Shirogane Miyuki in COTE

Not just freshmen, even the exams for higher years this month are routine exams.

If you want to prepare, you just need last year's test papers in advance.

But freshmen don't have access to these, so they have to buy them from upperclassmen.

And the problem is, asking questions costs money, so he boldly borrowed 10,000 points from Kushida to pay for it.

He spent those 10,000 points, but to get the test papers, he still needs 50,000 points.

The original price was 75,000 points, about 15,000 points per test paper, but since the senior saw he's also from D class, they lowered the price.

But that 50,000 points is still hard to gather.

"Maybe we should tell Horikita or Kushida about this."

Hirata said.

This was a mistake they made earlier — because they didn't have enough points, they begged other students with more points, which made everyone scared.

So now everyone is hiding or keeping their points secret.

Right now, getting 50,000 points together again would be almost impossible—unless we told everyone the money was going to be used to buy the test questions.

Many students are scared of failing, so maybe if they hear that, the ones hiding points might be willing to contribute.

But there's also the fear that the information would spread and get out of control.

If word got out and we couldn't go through with buying the test, then the whole class would really be in trouble.

After thinking it over, Hirata decided to ask two people—ones who could keep a secret and had enough points.

Actually, Kushida only had around 5,000 to 6,000 points left, but since she was a student council member, she got a monthly living allowance. That meant if she borrowed money, she'd be able to pay it back.

As for Horikita, people said she still had over 70,000 points, which meant she could afford to pay the 50,000 if needed.

The only problem was, Horikita seemed like the kind of person who followed the rules, so it was unclear if she'd agree to spend money on buying test questions.

That was another reason why Hirata couldn't decide right away.

"Is there really no way to lower the 50,000-point price?"

Ayanokouji spoke up.

"No, there isn't. Plus, the senior said this kind of test buying has to be done secretly. If we try to switch who's doing it, he'll report us for trying something like this."

Hirata said this with a troubled look on his face.

"Then I'll pay the 50,000 points,"

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka said at that moment.

"You're going to transfer the points to your account?"

"Huh?"

Hirata looked surprised.

"Ayanokouji, you have that many points?"

"Yeah. When I started school, I noticed the school provided a lot of things for free, so I didn't use many points."

"I even ate the free meals sometimes."

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka added.

"Looking back now, it turns out saving back then was a good idea."

"Ah..."

Hirata hadn't really talked much with Ayanokouji before.

It was only because of this exam that their homeroom teacher, Chabashira-sensei, called him over and told him that the key to this test would be Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

Chabashira told him that Ayanokouji scored 50 in both math and English on this test, which looked like average scores.

But on the entrance exam, he had gotten exactly 50 in all five subjects.

That meant Ayanokouji might actually be hiding how smart he really was.

And now, it seemed like he wasn't just good at studying—

He also had sharp thinking and strong observation skills.

"Fifty thousand points, huh..."

Hirata hesitated again.

They didn't have the points before, and now Ayanokouji was offering to pay out of his own.

But those were points Ayanokouji had saved up by being careful from the very first month—even putting up with those bad-tasting vegetable set meals.

Spending all of them now just felt kind of harsh.

"I'll try talking to that senior again. Or maybe tomorrow, I'll go with Kushida. If a cute girl comes along, he might not be able to be so strict with his junior."

Hirata said.

There were plenty of cute girls in class, lots of pretty ones too, but Hirata felt Kushida was the best fit for this role.

"Don't let her find out,"

Ayanokouji said.

"Kushida's on the student council now. She probably wouldn't rat us out, but it's safer this way. And once we get the test papers, I think we should wait until three or four days before the exam to hand them out."

Ayanokouji spoke.

"Yeah. It's hard to keep anything secret in class…"

Hirata nodded seriously.

"Ayanokouji, thanks. It feels like the class still has a chance."

"..."

Ayanokouji.

He didn't answer Hirata.

The plan was set up well enough.

