Feeling everyone's eyes on him, Uesugi Gen said irritably,
"Why are you looking at me? I didn't do it this time. I only suggested that the school remove the old exam questions."
No wonder Hoshinomiya-sensei had been smiling so happily earlier. Someone in Class D had been expelled.
Just then, a classmate who had come in through the door added in a timid voice,
"Um, they're all saying the three students who got expelled offended Uesugi-kun, so he used his authority as Vice President of the Student Council to get the school to remove the old exam questions."
Uesugi Gen was at a loss.
The ones who got expelled... Could they really be those three outrageous guys from Class D?
Hearing this, Uesugi Gen suddenly felt his vision go dark. It was as if a huge black pot had landed on his head.
Class D had already descended into chaos.
Yamauchi: "I don't want to get expelled! This is so lame!"
Sudo: "H-How can my dream just end here?"
Ike: "Don't expel me! Getting kicked out after only a month and a half of school... My old classmates will laugh at me forever!"
Horikita Suzune also lowered her head, her expression grim. After all that effort, this was how it ended. How humiliating.
"Wait, it's all because of Class B! That bastard in Class B promised he wouldn't make the exam harder, but then he went back on his word. We... We should report him to the school. Then they'll definitely cancel our expulsion notices. That has to be it!"
Yamauchi Haruki shouted incoherently, as if he'd grabbed hold of a lifeline.
"Don't be ridiculous. Haven't you noticed that this exam was much easier than the old one? That was him going easy on you. When you get right down to it, the problem is that you aren't good enough. If you were, there'd have been no need for old exam questions in the first place."
Horikita Suzune mercilessly shattered Yamauchi Haruki's fantasy.
As far as she was concerned, a loss was a loss. She wouldn't make excuses to cover up her failure.
"H-How could this happen?!"
Then he turned and glared at Ken Sudō, full of resentment.
"It's all your fault, Sudo! Why'd you have to yell in the library and draw his attention? Now look what happened—he replaced the old exam questions, and we're all getting expelled!"
Ike chimed in from the side.
"Yeah, it's all your fault, Sudo! I've always hated how impulsive you are. Now you've ruined us!"
"I-I didn't know this would happen. If I'd known, I would've gotten down on my knees and apologized to him."
Ken Sudō cried out in despair from the back.
He hadn't expected that smiling guy to have so much influence that he could get the school to change the exam.
"I don't want Sudo and the others to be expelled. Isn't there anything we can do?"
The Accomplice Lady, putting on an Oscar-worthy performance, let a few little tears fall and cried out with feigned concern.
She'd often complained to Uesugi Gen about those three outrageous guys.
"That's right. There has to be a way. There must be some way to keep Yamauchi-kun and the others from getting expelled."
Hirata Yosuke murmured to himself, his head bowed and his expression crumbling.
"Impossible. Hirata, stop spouting nonsense. Didn't you hear Chabashira-sensei say they'd be expelled as soon as their guardians came?"
"Shut up! That's not true. There has to... There has to be a way!"
Hirata Yosuke shouted, unable to accept reality.
Just as Class D's chaos grew worse,
a cool voice pulled everyone back from the brink.
"Points. Chabashira-sensei said that personal points could buy anything at school. If so, they should be able to buy points too. We can use our personal points to buy back Sudo-kun's score."
Horikita Suzune said, her expression dark as she looked at her phone.
At the same time, she glanced inconspicuously toward an unremarkable person in Class D.
A glimmer of hope lit up in everyone's eyes.
"I see! There's a way to solve this? Horikita-san, you're so smart. I'll go find Chabashira-sensei right now!"
Hirata Yosuke hurried toward the faculty office.
But he soon returned with some crushing news: each point on the midterm exam cost 100,000 personal points, and the three students in Class D needed a total of 26 points—that was 2.6 million.
They'd spent all their personal points within a month, so they knew all too well what an impossibly astronomical sum that was for Class D, whose Class Points currently sat at -100.
Besides, Class D wasn't as united as Class B. Not everyone wanted to help those three.
"Why should we use our points to save them? When you get right down to it, they're the ones who didn't work hard enough."
"Exactly. We lost all our Class Points because they never bothered to learn the school rules in class."
"Let them get expelled, then. I'm absolutely not using my personal points to help them."
"No... Absolutely not! I won't let a classmate get expelled right in front of me. If you won't agree, I'll borrow the points myself. Sudo-kun and the others can't be expelled!"
Hirata Yosuke roared, silencing the entire class.
Then, without looking back, he left the classroom.
In the end, Hirata Yosuke exhausted all his connections and managed to borrow only 700,000 personal points.
Meanwhile, the three Heaven-Defying Trio, now clinging to a lifeline, began fighting among themselves.
"Hey, Hirata, save me first! Everything's Sudo's fault anyway. I didn't do anything wrong, so save me first!"
"What do you mean, you didn't do anything wrong? You've cost the class more points than anyone else since the start of the year! And if Sudo hadn't picked a fight with the Vice President of the Student Council, we wouldn't be in this mess. So save me first!"
"I... I..."
