Contract

Arriving at the private room agreed upon with Sakayanagi.

By then, Sakayanagi was already there, accompanied by Kamuro Masumi, Katsuragi Kohei, and a blond-haired Hashimoto Masayoshi.

"My, my~ Keeping a girl waiting this long is just too cruel."

Sakayanagi spoke first.

"You must be Suzuki Tsubame. I'm Katsuragi Kohei from Class A."

Katsuragi was quite polite.

Suzuki Tsubame looked at him and nodded.

Kamuro Masumi remained impassive, but beside her, Hashimoto Masayoshi wore a slackerish expression.

"I'm Hashimoto Masayoshi. Her Highness said—"

"Sakayanagi and Katsuragi can stay. You two, leave."

Suzuki Tsubame cut off his act. He had zero goodwill toward this turncoat.

"I—"

Hashimoto looked a bit flustered.

"Alright, Kamuro, Hashimoto, wait outside for a bit."

Since Sakayanagi Arisu herself had spoken, he had no choice but to relent and follow Kamuro Masumi out.

Only after both had left did Suzuki Tsubame sit down to discuss things in detail.

"You should be able to notice something off about this school, right?"

Suzuki Tsubame got straight to the point. He had to head to the gymnasium by five, so he had no time to waste.

"Indeed. The uneven quality among students, the free meal sets in the cafeteria, and the free section in the supermarket—everything reeks of strangeness." Katsuragi said in a low voice. These were all visible to the naked eye, with no need to hide.

"Correct. This school operates on a meritocracy. You can tell from the class divisions: Class A is the strongest, Class D the weakest."

Katsuragi and Sakayanagi didn't seem surprised.

Suzuki Tsubame continued, "Actually, aside from personal points, there are also class points. One class point equals one hundred personal points."

"That means each class starts with one thousand points!"

"Also, when a class loses its lead in class points, it automatically drops to a lower class. For example, the current Class A in the second year was once Class B. One more thing: only Class A can enjoy the school's recommendation for job placement."

Sakayanagi Arisu remained as calm as ever—whether she already knew this or was just keeping her composure was unclear.

Katsuragi, on the other hand, looked visibly stirred. His family circumstances weren't good, and he desperately needed that school-recommended entry ticket to a company.

"Where did you get this information?"

"Actually, class points can be seen on the upperclassmen's blackboards—they all write them down. As for the autonomous job placement right, I found out by bribing a senior."

Suzuki Tsubame said with a strange expression.

Just from this demeanor alone, Katsuragi was several streets behind Sakayanagi.

"Ah, is that so?" Katsuragi scratched his hair awkwardly. Did he even have any hair to scratch?

"The school buildings for upper and lower grades aren't the same one. It's normal not to know this."

"What if I said I could make Class A far surpass the other classes within a month, causing the total class points lost by the other classes to exceed 1,500 points? How many personal points would you be willing to offer?"

"What did you say?"

Katsuragi was stunned, and even Sakayanagi lost her composure.

Considering each class had 1,000 points, a total loss of 1,500 points meant each class would lose 500 points. Even if Classes C and D lost a bit more, Class A would still come out massively ahead.

"If you're not wrong, Class A can offer at least 10 million personal points!" Katsuragi declared boldly.

Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head. Katsuragi was thinking too small.

With 1,500 class points, a single class could distribute 6 million personal points in one month.

"Suzuki-kun, if what you say is accurate, Class A is willing to give you 1.5 million personal points each month." Sakayanagi Arisu said softly.

"Heh, Her Highness is truly generous." Suzuki Tsubame laughed.

Then, he pulled out a contract he had already drafted on his phone and showed it to them.

Contract One: Party A guarantees that Party B's class points will surpass those of the other three classes next month, and the total class points lost by the other classes will exceed 1,500 class points. If the contract is fulfilled, all students in Party B's class must pay Party A 37,500 personal points each month.

Contract Two: Party A provides hidden exam rules to Party B. Party B must pay Party A 1.5 million personal points.

"And this Contract Two?" Katsuragi Kohei asked curiously.

"What, you think I dared to propose Contract One for no reason? Let me remind you, this information is worth 2 million personal points to the teachers."

So that was it. Katsuragi seemed to catch on—he had come prepared.

"You can notify Class A's teacher, Mashima, now."

Suzuki Tsubame prompted.

Chabashira is bound to stir up trouble, so it's better to let Mashima Tomoya handle it.

He's practically the only fair teacher in this school, no wonder they put him in charge of Class A.

Katsuragi nodded in agreement.

In the end, witnessed by Mashima Tomoya, Suzuki Tsubame, Sakayanagi, and Katsuragi jointly signed this contract.

In Mashima's view, these two contracts were absolutely necessary. In past years, the total class points lost across all four classes wouldn't even reach 1,200.

