Matsushita knocked on the door of 2-A's classroom.

Opening it was a man with long white hair and a smug smirk on his face.

Upon seeing our faces, he frowned. Was he expecting someone else?

"Ey, yous talkin' to me?"

His slight accent and soft Caucasian features made me think he was a halfu like me.

"Hi, I'm Matsushita Isogai."

"I'm Sakigamiya Alice!"

"And we're 1-E's class representatives."

"Oh. If you guys are 1st Years, d'ya happen to know where Namie and Kumi is?"

Before we could ask him a question, he asked a question to us first. I don't know whether or not to be concerned that he was friends with Minamoto and Shigaisoshi-sama.

Wait, did I attach "sama" to her name again...? I could hear Shigaisoshi-sama's princess-like laugh echo in my head hauntingly.

"We don't, sorry."

"Mamma Mia. I'm Belphagor Shirokawa, il principe de tempesta, but you can call me Bel. Nice to meet ya."

After hearing his full name, I realised that Bel was half Italian and half Japanese. His smug smirk returned as he talked to us.

"We were wondering if we could talk to your class representatives about something."

"Aight, hang on."

Without any fuss, Bel let us in with a shrug. Once we stepped foot inside, Matsushita and Sakigamiya seemed shocked by how comfortable the classroom looked due to it's spacey design.

Due to the large size of the room, they were able to fit state of the art computers against the wall, multiple lockers at the back, and a small snack bar in the corner, which tucked away next to a vending machine. Not only that, but there were also various sofas and beanbags scattered around to fill in the blank spaces between such items.

The desks were also highly advanced. There were charging ports built into the desks, alongside a stack of compartments hidden underneath. The chairs looked more like recliners, with adjustable backs and cushioned seating.

It really was a dream classroom.

Compared to our classroom, this was a thousand times more luxurious. It looked more like a place to relax, similar to the safe room. Hina must've taken some inspiration from here for the decor.

Speaking of Hina, I saw her sitting by herself on a beanbag while peacefully reading a book. She looked really cute as the rays of sunlight coming through the window radiantly hugged at her hourglass figure.

"Ey, Oozora-san, Kurosaki-san, how you doin'? These three chumps wanna talk to yous."

I looked over to Kurosaki, who was sitting on a sofa all by herself. She crossed her legs and put her open hands on the back of the sofa in a relaxed manner.

"Oo-zo-raaaa, can you handle this?"

Calling out to him rather cutely, a boy with dark brown hair and a black tattoo on his neck looked over to Kurosaki with a playful smirk.

"Again? You sure like to rely on me."

He must've been Oozora Yuudai, the 2-A class representative.

From my peripheral vision, I could see Sakigamiya blushing in his presence. She seemed enamoured by his good looks, deep voice, and trendy fashion sense.

Judging by the surprise on her face, she probably imagined the class representative of 2-A to be some sort of nerd. However, in reality, Oozora was an ikemen that was even more attractive than Matsushita.

"Don't read too deep into it. I just can't be bothered to get up."

"That's the same excuse you used last time."

"What can I say, I'm a lazy woman."

With a disobedient grin, Kurosaki shooed Oozora to handle the situation. Oozora laughed and got up, walking over to us with a raised hand.

"Yo. You can ignore her, she's a bit of a handful."

Calling her a "a bit of a handful" was being generous.

"I'm Oozora Yuudai, but you probably already knew that. It's nice to meet you two... or should I say, three?"

After noticing my presence, Oozora corrected himself and looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"Nice shades, dude."

He casually complimented me before Kurosaki laughed strangely.

"Fu fu. He got them from me."

"Ha? You knew one of these guys already?"

"Yep. That extra over there."

It hurt a little when Kurosaki called me an extra, but she wasn't wrong.

"Seriously, then you should've handled this!"

"He's not even the class representative."

Kurosaki shrugged.

"I had no idea you were already acquainted with one of the 2-A reps, Takanori-san... I guess we got lucky."

Matsushita chuckled awkwardly, turning to me.

"I'm not sure if that's going to help us out here."

After introducing themselves to Oozora, Matsushita and Sakigamiya began explaining our situation to him. As they did, Kurosaki beckoned me over to her.

Since Matsushita and Sakigamiya didn't necessarily need me to help them, I wandered over to Kurosaki and stood in front of her awkwardly.

"And so we meet again..."

"Fu fu. Did you miss me?"

"I'm not sure."

Smiling ambiguously, Kurosaki pat the free seat next to her.

"Don't be shy. Come and sit down."

