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Ichinose gently put down her phone.
She took a deep breath and looked up to meet Kanzaki Ryuji's scrutinizing gaze.
He was standing up from his seat, the creases between his brows showing his inner doubts.
"Kanzaki-kun, I've confirmed it." Ichinose nodded at him. "The other party wants us to go directly to the Student Council to sign a formal contract, and then we'll be able to get surveillance access for first-year Class B."
She turned her phone screen toward Kanzaki. "I've forwarded our class's surveillance footage and parts of the contract the other party signed with the school authorities to you. Please confirm them."
Kanzaki took the phone, his fingers rapidly scrolling across the screen.
A few minutes later, his tense shoulders finally relaxed slightly.
"Indeed, I can't find any problems. The surveillance is real, and there's no trace of fabrication." He said calmly. "The contract terms are standard, and the school authorities' seal is authentic. Especially the requirement to sign a formal contract through the Student Council, which should rule out the possibility of fraud."
He turned to face the other classmates in the classroom, raising his voice a few notches. "Everyone, please confirm that the seventy thousand points have been transferred to Ichinose-san?"
"They've already been transferred!" A girl with a ponytail raised her hand. "Thanks to Ichinose-san borrowing two hundred thousand points from an upperclassman, she helped us each save five thousand points."
"Yeah," the boy next to her chimed in. "Last time we just paid ten thousand, and this time another seventy thousand. If it weren't for this loan, it would really be unbearable."
The classmates discussed among themselves.
Someone suddenly raised their voice. "But this money is well spent! We absolutely can't let our class's surveillance fall into the hands of other classes!"
"Sigh... it feels like we've fallen behind other classes since the beginning of the semester, and I don't know who this mysterious person is." Ichinose stared at the three million point balance displayed on her phone screen, unable to help but sigh.
This number was indeed astonishing at the beginning of the semester, but at this moment, it only made her feel a sense of powerlessness.
What bothered her even more was the mysterious person's exorbitant demands—the other party seemed completely unconcerned that this was the first month of the new semester.
It was truly too much!
"Wait!" She suddenly straightened up, a flash of inspiration in her eyes. "That mysterious person who rented the surveillance... initially asked me for Ryuuen Kakeru's contact information from first-year Class C. Then he tried to sell me those hidden school rules..."
Kanzaki turned his head at her words.
"Who is Ryuuen Kakeru?"
As a classmate, he knew better than anyone Ichinose's strengths—this seemingly amiable girl possessed social skills that ordinary people didn't have.
Her network of interpersonal information was sometimes even more powerful than the entire class.
"Regarding his information..." Ichinose's fingertip lightly tapped her chin. "Although the girls in Class C didn't explicitly say so, I noticed when chatting with them..." Her voice unconsciously lowered. "They would unconsciously tremble, and some even had bruises on their wrists."
Kanzaki mused. "So, Ryuuen is very likely a thug leader who rules Class C with violence?"
"And," Kanzaki's eyes flashed with understanding, "since you're the Class B representative, and the other party specifically asked you about Ryuuen, it means..."
"He's very likely not..." Ichinose picked up the conversation, as if she'd thought of something, her gaze unconsciously darting toward the camera.
'Not a Class C person!'
She still wasn't quite used to the feeling of being watched.
Although the other party probably wouldn't constantly stare at the camera.
"Oh, right, I also suddenly remembered something." Kanzaki glanced at the surveillance camera on the wall. "Class C should also have been notified by the other party about renting surveillance. At noon, I specifically observed that the school authorities sent people to install new equipment for Class C." A sarcastic smile appeared on his lips. "Those people probably thought that destroying the surveillance would solve the problem."
Kanzaki paused, then added. "Actually, renting surveillance isn't necessarily a bad thing. Our class also has a few classmates who are often late or skip class, with quite a few violations. Last time you spared their feelings and didn't pursue it, but now that we've rented surveillance, we can at least recover about one hundred class points. Exchanging three million private points for one hundred class points, this transaction is quite cost-effective in the long run."
"Then I'll go first! I'll go pay the points—it's less hassle to get the surveillance sooner." Ichinose suddenly stood up.
Kanzaki nodded. "Alright, you have a wide network. When you go to the Student Council, pay attention to who else is there. But..." He pondered for a moment. "Today is Friday, and the Student Council is usually very busy, so there might be many people. In any case, act according to the situation."
Ichinose nodded slightly and turned to walk directly toward the Student Council.
Just as Kanzaki said, a long queue had already formed in front of the Student Council entrance.
Just as she was about to join the queue, an unceremonious question suddenly came from behind her.
"You're Ichinose from first-year Class B, aren't you!"
This sudden voice made Ichinose turn around abruptly, only to see a long-haired boy leaning against the wall, a playful smile on his lips.
His identity—it was Ryuuen Kakeru, from the same year.
As Ichinose, who knew all her classmates in the entire year, she naturally recognized this "infamous" individual.
At the beginning of the semester, he, like her, had stood at the very front of the queue.
"Ryuuen-kun... hello." Although a sense of discomfort welled up inside her, she maintained a polite smile and nodded gracefully in greeting.
"I heard you specifically asked for my contact information?" Ryuuen toyed with his knuckles, which made a slight cracking sound. "May I ask what an honor student wants with someone like me?"
Ichinose couldn't help but frown. She hadn't expected this private, minor inquiry to reach his ears.
It seemed this boy, who seemed to only understand violence, was far more perceptive than she'd imagined.
After a brief silence, she spoke calmly. "I just wanted to remind you that this school isn't a place where everything can be solved with violence."
"Heh," Ryuuen sneered, a hint of mockery in his eyes. "A hothouse flower from Class B, what do you know? If you were thrown into our class—at most you'd be a pretty ornament, a mascot! You'd be lucky not to be bullied."
In this dog-eat-dog class, he firmly believed that his iron-fisted rule was the most effective way to govern Class C—no one could do it better than him.
"But, speaking of which... did you really ask for my contact information to do something so boring...? You don't seem like that kind of person..." Ryuuen just stared at her, and after a long while, suddenly sneered. "...I get it, you're the one who leaked my contact information to 'that person,' right!"