They already knew there was a boss in D-Class, and that this boss wasn't weak. What Sakayanagi wanted was for him to take that boss down.
Which, in other words, meant keeping D-Class at the bottom.
The only question was whether that boss would actually act. After all, D-Class's class points had dropped to zero.
If they cared about improving, they wouldn't have let their points hit rock bottom in the first place.
Still, there were good reasons to believe that boss would make a move.
There were two reasons.
First, there was Chabashira-sensei's rule-breaking behavior. She seemed really desperate. So after seeing that Horikita wasn't working out, it was very possible she'd turn to that boss in D-Class to step in.
Second, having zero points wasn't actually a bad thing for D-Class.
Kind of like how Ryuen's class needed his iron grip to stay united. D-Class was also a total mess, completely disorganized. But unlike Ryuen's class, they didn't have someone like him—someone who ruled with force. That made it much harder to bring everyone together.
But now Class D had ended up with zero points. If the students don't work hard in the next special exam, the whole class won't have any money to live on.
Since this affects everyone in the class, all it takes is for one person to step up and lead, and they might be able to bring Class D together.
So even though Class D lost, it wasn't a total loss.
And if Class D does start climbing up, it'll put real pressure on Ryuen's class. Based on the info they've gathered, some students in Class D are unbelievably weak, but others are very strong in certain subjects. If they're used properly, normal classes won't be able to handle them.
In fact, if people like Rokusuke Takayanagi or Kiyotaka Ayanokouji go all out, even Class A might not have anyone who can stop them.
So,
Class D is actually very dangerous.
That's also why Shirogane made that kind of deal with Horikita.
He offered info on both Class A and Ichinose's class in exchange for Class D's data. It might look like a bad trade, but it shows that he sees Class D as the biggest threat.
In that sense, taking on Sakayanagi's request made perfect sense.
If you can keep Kiyotaka Ayanokouji in check, you're basically keeping Class D in check.
And if he can do that, then even if Ryuen's class can't stay in Class A forever, he'll still have a backup plan.
It's a win-win.
…
Sakayanagi only stayed in Class B for a few minutes. As the bell for class was about to ring, she left.
Meanwhile, Shirogane returned to his seat.
"Did Sakayanagi want something?" Shiina, who sat in front of him, turned around to ask.
She hadn't been in class when Sakayanagi came in, but she had seen Shirogane and Sakayanagi walking off together.
"She came to share some news," Shirogane said. "If someone can collect 20 million points, they can cancel a forced expulsion—or even move directly to the class they want."
"That's kind of a big deal, isn't it?"
Hiyori immediately realized how important that was.
"But it's probably really hard to get 20 million points on your own."
"And one more thing," Shiina said. "When I was walking in the hallway earlier, I ran into someone from the student council. He said he was looking for you, Shirogane, and asked you to go to the student council office after school."
"Seems like the student council president wants to see you," Hiyori added.
"He just told you and then left?" Shirogane noticed something strange.
"He was heading toward our classroom, but after I told him I'm a first-year from Class B, he told me the message and asked me to pass it on," Hiyori explained. "But there was one more thing that seemed a little off—he asked to exchange phone numbers with me. He said he wanted me to let him know once I passed on the message, since it was from a student council senior."
As she spoke, Shiina looked a bit embarrassed.
"After we added each other, I blocked him right away. But you can still see his number in the blocked list. Here it is."
"…" Shirogane.
Shirogane took the phone from Shiina and saw the blocked number for himself.
Who was this unreliable student council member? And on top of that, he asked for a junior girl's number? Clearly not a very respectable upperclassman.
It wasn't hard to guess why he asked for Shiina's number—she was one of the most popular girls in class and got a lot of attention, even just walking around the shopping area.
Still, it was completely inappropriate for a student council member to do that.
But Shiina handled it well. Even though she didn't say no to adding him, that wasn't because she was scared of his position—she just used the chance to get his contact info.
"The person said he's a second-year upperclassman. He's in the student council now, works as one of the officers. He has short blonde hair and red eyes,"
"He's not bad-looking, and he walks with confidence—probably pretty good at sports too," Shiina said, like she was trying to recall the details.
But suddenly, in Shirogane's mind, he remembered those two upperclassmen they ran into back when he was walking out of the student council room with Sakayanagi. One of them had blonde hair and a cheerful, handsome face.
That person was none other than the current class representative of 2nd Year Class A and also the vice president of the student council—Nagumo Miyabi.