Kiyotaka Ayanokōji/Plot

Plot
During the bus trip to school, he witnessed Kikyō Kushida pleading Rokusuke Kōenji to give up his seat for an older woman, but to no avail. Watching the scene, he commented on the situation as he noticed another girl looking on with a cold stare. Shortly after, the students arrive at the school where Kiyotaka talks with the other girl who inquired as to why he looked at her as he stated he saw a similarity between them in the bus incident. She told him not to compare them as she chooses not to involve herself in such a trivial manner, while he internally noted that she is worse than him.

He attended the opening ceremony where he was surprised to learn he was classmates with the girl from earlier, named Suzune Horikita, who said it was a bad coincidence after being seated next to each other in class 1-D. As most of the students introduced themselves, Kiyotaka evaluated most of their personalities before being asked to introduce himself. His undecided thoughts caused him to awkwardly introduce himself, though he did give his name and stated that he hopes to be friends with the class. His speech was applauded by a few classmates, but he was mocked by Suzune. Shortly after the introductions finished the class met their teacher, Sae Chabashira, who told them about points and how the school operates.

Days went by, and Kiyotaka is still unable to make friends but did find an associate in Suzune, who sits next to him in class. He later met Kikyō, who is one of the few to interact with Kiyotaka apart from Suzune. She asked for his help in befriending Suzune herself, and he reluctantly agreed to take her to a café for the meetup. After class the next day he asked Suzune to accompany him, as it was a girls café and he felt too scared to go along. Upon arriving at the packed place, a table opened up for them to sit, where they were joined by Kikyō, although that caused Suzune to leave due to her uncovering their plan.

After a month passed, the class was told they wouldn't get any more points after losing them all, although put their effort in the upcoming test to gain more. Kiyotaka was invited to lunch by Suzune, and while he was doubtful on her intentions, he went and treated himself to lunch at her expense. To his mild dismay, Suzune uses this as an opportunity to force him into helping her reach Class A bringing up his supposed conspiring with Kikyō as a means to get an agreement. Reluctant, he agrees and is tasked by Suzune to gather up the more idiotic students for a study group. He was annoyed that the first girl to give him her number was blackmailed him. He tried to get Kanji Ike, Haruki Yamauchi and Ken Sudō to join but they all refuse; however, it took bringing Kikyō into the plan and Suzune herself reaching out to Ken for everyone else to agree on joining. Despite this, Suzune's condescending attitude causes them to leave and taking the risk of failing. Kiyotaka brought this up to Suzune who paid it no mind and said what they did had no repercussion on her.

One night, while he was out getting a drink, he found Suzune about to be assaulted by her older brother, Manabu Horikita, but quickly intervened by grabbing the man's hand admonishing his acts as he demanded him to release her. He was told by Suzune not to get involved as he noted on the sincerity in her tone, which caused him to release Manabu before avoiding the latter's strikes with ease and pushing him back. Kiyotaka was asked by Manabu in which fighting arts he practised, but he replied with a vague answer. Manabu proceeded to recall him from his test scores and implied that Kiyotaka is hiding his intelligence, but he called it a coincidence as Manabu left the area.

Suzune thanked him, but he shrugged it off, and when she complimented his fighting skill he stated it was nothing special, just piano and tea ceremony lessons as to which she called him out on this contradictory statement. He was then questioned by Suzune if her brother's statement about him scoring half of what he should have made was true, but he again provides a vague answer. Suzune remarked that everything about him is a mystery, to which he replied asking if the study group was finished, in which she confirmed. Kiyotaka asked her if she ever wondered whether it was her distant and cold behaviour that got her placed in D-Class, but she couldn't answer it.

When Suzune decided to disband her study group, Kiyotaka decided to use the school rules to his advantage. With the help of Kikyō, he requested an upperclassman to give him answers for an old test in exchange for points while also having Kikyō use her charm to convince him further to lower his payment. Not liking the thought of attention, Kiyotaka has Kikyō take credit, and a majority of the class passed except Ken, who would be expelled. Kiyotaka then used his points to bribe the teacher to overturn this decision, to which she agreed but only after Suzune helped out with the payment. Because of this, Ken was saved, and the teacher told them to keep making things interesting for her since they could advance to Class A which is something nobody else did something in the history of class 1-D.

During a celebratory party at his room, Kiyotaka was asked by Kikyō if he had a hand in stopping Ken's expulsion as the latter and his friends listened to see if this was true. However, Kiyotaka passed the credit to Suzune, much to her dismay. Later that night, he went to return a phone that Kikyō left behind, however stumbling upon her hidden personality, cursing Suzune out loud. After being spotted, Kikyō threatened him with rape charges after she placed his hand on her breasts. After asking whether she can trust him, he swore not to tell anyone about this as she reverted to her cheerful personality and walked off.

Kiyotaka soon made another acquaintance with Honami and helped her in facing a love confession from her friend by giving her the courage, to be honest after she requested that he pretended to be her boyfriend. When this was done, he gained her gratitude, and she paid him back by helping in proving the innocence of Ken after he was accused of attacking three boys of class 1-C.

He and Kikyō soon meet Airi, who witnessed the brawl but stated she didn't want to get involved, though after her camera broke, she requested their help in getting it repaired. Kiyotaka then helped her with two matters, first with the broken camera and then by telling her not to burden herself with the current event. Those encouraging words later motivated her to change her mind and help with the hearing. At the hearing, he noticed Suzune was in fearful silence due to her brother's presence and helped her to return to her senses and called for Airi, who provided her evidence. After the hearing ended for the day, he spoke to Airi, comforting her just as Manabu appeared and stated he expected more from the hearing since he saw Kiyotaka was present. Kiyotaka shrugged it off and once more avoided Manabu's strike with ease while affirming his belief in Airi.

After that, Kiyotaka and Suzune went to the area where the fight occurred, and Suzune devised a plan to get the trio of class 1-C to withdraw their complaint, which had Kiyotaka borrow points from Honami to buy cameras. With that done, he headed to class and spoke to Airi promising her help in the future before going off to put the plan into action. The procedure was successful as Suzune and Kiyotaka have the students believe that the Student Council President knows the truth, causing them to withdraw their complaint. Soon afterwards, Kiyotaka spoke with Honami and with her help saved Airi from being assaulted by a crazed stalker. After the stalker was apprehended by security, Kiyotaka made another acquaintance in Airi.

He later spoke with Ken who told him how the students of Class C withdrew the complaint. Kiyotaka gave Suzune credit for saving Ken, who believed it as he happily went off to practice. Kiyotaka later met with Manabu and his secretary in the hallway. Manabu explained the recent events and asked if this proved Airi was telling the truth before he congratulated him on his victory, but Kiyotaka once again gave Suzune all credit for the act. Glaring at Kiyotaka, Manabu had asked Tachibana if they had an opening for a secretary on the Student Council, to which she confirmed. Manabu offered the position to Kiyotaka, while Tachibana questioned his intentions only to be silenced by a gaze from him. He repeated this offer for Kiyotaka to join the council; however, he rejected it in favour of living a regular school life. Manabu accepted this choice for now but told him not to disappoint him as he and Tachibana walked off.

Kiyotaka soon met Suzune and walks with her in the rain with their umbrellas, and when they reach the street, she accuses him of manipulating her into carrying out false evidence to get the complaint withdrawn, he denies this and she brings up the promise he made to help her reach Class A as he reminds her that she had forced him to do so. He tries to walk off, but she stops him and presses him for the reasons of his actions as she wants to know if she can trust him as he explains that he simply wants to live a peaceful life, but she states that he wouldn't have helped if that were true. Kiyotaka states he was looking out for a friend, but she disregards this and pressures him into revealing his motives. Kiyotaka briefly reflected on his past before he stated he would help her in reaching Class A but sternly told her never to try prying into his past again.

During summer break, he was a part of a group of boys who planned to peep on the girls changing room under the codename "Argos-4", though he didn't want to participate. Knowing that the boys would proceed behind his back, he decided to join but enlisted Suzune's help to sabotage the plan. He invited her to the pool and told her of the boys' plan, and asked her to steal the memory cards from the cameras at the right time. He later invited Airi the pool as well to have fun, and they met up with some students of class 1-B. At the outing, Kiyotaka tried to use the event as a way to get Suzune to lose her cold demeanour and associate with people no matter how tough it was to get through to her. When the boys plan to hit a problem, they signalled Kiyotaka for help, and he had Suzune perform a speech that distracted everyone. This allowed the boys to safely abort the plan, while Suzune collected the cards. Kiyotaka thanked her for the help before asking if she had fun in which she gave a negative reply. He followed up by pushing her into the pool, and she did the same though everyone else joins in afterwards. He watches as she plays with the class before he was splashed by Airi as she sinks in the water out of embarrassment when he stared at her. That night, he sent Suzune a picture of her with the other students at the pool.

