Light Novel 2nd Year Volume 6/Summary

Prologue
The prologue begins with Miyake Akito sharing about his life on how he was not special and was just an average guy. He wasn’t necessarily a good nor a bad guy either. As a past time, he also picked up archery. Initially, he was dubious on whether he could make any friends in high school, but that all changed when he was accepted into Ayanokoji's group, which he found to be strangely comfortable. As a result, he also fell in love with Haruka, though he was unsure of it at the start. His doubts were then alleviated in the unanimous consent special exam.

When Haruka said she would drop out, he was strongly oppose to it and couldn't accept it, even if it meant abandoning Airi. However, he states how he has no regrets about the outcome of the exam. When Haruka asked "Will you join me in my revenge", he knew that this act of revenge would surely trouble his other friends. Deep down, his answer was already clear, and above all, the person in front of him was his priority. He knows that love can be troublesome, and that their friends would inevitably hate her if it works. On the last day of the sports festival, he steeled his resolve for Haruka.

Chapter 1
The chapter begins on 20th September, a Monday. A few key and major problems were reexamined. Firstly, there was Kushida divulging many people's secrets which leads to cracks and distrust in students relationships. Secondly, the shared antipathy against Horikita and her failure to keep onto her promise of expelling only traitors. Furthermore, because Horikita had not expelled Kushida for her actions and instead defended her by saying she was an important resource to their class, it only added more fuel to the fire. Thirdly, it forced Ayanokoji to be the deciding factor on whether their class was to either get a penalty for failing the exam or to expel someone else.

Despite the outcome, he didn't think of it as absolute negative as they were the only class to expel someone which increased their class standing. Nonetheless, the students of the class were deeply hurt and the damaged won’t be repaired easily. On the other hand, it could be turn out to be productive as it provides them an opportunity to make their bond stronger.

Ayanokōji acknowledges how the result of the exam wasn't pre-planned and that Horikita's decision to not expel Kushida was extremely irrational, wrong and inconsiderate. Ayanokoji eventually supported her decision due to the time constraint and his desires to see her growth or failure that comes from this unexpected action. Despite his personal feelings, he probably would’t had made the same choice if it could be redone. The future of the class now depends on how important Kushida is as a person for Horikita's growth and comparatively, Horikita is now deeply dependant on Kushida than every other classmate.

Horikita rationality to save an 'important' person was a forgone conclusion, but abusing her powers as a leader to protect a traitor and not thinking of the future repercussions of those affected due to this abrupt decision was a flaw to her capabilities as a leader. From Haruka's point of view, Kushida was irredeemably evil, and should have been eliminated but for some reason, the innocent Airi was expelled in her stead. Ayanokoji says as of now it's unclear whether this decision would be good or bad in the future, but he agrees that it was undeniably risky. Naturally and expectedly, Kushida could continue being uncooperative to cause further suffering to the class since she had nothing left to lose, or she may subvert his expectations entirely. For now, he would continue to observe at the side on which path would be taken.

Ayanokoji left for the school. A peculiar information he noticed was that Ryuuen and Sakayanagi are challenging each other in the end of year exam. He then attempts to guess why they did so. He coincidentally came across Horikita who was sitting on a sofa in the lobby. He then asked if she was waiting for Kushida which she begrudgingly confirms. She has been knocking on her room many times the past few days, but Kushida has deliberately holed up in her room to ignore her. The dark circles underneath her eyes were clear signs that she’s has a lack of adequate rest. She went on to ask how he spent his weekend, knowing that it was a reference to the Ayanokōji group, he replies as such.

Ayanokoji replies that he could only contact Akito and Keisei, whereas Haruka has not even seen his messages. Ayanokoji suspects Haruka hates him now and that it will eventually boil over. If that happens, she may actively work to harm the class. Furthermore, although her abilities are not enough to be called indispensable, it would still be a waste to discard a useful person as reducing the class value by even one would have disastrous consequences. It may also drag down Akito and Keisei. Horikita apologises to Kiyotaka, as his group was broken because of her, but he tells her there's no use apologising twice. She knew that by making him be the determining factor, all the ire was directed at him. Even if she was the one to nominate Airi, Haruka wouldn’t had consented, which would had lead to the penalty being unavoidable.

Her goal of having every single person in class bonding and aiming for Class A, losing no one in their pursuit was utterly and unceremoniously shattered. That’s why she’s been suppressing this fact, though the truth has caused her much anxiety. Changing the subject, Horikita praises Kiyotaka on his ability to foresee the results of this special exam, as if he could see the future. Ayanokoji then tells her to focus on the present and not on the past, since she has much more pressing issues to solve as the leader. Ayanokōji ponders how long she can remain calm in this situation. The meritorious image he’d helped her craft was destroyed, and many students will continue to abhor her. Nonetheless, he suggested they go to school now as Sakayanagi and Ryuuen lives nearby and have many eyes around. Although they may not know the full story about Kushida, it is unwise to look so exposed and vulnerable.

When Ayanokoji enters the class, everyone was staring at him, but nobody came to talk to him directly. Chika Matsushita calls out to him, which makes him ponder about her reasoning. She asks him if he had started working towards reaching Class A. Ayanokoji dodges the question which she chose not to pursue further. He talks about the most affected person of this incident would be Kushida, Shinohara, Mii-chan and Haruka. They talk about how Kei started making fun of Shinohara and Matsushita causing others to follow in her stead. After hearing what she had to, she left without saying anything else. Ayanokoji sits in silence as nobody else approaches him.

Horikita arrives late while Sae enters the class and was slightly shocked that there were 3 students absent: Haruka, Kushida, Mii-chan. Most of the students were nervous about how these absentees would affect their class points. Sae says that that is it was temporary, it won't affect their class points, but if this continues there could be much problems. She then gives a speech that they should forget about the last special exam and prepare to face the next challenge.

