Chapter 266: The Withdrawal Plan / A Triple Date? / Regarding Monogamy
A few days later.
After school, Class C held its first class meeting regarding the Sports Festival. The core agenda was clear: discussing the participation arrangements for all students in the competitive events.
Hirata Yosuke, Kushida Kikyo, and Horikita Suzune walked up to the podium one after another. Chabashira Sae stood near the door with her arms crossed, deliberately remaining silent. For the current Class C, these three were the recognized core leaders.
In truth, if Shimizu Akira had the desire, he could have easily stood on that stage with them. However, he wasn't one to enjoy the limelight, so after some thought, he decided to stay in his seat and listen quietly.
"Regarding the rules of this Sports Festival," Hirata Yosuke began, holding up the participation sheet, "I've studied them carefully. While the 'all-participation' events require the whole class, they actually only specify a minimum number of participants."
He pointed to a specific note on the form: "For example, in the 100-meter dash and the hurdle race, it's noted that at least three-quarters of the class must register. The same applies to gender-separated team events. This means that even for 'all-participation' events, our class only needs to ensure 30 people show up."
"Great! So there's a chance to slack off?"
"Meaning there are 10 withdrawal slots for every event?"
Several students with weaker physical abilities breathed a sigh of relief.
Kushida Kikyo took over the conversation at the right moment. "Everyone, don't get excited too early. If a student who skips an event ends up at the bottom of the Sports Festival rankings, they will have ten points deducted from a subject in the midterm exams, which could lead to expulsion. While there's a risk of being deducted points for coming in last place while participating, it's still much better than a direct withdrawal."
"But my physical fitness is really bad..." a girl whispered. "If I come in last, won't points be deducted anyway?"
"Hirata-kun!" another boy raised his hand.
"I want to sign up for the Scavenger Hunt! If I'm lucky and draw something easy, I might get a good rank!"
"In your dreams! I want to do the Scavenger Hunt!" someone immediately retorted.
The class's focus shifted instantly to the Scavenger Hunt.
The rules were simple: mid-race, runners draw a slip of paper from a box and must "borrow" the item or person described from the audience or friends before sprinting to the finish line.
Drawing an easy request was fine, but if you drew something abstract like "the person you love," "ten friends," or "someone important," a socially anxious student would likely have to redraw.
Thus, the Scavenger Hunt was the only one among the fourteen events that relied as much on luck and quick thinking as it did on physical ability. Even those with poor fitness could take first place with enough luck.
Shimizu Akira was also quite interested in this event.
"Everyone, don't rush regarding the Scavenger Hunt. We haven't decided on the method for selecting participants yet," Hirata Yosuke redirected the discussion.
"I have two general directions: a Voluntary System or an Ability-Based System.
The Voluntary System is like a sports day at a normal school; people volunteer for events they are interested in. If a project is oversubscribed, participants are decided by lottery.
The Ability-Based System allocates events based on everyone's strengths. The advantage is maximizing our strength to increase win rates and points, but the disadvantage is that some students won't be able to participate in events they like, which might lower their morale."
Hirata's gaze swept the room.
"Both have pros and cons. We need to decide together."
The classroom erupted in debate. A boy in the back shouted, "The Voluntary System sounds more fun!"
"But we're Class C now," a girl in the front countered. "Shouldn't we prioritize winning? This isn't a normal school where you just play around. Class points are important!"
"We have to choose the Ability-Based System!" Sudo Ken shouted excitedly. "With me and Shimizu, winning is a piece of cake! You all remember Shimizu's performance in the boxing match and on the deserted island, right? Instead of random assignments, let us strong guys take the wins!"
"He's right..."
"With Shimizu-kun competing, it's hard to lose..."
In the current Class C, almost no one doubted Shimizu Akira's strength.
"Sudo, don't talk so big!" Shimizu couldn't help but chime in. He knew Sudo meant no harm, but he was a bit too blunt.
"We aren't just competing against freshmen; there are senpais from the second and third years. Even I can't guarantee a first-place finish."
