So all they needed was to keep between ten and twenty thousand Private Points each month for their daily expenses. They could hand over any extra Private Points to him, allowing him to do more meaningful things.
Not just Class D. If possible, he hoped to put the other three classes besides Class B in a state where they had plenty of Class Points and the hope of turning things around, but could only just scrape by on the Private Points they received each month.
With high Class Points, they would have hope of making a comeback. And if they could still keep ten or twenty thousand Private Points each month to buy a few things they wanted, they wouldn't simply give up and drain all their Class Points.
Only then could Class B keep siphoning resources from the other three classes.
Unfortunately, maintaining this situation would require a great deal of finesse. Aragaki Shun couldn't guarantee that things would develop as he wanted, so all he could do was give it a try.
After sitting in on Class D's lessons for the day, Aragaki Shun returned to his loyal Class B.
As luck would have it, Himeno Yuki and Kanzaki Ryuji, who had gone to sit in on classes in Class A and Class C respectively, had also returned. Everyone in the class had tacitly stayed in the classroom, so Aragaki Shun went straight to the podium and drew everyone's attention.
"Everyone in Class B, I'm back."
"Aragaki!"
"Aragaki, how was sitting in on Class D's lessons? Was it any different from Class B?"
"Aragaki, I heard that group in Class D is a complete mess. You must've had a rough time."
"Thank goodness you're back, Aragaki..."
After exchanging a few pleasantries with his classmates, Aragaki Shun motioned for everyone to quiet down.
Once everyone had settled into their usual homeroom meeting, he pointed to Kanzaki Ryuji and asked him to stand up and report on his impressions of sitting in on Class C's lessons.
"I think Class C has some serious problems. Quite a few of them were up to all sorts of antics during class. They probably haven't discovered the school's hidden rules yet."
"More importantly, after class, a group of Class C students with bad intentions deliberately surrounded me, trying to intimidate me. One of them, a student named Ryuen Kakeru, even tried to get violent with me in secret..."
Kanzaki slowly recounted what he had seen in Class C. He even unconsciously swung his arm a little, as if remembering his confrontation with that group of violence-loving students.
Fortunately, he had been the one sent to Class C to gather information. Otherwise, he couldn't imagine how terrified his classmates might have been by those brazen people.
"What? They actually dared to lay hands on Kanzaki!"
"That's school violence! Is the school just going to do nothing?"
"Yikes... So that's Class C? What kind of people did the school let in?"
When they heard Kanzaki Ryuji's account, everyone in Class B erupted. For students with generally sound values, it was hard to imagine that they went to the same school as such vicious people.
Aragaki Shun's expression darkened as well. If the school had deliberately recruited a group of students who admired violence and assigned them all to Class C, then the school must tolerate much more in the competition between classes than he had imagined.
Perhaps, in the school's eyes, even resorting to violence was a display of strength—as long as they weren't caught.
"Normally, aren't there cameras in every classroom?"
"The cameras in Class C have been smeared with paint. I heard it happened by accident while they were horsing around."
Aragaki Shun was speechless. That excuse was far too flimsy.
And the school had accepted it just like that?
Clearly, it was hinting that a certain degree of violence was permitted, as long as it didn't cause too much of a stir.
Fortunately, he had a tiny bit of confidence in his own fighting ability. He'd go to Class C tomorrow and see what those people were really like.
Of course, before then, he had to give everyone in Class B a warning.
"From now on, whenever anyone in our class goes out, they should find someone to go with them. Don't go alone to areas without surveillance cameras."
"Keep your phones ready to record audio and take photos. Stay alert whenever you run into students from other classes."
Countermeasures Against the Transfer Ticket
So Class C was that dangerous. It seemed to be the complete opposite of Class B. What was Class A like, then?
Aragaki Shun gestured to Himeno Yuki. The girl promptly stood up and described what she had seen that day.
"Whether they're in class or outside of it, the students in Class A conduct themselves like proper students. They pay attention in class and don't make too much noise or fool around afterward. Even when they saw a stranger like me in their classroom, they just came over to greet me. They didn't gather around or make a scene."
"If we're judging by self-discipline alone, I think Class A is better than us. But the students there seem far too divided. They're split into three factions. Two are led by Katsuragi Kohei and Sakayanagi Arisu, while the last one is neutral..."
According to Himeno Yuki, Class A was currently at a stage where Katsuragi Kohei and Sakayanagi Arisu were competing for leadership of the class.
That surprised Aragaki Shun a little. He had assumed that Sakayanagi, the Board Chairman's daughter, would rule Class A single-handedly.
This Katsuragi Kohei must be quite capable. Even facing the Board Chairman's daughter, he'd managed to earn a great deal of support in Class A and hold his own against Sakayanagi Arisu.
