Isn't the Leader of Our Class Always You?

"I feel like the reward for first place in the exam is a bit too small, don't you think?" The one who raised his hand to speak was Totsuka Yahiko.

It was no wonder he would lodge a protest; he likely believed that if he just put in a little more effort, he could take first place.

Unfortunately, the rewards for first, second, and third place in this exam had already been earmarked by Yagami Shizuka.

The rewards being offered were meant for his own use.

And yet, someone was actually complaining that it was too little.

"Yeah, I also think the rewards for the top three are a bit low." A few other students with good grades raised their hands to speak as well.

Yagami Shizuka felt a slight twinge of conscience. "How about this: once the exam results are out, if you still feel it's too little, you can bring it up. For now, shall we just stick with this?"

"Huh?" Everyone in the room was taken aback.

"What do you mean? You mean if whoever takes first place still thinks it's too little, they can ask for more?"

"That's exactly what I mean. But my condition is that the first-place reward cannot exceed 200,000 points. When the time comes, you can add as much as you want, as long as it doesn't exceed that amount."

"Ah?" Many were still confused, but with 200,000 points as motivation, wouldn't they have to work incredibly hard?

After finishing his speech, Yagami Shizuka slipped away.

As for anything else, they could figure it out themselves; no matter how reluctant they were, the points had already been handed over.

Not long after.

Knock, knock!

A cute girl with purple hair in buns knocked on the door. She poked her head in and scanned the classroom, but after failing to find the person she was looking for, she asked, "Where is Yagami-kun?"

"He just went out. If you have any business, you can tell me," Sakayanagi Arisu said, standing up.

"Oh." Tachibana Akane sighed in disappointment. "The president wants the class representative from your class to come to the Student Council Room after school this afternoon."

"Understood, thank you for letting us know."

Sakayanagi Arisu looked at the grade sheet on the blackboard and remained silent for a long while.

She could see that Yagami Shizuka's grades were by no means bad; he had perfect scores in several subjects. Unfortunately, his total score was one point lower than hers.

The other party didn't seem to care much about these grades.

Why?

Was it intentional?

That didn't seem right either; if it were intentional, he wouldn't have been just one point lower—he should have been lower by a wider margin.

With such a close score, she could only believe that it was Yagami Shizuka's genuine result.

In other words, she had won from the very beginning.

But winning didn't make her feel very happy; what was this sense of loss?

"When he spoke to me yesterday, did he mean he didn't want to win? But..." Sakayanagi Arisu stared at the grade sheet, missing by one point, and remained silent for a long time.

Even though the points had been handed over, many students still ran to the entrance of Class D to see the miserable state of the Class D students.

Well, seeing others suffer made them feel quite happy.

Well, they and Class D were actually both entering with zero points, since the points had already been handed over.

Even so, their mood was quite different from that of Class D.

Yagami Shizuka was one of the people leading the crowd to watch.

Some students who had already spent all their points were lying on the floor, not even wanting to get up.

There was no helping it; they had been far too reckless.

If they had been frugal, ten or twenty thousand would have been enough to get by, but they didn't know the value of money and wanted more after spending it all.

Now, they were in a state of complete chaos.

Those who still had some points left were being begged for mercy by the penniless ones, who hoped someone would lend them some points.

Some Class D students ran back to their dorms the moment class ended, as if avoiding a plague.

It would be miserable to have no money.

They were still in their first month and didn't know what to expect.

Many seniors in their second and third years could only eat the free set meals every day; it wasn't easy to eat well.

If you didn't have a single point, not only would food and drink be a problem, but many other things would likely become problems as well.

Many seniors also came to watch the spectacle, but no one went over to show sympathy.

Eating green salad for an entire month—just thinking about how miserable that was made one shudder.

"Oh ho ho ho..." A loud burst of laughter came from behind Yagami Shizuka.

Who was being so rude, laughing so loudly? They should really be more mindful of their image.

They should at least show some respect for the others.

Yagami Shizuka turned around and saw two purple ponytails.

"Morishita, why are you laughing so loudly? You're making us look so... unrefined, hahahaha!"

I really couldn't help it; seeing her laugh just made me want to laugh even more.

"Hic! Hehehehe!" Morishita Ai covered her mouth and let out another peculiar laugh, which amused the surrounding students as well.

The students from Class D were even more ashamed to show their faces, and many more fled back to their dormitories.

After watching the spectacle of Class D for a while, Yagami Shizuka went to the school gate to pick up a few packages.

He had spent nearly 500,000, and the items he bought online had finally arrived.

It wasn't that these things were expensive, but rather that they weren't available domestically or through official channels, requiring international shipping.

This way, he would be able to try concocting the potion after school in the afternoon.

When school ended in the afternoon, Sakayanagi Arisu called out to Yagami Shizuka as he was about to leave the classroom, "The Student Council wants our class leader to go to the Student Council Room. Are you going, or am I?"

Yagami Shizuka stopped in his tracks and asked her in return, "Haven't you always been the leader of our class? Can't you just go, or take Katsuragi Kohei with you? He's still the class representative, after all."

"But I have a feeling they seem to be looking for you."

"Looking for me?" Yagami Shizuka asked, puzzled. "What would they want with me?"

He immediately waved his hand, "You should just go. Tell them I'm busy and can't make it. Your words represent mine; just have them talk to you."

"But what if..." Sakayanagi Arisu turned around, twirling the cane in her hand, "they want you to join the Student Council?"

"Then do you want me to join?"

"I do. If you became the Student Council President, you would likely have a great deal of authority."

"Tell me the truth."

"I do, you..."

"Tell me the truth, Arisu. One should be honest; don't say things you don't mean just for my sake. It's not worth it." Yagami Shizuka covered his upturned lips with his hand.

Sakayanagi Arisu turned around and raised the cane in her hand, intending to strike him.

Yagami Shizuka hurriedly retreated.

As long as he kept his distance, Sakayanagi Arisu couldn't hit him, and she certainly couldn't catch up to him.

Openly carrying a weapon to school is just too against the rules; I'm going to file a complaint.

Can the daughter of the Board Chairman really be this unreasonable?

He didn't run away to anger Sakayanagi Arisu, though.

Of course, because Sakayanagi Arisu had limited strength, no matter how she attacked, Yagami Shizuka felt nothing; he was just playing along.

Otherwise, what would happen if she touched him and then collapsed on her own?

No amount of money would be enough to compensate for that.

Sakayanagi Arisu pointed at the blackboard in a fit of anger, "You lost, so you should listen to me. Have you forgotten?"

"But I also said that if I were competing against you, I would never win. Given that I have such self-awareness, isn't that unfair to me?"

Sakayanagi Arisu was stunned and lowered her cane, "Are you saying you did it on purpose?"

"No, no, no. I poured my heart and soul into it, going through all sorts of hardships just to achieve a score that would lose to yours. How could it be on purpose? Do you know how hard I worked?"

"This..." A few sentences almost made Sakayanagi Arisu dizzy. Isn't that still doing it on purpose? And he even admitted it, didn't he?

However, how could that be possible?

"Wait, it's impossible for you to..." By the time she came to her senses, Yagami Shizuka was already gone from the classroom.