COTE : Backed By Black Technology System

Under Sakagami-sensei's urging, the group left the room one by one.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?"

Horikita Suzune looked at Kanda Shuichi. This man never seemed to disappoint her expectations, but this time she was going to be disappointed.

The list of preferred students hadn't come out yet, so how could I have any idea?

Kanda Shuichi gave Horikita Suzune a speechless look.

"I guess I was too impatient."

Though he didn't have any clues, he still had some ideas.

"In this exam, although there are four possible outcomes, in reality, there are only two main results: the change in private points and the change in class points. Do you want class points, or private points?"

Kanda Shuichi looked at the other three. The four of them could be said to be the representatives of the class right now. Kushida and Hirata represented most of the average students, while Horikita represented those who wanted to climb higher.

Kanda Shuichi, on the other hand, was someone who didn't care much about climbing up. People like him just want to get through these three years smoothly, and everything else is secondary.

Typical examples: Kanda Shuichi, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

"Of course, class points. To move up to Class A, you need class points, right? So, I think this exam is not only about protecting our class's preferred students but also about doing everything we can to find out who the preferred students in other classes are."

Horikita Suzune's thoughts represented the viewpoint of most students who wanted to raise their class ranking. Class points were the focus, and everything else didn't matter.

However, Hirata and Kushida seemed a little hesitant.

Hirata was probably worried that this exam might push the students too hard, while Kushida was completely going against Horikita. If Horikita agreed with something, Kushida would oppose it.

Seeing their expressions, Kanda Shuichi understood the current situation.

"In short, Horikita tends to favor results two and three, while you two, Hirata and Kushida, prefer result one."

Results four and three are similar, but no one would want to aim for result four.

"Kanda, what's your opinion?"

Hirata looked at Kanda Shuichi, who had recently become someone Hirata relied on more and more, asking him about everything: "Kanda, what do you think?"

What do I think? I don't know. Also, this isn't about what I think, it's about what you really think.

"I have a question, and I hope none of you avoid answering it." Kanda Shuichi didn't respond to Hirata, but instead, he changed the topic. "If there was an exam where you had to sacrifice one person from the class, who would you choose to let go?"

"Of course, the most useless one!" 

Without any hesitation, Horikita Suzune gave her answer. On the other hand, Hirata and Kushida hesitated, with Hirata falling into a deeper struggle.

They knew Kanda Shuichi's words were likely to come true, so they felt conflicted, indecisive, and torn.

As usual, Kushida opposed everything Horikita said. Although she also thought it should be the most useless person, her persona wouldn't allow her to say that, and she firmly stood against Horikita.

"If, if that day really comes, I would choose to drop out myself."

Hirata finally gave his answer.

"That's impossible. If you drop out, this class will collapse in minutes. That would be irresponsible," Kanda Shuichi immediately shot down Hirata's answer. Horikita Suzune nodded, thinking about advancing to Class A. Hirata, as the class stabilizer, couldn't be allowed to make such a mistake.

Kushida also nodded right away. Even though she didn't want to agree with Horikita Suzune, Hirata's importance was undeniable. She didn't really care herself, but her persona...

Their unanimous reactions made Hirata smile bitterly, but he couldn't think of a better solution.

"If you don't want anyone to drop out, then start preparing now."

"Start preparing now?"

Seeing the three confused faces, Kanda Shuichi sighed.

"Result one, idiot. Suppose the twelve privileged students are evenly distributed across four classes, then each class would have three privileged students.

In our Class D, forty people are participating in this exam. If everyone achieves result one, without even counting the additional points from the privileged students, each person would get 500,000 points, which totals 20 million private points."

With 20 million private points, not only can you buy the right to transfer to another class, but it can also be used to cancel one school expulsion penalty. Now, do you understand what I mean?"

20 million points can transfer classes or cancel a school expulsion penalty?

Horikita Suzune, Kushida Kikyo, and Hirata Yosuke, one by one, all had question marks above their heads. Is this true? Why has no one told us about this?

Seeing their expressions, Kanda Shuichi realized that Sae-chan must not have told them. 

Because she wasn't sure if someone would come along who could quickly gather 20 million private points, maybe she purposely or accidentally kept this information from the students.

"Kanda, is this information true?" Hirata's expression became very serious.

"Yeah, but you should confirm it with Chabashira-sensei. However, it's getting late. If you have any questions, we can talk about them tomorrow."

Kanda Shuichi didn't tell them that this information came from Chabashira-sensei.

It's better not to mention anything that could harm the unity of the class.

However, just then, the door to Room 207 opened not far away, and the person who walked out was exactly the one they all wanted to see the most right now: Chabashira Sae.

"Hm? You guys, the briefing should have been over by now. What are you still doing here?" 

When Chabashira Sae saw Kanda Shuichi and the others, she was a bit puzzled. Could it be that this group of students already had some good strategy and were staying here for that reason?

Upon seeing Chabashira-sensei, Hirata and the other two quickly walked over to her.

"Chabashira-sensei, I have a question for you."

"If you're asking about the exam, that's not possible," Chabashira Sae replied, showing a bit of a teacher's sense of responsibility.

"No, it's not about that," Hirata shook his head. He hadn't planned to get exam information through Chabashira-sensei—that would be cheating and self-deception.

"What I want to know is, is it really possible to avoid expulsion with 20 million points?"

When Hirata asked his question, Chabashira Sae glanced at Kanda Shuichi, who was standing at the back.

"Yes," Chabashira Sae nodded. "It's not a problem to tell you about this. Normally, paying 20 million private points can avoid expulsion, but the rules for each exam may change.

