< X Days remains > : Paper and Points

[ Ayanokouji POV ]

As Erza stated, if the questions are indeed related to each other and are being repeated, then there must be a pattern to which it is occurring.

I closed my eyes as my arms and face leaned onto the desk and hands, respectively.

"First check up on those three, not to mention Horikita. Remember, what we are doing is practically not a safe route and can result in getting unwanted attention." Erza stated. "I can get a rough idea of how to want to use Kushida, but be careful, you may get vulnerable enough for some 'other' to get noticed by."

Her words of statement rang inside my head as I opened my eyes.

My eyes made their way to the inattentive scarlet-haired girl, who was reading something on her mobile. Brings back memories of when I wanted to 'know' her.

It has been so long since I befriend you as a partner, yet, I do not know who you are.

So unfair, if you ask me.

Just for my information, she isn't here to sabotage me. Rather, she is wary of the 'organization' she works for. Well, this is twisted but interesting.

I went outside as soon I saw Kushida doing the same.

'And for the agreement between us three, Horikita, Erza, and me, I need your assistance Kushida.'

I went towards her as I called out her name, to which she responded, "....Oh! Ayanokouji! What's up- oh...Erza..."

Upon realizing the name which Kushida reluctantly spoke of, I turned around to get greeted by her cold-stunned gaze; which wasn't delivered towards me but the girl beside me.

Even though I was the one who was supposed to know her true self, Kushida wasn't afraid of me but rather, she is wary and afraid of Erza.

Well, she is the type of person who can give a certain impression on others, no matter what she is doing.

Erza hummed as she stepped a bit closer and said, "Well, what do we have here?"

Kushida frowned, which wasn't that evitable, as her eyes looked up to Erza. Whereas, Erza as usual with her hands inside her pocket and hooded self, caused the shadow to loom over her emerald eyes, as she looked down at Kushida's small figure.

Though the former broke the seal between their gaze and finally decided to approach me.

"Ah! So...what is it that you have to say Ayanokouji?" She reluctantly said as she glanced at the other girl time-to-time.

I glanced at Erza for once and replied, "I wondered if you can accompany me for a little while."

I felt an ominous aura coming from the side as I took notice of it.

" Of course she can." Erza stated as she frowned while looking at me and then her ominous gaze landed upon Kushida. " Not like she has a choice."

"Yeah! Of course, I mean, y'all my....friends." the short girl said.

Erza sighed and replied, "Well then, I hope you have a great time."

She went near Kushida and bent herself to the girl's height and whispered something to her; which resulted in Kushida to flinch. I couldn't see what happened as Erza was before me and I won't get into her business.

Even though Erza came to check up on us, most probably, it's the first time she ever initiated a conversation with Kushida. I don't know what to take her sudden interest towards Kushida as an answer, but perhaps she has something going on in her mind.

"Won't you come with us?" I asked her co-ordination. Rather I want her to be there.

Erza cocked her head a little over the side as she raised a brow with a amused expression she replied, "...No, you two can go ahead." Her stare moved from me to Kushida. "I will see you both in the class, later."

And, she went off from the scene to the classroom.

My gaze finally went from the room to Kushida who stood there, looking at me.

"Shall we go?" She said to which I nodded in agreement.

'I highly doubt Erza doesn't know why I am going with Kushida.' I thought.

Kushida asked where we were going.

"To the cafeteria." I answered.

Visible confusion rested on her face.

We reached our destination and many students were there, including First-Years to Third-Years.

My eyes landed over to the Cafeteria Counter, where some seniors were buying 'Free Lunch' delivered by the school.

My lifeless eyes stared blankly onto the figure, waiting for the right moment as we headed towards the table that senior went to.

"Why was he buying that cheap meal?" Kushida whispered to me in a low voice.

She must have noticed my gaze on him.

"Kushida help me, alright?" I asked.

"B-But how?" She stuttered.

"Just play along." I reassured.

We reached to him and greeted. He looked up to us as he greeted back.

"First-Years, huh?" He commented as he looked at Kushida.

"We have something to ask from you." I stated.

He took a bite of the bland food before him, unwillingly as he said, "Hmm? What is it? Your senior will help you!"

He was being a bit over confident just because he was a senior; a Third Year.

Kushida looked at me.

I sighed and said, "Do you have your previous years question papers from two years ago?"

"Right! Your exams gonna arrive...so?" He looked at me with wiggling brows. "You gonna use those questions? Haha...nice one!" He blabbered.

