-Monty's POV-
I pranced through the silent night, my body illuminated by the dim moonlight and artificial lamps as I buttoned up my clothes, tucked it into my pants and tied my hair back into its usual style.
It was now 18:03. I had walked Manda to the entrance of the second year dormitory and was now on my way back to the one slotted for first years.
Entering the building, I took the elevator and came off at my floor. Upon exiting the metal carrier, I found a blonde male standing by my door.
It was Hirata.
He turned his head towards me and waved as I walked over.
"Good evening, Monty-kun. Could I speak with you?"
Striding up to my door, I placed my key card on the scanner and opened it, beckoning him in,
"Come in." I said.
He stared at me for a few seconds and I did the same.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing." He smiled and followed after me, "It's just, you're not wearing your glasses. Do you not need them?"
"I do. Mostly during the day." I responded curtly, gesturing for him to sit at the table as I filled the kettle with water. He sat seiza style while inspecting my non-descript dorm room.
"Tea or hot chocolate?" I asked, more so out of courtesy than expectation. In Japan, it was basic etiquette to offer something to your guest even if you didn't want to.
"Ah, that's alright. I don't plan on staying long anyway." Hirata replied. Turning on the kettle, I dropped a few tea leaves inside and stood with my back still facing him.
Not counting that time a month ago, I hadn't spoken to him. At all. Meaning, he had only one reason to approach me.
"You want to know how to increase class points, correct?" I asked, getting to the point. I could almost picture his brows lifting in surprise.
"So you already guessed it...Yes, I wanted to ask if you had any idea about what could be done." He continued softly, "I'd thought about it all day, but, I couldn't come up with an answer of my own. I'm afraid if I don't find one soon, Sudo-kun will still refrain from studying and end up failing his midterms. I don't want that..."
I stared at the water heater with an indifferent expression, watching the tiny red light glare back at me.
He didn't intend to ask for my help, likely due to the guilt he felt from taking credit for my actions last time. I appreciate the effort he took to deal with the situation himself, so I suppose I could give him the answer to his question.
Even if it's a bit early.
"Class points can only be increased through participating in special exams."
"Special exams?" He articulated slowly, sounding confused, "What's that?"
"The upcoming midterms is a special exam meant to test our current academic competence. I suspect that they'll be a frequent occurrence; with each exam evaluating a different aspect of our current capabilities."
"I see..." Hirata whispered, sounding astonished. There was a few seconds of silence before he spoke again, "I'm sorry, but, what do you mean by different aspects of our capabilities?"
The kettle beeped and I poured the water into a green cup. I took a seat across from him, cross legged, before taking a slow sip, my calm yellow eyes staring into his unnerved brown ones.
"Was that a stupid question?" Hirata chuckled forcefully, rubbing his neck as he averted his gaze.
"No." I lowered my cup.
"Besides academics, there're physical and social exams. The same areas covered during the interview before our acceptance."
"Oh, I remember you mentioning that before. They made us do certain activities to test our physical fitness and sociability didn't they?" I nodded.
Taking another sip, I continued, "No other school evaluates their students in such a peculiar way. Ordinarily, we would get in solely on academics, however, Miss Chabashira said that wasn't the case."
"So aside from the possibility of there being some sort of exam involving physical ability and social skills, why else would they bother gauging our fitness and social conduct?"
"That's true..." Hirata muttered, cupping his chin as he absorbed my words.
"Then, is there a way for us to know the type of exam we'll be getting before being told? Like, a pattern of sorts." That's a good question.
"If there is, I'm currently unaware of it."
"Alright," Suddenly, he smiled at me and got up, "Thanks again, Monty-kun. With this, I'll be able to convince Sudo-kun to participate!"
He started making his way towards the door before stopping, "Also, I'm sorry for doing this. Again." His smile slowly started to falter the longer he stood there.
Closing my eyes, I took another sip, annoyance seeping into my tone, "As I've said before, my words sound more convincing coming from you so that's why I tell you. Additionally, there's no need to feel guilty. It would've been justified only if it were against my will."
