Chapter 072: The First Month Ends—Ryuen's Class! 0 Points!
Chabashira felt that Horikita Suzune had been deceived.
She had already realized that Horikita Suzune was essentially being pushed forward by Hachiman to take the lead.
Both Hirata and Kushida were like ticking time bombs—if certain situations arose, they wouldn't be able to provide direct support.
So, someone else had to step up.
And the person Hachiman chose was Horikita Suzune.
To be fair, while Horikita's abilities were lacking, she was still the student council president's younger sister—perhaps there was untapped potential in her.
So having her take the lead was a reasonable strategy.
But this also meant that Hachiman's plan to reach Class A might not be entirely legitimate.
He needed someone as the public face while he possibly carried out strategies that wouldn't normally be accepted.
In other words, he and Horikita formed a "white and black" dynamic.
Still, everything was progressing in a positive direction.
After all, Class D had now become Class C. The class promotion progress had instantly jumped by 30%!
But not everyone was happy about it.
One such person was Ryuen Kakeru of Class 1-C.
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Meanwhile…
Ryuen Kakeru remained in his classroom, waiting for the trial regarding his class to conclude and for the results to be announced.
There were only two possible outcomes:
1. Both sides are penalized equally. Each class receives a punishment.
2.
3. Sudo is found guilty, and Class D gets penalized. In this case, Class D would immediately drop down.
4.
Alternatively, there was the possibility that Class D had done something to delay the trial.
But if a delay occurred, that would already be a victory.
If the student council accepted a case as extreme as "one against three," then it meant the school tolerated underhanded tactics.
That would be confirmation that as long as the school didn't explicitly forbid something, it was fair game.
With that in mind—
"Ryuen!"
Ryuen turned his head as Ishizaki Daichi and his group rushed into the classroom.
"So, what's the result?"
Ryuen didn't want to discuss this in class—after all, there were security cameras.
"Well…"
Ishizaki scratched his head as if something was stuck in his throat.
Soon, Komiya and Kondo also caught up.
"We lost."
Komiya finally spoke hesitantly.
"Ryuen," said Class C's homeroom teacher, Sakagami Naomasa, as he walked over.
"You were outplayed and used by Class D."
"Horikita Suzune from Class D recorded Ishizaki and the others fighting Sudo from the very beginning and presented it as evidence during the trial."
"The evidence was indisputable."
"This was our biggest mistake," Sakagami said.
"What the hell?!"
At that moment, Ryuen realized—he wasn't the only one playing dirty in this school.
Someone had seen through his tactics, and worse—they had turned them against him.
And the result?
Class C gained absolutely nothing from this scheme. Instead, they suffered a massive penalty and made history—they became the first class ever to drop down within the first month of school.
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Meanwhile, in Class D…
"So… not only did we not lose points, but Class C got deducted 400 points?"
"And just like that… we became Class C?"
Even though it was after school, the students of Class D hadn't left the classroom.
They were waiting for the trial results.
After all, they had all worked hard in the past few days.
They had even signed that collective advancement agreement with Hachiman, increasing their self-discipline.
And they had been steadily accumulating points.
But if Sudo ended up getting them all deducted—that would be unbearable for everyone.
No one wanted to go back to eating the school's free vegetable set meal—it was absolutely disgusting.
There had to be enough points for living expenses next month.
Of course, not everyone was thrilled about the strict discipline over the past few days—some were reaching their limit.
So, for them, if Sudo lost all the points, that might actually be an excuse to slack off again.
But instead, the result they got was an unexpected and shocking victory.
Not only did they not lose points… they were suddenly promoted!
"This is all thanks to Horikita," Hachiman said.
"She was the eyewitness from the very beginning."
"Eh? Horikita was an eyewitness? Then why didn't she speak up earlier?"
As Hachiman spoke, a student suddenly interrupted him.
She had beautiful golden hair tied into a single ponytail and delicate facial features.
It was Karuizawa Kei.
So once again—it was Karuizawa who jumped ahead to speak.
Did she really love her class that much?
Or was she just trying to stand out?
Either way, Hachiman continued speaking.
"Because what she saw was that Sudo was being bullied by Class C students, but Ryuen from Class C instead falsely accused Sudo."
