The True Meaning of Changing Classes, the Reason You Were Assigned to Class C

Shinroku Sato hesitated.

When he first proposed handing over his private points to Manabu Horikita for safekeeping, he had trusted the man's character implicitly.

But after Dokuho Kouya pointed out that Manabu Horikita might use his authority as Student Council president to forbid such an act, he began to feel uncertain.

Despite knowing him as an opponent for three years, Shinroku Sato's understanding of Manabu Horikita remained one-sided.

He truly could not guarantee whether Manabu Horikita would report this to the school once he learned of the situation.

"Junior Kouya, I am curious."

Shinroku Sato frowned. "I have read your contract. You gain absolutely no benefit from this matter, so why are you so eager to get involved?"

To be so proactive about something that offers no personal gain.

It was simply too suspicious.

So much so that Shinroku Sato felt a sense of unease in his heart.

"Senior Sato, you are being far too paranoid."

Dokuho Kouya sat on the sofa in a relaxed posture, his expression calm as he spoke. "Then, let me share my thoughts with you."

This was the lie he had carefully prepared to craft his persona.

"Senior Sato, what deep meaning do you think lies behind the statement that 20 million private points can buy a promotion to Class A?" Dokuho Kouya asked.

"Huh?" Shinroku Sato blinked, stunned. "Isn't it... just exactly what it says?"

Dokuho Kouya shook his head. "The true meaning of that statement is that by spending 20 million points, one can transfer a person to another class—provided, of course, that the individual in question agrees to it."

Shinroku Sato's expression turned strange. "Is there any difference?"

"The difference is massive."

Dokuho Kouya continued, "Following this logic, in order to strengthen their own ranks, Class A, Class B, and Class C could all spend 20 million private points to recruit strong individuals from lower-ranked classes."

"Senior Sato, you should also be able to see that in every class, there are people who don't belong there."

"Lower-ranked classes have excellent students, and higher-ranked classes have incompetent ones. I think, as a class leader, you understand this better than I do."

Shinroku Sato nodded, his expression turning grave.

It was true; some students were simply incompatible with their assigned classes. Even in Class D, a place often seen as a pile of trash, there were students with outstanding abilities.

Although the school claimed that those assigned to Class D were "defective products," some of those defects displayed strength far superior to certain students in Class A.

Logically, these excellent students should have been assigned to Class A in the first place.

Well, even he, Shinroku Sato, should have been assigned to Class A.

"Even for a class, 20 million private points is an incredibly expensive price to pay for one person."

Shinroku Sato shook his head. "We sometimes encounter situations where a comrade is expelled, and we need those 20 million points to cancel the expulsion penalty."

"Uh..."

Shinroku Sato froze, his eyes widening in disbelief.

After Dokuho Kouya's reminder, his perception of the 20 million points for a Class A promotion had shifted to the realization that 20 million points could be used to recruit elite students.

Both transferring classes and canceling an expulsion penalty required 20 million private points—could this really be a coincidence?

"Are you saying the school's intention is for us to discard the useless students in our class and then spend 20 million points to bring in elite talent from other classes?"

Cold sweat began to bead on Shinroku Sato's forehead.

If that were true, then the approach taken by his Class C of the Third Year, and perhaps the entire third year at Advanced Nurturing, had been wrong all along.

Useless students should just be discarded.

The important thing was to save money to recruit elite talent from other classes to strengthen one's own.

Take Class B of the Third Year, for example; if they had started saving money two years ago, they could have completed a transfer to bring in elite talent from Class C or Class D.

By then, their hope of rising to Class A would have been much greater.

The same applied to Class A of the Third Year. With the most points, they could have even completed two transfers, bringing in two elite individuals to solidify their position.

"Senior Sato seems to have grasped the school's intent, but let us return to the main point."

Dokuho Kouya said calmly, "Even for a class, spending 20 million points is a significant cost, which is why one must demonstrate exceptional strength to convince a high-ranking class to part with those points."

Shinroku Sato understood. "You want to use this plan to prove your strength to Class A of the First Year?"

Dokuho Kouya chuckled. "If you were the leader of Class A of the First Year, and without knowing the full details, you saw someone in your grade spend 20 million points to help a senior student transfer, wouldn't you think that person was quite capable?"

Everyone involved in the plan had to keep it secret.

Not to mention the lower-year students, even the members of Class A of the Third Year could not be told.

The only information outsiders would receive was that Dokuho Kouya had used 20 million private points to transfer a senior student into Class A.

Shinroku Sato lowered his head in thought, attempting to put himself in the shoes of the leader of Class A of the First Year.

Based on the information available, he would indeed view Dokuho Kouya as someone with significant power.

"But even if they realize you are capable, Class A might not necessarily spend 20 million private points to recruit you."

Shinroku Sato said, "If it were me, I might even target you on purpose to force your expulsion."

"It seems there is a reason why you were placed in Class C, Shinroku-senpai."

Dokuho Kouya stopped speaking halfway through his sentence, leaving the rest unsaid.

It didn't hurt to play the riddle-maker once in a while.

People would figure it out on their own.

"Is this the reason I was placed in Class C?"

Shinroku Sato did not refute him, instead frowning as he searched for his own reasons.

If it were that guy Manabu Horikita...

In this situation, he likely wouldn't go out of his way to target such an excellent talent.

Instead, he would truly consider having the entire class pool 20 million private points to recruit Dokuho Kouya, thereby strengthening the power of Class A.

20 million points was a lot, certainly.

But graduating from Class A was the most important thing of all.

Shinroku's original thought process was to weaken his opponents, while the way he imagined Manabu Horikita thinking was to strengthen himself.

If he followed Shinroku Sato's line of thinking, the class's energy during a special exam would be focused on forcing Dokuho Kouya to drop out.

As for the results of the special exam, they would naturally suffer.

If they succeeded in the expulsion on the first try, that would be fine.

But if they failed, the class he led would be overtaken by other classes due to poor performance in the special exam.

However, if he did the opposite—actively participating in the exam from the start and saving up enough points to recruit the person later—it would be a masterstroke.

Not only would he maintain Class A's status, but he would also strengthen Class A's power while weakening the other classes; it was killing multiple birds with one stone.

"So this is the gap between me and the leaders of Class A." Shinroku Sato had indeed realized something.

It was just a realization based on a misunderstanding.

"Kouya-kohai, I already understand your intentions."

Shinroku Sato stood up from the sofa. "I will bring this matter up with the people in my class, but I cannot guarantee how many will be willing to participate."

"If possible, I hope you can also mention this to the leaders of Class B and Class D."

Dokuho Kouya said, "This is something that can only be accomplished if three classes join forces."