The reunited study group began, and it started off pretty smoothly.

Of course, no one really found studying fun or was really delighted to be studying, but everyone worked hard so that they wouldn’t have to drop out of school. The stupid trio, unlike their usual selves, frantically repeated the problems on the blackboard, twisting their necks as they tried to understand. Sudou occasionally was on the brink of dozing off, but for the sake of becoming a basketball pro, he just barely stayed awake during class. He was earnestly chasing after a far-fetched dream that some people would laugh at. Most of us first-years, who had just only gotten out of middle school, didn’t have any dreams yet. Many have only briefly thought, “What will I be when I grow up?”, but nothing more. In comparison, Sudou, who’s already working towards his dream, is a praiseworthy person.

Anyway, how does this school even define and measure ability?

At the very least, it’s not measured only by academic ability.

That’s obvious when you see that Ike, Sudou, and I were all accepted.

If you’re admitted for something other than your academic ability, though, you have to make sure to never get failing marks. Or at least, that’s what it seemed like to me.

If the system itself isn’t a lie, then there aren’t many possible answers.

Or are they making difficult problems for Ike and Sudou so they can overcome them?

That question arose in my mind. Well, it probably doesn’t have such a simple answer. Both the lessons and the small test are harder than what Sudou and the others can solve.

After the morning classes ended, Horikita looked down at ther notes with a small nod. It looks like she’s satisfied with the notes she took.

Even if it’s teaching the stupid trio, Horikita will definitely do her best to create the best results. It’s only natural because she wants to improve the class’ score and raise the ability of the students.

However, we’re not aiming for full marks. All we want is for Ike and the others to pass.

As soon as the bell rang for lunch, Ike and the others ran for their lives. Lunch is 45 minutes long. After eating, it was promised that everyone would meet in the library for 20 minutes to study.

At first, we planned to study in the classroom, but since it would be noisy, it was decided that we would study in the library so that we could concentrate better.

However, I think that the real reason was so that Horikita could avoid Hirata. Hirata’s group usually discusses study methods for after school during lunch. If we were nearby, we would probably be able to overhear everything they say. She probably doesn’t want that.

“Horikita, what are you doing for lunch?”

“Well—”

“Ayanakouji-kun. Do you want to eat lunch together? I have no other plans today.”

Kushida suddenly jumped into my vision.

“Oh, sure. Then do you want to eat with Kushida too—”

“See you later. I already have plans, so excuse me.”

Getting up quickly, she left the classroom by herself.

“Sorry, Ayanakouji-kun. Was I… a bother?”

“No, no, it’s fine.”

Kushida looked at Horikita’s back and waved “Bye bye~”.

Was this planned out? After discovering her secret the other day, I feel like Kushida is trying to keep track of me more blatantly. Even though she said she believed me, anyone would be scared that I might tell someone.

In the end, we ended up going to the cafe to get lunch. When the two of us arrived at the cafe, I was overwhelmed by the number of girls there.

“What is this, there are so many girls…”

More than 80% of all the students were girls.

“It’s not really a place where boys eat.”

The menu was filled with items like pasta and pancakes, which girls would like, but athletic people like Sudou would only complain that the portions were too small. The only boys here were riajuus and playboys. They were either sitting with another girl or multiple other girls.

“I think the school cafeteria is better after all. I feel uncomfortable.”

“You’ll get used to it. Koenji-kun comes here every day, you know? Look, he’s over there.”

Kushida pointed towards a large table with a lot of seats around it. I could see the figure of Koenji surrounded by girls.

He has his usual self-important attitude.

I seemed to never see him around lunch time; is this where he always went?

“He looks popular. Those girls are all third-years.”

Kushida is also surprised. I could overhear some of the conversation between Koenji and the senpais.

“Koenji-kun, say ‘aah~’”

“Haha~! Older girls are definitely better~”

Without feeling timid in the presence of third-years, he ate his meal practically glued to the girls.

“That guy, he’s really something…”

“It looks like his name has been talked about here and there.”

I see, are those girls doing it for the money?

“What a sad world we live in.”

