"Hey, Hikigaya. How the hell did you pull that off?"
Horikita's question was exactly what everyone in Class D wanted to ask.
Dropping the amount from 500,000 to 200,000 points—what kind of monster negotiator does that?!
"It's simple. Installment payments," Hikigaya replied coolly.
"The remaining 300,000 will be covered by Sudō himself. Every month, he'll have to pay back 10,000 points… or earn the equivalent through contributions to the class."
He said it so casually it sounded like common sense.
Sudō let out a long sigh of relief. As an official member of the basketball club, he received around 8,000 private points monthly. As long as the class score didn't drop to zero, the school would still hand out some points. If he cut corners here and there, he could probably scrape together the 10,000 each month.
As for food and living expenses—well, the school provided free meals. He wouldn't starve to death.
"Installment payments?"
"Wait, that's even allowed?"
Everyone's brains short-circuited at once.
"Hold on."
"You're seriously making Sudō pay that off himself?" Yamauchi gawked.
"Of course," Hikigaya said flatly. "He's the one who caused the mess. Shouldn't he be the one to take responsibility?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ike muttered sarcastically. "You made it sound like you were helping Sudō, but turns out you didn't even cover the cost yourself. I thought you were fronting the 300,000!"
"Heh. Guess you just woke up from your nap." Hikigaya's smirk was sharp.
Sure, he had enough points to do it—but why should he?
He wasn't Sudō's dad.
"So basically, you didn't really help him at all. What's so great about that?" Yamauchi grumbled.
"Yamauchi, that's not fair!" Hirata cut in, his tone firm. "If Hikigaya hadn't gone to Chabashira-sensei and negotiated directly, things wouldn't have turned out like this. The negotiation itself is a major contribution!"
Chabashira watched the scene unfold with quiet intrigue. This wasn't just about negotiation.
For the arrangement to go through, Hikigaya had to serve as Sudō's guarantor. If Sudō failed to pay back the loan, Hikigaya would have to cough up the points himself.
And to top it off, he'd even paid Chabashira an extra 20,000 points as a "confidentiality fee" to keep the negotiation details off the record.
Good deed without recognition, huh?
Except… forcing Sudō to kneel in front of the whole class—was that what you called a good person?
Now she understood why an old colleague of hers—who happened to teach at Hikigaya's former middle school—had described him as "a kind-hearted brat with a twisted personality."
After hearing about his past from her friend, Chabashira was now certain of one thing: Hikigaya was definitely Class D's hidden ace.
"Either way, Hikigaya," Sudo said earnestly, "I owe you one for this. Thank you."
"..."
Hikigaya's face twitched slightly.
This guy had taken three punches from him, been forced to kneel… and now he was thanking him?
"Don't thank me. Even without my help, you probably wouldn't have been expelled."
His tone was casual, almost dismissive.
Sudō blinked, then grinned. "Man, you're too humble."
Not humble—just honest.
Hikigaya gave a small shake of his head and didn't elaborate.
"Hey, don't you guys think this is kinda… tsundere?"
"Like, cold on the outside but warm inside?"
"Now that you mention it, Hikigaya's not bad-looking either."
"Yeah, except for the eyes. Those are a little… errrr."
Among the girls—especially under Karuizawa's influence—their opinion of Hikigaya seemed to improve slightly.
"'Wouldn't be expelled,' huh… So he figured that out too," Ayanokōji murmured, expression unreadable.
(Why wouldn't he get expelled…? Its been a while since i read the LN?)
***
Class C
"Relax, Ryūen," one of the boys said confidently. "We did exactly what you told us yesterday. We kept Sudō busy—five straight hours of basketball!"
"There's no way he had the strength left to study after that. He must've collapsed in bed the second he got back!"
Komiya and Kondō, both basketball club members, were the same "buddies" Sudō had proudly mentioned before.
"Good. Everything's going according to plan," Ryūen said, his gaze sharp, his smirk predatory. "There's no way those idiots in Class D could've scraped together enough points to buy him a passing grade."
"Boss," Ishizaki asked, frowning, "do we really need to waste points to protect that meathead?"
"That idiot's athletic ability isn't far off from Albert's," Ryūen replied. "Used right, he'll make a fine pawn."
His grin widened.
He intended to wait until Sudō was pushed to the brink of despair—then swoop in like a savior and claim him as his loyal dog.
"Boss, want me to rough someone up?" Albert cracked his knuckles eagerly. "There are a few guys in Class A and B I could easily handle."
"No," Ryūen cut him off immediately. "Our class points are too high right now. If we get penalized, it'll drag us both down."
It was annoying, really.
Just after the entrance ceremony, he'd bought intel about the "S-System" from a certain shady merchant. Since then, he'd kept Class C on a tight leash—no reckless behavior, no fights, no trouble.
The result? A record-breaking 810 class points—the highest ever achieved by Class C.
But that also meant he couldn't use dirty tactics without risking their advantage.
Classes A, B, and C were all above water. The only one drowning was Class D.
"Ryūen, here's the document you asked for—D Class's grade report," said Sakagami, handing over the printout.
Ryūen scanned it, and his brow furrowed deeply. "Every single one passed? What the hell is this?"
Even Sudō's grades had two subjects sitting exactly on the passing line. Too precise to be coincidence.
"Half an hour ago, D Class submitted an application to purchase exam points," Sakagami explained gravely.
"That's impossible!" Komiya blurted out. "Sudō told us himself he wasn't close with anyone in his class. They fought all the time—why would they pool points to help him?"
"So… someone organized Class D?"
Ryūen's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Who?" he asked, voice low. "Hirata? Kushida?"
Those were the obvious guesses—friendly, popular, and well-liked across the grade.
"The nice guy and the fake saint…" Ryūen sneered.
He knew their types. But his gut told him someone else was pulling the strings behind the scenes.
"I underestimated those D Class losers," he muttered.
Rough exterior aside, Ryūen's mind was razor sharp. While his ambition pointed upward toward Classes A and B, he had no intention of letting D Class climb uncontested.
"By the way," Ishizaki said suddenly, "I heard Ibuki's got some kind of connection with someone from Class D. Should we use her to dig up some info?"
Ryūen's smirk returned. "Heh… not a bad idea."