Chihaya Rei agreed to Ken Sudō's request.
He really wasn't a strict person, as all the students in Class D could see.
Besides, Sudō was an official member of the Basketball Club and had decent athletic ability, so he could earn some points at the upcoming Sports Festival.
Chihaya wasn't worried about Sudō being unable to pay him back.
When Hirata heard Chihaya had agreed to help Sudō, he smiled with relief.
He didn't want to put the entire burden of raising 500,000 points on Chihaya alone, either.
So Hirata offered up most of his own personal points and did his best to borrow some more.
He also collected contributions from classmates who were willing to lend Sudō points after seeing the change in him.
Chihaya didn't try to stop Hirata Yousuke.
No matter how many points Hirata managed to raise,
Chihaya was going to ask Sakayanagi Arisu for an exorbitant amount and demand the full 500,000 points from her.
Heh. Since Sakayanagi Arisu thought he wanted to expel the underperforming students in Class D,
he might as well play along.
He would make Sakayanagi Arisu pay the personal points needed to help Sudō buy the points he needed to pass.
Now it was up to Sakayanagi Arisu to choose.
If she paid, she would lose 500,000 points for nothing.
Those points would essentially be Sakayanagi's fee for keeping Sudō in Class D, and Chihaya had no intention of paying her back.
If she refused,
she didn't know what had just happened in Class D, so Sakayanagi Arisu would assume Sudō was going to be expelled.
She would think her attempt to prevent a student from being expelled from Class D had failed.
That would mean losing to him once again—and losing face, too.
So Chihaya figured Sakayanagi Arisu would most likely accept her loss and hand over the points.
His fingers flew over the phone's keyboard, and Chihaya sent Sakayanagi Arisu a message.
[Chihaya Rei: Sakayanagi, Class D is in danger. Reply ASAP!]
To make sure Sakayanagi Arisu saw it as soon as possible, Chihaya also placed a voice call.
It rang for a few seconds before she hung up.
In Class A's classroom, after all the students had scored highly on their midterm exams,
their homeroom teacher, Matoba Tomoya, finished explaining a few things and told them to study on their own.
When Sakayanagi Arisu saw that Chihaya Rei was calling her, her spirits lifted.
She smiled knowingly and began to speculate.
Could Chihaya have seen that all of Class D passed the exam, gotten angrier and angrier, and finally decided to challenge her?
Sakayanagi took her Bluetooth earbuds out of her desk drawer and was about to step outside to answer when the call ended.
Her brows furrowed slightly.
Still, she replied to Chihaya's message.
[Sakayanagi Arisu: What happened to Class D?]
[Chihaya Rei: Ken Sudō failed English. If you don't step in, Sakayanagi, he'll be expelled.]
[Chihaya Rei: image.jpg]
[Chihaya Rei: The passing score for our class is 44.]
In Class D's classroom, Chihaya held back a laugh as he sent Sakayanagi Arisu a photo of the English scores he'd just taken.
Chabashira Sae, her face expressionless, was visible in the picture as well.
So Sakayanagi could tell at a glance that it wasn't fake.
"..."
Sakayanagi Arisu froze for a moment.
She enlarged the image with her slender fingers and stared straight at Ken Sudō's score of 39, afraid she might miss the smallest detail.
Once she'd confirmed it was real, Sakayanagi parted her lips and sat in silence for a long while.
She truly hadn't expected this to happen...
How could anyone fail when they had the answers?
What kind of idiot could do that?
I gave you a whole month to memorize the answers, and you still couldn't even get half the average score?
And it wasn't just this Sudō.
What about Kanji Ike and Yamauchi Haruki? Were they all pigs?
Their scores of 48 and 49 had also come dangerously close to failing.
[Chihaya Rei: Sakayanagi, can you give us 500,000 points? With that, we can buy five points for Sudō and get him to the passing score.]
[Chihaya Rei: Otherwise, Sudō will be expelled. You said no one in Class D would be expelled after the midterms.]
Chihaya went straight for the heart and bared his fangs, demanding points from Sakayanagi.
Looking at the messages—which seemed polite but were really full of provocation—Sakayanagi Arisu felt her heart pound faster with anger.
