Shirogane Miyuki in COTE

But Shirogane wasn't surprised — it was like he already understood what kind of person Ichinose was, so he said:

"If we don't step in and face this directly, Nagumo-senpai will just push harder next time."

"Or are you saying, Ichinose, that your way of protecting your classmates is to wait until they've already been hurt before you fight back?"

Shirogane said.

"Do you want your classmates to get hurt?"

"Got it."

The moment someone mentioned that her classmates might get hurt in the future, Ichinose suddenly became super motivated, like an archangel.

"We'll go with your plan."

Just like what Shirogane said during the student council meeting, even though Ichinose has her own principles, she deeply cares about her class. If someone uses the class's safety to pressure her, she becomes surprisingly easy to manipulate.

What Ichinose is doing now is also to protect her classmates.

"By the way."

Shirogane also had something he wanted to ask Ichinose privately.

"You're really good at getting along with others and have lots of friends. So, Ichinose,"

Shirogane said,

"I want to ask—why would someone who already has so many friends still try so hard to become friends with someone who clearly doesn't like them?"

"You're talking about Kushida, right?"

But Ichinose answered right away.

Damn. That means even Ichinose sees through Kushida's intentions?

Though to be fair, Kushida hasn't exactly been subtle about it.

She's been waiting outside Horikita's dorm for nearly two months straight, trying to walk to school with her every day like it's some kind of daily routine.

"Kushida has lots of friends, but she seems really determined to befriend Horikita."

"It's just that…"

Ichinose said,

"Why is she so obsessed with it?"

"I think… maybe she has a reason to do it."

"If she becomes friends with her, she might be able to prevent certain things from happening."

"In Kushida's case, it's going from not being friends with Horikita to possibly becoming friends."

Ichinose said,

"Of course, thinking like this might sound a little dark."

"So…"

Ichinose pulled out a small notebook and started writing something in it.

On the page were the possible benefits of becoming friends:

1. If you're friends, and someone tries to talk bad about that friend, people won't believe it. Instead, they might think, 'What's wrong with you? Are you jealous or something?'

2. If you're on good terms and know each other's secrets, the chance that the other person will spread them goes down. You're basically tying them down with favors.

3. In the process of going from strangers to friends, you might find out whether the other person knows your secrets.

Those are the three main points, but they all lead to the same thing:

Ichinose Honami suspects that Kushida has a secret she can't let others know, and maybe Horikita knows it.

That's why she's trying so hard to become friends with Horikita. Even if Horikita doesn't acknowledge it, Kushida is still making it look like she's putting in the effort.

So even if they're not technically friends, everyone already sees Kushida as totally obsessed with Horikita.

Which leads to the next question: Horikita, are you really in a position to talk badly about Kushida?

You'd definitely get backlash.

Which matches Ichinose's first point exactly.

"…"

Shirogane.

Yeah.

From this, it's clear that Ichinose believes Kushida is hiding something.

And Shirogane had already learned this from the narrator system.

Still, the current analysis makes sense, because it basically explains why Kushida has been so focused on Horikita.

It's probably because Kushida suspects that Horikita knows something about her past.

And that past might be damaging, which is why Kushida is trying so hard to get on Horikita Suzune's good side.

So these three things all point to one conclusion:

1. Kushida thinks Horikita might know about her dark past.

2. Kushida Kikyo is trying to stop Horikita from exposing it.

"I don't really know the details either."

Ichinose said this with a helpless expression.

"Even though I'm friends with Kushida, I don't get too involved in her private matters."

This already shows the difference between Ichinose and Kushida. Both of them are very good at making friends, but Ichinose clearly just wants to have normal friendships. Kushida, on the other hand, seems to want closer friendships—ones where people share their secrets.

If we're talking about gathering information, then of course Kushida's approach is more useful.

But if she wants to be someone who shares secrets with others, the emotional effort and stress she builds up must be huge.

Shirogane thought maybe that spot by the man-made lake that the narrator system mentioned—between 9 and 10 p.m.—is where Kushida goes to let out her stress.

It just so happened the exam was ending soon. After it's over, he could go check that place out.

With that in mind, Shirogane and Ichinose walked a bit further together. Then Ichinose ran into one of her friends, so they split up.

But—

As he was heading upstairs—

Shirogane suddenly stopped.

Because ahead of him were two girls also walking up the stairs.

One had silver hair and held a cane. The other had long purple hair and a hair clip, with a gloomy expression.

The girl holding the cane in her left hand quickly noticed Shirogane coming closer.

"You look pretty relaxed, Shirogane. Does that mean you're confident about today's test?"

Sakayanagi Arisu said.

"More or less. I've prepared for it, after all."

Shirogane replied.

"But did something upset Kamuro?"

"She?"

Sakayanagi glanced at Kamuro. "She just doesn't like studying, that's all."

"She's been forced to study every day, and just recently found out—there's actually a *shortcut* that doesn't involve studying."

Sakayanagi said.

"She feels like she's been tricked."

So, A-Class students finally figured out over the past couple of days that the upcoming test uses old questions—the so-called routine test.

But until now, they'd been honestly studying hard and even learning things beyond the syllabus to prepare.

"So let me ask you this—Shirogane, do you think you could score a 100 if you took the test?"

Sakayanagi asked.

"More or less."

Shirogane replied.

"If I took it, I'd get a 100 for sure."

"That's some confidence, but I should remind you—just that alone won't be enough to beat him."

"You know, he finished learning college-level stuff when he was only 12."

"And now, it's been five years since then."

Sakayanagi said.

