The clock struck midnight and the exam was officially over.

The next morning, it was time for results. Class B and C were both in low spirits, having wasted most of their time fighting one another instead of actually doing something meaningful. Class A was also happy, thinking they conquered this exam by an overwhelming amount, and Class D was discretely happy without letting it show on the surface.

All the classes were instructed to gather in the middle of the forest at 8 AM, right after they woke up. Soon, everyone had arrived. The four classes' instructors were all here along with Qian Hua, the student council president. Beside her was a young man who appeared to be around the same age as her and a short girl who didn't look like she should even be in university.

"At last, the exam has concluded," Qian Hua said with a warm smile as she hovered in the air above everyone else. "I'm sure all of you already have a good idea on the final rankings, but I will announce them anyway. So, without further ado…"

Clearing her throat for a dramatic effect, she declared the results.

"In last place — Class C and B are tied for 3rd, both with zero flags."

No surprise there.

"And in second place, Class A, with one flag."

"WHAT?!"

Immediately, the crowd roared in confusion. Discretely, I smiled.

"And in first place — Class D, with an overwhelming 134 flags. Congratulations to Class D."

"WOOHOO!" Class D's students cheered in excitement. All the secret contempt they were holding in… it could finally be all let out now.

"H-Hold on!" A Class A student interrupted, hurriedly stepping forward. It was the one who locked up the room with a magical array to prevent me from getting in. Luckily, I had foreseen that happening beforehand — so his actions were quite literally meaningless — but naturally, he didn't know that.

"Yes?" Qian Hua raised an eyebrow curiously.

"T-That can't be right," the student argued. "The flags were all clearly stored in our base, so-"

"Ah, but are they?" Qian Hua giggled slightly before setting her gaze on me. "Because to me… it seems like the flags are within a certain someone's Space Locket."

You're kidding me… why would you expose me like th-

"Indeed they are in my Space Locket," Long Lu suddenly stepped forward from beside me and took all the attention. "Sorry, Class A, but you can take this up with your leader."

"Our leader… wait, Ming Hao, you knew about this?!"

Ming Hao shrugged. "Yeah. They helped us for the first exam, so I took it upon myself to repay that debt. Sorry to not tell you guys about this, but I knew you wouldn't agree — that's why."

"It's all thanks to Ming Hao," Long Lu chuckled. "All Class D had to do was sit back and do nothing. In fact, it was him who suggested this plan in the first place."

Good, good… keep pushing all the responsibility onto Ming Hao. This way, Class A will be the ones getting the spotlight, not us.

Ming Hao sighed and acted according to plan. "With this, we're even now, right?"

"Indeed," Long Lu replied. "Thank you. I never would've thought you were the type of person to proactively seek me out to pay back your debt."

"I just don't like oweing people stuff, that's all," Ming Hao chuckled.

"You…" The majority of the students of Class A were clearly dissatisfied, especially the 'traitor', but there was little they could do now.

"Woah, woah, hey, don't look at me with those eyes, guys," Ming Hao hurriedly tried to make peace with his class. "You saw what happened on the final day. If Class D were to join forces with Class B and C to invade us, we would be left with absolutely nothing, placing dead last. At least with this, I guaranteed us second."

At this, his classmates began to slowly understand his thought process. Naturally, I was the one who thought up this whole speech and plethora of excuses for him, but he executed them perfectly as if they were his own.

"That guy, Long Lu — he says he didn't think I would proactively seek him out, but you were really testing me, right?"

Long Lu snorted. "So you knew."

"Of course. You wanted to know if I was a trustworthy person, someone who repaid his debts. If I wasn't, you would've teamed up with the other two classes to target Class A, no?"

"Perhaps," Long Lu answered mysteriously.

"So… sorry about hiding this from you all, but this was really the best way I could resolve this," Ming Hao said, bowing deeply and apologetically.

