Ryunosuke left the Student Council room. More precisely, he was kicked out.
The reason was because while playing chess, Manabu felt cornered from losing, then used the excuse of being busy with Student Council work to kick him out. Although they didn't bet points, Ryunosuke's chess ability had already been acknowledged by Arisu. After all, he occasionally played chess with that girl.
The difference was, Arisu usually bet points with him. Thinking about that, Ryunosuke shook his head.
"Forget it, from now on I won't bet with her anymore..."
As someone who considered points more valuable than life, Ryunosuke's decision to give up this opportunity to win points felt unusual. But what could he do—he couldn't ignore Arisu's feelings for him, especially couldn't bear to "prey" on that girl's points again.
Ryunosuke sighed and prepared to go home. Actually, he wasn't completely honest. Regarding the transactions with Class D and Class B, or about Honami owing him a debt of gratitude, those were just excuses he made up.
The main reason was Shiina Hiyori, the leader of Class D, who had a "special" relationship with him. Honestly, they could already be considered a couple. If he was in trouble, Hiyori would definitely help, especially regarding vote gathering.
Then Ryunosuke also had a similar relationship with one of the leaders of Class B, Sakayanagi Arisu. Without even needing a reminder, Arisu already knew what to do and started canvassing votes for him.
Even so, Arisu's control only covered half of Class B. The other half was under the jurisdiction of Yuuki Asuna, which couldn't be intervened by Arisu.
As for why Asuna also gave her vote to Ryunosuke? Mainly because that girl was addicted to playing games and her points were always insufficient.
Imagine, from an allowance of around 100,000 points per month, 85,000 points she spent on games. Ryunosuke could only think to himself that this girl was truly an addict; the type of person who would rather starve than not buy a new skin.
Asuna's current condition was that her points were always depleted, so she needed to borrow from Ryunosuke. Because she didn't want to accept free handouts, she paid that "debt of gratitude" by making lunch for him. Because of this relationship—or perhaps because Ryunosuke was her walking "wallet"—Asuna didn't want Ryunosuke to lose or have problems.
So a rare thing happened: the two great leaders of Class B, Arisu and Asuna, for the first time cooperated to help Ryunosuke win votes. This unusual behavior triggered many rumors. People began whispering that both beautiful leaders had a shady relationship with Ryunosuke.
Well, technically one of them was true... So Ryunosuke didn't deny it. This made the rumors even wilder. Because Asuna, Arisu, and Ryunosuke didn't provide any explanation, the rumor was considered fact.
Why didn't Asuna explain? The reason was simple: lazy.
She was the type of person who felt no need to explain anything as long as she was right. Let people talk, as long as they didn't interfere with her gaming time. Moreover, Ryunosuke was her financial supporter; she needed that man for food and buying gaming equipment.
If she gave an explanation, Ryunosuke might be difficult to ask for money again. So, staying silent was better to keep the cash flow smooth—in this case, exchanging her cooking skills for points.
Ryunosuke was actually a bit surprised by Asuna's behavior, but he let it be. He also benefited; besides getting delicious lunch boxes, Asuna's help in this election had already made him break even. He didn't lose anything at all.
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On the other side, Nagumo began to realize how serious the situation was. He was currently sitting at his desk thinking hard. He couldn't figure out how a first-year student could collect that many votes.
This didn't make sense.
Looking at the total votes, most likely it wasn't just first-years who voted for Ryunosuke, but also upperclassmen. Nagumo didn't need long to guess who.
It must be Class 3-A led by Manabu. Only Manabu would do something like that because the two of them were very close.
The furrow on Nagumo's forehead deepened. He tapped the table with his finger, thinking of ways to turn the situation around. The Student Council President voting lasted for one month, and votes that had already been cast could still be changed before the election period ended. This meant that if someone had already voted for candidate A then changed their mind, they could change their choice to candidate B.
Nagumo got an idea. He immediately searched for data on the first-year leaders. He intended to find their weaknesses or secrets to use as threats. If he could blackmail them into changing their votes to his side, he could win. As Vice President of the Student Council, he had the authority to access underclassmen student data.
He began to search through information on Arisu, Asuna, Honami, and other leaders.
Why wasn't there Hiyori?
Nagumo wasn't stupid; why would he look for trouble with a member of the four zaibatsu? Although Hiyori came from a branch family, she still wasn't someone who could be casually offended.
First, he checked Arisu's profile, but found nothing. The former Board Chairman (Arisu's father) had already considered the risk of his daughter being targeted, so Arisu's profile had been "cleaned" until it was almost empty like white paper.
Nagumo threw that file away in annoyance. He should have known Narumori wouldn't leave any opening for him.
Then he checked Asuna's profile. The contents had no flaws, instead full of achievements. There was no gap to attack. Finally, he opened Honami's profile file, and instantly his eyes sparkled.
He even stood up from being too excited. "Finally found it! Hahahaha!"
Nagumo found a gap to attack Honami. In her personal profile, information was recorded that during junior high, Honami had once been caught shoplifting at a supermarket.
It didn't take long before news that Honami was a thief began to spread widely at school. Because she had indeed done it, she didn't give any explanation, which was considered a tacit admission...