Give It Up, Hui!

One would expect them to be happy about being in Class A, yet the atmosphere in the classroom after school was rather heavy.

"Sorry, Sakayanagi, I can't play chess with you today. I have plans with Yuki."

Amasawa Yuto packed his bag. He and Yuki had agreed to go to Palette to try the new desserts today.

"That is quite alright, but are you certain you wish to leave in such an atmosphere?" Sakayanagi wore an elegant smile.

Within their line of sight, Katsuragi Kohei slowly walked over.

"Everyone, please wait a moment," Sakayanagi's voice rang out. "Katsuragi-kun seems to have something important to say."

"I only came to find you, Sakayanagi."

But the students in the class had already been drawn by the commotion, and everyone was looking their way.

"It seems I really will have to wait a while." Amasawa Yuto took out his phone to message Yuki, asking her to wait a moment.

"I originally didn't want to make this a public matter for the whole class, but since you insist, Sakayanagi, then I believe everyone is aware that we are the most outstanding students, which is why we were assigned to Class A."

Katsuragi crossed his arms. "In order to graduate from Class A, we must hold onto this throne until the end of the third semester of our third year. I do not want the other classes to take the throne from us, not even once."

The students nodded; no one was willing to hand over the Class A throne.

Seeing that he had support, Katsuragi felt more confident and continued:

"However, everyone has seen the results for the first month. Class B is only 20 points behind us. How did this happen?"

Katsuragi scanned the class. "Of course, I am not trying to criticize everyone for doing poorly. Everyone did very well this month, living up to the school's assessment of us. Just as I said on the first day, points represent the school's evaluation of us."

"So, what I actually want to say is—someone leaked this information to Class B, which is why Class B is only 20 points behind our class."

This was practically pointing out that there was a traitor in Class A.

As soon as Katsuragi said this, the class immediately fell into an uproar.

"That's impossible, what would they even gain?"

"I have thought about it. What reason would be worth the risk of being overtaken by Class B? My conclusion is—"

Katsuragi paused here, his stern gaze meeting the smiling, elegant girl.

As expected. Amasawa Yuto thought to himself.

This was, in reality, a denunciation meeting held by the Katsuragi faction against the Sakayanagi faction.

"Sakayanagi, why don't you explain to everyone yourself?"

"Oh my, does Katsuragi-kun mean to imply that you suspect me of leaking the information to Class B?"

"Who else could it be but you!" Upon hearing Sakayanagi dare to quibble, Totsuka Yahiko was the first to stand up. "You must be jealous that Katsuragi is more suited to lead Class A than you are!"

"You shouldn't say things like that, Totsuka." Hashimoto Masayoshi stood up. "I understand you want to defend your big brother, but we're all honest people here; you need evidence to back up your claims."

He walked over to the side and patted Totsuka Yahiko on the shoulder.

"Exactly. There's a limit to making baseless accusations. Is slandering a classmate really the style of Katsuragi?" Masumi Kamuro also stood up to speak for Sakayanagi.

"You... you guys..." Totsuka Yahiko was rendered speechless by the retort and had no choice but to seek help from his leader.

"I want to ask you something, Katsuragi." Kito, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly stood up. His face looked like it had been plucked straight out of a horror movie, and his terrifying gaze was fixed directly on Katsuragi. "Do you have any evidence that Sakayanagi betrayed the class?"

Beads of sweat seeped onto Katsuragi's forehead. How could he possibly have evidence? Class B would certainly never tell Class A anything, and it was impossible to catch Sakayanagi in the act.

"In any case, I will continue to keep an eye on you, Sakayanagi. I hope you don't do anything you'll regret."

After saying this, Katsuragi turned to leave. As he walked away, he glanced at Amasawa Yuto, who was sitting next to Sakayanagi. "Amasawa, Sakayanagi is a dangerous woman. You shouldn't get too close to her."

"Thank you for the advice, Katsuragi," Sakayanagi replied politely, her tone proud. "As for my relationship with Amasawa, you needn't trouble yourself. Amasawa and I are childhood friends, after all~"

"What?" Katsuragi's brows furrowed tightly. His gaze toward Amasawa Yuto grew more vigilant; he had likely categorized Amasawa as one of his enemies now.

The students in the class were also somewhat surprised, as this was the first time Sakayanagi had publicly admitted it. For the past month, Amasawa Yuto had been almost completely invisible.

He gave off the impression of a mysterious, handsome loner who kept to himself.

However, Risonaka and Kamuro both knew the truth. It seemed they hadn't spread the word; their ability to keep quiet was quite likable.

The gap between Katsuragi and Sakayanagi was now clear at a glance. This was a victory for Sakayanagi, though Katsuragi had certainly targeted the wrong person—the one who had actually leaked the information to Class B was Amasawa Yuto himself.

Furthermore, the level of control they each held over their subordinates was immediately apparent.

From start to finish, Sakayanagi hadn't defended herself once. She had merely started the conversation, and her subordinates had stepped up to defend her on their own.

Meanwhile, although the Katsuragi faction had over a dozen supporters, only Totsuka Yahiko had stepped up to back him in that situation.

The disparity was self-evident.

With the matter resolved, Amasawa Yuto stood up to leave the classroom, but a small tail followed behind him.

He was somewhat puzzled as to why this unexpected person was following him, and he wondered whether he should deal with her before meeting Yuki.

But the girl behind him suddenly spoke up.

"Where do you think you're going, class traitor Amasawa Yuto?"

Unexpected words.

Amasawa Yuto narrowed his eyes, stopped in his tracks, and turned around to size up the purple-haired girl who had followed him out.

"What do you mean by that, Morishita?"

"How much do you want to borrow?" Tsubaki Yuki narrowed her eyes. This was her signal that she was considering taking action.

Kei Karuizawa and the others on the opposite side naturally didn't understand the unique way of threatening people typical of the white room. They assumed Tsubaki Yuki had surrendered and was preparing to obediently hand over her points.

"Let me think, about twenty thousand? Seeing as you didn't spend much last month, you should have quite a bit left, right?"

"So, why target me? I don't think I've done anything to provoke you," Tsubaki Yuki asked. Her presence in the class wasn't particularly high, nor did she have the ability to compete with Kei Karuizawa for the position of female leader like Kushida did. Why would they come after her?

"I don't want to either, Tsubaki-san. But unfortunately, none of the other classmates have any points left from last month." Kei Karuizawa put on a regretful expression.

"Besides, Tsubaki-san, you might think your presence is low, but an excellent girl like you—as long as you don't isolate yourself like Horikita Suzune—would naturally make people feel favorably toward you. Especially since you actually got first place this time!"

Tsubaki Yuki listened coldly. So, her meaning was that she had already become a threat to her status?

"Kei, maybe we should just let it go..." Sato Maya whispered from behind. In the past, the girls they pressured were always timid and would obediently hand over their points with both hands, so they hadn't actually had to take any substantial action before.

But the Tsubaki Yuki in front of them was clearly not someone to be trifled with. If they continued, they might really end up doing something to her, and once certain lines were crossed, there was no turning back.

Sato Maya actually just followed Kei to enjoy the thrill of bullying others, but she didn't have the resolve to actually resort to violence just to save face.

She figured Kei Karuizawa didn't have the courage to actually make a move either, so she quickly tried to give her an out, hoping to avoid a situation that would turn into a real fight—something that couldn't just be explained away as a joke.