Chapter 47: Other Classes' Plans
After school, Hikigaya dragged his heavy feet and arrived at a large building according to the address given by Sakayanagi and Yukinoshita.
This place was far from the school building, a structure specially prepared for club activities. Clubs that didn't require much space, like the Archery Club and the Tea Ceremony Club, were housed here. If you listened closely, you could occasionally hear the sound of arrows being shot in the distance.
According to Sakayanagi-san, the room provided by the school for the Service Club was located here.
Hikigaya climbed the stairs and stopped in front of an unremarkable classroom. Hikigaya curiously looked around. If the nameplate on the door hadn't read "Service Club," he would have suspected he was on the wrong floor. Just then, however, a purple figure coming up the stairs quickly approached. While Hikigaya was still spacing out, she reached out and pushed the door open.
The room looked like an ordinary, undecorated classroom. The only difference from other classrooms was that the desks and chairs were haphazardly piled in a corner.
The warm sunlight streamed through the windows into the empty classroom. Two cute and beautiful girls were sitting at a long table, leaning close together, staring at a phone on the table, softly discussing something.
'Why are all these beautiful girls so skilled at blending into the scenery?'
Hikigaya really wanted to capture the scene he was seeing in a photograph. Unfortunately, he didn't have the courage to take the picture.
Noticing someone had entered, one of the black-haired girls used a pen as a bookmark in a light-blue notebook, then lifted her head.
"Kamuro-san, I believe I told you to knock before entering," Yukinoshita cast a dissatisfied look at Kamuro.
"Alright, alright, I know, I'll knock next time..." Kamuro looked nonchalant, then dragged two chairs from the corner on her own, wiped them clean with a wet tissue taken from her pocket, and sat down brazenly... crossing her legs and starting to play with her phone.
'Hey, Kamuro-san! Panties, your purple lace panties are going to show.'
Watching Kamuro look outwardly accepting but determined not to change, Yukinoshita couldn't help but sigh softly. She then turned her icy eyes toward Hikigaya, who was standing by the door admiring the view: "Don't just stand there like an idiot. Why don't you sit down quickly?"
Although Sakayanagi was smiling, she was staring intently at the two who had just entered the classroom: "Hikigaya-kun, Kamuro-san's service is very thoughtful. She even specifically brought your chair over. Please, have a seat."
"Huh? Ah, right. I'm sorry."
'What is going on? Yukinoshita and Sakayanagi's eyes are terrifying! The look they just gave me could easily kill Heros. I actually apologized involuntarily because I was so startled...'
"Um... Sakayanagi-san, Yukinoshita-san, didn't you say the Service Club has many members?" Hikigaya sat down, looking around the classroom, and asked, a bit puzzled.
"Excluding the few of us, the Service Club currently has close to sixty members.
However, those members usually choose to volunteer or hang out with friends if they have free time, so no one usually comes to this classroom.
Also, when club activities are held, members are usually notified via text message. They must take photos before and after their work and upload them to the group. There will also be random spot checks or contact with vendors to verify the members' work situation to prevent discrepancies in working hours or fraudulent claims for subsidies," Yukinoshita explained.
"Oh, you're running it quite professionally," Hikigaya couldn't help but nod at Yukinoshita's explanation.
"You have the nerve to say that... Let's get back to the main topic. Sakayanagi-san, what's the situation with the other classes?" Yukinoshita glanced at Hikigaya, then shifted her gaze as if losing interest. She opened her notebook and asked Sakayanagi.
"The situation with Class D is still unclear, but I've had people monitor Class C's movements. A few days before the exam, some second-year students were seen negotiating with Class C's Ryuen, but the two sides didn't seem to reach an agreement.
Based on the information I've gathered, most of the Class C students' scores in this midterm exam were in the single digits." Sakayanagi smiled slightly at Hikigaya: "It seems Ryuen-kun must have used his control over the class to have all the Class C students execute the zero-point strategy you mentioned before, Hikigaya-kun."
"Class C refused the upperclassmen's intervention, but what about Class B?" While listening to Sakayanagi, Yukinoshita recorded the situation the former mentioned in her notebook.
"Ah, for Class B, that second-year Nagumo contacted Class B's representative, Ichinose, twice. Let me think... one time was hitting on Ichinose in the school cafeteria, even asking her out to dinner; the other time was when Class B was holding a study session at Saizeriya, and that guy pretended to run into her and started talking to Ichinose. I don't know if Class B received aid from him, though." Kamuro suddenly looked up and interjected.
