Although Shiina was not very sociable, she was observant and intelligent. She immediately pointed out Tokito's real goal.
Her analysis was also well supported, and everyone present felt that what she said made perfect sense.
Tokito had taken the initiative to protect himself. To avoid being expelled as the person his class did not need, he contacted people in the class and turned their attention toward Ibuki.
"As expected of you, Shiina. You saw through Tokito's goal right away."
Kaneda adjusted his glasses and said this with a smile.
Shiina glanced at him, then gave him an innocent, harmless smile.
"So, what should we do next? We can't just sit back and watch his plan succeed, can we?" Ishizaki's presence helped move the conversation forward.
"Since Tokito wants to protect himself by pushing Ibuki into expulsion, we can use the same method against him."
"You mean we should expel Tokito?"
"Exactly. If he can make the first move, then naturally we can make the next one." Shiina nodded. "Besides, I think everyone in Class C has probably realized this already."
After hearing Shiina's suggestion, Kaneda only needed a moment to think before agreeing.
"Wait. When you say everyone has realized this, do you mean they know that the person Ryuen said the class didn't need was Tokito?"
"Yes. Over the past few days, several people have contacted me privately to ask whether that person was Tokito."
A smile appeared on Shiina's face, while Kaneda fell silent.
"Heh heh, I underestimated everyone. Still, just to be safe, we should do something."
"I agree, but we have to do this quietly. Tokito absolutely cannot find out."
"Right. Let's treat it as a surprise for Tokito."
…
After discussing things for a while longer, the brief gathering came to an end.
After leaving the room, Manabe let out a long sigh of relief.
Great. Whether Ibuki or Tokito gets expelled, I'm safe either way.
Once Shiina and the others decided to move against Tokito as the student to be expelled, Kamio Tatsuya quickly sensed that the mood in Class C had changed again.
The hostility that had originally been directed at Ibuki gradually faded and began gathering around Tokito instead.
Kamio Tatsuya did not know what had happened, but he knew that someone in Class C had taken action. Someone had understood what Ryuen's words meant.
They had realized that Tokito was the student who most deserved to be expelled.
What surprised Kamio Tatsuya somewhat was that Tokito seemed not to have noticed. Or perhaps he had noticed but simply did not care?
Well, either way, they would know the result on Saturday.
As the saying went, only after the tide went out could you see who had been swimming naked.
Maybe Tokito really had not noticed.
The days passed one after another. Then Saturday arrived. Although it was normally a day off, the first-year students still got up at the same time as they did on school days and went to their classrooms.
However, since they did not need to attend classes, they did not need to bring schoolbags or anything like that.
The students in Class A were not worried about this exam because they had enough points to save a classmate from expulsion.
Class B had taken roughly the same approach. To prevent Sakayanagi from going back on her word at the last moment, they had already handed their private points to Mashima-sensei.
They had also specified that the points could only be used in this special class-voting exam.
However, Sakayanagi would receive class points from Class A as well—or rather, she had made an agreement with the students in Class A that every one of them would give her an approval vote.
"Sakayanagi, you may not be able to get the protection points this time."
Before the exam began, Katsuragi went to speak with Sakayanagi.
"Oh? Are the students planning to go back on their word?"
"No. I mean that the protection points will be affected by approval votes from the other classes." Katsuragi shook his head.
Sakayanagi looked at Katsuragi with curiosity.
"This is not an idea you came up with yourself. Did Kamio tell you about it?"
Katsuragi glanced at Sakayanagi. As expected, she was impressive. Class B was probably the only class with someone capable of facing that monster, Kamio.
Katsuragi nodded and sighed.
"That's right. He told me about it a few days ago. I've been thinking about how to deal with it ever since, but I haven't come up with a good solution."
"The solution is actually quite simple, Katsuragi." A smile appeared at the corner of Sakayanagi's mouth. "We just need to figure out who Kamio-kun wants to receive the protection points."
"You mean we should concentrate our criticism votes on the person they are planning to give all their approval votes to?" Katsuragi's mind clicked, and he immediately understood what Sakayanagi meant.
