Classroom of the Elite, I Also Want to Be a Good Person

"Tachibana, you take my place for now." Standing up from his seat, Horikita Manabu walked toward Aoyama. "As for you, Aoyama, come with me."

"Understood, President."

"I am not your president yet."

"You will be in a moment." Following behind Horikita Manabu, Aoyama smiled.

And after the two of them left the student council room, Nagumo Miyabi could no longer maintain his calm and confident expression.

I'll play you to death, believe that, Aoyama Shiki.

Using me as a stepping stone? Who the hell gave you the courage, you piece of trash!

Lowering his head to pretend he was working, Nagumo cursed Aoyama incessantly in his heart.

He wasn't a fool; if Aoyama had mocked him once, he could have dismissed it as the arrogance of youth, but repeated provocations could only mean that Aoyama was drawing a line in the sand, trying to win the favor of Horikita Manabu, who didn't think highly of him.

Looking at Horikita Manabu's recent actions, Aoyama Shiki's scheme had clearly succeeded.

Chapter 21: You Cannot Be Like Nagumo

"Barring any accidents, Nagumo will be the next student council president."

After entering a room similar to a counseling office, Horikita Manabu sat on a sofa and said calmly.

"But the President doesn't approve of Vice President Nagumo's methods, which is why I've come to recommend myself."

"Compared to the supremacy of individual ability, I prefer the supremacy of collective ability. This is also the core of Kouiku's educational philosophy."

Sitting opposite Horikita Manabu, Aoyama stated the reason he had prepared.

Simply drawing a line with Nagumo and pledging loyalty wasn't enough to make Horikita Manabu break precedent and allow him to become the first student in Kouiku history to become a vice president immediately upon joining the student council.

In his past life, as an outsider, he had his own unique insights into the existence of Kouiku.

"How did you arrive at that conclusion?" Horikita Manabu was somewhat surprised.

Internal conflicts within the student council were things few students should know about, though Nagumo might have told Asahina a little bit.

And as for Kouiku's educational policy, he could say that not many students in the entire school understood it.

Even Nagumo didn't.

Recalling the information he had gathered on Aoyama, Horikita Manabu pondered continuously, his regard for Aoyama deepening.

From the moment this school was built, it never intended to cultivate people like military commanders.

From beginning to end, Kouiku only wanted to cultivate excellent leadership talent.

From a single class to a company, and eventually even a country, Kouiku's ultimate goal was to cultivate people capable of leading a nation.

"However, your actions don't match what you just said." Before Aoyama could answer, Horikita Manabu continued.

From the information submitted by Sakagami Kazuma, he knew that while Aoyama had seen through the school's rules, he also knew that he had sold this important intelligence to the three opposing classes.

Regarding the changes in class points for the first years next month, the student council estimated that Class A would basically not be deducted any, Class B and Class C would both lose several hundred, and Class D would have nothing left.

This time, the distribution of the freshmen was more extreme than in the past.

Without Aoyama stirring up trouble, the competition between the four classes would have started with a huge advantage for Class A.

"Assume that classes B, C, and D all have intelligent and rational leaders."

"Once May 1st arrives and they realize that only one class can win, will Class A—which has a massive lead in class points and is clearly first in overall student ability—become the target of everyone?"

"If classes B, C, and D form an alliance, even the strongest Class A will struggle to fight off four hands with only two."

Responding to Horikita Manabu's words, Aoyama demonstrated what the hypothetical principle was.

The nail that sticks out gets hammered down; if Class A is too strong and classes B, C, and D all have capable people, Class A's initial advantage could very likely turn into a major disadvantage.

"An interesting hypothesis, but it doesn't prove you are any different from Nagumo."

"But right now, President, you can only trust me. Based on the intelligence I have, Kiriyama is already finished." To mitigate Horikita Manabu's disapproval of him selling information, Aoyama dropped a bombshell.

