People bring their own maids to the training camp

This move cut off the upperclassmen's source of income, so it could only have been done by one or more first-year students. After all, the order in which the anonymous emails were received indicates that the sender has a fairly deep understanding of the first-year students. Leaders and key figures received the emails last, while peripheral individuals and those with low profiles received them first. Clearly, they wanted to exploit a time difference; otherwise, if the emails were sent to the entire class, the leaders would have directly ordered a class ban on purchasing them, allowing them to quickly turn the tables.

“I have a suggestion regarding the questions for this exam,” Katsuragi said to Sakayanagi. “We will each be responsible for two subjects, with each of us taking half of the last subject. After both of us have checked them and there are no objections, we will submit them to Professor Majima at the same time.”

"I have no problem with that~ But how exactly do we decide on the subjects?"

"You can choose one subject at a time, and you can go first." Katsuragi knew that Sakayanagi's grades were excellent, so he gave her the first choice.

From the class's perspective, having Sakayanagi take charge of all the questions might be a good choice, but that would mean he would relinquish his leadership role in the class, and assigning five subjects by himself would be stressful. As for Katsuragi, he couldn't think of a better solution at the moment.

"Okay, then I'll choose math first."

"Okay, then I'll choose chemistry."

"I'll choose English for the second option," Sakayanagi said. "Hmm, if Katsuragi-kun doesn't mind, you can take Social Studies and Chinese as well, okay?"

“…I have no objection.” Katsuragi was silent for a few seconds, then nodded in agreement.

Social studies is the simplest of the subjects; it's even better if one side sets the questions than if both sides work together. Although Class A is generally very harmonious, a few individuals from each faction often clash. To avoid this, Sakayanagi simply dumped the subjects she didn't care about to Katsuragi. For her, as long as the questions were math, that was enough. It's a subject with an extremely high ceiling and floor, perfect for high-level combatants to "sweep the battlefield" and widen the gap.

"Sigh, what a pity. Even though it's supposed to be a real-world exam, some of the questions they set could be answered easily even by students in Class D." After deciding on the subjects assigned to each side, Hashimoto Masayoshi suddenly became sarcastic. It was obvious who he was talking to.

Katsuragi naturally wouldn't care about such a clumsy provocation.

However, even this clumsy provocation still works in Class A.

"Hashimoto, what did you say?! I see why Class D could answer your questions so easily!" The one who spoke was Totsuka Yahiko, a key member of the Katsuragi faction, who was usually loud and disrespectful.

"Huh? I didn't name anyone, did I? How come someone is taking it personally?" Hashimoto spread his hands, feigning innocence. "It's really strange, why would someone intentionally belittle themselves?"

"Hashimoto, you—"

"Yahiko, don't fall for such low-level provocations." Just as Totsuka was about to explode with anger, Katsuragi timely cooled him down.

"But Katsuragi-kun, Hashimoto, he..."

“Facts speak louder than words,” Katsuragi said. “Once the average scores are out, we’ll know who set the more difficult questions.”

After Katsuragi intervened, Hashimoto stopped talking with a grin. His intention was to provoke Totsuka, this idiot who was inexplicably assigned to Class A.

"I'm looking forward to it!" Sakayanagi smiled slightly.

After the class meeting, the core members of the Sakayanagi faction gathered around Sakayanagi.

“Leave the question-setting to me, everyone, you don’t need to worry about it,” Sakayanagi said as soon as he came up.

"So what do we do next?" Hashimoto asked. "Explore the possibility of a deal?"

"Hashimoto-kun can have some contact with Class C, but there's no need for Class D."

"What about Class B?" Kamuro asked.

“Class B, huh?” Sakayanagi gave a mysterious smile. “I’ll test them myself.”

"It seems there are some very interesting people in Class B, who have actually piqued your interest." Hashimoto immediately understood the meaning behind Sakayanagi's words.

“That’s right.” Sakayanagi nodded. “Katsura-kun is so boring, he can’t even cheer me up.”

He sighed after speaking, as if he was very regretful.

"It's just a pity about our previous actions," Hashimoto said. "We never expected that in the end, we would be doing all the work for someone else."

“I’ve been thinking about this. The mastermind behind the anonymous emails clearly intends to monopolize the market with low prices, and they’ve even prepared several different versions of the test papers.” Sakayanagi tapped her cane lightly with her knuckles, as if to help her organize her thoughts. “Given her understanding of first-year students, I think it must be a first-year student, or there must be a first-year student in the group.”

