On the third day of the forest school, a Saturday that should have been a day off but the school still didn't let up.
Classes continued, though only for the morning.
Complaints aside, Kaoru led his entire group to the open-air kitchen from the previous day, where the school had already prepared today's ingredients.
"Damn it, I don't recognize any of this. What even is this?"
Ishizaki scowled at the cooking utensils before giving up. "Whatever, you guys handle it. I'm exhausted—I wanna go back to sleep."
As he spoke, he glanced at the others, sneaking a look at Kaoru's reaction.
Hashimoto subtly nudged Kaoru's arm and whispered, "He's always trying to mess with us. Shouldn't we teach him a lesson?"
"He's Ryuen's lackey. Even without orders, he'd instinctively try to cause trouble for us," said Kaoru.
"Let him be. This level of mischief is nothing. Without anyone backing him up, he'll quiet down soon enough."
Hashimoto thought it made sense.
Most of their group members had been personally selected by Kaoru.
Kaoru didn't have time to deal with Ishizaki.
Following the ingredients and recipes provided by the school, he began assigning tasks to each member of the group, taking on the role of head chef himself.
Since Hashimoto claimed he could cook as well, Kaoru appointed him as the assistant chef.
As for someone like Kouenji, expecting him to help diligently was unrealistic.
Kaoru simply assigned him to prepare utensils and taste-test the food.
Even Moriyama and the other Class B students had their tasks.
Even Albert quietly accepted Kaoru's arrangements.
Seeing that his complaints weren't getting any attention, Ishizaki reluctantly helped with making the miso soup.
Under Kaoru's organized division of labor, coupled with his occasional guidance, breakfast—which was expected to take much longer—was completed quickly.
This left Hashimoto amazed.
With a look of admiration, he remarked, "As expected of the vice president of the student council. Everything went so smoothly. I didn't even expect we'd get a decent meal today."
"Though he's no professional chef, as a student, I can acknowledge Mitoma Boy's cooking skills."
Kouenji took a few bites of his food, then glanced disdainfully at the miso soup beside him.
"This can be thrown away."
Ishizaki's face flushed red. "What did you say?! You were only supposed to taste it, not steal bites! If you're so great, why don't you make your own?!"
"I don't need to prove anything to you."
Kouenji chuckled, then picked up his tray and claimed the best seat for himself, leisurely enjoying his breakfast.
"Damn it!"
Kaoru watched the fuming Ishizaki and couldn't help but think he resembled Totsuka Yahiko from his own class.
First-year Class D's Sudou Ken seemed to have a similar personality too.
After a while, Sato Keisaku and others arrived.
"Thanks for your hard work today."
As an upperclassman, Sato was the polite type.
Others might have taken their juniors' service for granted.
"It's no trouble. We should all help each other."
Kaoru served him food, then naturally followed him to the third-years' seating area and sat down.
"Senpai, how many points are you behind Horikita-senpai?"
Sato was taken aback but hesitated before answering, "About six hundred points. Only Class B stands a chance of catching up to Horikita."
The gap between their class and Class 3-A was nearly six hundred points, while Class 3-B was only three hundred points behind.
They'd have to surpass Class 3-B first before even thinking about chasing Horikita Manabu.
With only one semester left, Sato had already given up on the idea—otherwise, they wouldn't have made that deal with Mitoma in the first place.
"Did the Class B senpais not approach you?" Kaoru pressed.
If it were anyone else, Sato might have found the underclassman's questioning rude.
But given their decent relationship—and considering Kaoru was his benefactor—he answered anyway.
"There is something. Ishikura approached members of other groups yesterday, and a classmate informed me about it. It seems they're planning to take action against Horikita."
"Take action?"
"I suspect they want to force someone from Class A to drop out through joint responsibility. Horikita will definitely use relief measures."
"Is Class B not planning to save their own people?"
"They intend to pay someone from our class or Class D to take the fall, but so far, no one seems willing."
"Why?"
"Because Horikita will surely be prepared. Even I know about it, so Horikita might be aware too."
Though they were from different classes, Sato Keisaku spoke with complete trust in Horikita Manabu, as if he was certain Horikita would devise a countermeasure.
"Is it the same for the girls' group?" Kaoru suddenly interjected.
Sato frowned, hesitating before replying, "The girls' group... should be fine too. Besides, trying to force someone's expulsion through joint responsibility is too obvious."
As he spoke, Sato chuckled, thinking Kaoru was overanalyzing things.
"Think about it—only the last-place group can be expelled. If you target my people, I can just lower my own score and drag my large group to last place. Who would you expel then?"
Exactly.
Once Horikita caught wind of such a scheme, he could deliberately lower his group's score to see who truly ended up in last place.
Finishing last would only cost some points—a negligible loss compared to expulsion.
"Why are you concerned about this?"
Sato suddenly realized something. "Are you worried about Horikita?"
Kaoru glanced around.
As a first-year in the senior hallway, he stood out, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
"A little. Do you have any plans this afternoon, senpai?" Kaoru remained calm.
He wondered what Class 3-B's real plan was.
If it were him, he'd mislead Horikita into thinking he intended to expel a Class A student.
Horikita would likely prioritize lowering his own score to protect his people—an irresistible bait.
This way, Horikita would lose a significant number of points.
Hmm.
By mobilizing his smallest group, Kaoru could trick Horikita's core group into willingly dropping to last place.
The penalty for last place was a deduction of Class Points per person—five points each, fifty for ten people.
If he pulled the same trick with the girls' group, he might swindle another hundred points from Horikita.
Meanwhile, Kaoru could keep his own group in fourth place, avoiding any deductions.
Then, by pushing his core group to first place, he could close the gap by a hundred or two hundred points in one go.
If Horikita refused to play along, Kaoru could simply trade one of his own for a Class D student, compensating Class D with a hundred Class Points—just a bit of Personal Points spent.
But these were just Kaoru's thoughts.
"This afternoon?"
Sato blinked before realizing Kaoru wanted to discuss something. "If you're looking for me, I'm free anytime. But when are you available?"
Asking the inviter about their availability sounded odd, but Kaoru understood the underlying meaning.
This meant he would take the initiative to seek out Kaoru.
Kaoru told him the time before returning to his own territory.
No doubt many had witnessed the scene just now.