"...is it okay?"

"Of course it's okay. I don't bite."

As I took a seat next to her, Kurosaki added something ominous to the end of her sentence.

"Usually."

"Usually...?"

That would imply she can or will bite me... no wonder she occupied the entire sofa by herself. What a scary woman.

I say that, but it was surprisingly nice to be so close to Kurosaki. It reminded me of the time she gave me a lap pillow.

"What've you been up to these past few days?"

Instead of questioning why I was here, Kurosaki instead chose to have a normal conversation with me. As we talked, the scent of her sweet peach perfume and organic shampoo gently wafted into my nose.

In comparison, I probably smelled like grease, sweat, and teenage hormones. If I knew this was going to happen, I would've put some aftershave on this morning, damn it.

"Nothing much... oh, I guess I did start working on the papers for the special exam."

"Ah, special exams... or as I like to call them, a special pain in the ass. Which one did you guys get?"

"The test shuffle. Have you done it before?"

Kurosaki laughed strangely again.

"Fu fu fu! Seriously? You too?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"That's the same special exam we're doing right now."

"What a coincidence... do you think the 3rd Years are also doing this special exam?"

"Nah, those guys have a different special exam."

"I'm guessing you heard from Kishou-sama?"

"Yep."

It seems all three year groups were busy with dealing with their own special exam. It seems like we won't be able to get help from an upperclassmen for Ryouta and Shimada's challenge after all.

"How cruel of the school to give you this as your first special exam though."

"Is it that difficult?"

"It's more difficult than the first special exam they gave our year."

"What was that?"

"On the week before summer break, we had a special exam in Tokyo. It was pretty fun, honestly."

I was more surprised to hear they even held special exams outside of the island.

"What did you do?"

"It was some kind of treasure hunt. We split up into groups and had to solve questions for clues. There were different treasures to be found, and depending on which your group got, that would determine how much Cl you'd get as reward."

"That sounds more like a game than an exam."

"It does, doesn't it? Obviously, I found the rarest treasure and got the highest prize."

Kurosaki casually bragged about her achievements.

"Though recently, they've been pushing the punishment aspect more. The 300 Cl penalty is really harsh."

"...300 Cl?"

"You know, the one for the worst performing class."

"Huh... I think it's different for us 1st Years. The worst performing class loses 100 Cl."

"That makes sense. You guys don't have that many Cl to lose, compared to us."

Kurosaki was unfazed by the fact that our rewards and punishments were different. I guess it was normal in this school as well.

"Do you have any tips for this exam?"

"Nope. It's our first time going through this one as well, so we're still learning as we go."

"I see. Are you going to contribute this time round?"

"Does submitting the exams count?"

"I don't think so."

"Then nope. I'm just going to let everyone else sort it out."

"Fair enough."

Like usual, Kurosaki had an extremely laidback attitude towards this special exam.

"So, how are you enjoying the sunglasses?"

"I really like them. Thanks."

"Fu fu, I'm glad."

"Did you get your new pair?"

"Last weekend. Wanna see?"

I nodded. Kurosaki rifled through her bag and took out a glasses case. Popping it open, there was a pair of regular glasses inside.

"Whoops, wrong pair."

"Wait..."

"Hm?"

Just as she was about to put it away, I stopped her. I scratched my cheek lightly.

"Can I see how you look like... with those on?"

"Fu fu. What a strange request. But sure."

Kurosaki laughed strangely and put on the glasses. Turning to face me, she tilted her head slightly.

"Satisfied?"

My heart thumped slightly seeing her with glasses. It gave her a mature and sophisticated air.

"...very."

Taking them off, Kurosaki switched them for her claret tinted sunglasses.

"There's not much difference, is there?"

"The sunglasses make you look cooler."

"They don't pair well with this uniform though. I'd rather wear them with my casual clothes."

Kurosaki picked up her regular glasses and put them on.

"These are much more suited for work."

It was true, her regular glasses paired much better with her school uniform.

"Why don't you get the glasses that can switch between regular glasses and sunglasses?"

"I did consider that, but I like having two pairs. Since I don't wear glasses often, I usually end up losing a pair."

"Oh, so having the other one is like insurance."

"Pretty much. It's less convenient to carry around, but it's more convenient in just about every other situation."

Considering she did lose her sunglasses before, that made sense.

Regardless, with or without glasses, Kurosaki was exceptionally beautiful.

Matsushita and Sakigamiya shuffled towards me with defeated faces.

"Takanori-san, did you have any luck with Kurosaki-senpai?"

"...what do you mean?"

