"Hmph. That's just fine. I'll quit, but it's not because it's difficult. I took a day off from my club activities for this, and it ended up being a complete waste of time. Later!" Sudou said.

"What an odd thing to say. Studying is difficult." Horikita took a parting shot at Sudou. If Kushida weren't there, Sudou probably would have smacked Horikita. He stuffed his textbooks into his bag, not even hiding his irritation.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I don't care. It's pointless to care about someone who lacks any motivation whatsoever. Even though he's facing expulsion, he has no will to fight."

"I thought that it was weird for someone like you, who doesn't have any friends, to put this study group together. You probably just wanted to call us stupid. If you weren't a girl, I'd smack you."

"So, you lack the courage to hit me? Don't use my gender as an excuse," Horikita said.

The newly assembled study group was already falling apart.

"I'm quitting, too. Partly 'cause I can't deal with studying, but mostly 'cause I'm annoyed. You might be smart, Horikita, but that doesn't mean you can act like you're better than us." Ike, clearly fed up, threw in the towel as well.

"I don't care if you get expelled. Do what you want," Horikita shot back.

"Well, I'll just pull an all-nighter."

"Interesting. Didn't you come here because you can't study?"

"Tch..." Even the typically easygoing Ike stiffened under the sting of Horikita's barbed comments. Yamauchi started putting his textbook away as well. Finally, the easily influenced Okitani got out of his seat.

"I-Is this really okay, everyone?" he stammered.

"Let's go, Okitani."

Ike left the library, trailed by the hesitant Okitani. Now only Kushida, Horikita, and I remained. Soon, even Kushida would probably reach her limit and leave.

"Horikita-san, we're not going to be able to study with anyone if things continue like this..." Kushida murmured.

"I was certainly mistaken. Even if I'd helped them avoid failure this time, we would've faced a similar dilemma soon after. We'd have to go through this irritation all over again. Eventually, they'll fail. I finally understand how unproductive this was. I don't have the time for it."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"I mean that it's better to get rid of the dead weight."

"D-Dead weight... so she really meant to take them out," Shinohara said while stuttering.

"It seems so, from Horikita-san's point of view it's useless to teach people who don't have the motivation to learn," said Matsushita.

"But it seems Suzune-san changed her mind since they're still in this school, right?" Satou asked. Since Sudou and the others were still attending school here, she thought that somehow Horikita changed her mind and taught them.

"I think so," said Matsushita nodding, agreeing with Satou's words.

"Thank goodness," Shinohara said with a huge sigh of relief, something neither of her friends missed.

Matsushita and Satou looked at each other after seeing Shinohara's reaction, they then grinned after realizing something and looked at Shinohara together.

Shinohara suddenly felt goosebumps when she noticed the stares of her two friends, "W-What's wrong?" she stammered.

"Nothing. But thank goodness Ike-kun didn't drop out, did he, Matsushita-san?" Satou asked with a smile.

"Hm, hm, thank goodness," said Matsushita, smiling.

"H-Huh! W-Wait, I don't understand. What's wrong with you two? Why are you grateful about him?" Asked Shinohara who was very confused, she had a very bad feeling seeing the behavior of her two friends.

"Of course we are grateful, you will definitely be happy if Ike-kun doesn't drop out, right?" said Satou.

"Yes, we don't want you to be sad. We are grateful that the person you like is still going to school here," said Matsushita, grinning.

"..."

Shinohara froze for a moment, she wasn't sure what she heard and it took her a moment to recover, after which her face turned red.

"H-Huh!! W-What am I sad for!? A-And whoever l-likes that idiot and pervert, there's nothing to be proud of. There's no way he'd like me anyways!"

Shinohara denied vehemently, but Satou and Matsushita knew that it was only to cover up her embarrassment. Their grins widened hearing that, but they felt they had enough to tease Shinohara.

"Okay, okay, we understand. We're just kidding," said Satou.

"Yes, just kidding," said Matsushita nodding. After that they both looked back at the screen.

Shinohara would probably believe what her friends were saying if only they wiped the smirk off their faces, she was sure that they wouldn't listen and would come back to tease her later.

