After the new rule was announced, no one in Class D looked at Gu Heng.
They first turned to the confirmation form for "Replacement Members."
The rules only required one person to be made public. They did not say it had to be the weakest person, nor did they guarantee that anyone made public would definitely be exchanged.
But once a name was written down, the other classes could treat that person as Class D's easiest point to manipulate.
Sudo was the first to speak. "Put me down."
Horikita immediately rejected it. "You're fighting strength, not the class's public shield."
"That's exactly why I'm suitable."
"Being suitable for attack doesn't mean you should bear it," Gu Heng said.
Sudo turned to him. "Then who would you write down? Someone unimportant?"
The air in the classroom grew heavy.
Gu Heng did not answer, because that question had struck at the most dangerous part of the rule.
If they made public someone with no voice, Class D could protect its core, but it would push the cost onto the person most easily forced to confirm.
If they made public someone from the core, the other classes would gain an opening to directly affect Class D's lineup.
Horikita flipped the form to the conditions section.
"The school allows the person themselves to refuse."
"But refusing means the class loses one chance to adjust its lineup," Hirata said.
"So making someone public is pressure in itself."
The first applicant had already completed the previous round of applications and stood outside the record board, looking at the new form.
She asked, "Can the person being made public know in advance which positions the class intends to place them in?"
Gu Heng looked toward Chabashira's rule sheet.
"The rules do not prohibit the person from viewing