People bring their own maids to the training camp

"What I'm trying to say is this: since the original intention was to assess information gathering skills, will the same assessment criteria still apply after the exam format has been changed?"

"I think I understand what Kanzaki-san means. Your idea is that we can obtain the exam papers from other classes through some kind of transaction, right?"

“I’m so glad you understood it so easily. That’s roughly what I meant.” Kanzaki nodded. “We don’t know if other classes are doing similar deals in places we don’t know about. For example, if Class A and Class C cooperate, our Class B will be affected. Having one of their test papers is basically equivalent to getting 25 points.”

"Indeed, that would put us in a very passive position."

"So my thought is, should we cooperate with Class D?" Kanzaki said, a little hesitant. "However, Class D is somewhat untrustworthy, and we might not get any significant benefits from trading with them."

Chihaya knew that because Class B's test paper was exceptionally well-made, if a trade were made, Class D would actually benefit by receiving a less-than-ideal test paper.

“What Kanzaki-kun said makes sense, but that doesn’t prove that classes A and C have cooperated, does it?” Chihaya said. “Besides, I don’t think Honami would agree to such a plan.”

"..."

"Actually, Fanbo also received an archaeology question before, and she also considered whether to use it."

"That's definitely her personality, which is why she's able to gain the trust of everyone in Class B."

"That's right, so I think it's enough that Kanzaki-san told me. There's no need to tell Honami anymore, otherwise negotiating with Class D will take up a lot of time, and it might even attract the attention of other classes—I heard that Class C has been harassing Class D lately."

“I’ve heard about this too, but this level of harassment is really too low. I can’t figure out what their intentions are.” Kanzaki shook his head. “Forget it, please keep this a secret for me, Himegami-san. It’s really not good to bring it up now. It would be bad if someone let their guard down because of this.”

"Okay, I'll keep it a secret. If you have any different ideas in the future, you can discuss them with me first, okay?"

"Then I'll trouble you again when the time comes." Kanzaki nodded and left.

......

Hayasaka Ai walked out from the side.

"It seems that Ichinose's ability to integrate the class hasn't reached the level I imagined."

“It’s normal to have different strategies. Kanzaki saw through the essence, but his initiative was too low. If it were someone else, they might have already started gathering information.”

“He has the ability and the ideas, but he’s destined to be a second-in-command.” Hayasaka clicked his tongue in amazement. “If he could find out about the cooperation between Class A and Class C, then Ichinose would have no choice but to cooperate with Class D.”

"So the class monitor is Honami, not Kanzaki, but he might come in handy in the future," Chihaya said thoughtfully.

----split line----

Student Union Office.

Only Chihaya and Horikita Manabu were inside.

“Selling four-tenths to Class C, I can’t believe you even came up with such a plan,” Horikita Manabu said.

“You flatter me. These few points are useless to me, and it would be a waste not to sell them to someone else.” Chihaya smiled slightly. “However, I would like to sell them to your sister, but unfortunately she probably can’t pay me enough points.”

"But you still left one point."

"Maybe I'd like to sell it for a high price? What if a class has a student who's just one point away from passing, or a student with the same total score? Wouldn't that one point be worth a lot then?"

“But the chances of it falling into your own hands are much higher,” Horikita Manabu pointed out. “Gambling on that kind of coincidence is really not a wise move.”

“But the return on investment is very high,” Chihaya said. “They’ll buy it even if I ask for 100,000 points.”

"...You're even more radical than I thought, both in terms of the archaeology questions and the subsequent reports."

"What are you saying, President? I don't understand." Chihaya naturally pretended not to understand, her main point being that as long as she played dumb, there was nothing he could do.

"It doesn't matter, since you don't want to say." Horikita Manabu handed a card to Chihaya. "It's an anonymous points card. Class C transferred 100000 points into it through the student council. You can withdraw them yourself or transfer them to others as you please. In short, you have indeed received the points, and Class C's total score will increase by 4 points after the exam."

"Okay, thank you for your help, Chairman."

“This is my job, but I’m curious, what exactly is your purpose? If it’s to earn points, you could have increased both the score and the magazine’s price, but you didn’t do that.”

“Fair prices are the key to repeat customers,” Chihaya said. “After all, I don’t want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.”

This is clearly a statement that avoids the main issue.

"Let's leave it at that. I have something to remind you of."

"Please speak."

"This archaeology question incident has already caught Nangumo's attention. He will definitely continue to investigate this matter after the final exams. You'd better watch yourself."

"Vice President, feel free to investigate. This has nothing to do with me, okay?"

"It seems you're very confident you haven't left any flaws." Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses and looked directly into Chihaya's eyes. "Let me remind you, Nagumo is not as simple as you think."

"Oh? As the president, how would you describe your vice president like this? Vice President Nagumo would be in tears, you know? Is it really okay for you to expose the internal conflicts of the student council to me like this, President?"

"If you don't like it, I can approve your application to join the student council, and I'll reserve the vice president position for you."

"With an improper title, lack of seniority, and insufficient experience, what's the point of such a vice president? Surely he can't just be there to help the president with all the heavy workload, can he?"

"..." Horikita was speechless for a moment. "My work is not so bad that I would ask you to do it."

"Please allow me to decline, but I still have no intention of joining the student council."

"Really? What a pity, you are a truly rare talent." Horikita Manabu shook his head.

“Don’t you have a backup plan? Wouldn’t Ayanokouji from Class D be more suitable? Besides, she’s in the same class as Suzune.” Chihaya said, “Aren’t you actually as cold as you seem? After all, she’s your younger sister who grew up with you. The only purpose of your actions was that you were worried that someone would harm your sister, so you used this way of distancing yourself to imply to others that your relationship with your sister is just so-so, and that even if you did something, it wouldn’t affect you.”

