Building a Vast Network of Talent

The backpack zipper was soon pulled shut with a casual motion.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Torn between the thrilling anxiety of wondering whether anyone had seen her, Kamuro stood rooted to the spot for over ten seconds.

Once she was sure nobody had noticed, she reached toward the shelf again.

This time, though, she didn't take a beer. She picked up a sugary drink that students were allowed to buy.

Holding the cold can in one hand, Kamuro went to the counter to pay.

"That'll be 120 points for one can of cola."

"Thank you for shopping with us. Please come again."

She scanned her payment code at the machine and left the convenience store, concealing the beer as the clerk thanked her.

Maybe she'd shake it up and give it to that bastard Aoyama.

As she walked down the first-year classroom corridor, Kamuro was suddenly struck by a mischievous idea.

But thinking of how it might spray all over the books, she eventually abandoned that plan. She still intended to give the sugary drink to Aoyama, though.

Carbonated drinks were a woman's enemy.

"No way."

"The Student Council that even Katsuragi and Ichinose can't get into."

Before she even reached the Class 1-A classroom, Kamuro realized it was much noisier than usual that morning.

What's going on with the Student Council? It probably has nothing to do with me.

Planning to give Aoyama the drink if he was there, or go back to her seat if he wasn't, Kamuro stepped into the classroom.

Then she noticed the noisy classroom suddenly fall quiet. Over a dozen pairs of eyes stared straight at her.

...Why is everyone looking at me? They couldn't have caught me stealing.

Besides, if they had caught her, the whole class wouldn't have found out so quickly. Something else must have happened.

Could that bastard Aoyama have done something?

It had to be that bastard.

As her thoughts churned, Kamuro fought to keep her expression from crumbling and looked toward Aoyama's seat.

He wasn't here yet!

"Kamuro, you're amazing! You just joined the Student Council and already got appointed Secretary."

"Huh?! What Student Council Secretary? You've got it wrong, Nishikawa. I've never even been to the Student Council."

Looking directly at Nishikawa Ryoko, who had come over to talk to her, Kamuro wondered if people had completely lost their minds. She hadn't even applied to join the Student Council, so how could anyone think she'd become its Secretary?

What about her made her look like a Student Council Secretary? She'd just pulled off a little act of thievery, for crying out loud.

Nishikawa, who had a beauty mark beneath the corner of her mouth and wore her hair in twin braids, blinked at that. "But your name is clearly written on the first-year noticeboard, and it says you're in Class 1-A, too.

"You've never been to the Student Council? They can do that?!!"

Nishikawa Ryoko merely blinked in the classroom, but Totsuka Yahiko, who had been eavesdropping, was about to explode.

He'd lost 100,000 Personal Points to Aoyama. It had been painful, but at least he could blame his loss on the Student Council President being a bastard who only cared about looks.

But Kamuro had never even been to the Student Council, and she'd still been appointed its Secretary. That excuse just didn't hold up.

And just how much did the Student Council President value Aoyama? Not only had Aoyama become Vice President the moment he joined, he'd also been allowed to pick someone to serve as Secretary.

Could Aoyama really be better than Katsuragi?

"Morning, Kamuro."

Aoyama had spent a little longer exercising that morning, so he arrived at the classroom later than usual. He'd still made a point of checking the noticeboard, though.

Horikita Manabu really was efficient. He'd taken care of the request in no time.

"Nothing about this is good. What's this about me being Student Council Secretary?"

Seeing the person responsible, Kamuro's face immediately turned angry. Aoyama had expected as much.

"Isn't it a pleasant surprise?"

"It's a shock, all right. What's going on?"

"I remembered my bet with Totsuka yesterday, so I went to the Student Council." Aoyama glanced at Totsuka, whose face had gone pale. "I didn't expect the Student Council President and I to hit it off so well."

"After giving me the Vice President position, he even told me to pick two first-years to train as my team, to prepare for when I take over as President."

In front of the whole class, Aoyama gave Totsuka a little dig, looking like a man who'd gotten too big for his boots.

His smile was handsome, but it also made you want to punch him.

"Then why didn't you give the other position to someone in our class? Why give it to an outsider from another class?" Totsuka's face reddened as he wracked his brains. At last, he found something he could use to hit back at Aoyama.

It was a bit of a stretch, but he couldn't afford to be picky now.

People in your own class were your own people. People in other classes were outsiders.

"You mean Shiina from Class C, who's incredibly cute?" Aoyama smiled with satisfaction. Totsuka really was his precious boy.

Totsuka was a superb clown. It was so easy to get him to hand over the perfect opening for Aoyama to make a point.

"Exactly. You didn't give her the position just because she's cute, did you? There's a limit to letting lust cloud your judgment."

"Shiina is very cute, sure, but I also took 400,000 Personal Points for the Student Council position."

As Totsuka grew more and more self-righteous, Aoyama spoke loudly enough for the whole class to hear.

"I care about money, not people. Pay me, and I'll do the job."

If you come to me, you're paying whether I do it or not.

Adding that thought silently, Aoyama used Totsuka to give himself a perfect advertisement.

"Remember to transfer the 100,000 Personal Points to my account as soon as you can."

"Otherwise, I might just get you expelled, Totsuka."

Aoyama patted Totsuka on the shoulder as he stood there, speechless and stunned, then returned to his seat under the baffled gazes of his classmates.

No longer the center of attention, Kamuro remembered her bet with Aoyama.

