The Two Who Bring Each Other Down

After leaving the cafeteria, Chihaya Rei did not rush to depart.

He picked a spot to stand, his eyes fixed on the cafeteria entrance, seemingly plotting something.

"Not leaving yet?"

Kamuro Masumi couldn't help but ask.

"Kamuro, wait for me here for a few minutes."

Chihaya Rei's eyes suddenly lit up as he spoke rapidly, striding forward and leaving Kamuro Masumi with nothing but his back.

Kamuro Masumi was confused at first.

Then, she watched as Chihaya Rei intercepted a senior student with long, straight black hair walking out of the cafeteria alone.

After the two chatted and laughed for a few moments, they both took out their phones.

Kamuro Masumi's eyebrows twitched, and she clenched her fist, nearly turning around to leave in a fit of anger.

So, when Chihaya Rei walked back to her, Kamuro Masumi said with a sour expression:

"So you made me wait a few minutes just so you could go hit on a senior?"

"How could you think that?"

Chihaya Rei raised an eyebrow, his face full of undisguised mockery as he shook his phone and said:

"Too shallow, Kamuro-san."

As he spoke, he tapped his fingers on his phone a few times, sending a document to Kamuro Masumi.

The document contained the questions and answers for the upcoming midterm exam, with the questions and answers for the late April quiz attached as a bonus.

"Check your phone."

Kamuro Masumi looked puzzled, realizing that things might not be what she had imagined.

She took her phone out of her skirt pocket, lit the screen, and saw the document Chihaya Rei had sent.

After opening it and seeing the title, Kamuro Masumi's eyes widened, and she subconsciously read aloud:

"Advanced Nurturing High School First-Year Midterm Exam Original Questions and Answer Key?"

"Yes, I bought it from that senior just now."

Chihaya Rei added with a smile.

He had used his physical appearance to charm the senior and bought it for 8,000 points.

However, as long as he resold it and adjusted his sales pitch, those 8,000 points would soon be earned back twofold from some unlucky soul.

"Is this thing even useful?"

Kamuro Masumi frowned, asking with some skepticism: "It's not guaranteed that they'll use the same questions this year, right?"

"Of course it's useful." Chihaya Rei explained with absolute confidence: "Our late April quiz was the same as previous years; this is actually a hint from the school."

"I've confirmed this with the senior as well. Besides, think about it—they even had this file organized and ready, clearly prepared to sell it to us first-years at any time."

After listening to Chihaya Rei's explanation, Kamuro Masumi flipped through the quiz questions again and took a few glances, finding that it was indeed the case.

In this way, the credibility of these answers was quite high.

"This school is truly absurd."

The corners of her mouth twitched, and she couldn't help but remark.

However, Kamuro's expression soon turned strange, and she stared at Chihaya Rei with a subtle look in her eyes.

"Why send it to me?"

One had to realize that there was competition between classes.

Having these answers would undoubtedly allow the entire class to pass the midterm exam smoothly.

Kamuro Masumi realized the value of these answers, and given the information Chihaya Rei had just revealed to her, he shouldn't have told her so casually, right?

Yet, Chihaya Rei had sent them to her without a word.

Was he worried that she wouldn't be able to pass the midterm and would be expelled?

If that were the case, Kamuro Masumi felt it was unnecessary.

Although she didn't particularly like studying, she could still manage to reach the standard of half the class average, thank you very much.

However, Chihaya Rei's actions still stirred some strange thoughts in the depths of Kamuro Masumi's heart.

When she was being threatened by Sakayanagi, it was Chihaya Rei who stepped in to help, and now he was giving her the answers.

Not long ago, he even called her a good girl...

No matter how she looked at it, such a thought couldn't help but emerge in Kamuro Masumi's mind.

Does he like me?

As soon as this thought appeared, Kamuro Masumi felt her heartbeat quicken, though she managed to maintain a calm exterior.

However, Chihaya Rei's next words quickly sank the delusional fantasies of this young girl.

"Just a small favor."

Chihaya Rei spoke lightly, as if he had only done something trivial.

"Also, I need your help to pass this answer sheet to Katsuragi in your class."

"Just tell him you accidentally discovered someone trading this with an upperclassman, so you bought a copy yourself."

Chihaya Rei had even thought up the excuse for Kamuro Masumi.

