People bring their own maids to the training camp

"Rinne's here, please sit here?" Chihaya smiled at Rinne as she entered and gestured to the seat next to her.

"Sit down." Horikita Manabu nodded to his younger sister.

"Yes." So Suzune sat down next to Chihaya.

“Now that Rinne has arrived, let me confirm it one more time.” Horikita Manabu looked at Chihaya. “If there are no objections, I’ll print the certificate now.”

“Of course.” Chihaya smiled in response. “Even if Class A offers 2000 million personal points, I won’t go back on my word.”

"Okay, so Lingyin, you definitely don't have any objections, right?"

"Actually, I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to do..."

Upon hearing his sister's words, Horikita Manabu immediately turned to look at Chihaya, seemingly silently questioning why he hadn't explained things clearly.

“It’s actually quite simple. Class D’s total score is one point lower than Class A’s, and I have one point. I’ve decided to sell this point to my friend Horikita Suzune from Class D. As for the price, please allow me to keep it a secret. The student council only needs to issue a certificate proving that my point is valid,” Chihaya explained. “Now that things have come to this, Suzune shouldn’t regret it, right? 25 class points may not seem like much, but there are far more ways to obtain class points than individual points, you know?”

"..." Lingyin hesitated for a few seconds, then immediately nodded in agreement, "I agree."

Upon hearing his sister's answer, Horikita Manabu immediately took action.

"Here's the student council's certificate," Horikita Manabu said. "There are three copies; one for each of you, and one for the student council's records."

"Thank you for your help, President." Chizuru took the two certificates and handed one to Rin. "If you're in a hurry, Rin, you can go to Class A now. Your classmates should be verifying the papers for Class A. Of course, if you need a little 'show effect,' you can wait until tomorrow for the school's point change notice."

"I understand." Lingyin nodded. "I wanted to ask, is this certificate confidential or can anyone see it?"

“If anyone asks me, I will conceal the parties involved in the transaction and only inform them of the fact that the midterm exam scores have been changed,” Horikita Manabu said. “The matter of score trading will be kept secret, and I will tell the other party that the exam scores cannot be traded for any reason.”

"The score on the exam cannot be traded for any reason?" Rinne looked at Chihaya in confusion, hoping to hear an explanation from her.

“That’s right. Unless there’s a misjudgment, the score on the test won’t change.” Chihaya smiled and held up an index finger to her lips. “As for the point I’m giving you—A secret makes a woman woman.”

"...I understand." The extra points should naturally be kept secret, which Lingyin understood, since she was also a beneficiary now.

"Well then, congratulations to Class D for getting third place," Chihaya said. "It's a real shame, Class A must be furious right now."

"Thank you, Chihaya."

"It's nothing. You two can chat a little longer. I'll take my leave now. Good luck to you both."

After Chihaya left, Horikita Manabu glanced at his younger sister and slowly said, "It seems that you, Suzune, are not inflexible after all. However, I must remind you that Princess is a very complicated person. You can cooperate with her, but you must have your own judgment."

"Yes, I know, brother..." Rinne was still a little awkward in front of her brother, even though Horikita's words actually revealed concern.

"Keep up the good work. Class D isn't all bad. This midterm exam proves that Class A isn't invincible." Horikita Manabu offered his sister a rare word of encouragement.

"I will, brother!"

----split line----

With the midterm exams over, the changes in class scores are as follows:

Class A: 940 + 25 (fourth) + 20 (one student with the highest average score) = 985

Class B: 650 + 75 (second place) + 20 (one student with the highest average score) = 745

Class C: 490 + 100 (first place) + 60 (first place in average score among the three classes) = 650

Class D: 0 + 50 (Third) = 50

The biggest beneficiary was naturally Class C, which narrowed the gap between itself and Class B, while widening the gap with Class D.

Although Class B was being closed in on by Class C, it narrowed the gap with Class A.

Class D, on the other hand, did not finish last, narrowly defeating Class A and escaping the predicament of winning nothing.

In conclusion, Class A emerged as the biggest loser. Although they still held first place, they showed clear signs of fatigue. Back in May, Class A students were practically strutting around with their heads held high. This fourth-place finish in the midterms can, to some extent, dampen their arrogance.

In Chihaya's room, after having dinner with Honami, Chihaya learned from Hayasaka that she had received an email from Class C.

"Ryuen said he would be making a move against the idiots in Class D soon. In addition, he was very satisfied with the deal and hoped to have the opportunity to continue to cooperate in the future."

"He got 160 class points at once. The whole class gets 640,000 points per month. And the four-person team only sold him 100,000 points. He was not only satisfied, he made a killing. I would be happy to continue cooperating with him too."

"Indeed, who would refuse such a collaboration?"

