"Or they will stay away from you," added Kushida.

Seeing the two of them put on a serious face, it meant that what he was asking just now was quite sensitive for girls. Ayanokouji could only nod.

"Understand. I will remember it," answered Ayanokouji.

"Don't say such stupid things. That wouldn't be possible."

"Hee, you're certainly right. It wouldn't be possible for you, Sae-chan," Hoshinomiya-sensei muttered, her words laced with a double meaning.

Hoshinomiya blinked for a moment before returning to her usual expression, she was slightly caught off guard by Ayanokouji's words.

"As I thought there was something unusual about this Ayanokouji, he could sense something was wrong from my words with such a short amount of time. What else are you hiding from me, Sae-chan."

Hoshinomiya smiled a little, her curiosity increased to know the secrets of her friend and rival.

"Why are you following us? This is a Class D matter."

"Huh? I can't go to the guidance room? That's not okay? Come on, I can give advice, too."

As Hoshinomiya-sensei continued to follow, a female student came up to us, a beautiful girl with light-pink hair. I'd never seen her before.

"It's you, Honami-chan," said Shiranami.

Ichinose nodded, "Yes, at that time I had business with the student council and needed Hoshinomiya-sensei's presence."

"Hoshinomiya-sensei, do you have a moment? The student council wishes to discuss something with you." She glanced at me, but quickly returned her attention to Hoshinomiya-sensei.

"All right, you have someone who needs you. Get to it." Slap! Chabashira-sensei smacked Hoshinomiya-sensei on the butt with her clipboard.

"Aw! She'll get mad at me if I hang around any longer. See you later, Ayanokouji-kun! All right, Ichinose-san. Let's go to the faculty office."

With that, she turned on her heel and left with the beautiful Ichinose.

Ichinose's cheeks immediately blushed after hearing Ayanokouji's compliment.

"Look Honami-chan, he called you beautiful," Mako said in a whisper to Ichinose.

"I know, Mako-chan. There's no need to tell me about that," Ichinose said sullenly with a red face.

"He he, must be a lot of fun, right? When the person you like compliments you," Mako said in a low voice, the grin never leaving her face.

Ichinose freezes, her premonition finally coming true, her closest friend finds out that she likes Ayanokouji.

"H-How did you know that?" Ichinose asked in a low voice, not wanting the others to hear it.

"So you not deny it. It's easy when you see your behavior when it comes to Ayanokouji-kun," said Amikura with her smirk replaced by a smile.

"I see..." said Ichinose with a face that was red up to her ears.

"Don't worry, I won't tell the others, really," said Amikura.

"Why?" Ichinose asked confused.

"Since you didn't tell us anything, that means you've decided to stay quiet, right? So I won't say anything."

Ichinose looked at her smiling friend, then she also smiled back, "Thank you, Mako-chan. But that doesn't mean I don't want to tell it, I just don't know how to tell it."

"I see, it's fine," said Amikura before she drew even a little closer to Ichinose, "So, what's the story?"

Ichinose sighed, "That's a long story, I don't know where to start."

"I see. Alright I won't insist," said Amikura, then suddenly she thought of something, "But wait, since this is from Ayanokouji-kun's perspective, there's a chance I might find out right?"

"Maybe. But why are you so curious, Mako-chan?"

"You seriously ask that? A man, moreover he is in another class, managed to win my best friend's heart. Of course I'm very curious," Amikura said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hey, what are you two talking about?"

Before Ichinose could speak, Minamikata asked them since they had been whispering for quite a while.

"Nothing, ha ha. I was just asking about Honami-chan's business at the student council," Amikura said. Minamikata nodded before looking back at the screen.

Amikura sighed before turning to Ichinose, they both then smiled together.

"Let's continue watching."

Ichinose nodded, "Hn."

Chabashira-sensei lightly scratched her head while she watched Hoshinomiya-sensei leave. Soon after, we entered the guidance room, which stood beside the faculty office.

"So. Why did you call me here?" I asked.

"Well, about that... Before we begin, please come here."

