So It Was You

Faced with Sudo's questioning, Horikita Suzune had nothing to say. But anyone who thought about it for a moment would know this wasn't Horikita's fault.

Sudo and the others had ultimately failed because they hadn't worked hard enough.

Hirata stepped in to ease the tension. "Sudo, I know you're upset about failing, but this isn't entirely Horikita's responsibility. She wanted to help you too. No one expected the exams to be reformed this year."

Hirata really did try to stay neutral and avoid offending anyone, but Sudo wasn't in any state to be reasoned with.

"You're not the one getting expelled! What gives you the right to stand there talking like it has nothing to do with you? Who are you trying to impress by acting like such a saint?!" Sudo kicked Horikita's desk, scattering her books across the floor.

A pen rolled to Kushida Kikyo's feet. Little Kikyo kicked it even farther away. Though she was secretly overjoyed, Kikyo still had to put on a sorrowful expression. At a time like this, she should have stepped forward to comfort Sudo, but she didn't.

Someone about to be expelled had no value worth currying favor with. Kushida had always disliked Sudo's little clique. They constantly made vulgar comments about the girls in class, and who knew how many filthy things they had said behind Kushida Kikyo's back. Kikyo had no desire whatsoever to comfort them now.

Facing Sudo's accusations, Horikita straightened up her desk, only to find that a pen was missing. "If you had put in even a little effort, you wouldn't have failed. This year's exam was clearly easier than previous years, and you still failed. You should go to a hospital and have your brain checked. When I gave you those papers, I emphasized that they were only for reference. You still needed to study seriously. Did you study seriously, Sudo?"

Sudo fell silent. He merely slammed his fist on Horikita's desk again, grabbed his basketball, and headed out of the classroom. No one knew where he was going.

The other two students who had failed were also gripped by panic.

"Chabashira-sensei, let's talk privately." Ignoring the looks from the rest of the class, Horikita led Ayanokoji and Chabashira out of the classroom, leaving the others inside to chatter among themselves.

The three of them went to the rooftop where Ryuuen fought. It was one of the few places on campus without surveillance cameras, a gray area tacitly permitted by the school.

"Chabashira-sensei, you said at the beginning of the school year that points could buy anything in this school. That includes grades, doesn't it?"

Although she had phrased it as a statement, Horikita wasn't certain it could really be done. She had only spoken that way to express her hope.

Chabashira nodded and pulled out a cigarette and lighter from her pocket.

Secondhand smoke was not pleasant.

White smoke slowly drifted from Chabashira's red lips.

"One hundred thousand per point."

Chabashira tapped the cigarette, and gray ash fluttered down to the ground.

"That's too expensive, Chabashira-sensei."

"Horikita, those are the school rules. There is no room for bargaining."

"Can we pay in installments?"

"No."

The cigarette was soon finished. Ayanokoji endured the smell of smoke as he listened to their conversation. "Sometimes giving up is also a choice. We don't have enough points to save Sudo and the others."

"It has already been confirmed that someone being expelled from the class would greatly affect the class evaluation. As long as there's even the slightest chance, I won't give up."

Horikita was still Horikita. Her stubbornness hadn't changed in the slightest.

"Have you considered that the class might be better off without these underachievers?"

Having seen through human weakness, Ayanokoji's words sounded like a devil's whisper. In truth, quite a few students in the class thought the same way. That was why Hirata had been the only one to step up and mediate the conflict earlier.

"Isn't Sudo your good friend? How could you think that?"

"We're not that close. We just talk a little more than usual."

Horikita couldn't detect any emotional fluctuation from Ayanokoji and continued, "If the class loses people, we might end up at a disadvantage in future exams because of it. Sudo's grades may be terrible, but his athletic ability is outstanding. I think it's necessary to keep them."

"Them? You think Ike and Kuraii are worth keeping too?"

Ayanokoji was trying to guide Horikita into giving up on using points to help the three students who had failed, but stubborn Horikita simply wouldn't listen.

Faced with Ayanokoji's question, Horikita couldn't find any strengths in Ike or Kuraii. She only felt that someone being expelled from the class at this time would have serious consequences later on. That was Horikita's judgment, and also the girl's intuition.

"We don't have that many points. Even if we gathered everyone's points in the class, it still wouldn't be enough," Ayanokoji reminded her.

By Ayanokoji's estimate, each person in the class could contribute at most ten or twenty thousand points. That would come to no more than around eight hundred thousand, while they were short by one million four hundred thousand. They had squandered all their points at the beginning of the school year, and now they didn't have enough.

"First, we'll crowdfund within the class. I'll figure out the remaining points myself." Horikita already had an idea.

"You don't have much time. If you don't have enough points by tomorrow morning, Sudo and the others can only be expelled." Chabashira was about to light a second cigarette, but Horikita reached out and stopped her.

"Then let's split up. Ayanokoji, you'll be responsible for crowdfunding in the class." Horikita directly gave Ayanokoji an order without caring whether he accepted it.

Ayanokoji didn't care what Horikita chose, but he did want to see just how she would struggle.

There were only two ways to get points: earn them or borrow them. Clearly, borrowing was Horikita's only option.

For Horikita Suzune, the best person to borrow from was Horikita Manabu. But Horikita Manabu was also the person she least wanted to face, so Suzune immediately ruled him out. She didn't know anyone else in the upper grades, aside from the upperclassman who had sold her the exam papers, whom she barely knew.

Class A would never care whether Class D lived or died, and that Ryuuen from Class C looked like he was up to no good. Class B was Horikita's only real hope of borrowing points, since Ichinose Honami, a notorious do-gooder, was well known around the school.

Unfortunately, Ryuuen had thought of that too. He had already made a deal with Ichinose, demanding that she refuse to provide Class D with any form of help. More accurately, it was a threat. Ryuuen knew about Ichinose's past, the stain on her life.

Horikita couldn't even get a meeting with Ichinose. Just when she had nowhere left to turn, that upperclassman sent her a message. "I'm at the Cafeteria in the shopping center. Maybe I can help you."

A trap.

How did that upperclassman know Horikita was in trouble, and why did she want to help her? Though she knew there was a risk, Horikita still went.

When Horikita arrived at the Cafeteria, she saw not the upperclassman, but Ryuuen. He sat there leisurely drinking coffee with a smile.

The moment she saw Ryuuen, Horikita understood. Everything had been a trap Ryuuen had set for her!

He had used the Sudo Incident to drain her funds, then arranged for that upperclassman to sell her the exam papers. The reformed exam questions were probably connected to Ryuuen as well. The contract she had signed was likely in Ryuuen's hands too. No wonder Horikita had felt there was something off about that contract before.

"What exactly do you want from me after doing all this?"

Having figured everything out, Horikita Suzune instead calmed down. It was easy to see that Ryuuen's target was her, not Class D.

"I want you to have a cup of coffee with me. Waiter, bring this young lady a cappuccino. Milk, no sugar."