"That's enough for today, let's meet again tomorrow," Horikita said calmly.
"Finally."
"Yes! I'm free!"
Sudo and Yamauchi cheered as they stretched exaggeratedly, their voices echoing through the room. Without wasting a second, they stuffed their bags and dashed off.
Horikita shook her head. "At this rate... it'll be hard for them to pass the midterm."
"What will you do?" Ayanokōji asked.
"Nothing. Forming the study group was the most I could do to help."
She packed her bag and walked away. Ayanokōji watched her retreating figure, then turned to Lioro, who sat beside him. Lioro seemed completely absorbed in the history book in his hands, muttering quietly to himself.
'I've already read this twice. Why isn't the skill popping up? Does history not count as an academic skill...?'
Sighing, Lioro closed the book and leaned back.
"Wanna grab a drink?" Ayanokōji asked.
"Sure."
They packed up and left the library together, stopping at a vending machine.
"Can you pay? I'm broke."
"Alright..."
Ayanokōji pulled out his phone and used his points to buy them drinks. Lioro popped open the can and took a sip.
'This flavor... definitely not something you find in a medieval world.'
"I can pay you back with gold if you'd like."
"It's fine. It was just a few points. And besides, using gold for soda...."
Paying for soda with gold? Ayanokōji figured his new friend had an odd sense of humor.
After finishing their drinks, they tossed the cans into the bin. Just as they were about to leave, a voice caught their attention.
"Ni-san."
"Suzune. I'm disappointed. You still haven't realized your own shortcomings."
Ayanokōji and Lioro peeked from behind a nearby wall.
"Horikita's brother?" Ayanokōji whispered.
"Looks adopted to me," Lioro replied, watching as the older brother grabbed Horikita by the arms and pushed her against the wall.
Ayanokōji gave him a silent look.
"What? Haven't you seen those cliché plots where the stepbrother grabs the stepsister and—oh. They heard us."
Horikita and Manabu both turned in their direction. Ayanokōji mentally sighed. With Lioro talking so loudly, how could they not notice?
He stepped out from behind the wall. Lioro followed casually.
"Who are you two?" Manabu asked, letting go of Horikita.
"Friends," Ayanokōji said, glancing at Horikita.
"I'm surprised you've made a friend, Suzune," Manabu said, eyeing her.
"He's... not my friend. Just a classmate." Horikita looked away, unable to meet his gaze.
"How does it feel to get rejected?" Lioro asked Ayanokōji curiously.
Ayanokōji stayed quiet.
"As usual, you mistake your isolation for independence, Suzune."
Manabu turned to leave. As he passed Ayanokōji, the two exchanged looks. But when he neared Lioro, Manabu suddenly moved, hand turning into a claw as he lunged at him.
Seeing the scene, Lioro almost had the urge to roll his eyes.
'He's as slow as a snail, yet he dared to sneak attack me... btw won't his finger break if they were to hit me?'
The claw attack drew closer, making Lioro wonder if he should just dodge to prevent Manabe from breaking his hand or something.
But just then, Lioro sensed another figure moving.
Ayanokōji stepped forward and deflected the attack.
Manabu narrowed his eyes and launched a backhand, but Ayanokōji caught it smoothly.
"Nice move. Do you practice something?"
"Piano and calligraphy."
"Hm."
Manabu glanced at Lioro.
"I heard what you said earlier. You've got a foul mouth."
"I don't want to hear that from someone who assaults his sister," Lioro replied, rolling his eyes.
"It wasn't an assault. Just a reminder."
"Sure. Whatever you say... stepbro."
Manabu gave Lioro a hard look, then walked away.
"He's the student council president, you know. Was it wise to get on his nerves?" Ayanokōji asked.
"Who knows?"
Lioro shrugged. Ayanokōji looked at him. Was Lioro not afraid? Or did he not understand the consequences?
Just then, Horikita approached.
"Why are you two here?"
Lioro and Ayanokōji looked at each other, then said at the same time.
"Coincidence."x2
"....."
----
The next day.
After class, Lioro went straight to the library. Before anyone else arrived, he gathered several books and stacked them on a table.
Just as he finished, Ayanokōji appeared.
"You're early," Ayanokōji greeted him.
"I found some suitable books. Want to help?"
Ayanokōji glanced at the stack: Higher Engineering Mathematics, University Physics with Modern Physics, Introduction to Classical Mechanics, Digital Design and Computer Architecture...
"...."
".....Are these part of our curriculum?", Ayanokōji asked.
"You bet they are.", Lioro replied with a straight face.
Ayanokōji didn't know what to say.
"What about Horikita? Where's Sudo and Yamauchi?", Lioro asked, seeing Ayanokōji had come alone.
"About that... Sudo and Yamauchi refused to come to the study session after they quarreled with Horikita in the hallway.", Ayanokōji recounted the event in a plain voice.
Lioro listened to him, then asked.
"So it's just the two of us?"
"It seems like it-"
"Great! Then let's start studying!"
"About that, don't you think these books are a bit....."
"Don't worry, with both of our intelligence combined, it will only be a matter of time before we conquer these books!"
"But they're not even in the syllabus....."
"So what? Knowledge is a precious resource! We should gather as much as we can without thinking so much!"
"....whatever you say."
"Good! Let's start!"
Then, with great enthusiasm(not really), Lioro and Ayanokōji started studying university-level subjects.
As they progressed, Lioro occasionally glanced at Ayanokōji.
Though he pretended otherwise, his methods, explanations, and pace made it obvious: Ayanokōji already knew all of this. The White Room really had created an artificial genius.
