"Horikita... you..." Hirata Yosuke stammered in sheer shock. He even wondered whether he had misheard.
"You mean... sixty-nine thousand five hundred points? Are you sure?"
"I'm sure, Hirata."
Those words carried immense weight to Ken Sudō. Looking at the girl who always mocked him with her sharp tongue, he shed tears of gratitude.
Noticing Ken Sudō's gaze, Horikita Suzune spoke without mercy.
"Don't get the wrong idea, Sudo."
"I'm putting up these points solely because if you three get expelled for such a stupid reason, our Class Points will drop even further."
"..."
Hirata Yosuke forced himself out of the awkwardness and tried to fill his voice with encouragement.
"Then we've raised about two hundred thousand points so far! We only need another two hundred thousand! We're running out of time..."
His gaze settled on Kushida Kikyo, full of complete trust and undisguised expectation. His eyes were so clear they were almost cruel:
"Kushida, could I trouble you with something?"
"Like you said earlier, could you go to the other classes... and see if we can borrow some points? A hundred thousand, or even just part of that for now! At this point, I'm afraid... you're the only one who can do it."
Those words were like gentle shackles, slipping softly around Kushida Kikyo's neck.
"..."
Kushida Kikyo's flawless smile froze for a fraction of a second.
Motherfucker.
She had barely any points left. Maintaining her social connections already cost her a great deal.
To preserve her helpful image, she had already gritted her teeth and contributed half of her last ten thousand points.
And now Hirata wanted her to borrow more?
Borrow? From whom?
Wouldn't I be the one stuck paying it back anyway?
With Class D's current reputation and ability, they probably couldn't borrow so much as a