Chapter 39: Sakura Airi, Concentration Missing
Katsuragi Keima was like a computer program, extracting the core substance of the teacher's lecture and then replicating it perfectly.
Not a single detail was off.
"How on earth do you do that, Katsuragi-kun?" Kushida Kikyo asked, full of curiosity.
"It's just like playing a game. Games contain all sorts of information, much of which is misleading or worthless. I just need to identify the most critical pieces of data," Keima stated as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I see." Kushida, of course, couldn't actually comprehend what Keima was talking about, but she nodded along cooperatively.
Sakura Airi didn't understand it either. But she just felt that Keima was incredibly impressive.
"The study session doesn't need to be too long; one hour is enough. I'll guide you individually. Kushida, you shouldn't have any major issues, so you can just do self-study. As for Sakura-san, you'll have twenty minutes. The remaining forty minutes..."
Keima looked at Elsie with a look of distaste.
"That's for you, Elsie."
"Eh? It seems Katsuragi-kun plans to do one-on-one tutoring first?" Kushida inquired.
"Yes. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Teaching everyone the same thing simultaneously won't solve the problem, so separate, specialized tutoring is the most efficient method."
"I see. But why is the time different for everyone?" Elsie looked at Keima with a face full of confusion.
"Are you asking that seriously?" Keima sighed.
"Of course I am!"
"Then it looks like you need an extra ten minutes."
"Ah? What does that mean, Elder Brother!"
"Um, since I'm also a member of the study group now—even though my grades aren't as good as Katsuragi-kun's—I might be able to help out a bit!" Kushida wore a warm, enthusiastic smile as she looked at Airi and Elsie. "I can help share the burden for you, Katsuragi-kun!"
Airi didn't dare make eye contact; she simply lowered her head slightly.
"Really?" Keima twitched an eyebrow.
"Yes, as long as the questions aren't extremely difficult, I should be—"
"Then Elsie is all yours!" Keima said instantly, as if afraid Kushida might change her mind.
Kushida blinked, not expecting him to agree so readily, but she nodded nonetheless. she changed seats to sit beside Elsie, maintaining a friendly smile.
'Perhaps I was overthinking it last time? Katsuragi-kun's reaction back then was probably just because he hates people interrupting his gaming.'
"I look forward to working with you, Elsie-san! If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me!"
"I don't understand the very first sentence on this page."
"Uh... that's the title, Elsie-san."
Kushida did not yet realize exactly what kind of entity she was attempting to tutor.
On the other side, Keima sat down next to Sakura Airi, carefully explaining today's course material to her. However, Airi was completely unable to concentrate. Her gaze was firmly locked onto Keima's profile.
'So... so close.'
She had never been in such close proximity to another person before... and it was a member of the opposite sex. Come to think of it... Katsuragi-kun's features were actually quite delicate and handsome...
"...Sakura-san, did you understand this part?"
"..."
"Sakura-san?"
"Ah?" Airi finally realized she had been daydreaming. Her face instantly turned beet red, and she hurriedly looked down in embarrassment, her body giving a slight shiver. "S-sorry... I didn't quite catch that part just now..."
Her voice had returned to that mosquito-like whisper, audible only to Keima. Airi felt incredibly guilty, worrying that Keima might scold her.
However, Keima spoke in a relatively gentle tone:
"Don't worry about it. If you don't understand, I'll just explain it again. Today's teacher just talked too much nonsense."
"Mm, mm... thank you, Katsuragi-kun."
Airi nodded, trying her best to focus her attention on the book. But her peripheral vision was still somewhat uncontrollable. She would subconsciously glance at Keima, then look away in embarrassment, only to look back a few seconds later, as if caught in a loop.
'It's... it's so hard to focus.'
.
.
.
Meanwhile, in the school's Student Council office.
Horikita Manabu was staring seriously at the screen in front of him. The screen displayed the current points for each class in the first year.
Class A: 990 points Class B: 850 points Class C: 720 points Class D: 680 points
"President, you've been staring at that screen for a long time." Beside Horikita Manabu, Tachibana Akane, the Student Council Secretary, gave a soft reminder.
"This year's first-year group is very special," Horikita Manabu said slowly, adjusting his glasses.
"Pardon me, President, but what is so special about them?" Tachibana Akane hadn't detected anything unusual from the numbers. "In previous years, the class points for the first week were similar to this year's. One could even say this year's Class D is worse than before, losing three hundred points in less than a week."
"Looking at the situation over the entire week, that is indeed true. But if you only look at the data changes over the last few days, you'll notice something is wrong."
Manabu tapped the screen lightly, and another set of data appeared. It was the points for each class from one day ago.
Class A: 990 points Class B: 860 points Class C: 750 points Class D: 700 points
"If you convert the daily class point changes into a line graph, you should be able to see it more clearly."
Manabu transformed the data into a graph, and Tachibana Akane's eyes widened slightly, a flash of surprise in her gaze.
"The point change trend for Class D... is very strange!"
In the first few days of school, Class D had massive amounts of points deducted every day. However, starting from yesterday, the rate of deduction for Class D had significantly decreased. It wasn't just Class D; Class C and Class B showed similar trends, but because their initial deductions weren't as high, the shift wasn't as dramatic as Class D's.
"This explains one thing." Manabu stood up and looked out the window, precisely in the direction of the library. "The first-year students have already realized the truth about the S-System."
"They realized it in less than a week? Was it a student from Class A who found out? After all, Class A has that one special student this year..."
"No. As far as I know, it wasn't Class A."
Manabu turned his gaze back to Tachibana Akane, a slight curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"It came from Class D."
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