It had been some time since Sakayanagi's attack on Ichinose. After the student council issued its announcement, the rumors about Ichinose gradually died down.
This was the student council, which had been granted authority by the school. And the school's authority came from the students' support and trust.
Just imagine it: if the students at this school stopped trusting and supporting it and all chose to leave, the school rules would become completely useless.
Therefore, until the school lost its credibility, its authority was absolute.
Even Sakayanagi was unwilling to challenge that authority.
The days quietly passed until the middle of February.
Today was February 14, traditionally known as Valentine's Day.
Just after Kamio Tatsuya left his room, he saw someone step out of the elevator at the end of the hall. It was Hirata Yosuke from Class D.
Kamio Tatsuya instinctively took out his phone to check the time. He wanted to know whether he had come out too early.
He had never run into Hirata on the way to school before. Kamio was the type to arrive just before the bell, while Hirata, judging from what Kamio had observed when he was still in Class D, usually arrived in the classroom fifteen or even twenty minutes early.
But when Kamio got closer and saw all the bags Hirata was carrying, he understood.
All those bags were filled with chocolate. It really did feel like Valentine's Day.
"Good morning, Hirata," Kamio Tatsuya said with an amused smile. "It must be hard being such a popular guy."
Hearing that, Hirata Yosuke gave him a wry smile.
"Sorry you had to see this."
Well, judging from his reaction, there didn't seem to have been any unexpected problems caused by Koenji and Yamauchi's expulsions.
"No, I wasn't making fun of you. I was just teasing."
After greeting Hirata, Kamio Tatsuya walked toward the elevator, while Hirata opened the door to his room and went inside.
At the same time, the elevator doors opened, and Kamio stepped in.
When he reached the first floor, Kamio Tatsuya saw quite a few female students waiting in the lobby.
…
Well, it was Valentine's Day, after all. Normally, there wouldn't be any girls around at this time, when everyone was arriving at the last minute.
However, none of them came over to give Kamio Tatsuya chocolate.
That was mainly thanks to Shiina and Kamuro.
Since Kamio was usually close to them, most of the first-year girls knew that one of those two would probably become his girlfriend.
They probably assumed that Kamio was already taken, so girls who were only acquaintances wouldn't approach him unless they were extremely confident.
Another reason was that there weren't many girls who caught Kamio Tatsuya's eye, and the ones here were all people he barely knew.
Still, that situation didn't last long. He soon spotted an upperclassman waiting outside the first-year dormitory.
"You finally came out."
The moment they met, Tachibana Akane complained in an irritated tone.
"Good morning, Tachibana. What are you doing here?"
"I came to give you a present, obviously." As she spoke, Tachibana Akane took a beautifully wrapped box out of her schoolbag. "Accept it gratefully. It's not like you're going to get any other chocolate on Valentine's Day, right?
Well? As your senior, I'm doing a pretty good job, aren't I?"
"It's not romantic chocolate, is it? If it is, I'm afraid I can't accept it. Horikita Manabu might beat me half to death."
Looking at Tachibana Akane, Kamio Tatsuya jokingly teased her in a good mood.
"What are you talking about, idiot? Of course the romantic chocolate is for Manabu. Yours is just obligation chocolate."
Without giving him a chance to refuse, Tachibana Akane shoved the chocolate into his hands.
"Is that so?" Kamio Tatsuya smiled, then looked at the chocolate. "Anyway, thank you, Tachibana."
"You're not as unpleasant as you were when we first met." Tachibana Akane was pleased with Kamio's attitude. "All right, it's about time I left. Bye."
Kamio Tatsuya let out a quiet laugh as he watched Tachibana Akane walk away.
Judging by the way she had addressed him, their relationship seemed to have made a lot of progress.
Well, he had done Horikita Manabu a favor, so this was a way of repaying him.
Still, Kamio hadn't expected the first chocolate he received that day to come from Tachibana.
He had assumed it would be from Shiina or Kamuro.
He hadn't eaten breakfast, so he decided to treat the chocolate as a meal.
As he walked, Kamio Tatsuya opened the package, took out a piece from the plastic tray, and put it in his mouth.
His face immediately twisted.
Damn!
