9 Chapter 9

I walked out of the classroom and waved goodbye to the teacher, but before I could step out the door, Hoshanomiya said.

"Wait a second, I'm coming with you."

"??? why?"

"I'm your teacher. Is that not a good enough reason?"

I would need a teacher to confirm our contract, so it wouldn't hurt to bring her. I nodded my head and waited at the door. The rest of the students in Class B were clearly confused as to why the teacher needed to come with me and began gossiping again. Hoshanomiya waved goodbye to the class, and we both stepped out of the classroom. Not wanting to waste time, I asked.

"I assume you're here to negotiate?"

The student who originally asked Hoshanomiya for me responded.

"Yes"

"Teacher, do you know a more private spot where we can talk?"

Hoshanomiya thought for a minute and responded.

"Yes, follow me."

The blond-haired student and Sudo stepped forward to follow us while the others stayed behind. I needed the entire class for my contract, so I asked them.

"Can you bring the rest of your class?"

"why...?"

"you'll see."

I watched Hirata walk over to the Class D students and tell them something. After a minute of discussion, they followed Hirata and Sudo. Honestly, I couldn't care less about what they were talking about. My plan simply had no flaws. Either they sign the contract, or Sudo gets expelled. There are no other options.

We walked in silence behind Hoshanomiya and entered an empty classroom. Hirata, whose name I learned through listening to the Class D students behind me, quickly asked me in the interest of time.

"So, what do you need to revoke the report?"

I stayed silent and handed over the contract I had prepared that morning. I watched the expressions of the Class D students change as Hirata read the contract and its terms aloud. Hoshanomiya smiled for some reason at me. Does she not like Class D?

After listening to the terms, the students of Class D huddled together and began discussing. Whatever they talked about didn't matter, as I wouldn't change any of the terms. After a minute, Hirata asked.

"You can't seriously expect us to give 20 million points."

Of course, I knew they would ask this, so I turned to Hoshanomiya and asked her.

"Teacher, how many points is it save a person from expulsion?"

"It is 20 million points."

Then, someone unknown person from Class D asked a question.

"Why don't we just give the school 20 million points to save Sudo right now?"

As expected of Class D, they are truly fucking stupid.

"... Do you guys have 20 million points right now to save him?"

"..."

The student shrunk back behind his other classmates. I decided some further pushing was needed for them to sign the contract, so I again spoke.

"You receive 100,000 points per month, and you have 40 students. After around 7 months, you'll be able to pay me back and be done with it."

Class D went back into their huddle and began discussing again. I waited patiently while Hoshanomiya asked me some questions. We talked quietly so that the Class D students couldn't hear us.

"What did you do?"

"I made an incident report to get one of them expelled."

"Why did you submit the report now instead of later."

"You know I know about the monthly points, so why are you asking this question."

"... you really are an interesting one."

Is that a compliment or an insult? I decided it was now my time to ask her some questions.

"Why do you dislike Class D?"

"hmm?"

"I saw you smile when you knew I did something."

"Can a teacher not be proud of their student?"

"..."

I realized that she wasn't going to give me any information, so I decided to wait in silence until Class D finished discussing whatever useless thing they were discussing. It had already been 10 minutes, and they were still discussing it. I sighed and spoke again.

"Hey, I'm not changing the terms of the contract. Either you sign or the incident report goes through. Please make your decision within the next 10 minutes, I don't have time for this"

I knew damn well that I had all day to wait for their decision due to my severe lack of friends, but honestly, it was very awkward standing next to Hoshanomiya silently. Finally, after another 5 minutes, Hirata emerged from the huddle and said.

"Alright, we'll agree. It's not like we have a choice."

Hirata started by signing the contract, and the rest of the students came up one by one to sign the contract. Each one of them threw me a hateful glance. Hey, what the hell did I do? It was your dumbass classmate that hit me next to multiple security cameras. Finally, the last student came up, and I realized he was the one who wore that interesting expression earlier. He reluctantly stepped up to sign it.

