After school.
Axel End had just stood up, intending to apologize to Airi Sakura, since today’s schedule needed a little adjusting.
But then he heard someone calling his name.
“End-kun…”
He glanced over.
Turned out to be the sunny, cheerful boy.
“Hirata-kun, is there something you need?”
“It’s about that matter this morning…
I think we need to talk it over and decide on the class’s future course of action as soon as possible.”
Axel End wasn’t surprised by this.
As probably the only good-natured pushover in Class D who cared about whether the class would collapse and splinter apart, Yōsuke Hirata really had worried himself sick over a pack of problem children.
This household really would fall apart without him.
“So, do you have any ideas, Hirata-kun?”
Axel End didn’t dislike this kind of person.
Even if Yōsuke Hirata’s obsession stemmed only from past psychological scars, a gentleman is judged by his deeds, not his heart.
But respect aside, he still refused to be Class D’s babysitter.
“I wouldn’t quite call it an idea—after all, reality is already laid out right in front of us…
Our only options are to strive to climb upward, or to give up from the very start.”
Yōsuke Hirata said with a forced smile.
In truth, he didn’t really care whether he could graduate from Class A and receive the benefits the school guaranteed; what he cared about was whether the atmosphere within the class stayed harmonious and stable.
But once the greater tide started rolling, their Class D wouldn’t be able to keep to themselves, and one careless moment could turn them into a casualty of the competition.
He was afraid the class would fall apart when that happened.
But he wasn’t blind, either—these past two or three days had been enough for him to get a rough grasp of the students in his class, and to understand that hoping to rely on them to stand against the other classes was nothing but a pipe dream.
So in a situation like this, a reliable leader absolutely had to step forward and declare their stance.
“I get what you mean.”
Axel End looked toward Suzune Horikita on his left.
“If you want to give it a try, Hirata-kun, then naturally I’m willing to support you in spirit.”
“Horikita, what do you think?”
Suzune Horikita sat there watching.
She crossed her arms and shot Axel End a glance, then answered rather coldly, “My code of conduct won’t allow me to just give up without doing anything.”
“But judging by this morning’s situation, I think what you should be doing right now, Hirata, is going and having a talk with that group of students who might drag the class down.”
“Because I don’t want to be putting in effort for the class only to find so-called allies stabbing me in the back.”
Yōsuke Hirata gave an awkward laugh.
Just as he was about to say something diplomatic, Kikyō Kushida—who had been secretly observing for a while from the other side—also came walking over.
“I believe no one here would do such a thing!”
“And if a situation like that really did come up, Hirata-kun and I would both take responsibility for talking it through properly with everyone, so please, Horikita-san, don’t say things that undermine our unity anymore… Visit novelping dot com for the full chapter.
okay?”
You know the old-school playbook too?
Axel End glanced in surprise at Kikyō Kushida, who was sinking a little too deep into her role, feeling that she really was trying a bit too hard.
Don’t tell me you’re going to sing “Haruhikage” as well?
“I’m only telling the truth, that’s all.”
Suzune Horikita made it clear that, while she wasn’t the eloquent type, she wasn’t so deaf that she couldn’t catch the subtext of someone slyly pinning a label on her.
So she promptly pinned one right back.
“Besides, the public materials do mention how this school sorts its students into classes—but from what I’ve seen these past few days, Kushida, your behavior doesn’t look like that of a Class D student at all.”
“So I keep wondering: is it possible this whole persona of yours is something you’re deliberately putting on?”
Holy crap, Horikita’s a genius.
Axel End raised an eyebrow.
This time Kikyō Kushida was probably worked up enough by Suzune Horikita that she nearly exposed her true martial soul form on the spot.
“Um…
if I’ve done something to upset you, Horikita-san, then I apologize, but could you please stop saying such spiteful things?”
“I just want everyone to spend these three years at this school in a relaxed and happy way, that’s all…”
The more pitiful and fragile Kikyō Kushida made herself look on the surface, the more hysterically she was cursing on the inside.
She’d only made one snide, passive-aggressive little remark, and you, Suzune Horikita, were ready to flip the goddamn table over it?!
You wanna go?!
I’m asking you—do you wanna go?!
“Horikita-san, ease up on the words.”
