Chapter Summaries

Class A and Class D competed in the drawn events, trading wins before Lezheng Youyan and Matsushita Chiaki faced off in Mizuhiki Craft. Matsushita finished six knots and part of a seventh, then saw that Lezheng had made nine, leaving the match’s result unannounced.

• Class A and Class D drew seven events, including Mizuhiki Craft, chess, and basketball.
• Horikita defeated Kamuro in Knife Skills, while Class A won the mathematics and English exams.
• Takimura completed Class D’s models before Class D finished its third, earning the class a Model Repair victory.
• With Class A leading three to one, Matsushita Chiaki and Lezheng Youyan began the Mizuhiki Craft match.
• Matsushita stopped after making six knots and part of a seventh, then saw nine knots on Lezheng’s table.

Lezheng’s Class A secured victory in the Command Tower Exam after he defeated Sakayanagi in chess, while Class B also beat Class C. As winter break began, Lezheng and Shiina spent time shopping and reading together, while Nagumo hinted at a future challenge.

• Lezheng defeated Matsushita in the Mizuhiki knot match, and Sudo narrowly won the basketball match for Class A.
• Ayanokoji and Hashimoto stalled through the first half of the chess match before Ayanokoji defeated Sakayanagi in the Command Tower control room.
• Class A finished its matchup against Class D with an overall victory, and Class B beat Class C 4-3; no students were expelled.
• Lezheng learned that Ryuuen had used laxatives to undermine Class C’s exam participants.
• During the break, Lezheng and Shiina shopped for spring clothes, where Nagumo hinted that he had prepared a gift for Lezheng.
• Lezheng and Shiina browsed new books together in the library.

Karuizawa’s friends discovered that the charm on her bag came from Lezheng, and she introduced him as her cousin before inviting him to meet them. Their staged outing brought their relationship into the open, while Karuizawa’s growing affection for Lezheng showed through during dessert.

• Matsushita recognized Lezheng’s blue charm on Karuizawa’s bag, and Karuizawa told her friends that Lezheng was her cousin.
• Karuizawa called Lezheng and invited him to meet her classmates at a dessert shop, where Sato, Matsushita, and Mori Nene questioned him.
• Lezheng and Karuizawa encountered several familiar students at the shop, including Manabe and Kushida.
• Karuizawa offered Lezheng some of her banana cake, and he realized she was departing from the plan they had made to reveal their relationship.
• Lezheng recalled that he had agreed to the staged reveal after thinking about Nagumo’s remarks, while Karuizawa felt her affection for him growing.

Lezheng rebuffed Kushida when she approached him to make friends, then helped Sakayanagi review her chess match and explained his rejected proposal to make the school fairer by reshuffling classes each semester. The chapter ended with Sakayanagi considering how radical the plan was while Lezheng accepted that the school board had blocked it.

• Kushida sat with Lezheng and Karuizawa, learned that Lezheng was Karuizawa's older brother, and left after Karuizawa told her she was unwelcome.
• Karuizawa warned Lezheng to stay away from Kushida, while Nagumo wondered whether Lezheng had seen through his plan.
• Sakayanagi woke Lezheng and asked whether he had approached Fuka Kiryuin; later, Lezheng found the homemade chocolates she had left for him.
• Sakayanagi returned in the afternoon, and Lezheng reviewed her chess match, showing her alternatives to Queen Sacrifice Check.
• Sakayanagi asked whether Lezheng and Karuizawa were siblings, then heard about his proposal to reshuffle classes every semester and decide Class A through a final match.
• Lezheng explained that Tsukishiro had supported his proposal, but the other school board members had rejected it.

Before the Joint Written Exam began, Lezheng recruited Kyo Ishigami as his first-year partner and watched students form cross-year pairs. When Kazuomi Housen started a fight in the cafeteria, Lezheng knocked him out and dragged him away.

• Lezheng reviewed the incoming students’ records and asked Ryuuen about Kazuomi Housen, learning that Housen was a well-known delinquent from Ryuuen’s area.
• At the welcoming ceremony, Lezheng introduced the Joint Written Exam, which paired one second-year with one first-year and threatened both with expulsion if their combined score was 500 or lower.
• Lezheng paired with Kyo Ishigami, and other students began registering their own cross-year partnerships.
• Sakayanagi told Lezheng that her father had revised the exam rules and that Tsukishiro would leave after the exam.
• At the cafeteria, Housen provoked Ryuuen’s group and attacked Sudo and Ibuki before Lezheng intervened.
• Housen tried to punch Lezheng, but Lezheng struck him unconscious and dragged him away as Miyabi Nagumo watched.