The next day, those three people were absent again. Since the three of them hadn’t gone to get a medical checkup, Kiyotaka wonders how long the school will allow this to continue. He mentions that a rift has been formed between the new couple of Ike and Shinohara thanks to the information that Kushida revealed. Similarly, Kei, Matsushita and Mori were no longer on speaking terms with Shinohara. Even the likes of Satō and Maezono haven’t been speaking to Shinohara, likely due to the awkwardness. The class wasn’t united and there were problems that needed to be solved before they could decide how to allocate members of the class to different events for the sports festival. Chabashira sends a message to Kiyotaka’s tablet and requests to meet him. No one notices him standing up and leaving the classroom since his seat was in the corner of the classroom next to the exit.

Chabashira says that an issue has come up pertaining to Airi spending 5,000 private points after the special exam. Expelled students are supposed to be stripped of their private points to prevent them from passing it on to other students. This time, the school is still considering whether to allow what Airi tried to do. The reader aren’t told what she spent it for, but Chabashira did tell Kiyotaka. We are made aware that Airi’s usage of the points had something to do with him. When Chabashira asks Kiyotaka what to do with Airi’s will, he answers to just leave it as it is. The school will officially accept it as ‘private points spent by Kiyotaka Ayanokōji’. Chabashira is relieved that this one case is now over since she already had enough on her plate regarding the current state of the class.

Chapter 2
The next day, Hirata asks Kiyotaka if he could have a bit of his time later to talk about Shinohara, Kushida and Haruka. Hirata invites Kei to join them as well and after receiving Kiyotaka’s consent, he happily leaves for his soccer club training.

The appointment with Hirata is at 7:30 PM, so at 5:30 PM Kei pops in to Kiyotaka’s room to have some alone time with him. Now that they’re openly dating, they don’t have to be secretive about meeting up like they were before. After Kei comments on Kiyotaka’s room becoming like a second home to her recently, Kiyotaka asks her how the girls in their class were reacting to their relationship. She awkwardly tries to brush off the question but then admits that a lot of the girls thinks it’s a waste that she dumped Hirata to be with Kiyotaka. She then brightens up and says that Kiyotaka’s reputation has also been rising recently.

It’s revealed that thanks to Kiyotaka’s private tutoring, Kei’s academic OAA has risen to 48 (C). He then says he’s going to make some omurice and asks her if she wants any to which she responds with enthusiasm. Apparently, ever since they started dating, Kiyotaka had often made food for Kei. He thinks that it doesn’t matter whether the man or woman is the one who cooks since the one who’s good at it should do it. To compensate, Kei helps make up for his poor communication skills by livening up any conversations. As he’s cutting the onions, Kei snuggles up to him from behind. She tells him to ignore her but eventually starts hugging him until he can’t keep cooking any more.

Kei feels bad about the current relationship with Shinohara and says she likes Shinohara and considers her a funny girl who livens the atmosphere just by being around. She regrets saying mean things about Ike. She asks Kiyotaka if he’s going to hate her for what she said, but Kiyotaka says that everyone says bad things about others and you just have to make sure the person in question doesn’t end up hearing what you say about them. Kei says she’s tried to patch things up with Shinohara but it doesn’t feel like the other side has any intention of reconciling. She asks Kiyotaka for his advice. He says he’ll think about it and asks her to give him some time. She then tries to ask Kiyotaka about something to do with Sakura and OAA but then decides to put it off. However, Kiyotaka guesses her intentions to ask him what he would have done if she were at the bottom of the OAA rankings.

Kiyotaka tells her that just like he said in Ike’s favour, if two people had similar OAA, he would prioritise the one with more friends so Kei wouldn’t have been in danger. She then anxiously asks him what he would have done if she didn’t have any friends. He says that speculating about that would be pointless because if Kei Karuizawa was someone with that kind of personality, they wouldn’t have the relationship they have now. She asks him if he would have expelled someone else in that situation if they were exactly like her. He says that he would if he were only looking at their ability. However, that person would not be the Kei Karuizawa who was bullied and then secured her position amongst the class’ top caste using Hirata before eventually meeting and dating himself. However, Kei is a bit dissatisfied with his answer and pouts since she wanted him to say that he would protect her regardless of who she was.

To fix Kei’s mood, he let her lay in his lap as he stroked her head. She says she trusts Kiyotaka’s judgment and has no objection to his choice of expelling Airi. But she asks him whether Suzune made the right choice in saving Kushida since she personally didn’t agree with that decision. Kiyotaka asks her what she thinks is the main difference between Airi and Kushida. Kei thinks it’s the difference in their academics and sporting abilities, but Kiyotaka says that while those things are a factor, the most important element is the possibility of Kushida awakening Suzune’s true potential as a leader. He thinks she’ll fill in a role as Suzune’s partner which neither Hirata nor Kei would be able to do. He considers Kushida’s perspective, her thought processes and her communication ability to all be unique skills which no one else has and hopes they will eventually become Suzune’s strength.

Kiyotaka says that this isn’t the sort of process where you’d be able to see the results after only 1 or 2 days so it’s inevitable that the likes of Haruka might hold a grudge against him. However, he also thinks that their classmates had too much faith in Suzune so by lighting a fire under them like this, they’d realise they’d need to think more for themselves. Later, while Kiyotaka is washing the dishes, Kei keeps trying to distract him so that they’d be able to spend a little more time together before Hirata arrives. He stops washing the dishes and sits down next to her on the bed and kisses her. The kiss tastes like omurice. After several minutes, they are interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Hirata smiles warmly at Kei when she welcomes him in.

Since he’s been looking after Kei ever since they enrolled at the school, Hirata is the one who’s most pleased by her current bright and energetic personality. Hirata asks Kiyotaka for advice to fix the class’ interpersonal relationships. Kiyotaka tells him that from now on, he should first consult Suzune since she was technically the class leader. Hirata says that she was busy with trying to bring back Kushida so he thought Kiyotaka would be more appropriate. Kiyotaka asks him what he would have done if the roles were reversed and he were the one busy trying to bring back Kushida instead of Suzune. Hirata is lost for words and then admits he trusts Kiyotaka’s judgment more than Suzune’s. Kei agrees with him, saying it’s obvious she’d trust Kiyotaka more. Kiyotaka admonishes Hirata and Kei because if the two of them didn’t trust Suzune’s judgment, she would never be able to truly be a leader. Kiyotaka says that if there’s a problem that Hirata and Suzune would be unable to overcome even after combining their strengths, at that time, he’ll be happy to lend them his help.

