S/A Intelligence Collection Plan for the Entire School Year

At exactly one in the afternoon, Akiyama Shin slowly opened his eyes.

After lying facedown on the desk in the same position for so long, his neck was stiff and sore.

He instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes. The heavy blackout curtains had not been fully drawn, and several piercing rays of sunlight slipped through the gap, landing on his eyelids with scorching warmth.

As his vision gradually focused, he turned his head and scanned the room. Neither Horikita Suzune nor Kushida Kikyo was where they had been the night before. Only the soft sound of running water came from the bathroom, like rain striking banana leaves, while the crisp, rhythmic sound of chopping vegetables drifted faintly from the kitchen.

He sat up, stretched his numb arms, then slowly headed toward the kitchen.

At the kitchen doorway, Kushida Kikyo wore a light pink apron. Her golden-brown hair was simply tied behind her head, with a few loose strands resting against her neck and swaying gently with her movements.

She held a kitchen knife and expertly sliced potatoes into thin strips, the blade striking the cutting board with crisp, clean sounds.

Hearing his footsteps, Kushida turned around. A gentle smile immediately bloomed across her face, her eyes curving into crescents.

Her voice was filled with genuine excitement, as though something from her own home had become famous.

"Shin! You're awake? That website we made has completely blown up! The Campus Network forums are full of posts discussing it! Every time you refresh, more new posts pop up!"

Akiyama Shin merely nodded faintly in response. His gaze swept quickly across the counter, and when he did not see anyone else, he casually asked,

"Where's Horikita?"

"Suzune's taking a shower."

Kushida turned back and continued what she was doing.

"She got up early this morning and sorted through yesterday's materials first. She only went into the bathroom a little while ago. Lunch is almost ready—just one last soup left. Wait another ten minutes, okay?"

After staying up all night together discussing plans, Kushida Kikyo no longer felt the same distance she once had toward Horikita Suzune. She now called her by name directly, though Horikita Suzune still found it awkward and remained much the same as before.

Only Akiyama Shin and Kushida Kikyo used more intimate forms of address when they were alone. Akiyama Shin said nothing more and turned around to sit beside the bed.

The mattress sank slightly beneath him. He picked up the Terminal on the bedside table, and the moment its screen lit up, a flood of unread-message alerts and missed-call notifications poured in.

They nearly filled the entire screen.

Every single one was from Kamuro Masumi and Morishita Ran.

The messages were full of exclamation marks and question marks.

They were dizzying to look at.

His gaze calmly passed over the dense wall of messages. He dismissed the pop-ups one by one, then sent the exact same message to both of them.

"The website was made by me. Before the end of this week, compile every Class B student's past grades, strongest subjects, and projected rankings into a detailed report and send it to me."

After sending it, he immediately added another line, leaving no room for argument.

"Do not disturb me until the report is finished."

The delivery notification had barely sounded when the Terminals of Kamuro Masumi and Morishita Ran, sitting on a park bench, rang almost simultaneously.

They immediately grabbed their phones. After reading Akiyama Shin's reply, they reacted in completely different ways.

Kamuro Masumi's sharp-featured face instantly darkened. Her purple hair seemed ready to explode from anger, every strand bristling with rage as she gritted her teeth.

"That bastard! So it really was him! But what kind of attitude is this?"

"Is he treating us like free intelligence-gathering tools? This isn't even using us and tossing us aside! He hasn't seriously used us at all!"

She felt as if she had been treated as a disposable pawn from beginning to end, without even the slightest shred of respect.

An inexplicable fury rose within her, and she wanted nothing more than to rush over to Akiyama Shin and demand an explanation.

Meanwhile, Morishita Ran's eyes shone as if they held two stars. Her dark blue-to-purple hair seemed to stir with excitement as well. Leaning forward, she swung her fist hard, her voice trembling.

"As expected of King Arthur's grand move! Observer Morishita Ran, order received! I guarantee the mission will be completed before the deadline!"

The moment she finished speaking, she lowered her head and began rapidly swiping across her Terminal, already figuring out how to efficiently gather Class B's information. She had completely entered the role of a loyal subordinate.

There was no room in her eyes for anything except completing the mission.

Watching her act as though she had been sold off and was still helping count the money, Kamuro Masumi's lips twitched. She helplessly rubbed her forehead.

Yet it was as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over her anger, slowly cooling it down.

"I really... forget it!"

Though she was deeply dissatisfied with Akiyama Shin's attitude, she also understood that his willingness to give orders so bluntly meant he was certain they would obey. And the impact caused by that website last night had truly shocked her. She had to admit that this guy's way of thinking and ability to act were terrifyingly absurd.

He wants Class B's grade rankings...

He's probably trying to precisely identify the S-Rank and A-Rank candidates, isn't he?

Is it to ensure that the people he arranged, like Horikita and Kushida, can firmly take the top two spots?

Kamuro Masumi's mind raced, and she quickly guessed Akiyama Shin's intentions.

Back in Akiyama Shin's dorm room.

Not long after the sound of water stopped, Horikita Suzune emerged from the bathroom, having changed into a clean set of light-colored casual clothes.

Her wet black hair clung to her shoulders, water still dripping from the ends. It made her skin appear even fairer, giving her an altogether fresh and clean presence.

Before long, Kushida brought the dishes to the table. The three of them sat around the small dining table and had a simple lunch.

After the meal, Horikita and Kushida took the initiative to clear away the dishes. Akiyama Shin sat to the side and waited without any unnecessary small talk.

