Classroom of the Elite, After the Intel Refreshed, They Always Want to Conquer Me! 42

What needs to be done now is not to conquer territory, but to hold this fortress—and that is often far more difficult than seizing it.

Throughout history, how many conquerors have fallen rapidly after reaching the summit? This principle holds true in the competition between classes as well.

Katsuragi Kohei considers his brain to be faster than the average person's, and he understands the current situation of Class A better than anyone—it appears infinitely glorious, but hidden crises lurk within.

Occupying the high ground from the very beginning makes it easy to lose the motivation to forge ahead.

Looking at the other classes, it is precisely because of the existence of this "thorn in their side" that they will continue to maintain the fighting spirit to catch up.

In such an environment, the leadership often falls into internal friction and power struggles without even realizing it.

(At the very least, she shouldn't make a move against me within the first two years.)

Katsuragi calmly analyzes the situation. Although he also aspires to be the sole leader of Class A, it is clearly too early for that now.

Even if Sakayanagi is deeply dissatisfied with him, a true showdown must wait until at least the second half of the third year—otherwise, it would only allow the other classes to reap the benefits.

He did not voice these considerations.

Given that woman's intelligence, she must have already seen through this layer of mutual interest.

A playful arc hooks the corners of Sakayanagi Arisu's lips.

(I'll endure it until the second semester of the first year at most, then it's time to act.)

She has always disdained considering the interests of so many classes—since this man is an eyesore, she will simply get rid of him.

She is confident that she alone is enough to hold the throne of Class A.

Of course, in theory, there is still a possibility that forces the two of them to join hands...

It is just that this possibility is so slim it can be ignored.

That is, until her phone screen suddenly lights up.

The note on the friend request contains line after line of text.

"To Sakayanagi Arisu of Class A, first year: I have long heard that your class has two leaders, the other being Katsuragi Kohei, right?"

"To put it bluntly, I have rented the two surveillance cameras in your classroom. From this moment on, every move in Class A will be under my surveillance."

"If you wish to rent back the surveillance access, please pay 3 million private points. By the way, I am watching you through the monitor—after receiving this message, why not smile at the camera?"

"Discuss it with Katsuragi, and pay the points by 7:00 PM tomorrow, Friday. The price will increase by 100,000 points every hour thereafter."

"Heh..." Sakayanagi Arisu opens her eyes slightly in a rare display of surprise, but as if realizing something, she turns toward the monitor and breaks into a brilliant smile.

"Katsuragi-kun." She beckons to the bald student not far away, "It seems we have encountered... a rather interesting problem."

073 Shimizu Akira's words are truly useful!

Shimizu Akira gently closes his laptop and lets out a long sigh of relief.

He glances at his phone; it is currently 6:30 PM.

He opens the chat interface again, his gaze sweeping over the empty reply columns.

Kushida Kikyou and Hirata Yosuke of Class D, Ryuen Kakeru of Class C, Ichinose Honami of Class B, and Sakayanagi Arisu of Class A.

Everything is quiet, with no new message notifications.

This is to be expected, after all, the deadline he gave them is 7:00 PM tomorrow—he has to give these leaders time to notify their classmates.

"Collecting class fees is truly not something to be rushed," he mutters to himself.

Shimizu Akira truly understands the difficulty of collecting class fees at this moment.

Take Class D for example: the 25,000-point class fee that started being collected on Tuesday still hasn't been fully gathered by Thursday night.

This fact makes him suddenly realize a serious problem: "Wait! Does this mean... Class D might not even be able to afford the money for the surveillance equipment?"

This speculation is not groundless.

Class D just had one million points confiscated, and now they have to pay three million for surveillance fees—this is equivalent to the total sum of all private points they received on the first day of school.

There are already people in the class who are struggling to pay the basic class fee of 25,000, so how could they possibly afford an additional expenditure of 75,000 per person?

"Am I being too harsh on Class D?" Shimizu Akira cannot help but ask himself.

He must clarify that he is by no means deliberately targeting any specific class.

This is all purely a coincidence of timing—since he has already collected three million points from Class C, the other classes naturally have to follow the same standard.

Otherwise, once the news leaks, anyone with a sharp eye could immediately deduce that he might be hiding in Class D.

To some extent, this "reverse operation" is the best cover.

He can even deliberately act as if he is targeting Class D to divert others' attention.

However, in all fairness, paying three million points for surveillance access is definitely a cost-effective deal.

Just the fact that it can avoid class penalty points for three weeks makes it worth more than the price.

Although the surveillance dates were implemented starting from this Monday.

But today is Thursday, so four days have actually passed.

Class D has been deducted quite a few points during this period.

During the first week, the students in the class were still somewhat restrained, but by the second week, they had gradually begun to let loose.

Shimizu Akira conservatively estimated that in these four days alone, the number of violations of the daily code of conduct in Class D had already reached the level of the entire first week.

The situation in Class C was likely much the same—just a moment ago, they had even dared to assault someone under the surveillance cameras.

As long as those two classes weren't foolish, they would likely choose to spend points to rent the surveillance footage to settle the matter.

If they could ensure an extra two or three hundred class points, why wouldn't they take them?

Class points were not only the key indicator for class promotion, but in a sense, they also served as the "salary" that students received every month.

As for Class B and Class A, Shimizu Akira wasn't worried that they would reject his proposal.

After all, this was a win-win situation for every class.

He pondered for a moment before logging into his main account.

He was surprised to find an unread message—from Chabashira Sae.

Chabashira Sae: Hirata reported that the surveillance footage for Class D was rented by a student? What is your take on this?

