Chapter 9: Piano and Calligraphy

"Alright, let's continue with Episode Eight Theater Room, Piano and Calligraphy."

Hearing the title of the next episode, many audience are confused, because there is no clue that can be obtained from the title of this latest episode.

After hearing this new title, Horikita Manabu who was sitting in a special place turned his gaze to Horikita Suzune and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

[Don't mess with people who practice Piano and Calligraphy.

- A Certain Wiseman.

...]

A voice that said don't mess with someone practice piano and calligraphy spoke on a screen that was currently still dark.

"Are we now going to see a conflict between a foreigner and a person practice piano and calligraphy...?"

Conflict...?

After hearing that word, many students started to have an interest in this new situation.

Horikita who knew someone who had said similar words had her eyes set on that person.

[I couldn't seem to fall asleep, so I got up and exited my room.

In the lobby, I bought some juice from the vending machine and went back to the elevator.

"Hmm?"

The elevator was on the 7th floor. Feeling curious, I looked at the CCTV monitor of the inside of the elevator. It was Horikita in her school uniform.

"... Well, there's no need to hide myself, but..."

I didn't want to particularly face her, so I hid myself behind the vending machine. The elevator reached the first floor.

While being wary of her surroundings, Horikita exited the building. After she disappeared into the dark, I chased after her.

However, I involuntarily hid myself again after turning the corner.]

"Your stalking ability is very high, Ayanokouji-kun." Sato asked a question.

Ayanokouji who heard the question asked by Sato replied casually, "I learned from the best."

Some students started to wonder who the best stalker Ayanokouji spoke of, so they asked him, "Who is that...?"

"A certain brown-haired girl."

Matsushita who heard Ayanokouji words was silent, because she probably knew who he meant, even she knew very well who Ayanokouji meant.

That's herself.

[Horikita stopped moving. There was another person's figure.

"Suzune. I didn't think you'd follow me all the way here."]

"Suzune, you didn't meet your boyfriend, did you?" Sudou who was worried about who his crush met at night asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." Horikita just smiled remembering her first face-to-face meeting with her brother Horikita Manabu.

[Did she leave at this hour to meet with a boy?

"Nii-san, I'm different from the useless me that you know. I've come here to catch up to you."

"Catch up to me, huh."

Nii-san? I couldn't see the person she was talking to, but it looks like it's Horikita's older brother.]

Sudou who saw not the boyfriend Horikita met, heaved a sigh of relief.

Many began to speculate as to why the Student Council President younger sister could be a student from the lowest grade class.

["I heard that you are in class D; it doesn't seem like anything's changed in the last 3 years. Because you've always been looking at my back, you've never been able to see your own flaws. Choosing to come to this school was another one of your mistakes."

"That's—that's wrong. I'm going to rise up to class A. And then—"

"That's impossible. You'll never reach class A. Rather, your class will crumble before that. This school isn't as easy as you think it is."

"I will absolutely, absolutely reach class A..."

"I already said it's impossible. You're a really unreasonable younger sister."]

"It's confirmed, that Horikita-san is a bro-con."

Hearing someone say such words, many began to speculate that it was possible that Horikita was a bro-con.

Hearing that many students started accusing her of being a bro-con, Horikita tried to calm herself down so as not to lose her cool, as it could embarrass her older brother who was in the theater as well.

But expectations didn't match reality, as a certain Dragon-boy started to taunt her, "Kukuku, so all your love lies with your Big Brother, it's only natural that you have always had such a cold face all this time."

"As expected of a bro-con, Kukuku."

[Horikita's older brother takes a step forward. From my hiding spot, I could see his form more clearly.

It was the student council president.

There was no emotion in his expression, as if he was looking at an existence that didn't interest him at all.

He grabbed his younger sister's wrist and pushed her against the wall.

"No matter how much I avoided you, you are still my younger sister. If people start to learn about you, it is me who will be disgraced. Leave this school immediately."]

"How cruel you are to your little sister, Horikita-senpai." Nagumo smiled sinisterly at what was displayed on the screen.

"Are you alright, Manabu-kun?" Tachibana, who knows Horikita Manabu character, is worried about his behavior towards his beloved little sister.

Horikita Manabu who saw Tachibana concern, just smiled and replied, "Don't worry, I'm just teaching my little sister an important lesson."

["N-no... tsu. I will, I will absolutely rise up to class A...!"

"Foolish, really. Do you want to relive the painful experiences of the past?"

"Nii-san—I will—"

"You have neither the power nor the qualifications to aim for class A. Understand that."

Horikita's body drew forward, as if he was about to take action. The situation looks dangerous.

