The Advantage of an Information Gap

"I won't restrict your stealing behavior, and if you really only get thrills from stealing, what I'm having you do might satisfy you even more."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka took another step closer.

He could see that Kamuro Masumi had already shown signs of interest, and if he pressed her a little harder, Kamuro Masumi would become the first pawn he had placed in Class A.

Accomplices have always been the most stable relationship in the world.

"Thieves, and accomplices who harbor thieves."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's expression changed, and he quickly turned around, just in time to bump into Kitagawa Ryo, who was walking out of the nearby woods.

What sank him even further was that the other person was holding what looked like a brand-new digital camera.

In other words, all of his conversation with Kamuro Masumi had been heard and even recorded by her.

"It seems like there will be dropouts on the very first day of school."

Kitagawa Ryo said, not without sarcasm.

If Ichinose Honami had witnessed Kamuro Masumi's theft, she would have paid the full amount owed and then earnestly tried to dissuade Kamuro Masumi.

But Ayanokoji Kiyotaka would never do that.

Kitagawa Ryo knew the other party's personality very well. In fact, he had prepared to follow Kamuro Masumi for a long time. However, he did not expect to run into the Matoba he was looking for on the first day. As expected Ayanokoji Kiyotaka wanted to use this as a threat to bring Kamuro Masumi into his toolbox.

"Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, don't worry too much. After all, covering up theft certainly won't get you expelled."

"But--"

Kitagawa Ryo drew out his words, repeating Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's earlier statement:

"Even if I report it to the school, you probably won't suffer much harm. But even so, the Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is the type of person who protects thieves and whose first reaction upon discovering a theft is to threaten the thief will be exposed. In that case, Ayanokoji's remaining three years at this school won't be easy, will they?"

Kitagawa Ryo smiled knowingly.

Chapter 40: The Advantages of Information Gap

Compared to Class 1-A of memory, this time Class A has added four members from the original Class D: Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Kushida Kikyo, Koenji Rokusuke, and Hirata Yosuke. Meanwhile, Sakayanagi Arisu has been moved to Class D by Kitagawa Ryo. This means that the confrontation between Sakayanagi and Katsuragi that occurred in the previous simulation will not happen.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's personality dictates that the other party will not choose to stand in the forefront from the beginning. Koenji Rokusuke looks down on the entire class and even the school. Kushida Kikyo Hirata Yosuke will not take the initiative to become the class Leader for their own reasons. Therefore, the first obvious Leader of Class 1-A will eventually fall to Katsuragi Kohei.

After all, even in his confrontation with Sakayanagi Arisu, Katsuragi Kohei managed to become the temporary Leader of the class in the two Special Exam during the summer vacation, thanks to Arisu's physical condition. Now that Sakayanagi Arisu Class D, Katsuragi Kohei's speed in building connections and winning people over should be even faster.

If Katsuragi Kohei is playing the role of Hirata Yosuke from Class D, then Ayanokoji Kiyotaka would need an accomplice, just like he used Horikita Suzune to hide himself back then. This accomplice's abilities cannot be too low, because they need to enter the class's decision-making circle in his place, but they also cannot be too high, otherwise they would easily slip out of control. It would be even better if they had a weakness in their personality.

Coincidentally, there was indeed such a person in Class 1-A.

In fact, Kamuro Masumi's temperament is somewhat similar to Horikita Suzune's. Kitagawa Ryo's understanding of her mainly comes from his occasional chat with Sakayanagi Arisu during Karuizawa Kei's second mock exam. At that time, he even took advantage of her kleptomania to devise a plan against Class 1-B.

Therefore, Kitagawa Ryo judged that Kamuro Masumi would eventually come into Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's sights, but he didn't expect that his wish would be fulfilled on the first day of school.

"How about it?"

Kitagawa Ryo put the digital camera back into his bag. It had cost him a considerable amount of points, but he knew that a digital camera would definitely be useful at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School.

Kamuro Masumi looked at Kitagawa Ryo with some suspicion. Even though she was the student who had committed the theft, Kitagawa's words so far seemed to be directed at her classmate, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

What are your conditions?

After a brief moment of surprise, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quickly recovered. He knew very well that the recording, or even the possible video recording, would not cause him any real harm, because Kamuro Masumi was in Class 1-A, his classmate.

If public opinion is properly guided beforehand, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka could even establish himself as a protector of his classmates, and the things he said in the recording were simply his hope that the other person could enrich himself with more proper hobbies and help his classmate correct this bad habit.

However, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was more concerned about Kamuro Masumi's punishment.

It wasn't that he had any feelings for Kamuro Masumi, whom he had just met, but rather that it was indeed difficult to find someone like her who suited his needs. If he were to drop out of school because of this, he would not only lose a pawn, but the entire Class A might also be implicated.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was aware of the existence of Class Points. Although he didn't know how many Class Points would be deducted for students dropping out, he figured it wouldn't be small.

