The chatter slowly died down as we prepared for the next lottery.
- *** -
[Lottery 4]
- Lose a life - 50%
- Lose two lives - 20%
- Gain ONE attack token - 20%
- Gain TWO attack tokens - 10%
[Lottery 4]
- *** -
The school was clearly trying to make attack tokens as hard to obtain as possible. It made sense since they didn't want a slaughter at the end of the exam. Rationally, I had no reason to spin this time. I had no need for attack tokens which meant that it wasn't worth the risk.
The only threat to me at the end of this exam was Tachibana Emi. She definitely wasn't finished trying to expel me, and more importantly, she had an immunity from the midterms. This meant that she could basically sacrifice all of her lives in exchange for more leverage in attacking me.
One way to protect myself was the threaten Ichikawa Mana. However, in a situation like this, there was another way, an easier way—because in situations like this, whilst Tachibana was incredibly smart, she is also very predictable.
...
I skipped this spin.
"Mizuhara, why don't you want to help me?"
I looked back at Hamasaki again.
"I have some other priorities during this exam. In fact, I'm going to need your special item."
She looked at me with an unhappy expression.
"What do you need the item for? Moreover, why should I give it to you?"
I took out my phone.
"How many points do you want for it?"
She seemed taken aback. I was ready to offer quite a large sum of points since it was pretty important to my overall strategy. I had recently gathered quite a few during the midterm exams anyways.
"U-um... I've got plenty. I don't want your points."
"Ah."
"However, I'll give you the item if you promise to help me take down Furukawa after this exam."
I guess it was an okay deal. I preferred not to have to draw attention to myself, but it saved me some points in the long run. It was better for me as well to keep Kaoru as the leader.
"Sure."
Right there, she transfered the item to me.
I decided to give her my attack tokens in return; I had no need for them anyways.
I was surprised by how eagerly she took the initiative. Whatever the case, I decided to think about how I'd take care of Tachibana's impending attack.
Furukawa and Kaoru were still trying to organise something with the class. I didn't really care, patiently waiting for the next lottery.
The teacher spoke.
"This will be the final lottery. Make your choice carefully. Let's hope you still have a skip left."
- *** -
[Lottery 5]
- Lose two lives - 95%
- Gain 5,000 points - 5%
[Lottery 5]
- *** -
There were some gasps from several of the other students.
"—what the hell is this!"
"—this isn't fair at all!"
It seemed that the school prepared the last lottery as basically a punishment for using too many skips earlier in the exam. Normally, someone would never risk two lives for 5,000 points, especially if they had lost lives earlier on.
However, I had a reason to do so.
My goal wasn't the points; it was the lives.
I chose to spin.
[You have lost two lives]
...
There was a cry from another student.
"—Wait! I just lost all my lives! Hold on, hold on! Wait, what's happening now?!"
He cried out in anguish. Kaoru tried to console him.
Furukawa asked the teacher.
"Is there any way to get more lives?"
"No. The only thing you can do is pay the 100,000 points to reverse the expulsion."
There was a moment of silence as the boy looked around the class in desperation. I could already see what was going to happen. Taking charge, Kaoru tried to say something to the class; however, Furukawa spoke over her.
"We have 26 students in this class. We can prevent your expulsion if everyone gives 4,000 points. How many points do you have?" he asked the boy.
"...I-I've got 8,000..."
Furukawa thought for a moment.
"That means everyone would have to pay around 3,600 points. This would be doable."
Someone else spoke up.
"If that's the case, why didn't we save all of our classmates who were expelled during the midterm exams? This isn't how our class is run."
After the comment, Kaoru was finally able to talk to everyone.
"I agree. Every decision in this class is made by a majority vote. That's been the rule this entire time. This will be no different."
Suddenly, the boy jumped up and grabbed her collar.
"You can't just let me get expelled! I've worked so hard for this class! I even got one of the highest scores on the midterm exam. Furukawa said so. Everyone only needs to put in 3,600 points!"
He shook her body. Kaoru's hair was being swept around, sweeping onto her face.
Kobayashi quickly got up and pulled the boy off of her.
"Stop. Stop it! We're going to have a vote, isn't that right, Furukawa?"
For the first time, Kobayashi looked over at Furukawa for confirmation.
Ah, she was giving him some of the power that he wanted. This wasn't going to be good for Kaoru.
Furukawa sighed.
"Alright, we'll run a vote right now."
Kaoru could only look over in shock as Furukawa began leading the class.
There was a raise of hands. It was a rather chaotic situation.
The vote was 7 for, and 19 against.
However, Furukawa and Itsuki were some of the people who voted 'for'. In doing so, he managed to paint himself as a positive figure, opposing Kaoru and Kobayashi's negative votes.
There was a moment of silence.
Eventually, some members of the class began to criticise Kaoru's morals—exactly what Furukawa would've hoped.
Hamasaki went to get out of her seat, but I turned and held her down.
"Huh?"
"Don't expose yourself as an enemy to him."
"But... are you sure?"
I looked down at my phone. It seemed that the next period of the exam had already begun, and people were beginning to get attacked.
However, the room was still in a state of disarray.
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