Chapter 85: Finally, a Peaceful Vacation... Or Is It?

"I didn't report that Karuizawa-san is the Privileged Student because our class's ultimate goal is also to surpass Class A. Morishige-kun from Class A will likely betray us since he's not part of the Katsuragi faction. I'm sure he'll betray us."

As Saiki was about to leave, Ichinose Honami quickly spoke up, as if explaining something.

"I see."

Saiki stopped in his tracks and replied.

'Should I act more surprised?'

At that moment, they received a message from the school.

"The Rabbit Group exam has concluded."

'Yare yare, the traitor really sent the message, huh?'

Saiki looked at his phone screen, muttering to himself. He was also somewhat puzzled about how the Class A students had managed to rise to the top.

The school's class division rules seemed to differ from what Chabashira Sae had previously explained.

Class D wasn't entirely made up of defective students, and Class A wasn't entirely composed of good students either.

'But it has nothing to do with me.'

Saiki thought to himself, then left the meeting room, feeling a sense of relief.

'The real vacation, here I come!'

After Saiki left, Ichinose Honami was left in a daze. Saiki's indifferent attitude toward the exam didn't seem feigned, but Ichinose Honami was certain that Saiki had done something.

"I've been wondering... the school's grouping has a pattern. I should have been assigned to the Dragon Group... but instead, I was placed in the Rabbit Group..."

Ichinose Honami frowned, muttering to herself.

"Perhaps... Saiki-kun is the reason I was assigned to this exam."

...

Meanwhile, in the ship's faculty office.

"The outcome of this exam was quite unexpected."

Hoshinomiya Chie, the homeroom teacher of Class C, poured herself a cocktail while smiling at the stern-faced Chabashira Sae beside her.

"What exactly are you trying to do, Chie?"

Chabashira Sae narrowed her eyes, looking at Hoshinomiya Chie, who had a cute appearance.

Unlike Chabashira Sae, who seemed to care little about anything, Hoshinomiya Chie was very enthusiastic about her class's students, treating them almost like friends.

"Wow, why are you suddenly saying that? Did I do something?"

"By convention, the school's policy is to concentrate class representatives in the Dragon Group, right?"

Chabashira Sae's meaning was clear: why wasn't Ichinose Honami in the Dragon Group?

Homeroom teachers could, to some extent, change the composition of groups during special exams. Ichinose Honami, who should have been in the Dragon Group, ended up in the Rabbit Group instead.

That group happened to include Saiki and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

Chabashira Sae already had some understanding of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's situation. Although Ayanokoji had told her that Saiki wasn't anything special, Chabashira Sae still had some lingering curiosity about Saiki.

"I'm not joking—if you look at grades or attitude, Ichinose-san is indeed the top of her class. However, qualities applicable to society can't be entirely measured by numbers. So, in my judgment, I believe she still has challenges to overcome. Besides, bunnies are cute, right? That hopping feeling is just like Ichinose-san, don't you think?"

"If that's the case, then fine. Don't worry, I've already let go of what happened in the past."

"Who knows? You always have to be one step ahead of me, don't you? That's why you had Ichinose join the Rabbit Group, right?"

"I really just thought Ichinose-san had something to learn, which is why I removed her from the Dragon Group. And, you know, I'm curious about your interest in Ayanokoji-kun—this is purely coincidental, coincidental, coincidental! I don't care at all that your class achieved a great victory in the last special exam—"

After saying this, Hoshinomiya Chie suddenly narrowed her eyes slightly.

"And it's not just that. Besides Ayanokoji, there's also a student named Saiki, right? You're very interested in him too, especially since he wasn't originally supposed to be assigned to your class but to ours~ Just like how Sakagami-sensei forcibly placed Ryuen in their class. And I'm also not at all concerned about the fact that the original leader suddenly stepped down due to illness~ The former Class D has risen to Class B in just four months, something that has never happened in the school's history."

"Although it's not a rule, please adhere to ethics. I'd like to avoid reporting a colleague's misconduct."

Chabashira Sae's expression gradually became more serious, as did her tone.

"I just think this year's students are particularly special!"

"That much is true."

The two of them surprisingly reached a consensus on this point.

...

After dinner, Saiki had returned to his room, thinking about how he should spend his upcoming vacation.

But at that moment, a familiar voice echoed in Saiki's mind. It was Karuizawa Kei, standing outside his door.

[Is Saiki here? Did Manabe and the others apologize... because of Saiki? What exactly did he do?]

Karuizawa Kei's thoughts were crystal clear to Saiki.

'Since there's nothing important, I'll just pretend I'm not here.'

Saiki thought to himself.

[Saiki seems to like cake and pudding. I brought him some. If he's not here, I'll just take it back to my room and eat it myself.]

Just as Karuizawa Kei hesitated whether to knock, Saiki opened the door.

"Huh? Saiki-kun?"

Karuizawa Kei was caught off guard by the sudden opening of the door, momentarily flustered.

"I heard some noise outside, so I opened the door."

Saiki replied.

"Oh... oh right, I brought you some sweets!"

Karuizawa Kei said, handing the bag in her hand to Saiki.

"If you're grateful... you can repay me tenfold..."

Karuizawa Kei was a somewhat contradictory person. On one hand, she genuinely felt grateful toward Saiki, but on the other, she still maintained a hint of her queenly demeanor.