"You know, is she willing to help us out?"

"Oh... uh, are you, Kurosaki-senpai?"

I became so caught up with talking to her, I forgot the entire reason why I came here in the first place.

"Jeez Takanori-san, what were you doing this entire time?"

"Fu fu, go easy on him."

Kurosaki laughed strangely hearing Sakigamiya's comment.

"It depends on what I'm helping out with."

"This is why we should've had the discussion together, Kurosaki-san."

Joining the conversation was Oozora, who chuckled.

"I was only interested in talking to Takanori."

"Oh? What'd you do to gain her attention, eh?"

Oozora nudged me in the ribs playfully.

"I didn't do anything..."

"So Oozora, what'd you say to them?"

"I told them we can't help out because of the special exam. Knowing you though, you'd refuse either way."

"Fu fu, you're not wrong. If you guys need help with the special exam, then yeah, no can do I'm afraid."

Kurosaki finally acted seriously, turning us down. Even though she didn't know the situation initially, just from a few bits and pieces of inferred information, she fully understood what was going on.

"I understand, that's fine."

"Let's hope A Class had better luck than we did..."

"Yeah... sorry for bothering you both."

Matsushita and Sakigamiya bowed, before going to leave.

"No problem, good luck with your guys's special exam!"

Oozora waved them off. Just as I was about to join them in leaving, Kurosaki called out to me.

"Takanori, catch!"

I quickly caught what Kurosaki threw at me. It was a packet of Ritz crackers.

"Oh... thanks."

I humbly accepted Kurosaki's snack and left 2-A.

Me, Matsushita, Sakigamiya, Ryouta, Senzaki, and Shimada all rendezvoused back into our classroom. Judging by the sheepish look on Senzaki's face, they were unable to get any help from 3-A either.

"How did it go?" Ryouta asked.

"We weren't able to get their help... how about you guys?" Matsushita said.

"Same here. Instead we got lectured about how to use firearms by a scary Russian woman."

"Did she have a gopnik named Ivan with her?"

"Yes."

"I think I know who you're talking about..."

I was more surprised that Matsushita knew what a gopnik was.

"Since that was a bust, do you guys still want to go through with the deal or not?"

"Personally, I would, but Isogai-san's still on the fence about it."

"Yeah... sorry, it's just a huge decision. I don't want to regret what I answer with."

"I understand. Since there's still two weeks until the special exam, how about we let you think about it for awhile?"

"Really? Would you be fine with that?"

"Sure. Right, Senzaki-san, Shimada-san?"

"Yup!"

"Whatever gets them to say yes."

Senzaki gave a thumbs up while Shimada chewed on his lollipop.

"We'll give you a week to think about it. Please make up your mind before then."

"Alright... thank you."

Despite having an olive branch being extended to him by Ryouta, Matsushita still seemed intimidated by him. The difference in class had really gotten to Matsushita's head, as his movements became more stiff and timid. It wasn't a good look by any means.

"We'll be in contact. Sayonara, E Class."

"See you soon... Ryouta-san."

Ryouta waved goodbye to us, and the three A Class students returned to their class.

Sakigamiya slumped in her chair from exhaustion. Matsushita sighed and loosened his tie.

"Seriously... I can't believe they sprung something like that so casually on us."

"Good call on getting our decision time extended."

"It was? But I thought you wanted to go through with the deal."

"I did, but you're right about it making us look bad in front of everyone else if we accept the deal in it's current form. Before we do that, I want to change a few conditions to make things work out in our favour as much as possible."

"Such as?"

"Implementing Takanori-san's idea would be one of them. If given the option, I'd rather have someone outside of A Class handle making the tests, rather than someone inside of A Class. Now that we've bought some time, we can try convincing a different upperclassmen to help us out."

"Do you think there's any that would be willing to? Both 2nd and 3rd Years are busy with a special exam. Not to mention we need to find someone capable of making a high level exam for Ryouta-san and Shimada-san. We can't pick a random upperclassmen off the street and use them."

"That's true..."

Sakigamiya sighed. Then, she looked at me.

"Actually, Takanori-san. I'm curious."

"What?"

"During our conversation with Oozora-senpai, he mentioned that you're the Joker's younger brother. Is that true?"

"...yeah."

I quietly admitted to Matsushita and Sakigamiya that I was brothers with Ken. A shocked expression emerged on their faces.

"Y-you're family with the Royalty?!"

I didn't think it was that impressive...

"Surely you can get Shinsei-sama to help us, right?!"

