"And just like Ayanokoji noticed, there was something off about the second-year's special exam last month."
"I can't say for sure that Nagumo broke any rules, but if he's using the student council's power to control the second-years, I think we need to get involved."
"Sometimes the school turns a blind eye, but if he actually becomes student council president… I don't even want to imagine what future students will have to deal with."
Horikita Manabu said this while looking at a student council appointment form on his desk.
Kiriyama from second-year Class B was supposed to be appointed as the vice president of the student council.
But just a few seconds ago, that document was marked with a big red X.
"Huh? So you're giving up on Kiriyama?" Tachibana Akane asked when she saw the appointment document was canceled.
Tachibana Akane is Horikita Manabu's secretary, and also his classmate. She's been helping him since their first year, so after he became student council president, he brought her in to continue supporting him.
He trusts her abilities.
And because she's both the secretary and a classmate who works well with him, she also knows more than most people.
For example:
Horikita Manabu has already noticed that Nagumo has a completely different way of thinking from him. Horikita wants to keep following the school's traditional system, which supports competition between classes. But Nagumo isn't like that. He wants to give more power and chances to individual students. If he becomes president, he'll loosen the rules, even allowing violence or fights.
As for weaker students, he believes they should be removed.
The student council president has the authority to expel one student from the school.
The president also has the power to interfere with special exams.
They can't see the test questions beforehand, but they do get early access to the results. They can also influence how points are rewarded or taken away based on how each class performs.
So if the president wants to punish students who fail or drop a class's score heavily, that's allowed.
If Nagumo becomes president, it would be a disaster for weaker students.
Many students would probably be kicked out.
Horikita Manabu is already in his third year. Once this year ends, he has to leave the school, so he needs to wrap things up.
Originally, the plan was to let Nagumo take the vice president position, and once Nagumo started using that power for personal gain, he'd give Kiriyama, the class rep from the original second-year Class A, equal authority.
Horikita's goal was to train Kiriyama to stand against Nagumo.
Kiriyama had a lot of potential. He used to be in Class A, but was overtaken by Nagumo. Still, he didn't need much guidance—just give him the power, and he could resist Nagumo on his own.
But now, Horikita has scratched that plan.
He was going to support Kiriyama to challenge Nagumo, but now Horikita has changed his mind.
"Let's start by giving Kiriyama the position of secretary," Horikita said. "If he can make good use of it and start pushing back against Nagumo—even the odds between the three classes and Nagumo's class—then we can think about promoting him to vice president."
And—
There was something Horikita didn't say out loud.
Compared to Kiriyama, Shirogane has some advantages. He's a younger student, and he probably found out early on that Horikita Suzune is Manabu's younger sister.
If Shirogane wants to rise above his current position, he needs to put something convincing on the table.
Back then, Horikita was a bit surprised when Shirogane chose to accuse Nagumo of cheating.
Because Shirogane could have just used the fact that he was Suzune's older brother.
A younger sister in Class D, and a big brother in Class A who's also the student council president.
That could've been used as a weapon to attack Horikita.
Even though third-year Class A is pretty stable now, until they graduate, nothing is guaranteed.
So Horikita Manabu isn't without weakness.
And because Shirogane didn't bring that up, Horikita started to see him in a better light.
If he chooses Kiriyama, he gets someone with a clear goal of going against Nagumo. If he chooses Shirogane, he gets someone clever, who already knows how to fight back—and even took the lead in exposing Nagumo.
If that information spreads, Shirogane will clearly be seen as someone standing against Nagumo.
So now, Shirogane has clearly taken a side.
That puts him on the same level as Kiriyama.
Which means, in Horikita Manabu's eyes, there's now another candidate who could counterbalance Nagumo.
Picking Kiriyama as the vice president was more of a temporary move, but since his class had already lost and he got caught in the middle of things, he normally wouldn't have had the chance to join the student council.
So in comparison, there's no need to rush into choosing Kiriyama for vice president.
