In practice, I can issue tasks to my master.

Nangong Cheng gave a gentlemanly bow: "Class D will always reserve a spot for you, you can come anytime."

"Of course, if Class D becomes the new Class A before then, I'll have to change my conditions."

Hiyori Shiina sighed, feigning helplessness.

Then, smiling, she closed the distance between them, contrary to her usual literary girl image, and reached out a finger to lift Nangong Cheng's chin.

"Nangong Jun".

"Gentleman, you can't be in such a hurry."

Before Nangong Cheng could grab her hand, Shiina Hiyori had already pulled it back, revealing a mischievous smile: "Besides, Class D doesn't have enough points for me to transfer classes right now, does it?"

"So, my answer is—it's not too late for me to accept your invitation once you've accumulated enough points, right?"

Nangong Cheng grabbed a handful of air, but he wasn't annoyed.

He looked at Shiina Hiyori, who had her hands behind her back and was leaning forward, and said with a smile, "Okay, I believe that day is not too far away."

"But Shiina-kun, you have to live up to the value of those 20 million points... Do you understand what I mean?"

Shiina Hiyori shook her head, feigning ignorance, but in reality, she really couldn't figure out what Nangong Cheng was thinking, since this was an impromptu performance without a script or anything like that.

So she was still wondering what Nangong Cheng wanted to do and how he planned to hand over the key card to her.

"But... wasn't it you, Nangong Jun, who invited me?"

"So what?"

Nangong Cheng spoke nonsense with a straight face: "Shiina, you need to understand—my invitation to you ≠ my giving you 20 million points for free."

"You're a smart girl, you should know that there's no such thing as a free lunch."

"..."

Hiyori Shiina was somewhat speechless.

She felt that Nangong Cheng was rebelling against the Heavenly Gang, but she had no evidence, so she could only echo, "So, what does Lord Nangong want to say?"

"You probably don't care about the little bit of money I have, do you?"

Nangong Cheng smiled mysteriously and pulled out—

Key card.

"We can talk about that later. Now we should talk about this exam."

"Shiina-kun, Ryuen sent you to Class D, probably for this thing I have, right?"

Hiyori Shiina nodded.

She guessed that Nangong Cheng was about to get to the point, so she immediately followed up, "Yes, then, Mr. Nangong, could you give it to me?"

We'll probably need to work things out a bit more, otherwise if it just ends up being a done deal, Kikyo Kushida will definitely get suspicious.

but--

"sure."

With a flick of his wrist, Nangong Cheng sent the key card floating lightly onto Shiina Hiyori's head.

Seeing the girl's seemingly stunned expression, he smiled and said, "What? Did you think I would make things difficult for you or make some unreasonable demands?"

"...Isn't this a very conventional approach?"

Shiina Hiyori paused for a moment, looked at the key card in her palm, and quickly organized her thoughts: "If you do this, I'll have to question your motives."

Nangong Cheng waved his hand: "Never mind my motives. I'm just asking you, if you don't get the key card, how are you going to explain it to Longyuan?"

"If his plan fails, will he say to you, 'Did you play poorly this time?' and then blame you?"

"...Is this your reason for giving me the key card directly?"

Although Hiyori Shiina knew this was part of Makoto Nangong's plan, it didn't stop her from being puzzled by his actions.

How should I put it...

She was certain that Nangong Cheng had a backup plan, otherwise he wouldn't have been so bold as to give her the key card so directly.

And she, too, could guess what Nangong Cheng's so-called backup plan was.

Since it is known that Class D will not be able to guess the identity of the key card holder by Ryuen, there are only a few possibilities to lead to this result by working backward from the conclusion.

But Shiina Hiyori had no interest in thinking about which one it was.

After all, this is related to her "bet" with Longyuan.

Although what she did seemed to be harming the interests of the class, judging from Nangong Cheng's confident appearance now, Longyuan's plan was doomed to fail from the very beginning.

Therefore, she doesn't need to feel guilty.

"Nangong Jun, to be honest, you are the person I can't understand the most among all the people I've met so far."

Hiyori Shiina brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled slightly: "If there's a chance, we might be able to get to know each other better."

"Oh? Really?"

Nangong Cheng showed an exaggerated look of surprise, but then quickly changed his expression and said seriously, "But Shiina-kun, I advise you not to be curious about me."

Hiyori Shiina tilted her head.

"why?"

"Because when a woman becomes curious about a man, that's the beginning of her falling for him."

Nangong Cheng deliberately used a bubbly tone and said in a low voice, "Shiina-kun, you should have heard the rumors about me, and I can openly admit to you here—they are all true."

"By the way, I've always been interested in you, the beautiful girl in Class C. I did have that intention when I approached you before, but I'm a kind-hearted person and I respect girls' personal wishes, so you still have a chance to reject me."

"Forehead……"

Shiina Hiyori was a little confused by Nangong Cheng's exaggerated and abstract acting, but fortunately, his words were not difficult to understand, and in Kushida Kikyo's eyes, they could also explain Nangong Cheng's behavior.

She just didn't know how to respond, so she simply changed the subject—

"By the way, Nangong-kun, you gave me the key card, but the base will refresh twice more before the exam ends... Don't you want these points?"

"Yes, why wouldn't you want to?"