After talking a bit more, Hirata asks if he could talk to Kiyotaka with just the two of them. Kei doesn’t have any objections and leaves. Hirata asks Kiyotaka if he has any ideas to solve the issue to which he replies that he doesn’t know how to help with regards to Haruka and Kushida. Hirata picks up the implication that he has a plan to bring back Mii-chan. When he eagerly asks what the plan is despite Kiyotaka’s warning, Kiyotaka tells him that accepting Mii-chan’s feelings would solve everything. Hirata frowns and says he doesn’t want to disrespect Mii-chan’s feelings. Kiyotaka says it was the same when he pretended to go out with Kei because he indirectly rejected a lot of girls by being in a fake relationship. He asks Hirata if he’d be able to reject her if Mii-chan told him that if he doesn’t accept her feelings she’d never return to the class. He then tells Hirata his only options would be to go out with her despite telling her he doesn’t reciprocate her feelings or to lie to her and pretend he likes her as well.

He can then try to develop feelings for her afterwards. Hirata says those are things he cannot do and then says that Kiyotaka is strong. Even though Hirata was still trembling from the feeling of expelling Airi, Kiyotaka wasn’t showing any signs of it affecting him at all. Hirata has PTSD of the feeling of pressing his finger against the button on the tablet. Kiyotaka praises Hirata for suppressing his feelings during the exam. He knows that Hirata was not convinced that they should expel an innocent harmless student such as Airi but he still suppressed his feelings and endured. In that situation, if Hirata had spoken, the classmates who were against the idea would have gotten a second wind and unanimity would have been impossible.

Hirata says that all the students with poor grades are now terrified that they would be the next on the chopping block. Hirata starts wondering whether he should have chosen to let time run out instead. Kiyotaka thinks that the fact he was still able to go ahead with the expulsion is a sign of his growth. As Hirata turns to leave, Kiyotaka asks if he has a grudge for Airi’s expulsion. Hirata says he doesn’t agree with how they handled this case but he trusts Kiyotaka. But after thinking for a moment, he corrects himself that he wants to be able to believe in Kiyotaka. Hirata has a strong will in his eyes that implies Kiyotaka to not betray his trust.

The next day, the three people still haven’t returned to school. Sudō calls Kiyotaka and they head out to the men’s washroom together. Kiyotaka once again notes that his seat location is convenient. But as they leave the classroom, Onodera also follows them and calls out to Sudō but then notices Kiyotaka standing next to him. Onodera would prefer to talk alone with Sudō but Sudō doesn’t notice her intentions and urges her to speak so she has no choice but to talk whilst Kiyotaka is present. She tells Sudō that she’s also aiming for the first place in the sports festival and offers to team up to aim for the high scoring team competitions. Kiyotaka notes that she was very fast in last year’s sports festival and is well placed to do well in many different categories. Sudō is dumb so he doesn’t understand why they need to team up but although Kiyotaka supports Onodera’s arguments she directs a stern expression of blatant mistrust towards him, likely due to what he did to his own friend the other day.

Sudō looks a bit reluctant and Onodera guesses correctly that he doesn’t want to pair up with a girl other than Suzune. He proposes for Onodera to pair up with Kōenji but Onodera says she can’t trust him and can’t pair up with someone she hates. Onodera says her only other option would be Hirata but she doesn’t want to be misunderstood as a girl who has a crush on him since other girls would definitely get jealous. Hence she’s prepared to compete by herself if Sudō rejects her. Sudō realises all his reasons for rejecting her were stupid and decides to pair up with her for the sake of supporting the class which was on the verge of collapse.

Afterwards, Kiyotaka and Sudō proceed to the toilets. Sudō thinks that the current relationship between Shinohara, Ike and their surroundings isn’t good and wants to do something about it. Kiyotaka recommends that Ike and Shinohara should put aside the issue of whether Kushida was lying or telling the truth and have a proper heartfelt talk with each other without hiding any secrets. Sudō reckons it could be dangerous so Kiyotaka recommends using a reliable trustworthy person as a mediator in case things go south. Sudō decides to go ask Hirata for help and thanks Kiyotaka for his advice.

The next day, Kiyotaka and Hirata were observing the gymnasium. There were a lot of Class A students training together to raise their collective level as a class and a few Class C and Class D students training as well. However, there wasn’t a single student from Suzune’s class. Kiyotaka tells Hirata about Sudō and Onodera teaming up which helps Hirata relax a little as it’s the only good news he’s heard all week. He asks Kiyotaka if he was responsible for Sudō asking to meet Hirata later that day. Kiyotaka says no and replies that this is the result of Sudō thinking about it for himself. Kiyotaka also tells Hirata that he’ll take care of the Mii-chan case.

Chapter 3
Kushida, Haruka and Wang (Mii-chan) had now been absent from school for 5 whole days. But Suzune had to prepare for class meetings and do research for the sports festival while also handling her work from the student council. The pressure of everything was starting to overwhelm her. There were several times when she thought of asking Kiyotaka for help but she eventually decided that since this was something she started herself, she also needed to resolve it with her own power. When Chabashira left the classroom, Suzune followed after her and asked her about how the school viewed the current situation.

Chabashira reassures her and says that since Kushida and Mii-chan were honor students, the school would treat their absences leniently. Haruka also didn’t cause any problems in the past either. But once she confirmed there was no one else in earshot, Chabashira warns Suzune that they’ll soon be approaching the time limit and if the students continue remaining absent over the next week, their hard-earned 100 class points will be wasted. Suzune thanks her for her advice and is about to leave but Chabashira stops her and says that if she has anything else on her mind, feel free to ask. Suzune hesitates for a moment before asking Chabashira if she made the right decision to expel Sakura for class points. She reveals that at the time she thought she made the right choice but her conviction was now wavering. Chabashira tells her that everyone makes mistakes and nobody is born perfect.

