Situation

"Ryuen, have some people keep an eye on the other classes' movements for a while, but don't get into any conflicts with them."

After class, Sawahara went to see Ryuen.

"Heh, you sure know how to give orders." Ryuen raised an eyebrow and deliberately shifted his bandaged arm.

"Don't worry. I've got it under control. Unless something unexpected happens, your injury should be fine in another week." Sawahara looked a little helpless. "It can't be helped. There aren't many sharp people in our class, and Kaneda and the others have to prepare for the study group."

"Hmph. Fine." Ryuen didn't refuse. He knew what the class was like.

"Class 1-A is now split into two factions, led by Sakayanagi Arisu and Katsuragi Kohei."

Two days later, Ryuen handed the information he had gathered to Sawahara.

"As expected of Class A. There are quite a few clever people, though it looks like they're a little too clever for their own good." Ryuen spoke mockingly.

"Yeah. Someone else did the same thing before, but unfortunately, he was crushed pretty quickly." Ibuki taunted him from the side.

"Tch." Ryuen clicked his tongue in irritation, but didn't deny it. A loss was a loss. He didn't want to talk much about what had happened that night, but... "I get that your girlfriend is here, but why is this one here too?"

Since they were going to analyze the information, anyone taking part in the discussion had to be reasonably sharp. So Ryuen had only asked Ishizaki and Albert to stand guard outside.

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

As Ishizaki put it, you had to be loyal. Since he'd chosen to become Ryuen's underling back then, he'd stick with him now, too.

Sawahara didn't have any objections. With Ryuen keeping the class's delinquents in line, they were less likely to go out and cause trouble.

"Shiina isn't my girlfriend." Sawahara looked over the information Ryuen had handed him and replied casually. "As for Ibuki... she's fine."

"I see." Ryuen thought it over, then nodded. Given Ibuki's intelligence, she wasn't much of a problem. Even if she wanted to betray the class, she wouldn't be able to do much with that brain of hers.

"Hey, what do you mean by that?" Ibuki frowned. She didn't understand what they were saying, but she was sure the two of them weren't complimenting her.

"Class A's split gives us a good opening. If we focus on that, we'll definitely get a lot out of it."

"Yeah. But I'd like to see the Katsuragi Faction win, if possible. That would be acceptable for us, too." After considering the two factions' styles, Shiina offered her opinion.

"Is that so... Hmm, you're right." Ryuen looked at Shiina in surprise. She was one of the few smart people in the class. No wonder she was involved in the discussion.

"Why do you say that?" Ibuki didn't get it. Was there really much difference between the two factions? Weren't they both their opponents?

"Compared to the more aggressive Sakayanagi Faction, the conservative Katsuragi Faction has fewer conflicting interests with us." Shiina explained her reasoning to Ibuki. "After all, our goal is Private Points, and Katsuragi's desire to maintain Class A's advantage doesn't really conflict with that."

"Private Points?" Ibuki looked utterly confused. Sawahara hadn't told the class about Class Points and Private Points.

"Right. There are Private Points and Class Points. The results of the assessments I mentioned in class before are represented by Class Points." Sawahara explained it to Ibuki. "But we shouldn't reveal this information yet, so please don't let it slip, Ibuki."

"Got it." Ibuki nodded at Sawahara, but complained, "If you can't tell people, then don't tell me. Honestly."

Still, she was happy that Sawahara had trusted her with the information ahead of time. She silently vowed not to let him down and never to reveal it.

Ryuen watched from the side and curled his lip, even more certain of his earlier assessment of Ibuki.

Was information about Class Points important? No. It wouldn't matter if it got out. What really mattered was the relationship between points and moving up a class. If your Class Points exceeded Class A's, you could move up, and you could also move up by spending twenty million points. That was the truly valuable information.

To Ryuen, what Sawahara had just said was more or less the same as placating a child.

But now that the child was placated, it was time to talk about something else.

"Next is Class B. They haven't officially settled on a leader, but we can basically assume it's Ichinose Honami." Ryuen began outlining what he knew about Class B.

"Since the start of the term, Class B has rallied closely around Ichinose. Then there's Kanzaki, her right-hand man. He seems capable.

"But if you ask me, Class B isn't a threat at all."

"Is that so?" Sawahara considered it. Class B certainly had an obvious weakness, but whether it would be easy to exploit was another question.

"What about Class D?"

"Class D... Ha." Ryuen suddenly laughed, much to Ibuki's annoyance. "The students in Class D are still spending money like there's no tomorrow, and the class is split into a bunch of little groups. If I had to pick someone as their leader, it'd probably be that Hirata."

Honestly, before gathering information, Ryuen had never expected Class D to be like this.

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

The other three classes had all settled on leaders and curbed their students' spending. How had Class D not noticed a thing?

Its behavior was so disconnected from the world that it had practically blinded Ryuen.

"This..."

"No way?"

Even Ibuki was dumbfounded.

