"Kushida must have already obtained the exam questions from Ryuen. Her academic ability isn't low to begin with, and if she gets the questions in advance, scoring full marks isn't impossible."
After leaving the café, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said to Saiki.
"Horikita's academic ability is higher than Kushida's, but considering various factors, getting a perfect score would still be quite difficult."
"Yeah."
Saiki nodded indifferently, not particularly concerned.
"Judging by your expression, it seems you've already prepared."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka noticed Saiki's calm demeanor and assumed he had already thought of a countermeasure.
'Yeah.'
Saiki thought to himself.
For someone with psychic abilities, this kind of thing wasn't a big deal.
During the exam, Saiki could use his powers to remotely alter the answers of both Horikita Suzune and Kushida Kikyo.
He could also make sure Kushida Kikyo couldn't sleep the night before the exam, or cause her pen to break during the exam...
For Kushida Kikyo to outperform Horikita Suzune was simply impossible in the face of a psychic.
Saiki had plenty of ways to make Kushida Kikyo lose.
However, he couldn't reveal any of this, so he simply observed Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, reading his thoughts to see if there were any conventional methods to make Kushida Kikyo fail.
[I plan to plant some cheat notes around Kushida before the exam, so Chabashira-sensei catches her cheating. That way, her exam score will be invalidated, and she might even be expelled. This way, Kushida won't pose a threat in the class anymore.]
"Um... maybe we can make it look like Kushida is cheating, so she loses this bet."
Saiki immediately suggested.
"Our thoughts align."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded.
"So, how do you plan to do it?"
"Uh... find a way to hide cheat notes in her clothes?"
Saiki replied.
[Saiki's idea is the same as mine, and he's the easiest person to pull this off. After all, there are a few girls around him who can be used as tools. Saiki can easily use these girls to get close to Kushida and make this happen.]
'.....'
Hearing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's thoughts, Saiki wasn't sure how to respond.
"Then I'll leave this to you, Saiki. It should be easier for you to handle than me."
Before Saiki could think further, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had already spoken, assigning the task to him.
".....I haven't agreed yet..."
"Also, I'm not sure what Horikita has been up to lately. She might have already made some preparations, but to prevent any accidents, we should still take some precautions."
"Right..."
Saiki nodded. He wasn't sure what Horikita Suzune had been doing either—because for the past few days, Saiki had been taking everyone to the café after school for study sessions. With so many people around, he couldn't use his clairvoyance, as going cross-eyed in public would be too embarrassing.
"I originally wanted to expel Kushida, but Horikita seems to have a completely different idea. She sees value in Kushida and wants to turn her into a force to help the class climb higher. What do you think?"
"Whatever."
Saiki casually replied, not wanting to get involved in more trouble.
"It seems we're on the same page. Let Horikita handle it herself."
'Huh?'
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka interpreted Saiki's "whatever" as letting Horikita Suzune do as she pleased.
"Only then can Horikita grow—regarding Kushida, I'll leave it to you, Saiki."
With that, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka left, leaving Saiki standing there, utterly bewildered.
...
A few days later, the exam arrived as scheduled.
Saiki arrived outside the exam hall, where other students were already preparing.
His gaze immediately fell on Kushida Kikyo.
".....I didn't study much either. I'm not too confident about this exam!"
Kushida Kikyo smiled as she chatted with the girls around her.
[I've already obtained the exam questions from Ryuen. Getting a perfect score should be a piece of cake!]
[Not only that, but I've also given the questions to Chabashira-sensei in advance, so she won't accept questions from anyone else. This way, it's not just my personal victory—our class will also suffer in this exam.]
[By then, Horikita Suzune, as the class leader, will bear the brunt of the blame and be forced to drop out. The others will also be expelled~ Next, my only target will be Ryuen!]
'Yare yare, so she's using such methods after all.'
Saiki narrowed his eyes slightly. He had already known about their plan.
"Yamauchi-kun, I'm counting on you for this exam!"
Kushida Kikyo turned to Yamauchi Haruki, who was sitting in the corner farthest from her.
Yamauchi Haruki, startled, twitched and quickly nodded:
"Yeah, yeah..."
Yamauchi Haruki had dark circles under his eyes and looked completely drained.
Once, he had harbored unrealistic admiration for Kushida Kikyo, but reality was far more terrifying than he had imagined.
[The fear on Yamauchi's face seems so real. Only I know that everything about you is an act, right? But I have to admit, your acting might even surpass mine. That expression—I couldn't pull it off.]
'Because he's not acting....'
Saiki glanced at Yamauchi Haruki out of the corner of his eye. Yamauchi hadn't slept well for days and hadn't even entertained any mischievous thoughts. Recently, he had been forced to study seriously.
Forced to study, huh?
Saiki's gaze shifted to Horikita Suzune, wanting to see if she had taken any action that could save him some trouble—
But at that moment, Horikita Suzune's mind was entirely focused on studying.
'She's so focused, it's almost impressive.'
Saiki couldn't help but admire Horikita Suzune. No matter what happened, she could always keep her attention entirely on her studies.
"Kusuo!"
