It was just a simple conversation, a little after-sales service for those 80,000 points.
When he opened the door, Matsushita Chiaki was indeed standing outside.
He had to admit that among the girls in Class D, Matsushita Chiaki was one of the most striking in both appearance and bearing.
She carried herself with the poise of someone raised with excellent manners, something rarely seen in ordinary people.
"Come in." Shimizu Akira stepped aside to let her through.
Matsushita Chiaki hesitated slightly, but when she saw Karuizawa Kei looking perfectly composed inside, she nodded and walked in.
She went straight to her friend, then suddenly seemed to realize something. "I understand why you've been acting so strangely."
Karuizawa Kei's fingertips trembled slightly.
"You must have spent all your points, right?" Matsushita Chiaki edged closer to her, unable to hide her amusement. "What are you trying so hard to act tough for?"
"..." Karuizawa Kei froze for two seconds, then her tense shoulders relaxed all at once. "Haha, you saw right through me?"
"Don't worry! Maya and Nene and I just finished talking on the phone. They'll each lend you eight thousand points, and I'll lend you nine thousand. That should be enough for you to pay the class fee, right?" She smoothly added.
"Ah... you all pooled your points for me?!" Karuizawa Kei looked at her in surprise. "Thank you so much! I'll treat you all to a big meal next month!"
Kushida Kikyou: Is Chabashira Sae an idiot?
Shimizu Akira was just about to say a few words when his phone suddenly buzzed. It was the latest vote tally from Kushida Kikyou.
Kushida Kikyou: I have 17 votes now, and Hirata has 18. If he can win over at least three more votes, the class leader position will be decided.
Kushida Kikyou: Shimizu, I know I told you earlier that you didn't need to do anything, but the reason I kept you around at the café back then was because of Kouenji Rokusuke.
Kushida Kikyou: So, could I ask you to get Kouenji Rokusuke's vote? Just one is enough. I'll figure something out for Karuizawa Kei and the other three.
Those words made him pause. A crucial detail suddenly came to mind.
Come to think of it, Kushida Kikyou only needed four votes to pull ahead of Hirata Yosuke for good.
(Wait! Four votes?!)
His gaze drifted to Matsushita Chiaki, whose expression was calm, and Karuizawa Kei, who was smiling brightly.
(Her little group has four people... four whole votes...)
Shimizu Akira pondered silently, then glanced thoughtfully at Matsushita Chiaki.
(The funny thing is, the one who completely solved Karuizawa Kei's voting problem was Matsushita Chiaki, who seemed to have nothing to do with it.)
(Was it a coincidence, or had she planned it?)
(As I thought... she's no ordinary person!)
"Kei, who do you think we should vote for? We'll all go with your choice. Kushida Kikyou or Hirata Yosuke? Shimizu, what do you think?" Matsushita Chiaki suddenly asked.
"Well..." Karuizawa Kei's gaze wandered before settling on Shimizu Akira. "I'm not sure either. Shimizu, why don't you go first?"
"They'd both be suitable." Shimizu Akira stated his position plainly.
In his eyes, the two were indeed evenly matched in ability.
Matsushita Chiaki was slightly taken aback. She gave him a meaningful look.
"In that case..." Karuizawa Kei bit her lower lip. "Let's vote for Kushida. Having a girl as class leader would be better for us. Besides..."
Her voice grew quieter. She suddenly looked at Shimizu Akira, remembering how she'd always stayed close to Hirata Yosuke at the beginning of the school year.
Now that she'd chosen Shimizu Akira as someone to rely on, she really shouldn't get too close to another boy.
"...Is that so?" Matsushita Chiaki widened her eyes slightly, then thought it over and nodded. "All right. If that's what you want, Kei, we'll go with your choice."
"Then let's go!" Karuizawa Kei affectionately hooked her arm through Matsushita Chiaki's, and the two left Shimizu Akira's room.
After thinking it over, Shimizu Akira simply sent Kushida Kikyou a message.
Shimizu Akira: All four of Karuizawa Kei's group voted for you.
Shimizu Akira: So you should have 21 votes now. You've officially become Class D's class leader. The voting game is over.
Shimizu Akira: Our deal from before is over, too.
In Kushida Kikyou's dorm room, the cold glow of her phone screen illuminated her delicate face, frozen slightly with shock.
"Huh? They voted for me... all four of them?" She stared at the message from Shimizu Akira, wondering for a moment if she'd read it wrong.
What had happened?
Karuizawa Kei and the other three... had all voted for her?
The result was so absurd that she even wondered if someone was playing a prank on her.
After all, just a few days ago, Karuizawa Kei had still been putting on that nauseatingly haughty air.
"Shimizu must have done something..." she murmured.
It was true. Images of Karuizawa Kei repeatedly approaching Shimizu Akira during the first week flashed through her mind. She'd even joined the Boxing Club...
Just then, her phone started buzzing repeatedly.
Transfer notifications came one after another from Karuizawa Kei, Matsushita Chiaki, Sato Maya, and Mori Nene. Each had sent her 25,000 points.
The class fees she'd received over the past few days totaled 525,000 points. That made 21 votes in all.
Her heart suddenly started racing at the number.
She'd pulled ahead of Hirata Yosuke... She'd actually done it.