Why the hell was it so bitter?
And judging by the taste, it seemed to be homemade.
She had definitely done this on purpose, hadn't she?
Kamio Tatsuya put the remaining pieces back into the box and prepared to throw it away. He had already eaten one, so it wouldn't count as wasting her thoughtfulness.
But then he noticed a piece of paper inside the box.
A piece of paper?
Could it be instructions for eating the chocolate?
With that thought in mind, Kamio Tatsuya pulled out the paper.
It wasn't instructions at all. It looked more like a letter.
The neat handwriting clearly belonged to a girl. It had to be written by Tachibana Akane.
Kamio Tatsuya began reading the letter and quickly realized that it was a thank-you note.
[Let me begin this letter by thanking you…]
When he reached the end, the corner of Kamio Tatsuya's mouth twitched twice.
[I prepared ten chocolates in total, and one of them is extremely bitter. I hope you don't end up eating that one, Kamio. P.S. They all look the same, so I can't tell them apart either.]
Heh. Sorry about that, but I picked the bitter one first.
Kamio Tatsuya's mouth twitched again. After thinking it over, he gave up on throwing the box away and took out a second piece.
This one should be sweet. She couldn't have played such a nasty prank, could she?
The second chocolate was sweet as soon as he put it in his mouth.
Whew. That was rough.
Both pieces had only had a one-in-ten chance of being the bitter one, so why had he picked it first?
He remembered that he had always been pretty lucky. Had he used up all his good luck?
With that thought in mind, Kamio Tatsuya arrived at school.
Along the way, he saw several girls giving chocolate to boys.
Tsk, tsk. Being stuck in this closed-off school for so long had left all the students' hormones with nowhere to go. It wasn't just the boys—even most of the girls had started taking an interest in romance and had someone they cared about.
After entering the school building, Kamio Tatsuya saw a cute, sweet-looking girl standing outside the entrance to Class C and talking with her friends.
Suddenly, one of her friends nudged her and gestured toward Kamio.
The girl herself looked over as well.
"Good morning, Kamio. Please take this."
There was no need to guess what was inside the package Kushida Kikyo held out. It was obviously chocolate.
"Thanks."
After giving her a simple word of thanks, Kamio Tatsuya accepted the chocolate from Kushida. Kushida then said goodbye to her friends and headed toward Class D.
Come to think of it, Kushida hadn't come to my room to vent her emotions lately.
Had she found somewhere else to vent?
"Good morning. Could you move aside, please?"
The weak, exhausted voice that suddenly came from behind startled Kamio Tatsuya. When he turned around, he saw Horikita Suzune from Class D.
However, Horikita Suzune looked completely worn out. Kamio had no idea what she had been through.
"You look exhausted. Have that bunch of idiots in Class D finally drained you?"
A smile appeared at the corner of Kamio Tatsuya's mouth.
"Class D does have a bunch of idiots, but they aren't the reason I'm tired. It's…" Horikita glanced at Kushida, who was walking toward the Class D classroom.
Kamio Tatsuya immediately understood.
So that was it. Kushida.
No wonder Kushida had been visiting his room less often lately. She had been tormenting Horikita instead.
Horikita knew about Kushida's true nature, so Kushida didn't need to hide herself around her. She could vent her feelings as freely as she wanted.
Tsk, tsk. Just imagining Kushida swearing in front of Horikita made Kamio want to laugh.
Judging from the situation, Horikita seemed to be indulging her quite a bit too.
No. From Horikita's point of view, Kushida was probably an essential force for keeping Class D stable. She had likely decided to make that sacrifice for the class.
The relationship between those two was starting to get interesting.
Heh. This was much more fun. It would be boring if Class D had no ability to fight back at all. It was like dealing with a dead fish in bed—what difference was there between that and playing with a toy?
"I see. Keep going, young lady."
After leaving Horikita looking somewhat confused, Kamio Tatsuya walked into the Class C classroom.
As soon as he returned to his seat, Shiina came over. In her hands was a gray-and-white box wrapped with a beautiful ribbon.
Shiina didn't say anything, but the smile in her eyes made the answer obvious.
This had to be romantic chocolate.
