Koenji's little speech basically stepped on everyone's landmines at once. Class D students immediately boiled over.
"Fine! You voted approve, right? Then I'll vote approve too—open the branch—and the first one we vote out will be you!"
"Yeah! You're dead weight anyway. Might as well boot you now so you don't quit halfway through another special exam and screw us over again!"
Koenji looked down his nose at them, pure disdain. "Heh. Still don't get it? The reason I voted 'approve' is because this class has way too many people who lack beauty. Sometimes trimming the excess is all upside—no downside."
"Let's be honest. You unbeautiful types exist for one purpose: dragging the class down. So go on—tell me. What value do you actually have here?"
"Academics? Athleticism? Individual ability? Which one of those can you show off without embarrassing yourself? Better to leave quietly. Then this class might barely have a chance to chase Class A."
Blunt. Cruel. And it tore the room open.
A bunch of Class D students went red, then pale—because even if they hated hearing it, most of them knew it wasn't entirely wrong. Compared to the other three classes, the majority of Class D couldn't compete in any category.
Not in grades. Not in physicals either—at best, they were only slightly better than Sakayanagi's honor-student types, and nowhere near Ichinose's class or Yukio's class.
But that only made it worse.
Because a few students' eyes shifted—like they'd just been handed a dangerous idea.
If we prune the useless ones… could we actually climb?
Everyone in this school chased the same goal: graduate from Class A. One nasty sentence was enough to drag the entire class into an uneasy, suffocating silence.
That's when Hirata finally couldn't sit still anymore.
"Koenji, please don't talk like that. I believe everyone in this class is important."
"And judging people by value or usefulness is wrong. Even if it earns us class points, those would be dirty points—nothing worth being proud of."
Once Hirata—Class D's resident nice guy—spoke up, more students hurried to pile on, half because they agreed and half because they were terrified of being the one voted out.
"I'm with Hirata-kun!"
"Yeah! You can't measure people like they're tools! Koenji, your whole worldview is messed up!"
Hirata had taken the lead, so Kushida—wearing her class angel smile—had no choice but to follow, even as she silently cursed the hassle. She stood up brightly anyway.
"Exactly. We're friends—friends don't abandon friends."
Koenji sat there like a king watching peasants argue. Completely unbothered.
"Ahahahaha! Don't make me laugh. I've never considered any of you my friends."
In other words: Friends? You? Don't flatter yourselves.
That snapped the room right back into rage.
"Alright, screw it! Hirata, Kushida—stop trying! Let's just vote him out!"
"No!" Hirata shot it down instantly. "Everyone matters. I can't accept that."
Then Horikita stood up too, backing Koenji of all people.
"Everyone, listen. Koenji contributed during the second uninhabited-island exam."
"At that time, I made a deal with him: if he gave everything on the island, then I would make sure he wouldn't be stuck carrying expulsion risk afterward. So this won't happen. I won't agree to it."
Hirata and Kushida stepping in? No one complained. They were social anchors—friends with everyone.
But Horikita?
A wave of irritation hit the room.
"Seriously, Horikita? Yeah, you helped Matsushita and did work in a few recent exams—but you also made us eat plenty of losses early on, didn't you?"
"Yeah. You want to protect Koenji? Then maybe we should vote you out first. Koenji can come later."
Horikita's expression tightened. She clearly hadn't expected the resentment to still be this raw.
Matsushita started to rise, like she wanted to say something—but time was up.
Everyone's eyes dropped to their phones as the second round began.
Second-round vote: Approve — 6 / Oppose — 31.
Up on the podium, Chabashira saw the numbers shift that quickly. Her teeth clenched hard enough you could practically hear it.
Koenji, meanwhile, looked downright entertained. "Oh? Looks like some people understand the beauty of my suggestion. Toss out a bit of trash, and the whole thing becomes more beautiful, yes?"
BAM! CLANG!
More students slammed desks, kicked chairs back, and surged to their feet.
"Who the hell are you calling trash?! Say it again!"
"WHO voted approve with him?! You wanna get expelled with Koenji or something?!"
The atmosphere flipped on a dime.
A small group—students who clearly believed they'd never be the one sacrificed—had started quietly buying Koenji's logic: ditch one person, take the points.
Meanwhile, others—terrified they'd be the victim—rallied the weaker side, and some even started thinking about flipping it: If someone has to go, vote out a strong problem child first.
The classroom turned into pure chaos.
On the podium, Chabashira's vision started to darken at the edges—whether from overload, adrenaline, or sheer dread, she didn't know.
The one outcome she feared most… was happening anyway.
With a Unanimous Vote exam, once the class fractures like this, it almost always slides toward the worst ending.
Hirata, desperate, tried to pull Koenji back from the edge.
"Koenji, please! We can't just expel someone like this—it's wrong!"
"Ahahaha!" Koenji waved a hand, like a CEO lecturing his staff. "Hirata-boy, you're far too naive."
"Why are you so obsessed with calling this wrong? Think about it. My option lets us throw out one useless deadweight and gain class points. A perfect win-win, isn't it?"
"And look at the numbers. Compared to round one, round two has four more approve votes. Doesn't that prove the smart people understand this is the correct choice?"
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.