Resigning myself to her anger, I stepped out from my corner and approached the older brother.

Before I realized, I grabbed his right arm.]

"What!"

Many were surprised to see Ayanokouji quick movement to grab Horikita Manabu hand.

"So there is a possibility that now we will see a fight between Horikita Manabu, and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka." A teacher who taught in Horikita Manabu class the previous year commented.

"Isn't it obvious who won the battle, if we look at the posture of both parties, Horikita Manabu posture has a greater chance of winning." A student from Sakayanagi class gave his opinion.

"Physically maybe they are similar, to how they raced at the sports festival last year, so it's not certain who will win."

["—What? Who are you?"

Looking at his own arm, he looked at me with a sharp glint in his eyes.

"A-ayanokouji-kun!?"

"You, you were trying to throw her to the ground, right? It's concrete here, you know. Just because you're siblings doesn't mean you can do anything you want."

"It's not admirable to eavesdrop."

"Just let go of her hand."

"That's what I should be saying."

It was silent while we glared at each other.

"Stop, Ayanokouji-kun..."

She said with a strained voice. I've never seen her like that before.

Reluctantly, I let go of his arm. At that moment, he aimed for my face with a quick backhand.

Feeling danger, I instinctively leaned backwards. A nasty attack with a thin body. Furthermore, he aimed for my vitals with a sharp kick.

"Ha!"

I understood that it had power to make me lose consciousness in one hit. With a confused look, he let out a breath and extended his right arm towards me.

If I grabbed his hand, he would probably throw me onto the ground. Instead, I slapped his arm away with left hand.

"Good reflexes. I didn't think you would avoid every single one. You also understood what I was trying to do. Were you taught in some way?"

Finally stopping his attacks, he asked me a question.

"Yea, I did piano and calligraphy. In elementary school, I even got the championship in a music competition."]

"So it's like that, the previous quote from what Ayanokouji-kun said." Ichinose spoke her mind.

"If learning Piano and Calligraphy is make you strong in fighting, maybe I will also be strong in fighting." A certain student studying piano and calligraphy commented with a laugh.

"Ayanokouji-kun is it possible that you have studied martial arts all this time...?" The curious Matsushita asked Ayanokouji.

Ayanokouji who had been silently watching along with Karuizawa, turned his gaze to Matsushita and nodded his head.

Receiving confirmation from Ayanokouji, Matsushita began to assert her thoughts that Ayanokouji is an ideal boyfriend, from Ayanokouji mental capacity it has shown that he is quite smart, and now from his physical capacity he can also fight against Horikita Manabu.

"Are you also class D? What a unique boy. Suzune."

Letting go of her arm, he slowly faced me.

"Suzune, you have a friend? I'm honestly surprised."

"He's... he's not my friend. He's only a classmate."]

"What a rude word, even her seatmate is not considered a friend by her."

"I was quite rude at the time." Horikita who saw the behavior of her past self, cast her gaze at Ayanokouji and apologized.

[Denying his words, she looked up to her brother.

"As always, you're mistaking solitude with isolation. And you, Ayanokouji. With you, it looks like things are going to become interesting."

Walking past me, he disappeared into the night. The confident student council president. It seems like Horikita was acting strange because she met her brother.]

"So this is how your first meeting with Ayanokouji was, Horikita-senpai." Nagumo found their first meeting very interesting to him.

"Interesting student like Ayanokouji, there's no way I can ignore him." Horikita Manabu who heard Nagumo question only replied curtly.

Hearing their conversation, many students began to understand that all this time they had been blind to not see that there was a person of great ability around them, while Horikita Manabu who was not nearby could see the potential of Ayanokouji great ability.

["I'm going to crawl my way to class A even if I die. That's the only way."

After he left, the night was engulfed in silence. Horikita sat down against the wall, her head hanging in shame. I wonder if I did anything unnecessary. As I turned to return to the dorms, Horikita called out to me.

"Did you hear everything...? Or was it coincidence?"

"No, it was like 50% luck. I saw you while I went to go buy juice from the vending machine. I followed you simply because I was curious. However, I really didn't mean to intrude."

Horikita sank into silence once again.

"Your older brother is quite strong. He didn't hesitate to attack."

"He's... 5th dan in karate and 4th dan in aikido."

Oho, so he's that strong. If I didn't pull back it would've been a disaster.]

"Ayanokouji must be strong enough to withstand the abilities of someone like Horikita Manabu who practice two types of martial arts and isn't even low-level." Katsuragi spoke his mind.

["Ayanokouji-kun, you also do something, right? You're also a rank holder."

