"I hope you'll pretend to date me, Aragaki. Of course, that won't stop you from finding a real girlfriend, and if you want, I can also fulfill all the responsibilities of a girlfriend."
As the Leader of Class A, who had swept through every club at the start of the school year and then firmly suppressed the three first-year classes, Aragaki Shun was undoubtedly at the very top of the student body.
That was why she had made this request. When it came to improving her standing at school, this was the only clumsy idea the girl could come up with.
At first, she had actually wanted to approach Yosuke Hirata.
After all, he was not only a central figure in Class D but also presented himself as kind, selfless, and willing to help others.
If she asked him for help, he would surely agree.
She could even get the protection she wanted without giving up anything.
But then Aragaki Shun had suddenly appeared in Class D and exposed the truth about the school. Only then had she learned that the four first-year classes were in competition with one another—and, more importantly, that Class D was the worst of them all.
That had forced Karuizawa Kei to change her mind. If the competition at this school was really that intense, then having some standing in Class D alone would never be enough.
Her experiences over the past month had proved as much.
As one of Class D's defective students, she was naturally looked down on by the higher-ranking classes.
And that was without mentioning the delinquents in Class C, who would deliberately provoke conflicts.
In this situation, she had to attach herself to someone with higher status, someone strong enough to keep the entire first year in check.
She didn't need youth or true love. All she wanted was to protect herself. That was all.
Karuizawa Kei stared at Aragaki Shun with a hollow look in her eyes, her nerves showing. She had put everything she could offer on the table, but she still wasn't sure he would accept her request.
For the past month, she had been keeping track of Aragaki Shun, trying to figure out what kind of person he was. But so far, she had only learned that he liked reading and food, had a strong sense of responsibility, treated his own people in Class A well, and mercilessly squeezed points out of the other classes.
How to put it? He really was a suitable person to leech off. Once he considered you one of his own, you'd feel completely safe.
The problem was that he was simply too popular at this school. Even though she had some confidence in her looks, she wasn't confident he would agree to date her.
As Karuizawa Kei's gaze grew more and more anxious, Aragaki Shun thought it over briefly, then shook his head and turned down her proposal. The girl's tense expression nearly crumbled.
"I can offer you a certain degree of protection, but let's forget about pretending to date."
It was just a simple exchange of benefits. That wasn't enough to make Aragaki Shun go out of his way to play her boyfriend.
Just when all seemed lost, hope suddenly flared in Karuizawa's eyes. She hurriedly stood up and looked at the Leader of Class A again. "Then what do I need to do?"
Whether they dated or not didn't matter. As long as he protected her, that was enough.
Karuizawa Kei knew she wasn't clever, and she understood that she was just a parasite. So if he had a better plan, she would obediently follow it.
"It's simple. Since you have some standing in Class D, make good use of it and do some things for Class A."
"Do you want me to act as a spy in the class competition?"
Karuizawa Kei was a little surprised. That kind of thing was nothing to her. She had expected him to make much stricter demands.
However, Aragaki Shun rejected her idea.
"Not a spy. From now on, you'll be Class A's representative in Class D. I need you to openly help me win over Class D's students."
Did Class D's scattered state really call for a spy to be planted there?
Aragaki Shun thought there was no need to play such sneaky games. All he had to do was openly extend an offer, and among those defective students who saw no hope of moving up, plenty would be willing to kneel and become dogs.
"Of the three lower-ranked first-year classes, Class B has the strongest fundamentals, while Class C is the most dangerous under Ryuen's control. Class D, at the very bottom, has the worst overall ability—and not even a leader who can fully unite the class."
Yosuke Hirata and Kushida Kikyo could only be considered coordinators. They could keep Class D's atmosphere stable in daily life and prevent it from completely falling apart, but neither had the authority of a leader who could make the final call.
Karuizawa Kei's gyaru persona was actually more forceful, but her influence was limited to the girls. The boys in Class D wouldn't follow her orders.
Outside those three, there were people like Horikita Suzune and Yukimura Teruhiko, who actively participated in the class competition and hoped to move up to Class A. But they were used to keeping to themselves and had no idea how to fit into a group. They had no right to represent the rest of Class D.
"Class D as it is has no right to enter the first-year competition. It can only serve as a tool for the three higher-ranked classes to use against one another."
"And if you're going to be a tool for one of the higher-ranked classes anyway, why not go straight to the strongest one?"
Aragaki Shun smiled at the completely bewildered girl in front of him. "Don't you agree, Karuizawa?"
"Huh?!"
After hearing what Aragaki Shun wanted from her, Karuizawa Kei couldn't calm down for a long time. She let out a cute, startled sound. "Y-yes, that's true."