"That's pretty amazing."

Shirogane replied.

"Don't you feel discouraged?"

Sakayanagi asked.

"Why would I? He's not moving forward anymore, is he?"

"As long as he's stopped, there's still a chance I can catch up."

"I'm heading up first."

Shirogane said.

"If I get to class early, I can read a bit more."

"I'm still very interested in that 20 million points you mentioned, Sakayanagi."

With that, Shirogane grabbed his bag and headed upstairs.

"He's really something."

Watching Shirogane leave, Sakayanagi didn't move right away. She didn't reach for her cane just yet.

"What?"

Kamuro looked over.

"I mean Shirogane's determination hasn't been shaken at all."

"He already knows there's a huge mountain in front of him, but he's not scared of it at all."

Sakayanagi said.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

Kamuro replied.

"I think it makes sense when someone with that kind of grit succeeds."

"But some geniuses are just ridiculous. I mean, come on—finishing college by 10? How is that even reasonable?"

Kamuro sounded a little annoyed.

"Ara~"

But Sakayanagi just smiled.

"Sounds like you're a bit jealous of people born with talent."

"It's a pity, Kamuro. You probably won't get to experience what it's like to be full of natural talent."

"But that doesn't mean it's completely impossible to gain some talent."

Sakayanagi said.

"Then is there any way to develop it later on?"

Kamuro asked.

That annoying dream she had made her feel more and more afraid of the whole seat selection thing.

"It's not something you can get just by trying hard. Talent is called talent because it's decided before you're even born. But you could try marrying a genius and having a child with talent."

"That's totally useless for me. And even if I did have a genius kid, she'd probably look down on me for not having any talent at all."

Kamuro replied.

Then added like an afterthought, "What a drag."

"..."

No ambition at all.

Sakayanagi shook her head, then held her cane and headed up the stairs.

...

After meeting with the girls from the three other classes, Shirogane returned to his own classroom.

The first person he saw was Ryuen.

But Shirogane quickly looked away and saw Ibuki sitting at her desk, spacing out.

The students in the class were at least smart enough not to bring the "seat return files" into the classroom.

"Good morning, Shirogane."

Just as he pulled out his chair, the silver-haired girl in front of him greeted him.

So now he had achieved the "say good morning to the prettiest girl in each class" moment.

But Shirogane had never been that interested in romance, so he decided to focus and get some studying done.

With that in mind, he took out his second-year math textbook.

About fifteen minutes later, all the students were sitting quietly in their seats.

Today's test proctor was their homeroom teacher.

*Ding-ling-ling—*

The school-wide test bell rang. Everyone already had their pens ready, but the whole class was holding their breath.

They were waiting for the test papers—for judgment.

The first subject was math.

Sakagami-sensei gave a couple of fake coughs, then held up the sealed, brown paper-wrapped packet of test papers to show they hadn't been tampered with and that cheating was impossible.

*Rustle rustle—*

The sound of the wrapping being torn open echoed through the room, sharp and clear.

Then Sakagami-sensei carefully held the test papers, counted them, divided them into five stacks, and had the first student in each row start passing them back.

Ibuki was in the second seat.

The person in front of her passed her a small stack right away, but something looked off about her expression.

"No… way!"

Her reaction was obvious — like she kept double-checking what she saw. Everyone around her looked tense and worried as they watched her.

Could it be… there was a problem with the test paper they memorized?

No, that can't be right.

"Ibuki?"

Just then, Ryuen called out Ibuki's name.

That finally snapped her out of it.

She quickly passed the test paper back.

And then it kept getting passed down the row. Down, and down.

But everyone's expression started to look the same.

At first, they were nervous because of how Ibuki reacted. But once they looked at the test, one by one, their faces lit up.

Yes — they were surprised and excited!

Because from the very first multiple-choice question, to question 10, even question 15, and then 20… all the way up to question 95 — although they hadn't seen questions 96 to 100 before, the first 95 were all familiar!

And in those 95 questions, not a single word had been changed! Not the numbers, not the wording — everything was exactly the same!

The weaker students in the class, who had been super anxious, now felt like their hearts were going to explode — this time from joy.

"Ahem. You can't start answering yet. Just write your name for now."

Sakagami-sensei gave a small cough and said that.

So the students all sat up straight and behaved.

And it wasn't just in this class — even in other classes, like Class 1-D, students were filled with happiness.

Four days ago, they had been told by Hirata that he got some inside info: this time's test would probably reuse old questions — a method that followed past exam patterns — and he had already prepared those questions.

It really was a huge surprise. But Hirata also made one thing clear:

"To get a copy of the test, you have to sign a confidentiality agreement."

"If this gets leaked, there could be punishment — even expulsion."

So it took most of a day before a total of 39 students signed. Kouenji didn't join.

His reason was, "I have confidence in myself."

So he didn't sign or get a copy of the questions, but he did promise not to leak anything.

After that, everyone who got the test started memorizing like crazy.

And now it was time to find out if Hirata's information had been correct.

And the result?

They got the same test.

"Whew…"

Hirata, sitting in the front row, was one of the first to get the paper. As soon as he saw it, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness!"

Even Ike and Yamauchi couldn't hold back and cheered out loud.

"Quiet!"

But what they got instead was a strict warning from Chabashira Sae: no talking or whispering during the test.

Even so, everyone's faces relaxed a bit.

Ps: Posting this early. Posting too late messes up my sleep, so I'm updating now and going to bed early. *whimper whimper*

Ps: The bounty event isn't over yet. The end of the month is coming, so it's time to follow through.

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