After Tokito turned everyone's attention toward Ibuki Mio, almost no one in the private room spoke. Instead, they quietly considered whether the idea might work.
In Class C, Ibuki Mio's overall abilities were nothing special. Her only real strengths were her decent athletic ability and the fact that she could fight.
But there were plenty of people who could fight better than Ibuki. Ishizaki and Yamada were both stronger than her, and when it came to athletic ability, people like Kinoshita in the class were no worse than she was.
So even if they lost Ibuki, it would not have much of an effect on the class.
More importantly, she did not have many friends in the class. Most students were indifferent toward her, so even if she were expelled, nobody would really care.
It could work!
After a simple analysis, they all felt that this plan was practical and that targeting Ibuki would have a good chance of succeeding.
Everyone present had their own little circles within Class C, and those circles included most of the class.
If so many people focused their punishment votes on Ibuki, there was a very good chance they would succeed.
"If it's Ibuki, I have no objections."
Manabe immediately agreed to Tokito's proposal.
As expected, you were the first to agree, Tokito thought as he nodded.
Tokito had already learned that Manabe and the others had a poor relationship with Ibuki, so his main reason for suggesting her was to get Manabe to agree first.
These people basically had no opinions of their own. As long as the person being targeted was neither themselves nor one of their friends, and it would not affect Class C's future, there was nothing they would refuse to do.
With Manabe leading the way, the others nodded one after another. They said they would explain the matter to the people in their own circles and work together to target Ibuki.
As for keeping it secret, nobody really cared. Ryuen had said there was someone in the class who was unnecessary, so why couldn't that person be Ibuki?
She was alone and had no power. What could she do even if they bullied her? Nobody would stand up for her anyway!
"Good. Since that's settled, we'll all give our punishment votes to Ibuki. Once we do that, we'll be safe."
After achieving his goal, Tokito smiled.
The gathering ended soon afterward, and everyone in the private room left. It was Tuesday, and the vote would take place on Saturday, so they did not have much time.
Half an hour later, Manabe hesitantly dialed a phone number.
"Hello? Ryuen? There's something I want to tell you…"
When Ryuen received Manabe's call, an amused smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Tokito really was not disappointing him.
Still, that guy seemed a little smarter this time. He had actually chosen Ibuki as his target.
To be honest, Ibuki had not contributed much to the class over the past year. But that was only how an ordinary person would see it.
The truth was that Class C would never have become what it was without Ibuki.
Ibuki deserved some of the credit for Kamio Tatsuya joining Class C. At the time, she had done an excellent job acting as the go-between.
If someone else had been sent to Class D as a spy, the outcome might not have been the same.
Well, those were just excuses Ryuen was making for himself. He had no intention of letting Ibuki be expelled in this exam.
Ibuki might have treated him badly, but she was still one of his subordinates, and she had been among the first people to follow him.
"How do you want me to handle this?" Manabe asked carefully.
"Heh. Just do whatever you think is right. I already told you that I won't interfere with this exam. When you make the wrong choice, I'll naturally step in and save you."
With that, Ryuen hung up, leaving Manabe staring blankly at her phone.
What… what did he mean?
Was he really going to do nothing?
Ibuki was one of the first people to follow him. Was he really going to stand by and let everyone target her?
Wait. He said "when you make the wrong choice"…
That meant Ibuki was not his preferred candidate for expulsion.
Manabe was not a very smart person, so she could not understand what Ryuen was trying to do.
No…
She needed to discuss this with someone.
But who?
Kamio?
He would have been a good choice, but his attitude this time had been obvious. He did not care about the outcome of the exam, and he might not interfere at all.
The students of Class C saw Kamio and Ryuen as being completely united, so Kamio's opinion was essentially the same as Ryuen's command.
Since Ryuen had not directly named anyone, Kamio certainly would not say anything either.
Then who could she discuss it with?
After thinking it over again and again, Manabe could come up with only two names: Kaneda Satoru and Shiina Hiyori.
Those two were probably the smartest people in the class aside from Kamio and Ryuen. They should know who Ryuen wanted to expel.
Shiina in particular might have heard something from Kamio Tatsuya.
Unlike the other girls, Manabe had no interest in Kamio Tatsuya. Although he looked harmless, she was actually afraid of him.
Because of that, she did not dislike Shiina nearly as much.
All right. She would talk it over with them tomorrow.
On Wednesday, the moment Ibuki entered the classroom, she sensed that something was wrong. As someone trained in martial arts, she was extremely sensitive to the gazes around her.
