You Should Drop Out

"Anyway, keep an eye on the older students." Rubbing his head, Asakusa Toru tried to gather his scattered thoughts and instructed Ichinose Honami, "Then, for the girls' groups in other classes, well, the best candidate from Class B is Kamuro. If that doesn't work, Morishita would be a good choice; she definitely won't refuse."

"Ibuki from Class C was originally the best, both in terms of physical fitness and obedience. Shiina Hiyori, is somewhat of a burden; her health is too poor. If we want to score points..."

"There's no need to completely focus on grades," Ichinose Honami said. "Just focus on Shiina Hiyori- kun."

I will protect her.

Asakusa Toru: "..."

After a moment of silence, Asakusa Toru continued:

"Kushida and Horikita from Class D are about the same. If all else fails, Sato and Matsushita are decent alternatives. Hasebe is somewhere in between. You can try to gather fifteen people."

"Then..."

"Toru." Softly, Ichinose Honami called his name, "I don't think I'm a woman who can't do anything without you, do I?"

She smiled.

"Relax, it's just a Special Exam, nothing to worry about."

Asakusa Toru simply looked into her eyes and remained silent for a moment.

"...Yes, I know," he said.

About an hour after the class teacher finished introducing the exam, the bus arrived smoothly at its destination, the Forest School.

After all, the location of the Advanced Nurturing area is relatively remote, so it is reasonable for it to be close to places like Forest School.

As soon as we landed and got off the bus, the class teacher collected our Personal Terminal by reading out names from the list.

This is true for boys, and for girls...

The same applies to nature.

Sakayanagi Arisu, leaning on her cane, was the last to disembark from the bus.

"Sakayanagi."

"Sakayanagi..."

"Sakayanagi!"

The hushed voices beside me conveyed the complex emotions of my classmates.

They had tried to strike up a conversation several times while they were in the car.

This was especially true after seeing the exam rules.

Without exception, Sakayanagi Arisu did not respond.

Some classmates became slightly agitated and criticized her, questioning whether she could still be considered a class leader!

A classmate excitedly reached out to her, wanting to grab her and question her.

But they were stopped by Kamuro Masumi and Katsuragi Kohei.

She maintained that annoying smile throughout.

In fact, even at the Forest School, she could have chosen to be absent, just like during the Sports Festival, where she could have used illness as an excuse to forcibly deduct Private Points or Class Points in exchange for not participating in the exam.

But she still came.

The objective is clear.

She has already taken the first step in facing herself.

The next step is to face his second step head-on—but first, a little bit before that.

Well, goodbye Ichinose Honami.

Sakayanagi Arisu felt that she and Ichinose Honami had so many, many, many things to talk about.

So the first step is to join Ichinose Honami's group.

The class consists of twelve students, plus three students from other classes.

The best combination for Mixed Training Camp.

There are no problems with the selection of the women's team, but for the men's team...

Should Class C bring in Ryuen or have him lead a team alone? Should Class B bring in Katsuragi or Hashimoto? Class D...?

Ayanokoji? Hirata?

Nobody else wants any of them.

While pondering, Asakusa Toru arrived at the large school building where the boys were located, along with the group from Class A.

Almost immediately after they arrived and took their positions, the door behind them was pushed open, and as the Class D entered, a cacophony of noise followed.

"That Horikita guy has such a sour face, am I right? No matter how you look at it, I should be right. He's underestimating our efforts and exploiting us too much. They're getting so much profit, they should share more with us, right? Is that Horikita guy trying to lick Sakura's Asakusa because Sakura transferred to Class A?"

Seemingly still somewhat angry, perhaps feeling that after parting ways with the girls, he was surrounded by boys and companions, Yamauchi Haruki openly vented his emotions, completely unaware that the group following him had already arrived at the school building and opened the large school building gates.

"Hey, hey, Haruki-- " Kanji Ike, who had been listening to his complaints, noticed it, but it seemed to be too late.

Inside the otherwise quiet school building Yamauchi Haruki's voice was unusually loud.

"Oh?" Led by Asakusa Toru, everyone's eyes were focused on Class D.

"Do you want more rewards and feel you deserve higher recognition?"

Asakusa Toru's calm voice rang out, and Yamauchi Haruki belatedly realized that the situation seemed a little bad.

His body was stiff; he was afraid to move.

"What a coincidence, this exam gives you a chance to shine." Asakusa Toru took a few steps forward and came to Class D: "Why don't you volunteer to take on the role of a leader?"

"But you'd better not spout nonsense."

"I, um, this..." The man's proximity created a considerable sense of pressure, and Yamauchi Haruki's eyes darted back and forth, unable to meet his gaze. His words were incoherent and fragmented. He instinctively wanted to apologize. "Yes, um, I'm sorry."

