Light Novel 2nd Year Volume 9/Summary

Prologue
Miyabi Nagumo monologues of his journey as a student. Being the best in academics and sports, many tried to take advantage of him. He wasn't that hard working but rather grasp things faster than others. Popularity was important to him but he couldn’t be rid of a discomfort that was augmented with Horikita Manabu, someone smarter, more impressive and determined than him. Next was Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, someone arrogant but had unquestionable abilities. He began doubting himself despite having similar accomplishments. The only way to quell this discomfort was to finally defeat someone of similar capabilities, proving he is in fact, the real deal.

Chapter 1
With the 2nd term of the second year ending, winter holidays were about to start. Nagumo summoned Kiyotaka to the student council room via text, which he accepted. He saw Kushida who went past and glared at him. Kei arrived soon after, apologising for being late and had some bed-hair. She was embarrassed by it and his comments that some boys were worse.

Hirata greeted him as he entered class, escaping for the group of girls surrounding him. Hirata tells him to confide in him if he requires help. Despite saying it often, he was uneasy about the unstableness of the class, but returned to the girls eyeing him. Sae announced there’d be a quiz before winter break, a little more than 2 weeks left. She assures that expulsion is unlikely, but class points were important. The test was simple as it consist of direct academic aptitude against other classes. Their class were already picked to face Class A.

For class points, Arisu's A had 1250, Horikita's B had 985, Ryuen's C had 684, Ichinose's D had 655. They will be taking the exam as a class, meaning, collectively, every student has to answer at least 2 questions and 5 at most, one by one as they enter the exam hall. 10 minutes were given per student, and they can't change the answer of another. Written and verbal hints were disallowed. If the whole class finished 1 hour before the total time given, they will receive 10 points, 30 minutes 5 points, and 10 minutes 2 points. Special rules were dependent on a person's academic OAA, someone with A will get 1 point per correctly solved question, B has 2 and vice versa till E with 5. Depending if the bottom E students can solve correctly, they could equalise 5 Class A students of A and above abilities. Absentees meant that 2 questions will be left unanswered. Sae was acting like a mother to her children as she wishes them luck.

Theoretically, Horikita's class had a 100% chance to win considering the lopsided points distribution. Horikita suggest that low rated student should answer as many as they can first. The students assures her they’ll do their best, with Sudou being excited despite being unable to contribute as much since his E abilities had went up to a C+.

Kiyotaka went into the student council room and saw Nagumo and Kiriyama waiting for him. The Y2 council members were also called and will join later. The two banter saying Y3s will have another special exam, with the latter saying there was no use since the end result was already determined, and all those that could change it were already expelled. Turning his attention, Nagumo states the Y2 classes were unnaturally close with class points. Usually there would be 2 at most 3 classes in the race, but now all 4 were in the run. By the final test in Y2, that would change as he shared his own story. He already had the longest tenure as student council president and the school has intervened to make him pass the baton. Thus, he intended to use Kiyotaka to help him decide the next one, each of the supporting a different candidate, either Horikita or Ichinose.

Nagumo already secured all the Y3 votes, and Kiyotaka's only chance to equalise was to either get all the Y1s or Y2s to vote for his candidate. If Nagumo chose Ichinose, it would be simple as she alone could secure the majority of the Y2 votes too, garnering at least a simple majority vote of the student population. Kiyotaka ponders his choice of candidate and sets his terms. He wants voting to be anonymous and that this will be considered a real duel between them. Nagumo accepts the second but inquires whether Kiyotaka thinks that the Y3s would betray him if they become untraceable. Kiyotaka candidly states so as they accepted the deal, as they moved on to their bets. If Nagumo won, Kiyotaka would drop out, but if Kiyotaka wins, he wants all of Nagumo's points, enough to transfer to another class. Kiriyama vehemently objected but was shut down as Horikita and Ichinose asked for permission to enter.

Surprised at Kiyotaka's presence and sitting next to him, Horikita endorses Ichinose to be president due to her experience and lack of weak points. Nagumo agrees but says that Ichinose low class position is her Achilles heel as presidents have all graduated from Class A. Being evenly matched, Horikita chose to enter the race as Nagumo signals for Kiyotaka to choose one of them. Wanting to advance his plan, Kiyotaka made up his mind and was about to say the name but Kiriyama interjected and asked both candidates whether they want to participate first. Nagumo was irritated by the stalling tactic, as Kiryuuin just then, forcibly entered the room. Nagumo was suspicious of how Kiriyama messed up the time schedule with her despite specific instructions.

