Chapter 73

Seeing Hashimoto's increasingly desperate expression, Aragaki Shun and then offered him a second option. "If you don't dare offend Sakayanagi, then use your expulsion to blackmail Katsuragi. After all, according to the school's rules, if a student is expelled for violating school rules, their class will also have 300 evaluation points deducted."

"If you can persuade Katsuragi to give me 400 evaluation points and corresponding Private Points every month, then I might be willing to issue a letter of understanding and drop the pursuit of your responsibility in this incident."

Upon hearing this, even Kamuro Masumi was stunned. "Our Class B only has 850 points. We were going to give you 200 points before, and now we're going to give you 400 points. Does that mean that from now on, each of us will only have 25,000 Private Points per month?"

"Class B can refuse too." Aragaki Shun didn't care. "Just let Hashimoto get expelled, and then the Class Evaluation Points drops to 550. That way, each of you will still have 35,000 Private Points left each month."

Is it better to maintain Class Evaluation Points of 300, or to maintain 400,000 Private Points per month?

In fact, no matter which team they choose to protect, Class B is basically rendered useless.

"Oh, and remember to tell everyone in Class B that all of this is the result of Sakayanagi Arisu's overconfidence!"

135. Ibuki Mio's Defeat; The Future of Class C is in Your Hands

By handling Hashimoto Masayoshi's situation properly, Class B will be forced to make a difficult choice between a bad future and an even worse one.

Then Aragaki Shun was dragged to the Keyaki Mall by Ibuki, where the girl skillfully opened a training room suitable for duels.

"Knowing full well you can't beat me, yet you still can't wait to get a beating. Ibuki, your hobbies are really hard to compliment."

The duel ended quickly. Ibuki Mio only made a tentative kick before Aragaki Shun easily took her down with his superior strength and speed.

For a teenager whose attributes have reached the human limit, no skill is needed; his basic abilities alone are enough to defeat most Combat in the world.

The Ibuki Mio before us has clearly not yet entered that extremely rare category.

Seeing the blue-haired girl still looking defiant and wanting to continue struggling even after falling to the ground, he simply sat on Ibuki's lower back and yawned somewhat boredly.

"Stop making a scene!"

"If you want to challenge me, Ibuki, you'd better at least take down every single Combat club in the Advanced Nurturing program, otherwise you're just wasting my time."

"You..."

A look of humiliation crossed Ibuki Mio's face, but she stopped struggling.

She slumped to the ground, arms crossed, chin resting on her hands, and muttered in a low voice, "Heaven is so unfair. There's such a huge gap between people from birth. No matter how hard I try, I can't compare to you gifted guys."

If Aragaki Shun had defeated her instantly through Combat skills, Ibuki Mio wouldn't be so resentful.

The problem is, her opponent didn't use any techniques; he simply subdued her with faster speed and greater strength. Faced with such overwhelming superiority, which she couldn't find a way to overcome, what could she do?

There is an inherent difference in physical ability between boys and girls, which is an undeniable fact.

But she had always believed that as long as she devoted more energy to martial arts, there was no need to care about such trivial things.

Thanks to her long-term training, most of the boys in Class C are no match for her in fighting, a fact that proves her idea wasn't entirely wrong.

As a result, Aragaki Shun, a monster among her peers, appeared. His exaggerated physical abilities were practically a mockery of her ideals.

She racked her brains but couldn't figure out how to train in the future to defeat the guy on her body using martial arts.

"Don't be so down," Aragaki Shun wasn't good at comforting people, so he simply pointed out a fact without any modesty. "In this school, in this country, and even in the whole world, there are few people who can match me in terms of physical fitness."

"Even if you're warlike, you should challenge the weaker opponents gradually, starting with the stronger ones. Why set your sights on a world-class boss from the very beginning?"

Ibuki Mio thought about it and felt that what Aragaki Shun said made some sense. A hopeful look appeared on her face. "You mean, as long as I keep working hard, I still have a chance to grow as strong as you?"

"...Perhaps." Aragaki Shun didn't want to lie, so he could only give an ambiguous response. "This is something you should decide for yourself. How can I, an outsider, interfere?"

"That's true," the blue-haired girl clearly believed him, and her fighting spirit returned. "I must work even harder; only in this way can I not lose to anyone!"

Just then, Kamuro Masumi walked in from outside the training room, carrying several bottles of drinks. When she walked up to the two of them, she looked at Aragaki Shun, who was sitting on Ibuki Mio's lower back, with a strange gaze.

The newly appointed leader of the Sakayanagi Faction in Class B muttered a couple of things silently, but said nothing, simply handing over a bottle of his drink.

"Thank you so much. It's really kind of you to prepare these things. Kamuro, you're quite considerate."

Taking the drink with one hand, Aragaki Shun patted Ibuki's shapely buttocks with his other hand, signaling that the competition was over and that she shouldn't touch him inappropriately anymore. The boy then released the girl from his restraints, stood up, and began to drink water in large gulps.

