Light Novel Volume 10/Summary

Below is the summary of Volume 10 of the You-Zitsu light novel series.

Prologue
Yōsuke Hirata gives a monologue where he states that his duty is to protect his classmates. However, in the past, he was a different person whose existence was rather that of a shadow, perhaps similar to Kiyotaka Ayanokōji. Therefore, he sometimes sees Kiyotaka overlapping with his previous self. That all changed after his childhood friend attempted suicide after being constantly bullied without him noticing. The fact that he’s still alive is purely based on luck and it wouldn’t be unexpected if he dies. From then on, he began thinking of how to get rid of bullying which only ended up in failure. Seeing the class in crisis again, he decides that there's only one way to protect them. The scene switches to Hirata telling Suzune Horikita to shut up, resulting in his classmates looking strangely at him. The usually polite Hirata uttered vitriolic words to another classmate. In his mind, the image he carried for so long didn’t matter anymore. His facial expression screams despair which was plain for all to see.

Chapter 1
On March 1st, the results of the previous exams are announced and surprisingly everyone passed. Most notably, Sudo has shown the most improvement while Kouenji maintain second place seemingly without studying. Chabashira had a much warmer tone towards the class and voiced her curiosity of how far they would go after this. That said, she caution them not to be overconfident as this was far beneath the standards of national-level exams and that something much more significant is just on the horizon.

Another special exam is announced to be on March 8 (Final Special Exam). Hirata encourages the class to work hard for the last exam of the year so they could reach Class A without anyone being expelled. Chabashira soon left after remarking that they may graduate in two years time after all. Kiyotaka sees Manabu Horikita and Miyabi Nagumo talking with the latter spotting him immediately. Nagumo inquires whether he passed the end of year exam. After giving a lukewarm response, Nagumo asks Kiyotaka if that was the right attitude to talk to the student council president. After straightening up slightly, Nagumo proceeds to ask whether he's aware of the person responsible for diverting the slander around Ichinose to other students which was done by posting various others rumours of them on the school forum. Recognising that Nagumo was testing and possibly even seen through him, Kiyotaka feigns ignorance and said that the school has forbidden discussion about the incident and that the student council president is no exception. Manabu supports Kiyotaka which finally forces Nagumo to back down.

When they see Suzune and exchanged some words with her. Nagumo then offers her a seat in the student council. Both Manabu and Suzune are surprised but she declines the offer and return to class annoyed

Chapter 2
On Monday, March 2, Sae Chabashira announces a new special exam but she seems a little bit restless. Compared to past years, this special exam has never been done before. It is the first time in the school's history where no student has been yet to be expelled (at this point). Normally, the Special exam's failure rate is 3% but it's very hard to lower that percentage to 0%.

The name of the exam is "Class Poll" and the details are the following:


 * Students can give praise votes to students from other classes. Even if a student is hated by all within his/her class, he/she can still be saved by praise votes from other classes.


 * The winners will get protection points. They can invalidate expulsions (e.g. failing an exam). Protection point is non-transferrable. This is almost equivalent to 20 million points.


 * The rules:
 * Praise and criticism interfere with each other. Praise - Critic = Result
 * No self-voting
 * No action such as entering the same person more than once, entry blank, abstention or similar
 * The exam is repeated in case of extreme coincidences until the top and bottom are decided, the bottom is the one to drop out.
 * Each student has a voting ballot dedicated to issue it to students of other classes, and filling is mandatory.


 * Students with the lowest vote result can still be saved using 20 million points.


 * The vote results will be announced with only the rankings and number of votes, but the voters' names will be kept anonymous.

End of class, Chabashira leaves the classroom. Rokusuke Kōenji and Ken Sudō starts arguing who is more useful to the class before Hirata intervenes.

