4.3
After class ended, Horikita approached me, just as she had yesterday. As we prepared to leave together, Sudou insisted on tagging along. Horikita initially tried to refuse, but—just like the day before—his earnestness seemed to wear her down. She eventually allowed him to accompany us.
She must have judged that letting him help out wouldn't interfere too much with his own study time. For Horikita to compromise like that was… surprising. Or perhaps, "accepting" was the better word.
Of course, there was a reason for her decision.
There were only about ten days left until the special exam. Given how exceptionally difficult the written portion was expected to be, it was crucial to secure study time without distractions. However, if Sudou kept worrying about Horikita's actions, he wouldn't be able to focus properly. The sooner Horikita found him a partner, the sooner he could settle down and devote himself to studying.
Horikita knew Sudou very well. Except, perhaps, for one important thing—his feelings for her. She hadn't noticed the reason why he wanted so badly to stay by her side.
Naturally, I wasn't going to point it out. That motivation was, after all, a powerful driving force for Sudou.
Instead of heading toward the first-year classrooms, Horikita led us toward Keyaki Mall. Likely, this was because of the trouble caused earlier by the first-years who had wandered up to our floor during lunch. She probably wanted to avoid another comparable incident.
Or perhaps her decision was influenced by Housen from Class 1-D—the problem child who had made his presence known all too clearly. I supposed we'd find out soon enough.
As soon as we entered the mall, Sudou stuck his little finger in his ear to block out some of the noise. The crowd and chatter seemed to irritate him.
"Man, these new students… they're a real pain," he muttered honestly as his eyes scanned the first-years milling about.
Here's a polished continuation of your passage, keeping the light novel tone and matching the flow of Classroom of the Elite:
"And man, I gotta say, it's loud in here, dude. Guess that's 'cause of the first-years kickin' up a ruckus and all," said Sudou
"There certainly are quite a lot of students around," replied Horikita calmly.
The mall was packed with first-years. They crowded the stores and food stalls, chatting happily about what they wanted to buy or eat next, their laughter echoing off the walls.
"And yet here we are, seriously bustin' our asses looking for partners," Sudou muttered with a huff.
It was true. Wasting day after day trying to decide on a partner wasn't good for either side. But there was one undeniable difference between us second-years and the new students—the way we viewed the special exam.
Most of them showed little sense of urgency. The ones we'd seen loitering around after class yesterday were proof enough of that. The difference was even starker now that we were surrounded by them outside the classroom.
"Well, it's no wonder. I mean, we were the same way when we first got here," I said.
"Yeah… that's true, huh," Sudou admitted after a pause.
It wasn't hard to understand. After all, they had just received a hefty deposit of points right after enrolling. It didn't matter whether they were in Class A or Class D—nearly every first-year was enjoying their new life at this school to the fullest, spending freely and indulging in all the luxuries the system provided.
But the frustrating thing was the imbalance in consequences. For us, failing the special exam meant expulsion. For them, all they risked was three months' worth of points.
"Look at 'em. Not a care in the damn world," Sudou grumbled, glaring at a laughing group of first-years as they walked past.
"I wouldn't be talking if I were you, Sudou-kun. Have you already forgotten what you were like a year ago?" Horikita shot back, her sharp words cutting straight through him.
"N-no, I didn't forget or anything…" Sudou stammered. His cheeks reddened as he looked away. "I've been doin' a lot of soul-searchin', y'know?"
Probably because he was the first student in our class to be faced with the real threat of being expelled. The relief measure that we had utilized at the time was no longer available to us, of course. The privilege of being beginners had already been used up.
"For the time being, let's try talking with a group of people," said Horikita, spotting a group of three first-year guys sitting on a bench, chatting and laughing among themselves.
Their names were Kaga, Mikami, and Shiratori. They were all students in Class 1-D and all had an academic ability ranking of B- or better. Before calling out to these students, Horikita had pulled up their information in the app, just to be sure. It seemed she hadn't changed her mind about going after students from Class 1-D, after all.
"Excuse me, do you have a moment?"asked Horikita.
"...What is it?" replied one of the students.
They could probably tell just by glancing at us that they were dealing with upperclassmen. The joyful expressions quietly faded from their faces and were quickly replaced with looks of caution.
