<h4>Chapter 227: 1.1</h4>
When I arrived at the ssroom, I immediately noticed that the atmosphere was different from the one before the special exam.
First of all, there were a few students looking at me. These are a high percentage of students that I don''t get to know very well on a daily basis, but I guess it''s not surprising. Considering the fact that I''ve been on the sidelines, or on the side of the silent spectators, I''m not surprised that they''ve taken this new approach to me. There are a lot of things they don''t understand about my rtionship with Kushida, given how I used to act in public. There aren''t many students who cane and talk to me directly, even though they care about what happened.
"Good morning, Ayanokōji-kun!" In the midst of all this, Matsushita happily approached me.
"Good morning."
The stares from the students turned to surprise at my unexpected behavior. I''ve only had Matsushita wave at me from a distance before, but this may be the first time she''s approached me during school.
Is she concerned about what happened the other day, or does she have another goal in mind? Matsushita has a high opinion of my abilities. The fact that I tried to get Kushida expelled and the way I handled it may have raised her expectation rather than lowered it. Even in the process of expelling Airi, Matsushita was one of the students who vocally agreed that it was inevitable.
"So, it''s like we''re finally moving towards the ascension into ss A?"
"I can''t say for sure."
I dodged her light jab and backed off, she looked away as if she didn''t need to take it any further.
"There may be a lot going on for now, but I don''t think you need to worry about it." After saying that, she added, "It''s Ayanokōji, so I''m sure you don''t even care about it." She lets her true thoughts of mee out. "The way the ss feels is outside of Ayanokōji-kun and Horikita-san''s hands right?"
I''m not sure how I feel about that result, but it seems that Matsushita understands my feelings better than Horikita, or at least interprets them more urately.
The problem is that Shinohara, Haruka, Mii-chan and Kushida can''t rte to my line of thinking. The students I just named are the ones who were particrly damaged by the unanimous special exam.
Shinohara asionally stared daggers at us, but it wasn''t directed at me, more so at Matsushita. She seems to be unconcerned, though.
"Over the weekend, I tried to make something work out, but she canceled on me." She mumbles in a whisper, perhaps noticing Shinohara''s gaze on her. "Girls tend to take a long time in these situations."
"That''s tough."
"Well, it''s us who are at fault."
It originally started when Kei, Matsushita and the others made fun of Shinohara and Ike as a couple. They had been badmouthing them behind their backs about their looks, so it was only natural for Shinohara to be angry.
"This is just an everyday thing. There have been times when it''s been more difficult."
The rtionship between the girls is something that the boys, who only have a superficial rtionship with them, cannot know. I wanted to know, but it''s probably better if I don''t.
After that, no other student made an effort toe talk to me, and time passed by. Horikita also came to schoolte, but there was no sign of Kushida. Sudō and some of the other students tried to talk to Horikita, but since they arrived at school at thest minute, the chime rang and they had to take their seats.
Kushida, who hadn''t appeared in front of Horikita over the weekend, continued to stay hidden. The morning homeroom starts with many other empty seats. Chabashira-sensei came to the ssroom and immediately noticed the empty seats.
"Kushida, Hasebe, and Wang are absent. That''s unusual." We didn''t know the details of their absences, but Chabashira-sensei did. "Hasebe and Wang have notified me that they''re sick, so that''s eptable. As for Kushida, I haven''t heard from her, so I''ll call herter to confirm. We''ll soon be able to determine if she simply overslept or if she''s too sick to get up."
Although she used a somewhat exaggerated expression, it was probably based on the assumption that they were faking illness. It''s not unusual for someone to be absent for long periods of time, but this was the first time in the past year and a half that three students were absent at the same time. Up until now, Chabashira-sensei hadn''t made anyments when someone was absent.
This was different from the past, where teachers just went about their business. If this were a normal school, consequences for missing sses woulde back to you. If you were to skip a week, it would affect your internal evaluation score, and might even result in you being left behind in ss. However, in this school, one person''s responsibility is also everyone''s responsibility. They may not all say it, but I''m sure Chabashira-sensei understands what they''re worried about.