"I already said it, didn't I? I played piano and performed tea ceremonies."

"You said calligraphy before."

"... I also did calligraphy."]

"For some reason, during a situation like this, Ayanokouji-kun ability to lie has decreased greatly."

"Isn't it obvious, he doesn't have a good lying ability?" Ike asked.

"Kukuku, obviously that person's lying ability is quite good, so there must be some purpose for him to tell such an obvious lie."

["You purposely got low scores on your test, and you say you did piano and calligraphy. I still don't understand you very well."

"Getting those scores were only a coincidence, and I really did piano, tea ceremony, and calligraphy."

If there was a piano here, I could play Fur Elise at least.

"I let you see a strange side of me."

"Rather, I always thought that you were a normal girl—not."

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She scowled at me.

"Let's go back. If anyone sees us here, there will surely be a misunderstanding."

Certainly. There would absolutely be strange rumors about a girl and a boy all by themselves in the dead of night.

Not to mention, our relationship was still iffy to begin with.]

"The ability to manipulate his test score, martial arts skills, and with the ability to play the piano, calligraphy, and tea ceremony. All the procedures to become a hidden protagonist have been fulfilled." Sotomura smiled, feeling like a detective about to uncover a big conspiracy case.

"After you say things like that, Ayanokouji-kun has been holding back quite a lot this whole time isn't it...?" Ichihashi stated her thoughts.

"Despite the restraint, at least Ayanokouji-kun is helping the class a lot from behind the scenes." Mori answered.

[Slowly getting up, Horikita walked towards the entrance of the dorms.

"Hey... Are you really ok with how the study group went?"

Thinking that I wouldn't get another chance, I called out to her resolutely.

"Why are you asking that? I proposed the study group in the first place. It's not like you cared about it in the first place. Am I wrong?"

"I have a bad feeling. Or should I say, the other students seem to be planning something."

"I don't mind. I'm already used to it. Also, most of the students with red marks are with Hirata-kun. He's good at studying, gets along with people, and can teach other people well, unlike me. This time, they should be able to barely clear the borderline. However, I judged it to be a waste of time to help them out myself. Until graduation, they'll have to repeatedly try to not fail. It'd be really stupid to keep trying to cover for their failing marks every single time."]

"I'm quite curious than before, it feels strange to see a student like Hirata-kun who has all the criteria to enter class A in class D." A certain girl from Sakayanagi class expressed her suspicions.

"Eh... That's right. In terms of academics, physique, personality, and communication skills all qualify for him to enter class A."

Some of the students started to think about what caused Hirata, a popular good-natured student, to be admitted to the lowest class.

"Is it to balance the situation of each class...?" Katsuragi wanted to believe his assumption, but somehow he sensed a suspicious situation.

"Even if to balance the overall strength of the class, it's still quite suspicious, it feels like something is missing from this theory." Kanzaki felt the same suspicion as Katsuragi.

"Isn't it obvious?" Ryuuen laughed seeing the two of them thinking of a question that was quite easy to answer.

Katsuragi and Kanzaki who felt Ryuuen had the answer they were looking for, turned their eyes to Ryuuen and asked, but they stopped before starting to want to ask. They started to rethink the situation that was showing in this theater room and started to get some clues.

"Is it possible...?"

Ryuuen who looked at the two people who had probably arrived at the answer they were looking for started laughing, "Answers have been shown all along in the display on the screen."

"Superiority complex bro-con, bitch with mental disorder, contradiction with restraint disorder, dogs with explosive emotions, and overbearing narcissists full of self. So it is certain that almost all D class students have a defect to make themselves placed in the lowest class.

And this leads to a conclusion,

This school knows some of the past of the students."

Ryuuen laughed heartily after expressing his suspicions all along, and ignored the consequences of telling the students something as important as he said.

The students who heard Ryuuen words started to feel great shock, because they didn't expect that the school system for placing students was quite complex like this.

Even the school staff who are now sitting in a special place get a bit of a shock that Ryuuen knows this quite secret information.

This shows that the role of the Theater Room is very influential for the students.

["Sudou and his group took some distance from Hirata. I don't think they'll participate in his study group."

"That's what they decided to do; that has nothing to do with me. If they don't approach Hirata-kun, they'll just drop out soon enough. Of course, my goal is to get up to class A. However, that's for my own sake, and not for anyone else. I don't care what anyone else does. Rather, if cut down on people on this next midterm, only people who are necessary are left. It'll be easier to get to class A. A win-win situation."

I don't think she's wrong. In the first place, this crisis is bad for students who got red marks. However, I couldn't help but continue the conversation with Horikita, who was strangely talkative.