Therefore, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka chose to negotiate with Kitagawa Ryo.

He believed the other person was also Akito.

"My condition for not releasing this video and audio recording is that Ayanokoji can sign a contract with me."

"The contract will be guaranteed by the school's notary power, and it stipulates that Ayanokoji must hand over all Private Points issued by the school to me on the first of each month."

"You shouldn't be short of 100,000."

Kitagawa Ryo simply smiled slightly, but did not offer a reply.

However, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had already extracted two useful pieces of information from the other party's words:

First, the school's notarization power can be used to sign contracts with others to ensure subsequent execution. Second, in this school, Private Points are indeed equivalent to money in terms of purchasing power, but this is only part of its value. There must be a deeper reason why Kitagawa Ryo values Private Points so much.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the other party is preparing for the future. After all, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had already observed that the senior Class D students had such a shortage of Private Points that they had to rely on free daily necessities from convenience stores and free meals from the cafeteria to survive.

Even if there are ten geniuses in Class 1-D, there are still thirty idiots left. The most distinctive feature of idiots at this age is their extreme egocentrism and short-sightedness, which means they can only care about what is in front of them.

Therefore, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't care about handing over his monthly Private Points to Kitagawa Ryo. He himself didn't care much about food and lodging. On the contrary, he was already prepared to expose the information that Kitagawa Ryo had tens of thousands of Private Points when the students of Class D were in a difficult situation.

"I can accept it."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded, and as if to show his sincerity, he transferred all the remaining 90,000 points from his student ID to Kitagawa Ryo's account. After the two signed the contract, Kitagawa Ryo deleted the audio and video recordings in front of him, and even took out the memory card from the digital camera and handed it to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

After finishing all this, Kitagawa Ryo hurriedly left. Kamuro Masumi also glanced at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka with a complicated expression before saying goodbye. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was carrying a large plastic bag, which was probably the only food he could eat this month besides the free meals in the school cafeteria.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who was about to leave the convenience store after slightly shaking his head, heard a rough roar coming from not far away:

"Don't look down on me just because I'm in First Year, hey!"

Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw a tall, red-haired boy confronting three older students. He was holding a half-eaten bowl of instant noodles, apparently having been sitting there eating.

"You really dare to talk to us second-year students like that? Hey, isn't our luggage stored here?"

The second-year student defiantly slammed his luggage down on his seat with a loud bang, and then the group burst into laughter.

"Okay, our luggage is here, so can you get out of here now, first-year student?"

The other person's aggressive language further provoked the red-haired boy, who clenched his fists as if to punch someone.

"What audacity, you scoundrel!"

The red-haired boy didn't seem afraid of the numerical disadvantage, but judging from his physique, he might actually be able to take on three opponents at once.

"Oh—that's scary. Which class are you in? No, let me guess. You're in Class D, right?"

The second-grade students made exaggerated expressions and gestures, and they deliberately spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"So what!"

Upon hearing this reply, all the senior students immediately looked at each other as if they had heard the funniest joke, and after a brief moment, they suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"Did you hear that? He actually admitted he was from Class D. He really showed his true colors."

Arguing with these defective people makes me feel ashamed of myself. I'll just leave this place to these pathetic wretches for today.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing that hot-tempered student from Class D again next month."

"At that point, you'll have to recognize your place, because you're going to be in hell."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka watched as the boys walked away, mocking them. The red-haired man glared angrily at them, looking so angry he didn't even want to finish his noodles. He casually tossed the instant noodle cup into a nearby trash can and left with his hands in his pockets.

I felt a little more at ease.

Therefore, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka did not agree with the other party's move to choose Class D. As the student body with the lowest quality among the four classes (A, B, C, and D), this irritable red-haired man was a microcosm of the entire Class D.

There's nothing to fear.

Class D will be doomed on its own.

Having made this decision, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka left the scene.

Student Association Building, Student Council.

As a very important part of the entire Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, the Student Council actually has a small number of members. In addition, the previous third-year students have just graduated and left, and the recruitment of new First Year has not yet begun. Therefore, the Student Council is even quieter, with only the vice president Miyabi Nagumo, handling the materials related to the recruitment presentations of various clubs tomorrow.

The tradition of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School is to start recruiting new members for clubs on the second day of school, and the Student Council is no exception. However, the Student Council President, Horikita Manabu, will be present at the event.

While organizing the materials, Miyabi Nagumo idly wondered if she could meet two pretty junior girls during this year's recruitment. As the Leader led Class B to Class A, the vice president of the Student Council, and with her rather handsome appearance, Miyabi Nagumo was quite confident in herself.