“Kushida-san is only thinking of the class and everyone in it too; after all, we’re one whole…”
Yōsuke Hirata, having been through such things himself, could hear the gunpowder in Suzune Horikita’s words, and immediately stepped forward to play peacemaker.
Though he was probably feeling pretty guilty himself—after all, he was a man who had once personally engineered a vicious bullying incident.
Axel End smacked his lips, feeling bored.
And here he’d thought he might get to hear a little backstory about someone’s family of origin.
Still, Suzune Horikita’s round of aggression had probably maxed out Kikyō Kushida’s negative emotions; it seemed it wouldn’t be long before it triggered her signature-scene special CG.
How exciting.
He’d already worked out exactly how he’d design the Task.
“It’s precisely because we’re one whole that I actually think Horikita-san has a point.”
Right at that moment.
Kei Karuizawa joined the battlefield.
She came over with her little clique and practically opened with a zero-frame startup.
“Everyone’s clear on Class D’s situation by now, so let’s stop fooling ourselves.
I’m just asking—if someone really does stir up trouble and drag the class down, are we still supposed to coddle them?”
“Once or twice is fine—everyone makes mistakes, after all—but what do we do if they refuse to change no matter how many times they’re warned?”
Yōsuke Hirata opened his mouth to say something, but in the end just shook his head with a bitter smile. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
Suzune Horikita, on the other hand, looked at Kei Karuizawa with some surprise, not having expected the other girl to speak up on her behalf, and a peculiar idea suddenly rose up in her heart.
“It’s far too early to be talking about all this.”
Axel End saw that the mood was about right, and there was no point in dragging it out any further.
“Let’s just see how many class points we have left after the first month ends, then spend some personal points to buy the detailed breakdown of deductions from Ms.
Chabashira, and take a look at who’d brazenly break the rules even during an open-book exam.”
“If there really turn out to be people like that, then I’ll leave it to Hirata-kun and Kushida-san to handle the talking—after all, Horikita and I aren’t very good at that sort of thing.”
Although he’d already settled on ultimately using personal points to ascend to Class A, that was a matter for the third-year graduation season.
Before graduating, he’d still have to spend three years living in Class D, so a more harmonious class atmosphere was naturally a good thing—which meant he had to give them plenty of hope.
“Horikita and I actually do hope everyone can work hard together, you know—after all, it sounds nicer when we tell people about it later, doesn’t it?”
“So from here on, as long as everyone attends class seriously and behaves like good students, our Class D will still keep quite a lot of points next month, and there’ll be a much better chance of catching up to Class A.”
After that whole spiel of pie-in-the-sky promises, Yōsuke Hirata and the others each wore expressions of relief and anticipation.
But Suzune Horikita knew this was nothing more than Axel End’s pretext—after all, this man’s heart wasn’t in Class D at all.
Still, she wasn’t foolish enough to call him out on it.
Because she’d also come to realize that being a little ignorant sometimes really was better—at least there’d be that many fewer worries.
At the very least, it let this bunch in Class D move forward with hope, rather than throwing in the towel right at the starting line.
“I’m off.
Don’t bother me unless it’s important.”
Suzune Horikita tossed her hair and left with a flourish, but before she went, she shot Axel End a subtle glance.
Axel End naturally had no intention of staying either, and immediately called out to Airi Sakura, who had been quietly playing the invisible little wallflower off to the side the whole time.
“Sorry, Sakura-san.
Something’s suddenly come up for me again today, but tomorrow I’ll definitely go with you to buy that camera!”
He could only hope nothing unexpected would crop up tomorrow.
Axel End really didn’t want Airi Sakura to hit him with a line like, “I’ve waited a long time.
I won’t wait any longer.”
That would truly be no laughing matter.
As for Kei Karuizawa…
Given the girl’s outstanding performance today, with a 100% party-participation rate, he naturally couldn’t bring himself to play favorites.
[Task Issued: Send a selfie to Axel End before 12 AM tonight.]
[Task Reward: 100–500 Points, awarded according to Axel End’s satisfaction with the photo.]
[Task Failure Penalty: Take a set of no fewer than 20 risqué photos as a photobook and give it to Axel End.]
____
👻🔥+40 ch: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Naruto: Is it reasonable to beat up an Otsutsuki with Hamon, right?
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