"..."

Kamuro Masumi froze for a moment.

So, Chihaya Rei had another motive.

The restless feeling she had just a moment ago felt as if it had been doused with a bucket of cold water.

Her expression turned unnatural, and she even felt ashamed for having such a pathetic thought.

"Kamuro, your face is a bit red. You didn't misunderstand something, did you?"

Noticing the strange look on Kamuro Masumi's face, Chihaya Rei couldn't help but step closer, eyeing her up and down with a subtle gaze.

He thought to himself.

Kamuro Masumi had worried he didn't have enough points, brought him some, and then followed him to eat together.

Her behavior just now also looked like jealousy.

She even walked back to the dorms with him quite openly, though that was on the way.

But wouldn't it be more reasonable for a tsundere to leave on her own after treating someone to a meal? Instead of sticking with him like this.

Besides, the "dere" he felt from Kamuro Masumi today outweighed the "tsun."

His face was decent enough, after all.

Could it be that Kamuro Masumi actually had designs on him?

Chihaya Rei felt that possibility was quite high.

"No!"

Kamuro Masumi denied it with a deadpan, serious expression. She took a deep breath to push away those strange thoughts and calm herself down before asking:

"Why give the answers to Katsuragi?"

Seeing Kamuro Masumi start to play tough, Chihaya Rei curled his lips, not pressing the issue.

As for her question...

Chihaya Rei felt a detailed explanation would be too much trouble, so he simply said:

"You just need to know that doing this will annoy Sakayanagi Arisu."

The midterm exam answers were actually dispensable for Class A.

Because regardless of whether they had these answers or not, the students of Class A would study hard for the exam, and with their solid foundation, they would pass anyway.

Yet, Chihaya Rei chose to hand the answers to Katsuragi.

It seemed like a redundant move, but it was anything but.

If Katsuragi produced these answers in Class A to provide an extra layer of security for the class, it would boost his prestige and cause more of the neutral faction in Class A to lean toward him.

This move was meant to support Katsuragi and weaken Sakayanagi Arisu.

Furthermore, after being provoked by him this morning, Sakayanagi Arisu would likely take action to seize leadership of Class A, so he was just setting a small trap for her.

Besides, since Sakayanagi Arisu wanted to challenge him, he couldn't just sit back and take the hits; he had to take the initiative!

"Fine, I understand."

Kamuro Masumi nodded in agreement, a smile breaking across her cold, alluring face, which earned her another round of teasing from Chihaya Rei.

She wasn't a fool; after thinking about it, she understood Chihaya Rei's intentions.

After all, she was aware of the power struggle between Katsuragi and Sakayanagi Arisu in Class A.

Kamuro Masumi was more than happy to do anything that would annoy that high-and-mighty Sakayanagi Arisu.

Besides, Sakayanagi Arisu had once suggested recruiting her.

But she would never be a dog for Sakayanagi Arisu!

Afterward, the two returned to the dormitory together, and Chihaya Rei said his goodbyes when they reached the fourth floor.

Back in his room, Chihaya Rei turned on the free air conditioning, sat down, and thought about what he needed to do next.

As a mature information broker, Chihaya Rei knew his greatest advantage was using information asymmetry to his benefit during every class competition, earning a massive amount of private points.

However, for this midterm exam, his only trading partner was Ryuen Kakeru.

The students of Class A and Class B had no risk of failing.

Given the personalities of Ichinose Honami and Katsuragi Kohei, they firmly believed that their respective classes could pass the exam in their entirety through self-study.

Therefore, attempting to sell the method for passing the exam to those two would be a non-starter.

This was precisely why he didn't mind having Kamuro provide the exam answers to Katsuragi directly, rather than selling them.

However, the situation with Class C was different.

In Class C, only a small handful of students had decent grades, while the remaining thirty-plus students were struggling academically, with many facing a high risk of failing.

In a sense, the students of Class C were the most lackluster of the four classes.

Thinking about it this way, Ryuen Kakeru, that tyrant, really had it rough, having to carry thirty-some people on his back.

After merely sighing at the difficulty of Ryuen Kakeru's position, Chihaya Rei broke into a smile.

Because they had purchased his intelligence, Class C's class points for the first month had been quite high, so they should be flush with cash right about now.

This was the perfect opportunity to harvest the leeks.