But life is all about making mistakes and learning from them so you can continue moving forwards. She says that when she took this special exam, she was unable to find what the correct answer was. However, Suzune was able to arrive at an answer. She was acknowledged as a leader by the class and made the decision to protect Kushida even if she had to sacrifice someone else from the class. Chabashira said that it was her job to now prove to the class whether or not she made the right decision. Suzune is confused because Chabashira was actually saying something teacher-like. Chabashira places a hand on Suzune’s shoulder, encourages her not to be afraid of failure. Suzune claims she hasn't failed yet, and Chabashira explains she will be watching over her until the end.

Afterwards, Suzune and Chabashira start talking about Kiyotaka’s greatness and Suzune asks Chabashira what she meant in the past when she said Kiyotaka was the most defective student in the class. Suzune admits that Kiyotaka was better and more rational than she was so she can’t understand why Chabashira would say that about him. Chabashira tells her that she doesn’t need to worry so much about every single little thing a teacher says and tells her to trust her own belief derived from all the time she’s spent together with him.

(Incomplete) New scene starts with Ibuki talking to Horikita. Ibuki asks what she meant by sending the message "If you get expelled due to something completely unrelated to me, it means you lost to me. I'm sure you won't do something that stupid though". Horikita replies that she knew Ibuki may be expelled and that Ibuki wouldn't had resisted much if she hadn't send that message. Then they argue pointlessly about Ibuki going home. Suzune asks her to come to Kushida room to check on her, but Ibuki says she won't. Suzune then tells her that if she helps in making Kushida come to school, she would tell the name of events she will participate in to Ibuki so that they can compete, to which Ibuki agrees. Suzune tells her about Kushida's real personality but Ibuki doesn't appear to be shocked as she thought Kushida personality was too good to be true types.

Ibuki kicks up a ruckus outside but Kushida only opens the door when Ibuki continued kicking her door violently. Kushida talks to Ibuki in her real personality to which Ibuki comments how she likes the present Kushida more than the one in the past. They enter Kushida room with Horikita asking her to start coming to class. Kushida says to not make her laugh. Switching gears, Horikita says she rates Kushida's ability highly. Ibuki anger began to fume with Kushida's continued narcissism and hubris. Horikita continues pleading for Kushida to return. Kushida says that now with her secret being exposed, she has no place to return to. Furthermore, because Horikita had saved and vouched for Kushida against expulsion, if she continues committing truancy, the blame against Horikita, her most despised foe, would not abate and instead increase, which makes her extremely happy.

Mii-chan is crying while looking at a two person photo that she took of herself and Hirata soon after they enrolled at the school. At the end of the special exam, she just wanted to quickly run away as soon as possible so she pressed the button to expel Sakura. After reflecting upon it now, she hates herself for what she’s done to Haruka. She then looks at the text that she received from Kiyotaka on Monday night. She wonders how Kiyotaka personally feels after expelling one of his precious friend. She wonders if he’s able to nonchalantly return to school as if nothing happened. If that’s the case, she’d like to meet and talk to him. The text message said “I want to meet and talk with you in person.” After procrastinating for a while, she decided to call Kiyotaka.

After a while, he picks up the call. In the background, she could hear the sound of the shower running. She asks if she can meet with him right now and Kiyotaka awkwardly asks her to come over in 20 minutes. As she opens the door, she notices a plastic bag on the handle with food in it. She’s been getting these presents every day since Monday. She doesn’t know who the anonymous gifter is but she’s grateful for their kindness.

As she heads up to the boys’ floor in the dorms, the door to Kiyotaka’s room opens and Kei comes out wearing ruffled clothes and is without her characteristic ponytail. Mii-chan starts worrying and getting depressed again thinking that she might have cut the couple’s precious date short. She wonders if Kei would say anything to her about Hirata but she just quickly passed by and left. Instead, Mii-chan calls out to Kei who answers her in a flustered tone. When Mii-chan apologises for calling Kiyotaka, Kei reassures her and says that it’s okay to ask others for help. As Kei leaves through the emergency exit, Mii-chan notes that even though Kei was usually scary because she gave off the impression of having a short temper, today she was surprisingly kind and mellow.

Kiyotaka understands that unlike Haruka and Kushida, Mii-chan wasn’t intentionally trying to stay away from school. She was putting in effort to try to will herself to come back. Mii-chan wants to know about the current state of the class, especially with regards to Shinohara, Haruka, Matsushita and Kiyotaka himself who must have been hurt a lot more than she was. Mii-chan asks him if he’s been to school. When he replies in the affirmative, she asks how he was able to go to school even though it must have been painful to do so. She admits she was a little bit scared of Kiyotaka when he caused Kushida’s downfall and then expelled his own friend. She says that on Monday, she had actually dressed in her uniform and was prepared to go to school but the door felt heavier than usual and there was the additional pressure of already having skipped school for a day.

Kiyotaka praises her saying that it must have taken a lot of courage for her to even come to his room. But then he suddenly switches tone and tells her that it was also true that she was causing a lot of trouble for the class. He says that right now it was still okay because Haruka and Kushida weren’t coming to class either, but if the two of them came back next week but Mii-chan remained absent, all the pressure would be on her alone. Kiyotaka tells her that she doesn’t have to bother with anything else and should just come to school like usual. But Mii-chan tries to feebly complain about her seat being right in front of Hirata’s.

Mii-chan is embarrassed and asks if Hirata had said anything about her. She’s afraid of Hirata hating her for being a nuisance but instead Kiyotaka tells her that Hirata personally felt responsible for being the cause of Mii-chan’s absence which is why he was so concerned about her. Kiyotaka made Mii-chan understand that this was the kind of person Hirata was and that she was making him suffer by refusing to come to school. Mii-chan thanks Kiyotaka for his consultation and says she will definitely go to school on Monday.

