What could they possibly do with such meager resources to defeat Aragaki Shun, who could keep draining three classes dry?
67. The God of Internal Class Warfare Is About to Log In
A moment's delay led to delays at every turn.
After having everyone in the class transfer 20,000 Private Points to him, then sending the resulting 800,000 to Aragaki Shun,
Katsuragi Kohei looked at the little over 100,000 Private Points left in his own account. An overwhelming sense of helplessness washed over him, leaving him unable to summon even the slightest fighting spirit.
He simply couldn't understand how the other party had managed to scrape together so many Private Points in a single month and spend them on Transfer Tickets. They were all first-year students who had only just enrolled.
Those were expensive items that cost two million points apiece.
Even if Class A went the whole month without eating or drinking, pooling every student's 100,000 Private Points from the start of the school year would only be enough to buy two Transfer Tickets.
He had heard that the other party had swept through every competitive club at Advanced Nurturing High School over the past month, winning a huge number of Private Points from second- and third-year students.
But why had the school assigned someone that extraordinary to Class 1-B in the first place?
Did they think the first-year competition wasn't fierce enough, so they'd assigned the strongest student in the year to a lower-ranked class to motivate the members of Class A to improve?
That was absurd!
He'd heard that the original Class B was now making a comeback in the second year, too, and that the leader who had guided Second Year Class B to that achievement was also widely recognized as the strongest student in the year.
Could the school really have some hidden rule that sent the strongest student in each year down to Class B?
But wasn't the strongest student in the Third Year widely recognized as Manabu Horikita, the leader of Class A of the Third Year and the Student Council President?
"Katsuragi, you're not going to lose heart just like that, are you?"
Sakayanagi Arisu watched Katsuragi Kohei's expression shift like a paint palette. Having roughly read his thoughts, she offered a seemingly kind suggestion. "If that's really how you feel, why not hand over the class's decision-making authority to me right now? I've been looking for a chance to have a proper game with that man."
"If you really cared about the class, I wouldn't have had to step up in the first place."
Putting his complicated thoughts aside, Katsuragi returned to his usual dependable composure.
He looked at Sakayanagi, who was usually so nonchalant. Even though he knew this wasn't the time for infighting, he still had no intention of simply surrendering to her.
Sakayanagi's usual behavior made it obvious that this well-off young lady of high standing didn't care about her Class A classmates at all.
She wanted control of the class only so she could treat Class A like a toy, manipulating it however she pleased to satisfy her passing whims and desires.
If he backed down now, the entire class would become a pawn in her hands, ready to be moved however she wished.
If Sakayanagi cared about the class to some degree, then being a pawn wouldn't be so bad.
As long as their leader was capable and willing to guide them to victory, the students of Class A wouldn't mind acting as pawns and following her orders to the letter.
The problem was that although Sakayanagi behaved with elegance and grace, treating everyone with flawless politeness, most of the class could tell that she didn't actually care about their interests.
That was only natural. She was the daughter of the Board Chairman of Advanced Nurturing Senior High School. Graduating from Class A meant nothing to her, and she hadn't even bothered to hide the fact that she'd come to school simply to amuse herself.
On top of that, given her health problems, it wouldn't be surprising if she got bored after a year or two and simply dropped out.
That was also why more of the class supported him.
After all, most of the students in Class A came from ordinary working-class families. The school's promised recommendations for further education and employment were a chance to change the course of their lives. None of them wanted to give that up lightly.
As for the members of the Sakayanagi Faction... They probably thought that no matter how little Sakayanagi cared about the class, her status alone meant they'd benefit by following her.
"What an unapologetically biased view, Katsuragi."
Sakayanagi covered her mouth and chuckled, but inwardly, she had already decided that she would have to find a way to get Katsuragi Kohei out of the picture.
With such a respected obstacle in the class, it would be difficult for her to turn it into a tool that worked entirely as she pleased.
"That's not bias..."
Katsuragi shook his head and opened his mouth as if to say more, but ultimately said nothing.
They'd grown up in different environments. No matter how much he stressed the importance of graduating from Class A to everyone, Sakayanagi would probably dismiss it as the thinking of ordinary people.
After all, the finish line they would spend their entire lives struggling to reach was no more than some worthless trinket she could cast aside without a second thought. How could she care about what people like them were striving for?
"It seems a conflict between us is unavoidable."
Sakayanagi ignored Katsuragi's hesitant expression. Whatever he was about to say was bound to be more of the same tiresome nonsense.