Kiriyama Ikuto was the leader of Class A during his first year, but he was later defeated by the Class B led by Nagumo, causing his own class to drop to the position of Class B.

He was currently a member of the student council, but among the second-year members, he was a lone wolf, and even Horikita Manabu's support couldn't reverse his decline.

"Reason." Horikita Manabu was expressionless.

"Nagumo is currently using a contract to gradually control students outside of Class 2-A. If no one stops him, the next student council president will definitely be Nagumo." Aoyama intended to borrow a knife to kill.

In the original work, Nagumo controlled the vast majority of students from other classes, excluding his own, by signing unequal contracts.

In the end, Kiriyama Ikuto, the fanboy who admired Horikita Manabu, also submitted to Nagumo and worked for him.

There were six clauses in the unequal contract.

1. Seventy-five percent of the private points issued by the school each month must be paid as tribute to Nagumo personally.

2. One must not become an enemy of Nagumo and must obey his instructions.

3. Helping Nagumo with tasks would earn a certain amount of points; upon reaching a certain threshold, the right to transfer to Class A would be granted.

4. The deadline for paying the 20 million private points transfer fee is the day before graduation.

5. Even if the points are insufficient, Nagumo would provide several transfer spots before graduation, and students who signed the contract could obtain them through a lottery.

6. The existence of this contract must not be disclosed.

"That is roughly the content of the contract; as for the source, I will not say."

Opening the memo app on his phone, Aoyama directly displayed the contract's contents to Horikita Manabu.

Although it was an incredibly unequal contract by any measure, many students would still sign it just to secure the qualifications for graduating from Class A.

Knowing full well that the odds of winning a lottery jackpot are astronomically low, people still buy tickets, fantasizing about becoming rich overnight.

And compared to buying a lottery ticket, the odds of winning that Nagumo had engineered were already impossibly high.

"Right now, I doubt any students in Class B of the second year have signed it, but as students from Class C and Class D sign on one by one, Kiriyama will have no choice but to surrender."

"No single class can take on the combined forces of the other three classes."

Facing the grim-faced and silent Horikita Manabu, Aoyama forced the foreseeable future into his mind.

Compared to the highly capable Nagumo, Kiriyama, the original leader of Class A, was like a mere child.

"The position of vice president can be yours, but you must promise me one thing." After closing his eyes for a long time, Horikita Manabu reopened them, his gaze sharp as he looked into Aoyama's eyes.

"Please, go ahead."

"You must not imitate this contract that Nagumo has created."

Having become the student council president in his first year, Horikita Manabu quickly understood the dangers inherent in Nagumo's contract and how convenient it was for a leader of Class A.

If, during the first year, the leader of Class A had created this contract after Class A's class points had significantly pulled ahead of Class B.

In that case, before the first year had even ended, Class A would have locked in their victory, and the students of Classes B, C, and D would have no choice but to live in a daze until the graduation lottery more than two years later.

"That is no problem; I am not so base as to extinguish the growth potential of my fellow students." Aoyama nodded without much hesitation.

Such a contract was indeed very beneficial for a Class A leader, but he had no intention of becoming one—at least, he had no such plan before reaching the third year.

Having been forced to accept Aoyama, Horikita Manabu warned, "Becoming student council president in your first year is difficult; I cannot help you much."

Kiriyama Ikuto was a hopeless case; now, he could only push Aoyama to step into the ring against Nagumo.

"President, you don't need to be so modest. You can help me now, which also counts as helping yourself."

"Since Nagumo is acting perversely by creating this kind of contract, why doesn't the president propose to the school that the number of graduates from Class A in the third year be limited to forty?"

"After all, if the talent being produced is substandard, it will lower the image of Kouiku."

With a faint smile, Aoyama handed Horikita Manabu the perfect blade.

Chapter 22: Only Someone With a Hole in Their Head Would Choose Horikita

[Something happy happened today, I'll buy some good food.]

Has someone asked him for help again? Aoyama Shiki.

And he couldn't have sent that any earlier.

