POV: Kiyotaka

The class had won the Paper Shuffle exam against class D.

At the moment, looking back, I can see both Kushida and Horikita being restless after the exam.

Again, no one got expelled in this exam, and both mentioned have been ready for their final confrontation.

The class did not promote or demote due to the gap of class points between the classes.

The class cheered out of celebration.

Horikita called both Kushida and me out with her.

I decided to tag along since there might be some useful information about Ryuuen when Kushida betrayed the class.

"So, I assumed that you won't do anything to harm the class anymore?" Horikita asked.

"I might have if I didn't get exposed. Even though we were in the same junior high, you don't really care about anyone back then. After a few considerations, I called it quit. My secrets had already been exposed, so it is useless if I try to do anything stupid." Answered Kushida. "I will not do anything against both of you anymore, so let us forget everything about the past events."

To be honest, if this is the real Kushida, she will not say these words to Horikita. I guess miracles do happen after all.

"Very well." Horikita replied with a nod. "I never have any intentions of spreading secrets. My dignity will not allow it. So I guess we should cooperate to reach class A?"

Again, another iconic demand from Horikita.

"Leave me out of this. My school life also got ruined because of the rumors. The class might hate me if I become careless." Kushida replied while walking past Horikita.

"At least our past relationship end and started with a new one. You should at least be grateful for that."

With that, Kushida walked away from our vision, only me and Horikita standing in the deserted hallway.

"What do you think?" I asked. "At least she doesn't have any benefits for betraying the class anymore."

"I still want all of us to reach class A when we graduate. At least, that was my goal." She replied. "And to be honest, I think Torikachi-kun involved a bit too much in this exam by changing Kushida-san alone."

"At least she redeemed herself at the end," I replied. "If he didn't interfere, Kushida would still want to expel you even you asked her not to. She's that stubborn."

Moments later, I received a message from Haruka inviting the Ayanokouji Group to the movies.

"Well, at least good luck being with your loner group, Ayanokouji-kun," Horikita said while leaving the hallway, leaving me alone.

After a few moments of silence, I spoke.

"Come out now, I know you are here."

A few seconds have pass, a figure approached me.

"Guess I couldn't hide anywhere from you huh...?" He replied. "Welp, I guess they didn't call you the masterpiece for nothing."

"Get to the point, Torikachi. What is it that you wanted to talk about?" I asked since I have to go to the mall soon.

"Relax. It's not a big deal, but there's something that had been bugging me for a while. Not related to the class or your problem, but I might get more uneasy in the near future. So I might need your help when the time comes." He said from his gut feelings.

"Alright. Since you've already helped me to get away from 'that man', I guess I could help you in some way." I replied.

"Speaking of him, he will be here soon. Around mid-December, before our winter break. Just paid for a visit." Torikachi continued. "So be prepared. Kiyopon. Things will get more wild in the future."

"Did you just call me 'Kiyopon'?" I asked him how did he know about the nickname Haruka put for me.

"You are goddamn right, Kiyopon." He replied teasingly. "I know Haruka called you by that nickname, so give up on hiding it."

"I'm not surprised that you know about it instead of other stuff," I said.

"Well... yeah... Haruka will be calling you that nickname from now on. So embrace it, Kiyopon. Normal school life is there for you to enjoy. I will be watching." He said as he left the hallway.

Torikachi told me that he might get uneasy when the time comes, which means I need to help him.

As a friend.

Yes.

I considered him to be my friend.

And perhaps in the future, I will stop calling humans "tools" and call them "people" instead.

I guess this is how a friend can change you, isn't it?

I do not hate it at all.

POV: Torikachi

Everything has been following according to the light novel, in terms of class points at least.

At least that's what I am caring about.

Speaking of caring, I am currently having a very uneasy feeling that something is approaching.

It does not involve either Kiyotaka, class D, or ANHS in general.

I currently have certain discomfort about this feeling, but I can not ignore it like most of my problems back in my previous life.

