At Class C's KTV gathering, Ryuen Kakeru and Tennoji Kaede's conversation raised no suspicions.
In the eyes of their classmates, Tennoji was essentially Ryuen's most capable right-hand man.
Tennoji Kaede had also shown off his abilities during the swimming class earlier, earning the admiration of quite a few people. Naturally, some had other ideas as well, but that was a story for another time.
After testing Kaede a little, Ryuen continued, "After Sakagami announced the actual rules of the S System today, I went to ask him about something I'd been wondering about, and got an answer."
Tennoji Kaede replied, "Everyone starts with 100,000 points in their first month. That's pretty tight if you want to buy useful information from a teacher... You must've asked about the most crucial part, right, Ryuen?"
"Heh. That guy Sakagami finally said it for free this morning: Class Transfer Power. It takes 20 million Private Points for one person to get promoted to Class A." Ryuen revealed a piece of information Kaede had already known.
"At the rate you're earning money, Tennoji, it doesn't seem all that difficult for someone capable to save up that huge amount of points in three years."
Under normal circumstances, even if a class maintained 1,000 Class Points the whole time, each student would only get 3.6 million points over three years.
Someone like Tennoji, earning over a million a month, would make 36 million in three years. He really could obtain Class Promotion Authority with ease, and he'd have no trouble pulling it off if he wanted to.
Tennoji Kaede nodded, acknowledging Ryuen's assessment.
"But putting me aside, as the leader of Class C, you're not going to take everyone's Private Points and then end up choosing to ascend to Class A all by yourself, are you?"
At that, Ryuen sneered. He was the leader, of course he wouldn't stoop to such a despicable act.
Besides, although he'd collected quite a few points through the threat of his tyrannical rule, if he actually tried to use that money to transfer classes in secret, everyone would fight back desperately and report him like crazy. There was no way the School Administration would approve such a blatant attempt to exploit the system without conducting a proper review.
"It's easy enough to earn the points for one person to transfer classes, but what I'm thinking is... earning enough for all forty of us!" Ryuen drained his glass.
Here it comes!
As the saying went, old habits died hard. Ryuen Kakeru's 800 Million Points Strategy had returned!
Although Ayanokōji had once smugly remarked in the original story that this ridiculous idea had a 5% chance of success, Tennoji Kaede wanted to say that he'd give it 10%!
It was easy enough to talk big, wasn't it?
But realistically, even if every student in the entire year gave 100,000 points a month, they'd still have less than 600 million by graduation. How could they possibly get 800 million?
"An 800 Million Points Strategy, huh? That's no small challenge. I'd estimate the odds at around 10%."
Tennoji Kaede didn't even bat an eye.
Ryuen Kakeru: ...
The air turned a little awkward. It seemed Ryuen Kakeru had been bluffing too, but Tennoji Kaede had bluffed even harder.
Still, it wasn't surprising. Ryuen didn't know yet about all the bizarre exams in Shijiao's later years. For now, the 800 Million Strategy was just a bold hypothesis.
"Ryuen, I'm really not making fun of your strategy." Tennoji Kaede's expression turned serious.
"On the contrary, it's so bold and long-term that most people wouldn't even think of it. That means it's extremely hard to detect! As long as you can keep your plans hidden, there'll eventually come a day when you can make them happen."
"Hmph! You make it sound nice, Tennoji, but what's your strategy? Don't tell me you really plan to spend three years hiding behind me... Or are you hoping to use our advantage in Class Points to crush the other classes in the future?" Ryuen's gaze sharpened as he leaned toward him.
"You haven't forgotten your theory about 'preferential treatment for the class that gets promoted,' have you? You understand that Class C can't stay stronger than Classes A and B forever! Even if we become Class A someday, we could get knocked down at any time."
Not to mention, in the future, they wouldn't even be able to beat Class D, Tennoji Kaede thought.
Still, he did have ideas of his own—and quite a few of them.
But there weren't many options he could discuss with Ryuen here, so Kaede really had to give it some thought.
"All right, I'll tell you one of my ideas."
Tennoji Kaede took another drink. Looking at his empty glass, he suddenly felt like Liu Bei discussing heroes over wine.
Ishizaki Daichi was chatting with a few of his buddies farther away.
To be honest, even though Ryuen had beaten him up at the start of the school year, Ishizaki still genuinely admired him.
He'd felt that way for a long time. Ishizaki respected the truly strong.
By comparison, he knew exactly how much he was worth, and he didn't think it was embarrassing at all to follow Ryuen.
If you're stronger than me, then I'll do as you say.
Likewise, Ishizaki had a special impression of Tennoji Kaede. He instinctively didn't want to get into a confrontation with him.
He just had a feeling it wouldn't end well. Working together under Big Brother Ryuen was pretty good...
"Crash!"
The sound of a glass breaking suddenly rang out, and the cheerful atmosphere in the KTV came to an abrupt halt.
Ishizaki immediately realized that Big Brother Ryuen's glass had shattered!
Had he gotten into a fight with Tennoji? This was bad!
Ishizaki was about to rush over and break it up when Ryuen suddenly burst into exaggerated laughter, while Tennoji looked awkward.
What... Ishizaki was baffled. This didn't seem to be how things were supposed to go.
"Hahahahahaha!" Ryuen Kakeru laughed so hard that tears glistened in the corners of his eyes.
"You went a bit overboard there, Ryuen. You scared everyone in the class, you know?"
As Ryuen's laughter died down, Tennoji Kaede smiled and explained things to the Class C students. He'd almost told them, "Go ahead, keep the music playing and keep dancing."
But Ryuen was the one who'd broken his glass. Maybe he was the one who deserved to be called Liu Bei...
No matter how the other Class C students looked at it, the two men didn't seem to have gotten into a fight. It looked more like Tennoji Kaede had made Ryuen laugh, so they stopped paying attention and went back to enjoying themselves.
Kaede gave Hiyori and Ibuki a look to show he was fine, and they relaxed.
Kaede tossed a box of tissues from the table to Ryuen. He kept his expression calm, as if he were thinking about something.
"I didn't laugh at your ridiculous points strategy, so how can you justify acting so over the top? Besides, you told me to say what I thought, so of course I wasn't going to think small. What do you think now?"
Tennoji Kaede took out his device and glanced at it.
"...Tennoji, you really are a man full of surprises. What a shame you're not in another class."
"If I were in Class A or B, then don't even ask—I'd hide so well you'd never find me, and spend three years lying low. Think you could still give me trouble then?"
After saying that, Tennoji Kaede shook his head. But now that a month had passed, he felt that being in Class C was pretty nice too.
As the saying went, a person only needed two or three friends in their lifetime.
Kaede felt that Class C was about right. He could still make one or two close friends there.
He continued, "Let's leave all that aside. As for the Midterm Exam at the end of the month, I have a way to keep Class C's current advantage—and it'll be easy."
"...Let's hear it. Given the time we have, there's no way we can catch up to Class B's overall academic ability in a month." Ryuen Kakeru wasn't particularly interested. He replied casually.
"Just as you went to Sakagami-sensei when you had questions, since Class C isn't doing well academically, we can ask our upperclassmen for advice and see if they can come up with something."
The snacks at the KTV were pretty good. Tennoji Kaede planned to sneak some home later. It was an old habit from his previous life.
Ryuen understood right away.
After saying, "I don't care about Class C's academic ability. Do whatever you want," he didn't say much more.
And so, the Class C gathering soon came to an end...
Before you continue