I kinda felt for him. This was why I didn't want to get involved in Class B. This student had no choice but to sign the contract as everyone else did. If he refused, he would be cast out and called heartless for not wanting to save a classmate even though he was sacrificing his points. Seeing his reluctance and interested expression earlier, I assumed he already knew, so I tested the waters.

"You already know, don't you?" I murmured.

He nodded his head, signed the contract, and retreated to the rest of the class. Talking with the person who extorted their class for points would only hurt him, after all. After getting the contract back and looking it over again, I handed it to Hoshanomiya.

"Teach, may you please go notarize it?"

"Of course, my dear student."

I still couldn't tell why she was so happy. Maybe she really was proud of me, but I doubted that. It seemed she disliked Class D and was happy with my actions to ruin them. The teacher headed to the lounge, notarized it, and returned within a minute. Was she worried that someone might stop her? Why did she go so fast? Anyways, it only helped me.

After getting back the notarized contract, I spoke loudly again.

"I'll head to the student council room now to cancel the report. You may follow me and watch if you'd like."

I headed to the council room and immediately changed my expression from uninterested/bored to happy. I had really done it. I had either 20 million private points or an entire class expelled. Was this too easy? Was there a catch? What am I saying, catch? I'm the one who made the contract.

While heading to the student council room, I noticed that 2 students were following me there. I guess they couldn't trust me even after I signed a contract. Though I also extort them for 20 million points, I don't know who's in the wrong here. One of the students was Hirata from earlier, and the other was a girl with long black hair. Ah, the one from the supermarket.

Noticing me looking at them, the girl increased her pace and walked near me to ask a question. His expression was fierce and intense, but it didn't bother me. Nothing could be changed at this point.

"Why did you target Class D?"

The contract was already notarized, and they would be stupid not to notice that I had planned this all out, so I replied honestly.

"That Sudo guy insulted me, so I wanted revenge."

"..."

I am pretty petty.

After reaching the student council room, I turned around and saw that the two Class D students were watching me from a distance. I opened the student council door and walked it alone. The same purple-haired girl from earlier greeted me. 

"Did you get beaten up again?"

??? Is this the student council? Did this girl really ask me if I got hit again? Shaking away my other thoughts, I quickly responded.

"The opposite. I want to withdraw my incident report."

The girl once again led me into the inner room of the student council. The scene inside was the same as yesterday: a man with glasses seriously staring at the paper while a blond-haired boy did the same. How do they do this every day? I felt pity for the student council; they truly have it rough if they must do this every day.

The president looked up from his paper and asked me.

"Are you sure?"

"yes."

The student council president sighed and went on his smartwatch before looking at me again. 

"What did you get from them."

I noticed that the blonde guy and purple-haired girl were also staring at me. Did they make a bet on what I would do? Why the hell do they care so much? Not wanting to piss off the president, I responded.

"ah, you see, I got all of them expelled instead of just one."

"..."

Eventually, they would know of my plan as they were on the student council, so I decided to be frank and tell them right now. Of course, their silence was expected, so I took out the notarized contract and handed it to the purple-haired girl next to me. She looked at it for a moment before reading it aloud to the other 2 student council members.

After the reading, the blonde boy immediately broke out into laughter.

"AHAHAH, THOSE IDIOTS. How could they even think of signing something like this? Getting 20 million private points as Class D is impossible."

I wanted to join him in laughing, as he was right. Those students were really stupid, but I felt kinda weird having my fellow first-years attacked by someone besides me. Hey, I'm the only one allowed to do that. To protect them, I interrupted his laughter and said.

"uhh, they still think they're getting 100,000 private points a month, and they don't know about the class competition stuff."

After those words, the student council president, who was previously deep in thought, turned his attention back to me. I don't know why he looked so worried. Why does the survival of Class D matter to him? Interrupting the silence, the blonde-haired boy spoke again.