"Hehe... class leader... Of course I won." A laugh escaped Kushida Kikyou's lips. She hugged her pillow and rolled around on the bed.
At that moment, there was no need to keep up any pretenses.
She was in her own dorm room, after all.
She could do whatever she wanted.
What did the power of the class leader mean?
Control over class decisions and her classmates' unquestioning obedience... More importantly, those two people who secretly looked down on her would now have no choice but to look up to her.
Especially Horikita Suzune.
Kushida Kikyou suddenly realized that before taking her next step, she had to tally the votes her classmates had helped her gather over the past few days to determine the final winner.
After all, she'd promised her classmates that if a boy won, she'd go on a date with him, and if a girl won, she'd pay her 80,000 Private Points.
She carefully checked through her chat history, only to find very few private messages notifying her of votes.
Getting people to campaign for votes really was much harder than she'd imagined.
Only five or six people had managed to get her one vote each. Yamauchi Haruki and Kanji Ike were among them.
Incidentally, both of them had submitted Ken Sudō's name.
"Looking at it this way, even if it had been a fair competition, Shimizu would've been destined to win..." Kushida Kikyou suddenly realized the obvious.
She couldn't help wondering if she'd gone to all that trouble for nothing.
But then she reconsidered. It was easy to be wise after the fact.
At the time, taking precautions had still seemed necessary.
"But... I really should thank Shimizu properly." She suddenly covered her mouth with a giggle, delight coloring even the corners of her eyes.
Her fingers tapped lightly across her phone screen. She first announced Shimizu Akira's victory in the group chat she'd created.
Her gaze unintentionally swept over the corner of the room. She drew a slight, unsteady breath at the sight of the uniform carefully wrapped in plastic wrap.
The scene from that night came back to her. His undisguised touch had made the tips of her ears grow warm.
"Honestly..." she muttered. "He certainly didn't hold back back then... But I did tell him to touch me, so I guess he was just doing what I asked."
Her eyes returned to the screen, where Shimizu Akira's message still stood out.
In particular, the line "My points are really useful" still made her both exasperated and amused.
The anger that had once made her grind her teeth had now become a faint smile.
But it turned out that all her effort had been worth it.
She took a deep breath and messaged her homeroom teacher to report that she'd received 21 votes. She also transferred the 525,000 points to her.
But instead of the praise she'd expected, she got a cold reply:
"Oh. Remember to announce the surveillance issue tomorrow."
"Chabashira Sae..." she gritted out the name. "Who do you think I'm doing all this for? You use me and then treat me like this... You're absolutely disgusting!"
"Is she an idiot or what? If she's going through menopause, she should just take a leave!"
Sakayanagi Arisu: Yes, my father is the chairman of the board.
At nine o'clock that evening, Shimizu Akira stared absently at his phone screen.
A new message notification suddenly appeared:
Kushida Kikyou: These are photos from a trip to the beach before summer break~
Three more messages popped up right after:
Kushida Kikyou: You did well this time, Shimizu. This is a special reward just for you. Only you get it, so keep it a secret!
Kushida Kikyou: If I find out any other boys have this photo too... you know what'll happen, right? (smiling face)
Kushida Kikyou: I hope our next collaboration goes well.
Shimizu Akira tapped the image without thinking.
In the photo, Kushida Kikyou wore a pink bikini on a beach beneath the setting sun.
The swimsuit accentuated her curves, and her long legs and graceful waist made for perfect proportions. Damp strands of hair clung to her cheeks, giving her a playful, sexy look.
He had to admit that, as a man, he thought it was a pretty good photo.
Shimizu Akira didn't dwell on it and simply replied, "Received."
There didn't seem to be anything else to say in a situation like this. A girl had gone out of her way to send him a swimsuit photo, so he might as well accept it.
Making a fuss over it would be out of character for him.
(Could she think I told Karuizawa Kei to do this?)
(Come to think of it, that's actually pretty likely.)
After all, Karuizawa Kei had made the suggestion while sneaking glances at his expression.
Still, did she really think being class leader was a good deal? In Shimizu Akira's eyes, being Class D's class leader was nothing but a pain.
"Now that the 25,000-point class fee has been collected, the surveillance issue needs to be addressed too."
The other classes had already received their notices about the surveillance issue, but Class D was the only one that still hadn't heard anything.
Now that the class leader election was over, she should finally be able to focus on handling this.
Another new message appeared on his phone.
Shimizu Akira glanced at the sender: Sakayanagi Arisu.
Message from her main account: You're charging quite a lot.
Shimizu Akira naturally understood what she meant.
But considering his current identity, he simply replied with a question mark.
Shimizu Akira: ?
Sakayanagi Arisu: Still playing dumb! I already asked my father.
Shimizu Akira was slightly taken aback.
Wasn't her father the chairman of the board at this school? If Sakayanagi Arisu had really asked him, his identity would probably already be exposed.
Still, Shimizu Akira thought this was just a test. Someone as proud as Sakayanagi Arisu hated it when people said she relied on her father's influence.
Shimizu Akira: Who's your father?
Sakayanagi Arisu: My father is the chairman of the board—Sakayanagi Narimori.
Sakayanagi Arisu: Hehe, whether you're that person or not, let me tell you something funny that happened at noon today.
Before you continue