Honami truly is an archangel.
Houtarou had encountered two angels at this school — Kikyō and Honami. While Kikyō turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing, Honami was genuine.
When faced with confessions, she would modestly say "I might not be as good a person as you think", hinting at some darker past. Yet Houtarou knew she was nothing like Kikyō. In fact, she ranked far above in his estimation.
When he called out to her, she emerged from right behind him. Her sweet smile and radiant presence brought an immediate sense of joy that lingered until she reached his side.
Such was her healing power.
Houtarou noticed that Honami had been at the desk behind him for some time, her workspace covered with books.
"These are..." He recognized textbooks for Japanese, Math, English, Chemistry, Physics, Classical Literature, and more.
All were third-year middle school texts, but from different editions.
Like the entrance exam's second-month routine test that drew from decades-old questions, Honami's collection spanned ten years — Version A through C — filling her entire desk.
The sight was remarkable.
"Um..." Honami rubbed her head sheepishly, "These are borrowed third-year textbooks from various years. We're facing Class D this time, and... we can't afford to lose."
Indeed, they couldn't.
While Honami's Class B trailed Class A by 1,131 points, Class C was merely 290 points behind them, with Class D following close behind. Though catching up to Class A seemed impossible, the threat of being overtaken was very real.
The exam was worth only 50 points, but since these would be deducted from the losing class, the effective difference was 100 points.
Despite the small point value, another defeat would be devastating.
They had been losing consistently since enrollment without any significant victories. During the sports festival, Sō's major breakdown had pushed them even further behind Class A. They desperately needed a win to boost morale.
This was why Class B approached this exam with utmost seriousness. Knowing their enemy was crucial, so to prepare for potentially difficult questions from Kakeru's class, they borrowed every edition of middle school textbooks from the library.
"Everyone in our class considers Ryūen extremely dangerous." She continued, "We're worried about his class backstabbing us again, which is why we're gathering all available textbooks from the library and holding study sessions."
This was their defense against potential treachery from Class D.
However, for Honami to take such measures...
"Ichinose, haven't you grasped the core of this exam?" Houtarou said.
Though he needed her advice about relationship matters, he disliked owing favors. Offering some goodwill now seemed appropriate.
"The core of the exam—" The angelic Honami furrowed her brow, "Different classes declare war and set questions for each other. Are you suggesting we treat this like the routine second-month entrance exam? That exam is traditional, so we can buy past papers from upperclassmen. Since students are making their own questions now, we could potentially exchange papers in advance, right?"
She had clearly considered this, but...
"I've thought about that." Honami said, "But we can't exchange papers with Ryūen. We can't trust his side. Even if we make a deal, they'll likely give us false papers."
Yes. Trust was impossible.
During the Island Exam, her class had allied with Kakeru's class — they handled supplies while her class provided points.
The result? He had planted a spy. They were betrayed.
Class B's angels remained wary of trusting him — they believed a betrayal was possible whether they exchanged papers or not. This explained their thorough review of all third-year textbook editions.
While their approach was simple, it would effectively guard against Kakeru's potential schemes.
But did Honami truly understand?
"Ichinose…" Houtarou said, "Ryūen can't backstab you in this exam. In fact, he's terrified that you might backstab him. If you gave them fake papers, his class would face mass expulsions — possibly including himself, given his poor academic performance. He's the one trying to figure out how to gain your trust while avoiding betrayal. However..."
He paused, letting her absorb this information.
"If your class wants to secure its position, I suggest taking the exam normally. Don't exchange papers with Ryūen's class at all. Your class has fewer struggling students, so you can use this month for study sessions. Plus, with your abundance of strong students, you can create effective pairs of stronger and weaker students."
The exam rules stipulated that students must pair up, with each pair needing to score above 60 points per subject and achieve a total of over 700 points across all subjects. This meant paired students needed to score at least 88 points combined per subject to be safe — not individually, but as a pair.
The difficulty level was manageable. A strong student could help carry a weaker one, making these exam rules essentially free points for Classes A and B.