During lunch time, the Ayanokōji Group have a meeting in the cafeteria after lunch to discuss the special exam. Airi Sakura is anxious about one of them being targeted. Keisei Yukimura suggests that they can work together to avoid any of them coming in last. Akito Miyake is concerned there will be larger groups being created. Keisei tell them to not stand out or cause any trouble to draw attention and they aren't suitable for that strategy anyway. They also discussed possible candidates for criticism votes - Kōenji being the possible candidate, but Airi argues that he's contributing to class. They then see Kakeru Ryūen sitting alone reading a book, giving off the image that he will take no action to protect himself. Suzune goes to ask Ryūen about his action, but gets mocked instead. She eventually asks if Ryūen can survive the situation using his full strength, to which he replies with an accepting laugh.

Kei Karuizawa calls Kiyotaka that night and they discuss about the exam. He asks Kei to contact him if she finds anyone consolidating power to target someone else before ending the call. He intends to not get deeply involved in the voting operation, but in preparation for unforeseen circumstances, he will observe the movement of the voting.

Chapter 3
The Ayanokōji Group decide that one of the members will go to school early to observe and collect information for three days.

While going to school, Kiyotaka sees Honami Ichinose and they decide to walk together. Honami shares with Kiyotaka that she wants to save all of her classmates. She also offers to give her praise votes to Kiyotaka if he needs them. They then see Nazuna Asahina, their upperclassman and Kiyotaka lets Honami go ahead so he can have a talk with Asahina. They talk about the first year special exam and how the only way to reverse expulsion was with 20 million private points. Asahina says that Nagumo could potentially provide help in exchange for companionship (or dating), while they were talking about the possibility of Nagumo and Ichinose.

Around lunch time, Kiyotaka visits the library, where he meets Hiyori Shiina. They sit next to each other and just silently read books for about 30 minutes until the end of lunch break. Kiyotaka then asks Hiyori about Ryūen's situation. Hiyori replies that it's not good and Ryūen seems to have understood that. Hiyori also tells Kiyotaka not to get himself expelled, since she doesn't want to lose anymore of her friends.

After class, Hirata asks Kiyotaka to meet him later at the Keyaki Mall, and Kiyotaka agrees. On his way there he meets Arisu Sakayanagi and Masumi Kamuro. Arisu and Kiyotaka start talking about the addition of the new exam. Arisu reveals that her father, Chairman Sakayanagi, was suspended the other day. She then asks to delay their fight since they can't create conflict between classes in this exam. Kiyotaka is of the same opinion. They then talk a little more about the exam before Kiyotaka bids farewell to Arisu.

Kiyotaka meets Hirata, who asks to talk at his room instead. On the way to the dorms, they see Kōenji, who tell Hirata that he should make sacrifices. At Hirata's room, he asks Kiyotaka whether it is necessary for someone to leave the school and he's still finding a way to save everyone. Kiyotaka believes that Hirata will probably sacrifice himself. Before leaving, Kiyotaka asks Hirata whether he has already been dating someone else, to which he denies and, in return, asks Kiyotaka if he likes someone.

Honami meets Kiyotaka at his room at night, being anxious as it was the first time she is alone with a boy past daylight hours. Kiyotaka asks her about the plan for this exam. He tells her that he has knowledge of her intention to cooperate with Nagumo and accept his conditions, to her surprise. When asked about the missing amount, Honami reveals that it's a little over 4 million points. Kiyotaka then begun formulating a plan to help out Honami so that she won't have to go through with Nagumo's conditions.

Chapter 4
The morning of the third day after the additional test was announced, after going down to the lobby, Kiyotaka meets Sudō (who used the stairs) and they exchange a few words.

When Kiyotaka enters the classroom, he notices a change in the air. It is different from yesterday. There's a sense of 'unity'. It can be seen that it implies the existence of a larger group that will challenge this examination. Hirata and Suzune also sense it. Keisei is also able to smell it even though he does not seem to understand the difference.

On lunch break, the Ayanokōji Group are discussing about the larger groups and who the target might be. It's unusual to see the number increased in just a single day. It seems that Hirata and Suzune have not realised the existence of the larger group. On Hirata's case, this might be because he stands neutral on these things. If he was asked for cooperation, he might try to oppose and dismantle the large group. Kiyotaka then receives a phone call from Manabu and leaves the cafe.

