Chapter 121: Sakayanagi – If You Want to Warn Me, Be Careful Yourself, Nagumo-senpai!
Sakayanagi Arisu had a nasty personality and was highly aggressive.
However—
Even Nagumo had to admit that this person was quite capable.
As a first-year student, Sakayanagi seized the opportunity to use the least valuable standard written exam as a weapon, securing a stepping stone for her candidacy in the next student council president election.
She also managed to obtain 100 votes from third-year students.
And now—
She had even gained a third-year "dog."
The reason why the senior was so obedient was simple: the third-year special exam for this month had concluded.
Sakayanagi had assisted third-year Class C and Class D in achieving good results in the exam, leading some individuals to become her subordinates.
However—
This was not good news for Nagumo.
Sakayanagi was his competitor in the student council presidential race. She already controlled 100 third-year votes.
But the third-year students had more than just 100 votes. If she reached out further, she could secure even more support.
For example, while she had assisted third-year Class C and Class D, which were already part of the 100 votes Horikita Manabu had helped her gather—
Did that mean she was working for free?
Not at all.
This was also a demonstration of strength to third-year Class A and Class B, laying the groundwork for further vote collection.
Take third-year Class A, for instance—having maintained its position for three years, it was likely to make some compromises under Horikita Manabu's leadership to preserve its status.
As for third-year Class B, that class was already in disarray. They would follow whoever could lead them forward.
Thus, Sakayanagi's actions directly impacted Nagumo.
Seriously, if she had just participated in the first-year special exam, she wouldn't be causing him trouble now.
That was what frustrated Nagumo the most.
This month, the first-year students were taking part in a special exam on an uninhabited island.
Due to her health condition, Sakayanagi Arisu was unable to participate and had to stay at the school.
She appeared weak and helpless.
With no one around her, Nagumo had thought this would be the perfect time to approach her.
After all—
If he could bring Sakayanagi under his control, wouldn't that mean he could secure the votes she had obtained?
That would make his student council election victory certain.
So he had planned to observe her for a few days before making his move.
But—
The result was that Sakayanagi had interfered in the third-year special exam.
And she had even gained something from it.
She couldn't even participate in her own year's special exam, yet she was meddling in another grade's?
"I've been at this school for two years," Nagumo-senpai said. "So I understand the rules and boundaries very well."
"That's why, Sakayanagi, I think you should learn to recognize your limits."
"..." Sakayanagi.
Sakayanagi's movements seemed to pause for a moment.
Had she finally realized how problematic her actions were?
After all, this school was built around class competition, but it was almost always within the same grade. Interfering across grades was outrageous.
So had she finally understood that she had crossed a line?
"If you stop now—" Nagumo-senpai continued.
But—
"I just received a message from the student council president," Sakayanagi interrupted, holding up her phone. "He's asking me to go to the student council office."
So that was it.
She hadn't paused because of his words—she had simply received a message from the student council president.
"That means it's not just me coming after you," Nagumo said with a gloating smile. "The student council president is calling you in to hold you accountable. You're going to be punished for interfering in another grade's special exam."
"Oh, is that so?" Sakayanagi smiled sweetly. "That means, Nagumo-senpai, you won't be able to interfere in upper-year class competitions either."
"After all, you've been doing the same thing, haven't you?" She said, still smiling adorably.
Damn.
"..." Nagumo.
Nagumo's expression froze instantly.
Suddenly, he realized—Sakayanagi's blatant interference in the third-year exam had been too obvious.
Which meant—she might have deliberately exposed herself.
And in doing so, she was also exposing him.
That meant Horikita Manabu would likely reprimand him as well, or even use him as an example.
Which meant—he might not be able to continue secretly supporting third-year Class B.
Yes.
Nagumo had been providing aid to third-year Class B—a hidden strategy.
As the student council vice president, he had the right to run for the next president.
However, there was a possibility that Horikita Manabu, who strongly opposed his ideology, would become an obstacle.
So Nagumo had prepared for that by propping up third-year Class B.
If they could disrupt third-year Class A's position, it would force Horikita Manabu to negotiate.
After all, after three years of hard work, they wouldn't want to lose at the very end.
That was Nagumo's plan.
But now—before it had even fully taken effect—it seemed that Sakayanagi had dragged him into trouble.
In an instant—
Nagumo wondered if he had walked into a trap.
And so, the two of them headed to the student council office together.
.
.
.
Student Council.
