"Heh, then I'll let Kitahara off the hook for now."
"Now, let's get down to business. Kitahara, do you know who I was talking about earlier?"
Kitahara shook his head slightly. Come on, everyone knows you've been thinking about Ayanokoji.
"Eight years ago, I faced off against him in a match. Unfortunately, I lost back then. Since that day, I've resolved to bury that false genius."
"You mean the person you want to bury is in my class?" Kitahara asked, pretending to work it out.
"That's right. But he doesn't seem to have much motivation at the moment," Sakayanagi said in agreement.
"You're talking about that guy, Ayanokoji, aren't you?" Kitahara said, laying out the answer.
"I didn't expect you to have figured it out already, Kitahara. Yes, he's the one I intend to bury."
"So you want me to help you? You don't seem like the type to ask for that."
"Heh, naturally, I want my showdown with him to be free of interference. We'll settle things through class competition."
"But setting Ayanokoji aside, you haven't even taken full control of your class yet, Sakayanagi."
"Kitahara really does know a lot about our class. Still, although Katsuragi is capable, he's no match for me. I'll let him lead for now," Yanagihara said with complete ease.
"I didn't expect you to be so confident, Sakayanagi. I haven't met him yet, but I have a rough idea of what he's like. At another school, he'd surely make a name for himself, but here..."
"If I rate Katsuragi a B, then Kitahara gets an A in my book."
"Then I'm grateful for your high opinion of me, Classmate Sakayanagi," Kitahara replied modestly.
"But from what I've seen, Ayanokoji doesn't want to lead the class. He just wants to enjoy his high school life."
"Heh, that'll be up to you, Kitahara."
"All right, that's what I wanted to discuss. We can talk about the rest another time."
"I still believe you can pull it off, Kitahara," Sakayanagi said, wearing another triumphant smile.
"But Ayanokoji's about to put forward a 'puppet.' He'll probably stay in the background," Kitahara revealed, laying out the full picture of the situation.
"I see. Then it must be Horikita, who's always with him."
"Yeah, that seems to be the case for now."
"..."
"Thank you for keeping me company today, Kitahara. I had a lovely time." Sakayanagi suddenly turned her gaze toward the scenery outside the window.
Kitahara followed her gaze and saw that the sky was already growing dark.
"I can't believe how quickly the time passed. It's evening already. I'll be off, Classmate Sakayanagi." Although Kitahara said he was leaving, he didn't move. Instead, he looked at Yanagihara.
Noticing Kitahara's gaze, Yanagihara chuckled. "You don't need to trouble yourself by walking me back today."
"Hah. Who said I wanted to walk you back?"
As Kitahara headed back to the dorm, he suddenly realized he'd forgotten something.
Damn, I haven't discussed the upcoming exam with her. Whatever, I'll talk to her about it tomorrow.
Still, Yanagihara's words reminded me: if she can have a secret place of her own, why can't I get one too? I'm just a little worried about how many points it'll take to qualify.
I still have that task of collecting twenty million points. Today's competition reminded me that even though there's still plenty of time, the sooner I finish, the better.
I also have that task of joining the Student Council. Could I get in for free?
Is there any way to get a place for free?
Right, I could apply to start a club. The school doesn't have an Esports Club, after all. Not only that, I could get free funding and a venue from the school.
I could also invite other people to join and complete the task the system gave me.
Heh, so the most urgent thing now is figuring out how to join the Student Council. Applying directly feels a little embarrassing, especially since I told Ichinose not to join.
Looks like I'll have to make a move during these midterms. That's the only way I'll have a good reason to approach the Student Council.
When Kitahara returned to his room, he immediately picked up the intercom and said, "Please connect me to Sakayanagi Arisu in Class 1-A. This is Kitahara Seiichi from Class 1-D. I need to speak with her."
"Oh, Kitahara, did you miss me that much? You called me as soon as you got back to your room." Sakayanagi Arisu's teasing voice came through the phone.
[I take back what I said about her before. She really is a bratty little gremlin.]
"Ahem. I left in such a hurry that I forgot there was something I needed to discuss with you."
"What could be so important that you had to call me personally, Kitahara?"
"It's about the upcoming midterms. I want to make a few arrangements, and I need your help."
"Hmm?" Sakayanagi sounded intrigued.
"Sakayanagi, do you know about the old exam papers for this test?"
"Oh, there are things like that? It seems the school is giving the lower-ranked classes a shortcut. But even if they exist, they won't affect the higher-ranked classes at all."
"Besides, something like this will probably only happen once. The school won't let us face the same situation with every exam."
"Right. So this is our only chance to make a move. It probably won't be so easy next time; after all, this is a flaw in the school's system."
"Looks like Kitahara has already figured out what to do. I'm going to get a lot of points this time, too."
"Before that, I want to ask: how are your academics, Sakayanagi?"
"Heh, you don't need to worry about that, Kitahara. Because of my health, I can't go out, so I finished studying the entire high school curriculum at home."
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Classmate Sakayanagi. I'd like you to create a new exam paper."
"I see. So that's what you have in mind, Kitahara," Sakayanagi quickly understood what he was planning.
"Yeah. It's the only way to get the greatest benefit."
"But if we do that, a lot of students in the lower-ranked classes may be expelled. There aren't enough points to save all of them. I doubt the school would be happy with that outcome."
"Heh, that's where you come in, Classmate Sakayanagi. You'll have to control the difficulty of the exam so the school will be as willing as possible to accept our proposal."
"Let's leave it there for now. We can go over the details at the café tomorrow."
Just as Kitahara was about to hang up, Sakayanagi asked, "Are you in such a hurry to collect points because you're trying to save up enough to transfer classes?"
"Who knows?" Kitahara shot back, using her own words against her.
"Heh. But if you ask me to meet you at the café tomorrow, won't people think we're dating? You called me away from your class today, after all, and the school forum already has posts about what happened."
"Hahaha."
Before Kitahara could respond, Sakayanagi Arisu hung up.
[Aaaah! She got me again! I'd like to know who posted this online.]
After hanging up, Kitahara quickly washed up, then collapsed into bed, exhausted, and fell asleep almost at once.
Meanwhile, in another dorm room, someone was still awake because of what had happened.