Kiyotaka meets Manabu and his classmate who was also the former council secretary Akane Tachibana. They discuss about the exam and about Suzune. Manabu also asks if there was any unusual movement from Nagumo, but Kiyotaka hasn't observed anything yet. Kiyotaka replies that he'll do what he can do.

Kei calls Kiyotaka in the evening and informs him that a large group is targeting him. He then calls Manabu and asks him to provide some assistance. He later calls Kushida and directly asks for the ringleader, since he already believes Kushida should already knew and she is the only one in Class C who is capable of going around accumulating votes in the shadow. At first, Kushida denies being the one behind it but tells him that she has knowledge of the ringleader but could not disclose that information since she is the only one who knows and the person will definitely realise that she betrayed them. Kiyotaka accepts her excuse and chose not to push further. She then asks about his countermeasure afterwards, to which he replies that if she won't tell then there is nothing he can do. Kushida abruptly gives the answer - Haruki Yamauchi, and explains that she told him as she wants to see how he will turn the situation around. Kiyotaka figures out that the real mastermind was Sakayanagi. Kushida finally admits and Kiyotaka thinks the agreement that Sakayanagi proposed was a lie.

Chapter 5
Kiyotaka enters the classroom, followed by Suzune with Sudō in tow. By observing Suzune's attitude, he deduced that her brother has yet to contact her.

During the lunchtime on Friday the day before the exam, Suzune and Manabu agreed to meet after they had a phone call. When she arrives at the destination, her brother is already there. They then talk about the first year exams. Manabu tells her that he won't be able to support her in points because of what happened in the previous exam. Suzune replies by saying that she doesn't need it and instead asks for her brother to give her courage. They then talk about the school and Kiyotaka. Manabu tells Suzune that she can't reach Kiyotaka, but that is not necessary as she just has to continue growing as she is now and venture forward.

After school, Chabashira announces that tomorrow will be the exam. Suzune stands up to get everyone's attention but Hirata tries to stop her. She argues that excellent students being dropped in this exam will be unfair. Kōenji supports Suzune and remarks that she's like a different person. Suzune then offers to name the person who should leave, claiming that she's doing the right thing and will explain her rationale. Hirata blocks her suggestion and tries to move on to other topics but was prevented by Sudō, with the help of Kōenji who is also interested in this discussion. Suzune declares that the person is Yamauchi. Yamauchi reacts negatively but she provides her supporting evidences regarding his overall weaknesses that outweighs Sudō, Ike, and Kōenji. Yamauchi then struggles in vain to defend himself. Suzune then delivers her final blow by revealing to everyone that Yamauchi is a spy for Class A through his connection with Arisu Sakayanagi, adding further credence as he is doing the worst thing possible to the class. Yamauchi tries to brush away the claim but no one seems to believe him, while Kōenji consistently ridicules him. Suzune also points out Kushida also helped him in gathering the criticism votes against Kiyotaka, with Kushida admitting her fault in order to avoid lowering her evaluation. Suzune tries to do a class vote on the matter, but is stopped by an enraged Hirata who believes that her action provides no benefit to the class and is just breaking their friendships apart. He, however, cannot raise any suitable answer or suggestion to Suzune's verdict. The class ends with an undecided result.

The Ayanokōji Group then meet at the cafe and are all worried about Kiyotaka. He analyses the situation with them and receives encouraging words from Airi.

Afterwards, the group spot an expressionless Hirata sitting on a bench. with Kiyotaka noting that it's the first time he is seeing him in this state. He leaves the group and goes to sit with him on the other side of the bench. Hirata tells Kiyotaka that he wants him to lead the class in the future as he cannot do it anymore, with Kiyotaka insisting that Hirata must be the one to protect their class. Hirata gets up and leaves after complimenting Kiyotaka.

Chapter 6
Over to Class D, Ryūen is in danger of being the one most likely to be expelled. Ibuki and Ishizaki wants to save him as they know that their class needs him to survive, since the differences in power between them and the other classes are obvious. Ibuki will also be the next target if Ryūen is expelled. At midnight, Ibuki meets Ryūen in his room to collect private points. After receiving the transferred points from Ryūen, she leaves and makes another call to another person and decides to go to their room.