Ken Sudō lowered his head, unable to say a thing. A month ago, he'd been so arrogant; now, he was just as miserable.
"Everyone, please, don't panic yet. We can save all of them. We definitely can. Let's think of something else."
I'm on your side
Class B classroom,
"So you came all the way to our class?"
Sitting on the podium, Uesugi Gen looked at the people who'd come to Class B and asked, his expression strange.
"Yes. Please, I'm begging you."
Hirata Yosuke bowed respectfully to Uesugi Gen.
Uesugi Gen rubbed his chin and said casually,
"Other classes could come up with that many points. The second- and third-year classes could manage it too. Why did you come to me, the one who's really to blame?"
The students of Class B all looked at Uesugi Gen strangely.
He'd admitted it. He'd admitted he was the one to blame!
Hirata Yosuke answered with his eyes closed.
"The third-years will graduate in less than a year. They didn't believe that students from Class D could pay back 1.9 million points within a year, so they turned us down without hesitation."
"And Miyabi Nagumo, the second-year representative, said their year was in the middle of its fiercest struggle and they didn't have any spare personal points to lend us. Still, he kindly lent me 200,000."
Uesugi Gen clicked his tongue. He couldn't say for sure about the third-years, but Miyabi Nagumo had millions of personal points, if not tens of millions. He clearly just didn't want to lend them any, and had brushed him off with 200,000 because they were in the same club.
"Boarding-san from Class A agreed to lend us points, but she couldn't bring the whole class together. She couldn't persuade her classmates, so we failed."
Come on, couldn't you tell? Boarding was obviously just messing with you.
"Uesugi-san, your Class B is our last hope. Please, I'm begging you."
Uesugi Gen stared speechlessly at the man who'd gone around the whole school begging for his classmates. Then he asked,
"Hirata Yosuke, right? Why... Why would you go this far for them? You've known them for less than two months, and I hear they're not even very close to you. Wouldn't getting them expelled make your position in the class stronger?"
"N-No, that's not it. I just... I just don't want to see any more of my classmates get hurt."
Hirata Yosuke shouted, his emotions getting the better of him.
Uesugi Gen covered his face with one hand.
So he wasn't doing this because that was simply his nature. He was fixated on never letting another classmate get hurt? Another guy with a serious personality flaw.
From what the Accomplice Lady had told me, I'd thought he was like an Ichinose from Class D.
Wait...
Uesugi Gen's expression darkened. A certain possibility had suddenly occurred to him.
I'll have to find time to verify this with Hoshinomiya-sensei.
"Where's your class leader, Ichinose?"
Horikita Suzune asked with her arms folded. She clearly thought Ichinose would be easier to deal with than Uesugi Gen.
"Oh, Hoshinomiya-sensei called her to the faculty office to help with something just now. I've been left in charge of this."
Uesugi Gen replied nonchalantly.
Of course, Uesugi Gen had gotten word to her in advance and tricked her into going to have tea with Hoshinomiya-sensei. Hoshinomiya-sensei would help keep up the cover, too, and two members of the Uesugi-gumi were watching over there. If anything happened, they'd contact me right away.
Didn't see that coming, did you, Ichinose? I've already sidelined you.
By the time you get back, this will all be over!
Uesugi Gen was giddy with delight.
The rest of Class B fell silent as they stared at Uesugi Gen on the podium, slowly typing out a question mark.
?
Had Ichinose really said anything like that?
But no one asked. They chose to trust Uesugi Gen first.
Horikita Suzune took in the whole situation in Class B and silently sighed to herself.
The gap was simply too huge. Compared to Class D, where infighting never stopped, Class B's unity was worlds apart from theirs.
Uesugi Gen looked at Ken Sudō, who was hiding behind Hirata Yosuke, with an amused smile.
"Hey, redhead, how'd you end up in my hands again?"
"I... I..."
Ken Sudō couldn't get a word out.
He'd finally understood how dark the world could be. To him, Uesugi Gen was a terrifying demon king who'd crushed his dreams with ease.
Seeing Ken Sudō standing there like a goose, Uesugi Gen lost interest in teasing him.
"Fine. What about you, Hirata Yosuke? I'm curious how you persuaded your class to save these three."
As far as he knew, Class D wasn't exactly a peaceful place. It was a chaotic mix of all sorts of people and personalities. What had Hirata Yosuke given up to convince the whole class to agree?
"It didn't cost me anything. As long as Sudo-kun and the others don't get expelled, it's all worth it."
"Hirata..."
Ken Sudō looked at Hirata Yosuke, touched. He knew Hirata Yosuke had gone to his classmates one by one to ask them to agree to saving him, and kept asking until they did.
"So, Uesugi-san, please. I'm begging you."
Hirata Yosuke bowed and pleaded again.
"No. I refuse."
The four merciless words came from Uesugi Gen's mouth.
"1.9 million personal points is a hefty sum even for Class B. What makes you think we'd lend it to you? Do Ichinose and I look like easy marks to you?"
"No, we came here prepared to get fleeced. So just tell us your terms. We'll agree to anything."
Before you continue