The idea behind the formation of study groups followed the next day. In conjunction with Hirata forming a huge group that encompasses most of the class, Horikita and I decided to aid those who had done poorly in the previous quiz. 

Of course, getting the idiotic trio on board with studying would be more difficult. Thus, Horikita had volunteered to tutor them. 

Surprisingly, Sudou, despite his attitude and demeanor, was convinced by simple words to join. However, Ike and Yamauchi were another matter entirely. Both of which I didn't want to waste my time on, so I enlisted the aid of our class's appointed ambassador, Kushida.

Neither Ike nor Yamauchi could resist Kushida's charm and promised to be there the next day.

At the moment, I was eating lunch with Shiina, who was both eating and reading at the same time. Shiina took small bites of the sandwich, that she had purchased, and carefully cleaned herself with a napkin before continuing to read.

Although we were from different classes, both of us grew fond of one another ever since we met at the library.

Moments such as this gave me the ability to wind down and take in the events around me as they went. Instead of having to continuously think of the next step that I would take, I was given a moment of tranquility, which I had welcomed after so many years of nonstop action.

As the time for the study group to get together grew nearer, I bid my farewell to Shiina, who waved goodbye to me.

As planned, Sudou and I met up in the gymnasium. Having just finished his basketball practice, he greeted me, and the both of us soon made our way to the library where we could already see Kushida, Horikita, Yamauchi, and Ike.

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The study group would've gone badly had I not been there, no doubt. Horikita was fairly close to giving up and insulting the idiotic trio after so many questions, questions which they should've learned the answer to back in middle school.

However, I was successfully able to give the simplest explanations so that the others understood what to do fairly easily. Ike and Yamauchi were able to understand the subjects easier than Sudou however they all prevailed nonetheless.

"I got this in the bag, I just haven't gone all out!" Yamauchi exclaimed.

'You didn't know what the systems of equations were until today...'

"Hah, you've got nothing on me! Just wait, I'll score so high all the girls in the class will think I'm a nerd!" Ike decided to voice his thoughts that no one asked for.

Ignoring the remarks of the duo that sat in front of me, I looked over to Sudou, who sat to my right. Looking over his sheet, which clearly had a bunch of corrections made by me, Sudou appeared to be a bit perplexed.

"You don't need to get it all immediately. What matters is that you show progress. Math is all about memorizing formulas. Once you understand how they work, all you need to do is plug in the numbers." I stated.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just not good with memorization." Scratching the back of his head, Sudou nervously stated. 

After finishing with math, we moved on to history. Since we didn't want to overload the three with too much information that they surely wouldn't remember, we decided to split up Math and History into one day, and English and Science on the following.

History seemed to go smoother than Math since I had decided to incorporate some famous battles, which had captured the interest of the trio. While Horikita was the main one teaching Math, with Kushida and I offering assistance, it was I who completely taught History.

I also found it a bit funny to see both Kushida and Horikita seemingly taking an interest in the lessons that I presented. History is a fascinating subject, and it is often more horrifying than fiction.

As the day came to a close, our study session ended, and we had begun to pack up.

"Goodbye! Thanks, Kushida-chan!" Ike said, quickly making his way out after Yamauchi. He wasted no time as the audible sound of the door slamming behind him was heard throughout the library.

As Sudou packed his bag, I once again reminded him that I could help with any questions he still had. I had provided him with my phone number a while back however he had yet to text me about anything related to what we were studying.

'Sudou will unquestionably have a role to play in the future of the class. I simply need to mold him into the perfect role so that we can progress forward.'

"Sure, thanks, bro." Fist-bumping me, Sudou also left quickly after both Ike and Yamauchi. No doubt he was all too eager to get back into the gym to practice his basketball skills.

After leaving us behind, I began to conversate with Horikita and Kushida who remained.

"That went well, don't you t...hink?" Kushida started with a bright smile but yawned at the end of her sentence.

"It did. As long as we continue like this, everything should be fine," I said, smiling at her.

"As long we continue like this? Please, I was this close to snapping today." Horikita said with a glare. She was no doubt tired of the antics created by the trio, especially those of Sudou who was still a hot-head. He had made progress thus far, but it would take a bit more before he could truly be relied upon to be stable and calm.

