The information Class B purchased from Hoshinomiya-sensei included:
1. The school assigned students to classes based on ability. In the end, only students who graduated from Class A would receive the "100% admission/employment" promised in the school's recruitment slogan.
2. Each class began with 1,000 points. Students who violated the rules—by committing acts of violence, arriving late, skipping class, disrupting lessons, and so on—would have Class Points deducted accordingly.
3. Class Points were refreshed and Personal Points were distributed on the first of every month. The amount of Personal Points distributed each month equaled Class Points × 100.
4. The classes' rankings changed along with their Class Points. If Class B's points surpassed Class A's after the refresh, Class A would drop to B, and Class B would rise to A. The same applied to the other classes.
5. There were exams in all subjects at midterms and finals. Any student who failed even one subject would be expelled. The passing mark was half the class average in that subject, rounded up.
6. For 20 million Personal Points, a student could cancel one expulsion penalty or transfer to any other class in the same year.
After learning the information, Ichinose immediately urged everyone to act like proper students and avoid getting points deducted.
Most of Class B knew they weren't among the best students, and they felt a little discouraged. But with Ichinose's encouragement, they soon rallied.
At least they all liked their class as it was. They liked and respected Ichinose Honami.
After school, Kanzaki called Ichinose over, and the two began to discuss things.
"What do you think, Ichinose?" Kanzaki's expression was gloomy. His face was usually gloomy anyway, but now he seemed even more troubled.
Ichinose looked worried. "I thought we could spend three happy years together, but I never expected there to be rules like these. I remember how happy I was when I first got the admission letter, thinking I could finally start over. But it looks like we won't get to enjoy the benefits of graduating so easily after all..."
If Amasawa Yuto or one of the other class leaders had been there, they might have noticed Ichinose accidentally letting slip that she wanted to "start over."
But Kanzaki realized she wasn't talking about what he had in mind and hurriedly interrupted her. "No, I mean Amasawa's behavior. Don't you think he already knew about these rules?"
"Huh?"
"He didn't want to hear the information Class B paid for, but he was willing to help Class B negotiate the price down by 500,000 points. The only way to interpret that is that he was helping Class B without asking for anything in return. But is that really the case? He must have learned this information through some other means beforehand."
"Some other means?"
"Some way of learning the information without spending all those points to buy it."
"That can't be possible. I don't think there's any way to do that. And even if there were, so what?"
"If that's true, it changes Amasawa's position." Kanzaki spoke seriously. "Think about it, Ichinose. Amasawa knew a way to get the information without spending points, but after we left the KTV that day, he still talked us into spending 1.5 million points to buy information we could have obtained another way. That means his goal was to drain Class B's points!"
"No, Kanzaki, that doesn't make sense." After thinking it over, Ichinose shook her head. "If Amasawa's goal was to drain Class B's points, there was no need for him to go out of his way to help us get 500,000 points off the price. Wouldn't it have been better for his goal if we spent all two million points?
"Besides, if Amasawa knew the rules, he would also have known that once we learned them, we'd have more points left over after the first month. With just 200 more Class Points, and 40 people in the class, we could earn back that 1.5 million in three months. Wouldn't letting us lose a lot of Class Points in the first month have been the best way for them to keep Class A on top?"
Ichinose's rebuttal was well reasoned, and Kanzaki was left speechless for a moment. "W-Well, it can't be that he was deliberately helping us. What would Class A get out of that...?"
"That's it!" Ichinose seemed to have suddenly grasped a flash of inspiration. "Class A—we can't assume Amasawa's actions were for the sake of Class A. Don't forget, Kanzaki: the person with the most power in Class A right now is Katsuragi, followed by Classmate Sakayanagi. I don't think Amasawa cares much about graduating from Class A."
Ichinose remembered that on the bus at the start of the school year, Amasawa had mentioned his family was the famous Amasawa Conglomerate.
Maybe after graduating, his classmates in Class A would use their graduation privilege to get jobs at companies owned by the Amasawa family.
"Are there really students who don't care about graduating from Class A? If they don't graduate from Class A, they won't get the graduation privilege. Wouldn't that make these three years a waste?"
Though Kanzaki Ryuji said that, he was one of those students himself. His family owned the famous Kanzaki Heavy Industries, and he was the classic rich kid. He simply hadn't told the class.
"Maybe they have a good family background or something?" Amasawa hadn't announced who he was, so Ichinose didn't spell it out. She still didn't know that the Kanzaki Ryuji standing before her was also a rich kid keeping his background secret.
"Well, at least that would explain Amasawa's actions. He must be trying to prove that the class leaders aren't capable, so he can take their place."
If Class A failed to pull ahead of Class B in points after a month, or even got overtaken, criticism of its leaders would surely come pouring in. At that point, the leaders would be forced to step down.
"Hmm... That's possible, too. But, Kanzaki, why can't we imagine Amasawa as someone who's simply a good person?"
"You're too naive," Kanzaki blurted out. "He could do the same thing for Class C and Class D, couldn't he? If he did, everyone would know the rules, and we wouldn't have any advantage at all."
"No, he wouldn't. Amasawa would only do this for Class B."
"Because Class B is the biggest threat to Class A?" Kanzaki asked.
"No..." Ichinose gave a somewhat helpless smile. "Because Class B is the only one that could put together 1.5 million points."
Kanzaki suddenly understood. He couldn't help regretting that he hadn't thought of such a simple explanation himself.
Ryuen, the dictator of Class C, was a troublemaking thug, and there was no way to negotiate with him. Class D was a complete mess. Class B was the only class that could put together 1.5 million points.
"If nobody is willing to take the first step and trust others, how can we ever understand one another?" Ichinose clasped her hands before her chest as if in prayer. "Amasawa is a good person. At least, that's what I believe."
Actions mattered more than intentions. Who knew whether he would help Class B again next time? Kanzaki wanted to say that, but he didn't want to be too harsh in dismissing Ichinose's view. After all, Ichinose was the one suited to lead Class B. He wasn't capable of shouldering that responsibility.
So he could only say, "Just don't forget that if we want to rise to Class A, we'll have to defeat him head-on."
That was right. No matter how friendly they were on a personal level, once they bore the fate of the whole class on their shoulders, they couldn't let personal feelings influence them.
"Don't worry, Kanzaki. For everyone in our class, I'll work hard to reach Class A. Let's all work hard together, the whole of Class B!"
"Yeah. Let's work together to reach Class A, Ichinose."
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