Shimizu Akira paused, his first reaction being that she was testing him. But upon further thought, there was a possibility she had guessed it was him, given that his secondary account had been purchased directly from her.

In a situation like this, as long as Hirata told her, "It was the same person who sold me points last time," she would likely be able to figure it out.

Hmm? Was it that those two hadn't explained it clearly, or did she truly not know?

Of course, there was another possibility. That she was playing dumb, pretending not to know, and intentionally testing his attitude.

However, Shimizu Akira had nothing to say; he certainly wouldn't voluntarily reveal his identity to her.

But then again, although Chabashira Sae had ostensibly appointed two vice-representatives, she always sought his opinion in private whenever the class had to make a major decision. Once or twice was fine, but after a while, it really became a nuisance.

Shimizu Akira thought for a moment and decided to be blunt: "Chabashira-sensei, I remember saying that I don't really want to participate in class affairs. If you ask me again next time, I will simply act as if I didn't see it."

He paused, then typed out another line: "You should go discuss it with those two vice-representatives instead. Don't forget, you haven't even finished collecting that twenty-five thousand in class fees yet."

This time, she left him on read.

Chabashira Sae put down her phone with a gloomy expression.

Shimizu Akira had actually rejected her so bluntly.

She had clearly been grooming him as the future core of Class D—this thought made her chest feel even more stifled.

"Chabashira-sensei?" Hirata Yosuke keenly sensed something was wrong and called out softly.

Kushida Kikyou also cast a look of concern: "You don't look well. If you need to rest, we can talk another day."

"...It's fine." Chabashira Sae clenched her phone and then relaxed her grip, finally turning to the main topic: "Regarding the surveillance equipment, tell me your opinions."

Hirata Yosuke responded without hesitation: "I believe we must purchase it. The first month is the critical period for accumulating class points, and personal points are directly linked to class points. Even if the whole class has to tighten their belts this month, this investment is worth it."

"I completely agree." Kushida Kikyou gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear: "The feeling of being watched is truly uncomfortable."

Chabashira Sae nodded slightly; their reasoning was indeed sound.

But for some reason, she felt that Shimizu Akira could have provided a better perspective, better than these two.

Right! Didn't Shimizu Akira mention that the twenty-five thousand in class fees hadn't been collected yet?

"How is the collection of the twenty-five thousand in class fees going?" Chabashira Sae suddenly asked.

Hirata Yosuke immediately replied: "I have already collected the shares for 18 people."

Kushida Kikyou hesitated slightly and added softly: "I have 17 people here..."

Chabashira Sae frowned slightly: "...Who are the five people left who haven't paid?"

After Hirata Yosuke and Kushida Kikyou quickly checked the list, they reported five names in unison:

"Karuizawa Kei, Matsushita Chiaki, Sato Maya, Mori Nene, and Kouenji Rokusuke."

After a brief moment of thought, Chabashira Sae replied: "Don't be in a hurry to announce the surveillance matter today. The top priority is to finish collecting the class fees. Things must be done one at a time, otherwise, we'll just be a laughingstock, and it's me who will be embarrassed!"

She paused for a moment, her gaze sweeping between the two of them, and continued:

"As for the surveillance, have the class representative decided upon by you two announce it tomorrow. Do you understand?"

Hirata Yosuke and Kushida Kikyou exchanged glances and then nodded in agreement.

However, Chabashira Sae did not end it there.

She added one more cold remark.

"Also, you two, don't come to me for these kinds of things in the future."

"Isn't it embarrassing? Students from other classes aren't like you, needing a teacher to intervene in everything! You already know the school's hidden rules, so you should understand that this school places greater importance on students' ability to act independently!"

"Next time, I will simply act as if I didn't hear you."

As the words left her lips, she suddenly realized—she had thrown the exact words Shimizu Akira sent her right back at them.

Catching the slight frowns of the two vice-representatives in her peripheral vision, her mood inexplicably brightened a little.

074 Could this be... sexual tension?

Shimizu Akira checked his account balance; he still had 160,000 points remaining.

After all, he had just paid the school a fee of 1.2 million points.

After dinner, he returned to his dorm room as usual to begin his daily basic boxing training.

For the past two weeks, he had consistently stuck to his basic training: footwork, punching speed, breathing rhythm... practicing every single item repeatedly.

To be honest, Shimizu Akira didn't feel any obvious improvement.

After all, this was the real world; there were no such things as levels, nor would there be any "Experience + 1" notifications popping up constantly.

But just like sticking to a morning workout, he intended to keep doing this as well.

After all, persistence was the most fundamental prerequisite for doing anything well.

He had been training until nearly 7:30 when, out of the blue, there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?!" Shimizu Akira stopped immediately and picked up a towel to wipe the sweat from his body.

"It's me, Shimizu-kun!" A girl's voice came from outside the door.

"?" This classmate, could you please state your name? I really can't tell who you are." Shimizu Akira was stunned for a moment, his tone tinged with helplessness.

If it were a long-time friend, he might have been able to recognize them by their voice, but a female classmate from his class? He truly couldn't distinguish them.

That was why he sometimes found people who stood at the door and only said "It's me" particularly annoying—if you recognized them, it was fine, and everyone was happy.

But if you couldn't recognize them, the situation would be incredibly awkward.

"It's Karuizawa Kei, Shimizu-kun. How could you not even recognize me?" The voice from the other side of the door carried a hint of coquettish reproach.

Shimizu Akira couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing.

Wasn't it only natural that he wouldn't be able to recognize her?

If he could actually recognize someone just by the sound of their voice, that would be the truly terrifying thing.

After all, they were just classmates who had exchanged a few words.