The day the exam results were announced
"Because Kushida is perfect for that kind of role."
Ayanokoji watched Kushida Kikyo surrounded by a crowd and spoke to Horikita Suzune beside him.
"How annoying." Horikita Suzune silently closed her eyes.
PS: Last time, when Long Aotian sold the exam papers, Horikita Suzune had been one of the buyers. She had originally planned to hand out the answers herself, but Ayanokoji had manipulated her into pushing Kushida Kikyo forward instead.
At the front of the classroom, Chabashira-sensei looked surprised. "Honestly, you've surprised me."
"I didn't expect all of you to score so highly. I'll admit you've all worked hard." Chabashira-sensei slowly took out a red pen and drew a line beside Sudo's name. "But Sudo, you scored 39. That's a failing grade."
Sudo slammed the desk in anger. "What the hell? Why did I fail?"
"The failing mark for this midterm is anything below 41. The average total score for everyone on the midterm was 82, and half of that is 41. You're two points short."
"Though it was brief, thanks for your efforts. Please submit your withdrawal application after school."
"Am I going to be expelled?" Sudo's body seemed to buckle under an invisible weight. His shoulders slowly sank, his neck drooped helplessly, and his head lowered until it rested against his chest.
"Please wait. Is there really no way to make up for it?"
Hirata Yosuke stood up and spoke urgently.
"If you fail an exam, you can only be expelled," Chabashira Sae said slowly.
"Isn't there anything else we can do? I can't accept Sudo being expelled just like this." Kushida Kikyo looked at Chabashira-sensei, her eyes full of worry.
"Rules are rules. Give up."
"That's strange."
Ayanokoji turned to Horikita Suzune and said,
"What?" Horikita Suzune turned to Ayanokoji, puzzled. "What's strange?"
"I saw someone use points to check the surveillance footage at this school before." Ayanokoji propped his head up with one hand, looking confused. "It's as if you can buy anything with points."
It's as if you can buy anything with points. The words echoed in Horikita Suzune's mind. Then she stood up. "Wait."
Chabashira-sensei had been about to leave, but paused and looked back at Horikita Suzune. "Is there something else?"
"Teacher, please sell me the two points Sudo needs for his English score."
"Oh?" Chabashira-sensei looked a little surprised. "Hahaha, how interesting. I didn't expect you to ask me to sell you points."
"This is my first time selling points, so let me think." Chabashira thought for a while, then suddenly put on a serious expression. "I'll give you a special price: 100,000 points per point. I'll sell them to you at that price."
"But..." Horikita Suzune checked the points on her phone. She had only a little over 40,000, nowhere near enough, so she turned to Ayanokoji.
Noticing Horikita Suzune's gaze, Ayanokoji shook his head and showed her the more than 60,000 points on his phone.
Not enough! They were still short by more than 90,000 points!
PS: Don't ask. The math is right! Look closely at the word "more"—the extra point came from Sakura's improved score, which raised the average.
"Um, could everyone help out and share some points?"
Kushida Kikyo seemed to have noticed the problem too, and spoke to everyone.
The classroom fell strangely quiet...
Then Hirata Yosuke stepped forward, took out his phone, and showed everyone his points. "I'll donate a little over 20,000 points. Sudo's our classmate too. Let's all help out."
Yamauchi Haruki seemed to notice Sudo's gaze and took out his own phone as well. "I'll donate a little over 5,000 points."
Ike Kanji, standing nearby, could only take out his phone helplessly. "I'll donate a little over 2,000."
"How come you only have a little over 2,000? Have you been hiding some?"
Yamauchi Haruki looked at Ike Kanji and asked, puzzled.
Ike Kanji lowered his head without saying anything.
Hirata Yosuke looked at Karuizawa Kei, who also took out her phone and showed the more than 10,000 points she had.
Even after adding up all the other contributions, they had only managed to gather a little over 80,000 points.
"Sakura..." Kushida Kikyo looked at Sakura, hesitating.
Remembering what Long Aotian had said earlier, Sakura Airi also took out her phone and showed the 10,000 points on it.
They had enough! Exactly 200,000 points.
Even Chabashira-sensei was a little stunned. They'd gone around collecting points, and only just managed to scrape together 200,000.
"Looks like you're quite united. Very well, then." Chabashira-sensei spoke to everyone, took out her phone and received the points, then left the classroom. In the hallway, they could see Chabashira shaking her head.
In Sakura Airi's dorm room~
Long Aotian was listening to Sakura recount what had happened.
Damn, Long Aotian was speechless. You'd gone around and only managed to gather 200,000 points? Sure, some people definitely hadn't donated, but was it really that hard to scrape together 200,000?
"Aotian, you're amazing. Did you leave me those 10,000 points earlier because you knew this would happen?" Sakura Airi said, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Long Aotian.
"Mm." Long Aotian nodded and reached out to cover those two sparkling, doe-like eyes. "That's right. I just didn't expect it to be so difficult for you to scrape together 200,000 points."
There was another reason Long Aotian hadn't mentioned: it was a way of lending her the points. By having Sakura donate all her points, everyone else would know she didn't have much left, so this sort of situation wouldn't happen again.
