Classroom of the Elite: I Can Add Points Without Limit, Chapter 186

As for the oldest Third Year, their grades were even more dismal.

Because Class 3-B and Class C of Grade 3 repeatedly violated the rules, these two classes were repeatedly disqualified from the exam, leaving only Class A of the Third Year and Class D of Grade 3 still trying to score points, but they still could not get good rankings due to harassment from other classes.

As a result, the gap between Third Year and first grade not only did not decrease, but actually widened to over 1000 points.

"Brother~"

Horikita Suzune couldn't help but look at the Class A of the Third Year team. Because she wasn't part of the class's decision-making body, she wasn't clear about Aragaki Shun's plans, and therefore couldn't help feeling a little anxious.

She could accept it whether her own first-year class or her brother's Third Year won, but now the second-year class was in the lead?

Why does that annoying blond guy, who always uses a provocative tone to deliberately get his brother's attention, have the nerve to do that?!

After hesitating several times, she decided to go on to the second individual competition event, the Hurdle Race. There was still some time before it was her turn, so the girl with long, straight black hair quickly returned to Class 1-A and came panting to Aragaki Shun.

"Aragaki-kun, we're in a bit of trouble right now. The second-year students have specifically asked three other classes to help them score points."

"If this continues, by the time the next event [Hurdle Race] is over, our initial score will be nullified and we'll be completely overtaken. What should we do now?"

Seeing the girl's anxious expression, Aragaki Shun grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the side and tossed it to her, signaling her to calm down.

Horikita Suzune wanted to say something more, but faced with the calm and composed gaze of the Leader of Class A, her mood was soothed.

She drank half a bottle of water as instructed, and as if influenced by the boy's confident aura, she released all the restlessness in her heart.

"I'm sorry, I'm still a bit immature."

"It's alright. What you're more worried about is Manabu Horikita's class, right? After all, they only have six months left until graduation."

Without bluntly revealing the girl's intentions, Aragaki Shun, with a thoughtful expression, also turned his gaze to the Third Year's area.

Manabu Horikita has been operating at Advanced Nurturing for two and a half years, but in the month since the school announced the rules for the Sports Festival, despite the fact that Horikita Academy has the influence of its self-proclaimed best Student Council President, it has only managed to defeat Class 3-D.

This situation is truly unexpected.

Could it be that he was too lenient in the past, causing Class 2-B and Class C in the second year to become less afraid of each other and still harbor hope for a place in Class A?

Or is it that Manabu Horikita's abilities truly stop there?

The term "most outstanding Student Council President in history" refers more to his administrative and organizational abilities, praising his impartiality, efficiency, and ability to gain recognition from both students and faculty during his tenure.

Based on his experiences with his colleagues over the past six months, Aragaki Shun had a general idea of what to do with himself.

"I..."

Horikita Suzune looked somewhat embarrassed after her thoughts had been exposed.

Upon seeing this, Aragaki Shun dismissed it, saying, "It's only natural for siblings to care for each other. The way you two interact is just too awkward."

"President, you know your sister's shortcomings, is it so hard to say that you want her to grow? You acted so coy, and I, an outsider, have to play the role of mediator."

Shaking his head helplessly, the Leader of Class A watched Horikita Suzune's flushed face with great interest, as if watching a spectacle.

The girl with long, straight black hair was embarrassed and annoyed by the man's teasing. If it had been any other classmate in front of her, she would have definitely breathed on the spot.

But right now, it was Aragaki Shun who was teasing her, the monster she felt inferior to and who had lost to her time and time again.

Faced with this person's remarks, the girl really didn't have much confidence to refute them, and could only mumble softly, "It's not my brother's fault, it's that I'm too useless and have embarrassed him."

"You have too much of a bias towards Horikita President. I suggest you treat him like an ordinary older brother; it will be much easier to get along with him that way."

With a soft click of his tongue, Aragaki Shun kindly offered a suggestion.

In his view, it was just like how Manabu Horikita had a strong bias towards his younger sister, believing she had unlimited potential.

Horikita Suzune's perception of her brother was also influenced by too many biased perspectives. She fantasized that he was omnipotent, but instead, she blindly followed his example and ended up with a bizarre and incomparable character.

"In reality, Horikita President is just a relatively mature ordinary high school student. He has already done everything in his power to protect his classmates in Class A of the Third Year from being expelled, and the journey has been very difficult."

"Perhaps that's why he never really distanced himself from Class B and Class C, making it easy for Miyabi Nagumo to win them over."

From this perspective, Manabu Horikita is more like an enhanced version of Horikita Suzune, possessing the qualities of Yosuke Hirata.

Like Hirata, he single-handedly carried the burden of the class, leading everyone in the class with all his heart and soul, hoping that everyone would graduate from Class A without missing a single one.

He is simply more capable than Hirata, and has yet to make a mistake in class competitions.