Suzuki Tsubame also told them the exam rules she knew.

"Also, helping teachers carry textbooks, picking up scattered trash on the floor—if it's caught on camera or acknowledged by a teacher, there's a good chance you'll earn extra class points."

Katsuragi glanced at Mashima, and upon seeing his confirming look, thanked Suzuki Tsubame.

"Well, it's finally over."

Suzuki Tsubame stretched.

Let them notify their classes as soon as possible, get the points from Contract Two early, and add them to the task.

Class A and D combined would have roughly 1,500 points. After half a month, sell the rules to Class B, and rake in points from three sources—easy money!

Some might ask, "Streamer, streamer, what if Class A leaks the exam content? Wouldn't you be screwed?"

First, Katsuragi absolutely won't. His goal in coming to this school is to get a recommendation letter from a top domestic company. Now that he knows only Class A gets that opportunity, he won't mess around.

Second, Sakayanagi won't either. Her goal is to seize class leadership and then duel Ayanokoji. She won't cause trouble at school right now, since it's a period of shared management. If she backstabs now, she can't fully restrict Katsuragi, and she'd only weaken her own forces.

Finally, do you really think 1.5 million a month is a lot? In the original story, Ryuen traded just 200 exam points for 800,000 personal points per month during the island exam.

Think that's all?

Last of all, don't think Suzuki Tsubame lost out. Weakening other classes benefits him, but those class points never come to him directly. Class points that don't generate profit are only worth half their value.

So really, it's a win-win.

Suzuki Tsubame wins twice. In this contract, Class D has a god-tier player, so he doesn't need to do anything.

Class C has the Dragon Boy, who'll lose a ton of points testing the rules' limits.

As for Class B, revealing the rules mid-month might hold them back a bit, but it won't affect the big picture. In fact, Ryuen's targeting will make their performance even worse.

Leaving Sakayanagi, Suzuki Tsubame headed for the gymnasium.

Class A's 1.5 million would arrive tonight.

That meant Suzuki Tsubame still needed 2.2 million.

He currently had Chess Mastery and Ball Sports Mastery, and his physique had improved by more than one tier. The human peak was only 10 points.

Ayanokoji's physique was probably around 9.5. Koenji around 9.7, Hirata and Sudo around 9.2.

Note: Ayanokoji's physique can't match Koenji's—you can tell from their builds. What Ayanokoji's really strong in is power technique. Martial strength and physique are different, like how a weightlifting champion can't beat a fighting champion. Strong physique doesn't mean high martial power.

This data should be reasonable.

Head to the court first. Sakayanagi would definitely sweep through the Chess Club, and then Suzuki Tsubame could just wrap things up.

Arriving at the gymnasium, clubs were everywhere—cosplay, cheerleading... a hundred schools of thought contending.

Suzuki Tsubame approached the basketball court. Someone was already under the hoop.

Red-haired Sudo was playing pretty well, even giving some upperclassmen trouble. Of course, that was because the real experts hadn't stepped up yet.

As Suzuki Tsubame got closer, a burly senior immediately walked up.

"Junior, are you here to join the basketball club? Fill out the application over there."

The senior pointed to a girl handling registration nearby.

He never got why in this country, every club liked adding girls to do trivial things like serving tea and water.

"Well, I guess you could say I'm here to challenge."

Suzuki Tsubame said shamelessly. In his view, time was money, and he didn't plan to waste it.

Three-point shooting—whoever missed first lost.

With Ball Sports Mastery, Suzuki Tsubame felt like he'd grown an extra hand. That hand could stretch or shrink, and a casual toss would easily sink into the hoop.

From the small fry to the club president, none could stand against him.

Finally, under Sudo's stunned gaze and the basketball club president's intense reluctance, Suzuki Tsubame walked out of the basketball club with 300,000 from the seniors.

...(I'll skip the sports scenes since I don't like writing them, and I doubt you guys want to read them either. Skipped them all.)

In the end, basketball 300,000, soccer 400,000, table tennis 400,000, badminton 300,000, volleyball... all together nearly 1.8 million.

Suzuki Tsubame felt the time was about right. He just needed to get another 500,000 from Sakayanagi.

He circled the gymnasium and finally found the Chess Club.

Sakayanagi was currently playing against the Chess Club President, while Kamuro was nowhere to be seen.

At the chessboard, Sakayanagi was completely different from usual. Normally, the first impression was nobility, the second mystery.

At this moment, it was completely different. Like a queen of the chessboard, the pieces moved at her command as if they were extensions of her own arm.

The club president had to deliberate over every move, while Sakayanagi showed no hesitation at all, as carefree as if she were just taking a casual stroll.

It silently placed considerable pressure on the club president.

"I... I lose!"

The club president conceded defeat. Playing chess with her was truly unbearable—every move felt as if it had been calculated in advance, and he seemed completely exposed before her.