Inside the school's indoor swimming pool, the unique clamor of youth echoed.
Water splashed, laughter rose and fell,
Class D students seemed to have temporarily forgotten the devastating blow from the beginning of the month,
releasing their stress freely in the cool pool water.
In the pool, water splashed everywhere.
During free activity time, students naturally divided into several groups.
Most people were playing and splashing in the pool, a few swimming experts were seriously practicing their strokes, and a small portion chose to stay on shore.
However, not everyone was immersed in this joyous atmosphere.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka sat alone by the pool, his feet submerged in the cool water,
his gaze calmly watching the frolicking crowd in the water.
No emotion could be seen on his perpetually unchanging face,
he just sighed slightly.
Making friends... it's still so difficult, after all.
Integrating into this kind of pure, aimless play seemed to remain a difficult task for him.
"What are you worrying about all by yourself?"
A clear, cold voice sounded beside him.
Ayanokoji turned his head and saw Horikita Suzune standing there, he didn't know when she had arrived.
She was wearing the school swimsuit, outlining a slender yet upright figure, her long black hair clinging to her cheeks and neck, making her skin appear even fairer.
Her expression, however, was as serious as ever.
"Just lost in my own internal struggle."
Ayanokoji withdrew his gaze and casually made up an excuse.
Horikita Suzune did not press further, she simply walked over and sat in the empty spot next to him.
Her gaze also turned towards the pool, watching the frolicking figures.
"After what just happened, our class is really laid-back."
"Maybe they just want to clear their minds."
Ayanokoji interjected.
The sounds of laughter from the pool continuously drifted over, making the corner where the two of them sat seem even more quiet and detached.
"They're having so much fun, like elementary schoolers."
Horikita's gaze swept over the laughing faces,
"But I think the current situation isn't as bad as it could be."
She didn't utter more sarcastic words as usual, but the sentence itself was already heavy enough.
According to the s system, they were the worst of the defective products.
"You're one of them too, aren't you?"
Ayanokoji casually replied, without any intention of sarcasm.
Horikita Suzune just said "Mm" without refuting or showing much reaction.
This rare silence, instead, made the atmosphere even more subtle.
Both of them seemed to recall May 1st, that morning when the s system was announced, and the class fell into dead silence and chaos.
At that time, Horikita Suzune did not show extreme shock and uncontrolled anger like most of her classmates.
She displayed more of a confirmed understanding.
After a month of school, based on her own observations, she had noticed the stark difference between other classes, especially Class A and Class B, and Class D in terms of overall atmosphere and student performance.
That sense of orderliness and subtle competitiveness stood in stark contrast to Class D's laxity and indulgence.
The announcement of the s system merely turned her doubts into cold reality.
Afterward, she proactively sought out her homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae.
She needed an answer.
An answer regarding her own placement.
She believed she had performed normally on the entrance exam, achieving excellent grades,
and her behavior had been impeccable, so why was she assigned to Class D?
There had to be some unknown evaluation criteria behind this.
However, that conversation in the counseling room... Ayanokoji also remembered that day.
He was called by name over the class broadcast, requested to go to the counseling room.
On his way there, he encountered an unexpected "trouble."
The homeroom teacher of Class B, Hoshinomiya Chie.
This woman with brown curly hair and a gentle demeanor, more like an older student than a teacher,
for some reason seemed to have taken an interest in him,
smiling as she stopped him, asking all sorts of questions.
Just as Ayanokoji was wondering how to get away, a familiar figure appeared just in time to help him out.
It was Ichinose Honami, with her pink hair.
She smiled and pulled Hoshinomiya-sensei away, giving Ayanokoji a slightly apologetic yet friendly smile before leaving.
Ayanokoji knew that this girl, whom he had met only once, was the current leader of Class B.
He had learned this incidentally while briefly investigating Sakamoto.
Having gotten rid of Hoshinomiya-sensei, Ayanokoji arrived at the counseling room.
The atmosphere inside was cold and oppressive.
Chabashira Sae sat there expressionlessly. Horikita Suzune stood opposite her, her eyes stubbornly pressing the question:
"Why was I assigned to Class D?"
Chabashira's reply was cold and cruel:
"Being assigned to Class D was not our mistake. You are simply a student of that caliber, you were bound to be assigned to Class D."
She also added:
"As I said, class positions can fluctuate based on performance, and it's still possible to get promoted to Class A before graduation."
This statement, seemingly offering hope, was in reality more like a taunt.
Horikita Suzune pressed her lips together at the time and said nothing more.
Then, Chabashira's gaze turned to Ayanokoji, who had just entered.
She took out a transcript,
which clearly showed all of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's scores for every subject on the entrance exam and subsequent quizzes—all a uniform 50 points.
"This simply cannot be a coincidence."
Chabashira looked at him meaningfully at the time,
though she didn't say it directly,
her words implied that he was deliberately hiding his abilities.
That conversation ultimately ended in an eerie silence.
Chabashira did not provide more information, Horikita did not get the answer she wanted,
and Ayanokoji continued to maintain his mediocre facade of "I'm just lucky."
His thoughts returned to the present.
The clamor of the pool continued.
Ayanokoji looked at the silent Horikita Suzune beside him and suddenly asked:
"Are you serious about aiming for Class A?"
"Of course."
Horikita Suzune replied without hesitation, her gaze firm,
"Considering the available information, to get as many class points as possible, everyone's attitude towards life must be corrected. Getting high scores in the upcoming First Year Midterm Exam is the first step."
Her attitude towards Ayanokoji had indeed subtly changed.
The previous conversation in the counseling room had made her aware of Ayanokoji's incredibly strange ability to control his scores.
This absolutely could not be a coincidence.
This seemingly ordinary boy was definitely hiding something.
He might... become an asset for her to achieve her goal.
… Directly above the pool, on the second floor overlooking the entire venue, there was a row of rooms used for management and observation.
The window of one of these rooms was tightly covered by thick blinds, and the interior was pitch black, forming two worlds with the bright and noisy pool downstairs.
A hand gently parted one slat of the blinds, revealing a narrow gap.
A pair of sharp, eagle-like eyes calmly looked down at everything by the pool through this gap.
His gaze was extremely precise; first, he scanned the frolicking Class D students in the pool, his expression indifferent; then, he swept past the students by the pool who were forming small groups or staring blankly, finally lingering for a few seconds on the two figures sitting by the shore, out of place with their surroundings—Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Horikita Suzune.
A moment later, the hand withdrew, and the blind slat quietly closed.
In the darkness, a low, authoritative male voice, not loud but clearly audible in the silent room, spoke: "First Year Class A, Sakamoto. First Year Class C, Ryuuen Kakeru."
He paused slightly, as if savoring the two names.
"Congratulations to you. This month, the class points your classes earned are—1000 points and 910 points, respectively."
"Well done…"
The man speaking slowly turned around, the faint light seeping in from the window vaguely outlining his stern profile.
He was the leader of Third Year Class A, the Student Council President of Koudo Ikusei High School—Horikita Manabu.
Horikita Suzune's unattainable older brother.