After all, this is already the best approach. At least it helps everyone avoid ending up broke. It's not like Class D, where they don't even have money to live on. If people are still unhappy after all that, then they're just asking for it.
If you perform well, you'll get respect and maybe even rewards.
But if you do nothing and still want everything, then you don't deserve anything.
"I'll think over this plan," Ryuen said. "Kaneda, Shiina, you two figure out the details and put it into a proper written proposal."
"It's fine now since we've just started school, but we're here for three years. If the idiots in class get too comfortable, they might do something stupid later."
That's why they needed a written document. Something that could have real consequences.
And Shirogane didn't stop them.
Nobody wants to be in the middle of fighting for Class A and then have someone from their own class dragging them down. Or worse, someone who agrees now but stabs you in the back later. Like in one of those special tests where you vote for the person you hate the most to get expelled. And because you were always contributing the most and taking the biggest share of points, others might think, "If that person leaves, we don't have to pay as much anymore."
"…"
Even if they didn't think that kind of test would actually happen, it was better to be careful just in case.
Shirogane had no objections.
"Alright, that's basically it," he said. "Those were the only two things I called this meeting for."
"So let's relax a bit." Ryuen called a server over and started... well, ordering food. And also... Sprite.
Since they weren't allowed to drink alcohol, they started with Sprite instead.
The meeting lasted about an hour, and to avoid singing, Shirogane left early.
But he didn't go far—he took a walk around the bookstore in the shopping district.
Even though the library had plenty of resources, bookstores still stocked some valuable books. Since he rarely had this kind of free time, Shirogane decided to spend it reading.
Before he knew it, it was already evening.
…
9:50 p.m.
Shirogane slowly walked out of the shopping district, heading toward the dorms.
At this hour, there weren't many students around.
So Shirogane started talking to himself.
Of course, that's just how it looked from the outside. In reality, he was talking to the narrator system.
The system had already given an evaluation of Ryuen before.
In other words, Ryuen is capable.
You could say that while his actions are rough, like a delinquent, he does use his head. But the fact that he could only bring his class up to Class B also shows that he has limits.
And now, one of those limits is clear—Ryuen wants to rule with force and collect points through violence.
This is basically extortion.
And wherever there's oppression, there will be resistance. So it's very likely that spies will appear. Even if he notices it, it'll already be after the class has suffered losses.
That'll be Ryuen's biggest mistake.
That's why Ayanokouji stepped in to feed the class some sweet talk—to calm things down.
Still, he doesn't think Ryuen has such a narrow mindset.
After all, they're in the same class, and Ryuen's rule by force does help keep things under control. So when it comes to moving up as a class, Ryuen is technically a teammate.
So what is he really thinking?
Ayanokouji figured he should try to understand him better.
Because—
A good teammate is way better than a useless one. And if you realize early on that your teammate is useless, you can start preparing before things go south. That way, the damage is less.
[As for Ryuen Kakeru, he's really defiant. Super proud. He sees this school as a challenge.]
[His goal is still to aim for Class A. He wants to graduate as a Class A student, to prove everyone wrong and have something to brag about for years.]
[But at the same time, he knows that he and his class are all weak when it comes to academics. Once it comes down to written tests, they're done for.]
[So even if they make it to Class A, it won't last.]
That's a pretty depressing thought.
Ryuen's class has a lot of low-performing students, and if just one test can wreck them, there are likely going to be more tests ahead—maybe even ten or more. That's clearly their weak spot.
[So when he heard from you that 20 million points could be used to avoid getting expelled, he didn't really care. He thought the points were worth way more than that. But he did think they could be used to move up a class.]
[If it costs 20 million points for one person to move up, then for 40 people, that's 800 million.]
800 million.
That's a huge number. But if they could move up that way, it might be the safest plan. Because it wouldn't even matter if their current class was A, B, C, or D—if they had the points, they'd be set.
So on one hand, Ryuen says he won't spend 20 million points to save a classmate, but on the other hand, he's planning to use the same amount to push someone up to Class A.
Wow, Ryuen. Acting all wild and rebellious...
But secretly, you've got this kind of dream.
[Still, he knows the chance of that working is less than 0.0001%, so he's just planning to write it in a notebook and flip through it once in a while.]
That's reality for you.
[He's decided to take it one step at a time. If things don't work out, he'll grab 20 million points and run. But if he does get expelled—]
[And if he happens to have 20 million points at that time, he might leave one-third for himself and give the rest to the class.]
That's the kind of comment that leaves you speechless.
"But how do you know so much about Ryuen?" Ayanokouji asked, a bit curious.
[It's all in his own writing. He hasn't… ahem, he's going to write an autobiography someday. All these thoughts are in there.]
[And this book actually became pretty popular.]
Shirogane quietly listened, but something started to feel off.
Because if Ryuen's autobiography in the future really got published and became a hit, wouldn't that mean people outside the school would learn the truth about Advanced Nurturing High School?
"So that means the school's secrets would be leaked to the outside world?" Shirogane said.
Ever since entering the school, Shirogane understood how important information was here.
And this school had already existed for more than ten years, yet students only learned its true nature after enrolling. That showed how good it was at keeping things secret.
[Fifteen years later, a new chairman took over Advanced Nurturing High School. Unlike the old chairman, who just watched students grow in a rigid way,
she looked forward to explosive growth from the students.]
ps: First update!