Earlier on in the same day, in Class B, Honami asked her classmates to give her all of their private points so that everyone in the class will be saved. The total amount is approximately a little less than 16 million points. Honami told them that the Student Council president, Nagumo, has agreed to lend them the missing amount, but she did not disclose his terms for agreement.

At night, Honami nervously makes a phone call to Nagumo to confirm for the final exam tomorrow. She agrees to go out with Nagumo as a condition. After finishing the call, she contemplates on her decision, but is eventually determined to protect her class. At the back of her mind, she still couldn’t shake off an unexplainable feeling as she believed that a romantic relationship should only happen when both parties have mutual affection for one another.

A few days before, after the additional exam was announced to Class A, Arisu asked the class to target Kōhei Katsuragi. Katsuragi did not show resistance and stopped his supporter, Yahiko Totsuka, from trying to argue against it. Everyone except Totsuka and Arisu all agreed to put criticism votes for Katsuragi. After school, Arisu called Yamauchi and decided that they would meet that night. Arisu and Kamuro later joined Yamauchi at the Keyaki Mall. Since she cannot be seen in this situation, they used a karaoke room as a meeting place. Arisu persuaded Yamauchi to "cooperate" with her, promising to give all the praise votes from Class A to him. In return, he had to make Kiyotaka the target of his class. Yamauchi was reluctant but the promises from Arisu won over his heart. He was suspicious at first if he would really receive the praise votes - but she threatened not to meet him again if he doesn’t go through with it. Afterwards, Arisu started receiving constant reports from Yamauchi.

Back to the day before the exam, at night, Arisu is in a karaoke along with Kamuro and Hashimoto. They get the report that Class C have found out about Yamauchi, with Hashimoto telling Arisu the one that leaked the information is Kei Karuizawa, who is also in Yamauchi's group. Arisu is interested in what Kiyotaka will do about this. She then pulls out her cellphone filled with incoming calls and emails from Yamauchi.

Epilogue
On Saturday the day of the exam, most of the classes have settled their situations. Class A chose Katsuragi while Class D picked Ryuuen for expulsion. Class B is moving along on the basis that no one would be expelled. However, there's no absolute guarantees in this exam until the results are published. Suzune inquires whether Kiyotaka really stood on the sidelines despite being the one is danger. In return, he asks whether it looks like he’s done anything to which she answers at least not on the surface. He tells him that's her answer as he adds that she was the one who saved him so there's no need for him to do anything. She jest that it wouldn’t be funny if what he says was true and if he was still expelled from it. He retorts that it would be more funny if he'd fought harder and still lost like she did. She accepts his words with both of them acknowledging that it may be their last conversation as neighbours.

Breaking the silence enveloping the class, Hirata gathers their attention and apologises to Suzune for his behaviour yesterday. He then requests everyone to write his name instead on the ballot. Suzune is upset but Yamauchi supports the decision. Kiyotaka thinks Yamauchi probably contacted Hirata yesterday and begged him that he did not want to drop out. It might also be one of the reasons why Hirata establishes his willingness to leave.

After a long silence, Chabashira arrives in the classroom and announces the start of the exam. The students are called by their names and go to the voting room.

The results are announced afterwards. In Class A, Arisu is the winner with 36 votes. Meanwhile, the one who gathered the most criticisms will be required to come to the staff room. Mashima, the class's homeroom teacher, then announces that the person with the lowest votes is Totsuka, with -36 votes. Katsuragi raises his voice and stands up, while Totsuka himself can't believe it and looks at Katsuragi. Mashima confirms that Katsuragi gets -30 votes. Katsuragi confronts Arisu about the agreement that he would be the target. Arisu explains that Katsuragi will be more useful for Class A than Totsuka. She also confirms they can't cover the 20 million points needed to reverse the expulsion. Totsuka loses his words and leaves along with Mashima. Katsuragi then moves quietly towards Arisu but Hashimoto and Hayato Kitō get up in a hurry to stop any act of violence in case. Arisu says it is pointless to hate her and Katsuragi accepts the fate.

