Chapter 152: The Protective Girlfriend and the Little Devil!
About seven minutes later, Hirata Yosuke and several other students returned to the Class D classroom.
They wore happy smiles and carried large stacks of paper—the photocopies they had made from Ike's examination papers.
"Distribute these papers to everyone," Hirata told the girl beside him.
"Leave it to me. Everyone will get a copy!" she promised.
Photocopying did not cost many points, so Hirata had made thirty-nine sets.
Aside from Ike, who owned the original papers, every Class D student would receive a free copy.
Suzune expressionlessly flipped through the papers she received.
Her delicate brows furrowed slightly.
"They're exactly the same as Nii-san's papers. They really are the old midterms."
Meanwhile, Hirata approached Ike, who was staring painfully at the photocopies everyone now possessed.
"Ike-kun, exactly how many points did you spend buying these papers?"
"Six hundred thousand!" Ike answered without hesitation.
Even if he died, he intended to stick to that number!
"Then let me see the transaction history on your student ID."
"What are you trying to do?!"
"I already gave everyone the papers for free! What more do you want?!" Ike shouted angrily.
Exactly!
He had already contributed the papers for free.
Why did Hirata still insist on determining how many points he had actually spent?
In truth, Ike also disliked Hirata.
Like Yuto, Hirata was handsome and extremely popular with the girls!
Because of his twisted envy and jealousy, Ike had never treated Hirata particularly well.
Despite Ike's terrible attitude, the good-natured Hirata remained gentle.
"You misunderstand, Ike-kun."
"I want to confirm how much you actually paid so everyone can contribute points and reimburse you."
"Really?!" Ike instantly regained his energy.
"Of course."
"I see..."
A guilty expression appeared on Ike's face.
He took out his student ID and stammered, "Actually... it wasn't six hundred thousand. I only spent fifty thousand points."
Hirata checked Ike's transaction records and confirmed that he had indeed spent fifty thousand points on the papers.
Afterward, Hirata genuinely went around asking the other students to help reimburse Ike!
Hirata was an extremely kind person—perhaps excessively so.
There was a reason for that.
During middle school, Hirata had once stood by while a close friend was bullied, which ultimately led to that friend attempting suicide.
Overcome with guilt, Hirata swore that he would never again ignore someone around him who needed help.
Since then, he had practically become an embodiment of justice.
He trusted everyone equally and would step forward to protect anyone being hurt or bullied.
Naturally, Hirata would not allow Ike to shoulder the entire fifty-thousand-point expense alone.
Everyone who benefited from the papers should share the cost.
Perhaps because they had received the supposed midterm papers, or because Hirata personally asked them, several students agreed to contribute.
Unfortunately, Class D was poor.
Nobody wanted to give much.
In the end, they gathered only 21,400 points.
Hirata personally paid the remaining 28,600!
His actions immediately earned praise from the Class D students.
Ike, however, became irritated.
Wasn't he the one who had obtained the papers?
Shouldn't everyone be praising him instead?
Why were they all praising Hirata?!
As expected, Ike hated handsome bastards the most!
"Bastards... They're all bastards. Hirata Yosuke is just like Shimizu Yuto. Both of them are bastards," Ike muttered bitterly.
Kikyo glanced at Ike as he quietly cursed her boyfriend and narrowed her eyes slightly.
An idea suddenly flashed through her mind.
Still wearing her sweet smile, Kikyo abruptly exclaimed, "Ah!"
The nearby students looked toward her in confusion.
Shinohara Satsuki asked, "What happened, Kushida?"
"Ike-kun's papers are exactly the same as the ones I bought yesterday," Kikyo said with feigned surprise.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Really?"
"No way."
"It's true. Look for yourselves."
Kikyo took out her phone and showed several girls who gathered around her the conversation she had with Manabe Shiho.
The timestamps confirmed that Kikyo had purchased the papers from Manabe the previous evening.
And the photographs Manabe sent were indeed completely identical to the photocopies everyone had received!
"Kikyo, why didn't you show us these earlier?"
"If you had, we wouldn't have needed to gather points for that bastard Ike!"
"I originally planned to share them with everyone for free."
"But I wasn't certain whether the papers Manabe-san sent me were actually relevant to our upcoming midterm, so I was still hesitant."
"I planned to ask some upperclassmen during lunch today and confirm the information before telling everyone," Kikyo explained seriously.
Everyone believed her explanation.
After all, she was the cheerful and helpful little angel Kikyo~
"Kikyo only paid ten thousand points for the exact same papers Ike bought for fifty thousand!"
"I never should've contributed points to him earlier!"
"Exactly!"
"Before receiving these photocopies, I didn't know Ike-kun's papers were identical to mine either," Kikyo said innocently.
The nearby students nodded.
That made sense.
Gradually, the girls surrounding Kikyo spread the information throughout the classroom.
The students' gazes toward Ike gained several additional traces of disgust.
They all believed that if they had simply waited until reliable little angel Kikyo confirmed everything with the upperclassmen, she would have voluntarily shared the papers for free.
