The terms you offered are excellent, but, I...

"Hey, what's wrong with Baiye Ying?" After changing into his swim trunks, Hamaguchi looked at the ashen-faced Ying and couldn't help but ask Beppu, who was standing beside him.

"He proposed a betting scheme, but it was vetoed by Kanzaki while it was still in the planning stage. He's been like this ever since."

Hamaguchi and Beppu exchanged a glance and both let out a sigh.

On the way to the pool, the boys of Class B were exceptionally excited.

"Tell me, which girl in the class has the biggest boobs?"

"Ichinose, probably."

"It's definitely little Honami."

"Don't you dare sully Honami! How can you compare her to the other girls? There's simply no comparison!"

"But have you noticed? Amikura Mako actually has a pretty good figure too."

"That's true, and Kobashi Yume as well."

Ying followed the main group to the poolside in a daze, his mind clearly still lingering on his lost opportunity to make a fortune.

"We have 20 observers. Your Class B has the most observers of any class, so watch carefully and learn well. I will make sure every single one of you knows how to swim before the summer is over." The swimming coach explained the precautions and the curriculum plan with great enthusiasm.

"Alright, now for the part you've all been looking forward to. A 50-meter swimming race. Boys and girls will be split into two groups, and I will award 5,000 points to the winner of each group! Come on, boys, get your spirits up!"

"Yeah!" The mood in the class suddenly soared, except for one person who was still living in a world of his own.

"Damn it... I am a failure of a man..."

"Does Baiye-kun like Spider-Man?" A youthful, sweet female voice pulled Ying back to reality.

Ying looked up to see Ichinose, who was wearing a swimsuit. The school-issued swimwear clung to her well-proportioned figure, outlining her graceful curves. Her limbs were fair and slender, her light brown hair draped behind her, and her face was lit up with a bright, sunny smile. It made Ying lose his focus for a moment.

"Um... Baiye-kun?" Ichinose waved her hand in front of Ying's eyes.

"So beautiful... Oh, Ichinose-san, hello." Ying turned his head away, feeling a bit shy, and greeted her stiffly.

"Eh! Hello?" Ichinose seemed to realize something, blushed slightly, and echoed his greeting.

"Ahem... May I ask, Ichinose, is something the matter?" Clearing his throat, Ying managed to regain his composure.

"Oh. Actually, I came to talk to you about selling that information last time." Ichinose also collected herself.

"I see. How much did you sell? You must have earned a lot of points already." Ying smiled slightly, as if wanting to show off that this was his contribution.

"Hehe, Baiye-kun, you're quite the joker. But in a different sense, Class B really did earn a lot. Following your hints, I signed contracts favorable to Class B with Class A and Class C, and in exchange, we shared some of the information Hoshinomiya-sensei gave us with them."

Eh? What contracts? What hints?

"But as for Class D, things are a bit troublesome right now. Since Class A and Class C are strong competitors for Class B, we can only build a tighter and closer partnership with Class D. But the problem lies with Class D; they don't seem to be united yet. So I wanted to ask Baiye-kun, what do you think we should do?" Ichinose frowned slightly, waiting for Ying's opinion.

What the hell? Why couldn't he understand what Ichinose was saying? Ying just felt completely bewildered.

"Since not everyone in Class D is willing to buy, why not just look for the ones who are?" After thinking for a moment, Ying figured Ichinose must have run into trouble while trying to sell the information to Class D. After all, Class D seemed to be in a state of chaos right now. Students like Ikeyamauchi would certainly never spend points on information for the sake of the class, so why not just sell to those who actually cared about the class? Even if the profit wasn't huge, they should still be able to earn some points.

"Oh! I get it now, thank you, Baiye-kun!" With that, Ichinose smiled and ran off.

Watching Ichinose's happy expression, Ying also curled the corners of his mouth slightly.

When Ichinose earns those points, it shouldn't be too much to ask for a share of the profit, right?

"Ying! Don't you dare go easy on me! Let's have a fair and square match!" Shibata said with burning passion, extending his fist toward Ying.

"Oh! Sasuke!" Ying also extended his fist and bumped it with Shibata's.