"Hey Manabu, why don't we invite him to the student council?"

Is this guy crazy? Why would I join the student council and give myself hours of extra work? The hell? They didn't even ask my opinion.

"Hmm, he does possess the insight and intelligence required. Would you like to join?"

If I denied them outright, they might hold a grudge against me and think I'm cocky, so I decided to ask a question to display my curiosity. Then, after their answer and some pretend thinking about it, I would deny it, saying I already had too much work.

"Do we get paid?"

The blonde boy broke out into laughter again and responded.

"hahaha, of course we do. You know we even get access to special information."

After that, the idea of joining the student council didn't seem that bad. Since I had around 600,000 points right now, it wouldn't hurt to get my hands on more, and special information could help pull off more plans like this. This plan worked because I knew how the monthly private points were distributed and that Class D was the worst class. Thinking over it, I decided it wouldn't hurt to join, and of course, I already knew which role I wanted. The role that does the least amount of work.

It also wasn't like I had no time. It was the opposite, I had all the time in the world as no friends meant no time commitments.

"Yeah, I would like to join. Could I be the general affairs officer?"

What work could a General Affairs officer have at this school when it's completely closed off to the public? The most I'd have to do is handle some small school disputes, and I'd also be getting extra private points and more information. The president gave me the role, told me to return to the club room tomorrow, and dismissed me.

I headed back towards my dorm and rested for the time being. I looked at my points and decided I was fine currently. I didn't need more private points as now, with the student council's extra points, I would be gaining more than what I was spending.

The next day, in classroom B, I got a couple of weird stares from people who thought I was a spy for Class D, but Hoshanomiya cleared up that misunderstanding by explaining that there was just a little conflict between us.

The next 2 weeks went by pretty smoothly as I slowly adapted to student council work. It was a lot more than I expected; however, I had nothing better to do than rest. I occasionally spoke to the other student council members, but most of the time, I just picked up my work from the club room and headed to the library as it was quieter.

Our teacher gave us a small exam, but she said it wouldn't do anything. Everyone in the class still tried their hardest on it, as it clearly meant something; otherwise, why would they bother giving it to us?

Finally, the day of reckoning arrived, and a new month started. I checked my smart watch and saw that 65,000 private points were allocated to my account. It wasn't 100,000, but it was still a pretty substantial amount. I headed to class like every other day and sat in my small corner, staring outside.

Some people talked about not receiving 100,000 points, but everyone in Class B had already figured that the school wouldn't give 100,000 yen each month to some teenagers. Finally, Hoshanomiya came in and explained the class competition along with private points.

It was something called the S system. We received class points each month, and for every 1 class point we received, we received 100 private points more each month. My prediction was also spot on. There are four classes, and the goal is class A.

After class, I prepared to get up and leave for the student council room when a feminine voice called out behind me. It wasn't Hoshanomiya but the leader of Class B, Ichinose.

"Hey Hikigaya. We will hold a strategy meeting to gain as many points as possible if you could come by later."

Having a bad relationship with the class leader would only cause problems, so I told her why I couldn't. After all, I had a good reason.

"Ah, sorry, I have club work today."

Hoshanomiya, who was watching our conversation, butt in.

"Oh yeah, student council work must be hard, Hikigaya."

After the words, student council came out of the teacher's mouth, every Class B student's gaze locked onto me.

Is it a bad thing to be on student council? Why are they staring? I assumed there were no other first years on it because it was a ton of work. Ignoring their gazes, I walked out of the classroom and glared at the teacher. She really had a knack for giving me attention for no reason. As I walked out of the classroom, I heard some murmurs.

"How did he get on the student council???"

"How did he get in over you, Ichinose?"

"Wasn't the application period over? Doesn't that mean he got invited?"

Ah, I now see the problem. It seems like Ichinose, the class leader, also applied to the student council but got rejected when I got in through an invitation. I would probably be bugged about this later, so I left before people could ask me any questions.