Though, he wasn't wrong.

I asked again, "Do you have?"

"...EH? Well yeah..I do, but I don't think that would be any use of you." He munched over his food. "But don't think that would be for free."

I stared at him, as expected, no one wants to eat the bland food, even if it's free. The food is plain with nothing much in side dishes. It is more than ordinary when compared with the other paid delicacies.

He asked us for 'Points' because he is cut short of it.

"Are you in Class-D?" I asked.

He said with a disappointed look, "Yea..You too?"

I nodded as a 'Yes'.

He further asked for a maximum of 30,000 PTs for the Papers, which I was afraid wasn't possible, of course. I could expend at most of 10,000 PTs.

Thus, Kushida came on to the scene and helped me. With her bubbly attitude, the bar went down from 30,000 to 15,000 PTs as smoothly as butter.

"I will send you the file, by today." The senior said devastated, knowing he was defeated against a cute girl's charm.

Thus, the Question Papers were sold for 15,000 PTs.

A text came by; from Erza, which definitely made things a lot more easier said done.

"Isn't this cheating?" Kushida said worried.

"...Did we take the real question papers?" I asked back, as I put the mobile inside my pocket.

Kushida disagreed.

"Yes, we just took some questions for 'Practice'." I said that, obviously all I had to check if mine and Erza's suspicion matched or not.

"Does Erza knows?" She asked abruptly.

"...No, she doesn't. Why did you ask?"

'Well, you both are technically together, so I thought." Kushida explained. "I think you should inform her."

"We are normal 'Friends', nothing more than that." I said as my eyes roamed here and there. "Hmm, we should inform her."

'I can't imagine myself being in something like that of a relationship with other when I genuinely think of others.' My gaze landed on Kushida. '...as a bother.' I thought.

[ Ayanokouji POV ended ]

[ Erza POV ]

I felt eyes of him, yet again. I hope he remembers what I asked him to be wary of before coming to the class.

He certainly keeps his guard up, so I don't think anything would be able to bother him.

I heard clanking noises and noticed him following the 'fake' cute girl of our class.

Just before I was being real annoyed by her but now that I know her true self, it is really funny and entertaining to how she is able to manage that mask of hers.

She is really trying hard.

Somehow, she reminds me of my past self.

Not a chance to waste, I followed the only boy, whom I am 'interested' in and went outside to be greeted by the 'Fake' girl in the process.

"Well, what do we have here?" I asked in an amused tone.

The way she becomes uneasy just after seeing me is somewhat a pleasurable feeling, which I definitely want to feel more of.

I went there to notice if there was any unusual occurrence to happen with Ayanokouji.

Though, with me being there, and so many people around there, in broad day light, she wouldn't even think of doing anything.

I stood in front of the small little girl, as my sharp viridescent gaze pierced onto her reddish-brown copper colored eyes.

Not long after, she must have gotten intimidated, as she transferred her gaze onto the only man between us.

Ayanokouji relayed his request to her, which I found a bit odd, and caused me to frown at him.

'Boy! He is so polite, isn't he?'

" Of course she can." I stared right onto her timid figure as I said. " Not like she has a choice."

After many words exchanged, I went to her as I whispered to her positioning my head beside her warm ears, "Even if you so as to try to think of doing something weird." I positioned my left hand onto her trembling shoulder which caused her to stop. "You may not like what happens afterward, got it?"

I regained my position back as I stood straight, my eyes never leaving hers, as I narrowed my eyes waiting for an answer.

She slightly nodded her head.

"Good." I smirked slightly.

"Won't you come with us?" Ayanokouji asked me.

You can do things without me, can't you? Though us three being together would only make us catch unwanted gazes from the others from the classroom.

"...No, you two can go ahead. I will see you both in the class, later." I finalised.

Sometime passed, usually the lunch break is short.

Mostly, I spend with Ayanokouji and Airi, but today time seems to pass slowly, I wonder why?

It was getting boring thus I adjusted my eyes around the classroom finding something unusual to observe.

My gaze went towards Sudou's desk, where Horikita came by?

'Hah! This is some interesting stuff!' I thought being mentally entertained.

My ears focused onto the scene at the back of me.

"Sudou, it's true you are definitely not getting any better in solving simultaneous equations and what not. And, by the look of it you may not even pass." Horikita stated some true facts.