"Actually, I have a way to increase our success rate." Horikita Suzune spoke up decisively. "While implementing the Ability-Based System, we should pair it with 'Optimal Combinations.' To put it bluntly, we pair fast runners with slow runners. Since there is only one first place, and our class doesn't have many top-tier athletes, rather than having our elites exhaust each other in the same heat, we should spread them out. Each elite can 'carry' a weaker student. This way, the overall probability of winning points is higher."
Horikita picked up the entry sheet.
"Take the 100-meter dash. The school divides boys into eight groups of eight. Each class can enter two runners per heat. If we can put Aki... cough... Shimizu-kun and Yukimura-kun in the same heat, Shimizu-kun has a very high chance of taking first."
"But Horikita-san, isn't that unfair to the students with poor athletic scores?" Shinohara stood up, sounding puzzled.
"If this leads to people needing makeup exams, it'll cause a lot of trouble."
Having spent months together, she and Horikita could now exchange opinions calmly without bickering.
"Let me finish," Horikita responded composedly. "My suggestion is to have ten students from the class voluntarily withdraw."
"What do you mean?" Hirata looked confused.
"Chabashira-sensei explained the rules: withdrawing students are automatically ranked in the bottom ten of the grade. If our class selects ten people to withdraw, we ensure that no one else in our class falls into those bottom ten spots.
As for the penalty for coming in last, we can use Personal Points to offset it." Horikita surveyed the class, her gaze pausing on Shimizu for a second.
"I suggest these points come from the class fund. To compensate those who withdraw or end up at the bottom, I propose we pay them a small amount of points from the class fund—not including the points they had to pay for the penalty, of course."
Kushida Kikyo glanced at her phone and raised her hand.
"Regarding the withdrawal slots, I have a supplementary suggestion. We might not find ten students who aren't afraid of the point deduction. How about we 'sell' or transfer five of those slots to Class B? It solves our vacancy issue and earns us a favor." She smiled.
"Also, I heard Sakayanagi-san from Class A has already confirmed she won't compete, which automatically occupies one withdrawal slot. In reality, we only need to arrange for four people to withdraw."
This addition made the students' eyes light up.
"I see! Horikita-san's plan was already solid, but Kushida-san's addition is the icing on the cake!
True, we don't have that many people who are both top students and physically weak..."
"Then let's vote. All those in favor of the modified plan proposed by Horikita-san and Kushida-san, please raise your hands!" Hirata initiated the vote.
The result was a foregone conclusion; almost everyone raised their hands. The plan was thorough—it protected the low-achievers from penalties while securing guaranteed gains.
After further discussion, the four withdrawal candidates were confirmed: Koenji Rokusuke, Wang Mei-yu, Yukimura Teruhiko, and Inogashira Kokoro.
Koenji was simply an unstable variable.
When asked if he'd participate, he just said it depended on his mood and that he'd quit if he felt "unwell."
'Unwell? This guy?'
Everyone rolled their eyes. Since he had good grades, it was easier to just let him withdraw to avoid future headaches. Koenji didn't care; he accepted the arrangement with his legs crossed, looking as if to say, "You guys are quite sensible."
He was perfectly happy with getting guaranteed points for doing nothing.
As for Wang Mei-yu, Yukimura, and Inogashira, they were top students but physically frail. Unlike the start of the year, there would be no "out-of-syllabus" questions for this midterm, and no old exams to buy. With their skills, they would likely score around 90 in all subjects, so a 10-point deduction wouldn't cause them to fail.
They preferred to spend their time and energy on studying.
With the withdrawals settled, the class also decided to pick 6 students to intentionally take last place. The specific names would be decided later based on athletic test results.
The class did the math: Coming in last in an individual event costs 1,000 Personal Points. Excluding team events, there were less than ten individual events. The total cost would be around 80,000 points.
Adding a 10,000-point compensation for each of the 10 people, the total was 180,000 points. The remaining 30 participating students would each contribute 6,000 points, which covered the cost exactly.
