Chapter 25

"No, I came prepared with some bargaining chips to negotiate with." Kushida huffed, as if she'd been expecting that question. "The main thing I can offer at this time is a contract saying that Class E will owe Class D one favour - Hirata-kun and surprisingly Horikita-san both agreed that it would be worth it for us to be indebted to you in exchange for saving us from three expulsions."

Kushida's smile didn't reach her eyes as she said that last part. She'd probably realized how precarious her class's position truly is, and that Class E was pretty much depending on another class for assistance at this point. It also seemed like Kushida had not sought us out independently, but rather had come as an envoy on behalf of Class E. Horikita and Hirata had probably realized that Kushida had the best chance of getting our help, which is why she was sent here alone. It seemed that Class E is sharper than I thought they'd be.

I had to say, I was surprised that Horikita had decided to rely on another class's help. I never would've thought the Horikita I knew to be the type to willingly ask for another's assistance. Perhaps, she had come to acknowledge Class D.

One could say that we in Class D held all of the cards right now. As far as options go, the only other class that Kushida could realistically turn to is Class B and it seemed like they had the overall lowest ability of any class in the school – in fact, the only thing they have going for them is their trust in their leader, who we'd come to learn is called Ichinose Honami.

Compared to our class, where most of us had achieved a perfect score and the only one who didn't had still gotten equal points to Class E's top scorer, Class B simply wasn't an attractive choice. This was probably the conclusion that Kushida, Horikita and Hirata had come to.

Thinking about their offer, on the surface it didn't seem very advantageous for us at all. However, looking at it more closely, we in Class D didn't really lose anything by helping the Trio of Idiots study but we could gain a potentially massive card to play in the future. Individualistically, their proposal was bad for us but looking at it from a class-based point of view we could stand to gain a lot by accepting the offer.

"Thoughts?" Sora called out lazily. It seemed he had finished mulling it over at a similar time to me and had no qualms in discussing the matter right in front of Kushida.

"I think it's a good offer to accept, assuming that three of us can actually tutor someone at a decent level." I spoke my opinion.

"Hmm, can you teach people at a decent level, Ayanokōji?" Sora asked, narrowing his eyes. He was probably expecting me to lie to escape from an extra workload.

"I actually think that I can be a pretty good teacher," I replied, which seemed to surprise Sora. His eyes widened a bit, before he quickly returned to his typical smug appearance.

"I wasn't expecting you to say that, but it's a welcome surprise. Actually, thinking about it, you have some sort of connection with that Sudō don't you? You could be the perfect candidate to help tutor him."

I certainly couldn't argue with his logic there. I became acquainted with Sudō when I paid for his noodles at the convenience store, back at the start of April when he forgot his student ID card. Although we weren't what you'd typically call 'friends,' we could still be considered as acquaintances.

"If needed, I'll take on the task of picking up Sudō's grades. What about the other two?" I resigned myself to my fate.

"Well honestly, I don't think that anyone in Class E would listen to me or Shiro after the stunt we pulled, so it'll have to be out of Lelouch, Kururugi, Light and Ryuzaki for the other two." Sora made a good point. It was unlikely that Ike or Yamauchi would accept teaching from neither Sora nor Shiro.

"I'm definitely not qualified to teach another person," Ryuzaki protested lazily.

If you asked me, I'd agree that he didn't seem like the best teacher. In fact, Ryuzaki would be the worst teacher in Class D. Probably.

"I nominate Lelouch-kun and Light-kun! You guys are the most popular, right?" Kushida said with a bright smile.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Lelouch asked, genuinely puzzled. "I guess it would make some sense if we were tutoring girls but how would being popular help us get in the good books of guys?"

"She's probably talking about how they'll ask us to... help them, I guess." Light said, slightly reluctantly.

An awkward silence befell the room as Light and Lelouch pondered the situation. After a few beats, Lelouch decided to break the quiet.

"I'll do it, I suppose. This favour had better be worth me sacrificing my time and potentially my IQ to teach those idiots." He really didn't pull his punches. Ouch.

If Ayanokōji and Lelouch are doing it, then I have no choice. Did you bring a contract with you here, Kushida?" Light said with a sigh.

"Yeah." Kushida replied with a nod, producing a neatly folded slip of paper from her pocket. "For now, Hirata-kun has signed it as our representative, but I think he's reluctant to become the fully-fledged leader of our class."

It looks like Class E had also expected us to ask for something in return for our assistance and had prepared for that negotiation in advance. I had to give credit where it was due – Hirata, Horikita and Kushida were certainly much smarter than what you'd expect from the average Class E student.

"Hey, should we have a leader-slash-representative as well?" Sora suddenly asked that question with a frown.

