Chapter Eighty-Eight: After All, This School Is All About Strength / Chapter Eighty-Nine: Ayanokoji, Save Me!

Chapter Eighty-Eight: After All, This School Is All About Strength

"So you chose to cooperate for the sake of the future?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm..."

The Hoya real estate agent's words gave Kanzaki Ryuji pause.

He did have a point, but...

That was only what he claimed. Kanzaki Ryuji had no idea whether it was true.

Unlike Ichinose, he wasn't so naive, so he needed to be cautious and avoid helping their enemies.

Admittedly, Class B couldn't measure up to Class A, but could adding Class C really make the difference?

Besides, Class C hadn't shown what it could do. He'd need to think that over carefully.

Hoya was Hoya, and Class C was Class C. He couldn't confuse the two.

He wouldn't refuse to work with Hoya. The problem was that this deal involved not just Hoya, but the other thirty-nine students in Class C, too.

If all thirty-nine of them were useless, wouldn't Class B end up being dragged down by them?

So he needed proof that Class C wasn't full of useless students, or... Hoya needed to show that he could lead thirty-nine useless students. That way, they'd still have some fighting power in the group competition.

"How about this? You can go back and talk things over with the upperclassmen. They won't tell you anything unprompted, but if you ask directly, you should be able to get something out of them, right? And if you want to know whether Class C can handle Class A... how about we wait and see?"

"Wait and see..."

Kanzaki Ryuji looked at Hoya, who was beaming with confidence, and rubbed his chin, unsure what to make of him.

People like this were the hardest for him to deal with. Either Hoya genuinely had the skills to back up his claims, or he was an exceptionally skilled con artist.

Either way, waiting and seeing really was the best choice.

"All right, let's leave it there for now. By the way, did only you come? Where's that queen of yours?"

In just one week, Ryuen's name as a "tyrant" had spread throughout the year.

Why a tyrant instead of a conqueror? Because what Ryuen was most famous for was beating up Hoya every day.

She'd beaten up her classmates on the first day of school and sent them to the infirmary. Then everyone had heard Hoya's cries every day, while she put on a show of forbidding troublemaking in public. She was the very image of a greedy tyrant.

"She's busy studying."

"Hm?"

"Why are you two so surprised? She's studying, that's all. Your teacher must've told you... Oh, right, you don't need to worry about that."

Hoya had been about to mention that failing an exam meant getting expelled, but then he remembered the other two were from Class B... How could they possibly fail?

As long as the school didn't set some outrageous exam, they'd be fine.

"Told us what?"

"It's nothing. Fail an exam and you get expelled. Obviously, Class B doesn't need to worry about that."

"Oh, that. Yeah, that's true."

Ichinose nodded. Class B really didn't need to fret over something like that.

So Ryuen was terrible at studying?

Well, she was in Class C, and she was a delinquent. It made sense that she'd be bad at schoolwork.

That was just how preconceived notions worked.

"But the next exam is still a long way off, isn't it?"

"It is, but cramming at the last minute might not help. She's bad at English and modern Japanese, and those are subjects you need to build up over time."

"I see. Then that's fine."

As they talked, the food was gradually brought out. In Japan, unlike in China, everyone didn't share a table full of dishes. Each person ate their own meal.

Various dishes sat in small bowls in front of them. Hoya picked up his chopsticks and started eating. "How many points do you think you'll have left next month?"

"Over seven hundred. How about you?"

"Six hundred, I guess. There are always a few people who can't help falling asleep. Even if they're careful, their scores probably won't be that high."

"Then how many points do you think Class D will have?"

Kanzaki Ryuji suddenly asked. He watched Hoya quietly, waiting to see how he'd answer.

"Class D? No need to think about it. I'll give you a number."

Hoya made a fist with his left hand. "Zero."

"Zero?"

"What else? They'd be lucky to get even a single point. Do you know anything about their homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae?"

"Um... I think she's friends with our teacher, Hoshinomiya-sensei?"

"They're friends, but they're not exactly on good terms."

Hoya chuckled. "I did manage to find out a few things. She and Hoshinomiya-sensei were both students at this school."

"Really? Were they close back then?"

"Yeah, but I heard Hoshinomiya-sensei sabotaged Chabashira Sae, causing her to fall from a position where she might've made it into Class A all the way down to Class D. She graduated with Class D's results."

"Graduated?"

"Right. The school said that its students had a one-hundred-percent rate of either further education or employment after graduation. So it makes sense that everyone except Class A just completes their studies here, doesn't it?"

"But just completing your studies is a little..."

Ichinose and Kanzaki Ryuji exchanged glances, unsure what the school was trying to accomplish.

Usually, only universities had students who merely completed their studies. For a high school to do that was just...

"Or there's another way to graduate—you can go straight to work at the school."

"So that's why the two teachers became homeroom teachers?"

"Yeah, that's one reason. Most of them do behind-the-scenes work."

