To no one's surprise, C Class lost the war.

Losing both Suzune and Ikeda early on were heavy blows, but they managed to find a replacement in Ginga, who was the one to suggest the attack that landed them in hot water in the first place.

Despite that, B Class's unity and higher quality of cardfighters outmanoeuvred what little strength C Class had, and they easily burned through their defence line to reach Shibata.

Of course, once Shibata was within reach, it was game over for C Class. They tried so hard to keep the flag that, in the end, the amount of casualties they racked up trying to protect it was in the twenties.

If Shibata didn't give himself up early, the entirety of the class would be dead right now. However, because of his actions, C Class were spared two of their students.

In other words, only two students from C Class lived: Handa Kakichi and Kishida Sui.

Meanwhile, B Class only suffered four deaths. One of them was Machida's suicide, and the rest were Machida's lackeys who purposefully threw the game.

It was safe to say the damage done to C Class was even worse than the damage done to E Class.

Yukina waited for me at the entrance of the school while I went to go give Suzune the exams. As I walked down the special wing, I passed both cheery B Class students and gloomy C Class students making their way home.

It was the first time I've ever seen the C Class students like this. For once, they were unanimous in their thoughts and feelings. They were frustrated and upset at their result in the war. Their collective disappointment weighed heavily on the air.

I knocked on the door of C Class's war preparation room. Answering was Akusa-sensei, their homeroom teacher.

"Oh hey, if it isn't Takanori-san! What can I do for ya?"

"Is Kinoshita-san here? I'd like to speak with her."

"Of course, come on in!"

I entered the war preparation room to see Suzune sitting alone at the table with a sullen look on her face.

"Kinoshita-san."

Upon hearing my voice, Suzune snapped out of her daze and looked up at me.

"Takanori-san..."

"Here."

I handed her the exams me and Nora made for C Class.

"Sorry for taking so long. We only finished finalising them yesterday."

Suzune stared at me for a few seconds before going through the papers. From a distance, Akusa-sensei was watching us, wandering what was going on.

"All that matters is giving it to me before the deadline, so I guess you didn't fail on that aspect."

Since there was another person here, Suzune kept a formal tone while talking to me. However, the look in her eyes hinted that she wanted to drop the act and talk to me honestly without putting on these airs.

"I hope they'll be good enough for your battle against D Class."

"Thanks. We'll take all the luck we can get after the result of today's war..."

I could tell from the bitter tone of her voice that she was beating herself up harshly over this. She continued to flick through the exams we made mindlessly, probably to try and take her mind off the result of the war.

"What do you think? Are they up to standard?"

"Ugh, looking at these math questions are already giving me a headache. You weren't kidding about Nora-san..."

Suzune flipped to the back of the math exam and stared at the final question me and Nora made. Her mouth went agape as she read the question and looked at the diagram.

"...I'm sorry? What the hell did I just read?"

"It's a Taylor series question. We haven't learnt it yet, but it's technically on the syllabus, so it should count."

"Sensei, is this legal?"

Suzune turned to Akusa-sensei, who was a math teacher.

"What is, Kinoshita-san?"

"It's about this question on this... Taylor thing. We haven't learnt about it yet, so are we allowed to put it on the finals we're supposed to make for D Class?"

"I don't see why you can't."

"What? You're allowed to do that?!"

"Indeed! There are are plenty of students who read ahead, especially in A Class. Besides, it's not like we hid this fact from you guys. Hiden-kun clearly stated that anything on the syllabus was fair game for this special exam."

That was true. When thinking about what we could do to make these exams more challenging for D Class, me and Nora focused in on this rule in particular.

Since we weren't restricted by things we had already studied, we used Nora's further knowledge to include questions about topics that the teachers haven't taught us yet.

"You're evil, Takanori-san..."

"Hey, don't blame me. It was Nora-san who suggested it."

It's really impressive that he's that far ahead in the syllabus. It goes to show how prepared he is for exams.

"Tell him I said thanks."

Suzune got up and collated the papers, before handing them over to Akusa-sensei.

"Sensei, these are the final exams C Class is submitting against D Class."

"Oh...? I think I'm starting to see what's going on here."

Looking at me, Akusa-sensei giggled lightly as she took the papers off Suzune.

"I'll run these by the subject teachers and tell you whether or not they're good tomorrow morning. How does that sound?"

"That's fine."

"In that case, I better hurry back to the teachers lounge before everyone leaves for the day. It's already 5pm!"

Akusa-sensei waved goodbye to me and Suzune as she left.

"It's already that late, huh...?"

Suzune sighed. Now that it was just the two of us, she could relax more.

"It's unfortunate about what happened in the war."

"Losing to Ichinose-san isn't my proudest moment... but damn it, she was a really tough opponent."

"I was more surprised by the fact Machida-san was cooperating with them. If he didn't help execute her strategy, then I think you had a real shot at winning."

"Maybe. Probably not."

Suzune looked into the distance.

"They had some really powerful fighters. We would've been steamrolled either way."

She then looked at me and laughed bitterly.

"Though, I guess it's a good thing for you guys. B Class are your allies, after all."

"Just for this month."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. It's only a provisional alliance. Besides, I was rooting for you to win."

"...eh?"

I looked at Suzune as she gazed at me with wide eyes.

"S-seriously?"

"Seriously."

"For some reason, I don't believe you..."

"I was, really."

"It's going to take more than that to convince me."

