When I woke up, Kei had already left my room.
She probably wanted to avoid people seeing us hanging out together or her friends not finding her in her room when looking for her.
As I dressed, her scent was still in the air.
Every night could have been like yesterday, but I decided to take a different path, which made sense today.
Today is the day of truth, everything done so far served for this.
In a few moments, we will be notified of the results of the final exam, and who ends up being class A
I left my room, impatient.
"Good morning Kiyotaka"
"Good morning, Kanzaki."
As we used to do, we headed towards the central room together.
We spent a few minutes talking among us, anxious to know what was going to happen.
In this year, we had managed to close the gap with the other classes.
Starting from the bottom, we had managed to overtake Ryuuen and Sakayanagi.
But the people to overcome were others, and it was not surprising that they were the current class A
Now that Koenji and Matsushita had decided to show their true capabilities.
They, added to already extraordinary people like Hirata and Kushida, all under Horikita's leadership, were an impossible enemy to defeat.
Impossible for everyone except me.
Third Year Class Points:
Horikita's Class A - 1765
Ayanokiji's Class B - 1700
Sakayanagi's Class C - 1674
Ryuuen's D-Class - 1543
The current table does not matter, in this final exam, the difference of points given between the first and second place was 200, so if we come first, we will be the new class A.
The important thing was to reach this moment, that through the last exam, the difference in points would allow us to fight for it.
The murmuring stopped as soon as the professors entered the room.
All eyes gathered on the man who stepped forward, Professor Mashima.
"Guys, here we have the results of the exam"
The 4 classes were next to each other, waiting to know their fate.
The projector in the room turn on.
1st place - Class B - 98 points
2nd place - Class A - 93 points
3rd place - Class C - 82 points
4th place - Class D - 75 points
A scream went up among my companions.
We've made it, we've made it to class A
Professor Hoshinomiya was jumping for joy, while Chabashira looked away from her.
Everyone was celebrating, everyone... except me.
My father is right?
Has this time been a waste?
All the work I have fought for so far has been in vain.
Trying to mature the students around me to make them reach their full potential, even so, they can't do anything against the perfect creation of the white room.
I have sacrificed my last year.
The relationships established in the first two years with my classmates.
The little time I had available with whom I could consider "friends".
My time with Kei.
"Are you fine?"
The first to notice my mood was Ichinose.
"Y-yes,don't worry, I'm just tired. I have slept little"
"I see, but... look at this, it was worth it"
"Y-yes"
I looked around at the reaction of the other classes and immediately notice that people are missing from that crowd.
The phone vibrated in my pocket.
A message from Horikita.
"Come to the rooftop"
She probably want to talk after the results
"Something happens?"
Ichinose asked me looking at my screen.
"No, it's Horikita, she want to meet me"
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"Here it does not say to go alone, for me there is no problem"
"Good"
I agreed to his request without thinking, my head was elsewhere, I didn't even feel like contradicting her.
We went upstairs, and when we opened the door, we found ourselves in front of the group that led my old class.
Koenji, Hirata, Horikita and Kei were thus arranged in the middle of the rooftop, awaiting my arrival.
"You don't look very happy for someone who has just won"
The black-haired woman immediately took the word
"I guess not"
"Better, don't you think for a second that I've still lost!"
With little hope in me, something inside woke up when I heard those words.
"Do you have something in mind?"
"Is there really nothing on your mind? It's not something we've never done before."
"Are you talking about buying exam points with private points?"
"Now I recognize you. Exactly"
Indeed with Sudou we had already done this before to avoid his expulsion, but it was a totally different case.
It was a single point, and a single student.
Speaking of an exam of an entire class, the price rises radically.
"The school rules say it, you can buy everything with points.
But an individual exam is one thing and a class exam is another.
The time we saved Sudou, Chabashira seemed to have decided the amount on the spot, but in this case it's impossible. There would be a conflict of interest between teachers if they could choose the amounts.
So surely somewhere there is a regulation.
Taking advantage of my position in the student council, I directly petitioned Principal Sakayanagi. And indeed there is a set amount.
"surprise me"
"10 millions"
Rubbing his head to show the absurdity of that amount, Hirata was who reply.
Not surprising, considering that saving from an ejection costs 20.
Three or four exam points can make the difference between being first or second, in this case, adding about 200 class points.
"It's a reasonable amount, intended so that no class can afford lot of them even when all the students put points together. Are you telling me that your class has 50 million?
"Don't be stupid, you know perfectly well that it's an impossible amount for a single class. We barely made it to 23, and it's all thanks to the inhuman amount this freak has."
Horikita pointed at the man next to her.
"Seeing you so interested in something surprises me"
Hearing my words, Koenji put aside his mirror, and with his usual smile, he turned to me.
"Don't be cocky, Ayanokoji-boy.
You initially piqued my interest, but by always avoiding direct confrontation, you also became boring like the rest.
But I can understand, we're talking about me.
On the other hand, I can't resist beautiful girls, and Horikita-girl is becoming quite interesting lately."
I don't know if attracting the attention of a guy like Koenji is a positive or a negative thing.
"Besides, there can only be one perfect being in this school."
Having said what he wanted, he looked at himself in the mirror again.
It was useless to answer him, he had no interest in listening to my words.
That Horikita had convinced this loose bullet to cooperate with her was praiseworthy.
"Then why have you called me here if you don't have the points?"
"You taught me that I can't do anything alone, right? I need companions to help me. Well, I have simply followed your advice, extending it to the classes"
"What a nice way to explain it"
Those words came from behind me.
As I turned around, Sakayanagi, who had just spoken, and Ryuuen were coming towards our position.
After surpass me and Ichinose, they each stood to one side of Horikita.
"What a curious group of people"
"Do you mind if I speak?"
"Go ahead, Sakayanagi."
"Good. Horikita called the two of us the other day to meet at karaoke. She explained to us her idea.
We knew that we couldn't beat you at skill level, each of us has had proof of it in these three years.
You were going to take first place, so we had only one possibility left to aspire to class A.
Try our best to get a score as close as possible to yours and make up the difference with our private points"
Sakayanagi raised his cane and pointed it in my direction.
"We decided that the first class among the three would have taken the points from the others.
Whether these would be enough to reach you already depended on the results.
At the end of school, the points will be useless, better use them to overcome the much acclaimed "masterpiece" "
Indeed, it was a fairly logical plan.
By knowing the level of the opponent thanks to past experiences, they have accepted defeat before starting, and focused their efforts on making up for that difference with teamwork.
And all orchestrated by Horikita.
"It's hard for me to see you accept being a secondary character, Ryuuen"
"Well, to see the look on your face when you lose, it's not too bad either. Besides, I told you in this place, I will hit you when you least expect it."
Horikita has not only gotten over her rough edges with Ryuuen, she has also convinced him to abandon his ambitions to help her, under the pretense of seeing me defeated.
Sakayanagi and Ryuuen took out their phones, and passed their points to Horikita's, which now reached 43 million.
The plan that they had actually set up was perfect, but the problem is that there were still 7 million left.
They clearly couldn't know the test results before, but now it was too late.
In a short time, the results will definitely be added to the class points, and it will no longer be possible to modify the scores.
"I must admit I didn't expect you all to join forces. I did not believe you capable of abandoning your egos. But either you take out some kinder soul, you will stay at the gates "
"Indeed, even with all our points, we did not reach the number necessary to catch you up . Your academic level is really problematic. But there's still a second year class left, right?"
After Horikita's words, my partner, who had been behind me until now, took a few steps to stand next to me.
"Ichinose?"