"So, are you going to pass this info on to Katsuragi?"
Kamuro followed behind, feeling the heavy weight of the books in her hands.
Sakayanagi didn't just come to the library on a whim—she made the decision after watching a video from Chabashira-sensei.
In other words, she figured that since the upcoming written test was following tradition, there might be some hidden traps.
Like maybe the material being tested wasn't just the recent lessons, but also older ones.
After all—
Chabashira-sensei only said the test would cover the first two major sections of each subject.
And those two major sections weren't clearly broken down into specific chapters, which made Sakayanagi's theory even more likely.
That's why she came to borrow older editions of the textbooks.
According to her guess, the current edition's content would definitely be included—otherwise everyone would fail, which would make no sense.
But there was also a chance they'd test material from the older editions that technically weren't part of the syllabus.
The only problem was, no one knew how much of that extra material might show up.
Another thing that stood out was the grading system—if students got 70 or more in each subject, they'd earn the maximum class performance points.
What stood out even more was that scoring below 70 didn't mean getting nothing—there were still some points to be earned.
That meant there was a lot of wiggle room.
All of this was what Sakayanagi had figured out.
On the other hand, Katsuragi's approach was much more straightforward. He and his group also wondered if there was something they were missing, but after checking with the upperclassmen and finding out they also had written tests this month—and seeing them studying hard in the library—they felt much more at ease.
They started thinking about holding study sessions to prepare for the exams.
You could say it was pretty impressive that Katsuragi-kun was able to carefully observe the upperclassmen and make a decision without even seeing Class D's video.
He had actually come to the library just now to check on the upperclassmen.
It just so happened that he ran into Sakayanagi there, and he noticed she was borrowing old versions of the textbooks.
At the time, Katsuragi seemed a bit puzzled.
But he didn't come to any conclusion.
So what about Sakayanagi's side?
"You want to tell Katsuragi-kun?"
"Hmm…"
"Even though you got the recording, I don't think exposing it completely would be a good thing."
"After all, this is a violation by a -sensei. And even if the school has already handled it, if the news spreads, it'll still bring a lot of negative attention," Sakayanagi said.
Is that so?
But Kamuro thought that having teachers get involved in class competition was an even bigger problem.
So shouldn't people know about it?
Or… are you just trying to protect the school's reputation? But why is that your job?
Still, Sakayanagi looked like she had more to say, so Kamuro kept listening. Holding the book in this weird pose was getting uncomfortable, so when she saw a bench nearby, she sat down.
This school really had great basic facilities—there were benches everywhere.
"If normal students think of this as just class competition, then it's simply a fight between students. But once teachers get involved, that adds a lot of pressure. And right now, we're just students from Class A. Like Shirogane-kun said earlier today, once you join the student council, you get access to more information through different channels."
"So it's not impossible that our class's competition might affect our own teacher too."
"And our class's Mashima-sensei clearly seems like a very fair and upright teacher, so it's hard to imagine him doing anything selfish. He's a decent person."
"So if a teacher from another class breaks the rules, Mashima-sensei will deal with it."
"And since he will handle it, we shouldn't add more stress to the students in our class."
After saying that, Sakayanagi paused, then added:
"But if that video footage ends up getting out… Kamuro-san, you'll be the one in danger."
"So in this situation, do you still want me to pass that info to Katsuragi-kun?"
Wait…
So basically, the fact that Sakayanagi had sent Kamuro to secretly record that video was already a huge risk?
And if a video of a teacher from another class doing something wrong got leaked, it'd be seen as a serious offense—and could even get someone punished?
Hold on, hold on.
Kamuro suddenly realized—if this video was really that important, then...
Didn't Sakayanagi casually send a copy of it to Shirogane Miyuki back then?
Huh?
So doesn't that mean Shirogane now holds a reason that could get her expelled? And Shirogane's part of the student council too!
So now she was about to become one of his accomplishments?
"You don't have to worry."
At that moment, Sakayanagi glanced over at Kamuro.
"Shirogane won't report you."
"First, I saved the chat logs from when he talked with me. So if you get reported, he's going down with you."
"Second, he benefits too. His class will definitely gain something from the video you recorded."
So, if Chabashira-sensei gets reported, she won't share any info with them anymore.
"How do you know that?"
Kamuro looked confused.
Sakayanagi calmly explained,
"Because of Shirogane's borrowing records."
