16. The Sudden Hot-Bloodedness of Class B!
Power and responsibility are equivalent!
Aragaki Shun wanted to collect Source Power at Advanced Nurturing High, so he chose to bring Year 1 Class B under his control.
Then, he should be responsible for the class competition of Class B students for these three years.
Using power freely but letting others bear the responsibility was, of course, possible, and even the mainstream tendency in society.
However, the young man considered himself not a good person, but he still had basic integrity.
The benefits after graduating from Class A were insignificant to Aragaki Shun.
But for most students at Advanced Nurturing High, that was the most crucial turning point in their lives.
If missed, they might never encounter a better opportunity to cross their current class in their lifetime.
It could be said that he was only gambling three years of game time, while the members of Class B entrusted him with what could be a lifetime.
In this situation, how cold-blooded and ruthless must a person be to trample on this trust so casually when the entire class had entrusted their faith and was obedient?
"My identity, you should have heard about it from Kanzaki."
"This is a promise I, Aragaki, make to everyone in Class B in public. The surveillance cameras on the ceiling of Advanced Nurturing High School will record it, and the heir of Kanzaki Heavy Industries below will guarantee it. You absolutely don't need to worry that if there's an accident three years later, I will break my promise."
"Compared to this promise, which at most involves thirty-nine well-paying jobs, my reputation as the heir of the Aragaki family is obviously more valuable. Do you have any doubts about this?"
It seemed they were stunned by Aragaki Shun's guarantee.
After hearing the young man's question, everyone subconsciously shook their heads, indicating no problem.
Just kidding, although few high school students present paid special attention to politics, and compared to the Aragaki family, perhaps large enterprises famous for their wealth like Kanzaki Heavy Industries and the Kouenji conglomerate were more well-known.
But with a quick online search, anyone could easily understand the gold content of the young man's guarantee.
Anyway, they didn't think Aragaki Shun needed to deceive them in this regard.
Or rather, if they could really force the heir of the Aragaki family to abandon his own reputation for them, high school students, then in a way, that was also an honor?
While the class was silent, Kanzaki Ryuuji, who was the first to break the silence, suddenly stood up.
For some reason, he, who was usually calm and indifferent, now gave off a feeling of hot-bloodedness rushing to his head.
"Since Aragaki has already made such a promise, then I will also add a guarantee."
"Like Aragaki, if Class B fails in the competition three years later and cannot obtain the employment and further education benefits promised by the school, then any classmate interested in Kanzaki Heavy Industries can come to me for a decent job."
At this, not only were the students in the class dumbfounded, but even Hoshinomiya Chie, the teacher who had at some point walked to the classroom door and had been silently observing this class meeting, was secretly amazed.
What was wrong with this year's new students?
Were those high-ranking officials in the school crazy, assigning these two big shots to Class B?
Did they think this year's Class A didn't have enough pressure?
Wait, it seems Chairman Sakayanagi's daughter is also in Class A?
Then it's fine...
"I'm sorry, I have to interrupt," Ichinose Honami took a deep breath, her eyes wavering yet carrying an inexplicable determination as she looked at Aragaki Shun.
"Advancing to Class A, this should be the common struggle of everyone in Class B. How, how can it be directly pressed upon you?"
"And the school's hidden rules were also information gathered by Aragaki-kun, Kanzaki-kun, and Shibata-kun together. You've already contributed enough."
"I am willing to follow Aragaki-kun's command. I believe Aragaki-kun will definitely be able to lead everyone in the class to advance to Class A together. Regardless of success or failure, this is a choice I make voluntarily. Please don't carry the responsibility alone. If there really is a 'just in case,' please let me share it with you!"
Ichinose Honami's beautiful eyes stared straight at Aragaki Shun, her expression incomparably serious.
And hearing her speech, the other classmates seemed to awaken from a dream, one by one shouting out the hot-bloodedness in their hearts as if their brains had overheated.
"Honami-chan is right! The future of Class B should be fought for by everyone together! How can Aragaki and Kanzaki bear the price alone!"
"Too much! Aragaki is one thing, Kanzaki, why are you also acting so cool?"
"Let's all advance to Class A together! Even if we fail, at worst we'll just rely on ourselves to get into university. Three years of free tuition and living expenses, we've already made a huge profit!"
"Aragaki is the coolest! Honami-chan is my favorite! Being in Class B is the best!!"
"Ahhh~ I'm fired up!!!"
Whistling and enthusiasm filled the entire Class B at this moment.
Even if Hoshinomiya Chie, seeing the situation was amiss, closed the door, it was likely the neighboring classrooms could hear it.
Perhaps someone was already wondering what Class B was suddenly going crazy about.
Aragaki Shun looked somewhat troubled at these suddenly impassioned classmates, and for the first time in a long while, felt the youthful exuberance belonging to young people.
One could only say that he, having relived a life, indeed carried too much utilitarianism unbefitting his age.
And for these high school students who had not yet tumbled into the ruthless society, perhaps future salaries, jobs, and social classes were very important, but they definitely couldn't compare to the youth, hot-bloodedness, face, and friendship they valued most at this stage.
In fact, after Aragaki Shun and Kanzaki Ryuuji's successive promises, what the boys and girls in the class were most concerned about was not their identities, but why they could be so cool!!!
To carry the future of the entire Class B on one's shoulders, wasn't this super cool?
It felt super awesome, alright!
When will I have the chance to show off like this to everyone?!
As for really considering the jobs promised by the two... at least now, few in Class B took it to heart.
Not to mention that after Aragaki Shun provided the information for the code of conduct exam, no one felt the difficulty of the class competition, always thinking they could easily advance to Class A.
Just for high school students of this age, accepting a friend's invitation to work in their family's enterprise, wouldn't that be too shameless?
Compared to that, it was more appealing for the entire Class B to advance hand in hand, overcome numerous difficulties, defeat other lurking enemies, and finally realize their respective dreams together.
Aragaki Shun put himself in their shoes and, after roughly understanding their thought process, couldn't help but laugh speechlessly.
Looking again at the members of Class B, he couldn't help but feel a greater sense of identification.
No matter how naive and ridiculous this will was, he still appreciated this pure goodwill.
Having experienced it once, he understood that after entering society, it would be difficult to build such pure relationships again.
...