"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon

》》Bonds and Betrayals《《

I wouldn't say that today is unimportant since the mid-terms are about to get announced. After all, we wrote them last Friday, and hell, these were boring.

I wouldn't say either that they were too easy, but I am certainly curious about one thing.

Did Yamauchi pass?

Did Ike pass?

Did Sudou pass?

What if they didn't? What would the penalties for their expulsion be?

Or more like: What will the cruise ship be without them? What will the morality of our class change into?

And who will win? Hirata or Alisa?

As I was sitting in homeroom class, which was the last for today, the tension among many students rose.

Hirata himself was a little tensed himself, whilst his competitor, Alisa was calm as always.

And that is going to be the difference between them. If I change my mind and vote for Hirata, it's over for her role in this class, she will fall into irrelevance.

Of course, I would lose her as an ally. But would gain the trust of Horikita and Hirata.

But I want to kick Alisa out of her position since she will only make terrible decisions afterward. I would rather have Hirata fail than her currently.

But what should I do?

As the bell rang and Chabashira entered the classroom, we hit the peak of tension.

And I am sure, that there is already a tsunami of reactions coming at us.

An overwhelming one. Even though Alisa, Hirata, and Kushida worked together to come up with these study groups, an expulsion will surely shake the current stability of the class.

And now, it's time.

"The mid-term results are officially here, and will all get announced simultaneously. First off, this class made immense progress on what you stood on before. Many students found their position already, and I welcome this thought."

She started slowly, however, her tone when saying this already made it sound like there was a 'but' coming just a short while later.

Horikita was confident. So was Kushida and Alisa. But Hirata wasn't. Probably because he knew this could either be his downfall or his rise.

And this time, I won't intervene.

"This class's average was extremely high for most of the time. There were even students who aced some exams. But sadly enough, there is still bad news."

Everyone's eyes widened. Horikita next to me was applying huge pressure into her pen, and I am wondering for how long the pen will manage the force.

"Sadly, there is still one student who failed. Yamauchi Haruki 28.94 Points on average."

Not that I was surprised, but I was caught off guard by one thing surely, and that was the fact that he was off, by a huge bit.

Three points.

The passing border was set at 31.72 Points. Which was half of our average.

And what impressed me the most, wasn't that he was expelled. Rather the fact that people who usually were his friends didn't bother to lower their scores.

Sudo achieved an insane 48 points. Ike is a little worse with 44...

But I don't mean them.

Alisa scored 99.5 points on average.

Kushida scored 89.9 points on average.

Horikita scored 75 points on average.

Hirata scored 70 points on average.

See? Horikita lowering her average caught me completely off guard. Not only by 5 points or by ten. But I expected her to score over 95 points on average.

However, she scored 20 less than that.

Hirata also scored lower than expected. Well, he would have been around an 80-point average judging by the short we took.

But he also lowered his score on purpose.

Alisa however, even though I told her to do that, went on to completely dominate and be in first place. Even ahead of Koenji.

Why is that?

"W-Wait a second?!?! I am expelled?! That is unfair!"

"I am all up to hear your explanation as to why it would be unfair. You were given the syllabus five weeks prior. There were study groups hosted apparently. Some lowered their scores and you still managed to fail?"

Even though her words were brutal and mind-blowing to every normal student, it was a hard reality. It wasn't anybody's fault, except his very own.

It wasn't unfair at all. It was just completely stupid in the end. Originally, I thought of refraining from intervening.

But I guess this is the very first time to interfere even though it went against my very own rules.

"I..."

"Yamauchi Haruki is officially expelled and you have to be at the principal's office. I will wait for you there. The rest of the class is officially dismissed for today, for obvious reasons."

Well, couldn't have gone any worse right?

But well, seems like another act of self-sacrifice.

》》Bonds and Betrayals《《

As Chabashira left, I decided to immediately follow, I made sure nobody was following, and well, everyone sat there in a state of shock.

Nobody uttered a word and thus I could leave with no notice. And well, the route Chabashira was taking to get to the faculty office was quite weird I must say.

Instead of going down an aisle, she went up to the rooftop, basically the area where no cameras were installed. A perfect area for smokers, and well, I was quite surprised the second she took out a cigarette and started to smoke.

"You followed, what's the reason?"

It seems like she noticed that I followed her, even though I left a bit of a distance between us.

"Smoking is bad sensei."

"You came all the way here just to tell me the obvious?"

Well, then why continue to smoke? It made no sense to me, except for the reason it has nicotine, and well, people tend to get quite obsessed about that.

"No, I wanted to ask if I could try."

"That is funny. I never thought someone like you smoked."

"Well, then your thoughts were correct, I don't smoke."

Everything except weed.

"I think this conversation is useless, Suou. You have a reason why you came."

"Sensei, I am only fifteen years old, and not that experienced in life. I wanted to ask you something which is creating me some trouble internally."

"I am no nurse, so if it is-"

Usually, it is disrespectful to cut off a teacher, but she reacted with a smile by getting cut off.

Sensei is truly weird, she smokes and likes it when she gets cut off. No wonder this woman has no husband.

