Starting in class B: Ayanokouji Kiyone

Arc 1 chapter 13: insurance

Apparently, Kushida hadn't turned up to school today. I wonder why that was?

The class study group was doing well. Of course, no one actually liked studying, but they liked the results it would bring. Everyone did their part to avoid expulsion so they could continue to spend time with their friends. Even the students who had good marks attended. Everyone repeated everything written on the blackboard, wracking their brains to understand the problems.

How did this school define an exemplary student? At the very least, people didn't pass or fail based solely on academics. Considering the fact that Sudou in class D had been accepted into this school, that much was obvious. If the school enrolled students talented in other areas, though, it was odd that they'd have a system in place to expel students for just one failing grade. At least, that was how I saw it.

Unless the system itself was a lie, there wasn't much I could conclude. Could they be creating such problems for less intelligent students solely so they could overcome them? It likely wasn't that simple. Both the small test we'd taken and the classes posed problems.

Once the afternoon class had ended, a satisfied-looking Ichinose gave a small nod and glanced at her notes. Apparently, she'd compiled everything together. She was helping to tutor the entire class, and she wanted the best possible results for all of her friends. That was her nature. Our class's evaluation would improve, as would the individual students' abilities. Even getting perfect scores wouldn't be too hard for a few in this class.

When the lunch bell rang, everyone made a mad dash for the cafeteria. Our break was 45 minutes long. After lunch, everyone had agreed to meet in the library for a 20 minute study session. At first, we'd planned to study in the classroom. However, for better concentration, we decided to avoid noise and use the library.

"Kanzaki, what are you doing for lunch?" I asked

"Nothing. Why, wanna eat lunch together?"

"Yes. I need your help with something."

Kanzaki and I headed to the cafeteria together. We navigated our way through the crowd and finally reached the meal ticket machine. I bought tickets for two portions but didn't line up at the counter. Instead, I went to the side of the vending machine and looked at the students perusing the menu.

"What is it?" Kanzaki looked puzzled when I began studying the machine.

"This might answer what was bothering me."

I continued observing students as they bought lunch sets from the ticket machine. After I'd observed about 20 students, my target appeared. He purchased his meal ticket and walked to the counter with heavy, plodding footsteps.

"Okay, let's go," I said.

"Hmm? Okay."

We quickly exchanged our tickets for meals and sat down in front of the heavy-footed student.

"Um, excuse me. Are you an upperclassman?" I asked.

"Hmm? Who are you?" The student regarded us calmly, a look of complete disinterest on his face.

"Are you a second-year student? Third-year?"

"Third-year. Let me guess, you're a first-year?"

"I'm Ayanokouji, From class B. You're in class D, aren't you?"

"What's that got to do with you?"

Kanzaki looked at me with surprise.

"How did you know?" He asked.

"Because he's limited to eating the free meals. It's not very tasty, is it?" I asked. He was eating the free vegetable meal set.

"What do you want? You're really irritating." He room his tray and made to stand, but I stopped him.