For the next twenty minutes, the students in the class were all discussing the list for this sports festival.
"Although I don't know how we're supposed to do this 'everyone participates' thing, I'm going to join all the recommended competitions, this way we'll win!"
Sudo had an impatient smile on his face and immediately shouted loudly.
To Sudo, the sports festival was practically his paradise.
'You could say Sudo perfectly fits the phrase "muscles over brains." For him, the sports festival must be a very good stage.'
Saiki slightly turned his head and looked at Sudo.
'I honestly really hope Sudo participates in all the individual events. That way, the rest of us would only need to join the group events.'
Sudo's physical ability ranked among the top in the whole grade. If he took part in all the events, he would surely achieve some pretty good results.
After Sudo spoke, everyone in the class had different reactions.
[If Sudo goes to compete, then we probably don't have to do anything, right?]
[No, but why should he get to participate in all the events? The top ranks come with point and score rewards!]
[How could we let Sudo take all the benefits for himself?!]
Some people strongly agreed with Sudo's suggestion. With this plan, their class would likely achieve a great result, and even students with poor athletic performance could avoid the risk of losing points.
But many others were against it. To them, this was also a chance to earn points or scores. For students with lower academic performance, Sudo's suggestion was equivalent to robbing them of their opportunity.
"This method is indeed feasible. Your athletic ability far exceeds anyone else in class. There's nothing wrong with participating in all the individual events. The rules also allow one person to join multiple events."
Horikita nodded, showing agreement. For the sake of the class's overall performance, Sudo's suggestion was definitely not wrong.
"But we also want a chance! After all, placing in the top three earns us points!"
Beside them, Ike Kanji spoke a bit unhappily. Friends who were once close were now beginning to show signs of cracks.
"Doing that will lower the class's chances of winning."
"No, even if that's true… I just want a few more chances…"
"You can't do it, Kanji."
Sudo bluntly rejected Ike Kanji's idea without any hesitation.
"I was thinking about your desire to participate in all the events, but we can't just let you take all the events without doing anything else."
Even Horikita, who had just agreed with Sudo's idea, now raised an objection.
"Why?"
Sudo's face was full of confusion. He didn't understand why Horikita was now against him.
"Because stamina is limited. If you keep participating in events, it will inevitably wear you down. Maintaining consecutive wins will be difficult."
"Even so, it's still better than handing it over to these sports idiots! Even if I get tired, I can contribute more than these guys."
As Sudo spoke, he cast a scornful glance at the boys around him.
That also included Saiki.
'Yare yare, I've been classified as a sports idiot, huh.'
Saiki didn't feel surprised at all. Instead, he saw this as a good thing, if he was seen as bad at sports, maybe he could avoid joining too many events.
Ike Kanji and the others felt displeased by Sudo's words, but for the moment they couldn't refute him.
Horikita also thought it was impossible to reach a consensus right now, so she gave up participating in the argument.
———
In the second period, all the class members went to the gymnasium. It was the first gathering of students from all three school years.
The gymnasium was very spacious, but the densely packed crowd made Saiki feel a bit overwhelmed, as if he were in a marketplace.
Even so, Saiki could still faintly hear the inner voices of the people around him.
[My brother… is my brother here?]
[For the sports festival, I must perform well in front of the entire school.]
[Don't want to join… don't want to join…]
Just then, a boy walked to the center of the podium and spoke loudly in a booming voice, "I'm Fujiwara from Year 3 Class A, serving as the overall commander for the red team this time."
"First, a word of advice for the first years. Some of you might think it's unnecessary, but you must remember well, this sports festival is extremely important."
"The experience you gain from it will definitely be useful in other areas. Many of the upcoming exams may look like games, but each one is a crucial battle where your survival in this school is on the line."
"Maybe you don't feel it now, and maybe you lack motivation, but if you're going to participate, then win. Remember that feeling. Everyone must take this as a shared belief."
Fujiwara loudly delivered what sounded like a motivational speech, though it wasn't particularly passionate.
'A high school, betting everything on survival in school, huh?' Saiki shook his head.
"The only event involving all students is the final 1200-meter relay. All other events are separated by grade. From now on, students from the same team and grade should gather together to begin their own discussions."
After Fujiwara's speech, the students from Year 1 Class A began to approach Class B on their own.
Katsuragi Kohei and Hirata Yousuke exchanged a few simple words and confirmed a cooperative relationship.
Class A and Class B were, at least on the surface, the top-ranking classes in terms of points. But this was based on previous written and special exams and had no direct relation to the sports festival results.
More importantly, the point gap between Class A and Class B had been shrinking. In a sense, the two classes were also rivals.
Cooperation was also a chance to gather intel on each other.
Meanwhile, Ryeun led Class D straight out of the gym, with no intention of cooperating with Class C, where Ichinose Honami was.
