People at the practical education center only want to drop out.

And even if we knew what kind of person Bai Lan was, so what?

The conflict between Bai Lan and her class continues.

If mutual understanding leads to peaceful coexistence, then there will be no wars in the world.

In his opinion, instead of helping Hirata understand Bai Lan, it would be simpler to help Hirata resolve the conflict between Bai Lan and the class.

Ayanokouji quickly came up with a solution.

After coming up with a solution, Ayanokouji didn't immediately reveal it, as it didn't fit his "ordinary person" persona.

Ayanokouji decided to polish his image, to find a reason why an "ordinary person" like him could solve a problem that even an outstanding person like Hirata couldn't...

16. Does Bai Lan have communication difficulties?

Ayanokouji: "Hirata-kun, have you ever thought about this? Shiro-kun is a Chinese exchange student."

Hirata: "China? Could it be because of history...?"

"No, no, no! If that were the case, he wouldn't have come to study abroad in the first place. I mean, is it possible that his Japanese isn't very good?"

"Really? He spoke quite fluently to me?"

"He told me that he only scored 44 points in Chinese on his entrance exam."

"44 points?"

In Japan, the national language class naturally teaches Japanese, which is a skill that Japanese citizens use every day from childhood. Even without special study, the scores are generally not too low.

“Well, it seems his Japanese isn’t very good after all…” Hirata immediately accepted this assessment after hearing the score of “44”: “Anyone with normal Japanese proficiency can easily score around 60 on a casual test. And… wow~ he even told you that, it seems you two have a really good relationship.”

"..."

Ayanokouji thought to herself: It seems that I can no longer get 50 points in Japanese literature. This subject actually requires 60 points to be considered "average". It's not enough to just pass.

Then, Ayanokouji added, "He's probably fine in everyday conversation, but he's not very good at using the right words."

When using words, they only care about the meaning of the words and do not pay much attention to the part of speech and context. Moreover, when communicating on an equal footing, people in China are not as respectful and polite as we are.

Some even have a habit of using certain profanities as modal particles, such as wo-cao, kao, ni-ma, beep beep, beep...."

"Maybe when he swore, he wasn't actually cursing; it was just normal conversation, only his tone was a tiny bit more intense."

Is this considered a cultural difference?

For various reasons, in short, something called a "communication barrier" probably developed between him and us.

"Communication barriers?"

"Actually, I used to be like that, and even now..."

That's right, sharing the same fate and learning from experience are the methods Ayanokouji uses to conceal his abilities.

In this way, others will at most assume that Ayanokouji is only more familiar with his "kind" who have "communication difficulties," and will not realize his true abilities.

Moreover, he can use this to create a persona of someone with "communication difficulties".

With this persona protecting him, any subsequent actions he takes that lack common sense won't seem out of place.

After all, it's normal for people with "communication barriers" to have difficulty communicating with others, and therefore to be ignorant of the ways of the world and common sense.

Kill two birds with one stone!

Ayanokouji continued, "In the past, when I was interacting with people, I wasn't good at choosing words, and I was always in a hurry to express myself. A word I blurted out would be interpreted as some kind of impolite metaphor or something."

Then, I'm bad at expressing myself... so I couldn't explain it clearly.

Then, I was isolated...

Over the years, I've been surrounded by the same group of people.

I've been isolated for so many years too.

Ayanokoji remained expressionless as she said these words.

But Hirata felt a sense of loneliness from it and was deeply moved by it:

"I'm sorry... Ayanokouji-san, but don't worry, we'll definitely become good friends from now on! I'll also help you become friends with everyone!"

Ayanokouji felt that this was a good time for her to cry, but after a couple of sobs, she couldn't cry at all. In the end, she could only nod with a sullen expression, as if she had gotten used to it or become numb to it.

Hirata continued, "So, you think Bai Lan has a communication problem? He didn't actually mean to say those harsh words, but because his vocabulary wasn't enough, he couldn't find the right words to express the meaning in the context. But because he was in a hurry to use them, he just grabbed a word that seemed similar, but which was completely wrong in our understanding..."

Bai didn't intend to swear, but her inappropriate choice of words made her seem disrespectful to others.

Therefore, when we communicate with him, we should first ignore all the subjective elements in his statements.

We should only listen to the essence of what he says, focusing on the true and useful information he provides, and discerning how much harmful information is mixed in to mislead us.

Hirata looked like he suddenly understood: "I get it! Let's try it and use this method to understand Shirai-san again!"

Ayanokouji: "Also, I think... it's not just about what he says, but also what he does, what changes he brings to the class, good or bad..."

After some discussion.

Under Ayanokouji's guidance, Hirata began translating Shirayama's "encrypted voice".

Hirata: "First of all, it is obvious that Shiro exposed the school's trap, making everyone understand that living expenses are related to their usual performance, so that everyone can restrain themselves and not dare to indulge themselves."

"Next, although Bai's words were unpleasant, they actually pointed out the grim situation in the class: out of 40 students, less than ten have good self-discipline, and the remaining thirty-odd are people who can't control themselves. Even if they know that breaking the rules will result in a fine, they probably still can't resist breaking the rules..."

