Hirata Yousuke hurried back from the academic building to the courtyard — and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Class D in complete chaos.
Kushida Kikyo was standing in the middle of the crowd, her trademark smile firmly in place, doing her best to explain something. At the outer edge of the group, Horikita Suzune stood with her arms folded, her beautiful face wearing an expression of ice-cold indifference that kept everyone at arm's length.
He was just about to step in and smooth things over when —
Buzz.
His phone vibrated in his pocket.
Hirata pulled it out. On the screen: a message from Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. No pleasantries. Just a concise, blunt summary of what had happened during the preliminary test — and the brutality of the main Black Sphere exam.
He swiped through it. The color drained from his face.
He walked past Koenji Rokusuke — who was holding his phone to his ear like none of this had anything to do with him — and stepped directly in front of the bickering crowd.
"Everyone. Calm down."
Hirata Yousuke held up his screen so the people in the front could read it.
"It's all right there. The reason I didn't give you the full picture of what Chris and Kushida went through — the reason I held back the details — was because I didn't want any of you walking into something that could get you killed before you were mentally ready."
He swept his gaze across the stunned faces around him, his voice heavy.
"As of now — Sudou has used his only chance. And Class B..." He paused. "Class B just lost someone. In the exam that ended a few minutes ago."
"If any of you still think this is something to gamble on, go ask Sudou yourselves when he gets back."
He let that land. Then:
"I want to make one thing clear."
"The situation has changed. The easy days of coasting through school are over. Reality is not going to allow us to keep pretending otherwise." His voice didn't waver. "Whether you like it or not — every single one of you needs to change how you're thinking. Starting now."
Karuizawa Kei pressed a hand to her mouth. The performance cracked slightly at the edges.
"When you say that, Hirata-kun... does that mean someone actually... died?"
Even Ikebe Koji and Yamauchi Haruto — who had been making the most noise just minutes ago — went pale. When they finally found their voices, they were barely coherent.
"No — no way... the school's actually doing this for real?!"
"This is a civilized society! How is something like this even legal?!"
Ikebe Koji spun around and jabbed a finger at the homeroom teacher leaning against the tree, watching everything with vague amusement. "Sensei! Isn't this going too far?! Isn't this illegal?!"
Chabashira Sae tilted her head back and looked at the darkening sky at the edge of the horizon.
She blew out a slow ring of smoke, voice utterly flat.
"That's not something you need to concern yourselves with."
"To be perfectly frank — inside this completely closed-off school, you don't have the luxury of choice."
"You—!" Yamauchi Haruto ground his teeth — but didn't dare take a single step toward her.
"Alright, everyone settle down."
Hirata raised a hand.
"Something operating at this scale... I don't think it's something the school or any individual teacher can change, even if they wanted to."
"Tch." Yamauchi spat through his teeth, deeply unsatisfied.
"Still..."
Matsushita Chiaki, who had been watching all of this in calm, quiet observation, finally spoke up.
"Does the school actually see us as people? Because this whole 'above it all' attitude they've got going... doesn't really feel like it."
Chabashira Sae neither confirmed it nor denied it.
Kushida Kikyo looked like something had just clicked.
She pressed her lips together for a moment, then took a step forward.
"Chabashira-sensei — if what Ichinose-san said is true, and all students who would otherwise be expelled are now being used as cannon fodder in the Black Sphere exams..."
"Then I'm curious about the expulsion conditions."
"Does that mean we could be forcibly drafted just for failing — say, the midterm at the end of the month? A bad grade equals getting shipped off as a sacrificial pawn?"
That question hit every academic underachiever in the crowd like a knife between the ribs.
Everyone held their breath. Every eye locked onto Chabashira Sae.
Because sure — none of them had any experience fighting monsters. But failing exams? That was their area of expertise.
Chabashira Sae glanced at Kushida Kikyo. And smiled.
"Obviously. Isn't that self-evident?"
"Just like your class ranking determines how many private points you receive each month — survival of the fittest is the founding philosophy of this school. It always has been."
"You didn't think the school was joking, did you?"
Expressions fractured across the crowd all at once.
Outrage. Fear. Despair.
But without exception — not a single person dared to say another word to Chabashira Sae. Because assaulting or insulting a teacher was an absolute violation of school rules. And with this particular sword already hanging over their heads, nobody wanted to give the school any more reason to bring it down early.
In the thick, suffocating silence that followed —
— the participants returning from the Black Sphere exam began to appear, one by one.
