According to the hidden rules the upperclassmen had shared, the school had divided 160 students among Classes A, B, C, and D according to a ranking of excellent, good, average, and defective.
Newly assigned to Class B, Aragaki Shun didn't care why he'd ended up there.
After all, once you saw that even Sakayanagi Arisu had been placed in Class A, it was clear that the school's administration could arrange the classes however it pleased.
He didn't believe there was anyone more defective than that sickly girl who needed a cane just to walk. It wasn't as if all of Class 1-D were paralyzed from the waist down, was it?
"I don't like pretending a problem doesn't exist after learning about it, like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand and thinking nothing will happen if it ignores the danger."
Aragaki Shun replied without hesitation, "Besides, if my adoptive parents found out I was acting as a companion to a little girl at school—to the only daughter of the Sakayanagi Family, no less—they'd definitely drag me home to look after Ayase."
His name in this world was the same as in his previous life. In truth, he'd been transported into this world, and when his Golden Finger awakened, he'd automatically gained an identity here.
The Aragaki Family descended from the Ji clan. Bi Gong Gao, the fifteenth son of King Wen of Zhou, had been enfeoffed at Xinyuan, making Aragaki a very ancient surname.
According to his adoptive parents, their branch had been Han Chinese who migrated to the Ryukyu Kingdom before gradually assimilating into Sakurajima.
Twelve years ago, they'd traveled to the mainland to visit relatives. There, they'd discovered that their distant relative, Aragaki Shun, an orphan, was exceptionally clever, so they'd brought him home and adopted him.
He was called their adopted son, but by Sakurajima's customs, adopted son-in-law would have been more accurate.
They'd had the discernment to bring him home and had worked hard to raise him into their future heir. If the sickly girl from the Sakayanagi Family easily lured him away, his adoptive parents would be furious enough to spit blood.
And given Ayase's personality, things might well end in a bloodbath.
No matter how clever Sakayanagi Arisu was, her frail body certainly wouldn't withstand the hatchet in Ayase's hands.
Kanzaki Ryuji: "?"
The boy was confused. Who was Ayase, and what did he mean by being dragged home?
"The Aragaki Family doesn't fear the Sakayanagi Family. If I still have to bow and scrape to the Sakayanagi heiress at this school, what do you think my adoptive parents will make of that?"
Aragaki Shun explained calmly. "Oh, right. Ayase is my stepsister, and also my fiancée."
In a sense, he was her childhood groom, but he didn't mind.
After all, Ayase was adorable. He'd been raising her for years, and he had no intention of handing her over to anyone else.
So he was the Aragaki Family's adopted son-in-law!
Kanzaki Ryuji understood.
In that case, he really couldn't casually bow to Sakayanagi Arisu.
As far as he knew, Chairman Sakayanagi had only one daughter, who was sickly. The family would most likely need to find a son-in-law to carry on the family name.
But come to think of it, with Sakayanagi Arisu's frail constitution, what kind of fool would willingly become her son-in-law?
If they didn't cure her condition, the Sakayanagi Family could forget about having children. She might even die the morning after her wedding night.
He'd heard that Chairman Sakayanagi had spent recent years searching for a way to cure his only daughter's heart condition. Otherwise, the Sakayanagi Family's name and the position of chairman would have to pass to an adopted son from a close relative's branch.
"Your Aragaki Family may not care about Chairman Sakayanagi, but before I enrolled, my family's company was constantly looking for ways to advance politically."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Aragaki Shun rolled his eyes at Kanzaki's troubled expression. "As far as they're concerned, this is just a scuffle between kids. You really think it'll have that much impact?"
Did squabbles between kids matter?
Not really!
Relations between companies were maintained through shared interests. As long as those interests remained, connections stayed useful.
But that didn't mean they were completely irrelevant.
People had a natural urge to show off, after all. Competition between peers could sometimes affect how the older generation judged their children's abilities.
"Kanzaki Heavy Industries might want to get on good terms with the Sakayanagi Family, but that doesn't mean it should grovel to them. If you go up against Sakayanagi and come out on top, wouldn't that prove your ability even more?"
"Besides, your elders can worry about their relationship with Chairman Sakayanagi. Right now, shouldn't you be paying more attention to your relationship with me?"
Kanzaki Ryuji: "?"
He looked puzzled at first, but quickly caught on. Aragaki had a point.
They were both in Class B, so his relationship with Aragaki mattered more. Taking Sakayanagi Arisu's side now would be completely insane.
13. Whoever Causes the Losses Pays for Them
In the end, Kanzaki Ryuji agreed to Aragaki Shun's request and said he'd go speak to Chairman Sakayanagi about it.
"...So Aragaki and Kanzaki, you're both from prominent families and well-known companies?"
Shibata Sou had been sitting nearby, unable to get a word in as the two discussed all sorts of high-level matters. Once they finally paused, he awkwardly edged closer, looking a little strange.
"Does that mean I'm the only one in our trio who doesn't fit in?"
