Tokito Yuya was the one who challenged me. I remembered him: he was the student who had openly defied Ryuen during the Unanimous Special Exam in the second-year arc.
He was known for his competitive nature, rude way of speaking, and grudge-holding. At first, he had only submitted to Ryuen temporarily, and wouldn't make his move until much later—though it wouldn't amount to much.
Still, I was very pleased to see him step forward and stick his neck out at this moment.
Once I got this troublemaker on board, Class C would truly be united.
"Tokito, that's an excellent question. Everyone in this world has their own interests, and Ryuen and I are no exception.
"Ryuen's personal ambition is simple. He wants to become the first person in this school's history to lead his class to Class A through a collective points strategy. If he achieves that goal, it won't matter whether he himself gets promoted to Class A.
"In other words, he doesn't need to get promoted to Class A himself to prove his ability. He only needs to get everyone in Class C there.
"After all, while leading a class to Class A through Class Points is a reliable and straightforward path, businesses care about profit. This strategy would be the best proof of Ryuen's ability to make money.
"My own interests are even simpler. I don't care whether I make it to Class A, because I'll be going home after I graduate from this school. I'm an international student.
"Coming to this school was an accident in the first place. You can think of my involvement in this strategy with Ryuen as gathering material for my writing. The more exciting the stories that unfold at this school, the more satisfied I'll be.
"Before I came to this country, I already had a certain reputation. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to set up a club outside the rules of this school. You can ask a teacher about that. The number of points you have to pay for this information will prove that what I'm saying is true."
After explaining all this to my classmates, I casually took the thermos from Hiyori and soothed my throat with some tea.
"If that's the case, then take all the points the school gives me each month. Since Ryuen and Sima have made up their minds, I, Tokito Yuya, won't be left behind!"
Something I hadn't expected happened. Tokito decisively placed his student card on my desk.
"I'm not going to let you steal the spotlight all by yourself, Tokito. Count me in."
Suzuki Hidetoshi became the second person to put his student card on my desk.
"S-sorry, but I'd like to keep a few points for emergencies. So please, leave me three thousand points!"
Manabe Shiho was the third to hand over her card. She was right to want to keep some points in reserve for emergencies. I didn't recommend that everyone else give up all their points like Tokito and Suzuki had.
By the time lunch break began, I had collected everyone's student cards except Ryuen's.
After leaving everyone three thousand points for emergencies, I had Hiyori return the student cards to them one by one.
At lunchtime, Ryuen was in the Traditional Literature Club Activity Room, tallying the amount each person in the class had newly contributed with Hiyori's help.
I stood at the counter, stir-frying the ingredients we hadn't used up last night. Ishizaki and Albert were still on their way back from the cafeteria with the Mountain Vegetable Set Meals.
"You bastard! You made me sound so noble just to put me on a pedestal and use me as a target, didn't you?!"
Ryuen, who had been standing outside the classroom and listening to the whole thing, had finally realized what was going on.
I'd handed him complete authority over Class C, so Ryuen had truly become the leader of the entire class. From now on, any trouble would be his problem, while any benefits would pass him by. He really had it rough.
"You should be thrilled. Stop imagining things and look at the other three classes in your year. Class A looks united on the surface, but it's actually split into two factions. Class D is still divided into cliques, with zero execution and no ability to come up with strategies.
"Only Class B has managed to unite. Class C's overall abilities are far below those of the upper classes, A and B, and as Class C's leader, you're nowhere near as personable as Ichinose from Class B.
"I've done all I can to win over the hearts of Class C through peaceful means. Are you seriously thinking of relying on violence? Look at Tokito. Does he seem like someone who'd be easily cowed by force? Rely entirely on violence, and you might end up tripping in a ditch!"
"That's fair."
Ryuen didn't talk back after I scolded him this time. That was rare.
"Tell me roughly what Class D is like so far. I'm sure you've gotten a decent understanding by now."
This conversation might have turned sour if we kept going, so I promptly changed the subject.
"It's only been a day and a half. How could I have figured things out that quickly? At most, I've gathered information on the leaders of Class D's various cliques.
"So far, I can't see anyone in Class D who could unite the class. That boy Hirata is too indecisive. He doesn't have the decisiveness of a leader; at best, he could be a deputy.
"That girl Kushida Kikyo gives me the feeling that something's seriously off about her. Judging by her behavior alone, she's an excellent social butterfly, but I can't figure out what she's after or what she stands to gain.
"I've already given the order: no one in the class is to leak information to her. If she makes the first move, they should brush her off with the same canned responses I gave them. If she asks to borrow money, they can keep talking to her.
"Horikita Suzune is someone who'd be easy to handle, but her older brother is the Student Council President, so we should avoid provoking her until we've figured out his attitude.
"And finally, there's Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, the one you ranked first yesterday. From what I've seen, his emotions don't fluctuate much under any circumstances. It's too soon to tell what his potential is. Could you have judged him wrong?"
After giving his assessment of Class D's three leading figures and Ayanokoji, Ryuen looked at me, trying to read something from my expression.
"Class D does have a chance of uniting, but I doubt they'll choose one leader who can represent the whole class, the way we did.
"Instead, they'll probably make decisions through something like a council. In a class like that, Hirata has the girls' favor, and the boys trust him too.
"Kushida can maintain at least a surface-level friendly relationship with everyone, while Horikita is the one who goes around defusing bombs. If the three of them work together, there's still a chance they could unite the class.
"As for Ayanokoji? You can pay more attention to him in other areas later, especially when it comes to the most basic common sense."
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