"Don''t look so anxious, a day or two of absence won''t affect your ss points. It''s even possible for all three of them to be sick at the same time by pure coincidence."
At this moment, she assures us that there will be no impact on the ss. Her students must have felt a sense of relief at her clear words.
"That said, if this breaksts longer, it won''t be limited to that. And if it turns out to be a temporary illness, problems will graduallye to the surface." She replied, staring at Kushida''s seat since she hadn''t heard from her. "Well, perhaps ''temporary illness'' was a bit of an exaggeration, but there''s a limit to how much you can do when you''re sick without knowing the specific name of the illness. I''m hoping for a quick recovery if possible."
The students eyes were drawn to Horikita. In the unanimous special exam, she dered that she would put her own ideas first and leave Kushida behind. Naturally, most of the me was directed at Horikita. Even though she was receiving the brunt of the gaze, Horikita did not move an inch.
We can''t tell what she''s thinking, but there''s no point for her to expose herself without purpose and risk showing weakness. After looking at the situation, Chabashira-sensei coughed once, forcibly pulling the students'' attention away from Horikita.
"I''m concerned about the absentees, but we can''t afford to dwell on that. The unanimous special exam is over, and you must now turn your attention to the next battle." She lightly ced her palm on the monitor behind her and brought up the screen. "I would like to exin the details of the gymnasticspetition and the special rules that will apply this year. Please listen carefully."
All the students assumed that the sports festival would be the same asst year
"Special rules... does that mean we''re going to have a different sports festival thanst year, sensei?"
Chabashira-sensei nodded once in response to the question from Sudō, who was more enthusiastic about the sports festival than anyone else.
"It means that the new way this school should be, as proposed by the student council president, is being epted, such as the ind exam. It will be an attempt that strongly incorporates the idea of emphasizing individual ability, and the sports festival will be the embodiment of that."
In the deserted ind exam, Kōenji, with his high academic ability and above all his outstanding physical ability, performed very well, and in addition to receiving ss points, he also received a huge amount of private points. It was a true representation of a meritocratic school. On the other hand, students who were not good enough were in danger of being expelled. This was a sports festival where the same emphasis was ced on individual abilities as at that time. If we were to ept only those words, it could be a tough test for students like Keisei, whose academic strength is their strong point, but who are worried about their physical abilities.
"I''m sure many students will be worried, but this sports festival has been adjusted so that no individual will be expelled forck of individual ability, nor will any individual be the only one to suffer damage. Because not everyone is able to perfectly embody both academic ability and athleticism."
Chabashira-sensei exined gently, perhaps to avoid a mild panic. Some of the students looked at each other in surprise at her softer tone that was different from how she wasst week. Cutting the chatter, the outline and rules of the sports festival were disyed on the monitor.
[Outline and Rules of the Sports Festival:]
OUTLINE:
? A sports festival for all grades, consisting of a variety of events.
? Time: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (with a break between noon and 1:00 p.m.)
? Students are free to participate in any event of their choice to earn points,pete against other students, and work for the ss to get the highest score.
RULES:
? Each student will be given 5 points at the start.
? Each must participate in 5 different events.
? Additional points will be given to the winners ording to their events.
? Each time a student pays 1 point, he or she can participate in the 6th and subsequent events.
? The maximum number of events that can be entered is 10 per person.
? If a student does not participate or abstains from an entered event except for unavoidable reasons, he/she will lose 2 points.
? Students who have finished the events they are participating in should cheer at designated areas.
Just by reading this outline and rules, one can see that it ispletely different fromst year.
"This will be this year''s Sports Festival, and these are the outlines and general rules. Unlike the usual one where the whole school watches onepetition, we will have parallelpetitions at various locations at the same time."
"Nah, it sounds like we''re going to be pretty busy." Sudō was baffled by the rough image of the day in his mind.
"Participating in thepetitions and aiming for high rankings is your top priority, for which you''ll need to make a meticulous schedule. It will be a busy gym day if you n to participate in numerouspetitions to win.
