COTE: Popularity System

"Ryūen-san, I'm very sorry to disturb your enthusiasm for taking the exam."

The leader of Class A, Ichinose Honami, raised her hand, a helpless smile on her face. "Class A will not participate in the discussion or attempt to answer in this exam."

Once these words were spoken, the students from Class B and Class D looked at her, their eyes filled with surprise.

Ryūen Kakeru was dismissive. "Ichinose, do you think you can maintain Class A's position just by doing nothing? What a naive woman."

Subsequently, he looked at the purple-haired boy sitting beside the girl. "Kanzaki, surely you aren't going to be like her, just cowering in the back without saying a word?"

Kanzaki Ryūji crossed his arms, his expression calm. "Ryūen, give up on your boring provocations."

"Heh, look at how confident you all are right now. I really want to see your desperate expressions after the exam results come out. Just like that guy Katsuragi."

Seeing that Class A really didn't want to participate in the exam, Ryūen Kakeru aimed his target at Class B.

Katsuragi Kōhei, having been called out, was struck in a sore spot, and his expression stiffened.

During the Deserted Island Exam, he had indeed been too confident, thinking he could pull ahead of Class A by over 400 points in one go.

But in the end, not only did he fail to surpass the other side, but he also caused the gap between his class and Class A to widen even further, and he was saddled with an external debt of 800,000 points per month.

"Katsuragi, you seemed to waver just now, didn't you?" Ryūen Kakeru stared intently. "The VIP of the Dragon Group is in your Class B, right?"

Katsuragi Kōhei realized his lapse in composure just now and quickly restored his original calm and collected expression.

"Ryūen, I advise you to give up sooner rather than later. Class B will also not participate in the discussion or answer in this exam."

Hearing his words, Ryūen Kakeru's originally confident expression became incredibly ugly.

Honami and Ryūji from Class A exchanged a glance, then nodded tacitly.

As expected. Just as Takada Hikaru had predicted, after experiencing the disastrous defeat in the Deserted Island Exam, Katsuragi Kōhei could no longer bear the losses of failure, and his actions had indeed become timid. He finally had the look of a conservative.

Ryūen Kakeru said dismissively, "Katsuragi, stop playing factional politics with Sakayanagi and just hand the class over to her already. A coward like you will be chewed up by that woman until not even a scrap is left."

Realizing that both Class A and Class B were slacking off, Ryūen Kakeru set his sights on Class D.

But before he could speak, Kushida Kikyo took the initiative to raise her hand and said with a slight smile, "Ryūen-san, I'm really sorry. Class D will also not participate in the discussion, nor will we answer."

What the hell!

Hearing Kushida Kikyo say this, Ryūen Kakeru's mindset began to crack.

Out of four classes, people from three classes were not participating in the special exam.

What the hell is there to take the exam for!

Watching Ryūen Kakeru barking like a mad dog, Horikita Suzune closed her eyes in sympathy while letting out a faint sigh in her heart.

In the morning, Kushida Kikyo from her class had found her and Hirata Yōsuke, proposing that the class implement a "silent" strategy moving forward.

To not participate in discussions, nor take part in the answering segments, and just spend the entire exam doing nothing.

Horikita Suzune, who wanted to advance to Class A, naturally disagreed. She still wanted to maximize Class Points through the VIP Exam. This defensive strategy, which wouldn't add or deduct points, went against her ideas.

However, Kushida Kikyo convinced her with just one sentence.

"Horikita, do you trust the other students in the class?"

This question left Horikita Suzune speechless.

Did she believe the students of Class D could guess the identity of the other class's VIP, or keep their own VIP's identity from being guessed by others?

The answer was naturally no.

This exam was different from the Deserted Island Exam. If they made a mistake, 50 Class Points would be deducted, with a maximum deduction of 600 Class Points.

Letting that bunch of demons and monsters in Class D do as they pleased would result in the current 220 Class Points being wiped out in the blink of an eye. It would be better to tell them to play on their phones during the exam.

"Students in other groups can adopt a silent approach to avoid mistakes, but is that necessary for our group?"

At the time, Horikita Suzune was still unwilling to give up just like that.

In this group were her, Kushida Kikyo, and Hirata Yosuke—the three most outstanding students in Class D.

Trying to guess the VIP in the same group wasn't a very difficult task.

"Horikita-san, I might have to disappoint you."

Kushida Kikyo took out her phone and showed the school's text message to her. "The VIP of the Dragon Group is me."

Horikita Suzune: "..."

Since the VIP of the Dragon Group was in Class D, then Class D naturally had no possibility of increasing Class Points by guessing the VIP.

—

Rabbit Group.

[Holy crap, Ayanokoji and Money-Giving Guy are clashing!]

[Going this big right from the start?]

[Is this the first head-on confrontation between Money-Giving Guy and Ayanokoji?]

[Actually, this is also the first time Ayanokoji is facing someone head-on (lol).]

After realizing that both Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Takada Hikaru were members of the Rabbit Group, the audience began to look forward to the plot development.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Takada Hikaru were both the type to operate in the shadows. The VIP Exam, however, had put them together, forcing them to face off against each other.

The audience was very much looking forward to the scene of these two big shots clashing.

However, the girls in the same group stole their spotlight.

(End of Chapter)

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