The Cruel Midterm Exam (4)

"I can still go and borrow points from the seniors in my club; that way, we should be able to scrape enough together."

Hearing this, Sudo suddenly chimed in: "Right, I can also borrow points from the seniors in the Basketball Club."

Hope ignited once more on everyone's faces. Watching this scene, Kitahara couldn't help but think they were still too naive. Given Class D's current class points, who would dare take the risk to lend to them? Ichinose seemed to be an exception, though. Based on what I know of her, she really might lend us the points.

This is getting tricky. After all, that's the class I'm about to transfer to. Should I give them a heads-up? But as Kitahara looked toward the empty seats, he muttered: "They shouldn't need their points. Ayanokoji went out to find Chabashira just now, and Horikita followed him. It seems her question back there really was Ayanokoji's idea."

"That makes sense. Horikita doesn't have the ability to pull this off on her own, but this method is already a dead end. I wonder what other tricks he has up his sleeve to help them weather this crisis."

"Whatever. How things develop is none of my business now. I have another matter to attend to."

"Where am I going to find two more club members? It would be best to find them from Class B, though. After all, they'll be my comrades-in-arms in the future."

While Kitahara sat there lost in thought, he didn't know that Ayanokoji had already begun his confrontation with Chabashira in the office.

"Is there something you need? Class is about to start," Chabashira asked.

"Teacher, may I ask you a question?" Ayanokoji said calmly.

"A question?"

"Do you think today's society is equal?"

"That's a rather abrupt question. Is there any point in me answering it?"

"This question is very important. Could you please answer me?"

"In my personal opinion, of course not. This world is not equal at all," Chabashira sighed and said slowly.

"I think so too. The word 'equality' is inherently hypocritical, but we humans are creatures that think."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Chabashira clearly didn't want to waste time.

"In other words, we must make the rules appear equal on the surface."

"Oh, so you're the one behind Horikita. But Class D, in its current state, cannot scrape these points together. Without that guy's help, even I wouldn't know how to change any of this." Chabashira reacted quickly after hearing his words.

Ayanokoji tapped his phone screen and said: "Please sell me their make-up exam opportunities."

"Hahaha, you really are interesting. I never expected you to come up with a method like this," Chabashira laughed loudly.

"Teacher, Horikita's question in the classroom earlier and your answer already explained everything."

"So, Teacher, how many points do you want?"

"Let me think... This is the first time I've ever done something like this."

"I'll give you a special price. How about 100,000 points per person?"

Ayanokoji nodded, as this was the most ideal outcome.

Chabashira looked at Ayanokoji and said: "Even so, the points you have on hand are still not enough."

"If you add my points, along with Hirata's and the others', it should be just about enough," Horikita Suzune said as she pushed open the door. "After all, we don't know how many points would be deducted if so many students were expelled from a single class at once, so I believe the benefits of keeping them outweigh the costs."

"Horikita..." Ayanokoji was surprised to see her appear suddenly, and he hadn't expected her to choose to keep them.

"Hahaha, you two are more interesting in some ways than that guy Kitahara. Fine, I'll sell these three opportunities to you. Hurry up and gather the points."

"In the history of this school, Class D has never been promoted. Even so, are you still going to struggle in vain?" Chabashira couldn't help but say as she watched their actions, as if she were seeing her former self.

"Setting him aside, I intend to be promoted to a higher class," Horikita Suzune spoke up first.

"You are defective products that even the school has given up on. How do you intend to climb up?"

"With all due respect, even defective products can become qualified goods if given a slight change. And setting me aside, at least that guy Kitahara—aside from his personality issues, I can't figure out how he ended up in Class D. At least, that's what I think."

"Even the school administration hasn't been able to grasp Kitahara's principles of action to this day. Perhaps one can only understand if they know his philosophy." (This is why, even though I know his strength, I have hesitated to approach him until now. But looking at these two, especially Ayanokoji, his ability might not be inferior to Kitahara's.) Chabashira replied.

"As your homeroom teacher, I will be watching you closely. Let me look forward to your performance."

What followed was quite simple. After they returned to the classroom, Ayanokoji told Hirata and the others the result of the negotiation with Chabashira—naturally, he attributed the success to that girl, Horikita.

As expected, under Hirata's explanation, everyone learned of Horikita's contribution, and under his organization, they quickly gathered the required 300,000 points.

Sudo and the others finally felt at ease with this result. Upon learning that Horikita had paid 60,000 points out of her own pocket, Sudo walked up to her, bowed sincerely, and said: "Thank you, Horikita-san. I apologize for my previous behavior."

Hearing his apology, Horikita remained expressionless and said: "This wasn't to help you, but so that I could be promoted to a higher class."

Hearing this, Sudo was no longer his usual self; he looked like a tamed lion. Watching this scene, Kitahara could only say: "I didn't expect that even after all this, he'd still become a sycophant for Horikita."

Following Sudo's lead, the other two also expressed their gratitude to Horikita. The rest of the class, having learned of Horikita's "strength" through this incident, flocked around her. Even though Horikita had no intention of continuing the conversation, she couldn't hide their excitement.

On the other side, Kushida watched this phenomenon with a dark gaze fixed on Ayanokoji. She hadn't expected that the scene which should have belonged to her had fallen to her enemy, Horikita.

Watching the whole scene from the back row, Kitahara looked at Ayanokoji and muttered: "I didn't think you'd be able to come up with this method. It seems I underestimated you. But once I complete my mission, my only shortcoming will be filled."

"Sigh, now I still have to worry about who to recruit for the club."

Meanwhile, in the Student Council office, Horikita Manabu looked at the final statistics and said to Tachibana: "Go and announce the current results, as well as the news that those two have joined the Student Council."

"Understood, President," Tachibana replied earnestly.

After Tachibana left, Horikita Manabu rested his chin on his hands and thought: I didn't expect that guy Ayanokoji in Class D to be hiding so much. But why choose to expose himself during this exam?

Horikita Manabu fell into deep thought as he looked at the message Kitahara had sent to his phone.