Hirata looked away while wearing a half-hearted smile, "I guess you're right about that..."
Saying that, he opened the door.
"One more thing." I voiced, prompting Hirata to pause as he was about to leave, "Don't bother going after Sudo. He'll participate in a study group soon."
"Huh?" He paused, confused, "I don't think Sudo-kun would ever do something like that of his own volition."
"I know."
He stared at me for while before his brows lifted, incredulously, "Are you saying you'll try to convince him then?"
I took another sip, neither confirming nor denying his words. Even though I'd planted the idea into his head, there was no guarantee Sudo would actually go through with it without further prompts seeing as there are quite a few things that were unaccounted for. But, there was no need for him to know that.
Oftentimes, omitting information leads to misunderstandings that play out in your favor.
Taking a deep breath, Hirata smiled once more, a mixture of surprise, gratitude and a hint of dejection lingering on his face.
"Have a good night, Monty-kun."
My gaze lingered for a while as my room door slowly creaked shut. As it did, so too did my eyes. Suddenly, my phone pinged. I retrieved it from my pocket and rested the device atop the table.
Clicking the message I'd received, I returned my attention to the tea in my grasp, savoring the silence that had returned to my room as I tapped the send button.
Ding
Now, all that's left is to confirm my suspicions in regards to that individual.
-.-
Today was the 2nd of May, the first day of our afternoon study sessions.
My group consisting of Matsushita Chiaki, Sato Maya, Inogashira Kokoro, Sakura Airi, Hondo Ryotaro and Onodera Kayano, found ourselves seated at a table in the school's library.
The location was relatively quiet despite the presence of students from other classes and study groups. Being here was also advantageous to the shy duo of my group. It meant that I could have one on one sessions with them, whenever necessary, with a low probability of being interrupted.
"Ughhh, this is so annoying!" Sato drawled exasperatedly, scratching out her calculations before flipping to a cleaner page.
Her eyes flitted to mine with a hint of reluctance, "Ou-I mean, Monty-kun. Um, could you maybe, sorta...explain this for me again?" She averted her gaze, her voice pittering out with a slight pout, "Please."
She was still feeling salty from what I'd said yesterday afternoon. I had no problems with it, as it didn't impede the study session. Additionally, she'll be more willing to learn later on after a reality check like that.
Nodding, I walked from the head of the table to where she sat and peered over into her book, "Which question?"
"This one." She guided my gaze to the question via pointing.
It was a Trigonometry question that had to do with the Sine rule.
If Sato had already forgotten what I said, it's likely the others did as well. So instead of doing an explaination for each of them separately, the better alternative would be to write it out while guiding them to the answer.
"Who else is facing a problem with the question?"
Excluding Sato, four of the six of them rose their hand.
Walking back to my spot at the head of the table, I picked up my pencil and my book before regarding the group.
"The sine rule states that lower case a, b and c represents the sides of the triangle and upper case A, B and C are the angles inside the triangle.
"Upper case A is opposite to lower case a. It's the same for the other letters as well." I said.
Matsushita raised her hand, "So, the sides are represented by lower case letters and angles are represented by uppercase letters; with the same letters being opposite to each other? Like A is opposite to a and B is opposite to b. It's the same with C and c right?"
I nodded.
She hadn't raised her hand before this. She only spoke to reiterate in a way the others could have an easier time digesting it.
"Continuing from that, the sine rule can only be used in two instances."
Jotting down what I'd said, I turned my book to the group, showing them a series of abbreviations and a scalene triangle for each. The words read:
Case 1: given two angles and one side. Angle, angle, side (AAS) or Angle, side, angle (ASA).
Case 2: given two sides and a non-included angle. Side, side, angle (SSA)
"Usually the two cases are presented by themselves, however, sometimes you'll be told to solve the question using both cases. When that happens, you should separate them and do them as you normally would."
My eyes scanned the group. Hondo and Sakura seemed like they were still struggling to grasp it.
Inogashira, Onodera and Sato, on the other hand, seemed to be gradually catching on while Matsushita stared at me with an attentive yet somewhat bored expression.