"To know so much about all four classes, one must be very influential within the grade." Hashimoto said thoughtfully, "There aren't many people who fit that description."

"Yes, so Class B is now my prime suspect."

Honami and Chihaya fit the bill perfectly in every way, as does Kushida.

Chihaya and Honami are both quite outstanding, but they both ended up in Class B. There must be some reason for this.

"Young lady of the Himegami family, don't disappoint me." Sakayanagi opened his phone, looked at the number saved as "Himegami Chihaya" on the screen, and gave a half-smile.

"It's getting interesting, that's great."

81. Tea pillar, rooftop conversation

Chihaya appeared in the office.

Hoshinomiya-sensei, who was doing nothing, spotted Chihaya walking into the office.

"Greetings, teachers."

"Did you come to see me, Princess?" Although it was a question, Hoshinomiya-sensei's tone was undoubtedly very certain.

After all, she's the homeroom teacher of Class B. Who else could you possibly be looking for in this office with only four homeroom teachers?

"If Hoshinomiya-sensei can help me with my questions, then it's not impossible for me to ask you," Chihaya said, holding up the history textbook she was handing out.

"..." Hoshinomiya-sensei was silent for a few seconds, "Himemiya-kun, you're making things difficult for your teacher!"

"Excuse me, Ms. Hoshinomiya, I'm here to see Ms. Chabashira," Chihaya said innocently. "Is she the only history teacher in this office?"

"Oh? I shouldn't be your class B teacher, right?" When Ms. Chabashira heard her name, she immediately became interested. Theoretically speaking, it was a time for the classes to compete against each other, so it wasn't a wise thing to find her, an "outsider."

“But it’s more convenient,” Chihaya smiled. “Although the classes are in a competitive relationship, it’s normal for students to ask teachers questions, right? I think there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Indeed.” Teacher Chabashira nodded. “Then let me see what questions the top student in the grade has.”

Chihaya bowed slightly apologetically to Hoshinomiya-sensei, then walked towards Chabashira-sensei's workstation.

"Waaaaah, Saeko is so mean! Now she's even trying to steal her friend's student!" Hoshinomiya-sensei started to fake cry.

Chabashira-sensei simply raised the clipboard in her hand and Hoshinomiya-sensei remained silent: getting hit on the head with that thing actually hurts quite a bit.

"It's like this, Chabashira-sensei, I have a few questions about the scope." Chihaya spread out her textbook in a serious manner.

Chabashira-sensei's first reaction after glancing at the open textbook was to turn and look at Hoshinomiya-sensei, only to find that the latter had already gone to do something else and was not paying any attention to them. So she turned back to look at the beautiful top student in the grade in front of her.

"Hime-kun, this question does indeed require a teacher's answer, but aren't you worried that I might deliberately give you a wrong or ambiguous answer in order to improve your grades on the midterm exam?"

"No, I don't think you would. Teachers also have to fulfill their responsibilities, don't they? You are a teacher at Gaoyu, and I am a student at Gaoyu. There shouldn't be any adversarial relationship between us."

"Hmph, you speak very nicely, but your question is difficult to explain in a short time. Let me take you to a place with a blackboard and explain it to you in detail."

"Then I'll leave it to you." Chihaya closed the textbook and pulled it into her arms.

"Let's go." Teacher Chabashira stood up.

"Goodbye, Hoshinomiya-sensei. Don't drink too much tonight, okay?" Chihaya gave a brief "greeting" to her homeroom teacher, whom she considered to have "fallen out of favor," before leaving.

"I don't go drinking every day! Princess, is that a stereotype?"

"Indeed, but he always gets drunk whenever he drinks," Teacher Chabashira added.

"Sao-e, don't expose other people's shortcomings in front of their students! Chie, I'm really going to cry!"

"How many times have you come to class reeking of alcohol?" Teacher Chabashira sneered. "You've already left, Princess Consort."

"Okay, Teacher Chazhu."

......

Ms. Chabashira said she was looking for a place with a blackboard, but after leaving the office and turning the corner, she led Chihaya up to the rooftop.

Chihaya closed the door behind her and then waited quietly.

Teacher Chashu didn't say anything either. He took out a lighter and a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, took a puff, and then exhaled a smoke ring.