She huffed, crossing her arms and looking away from me.

"You're kidding me..."

"I'm not."

I guess she wasn't, considering her pouty expression.

"Think about it for a second. Would I really be rooting for B Class just because we're in an alliance? A provisional one, at that?"

"Even if it's provisional, you still get the private points from it. B Class winning that 100 Cl reward is the same as your class getting 10,000 Pr next month."

"Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. When August starts, E Class and B Class won't be allies anymore, so we won't get any points."

"...really? I didn't know that."

We managed to get an extra 61,000 Pr this month thanks to the alliance, but it felt like we kind of got ripped off since B Class actually lost 20 Cl, meaning we missed out on a possible 2,000 Pr.

"Couldn't you just make another provisional?"

"They're once per term. We can't make another until the next semester starts."

"Oh... I see."

"In any case, I don't think many E Class students want to be in an alliance with B Class anymore after what Machida-san did to our class."

Perhaps that's another reason why Machida attacked our classroom. His reckless actions were more than enough to drive a wedge between E Class and B Class's relationship.

"I still can't believe he did something so stupid to you guys. I also can't believe the school still hasn't fixed your classroom either."

"Me neither. It's borderline getting ridiculous. Everyday, Matsushita-san and Alice-san go check to see if they've fixed it yet. Apparently, some progress has been made, but it's not enough. We'll probably only be able to enter after the summer break."

"Jeez, you guys really have it rough..."

"It's what we get for being in E Class, I guess. But enough about me."

As I sat down next to Suzune, she raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"We should really be talking about you."

"Eh...? I don't think that's really necessary..."

"You gave me a look earlier that said you wanted to get something off your chest. What is it?"

Suzune looked away and rubbed the back of her neck.

"I-it's nothing now..."

"You're saying it so unconfidently, it makes it hard to believe."

"It's nothing, really... you don't have to worry about me."

"It didn't seem like that. When you were beaten by Ichinose-san, that was the most depressed I've ever seen you."

Suzune exhaled silently through her nose.

"...you always notice the smallest of details, don't you?"

"You're usually so headstrong and stubborn, it was obvious to anyone from a glance."

"Hey..."

Suzune lightly pinched me with a scowl.

"Ow..."

"It's true I was feeling depressed after it, but... I'm okay now."

"I'm glad to hear that."

It seems the tests I gave Suzune cheered her up a little.

"If anything, I just wish the results of the war was different. Before I knew it, I really wanted C Class to succeed midway while fighting."

Rather than being upset at her own failure, she was upset that she let her entire class down.

"It was... really beautiful to see C Class finally come together. After achieving that, I didn't want to lose it... because I felt like something that miraculous would never happen again to us. I knew that if I died, everything we gained in that moment would disappear... and it did."

That sad frown returned to Suzune's face.

"It's not your fault. Ichinose-san got lucky."

Not even Suzune could deny that she lost to Ichinose checking a Heal. Otherwise, she would've been able to guard it and win on the subsequent turn since her opponent only had two cards to guard with.

"I guess... what I'm trying to say is, I'm frustrated I didn't take the intra-class war more seriously sooner when that responsibility was thrust onto me by everyone else. I never really saw myself as the leader type, but after fighting Ichinose-san... I feel like something's changed."

A glimmer of resolve twinkled in Suzune's fierce eyes.

"I... I should've embraced my role as leader and tried harder to make C Class unite earlier. That way, we might stood a chance against B Class. Instead of hoping for things to turn out alright, I should've fought for the result I... no, we all desired."

Underneath the table, I could hear Suzune squeeze her fists tightly.

"In the end, I was just like all of them... I was indecisive about our class's direction. I should've done what everyone else did... and desperately fight from the very beginning to become A Class. Because sooner or later, we were going to be dragged into this storm of a system against our volition."

This war against B Class was the trigger for Suzune to realise that C Class couldn't passively stay out of conflict anymore. Like everyone else, they would've eventually had to fight for their survival.

"That's why... I'm going to declare war against your class, Yuu-kun. Not just yours, but everyone else's too. I swear on my pride that I will make C Class rise up to A Class!"

Boldly, Suzune pointed at me and narrowed her eyes.

"I'll be looking forward to take you down, then."

Once we become D Class, we'll have to fight C Class next. Even if Suzune was my childhood friend, I couldn't show mercy against her. In order to rock E Class from the bottom to the top, it was necessary to defeat all classes standing in our way.

"Hmph. When did you grow so cocky?"

"Who knows."

"Though... even if we are going to become enemies, I still want to be friends."

"That sounds like a contradiction..."

"Not really. It's like being rivals."

"Rivals, huh?"

My mind cast back to Kaido, and how I've yet to reach him.

"Hey, don't drift off into a daydream while speaking to me!"

Suzune pouted and pinched me again, bringing me back to my senses.

"Ow... seriously, what's with you and pinching me?"

With her long nails, it actually stung a little.

"I won't pinch you if you pay attention to me, dummy."

"I am paying attention. I was just thinking of something."

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

I feel like if I answer wrongly she'll pinch me again. I guess better that than a compass to the ribs.

"...nothing, don't worry. If you want to be rivals, that's fine with me."

"It's settled then. Me and you are going to be rivals in this intra-class war."

A small but confident smile appeared on Suzune's lips as we formally declared war on each other.

"May the best class win."

C Class is finally on the move. I guess I should also start making preparations as well.