As soon as they walked in, they saw Chabashira Sae smoking a cigarette near the inner doorway.
She cast a slightly surprised look at the trio arriving together.
“…You’re a lot slower than I expected.”
“You can blame your best friend for that.”
“Hoshinomiya?
That woman is always doing completely unnecessary things.”
Chabashira crushed her cigarette, dampened it under the water dispenser to ensure it was completely out, and tossed it into the ashtray before walking over to the reception sofas.
“Have a seat.
I imagine you’re quite familiar with this process by now.
Ayanokoji and Horikita, you sit too.”
Shiki casually took the middle seat, completely unbothered that he was flanked by two deadpan faces that would give a normal person the creeps.
He familiarly picked up the teapot, checked it, and complained, “Calling people over without even preparing tea…
isn’t that a bit rude?”
Chabashira was speechless.
“If you want to drink something, go make it yourself in the break room.
And you are a student, not a guest.”
“Oh.
I’ll go make some then.”
Watching him act like he owned the place made Ayanokoji feel entirely peaceful, while Horikita felt deeply uncomfortable.
After Shiki walked off to the break room, Horikita frowned.
“Sensei, today you said that only excellent students are selected for Class A, and that Class D is the final dumping ground for defectives.
If that is true, why was I placed in Class D?”
“You certainly don’t beat around the bush.”
“You seem to have expected me to come looking for you?”
“I pride myself on understanding my students.
Your reaction was entirely within my expectations.
The only thing I didn’t expect was seeing you arrive with Tsugikuni and Ayanokoji.”
“We just happened to bump into each other on the way here.
We do not get along.”
The counseling room fell silent.
Shiki walked back holding a steaming teapot, noticed the slightly awkward atmosphere, slowed his steps, and carefully sat back down.
He poured a cup for everyone and started sipping his tea without saying a word.
Seeing this kid act exactly like someone buying front-row tickets to a drama show, Chabashira’s eye twitched.
She couldn’t help but ask, “Tsugikuni, do you have anything to add?”
“Ah, add what?”
Looking at the completely blank expression on his face, Chabashira honestly couldn’t tell if he was playing dumb or actually clueless.
Giving up on him, she shifted her target to the other guy pretending to be deaf and mute.
“Ayanokoji, what about you?”
“Are we talking about something important?”
Shiki mentally applauded.
(Wow, Ayanokoji, you look so honest but you’re absolutely ruthless!)
One playing dumb, the other acting stupid…
Chabashira let out a laugh of pure exasperation.
“Class D is truly lucky to have the three of you.”
“You flatter us.
It’s all thanks to your excellent guidance.
Without a Class D homeroom teacher, how could there be Class D defectives?” Shiki’s attitude instantly became incredibly respectful.
Chabashira’s eye twitched again.
Beside him, Horikita couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Sensei, I truly believe my abilities do not belong in Class D.”
She was clearly deeply irritated by the two of them constantly throwing around the term ‘Class D.’ Chabashira cast a sideways glance at her.
“It seems you are very confident in your own abilities?”
“Of course,” Horikita said sharply.
“I am confident I solved almost all the questions on the entrance exam, and I don’t believe I made any major mistakes.
Even in the interview, I performed well.
I think I should have at least avoided being placed in Class D.”
Shiki let out a lazy yawn.
Hearing things he had already predicted completely failed to grab his interest.
“Solved almost all of them?
You really do have confidence in your academic scores.
And you are correct.
Although it’s against the rules to tell students their exact entrance exam scores, I’ll make an exception for you.”
Chabashira took a sip of her tea.
The bitter, tasteless water assaulted her taste buds.
Keeping her face perfectly neutral, she set the cup down and pushed it slightly further away.
“Horikita, you performed exceptionally well on the entrance exam.
You tied for fourth place, barely trailing behind second and third.
Your interview performance was also outstanding, leaving virtually no room for criticism.
Judging purely by surface level evaluations, you are undoubtedly an excellent student.”
“Surface level evaluations?”
Horikita sounded deeply unconvinced.
“Are you saying the school also tests students’s inner morals?
Am I supposed to be judged on how gentle, respectful, frugal, and yielding I am?”
“It seems you truly refuse to accept your placement in Class D.”
“I am simply dissatisfied with being placed in a class that does not match my level.
It’s only natural to be unaccepting.
After all, different classes mean completely different futures.”
Hearing Horikita’s incredibly naive words, Chabashira couldn’t help but let out a mocking laugh.
“Does not match your level?
What an arrogant thing to say.
You believe your abilities are outstanding, but who ever said that academic scores alone determine if someone is excellent?
Who ever promised that a person with high grades is guaranteed a spot in an excellent class?”
that is basic common sense in society.”
“Common sense?
You are far too naive, Horikita.
Your so called ‘common sense’ is nothing more than the current trend of society at this specific point in time…
I am not denying that being good at studying is an ability.
However, this school aims to nurture truly excellent talent.
