Kikyō Kushida opened her personal terminal and dialed a number.
"Beep—"
It only lasted a few seconds.
But to Yōsuke Hirata, those seconds felt unbearably long.
Time ticked by.
Finally, the call connected.
"Speak."
A calm voice came from the phone.
"I've put it on speaker."
Kushida placed the terminal on the desk so the entire class could hear.
Then she said:
"Hirata wants to borrow money from you."
"Amount."
"1.2 million."
"…Got it. Wait five minutes."
"—Beep."
The conversation was extremely short.
The call ended immediately.
Class D fell silent.
Huh?
Was it really that simple?
Did the other party agree—or not?
Kanji Ike opened his mouth as if to say something, but when he saw Hirata seriously trying to save him, he didn't dare speak.
What if Hirata suddenly came to his senses and decided to abandon him?
After all, even at 100,000 points per point, Ike alone needed 500,000 points to pass.
Five hundred thousand.
That was five hundred thousand!
Even if Class D hadn't lost points, it would take five months of spending nothing to save that much.
Was he really worth that much?
But since Hirata was acting crazy enough to try, Ike obediently kept his mouth shut and waited.
"…."
A heavy atmosphere spread across Class D.
Even the bell signaling the end of class failed to break the tension.
Saé Chabashira dragged a chair to the podium and sat there expressionlessly, watching them.
The classroom clock ticked.
Five minutes passed.
Just when Ike was about to lose patience—
The classroom door opened.
"Excuse us~"
"Good morning~"
"Wow… the air in Class D feels heavier than Hoshinomiya-sensei's alcohol fumes."
"Honestly, it's my first time visiting Class D."
"…Quiet."
Without waiting for permission, several familiar faces walked into the room.
Honami Ichinose.
Asakusa Tōru.
Shiranami Chihiro.
Hayato Shibata.
Ryūji Kanzaki.
The famous angel.
The infamous "recording-pen mastermind."
An unknown mascot.
The cheerful soccer boy.
And the expressionless follower.
"…That's a lot of people."
"Hey, that's Ichinose."
"So the person Kushida said could lend money… is Class A?"
"…Makes sense. A united Class A could probably gather that much."
"But the voice on the phone earlier didn't sound like Ichinose."
Seeing these visitors who felt completely out of place in Class D, the students whispered among themselves.
Their voices weren't exactly quiet.
But the newcomers didn't care.
Unlike the gloomy Class D students glued to their seats, Class A had already relaxed after everyone passed the exam.
They didn't need to spend hours discussing how to prevent classmates from being expelled.
So after receiving Kushida's call and roughly guessing Class D's situation, Asakusa abandoned the idea of lending money personally.
Instead—
He turned it into a Class A loan.
Without question, this was the best chance to crush Class D.
Originally, Asakusa's loan service existed only because he had too much money and nothing to spend it on.
He just wanted to see if he could make a little profit.
He didn't actually care whether the money was lent out.
But since the borrower was Hirata—and the reason was to save the failing students—
Adjusting his strategy was perfectly fine.
After all, for the sake of his classmates, Hirata would surely pay any price.
However—
Why did you bring so many people?
Asakusa could clearly read the question in Kushida's eyes.
Don't worry about it.
He shrugged in response.
Ichinose glanced at him, feeling something slightly strange—but also perfectly normal.
…Never mind.
Since Asakusa had already explained the plan beforehand, she only needed to follow it.
Just like the day school rules were announced.
He wouldn't be wrong.
"Good morning."
Ichinose smiled warmly.
"To everyone in Class D."
Negotiation began.
Borrowing money wasn't something that could be decided with a single sentence—especially not 1.2 million points.
It wasn't like Hirata could just bow, Ichinose could wave her hand, and the points would instantly transfer.
Yes.
Saving everyone was Hirata's unwavering bottom line.
No matter what, he had to obtain that 1.2 million points.
But that didn't mean Ichinose needed to squeeze Class D mercilessly with predatory terms.
Her reputation among the first-years had value.
There was no need to play the villain when this deal already put Class D at a disadvantage.
Even if the terms were a little harsh, Hirata would probably sign the contract gratefully.
"…Then why aren't you the one acting as the villain?"
Kanzaki asked quietly.
He stared at Asakusa, who had somehow dragged three chairs together, borrowed a desk from Nene Mori, and was now casually playing cards with Shibata and Shiranami right in front of the entire class.
"I refuse."
Without even looking up, Asakusa watched Shiranami win another round three-to-one and replied with a universal truth:
"Because I'm lazy."
Class D's survival.
Class D's opinions.
Maximizing profit.
Asakusa honestly didn't care about any of it.
The only reason he answered the call was because lending money to Class D sounded interesting.
Letting Ichinose handle negotiations was simply because—
He was lazy.
"…Then why are we here?"
Kanzaki sighed and asked another question.
"If you're letting Ichinose handle it, what are the rest of us doing here?"
"To show strength."
Asakusa looked at him like he'd asked the dumbest question imaginable.
"Negotiations require numbers."
"You can't expect Ichinose to face the entire Class D alone, can you?"
Enjoyed these chapters? Access advanced chapters and exclusive content by visiting my Patreon. https://patreon.com/WillOFD129?