Light Novel Volume 6/Summary

Below is the long summary of volume 6 of the You-Zitsu light novel series.

Prologue
Kushida explains that validation is everything to her. Her expected life is ruined when she saw Horikita on the bus on the first day when commuting to school.

Chapter 1
Miyabi Nagumo, the new Student Council President, states that he would be making some changes. Kiyotaka Ayanokōji is approached by Maya Satō who exchanges numbers with him. Kei Karuizawa calls Ayanokōji and asks him about about his interaction with Satou.

Chapter 2
The midterm results are released, with everyone passing. To everyone's surprise Sudō went up 12 ranks due to his performance during the sports festival. Horikita questions as to why Ayanokōji doesn't score higher, whereas he reasons to himself that he would give himself away too fast.

Chabashira has changed her attitude and actually praised D class. She reminds the class of other upcoming exams, and explains how it should be as easy as middle school. But, the test isn't completely useless, as it helps determine the pairs for the final exam of the semester. There will be tests on 8 subjects with 50 questions per test.

There are 2 ways to be expelled due to this exam:

1: The combined total of the pair is under 60 for a test, or

2: If the cumulative score of the pair is below a certain number both student will be expelled, even if they scored above 60 in all tests. In the last exam, it was 700 points. To get 700 points it necessary to achieve a minimum of 43.75 points per test to pass.

As class starts speculating about how the pairs are determined, Chabashira mentions another thing about the special exam. The students are tasked with writing the final exam questions for another class, then that class has to ‘defend’ against the ‘attack’. The winner of the battle (the one with the highest score) will gain 50 class points from the loser. To ensure that no impossible quizzes are made the teachers monitor the questions. If the quizzes aren't finished the schools template questions will be used instead.

To attack a class you just have to say it to the homeroom teacher and then she'll forward it to the school. If 2 classes attack the same class, then the classes will draw randomly.

Ayanokōji notes that Ryuuen and Ichinose will suspect him as the puppeteer behind Horikita and plans to increase her popularity and fade into the background.

A group to clear the special exam is formed. After class Horikita tells Ayanokōji about Kushida's past and why Kushida hates her. Horikita says the first time she saw Kushida, she was the same as Ayanokōji. Ayanokōji then points out that by that logic she should hate Kouenji even more. Horikita clarifies, that they went to the same middle school, and explains Kushida probably thought no one she knew would attend this school since it's far away.

Horikita explains that Kushida was very popular in her old school and was the centre piece in her old class. However, a rumour was going around that Kushida had caused a class to collapse. The incident wasn't made public since it would damage the school's reputation but the rumours couldn't be contained. Students from Horikita's old class were talking about how there was slanderous graffiti on the black boards and tables of the classroom. This lead Ayanokōji to believe that Kushida was being bullied. She replies that there were too many rumours to know the truth. Horikita mentions that the rumours stopped almost at once and everyone acted like nothing happened. Ayanokōji suspected that it was due to external factors. He notes, that what Kushida did to collapse a perfect class like that must have been very serious.

He questions Horikita on what she thought could have caused it all. She thought that Kushida had done it with brute force. Ayanokōji refutes this explaining that Kushida isn't capable of doing so, plus the school wouldn't have been able to conceal it otherwise. He thought that it must've been done through lies. They note that the class D is always in danger so long as Kushida and Horikita are against each other.

The group, consisting of Ayanokōji, Kushida, Horikita, Hirata, Karuizawa and Sudou, then discuss how to clear this special exam. The first test is to determine the pairs of the final exam. The way it is determined is that the one with the highest score pairs with the one with the lowest score. They then chose to ‘attack’ class C during the final exam.

Chapter 3
Ryuuen informs class C that there's a traitor and a meeting would be held to find out who it is. He also announces that there is a person known as ‘X’, who is running class D from the shadows (X being Ayanokōji). After discussing the events of the sports festival Ryuuen concludes that X's intentions during the festival was just to play around with Horikita. Ryuuen also searches for the traitor, knowing it is Manabe or one of her friends.