"Don't worry. Now that you're at Advanced Nurturing, you can try becoming the first rich person in your family after graduation. Then your kids can be second-generation rich."
Aragaki Shun tossed out a casual reassurance and gave Shibata an encouraging, confident smile.
High schoolers weren't like the corporate drones who'd endured the many beatings of life. They still held on to all sorts of innocent, self-centered fantasies, so they didn't really grasp the practical significance of differences like this.
A mere difference in family background? Once I entered society, I'd change the whole world!
Just like now: when Shibata heard those encouraging words, his first reaction was to nod. Without backing down, he declared, "That's true! As long as we can get the school's recommendation, everyone in Class B will have a bright future."
But then he remembered that the benefits the school had promised were only available to Class A graduates. And to drag Class A down, they'd have to face the chairman's daughter. He couldn't help losing confidence.
Even Shibata, who was always eager to help others and didn't usually assume the worst of people, couldn't help thinking that the chairman would show favoritism toward his own daughter once he learned about Sakayanagi Arisu's connection to him.
That was only natural. It could even be called a kind of prejudice.
As Shibata saw it, Aragaki Shun, Kanzaki Ryuji, and Ichinose Honami were all remarkably capable for their age, yet they could only be in Class B.
When he'd met Sakayanagi Arisu that afternoon, she hadn't seemed much more capable than the three of them. Her health was worse than an ordinary person's, too. She'd nearly collapsed after just one game of chess with Aragaki. Yet she'd still been assigned to Class A, and judging by the students gathered around her, she was probably at the heart of the class.
With someone like that in their way, could they really obtain the benefits the school had promised?
"Aragaki, Kanzaki, you're going up against the school's chairman. Is that really going to be all right?"
"We're not going up against him. We're just making a suggestion and letting them know how we feel."
Seeing that even Shibata Sou lacked confidence, Aragaki Shun sighed inwardly. He'd known that having someone with connections in the class would be a headache.
If they didn't deal with this problem, all Sakayanagi Arisu would have to do during future class competitions was say, "My father is the chairman," and every rival class's morale would instantly take a nosedive.
After all, who'd want to compete with the chairman's daughter? What kind of international joke was that?
Wouldn't they be afraid of upsetting the heiress and having her run to the chairman to complain?
And even if they managed to graduate from Class A, what then? Wouldn't they worry that the school might sabotage their dreams of higher education or employment?
This had nothing to do with Chairman Sakayanagi's character. What mattered was how students who knew Sakayanagi Arisu's identity would think.
No one would dare bet on whether the chairman would remain strictly impartial between his sickly daughter and some unfamiliar student.
The possible reward for winning that bet was simply too small compared to the cost of losing it.
"The chairman doesn't have absolute authority over this school. I'll give the Board of Directors my opinion and ask them to restrict his powers. At the very least, he shouldn't interfere with the competition between this year's new students. They'll agree to such a reasonable request."
It was reasonable, after all.
With even the appearance of impropriety, wasn't he helping by asking the chairman to avoid a conflict of interest?
Fine, they'd put Sakayanagi Arisu in Class A. But from now on, the old man could stay out of the competition between students!
Of course, a suggestion like this would only carry weight coming from people like Aragaki Shun, Kanzaki Ryuji, and Koenji.
If they questioned Advanced Nurturing's fairness, and the Board of Directors failed to give them a satisfactory response despite clear signs of favoritism by the chairman, they could simply transfer out and have their families ask what exactly Advanced Nurturing was trying to do.
It wasn't as if they had to inconvenience themselves just to keep the chairman's daughter happy, was it?
In Aragaki Shun's experience, force had to be met with greater force, and fists could also be used to overcome intelligence. But to restrain those in power, you needed to call on power of equal weight.
Ordinary students couldn't even figure out whom to approach with a request, so they shouldn't expect the school to go out of its way to accommodate their feelings.
"All right. Kanzaki and I will handle this. Shibata, you're in charge of sharing the information we traded for from the upperclassmen in the class group. Make sure everyone in Class B knows the truth about the school. Tell them to pay attention in class this month, avoid breaking any rules, and show the qualities expected of an excellent high school student."
"After next month's Behavioral Standards Exam, I'll buy this month's point deductions from Hoshinomiya-sensei. Anyone who deliberately causes trouble will have to compensate everyone for the losses with their Private Points!"
When Aragaki Shun finished speaking coldly, cold sweat broke out on Shibata Sou's face. He stopped dwelling on anything else and immediately took out his phone to upload the information to the class group.
After all, one Class Point was worth 100 Private Points, and each class had forty students.
That meant losing one Class Point would require paying a total of 4,000 Private Points to everyone, including the person responsible for the loss.
If the class lost more than 25 Class Points, even someone who hadn't spent a single point of their 100,000 for the month wouldn't have enough to pay the compensation.
Kanzaki Ryuji took out his phone and looked at the class group. Messages about the school's hidden rules and Aragaki Shun's announcement were steadily piling up. After thinking for a moment, he turned to Aragaki Shun.