But—

Ayanokouji felt something odd. At first, he'd wanted Horikita to act as his front‑person, yet Horikita Suzune seemed like a different person now and wouldn't get involved.

So he couldn't direct Horikita, couldn't make her his tool.

He settled for Hirata instead.

Buying test papers would actually suit Kushida, since she tried to be friends with everyone and was willing to help the class. But, as he'd said, Shirogane had invited her onto the student council, and once someone joins the council, you clearly can't tell them about buying leaked exams.

So that card was gone too.

It felt like nothing in this school was going smoothly.

From the start, he'd noticed something was off here: the absurd number of cameras, the digital boards in every grade's hallway,

and the upper‑class students who sometimes told Sudō, "Just D‑class trash? Heh, you'll get a taste of hell soon."

So he paid attention.

He also saw other classes acting strangely during this first month.

Class A and Ryūen's class were working unusually hard.

Even Ichinose's class seemed focused.

Only D‑class wasn't.

He realized the students in his class were all over the place: someone perfect like Hirata, a social butterfly like Kushida, a brazen type like Kōenji Rokusuke, an athletic Sudō, and then guys like Yamauchi or Ike Kanji.

A really mixed bunch.

So—

He stayed on the sidelines and watched.

He even sensed that the other classes were gearing up as if some test was coming.

What would happen to D‑class, totally in the dark?

And—

This hopeless class really did set a new school record for being a mess.

Compared to other classes, the class with 1000 points had its score cut down to zero—or maybe it wasn't just cut by 1000, but by more than that. Zero is the lowest score, but it's definitely not the limit.

But,

even though this class is terrible, the people in it are still willing to put in some effort. Since he's part of this class, as long as he's in it, that means he won't let the class lose.

After all, the real test is at the end of the third year.

There's still plenty of time.

And he won't lose—no matter what kind of exam, he won't lose.

As for trying to use Horikita and Kushida and failing, that doesn't matter anymore, since now he's connected with Hirata, right?

They're all just tools, no matter if they're guys or girls.

…

Ryuen's class tutoring was going pretty smoothly, though there were some conflicts at first.

The problem was picking who would join.

First,

there were 33 students who needed tutoring.

Now, 10 top students from Ichinose's class were invited, so each tutor would be in charge of 3 or 4 students.

But,

a lot of students wanted to join Ichinose's tutoring groups, guys and girls alike, almost leading to fights.

Shiranami wanted to team up with Ichinose for tutoring so their group could have 7 members.

It looked like the competition for spots got tougher, but more people were fighting for it too.

In the end, Ryuen decided to assign the seven lowest-scoring girls to Ichinose's group, and that finally quieted everyone down.

From this, you can really see Ichinose's appeal.

But then,

"Um, Shirogane, is something wrong?"

Ichinose walked by and noticed Shirogane seemed to be daydreaming.

"I'm just thinking."

Shirogane said.

"Yeah, I guess so. Shirogane has a lot going on, not only with the student council but also studying seriously every day."

Ichinose Honami said with some admiration.

It looked like a normal conversation.

But,

Shirogane clearly noticed Shiranami's ears perked up—she was curiously listening in.

And even though she's usually shy, she looked a bit nervous and watchful around him.

Most people wouldn't get it, but Shirogane did.

Shiranami has a crush on Ichinose.

But,

the narrator system also said Ichinose has already noticed this and is thinking about how to reject Shiranami quietly without leaving any clues.

Well, let's just be good people all the way.

Shirogane said, "I was wondering what kind of wedding Ichinose would like."

"Huh? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?"

Ichinose looked surprised.

At first, only Shiranami looked over nervously, but then other students started watching too.

Because they're all just students, weddings and stuff feel way too far away.

And why would Shirogane say something like that? Is he trying to get close to Ichinose?

What's going on? No way.

A lot of classmates dislike Ryuen and are afraid of him, but they think Shirogane is different—a good person.

But Shirogane, you're a good guy—are you confessing to Ichinose?

Of course...

It might just be a misunderstanding.