Shinohara sighed and looked back at the screen. She would let them this time.

"I like Ike, huh..."

Even so, the words remained in her mind.

That was Horikita's ultimate conclusion. If the failing students were expelled, then the class's average test scores would go up, and we wouldn't have to expend any extra effort.

"M-Man, it's a good thing that Horikita still wanted to teach me, otherwise I would have been kicked out by now," Ike said while shaking.

"Yeah, you're in luck, man. But I wonder why she changed her mind, she looks like she really wants to expel you out there. Has anyone persuaded her?" said Hondou wonderingly.

"I was wondering about that too," Ike said confusedly.

"Could it be Kushida-chan?" said Miyamoto trying to guess.

"I thought about that for a while, but after seeing Horikita and Kikyou-chan's relationship so bad, I'm not sure," Ike said with a frown.

"That's true," Hondou said when he realized what Ike said made sense.

Ike and his friends crossed their arms while thinking of a hint about Horikita's change of mind.

It's a great move, by thinking, one can get a clue and solve any problem they're having.

But there is one problem.

They are all idiots.

"Aagh, whatever, I didn't find any clues," said Ike immediately giving up.

"We really don't need to think about that," said a voice, Ike and the others turned to the source of the voice and saw Sotomura sitting behind them.

"Professor!? Do you know something?" Hondou asked slightly surprised.

"Not at all, but like I said before, we don't need to think about that because there's a chance we'll see who is the one who changed Horikita-dono's mind if we keep watching this," Sotomura said.

Ike and his friends looked at each other when they heard Sotomura's words, they thought that Sotomura's words made sense.

"Come to think of it the professor is right, we can see about it later," Ike said as he leaned back in the chair.

"Huh, why were we thinking so hard just now," said Hondou while shaking his head.

After that they all looked back at the screen.

"So, that's... H-hey, Ayanokouji-kun. Can you say something?" Kushida murmured.

"If that's Horikita's answer, then isn't it fine?"

"You think so too, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"Well, I don't want to toss them to the wolves or anything, but I'm not the tutor. There's nothing I can do about it." In the end, I felt similarly to Horikita.

Some of the Class C students thought that Ayanokouji and Horikita's attitude was cruel for leaving their classmates behind, but then they realized that they used to wish Sudou and the others were kicked out of school as well.

So none of them commented on Horikita's plan to get Sudou and his friends out.

"Okay. I see." Kushida grabbed her bag and stood up, her expression darkening. "I'm going to do something. Well, I'll try. I definitely don't want everything to fall apart so quickly."

"Kushida-san. Do you really feel that way?"

"Is it wrong? I don't want to abandon Sudou-kun, Ike-kun, and Yamauchi-kun."

*sniff

"Kikyou-chan really is a good person," Ike said while rubbing his nose in emotion.

"Even if that was how you truly felt, I wouldn't particularly care. But I don't think that you actually want to save them," Horikita said.

"What? I don't understand. Why do you say things like that, Horikita- san? Why do you try to antagonize people? That's...very sad."

Kushida hung her head briefly, then looked back up at us. She met our eyes.

"Well then. I'll see you two tomorrow," she whispered.

Kushida steeled herself, she knew where her past self would go after this.

With that, Kushida left. Suddenly, it was just the two of us again. We sat in the complete silence of the library.

"Well, that was painful. The study group's already over," I said.

"Looks that way."

The quiet grew almost oppressive.

"I suppose you were the only one who understood me, Ayanokouji- kun. You're at least somewhat better than those worthless idiots. If there's some subject you're struggling with, I could teach you."

"I'll pass, thank you."

"Are you going back to your dorm?" she asked.

"I'm going to find Sudou and the others and have a chat with them."

"There's nothing to be gained from associating with people who'll likely be expelled soon."

"I just want to talk to my friends. Do you have a problem with that?"

"How incredibly selfish. You call them your friends, yet you simply stand by and watch as they're expelled. From my point of view, you're cruel."