When Aoyama became Student Council Vice President, she would have to join the Student Council.

Chapter 25: Building a Vast Network of Talent

"Do you think getting Totsuka expelled would be easy?"

Not long after the first class of the morning ended, Katsuragi came over to Aoyama's desk.

After transferring 100,000 Personal Points to Aoyama, he didn't leave right away. Instead, he asked him a question.

"That's right. Expelling you, Katsuragi, might be difficult, but Totsuka? He's one of the easiest people in the class to get expelled."

Aoyama opened the System Panel. His ill-gotten gains were still at 450,000, with no increase at all. He wasn't too disappointed.

After all, if money won from bets counted as ill-gotten gains, he could go to a casino after graduating, gamble a few times, and use his winnings to buy whatever he wanted.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the warning." Katsuragi narrowed his eyes as he studied Aoyama, then thanked him and left.

So using people to encourage gambling didn't work, either?

With nobody around to bother him, Aoyama continued wondering whether there was a way to exploit a loophole in the system.

"I bought it, but I don't feel like drinking it. Here."

A sugary drink with not a single drop of condensation on its surface suddenly appeared on Aoyama's desk.

"What exactly does the Student Council Secretary do? I've never been inside the Student Council." Kamuro rested her right hand on the edge of the desk, her left hand on her hip.

She had no expectations about joining the Student Council as its Secretary.

She regretted agreeing to Aoyama's bet on impulse, but that was her problem. Going back on her word was another matter.

"This is the first present Kamuro's ever given me. I'll keep it as a family heirloom."

"Just drink it already." Seeing the playful look on Aoyama's face, Kamuro said irritably, "I can't promise I'll do a good job as Secretary. Remind me if there's anything I should watch out for."

"They won't make you start working right away. At first, Tachibana Akane—Senior Tachibana, the Secretary—will teach you."

Noticing that Kamuro was a little worried about not doing a good job, Aoyama told her that someone would show her the ropes.

The Student Council operated much like an ordinary company. New hires who didn't know anything were paired with experienced employees so they could become dependable members of the team more quickly.

"As for what you should watch out for, you can ignore any second-years you run into. Basically, just treat them like air."

"Are all second-years your enemies?" Kamuro quickly caught his meaning.

"Except for a guy called Kiriyama Ikuto. He isn't one yet, but he might be soon."

Knowing Kiriyama was a fence-sitter, Aoyama had no intention of counting him as one of his own.

Better too few than the wrong ones.

"That guy Miyabi was in a rage yesterday, looking for whoever leaked the information. He's planning to get his revenge."

A few days after Aoyama Shiki joined the Student Council, he finally made good on his promise to treat a certain senior to dinner.

At a Western-style restaurant where much of the menu price went toward the decor, Asahina brought up the latest news about Student Council Vice President Nagumo as casual conversation.

Just yesterday, the school had responded to Horikita Manabu's proposal about the contract Nagumo wanted to create.

The announcement had been sent to all second-years right away.

The school hadn't accepted the proposal to limit Class A graduates to forty students, since it didn't want to block capable students from advancing.

However, to keep an excessive "defect rate" from ruining the school's reputation, it had limited the number of students in each class who could use 20,000,000 Personal Points to transfer to Class A to one.

The second student in a class who wanted to transfer to Class A would need 30,000,000 Personal Points, the third would need 40,000,000, and so on.

This had greatly reduced the appeal of Nagumo's unfair contract to the second-years.

"By the way, are you sure you should tell me this? You know I'm competing with Nagumo, right, Senior Asahina?" Aoyama Shiki replied with a helpless smile.

Heavens as his witness, he'd never intended to use Asahina to dig up information about Nagumo.

He'd only meant to have dinner and leave it at that. At first, he hadn't even thought Asahina would agree.

As Nagumo Miyabi's childhood friend, Asahina couldn't possibly be unaware of what his position as Vice President meant.

"What does it matter? Miyabi would be thrilled to have someone challenge him." Asahina still seemed completely unconcerned.

"A challenge, huh..."

In an instant, Aoyama understood why Asahina was so unconcerned.

From his perspective, Nagumo wasn't some unbeatable final boss.

But to the second-years, he might be capable enough to become Student Council Vice President, yet compared to Nagumo, who'd won battle after battle and led Class B up to Class A, he was just a challenger.

Like Kiriyama and the others, he'd probably be defeated by Nagumo without much trouble.

"Senior Asahina."

"What is it, strange junior?" Asahina brushed aside the bangs that had slipped down to her eyebrows and smiled quite naturally.

"Once I become Student Council President, I'll treat you to dinner again."

Aoyama lifted his chin. His gentle voice held unwavering resolve.

Sooner or later, he would change the second-years' assumption that Nagumo would become the next Student Council President.

The first thing he needed to do was build a vast network of talent.

[Borrow money from Kushida Kikyo in front of everyone, then get a friend to take Kushida to Keyaki Mall.]

On the night he finished dinner with Senior Asahina, Aoyama contacted someone on his phone and put his plan into motion. He'd enlist Karuizawa, the first useful pawn in Class 1-D, to recruit his second pawn, Kushida Kikyo.

There were two first-years with explosive people skills: Ichinose Honami from Class B, and Kushida Kikyo from Class 1-D.

Both of them had friends outside their own year, especially Kushida.

She loved digging into other people's secrets. She devoted nearly all her free time to making friends, then did everything she could to earn their trust, and finally pried their secrets out of them.