Kiryuuin says she’s been wrongly framed as a shoplifter. The fastest to react was Ichinose while Kiriyama explained the entire scene. Nagumo was crossed as he says that if she admits her crime, he'll close both his eyes. She already got the admission of Yamanaka who framed her so she wasn’t afraid. Nagumo tells her to leave the footage and exit, being annoyed at the interruption as he seeked Kiyotaka's participation, to which he already agreed. Horikita also accepted but Ichinose tells everyone that she is officially withdrawing from the student council. She voices her low class position as well as past history as detriments to her rising up and so, she decides to not only forgo the election, but the council entirely. Nagumo says the past doesn’t define her future though Ichinose replied it doesn’t change or erase it. Kiriyama supported Ichinose, saying she’s serious and that no one has the right to stop her decision. She turns to Horikita and says she has her support. She then tells the rest that she is unwell and will leave first.

Nagumo was annoyed that his fun was taken away as he tells the new president to fill in the 2 missing vacancy of the council. With the bets off, Nagumo tasks Kiyotaka in helping Horikita find the replacements, with the conditions being one must be from their class and the other being from the first year, promising that she'll be informed as well. Kiyotaka went on to give Nagumo a souvenir, telling Kiriyama to share since he wasn’t aware he'll be here too. Nagumo predicted correctly that Kiyotaka's class was facing Arisu's Class A in the next special exam, as he says they have a good chance to win. He shares how this seasons of exams are usually advantageous for bottom classes to rise up and increase competition. Class A always has a lead, but this year's lead was unprecedentedly low.

With that, his plan of getting 20 million points were postponed as expected that it wasn’t going to be easy. Horikita waited for him outside as they agreed on how unexpected it was for Ichinose to do that. Horikita also ponders the veracity of Kiryuuin being framed and could only think someone did it for revenge. She invites Kiyotaka to join the student council but was quickly declined. She settled for him helping to find replacements but was also rejected as he says easy contenders like Yousuke would fit right in. Sensing his desire to leave quickly, Horikita tries to get his input about the previous special exam but was also shut out, with him pointing to 40 other classmates to ask about that. He tells her that he has no advice to give her but as a classmate, he will follow her orders if it's something akin to solving the hardest question, as he assures her it'll be correct.

Someone with B grade solving 5 hard questions makes her life easier. She shares how even though she won’t abuse her powers as president, she'll gladly dive into the grey area as well as make full use of its reputation. He was peeved that the seeds he sowed had created more issues, and Ichinose sudden action but it couldn’t be helped. He went on to update Kei with a call, who answered in an angry tone. He was able to appease her after giving a clear timeline.

Their relationship had progressed whereby Kiyotaka learnt that one's intuitiveness and perception couldn’t compare to the effectiveness of spending time and knowing another's feeling, to the extent that it becomes better than reading another's mind. Like how feelings can change from tense to serene instantly by using feelings. However, the pages of this books are quickly decreasing as each topic takes longer than the beginning. He was already ready to move to the next step as the end draws closer.

Chapter 2
Juggling between student president work and class leader work wasn’t easy for Horikita. She was grateful the class was motivated to study but was sad when reflecting on Airi. Kiyotaka reprimands her for getting hung up on the past. She was also glad to know Nagumo had convinced Kiyotaka to help her though he added he's doing so begrudgingly. She had already made the decision for the Y2 student as Kushida appears just then. She laughs when Horikita praised and invited her to join, baiting her with the role of vice-president. Horikita grabbed Kushida's hand and begged her openly, saying it will help to reach Class A and her wish to pay back the class.

Seeing how she was adamantly opposed and piecing all the pieces together instantly, Ichika stealthily interjected behind them by saying Kushida won’t be easily targeted if she was inside the council. Despite noticing her presence first, Kiyotaka kept silent and raised his dominance, something only Ichika could notice, as he glared at her so she wouldn’t go overboard. Ichika took the warning but still played with her enough to be an annoyance as she listed numerous irrefutable benefits for Kushida's case. He vouched for Ichika that she only heard the bare minimum. Deciding to help their cause, Ichika began poking Kushida all over, whom could only endure for her public persona. Ichika used Horikita's public weapon as her own weapon, forcing them to change to a more secluded location.