"Finally finished the exams." Kikyō said when they arrived at their usual meeting spot, "It feels like a burden has been lifted."
"Were you also asked to score 51 points in each subject?" Houtarou asked.
"Yes." Kikyō nodded, "Hirata probably asked about 13 students to do this."
Class C now has 13 academically strong students.
Rokusuke is indeed skilled at teaching others. No wonder in his Precognitive Dream, he became a professional teacher.
"Speaking of which, exams shouldn't cause any pressure. They're simply a test of the knowledge you've mastered during this period." Suzune said.
Alright, lone girl, please stop talking.
Though he often felt she was being pretentious, Houtarou also thought Suzune's thinking was completely different from ordinary students.
But he couldn't blame her. She had indeed studied seriously.
For this exam, all three of them were safe. Their respective classes were also secure, thanks to various countermeasures — like Class C having high-scoring students deliberately lower their scores.
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Today is Saturday. Normally, the school doesn't have classes on weekends, except for special exams.
Saturday afternoon is once again students' free time. Following his usual routine, Houtarou should have returned to the dormitory and then gone home for the weekend.
But this time he didn't leave. He was curious about which angel from Class B had begun to turn dark.
"Um… Sorry, have you been waiting long?"
The one who arrived was the great angel with long pink hair, Honami Ichinose.
"Just got here." Houtarou said, "Ichinose, has there been any change with your classmates?"
"Change? What kind of change? Well... it's a bit embarrassing, but we're now putting all our effort into earning even just a few dozen or hundred Class Points." Honami seemed somewhat embarrassed.
This was the state of Class B students' efforts. Compared to Class A, they certainly couldn't compete. But everyone felt fulfilled.
Looking at it this way, she was giving her all to take exams and study.
It seems Honami is still an angel. The person who paid to contact Class D and then paid to contact Class C students wasn't her, but someone else in her class.
"Then..."
Although he didn't discover which angel had turned dark, seeing Honami still pure white was comforting.
He felt contradicted — hoping she might change yet worrying she could turn bad.
After all, only two angels existed in this school; Kikyō had already turned dark, leaving Honami as the only true angel.
However…
"By the way, Ichinose-san frequently meets with Sakayanagi-san during breaks." Houtarou said.
"Eh... That's true. Am I disturbing your relationship with Sakayanagi-san by spending too much time with her?" Honami began to self-reflect.
Houtarou: "..."
No, that wasn't it. Why would she think that?
Houtarou didn't consider himself and Arisu friends, and he wouldn't be jealous if a friend had a better relationship with someone else. Honami had no reason to worry.
"I think you need to be especially careful." Houtarou said.
"Hmm?" Honami blinked her long eyelashes in confusion.
Beautiful girls look cute regardless of their expression, and now she was gazing at him curiously.
Houtarou: "..."
Well. How should he phrase this?
Should he tell her that Arisu's interactions might be preparation for targeting her? That she should be careful for her own safety?
Especially with the new semester beginning, she might soon be attacked. But warning her would mean siding with Honami.
And Houtarou knew Arisu had feelings for him. Should he interfere with her plans to protect the angel?
That wouldn't be right either. You don't sabotage your own people's plans for an outsider.
So should he support Arisu instead?
But he didn't want to hurt Honami.
In other words, he had to choose between Honami and Arisu.
Houtarou: "..."
Honami was an angel. And Arisu was his second-year dating partner and the future mother of one of his children. Plus, he didn't dislike her; he thought she was super cute.
Eh!… Houtarou found it impossible to decide.
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As a result, a new problem emerged.
On the 31st, when they returned to school for classes, he received a message from Kikyō during lunch break.
| Kikyō Kushida |
| Though I don't want to report this, but your Horikita has been attacked. |
Houtarou: "..."
Why was she the one who got attacked?
"Oreki-kun is always so busy."
During lunch break, after finishing his meal in the cafeteria and returning to the classroom, Arisu noticed him about to leave after checking his message.
Houtarou: "... I have something to take care of."
Arisu quietly continued reading.
On her desk was the book "Flow" that he had mentioned earlier. Although she was a genius and learned many things quickly, she was also curious about his study methods. So she wanted to learn from him.
Of course, reading the same book could increase their understanding of each other and create common topics to discuss.
So she refocused her attention on the book.
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Meanwhile, Houtarou went downstairs to the first-year Class C.
Kikyō had sent a message containing important information.
The atmosphere among classmates after lunch was tense. During lunch, they had received information from another class about rumors concerning Suzune, and now they were confronting her.
Kikyō couldn't reveal which "other class" had leaked this information.
For now, these unsettling rumors were contained within Class C due to their recency. But without intervention, they would likely spread throughout the entire school soon.
Kikyō specialized in uncovering others' secrets, so she understood perfectly — once a rumor takes root, its impact can be devastating.
Given Suzune's personality, she would normally be indifferent to gossip. She rarely pays attention to others and shows no interest in their chatter, giving her a natural immunity.
Suzune would likely respond with, "Listen to others' opinions about me? I have no interest. If I truly cared what others said, I would have been crushed back in elementary school."