"Wouldn't they warn the other students?"

"Why would they? They're the unlucky ones, and they want to see more people suffer the same fate. If they warned everyone else, how many people would still end up being the unlucky ones? They're a bunch of people who take pleasure in others' misfortune. They're happy when they see other people suffering just like them."

"How could they do that..."

"Why not? That's how this school works. It's all about merit, at least in name. If you're strong, you're the big shot in your year. If you're weak, you just have to let people walk all over you."

Hoya laid out the school's way of doing things without any mercy, then went back to eating. "Anyway, don't think about it too much. Just beat Class A when the time comes."

"Then here's the question: What about you?"

"Me?"

"Don't you want to graduate from Class A?"

Kanzaki Ryuji had picked up on the problem. "You're not in the same class as us, after all. Doesn't that mean you'll be our enemy in the future?"

"Ah... You don't need to worry about that. There's a rule at this school, right? As long as you have enough points, you can do whatever you want."

"So you mean...?"

"Twenty million."

Hoya held up two fingers. "All I need is twenty million, and I can transfer to Class A. In other words, no matter who wins or loses, I'll be a member of Class A."

"Then why are you targeting Class A?"

"Well... of course, because~"

I noticed there was an event, so I'll put up a little bounty.

I only found out about the event today. Did anyone get something they liked?

I got a cushion from a single pull on the big lucky bag, and I'm pretty happy with it. I bet those of you who tried your luck got plenty of good stuff, too.

So I'll open another bounty: 3,000 votes, 50 monthly tickets, 5,000 in tips, and 50 blades. No upper limit, as before.

The bounty will run until... the event ends. Don't worry about me being unable to keep up. I've got plenty of chapters saved up right now, and the book isn't popular enough to wipe me out. Yeah, yeah.

That's it.

Oh, and one more thing: yesterday's numbers count too, since the event started yesterday. So we won't count the previous total. The data from each day is recorded in the backend, and I'll keep track of all the numbers from these few days.

So... please keep supporting me!

Chapter Eighty-Nine: Ayanokoji, Save Me!

Why was Hoya targeting Class A?

That was a good question.

If he could become a member of Class A himself, why bother beating Class A? Wouldn't it make more sense to let Class A become the strongest and then transfer into it at the end?

"There are two reasons. For one thing, Class A is a bit too arrogant. I don't like them."

Hoya lowered one finger, giving them one reason.

He really didn't like the way those people in Class A acted. Neither the Katsuragi Faction's self-righteousness nor Sakayanagi Arisu's delight in toying with people sat well with him.

So, sorry, Class A. You can just go to hell.

"As for the other reason... Hey, if I don't stir things up, how am I supposed to scrape together twenty million?"

Hoya held up his fingers. "Assume everyone gets only a hundred thousand points each month. That's just 1.2 million a year, or 3.6 million over three years. Even if you spent nothing, you'd need seven people to help you reach the goal. And if everyone had their own expenses, you might have to live frugally for three years just to get one person into Class A. Do you think that's realistic?"

Kanzaki and Ichinose both shook their heads. Hoya nodded.

Neither of them was foolish. They understood what Hoya meant. If it really could be done, everyone would want to get into Class A. Who would support someone else?

"So I need a reliable source of points. Besides the various competitions, I need a money tree that can make money for me."

"Your target is Class A?"

"Class A first, Class D second."

Hoya clapped his hands, making it clear that this was his plan.

"Class D? Don't they have no points left?"

"They'll get some eventually. You can count on that."

Hoya rubbed his chin as he explained the situation to Ichinose. "I might need your help then, but we can talk about that later."

"What do you want us to do?"

"Obviously, I'll tell you when the time comes. It has nothing to do with right now."

Hoya waved a hand. He still remembered what the original Class C had done back then.

There was no need to mention what Ryuen had done. In the end, Horikita had seen through the scheme and foiled it.

But the scheme could be reinforced and used against Class D again. They could worry about that once Class D got stronger.

More than making another class lose points, Hoya needed points for himself. That was why he'd prepared tomorrow's plan. If it worked... he'd get his hands on some points~

"Thank you very much for the meal. See you next time?"

"All right. We'll look into things, too. I hope we really can become allies with Class C."

Kanzaki Ryuji shook hands with Hoya, then Hoya took his leave.

"Kanzaki, what did you think of that meeting...?"

"I learned a lot."

Kanzaki Ryuji turned to Ichinose Honami. "Leave this kind of thing to me, Ichinose. You just need to do what you want."

"Okay. Then, about Class C..."

"We can leave things as they are for now. I really should find out more from the upperclassmen. As for Hoya... I need to keep an eye on him."

Kanzaki Ryuji thought Hoya was a frightening person. He had to make sure Hoya wouldn't stab them in the back.

It had only been a week. It would take a lot more time to see through someone.

Hoya whistled as he walked back to the dorm. He'd planned to talk with Class B from the start.