"Yukinoshita, why did you gather everyone here? What exactly are you planning?"
To everyone's surprise, it wasn't Ryuen but Katsuragi—his own classmate—who first spoke up against Haruno.
A flicker of confusion passed through the eyes of several students, but Haruno remained calm. In fact, she even had a faint smile on her lips.
Considering that the room was filled with class leaders, anyone lacking confidence or capability would have felt nervous under this kind of pressure. Yet Haruno showed no hesitation at all. If anything, she seemed to have complete control over the atmosphere in the room.
"Katsuragi, I'd appreciate it if you waited until I finished speaking before interrupting. Can you do that?"
Haruno turned to him with a smile, but her tone was firm and unwavering, calling him by name without a shred of politeness. Just from that alone, she had already asserted dominance over him.
Several people started reevaluating the girl named Yukinoshita Haruno.
Horikita, in particular, was watching closely. Among the students present, she and Hirata were probably the least familiar with Haruno. Everyone else—Ichinose, Ryuen, and the others—knew her well.
That last name, Yukinoshita… Horikita felt like she had heard it somewhere before, but she couldn't quite remember.
"I'm sure all of you have already experienced the first day of the group discussions, so you should be well aware of the challenges involved."
Haruno sat at the head of the conference table, sweeping her gaze across the room with an air of authority.
"Hah, and here I thought you had something important to say. So you just wanna talk about the exam? Hahaha! Do you seriously think gathering everyone here like this will change anything? This is why women are so naive—you don't even think before you talk!"
Ryuen cut her off halfway through, mocking her with an arrogant grin. He was clearly trying to disrupt her rhythm, or maybe he had already sensed something and was trying to throw off her plans.
Horikita, Ichinose, Kamuro, and the others frowned. Ryuen had just offended every girl in the room with that comment. But he didn't care. He was enjoying himself, staring smugly at Haruno.
"Ryuen."
"Hm?"
"Kneel."
"???"
Haruno looked at him with a half-smile.
"Did you not hear me? I'll say it again. Ryuen… kneel."
Everyone was confused, except for Hikigaya, who had a strange look on his face.
Ryuen also seemed to recall something, and veins bulged on his forehead. He suddenly stood up with a loud bang, staring at Haruno like an enraged beast.
His sudden action made the whole room tense. Kanzaki, Hirata, and the others stood up, seemingly ready to stop Ryuen in case he lost control and got violent.
But Haruno remained seated, completely unfazed. She even crossed her legs, looking at Ryuen with a teasing smirk.
"What's wrong? Did I hit a sore spot? Or are you just too scared to make a move?"
Haruno still had a smile on her face, but her words made everyone in the room break out in a cold sweat.
Was she seriously provoking this lunatic at a time like this?
Even Ibuki and Ishizaki, who knew the situation, were shocked by Haruno's boldness.
But to everyone's surprise, despite the blatant insult, Ryuen didn't make a move. He just stopped.
"You're not saying anything? Good. Then let me finish what I was saying. I hate being interrupted."
Haruno's smile didn't change, but there was a coldness in her voice that sent a chill through the room.
"I was planning to take it slow, but since someone ruined my mood, I'll get straight to the point."
She looked around at everyone. "For this Special Test, I want to achieve Outcome 1."
"Just to be clear—I mean all twelve groups should aim for Outcome 1."
The room fell into an eerie silence.
Expressions varied—Ibuki and Ishizaki looked shocked, Katsuragi and Horikita frowned in deep thought, and Ichinose seemed calm.
Then, Ryuen was the first to break the silence, laughing mockingly.
"Hahahahahaha! What, are you so scared we'll catch up from behind now that you've fallen from Class A to Class B?"
But Haruno didn't even glance at him. She wasn't interested in answering him at all. Instead, she turned her gaze toward Class D—Hirata and Horikita.
She continued, addressing everyone.
"A group usually has around 13 to 14 people. Given the current situation, the likely outcomes are either Outcome 3 or Outcome 4. That means the school only needs to pay about 6 million private points to settle this test.
"But if we aim for Outcome 1, each group will receive 7.5 million private points. Across all twelve groups, that means the school could end up paying a total of 85.5 million private points.
"Now, tell me—which sounds more tempting to you: 500,000 private points and 50 class points, or 85.5 million private points?"
The room went dead silent.
Everyone finally understood Haruno's goal—and why she had gathered the key players from each class.
She was aiming for the massive private point payout from this test!
Ishizaki and Ibuki had their mouths wide open, shocked yet also secretly excited.
This was robbing the school!
If Haruno's plan worked, every student could get 500,000 private points each.
But honestly, even more than the points, what excited them was the idea of sticking it to the school.
No student here didn't have complaints about this system. But since they were students, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and adapt to the school's rules.
Hikigaya, listening to Haruno, felt a mix of expected, yet surprising.
After all, she had mentioned a similar idea to him yesterday. But he hadn't thought she would *actually* go through with it during this test.
Then again, it made sense.
Compared to the deserted island exam last time, the potential private points from this test were much higher… and the results were easier to manipulate.
On top of that, Haruno had deliberately framed her argument in a way that made her proposal sound even more tempting—by directly comparing 85 million points with just 500,000 points.
It was a clever way to make the difference feel even more shocking.
"I see," Ryuen suddenly sneered. "I was wondering what kind of big scheme you were going to pull, but this is it? That's all?"
He leaned back, grinning coldly at Haruno.
"If you want Outcome 1, you'll need all four classes to work together. But you see, I'm in a pretty bad mood right now."
Then his grin widened mockingly.
"But if you get on your knees and beg, I might just consider your little idea."
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