Within just a few minutes of entering the room, she noticed countless eyes sweeping over her.
The tense atmosphere from the day before had become much more relaxed today.
Could they have decided that I'm the person Ryuen was talking about—the one who should be expelled?
At that thought, Ibuki's heart sank.
No!
I have to save myself!
But an entire day passed, and she still could not think of any way to do it.
What should she do?
Should she ask Ryuen for help?
Or should she go to Kamio?
As far as Ibuki knew, the only people in Class C who could save her were Kamio Tatsuya and Ryuen.
But whenever she imagined the expressions on their faces after she begged them for help, and how they might mock her with sarcastic remarks, her chest started to ache.
No way. I would rather be expelled than bow my head to those two bastards!
Just as Ibuki was thinking this, someone blocked the light in front of her. When she looked up, she saw that the huge idiot Ishizaki was standing in her way.
Yamada was standing beside him.
"What are you doing?"
"Uh…" Ishizaki hesitated. "It looks like the other students in the class are keeping an eye on you."
The moment he brought that up, Ibuki's expression grew even darker. She glared fiercely at Ishizaki. That guy really knew how to bring up the worst possible subject.
"What's it got to do with you?"
"Don't say it like that. We're all partners who follow Big Brother Ryuen. I can't just stand by and watch you get expelled."
Ishizaki scratched his head.
He did not have any special feelings toward Ibuki. It was just that they had all been serving Ryuen since the beginning.
Watching Ibuki get surrounded and attacked by the others was not his style.
Yamada, standing behind him, felt the same way.
"Do you have a solution? Even if you and Yamada give me praise votes, it won't change the result."
Ibuki looked at Ishizaki and asked him back. She certainly did not believe he had any way to solve the problem.
She had planned to use the question to make Ishizaki give up, but instead of looking embarrassed, he broke into a bright smile.
He even gave her a thumbs-up.
"Don't worry. I don't have a solution myself, but I just went to discuss it with Shiina and Kaneda. Even if they can't think of anything, I can still ask Kamio and Big Brother Ryuen."
Seeing Ishizaki's expression, Ibuki's face twitched.
Sometimes, she really envied his personality.
"Lead the way."
When Ibuki finally agreed, Ishizaki happily led her toward the shopping center.
Not far away, Kamio Tatsuya had witnessed their conversation. He could only shake his head helplessly.
That personality of Ibuki's…
About ten minutes later, Ishizaki pushed open the door of a private karaoke room in the shopping center and walked in with Ibuki and Yamada.
Three people were already inside: two girls and one boy—Shiina, Manabe, and Kaneda.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Ishizaki greeted the three of them as soon as he entered. Yamada simply nodded, as quiet as ever.
Ibuki frowned when she saw Manabe. She could not understand why that woman was there.
Manabe, however, did not look surprised to see Ibuki. She had clearly already heard about the situation from Shiina and Kaneda.
"Now that everyone is here, could you explain exactly what happened, Manabe?"
After Ibuki and the others took their seats, Shiina took charge of the conversation.
That morning, Manabe had messaged Kaneda and Shiina, saying that she wanted to discuss something with them about the exam.
After thinking it over, Kaneda and Shiina agreed. They arranged to meet here after school.
After classes ended, Ishizaki noticed that Ibuki was in a difficult situation, so he also asked Kaneda for help. Kaneda then suggested that Ishizaki bring Ibuki along so they could discuss everything together.
Once Shiina finished speaking in the private room, Manabe immediately explained what had happened at Tokito's gathering the day before.
Shiina and Kaneda asked her several questions during the explanation, and Manabe answered every one of them without holding anything back.
"So Tokito and the others joined forces and decided to target Ibuki?"
"That's right. At first, that guy even suggested that everyone give their punishment votes to Ryuen and Kamio. He thought they had so many private points that it wouldn't matter even if they accidentally received the most punishment votes."
Manabe did not hold back at all when she sold Tokito out.
"Ibuki, have you had some kind of falling-out with Tokito?"
"I don't remember having one." Ibuki's tone was unpleasant, or rather, irritated. "What the hell is that guy trying to do? I barely even know him."
It made sense. Anyone would be upset at being targeted for no reason.
Ibuki was not the only one who looked annoyed. Ishizaki also wore an unhappy expression.
He did not like Tokito either.
The reason was simple. Tokito had always opposed Ryuen behind the scenes. As Ryuen's loyal supporter, Ishizaki naturally disliked him.