"Ah." She swatted Long Aotian's hand away, then slowly moved closer and took out her phone. "Kushida invited me to a celebration party tonight."
As she came closer, the air seemed to take on a subtle, intimate atmosphere. Her figure looked especially graceful in the soft light, like an exquisite painting slowly unfolding before him. And those breasts of hers—he couldn't have them, but they stood out so much.
"Go ahead." Long Aotian looked away and rubbed Sakura's hand. "Just keep an eye on Kushida while you're there. You're in for a good show."
"Mm-hmm." Sakura nodded, took his hand, and looked at Long Aotian, puzzled. "What kind of show?"
"You'll see when the time comes." Long Aotian looked back at her, and their eyes met.
Sakura's lips were as tender and inviting as cherry blossoms just beginning to bloom, naturally pink like clouds blushing faintly in the morning light.
Long Aotian slowly leaned closer~
That night~
A "Cheers!" rang out in a dorm room.
"Why do you look so exasperated?" Sudo asked Ayanokoji with a sigh, then picked up his drink and took a sip.
"I don't mind you holding a celebration party, but why does it have to be in my dorm room?"
"Come to think of it, that was close. If Horikita hadn't come up with that idea, Sudo would've been done for!"
Yamauchi Haruki spoke loudly.
PS: Sakura donated 10,000 points here, but she didn't actually have that much compared to the total. That's why the Idiot Trio didn't thank her. Funny, right?
Ike Kanji praised Horikita Suzune. "You're really amazing. Looks like we misunderstood you before, Horikita."
No one noticed that Kushida Kikyo's expression was gradually turning grim. No one, that is, except Sakura.
Sakura remembered Long Aotian saying there'd be a good show today. Could it be Kushida Kikyo?
As time passed~
The celebration party ended, and Kushida Kikyo left the room. Sakura followed shortly afterward.
Kushida Kikyo came downstairs, left the dorm building, and walked over to the fence. A figure appeared in the bushes behind her.
Sakura came there soon afterward too, but Long Aotian stopped her.
"Shh." Long Aotian covered Sakura's mouth, held a finger to his lips, and leaned close to her ear. "Keep your voice down. There'll be a good show in a moment."
"Mm~" Hearing the familiar voice, Sakura nodded and slowly pressed herself against Long Aotian.
Long Aotian rubbed Sakura's hand, then took out his phone and started recording.
"How annoying." Kushida Kikyo's face darkened. She kicked the fence in anger and said, "This is the worst. The worst, the worst. Why doesn't someone like Horikita just die? She's so annoying, so damn annoying. That bitch."
The angelic, sweet, and gentle side of her, the side everyone had always known, vanished in that instant. Sakura stared at the scene before her, unable to believe her eyes.
Long Aotian put away his phone, patted Sakura's head, and leaned close to her ear. "Let's go."
Sakura nodded, took Long Aotian's hand, and left with him.
But Long Aotian didn't take Sakura back to the dorm. Instead, he quietly headed for a patch of bushes farther away, and the two of them hid inside.
"Shh, there's more to come," Long Aotian whispered, wrapping his arms around Sakura from behind and resting his head on hers.
Long Aotian sniffed. A subtle, indescribable fragrance drifted from Sakura, its fresh, clean scent wafting gently into his nose.
"Damn, why do you suddenly smell so good?"
"Hm?" Sakura nodded in confusion. After a while, she understood what he meant and shyly shrank back.
Under another tree, Ayanokoji was hiding behind the trunk with his phone, watching Kushida Kikyo ahead.
Suddenly, a phone rang~
"Who's there?"
Hearing the phone behind her, Kushida Kikyo turned and shouted.
Ayanokoji walked out, phone in hand.
Then Kushida Kikyo demanded to know if Ayanokoji had seen anything. She even put his hand on her chest and threatened him: "If you tell anyone, I'll accuse you of raping me."
Sakura watched the scene ahead, even more shocked. Her worldview had been turned upside down several times in one night.
Long Aotian rubbed Sakura's delicate hand. "It's okay, it's okay. You'll be even more shocked later."
After watching the two figures disappear in the distance, Long Aotian still didn't hurry to bring Sakura out.
"Don't go out yet. We might run into those two on the way back to the dorm." Long Aotian whispered.
"Mm~" Sakura freed herself from Long Aotian's embrace, turned to him, and hugged him.
Long Aotian had actually considered having Sakura go and retrieve that phone, but taking it would definitely have been a dead end. Sakura would certainly have been exposed.
If she took it, Ayanokoji wouldn't have appeared. Whether they left the phone on the ground or came up with an excuse to return it, people would suspect Sakura.
PS: I originally wrote more than 500 words with four different methods, but deleted them all. I've thought this through: if she took the phone, any events that followed would make people suspect Sakura. If you can think of a solution, leave a comment and amaze me.
Still, it was better not to change anything. They could use this video to threaten Kushida Kikyo later.
Five minutes passed...
Long Aotian lifted Sakura, who was lying on top of him, and asked in confusion, "Are you planning to lie on me all the way back to the dorm? Aren't you afraid someone will see us when we get back?"
At that, Sakura still didn't move. She raised her head, blinked at Long Aotian, and said, "I'll go back later."
Before you continue