Chapter 8: The Divided Class A
After Arisu rather bluntly stopped Kōhei from taking the Contract, the atmosphere in the classroom instantly grew tense.
Hikaru and Honami happened to be standing close enough to see the bald boy awkwardly withdraw his hand after being verbally rebuffed by Arisu.
"Sakayanagi-san makes a fair point. Please continue with your campaign speech then."
Though his expression darkened, Kōhei didn't make a scene. Instead, he moved to stand beside Hikaru and Honami near the podium, waiting for Arisu's appeal.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Katsuragi-kun."
With a gentle smile, Arisu steadied herself with her cane and began her speech at the podium. Her words were the usual fare—helping the class, uniting classmates, and so on.
However, Arisu's charming and adorable demeanor, coupled with her fairytale-like silver hair, truly captured everyone's attention. After all, who doesn't love a beautiful girl?
After a while, her campaign speech concluded, and the A-class classroom erupted in enthusiastic applause once more.
The next step was vote counting. The student responsible for organizing the class officer elections began collecting the ballots and recording the votes under the two names on the blackboard.
Hikaru, who had been enjoying the spectacle, took the opportunity to lean over and ask Honami, "Ichinose-san, who do you think will win?"
"I'm not sure either. Both Katsuragi-kun and Sakayanagi-san seem very popular."
Honami couldn't gauge the current situation, but personally, she admired Arisu more.
Despite her physical disability, Arisu had displayed such excellence, which naturally earned Honami's admiration as a fellow girl.
"What about you, Hanashima-kun?"
"I think... the result might surprise everyone."
Hikaru shrugged, his gaze shifting to the students tallying the votes on the blackboard. The numbers under Katsuragi Kōhei and Sakayanagi Arisu's names were rising at the same rate, making it hard to predict the outcome.
About five or six minutes later, the counting finally concluded.
"The voting results are in."
"Katsuragi Kōhei—20 votes," announced a bespectacled boy, his face filled with disbelief. "Sakayanagi Arisu—20 votes... So it's a tie!"
"What? How is this possible?"
"A tie? Seriously?"
The tense atmosphere in the A-class classroom instantly turned chaotic. No one had expected this outcome after all that voting. Even Kōhei, standing beside Hikaru, fell silent.
"Should we do a recount?"
Someone suggested, but the idea was quickly dismissed.
"And what if the recount ends the same way? Do you plan to waste everyone's time here indefinitely?"
"Uh, that's not what I meant."
"Then what do you mean?!"
The retort came from someone who seemed particularly upset about the result. Just as he was about to lose his temper, Hikaru heard Kōhei suddenly speak up.
"Yahiko, sit down. This isn't the time for arguments."
"Understood, Katsuragi-kun."
The boy addressed as Yahiko had short hair and seemed to trust Kōhei implicitly. Upon hearing his words, he promptly shut his mouth and returned to his seat.
Then, Kōhei turned to Arisu, who stood on the other side of the podium, and asked, "Sakayanagi-san, what do you propose we do about the tie?"
"I have no particular thoughts. If this is the will of our classmates, then I have no choice but to accept it."
In other words, she absolutely would not compromise—either they continued counting, or neither of them would win.
"You—"
"Um," Hikaru suddenly interjected, cutting off their exchange. He didn't want to waste any more time. "I have a suggestion. Why don't we pause the election for now? Once we've resolved the matters we need to discuss, you can restart the voting process. How does that sound?"
"After all, the matter we're about to discuss is quite important—it might even change the minds of the students in Class A."
Kōhei glanced at Arisu standing opposite him, pondered for a moment, then nodded. "I agree with Hanashima's suggestion."
"And what about your opinion, Sakayanagi?"
"Then I'll agree as well. I wonder what matter you wish to discuss with us?" Arisu shifted her gaze to Hikaru and Honami.
"Please take a look at this first." Hikaru signaled Honami to hand out two copies of the contract—one to Kōhei and the other to Arisu.
After reading the terms on the contract, Kōhei's expression changed drastically, while Arisu, on the other hand, smiled faintly. The two displayed completely different reactions.
"So, the matter you want to discuss is selling the school's hidden rules to our Class A and prohibiting secondary sales?"
"That's right, Katsuragi," Hikaru said after glancing at Kōhei, then turned to face the rest of Class A. "Though today is only the first day of school, the information the school has revealed is already more than enough. Haven't you noticed anything unusual about this school?"
"What do you mean?"
Though Kōhei was known for his composed demeanor, his tone couldn't help but grow impatient upon hearing this.
"What Hanashima means is that someone in their class has already deciphered the school's puzzle and obtained the answer," Arisu suddenly stepped forward, closing the distance between herself and Hikaru as she spoke. "And the first to solve the puzzle now wishes to share the answer with those who haven't—for a price."
"Am I correct, Hanashima?"
Arisu stopped walking. She was now standing very close to Hikaru, so close that the boy could even catch a faint scent of her perfume.
"Exactly," Hikaru met the silver-haired girl's violet gaze and replied slowly. "Of course, the answer was obtained by spending private points. And now, we're willing to sell this information to you."
"This contract serves as our proof."
Honami promptly added from behind him, "Presenting this contract is our way of proving to Sakayanagi and Katsuragi that our Class B's acquisition of the hidden rules has been officially recognized by the school."
"I see."
Kōhei nodded. The contract bore the school's official seal, identical to the one on the admission letters, making forgery highly unlikely.
"Some of today's events did make me feel that this school is a bit unusual, but I hadn't realized it was a puzzle set by the school."
Being a composed person, Kōhei wasn't the type to cling stubbornly to pride. He quickly acknowledged his oversight and asked Hikaru, "Then, how much are you selling these rules for?"
"One million private points—no bargaining." Hikaru raised a single finger, his tone firm.
This was the result he and Honami had agreed upon while moving the textbooks earlier. If they had directly asked for two million, the likelihood of rejection would have been too high.
If rejected, the Class A students might have gone to their homeroom teacher to confirm the existence of the hidden rules, effectively giving away the information for free.
Thus, when setting the price, they had to strike decisively—keeping the initiative firmly in their hands.
"..."
"Isn't this a bit too expensive?"
By now, all the students in Class A had naturally heard the entire conversation. The impatient Yahiko immediately stood up from his seat and shouted, "Are you trying to scam us?"
"I advise you to watch your words. The rules we obtained were acquired through the teachers' channels, and Class B paid a total of three million Private Points for them."
Hikaru coldly glanced at Totsuka Yahiko before turning to Arisu and Kōhei. "This is why we need you to sign a non-resale agreement for the rules. We plan to sell the rules to the remaining three classes to recoup the Private Points we spent."
"In that case, Class A only needs to spend one-third of the points to buy the hidden rules. What do you think?"
"I see," Kōhei quickly grasped his intention. "After the transactions are completed, Class B can have the three classes share the cost of purchasing the rules, while your own class doesn't have to pay anything, right?"
"Since we were the first to figure out the answer, what's wrong with charging a fee?"
Hikaru stared directly into the other's eyes, his attitude still unyielding.
He was gambling.
Betting that the other side would believe his lie.