"I meant mentally. For the past few days, I have been asking myself the question if humans are truly equal. What do you think?"

"Let me think about it... I think that the system of this school officially proved, that humans aren't equal at all. Everyone started here equally, but due to laziness, stupidity, and other factors, it quickly showed how equality is non-existent. Some in Class-D perform pretty well, but there is always a reason they got placed in the class of the defectives."

She took a puff and continued;

"Class D has great potential, and even though this class started the worst, I believe the chance is high that the tables will turn in the next three years. However, only if everyone truly uses their potential. In your class, everybody has a defect, and I would be proud to see this class reach Class A one day."

"But why do you think we won't reach it?"

"Because students like you are a waste of valuable space. There is nothing you did. Everyone improved in the exams, except you. You even fell a little. From 65 points to barely 40. I originally thought that you would be useful since the school deemed you as a student with high potential. But it looks like you don't want to contribute."

"Sensei, I agree with your statements. And I agree I made some mistakes. But can I propose something? I want to overturn Yamauchi's expulsion."

"With what?"

"Not points like you thought, but something risky. I want his expulsion to be overcome, however. If Class D doesn't end up on top by the end of our third year, I am agreeing to get expelled instead of him."

She was at a loss for words. Her cigarette fell on the ground, and she stared at me with wide eyes.

Then she broke out laughing.

"Hahaha...I never had such a funny encounter with anybody in this school. But let me add another condition. If Class D loses the next special exam, I want you to leave the school of your own free will."

The conditions were all against me and my ideals. But I have no other choice now. If I don't do this, Hirata will lose his influence over the girls.

And that is terrible. This deal will surely cause a huge downfall for me, but I will accept these conditions.

"I recorded this conversation sensei, and I agree to all the conditions. I assume that the expulsion of Yamauchi is finally no more right?"

I took out my phone and showed her my display, with the voice recorder being turned on. She didn't react surprised to that, since apparently, many students already did so.

Using features like they were intended to be used. After all, there is no other reason to use this app except for such things.

"Yeah, you can message him about that. Also, why did you make such a sacrifice? And why do you believe to be able to reach such unrealistic goals all alone?"

"Because I think you know about the most recent news in Japan."

"You mean the part when a politician committed huge crimes against humanity and made experiments on children? But...Wait..."

It seemed like the gears in her head were shifting, and she finally came to realization, as to why I falsely introduced myself so many times.

And as to why I was acting 'weird' in comparison to everyone else.

"Congratulations, you are standing right in front of a human experiment. Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is my name. I will try to put all of my effort into bringing this class up."

"That is... Absurd... This is so unbelievable. There is no way right?!"

"I guess you don't need to believe me. But since we students couldn't access the political news outside of this school, there is no way I could know right?"

"...But..."

"As I said, you don't need to believe me. The name of the politician is Ayanokouji Atsuomi. Someone who just appeared on the news all of a sudden. And normally, nobody in this school could even receive the information of that, am I right?"

"...Only teachers and staff are allowed to communicate with people outside the campus or receive the most recent political news. But...It just doesn't sit right with me. Out of all people, it's you? And the timing is way too perfect..."

She still couldn't believe what was just told to her. Nobody in their right mind would believe me. However, as soon as I provided proof, she gave up on reality.

"Well, I guess you know why I am this confident? So, have a nice day, sensei."

"Suou-"

"Ayanokouji it is. Only call me by that wrong name when others are around. But what is it?"

"Why are you going out of your way all of a sudden?"

Why am I doing this? Would the 14-year-old me ever do this? I lost a lot of physical strength but improved a lot socially and mentally.

I think, once the Special Exams come up, the school will witness the first human who reaches the peak of existence.

"Because I wanted to. There is no reason to join this school except for the pleasure of winning. And I wanted to find out the borderline between a human and a machine."

"Then, let me give you one advice, Ayanokouji. Use the the potential of everyone, if you are serious about winning."

"Thank you sensei, for this talk. I just needed somebody to tell this openly. No cameras and nobody eavesdropping. Also, I got to fix some things in our class."

"If you ever want to talk, I am always open for you."

I will gladly accept this offer sensei, but time is running out. Yamauchi is probably already on his way to the office. And the class is probably already broken apart.

It would be inevitable for that to happen if it weren't for Alisa to eavesdrop on us. I know that she heard most of it. But she probably is confused about the part of us talking about the white room.

After all, no student in this school was provided knowledge of it. Except Yuki and now Alisa.

As I walked down from the rooftop, I caught a glance of a silver-haired girl, who quickly moved places.

I will pretend that I never caught her, but I think that she will feel bad about eavesdropping and apologize to me one day or another. After all, she wouldn't feel comfortable about the talk I just had.

I just hope one thing for her, and that is, if this conversation ever reaches Yuki, that she won't set foot on this school's grounds anymore.

And now, the long walk to the classroom felt weird. I never felt this way like today. Usually, I feel absolutely nothing, but today was different. I somehow felt regret and unison.

What would my little sister think about this?

I will never know, because she will only find out about this, on the day I will face expulsion.

Or she will never find out. There is a 50/50 chance currently.