"Exactly."
Katsuragi shook his head.
"That will be difficult. We have no way of guessing who he wants to receive the protection points. Any of the thirty-nine students in the class could be chosen."
"No, I think the answer is quite obvious." Sakayanagi smiled. "Later, concentrate all our criticism votes on Masumi."
"You think it's Kamuro?"
"The relationship between those two is unusual, after all. Compared with the others, Masumi is more likely to receive a large number of approval votes."
Sakayanagi did not guarantee that this was the answer. She only said that Masumi was somewhat more likely.
In reality, this was the only resistance she could offer. Kamio Tatsuya could simply choose someone at random and make that person Class B's lucky winner.
"Should we use the same method and make sure the protection points in Class C go to someone other than Kamio and Ryuen?"
"Do whatever you want, but I doubt it will work. And it would not mean much anyway. Class C has a huge number of private points, so even without the protection points, their advantage would not change."
Katsuragi glanced at Sakayanagi and fell into thought.
At the same time, Class D was as chaotic as usual.
Once these students learned that nobody would be expelled this time, they simply gave up. After signing such a harsh agreement, they had almost no hope of moving up to a higher class.
However, most of the students in Class D seemed to have grown used to their current lives, so the matter did not affect them much.
Just before the exam began, Horikita walked up to the podium.
"Everyone, give all your approval votes to Ayanokouji. This is Kamio's request. He wants the protection points for Class D to go to Ayanokouji.
"As for the criticism votes for students from other classes, write Kamio Tatsuya's name."
As she said this, Horikita glanced at Ayanokouji with a complicated look. However, he still wore the same deadpan expression.
The students in Class D also looked at Ayanokouji to varying degrees, and many of them had a flash of jealousy in their eyes.
Is he really that close to Kamio Tatsuya?
Or did he do something that made Kamio Tatsuya decide to give him the protection points?
"As for the criticism votes, write my name. I'll use private points afterward to prevent my expulsion."
The students in Class D had no objections. They had already signed away their freedom, so what else could they do? All they could do was follow his instructions.
Unlike the other three classes, the students in Class C were not nearly as relaxed.
If things went badly, someone really could be expelled.
At least, that was what many of the students thought, and they were worried.
"Write my name and Kamio's name on your approval votes. As for the criticism votes…" Ryuen looked around the class with an amused smile. "Write whatever you like."
Time passed minute by minute.
At last, it was time for the official voting.
"The class-voting exam will now begin. When your name is called, go to the voting room alone."
Since everyone voted separately, there was no need to worry about anyone seeing what they wrote. The school had taken great care to preserve the secrecy of the vote.
Unfortunately, it was not very useful.
"Remember, you cannot write your own name on either approval votes or criticism votes. When voting for students from other classes, you may only cast approval votes."
After repeating the rules once more, Okabe-sensei began calling names, and the students left the classroom one by one.
However, everyone already knew what they were going to write, so each person finished voting quickly.
Soon it was Kamio Tatsuya's turn. Once he arrived at the voting area and looked at the ballot in front of him, he wrote down his choices without hesitation.
Approval votes: Ryuen Kakeru, Shiina Hiyori, and Mio Ibuki.
Ryuen and Shiina had to be included. As for Ibuki, she was just an extra precaution.
For his criticism votes, Kamio Tatsuya first wrote down Yuya Tokito's name. He then randomly chose two other students from the class and wrote their names as well.
As for the approval vote for a student from another class, Kamio Tatsuya smiled and wrote down one person's name. This had been decided beforehand.
The exam ended not long after he returned to the classroom, and everyone waited there for the results.
The votes were counted in real time, so the school had practically finished calculating the results as soon as the last student in the entire year finished voting.
The final results were announced shortly after the exam ended.
"Thank you for waiting. I will now announce the results of Class C's voting exam. Everyone, return to your seats."
The students in Class C returned to their seats and looked toward Okabe-sensei on the podium.
"There were no ties for first place or last place in this exam, so there is no need for a second round.