As she plotted how to deal with him, she took the initiative and suggested putting their conflict on hold.
"But Class A can't afford the cost of infighting right now. So from here on, we'll take turns leading the class through its exams, and then let our classmates decide based on the results who would make the better class leader. What do you think?"
"I have no objections."
Katsuragi was a little surprised that Sakayanagi would make such a fair proposal, given her personality, but he had no reason to refuse.
"However, the Midterm Exam is coming up..."
"Since you have a plan, Katsuragi, you can take the lead first. During the Midterm Exam period, you'll be in charge of everything in the class, including the members of the Sakayanagi Faction. What do you think?"
This really doesn't seem like the kind of decision you'd make.
He wanted to say it, and he knew that someone like her might make moves behind the scenes. But now that there was a chance to unite Class A peacefully, Katsuragi couldn't let his suspicions destroy it.
At worst, he would pay closer attention to the Sakayanagi Faction's behavior from then on.
"Understood. I'll do my best to help our classmates get through the Midterm Exam in the best possible shape."
Katsuragi wasn't worried that anyone in Class A would fail and be expelled.
He simply wasn't sure whether the class's overall results could surpass Class B's.
Unfortunately, the class was in a terrible financial position. If they followed Class B's example and spent 10,000 Private Points per person each month to enroll in Supplementary Class, they would have even less money left to save for Special Exams.
If only Advanced Nurturing Senior High School offered suitable part-time jobs.
The school hadn't explicitly banned working, but there were only a little over four hundred students across all three years. Even counting the faculty and shop staff, the total number of people on campus might not even reach a thousand.
With so few customers—and most students saving up to deal with exams—the shops probably survived only because of subsidies from the school. Why would they think to hire students?
Author's Note
My editor has let me know that this book will officially go on sale tomorrow.
This is my third book to go on sale, and I hope it does well.
With all the family matters during the New Year holiday, I haven't managed to build up a backlog. I'll do my best to post 8,000 words tomorrow. Sorry that it won't be a huge update.
Please add it to your library, subscribe, and send me monthly tickets and blades!
68. The Tyrant of Class C Wants to Make Money; Turmoil in Class D
While Katsuragi Kohei was fretting over the lack of Private Points in the former Class A, the other two classes already teetering on the edge of poverty were in complete chaos.
First Year Class C.
A strongly built man with a fiercely aggressive look in his eyes was gritting his teeth as he ordered everyone in the class to hand over their Private Points.
He was Ryuen Kakeru, the leader of Class C—a tyrant who ruled the class through violence and cunning.
The situation in Class C looked like a delinquent gang leader collecting protection money... but that wasn't actually what was happening!
Ryuen did have plans to collect a large amount of Private Points, but the problem was that the points he was making the entire class hand over wouldn't stay in his account. They had to be transferred to some bastard who used to be in Class B.
Thanks to someone's machinations, Ryuen Class now had only 330 Class Points. After Aragaki Shun took the equivalent of 100 points' worth of Private Points, each student in Class C had only 23,000 Private Points left for the month.
With so few Private Points, they couldn't even guarantee they'd have enough to eat this month. They might have to try the free Mountain Vegetable Set Meal during the last few days of the month.
Under the circumstances, no matter how much Ryuen threatened and cajoled them, how much could he squeeze out of Class C?
Still, to maintain the authority he'd established through violence, he forced everyone in the class to hand over the 3,000 Private Points they had left over. If he took any more, the students of Class C—who were nearly out of food—might really turn on him.
After all, he'd only become the leader of Class C through violence because their homeroom teacher, Sakagami Kazuma, had turned a blind eye.
If Sakagami hadn't helped cover up his rule-breaking and told him about the students who were causing trouble, Ryuen would have had a hard time getting the class to fall in line in just one month.
But Sakagami had also told Ryuen that he could help cover things up within the class, but if too many students brought the matter straight to the Student Council, the situation would no longer be under his control.
The school's publicly stated rules showed zero tolerance for bullying and violence. If you did certain things in secret and weren't caught, that was one thing, but you absolutely couldn't bring them out into the open.
Under the circumstances, Ryuen couldn't squeeze Class C too hard. He also had to dangle the promise of reaching Class A in front of them, so he could wring a few drops from the meager Private Points they already had.
Still, looking at the 400,000 Private Points he'd just transferred to Aragaki Shun, then at the 120,000 he'd only just managed to collect in his own account... Ryuen found the whole thing more and more laughable. He almost regretted collecting that 120,000.