However, based on past experiences, paying 300 class points and 20 million private points will definitely prevent expulsion."

300 class points and 20 million private points…

Class D now has 511 class points, which exceeds the 300 required, but they are still far from the 20 million private points…

At that moment, Hirata made up his mind. He wanted every group in this exam to reach result one!

"Thank you so much, Chabashira-sensei!" Hirata sincerely thanked her.

Seeing Hirata's expression, Chabashira Sae was a bit surprised. Has this student finally found something to do?

After Chabashira-sensei left, the group also left the second-floor cabin and went to the second-floor deck, where Kanda Shuichi often went to feel the sea breeze.

"Looks like you've already got an answer, Hirata," Kanda Shuichi said while drinking a cold juice he had gotten on the way.

"Yeah, I want to make sure all first-year students reach result one," Hirata said, his voice clear and his eyes determined. "So I hope Kanda, you'll fully support me, and Horikita, Kushida, I hope you both can help too."

"How are you planning to do that? You should know how hard it will be to make everyone reach result one, right?" 

At that moment, Horikita didn't speak up against it. If they succeeded, Class D would get a 'get out of jail free' card for everyone, and she would benefit from it as well. So, she decided to listen to Hirata's plan first before making a decision.

"First, we need to gather the list of privileged students in our class. Kushida, I hope you can help with this."

That's right. In anything, knowing your own side is crucial. The first step is to understand how many privileged students there are in the class, and the list is very important.

Kushida, who has built up a lot of interpersonal relationships in the class, would be really helpful for this.

"Yeah, I'll do my best with that."

Kushida naturally patted her chest to assure them.

"Next, we need to negotiate with the other classes. To achieve this goal, it's not enough for just our class to work alone. We have to convince the other classes to work with us to achieve result one."

"But if we tell the other classes about the list of preferred students, the worst case could lead to result three," Horikita frowned. "Let's not even talk about Class B, but Class A and Class C will definitely not share their preferred student names with us."

"I think, instead of worrying about this, it's more important that the other classes don't find out our objective," Kanda Shuichi shook his head. "Once result one is achieved by all, the four classes can each get one get-out-of-jail card. Class B will definitely be willing, but Class A and Class C might not be."

Kanda Shuichi's words made everyone nod. Class B students value their companions, so if given the chance, they would definitely want to get a get-out-of-jail card.

However, Class A and Class C were different. Ryuen from Class C was the absolute ruler of the class. Kanda Shuichi understood him somewhat, but couldn't be sure about his character. Maybe he was the type to sacrifice his classmates without hesitation.

As for Class A, after Katsuragi's downfall, it was only natural that Sakayanagi Arisu took over. From what he learned about Kamuro, he knew that Sakayanagi was definitely the type to treat her classmates as pawns. She wouldn't hesitate to abandon her pieces at a crucial moment.

If Ryuen found out that Class D was trying to get a get-out-of-jail card, he would probably act like he didn't care about it, and then raise the stakes, blackmailing Class D for a huge profit.

From Kanda Shuichi's analysis of Ryuen, he knew that the guy would definitely do something like this.

So, they absolutely couldn't mention their plan to get all the students to achieve result one.

As for Class A, without Sakayanagi present and Katsuragi losing power, the remaining group of misfits would be easier to deal with.

After laying out his analysis, the others nodded, agreeing that it made sense.

"But you still haven't said what we should do."

Horikita looked at Kanda Shuichi.

"We'll have to wait and see what the list of preferred students says tomorrow," Kanda Shuichi stood up and finished his juice. "Actually, the best approach would be to figure out how the preferred students are chosen and then threaten them into achieving result one, but that's probably hard to pull off."

Kanda Shuichi chuckled, tossing his cup into the trash can as he left the deck.

When he returned to his room, he expected Miyake to already be lying in bed, but instead, the guy was doing push-ups in the corner of the room.

For a moment, Kanda Shuichi stepped out of the room, then checked the room number.

Isn't it right?

What's going on with Akito? Feels like déjà vu with Koenji.

Earlier, when passing by Koenji's dorm, he had seen him doing one-handed push-ups.

"What's this? Exercising?"

"Of course… why not?" 

Miyake answered while continuing his push-ups.

"I've never seen you work out before."

Kanda Shuichi scratched his head. Was he triggered by something?

"Because I saw Koenji… that guy… his physical abilities are so strong, and yet he's so disciplined every day."

Okay, Kanda Shuichi couldn't argue with that. But comparing yourself to that weirdo?

Actually, Miyake felt a bit uncomfortable because, as Kanda Shuichi's friend, he hadn't been useful at a critical time and had to rely on Shuichi to get help from others. 

Because of that, he felt uneasy.

"If I could be more useful, maybe Shuichi wouldn't have to ask someone else for help."

Although he didn't know how Kanda Shuichi convinced Koenji, he was sure some price had been paid, or that guy wouldn't have agreed so easily.

So, Miyake decided that from now on, he would try harder. Shuichi always called him to eat when he cooked and took care of him in terms of studying.

If I don't repay these favors, then what kind of man would I be, Miyake Akito!

And that's how this scene came about.

Watching Miyake Akito do push-up after push-up, Kanda Shuichi thought maybe he should give it a try too.

But after doing ten, Kanda Shuichi collapsed onto the floor.

Though his body wasn't heavy, so it didn't take much strength, ten push-ups was already Kanda Shuichi's limit.

"Hahaha, you're still far from it, Shuichi," Miyake laughed loudly while standing beside Kanda Shuichi with his shirt off.

Kanda Shuichi just rolled his eyes, then casually flipped over and lay down to rest.

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