Akira quietly withdrew his gaze from the podium.
'As expected... Kushida-san is still too naive.'
He'd anticipated this situation long ago—because last night he'd deliberately used the same anonymous account to send those hidden pieces of information to both Hirata and Kushida separately.
Chabashira wanted him to take sides?
Rather than being used as a pawn by the homeroom teacher, it was better to let these two "core figures" fight it out themselves.
Now it seemed:
Hirata chose the most pragmatic approach—sharing the information with some classmates overnight. This honesty actually solidified trust.
As for Kushida... she clearly treated the information as a prop for a performance, planning to stage a "savior" act in front of the entire class.
Akira glanced at the girl on the podium, forcing a smile, her eyes, which always held a smile, now flickering with imperceptible panic.
What a pity—this meticulously planned "information release" ultimately became Hirata's stepping stone.
Horikita, who'd been silently watching the podium for a long time, asked, "Shimizu-san... was this your doing?"
She'd witnessed the entire transaction between Chabashira and Akira yesterday.
She'd originally thought this person would casually choose one side to deal with, but she didn't expect him to send information to both sides simultaneously.
"Mm." Akira replied while flipping through his textbook. "Please keep it a secret, Horikita-san."
"...I have no interest in being a busybody." Horikita snorted coldly and turned her face away, yet couldn't help but covertly observe her inscrutable deskmate out of the corner of her eye.
This deliberate creation of information parity, rather than a prank, was more like a subtle political experiment—avoiding the risk of taking sides while also observing how the two "core figures" would react.
Horikita's gaze lingered on Akira's profile for a moment.
'All the information came from Shimizu-san.'
'And Hirata-kun and Kushida-san were merely messengers... The gap between these two and him is simply too great.'
Even if she wasn't clear about the capabilities of those so-called geniuses in Class A, the level of intellect Akira displayed clearly far exceeded what Class D should possess.
"Since you have this ability..." Horikita lowered her voice, a rare look of inquiry on her face. "Why don't you proactively reveal the information yourself?"
Chabashira had actually given him three methods, one of which was the option to stand up and announce the information himself.
Akira turned his head slightly. "Horikita-san, I've said it once already—I don't want to be anyone's 'blood bag.' By the way, now that you know the whole truth, don't you have anything to say?"
Horikita was silent for a moment. "...Nothing to say. This isn't the class I should be in at all."
"Is that so?" Akira raised an eyebrow.
It seemed that even at this point, she hadn't given up.
Perhaps only being personally reprimanded by her Student Council President brother would completely dissuade her.
From a brother's perspective, having such a stubborn sister must indeed be quite a headache.
However, he glanced at the information again and was immediately speechless.
But it shouldn't have escalated to physical violence!
'What exactly did Horikita-san say to get beaten up by her brother?!'
I'll go check it out tonight if I have time.
"I still can't understand..." Horikita, beside him, had an incomprehensible anxiety in her eyes. "You... why can you remain so calm?"
In recent days, besides her dissatisfaction with the class assignment, what puzzled her most was Akira's detached attitude.
Clearly—his ability far surpassed hers, and he, like her, was thrown into Class D, this "dumpster."
He always had a calm demeanor, not even uttering a single complaint about the class assignment.
"I think it's fair," Akira replied. "Given my entrance performance, Class D is just right."
His entrance exam results, one could say, were useless except for his physical abilities, so being assigned to Class D was only natural.
In Horikita's eyes, Akira's tone seemed incredibly calm. This person, who was clearly a high school student in the same grade as her, was unexpectedly open-minded.
This somehow extinguished some of the inexplicable anger in her heart.
On the other side, Akira didn't pay much attention to Horikita's gaze, but continued to look at the podium.
Hirata didn't take the opportunity to perform as expected. Instead, he voluntarily retreated to the background, giving Kushida the chance to explain the relevant information to the entire class.
Kushida naturally took the lead. Under the gaze of the entire class, she clearly and methodically elucidated the hidden school rules and the operating mechanism of the S-System, one by one.
Some classmates were already well aware of this, while others couldn't hide their shock.
The classroom immediately became agitated, but under Hirata's gentle guidance and Kushida's patient reassurance, the classmates quickly rallied.
Fortunately, only a little over ten days had passed since the start of school, meaning everyone still had ample time to recover class points.
Hirata and Kushida were also much smarter than they appeared on the surface.
The two implicitly reached an understanding, deliberately concealing the cruel truth of the class assignment system from their classmates.
These Class D students still didn't know they were "defective products," thinking that those initially assigned to Class A were just lucky.
The two only revealed the most superficial part—as long as daily behavioral norms were followed, class points wouldn't be deducted.
They even used the rhetoric that "other classes might not even know these rules" to motivate everyone, creating three major misconceptions: "we have the upper hand," "we can win," and "next month we'll be Class A."
However, this temporary harmony in the class was destined not to last.
The classroom door was abruptly pushed open, and Chabashira walked in with heavy steps.
"You two." Chabashira's sharp gaze swept back and forth between Hirata and Kushida, her fingertips impatiently tapping her arm. "Come with me."
Hirata and Kushida were startled simultaneously, but since she was their homeroom teacher, they had no choice but to silently follow Chabashira toward the shadows at the end of the corridor.
Chabashira suddenly turned, leaning against the windowsill. "Tell me, how did you discover those hidden rules?"
Hirata paused for a few seconds before speaking. "Actually... someone named Tsuki Ao suddenly added me as a friend..."
"Me too... After adding the person named Tsuki Ao, they suddenly sent a lot of crucial information." Kushida echoed, stealing a glance at Hirata, revealing a subtle expression unconsciously.
Chabashira's tone carried obvious disappointment, like a gambler's expression when turning over the last card. "It seems... he didn't choose either of you, but sent messages to both of you, didn't he?"
"Alright!" She suddenly slapped the windowsill. "I hereby appoint you two as vice class representatives. Your first task is to collect twenty-five thousand points from each student for the class fund."
Hirata's brows furrowed tightly. "Sensei, what do you mean by that?"
Chabashira swept a cold glance at him. "One million points—that's the cost of buying information from him. You two, surely you're not naive enough to think there's such a thing as a free lunch in this world, are you? Why would someone give you information for free?"