There are two main types ofpetitions; The first one is called the basicpetition, which is apetition that can be participated in by one person, and all the basicpetitions have a fixed reward of five points for first ce, three points for second ce, one point for third ce, and one point for participation. The other type ofpetition is called the specialpetition, where two or more people can participate. The rewards are higher in the teampetition, and all participating teams receive equal points. While the rewards are attractive, they also have drawbacks such as the need for cooperation and longer time constraints."
There is a clear distinction between individual and teampetitions, in rtivity of points. It''s a nice consideration for students who aren''t good at sports to not be at risk when they drop to the bottom of the standings.
"The rewards for teampetitions vary depending on thepetition, so be sure to check them out separately."
The rules are simple enough once you understand them, but there''s a surprisinglyrge number of things you have to do. The initial five points and the five points for participation, a total of ten points, can be obtained by participating in the sports festival andpleting thepetition regardless of the grade. If any student fails to meet the minimum requirement due to some ident, the number of points will be reduced by 10 for each student.
If we assume that all the students will participate, Ichinose, a ss of 40 students, currently has 400 points, and our ss, with two students missing, has 38 students and 380 points. This means that we will be fighting with a handicap of 20 points. The reward for the individualpetition is 5 points for taking first ce, which means you need to take 4 more first ces. It may not seem like much, but each person can participate in up to ten events.
In other words, it''s impossible to get Sudō to work at full capacity and participate in 15 or 20 events to make a lot of points due to the risk of burnout. This may be a heavier burden than we think.
"It''s up to the individual and the ss to decide whether to pay the points and participate in the sixth and subsequent events. And the overall score at the end of thepetition will determine the ranking by grade."
The monitor switches to show the rewards by grade level.
[Point Distribution:]
? 1st: +150 ss points
? 2nd: +50 ss points
? 3rd: 0 ss points
? 4th: -150 ss points
From the perspective of a normal exam, I feel that the fluctuations in ss points are somewhatrge. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that it is a big overall event, and the fact that the currently announced Cultural Festival has rtively slow fluctuations in ss points.
"These are the rewards for each ss. From here, we will announce the rewards for individuals."
The rewards by ss alone are motivating enough, but it doesn''t stop there. As this was an athletic festival that was meant to test individual abilities, it was inevitable that individual rewards would also be prepared. This is the event of the year where you can shine, and you know your abilities better than anyone.
[Individualpetition rewards - by grade and gender]
? 1st: 2 million private points or ss transfer ticket (limited)
? 2nd: 1,000,000 Private Points
? 3rd: 500,000 private points
Sudō shows his surprise at the reward of high private points. In addition to that, there was a new reward which I had never seen before.
"ss transfer ticket, no way..."
The ss buzzed with surprise at something that waspletely new to us.
"The school was quite cautious about introducing this new system. The introduction of protection points was also unprecedented, and this system is being introduced not too long after that. However, it is the natural right of the students who have shown their individual abilities to move up."
The only winners in this school are those students who were able to graduate from ss A.
It''s no wonder that if you''re the number one student in your grade in a physical education exam that requires a great deal of physical ability, you''re considered worthy of having the right to change sses. It seems that the sports festival does not fall under the category of a special exam. Originally, the number of private points needed to move sses was 20 million. In other words, there is one digit missing. Nevertheless, the right to move sses is given. The answer to this disproportionality may lie in the limited text of the ss transfer ticket.
"Does limited mean I have to move ande back sometimeter?" Sudō seems to be confused by the word "limited"
"No, it doesn''t, does it? That doesn''t make any sense." Ike yelled out from his seat.
"We''ll give you the right to change sses. But that said, it''s also true that you can''t finalize that ability forever. Therefore, the term "limited" refers to the period of use. The right can only be exercised during the second semester. So if you don''t exercise it before the start of the third semester, it will be invalid."
Limited means a ss transfer ticket with a period of use, so to speak. This makes a certain amount of sense when it is said to be equal to 2 million points.