Actually, he wasn't just holding his own. According to Himeno Yuki, the group supporting Katsuragi Kohei was larger than the one supporting Sakayanagi Arisu.
Was Katsuragi Kohei really that capable? Had he managed to suppress Sakayanagi Arisu despite her home-field advantage?
Once Himeno Yuki had finished describing Class A, Aragaki Shun also told everyone about his day in Class D. He mentioned how he had changed his strategy and directly traded the school's hidden rules to Class D.
"Yikes... Class D is that outrageous?"
"Those rules were gathered by Aragaki in the first place, so it's naturally up to him to decide what to do with them."
"I trust your judgment. Our priority enemies are Class A and Class C. There's no need to target Class D directly for now."
Although it had all been Aragaki Shun's unilateral decision, Class B's defining trait was its obedience. Everyone was simply amazed by what he had seen in Class D that day; no one objected to what he had done.
Seeing this, Aragaki Shun didn't know whether to feel relieved or helpless. Compared with students in the other classes, everyone in Class B did seem to lack a little individuality.
That meant they only needed to follow orders as the executors, while he, as the leader of Class B, had to think about far too many things.
After reflecting on the hardship of shouldering the future of everyone in Class B alone, Aragaki Shun pressed down with his hand again, signaling for everyone to quiet down.
From the podium, he could see the entire classroom.
The boy looked over the trusting faces below him and couldn't help shaking his head inwardly.
Given his personality, it was difficult for him to trust others wholeheartedly the way they did. After all, mountains could crumble and rivers could dry up. In the end, people could only rely on themselves to face any hardship with confidence.
Still, he accepted their trust.
Ultimately, every class needed a leader.
Rather than let these indecisive people be led astray by someone else, he might as well turn Class B into a tool for earning Source Power.
At least, being used by him wouldn't harm them. And he had both the confidence and the ability to give them the rewards they wanted.
"Before leaving Class D, I used the Transfer Ticket to send Yamauchi Haruki and Kanji Ike to Class A and Class C respectively. Starting tomorrow, they'll become temporary members of those classes for one month. All their rights, including their Class Points, will be tied to Class A and Class C."
"Kanzaki previously volunteered to use the Transfer Ticket to go to Class A and cause trouble. I turned him down because there might be unknown dangers. Now I've sent two talented individuals from Class D to scout things out. Class A and Class C will soon learn what the Transfer Ticket can do, so we need to block that path first and prevent other classes from using the same tactic against us."
It wasn't that Aragaki Shun looked down on Kanzaki Ryuji. The fact was that, when it came to causing trouble for a class, ten Kanzakis couldn't compare to those two oddballs from Class D.
Even if Kanzaki deliberately broke rules and cost the other class Class Points after temporarily joining it, the most he could think of was being late or leaving early, talking loudly in class, playing on his phone, or passing notes.
But Yamauchi Haruki and Kanji Ike were shameless geniuses who could loudly discuss which girl had the biggest breasts and rank them in front of their entire class.
As far as making a class look bad went, Aragaki Shun hadn't seen anyone surpass those two at this school.
They didn't need to do anything special after going to Class A and Class C. Just acting like they normally did each day would be enough to give both classes a massive headache.
Of course, Aragaki Shun didn't really care how many Class Points those two oddballs managed to cost Class A and Class C.
The strategy he had chosen for Class B had never been about weakening other classes' Class Points.
After all, they would be competing at Kodo Ikusei Senior High School for three years, and the number of Class Points they could earn on each exam was determined by the school. If they cut the other classes' Class Points too much during the first two years, who knew whether the school would skew the exam questions to maintain competition between the classes?
The real reason he had sent Yamauchi Haruki and Kanji Ike to the other two classes was to let the school see how much damage the Transfer Ticket could do to class competition.
Only once the school recognized that problem could he offer a solution later and get them to approve it at a lower cost.
"I'm sorry. I've been thinking about it all day, but I still haven't figured out how to counter other classes using the Transfer Ticket."
At that point, Kanzaki Ryuji stood up, looking ashamed. "I only came up with one idea, and I don't know if it'll work. We could use Private Points to send students who use the Transfer Ticket back to their original class. But that would probably cost a lot of Private Points and could eventually turn into a contest of wealth between the classes."
"Send them back directly?" Aragaki Shun nodded. "The school probably wouldn't approve a permanent transfer that cost twenty million Private Points. But if it's only to deal with a temporary transfer lasting one month, the school would most likely agree."
Since Kodo Ikusei Senior High School was simulating society, many practices from the outside world could naturally be carried out within the school as well.
If the Transfer Ticket was like a means of moving people between different countries, then imitating society's response and requesting the repatriation of someone who disrupted the class's order should seem reasonable to the school.