"To be honest, I didn't expect you to come to me," said Teacher Chaba. "You've hidden yourself very well. I didn't think you were anything special, or rather, I thought you were at least consistent inside and out, after all, you're from a well-to-do family."

"The Princess family is a political family with a long history. Even though I have no intention of entering politics, I am inevitably influenced by my parents and have learned some unusual skills through my daily life."

“Indeed, no wonder you didn’t become the leader of Class B. It was a very smart move.” Teacher Chabashira rarely smiled. “You’re just as good as Class A.”

"Thank you for your praise. What do you think of my suggestion?" Chihaya asked. "Isn't someone who can't be of use to you quite troublesome?"

"Is that so?" Teacher Chabashira took another drag of his cigarette. "I have high hopes for him. So what if he's exposed? His abilities can play a very important role."

"It's not that simple, Chabashira-sensei?" Chihaya smiled mysteriously upon hearing this. "You can't wake someone who's pretending to be asleep. Suppose Ayanokouji doesn't plan to move up to Class A and just wants to spend his three years of high school here, how can you expect him to fight for the class?"

"You don't need to worry about this."

"Yes, of course I don't need to worry about it. Teacher Chabashira, you must have your own way of getting him to do his job. But I have to remind you—the backlash afterward is not something you can accept."

Mr. Chabashira's expression remained unchanged as he calmly continued smoking.

"As an adult, your appearance, income, and education should surpass many of your peers, but there is one thing you lack: the hidden dangers behind Ayanokouji are something you cannot handle, you know?"

"Oh? Well then, I'd like to hear it." Teacher Chabashira stubbed out his cigarette and turned to look at Chihaya. "Tell me, what are the potential problems that I can't handle?"

“Politics,” Chihaya said, looking earnestly into Chabashira-sensei’s eyes. “You may only think that you are using a student with exceptional abilities to achieve your goal of moving up to Class A, but you don’t think at all about the consequences of this class ranking battle that seems like child’s play to outsiders.”

"Politics?" Teacher Chabashira's expression suddenly turned serious.

"You probably only know that Ayanokouji is an exceptionally capable person, but have you ever wondered why someone like that would be assigned to Class D? Or, as a teacher, could you find someone with such abilities in Class D? Of course, let's leave Kogenji aside for now."

Teacher Chazhu fell into deep thought.

"The answer is no. There won't be another Ayanokouji in the entire grade, or even in the entire high school. Have you considered his background? Is someone like him someone you can easily manipulate? Is he someone you can use at will just to help you achieve some childish goal?"

82

"Is someone like this someone you can easily manipulate? Is someone you can use at will just to help you achieve some childish goal?" Chihaya asked.

"..." Teacher Chabashira fell silent.

She hadn't really considered that kind of thing; after all, politics was still very far removed from her life.

Whether it's the prime minister or anything else, it doesn't make much difference to her. After all, it's not a matter of personal interest, so there's no need to care. Even as a teacher at Koyu High School, Ms. Chabashira has never considered such matters.

"You're exaggerating a bit." Teacher Chabashira lit another cigarette and slowly smoked it. "As a homeroom teacher, it's perfectly reasonable for me to want to move up to Class A, isn't it? It's also normal to motivate students to reach their full potential. Politics? What does that have to do with me?"

“You’re really calm, Chabashira-sensei.” Chihaya laughed. “It seems you’re unaware of Ayanokoji Kiyotaka’s identity.”

"Your identity doesn't matter. Just like you or Kougenji, once you're enrolled in this school, you have to abide by the school's rules."

"It will have an impact, you know? Gaoyu is a national high school, and wealthy people like Gaoyuan Temple can't interfere. But the Himegami family is a political dynasty, you know? If I leave the school today, Chabashira-sensei, you might get fired tomorrow."

"Are you threatening me?" Teacher Chabashira snorted. "If you drop out and then expel me, wouldn't that be a lose-lose situation? You're not stupid, don't waste your time saying these things."

"Alright then, since you think this is nonsense, I'll get straight to the point—Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was assigned to Class D because someone wanted to hide him, and what you're doing now goes against the idea of ​​the person who arranged for him to enroll."

"Everything needs evidence, doesn't it? Just because you're good-looking and speak with a firm tone doesn't make your words more convincing, does it?"