Lezheng secured a reduced punishment for Hosen after arguing with Tsukishiro and Sakayanagi, then returned to Ichinose, who checked his hands with growing affection. The next day, Lezheng announced Hosen’s punishment and watched students discuss the fight while he bantered with Kamuro and noticed Yagami had teamed up with Kushida.

• Nanase found Hosen in the security office after he woke, and told him Tsukishiro would try to lessen his punishment.
• Lezheng and Sakayanagi rejected Tsukishiro’s attempt to excuse Hosen, then agreed to suspend Hosen for a month, withhold his Private Points for three months, and place him alone in the Special Exam group.
• Sakayanagi asked Lezheng how he had persuaded the Kiryuin family to help, and later wondered with Arisu whether Lezheng had an undiscovered background.
• Ichinose waited for Lezheng, examined his hands, and repeatedly held them while they waited for the elevator.
• Lezheng posted Hosen’s punishment on the school website, drawing attention and arguments from students, then traded remarks with Kamuro in class.
• Lezheng noticed that Yagami had formed a group with Kushida.

Lezheng earned full marks in all five subjects on the special exam, boosting Class A’s standing and his reputation across the school. After Nanase, Yagami, and Amasawa discussed their failed attempt to expel him, Lezheng met Shiina for a detective-themed photo shoot while Amasawa watched them.

• Lezheng and Ichinose accepted Utsunomiya Michi and Tsubaki Sakurako’s Student Council applications and asked why they wanted to join.
• Mashima announced that no students had been expelled, and the results showed Lezheng had scored 100 in all five subjects.
• The school awarded Lezheng 110,000 private points, 50 class points, and an additional 1,000,000 private points, while Class A finished with 2,487 class points.
• Nanase, Yagami, and Amasawa discussed failing to get Lezheng expelled, and Yagami said he would continue prioritizing the mission.
• Lezheng met Shiina, and they dressed as detectives for a photo shoot while Amasawa began secretly following them.

Lezheng and Shiina took wedding photos and returned to his room, where he confronted Amasawa for following them. A month later, Hosen resumed control of Class 1-D, while Karuizawa and Ichinose competed for Lezheng’s attention as Amasawa watched; the chapter ended with the narrator considering changes to the deserted-island survival rules.

• Lezheng and Shiina took wedding photos, and Shiina asked him to make her egg fried rice when they returned to the dorm.
• Lezheng waited outside Room 321 and confronted Amasawa Ichika for following him, then told Shiina about it.
• A month later, Hosen was released, and the first-year classes had established their leaders, including Housen as Class 1-D’s leader with Nanase as his deputy.
• Karuizawa asked Lezheng for help with homework and gave him a homemade lunch, then noticed two other lunch boxes in his schoolbag.
• Ichinose joined Lezheng and Karuizawa, asked Lezheng to teach her a Mizuhiki knot while holding her hands, and prompted Karuizawa to ask for the same treatment.
• Amasawa watched Lezheng, Karuizawa, and Ichinose interacting while the narrator considered changing the deserted-island survival rules.

Lezheng learned the rules for a two-week, whole-grade deserted island exam and faced competing offers from students seeking his help. He accepted Ayanokoji’s Trial Card in exchange for a promise to help against Tsukishiro, then heard from Kiryuin about the White Room and Ayanokoji’s father.

• The school announced a two-week deserted island exam for all grades, with groups facing possible expulsion and withdrawals incurring a six-million-point debt.
• Ryuuen, Ichinose, Kanzaki, and Horikita each approached Lezheng about teaming up, but he chose to participate solo; Sakayanagi and Katsuragi offered to cooperate as Class A.
• Hosen demanded two million private points to cooperate with Yagami and Utsunomiya, then left after they rejected his condition for a merged group.
• Ayanokoji offered Lezheng a Trial Card in exchange for help when Tsukishiro made a move against him on the island, and Lezheng agreed to help within his abilities.
• Kiryuin challenged Lezheng to a contest and told him that Atsuomi Ayanokoji, Ayanokoji’s father, stood behind the White Room and had called his son its masterpiece.

Lezheng began the deserted-island survival exam alone, quickly earning points and completing a math task before catching a fish near I5. The chapter ended with him carrying his catch and jokingly asking others how they knew he had caught one.

• Before the exam, Lezheng and Shiina promised to look out for each other, while Mashima explained the scoring, equipment, routes, and withdrawal rules.
• Sakayanagi told Lezheng she wanted to participate this time, and he agreed to let her and Katsuragi handle personnel assignments while he listened to their plans.
• After setting off from A1, Lezheng reached H6 first for ten points and then registered for the math task at G10.
• Lezheng finished the math quiz with full marks while other students were still answering, astonishing Yukimura and Kushida when they saw him.
• At I5, Lezheng found the task slots full, then caught a fish in a nearby stream and carried it on his bag.