Sakayanagi Has Princess Syndrome / You Don't Get to Decide That

Many of those secrets were things students would rather drop out than let everyone know.

They were easy to use as leverage.

Kei Karuizawa: "If I borrow money, the others will hate me, especially the boys."

If you didn't borrow from the fake little angel Kushida, the boys in Class D would hate you too.

A moment later, Aoyama received Karuizawa's reply. Lying on his bed, he grumbled to himself.

Because of her strong personality and her insistence on representing the girls, Karuizawa topped the Class D boys' list of girls they disliked most.

Shiina had told him that when they chatted a couple of days earlier. She hoped he could get his childhood friend to be more careful, so she wouldn't get bullied.

"This is an order, not a discussion. Don't disappoint me."

After sending Karuizawa another message, Aoyama rested his hands behind his head.

Though Class D students had sharply reduced their rule-breaking in mid-April, they'd lost so many points earlier that when the Class Points were updated on May 1, their personal points would likely be no more than forty thousand at most.

And Kushida was required by their agreement to give him fifty thousand personal points every month.

Paying off your debts was only right.

Sakayanagi Has a Princess Complex

"Teacher, did the school make a mistake? Why did we get so few points today? Surely we didn't lose that many."

On May 1, just after Chabashira Sae stepped up to the podium in Class D, Kanji Ike loudly complained from below.

The first thing Class D students did when they woke up was check their personal points. After doing the math, they realized their class had only 250 points left.

Their original 1,000 Class Points had shrunk by 75 percent.

"Once I found out breaking the rules would cost us Class Points, I made sure to follow them." Yamauchi Haruki muttered loud enough for the whole class to hear.

He was serious about shifting the blame.

Unlike Yamauchi, Sudō was sitting by the door in the back row, resting his chin on his left hand as he turned to look outside, as if there were something interesting happening in the hallway.

Class D's students all agreed that Sudō and Yamauchi were the biggest reasons for their lost points, ranking at the very top. But Yamauchi clearly had no idea.

"Huh?! Didn't you arrive late just last week?"

"My phone happened to be broken that day, so my alarm didn't go off. You can't blame me for that. I even ran to school, but I was just a little late."

Shinohara Satsuki, one of the more hot-tempered girls, immediately responded to Yamauchi. But Yamauchi was talented at making excuses for himself.

As the back-and-forth continued, the classroom grew noisy. After Ike stood up for his buddy, Karuizawa and Sato Maya, Shinohara's friends, joined the fray too.

The boys and girls began blaming each other.

"Everyone, sit down and shut up, you idiots." Chabashira's face was as cold as ice, her anger fueled by disappointment.

Generally, even without knowing anything during their first month, the lowest-ranked Class D would still have a couple hundred Class Points left.

Chabashira wanted Class D to make a comeback and rise to Class A. When she found out Aoyama had sold them information about the rules, she'd been overjoyed.

The fact that breaking the rules cost Class Points was right in front of them. She'd believed that by May 1, Class D wouldn't have fallen too far behind the other three classes. It was the best start they'd ever had.

But reality was far harsher than her hopes.

Yamauchi Haruki, Kanji Ike, and Ken Sudō had reset Chabashira's expectations for how foolish Class D students could be.

They were all sixteen. How could they be this stupid?

Chabashira slowly pulled a sheet of white paper from the poster tube she'd brought into the classroom. She unfolded it and pinned it to the blackboard with a magnet.

[Class A: 940]

[Class B: 890]

[Class C: 780]

[Class D: 250]

The figure beside Class D was 250. Students who had already calculated their deposited points quickly realized the numbers on the paper showed each class's Class Points after deductions.

The huge gap soon made the classroom noisy again.

"The other classes have way more Class Points than we do." Wang Meiyu, her hair tied in two short ponytails, spoke to her friend Kushida Kikyo.

"Ah... They do have quite a lot. But I believe that if we start working hard now, we can catch up."

Kushida seemed distracted and was a beat slow to respond to Wang Meiyu.

Last week, at the end of April, Karuizawa had played the victim in front of their classmates and then practically forced Kushida to lend her five thousand personal points.

After Kushida lent her the few personal points she had, more students started inviting her to Keyaki Mall for fun. She wasn't sure why.

Turning them down once or twice was fine, but refusing over and over was hard to explain.

Just yesterday, Kushida had less than ten thousand personal points left.

Even with the twenty-five thousand she'd just received today, she was still more than ten thousand short of what she owed Aoyama under their agreement.

Meanwhile, in the Class 1-A classroom.

After Mashima-sensei displayed each class's Class Points, Aoyama began to doubt himself.

Hadn't he traded information about the rules to Class D in the second week of school? How had their Class Points fallen to a pathetic 250?

How could they be his friends without any money?

"Teacher Mashima, could you tell us more about the Special Exams?"

"For example, how many are there each term? Do Class Points usually fluctuate a lot? Could you tell us what past Special Exams involved?"

After explaining a whole host of rules that were normally supposed to be kept secret, Mashima invited the students to raise their hands and ask questions.

The first to raise his hand was Katsuragi, who had earned the trust of his classmates.

"The number of Special Exams each term varies, as do the upper and lower limits of Class Point fluctuations."

"As for your third question, I think Aoyama, who serves as Student Council Vice President, can give you a better answer than I can."

"Any other questions?"

