The Student Council Room of Advanced Nurturing High School always possessed an atmosphere distinct from any other room in the building. It was silent, cold, and organized with a precision that bordered on obsessive.
It was in this very room that the fates of thousands of students were decided. It was here that rules were enforced, and it was here that dreams were either buried or given flight.
Horikita Manabu sat in his imposing leather chair. The wall clock read nine o'clock at night. The school was already deserted, but to a Student Council President, time was a flexible concept when dealing with data.
Spread across the polished mahogany desk were four tablets, displaying the performance graphs of every single cohort. However, the sharp eyes behind Manabu's glasses were not focused on his own year (the 3rd years), nor were they looking at Nagumo Miyabi's year (the 2nd years).
His eyes were locked onto the data of the 1st-Year Cohort.
"This year..." Manabu murmured softly, his heavy voice breaking the silence of the room. "...is a year completely riddled with anomalies."
As someone who had led this school for nearly two years, Manabu had seen every type of student imaginable. Arrogant geniuses, untalented hard workers, and even absolute trash who acted as nothing more than parasites. He had memorized their patterns. He could predict their downfalls.
However, this year's cohort had shattered every single prediction algorithm he had ever compiled.
Manabu's hand moved, tapping the tablet screen. A student's profile picture appeared.
Horikita Suzune.
His younger sister.
His memory drifted back to April, during the entrance ceremony for the new students.
That day, Manabu had stood at the podium, delivering the standard welcoming address—cold, intimidating, and demanding absolute perfection. He had looked down at the rows of new students with the gaze he always used: the gaze used to evaluate the finest seeds and discard the chaff.
Then, his eyes caught sight of Suzune.
Usually, his sister would look down, tremble, or stare up at him with a pathetic, adoring gaze—the gaze of someone desperate to be acknowledged yet knowing they were unworthy. Suzune had always lived in her brother's shadow, attempting to mimic the way he walked, the way he spoke, and even the way he thought.
To Manabu, that was a weakness. A copy could never surpass the original. As long as Suzune mimicked him, she would never grow.
But that day was different.
In the very back row, in the class labeled as "defective," Suzune stood tall. The long hair that had once served as a symbol of her attachment to the past had been cut short. Her neck was exposed, displaying a newfound vulnerability, yet simultaneously, a newfound strength.
And her eyes... those eyes looked straight back at Manabu. Not with adoration, but with acknowledgment.
It was as if she were saying: "I see you, Brother. But I no longer wish to be you. I am going to be myself."
That change surprised Manabu more than he cared to admit. What had happened? Who was capable of tearing down Suzune's stubborn walls in such a short amount of time?
Manabu swiped the tablet screen to the Class Point report from May.
Class A: 985 Points. Class B: 946 Points. Class C: 910 Points.
Three classes had entered their second month with points above 900. This was unprecedented in the history of the school. Usually, Class D would crumble entirely, losing all of their starting points due to ignorance and poor behavior.
But Class 1-D (now B)—the class his sister was in—survived. They organized themselves. They understood the S-Point system faster than anyone else.
And what was even more shocking was the report from the Midterm Exams.
"Zero expulsions," Manabu hissed.
A class containing ticking time bombs with low grades like Sudou Ken, Yamauchi Haruki, and Ike Kanji... achieved a 100% passing rate.
Manabu knew exactly how difficult the school's exams were. He knew the school intentionally set traps to cull incompetent students in the first semester.
Yet, someone had saved all of them. Someone had dragged that "trash" across the finish line.
Manabu's eyes shifted to the name perched at the very top of the academic ranking list for the entire cohort.
Koroizumi Seiji. Total Score: 500/500.
Perfect.
The number stared back at Manabu, seemingly mocking logic itself.
Getting a perfect score in Mathematics or Physics was standard for a genius. But getting an absolute 100 on Japanese and World History essays—subjects whose grading inherently involved the teacher's subjectivity—was functionally impossible.
Unless... that student was capable of reading the mind of the test maker.
Unless that student didn't answer based on "truth," but rather based on the "answer key the school desired."
"Koroizumi Seiji," Manabu spoke the name, feeling its weight on his tongue.
He recalled their brief encounter in the Student Council Room last month. The young man had stood beside Suzune, smiling casually, yet his eyes radiated an unnatural calmness.
There was also Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. The student who scored exactly 50 on every single subject during the entrance exam. Manabu was suspicious of him. A person who could score the dead average with such precision was undoubtedly a monster hiding his fangs.
But Koroizumi was different. He didn't hide behind average scores. He stood at the very peak, waved his hand, and said, "Look at me. I can do what none of you can."
Manabu opened the latest report. The report from the Uninhabited Island Exam and the Zodiac Exam, which had just concluded today.
A report that forced him, the unshakable Student Council President, to lean back in his chair in utter disbelief.
Zodiac Exam: Success Rate for Scenario 1 (Solidarity): 100% (12 out of 12 Groups).Total Private Points Disbursed: 86,000,000 Points.
The school had suffered a massive budget deficit today.
An exam system designed around the Prisoner's Dilemma—designed to divide, to breed distrust, and to pit classes against each other—had been completely shattered.