Of course, the most infuriating part was that bastard who'd swiped a third of their class's Private Points in one go!
That was his money! His money!!
Ryuen ground his teeth in anger, but he didn't dare tear up the contract and ignore the other party's collection text.
According to Sakagami Kazuma, a contract witnessed by the school was legally binding.
When an entire class owed a large amount of points to someone, the class leader would normally collect them from all the students first and then transfer the total to the creditor.
As long as that process went smoothly, the school wouldn't step in.
But if the class in debt refused to fulfill the contract, the creditor could apply to the school for compulsory enforcement.
The school would then deduct the amount owed from the Private Points it issued to the class each month, and the class would be punished for breaching the contract.
If things were serious enough, the student who signed as the class leader might even be expelled.
Ryuen was furious that Aragaki Shun had extorted so much money from him, but that didn't stop him from thinking the school's rules were interesting.
At an ordinary school, with his below-average academic ability and terrible relationships with other people, he knew perfectly well that he had little chance of getting ahead.
Now that he had a chance to let loose at a school like this, of course he didn't want to leave in disgrace.
How could he prove he'd ever been here without turning all of Advanced Nurturing upside down and knocking those privileged students flat?
"Ryuen, what are we going to do? We can't make it through the month on just 20,000 Private Points. Are we really going to have to eat the Mountain Vegetable Set Meal for half the month, like the upperclassmen?"
"No! I tried that stuff. It's awful, just like eating garbage! Did the school deliberately hire some chef who specializes in dark cuisine?"
Just as Ryuen was stewing over what to do, his classmates' complaints dragged him back from his daydreams.
Ryuen: "..."
He'd just collected 120,000 points from the class, so he now had 140,000 Private Points in total. That should've been enough to cover his meals and daily expenses...
Enough my ass. What good was that little money?
Last month, the school had fined him tens of thousands of points for painting over the classroom surveillance camera.
With only 140,000 Private Points, he wouldn't even be able to pay the fines more than a few times if he wanted to test the school's limits.
Thinking of that made Ryuen grit his teeth again, and thoughts of making money crowded out everything else.
Make money! He had to make money! Without money, nothing was easy!
"Ryuen, say something! Weren't you going to lead us to Class A? Now we don't even have enough money to live on. Is this all you can do?"
When the class began questioning him, Ryuen first swept his fierce gaze across everyone in Class C. Once the classroom had fallen completely silent, he put on a confident expression.
"As my underlings, you're panicking over living expenses? Pathetic!"
He barked at the restless students. Ryuen knew that no matter how bad things got, he had to keep up a strong front, or this bunch would start making trouble behind his back.
That bastard from the former Class B still had seven Transfer Tickets. He was a downright monster.
When that bastard had used those Transfer Tickets to threaten him into signing the contract, Ryuen had wanted to drag Class C into a mutual destruction with Class B. They could all wallow in the mud together.
But the bastard had said—
"Even if all four classes' ratings drop to zero, I'll still have several million Private Points. I can give a few tens of thousands to each of the 39 students in Class C without a problem."
"Then I'll use a Transfer Ticket to move to Class C and take charge myself. At that point, do you think Class C will listen to me, the benefactor who gave them money, or you, the enemy who used violence against them and took away all their living expenses?"
Remembering that scene, Ryuen reflexively shook his arm. He could still feel a faint pain coming from somewhere he couldn't quite put his finger on.
There was no doubt about it: he'd attacked the man.
Unfortunately, he'd been completely outmatched one-on-one.
Not only that, the bastard had clearly trained in fighting.
One casual counterattack had nearly made him cry out in pain. But when he went to the infirmary to get checked, the doctor found no injuries on his arm at all.
So he hadn't even been able to pretend he was injured and extort some Private Points.
"Ryuen, you sure sound confident, but you still took 3,000 Private Points from each of us."
A student with an orange side ponytail and long side locks stepped forward.
The girl, Nishino Takeko, was fed up with Ryuen's scolding and confronted him directly. "Whatever your plan is, hurry up and tell us. Don't think everyone's afraid of you. If you can't even guarantee our living expenses, you should step down as class leader and let someone more suitable take over!"
"What a joke!" Ryuen fixed her with a cruel glare, but Nishino stared right back without flinching. "You want me to step down? Let those cowards try standing up to me!"
Before you continue