Sakigamiya looked hopeful that I could leverage my family connection to my advantage. However, I shook my head.

"Ken-nii's strength isn't in academics. It's in Vanguard. If we want to get help from the Royalty, our best bet would be either Kishou-sama or Satsubatsu-sama."

This was partly due to the fact both Hina and Ken were 2nd Years, and Hagane, despite being a 3rd Year, was best known for his physical ability, rather than academic ability.

"Let's scrap that idea. I don't think Shinsei-sama would be very happy if Takanori-san tried asking him that when both Oozora-senpai and Kurosaki-senpai already turned us down."

"Fine... any other alternatives? I was thinking of someone maybe from B Class, but... I'm hesitant, since Machida and his circus are there."

"Maybe they'll be okay with Nora-san making the exams? After all, he is the best non-A Class student at academics. He's already working on the math exam, so it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to get him working on the Japanese and science exams as well."

"But if we do that, then he'll have no time to help the others revise. We need him to hold study sessions so Fujimura-san and Suzuki-san will actually bother to come."

"This is tricky..."

"We'll think of something."

"Instead of trying to force the idea, how about we just reject their proposal?"

"And lose out on the freest Cl we've ever been offered? Isogai-san, are you mad?"

"No... I just don't think the pay off is worth it. I don't want to sacrifice the class's faith in us or our integrity for this deal."

"Are you kidding me? It's 100 Cl, the same amount as the war reward against D Class! And it's coming straight out of A Class's pocket! If we take the offer, not only would we be crippling A Class, but we'd also be closing the gap with D Class!"

"Losing 100 Cl is nothing to A Class, they have another 900 to spare. The reason you're so eager to take the Cl is because it's going to give us 10,000 Pr next month."

"Did you just call me a gold digger?"

Sakigamiya bared her fangs at Matsushita's accusation.

"Well, it's the only immediate benefit I see from taking their offer. Otherwise, we'd be worse off in the long run from doing it."

"How the hell is getting 100 Cl bad in the long run? What? Did you lose a few screws while talking to Ryouta-san or something?"

"It's not about the Cl, it's about our reputation."

The sparks of conflict began to fly as Matsushita and Sakigamiya began an ugly argument between themselves. Those present in the classroom looked worried as these two started to fiercely bicker.

"Oh, that's what's most important to you, is it? Well, Isogai-san, I'm not sure if you realised yet, but we don't have any reputation! We're E Class for crying out loud, the dumping ground of failures and the rejects of the school! No one expects anything from us, so let's just shut up and take the easy Cl!"

"I know that we're the dirt of the school, but even the weak have their pride too! I'm not going to so easily sacrifice my morals just for a bit of cash! Taking the easy way out won't get us anywhere! If we want to demand respect from others, we need to work hard and fight back! Imagine bending our entire class over for some stupid competition between Ryouta-san and Shimada-san that we don't even care about... doesn't that humiliate and upset you, Sakigamiya-san?"

Everyone's fear of them falling out loomed in the air. However, noticing that heavy atmosphere, Sakigamiya held back from arguing further. Instead, she meekly looked away from Matsushita and replied to him with a dejected tone.

"You're such an optimist... you've always been like this... even when..."

Before she could finish muttering her sentence, Matsushita cut in abruptly.

"I'm an optimist because he lived."

When he said that, my mind cast back to the newspaper clipping Yukina found.

"Meanwhile, you've always been a pessimist."

"I can't help it... nothing ever seems to go my way..."

Sakigamiya stropped, but Matsushita put an encouraging hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. We'll make things go our way this time. Just try to see things from my side too, please?"

Matsushita smiled gently at her, making Sakigamiya look at him bashfully.

"Even if what they're offering is good, we're still going to be a laughing stock to everyone else for taking it. The fact A Class even thinks they can sway us as they please with class points pisses me off..."

I've seen Matsushita properly angry before, but this was a different kind of anger that he was displaying right now. It was a noble anger born from injustice, one which he couldn't tolerate how A Class treated and viewed our class.

"Hey, Isogai-san..."

"What's up?"

"I-I'm sorry for shouting at you..."

To my surprise, Sakigamiya apologised for her behaviour. I thought she was a stubborn girl, but in front of Matsushita, she was rather delicate. It was clear she was feeling both embarrassed and guilty, as she was unable to even look him the eye while speaking.

"Don't apologise. You were getting heated, so it's understandable."

Matsushita shook his head, comforting her. Sakigamiya giggled slightly as he used tender words to make her feel better. The class breathed a sigh of relief as the two of them reconciled in seconds.