"then you--"

"So I'm leaving it to you, Shiina-kun."

Nangong Cheng interrupted Shiina Hiyori, revealing a rather irritating smile.

"This is the price I paid for giving you the key card."

...

...

at the same time.

Inside Class A's base, the students of Class A, led by Kohei Katsuragi, are facing off against the students of Class B, led by Honami Ichinose.

"Ichinose-san, please forgive us, Class A, for not being able to agree to Class B's proposal."

With his arms crossed over his chest, Katsuragi Kohei's calm demeanor and firm tone gave the students in Class A behind him a strong sense of security.

"Because we cannot compromise with you based on your unfounded speculation and threats. What if you get a taste of success this time and continue to do so next time?"

Honami Ichinose smiled.

As a fellow member of the student council, she naturally knew about Katsuragi Kohei and was aware of his stubborn and unyielding personality.

Of course, she didn't mean to be sarcastic, since "steady" isn't a derogatory term.

However, as a rival, she really disliked people like Katsuragi Kohei.

Fortunately, Nangong Cheng had already made contingency plans with her.

"Katsura-kun, I'm not here to discuss this with you, but to inform you unilaterally."

Honami Ichinose wore her usual gentle smile, but to the students of Class A, the girl's words were cruel, the complete opposite of her gentleness.

"If you do not agree to this deal, then when we guess the identity of the key card holder at the end, Class B will write down the name of the key card holder from Class A together with Class D."

"Since Class B didn't choose to capture the stronghold to rack up points, the only actual loss was the 50-point penalty for guessing wrong."

"But if we guess right, you, who caused Class A to fail in this exam, will be at a disadvantage in the competition with Sakayanagi-san, or even completely lose your competitiveness."

"If you can handle the consequences, I'll take my men and leave immediately."

Katsuragi Kohei forced himself to maintain his expression, not wanting to give himself away.

His mental fortitude is indeed quite good, but the mental fortitude of the other students in Class A is not necessarily so good.

For example, Totsuka Yahiko.

You know your own situation best.

If Class B and Class D actually guess based on their "guesses," then regardless of whether he or Katsuragi leaked the information, they will both become the "culprits" of this exam.

At that time, not to mention how the students of the Sakayanagi faction and the neutral faction will view them, even the students on Katsuragi's side will probably turn against them because of this.

With this in mind, Totsuka Yahiko was already trying to hint to Katsuragi to compromise.

After all, it's just 50 class points corresponding to individual points, which is a trivial amount for Class A. There's no need to stubbornly deny it, even if it makes the other students in Class A think that they did indeed "leak" the key card information.

"Ichinose-kun."

It seems that Katsuragi Kohei has also made a decision.

After all, family members know their own affairs.

Always prioritizing the bigger picture, he naturally didn't want to play this kind of psychological game with Class B and Class D, betting that they were just bluffing him.

The consequences of making the wrong bet are too great. Nangong Cheng saw this and that's why he came directly to me. He even instigated Ichinose Honami to bring Class B over to put on a second layer of pressure.

Of course, the most crucial thing is that Totsuka Yahiko's identity as the holder of the Class A key card has been revealed.

This is what puzzles Katsuragi Kohei the most.

He was certain that his protective measures were foolproof and that there was theoretically no possibility of him being discovered.

After much thought, the only explanation is that Miki Yamamura took advantage of her unique presence and became a traitor to Class A.

So, Sakayanagi Arisu, who was absent from this exam, is the real mastermind behind it all.

Of course, whether his conjecture is correct or not, the ultimate goal is to distribute the responsibility for the failure of this exam by expressing these conjectures.

The above is a summary of Katsuragi Kohei's thoughts and judgments in a single moment.

He looked around, taking in the expressions of the students in Class A, and then gave Ichinose Honami his final answer.

“On behalf of Class A, I agree to this deal.”

Volume 1: Chapter 95, Horikita Suzune: A Crushing Blow to My Teammate

"Then, the deal is done."

Back to where we started: the beach.

Honami Ichinose, representing Class B, and Kohei Katsuragi, representing Class A, signed a cooperation agreement in the presence of school staff.

People with different stances have different feelings.

For the students in Class B, led by Honami Ichinose, they were happy because they saw it as a victory for Class B over Class A.

In contrast, the students in Class A, led by Katsuragi Kohei, were not in a very good mood.

Although 50 class points are a drop in the ocean for Class A, it's definitely unpleasant to be threatened by a lower-ranked class with their weaknesses.

Finally, there are the two class advisors for Class A and Class B.

Majima Tomoya's feelings were also quite complicated.

Firstly, because he can see from the backend how many points Class D, or rather Nangong Cheng, has scored by occupying strongholds, so if nothing unexpected happens, Class D will be the biggest winner this time.

Secondly, there was this deal. He was certain that Ichinose Honami would do this entirely at the behest of Nangong Cheng.

While this might be considered a stereotype, in reality, it doesn't seem like something Ichinose Honami would do. Considering the girl's relationship with Nangong Cheng, Nangong Cheng must be behind this action.

Masatoshi Makoto couldn't imagine how Nangong Cheng knew the identity of the key card holder. After all, he knew Katsuragi's composure and that he wouldn't normally make such a basic mistake.