Once again, the scores for both first and second years have been updated.
Starting with the second years:
Class A: 1400 + 100 - 200 = 1300 points
Class B: 780 + 100 = 880 points
Class C: 500 + 100 = 600 points
Class D: 350 + 100 = 450 points
As soon as the third-year secretary, Tachibana Akane, left her post, a group of second-year students quickly gathered around.
This time, Secretary Tachibana Akane had even kindly written out the reasons for both the added and deducted points.
But—
Most second-year students thought this was just a regular test and that each class had simply received a flat 100-point bonus.
But—
There was an issue with the score for Class 2-A.
They also got 100 points, but strangely, they had 200 points deducted. That means only Class 2-A ended up losing 100 points overall, making their lead over the other classes 200 points smaller.
"This closes the gap with Class B."
Some students from Class 2-A also walked by and saw the updated scores.
One of them was a tall, skinny boy.
"This is probably Yaha's fault."
With him was a girl from the same class—a pretty girl with long, Tachibana-colored hair.
She was taller than most girls. Although she wore the same uniform as everyone else, she stood out with her cute looks, sunflower hair accessory, and long hair in that signature Tachibana shade. Her name was Asahina.
"But this also shows he hasn't given up yet."
He hasn't given up.
As the person involved, Asahina actually knew the reason behind the deduction.
Nagumo Miyabi had arranged for them to tutor students in Class 1-C, but they ended up getting reported… even Class 1-C joined in on the report.
It was supposed to be a favor to Class 1-C, to build a good relationship and win over the younger students.
But they got reported instead.
Nagumo probably didn't expect that.
She even said back then that this might be too risky.
After all, upperclassmen were already told not to leak any test info to the younger students during this exam.
The school clearly wanted to test the first-years properly.
So if the school really cares about this, wouldn't it have been better to just change the test papers to practice material even if there was a leak?
But Nagumo's view was:
It's okay to start like that, but since Miyuki Shirogane was also helping out other classes in similar ways, they had to take down Class 1-C in one blow.
They needed to make a strong impression.
Make them realize the test was exactly the one they had been given.
And then.
Well, there was no "and then."
The result now is: -200 class points, and a fine of 2 million private points.
They lost both personal points and class evaluation points.
Still, you have to admit Nagumo took responsibility.
After being reported, he actually had two options for punishment.
1. Point out the exact rule-breakers and punish them individually. The class point deduction and the fine would've been smaller.
2. Handle it vaguely like this. But this way, the loss in class points and private points is much bigger.
The good thing about the second option is that it's vague—he didn't name himself or anyone else.
That shows—
Nagumo still wants to keep his position as vice president.
And—
He's planning to run for student council president.
So clearly, he's still ambitious.
As they were saying this, they saw Nagumo Miyabi walking over.
Besides students from other classes, even students from 2nd Year Class A gathered around.
"Nagumo!"
"Don't panic!"
But Nagumo said,
"Besides the rule that we can't interfere with first-years, nothing else has changed."
"And the plan I mentioned will still go on."
As he spoke, it wasn't just 2nd Year Class A students—students from other classes also started to waver.
Because Nagumo Miyabi's plan for dealing with last month's and this month's special exams was this:
Every time a special test was announced, he would call together the class reps from all four classes. They'd sit down and figure out the best strategy.
Then work out how to get the best overall results for the entire year group.
Yeah.
It was like the school set the questions, and they were the challengers.
But instead of fighting each other to the death, they'd change the target—make the school the opponent.
The idea was: how can we squeeze more points out of the school?
Of course—
There were also benefits to this.
If you didn't go against Nagumo, then he wouldn't let your class's points drop to zero. He'd even help with living expenses.
But he wouldn't give too much.
Because—
He was collecting points.
And this was the second plan to keep everyone calm.
Their own class would collect 50% of the points, while other classes would collect 35–40%. No one was allowed to hold more than 500,000 points—anything over that had to be handed in.
But it wasn't that he was trying to take everyone's points for himself. It was more like pooling resources.
All the points would be gathered together and turned into bundles of 20 million points each.
One bundle of 20 million points would be enough to get one student promoted to Class A. With more bundles, more students could move up.
In other words—
As long as you agreed with his plan, even a student from Class D could get a ticket to Class A by graduation.
According to Nagumo, he'd give anyone who didn't go against him a chance to join a lottery before graduation—and the winners would be promoted to Class A.
As for Classes C and D, they had already given up trying to climb. So if following orders meant they'd lose fewer points or avoid expulsion—and maybe even get into Class A—of course they'd go along with it.
Struggling on their own wouldn't change anything, and there was no real chance of moving up anyway.
So—
Once this plan came out, Classes C and D basically became Class A's followers.
It turned into A, C, and D teaming up against Class B.
And the only class still trying to resist was 2nd Year Class B.
They used to be Class A, but Nagumo overtook them, and now they were behind by 500 to 600 points.
They were close to giving up too. But after Kiriyama was invited into the student council, they started to feel hopeful again.
Clearly, the sudden point gap closing made those former Class A students think they still had a shot—so now they were planning to fight back.
But now—
"Kiriyama is already working with me," Nagumo suddenly said.
"Why would you say that now?"
Kiriyama was stunned.
He had come along with his classmates to laugh at 2nd Year Class A.
And now, he was hearing Nagumo expose him as a spy.
His classmates all turned to look at him with shocked faces.
Like they were thinking, "Seriously? We haven't even started and you're already giving up?"
Nagumo didn't really have a choice.
If the gap between Class A and Class B hadn't suddenly gotten smaller, he wouldn't have revealed it either.
But luckily, as long as he could still control Class B, he could keep calling the shots.
"Don't let what I just said about Kiriyama get out."
Nagumo said.
"If anyone spreads it, they'll lose their shot at the Class A lottery."
"Damn it…"
"Got it."
Even though they were annoyed by Nagumo, nobody wanted to throw away their one chance to be picked for Class A and graduate from there.
This was how Nagumo took control of the entire grade.
He was in Class 2-A, and as long as he stayed on top, the rest of Class A could ride his coattails.
Students from other classes had to pay points to get a ticket and then draw lots for a chance to enter Class E.
The idea was to pool the whole grade's strength to create the best shot at reaching Class A.
One person isn't enough. One class might not be either.
So.
Nagumo was dragging the entire grade along with him.
Both his ideas and methods were totally unique among the 15th-year students.
...
Meanwhile, Shirogane Miyuki, the first-year student council secretary, had just updated the class rankings with the new point totals.
Class 1-A (Katsuragi's class): 1074 + 20 = 1094 points
Class 1-B (Ryuen's class): 835 + 10 = 845 points
Class 1-C (Ichinose's class): 660 + 10 = 670 points
Class 1-D (Hirata's class): 100 + 10 = 110 points
"That bonus is a bit unexpected."
Unlike the second-years, there weren't many first-years who came to check the scores in person.
While Shirogane was updating the numbers, only Kushida was there with him. Then Sakayanagi Arisu showed up after getting the news.
Of course, it could just be that Sakayanagi was bored.
Maybe she was just walking around after lunch, saw him from a distance, and decided to stop by.
She was alone this time—no dog with her.
"It really is unexpected,"
Shirogane said.
As a member of the student council, he already knew how the school handled things for the second-years. But looking at the first-years, the point bonuses raised some questions—Class A got +20 points, while B, C, and D only got +10. It seemed kind of vague.
"It looks like the school isn't completely against interference from upperclassmen."