Houtarou noticed he wasn't assigned to the Dragon group — and neither was Honami, who was placed in the Rabbit group with him instead.
In his case, this made sense. Tomonari likely knew he disliked troublesome matters and had assigned him accordingly.
It was peculiar, though, that while the Dragon group consisted of elite students, Class B was only represented by Ryūji — and Honami's absence from the group was particularly strange.
'I should call Suzune first.' He thought.
As this crossed his mind, Houtarou noticed the purple-haired girl beside him — Masumi, who was tasked by Arisu to monitor his relationships.
While she had been helpful before, her presence would now be an obstacle.
So...
"Alright." Houtarou said, "Kamuro-san, you can go rest now. Good work today. You can go to bed early."
Masumi: "...??"
She looked at him, bewildered.
Wasn't he just like that little princess? When they needed her, it was "Kamuro-san, please", but afterward, they'd simply dismiss her with a casual "you can go do whatever".
If given the chance to choose a new master, she would definitely pick someone else.
Despite these thoughts, Masumi nodded and said, "Understood."
As she rose to leave, Houtarou called out, "Oh, Kamuro-san, one more thing — please notify everyone to gather at the Restaurant tomorrow at 7:30 AM, and reserve it for us. I'll reimburse your points later. The school will announce the privileged students at 8 AM, and we need to discuss this with the class."
So he was finally making his move regarding the exam.
Masumi had been assigned to the Monkey group, and Teacher Chie had given her the same rules as everyone else, plus her group's member list.
As someone who struggled with academics, memorizing the complex rules and outcomes of this privileged student exam seemed daunting. She had been wondering how to handle it.
But now Houtarou was taking charge, gathering the entire class — clearly planning to oversee the class assessment himself.
"Plus, you might be able to earn 250,000 points." He added.
"250... thousand?"
Currently, Class A has a class evaluation score of 1,801 Class Points. Next month, the school will deposit 181,000 Private Points — we're not short on points.
250,000... she found herself surprisingly unmoved by the amount.
"What about Class A's Class Points?" Masumi asked hesitantly.
"We won't lose any." Houtarou assured her, "Class A won't lose a single point in this exam. I guarantee it."
Oh. I see.
As a Class A student, she immediately felt reassured.
In high spirits, Masumi headed toward the private room's exit, but then she saw a beautiful fox-eyed girl approaching from the opposite direction.
She was a Class D student — Suzune.
Masumi had often observed Houtarou meeting privately with this girl during her monitoring. Even when he first invited Classes B and C to open the shop, this strikingly beautiful girl frequently accompanied him.
Yet Suzune was always considered merely part of the background. Whenever she met with Houtarou, she would invariably have a vocabulary book with her.
This suggested she was genuinely focused on studying, and such a person likely wouldn't be interested in romance.
Even their classmate Kikyō had mentioned that Suzune was a dignified person who studied for over ten hours daily.
How frightening.
As a struggling student herself, Masumi couldn't fathom spending so much time studying.
Besides, Suzune's grades were already quite good. If becoming a top student required that much studying, Masumi wanted no part of it.
Someone who devoted so much time to studying surely wouldn't get caught up in romance — there simply wasn't time for it.
When Arisu heard her report about this girl, she had smiled and said:
"Suzune Horikita from Class D? True, Oreki frequents Class D, but Suzune isn't a concern. She probably doesn't even know what love is — she's only interested in studying."
"..."
And so, the supposedly harmless Suzune passed by Masumi.
Neither was the type to have many friends, so even when passing in the same hallway, they wouldn't exchange greetings.
Then Suzune approached Houtarou.
She had jogged over but, being physically fit, wasn't even breathing hard.
"Before we start this plan, could we shake hands?" Houtarou said, "It would be best if we could do this daily for the near future."
"..." Suzune frowned slightly, "Did Kushida contact you?"
More precisely, did Kikyō make another seductive advance on you? This guy's resistance to feminine charm was remarkably low.
"No." He said, "I just want to confirm something."
"...Fine."
If it had been a sudden request, she might have refused, but she had been shaking hands with him for a week now. She had gotten somewhat used to it.
And she also wanted to confirm whether she really had love on her mind.
Twice when she felt unwell, contact with Houtarou had instantly made her feel better — like a miracle.
Airi's explanation was love, that love had brought about miracles. This was absurd.
But this was already the second time.
Though she was cool and dignified and preferred being alone, she had no experience in dealing with others. But she had read novels about love — Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, Gone with the Wind, and other classics — so she probably knew what love was.
But could such a thing happen to her?
During her current high school years, she only wanted to study seriously, collect 20 million Points, gain her brother's approval, and prove she wasn't useless. She wanted to become more excellent.
So romance... there was no place for it.
Thinking this, at Houtarou's invitation, she chose to sit down. He extended his left hand, and she raised her right.
They grasped hands, immediately feeling each other's body heat.
But...
"This time I want to change things slightly." He said, "You might find it troubling, but Horikita-san, I hope you won't develop feelings. If you have any thoughts about me, please put them on hold. Until graduation."
"...This is ridiculous." Suzune said, "You're talking as if I would fall in love."
As she said this, she saw him turn his palm upward.
Eh. Did he want her to interlock their fingers? In this position, it would be interlocking fingers, right?
And while Houtarou was quite bad at dealing with girls, even with her help, he must have experienced the same advance from Kikyō.
Which meant that girl and he had held hands like this, right?
By the way, where did Kikyō learn all this?
Though thinking this, for Suzune, the request wasn't too demanding. It was just holding hands, right?
She thought this, then interlocked fingers with Houtarou. Then began to feel. To experience.
There was no sensation of her body becoming light again, no feeling of a special moment. All she could feel was a sense of security.
So this definitely wasn't the love that Airi had talked about. That's what she believed.
"Then let's get down to business." Houtarou said decisively, withdrawing his hand.
He had already confirmed what he feared… he had indeed become a troublesome person.
His body yearned for physical contact with Suzune.
It reminded him of when Kikyō first pressed his hand, leading to nights filled with dreams about her.
He would need this solitary girl's help with desensitization training for a while.
He picked up the paper and pen from the table.
"Let's return to this exam. It's time for us to execute our plan." He paused for a moment, then said, "And I'm calling it the 40 Million Plan."
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