After Mii-chan leaves, Kiyotaka thinks that he should finally clean up his room which he didn’t have time to do before Mii-chan arrived, but then his doorbell rings again. This time, his visitor was Ichika. He notes that she always comes to his room at the worst possible times. Kiyotaka tries to tell her he’s busy but she says that she heard that Kiyotaka had brought a girl into his room and was doing bad things so she came to do an investigation. He doesn’t want any of his neighbours to hear her nonsense so he lets her into his room. Ichika asks him if he wants to know why she knows about Mii-chan coming to his room.

He asks her if she just came to brag about her information network. Ichika started touching the sheets and carpets as if to search for something. She asks whether Kiyotaka likes girls with long hair and says that she was currently growing it out for him. She then finds a strand of blonde hair next to his pillow and interrogates him. She asks him if he wanted to know why none of the White Room students were doing anything to him and he says he’s not interested. She looks under his bed to search and intentionally flashes her underwear at him.

After teasing him, Ichika asks him if he wants to know the name of the other White Room student but Kiyotaka chooses not to. He says that if the other White Room student were to find out Kiyotaka knew their identity, Ichika would be the first person suspected. He doesn’t want her to face any danger since she wasn’t his enemy. He’s also still wary of it being a multi-layered trap. As she’s leaving, she points at his garbage bag and says that he’s throwing away his trash when there isn’t much of it. He brushes it off by saying there were vegetable and fish remains that would have smelled if he left it until next week. Kiyotaka then reveals that he’s realised what Ichika came here to do. She was wary that the White Room student had set up listening devices in his room and came to check if his room was bugged. Before she leaves, Ichika tells him that if she were to be expelled, he should treat that as a warning that they were going to make a move against him. After Ichika left, Kiyotaka checked his phone and found a text from Akito saying that Haruka was going to come to school on Monday. A new text then appeared which asked him to look out for her. After Kiyotaka replied, Akito thanked him and said that he hopes they can go back to how they used to be.

The next morning, Kiyotaka went to his classroom and waited to see if the absentees would come. The first to arrive was Mii-chan who timidly greeted her classmates and was warmly welcomed by the girls and Hirata. After most of the students had arrived, Haruka came together with Akito. She glanced at Kiyotaka for an instant before looking back down at her phone. About 3 minutes before the bell, Suzune arrived, glanced at Kushida’s empty seat before heading to her own seat. Chabashira then arrives and comments on Haruka and Mii-chan getting over their ‘illness’. But as she’s about to announce Kushida’s absence, the classroom door opens and Kushida apologises for being late. She doesn’t talk to anyone and simply sits down in her seat. Chabashira nodded in satisfaction but as soon as she left the classroom, it erupted into commotion. Kiyotaka is wary of information leaking to other classes and checks the corridor before receiving a text message from Chabashira reassuring him that she was standing guard outside.

Kushida stood up and walked over to Mii-chan who froze like a frog looking at a snake. She asks Mii-chan if she’s now hated by her and then says that it’s fine for Mii-chan to hate her and she doesn’t intend on going back to being friends. She apologises for picking Mii-chan as one of her targets when she was revealing people’s secrets. She also apologises to Shinohara and Matsushita who seem to have reconciled. Kiyotaka thinks Hirata and Sudō might have done something.

Shinohara thinks her apology sounds insincere but Kushida tells her to get used to it because this was how she was going to be from now on. She says she’s going to continue collecting information from other classes but that people from her own class were free to interfere and it was up to them if they wanted to use her weapons. She then warns that she would be merciless to anyone who becomes her enemy. She says she still has a lot of secrets she hasn’t spilled and implicitly warns people to back off if they don’t want their secrets exposed. She asks Haruka if she’s okay with that, but she ignores her and continues looking blankly out towards the window.

Even with Haruka returning, the Ayanokōji group didn’t meet together any more and most of Kiyotaka’s break time during classes was spent either alone or talking to Kei with the occasional conversation with Sudō or Matsushita. On the days when Kei went to eat lunch with her friends, Kiyotaka would go to the library. On this day, he was about to head straight back to the dorms since Kei was going out to play with her friends, but Haruka called out to him. She tells him to meet her at the café in Keyaki Mall and tells him that she already told Suzune the same thing. Kiyotaka tries to probe Akito for information but he says that this was the first time he was hearing this and also apologises to Kiyotaka since he won’t be able to be his ally.

However, Kiyotaka is instead relieved that he’ll be supporting Haruka. After the three Ayanokōji group members left, Kiyotaka headed for the designated location together with Suzune. He praises her for being able to bring Kushida back to school. Out of curiosity, he asks Suzune how she pulled it off but she says it was something very childish so she didn’t want to talk about it. She then reveals that on Sunday, she and Hirata met with Shinohara’s group at Keyaki Mall to smooth things over. Although Shinohara had a lot of complaints towards Suzune, Ike managed to calm her down. Suzune then thanks Kiyotaka for helping to bring Mii-chan back to the class. Kiyotaka then tells her to pass on a message to Nagumo telling him that Kiyotaka would agree to his proposal. He hasn’t actually decided yet whether to agree to the proposal or not but the one week deadline has already passed so he decided to just give Nagumo an answer for the time being. They then moved on to talking about Haruka.

Suzune reveals that she tried to talk to Haruka several times but was always ignored before Akito would tell her to leave Haruka alone. Kiyotaka agrees with her that this meeting was probably not for the sake of reconciling and that it was likely Haruka was going to be a roadblock for them in the future. He shifts the conversation in the direction of talking about the sports festival. Even despite all the troubles they face, Suzune is confident because her class’ talent in that field was unmatched. She’s wary of Ryuuen going for a similar strategy as last year where he forces opponents to quit by injuring them.

Kiyotaka asks what her strategy is going to be and she replies that she’s going for a straightforward approach where students like Sudō and Onodera earn lots of points whilst she and Kushida would also steadily earn points as well. Kiyotaka warns her that it may not be enough, especially since they have the handicap of only having 38 students in their class. Suzune agrees and says that she has something else planned. She asked Kiyotaka to accompany her tomorrow afternoon. She says she doesn’t need him to say something and would just like him to give an opinion at the end on whether it would be worth the risk. She says that she can’t just be spoiled by him all the time and that she also needs to pull her weight. Kiyotaka looks forward to seeing what her strategy was going to be.

