Chapter Sixty-Three: King Against King / Chapter Sixty-Four: Karuizawa Kei's Choice

The quiet atmosphere in the conference room was broken when the automatic door opened, and the five figures at the conference table looked up and narrowed their eyes slightly.

Student Council Horikita Manabu remained calm and composed, his back ramrod straight.

Following behind him, the Student Council secretary, Tachibana Akane, kept her head down, clutching her documents, and walked slowly into the meeting room.

As Horikita Manabu entered, the five people at the long table in the conference room stood up simultaneously and bowed slightly to him, expressing their respect:

"Chairman Horikita."

After the greetings were finished, Miyabi Nagumo, who was in the lead, chuckled:

"This is probably the first time Chairman Horikita has arrived this late."

I'm very sorry for the delay.

Horikita Manabu scanned the five people in the conference room.

Aside from Vice President Miyabi Nagumo, who had just spoken to him, and Kiriyama, another Vice President whom he secretly trusted and intended to hand over to Kitagawa Ryo Kiriyama, there were only Secretary "Mizowaki" and another Secretary "Tonokawa." Both of them were Class 2-A students who had followed Miyabi Nagumo for over a year, and Ichinose Honami, a Class 1-C student personally recruited by Miyabi Nagumo.

The power structure of the Student Council can be seen even from the distribution of people in this meeting room.

"Yes, everyone's here."

After exchanging brief greetings with the others, Horikita Manabu walked to the long conference table, casually pulled out a chair at the head of the table, and calmly gave his instructions:

"Please take your seats, everyone."

The five of them then sat down again one after another, while Tachibana Akane stood behind Horikita Manabu, waiting attentively for his instructions.

After sitting down, Horikita Manabu took out a glasses cloth from his pocket, carefully wiped the lenses, put them back on, and slowly began to speak:

"This meeting was initiated by Vice President Nagumo regarding a proposal concerning the Sports Festival."

"According to the bylaws of the Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School Student Council, the Student Council is granted the right to consider and decide on certain Special Exam. All members of the Student Council are present for this meeting, which will be chaired by the student himself. All topics and discussions will be recorded in their entirety by several full-view surveillance cameras in the meeting room and sent back to the archives for filing."

"Above--"

After a brief explanation as is customary, Horikita Manabu looked around:

Does anyone have any objections?

Everyone shook their heads slightly in unison.

"Then the meeting begins."

Horikita Manabu nodded:

"Please turn to page two of the documents on your desks and review the changes related to the Sports Festival that were proposed and approved by Vice President Nagumo."

Tachibana Akane secretly raised her eyes from behind Horikita Manabu and caught sight of the rather glaring, large title:

"Proposal for changes to this year's Sports Festival"

Upon seeing this title, Miyabi Nagumo, who initiated the proposal, and Mizowaki and Tonokawa, who knew the inside story, did not react strongly, as if they had been prepared for this.

Ichinose Honami's gaze turned slightly cold as she remained silent, while Kiriyama lowered his head, a deep, unfathomable light flickering in his dark eyes.

At the same time, Horikita Manabu's voice rang out again, devoid of any emotion:

"Vice President Nagumo raised objections to the participation and conduct of this year's Sports Festival, requesting changes to some of last year's rules. The proposed changes include removing the long-standing rule of dividing Classes A and D, and Classes B and C into red and white teams for competition, and placing greater emphasis on competition between classes and even grades, as well as increasing the diversity of events."

"The relevant rules for last year's Sports Festival are attached below, and the supporting materials prepared by Vice President Nagumo are located on pages 3 to 8 of the document. Please read and review them carefully."

"Also, if there's anything else you'd like to explain, you can do so now, Nagumo."

Upon hearing Horikita Manabu's words, Miyabi Nagumo also adopted a relaxed and teasing expression:

"Well, I just feel that the red and white team divisions for the Sports Festival have always been really unreasonable, and it's not fair to some classes."

Miyabi Nagumo shrugged and explained:

"This kind of cooperation between two classes can't fully showcase the strength of each class. If the two classes have conflicts on a regular basis, forcibly dividing them into the same camp will only have the opposite effect. This situation has often occurred in past Sports Festival."

In a school that emphasizes competition, it's inevitable that conflicts will exist between classes. If two classes were to be forced to unite, there would certainly be resentment.

"For the Sports Festival, shouldn't it be conducted on an individual basis for each class? Don't you think that would be a more effective way to unleash the students' potential, President Horikita?"

"Striving for the class and achieving victory, pushing oneself to the limit—that's the fundamental spirit of the Sports Festival."

