What Do You Mean by That? I Don't Like It-Take It Back!

He didn't think the other party had sent such a targeted picture at random.

Especially since Nakano Yuu had clearly been waiting in ambush just now.

"Yeah." Nakano Yuu said, "I happened to find out that you two are siblings, and your little sister has always looked up to you. She wants to be as strong as you."

"Nakano-kun—"

Horikita Suzune, who had been acting every bit the little sister until then, seemed to react and try to stop him, but she couldn't.

"Looks like you're still the same, Suzune." Horikita Manabu's response was rather cold.

His sister lowered her head at once.

"And this school's true nature is just what our teacher told us today," Nakano Yuu said. "You're the Student Council President, while your little sister is a worthless student in Class D. Her wanting to be like you is completely unrealistic."

Though he was saying something terribly harsh, Horikita Suzune didn't argue. Instead, she looked at him with a faintly vulnerable gaze, seeming rather pitiful.

It reminded Nakano Yuu of a little dog he'd once had.

But.

"So I recommend that she drop out," he said.

"..." Horikita Manabu.

"..." Horikita Suzune.

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Chapter 13: What Do You Mean by That? I Don't Like It—Take It Back!

Nakano Yuu had deliberately called Horikita Manabu out.

More accurately, the other party had wanted to lure him out.

Horikita Manabu knew as much. He'd come here, waited for a few minutes, observed how the other party interacted with his sister, and reached that conclusion.

The other party had deliberately used his sister to try to make some kind of deal with him.

But.

Now he was suggesting that Horikita Suzune drop out.

That he let his little sister drop out.

Actually, if Nakano Yuu hadn't been the one to lure him here, Horikita Manabu would have planned to find his sister after the first month of school and tell her to drop out.

Of course, he hadn't truly meant for her to leave. He wanted her to make a choice. Now that she knew how unusual this school was, she should understand how hard it would be to climb up from Class D.

So he'd planned to teach her a lesson.

But now.

"Have me... drop out?" Horikita Suzune looked surprised.

She stared at Nakano Yuu in shock.

"Of course." Nakano Yuu said. "First, four days ago, I got all your points from you using information that was about to expire."

"And only this month did you realize how much those eighty thousand points you'd lost were worth."

"That shows how reckless and impulsive you are."

"Besides, Class D's evaluation score is zero. That makes it the worst class in history to start the first month of school with zero points, and the student in Class D is the Student Council President's little sister."

"Who do you think will end up looking bad?"

"Horikita Suzune, do you really have no self-awareness?" Nakano Yuu looked at Horikita as he spoke.

"Uh..." Horikita's little sister was completely stunned.

Then she fell silent, seeming to shrink in on herself.

If her brother had said this to her, she might have pushed back a little and said she'd work hard to climb up. But Nakano Yuu's own lack of interest in helping his class had made her hold her tongue.

He didn't even want to lead his class. Did she really have a chance of getting hers to rise?

It would probably be like throwing an egg at a rock.

So Horikita Suzune became timid.

"..." Horikita Manabu.

Horikita Manabu had been watching from the side, but even he thought the guy was being too harsh.

Besides.

Why had this guy stolen all his lines?

Those were exactly the things he'd wanted to say to his little sister.

As he thought this—

"Horikita Suzune, you're often alone, but it seems you've misunderstood the difference between being proud and being lonely."

Horikita Manabu heard Nakano Yuu say.

"..." Horikita Manabu thought that this Nakano underclassman really was strange. It was as if he knew exactly what Horikita Manabu was going to say and had stolen his lines outright.

"I—" Suzune's attitude grew even more timid.

"While I'm the only one who knows you're the Student Council President's little sister, you should drop out here and now." Nakano Yuu cut her off. "You can do it by getting a withdrawal form from Chabashira-sensei."

"And the Student Council President is a third-year in Class A, which means he has only one year left before graduation. If the rival classes use the fact that he has a little sister in Class D to attack him, and his class ultimately fails to graduate from Class A, do you think you could bear the responsibility, Horikita?"

"So, Horikita, drop out here. Once you leave, your brother will have no weakness." Nakano Yuu said.

"?..." Horikita Manabu.

Wait.

Horikita Manabu knew that if this continued, his sister might really drop out on the spot.

So he pressed his left hand to his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

"You don't have to keep trying to fool Suzune." Horikita Manabu said. "What do you want? More precisely, what are you trying to get from me?"

"Well." Nakano's attitude changed at once.

"Horikita, what I just described was simply a possible risk of your staying in school."

"Your older brother is the Student Council President and the representative of Class A in his third year, so he probably won't fall very easily. It seems you can affect him, but not by much." Nakano Yuu said.