They arrive at the café and Haruka urges them to take a seat. She says that she was here to hear Suzune out since it seemed like Suzune wanted to talk to her. Suzune says that it was about her absence from school but it looks like that problem has already been resolved. Haruka says that she shouldn’t have caused any problems since she informed the school that she wasn’t feeling well and then came back when Akito informed her that there might be a penalty if she was away for longer than a week. Haruka says that it’s true that she wasn’t feeling well but it wasn’t because she was sick or injured. She was mentally struggling to get up in the mornings and finding it difficult to sleep at night. But instead of sympathising with her, Suzune instead takes an aggressive attitude and tells her to cut the crap and say everything she wants to.

Haruka asks her if she’s happy that she gained class points from the special exam. Suzune says that ideally anybody would’ve preferred to aim for Class A without losing their classmates but says that it wasn’t possible under the circumstances which made it so that somebody had to be expelled. Haruka retorts that she lost her best friend purely due to Suzune’s selfish judgment. Suzune does not disagree. Haruka says that Suzune is a good leader since she’s willing to make sure the class wins through any means necessary. Suzune replies that she can still do much better, to which Haruka says she was being sarcastic.

She demands to know why Suzune went back on her promise to only expel the traitor. Suzune agrees that she didn’t handle that aspect well and promises to reflect on her mistakes. Haruka says that there are some mistakes which are unforgivable which is an opinion that Suzune also agrees with. Haruka is about to reflexively say Kyo-chan but corrects herself and asks Suzune whether she really believes she made the right decision in saving Kushida. However, Suzune doesn’t show any signs of guilt and says that she only did it because she believed it to be the best outcome for the class. She says she has no intentions of apologising for expelling Airi because even if she did, it wouldn’t mean anything because she didn’t think she made a mistake. She understands that Haruka will bear a grudge against her, but she continues to believe that Kushida will become an important asset for their class.

Haruka says that even aside from Airi, there were other people in the class who were useless. She says she wouldn’t forgive Suzune for this case and won’t acknowledge her as the leader. Suzune merely replies that she’ll do her best to win back her faith. But when Haruka continues to say that Suzune won’t be forgiven, Suzune asks her about just what exactly she wants. Even if Suzune were to be expelled, Airi wouldn’t come back and it would just waste the 100 class points that Airi gave them. Suzune continues to assertively ask her whether her heart would be soothed if she were to kneel on the ground and beg for forgiveness. The others might have thought she was full of fighting spirit, but Kiyotaka could tell that she was actually in pain. But Haruka says that the only thing she wanted was for Airi to be brought back. She says she doesn’t care about the class and declares that Suzune had made the wrong decision.

Suzune then provokes her, saying that if Haruka thought she was wrong, she should have argued against the decision to save Kushida. She then follows up by saying it would have been pointless anyway since Haruka didn’t have the ability to resist. Haruka agrees that there was nothing she could do. Not after Kiyotaka had mercilessly taken advantage of Airi’s feelings for him to corner her. She then turns on Kiyotaka for the first time in the conversation and says that a normal person would never be able to do what he did. But she still didn’t feel like talking to him and turned back to Suzune. She says that there’s still a possibility that Kushida would betray the class again in the future. Suzune agrees with that statement but says even if she returned to the past with her current memories, she would still make the same decision all over again. The only difference would be this time she wouldn’t promise to expel the traitor.

When Haruka despairs and asks why they were so insistent on expelling Airi, Kiyotaka speaks up and says that this incident will provide motivation for the students with poor OAA grades to study harder. He says even that incentive alone would be sufficient return for expelling her. Haruka complains that they’re acting just like Ryuuen and Kiyotaka agrees but says that he thinks they’ve been too soft on their classmates until now. He sums up this incident as Suzune feeling that the potential profit from having Kushida as an ally exceeded what Airi could potentially give her. He could also envision such a future which is why he decided to lend her a hand. He says that even though Airi was gone, after a while the class will go back to normal.

Suzune asks Haruka whether she had the same opinion when Yamauchi was expelled. Haruka retorts that Yamauchi engineered his own expulsion whilst Airi was completely innocent, however Suzune disagrees and says they were both expelled for being at the bottom of the class and says that Haruka was only feeling indignant because it was her friend that was expelled. Haruka says that she rejects the future that Suzune envisions. She agrees that there was a possibility Kushida would now cooperate with the class but asks whether they really think she’ll go along with their plan. Suzune says that she’ll take her time convincing Haruka and points out the simple fact Haruka had returned to school meant that there was room for discussion. Haruka says that she returned to school to look for an answer which she couldn’t find while locked up inside her room.

Whilst the rest of them didn’t understand those ambiguous words, Akito alone looked down at the ground in pain. Haruka then says that she’s looking for an answer as to how she can get revenge on Suzune and Kiyotaka and promises to make them regret having expelled Airi. She then stands up and leaves without having taken a single sip of her beverage and Akito chases after her. Everyone left at the scene sat there in stunned silence. Keisei then says that both Suzune and Haruka are right and at the time, he was only thinking about how to save himself. Suzune says that everyone would prioritise self-preservation and tells him he doesn’t need to blame himself. Keisei says he can’t sympathise with how Haruka feels, but even if she causes problems for the class, he doesn’t think he has the right to stop her. He says that since he’s unable to contribute to the class in the sports festival, he will do his best to study even harder and contribute to the class in the ways that he can so that he won’t be hated. Kiyotaka notes that Keisei himself also realises that he’s in a precarious position due to not having many friends.

Chapter 5
Switching to Horikita's perspective, Nagumo was giving his opening address. There were many important guests which was an uneasy sight for the students. Wearing a stoic face as if staring at mere prisoners, Nagumo continued to fulfil his role under this tense atmosphere. Once it concluded, the students were given autonomy to complete their respective events after being briefed on the regulations.

