COTE: Popularity System

"I actually already told Hirata-kun, and he agreed." Kushida Kikyo picked up her phone and showed her communication record with Hirata Yosuke.

"It really is Hirata-kun's account..."

Karuizawa Kei's brows furrowed slightly, "Seriously, if he changed his mind, why didn't he tell me sooner?"

Kushida Kikyo smiled and grabbed Karuizawa Kei's arm. "Perhaps Hirata-kun was busy with something. Then let's go meet Manabe-san and the others now."

Karuizawa Kei resisted slightly. "Wait, just a moment. You don't mean we have to go find Manabe and the others, do you?"

Wouldn't that make her seem inferior?

Kushida Kikyo said with a smile, "No, Manabe-san and the others have also been invited out. But the one who invited them out is Ichinose-san."

"You mean Ichinose Honami?" Karuizawa Kei widened her eyes, her face showing surprise.

In her impression, Ichinose Honami was also a good-natured person who was happy to help others, and similarly an angel among the first-years.

It's just...

Karuizawa Kei tilted her head. "I can understand Kushida-san coming to help. But Ichinose-san is a Class A student. My conflict with Class C students has nothing to do with Class A, right?"

Kushida Kikyo smiled and said, "She was asked by Hikaru-san to come and help."

"Hikaru..." Karuizawa was startled. "You mean Takada-san?"

Kushida nodded. "That's right. Hikaru-san has actually been troubled ever since he found out about your conflict with Manabe-san. Finally, he asked me and Ich to come and help, hoping to get you two to reconcile."

— — —

"Fortunately, it didn't succeed."

Seeing that Karuizawa Kei did not walk into the trap set by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, but instead resolved the conflict with the delinquent girls of Class C with the help of Kushida and others, Rentaro breathed a sigh of relief.

He felt quite uncomfortable upon learning that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, the protagonist, actually intended to use bullying to turn the girl into his tool.

During the bus ride when he refused to give up his seat to an elderly woman, Rentaro had heard Ayanokoji's justification for not giving up his own seat, and merely thought the male protagonist was a bit eccentric, not paying it much mind.

During the Deserted Island Exam, when Ayanokoji used Horikita's fever as a reason to change the leader, Rentaro didn't find it strange, as Horikita was indeed unfit to participate then, and Ayanokoji was simply going with the flow.

But after seeing the VIP Exam, where Ayanokoji personally designed a trap that would mentally and physically break his female classmate, Rentaro realized that Ayanokoji was different from the protagonists of other works. He would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, even using such disgusting methods.

Fortunately, his plan was thwarted by others almost immediately after it was implemented.

— — —

Night.

The Drink Shop on the Luxury Cruise Ship.

Takada Hikaru gathered with the Class A leaders, sampling the drinks provided free of charge to the students by the Luxury Cruise Ship.

"The exam is over."

Kanzaki Ryūji looked at the email he had received on his phone, and after reading it carefully, he said, "All groups achieved Outcome One. According to the contract signed with Kōenji, we must hand over 75 million private points to him, and the remaining 10 million will be distributed equally among the four classes."

Excluding Sudō Ken, who had already dropped out, and Sakayanagi Arisu, who did not board the Luxury Cruise Ship due to health reasons, a total of 158 students participated in this exam.

According to the reward for Outcome One, all members received 500,000 private points, and the VIPs received an additional 500,000 points.

Added together, the total was 85 million. Although this profit was earned by the entire grade, nearly 88% of the earnings were going into Kōenji Rokusuke's pocket. That's very capitalist.

Ichinose Honami said with a smile, taking a sip of her colorful drink through a straw, "Kōenji-san is truly amazing. To actually be able to convince Ryūen-san and the others."

Ryūen Kakeru and Katsuragi Kōhei are both excellent leaders. It was extremely difficult to get their entire classes to only receive 2.5 million private points while watching Kōenji Rokusuke pocket 75 million points. But he somehow managed it.

Takada Hikaru agreed with a smile, "Rokosuke-san is indeed formidable. Even I estimate I could only get a maximum of 60 million private points."

Kōenji Rokusuke's ability to persuade would definitely rank in the top three in the original series. Even when facing the threat of expulsion, he could still shift his crisis onto others with just a few sentences.

Having obtained the names of all the VIPs, it was not impossible for him to threaten the leaders of all classes into cooperating with him to achieve Outcome One.

In the end, Kōenji Rokusuke still distributed 10 million to the other classes.

However, this was likely not his limit, but rather that he felt it unnecessary to waste effort on small amounts of money, ultimately settling for only 75 million private points.

Ichinose Honami said softly, "Actually, Kōenji-san's success is inseparable from Takada-san's tactics, isn't it? Following Takada-san's requirement, Class A and Class D did not participate in the discussion, and Katsuragi-san of Class B used the same approach. In this situation, there was no way to find the leaders of the other classes, forcing all groups to default to Outcome Two."

"Although the contract signed with Kōenji-san resulted in most of the private points going to him, the points gained by each class were still more than if everyone had achieved Outcome Two."

"Therefore, Kōenji-san's success is actually inseparable from Takada-san."

With universal Outcome Two, each class would earn a maximum of 1.5 million private points. Moreover, these points would be concentrated in the hands of the VIPs, and whether they would hand them over to the class was another matter entirely.

With universal Outcome One guided by Kōenji Rokusuke, each class received 2.5 million private points, which was 1 million more private points than before, and they were also shared by the class.

From this perspective, Takada Hikaru's plan contributed significantly to Kōenji Rokusuke's success.

"Rokosuke-san and I have a mutually beneficial relationship. Thanks to him, I also earned quite a bit." Takada Hikaru said with a smile.

According to the contract he signed with Kōenji Rokusuke, he would receive half of the points. In other words, he obtained 37.5 million private points in this VIP Exam.

Including the points he had saved up, his private points had already exceeded 40 million.

Kanzaki Ryūji looked over intently. "Takada-san, may I ask how you determined the VIPs in the other groups? Since the exam is over now, asking about these things shouldn't be a problem, right?"

He naturally knew who the VIPs in Class A were. But relying solely on the three VIPs from Class A, he couldn't figure out the selection pattern for the VIPs at all.

"Indeed, no problem at all."

Seeing that the audience in the comments was also confused about the VIP selection pattern, Takada Hikaru smiled and said, "Then, it's time for the big reveal."

(End of Chapter)

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