"So, that about covers it. Katsuragi, your position as the Student Council secretary is secure."
Vice President Nagumo said.
"Thank you, Nagumo-senpai."
Katsuragi was quite steady, though. He knew he now owed Miyabi Nagumo 600,000 points.
As they were talking, Katsuragi noticed his phone vibrate. Nakano Yuu had transferred back the extra 100,000 points he'd received from Miyabi Nagumo.
Nakano Yuu was fast, too.
Katsuragi thought to himself.
Nakano Yuu was, of course, very fast.
After all, he'd made a decent amount of points today.
First, the 500,000 points Katsuragi owed him had been returned. Then, he'd received 200,000 points in breakup money and a 1,000,000-point hush payment from Miyabi Nagumo's personal account. That meant he'd made 1,200,000 points in the half hour since he'd arrived at the Student Council!
An hourly wage of 1,200,000 points—and more.
Even his father's hospital probably couldn't make that much money.
Then, after subtracting the troublesome 100,000 points belonging to Katsuragi, all the points he had now were his.
[Name: Nakano Yuu. Student ID: ST1045666090. Class: Class 1-D. Gender: Male. Personal Account Points: 3,389,080.]
His personal account had broken the 3,000,000-point mark!
Meanwhile, in the school building.
Two girls met.
Both were exceptionally beautiful, but their personalities and styles were completely different.
One looked like an unfriendly gal, while the other seemed like a cool, untouchable beauty.
They were both from Class 1-D, a class full of beautiful girls.
They were Kei Karuizawa and Horikita Suzune.
There was a written Special Exam this month, and no one in Karuizawa's Gal Team was good at studying, so they had no choice but to come and get tutored.
Unlike Sudo, Yamauchi, and the others, who thought they could cram at the last minute, the girls were more cooperative. They knew just how bad their grades were. If they didn't work hard, they'd all fail and be expelled.
Horikita was also a very strict teacher. She'd say things like, "Why can't you even do a problem like this?" "You only want to pass the exam? You should be able to pass just by paying attention in class. It's baffling when you can't," and "You don't even know your equations?" It made them feel like they were about to end their friendship Right Now.
But they weren't friends with Horikita, so that wasn't something they needed to worry about.
46
Chapter 46: A Clever Move That Wins Two Hearts!
The girls in the Gal Group didn't have to worry about falling out with Horikita.
Horikita was blunt about it, too.
"If you don't want to study, leave. I won't stop you."
So they could only stay and study. They'd only just arrived at the school, and although they wouldn't get any living expenses this month, none of them wanted to drop out just like that.
Besides, they couldn't deny that Horikita Suzune knew her stuff when it came to studying.
When she realized how little they knew, Horikita had started teaching them junior high school material. The notes she'd brought were full of key points she'd compiled herself.
But they'd been told not to bring personal belongings when they enrolled, so Horikita must have made those notes after going back through her junior high school textbooks these past few days.
And Horikita had absolutely nothing to gain from doing this.
At least, they'd heard what Yukimura had said when he'd spoken as the class's top student.
Normally, it made sense for a top student to tutor poor students as a way to review and reinforce what they'd learned. But that depended on just how poor those students were. The students in this class were so far behind that they still couldn't keep up with the lessons. Since the exam would cover what they'd learned in class, Horikita wasn't getting anything out of teaching them junior high school material.
Both Karuizawa and Sato felt the same way.
So although Horikita's attitude seemed cold, they mostly approved of her. They figured she just wasn't good with words and probably had no friends, so she didn't know how to create a more comfortable atmosphere.
"Um, Horikita, you asked to speak with me alone. What is it?"
Karuizawa had mostly figured out what sort of person Horikita was over the past few days, but she still felt under pressure when she was alone with her.
"Nakano Yuu asked me to pass something on to you."
Horikita said.
"He said you don't need to pretend to date Hirata. He'll take care of your problem."
"..."
Karuizawa. ??
Wait.
Karuizawa's eyes widened.
Horikita had suddenly said something terrifying.
