"The second thing—and the truth that will make you feel as if all hope has been destroyed—is that at this school, only Class A gets the benefits promised in the recruitment slogan upon graduation. The records of students from the other classes will be sent to other middle schools.
"It's easy to verify this. Just ask your homeroom teacher how many points it takes.
"We've all been placed in Class C, so it looks like we're out of luck. But there's always a way.
"Remember the Class Points I mentioned earlier? At this school, the rankings of Classes A, B, C, and D are determined by the Class Points each class has.
"If our Class Points exceed those of the class above us, we can take their place and rise from the bottom! That's the first way to graduate from Class A.
"We won't be using that method, because I think the odds are far too slim. You can ask the upperclassmen in other years how many classes have managed to climb all the way up to Class A.
"We'll be using the second way to get promoted to Class A—Personal Points.
"One of the school's rules says that if a student can put together 20 million Personal Points, they can spend them to transfer classes or avoid expulsion.
"Our job is to gather the 780 million points needed to get our class promoted. Don't panic; I'm not so bad at arithmetic that I'd mess up a calculation like this. I'm not included in that total. I don't care whether I graduate from Class A, so I've reduced your burden.
"All you have to do is obey me completely and follow my instructions. Whatever I tell you to do, you do! I'll do everything I can to get you into Class A.
"If, in the end, I fail to help you gather 780 million points, I'll distribute the points we've collected among everyone in the class in proportion to their contributions. I'll take a few extra points as my fee for the work.
"When the time comes, the school will buy those points back in cash according to the same proportions, so you won't lose out. Think of it as making money over these three years.
"These are the points I have on hand right now. I'm showing them to you only to prove that I have the means to carry out this plan.
"That's all. You're free to do as you like now, but I don't want to see anyone late for the opening ceremony or making a racket while we're lining up. Understood?"
"Yes, Class Rep!"
After using his momentum to quickly bring the class together, Ryuen disappeared as soon as he finished speaking. I knew he'd most likely gone to bring the few underlings who still weren't convinced under his control.
Ryuen was pretty efficient. 5.42 million points appeared on my system panel. Don't ask why Ryuen had collected the points but they'd been credited to me. He'd used my card to collect them. He'd gone to Sakagami beforehand, taken my student ID, and used it to scam people.
Besides the 3.22 million Personal Points from our class, the extra 2.2 million must have come from Classes A and B. I just didn't know who'd been the sucker to give more than they had to.
"Since we still have a little time, Hiyori, would you be willing to accompany me to the Student Council to pick up a spare key, then come with me to check out our club Activity Room? Clubs get an activity budget, you know."
After Ryuen left, I suggested our next course of action to Hiyori, who was pouting at me to show her displeasure.
"Masaryu, you're so mean. You could've gone with Ryuen alone, but you had to drag me along too."
"Sorry~ I was worried that I wouldn't be able to lead by example on my own, so I resorted to this without asking for your opinion. To make it up to you, I hope you'll take a look at the work I've been preparing lately. It's a piece that combines classical and modern literature~"
This was my third trap.
"Mm, all right. But I'll be counting on you for help this coming month~"
Hiyori got up from her seat, bent down, and blew a breath into my ear before running to the classroom door to wait for me.
"Come in."
After Hiyori and I knocked on the Student Council's door, a slightly frivolous voice came from inside.
"Oh? So Chairman Horikita has already gone to prepare at the gym. There it is."
Ignoring Miyabi Nagumo, who was sitting at his desk, I picked up a small envelope containing a key from Horikita Manabu's desk.
This was something I'd asked Horikita Manabu to do for me over the phone late last night. Chairman Sakayanagi had given me his number.
The chairman had left the matter of founding my club entirely in the hands of Student Council President Horikita Manabu. With the chairman's orders as my authority, there was no way I'd pass up the chance to make the Student Council do some basic grunt work.
"So you're the new student who made the president get up in the middle of the night to do something for you yesterday? That's quite interesting."
After seeing Sima Zhenglong pick up the envelope, Nagumo sounded a little annoyed.
"How did Vice President Nagumo find out about that? Are you jealous because Chairman Horikita helped me in the middle of the night? This school really is scary~"
Miyabi Nagumo was a student who didn't know how to make use of a treasure trove even when he had one right in front of him. It was almost too much.
Maybe he'd only start regretting what he'd done after graduating college and entering the workforce, when he looked back on his time at this school.
You rarely got the chance to embezzle money so openly through power and loopholes in the rules, especially when the school itself provided you with the platform and opportunities. Even after joining a big company, it would take Nagumo a long, long time to rise to a mid- or high-level position where he could embezzle as much money.
"Of course not. It's just that when Chairman Horikita was taking care of things last night, he specifically woke me up too. I was in the middle of something important at the time. I wonder if you can make up for my loss, Junior."
Nagumo felt uneasy under the pitying look Sima Zhenglong gave him, so he tried to pressure him with the same tactics he used against students in his year.
"Of course. Vice President Nagumo's loss must be considerable. Was that 'important matter' a project worth several hundred million? That sounds serious enough to warrant telling Senior Asahina. Assuming you're still standing here in one piece by then, Senior."
How could Miyabi Nagumo have had anything important to do? If it had really been important, Horikita Manabu wouldn't have been able to wake him up.
Judging by his reputation, it could only have been something sordid.
"Looks like I really underestimated you, Sima. I'm a generous senior, so I won't hold it against you. I'd still rather be called President Nagumo, so don't get it wrong next time."
Nagumo's expression shifted several times before he finally replied, just as I was walking out of the Student Council room. But his response was feeble, lacking both force and conviction.
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