"He's been checking out different versions of textbooks, and now he's even borrowing second-year materials."
"But we're still in first year and about to have our exams. Yet he has time to study second-year stuff on his own."
"Clearly, he must have another plan to deal with the exam."
Sakayanagi said.
That makes sense.
So there might be another way to handle the test.
Still, even if there is another way, it's not going to help Shirogane's class much, since they have a lot of underachievers.
Unless they copy the answers directly, it's hard to score high.
"But the exam guide might still include older material, and we can pass that on to Katsuragi."
As Sakayanagi said this, she sat down on the bench next to Kamuro.
She continued,
"Our class has pretty solid overall academic ability."
"So as long as we make sure everyone knows what's already in the textbooks, then we just need to fill in the parts that are outside the syllabus."
"That way, we can aim for the full 100-point reward too."
Sakayanagi Arisu said.
"It's not realistic to have every student look up the extra material on their own. And if we make a big deal out of ordering those books, other classes might copy us."
"That's why I've decided to cover the out-of-syllabus content myself."
"I'll read through all of it, summarize the key points, and then the rest of the class just needs to go over what I've put together."
"It shouldn't take too much time."
Sakayanagi said.
"So... you're going to work hard for the class?"
Kamuro was shocked.
"You don't get it."
But Sakayanagi replied, "Just now, I saw Shirogane walking with Ichinose, not with Kushida. That clearly means Kushida isn't that useful to him anymore. But Ichinose is different. She's smart, and her class has a lot of smart students too."
"So Shirogane probably wants the smart kids in Ichinose's class to tutor the weaker students in his own."
Sakayanagi spoke.
Is that really how it is?
Kamuro felt that Sakayanagi was being way too calculating when talking about Shirogane.
Saying things like "he's with Ichinose now because she can help him"...
So basically, when things are calm he's with Kushida, but when there's trouble, he turns to Ichinose?
"Then now you're actually helping the class... does that mean... you're going to help Katsuragi too?"
Kamuro kept asking.
"Heh."
Sakayanagi replied.
"Our class's weakness is division, so I've already told the students from my side to follow Katsuragi's lead."
"Even if he gets the full 100 points this time, from what I know about Katsuragi, he won't be able to hold on to them."
"So adding just 100 points as a bet doesn't matter much."
"Besides,"
Sakayanagi Arisu paused for a second.
"In the end, when outsiders start pushing us around, doing nothing at all isn't my style."
Even though Sakayanagi looked small and cute as she spoke, Kamuro could clearly feel the fire in her.
That meant Sakayanagi was now in full attack mode.
But still—
She made it sound so proper and justified...
Just a moment ago, she was acting like she didn't care about anything.
And now she seemed like a totally different person.
Kamuro was pretty sure it had to do with what she said earlier—how Sakayanagi had been feeling full of herself all this time, thinking Shirogane liked her, when maybe he didn't.
Even though she still looked calm on the surface...
Her actions now clearly showed she wasn't okay with it.
She went from slacking off to suddenly taking things seriously.
"..."
Honestly, love is kinda scary. It can push someone to completely turn themselves around.
Meanwhile, Shirogane and Ichinose had already arrived at the cafeteria.
They were both pretty frugal, so they just ordered set meals and sat down to eat.
However—
Compared to them, there were still students in the student council room who hadn't eaten yet.
"Kushida, you can go home now."
Horikita Manabu, who had been focused on his work, suddenly looked up and said.
"If you don't go soon, you might have to grab something at the shopping street."
"Huh? It's that late already? I actually wanted to finish reading this record book from you, senpai."
For Kushida, joining the student council is definitely a good thing. But now that she's actually here, the leaders are really intimidating, so of course she wants to do a good job.
In other words, she's worried that she's not good enough, which is why she's trying so hard right now.
Ps: Just finished posting this chapter and checked the forum—looks like Sakayanagi gave up in the latest volume. Her expulsion is being pushed to the next volume, maybe she'll get a chance to come back. As expected from Ichika, she's amazing.
Ps: Also, Rokusuke spread Ichinose's theft rumors to random people and even told Ichinose, "It wasn't Banyan who spread those nasty rumors about you back then—it was me, Ayanokouji." And on top of that, he added a bunch of made-up stuff about Ichinose hanging out at sketchy places. Originally, Banyan only said she stole something, but Ayanokouji piled on all kinds of nonsense.