The Obedient Cat

Kitagawa Ryo almost laughed at Karuizawa Kei 'Karuizawa Kei reaction. He pulled out a pre-prepared contract from his pocket and handed it to her.

"This is a contract that I personally paid points to have the school notarize; all my terms are listed on it."

"Class 1-D) shall pay Kitagawa Ryo 100,000 Private Points separately before April 5th."

"Secondly, Party A shall pay Class 1-C (hereinafter referred to as Party B) 400,000 Private Points every month until the end of First Year."

"Third, if the points paid each month are insufficient, they will be carried over to the next month, but 30% of the total points owed must be paid each month."

"IV. This contract shall remain in effect even if Party A or Party B is promoted or demoted."

"Fifth, it is forbidden to disclose the contents of this contract to any third party. If any of the above five points are violated, the student who fails to pay will be expelled from the school."

Karuizawa Kei frowned and said:

"Isn't that too harsh, especially the first one?"

She didn't show any particular resistance, not only because Karuizawa Kei herself wasn't overly sensitive to these numbers, but more importantly—

In Class D, apart from Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Suzune Horikita Suzune Kitagawa Ryo, who are skeptical about the 100,000 points per month, the other students have subconsciously taken the concept of "earning 100,000 Private Points per month" seriously.

Although Karuizawa Kei had been informed of the relationship between Class Points and Private Points by Chabashira Sae before arriving, this information ironically led her astray at this moment.

"No, you see, if I hadn't intervened, Class D would most likely have lost more than 300 Class Points. 300 points translates to 30,000 Private Points per person per month. I'm only asking for 10,000 per person per month, which is already helping you minimize your losses."

Kitagawa Ryo spoke in a warm tone, as if he were thinking about your Class D.

"But I can't make this decision by myself... Can I take it back and discuss it with my classmates?"

"Certainly."

Kitagawa Ryo knew that for this contract to take effect, it needed the approval of all members of Class D.

"But Sudo might not be able to wait, so we'd better hurry."

"Okay, okay."

Karuizawa Kei put away the contract in front of her, and somewhat awkwardly rose from her seat to bow to Kitagawa Ryo:

"Then I'll be going now."

"Let's exchange contact information so we can stay in touch. I'm really concerned about Class D' s attitude."

"Okay, okay."

Karuizawa Kei only took her leave after a user named Karuizawa Kei added Kitagawa Ryo to his contact list.

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

For a long time after she left, Kitagawa Ryo remained seated and did not get up.

His finger swiped across the image of Karuizawa Kei on the screen, where a photo of the two of them had once stood for a long time.

"Hey, why should we bear the consequences if Sudo hit someone?"

The next morning, in Class 1-D, Chabashira Sae brought Ken Sudō, who hadn't been there all day, to Class D. Sudo, still with a bruised and swollen face, seemed to know he had caused a big problem, and lowered his head, not daring to speak. Only after Chabashira Sae explained what had happened did he bow to the whole class to apologize and explain Kitagawa Ryo's contract.

As expected, Yamauchi Haruki was the first to start making a fuss.

"Although 100,000 points per person a month seems like a lot, I suddenly wanted to buy a game console yesterday."

Many students shared the same idea as Yamauchi Haruki. Instead of protecting Sudo, who clearly had a bad reputation, wouldn't it be better to save those 30,000 points for their own use? For a moment, both boys and girls started discussing it quietly.

"Everyone, please don't get too agitated. Sudo is also a member of Class D, and as Sudo just said, if we don't save him, we'll also lose Class Points, which will reduce our monthly Private Points."

Hirata Yosuke stood up to try and take control of the situation; he could not accept that on the second day of school, a classmate would be suspended or even expelled.

"Didn't he bring that trouble upon himself?"

Someone muttered something under their breath.

"But everyone here is a member of Class D. Today you helped Sudo, and if you encounter any difficulties tomorrow, the rest of us will help you just like we did today, right?"

Hirata Yosuke smiled gently and spoke up for Sudo, while simultaneously gesturing for Kushida to say something as well.

"Sudo said he would pay the 100,000 Private Points, which means that each of us only needs to pay Class C 10,000 points per month, and this will continue until the end of the First Year."

"I will try my best to correct my mistakes. If you all helped me today, please feel free to ask me for help in the future!"

