As the student council president, he had access to a lot of school information and kept an eye on the rule-breaking done by teachers. This year's first-year teachers were especially out of line.
Out of the four classes, three teachers had broken the rules.
The one who got the harshest punishment was Class D's homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae.
Looking back through past records, Chabashira-sensei had quite a story. She and the current Class C homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya Chie, were once students at this school. They both started in Class D and managed to climb up to Class B.
They broke school records and left a mark on the school's history.
And now, a teacher like that was breaking rules again—it clearly meant she had something in mind.
So—
As both the student council president and a big brother, Horikita Manabu started wondering if Chabashira-sensei had set her sights on his sister.
What if Chabashira-sensei broke the rules again and passed on secret info to his sister?
Then, trying to reach Class A wouldn't just come down to two basic strategies.
1.
The first is Miyuki Shirogane's approach: save up the 1,000 class points and use a strong foundation to push toward Class A.
2.
The second idea just came to mind—it's all or nothing.
Let Class D fall apart completely. As long as no one drops out, they still have to live at this school. And if they want to get proper living expenses from the school, they'll need to earn class points from every special test.
So, while a scattered, disorganized Class D might seem hopeless, a broke and desperate Class D becomes dangerous.
That kind of pressure can create incredible unity.
If that power can be used well, then even a 1,000-point gap might not be impossible to close.
At the very least, there's a 10% chance to climb up.
But clearly—
His sister was staring at him with confused eyes, like she didn't understand anything he just thought about.
Clearly—
She had no idea.
She had no idea at all.
Sigh.
Horikita Manabu stayed quiet for a moment.
"So, is this your last card to play? Or do you actually have something strong enough to face the special exams each month?" he asked, reaching out his left hand toward Suzune. She then handed over the folder she had been holding the whole time.
He weighed it in his hand.
It felt like documents.
It was pretty heavy.
When he opened the envelope, the first thing he saw looked like a set of profiles.
There were photos and basic details.
If it were just a student list, it wouldn't mean much—after all, Sakayanagi from Class A had already gotten her hands on that not long after starting school. So if this was all his sister had done, she'd be way behind.
As he thought this—
Horikita Manabu looked at the first page of the profile.
Name: Sakayanagi Arisu
Class: 1st Year, Class A
Student ID: ST110003035
Phone Number: 12554990XX
Comments: A super cute girl from Class A. Very smart with strong thinking skills, but completely unathletic due to a heart condition—she has congenital heart disease and needs a cane to walk. She's the leader of the Sakayanagi group in Class A, which is split into two groups: the Sakayanagi side and the Katsuragi side. Sakayanagi seemed to understand how to take the lead from the beginning and gained a lot of support.
She's cute, but not easy to get along with. She likes small animals.
What she likes about herself: the way she keeps trying to improve every day.
What she doesn't like: her poor athletic ability.
She's closest with Kamuro Masumi, though their relationship is a little strange—like a master and her puppy.
There are two other students she interacts with often: Hashimoto Masayoshi, a blond guy who's really popular with the girls, and Kito Hayato, who is quiet but extremely athletic.
Sakayanagi also seems to have a decent relationship with Shirogane from another class. They're sometimes seen together—especially during gym class. Since she can't join in because of her condition, she usually sits and rests nearby, and Shirogane seems to feel bad seeing her alone. So during the free time at the end of gym, he often goes over to chat with her.
"..." Horikita Manabu stared at the file in his hands without saying a word.
This info was very different from what's on the regular class roster. That roster only gives you the basics—just enough to match a name to a face.
But the most valuable thing here might be the phone number.
Even if you can't track someone's location without adding them as a friend, just having the number means you can send messages. Whether for making deals… or keeping tabs on someone—it's super useful.
And this file didn't just have that. It also included people's impressions after actually interacting with her.
That made it more than just a boring file—it was real intel that could actually be used.
But could his sister—someone who usually kept to herself and didn't seem to care about others—really put this kind of thing together?
The weight of the folder in his hands snapped him back to reality.
So he kept flipping through the pages.
The stack on top was all from 1st Year Class A.
Out of respect, Horikita Manabu didn't read every single page. He just picked a few to check randomly—and surprisingly, they all seemed just as detailed. It wasn't just the first page about Sakayanagi Arisu that was carefully researched—the other students had solid info too.
It wasn't perfect, but for a student to gather this kind of information was already very impressive.
As he kept turning the pages, he soon came across another profile.
Name: Ichinose Honami
Class: 1st Year, Class B
Student ID: ST110003065
Phone Number: 12554993X4
Comments: A super pretty girl from Class B. She's cheerful and has a lot of friends. She became close with her classmates and even students from other classes in a short time. She's very popular both inside and outside her class.
She's very smart—she got second place in the written entrance exam.
She's also very friendly and easy to trust. She quickly became a central figure in her class.
Many students in Class B joined different clubs, but she didn't join any.
Ichinose isn't very good at sports, which is a bit of a weak point. She has lots of friends, but the ones she spends the most time with in class are Shiranami Chihiro and Amikura Mako.
Among the boys, she gets along well with Kanzaki Ryuji and Shibata.
She seems to have a hard time making decisions. One time, she was seen hesitating over what to eat at the school shopping area.
She has a strong sense of justice and hates anything like fighting or breaking the rules.
She once stepped in to stop a fight between Sudou and a student from her own class.
"..."
Horikita Manabu finished reading and went quiet for a moment.
The report still listed Ichinose as a student of first-year Class B, which meant it was written last month.
Getting this kind of quality info at this timing meant Suzune had already seen that class-vs-class battles were coming.
Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for her to gather this kind of intel on other classes—and actually follow through with it.
Flip, flip, flip.
Horikita Manabu kept skimming through and checking the pages.
"..." Since he didn't speak, his younger sister didn't say anything either.
But inside, she was feeling a bit uneasy.
Being placed in Class D was already a blow, and the class starting off with a loss of 1000 class points was even more shocking. Just being in Class D made her feel like a disappointment to her brother.
And that part was true.
But if she could climb up and reach Class A, she'd no longer be an embarrassment.
Still—
Watching her brother go through the report, Horikita couldn't help but feel nervous. Even though she didn't create most of it herself, Shirogane had confidently told her that as long as she brought this report to her brother, he would be impressed.
That's what he said, but deep down, Horikita Suzune still felt the gap between them.
This report came from a deal with Shirogane. He gave her info on Class A and Ichinose's class in exchange for the data on Class D.
It looked like a fair deal—one report for two—but in truth, she came out worse.
Because what Shirogane got was info on the very class she belonged to—Class D.
So, in a way, Horikita had given away her own class's secrets. It could be seen as a kind of betrayal.
At the same time—
What she got in return was information on Class A and Ichinose's class, but nothing from Shirogane's own class.
In other words—
He got access to every other class's info, but managed to keep his own class's data hidden.
That was where she had fallen short.
Even if she wanted to call him out on it, he had traded her two of the most important classes' info—Class A and Ichinose's class. So it wasn't like she could really say she got a bad deal.
Flip, flip, flip—
Horikita Manabu kept reading the report.
Finally—