The girl with brown hair swallowed. She felt like Aragaki Shun might have too high an opinion of her if he was discussing something like this with her.
Why not just tell me to take my clothes off? That seems easier!
But since the big shot who'd agreed to protect her had asked, Karuizawa couldn't just half-ass it as a parasite.
"Actually, there aren't many people in Class D who're determined to move up to Class A. Ever since the Behavioral Standards Exam, everyone's had some idea of where Class D stands in the first year."
"The students in our class who are most eager to move up are probably just Horikita Suzune, Yukimura Teruhiko, and a few others who do well academically."
"Even Yosuke Hirata and Kushida Kikyo only encourage everyone to work hard together now and then. I think they do it to maintain the class's morale, not because they really believe Class D's students can graduate from Class A."
That was only to be expected. The students in Class D had all been deliberately chosen by the school from junior high schools across the country as defective students.
Aside from a few who had good grades but flawed personalities, most of them had been near the bottom of the social ladder in junior high.
In other words, most of the students in Class D had been ordinary from elementary school through junior high. Now that they were in high school, they were still ordinary. That wasn't hard for them to accept.
And once they accepted that they were useless, they could slack off without a care.
"For most of the class, the benefits of graduating from Class A sound wonderful. If they could get them with little effort, they wouldn't mind giving it a try. But if they have to work themselves to the bone and still might not succeed, they'd rather forget it."
Karuizawa Kei stated what most of Class D felt with complete confidence, because she felt much the same way herself.
Compared with the unreachable goal of moving up to Class A, the greatest victory for the girl would be to get through three years at Kodo Ikusei Senior High School without being bullied.
Aragaki Shun: "..."
He had expected as much, but it still left him speechless.
So everyone in Class D just wanted to cling to someone powerful and wait for them to carry the class, so they could coast to victory?
That didn't quite sound right. Class C was the one that would obediently follow a big shot's orders and coast to victory once it had been tamed.
Given the way the people in Class D acted, even if a big shot stepped up to carry them, they'd have to be coaxed along first. Otherwise, they'd definitely hold him back. Some lacked any self-awareness, while others knew they were useless but still had to keep drawing attention to themselves.
"In short, most of the students in your Class D care only about their living expenses for the next three years, not about moving up to Class A, which they consider impossible. So, in that case..."
Aragaki Shun took out his phone and made a few taps. The next moment, a transfer notification sounded on Karuizawa Kei's phone.
"I've transferred a hundred thousand Private Points to you. From now on, you'll be my representative in Class D."
"You can decide how to use the money. I have only one requirement: do your best to win over as many people in Class D as possible, so that they'll willingly support Class A in future Special Exams."
Karuizawa Kei: "..."
Karuizawa fell silent for a moment before realizing that Aragaki Shun wanted more students in Class D to become his dogs.
She didn't think there was anything wrong with that. In her mind, the weak had to depend on the strong to survive.
She was just a little worried she wouldn't be able to do the job.
Unsure of her own abilities, the girl looked down at her phone screen and was surprised to find that not only had a hundred thousand Private Points appeared in her account, but there were also five items labeled Auditing Ticket.
"What are these five?"
"Auditing Tickets. They cost twenty thousand Private Points each and let someone sit in on any class for a full day without deducting points from that class's evaluation score."
Aragaki Shun briefly explained. "I used one when I visited your Class D. You can have the remaining five."
"You'll be my representative and build a faction in Class D. When the time comes, use the Auditing Tickets to invite anyone you think is trustworthy or worth winning over to visit Class A in my name."
Hiss!
Karuizawa Kei understood. So he was using his status to throw his weight around?
At Kodo Ikusei Senior High School, Class A was undoubtedly at the top of the four first-year classes, while Class D could only languish in the gutter.
If Karuizawa Kei used Aragaki Shun's name to invite her classmates to sit in on Class A for a day, then once word got around, everyone would know that Aragaki Shun and all of Class A had her back.
She would be Aragaki Shun's trusted subordinate, planted in Class D to help him control its students.
Anyone who wanted to go after her would have to think twice about whether they wanted to face Aragaki Shun. After all, when you beat a dog, you had to consider its master.
At the thought, Karuizawa Kei perked up. "I'll start inviting people as soon as I get back to the dorm!"
Matsushita Chiaki, Mori Nene, Sato Maya... Karuizawa immediately thought of the members of her own group.
Then there was Wang Meiyu, from Kushida's group. If that girl knew Aragaki Shun had invited her, she definitely wouldn't refuse.
As for what Kushida Kikyo thought? Who cared!