For Classes C and D, however, these rules were devastating. With their high concentration of struggling students and few strong ones, they couldn't create enough viable pairs.
Without access to the exam papers, Kakeru's class — lacking sufficient strong students — would be forced to pair weak students together, leading to widespread failures.
And failure meant expulsion — potentially on a massive scale.
"So, Ichinose, you possess a powerful weapon." Houtarou explained, "Though this exam's point value is small, it's your chance to quickly reduce Class D's numbers. Since many special exam projects depend on class size, this could severely cripple Ryūen's class. This exam offers a unique opportunity to directly eliminate Class D."
Honami listened, clearly stunned by this revelation.
Until now, they had only focused on defending against Kakeru's potential betrayal.
But could they really wield such devastating power? Class D seemed to have fallen right into their hands.
Indeed they had. Honami's group's strategy of borrowing different editions of middle school textbooks gave them a decisive advantage.
While the school provided a syllabus for creating exam questions, using different textbook editions — while staying within the syllabus's scope — would naturally increase the difficulty level.
For Kakeru's class, already struggling academically, this would transform a difficult exam into an impossible nightmare.
Reflecting on this, Houtarou realized that his decision to declare war on Class C — influenced by Kei's words shaking his resolve — had been surprisingly wise.
Honami had demonstrated the frightening effectiveness of taking a methodical approach without seeking shortcuts.
Few students would thoroughly review all third-year content, let alone examine every edition of every textbook. If her group screened all these materials to compile their exam, it would be formidable indeed.
Even Class A might stumble. To avoid mistakes, they too would need to review all textbooks — a daunting task.
But now, this burden fell squarely on Kakeru's shoulders.
A truly satisfying outcome for an energy conservationist.
However...
"The choice is up to you." Houtarou said, "I've laid out the core points of this exam. But the ones who really need to make the decision are you all. Whether to directly force Ryūen's class to drop out and crush them, or to negotiate with them for a high point value trade, and so on."
"Hmm..." Honami nodded lightly.
She hadn't realized just how crucial this exam could be.
"Well then..." She gazed at him.
Houtarou had analyzed the core aspects of this exam for her. Although his Class A and her Class B weren't competing against each other now, they would definitely be rivals in the future.
Even though Class B was currently at a disadvantage, she suspected Houtarou wouldn't analyze things so thoroughly just for that. Which meant...
"Does Oreki-kun want my help with something?" She asked.
"Yes." Houtarou nodded, "Someone confessed to me during lunch break."
"Oh." Honami nodded, "So, the trouble you're having is..."
Her deep blue eyes looked at the books on his desk.
[What to Do When Someone Confesses], [First Date Tips], [The ABC's of Love]... Those were quite serious books.
"It's similar to what you experienced before." Houtarou said, "After being confessed to, I'm wondering how to restore our original relationship."
Oh. I see.
Honami had previously been confessed to by her classmate Chihiro, which Houtarou had witnessed. She had been warned that after rejecting a confession, she might lose a friend.
But she hadn't wanted to lose Chihiro as a friend, so she had tried her hardest.
In the end, she had helped the other understand that their feelings weren't true love. Since it wasn't romance, they had restored their friendship, and now their relationship was quite harmonious.
So in Houtarou's case...
"I didn't feel anything." He said, "At first I thought she was playing a punishment game, but it turns out that wasn't the case. She actually likes me. Though I rejected her, this is a closed school, so the probability of meeting again is very high. And I'm not confident I can face her again without my heart wavering."
"Oh. I see." Honami blinked gently.
⍟⍟⍟
T/N: Hey! Liked what you read? Support your friendly neighborhood translator on Patreon! Think of it as buying me a coffee... or ten!
For just $1.50 (that's less than your daily meme budget), get extra chapters! Want more? $2 gets you bonus content, $5 unlocks premium stories, and $10 makes you my hero (and gets you everything I have, including earlier acess to new books)!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)
https://www.patreon.com/collection/827204