With Suzune stepping forward, Hirata and Kushida began collecting Private Points from the students of Class D.
During this process, Hikaru also emphasized a crucial requirement—everyone must sign a contract prohibiting the resale of the rule to other classes.
As they went around collecting the points, some students looked visibly embarrassed. They had spent too much in the past week and could only contribute 10,000 or, at best, close to 20,000, falling short of the 25,000 target.
Even Hirata hadn't expected so many classmates to run out of points so quickly. It had been only a week, yet several students couldn't even come up with 10,000.
After about ten minutes, Hirata managed to gather around 700,000 Private Points—the most they could collect from those who were willing to pay.
People like Yamauchi and Ike had hesitated for a long time, but in the end, they only managed to pool together 10,000—claiming it was all they had left.
Though dissatisfied, Hirata couldn't exactly demand to check their phone balances, so he had no choice but to trust that they were telling the truth.
"How much are we still missing?"
Kushida pulled out her phone, noticing that she and Hirata hadn't transferred their points yet.
"About 200,000, give or take."
Hirata glanced at the remaining students who hadn't paid yet. This included Kushida, Suzune, and the boy sitting beside her—Ayanokōji Kiyotaka.
"Horikita-san, how much can you contribute? I'm planning to pay 50,000 myself."
Hirata was not the type to waste points frivolously, but as the representative of Class D, he felt a responsibility to contribute more than the others.
"I'll also contribute 50,000. It's a bit much, but if it helps the class understand the hidden rules, then I can just be more frugal later."
Class D's "angel," Kushida, spoke gently, her warm expression drawing admiration from the male students.
"Wow, Kushida-san is amazing! She's so selfless for the class!"
"She really is incredible! Not only beautiful but kind too!"
As some boys enthusiastically praised her, Suzune remained unfazed.
She simply pulled out her phone and asked:
"How much more do we need?"
Over the past week, her life had been simple. With almost no social interactions, her spending had been minimal—just food and daily necessities.
As a result, she still had over 90,000 Private Points remaining.
If necessary, she was willing to pay a large portion of the remaining balance.
"We still need 152,000… but I don't want to trouble you too much, Horikita-san. Maybe we should think of another way?"
Hirata looked at his phone, hesitant to pressure her.
"It's fine. There's still one more person, isn't there?"
Suzune's gaze shifted to the boy sitting beside her—someone who had barely spoken throughout the entire meeting.
The student in question held his phone casually, his face unreadable.
"Hirata-kun, I haven't paid yet."
Ayanokōji glanced at his phone balance and spoke nonchalantly:
"If we're short 152,000, I can contribute 80,000. I don't have much use for the points anyway."
His balance, just like Horikita's, still showed over 90,000 points left.
"Then I'll contribute 72,000. That should cover the rest."
Suzune glanced briefly at Ayanokōji, slightly surprised that he had so many points left.
She hadn't expected that he had barely spent anything all week, much like herself.
But while she found it odd, she didn't dwell on it—her main focus was uncovering the hidden rule.
Transaction Complete
With the final transfers made, Hirata finally had the full 1,000,000 Private Points collected.
He stepped forward toward Hikaru, signaling that the transaction was complete.
But Hikaru remained calm and shook his head.
"Not just yet, Hirata-kun. We need to make sure everyone signs the contract first."
His voice was gentle yet firm.
"Since we're selling this rule to three classes, we have to ensure that none of you resell it. This is a precautionary measure."
"Please remind everyone to sign."
Then, as if suddenly recalling something, Hikaru added:
"Oh, right. There were two students who left earlier, weren't there?"
He was referring to Sudō Ken and Kōenji Rokusuke.
"Since they're still part of your class, you can, of course, inform them about the rule."
"However, they must also agree not to resell it. Hirata-kun, can I trust you to handle that?"
Hikaru's tone remained polite but firm, placing responsibility on Hirata's shoulders.
"…You have my word, Hikaru-kun. I'll make sure Kōenji-kun and Sudō-kun follow the contract."
"Good."
Hikaru nodded lightly.
In truth, he wasn't too concerned about those two.
One of them was an egotistical narcissist, and the other had a short temper and poor judgment.
Neither seemed like the type to go through the trouble of reselling the rule.
Still, to cover all bases, Hikaru planned to accelerate the collection of points from Class C as soon as possible.
Now that he had identified this small risk, he needed to move fast.
If all went smoothly, he could collect points from Class D today and Class C tomorrow.
Once they had the full three million Private Points, what happened afterward wouldn't matter.
After all, Hikaru's original goal was twofold:
1. Recover as many Private Points as possible.
2. Reduce Class C and D's Class Points.
Based on what he had observed in Class D today, he was confident that their Class Points would drop significantly by the end of the month.
And as for Class C—after forcing Ryūen to have three students suspended, their point deduction would likely be even greater.
Would the rankings shift next month?
Hikaru couldn't help but look forward to it.
"One Step Closer."
After a few more minutes, Class D's students had all signed the contract.
With all the points collected, there was no turning back.
Hikaru smiled and turned to Hirata.
"Alright, Hirata-kun, please transfer the points to my partner here—Ichinose Honami."
He gestured toward the pink-haired girl beside him.
Since Ichinose was B-Class's financial manager, her account already held over a million Private Points.
"Wait… B-Class's representative isn't you?"
Hirata was visibly shocked.
Given what he had seen today, he had assumed Hikaru was the one in charge.
After all, he had dominated the negotiations, controlled the flow of the conversation, and outmaneuvered the entire room.
"Don't overthink it, Hirata-kun."
Hikaru waved off his concern with a calm smile.
"You can just think of me as Ichinose-san's assistant."
Once Hirata completed the transfer, Ichinose beamed.
"It's done!"
She happily showed Hikaru her phone screen, confirming the deposit.
"Good. That puts us one step closer to our goal."
Hikaru's words held a double meaning.
To him, it referred to B-Class's secret plan to collect twenty million points.
To Hirata and Kushida, they assumed he meant selling the rule to all three classes.
Standing side by side, Hikaru and Ichinose looked like a perfect match—a scene that caught the attention of Class D's students.
A few of them even whispered among themselves, wondering if the two were a couple.
Just as Hikaru was about to leave, a hand suddenly blocked his path.
"Hikaru-kun, please explain the rule yourself."
Kushida smiled sweetly.
Hikaru glanced at his system screen.
A perfect opportunity had just arrived.
"Alright then, please listen carefully, everyone."
~~~
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