-178- Temptation and Coercion

If we delve into this matter, we have to go back to before the start of summer vacation, after the end of the final exams.

At that time, Hori had already received an invitation from Chabashira Sae and met her at school.

"I have something I want you to do."

As soon as they met, Chabashira Sae said this to Hori.

"There will be a special exam during the summer vacation. You should be aware of this, right?"

At that time, Chabashira Sae said this to Hori.

"I want to see Class D surpass Classes A, B, and C in the special exam and become the undisputed winner of the first year."

That's what Chabashira Sae wanted Hori to do.

Naturally, Chabashira Sae also knew that Hori, who had no interest in class competition, would not do such a thing.

So, Chabashira Sae offered a price that would make Hori interested.

"The price is personal points. You're interested in this, right?"

At that time, Chabashira Sae's conditions did indeed pique Hori's interest.

And so, Hori agreed to Chabashira Sae's request and promised, in a near-hiring manner, to achieve victory in the special exam.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's statement was correct.

Hori's impulsive behavior wouldn't lead him to lead Class D to victory.

The reason for doing so was entirely because of this reason—Chabashira Sae offered a price that would make Hori interested.

With this in mind, Hori led Class D to victory in the special exam.

Upon learning this, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka looked somewhat speechless at Chabashira Sae.

"Don't you think the difference in treatment is too big?" Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's initial thought seemed to be this.

And that was the truth.

For Hori, Chabashira Sae used temptation.

For Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, Chabashira Sae used coercion.

If possible, who wouldn't prefer the former?

At least with the former, there's a benefit, right?

But for Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's statement, Chabashira Sae remained indifferent and gave only this response:

"I know. Threats don't work on Nanaya, and temptations don't work on you."

That's how it is.

Certainly, as the homeroom teacher of Class D, Chabashira Sae had a lot of power.

Take expulsion, for example. There were many reasons for expulsion at Advanced Nurturing High School.

For example, failing mid-term and final exams would result in expulsion.

Since that was the case, Chabashira Sae could easily manipulate things and find a way to expel a student.

That's why Chabashira Sae was able to threaten Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

If using temptation, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, with his reclusive style, might not necessarily be tempted.

Hori, on the other hand, was the opposite.

If Chabashira Sae were to threaten Hori with expulsion, would Hori be afraid?

Certainly not.

Although Hori didn't want to be expelled, if Chabashira Sae really intended to use expulsion, there were also a hundred ways for Hori to make the teacher back down.

Chabashira Sae understood this, so she resorted to temptation.

She offered personal points to hire Hori.

It was such a simple method.

The problem is...

"Is this okay?" Ayanokouji Kiyotaka said, "Even if homeroom teachers compete with each other, directly transferring personal points to students for their use is already a violation of the S system rules, isn't it?"

Chabashira Sae had said before that teachers have limited rules they can teach students about class competition and have to follow many rules themselves.

Since they couldn't reveal too many rules, it's even more impossible to directly transfer points to students.

If every teacher were to support students with personal points for competition, wouldn't students' competition become a comparison in the background?

This is not the situation the school wants to see.

Therefore, Chabashira Sae's actions undoubtedly constituted a violation of the rules, and once noticed by the school, trouble would ensue in minutes.

As for the school not noticing?

That's impossible.

In Advanced Nurturing High School, not only students but also teachers, administrators, and various staff members use phones provided by the school.

These phones store the personal points of each person.

The school constantly monitors the flow of points, always paying attention to any anomalies.

After all, if points rank second in importance at Advanced Nurturing High School, there's nothing that ranks first.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had also mentioned this before, right?

"Grasping the truth about point rules is the key to conquering this school. There's nothing more important than points in this school." Ayanokouji Kiyotaka looked at Chabashira Sae and said, "To prevent the collapse of the point system, the school monitors the flow of points in real-time. It's only natural."

Ryuen Kakeru had also revealed to Hori in the past that a student from Class B had accumulated tens of millions of points through fraudulent means.

But in the end, this student was exposed and expelled.

This was proof that the school was always monitoring the flow of points.

Once there was an abnormal flow of points, the school would definitely intervene and investigate.

In summary, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka believed that Chabashira Sae was taking too much of a risk.

To this...

"Do you think I haven't thought of anything?" Chabashira Sae said nonchalantly. "To avoid breaking the rules, I've put in a lot of effort on my end too."

What kind of effort?

"The personal points I transferred to Nanaya aren't mine; they're yours."

Chabashira Sae explained.

Upon hearing this, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was momentarily stunned, then understood.

"The mid-term exams..."

At the end of the first mid-term exams, didn't the students of Class D collectively prepare a sum of points to buy scores to ensure Ike Kanji, Yamauchi Haruki, and Sudou Ken passed?

Chabashira Sae used those points.

Right in front of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, Hori took out his phone and opened the points balance interface.

―― "2488450."

This was the balance Hori had confirmed on the cruise ship earlier.

Of this, eighty thousand points belonged to Hori himself, his own points he had been saving.

The remaining two million four hundred thousand were all transferred to Hori by Chabashira Sae.

"These points originally belonged to you all. Even if they were used to buy scores, the school didn't specify that we had to hand over this payment. I'm transferring them back to you. Although it still touches the red line of the rules, as long as I put in a little more effort, I can completely cover it up."

Chabashira Sae explained calmly.

"I'm using these two million four hundred thousand to hire Nanaya and have him win the special exam."

That's how it went.

As a result, due to Chabashira Sae's coercion and temptation, Hori and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka respectively showed their hands in this special exam.

Class D's victory wasn't accidental.

All of this was Chabashira Sae's doing.

This teacher, who had previously shown little interest in the class, played the role of a behind-the-scenes manipulator in this special exam.