“If Ryuen knew the inside story, he probably wouldn’t have done it even if I paid him 100,000 points. Sometimes the cruel thing is that there’s no going back,” Chihaya said. “If we anger Ayanokouji, he will definitely take action later.”

"That's true, but Class C is full of fighters. They might be dissatisfied and want to test their skills against Ayanokouji."

"Try to fight? It's not even certain if they can beat Horikita Manabu, let alone Ayanokouji?" Chihaya curled her lip. "Ayanokouji can take on several adult bodyguards one-on-one and win completely. Forget about the level of street thugs like Class C."

"So you don't actually have a high opinion of Ryuen and his group's actions against Class D?"

"No, on the contrary, I'm actually quite optimistic. After all, there are quite a few idiots in Class D. We just need to find their weaknesses and attack them." Chihaya recalled the performance of the three idiots. "We don't even need to use violence. We can just find a girl to invite them to the target location. Then it won't be easy for Class D to argue."

"Is there anything we need to do?" Hayasaka asked. "The cameras we bought before?"

"Let's hold back for now and keep an eye on Longyuan's recent moves."

"clear."

90. Reactions from all parties

Let's go back to a little earlier, to Class A after the results were announced.

"Impossible! We can't possibly be third place!" After the rankings and total scores were announced, Totsuka Yahiko was the first to lose his composure and loudly questioned, "And you members of the Sakayanagi faction, did you deliberately leave the questions blank!"

"Huh? Don't criticize others if you're bad at it yourself! Look at the average scores, aren't you first in Chemistry? Second in Math?" Hashimoto immediately retorted, "Look at the Chinese, English, and Social Studies scores, aren't they at the bottom? Ultimately, it's because your tests were too easy and everyone else solved them! The total score is only 0.5 points behind Class D? After losing to Class B, you lost to Class C, and now you're losing to Class D. What will you lose to next? You've got no shame!"

"Huh? What nonsense are you talking about? If you think the test is too easy, why don't you create it yourself!"

"I'd like to set them up, but I'm afraid you'll feel like I'm putting you down," Hashimoto snorted. "You definitely won't agree to let us set all the exam papers."

Since the three exam papers in charge of Katsuragi's faction were indeed at the bottom, Totsuka couldn't find any reason to refute Hashimoto, especially since the Sakayanagi faction even got first place in chemistry, earning the class a valuable 20 class points.

"Our Class A was originally far ahead, but now not only is Class B closing the gap, but even Class C is catching up!" Hashimoto continued, "Our class was originally 290 points ahead of Class B, but now? Not only have we not widened our lead, but we've been forced to close the gap!"

These words did indeed make Katsuragi's faction feel somewhat ashamed. In any case, it was an indisputable fact that Class A ranked third, and the score difference between them and Classes B and C was not small, not just a matter of losing by a few points.

Totsuka wanted to argue but had no position to support his point. Continuing to speak at this point would only make him seem like he was shifting the blame, so Katsuragi spoke up.

"The fact that the three subjects I was responsible for came in last place is indeed my responsibility, and I am willing to take responsibility for this failure," Ge Cheng apologized to the whole class.

"Katsuragi-san!"

"Totsuka, it was definitely my fault this time, otherwise Class A wouldn't have ended up like this." Katsuragi also took a look at the rankings of the core members of the Sakayanagi faction. They were all performing normally, especially Sakayanagi Arisu, who even took first place in the class and didn't hold back in the exam.

Moreover, even if the Sakayanagi faction collectively abandons the two multiple-choice questions, this level of score can only be considered as normal fluctuations and cannot be used as a basis for leniency.

Katsuragi suspected that the class's test papers had been accidentally leaked, but since the school did not provide the accuracy rate for each question, Katsuragi did not know whether it was his own test papers that were leaked or if other classes had made a deal.

The unexpected rise of Class C made him feel that other classes had made deals behind the scenes. At least Class C must have made deals, otherwise, given their academic ability, it would have been impossible for them to get first place.

"That sounds nice, but what responsibility can you take? It's not like you can deduct wages at your workplace." Hashimoto retorted bluntly.

"Hashimoto, that's enough. Didn't Katsuragi apologize already?"

"Am I obligated to accept an apology? If apologies were enough, what would be the point of having police?"

"Alright, Hashimoto, we're all classmates, there's no need to make a scene like this." Finally, after Hashimoto went on a rampage against the Katsuragi faction, the mastermind behind it all spoke up.

"I'm sorry, I got a little emotional." Hashimoto immediately stopped her performance. "The contrast was too great, I couldn't hold back."

“I can understand Hashimoto-kun’s situation, but it’s just one setback. Class A is still Class A,” Sakayanagi said. “We can’t deny Katsuragi-kun’s contributions to the class because of one exam. I believe Katsuragi-kun wouldn’t want that either, right?”

"It's natural."

