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{This month, don't even think about earning a single point from the special exam.}
{Even if I don't charge points and give the information to other first-year classes for free, it's perfectly fine.}
{As for the second-year and third-year upperclassmen, I don't need to say much, do I? They already know the trick with the exam papers; your little bit of information is worthless in their eyes.}
"Heh..."
Sakayanagi looked at the chat box on her phone screen, where no new messages popped up for a long time, and let out a soft laugh.
She unconsciously uttered three words: "Checkmate."
It was like the moment on a chessboard in international chess when one checkmates the opponent's king.
She carefully went over her logic again, making sure she hadn't said anything wrong.
The fact was, this time she'd obtained the crucial information almost simultaneously with her opponent.
And just as she said, there were so many benefits to publicizing the information, she had no reason not to choose it.
Sometimes, being the sole dominant power isn't a good thing, especially when it only means other classes get a little over thirty more class points.
However, the most urgent matter at hand was to quickly publicize the information to her class and further solidify her prestige.
During the lunch break, she gathered all her classmates and announced both "midterm exam scores adding class points based on average" and "key clues for the exam papers."
"As expected of Sakayanagi-san! So amazing!" The first to applaud in the class was a blonde boy with earrings.
Sakayanagi glanced at him and immediately recalled his name—Hashimoto Masayuki.
She remembered that in the last monthly exam, Hashimoto had scored over eighty in all subjects, meaning he'd answered everything correctly except for a few difficult questions.
He also had good physical stamina in PE class and strong interpersonal skills—she often saw him chatting with classmates, and he even had friends from other classes.
In terms of grades and ability, he was considered top-tier among ordinary people.
Her first impression of him was that of an all-rounder—to put it nicely, a versatile talent capable of anything; to put it harshly, a mediocre person who wasn't outstanding in any particular area.
"Sakayanagi-san, thanks to you for discovering this important information this month." Katsuragi, standing nearby, also nodded in agreement. "According to Class A's contribution system last month, you will undoubtedly receive the highest A-level evaluation this time. The class has decided to reward you two hundred thousand points—since half of the class funds are in your hands, you can directly withdraw it from there."
Class A had implemented a reward and punishment policy since last month: as long as one made a significant contribution to the class, they would receive corresponding private point rewards.
Katsuragi, referencing the school's class rankings, divided the rewards into four levels: A, B, C, and D, corresponding to two hundred thousand, one hundred thousand, fifty thousand, and thirty thousand points, respectively.
Publicizing this information was naturally counted as a contribution.
It was worth noting that this information could earn the class over ninety class points and give them a head start over other classes, making it undoubtedly a qualified A-level crucial piece of information.
Rewarding Sakayanagi two hundred thousand points was entirely deserved.
Katsuragi had also fully learned from last month's lesson—even if the other party was the class leader, the deserved rewards couldn't be withheld just because of her position.
"...Don't rush, Katsuragi-kun, I haven't finished speaking yet." Sakayanagi glanced at Katsuragi, a faint smile still lingering on her lips.
She felt that he seemed to be celebrating a bit too early.
Subsequently, she announced her decision to "publicize the information to other classes" to the entire class, while also explaining the reasons for doing so.
"...Unite with other classes? Is it really necessary for Class A to do that?"
"Actually, there's no need to notify other classes, right? We've always been in the lead, isn't it good to be far ahead?"
As expected, this decision was immediately met with opposition from some classmates.
"I think it's fine, right? Sakayanagi-san is actually correct—being dominant early on isn't necessarily a good thing."
"If three classes unite against us, even Class A would probably have a hard time resisting."
"And it's only a little over thirty class points, let's just consider it doing someone a favor. Who knows, it might come in handy later? Like Ichinose-san from Class B, everyone knows her personality, right? Doing her a favor is still very worthwhile."
This student's statement immediately garnered support from other classmates.
"Ichinose-san?! I still really trust her character."
"Indeed, if we do Ichinose Honami a favor, she will definitely repay it in the future."
Sakayanagi couldn't help but frown slightly.
She'd originally expected half the class to oppose and half to support, but she hadn't expected that just mentioning Ichinose's name would make most people agree.
'Is this the benefit of establishing a good persona?'
'It seems Ichinose Honami from Class B is even more troublesome than I imagined.'
She pondered silently in her heart.
Since over half the class supported it, there was naturally nothing to worry about regarding this matter.
She walked straight back to her seat, tapping the desk lightly with her fingertips.
'In that case, Tsuki Ao's so-called screenshot should be completely useless now, right?'
Given her usual nature, there was no need to specifically gather the entire class to explain such a matter.
If it weren't for her concern that the person named "Tsuki Ao" might use the screenshot to cause trouble, she wouldn't have bothered.
In a sense, the other party had forced her to make this matter public.
'So, which class should I approach first?'
'Wait—besides knowing that Ichinose is the leader of Class B, I actually still know nothing about the other classes.'
Ichinose was very popular across the entire grade and was considered the public class representative of Class B.
As for the situations in other classes, she wasn't too clear.
Class A had never specifically sought out this information either.
But then again, her current goal should be to find a few helpers first—to win over Kamuro before anything else.
Although she herself was incredibly intelligent, her physique was too weak, so she naturally wouldn't run errands herself—more importantly, it was too undignified.
What kind of leader runs around personally? Such things should be delegated to subordinates.
What Sakayanagi valued was Kamuro's skills.
Those seemingly petty theft skills shouldn't be underestimated. They might prove very useful at a crucial point in the future.
Furthermore, she'd previously made a bet with Shimizu and had to recruit Kamuro as her subordinate within a week.
'But I can't threaten her with the theft.'
That matter had long been cleanly handled by Shimizu—the beer Kamuro had stolen was bought by him on the spot, so it naturally wasn't considered theft. Otherwise, she wouldn't have lost one hundred thousand points to Shimizu because of it.
However, Kamuro always had a weakness.
For example, Shimizu Akira.