However, beneath the surface of her behavior, one can see that this Student Council President is remarkably similar to Horikita Suzune in her inner self.

It's no wonder they're siblings; both are so self-disciplined, ambitious, and career-driven, which sometimes makes them seem emotionally unintelligent, resulting in very few people they can truly call friends.

Of course, their inherent similarities do not affect the vastly different public perceptions of the two, which is also due to the difference in their abilities.

The difference between loneliness and aloofness is merely that one is a self-absorbed clown, while the other can rely on strong qualities to attract followers who will embellish and redeem their image.

In short, if you're not strong enough, don't act recklessly and cause trouble for others; conversely, if you are strong enough, great scholars will naturally come to debate with you.

"Your brother has had a very difficult time protecting his comrades?"

Horikita Suzune was stunned; she had never imagined that she would hear such remarks from Aragaki Shun.

Was her brother, who seemed cold and aloof, as if he looked down on everyone, actually someone who cherished his companions?

It must be fake!

And saying that the brother got into trouble because of this... that's even more unbelievable!

"The facts are right there on the field, aren't they?"

Aragaki Shun pointed to the large central screen, where the scores of the Third Year were showing an increasingly widening gap compared to the other two grades.

"Even the Student Council President can't change the increasingly dire situation in the Third Year."

"If nothing unexpected happens, Class A of the Third Year, where the student council president is, will definitely suffer heavy losses after this Sports Festival, right?"

Seeing this, Horikita Suzune was unable to refute him, and stared blankly in the direction where Manabu Horikita was, falling into a silent silence.

In the darkness, Aragaki Shun seemed to hear a sound like a mirror shattering.

259. Manabu Horikita's judgment was poor; Miyabi Nagumo was powerless to reverse the situation.

He actually shattered the innocent girl's illusion, disillusioning her image of an omnipotent older brother. He truly felt deeply guilty!

Seeing that Horikita Suzune couldn't accept reality and stood there in a daze, it seemed that she was unlikely to come out of her daze in less than half a day.

Aragaki Shun mentally criticized himself, quickly dismissing the non-existent guilt and deciding to persevere.

"Compared to Miyabi Nagumo, Horikita President is more upright, but also seems somewhat rule-abiding."

"Furthermore, his judgment seems somewhat poor; he always seems to choose the wrong people to entrust with his affairs, which makes him difficult to evaluate..."

Initially, they believed that Miyabi Nagumo was talented and recruited her into the Student Council to groom her as their successor. However, they were helpless to see her adopt leadership policies that were completely different from their own, which led to a series of unnecessary dropouts at Advanced Nurturing.

After realizing this mistake, they wanted to find a helper who could counterbalance the opponent in the second year. After searching around, they finally settled on Kiriyama Ikuto, a fence-sitter.

It's safe to say that Manabu Horikita always wears glasses; in some ways, he's just like Horikita Suzune —completely inept at recognizing and employing people.

Of course, this did not prevent him from handling various affairs well during his tenure as Student Council President.

Although his judgment was poor, Manabu Horikita was actually the kind of leader who did everything himself. He took on most of the complicated work and was willing to understand everything, no matter how small. Combined with his good abilities, he had never made any mistakes.

This can also be seen from Secretary Tachibana Akane. As the number two figure in Class A of the Third Year, the Bun-haired Senior's overall qualities are truly amazing in Aragaki Shun.

It's not that this secretary is an incompetent pretty face; on the contrary, as long as she is given some clearly defined instructions, Tachibana Akane can complete them very efficiently, making her a very good candidate for assistant.

The problem is that this petite, purple-haired senior student is genuinely incapable of standing on her own.

She can only follow instructions and carry out specific tasks, but lacks the ability to make independent decisions and plans.

In other words, the girl is used to following orders from her superiors. Once she is in a predicament where no one is there to guide her and she has to make her own choices, she is easily at a loss and ends up crying alone.

If even Manabu Horikita's second-in-command has this kind of style, then there's no need to say more about the other students in Class A of the Third Year.

In short, Manabu Horikita is the kind of leader who likes to take on everything, plan everything clearly, and then have his subordinates execute according to detailed instructions.

Because he has the ability to handle all the tasks within his scope of responsibility well, over time he can earn the trust of everyone inside and outside the company through his achievements.

The only problem is that this approach can easily cause subordinates to lose their minds and become robots that dislike thinking and only know how to complete tasks.

After all, it's much easier this way, isn't it?

Horikita Suzune: "..."

Following the rules blindly, poor judgment, making mistakes in training successors, finding opportunistic helpers, and suppressing the independence of classmates by doing everything himself... Hearing Aragaki Shun point out a series of problems her brother encountered in Advanced Nurturing, the long-haired girl felt completely dizzy.

How could her brother, whom she considered perfect, appear like this in Aragaki's eyes?

She wanted to speak up and refute him on the spot, but then she suddenly remembered that the other person was recognized by her brother for his strength and was identified as the next Student Council President.

