"Being able to pick up on the little clues the school gave him and use those hints to his advantage, Ayanokouji is a sharper person than I expected," said Kanzaki. Previously he was wary of Ayanokouji as one of the people who could threaten his class but only at an average level because he thought Ayanokouji was someone who supported Horikita, just like he supported Ichinose.

But after seeing these videos, his level of vigilance towards Ayanokouji skyrocketed even higher and was on par with other class leaders. Horikita not even knowing about those old test questions made Kanzaki wary of Ayanokouji more than Horikita. Plus now their class alliance was over and made them enemies now.

Kanzaki could feel that the struggle he and his friends in the second year would have had was very hard.

By the way, he was currently having a discussion like his class usually did after the video was over.

"Yeah, who would have thought that the school would leave clues. If we find out, I'll definitely get a perfect score," said Shibata excitedly.

"Same, I want it too," said Hamaguchi nodding.

"Huh!? You don't need it, Hamaguchi. Aren't your grades pretty good?" Shibata said.

"Why do you say that? There's no way I'd pass up the chance to get a perfect score."

"No, no, no. Then you will get the same score as me."

"Huh!? Oi, don't tell me you're going to use that opportunity for yourself."

Shibata and Hamaguchi glared at each other, Kanzaki who was listening in on their conversation couldn't help but sigh watching them discussing something pointless.

"Ayanokouji-kun is a humble person, isn't he? He could have gotten credit for coming up with that plan, but he gave it all to Kushida-san," said Amikura in admiration.

"Yes, most men are not likely to do that. They definitely want to get credit," said Minamikata.

"Ha ha, Kiyotaka-kun doesn't want to stand out and likes to stay out of trouble. Also his social status is quite low in class so he thinks there's no way people will believe him," Ichinose said with a laugh.

"By the way Ichinose, did Ayanokouji ever say anything about this?" Kanzaki asked.

Ichinose thought for a moment before shaking her head, "No, Kiyotaka-kun never said anything about this. But he did say that he does a lot behind the scenes."

"I see," said Kanzaki, then he pondered Ichinose's words, "Doing a lot behind the scenes, huh..."

He couldn't ignore those words.

Soon the five minute break was over.

Midterm Exam

"Looks like we're about to enter the main part," Horikita expressed her opinion.

"I guess so, the midterms are the highlight of the session," said Kushida nodding in agreement.

Horikita remained silent and didn't say anything, actually she had a feeling that this midterm was not the highlight of the session like Kushida said, but only the main part.

And to highlight itself was an event that happened after the midterm exams.

It was Thursday. Tomorrow, the midterm would be upon us. Class had ended for the day. After Chiyabashira-sensei ended the homeroom period and left the classroom, Kushida immediately leapt into action. She took out printed copies of the old test that I'd made at the convenience store and brought them up to the podium.

"Everyone, before you return to the dorm, would you mind listening to me for a moment?"

Everyone, including Sudou, stopped and listened to Kushida. This was a role that neither Horikita nor I could play. Only Kushida could do it.

Everyone agrees with Ayanokouji, Kushida can gather people easily and get them to listen to her, because she is everyone's friend. If it was Ayanokouji who did that, there might only be a few people like Hirata or Kushida who would listen to him.

"I know that you've all been studying a lot in preparation for the test tomorrow. I have something to help you. I'm going to hand out some papers."

Kushida distributed the question and answer sheets to the students in the first row.

"Test...questions? Did you make these, Kushida-san?" Horikita was visibly surprised by this sudden turn of events.

"Actually, these are the old test problems. I got them from a third-year student last night."

"Old test problems? Huh? Wait, will these questions be on the test tomorrow?"

"Yes. To tell you the truth, I heard that the midterm test from the year before last had almost exactly the same problems as this one. So, if we study what's on this test, it'll surely come in handy."

"Whoa! Seriously? Thank you, Kushida-chan!" Overjoyed, Ike hugged his test paper. None of the other students could suppress their elation, either.

"What the hell? If we had these, then wasn't it pointless to study so hard?" Yamauchi complained, even as he laughed.