If you can hold on to it until after graduation, it''s practically a ss A ticket, but since it has an expiration date, you need to have an eye to determine which ss you will eventually win or stay in. If you move from your current ss to another ss but your previous ss ends up graduating from ss A, you would realize the ticket has gone to waste. Even if you didn''t suffer such a worst-case scenario, it takes a certain amount of courage to use it. It''s not easy to abandon your own ss that you''ve been used to for over a year and a half. Even if Sudō won the right to do so, when he objectively thought about whether he would leave Horikita and his friends and transfer to ss A, he couldn''t imagine moving sses.
Even though it''s a high-profile sports festival, it doesn''t mean that you''re guaranteed to go to ss A with just one sess.
We need to keep that in mind.
However, this is only for second-year students. If you''re a freshman, you''re still not that close with your ssmates.
Some freshmen may abandon their current ss, which they are not so close to yet, and move to a ss where they feel they have a better chance of winning, or simply to ss A.
On the other hand, for the third-year students, it''s the strongest idea to move to Nagumo''s ss. This is because it''s the same as graduating with ss A. It''s a big deal to be given the right to move sses in any grade, and to have that very limited choice.
It will be interesting to see how this will affect the students in the future. I''m sure the school will see the reaction and decide whether or not to offer simr tickets again. Overall, I think it''s an interesting reward with an interesting bnce.
"The students whoe in first ce for each gender will be asked to choose one of the two. Sudō, if you n on making it to the top of the individualpetition, you''d better think twice." I could see Sudō''s back stiffen. Rather than being paranoid about putting his friends first and jumping to two million private points, he should look beyond that.
Does he want to stay in Horikita''s ss, or does he want to move to Sakayanagi''s ss, which has never given up the lead since we started school? He''ll need to face the future and consider it carefully.
"Now, let''s move on to a more detailed exnation. There are two types ofpetitions: those that are open to the public in advance and those that are not open to the public until the day of thepetition. In other words, there will be a certain number of events that you will have to take on the spot."
pot." In addition to the basic events such as the 100-meter run and steeplechase, several interesting and unusual events are disyed: penalty kicks, basketball shootout, tennis singles, and mixed doubles or mixed gender doubles. It''s a lot of stuff you don''t normally see in a sports festival.
"You may not always be able to participate in all the events you want due to the limited number of participants or the time of the event. If you force yourself to make a schedule that doesn''t fit the time schedule, you may not be able to participate in time and may be treated as an abstention. Don''t forget that you also run the risk of losing your points."
For those students whose physical abilities are superior to the rest of the school, it is necessary to have them participate in many events where they can gain points efficiently. In this sense, there is an aspect of using one''s head, and luck or the ability to read who can participate in which events are required. However, if the sports festival were to be held in its current state, the students would probably panic. If all the students were to rush to a particr event on the day of the event, they would not be able topete. Of course, there is no way the school wouldn''t prepare for that dilemma.
"Reservations for participation in the open events will be released today at 10 p.m. on a special app. The earlier the better for all grades. Cancetions will be epted up to one week before the actual event, but cancetions can only be used three times. Thest reservation deadline is two days before the actual event, and if you haven''t registered for the maximum of five events by then, you will automatically be assigned to an open spot." With that, a timetable that appeared to be an app screen was disyed. "Let''s say you want to participate in the 100 meter run for a test."
The screen changes. This is an event for up to seven participants of the same grade and gender. Four races in total. You can register for any race, or join on the day if there are seats avable. Participants must arrive 5 minutes before the start of their race toplete their entry. No need to wait until after the race. Scheduled start time of the first race: 10:15 a.m.
This means that the maximum number of men and women who can participate in the 100-meter run is 56. No matter how many races you participate in, you need to arrive at least five minutes before thepetition starts at 10:15.
From the exnation that there is no need to wait after thepetition, if you participate in the first race, you can start moving on to the next one in a short time. On the other hand, if you participate in the fourth race, you will be detained for a long time. Samepetition, same reward, but you lose some time.
"Also, it is important to note that any student who is currently enrolled or has been enrolled as a club member at least once in the past while in school will not be allowed to participate in the relevant event.