On the school cruise, he was summoned by Sae; he went to the theatre where she informed him of an unknown man who wanted Kiyotaka to be expelled. She promised to protect him but only if he started working his way up to A-Class, but he refused to comply, causing her to promise that he will be expelled, which in turn caused him to grab her by the collar and warn her not to manipulate him. She was unfazed by his actions and told him to choose between leaving or ascending to A-Class. After that, he went to the bow of the ship, where he contemplated whether he should reveal his talents just to stay in school.

While relaxing in his room, he is visited by Yōsuke Hirata who invites to an outing with his friends, but he turns it down. Yōsuke soon reveals his true intentions were for Kiyotaka to get Suzune to work with him as Kiyotaka gives him an unsure answer before he leaves.

He later spent his time with the 3 Idiots of D-Class, being confused over why they were excited about Kanji asking Kikyō if he can call her by her first name. He was even more confused when an excited Ken asked him what Horikita's first name was, giving him the answer before going for lunch. At the restaurant, Kiyotaka noticed how out of element they were as Ken grabbed one student for insulting them, leaving Kōhei Katsuragi to break up the fight and the boys leaving the area, Kiyotaka taking caution of Kōhei. At night, he approached Airi while she was on the deck of the ship (who was seen practising to ask him out), his presence startled her and caused her to become flustered. After being asked if he heard her, Kiyotaka denied listening to her and asked what it might've been about. Airi instead told him that she needed his help in becoming friends with the class, where she is seen to be still nervous around them. He agreed to help her, saying that it was nothing special, as she became elated and grabbed his hand out of gratitude. However, the moment between the two ceased when Kikyō appeared, and Airi quickly excused herself by leaving.

Kiyotaka talked with Kikyō and noticed that her bubbly nature almost made him forget about the hidden persona he saw the other night. When he tried to leave, Kikyō stopped him, shifting back to her darker personality to continue talking. She inquired if he was nervous and wary being alone around her, to which he confirmed, as she went back to her other personality, and told him that she just gets lonely when left all alone. She tried to tell him something else but decided not to go through with it and left while he was put off by her actions.

The ship arrived at the island and was told that they are meant to survive on the island for a week to achieve bonus points.

After receiving the provisions, class 1-D moved out while Suzune asked about Kiyotaka's dreams after graduation, earning yet another vague answer. After Yōsuke asked for everyone to gather supplies for camps, Kiyotaka volunteered, telling a surprised Suzune its best to not stick out. He was grouped with Airi and Rokusuke, though he lost track of the latter when he escaped through the trees, presumably ditching the test then.

When they discovered a point spot, Kiyotaka hid with Airi as he felt someone was coming and covered her mouth just as Kōhei Katsuragi and Yahiko Totsuka appeared. Kiyotaka overheard them talking and noticed a glimpse of A-Class' leader card, but knowing he was a cautious man, he deduced Yahiko was the leader. After the two left, he released Airi and apologized for his actions, but she was seen still heavily blushing and squirming on the ground, nervously mumbling that it was fine. He and Airi investigate the spot, and with this, he decided to change his strategy to guess the leaders of the classes. After returning to camp, he relayed this information to Yōsuke and soon asked for Suzune to join him in gathering firewood, but she refused. He later went with Airi and Haruki who told him that he sought to win over the latter by being a nice guy. The trio then found Mio Ibuki bruised and laying against a tree as Haruki tried to approach her, but Kiyotaka stopped him, sensing something was up but relents, and they took her back to the camp. Once at camp, they discussed what to do about her before learning Rokusuke Kōenji dropped out of the test which would deplete some of the class' points.

The next day, Kiyotaka and Suzune went on a reconnaissance to see what the situation was like at the other class camps. The first camp they found was class B. They had their spot set up near a waterfall and operated similarly like theirs. Suzune was impressed when she witnessed how disciplined and coordinated everyone was. A quality that D class lacks. Honami modestly explained the difficulties she and her class faced at first, and how they eventually overcame it together. When Suzune and Honami finished affirming their relation, a student interrupts their conversation and asks if there was something he could do to help out around camp. Honami assigns him to help out a few other students, he thanks her politely and makes his way. Seeing that he was somewhat distant from the rest, Suzune asks Honami out of curiosity. Leading them to learn that, he is actually from class C, but was kicked out due to a falling out.

Kiyotaka internally deduced that the student was a spy sent from class C and chose not to identify class B's leader due to their class alliance and that the leader would be guessed anyway. The pair then left to scout class A's camp which was in a cave. When they arrived, they hid in the bushes while they observed class A's movements from a distance. Seeing that Suzune wasn't going to take the initiative because she was intimidated by the best class, Kiyotaka takes a stand and tells her that he is going to them. Suzune hesitates at first, however after Kiyotaka reasonably reasons against her emotions, she regains her usual confidence. Following his lead to approach them. They were unknowingly speaking to class A's leader for entry to their camp. When Suzune was about to take a look beyond the draped curtains at the entrance of the cave, she was stopped by Kōhei. He summons his security force and warns her that her 'right to enter' was an intrusion on their territory and that might lead to a start of a war.

With that, Kiyotaka and Suzune decided to leave class A alone and depart for class C's camp which they found at a beachside. Under Kakeru's leadership, the pair discovered that class C had spent all their S-points on buying luxury items the other class was scrimping on. Kakeru told them that they did this, knowing that they will not be penalized even if they had spent all of their test points. Kakeru mocks class D for sacrificing themselves for the test. Suzune and Kiyotaka witness how Kakeru treats his classmates like slaves. As such, Kakeru had punished Mio for being disobedient and critical of his leadership while Suzune spoke with Kakeru, Kiyotaka spotted a two-way communicator and deduced Kakeru was the leader before he and Suzune left the area. He told Suzune what Kakeru's endgame was similar to what Rokusuke did to return to the cruise. That night, Kiyotaka sneaked into the girls' tent at the class D camp and searched Mio's bag for her phone. He discovered her camera and sabotaged it as he figured that she was a spy.

On the fourth day, class D did more survey to find out who the class leaders are. Kiyotaka and Airi were gathering supplies when he asked her if she wanted to stay in a pair with him, to which she confirmed though apologized for dragging him down in the search. He soon asked her if she was afraid if people started talking to her about them, as she told him that she didn't care about that, explaining that she was down on the school trip at first due to not having friends, but now was glad that she came. She then admiringly looked at him, stated regrettably that she wanted to have her camera so that she could take a great picture of him. He and Airi met Honami and Ryūji Kanzaki at class C's camp only to find out that everybody except Mio had withdrawn from the test. He then asked them about Arisu Sakayanagi and Kōhei Katsuragi, he learned of the two were leaders of the class, but their ideals collide with one another. On the fifth day, Kei Karuizawa found out that her underwear was stolen. The girls of class D had Yōsuke conduct a bag search, and Haruki found it in Kanji's bag. Kiyotaka believed he didn't take it, but Kanji quickly planted it on him, he was forced to hide it just as Yōsuke did a pat-down search on him and he prepared for the worse. To his surprise, Yōsuke reported that he does not have it. Unsurely, Kiyotaka confronted Yōsuke and asked why he covered for him as Yōsuke asked if he took them, but Kiyotaka confirms he did not, and Yōsuke decides to take the underwear knowing that his reputation would be damaged the least for being the culprit because Kei is his girlfriend. He then asked for Kiyotaka to find the real thief which he agrees.

The day after the underwear scandal, the girls demanded the boys be separated from them. They made Yōsuke stand guard, with Suzune intervening by stating that since he is a boy himself, he needed to be watched as well. The girls agreed but were unsure of who else to pick as Suzune nominated Kiyotaka as another guard since he didn't seem like the type to peep on girls. While some of the girls noted on his lack of prominence in the class, they nevertheless accepted him as a guard as he complained about being the last resort, but still accepting the request. As he worked, Kiyotaka was approached by Mio, who asked if he believed she stole the underwear since she was an outsider. However, he replied he knew she didn't do it and trusted her, much to her surprise and joy as she thanked him for believing her. After he finished working, he met Suzune and asked her why she made him a guard, as she stated she needed him as an incentive as Yōsuke couldn't be trusted. They talk about secretive people for a while as Suzune stated, unlike Kiyotaka and others she has no such side. He soon asks her how long she was going to pretend to be healthy while she asked how he knew she was sick in the first place as he mentioned her behaviour since the test started.

Shortly after, he goes back to the spot where he found Mio and discovers a communicator like Kakeru confirming her as a spy. To put a plan in action, he promises Haruki that he'd give him Airi's email if he did him a favour. He, Suzune and Kanji tried to catch some fish but to no avail as they only caught one. Kiyotaka then spoke with Suzune discussing the leader key card as he had seen it on Kōhei and wanted to match them. Once he saw it, Kiyotaka confirmed they didn't match, but Haruki places mud on Suzune after noting on their closeness, which earned him a flip from Suzune but Kiyotaka caught him. This would soon prove to be part of his plan as he had Suzune show him the card so Mio would be tempted to steal it since her camera was destroyed. By having Haruki drop mud on her, Kiyotaka gave Suzune a reason to go to the waterfall so she temporarily relieves herself of the card so that Mio could steal it.