"I'll begin by announcing the three students with the most approval votes. In third place—Ryuen Kakeru, with forty votes."
Ryuen had received forty approval votes, yet he had only come in third?
The students in the class were shocked. Kamio Tatsuya and Ryuen, however, were not surprised. Clearly, approval votes from other classes had been concentrated on someone in Class C.
"Second place: Satoru Kaneda, with fifty-seven votes."
The students were even more surprised this time. Kaneda was intelligent, had plenty of friends, and was a man of action, but his relationships with students in the other classes were actually quite ordinary.
Yet he had received as many as fifty-seven approval votes.
The students in Class C immediately understood. Someone must have manipulated the approval votes that could be cast for students from other classes.
Was it Class A or Class B?
It could not have been Class D, could it?
Kamio Tatsuya knew the answer very well. He had already arranged for Class A to give its approval votes to Yahiko Totsuka. As for Class D, he had naturally told them to vote for him.
"First place: Kamio Tatsuya, with seventy-six votes."
Ryuen had unexpectedly failed to come in first. Despite receiving forty votes, he had not received the class's protection points.
However, the vote count made it clear that every student in the class had voted for Ryuen, including Tokito. There was no way students from other classes would vote for Ryuen.
"What's going on?"
The students in Class C were confused, but Kamio Tatsuya and Ryuen remained calm.
They both understood that the other classes might interfere by supporting someone other than the two of them.
The difference was that Ryuen had not taken precautions, while Kamio Tatsuya had.
As a result, the protection points went to Kamio Tatsuya.
Ryuen naturally knew about this. Before Kamio Tatsuya went to crush Class D that day, he had told Ryuen what he planned to do.
Ryuen's response had been: "I'm not interested."
So Kamio Tatsuya naturally accepted the protection points.
"Quiet. Next, I'll announce the three students with the most criticism votes."
Okabe-sensei's tone became serious, and the students in the class began to feel inexplicably tense.
They had followed the plan, but what if someone else had made a different plan?
Most of the students thought they would not come in last, but there was always a chance.
"First, third from the bottom: Takeko Nishino, with negative eight votes."
Takeko Nishino was one of the girls in the class. Like Ibuki, she did not have many friends in the class, so it was likely that the other girls had targeted her.
However, she was only third from the bottom, so it was not a serious problem.
"Next, second from the bottom: Mio Ibuki, with negative eighteen votes."
As soon as Okabe said this, Tokito jumped to his feet.
"Impossible!"
"Tokito, is there something you want to say?"
Okabe glanced at him, his tone extremely cold.
"I, I…"
"Last place: Yuya Tokito, with negative forty votes."
Okabe did not give Tokito a chance to speak. He announced the final result directly.
"According to the results of this exam, you are expelled."
"No! That's impossible!" Tokito's expression became frantic. "You promised to give the criticism votes to Ibuki! Why did this happen?"
"They did give criticism votes to Ibuki. But that does not mean they could not also give criticism votes to you. After all, everyone had three criticism votes."
Kaneda was the one who answered Tokito's question.
Just as Shiina had said, the students in Class C had already included Tokito among the possible candidates for expulsion.
When Kaneda contacted them to make absolutely sure, none of the students in Class C were surprised.
So that was it. Even if Ibuki had done nothing in this exam, she still would not have been expelled.
As for why Ibuki had received only negative eighteen votes, it was naturally because some people had not given her criticism votes. Instead, they had given her approval votes.
Only eleven people had to give Ibuki approval votes for her to avoid expulsion.
Ryuen, Kamio, Ibuki, Shiina, Kaneda, Yamada, and Ishizaki—that made seven people. The remaining voters were probably Manabe and the others.
At this point, Kamio Tatsuya glanced at Kaneda.
Was this guy the one who had come up with the plan?
Most likely.
As for how it had happened, Kamio Tatsuya could guess. Ryuen had already told him that Tokito had started taking action.
After that, Kaneda and the others had taken countermeasures.
They had probably persuaded the other students in the class to give Tokito a criticism vote while also voting against Manabe.