Horikita Manabu remained noncommittal after hearing this, clearly intending to play dumb like Chihaya had just done.

“But that’s not important to me. Whether Suzune is in Class D or Class A won’t affect my life.” Chihaya stood up. “With Ayanokouji’s help, Class D will surely recover and rise again soon, right?”

"Do you think highly of Ayanokoji?" Horikita Manabu asked with interest.

“That depends on how things go.” Chihaya gave Horikita a polite smile. “If you need a successor or a seed to fight against someone, then you might choose Ayanokouji. So, Mr. President, please accept my offer.”

After finishing her sentence, Chihaya bowed slightly and left the student council room.

Horikita glanced at the closed door, shook his head slightly, and then continued working.

......

"Ten thousand, here you go." After returning to her room, Chihaya tossed the points card to Hayasaka.

"Boss is awesome! Boss is so generous! Boss Daisuki~"

"That sounds like a streamer thanking the top-ranked fan." Chihaya gave Hayasaka a rather disdainful look. "Is the job done?"

"Of course!" Hayasaka picked up his phone and quickly transferred the points from the card to his own phone. "I sent the answers for Class B to Horikita Suzune, and the answers for Class A and Class C to Ayanokouji."

“Okay.” Chihaya nodded. “Now it depends on how they perform. Horikita Suzune is suspicious, so she probably won’t reveal the answer. Ayanokouji, on the other hand, will most likely use Kushida to distribute the answer.”

"But how can he explain the origin of the answer to Kikyo? Or even if Kikyo believes it, why would the people in Class D believe it?"

"Just treat them as review questions and distribute them to students. Afterwards, just spread the word that Class D got hold of Class C's questions."

"What if Horikita Suzune also comes up with a question?" Hayasaka continued to ask.

"It's simple. We'll just use the questions from Class D. As long as Horikita dares to send them, we'll go to her and discuss the deal. Whether she agrees or not, we'll just send them directly to everyone in Class B. That way, she'll probably have a grudge and think that Ayanokouji or someone else did it."

"What if Ichinose asks?"

"Just say you got it from Class D using points, and in exchange you provided a test paper from Class B."

"It doesn't seem very rigorous."

"No one will investigate further, and I bet Horikita Suzune won't produce the answers. Her reputation in the class is rather ambiguous and not convincing enough, so if she produces the test paper but it's unrelated to the exam, the evaluation will be even more ambiguous."

"Could we use this as practice questions?"

"Not everyone will do practice questions. The same applies to Class C's test. All we need is the established fact that Class D obtained Class C's test."

"understood."

"If Ayanokouji doesn't do this, I'll have Kikyo do it instead. It makes no difference. It's all because Sakayanagi from Class A is sending out random emails."

87.Midterm exam

Finally, the day of the midterm exams arrived.

Prior to this, Ayanokouji had Kushida distribute exam papers containing questions from Class A and Class C as review materials to the students in Class D. However, because Kushida was vague, most of their energy was spent memorizing and reciting their own class's exam papers.

The exam results will be released the day after the exam.

Horikita Suzune also approached Ayanokouji after the exam.

"Ayanokouji-san, can you come with me for a moment?" Although it was a question, Horikita Suzune's tone was that of a statement.

"it is good."

The two packed their things and left the classroom.

Once the two reached a secluded spot, Horikita immediately asked, "What's the deal with Kushida-kun's test paper? Was it the same questions from another class?"

"Judging from the midterm exam papers, that seems to be the case," Ayanokouji replied. "As expected of Kushida, he can even get his hands on something like this."

"You're lying to me. You clearly gave it to Kushida." Horikita stared at Ayanokouji with an unfriendly tone. "After I got the test paper, I called Kushida to ask her, and she said that you gave it to her."

“Well, actually, I received an anonymous email on my phone,” Ayanokouji said. “Since I didn’t know if it was real, I asked Kushida to send it to my classmates under the guise of study materials.”

"You didn't exchange Class D's test papers for other classes' test papers, did you?"

"How could that be? If someone as insignificant as me were to do it, the other classes simply wouldn't believe it, would they?"

“You can have Kushida do this,” Horikita insisted.

"If the test paper is fake, Kushida's reputation in the grade will become very complicated. Do you think she would do such a thing? Even if she were willing, wouldn't her situation in Class D be quite bad if the test paper she traded for was fake?"

“…” Horikita fell silent, because Kushida was indeed a person who cherished her reputation. Just as Ayanokouji said, the risk of trading exam papers was too great, and she would almost never choose to gamble on this matter.

“This is a completely unexpected bonus,” Ayanokouji said, “but it’s still a good thing, isn’t it?”

"Hmm." Horikita nodded. "Shudo and the others should be fine, right?"

"The three of them seemed quite happy just now, so they must have answered well."

"That's good." Horikita nodded. "See you tomorrow, Ayanokouji-san."

"See you tomorrow."

Horikita Suzune returned to her dormitory with her bag. She believed that Ayanokouji was hiding something from her, but she had no evidence to prove it.

Furthermore, she suspected that the Class B exam papers on her phone were also written by Ayanokouji—it would be too suspicious to give them all to Kushida, so it was better to distribute them separately. Horikita also had a slight regret, after all, Kushida's paper proved its correctness, and if she had also taken out the Class B papers, she might have gotten a higher score—unfortunately, it was all just a hypothetical.

However, Horikita is not one to dwell on the past. For her, this is just the beginning of Class D's rise, and she will continue to work hard and do her best.

If possible, she would no longer rely on Ayanokouji, especially since Ayanokouji was too enigmatic and annoyed her.

After nearly half a month of running around preparing for the midterm exams, Horikita, finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, decided to give herself a short break. Instead of studying tonight, she decided to go to the library to read some books.