Part 8

On that same day, around two hours after Sakayanagi and Kumuro had finished up their discussion, Ryen met up with Ishizaki and Ibuki in a Karaoke Room.

It seems that Class 1-B student we were after for 200,000 asked to put the offer on hold, Ryen-san.

After receiving an update on his phone, Ishizaki reported the information to Ryen. Despite that, Ibuki was the one to respond.

The hell? Is 200,000 not enough somehow?

No, it seems like Sakanyagi went and said Class A would offer the same amount as us

Sounds like they really dont wanna lose to us. Can we even keep going on like this? Itll be tough.

Class A has a considerable number of private points, right? Im thinking were in pretty hot water here too

Despite Ishizaki and Ibukis ensuing commentary and the new information, Ryen simply sat there messing around with his phone, completely unfazed.

R-Ryen-san?

Chillax. I already know what theyre up to.

Ryen sent a glance over to his empty glass, and within seconds, Ishizaki was refilling it with water.

Tell em well pay 100,000 up front and 200,000 after the exam.

S-seriously? That much?

300,000 in total. The number of points in play had grown even larger.

Most of the first-years wont make a decision either way. Theyll all be waiting for Sakayanagi to counter.

Wouldnt we just end up screwin ourselves over waiting around for that?

If they were short on funds, they wouldnt be able to do anything.

Seems its impossible to compete with Sakayanagi after all Hows about we look to aim for second place instead?

I agree with Ishizaki. If we offer the same amount, wed lose out cuz of Class As rep.

Ryen simply laughed after hearing Ishizaki and Ibukis analysis.

Ha! That little girls probably got a triumphant look on her face right about now.

Shes just seen through your way of doing things. Even if we can put up a good fight with private points, theyve just got a better rep than us.

Class As reputation is nothin more than a petty decoration right now. Given how much those guys value their rep, the trust theyll lose when it all comes tumbling downll be immeasurable.

Even if thats true, whatre we gonna do about points? It aint the end of the world if the offer goes up to 300,000 or 400,000, but we couldnt possibly pay that much to everyone!

Theres no need to pay. I dont plan on working with shameless brats who keep asking for points without knowing the limit.

Eh?

Im not lookin to try and do somethin like that this time. Im in the process of learnin about this new batch of first-years; Findin out what kinda people they are. They say money is the key that opens all doors, but a chump whos down to cooperate for a whole buncha points is the type of chump we can get onto our side whenever we want. All we gotta do is fork over some points when we really need em to help and thats that. Im lookin for the guys who intuitively understand the bigger picture here.

Sorry but, Ive got no clue what youre on about

That little girl prolly thinks Im out here with my sights set on first place, but I never had any intention of goin after such a measly number of class points. If were gonna fuck over Class A, weve just gotta wait for a chance when the class points are gonna fluctuate even more than this.

So, you just set this all up to figure out which of the first-years are complete pushovers?

It was obvious that we might just keep jacking up our offer from the very beginning, and yet some students chose to partner up with our class already. Why do you think they chose to do that?

Eh? Come to think of it, why did they do that?

At first, Class C had offered 50,000 points up front and another 50,000 after the exam.

Although this amount wasnt insanely high or anything, several students had already been willing to join forces with Class C.

You Before closing out a deal with somebody, you always went to meet with em one-on-one Did you threaten em or something?

Well, maybe a little, but youve got the right idea.

They would be lured in with offers of 300,000 or 400,000 points, only to yield after a personal interview with Ryen.

In the end, the amount settled on was always far lower than what it had appeared to be on the surface.

Im just takin a look at the first-years, seein if they smart enough to understand that Im far better than Sakayanagi.

He was cherry picking the students who could instinctively notice the winning class without being caught up with things like points or reputation.

Those were the students Ryen Kakeru was truly searching for in this special exam.

His real goal for this year was set far in the future, where he would drag down Sakayanagi, taking the rest of Class A down along with her.