After Prince Ganlongdao left the classroom.
Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. Saki Yamashita felt rather fortunate:
"I thought we'd get our Private Points today. I didn't save a single point, so it's a good thing Prince Brother collected everyone's Class Points earlier. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known what to do this month."
"Yeah. At first, I thought Prince Brother was using this as an excuse to take our Private Points, but it turns out they really came in handy. And he actually kept them safe for us."
"I guess I was judging him like a petty person judging a gentleman. Still, we really do owe Prince Brother for looking after our Private Points from the start of the school year."
"Otherwise, with my personality, I definitely wouldn't have saved a single point. I'd be living on dirt this month~"
"But now our Class Points have dropped to zero. We can't go on like this, can we?"
Her words.
Soon struck a chord with many people.
If Prince Ganlongdao hadn't pooled everyone's Private Points in advance, most of them probably would have been left with nothing.
They'd thought he had some ulterior motive,
but it turned out Prince Ganlongdao really had managed to save the points.
Still,
most of them were more worried about what to do from here on.
With the 50,000 Private Points each of them had been given to manage, even if they were careful, they'd have enough for only two months at most. After that, they'd have to figure things out for themselves.
Besides.
Class A, in first place, already had 940 Class Points.
The gap was enough to make anyone despair.
It was practically a death sentence.
They might as well say they'd lost the chance to advance to Class A.
Once people started thinking that way,
there was only one possible outcome.
"It's all that Dragon Garden guy's fault."
Someone said it with a face full of resentment, and another immediately agreed.
"Damn it, if Dragon Garden hadn't skipped class all the time, how could our points have dropped to zero?"
"Seriously."
Shiho Manabe looked annoyed, too. "All the advantage Prince Brother worked so hard to build up went to waste because of him."
At that moment,
no one tried to argue with Shiho Manabe.
Even if they didn't count Dragon Garden's truancy,
he'd still been late 70 times and spent nearly 300 classes distracted.
Class C's Class Points couldn't possibly have been high.
However,
the truth didn't matter.
They simply needed someone to vent their frustration on,
and blaming Dragon Garden for all their problems was enough!
That was human nature.
No one thought the problem was their own fault. They just pushed all the blame onto someone else.
And Dragon Garden, who'd skipped class for a full 30 days,
was the perfect target.
Others were like Kaneda, unwilling to accept that they were in Class C.
He'd only been dragged down by delinquents like Dragon Garden and Prince Ganlongdao. Otherwise, he would have been an outstanding student in Class A. He refused to admit his own shortcomings.
Many people misunderstood one thing.
It wasn't that everyone had to obey someone because he was the leader.
He was the leader because most people listened to him.
In that regard,
Shiho Manabe's presence was very important!
She loved showing off.
She showed off not just her bags and makeup, but her boyfriend, too.
Every time she bragged, she exaggerated Prince Ganlongdao's accomplishments.
If no one objected a few times,
whether out of politeness or for some other reason,
Prince Ganlongdao would naturally become Class C's true leader, the one everyone accepted as their leader without even realizing it.
A lot of boys who hadn't been popular before
would suddenly find themselves surrounded by girls once they got a girlfriend.
That was one reason why.
Having a woman who loved showing off her boyfriend every chance she got wasn't necessarily a good thing.
But it sure felt good.
Meanwhile,
in the dormitory building, in Dragon Garden's room,
Dragon Garden leaned against his bed, his face already covered in a full beard.
Only his eyes remained sharp.
After all,
during this time,
he'd done nothing but read and work out.
Dragon Garden hadn't let himself slack off at all,
and his fitness and grades had improved quite a bit.
That didn't matter, though.
Dragon Garden looked at the student ID terminal in his hand.
It showed zero Private Points.
Prince Ganlongdao had taken all his Private Points last month, tossing him things like instant noodles, bread, and drinks every few days. This month's points hadn't arrived yet.
After skipping class for a month,
he'd been completely cut off from the outside world and lost all access to information.
Yet,
as he looked at his points, now reduced to zero,
his eyes gleamed, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
He wasn't naive enough to think this was some mistake by the school.
There was no doubt about it.
Some rule
had caused him to receive zero points this month.
However,
the chance that this rule applied only to him was extremely low—almost nonexistent.
Otherwise,
Kazuma Sakagami wouldn't have dropped so many hints, much less come to visit him looking furious. He could be fairly certain it had something to do with the class.
It was easy enough to figure out.
There was a very high chance the entire class hadn't received any points.
Then,
the pressure Prince Ganlongdao was under had to be unimaginable.
A tyrant was tolerated only as long as his authority meant something.
Whatever his reasons,
whatever his excuses,
if he'd dragged the class into this mess,
naturally, no one would obey him.
A leader had to bear the responsibility of leadership.
Dragon Garden had the pride of a tyrant.
However,
he didn't know that Prince Ganlongdao had no such pride.
Take the blame?
That wasn't going to happen.
Prince Ganlongdao would just pin the blame on him.
In his eyes,
a leader had to ensure that he himself remained spotless.
Then, after a defeat, he could use violence to crush everyone into submission again.
Maintaining a tyrant's dignity
was just a waste of time, a way to make yourself feel noble.
Victory was victory!
There was no room for romance, underhandedness, or dignity. Winning was everything.
Things were going in the exact opposite direction from what Dragon Garden imagined.
There were only two reasons.
He hadn't expected Prince Ganlongdao to successfully pool the class's Private Points the very next day.
It had mostly been luck,
but that seemingly prescient plan had filled Ishizaki and the others with gratitude.
Second,
he'd badly underestimated the importance of reputation.
Back at the start of the school year, Prince Ganlongdao had toyed with Dragon Garden several times in a mocking manner, already setting out to 'smear' him.
Dragon Garden had acted tough,
but Prince Ganlongdao had steered things so that Dragon Garden came off looking like a ridiculous clown.
Then he'd skipped class for a whole month.
No one felt any awe toward Dragon Garden. Instead, outsiders saw him as a weakling they could trample at will.
Anyone could make up whatever they wanted about Dragon Garden.
Anyone could dump the blame on him.
However,
cut off from outside information, Dragon Garden couldn't possibly have imagined any of this.
Instead, he thought he was about to win.
Just then,
the sound of a door unlocking came from outside.
Back at the start of the school year,
Prince Ganlongdao had taken his Private Points, his key card, everything.
Dragon Garden naturally knew who was opening the door.
A hint of amusement glinted in his snake-like eyes.
He was about to win!
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