What is this all about?

Enough with that... I am supposed to go to Pallet Cafe with Ryuko today. I should pick her up from her class.

As I reach class 1-A, seeing many faces that I could remember.

But I shrugged it off and only focus on Ryuko.

"Ryuko." I called her during her talk with Arisu.

The moment she heard my voice, Ryuko immediately turned out to the classroom door just to see me.

"Wait for me a moment, Tori. I need to discuss something with Sakayanagi-san." She said.

I replied with a nod while standing at the classroom door.

Soon a male figure approached me.

"Oi. Isn't this the prodigy boy of our school?" He said.

Just by his words alone, my surroundings averted their attention to that one person.

"What do you want from me, Ryuuen?" I asked.

"Nothing. I just want to greet the school's prodigy face to face for once in a lifetime." He replied. "Kukuku. You looked relaxed after all the things that happened in your class huh?"

"What do you mean?" I innocently asked. I could confirm that Ryuuen is currently hunting for me and Kiyotaka.

"R-Ryuuen-kun." A female voice spoke up. "Stop this already. You've caused too much trouble now. I don't think it's a good idea to continue this."

The voice was full of concern, but also full of belief in Ryuuen's mastermind hunting task.

"It's fine, Ibuki." He replied. "Whoever it is controlling class C behind the shadows, I will hunt them down, no matter who they are."

"They?" Asked one of Ryuuen's lackeys, mainly Ishizaki. "R-Ryuuen-san, do you mean that there is more than one mastermind?"

"Damn right it is. Do you happen to know who they are, prodigy-boy?" Ryuuen asked while grabbing my shoulder and looking into my eyes menacingly.

"I do not know what are you talking about," I answered while maintaining my composure.

"Shiina, any sign?" He asked towards Shiina Hiyori. I am surprised that he decided to bring Shiina Hiyori along with him.

"No can do, Ryuuen-kun. I think we should back off now." She replied.

"Alright." Ryuuen complied as he let go of my shoulder. "Let's scram. We are done for today."

And then they left.

I guess it is the time that Ryuuen might suspect me as one of the Xs. I should not act carelessly from now on.

Moments later, Ryuko approached me.

"T-Tori!! Are you okay?" She shouted as she ran towards me. "Did you hurt somewhere? Why did he come to you?"

"R-Ryuko... Relax. He didn't do anything." I replied slowly as she is currently shaking me. "As he said, he wanted to see our school's prodigy."

"B-But..." Ryuko tried to find an excuse.

"It's okay. I'm fine with it." I calmly told her while patting her head.

Using this technique, Ryuko immediately complied while averting her eyes in another direction.

"Hmph!! At least try to be careful next time. I don't want my boyfriend to get hurt." She said, totally not pouting.

I then chuckled at her action while engaging with another topic.

"Shall we go then? We promised to go to the Pallet Cafe today." I said.

"Okay. Since I don't have any club activities for today, we should go now." She replied.

We then head to the Pallet Cafe and have some chats.

Our second semester is coming to an end very slowly. I only need to prepare for my plans if Tsukishiro happens to replace Chairman to expel Kiyotaka. I need more countermeasures when I reach the second year since I do not know if there will be any unexpected encounters or not.

It was just my gut feeling, but...

I might put myself in danger next year.

The only way to know is if our grade happened to have a Class Poll exam after our third semester's midterm test.

If it happens to be there, then things will be easier for me to continue to go along with the canon plot compared to the light novel.

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HEY, HEYY!!!!

I'm back with another chapter.

This is the end of V6Y1 of the series. I know I put extra scenes into the plot, but because I wanted to, I don't want this chapter to be too short either.

So, here we are.

Anyway, I will release this chapter along with 2 extra SS today, so get ready y'all.

V7Y1 will be only Kiyopapa's confrontation and Drag-boi's confrontation.

Oh, and of course, more character development because why not?

I guess it's time for me to continue with the drafts for V7Y1.

PEACE!!!!!!!