While the class was distracted by the fire he started, Kiyotaka put his plan into action to help D-Class win the test. After Mio stole the card once she defeated Suzune, Kiyotaka found an unconscious Suzune injured after her fight with Mio and took her to a tree before she awoke. They talk where he discovered her reasons for reaching Class A and noticed she wanted allies before he implores her to withdraw from the test, but she refused out of pride though she fell unconscious. He carried her and returned Suzune in her deteriorating condition to the teachers to go back to the ship, officially causing her to drop out. He assumed the position as the class leader, foiling class 1-A and class 1-C's plan so they'd incorrectly guess D-Class' leader as still being Suzune.

When the test finished the following day, D-Class cleaned up camp as Kiyotaka spoke with Airi for a while and approached Yōsuke. He gives the sulking Yōsuke a list of the other class' leaders and the latter puts down the names on the list. Later on, D Class is declared the winner of the test due to correctly guessing the leaders of classes A & C, leaving class B's out because he wanted to remain friends with them. Upon returning to the ship, Kiyotaka is questioned by Suzune on how the class passed the test, and he told her of his plan and how he outsmarted the other classes with various tactics, which left her in astonishment at his intellect as she tries to ask about his motives before the class arrives. It turns out he told their class the credit was all Suzune's, quickly gaining her popularity. Kiyotaka then met with Kikyō, who asked whether he would prefer being with Suzune or her, to which Kiyotaka said he didn't know, leaving her dissatisfied with the answer.

As this happened, Kiyotaka was contacted by Sae Chabashira who requested he met with her again at the theatre. Once there, Kiyotaka's plan is complemented by her, and she revealed it was indeed his father who requested Kiyotaka be expelled though he also said Kiyotaka would leave of his own accord soon enough. Sae soon asked him on what he planned to do now, to which she receives a vague answer, she goes amused at his response.

He wandered the ship just as Suzune confronted him once again and he calmly stated that she needed allies, having noticed she finally changed her anti-social behaviour. After he confirmed he did everything to help her, she gets flustered and blushed before begrudgingly thanking him while stating that she will see him as an ally though she warned Kiyotaka not to get too friendly with her as all she wanted is to reach A-Class.

While she went on about this, Kiyotaka internally noted that he doesn't truly acknowledge her, Kikyō and Yōsuke as allies but merely pawns in helping him to win. As it turned out, Kiyotaka's time in the White Room made him more than willing to do anything to accomplish victory even if it meant using people to believe that all of humanity was nothing but tools. He ended his monologue, stating that all that matters is him winning in the end.

Volume 4
After completing the grueling Island survival special test, yet another special test is announced back on the cruise ship. For this special exam, Kiyotaka is placed in the Rabbit Group, alongside Kei Karuizawa, Hideo Sotomura and Teruhiko Yukimura. Prominent members of the rabbit group from other classes are Class B's representative Ichinose Honami and Class C's Ibuki Mio. The following day after the announcement of the exam, Kiyotaka meets with Horikita in the morning to discuss the exam, where they are interrupted by Kakeru Ryūen who shows suspicion that Kiyotaka abilities isn't average as it seems, implying that his loss in the island exam is due to someone working in the shadows behind Horikita.

As the exam continues, Kiyotaka starts having doubts about Karuizawa's personality through her interactions with Manabe and Ibuki who had already been determined as the person who stole her underwear in the Island survival exam. Moreover, despite having Hirata as a boyfriend, she is openly flirting with the Class A student Machida Kōji. During some down time during, Kiyotaka receives a message from Sakura telling him she would like to meet him, as he approaches the meeting point she overhears her trying practicing asking someone out on a date. Kiyotaka pretends not to hear what she said and that puts her at ease, as they proceed to discuss about the exam. Following this encounter, Yamauchi approaches Kiyotaka from behind and asks for advice on how to approach Sakura. Kiyotaka proceeds to advise him to work hard and produce results for this exam as Sakura and Yamauchi are grouped together. As he gives this advice he thinks that even if Yamauchi fails and loses points, he will be able to make use of his failure in the future.

After one of the meetings of rabbit group, Kiyotaka and Yukimura notice that the Class C girls lead by Manabe in the rabbit group except Ibuki were acting strange as they follow Karuizawa outside their usual meeting room. They watch as Manabe's group, take Karuizawa to a emergency stairwell where they proceed to shove her into the wall, and begin to bully her. Yukimura wants intervene before it escalates but Kiyotaka stops him as he believes stopping the bullying from occurring now will not guarantee that it will stop in the future. As the bullying begins, Karuizawa's usual strong facade drops as she begins begging for them to stop while holding her head in her hand and shaking violently before finally ceasing to move at all as if she had totally given up. As Kiyotaka begins to finally understand Karuizawa a little better after observing her, Yukimura intervenes too early before he can gather more information. As Kiyotaka threatens to call more people, Manabe and her friends leave before promising to make Karuizawa apologize to Rika who Karuizawa had previously wronged. With the girls gone, Karuizawa's haughty facade returns as she tells the two guys to get lost and not tell anyone what they had seen.

After this encounter Kiyotaka approaches Chabashira sensei to confirm that at this goal anything can be bought with points. As she confirms this, Kiyotaka tells her he will have a request for her sometime in the future. With some understanding of Karuizawa's situation, he follows Hirata out of thier shared room at 2am in the morning who is going to meet Karuizawa as Kiyotaka suspects. He informs Hirata that he is somewhat aware of the situation which prompts Hirata to allow Kiyotaka to follow him to meet Karuizawa. When they meet Karuizawa is surprised to see Kiyotaka there but proceeds to ask Hirata for help in dealing with Manabe. Hirata declines saying that he won't hurt others for any reason which makes Karuizawa angry who then storms off. As Kiyotaka quietly observes, he puts together the pieces of the puzzle and realizes that their relationship has been fake the whole time, Karuizawa is similar to a parasite who can't live without having someone to protect her which is why she uses Hirata and flirts with Machida to gain protection within their rabbit group. Hirata reveals the reason he actually wanted Kiyotaka to come along was so he could do something about the situation as there were some things he wasn't willing to do. Furthermore, Hirata continues to explain about Karuizawa's past and a little about his own past, which leads to Kiyotaka having some doubts about Hirata's real personality but he does not press the issue. Throughout their conversation Kiyotaka continues to pretend that he is trying to get close to both Hirata and Karuizawa as per Horikita's ideas. However, he has other plans for Karuizawa. Before they end the conversation, Kiyotaka passes a piece of paper to Hirata which prompts a conversation about the VIPs of class D.

During one of the intervals, Kiyotaka has already made plans for Karuizawa. One the one hand using Hirata to lead her to lower decks of the cruise ship where there are no cameras, and on the other he a message to Manabe using an account that is not registered to his ID obtained from Chabashira, telling her that he will help her get revenge on Karuizawa. When all of the girls arrived at the lower deck. Kiyotaka is hiding below as he observes the scene of the Class C girls physically bullying Karuizawa before determining that not much physical harm is being done, he leaves to let Karuizawa be bullied by Manabe and the others. He returns sometime later, when Manabe and the others leave to check on Karuizawa, he reveals that he knows all about her past as a victim of bullying the past that Karuizawa has tried so hard to protect from being revealed and proceeds to push her into the wall. Karuizawa continues to put on her strong facade but Kiyotaka continues to push her limits by sexually harassing her to see how far she is willing to go to protect her secret and her place in the school. When she doesn't resist, he decides that she will be very useful to him. As she continues to submit to his advances, Kiyotaka presses her to reveal more about her past bullying which she tells him willingly, however, he realises that she is still hiding something, and presses her further, from her actions Kiyotaka finds a scar on her body. By showing her the darkness in his past through his eyes, Karuizawa begins to understand Kiyotaka a little better. After Finally obtaining all of her secrets, Kiyotaka then changes his attitude and promises to protect her in Hirata's place instead promising to do a much better job than he can in exchange for her cooperation. He shows her a picture of Manabe bullying her in the stairwell, which he plans to use to stop Manabe from bullying her again. He also tells her that he plans to use her to win the special exam for their group.

