Violent Resistance, Overwhelming Victory

Morishige Takuro spread his hands and sneered.

"No matter what you think, nobody here is going to follow your instructions anymore. And no one's going to give you personal points."

Kijima Tsukur had no choice...

The principal was the limit of what they could imagine. The most they could think of beyond that were people like entrepreneurs.

Kijima Tsukur looked down at the people below and said calmly,

"Fine. Anyone willing to give me their personal points, say how much you're offering!"

Chapter 41: Violent Resistance, Overwhelming Victory

"Sixty thousand!"

The two words rang in everyone's ears like a thunderclap. The people nearby turned toward the sound.

Yamamura Miki had raised her hand, looking a little embarrassed.

She hadn't expected it.

She'd actually meant so much to Kijima Tsukur!

At the thought, Yamamura Miki felt a warm glow inside. She'd called out sixty thousand, the most she could afford to give. She still needed the rest to cover her living expenses.

"I can offer sixty thousand personal points..."

"Wait... Yamamura..."

"I'll offer sixty thousand too!"

Before anyone else could stop her, Morishita Ai's voice rang out.

Next, Katsuragi crossed his arms and, after hesitating, said in a low voice,

"In that case, I'll offer thirty thousand too..."

"Huh? Katsuragi? What are we supposed to do, then?"

"Mm... That's entirely up to you. No one can force you to hand over your personal points."

"Then... we'll offer thirty thousand too."

Following Katsuragi's lead, seven more members of the Katsuragi Faction decided to contribute thirty thousand personal points each. Most of the others, of course, stayed silent.

"Are you guys out of your minds? Why are you listening to him?"

Morishige Takuro was dumbfounded. He glanced at Yamamura Miki, then looked at Katsuragi and snapped,

"Forget those two women for now. Katsuragi, you've got a brain. Are you seriously going to use Class A's personal points to support that useless Class D?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Morishita Ai stood with her legs apart and her hands on her hips, sounding rather proud.

"Morishige Takuro, are you saying the two of us are stupid?"

"Shut up. I know you're close to that Kijima guy, but Katsuragi, don't drag all of Class A into this. Sakayanagi, say something too."

Morishige Takuro slapped the table and glared at Katsuragi and the others.

In his eyes, Yamamura Miki and the others were all Kijima's faction. Whatever Kijima Tsukur did, they would follow him.

The only ones he could still reason with, and possibly win over, were the members of the Katsuragi Faction.

Sure enough, when they heard him,

several members of the Katsuragi Faction turned to look at Katsuragi.

"Kijima."

At that moment, Sakayanagi Arisu spoke softly. "I have a question. If no one is willing to give you their personal points, what will you do?"

"I have 170,000 personal points of my own. That's enough to support a few people."

"So you're going to support Class D no matter what?"

"Although I wouldn't call it support, there's no problem if that's how you want to understand it."

"..."

Sakayanagi Arisu narrowed her eyes.

Whether he succeeded or not, at least this showed Kijima Tsukur really was acting from an ALL-A standpoint.

And that was precisely why

Kijima Tsukur and Morishige Takuro's group would never be able to understand each other.

"I'm against it too, of course."

Sakayanagi Arisu smiled as she held her cane.

"There's no reason to use our own points to support another class. Katsuragi, do you also support this act of aiding the enemy?"

"I don't consider it aiding the enemy."

Katsuragi crossed his arms and glanced at her.

Lately, he'd started to realize that Sakayanagi Arisu might be deliberately sowing division. Whenever Kijima Tsukur supported something, she opposed it outright.

"Supporting Class D might not be much use, but it won't do any harm either. If Kijima thinks it's the right thing to do, I don't mind taking a chance. Thirty thousand personal points isn't much, and it won't affect our daily lives. It might even have an unexpected effect in the future."

"I see..."

"Then I can offer thirty thousand too."

