Chapter 22

It was always better to be cautious... You should know, I got three copies of the exam papers by asking Class 3-A, Class 3-B, and Class 2-A. I only decided to use them after confirming they were identical."

"The school rules? I see. The school turned a blind eye to the exam papers being traded behind the scenes, but it might not let them circulate openly... You really are something, Kitazawa. You're our class's Zhuge Liang!"

"I'm not that clever. I just believe that caution keeps you safe for a long time. The fights in our class these past few days have also taught me a lot. This school really is just like society: there are rules everyone knows about, and rules that operate in secret."

"Then if you're telling me all this, doesn't that mean..."

"Kaneda, that's why I've decided to trust you. Class C needs your strength. Ryuen alone definitely isn't enough."

Back to square one. Of course, I'd said all that to manipulate Kaneda.

"I understand... Don't worry, Kitazawa. I'm not the restless Kaneda Satoru I was a few days ago anymore. This class officer election helped me grow a lot. Actually, I should be thanking you!"

"No need! As classmates, we can only improve together if we support each other. Right, Satoru?"

Even I was impressed by my own hypocrisy, but my acting was so good that Kaneda didn't notice a thing.

"Exactly! Minya, let's work together and make it to Class A!"

Kaneda was back to his ambitious self. Next up were Ibuki, who was sulking, and Shiina, who was trying to slack off. No one could be left out. Everyone who was capable had to get moving. No wasting your youth—get serious and help build the economy!

As for me, I'd just focus on being an inconspicuous study buddy. I liked games I could win while lying down.

The next day, I returned to the library. My return seemed to give everyone in Class C someone to rely on, and their unease eased a little.

"I've put together some practice questions. I'll hand them out for everyone to work on. If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask!"

I handed out questions that I'd modified slightly but which used similar methods to solve.

"It's fine if some of our classmates couldn't make it today. You can ask a close friend to bring them a copy, or pick one up from the classroom reading corner," I continued.

I'd also included some questions that weren't on the exam to help everyone reinforce their fundamentals, so I wasn't worried about the material getting leaked. Or rather, my goal was to deliberately let it leak, so the other classes would think we didn't know the real questions and were studying hard.

"Thank you, Kitazawa! This is a huge help!" Nishino said after flipping through the questions.

"Sorry, there wasn't enough time to put together an answer key. I did include the final answers, though, so you'll have to fill in the steps yourselves as you work through them," I said modestly.

"This is already amazing! Thanks for all your hard work."

"We're all doing this for our class... By the way, have you seen the other classes holding study sessions these past few days?"

"Only a handful of students from Class A are studying separately in the library. Class B organized their study sessions the earliest, and they have the most people. These days, pretty much everyone shows up at lunchtime and in the evening. As for Class D, a boy named Hirata organizes theirs, and most of the members are girls."

"Right? If you didn't know any better, you'd think it was a girls' club! They just hang around Hirata," said Manabe with a disdainful laugh.

"Sounds like Hirata's popular!"

"Isn't he just? He's second on the handsome boys ranking! Too bad none of the boys in Class C made the top five..."

"Yeah... Sorry we're not handsome! Hahahaha!"

As one of the boys, I took a direct hit that dealt ten thousand points of damage.

"But you don't need to envy him, Kitazawa! You're on the list too. And you're number one!"

"Please tell me it's not the ugly boys ranking." A chill ran down my spine.

"It's the richest students ranking! After the latest update, Kitazawa took the top spot with an unexplained, mysterious amount of points." A cute girl with chubby cheeks showed me her phone as she spoke.

I think her name was Nanami? It was really embarrassing that after more than a month of school, I still couldn't remember all my classmates' names. What? I couldn't remember the name of a cute girl? She wasn't my type! I was a man of taste, even when it came to women. You know what I mean. Besides, there were so many cute girls in this world...

"That's strange... Why does everyone think I'm rich?" I wondered. I'd only shown Ryuen my points, and he didn't seem like the sort of person who went around gossiping. Besides, there was no one for him to gossip to.

"I don't know the details... Why don't you show us, Kitazawa?"

"Yeah! Seeing is believing!" Nishino and the others were just as curious.

"Well, since the ranking doesn't give any details, it's better to leave a little room for the imagination..."

"That's suspicious... Do you really have a lot of points, Kitazawa?"

"Leaving me aside, the student in second place, Ichinose—is she the leader of Class B?"

"That's right. She definitely has more than two million points. Several people have seen them, although the students in Class B are keeping quiet about it."

"They're probably class funds or something, right? Maybe everyone gave her fifty thousand points to manage..."

"But we haven't pooled our class funds with Kitazawa..." Nishino was stumped, so she asked Shiina, who liked detective novels, to work it out.

Shiina looked up at that and stared at me as she spoke quietly. "Ibuki said that Kitazawa asked Oda and the others to buy medicine for the injured boys, but didn't transfer any points to them. That means Oda and the others follow Kitazawa's orders, and they might have already received a large number of points from him. So Kitazawa, who can give others so many points, is probably even richer."

"But maybe Oda and I are just good friends!" I argued.

"Kitazawa isn't particularly close to the injured students, but Oda and the others followed his instructions without asking a single question. That's strange. Kitazawa is careful, so he probably wouldn't use his friends' or subordinates' points for charity, even if it was for the class. It could damage his relationship with Oda and the others."

"Clap, clap, clap." I applauded Shiina's deduction. "You're so clever, Shiina. Why don't you help come up with ideas for the class from now on? I'm counting on you!"

Shiina seemed to sense the way a hunter looked at its prey in my eyes and shrank back warily. A delicate girl with zero combat ability really was appealing, but Ryuen probably wasn't into that sort. Someone like him definitely liked a spicier type. Heh...

"Hey! I'm gone for a minute, and you're already picking on someone!"

Ibuki, who had suddenly appeared nearby, interrupted the staring contest between Shiina and me.

"Well, then... I'll go check somewhere else. You all carry on."

The best of the thirty-six stratagems was to run away, so I quickly made my escape.