She briefly glanced at a clock hanging on the wall, which gave the time as nine o'clock, and opened the door. Inside was a small office kitchenette. She placed a kettle on top of a stove.

"I'm going to make tea. Is roasted green okay?" she asked.

I picked up the container with the tea powder.

"Don't make any unnecessary moves. Shut up and get in here. Understand? Don't make a sound and stay until I tell you it's okay to come out. If you don't do as I say, you'll be expelled," she said.

"Hah!?"

Astonished voices filled the room when they heard Chabashira's words.

"E-Expelled...?"

"What the hell...!?"

Everyone expressed their disbelief at what they heard, they then turned towards Chabashira.

"Looks like it's your turn to be the center of attention, Sae-chan," said Hoshinomiya with a smile.

"It seems so," said Chabashira not denying.

Hirata suddenly stood up and faced Chabashira with a stern expression.

"Chabashira-sensei, why are you saying something like that?" asked Hirata.

"I want to know too," said Karuizawa with a glare.

Chabashira stared at them blankly, her mind racing about what she should do.

"You better answer, Chabashira. This is the first time I'm hearing about this, why are you using your authority as a teacher to threaten students?" said Mashima sharply.

After a while under everyone's pressure, Chabashira's expression finally broke and she let out a sigh.

"Those are just empty threats, do you really think I can do something like that?" Chabashira asked Mashima.

"No, but you can make certain conditions," Mashima replied.

"Indeed, but I have no intention of doing that. Keep watching so you know why," Chabashira said before looking back at the screen.

Of course there were those who were dissatisfied with such an answer, Karuizawa was one of them.

"But sensei-"

"Leave it alone, Kei-san."

Before Karuizawa could demand, Horikita cut her off. Karuizawa looked at Horikita with a confused look.

"What do you mean, Suzune?"

"As Chabashira-sensei said, keep watching," Horikita said curtly.

"Do you know what happened, Suzune-san?" asked Hirata.

"More or less, since I'm also involved in it. Anyway, keep watching if you want to know the reason," Horikita stated once again.

Seeing that they had no other choice, everyone looked back at the screen.

"Huh? What do you mean by—"

She closed the door to the kitchenette without explanation, leaving me in there. What in the world was she scheming? I did as I was told and waited. Soon after, I heard the outer door to the guidance room open.

"Ah, come in. So, what did you want to talk to me about, Horikita?" I heard Chabashira-sensei say.

"Oh? It will be interesting," said Sakayanagi with an interested smile.

"I'm sure she will protest for being placed in class D," Kamuro said propping her head on her hand.

Apparently Horikita was in need of guidance.

"I will be frank. Why was I sorted into Class D?"

"That's very frank," said Hashimoto, whistling.

"I wonder why she hasn't seen her own faults in all that time," Kitou said.

"Fu fu, that is a very easy thing to answer, Kitou-kun," said Sakayanagi with amusement, earning the attention of Kitou and the others, "Like she said before, she's always been alone. There were no friends or anything like that, so no one was going to tell her that what she was doing was wrong. Coupled with her extreme superiority complex, she would never listen to the advice of others who were lower than herself."

"I see," Kitou said nodding at Sakayanagi's words.

"Well, then she will never change," Kamuro said in a bored tone.

Indeed, if Horikita's personality was like that, she would never change. But...

"I'm not so sure," Sakayanagi thought refuting Kamuro's words.

Horikita Suzune was already experiencing a huge change inside herself now, and Sakayanagi couldn't wait to see how that process would unfold.

"That's quite frank."

"Today, you told us that the school sorted superior students into Class A. You said that Class D was filled with the leftovers, the last bastion of delinquents."

"That's true. You must consider yourself to be a superior person."

I wondered how Horikita would respond. I'd bet she'd confidently object.

"I solved nearly every problem on the entrance examination. I made no substantial mistakes on the interview, either. At the very least, I shouldn't have been sorted into Class D."

Looks like I would have won that bet. Horikita was definitely the type to think herself superior. She wasn't excessively self-conscious, either. She'd tied for first place on the test, as shown in the morning's results.