A final meeting of the exam, the rabbit group decides to that everyone should show the emails on their phone to prove who is the VIP. As everyone shows the email they received from the school, Yukimura is revealed to have the email that shows that he is the VIP, as everyone decides that he is the VIP, Ichinose makes a call to Kiyotaka's phone. The phone Yukimura is holding rings showing Ichinose as the caller. Revealing that Kiyotaka and Yukimura had switched phones. Yukimura apologizes to everyone for trying to trick them hopes that everyone will wait to reveal the VIP together instead of betraying them as it's decided by the group that Kiyotaka is the VIP. A little after the rabbit group meeting ends, a notification comes that the rabbit group exam is over meaning someone betrayed the VIP. Ichinose and Kiyotaka who are both still in the meeting room discuss what happened, with Ichinose revealing she suspected that Kiyotaka and Karuizawa had switched SIM cards and she was the VIP. Kiyotaka inquires why she didn't reveal her suspicions if she had known, she replies that since Class A was most likely to betray them due to their in fighting, it would be beneficial to let them guess wrong. Kiyotaka decides that he needs to reevaluate Ichinose. At the end of the exam, Kiyotaka discusses the results with the leaders of Class D, Hirata, Karuizawa and Horikita, which once again Ryūen interrupts and informs them he had complete control of this exam and that Class D should watch out as they were his next target.

Volume 4.5
During the summer holidays of the first year, as Kiyotaka transfers a large amount of points to Sudō. Sudō asks Kiyotaka for help in asking Horikita to go see a fortune teller that has specially come to Keyaki Mall for the summer holidays. Despite his best effort and Horikita having some interest in fortune telling, she turns him down. Being slightly interesting in fortune telling, he goes down to Keyaki Mall by himself where he bumps into Ibuki Mio. Unfortunately, the fortune teller only accepts pairs, therefore Ibuki and Kiyotaka who both have come along are denied. Ibuki discusses some of her interest in coming to see the future telling with Kiyotaka but since both can't get their fortune told they leave for the day. The next due to his talk with Ibuki, Kiyotaka decides to go back to Keyaki mall, where he once again meets Ibuki at the fortune teller, this time they both decide to go in as a pair and get their fortune told. They are left with a warning that to not take detour on the way back, due to the crowds at the elavator then both decide to go to an elevator further away which ends up trapping them as it stops mid-way. Kiyotaka calls Kōhei Katsuragi for help which arrives a little after as Ibuki and Kiyotaka are freed from the elevator.

Katsuragi's connection with Kiyotaka is revealed in a flash back where Kiyotaka and the idiot Trio are looking for a gift to buy for their classmate Inogashira. They spot Katsuragi who is buying a gift that is rather girly and the idiot trio believe that he is buying a gift for his girlfriend. The idiot Trio pressure Kiyotaka into finding out the identity of Katsuragi's supposed girlfriend. Kiyotaka waits around the main road to catch Katsuragi. Along the way, he is spotted by Manabu Horikita, Suzune's older brother and the student council president as well as his secretary Akane Tachibana. Manabu talks about the recent developments of Class D in the island exam and suspects Kiyotaka is behind Horikita's sudden status as the class leader. While Kiyotaka denies this Manabu does not believe him and even invites him to be the Vice-President of the student council, which surprises Tachibana. Kiyotaka rejects his offer, which further surprises Tachibana. Tachibana wonders if Manabu means for Kiyotaka to be the vice-president when Nagumo becomes the president but states that normally there are two vice-presidents in the student council. However Tachibana statesthat there is no way Nagumo would allow that. After the conversation with Manabu, Kiyotaka spots Katsuragi leaving the dorm and headed in the direction of the school. Realizing that the only reason to wear your school uniform would be to visit the school grounds which was required. Kiyotaka is unable to follow as he is in his everyday clothes. Kiyotaka waits for Katsuragi to return from school to question him on who the gift is for, but does not get an answer. Reporting this to the Ike, he realizes that he could be buying the present for himself to make himself feel better for not getting any present for his birthday. Feeling sorry for him the idiot trio and Kiyotaka decides to celebrate his birthday with him. Kiyotaka discovers that the present is actually for Katsuragi's twin sister who is not at this school, Katsuragi has been visiting the student council to receive permission to send her a gift but is his request is denied as it is against the school rules. Kiyotaka proposes using Sudō who is leaving campus for a basketball match to send the gift to Katsuragi's sister in exchange for 100000 private points, while Kiyotaka receives 5000 points as the intermediary. As Sudō successfully completes the task, the idiot trio and Kiyotaka celebrates Katsuragi's birthday with him.

Another incident that occurs during the summer involved Horikita who finds herself in a spot of trouble as her hand gets stuck in her water bottle while she is cleaning, due to the stoppage of water across the dormitories, and the convenience store. Horikita is unable to get her hand out of the bottle. Finally giving up and needed help, she calls Kiyotaka. Who suggest asking someone for water such as Ike or Sudō. She refuses, Kiyotaka next suggests Sakura or Kushida. Due to the bad relationship between Kushida and Horikita chooses Sakura to ask for help. Sakura doesn't immediately reply and Horikita is left with the choice to travel to Keyaki Mall to get water. After failing to get dormitory without being seen, due to the intervention of Koenji who calls Kiyotaka elevator boy when they meet in the elevator. As well as meeting Kushida along the way out, Horikita gives up and returns to her room. Thankfully by then Sakura had replied and the case of the stuck hand is resolved.

Following the events of the cruise, Yamauchi asks for Kiyotaka's help in confessing to Sakura. Yamauchi passes a love letter to Kiyotaka to pass to Sakura for him. Kiyotaka asks for Kushida's help to call Sakura out and hands her the letter. While she misunderstands that the love letter is not from him, he clears it up by repeated that he is just the messenger. Sakura is disappointed that it is not from Kiyotaka, seeing that Kiyotaka says it could be from someone she likes but she accidently blurts out that the chances of that is now impossible. Sakura manages to guess who the love letter is actually from based on Yamauchi's behaviour. Later that night, Sakura and Kiyotaka briefly talk about what she should do, Kiyotaka talk about them both having 0 zero experience in love and that reassures her, she also asks Kiyotaka to meet with her before she is to meet with Yamauchi. The next day at the meeting place, she tells Kiyotaka that she is going to reject Yamauchi, which Kiyotaka completely expected but it was important for her to say it outloud. As Kiyotaka is about to leave, Sakura asks for him to stay as she wouldn't be able to speak if he wasn't there. Kiyotaka complies with her request. While Yamauchi is somewhat bothered by his presence, Kiyotaka's words leave no room for him to protest. Yamauchi confesses his feelings, but is rejected by Sakura who apologises and leaves Kiyotaka and Yamauchi alone. Yamauchi confesses that he probably didn't really like Sakura and just thought she was cute and would be great to date. He apologises for getting Kiyotaka roped up in this business, while Kiyotaka replies that it's all right and thinks that Yamauchi has grown from this experience.

As the summer holidays comes to a close, the idiot trio along with Kiyotaka, Kushida, Horikita and Sakura head to the pool for some final summer activities. There they meet Ichinose and some of her classmates. Furthermore they are introduced to Nagumo a 2nd year member of the student console who started from class B like Ichinose but has reached already reached class A. Inspired by Nagumo's volley ball match. Ichinose challenges the class D students to a volley ball game with the losers having to pay for the winners lunch. Class D composed of everyone except Sakura win the match and are treated to lunch by class B. After lunch, everyone decides to leave the pool while Kiyotaka stays behind to find Karuizawa who is waiting for him. They discuss his plans from now on, Kiyotaka tells Karuizawa that he plans to expel someone in the near future, which surprises her. He tells her he may want to expel the 3 students who know her students, if not them then someone from another class, if another class is not possible someone useless from their class. Karuizawa, calls Kiyotaka a terrible person as he remembers what he did to her on the cruise ship, he thinks she is probably not wrong. They discuss about telling his plans to Hirata but Kiyotaka says he can't be trusted yet, because of his past. Karuizawa tells him, that he is definitely not normal which Kiyotaka readily denies and she calls him a liar. As they are about to leave, Kiyotaka notices Karuizawa hesitate, she tells him that he should know that changing in front of other people is difficult for her. Kiyotaka thinks that if he can get her to swim today that would be good. She refuses him when he asks her to swim asking why does she have to let him see her in a swimsuit. Forcing the issue, he orders her to swim which she relunctantly obeys. As she takes off her rash guard and places it on the chair she doesn't turn to face Kiyotaka due to scar on her body. Without warning Kiyotaka then grabs Karuizawa's arm and throws her into the pool. As he reaches out to Karuizawa with his hand, she pulls him into the pull with him. The play around in the pool as the life guard comes over to get them to leave as the pool is closing. As they play in the pool like children, Kiyotaka thinks it was worth it to even see a Karuizawa laughing for even a moment.

In side story of Ike, Yamauchi and Sudō's summer holiday. It is revealed that the idiot trio forced Kiyotaka along with their plans to peep on the girls changing room which was connected to the male changing room using a remote control car and a camera. This is the reason, Kiyotaka asks Karuizawa to meet him a day before going to the pool so he can have her interfere with the idiot trios plans. Once everyone had finished changing, Karuizawa entered the changing room and found the remote control car, replacing the memory card in the camera with a blank one so the idiot trio would have no footage of any of the girls changing.