"Horikita, isn't that way of thinking incorrect?"

"Incorrect? Tell me which part is wrong. You're not trying to say that there is no future for a person who abandons their classmates, right?"

"Calm down. I know you well enough that you wouldn't understand what I'm saying."

"Then why? There's no merit in saving failures."

"Certainly there isn't much merit.However, it helps prevent demerits."

"... Demerits?"

"Do you think that the school hasn't already thought of that? They're students who rack up negative points from talking during class or always being late. Say they drop out because no one helped them. How many negative points do you think we'll get?"

"That's—"

"Of course, before we get any information, nothing is certain. However, don't you think that there's a fairly high possibility? A hundred? A thousand? There's even a chance that 10,000 or 100,000 points are deducted. If that's the case, you'll have a hard time getting to class A."

"Our negative points from being late and talking during class can't go below 0 right now. While we're at 0 points, it'd be best to remove all the students who can't study. Isn't it the same as receiving no damage?"]

The third year and the school staff were once again shocked by how terrifying Ayanokouji situation-observing abilities were.

After seeing this, now that they could understand why the Student Council President like Horikita Manabu gave Ayanokouji more attention than the other students, perhaps he had already seen Ayanokouji potential.

["There's no guarantee that that'll be the case. There might be some negative points that we don't know about yet. Do you really think it's alright to ignore such a dangerous risk? Well... for someone as smart as you, there's no way that you wouldn't have thought of that. If that wasn't the case, there's no reason for you to do a study group. You would've abandoned them from the very start."

I was starting to get worked up. That might be because I started to regard her as a friend. I didn't want her to regret her decision.

"Even if there are unseen minuses, it's better for the class if we get rid of the failures. When we start to increase our points, it'll be bad if we regret not cutting them out. At this time, this is a risk that should be taken."

"Do you really think that?"

"Yes, really. Rather, I am worried about you, who is trying to desperately save them."

I grabbed Horikita's wrist as she was about to get on the elevator.

"What? Do you have a rebuttal? This problem isn't something that can be solved by the two of us. The only ones who know the answer are the school, so we'll be left here arguing forever. I'll interpret it as I like, and you'll do the same. It'll only amount to that, no?"

"You're really talkative. I never thought you were the type of person to talk this much."

"That's... that's because you're being insistent."

The normal Horikita would never listen to me.

If I stopped her like this, it wouldn't be strange to receive a sharp blow. However, by not doing so, it's evidence that Horikita also thinks the same way. That's why she didn't shake off my hand. Of course, she herself probably doesn't notice.]

"Ayanokouji-senpai understands Horikita-senpai behavior very well, to be able to estimate the next action Horikita-senpai will take on him." A certain Yagami made his debut for the first time.

"Isn't it obvious, that that person might be the one controlling the entire class situation." Hosen who knows Ayanokouji ability, starts to think that Ayanokouji is the one who controls the whole class all this time.

"For a gorilla you have enough brains to think." Ryuuen insulted.

Hosen who heard the insults thrown by Ryuuen, just insulted back, "At least I'm not too cowardly to bring the whole group against someone."

"Kukuku, surely a gorilla like you probably doesn't understand what a winning strategy is."

["The day we met. Do you remember what happened on the bus?"

"You mean the time we refused to give our seat up to the old woman?"

"Yea. At that time, I thought of the meaning behind giving up my seat. To give up my seat, or not to give up my seat. Which one is the right answer?"

"I already gave my answer. I didn't give up my seat because I felt it was useless. There's no merit to giving her my seat, but rather a waste of time and effort."

"Merit? All you think about is profit and loss to the very end."

"Is that bad? Humans are calculating creatures. If you sell goods, you get money, and if you do someone a favor, it'll be returned. I'll receive this thing called 'joy' from my contribution to society if I give up my seat. No?"

"No, that's not wrong. I also think that's natural."

"Then—"

"With that mindset, make sure to have a broad outlook on life. Right now, you're too blinded by anger and unhappiness that you can't see anything."

"Are you someone important? Do you even have the ability to find faults about me?"

"Whatever my ability, I can only see one thing that you cannot see. This is the only fault in the otherwise perfect-looking person known as Horikita Suzune."

She snorted, as if she was saying "Tell me if you have a bone to pick with me."

"Let me tell me you your faults. You find other people a hindrance and you don't let anyone come close to you. Aren't you in class D because you always think of yourself as superior over everyone else?"]

Ryuuen who saw Ayanokouji words on the screen, started to laugh out loud because all the suspicions he had been thinking about had the possibility to come true.

