Ichinose, do you want the Student Council or not?

"In that case, are you and Classmate Sakayanagi also heading out to participate in a competition?"

Ichinose was very concerned about this matter, and for once, she began to probe for details.

"We are heading to Tokyo University in Sendai, and then we'll ask a professor there to help us contact a publisher."

"I see."

Upon hearing that the destination for Hiyori and me was Sendai, Ichinose lost interest and stopped asking further questions.

"Is submitting the application to Classmate Sakayanagi instead of the Student Council a matter of efficiency?"

This time, the look Sakayanagi gave Sakura carried a hint of "you've finally learned."

Ever since that incident, Sakura's sensitivity toward such operational procedures had shown significant improvement.

She had learned to grasp the crux of a problem; in this regard, she actually possessed no small amount of talent.

"Sakura's judgment is correct. The final exams are right around the corner, so the Student Council should be getting busy. Besides, they are short-handed; who knows how long it would take if we waited for them to process it."

Come to think of it, it was quite absurd. Katsuragi and Ichinose had indeed submitted resumes to the Student Council, but both were rejected by Horikita Manabu.

Nagumo had first tried to win over Ichinose, but failed; subsequently, he tried to do the same with Katsuragi, but failed there as well.

By now, with the first semester nearly over, only Manabe from the first-year students had managed to enter the Student Council, and she wasn't even in a clerical position like a secretary.

This directly resulted in a severe shortage of "workhorses" within the Student Council.

Among the third-year Student Council officers, only Horikita Manabu, the president, and Tachibana Akane, the secretary, were actually doing any work. Everyone else was preparing to "retire" peacefully from the council, and even if they wanted to work, Horikita Manabu wouldn't let them interfere with the council's management.

Among the second-year officers, Nagumo was a hands-off manager who did nothing but purge dissenters; the ones actually doing the work were his two henchmen.

Kiriyama was busy leading his class back to Class A, so internal strife within the second-year Student Council outweighed actual productivity.

The first-year students who should have been recruited to serve as workhorses had all been rejected by Horikita Manabu, and Nagumo hadn't managed to snag any desirable candidates either.

By the second semester, Horikita Manabu would likely have no choice but to open the doors to the first years, at most screening for confidants who might side with Kiriyama in the future.

Because by the third semester, he wouldn't have the time to find successors from the first-year students.

"Ichinose, do you still want to join the Student Council? I remember you mentioned to me before that you wanted to join to hone your abilities?"

Since Ichinose was destined to become a workhorse sooner or later, there was no difference between doing it now or later—I might as well trade it for a favor.

"Do you have a way, Masaryu?"

It was evident that ever since Ichinose learned that joining the Student Council provided opportunities to go off-campus, she had been distracted.

"There is a way. In fact, aside from the president, everyone else in the Student Council is quite looking forward to having newcomers join to help shoulder some of the workload."

There weren't many ways to get into the Student Council, but Nagumo could certainly make it happen. I also had something Nagumo wanted, though the price made me hesitate—giving Ichinose away for free was out of the question.

"How about this: during the next special exam, I need Ichinose's class to do me a favor. This favor won't cause your class any losses, nor will it lead to any moral condemnation."

The Uninhabited Island Exam was a good thing. I didn't intend to let those temporary points go, nor did I plan to pass up the extra points gained from occupying checkpoints, which Ryuen could continue to sell to Katsuragi.

It was a rare opportunity to inject points, so the total point pool had to be expanded.

When the time came, I would need an ally I could absolutely trust to help me secure the fruits of victory.

"The next special exam? Have you already guessed what the next special exam will be, Masaryu?"

Ichinose didn't rush to agree to my request, instead asking me about the nature of the next special exam.

"I don't know the specifics of the next exam, but as long as it is an exam where all four classes participate, cooperation and competition will inevitably arise. Finding a suitable ally in advance is the only way to avoid being caught in a scramble when the time comes."

For the Uninhabited Island Exam, Sakayanagi wouldn't be there, and the Sakayanagi faction within Class A couldn't do anything other than cause trouble for Katsuragi.

Class D didn't matter; just surviving in the wild for seven days would already exhaust their full effort.

Class B, like the others, chose to play the turtle.

No matter who I chose as an ally, it might be a waste, but who could say what would happen later? At the very least, only Class B was completely unified and wouldn't sell out their teammates.

"I agree. But aren't you worried that Classmate Sakayanagi and Classmate Sakura will leak the news of our alliance?"

"No, I won't say a word!"

Sakura's emotional reaction was intense; she actually felt little sense of belonging to Class D.

Her only tie within Class D was Haruka, and the study group she and Haruka had joined had a completely different composition from the original members.

That study group hadn't studied seriously since they got their hands on past exam papers. Their group leader was Wang Meiyu, who had no strong points other than good grades.

She couldn't control the members of her group either, so the group had entered a state of neglect, at most gathering to memorize the past papers for a cram session right before the exams.

"The current leader of Class A is Katsuragi. I have no reason to help my competitor."

Sakayanagi also expressed that she didn't care about the private alliance between Class B and Class C.

In her view, Class C wouldn't truly ally with other classes; at most, they would just use each other.

Right now, she was concerned with how Katsuragi would lead Class A during this Uninhabited Island Exam.

In the last special exam, although Class A won first place, the points awarded were too few.

Even with Class B coming in last and being deducted 50 class points, Class A was still leading Class B by less than 150 points. Such a small gap was enough to reverse the class rankings in a single Uninhabited Island Exam.

If Katsuragi could keep winning, she wouldn't mind delegating authority to him and simply enjoying her school life.

If Katsuragi were to suffer a crushing defeat in the next two consecutive special exams, she would take over Class A.

Of course, if Katsuragi were to be completely reduced to a blood bag for Class C, she would also consider stepping onto the stage herself to seize leadership of the class.

"Then, the deal between our two classes is settled. I will have Manabe print out a contract at the Student Council and send it over right away."

I walked to the window and took out my phone. Instead of contacting Manabe first, I sent a shopping list to Ryuen and transferred some points to him.

As for Manabe, while having her print the contract, I instructed her to find Nagumo and show him a certain video.

It was something I had dug out from Sakura's digital camera during the Sakura incident.

At the time, I was merely curious—truly just curious, and viewing it with a critical eye.

I never expected to actually find something I had wanted for a long time within it. This time, Sakura hadn't captured evidence of the Sudo incident, but she had captured evidence of Nagumo's illicit affairs.

How could President Nagumo be playing such a wild game?