After the announcement, he gets everyone to leave, except his top lackeys, Ibuki, and the traitors to question them. After Manabe explains everything that happened on the cruise, Ryuuen asks her if anyone witnessed them bullying Karuizawa, to which she says Ayanokōji and Yukimura. After hearing this Kaneda (a person Ryuuen acknowledges to be of some use) says its definitely Yukimura or Ayanokōji, but suspects Yukimura since he doesn't know him well and Ayanokōji doesn't strike him as an evil shadow leader. Ryuuen acknowledges this but doesn't rule out the possibility someone was controlling them.

Chapter 4
Hirata and Horikita explain the plan to the whole class. The top 10 smartest people have to score above 80, the dumbest have to score 0, and the 20 in between have to score either between 60 and 80 or 1 point. Ayanokōji notes that Horikita has been motivated enough to cooperate.

The next day, Chabashira attempts to intimidate the student before handing out the exam. She announces that class A and B have targeted each other (Ayanokōji thought to believe it was Sakayanagi's decision since Katsuragi would have gone with the easier choice, Class D), which means class C and D are targeting each other.

The pairings come in the next day and it was as they had expected. Horikita got paired with Sudou, Ayanokōji with Satou and Ike with Kushida. Miyake and Hasebe, who are pretty much equal in academics, were also paired together. They have the same weaknesses and same strengths. These two have no tutor though and they don't want to participate in either Horikita's or Hirata's study group. Yukimura is given the task of tutoring them and Ayanokōji the task of watching over them.

The Yukimura study group meets up at the cafe Pallet. Yukimura suddenly asks Ayanokōji if he's hiding his academic ability. Ayanokōji blames Horikita for giving Yukimura too much information.

An incident then occurred where Ishizaki was trying to buy a special cake, however, the store couldn't make it today, reminding Ayanokōji of his birthday tomorrow (20 October) While Yukimura, Miyake and Hasebe were doing their owns the thing, Ayanokōji noticed that someone other than Ishizaki had been occasionally looking at him. He goes over to Sakura, who had been also looking at him, and told her that she's welcome to join the study group. Yukimura mentions his selfish mother, and reflected on his motives, deciding to help others clear this exam. They converse about the matter of making questions for class C and left after an hour, without Sakura ever coming over.

As the study group ended, Ayanokōji told Horikita about the strategy of testing to see which types of questions are allowed and how hard they can be. He explains how it's very important that Kushida doesn't leak anything. Horikita says that the only way to prevent this is to confront her directly. After the call, Ayanokōji then received an email from Ryueen asking about who he really is.

Over by Horikita's study group, Ayanokōji has been seated next to Satou, who Ayanokōji finds wants to run away from. Ichinose comes into the room, and Horikita reveals that she has made a joint study group with her. Satou continues to attempt getting closer to Ayanokōji and he tries his best to get out of the situation and work around her questions are people are starting to look weirdly at them, especially Ike and Yamauchi.

After the study group, Ichinose and Horikita discuss how they very much envy the other's class. Horikita asks Ichinose vague questions in order to help her think about a way to fix the Kushida problem. Ichinose states that she would even give 1 mil private points to Ayanokōji or Horikita if there was a justified reason. Horikita calls Ichinose a genuinely good person, to which then Ichinose then starts answering weirdly in a shaken manner. After Ichinose excuses herself, Ayanokōji brings up the Kushida problem again and gives Horikita a hint on to how to solve it. He suggests using Ichinose as a mediator, but Horikita doesn't plan on utilising Ichinose.

The two leave the library to find a patient Kushida. They discuss her past, which at that point Kushida requests Ayanokōji to leave. After leaving, he receives a call from Horikita, but the purpose being to eavesdrop. Horikita made a bet with Kushida; to get the highest score on a single subject, of her choosing, in the next final exam. If Kushida wins Horikita will leave the school, but if she loses she has to stop getting in Horikita's way. Horikita uses her older brother Manabu as a witness, and Kushida accepts the deal. After Manabu leaves, Kushida reveals that she knows Ayanokōji knows about her past and has been eavesdropping them. Ayanokōji chimes in and says he wants to join the bet on the condition that he gets to hear the details of the incident regarding Kushida. She agrees and starts explaining, how she desires to be praised and approved of a lot more than the average person. Since she knows she can't be number one in academics or sports, she wanted to become number one by gaining trust (Ayanokōji noting that she's doing more than just being gentle to get along with everyone).