"Wouldn't it be inappropriate to make individuals shoulder all the losses in Class Points?"
"Now that we know the truth about the school, we should be able to preserve as many Class Points as possible. We might even overtake Class A. There's no need to put more pressure on everyone, is there?"
Aragaki Shun was surprised. "I've already given everyone the answers. Are you saying someone would still deliberately cause trouble?"
"It's one thing if they didn't know the rules today. From now on, whoever causes the losses pays for them. I doubt we have anyone in class who'd deliberately make trouble for everyone, right?"
If they did, he'd find a way to straighten them out. If that didn't work, he'd kick them out.
He was willing to lead everyone in Class B toward improvement, but he wasn't going to babysit a bunch of useless people or pests!
14. Suppressing Ichinose's Excessive Kindness
On the second day after enrolling at Advanced Nurturing, inside the Class 1-B classroom.
Everyone had already arrived, and there was just enough time for a short homeroom before the first class of the morning. Aragaki Shun went straight to the podium and surveyed his classmates, each with an unusual expression on their face.
"Shibata already posted the truth about this school in the class group yesterday. Does anyone have any questions or anything to add?"
Everyone in Class B perked up.
They'd spent all of yesterday evening being shocked. Now they'd all tacitly arrived early at the classroom, mostly because they were uncertain about the class competition ahead. They wanted to find a way forward together.
Aragaki glanced around at his classmates. They seemed to have a lot of questions, yet no one knew what to say. The pink-haired girl stood up from her seat and addressed him. "Everyone should understand the hidden rules about the school that Aragaki shared. I'd like to add some thoughts about yesterday afternoon's gathering with students from the other classes."
"First, the students from Class A had the smallest turnout. They were polite when they spoke with everyone, but they didn't seem very friendly. Class C had quite a few boys who spoke roughly and seemed good at fighting. The girls who stood out the most were groups of gyaru. As for Class D..."
Ichinose Honami hesitated, as if unsure how to describe them. "Kikyo and Hirata were easy to talk to. Shinohara and Karuizawa were more forceful. Some people were rather quiet, but there were also a few boys who seemed far too noisy."
Ichinose was gentle, in the end, and didn't much like speaking ill of people behind their backs. The others in class, however, weren't so forgiving.
"What? Honami-chan is way too nice. Those boys from Class D weren't just noisy—they were downright perverts! Especially Yamauchi Haruki. That jerk only knows how to brag, but he acts like he's somebody important. He has no self-awareness at all, and he goes around commenting on girls' figures and looks."
"Exactly! And that guy next to him, Kanji Ike. How can people like that even be at this school? Can't he see Honami-chan is uncomfortable? He kept coming over and rambling on and on."
"That girl Shinohara was strange, too. She picked a fight with some boys from Class C for no reason, and when we tried to stop them, she yelled at us."
"Shibata was bragging that Ishizaki from Class C had fought with someone in middle school. That whole group seemed like delinquents. Did the school put all those people in Class C?"
"Oh, and that one from Class D..."
It seemed everyone had been holding their complaints in. Once someone got started, the whole group began grumbling about their interactions with the other classes the previous afternoon.
In general, the students from Class A had been all right. The students from Class C who attended the gathering had mostly been delinquents or gyaru, while Class D was a gathering of all kinds of people. Everyone had their own personality, and there was no single way to describe them.
Clap, clap—
Aragaki Shun clapped twice. Once everyone quieted down, he nodded in satisfaction.
"It seems everyone now has a good idea of what the first-year classes are like. Then remember this: from now on, they're our opponents!"
"It's fine to make friends, but don't share any class information with them. Especially since this month is still part of the Behavioral Standards Exam. The 1,000 points the school gives us will determine the different starting lines for the four classes in the future. Whether we can take an early lead in the competition and build the kind of snowball advantage where one step ahead leads to every step ahead depends on how everyone performs this month."
To be honest, Aragaki Shun had expected Ichinose Honami and her friends to be sociable, but he hadn't expected them to get to know so many students from the other classes on the very first day. Their social skills were frightening.
At the very least, he certainly couldn't have organized a gathering and invited students from all four classes on the first day of school.
At most, he'd have gone to the three other classes, like he did when challenging clubs, and announced, "I think everyone here is trash."
He looked around at everyone's reactions. They all understood how important this exam was, with 1,000 Class Points at stake, so no one seemed to disagree...
Wait! Someone actually did?
Aragaki Shun raised his brows and looked at the pink-haired girl. She seemed hesitant as she listened to her classmates' discussion, her face showing reluctance.
"Ichinose, do you have a different opinion?"
"Well, actually..." Ichinose Honami faltered awkwardly. "I was wondering if we could give Class C and Class D a reminder around the middle of the month, after they've already lost a lot of Class Points?"
The discussion in class abruptly stopped. Everyone stared at Ichinose Honami in disbelief, but no one stepped forward to openly object.
Most of them looked at her with the trusting expression of people thinking, Honami-chan must have her reasons.
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