It seemed Shirogane had come just to let Kushida know she'd been nominated to join the student council.
Once he finished saying that, he left.
After all, the class meeting was about to end, and they needed to get ready for the next period.
But for the students of Class D—
"Huh? So Kushida's joining the student council?"
"That's so lucky!"
"I heard student council members get extra perks too."
Boys and girls alike gathered around. Kushida instantly became the center of attention.
Even though she liked being in the spotlight like this, deep down, she was completely confused.
Because she had no idea why she'd been chosen.
Unless… she remembered Shirogane saying it was a decision he made with the student council president. He recommended her, and the president agreed.
And once she thought of that, Kushida instinctively glanced over at Horikita.
Because if this was about connections, then Horikita Suzune would've made way more sense.
After all, she was the student council president's actual sister.
So, how did Horikita look right now?
She had been reading by herself, but now there was clear surprise on her face. She looked shocked, maybe even confused.
Right?
People always assumed Horikita Suzune ignored everything except her studies—but clearly, even she was surprised that Shirogane came to Class D to say that Kushida Kikyo was joining the student council.
The truth was, Kushida didn't have any connection to the student council president at all.
If this was Shirogane's personal idea, Kushida could kind of understand it.
Back when Shirogane was in the original Class C, he didn't seem to have many friends. He only seemed close to Shiina, so he probably didn't talk much with girls from other classes.
Plus, she had helped him fill in some information about students from Class A a few days ago.
So maybe that made a good impression on him?
And now that he had a chance, he picked her for the job. It felt like he was returning the favor.
If that's the case, then Shirogane is really polite.
But—
That makes things kind of strange.
If he really had the chance to recommend someone to the student council, why didn't he pick Shiina Hiyori? They're clearly closer.
Even if he wanted to look fair and not just pick his friends, after understanding how this school really works, he should know how valuable it is to join the student council. And—
It would've made more sense to recommend someone from his own class, even if it looked selfish.
So now, Kushida still doesn't get why Shirogane chose her.
Could it be…
A thought crossed Kushida's mind.
Even though she doesn't care about gender when making friends, she also never puts herself in situations where something romantic could happen. If she dated someone, it would be hard to keep being friends with everyone equally. That's why Kushida Kikyo, even though she's known as the class angel, actually doesn't believe in dating.
So—
If Shirogane recommended her because he has feelings for her… then…
Kushida kept smiling, but her mood got a little complicated.
What she wanted was to be friends with everyone—not to have a boyfriend.
But Shirogane does have a bright future. He might look kind of serious and cold, but after watching him closely, Kushida knew he just had poor sleep. If he got enough rest and lost those dark circles—
He'd actually look like a calm and handsome guy.
Not bad at all.
Especially now that Class D has a score of 0 in class points—it's basically impossible to move up, and they're out of living money too.
So if she had a boyfriend from an upper-class group, and that guy even had a chance to become vice president or maybe even president of the student council...
No no no.
Now's not the time to start compromising. And Kushida didn't think Shirogane liked her anyway. If she misunderstood something, that would be way too embarrassing.
"Kushida?"
Just then, someone called out to her.
"Hm?"
"Since you're joining the student council, doesn't that mean you'll get a stipend? So about the 4000 points I owe you from last month... can I delay it a bit?"
The student said that with a helpless, pleading look.
"Hey, Kushida."
Hirata walked over at that moment too.
"Some students in class are running out of points. We're planning to collect everyone's points and try to make a plan."
"For example, we could gather extra points and lend them to others."
"But as for Horikita... she completely rejected the idea."
Hirata scratched his head, looking a bit disappointed.
"So, if you get the chance, could you try to talk to her? Of course, if she still says no, that's fine too. It's her choice after all."
"..."
Kushida was almost speechless.
…
After Shirogane finished spreading the message, he quickly returned to his class.
The agreement from the morning had worked—many students looked more positive and motivated.
After all, back when Ryuen was using violence to control the class, lots of students hated him. But now, the system was different: if you had skills, you could climb up; if not, just behave and you'd still get enough points to live. And if you were unlucky enough to get expelled, you'd still get compensation.
For the students in Ryuen's class, this was already a much better deal.
And now…
There were rumors that this written test might have some ways to work around it.
In other words, as long as you followed orders, you could get through it without trouble.
So after school, students went off to do their own things—some went to club activities, some went shopping, others went to the library or cafeteria.
But Shirogane stayed in class.
Ryuen's seat was already empty. Last night, when Shirogane got the 12-year-old test questions from Horikita Manabu, Ryuen had been waiting for class to end.
He had already given up on this test—just avoiding any expulsions would be a win.
But after hearing about the old test papers from Shirogane, he suddenly got interested.
Because if they were testing old questions, then maybe they could get those questions from upperclassmen, memorize them, and earn a perfect score—100 class points.
That would be a huge jump from just a few points to a full 100.
So of course, he couldn't let this chance slip by.
However, going to upperclassmen directly and asking them wasn't a great idea. If the wrong people found out, it could turn the closed-book test into an open-book one.
And then the advantage his class could have had would disappear.
So he had to be very careful.
That's why Ryuen planned to go find the two seniors he beat up last month.
They had already told him the school didn't really follow its own rules, so breaking another one wasn't a big deal.
But since he didn't have their contact info, he planned to hang around the upperclassmen's area and wait for them to show up.
So now Ryuen's class already had a plan for how to deal with the special test.
But Shirogane wasn't planning to just sit back and do nothing.
"So you're thinking of holding a study meeting?"
Shiina, who sat in front of Shirogane, turned around and asked.
Actually, Ryuen's class had an advantage: their homeroom teacher, Sakagami-sensei, was willing to help them after school.
But there was something even Sakagami-sensei didn't expect.
Even though Ryuen's class had moved up to Class B, most of the students were still terrible at studying. Some of them might even need to relearn stuff from middle school.
This kind of embarrassing issue isn't really something worth troubling Sakagami-sensei with.
The best solution would be to arrange one-on-a-few tutoring sessions.
So having only Sakagami-sensei isn't enough at all.
"That's one of the main reasons I went to Class D today," said Shirogane.
"I went to Class D and saw how their students are doing. There are actually quite a few top students in that class.
But for now, at least for the next three months, they won't be able to get enough living expenses from the school."
"So I figured those top students probably wouldn't mind doing a few side jobs."
Shirogane continued, "That's why I nominated Kushida to join the student council. I planned to use her as a way in, then ask her to bring in some top students to tutor the students in our class."
"And we don't even need to pay the usual rates for this."
In other words, Shirogane went to Class D this morning and announced that Kushida was joining the student council, all for the sake of helping his own class — by hiring Class D's top students to give them lessons.
"Oh," Shiina nodded.
But her eyes were sparkling.
[She doesn't believe you at all.]
The narration system in Shirogane's head spoke up.
Even Shirogane himself knew this excuse was pretty weak.
"But I definitely don't have any special feelings for Kushida or any personal reason for doing this."
Shirogane said.
"Oh," Shiina nodded again.
[She still doesn't believe you. She thinks you're just set on making Kushida a member of the student council. You've made up your mind about Kushida. You've made up your mind.]
"..."
Shirogane.
Now it's hard to keep the conversation going, because even though he did nominate Kushida for the council on purpose, it wasn't because he found her cute — it was because he accepted a task from Horikita Manabu.