Take Hirata for example, he isn''t allowed to participate in ser, and Sudō, he isn''t allowed to participate in basketball-rted events."
To make sure students who are involved in club activities don''t have an advantage, they''ve added constraints. Surely, they don''t want to have a showdown between students who have experience in club activities, since it''s unlikely that any student can beat an experienced athlete like Yōsuke or Sudō.
If Sudō ys ser and Yōsuke ys basketball, the other students will have a good chance to win. There may be a few students who devoted themselves to club activities in junior high school but did not choose to participate in them in high school.
"Anyway, it''s like reserving seats in a movie." The words leaked out from Sudō, who was taking the exnation seriously, were right on target.
"I guess you could say the system is simr. It''s also made to reflect in real time who held which event and time slot."
"So that means there will be people who don''t want to fight me and cancel, right?" Sudō muttered, sniffling and crossing his arms proudly.
"Yes, but those students will hit the cancetion wall sooner orter." Because of the number of people who can participate in each event and
the time limit, we want to hold our strongest events and specific races as soon as possible in order to n our schedule. However, if you do so quickly, the risk of being targeted by strong opponents also increases. But if the number of times you can escape is fixed, you will hesitate to even make a reservation.
There is also a battle of checks and bnces and probing.
It''s as if thepetition is held online before the festival even starts.
"In addition, if there are students who are ranked the same in the results of the individualpetition, their private points will be divided equally and they will not get ss transfer tickets."
In the event that students collude to create arge number of ties for first ce and win arge number of ss transfer tickets, the system will fail. I think it''s a measure to avoid that. In any case, if you y well and get all the rewards by yourself, you will get a lot of private points or a ss transfer ticket.
It''s a reward worthy of the name of your individual ability.
Even if you don''t n on moving sses, you can use the 2 million points for a variety of purposes, such as umting a dream of 20 million points to set the stage for ss A.
On the other hand, students who are not confident in their athletic ability should try to stay in thepulsory five events. If they use their precious points to participate in the sixth andter events and do not win, they will lose a point. This is a big disadvantage in the sspetition. However, it also depends on how you fight.
When Chabashira-sensei finished her exnations and left the room, the ssroom started buzzing all over again with chatter about the uing festival.
"Okay, Suzune, let''s get started with the meeting!"
The first person to shout out loud was Sudō. After hearing the rules, he suddenly became more motivated.
Yōsuke, and I naturally sat up and started walking towards Horikita. Up to this point, it was the same as usual. However, some of the students were beginning to look at her coldly. Doubts swirled around them, wondering if they could really trust Horikita to take charge, or if they would be okay with Horikita taking the lead.
"First of all, before we discuss this sports festival, there''s one thing I should tell you."
She moved before the students could make the first move. She stood up from her seat and turned around so that everyone could see her face.
"During the special exam heldst weekend, I forced Kushida-san to choose not to withdraw from the school, in a way that vited my promise to everyone. First of all, I want you to let me apologize for that." With that, Horikita bowed her head. But there was also a strong will in her eyes as she looked up. "But as it turns out, I think I made the right choice. She''s someone who can help the ss."
"I don''t think so." Shinohara was the first to deny Horikita''s words. She was one of those affected by Kushida''s revtion. "Now that I know that Kushida-san is a questionable person, no one will trust her. Right now, I don''t get the feeling that anyone is talking to the rest of the sses about Kushida-san but I''m sure that''s just a matter of time."
Shinohara cut to an important factor that should be put on the shelf, whether you like her or not. The fact that Kushida will continue to exist as a ssmate cannot be changed, and if things are to proceed on that basis, it is better to keep the inconvenient "truth" to oneself as much as possible.
In other words, going around telling the enemy ss that Kushida is guilty in nature and has a dangerous ideology can lead to strangling yourself. It''s a simple story of the benefits of keeping quiet, but it''s surprisingly difficult to carry out.
