On the other side.
Hikigaya looked at Shibata with a bit of awkwardness.
Shibata really was a trustworthy good person; he didn't expect it would be Kanzaki who cast the vote in favor.
However.
Hikigaya also understood Kanzaki's reason for voting in favor.
Never mind twenty million.
Even if Class B were asked to put up forty million, it wouldn't be a problem.
Only by letting private points have an effect do they have a value for existing.
Just keeping twenty million as insurance is fine.
Forty million in private points is simply too much.
However.
Ichinose's idea was even more correct.
"Um."
"Honami-chan, what do you mean by not equating feelings with money?"
Hearing Ichinose's words, Amikura Mako and the others were completely confused.
"Well..."
Ichinose also scratched her hair a bit awkwardly:
"I might not be able to explain it well, but if we use twenty million to cancel the dropout penalty, I feel we would lose something even more important."
Kanzaki furrowed his brows, unable to understand even more.
What do you mean by something more important?
Thinking rationally.
Let alone twenty million, Class B could even cough up forty million.
Moreover.
He was taking the risk of dropping out voluntarily.
No matter how you thought about it.
It was a thing where the benefits outweighed the disadvantages.
Not only could Kanzaki not understand, but others were naturally even more confused.
However.
The final decision was still in Hikigaya's hands, after all, most of the private points were earned by him.
"Hikigaya, what do you think?"
"I agree more with Ichinose's opinion."
Hikigaya was able to understand Ichinose's thoughts; hearing his words, Ichinose also breathed a sigh of relief.
It wasn't because Ichinose was his girlfriend that Hikigaya spoke for her.
Kanzaki's idea wasn't wrong, but Ichinose's idea was more farsighted and better matched Hikigaya's own intentions.
Actually.
Ichinose's meaning was very simple.
Right?
Even if there were sufficient private points to cancel the dropout penalty.
This door cannot be opened.
"Hikigaya."
Kanzaki furrowed his brow, even more puzzled: "You're not agreeing with Ichinose's opinion just because she's your girlfriend, are you?"
"Of course not."
"Then the reason? For the sake of the class, I truly don't understand the reason for not doing it."
Just then.
The break time ended.
Results of the second vote: In favor: 1 vote; Opposed: 39 votes.
As long as one person continued, the exam could only continue; clearly, Kanzaki was still more persistent in his own meaning.
"Let's go back to the topic from just now."
After a moment of hesitation, Hikigaya still explained:
"This is like gambling; the scary thing about gambling isn't winning or losing."
"It's that it leaves a seed in the heart. From now on, whenever you're short on money, the idea of whether to try gambling once will naturally arise in your mind."
This door cannot be opened.
Once a baseline is broken, it means there is no baseline.
Hikigaya understood this very clearly.
Now he could frankly have girls on both sides, enjoying the admiration of Ichinose and the others.
Once they taste the sweetness of exchanging a companion for class points.
When such an exam appears again in the future, or when similar choices arise.
In the mind.
The idea of discarding will rise again.
Even if you can withstand the temptation once, twice, or three times, it's hard to withstand it countless times.
Right now you think spending twenty million doesn't matter.
Anyway, there's twenty million left.
In the future, you'll think spending another twenty million to move up in class doesn't matter either, once we've reached Class A it'll be complete.
However.
When a dropout crisis appears again, you'll have no choice but to lose a companion.
People, under such subtle influence.
Become self-interested corporate drones.
More importantly.
Currently, Class B's greatest advantage is unity.
Once such a choice is made, that strong cohesive force will likely develop cracks.
Of course.
After stepping into society.
For the sake of loved ones and family, everyone will make compromises.
Kanzaki's proposal wasn't bad.
After entering society, for the sake of family, one can't be good to everyone like during student days.
There is no right or wrong.
Kanzaki was just taking this more rational step ahead of time.
But.
Hikigaya was like Ichinose.
He didn't want to see this scene.
If it's a compromise made for survival, there's nothing that can be done.
Even without Sakayanagi and the others.
Hikigaya also knew there would come a day to compromise in the future.
But this is all just the school intentionally guiding them, making them more excellent social elites.
But they are clearly still students.
Still minors, why must they go through such a cruel test?
Trash school.
"You're worried we'll form a path dependency?"
Fortunately.
Kanzaki understood quickly, then breathed a sigh of relief.
Clearly.
Hikigaya wasn't reluctant to part with the private points in his hand.
"Hikigaya."
Kanzaki's expression relaxed:
"Actually, I think you can trust us a bit more."
"This time is mainly because our Class B's available private points are as high as forty million; it's simply too wasteful not to use them."
"If there were only twenty million, I would also lean toward voting 'opposed'."
"At least we should leave twenty million private points as insurance, to prevent an exam like last year's class vote at any time."
Clearly.
Kanzaki wasn't greedy for those one hundred class points.
Just as he said.
Twenty million private points can be saved as insurance to prevent companions from dropping out.
Unless one wants to wait until graduation to exchange them for cash.
Otherwise.
The portion exceeding twenty million is basically ineffective private points; keeping them in hand without interest is simply meaningless.
"No."
Hikigaya sighed and said.
Clearly.
As the class's second-in-command, Kanzaki was naturally extremely excellent.
At any moment, he could look at problems more rationally and objectively, and could stick to the baseline.
Even if he'd rather sacrifice himself, Kanzaki wouldn't hurt a companion.
However.
Even a Kanzaki like this had flaws.
"Kanzaki."
Hikigaya said somewhat helplessly: "I naturally trust you a lot, and believe you can keep your true intentions at all times, but what about others?"
Once these words were spoken.
Kanzaki furrowed his brow.
He could naturally manage himself; the thing Hikigaya was worried about wouldn't happen to Kanzaki, but it might not be the case for others.
From childhood to adulthood.
Class B has undoubtedly been a group of good kids.
Once this door is opened.
And they taste the sweetness of the benefits, it's hard to guarantee their thoughts won't deviate.
Other things aside.
Even an easy-going dialogue environment like this.
Might be hard to guarantee.
At that time.
Someone will surely propose different opinions, and Kanzaki didn't know whether this was good or bad.
"I'll think about it a bit."
Kanzaki looked around at his companions and sat back in his seat.
As long as it was explained clearly.
Kanzaki could naturally understand Hikigaya's concern.
But deciding which side was more advantageous for the class was very difficult.
Soon.
The results of the third vote.
In favor: 1 vote; Opposed: 39 votes.
Clearly.
Kanzaki couldn't get an answer for a while.