Horikita's dumbfounded expression was honestly too amusing—Yukio had to struggle to keep himself from bursting into laughter.
This was a serious discussion, and to suddenly laugh now would have been far too inappropriate.
Sakayanagi said nothing, simply reflecting on Yukio's mention of the single loop. The more she thought, the stranger her smile grew, as if she had already glimpsed the truth.
Ichinose, however, shared Horikita's doubts.
"No matter if it's an internal single loop or a double loop, it still doesn't work, right, Yukio-kun?"
"Don't rush." Yukio lifted his arm, palm gently pressing downward, signaling Ichinose and Horikita to settle down. "Let's go step by step. First, the single loop cancellation."
"The first step is simple—everyone cancels out one praise vote with one criticism vote. You follow so far?"
Sakayanagi kept her delicate smile. Ichinose nodded eagerly like a bobbing chick. Horikita wore a look of grave concentration, while Kushida was utterly absorbed, her eyes locked on Yukio.
"Second step," Yukio continued.
"We do another single loop using the second praise vote. That brings the entire class to a baseline of +1, while the third praise votes—those for other classes—remain unused."
So far, no questions. The logic was easy to follow.
"Third step—take all the remaining criticism votes and concentrate them on just two students. Make two people drop to -38 points. As for those two students' own criticism votes, since they can't vote for themselves, just throw them anywhere—it doesn't matter. This leaves us with four people at zero."
Sakayanagi realized the turning point was coming—the crux of Yukio's plan to push all four classes through without any expulsions.
Ichinose's eyes were filled with hope; she truly wished for no classmates to be expelled.
Kushida's admiration was sincere. The way Yukio calmly laid out his scheme with effortless authority made her heart race.
Horikita, meanwhile, was entirely focused, determined to see what sort of miracle he had devised.
"Fourth step," Yukio continued, "is exactly as I mentioned before. The four classes cross-support one another. My class will use our third praise votes on Sakayanagi's class, pulling those four zeroes back up to +1, and even lifting one of their -38s to -2.
"Then Sakayanagi's class helps Ichinose's class, Ichinose's class helps Class D, and finally Class D loops back to help my class."
"By doing this, even with Class D's reduced headcount, the end result will be almost every student in the first year sitting comfortably at +1. Each class will only have two outliers: one at -2, and one at -38. At worst, because Class D has fewer members, our side's -2 might slip to -5. But that's irrelevant."
Sakayanagi froze, then her eyes lit with awe as she stared at Yukio. How greedy could one man be, to dream up something like this?
Ichinose and Horikita were still confused. Ichinose raised her arm, pale and trembling.
"W-wait… Yukio-kun, but won't those students at -38 just get expelled?"
Horikita had the same concern. After all, their contracts had been signed on the condition of no expulsions.
If Yukio's scheme still resulted in someone leaving, then wasn't it meaningless?
"Then they get expelled." Yukio spread his hands nonchalantly, his tone so casual it was almost shocking.
"The students with the lowest scores will definitely face expulsion."
"!" Ichinose froze, Horikita was dumbstruck, and even Kushida couldn't follow. This wasn't like Yukio at all—why would he simply throw in the towel?
"But…" Yukio's calm tone shifted, and their hearts leapt in unison, "…even if someone gets expelled, through the internal voting loops, I can pull them back."
"Relax. This time, nobody is going to be expelled."
"After all, this exam was only designed by Acting Chairman Tsukishiro to force one expulsion."
Then Yukio revealed his full thought process, leaving everyone but Sakayanagi utterly stunned.
"So that's it." Sakayanagi, uncharacteristically, set aside her usual smugness and simply marveled aloud. At first, she'd assumed Yukio was just angling for a protection point.
But listening to it all laid out—she realized she had underestimated him.
This man wanted far more than just protection points.
She'd even struggled to understand how this could possibly tie into her father's return as Chairman. But now, seeing how massive the ripple effects would be, she understood.
If such an impact shook the school system, the investigation against her father could very well end early—giving him a real chance to return.
Ichinose stared at Yukio as though he were some divine being. Was this even possible? To milk the S-System itself until it went bald?
Kushida even started clapping, sparkling eyes reflecting treasure troves—and perhaps the silhouette of the man himself.
Horikita, though, was utterly crushed. She wanted to rip at her hair.
No wonder Yukio had been so smug about their little bet. His reasons for helping Sakayanagi and Ichinose weren't different at all—they were all pieces of this colossal scheme.
She hadn't been wrong to believe in the principle of acting from profit. That was correct.
Her mistake had been failing to imagine how big the profit could be.
If Yukio pulled this off, his gains would dwarf the "two million points saved" by helping the other classes.
For once, Horikita felt utterly defeated. She had thought she'd caught him acting, only to discover he had outplayed her completely.
...
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