"Please be patient Horikita-san, we need to be as helpful as we can be," Kushida said meekly, not wanting to anger Horikita. She had played a passive role, a mitigator of sorts, between the trio and Horikita.

"Even after today, I doubt that those three made significant improvement. No, especially after today. I'm honestly reconsidering what I said before." As Horikita finished, she looked over at me. It appeared as if her learning my scores had caused her to value my opinion more.

"Give it time. They're improving slowly, but improvement is an improvement," I said. I also shared some of the same sentiments as Horikita, however I did see the potential that Sudou and Ike could contribute to the class. Yamauchi on the other hand... 

"Still...also may I ask why you were here today, Kushida?" Horikita asked as she turned her head to face Kushida. She looked slightly taken aback but opened her mouth and spoke softly.

"I'm not sure what you mean, Horikita-san..." Kushida said, appearing puzzled.

"Do you truly care about saving our classmates? Or were you here for something else?" Horikita said firmly, locking eyes with Kushida for a moment who could only nervously look down. "Regardless, we'll see the results at the end of all of this, and for their sake, they better start caring about class otherwise they'll get expelled." 

Looking over at me one last time, Horikita finally got up and left. The door closing behind her, I could hear Kushida beginning to speak.

"I don't understand how Horikita-san could speak like that...I don't want anybody getting expelled...."

'An ulterior motive for being here? Horikita said that Kushida had another reason for being here. In the case, that she's doing this for her popularity, would it not make more sense to have gotten with Hirata's group? Unless she's here for someone specifically.....'

"Horikita can be harsh, but I don't think that she means to come off rudely. After all, she did come to help, so she does care about the future of the class." Knowing the real motivation behind her actions, I technically didn't lie to Kushida.

"I see....well, I'll see you tomorrow, Yagami-kun," Kushida stated, softly speaking since she was already exhausted.

After having made her way out, I noticed that Kushida had accidentally left her phone on the table. Deciding that I would be able to catch up to her, I hurriedly exited the building in hopes of returning Kushida her phone.

Leaving the library, I noticed a silhouette making its way over to the staircase. Following it, I realized that it was her. However, it didn't make sense to me as to why she would head to the staircase since I had believed she would be heading to the dorms.

I followed her up the stairwell until she stopped at the door, which led to the roof. Because of the time that the study group had ended, the roof should've been closed off to any students.

Sure enough, Kushida seemed to also know the same thing and instead of trying to open it she simply stood there for a moment.

Moments of complete silence seemed to accompany and after what felt like minutes Kushida began violently kicking the door.

'BAM! BAM!'

Blow after blow, Kushida's leg heavily impacted the metal frame of the entryway.

Relentlessly, she spent her time purposefully exhausting herself until spitting out her vulgar words.

"You think you're so fucking smart?! Huh?! You stupid bitch! I hate you! I hate you!" Kushida mouthed off.

However, I was a bit surprised by what Kushida had to say next.

"Why does he have to side with you?! You stupid bitch! Do you think you'll take away everything from me?!" While spitting nothing but hatred, I could sense that these words were the ones Kushida had the most emotion towards.

'So this is the true Kushida Kikyou? I wonder what made you this way? I already had my suspicions of you targeting Horikita but I have no proper reason as to why you would hate her. Does it have something to do with your past? Regardless, I'm sure I'll learn soon enough.'

After having recorded enough video evidence, I silently and swiftly backed away from the area just as I had arrived. Thankfully I had completely silenced Kushida's phone as I began following her since she had already gotten a load of new messages from classmates and other individuals whom I didn't recognize.

A little after having separated myself from Kushida, I was able to find her once more walking back to the dorms and quickly gave her phone back. Acting completely naturally, both of us made our way over to the dorms and bid our farewells properly this time. We quickly laughed about saying "goodnight" twice and separated from one another.

Arriving at my dorm, I set my stuff down on my table and looked back at the footage that I was able to get. A useful tool that I would be able to utilize in the future had been practically gifted to me. Storing the footage in a secure space, I planned for what the future could have in store for me.