Chapter 117: Make A Choice

Mio’s pupils dilated as her lips connected with Koya’s. She didn’t know how she was supposed to react so she just twitched in place while his tongue wrapped around hers and twisted it.

It made her brain a bit fuzzy, like the signal between her thoughts and her body had been interrupted.

’He’s… kissing me…’ His hands held her waist and pulled her even closer and though she was a Red crest awakened, she couldn’t find the strength to push him off… because she wanted more.

That was the embarrassing part.

Just then Kuu came downstairs and looked at the both of them, taking in the scene with a shocked face.

“Onee-san?” She blinked and Mio pushed Koya off her quickly, cleaning her mouth with the back of her hand.

“It’s nothing Kuu-chan.” She said while looking down at the cushion. “Koya-kun had something in his mouth and I was helping him reach it.”

Kuu considered this for a moment and nodded meekly.

“Alright Onee-san, can I borrow your phone?” She asked and Mio dipped her hand into her pocket, retrieved her civilian phone and handed it over without looking up.

Kuu immediately ran back upstairs.

“You have to admit, you liked it.” Pale’s astral form floated around her slowly with her hands behind her back. “Shy girl.”

’You were so scared of doing the deed that you had to switch out of my body… I don’t think you have the right to tease me anymore.’ Mio thought with a small smile.

“I take it you enjoyed the kiss.” Koya said and a blush crossed her cheeks as she looked away toward the couch.

At some point he had given up on trying to understand how these girls operated… one moment blushing and completely unable to make eye contact and the next moment fully composed and killing people effortlessly.

“Yeah…” She muttered and took hold of the remote. “I like romance anime so we can continue if you want.”

“Sure… Let’s go. We have to be back at ALI tomorrow.” Koya sighed.

He was getting a bit tired of school but there were a lot of things to achieve there and the scam was reaching its peak week. ’Besides, I might get the Earth affinity tomorrow…’

He just had to sleep with Itsuki’s maid. How hard could that be? The answer was probably complicated but he would find out.

…

Koya sighed.

“So why am I here now?” He asked while a pair of breasts pressed against the back of his head.

Saki was hugging him from behind her office chair with her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and attempting to use her Healing magic on the last of his injuries at the same time, it wasn’t like he had any though.

“Well, it seems like you’re fully healed.” She said, backing away and returning to her office chair.

She looked him over once. “Do you have to get beaten up everywhere you go… First it was the Alpha Salamander and next it was Ysterion. What’s next, you’ll get attacked by the White King?”

Considering he had the trait 「Fate」, that could most probably be the next thing that happened. The trait had a habit of interpreting “growth opportunity” in the most inconvenient possible way.

’The world is trying to make me stronger but all it’s giving me is misfortune.’ He shook his head and looked back at Saki. “I doubt my bad luck would extend that far. Anyway, you seem a bit nervous today. Is it about the Mid-terms?”

“You noticed, huh?” She deflated into her seat. “I’m just a bit tired… You see…”

She blinked. She wasn’t sure she should share it with a student but he was her favorite so…

“My mom is trying to get me married so she’s been taking me to dinners with nobles from this Supercity and all the others.” Saki sighed. “Every weekend… sometimes weekdays too. It’s been really exhausting.”

“Oh, so that’s why you ran off in the middle of our last training session.” Koya said with a small smile.

“Well yes, what do you think about it?” She asked, placing her hand on the table. “I don’t really want to get married but she keeps asking… and she’s the last person I have alongside my sister so I don’t want to make her sad.”

Saki’s lips trembled slightly as the room grew somber.

She hadn’t planned to share any of this since he was a student but she also wanted to hear his thoughts on it. She genuinely wanted to hear his voice say something since they weren’t talking about training or mana output for once.

“In my honest opinion, if you don’t want to get married then you shouldn’t.” Koya said while leaning back in his chair. “Marriage and dating are two different things after all. Dating and relationships can end but marriage is meant to be a lifetime commitment, so if you do want to get married then you shouldn’t do it with someone you’re not comfortable with… rather someone you can be yourself around.”

He wasn’t exactly one to talk.

He had married two women himself, one was a blood contract required for Victoria’s survival, and the other was on mutual agreement… if he had rejected Hakai at that point he would have died, but Saki had had options and that was the difference between them.

“Besides, you said you have a sister right? Just let her get married to someone in your place.” Koya quipped.

Saki brought out her finger without hesitation.

“Create: Ice.”

She flicked a small sharp shard directly at his forehead and he winced, rubbing the spot with two fingers.

“Baka… you just had to ruin that beautiful speech, huh?” Saki sighed and the door opened. “Anyway, I called you here to ask if you wanted any freebies for your Mid-term questions… since you’re my favorite student and—”

“Professor!” The same aide from before stomped her foot on the ground with both hands on her waist. “Are you really breaking the school rules by distributing malpractice to a student…”

She closed the door behind her and glared at both of them.