Once the two returned after cleaning the kitchen, Akiyama Shin immediately picked up his Terminal and began operating it.

[Ding-dong!]

[Ding-dong!]

Two crisp payment notifications sounded almost at the same time.

Horikita Suzune and Kushida Kikyo instinctively lowered their heads to look at their Terminals. When they saw the numbers on the screens, both froze.

Akiyama Shin had transferred 500,000 Personal Points to each of them! Neither had expected him to transfer the points so early. They had both assumed they would have to wait until the final day.

"Akiyama? This early... wouldn't that..."

Horikita frowned.

"Akiyama-kun..."

Kushida looked up as well.

Akiyama Shin remained calm. He lightly tapped his Terminal with his fingertips and spoke.

"This is the capital for your bets. I'm sending it to you in advance. Remember, betting closes at eight o'clock on Sunday night of the third week. Before then, I'll tell you the betting plan. When the time comes, just use these points to place the bets."

The two exchanged a glance and nodded seriously.

They both understood that this total investment of one million points was a crucial part of the entire plan and could not afford the slightest mistake.

There was naturally a reason Akiyama Shin had carefully considered before giving them the funds two weeks ahead of time.

He needed those two weeks to gather every piece of usable intelligence as comprehensively as possible. Only then could he accurately predict the ranking ranges across each grade. He was investing so many points to ensure that even if someone else got lucky and happened to enter the First Prize or Second Prize pools, Horikita and Kushida's heavy bets could still claim sufficiently generous rewards through their enormous base amount, minimizing the risk.

This school was full of hidden talents, especially in the second and third years, about whom he currently knew almost nothing.

So he absolutely could not let his guard down.

If he had planned so carefully for so long only to end up making a wedding dress for someone else, that would be the most unacceptable kind of failure.

Time was actually very tight. Today was Saturday of the first week. The second and third weeks were the critical period for collecting intelligence, conducting Analysis, and making judgments. Betting ended on the Sunday of the third week, and the Midterm Exam began that following Monday in the fourth week. Not a single step could be delayed.

"The next objective."

Leaning back in his chair, Akiyama Shin began to think.

"Is obtaining Class A's overall grade data."

His idea was straightforward. Under the pretext of promoting interclass cooperation and helping Class D improve its Midterm Exam results, he would approach Honami Ichinose about a partnership. He would ask Class A's top students to tutor Class D's students, and the 800,000 points he had left could serve as a gesture of goodwill for the partnership—or, more accurately, as tutoring fees.

However, based on what Akiyama Shin knew about Ichinose, she would most likely refuse to accept the points. Instead, she would probably use the opportunity to do him a favor. After all, Ichinose's class had always presented itself as united and helpful. Supporting the lower-ranked Class D happened to fit their style perfectly. Still, there was no harm in preparing bargaining chips beforehand. No matter what, reaching an agreement and obtaining Class A's grade data was the ultimate goal.

He had already devised the specific method. Under the pretext of a placement test, he would find several past quiz papers and personally revise them to avoid having entirely identical questions. Then, he would have the Class A and Class D students involved in the tutoring take the test together. He would personally grade the papers and assign scores. On the surface, it would be to assess the tutoring's effectiveness and make targeted adjustments to the tutoring plan afterward. In reality, he intended to use the chance to determine Class A's true grade distribution and each student's academic strengths and weaknesses, ultimately identifying the Class A candidates with a chance of reaching S-Rank and A-Rank.

At the same time, he needed to find a way to buy past Midterm Exam papers from the second and third years, either from the school or through other channels.

By analyzing the difficulty and question-type distribution of those papers, then combining that with whatever scattered intelligence he could gather, he could roughly infer the range of formidable students in the upper grades. He could also determine whether this first-year Midterm Exam might overlap with the upper-grade exams in terms of question types or difficulty.

That way, he could more or less identify most of the competitive candidates from the three first-year classes—A, B, and D. The Second Prize pool would be his for the taking.

But the First Prize would not be so easy. First Prize was a nine-leg accumulator. Not only did he have to hit the first-year S-Rank candidates, he also had to accurately predict the S-Rank candidates in both the second and third years.

The rules had deliberately included S-Rank candidates from all three grades to prevent too many people from flooding into the First Prize pool and diluting the prize money. They had even stated that if no one won First Prize, the prize money would be directly reclaimed by the platform.

Akiyama Shin knew very well that with his current intelligence network alone, it was almost impossible to reliably win First Prize—or ensure that no one else entered the First Prize pool. He needed a more effective means of obtaining information about the upper grades.

At that thought, a cold glint flashed through Akiyama Shin's eyes. His fingertips unconsciously tapped against the tabletop.

Perhaps.

He should find a way to intensify the internal conflicts among the upper grades.

He could use the enormous, tempting First Prize reward as bait, making them suspicious of one another as they fought over the slots, guard against each other, and perhaps even voluntarily leak their rivals' information.

Or they might turn around and seek cooperation with him.

Only by muddying the waters could he catch more fish in the chaos and truly seize the initiative.

(A certain fellow author next door got so triggered by my objective criticism that they stayed up all night making a post. Thin-skinned, taking things out of context, maliciously stirring up conflict—the whole set. Call me jealous or accuse me of malicious competition if you want, but your writing is just bad. You have no values, your prose is beginner-level, and you rely on AI-generated writing. And I haven't even maliciously review-bombed you, so what's wrong with you? [crying-laughing jpg])