Currently, Class C had over 800 class points. Since it was early in the term and points had just been distributed, everyone had plenty of savings. No one resisted paying this "class fee"; they all transferred the points to Kushida Kikyo quite cheerfully.
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After school, as Shimizu Akira walked to the stairwell corner, a hurried voice came from behind.
"Shimizu-kun, can we... can we talk for a bit?"
He turned to see Matsushita Chiaki standing nearby, twirling a strand of hair, looking as if she had something on her mind.
"Sure." Shimizu nodded, and they headed to the rooftop.
Once there, Matsushita blinked and suddenly tossed out a question: "Shimizu-kun, why are you helping Horikita-san and Kushida-san?"
Before he could respond, she continued, "I saw it all! When Horikita-san was speaking, she looked at you specifically several times. And Kushida-san seemed a bit lost at first, but after checking a message on her phone, she suddenly became enlightened and precisely filled the holes in Horikita's plan.
At that exact moment, you had just put your phone away. Those were all your 'instructions,' weren't they?"
Shimizu looked at her with a bit more interest. She was quite sharp.
She wasn't wrong. Horikita's plan had been modified by him. He had even deliberately left a small "hole" in it to give the spotlight-loving Kushida a chance to shine. In the process, he provided Ichinose from Class B with five slots and a solid plan. Helping all three at once was a "killing three birds with one stone" move.
'Why was this girl staring at the back of the room instead of the podium during the meeting?'
After a moment of thought, Shimizu nodded. "It was me."
"I knew it!" Matsushita's eyes lit up. "So why are you helping them? How many points did they give you? Was it 500,000?" She remembered that she had given him 200,000 points just to ask for his help last time.
"Points? No." Shimizu told the truth. "Those two don't need to give me points."
Horikita, Kushida, and Ichinose from Class B were all girls he liked.
He had already kissed them and touched them; why would he need points?
"Eh? They don't have to?" Matsushita was stunned.
"Yeah." Shimizu nodded. "So, you didn't call me out just to ask that, right?"
"That... actually, I wanted to offer 500,000 Personal Points to ask you to work hard for the class! To participate in at least five events in the Sports Festival and go all out!" she said seriously.
"No need. Keep those 500,000 for yourself," Shimizu refused.
"Just like the deserted island exam, someone has already paid me to help. I already plan to go all out for the Sports Festival."
He had already received the 1 million points from Chabashira-sensei, so there was no need to take Matsushita's. Hiding it wasn't his style, and 500,000 wasn't enough to make him lose his principles. He just cleared things up.
On a side note, Matsushita definitely had at least 500,000 points. After the deserted island exam, where they were both in the Rabbit Group, she had received 500,000 points for reporting Kamuro Masumi as the VIP.
Confirming she had nothing else, Shimizu waved and walked away. Matsushita stood there looking awkward. She hadn't actually finished speaking.
It wasn't just about the 500,000; she also wanted to ask him out!
Last time, the 200,000 points were pooled together by her, Karuizawa Kei, and Sakura Airi. Wanting Shimizu to step up was, to some extent, a shared wish of the three of them.
Since Shimizu had already invited Karuizawa out before, she felt it should be her turn or Airi's turn.
Resigned, she messaged Karuizawa and Airi, telling them Shimizu had declined. As soon as the message was sent, Karuizawa called her.
Matsushita thought Kei was going to ask why he refused, but Kei didn't mention it at all. Instead, she asked a seemingly unrelated question: "Chiaki, when you were called away by Chabashira-sensei on the deserted island, what did she say to you?"
"That... actually, she said my compatibility survey with Shimizu-kun was very high. She seemed to think we were a good match," Matsushita admitted after a slight hesitation.
"Actually! Chabashira-sensei told me something similar a few days ago. She said I was a great match for Shimizu," Kei's voice came through, clearly sounding a bit speechless.
"Ah! That happened too?" Matsushita blinked.
'Wait, what is this teacher doing? Can the big data system match him with several people at once?'
What kind of big data plays matchmaker like this? It wasn't Shimizu's private system; this was clearly a deliberate attempt to set him up. If she was pushing her, why was she pushing others too?