A sigh of disappointment could be heard in the room at the sight of Ayanokouji's worries occurring.

"Hmph, too predictable," Ibuki said disdainfully.

"He even loudly shouted that studying is pointless," muttered a disappointed Shiina while shaking her head.

"Ku ku, what do you expect from those defects," Ryuuen said loudly enough for the Class C students to hear. Of course no one dared to snap at him for being too scared, except for a few people like Miyake and Sudou. Sudou even openly glared at Ryuuen.

It looked like I'd been right.

"Sudou-kun, do your best when you study today!"

"Yeah. Thanks, you really helped me out." Sudou also happily accepted the test papers.

"Let's keep this a secret from the other classes! Don't be scared, everyone! Do your best and aim for a high score!" Ike shouted with joy and determination. I was inclined to agree with him. We didn't need to send supplies to the enemy. Everyone returned to the dorms with high spirits.

"Uuuu... my perfect score..." Shibata said whining.

"Stop whining. Why are you crying over something that has already passed," Kanzaki scolded.

"Ugh! I know, I know."

"Kushida-san. Excellent work." Horikita gave Kushida genuine praise, which was unusual.

"It's rare for her to be like that," Kamuro said dryly.

"Well, I guess she'll be polite to anyone who helps her up to class A," said Hashimoto while relaxing his body.

"You think so? Her attitude was very rude to Ayanokouji who helped her," Kitou said raising an eyebrow.

Hashimoto was silent for a moment before he cleared his throat to calm himself, "W-Well, let's just say Ayanokouji was a special case. You've seen for yourself that their relationship is quite unique, right?"

Meanwhile Sakayangi remained silent while her minions spoke, she was not interested in their conversation and stared at the screen with an unimpressed look.

"How disappointing. She didn't see any clues from start to finish," Sakayanagi thought in disappointment, her disappointment was aimed at Horikita Suzune. Sakayanagi sighed while shaking her head.

"Eh, really?" Kushida said.

"I'd never even considered trying to use the old tests. I'm also grateful that you verified that the questions were still useful."

True. The always-solitary Horikita hadn't come up with that idea.

"I just did it for my friends. It was nothing special," Kushida said.

"Also, I think that you were correct to announce that you had it today after class. If you'd carelessly let word get out about this test, it's possible that everyone would have lost their motivation to study."

"That was only because I received the test papers so late. If many of the same problems are featured on the test tomorrow, then everyone will probably manage to get pretty high test scores."

"Yes. It also means that the last two weeks we spent studying weren't for nothing."

The past two weeks had probably been tremendously long for Sudou and the other failing students. Hopefully they'd gotten more into the habit of studying now.

"It was hard but fun."

"I don't think the Idiot Trio found it the least bit fun."

Well, we'd done as much as we could. The next step for those three simply came down to effort.

Sudou's expression scrunched up, he was reminded of his own failure. Even after working hard and being helped by many people, he still failed. If Horikita hadn't helped him, he would have been kicked out of school.

"With that much help, I don't think there's any way they'd fail," said Andou.

"Yes, they can at least get the grade point average pass. That's enough," Ichinose said.

"Surely they succeeded, right? There weren't any Class D students who were expelled back then," said Amikura, Ichinose and the others nodded.

"I just pray that I don't draw a complete blank during the actual test."

Well, I couldn't really do anything about that part. No matter how much they were taught and what they demonstrated during the study group, everything came down to their performance on the actual test. At least the previous questions were one crucial bit of help.

"Well, should we head back?"

Horikita quietly looked over at Kushida as she put her textbook into her bag. "Kushida-san."

"Hmm?"

"Hmm?"

Everyone was also looking at the screen curiously when they saw Horikita looking at Kushida with understanding eyes, they rarely saw Horikita looking at Kushida like that.

"Really, thank you for everything you've done. If you weren't here, the study group would not have succeeded."

"Don't worry about it. I just want to get into the higher-ranked classes together with everyone else. That's why I did it, and why I agreed to help with the study group. I'll help you again any time." Smiling, Kushida grabbed her bag and stood.