Sudo, who was standing nearby, seized the opportunity and quickly stepped forward to sincerely apologize.

Because she had to maintain her persona, Kushida Kikyo reluctantly stood up and said with a sweet smile:

"I believe that after this Sudo will improve. We can't just stand by and watch him get framed like this."

Kushida Kikyo Hirata Yosuke both stood up to express their opinions, Sudo also looked pitiful. In addition, the members of Class D, who had just received 100,000 Private Points, seemed to think that 10,000 was not an unaffordable price, and more and more people could only echo and agree.

Chabashira Sae sighed almost imperceptibly beside her.

The biggest trap that Class 1-C Kitagawa Ryo set up this time is that he got stuck on the fact that Class D's Class Points are still 1,000... He got stuck on the fact that everyone thinks the Class Points will still be 1,000 next month, but judging from yesterday's class, Class 1-D's Class Points will be lucky to have 100 left next month, so where will they get 10,000 to fulfill the contract?

However, she still didn't take the initiative to explain this information. Although she was determined to get into Class A, if the students in Class D were only at this level, it wouldn't be a bad thing to teach them a lesson.

Although he had almost given up, Chabashira still secretly hoped that someone would step forward.

"I think that's a crazy idea; it's clearly the redhead's fault."

Koenji Rokusuke had always been a maverick in Class D, nonchalantly raised an eyebrow and rejected the proposal. Just as the Chabashira thought he would point out some flaw in the contract, he simply used a comb to smooth his hair.

"I will not accept this, and don't expect me to pay those 10,000 points."

Seeing that Koenji Rokusuke seemed unwilling to cooperate and would ruin the hard-won class atmosphere, Hirata Yosuke spoke up without hesitation:

"I'll cover this 10,000 yen expense for Koenji, is that alright?"

His words immediately changed the atmosphere in Class D. Yamauchi and Ike, who had only been reluctantly cooperating, started complaining again about why Hirata Yosuke didn't help them pay the 10,000 yen as well. Hirata was annoyed but could only try his best to appease them. He even had to pull Kushida Kikyo along to calm the two down.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka sat quietly in a corner, watching the farce unfold in the classroom. He naturally noticed some problems with the contract, and also saw issues with Hirata Yosuke's handling of the situation. Even communicating with Koenji Rokusuke privately would have been better than saying it publicly. However, not wanting to attract attention, he turned to Horikita Suzune beside him and said:

"This feels very suspicious."

However, Horikita Suzune, who had been aloof yesterday, seemed absent-minded today, completely ignoring Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's words. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka could only sigh and continue to silently observe how things would unfold.

After another thirty minutes of bickering, Class 1-D finally passed the agreement. Whether it was the rational reason that Sudo might be suspended and expelled for failing the Midterm Exam, resulting in the deduction of more Class Points, or the emotional reason that they couldn't give up on their classmates, what gave these newly enrolled students the confidence to be truly secure was the hot 100,000 points.

"I have something to announce."

After the third day of classes, the students of Class 1-C saw Kitagawa Ryo walk onto the podium just like yesterday.

"Everyone, keep up this attentive listening attitude for another month."

"Starting next month, each person will receive 10,000 Private Points from Class D every month."

Just as the students of Class 1-C were still bewildered by accepting the extra income of 10,000 Private Points per month, Kitagawa Ryo added:

"Also, pay attention to the Midterm Exam next month. Students who are struggling academically can join study groups. The boys will be led by Kaneda Satoru, and the girls can be organized by Hiyori."

"If you do well on the test, there will be an additional reward."

Ishizaki Daichi below chimed in, agreeing readily:

"Boss, is it still free shampoo?"

His words naturally elicited a burst of laughter from the students in Class C.

Of course not.

Kitagawa Ryo smiled and said in a relaxed tone:

"If everyone does well, the rewards are very generous!"

"For example, change the sign outside the door to 'Class 1-B' or something..."

While the students in Class C were marveling at their leader's ambition to head straight for Class B right at the start of the semester, Kitagawa Ryo was also pondering his next move.

Ichinose Honami...

The weaknesses are quite obvious.