"From this perspective, Bai Lan has indeed made a great contribution to the class. If it weren't for his words, everyone would be immersed in the sweet trap of school until next month when they find that their living expenses have run out... Although his words are unpleasant, they can be understood as 'honest advice is hard to swallow.' Moreover, Bai Lan may have a communication barrier due to his poor Japanese, just as you said, Ayanokouji-san. In that case, even if his words are 'unpleasant to swallow,' they are completely understandable."

“I think these ‘unpleasant’ words are actually more powerful than tactful ones…” Ayanokouji interjected.

“I understand everything else, but…” At this moment, Hirata looked puzzled again: “What were the reasons for his ‘three violations’? And why were they all truancy and leaving early?”

Hirata turned to look at Ayanokouji, his eyes seeming to say: As someone with the same "communication disorder" as Shirai, Ayanokouji, please put yourself in my shoes? In what circumstances would you do such a thing?

Hirata: Quickly use your invincible "communication barrier" to think of a solution, Ayanokouji-san!

Ayanokoji: ...Why are you making things so difficult for me, someone with "communication difficulties"?

17. Hirata: Shirai-kun actually... I'm crying so hard (please vote~)

Ayanokouji sighed inwardly, paused to think for a moment, and then said:

"You could think of it this way: after Bai insulted the entire class, he became the 'bottom line' for everyone in the class, and was isolated by the whole class. This is how many cases of school bullying started."

Upon hearing the word "bullying," Hirata's water glass let out another mournful cry.

"What? Bullying? No way! This absolutely cannot happen in Class D!"

Ayanokouji seemed to understand something.

But now is not the time to provoke the other party.

"Don't worry..." Ayanokouji quickly said, "Haku is very clever. He used this in the opposite direction. He seems to have become the target of everyone's bullying. But in reality, I think he is more like using the terrible element of bullying as a weapon."

I'm not the one who can save you.

He disguised himself as the 'prey' about to be bullied, but in reality, those who tried to bully him were the prey. He used the principles of bullying to manipulate everyone in the class!

"What do you mean?" Hirata couldn't understand: How could someone who might be bullied be able to control everyone who wanted to bully him?

Ayanokouji explained, "Look."

Since Bai has become the 'bottom line of conduct,' any opposition from anyone in the class will be seen as justified and politically correct.

Conversely, anyone who behaves similarly to Bai Lan will be categorized by the whole class as "just like Bai Lan" and become a target of the whole class. This is reasonable and politically correct.

Others, in order to avoid being targeted by the class group, would not want to be categorized as the same kind of person as Bai.

They will try their best not to do the things that Bai likes to do.

The deepest impression Bai left on the whole class was that he was arrogant and broke the rules.

If someone acts arrogantly or violates the rules, people will easily associate them with Bai Lan, and then compare those who swear or break the rules to Bai Lan as an insult.

In order to avoid being isolated, everyone will subconsciously avoid an arrogant attitude and commit disciplinary violations similar to or even more serious than Bai's.

If someone becomes even more "Bai Lan" than Bai Lan herself, wouldn't that mean they've crossed the line of basic human decency?

"I see..." Hirata suddenly realized, then a flash of inspiration struck him, as if he had thought of something: "Bai Lan's three violations are equivalent to drawing a red line for everyone in the class! Putting a tight rein on them!"

The number 'three' is just right; it won't make things too difficult, and you won't easily fall into 'white mist' (a state of being caught red-handed). There's room for maneuver. Otherwise, if many people had already broken the rules once at the very beginning, and everyone had fallen into 'white mist', it would be the same as no one falling into 'white mist' at all.

Moreover, these two violations were not without consequences. Each violation meant they were becoming more and more 'Bai Lan'. In order to avoid becoming 'Bai Lan', they tried their best not to violate the rules even once!

The number of violations will serve as a kind of 'grading criterion'.

Those who did not violate the rules had higher scores than those who did.

One violation is more serious than two violations.

As for the three violations...

No, the bottom line for everyone is actually only two violations!

Because if you violate the rules three times, you will become 'Bai Lan'.

With only two chances, everyone feels a high level of urgency. At the same time, because there's room for maneuver, they're not so nervous as to give up immediately.

“That makes sense,” Ayanokouji said.

Ayanokouji didn't care about the truth; he just wanted to give Hirata an "explanation" that he could accept and that could resolve the current conflict, so as to get rid of him.

At this moment, Hirata seemed to remember something else:

"Oh, right! Ayanokouji-san, do you remember that Shiro-san first spent points to buy information from Chabashira-sensei about the penalties for being late, leaving early, and skipping class? After reading that information, she made the decision to skip class twice and leave early once, for a total of two disciplinary violations."

"Correct."

Hirata: "Is there some deeper meaning behind this?"

"It's probably because leaving early and skipping class is more noticeable, and the teacher will call roll if they see someone is missing."

“That should be one of the reasons, but I’ve also thought of another possibility…” Hirata’s gaze was deep: “The severity of different violations is actually not the same. Leaving early is obviously less serious than skipping class.”

The severity of two absences plus one early departure is obviously less than that of three absences.

After reading the intelligence, did Bai discover something, such as that accumulating enough violations equivalent to three absences could lead to serious consequences?

Two instances of leaving early or being late are equal to or greater than one instance of absenteeism.

Therefore, I chose to skip class twice and leave early once.

"..." Ayanokoji: "Perhaps."