The supermarket was sparse with student customers.

Horikita Suzune, who had just finished selecting her ingredients and was preparing to pay, looked at the text message she had received on her phone and complained slightly.

Along with the text came five thousand personal points for the meal.

Putting the discounted lean meat from her shopping basket back in its original place, she ignored the envious gaze of a senior student nearby and boldly placed the high-quality, expensive beef into her basket.

Just a small portion cost nearly two thousand personal points.

After finishing her shopping and returning to the dormitory, she weighed the pros and cons and canceled her plan to prepare the meal and deliver it to Aoyama's dormitory in a bento box.

Simply dropping off a bento and leaving wouldn't provide many opportunities for the two of them to interact.

If they ate together, she might be able to glean some useful information during casual conversation with Aoyama Shiki, such as why he was celebrating with a better meal today.

As someone without friends, if she wanted information about other classes, she had to rely on Aoyama.

[I'm starting to cook now; you can come over in about half an hour.]

After editing and sending the text, Horikita Suzune put on her apron and began washing the rice.

Meanwhile, at the school library.

Under the influence of Aoyama Shiki's persuasive reasoning, he had obtained a promise from Horikita Manabu before leaving the student council.

One secretary position and one regular member position in the student council were both left for him to decide, and he was given full authority to build his own team.

"So you really are reading here, Shiina-san."

Sitting cross-legged at a distance neither too close nor too far from the silver-haired girl, Aoyama spoke in a low voice.

After sending the message to Horikita Suzune about adding a dish, he had also sent a meeting request to Shiina Hiyori, but he hadn't received a reply after waiting for a while.

He figured that this bookworm, Shiina, had likely set her phone to silent in the library.

Therefore, Aoyama had come to the library.

"Aoyama-kun?" The silver hair that had been obscuring her profile was tucked behind her ear as she looked up, her expression showing a hint of surprise.

"I paid a price to secure two student council positions, and the first person I thought of was the clever Shiina-san."

With a light laugh, Aoyama got straight to the point and revealed his purpose.

The secretary position was naturally reserved for Kamuro, and while he had initially considered selling the other spot to Class B, he decided to abandon the idea after weighing the pros and cons.

Although Class B currently had the most private points to offer, the only students in Class B who showed any real competence were Ichinose and Kanzaki, and both of them had fatal flaws.

Their moral standards were too high, and they were too full of a sense of justice.

Incompatibility; this was the chasm that lay between the two of them and Aoyama.

What he was looking for were capable partners who could collude with him, not dead-weight teammates who might defect at any moment.

"You really are impressive, Aoyama-kun." Offering a smiling compliment to Aoyama, a trace of helplessness appeared on Shiina's face. "It seems Aoyama-kun has already figured out how to rob my wallet."

A week ago, having performed excellently, she had gained Ryuen's recognition, which was immediately followed by a forced work assignment.

Because of this work, information on the students of Classes A, B, and D flowed into her hands without end.

Among them, Ichinose Honami and Katsuragi Kōhei, the two individuals hailed as the leaders of Classes B and A, couldn't even get through the doors of the student council.

"How could you call this a robbery? I haven't forced any sales upon you."

Watching Shiina's adorable expression of helplessness, Aoyama chuckled.

Chatting with a smart person is a worry-free affair; with just a short sentence, Shiina knew exactly what he wanted to do.

Among the first-years, Aoyama felt that Shiina Hiyori could be considered the partner most to his liking.

It goes without saying that she was very cute, and her judgment was top-tier among the students.

And the most important point was that Shiina could tacitly accept a tyrant like Ryuen controlling Class C and offer him strategies.

She couldn't be called a bad girl, but she was definitely not a goody-two-shoes like Ichinose.

"Then please, Merchant-kun, do introduce your merchandise properly." Closing the book in her hands, Shiina also broke into a smile.

With the shelves of books as a backdrop, the two of them complemented each other like a talented scholar and a beautiful lady in a painting.