Did she think Matsushita wasn't proactive enough? But she tried today! Shimizu was the one who refused!
Before she could clear her head, she heard her friend say, "Actually, I wake up early to run with Shimizu every day! I don't really need to ask him out to see him; I see him every other day..."
'Wait! You two run together in the morning?! Karuizawa, you're too cunning! Shimizu asked you out first last time, too!'
However, before she could say anything, a message from Sakura Airi arrived.
Sakura Airi: Um, it's okay. Actually, Haruka plans to invite Shimizu-kun, and me too. The three of us are going to hang out together.
'Progress here is this fast too? A triple date?'
Matsushita Chiaki suddenly had the feeling that she hadn't even started to exert herself, yet it was already over. Karuizawa, Airi, and Haruka—they were all her roommates during the VIP exam!
'Why am I the only one stuck in place?'
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Shimizu Akira visited the Boxing Club today for the first time in a while.
After basic training, he and Yamada Albert had a small practice match. Though they weren't in the same weight class, they were the only two freshmen in the club, so the captain occasionally paired them up.
After the session, they sat on benches to rest. Captain Sato walked over and said, "Shimizu, Yamada. After today, you don't need to come as often. Focus your time on preparing for the Sports Festival."
He paused and gave a special instruction: "By the way, if you run into me across grade levels during the festival, don't hold back just because I'm the captain! I want you both to give it your all, understood?"
"Yes! Coach!"
"Understood."
As they rested, Shimizu remembered the exhibition match and asked casually, "Yamada, is your injury from last time okay?"
"It's... fine." Yamada Albert nodded, then showed a rare look of hesitation.
"Shimizu... our homeroom teacher asked me to call you out. He is... at the door right now. Sorry... I told him... the boxing club... would have activities today. I... apologize to you!"
"It's fine. No wonder your punches were weaker earlier; you were worried about this!" Shimizu didn't mind and patted his shoulder.
"My punch put you in the infirmary for half a month, and I haven't apologized for that, so why worry? Boxing is a simple thing, right? By the way, do you know if he has something important?"
After all, that guy had tried to add him as a friend before! It looked like he couldn't hold back anymore and came looking for him.
Yamada Albert just shook his head; the teacher hadn't told him the reason.
Shimizu stood up and walked out.
Sure enough, Sakagami Kazuma was standing at the club entrance. Seeing him, Sakagami immediately flashed a familiar smile: "Ah, Shimizu-kun! I've been interested in you since the sports competition. That punch of yours was truly beautiful!"
Shimizu countered: "My opponent was Yamada from your class, right? I thought you'd want him to win."
"The match was exciting enough; I didn't care much about the result," Sakagami replied with a smile. "And Yamada-kun was gracefully defeated. When I visited him in the infirmary, he didn't say a bad word about you. He only said he was outmatched and that you held back on purpose."
'An adult's polite talk is indeed airtight.'
However, he had indeed held back. Otherwise, the guy would have been in the infirmary for much longer than half a month.
Shimizu asked directly, "Sakagami-sensei, what exactly do you want? Might as well say it."
Sakagami adjusted his glasses, his tone becoming serious. "Shimizu-kun, it's a waste for someone as excellent as you to stay in Class C. In the current Class C, you're practically carrying the whole team alone, aren't you? Are you interested in Class D? I won't beat around the bush—are you interested in joining Class D?"
Before Shimizu could answer, he threw out the bait: "You're book buddies with Shiina Hiyori from our class, right?
To be honest, I deliberately put her in your group during the VIP exam. If you're willing to join Class D, I can help set you two up. As for the transfer fee, don't worry. Class D currently has the most class points of all four classes. Combined with your personal points from the VIP exam, you should have around twenty million. I propose you only pay ten million, and our class will pay the other ten million! If you're short, our class will advance it for you, and you
can just pay it back slowly after joining. As for who will lead after you join Class D—you or Ryuen Kakeru—that would need to be discussed. Personally, I lean toward you."
