After learning that Sakayanagi had returned from the Student Council, Kamuro went looking for her. As it happened, she overheard what Sakayanagi had said.
She'd thought Sakayanagi was going to ask her to do something again, but instead she was talking behind her back.
What did she mean, Kamuro couldn't meet her expectations? And a genius, no less. Ha.
She'd never met a genius who needed ten hours of sleep every night, like a baby.
So Kamuro left, thoroughly displeased.
Shirogane and Sakayanagi remained where they were.
"My circumstances are rather ordinary, so I might not be able to meet your expectations," Shirogane said.
"Please don't worry about that. I'll only pay you points once you've fulfilled my ambition," Sakayanagi replied frankly.
In other words, if he didn't succeed, he wouldn't get paid. She'd be getting his help for free.
"..." Shirogane.
He was beginning to think even eating a meal at the Sakayanagi household would take considerable effort.
"You don't need to reject me outright. The person I want you to help me defeat is in Class D, and I'm certain they'll make a move during the upcoming Special Exam."
"So all you have to do is keep Class D from climbing up."
"And that serves your class's interests too, doesn't it?" said Sakayanagi Arisu.
Knowing Class D had a boss with considerable ability, and that Sakayanagi's request was to defeat that boss, amounted to keeping Class D down.
The question was whether the boss would actually act. After all, Class D's class evaluation points had now dropped to zero.
If that person cared about the class and wanted to help, they wouldn't let the class evaluation points fall to zero.
But there were reasons to believe that the boss would take action.
There were two. First, Teacher Chabashira of Class D had been breaking the rules. Given how persistent she was, if she realized that Classmate Horikita was completely incapable, she might try to make Class D's boss take action.
The second reason was that zero points weren't necessarily a bad situation for Class D.
Just as Ryuen Class needed Ryuen's violent rule to bring the class together, Class D was also in a terrible state—a scattered mess. But they didn't have anyone as ruthless as Ryuen, so uniting the class would be difficult.
Now, though, Class D had hit zero points. Unless every student in the class worked hard during the next Special Exam, the whole class would be left without spending money.
Since this affected the interests of every student in the class, all it would take was one person to step forward and rally them. That person could potentially bring Class D together.
So even though Class D had lost, they hadn't really lost.
If Class D truly started climbing the ranks, that would put considerable pressure on Ryuen Class too. The information Shirogane had obtained showed that while some students in Class D were absurdly incompetent, others were extremely specialized. If their talents were used properly, most classes wouldn't be able to handle them.
Even Koenji Rokusuke or Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, if they went all out, might be impossible for Class A to find anyone capable of opposing.
So—
Class D was an extremely dangerous class.
That was also why Shirogane had made that deal with Classmate Horikita.
He'd offered information on Class A and Ichinose Class in exchange for information on Class D. It seemed like a bad trade, but he'd identified Class D as the greatest threat.
So, in a way, accepting Sakayanagi's task was only natural.
Keeping Ayanokoji Kiyotaka in check was the same as keeping Class D in check.
If Shirogane could manage that, then even if Ryuen Class ultimately failed to hold on to its position in Class A, he'd have a safety net.
It was a win-win situation.
Sakayanagi had only been in Class B for a few minutes. She left just before the bell rang.
Shirogane returned to his seat.
"Did Classmate Sakayanagi need something?" Classmate Shiina asked, turning around from the seat in front of him.
She hadn't been in the classroom when Sakayanagi came by, but on her way back she'd seen Shirogane and Sakayanagi leaving together.
"She told me something," Shirogane said. "If you can gather twenty million points, you can avoid expulsion once, or go directly to the class you want."
"Isn't that really important?"
Hiyori immediately recognized how significant the information was.
"But gathering twenty million points by yourself would be difficult."
"Also," Classmate Shiina said, "when I passed through the hallway just now, I ran into a student from the Student Council. He originally came to tell you to go to the Student Council after school, Shirogane."
"It seems the Student Council President wants to see you," Hiyori added.
"Did he just tell you and then leave?" Shirogane asked, noticing something odd.
"He was originally heading toward our classroom. Then, after I told him I was a student in First-Year Class B, he went ahead and told me about it."
"He asked me to pass the message along," Hiyori said. "There's one thing I'm a little concerned about, though. He asked for my phone number, saying he wanted me to reply after I'd passed on the message. I figured it was a request from a Student Council senior."
As she said this, Classmate Shiina looked a little embarrassed.
"After we added each other, I blocked him. But I could still see his number in my blocked list. Here it is."
"..." Shirogane.
Shirogane took the phone Classmate Shiina handed him and found the blocked number.