"You solved nearly all of the problems on the entrance examination, hmm? Normally I couldn't show the examination results to individual students, but I'll make an exception in this case. I just so happen to have your answer sheet here."

"It's as if she had expected Horikita-san to show up to protest. Well, Chabashira-sensei has probably seen through her personality and prepared for the possibility this might happen," thought Matsushita as she saw Chabashira take out Horikita's answer sheet.

"You're incredibly prepared. It's...almost as if you knew I'd come here to protest."

"I'm an instructor. I understand the mind of a student, at least to some degree, Horikita Suzune. Just as you said, you did well on the entrance examination. You had the third-highest test score among the first-year students and were close to the highest- and second-highest-scoring students. You did exceedingly well. And you're right: We found no particular problems in your interview. On the contrary, we evaluated you quite highly."

"Thank you very much. So then...why?"

"Before I answer, why are you dissatisfied with Class D?"

Everyone was confused by Chabashira's question.

"Anyone certainly won't be satisfied with being ranked last, right?" Ike asked his friends while raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, of course," said Miyamoto.

"Who could be happy with an incorrect evaluation? Furthermore, the class rankings greatly impact our future prospects. Of course I'm dissatisfied."

"Incorrect evaluation? Perhaps your self-evaluation is far too high." Chabashira-sensei snickered, or rather, laughed outright. "I acknowledge that your academic ability is excellent. You're certainly very smart. However, who decided that smart people are categorically superior? We never said that."

"Eh, so that's not it?" said Ishizaki confused.

"From an academic point of view, it does make sense, but it's not enough to make that person superior. There are many other aspects that can make a person superior, one of which is personality," explained Shiina.

"I see. Well then Horikita isn't included since her personality is very problematic," Ishizaki confirmed.

"Yes," said Shiina nodding.

"But...that's just common sense."

"Fu fu, she's talking about common sense. How cute," said Sakayanagi amused.

"Common sense? Didn't common sense create our current, flawed society? Before, Japan relied solely on test scores to separate the superior and inferior. As a result, the incompetents at the top tried desperately to kick down the truly superior students. In the end, we settled on a system of hereditary succession."

Only a few people understood the meaning of Chabashira's words, the others only tilted their heads in confusion.

"Of course. If change doesn't happen, then distinguishing superior and inferior people will only be seen through whether that person is smart or stupid, as a result many people who have talents outside of academia are wasted," Ichinose thought with a bitter expression.

A system of hereditary succession meant that things like social standing, prestige, and employment were passed down to future generations. At those words, I groaned unintentionally. My chest hurt.

"You're a capable student. I don't deny that. However, this school's goal is to produce superior people. If you believe academics alone place you into a higher class, you are mistaken. That was the very first thing we explained to you. Besides, think rationally. Would we have admitted someone like Sudou if we decided superiority based solely on academic merit?"

"That's true, Kenchin's academic abilities are on par with elementary school children. Makes me wonder how she got into this school," said Hasebe crossing her arms.

"Ugh, at least I'm a lot better now," said Sudou grimacing.

"I know, I know," Hasebe said with a chuckle.

"Tch..."

Despite the fact that this was one of the country's leading preparatory schools, this place allowed students to enroll for purposes other than academics.

"Furthermore, you may be too hasty in proclaiming that no one would be happy to be incorrectly evaluated. Take Class A, for instance. They are under incredible pressure from the school, and also the target of extreme envy from the lower classes. Competing every day with that kind of pressure bearing down upon you is far more difficult than you might imagine. There are some students who are happy to be incorrectly evaluated at a lower level."

"Happy at a low level? Is she talking about Ayanokouji-kun?" Azuma asked tilting her head.

"It seems so, I think Chabashira-sensei has evaluated all of us," said Ichihashi.

"You're joking, right? I can't understand such a person."

"Is that so? I think that Class D boasts some of those people. Strange students who would happily be set at a low level."

It was almost as if she were talking to me.

"I don't understand this man at all..."

Ibuki frowned in annoyance while thinking that.