This resilience was part of her character — solitary, dignified, and above petty concerns.
However…
| Kikyō Kushida |
| By the way, is Suzune really the Student Council President's sister? |
Ah. So this was the nature of the rumor.
Houtarou immediately realized that Suzune had no defense against this particular attack.
The first time he met her alone was when her brother had asked her to withdraw from school.
Though he eventually convinced her to stay, he still understood her mindset.
She didn't want to embarrass her brother, the Student Council President, because of who she was. That's why she followed his path, aiming to collect 20 million Points — something her brother hadn't achieved — to prove herself worthy.
This revealed how adamantly she rejected any public knowledge of her relationship with Manabu. She didn't feel strong enough yet.
It wasn't that she disliked her brother — rather, she felt inadequate, believing she would hold him back and become a vulnerability his enemies could exploit. Instead of being an asset, she feared becoming a burden.
She deeply despises this.
And now, her sibling relationship with her brother has been publicized in the class. For her, this must feel like she's already caused trouble for her brother.
It's impossible for her to ignore this. The situation is basically hopeless.
Thinking this, Houtarou arrived at the door of Class C.
He spotted Suzune at a glance.
Actually, he didn't. Although she was in the classroom, her seat was surrounded by other students, making it impossible to see her among the crowd.
The surrounding students were curiously questioning her.
"Horikita-san… You must get a lot of things from your brother, the Student Council President. It wouldn't hurt to share some benefits with us." Haruki Yamauchi chatted away.
This statement confirmed they had already exposed in class that Suzune is the sister of the excellent Student Council President.
Even though he hadn't seen her yet, Houtarou could already imagine her face must be pale now.
"After all, for this exam, you can get information from your brother, right?" Haruki said.
This guy's biggest impression in class was the R-ranking at the beginning of school, which lowered the overall evaluation of the boys in class. He also initially claimed Airi liked him, but everyone knew that was a lie.
After all, she is a super beauty; anyone with functioning eyes wouldn't be interested in Haruki.
And he's quite irresponsible.
"What do you mean I... got something?" Suzune seemed confused.
"The exam papers! Since you have a brother who's the Student Council President, he must know about the test papers. Why won't you help us? You know how we've been studying this past month." A female student chimed in.
This girl, Houtarou knows, is Kayoko Ishikura who was lured by Kakeru. But not just her, there were several other ordinary-looking girls beside her. In other words, those participating in this questioning were the more ordinary students with less presence in the class.
People with some brains wouldn't immediately confront someone with so many people about this news.
Of course, it could also be that most of the class hadn't returned yet. There were fewer than 20 students in Class C present. Others were probably still eating.
There was no sign of Kei and the other gyaru girls. The gentle Yōsuke and Rokusuke were also absent.
Suzune found the whole situation bewildering.
"Haa... Test papers? How could there possibly be..."
But her words were interrupted.
"Yeah, having a brother as President is so convenient — by the way, you have so many Points. Did your brother give them to you? I'm so jealous." Someone added, "I'm out of money this month, Horikita-san, could you lend me some…"
This is so typical of Class C.
Houtarou walked straight in. He immediately noticed Suzune's state — she had become visibly dazed.
"Oreki-kun…" Mei-Yu noticed him as she was about to leave the classroom.
"Horikita will be absent from afternoon classes." Houtarou reached Suzune's desk, grabbed her wrist with his left hand, and announced to the onlookers.
He glanced at the girl with short blonde hair near the teacher's desk, then pulled Suzune directly outside.
"..."
Suzune's body followed him passively as he led her outside. She didn't speak.
They went directly to the hallway, where some upperclassmen were passing by.
Houtarou noticed the upperclassmen weren't pointing fingers at Suzune, suggesting the rumor was still temporarily contained within Class C, consistent with Kikyō's report.
No. With these birdbrained Class C students, it would spread like water through a sieve via spies to other classes. His phone in his pocket had already vibrated several times.
Probably classmates who had also discovered this information and were reporting to him.
This indicated that by now, all four classes of the lower grades likely knew about this.
However, now wasn't the time to focus on these matters.
Forcibly brought outside, Suzune remained silent. Or rather, her emotions hadn't stabilized yet.
Nevertheless, he needed to speak.
"...Calm down. I've roughly guessed what happened — there are unfavorable rumors about you circulating in Class C now. This is Kushida's plan. She must be the one who spread it."
Kikyō: "..."
Damn…
Earlier in the classroom, after being glanced at by Houtarou, Kikyō, who had followed them out, felt like she was hearing things.
She had reported the situation to him before any of his planted spies in her class could do so. She had even tried to help.
But now she was being called the mastermind. This was really frustrating.
Despite being spoken of this way, she decided to keep her distance for now. With her skill at reading the atmosphere, she could tell that Houtarou was now comforting Suzune.
"This is Kushida's conspiracy." Houtarou said, "So you need to calm down. If you panic, the consequences might be even worse."
Suzune: "..."
When she heard this was Kikyō's attack, Suzune finally seemed to show some reaction.
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