Volume 5
Kiyotaka gathers with Horikita, Hirata and Karuizawa for lunch, to discuss the results of the previous cruise ship special exam. Together, they manage to decipher the way in which the VIPs were chosen for the exam. They wonder why Ryūen who had figured out all the VIPs made a mistake in guessing one of the groups. Hirata and Horikita guesses that maybe someone in Class C betrayed Ryūen, while Kiyotaka does not offer a theory he does not believe that anyone betrayed him.

Later that day during afternoon classes, a new event is announced with class points and private points on the line, the Annual Sports Festival where the students across all levels compete in sports events to determine the winner. For this year's sports festival, Class D and A and placed in the red team while B and C are placed in the white team. With the announcement over, Sudō comes over to Horikita to propose his idea that they should select their best athletes for each event to win as many as possible. Kiyotaka thinks that this would be a way to win but would leave some of the class unsatisfied because students who place in the bottom ten will receive minus points in the subsequent exam, causing worry for the students who are weaker academically. 20 mins after the announcement, the class gathers in the sports hall and meets the other classes of the red team, the leader of the red team, Class 3-A's Fujimaki. At the hall, Kiyotaka also spots a long girl sitting in a chair holding a cane, Katsuragi explains that she is Arisu Sakayanagi. The school provided her a chair due to her difficulty walking. Horikita asks Kiyotaka if there is anyway for them to win this "special exam". However Kiyotaka points out that no teacher and no documents have mentioned that this is a special exam and even the 3rd years seem like they are treated it like a sports festival rather than an exam. Horikita disagrees and says since points are on the line it is the same as a special exam. They are unable to reach an agreement. After the assembly in the sports hall, Kiyotaka on the way back to the dormitory alone he bumps into Chabashira sensei, who question him whether he as a plan for the sports festival, he has he doesn't have any plan at all this time.

Over the next few weeks, in preparation for the Sports festival, the class is given free time to plan their strategy. Horikita comes up with a strategy where they should let the most athletic students get first choice in whatever events they think they can win to take as many podium finishes as they can, her strategy involves pairing the weaker students with the stronger students which the diminishes weaker student's their chances of winning any event, which leaves the academically weak students and physically weak students in danger of receiving penalties in the next exam. While Kiyotaka doesn't necessarily think that the strategy is wrong, he uses Karuizawa to propose another strategy, sending her a message during the class discussion. Telling her to oppose the current strategy and get Kushida's opinion. Thinking on her feet, Karuizawa says they shouldn't eave the weaker students behind, and proposes a multi-pronged approach where the strongest aims for 1st place but leaving the 3rd place or 2nd place open for those who have a chance to attain that position also participate instead of just selecting the athletically strong students take all the top spots. Kushida who is put into the spotlight by Karuizawa agrees with both opinions and the class is divided, hence Hirata puts it to a class vote. Horikita's strategy wins 16-13 votes as Kiyotaka abstains from voting. As the plans are decided, school ends. Kiyotaka sends Karuizawa a message signaling her with a glance, but she leaves the classroom regardless, thinking she didn't get his message Kiyotaka leaves as well but finds Karuizawa waiting by the stairwell for him asking him if he wanted to talk to her. They discuss the strategy for the class, even though Karuizawa agreed with Horikita's strategy she came out with a good compromise and despite being put on the spot by Kiyotaka, who thinks she did a good job. As they part, Kiyotaka thinks that he has managed to get a very useful pawn to use in Karuizawa due to her ability to read the atmosphere and act accordingly.

As class D prepares for the sports festival, everyone's abilities are measured to see what events they would be best at. During the grip strength test, Kiyotaka asks Sudō what the national average is and is told that it is about 60, hence when it is his turn to take the test he ensure's that he gets 60.6 kg in grip strength. To his surprise he finds out that Sudō got the average wrong and it is closer to 50. Due to the mistake, by the measurement, Kiyotaka is now the second strongest in grip strength in the class hence is selected to participate in the 4 way Tug of Wag event along with Sudō, Hirata and Miyake. Another event that Kiyotaka is chosen to participate in is the scavenger hunt race which was decided by rock-paper-scissors. For events that all students must participate in such as the 3 leg raced, Kiyotaka is paired with Hirata. With the selections and teams decided for all the events. Class D begin practicing for the sports festival. During one of these practices, Horikita performs poorly in the 3 legged race with her partner Onodera who is one of the fastest students in Class D. Kiyotaka reasons that because Horikita is unwilling to match Onodera pace they aren't performing well. In order to show her the importance of team work. Kiyotaka pairs up with her, and moves so fast that she cannot keep up, causing Horikita to almost fall down if not Kiyotaka catching her. Kiyotaka hopes she has learnt her lesson from their 3 legged race.

As the preperations carry on, Kiyotaka meets with Horikita and Kushida to discuss scouting out the competition. Horikita at first refuses because Kushida and Kiyotaka would be enough but once Kushida is gone, he tells Horikita that although he has no proof tells her that Kushida most likely betrayed the Class and told Ryūen that she was the VIP in the previous exam. This causes her to agree to scout out the competition together. Meeting the next day, Kushida, Horikita and Kiyotaka are watching the soccer club and with Kushida's extentive network is able to point out everyone's names.

Finally, the day of the sport festival arrives. Kiyotaka begins the festival by carefully not getting any of the top spots but also avoiding all the bottom spots. Ryūji Kanzaki approaches Kiyotaka asking him why he is holding back especially since there wasn't any real need to and since Ichinose told him that Kiyotaka was fast. Kiyotaka continues his act although Kanzaki does not believe him. As the festival unfolds, Kouenji doesn't want to participate so he pretends to be sick, angering Sudō who almost starts a fight but is stopped by Hirata. Furthermore, Ryūen uses dirty tactics that could have injured people during the tug of war and pole toppling event which futher sours Sudō's mood as the day goes on. Kiyotaka also begins to notice a pattern emerging as Horikita is repeatedly forced to compete with the same person 2 people from Class C, Yajima and Kinoshita who were faster than Horikita due to due experience in track and field, leading him to suspect it was not a coincidence. This culminates in an accident where the Kinoshita collides with Horikita and both girls are injured. Although Kinoshita is unable to continue competing, Horikita can still compete albeit not at her best due to being slightly injured as Kiyotaka notices during her 3 legged race with Kushida where they both end up in last place. Class C continues their relentless attack on Horikita in the Female Calvary Battle as all the Class C cavalries surround Horikita, although Karuizawa tries to assist, she is stopped by Ichinose who prevents her from Horikita leading ultimately leading to Class D and As defeat. During the guys turn to compete in the calvary battle, Ryūen once again uses dirty tactics, this time applying hair wax onto the headbands so they are much harder to grab off their heads. His tactics greatly anger Sudō who is all but ready to get into a fight. Moreover, due to continued loses, Sudō is increasingly taking out his frustrations on his classmates. Karuizawa comes over to speak him Kiyotaka, after the battle expressing concerns about the developments. She also uses his first name for the first time even ommiting honorifics which startles Kiyotaka although he decides now isn't the time to think about it. They talk about their selections being released and the existence of someone betraying them comes up. Karuizawa asks Kiyotaka what he is going to do to help them win, but he says he is going to do nothing and everything is happening as he has foreseen. Before she can ask more, Sudō returns to the class tent and wants to go and confront Ryūen. By this point the pressure of being leader overwhelms him as his classmates point out how poorly everything is going and how he needs to calm down and act appropriately when the pressure boils over, he hits Hirata who is trying to mediate. Chabashira sensei who has arrives asks what's wrong but Hirata covers for him, finally fed up Sudō just leaves when Horikita can't look at Sudō.

Once Sudō leaves, Class D is put in a terrible position as Sudō is supposed to participate in many of the selection events. Kiyotaka finds Horikita and gives her advice on what she can do now, which is to find Sudō and bring him back. Horikita doesn't want to and Kiyotaka believes it's because she doesn't understand that Sudō has feelings for her. He talks about how Ryūen crated his plans to defeat her and especially Sudō mentally. While she still resists, Kiyotaka harshly tells her, she as she is now is totally useless and she should go and do something useful. She is injured and simply praying to recover is not good enough. Kiyotaka leaves her to make her own decisions after giving her his advice, while thinking that what Horikita needs is to feel defeat and be reborn. Following his conversation with Horikita, Kiyotaka eats lunch with Karuizawa and Hirata as they discuss the existence of the spy in their class, Hirata says that it's a delicate matter and shouldn't be raised casually so as to not disrupt the class. They also discuss what to do know that Sudō is gone.