“You know you can be expelled because of this.” The girl said and Saki sighed.

“Koya-kun knows I wasn’t being serious, right?” She looked to him for help.

Koya looked at her then at the aide and back at Saki.

“I thought you were being dead serious though.” He said and stood up. “Anyway, if we’re done here I’ll be heading to the Class 5 building. I haven’t even started studying for the Mid-terms yet.”

“Alright then, I’ll be coming to class in a bit.” She waved him off and once he had left and shut the door, Saki sighed. “Hana-chan, what’s up?”

The girl mellowed down slightly but her hands stayed on her waist.

“I came to request for Class 3 Mana Class questions, Onee-san.” She said with a puff of her cheeks. “I’m your own sister and you’re not even helping me out. How is that fair?”

“So it’s not illegal when you want it?” Saki laughed out loud.

Her sister was really cute when she was indignant about something. “Sure sure… if you want then I’ll…”

Her phone started ringing and she visibly flinched looking at the ID. It was her Mother and even her sister looked sorry for her from across the desk.

’Well, Koya-kun already said so… I’ll regret it if I don’t marry someone I actually like.’ She thought with a sigh.

She didn’t even know why she had wanted his input specifically but somehow it had made her feel considerably more confident about the whole thing.

She answered the phone and lifted it to her cheek.

“Hey Mom…” Saki said, taking a breath. “Well, how do I say this without making you mad… Right. I’m not getting married.”

…

“Koya-kun, did you hear about this?” Koya sighed once more. He had been sighing a lot these days.

There was a flock of girls gathered around his table.

They had started by asking how he was doing after the Isle incident and had completely flipped the conversation within two minutes, and he looked at the one that had just spoken.

She had black hair with glasses sitting on the ridge of her nose and she was leaning on his desk with her elbows like she had claimed it.

“It’s this new site that was spread from somewhere… Someone told it to Class 1 and it spread all the way down to Class 5. They made a site for all the exam questions but you have to pay an amount of Individual Points to use it.” She said, showing him her phone.

Koya pretended to be surprised.

“Really?” He asked and the other girls perked up as well.

“Yes Koya-kun, it came out a day after you got hospitalized on the Isle and everyone was brought back. I don’t think the Academy professors know about this yet.” Another one said. “Do you think we should buy it?”

Everyone had gotten into class and was listening in on the conversation while waiting for their first tutor.

Between Misora who had fought off several nobles during the Isle chaos to keep them safe and Koya who had actually survived Ysterion outside the barrier, they wanted to hear his view before forming their own.

“In my honest opinion…” Koya cleared his throat to address the girls, making sure everyone in the room could hear clearly. “It could be a scam… We don’t really know who’s behind it, Maybe one of the upper classmen created this to hand everyone fake questions and make them fail Mid-terms while they cruise through with real ones. We can’t trust anything handed to us on a silver platter after all.”

Several murmurs of agreement moved through the room and Koya took a small breath.

It would be very suspicious if he just told them to trust it straight up, besides practically speaking, if Class 5’s scores dropped badly this Mid-terms and at Finals, the whole class would be expelled like the former Class 5 before them… he had no particular attachment to his classmates but he did need them to still be here for the rest of the arc.

Handling it in the manga was simpler… Class 3’s Class Rep was interested enough in the Protagonist to organize study committees with Class 5, with Individual Points paid as the tutoring fee but that wouldn’t work right now.

He hadn’t had a real interaction with Class 3’s Rep yet, and they were salty about not getting Familiars from the Isle while Class 5 did.

’The plot has already gone off the rails…’ Koya thought and continued. “But at the same time, we can’t ignore the possibility that this is real and the person behind it is actually trying to help out. So I’m guessing the site has plans right?”

“Yes, Koya-kun.” One of the girls pointed out, showing him the list of plans on her phone… the ones he already knew by heart.

“So what I would suggest is that everyone buys the bundle they want or can afford, and then we split into study groups with the smarter students in the class acting as instructors, studying what we’ve been taught alongside the questions.” He said and the girls finished the logic before he could.

“So even if the questions are fake, we’ve still studied the material properly! And if they’re real then we’re that much more prepared on top of it! You’re a genius, Koya-kun.”

’Or rather most of you are just not thinking hard enough about it.’ He thought.

The logic was straightforward… Honestly if it weren’t for Misora and Mio being in this class, Class 5 would be completely beyond saving.

“What about the rest of you? Class Rep, is it okay?” They looked at Misora now. If she confirmed it, that was what the class would do.

Her word carried more weight than his in this room… he was the person they wanted to impress while she was the one they were actually afraid of.

“Sure, I like the idea.” Misora said. “Since we’re about 27 in the class, we should split into the students that will be doing the actual tutoring and the ones in their groups… the top scorers will each take three students so coverage is even.”