"This action is very strange."
"And if Ryuen successfully framed Sudo this time, what if he repeats the same trick and bullies other students from our class?" Hachiman said.
"Eh!" Karuizawa immediately sat back down.
The other students also felt lucky.
Sudo wasn't very popular in class—he was a hot-headed guy, so people weren't surprised when he got into fights.
But now, Hachiman's reframing of the situation made it seem like Class C was the real aggressor.
So Sudo was actually the one being targeted.
In this case, punishing Class C would curb their arrogance and protect the rest of the class.
"Horikita-san is really far-sighted."
"She really cares about everyone!" Some students immediately chimed in.
"That's right," Kushida also joined the conversation.
She was the "white lotus" of the class, so naturally, she had to get involved in this moment.
But her expression seemed too genuine—her real thoughts were likely different.
Because right now, she was probably feeling what Horikita Suzune felt half an hour ago.
That was—the fact that Hachiman had told Hirata and Chabashira about being an eyewitness but hadn't told her.
She was wondering what made her different from them.
And Kushida felt even worse.
She had been working so hard to get close to Horikita Suzune—every day, she tried to build a good relationship with her.
She had even been helping to find eyewitnesses for the Sudo incident.
But the eyewitness was Horikita herself all along.
Yet, for some reason, Horikita never told her.
So in the end, she still hadn't gained Horikita's trust at all.
As Hachiman continued explaining, Hirata glanced at him.
Because Hirata remembered clearly—Hachiman had told him that he was the eyewitness.
So why did it suddenly become Horikita?
But Hirata didn't question it.
In fact, Hachiman's reasoning convinced him as well.
As "Mama Hirata," he didn't want his classmates to be harmed by Class C.
If they could eliminate the threat early, that would be for the best.
He never saw violence as a good thing.
After all—
He had done the same thing in the past.
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And so—
The Sudo incident came to an end, and time returned to the present.
During lunch break, Hachiman headed to the cafeteria on the third floor.
Today, he had received an invitation—someone was willing to treat him to a meal.
And on top of that—
He had already received an advance payment of 2 million points from Chabashira-sensei for his involvement in this incident.
That's right.
According to his agreement with Chabashira-sensei, if the class successfully ranked up, she would pay him anywhere between 10 million and 30 million points, depending on her discretion.
But now—
She had already paid him 2 million in advance.
It was a reward, in a way.
After all, with Class C falling, that meant Class D had climbed up.
The progress toward advancing ranks was improving.
Now, the accumulated usable points had reached 3.4 million.
Aside from the 100,000 points initially given by the school, some of which had already been spent, Horikita's brother also transferred 100,000 points.
So there was no problem with living expenses.
But if someone was offering a free meal, why not take advantage of it?
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Hachiman arrived at a private dining room in the cafeteria on the third floor.
"What an impressive solution."
"Not only did you stop Katsuragi's faction from using Class C to attack Class B, but you also completely crushed Class C."
"And at the same time—"
As soon as he stepped into the room, Hachiman realized someone was praising him.
The person had short silver-white hair, wore white thigh-high stockings, and had plump, well-shaped thighs that were hard to look away from.
It was a familiar face—Sakayanagi Arisu from Class A.
But coming from her, this praise was ironic.
After all, wasn't she the one who leaked the information about Katsuragi's faction ordering Ryuen's attack?
Speaking of leaking information...
"Sakayanagi, don't you think this is a problem?" Hachiman asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you leaking intel," Hachiman said. "This isn't the first time you've fed me information, is it?"
So you're aware of it too, huh?
Sakayanagi's forced leaks had already become part of her dark history.
But back then, it was either forced or accidental.
This time, during the Sudo incident, she had deliberately leaked the information.
That was a fact.
"Well, that depends on whether your class can actually climb up. In fact, I've already declared war on you. If you're too weak, then crushing you won't be satisfying at all." Sakayanagi said.
"..."
Is that so?
So you're really that confident, huh, Sakayanagi?
You actually want to help build up my "garbage" class just so you can crush us later?
And you really believe you can defeat us?
Still—
Hachiman couldn't deny it.
Sakayanagi Arisu was strong.
