Yukio made his way out of the gymnasium after the Judo club’s initiation ended. He had decided to join the club to check whether it would be helpful in learning martial arts. If it failed to live up to expectations, he could always become a ghost member. 

The initiation had involved some introductions to the members and instructors however he noted no notable characters in the club, unfortunately. Besides the introductions, there were some flashy demonstrations to make the newbies more impassioned to participate.

Since the club would receive a fund based on the number of people that joined, it had no incentive to retain people that weren’t particularly interested. This unfortunately meant the instructors catered mostly towards individuals with prior experience, so joining the club had been a dud.

‘I’ll remain a ghost member until I ever need to leave. And like this, I can always use the excuse of attending club activities when it’s required.’

Yukio made his way to the changing rooms for the football club, to meet with Hirata. He’d contacted the young man about walking back to the dorms after clubs together so he could discuss something about class points with him.

“Hey, Yosuke-Kun.”

Spotting Hirata breaking away from a group of first-year boys, Yukio promptly greeted him. 

“Hello, Yukio-Kun. How was the judo club?”

“Eh, so-so I guess. I’ll probably end up as a ghost member.”

“Ah, that’s too bad. Football still has a spot or two free if you’re interested.”

“Well, you know I’m not really that fond of the idea. How was it, anyway?”

With a thoughtful expression on his face, the D class representative thought over his time with the senpais of the club.

“It’s pretty cool, I guess. We had Nagumo-senpai, the vice president, join us today. He’s pretty good!”

“Nagumo-San, you say?”

“Mhm.”

‘This guy makes some pretty expressive facial expressions. All the more reason to believe how genuine he is, I guess.’

“Anyway, Yosuke-Kun. I wanted to talk about some potential class points.”

“Potential? Have you figured out a way, Yukio-Kun?”

Hirata asked excitedly, eliciting a sigh from the taller boy beside him.

“Not exactly. I did manage to find out that anyone who made it to the school team in the first semester could be rewarded with a generous number of class points.”

“Admitted to the school team? In the first semester. Isn’t that being a bit too optimistic?”

“It is. That’s the point though since anyone who is capable of doing so will earn their class a great number of points.”

“And you think someone in our class can…?”

Hirata asked inquisitively, to which Yukio nodded.

“I do. Sudou-Kun, who is part of the basketball club, has potential. I’ve even watched him playing alongside the second years during practice, and he’s not losing out to anyone. If anyone in class D, Sudou-Kun will make it on the team.”

“Sudou-San, huh? Did you want me to do anything in the meanwhile?”

Yukio smiled, glad that Hirata took his role as representative seriously.

“There is actually something you can do, Yosuke-Kun. I think Sudou-Kun doesn’t have the best of reputations currently, and the class will probably turn on him sooner or later. I think news such as that could really change the way everyone views him, you know.”

Hirata’s look of enlightenment was too bright for Yukio’s eyes.

‘This way he can help save someone he feels is becoming isolated in the class.’

“But Yosuke-Kun, I wouldn’t tell them now, just because it’d be bad to raise their hopes up. If there are troubles in the future, you could use that to quell everyone’s dissatisfaction with him.”

“I… guess. That does make sense, but it’s a bit of a shame not to say it now. But I understand if things don’t work out, the others may have a worse impression of Sudou-San in the future.”

“Exactly!”

By this point, the elevator had reached the 4th floor, so Yukio bid farewell to his classmate and made his way to his room for another evening of catching up on his studies. 

— — —

In his room, Yukio stewed over his relationships and the meaning each had to him. It had been a couple of days since Chabashira-Sensei’s life-changing announcements, and she had yet to call him over to read his student profile. 

‘She’s probably trying to find a time when the staff room is empty. I guess she can’t just copy the text or send it to me without repercussions.’

Thinking back to his conversation with Hirata, he wondered if their friendship had any basis besides Yukio using him for his own benefit. But then he considered what being friends meant, and figured that he was using Hirata, but also helping him, in the long run, to enjoy an easier life at the school. 

‘And at the end of the day, this is the Advanced Nurturing High. A weakness such as friendship can be exploited by anyone scheming against you, so I might as well rinse the relationships I have, or keep them low-key. My friendships with Hirata and the other girls are plain as day and work as a smoke screen. Unfortunately, if ever my prowess is revealed then they may be targeted.’

