Even though Miyake and the others had memorized a ton of humanities knowledge with the help of memory-boosting candy, they were still weak in Japanese. After all, Japanese wasn't a subject where you could just cram knowledge and get good grades.
So the study sessions continued, but this time, they had to figure things out on their own. The best Kanda Shuichi could do was guide them a little.
During this time, Kanda Shuichi also started preparing math problems, aiming for fifty questions that were all at the same difficulty level.
Hmph. Feel the wrath of high-dimensional pressure, Ryuen!
Meanwhile, Class D's study group, led by Horikita, Hirata, and Kushida, was running smoothly. Every weekday after school, they gathered students who struggled with studying and helped them out.
But weekends were an exception. People weren't machines, and even with Kanda Shuichi's little "cheat" method, Miyake and the others still felt their brains couldn't handle too much.
That weekend happened to be the end of the month, and Kanda Shuichi had arranged to meet Horikita to discuss the test questions. He also wanted her to check his problems to make sure they weren't too easy.
Speaking of which, during the sports festival, Horikita had promised to cook something for him—had she ever followed through on that?
Kanda Shuichi had saved two dishes back then, but Horikita never made them. Maybe today was a good opportunity.
So he changed into casual clothes and headed to Keyaki Mall to buy some fresh ingredients.
The moment the elevator doors opened, he saw someone inside—a student in uniform.
Ichinose.
"Morning, Kanda."
"Morning, Ichinose." Kanda Shuichi nodded and stepped into the elevator. "Isn't today Saturday? Why are you in your uniform? Going to school?"
As always, Ichinose looked stunning. Even in a school uniform, her well-proportioned figure stood out, and she had this natural charm that made people feel at ease around her.
"Haha, you caught me. Since our next exam is against Class B, it's going to be a tough battle, so everyone in my class is working extra hard."
She answered with her usual cheerful attitude.
"I see. But I think it's better to balance work and rest. Studying at high intensity for over a month—not only might your grades not improve, but people might burn out first."
Kanda Shuichi gave her a friendly warning, hoping to mess with Sakayanagi a little.
"I know, I know. And we're not forcing anyone to study. Everyone is going to the library on their own."
Yeah, right.
With the way Class B operates, there are definitely some students who don't want to study but feel pressured to join because everyone else is doing it.
Kanda Shuichi had already given his warning—what Ichinose decided to do next was up to her.
When the elevator reached the first floor, the two of them went their separate ways since Ichinose's classmates were waiting for her.
"Bye, Kanda."
"Yeah, bye."
It looked like Class A was in serious trouble this time. Among the students waiting for Ichinose downstairs, there were probably a few who had been pressured into coming.
Some of them probably just wanted to relax at home on a Saturday but ended up coming along to avoid feeling left out.
After all, a perfectly harmonious group doesn't exist.
Even in a dorm room with just four people, you could still have five different group chats. In a class of forty, it was only natural for cracks to form here and there.
While Kanda Shuichi was out, Horikita had already set off for his room.
But when the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor, she saw someone leaning on the railing outside Kanda's room—Kushida Kikyo.
For some reason, the moment Horikita saw Kushida, she felt uneasy.
I'm just here to discuss test questions with Kanda Shuichi, so why do I feel guilty?
Pushing that thought aside, Horikita stepped out of the elevator and walked toward Kanda's door.
Hearing footsteps, Kushida instinctively put on a gentle smile and turned her head.
But the moment she saw it was Horikita, her face darkened. She turned away without saying a word.
"Aren't you going in? Or is he not home?"
Kushida didn't want to talk to Horikita, but Horikita spoke to her first.
"Guess you're not here for Ayanokouji or Sudou, huh?"
"Kushida, I'm here to see Kanda. Seems like you are too."
"Hmph! What do you need from Shuichi?"
Without thinking, Kushida started acting like she had a say in Kanda Shuichi's affairs. Her tone sounded almost like a wife catching an unfaithful husband sneaking around with another woman.
"I…"
Horikita was about to answer but quickly caught herself. Why should she explain anything?
"This is between Kanda and me. It has nothing to do with you, Kushida."
Kushida was momentarily stunned. She realized she had no real reason to question Horikita—after all, she and Kanda weren't a couple.
But being told that so directly made her extremely uncomfortable. Her expression darkened even more.
"As Shuichi's friend, it's my duty to protect him from bad women."
"And between the two of us, who's really been deceiving him?"