"We're looking for partners for the upcoming special exam. Have you found partners yourselves yet?" she asked.
"Oh, uh, no. We still haven't partnered up with anyone yet," said one of the students.
"If you'd like, we'd be happy to talk to you about partnering up," said Horikita
"Yeah, we'd definitely be okay with that. Right?" said one of the students.
After hearing Horikita's proposal, the three of them nodded in response, almost as if they had discussed matters in advance. We got an unexpectedly good vibe from their response, and it seemed like they had
relaxed their guard a little bit. Sudou looked surprised, like he could hardly believe how positive they were acting.
"However, while I'm very sorry to say this, our top priority right now is to find—
"Partners who can help out the students with poor grades to prevent them from being expelled, right?"" said one of the students, finishing Horikita's sentence.
It seemed that idea had already spread among the new students.
"Yes. If you understand that already, then this discussion will be quick," said Horikita.
"Um, well... so, you'd like... one of us to team up with Sudou-senpai?" asked one of the students.
They'd also checked out our profiles on their phones, which was why they had no hesitation in talking with us.
"Yes. He's one of the students we'd like to find a partner for. There are many others, as well," said Horikita.
"Oh, okay, I see. Let's see, Sudou-senpai has an academic ability ranking of E+, huh... That does sound quite difficult," said the student.
He was being diplomatic, but it was still clear he was pointing out just how low Sudou's academic ability ranking was. Even though what he said was true, Sudou seemed upset. Still, he barely managed to keep it together and not let his dissatisfaction show on his face.
"Shiratori, you should be able to handle it just fine, right?"
The other two students looked to Shiratori, who sat at the far-right end
of the bench.
"My academic ability ranking is A, at least for the time being." said Shiratori,
"Yes, so it seems. If you're willing to partner with him, I would certainly not complain," said Horikita.
"In that case... how about this much?" Shiratori held out his hand with all five fingers up, making a proposal in return.
For a moment, Horikita didn't understand what he was suggesting, so she looked back at Sudou and me.
"My oh my. You want to partner up, right? If so, I should think something like this would be obvious. No?" said Shiratori.
When Horikita heard that, she understood what he meant. "...I suppose you're referring to Private Points."
"Of course. I mean, if someone like myself were to team up with a smart student, I could shoot for the top spot. Since I'll be giving up a chance at getting the top-tier rewards by partnering with a student with a low academic ranking, it's only natural that I ask for something in return," said Shiratori.
"Say what? You want points from us?! And you're askin for fifty thousand..? Dude, that's way too much," said Sudou.
For somcone like Sudou, who was constantly short on funds every day, that was an extraordinary number of points to ask for.
"Senpai, please stop joking around. There's no way I could accept fifty-thousand," said Shiratori.
"Huh?" said Sudou.
"I meant five hundred thousand. If you can give me five hundred thousand, IIl happily partner up with you right here and now," said Shiratori.
"F-five hundred thousand?!" shouted Sudou.
"It would be quite difficult for you if a student got expelled from your class, right? We've been doing a bit of research ourselves, you see," said Shiratori.
Apparently, this year's batch of new students were quite how we'd been last year. They had already begun to understand how this
school worked, and on top of that, they understood their value. Between our
grade level and theirs, it was difficult to tell which of us were the seniors and which the juniors. Looking at the situation we were in, it could easily be interpreted the other way around.
"It's certainly natural to want some kind of remuneration if you're being asked to partner with someone with a low academic ability ranking," said Horikita.
"H-hey, Suzune! I ain't got five hundred large though, y'know?" said Sudou.
"I know that. Be quiet for a minute," said Horikita.
The three first-year students wore sarcastic, wWry smiles on their faces after hearing Sudou carelessly divulge his financial circumstances.
"It's only natural to want points, yes. However, is chasing after short-
term desires really a good idea?" said Horikita.
"Meaning?" asked Shiratori, spcaking asa representative of the three
students.
"Meaning that if you ingratiate yourselves with us here and now, we
might be able to provide help to you down the road, in similar situations,"
said Horikita, explaining to them that it would be to their advantage later if
they were to exchange in some give-and-take with us in a form other than
Private Points.