"Uh, Kamuro-san, why do you know so much detail?" Hikigaya couldn't help but ask.
"It's best if Hikigaya-kun doesn't probe too deeply. That's a girl's secret," Sakayanagi said with a playful smile before Kamuro could speak.
'What kind of girl's secret is that? That's clearly stalking!'
"I-I understand..." Stared down by the intimidating gazes of Sakayanagi and Kamuro, Hikigaya obediently shut his mouth.
"I'm afraid the Class B students are more united than I expected. I wasn't able to place a spy in Class B," Sakayanagi shook her head, explaining when she saw Yukinoshita look at her with an inquiring gaze.
"Is that so? It seems we can only indirectly probe or wait for the change in class evaluation points to know if Vice President Nagumo intervened in Class B's exam," Yukinoshita said briefly.
Just then, the phone on the table suddenly vibrated twice. Sakayanagi and Yukinoshita looked down at it, both showing a surprised expression at the same time.
"What's wrong?" Hikigaya asked, a little confused.
"Sakayanagi-san received a message this morning saying that one Class D student failed to pass the threshold score and was going to be expelled..."
"W-Wait a minute! Yukinoshita, I thought we provided the exam paper to Class D?"
Kamuro interrupted Yukinoshita, frowning just as she started to explain.
"Yes. Even though we provided the exam paper to Class D, someone in Class D still failed," Yukinoshita also looked bewildered, seemingly speechless about the Class D students.
"Huh?" Kamuro's mouth dropped open in astonishment. She racked her brain but couldn't understand why someone would fail even with the exam questions and answers in advance.
"That student was notified of the expulsion by Class D's Chabashira-sensei this morning, but for some reason, the expulsion notice was revoked this afternoon," Sakayanagi said, looking thoughtful.
"Did the Class D students gather enough points to get the school to cancel the expulsion?" Kamuro asked.
"Impossible. Even if the entire class hadn't used a single point since enrollment, it wouldn't be nearly enough to gather twenty million points.
Furthermore, the Class D students heavily squandered their points upon enrollment, and their class evaluation points were wiped out. Now, aside from the 1.6 million private points we gave them, they shouldn't have much savings," Yukinoshita immediately shook her head, dismissing the idea.
"Since this is only the second month since enrollment, could the points required to avoid expulsion be discounted... because didn't you say that a student being expelled in the first month would affect the outside world's perception of the school?" Kamuro added.
"I just messaged Mashima-sensei to confirm, and unfortunately, he said there is no such thing as a discount," Sakayanagi said, looking up from her phone screen.
"Did a senpai provide points to Class D? No, a student who would be expelled due to a simple written exam isn't worth that many points," Yukinoshita tilted her head, talking to herself. She had an idea, but it was immediately overturned by her own logic.
"In that case, what score did the student who was going to be expelled get, and how far was it from the passing threshold?" Hikigaya interjected.
"You mean..." Yukinoshita understood Hikigaya's implication and immediately turned to the well-informed Sakayanagi.
Hikigaya slightly curled his lips and said calmly: "Didn't Mashima-sensei say it on the day of the entrance ceremony? There's nothing in this school that can't be bought with points. Even the midterm exam is considered one of the school's affairs."
Sakayanagi sent a text message. Less than five minutes later, her phone vibrated, signaling a new message had arrived.
"Hmm... The Class D student who was going to be expelled is named Sudo Ken. He has excellent physical ability but absolutely no interest in studying. His English score in this midterm exam was 39 points, which is only one point away from the passing threshold." Sakayanagi read the newly received intelligence in her delicate voice, and her tightly furrowed brows suddenly relaxed.
"It seems someone bought that single point from the teacher," Yukinoshita's face briefly showed a beautiful smile because she had finally grasped the key to the problem.
According to the contract between the school and the students, in this school, nothing is fundamentally impossible to purchase with points. In other words, having personal points in the school means—that when necessary, it might be possible to shift the situation in one's favor.
If one had the intention, perhaps even things beyond exam scores could be obtained.
Regardless of who came up with this plan, Class D's action had once again validated this school rule and provided a new line of thought for the Class A students.
In short, for Class A, which has the most class evaluation points, and for Hikigaya and the others, who receive a continuous commission from the Service Club, using cash power to change the situation is definitely a new, feasible strategy.
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