"Who would agree to this absurd contract!" Ishizaki shouted the moment he read the first clause.
"Calm down," Hikigaya said soothingly, trying to placate him. "There's a lot more to it. Why don't you read the entire thing before you lose your temper?"
The contract between Class C (hereafter referred to as Party A) and Hachiman Hikigaya (hereafter referred to as Party B) was laid out as follows:
Clause 1-1: Every student in Party A who agrees to this contract will transfer fifty percent of their points, earned through class points each month, to Party B.
Clause 1-2: There is no upper limit on the points transferred, with a minimum transfer of thirty thousand points per month. If there are insufficient points, the remainder will be carried over to the next month.
Clause 1-3: If Party B is expelled, the transferred points will instead be directly deducted.
Clause 2: Party A must maintain class discipline, and no more than fifty class points may be deducted due to violations of school regulations.
Clause 3: Party A is prohibited from harassing Party B in any form.
Clause 4: Party A is forbidden from disclosing this contract to any third party.
Clause 5: If Clauses 2, 3, or 4 are violated, the first offense will result in Ryuen Kakeru paying 100,000 points to Party B. On the second offense, both Ryuen Kakeru and the violator will each pay 100,000 points. If violations persist beyond the third offense, Ryuen Kakeru will face expulsion.
The contract was so outrageous that Class C's students nearly lost their minds as they read it.
"There's no way we're signing this unfair agreement!" Ishizaki bellowed.
"Unfair?" Hikigaya almost laughed out loud at the notion. Isn't it obvious? If it were fair, why would anyone bother signing?
Though this thought ran through his head, he kept his tone calm.
"How is this unfair? Think about it—if you don't sign the contract, and four students get expelled, your class gets nothing. But if you sign it, you'll get 19,000 points every month, which is way better than what our Class D gets. And you can also save your classmates."
"Wait... Really?"
Ishizaki murmured, realizing it might not be as bad as he initially thought. They could even save their classmates from expulsion.
"You idiot!" Ibuki snapped at him.
"If we sign this, it means our entire class will be slaving for this guy for the next three years!"
"Whoa, whoa, don't say like that," Hikigaya waved his hand, pretending to be offended. "I am not a slave trader, I'm just a capitalist."
He then decided it was time to correct their misguided thinking.
"Think it over carefully. Right now, Class C has four hundred ninety class points. You'll each give me 30,000 points, leaving you with 19,000 points. Sure, it sounds a little unfair, but listen!"
The important part always comes after the "but."
"But if you manage to raise your class points to six hundred, we'll each get thirty thousand points. If you push it to eight hundred, you'll get forty thousand! Doesn't that sound much better than where you started?"
As Hikigaya explained, Ishizaki and the others scratched their heads. It did start to make sense.
All except for Ryuuen, who stared at his subordinates with an expression that could only be described as unbelieving.
Still, Hikigaya wasn't concerned—he knew Ryuuen wouldn't refuse.
If four students were expelled from Class C, the impact would be severe—not just in terms of suppressing class dissatisfaction, but the sheer loss of combat power would be overwhelming.
Take, for example, the sports festival.
With three fewer boys and one additional girl who excelled in combat, Class C faced an inevitable defeat.
"Hikigaya, what are you planning to do?"
Ryuuen asked, staring intently at the contract, trying to discern Hikigaya's intentions.
The second clause, in particular, seemed perplexing.
"I'm not planning anything," Hikigaya said with a nonchalant smile. "Since you don't care about class points or suspension, your primary concern must be personal points, right? My goal is simply to irritate you. It's your class's fault for constantly increasing my workload."
"Are you trying to gather 20 million points to advance to Class A?"
Ryuuen ignored Hikigaya's attempt at humor and addressed the core issue directly.
This piece of information was widely known among students but dismissed due to its difficulty.
According to their teacher, the student who had accumulated the most personal points since the school's opening was from Class B and had graduated three years ago. This student had committed large-scale fraud against the freshmen but still only managed to save 12 million points before being expelled.
Chabashira-sensei had shared this story with Class D, effectively squashing any hopes they had of achieving it.
"No, I'm not interested in Class A. I just want to annoy you."
Ryuuen snorted, but he was taken aback when he realized Hikigaya wasn't lying.
"Alright, you have three days," Hikigaya said decisively. "In three days, you must collect all signatures from the entire class, or those four will be expelled."
With that, Hikigaya turned and left.
Class C stood in stunned silence as the scene unfolded. Yamawaki was the first to break the quiet.
"Um, Ryuen-san... Ouch?!"
Before he could finish his sentence, Ryuen's foot sent him crashing to the ground, followed by a brutal kick to his face.
"Ryuen-san... Why?" Yamawaki spat out blood, his face twisted with shock and pain.
"Because it's time to punish useless idiots!"
Ryuen's voice was cold and unfeeling as he continued to assault Yamawaki. The other two members of the group tried to escape, but Albert quickly intervened, knocking them down with a single punch each.
"Hold on, your turn is coming up," Ryuen said without even glancing in their direction.
"This is too much!" Ibuki exclaimed, unable to contain her frustration. "You were the one who wanted us to execute this plan, and now you're blaming us for its failure because you miscalculated!"
Ryuuen halted his attack, turned to face her, and responded with a powerful punch.
"Ugh!"
Ibuki, trained in martial arts, managed to keep her balance and retaliated with a swift flying kick aimed at Ryuen's head. Unfortunately, Albert intercepted and blocked her kick effortlessly.
"Albert, get out of the way!"
"Sorry."
Albert showed no sympathy as he grabbed Ibuki's leg and tossed her aside, sending her crashing hard onto the ground.
"Ibuki, you're right," Ryuen said coldly as he approached her.
"I'm partially to blame for this failure and have already faced my punishment. But now, it's your turn to deal with the consequences for failing to notice the cameras."
"Dammit..."
While Ryuen continued to exact his punishment, a girl on the second floor of the dormitory building watched with growing apprehension, clutching her camera tightly.
"That's Ryuen, the leader of Class C... He's absolutely terrifying."
Matsushita's heart raced with fear as she observed the brutal scene, hoping she wouldn't be discovered. Following Hikigaya's instructions, she had been secretly filming the entire ordeal and was prepared to call the police if things escalated further.
Hikigaya had invested in a high-performance camera and spent fifty thousand points to ensure they had reliable evidence.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to confront Ryuen without proper surveillance. The risk of Ryuen turning violent without any oversight made the situation far too dangerous.