Meeting Horikita Manabu

Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses, resting his chin on his hands as he stared straight at me. The pressure he gave off was intense.

But I wasn't impressed in the slightest. I knew the man before me had a weakness: his younger sister. If I got hold of that leverage, I'd have a chance to negotiate with him.

I took the opportunity to sit down on the sofa and cross my legs, not caring in the slightest that the man before me was the great Student Council President.

Seeing my attitude, Tachibana Akane looked as if she wanted to reprimand me, but Horikita Manabu raised a hand to stop her.

He looked at this underclassman facing him without backing down, and a trace of interest appeared in his eyes.

Not just anyone could face his imposing presence without cowering. That alone was enough to interest Horikita Manabu.

Horikita Manabu asked sternly, "May I ask why you wanted to see me, underclassman?"

"Is there some difficulty in your class? If so, file a petition instead of coming straight to the Student Council. You're overstepping, kid."

He started by giving Akasaka a warning.

But Akasaka Ryunosuke wasn't intimidated in the slightest. He met Horikita Manabu's gaze.

Horikita Manabu smiled. "Looks like this year's Class D students aren't as useless as usual."

Horikita Manabu leaned back in his chair and narrowed his eyes.

He'd deliberately let me in on a piece of information. He might have seemed casual, but he'd done it on purpose.

He wanted to see how much this underclassman could deduce from that one sentence.

Sure enough, Akasaka deliberately pretended to ponder it. In truth, he understood perfectly, but he had to act like a novice—without seeming too clueless, or he wouldn't earn the other man's attention.

I thought for about ten seconds before asking Horikita Manabu, "Are the classes at this school ranked from A to D?"

"From what you just said, Class D seems to be the worst."

"If Class D is the worst, then Class A must be the best. Am I right?"

Horikita Manabu sprang to his feet, staring at me in shock as if I were some kind of monster.

"You figured all that out from just one thing I said?"

Horikita Manabu had no choice but to take this underclassman seriously. Even he couldn't have deduced so much from a single sentence.

Seeing how serious her president had become, Tachibana Akane realized this underclassman was no pushover.

He'd worked all that out from one sentence. No wonder the president was taking him so seriously.

Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses and sat back down, his expression noticeably more serious this time.

"You came here to gather information, didn't you?"

When Horikita Manabu asked, I quickly nodded and admitted it, then added, "There's a girl named Horikita in my class. I was wondering if the two of you were related."

Horikita Manabu gave a faint smile. "I have to say, you're perceptive. She's my younger sister. She's a little inept, though, isn't she?"

Horikita Manabu admitted it quite openly, though he sounded a little helpless.

His sister had clung to him since childhood, saying she wanted to attend the same school as her big brother. He hadn't expected her to actually follow him here.

Honestly, he hadn't wanted Suzune to come to this school. It was a place where the strong preyed on the weak, and Suzune was too likely to get the short end of the stick.

With Suzune's usual personality, she didn't have a single friend. At a school where strength was everything, going it alone would get her isolated.

Horikita Manabu had worried himself sick over his sister, but as he looked at the underclassman before him, he thought to himself, Perhaps I could ask this young man to look after my sister, as long as I offered him enough in return...

But only if this underclassman doesn't have some other motive...

Horikita Manabu pretended to think it over, then said to Akasaka Ryunosuke, "Your name is Akasaka Ryunosuke, right? I'd like to invite you to join the Student Council."

Tachibana Akane, standing to the side, was stunned.

She hadn't expected the President to invite an underclassman who'd only just enrolled two days ago to join the Student Council.

Nothing like this had ever happened at this school before. It showed just how highly the President thought of him.

Akasaka rubbed his chin, pretending to consider it while calculating how to maximize his benefits. Then he asked, "What would I get out of joining the Student Council?"

Horikita Manabu smiled. A deal based on mutual benefit was ideal. The real problem was when someone couldn't be bought at any price.

Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses again and explained the advantages of joining the Student Council.

"Once you join, you'll receive 100,000 points each month. That's extra; it doesn't come out of your regular points."

Horikita Manabu took the opportunity to let him in on another piece of information.

The school had rules against stating certain things outright, but there was no harm in hinting.

Facing Horikita Manabu, who was deliberately feeding me information again, I couldn't help but curse inwardly. Siscon! But I kept my expression neutral and continued my little routine.

"I see. So that means next month's points might not be 100,000, am I right, President?"

Horikita Manabu smiled again, this time with admiration. He hadn't expected this underclassman to be so sharp. If he revealed even a little more, the other boy might strip bare every secret this school had.

Horikita Manabu knew where to draw the line. For the students to compete fairly, he didn't intend to reveal any more information.

He handed the Student Council acceptance notice to Akasaka Ryunosuke. Its meaning was obvious.

What did Akasaka have to hesitate about? He might as well take the 100,000 points. Besides, joining had been one of his reasons for coming here...

I quickly signed and handed the form back to Horikita Manabu. Once he'd received it, Horikita Manabu nodded in satisfaction, took out his phone, and transferred 100,000 points to me on the spot.

I looked at the extra 100,000 points on my phone, then asked him curiously, "Does the Student Council pay everyone a month in advance?"

Horikita Manabu shook his head. "No. We usually pay on the first of the following month. I'm giving you the money this month as an investment."

"Of course, it's still your money. I'm just advancing you one month's wages. You won't get paid next month."

I couldn't help pouting. I'd thought I might get another 100,000 points for free. Still, I accepted the President's offer, because I really could use the money.

For the plans I had later...

Seeing me accept, Horikita Manabu nodded in satisfaction and added, "Come report in tomorrow. I imagine the homeroom teachers from the other classes will be shocked when they hear about this."

Horikita Manabu wore a mischievous smile.

"You joined the Student Council on your second day at school, even though you're in the worst class, Class D. I doubt you'll be able to pass yourself off as an ordinary student anymore, will you?"

That was Horikita Manabu's real purpose.

On the surface, he'd invited Akasaka Ryunosuke to join the Student Council. In reality, he'd put him in the public eye.

Once he was in the public eye, he'd have no choice but to help his class.

And his sister was in Class D, the worst class. If she wanted to advance, she'd need this young man's help to some extent.

Even if he didn't want to get involved, surely his homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, wouldn't let him off easily.

After all, that homeroom teacher was practically desperate to move her class up.

Soon, Akasaka Ryunosuke left the President's Office.

He now had 200,000 points.

He was still a long way from financial freedom, but this was a small step in the right direction, wasn't it?

Akasaka Ryunosuke's lips slowly curled into a smile.

"This school is amazing!"

"Being able to make money so quickly—this was something I never could've imagined in my previous life. I really love this school."