…
Meanwhile—
Katsuragi and Yahiko had just left the student council office and were walking toward the field.
There was a big digital bulletin board on the field, and several students were gathered around it, checking out the latest announcements.
Katsuragi was originally planning to leave with Totsuka, but after taking a few steps, he turned back.
Because they saw three familiar faces reading the board. One of them was the small and cute Sakayanagi Arisu, holding her cane. The tall, purple-haired Kamuro was standing beside her like a bodyguard.
The other was a tall blond guy dressed like he'd just come from a club activity.
That guy was Nagumo Miyabi, the class rep of second-year Class A.
He was the same upperclassman who once came to their Class A to ask if Kamuro was the one who helped Shirogane file a report.
Nagumo seemed to be talking to Kamuro.
Kamuro, though, didn't look happy. She was answering him, but not very warmly. Since they'd been classmates for a month, Katsuragi could tell—she probably wasn't a fan of Nagumo.
As a fellow classmate, even though they were in different factions, Katsuragi didn't feel right just standing there doing nothing.
But the one Kamuro supported—no, rather, the one she followed, Sakayanagi—was completely focused on the board.
Was she looking at some specific info?
There really was something worth noticing.
The school had announced the latest rewards and punishments.
On the rewards side:
Shirogane Miyuki, from the former Class 1-C (now Class B), reported a shopkeeper for breaking school rules. After checking, the school confirmed the violation.
As a special reward, Shirogane was given 30,000 private points and an anonymous point card.
His class also got a +50 boost in class points.
Most people already knew about that. Katsuragi also now understood why Ryuen's class had been able to catch up—Shirogane's class had just gained 50 points.
But what really stood out were the punishments.
Not only were some students punished—some teachers were too.
As for the teachers—
Chie Hoshinomiya, from the former Class 1-B, had 100,000 private points taken away.
Sakagami Kazuma, from the former Class 1-C, had 500,000 private points deducted.
Chabashira Sae, from Class 1-D, lost 1.5 million private points and would not receive her salary for the next three months—May, June, and July.
"..."
This was starting to get serious.
Because these three were the homeroom teachers of the first-year classes.
So then.
What exactly did the homeroom teachers of these three classes do?
Why did they all lose personal points? And D Class's case is especially ridiculous — they lost the most.
If -sensei broke the rules, then could it mean the D Class homeroom teacher gave out information to their students last month?
But—
First-year D Class now has a class score of 0.
That's not something you can just ignore.
And the former C Class homeroom teacher, Sakagami Kazuma, lost 500,000 personal points. Doesn't seem like a small amount, but probably not the worst rule-breaking.
Still, even Hoshinomiya-sensei, who teaches Ichinose's class, broke the rules too.
Looking at it this way, the A Class homeroom teacher seems the most reliable.
But—
Scrolling further down, you can also see some students who broke the rules.
One of them is Nagumo Miyabi from second-year A Class — he lost 300,000 personal points.
Another one—
Third-year C Class, Yukinoshita Hachiman — lost 1.2 million personal points.
That third-year C Class student, Yukinoshita-senpai, was the one Sakayanagi's group used to buy school intel.
That part isn't surprising.
But Nagumo Miyabi-senpai being docked 300,000 points...
"I was actually being quite sincere," Nagumo said. "Last time I came to your class, Kamuro, if you had admitted you were involved in reporting Shirogane..."
"Your class could've been rewarded 50 class points."
"Can we still admit it now?" Yahiko, who was following behind Katsuragi, couldn't hold back and spoke up.
Katsuragi had told him not to talk the whole way here, but this time he just couldn't stay quiet.
Because this was a chance to pull ahead.
Right now, A Class has 924 class points, and Shirogane's class — the new B Class — has 735.
That's less than a 200-point gap. But if Kamuro could earn those 50 points, it would put A Class firmly back in the lead.
To him, Katsuragi is the one who should lead the class. Sure, Sakayanagi brought results, but she's too aggressive.
And it seems like her followers have all accepted that they need to keep giving her points.