Just Want to Be a Slacker

You absolutely must not—doing that would get me targeted and hated by all those idiots in my class.

Although Kamuro Masumi has a bad reputation, Kamio Tatsuya has never once said she's unattractive.

She's a bona fide beauty.

And Kamio Tatsuya figured that Kamuro would probably dig up intel on his class in no time—according to him, she'd come looking for him in class by tomorrow at the latest.

Then, on the third day of school, Kamio Tatsuya would get slandered, envied, targeted, and even ostracized by the idiots in Class D for hooking up with a pretty girl from another class.

That's not a good sign at all.

Kamio Tatsuya is human too—he could brush it off, sure—but no one wants to sit through class every day under those resentful stares.

"I think adding each other as friends would be a good idea too."

Kamuro Masumi thought over Kamio Tatsuya's suggestion, then nodded, pulling her phone out from her skirt.

After exchanging contact info, the two parted ways.

That night, Kamio Tatsuya received a message from Kamuro Masumi: Class A currently had two students designated as representatives by the homeroom teacher, along with photos attached.

One was a frail, silver-haired girl who needed a cane to walk—Sakayanagi Arisu.

The other was a steady male student with no hair or eyebrows—Katsuragi Kouhei.

They were exactly the two people Kamio Tatsuya had run into at the café on his first day of school.

After thinking it over, Kamio Tatsuya pulled out his phone and messaged Kamuro Masumi again.

[Can you get them to meet me? Say I have info I want to sell to Class A.]

[You sure know how to boss people around.]

Even through the screen, Kamio Tatsuya could almost see Kamuro Masumi's face twisted in disgust.

After a moment, Kamuro Masumi's reply came through.

[Tomorrow after school, meet at the library.]

[OK. After it's done, I'll treat you to a meal.]

With that, Kamio Tatsuya happily flopped onto his bed and got ready to sleep.

The next day, as soon as he arrived at school, Horikita Suzune asked him a question.

"You said yesterday that if your intel was wrong, you'd return all the Points to me, right?"

"I did say that."

"Then please don't use up all the Points that belong to me."

With that, she picked up her textbook, ready for class.

Well, well—so you want them back.

Meaning you don't believe my intel, huh. Figures.

I hope you won't be so stubborn when the school announces the same information.

After school the next day, Kamio Tatsuya packed up and headed to the library.

Since it was just the start of the term, the library in the first-year Teaching Building was nearly empty—quiet as could be.

Kamio Tatsuya found a spot with a good view and sat down.

Before long, Kamuro Masumi arrived with Sakayanagi Arisu and Katsuragi Kouhei.

Seeing them approach, Kamio Tatsuya stood up to greet them.

"Hello, I'm Kamio Tatsuya from first-year Class D."

"Hello, I'm Katsuragi Kouhei from first-year Class A."

"I'm Sakayanagi Arisu."

As for Kamuro Masumi, she didn't greet anyone—she just sat down directly. After confirming no one was eavesdropping, the conversation began.

"Let's cut to the chase—what kind of intel do you have that you want to sell us?"

The one who spoke was Katsuragi Kouhei, and from the first word, you could see his steady, consistent demeanor.

Since that was the case, things would be easy.

"You've probably already noticed that this school is unusual, right?"

"In what regard?"

Katsuragi Kouhei's expression didn't change as he countered, while Sakayanagi Arisu sat quietly, listening to their exchange.

As for Kamuro Masumi, she had no intention of butting in.

"I'm talking about the 100% graduation rate and advancement rate."

"Do you have any insights on that?"

"This piece of intel is free..."

Then, Kamio Tatsuya laid out the fact that only students who graduated from Class A could enjoy special privileges, as well as the basis for class placement. However, he didn't see a trace of surprise on their faces.

This likely meant the other party had also guessed as much.

Kamio Tatsuya wasn't surprised by this; in fact, he had already anticipated this situation.

"Looks like you had your suspicions too."

"Exactly. While I wasn't as certain as you, I've observed quite a few anomalies at school myself," Katsuragi Kouhei affirmed. "So unfortunately, this piece of intel isn't worth much to us."

Kamio Tatsuya shrugged, signaling he didn't mind.

"I told you, this intel is a gift."

"Then what intel are you trying to sell us?" Katsuragi Kouhei pressed.

"Since you already know the four classes will be rivals from now on, you must also realize they'll compete through some method, right?"

Such an obvious point naturally earned a nod from Katsuragi Kouhei.

"I can tell you plainly: the school calls these competitions 'Special Exams.' What I'm selling you is intel on the first Special Exam."

The probing was over; Kamio Tatsuya cut straight to the product he had prepared.

