COTE: Popularity System

'Horikita, are you out of ideas again?'

Watching Horikita Suzune's face look bewildered and Kushida Kikyo weeping into her hands, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, expressionless with lowered eyelids, looking as if he hadn't fully woken up, knew it was time for him to act.

Long ago, he already had a good idea of how to handle this incident.

The strangest part of this incident wasn't Class 1-C's unprovoked instigation, nor was it Sudō Ken's ability to beat up three Class 1-C students without injury.

Rather, it was the fact that the Student Council and the school demanded Sudō Ken prove that Class 1-C initiated the provocation and struck first.

Affected by this demand, the course of action taken by Horikita Suzune and the Class D students went astray from the very beginning.

In Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's view, proving that Class 1-C struck first was meaningless. After all, judging by the current situation, Sudō Ken, who severely injured three Class 1-C students, would undoubtedly not escape punishment.

Although it wouldn't lead to expulsion, the penalty would certainly wipe out the few class points Class D possessed.

Therefore, Class D could counterattack this incident from the following two angles.

1. Demand Class 1-C produce evidence that Sudō Ken provoked them and struck first.

2. Deny that Sudō Ken inflicted severe injuries on them, demanding Class 1-C produce corresponding evidence.

The first point is to fight fire with fire. Since the Student Council demanded Sudō Ken prove his innocence, Class D could conversely demand the Class 1-C students prove their claims. If the rhetoric is skillful, the Student Council should apply the same standard to Class 1-C.

The second point is similar. The Student Council's demand is essentially demonstrating the school's judgment standard to the students: everything must be backed by evidence.

As long as Sudō adamantly denies severely injuring the Class 1-C students, Class 1-C must provide surveillance footage or other evidence.

But what if Sudō genuinely inflicted severe injuries on those guys?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka thought that was unlikely.

He had seen the injuries of the Class 1-C students, and they were undoubtedly quite serious.

Furthermore, based on his understanding of Sudō, he knew that although he had a bad temper, his personality wasn't exactly brutal.

Even when facing a three-on-one group fight, his personality meant he would at most land a few punches on each person's face. He wouldn't beat them to the point of needing bandages.

In other words, Class 1-C was definitely lying about this. They intentionally injured their own people severely in order to frame Sudō.

Just based on this point, Class D might not only successfully navigate this incident but also potentially turn the tables and threaten Class 1-C.

'Although Horikita's actions failed, they represent some progress compared to before.'

The old Horikita probably wouldn't even have thought of a plan to use the cameras to deceive others.

This time, the plan failed simply because the intelligence gathering was insufficient. Hopefully, this lesson can serve as nourishment to help her grow.

"I have a few things to attend to, so I'll just..."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was about to look for videos captured by nearby cameras and was preparing an excuse to leave. But right then, his terminal vibrated slightly.

"Yamauchi?" He felt strange looking at the caller's name.

In his experience, anything involving Yamauchi was never urgent. But he could use this call as an excuse to temporarily leave the area.

"I have a few things I need to discuss with Yamauchi, so please excuse me."

He walked down the stairs while speaking, and only answered the call once he was some distance away from the girls.

"Yamauchi, what do you need me for?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka answered the call, asking casually.

"Ayanokoji, something terrible has happened!" An agitated voice came from the other end. "Sudō, he..."

"Don't rush, just tell me slowly."

"He's been expelled!"

Although Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's expression didn't change upon hearing the voice from the other end of the phone, internally, a question mark arose.

Ayanokoji: ?

—

The Real World.

After learning about Sudō's expulsion.

Burner, who was watching the anime, widened his eyes and involuntarily clapped his hands.

"Holy crap!"

"Awesome!"

"Serves him right!"

After delivering the triple dose of quality comments, Burner continued watching.

It turned out that while Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and the others were thinking about how to help Sudō resolve his predicament, Sudō was taking advantage of lunchtime to eat at the school cafeteria.

However, while eating, he overheard students from Class 1-B and Class 1-C talking. In short, the Class 1-B students planned to pretend to be witnesses in order to force him into expulsion.

With Sudō's short temper, he couldn't tolerate being framed by shameless scoundrels, and after being jointly mocked by the students from Class B and Class C, he immediately started a fight in the cafeteria.

Besides being suspended and restricted, Sudō was actually still under the school's probation period. If he committed another fighting incident during this period, he would be directly expelled without question.

Although Sudō claimed that people from those two classes provoked him first, without relevant audio recordings as evidence, the camera footage only showed him striking first.

By the time Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and the others reacted, Sudō Ken had long been subdued by the school security personnel and had completed the expulsion procedures.

"Oh, so Class B entered the fray too." Burner was a bit surprised.

When he saw Ayanokoji Kiyotaka devising an action plan, he thought Sudō Ken was genuinely going to get whitewashed and clear his name as previously expected.

But contrary to his expectations, people from other classes acted while Sudō Ken was alone, getting him expelled.

Moreover, Class 1-C wasn't the only one involved, Class B also participated.

The following scene was a conversation between Ryūen Kakeru, the leader of Class 1-C, and Sakayanagi Arisu, the leader of Class 1-B.

Sakayanagi Arisu had a joyful smile on her face. "Ryūen-san, I have already covered the loopholes in your plan. According to the contract, you should transfer this month's 800,000 Private Points now."

"Tch."

Ryūen Kakeru frowned in displeasure, operating his terminal with his finger.

Soon, a large amount of Private Points was transferred into Sakayanagi Arisu's account.

"I have indeed received it." Sakayanagi Arisu stood up from her seat. "Well then, I shall take my leave."

Looking at her retreating figure, Ryūen Kakeru showed a ferocious smile. "Sakayanagi, don't get too smug. Once I tear Class D apart, Class B will be next."

"Then I look forward to your challenge, Ryuuen."

Sakayanagi Arisu didn't even look back, leaving the Class 1-C classroom with a few of her subordinates.

Seeing her nonchalant attitude, Ryūen Kakeru sneered, "This school is becoming more and more interesting."

Following this sentence, Ryūen Kakeru's recollection appeared in the viewers' minds in the form of a flashback.