Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Kiro
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 77
The next holiday, we visited Kiyotaka’s room.
“What is the situation of your class?”
“…Ryuuen approached the class with a contract. The opinions are divided as to whether or not to accept it.”
Kiyotaka said that without changing his expression.
The characteristic of this event was that the voting wasn’t anonymous. When someone submits their ballot, they must write their name on it.
The reason seemed to be to prevent the act such as using the ballot of a person who decided not to participate in the event. If they were anonymous, the rule that the right to vote couldn’t be bought or sold would become invalid.
…Therefore, it was possible to find out later who voted for whom. In other words, if someone made a contract regarding the content of the vote, they couldn’t go against it.
“I personally think that it’s okay to accept it. It doesn’t seem to have any disadvantages after all.”
Kei-chan gave her opinion.
Based on her personal opinion, she seemed to not suspect a bad result from Ryuuen’s contract.
“…It might have happened quite some time ago, but Ryuuen has a track record of tricking Katsuragi in the past. I think you better check the contract thoroughly to see whether there’s a loophole.”
I gave a reminder just in case.
Since Kiyotaka was with her, I doubt things would turn out that badly, though…
“Ah~ Ryuuen is indeed that kind of person. What do you think, Kiyotaka?”
“I honestly think it doesn’t matter which one. I’ll leave the decision to Kei’s judgment this time.”
That surprised me. It seemed Kiyotaka was thinking of remaining an observer for the time being.
Looking at his attitude, it seemed the contract itself wouldn’t bring fatal consequences, at the very least.
Who would lose 20 million points? The enjoyment of this event was on that one point.
Who would become Honami’s target for criticism votes? And would that student participate in the event? For Class A’s alliance, that was the important part. If a non-participating student ended up being selected, it was possible the damage would go to Class A after all.
Therefore, choosing Class A and B to each attack different students of other classes respectively at risk of reducing Honami’s influence was also an option. But if Class C and D were colluding in that case, Class A’s alliance might lose.
…Uh~n, I don’t know.
The discussion continued while I was thinking about various things, but I still chose not to ask about the content of the contract that Ryuuen brought on purpose.
I thought it would be better to get the hint a little later.
I still want to enjoy thinking about it. It was a game after all, so it would be a loss to not play properly.
After returning to the room, Arisu-chan muttered.
“……I’m not sure what Nagumo Miyabi wanted to do with this. That made it feel a little disgusting.”
Nagumo’s purpose, huh…
I was sure that man would receive tons of points through this event. He most likely would earn the class transfer ticket for himself at the end. I could easily imagine that… but it was clear he wasn’t a person who prepared such an event just for the simple purpose of earning points.
It wouldn’t be weird if he planned for something even more bizarre, and I expected he would do so as well.
“Perhaps he’s trying to expel a person he thought of as a nuisance?”
“It’s not like that’s not a possibility… but this event is too subtle just to force someone to be expelled. Of course, it is possible that was one of his many goals for this event, though.”
It was just as Arisu-chan said. In the first place, “failure to pay a 20 million points penalty would result in expulsion” was not written anywhere. If he wanted to get students expelled, there was no reason to enact a rule that was possible to make a loophole. Well, as for what he intended to do… I still have no idea.
While we were doing so, I heard a notification sound from my terminal.
“…Ah, it’s Honami.”
It was a message that said there was something she wanted to discuss. Something must have happened regarding the event.
Arisu-chan and I headed to Honami’s room.
It was beginning to snow outside. If it continued, it might be piled up by tomorrow morning.
In the elevator of the dormitory, I rubbed my numb hands together. It was really cold today.
My exhaled breath was white and my body trembled. Walking around in this temperature would be a burden on Arisu-chan’s body, so I was thinking of cooking together with Kikyou-chan tonight.
I rang the intercom and waited for Honami to come out.
“Ah, sorry for calling when it is this cold.”
Honami opened the door and bowed her head apologetically.
When we entered the room, cups of hot coffee were prepared for us. As I took a sip, the temperature and aroma permeated my chilled body. My sense of touch returned as my hand held the hot cup.
