Favorability System

Soon, the time arrived for after-school, and the class study session commenced as scheduled.

For Wu Qiao, this kind of class study session was essentially a chore.

After all, others were not like him; he only needed to read quietly to incidentally accumulate experience for the Path of Erudition and forcibly make himself smarter, but the others did not have such a cheat-like advantage.

Fortunately, with the harsh school rule of "expulsion for failing the midterm exams" hanging over their heads, coupled with the temptation of private points as a reward, the usual underachievers, and even the hot-tempered Sudo Ken, had all obediently shown up today without exception.

Since Ayanokoji Kiyoha carried the label of "mathematics prodigy" in the class, this young lady, who appeared naive and excelled in her studies in the eyes of everyone, naturally became the core figure for today's math tutoring.

Because Wu Qiao had achieved a stunning perfect score in every subject on this quiz, he was happy to take it easy; he only needed to check where he still had gaps in his knowledge and study those specifically. After all, with perfect scores across the board, he didn't need to be as frantic as the others just to hit the passing line.

It is worth mentioning that even Horikita Suzune, a loner who usually kept to herself on the fringes of the class, participated in this study session. It couldn't be helped; if someone in the class were expelled, the class points for the midterm exams would be forfeited, and she still wanted to struggle toward her obsession of promoting to Class A.

Of course, the maverick Koenji Rokusuke did not come, and everyone was mentally prepared for that; after all, one shouldn't expect that young master Koenji to sacrifice his free time for the sake of the class.

The Favorability System—something that looked at first glance like it belonged in a cheap romance simulation game—had been in Horikita Suzune's possession for a full month. Throughout that month, she had been exceptionally stubborn, refusing to use it even once.

She truly stood by her word; she didn't take the beginner's rewards issued by the system, and she ignored all the various prompts that popped up daily.

However... now, the perpetually aloof Horikita Suzune had to bow her head to reality and attempt to use this system she had once scoffed at.

There was no other way; she wasn't very good at talking to people, and without the assistance provided by the system, she couldn't even get this irritable guy in front of her to patiently listen to her nag for a single minute.

Horikita Suzune looked at Sudo Ken, who was wearing an impatient expression and preparing to get up and leave. She took a deep breath, her gaze sweeping over the system prompts only she could see, and then she spoke with as gentle a tone as she could muster: "Sudo, I know you don't like studying, but if you want to keep playing basketball at this school, you have to put in some effort. You surely know better than I do how much weight the basketball team at this school carries."

Sudo Ken had already grabbed his school bag, but upon hearing the words "basketball," his movements noticeably stalled. He frowned and scratched his red hair in frustration, but ultimately sat back down in his chair, muttering, "Huh? What are you suddenly saying... Of course I know how important the basketball team is!"

Horikita Suzune let out a silent sigh of relief. It seemed the "effective communication strategy for Sudo Ken" provided by the system had indeed worked. She struck while the iron was hot, continuing according to the prompts in her mind: "Precisely because you know that, you should understand even more that if you are expelled for failing your grades, you will lose even the qualification to stand on the court. This current endurance is so that you can play basketball more freely in the future."

Sudo Ken curled his lip; although his face was still written with reluctance, the resistance in his eyes had faded significantly. He reopened the English textbook, which looked like an unintelligible script to him, and said sullenly, "Got it, got it! You're so nagging... I'll read it, okay!"

Watching Sudo finally settle down, Horikita Suzune gave a silent nod of approval to the so-called system. Although she still disliked the feeling of being manipulated by data, she had to admit that in terms of achieving her goals, this system indeed held unique value.

Beyond providing communication prompts, the Favorability System also allowed one to obtain exclusive rewards upon reaching certain levels of favorability—a powerful feature applicable to both men and women.

The rewards varied from person to person, full of individual characteristics. For instance, Sudo Ken's rewards included a physical fitness boost at sixty favorability and basketball techniques at eighty, while reaching one hundred favorability would grant direct access to all of his skills.

However, what surprised Horikita Suzune the most was Hirata Yosuke. For this class representative, who always wore a gentle smile and acted as the class's lubricant, the reward at sixty favorability was actually combat skills, and the system rated the level as extremely high. This forced her to re-evaluate this seemingly harmless center of the class.

As for Ayanokoji Kiyoha and Wu Qiao, they were the two with the most luxurious rewards among all the students.

Ayanokoji Kiyoha only required sixty favorability to grant a full set of university-level knowledge, while Wu Qiao's rewards were even more extravagant than Ayanokoji Kiyoha's, and this level of luxury continued to rise over time—likely because he was constantly studying, and his personal knowledge base was perpetually expanding.

Even Horikita Suzune, who had always scoffed at such opportunistic methods, now had to calmly begin considering: in order to promote to Class A and gain absolute leadership over the class, she should make good use of this system.

After all, a shortcut to quickly acquire the strengths of others and compensate for her own shortcomings was her only advantage in promoting to Class A.

The ten prompt opportunities gifted by the system today had all been consumed by Horikita Suzune in pacifying those restless underachievers. Watching those classmates settle down after just a few words of comfort, Horikita Suzune felt a sense of effectiveness, but she also felt a bit of a headache.

This feeling of robbing Peter to pay Paul was not pleasant, and she had already begun to silently plan the allocation of these precious prompts for the future in her heart.

As for... whether she should first find someone with strong social skills to unlock social-related abilities to make up for her own shortcomings?

With this thought, Horikita Suzune subconsciously glanced in the direction of Kushida Kikyo. The girl who always wore a perfect smile and was trusted by the entire class was currently gently explaining problems to a classmate beside her.

Kushida Kikyo was undoubtedly the person with the best social skills in the class; if she could obtain her social skills, it would definitely be of great benefit to her own governance of the class.

However, when Horikita Suzune's gaze swept over the system panel, her brows furrowed slightly. Kushida Kikyo's favorability toward her was a glaring zero.

This was truly strange. Even Sudo Ken, who had been full of resistance toward her at the start, had five points of favorability toward her before they had even communicated.

Among all the students in the class, even those who had some opinions about her mostly hovered in the positive range; only Kushida Kikyo displayed an absolute "zero" toward her.

Horikita Suzune's intuition told her that this was definitely not just because the two of them rarely interacted. A person with top-tier social skills would never maintain such an unwavering "zero" toward a classmate without a reason.

This deliberately maintained blankness was, in fact, more unfathomable than obvious malice. Trying to acquire social skills from Kushida Kikyo was not only extremely difficult, but it might also be a trap already laid out.