"Why apologize?" Asakusa Toru raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't you want to protest? Didn't you want to voice your grievances? Didn't you feel that the evaluation of you was unjust? Didn't you want more and better rewards?"

"Now the opportunity has come," he said.

"Become the person in charge, become number one, and receive double the reward."

"What, you're not going to tell me you don't actually want anything, that you're not planning to take any risks, and that you just want to keep yelling and asking for money, are you?"

Yamauchi Haruki shrugged, his hands trembling slightly, unable to utter a word.

He lowered his head and cursed wildly in his mind.

Are you crazy? I only said a few extra words, and you're already taking advantage of me like this.

Is it necessary?

Where are the others? Why aren't any of them stepping forward to say a few words in my defense?

What opportunity? The chance of being expelled from school?

I don't want to take that risk. So what if it's double rewards? You only get the rewards if you're in the top three, right? I was just saying. Do I really think I can get into the top three?

This is outrageous! This is outrageous! This is blatant bullying!

"Yamauchi isn't that kind of person." Driven by a strong sense of justice, Hirata Yosuke stepped forward, responding to Yamauchi Haruki's inner cry, "I believe he can do it."

But Yamauchi Haruki didn't want him to chime in at all.

Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing, Hirata?!

If you just kept your head down as usual, the matter would have been over. Why are you adding fuel to the fire?

Who gave you permission to stand up? Who gave you permission to speak?

He seemed to have completely forgotten that he had just been silently praying that someone would speak up for him.

"Right? Yamauchi?"

Under the bright sunshine, Hirata Yosuke gave him a confident smile.

"Hahaha..." Yamauchi Haruki chuckled.

All eyes were on them; not only their own classmates, but also boys from other classes and even the other two grades were all looking in their direction.

The pressure of being stared at was immense, especially the thought of these people pointing fingers at him when they got back, just like when that bastard Ryuen kicked him on the ship.

Yamauchi Haruki felt very frustrated.

No, no, I can't back down now. If I back down now, my status on campus will be at the bottom.

... This guy has absolutely no self-awareness about his current bottom-ranking position on campus.

"I... I really want to be in charge, but the team... the team can't find a suitable person." He looked away, offering a flimsy excuse.

But just as he was trying to find a random excuse to quickly change the subject...

Without hesitation, Hirata Yosuke took another step forward and placed his right hand on his chest.

"It's okay! Yamauchi, you still have me! I'll help you!" he said, then turned to look at his classmates around him. "With everyone working together, we'll definitely win first place!"

"Asakusa- kun is going to give you a chance to shine this time, so we must make the most of it!"

It seems that Asakusa Toru has no intention of using the contract as a pretext to manipulate the competition again. Although Yamauchi Haruki's words contain many fallacies, one thing is true.

Money.

The money is still too little. More than 20,000 points are simply not enough for a student. If he wants to help his classmates, he needs to have more Private Points on hand.

Since we can seize the opportunity offered by the other party, we should try to get a higher score and earn the Private Points awarded by the school.

... As for Class Points...

Well, Hirata Yosuke is still self-aware. Although the school didn't say it, the fact that they provided an explanation of the cumulative negative points for the Class Points in this Special Exam proves that the school also took into account the situation where Class D acted recklessly with zero points in the previous exams.

Although he didn't say it explicitly, he figured their Class Points must have been negative long ago.

Even if it weren't, Asakusa Toru would still casually deduct those points from the next Special Exam.

So just focus on your Private Points; that's enough.

Chapter 283 You Should Drop Out of School

"Goo--"

Yamauchi Haruki now feels completely supported.

Hey, hey, hey, don't you guys have any self-awareness at all?

You've failed every single exam before, what right do you have to say that hard work will lead to victory?

If hard work guarantees victory...

Oh, I haven't tried at all either.

In short, effort is useless!

No, no, I need to think carefully about what other excuses I can use.

Yamauchi Haruki's brain raced as he thought.

Yes, that's right!

Yamauchi Haruki quickly came up with an idea.

His brain seemed to have never been so quick to think; he felt that he might be even smarter than Asakusa Toru at this moment!

"No, that won't work. To get the highest multiplier, our group needs three more students from other classes." He said, then immediately added, "Besides, isn't the final ranking based on the large group? I need to prioritize choosing senior students to work with!"

The former used other classes as an excuse, while the latter used other grades as an excuse.

Even if you, Asakusa Toru, could control the entire first-year class, you certainly couldn't influence the upperclassmen, right?

Hehehe.

From the perspective of interests, from a realistic perspective.

If Asakusa Toru can handle these two problems, then he, Lord Yamauchi, should let you all know who truly deserves first place in this Special Exam!

"It's alright, you can choose anyone except me." Unexpectedly, Asakusa Toru agreed without hesitation. He spread his hands and turned to look at the upperclassmen not far away. "As for the 'senpai'..."