Chapter 5 Part VII

"Horikita, can you spare a moment?"

During the break between classes, Keisei reached out to Horikita.

"No problem. What is it?"

"Talking here is a little bit… well, it's about the special exam."

Not wanting anyone else to hear their conversation, Keisei subtly urged Horikita to follow him out into the hallway.

I had intended on seeing them off from my seat, but Horikita turned and looked at me.

"Is it alright if Ayanokōji-kun comes along too?"

"…Alright then."

He didn't exactly seem welcome to the idea, but he agreed to it nonetheless.

It wasn't like I was going to refuse, so I followed the both of them out to the hallway.

"Have you thought about what I said?"

"About intel gathering?"

"Yeah."

"About that… I don't think it'll be easy to get our hands on any information from Class A."

"But, wouldn't it be too much of a waste to do nothing? We should use our time more effectively."

Apparently, Keisei wanted to take action and gather information as soon as possible.

The desire to do as much as you physically can in order to win was a feeling I knew very well.

"Do you think just sticking around the students in Class A will solve the problem?"

"Let's see. It's doubtful that the average Class A student would know which five events will be chosen as well."

Sakayanagi was probably the only one who knew which events would be chosen, and if not, it would be limited to her and those closest to her.

Considering the type of person she is, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for her to thoroughly manage the flow of information.

"Even if Sakayanagi is the only one who knows about which events they'll choose, her classmates are bound to have a vague idea what the plan is, right? Wouldn't you say so, Kiyotaka?"

"Well, her classmates should probably at least know something."

Having spent the last year together, they would know each other's strengths and weaknesses to a certain extent.

They'd probably be able to make an educated guess about which ones would be chosen all on their own.

"Exactly. That's why I've come up with a method of getting our hands on information from Class A."

"That method being?"

"Bring Katsuragi over to our side."

Katsuragi. A former leading figure within Class A that had opposed Sakayanagi.

Keisei first made sure there was no one around, then dropped his voice to a whisper.

"Recently, Katsuragi's biggest supporter Totsuka got expelled due to Sakayanagi, so he probably still bears a grudge, right? I've run into him a couple of times in the last few days, and it's clear he's not the same as he was before."

There was no doubt that he held a grudge against Sakayanagi.

I thought back to the conversation that had taken place on the day of Yahiko's expulsion, when Katsuragi and Ryūen met up with each other.

"Do you really think he'd betray his class just to spite Sakayanagi-san?"

"Of course, we'd need to offer him something appropriate in return."

Apparently, Keisei already had an idea about that as well.

"If he's able to help our class win, we'd end up netting at least 130 class points overall. From the perspective of the class as a whole, that adds up to more than 6 million private points over the course of a full year. Furthermore, if we were to put some aside every month, it wouldn't be impossible for us to save up close to 20 million points."

Having heard this much, I could already guess where Keisei was going with this.

"Then, when we manage to climb up to Class A, we'll offer Katsuragi the opportunity to transfer classes. How about that for a bargaining chip? Plus, this way, we'd establish a good relationship with Katsuragi."

"First of all, an ordinary student wouldn't agree to these terms. No matter what we tell him, we're just Class C. You do know that, right?"

"But, are you sure you can say that given the situation he's in right now?"

"It's true that Katsuragi isn't in the best place right now, but if word got out that he betrayed his class, he'd be the next one on the chopping block. He wouldn't have the luxury to wait for us to save up 20 million points. Even if we assume that our class points will get higher and higher, and even if the entire class agreed to cooperate, it would probably still take at least half a year for us to get that many."

Put more realistically, it would take a full year of saving for us to get to that point.

Besides, even though we'd be gaining more class points, 20 million private points were by no means a small price to pay.

"So what do you think, Horikita?"

"…Well. It's as you say, Yukimura-kun. Getting our hands on information is immensely important."

"Then-"

"However, I don't agree with your suggestion in the slightest."

"W-why not?"

"While Katsuragi-kun has undoubtedly been pushed into a corner, I don't think he'd be willing to agree to our terms and betray his class. Our offer isn't nearly good enough."

It'd be a different story if we had the points on hand now, but it would be strange for him to accept an offer that would only pay out more than a year later.

"But if we don't do anything, we won't get any info at all."

"I don't think we'd get any useful information in the first place, even if we did do something."

"How would we know if we don't try?"

Despite Keisei's persistence, Horikita was clearly unwilling to agree to his idea.

"I'm not entirely opposed to gathering information, but your method just isn't good enough. We can discuss this again if you come up with any new ideas."

With that, Horikita ended the conversation and returned to the classroom.

"Damn it!"

Keisei kicked the hallway wall out of frustration.

"…Hey Kiyotaka, will you help?"

"With persuading Horikita?"

"No… With persuading Katsuragi on our own."

His words really emphasized his determination.

"I'm not saying that Horikita has given up on winning, but it seems to me that, somewhere in the back of her mind she thinks we don't stand a chance. If not, she should be willing to take the chance and give it a try, right? Even if word got out that we met with Katsuragi, it wouldn't put Class C at a disadvantage at all."

Even if I were to disagree with Keisei in this situation, I probably wouldn't be able to stop him from moving on his own.

That being the case, I might as well go with him and get a better grasp of the situation.

"How are we going to get in contact with Katsuragi?"

"That… is something I'll have to think about. We still have some time before the exam."

"Alright. Let me know when you decide."

I responded to him positively to prevent him from taking action on his own and decided to cooperate with him for the time being.