In particr, Shinohara, who is protesting now, has been directly hurt by Kushida. It would not be surprising if her anger had already exploded, but for the moment she seems to be suppressing her feelings. It doesn''t look like Shinohara understands the benefits of keeping Kushida. So it would not be surprising if someone smart enough to understand this, someone like Yōsuke, would have urged her not to talk about it beforehand.
However, it is doubtful that this willst forever.
When the doubts and insecurities about Kushida reached their limit, they would break down at once.
"Hey, Horikita-san. Can you really say that you were right to stop us from leaving Kushida-san behind? Answer me."
Shinohara''s words made Horikita, who had only been looking at her, snap out of her thoughts and give an answer.
"It''s not something that can be answered at this moment. It''s the same for me, Shinohara-san, and the rest of my ssmates. We need to make our presence felt for the rest of our school life."
"What the hell? I want an answer now. No matter how you look at it, Kushida-san is a distraction to the ss."
"Indeed, the unanimous special exam may have hurt you. It may have hurt Wang-san, who is currently absent, and Hasebe-san. But that doesn''t erase the fact that Kushida-san has been contributing to this ss for a year and a half. Or do you think you''ve contributed more than she has?"
Causing major problems doesn''t make past achievements go away. She had brought the ss together, taken care of their concerns, and helped raise their academic and physical averages. At least Shinohara personally hasn''t done as much as Kushida.
"I can''t me you if you don''t take kindly to my deception and Kushida-san''s continued insistence on expelling certain students. But if I had expelled Kushida-san just like that, can you say that it would have been the right decision immediately? Can you be okay with the ss average dropping and losing the special exam?"
"That''s... you don''t know until you try something like that."
"Right. Then when I''m about to do something, no matter what it is, we won''t know until we try it."
Either way, it''s still an uncertain future. It wouldn''t be easy to argue against Horikita with Shinohara''s ability.
"Can I have a word?" As Horikita and Shinohara stared at each other, Yōsuke stood up, raising his hand. "I''m a little stuck on something. If we''re going to get the most out of Kushida-san''s skills, we need to keep her secret within the ss. That''s why I''ve been asking everyone in ss to keep quiet about it."
"I''m sure you have. If someone hadn''t given the instructions behind the scenes, the truth would have been leaked by now."
Horikita was wondering the same thing, given that there were no rumors circting about Kushida on Monday.
"But you never asked me to keep quiet, Horikita-san. Why is that?"
"Because it doesn''t matter how many gag orders you put in ce against people who want to bring her down. It won''t makes a difference if the school finds out about it sooner orter."
Regardless of the process, the students would now have a decision to make. Do they let their emotions get the better of them, make her true nature known, and get back at Kushida, or do they keep it a secret for the good of the ss?
"I wouldn''t leak anything even if Hirata-kun didn''t ask me to. There was a chance for us to get together on our day off. We kind of had a discussion about how it wouldn''t do any good to leak this out. Of course, it would be a lie to say that I don''t have any feelings for the current Kushida-san."
As expected, Matsushita was a smart girl. She was one of those who were affected by Kushida''s revtion, but she understands the disadvantages of spreading the word. They were exposed, so they expose her back. There is only a temporary sense of aplishment to be gained by doing so.
"We will bring her back. And if I can''t, I''m going to take whatever responsibility I can."
Take responsibility.
Even the students who had bared their fangs at his strong determination cleared their throats and gasped. It was no exception for Shinohara.
"Are you really going to take responsibility?"
"I chose to leave Kushida-san with that resolve. If something happens, you people will judge me."
Akito and Keisei look on in silence at this. It''s not hard to imagine how they must be feeling as they listen to this story. Anyway, with a few strong words from Horikita, the conversation came to an end, and free time arrived. Horikita''s eyes were not on me, but on someone else.
That person also looked back at Horikita, and eventually Horikita left the ssroom. At the same time, Kōenji, who was sitting across from Horikita, stood up and walked out of the ssroom as well.
I was curious to see what was going on, so I decided to open the door a little bit and check.
"You acted like you wanted to talk to me about something, please dispense with the pleasantries."
"There''s something I''d like to confirm regarding the uing sports festival."