After lunch, Kiyotaka participates in the Scavenger Hunt race but ends up last due to having to find things like 10 Friends and the person he likes which results in him wasting too much time changing what he has to find. Next he takes over Sudō's place in the mixed 3 legged race while Kushida takes Horikita's place. As they both prepare for the race, Kiyotaka tells Kushida she was the one who leaked Class D selection list to Class C, they discuss how the spy could have done it. Kiyotaka reasons that the spy asked Chabashira sensei to see the list, when Kiyotaka suggests asking Chabashira sensei if there was anyone who asked to see the list, Kushida drops her facade and tells Kiyotaka that he isn't some normal person. Kiyotaka asks why she did it, and she replies that she wants to expel Horikita Suzune and it willing to do that even if it means Class D loses.

By the time Horikita and Sudō return, it is time for the final event. As Miyake sprained his leg in the earlier 200m race, Kiyotaka offers to replace him. While Kushida replaces Horikita. Kiyotaka is chosen as the anchor, as he is waiting for the baton to reach him, Horikita Manabu is the anchor for his class and he proposes that Kiyotaka and he should race. even at the cost of 2nd place. Manabu doesn't start running when he receives the baton but waits for Kiyotaka to receive his from Kushida. As they run, Kiyotaka runs as fast as he can although as he reaches the final bend he thinks he should speed up. In the end, due to both Manabu and Kiyotaka's speed, the runner in front of Kiyotaka trips over surprise causing Kiyotaka to fall as well hence he doesn't win the race. Having gone all out for the first time, many people come over to expresses their surprised, the first of which is Karuizawa who disappears as more of their classmates arrive. The results are released and class D is last placed.

At the end of the day, Kiyotaka meets with Sakayanagi at the entrance of the school who wants to talk to him. Before he goes to talk to her, Kiyotaka sends a recording to Ryūen exposing his plan to cause Horikita to fall down during one of the events. He sends it to Ryūen who is threatening Horikita with false evidence that Horikita tripped Kinoshita on purpose. After they introduce themselves Sakayanagi reveals that she has known him for 8 years and 243 days. Which Kiyotaka says is not possible because he doesn't know her, but one-sidedly knows him from the "White Room". Kiyotaka is surprised she knows something about his past. She also reveals that she knows that he has been acting behind the scenes of his class. She declares that it is her duty to defeat the fake genius that is Kiyotaka, and doesn't intend to reveal his past to anyone.

Volume 6
As the sports festival comes to a close, the seasons change and the school welcomes Autumn. As the students gather in the sports hall, the first sign of changes appears in the form the change in Student Council members. With Manabu Horikita stepping down as president and Miyabi Nagumo taking over as the new student council presidents. Nagumo vows to break down the traditions that the school has during his term and introduces several changes such the increasing the length of his term as student council president to last until he graduates instead of until the following October. Alongside these changes, Kiyotaka expresses that many of his personal relationships are also about to change. With some people growing further apart and others growing closer. Other changes Kiyotaka notices is the changes in Sudō's attitude during class especially after the sports festival. Sudō appears to be paying more attention during class and even taking notes, noting that Horikita checking them after may be a large influence on him. He thinks that Sudō will be a great resource for the class moving foward. During lunch, Kiyotaka is eating alone when Horikita comes to make fun of him for being alone. She teases him about Ike and Yamauchi who have seemed to have been inviting Kiyotaka less and less to their gatherings. He thinks that in fact they have stopped inviting him along at all and have now taken to inviting Sotomura out with them. She also mentions that it can't be helped as now due to his race with Manabu, the 2 guys are don't feel like he is below average like them due to his speed. As she leaves him alone to eat lunch. Kiyotaka thinks that he respects Horikita for all the time she spends alone.

Kiyotaka also notices that Karuizawa is still in the classroom, when he notices Karuizawa's gaze and thinks that she wants to talk but realises she doesn't when she averts his gaze quickly as if to tell him she didn't mean to look at him. As she leaves the classroom, he notices that her skirt is about 1-2cm shorter than normal. When Kiyotaka is finally alone in the classroom, his classmate Satō whose given name he doesn't know due to how little they interact comes up to him and asks for some of his time to talk. Satō asks him if he has a girlfriend and he tells her no, thinking that lying in this situation would just make him be liked even less. Finally realising her intentions, his first thought is whether this was a trap set by someone. As they exchange numbers because Satō want's to start with being friends first. Kiyotaka is curious about her sudden interests and asks her about it. She tells him that because of the sports festival, she finds him very cool. While he ponders what he should do, he thinks that Satō is nothing but a classmate to him and he understands a little better how Sakura felt when she was confessed to by Yamauchi. After Kiyotaka parts ways with Satō, he runs into Katsuragi who wants to talk to him. Katsuragi expresses his surprise at his race during the sports festival but Kiyotaka doesn't say much. They end up discussing about Ryūen and how he is a common enemy for all the classes. Kiyotaka counters with how Katsuragi was the first person to work with Ryūen, which Katsuragi now regrets. Kiyotaka asks if Katsuragi wants him to pass on the messsage to Horikita still feigning ignorance, but he receives Katsuragi's warnings regarding Ryūen and promises to pass the message to Horikita. Later that evening, Kiyotaka receives a call from Karuizawa which surprises him. She calls and demands to know happened with Satō in the afternoon, informing him that she knew Satō was going to confess. She wants to know if he said yes to Satō confession because all guys think about is just dirty things, which Kiyotaka denies. Karuizawa expresses her worry about what would happen if Kiyotaka had accepted Satō's confession as the chances of her working for him and her past could be exposed. She insists on hearing what Kiyotaka's answer was despite him resisting several times, before relenting and telling her that they exchanged phone numbers and Satō wanted to start by being friends. Karuizawa thinks that Satō will try and progress the relationship, and asks if he indeeds to reject her. He says he doesn't know yet. Before they end the conversation, Kiyotaka wants to tell Karuizawa something but decides against it because it would be an uneccessary burden on her and it will happen regardless of his warning, instead he tells her to delete the record of their contact, to which she replies that she already has.

As the mid-term results for the Autumn semester are released everyone is surprised at the improvement Sudō has made since the sports festival. He manages to place above the bottom 10 in mid-term results with an average score of 57 and is 12 from the bottom in the class of 40. On the other hand, Kiyotaka once again scores near the average getting an average of 64 points. Horikita once again questions him about going all out in the exams, but he simply replies by saying that was the best he could do. Chabashira sensei further compliments the class on having on expulsion since the start of the school year, a feat not achieved by any Class D in the 3 years she has been in the school. Despite having just completed the midterms, Chabashira sensei informs them of an upcoming quiz that will have an effect on the final exams for the term which will also be a special exam, the Paper Shuffle. The upcoming quiz will determine the which students are paired up for the final exams which will be set by one of the other 3 classes. Once the explanations are complete. Horikita calls together the 2 leaders of the class, Hirata and Karuizawa along with Kiyotaka for a strategy meeting. Wanting to do it in a more comfortable place, Karuizawa wants to have the meeting at Pallet Cafe instead decided that it easier than arguing Horikita agrees. As they are discussing, Kushida comes up to them and asks to join them for their meeting. Horikita agrees and tells Karuizawa, Hirata and Kushida to ahead first. Sudō shows up and says that he can't join immediately due to club activities, and is told to join them later at Pallet. Having completed his job of connecting Hirata and Karuizawa to Horikita and thinking about fading into the background and creating some distance between himself and Horikita, Kiyotaka says he is going home. Horikita stops him by enticing him with information about Kushida, Kiyotaka expresses interest about finding out the reason for Horikita and Kushida not getting along and decides to stay in exchange for that information. Horikita tells him that while she initially thought that the first time she met Kushida was on the bus to school just like Kiyotaka but in actuality they are from the same middle school. She follows up by telling him about a rumour that she heard back in school about a single girl destroying a class till the point no one attended school until graduation. Why she did it or how, Horikita doesn't know though. They wonder if Kushida can really destroy an entire class by herself or even worse an entire level. They discuss what methods she could have used, Horikita proposes violence, or perhaps political power. Kiyotaka says, lies could also be used. They wonder if Kushida right now can destroy Class D with her lies and violence but he says, there would be opponents to tough for her like Kouenji and Sudō, but it would not be impossible to destroy the class with lies. They determine that Kushida is willing to destroy their class in order to protect her past and her presences is not good for the class, hence they discuss if they should expel her, but with Horikita's new perspective from losing at the sports festival she doesn't want to resort to that. Finally Horikita reveals that she knows that it was him who had sent the recording to Ryūen at the end of the sports festival and thanks him even though if he had known the outcome before hand.