Yukio thought back to his second favour, and his actions while at the school. Despite preaching his desire to remain low-key, he had conducted a set of actions which made him stand out at several instances. 

In the past few days, Yukio had been giving perfunctory replies to anyone that had asked him about rising to class A, or how they could pass the midterms. 

He wanted an easy life, but an easy life would require private points. This would, undeniably, require stomping on the other classes to win class points. 

The actions he was carrying out were made to enthuse the class into actively working to become class A. In the light novels, despite the 0 CP, a lot of students were still carefree about their circumstances. 

His second favour would also light a fire below their bottoms, and would make it so that everyone is at risk. Similar to the tension of the voting exam in the third semester, Yukio’s wanted everyone to bring out the best of themselves. Expecting someone else to rise to class A, as Ayanokouji did, would not cut it. 

‘Like this, Chiaki might reveal some of her ability too, though I very much doubt it. Unless she sees the class as worthy, which it is definitely not, she probably won’t. Well, whatever. I’ll try to unmask her soon enough.’

Thinking about the butterfly effect of his actions, he knew trying to keep things as close to the plot as possible would be easier for him. 

‘And yet I’ve changed a lot of things by now. I still think my actions are better in the long run since this way I’ll be able to save up more points if the class can perform better. Also, destroying the potential threat that Sae could have presented was a no-brainer. I don’t really know why I’ve transmigrated to this world, but if I know something for sure, it’s that the chance would not come for free.’

His student profile would probably have a few more clues about his background in this world, and the mother Sae mentioned when she attempted to blackmail him.

‘Especially since I woke up on the bus. Neither before, nor after, but on the way to ANHS. Well, I’ll try to leave most things to Ayanokouji henceforth.’

The last thing he pondered before he went on with his typical evening was how his actions could make it so that Sae chose to avoid blackmailing Ayanokouji. He remembered, however, that the main impetus for blackmailing the boy was the phone call she had received just before the island cruise. And since she failed to reign Yukio in, she may get more desperate for the white room genius. 

— — —

“Let’s go watch the new film they released the other day!”

As Nene approached the duo-Chiaki and Yukio, she declared in a noisy fashion which gathered the looks of chagrin from her classmates. 

Here they were, slaving away reading textbooks and revising for the impending exams, praying they don’t get expelled, while the popular kids could live such a carefree life, still playing before exams. 

“I’m down. I’ve heard it was pretty good. But snacks are on you this time, Nene-Chan.”

Chiaki replied, while Yukio absent-mindedly nodded. He was expecting to be called over today, but there were still no announcements.

“What? But I bought the snacks last time!”

“Sigh~ Let me correct you since you seem to have the memory span of a goldfish. I’ve bought snacks the last two times, and Yukio-Kun before that. Oh by the way, will you be coming too?”

Directing her gaze at the boy sat beside her, Chiaki asked Yukio, who broke out of his reverie and was about to reply when-

{Yukio Kobayashi. Make your way over to the staff room.}

An announcement blared out of the speakers. 

“I would’ve loved to, but that’s my cue apparently.”

“Yukio-Kun! You’ve been doing shady things a lot lately. What’s it today?”

Nene whined, wondering where he had been running off to after class this past week. 

“I don’t know, maybe Chabashira-Sensei’s going to confess to me?”

The boy grinned, while the girls deadpanned at his horrible joke. 

“I’ll meet you guys at the mall in half an hour at the latest, alright?”

While leaving the girls to head over to the mall by themselves, Yukio walked towards the staff room.

Unlike the last time, there was no pink-haired class B representative, nor any other teachers for that matter, in the room. 

Only Sae, leaning against the wall with a cigarette in her hand, was in the room, awaiting the arrival of the young man who outplayed her. 

“Took you long enough, Sensei.”

Yukio remarked as he approached the woman.

“I had to look through the quiz papers again before I could consider your appeal Kobayashi. Come look through the paper again.” 

Yukio, understanding that she was acting for the microphones, made his way over to the computer she was sitting at and noticed his image and several of his details.

Confirming that it was him with a nod, Sae scrolled down the page to a student description.

The contents of the description caused Yukio’s eyes to widen in incredulity. 

— — — — — —

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