Karuizawa Kei didn't want to be replaced
Aragaki Shun naturally had no idea that Karuizawa Kei was already thinking about how to poach people from Kushida Kikyo's group.
But seeing how enthusiastic the girl was, he was quite pleased. He took the initiative to remind her, "Most of the students in Class D can be won over easily with Private Points. I'm giving you this hundred thousand as your initial operating budget, so make sure you spend it where it counts. If you get results, I'll send you more money."
"For the other Class D students who still have some ambition, you can tell them that I earn 3.06 million Private Points every month, and Class A's monthly class budget is over two million."
Gulp.
Karuizawa Kei was stunned. There were forty people in Class D, and their total monthly Private Points came to only 840,000—not even a third of Aragaki Shun's personal income.
And 5.06 million a month was already more than a quarter of twenty million.
"That's right. In four months at most, Class A will have saved up twenty million, enough to help a student from another class transfer to Class A permanently. Over three years, even if we only save at our current rate, we'll be able to invite nine talented students to join Class A."
"Tell those ambitious students in Class D these numbers and let them think for themselves: is it easier to help the worst class, Class D, make a comeback and defeat us, or to prove their own ability and become a talent recognized by Class A?"
As he said this, Aragaki Shun gave Karuizawa Kei a meaningful look. "Of course, the same offer applies to you. As long as you can keep Class D under control for me, there'll definitely be a place for you among Class A's graduation spots when you reach your third year."
Karuizawa Kei: "..."
The girl with the high ponytail fell silent.
Could a parasite like me really hope for something like that?
It would be a lie to say Karuizawa had no interest in graduating from Class A.
After all, even if she could rely on Aragaki Shun's protection and get through her three years at Kodo Ikusei Senior High School safely, what would happen after that?
If she could graduate from Class A, then even she might be able to rely on the school to find a job that gave her a sense of security.
"Of course, I want you to form a faction friendly to Class A, but that doesn't mean you should recruit everyone. There's no need to win over people like Yamauchi Haruki and Kanji Ike."
Aragaki Shun suddenly thought of those two oddballs from Class D and couldn't help emphasizing this to Karuizawa, though he figured she wouldn't lack that much common sense.
"Uh, you don't need to worry about that. The girls' group doesn't get along with those two at all."
"Good. I'll give you these Cultural and Entertainment Club application forms too. Fill one out for yourself and give the rest to the members of your faction. We can use the club as an extracurricular base for Class A as well."
Karuizawa Kei's eyes lit up. She quickly took the application forms, filled out her own, and handed it back to Aragaki Shun. Then she asked expectantly, "Will I be able to come to this club whenever I want?"
Aragaki Shun nodded. "That's right. All the Cultural and Entertainment Club's current members are from Class A. You're the first person from another class to join. Also, the club gives each member five thousand Private Points a month. You can collect yours from the club's advisor, Chie Hoshinomiya."
Five thousand Private Points wasn't much to a Class A student, but for an ordinary student like Karuizawa from Class D, it was already a quarter of her monthly living allowance.
That gave her another bargaining chip for winning over the other students in Class D.
She had a hundred thousand Private Points on her phone as start-up funds, Aragaki Shun and all of Class A backing her, the chance to transfer for twenty million as a long-term lure, and five thousand a month in living expenses as a basic benefit... Why did this job seem so easy, as if anyone could handle it?
If that was the case, wasn't she too replaceable?
A trace of worry stirred in Karuizawa Kei's heart. She knew how strong jealousy and competitiveness were among girls. Once word got out about her partnership with Aragaki Shun, plenty of people in Class D would secretly be scheming to take her place.
No! That absolutely couldn't happen!
Karuizawa Kei gently bit her lip. She knew that nothing in life came for free. If she wanted something, she had to give something in return.
In other words, she had to do something to raise her standing in Aragaki Shun's eyes. At the very least, she couldn't let him think of her as a tool he could replace whenever he wanted.
There was nothing wrong with being used or treated as a tool. At least that proved she was still worth protecting.
But her value had to be unique—or at least rare enough that the person she was leeching off wouldn't casually discard her.
The problem was that Kushida Kikyo and Hirata Yosuke could both serve as Aragaki Shun's representative in Class D, and they might even do a better job than her. If he lowered his standards a little, Shinohara Satsuki could do it too.
"Is there anything else?"
Aragaki Shun looked at Karuizawa Kei, who had been delighted a moment earlier, with some confusion.
What was wrong with her now? How had she suddenly become so moody?
He had thought she was a pretty good person to do business with. A simple exchange of benefits like this didn't need anything else mixed into it.
Before you continue