Just then the door of the classroom opened and a member of the Disciplinary Committee looked in.

She scanned the room.

“Class 5, your first professor Saki-sensei has taken a leave from ALI for the day and no other professors are free at the moment, which means this is a free period. I trust you’re matured enough not to wreck the school with this free time.” The woman said, looked around the room briefly, and closed the door.

The room was quiet for a moment.

“I guess that’s a free period then… Everyone sit down.” Misora said and stood up, walking to the podium quickly as the class settled. “Since Saki-sensei isn’t around, we’ll be using this time to do a short test to check the capabilities of everyone in the class. The students that rank in the Top 6 will each have a study group of three students assigned to them.”

“Class Rep, I have a question.” One of the girls raised her hand. “Will Koya-kun be teaching?”

“It depends.” Misora sighed. She felt like pushing the girl’s face directly into the desk. ’He’s my Knight whether he likes it or not… why are all these trouser chasing commoners lined up after him like this?’

“If Koya-kun lands a high score in the Top 6 then yes.” She said and turned to him. “If you manage to, what students would you like to teach?”

“The ones right after Top 6, with moderate scores.” Koya said.

A great percentage of the girls in the class immediately looked motivated to score as highly as possible… for reasons that had very little to do with their academic futures. He glanced over at Ichinose and flinched.

The girl looked more depressed than anyone he had seen in recent memory with sunken eyes and no energy, she was slumped over her desk like someone had taken the thing that made her a person and removed it… she was even groggy on top of all of that.

That was what losing 90% of your earnings from the biggest stream of your life did to a person… He almost felt a small amount of sympathy but then again, she had quite literally sold him out.

“Alright then. I already anticipated something like this and I wanted to announce it during the closing period, but now works.” Misora said. “I’ve set up multiple choice test questions for all the subjects we’re currently covering in class, with a theoretical section as well. To put this together I had to go over the curriculum seventy eight times to make sure I had everything covered.”

’Is she not aware of how that sounds.’ Koya thought…

Seventy eight times, he genuinely could not tell if that was terrifying or impressive. Did she watch movies? Read books? Have a single hobby outside of this?

She tapped her phone and everyone’s phones chimed simultaneously.

“Tap the link I sent to your personal DMs and take the exam. There are 100 objective questions and 20 theory questions. Each objective question gives you 1 point and each correctly answered theory gives you 2 marks, so focus on what matters most and don’t rush the theories. The cut-off mark is eighty.” She said.

That made the room a little lighter… eighty out of 140 was manageable, especially with theory questions being worth double.

Everyone brought out their ALI phones and tapped the links.

“Naturally I’m Number 1, so let’s find five more.” Misora said, just as the questions loaded on everyone’s screens.

The hope in the air died immediately when the first question became readable.

Renji, sitting next to Koya, went pale the moment Question 1 loaded on his screen.

He sat there for a moment just looking at it and so did most of the rest of the room as a general stillness spread from the front rows backward.

The people read the question, re-read it, and processed that yes, this was in fact Question 1 out of 120.

…

Question 1:

A licensed mana engineer in Vantara Co Ltd. is tasked with calibrating four separate containment arrays designated Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. The combined output threshold of Alpha and Beta must not exceed three-fifths of the total system capacity of 2,400 mana units. Beta operates at exactly one-quarter of Alpha’s output. Gamma is required to output 120 units more than the difference between Alpha and Beta combined, while Delta compensates for any remaining capacity after all three arrays are accounted for. Assuming all arrays operate at exactly their designated outputs with no overflow, what is the output of Delta?

(a) 480 units (b) 520 units (c) 560 units (d) 600 units

…

“What the actual fuck?” Renji looked at his screen and then at Misora who was grinning cutely at the front of the room from behind the podium with her hands clasped together like she was waiting for a reaction exactly like this one.

She was a demon in a Class Rep’s uniform.

He turned to Koya and he was already on Question 3.

“The fuck man, are you just picking random answers?” He asked. Koya had already moved to Question 4.

“Huh? I studied.” Koya blinked at him.

“Studied?! You?!”

“Renji.” Misora glared at him from the podium. “Do you want to share something with the class? Or to be disqualified? Get to your questions.”

Renji focused back on his phone.

They had technically been taught this topic… somehow the question made it look three times more complicated than anything the teacher had actually covered in class.

Every sentence added a new condition. He read the first line, then the second, then went back to the first because he had already lost the thread of it.

He stared at the four answer options and they all looked equally reasonable but equally wrong at the same time.

He glanced at Koya one more time who was in Question 10.

’He must be cheating somehow.’ Renji thought.

Either that or the man had actually studied like a complete maniac in the days he was supposed to be unconscious in a healing tube, which seemed equally unlikely given that he had nearly died twice in the span of one week.

’I’m fucking tired man.’

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