Horikita had initially decided to coexist peacefully with Kushida, but at this moment, she'd completely thrown that idea out the window. Right now, she just wanted to win this argument.
"Obviously, it's you, you backstabbing bitch!"
Kushida's words made Horikita freeze for a second. She had hit a sore spot, no doubt about it.
But how did she know?
Did Kanda tell her?
Just as Horikita was trying to figure it out, the owner of the room arrived.
"What are you two doing here?"
The argument between the two was so intense that Kanda Shuichi managed to walk up behind Kushida without her even noticing.
"Shuichi, why didn't you take the elevator?"
"Ryuen and his group went up first. I didn't want to squeeze in with them, so I took the stairs instead."
After answering Kushida's question, Kanda Shuichi glanced at Horikita.
"You got here pretty early."
Kanda Shuichi had checked the time—there were still fifteen minutes left before the agreed meeting.
"Arriving fifteen minutes early is my rule. I didn't expect you to not be in your room, though."
Now that Kanda Shuichi was here, there was no way Kushida and Horikita could keep arguing.
Horikita thought so, and apparently, Kushida did too, since she quickly put on a smile again.
"You promised me during the sports festival that you'd cook for me. I hope you'll keep that promise today."
She gestured to the bag of ingredients she was holding.
Horikita remained unfazed and didn't refuse. She had already kept her promise to cook for the other five people.
For reference, the five who had secured the right to have Horikita cook for them were Sudou, Miyake, Hirata, Onodera, and Maezono.
Now, only Kushida's dish and the two dishes for Kanda Shuichi were left. It was better to get it over with.
She was good at cooking anyway—this was no challenge for her.
Without hesitation, she took the ingredients from Kanda Shuichi.
Kushida froze for a moment. She had been planning to make things difficult for Horikita by giving her tricky recipes, but now Horikita had taken the initiative.
Kanda Shuichi, meanwhile, swiped his key card and unlocked the door.
"Come on in."
He didn't specifically invite Kushida, but since she was already here, she might as well come in too.
"Shuichi, what the hell is going on? Why is that b*tch Horikita here to see you?!"
The moment they entered the room, Kushida dropped all pretense.
Unlike how she had held herself back outside, she now had no problem calling Horikita a b*tch right to her face.
Kanda Shuichi frowned. Had he been spoiling Kushida too much lately? She was getting out of control.
"She's just here to pick up the math problems I prepared and to keep her end of our deal."
Noticing the slight coldness in Kanda Shuichi's tone, Kushida suddenly felt uneasy.
"So why did you come looking for me?"
"Do I need a reason to come see you? And if it's about the math problems, you could've just asked me."
Hearing the growing hint of grievance in Kushida's voice, Kanda Shuichi felt a headache coming on.
What the hell.
Fine, if you both want to see them, then have a look.
He pulled out the math problems he had prepared and handed them to both Kushida and Horikita.
All the problems were of the same type—just with different numbers.
They weren't particularly difficult. If you could solve one, you could solve fifty.
But each set required a massive amount of calculations, with no shortcuts or patterns. The only way to get the answers was to work through them from the start.
The moment Horikita and Kushida saw the problems, their scalps tingled.
"Uh… are you sure these will even pass the school's review?" Horikita couldn't help but ask.
"Of course. In fact, I already checked with the school. The math teacher had the exact same reaction as you two."
"I'll give you one hour. Let's see how much you can get done."
The official exam would have a one-hour time limit. By using Horikita and Kushida as a reference, Kanda Shuichi could get a rough idea of how Ryuen's class would perform.
Coincidentally, Kanda Shuichi hadn't done these questions yet and didn't know the answers, so this also gave the two of them a chance to prepare the correct answers.
As he spoke, Kanda Shuichi handed each of them a sheet of scratch paper and a pen.
"Do we really have to do this?"
Kushida looked a bit hesitant.
"This way, you two won't have the energy to argue anymore."
"Kushida, let's have a little competition. Let's see who gets the higher score in an hour."
"Hmph, do you think I'm scared of you?"
Kushida knew her overall grades weren't as good as Horikita's, but math was her strong suit.
"If I win, can you promise me one thing?"
"If I win, can I ask you to drop out?"
"Both of you, shut up and focus on the test. No talking!"
Kanda Shuichi, now in full tutor mode, wasn't going to let them keep arguing.
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You can read 10 advanced chapters at my patreon.com/YeyeQiu