Even so, Ryeun had a confident smile on his face, as if victory was already in his grasp.
[The key to this sports festival isn't the events themselves, but how the personnel are arranged.]
Saiki could faintly hear Ryeun's inner thoughts.
After Ryeun left, Katsuragi Kohei shook his head, then reached out and pointed to the side, "Her name is Sakayanagi Arisu. Due to physical inconvenience, she can only sit in a chair. Please forgive us."
'So she's Sakayanagi Arisu?'
Saiki turned to look at her. Whether from rumors or what he had just heard from Ryeun's thoughts, Sakayanagi Arisu was someone to watch closely.
Class A had split into two factions, with Sakayanagi Arisu and Katsuragi Kohei as the respective leaders.
Sakayanagi Arisu sat on a chair, wearing a hat. Her silver-white hair draped down, her face was doll-like and cute, and her figure was extremely petite.
[So cute!]
The moment they saw Sakayanagi Arisu, the inner voices of nearly everyone present became unified.
This made some dissonant thoughts more obvious.
Saiki narrowed his eyes slightly. He knew this doll-like girl in front of him had a mind completely different from her appearance.
"Regrettably, I cannot be of use as a fighting force. I will lose by default in all events. I'm sure this will bring trouble to both classes. Please allow me to apologize for this in advance." Sakayanagi Arisu immediately apologized to everyone present.
"It's, it's okay!"
"Seriously, the school is so heartless. They know someone has mobility issues but still won't give special exceptions."
"Don't worry about it!"
No one present blamed Sakayanagi Arisu.
Even Sudo, who had just been complaining about people dragging the class down due to poor athletic ability, now wore a smiling face and comforted her.
'Yare yare, being cute really lets you do whatever you want, huh?'
Saiki sighed in his heart. If it were him or someone else giving the same excuse to avoid the sports festival, even if they apologized sincerely, they'd still be criticized harshly by others.
Saiki also noticed that the students from Class A were standing in two separate groups, one behind Katsuragi Kohei, and the other next to Sakayanagi Arisu.
However, the number of people next to Sakayanagi Arisu was far greater than those behind Katsuragi Kohei.
The balance within Class A had already been completely broken.
Beside him, Ayanokoji and Horikita were chatting about something, but Saiki didn't care. The only thing on his mind was how to get out of here as soon as possible.
———
After forty minutes of discussion, the afternoon classes finally ended. Everyone left the gym to go about their own plans.
But just as Saiki was about to head to the café, Ayanokoji called out to him.
"Saiki, can we talk for a bit?" Ayanokoji's expression didn't change at all.
"Sorry, I have something to take care of." Saiki answered immediately.
'Today's the first day of school, and they just released a limited edition pudding flavor. I'm sure lots of students are rushing to buy it.'
"If you're planning to buy the new pudding at the café, I already asked another student to get it for you." Ayanokoji replied.
[Saiki seems to care a lot about sweets. Maybe it's a deliberately crafted persona, but it can still be a reason to approach him.]
[When Class D left the meeting early, I had Manabe 'help' buy it, and placed it somewhere in the school. To avoid others noticing, I also had Yamauchi help retrieve it.]
'Had Manabe help… does that mean he blackmailed her with video recordings? Blackmailed Manabe to buy pudding… then had Yamauchi pick it up?'
Saiki pressed his lips together slightly. He felt a bit sorry for those involved. But since Ayanokoji helped him get the limited-edition pudding, it counted as a good deed.
"Alright."
"Saiki, who do you think the traitor in our class is?"
"Kushida, probably." Saiki said the name instinctively.
[As expected, Saiki had already seen through the existence of a traitor in class, maybe even earlier than me.]
'Yare yare, I'd completely forgotten about that.' Saiki finally remembered he'd never told anyone about the traitor in class.
But it didn't really matter if Ayanokoji already knew.
"Is it because of the previous VIP test results?" Ayanokoji asked.
"Yeah." Saiki nodded.
'Actually, I knew since last semester.'
"This sports festival isn't just about physical ability. The most important thing is how the participants are assigned." Ayanokoji continued.
"If we could learn how other classes assigned their participants, we'd gain a huge advantage in this sports festival."
"That's true."
"After the last exam, Ryuen said the next one would target our class. I assume he'll take action during this sports festival. The fact that he left early from the meeting means he's already set things up."
While speaking, Ayanokoji turned his gaze toward the entrance.
"But Horikita doesn't seem to notice this problem at all. Her vision is far too narrow. She's grown compared to before, but if she wants to reach Class A, it's still not enough. I assume you think the same, Saiki, that she's not quite a useful tool yet."
'Your misunderstanding of me just keeps getting deeper…'
Saiki thought silently, but still responded calmly, "Mm…"
"I want Horikita to grow. She needs to suffer a blow in order to realize her shortcomings. So I have a few ideas, Saiki, I hope you'll cooperate with me."
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