"..." Horikita Manabu.

You'd nearly convinced his sister to drop out on her own, and you still called that having little influence?

Horikita Manabu kept a stern expression.

Nakano Yuu knew that Horikita Manabu would get angry if he bullied his little sister in front of him, so he said, "I'm actually curious how much authority the Student Council has at this school."

"Are you sure you mean the Student Council? Don't you want to know what authority the Student Council President has?" Horikita Manabu had already marked this Nakano underclassman as dangerous.

"You can't fool the Student Council President." Nakano Yuu gave a modest smile.

He'd spent several days deliberately luring the Student Council President here. He obviously wasn't after just a few tens of thousands of points.

"This school's system is unique, and the Student Council has a great deal of authority. It has all the authority that student councils at other schools have, and more besides. Remember the opening ceremony? There weren't any faculty members present, and even the school administrators didn't give a speech. In other words, events of that scale are entirely entrusted to the Student Council."

"The Student Council has been given a large portion of the school's authority."

"Becoming Student Council President even lets you give orders to certain teachers."

"Of course, once you're President, you can also participate in arranging some Special Exams. Not by writing the questions, but by choosing the score. After the school sets the questions, it gives the Student Council President a range of possible scores to choose from."

So that's how it worked?

Students could actually take part in exams, even acting like examiners. That was incredible.

And the President could even decide the scores for each month's Special Exam. Those scores were incredibly important in determining whether the classes moved up or down.

For example, if your class was far behind Class A, you could hold several Special Exams with high scores, allowing your class to catch up quickly. The opposite was true as well.

Once your class had climbed up, you could keep the scores low. That way, even if you lost those exams, the classes below wouldn't catch up immediately.

So becoming Student Council President was practically a cheat code!

"Also." Horikita Manabu's tone turned much more serious. "The Student Council President has the unconditional authority to expel one student."

Oh.

So that's how it was.

He could expel a student regardless of the rules. What a broken ability.

But.

Why were you looking at him while you said that? Take it back!

Nakano Yuu gently rubbed his chin.

"Then I understand." He nodded slightly.

"So." Horikita Manabu said. "Nakano Yuu, do you want to join the Student Council?"

You're an interesting Student Council President, too.

Nakano thought admiringly. Even though Horikita Manabu knew he'd been lured here, he was still inviting him to join the Student Council. That must be the President's magnanimity.

But.

"Then can you make me President?" Nakano Yuu asked.

Horikita Suzune stared at him in stunned disbelief. First she'd been so crushed that she nearly dropped out; then she'd found out how incredible her brother was, and now... this guy Nakano Yuu was being so brazen.

And now he was saying he wanted to become President.

"What would you do if you became President?" Horikita Manabu didn't reject the idea outright.

"Two options." Nakano Yuu said. "First, naturally, I'd ask everyone to pay into a shared Student Council fund."

Nakano said, "I'd collect from every student. In return, I would guarantee that I'd exercise the Student Council President's authority fairly and impartially."

In other words, he wouldn't let personal interests influence his choice of scores for the monthly Special Exams.

Then the students would indeed agree to pay.

There were three grades at this school, with 160 students in each grade, which meant 480 students in total.

If each person gave him fifty thousand points, he'd have twenty-four million.

Of course, the number of students would decrease as the monthly Special Exams could include expulsion options, but he could still collect twenty-four million.

That plan was a little too outrageous, though, so Nakano added,

"This would make them unhappy with the system, stir up the election for next year's Student Council President, and give everyone a chance to assess the next President's impartiality. In a way, it'd motivate them to push forward."

"Hmm." Horikita Manabu paused.

"What's the other option?" Horikita Manabu asked.

"Of course, I'd want the authority to expel a student at random. I'd give Miyabi Nagumo, a second-year in Class A, advance notice that I planned to use that authority to expel him."

"What do you think would happen?" Nakano Yuu asked.

What would happen?

Of course Nagumo would obediently pay up. And not only would Nagumo pay without complaint, he'd even want Nakano to use the authority to expel someone Nagumo wanted gone.

Horikita Manabu understood completely.

This guy hadn't sent his sister the transfer message for any other reason than money. He wanted to collect twenty-four million Private Points.

That way, no matter what class he was in—or what kind of student he was—he could ensure that he ultimately graduated from Class A.

All he wanted was to graduate from Class A.

But.

"I don't have many points myself," Horikita Manabu said. "So I won't be able to support you with points."

"To become the next Student Council President, you have to be a vice president or be nominated by the previous President. Then you need votes from the entire student body; whoever gets the most votes becomes President."