"Uhhh," Hondo raised his hand, "C-could you maybe give us an example?"
"Sure." Saying that, I wrote a question, answered and showed it to the group. I made sure to note down the process so that they could understand.
It went like this:
b = 7
B = 35°
C = 105°
SOLUTION: Find the Unknown Side
Law of Sines:
a/sinA = b/sinB = c/sinC
Step 1: Put in the values we know.
a/sinA = 7/sin(35°) = c/sin(105°)
Step 2: Ignore a/sinA (not useful to us).
7/sin(35°) = c/sin(105°)
Step 3: Using algebra, rearrange and solve.
Swap sides:
c = (7/sin(35°)) × sin105°
Multiply both sides by sin:
c = (7/0.574...) × 0.966...
Answer:
c= 11.8 (rounded to one decimal place)
"If you apply this formula, questions like these should be a breeze."
After finishing my explaination and showing them a steps by step process, the group of six all looked at me in wide eyed silence.
Sato seemed flabbergasted at how easy it was. Hondo and Sakura reacted similarly while Onodera and Inogashira looked on with curiosity.
"Wow, you explained it all so clearly." Onodera commented, looking at me with a smile, "Have you done this before? Tutoring I mean?"
"No, I haven't."
"Seriously? I guess you must be a natural then. Maybe I should study with you when the finals roll around." She chortled, leaning forward slightly with a quirked brow and a cheeky smile, "Whaddya say?"
Adjusting my glasses with a thumb thrust, "Though I'm not opposed to it. That's ultimately your decision to make."
Hearing my answer, her smile grew noticeably wider.
"Alright, it's a deal then."
I eyed her for a moment before slowly turning to regard the rest of the group.
"I'll give each of you two more questions to complete on your own. None of them will be the same, so, use the method I gave you to solve them yourselves. After that, we'll be moving on to the Cosine rule."
I gave each of them questions to solve and watched as they all worked in silence.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Matsushita smiling to herself, thinking that she had escaped because she was already ahead.
How wrong she was.
"Matsushita." She perked up at my call.
"Hm? You need something, Monty-kun?"
"Seeing as you already understand sine and cosine, you'll be doing something different." She stared at me incredulously with her mouth hung open after hearing my words.
But, before she could raise a rebuttal, I sprung a task on her, "Your question is (¹/x - y + ¹/x + y) ÷ (x + y)² - (x - y)² / (x + y)² - 2y • (x + y). Finish that within the next 10 minutes."
"What- why?!"
"With your grades, you have no need to attend these sessions. However, that doesn't mean I'll allow you to idle." I smoothly lowered into my seat while maintaining eye contact.
She slightly squinted, "I get that, but, isn't it too much to expect me to solve an algebraic equation like that one?"
"Then, let's make a deal."
Interlocking my fingers, I rested my chin atop it.
"Each session, if you answer the given question correctly, you're free to spectate for the rest of the day. If not, you'll have to participate."
Chiaki's eyes widened, her hand lifting to her chin as she mulled over my suggestion. After a while, she groaned, "Alright, I accept."
"Hey, that's unfair!" Sato shouted from her seat before covering her mouth as the eyes of the other students honed in on her back. She leaned forward and whispered, "How come she gets to sit out a study session?!"
My eyes flitted to the frowning brunette as I articulated my reply, "When you're as smart as her you can do the same."
Her eyes narrowed into a glare before she huffed and returned her attention to her book.
"Fine then, I'll show you." Her lips puffed into a slight moe as she began muttering beneath her breath while doing the questions I'd given her.
Adjusting my glasses, my gaze settled on Chiaki once more.
I have no doubt that she has zero intention of ever answering those questions. But, it didn't matter, I'd already gotten what I needed from her. She hadn't realized it, but I had gotten a glimpse into her capabilities.
A normal student wouldn't have been able to identify the topic my question belonged to much less recall the equation and write it down in such a short timeframe.
She wasn't attempting to answer the question, likely to goad me into thinking that it was actually challenging so that she can say something like "it was too difficult" as an excuse to not complete it.
With her mental abilities, an excuse like that would be hardly believable.
