Hirata's Ledger of Favors

At noon on the third day, Hirata really brought it.

Not a verbal reminder.

A neatly folded sheet of paper.

"Here's what you wanted."

He set the paper on Gu Heng's desk. His tone was mild, and the smile on his face remained, though it was a little less relaxed than usual.

Gu Heng unfolded it and glanced over it.

There were more than a dozen names written on it.

Who was close to whom, who was most easily swept up by the crowd, who seemed good-tempered on the surface but would explode once their emotions were bottled up, who had been spending points the most recklessly lately, and who had already gotten friendly with Sudo during PE class.

There weren't many words.

But it was enough.

"Efficient," Gu Heng said, pressing the paper back onto the desk.

Hirata looked at him.

"I'm not helping you do anything weird," he said. "I just promised you I'd stabilize the class first."

"I know."

"You know?"

"I know you don't fully trust me yet." Gu Heng looked up. "So what you gave me isn't everything. It's the part you think is enough to test things out first."

Hirata froze for a moment.

Gu Heng had been too accurate.

He really had held something back.

Not because he was deliberately playing games, but because he instinctively wanted to leave himself some room.

After all, someone like Gu Heng didn't make for reassuring cooperation.

He was too good at calculating.

And he didn't even hide the fact that he was calculating.

"You make it hard for me to respond," Hirata said with a wry smile.

"Then my judgment was right."

"...Can't you be a little more tactful?"

"I can," Gu Heng said. "But being tactful usually takes a lot more words."

Hirata choked on that and laughed.

After laughing, though, he still pulled out a chair and sat at the desk in front of Gu Heng.

"I thought about it for a long time last night," he said. "I still don't really like the transaction you proposed."

"That's normal."

"But I think I understand what you meant." Hirata paused. "You don't want to be friends with me. You think people in class are more willing to listen when I speak."

"Correct."

"So you need me."

"Not entirely." Gu Heng looked at him. "More precisely, Class D will need you from here on out."

Hirata's gaze shifted.

"What's the difference?"

"There is one." Gu Heng spread the paper out again and tapped one of the names with his fingertip. "What I need is results. What Class D needs is someone who can pull everyone back when things are about to fall apart."

"You're talking about me."

"Mm."

Gu Heng answered too readily, and Hirata fell silent for half a second instead.

Wind blew in through the window, lifting the edge of the paper.

Gu Heng held it down, his gaze sweeping across the string of names.

The ones in the front rows who loved stirring things up could be considered noise.

The ones in the back who followed along whenever things got lively could be considered followers.

The people who truly mattered were never the loudest ones.

They were the ones who could decide who everyone else would follow into silence.

"You call this a transaction," Hirata said quietly. "So what exactly are you planning to give me?"

"Results."

"That's too vague."

"Then let's be specific." Gu Heng shifted his eyes from the list. "I'll help you defuse half of Sudo's bomb first. You help me clearly keep track of the people most likely to lose control and the people most easily influenced in class before the end of the month."

Hirata frowned.

"You still think Sudo is definitely going to cause trouble."

"It's not what I think."

"You really," Hirata sighed, "don't leave anyone any room with the way you talk."

Gu Heng smiled but did not respond.

The transparent panel in his vision flickered lightly.

Several numbers flashed over Hirata's head.

Responsibility 88

Hesitation 61

Desire for stability 84

Good.

He was still the sort who considered others first.

The greatest strength of people like that was that they didn't turn hostile easily.

Their greatest weakness was that they couldn't easily be ruthless, either.

"Let me ask you something," Hirata suddenly said.

"Go ahead."

"Why are you so determined to protect Sudo?"

"I already told you last time."

"You said he was a high-return combat asset." Hirata stared at him. "But that's only a practical reason."

"You want to hear another reason?"

"I want to know whether you intend to treat him as a tool, or whether you really want to pull him back."

A burst of laughter came from the front of the classroom.

Someone was probably telling a joke. Kushida laughed softly along with them, her voice bright.

Gu Heng did not turn around.

He only looked at Hirata, speaking after two seconds.

"A tool and a person aren't mutually exclusive."

Hirata's brow immediately furrowed.

"I like that even less."

"But it's the truth." Gu Heng's tone was even. "Someone like Sudo won't suddenly become sensible because you tell him ten times to 'think of the class.' He'll only remember one thing."

"What?"

"Who truly reached out and pulled him up when he was easiest to give up on."

Hirata fell quiet.

Gu Heng continued.

"If no one pulls him up, then later on he'll only believe even more that everyone in this class is the same. They call him troublesome, and when something really happens, they can't wait to throw him away."

"But what if someone does pull him up?"

"Then at least for the first time, he'll realize that someone in this class doesn't just see him as dead weight."

Hirata looked at him, and his expression slowly changed.

He had originally thought Gu Heng was protecting Sudo only because he wanted to use his strength.

But what Gu Heng was saying now wasn't passion.

Nor was it saintly compassion.

It was another kind of practicality.

Let someone who was most likely to break first experience what it felt like to be caught.

Only then could he possibly be truly brought into the class later.

"So this is what you meant by... a ledger of favors?"

"More or less."

"You even calculate things like that?"

"The more it's something like this, the more it needs to be calculated." Gu Heng said flatly, "If you don't account for it clearly, favors become the most expensive cost."

Hirata was silent for a moment.

"That's a hard thing to hear."

"But you understand it."

This time, Hirata did not argue.

Because he really did understand.

Gu Heng wasn't asking him to play the good guy.

He wanted Hirata to use the goodwill and trust he already possessed as a genuine resource that could influence the situation.

Not to give it away for free.

Nor to waste it.