And I like it when things get dangerous and complicated. Right now, I understand why this school is the greatest in Japan.

As I reached the classroom door, it was unbelievably quiet. Nobody was speaking and Yamauchi was still sitting here, waiting for the speakers to call him to the office.

For the first time in my life. I enjoyed the bright presence of Koenji sitting in the room, who was completely unfazed by all of this.

"Suou-kun? Where have you been?"

Kushida said, in a depressed tone. Some were crying, due to the realization that the class would never recover from today's expulsion.

"Well, I needed to go to the toilet."

"I thought you were with Kujou-san?"

She started to be confused, just like everyone else.

"Don't worry, she went to talk with sensei."

As soon as I said this, the speakers in our classroom made an announcement.

"Yamauchi Haruki's expulsion was canceled. We excuse this misunderstanding. Have a nice day."

Everyone's eyes widened, and we certainly were a step closer to being united.

Not only Yamauchi was grateful, but everyone else as well. Even Horikita couldn't believe it, she was speechless.

A simple talk with huge sacrifices turned over the expulsion of somebody originally useless.

"There is no way..."
"How did that happen?!"
"May god find a good explanation for it and tell me...."
"No way... This is feeling like a bad joke..."

Everyone started to doubt what just happened, and I couldn't lie, if I were in their position, the same thing would have been in my mind.

There would be no way right?

Alisa hasn't returned yet and I know exactly what she is doing currently. I didn't lie about the part where Alisa was talking with Chabashira-sensei.

A miracle that was never meant to happen. And this is just the beginning of our class building momentum.

And with this, Alisa dominated the vote. There would be no reason to be on Hirata's side anymore. And the talk with Chabashira-sensei made me change my actual goals.

Earlier, I thought that people who work on empathy are idiotic. But today, I guess I changed.

I did a self-sacrifice for the rest of the class to live a better life.

The 14-year-old me would have surely slapped me in the face.

》》Bonds and Betrayals 『POV switch』《《

As Kiyotaka-kun made an insane proposal to sensei, I couldn't leave it at that. There is no possible way I would do that.

He just did the impossible with ease. But at what cost? The guy who I had eyes for suddenly accepted the terms of his expulsion so I would live better with it.

Seriously? Sacrificing his future for a random pervert? Just what are you doing, Kiyotaka-kun?!

"You want tea, Kujou?" She said Hoshinomiya and Chabashira were sitting right across my couch.

And usually I don't swear but...What the fuck, how did that happen?!

"N-No, thank you for the offer though."

"Ah, Kujou-san, it seems like something interesting just happened huh? Originally I was sure that Class D would surely suffer one expulsion. But that it didn't occur was pretty funny~" Chie-sensei said.

I believe that Kiyotaka-kun probably shifted the attention towards somebody else huh? I just don't get him.

"Sensei, what do you think? What would be the best approach?"

"What do you mean?" Chabashira answered with a question like usual, but this time, I was desperate for an answer.

I honestly couldn't annoy Kiyotaka-kun further with the next step that I should take.

"About the mid-terms. We just gained 87 Class points. And with that, we finally gained our first points. Our class is finally doing something."

It wasn't our class who made this miracle possible, rather it was him. In all honesty, I could've never done the same. Or even think about such an absurd idea.

But why he did that is confusing.

"I am glad about that. But well, let's talk about it a little. This advice works in any class. You should try and prevent such things from happening in the future. Don't stop until everyone enters a safe zone academically."

I believe that this will work, but I don't think it's enough. Our class needs much higher stability and confidence among the students.

We shouldn't rely solely on Kiyotaka-kun's absurd and inhuman plans.

Also, I am confused about earlier. What experiment did he mean? Is our class an experiment to him? Or are he and sensei currently managing an experiment regarding our class?

The answer may maybe simple, but I think that I am still far from it.

"Thank you sensei. I have another question, that is, when will the first special exam be?"

"I am not allowed to tell you this, but well, be prepared, that's all I wanted to say. Now go back to the classroom, I guess something is waiting for you."

For me?

》》Bonds and Betrayals《《

As I arrived back to the classroom, I was immediately surprised by all the looks I was getting.

All of them were... admiration? Could it be that Kiyotaka-kun gave me the credits?

Why should he do that?

"H-Hey everyone."

"THANK YOU KUJOU-SAAAAN." Suddenly a wave of praise overwhelmed me. Usually, I like being praised.

But it was different this time, it felt weird. Kiyotaka was just looking outside the window, like usual, and since some students were gone already, I couldn't see the expression of Horikita-san.

Someone who I grew to like. After all, we are similar in some kind of way.

"How did you do that?!"

Our leader? As I then looked at the whiteboard, I was immediately surprised.

VOTES:

Hirata - 4
Neutral - 1
Kujou - 33

This probably excluded me and Hirata-kun, but one thing annoyed me.

"Neutral - 1"

Out of 38 votes, there was just one person who remained neutral. At first, it was confusing, but then, as the person came to mind, I finally noticed.

Who else but him?

Why... Why are you not supporting me, Kiyotaka?

It wasn't Koenji. After all, Koenji votes for the one who supports his ideals. And that was clear in the last voting. He was on