On Wednesday of the first week of summer vacation, the air conditioning in the café on the third floor of Advanced Nurturing High School's Shopping Center was stronger than usual. Kushida Kikyo sat by the window, with a cup of unsweetened black coffee and an open notebook before her. Its pages were densely filled with records from the entire past semester—not exam scores or class notes, but names. Each name was followed by several brief annotations: personality traits, social preferences, which topics they were most sensitive to, and under what circumstances they would let down their guard. She had begun keeping this notebook on the very first day of school. It was a habit she had formed before entering this school.
She turned to the pages labeled "Class D Girls." Karuizawa Kei's entry read: "Proud but kind; instinctively protective of the weak; hides her insecurity behind a forceful demeanor." Sakura Airi—"Social anxiety, but intensely focused when behind a camera; takes a long time to build trust, but that trust is steady." Horikita Suzune—"Puts reason above all else; poor at accepting help, but will sacrifice her personal interests for the team at crucial moments." Shiina Hiyori—"Quiet; exceptionally observant; does not take sides, but provides informational support for certain people." Every name was the result of her own observations and organization, a database that allowed her to precisely locate every person within the social network. She closed the notebook, lifted her black coffee, and took a sip. The coffee was bitter, without sugar, but she was used to that bitterness. Just as she was used to swallowing both her tenderness and exhaustion alone after every intricate calculation.
Her phone vibrated, and a system notification popped up—"Summer Vacation Special Event: Class Competition Exhibition Match. Student staff are now being recruited. Interested students should