The First-Year's Final Exam, a Free-for-All?

A moment of silence.

Then he blurted out--

"Yahiko Totsuka."

The names were read aloud.

The student's name echoed throughout the silent classroom.

"The second to last one is Shinji Matoba, with twenty-six critical votes."

By a mere two votes, Yahiko Totsuka unfortunately had to drop out of school.

The Matoba breathed a huge sigh of relief.

As for why the two people received more than forty critical votes combined, it's because someone wrote both of their names on the list.

Yahiko Totsuka looked at Mashima in disbelief, then at Katsuragi.

Katsuragi, however, didn't dare look at Totsuka when she saw his gaze.

In Class B, all the students wrote Kanzaki Ryuji's name on their criticism ballots, while the other two ballots were left to the students to decide.

Then, Ichinose Honami took out 30 million yen to help Kanzaki, and he completed the exam.

As for the Protection Point, they naturally fell to Ichinose, with 39 votes—no doubt about it.

Next up was Class D. When Sakagami called out the last name, Tokito's eyes widened in disbelief.

Why me?

"Because I judged that what our class needs most right now is stability. What we need is to wait for the opportunity to defeat other classes. Although I can understand your dissatisfaction with Ryuen, Tokito, your strength is not enough to lead the class to victory. Therefore, in order to prevent the class from splitting up, I had no choice but to unite the students in the class to let you leave. I hope you won't blame me."

"Kaneda!" Tokito glared fiercely at Kaneda, his eyes bloodshot. "In your eyes, am I not even as good as that useless Ryuen!?"

"Ryuen isn't a useless person, you know. What do you think is the reason we didn't completely fall behind in the Training Camp Exam?" Kaneda adjusted his glasses. "My abilities aren't enough to go up against those monsters. If it weren't for Ryuen's advice, we wouldn't have gotten any points at all during the Training Camp Exam."

Ryuen glanced at Kaneda, said nothing, and walked up to the podium, then once again revealed his usual tyrannical expression.

"It's a pity, Tokito, I've given you two months, but you still couldn't seize the opportunity."

"You, were you doing this on purpose all this time?" Tokito was dumbfounded.

"You could say that," Ryuen said casually. "Now you should understand the true level of this class, right? Without my guidance, you wouldn't even have enough to eat."

Tokito hearing Ryuen's words, Shi Ren slammed his fist on the table in frustration.

Having dealt with the Tokito, Ryuen also left the classroom. From now on, he has once again reached the top of Class D, as evidenced by the fact that he has obtained the Protection Point for Class D.

It can only be said that although most of the students in Class D disliked him, they knew very well that this class could not do without Ryuen.

The school also posted the exam results on the first floor of the teaching building.

First, there is the list of students who have dropped out.

Class A: Yahiko Totsuka

Class C: Yamauchi Haruki

Class D: Tokito Yuya

Next is the list of those who received Protection Point.

Class A: Kamuro Masumi

Class B: Ichinose Honami

Class C: Shuichi Kanda

Class D: Ryuen Kakeru

Upon seeing the list, Ryuen's lips curled into a mocking smile.

"That's quite capable, Kanda," he thought. But what he was more curious about was how Kanda would use the Protection Point above Kamuro's head.

Chapter 260 The Final Exams of First Year, A Chaotic Battle?

Shuichi Kanda, who was looking at the bulletin board on the first floor, noticed two students appearing around the corner.

Katsuragi Kohei from Class A and Ryuen Kakeru from Class D.

"Oh, so you're all still alive."

Although the students in Class A are basically aiming to defeat Yahiko Totsuka and Shinji Matoba, this does not guarantee that Katsuragi will be safe.

What if Sakayanagi was just feinting, and had actually already contacted the students in Class A to have Katsuragi sent away?

It's not impossible.

Upon hearing this, Katsuragi simply sighed and shook his head.

This time he really wanted to protect Yahiko Totsuka, but unfortunately, since Sakayanagi didn't intervene in the battle between Matoba and Yahiko, he couldn't intervene either.

Otherwise, once he leaves the arena, Sakayanagi will follow suit, and Yahiko Totsuka won't even have a chance to Matoba, and he'll be expelled from school.

As for Ryuen...

Upon hearing Shuichi Kanda's words, he let out a cold snort.

"Hmph, mind your own business."

"There's nothing I can do. Shiina came to me for help, so I just did what I could." Shuichi Kanda ignored the guy's arrogance. "By the way, the students in Class D really value you, huh? They even gave you the Protection Point."

The top-ranked class in terms of Appreciation Vote was Kamuro with 77 votes, followed by Ryuen with 57 votes.

In other words, even if Shuichi Kanda hadn't gotten Ichinose to focus all the Appreciation Vote from Class B on Ryuen wouldn't have been expelled.

I originally thought that Class D would be a bunch of rabble after Ryuen left, but I didn't expect that there would still be someone with such vision and initiative.

"By the way, I've fulfilled my conditions. Now you need to keep your promise."

Ryuen's sudden words piqued Katsuragi's curiosity. Had the two made some kind of agreement?

"No problem. If we encounter another exam like the VIP Exam where you can collect a lot of points, I will do my best to help you collect points from the school."

Shuichi Kanda readily agreed, after all, he had promised the other party before.

At the same time, Shuichi Kanda also curious: Did the school really allow Shuichi Kanda to use a large number of points to help a large number of students graduate from Class A?

You know, no one had ever done this feat before.

Perhaps one or two schools wouldn't care, but if they go to an entire class at once...

Can the school allocate that many resources?

If you can't produce...

Hmph, Shuichi Kanda was quite interested in what would happen next.

However, we can let the second-year students test the waters first, since Nagumo, a second-year student, has done something similar.