"Sudou!"
Ikebe Koji spotted Sudou Ken with sharp eyes — and rushed forward to get the details. One look at the expression on Sudou's face stopped him cold. The questions died in his throat before they could form.
Meanwhile, Kushida Kikyo caught sight of Chris — walking alongside Sakayanagi Arisu and Kamuro Masumi, apparently in the middle of a quiet conversation.
She hesitated for a moment. She was just about to head over — show some concern, maybe fish for information while she was at it — when:
"Kushida."
Matsushita Chiaki called out from behind her.
"You've been talking to Chris for a few days now, haven't you?"
"Judging by your reaction just now... did you already know something?"
Damn it.
Kushida cursed internally. The next instant, her expression snapped into its perfectly calibrated cheerful mask.
"Ahaha... it's really nothing, actually!"
"I did find out about the Black Sphere exam a bit earlier than Hirata-kun. I mean, I was one of the unlucky first batch of test subjects, so..."
"I was just so scared at the time, I couldn't bring myself to say anything. Sorry about that."
"I see."
Matsushita Chiaki studied her for a long moment. Then she nodded, and didn't push any further.
...
On the other side of the courtyard.
Chris paid no attention to the undercurrents running through Class D.
His gaze swept across the scene.
Sudou Ken, surrounded by Ikebe and the others, saying nothing. Completely silent.
The Class B girls — who had just lit up for one split second when the sudden surge of class points registered, only to go quiet again, then start crying, the moment news of Shiranami Chihiro's fate reached them.
Taking in this tableau of human reactions, Sakayanagi Arisu gave a light tap of her cane.
Her gaze eventually settled on the pink-haired girl at the center of it all — Ichinose Honami, who was still holding herself together through sheer willpower, smiling and comforting the people around her.
"Fascinating."
"After a blow like this — will she emerge from the fire stronger than before? Or will the fear finally clip her wings, and leave her timid and hesitant?"
Chris glanced at Ichinose as well.
In the dying light of the sunset, the girl's spine was straight — but she looked thin. Fragile, somehow.
"Growth is a deeply personal thing," Chris said, looking away, his tone mild.
"Who can say."
"Hehe~"
Sakayanagi Arisu's lips curved — and she reached out, quite naturally, to hook her arm around his shoulder.
Chris stepped back half a pace, smoothly sidestepping the ambush.
He tilted his chin toward Kamuro Masumi, who was standing next to them wearing the expression of someone attending their own funeral.
"Don't start. There's someone right here."
"Oh my?"
Sakayanagi withdrew her hand, visibly amused.
"I didn't take you for the shy type."
"Though I do think my request was entirely reasonable. Given the purely innocent, financially transactional nature of our relationship — there's really no one who could object to anything."
Beside them, Kamuro Masumi — who had already been through enough emotional whiplash for one day — had stopped being surprised by any of this.
But she still had something to say.
"I genuinely don't care what you two get up to."
"But could you maybe have some self-awareness?"
"If rumors start flying and I somehow end up getting dragged into whatever this is... do I still get to show my face at school?!"
Sakayanagi tilted her head and regarded her with a look of genuine puzzlement.
"Does Kamuro-san think she has a spotless reputation to protect?"
"Excuse me?!"
Kamuro Masumi's voice jumped a full octave. She pointed at herself in disbelief.
"What kind of thing is that to say?! I have never been alone with Chris, not once — there is nothing between us, everything is completely innocent!"
"That is slander! You are slandering me right now!"
Watching Kamuro spiral into indignation, Chris thought quietly: Hard to say, actually.
Whether or not she'd already been drafted into this as a supporting cast member was, truthfully, a genuinely difficult question.
But then.
He caught sight of Ichinose — having finally finished tending to the Class B girls — peeling away from the group, her body heavy with exhaustion, declining the company of anyone who offered it, and walking alone back toward the school building.
Her retreating figure, silhouetted against the fading evening light, looked like a small, rain-soaked stray with nowhere to go.
And just like that, Chris knew.
He knew what mattered more right now.
"Alright, you two carry on."
"I've got something to take care of. I'll head out first."
Sakayanagi Arisu watched his retreating back — not a moment's hesitation in his step — and puffed out her cheeks with mild displeasure.
"What could possibly be more important than keeping me company?"
Kamuro Masumi finally had her opening to strike back.
"Oh, plenty of things, I'd imagine."
"Eating. Sleeping." A beat. "Or going to find some other woman."
____
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