"I see. Then let's focus on watching Class D's movements. After that, we'll crush them completely."

Sawahara had already made up his mind. He gave the order, telling Ryuen and the others to keep an eye on Class D.

"Do we really need to make a move against Class D?"

A month later, looking at the Class Points Sakagami-sensei had posted on the blackboard, Shiina began to have doubts about Sawahara's earlier plan.

Class A: 940

Class B: 690

Class C: 600

Class D: 0

At the lectern, Sakagami-sensei was explaining the relationship between Class Points and Private Points to the class. Sawahara already knew all about it, so there was no need for him to listen.

Ibuki noticed the confused expressions of the students around her and felt a swell of pride. This was probably one of the few times she'd gotten to experience the advantage of being more intelligent—though it wasn't really her advantage.

Class A had remarkable self-discipline. Even without being fully united, they'd still scored that highly. Class B didn't seem to have figured out what this exam was about, but even so, they'd earned a pretty good score.

Sawahara had figured out what the exam covered long ago and had unified the class at the start of the month. But because of their earlier violent behavior, they'd probably lost quite a few points there. On top of that, the students in his class were simply not as capable as those in Classes A and B, so this result was within his expectations.

But what about Class D's score? Had they done it deliberately, or was it unintentional? There was a huge difference between the two.

"The original plan stands, but we'll need to be more careful when dealing with Class D." Sawahara spoke to Shiina beside him.

Another sheet of paper had been posted on the blackboard next to the Class Points. It showed the scores from the previous monthly exam.

"That's amazing, Sawahara."

One thing stood out on the score sheet: the same student had come first in every subject, with a score of at least 98 in each one.

"Everyone did fairly well on this monthly exam. Each of you made some progress. However..." Sakagami Kazuma first praised Class C for its efforts over the past month, then shifted gears and drew a line on the score sheet with his pen.

"If this had been a midterm or final exam, two students in our class would have been expelled."

As soon as Sakagami said this, the class erupted. Sawahara had told them before that there were exams at this school that could get you expelled, but they'd never imagined one could be so close.

"H-How could this happen? How can they do this?"

"What right do they have to expel us over something like this?" The students who took it hardest were the ones with poor grades, especially the two who'd been singled out as possible candidates for expulsion.

"Quiet." Sawahara frowned and spoke up to restore order.

In an instant, the class fell completely silent. To the students of Class C, Sawahara—their mysterious and powerful leader—was someone they couldn't help but respect, whether for his strength in defeating Ryuen in a three-on-one fight or the intelligence he'd proven time and again.

At a moment like this, that respect also gave them confidence.

"I'd already guessed something like this might happen. As long as you keep attending the study group, there shouldn't be a major problem." Sawahara's words reassured the students, calming their restless hearts.

"Thank goodness. I'm glad I kept going to the study group."

"Sawahara arranged it last month. Had he already guessed this would happen?"

"That's incredible."

Only now did the students realize that Sawahara had already accounted for this. As for the two students who'd failed, they were now filled with regret—utter regret.

They'd failed largely because they'd felt overconfident and refused to attend the study group. After all, no one had said attendance was mandatory.

Ishizaki breathed a sigh of relief. He'd attended the study group partly because he was intimidated by Sawahara and partly because Ryuen had told him to. He hadn't wanted to go, and studying had been a struggle, driving Kaneda crazy countless times, but he'd still made some progress.

His score had only just cleared the passing line, but at least he'd passed.

"This was only a general inference." Sawahara didn't think it was anything special. The school was bound to have midterm and final exams. That was just common sense.

"Also, about how the passing score is determined, Sakagami-sensei—this isn't something you're forbidden to tell us, is it?" Sawahara looked at Sakagami.

"Of course not. This information would normally have to be purchased with Private Points, but consider it a reward for your excellent performance on this exam. The passing score for midterms and finals is half the class average." Sakagami-sensei smiled. So far, the students in this year's Class C had performed exceptionally well.

"The school encourages students to think actively about how to deal with exams, but cheating is absolutely forbidden. Anyone caught will be expelled immediately."

Sakagami stuck to his usual approach, looking at Sawahara as he spoke, his words carrying several hints.

Hearing Sakagami's words, Sawahara silently considered what he was trying to hint at. Was there something in this exam that could be bought with points? Perhaps more than one thing. The answers? The scores? The school encouraged them to come up with strategies, which meant studying hard wasn't the only way to pass. Then the answers should be for sale. But the school was only encouraging them, not stepping in itself. The teachers couldn't be involved, so it had to be upperclassmen. Were the exams the same every year?

The scores should be purchasable, too, but that would only be a stopgap.

"I understand. But I don't think we'll have any trouble with this exam. If that's how the passing score is calculated, then it was partly my oversight that some students in the class failed."

If he'd known how the passing score was calculated, they could have kept the scores lower.

"I think you've realized the truth about this school by now. Now it's your turn. This month's points were deposited this morning."