At Pallet Cafe Karuizawa complains about Kiyotaka and Horikita's lateness but receives no apology. They quickly begin discussing their strategy for the upcoming paper shuffle exam. Horikita explains the proof of there being a rule to determine how the pairs are formed in the quiz, she believes that the pairs formed will the top students paired up with the bottom students and asked Hirata and Kushida to use their network of upperclassmen to confirm her theory on how the pairs are determined. Karuizawa quickly points out if that is the case, the students in the middle of the class are those who are in the toughest position. Aside from determining what to do for the pre-quiz, they discuss which class they should 'attack' for the paper shuffle exam. Hirata produces a memo which he belives what who each class will choose to attack. Class A will should Class D, while B should choose, C should chose B and D should choose C. He believes this is the case because A has the highest academic ability and can set questions that will be hard for D to solve leading to an easy win. D will should choose C because they are the closest in academic ability based on their monthly class points. Kiyotaka points out that class points may not be an indicator of their academic ability and that do not have a good grasp on the other class academic ability only their own. Hirata also bases his guess on the classes wanting to close the gap between each other. Most importantly, they agree that to close the gap in points, D should target class C. As the meeting ends due to Sudō and Hirata having club activities, Horikita once again asks if Kiyotaka is going to not do his best in the tests again, he replies that he will think about it.

A day before the quiz to determine the pairs, during homeroom Hirata and Horikita both present their strategy for the quiz to the class. Horikita begins with an apology to the class for her failure and attitude during the sports festival and says she wants to work with everyone from now on. Her idea is to ensure the pairs are balances by having the top 10 students score 85 and above while the bottom 10 students in the midterm average score 0. The next best 10 students should aim for a maximum of 80 points while the next bottom 10 students should get 1 point. This way the pairs will be balanced. While what Koenji will do is left ambigious, the class decides to go with her plan with Hirata's support. The following day before the quiz, the class each class is setting for is decided. Class D and C will set for each other while Class B and A will set for each other. From the groupings, Kiyotaka infers that Sakayanagi made the choice as she wants to widen the gap between the class rather than aim for Class D where they have the highest chances of winning which would have been Katsuragi's choice. When Chabashira sensei tells everyone to take the test seriously, the weaker students who are supposed to get 0 points are worried, but Horikita confidently says that her plan is correct leading the others to feel relieved. Seeing this Kiyotaka thinks class D has changed for the better. The pairs are announced soon after and Kiyotaka is paired with none other than Satō who appears happy that she is paired with him. As it happens, Koenji goes along with the plan and ends up paired with one of the weaker students. Kiyotaka thinks that since Satō is one of the weaker students, he will have to get more points for this exam. With the pairs dertermined, the next stage of their strategy involves setting up study sessions for the entire class which will be lead by Horikita, Hirata and Kushida. Horikita will be incharge of session 1 while Hirata will be incharge of sesseion 2 for those with club activities while Kushida will help with both. While most of the plans are settled, 2 class D students Akito Miyake and Haruka Hasebe approach Horikita for advice as they were paired together and both had average scores in class, furthermore from their test results they have the same weak points, which for the coming exam since they couldn't cover each other's strong points. Horikita suggests joining one of the study sessions but because Hasebe is on bad terms with some of the girls she declines and leaves. Miyake is then asked to join alone but he declines as well as studying with a group of girls would be uncomfortable for him hence he leaves as well. Horikita discusses with Hirata, Kushida and Kiyotaka what to do about them, and decides to teach them herself but Hirata refuses as she would be taking on too many responsibilities as she also has to set the questions. Fortunately Yukimura for overhears them says he will teach them but the leaders will have to convince them for him. Horikita stares at Kiyotaka and forces him to look after the group, and report back to her. He relunctantly agrees as she starts to threaten him.

After class that day, the group consisting of Miyake, Hasebe, Yukimura and Kiyotaka head to Pallet Cafe to discuss their study plans. Yukimura looks over their previous test and Hasebe asks him why he is willing to teach them. He replies that being good academically is not good enough at this school so he wants to do want he can for his class since he is weak at other areas and teaching smaller groups of people is easier. While they are at the cafe, Kiyotaka notices several people looking towards his direction. Daichi Ishizaki from Class C is at the cafe and buys a cake. Upon seeing the cake, Kiyotaka remembers that his birthday is tomorrow and thinks that it's a day he doesn't really think much off, but ponders about how you would normally spend the day with your friends or lover. He wonders if next year someone will remember his birthday. While Yukimura is looking over the pairs notes. Kiyotaka stands up and goes to find Sakura who he noticed was following him this whole time. He gives her advice about joining their study group, while thinking that for Sakura interacting with people like Miyake, Hasebe and Yukimura is not difficult for her as they were all very similar when interact with other people. He also says that it will be okay because he is around and reassures her but tells her she must ask them herself. By the end of the day, Hasebe and Miyake accepts Yukimura proposal to teach them and also expresses interest in setting questions for he exam which Kiyotaka promises to tell Horikita. He also learns from Miyake that Class C's Kaneda is likely to be setting the questions for class c. Sakura is unable to gather the courage to ask to join the study group as the day ends. That same night, Kiyotaka calls Horikita to report on the group. They discuss about the other study sessions, and Horikita mentions that it is difficult to teach large groups and people like Ike and Yamauchi have low attention spans. She asks for Kiyotaka's help in managing them during his off days from his study group. Furthermore, they talk about Kushida betraying them and the possibility of their questions leaking. Horikita decides if too many people sets questions the chances of leaking is higher so she intends to do them herself. As he ends to conversation with Horikita, he receives mail from Ryūen, asking for he is. Kiyotaka realises that if he knows his unassigned number, Ryūen has already found his spy in Class C Manabe. Not caring at all, he doesn't reply and goes to sleep.

The following day, Kiyotaka participates in Horikita's study session. Where Satō is present, she attempts to get close to Kiyotaka setting next to him asking him to help her study, Horikita even encourages him to teach her himself but he says his scores aren't much better than hers so Horikita has no choice but to teach them herself. Also there at the library where they are studying is Ichinose who is having her own study session with Class B students. After the study sesssion is over, Horikita asks Ichinose if they can talk alone while Kiyotaka is given permission to stay and listen to them talk. They talk about Ichinose's class and what she would do if they are in trouble. Ichinose says she will help them if they are in trouble beacuse they are her important friends. She even includes both Horikita and Kiyotaka as her important friends and would be willing to help them if they ever need it, even if it means lending them large sums of points. Horikita asks her how good of a person she can be, but that is just who Ichinose is. When she leaves, Horikita and Kiyotaka discuss what they plan to do about Kushida, Kiyotaka mentions he has a plan to use that involves someone like Ichinose who is a good person and is trusted by everyone to allow for a fair 1v1 between Kushida and Horikita but she declines this saying she won't use Ichinose.

After leaving the library, they meet Kushida who Horikita wants to talk to. Kushida doesn't want Kiyotaka there so he excuses himself but Horikita calls him on his phone so he can listen to their conversation. They talk about being from the same middle school, and Horikita tells her she won't reveal her secret but that doesn't satisfy Kushida therefore Horikita proposes a duel. Where Horikita will resign from the school if she loses and if Kushida loses she will have to help the class. They agree to challenge each other in a single text paper and see who can individually scores the higher instead of total scores, Kushida is allowed to pick the subject as well. In order to ensure the deal is followed through, Horikita calls her brother Manabu who is the witness to the deal. With Manabu as witness, Kushida can be sure that Horikita will not back out from resigning. Kushida agrees but says she has a one extra conditions and tells Horikita that she knows that Kiyotaka is listening through the phone and asks him to come out. Kiyotaka meets up with them and Kushida request that if Horikita loses, Kiyotaka must also resign. Horikita says he isn't involved but Kiyotaka bets on Horikita in exchange for hearing the truth about Kushida past. Kushida agrees as if he gets expel it would be unsatifying for Kiyotaka if he doesn't know why. Kushida explains wanted to be the most liked person so she created her facade which she uses today but in order to release the stress of always been nice, that she used to post her thoughts on a blog which was found out by her classmates in middle school which turned everyone against her. In order to destroy everyone she used the secrets she learnt from every one of her classmates that she didn't post on the blog an spread them to her class. This caused the class to fight each other, they were destroyed by the truths that Kushida had learnt by being friends with everyone. Kushida decides to challenge Horikita in the maths paper and Kushida warns them they she can get Ryūen to cooperate and get the answers from him but Horikita is betting on the fact that he won't do that.