That way, everyone voted against Tokito, while Kaneda and the others did not vote against Ibuki. In fact, they had even given her approval votes.
That created the difference.
As a result, Tokito had achieved an excellent final-place finish.
Tokito seemed unable to accept reality. He sat there in stunned silence.
Okabe-sensei glanced at him, then turned his eyes toward Ryuen.
"This is impossible! Why am I the one being expelled? Weren't we supposed to expel Ibuki?"
Still unable to accept reality, Tokito looked at each of the people who had attended the gathering that day. None of them showed any guilt.
"Tokito, don't you think you're making a fool of yourself at this point?"
"Suzuki! You promised me! You promised to expel Ibuki!"
The student Tokito pointed at was Hidetoshi Suzuki, one of the stronger all-around students in the class and a member of the Dragon Group during the VIP test.
"Kaneda already explained this clearly. Besides, we had already decided to expel you before you invited us to that gathering.
"We only agreed to attend because we wanted to see what you were planning. So, how was our acting? Not bad, right?"
Not only was Tokito stunned by these words, but Manabe was stunned too.
What did he just say?
Those people had been acting?
No way. I didn't notice at all.
So I was the only one who had been kept in the dark. Damn it!
"Why?"
"You're still asking why at this point?" Hidetoshi Suzuki was completely speechless. He had even lost the desire to explain anything to him.
When Suzuki stopped talking, Okabe turned his eyes toward Ryuen.
"Ryuen, you should have enough points to save him. What do you say? Will you save Tokito?"
Everyone turned to look at Ryuen. He had said before that if they chose the wrong person, he would use his points to save that student.
So was Tokito really the person Ryuen had said the class did not need?
"True, I have more than twenty million points. But I made it very clear before the exam that Tokito would not receive any of them.
"So Tokito, be a good boy and leave quietly."
Ryuen made his decision without hesitation.
"In that case, Tokito, come with me. The withdrawal process will take some time."
After hearing Okabe's words, Tokito did not throw a tantrum as expected. Instead, he left the classroom in a daze.
After Tokito left, Ryuen walked up to the podium.
"Some of you may be wondering who the person I said the class did not need was. In that case, let me say this…"
Ryuen looked down at the students and smiled.
"Well done, you little brats."
The students in Class C became excited when Ryuen praised them.
This was the first time Ryuen had ever acknowledged their contribution, so even they were extremely happy.
That raised a question. Considering Ryuen's personality, even if the students had done exactly what he expected, he normally would not have praised them so directly.
This had to do with the bet he had made with Kamio Tatsuya.
Ryuen had not believed that the students in Class C could correctly choose Tokito, so the two of them had made a bet.
If the students in Class C expelled Tokito without any interference from Ryuen or Kamio, Ryuen would praise them like a proper leader.
If the person chosen in the end was not Tokito, the person who received the protection points would have to use their private points to save that student.
Well, either way, Kamio Tatsuya could not lose.
At the same time, the exam results for the other classes were announced as well.
In Class B, Shigeru Takemoto came in last. Private points were then used to save him and prevent his expulsion.
As for the protection points, they naturally went to Masumi Kamuro, who came in first with forty-two approval votes.
Those votes had not come from only one class. They had come from two classes.
To make sure the protection points for Class B did not go to Sakayanagi, Kamio Tatsuya had specifically gone to speak with Ichinose.
In exchange for four hundred thousand private points and a promise not to interfere with Class A, he got every approval vote from Class A to go to Masumi Kamuro of Class B.
The arrangement was not without benefits for Class A either, so Ichinose agreed after giving it some thought.
In the end, Class A and Class C together cast a total of eighty-one approval votes for students from other classes, causing Class B's protection points to go to Masumi Kamuro.
Did the reason for choosing her really need to be explained?
There were no surprises in Class A or Class D. Their protection points went to Ichinose and Ayanokouji respectively.
They also used private points to save their classmates.
And with that, the exam came to an end. In the final results, Classes A and B each lost twenty million private points.
Class C lost one student to expulsion: Yuya Tokito.
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