This way, Class D comes out on top in this exam, the relationship between A and D is still decent, Class A's students still follow Ming Hao, and in Class C and B's eyes, Ming Hao was the one who orchestrated this brilliant plan — Class D just went along with it, doing practically nothing. This way, Ming Hao's Class A would remain their top priority target, not Class D who took first in this exam.

My plan was absolutely flawless.

Sure, the incident with Xu Lian may have been a miscalculation, but all's well that ends well. I even earned myself a new pawn for my trouble.

"Alright, now that the results have been announced, let's head back to the school," Qian Hua said friendlily. "You all get the rest of today off as a break, and classes will resume tomorrow. As for the new class rankings, they will be sent to you via text message once the calculations have been inputted and processed in the system. With that said, have a great day, underclassmen!"

*****

After returning to the school via a portal made from Space Magic, the girls decided to just take the day off easy and spend it in the Recreation Campus. Naturally, I complied and went with them… or at least, that's what I wanted to say.

"Sorry, you guys, but uh… there's someone I have to meet," I said, glancing down at my phone where a certain individual had just sent me a text message.

"… You're kidding, right?" Yu An Yan folded her arms coldly. "Last time you said this as well… who are you meeting, I wonder?"

"A… fellow student," I replied broadly. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the exact truth either.

"Oh, really now~?" Feng Mian giggled sadistically. "Male or female?"

"Er… female."

"Okay, it's decided!" Qing Yue cheered as soon as she heard my response and latched onto my arm. "We're going with you, Big Brother Xuan Kai~"

"No, she didn't say anything about allowing me to bring anyone else-"

"Too bad~" Feng Mian cut in, hugging my other arm. "We're coming with, whether you like it or not."

"Nya nya! Nyo way I'm letting Xuwan Kwai go on a date with a girl I don't even knyow!" Amane declared stubbornly, leaping onto my back.

In an instant, I was completely dragged down by the girls, unable to move a muscle. I mean, yeah, I could've easily blown them away with my strength, but that would get them hurt, which I didn't want.

"O-Okay, okay, fine…" I agreed at last. "I just thought you guys would much rather have fun in the Recreation Campus than sit with a boring person and eat a boring dinner while having a boring conversation."

"You really think they'll be able to have fun knowing you're over here eating with a different girl?" Lin Luo scoffed.

"It's just a meal, not a date or anything…" I sighed, but realized it was probably futile to try and explain. With this decided, we headed for the restaurant the individual had called me to.

*****

It was the same place as last time.

Not many students were here — in fact, the person I was supposed to meet was the only student here. She sat in the corner of the room, staring out the window at the cloudy weather. The only employee that could be seen was an old woman behind the counter, diligently working away.

As we entered the restaurant, she noticed us immediately and stood up with a warm smile.

"Ah, you're here, Xuan Kai… and it seems you've brought quite the entourage as well, hm~?"

"So it's her…" Obsidia murmured quietly.

"The student council president has fallen for Big Brother Xuan Kai as well?!" Qing Yue whispered sharply. "This is getting too out of hand!"

"Uh… hi, Qian Hua," I said awkwardly, ignoring the girls' cautious and skeptical expressions. "They forced me into letting them come along. There was really nothing I could do about it without hurting them."

"Well, that's fine, I suppose. This place is pretty empty anyway. Take a seat anywhere."

Cautiously, the girls escorted me to a seat in the center of the room and forced me to sit down, before all grabbing chairs and placing them as close to mine as possible, like dedicated bodyguards.

"Fufu~ you seem to have quite the devoted harem," Qian Hua giggled as she brought her chair over to face me.

"What do you want with Xuan Kai?" Yu An Yan asked, a skeptical and cautious expression on her face.

"Look," I cut in before Qian Hua could answer. "Can you let me do the talking? Enough is enough."

"E-Eh? But…" Yu An Yan looked shaken by my rough tone, but I was done being pushed around.

"She called me here to talk to me, not you. I already let you guys tag along, so at least let me have my own conversation."

"… You're right. Sorry."

Sighing, I turned back to Qian Hua.

"Now then. Why did you call me here?"