On Monday of the third week of school, Kanzaki Ryuji checked his belongings for class one last time as usual and pushed open the door to his room.
The weather today was pleasant; the temperature had warmed up slightly.
After walking for a bit, his body loosened up, and breathing the fresh morning air into his lungs felt invigorating.
Arriving at the classroom, Ichinose Honami, the class representative of Class B, was already in her seat as always.
“Good morning, Ichinose-san,” Kanzaki Ryuji nodded in greeting as he passed by.
“Good morning, Kanzaki-kun…”
Strangely, Ichinose didn’t respond with her usual energetic self.
Instead, she was absentmindedly resting her chin on her hand, gazing out the window.
“Is something wrong, Ichinose-san?” Kanzaki stepped closer to ask.
Setting aside their personal relationship, Ichinose Honami was the current core of Class B.
She handled nearly all class affairs, big and small; if something happened to her, the class would struggle to function.
“I was thinking…
whether the four classes of our grade, A through D, were sorted in order from the very beginning.”
Kanzaki felt a jolt of surprise.
He frowned and asked, “Ichinose, why do you think that?
Did you notice something strange somewhere?”
“Well, over the past few days, several students from Class D told me in conversation that they find the curriculum taught by the school a bit difficult to keep up with.”
With that, Ichinose picked up a textbook and showed it to Kanzaki.
“Because I was worried our own classmates might be struggling too, I specifically checked the homework we’ve collected.
The results were all normal and up to standard.”
Kanzaki took the textbook with a serious expression and flipped through it quickly.
He muttered, “This is indeed standard textbook material; it doesn’t exceed the curriculum.”
“Exactly.
And then I felt it was a bit odd, so I specifically went to ask some students from Class C,” Ichinose said with frustration.
“Some of them also said they completely don’t understand parts of what the teachers are lecturing.”
“Then Class A—”
Kanzaki was about to ask further when he froze.
As far as he knew, several students in Class A went out of their way to attend extracurricular cram schools even after school.
Ichinose gave a wry smile.
“Hardly anyone.
Even the few who say it’s difficult are only talking about a single subject.”
Having a weak subject was normal; everyone has strengths and weaknesses, just to varying degrees.
“It’s possible.”
“That scenario is entirely possible!”
But in the next moment, he thought of Sakayanagi Arisu, whom he had known since childhood from family banquets, and his stance became uncertain again.
“But Classes C and D also have students with excellent abilities and high grades, right?”
“That’s exactly why I’m troubled right now.” Ichinose lowered her head and sighed.
“I asked Hoshinomiya-sensei last night, but she said it was a prohibited topic.
So, Kanzaki-kun, could you come with me later?
I want to go and observe the situation in the other classes.”
A moment later, Ichinose adjusted her emotions and made the request to Kanzaki Ryuji.
“No problem.”
Kanzaki nodded without hesitation.
Then, he recalled the 100,000 points the school had issued at the start of the term, and the various strange answers Hoshinomiya-sensei had given when questioned…
“Ichinose, if your hypothesis turns out to be correct, don’t reveal this to students from other classes for the time being,” Kanzaki reminded her.
He didn’t yet understand the specific reason why the school was doing this, but his intuition told him it definitely wasn’t anything good.
Kanzaki didn’t believe the school would truly give students 100,000 points every month.
When the specific problem is unclear, the party that holds the information holds the initiative.
“I understand,” Ichinose nodded in agreement.
Class A Classroom
“Hashimoto-san, how is that Ryuen from Class C doing?
He should be out by now.
Is he still integrating his class?”
In the bottom left corner of the classroom, Mikage Touji sat leaning against his desk.
He took some collected eraser shavings from his drawer, aimed at Morishita Ai’s head, and tossed them lightly…
a direct hit right between the eyebrows.
The shavings fell silently onto Morishita Ai’s desk, rolling a few times before stopping.
“I have to say, he’s quite troublesome.” Hashimoto Masayoshi was sitting in the seat in front of Mikage.
While flipping through the textbook for the next period, he sighed helplessly.
“Even after losing face so badly and having his prestige shattered, he’s still preparing to unify Class C.”
Morishita Ai slowly looked up, a murderous intent appearing on her cold face as she pulled out her own “battle-scarred” eraser.
Morishita Ai had fired the first shot!
Slicing off a piece, Morishita looped a rubber band around her pen, aimed at Mikage Touji…
Launch!
“Then how long do you estimate it will take him to achieve that at the earliest?”
Mikage dodged left and right.
Finding that he couldn’t escape Morishita’s aim, he decisively left his desk and hid behind Kito Hayato, who was leaning against the window silently listening to the conversation.
“To be honest, I really don’t know.” Hashimoto scratched his head in frustration.
“The reaction in Class C right now is very intense.
They’re basically fighting every day.
Even though Ryuen can’t win every time, that guy charges in to fight them every single day.”
“Then we don’t need to worry about Class C for now.
At the very least, that class won’t be unified before the S-System is announced.
Do you know the situation in Class D?”
Seeing Mikage being so despicable as to use someone as a human shield, Morishita Ai also left her seat and chased after him to fire.
The two began playing a game of “cat and mouse” around Kitou Hayato.
“Class D…”
Hashimoto wore an intrigued smile.
“In fact, I think even if we leave them alone, Class D’s final score probably won’t look very good.”
“Is that so…”
In that case, the only real threat to Class A was Class B.
While scurrying away in a panic, Mikage Touji was contemplating strategies.
“Mikage-san…” Kitou Hayato, who had remained silent, suddenly spoke.
“Hmm…
what’s up?”
“Class B…”
Kitou’s gaze shot in a certain direction, nodding his head to signal.
“Eh?”
Mikage stopped in his tracks and turned around.
Morishita Ai, who was at full speed, couldn’t brake in time and crashed head-first into Mikage’s chest.
The force of the impact momentarily gave Mikage “internal injuries.”
“Cough, cough…”
Mikage coughed twice and quickly let go of the soft, peach-scented Morishita—who was radiating a cold aura—and looked out of the classroom in the direction Kito had signaled.
The Ichinose Honami he knew, along with a serious-looking male student, were standing outside the classroom observing Class A’s every move.