"Well, putting you aside,Horikita-senpai,
since you have an A ranking,I can't really imagine having Sudou-senpai or Ayanokouji senpai there would really be of any help to us. Wouldn't you say?" said Shiratori.
"That's not necessarily true. This school isn't just about academics,There are times when you'll need physical ability, too," said Horikita.
That was especially applicable to Sudou, as he was the only student in our grade level who had an B in physical ability. Horikita had been intending to use that as a weapon in her arsenal for this negotiation, but...
"I know that. But still, you're just Class D in the end, right? If we were to ingratiate ourselves within anyone, it would be Class A or Class B," said Shiratori calmly, having apparently come to an objective conclusion.
Seeing that, Horikita probably understood.
"...I see. So that's how it is."
Considering how smoothly they handled themselves after hearing our offer and the number of points they came back with as a counter-offer, we didn't nced to think too hard about what was going on here.
"Wh-what do you mean by that?" asked Sudou.
"Before you arrived, we were approached by senior students from other classes," said Shiratori.
"And they told you not to sell your academic abilities for cheap.Right?" asked Horikita.
"Yes. Please understand that we won't partner with you if you do not offer us suitable compensation in points," said Shiratori.
In the face of Shiratori and his classmates, Horikita kept her composure, and then continued talking.
"it's certainly true that you shouldn't sell yourself cheaply, in that case.However, were you really approached by other students from our grade,though?" said Horikita.
"What do you mean by that?"" asked Shiratori. He looked irritated, like his pride as an B-ranked student had been wounded.
"You're also in Class D, just like us. I can't imagine students from higher-level classes would have approached you so casually "said Horikita.
Horikita was bluffing. As long as you had an elevated level of academic ability, you'd be useful to have around in this exam, regardless of whether you were in Class D. She was trying to confirm who had talked to
them, and how much they had said.
Perhaps because Shiratori's pride had been called into question, he rebutted this in a somewhat abrasive tone.
"It's true, though. We were invited by Hashimoto-senpai from Class 2-A. On top of that, we were approached by students from Class 2-C, who offered us quite a few points to partner up with them. Isn't that right?" said Shiratori, glancing at his friends,who both immediately voiced their agreement.
"We're not the only ones, either. Most of the smart kids have been approached," added Shiratori.
Just as Horikita had calculated, Class 2-A and Class C had gone with the idea of trying to buy students out.
"I see... In that case, I suppose we cannot meet your expectations right now," said Horikita.
"Oh, but as long as you give us points, we will not refuse you. We intend to see how things go for about a week. If you were to offer us five hundred thousand points during that time, we'd be happy to partner with
anyone, even Sudou-senpai," said Shiratori.
Five hundred thousand points to prevent someone from getting expelled. A large sum to be sure but if you looked at it from another angle,you could say it was the price of your safety. However, we couldn't make a snap decision here. Nor did we intend to.
"By the way.. How many points did Hashimoto-kun and the others offer you for your cooperation?" asked Horikita.
She was hoping to know the specific number of points that were offered, but Shiratori and his buddies weren't that naïve.
"We promised not to say. All I will say is that for five hundred thousand points, we will help you," said Shiratori.
"I understand. I will take that into consideration. However, we would like to ask you for one favor. Would you be willing to introduce us to some of your fellow students in Class D?" asked Horikita.
"Introduce?" Shiratori repeated.
"We've already prepared to work with your class, to a certain extent. But approaching each person individually and explaining the same thing over and over would take up a lot of time and energy. If possible, we'd like to gather all of you in one place and have a more concrete discussion then," said Horikita.
She had hinted at the idea of forming a partnership, but didn't say specifically what that would look like. The three students exchanged glances,though they all looked uncomfortable about something.
"That's... Well, asking us to do something like that might be a little difficult... Right, guys?"
"Yeah. If we go ahead and do something like that without getting permission, Housen-kun will probably get mad at us. Don't you think?"
The name Housen' came up in the conversation they were having among themselves.
"I'm sorry senpai, but could you please ask someone else to handle that...?" asked Shiratori.
It seemed Housen was the one who held Class 1-D's leashes, after all.Horikita, sensing that the mood had clearly changed, decided not to pursue the matter further.
"Thank you. I will call on you again if the need arises,"she said.
"A-all right. We'll be waiting," said Shiratori.