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In Sakayanagi's class, under Mashima's apologetic explanation, the students quickly understood the difficulties he faced. Their homeroom teacher hadn't failed to fight for them—the acting chairman had simply overridden him, leaving Mashima helpless.
Given the circumstances, the class had no choice but to face the special exam head-on and vote to eliminate someone.
Everyone's eyes naturally fell on Sakayanagi. As the queen of the class, she had led them through the cohesion project during the last training camp special exam, suppressing dissent and blame-shifting to achieve high scores. Since then, before any decision was made, the class would instinctively look to her for confirmation before taking action.
To Sakayanagi, this special exam was nothing to fret over. She was guaranteed to receive protection points and could easily vote out anyone unnecessary. In her view, the exam wasn't troublesome at all—in fact, it was practically a free reward.
After all, there had always been someone in the class who was nothing but a hindrance. With that in mind, and under everyone's gaze, Sakayanagi quietly turned her head to look at Katsuragi. "Katsuragi, do you have any thoughts on this class voting special exam?"
Yes—Katsuragi, the one who had tried to wrest control of the class from Sakayanagi at the start of the year, only to fall from grace after two special exams, becoming a marginalized figure. He had even been eliminated during the training camp special exam.
In terms of record and ability, if Sakayanagi wanted to vote out Katsuragi, most of the class would follow her lead. Katsuragi had never brought them victory—only losses.
Seemingly aware of the fate awaiting him in three days, Katsuragi clenched his fists tightly. Yet unlike D-Class's Ike and Yamauchi, he didn't show any disgraceful behavior. On the contrary, he remained composed, displaying a calmness as firm as a mountain, even at the edge of elimination.
"No, Sakayanagi," Katsuragi replied calmly. "You're the leader of this class now. I'll follow your decision. However, I have one request. If I'm to be expelled, I ask only that you stop treating other classmates with favoritism."
This wasn't for Katsuragi himself—it was for the two loyal followers who had stayed with him after his fall. Though most of his faction had switched sides, two students had remained. His request was for them—not to be targeted after he was gone.
Sakayanagi responded indifferently, not seeming to care. "There's no need to rush, Katsuragi. We still have three days."
Sakayanagi's class made their decision in under a minute. What had begun as a wave of panic was now quickly stabilized.
But in Ichika Ichinose's class, things weren't so calm. After Hoshinomiya finished explaining the voting rules, her class exploded with emotion.
"This is awful! Making us vote out one of our classmates? Who could actually do that? That acting chairman is going too far!"
"Doesn't he have a heart? Why force us into such cruel decisions?"
"Hoshinomiya-sensei, is there really no other way? Do we really have to expel someone? We just can't do it."
Compared to the foul-mouthed chaos in Yukio's class, Ichinose's class was gentler. The harshest thing anyone said was that the acting chairman had no heart. They didn't lash out with profanity or outrageous insults, even though they were just as shaken.
Hoshinomiya shook her head, giving a wry smile. "There's really nothing I can do either. In fact, I drank all night with the other three homeroom teachers trying to come up with a solution. We couldn't find one."
"The only possible option is to use 20 million private points to nullify the expulsion penalty."
Despite her helplessness, no one blamed her. "Wait, sensei still had the mood to drink?"
"Don't be silly. Come on, let's calculate if we have enough private points!"
"Yeah, we've got over a thousand class points now. With how much we've accumulated over the year, we've probably saved at least twelve million. We might just make it!"
"Not so fast. Remember, we only give half of our points to Ichinose each month. We keep the other half for ourselves."
The cohesion of Ichinose's class was undeniable. Without anyone needing to rally them, everyone naturally started trying to make the best ending happen. They didn't hesitate or debate the worth of the cost.
Yet Kanzaki, once Ichinose's most steadfast ally, felt no warmth in the face of this unity. Instead, he was filled with a sense of foreboding. If Ichinose's class kept going like this, they might very well collapse later on.
"Why are we bothering to calculate?" someone piped up. "Just ask Ichinose how much she's short!"
Indeed, Ichinose had been acting as the class's treasurer. Every student would send half their private points to her each month, forming the class's emergency fund.
Now was the time to use it.
Ichinose raised her phone and showed the screen to everyone. It displayed an astounding total—over 17 million private points. Few students could even imagine holding such an amount.
Some class nerds had already calculated it roughly, and sure enough, the number matched up.
Many now regretted their earlier impulse purchases. If only they hadn't spent so much, they might have reached the 20 million goal.
"I've still got 60,000 private points! What about everyone else? Let's pool them together!"
"Yeah, I've got more than 50,000!"
Most students weren't living paycheck to paycheck. Bit by bit, they transferred their extra points to Ichinose's account.
Eventually, they reached 18 million. Still short by 2 million.
Ichinose pushed aside her worry and smiled brightly again. "Don't worry, everyone. I promise this special exam will go smoothly!"
"It's only 2 million. I'll ask Yukio or Sakayanagi to lend us a bit."
Everyone believed in Ichinose—and even more so in her relationships with others.
"Then we'll leave it to you."
"Thanks so much, Honami~"
Seeing the scene before her, Hoshinomiya genuinely smiled. Though she'd spent more time undermining Chabashira than nurturing her own class, in this moment, she was proud. Ichinose's class truly had a one-of-a-kind atmosphere.
But only Kanzaki, growing more sober by the minute, continued to feel uneasy. If they kept going down this road… did this class really have a future?
...
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