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Tuesday.
Another new day.
Akira looked at today's refreshed information, his gaze slowly scanning each item.
[1. The pseudo-human in First Year Class D is Ayanokoji Kiyotaka]
[2. Shiina Hiyori of First Year Class C, in order to investigate the surveillance incident, and because she is not good at interacting with people, is urgently hoping for an assistant to help with the investigation. This afternoon at 5:30, she will go to the library again to scout for help, intending to pay 10,000-20,000 points as compensation. Her internal requirements for an assistant are: enjoys reading mystery novels, kind personality, shares common interests; can communicate smoothly with all students from the four first-year classes, possesses certain social skills; has a calm and rational personality, and can complement her own personality.]
[3. School authorities allow lower grades to actively purchase test papers from higher grades.]
'Wait! What the hell is a pseudo-human?! Did I accidentally stumble into some sci-fi set?'
Akira's mouth twitched uncontrollably when he saw the first piece of information.
In his understanding, "pseudo-human" should refer to those emotionless, mechanical androids.
But Ayanokoji—no matter how you looked at him, he should be a living human being, right.
'Could it be... a robot in human skin?'
This absurd thought made Akira couldn't help but glance at the classmate beside him.
He casually greeted. "Ayanokoji-kun, good morning!"
The other person turned his head, his calm eyes looking at him. "Shimizu-kun, good morning."
'Isn't that a very normal reaction?'
Akira muttered inwardly.
'The vocal cord vibration frequency is very natural, and although there are almost no micro-expressions on his face, his body was clearly normal during swimming class, and no obvious non-human physiological characteristics were observed.'
This piece of information was like an unsolvable math problem, leaving him completely clueless.
'Forget it, I'll just note it down for now.'
The second piece of information was finally much more normal, though quite lengthy, it should be the longest one so far.
'Looking for an assistant? I see. It seems her deduction progress isn't going so smoothly.'
Akira pondered for a moment and could roughly understand why Shiina's progress was slow.
She had a quiet personality and, to some extent, only wanted to talk about topics she was interested in with people she was interested in.
She was the type who wasn't very good at dealing with people, so it was naturally difficult for her to initiate conversations with others.
That's why she needed an assistant to help her gather information.
He noticed Shiina's requirements for an assistant, which were probably her true thoughts, listed quite meticulously: must like reading mystery novels, must have common interests...
'Wait, this might be a good opportunity?'
Akira suddenly realized. He was still worrying yesterday about what to do if Shiina found out the truth. Why not simply join her investigation and become her assistant?
This way, he could both probe her investigation progress and subtly guide her toward incorrect deductions—killing two birds with one stone.
It seemed he had to go to the library after school today.
As for the third piece of information...
Akira was slightly taken aback.
Buying test papers is only allowed for lower grades from higher grades? Does that mean, conversely, that higher grades cannot sell test papers to lower grades?
But why would test papers from higher grades have any value for sale? And why would the school authorities prohibit the reverse transaction?
The answer was actually quite obvious.
Could it be that the content of the first-year midterm exams were all old questions from previous years? Is that why they had value?
Akira turned to Horikita, who'd just settled in her seat, and said. "I might not be able to go to tutoring after school these next few days. I have something to do, so you can also take a break."
This was also like giving her a holiday. After all, for the past two weeks, she had to study for nearly an hour and a half after school at least four or five days a week.
"Something to do?" Her tone was unreadable, but she still stopped her hand that was about to open her textbook.
Akira casually replied. "Yeah, a personal matter."
He didn't intend to elaborate—he couldn't very well tell her that he was going to the library to help someone else investigate a case, and that the person being investigated was himself.
Horikita was silent for two seconds, her fingertips gently tapping the desk. "Got it, but."
She suddenly changed the subject, pulling a sticky note from her pencil case. "This is the key review scope for the next few days. If you have time, it's best to go over it yourself."
The sticky note was pushed onto his desk, with neatly written Japanese Language and common mistakes, even the page numbers for example questions clearly marked.
Akira looked at the sticky note, somewhat surprised. "You even made a plan?"
"I just don't want to have to explain last week's content to you again during the next tutoring session," Horikita averted her gaze. "Also, your Japanese Language practice test is still with me. Remember to take it back and correct it."
After saying that, she reopened her textbook, as if handing him the sticky note was just an afterthought.
Akira held the thin sticky note, suddenly feeling that this "holiday" wasn't so relaxing after all—at least, this tutor had already planned his self-study progress in advance.
After school, Club President Sato of the boxing club suddenly sent a message, asking him to go to the boxing club after school.
Akira thought carefully—he'd indeed rarely shown up at the boxing club these past few days.
In recent weeks, he'd only gone about two or three times a week—basically, Club President Sato would demonstrate the week's training content and then let him go back to practice on his own.
Speaking of which, his upperclassman had previously sent a message saying that he could already wear boxing gloves this month.
Since he had to go to the library to meet Shiina, he had to finish up at the boxing club as quickly as possible—Akira figured that if he showed his face to the Club President and explained the situation, he should be able to leave early.
Just as he reached the entrance of the boxing club activity room, he heard the muffled thuds of boxing gloves hitting sandbags from inside.
When Akira pushed open the door and entered the activity room, Club President Sato on the ring nodded at him.
He nodded back and walked directly to the new student training queue.
There were already four new students in this batch, including a tall foreign boy wearing sunglasses.
The moment he recognized the person, Akira remembered his name—Albert, from Class C, apparently a subordinate of Ryuuen.
Just looking at his height of one point nine meters, one knew that he must be a good fighter.
He followed the upperclassman's instructions to adjust his stance and trained for a while.
His peripheral vision scanned the wall clock—the hands already pointed to 4:10.
He would grab a quick meal, then it would be time to go to the library to meet Shiina.
"Club President Sato, may I bother you for a moment?"
"Sure, let's talk outside, it's a good chance to catch our breath."
The two walked to a secluded corner of the activity room before Akira spoke. "Senpai, can I buy the first-year midterm and monthly exam papers from you?"
"Ah! It's that time already!" Club President Sato was startled, then clapped his hands. "But then again, you found out about this on only the second day? You're buying them very early, alright. I'll organize them and send them to you. As for the points, you don't need to give them—consider it this month's club activity fund for you."