'Shiina Hiyori being in his group was a deliberate arrangement by this teacher? Setting me up with Hiyori? Making me pay ten million and then pay back the rest slowly? Not even guaranteed leadership, having to compete with Ryuen?'
Ichinose Honami from Class B had offered to pay the full 20 million for him, guaranteed his leadership, and even gotten personally intimate with him.
Hoshinomiya Chie, to win him over, was even willing to teach Ichinose "seduction moves."
By comparison, Sakagami Kazuma's offer was completely unattractive.
Just as Shimizu was about to speak, a cold shout came from behind them: "Hey! What kind of nonsense are you talking about!"
He turned to see Ibuki Mio.
Her face was expressionless as she glared at Sakagami. Her tone was blunt: "The VIP exam grouping was your doing? And what do you mean 'setting up' Shiina Hiyori? What kind of schemes is a homeroom teacher making?
What do students' personal matters have to do with you? And whether to recruit Shimizu into Class D should be a decision made by the whole class, right? That ten million belongs to our class fund, not you.
What right do you have to decide for us? And I haven't settled the score with you for ignoring Ryuen hitting students in the first month!"
"This..." Sakagami, being called out by his own student, looked embarrassed. He could only force a reply: "Ibuki! We are in the same class; our interests are aligned! Everything I do is for the development of Class D!"
"Heh, for Class D? I think it's for your salary evaluation and bonuses!" Ibuki was ruthless, piercing straight through his real intentions.
Sakagami's face darkened instantly. To have things said so bluntly in front of an outsider left him with no room to maneuver.
"Ibuki-san, please watch your words," he lowered his voice, his tone carrying a warning.
"I am the homeroom teacher of Class D. Planning the development of the class is my duty. It is not for a student to question my motives."
"Duty?" Ibuki sneered, stepping forward.
"When Ryuen cornered students on the rooftop to threaten them, you called it 'class management.' Now, without consulting anyone, you want to use the class funds we saved to
poach someone and call it 'for the sake of Class D.' Sakagami-sensei, your 'duty' sure is picky about when it shows up."
These words stung Sakagami like needles.
His cheeks flushed slightly, and he opened his mouth to argue but couldn't squeeze out a full sentence. Finally, he gave Ibuki a sharp glare before turning to Shimizu, maintaining a forced composure.
"Shimizu-kun, you can think over the proposal I just made. Find me anytime once you've made up your mind."
With that, he hurried away.
Ibuki watched his back and snorted. Then she turned to look at Shimizu, who was watching the show.
Her tone softened slightly: "Hey! Don't listen to his nonsense. Class D isn't as good as he says. Right now, almost everyone in the class listens to Ryuen. If you come, you'll just be mistreated!"
Shimizu looked at Sakagami's retreating back and then at the disdainful Ibuki. He smiled.
"You helped me out of a tight spot, Ibuki-san."
He hadn't intended to agree to the proposal anyway, and Ibuki's intervention saved him a lot of breath.
Hearing this, the coldness on Ibuki's face faded a bit, though she still frowned and looked away.
"I didn't do it specifically for you. I just hate him using our class's things to play favorites and acting like it's for everyone's good—it's sickening! Besides! You helped me once in the elevator, so consider this a payback."
She paused and added, "Stay away from Sakagami Kazuma in the future. He has as many schemes as Ryuen. They're birds of a feather; nothing good comes from dealing with him."
Shimizu raised an eyebrow and didn't argue.
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. But thanks anyway. Not everyone dares to go against their homeroom teacher directly."
These words made the tips of Ibuki's ears turn red. She cleared her throat and was about to turn away when she stopped, as if suddenly remembering something.
She looked back. "This country is monogamous, right?"
"Huh? Yeah, it is indeed a monogamous system." Shimizu was stunned but answered anyway.
"Oh, so you're quite clear on that." Ibuki seemed relieved. Her steps became lighter as she turned and walked away quickly.
"What on earth was she talking about?" Shimizu stood there, a bit confused.
Japan is monogamous, yes, but... logically speaking, one doesn't have to get married in Japan, right?
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