It must be said that Miyabi Nagumo seemed to have been prepared, and her words did indeed make some sense.

In the past Sports Festival rules, Class C of each grade would be divided into red and white groups to compete. The winning group would not receive any Class Points as a reward, while the losing group would have 100 Class Points deducted.

Although the school set up a comprehensive score ranking system for the four classes in the grade to deal with situations where students either lose or win by default, the first place class is awarded 50 Class Points, the second place class remains unchanged, the third place class loses 50 points, and the fourth place class loses 100 points.

However, it is still possible for someone to rank first in the grade, but their group loses. This reality of having 50 Class Points deducted despite their hard work is hardly fair.

"What about this competition with no grade differences?"

Horikita Manabu pointed to another rule on the document and asked.

"It's very simple. Although the Sports Festival has always been touted as a competition for all grades, in reality, the interaction between grades is limited to the initial red and white team events and the final 1200-meter mixed relay race."

"Since the school prioritizes Classroom of the Elite Studio, perhaps the younger students also have the ability to challenge the seniors."

"There's nothing wrong with using this Sports Festival as an experiment, is there?"

In response to Miyabi Nagumo's statement, Horikita Manabu retorted:

"But how can we bridge the one-year gap in physical development between lower and upper grades?"

For these high school students aged sixteen to eighteen, although it cannot be said that their growth is rapid, their physical fitness is definitely not the same after a year. This is why the school awarded Sudo, who became a full member of the Basketball Club as First Year freshman, with Class Points, after all, he had competed with seniors in the second and even third years.

"I have naturally considered this point as well."

Miyabi Nagumo calmly said:

"How about turning to the next page?"

[Regarding the rules for this Sports Festival]

[I. Each class shall determine ten sports events that can be held on the playground and in the Gymnasium one week before the Sports Festival, such as the 100-meter dash, high jump, standing long jump, etc. Each event must have a winner determined within a reasonable time limit; otherwise, it will not be recognized. Sports that require a venue, such as ice hockey, curling, and skiing, will also not be recognized.]

[A class cannot submit two identical projects. If a football project where the first two goals are scored is already submitted, submitting a football project where the winner is determined by a penalty shootout will be considered invalid and will not be recognized.]

[II. Similar to previous Sports Festival, these ten sports will be divided into seven individual events and three team events. The former includes events such as the 100-meter dash, and the latter includes events such as soccer and pole vaulting. Team events are limited to a maximum of thirty participants.]

[III. After confirming the ten sports events, each class must submit the participation forms for each event simultaneously. Each individual can only participate in one event, while there is no limit to the number of times a team can participate.]

[IV. To ensure full participation in the Sports Festival, each class must guarantee that every student in the class registers to participate in at least one event.]

[V. On the day of the Sports Festival, classes from all three grades will participate in a free-for-all competition. The school will randomly select five individual events and two team events from the fourteen individual events and six team events submitted by both classes. These will be the seven events that the two sides will ultimately compete in.]

[In each of the seven events, Class Points for each winning match, while the opposing class loses 20 Class Points. A winning match (e. g., four wins and three losses out of seven matches) adds 100 points to the Class Points, while a losing match deducts 100 Class Points.]

[VI. On the day of the Sports Festival, each class may freely challenge other classes. The challenged class cannot refuse, but may directly select one of the seven events submitted by their class as one of the final competition events.]

[If it is a competition between classes from different grades, the lower grades can directly select seven items from the projects submitted by their class as the final competition items (five individual items and two team items)]

[If any participant is unable to participate, each class may substitute a temporary replacement at a cost of 100,000 Private Points per person.]

[Please note: Substitute players can only participate in team events. Absence from an individual event is considered an automatic failure.]

Horikita Manabu's gaze grew increasingly serious as he looked at the documents. The rules for this Sports Festival were surprisingly similar to the final Selection Exam at the end of the First Year, which tested the comprehensive abilities of all First Year students. The only difference was that the various events had been limited to sports-related ones.

This should be what Miyabi Nagumo just mentioned as "increasing project diversity".

Because in the past Sports Festival there were only thirteen events in total, if we follow Miyabi Nagumo's plan, there will definitely be no fewer sports events in this Sports Festival.

After all, each class has to submit ten different projects. Even if the two sides in the competition will inevitably have the same projects, the final projects will definitely be more exciting than before.

Judging solely from the level of entertainment and the intensity of competition, the Sports Festival proposed by Miyabi Nagumo is indeed much better.

However, Horikita Manabu turned to the next page of the document.

Given his personality, he would never impose such a "minor" punishment as deducting Class Points on the losing class.

