Study Session

Back in the dormitory, Shinomiya recorded everything that had happened today as usual.

He even gave the Horikita siblings their own separate pages.

Horikita Suzune's title was: "I Want to Be Just Like My Brother."

Shinomiya decided to save the reward points for now. He had gained too many talents recently, and last time had been a little more than he could handle.

He did not know whether his talents were too powerful or whether he had simply reached his limit from having too many.

Either way, Shinomiya planned to take it slow.

Closing the notebook, the quill and notebook both dissolved into specks of light.

Sitting in his chair, Shinomiya was still considering where to set up a chessboard tomorrow.

The clock turned back.

After the green-haired guy had been beaten into a pig's head, the other two brought him into a private KTV room.

Supporting the green-haired guy between them, the two knelt before Ryuuen.

"Ryuuen-kun, we did as you asked, but he wouldn't say anything."

The girl in Ryuuen's arms poured him a glass of alcohol and handed it over. (The drinking age was twenty; lower-year students could ask upper-year students to buy it for them.)

Ryuuen took a sip, then signaled for Yamada beside him to handle it.

Yamada threw two punches at the two boys who appeared uninjured.

Then his punches grew heavier and heavier, quickly covering their bodies in bruises.

Yamada pressed their heads onto the table in front of Ryuuen.

Ryuuen poured the rest of his drink over their heads.

"This will make it look more convincing."

Ryuuen looked at the green-haired guy, whose face had already swollen into that of a pig. "Why is he so much worse off than you two?"

The two beaten boys were dazed and stammered out their answer.

"He... he kept getting back up after being knocked down, so Shiomiya Yo just kept hitting him."

Having heard the whole story, Ryuuen felt this guy had potential.

"What's your name?"

"Ishizaki Daichi."

The green-haired guy answered indistinctly.

"Not bad. You'll follow me from now on."

Ryuuen took another glass and handed it to him, then took one himself and clinked glasses with him.

Draining the whole glass in one gulp, Ryuuen stared into empty space.

"Shiomiya Yo, let's see how you deal with this one."

Ibuki Mio, seated across from him, watched Ryuuen's actions with some displeasure.

The next day, Hirata had already begun organizing the study session.

Sure enough, three stubborn holdouts refused to attend: Yamauchi, Ike, and Sudo.

As for Class D buying intelligence, Hirata came to see him.

Just as Shinomiya had expected, they could not scrape together 300,000 points.

Shinomiya believed the remaining points in the class totaled close to one million.

But they could not distribute them equally among everyone, because some people had already been reduced to zero points.

What surprised Shinomiya was that no one came looking for trouble today.

There were simply many more Class C students outside, provoking people in every possible way.

They were indiscriminate, harassing both Class A and Class B as well.

"A harassment tactic? That's pretty boring, Ryuuen."

He had even sent people to Class D to approach Hirata about forming an alliance against Class A and Class B.

Anyone could see through such a simple trick, right?

He had most likely gone to Class A and Class B to propose an alliance too.

Ryuuen was the type to take a swing whether there was anything there or not.

He was getting genuinely annoying.

Ryuuen's actions also prompted the other classes to mobilize.

In Class A, Sakayanagi Arisu and Katsuragi Kohei formed two opposing factions.

In Class B, a faction formed around Ichinose.

In Class D, Hirata and Karuizawa were at the center, though a small number of people remained uninvolved.

It was hard to imagine all this had been established in a single day.

That catfish Ryuuen had forced every class to quickly define its internal power structure.

Whenever he had free time today, Shinomiya wandered around to observe the situations in each class.

Shinomiya felt that the classes would soon begin fighting. All they needed was for Ryuuen to fire the first shot.

And that shot would most likely be aimed at Shinomiya himself.

Shinomiya had nothing to lose now. His class points were already at zero, so there was nothing left to deduct, and there was no direct evidence.

Although he was not particularly popular, he was not the sort of person people hated either. He should not be found guilty based on subjective assumptions.

Slacking off in class...

School was over!

Just as Shinomiya was about to leave, Kushida stopped him.

"Shinomiya-kun, wait!"

"Would you like to come to the study session with us?"

Just as Shinomiya was about to refuse, Kushida grabbed his hand and looked at him with pitiful eyes.

Shinomiya was confused. Kushida knew this would not work on him, so why was she calling me over?

Shinomiya checked his phone.

There were no messages either.

Still, Shinomiya decided to maintain his simp persona.

"If Kushida is inviting me, then of course I'd be happy to go!"

After saying that, Shinomiya shyly touched his nose. He did not dare look directly at Kushida, and his face flushed slightly.

That whole performance exhausted Shinomiya.

Before, all he needed to do was put on a gentle smile. Who would have thought there would come a day like this?

Kushida had not expected Shinomiya to be such a good actor. His acting was nearly on her level.

Shinomiya and Kushida walked out of the classroom together, while boys behind them ground their teeth in frustration.

That bastard Shinomiya actually got invited by Kushida!

As they walked, Shinomiya quietly asked Kushida.

"What exactly did you call me for? You didn't even send me a message."

Kushida responded quietly as well, maintaining her gentle smile.

But her tone was anything but polite.

"When I call you, just listen. Why are you asking so many questions?

Help Horikita bring Yamauchi and the other two to the study session today.

You're good at studying too, so go help out!"

Shiomiya Yo:?

I just refused Hirata, and now you're dragging me over as free labor?

"You really don't treat me like a person, do you? I still need to earn points for the two of us!"

Kushida smiled and greeted a passing student.

"That isn't something I need to consider. Besides, this is what you... owe... me," Kushida said one word at a time, pinching Shinomiya beneath the cover of her shoulder bag.

"Try to get closer to Horikita today. Help me from the side."

When they arrived at the library, the other five had already arrived.

They were Horikita, Ayanokoji, Yamauchi, Ike, and Sudo.

Shinomiya and Kushida sat down as well.

"Shinomiya-kun is very good academically too, so I specifically invited him to study with us today."

Kushida explained to the five.

Everyone welcomed him.

But Shinomiya could clearly see that Horikita's expression had darkened.

She was obviously still holding a grudge. The way she looked at Kushida carried some anger as well.

Clearly, both he and Kushida were people Horikita did not want at this study session.

Though the trio of poor students seemed somewhat distracted, they began cooperating with the studying.

With a boy present, they asked Shinomiya their questions first.

"Shinomiya, how do you solve this problem?"

Shinomiya took one look and directly wrote down the process and answer on paper.

"Like this."

Shinomiya handed over the answer. What he had written was the standard solution.

But the trio of poor students could not understand it at all. They could not grasp it just by looking at the answer themselves.

When they asked about the specific steps, Shinomiya could not answer.

When Yamauchi and the others asked why he had thought to write it that way, Shinomiya's answer was, "You can tell at a glance."

That was completely incomprehensible to Yamauchi and the others.

Shinomiya's phone vibrated.

Shinomiya picked it up and looked at it.

[Kushida: Are you doing this on purpose?]