If Ryuen had not kept him in check, then with Ishizaki's personality, he would probably have gone after Tokito long ago, beating him up every other day.
Tokito might look fairly big and strong, but Ishizaki did not think much of him. He felt he could deal with Tokito using just one hand.
"What are you planning to do?"
Manabe looked at Kaneda and Shiina, who had remained silent, and asked them.
"Let's set that aside for now. How do I know that what you're saying is true, Manabe?"
Kaneda asked casually. In reality, he already believed Manabe. There were no holes in her story.
Besides, Kaneda had also been thinking about who Ryuen meant by the person who needed to be expelled.
In the end, he had reached one conclusion: it might be Tokito.
Kaneda believed that Class C was now a nearly perfect group.
Ryuen had tied the class's strength together, while Kamio Tatsuya worked with him to control that power.
Both of them were highly capable, especially Kamio Tatsuya. Even Ryuen had failed to gain an advantage over him in the past.
So Kaneda had great faith in the two of them. He truly believed they could lead Class C up to Class A.
Therefore, the person in the class who was not part of that united group—or who was even holding it back—should be the person Ryuen had been referring to.
And that person…
After thinking for a long time, Kaneda could come up with only one name: Tokito.
Tokito thought his efforts to contact the opposition and stir up trouble were well hidden. In reality, Kaneda's connections in the class were not bad either.
Sometimes, what mattered was not how outstanding someone's abilities were, but whether they could follow orders.
Otherwise, they were nothing more than a scattered group of individuals.
That was why Kaneda did not doubt Manabe's story. What he needed to do was make Shiina believe that Tokito really was behind it.
That was why he had asked the question, hoping Manabe would provide more evidence.
However, the moment he said this, Ishizaki looked at him suspiciously. The corner of Kaneda's mouth twitched twice.
"I didn't expect Tokito to say that at the time, so I have no evidence." Manabe shook her head, then added, "I told Ryuen about it, but he clearly didn't want to get involved. He said we should handle it ourselves."
"I believe you, Manabe."
Shiina's sudden statement left everyone else stunned. Even Manabe looked at Shiina in surprise.
"Tokito has been unhappy about Tatsuya joining Class C from the very beginning. He even refused to hand over his points when Ryuen collected the reward points from the preferred students.
"Still, I can understand why Tokito would do something like this. He was trying to protect himself."
"Protect himself?"
Question marks seemed to appear over everyone's heads at once.
"Yes. Ryuen already made it clear that day that if everyone voted Tokito out, he would not use any points to save him.
"You all know Ryuen well. He would not easily abandon one of his companions, even if Tokito had not contributed any points.
"If Ryuen truly believed that Tokito was indispensable to the class, he would definitely save him."
Shiina's words made everyone in the room suddenly understand.
So that was what Ryuen had meant that day.
He did not consider Tokito a companion at all. Otherwise, he would have saved him.
Tokito was not the only person in the class who had failed to contribute money. There was also someone else, but Ryuen had not specifically said that he would refuse to save that person.
That person was Kamio Tatsuya.
He had come from Class D, so naturally he had not contributed any money to the collection. Technically, he should not have been on the list of people Ryuen would save either.
But Ryuen had mentioned only Tokito's name. That was actually a signal.
Unfortunately, most of Class C had failed to notice it. Now that Shiina had pointed it out, the others, including Kaneda, finally understood.
"I see! So that's what it meant!" Kaneda nodded as the realization sank in. Then he thought of something else. "So Tokito realized this too, and that's why he secretly contacted the others and made Ibuki the target?"
"I don't know whether he understood what Ryuen meant, but either way, he is different from the others. He has no protection.
"He may have wanted to be safer, which is why he contacted the others and encouraged them to target Ibuki."
Shiina shook her head without making any guarantees.
But was that really what had happened?
In reality, the moment Shiina heard from Manabe that Tokito had wanted everyone to give their punishment votes to Kamio, she decided to put forward this explanation.
She did not want any students in the class to be expelled, but since Tokito had dared to do something like this, he had to pay the price.
So whether or not that was what Ryuen meant, it was what Shiina meant.
As for whether Manabe and Kaneda believed her, their expressions said it all.
Since Tokito had gone so far as to target her beloved Kamio Tatsuya, Shiina had no reason to be polite to him.
Between Kamio and Tokito, she would naturally choose to stand on Kamio Tatsuya's side.
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