Chapter Thirty-Five: The Girl Who Spotted an Opportunity / Chapter Thirty-Six: The Indebted Girl

"You're far too greedy. These aren't things you can afford right now." Chabashira Sae wore the faintest hint of a smile.

"Then please tell me what information I can afford right now." Horikita Suzune's gaze was unwavering.

"That's hard to say. School regulations prevent me from revealing too much to students. So even if you wanted to buy the information with Private Points, the price would be more than you could possibly afford."

Faced with Chabashira Sae's deliberate provocation, Horikita Suzune didn't back down in the slightest. Instead, she said, "At least tell me how Class Points are gained or lost."

Chabashira Sae gave a rare smile, then returned to her usual impassive expression. "Two million Private Points."

That was an even larger number than Suzuki Toru had mentioned. Horikita Suzune was shocked.

After a long silence, Horikita Suzune asked awkwardly, "What can I get for fifty thousand Private Points?"

Chabashira Sae stared at her in silence, too. Was this girl only thinking about herself?

If she didn't have enough points, couldn't she ask someone else?

This kind of information clearly wasn't something one person could afford alone. The whole class would have to chip in.

"You can only buy a little of what you might call common knowledge."

Horikita Suzune gritted her teeth. She knew nothing about this place, and some guy from Class A had inexplicably tried to make her drop out.

That left her with only one option.

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Girl Who Spotted an Opportunity

Back in the classroom, Horikita Suzune sat silently at her desk. She had a little over thirty thousand points left, which should be enough to get by for a while.

But she felt it was a terrible deal.

The "common knowledge" Chabashira Sae had offered was meaningless. All she'd said was that the classes would compete with one another and that Class A would be the ultimate winner.

Apparently, the exchange rate between Class Points and Private Points was one to one hundred.

And anyone who didn't contribute to the class or couldn't keep up with it would be the first to be eliminated and expelled.

What good was any of that?

Watching her classmates laugh and joke around, Horikita Suzune grew irritated. Some were showing off their new game consoles, while others excitedly discussed their plans for after school.

She wanted to reach Class A as quickly as possible—ideally, within this semester. But could these people really make it there?

The school had put her in Class D. She couldn't understand what they were thinking.

At this stage, what else could they judge students on besides academic ability?

Did they expect a high school student to win a national championship?

What a ridiculous school. What a ridiculous class. She was absolutely not trash.

She would make these people eat their words—especially that Class A student, Suzuki Toru. He thought her brother's invitation to join the Student Council made him somebody, and he'd become unbearably conceited.

Horikita Suzune felt perfectly calm. She had told Suzuki Toru that she would lead her class to Class A, but the million Private Points he'd mentioned had set her mind racing.

If even Suzuki Toru could earn a million Private Points in the first week of school, surely she could do it too?

If she couldn't manage it in a week, she could take a month. Given a year or two, she could gather Twenty Million Personal Points and transfer to Class A.

But where could she get Private Points?

Horikita Suzune fell into deep thought. At this school, where ability was everything, a student's class seemed to determine their worth. Private Points, meanwhile, felt like a different kind of cheat code.

It was as if the school were saying, If you dislike those deadweights holding you back, why not work hard on your own?

But Twenty Million Personal Points...

As Horikita Suzune agonized over it, someone suddenly called out to her in a soft voice.

"Hey, Horikita, how did your conversation with Suzuki go yesterday?"

Just from the sound of the voice, there was no doubt—it was Kushida Kikyo.

"It was nothing. You don't need to—" Horikita Suzune had no desire to get involved with Kushida Kikyo, but then she remembered her goal and quickly changed tack. "Did Suzuki tell you anything?"

"Eh? Suzuki didn't tell me anything. Did something happen yesterday?" Kushida Kikyo blinked, apparently unable to understand what she meant.

"I was just asking." A trace of disappointment showed in Horikita Suzune's eyes. She'd thought Kushida Kikyo might know something.

Seeing her reaction, Kushida Kikyo's thoughts stirred. Yesterday's scene flashed before her eyes again. Should she tell her or not?

"Horikita, you went to the staff room just now, didn't you?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka suddenly interjected. "That's the first time I've seen you hurry to catch up with Chabashira-sensei. Usually, you just read during breaks as if no one else were there."

Horikita Suzune gave him a cold glance. Lately, this guy had been getting more and more comfortable talking to her.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?" Kushida Kikyo asked, concern in her eyes.

Horikita Suzune was silent for a moment. "What do you think of Class D?"

Kushida Kikyo and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka exchanged a glance. So it was finally happening.

"Everyone seems really nice. But why are you suddenly asking?" Surprise came naturally to Kushida Kikyo's face.

"I heard it from Suzuki. This school supposedly measures students by their abilities. Class A is the best, and Class D is the worst." Horikita Suzune's voice was cool. "I just confirmed it with Chabashira-sensei, too. From the moment we enrolled, the school had already judged us to be defective."

Kushida Kikyo froze, then couldn't help exclaiming, "That can't be right... Couldn't there be some kind of mistake?"