Instead, because of Ike's actions that morning, they had been forced to gather fifty thousand points for him!
Naturally, they were unhappy.
On one side was Kikyo's free copy.
On the other was gathering fifty thousand points for the irritating Ike.
With such a comparison, nobody felt particularly grateful toward Ike for obtaining the papers.
Kikyo was different from Kei.
She was not publicly Yuto's girlfriend, so if she wanted to help him vent his anger, she had to use methods like this.
And Kikyo's little trick was quite effective.
At the very least, the Class D students no longer felt much gratitude toward Ike despite his contribution.
Ike himself did not even notice the change in the classroom.
He was staring foolishly at the fifty thousand points that had returned to his student ID.
...
Yuto and Kei returned to the Class D classroom.
Most students were looking down and studying the photocopies, and one set had been placed on each of their desks as well.
"We even got copies?" Kei asked in surprise.
Yuto casually flipped through his set.
Suzune looked toward him.
"Shimizu, these papers are identical to the ones Nii-san gave me."
"They really are identical." Yuto nodded.
He had already looked through Manabu's papers with Suzune and Kei in the library yesterday, so he recognized the questions immediately.
Unfortunately, the upcoming midterm would not reuse the old examination papers.
No matter how thoroughly everyone memorized these questions and answers, it would be meaningless.
As Class D's leader, Yuto worried his classmates might suffer badly because of this.
So he walked toward the podium.
Kikyo, who had been watching him closely, immediately brightened and hurried after him.
"Yuto, are you going to tell everyone something again? I'll help~"
Yuto smiled at the sweetly smiling Kikyo.
"I'm only going to say a couple of things. I don't need any help."
"Oh, okay."
Yuto did not intend to waste much time.
"Everyone, look over here for a moment."
Yuto's overwhelming reputation and charisma caused the Class D students to raise their heads almost immediately.
Everyone looked toward him.
"I know everyone now has a copy of the so-called 'midterm examination papers.'"
"But nobody can confirm that these will actually be the papers used in our upcoming midterm."
"So you can study and familiarize yourselves with these questions, but don't stop your normal studying."
Suzune gently nodded.
She agreed completely.
Ike wanted to argue, but he no longer possessed the courage to directly oppose Yuto.
Instead, he muttered quietly, "The papers I got are definitely going to be used. Shimizu Yuto is just overthinking things."
Yuto had fulfilled his responsibility as Class D's leader by warning everyone.
Afterward, he and Kikyo walked back down from the podium.
...
Classes resumed.
Before long, the afternoon school day ended.
Kei affectionately held Yuto's arm as they headed toward the library together.
Recently, Kei had grown fond of going to the quiet library with him.
They could sit together, study, and treat it almost like a date.
She loved the atmosphere.
For a girl experiencing the sweetness of first love, practically anything felt enjoyable as long as she could remain beside the boy she loved.
Yuto and Kei reached the library.
A little over ten minutes later, they spotted Suzune approaching with an icy expression.
Holding her ballpoint pen, Kei curiously asked Yuto, "Horikita didn't bring those three idiots today?"
Normally, the exhausted trio of Sudo, Ike, and Yamauchi would be reluctantly following behind Suzune.
Today, however, she came alone.
Her expression was also exceptionally cold, as though someone had thoroughly angered her.
Yuto casually watched Suzune approach.
"Those three probably decided that since they obtained the supposed examination papers, they no longer need to study seriously."
"So they rejected Horikita's study session."
"Mm~ I can understand them."
Kei pressed closer to Yuto and smiled sweetly.
"I don't like studying either. If I had papers like those, I probably wouldn't want to study anymore."
"If memorizing the questions can get you a high score, why bother studying?"
Yuto smiled and poked Kei's soft cheek.
"Then why are you still studying with me?"
"Because I want to be with you~"
What a silly girl...
Suzune entered the library and looked around.
The moment she spotted Yuto and Kei, she walked directly toward them without hesitation.
Seeing her approach, Kei quietly complained.
"This girl really can't read the mood. She's interrupting our time alone again."
"Well..."
Yuto also looked slightly helpless.
He assumed Suzune had come to ask him for help again—probably to make Sudo and the other two attend the study sessions.
But Yuto had no intention of helping her anymore.
He had already done quite enough regarding Sudo, Ike, and Yamauchi's studies.
Even if Suzune asked him again, he would refuse.
However, things did not seem to be developing as Yuto expected.
Suzune apparently had no intention of asking him for anything.
She sat in the empty seat across from Yuto and Kei, took out her textbook and notebook, and immediately began studying without making any request.
Yuto became curious.
"Horikita, why are you alone today? Where are Sudo and the other two?"
"They won't be coming anymore."
"And I've given up on them," Suzune answered in an icy voice.
"Given up?" Yuto asked with a strange expression.
Suzune raised her eyes toward him.
"I'm completely disappointed in them."
"So I told them the study group is dissolved. From now on, they can do whatever they want."
Yuto showed slight surprise.
He had not expected Suzune to completely abandon teaching them.
It seemed she must have gotten into an argument with Sudo and the others earlier.
…
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