On the 5th time Yukimura's study group is having a study session at Keyaki Mall, Ryūen and his lackies appear to disrupt their study session, Ryūen knocks over Hasebe's drink which angers her. Miyake is the first to react, telling Ryūen to back off. Ishizaki who is annoyed at his attitude is ready to start a fight but is stopped by Ryūen. Ryūen asks no one in particular if they had received his message, trying to find the person who is X who has been pulling the strings behind Class D no one reacts and Miyake is wondering what he is talking about. He lists all the possible suspects like Yukimura, Kiyotaka, Hirata and Koenji before leaving saying that he was just giving an introduction before they would meet again. Once he leaves, a girl from Class C revealed to be Hiyori Shiina who was tagging along with Ryūen returns with 2 drinks in hand offering one to Hasebe saying what happened earlier was his fault and this was an apology for his attitude. Hasebe is surprised as the amount of sugar in the drink is exactly the same as what Hasebe was drinking earlier, she has that she reverse calculated the amount of sugar from the one thrown out earlier. She then asks the group about whether they know anything about the person pulling the strings behind class D but everyone says that it has been Horikita all this time strategising for the class. While she questions Kiyotaka since he is close to Horikita, he replies that it hasn't been the case recently and she is spending more time with others. The others help to sell the story that there isn't anyone working behind Horikita by saying that it's hard to imagine someone smarter than Horikita.

As they end the study session and head back to the dormitories, Kiyotaka asks Hasebe if she knows anything abou Satō. She says she isn't very close with her and suggest askinging Karuizawa, but Kiyotaka thinks that asking her would be tough. So Hasebe proposes asking Kushida who is close with everyone. Hasebe teases Kiyotaka about whether he links Satō but he says that he just wants to know more about his partner for the paper shuffle exam. This prompts Kiyotaka to think that Kushida is an important piece to Class D. On the way back after the conversation the group decide to head to the convenience store together. After buying their stuff from the convenience store, Yukimura asks Hasebe about his nickname Yukimu and is embarrassed by it. Hasebe explains that she gives nicknames to those she is close to. They end up talking about how they are all close with each other because they all find it hard to make friends, they decide this study group should be a new group for people who are loners. They decide to call themselves the Ayanokōji Group because he is the connector to everyone although he weakly protests. From they with them deciding to be a group they decide to call each other by their given names. Yukimura protests as he doesn't like his given name because it was a name given by his mother who he doesn't have a good relationship with, instead he tells them to call him Keisei. Sakura who is following them loudly asks them to let her join the Ayanokōji group. She starts off by saying she is worried about her test scores. Which Keisei rebuffs her by saying she should join Horikita's sessions as more people will be harder to manage and they are at different places in their studies. Sakura then instead says that she wants to join because it's Kiyotaka's group. Akito agrees who feels that Sakura is like them as she has difficulty making friends in class. Keisei also agrees as Sakura is easy to accept but says that no more people should be added or he will leave. Sakura thanks the 2 guys but calls them by their last name. Last is Haruka, who says she can't accept, because the group is supposed to be close so if she wants to join she needs to call everyone by their given names so she needs to call everyone by their given name and everyone has to call her by her given name. Which Haruka asks what it is, Sakura tells her Airi. Airi finds it dificult but she manages to say Keisei-kun, Akito-kun and Haruka-san. She has difficulty saying Kiyotaka's name and as all the eyes are on her but she manages to do it and is accepted into the group.

With the Ayanokōji Group completed, they decide to go watch a movie to refresh themselves from all the studying. With plans to watch a movie made, Horikita asks to meet with Keisei, Hirata, Karuizawa and Kiyotaka the day after coincidently the same day as the movie. Following his conversation with Horikita, Kiyotaka receives a message from Karuizawa telling him about what she found out about Hiyori. She tells him that she had asked around about how much sugar Haruka had put in her drink just like he thought. Kiyotaka passes along the message about the final meeting for class D the day after at 8pm, Karuizawa mentions how late that is and he replies saying that his study group is going to watch a movie. He then tells her about something she wants her to do at the meeting tomorrow. She mentions that it's something very troublesome. Just as he thought their converstion had ended, he receives a emoji of a cake with candles on it from Karuizawa, and some words saying she realised a little late. Kiyotaka thinks about how this is the first birthday congragulation he has received and expresses some regret before deleting the message. He ponders how she found out his birthday, and checks Karuizawa personal information linked to her account and decides to remember her birthday 8th of March. The next day at the movie theatre, Satō and Karuizawa along with people from their study group also show up to the same meeting. Satō acts flirty with Kiyotaka which Airi questions him about but he quickly denies it saying that they are just paired up for the upcoming exam. After the movie, the leaders of the different study groups meet in a karaoke room to have their final meeting. They discuss the progress of all the different groups and whether they are ready for the exam. As the discussion goes on as per Kiyotaka's instructions, Karuizawa acts displeased with Kushida's attitude and throws a drink at her. Everyone is displeased with Karuizawa's actions but she continues putting on the act, until finally apologising and offering to take Kushida's school blazer for drive cleaner as an apology. Once the meeting is over, when Kiyotaka returns to the dorm there is a large number of people there, he meets Katsuragi who is also outside. The large number of people have gathered due to a message placed in everyone's letter box with the message that Honami Ichinose has a large amount of points obtained illegally signed off by Kakeru Ryūen. Ichinose herself appears and declares that the school will determine if it's illegal or not. Kiyotaka notes that the amount of points she saw Ichinose had was more than 10000000 points. As she said, the school declared that it was not illegal the next day.

On the final day to hand up the test papers for the paper shuffle exam, Kiyotaka and Horikita both go to submit the questions. Ryūen is there to greet them happily, when they try to submit the papers, Kiyotaka thinks Chabashira sensei's manner of speaking is strange and as there are about to leave after handing the test to Chabashira sensei. Horikita realises that someone had come before her can submitted test papers and told her that if someone tries to change the test they should not be accepted to prevent leakage by a spy working against class D. Horikita and Kiyotaka try and think of counter measures as Ryūen leaves above hearing his desired result. Horikita reveals she expected this and thanks Chabashira sensei for helping out. Kiyotaka learns that Horikita had told Chabashira sensei before hand that only test answers handed up by Horikita should be accepted and no other students submitted test should be allowed. Horikita apologises for keeping Kiyotaka in the dark. And thinks that now that the threat of Ryūen was taken care of now she can focus on beating Kushida.

On the day of the test, Kiyotaka unexpectedly meets up with Satō on his way to school. The talk about if they are both ready for the exam before, Karuizawa shows up and asks if Satō would like to go get a drink before heading to class. Kiyotaka thinks that they are good friends, as Hirata shows up and says that Karuizawa is unexpectedly the jealous type. Kiyotaka expresses surprise, but Hirata who has been acting as Karuizawa's boyfriend says he can tell that lately Karuizawa has been paying more attention to Kiyotaka. Kiyotaka thinks that that's unavoidable as Karuizawa as a parasite has transferred from Hirata to himself. They head to the classroom together as they discuss about the upcoming exam. Hirata also asks him whether him whether he is the person acting behind Horikita as Hiyori Shiina had been asking around for that person, surprisingly he doesn't deny it. He warns Kiyotaka that class C is looking for him and he should be careful. As the tests begin, Kiyotaka watchs Kushida for her reaction, he notices her panic as the tests go on. After the tests are over, Horikita says that she thinks got around 98 for the test once it is over. As every leaves, Horikita asks to talk to Kushida and Kiyotaka follows along, Horikita tells Kushida that she thinks she got 98 for the maths test, Kushida replies that she doesn't think she can reach 80 on her test therefore, Horikita wins the bet. Horikita asks Kushida to stop interfering with the class, and Kushida promises to but reaffirms that she hates Horikita and doesn't shake her hand as she leaves.

Once Horikita leaves, Kiyotaka begins thinking about the current developments, he thinks that Ryūen is not someone so easily dealt with using methods like this. He also thinks about the chances of using a spy in each other classes and thinks that the chances of that depends on the exam themselves. Kiyotaka also thinks that this battle was a complete win for class D. As he is thinking he receives a meesage from Ryūen, asking what is he planning. More message comes but he ignores them finally a Ryūen sends an image to Kiyotaka. Kiyotaka knew it before hand but the image he receives proves that Manabe had revealed everything to Ryūen. Finally Kiyotaka says he is waiting for Ryūen to come at him in his own arena, already aware of what he intends to do.

At the end of the volume, Kushida meets with Ryūen and demands to know why the questions she was expecting did not show up on the exam. Ryūen reveals that someone had places cheat sheets in her blazar to frame her for cheating if she got full marks for the exams. Hence changing the questions saved Kushida from being expelled. Kushida wonders how they managed to get it inside her blazar and Ryūen asked if anything weird happened. She explains what happened in the Karaoke room with Karuizawa which Ryūen already guessed. He also reveals the existence of someone working behind the scenes of class D, and shows Kushida the email he received from X. In exchange for information, X requests for the questions and answers to the test that Class C prepared for class D or if they were already given to Kushida, he requests that the questions be changed. X had read Ryūen's choice to change the test questions as he didn't want to expell Horikita, or get Kushida caught for cheating because that was boring. In exchange he received information about Horikita's plan to prevent Kushida and Ryūen from changing the questions. He also says that he didn't send the letter regarding Ichinose, that was also X's handiwork. Finally he shows Kushida a picture of Karuizawa and says she is important to finding out who X was.