Hearing that, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked a little strange. If he hadn't followed Horikita Suzune with Kushida Kikyo yesterday, he might have believed her act.

"I wish the school had made a mistake, too, but Chabashira-sensei vehemently denied it." Horikita Suzune sounded both frustrated and resentful. She couldn't understand it. What was she lacking compared to Suzuki Toru?

But Horikita Suzune quickly collected herself and told them what she knew.

After listening, Kushida Kikyo murmured thoughtfully, "I see. So we all have to work together to reach Class A?"

Horikita Suzune remained silent. She hadn't decided whether she wanted to lead these people to Class A.

"Horikita, you must have a reason you absolutely need to reach Class A, right?" Kushida Kikyo spoke gently. "If we all work together, I'm sure we can make it. I believe in our classmates, so please don't worry about that."

Heh. I won't let you sneak ahead on your own. Don't think you're going to make any Private Points.

The thought flashed through Kushida Kikyo's mind, but her bright smile never wavered.

Horikita Suzune looked around. When she saw the boys in her class loudly debating whose boobs were bigger, her brow furrowed deeply.

Could she really rely on these people?

"Right now, all the classes have the same number of points. Even if a difference appears next month, I doubt it'll be very large," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said, as if to remind her.

Horikita Suzune glanced at him in surprise, then calmly analyzed the situation. "If a gap appears between the classes next month, that means Class Points will have gone up or down this month. The competition between classes has already begun. We just don't know what criteria the school uses to grade us."

Yes. Once you knew those basic facts, anyone could tell the class competition had started from the very beginning.

It was like an exam. The school had already given each class its questions, but it hadn't handed out the answer sheets yet, and they had no idea how to answer.

Horikita Suzune was frustrated. She really wanted to buy that information, but she didn't have enough points.

Then she suddenly heard Kushida Kikyo say something that delighted her.

"If you need information, I happen to know a student from Class A who might be able to provide some."

Horikita Suzune was taken aback, then frowned. "You're not talking about Suzuki, are you? Forget him. I don't need his information."

"Ahaha, not Suzuki. Another student from Class A." Kushida Kikyo seemed to be recalling something. "She told me that if I ever wanted to know anything, I could ask her, but I'd have to pay the appropriate number of points. At the time, I thought she might be joking, so I didn't reply."

Horikita Suzune didn't believe it at first. But remembering Suzuki Toru's Private Points, she suddenly saw the appeal. Selling information to other students really was a decent way to make money.

No wonder Suzuki Toru had a million. Horikita Suzune felt she'd just spotted a business opportunity.

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Indebted Girl

"How many points would I have to pay to find out the school's grading criteria?" Horikita Suzune asked bluntly.

"I'll ask her." Kushida Kikyo blinked, then took out her phone and started messaging someone.

Horikita Suzune didn't suspect anything. She waited silently for a reply.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, standing nearby, felt a little at a loss. He didn't know the full story, but he could guess that Kushida Kikyo was obviously contacting Suzuki Toru.

After all, he'd been there yesterday when Kushida Kikyo received the message.

Well, he hadn't seen what it said.

Still, it was easy enough to guess. Kushida Kikyo had been the one to arrange for Horikita Suzune to meet Suzuki Toru in the first place. There was no way the two of them weren't connected.

He just didn't know what they were up to.

Were they setting Horikita Suzune up?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka felt strangely uneasy. Even if they wanted to target Horikita Suzune, there ought to be a reason.

Was it just because of the Student Council President?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka decided to wait and see. He wanted to observe for a while longer and find out what Suzuki Toru was trying to do.

"All right, Kamuro replied." Kushida Kikyo spoke lightly. "She said an exam is currently underway, and since this information involves the specific exam rules, the school forbids selling them. She can't tell us anything."

Horikita Suzune felt a little relieved. She did want to know the rules, but if anyone could buy them, the competition would likely turn into a battle of Private Points.

Classes without enough points to buy information wouldn't even be able to get to the starting line.

"What does she mean by an exam?" Horikita Suzune focused on that. "Are Class Points gained or lost through exams? What kind of exam is it?"

Kushida Kikyo gave her an apologetic look and said tactfully, "That information requires payment."

Horikita Suzune hesitated, then quickly steeled herself again. "How many Private Points does she want?"

"Four hundred thousand Private Points. She'll tell us everything she knows." Kushida Kikyo answered without hesitation, even though she knew full well that Suzuki Toru was targeting Horikita Suzune.

Compared with two million Private Points, this price made Horikita Suzune frown even more. Wasn't it a little too low?

Only then did she consider whether it was worth the price—and how much of it was true.

But then she thought that Class A might not know much about the details either.

"Four hundred thousand Private Points is too much. I can't pay that all at once." Horikita Suzune fell into thought.

"Kamuro said it's fine if you don't have the Private Points right now. You can pay in installments, as long as you sign a contract." Kushida Kikyo said, then offered, "Should we ask everyone to help? If each person contributes ten thousand points, we'll gather it in no time."

Horikita Suzune began to waver. She had to admit Kushida Kikyo's suggestion made sense, but she also wondered how many Private Points Class D had left.