"What we need to do now is regroup and regain Class A's lead next time," Sakayanagi said. "Don't dwell on this defeat; only by pulling ourselves together can we win next time."

"Sakayanagi-san is right, we need to stand up!" Hashimoto and several members of the Sakayanagi faction cheered enthusiastically.

The Katsuragi faction remained silent, clearly indicating that the Sakayanagi faction had completely seized the initiative.

Centrists, including some Katsuragi supporters who were not firm in their stance, also had their own agendas at this time.

Everything was within Sakayanagi's calculations. After all, it had only just begun. Katsuragi would certainly not rashly point out that Sakayanagi's faction had leaked the exam questions in order to maintain class unity. In addition, the part about letting the students off the hook was also very clever. Sakayanagi instructed some people to deliberately answer the multiple-choice questions wrong.

Don't underestimate the low point values; if each person gets one question wrong in one subject, the total score will naturally increase as more people participate. As for the math and chemistry exams, which were set by their own faction, they naturally put in their best effort, which resulted in the subjects that Katsuragi's faction was responsible for having low scores.

Although she had expected it, Sakayanagi was still slightly surprised that Class A only led Class D by 0.5 points: after all, she did not give the Katsuragi-style test papers to Class D, but only to Chihaya and Ryuen.

Judging from the scores of Class B, it is highly likely that Chihaya did not share the questions from Class A with Class B. Therefore, the scores of Class B were mediocre. The fact that Chihaya and Honami got first place in math is indeed due to their extremely high scores, and the gap between them and Class A was not significant.

This pleased Sakayanagi immensely, as the situation was gradually becoming interesting; the other classes were not so easily defeated, which was a sign that everyone should be more alert.

However, the interesting things didn't end there.

Subsequently, Hirata from Class D very politely came to negotiate, hoping to check Class A's exam papers.

Although he didn't say it explicitly, anyone with common sense would know that he was definitely thinking of using a misjudgment to overtake the opponent.

Sakayanagi and Katsuragi both agreed, but in the end Class D still failed—the teachers at Gaoyu were quite dedicated and did not make any misjudgments.

The defeat of Class D made the students in Class A feel much better: If I can't beat Class B and Class C this time, can't I at least beat Class D?

So when they received the notification of the points update on the second day of the exam, everyone in Class A was devastated: they discovered that the updated points for Class A were actually based on the fourth-place ranking.

The whole class was in an uproar, eager to find Teacher Zhenyu and get to the bottom of things.

Conversely, Class D experienced another unexpected surge of joy. They had already resigned themselves to being fourth, but they never expected to have such an unexpected bonus after waking up from a nap.

The extra 25 class points are equivalent to an extra 2500 individual points next month, which is a considerable sum for Class D.

Class A naturally appealed, and the response they received was that "the raw score remained unchanged, while Class D received one extra point through other channels."

This result naturally left everyone except the few people involved completely baffled.

However, Longyuan from Class C had some ideas. After all, he had also purchased 4 points, but they were mixed into the total score and not exposed. No one was so bored as to add up the scores of everyone in Class C and find that there was a difference of 4 points between the total score and Class C's total score.

The class points that were almost within their grasp slipped away, resulting in a certain reduction in the number of members in the Katsuragi faction of Class A. While the Sakayanagi faction didn't necessarily grow stronger, it at least increased the number of neutral members.

The fact that they were divided into two factions was because no one was sure who was more suitable to lead Class A. At least now Katsuragi had received some negative reviews, and the two factions had not yet truly determined a winner. After all, the score issue could not be entirely blamed on Katsuragi, who was in charge of setting the questions.

Fourth place was undoubtedly a major defeat for Class A. Katsuragi also began to doubt Sakayanagi, but naturally, the two sides did not break off relations openly.

Class B remained peaceful and content, having only achieved the goal of securing second place and striving for first, but overall still satisfied.

Class C won a great victory, but Ryuen did not celebrate. Instead, he studied with great interest how Class D would make its move: he now understood that the reason the other party had made a deal with him was to get him to deal with Class D.

Whether it's Class A or Class B he's dealing with, they'd probably be too embarrassed to resort to underhanded tactics for the sake of saving face—but Longyuan isn't afraid of that. He's shameless; having gained such a huge benefit, he'll naturally find a way to mess with Class D. Especially since Class D's demonstrated strength shouldn't be underestimated.

Based on a comparison of Class D's total score and Class C's actual strength, Longyuan concluded that without the test papers obtained through the transaction, Class C would actually have a hard time defeating Class D based solely on their paper strength, and might even lose to Class D in terms of total score.

After all, the low scores in Class C were achieved through memorizing answers, while the students in Class D genuinely improved their academic abilities. If future exams are set by the school, Class C will definitely be at a disadvantage. Therefore, suppressing Class D in advance aligns with Class C's strategic thinking.