But knowing this school, even if it was reasonable, it would still charge every last Private Point it could.
So Aragaki Shun wouldn't choose that method.
The Countermeasure Aragaki Shun Devised for Class B's Rules
"Forget about spending a large number of Private Points to send them back."
As he spoke, Aragaki Shun took a thick stack of papers covered in writing out of his textbook.
"A Transfer Ticket is worth two million. If someone acquired that many points through their own efforts, that would be proof enough of their ability. I'd still hope to have such an outstanding person integrate into our class and become part of Class B's strength."
Before everyone could wonder how they could turn someone who had come to cause trouble into an ally, Aragaki Shun handed the documents to the students in the first row and told them to pass them back. He wanted every student in the class to get a copy.
"Take a look at this first. I've put together a rough draft of Class B's rules over the past few days. Let me know if you think anything here is inappropriate, or if there's anything we should remove, revise, or add."
Hearing this, everyone grew impatient with curiosity and urged the students ahead of them to pass the papers along.
Ichinose Honami thanked the student in front of her, passed the extra copies back, then widened her eyes and carefully read through the Class B rules in her hands.
[Rule One: After the class leader makes a decision, members may discuss it before an exam or question it afterward, but they must never deliberately disobey it during an exam and harm the class's interests.
If anyone is caught doing so, they will lose Private Points the first time, lose the class's protective benefits the second time, and be treated as a traitor and expelled the third time.]
When she saw the word "expelled," the pink-haired girl swallowed unconsciously, and her breathing grew a little heavier.
But after rereading the first rule several times and fully understanding its contents, Ichinose realized that it wasn't harsh. At least in her eyes, no one in Class B would deliberately undermine the class's decisions and become a menace to the group.
If that was the case, then there was no need to worry about this rule.
[Rule Two: All members of the class must pay class dues into the class account.
When the class has more than 800 Class Points, every month each class member must contribute half of the Private Points distributed that month as class dues.]
Almost everyone in the class skimmed over this rule.
After all, Aragaki Shun had already brought up the idea of collecting class dues when they first learned the school's hidden rules. The only thing the class hadn't decided was how many Private Points each person should contribute every month.
[Rule Three: When someone in the class earns Class Points for Class B through their own abilities, the class should provide an appropriate reward. Up to half the corresponding amount in Private Points may be taken from those Class Points as a reward for the contributor, paid out of the class funds.
Conversely, when someone in the class uses the class's information or resources to earn a large number of Private Points, they must contribute half of the share related to the class to the class funds, in proportion to their contribution.]
"Is this meant to encourage everyone to contribute to the class?"
Kanzaki Ryuji thought it over briefly, then nodded. "That's only right. Rewarding good work is the only way to motivate everyone. Besides, Aragaki has contributed the most to the class."
But if there were rewards, there had to be corresponding punishments as well.
Sure enough, the fourth rule the others read was about punishment.
[Rule Four: When an individual's mistake causes the class to suffer a loss, the person responsible must pay an equivalent amount of Private Points into the class funds to compensate all of Class B.
If the person's mistake seriously harms the class's interests and they cannot compensate for it, or if more than half the class believes they deliberately disrupted the class's order, the class leader has the right to take further action against them and even request an expulsion hearing from the school.]
Wait, request an expulsion hearing directly?
After reading this rule, Kanzaki Ryuji didn't think it was problematic. As the heir to Kanzaki Heavy Industries, he wasn't that naive.
Reward the good and punish the bad.
Even a three-year-old could understand that simple principle.
What puzzled Kanzaki was whether this rule was Aragaki Shun's way of countering the Transfer Ticket.
How was he supposed to make these Class B rules apply to students who transferred in?
With that question in mind, Kanzaki Ryuji moved his gaze to the fifth and final rule on the page.
[Rule Five: All students in Class B must sign the above rules. They will be overseen by the homeroom teacher and certified by the school. They will be enforced for Class B as a whole, and every Class B student, including transfer students, must abide by them!
Note: Before a transfer student joins Class B, the school is responsible for informing them of all class rules.]
Kanzaki Ryuji: "Huh?!"
There weren't even any transfer students yet. Would the school really approve an agreement like this?
Wait, this seemed awfully familiar.
Yikes... These weren't just class rules anymore. Was Aragaki trying to run Class B like a company?
Only a company could reasonably dismiss employees who had joined midway through, according to its own policies.
Did "certified by the school" actually mean registering a company?
After thinking of that and recalling the nature of this school, Kanzaki Ryuji was almost certain the school would approve the final rule. The only question was how many Private Points it would cost to get the school's certification.
"What do you think? These are the five rules I drafted for Class B. Does anyone think any part of them needs to be changed?"
Before you continue