Horikita asks how Kushida was able to keep up her facade. She says that it's very hard to do so and the anxiety has caused her to pull her hair out and even vomit at times, but she has reached her limit. She explains, that it was because she poured her true emotions into a blog that she was able to keep being sane.

However, her blog was accidentally discovered by a classmate, which caused her to be hated in her class. She explains that about 30 students had marked her as an ‘enemy’, fearing that she in danger because of it. She states, that she basically just made them fight against each other by sharing their secrets. She found it ‘truly amazing’.

Since she didn't exactly do anything wrong the school didn't know how to punish her. Kushida proceeds to threaten the two by saying she could disrupt the unity of Class D with the same tactics. It was revealed that Kushida had now quit blogging and when she's stressed she unleashes everything out when she's alone.

Chapter 5
On the 5th day of Yukimura's study group, they go to a cafe in the mall due to Pallet being packed. Yukimura gives out some liberal art questions and forces Ayanokōji to answer the same questions.

While doing the questions Hasebe decides to go grab more coffee/sugar, falling on the way. Ryuuen appears before her and steps on her cup. Ryuuen asks Yukimura and Ayanokōji if they got his ‘gift’ (the gift being the 'who are you' message), to which Yukimura denies and Ayanokōji feigns ignorance. After hearing their answers Ryuuen calls on Hiyori to analyse them. Ryuen leaves, while Hiyori stays and acts weirdly for a few moments before leaving to buy Hasebe a coffee. She comes back and explains that she added the exact amount of sugar that was in there before. She says, that she wasn't Ryuuen's spy, but was requested to come. Hiyori announces that class C is trying to find the 'mastermind' behind Horikita, which surprises Hasebe and Miyake. Yukimura then asks Shiina Hiyori to leave.

Ayanokōji asks Hasebe about Satou. She refers him to Karuizawa. Ayanokōji then thinks that if he could have done that he wouldn't have this much trouble. Afterwards she refers him to Kushida. Ayanokōji declines again, of course. Hasebe then tries to push Ayanokōji on the idea that he likes Satou, which is saved due to Miyake wanting to go to the store.

They go buy ice cream. Hasebe states, that she wants to make the study group her new friend group. Everyone accepts the idea and the ‘Ayanokōji group’ is formed. They decide to call each other by their first names, Hasebe Haruka, Ayanokōji Kiyotaka, Miyake Akito and Yukimura Teruhiko. Yukimura unexpectedly doesn't want to be called his given name since it was chosen by his ‘cowardly’ mother who had left him and his father. He says to use the given name from his father: Keisei. Hasebe gives Ayanokōji the new nickname Kiyopon. Sakura announces her presence and wants to join the group. Hasebe lets her join on the condition of calling everyone by their given names.

The Ayanokōji group made plans to go see a movie. Right before heading to bed Ayanokōji gets a call from Horikita. She notes, that Ayanokōji has gotten closer to Yukimura. Ayanokōji notes that she's gotten closer to Hirata. She also informs him about a strategy meeting tomorrow.

After the call Ayanokōji gets a message from Karuizawa, who confirms that Hiyori is very quick-witted and has great observation abilities. He then instructs Karuizawa to do something at the meeting tomorrow at 8 PM, and before the conversation ends she sends him a happy b-day sticker, which confused Ayanokōji and prompts him to ask about her birthday as well. At the movies the next day, Ayanokōji unexpectedly runs into Karuizawa and Satou, who steals Ayanokōji away from an excited Sakura. Satou was just claiming it to be a coincidence, but Ayanokōji knows it was planned. After forcing himself out of Satou's hold he enters the theatre the group. Sakura then asks if he and Satou are dating, to which the answer is no.

Instead of meeting in a classroom, the group gather in the karaoke bar. The meeting begins with Horikita praising Sudou's growth as a student. Karuizawa ‘notices’ Kushida acting a little too nice, and gets ‘pissed’ about it. As she points out, Kushida has just been acting nice and proceeds to pour her grape juice over her. Hirata asks her to apologise to Kushida just as Karuizawa was planning to leave. Kushida accepts it calmly and as an apology, Karuizawa offers to pay for her blazer to be cleaned. On his way home Ayanokōji comes across Katsuragi and starts talking to him. They talk about his struggles with class A and the student council. When they return to the dorm they see a lot of people surrounding they mailboxes which are rarely used. There was a message inside from Ryuuen saying ‘Ichinose may be collecting points illegally'. Ryuuen and Ichinose arrive. She vaguely denies the allegations. She proposes that she reports to the school how many points she has and how she got them, but Ryuuen won't back down and proposes that she first says it here, to which she declines as she doesn't want people to know about her methods. After some arguing, Ryuuen reluctantly backs off. The next day it was announced that Ichinose hadn't broken any rules.

