"Exactly."

The students with a poor grasp of the basics probably wouldn't be able to memorize everything in a single day. However, we weren't shooting for perfect scores this time around. The crucial thing was to avoid failing. If we got greedy, we might end up digging our own graves.

With this plan, we could probably get everyone in Class D to pass.

Horikita let out a tired sigh before turning to Ayanokouji "You planned everything so perfectly, I didn't know if I could come up with such a plan" Horikita said expressing her honest thoughts.

"Don't lower yourself like that, there is still plenty of time for you to improve. You have great potential, I can feel it. And also you just started your new life, right?" said Ayanokouji.

Horikita widened her eyes at Ayanokouji's words, after which her expression softened, "I understand, thank you."

"..."

Ayanokouji fell silent, rather frozen. He was speechless when he saw Horikita Suzune smiling gently with her cheeks flushed. It was a pure smile and it seemed like the girl didn't even notice that she was smiling.

The effect also didn't affect just Ayanokouji. Karuizawa and Kushida who were listening in on their conversation also froze when they saw Horikita smile. Their mouths opened at the sight that they rarely saw.

Horikita noticed the changes in her friends and looked at them in confusion, "What's wrong?" she asked.

Ayanokouji and the others broke free from their frozen state when they no longer saw Horiktia's smile. Kushida cleared her throat to calm herself then she held Horikita's shoulder and looked at her with sparkling eyes.

"Suzune-san, smile often, you look really cute with that smile," Kushida said excitedly.

"Huh!?"

Horikita was flabbergasted by what she heard, she then turned to Ayanokouji.

"That's a killer smile, good progress," said Ayanokouji with a thumbs up.

"What-"

"WHAT!? Suzune smiled?" said Sudou in surprise, cutting Horikita off. Because Horikita had her back turned to him, Sudou couldn't see the amazing sight.

"Eh, what? Suzune smiled? Where, where? I want to see!" said Hasebe interested after hearing Sudou's words.

"He he, you guys missed it. Suzune-san's smile is really beautiful, you know," Kushida said in awe.

"Please stop..." Horikita said weakly, she was still processing the information just now.

"I-I want to take a look, Suzune can-"

"No!" Horikita said firmly, her mind immediately clearing up after hearing Sudou's request.

"Oh, come on! Just once," Hasebe said disappointedly.

"My answer is still no. Now let's continue watching," Horikita said, leaving no room for debate.

Seeing that, Sudou and Hasebe couldn't help but give in and sigh before they turned their attention back to the screen.

Meanwhile Ayanokouji and Karuizawa watched the whole situation silently not wanting to get involved.

"Nice development, isn't it?" said Karuizawa.

Ayanokouji turned to her before answering, "Yes. At this rate I hope she can return to her old self and unlock her true potential."

"I wish you could also smile like that, like you showed in the meeting room just now."

Ayanokouji pondered Karuizawa's words inside his head, after a while he expressed his honest thoughts.

"To be honest, I still think about whether I can change or not," said Ayanokouji. The one who knew the most about himself was himself, but the question of whether or not he could change was one he couldn't answer because it was something that happened in the future, and the future was something that couldn't be predicted.

"You can do it," said Karuizawa confidently, "I'll make sure-no, we'll make sure."

Ayanokouji looked right into Karuizawa's eyes, he could see her strong determination and sincere intention to help him. Hence, what answer could he give other than sincerely accepting that determination?

"I will look forward to it."

That was all he could say.

"When did you come up with the idea to get the old tests?" she asked.

"I considered it when we learned that the test material was going to be different. However, I had a hunch back when they first told us about the midterm exam."

"Way back then!?" said the surprised students.

"Huh?! Way back then?"

"There was something very peculiar about the way Chiyabashira-sensei told us about the test. As our homeroom teacher, she had a clear understanding of everyone's grades and academic performance. Despite that, she seemed absolutely certain when she told us that there was a way for us to pass this test. In other words, she indicated that there was a surefire way for us to save everyone."

"And that's...the old test papers?"

"This might be related to why Sudou, Ike, and Yamauchi were admitted to this school despite being academically poor. Even if they couldn't get good grades by studying ahead, perhaps there were other means of addressing the problem, a backup plan they could use to avoid expulsion. This meant that it was possible for anyone to get a near-perfect score if they could get the old test papers. That's what I took from the situation, anyway."

Everyone fell silent, they were too surprised to hear Ayanokouji's words. It couldn't be helped because they could never think of things like this. Even if they could, they thought it was people like Ryuuen and Sakayanagi who could come up with this plan.

But now they find out that someone from the bottom of the class who has a quiet and aloof personality managed to come up with a plan that can save his classmates.

"Extraordinary."

"He can come up with such a plan."

"And none of us knew about it."

"I thought all this time he was just a lone and gloomy student, it turns out I was very wrong."

Class C couldn't hide their admiration and gratitude that Ayanokouji was from their class.

"Thank you for saving us, Kiyoakan-kun," said Hirata with a smile, showing his sincere gratitude.

"No need for thanks, I did this for myself," said Ayanokouji.

"Even so, it's a fact that you still helped everyone, just accept our gratitude," Horikita said sharply and demandingly.

"O-Okay," Ayanokouji stuttered, "Sigh, this character of her hasn't changed at all."

"Ayanokouji-kun, you really are an incredibly observant person, aren't you?"

"I'm just cunning. Besides, I didn't believe that I could pass the midterm without some help. I was just looking to make things easier for myself."

"Hmm." Kushida grinned like some gears were turning in her mind.

"I have one more favor to ask. Could you please tell everyone that you got the old test papers, Kushida? I want you to say that you got them from a third-year student you're close to."

"That's fine, but...are you okay with that, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"I like to avoid trouble. I don't want to stand out. Besides, our classmates trust you, Kushida. I think it would be better if you told them."

"So that's the reason he asked Kikyou-chan to share those questions," said Satou relieved.

"I understand his reason, I also probably wouldn't believe it if he suddenly came to the front of the class and handed out those questions," Shinohara said with a sigh.

"Because Ayanokouji-kun's social status is quite low in our class," said Matsushita.

"Yes, but I'm sure after this not anymore. Look, our classmates are praising him now," said Shinohara turning her attention to her classmates.

Satou and Matsushita followed Shinohara's gaze and indeed they saw their classmates talking about Ayanokouji with great excitement.

"This will definitely be troublesome for Kiyotaka-kun," said Satou laughing bitterly.

"I understand. If you say so, Ayanokouji-kun."

"Thanks. Don't say anything else, though. We need to avoid drawing too much attention."

"Okay, we can keep this secret between us."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

"Don't you feel that a strange bond of mutual trust forms between people who share a secret?"

"I don't know about that. I sure hope so."

"Thank you," replied Kushida.

I didn't really know what she meant by that.

Video ends.

"Do you really not know?" Kushida asked.

"I don't know what 'Strange Bond' you're referring to, and didn't you hate me back then," Ayanokouji replied.

"Well, I guess that makes sense," said Kushida giggling.

After that Eve announced her usual five-minute break.

= = =

Thanks for reading!! It took me a month to finish, that's a lot of time.

By the way, have you guys seen the new volume illustrations? Lots of Ichinose's illustrations there, I think Kinugasa will deepen her character a lot in this volume.

And it seems that Ichika and Kikyou have quite an interesting friendship now, I can't wait to read this new volume.

Sorry if there are mistakes in words, repeated words, or language errors during writing.

That's all I'm saying, see you soon.