Chapter 047: Convergence! Ryuen's Inner Circle
Because he was an academic failure himself, Ryuen's academic ability was insufficient. Consequently, the test papers Hikigaya provided were, surprisingly, incomplete—missing many answers.
After considering this, Ryuen had Ishizaki Daichi call over both Shiina and Kaneda.
He intended to rely on them to fill in the blanks.
While there was another student in the class with high academic ability named Tokitō Hiroya, that guy was extremely spiteful. He only temporarily accepted the unified management of the class and was the type to mutiny easily, so Ryuen didn't particularly trust him. Thus, the group gathered here now constituted his true inner circle.
From left to right:
The bodyguard-like Albert; Ishizaki Daichi, who had a talent for brawling; and Ibuki Mio, who, despite being a girl, possessed practical martial arts experience and specialized in combat. Naturally, these were his small-scale combat experts.
However, a team with only brute force and violence is just a pack of thugs.
Therefore, within Ryuen's team, besides himself, there were also people skilled at using their heads.
For instance, Kaneda, whose Academic Ability was Rank B; he was proficient in both critical thinking and studying.
Of course, the person Ryuen valued most was Shiina Hiyori. She was the only person in Class C whose Academic Ability reached Rank A, and her thinking capacity was even stronger than Kaneda's.
Ryuen even felt that certain strategic matters could be handed over to her. His only regret was that while Shiina was brilliant, she disliked conflict, making her unable to serve as a proper tactician yet.
Regardless.
The current situation of Class C was indeed dire.
Just as that guy Hikigaya had bluntly pointed out, Class C was at 0 points, but their circumstances were so difficult that they could barely scrape any benefits. They either had to accept their fate and give up, or seize this final opportunity to go all-in and fight with everything they had. There was no third path.
And so.
Having confirmed everyone was present, Ryuen no longer hesitated.
With a loud thwack, he slammed the papers from Hikigaya onto the table, the sound echoing dully in the room.
"These papers—" His sharp gaze swept across every face. "What do you think?"
"These are—" Kaneda reacted the fastest, immediately stepping forward to lean over the table and inspect them closely. His eyes scanned the pages rapidly, and his brow soon furrowed as he noticed the vast amount of blank space and the red-pen marks where points had been deducted.
Beside him, Ibuki Mio also leaned her head in. Her gaze locked directly onto the bold header printed at the top of the sheets.
[1st Year, First Midterm Exam: Japanese]
Ryuen flipped a page with his finger to reveal the next one: [1st Year, First Midterm Exam: Physics].
Yes, this content was definitely something to take notice of.
"Old test papers?" Shiina Hiyori's soft voice rang out. She didn't crowd the table; she merely looked from a distance and quickly made a judgment.
"While ordinary schools often use study materials from previous years, and old questions might appear on exams..."
She paused, looking up at Ryuen.
"But... given this school's peculiar style of operation, it might not be impossible for them to simply copy the old papers directly as the official exam questions."
"You're certainly smart." The corner of Ryuen's mouth curled into a rare arc, his tone carrying a hint of praise.
'As expected, Shiina is good tactician material; perhaps she can step up at a critical moment when I can't participate in the exam.'
The thought flashed through his mind.
But now was not the time for that.
"These are papers given by Hikigaya. Bought from the second-years." Ryuen's voice returned to its cold, hard edge, carrying the resolve of someone who had burned his bridges.
"And for this, I have signed an IOU for 1 million points."
"Again... spending money?"
Kaneda pushed up his glasses again, his finger movements appearing somewhat hesitant. He remembered clearly that not long ago, after Ryuen had violently seized control of the class, he
mentioned paying 500,000 points to Hikigaya Hachiman of Class B to buy a so-called "Code of Conduct" to restrain the other students.
The goal was to ensure the consolidated Class C would suffer almost zero deductions.
However, everyone had gritted their teeth and worked hard, only for it to result in nothing—ending with a dismal 0-point result. This left a significant psychological scar not just on Ryuen, but on Kaneda as well.
So, now that Ryuen had once again chosen this "pay to win" cooperative plan, would it... really work this time? Kaneda was filled with doubt.
"If it's just buying papers, we could have bought them from the senpais ourselves," Ibuki said. "Does it really require paying that many points? That's 1 million!"
Although Ibuki Mio didn't approve of Ryuen's violent methods, she was one of the few in class who understood that in a scattered class like C—made up of delinquents, thugs, and "gyaru"—perhaps only Ryuen's way could force them together.
After all, under Ryuen's iron fist last month, the Class C students truly became "obedient," and the class was unified like never before.
This gave them an extreme advantage in class competitions that operated on a class-wide basis.
Furthermore, Ryuen hadn't hidden his plans for the exam; he even told everyone the costs involved.
After Class C hit 0 points, he truly did distribute all the remaining points he had collected. Ibuki herself had received 5,000 private points.
Therefore, while she disliked violence, she admitted Ryuen acted like a qualified class representative.
But now, Ryuen had just returned 200,000 points to everyone, only to tell the Class C students they were already 1 million in debt!
The Class C students would definitely flip out.
"Simply buying the papers isn't worth that price, of course," Ryuen's voice dropped low.
"The key lies in... confidentiality.
Hikigaya guaranteed me that he will not report these papers."
Everyone: "..."
The scene fell into a brief, dead silence.
The word "report" had already left a deep psychological scar on the students of this class.
However.
Report? Report these papers? If the school really did use the old papers as the exam questions, then obtaining and memorizing the answers beforehand was undoubtedly a shortcut.
But if the papers were leaked and reported in advance... the school would very likely change the exam at the last minute!
At that point, those who had relied on luck and only memorized answers while ignoring actual revision would face an obvious fate—disastrous scores, mass failures, and even expulsion.
'Damn.'
Could things really be manipulated that way?
Ibuki herself was someone with poor academic ability—her rank was C, only slightly better than Ryuen's, but still not enough.
There was a whole pile of people in class with worse academic ability than her. If they blindly trusted these papers and the questions all changed during the exam, wouldn't they all be finished?
Thus, the 1 million Ryuen spent was actually buying an "insurance policy" to kill this massive risk in its crib. This sum of points was essentially "protection money" paid to Hikigaya.
But protection money? 'Protection money?'
They were Class C, for heaven's sake—a class of delinquents and thugs. It was considered an act of kindness if they didn't bully others, and now... they actually had to pay protection money themselves!?
A strong sense of humiliation surged up immediately.
"Hikigaya will guarantee that no one within the first year will report these papers, and even if someone does, he will suppress it and make it invalid," Ryuen continued to explain, his tone chilly.
"And our large-scale memorization of old papers will surely be noticed by those Class A bastards. Hikigaya said he would limit Class A's movements.
And Class A—" Ryuen gritted his teeth.
The other students present also harbored fury toward that class. After all, if it wasn't for Class A repeatedly reporting them to the Student Council, their hard work wouldn't have vanished.
Shiina, however, remained silent.
Her thinking was headed in a different direction. She felt that Class A might not be the real culprit behind Class C's 0-point status.
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