Chapter 73 – Each class after the incident

While Class C was hosting a celebratory banquet and the whole class was reveling, other classes also had their own ways of living.

Class B, despite failing the special exam, didn't let it get them down. Ichinose proactively invited her classmates to gather and play around, swiftly helping them overcome their negative emotions and return to normalcy.

However, Class A wasn't as peaceful. After all, suffering such a significant loss and having to pay one million individual points to Class C every month, how could the students of Class A not be resentful and full of complaints?

This resentment and endless grievances all directed towards Katsuragi, making him the scapegoat for everything. The students felt it was Katsuragi who led them into this pitfall set by Class C.

Class A students never reflected on the fact that just seven days ago, they were thrilled and overjoyed when Yukio mentioned the terms of the deal, fantasizing about earning over 300 class points from the special exam and widening the gap with the lower-ranked classes.

They also forgot how eager they were at that time to collaborate with Yukio for a lucrative outcome, entrusting Katsuragi with full authority to represent the entire class and sign the contract with Yukio.

These past details seemed deliberately forgotten by Class A students, with no one mentioning them. Everyone seemed to believe they bore no responsibility or fault, attributing all the blame to Katsuragi's stupidity and harm.

They were convinced that if Sakayanagi had participated in this special exam, such a trap would never have occurred. Everything was Katsuragi's fault!

Under such circumstances, Katsuragi didn't sit idly by, nor was he crushed by the immense pressure. Instead, he gathered the students of Class A, once again deeply apologizing, "I know I have failed everyone's trust this time, and I am sorry."

"I didn't anticipate such flaws in the contract, and we ended up falling into Yukio's trap. The failure of this round is my responsibility, and I truly apologize to everyone."

Seeing Katsuragi so sincerely taking all the blame upon himself, the students of Class A felt slightly better, but they harbored no thoughts of forgiveness: "What's the use of just apologizing?"

"Indeed, apologizing to us doesn't help. Instead, think of a way to cancel the contract with Class C. It's outrageous that we have to give them one million individual points every month for nothing."

It wasn't that they couldn't accept defeat. Even if they lost this special exam, wasn't Class A still superior and far ahead?

What did it matter if Class C's points were now on par with Class B? Wasn't there still a huge gap between them and Class A?

The reason for their terrible mood was mainly due to personal losses. According to the contract, every student in Class A had to give away 25,000 individual points to Class C every month.

Why should they? When it comes to personal interests, people often don't give up easily.

Katsuragi was well aware of the sentiments of his classmates. Thus, he spoke with utmost sincerity, "I've already approached Mashima-sensei and the school authorities about this matter."

"However, a contract ratified by the school authorities must be adhered to strictly. It cannot be altered or revoked unless both parties mutually agree to cancel it."

"But there's no need for panic. I will strive to gain the upper hand in the next special exam, compelling Class C to willingly terminate the contract to protect our individual points."

The students of Class A still harbored reservations, feeling inclined to critique. Even if they managed to gain an advantage in the next special exam, why would Class C agree to cancel the contract? If they stubbornly refuse, enjoying an additional million points every month would be too appealing to give up.

Yet, witnessing Katsuragi's composed and confident demeanor, their reproaches somehow lost their sting. After all, Katsuragi's capabilities were well-recognized.

Perhaps, securing an advantage in the next special exam might indeed pressure Class C into revoking the contract. With this glimmer of hope, many in Class A decided to place their trust in Katsuragi once more.

They had little choice. Those who aspired to replace Katsuragi lacked support from the others, and those reluctant to step up certainly didn't wish to clash directly with Sakayanagi, especially when their capabilities didn't even match Katsuragi's.

That's how the situation stood. To safeguard their interests, they had to rely on Katsuragi to annul the contract. With no other suitable candidate to lead the class, forgiveness seemed the only option.

After an awkward collective silence, the students of Class A, gathered in large numbers, reluctantly forgave Katsuragi. "Well, since Katsuragi has said as much, let's wait and see," they conceded.

"But for the next special exam, we hope you'll focus on terminating the contract with Class C," they continued.

"Also, we expect more attention to detail in future contracts or collaborations to prevent falling into similar traps."

"Yes," Katsuragi affirmed solemnly. "I will heed the advice you all have given. There won't be a repeat of such mistakes."

With Katsuragi's proactive assumption of responsibility and his rational appeal, the students of Class A eventually rallied around him again, setting aside their grievances.

However, students aligned with Sakayanagi, like Hashimoto and Kamuro, felt a bit conflicted. Despite covertly collaborating with Katsuragi, why hadn't he been overthrown yet?

Perhaps, they mused, a deeper partnership with Katsuragi was necessary to completely undermine Katsuragi's position.

In Class D, the situation wasn't much different from Class A. As the holder of the magnetic card and the leader whose identity was guessed by Class C and then leaked to Classes A and B, Horikita inevitably faced backlash for her apparent negligence. How could there not be discontent?

During class discussions, many threw sarcastic comments, questioning how Horikita's identity as a leader was "accidentally" revealed to other classes. If not for this slip, they believed Class D wouldn't have ended at the bottom.

Horikita, only then recalling the issue, wanted to discuss the leak with Katsuragi or Kanzaki but found them too preoccupied to entertain her. Realizing the timing for information exchange wasn't ideal, she could only suppress her doubts and explain to her classmates, "You can rest assured, I've always been extremely cautious. There's no way I was spotted while using the card!"

"It must be some unknown information gathering ability of Class C, or they discovered some rules of the uninhabited island special exam that we are unaware of, to be caught by them!"

At this point, Horikita hadn't even considered the possibility of a mole. She simply assumed the class's interests were aligned and dismissed the thought without considering other possibilities, leading to even more distorted reasoning.

Her statement infuriated the students of Class D. Horikita's implication was that she was flawless and any issues could only be attributed to the rules or Class C's potential deceit. They couldn't accept such an absurd explanation, questioning why Horikita couldn't discover the hidden rules that other classes apparently could, or mocking the idea of Class C getting lucky.

However, at this critical juncture, Hirata, along with a popular male and female student, stepped in to calm the crowd, preventing them from unleashing a torrent of criticism on Horikita.

But Horikita, unbothered and even failing to thank Hirata for his intervention, left on her own, claiming she needed to reflect and identify where they went wrong. She seemed utterly indifferent to the opinions of her classmates and had no intention of addressing them.

In Horikita's view, she was dragging a group of underperformers upwards. If they couldn't recognize her efforts, that was their problem. She had always disliked dealing with such people, considering it a waste of time.

With complaints and even resentment towards Hirata for giving Horikita too much authority, Class D grew increasingly fragmented. Without unity, they were heading nowhere.

***

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