A stray thought crossed Lioro's mind.
Yorichii vs Ayanokōji
Real genius vs Artificial genius
'Who will win?'
Honestly, Yorichii will probably wipe the floor with Ayanokōji.
But still with the amount of tricks and manipulation Ayanokōji does, it's hard to say...
He pushed the thought aside and focused on the books.
After a full day of study, system notifications appeared in Lioro's mind.
[The skill 'Intermediate Mathematics' has been discovered. Requires general job: Academician. Current conditions not met.]
[The skill 'Intermediate Physics' has been discovered. Requires general job: Academician. Current conditions not met.]
[The skill 'Intermediate Computer Science' has been discovered. Requires general job: Academician. Current conditions not met.]
[Genius (Academician) profession has been activated. Transformation successful. Learning conditions met. Consume 3 skill points to learn?]
Learn.
A rush of knowledge filled his mind.
Just as he was savoring the sensation, Ayanokōji spoke.
"It's already late. How about we stop for today?"
"Alright. Let's go."
They packed their bags and left the library, placing the books neatly back on the shelves.
As they were heading out, they stopped by the familiar vending machine.
"...about the points."
"I got it."
"My offer still stands. I can pay you in gold."
"It's alright."
Ayanokōji paid for the drinks and handed a soda can to Lioro.
Opening the can, Lioro glanced around.
"Looks like the alley is empty today."
"..."
They found an empty bench and sat down, casually sipping their drinks.
After a few moments, Ayanokōji asked,
"Ike, did you deliberately score low on the quiz?"
"For what reason?"
Lioro stopped drinking and gave Ayanokōji a side glance.
"I could ask you the same thing. Your knowledge is clearly above Horikita's, yet you act average."
"I wasn't pretending. I am an average student."
"Yeah? And I'm an all-powerful human who could destroy this whole facility in seconds."
"...Where did that come from?"
"I also use swords and shoot magic."
Ayanokōji fell silent.
Seeing his reaction, Lioro decided to stop messing around.
After finishing their drinks, they tossed the cans into the nearby bin and walked back to the dorms.
Unknowingly, another day passed by.
One week later.
Lioro opened his panel and checked the list of new skills he had gained.
----
Passive skills: Advanced Mathematics, Advanced Computer Science, Intermediate Physics, Intermediate Biology, Intermediate Chemistry.
----
After a week of effort, Lioro had learned one thing—it was hard to level skills up to advanced.
As the level increased, each subject branched into specializations.
For example, intermediate mathematics only needed Higher Engineering Mathematics. But to reach the advanced level, he had to dive into Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Mathematical Physics, and Discrete Mathematics before the skill was finally triggered.
More than once, he had nearly given up, thinking maybe intermediate was the max level.
Fortunately, his Computer Science skill had reached advanced level first, proving otherwise.
That had been faster since he'd been a CS grad in his previous life, already familiar with AI, cloud computing, cybersecurity, backend systems, and more.
But physics... that was going to be tough. The specializations were too broad, and the school library barely had the material needed. Biology and chemistry were in the same boat—too many advanced topics, not enough resources.
Sitting quietly at his desk, Lioro pondered how to overcome this hurdle.
At the front of the classroom, Sae Chabashira was announcing the midterm results.
"First place: Suzune Horikita. Second place: Kanji Ike. Third place..."
All the ranks and scores were listed on the board for everyone to see.
"I'm surprised," Chabashira said as her gaze lingered briefly on Ike.
"I didn't expect such high scores."
Ike's second place was the biggest shock. He'd scored perfectly in every subject—except History and English.
Normally, the class would've been stunned by Ike's performance. But this time, there was an obvious reason—Kushida had leaked the test questions a day in advance.
With that, the entire class's scores had improved. Though people still found Ike's result hard to believe, they didn't question it too much.
Just as the students were starting to smile and celebrate, Chabashira cut in.
"I acknowledge your efforts... however."
She walked over to the ranking board and highlighted a name.
"Sudo."
The classroom fell silent.
"Huh?" Sudo stood from his seat, confused.
"You scored lower than the class average," Chabashira said calmly.
"You did your best, but you failed. Your notice of expulsion will be issued after class."
"I... I'm going to be expelled?"
"You can't be serious! Isn't there anything we can do?" students protested.
"There's nothing you can do," Chabashira replied coldly.
"Rules are rules. Accept it."
She closed her notebook.
"Homeroom is dismissed. Sudo, I'll be waiting for you in the staff office."
Without giving anyone a chance to respond, she left the room.
'10 out of 10 teacher,' Lioro thought as he admired her retreating figure.
She definitely had all the right curves in all the right places.
While the rest of the class was in chaos over Sudo's expulsion, Lioro was lost in another kind of calculation—using advanced mathematics to estimate Chabashira's three sizes.
In a few seconds, he had his answer: Bust — 88 cm. Waist — 58 cm. Hip — 88 cm.
He was about 92% confident in his guess.
While everyone else was worrying about Sudo, Ayanokōji quietly stood up and left the classroom.
Lioro thought for a moment, then followed after him.
"Hey, Ike! Where are you going?" one of the boys called.
"Toilet."
"How come you and Ayanokōji need to go at the same time?"
"It's a guy thing. You wouldn't understand."
The boy was left speechless as Lioro walked out.
What do you mean by 'I wouldn't understand'? I'm a guy too!
----
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Ps: How's the weekend? Anything new? Like a recent good mtl, novel, manga, or something that caught your notice? Feel free to mention here for the author.