It has to be admitted that Kamuro is quite considerate as a tool; no wonder Sakayanagi Arisu specifically wanted to use her as her crutch.

I just have a question—does this guy have a bit of a masochistic tendency?

After all, didn't Kamuro say that he stopped seeking thrills after being caught stealing?

What was Sakayanagi Arisu's explanation for using her as a tool?

The purple-haired girl suddenly felt a chill, but after looking around, she only saw Ibuki Mio getting up from the ground, and there was nothing else suspicious around.

"It's probably just my imagination..."

Thinking this, Kamuro put aside the strange feeling in her heart that seemed to be a slander against her personality, and instead looked at Ibuki Mio with a strange gaze as she casually took a bottle of drink from her hand.

By the way, you were just sat on by Aragaki Shun, and he even patted your butt, so why didn't you react at all?

"Why are you looking at me so strangely?" Sensing Kamuro Masumi's odd gaze, Ibuki Mio frowned slightly, then, as if remembering something, quickly added, "Don't worry, I'll pay you back for the drink. Although Class C doesn't have many points, we wouldn't stoop to taking advantage of you."

"No, never mind, let's leave it at that."

Kamuro was surprised that Ibuki would misunderstand to this extent. He instinctively wanted to explain, but he stopped himself from saying it.

She doesn't seem like a normal girl. What if she doesn't care about this at all?

Her meddling here seems to serve no purpose other than making the otherwise harmonious atmosphere awkward.

Ignoring Masumi Kamuro Masumi's inner thoughts, Ibuki Mio finished her drink and went to the punching bag in the corner of the training room. She circled the bag and threw various punches and kicks at it, seemingly wanting to vent her resentment at being defeated by Aragaki Shun in one move.

Aragaki Shun checked the time and, finding nothing to do for the moment, leisurely walked over to another punching bag and casually tried punching it a few times, gradually increasing the force.

Then he discovered that the sandbag seemed to be of rather poor quality; he hadn't even used a third of his strength before it was about to break.

Ibuki Mio, who had appeared unnoticed, twitched her lips slightly. She stepped forward and touched the tattered prop with her own hands, her face gradually becoming extremely distorted.

"You bastard, are you some kind of professional boxer who wandered over from somewhere?"

"Normally speaking, most professional boxers, in terms of strength alone, should be no match for me."

Aragaki Shun smiled. His statement wasn't arrogant at all; on the contrary, it was a bit too modest.

"It seems there aren't any suitable equipment in this training room for me to warm up, so I'll be leaving now. Ibuki, remember to come to the Student Council on time for your work from now on."

"Etc!"

Ibuki Mio hurriedly called to Aragaki Shun, who was about to leave. Under the boy's questioning gaze, the girl frowned and pondered for a while before finally asking, "I know that you are stronger than Aragaki, Ryuen. Now you have influence in every class of the first year. It's basically impossible for our Class C to be promoted to Class A. So can you tell me, where should Class C's future lead?"

A hint of a smile flashed in Aragaki Shun's eyes. "I didn't expect you, Ibuki, to have such a strong sense of collective honor. Even though you don't get along well with most of the class, you still asked me this question."

"Stop nagging!" Ibuki Mio's face flushed instantly, like a delicate flower engulfed in flames. She bit her lower lip slightly, her eyes filled with a hint of embarrassment and annoyance. "I just don't want those people in the class to completely rot away."

"I originally thought that Ryuen would have a chance to lead us forward, but who would have thought that a freak like you would appear in the first year."

At this point, Ibuki Mio's mood inevitably turned somber.

She hated failure, and as long as she could see a glimmer of hope, she would never bow down to the biggest enemy in Class C.

Is there really still hope?

Ibuki Mio knew she wasn't very smart, so even though she disapproved of Ryuen Kakeru's violent rule, she would still obediently follow the class leader's instructions unless she could come up with a better solution.

Even if she was clumsy, the situation in the first year had developed to this point, and she wasn't blind. How could she not see that the probability of Class C, led by Ryuen Kakeru, defeating Class A was extremely slim?

In this situation, with no hope in sight, what's the point of the class continuing to endure Ryuen's violent rule?

The blue-haired girl was now lost and confused, so instinctively she began to seek guidance from those she perceived as stronger and Akito.

"If I were to give advice, the students in Class C would be better off focusing on correcting their weaknesses and improving their overall foundation rather than worrying about advancing to Class A."

"To put it bluntly, given the quality of your Class C, even if you were lucky enough to be promoted to Class A one day, so what?"

"The school could easily kick you out with just one Special Exam based on your grades!"

Faced with Ibuki Mio's question, Aragaki Shun didn't mince words, bluntly pointing out the biggest problem with the two lower-ranked classes, Class C and Class D.

"Future graduates of Class A will inevitably be placed in prestigious universities and companies, attracting widespread attention from all sectors of society."

"In this situation, do you think those delinquents in Class C can live up to these expectations?"

