"Chabashira-sensei, what kind of joke are you playing? How could the points have already been bought? And 100,000 points? I've never heard of such a thing! Even Hirata-san said it was only 50,000 points, didn't he?"
Ichihashi Ruri questioned Chabashira-sensei loudly and emotionally.
"Ichihashi, if you can't calm down, our conversation will end here. You understand what I mean, right?"
Chabashira-sensei's words made Ichihashi calm down a little.
Seeing that Ichihashi's emotions were still somewhat volatile, Kushida couldn't help but ask about the points.
"Chabashira-sensei, Ichihashi-san just lost control of her emotions because of the suddenness of the situation. We hope you can forgive her. However, we really haven't heard of 100,000 points. Hirata and Miyako-san both said it was 50,000 points. Is there some problem with the communication here?"
Hearing Kushida's question,
Chabashira-sensei became a little more serious.
After all, she certainly couldn't treat Kushida with the same attitude as Ichihashi.
"That's for you to ask yourselves if there was a problem in your communication. The points to buy one point have always been 100,000 points, and each class is only allowed to purchase once."
Kushida nodded slightly after hearing Chabashira-sensei's words.
While she listened to Chabashira-sensei's words, she couldn't accept such an irresponsible statement. If there were such a rule, wouldn't it have been better to inform everyone in advance?
Now, Ichihashi came with the 50,000 points she had so painstakingly won, to buy one point for the midterm exam.
But it turned out to require 100,000 points. Wasn't this a joke?
Moreover, Chabashira-sensei's statement that it had already been bought made Kushida somewhat annoyed.
She didn't believe that Hirata and the others would be completely unaware of this matter.
"Kikyo, what should we do now? There are only three minutes left..."
Ichihashi's tears were already flowing in anxiety.
The opportunity to stay, so hard-won, simply vanished into thin air. No one could calmly accept such a cruel reality.
"Don't worry yet, Chabashira-sensei, can you tell us who bought the points?"
Kushida initially suspected Amane. In the entire Class D, only Amane could possibly produce 100,000 points in one go.
If it was Amane, it could basically be said that the situation was hopeless. Amane, who originally supported Sakura, would likely use this precious point on Sakura.
So Kushida prayed that it wouldn't be Amane.
As long as it wasn't Amane, then there was still a chance to buy that point from the other party.
"The one who bought the points was Ayanokoji Kiyotaka."
"What? Ayanokoji-kun? How could it be him?"
Kushida and Ichihashi, who was beside her, were both stunned in place.
They had met Ayanokoji on their way here. Even though they were rushing to buy points, they didn't forget to greet him when they saw a classmate.
But no one expected that Ayanokoji was actually the seller behind that one point.
But if that's the case... Ayanokoji bought the last point.
The inexplicable things would multiply.
First, the most crucial question: where did Ayanokoji get so many points? 100,000 points was clearly not a small sum. How did Ayanokoji personally hold such a huge amount of 100,000 points?
If this money was related to Amane, then why did Amane use these points so secretively, and why did she still lose 50,000 points to Ichihashi in the competition?
The emergence of various questions seemed to be telling Kushida about the strangeness of these points, and advising her not to delve deeper.
Kushida's face was gloomy.
She felt so powerless for the first time.
Even though Ichihashi was already squatting on the ground, crying loudly, she couldn't do anything. This amount of time wasn't enough for her to help Ichihashi gather 100,000 points, let alone the fact that they no longer had the qualification to buy points.
Kushida, unwilling to give up, called Hirata, trying to question him about the points. However, she was told that behind the donation drive, Ayanokoji had actually implicitly contributed 50,000 points, and the remaining 50,000 was the donated amount.
Kushida was completely silenced.
All the evidence pointed to Ayanokoji.
Yet they couldn't figure out the purpose of Ayanokoji's actions.
Time passed by minute by minute.
Finally, it was past 5:30 PM. Ichihashi's phone rang, and the dorm supervisor urged her to move out of the school.
"I didn't expect to lose in the end."
Ichihashi resentfully wiped away her tears.
"Ichihashi-san..."
Kushida watched Ichihashi with a complex expression from the side.
"It can't be helped. I can only go this far in the end. I'll leave my points to you, Kikyo. Please use them well. By the way... I feel like this matter doesn't have much direct connection to Amane, but everything is under Amane's control, and she seems to be targeting you. I'm just a casualty, but unfortunately, it's just my guess, and I don't have any evidence."
After Ichihashi finished speaking to herself, she transferred all her points to Kushida, then returned to her dorm alone to pack her luggage.
Kushida, on the other hand, stared blankly at her balance, not knowing what she was thinking.
Evening.
Horikita's dorm.
Despite a table full of delicious food,
Horikita and Amane sat there motionless.
Compared to Horikita's calm expression, Amane's demeanor was somewhat cautious as she secretly peeked at Horikita.
"Suzune, I'm hungry."
Amane used a coquettish tone to probe.
"Then, Amane, have you thought about how to explain why there's another woman's hair on your shoulder?"
Horikita showed a gentle smile.
"Hehehe, I actually don't know why there is..."
Smack.
The teacup Horikita had just drunk from was placed heavily on the table.
"Keep talking."
Gulp, gulp.
Sweat began to pour from Amane's forehead.
She had only hugged Airi.
But she didn't expect Airi's hair to get stuck on her.
And Horikita saw it.
Then, "coincidentally," she learned from Ayanokoji about Amane's special care for the girl named Sakura Airi.
All these actions combined gave Horikita a sense of crisis.
Anxiety gnawed at Horikita's heart, but she didn't know how to express her dissatisfaction to Amane.
So it turned into the current situation.
Seeing Horikita's emotions fluctuating quite a bit, Amane quietly sat down next to Horikita.
"My dear Suzune~ How about we eat first?"
"Who's your dear Suzune? Don't use such sickeningly sweet words. Hmph, you must be saying things like that to other girls too, aren't you?"
Horikita pushed Amane away with a look of disgust.
"Horikita Suzune!!!"
Amane suddenly looked at Horikita with a serious expression.
This action made Horikita a little stunned. When did Amane become so brave, actually speaking to her so loudly?
The next second.
Amane tackled Horikita, knocking her to the ground.
"Amane, what are you doing! Get up quickly!"
Horikita tried to push Amane away in a bit of a panic.
But the latter held her waist tightly.
"I don't care! If Suzune doesn't forgive me, I won't get up!"
Upon hearing Amane's self-righteous words, Horikita was speechless for a moment.
Are people who admit their mistakes so unyielding these days?
-------------------------------
If you'd like to read the next 40 chapters in advance, you can support me on Patreon.
I regularly post chapter previews there, so you'll always be up-to-date and won't have to wait too long.
patreon.com/SolyuraMT
And if you enjoy the story, don't forget to give me a Power Stone. Your support really motivates me to continue translating!