“Thanks for the consideration. Why did you call us today?”
“You see, actually…”
With a troubled expression, Honami showed me her terminal’s screen.
The group chat within Class A was displayed there. It seemed that Chihiro-chan and Kanzaki took the lead in exchanging arguments.
The topic was about the contract that Ryuuen brought up. That man seemed to have reached out not only to Class C but also to Class A. He moved more progressively than I thought.
“…Ryuuen brought a contract to put praise votes for himself and Ibuki-san at the upcoming event.”
“Ooh, that’s interesting. To think he intended to participate…”
I found it surprising to see the man I thought would definitely not participate showing intention to participate. Then such a person demanded 41 votes of Class A. If Ibuki was also included in vote demand, it meant they could earn 8.2 million private points in total. Although there wasn’t much burden on doing so, a suitable compensation would be necessary for that.
“In exchange, the contract he exchanged with Class A back in the deserted island exam… Well, it was something I paid in their stead, but he would transfer the right for that so I would be the one who got paid for the contract instead. Point-wise, I think it’s quite profitable.”
The points that the former Class A… or rather, Honami have paid each month, excluding Totsuka’s portion, were 740,000 points. If that amount continued to be paid each month until graduation, earning that right in exchange for 8.2 million could be considered a bargain. The investment would return with extra in a year. It could be said that this was quite a compromise for Ryuuen.
“Does he want to have private points so much right now that he resorted to doing so?”
“Yes. And I found that very eerie, so I was wondering what to do about it.”
Honami put her hand on her cheek and looked troubled.
“…If two of three praise votes are taken by Class D, it means the number of praise votes that could be used freely would only be one. In other words, it would be impossible for Class A to protect both me and Haruto-kun.”
The opinion that Arisu-chan expressed was something that hadn’t occurred to me.
If either of us received 35 criticism votes from Class D without any of Class A’s praise votes, the odds of us ending up in last place were considerably higher. Leaving aside whether Ryuuen would really aim for that or not, there was no doubt that the risk of our participation would increase significantly.
“That’s certainly true. I don’t think we would end up in last place, but that risk is indeed there… Uh~n, this is difficult.”
“Yes. However, it doesn’t mean you have to refuse the contract just because of that. Just because a contract exists, that wouldn’t affect the policy of focusing the votes on a single student. In case the votes clashed, Class A has an advantage in quantity of students after all. If it was me instead, I would accept the contract without hesitation.”
No matter how they moved, the possibility of making a student of Class A end up in the lowest rank wasn’t 0. In that case, accepting Ryuuen’s contract while knowing there would be traps lying ahead was also interesting. Arisu-chan seemed to think that way. I found that aggressive thought was to my liking.
“In the end, things can’t begin until we find out who will participate after all. If I don’t agree to this contract, I’m sure Ryuuen-kun won’t be participating in this event anyway…”
“Fufu, above all, accepting the contract would make things more interesting. Don’t you think so?”
At this point, Arisu-chan turned to me and asked a question.
She truly watched and understood me. I nodded while thinking it was as expected of her.
It seemed she came to a decision upon seeing my reaction that Honami began to operate her terminal. I guess the goddess has given her decree.
“Okay, I’ll accept the contract.”
“That would be the best. We can shelve the future strategies and discuss them at a later date. You have to watch out for the contract that restricts behavior, but this contract doesn’t seem to be that type.”
The topic was concluded.
In the worst-case scenario, there was an option that either Arisu-chan or I could just choose not to participate to avoid the criticism votes. Class D must have known that, and if you think about it, collecting one vote on one of us was a strategy that required a lot of courage. Since it was Ryuuen, I couldn’t say that he would definitely not do it, though…
…Well, in the end, it was all about Arisu-chan’s words.
“It looks like it’s going to be enjoyable.”
When I replied, the two of them smiled.
Want early access to Cannon Fodder, Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer, and I Was a Man Before Reincarnating, So I Refuse a Reverse Harem? Support the translator on Patreon!
