Class 1-B.
As the bell rang to signal the end of the last class, a crowd gathered around Ichinose's desk, all asking what she planned to do after school.
"Sorry, everyone, I already have plans today." Ichinose hurriedly turned them down, promising to join them next time.
Everyone watched Ichinose leave alone, curious about who she had plans with.
"Wasn't Honami-chan meeting someone? Why did she leave by herself?"
"Maybe it's someone from another class."
"What?! Someone from another class is going to steal our Honami-chan away!?"
"No, no, maybe we're reading too much into it."
"I hope so."
After leaving the classroom, Ichinose planned to meet up with someone first, so she looked around the agreed-upon spot.
"Ichinose, over here."
A languid voice came from behind Ichinose. She turned around.
"Ah, Kanzaki, sorry. Have you been waiting long?"
"You actually got here before me. Let's get down to business. Where's the person who specifically asked to meet me?"
"Um... he said we should meet in Room 405."
Kanzaki frowned in confusion. "Room 405?"
Ichinose nodded. Remembering what U Amakusa had said, her expression turned serious as well.
"I don't know the specifics either, but I believe Amakusa wouldn't have said that out of nowhere."
"Looks like we'll have to talk face-to-face to get to the bottom of this." Kanzaki gave up trying to figure it out and decided to accept the invitation.
The two soon arrived at the door to Room 405. Before they could knock, the door opened on its own.
It was U Amakusa.
"Come in."
Ichinose and Kanzaki exchanged a glance, then entered the room one after the other.
As soon as he stepped inside, Kanzaki looked around. Ichinose, by contrast, obediently sat in the chair in front of the desk.
"There's nothing special here. Feel free to look around. Would you like something to drink?"
As a matter of hospitality, U Amakusa opened the fridge and waited for their response.
Ichinose: "Barley tea is fine."
Kanzaki: "Anything's fine with me."
After preparing two servings of barley tea, U Amakusa handed them to the pair, who seemed to have something to say but were holding back.
"I know you have a lot of questions right now, but it'd be much easier if our conversation took place with a homeroom teacher present."
"You mean we should ask Hoshinomiya-sensei to come over?"
Though Kanzaki had no idea what U Amakusa was planning, he understood what he meant.
He wanted a homeroom teacher present, but Majima, Class A's homeroom teacher, was nowhere to be seen.
That meant U Amakusa wanted their homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya, to come over.
Seeing that Kanzaki didn't seem inclined to sit down and have a proper conversation, U Amakusa simply leaned against the wall.
U Amakusa nodded. "Yeah. Ichinose, could I ask you to do that?"
"Sure." Ichinose agreed without hesitation. "Kanzaki, I think Amakusa is someone we can trust."
After all, U Amakusa had asked her to befriend Sakura, so Ichinose didn't think he was a bad person.
"Sorry, Ichinose, but I don't agree." Kanzaki hadn't even taken off the bag on his shoulder.
"I don't need you to trust me. This is a transaction between us," U Amakusa said calmly.
"A transaction?"
Kanzaki was about to press him further, but U Amakusa gestured as though making a phone call.
He waited in silence while Ichinose called Hoshinomiya. Fortunately, everything went smoothly, and Hoshinomiya readily agreed.
U Amakusa didn't waste any time and immediately began explaining.
"Kanzaki, I've looked into you. As for me, you've probably heard of me already, so there's no need for introductions.
"I'll get straight to the point. Ichinose agreeing to the invitation, and you questioning my motives, both show that you've noticed there are certain problems with this school.
"To put it simply, the 100,000 Private Points the school hands out are highly suspicious. I can tell you about the school's other irregularities and hidden rules."
After hearing U Amakusa expose the school's problems, the two fell silent for a moment.
But Kanzaki still didn't trust U Amakusa.
"Even so, you still haven't explained what you're after. What do you gain by telling us all this?"
Ichinose added, "Amakusa, I trust you, but you must have some conditions for telling us this, right?"
"Thank you for trusting me, Ichinose. You can rest assured that my conditions won't harm you or Class B in any way.
"As for you, Kanzaki, I want you to take this information and sell it to Class C and Class D."
Kanzaki quickly caught on. "You don't want to show your face?"
Kanzaki thought U Amakusa wanted to stay behind the scenes and was looking for someone to act as his proxy.
But that conclusion was quickly challenged.
Ichinose offered her own theory. "Amakusa, that isn't your condition. If that were all, you could just ask someone from Class A to do it. That way, you could even get Private Points from us in Class B."
U Amakusa chuckled. "I don't think I ever said that was what I wanted. I'll explain my goal, but we'll have to wait until Hoshinomiya-sensei gets here."
Kanzaki frowned slightly. "I can't trust you if you won't explain what you're after."
Unusually, Ichinose didn't speak up in response to Kanzaki.
Although she trusted U Amakusa, when the interests of the entire class were involved, she couldn't make a decision based on trust alone.
U Amakusa offered no explanation and simply continued, "This school divides students into classes according to rank, with Class A at the top and Class D at the bottom.
"To start with, each class has 1,000 Class Points. Each Class Point represents 100 points of monthly allowance.
"During the first month, the school applies a deduction system. Being late to class, not paying attention, fighting, and other such misconduct are recorded by the cameras installed throughout the school.
"But that isn't the most important part. Advanced Nurturing boasts a 100% graduation rate and employment rate, but only Class A gets to enjoy those benefits.
"That's why competition between classes is the key to this school: you have to graduate as Class A.
"The condition for being promoted to Class A is to have the most Class Points."
"So the first month is the best chance to get promoted to Class A." Kanzaki rubbed his chin, quickly absorbing the information U Amakusa had given him.
As a member of Class B, Kanzaki knew very well that in just half a month since the start of school, Class B had already lost at least 100 points.
That was only an estimate, since they didn't know the exact amount deducted for each infraction. The actual amount could be higher.
However, Ichinose and Kanzaki had both noticed something about U Amakusa.
Ichinose looked at U Amakusa seriously. "Amakusa, does Class A know about these hidden rules? And why are you telling us?"
Kanzaki also looked at U Amakusa, utterly puzzled. Just as he'd said, the first month was their best chance of getting promoted to Class A.
U Amakusa shrugged indifferently.
"You can probably guess why I'd do this. There's only one reason: I have no interest in graduating as Class A.
"As for whether Class A knows, someone has probably started to figure it out. I can make a bold prediction: Class A's Class Points won't be below 850."
After hearing U Amakusa's answer, Kanzaki set his bag on the desk, but still didn't sit down.
U Amakusa smiled faintly. That probably meant Kanzaki had begun to trust him.
After all, by telling them this, U Amakusa was showing that he wasn't an enemy in the class competition.
But that was only true if the information U Amakusa had given them was accurate.
Before you continue