block her fist.

"That's why I can't reason with you idiots." Kushida stopped hitting him and picked up her handbag. "Call me if anything comes up. I'm leaving."

"Didn't you barge in here on your own? And next time, let me know before you come to my room." Shiraishi called out, but Kushida had already closed the door. He wasn't sure if she heard him.

In the elevator, Kushida pressed her right hand to her chest, feeling her heart race. A wave of heat crept up her cheeks.

"What an idiot."