Chapter Summaries

Gu Heng kept an anonymous warning out of Class D’s proposal until its source could be verified, while Kushida provided traceable information about a questionable Class B plan. Class B’s Ichinose confirmed that the plan had been discussed and offered to document its withdrawal, leaving the next exchange focused on who would take responsibility for stopping it.

• Gu Heng had Yukimura check the printing records for the anonymous paper, but the records narrowed down its possible timing without identifying who printed it.
• Gu Heng required anonymous information to include verifiable sources and filed Kushida’s new, traceable report about Class B’s proposed proxy-signing plan as pending verification.
• Gu Heng restricted Kushida’s source record to public-rule verification and told Hirata that the anonymous paper would remain unknown unless its author could be established.
• Kushida told Gu Heng that she had wanted to see who would claim his empty seat, and Ayanokoji said he did not know whether she had told them everything.
• Horikita asked Class B to verify the proxy-signing proposal without accusations, and Ichinose confirmed it had been discussed while offering to record its withdrawal time.

Ichinose gave Class D limited evidence about an improper proposal within Class B and accepted consequences for doing so. As the second exchange round began, Ryuuen demanded that Class D reveal her source in return for a Strength Event competitor, leaving the classes to weigh their boundaries against an event disadvantage.

• Ichinose gave Gu Heng and Horikita Class B's withdrawal record while limiting the exchange to verifiable public information, then accepted a two-witness condition from Class B after its members objected.
• Ryuuen offered Class C's Strength Event competitor only if Class D revealed who had provided Ichinose's information, and Horikita and Gu Heng laid out the costs of accepting or refusing.
• Sudo offered his confirmation page, while Horikita required Class D to review the choice personally rather than leaving it to Gu Heng.
• When a Class D member suggested asking Ichinose for the source, Gu Heng said she could refuse without owing Class D anything, and Hirata sent her a Public Inquiry.
• Ichinose said she would decide after reviewing the inquiry, and Ryuuen then demanded that Class D trade a specific name for a guaranteed position.

Class D refused Class C’s exchange to protect the source Ichinose had provided, accepting a weakness in the Strength Event instead. Ryuuen publicized the class’s restrictions and planned to use the exposed gap to pressure Class D into revealing who was vulnerable.

• Sudo and two other applicants stated their limits, and Gu Heng had Hirata record their reasons for refusing without labeling them uncooperative.
• Horikita publicly announced that Class D refused the exchange because it would not hand over the source boundary, while Ichinose offered to disclose the source herself and Gu Heng told her that was her choice.
• Class D redistributed the Strength Event gap among three members, retained its unused authority, and recorded the exchange as unsuccessful.
• Ryuuen displayed the class’s restrictions on the public page, making its Strength Event weakness easier for other classes to infer.
• Horikita had the three members record their final deadlines and said Class D would acknowledge the gap publicly if no suitable arrangement was found by then.

Horikita rejected Gu Heng’s recommendations when they exceeded Sudo’s stated limits, establishing her authority to review proposals while Gu Heng retained the right to make them. As Ryuuen challenged Class D’s decision-making and Class C targeted Sudo, Gu Heng revised his proposals and accepted a new requirement to record their worst possible consequences.

• Horikita returned Gu Heng’s recommendation to assign Sudo the Strength Event and another event, citing Sudo’s personal limit on high-intensity assignments.
• Class D distributed the Strength Event among four members, accepting lower projected results so Sudo would not be overloaded; Sudo publicly accepted the risk of losing.
• Ryuuen questioned Class D’s choices, while a third applicant withdrew from the Relay reserve list and Horikita ensured the vacant scope was not automatically assigned to anyone.
• Horikita returned Gu Heng’s proposal to split Sudo’s Strength Event into two sessions, and Sudo updated his personal conditions.
• Horikita publicly clarified that a rejected recommendation did not become a class order, after which Class C sent a condition targeting Sudo.
• Gu Heng relabeled his recommendation as an unadopted proposal, and Horikita required future proposers to state the worst possible consequence of each recommendation.

Sudo refused to publicly declare himself Class D’s sole fighting strength but chose to keep his place in the Strength Event despite Class C’s plan to mark him. After Class C tried to pressure Class D into changing its lineup, Horikita adjusted the Relay handoff distance without changing who would compete, leaving Sudo’s choice and responsibilities clearly recorded for the match.