It was Saturday, but for a dedicated student council president, it was still a workday.
Horikita Manabu sat in his seat, his gaze calm and focused.
"The class competition is a system implemented by the school to cultivate students, encouraging them to grow through rivalry."
"But once you start interfering in battles outside your own grade, it undoubtedly disrupts this principle."
"In such cases, not only might the school take action, but I also cannot turn a blind eye."
"Because this is an act that undermines fairness and justice."
Horikita Manabu stated, "I do not want to see this happen again."
"Sakayanagi, you will write a letter of assurance, promising not to repeat this. At the same time, if I find anyone else continuing to interfere, I will enforce strict punishment."
As expected, Sakayanagi and Nagumo were reprimanded upon arriving at the student council.
Sakayanagi wrote a statement, pledging not to interfere in the third-year special exams anymore.
There was no other punishment—only the written assurance.
However, Nagumo understood that Horikita Manabu was using this incident with Sakayanagi as a way to send a warning to him.
After all, he had also been interfering in the third-year special exam.
Horikita Manabu's words were clear: if anyone was caught continuing to interfere, they would face consequences. In other words, past actions would be left alone, but going forward, further interference would not be tolerated.
If Nagumo continued supporting third-year Class B, his situation would become difficult.
…
"President, they've left."
Secretary Tachibana Akane returned to report after confirming that Sakayanagi and Nagumo had departed.
Today's student council session was extra work—voluntary overtime.
Although Horikita Manabu had invited others to join the student council, few were as dedicated as he was.
Moreover—
Some of the tasks required careful handling, as other students might struggle with them or make mistakes, so Horikita handled them personally.
Tachibana Akane was Horikita's classmate and his right-hand aide.
She deeply respected him, but at the same time, she felt a sense of guilt.
Even though she was a student of third-year Class A, during special exams, not only she—but the entire class—had often been a burden to Horikita Manabu.
Horikita had to worry about both class affairs and student council responsibilities, making his workload overwhelming.
So, whenever she could help, she did so without complaint.
She was also one of Horikita Manabu's closest confidantes.
"Understood." Horikita nodded.
"Hopefully, this time, they will stop interfering with our grade's special exam," Tachibana said. "Sakayanagi really did a great job this time."
In fact, from the start of this semester, something had been off about third-year Class B.
It was as if they had received outside support, performing unusually well in exams.
This was strange.
After competing for over two years, they all knew that Class B wasn't supposed to be this strong.
Horikita Manabu's conclusion was that Nagumo had been supporting third-year Class B using the entire second-year's resources.
That was outrageous.
A second-year interfering in the third-year special exams—what was he thinking?
However, Nagumo had been operating in secret, making it difficult to catch him in the act. Even Kiriyama, whom Horikita had deliberately brought into the student council, couldn't suppress Nagumo.
There had been no effective way to deal with him.
But now, at last, they had a way to stop Nagumo from supporting third-year Class B.
As a student of third-year Class A, Tachibana felt relieved.
"Hopefully." Horikita said. "And it looks like those two have officially started clashing."
"But… this also brings another problem."
Horikita frowned slightly.
His opposition to Nagumo wasn't just personal—it was because he disagreed with Nagumo's ideology of absolute individual power if he became student council president.
But now, with Sakayanagi stepping in… was it really a good thing if she ended up becoming the next president instead?
Because—
Horikita had done some digging.
Indeed—
Sakayanagi's blatant interference in the third-year special exam was almost like she had deliberately left a weakness exposed.
It gave him the perfect opportunity to suppress Nagumo.
It looked like Sakayanagi was cooperating with him.
However—
In reality, Horikita Manabu thought that Sakayanagi might not have been doing this just to suppress Nagumo.
Because in assisting third-year Class C and Class D this time, the price she demanded was... half of the class evaluation points gained as compensation.
Until the third-year students graduated.
In other words—
She was simply trying to make money this time, wasn't she?
...
Even while staying on campus, Sakayanagi Ojou-sama's income had increased once again.
Meanwhile, on the uninhabited island, in first-year Class C's area—
It was a major harvest.
More precisely, they were abundant in supplies.
After completely squandering the initial 300 points, the students began to take action.
Their goal was to secure any stronghold that seemed decent enough.
According to Koenji's words—
"I occupied 20 strongholds. The ones you come across will most likely belong to Class C, so just pick any one of them as your base camp—it doesn't matter."
