Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e Volume 1 Chapter 7 intro

The group of failures

It's the first weekend of May. Ike and the others started listening to the teachers silently. Only Sudou kept sleeping through cla.s.s, but no one tried to stop him. Because no one find a reliable way of increasing our points, Sudou's habits were not fixed.

However, Sudou still received the ire of a lot of the cla.s.smates every day.

… I'm sleepy too. Because it's the period right before lunch, it's hard to stay awake. I also stayed up late watching a movie. It'd be great if I could fall asleep now…

"W-whoah!?"

As I was nodding off, my right arm experienced some severe pain.

"What is it, Ayanokouji? You suddenly shouted. Is this your rebellious age?"

"N-no. Sorry, Chiyabas.h.i.+ra-sensei. Some dust entered my eye…"

Normally, the students would've started whispering, but they stayed quiet and sent me glances instead, still being wary of the points. Rubbing the sore part of my arm, I glared at my neighbor. In my line of sight, I saw Horikita holding a compa.s.s needle in her hand.

This isn't a normal situation. Why does she even have compa.s.ses on hand? I don't even think there's a reason to use them during cla.s.s. As soon as cla.s.s ended, I went up to Horikita.

"There are things that are OK to do and things that are not ok!" Compa.s.ses are dangerous!"

"Are you mad at me?"

"You made a hole in my arm! A hole!"

"What are you talking about? When did I poke Ayanokouji-kun with a compa.s.s needle?"

"You're holding a dangerous weapon in your hand."

"Are you saying I stabbed you just because I'm holding something in my hand?"

I woke up not because of the cla.s.s, but from the pain.

"Be careful. If they saw you dozing off, our points would be subtracted."

Horikita started being wary of such things in order to get us out of cla.s.s D. Protesting to the school resulted in nothing for her. Ah, it hurts. Dammit, if Horikita dozes off during cla.s.s, I'll do the same thing to her.

As everyone stood up to go to lunch, Hirata started to talk.

"The test that Chiyabas.h.i.+ra-sensei mentioned is coming up soon. Everyone understands that they'll have to drop out of school if they receive failing marks. So, I think that it would be best if we form study groups."

It looks like the hero of cla.s.s D decided to start a charity project.

"If you neglect your studies, you'll immediately receive failing grades and drop out. I want to avoid that situation. Studying isn't solely for avoiding that situation, because there is also a high possibility that our test scores are reflected on our points. If we get high grades, the a.s.sessment of our cla.s.s would probably go up. I asked some of the people who got good grades to help out. So, I would like people who are worried about their grades to come partic.i.p.ate in the study group. Of course, everyone is welcome to join."

Hirata stared at Sudou while he made his speech.

"… Tch."

Sudou averted his eyes, crossed his arms, then closed his eyes.

Every since Sudou rejected Hirata's invitation to do a self-introduction, their relations.h.i.+p has been bad.

"From 5 o'clock today until the day of the test, I plan to study every day for 2 hours in this cla.s.sroom. If you have any thoughts of partic.i.p.ating, please come. Of course, it's fine if you have to leave halfway. That's all."

As soon as he said that, several of the students with failing marks stood up and went to Hirata.

Sudou, Ike, and Yamauchi were the only ones that didn't go up to Hirata. Ike and Yamauchi hesitated for a moment, but in the end, they didn't approach him.

I wasn't sure whether they were afraid of Sudou's bad mood, or if they were simply jealous of his popularity.