"No, I have things to do after school. Besides, why not just ask Chabashira-sensei how to earn more Points?
"Since only Class A gets special privileges, the school must have set up four classes to encourage competition between them. So naturally, there must be ways to earn more Points.
"And there'll definitely be plenty of opportunities like that. Chabashira-sensei didn't mention any, but if you ask her, she probably won't keep them secret."
Hearing Kamio Tatsuya's suggestion, Hirata Yosuke hesitated for a moment, then decided it seemed like a good idea.
"I understand. I'll ask her later. Thanks."
Hirata was glad.
He'd been right to ask Kamio for advice. Just one sentence had pointed him in the right direction for the day's discussion.
And Kamio was happy to help with something so small. There was nothing wrong with leaving someone with a good impression of him.
The free time Chabashira-sensei had left them soon came to an end, and Class D returned to normal.
At least no one was randomly shouting in class anymore.
Kamio could finally pay attention to the lesson.
Come to think of it, the teachers at this school were excellent at teaching. Even Kamio, whose fundamentals weren't very solid, could keep up with the pace.
But keeping up was one thing; there were still plenty of things he didn't understand.
And those things would probably be key to whether he passed the exams.
He needed to find someone to explain them to him.
Kamio glanced around. Horikita Suzune seemed like a good choice. Her grades were good, and she was easy on the eyes.
Sure, she had a bad temper, but I'm the client here!
More importantly, she had no reason to refuse.
"Ahem. Horikita, I've got a part-time job that pays a thousand Points an hour. Interested?"
At that, Horikita frowned.
"What are you getting at?"
"You've seen my grades. I passed this time, but I'm actually in a pretty precarious position. I don't want to get expelled for failing a written exam, so I'm planning to hire you as my tutor."
Kamio made his request without the slightest embarrassment. There was nothing shameful about being bad at studying. Everyone had a wild past, didn't they?
A thousand Points an hour, with three weeks until the Midterm Exam—that was twenty days. If he paid her a thousand Points every day, that would be twenty thousand.
Horikita was tempted. That way, she wouldn't have to eat the Mountain Vegetable Set or worry about her brother seeing her in such a miserable state.
Besides, the money he was offering had originally been scammed out of her, so she had no qualms about taking some of it back.
And she already planned to study after school. This would just mean she had one more person to tutor.
On top of that, the guy seemed pretty smart. His previous grades hadn't been disastrously bad, either. He'd probably just slacked off before, so tutoring him shouldn't be too much trouble.
After finding several reasonable justifications, Horikita finally convinced herself that it was a deal worth taking.
"Fine, but I want to check your Points first."
"No way." Kamio immediately rejected her request. "But I can pay you a deposit before we start the tutoring."
My Points aren't something you can just look at whenever you feel like it.
Horikita gave Kamio a suspicious look, then nodded.
After all, she only wanted to make sure he could afford to pay her.
"There are twenty days until the Midterm Exam, so I'll pay you half of the Private Points in advance. I'll give you the rest after I see how well this works."
The negotiations concluded, and Kamio transferred ten thousand Points to Horikita.
Seeing the ten thousand Points that had just arrived in her account, Horikita stared blankly.
"You're giving it to me this early? Aren't you worried I'll take the ten thousand Points and back out?"
Kamio glanced at her, his eyes full of mockery.
"I don't think you will. After all, Horikita Suzune, you wouldn't want your brother to find out you'd become someone who breaks promises over a measly ten thousand Points, would you?"
Horikita Manabu was clearly Horikita Suzune's weak spot. All her past actions showed how much she respected him.
Which meant she definitely didn't want him to see her at her worst. That was her weak spot, plain and simple.
And dealing with someone like Horikita, who had such an obvious weak spot, was far too easy.
One sentence was all it took to handle her.
Sure enough, after giving him a warning look, Horikita said nothing more about backing out.
At lunchtime, the students who had already spent nearly all their Points started asking their classmates to lend them money.
Of course, they didn't ask Kamio or Horikita.
Kamio had once caused a violent incident in class, so most people didn't dare approach him.
As for Horikita, people could practically feel the aura around her that warned them to stay away before they even got close.
In fact, in all the time since school had started, she'd only talked much with the two classmates sitting beside her.
Before class that afternoon, Hirata came to find Kamio.
"Kamio, your suggestion was spot-on. There really is a way to earn more Points."
