Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
----------
First-year Class A, the homeroom meeting had just ended.
Mashima stood on the podium, his gaze calmly sweeping over the students in the classroom, and slowly began.
"In summary... your class evaluation points for this month are nine hundred fifty points."
"As for academic performance, I won't elaborate. Overall, it was very good, keep it up."
A relaxed atmosphere permeated the classroom—after all, this was Class A, the class at the top of the grade.
However, Mashima's next sentence made some students subtly look up.
"Additionally, there is an undisclosed rule that needs to be communicated to you—if private points reach twenty million, you can apply for a class transfer."
After a brief silence, quiet discussions erupted in the classroom.
"Twenty million to transfer classes?"
"But we're already in Class A, this rule is meaningless to us, isn't it?"
For most Class A students, this rule was indeed irrelevant—they were already in the highest class, with no reason to voluntarily leave.
"Mashima-sensei, so... Class A can also use this rule to recruit talent from other classes and increase its strength, right?"
Everyone's gaze turned in unison to the source of the voice.
—Katsuragi, one of Class A's core members, was now looking up slightly, his gaze earnestly fixed on Mashima.
"Excellent! Your thinking is very sharp."
A hint of admiration appeared in Mashima's eyes.
Not only did the other party rank at the top in the entrance exam, but even more rare was his long-term strategic vision.
But what truly pleased Mashima was the angle from which Katsuragi approached problems.
—His first thought wasn't "what's the use of escaping one's own class," but rather "how to make Class A stronger."
This way of thinking, prioritizing collective interests, was precisely the core spirit Class A needed most.
Mashima's gaze inadvertently swept across the other side of the classroom.
There, the silver-haired girl—Sakayanagi—was lazily propping up her chin, her fingertips gently tapping her cheek, seemingly taking a subtle interest in the recent conversation.
'Sakayanagi... showed astonishing insight on the first day of school, directly seeing through the hidden rules.'
'And, the other party is the chairman's daughter.'
Mashima had to admit that in terms of pure intellect, Sakayanagi might even surpass Katsuragi.
But in her eyes, there seemed to be no concept of "class."
Sakayanagi was more like a lone chess player—the class, to her, was merely a chess piece on the board.
Her talent was undeniable, but it was like a double-edged sword—sometimes bringing victory to Class A, and other times potentially leading everyone into danger on a whim.
In contrast, Katsuragi's steadiness and sense of responsibility seemed particularly precious.
He might not possess Sakayanagi's dazzling talent, but he always prioritized the class's interests, steadily uniting the strength of the entire Class A.
Therefore, Mashima came to a very direct conclusion in his mind.
The true pillar of Class A was not Sakayanagi, but Katsuragi.
If Katsuragi were no longer in Class A, and Sakayanagi were the only one in power, Class A would, in a sense, be at its most dangerous.
During lunch break, Kamuro casually glanced at the class point display board at the back of the classroom.
"Class D five hundred thirty?" She raised an eyebrow, her fingertips unconsciously playing with a strand of her falling hair. "So those guys got fifty-three thousand this month..."
She'd originally planned to use the lunch break to find Akira—to taunt him a bit and, incidentally, "comfort" him thoroughly.
She hadn't expected Class D's performance to be quite surprising.
"Tsk, that's more like it."
Although still a gap compared to Class A's nine hundred fifty points, it at least proved that those guys weren't as useless as she'd imagined.
She pulled out her phone, her fingers rapidly tapping on the screen, and sent a message to Akira.
{I underestimated you guys. I thought it would be zero.}
The moment she pressed send, her back suddenly straightened, and her right leg involuntarily twitched.
'Wait... Shimizu-kun wouldn't think I'm here to collect a debt, would he?'
The ten thousand points she lent out last month hadn't been repaid yet, but at this moment, she was purely... well, maybe with a hint of being happy for him.
But actually, she had no intention of collecting the debt at all.
'Tsk, what am I even agonizing over...'
Kamuro instinctively touched the student ID in her pocket—inside lay a full ninety-five thousand points in private balance.
Plus the seven or eight thousand points she hadn't used up last month, she was now a "small rich woman" with over one hundred thousand points.
'That's more than double what he has... I should be much richer than him!'
Just as she was biting her lower lip in annoyance, a soft voice suddenly drifted from beside her—
"Kamuro-san... may I take a moment of your time?"
Kamuro sharply turned her head, and what met her eyes was Sakayanagi's perpetually mysteriously smiling face.
The silver-haired girl leaned on her cane, tilting her head slightly, looking harmless.
'Sakayanagi-san?!'
Her nerves instantly tightened.
Last time, that Akira guy had seriously warned her: {With your personality, Sakayanagi will probably completely have you under her thumb}.
Even more infuriating, that guy had even said that she would eventually be holding an umbrella for this "frail young lady" in front of her!
What a joke! The other person wasn't a disabled person with impaired mobility. Since she had all her limbs, why should she serve her like a maid?
"I refuse." Kamuro curtly spat out three words, deliberately turning her face toward the window.
She couldn't be bothered to deal with the other person—if Akira saw her, he would probably mock her mercilessly again.
However, Sakayanagi's gaze subtly swept over her unlocked phone screen.
Kamuro stiffened all over, immediately flipping her phone face down on the desk.
But it was too late—that woman must have seen it.
"...Oh? Kamuro-san and first-year Class D's Shimizu-kun seem to be on very good terms?" The other party threw out another question in that soft, gentle voice.
"...None of your business!"
"Hehe... Speaking of which, do you know what happened between Shimizu-kun and me on the first day of school?"
"Your business... has nothing to do with me!"
"We made a bet, you see." Sakayanagi said to herself, gently wiggling her index finger. "And the stake... was you. Specifically, we bet on whether you would engage in theft. And the result! As you can see! I lost completely!"
"What did you say?!" Kamuro froze. After hearing the other person's words, she felt a surge of anger. She was practically gritting her teeth.
So all this time, Akira giving her beer was because of this!
It seemed someone truly didn't want to live tonight.