People bring their own maids to the training camp

Horikita's grip on the pen visibly tightened, clearly because Sudo's words were forcing her to stay calm.

"...You're not kidding, are you, Sudo-kun?" Horikita asked Sudo, suppressing her anger.

"I can't take it anymore, I give up. How can I possibly continue like this?" Sudo announced his surrender and threw the mechanical pencil onto the table. The main message is that nothing is difficult if you're willing to give up.

"Everyone, can we try a little harder?" Kushida spoke up. "Chihaya just messaged me. It wouldn't be good if she came and found out we'd given up like this, would it?"

"Uh, this..." Sudo was speechless. He also had his pride. He might be lazy, but if he continued to be lazy now that Chihaya was here, he would have completely lost face.

"Well, if Kokushida says so, I might as well try harder. If Kokushida could teach me, maybe I could try a little harder." Lsp directly revealed his purpose; he didn't want to listen to Horikita explain the problem.

"Uh, this?" Kushida glanced at Horikita, who had no intention of offering an opinion, and then decided to give his explanation.

Then, embarrassingly, history repeated itself.

Kushida quickly realized that no one could keep up with her explanation.

The situation became awkward once again.

"Greetings, everyone. I'm so sorry I'm late." Just as Horikita was about to lose her temper, Chihaya made a dashing entrance.

"You're here, Chihaya-kun!" Kushida saw her savior and rushed over to greet her. "Your seat is here!"

"I'm Chihaya Himegami from Class B. Nice to meet you." Chihaya raised the corners of her mouth, revealing a business-like smile, which immediately left Ikeyama and the others speechless.

"Hello, Fei Gong!"

"It's a very nice meeting you!"

"Sorry Horikita-kun, I'm late. How's the progress?" Chihaya smiled at the group and then looked at Horikita.

"Let's move on to the first question," Horikita said coldly.

"Hmm, the first question." Chihaya took the materials from Kushida, glanced at the first question, and immediately came up with the answer in her head. "Horikita-san, please continue."

"I didn't prepare any materials for sixth grade and first grade, so I probably won't be able to continue."

Chihaya, puzzled, turned to Kushida, seeking an explanation.

"If you can't even solve this kind of problem, just imagining what the future will be like gives me the creeps." Horikita continued, "I don't mean to deny you, but you are just too ignorant and incompetent!"

"Huh? Stop making so much noise, this has nothing to do with you!" Sudo slammed his hand on the table, causing the pen he had just thrown there to bounce up, which was enough to show his anger.

"This really has nothing to do with me. No matter how much pain you suffer, it won't affect me. I'll only feel sympathy. Your lives so far have probably been spent running away from hardship, haven't they?" Horikita was not intimidated by Sudo's "Iron Sand Palm" move at all, but instead retorted sarcastically.

"You really speak your mind! Studying is completely useless for the future! I don't need your sympathy at all!"

"Really? I'd really like to know your basis for this. Billions of people around the world are working hard for educational resources, and you have excellent educational resources but instead of cherishing them, you're here spouting the idea that studying is useless—it's because people like you exist that society can't progress."

"My goal is to play professional basketball, which will be more helpful for my future. Why bother solving these meaningless math problems? Do you think the clerk at the convenience store will ask me to solve some kind of system of simultaneous equations?"

"That's not right. Only by solving problems one by one like this can your life change. In other words, reading can make your life easier. The same principle applies to basketball. You must only play the rules that are advantageous to you, right? And when it comes to the parts that really require hard work, do you turn away from them just like you do with reading? I don't think you'll practice seriously. The worst thing is your disruptive personality. If I were an advisor, I wouldn't let you become a professional player."

"What did you say?!" Enraged, Sudo immediately stood up and reached out to grab Horikita's collar—but even so, the girl showed no fear.

The incident happened suddenly, but Chihaya reacted quickly. He grabbed Sudo's arm, twisted it back, and then pushed it forward.

The seemingly light movement pushed Sudo to the ground.

During this time, Chihaya even had a moment to steal a glance at Ayanokouji—the latter remained calm throughout, not even bothering to show any fear, her eyes as still as a deep well, unmoved by praise or blame.

This made Chihaya even more convinced that there was a connection between this Ayanokoji and that Ayanokoji.

What appears to be facial paralysis is actually a lack of emotional connection—this perfectly matches the situation of the children in that facility!

"Thank you," Horikita whispered to Chihaya. It wasn't that she had a problem with Chihaya, but she wasn't good at socializing. She was well aware that Chihaya had helped her.

"It's no trouble at all, just a small favor," Chihaya replied calmly. "Although I'm in the archery club, I've also studied aikido and other martial arts for self-defense, you know?"

“Sudo-kun, please calm down. This is a library, you know.” At this moment, Kushida also stepped forward.

If Sudo really goes crazy and does something that involves Chihaya, then she, as the one who invited her, will be finished.

"I apologize for what you just said, Sudo-kun, but I hope you can remember your position—in basketball, skill is one thing, but too much off-court news can also have a negative impact, you know?"

76. Two-in-one chapter (includes a lottery)

Ike and Yamauchi helped Sudo up, their expressions still showing great resentment.

However, he calmed down a bit and realized that he was no match for Chihaya—the force of his momentary reaction had overwhelmed him, and if he had been fully prepared, he could have easily defeated Sudo.

After all, Sudo is an athlete and has never studied martial arts. Brute strength alone may not be enough against professional skills, unless it is extraordinary brute force.

However, Chihaya is male, while Sudo is just a basketball player, so he can easily deal with a fool like Sudo.

Horikita took a step forward and looked into Sudo's eyes.