The school-issued manual for exchanging supplies also contained more detailed rules.
For example—
A leader must be identified, and a leader card must be created. The leader card is required to claim a stronghold. Staying too long in or using an already occupied stronghold without a valid reason would result in point deductions. Additionally, anyone other than the leader attempting to scan the leader card would also result in point deductions.
Besides that, points would also be deducted in cases of physical illness, severe injuries, significant environmental pollution, missing morning or evening roll call, violent actions against other classes, or destruction of public property.
Each day, at 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM, students must return to the island's gathering point for roll call. Missing a single student would result in a deduction of 3 points.
On the seventh morning, if the leader was correctly identified, all points earned from occupying strongholds using the leader card would be reset to zero.
Leaders could not be changed arbitrarily without a valid reason.
Before sunset, a main base had to be established, and once set, it could not be changed.
Since their class had such a significant advantage, they naturally had to follow the rules and secure their points.
Unlike other classes that had spent half a day searching for a stronghold to claim, Class C had an abundance of strongholds.
The one they were heading to now was a cave.
Koenji had already scanned his leader card at this cave.
To the students, however—
"This is amazing! I can't believe we found a place like this!"
"It's like a natural base!"
"A cave! I've never lived in a cave before!"
The students of Class C were excited because this cave was practically perfect.
Not only was it suitable for habitation, but it was also surrounded by a fruit orchard and a cornfield.
Beyond that was a stream, which was also one of their strongholds. With access to water and resources, they had everything they needed—it was an incredibly comfortable setup.
Hachiman and Horikita also arrived at the cave.
"Everyone, quiet down," Hirata instructed, as the students placed their exchanged supplies down. Then, he spoke up immediately, "Koenji occupied a total of 20 strongholds on the island! Based on his estimate, the total number of strongholds on the island shouldn't exceed 30—probably around 25 or 26 in total."
"In other words, in this exam, our class not only secures the 300 points from strongholds, but we can also leave the other classes far behind."
As soon as he finished speaking, the originally lively atmosphere in the class fell silent in an instant.
But only for a moment.
"Whoa! That's amazing!"
"We occupied 20 strongholds out of a maximum of 25 or 26. We're totally winning this time!"
"Koenji-kun is incredible. I never noticed before!"
Excitement was written all over their faces—thrilled, astonished, overjoyed.
Many students turned to look at the blond-haired boy leaning against the cave wall with an indifferent expression, unable to hide the shock in their eyes.
They had never imagined that Koenji, whom they had always considered aloof and detached, could be this strong.
After all, there were four entire classes on this island.
If there really were only around 25 strongholds, each class should have five or six strongholds on average.
In reality, securing over ten strongholds was already a guaranteed victory.
Yet Koenji had occupied 20.
It was like he had left no chance for the other classes at all!
More than that—
Some students who were good at math had already begun calculating.
20 strongholds. Scanning each stronghold once earned 1 point. Scanning three times a day meant 60 points per day.
Over seven days, that would be 420 points!
Of course, on the first day, they could only scan twice, and on the last day, only once, so the total would be around 360 points.
Assuming Koenji took the full 300 points for the strongholds and kept 100 for himself, the class would still be left with 200 points, which meant an additional 20,000 private points for everyone's monthly allowance.
And now, with an extra 60 points, that meant each person's monthly allowance would increase by another 6,000 points!
On top of that, they had exchanged a massive amount of supplies over the week.
At this point, they could practically treat the exam like a vacation.
Easy and carefree.
This treatment was simply incredible—almost too good to be true.
So, the entire class turned their gazes toward the person who had brought them so many benefits.
Koenji, noticing the students' attention and realizing that Hirata was intentionally praising him, remained unfazed.
However, flattery wouldn't work on him.
After all, Koenji knew just how outstanding he was.
There was no way he would let the admiration of his classmates compel him to take action again next time—or the time after that.
This time, he had acted purely for his own benefit.
Based on the 100 class evaluation points he had secured, his plan to ascend to Class A by graduation was already more than halfway complete.
So, there was no longer any need for him to exert himself.
Thus—
This was merely a one-time effort.
Hikigaya-kun, you won't be able to manipulate me next time.
Yet, as Koenji entertained these thoughts, he noticed that Hikigaya seemed to be deep in contemplation.
What was he thinking about?
"What are you thinking about?"
Someone voiced the very question on Koenji's mind, directing it toward Hikigaya.