Situation

"Ryuen, find some people to observe the movements of the other classes for a while, but do not get into any conflicts with them."

After class, Sawahara approached Ryuen.

"Heh, you sure know how to order people around." Ryuen raised an eyebrow, moving his still-bandaged arm with intentional or perhaps unintentional effort.

"Rest assured, I've kept things in check. If nothing goes wrong, your injury should be fine in another week." Sawahara wore a look of slight helplessness. "I have no choice; there aren't many sharp people in the class, and Kaneda and the others are busy preparing for study sessions."

"Hmph, I got it." Ryuen did not refuse; he knew exactly what the situation in the class was like.

"Class A of the first year is currently split into two factions, led by Sakayanagi Arisu and Katsuragi Kohei respectively."

Two days later, Ryuen brought the intelligence he had gathered to Sawahara.

"As expected of Class A, there are indeed many smart people, though it looks like they're a bit too smart for their own good," Ryuen said with a mocking tone.

"Indeed, someone else did the same thing before, but unfortunately, they were crushed quite quickly," Ibuki interjected with a sneer.

"Tch." Ryuen clicked his tongue in annoyance but did not deny it. A loss was a loss, and he didn't want to dwell on that night, but... "It's one thing that your girlfriend is here, but why is this person here too?"

Since the task involved analyzing intelligence, those participating in the discussion needed to be sharp, which was why Ryuen only had Ishizaki and Albert standing guard outside.

Come to think of it, even though Ryuen had lost, Ishizaki and Albert still followed him.

According to Ishizaki, loyalty was everything when living on the streets; since he had chosen to be Ryuen's subordinate back then, he remained one now.

Sawahara had no objections to this; having Ryuen lead them also prevented the delinquents in the class from going out and picking fights.

"Shiina is not my girlfriend." Sawahara looked over the intelligence Ryuen had handed him and replied casually. "As for Ibuki... she's fine."

"Is that so." Ryuen pondered for a moment and nodded. Indeed, given Ibuki's intelligence, she was fine; even if she wanted to betray the class, her brain wouldn't be capable of pulling off much.

"Hey, what do you mean by that!" Ibuki frowned. Although she didn't fully understand, she felt these two definitely weren't saying anything nice about her.

"The split in Class A is a good opening. If we aim for that later, the harvest will surely be significant."

"Yes, but I would prefer to let the Katsuragi faction win if possible; that would be acceptable for us as well," Shiina suggested after observing the styles of the two factions.

"Is that so... hmm, indeed." Ryuen looked at Shiina with some surprise. She was one of the few smart people in the class, so it was no wonder she was involved.

"Why do you say that?" Ibuki didn't understand. Were the two factions that different? Weren't they both just opponents?

"Because compared to the more aggressive Sakayanagi faction, the conservative Katsuragi faction has fewer conflicts of interest with us," Shiina explained to Ibuki. "After all, our goal is Private Points, and that doesn't conflict much with Katsuragi, who wants to maintain Class A's advantage."

"Private Points?" Ibuki's face was full of confusion. Sawahara hadn't disclosed anything about Class Points or Private Points to the rest of the class.

"Yes, points are divided into Private Points and Class Points. The assessment results mentioned in class earlier were expressed in Class Points." Sawahara began to explain to Ibuki. "However, this information shouldn't be made public for now, so please don't leak it, Ibuki."

"I got it." Ibuki nodded at Sawahara's words, though she complained, "If you can't make it public, then don't say it. Honestly."

However, Ibuki felt happy that Sawahara had shared the information with her in advance, and she secretly swore that she would not let down this trust and would absolutely never leak the matter.

Yet, Ryuen, watching this scene from the side, curled his lip, becoming even more certain of his previous judgment regarding Ibuki.

Was the information about Class Points important? Not really. Even if such a thing were leaked, it wouldn't have any impact. What truly mattered was the relationship between points and moving up a class—that as long as Class Points exceeded Class A, or if one spent 20 million points, they could move up. That was the truly valuable information.

In Ryuen's eyes, Sawahara's words just now were no different from coaxing a child.

But now that the child was pacified, it was time to talk about other things.

"Next is about Class B. Although it hasn't been officially confirmed, it can basically be determined that the leader is Ichinose Honami." Ryuen recounted the intelligence regarding Class B.

"After school started, Class B rallied tightly around Ichinose, and then there's this Kanzaki, Ichinose's second-in-command, who seems to have some ability.

But if you ask me, Class B poses absolutely no threat."

"Is that so." Sawahara pondered for a moment. Indeed, Class B's flaws were equally obvious, though it remained to be seen if they were that easy to break.

"What about Class D?"

"Class D... ha." Ryuen suddenly let out a laugh, which made Ibuki quite dissatisfied. "The students in Class D are still spending money recklessly, and the class has split into a bunch of small cliques. If you really had to pick a leader, it would probably be that Hirata guy."

Honestly, before gathering the intelligence, Ryuen had never imagined that Class D would be in such a state.

Compared to the other three classes, it was practically in another dimension—perhaps like the difference between 3G and 4G.

Regardless, the other three classes had all determined their leaders and tightened their spending, yet Class D hadn't even caught wind of a single thing?

This performance, as if they weren't even connected to the internet, truly blinded Ryuen.

"This..."

"No way, right?"