"So it's possible that what Ryuuen-kun said earlier, if even Ayanokouji-kun speaks like that too." Ichinose rethinks the whole situation of this theater room, because if what Ryuuen said is true, then a lot of useful information is scattered in this theater room.

"You have enough confidence in Ayanokouji-kun abilities, Honami-chan." Amikura smiled seductively.

Ichinose who was teased by her classmate tried to use her all abilitys to hide her embarrassment, "After seeing what's been showing so far, it can be assumed that Ayanokouji-kun has keen observation skills, and during this time he also helped me a lot, so I have an idea what what he can do."

["... It seems like you're trying to say that I'm equal to Sudou-kun and his group."

"Then, are you trying to say that you're superior to those guys?"

"It's obvious if you look at the test scores. Those are clear evidence that they're just heavy baggage for the class."

"Certainly, if you measure by scores, they're two, three times below your level. Even if they tried really hard, they wouldn't be able to surpass you. However, that's only true on top of the desk. The school doesn't only look at intelligence. This time, if the school did some kind of physical examination, the results wouldn't be the same. Is that wrong?"

"That's—"

"Your physical ability is also good. After watching you swim, you're definitely one of the better girls. However, both you and I know that Sudou's physical abilities surpass yours. Ike has communication skills that you don't have. If there was a test based on communication skills, Ike would certainly be helpful. Rather, you would've probably dragged down the class. Well then, are you incompetent? No, that's not it. Everyone has their strong and weak points. That's what a human is."

Horikita tried to retort, but she wasn't able to say anything.

"... You have no basis to your words. All of your words are just pure guesses."

"If there is no foundation, then we have to come up with a guess from what we do have. Think about Chiyabashira-sensei's words carefully. In the guidance room, she said, "Who decided that smart people are the ones who get into superior classes?". So, the conclusion is that there is some factor other than academic ability that affects rankings."

I swiftly cut off Horikita's exit path as she looked left and right to weasel herself out of the argument. If I didn't do that, our argument would've been ridiculous.

"You say that you wouldn't regret abandoning the students who failed, but that's not true. There will be plenty of days where you feel regret if they drop out."

I looked straight into Horikita's eyes. She was not only grasping the reality of the situation, but also tied it with her consciousness. I got that impression from her.

"You're really talkative today too. Doesn't suit your principle of avoiding trouble."

"Yea, probably."

"It's really frustrating, but your words are right. You had enough persuasive power to make me think that. I'll recognize that. However, I still can't understand one thing. That is, your true intentions. What is this school to you? Why are you desperately trying to persuade me?"

"... I see, that's what you're thinking."

"If someone doesn't have any persuasive power, their theories won't be believed."

She wants to know why I'm trying to persuade her that letting Sudou and the others drop out is a bad thing.

"Without any facades, I want to know the true reason. For points? To rise up to class A? Or, to help your friends?"

"Because I want to know. What is 'a person with merit'? What is equality?"

"Merit, equality..."]

"So even then his thoughts on the issue of equality were still there, and he tried experimenting with the rest of his class, really scary." Kamuro started to feel an existential sense of dread in these two monstrous people.

Of course, Sakayanagi Arisu was the one she mentioned.

Since they were often together, she knew quite well what she had been up to.

Listening to Kamuro comment, many students started to feel the same way as her, if it was true that Ayanokouji was using his classmates to satisfy his curiosity about equality then it was quite scary.

["I came to this school to seek out answers to these questions."

Although it wasn't well organized in my head, it came out clearly in words.

"Your hand, can you let go?"

"Ah, my bad."

After I released my hand, Horikita turned around and looked at me.

"I couldn't have fallen for your smooth talking, right?"

Saying that, Horikita extended her arm towards me.

"I will take care of Sudou-kun and the others for my own sake. From now on, I'll make sure to make sure they don't drop out as an investment for the future. Is that fine?"

"Don't worry. I don't think you'll act differently. That's the kind of person you are."

"That's a promise, then."

I took Horikita's hand.

However, it wasn't until later that I learned that this was a contract with the devil.]

[Episode Eight, Piano and Calligraphy. End]

Horikita Manabu who had been watching the conversation between Ayanokouji and Horikita, turned his gaze towards Ayanokouji, "Thank you Ayanokouji, you helped Suzune to grow into a better person."

Ayanokouji who heard Manabu thanks, nodded his head, "Don't worry, Horikita is safe with me."

Horikita who overheard the conversation between Horikita Manabu and Ayanokouji started to feel an unclear feeling because she really liked the feeling of being praised by two people she respected the most.

Episode Eight closes with Horikita Suzune who has an embarrassed face and feels happy to be praised by her older brother.

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