“Those girls are only being practical. You can’t afford to eat with only your dreams.”

“Would you do that too?”

“I like to dream more. You know, someone like a knight in shining armor?”

“A knight in shining armor, huh.”

We found seats as far away from Koenji as possible.

“How about you, Ayanokouji-kun? Do you like someone like Horikita-san?”

“Why’d you bring up Horikita?”

“You’re always with her. Isn’t she cute?”

Well, I do think she’s cute. Only the outside though.

“Did you know? You’ve been drawing attention from the girls for a while. You were even on the ranking list that the first-year girls created.”

“Attention. Me? And what kind of ranking…”

It looks like I was rated by the girls when I wasn’t aware.

Is it the same kind of ranking that the boys did with the girl’s breasts?

“How many kinds of ranking would there be? The ikemen ranking? The wealth ranking? The grossness ranking? And the—”

“… You can stop. I don’t want to know anymore.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. You were ranked fifth on the ikemen ranking. Congratulations! By the way, first place was Satonaka-kun from class A. Second was Hirata-kun, and third and fourth were both boys from class A. I feel like Hirata-kun got a lot of points because of his looks and his character.”

As one would expect from the star of class D. He was noticed by the girls in the other classes too.

“Is it ok for me to be happy about this?”

“Of course. Oh, but you were also pretty high on the gloominess rankings too.”

“Let’s see…”

I looked at the phone. There were several lists of countless boys.

There was also a disturbing ranking titled, “Ranking of boys who should die”. Let’s say I didn’t see that.

“Are you not happy? You’re ranked fifth.”

“It would be different if I cared about being popular, but I don’t really feel anything.”

In fact, I don’t remember ever having gotten a letter with a heart seal on it from a girl.

“Are a lot of people participating?”

“Yea. There are a lot of people who participate, but I don’t know the total vote tally. The people who comment are also anonymous~”

In other words, it’s not very reliable.

“Anyway, I think you’re at a disadvantage. I think you’re definitely someone worthy of being an ikemen, but you don’t stand out like Hirata-kun. You’re not particularly smart, athletic, or well spoken, so you’re missing something, you know?”

“That, that killed me…”

That’s just saying that I have nothing appealing about me…

“S-sorry. I probably should’ve held back.”

Kushida reflected on her harsh words.

“Um, during middle school, did you have a girlfriend?”

“Is it bad if I didn’t?”

“… So you didn’t. Ahaha, it’s not particularly bad.”

“Rankings, huh. If boys did the same thing, what would the girls think?”

“Think of them as horrible human beings?”

Even though she was smiling, her eyes weren’t. Well, that’s to be expected. If the boys ranked the girls on cuteness or ugliness, they would definitely object. That’s already one double standard between girls and boys. Anyway, Kushida has been interacting with me normally. I thought she would act differently after I found her on the rooftop.

“Hey. You don’t have to force yourself to talk to me, you know.”

“No, no, it’s not forced. I find talking to you fun.”

“Well, didn’t you say that you hated talking to me?”

“Ahaha, I did, didn’t I. Sorry, sorry, those are my true feelings.

… No, I’m hurt because those are your true feelings. Even though she’s putting on that smile, she hates me. That’s the worst.

“Actually, the reason I invited you to eat lunch with me was to keep an eye on you. I’m just asking, but if you had to choose between Horikita-san and me to be your ally, who would you choose? Would you choose me?”

“I’m no one’s ally or opponent. I’m neutral.”

“I think there are matters that can’t be avoided by just being neutral. It’s fine and all to oppose war for example, but you’ll be wrapped up in it at some point, you know? If Horikita-san and I fought, it would be nice if you cooperated.”

“Even if you say that…”

“Keep that in mind. I’m expecting you to help me.”

“Expect, huh. If you ask me to help, I’d think that the first thing you should do is explain the situation.”

Still smiling, Kushida shook her head no.

“No, the first thing is to make sure we trust each other.”

“Yea, I suppose.”

Both Kushida and I don’t really understand each other too well.

Sometime down the line, when we trust each other more, I may be able to understand Kushida better.