Sakayanagi: This Has to Be Someone's Trap

By this point, Ayanokoji Kiyonaka and Horikita Manabu had caught up with him.

"Kamio?"

At the sound of Ayanokoji's voice, Kamio Tatsuya stopped. Then he stopped again, and Horikita Manabu and Ayanokoji Kiyonaka stopped, too.

They were only two or three meters apart.

"I'm warning you: don't try to get physical with me. This place is different from the other one. We're right beneath a camera."

Kamio Tatsuya's eyes were full of suspicion.

At Kamio Tatsuya's words, Horikita Manabu's brow twitched. Ayanokoji, meanwhile, looked speechless.

"Let's sit down and talk."

Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses, which had slipped askew while he was running, and pointed to the sofa in the dormitory lobby.

Kamio Tatsuya glanced over, then nodded.

"You saw what just happened. What are you planning to do?"

"I'm not planning to do anything."

Kamio Tatsuya looked utterly baffled.

"Then why did you run?"

"Because I never expected the student council president, hailed as the finest student, to deliberately pick a place without cameras to beat up his juniors." Kamio Tatsuya rolled his eyes. "And unlike Ayanokoji, I'm not that good at fighting. I wouldn't be able to dodge the president's attacks."

Ayanokoji instinctively started to object, but he felt that speaking up would only make things worse, so he quickly shut his mouth.

Horikita Manabu kept his expression neutral, but being mocked like that by a First Year was deeply unpleasant.

What's more, he was now certain the other boy had deliberately lured him here for this chance to negotiate.

"By the way, I just recorded a video. Senior Nagumo would be thrilled if he found out about this."

Damn it!

This guy knew Nagumo, too?

Wait—Nagumo had mentioned someone named Kamio Tatsuya. So this was him?

Horikita Manabu's poker face finally began to crack.

Was this guy planning to blackmail him?

"What exactly do you want? Points? You're in Class D, so you must be short on them."

At his words, Kamio Tatsuya looked at Ayanokoji.

"Ayanokoji, could you give us some privacy? I'd like to talk to the president alone. Please don't let anyone interrupt us."

Ayanokoji stood up reluctantly and walked away, stopping by the dormitory entrance.

"President, do you know how to transfer classes?"

Once Ayanokoji had left, Kamio Tatsuya asked without beating around the bush.

"Are you planning to abandon Class D?"

"So what if I am?"

"Do you intend to reach Class A on your own?"

"I'm not interested in Class A. I just don't want to stay in Class D anymore."

Horikita Manabu studied Kamio Tatsuya for a dozen seconds before replying calmly, "Twenty million Private Points. With twenty million Private Points, you can transfer to whichever class you want."

"Then, President, you..."

"Don't even think about it. Even if you really did record a video just now, and even if you handed it to Nagumo, you're not getting that many points out of me.

"But I can tell you this: you'll soon have a chance to earn a lot of points. If you seize it, getting enough to transfer classes isn't impossible."

Before Kamio Tatsuya could finish asking, Horikita Manabu cut him off.

The truth was, what had just happened might affect Horikita Manabu, but it wasn't a big deal. Even if it came to light, nothing would happen to him as long as Ayanokoji, the supposed victim, didn't file a complaint.

And judging by what had just happened, Ayanokoji didn't seem intent on making a scene.

At worst, Nagumo would use the incident to damage his reputation, and he'd lose his position as Student Council President.

But twenty million Private Points mattered far more than the presidency. They might even determine whether Class 3-A could graduate from Class A.

The two weren't even comparable.

"Fine. Got it."

Now that he knew there'd be a chance to earn a lot of points later, Kamio Tatsuya didn't push the matter.

And since Horikita Manabu had brought up an exam that would offer a chance to earn a large number of points, it had to be capable of yielding close to twenty million—if not more—in Private Points.

"Then I'll ask for something else. Our First Year Midterm Exam uses the past papers from the First Year's first semester, right?"

Horikita Manabu looked at Kamio Tatsuya in surprise. The boy even knew about that. He certainly wasn't ordinary.

But how could someone so sharp have openly beaten up a classmate beneath a camera on the first day of school?

"That's right. Do you want the old papers? I can give them to you."

"No. I want to have the test invalidated. Can that be done?"

Invalidated?

Horikita Manabu was surprised.

"As far as I know, a lot of students in Class D don't meet the required Academic Ability standards."

"What's that got to do with me? They have only themselves to blame for not studying."

Looking at Kamio Tatsuya's nonchalant expression, Horikita Manabu felt a chill run through him.

This guy was different from Nagumo.