He'll have some students from lower-ranked classes transfer to Class A using points upon graduation. If there's no resistance... that would be great.

"As for more extreme plans, I think we should forget about them. Anyway, after this exam, each class should start to pay more attention to individual points."

That's right. After this exam, each class will spontaneously start to pool their Class Points, just like Class B did before, to prepare for the next such unreasonable exam.

After all, once is never enough; who knows what other quirks the school might pull next?

Ryuen gave Kanda Shuichi a knowing look upon hearing his words.

You little rascal, you're letting the other classes accumulate some money first, and then you go and reap the rewards, right? No wonder you're the one I've got my eye on, you're cunning enough.

Anyway, Ryuen didn't understand what Shuichi Kanda was thinking; he just wanted to ensure that first-year students wouldn't have to struggle with life.

As for the rest, he doesn't care.

In his view, being able to live a fulfilling three years is much better than being able to graduate from Class A.

On Saturday afternoon, in Shuichi Kanda's room, besides himself, there were three other guests: Kamuro Masumi from Class A, Ichinose Honami from Class B, and Kushida Kikyo from Class C.

The four of them are currently sitting around Kotatsu), drinking tea and eating oranges.

After all, it's winter, so Kotatsu) is much more convenient in every sense of the word.

"I'm so envious, all three of you have Protection Point."

Kushida peeled a tangerine and put it in his mouth.

"Don't be ungrateful. You're in the same class as Shuichi, and you can see each other every day. Aren't you satisfied?" Kamuro glanced at her, picked up his teacup, and took a sip of tea.

Meanwhile, Ichinose, standing to the side, said nothing, but silently peeled oranges for Shuichi Kanda and fed them to him.

"But speaking of which, not only did Ryuen stay, she also got Protection Point." Kushida changed the subject, because being in the same class as Shuichi Kanda made her very proud.

"Hmm, well..."

Shuichi Kanda swallowed the orange that Ichinose fed him, and then gave the two of them a brief explanation.

Afterwards, Kushida and Kamuro wore expressions that said, "So it was you who did it."

"Even without using the Appreciation Vote from Honami's class, Ryuen won't be expelled; at most, she'll just lose Protection Point."

Shuichi Kanda nodded.

"Furthermore, Ryuen declared at the end of the exam that he would take over Class D again."

Ichinose chimed in at this moment, it seems she has an intelligence network even within Class D.

"Put that aside for now, what are you planning to do by putting Protection Point on my head? That shorty Sakayanagi is already starting to suspect me."

Kamuro looked at Shuichi Kanda. Although Shuichi Kanda still didn't say it outright, it was obvious to anyone with a brain that this was Shuichi Kanda's doing.

"Oh..." Shuichi Kanda nodded. "Go apologize to Mashima- sensei in a couple of days. Tell her you were caught stealing something by Sakayanagi when school started."

"Huh?" Kamuro was dumbfounded. They were actually going to report this to the school authorities?

"It's about time we made our move on Class A again. I just wonder what tricks the school will pull for the next exam."

To be honest, Shuichi Kanda was really looking forward to the school's next exam. Since the chairman of the board had changed, he wondered if the school would come up with anything interesting.

"I see."

Although Kamuro was caught stealing by Sakayanagi before, the amount was not large, so he would not be punished if he turned himself in.

Having been a member of the Student Council for so many days, Shuichi Kanda has certainly done his part; at the very least, he is well aware of the various punishments for different behaviors.

Given Kamuro's behavior, at most he'll be suspended from school for two days and asked to write a letter of self-reflection.

Ichinose looked at Kamuro with curiosity. Kamuro, she'd actually stolen things before?

Kushida, on the other hand, was somewhat satisfied. It turned out that neither of them were saints after all; they could also make mistakes.

On Monday, there was one less desk in the classroom; Yamauchi Haruki had disappeared from the school.

Hirata also arrived at the school and saw that the spot where Yamauchi used to be was now empty. A very complicated expression appeared on Hirata's face.

During the weekend, he learned about the exam from his classmates. Although Yamauchi's actions were entirely his own fault, he still felt extremely distressed at this moment.

Before Chabashira-sensei arrived in the classroom, Hirata seemed to have made up his mind and walked up to the podium.

"Everyone, there's something I'd like to ask of you."

As Hirata walked up to the podium, the students in the class looked at each other, but no one objected, and they were all ready to hear what Hirata had to say.

"Yamauchi, Yamauchi has already dropped out of school." Hirata's voice was low and somber. "We can't do anything about what happened this time, but I want to start from now on to prevent similar situations from happening again."

"You mean avoid it? How do you mean avoid it?"

"I plan to start collecting personal points again to prepare for future exams. Because we don't know when we'll have another exam like this, I want to start collecting personal points now."

I hope everyone can save their personal points, aside from necessary monthly expenses, just like Class B did."

Hirata's words caused the students in Class C to look at each other in bewilderment, and then most of them looked at Shuichi Kanda, including Hirata Yosuke on the podium.

"I have no problem. Our class currently has 900 Class Points, and each person has more than 90,000 Private Points per month. If each person contributes 50,000, that would be 2 million Private Points."

It only takes ten months to collect 20 million Private Points. If you add the rewards from various Special Exam, you might even be able to get 30 million in ten months.

Moreover, our class won't stop here. As the Class Points increase, individual points will also gradually increase, and the speed at which we accumulate Private Points will definitely be faster than expected."

After Shuichi Kanda expressed his opinion, the second person to express his stance was Kushida Kikyo.

"I agree. I don't want to experience the pain of losing my companions again."

Kushida's dejected voice filled the class with sympathy for her; they probably thought that even though Yamauchi had betrayed the class, Kushida still considered him a friend.

"I'm fine with that too. Besides, 40,000 Private Points a month should be enough to live comfortably, right?"