COTE: Popularity System

[Money-Giving Guy's final smile was so mysterious.]

[Could it be that Money-Giving Guy thinks Katsuragi will show a different expression after being expelled?]

[Katsuragi shouldn't be expelled, right? This clearly looks like Sakayanagi is lying.]

[I think Money-Giving Guy saw that Katsuragi wouldn't be expelled, which is why he said that after the exam, Katsuragi wouldn't think this way anymore.]

[Then who will be expelled?]

[It must be Katsuragi's green-haired subordinate, Totsuka Yahiko. It's said he's the weakest person in Class B. Expelling him would be much more satisfying than expelling Katsuragi, wouldn't it?]

After leaving the school cafeteria, Takada Hikaru stretched lazily.

He specifically went to talk to Katsuragi Kōhei and the others because he wanted to get more screen time.

For Class A, who had been saving points since the start of the school year, passing this exam was simply too easy.

Precisely because of this, in the Class Poll Arc, everyone in the class had very little screen time, perhaps not even as much as Yamauchi Haruki alone.

So Takada Hikaru was looking for key figures in this chapter, hoping to increase his own screen time and also to shape his image.

In the Class Poll, it seemed everyone believed Katsuragi Kōhei would be chosen as the expellee from Class B, even Katsuragi Kōhei himself. But in reality, Class B's target for expulsion was Katsuragi Kōhei's subordinate, Totsuka Yahiko.

Both of them had been deceived by Sakayanagi Arisu.

Whether they were deceived or not didn't matter. The key was that Takada Hikaru wanted to use this incident to build his character image.

Before the Class Poll began, he approached Katsuragi Kōhei and spoke a few words to him in a cryptic manner, finally giving Katsuragi Kōhei, who believed he was going to be expelled, a mysterious smile.

The purpose was that after the vote, when everyone realized that Totsuka Yahiko, not Katsuragi Kōhei, was expelled, they would recall his earlier conversation with Katsuragi Kōhei and thus realize that he had seen through everything at that time.

Not long after leaving the school cafeteria, Takada Hikaru soon encountered Sakayanagi Arisu emerging from a restaurant.

During lunch break, some people chose to eat in the school cafeteria, while others went to nearby restaurants. Sakayanagi Arisu had been frequently going to restaurants to eat recently.

"Good afternoon, Takada-san." Sakayanagi Arisu, leaning on her cane with one hand, bowed slightly in greeting. "It seems we haven't seen each other in a long time."

"The last time we met was during the winter break after the Paper Shuffle exam, I think." Takada Hikaru recalled.

At that time, he went to see a movie with Andō Sayo and others, then coincidentally met Sakayanagi Arisu on the way back.

Sakayanagi Arisu looked over with a smile. "Takada-san remembers it very clearly. If you hadn't deliberately held back, all of Class B would have been expelled."

The test paper Takada Hikaru created was simply too difficult, not at all like something meant for humans. Even high-achieving students like Sakayanagi Arisu and Katsuragi Kōhei were helpless against these questions.

Let alone passing, it would have been good if not everyone got a zero.

However, Takada Hikaru had given thirty points of easy questions at the beginning. This ensured that all students in Class B could get the thirty points needed to stay above the passing line, thus avoiding expulsion from school.

"If I didn't make it this way, the school wouldn't approve this test paper." Takada Hikaru said with a light chuckle.

The test paper he created strictly followed school requirements, it was not beyond the scope and could be solved. But if a test paper full of difficult questions were truly given to Class B, all forty students in Class B would be wiped out.

The school naturally could not allow this to happen, especially since Class B had Sakayanagi Arisu, the chairman's daughter. Even if it meant contradicting themselves, the school would definitely send the questions back.

Therefore, he included thirty points of easy questions at the beginning, allowing the school to agree to the test papers passing.

Sakayanagi Arisu smiled slightly. "You can't say that. Takada-san could have made the questions a little harder, and then even Class B would have had a few students expelled."

Takada Hikaru chuckled. "I don't need to be so ruthless. I don't have a hobby of expelling others. By the way, did you just meet Haruki-kun?"

Haruki.

That is, Yamauchi Haruki.

Not long ago, he accidentally kicked Sakayanagi Arisu's cane, causing her to fall.

He thought he would suffer Sakayanagi Arisu's retaliation, but she didn't hold a grudge and even frequently invited him to eat at outside restaurants, specifically in private rooms.

To outsiders, this was a date.

But Sakayanagi Arisu's body was frail. She rarely went out, and even when eating, she specifically always used lunchboxes to reduce movement.

How could she possibly go out of her way to eat at a restaurant every time for someone like Yamauchi Haruki?

Sakayanagi Arisu naturally intended to cause trouble.

Those who have read the original series know that she was actually deliberately stringing Yamauchi Haruki along, first giving him beautiful fantasies, and then expelling him during the Class Poll.

And, by the way, using Yamauchi Haruki to provoke Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and declare war on him.

"Yamauchi-kun seems to think he's won me over." Sakayanagi Arisu's lips curved into an arc.

Recently, Yamauchi Haruki had been boasting about winning over Sakayanagi of Class B, and even the person concerned could hear it.

But Sakayanagi Arisu didn't deny it, quietly watching this clown make a fool of himself.

Once the play was over, this clown would naturally exit the stage.

"Takada-san, may I ask who your Class A plans to cast their out-of-class praise vote for?" Sakayanagi Arisu inquired.

In the Class Poll exam, in addition to Praise votes and Criticism votes that could only be cast for classmates, students also received an extra out-of-class Praise vote that had to be cast for a student from another class.

"Everyone will probably vote for Yosuke-kun and Kikyo." Takada Hikaru said.

Although these two were initially assigned to Class D, they were indeed very good people to get along with. For the students of Class A, the most deserving of Praise votes should only be Hirata Yosuke or Kushida Kikyo.

Hearing his words, Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes moved slightly. "Could I ask Takada-san to help change the voting intentions of the Class A students?"

She wanted to directly confront Ayanokoji Kiyotaka of Class C. For this, she needed to ensure that he was the person in Class C who received the most Praise votes.

If Hirata Yosuke and Kushida Kikyo received the out-of-class Praise votes from Class A, then one of them would become the person with the most Praise votes. This would affect her confrontation with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

"If Takada-san is willing to help, I can give you half of the points that Ryūen-kun's class gives."

Currently, Ryūen Kakeru's class gives Sakayanagi Arisu 800,000 points per month, and half of those points go to Takada Hikaru. If she gave another half, Sakayanagi Arisu would only receive 200,000 points per month.

But right now, the most important thing for her was to confront Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, other matters were irrelevant.

"No need." Takada Hikaru shook his head and chuckled lightly. "I was already thinking of telling my classmates to vote for others."

"You're thinking of voting for Katsuragi?" Sakayanagi Arisu narrowed her eyes.

"No, I want to vote for someone from Class D." Takada Hikaru shook his head.