Her thinking and judgment were sharp.
She was, in a way, a true genius.
Right now, Class A seemed to be in the middle of internal strife.
But if Sakayanagi completely took control, they would become an extremely formidable enemy.
Hachiman's plan was just to reach Class A once.
But if Sakayanagi was in control, pulling that off would be much harder.
So the question was—
Was there a way to trick this little schemer into delaying her takeover, so that his class could advance first?
By the end of the month, Hachiman still hadn't found an answer.
Because after investigating, he realized—
Katsuragi was no match for Sakayanagi at all.
If Sakayanagi wanted to, she could eliminate Katsuragi anytime.
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Time moved forward.
May 1st.
After school.
The location—a large indoor swimming pool.
From the student council office, it was easy to see everything happening below.
And at this moment—
The only people in the student council office were Student Council President Horikita Manabu and his loyal aide, Secretary Tachibana Akane, who was to him what Kamuro was to Sakayanagi.
"Class D is truly beyond saving."
Peering through the blinds, Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses with cold indifference as he watched Class D students happily playing in the pool.
Tachibana Akane stood beside him, holding a notebook in her arms.
As the secretary, she likely had to record important matters at all times.
Horikita had just referred to Class D—Ryuen's class.
By now, they should have already seen the updated point distributions from the school or checked the noticeboard on the first floor, where the results of last month's behavioral assessments were posted.
But despite that—
First-year Class D students were still playing around during P.E. as if nothing had changed.
Their last period was swimming class, so even though school was over, they could stay and keep playing in the pool.
And that's exactly what they were doing.
Not a single sign of reflection.
"First-year Class A—Sakayanagi, Katsuragi…"
Horikita Manabu turned around, his gaze calm as he looked at the two people behind him—a petite silver-haired girl sitting on the sofa and a burly, broad-shouldered bald man.
"Congratulations. This month, your class earned 988 points. Even among past Class A rankings, this is an unprecedentedly high score, one truly worthy of pride."
Though his words were congratulatory, Horikita Manabu's expression remained unchanged from start to finish.
He seemed to be a stoic and unsmiling student council president.
Katsuragi agreed with this perception, as his previous application to join the student council had been rejected by Horikita Manabu.
The reason given was that he had not yet proven his abilities since he had only just entered the school.
However—
The people present in this room were not only first-year Class A students.
"Hikigaya Hachiman, Hirata Yousuke," Horikita continued. "Congratulations to you as well for being the first class in this school's history to successfully advance a rank within the very first month through the behavioral assessment exam."
His expression seemed to soften slightly.
That was a noticeable difference from before.
Katsuragi frowned.
So, does that mean Horikita Manabu values Class D—no, Class C students more?
After the class evaluation scores were forcibly made public, Katsuragi initially agreed with Sakayanagi's stance that Class A didn't need to do anything—Class A would naturally widen the gap with Class B.
However, Yahiko had informed him that they had received a request from Ryuen of Class C.
Ryuen wanted to strike a deal with Class A.
Apparently, Ryuen didn't trust his own class to safely pass the behavioral assessment exam and instead wanted to convert class evaluation points into funds to continuously receive living expenses from Class A.
It was a shameful proposal, lacking any ambition.
But Katsuragi saw potential in it.
If Class C stirred up trouble, they would be the first to lose points, dragging other classes down with them.
From Class A's perspective, this was a great advantage.
So, Katsuragi reluctantly agreed to hire Ryuen.
However, before the deal was even finalized, Ryuen caused problems on his own.
He deliberately picked a fight with Sudo from Class D, got counter-sued for false accusations, and ended up losing 400 points.
As a result, his entire class was demoted to Class D.
Ryuen himself gave up entirely, leaving his classmates to act freely, which led to even more penalties in the behavioral assessment.
And so—
Today was the day the class evaluation scores were announced again.
Katsuragi had been waiting in front of the bulletin board early, anticipating the results.
And what he saw was—
• First-Year Class A (Sakayanagi-Katsuragi Class): 988 points
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• First-Year Class B (Ichika's Class): 751 points
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• First-Year Class C (Hikigaya-Horikita Class): 450 points
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• First-Year Class D (Ryuen's Class): 0 points
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