Like Houtarou, he chose not to interfere with the rumor.
But that didn't mean he was inactive. He enlisted Kikyō to use her network of connections to spread the rumor to the upper grades.
After all, the channels of communication between freshmen and upperclassmen are limited, requiring someone to act as an intermediary.
The upper-class students received this information with great curiosity.
Miyabi was completely dumbfounded.
He had previously thought Suzune was quite beautiful — a top-tier beauty — but to discover she was the President's sister?
He immediately lost any courage to harbor thoughts about her.
Thus, rumors spread among both first-year students and the upper classes. Although Manabu never confirmed anything directly, he seemed to have tacitly acknowledged that Suzune was indeed his sister.
During this time, Suzune returned to class. After a day's absence, she felt she had collected herself and calmed down.
But…
"Today is the 1st. First, congratulations to all of you for having no one expelled in the recently concluded special exam. Next... Here are your mathematics subject average scores and passing scores." Then Sae wrote 36 and 18 on the blackboard.
The average score was 38 — the total score divided by the number of students.
This score was quite mediocre. Despite Yōsuke's efforts to have stronger students lower their scores to 51 Points, many still dragged the class average down.
"Unfortunately, you didn't earn any Class Points in this exam." Sae said, "However, this month's exams will continue. They will still be written tests.
The school will set them, testing the content learned this month. I hope you all continue to study hard. The reward for the evaluation Points will be the same as last month."
"How can this be…"
The students erupted in noise.
They had been studying hard for a month, day in and day out, and most felt terrible about the results.
And now they faced the prospect of another month of daily studying.
If the situation continued this way, they still wouldn't receive living expenses next month, all because of their current grade levels.
This was an exam problem.
For Suzune, exams wouldn't be an issue. She had never been distracted in class. However, she faced a different problem.
It was about Points.
Because last month's average score for C-Class's written exam was lowered, they didn't earn any Class Points as a reward, though no one was expelled.
The class's 530 Class Points didn't actually belong to them. This morning, everyone was supposed to transfer the Points the school deposited on their student IDs to Rokusuke and Suzune.
This had been agreed upon from the beginning.
However, an exceptional situation arose.
Among the 40 students in class, 12 refused to transfer Suzune's and Houtarou's share, worth 320 Class Points of Private Points.
After homeroom ended, when Suzune attempted to collect the missing Points, she found herself surrounded by classmates.
"This special exam is still a written test. We held study sessions, but it's still too difficult." A female student said.
"That's right, Horikita-san, we hope you can teach us how to study in the future." A male student added.
Last month, Suzune had participated in study sessions at Kikyō's invitation. Midway through, when some students wanted to quit, she only taught for 7 days. Kikyō and the others took over afterward.
Were they now hoping she could help again?
"If you want to learn, I'll still participate in study sessions. And this month's Points—" Suzune hadn't yet realized their true intentions.
She still had the responsibility of collecting everyone's Points and transferring them to Houtarou.
"Eh? I'm not talking about studying. It's that thing your brother has access to with his authority. That's right, I mean the exam answers!" This student finally revealed their true intentions, "And if you can give me this, then I'll continue to give you the Points."
"I don't understand what you're talking about. How could anyone possibly obtain something like that? People who don't use their brains will only become stupider—"
Suzune expressed her exasperation, "Besides, Points aren't something you can use as a bargaining chip. They're the result of what everyone agreed to from the beginning."
"Hey, I think you're being too harsh, Horikita-san."
"That's right!"
"You've gotten so many benefits from your brother being the Student Council President. What's wrong with giving us a little advantage too?"
"Your brother has accumulated so many Points. Can't we just keep a few of ours?"
"We haven't had living expenses for two months and can barely afford decent meals!"
"And when your brother graduates, won't you just go straight to Class A? Are you planning to leave us all behind?"
The accusations came at her from all directions.
Suzune had run away from class yesterday for the same reason.
But then, it had been just Haruki making foolish remarks. Now she was surrounded by seven or eight classmates making similar claims.
Worse still, the accusations had become even more outrageous.
What did they mean by... going straight to Class A?
"What are you all talking about?"
"Don't you know? The upper classes are spreading rumors that the President will give his sister 20 million Points when he graduates. Then you can jump straight to Class A!"
"Must be nice having such an awesome brother!"
"..."
So Suzune took another leave of absence.
Houtarou also received this information, but his homeroom class was still in progress.
⍟⍟⍟
T/N: Hey! Liked what you read? Support your friendly neighborhood translator on Patreon! Think of it as buying me a coffee... or ten!
For just $1.50 (that's less than your daily meme budget), get extra chapters! Want more? $2 gets you bonus content, $5 unlocks premium stories, and $10 makes you my hero (and gets you everything I have, including earlier acess to new books)! You can have access to almost 15 books!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)
https://www.patreon.com/collection/827204