What they needed to do now wasn't conquer new territory, but hold on to what they already had—and that was often much harder than taking it in the first place.
Throughout history, countless conquerors had quickly fallen after reaching the summit. The same principle applied to competition between classes.
Katsuragi Kohei considered himself quicker-witted than most people, and he understood better than anyone the situation Class A was in. It looked glorious on the surface, but beneath it lurked danger.
Being at the top from the very beginning could easily make people lose their drive to improve.
By contrast, the other classes would keep up their determination to catch up precisely because they had Class A as a thorn in their side.
In such an environment, the people in charge often found themselves slipping into infighting and power struggles without even realizing it.
At least for the first two years, she shouldn't make a move against me.
Katsuragi calmly analyzed the situation. He wanted to become Class A's sole leader, too, but it was clearly too soon.
Even if Sakayanagi disliked him intensely, their real showdown would have to wait until the latter half of their third year at the earliest. Otherwise, the other classes would simply benefit from their conflict.
He didn't say any of this aloud.
A woman as intelligent as her had surely already seen the pros and cons.
The corner of Sakayanagi Arisu's mouth curled into an amused smile.
I'll have to hold back until the second half of our first year at most.
She had never cared much about the interests of the class as a whole. If this man was in her way, she would simply get rid of him.
She was confident she could defend Class A's throne all by herself.
Of course, in theory, there was a chance that something might force them to work together...
But that possibility was so unlikely it could be ignored.
Then, all of a sudden, her phone screen lit up.
The note attached to the friend request contained line after line of text.
"To Sakayanagi Arisu of Class 1-A: I've long heard that your class has two leaders. The other one is Katsuragi Kohei, right?"
"To get straight to the point, I've rented the two surveillance cameras in your classroom. From this moment on, I'll be keeping an eye on everything that happens in Class A."
"If you want to rent back access to the cameras, please pay 3,000,000 Private Points. By the way, I'm watching you through them right now—why not smile for the camera once you've read this?"
"Discuss it with Katsuragi and pay up before seven tomorrow night, Friday. After that, the price will go up by 100,000 points every hour."
"Heh..." Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes widened slightly, a rare sight. But in the next instant, as if she'd understood something, she turned toward the camera and beamed.
"Katsuragi." She beckoned to the bald boy in the distance. "It seems we've run into... quite an interesting problem."
073 Shimizu Akira's Words Sure Came in Handy!
Shimizu Akira gently closed his laptop and let out a long breath.
He glanced at his phone. It was six thirty in the evening.
He reopened the chat app, his eyes passing over the empty reply field.
Kushida Kikyou and Hirata Yosuke from Class D, Ryuen Kakeru from Class C, Ichinose Honami from Class B, and Sakayanagi Arisu from Class A.
Not a peep from any of them. There weren't even any new-message notifications.
That was no surprise. He'd given them until seven tomorrow evening, after all. The leaders needed time to inform their classmates.
"Collecting class fees really can't be rushed," he muttered to himself.
Shimizu Akira was experiencing firsthand how difficult it was to collect class fees.
Take Class D, for example. They'd started collecting the 25,000-point class fee on Tuesday, and it still hadn't all been paid by Thursday night.
That fact suddenly made him realize there was a serious problem. "Wait! Does that mean Class D can't even afford the surveillance equipment?"
It wasn't an unfounded guess.
Class D had just been fined 1,000,000 points, and now they had to pay another 3,000,000 for the surveillance cameras. That was equivalent to all the Private Points they'd received on the first day of school.
Some students in the class were already struggling to pay the basic 25,000-point class fee. How could they possibly afford an extra 75,000 points per person?
"Am I being too harsh on Class D?" Shimizu wondered.
He needed to make it clear that he wasn't deliberately targeting any particular class.
It was purely a coincidence of timing. Since he'd already charged Class C 3,000,000 points, naturally the other classes had to meet the same standard.
Otherwise, if word got out, anyone with half a brain would immediately deduce that he might be hiding in Class D.
In a way, this "reverse tactic" was the best cover he could ask for.
He could even deliberately make it look as if he was targeting Class D, just to divert suspicion.
But, frankly, paying 3,000,000 points for access to the surveillance cameras was an absolute bargain.
Just being able to avoid class penalties for rule violations over the next three weeks made it well worth the cost.
The surveillance period had begun on Monday, though.
But it was Thursday now, which meant four days had already passed.
Class D had taken its share of penalties during that time.
The students had been fairly restrained during the first week, but by the second week, they'd gradually started to let loose.
Shimizu's conservative estimate was that in those four days alone, Class D had violated the everyday conduct rules almost as many times as it had during the entire first week.
Class C was probably in much the same situation. They'd even dared to hit someone under the cameras just now.
As long as they weren't stupid, both classes would probably end up paying to rent access to the cameras and put the matter to rest.
If they could secure an extra two or three hundred Class Points, why wouldn't they?
Class Points weren't just the key factor in determining whether a class would move up. In a sense, they were also the "salary" students received each month.
As for Classes B and A, Shimizu wasn't worried that they'd reject his offer.
After all, it was a win-win for every class.
After thinking for a moment, he logged into his main account.
To his surprise, he found an unread message from Chabashira Sae.
Chabashira Sae: Hirata reported that a student has rented access to Class D's surveillance footage. What do you make of it?