"Wait. There's just one thing I want to confirm," Horikita said.

"Confirmation...?" muttered Mii-chan confusedly.

"Confirm?"

"If you say that you'll continue working with me for the sake of our class, then I need to be sure of something."

Horikita looked straight at Kushida, who was still wearing that dazzling smile.

"You hate me, don't you?"

Everyone took a breath seeing Horikita say that blatantly in front of Kushida. But considering Horikita's personality they had seen so far, they thought her attitude was only natural.

But there is one thing that makes them confused.

"From her words, it doesn't seem like it was a question but a statement. She knows that Kushida hates her," Kanzaki said.

"But how did she know that? Kushida-san has never shown her hatred in front of Horikita-san, right?" Kobashi asked confusedly.

Kobashi's confusion was natural because all this time Kushida only accepted Horikita's harsh words with a smile and kept it to herself, she only showed her hatred for Horikita only in remote places where not many people walked.

So naturally some people wondered where Horikita had come from asking Kushida that.

"Isn't it natural for Horikita to ask that since she has snapped at Kushida several times?" Hamaguchi said clearly.

"That's true, though..." Kobashi said, but her expression was unconvinced.

"I think I understand what Yume-chan means," Ichinose said suddenly, drawing the attention of her friends, "This is about Kikyou-chan, although now that we know her true personality, those on screen don't. Kikyou-chan has a very good reputation, and one of the things that makes her so popular is that she never gets angry and is always gentle with everyone. So the thought of her hating someone would never occur to anyone."

"Yes. That's why I'm confused as to why Horikita-san could jump to conclusions like that when other people don't," said Kobashi confusedly.

"The answer is easy, it's because of Suzune-san herself," said Ichinose softly.

"Huh? It means?" Andou asked tilting her head.

"Meaning Horikita wasn't affected by Kushida's kindness at all, that's why she was able to look at Kushida with a clearer view," Kanzaki answered, Ichinose gave a nod of approval.

"Yup. Suzune-san's gaze was different from other people's views. While the other students saw Kikyou-chan as a gentle and kind-hearted student, Suzune-san just looked at Kikyou-chan the same way she looked at anyone else. So Suzune-san's thoughts about Kikyou-chan hating her must have crossed her mind."

After that lengthy explanation, Kobashi and a few other students finally understood their confusion.

"I see, it's all just a matter of perspective as you say, Honami-chan," Kobashi said with a smile, but then the smile was replaced by a sigh, "I guess I should start getting used to Kushida-san's personality."

Just as Satou comforted Shinohara with his explanation, Ichinose also gave the same explanation to her friends so they could calm themselves down.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you can do it," Ichinose said with a smile. Then Ichinose's expression changed to one of worry unbeknownst to her friends.

"I hope they still accept her after her deepest secret is revealed."

"Hey, hey..." I'd wondered what she wanted to ask, but that was ridiculously unexpected.

"Why do you think that?" Kushida asked.

"You're not answering my question because it's true. Right?"

"Ha ha, you got me." She shouldered her bag and lowered her hands. Kushida faced Horikita without losing her smile. "That's right. I really hate you."

"She admitted it," said Satou slightly surprised by Kushida's honesty.

"There is no other choice, even if she decides to lie, Horikita-san likely won't believe her," said Matsushita.

"I guess that makes sense, Suzune-san is a very sharp person," said Satou nodding.

"Wait, then did they work together for this one year with feelings of hatred towards each other?" said Shinohara with widened eyes.

Satou and Matsushita froze at Shinohara's words, it took them a moment to come to their senses.

"You're right, and we weren't even aware of the animosity between the two of them all this time," said Matsushita, slightly irritated that she was completely ignorant of this matter.

"I wonder what kind of trouble will occur between the ones we don't know about," Satou said thoughtfully.

"Trouble? Isn't that a little excessive? I know they hate each other, but that doesn't mean they're going to get into trouble, does it? They're still in the same class after all," Shinohara said with a frown.

"In fact Shinohara-san, Kikyou-chan has several times attempted to expel Suzune-san from school."

