COTE: Popularity System

Honami blinked, a faint smile appearing on her face, "Takada-san, please go ahead."

Takada Hikaru said, "In a little while, people from other classes should come to talk to you, hoping that all groups will result in Outcome 1. At that time, I hope you can cooperate."

"People from other classes?!" Kanzaki Ryūji widened his eyes.

Ichinose Honami also had a confused look on her face.

Takada Hikaru smiled. "It's normal for you to have concerns. For now, I can only say that Class A will not have any losses in this exam. But in exchange, I will lead Class A to achieve good results in the next two special exams."

The two special exams after the VIP Exam are the Sports Festival and the Paper-Shuffle.

The former tests the class's overall athletic ability, and the latter tests the class's overall academic ability.

The class's overall comprehensive ability is exactly Class A's advantage.

Especially with Class B still in internal conflict, Class A's comprehensive ability is infinitely close to number one.

Wanting to lead Class A to victory in these two special exams is not a difficult thing.

Hearing this, Honami and Ryūji looked at each other, nodded in tacit agreement, and then looked back at Takada Hikaru.

Ichinose Honami revealed a gentle smile, her eyes curving into crescents. "Takada-san, we have no problem with this. We will notify the classmates in our class in a while."

Takada Hikaru smiled. "Thank you for the trouble. If the plan goes smoothly, it might just keep that guy from becoming an obstacle to the class."

Hearing this, Honami blinked, her face looking a bit nervous, "By not becoming an obstacle... does that mean, Takada-san, you want to get that student expelled?"

"Honami, you think too highly of me. I don't have the ability to get that guy expelled."

Takada Hikaru shook his head, then smiled mysteriously. "It's just giving him a reason not to participate in class competition."

— — —

The first day of the VIP Exam.

At 8:00 AM, Kushida Kikyo received a message from the school.

[Due to strict adjustments, you have been selected as the VIP for the Dragon Group.]

Upon seeing the message from the school, Kushida Kikyo's pupils constricted, a mix of joy and worry filling her heart.

The joyful part was that she was actually so lucky to have been selected as the VIP. As long as she wasn't guessed by others, she would receive at least 500,000 private points.

The worrying part was that in the upcoming exam, if her identity as the VIP were guessed by the other side, the class points would decrease by 50, and she would immediately be labeled as the one who "exposed her identity and caused class losses."

'I must share this risk.'

Kushida Kikyo did not want to bear the responsibility of exposing her identity alone.

She wanted to inform her classmates Hirata Yosuke and Horikita Suzune as soon as possible that she was the VIP for the Dragon Group. That way, even if her identity were exposed, she could shift the blame onto the other two.

Just as Kushida Kikyo was preparing to send the message, her phone received another message from someone else. However, the person who sent the message this time was not the school, but a student from Class A.

"Takada-san..." Kushida Kikyo's brows furrowed, and her expression turned strange. "What does he want with me?"

Under normal circumstances, she would be very happy to interact more with this celebrity of the first year. But this was a special exam, and if she interacted too much with someone from a different class, it might lead to her being labeled a "traitor" by the students of Class D.

However, if she didn't reply to him, it would conflict with the Angel persona she had worked so hard to cultivate. She still had to reply.

"Hikaru-san, is there something you need? Come to think of it, I did say I would make my best dish for Hikaru-san."

"I'm really looking forward to Hikaru-san's feedback."

Kushida Kikyo typed, sending her message before waiting for a reply.

She wanted to keep the topic as unrelated to the special exam as possible to reduce the risk of being seen as a "traitor."

"I'm also looking forward to Kikyo's cooking." A message came through.

Seeing this, Kushida Kikyo breathed a small sigh of relief. It seemed there was no need to discuss anything related to the special exam.

However, not long after, another message from Takada Hikaru arrived.

"Actually, the reason I'm contacting Kikyo this time is that I want to offer a good suggestion to everyone in Class D."

"I knew it." Kushida Kikyo's expression turned cold.

As the VIP, discussing the special exam with someone from another class was inappropriate. Not to mention, the person she was discussing it with was none other than Takada Hikaru, who had ruthlessly squeezed a large amount of points from Class D.

But after seeing the plan provided by Takada Hikaru, her eyes lit up.

"There's actually such a move."

— — —

1:00 PM.

The conference room where the Dragon Group was located.

Students from each class had arrived at the conference room early to prepare, except for Class C, who arrived right on time.

The leader of Class C, Ryūen Kakeru, had his hands in his pockets with a rampant smile on his face. Behind him followed two guys who looked very tough, looking exactly like yakuza members.

He might have wanted to exert pressure on the people around him in this way. However, the students who were selected for the Dragon Group were all people with strong psychological resilience. His little tricks had no effect whatsoever on Katsuragi Kōhei, Ichinose Honami, Horikita Suzune, and the others.

After everyone followed the school's requirements to introduce themselves and state their names, Ryūen Kakeru spoke first, breaking the stalemate.

"If you're sensible, just stand up yourself, so you don't waste my time."

This man, who used violence to rule his entire class, showed a dismissive attitude toward those around him and said in a threatening tone, "If you make me go to the trouble of finding you, don't think you'll have a good ending."

The person he was referring to was, naturally, the VIP of the Dragon Group.

However, the surrounding students did not take Ryūen Kakeru's threats seriously. They acted as if they hadn't heard anything and continued doing their own things.