COTE: Popularity System

Night.

Kanzaki Ryūji returned to the room with a puzzled expression, and the first thing he did upon seeing Takada was was ask a question.

"Takada-san, was the person you mentioned referring to Kōenji?"

During the second group discussion, Class D, which had originally planned not to speak, broke the silence and demanded that the members of the Dragon Group hold a meeting elsewhere after the discussion concluded.

Upon arriving at the agreed location, they saw a man with long blonde hair resting his feet on the table, filing his nails with a nail clipper, his demeanor exuding an air of supreme arrogance.

That person was none other than Kōenji Rokusuke, the only son of the Kōenji Zaibatsu, currently residing in Class D.

"Does Rokosuke-san want all groups to achieve Outcome One?" Takada Hikaru looked over with a slight smile.

He had reminded Ichinose Honami and Kanzaki Ryūji yesterday that someone would soon step forward, hoping all groups would achieve Outcome One.

Now, Kōenji Rokusuke had appeared before everyone and, just as he had predicted, demanded that people from the four classes follow his command, causing all 12 groups to achieve Outcome One.

"He said he had confirmed the VIPs for all groups."

Kanzaki Ryūji paused, looking over with hesitation. "That must have been information you provided him, right?"

"That's right. After the first discussion ended, I roughly figured out how the VIPs were selected." Takada Hikaru lied.

He had known the VIPs for all groups since the moment the groups were finalized. He had just deliberately waited until the first discussion was over to announce that he had discovered all the VIPs.

Seeing that he didn't deny it, Kanzaki Ryūji sighed slightly. "I don't know whether to be amazed at how quickly you discovered the pattern of the VIPs, or at your ability to mobilize a guy like Kōenji."

Kōenji Rokusuke, the most difficult person to control in the first year.

As the only son of the Kōenji Zaibatsu, he didn't care about graduating from Class A. For him, class competition was unimportant, and things like morality and responsibility would not become reasons to restrain him.

When he previously participated in the Deserted Island Exam, he spent a day playing on the island before deciding to return to the luxury cruise ship to rest, completely unconcerned that his departure would cost the class 30 points.

A guy like this, who completely disregards class competition and only came to school to have fun, couldn't even be persuaded by people in Class D, yet he was somehow moved by an outsider like Takada Hikaru.

"It certainly wasn't easy to persuade Rokosuke-san, but it wasn't particularly difficult either." Takada Hikaru chuckled.

During the VIP Exam, students were required to hold discussions at 1 PM and 7 PM, respectively.

It was in the afternoon that he went and arranged the cooperation with Kōenji Rokusuke.

He would provide the list of VIPs, and Kōenji Rokusuke would be responsible for making all groups achieve Outcome One and obtaining a large number of Private Points from it, with the two of them splitting the profits afterward.

At the time, when Kōenji Rokusuke heard Takada Hikaru's cooperation plan, he didn't immediately agree. Instead, he placed his palm on his forehead, pushed upward, and adopted a look of rapture.

"Takada-kun, although you have eyes that are good at discovering beauty, I have no interest in wasting my precious time on this."

Although Class D hadn't received the Private Points issued by the school for an entire semester, Kōenji Rokusuke never lacked points for living expenses. He leveraged his status as the only son of a zaibatsu, using cash-for-points to exchange for Private Points from upperclassmen.

For a man like him, who didn't lack money, exchanging cash for 20 million Private Points was an extremely easy matter.

So, even realizing that the list of VIPs provided by Takada Hikaru could help him earn a large number of points, Kōenji Rokusuke didn't immediately agree, instead feeling that such an activity was a waste of his time.

Seeing him refuse, Takada Hikaru wasn't surprised. Before coming to talk to Kōenji Rokusuke, he had already prepared for rejection. Therefore, he had prepared other arguments.

"Rokosuke-san, I believe you know about the school's Student Council, right?"

Because there was no requirement for secrecy, Kōenji Rokusuke's method of exchanging cash for points was already known to the Student Council members.

The current Student Council President, Horikita Manabu, was a smart man who knew that you shouldn't offend a zaibatsu, so he turned a blind eye to this matter.

But the next Student Council President, Nagumo Miyabi, is a huge idiot. After dominating the Second Year of Advanced Nurturing High School, he thought he was invincible and feared no one.

After learning that a wealthy student like Kōenji Rokusuke existed in the lower years and intended to exchange cash for a large number of Private Points, he declared that he would definitely prohibit this behavior once he became Student Council President.

The Student Council still holds considerable power in this school. Demanding that the school add a rule like "prohibiting cash-for-points exchange, violators will be expelled" would be incredibly simple.

Moreover, even if Kōenji Rokusuke exchanged a large number of Private Points before Nagumo Miyabi became Student Council President, the latter might still find a way to force him to return all of them.

There's no helping it. Nagumo Miyabi is just that kind of huge idiot. Despite not having much backing, he is completely unafraid of offending a zaibatsu like Kōenji's.

Realizing that his practice of exchanging cash for Private Points could be stopped by the Student Council at any time, Kōenji Rokusuke was no longer as resistant to Takada Hikaru's plan as before, and began verifying whether the list of VIPs was reliable.

To outsiders, Kōenji Rokusuke had no interest in being promoted to Class A. But Takada Hikaru, who had read the original series, knew that Kōenji Rokusuke was not as indifferent to being promoted to Class A as he appeared. He just didn't want to spend too much effort on it.

Easy promotion to Class A? Acceptable.

Having to spend a lot of effort to get promoted to Class A? Unacceptable.

In the original series, shortly after entering school, Kōenji Rokusuke realized he could use "Cash Power" to obtain 20 million Private Points and get promoted to Class A, so he started slacking off.

But later, even after the school prohibited the exchange of cash for points, he didn't put in much effort or show much desire to be promoted to Class A.

This indicates that he views promotion to Class A as optional. If he can achieve it with just a little effort, he doesn't mind trying slightly harder. But if he had to be busy with Special Exams for three years like an ordinary person, that would be impossible.

The plan Takada Hikaru proposed hit exactly what he was looking for. He only needed to spend four days to obtain the Private Points guaranteed to promote him to Class A. For Kōenji Rokusuke, this small amount of effort was acceptable.

Kanzaki Ryūji asked, puzzled, "Takada-san, may I ask why you arranged for Kōenji to do this? If you had done it yourself, you should have been able to gain more profit, right?"

Takada Hikaru shook his head and said with a light chuckle, "If I had done it myself, it's true that I might have gained 60 million or even more Personal Points. However, I am also the type who likes to have others do things for me."

"Just like Kiyotaka-san."