Kushida's fingers rapidly tapped on the screen. "Thank you for the information~ I'm Kushida Kikyo from first-year Class D, how can I thank you, student?"
The moment the message was sent, the other party immediately showed the "typing" status.
{Tsuki Ao: No need to thank me.}
Kushida continued typing. "Oh, by the way! Which class are you in, student? How did you know my account?"
The chat box was silent for a few seconds, then the last message suddenly popped up. {Well... it's not very convenient to say, student. I'm going to take a shower now.}
Akira pressed the send button and exited the chat interface without hesitation.
He and Kushida had never chatted online.
Although they'd added each other as friends early on, they'd never sent a single message to each other.
This contact was merely to carry out the task assigned by his homeroom teacher.
Since the crucial information had been conveyed, this conversation should end here.
He knew Kushida's personality too well—that girl who was so popular in class might turn this conversation into gossip in a blink of an eye.
If she were to trace his identity from it...
He wasn't worried about the information leak itself—this level of transaction was commonplace in school.
But if those noisy classmates found out, he'd inevitably be pestered with questions for details.
Just imagining them crowding around, talking over each other, made his temples throb.
"Troublesome." He muttered softly, checking their chat history again.
This carefully disguised account was an important asset. It would be of great use in future dealings with Class A and negotiations with Class B and Class C.
It would be too costly if it became useless because of a leak from Kushida's side.
Maintaining secrecy was the long-term solution.
[Ding~ Today's intel has been updated]
[Intel One: The leader of first-year Class C is Ryuuen Kakeru]
[Intel Two: Katsuragi Kohei of first-year Class A suffers from alopecia]
[Intel Three: Tonight at 7:55 PM, Horikita Suzune will be subjected to physical punishment by Horikita Manabu behind the first-year dormitory.]
Tuesday morning at eight o'clock sharp, the daily intel was updated as scheduled.
After accumulating information over these days, Akira had consciously begun to classify and organize the intel.
The highest level was undoubtedly the intel that predicted future events.
For example, the dispute between Kushida and Koenji over giving up a bus seat, or Kamuro's attempt to steal beer—such predictive information.
The next level was information about the school itself and the overall situation of each class.
And the lowest value was the personal privacy information of classmates.
Today's intel haul was quite good—one piece of intel about Class C, one piece of intel predicting a future event, and one piece of personal private intel.
Akira pondered to himself, beginning to integrate the intel clues he'd collected over these days.
'It seems that besides Class D, the other classes have already established clear leaders.'
The situation in Class A was the clearest—Sakayanagi and Katsuragi jointly controlled the situation. Kamuro had told him this herself.
The leader of Class B was undoubtedly Ichinose.
After all, Hoshinomiya had clearly stated in front of him that she was the class representative for that class.
As for Class C, the intel directly provided the answer—Ryuuen Kakeru.
Akira didn't yet know what kind of person the other party was, or by what means he controlled Class C.
And Class D... the situation was a bit subtle.
On the surface, Hirata and Kushida indeed held considerable influence in the class, but rather than calling them "leaders," "core figures" would be more appropriate.
Their prestige was more like a naturally formed cohesion, rather than true dominance.
There was a fundamental difference between "core figures" and "true leaders."
True leaders must understand: being disliked by some is normal, and enforcing discipline is part of their duty. There's an invisible boundary between subordinates and leaders.
In contrast, Class D's two "core figures":
Hirata always maintained his good-guy demeanor, not even daring to clearly state his most basic stance.
Kushida, on the other hand, was obsessed with maintaining a false harmony, using her smile to cover up all contradictions.
This pursuit of superficial harmony, this "egalitarianism," precisely exposed their fundamental leadership flaws.
'The reason Class D remains a disorganized mess to this day is perhaps precisely because it lacks a true helmsman...'
'So this was Chabashira-sensei's true intention...'
Akira thought of the deeper game behind yesterday's transaction—
Chabashira, as the homeroom teacher, had long ago keenly noticed the two core figures in Class D, Hirata and Kushida, who balanced each other out.
Her deliberate request to "inform only one person" was to see which faction Akira would choose to lean toward.
'This one million point transaction was, in essence, a leadership assessment.'
No matter who the information was passed to, that person would inevitably use the opportunity to consolidate their position, with their popularity and prestige firmly surpassing the other's.
However, Akira actually had no interest whatsoever in Class D's power struggles.
He was actually more shocked by the third piece of information.
'Huh? What does it mean that Horikita was beaten up by her older brother Horikita Manabu?'
'Are these siblings really that abnormal?'
'He's the Student Council President—what does he mean by breaking school rules?'
Time quickly passed to after school, and the chatter in the classroom was suddenly interrupted by a crisp clap.
"Everyone, can I have a moment of your time?"
Kushida had, at some point, already stood on the podium. She gently adjusted her skirt, revealing her characteristic sweet smile.
"Of course!"
"What is it, Kushida-san?"
The girls immediately responded enthusiastically, clearly showing her extremely high popularity within this group—this natural affinity was her capital for thriving in the female circle.
"Actually..." Kushida deliberately paused, waiting for the entire class's attention to focus on her, before lowering her voice. "Yesterday, I unexpectedly learned a shocking secret from someone else."
She took a deep breath, her eyes suddenly becoming incredibly serious. "Besides private points, the school also has something called 'class points.' And—"
"If our class points drop to zero, no one will receive any private points next month!"
"Ah... that..."
"Kushida-san, we already know that."
However, the uproar she'd anticipated didn't occur—instead, various unenthusiastic responses rose and fell in the classroom.
Hirata stood up somewhat awkwardly, scratching his cheek apologetically. "Sorry, Kushida-san. Actually, after I learned this news from other channels yesterday, I already discussed it with some classmates..."
'Damn it...'
Kushida cursed under her breath.
Her carefully prepared "bombshell" turned out to be old news that Hirata had already disclosed.
What concerned her even more was—who exactly did Hirata get the information from?