Monday of the third week after enrollnt. Kanzaki Ryuji, as usual, made one final check of all the items needed for class, then pushed the door and left his room.
The weather today was fine, the temperature slightly warr again. After walking for a while, his body began to warm up, and combined with the crisp morning air filling his lungs, it left a person feeling invigorated and refreshed in spirit.
Arriving at the classroom, Class B's class leader, Ichinose Honami, was already seated in her spot as always.
"Good morning, Ichinose." Kanzaki Ryuji nodded and greeted her as he passed by.
"Good morning, Kanzaki-kun..."
Strangely, Ichinose Honami did not respond with her usual brimming energy. Instead, she was resting her chin absently on her hand, gazing out the window.
"Is sothing the matter, Ichinose?" Kanzaki Ryuji stepped forward to inquire further.
Setting aside personal relationships, Ichinose Honami was currently the core of their Class B. She essentially handled all the class affairs, big and small. If sothing was wrong with her, the class would have difficulty functioning.
"I was wondering... whether the four classes in our grade, A, B, C, and D, were deliberately divided in that order right from the very start."
Kanzaki Ryuji's heart jolted in shock. He frowned and asked, "Ichinose, what makes you think that? Did you notice sothing off sowhere?"
"Because, you see, these past few days, several students from Class D have ntioned to in conversation that they're finding the courses taught by the school a bit hard to follow."
As she spoke, Ichinose took out a textbook and showed it to Kanzaki Ryuji. "Since I was afraid our classmates might also be falling behind, I specifically checked the howork assignnts that are usually collected. But the results were all at standard, normal levels."
Kanzaki Ryuji's expression grew serious as he accepted Ichinose Honami's textbook and flipped through it rapidly, muttering to himself, "It is indeed the conventionally taught textbook material. There's no case of content beyond the syllabus either."
"Then, you see, I felt sothing was a bit strange, so I made a point of asking so students from Class C as well," Ichinose Honami said with a troubled look. "So of them also said that parts of what the teacher teaches are completely incomprehensible."
"Then Class A—"
Kanzaki Ryuji was just about to press further when he froze. As far as he knew, several students on Class A's side even attended extracurricular cram courses after classes.
Ichinose Honami gave a wry smile. "Not at all. Even the few who said things were difficult only ntioned it regarding individual subjects."
Having an uneven aptitude for different subjects was all too normal. Everyone had subjects they were good at and subjects they weren't, only varying in their degree of proficiency.
"It's possible."
After pondering for a mont, Kanzaki Ryuji opened his eyes, his gaze grave. "This situation is entirely possible!"
But the very next mont, he recalled that Sakayanagi Arisu, whom he had known since childhood through family banquets, and his stance beca uncertain again.
"But classes C and D also have students with excellent abilities and good grades, don't they?"
"That's the source of my current worry." Ichinose Honami lowered her head and let out a sigh. "I asked Hoshinomiya-sensei about it last night imdiately, and she said it's a prohibited matter."
"So, Kanzaki-kun, could you accompany later? I want to go observe the situation in each class."
A mont later, Ichinose Honami had already adjusted her own emotions and extended the request to Kanzaki Ryuji.
"No problem."
Kanzaki Ryuji nodded without any hesitation. Imdiately, he recalled the 100,000 Private Points the school had distributed at the start of enrollnt, and all the strange answers Hoshinomiya-sensei had given when he questioned her back then...
"Ichinose, if it turns out your deduction is indeed correct, for now, don't let students from other classes know about this information," Kanzaki Ryuji cautioned.
He couldn't yet figure out the specific reason why the school was doing this, but his intuition told him this was absolutely nothing good. Kanzaki Ryuji did not believe the school would genuinely hand out 100,000 points to students every month.
Without understanding the full specifics, the side that held the information would be able to seize the initiative.
"I understand." Ichinose Honami nodded in agreent.
...
Class A classroom.
"Hashimoto-san, what's the situation with that Ryuen from Class C? He's been let out now, right? Is he still trying to unify his class?"
In the lower left corner of the classroom, Fuyuji Mikage sat leaning against his own desk. He pulled out the eraser shavings he had collected from his drawer, took aim at Morishita Ai's head, and flicked gently... a direct hit right between the eyebrows.
The eraser shaving landed silently on Morishita Ai's desk, rolling around a few tis with a rattle before coming to a stop.
"I have to say, he's surprisingly tenacious." Hashimoto Masayoshi sat in the seat in front of Fuyuji Mikage's desk, flipping through the textbook for the next class while sighing helplessly. "Even after losing that much reputation and having his authority utterly devastated, he's still intent on unifying Class C."
Morishita Ai slowly raised her head. A murderous intent erged on her cold face. She took out her own battle-scarred eraser.
That's right. All the eraser shavings Fuyuji Mikage had collected were carved off this very eraser of hers. It was Morishita Ai who had fired the first shot!
Slicing off another piece, Morishita Ai pulled out a rubber band and looped it onto a pen, then took aim at Fuyuji Mikage...
Fire!
"In that case, how quickly do you estimate he can accomplish this?"
Fuyuji Mikage dodged left and right. Realizing he couldn't escape Morishita Ai's aim, he decisively abandoned his desk and hid behind Kito Hayato, who was leaning against the window, silently listening.
"To be honest, I really don't know." Hashimoto Masayoshi scratched his head in frustration. "The reaction in Class C is very intense right now. Basically, they're fighting every day. And that Ryuen guy, even though he can't win, still charges up to fight them every single day."
"Then we can ignore Class C for now. At least until the S System is announced, that class won't be able to unify. What about the current situation in Class D? Do you know anything?"
Seeing Fuyuji Mikage resort to such despicable tactics, actually using a person as a at shield, Morishita Ai likewise left her seat and chased after Fuyuji Mikage, continuing to fire.
The two of them circled around Kito Hayato, playing a ga of ring-around-the-rosy.
"Class D..."
Hashimoto Masayoshi revealed a highly entertained smile. "Actually, I think that even if we leave them completely alone, Class D's final score at the end probably won't look too pretty."
"Is that so..."
In that case, the only class that truly posed a threat to Class A was, in fact, just Class B.
Fuyuji Mikage fled in flustered disarray while pondering counterasures.
"Fuyuji-san..." Kito Hayato, who had remained silent the whole ti, suddenly spoke up.
"Mm... what is it?"
"Class B..."
Kito Hayato's gaze shot in a certain direction, and he gestured with a lift of his chin.
"Hm?"
Fuyuji Mikage halted his steps and turned around. Morishita Ai, going at full throttle, couldn't brake in ti and crashed headfirst into Fuyuji Mikage's chest.
The trendous impact force instantly dealt Fuyuji Mikage internal damage.
"Cough, cough..."
Fuyuji Mikage let out two dry coughs and hurriedly released the cold-air-emitting, soft, and faintly peach-fragranced Morishita Ai from his arms. He followed the direction of the gaze and looked outside the classroom.
That Ichinose Honami, whom he was acquainted with, and a male student with a stern expression were standing outside the classroom, observing Class A's every move.
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