Ibuki Mio's pupils contracted. Even though what Aragaki Shun said was harsh, she couldn't refute his righteous argument.

No one knew better than her just how bad the overall atmosphere in Class C was.

That was really a gang of delinquents made up of hot girls.

If these hooligans were to get recommended by the school and become the image of talent that the Kodo Ikusei Senior High School exports... that scene would be too beautiful to even imagine.

"Does this mean that Class C had no hope from the very beginning?"

"That's not it!" Aragaki Shun refuted Ibuki Mio's statement. "No matter how special Advanced Nurturing is, it's still a school. Its primary function is to teach and nurture students. If Class C and Class D can become even better than Class A, the school will be more than happy to fulfill all its promises."

It's a very simple principle: if Class A leads from the beginning to the end, it only means that the other three classes haven't improved much, and it would raise questions about the educational strength of Kodo Ikusei Senior High School.

If the worst Class D, were to gradually rise to the top through three years of competition and ultimately secure its position as Class A, leaving no room for criticism, the school could boast about its ability to turn a rock into a gem.

"But this is on the premise that the lower-ranked classes must truly fight their way up based on solid ability, rather than relying solely on luck or underhanded methods."

"In other words, you have to become Advanced Nurturing recognized talent before you're qualified to pursue Class A, rather than the school automatically recognizing you just because you've made it into Class A."

"... Is this really possible?"

Ibuki Mio somewhat dumbfounded.

The delinquents in Class C were well aware of their own abilities, which is why they pinned all their hopes on Ryuen, hoping to be promoted to Class A by the big boss.

But now you're telling me that I still have to rely on myself.

If they were truly that capable, would they have been assigned to Class C?

"There's still a chance..."

Aragaki Shun. If he had been assigned to Class D from the beginning, he probably would have chosen a different strategy.

In other words, on the one hand, they try every means to bring in outstanding talents from other classes, and on the other hand, they use a bottom-ranking elimination system to expel those hopeless students from their own classes... If this continues for three years, the students who can stay must be talents who meet the school's expectations.

"Is there really a chance?"

"Yes, but you definitely can't do it!"

Ibuki Mio: "..."

Then why are you telling me all this?

"Of course, it's to send you back and guide the students in Class C onto the right path."

Aragaki Shun replied matter-of-factly, "This school is tuition-free, provides living expenses, has top-notch educational resources, and even gives every student their own dormitory. Under these circumstances, does it really matter whether you graduate from Class A?"

"Even if you don't graduate from Class A, you can still go on to higher education and find employment just like ordinary high school students outside. Compared to the money spent on three years of hard study outside, staying in Advanced Nurturing for three years is still a huge win, even if you don't get a recommendation."

"Ah~" Ibuki Mio had never thought that this was a perspective, but upon closer inspection, it made perfect sense. "So, what everyone in Class C should be doing right now is just studying and exercising as usual?"

"Otherwise what?"

Aragaki Shun retorted with a cold laugh, "Or do you think that following Ryuen's instructions to harass students from other classes every day, preventing the entire first year from developing normally, would be beneficial to your Class C?"

--Since I don't want to improve, then I'll drag my competitors down and we'll all compete to be the worst.

If only class rankings are considered, then this approach isn't entirely wrong.

But as I said before, as long as Class C doesn't address its shortcomings, it's impossible for it to become Advanced Nurturing talent capable of being exported.

"Go for it, Ibuki! The future of Class C doesn't lie in Ryuen, it lies in your hands!"

136. The Board Chairman's Arrangement; Sakayanagi Arisu, who was suspended from school

In the evening, just after finishing dinner and leaving the cafeteria, Aragaki Shun received a call from Director Kanda.

After exchanging pleasantries on the phone for a few moments, the boy bluntly asked his question—

"... So the Board of Directors has already discussed how to handle this incident? Isn't that a bit too efficient?"

"Haha~ It's a bit different from Shun-kun's guess. The reason it was so fast this time is actually Sakayanagi took the initiative to propose a solution. Our Board of Directors discussed it and felt it was feasible, so we approved it."

"Oh~" Aragaki Shun paused in his slow steps, his mind racing, and he immediately understood, "The Board Chairman had anticipated the consequences of this rumor-mongering incident, and was even prepared to clean up the mess for Sakayanagi?"

"That sounds a bit far-fetched, so my information really was leaked by the Board Chairman himself, and he deliberately led Sakayanagi Arisu to provoke me?"

"That's not the case!" Director Kanda refuted Aragaki Shun's guess. "That guy Sakayanagi probably just introduced you to his precious daughter, and after realizing that she had taken a liking to you, he simply let her do as she pleased without stopping her."

"There was no obstruction..."

Aragaki Shun's tone was somewhat subtle, "Given the Board Chairman's experience, he shouldn't be unaware of how much impact this will have on him, right?"

"If no one stopped him, what exactly is he plotting?"

"You might not believe it, but according to that guy, the reason he let this happen was simply so that his precious daughter could learn something from this painful failure."

"No! I believe it! That explains it."