At that moment, a cheerful and lively female voice rang out from the side.
It was Karuizawa Kei, her face beaming with a bright, spring-like smile.
"Good luck on the exam!"
"I'll just go with the flow. It depends on how hard the exam is."
Saiki replied casually.
"Here, take this!"
Karuizawa Kei pulled a small charm out of her pocket and handed it to Saiki.
"What's this?"
"A good luck charm! It'll help you score high! We're in this together, after all!"
Karuizawa Kei smiled.
"A good luck charm... Wait, where did you get this?"
"From that new fortune-telling merchandise store that opened this semester. The owner seems to be that fortune-teller from before."
"It's her, huh..."
Saiki's mind couldn't help but conjure an image of Aiura Mikoto looking smug.
"The exam will begin shortly. Please enter the exam hall."
As the announcement played, the students began filing into the classroom to prepare for the exam.
The first subject was math, the one Kushida Kikyo and Horikita Suzune had chosen.
As the teacher handed out the exam papers, Saiki prepared to take action.
'Sorry, Kushida. Even though you and I don't have any direct conflicts—well, maybe we do now—but to avoid causing more trouble in the future, I can't let you score high.'
Saiki looked at Kushida Kikyo, thinking to himself, then activated his psychic powers, instantly teleporting the cheat notes he had prepared into Kushida Kikyo's pockets, pencil case, and bag.
Kushida Kikyo's surroundings were now filled with cheat notes, though she hadn't noticed.
'Yare yare, even though I've planted the cheat notes around Kushida, the teacher might not notice... I'll have to use a special method.'
Saiki thought to himself, then activated his powers again—
At the same time, Kushida Kikyo picked up her pencil case, trying to take out a pen for the exam, but she couldn't open it.
[What's going on? Is my pencil case broken?!]
Kushida Kikyo was utterly confused, unaware that this was all Saiki's doing.
'Yare yare, if you're going to betray the class, you'll have to pay a price.'
Saiki thought as he watched Kushida Kikyo, who was now trying harder to open her pencil case.
He suddenly stopped using his telekinesis, and Kushida Kikyo, having applied too much force, accidentally dropped all her pens on the floor.
"Kushida-san, what are you doing?"
Chabashira Sae frowned, scolding her sharply.
"Are you disrupting the exam?"
"I'm so sorry! My pencil case seems to be acting up!"
Kushida Kikyo quickly apologized.
Chabashira Sae frowned but bent down to pick up Kushida Kikyo's pens and handed them back to her.
"Thank you, sensei..."
Kushida Kikyo nodded hurriedly, feeling puzzled.
[What's wrong with my pencil case? Am I just not in the right state today? How strange...]
But she didn't dwell on it and quickly picked up a pen to write her name on the exam paper—
However, no matter how hard she pressed, the pen left no marks.
'Yare yare, the moment the pen hit the ground, I used my telekinesis to break it.'
Everything was under Saiki's control. By now, Kushida Kikyo must have been panicking.
[Oh no, my pen's broken! Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why is this happening? Wait, could it be... Yamauchi did this?!]
A terrifying thought suddenly crossed Kushida Kikyo's mind.
[Before the exam, Yamauchi got close to me. Could he have tampered with my pencil case then, making it impossible to open? And he must have broken the pen too... Using the excuse of dropping it, no one would suspect him! Damn it! I was careless!]
Kushida Kikyo was furious, glaring at Yamauchi Haruki in the distance.
[Why do I feel a murderous aura...]
Yamauchi Haruki vaguely sensed something but didn't dare to look up.
"Kushida-san, what are you doing? Looking around during the exam? If you keep this up, I'll mark you for cheating!"
Chabashira Sae frowned, her expression growing impatient.
"Chabashira-sensei, my pen seems to be broken..."
Kushida Kikyo had no choice but to ask the teacher for help.
"You should have prepared your tools before the exam. Just like in the workplace, everything needs to be ready in advance. Didn't you know that?"
Chabashira Sae questioned.
"I'm really sorry... My pen broke when I dropped it earlier... But the school rules don't say that if your stationery is damaged, you can't ask the proctor for help, right?"
Kushida Kikyo had no other choice. She knew she had to score high on this exam.
If she couldn't answer the questions due to broken stationery, Kushida Kikyo wouldn't just lose the bet—she might even be expelled.
In this exam, if the combined scores of both participants in a subject fell below a certain threshold, it could lead to expulsion...
Kushida Kikyo didn't know what Yamauchi Haruki might do, but she absolutely couldn't accept the risk of being expelled.
"Fine, but don't let it happen again. If you cause any more disturbances during this exam, I have the right to give you a zero."
Chabashira Sae said, then handed Kushida Kikyo a new pen.
[This must be Saiki's doing. He probably sabotaged Kushida's stationery to disrupt her exam performance. What a brilliant move.]
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka observed everything without showing any emotion, but his thoughts were loud and clear to Saiki.
'Isn't this all because of the trouble you got me into?'
[But even if Saiki hadn't taken any action, Kushida would have suffered a crushing defeat in this exam, since Ryuen has already changed the exam questions.]
'???????'