Several members of the Katsuragi Faction nodded, and four more agreed to contribute thirty thousand personal points.

They were taking a gamble.

A gamble on the chance that something might happen in the future.

It was a choice they could take or leave. Thirty thousand points wasn't much, and some were willing to pitch in out of respect for Katsuragi.

"Then send your personal points to Yamamura. Yamamura, post a group payment request in the chat."

Before long,

notification chimes rang from their phones.

Yamamura Miki posted a group payment request for thirty thousand per person.

Some people might still be hesitating, so this gave the others a chance to join in later.

Those who were willing could pay; there was no pressure on those who weren't.

As for the two of them who'd offered sixty thousand personal points, they could settle that with Morishita Ai separately afterward.

"Foolish..."

Morishige Takuro and the others looked grim, and they were deeply unhappy.

The truth was,

as long as they were in the same class, they were one collective.

There was no such thing as personal personal points.

If they needed twenty million personal points in the future to cancel an expulsion penalty, wouldn't everyone have to contribute?

On the surface, Kijima Tsukur was leaving it up to them.

But while Katsuragi and the others were spending money, they were saving theirs. In that case, they might as well stop saving too.

Why should they?

People didn't worry about too little, but about things being unfairly distributed.

Everyone considered their own interests.

Once that thought had taken root,

it was hard not to feel they were getting the short end of the stick.

And once that feeling set in,

the next step was...

Let it all burn. The sooner, the better.

Even if the meat was going to rot, it should rot in their own pot.

"Fuck this. Damn it."

Morishige Takuro suddenly kicked the desk beside him. Several people nearby jumped back, and he could no longer hold back his anger.

Ever since the start of the school year,

Kijima Tsukur had kept sacrificing Class A's interests to benefit the other classes.

Although he'd gotten 800,000 personal points from Class B and shared them with everyone, Ichinose Honami was an idiot too.

That amount of personal points wasn't nearly enough.

The whole first year graduating from Class A? What a load of crap.

Only a fool would believe that. No one except Kijima Tsukur would buy it. The guy was a complete traitor to Class A.

Actually,

it was already a miracle that they'd put up with him this long.

"Didn't you say it was our freedom to do whatever we wanted?"

Morishige Takuro clenched his fist, kicked aside the chair next to him, and walked toward Kijima Tsukur at the lectern with a cold laugh.

"Since there's no talking sense into you, you idiot, I'll use violence to show you not to get too full of yourself, bastard."

As he spoke,

several members of the Sakayanagi Faction quickly moved aside, then followed behind Morishige Takuro. Kijima Tsukur really did need to be taught a lesson.

In the blink of an eye,

Morishige Takuro had reached the lectern.

His fist, as big as a sandbag, shot forward. The furious blow slammed into Kijima Tsukur's palm, but Kijima caught it firmly with one hand.

Morishige Takuro sneered, though he wasn't surprised.

If Kijima Tsukur dared to act so arrogantly, he must have had some skill.

He raised his left leg to deliver a side kick while trying to pull back his right hand.

However,

the next second,

a powerful force pressed into the back of his hand. Kijima Tsukur tightened his grip slightly around Morishige Takuro's right hand.

"Ah!"

Morishige Takuro let out a scream.

The intense pain left him unable to control his body, and he dropped straight to his knees in front of Kijima Tsukur.

"Mm, I did say you were free to defy me."

Kijima Tsukur looked down at Morishige Takuro kneeling at his feet, then released his hand at once. His expression was indifferent.

"Too bad you don't have the strength to do it."

"..."

Morishige Takuro didn't answer.

He lowered his head and clutched his right hand. His pupils contracted, and he couldn't hide the fear in his eyes.

For a split second just now,

he'd felt as if the bones in his hand were about to crack.

If Kijima Tsukur had squeezed for one more second, his hand might have been ruined. Kijima Tsukur had probably held back. No—control like that meant he'd practically gone easy on him.

Th-this couldn't be...