Just as Miyabi Nagumo was a little distracted, the Student Council door was suddenly pushed open. At first, he thought it was one of his colleagues from the Student Council, but after not hearing a greeting for a while, he looked up in confusion and found that a First Year who had just entered the Student Council had entered.

Although she didn't know how the other party found this place, Miyabi Nagumo still politely said:

"What brings this junior to the Student Council? If he's interested in joining, he can wait for the various club presentations and recruitment events tomorrow."

"Of course something's wrong."

The boy approached and smiled slightly. What bothered Miyabi Nagumo was that the other person was undoubtedly top-notch in both appearance and temperament. Perhaps because of this, she subconsciously felt a strange sense of disgust.

"I am Kitagawa Ryo from Class 1-D, Grade 1."

"First year... Class D? Oh, junior, what's the matter?"

Miyabi Nagumo naturally knew the truth about Class D, but he couldn't reveal the specific information about the class assignments at this time, since it was part of the first month's Special Exam.

After all, this information is linked to important data such as [Class Points] and [graduation from Class A]. If the freshmen of the four classes find out in advance, the Special Exam in the first month will lose its meaning, and each class will do its best to abide by the rules.

Kitagawa Ryo handed the phone to Miyabi Nagumo. The screen showed a video recording of three second-year students confronting a First Year student. You could almost feel the tension in the air through the screen.

After watching the entire video, Miyabi Nagumo also made a show of anger:

"We will definitely strengthen relevant education for students who bully younger students because of their seniority, so that they can deeply realize their mistakes. We will also make these three people apologize to the victims."

However, Miyabi Nagumo received no response from Kitagawa Ryo. Kitagawa Ryo had his hands on the table, his dark pupils appearing deep and mysterious, like a bottomless abyss.

"It's not school bullying."

Kitagawa Ryo stared into Miyabi Nagumo's eyes and spoke.

Miyabi Nagumo felt a chill creep up his spine from the base of his spine.

"These three second-year students seem to have let slip something they shouldn't have said."

"After all, class assignments at school are randomized, so how can you mock the students in Class D as defective products?"

"Could it be that the division of classes into ABCD actually has another meaning?"

"For example, if we rank them according to overall strength? In that case, Class D is indeed the weakest, so it seems being mocked isn't a big deal."

Miyabi Nagumo took a deep breath, and was about to speak when he was immediately interrupted by Kitagawa Ryo.

"I heard that you're really making waves lately, Senior Nagumo. It's not just your own class, but the entire second year seems to be under your control."

On the very first day of school, how much did the other party actually know about the school's rules, and how much intelligence had they gathered?

Miyabi Nagumo even felt that Kitagawa Ryo was putting more pressure on him than Horikita Manabu at this moment, and he cursed those three people as idiots in his heart.

Except for certain Special Exam (such as the Midterm Exam in the first semester), the school strictly prohibits senior students from revealing information related to ongoing or future exams. The fact that the three grades are separated into three different school buildings is also for this reason.

But these three guys dared to mock the First Year students on their very first day of school, and to make matters worse, they even went so far as to say that Class D was a collection of defective products.

This is a slap in the face to the school. If this video is made public, the four First Year classes will receive the crucial information a month in advance that class assignments are not random but based on ability. In serious cases, the Special Exam in the first month will be disrupted as a result.

Logically speaking, Miyabi Nagumo should have immediately intervened as the vice president of the Student Council to prevent the situation from escalating and quickly dealt with the three people who leaked the information, even if it meant expulsion, since these three guys were just Class 2-C.

However, Miyabi Nagumo was stuck at the point where she was feeling most uncomfortable.

His control and conquest of the entire second year had only just come to an end. He had finally managed to coordinate the initial balance among the classes and distribute the benefits among the other three classes while maintaining the status of Class A. If these three students were expelled or punished at this point, causing a significant drop in Class C's Class Points, the hard-won balance of the second year would immediately collapse completely.

If second-grade students find out that this was still orchestrated by Miyabi Nagumo...

Then Miyabi Nagumo's reputation among the second-year students will be irreparably affected, since the second-year students support Miyabi Nagumo in the hope that she will fulfill her promise after becoming the Student Council President.

"I can give you one million Private Points, and this video will be destroyed."

Miyabi Nagumo stared intently into the other person's eyes and announced her first price.

"I don't need points."

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head and reached out to swipe open his account page on his phone.

More than 2.18 million Private Points.

New students on their first day of school.

For the first time Miyabi Nagumo showed a look of shock, and just as his mind wavered, Kitagawa Ryo also made his request:

"Two Student Council slots."

"... good."

Exhaling a heavy breath, Miyabi Nagumo nodded hesitantly.