Sure enough, Horikita Manabu's pupils constricted slightly when he saw the words "[drop out of school]".

7. In order to manage so many students, each class needs to select one student as the [Commander].

[Students who act as the Commander cannot register for any events, but they possess three abilities: commanding the overall situation, changing substitutes, and intervening on the field.]

[Commanding the Overall Situation: The Commander will communicate with the participants via headset, making decisions and assigning tasks in events that may require command, such as the obstacle course race and the pole-dropping competition.]

[Substitute Replacement: The Commander is fully responsible for the substitution of students in team events, such as player replacements in football and basketball.]

[Intervention: The Commander can directly participate in an individual or team event, but this privilege can only be used once per event.]

[If you win a class battle, the Commander will receive an additional 200,000 Private Points.]

[If you lose in a class battle, you can continue to serve as the Commander the Sports Festival, but you will be expelled from school after the Sports Festival ends.]

The true intentions are revealed when the map is unrolled.

Horikita Manabu keenly perceived Miyabi Nagumo's intentions.

He painstakingly devised this Sports Festival plan, but in reality, it was only to launch an attack on Class 1-B, or rather, on Kitagawa Ryo.

For Kitagawa Ryo of Class 1-B, regardless of whether he is the Commander, Nagumo will inevitably lead Class 2-A to challenge Class 1-B. If Kitagawa Ryo is the Commander, he can expel him directly after the victory. If Kitagawa Ryo is not the Commander, Miyabi Nagumo can also say that Kitagawa Ryo does not even have the courage to face him directly.

At best, it damages one's reputation; at worst, it leads to expulsion from school.

Of course, all of this is based on Miyabi Nagumo's belief that she will definitely win.

Moreover, Miyabi Nagumo's scheming goes beyond these.

If Horikita Manabu wants to protect the First Year and lead the third-year students to launch an offensive against the second-year students, not to mention whether the Class 3-A can definitely defeat the Class 2-A led by Miyabi Nagumo after giving up seven items, it is at least certain that the second-year students led by Miyabi Nagumo will likely give away points to other third-year classes.

After all, all he needs to do is maintain his position in Class 2-A and drag Class 3-A down with him!

[What a brilliant design!]

Horikita Manabu glanced at Miyabi Nagumo indifferently. Putting aside their differing philosophies, he genuinely admired her abilities.

What are your thoughts on my proposal?

Miyabi Nagumo noticed that Horikita Manabu had finished reading and tapped the table to ask him a question.

I think it's great.

"As expected of Vice President Nagumo, a truly ingenious idea."

His two classmates, who were also secretaries, were naturally among the first to shower him with praise.

Ichinose Honami had only been in the Student Council for a semester and was relatively insignificant, while Vice President Kiriyama was somewhat afraid of Miyabi Nagumo, so the atmosphere became rather quiet for a moment.

"I think it's somewhat similar to..."

Ultimately, Tachibana Akane offered a different opinion. Considering that Ichinose Honami- First Year, was still there, she didn't say the key words, but the others understood what she meant.

The settings, including the project selection and Commander, are almost identical to the final exam at the end of the first First Year.

"The Sports Festival naturally tests the athletic abilities of each class, and my method is the only way to comprehensively assess the athletic level of each class."

Miyabi Nagumo retorted without hesitation:

"I said it from the beginning, this kind of Sports Festival is more in line with the principle of Classroom of the Elite Studio."

He glanced at Horikita Manabu, knowing that the other was the key:

"President Horikita, what do you think?"

Horikita Manabu knew very well that even if he could stop her for a while longer, Miyabi Nagumo would still take over as Student Council after the October Sports Festival.

He recalled Kitagawa Ryo, who had approached him after club recruitment ended at the beginning of the semester, and Ryuen Kakeru, whom he had just met in the conference room.

Then--

I have no objection.

Horikita Manabu began by saying this.

Let's get into position.

King against king.

Chapter 64: Karuizawa Kei's Choice

On the second day of the new semester, after the Student Council finalized the specific rules for this year's Sports Festival, the morning classes for all grades and classes were changed to class meetings.

This unusual atmosphere made the students in Class 1-B a little nervous. However, glancing at Kitagawa Ryo and Shiina Hiyori chatting and laughing across the desks in front and behind them, their initial anxiety subsided. As long as Kitagawa Ryo, who led Class C to Class B, was still there, they didn't need to worry about class affairs; they just needed to follow the instructions.

As the bell rang to signal the start of the class meeting, the class advisor, Sakagami Kazuma, walked in carrying a file folder under his arm.