"Haha, did you give me a weird nickname just now?" Shibata laughed.

"Ready!"

After the coach called out "ready," both Ying and Shibata focused their energy to the maximum.

"Start!"

Ying and Shibata jumped into the water at the same time. As soon as the race began, they pulled away from the rest of their group. But clearly, this wasn't Ying's limit. Just as Ying continued to accelerate and pulled half a body length ahead of Shibata...

Damn it! Fuck, a cramp!

Because Ying had been listless and unmotivated at the start of class, he had forgotten to do his warm-up exercises. Now that he had suddenly started such intense exercise, his right foot cramped before he had even swum 10 meters.

But our Ying is a real man; the strong never complain about their circumstances. Ying had no choice but to bite the bullet and keep swimming. Not only that, but his speed was actually steadily increasing. Just as Ying was about to pull three-quarters of a body length ahead of Shibata...

Damn it! Fuck, another cramp!

No sooner had Ying adapted to the cramp in his right foot than his left foot cramped too. Immediately following that were his left hand, right hand, left thigh, and right thigh...

In the second half of the race, Ying's speed grew slower and slower, but he still managed to beat Shibata by a hair's breadth.

"Let us congratulate! The winner is—Baiye Ying!"

"Baiye! Baiye! Baiye!" The whole class was celebrating Ying's victory.

"Ying-ruto, I didn't expect to lose to you in the end. You didn't go easy on me at the last second, did you?" Shibata looked at Ying in the adjacent lane with a sense of relief.

!?? Where is Ying!? How did he disappear so quickly!

At this moment, Shibata noticed a few bubbles faintly floating on the surface of the pool, and upon looking down, he saw someone.

"Coach! Someone is drowning here!" Shibata shouted.

In the infirmary, Kanzaki stared speechlessly at Ying, who was sitting up on the hospital bed.

"You really are something else. I never expected you to finish that 50-meter swim while suffering from full-body cramps, and to take first place at that. I honestly don't know what to say to you anymore."

"Kanzaki, it's a small matter, a small matter. Don't make such a big fuss, hahaha!" Ying laughed it off, though he didn't dare to meet Kanzaki's eyes.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Just then, someone suddenly knocked on the infirmary door.

"It's probably Shibata. I'll go open it." After saying this, Kanzaki walked toward the door.

"You are... Student Council President Horikita!?" Kanzaki's shocked voice came from the doorway.

President Horikita walked in, accompanied by the secretary, Tachibana.

"Um, Student Council President, hello?" Ying was completely bewildered; he had no idea why the student council president would be looking for him. Could it be that the school had banned gambling, and he was about to be expelled for violating school rules?

"You are student Baiye Ying, correct?" President Horikita's calm voice made one feel involuntarily nervous.

"I am here now to invite you to join the student council."

"!?" All three people in the infirmary were startled.

"Um... can I choose not to join?" Ying said in a low voice.

"You dare to refuse the President's invitation!?" Tachibana, standing to the side, suddenly said angrily.

President Horikita raised a hand to signal Tachibana to stop speaking. He continued: "On your first day of school, you faintly perceived the rules, and on the second day, you used Sakayanagi from Class A at the Chess Club to make a large profit. Today, you pushed through full-body cramps to complete a 50-meter swimming race, and even took the top spot."

Kanzaki was shocked upon hearing these words; he didn't know where the student council president had obtained this information, or why he knew things that even he himself was unaware of.

"Even if you say all that, I still..."

Seeing that Ying still wanted to refuse, President Horikita continued.

"I also know that you are currently desperate to collect private points. Although I don't know what you intend to do with them, nor how many you need, if you join the student council, I will personally transfer 10 million private points to you."

Ying looked at the earnest-looking President Horikita, the furious Tachibana, and the shocked Kanzaki, and sighed.

Seeing this, President Horikita felt a bit of regret, but he also understood the principle that a twisted melon is never sweet.

"President Horikita, your offer is excellent, but I refuse to... wait, I can't refuse! Please look after me from now on, boss!"

Horikita Manabu: He agreed?