Chapter 239 Chabashira Sae: Since It's Come to This! Shimizu Akira's Substitute, Step Forward!
The smoking area on the cruise ship was filled with the faint scent of tobacco.
Chabashira Sae leaned against the railing alone, a cigarette between her fingers and an ashtray in her other hand. Her eyes were fixed on an unreplied message on her phone screen.
"Because you only asked for 250 points or more, I let Class B go."
She raised her hand to flick the ash, watching it fall into the tray, unable to suppress a surge of annoyance. Why had she only asked for 250 points? If she had just mentioned a target of 300, Class D might have actually secured 300 Class Points this time!
But on second thought, she sighed. Who could have predicted Shimizu Akira's series of unexpected maneuvers? Having spent eight years at this school, she had seen all kinds of students, but she had never heard of anyone coming up with such a "sure-fire victory method." He had played all four classes like fiddles and managed to hit the target score with surgical precision.
If smartphones hadn't been banned during this island exam, and if she hadn't proactively established a partnership with him, he might have replicated his first-month stunt of selling surveillance footage to all four classes. The situation would have been even harder to control then.
She stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray. With Class D earning 255 points, they had completely overtaken the 0-point Class C and moved significantly closer to Classes B and A. The only pity was that the school's official tallying and re-ranking wouldn't take place until the end of summer vacation, at the start of the second semester. Even though Class D was currently ahead in points, they had to wait a while longer to officially ascend to Class C.
Of course, Class C wasn't entirely without a chance to reclaim their position. This summer, besides the just-concluded island exam, the school was hosting a group-based competition called the "V.I.P." exam. In that exam, students could also earn points for their classes. Furthermore, the rules and rewards for that exam didn't involve the so-called "Special Exam Points"—the points earned there would be "real gold," directly added to the total Class Points.
"My, isn't this little Sae-chan! What a coincidence!"
While Chabashira was lost in calculation, a familiar voice called out from behind. She gripped her ashtray and turned around to see Hoshinomiya Chie walking toward her with her usual bright smile.
Chabashira subconsciously frowned, her tone cold. "Do you need something?"
Hoshinomiya didn't have a cigarette on her, nor even the ghost of a lighter. With her obsession with her appearance and image, she would never touch smoking. Calling this a "coincidence" was a blatant lie; she had clearly sought her out on purpose.
"Sae-chan, why so cold?" Hoshinomiya ignored the look on her face and leaned in closer with a smile.
"Weren't Class B and Class D partners on the island? Did you forget? Your little Shimizu-kun was a huge help to my Ichinose-san!"
At the mention of this, Chabashira's mood—which had lightened slightly because of the 255 points—sank instantly. This woman was trying to provoke her again! Because of that "cooperation," Class D not only failed to gain an extra 50 points but also missed the chance to deduct 50 points from Class B. That was a net difference of 100 points! It wasn't that Class D hadn't profited, but the fact that Class B hadn't suffered a loss made her feel strangely stifled.
The fact that this involved Shimizu Akira and Ichinose Honami only added fuel to the fire. Why did Hoshinomiya insist that Shimizu helped for Ichinose's sake?
Chabashira corrected her sternly: "Your class cooperated by providing the voice recorder! Besides, your class helped Class D once in June. This cooperation was just settling the debt; it had nothing to do with your Ichinose."
"Cooperated by providing?" Hoshinomiya blinked.
"Shimizu-kun earned that recorder fairly through hunting! Besides, how can you say it has nothing to do with Ichinose? Surely you know—if Ichinose hadn't proactively gone to find Shimizu on the island, Class B might have had their leader guessed too."
"What?" Chabashira was momentarily speechless.
The island exam had just ended.
Everyone had been deprived of food and sleep; upon returning, students were either catching up on sleep or enjoying the ship's facilities. She didn't actually know the specific details of what happened. She only knew about the voice recorder because she happened to overhear students from other classes gossiping earlier.
She had never been a teacher who poked into students' trivial affairs. From the first day of school, she had maintained her persona as a cold, indifferent teacher and hadn't even bothered to ask Hirata Yōsuke for the details.
But Hoshinomiya was her complete opposite. As the nurse-room teacher, she was naturally social and outgoing, mingling with her students—especially Ichinose, with whom she was incredibly close. Chabashira had even seen them going for massages together earlier. It was perfectly normal for Hoshinomiya to have pried the details out of Ichinose.
Having been friends for years, Chabashira could tell Hoshinomiya was telling the truth. According to her, the recorder wasn't "offered" by Class B—Shimizu had traded for it himself. And... Ichinose Honami had proactively gone to see him?
A thought suddenly flashed through Chabashira's mind, making her heart tighten: 'Wait, could it be that Ichinose Honami actually did something to make Shimizu change his mind and ultimately spare Class B?'
"What exactly did Ichinose do?!" Chabashira's brow furrowed deeper.
"Did you instruct her to do something? Can you stop letting your student hang around my person!"
She was already harboring anger over Ichinose's previous appointment with Shimizu. Now there was this new episode on the island. What was that girl after? Why was she always hovering around her Shimizu! But Ichinose's reputation was spotless. Therefore, it had to be Hoshinomiya's bad influence behind the scenes! It wouldn't be the first time she'd done such a thing.
"Oh, that had nothing to do with me!" Hoshinomiya waved her hands in denial, her tone slightly aggrieved.
"The students made their own arrangements! At this point, how would I dare do anything extra? Besides, in the first month, I had my performance bonus docked for three months and lost a month's salary, just like you. Surely you haven't forgotten that!"