"Well I'm sure that our class will continue to function as a democracy of sorts, but I guess it would be convenient to have one person be the designated plenipotentiary agent for the purposes of negotiation and such." I said, resting my cheek on my hand.

We all gathered around the teachers podium to read the contract that Kushida had placed on it. It read:

This contract is to signify that the current Class E, represented by Hirata Yōsuke, will owe one favour to the current Class D in exchange for temporary tutelage. By the rules enforced by the school, Class E must assist Class D with any one request as long as it is within their reasonable capability to do. This contract is signed by both classes, as seen below:

Additionally, when the favour has been paid back by Class E, Class D will sign again here to show that the agreement has been fulfilled:

After each colon was a few lines of blank space. In the first blank space, the signature of Hirata was written on the left. It seems like we'd have to sign ours on the right, and then once again at the bottom of the paper to ensure that there's no foul play when we cash in our favour.

"It sure would be troublesome if every member of our class had to sign things like this..." Ryuzaki muttered as he scanned the page.

"So, we should have a representative. But who?" Kururugi asked.

"Well, a representative needs to be someone who is at least decently popular and well-liked, as well as someone who possesses good leadership skills and who can make good and quick decisions when the situation demands it. When I think about who in our class fits these criteria, only one person comes to mind." Sora said, and everyone's gazes slowly drifted over to a certain amethyst-eyed boy.

He sighed in resignation. "Fine, I'll do it. I'll take on the role of 'leader' of Class D. It's troublesome even if it's only on a surface level, so I expect your unending gratitude."

Lelouch pulled out a pen from his blazer and wrote his signature on the paper, just to the right of Hirata's. Something immediately struck me as odd about his signature, but I decided not to mention it for now.

"Hmph, as class representative, I'm setting a condition on this contract." Lelouch said, apparently already making use of his new power. "You'll be the one to round them up, Kushida. We're not going out of our way just to try and get them to listen to us."

It was a reasonable condition. It would be very troublesome for us to try and get them to accept our help just by asking them. Class E probably already didn't have a high opinion of us in Class D, especially after we just took their position on the class ladder. If someone like Kushida were the one to be the one to get them to agree to let us help them, it would be much more convenient for all parties involved.

Kushida nodded contently to Lelouch's condition. "Yes, that's fine. I'll text you the details once I have everything sorted out then, Class Leader Lelouch-kun."

Lelouch rolled his eyes at his new nickname but didn't say anything and simply returned to his seat. Everyone else followed shortly after, returning to their respective desks. Seemingly satisfied, Kushida turned her back to us and headed for the day.

"Okay~, thanks for your help, everyone! I'll see you all later!" Kushida said jovially before she departed from our classroom.

"How troublesome..." Lelouch muttered.

I was the last one to arrive to class today. It seems like the rest of my classmates were earlier than usual. I walked to my seat, acutely tuning in to the few low conversations being held between the rest of the Class D students. When I arrived at my seat, Lelouch stood up and clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.

"I have some probably important information I should tell you." He said. "After school today, Ayanokōji, Light and I are to meet with Kushida and the gang of defects outside her classroom as per the contract we signed two days ago. That's all."

Lelouch sat back down. It seems like he was indeed the most suitable choice for the role of class representative after all, and was quickly adapting to the position. He seemed to have a decent social network, was good at organizing information and people and had the charisma to back it. A very good leader, if I must say.

So, for the next two weeks up until the midterm exams, I will be tutoring Sudō, huh? In all honesty, it didn't sound too bad – it wasn't like I had much to do after school anyway, and it could be the opportunity for me to make a friend in another class.

"Hey, Lelouch, have you considered joining the student council? I think you'd be a good fit and having a Class D student in it would be useful." Sora asked.

"Stop trying to push all the bothersome responsibilities onto me." Lelouch replied sternly, ignoring the question.

"I was just saying I thought you'd be suitable for the job, that's all." Sora replied in mock hurt. "But seriously, we probably should get someone on the student council."

"Then why don't you do it?" Light interjected.

"Me? You're joking,"

"Why not? You never miss anything and you're probably one of the smartest students in the entire school year. You're not bad at dealing with people either. You'd be just as good as Lelouch would."

I thought that it was a decent point but couldn't help but worry that Sora didn't yet have the ability to work without Shiro by his side. I'd heard that the student council had accepted Ichinose Honami a few weeks ago, so it was unlikely that both Sora and Shiro would be able to join. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, the only open position is the second vice-president seat.

"I think that you should at least go pay them a visit, Sora. You could learn something, even if you decide not to join." I added, to which Sora sighed exasperatedly.

"Fine, I'll at least go and have a look with Shiro while you guys do your tutoring thing later. No promises though." He gave in.

"We expect great things from you, vice-president-kun." Lelouch said sarcastically with a grin spreading across his face.

"Yeah yeah whatever