"Of course not. That wouldn't do us any good. Our goal is to build up our influence in Class A and oppose him. As long as he can't graduate from Class A, it'll deal a blow to Road Tyrant.
"There's one more thing: no one knows who I am right now, not even the people in the White Room. I'm going to beat him as a naturally gifted genius. You must remember that. Don't expose my identity."
"Oh, okay!" Shiraishi Asuka's thoughts raced. There wasn't a single flaw in Yagami Shizuka's explanation.
Most importantly, she'd always been suspicious of his identity, too. If he was a genius, there was no way he could've gone unnoticed in the past. Now everything made sense.
So he was just like her, a member of the Silver Faction in the White Room—and a hidden trump card.
If that was the case, the battles to come would be exciting.
"What, you don't want to make an enemy of Ayanokoji?" Yagami Shizuka asked gravely. "Don't worry. I'm not trying to hurt him. We'll find out who's stronger when we compete. If you're unwilling, I can leave you out of this."
"No!" Shiraishi Asuka hurriedly protested. She was overjoyed. How could she not want to take part in something so important?
Beating Ayanokoji would be incredibly satisfying for someone from the White Room, wouldn't it?
"Please, let me join. I'm willing to help in any way I can." She bowed respectfully to Yagami Shizuka.
"Good. Let me go over our plan again. Road Tyrant is our enemy; his son, Ayanokoji, has nothing to do with it. But if Ayanokoji graduates from Class A, he'll seriously hinder our growth, and Road Tyrant's scheme will succeed. At the same time, we can't let Ayanokoji drop out and return to the White Room.
"So our goal is to defeat him and stop him from graduating from Class A, so Road Tyrant will see that the monster he created is nothing but a failure. That's to our advantage. Do you understand?"
"I understand." Shiraishi Asuka wasn't stupid. It only took her a moment to grasp the whole situation.
So this was the right way to handle it.
Yagami Shizuka glanced at a line of small text that had appeared before him, then continued, "I won't interfere with your spreading rumors about yourself. Go ahead. But you'd better put away your recorder.
"Whether you do it as a hobby or out of habit, recording what we just discussed won't do you any good. You could even be leaving yourself evidence that might be used against you. Be more careful next time. Don't record everything."
After saying that, Yagami Shizuka deftly avoided all the cameras, turned a corner, and disappeared.
A cold breeze brushed past Shiraishi Asuka's hair, sending a chill through her.
Shiraishi Asuka broke into a cold sweat and pulled a white pen-shaped device from her pocket.
It was tiny and easy to conceal, and she'd been bringing it to school for quite some time.
She'd only switched it on just now out of habit. She hadn't expected him to notice.
Her disguise had always been flawless, yet in his eyes it seemed utterly insignificant.
All right. The stage, the actors, and the audience were ready.
Now the show was about to begin.
Clap, clap—
During the self-study period in the last class of the afternoon, Yagami Shizuka walked up to the lectern and clapped twice, drawing everyone's attention.
This period was reserved for independent study by Class A.
Unlike a regular self-study period, students who didn't want to study in the classroom could go elsewhere or study in the library. The school didn't care what they studied, as long as they were studying and not playing around.
He'd already applied for permission to use the period however he wanted.
"Before everyone spends their points recklessly, I'd like to say a few things.
"I'm sure you all know by now that the information I gave you wasn't a lie.
"We'll definitely need a lot of points on many occasions in the future. Gathering them when the time comes would just waste time, so we might as well discuss pooling our personal points now.
"My suggestion is that every semester, everyone turn in all their points except those from the first month, and we pool them together.
"As long as we have enough points, we'll be able to deal with problems with ease.
"For example, if someone is at risk of expulsion and we need twenty million points to save them, we won't be able to come up with that amount unless we plan ahead.
"Or, if a special exam requires us to make a deal with another class, scrambling to borrow points at the last minute would leave us in a panic, and we wouldn't even be able to reach a consensus.
"Pooling our points would solve that problem. I'm sure many of you agree with me.
"So let's hear what everyone has to say. Any opinions?"
At first, no one said a word. After a while, whispers began to rise from the crowd.
A male student asked, "Who would we hand the points over to?"
"Arisu Sakayanagi. She's highly respected and the chairman's daughter. She gets out of breath after walking just a few steps, won't even order a large coffee, and wouldn't know how to spend points even if she had them. So you can rest assured your points will be safe with her," Shizuka Yagami said with a solemn smile.
The entire class immediately turned to Sakayanagi Arisu. She lowered her head shyly. She didn't exactly trust Yagami Shizuka either, and she'd feel more at ease if the points were in her hands.
But the more Yagami Shizuka said things like that, the guiltier she felt. She shouldn't have doubted him.
Yagami Shizuka added, "Of course, if everyone would rather trust me, you can hand them over to me instead. I can promise you—and swear—that I won't betray your expectations.
"But I might finish swearing and then immediately hand the points over to Sakayanagi Arisu."
Then what was the point of that promise and oath?
Another student raised his hand. "If we only keep the points from the first month, will that be enough?"
That was what they were most concerned about.
Before Yagami Shizuka could answer, another student stood up and said, "It'll be enough. The school provides free supplies and meals. Under normal circumstances, five thousand points a month is enough. I only spent five thousand a month in middle school. With twenty thousand points a month, we'd have more than enough."
"I think that'd definitely be enough, with some left over. I'd even like us to pool more points."
"Some people spend a lot. Socializing costs money, too," another student argued.
"How can you compare middle school to high school? There are plenty of things you have to spend money on."
Watching the lively scene below, Yagami Shizuka had expected this.
It would've been strange if no one objected.
If nobody had, he would've had to get a few plants to stir things up. Just because there weren't any problems now didn't mean there wouldn't be any later.
Twenty thousand points would definitely be enough. Even during his first month, when Ayanokoji spent quite a bit buying daily necessities, he'd only used twenty thousand points.
Clap, clap!
Yagami Shizuka clapped again. "Thank you all for sharing your opinions. Feel free to bring up anything else. I hope you won't keep your thoughts to yourselves, because then I won't know what you want. Now, let me tell you about another benefit of pooling our points."
"I want to use our points to create an R System."
Before you continue