But to invest it in exchange for results.

"Fine." Hirata let out a soft breath. "Then starting today, I'll keep helping you track things."

"Not helping me."

"Fine, fine." Hirata smiled helplessly. "Helping Class D."

Gu Heng nodded.

"One more thing."

"What?"

"Before the end of the month, don't go broadly warning them about their points."

Hirata froze.

"Why?"

"Because it won't help."

"But at least everyone should be somewhat prepared, right?"

"If you say it now, they'll only think you're killing the mood, or that you're alarmist like me." Gu Heng looked at him. "The more you say, the more likely they are to take their emotions out on you first when something really happens at the end of the month."

Hirata opened his mouth but did not speak immediately.

Because that was true, too.

The atmosphere in class had been growing more and more relaxed these past few days.

The school rules might as well have been decorations.

Classroom discipline might as well have been decorations too.

The latecomers, the sleepers, the ones playing on their phones, the ones chatting during class—every one of them acted more naturally than the last.

As though as long as the teacher did not get angry on the spot, nothing came with a cost.

Looking at the list, Gu Heng could already roughly imagine how things would explode at the end of the month.

"So we do nothing?" Hirata asked.

"We do something," Gu Heng said. "We keep accounts first."

"Keep track of who spent how many points?"

"Not just that." Gu Heng tapped the paper with his pen. "Also who panics first, who loses control first, who blames the school first, and who looks for a scapegoat first."

Hirata was stunned for two seconds.

"You're even calculating that in advance?"

"Otherwise, when they really explode, are you going to guess on the spot who you should stop first?"

Gu Heng said it as though it were only natural, yet Hirata inexplicably felt a chill run through him.

Not out of fear.

He had simply suddenly realized that from the very beginning, Gu Heng had not been looking at whether something would happen.

He had been looking at who would fall in which direction after it happened.

That perspective was practically on a different level from the rest of them, who had only just entered school.

"Gu Heng."

"Mm?"

"Sometimes, you really seem like you've lived through everything a second time already." Hirata looked at him. "Like before most people have even reacted, you've already taken the next several steps."

Gu Heng paused.

Then he smiled faintly.

"That's good, then."

"How is that good?"

"At least when I hit a wall, my face won't be the first thing to land."

Hirata laughed despite himself. In the end, he still shook his head and stood up.

"Fine," he said. "Then I'll keep helping you... no, helping Class D keep the accounts."

"Later, mark out the people who are close to Sudo and give me the list."

"Got it."

Hirata turned and took two steps, then stopped again.

"Oh, right."

"Something else?"

"If you really manage to bring Sudo back in the end," Hirata said, looking back at him, "I'll probably reevaluate you."

Gu Heng raised an eyebrow.

"My current rating is that low?"

Hirata smiled.

"Not low."

"It's just hard to feel at ease about you."

With that, he left.

Gu Heng remained where he was, lowering his head to mark several names on the list again.

The Sudo matter was still his top priority.

As for Hirata's side, they were now officially connected.

Meanwhile, Kushida had already set up the class group chat.

His phone vibrated.

Gu Heng opened it.

The group chat was buzzing.

People were making plans for dinner, arranging weekend outings, showing off newly bought things. Someone even posted a picture of shopping bags from the mall, followed by a string of "Jealous" and "Let's go together next time."

They didn't look at all like a group about to be slapped in the face by the rules.

Gu Heng glanced at it twice, then turned off his phone.

Before returning to the dorm that evening, Hirata handed him an even smaller slip of paper.

This time, there were only four names.

They were all people who had been closest to Sudo lately and were most likely to charge ahead under his influence.

Gu Heng accepted it without saying much.

Hirata looked at him but still couldn't hold back.

"You really won't warn them?"

"If you warn them now, they'll only hate you for it." Gu Heng slipped the paper into his pocket. "After tomorrow, at least they'll start to be afraid."

"Will being afraid definitely make them better?"

"Not necessarily."

"Then why do you—"

"But if it doesn't hurt, they'll definitely never remember."

Hirata fell silent at once.

The hallway lights stretched their shadows long across the floor.

Leaning against the wall, Gu Heng spoke quietly.

"If you want the people in class to listen to you in the future, sometimes you have to let them know how ugly the losses will be if they don't."

"This isn't about scaring them."

"It's about making them acknowledge the cost first."

Hirata said nothing more.

Because he suddenly realized that, at its core, Gu Heng's way of doing things wasn't heartless.

It was simply built on a premise he had accepted far too early.

The rules would not treat you more gently just because you were a good person.

So he could only calculate for the worst possible outcome first.

On the night of the month's end, Class D's group chat remained lively.

Some were posting their last big meal.

Some were showing off shoes they had just bought.

Others joked that once midnight passed, another hundred thousand points would arrive.

Hirata stared at those messages, feeling an inexplicable heaviness settle in his chest.

He had actually begun to believe it.

He just couldn't bring himself to believe it completely until the very last second.

After midnight, the phones fell silent for about ten seconds.

Then, the first message suddenly popped up in the group chat.

"Did your points come in?"

The second message followed immediately.

"No, why hasn't mine changed?"

The third, fourth, and fifth messages appeared almost simultaneously.

"Is there a delay?"

"Damn, don't scare me."

"The system's broken, right?"

Hirata's fingers tightened as he immediately opened his student ID interface.

The screen lit up.

His balance had not changed.

The section for the new monthly point deposit was blank, glaringly so.

The next second, a message from Gu Heng appeared.

Only three words.

"It's begun."

Hirata stared at those words, his back gradually turning cold.

Gu Heng had been right.

The end of the month had passed.

What Class D received was not another hundred thousand points.

It was a zero.