"I don''t suppose you''re going to ask me to participate with whatever n you have in mind?"
"Of course not. I just want to confirm your intentions. You can at least let me hear those, right?"
To include or not to include Kōenji''s activities in the calctions. Depending on that, the strategy could change. When asked, Kōenji grinned and put his hand on Horikita''s shoulder. She tried to brush off his hand, but Kōenji''s arm didn''t budge.
"You seem like a very lucky girl, don''t you?"
I questioned back the truth of his words, somewhat grimly, as he kept his hand on her shoulder.
"Does that mean you''re motivated to finally help?"
"I''ve made some money from the deserted ind test and the treasure hunt, but why would I ever omit a chance to make some more? As far as I''m concerned, there''s no reason not to participate."
Kōenji, who had shown overwhelming power in the desert ind test, was not expected to help in the future, but if it was a special test that would bring in a huge amount of money for an individual, he would be enthusiastic. For Horikita, it was icing on the cake. As long as she can get as many points as possible, she has nothing toin about. And with Kōenji, there is a good chance that she could easily earn 10 or 20 points.
However, there would be some things to worry about in this reward. Horikita seemed to hesitate for a moment at that, but then stepped forward.
"If you get the right to change sses, what will you do?"
Kōenji is without a doubt the most troubled student in the school year, or rather a free spirit. He would never hesitate to abandon his current ss if he decided he wanted to do so. Whether Kōenji would be good for the ss in the future was another matter, but at least Horikita wouldn''t consider the loss of students from the ss as a positive thing. Besides, he may take future special exams seriously, such as the deserted ind exam and the sports festival, where a lot of money is at stake.
If that happens, he stands as a strong opponent.
"There is no problem on that matter. I don''t think the other sses are attractive enough at the moment for me to abandon my personal contract with Horikita Girl, so have no fear."
"For now..."
In other words, depending on the conditions, a ss transfer is always a possibility.
"As of today, you''re safe, so don''t fret."
I''m not sure I would consider Kōenji''s words a conformation of safety, but I''m skeptical as to how many sses would want to bring in Kōenji. I''m sure it has its advantages, but it also has its disadvantages.
"Okay, I''ll agree with you on that. I just don''t trust you either if you''re swayed by whims. You''ll get enough points to take the top spot, is that correct in your calctions?"
"You can take it that way. I don''t have to team up with anyone, though."
He was only going to earn points in thepetitions that he could participate in individually. I wouldn''t be surprised if Kōenji got first ce in all thepetitions. It means he''s likely to get a maximum of 55 points.
"Are you sure you''re not interested in moving up to ss A?" Kōenji answered the question with augh and walked back to the ssroom.
"I guess eavesdropping is your hobby?" Kōenji, who had stopped behind me, asked.
Perhaps he had guessed from the slightly open door, or perhaps he had known all along.
"I''d be lying if I said I wasn''t worried about what''s going on for the sports festival."
"Let''s leave it at that, shall we?"
"Can I ask you a question, Kōenji?"
"I''m in a good mood right now, I''m simply exhrated thinking about the points from the sports festival. You may have an answer."
"You and Horikita have made a promise. But it''s not an absolute guarantee. There was a possibility that you might be cut off, just as you let Kushida stay to face the opposition of the ss. Do you have any thoughts on that?"
I enquired into whether he was anxious about his promise, about if it would''ve been kept or not. Kōenji was in a position to be bullheaded and agree to expel fellow students, even though he had the purpose of extracting private points behind his back.
"It''s all a matter of calction, you know. If there was a situation waiting for me to be narrowed down to a final candidate for expulsion, I would vote against it before it happened. The talk about trusting Horikita Girl is also based on that basic premise."
"I see. So, you didn''t fully trust Horikita."
"I would never entrust myself to another person. You wouldn''t either, would you?"
"Maybe."
Kōenji seems to be free and careless, but behind that there is also calcted thinking. And even though it''s calcted, he still maintains his freedom. No matter how many times I deconstruct each student and understand what I need to know about them, this man is the only one I can''t read.