Familiar Face

Today was the official day for point announcements. After leaving the classroom, Mu Tianchen decided to head toward the upperclassmen's classroom area.

It was after school, so there weren't many people around.

As for why he hadn't chosen to check at the end of the first month, it was largely because every class had seen an increase in points this time.

Since suspicion had already been raised, he had to confirm his guess.

After class points were announced, a notice board was always placed at the entrance for students to check.

Mu Tianchen went upstairs and quickly spotted the notice board. After confirming no one was around, he slowly walked up to it.

This floor was the second-year classroom area, meaning it displayed the class points for each second-year class.

The contents of the notice board were as follows:

Class A: 1400 points

Class B: 800 points

Class C: 600 points

Class D: 400 points

It seemed his guess wasn't wrong, but these points were a bit too abnormal...

Class A was far ahead of the other classes, and even the gaps between the remaining classes were identical...

This inevitably made one think someone had done this on purpose.

Among the second-years, the only person with this kind of ability was Nanyun Ya...

But what was the point of him doing this?

Letting Class A pull far ahead of the others, making the lower-ranked classes lose all hope.

Leaving them with no choice but to obediently submit to Nanyun's rule.

But looking at it this way, Nanyun Ya must have promised them something...

From his perspective of prioritizing individual strength, it was probably something like transfer points.

Giving them a faint glimmer of hope amid despair...

"Second-year Senior Nanyun is really impressive, huh."

A somewhat familiar voice came through. Mu Tianchen snapped out of his thoughts and turned around to look at the uninvited speaker.

A white-haired girl leaning on a cane was walking toward him from a distance.

The girl approaching him

"Who would've thought I'd run into an acquaintance at this school, Tianchen-kun." The girl stopped beside him.

This guy was still as overly familiar as ever.

"I actually recognized Uncle Sakura at the opening ceremony, and I figured you'd be at this school too. I just haven't had the time until now."

"What a roundabout way of putting it," Sakura Arisu said with a light smile. "I'm in Class A, Tianchen-kun. You're in Class D, right?"

"Looks like you've already done your research." Mu Tianchen wasn't surprised by this. After all, given her personality, it would be strange if she hadn't.

She might have even investigated the other classes a long time ago...

"Tell me, what's your purpose here?" Mu Tianchen had no intention of catching up here and cut straight to the point.

"That serious attitude of yours really hasn't changed."

"Hehe, of course it's the same as Tianchen-kun's. I lost to you all this time." Sakura kept her smile, but her words used "you all" instead of "you."

It seemed she knew something about Ayanokouji too. Maybe he could get some information from her about why his father had sent him here.

Everything was a bit too coincidental...

Many chance factors cleverly coming together would inevitably raise unnecessary suspicion. Mu Tianchen was no exception.

Thinking this, he began to question her again: "I won't beat around the bush. How much do you know about my father and Ayanokouji?"

Hearing this, Sakura hesitated slightly, but didn't seem too surprised. "I don't know about your uncle's matters, but as for Ayanokouji-kun... hehe, he's a very interesting person."

That was basically saying nothing at all...

"I'll defeat him." Sakura's tone suddenly became firm.

Mu Tianchen was a bit surprised by this. So that was her goal... Still, given her competitive nature, it made sense.

"Of course, since Tianchen-kun is in Class D, I'll defeat you all together. But I am curious about one thing—what's your purpose for coming to this school?"

So I'm just an afterthought... Mu Tianchen was a little speechless, but it was fine. He hadn't seen Sakura Arisu in a long time, and he had grown a lot in that period.

"If I had to say, I don't really have one. Otherwise, I wouldn't be asking you about my father's matters."

"That's true." Sakura showed a slightly disappointed expression.

"But now, I'm a bit interested in the points." Mu Tianchen spoke slowly. Hearing this, Sakura's eyes seemed to light up, as if it had instantly sparked her interest.

In this school, points could buy almost anything, even the Class Transfer Right. Without knowing why his father had sent him here, having more points couldn't hurt.

It also helped pass the time when he was bored.

"Points, huh... That really does suit Tianchen-kun's personality." Sakura Arisu nodded thoughtfully. "Tianchen-kun must be talking about personal points. I don't have much interest in those. If you want them, I can give them to you."

Based on his understanding of her, she wouldn't be this generous for no reason. There had to be another motive behind it. He might as well ask.

"Is there something you need me to do?"

Seeing this, Sakura scratched her head. After a moment, as if something came to mind, she spoke. "Originally, I was going to ask Tianchen-kun to play chess with me. It's been a while since we last had a match."

This... was just like her usual style. Still, Mu Tianchen didn't think he would lose.

"But I changed my mind." Sakura's tone shifted.

"Oh?" Mu Tianchen's interest was instantly piqued. He stared into Sakura's eyes, waiting to hear what she had to say.

Sakura showed no sign of fear, boldly meeting his gaze.

"During the next Deserted Island Exam, help me crush the Katsuragi Faction. I'll give you 800,000 points, plus 200,000 points deposited every month."

Deserted Island Exam? So Teacher Chazhu's talk about a summer vacation trip was just a front. He had already deduced from Takagahara's probing that it would be a group exam.

But for Sakura to know the exam format this quickly... As expected of her, huh.

Deserted Island Exam—literally speaking, it probably involved something like wilderness survival. Based on prior intel, it would be a class-based survival exam.

Still, for her to offer that many points, she was really going all out. It seemed Katsuragi was a major obstacle on her path to unification.

With Sakura Arisu's domineering personality, she would never tolerate anyone in her class disagreeing with her.

"Under those conditions, I don't seem to have a reason to refuse. But I don't know much about the Katsuragi Faction."

Mu Tianchen wasn't stupid. Acting rashly without understanding the other side's situation would easily lead to failure.

"Then I'll give you a rough overview." Saying this, Sakura walked over to the stairwell, wiped off some dust with a tissue, and gestured for Mu Tianchen to sit down as well.