"Thanks."

Saiki took the bag and quickly glanced at the contents.

"Um... did you do something about Manabe?"

Karuizawa Kei asked hesitantly.

"No, it's probably because you apologized, so Manabe and the others couldn't keep bothering you."

Saiki said slowly.

Karuizawa Kei pursed her lips. Of course, she didn't believe Saiki's words.

As she turned her head, Saiki had already sat down at his desk, placing the sweets on the table.

[So fast!]

Karuizawa Kei couldn't help but exclaim inwardly.

Saiki looked at the sweets in his hand, thought for a moment, then turned to Karuizawa Kei.

"Want to eat together?"

"I..."

Karuizawa Kei was momentarily stunned but nodded and sat down beside Saiki, eating the sweets together.

Her gaze occasionally drifted toward Saiki, watching him eat.

[Saiki-kun seems like a completely different person when he eats... he looks... kind of cute?]

'...'

This thought snapped Saiki's attention back to reality, and he quickly controlled his expression.

At that moment, Saiki's phone vibrated. He took it out and glanced at the message. It was from the school.

"Special exam results announced."

Saiki narrowed his eyes slightly. He knew that some of his classmates were still gathered together discussing the exam results. Saiki, of course, had no intention of joining them.

"Who's the message from?"

Karuizawa Kei instinctively asked, leaning forward and glancing at Saiki's phone.

"It's an email from the school about the exam. Didn't you get it?"

"My phone died. I haven't been back to my room since leaving the meeting."

Karuizawa Kei shook her head.

"Then take a look."

Saiki handed his phone to Karuizawa Kei. He didn't need to read the details to know the exam results.

Karuizawa Kei looked at the phone screen, scanning the dense text.

Rat Group: Due to the traitor's correct answer, Result 3.

Ox Group: Due to the traitor's incorrect answer, Result 4.

Tiger Group: Successfully concealed the Privileged Student's identity, Result 2.

Rabbit Group: Due to the traitor's incorrect answer, Result 4.

...

Pig Group: Due to the traitor's correct answer, Result 3.

Based on the above results, the class and personal point changes for this exam are as follows.

Points will be followed by "cl" and "pr," which stand for class points and personal points, respectively.

Class A: Lost 200 cl, gained 2 million pr.

Class B: Gained 50 cl, gained 3 million pr.

Class C: No change in cl, gained 2.5 million pr.

Class D: Gained 150 cl, gained 5.5 million pr.

In this exam, Saiki's Class D had gained a significant number of class points, securing second place. They were now very close to Class A.

However, the biggest winner of this exam was Class D, Ryuen Kakeru's class.

Karuizawa Kei wasn't particularly bright, so she couldn't figure out how the previously last-place Class D had managed to pull this off.

"Huh?!"

Karuizawa Kei was surprised.

"Class D was the biggest winner this time?"

"Seems like it."

Saiki nodded.

He knew the tactics Ryuen Kakeru had used. Ryuen had collected all the phones in his class to identify the Privileged Student—and he had also secretly formed a partnership with Kushida Kikyo from Class B.

Karuizawa Kei looked at the information in confusion. After browsing through it, she closed the message, and the phone's home screen immediately popped up.

Name: Saiki

Student ID: ...

Birthday: August 16.

[Huh! Saiki's birthday is in a few days?!]

'This is bad. Karuizawa saw something troublesome.'

Saiki hadn't expected Karuizawa Kei to see his birthday.

For Saiki, birthdays weren't particularly celebratory events.

For most people, birthdays usually came with surprises, and others would secretly prepare gifts.

But for Saiki, the concept of a surprise had never existed.

This was one of the reasons he considered his psychic powers a burden.

[Probably not many people in class know about Saiki's birthday. I'll secretly prepare a surprise for him! He'll definitely be surprised!]

At this thought, Karuizawa Kei's lips curled into a slight smile.

'Sorry, but the moment you thought that, the surprise was already ruined.'

Saiki replied inwardly.

"It's getting late. I'll head out now!"

Karuizawa Kei stood up from her seat, waved at Saiki, and then left the room.

"Yare yare, what a hassle."

Saiki sighed, shaking his head helplessly.

"But we should be able to return to school tomorrow... I hope the summer vacation goes smoothly... I don't want anything strange to happen. Half of the already short summer vacation has passed... I just want to stay at home and do nothing."

...

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away, in a government building.

A young woman with slightly tanned skin was handling some paperwork. She had a delicate face and an incredibly striking figure.

"Advanced Nurturing High School... although the student application period has passed, I can still enter as a vendor or staff member."

"I heard that school has everything. In that case, maybe opening a small fortune-telling shop there would be a good idea!"

"I've predicted that my soulmate is at that school. His initials are S.K., and he's incredibly talented... I'm really curious about what kind of person he is!"

The woman murmured to herself, a smile on her face.

"Excuse me, are you Ms. Aiura Mikoto?"

A uniformed staff member approached the woman.

"Yes, that's me!"

"Your application for the fortune-telling shop has been approved. A boat will take you and other staff members to the school shortly. The location of your shop and other school-related matters are in your manual."

"Got it, thanks for your hard work!"

Aiura Mikoto smiled in response.