Horikita had devised a plan with Katsuragi pertaining to the festival as it heavily focuses on teamwork. Despite settling much of the administrative matters beforehand, she felt inclined to check on her classmates as their leader. The first event she’s taking part in is the 100 meters dash. As soon as the assembly had disbanded, Ibuki ran up to her to ensure she didn’t escape from their competition.

The result of their match concluded similarly to last year, with Horikita winning narrowly in the race. She was also first for steeplechase and third for tug-of-war which accumulated 21 points. After she finished the long jump event, Sudo ran towards her while calling her name, Onodera following close behind him. The pair she tasked with winning as many points as possible had won first for their events. Kōenji also looked to have won his events, inclining Sudo to challenge him. Horikita warn against creating discourse between classmates which Sudo respond that he was joking. Onodera assures her that she'll be taking care of Sudo, much to Horikita's relief as they went to their next event.

At that moment, Ibuki narrowly surpassed Horikita's record of 5 metres and 79 centimetres by two. Ibuki celebrated like a child, which Horikita found frustrating. She reasons that it was due to air resistance being in Ibuki's favour, but after seeing her naivety, she decided to let it go. With that, it was one win and loss each. Horikita was irritated at Ibuki excessive boasts and lambasts herself for not attaining first, determining to settle it later.

With Kiyotaka absent, it was a heated match between her class and Ryuuen's class, though they eventually maintained their position. Ichinose's class was in third while Arisu's class was fourth. At that moment, Yagami from Class 1-B approached and congratulated her for her performance thus-far.

Chapter 6
At 11 in the morning, Kiyotaka could hear the sound of cheers from outside due to the sports festival. He deduced that it must be quite fun and how it was good he didn’t had to attend the festival. However, the winner of the sports fair will be determined on Sakayanagi and whether she decided to participate as well. He reflects how everything is in place and that he could only trust Chairman Sakayanagi to protect him, lamenting that if he chose to betray him, it would be impossible not to be expelled.

As he was preparing his lunch, an unexpected visitor rang his doorbell. On the other side, Arisu greeted him politely and asks if she could enter. Having the leader of Class A entering any room, much less a male rival from a different class would be big news, though Kiyotaka decides to welcome her in anyway. He invites her to see on his bed taking into account her physical disability much to her appreciation. She hands him a packet of Mont Blanc as a souvenir, which he was quick to make coffee for them both. Despite trying to feign a lackadaisical demeanour, Arisu saw through and jokingly mentioned how Kiyotaka knew she would come and even used it as part of his strategy. He was impressed once again at how easily she uncovered his clandestine plans and interactions with her father despite not even thinking deeply about it.

Arisu explains how although Class A has many promising and athletic students, it still wouldn’t be enough to compete with his class. Thus, it requires someone to choose and delegate the right people to match against their opponents while guessing their strategy. Kiyotaka knows she’s more than suited for that role and could possibly use students from other grades as well to manipulate the entire competition to her discretion. However, Arisu disclosed how her father has informed her that Kiyotaka wouldn’t be participating and that guards were assigned so that he wouldn’t need to interact with any other white room students. Kiyotaka shares how he didn’t expect the chairman to share such pivotal information with his daughter.

Deciding to tear the charade apart, Arisu ascertained that her father was told to say those very words by Kiyotaka and tells him to stop joking with her. Chairman Sakayanagi wasn’t the type to mix private and public matters together. Kiyotaka knew this as well as Arisu's character. Despite knowing she'll endanger herself, she’s likely to engage with him now since they wouldn’t be interrupted, despite knowing the repercussions with the other white room students. Thus, Kiyotaka originally intended to keep her safe by having her compete in the festival. However, Arisu wasn’t one to easily go along with his strategy and decided to be a little mean by abstaining from the competition altogether. She mentions how her net-working skills have confirmed that the only two absentees were themselves and that she wanted to visit him sooner.

When she was at the lobby, she noticed three particular guards surveying the school premise. Moving to another topic, they begun contemplating the winner of this festival. Arisu mentions how Class A is probably at the mercy of Horikita's class since despite having exceptional arms and legs, it will be moot if the head is missing. That's the main Achilles Heel for Class A when power is concentrated at the top, with the leader always being tasked to solve every problem, creating a dilemma when she's missing. Arisu knows this and is working to improve it, though more importantly, she shares how she can now enjoy her time with Kiyotaka without needing to focus on the 150 Class points.

Kiyotaka was intrigued at how she nonchalantly mentioned disregarding so much points, though Arisu points out that the school system is like a game to her. As long as she maintains her Class A status, there wouldn’t be any other issue. Kiyotaka was troubled by her words as he asked whether it was her pride to the class. She replied that initially, she had no inking or commitment to Class A, but once she found out he was enrolled in this school, that sparked a change in her. She confidently states how Kiyotaka will eventually secure his spot at Class B, which would set up the heated battle for Class A, and it is primarily due to his presence that this can happen. For now, she is just waiting patiently for him at the top so that their long awaited battle can truly begin. She spoke in a gratifying tone when complimenting him, akin to how a person would praise their proudest accomplishments.

Kiyotaka began pouring their drinks with Arisu closely inspecting his skills. She could tell that any seemingly insignificant actions would had been next to impossible to do in the White Room, with Kiyotaka adding that he at least wants to try out normalcy once. Arisu signals for him to sit on the bed with her which he does, as she puts a plate of Mont Blanc on her lap. She then scoops a piece of it and held it close to his face. Kiyotaka was apprehensive but eventually relented after she reminds him that they are alone together and no one would bother them.

She asks if it's nice and although it didn’t fit his palate, he replies with a 'of course' so as to not be mean to her efforts. Elated by his reply, Arisu scooped some for herself as well, without caring that they were using the same fork. She nodded in satisfaction at the taste as she began feeding him another piece. They easily finished eating it, with Arisu saying she'll bring another cake next time. Arisu expresses that she could tell it wasn’t suited to his taste from his reaction just now. Kiyotaka was surprised that his stoic facade was seen through so easily, with her answering that she’s proud of this skill, especially when it's associated with him. He was the type to always be serious in his thoughts, but during private situations, even he couldn’t keep it up constantly. She reveals that she likes this part of him.