What kind of unreliable Student Council member was this? And he'd tried to get a younger student's number too. He clearly wasn't a decent senior.
It wasn't hard to understand why he'd wanted Shiina's contact information. She was the class beauty, and she was so pretty that people turned to look at her even when she went to the Shopping District.
But asking a first-year for her number like that, while serving on the Student Council, showed a serious lack of character.
Still, Classmate Shiina had handled things well. She'd realized what kind of person her senior was. She hadn't refused his request to add her, not because she was afraid of his authority, but because it let her get information on him.
"He said he was a second-year senior and that he'd joined the Student Council. He's an officer there. As for his appearance, he had short blond hair and red eyes."
"He wasn't bad-looking, and he walked with a spring in his step. He might be good at sports, too," Classmate Shiina said, as if recalling what she'd seen.
Suddenly, Shirogane remembered the two seniors he'd run into when leaving the Student Council with Classmate Sakayanagi. One of them had blond hair and the cheerful face of a handsome young man.
That senior was the current class representative of Second-Year Class A. He was also the Student Council Vice President: Miyabi Nagumo.
Chapter 40: Ran Into Ichinose Again—Turns Out Lying to the Archangel Leaves You Feeling Guilty!
Shirogane had only met Vice President Nagumo once, but he'd already learned a few things about him from Classmate Sakayanagi.
For example, Vice President Nagumo had led Class B to its promotion to Class A, and then accomplished the feat of taking control of the entire second year.
Whether it was leading his class in a comeback to Class A and securing its position there, or gaining control over the entire second year, both showed that he was an extremely capable student.
But his ability didn't mean he was perfect in every way. For instance, he seemed to be lacking in character.
With that in mind—
"How much do you know about Miyabi Nagumo?"
Shirogane returned to his seat and took out a small notebook.
Of course, it wasn't because he held a grudge. Classmate Shiina had exchanged phone numbers with Senior Nagumo, but then immediately blocked him.
She'd done it partly to find out more about him, but also because she disliked him.
She felt he was harassing her.
As classmates, Shirogane and Classmate Shiina got along fairly well. He knew she was the type to accept even unpleasant things if they helped her achieve her goal. She was more open-minded than most people.
But she rarely showed her emotions.
So the fact that she'd blocked Senior Nagumo's number right away meant she was clearly unhappy.
As her classmate, Shirogane felt there was something he could do about that.
[Miyabi Nagumo? I don't know much about him.]
The Narrator System seemed a little hesitant.
As he wondered about that, Shirogane found himself hearing a flood of information.
[Miyabi Nagumo used to be a student in Class B. He led his classmates to become what is now Second-Year Class A.
Because of his excellent performance, Horikita Manabu promoted him into the Student Council. He currently serves as Student Council Vice President.
The Student Council is one of the driving forces behind this school's administration. There are two governing bodies: one under the Board Chairman, and the other is the Student Council.
The Student Council has considerable authority. The Student Council President even has the power to expel students directly.
Miyabi Nagumo is very good at managing people. He excels at sports, and he's also highly academic—almost a jack of all trades.
His goal is to become Student Council President.
He rules over the second-year students, and they all submit to him. Every Special Exam at this school becomes an opportunity for them to divide up the school's rewards.]
"..." Shirogane.
You call that not knowing much?
"Why do you know so much about him?"
[Nagumo's ambition is a little off-putting. Sakayanagi has spoken ill of him, too.]
So Classmate Sakayanagi held a grudge, then.
Shirogane was once again convinced that his Narration System had some connection to the future Sakayanagi.
"What does Nagumo want to do? Or what did he do to make the future Sakayanagi angry?"
Shirogane didn't think the current Sakayanagi had any bad blood with Nagumo, so what the Narration System was talking about had to involve the future.
[Basically, after becoming Student Council President, Nagumo plans to overhaul the Student Council's membership and appoint the students he wants. But he doesn't choose them based on their abilities. They have to be cute girls. Ability is one factor, and looks are another. Naturally, the best candidates have both, but if a girl is absolutely gorgeous even without much ability, she can still make a nice Student Council pet.]
[And of course, Sakayanagi is on his list.]
All right.
That made it a little clearer why Nagumo had asked Shiina for her number.
Shiina was very pretty.
So if Nagumo planned to build a new Student Council, it made sense for him to start reaching out to students he wanted on it.
Before long, it was time for school to let out.
"Then I'll see everyone at the Shopping District!"
Teacher Sakagami was treating them, so the students were excited.
It was free, and there'd be a buffet. No one would turn that down.
Still...
Before you continue