Nagumo expelled people to maintain his control. But Kamio Tatsuya? He probably just wanted students he disliked to be expelled.

He'd just made it clear he wanted to leave Class D, which meant he might dislike someone in the class. And given what he'd just asked for, that person was probably someone with poor Academic Ability...

Sakayanagi: This Has to Be Someone's Trap

Watching Horikita Manabu mull it over, Kamio Tatsuya couldn't help asking again.

"Well? Can it be done?"

After thinking it over for a while, Horikita Manabu nodded.

"No problem."

He agreed that easily?

Kamio Tatsuya looked at Horikita Manabu suspiciously. "You're not bluffing, are you?"

Horikita Manabu glanced at Kamio Tatsuya. "You can choose not to believe me."

Kamio Tatsuya thought for a moment, then pulled out his phone and deleted the video in front of him.

"Want to check?"

"No need. No wonder Nagumo had his eye on you. Interested in joining the Student Council?"

Damn!

First the vice president, and now the president wanted me to join the Student Council? Had Nagumo told him about me, too?

"I'm not interested."

"Is that so? In that case, I'll be going."

Horikita Manabu hurried off to arrange the changes to the Midterm Exam papers. Getting that guy to delete the video so easily had been a real bargain.

Changing the Midterm Exam papers could be difficult—or simple.

The most straightforward way was to pay Points.

Kamio Tatsuya obviously wasn't going to pay, so Horikita Manabu would have to. Of course, he had no intention of spending his own Points.

So he chose an easier method, one only the Student Council President could pull off.

All he had to do was spread the word that the Midterm Exam used past papers, then use his authority as Student Council President to work behind the scenes. Changing the test papers wouldn't be difficult.

Hmph. Still too young, Junior Kamio!

Watching Horikita Manabu walk away, Kamio Tatsuya didn't leave right away. He sat on the sofa, thinking about what he could do next to really annoy that homeroom teacher.

He hadn't been thinking long when two people appeared in front of him.

"What exactly did you and my brother talk about?"

"If you want to know, why not ask your brother? You're siblings, aren't you?"

Kamio Tatsuya looked at Horikita Suzune and asked with surprise.

"I..."

"Ahem. Actually, Horikita and her brother aren't on very good..."

Before Ayanokoji could finish, Horikita landed an elbow in his side.

Kamio Tatsuya shuddered at the sight. Why did girls all like elbowing people? Horikita did it, and so did Kamuro. Weren't they afraid of damaging someone's kidneys?

"Anyway, I'm not telling you. If there's nothing else, I'm heading back."

The next day, Kamio Tatsuya noticed something strange: Horikita Suzune went over to Kushida Kikyo and invited her to lunch, and Kushida happily accepted.

Kamio Tatsuya looked incredulous. Kushida really knew how to put on an act.

It was obvious Kushida Kikyo couldn't stand Horikita Suzune.

You could tell from the clash between Horikita and Sudo two days ago.

Usually, whenever trouble broke out in the class, Kushida would rush over to mediate. For example, when Kamio Tatsuya had been about to beat up Yamauchi Haruki.

She'd jumped into action as soon as he'd started swinging, getting the people nearby to pull them apart.

But two days ago in the library, she'd waited until things were nearly out of control before stepping in to stop Sudo.

It wasn't hard to guess what Horikita Suzune was up to.

It had to be about Sudo and the others. After Horikita had fallen out with them two days ago, the study group had been called off.

But now, for some reason, Horikita seemed to be planning to rebuild the study group.

In that case, let me throw some fuel on the fire.

Kamio Tatsuya took out his phone, logged into his anonymous account, and prepared to post the past exam papers he'd obtained the day before on the forum, along with the information that last year's and the year before's quizzes had used exactly the same papers as this year's.

But just as he was about to do it, he saw that an anonymous user had already posted the information.

That... wasn't me, was it?

But he quickly figured it out. Horikita Manabu had done it.

Damn, it was that simple?

I should've asked for Points yesterday. That request was a raw deal!!!

So that's what was going on!

No wonder he'd left in such a hurry yesterday!

Damn, what a loss!

Kamio Tatsuya felt his heart ache.

In reality, only Horikita Manabu could make this work. If Kamio Tatsuya had done it himself, it wouldn't have had much effect.

"Past exam papers?"

Looking at the post, Sakayanagi Arisu was surprised.

She'd long since concluded that the anonymous account stirring up trouble on the forum belonged to Kamio Tatsuya, so seeing a post from him now left her puzzled.

Normally, once you figured out what questions would be on the Midterm Exam, wouldn't you quietly tell the students in your own class, then use the chance to gain a few more Class Points?