Arisu remarks how Kiyotaka has had a change of heart. Both in terms of helping others and in seriously aiming for Class A despite initially wishing to be a background character. She says that she’s not God and asks for his reasons after Kiyotaka mentioned how even she doesn’t understand everything. As the daughter of the school chairman, as well as being a gifted individual, Arisu doesn’t care much of the standings of Class A or D after graduation since many things are already within her reach. In a similar vein, Kiyotaka is detached from it as well, since he felt that he would most probably return to the White Room after graduating. Although they were travelling different paths, they were able to form a sense of camaraderie since the privileges of graduating at the top meant nothing to them.

Kiyotaka gave Arisu permission to question why he had a change of heart since she decided not to participate in the festival. She goes on to verbalise Kiyotaka's thoughts as it happens, which surprises him though he was used to it by now. Deciding to do the same, Kiyotaka vocalised how Arisu aims to defeat him so as to justify how the White Room is not perfect and redefine the meaning of 'genius'. Arisu knew he would say that and asks whether he intends to create the strongest class with his own hand. Even if he did, there were easier ways to accomplish it like forcibly participating in the festival.

He goes to reveal his chosen tactic for the class is through supervising and that he is using this chance to satiate his curiosity about the results of his absence. Just as she was about to conclude his thought process, Kiyotaka lightly pushed her down on his bed. Even she was surprised by this action and for the first time, she seemed unsettled. He voices how she is a threat now that she was able to understand his rationale. She may even attempt to blackmail him so as to have their desired one on one match. She asks if he thinks she'll stoop that low which he answers that the possibility isn’t zero.

Thus, to ensure his own safety, he had to take drastic measures and extra precautions. She asks if he'll commit a crime but he phrased it to be a shared secret. Kiyotaka made sure to remind her of her disability and how secluded they were from anyone else, and that even if she screamed, no one would come to her rescue. Through it all, Arisu already regained her composure and allowed him to do as he pleased, impressing him once again. As Kiyotaka threw his phone onto the bed and brought his hands closer to her neck, Arisu smiled and closed her eyes in response.

An hour later, Arisu cheerily says how there is a secret between the two of them now that can’t be revealed. As he scrolled through his gallery, a picture of Kei and Kiyotaka popped up. Arisu finds it peculiar that normally, a person's voice, appearance or personality would have attracted the opposite sex, but she finds the relationship dubious after inspecting closer. Although she doesn’t understand why Kiyotaka chose her, she was able to comprehend other things. Particularly her complete trust and affection in him, bordering on delusion. Arisu deduced that Kiyotaka is either using her for an experiment or trying to save her. Kiyotaka was then reminded of her astuteness as despite having no information, she was close to the truth. Unlike Kei, Arisu was able to understand him in a profound manner without words.

At that moment, the doorbell rang. A man tells him to stay put and listen. The voice was a familiar one, with Arisu interjecting that she would like to join their banter. Unperturbed, the voice came to warn Kiyotaka to be on the lookout if he intends to stay in school. The voice began trailing off as he turned to leave. Both of them remembered the same voice from five maybe ten years ago, but it was interesting how undisturbed he was when Arisu made her presence known.

In the middle of October, the results of the sports festival was revealed. Horikita's class was placed first, Ryuuen second, Honami third and Arisu fourth. Sudo and Onodera attained first for their competition, while Kōenji won first place for 10 events, scoring second overall since he only participated in individual events. Kei had an appointment with someone else thus, Kiyotaka was thinking of heading home alone before being called out by Horikita who wished to talk.

Horikita shares how she has learned much from the unanimous exam. She felt justified in keeping Kushida who grades and contributions are far higher than Airi could’ve been. However, removing those things on paper, Hasebe was still an issue and Kushida could still chose to rebel at any time. Horikita excuses herself, saying she’s still a kid and that mistakes can still be made. She names Kei, Hirata, Sudo, Onodera and Kōenji as people who can helped her attain Class A. Kiyotaka was also included and she admits he’s indispensable.

Kiyotaka monologues, saying he’s just one piece of the puzzle. After he has finished witnessing Horikita's growth, he will leave her class. She will then know the inescapable truth, understanding that the class she thought was invincible, will be met by an insurmountable reality. He will personally show it to her. He’s not doing it for anyone else but himself. As long as he wins in the end, nothing else matters. Once he decides to become her enemy and show her true defeat, everything will be set in stone. He states how his withdrawal may have an unintended result of his defeat, though he already knows the outcome. The contradiction of wishing to be defeated while also not wanting to lose formed a paradox in his mind.

Epilogue
Hasebe apologises to Miyake for keeping him waiting at the front entrance of the school. Although she had skipped school for a week, she has been showing up daily since then. She asks if Miyake regrets quitting the archery club and whether it was because of her that he did so. He answers that he was only using it to idle away time and that he left because he found no use in staying. Above all, he’s happy that she attending school again. Hasebe did the bare minimum in the gymnastic festival but her original plan hadn’t changed.

Initially, she wanted to obliterate not just Kiyotaka, but everyone who had abandoned Airi. She admits that she’s a bad person but Miyake rejects that statement, affirming that he knows how she feels. She was livid that Kushida remained despite everyone already being dead set on expelling her, causing the innocent Airi to be sacked in her stead. She declares how she will never forgive Kiyotaka nor their classmates. However, she also felt guilty for dragging along Miyake in her quest for revenge.

She directly asks whether he'll assist her in exacting her revenge. Seeing how her eyes were unwavering, and how her statement left no room for debate, he couldn’t answer immediately. Haruka begins walking away while laughing, announcing that she'll do it alone if she has to. Seeing her turn her back, he silently followed behind her, indicative of the path he's decided to embark on.

◄ Previous Volume Next Volume ►