The First Attack on Class D

"I hope that when I need Kushida-san to act, she'll follow my instructions. Of course, the tasks will mainly involve Class D," Shiraishi Makoto said. "For certain reasons, I need to keep striking at Class D, and this opportunity just came up, so I'm seeing if I can recruit an inside agent."

"You've got some nerve saying that. Aren't you afraid I recorded this just now?" Kushida Kikyo's expression didn't change, but her tone remained vicious.

"This school encourages competition between classes. Everything I've done doesn't violate the rules. The filming location for this video is also the school rooftop, a public area, and capturing it was purely coincidental." Shiraishi Makoto had no psychological burden.

"Besides, I've observed that Kushida-san doesn't actually have that strong a desire to move up classes, does she?"

Kushida Kikyo wasn't surprised this had been seen through, after all, he was the kind of sharp person who could see through the school's rules by the second day. If that was the case, hadn't he likely seen through her hidden nature long ago?

Thinking this, Kushida Kikyo's gaze grew even darker. What bullshit chance encounter—Shiraishi Makoto had clearly timed his arrival to record the video.

That's right, on Friday afternoon during the cram session, Shiraishi Makoto was in the library and even stepped in to stop Sudo Ken, who had been provoked by Horikita. He'd probably noticed her emotional state was off back then, then followed her to secretly film...

"Since that's the case, I don't have any other choice. If you dare spread this around, I'll make sure you regret it," Kushida Kikyo reluctantly agreed to Shiraishi Makoto's request.

"Don't worry. As long as the cooperation goes smoothly, I won't do something that harms others without benefiting myself," Shiraishi Makoto assured her.

The cooperation with Kushida Kikyo was very similar to that with Sakayanagi Arisu. Since it involved betraying the class, it couldn't be notarized by the school. What he could rely on was the leverage in his hands and how much Kushida Kikyo cared about that leverage. If someone else exposed Kushida Kikyo's dark past one day, then the leverage in Shiraishi Makoto's hands would naturally no longer be able to drive her.

Therefore, Shiraishi Makoto wouldn't actively leak it, and would even help Kushida Kikyo maintain her persona.

In the end, Shiraishi Makoto didn't have much of a problem with Kushida Kikyo as a person. Her desire to be everyone's good friend was genuine, and she did work hard at it. But because her target was everyone, she inevitably ran into some idiots.

Just like complaining about teachers at school or bosses at work—it's something everyone encounters.

Kushida Kikyo venting anonymously online wasn't really a major flaw. The problem was that after someone else exposed it, she chose to take everyone down with her, making public all the dark secrets she knew about everyone, causing a large number of classmates to be absent, transfer, and creating too big an impact.

So, in Shiraishi Makoto's view, Kushida Kikyo was a very perfect "classmate from the other class." As long as he didn't expose her secrets or dig up her past, she was a very easy person to get along with.

"Then let's talk about recent matters first." Shiraishi Makoto took a light sip of his coffee before getting to the point.

"Your class has been planning to tutor the few lagging students recently, right?"

"We originally had that plan, but you saw in the library that day what those idiots are like." Since her true nature was already exposed, Kushida Kikyo didn't hold back her opinions in front of Shiraishi Makoto.

"But Horikita-san probably has a strong desire to move up to Class A. To avoid losing points, she might organize another cram session later, right? And as far as I know, the first cram session was something she asked Kushida-san to initiate."

"So you want me to refuse Horikita's request?" Kushida Kikyo asked.

"No, I need you to keep agreeing to her and cooperate with her plan as much as possible. But privately, you secretly tell those students in the cram session that you've heard about a trick to easily pass, but it's not confirmed yet, so you hope they won't spread it around."

That way, Sudo Ken and the others probably wouldn't follow Horikita Suzune's plan and study properly, would they?

This plan seemed to strike at Horikita Suzune, which was very much to her liking. However, Kushida Kikyo noticed another problem: "But isn't this kind of lie easy to see through?"

"No, it's not a lie. This school really does have tricks to easily pass." Shiraishi Makoto shook his head. "This school doesn't actively change the midterm or final exam questions. Every cohort takes the same set of exams, so upperclassmen have the answers to the next exam in their hands."

"Is that really a thing?" Kushida Kikyo was genuinely shocked.

"This school always tests students' multifaceted abilities. If a student with insufficient academic ability notices this, then the school naturally makes an exception," Shiraishi Makoto explained with a smile.

"Then what do you need me to do? You're not this kind-hearted, are you?" Combining this with what Shiraishi Makoto had mentioned earlier about "needing to strike at Class D," Kushida Kikyo pressed on.

"Your social network is so wide, you should be able to contact upperclassmen to make a deal yourself. But before the transaction, tell me the chosen time and place. I'll go film the evidence."

"You're going to report it to the school?" Kushida Kikyo understood Shiraishi Makoto's intention.

"That's right. If no one reports it, the school won't interfere with students' private transactions. But if I report it to the school, for the sake of apparent fairness and justice, the school has to change the exam questions."

"So, those students who neither studied nor got the original questions will be expelled for failing?" Thinking about this, Kushida Kikyo actually got excited.

Only she knew how disgusting and painful it was to have to act like a little angel when dealing with these people. Especially guys like Ike Kanji and Yamauchi Haruki, whose minds were full of perverted thoughts. Just sensing their naked gazes on her made her feel like vomiting.

If Shiraishi Makoto's goal was to drive these people out of the school, she was all for it.

"Of course, to support your actions, I'll transfer you some funds first." Shiraishi Makoto operated his phone and transferred 50,000 personal points to Kushida Kikyo.

"The price for the exam questions should be around 40,000 personal points. If you can haggle down more with your own ability, then the leftover money is all yours." Shiraishi Makoto gave Kushida Kikyo some details on how to proceed. "You'll front the cost of the transaction, and don't take this money out directly. First, pretend you don't have enough and need to borrow from other classmates. That way, they won't have any reason to blame you."