COTE: Popularity System

While strolling, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka arrived at the luxury cruise ship's restaurant area and then saw a girl walking out of the restaurant.

As Kushida Kikyo saw him, a warm smile appeared on her face, and she waved her hand to greet him. "Ayanokoji-san, good afternoon."

"Good afternoon."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka responded calmly, while also posing a question that most people would have.

"Kushida-san, why were you in the restaurant just now? It's still a long time until mealtime, isn't it?"

"Oh, that..."

Kushida Kikyo clapped her hands, revealing a smile, and said somewhat shyly, "To thank Hikaru-san for helping Class D, I promised to make him a bento by hand. I feel like my cooking skills have regressed a bit lately, so I wanted to practice again."

Kushida Kikyo originally didn't want to interact too much with Takada Hikaru during the special exam, to avoid being labeled a traitor by others.

But now that students from the three classes were not speaking during the VIP Exam, the information about Class D's VIP simply couldn't be exposed. So she wasn't worried about being called a traitor and decided to fulfill her promise with Takada Hikaru, making her best dish for him.

'Making a bento for Takada...'

Hearing what she said, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who had been troubled, had an idea.

He could use Kushida Kikyo to restrict Takada Hikaru's movements.

"Kushida-san, have you already set a time with Takada-san?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka asked with a calm expression.

"Not yet." Kushida Kikyo shook her head, her brows slightly furrowed. "I've been so busy with the special exam recently that I haven't found a good opportunity to invite him."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said indifferently, "Tomorrow should be a good day, right? Tomorrow is a holiday, so Takada-san should have free time."

According to school regulations, the VIP Exam lasts for four days. The third day is a holiday, and all students do not need to attend the meeting room for discussions.

Kushida Kikyo blinked, then showed a sweet smile, "Luckily I ran into Ayanokoji-san. If it weren't for Ayanokoji-san, I might still be troubled."

Facing her praise, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka waved his hand, saying calmly, "I just happened to remember that we don't need to participate in discussions tomorrow."

The time had already been set for tomorrow. He needed to go a step further. He needed to ensure there was a specific time slot during which Takada Hikaru couldn't do anything else.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka continued to discuss with Kushida Kikyo, guiding her to set the dinner appointment at a time convenient for his own actions.

To outsiders, he was merely discussing trivial matters with Kushida Kikyo. However, Takada Hikaru, who saw this scene through the anime, understood his intentions.

'He wants to use Kushida to ask me out, and take the opportunity to target Karuizawa?' Takada Hikaru couldn't help but smile.

If there hadn't been an anime, he probably would have agreed to Kushida Kikyo's invitation without much thought. But since he had seen Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's actions, he naturally couldn't let the latter have his way.

Just as Takada Hikaru was pondering his next move, the content displayed by the anime changed.

In the scene, two boys were in the meeting room: Ryūen Kakeru, the leader of Class 1-C, and Kōenji Rokusuke of Class 1-D.

They were currently discussing the allocation of private points.

Kōenji Rokusuke had already convinced the leaders of other classes like Katsuragi Kōhei, Ichinose Honami, and Hirata Yōsuke in yesterday's meeting, but Ryūen Kakeru alone refused to give up. So, they had agreed to meet again at this time to discuss further.

[How is Handsome Bro so strong? He saw through the VIPs of 12 groups at once?]

[Money-Giving Guy and Ayanokoji aren't that strong.]

[Ryūen actually still wanted 10 million, but was eventually convinced by Handsome Bro.]

Through the anime's content, the audience saw the negotiation process between Kōenji Rokusuke and Ryūen Kakeru.

Ryūen Kakeru, knowing that the other party wanted to make a big profit by achieving Outcome 1 for everyone, wanted to seize the opportunity to get more points, demanding 10 million private points.

However, Kōenji Rokusuke was not so kind. Instead, he began to trick this tyrant from Class C.

As the heir to the Kōenji Zaibatsu, Kōenji Rokusuke possessed overpowered abilities in many aspects. Especially in the art of persuasion, he had an outstanding track record.

First, in the scene where he was asked to give up his seat to an old lady on the bus, he rendered everyone on the bus speechless.

In the special exam in the original series, where one person had to be expelled, many wanted to vote for him to be expelled, but he used a few words to shift their attention, moving the expulsion target from himself to someone else.

In the unanimous vote exam in the second year, where one person had to be expelled, he used this exam to secure a contract from Class D, getting 10,000 points per month from every class member, totaling 380,000 private points.

Even more ruthless than Takada Hikaru.

In short, Kōenji Rokusuke was not only strong in academics and combat but also in persuasion.

Even though Ryūen Kakeru initially showed a tough stance, threatening to cause trouble if he didn't get 10 million, he was eventually convinced by Kōenji Rokusuke and had to act according to the latter's demands.

'It was indeed the right decision to leave this matter to him.'

Seeing Kōenji Rokusuke successfully persuade the tyrant of Class C, Takada Hikaru was in a good mood.

According to the contract he signed with Kōenji Rokusuke, the more Kōenji Rokusuke earned, the more he would earn.

If everyone could truly achieve Outcome 1, he would at least get over 30 million private points.

However, what Takada Hikaru cared about most was the content of the comments.

'The audience really doesn't know about my cooperation with Kōenji.'

Through the anime content of the Enrollment Arc, Midterm Exam Arc, Sudo Fight Arc, and Deserted Island Exam Arc, Takada Hikaru discovered something very beneficial to him.

When he secretly caused trouble, the anime would deliberately help conceal it.

Just like during the Deserted Island Exam, he had actually discussed it with Kushida and Hirata very early on. However, it wasn't until after the Deserted Island Exam that the anime revealed the contract he had signed with Class D.

The audience originally thought Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was the biggest winner, but after seeing Takada Hikaru's maneuvers, they realized that Money-Giving Guy was the biggest winner.

If the anime hadn't actively helped conceal it, the audience naturally wouldn't have been shocked by the final twist.

Takada Hikaru judged that these things were carried out by him while keeping them secret from the protagonist, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, which is why the anime helped conceal them.