COTE: Popularity System

To prove Sudō Ken's innocence, Horikita Suzune and the others were gathered for a meeting.

"Why do you have to do this in my room?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said in a helpless tone.

He only found out today that the three idiots and Kushida Kikyo had secretly prepared a key card for his room. Even without his consent, these people could enter his room.

The most outrageous thing was that he had been completely unaware of the key card's creation!

The dormitory manager had not asked for his opinion and had actually given Kushida Kikyo and the others permission to make a key card for his room.

It was outrageous!

"Ayanokoji-san, I'm truly sorry."

Kushida Kikyo lowered her gaze slightly and handed over the key card. "Hearing Yamauchi-san's words, I thought Ayanokoji-san had agreed, so I didn't ask further."

"So Yamauchi is the culprit?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka lamented inwardly, 'What kind of brain would think of duplicating someone else's room key card?'

Even he hadn't imagined that such an important item as a key card could be duplicated without the owner's consent.

"Oh, what does it matter?"

Yamauchi Haruki, however, felt no embarrassment at all. "I don't think Ayanokoji dislikes this kind of thing, so let's just make his dorm our gathering spot."

"No... I do mind." Ayanokoji said flatly.

If it were beautiful girls like Horikita or Kushida, it would be fine. But even he didn't want someone like Yamauchi frequently coming to his room.

"Hey!"

Veins popped on Sudō Ken's face as he pounded the table. "Stop with the nonsense! What about my situation?!"

After the violent incident occurred,

he had his movements restricted by the school. Forget going to school, even leaving the dorm was difficult. He was only allowed one hour of outdoor time during meal times. If he accumulated three violations, he would be directly expelled.

These past few days, he could only obediently stay in his dorm, not daring to move around, placing all his hopes on the people in the room.

Horikita Suzune's voice rang out. "Unfortunately, we've asked everyone in the entire school, but no one saw what happened."

"Then what should we do?!"

Veins popped on Sudō Ken's face as he pounded the table in frustration. "I heard that Student Council President with glasses say that if Class C wins the case, I'll be expelled."

The school's regulations regarding violent incidents had become stricter than before, and the penalties were more severe.

If Sudō Ken was indeed determined to have initiated the conflict and severely injured three Class C students, then Class D's class points would immediately drop to 0, and he would also be expelled.

"There's no use getting anxious now. If you hadn't fallen for such a simple provocation, you wouldn't have ended up facing expulsion."

Perhaps because Sudō Ken's tone when mentioning the Student Council President wasn't very good, Horikita Suzune's expression was somewhat displeased.

"I went to the scene of the incident. It's a long way from the basketball club. It's amazing you walked all that way without realizing it was their trap."

"Horikita, don't think that just because you're a woman, I won't lay a hand on you!"

Sudō Ken angrily tried to reach out and grab Horikita Suzune by the collar.

But Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who was next to him, was quick-witted and immediately wrapped his arms around him. "Sudo-kun, calm down. If you lay a hand on Horikita now, you'll really be expelled."

"This..."

Hearing his words, Sudō Ken paused slightly, then lowered his head. "Damn it, neither of you are any help!"

Upon hearing this, both Horikita Suzune and Kushida Kikyo, who usually pretended to be a good girl, couldn't help but frown.

Does this guy know what he's saying? Someone is kindly coming to help you, and you say something like that?

In a place where others couldn't notice, Kushida Kikyo's eyes turned slightly cold, and her gaze towards Sudō Ken held more dissatisfaction.

This was the first time she had met such a detestable person.

Repeated absences and early departures had caused the class points to become 0.

He also failed all subjects in the midterm exams, which led to her borrowing a lot of points from Class A students and Class B students, making her the Debt King among the First Year students.

Borrowing money is always an unlikable act. If she didn't pay it back in time, her reputation in others' eyes would decline.

For Class A students and Class B students, borrowing 10,000 points was no big deal, they didn't even need to pay it back. But the points she borrowed were to save Sudō Ken, and he, in turn, caused the points for the entire First Year to be delayed.

In other words, Kushida Kikyo indirectly harmed the interests of Class A students and Class B students.

These past few days, when interacting with these creditors, she could vaguely sense their dissatisfaction with her.

Who could like someone who had caused them trouble?

Kushida Kikyo now utterly hated Sudō Ken and his group of academic failures. She wished he would be expelled sooner.

"Actually, besides finding a witness, there are other ways to resolve this incident."

Horikita Suzune's words attracted the attention of everyone in the dorm.

"Really?"

Sudō Ken immediately perked up. "There are other ways?"

Horikita Suzune nodded slightly. "If Sudō-kun isn't lying, and it was indeed the Class C students who made the first move, then we can win simply by having the Class C students tell the truth."

"Uh..."

Hearing her idea, Kushida Kikyo's expression was somewhat hesitant. "It shouldn't be easy to get Ishizaki-san and the others from Class C to tell the truth, right?"

"I know, so we need to set up a trap to lure the Class C students into revealing the truth."

Horikita Suzune's eyes looked over, meeting Kushida Kikyo's gaze. "But to complete the plan, we must purchase a camera with private points. Kushida-san, among those present, only you have experience borrowing points from other classes. Can you try again?"

Borrow again?!

She had just borrowed nearly 300,000 points a short while ago, and now she had to borrow again?

No!

Absolutely not!

Kushida Kikyo forced a helpless bitter smile. "For the First Year students, it might not be possible, you know. Class A and Class B have already lent once, and it's probably impossible to borrow from Class C either."

As for Class D, everyone basically eats the free set meal, so naturally, they don't have any points to spare.

Horikita Suzune asked, "Then what about the upperclassmen? Kushida-san should have friends in the upper classes. Can't you borrow from them?"

Borrow, borrow, borrow your head!

Are you trying to force me to become a prostitute?

Kushida Kikyo cursed Horikita in her heart, but on the surface, she maintained a smile. "The Second Year seniors are also tight on points. Although the Third Year seniors have points, they'll be graduating soon, and seeing our class points are so low, knowing there's no hope of repayment, they probably won't lend either."

To prevent Horikita Suzune from continuing, Kushida Kikyo even proactively made up excuses for the upperclassmen. Anyway, she would not borrow again and lower her reputation.

Horikita Suzune seemed to have anticipated Kushida Kikyo's refusal. "What about Takada-san from Class 1-A? He has a lot of points, and you have a good relationship with him. If you're friends, he should be able to lend you some points, right?"

Huh?

Kushida Kikyo was stunned.

You actually found a breakthrough point for this?