Or rather, Horikita was only passing on a message. So just how scary was Nakano, the one who'd asked her to deliver it?
How did he know what she'd been thinking these past few days?
"He knows everything about you."
Horikita Suzune recalled the message Nakano Yuu had sent her and added:
"He said you don't need to be so nervous. In exchange, during the upcoming Special Exam, just help him out. It'll be a win-win."
Though that was what she said, Horikita Suzune still wanted to point out that the win-win was for the two of them, not her.
For example, Nakano Yuu had asked her to keep organizing the tutoring group, while he'd taken the day off. Clearly, he was off to make money again—and he hadn't brought her along.
"Wait."
Karuizawa shook her head.
"Horikita, I don't understand what you're saying at all."
"Whether you're lying or don't understand, I've delivered the message he asked me to pass on."
"And he said he'd help you deal with some of your problems."
Horikita said.
Apparently, she was currently serving as an emotionless messenger.
She thought Nakano Yuu could have delivered the message himself.
But Horikita didn't have Karuizawa's contact information, either.
She could have used the class group chat and sent Karuizawa a private message, but that kind of private messaging was a little embarrassing.
"Wait."
Seeing that Horikita really was about to leave, Karuizawa hurriedly stopped her.
She thought she understood the message now.
Horikita was just Nakano's errand girl, and Nakano seemed to want her help with the Special Exam.
But...
Why?
She had no idea what value she could possibly have. Her academic ability was terrible, after all.
"Nakano Yuu is planning to gather 20,000,000 points. The class's evaluation score is zero, and we don't have any living expenses, so he's looking for opportunities to earn points in each month's Special Exam."
Horikita said to Karuizawa, who was stopping her.
"And I have the same goal as him."
"So you two aren't actually dating?"
But Horikita got a curious question from Karuizawa in response. ?
Strange.
Horikita couldn't understand what was going through her mind.
Hadn't she just said that she and Nakano had the same goal, and that they were allies working hard together to earn 20,000,000 points?
So why had Karuizawa misunderstood her like this?
Did the people around her have no social awareness at all?
At least Horikita herself thought that Nakano Yuu's type was definitely not her, and that he only interacted with her because they were allies.
But...
Horikita suddenly remembered that Nakano Yuu had deliberately held her hand once. If another student had seen it, they might have gotten the wrong idea.
But...
Horikita still felt that something wasn't quite right.
It was one thing for people to get the wrong idea, but if they kept misunderstanding, then something was up.
So was Nakano Yuu lying to her? Did he not see her as a partner after all, but instead as a backup in some dating game?
"Horikita?"
After asking on reflex, Karuizawa noticed that Horikita Suzune had gone blank, so she hurriedly called out to her.
"..."
Horikita.
"I've basically delivered the message, and he said he'd do something to win your favor so that you'll help him in future Special Exams."
No.
You're making this very hard to understand.
Karuizawa frowned.
Since Horikita was telling her to her face that she was going to win another girl's favor, that meant she'd misunderstood. Horikita and Nakano-kun really weren't dating.
But she knew the truth about herself.
Karuizawa knew her current gal appearance and even her domineering personality were all an act. She was pretending to be the kind of person she'd once hated most.
But to avoid being bullied like she had in junior high, she had no choice but to keep acting this way.
But that brought up another problem. The people around her now were all gals.
Sato, Shinohara Satsuki, and Matsushita didn't seem like the mean, nasty girls she'd met in the past, but she knew she was just pretending.
She was a fake gal, while everyone around her was real.
It was like a husky had wandered in among a pack of wolves and only belatedly realized it should be afraid.
So lately, she'd been thinking about doing something to maintain her position and, at the very least, keep the gals around her from bullying her.
As she thought this over...
Beep beep.
Karuizawa saw that she'd received a message.
[Congratulations, Kei Karuizawa of Class 1-D. Your application to join the Student Council has been approved. You have become a Public Morals Committee Member.]
The message was from an unfamiliar number.
But beneath the number was a verified [Student Council] label.
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