Over at Class C, Yamauchi finally reveals that Arisu has promised him with praise votes from Class A. Kōenji continues provoking him. Chabashira arrives and begins announcing the results, starting with the top three that received highest votes. Third and second place are Kushida and Hirata, and first place is Kiyotaka. Yamauchi is the first one to react. Chabashira confirms again that Kiyotaka had received 42 votes. Suzune cannot hide her surprise. Chabashira then announces that the one received the most criticism votes is Yamauchi, with -33 votes. Second place is Sudō with -21 and then Ike with -20 votes.

Yamauchi loses it and argues that Arisu promised to give him praise votes. However, Chabashira asks for proof but he cannot provide anything. Kōenji mocks Yamauchi for being duped which provoked him to attack with a chair, but Kōenji easily dismisses it. Chabashira intervenes and tells Yamauchi, who's now broken and collapsed, to leave the classroom.

Kiyotaka observes the class. Hirata has been half empty, while Sudo and Ike quietly leave the classroom. Kōenji says he was just cooperating to avoid expulsion. When Kiyotaka leaves the classroom, Suzune immediately follows and asks him about the results.

Kiyotaka then goes to see the bulletin board, where the results are announced. Honami (98 votes) and Satoru Kaneda (27 votes) are the other ones that received the highest votes. Shiho Manabe is the one from class D to drop out, while class B manage not to lose anyone. Katsuragi and Ryūen are also there and they talk about the results. After Katsuragi has left, Kiyotaka and Ryūen talk, when Kiyotaka recalls what has happened beforehand.

A few days before the exam, Ibuki and Ishizaki came and asked Kiyotaka to help saving Ryūen. Kiyotaka, while denying he could save Ryūen, told them to collect his private points.

The night before the exam, Kiyotaka arranged for Ibuki, Ishizaki and Honami to meet at his room. They collected over 5 million points from Ryūen and Manabe was chosen as the target to save him, with the help of Hiyori. Kiyotaka asked Honami to tell her class to give all of their praise votes for Ryūen. In exchange, Ibuki would fill the private points that class B were missing to save a student from being expelled, with Kiyotaka acting as a witness.

Kiyotaka receives a phone call from Honami. They talk about the results, with Honami thanking Kiyotaka for saving her from such a dreadful situation while also saving her class. She was especially glad that she didn’t have to go through dating Nagumo, surreptitiously hinting at her growing feelings for Kiyotaka. From then on, she began ingratiating herself with Kiyotaka whenever he was around.

Kiyotaka then goes to meet Arisu, who has told him via email to meet in the special building. They talk about the additional exam that has just finished. Arisu also reveals that it is her reason to postpone their battle, as she has received a mail from the person that took her father to suspension. She also gave him all the praise votes so he could stay. Yamauchi was targeted after bumping into her back in the Mixed Training Camp and that he's an unnecessary student for his class.

A man dressed in a suit suddenly appears in front of them and asks where the staff room is. He introduces himself as Tsukishiro, who will be acting on behalf of the board of directors. After exchanging some words, he starts walking past them and suddenly kicks Arisu's cane. Kiyotaka catches her but gets pushed by Tsukishiro against the wall right after. Arisu asks if acting violently against the students will be a problem, to which Tsukishiro replies that the surveillance camera has been replaced with a false image. Tsukishiro then gives Kiyotaka a message from his father, threatening him to come back. Tsukishiro continues provoking Kiyotaka but he does not retaliate, in case the camera is actually still recording. Tsukishiro then releases Kiyotaka and leaves, announcing that he'll formally start working at the school in April. Kiyotaka then asks Arisu to settle their fight on the next exam, the Final Exam, in a few days, since it seems he cannot afford to be her opponent for a long time.

On Monday, after the exam, Class C's number of students has decreased by one. Chabashira begins to announce their final special exam.

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