• Class C demanded that Sudo publicly call himself Class D’s strongest fighter or face targeted marking, and Sudo refused while confirming his participation in the Strength Event.
• Ryuuen kept the marking plan and published Class C’s matchup chart, while Sudo rejected Horikita’s offer to move him to another event.
• Gu Heng spotted an empty slot in Class C’s chart, and Horikita adjusted the Relay handoff distance without changing any competitors.
• Ryuuen realized Class D had acted without waiting for Gu Heng and lost an opportunity to force a lineup change.
• Sudo practiced the revised handoff, recorded his fatigue condition, and signed separate statements refusing the public label and accepting the marking risk.

Gu Heng treated Ayanokoji’s matchup chart as partially valid because it correctly predicted Class C’s focus on Sudo but omitted its second-leg strategy, and Class D finished fourth without losing the baton. Afterward, Class C publicly accused someone of leaking information, leaving Class D to document what it knew and prepare for questions about the chart’s source.

• Before the match, Ayanokoji gave Gu Heng an unverified Class C matchup chart, and Gu Heng refused to treat its source as confirmed.
• During the relay, Horikita used the runners’ positions to keep Class D from changing its exchange distance, and Class D avoided Class C’s planned handoff disruption.
• Class D finished fourth behind Class C and Class B, and Gu Heng recorded Ayanokoji’s information as partially valid and incomplete.
• Gu Heng showed Horikita the separate ledger entries for verified information, unknown details, and the unconfirmed source, while Ayanokoji accepted the new conditions for cooperation.
• Class C posted the chart publicly with an accusation of an advance leak, and Hirata told Class D to answer only for what each person knew.

Class D faced public suspicion after Class C accused it of receiving a leaked matchup chart, but the school found no proven violation. The school’s new documentation rules left the source unknown while making future information exchanges traceable.

• Horikita stated that Class D had received unconfirmed matchup information and used only the portions verified on-site.
• Gu Heng submitted public exchange records, which showed contact with Ayanokoji but did not prove that Ayanokoji supplied the chart.
• Ayanokoji denied submitting the chart, and the school found no proven unauthorized exchange while reserving the right to investigate further.
• Gu Heng recorded his connection with Ayanokoji in the internal ledger, and the school removed one of Class D’s Anonymous Information Protection Qualifications.
• The school required classes to document external deliveries, and Horikita, Hirata, Yukimura, and Gu Heng organized Class D’s records under the new rules.

Class D reviewed who owned and controlled its Unused Permissions after real-name verification limited outside information, then rejected Class C’s offer to buy priority. The class prepared to answer the school’s inquiry into Gu Heng’s role and to distinguish verified facts from unsupported claims.

• Kushida showed Gu Heng and the class a real-name submission from a Class B student claiming someone planned to register Class D’s Unused Permissions as Gu Heng’s property, and Gu Heng treated it as a verifiable risk rather than a fact.
• Horikita ordered Class D to confirm that the Unused Permissions belonged to the class, while the review page restricted Gu Heng from submitting directly or changing members’ choices.
• Ryuuen offered Class C’s fifty Class Points for priority in Class D’s next use of the permissions, but Class D rejected the deal and preserved its future choices.
• Ryuuen withdrew the offer and prepared a public inquiry into Gu Heng’s alleged personal ownership, while Sakayanagi messaged Gu Heng that he had returned his position to the class.
• Kushida kept the Class B submission’s receipt record and gave its real-name page to Yukimura for verification, while Gu Heng separated public fields from personal privacy fields.
• Horikita organized materials on permission ownership, actual control, and personal confirmation for the school’s inquiry, and Hirata confirmed that every member knew their records would be public.

The school inquiry confirmed that Class D collectively owned its Exchange Privilege and established checks on Gu Heng's review authority, including a five-Private-Point penalty for review disputes that caused losses. Class D tested its slower, traceable process, which left Horikita, Gu Heng, and Hirata sharing separate responsibilities.

• Horikita submitted that the Exchange Privilege belonged to Class D, and Yukimura provided metadata showing Horikita could submit, Gu Heng could review, and Hirata could confirm member statuses.
• Gu Heng and Horikita explained how they would resolve disputes, and Horikita established her right to reject Gu Heng's disputed classifications.
• The school imposed a linked deduction of five Private Points on the reviewer for review disputes that caused Class Point losses, and Gu Heng accepted the risk rather than stepping down.
• After the inquiry, Horikita had Yukimura document the scope of review opinions, while Gu Heng added the deduction to his risk page.
• Yukimura simulated the three-person process, and Sudo saw his confirmation appear directly in the class result without passing through Gu Heng.
• Horikita said delays would be recorded, as Class D's process became slower but more accountable.