Even Ibuki was stunned upon hearing this.

"I see. Then let's focus on observing Class D's movements for now, and later, we'll just trample Class D into the ground."

Sawahara already had a plan in mind and gave the order for Ryuen and the others to keep an eye on Class D.

"Do we really need to take action against Class D?"

A month later, looking at the Class Points posted on the blackboard by Mr. Sakagami, Shiina felt somewhat shaken regarding Sawahara's previous plan.

Class A: 940

Class B: 690

Class C: 600

Class D: 0

Kazuma Sakagami was at the podium, explaining the relationship between Class Points and Private Points to the students. For Sawahara, who had already figured this out long ago, there was no need to listen.

Ibuki, sitting in the back row, saw the confused expressions of her classmates and couldn't help but feel a sense of pride. This was one of the rare moments she felt a cognitive advantage, even if it wasn't exactly her own doing.

Class A's self-discipline was exceptionally strong; even without being fully unified, they still managed to secure such a high score. Class B, it seemed, hadn't deduced the nature of this exam, yet they still managed to achieve this score, which was quite impressive.

Although Sawahara had long since realized the content of the exam and had unified the class at the beginning of the month, the points lost due to previous acts of violence were likely significant. Coupled with the fact that the students in his class were inherently less capable than those in Classes A and B, this result was within Sawahara's expectations.

However, regarding the score of Class D... was it intentional, or unintentional? There was a significant difference between the two.

"The original plan remains unchanged, but be more careful when making contact with Class D," Sawahara said to Shiina, who was sitting next to him.

Posted on the blackboard alongside the Class Points was another sheet of paper, which displayed the results of the previous monthly exam.

"That's amazing, Sawahara-kun."

One thing on the report card was particularly eye-catching: the first place in every subject belonged to the same name, and the score for each subject was over ninety-eight.

"Everyone's performance in this monthly exam was decent, and every student has shown some improvement. However..." Kazuma Sakagami first praised the efforts of Class C during this period, then shifted his tone and drew a line on the report card with his pen.

"If this were a midterm or final exam, two students in our class would be expelled."

As soon as Sakagami said this, the classroom erupted. Even though Sawahara had previously mentioned that this school had exams that could lead to expulsion, no one had expected it to be so close.

"This... how could this be? How can you do this!"

"On what grounds? To be expelled just because of something like this?" The ones who found it hardest to accept were the underachievers in the class, especially the two who had been singled out as potential expellees.

"Quiet." Sawahara frowned and spoke up to maintain order in the classroom.

Instantly, there wasn't a sound left in the room. In the eyes of the Class C students, Sawahara, the leader of the class, was mysterious and powerful. Whether it was his martial prowess in defeating Ryuen three-on-one, or the wisdom he had demonstrated time and again, it all made the students feel a sense of awe.

But at this moment, it became a source of reassurance.

"I had already guessed that something like this would happen. As long as you continue to attend the study sessions, there won't be any major problems," Sawahara's words were like a sedative, calming the restless hearts of the students.

"That's great, I'm so glad I've been attending the study sessions."

"Sawahara-kun arranged the study sessions last month; he must have guessed it back then!"

"He's too amazing."

Only then did the students realize that this matter had long been part of Sawahara's plan. As for the two students who failed, they were now filled with regret—deep, profound regret.

The main reason the two of them failed was that they felt overconfident and refused to attend the study sessions, as participation was not mandatory for everyone.

Ishizaki breathed a sigh of relief. Previously, intimidated by Sawahara's power and pressured by Ryuen's demands, he had attended the study sessions despite his reluctance. Although the learning process was difficult and had driven Kaneda to the brink of madness countless times, he had still made some progress.

Even though he had only just scraped by the passing line this time, at least he had passed.

"This was just a general deduction," Sawahara didn't think there was anything impressive about it. The school was bound to have midterm and final exams; that was just basic common sense.

"Also, regarding the definition of the passing line, Sakagami-sensei, this shouldn't be information that cannot be disclosed, right?" Sawahara looked at Sakagami.

"Of course. Although this information is usually meant to be purchased with Private Points, let's consider it a reward for your excellent performance on this exam. The passing line for midterm and final exams is half of the class average," Sakagami said with a smile. So far, the performance of this year's Class C students could already be called excellent.

"The school encourages students to actively think of strategies to deal with exams, but cheating is absolutely forbidden. Once discovered, it will be treated as an immediate expulsion."

Sakagami followed his usual approach, looking at Sawahara with words laden with hints.

Hearing Sakagami's words, Sawahara pondered the meaning he wanted to convey. Was there something in this exam that could be purchased with points? Perhaps more than one thing—answers? Scores? The school encouraged thinking of strategies, which meant there was more than one way to pass other than just studying hard. So, the answers should be purchasable. But since the school only encouraged it, they wouldn't intervene directly. It couldn't be the teachers, so it must be the upperclassmen. Were the exam papers the same every year?

Scores should also be purchasable, but that could only be a remedial measure.

"I understand. However, I think there shouldn't be any problems with this exam. If the passing line is calculated this way, then the fact that some students in the class failed is also partly due to my lack of consideration."

If he had known how the passing line was calculated earlier, he could have easily controlled the scores to be lower.

"I think you have all recognized the reality of this school by now. Now, it's your turn. The points for this month were deposited this morning."