Like she said, she doesn't understand the student named Ayanokouji Kiyotaka at all. From her point of view, Ayanokouji was extremely strong in martial arts, she wouldn't even be surprised if Ayanokouji was actually very good in academics as well.

But what made her angry was that Ayanokouji didn't care about that at all, he preferred to be looked down upon when he had such great abilities. That's why Ibuki prefers to stay away from Ayanokouji, because it only irritates her to see that boy.

"You still haven't given me an explanation. Was I honestly sorted into Class D? Did anything go wrong with the grading? Please double-check," Horikita said.

"I'm sorry, but you weren't sorted by mistake. You are definitely in Class D. You are at that level."

"Is that so? Then I will ask the school again, at another time."

"How stubborn," Himeno muttered while resting her head on her palm.

"Yeah, she doesn't even believe her own teacher's words. By the way the results are still the same if she asks other teachers, right?" Andou said. Apparently she heard Himeno's words.

Apparently, she wasn't going to give up. Horikita had merely determined that her homeroom teacher was the wrong person to ask.

"You'll get the same answer from anyone in a higher position. Besides, there's no need to be disappointed. As I told you this morning, it's possible for one class to overtake another. You could conceivably reach Class A before you graduate."

"Reached class A, huh. That's constructive motivation, Sae-chan," said Hoshinomiya with a smile.

As usual, Chabashira ignored her friend.

"I can't imagine it will be easy, though. Forget overtaking Class A; how in the world could those immature Class D misfits gain more points? I can't see how it's possible." Horikita spoke the truth. The difference in points was overwhelming.

"Well, she did say that, but it's a fact that it's their class that gets the most points," Amikura said as she crossed her arms.

"That proves that they worked really hard to get those points," said Kobashi.

"I wonder how they managed to get all those points," said Shiranami.

"Yes, so do I. It's a good thing this is from Ayanokouji-kun's perspective, so we can see it," said Amikura as she leaned back in the chair.

Meanwhile, Ichinose smiled slightly listening to her friends' discussion.

"I wonder how they will react when they find out that it was because of Kiyotaka-kun's efforts that Class C got almost all of those points."

Even though she said that, actually Ichinose was also curious about how Ayanokouji got points for his class.

"I don't know. You alone get to decide how you head down that path. At any rate, Horikita, do you need to be in Class A for any special reason?"

"Well...I suppose that's enough for now. Excuse me. But know that I'm not yet convinced I was sorted correctly."

"She's avoiding the question, I guess she does have a special reason for being in class A. Interesting," thought Ryuuen with a grin.

"Understood. I will keep that in mind."

A chair squeaked against the floor, signaling that the discussion was over.

"It is over?" Mori asked confused.

"Who knows. If that's the case, why did Chabashira-sensei call Ayanokouji-kun. Is it to hear their conversation?" said Onodera.

"I'm sure it's not that simple, there must be another reason why Chabashira-sensei called him. After all Horikita-san also said that she was involved in it," thought Matsushita.

"Oh, that reminds me. I've summoned another person to the guidance room. It's someone relevant to you."

"Relevant to me? No, you can't mean... bro—"

"Come on out, Ayanokouji," the teacher said.

"I think this is where Ayanokouji-kun comes in," said Nishimura.

"I think so," said Sonoda.

This was a bad time to reveal myself. Maybe I just wouldn't go.

"If you don't come out, I'll have you expelled."

The Ayanokouji group members once again directed sharp glares at Chabashira.

Chabashira couldn't help but sigh when she felt those stares, she could understand why they would be mad at her. She and the members of Ayanokouji's group know very well how much it means to Ayanokouji to stay in school here.

It was because only here was Ayanokouji able to experience freedom, even if it was only temporarily.

So it was only natural for Karuizawa and the others to be angry at her for threatening Ayanokouji's school life.

Jeez. A teacher shouldn't casually wield expulsion like a weapon.

"How long do you intend to keep me waiting?"

With a sigh, I entered the room. Naturally, Horikita appeared surprised and perplexed.

"Were you listening to our conversation?" she asked me.

"Listening? I know you guys were talking, but I didn't really hear