"Thanks. I'll gladly accept it."
After Shiina gave him the chocolate, the girls in Class C seemed to be stimulated by something. One after another, they all squeezed their way over.
Even Ryuuen, who had been sitting in front of Kamio Tatsuya and watching the show, was pushed all the way against the wall by the crowd.
Pfft!
Seeing Ryuuen's stunned expression, Kamio Tatsuya really wanted to laugh, but he could barely hold it in.
"Uh, what's going on?"
"Kamio, this is my chocolate. Please take it."
The first girl to offer him chocolate was someone he barely knew. She was fairly attractive—not as beautiful as Shiina, but still above average. Most notably, the impressive weight on her chest was hard to miss.
However, Kamio Tatsuya didn't accept it right away. Instead, he glanced at Shiina, who stood among the crowd, smiling at him.
This…
Should he accept it or not?
"Please take it, Kamio. This is our way of thanking you."
Thanking him…
Kamio Tatsuya froze for a moment.
Were they thanking him for helping them escape Ryuuen's harsh rule?
With that thought, Kamio Tatsuya glanced at Ryuuen, who was being squeezed into the corner.
No, he really wanted to laugh.
"Then I'll take it. Thank you."
Kamio Tatsuya still laughed, although it wasn't an openly wild laugh.
In the blink of an eye, Kamio Tatsuya's desk was covered with all kinds of chocolate boxes.
Tsk, tsk. There was so much of it that he might end up with diabetes after eating everything.
Once the girls dispersed, Ryuuen's expression turned gloomy.
"These girls are getting more and more rude."
Yeah, Ryuuen, you've completely lost your dignity.
After Kamio Tatsuya finished arranging the chocolate on his desk, he noticed that many of the boys in the class were looking at him with envy.
Right. A bunch of comrades who didn't receive any chocolate.
But don't even dream of me sharing it with you. Although that was exactly what I had planned to do anyway.
Just then, the class bell rang, and Okabe walked in from outside.
"Tomorrow, on the fifteenth, we'll hold a mock exam in all subjects as scheduled. Since it's only a mock exam, it won't affect anything else. It's simply meant to test your current abilities so that you can face the final exams in better shape.
"The questions won't be exactly the same, but many of the questions on this mock exam will be very similar to the material on the final exam."
By this point in the school year, the first-year curriculum had basically been completed, so it was only natural to have a mock exam.
And this exam really did seem to be just a test, exactly as Okabe had said.
Otherwise, Okabe wouldn't have explained it so simply. Given his personality, there would definitely have been hints hidden between the lines.
While giving those hints, he would also look over at Kamio Tatsuya and Ryuuen so that both Kamio and Ryuuen would notice them.
Honestly, that was what a real homeroom teacher should be like: working together with the students and helping the class move up.
As for someone like Chabashira…
Heh.
After announcing the upcoming mock exam, Okabe left the classroom, and the students began preparing for the lesson.
That further proved that there was nothing unusual about tomorrow's exam.
Since the new material had already been covered, the lessons mainly focused on practice problems.
And just like that, the school day came to an end.
Because he had to deal with the mountain of chocolate, Kamio Tatsuya arrived at the student council office somewhat late.
As usual, Kamio Tatsuya pushed open the door to the student council office.
Then he saw someone sitting on the sofa who did not belong there.
He was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties or fifties. His hair was combed perfectly, and his face wore a fake smile that looked almost habitual. His eyes were narrowed…
He clearly wasn't an easy person to deal with. After all, anyone with narrowed eyes had to be a monster.
Thinking that, Kamio Tatsuya narrowed his own eyes and smiled.
"Looks like we have a guest. May I ask who you are?"
"Hello. I assume you're Kamio Tatsuya, the first-year vice president of the student council whom President Nagumo mentioned. I'm Tsukishiro, the acting chairman of this school."
Tsukishiro, the acting chairman!
So this was the representative sent by the people who had framed Sakayanagi Naruyoshi, forced him out of his position as chairman, and put him under investigation.
Good. That confirmed it.
He was an enemy.
With that thought, the smile on Kamio Tatsuya's face became slightly restrained.
"Hello, Chairman Tsukishiro."
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