You may ask, why did you bother doing this even though you know she solved even harder questions?
That's because she doesn't need to be extraordinarily capable to answer them. She could have seen similar questions before and happened to memorize them.
However, her information processing speed just now was enough to put her around Mei Yu Wang or Yukimura's level by my rough estimate. She could be bumped up to Horikita's level as well when I learn more about her in that regard.
Our table fell into a lull of silence with the only source of sound being the grating of pen against paper. Looking around, I observed each and every one of them.
Like Sudo, Kayano Onodera was also quite capable. Barring Horikita, she was the most physically fit of all the girls in class.
Her capabilities at swimming along with her diligence meant that teaching her wouldn't be a problem if she wants to learn, the same can be said about Sudo and Miyake Akito as well.
Speaking of Miyake, he was also a useful asset to Class C's, future development. I'd have chosen him if it wasn't for the fact that he was already capable of achieving results on his own.
His score of 55% was enough to convince me of such. And, even if he were on his way to fail, he seemed sensible enough to seek aid before it was too late. If not, I already had precautionary measures in place.
The next person was Sato Maya. My reason for choosing her was currently irrelevant so I see no need to elaborate on it.
After her were Hondo, Sakura and Inogashira. I chose them simply because they were bad academically.
They weren't as bad as Ike and Yamauchi. Still, they weren't that much better either.
Based on their performance in the surprise test and their introverted personalities, I suspect that expulsion may claim one of them between now and the end of their second year.
Inogashira was slowly shedding her shyness and was inherently smarter than Hondo and Sakura as well. She also had a skill that may be useful later down the line so her expulsion isn't very likely.
The difference between Hondo and Sakura was that the former was more willing to ask for help and acknowledge his flaws, the latter, however, avoided verbal communication like the plague which leads me to believe that our class' future expellee may very well be her if not Ike or Yamauchi.
At the moment, keeping them was beneficial to the class, and by extension, myself. So there's no need to leave them to the dogs. Additionally, it would deal a huge blow to the class if someone was suddenly ousted like that.
Another reason for not allowing that to happen is, I'm unsure of just how much expulsion affects class points.
While I do have a general idea, I can't be absolutely certain until it actually happens.
Sweeping my eyes across the group, I wordlessly observing the various clusters of students.
A few tables down were members of Class B. I'd been able to identify them quite easily due to the presence of one strawberry-blonde, Ichinose Honami. She sat next to two boys. One with taupe brown hair and the other with purple hair.
It seems they were here to study as well.
Just then, my eyes met with the brown haired one.
"Monty-kun!" I turned to Sato who excitedly lifted her book for me to see, "I think I got it!"
Glancing over the questions, I started writing in her book, "Congratulations. It's incorrect."
She beamed a bright yet somehow smug smile as she puffed out her chest, "Heh, ofcourse I am—wait what?"
-.-
Leaning back in my seat, I stared into the book in my grasp as I sat within the ambient silence of the school's library.
It was now 20:30. Our group study session had finished at around 17:00. Afterwards, I stayed back to tutor Hondo, Inogashira and Sakura for one hour each.
They had already grasped the concept of the sine rule and were on the cusp of understanding the cosine rule so I simply went over the areas they were most concerned about regarding those topics before moving on to another.
Seeing as they were slower than the rest academically, it was the best choice to let them familiarize themselves with another topic earlier than the others as it would diminish my work load greatly if they already possess prior knowledge when I go over it.
Adjusting my green rimmed glasses, I flipped to the next page.
Currently, I was reading 'Phénoménologié de la perception', authored by Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
In English, it was called 'Phenomenology of Perception'. And as the name suggests, it was a book exploring that same topic.
To Merleau-Ponty, perception was not just a possible philosophical issue.
The analysis of perception largely determined how the approach to other theoretical issues, such as consciousness, time, language or ideal objects should be.
The philosophy of perception is thus a philosophy which 'thinks according to perception' — as Renaud Barbaras puts it.
As appropriate as it is, this designation still allows or even calls for further specification, which is exactly what this book is trying to convey.