The first rule for teachers at this school is not to interfere excessively with students. Almost every teacher silently follows this rule—at least on the surface. In the first month, Chabashira was caught interfering in the class representative selection and privately collecting class fees, leading to a major pay cut. Hoshinomiya was no better; someone had leaked that she'd sought out a second-year student for information, and she was heavily fined.
They were two of a kind, both having suffered from official warnings. The school had made it clear: next time, it wouldn't just be a warning and a pay cut. Hoshinomiya, who spent money recklessly on drinking and entertainment every weekend, wouldn't risk her job.
"Speaking of which! The student I sought out back then was the same one Shimizu-kun sought out!" Hoshinomiya added casually.
"You...!" Chabashira's mouth twitched with suppressed rage.
"Oh dear, sorry, sorry~" Hoshinomiya apologized with her lips, but seeing Chabashira's stifled, helpless expression made her feel exhilarated. The more miserable Sae was, the happier she became. This was the karma Sae deserved for "betraying" their class back in the day; she brought it on herself!
After laughing for a bit, she turned serious. "But really, it was the Student Council that notified me of my violation. By that count, maybe Nagumo Miyabi of the second year found something. We both know he controls all the second-year classes. I doubt I'm the only one exposed. He probably knows about Shimizu Akira buying information from the second years too, right?"
"Nagumo Miyabi?" Chabashira's first instinct was to worry that Shimizu's deal to "sell midterm exams to the Student Council president" had been discovered. Fortunately, it was just the information buying. Still, being targeted by Nagumo was never good.
After the ship exam, the school would hold the Sports Festival. Like the island exam, it was a fixed special exam every year. Nagumo might use that as an opportunity to approach Shimizu.
But that was a concern for later. For now, she had to straighten out the current situation.
"So, Sae-chan, I bet you'll be putting little Shimizu into the Dragon Group, right?"
"I'm not telling you."
"Eh? Conventionally, you could give me a little hint!"
"Give it up."
The "Dragon Group" referred to the groupings for the upcoming V.I.P. exam. Traditionally, homeroom teachers placed their best students in this group. However, it wasn't a mandatory rule; a teacher could divide their top students into other groups and still be within the rules.
Chabashira belatedly realized that Hoshinomiya wasn't just chatting—she was trying to scout Shimizu's group! She likely wanted to put her own Ichinose in the same group to tempt him again!
Before she could think further, Hoshinomiya clasped her hands in a plea.
"Fine, fine, keep your secrets! By the way, Sae-chan, could you lend me some yen? Just 100,000! Actually... I'm a bit short again this month."
"...Fine." Chabashira sighed. She knew Hoshinomiya too well; she was a typical "spendthrift" with no self-control. Putting class rivalries aside, they were good friends who drank together often. Chabashira didn't have expensive hobbies and had saved up a lot over the years.
She pulled out her phone to check her balance for the transfer, but she froze when she saw the account screen—there was only about 50,000 yen left. She suddenly remembered that her two million in short-term savings had all been converted into Private Points and transferred to Shimizu Akira!
Hoshinomiya, as if expecting this, leaned into her phone screen. Seeing the balance, she giggled. "Oh my... Sae-chan usually doesn't spend money, so why are you suddenly broke? I knew it. Why would the usually low-profile Shimizu be so high-profile on the island? You didn't use the old 'class fee' trick to advance him points, did you? If I recall, you did exactly that in the first month!"
"You! You were testing me?!"
Hoshinomiya wasn't trying to borrow money; she was setting a trap! It wasn't strange that she knew about the class fee incident—the school had made it public to warn other teachers. But by exposing her lack of cash, Chabashira had fallen right into the snare.
"You can't do that, Sae-chan." The smile faded from Hoshinomiya's face, replaced by a dead-serious expression.
"I'll keep this blatant violation of school rules as our little secret this time and won't report you. But next time, you can't cheat so openly. Otherwise, I might do something far more extreme than you imagine, and you won't be able to complain about me not following the rules!
Ehehe, that's all I wanted to say. Bye-bye!"
Hoshinomiya turned and walked away gracefully, leaving Chabashira Sae frozen in place. Only now did Chabashira fully understand. Hoshinomiya was warning her: Stop hiring Shimizu Akira to force a win!
The woman wasn't a fool. Shimizu's style this month was completely different from before, and Hoshinomiya had clearly noticed. Even if Chabashira didn't use class fees, a teacher using personal funds to hire a student was still "excessive interference." In this school, the default is for students to buy information from teachers, not the other way around.
Teachers, in many ways, were just as restricted as students.
After this encounter, even if Chabashira had money in her bank, she couldn't use points to make Shimizu act in the special exam. At least not for this one. Hoshinomiya's eyes were locked onto her.
But if things were left to develop naturally, a Class D without Shimizu's full effort would almost certainly lose to Class C. Over the last four months, she had learned enough about Shimizu to know that without points, she couldn't think of a single reason to convince him to exert himself. And honestly, she didn't want him to actually reach 20 million points anyway.
However, she still held one person in her hand—someone she could use without spending a single cent.
"I have a substitute for Shimizu Akira."
Chabashira watched Hoshinomiya disappear. Once she was gone, she took out her phone and dialed a familiar number.
"Ayanokouji-kun, good afternoon."
Before he could respond, she dropped a bombshell.
"A few days ago, a man came to the school claiming to be your father. His goal is to have you expelled.
By the way, let me tell you a story. A story called Icarus."
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