Shimizu Akira froze for a moment. His first thought was that she was testing him. But then he reconsidered. There was a good chance she'd guessed it was him, since he'd bought his burner account from her.
All it would take was Hirata telling her, "The same person who sold us points last time contacted me," and she could probably figure it out.
Hmm? Had those two failed to explain things properly, or did she really not know?
Of course, there was another possibility: she was pretending not to know and deliberately probing him to see how he'd react.
But Shimizu didn't have much to say. There was no way he'd volunteer his identity.
Come to think of it, although Chabashira Sae had appointed two vice class representatives, whenever the class had to make an important decision, she always came to him privately for advice. Once or twice was fine, but when it kept happening, it got annoying.
After thinking for a moment, Shimizu decided to be blunt. "Chabashira-sensei, I'm pretty sure I told you I don't want to get involved in class matters. If you ask me again next time, I'll just pretend I didn't see your message."
He paused, then typed another line. "You should talk to the two vice class representatives instead. And don't forget—you haven't even collected all the 25,000-point class fees yet."
This time, she left him on read.
Chabashira Sae put her phone down, her expression dark.
Shimizu Akira had rejected her without a second thought.
She'd already been treating him as someone to groom as the future core of Class D. The thought only made the irritation in her chest worse.
"Chabashira-sensei?" Hirata Yosuke called softly, quick to notice something was wrong.
Kushida Kikyou also looked at her with concern. "You don't look well. If you need to rest, we can talk another day."
"...It's nothing." Chabashira Sae clenched her phone, then relaxed her grip. Finally, she turned to the matter at hand. "What do you think we should do about the surveillance equipment?"
Hirata Yosuke answered without hesitation. "I think we have to buy access. The first month is crucial for building up Class Points, and Private Points are directly linked to Class Points. Even if the whole class has to tighten its belt this month, it's worth the investment."
"I completely agree." Kushida Kikyou tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Being watched is really uncomfortable."
Chabashira Sae nodded slightly. Their reasons were perfectly sound.
Yet for some reason, she felt that Shimizu Akira could come up with an even better explanation than the two of them.
That's right! Hadn't Shimizu Akira mentioned that the class still hadn't collected all the 25,000-point fees?
"How's the collection going?" Chabashira Sae suddenly asked.
Hirata Yosuke answered at once. "I've collected payments from eighteen people."
Kushida Kikyou hesitated briefly before adding quietly, "I've collected from seventeen..."
Chabashira Sae frowned slightly. "...Which five haven't paid?"
Hirata Yosuke and Kushida Kikyou quickly checked the list, then gave the five names together:
"Karuizawa Kei, Matsushita Chiaki, Sato Maya, Mori Nene, and Kouenji Rokusuke."
After a brief pause to think, Chabashira Sae replied, "Don't rush to announce the surveillance cameras today. The priority is to collect the class fees. We need to deal with things one at a time, or people will laugh at us. I'll be the one looking bad!"
She paused, looking from one of them to the other, then continued:
"As for the cameras, the class representative you choose tomorrow can make the announcement. Understood?"
Hirata Yosuke and Kushida Kikyou exchanged a glance, then nodded.
Chabashira Sae wasn't done yet.
She added coldly, "By the way, don't come to me about things like this again."
"Isn't it embarrassing? Students in the other classes don't need their teachers to step in over everything! You already know the school's hidden rules, so you should understand that this school puts even more emphasis on students taking the initiative themselves!"
"Next time, I'll just pretend I didn't hear you."
After she said it, she suddenly realized that she'd repeated Shimizu Akira's words to her, word for word.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the two vice class representatives frowning slightly. For some reason, it lifted her mood a little.
074 Could This Be... Sexual Tension?
Shimizu Akira checked his account balance. He still had 160,000 points.
He'd just paid the school 1,200,000 points, after all.
After dinner, he returned to his dorm as usual to practice his daily boxing fundamentals.
For the past two weeks, he'd stuck to the basics: footwork, punching speed, breathing rhythm... He repeated each exercise over and over.
To be honest, Shimizu Akira didn't feel like he'd made any obvious progress.
After all, this was the real world. There were no levels, and no "Experience +1" notifications popping up one after another.
But just like his habit of exercising every morning, he planned to keep doing this.
After all, persistence was the most fundamental requirement for doing anything well.
He was still practicing at around seven thirty when a sudden knock came at the door.
"Who is it?!" Shimizu Akira stopped at once and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat from his body.
"It's me, Shimizu!" a girl's voice called from outside.
"? Which classmate is this? Could you tell me your name? I really can't tell who you are," Shimizu Akira said, taken aback, his tone tinged with helplessness.
If it were an old friend he'd known for years, he might have been able to recognize her by her voice. But a girl from his class? He honestly couldn't tell them apart.
That was why he sometimes found it especially annoying when someone stood outside his door and just said, "It's me." If he recognized her, then great—everyone was happy.
But if he didn't, how awkward would that be?
"I'm Karuizawa Kei, Shimizu! How can you not even recognize me?" Her voice from the other side of the door carried a hint of playful complaint.
Shimizu Akira couldn't help finding it a little funny.
Wasn't it only natural that he couldn't recognize her?
It would be frightening if he could identify someone just from hearing her voice.
After all, they were only classmates who'd exchanged a few words.
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