"Look who's talking now," Ibuki said with a snort.

"She doesn't look in the mirror herself," said Ishizaki a little annoyed.

Well, I certainly couldn't deny that. Horikita wasn't wrong. In the end, studying was just the test of an individual's self-motivation.

"I won't deny what you've said. I can also understand why you'd call someone like Sudou stupid. However, Horikita, shouldn't you try to understand Sudou's situation? If he only hoped to become a professional basketball player, then choosing this school in the first place makes little sense. Don't you think you'd understand him better if you considered his reasons for enrolling?"

"Not interested." Horikita dismissed me and returned to her textbook. Alone.

Many sighed in annoyance at Horikita's attitude, even though Horikita's words weren't directed at them but they still felt irritated at the girl's words. Students outside of Class C are wondering how Horikita became the class leader if her personality is like that.

= = =

I left the library and chased after Kushida. I wanted to thank for her working so hard to get the study group together, and to apologize. Besides, I wanted to do everything possible to get along with such a cute girl, you know?

"He he, looks like you have a rival, Honami-chan," said Amikura trying to tease Ichinose, but she was taken aback when she saw the worried expression Ichinose made, "Honami-chan, what's wrong?"

The rest of Ichinose's friends turned to look at her after hearing Amikura's surprised voice, and like Amikura, they were surprised to see Ichinose's unusually tense and anxious expression.

"What's wrong, Ichinose?" Shibata asked when he saw Ichinose's troubled expression, he felt something was wrong.

Ichinose doesn't answer and remains silent, but inside she's really panicking right now. She could feel that Kushida's dark secret would be exposed soon and that was what she was worried about right now.

Kushida's influence is very wide, reaching almost all the students in their year, even almost all of Ichinose's class girls are close friends with Kushida. If they knew Kushida's real personality, then the chaos her class would be in would be huge.

Ichinose doesn't want chaos in her class and at the same time she is also friends with Kushida, even they were close before knowing each other's past. Now that Ichinose knows Kushida's past, rather than stay away, Ichinose feels closer to Kushida. Kushida and the rest of Ayanokouji's group have become Ichinose's irreplaceable best friends.

But that's where Ichinose's dilemma comes in.

On the one hand she didn't want her class to get into chaos but on the other hand she also couldn't leave Kushida who was being the target of hostility by other students. The thought of who to choose sends Ichinose into a panic, should she choose her classmate? Or she chose Kushida who had become her best friend.

Ichinose's head hurts thinking about it all, she doesn't know which one to choose, her mind is clouded. She had to choose but she couldn't decide, adding to her despair.

But it was in the midst of that despair that Ichinose heard a voice.

"Hey Ichinose, what's wrong with you?"

It was Kanzaki's voice.

Ichinose turned towards Kanzaki with widened eyes, after hearing Kanzaki's words, Ichinose was as if splashed with cold water and dispelled her clouded mind. All her worries miraculously disappeared.

It wasn't Kanzaki's words that woke Ichinose, but Kanzaki himself. When she heard Kanzaki's voice, she suddenly remembered her own words not long ago.

When the day comes where I have to choose between you and my group, I will choose you without hesitation. I will never leave my classmates.

Those were her words to Kanzaki just before this event started.

When Ichinose recalled those words, she immediately threw herself onto the back of the chair and covered her face with her hands. She realized her stupidity and felt annoyed about it.

"You idiot, Honamiiii! Why did you forget such an important thing! Uuuhh... why do I still not have a firm resolve."

Ichinose shouted that in her mind. But now she was thinking clearly and could remember important things clearly, including the contents of Ayanokouji's message.

[To Honami and Hiyori, just focus on your class in case your class gets impacted.]

That was the contents of the message Ayanokouji had sent during their discussion just a moment ago. Remembering the message relieved Ichinose a bit, she then took a deep breath and exhaled to calm herself down. After a while, she then turned to her friends.

"Everyone, sorry to worry you, I'm fine now," Ichinose said with a smile.

Even though Ichinose said that, her friends naturally found it hard to believe it. They had seen how troubled the expression Ichinose had made just now, they were worried that Ichinose would push herself and bear what she was worried about alone.