I've already finished it twice before, yet still I've never lost interest.
...
Perhaps that's because-
"Is that... Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception?" A soft, near angelic voice reached my ears.
Lifting my gaze, I found a short girl with long silver hair, that stopped at her mid back, staring at me with curious purple eyes.
My gaze narrowed slightly.
I'd seen her walking about the library earlier in the day. She had a few books in her hand, one of which was 'The Queen's Gambit'.
It wasn't that well known so if she knew a book like that one, then she must be quite the book worm.
"You've read it?"
She nodded with a warm smile, "Actually, I have. Philosophy isn't my main preference, but as long as it's a book I'll read it eventually."
Understandable. Not everyone enjoys philosophical books even if they do read it.
I lowered my gaze to my book, slowly flipping to the next page, "I'm guessing you prefer detective and thriller novels, then?"
"That's right. How did you know?" She sounded surprised by my deduction and stepped in a bit closer with apparent eagerness.
"'Farewell, My Lovely' and 'The Queen's Gambit'." I answered, nodding to the books in her hand.
Her eyes lit up as she stepped in closer, "You've read these aswell? What do you like about them? Do you like the characters? Are the mysteries intriguing to you? Did you enjoy it?"
Her face was now mere inches away from mines as she bombarded me with a flurry of questions.
I leaned back.
She seemed to have picked up on what I was trying to indicate and created some space between us.
"Sorry, I tend to do that sometimes. I don't usually have anyone to speak to about this stuff." She admitted with a soft smile, "Oh, right. I didn't introduce myself."
Carefully placing her books atop the desk, she regarded me once more, outstretching her slender hand, "I'm Shiina Hiyori from Class hmm...I guess it's Class D now huh?" She touched her chin while looking skyward absentmindedly.
A student of the current Class D, approaching me, a member of the current Class C...
Based on her reactions just now, she seemed genuinely interested in books. Even though that may be the case, there's still a possibility she might have other motives for approaching me.
I stared at her welcoming gesture for a few moments before deciding to shake her hand, "Monty."
She smiled cutely as I retracted my hand before enthusiastically clasping hers together, "So, Monty-kun, what type of genre is your favorite?"
Staring into her eyes, I could practically feel the excitement oozing off her body as she asked me the question.
Gradually folding my book shut, I indulged her in a rather lengthy discussion during which I found out that she had no ulterior motives for approaching me.
As a matter of fact, she abhorred the idea of classes competing against each other.
Apparently she was a neutral party. Nothing she said even remotely referred to the competitions regarding our classes.
She was brutally honest in her critiques of various works, and exceedingly transparent with her intentions also.
It didn't take long for me to realize that Shiina Hiyori was one of those persons who wore their heart on their sleeves. In that sense, she was no different from someone like Hirata.
It was...curious.
Usually, I'd find enthusiastic people to be a nuisance, however, that didn't seem to be the case with her.
The only reason I could come up with would be that unlike Kushida, who tends to coat her speech with unnecessary fillers, each of Shiina's questions were concise and to the point.
Her words carried no double meanings or any trace of falsity within them that would make me suspicious of her at all.
People like her were a rarity.
We conversed until the clock struck 10:00 after which, we bid farewell and went our separate ways. She'd recommended me some books to read, and I reciprocated.
Seeing as she disliked competition between classes, I will not be able to effectively use her for class related matters unless certain conditions are met.
But, outside of that, she was a desirable connection to have.
She was in the Tea Ceremony Club along with Manda.
Seeing as I had no recollection of her face from when I handed out the registration forms, I can infer that she either joined just before or a decent while after I had made contact with Manda.
If Manda associates and familiarizes herself with her club members as well as other people, then her introversion and social skills will develop faster than it already is right now, which will make her more useful to me during situations that require her to be proactive and outgoing.
Anyhow.
Back to the original topic.
Hiyori's interest in books coincided with my own.
So whenever I was bored or had free time, I could meet up with her to discuss various topics or simply debate about the themes and plot points of certain series or novels we've both read to hear each other's views on them.
All in all, keeping her close was an absolute win.