The school stated this from the very beginning.
If academic scores were the only requirement for entry, do you honestly think someone like Sudou would have been admitted?”
Shiki quietly chimed in, “Maybe they just needed cannon fodder.”
“Tsugikuni, stay quiet for a moment.”
Chabashira glared at him, then remembered something and sneered at Horikita.
“You think your grades are good?
You think you are excellent in every aspect?
Then how do you think you compare to Tsugikuni?”
Horikita recalled the test results posted during homeroom.
Shiki got a perfect score and took first place, while she scored 90 and took second.
“He…
is slightly better than me…”
Her voice dropped noticeably, clearly lacking confidence.
“Slightly better?” Chabashira shook her head and smirked.
“Remember what I just said about the entrance exam?
Do you know why I mentioned you were barely behind second and third, but completely left out first place?”
Horikita’s eyes widened.
“Are you saying…”
“Exactly.
Tsugikuni scored a perfect 100 on every single subject.
His academic excellence is completely unmatched.
It is the very first time this has happened in the entire history of Advanced Nurturing High School.” Chabashira stared at her.
“Now, do you still think you are only ‘slightly’ behind him?” (TL:My bro is buffed as hell)
Someone scores near perfect because that is the limit of their ability.
Someone else scores perfect because the test only goes up to a hundred…
Horikita turned her head, staring unblinking at the sleepy face next to her.
She honestly couldn’t comprehend how a guy who was always half-asleep could possibly score higher than her.
Shiki, whose head had been bobbing up and down as he dozed off, suddenly jolted awake.
Feeling a complex stare on him, he met Horikita’s eyes, then let out a massive yawn.
“Ahhh—are you guys done talking?”
“Tsugikuni, you look half asleep all day.
Do you not rest properly at night?”
Watching him lazily dozing off right in front of her without a care in the world made a vein pop on Chabashira’s forehead.
“Why do you think I can get a perfect score?
Obviously, it’s the result of burying myself in books day and night without rest!
Studying is really hard work, you know…” Shiki lied with a totally straight face.
In reality, he just wanted to sleep.
He was purely exhausted, likely paying back the massive sleep debt he had accumulated from his grueling past.
His body was instinctively trying to make up for all the lost rest.
Horikita, however, felt a deep sense of respect.
The way she looked at Shiki completely changed.
(No wonder he’s always so low on energy, yet still gets top grades.
It turns out he’s secretly studying relentlessly when no one is watching!)
Chabashira suddenly smiled.
“Horikita, Tsugikuni’s abilities go far beyond just that.
You know the truth about this merit based school now, right?”
“Yes.
Is there a problem?
You just explained it this morning.”
Thinking back to the shock of learning the truth this morning, and realizing how obvious all the abnormal signs had been since the first day, Horikita felt a surge of frustration.
She was angry at her own uselessness for missing something so blatantly obvious.
“Heh.” Seemingly reading her mind, Chabashira chuckled.
“What if I told you that someone noticed those anomalies on the second day of school—no, wait, on the very first day—conducted an investigation, deduced the hidden truth, and confronted me on the second day to verify it…
What would you think of that person’s abilities?” (TL:The glaze continue)
“T-That’s…
how is that possible?!”
Horikita’s eyes went wide.
Then, something clicked in her brain, and she snapped her head toward Shiki.
“Are you saying…
it was him?”
“Nothing is impossible.
Although this kid walks around looking like a panda, his observational skills are terrifyingly sharp.
Considering his performance against Sudou in class today, I imagine you have a pretty fresh memory of what he’s capable of.”
Horikita’s emotions were a chaotic mess.
Regret, self-blame, and deep frustration swirled together.
For a moment, she had too many questions and didn’t know where to start.
Finally, she managed to force out a question directed at Shiki.
“You…
aren’t you frustrated being placed in Class D?”
She truly couldn’t understand it.
If his academic skills were completely unmatched and his observational skills were that terrifyingly sharp, how could someone like him comfortably accept staying in Class D?
Shiki was still annoyed that Chabashira had blabbed about his secrets.
Knowing this woman couldn’t keep her mouth shut, he firmly decided to stay far away from her in the future.
Hearing Horikita’s question, he rolled his eyes.
“Didn’t I already answer this in class?
This kind of thing literally has nothing to do with you.”
Human empathy is a difficult thing.
Just like how he couldn’t understand why these weirdos were so insanely obsessed with reaching Class A, they couldn’t understand why he was perfectly fine with accepting the school’s placement.
Instead of wasting time on all this scheming and internal drama, they should just go study.
Highly capable students like Yukimura and Horikita could easily get into top universities purely through their own hard work.
Yet, they were stubbornly fixated on the uncertain guarantee of Class A.
It was putting the cart before the horse.
They were acting like total idiots.
Shiki’s dismissive attitude instantly made Horikita’s eyebrows shoot up in anger.
But her deep seated inferiority complex quickly snuffed out her anger, leaving her to just bite her lip and glare at him in frustration.
