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Akira had actually tried to contact Ryuuen, Kushida, Hirata, and Ichinose with a burner account yesterday, wanting to ask them how much they knew about this month's special exam.
But the results were somewhat unexpected—except for Ryuuen, who deliberately didn't respond, the others all explicitly told him that Sakayanagi from Class A had already reached a cooperation agreement with them. Ichinose even specifically mentioned that the other party had proposed two conditions: first, the cost of purchasing information was 200,000 points; second, she herself had to publicly announce this news to each class.
200,000 points, when divided among everyone in the class, came out to about 5,000 points per person. He'd expected this matter to drag on for a couple more days, but he didn't anticipate Sakayanagi acting so quickly—she brought people directly to his doorstep this afternoon.
"Students, I'll only take a moment of your time." Sakayanagi walked onto the Class D podium, her eyes under her beret curving into crescent moons. Her tone was light yet clear. "Actually, there's a special exam this month too. Coincidentally, I've already found information related to the exam—this information can help Class D increase its class points by up to 100 points."
She paused, her fingertips gently tapping the edge of the podium. "I'm just here to inform you about this."
As soon as she finished speaking, quiet discussions erupted in the classroom:
"Why would someone from Class A help us, Class D?"
"Aren't we competitors?"
"Is there really a special exam this month? There hasn't been any news about it until now..."
Confused gazes collectively fell on Sakayanagi on the podium, and also on the purple-haired girl beside her who'd remained silent.
"Yes, there is." Sakayanagi gently wiggled her fingertips, her tone carrying a hint of guidance. "Didn't you notice that there were a few unsolvable difficult problems hidden in some of the previous test papers? Those were actually hints left by the school authorities—these questions were never meant for first-year students to solve normally."
"Huh? There was something like that?"
"I didn't notice at all..."
"Wait, weren't most of the questions too difficult to solve anyway?"
Yamauchi, Ike, and Sudo huddled together, whispering with their heads down, their faces full of dawning confusion.
"Heh, a little interesting." Koenji suddenly chuckled softly, slowly twirling a pen between his fingers. His gaze fell on Sakayanagi. "These clues do indicate a special exam. However, what is your purpose? Class A and Class D are originally competitors, why bother to specifically help?"
"Why help you? It's actually very simple." Sakayanagi's smile remained unchanged, but her tone became a bit more serious. "I don't want to see 'that person' continue to earn points from the four classes."
She paused, her fingertips gently resting on the edge of the podium. "Last month, a mysterious person contacted me, saying they could rent out surveillance. Our class paid 3 million points to rent it. And this month, that 'mysterious person' plans to use the same trick again, intending to sell information about the special exam to the four classes. My purpose in publicly revealing the information here is to disrupt his plan—I simply don't want him to be so smug. That's the main reason."
As her words fell, she tilted her head slightly, her gaze under her beret slowly sweeping over the Class D students below, carrying a hint of imperceptible scrutiny.
Every word she said was true—not a single falsehood.
Part of the purpose of revealing the information was indeed to stop that mysterious person. After all, to gain others' trust, occasionally throwing out some truth is often the most effective method.
Moreover, she'd already guessed—Class D most likely had also rented surveillance.
"What? Class A also rented surveillance?"
"Our class rented it before too! And it also cost 3 million points!"
"So that's how it is... That person is trying to sell information again?!"
Just as she expected, as soon as her words fell, a chorus of agreement rose from below.
A few students instinctively chimed in, their voices carrying clear resonance.
But Sakayanagi's ear twitched slightly—she caught more crucial information.
'Selling information again?'
That mysterious person had clearly only done the "surveillance rental" business before, so why would it suddenly become "selling information"?
In other words, this mysterious person seemed to have also transacted with Class D separately for information once.
'Interesting.'
'I didn't expect to get this kind of extra gain from a trip to Class D.'
"So Sakayanagi-san was also tricked by that guy!"
"To deceive such a cute girl, that person is too much!"
"Don't worry! We definitely support you!"
A few particularly enthusiastic responses came from below. Sakayanagi glanced in the direction of the voices—they were two somewhat reckless-looking boys, their eyes full of straightforward support.
'Who are these two...?'
She silently questioned in her mind.
'They don't seem very smart.'
'However, having such people in Class D does make things easier.'
'Just keep supporting me like this.'
With these voices actively drawing closer, the next words would be much easier to say.
She withdrew her gaze, her smile still gentle. "Since everyone has a common enemy, things are much simpler. However, I put a lot of effort into organizing this information, so I can't just give it away for free—I plan to sell it to everyone for 200,000 points. This price shouldn't be too expensive, right?"
Yes, 200,000 points.
She'd spent an entire afternoon in a cafe organizing screenshots of several test papers; this information should not be free.
And this price was already very reasonable—you know, that mysterious person sold surveillance for 3 million just last month.
Core information directly related to a special exam like this, she conservatively estimated it to be worth at least 500,000.
200,000 points, divided among everyone in Class D, was only 5,000 points per person.
"For you, this is definitely a sure-win transaction," she added, her tone carrying just the right amount of certainty.
She then turned her gaze to the two enthusiastic male students from earlier, expecting some support.
Unexpectedly, the faces of the two instantly fell, and their voices were full of complaints:
"Huh? Points again? Wasn't it free help?"
"200,000 points? How could we possibly come up with that!"
"We simply can't afford this price!"
Sakayanagi's eyes widened slightly; she suspected she'd misheard.
200,000 points was expensive? She clearly remembered Class D just received 530 class points this month, which meant each person had 53,000 private points. Even if four people split it, it would be enough.
Not to mention there were 40 of them! Was taking out a tenth of their points considered expensive?
What surprised her even more was the attitude of these two—just moments ago they were all "full support," but how did they change their tune immediately upon hearing the word "points"?