Someone had manipulated 160 students, including leaders like Ryuen Kakeru and Sakayanagi Arisu, into choosing peace.
"He froze the war," Manabu analyzed.
The aggressive Ryuen became passive. The manipulative Sakayanagi became cooperative. Ichinose became pragmatic.
All of those threads led back to a single focal point: Koroizumi Seiji.
Manabu removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off a headache.
This school, Advanced Nurturing High School, was established to forge the future generation of Japan's leaders. The system was cruel because the real world was cruel. Only the strong survived.
Nagumo Miyabi, the current Student Council Vice President, understood that. However, Nagumo's interpretation of strength was tyranny. Nagumo wanted to transform this school into an absolute meritocracy where the strong legally preyed upon the weak. He wanted to destroy tradition and create chaos.
Manabu was worried.
Next year, he would graduate. He would leave this school. If Nagumo ascended to the position of Student Council President with no one to keep him in check, this school would be ruined. Tradition would vanish. Morale would collapse.
"I need a successor," Manabu whispered. "Or at the very least... a counterweight."
He looked over the list of the 1st-Year Class Leaders once more.
Ichinose Honami (Class A): Charismatic, intelligent, but in his opinion, far too idealistic. Nagumo could easily manipulate her kindness. Sakayanagi Arisu (Class C): A genius, but physically handicapped and far too anarchic by nature. She plays for amusement, not for order. Ryuen Kakeru (Class D): A cunning street thug, but his methods are too crude and high-risk. He is not suited for the Student Council.
And then... Horikita Suzune (Class B).
Manabu looked at his sister's photo again. Suzune had grown. She was beginning to learn how to cooperate. She was beginning to view others as assets.
"You have become quite capable, Suzune," Manabu murmured, a very faint trace of pride slipping into his otherwise flat voice.
Suzune had potential. But to stand against Nagumo? She still needed time. She still needed... guidance.
Manabu's eyes returned to the name at the top.
Koroizumi Seiji.
This person... he was an anomaly. He possessed the power to destroy, as evidenced by his 500 score. But he chose to build.
He protected the weak (Sudou, Ike, Yamauchi). He educated the naive (Ichinose). He tamed the wild (Ryuen).
His philosophy was the exact antithesis of Nagumo's.
If Nagumo was Chaos, then Seiji was Order wrapped in flexibility.
"The only thing that can defeat a monster is another monster," Manabu concluded.
An insane plan began to form in the Student Council President's mind. A political maneuver he had never undertaken before.
Normally, Student Council recruitment began from the positions of secretary or treasurer in the first year. Slowly crawling up the ranks.
But Manabu didn't have time. Nagumo already controlled the entire 2nd-year cohort. Nagumo had an army.
Manabu needed a general, not a foot soldier.
He pulled out a piece of official stationery bearing the school's crest. He picked up his fountain pen.
"I will invite him," Manabu decided.
Not just an invitation to become an ordinary member.
"I will exercise the Presidential prerogative. The veto right to appoint one executive position without putting it to a vote."
Manabu wrote the name Koroizumi Seiji on the paper.
The position offered: Student Council Vice President.
This would cause a scandal. A first-year student immediately appointed as Vice President? It would rock the school to its core. It would enrage Nagumo.
But that was exactly the point.
By placing Seiji in a position equal to Nagumo's, Manabu would create a system of Check and Balance. He would force Nagumo to fight against Seiji, rather than fighting against the school's traditions.
"And if Koroizumi refuses..." Manabu paused his writing for a moment.
"...then I will pull Suzune in. If Suzune continues to remain close to Koroizumi, she will absorb his knowledge. Perhaps the combination of the two of them could become this school's final fortress."
However, Manabu's instincts told him that Seiji was the primary key.
The young man possessed a strange aura. The aura of someone who was completely at peace with himself. Someone who did not seek validation, did not seek power, but moved based on a moral compass that was... unique.
"Like a teacher lost in the body of a student," Manabu murmured, unsure of where the analogy had even come from.
He folded the letter and slid it into a pristine white official envelope.
He pressed the intercom button on his desk.
"Tachibana."
"Yes, President?" his secretary's voice sounded through the speaker.
"Tomorrow morning, summon Koroizumi Seiji from Class 1-B to this room. Do not let anyone else know, especially Nagumo's faction."
"Understood. Is there anything else?"
"Yes. Summon Horikita Suzune as well. But schedule it with a 15-minute gap after Koroizumi."
"Right away, President."
Manabu turned off the intercom.
He stood up, walking toward the large window overlooking the darkened school grounds. In the distance, the student dormitories were visible, with a few room lights still shining.
This year's 1st-Year cohort was truly vibrant. A chaotic, yet beautiful battlefield.
And in the center of that chaos, Horikita Manabu was preparing to roll his final die before he stepped down from his throne.
"Show me, Koroizumi," he whispered to the shadows of the night.
"Can you truly halt Nagumo's ambitions... or are you the savior this school has been waiting for?"
Manabu turned around and switched off the room's lights. Darkness swallowed the Student Council Room, but on the desk, the white letter glowed faintly under the moonlight—an invitation to a true war for power.
End of Arc 4: The Zodiac Deception Arc
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