"I'm not interested in you at all, but I can tell what kind of person you are just by looking at you. Aiming to become a professional basketball player? Do you think the world will let you achieve such a childish dream so easily? Someone like you who gives up halfway will never become a professional player. However, even if you did become a professional player, I don't think you could earn your ideal annual income. When you set your sights on such an unrealistic career, you're already a fool." Horikita continued, "You should drop out of school right now... no, you should drop out right now, okay? Then abandon this boring dream of becoming a professional basketball player, find a part-time job, and live a miserable life."

Horikita's words were like sharp daggers, leaving Sudo no room for mercy, each strike piercing his heart, and Sudo found it difficult to refute them. After all, when he expressed the "uselessness of studying" theory, he had already placed himself in a position of certain defeat.

Horikita may have low emotional intelligence, but her IQ is quite high. Therefore, her extremely sarcastic remarks were full of aggression and were logically consistent.

Sudo, enraged, laughed instead.

"Ha...just what I wanted, I'm quitting. This will only make me work harder, won't it? I even took time off from my club to come here, it's a complete waste of time. Goodbye!"

As he spoke, he packed his schoolbag and left on the spot.

Ike and Yamauchi exchanged a glance, whispered something to Kushida, smiled at Chihaya, and then left together.

In the end, only Chihaya, Kushida, Horikita, and Ayakoji remained.

"Is this alright, Horikita?" Ayanokouji asked calmly.

"...Whatever, I'm such an idiot for having any expectations of someone like that." Horikita plopped down and sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry, Chihaya-san, it's so kind of you to agree to participate..." Kushida was quite embarrassed at this point. As the one who invited Chihaya, she never expected things to turn out this way.

Such things are understandable between friends, but the problem is that the relationship between Chihaya and Kushida is not equal at all! Therefore, Kushida is afraid - she is now worried that Chihaya or Hayasaka will settle scores later.

Although she was not the one who caused the incident.

In particular, it remains to be seen whether Chihaya's blocking of Sudo's counterattack will result in a penalty of deducting class points from Class B.

“It’s not Kikyo’s fault.” Chihaya patted Kushida’s head.

Chihaya wasn't angry. He had seen Kushida's panic and was immediately delighted—he just loved watching Kushida's fearful yet feigned composure.

It was so much fun.

"Don't take it too hard, Horikita-kun. As the saying goes, those who walk different paths cannot make plans together." Chihaya smiled at Horikita. "Compared to that, isn't it more important to work hard to improve yourself?"

"...Ayanokouji-san, Kushida-san, and Himegami-san, please go back. Let me have some peace and quiet." Horikita immediately issued the order to leave.

"Okay, I hope we can meet again sometime in the future." Chihaya smiled at Ayanokouji after saying that, and then left with Kushida.

......

After leaving the library.

"I'm so sorry!" After realizing that no one was around, Kushida immediately apologized to Chihaya in a humble manner, "I didn't know that Sudo and the others would do this!"

"It's alright, Kikyo, this is what makes it fun." Chihaya was still smiling. "I don't care at all, okay?"

“If needed, I can come to class tomorrow…” Kushida asked tentatively.

"No need, or rather, we don't really need it now, but we might need it in the future."

"You can give me any orders at any time," Kushida quickly pledged his loyalty.

"Okay, you can go back now. I have other things to do."

"Okay." Kushida nodded, then turned and walked towards the teaching building.

......

That night, in Chihaya's room.

"Have you found any problems?" Chihaya asked.

"No." Hayasaka shook his head.

Chihaya deliberately arrived late for Horikita's study session in Class D, just to give Hayasaka a chance to observe her.

Hayasaka, who enters the library earlier, observes Ayanokouji's behavior before Chihaya arrives, making a comparison with Chihaya's behavior after Chihaya arrives.

In terms of results alone, it has remained consistent and has not changed at all due to Chihaya's appearance.

"By the way, after you left, Ayanokouji chased after you probably looking for Kikyo, but she went to the school building after she parted ways with you."

"And then Ayanokouji found out about her emotional outburst?"

"Yes."

"Idiots." Chihaya sighed. "What kind of monsters are in Class D? Can't they go back to their own rooms?"

"Indeed, it seems that, apart from Yosuke Hirata, they all have quite obvious shortcomings."

"Hirata? It was bound to happen sooner or later, otherwise he'd be at least a B-rank." Chihaya waved her hand. "So, what happened to Kikyo?"

"Take off your coat and have Ayanokouji press his handprint on the chest of the coat, saying it's to leave a fingerprint."

"..." Chihaya fell silent after hearing this. "Call the hospital and say that Gao Yu has someone with water in their brain."

"This is quite a good example of quick thinking for Kikyo; at least on the surface, it fooled Ayanokouji."

"Do they even care? I've observed that Ayanokouji doesn't care about interpersonal relationships at all, and there's nothing wrong with him."

"Yes, flawless."

“He showed almost no emotional fluctuation, which is not normal. Even when Sudo suddenly got angry, he wasn’t surprised for a second.” Chihaya recalled, “It’s not so much that he was calm enough, but that it was too childish for him to be surprised at all.”

"That's right, it meets the standards you mentioned earlier."

“Although there’s no evidence, he’s not simple.” Chihaya rubbed her temples. “Now I need his entrance exam scores to make a final judgment.”

----split line----

In order to find out Kiyotaka Ayanokouji's entrance exam results, Chihaya decides to contact the student council and Chabashira-sensei, the homeroom teacher of Class D.

Although he didn't know how to obtain this information, one thing was certain: as long as a certain amount of points were spent, he could get this data.

However, being cautious, Chihaya decided to ask both sides to determine if the same information would have different prices depending on the source—if so, it would indicate a problem with access rights.

As for the excuse, it was already prepared: Hayasaka's idea of ​​making a magazine had never left his mind, and the first issue was expected to be printed and sold after the midterm exams.