"It's nothing worth praising me for. If you'd taken a moment to think, you could've figured it out too."
As they talked, Kamio noticed Horikita beside them pricking up her ears, eager to learn how to earn more Points.
"The nearest opportunity we have to earn more Points is the Midterm Exam. We can earn Points based on our average score."
Hirata then explained the details.
The Midterm Exam covered five major subjects. They would add together the average scores for each subject and then divide by five to get the final score.
In other words, the maximum would be one hundred.
As for the minimum, that was hard to say.
Going by the recent quiz, it would be around sixty-four.
That would translate to 6,400 Private Points. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. If they were careful with their spending, they wouldn't have to eat the Mountain Vegetable Set every meal.
Someone like Horikita, who cooked for herself, would spend even less.
There's no way I can spend it all! Not a chance!
The Thirty-Second Chapter: Overthrow? What an obscure word.
After school, the students in Class D still looked dazed, but fortunately, they gradually calmed down.
And since Hirata seemed to be planning to hold a class meeting, Kamio packed up and left. Horikita followed right behind him.
"When do you plan to start tutoring me?"
Once they'd left the classroom, Horikita looked at Kamio.
"If it works for you, we can start now." Kamio shrugged. "If you don't mind, let's go straight to the library."
Horikita frowned, as if something was troubling her.
"What's wrong?"
"I have an appointment with Chabashira-sensei later. Could you go wait for me in the library? It'll probably take about half an hour."
"No problem." Kamio readily agreed.
The two of them split up. Kamio headed for the library on the fourth floor, while Horikita went in the opposite direction.
On his way to the library, Kamio reached the third floor and unexpectedly saw Chabashira-sensei coming down from above.
Uh, it'd be rude not to greet my homeroom teacher, wouldn't it?
She might hold it against me later.
After a moment's hesitation, Kamio nodded to her.
He thought that counted as a greeting, but to his surprise, Chabashira Sae stopped and even called out to him.
"Is that how you greet the teacher who's educating you? How rude."
What the hell...
The idiots in our class treat you with even less respect. But somehow I'm the rude one?
Damn it, are you picking a fight on purpose?
"Good afternoon, Chabashira-sensei."
The situation was against him, so Kamio gave in for now.
"Are you going to the library?"
"Yes. My fundamentals aren't very good, so I've decided to start preparing for the Midterm Exam today," Kamio answered honestly.
Chabashira stared at him for a while, making him feel very uncomfortable.
"Come with me."
Hmm?
What does that mean?
She wants me to go with her?
Wait, what happens if you disobey a teacher at this school? Anyone know? I need an answer fast.
Until he figured out what would happen if he disobeyed her, Kamio decided to hold back for now. Her authority might be considerable.
But giving in so easily wasn't his style, so...
"Uh, but I have plans with Horikita."
"Don't worry. I won't get in the way of your date with Horikita."
"Uh, it's not a date. Please don't spread rumors. I don't want the Student Council President to kill me," Kamio said, exasperated.
"The Student Council President?"
"Oh, he's Horikita's brother."
Chabashira seemed to find that amusing and nodded.
"Anyway, whatever it is, come with me first."
There was no helping it...
"Okay."
Kamio followed Chabashira to the teachers' office. But instead of finding Horikita Suzune, whom he'd expected to see, he ran into Ayanokoji Kiyonaka.
At that moment, he seemed to be getting pestered by a female teacher. When she saw Kamio and Chabashira, he seemed to send them a desperate look for help.
Seeing her student in trouble, Chabashira picked up the clipboard in her hand and smacked the female teacher hard on the head.
"Hoshinomiya, what are you doing?"
Hoshinomiya?
Who was that?
"Ow! What was that for?!"
After being hit by Chabashira, the woman called Hoshinomiya immediately crouched down, clutching her head.
"You were pestering my student."
"He said he was here to see Sae, so I was just keeping him company until you came back."
"You could've just ignored him. Ayanokoji, sorry for the wait. This isn't the best place to talk, so come with me to the Counseling Room." Then she glanced at Kamio, who was behind her. "You too."
All right, I'm coming too.
Seeing Ayanokoji look at him in confusion, Kamio shrugged, just as baffled.
"Uh, I don't think I've done anything conspicuous like Kamio has. Chabashira-sensei, are you sure you haven't got the wrong person?"
Ayanokoji's words left Kamio speechless.
Before you continue