Mashima answered Katsuragi calmly, his gaze lingering only briefly on Aoyama.

"I'm curious why Class D's Class Points are so low. Based on what you said, the overall ability of students in Classes C and D should be about the same."

Sakayanagi Arisu raised her small hand, her voice elegant.

There was a gap in Class Points between Classes A, B, and C, but the numbers were far smaller than the gap between Classes C and D.

Of the four classes that were supposed to compete like fierce dogs, it seemed a husky had wandered in.

Class D didn't look like a worthy opponent at all.

"As a teacher, I can't lie to students or mislead them. As for Classmate Sakayanagi's question, I think Aoyama can answer it."

"That makes it sound as if Aoyama knows everything."

Sakayanagi laughed lightly, her laugh as serene and graceful as a flowing spring.

"I only know what I need to know. For example—Sakayanagi Arisu has a princess complex."

Don't push me like that. I really don't like you, brat.

Hearing Sakayanagi's pointed remark, Aoyama fired right back, showing no special consideration for the chairman's daughter.

A leader could be incompetent, but they couldn't be stupid.

In the original story, Katsuragi Kōhei and Sakayanagi Arisu had served as Class A's leaders in turn, Katsuragi first and Sakayanagi afterward.

As for why Katsuragi was forced out, Sakayanagi didn't want anything for herself. She simply ordered her followers to betray him during Special Exams.

With multiple moles working against him, Katsuragi could only lose one Special Exam after another. Eventually, he resigned and lost his position as leader.

As for Sakayanagi, who took over as Class A's leader, her performance was hard to describe.

But if she'd only been incompetent, Aoyama wouldn't have minded her much.

His biggest issue with Sakayanagi was that during one Special Exam they were certain to win, she conceded, costing the class Class Points. Then she voluntarily dropped out, costing the class another three hundred points.

And she'd done it for no reason other than that she'd fallen in love.

Sakayanagi was the perfect example of one incompetent general bringing ruin to an entire army.

She abandoned her friends, classmates, and followers, and got nothing in return.

A clown among clowns.

You Don't Get to Decide That Yourself

"Aoyama seems to have quite a grudge against me, even though we haven't spoken once all of April."

Sakayanagi's calm voice rang out in the classroom, breaking the heavy silence that had followed Aoyama's explosive remark.

She wore a steady smile, showing no sign of anger.

"I hate idiots. That's all." Aoyama stood up, his words just as pointed, making sure every student could see him.

Sakayanagi was no longer the focus of his attention.

"The leader of Class B is Ichinose Honami, and the leader of Class C is Ryuen Kakeru. As for Class D, you can consider Hirata Yosuke its leader."

"Snakes can't move without heads, and birds can't fly without wings. I'm sure I don't need to explain something so obvious."

Aoyama glanced around at the students, whose expressions varied. They assumed he was about to nominate himself. He chuckled and continued.

"I propose that Katsuragi become Class A's leader. Who's for it? Who's against it?"

A stable government meant stable results. Aoyama was a hundred percent in favor of Katsuragi leading Class A.

And as for Sakayanagi, who would take power and lead Class A all the way down to Class C, what was she but a worthless piece of trash?

"I'm against it. I think Sakayanagi would be more suited to the position than Katsuragi." A young man with short, sandy-brown hair and a sharp gaze stood up from his seat.

Machida Koji. He was physically very capable, somewhat lacking academically, but had decent judgment.

Aoyama immediately recalled the information he had on the sandy-haired student.

"Anyone else?"

Aoyama's gaze shifted away from Machida. He looked calm and composed, like a lion surveying its territory.

"I think Sakayanagi would be better too."

"Me too."

"..."

Perhaps because Aoyama hadn't immediately raged at Machida, one student after another spoke up to say they'd rather have Sakayanagi Arisu lead Class A.

A bald, muscular man who strictly followed the rules, or a cute girl with the air of a young lady.

Of course they supported the adorable Sakayanagi.

"Machida, Kito, Hashimoto..."

About ten seconds passed, and no one else stood up to support Sakayanagi.

So Aoyama called out, one by one, the names of the students who had opposed his proposal.

"I don't care what you think. I care what I think." Aoyama spoke with absolute certainty, repeating a line worthy of a domineering CEO.

"You're not afraid of her princess complex, but I am. If Sakayanagi leads Class A, I might get so disgusted that I'll skip class from time to time."

Skipping class meant being absent, and absences meant losing Class Points. Lose enough, and Class A would lose its position.

Without hiding his intentions, Aoyama put a chain around the necks of the students who supported Sakayanagi as leader.

If they wanted Sakayanagi to take power, they first had to get rid of him, the ticking time bomb.

"Are you threatening me? I don't believe you don't want to graduate from Class A." Aoyama's unreasonable behavior made Machida, the first student to speak up, furious.

"Don't do that, Aoyama. If more people support Sakayanagi than me, then she should get the leadership position."

Katsuragi, who stood to benefit most from Aoyama's outburst, also objected to his behavior.

But Aoyama wasn't surprised. Katsuragi was a fairly upright person. It would've been strange if he'd approved of Aoyama threatening his classmates.

"Katsuragi, whether you become leader isn't up to you. I'm the one who makes that decision." Aoyama continued his domineering act and looked at Machida, whose expression was growing angrier by the second.

"Don't misunderstand. I'm not threatening you. I'm threatening everyone here."