Yet even so, Katsuragi Kouhei remained unmoved. It was Sakayanagi Arisu who turned her gaze to Kamio Tatsuya with keen interest.

Chapter 16: This Is an Open Scheme

At that, Kamio Tatsuya stopped beating around the bush and directly revealed the content of the first Special Exam.

"The school will hold a Behavioral Ethics Exam in April. Any student who acts against proper student conduct will have Class Points deducted. As of now, I've only told the three of you about this."

He then explained what Class Points were.

But Kamuro Masumi, who had been silent until now, looked at Kamio Tatsuya in disbelief.

Weren't you supposed to be selling intel?

Aren't you going to name a price first?

Why just blurt it out like that?

Aren't you afraid we won't pay you any points?

Yet once this intel was out, the usually composed Katsuragi Kouhei immediately furrowed his brow.

He didn't think Kamio Tatsuya had recklessly revealed this information; there had to be some scheme behind it.

But before asking about that, one question needed answering.

"How do you know something like this?"

In response, Kamio Tatsuya smiled without a word.

At that moment, Sakayanagi Arisu, who had been observing him all along, suddenly began to clap.

"What a brilliant Open Scheme, Kamio-kun. So then, how many points are you planning to sell this intel for?"

Having worried the other party might not catch his intent, Kamio Tatsuya now broke into a satisfied grin.

Talking to smart people sure saved trouble.

"As much as I'd like to say four million, that would be too cold-hearted. So just hand over three hundred thousand Private Points to me."

His actual expectation was two hundred thousand Private Points, but since you set a high price and they haggle down, stating his real number outright would make it hard to reach that figure.

"No problem. I'll go raise the funds right away. I'm sure Class A will be willing to chip in." Sakayanagi Arisu agreed to Kamio Tatsuya's demand without a second thought.

That left him a bit speechless.

Damn, he'd asked for too little.

"Wait, what are you two even talking about? Didn't he already spill the intel? Why give him points at all?"

Kamuro Masumi looked utterly confused.

By now, Katsuragi had also caught on, shooting Kamio Tatsuya a deep glance. If the class-split rules were all true, then this guy's caliber was far from D-Class material.

"I agree to this deal too. I'll hand over the points before school ends on Friday."

Kamio Tatsuya's lips curled into a smile. "Then pleasure doing business. Oh, and keep this transaction confidential."

"Of course."

After Kamio Tatsuya left, Kamuro Masumi was still baffled.

It was then that Sakayanagi Arisu, walking alongside her, finally explained.

"Kamuro-san, you must think Katsuragi-kun and I have lost our minds, right?"

Kamuro Masumi opened her mouth but said nothing—though that was exactly what she thought.

"That three hundred thousand wasn't an intel fee. It was hush money."

Hush money?

What was that supposed to mean?

"Do you think Class A would lose a lot of Class Points if we went into the exam without knowing about the Behavioral Ethics Exam in the first month?"

Kamuro Masumi thought it over, then shook her head.

The students of Class A had nothing worth correcting as students; everyone studied diligently in class, with no one sleeping, whispering, or violating discipline.

During breaks, they also refrained from any behavior unbecoming of students.

They could be described as model students.

"Doesn't that mean his information is even more useless to us?"

"That's not how it's calculated, Kamuro." Sakayanagi Arisu's face showed a delighted expression. "Although this information is useless to us, it's of great use to Class B and Class C."

Seeing that Kamuro Masumi still didn't understand, Sakayanagi Arisu continued to explain.

"Even though our Class A can still perform at our best without this information, it's different for the other classes.

Leaving aside Class D, if Class B and Class C went into this exam without knowing the details, they'd probably lose at least a few hundred points.

If they knew this information, given their overall quality, they'd have a way to avoid losing those points. Do you understand now?"

Having said this much, Kamuro Masumi finally got it.

In short, Class A was spending three million points to ensure Class B and Class C would lose that many points.

What's more, Class A students could, knowing this information, deliberately lead Class B and Class C students into violating school rules, further weakening them.

According to relativity, weakening the enemy is strengthening oneself, so if Class A wanted to take the lead, those three million points were a must.

Katsuragi and Sakayanagi, who had both risen to the top of Class A, would never underestimate the other classes, so they both felt the three million was well worth it.

As for Kamio Tatsuya, if Class A didn't mind him selling the information to Class B and Class C, then he naturally wouldn't mind either.

The final result would just be creating two opponents for himself just to save three million points.

Then, Kamuro Masumi thought of something.

"What about Class D?"

The moment Kamuro Masumi mentioned this, Sakayanagi Arisu let out a laugh.