Epilogue
It's 3 days before the final exam. Ayanokōji notes that there are only really 2 things C class can do to win,

1: Study

2: Super hard questions for Class D to answer.

He hasn't seen the class study though. He's interrupted by Horikita, who goes to hand in the questions last minute. Ryuuen appears stating he's been waiting for her.

Ryuuen follows the two to hand in the questions. When Horikita hands in the questions, she makes a condition, that no one can see the questions. Chabashira adds that they can only see them with Horikita present. Ayanokōji notes that something feels wrong with Chabashira and Ryuuen, who both seem too relaxed. Everything has gone too perfectly. Ayanokōji stays in order for Horikita to realise somethings wrong. Horikita questions Chabashira as if the questions are actually going be to accepted, to which Chabashira answers vaguely. Horikita realises, that Kushida had already handed in the questions before her. Ryuuen leaves after laughing in her face.

Horikita requests to see the questions and notices, that Kushida has disguised them as hard questions when in actuality Class C probably knows the answers already. She then drops her depressed act and reveals it was an trap for Ryuuen. After hearing the exam details, Horikita immediately went to Chabashira and told her not to accept questions from other people, but to act like they were accepted.

This was the complete opposite of Ayanokōji's expectations. These actions informed Ayanokōji about how carefully they need to be regarding Kushida since not even the fight between Sakayanagi vs Katsuragi would go that far. Chabashira also showed a rare sign of worry.

The first half of the exam begins and the required overall score for each pair was determined to be 692 points. The first 4 subjects are Japanese, English, Social Studies and Math. Before the exam, Hirata tells Ayanokōji that Karuizawa has been paying more attention to him recently. He also mentions the knows he knows that Ayanokōji is the mastermind class C is searching for. As they enter the class Ayanokōji notes that the atmosphere is more relaxed than it usually is before an exam.

Ayanokōji looks through the questions to see if Yukimura's question predictions were right, which they were. He glances at Chabashira and Kushida. Even though the exam had begun, Kushida didn't move for 2–3 minutes. Nothing was weird and everything went smoothly until the beginning of the math exam when Kushida let out a ‘why’.

After the exam Horikita tells Ayanokōji her assurance in obtaining at least 98%, which would be a feat difficult even for Yukimura. Horikita goes to talk with Kushida. Ayanokōji notes she's probably going to meet Ryuuen afterwards. At the proposed place the group discuss the results of the bet. Kushida admits her defeat and that she'll uphold her end of the deal, clarifying that while she won't interfere with Class D she won't cooperate either. Ayanokōji worries about his own safety regarding Kushida as it wasn't included in the bet and that Kushida might not keep her promise forever.

Ayanokōji starts to think about the future. He thinks of this exam as a complete victory. His thoughts are interrupted by Ryuuen, who sends him a threat with an image attachment of Manabe. Kushida meets up with a Ryuuen. Ryuuen laughs, that he also changed the questions last minute. He reveals that he did it because Horikita had already made a counter plan before time, much to Kushida's surprise.

Ryuuen reaches into Kushida's Blazer and reveals someone from class D had put cheat sheets all over her Blazer, so she could be expelled. After explaining what happened at the Karaoke box to Ryuuen, he tells her it was a setup. He then explains that X had completely predicted everything down to the last detail. He rules out the possibility Horikita or Karuizawa planned it. He reveals even the event with Ichinose was planned by X too, and he didn't write the papers. The reason he didn't reveal it was because it was fun. He warns Kushida, if she keeps trying to expel Horikita she'll be destroyed first. Ryuuen also reveals that he gave the questions to X. He then shows proof and that X had warned him about Horikita's beforehand plan. Ryuuen shows a picture of Karuizawa and states that she is an important piece to figure out who X is.

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