Sudou got up from his seat; pissed off as he grabbed her by the collar, making me notice them from the corner of my eyes.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY!?" Sudou shouted, gaining many gazes from the people around.

People hesitated to do anything. As expected they just whispered nothings at each other, while judging what was in front of them. Pathetic!

I sighed as I got up from the seat and went towards them.

Sudou chased me with his eyes while I didn't even care and grabbed his wrist where his hands held her.

"Leave her." I said in the most monotonous low voice as my eyes glared at him.

No matter how imbecile he wants to be, he can't fight in the class. Absolutely not.

I applied pressure onto his wrists, a little bit too much than the 'normal pressure' as he soon let go of her.

Horikita adjusted her uniform and placed a notebook in front of him in a rough manner with a unfazed expression.

"I noted down the points where you have to begin improving and what parts you were lacking, follow this."

Not gonna lie, I was a bit surprised for her unusual kindness. Even though she was thinking of the Class Performance, one cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that she made the 'self-written' notes for Sudou.

Sudou was caught off guard as his eyes were left surprised.

Horikita was just about to leave when reluctantly he called out to her and said, "Thank You!"

'So he can thank others properly, huh?' I thought as I looked at him being embarrassed about what he did to her without listening to her perfectly.

Horikita paid no heed and went away.

What an interesting way to show you care about your classmates!

I went back to my seat and texted Ayanokouji.

| Everything's alright with Horikita and the others. Seems like she is a bit reluctant to show her soft side to the classmates. |

Soon, [ SEEN ] showed below the message indicating he took notice of it.

Not long after, Ayanokouji and Kushida came back from their 'Job' and classes started.

( After the classes ended )

"Erza can you come for a bit?" Ayanokouji came up to me and said.

I followed him and there stood Kushida who flinched a little at my presence.

'I am not gonna eat you up, pfft!' I thought as Ayanokouji stood between us and showed us the file of the previous year question papers given to him by someone.

I opened my file of the current question papers I had with me from the previous examinations.

We compared the questions.

"They matches." I and Ayanokouji commented in unison.

"What if it doesn't this time?" Kushida asked.

"For the past two years not even a single punctuation has been altered, no matter how intelligent the class students were." I eyed at her. "What makes you think, they gonna alter the question papers this year? When we are clearly a 'Trash' class."

More importantly, the papers were lying there with Ms. Chabashira, no wonder it is going to be repeated.

Ayanokouji and I looked at each other, confirming our suspicions to be true.

"We can give these to the others!" Kushida exclaimed eagerly.

"Wait." Ayanokouji made her halt. "What do you think the result would be if we send them this now?"

"...They will be relaxed from the pressure." Kushida said.

"The pure opposite would occur." I stated as he glanced at me. "They will procrastinate to the end of the day."

"And nothing would come out of it, all these work would go for nothing." He said.

A silence covered between us.

"So we deliver these before the day the exam begins, is that what you are implying?" I asked Ayanokouji.

"Exactly."

"...Then they would work hard, triple the amount!" Kushida spoke diligently.

We both nodded at her conclusion.

She is not the dumb, after all.

"Ayanokouji, you are secretly very sharp, aren't you?" as she looked from him to me. "Erza is too perceptive!"

"No, I am just cunning, that's all." He replied.

"No comments." I stated.

"But you must say, you were the one who did this for the class." Ayanokouji added.

Kushida asked further the reason how she could do this.

"I am bad with getting attention." He reasoned himself.

LOL.

"...Umm...then Erza-"

"I didn't help at all, did I?" I packed my stuffs as I continued, "So why bother taking my name? Just do this to get the others trust, hm?"

Kushida said nothing but had to agree.

Thus, we made our plan to start working, step by step.

The day before exam, as planned, Kushida delivered the Question Papers with an encouraging and engaging speech to the students. Not only earning their trust but also positivity from them.

Everyone did really good in the exams, the day after, as the questions were all common to them, as it should.

I went to Ayanokouji's place and stood beside him leaning over the wall while I looked at the cheerful girl in front.

"We all gonna pass now, huh?" I stated as I looked at Ayanokouji, who nodded.

"Kushida~ You saved us a big time!"

"Thanks a lot!"

Everyone complimented her as she got shy and disagreed their statements due to formalities.

"You both." A familiar strict voice called out to us gaining our attention. "What did you both do?" Horikita asked with suspicious glare.

We both looked at each other and said, "Nothing at all."

[ Erza POV end ]