Chapter Nine: The Obedient Cat

The rest of April passed uneventfully. After Class D agreed to the contract, Kitagawa Ryo also provided the crucial recording as Sudo's witness. Although Sudo was ultimately suspended for half a month and had to pay some Private Points in compensation, it was a significant reduction compared to the original punishment. After this incident, Sudo himself seemed to have matured considerably, toning down his temper compared to when school first started.

Besides, he had no reason to get angry at the Class D classmates who used points to protect him. Even though those two guys, Yamauchi Haruki and Kanji Ike, would often make him run errands with exaggerated phrases like "You have to pay 10,000 Private Points every month for this," Sudo just silently endured it.

"But it will erupt someday."

Kitagawa Ryo leaned against the door of Class C and watched Sudo walk towards Class D carrying seven or eight drinks. He then turned to Ryuen Kakeru beside him and said something.

"If your plan goes smoothly, you should see results by the first of next month."

Ryuen Kakeru admired Kitagawa Ryo's method of manipulating people's hearts. Although he always shouted that he advocated violence, Ryuen Kakeru himself was actually best at underhanded tricks and rarely attacked openly.

"How's the intelligence gathering going?"

"We roughly figured out the location and scope of the school's surveillance cameras, and then, as you requested, tested the school's limits."

Ryuen Kakeru replied with his hands in his pockets:

"The school's rules are complicated. If we directly dismantle or use force to disable the surveillance system, not only will we lose a lot of Private Points, but it will also affect the Class Points. So, Class C's Class Points will probably be lower next month."

"It's alright. This information is more important than these Class Points, which is why I had you do it."

Ryuen Kakeru nodded in agreement upon hearing Kitagawa Ryo's approval.

"However, if you temporarily obstruct the surveillance camera, like our class advisor did at the beginning of the semester, or even just splash ink on the lens, and control the timing well, you'll only need to pay a few thousand Private Points as a cleaning fee afterwards."

"The school store sells surveillance cameras, but there are several blind spots on campus, such as the Special Building. I installed two cameras in those places out of boredom, maybe I can capture some interesting content."

After finishing talking about the surveillance footage Ryuen Kakeru changed the subject:

"As for the other classes, you've been in charge of the actions against Class D, so this month I've mainly been observing the situations in Class A and Class B."

"Class A seems a bit different from what you imagined. Sakayanagi Arisu hasn't been able to control the entire Class A very smoothly. There's another faction within the class, led by Katsuragi Kohei, while a small number of students are in a neutral, observing position."

"Katsuragi Kohei? What kind of person is he?"

Kitagawa Ryo asked with great interest, he really hadn't expected Sakayanagi Arisu to be so slow in taking control of Class A, it shouldn't be like this.

"It's not clear yet, since it's only the beginning of the semester and I can't get too involved yet."

Ryuen Kakeru shook his head:

"We'll probably have to wait until the class competition to see how strong the other team is. The fact that the strongest class, Class A, can't be united is actually a good thing for us."

"Hmm, what about Class B?"

"Class B seems to be the only class that elected class officers; it's like middle school kids playing house."

Ryuen Kakeru's lips curled into a disdainful smile:

"The Ichinose Honami, whom you mentioned before. She's the class representative, and her deputy is a boy named Kanzaki Ryuji. There's nothing particularly noteworthy about the others."

[The class committee... their approach is quite reminiscent of Honami's style.]

Kitagawa Ryo patted Ryuen Kakeru on the shoulder and affirmed:

"The school won't let us off the hook for long. Starting next month, the competition and promotion will begin."

"Or rather... I can't wait."

Ryuen Kakeru licked his lips and responded with a slightly sinister smile.

"There's another very important matter at Ryuen."

Just as Ryuen Kakeru was grinning maliciously and plotting some scheme, Kitagawa Ryo suddenly patted him on the shoulder with a serious expression, his tone heavy and tragic.

"Your scheme against Class D was discovered? Did Karuizawa Kei suddenly regain her memories? Or did Hiyori Confessions to you?"

Seeing that Kitagawa Ryo's expression seemed genuine, Ryuen Kakeru also frowned and rattled off three hypothetical scenarios that might give his friend a headache.

"... even more dangerous than these."

What is that?

Kitagawa Ryo gave him a wry smile, and said in a subtle tone that was both helpless and inexplicably smug:

"Hotaru... my old cat sneaked into the school."

"I remember that pets aren't allowed at school, right?"