Satou wanted to say that to Shinohara but she held herself back from doing so, she knew that Shinohara had a stubborn attitude and it might become troublesome if she said that.

"For now let's keep watching," said Matsushita, her two friends nodding.

She answered clearly, making no attempt to hide it. She was direct.

"Do you want me to tell you the reason?"

The students were staring at the screen with full attention, they wished they could find out the real reason why Kushida hates Horikita so much.

"No. That's unnecessary. Knowing that is good enough. I can continue working with you without hesitation."

Several sighs of disappointment could be heard in the room.

"Huh!? So she just wants to know that's all?" Ibuki asked frowning.

"I think her reason makes sense, you can't work seriously if someone harbors unknown feelings, can you?" said Shina.

"I guess so," Ibuki said with a sigh.

Despite what she'd just been told, Horikita spoke calmly.

= = =

"There are no absences today. It appears everyone is present."

Chabashira-sensei strode through the classroom with a bold smile on her face.

"This is the day of the test, are we even close to the climax?" said Onodera wonderingly.

"I hope so. Honestly, I'm getting sleepy," said a tired Mori.

"That's the first hurdle for you leftovers. Are there any questions?"

"We've studied diligently these past few weeks. I don't think that anyone will fail."

"Oh my. You sound quite confident, Hirata."

"Of course they are confident, they have old test questions" Ishizaki said annoyedly, he was so envious of how Horikita's class had the advantage in the exam while he was struggling to answer the exam questions.

Everyone wore a confident look. The teacher promptly took up the test papers and passed them out. Our first period test was for social studies. Out of everything we'd studied, it was probably the easiest subject.

"If anyone stumbles here, the other tests will be an uphill battle, quite frankly. You'll take this midterm and the final exam in July. If no one fails either test, you'll be rewarded with a vacation during your summer break."

The mood of all the students immediately dropped hearing summer vacation. How come? Because the summer vacation wasn't what they expected.

"A vacation?"

"That's right. A dream vacation on an island surrounded by the brilliant blue sea."

"Ugh... vacation bullshit," Hondou groaned.

"Yeah, we have to go through hell for days," said Miyamoto grimacing, looking like he had recovered a bit from being snapped at by Sudou and Kushida.

"If only it wasn't a test, then the vacation must have been so much fun," Ike complained. As a person who is experienced in nature, a vacation on an uninhabited island is like heaven for him.

Of course, the beach in summer meant we'd be able to see the girls in their swimsuits...

"Oh no..." Ayanokouji groaned inside his heart, he could feel a headache coming on.

"Wh-what is this strange pressure..." one of the boys muttered.

Chabashira-sensei stepped back from the obvious tension the students exuded... mostly the boys.

"Everyone. Let's do our best!"

"Yeah!" Ike howled along with our classmates. I shouted too, my voice getting lost in the cacophony.

"Kiyopon ..." Hasebe said tired, Ayanokouji could feel disappointment in her voice.

"Heeh, even though you lose your emotions, but your instinct as a man is still running, Kiyotaka," Karuizawa said. Despite her voice as usual, Ayanokouji can feel some stabs like a needle in every word.

"I just carried away the atmosphere," Ayanokouji said defending himself, but the girls did not seem to believe it.

"Well, Kiyotaka-kun is still a man, so I don't think it can be blamed," Kushida said, giggling, the other girls agreed with her.

"Well, it can't be helped," Hasebe said, sighing, but a grin was seen from her face.

Ayanokouji only saw the situation and listened to their conversation, so he could find out what was happening.

"They just want to mess me up, right?"

"Pervert." Horikita glanced at me. I immediately fell silent.

Before long, everyone had their test papers. On the teacher's signal, everyone began. I held off on starting for a moment and looked around at the others. With everything they'd learned, could the Idiot Trio avoid failing? First off, how many of this test's questions were the same as the ones from the old exam? I needed to check that first.

All right.

I discreetly clenched my fist in triumph. Despite my fears, the questions here were the same as the old ones. I hadn't looked them over in any detail, but I saw no great