"Are you really all right, Honami-chan? You looked really agitated just now," Amikura said worriedly.

"Actually there was something I was worried about before, but now it's okay. I'm serious," Ichinose reassured her friends, then she looked at her friends seriously, "More importantly now, I have something I want to tell you all."

All of Ichinose's friends are surprised by their class leader's quick change in expression, but they hold back from asking because of the serious look Ichinose makes. So they decided to listen to Ichinose in silence.

"I know I'm asking too much of you, but can you trust me this time?" Ichinose asked.

Amikura and the others looked at each other at Ichinose's question, they didn't know why but to them it was a ridiculous question. Without being asked, they already know what they have to do.

"Of course we believe you."

"You're asking a ridiculous question, Honami-chan."

"That's out of the question."

Everyone answered honestly that they trusted Ichinose, there was no doubting her. Such was the influence that Ichinose Honami had over the past year, the bonds she had formed with her classmates were already very tight.

"Thank you, everyone," Ichinose said gratefully.

"So, what's the matter, Ichinose?" asked Kanzaki who was curious about what Ichinose would say.

Ichinose took in a deep breath before letting it out, she then looked at her friends seriously.

"This may just be my guess and I have no proof, but from looking at the scene that's showing on the screen right now, I can tell that we're about to see something very shocking not only for us, but for everyone in this room."

"..."

They all fell silent, trying to process what they had just heard. But still they do not understand the point.

"What do you mean, Ichinose?" Kanzaki asked after a moment of silence.

"Like I said, we're going to see something very soon that will completely shock everyone in this room. For that I want us all to stay calm when it happens, stay quiet and don't let the shock touch us."

"Why?" Shibata asked confused.

"Because I don't want our class to get involved in it. I'm afraid that if we get involved it will cause chaos in our class," says Ichinose. Because almost all of Ichinose's classmates were good friends with Kushida, she was afraid that if one of them got angry at Kushida it would drag the other classmate into that anger, which would throw the class into chaos. Ichinose completely avoided that.

"Can you promise me not to get involved?" Ichinose asked all of her friends.

Ichinose might be overthinking all of this, maybe no one would get mad when they found out Kushida's true personality, maybe some wouldn't care, maybe some would naturally think Kushida had a hidden personality, and maybe there wouldn't be as much chaos as she was worried about.

But she still said it all to her friends solely just to get rid of the anxiety she had.

"Okay, if that's what you want, Honami-chan," said Amikura who was the first to come forward.

"Well, I don't know what happened but alright," Shibata said, nodding.

Gradually all of Ichinose's friends agree to her request, even though they don't know what happened but they decide to believe her.

Ichinose's expression brightened, she was greatly relieved that her friends agreed to her words.

"Thank you, everyone," she said gratefully.

"But Ichinose, can you explain what you're saying later?" Kanzaki asked, even though he agreed with Ichinose's request, he at least wanted an explanation about all of this.

Ichinose paused for a moment before nodding, "Yes, I will explain to all of you after this session ends."

"It's decided then," said Kanzaki nodding in satisfaction, "Let's continue watching, I'm curious about this event that you are worried about."

Everyone agreed with Kanzaki and turned their attention back to the screen.

Ichinose breathed a sigh of relief at having completed her task, then she too looked back at the screen.

Her part done, now she entrusted Kushida's affairs to Ayanokouji and the others.

Whipping out my cell phone, I pulled up Kushida's contact information. Although it was my second time calling, I felt nervous contacting her. The phone rang twice, then three times. However, she didn't pick up. Did she not notice me calling? Or was she refusing to answer it?

People who knew Kushida were confused by this, because usually Kushida always answered her incoming phone calls. If only once is natural, but up to three times? It's confusing.

They thought that something happened to Kushida.

Kushida wasn't around campus, so I continued to search for her. When I got inside the school, I glimpsed someone who looked like Kushida from behind. It was already around six PM, so the only people here should've been involved in club activities. Well, this was Kushida we were