After Class D divided review duties among Gu Heng, Horikita, and Yukimura, a valid exchange offer forced the class to confront a costly trade-off rather than a source-rule violation. The chapter ended with new procedures requiring the whole class to review legal applications and complete Personal Responsibility confirmations before any decision took effect.

• Gu Heng proposed assigning Yukimura to verify sources, Horikita to assess trade-offs, and himself to handle cross-page sources and rule conflicts, with each limited to vetoing matters in their own area.
• Gu Heng caught that Class C's exchange application relied on an outdated responsibility section, and Yukimura's version check confirmed the error, so the school rejected the application without costing Class D points.
• Ryuuen publicly suggested that Class D was relying on Gu Heng as its final defense, and Gu Heng recognized that repeated judgments could make him bear the cost of mistakes.
• A second application offered Class D its preferred project in exchange for giving up a future Public Inquiry right, so Horikita separated the legal transaction from the source dispute while Hirata and Yukimura gathered and preserved information.
• Horikita required all legal applications to be reviewed by the entire class and their submitters to complete Personal Responsibility fields before decisions took effect, leaving the trade-off for Class D to decide together.

Class D reviewed and approved a legitimate exchange with Class C, gaining a Strength Event Participant in return for giving up a Public Inquiry Right. The school recorded both the majority’s acceptance and the minority’s objections, leaving Ryuuen a clear target for the next round of questioning.

• Gu Heng verified Class C’s exchange offer, and Horikita led Class D in weighing the Strength Event benefit against losing an inquiry right.
• After the first vote fell short, Horikita secured a condition that made the exchange invalid unless the Class C participant completed Personal Confirmation.
• The hesitant student accepted, and Class D approved the exchange by five votes to three; Horikita submitted it and the school locked in both sides’ deliverables.
• Ryuuen announced his next question: whether the Strength Event belonged to the reviewer, the submitter, or the class.
• Gu Heng confirmed that the review was valid, while the school recorded the five approvals and three objections separately.

Ryuuen tried to split Class D’s Dual Core by feeding Gu Heng and Horikita contradictory intelligence, then exploited a rule requiring one representative to submit the next proposal. Class D prepared safeguards without choosing between the two pieces of intelligence, leaving Horikita to decide who would submit and Gu Heng to accept her choice.

• Ryuuen challenged whether Gu Heng or Horikita was responsible for Class D acquiring a strength specialist, and they explained how separate actions produced the result.
• Ryuuen announced that Class C would give Gu Heng and Horikita conflicting intelligence about Class B’s plans, and both classified their information as unverified.
• The school terminal announced that only one representative could submit the next proposal, forcing Class D to examine how responsibility and authority would be divided.
• Hirata and Yukimura separated the submission’s facts, choices, and unused intelligence into distinct fields as Ryuuen publicly demanded that Class D choose a side.
• Hirata confirmed that unused intelligence was marked unverified, Yukimura checked its receipt times, and Gu Heng left the representative choice to Horikita.

Horikita submitted Class D’s basic plan without relying on either unverified piece of intelligence, rejecting Ryuuen’s offer to reveal their sources in exchange for naming Gu Heng as the sole designer. After the school asked each class to explain what it had given up, Gu Heng agreed to speak for his own judgment and prepared to face questions at the public podium.

• Horikita put both unverified intelligence reports in the risk section, and Gu Heng insisted that the submission state they had not been adopted.
• Ryuuen offered to reveal the reports’ sources if Class D named Gu Heng as the sole plan designer, but Horikita rejected the offer because Class C had not guaranteed the intelligence was real or unchanged.
• Sudo submitted his Strength Event confirmation, and Horikita submitted Class D’s completed plan before the countdown ended, making Ryuuen’s offer invalid.
• The school began the grade-level explanation stage, and Class D listed its lost chance to investigate the intelligence, project advantage, and verification opportunity in the pending confirmation section.
• Gu Heng agreed to explain his own judgment, while Horikita and Hirata ensured his public statement would not be presented as the views of the whole class.

Class D finalized a Grade Statement that acknowledged giving up the use of unconfirmed individuals’ names, and the school recorded the classes’ statements in their next-exam evaluations. When Gu Heng was listed as a candidate to administer retained privileges, Class D reviewed the authority, penalties, and objections before leaving the final choice to the candidate personally.