Seeing Shiki’s sour mood, Chabashira knew she had overstepped, so she quickly changed targets.
“Let’s talk about the other one then…
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
You are undoubtedly an interesting person.”
“I don’t think anyone is more interesting than someone with the last name Chabashira (Tea Pillar).”
“Hmm?
Are you trying to apologize on your knees to everyone named Chabashira in the world?”
Chabashira’s cold face showed a hint of a headache, looking as if dealing with these problem students was draining her life force.
She looked at the emotionless Ayanokoji.
“As a homeroom teacher, I have the authority to review my students’s files, including the evaluations and aptitude tests from the admissions board.
Looking at the entrance exam scores for the entire class, only your scores and Tsugikuni’s were truly special.
Do you understand what I mean?”
Horikita looked at Ayanokoji in surprise.
She didn’t expect this deadpan guy to actually be special too.
Ayanokoji replied without a single ripple of emotion, “I don’t think there’s anything noteworthy about me.
I didn’t get perfect scores like Tsugikuni.
My grades are completely average.”
“Completely average?” Chabashira couldn’t hold back a laugh, though it was hard to tell if it was mocking or amused.
“Every single one of your test scores was exactly 50 points.
Even on the recent pop quiz, you scored exactly 50.
On the math section, you correctly answered the fifth question, which only had a 3% correct rate across the entire grade.
Yet, you somehow got the tenth question wrong, which had a 76% correct rate.
Do you know what that means?”
“It doesn’t mean anything.
It just shows that coincidences can be truly terrifying.”
Chabashira ignored Ayanokoji’s stubborn denial and looked at Shiki, signaling him to share his thoughts.
Shiki blinked.
“It means he’s a total try hard pretending not to care?”
Trying to hide his true strength, but scoring exactly 50 points on every single subject…
that’s like covering your ears to steal a bell.
It’s basically treating everyone else like complete idiots.
“A try hard pretending not to care?”
Chabashira’s expression froze for a second.
“Well, your description is incredibly accurate and vivid.”
“Like I said, it was just a coincidence.”
Ayanokoji refused to confess, but unfortunately, nobody cared about his protests.
Chabashira turned her attention back to Horikita, speaking earnestly.
“So, you see it now, right?
Ayanokoji has a very good head on his shoulders.
He might even be smarter than you.”
Horikita stayed silent for a moment.
“…What is the point of telling me all this?”
Beside her, Shiki rolled his eyes.
This girl really only has herself in her head, huh?
Chabashira is making it so incredibly obvious, yet she still can’t see it!
Hearing this, Chabashira’s face completely blanked out for a second.
But she seemed to have an incredibly high tolerance for Horikita—perhaps because she saw her past self in her.
“Just as I told the class, the class rankings are not set in stone.
As long as you work together and utilize your individual strengths, it is entirely possible to rise to Class A.
Horikita, if you are truly unwilling to be grouped with the defective rejects, then fight your way to the top and drag the class up with you.
And the key to doing that is Tsugikuni and Ayanokoji…”
As she finished her sentence, both Chabashira and Horikita turned to look at the only two boys in the room.
In their dead fish and panda eyes, they both clearly saw the exact same emotion: pure, unfiltered disgust for trouble.
Shiki sneered.
“Is this really why you called me here?
I thought I made myself perfectly clear last time.
I have zero obsession with reaching Class A.
Why would I get involved in something so incredibly annoying?
If you want a savior, go find some other idiot.”
Ayanokoji quickly followed up.
“I feel the same way.”
Chabashira fell silent for a moment before saying in a complex tone, “Have neither of you ever wondered why you were placed in Class D?
Have the three of you seriously not thought about the underlying logic behind the school’s sorting system?”
Horikita frowned, falling deep into thought.
Ayanokoji emptied his mind, turning a deaf ear to the conversation.
Shiki couldn’t be bothered playing riddles with her and said directly, “Are you trying to say that we all have some major, fatal flaws, which is why we were put in Class D?
Give me a break.
What’s all this nonsense about Class D being ‘defective rejects’ and Class A being the ‘elite’?
Your so called evaluations are nothing but pure prejudice against certain students.
Even if Yukimura, Kushida, Koenji, Hirata, and Horikita all have personality issues, their raw, hard skills still completely outclass the vast majority of students here.
Even most of the students in Class A can’t compare to them.”
“The only reason they were placed in Class D is because the school needs to maintain the illusion of a ‘fair game.’ They needed to give Class D a realistic chance of actually climbing up, which is why highly capable students were placed here.
If a game is completely one sided, it becomes incredibly boring.”
“This school is nothing more than a giant garbage disposal acting as an arrogant playground for the higher ups.
Spouting nonsense about ‘nurturing true talent’—don’t make me laugh.” (TL:Yeah…that was a stupid plot lol, sorting out class based on abilities yet intentionally throw in some good people in lower class to actually put up a game, how trivial~)