As a good-for-nothing younger sister, someone who's utterly mediocre and on a completely different level from them, does she really have the right to refute Aragaki -san's statement?

Is it possible that I don't really know my brother's true self, and have only ever been chasing after his shadow?

The Manabu Horikita she admired and imitated on her own never existed in her imagination.

Putting everything else aside, her brother was actually someone who valued his classmates and was willing to do everything in his power to lead the entire class to graduate from Class A... This was something she had never really considered.

In the eyes of the girl with long, straight black hair, Manabu Horikita should be a lone wolf who keeps everyone at arm's length and has an aloof personality.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have inexplicably transformed into an eccentric, self-assured, socially indifferent, and unsmiling ice queen through her imitations.

This development only proves that this is how the younger sister perceives her brother.

"So, my brother didn't refuse to walk alongside his companions after all?"

Muttering softly to herself, Horikita Suzune quickly realized an embarrassing reality. "But doesn't this mean that my brother only rejected me?"

Upon reaching this conclusion, the usually aloof girl with long, straight black hair was completely stunned and remained in shock for a long time.

Aragaki Shun simply shrugged. "I told you two siblings had an awkward way of getting along."

"They clearly care about each other, but neither is willing to sit down and have a serious heart-to-heart talk. They just stubbornly stick to what they believe is right and do things their own way."

Horikita Suzune looked blank; she didn't know how to respond to the teasing in front of her.

While struggling with her decision, the girl once again saw the competition taking place in the center of the stadium. She quickly remembered that she had come because the first and Third Year had lost in the [100m Dash] and she wanted to find a way to fight back.

So she decided to suppress her chaotic thoughts for now and deal with the important matters first, and then consider these complicated family issues when she had time.

"Um, the [100m Dash] seems to be over. If this continues, the second-year students' total score will catch up. We really don't need to..."

"Just watch quietly and participate in the competition as usual; everything else has been arranged."

With a wave of his hand, Aragaki Shun directly interrupted Horikita Suzune's doubts. He showed no concern for the situation at the Sports Festival, and anyone could see that he didn't take Miyabi Nagumo's arrangements seriously at all.

"I've talked so much about Horikita President's problems in front of you before, but when it comes to basic abilities, your brother is indeed excellent. Those shortcomings are just a matter of no one being perfect, and there's no need to be too harsh on him."

"In comparison, Miyabi Nagumo is much more ruthless. By repeatedly expelling people from school, she easily established a huge reputation that covered three grades. However, her arrogance and short-sightedness will eventually backfire."

Honest people are more likely to suffer losses, so at present, Miyabi Nagumo has a clear advantage in the campus competition.

Even so, Aragaki Shun still favors Manabu Horikita, who doesn't abandon anyone in the class. After all, acting in the style of Miyabi Nagumo is too risky, and once it erupts, it could lead to utter ruin.

To put it bluntly, Manabu Horikita could lead Class A of the Third Year to lose once, twice, or even three times, as long as he kept working hard and persevering, he would always have people following him.

Miyabi Nagumo, who rules over the second-year students and extends her influence to the first and Third Year, can only win and cannot afford to lose, otherwise she may easily lose everything by making a single careless move.

To follow in their footsteps, one must possess absolute power. In modern society, unless one has a wealthy heir like Koenji Rokusuke, one is bound to stumble sooner or later.

Of course, if he also had Golden Finger, allowing him to enter the Transcendent Realm, then Aragaki Shun wouldn't have said anything.

"Just watch, the outcome of this Sports Festival was already decided before the competition even began."

Seeing that Horikita Suzune wanted to ask more questions, Aragaki Shun simply waved his hand, signaling her to quickly return to Class 1-D and prepare to participate in the next individual competition.

"It's about time. Take your time to observe and think things through. Don't just run to me for help every time you encounter a problem."

After the first event, the 100m Dash, concluded, the announcer, on behalf of the school, informed everyone to take a 20-minute break until the new venue was inspected and ready for the next event, the Hurdle Race.

As planned, Class 2-B also officially launched the Zero-Point Strategy, directly targeting Class A students with all their students to undermine their chances.

So when the broadcast came on again--

[The Hurdle Race is about to begin. Participants, please take your positions.]

Everyone discovered that there were only 10 participants on the track at that moment, and the two students who should have competed in the first round according to the competition schedule were nowhere to be found.

"So you defeated the enemy in this way? Aragaki, you're much more interesting than I imagined!"

Aragaki Shun was still the first to go on stage representing Class 1-A, but the student from Class B next to him had been replaced by Ryuen Kakeru.

The thug, with his roguish air, glanced at the empty seats in Class 2-A and Class B of the second year, a malicious mocking expression on his face.

"I thought I was the only one who would appreciate such efficient methods, but it seems your despicable nature surpasses mine."

Ignoring the Dragon Boy's ramblings, Aragaki Shun simply yawned and gave him a "what are you talking about?" look.