• Gu Heng, Horikita, Hirata, and the rest of Class D agreed on a Grade Statement and submitted it after retaining members’ objections.
• Ichinose submitted Class B’s statement, while Ryuuen reported Class C’s project advantages and Sakayanagi noted Class A’s unused Exchange Privilege.
• The school evaluated Class D middling, Class C highly, and Class B inconsistently, and announced that retained privileges required an accountable administrator.
• Gu Heng asked the school to clarify the administrator’s authority, penalties, and withdrawal terms before accepting his candidacy.
• Horikita and Hirata reviewed the management rules with Class D, which recorded objections and clarified that only a candidate could personally make the final choice.
• The school locked the candidate pool, leaving Gu Heng and Horikita able to review it while preventing the class from accepting on anyone’s behalf.

Gu Heng accepted the administrator role for Class D’s unused authority, while establishing public records and personal accountability to limit his power. As midnight settlement approached, Class D prepared for Ryuuen’s possible final dispatch request, knowing Gu Heng would be responsible for deciding whether to process it.

• Horikita rejected the administrator position and told Gu Heng that he was suited to the role but would blame himself for every mistake.
• Gu Heng accepted the position and required every dispatch to include a public application, Personal Responsibility, and a review time.
• Horikita explained to Ryuuen that Gu Heng could not confirm actions for members or submit on a representative’s behalf, and that his rejections would be recorded against his own risk.
• Gu Heng reviewed Class C’s dispatch rights and decided that legal requests could not be rejected merely because they disadvantaged Class D; their benefits, losses, and irreversible consequences had to be disclosed first.
• Hirata recorded the processing procedure, Yukimura saved and monitored the page, and Gu Heng reserved twenty Private Points against the risk of a mistaken judgment.
• Horikita, Gu Heng, Hirata, and Yukimura recorded the limits and accountability of the administrator role as Class D awaited Ryuuen’s possible request before midnight settlement.

Gu Heng refused Ryuuen’s request to postpone Class C’s Exchange Privilege settlement, reasoning that Class D should not use its privilege to extend Class C’s incomplete confirmation window. The settlement took effect, and Class D entered the next phase with its costs and privileges intact while Gu Heng’s administrator identity was exposed.

• Gu Heng reviewed Class C’s postponement application, weighed the risks, and submitted his refusal after asking the class for its views.
• Ryuuen accepted the refusal without anger and said Gu Heng had become easier to calculate.
• At midnight, the school settled the privileges: Class D gained a Strength Event supplement, lost other adjustments and an inquiry right, and had Gu Heng’s twenty Private Points frozen until the next exam ended.
• The settlement also recorded Horikita’s Formal Submission Right, Gu Heng’s Review Authority, Hirata’s confirmation record, Sudo’s event assignments and fatigue risks, Kushida’s preserved source delivery, and Ayanokoji’s contact record.
• Gu Heng marked costs as occurred, pending release, or possible, then archived the notice that the next exam would begin after the Sports Festival settlement.

After the settlement, Class D archived the results and accepted that it had lost the top evaluation without surrendering anyone’s identity or authority. When the school announced an upcoming rooftop special exam, Gu Heng left the class’s planning page blank, and Class D began preparing to make and bear its own choices.

• Horikita archived the class’s final records, and Gu Heng and the others acknowledged their mixed opinions about the settlement rather than claiming everyone agreed.
• Horikita challenged Gu Heng’s audit classifications, while Sudo adjusted his training, Kushida set limits on her information sharing, and Ichinose recorded her choice as an internal witness.
• Sakayanagi assessed Class D’s new process, Ryuuen failed to obtain leverage over the class, and Ayanokoji gave Gu Heng the notice for a rooftop special exam preview.
• Gu Heng placed the notice in Class D’s public archives and asked everyone to decide what they were willing to bear in the next exam.
• Hirata, Sudo, Yukimura, and Kushida took responsibility for their own preparations, while Gu Heng left the planning page blank and waited for someone else to speak first.

The author reflected on completing the story and on Gu Heng’s role in helping Class D make its own choices rather than rely on one person. The story ended with Class D finding its own answer, and the author thanked the characters and readers.

• The author recalled the story’s major events and explained that it ended after Class D answered the central question of this stage.
• The author described Gu Heng’s intended difference from Ayanokoji: he understood rules and risks while sharing burdens and returning choices to others.
• The author reflected on how Horikita, Hirata, Sudo, and Kushida maintained their boundaries and developed through their own choices.
• The author acknowledged the story’s shortcomings and described doubts and fatigue during its creation.
• The author thanked the characters and readers, then concluded that Class D had learned to make choices without handing them to one person.