He wanted 500,000 points from her?
That was 500,000 points!
How could he even ask?!
And most importantly, Sakayanagi understood perfectly well:
Once she handed over those points, Chihaya wouldn't give them back.
Other people might not know how many points Chihaya had.
But she did.
Chihaya wasn't short on personal points, yet he was asking her for them.
It was a calculated trap aimed at her...
He was forcing her to choose whether to keep Sudō Ken, an underperforming student, in Class D!
That detestable Chihaya was too underhanded.
Sakayanagi Arisu thought bitterly as she replied:
[Sakayanagi Arisu: I don't have that many points.]
[Chihaya Rei: You do.]
[Chihaya Rei: Didn't you just win 500,000 personal points at the Chess Club?]
Sakayanagi Arisu: "?"
How did he know that?
She thought Chihaya was going too far.
She'd earned those points through her own ability.
[Chihaya Rei: Sakayanagi, we don't have much time. Chabashira-sensei is waiting.]
Chihaya had already seen that Sakayanagi Arisu wanted to save Sudō.
But she was trying to bargain, so he applied more pressure.
[Sakayanagi Arisu transferred 500,000 personal points to Chihaya Rei.]
[Sakayanagi Arisu: Chihaya-kun, you're something else!]
Sakayanagi Arisu left Chihaya those few words, then tightened her grip on her phone and turned off the screen, puffing with anger.
After giving Chihaya the 500,000 personal points, she realized she had hardly any left.
There was no helping it. As the daughter of a wealthy family, Sakayanagi Arisu had plenty of expenses.
And sometimes she needed to spend points to put her plans into action.
But Sakayanagi had made her decision.
She would keep this useless student named Ken Sudō in Class D.
The fact that he'd failed an exam despite being given the answers a month in advance proved that he was useless.
So he had to stay.
He could stay in Class D and keep dragging them down.
Sakayanagi Arisu admitted that she'd been outplayed this time.
She'd thought she'd already underestimated Class D's students, but she'd still overestimated them.
Besides, this time she hadn't really lost to Chihaya Rei.
There was one thing Sakayanagi Arisu could be certain of: Chihaya couldn't control the scores those few underperforming students in Class D got.
So she'd simply been unlucky, losing because of an unpredictable outside factor.
She would take back twice as much next time for what Chihaya had taken from her!
Sakayanagi Arisu clenched her teeth, seething with frustration.
[Chihaya Rei: Now that was a thoroughly satisfying battle of wits!]
In Class D, Chihaya saw the points Sakayanagi Arisu had sent and replied before accepting the transfer.
He couldn't help grinning. Sakayanagi Arisu really was a woman of her word.
She'd made him another easy 500,000 points.
And when Sakayanagi eventually discovered that Sudō was actually useful, she would probably regret it.
Still, Sakayanagi's heart wasn't in the best condition. Would he make it worse by angering her?
Chihaya wondered, then looked up at Hirata Yousuke, who was busy moving around the classroom.
Before long, thanks to Hirata's efforts, they had raised more than 150,000 personal points.
Most of it came from Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Horikita Suzune, who contributed 100,000 between them.
The other students didn't have many points, so they each chipped in a little.
Chihaya transferred 350,000 points to Hirata and told him to take them to Chabashira Sae to buy points for Sudō. It was a small matter, so he didn't need to handle it himself.
"Sudō, you need to pay all these points back as soon as you can."
Chihaya wasn't going to let Ken Sudō relax just yet by telling him to take his time. Instead, he put a little pressure on him.
From now on, Sudō would have to work hard to earn points and repay everyone.
"Yeah!"
Sudō's expression was solemn, sweat and tears mingling on his face.
Sudō knew he'd been saved thanks to everyone, and Chihaya Rei had undoubtedly contributed the most.
"I'll pay it all back soon."
"From now on, I'll use the points the school gives us each month, as well as the points I get from the Basketball Club, to repay everyone first."
Sudō made his promise in a more serious tone than ever before.
Club activities earned them some points every month, and students who competed in matches like him received extra points as well.
Seeing Sudō's attitude, the students of Class D didn't say much. They chose to trust him.
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