You Can't Help Falling for Someone

I had dinner with my high school classmates today, and we had a great time. We're still in the karaoke bar now, so I guess I won't be able to update this.

By the way, the karaoke bars here have a pretty high anime/manga vibe; I could even find quite a few visual novel tracks, like "Dirty Wings" and "White Two," though there weren't any music videos. Still, it was a pleasant surprise.

Chapter 65: Liking someone is something you can't help.

"You mean you want the personal information of all the students in Class D when they enrolled?"

The homeroom teacher of Class 1-D, Chabashira Sae, stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray, frowned, and gestured for Karuizawa Kei to go outside and talk to her.

After all, she wasn't the only one in the office. From the moment Karuizawa Kei entered, Class B's Sakagami Kazuma, and Class C's Hoshinomiya Chie, had already noticed her.

The two walked out of the office one after the other, found a mezzanine under the Chabashira Sae, and then, leaning against the wall, squinted her narrow eyes at Karuizawa Kei and said:

"These materials involve students' personal privacy, and the school does not allow students to view them."

"I don't need to see specific student information."

Karuizawa Kei shook her head upon hearing this. Although she herself looked down on Chabashira Sae, the homeroom teacher of Class D would still need Sae's help if they really wanted to cause trouble for Class 2-A.

"I don't care about their past personal experiences or how they got into school, their written test scores, Written Exam scores, etc. I only need their various ability assessments during the admission process."

Are you looking for talent related to Sports Festival?

Sensing Karuizawa Kei's intentions, Chabashira Sae's previously somewhat troubled expression softened a bit. After all, if Karuizawa Kei was considering the class's victory, she could offer some assistance.

"Yes."

"Because of Ayanokoji's existence, I think there might still be some students in Class D who are deliberately hiding their abilities."

Chabashira Sae shook her head:

"Ayanokoji is an anomaly; it's highly unlikely that Class D would have such an anomaly."

"However, I can give you what you want, in the hope that you can lead Class D to victory."

"Thank you so much."

Just as Karuizawa Kei had achieved her goal and was about to leave, Chabashira Sae suddenly spoke up again:

"You'll be in charge of Commander Class D at this Sports Festival, right?"

"Yes, because I still have over 20 million Private Points. Even if the class loses the battle, I can spend 20 million points to cancel the expulsion penalty."

Karuizawa Kei was startled, but tried her best to keep her expression unchanged and replied calmly.

"Yeah?"

Chabashira Sae still had some doubts. She hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn't ask any more questions, simply waving her hand:

"Then you can leave. I'll send the file to your email tonight."

"Yes."

Relieved, Karuizawa Kei quickly left. She was well aware of Chabashira Sae's doubts: that she, holding Twenty Million Personal Points, hadn't chosen to switch classes.

Although Chabashira Sae has always harbored fantasies of being promoted to Class A, she is also well aware that given the current state of Class D, the possibility of being promoted to Class A before graduation is not 100%, but at least extremely slim.

Even with the saying "better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond," in the Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School system, apart from Class A, the other three classes aren't even considered chickens.

Under these circumstances, Karuizawa Kei surprisingly decided to continue leading Class D forward.

Chabashira Sae watched Karuizawa Kei's departing figure, then stood in the corner for a while, squinting as if deep in thought.

"The Sports Festival primarily assesses physical fitness, so extra attention needs to be paid to [physical ability]."

After taking a shower, Karuizawa Kei sat down at the table while drying her hair with a towel and began to record the student files for Class D that Chabashira Sae had sent her a few minutes earlier on her new laptop.

Based on her usual impressions of the students in the class and comparing them with the data on their student files, Karuizawa Kei roughly discovered the school's judgment patterns.

C should be the average level of a normal person. If your physical data exceeds C, you are already considered to be among the best of your peers. If we use this standard for selection...

Soon, a list appeared before Karuizawa Kei's eyes:

[Koenji Rokusuke: A]

[Ken Sudō: A]

According to the school's assessment, the most outstanding students were none other than Ken Sudō and Koenji Rokusuke, which is consistent with everyone's general impression. After all, in the swimming class at the beginning of the semester, these two occupied the top two spots in the class's boys' rankings. Their A grades would be among the best in the entire grade or even the entire school, as can be seen from Ken Sudō's ability to compete with senior students in the Basketball Club.

If they want to win the Sports Festival, one Sudo is not enough; they must get the help of Koenji Rokusuke.

However, the thought of the other person's personality and style of doing things gave Karuizawa Kei a headache again, so she could only put the problem aside for the time being and continue organizing the spreadsheet.

[Horikita Suzune: B+]

The person who came after that was not Hirata Yosuke, as Karuizawa Kei believed, but Horikita Suzune.

Perhaps it was because Horikita Suzune's repeated failures left such a deep impression that Karuizawa Kei somewhat forgot about her outstanding abilities. At least in terms of academic and physical abilities, Horikita Suzune was undoubtedly at the Class A level, and her B+ physical abilities should, barring any unforeseen circumstances, rank among the top three girls in the entire grade.

"We could consider setting up a few individual programs for women."

If they can make good use of Horikita Suzune, Class D's chances of getting a point are not low.

[Hirata Yosuke: B]

[Kushida Kikyo: B]

Next up are the most popular boy and girl in the class. Hirata Yosuke is a member of the soccer club, while Kushida Kikyo is known as an all-powerful Tian and is naturally quite excellent in both academics and sports. Moreover, both of them are the kind of people who will do their best for the class, so they should be the backbone of this Sports Festival.

Karuizawa Kei, of course, had no idea that Kushida Kikyo had already made contact with Ryuen Kakeru at this time. After all, the image created by the other party was too realistic, and it was basically difficult to notice Kushida's abnormality before she revealed a flaw.

[Then...]

[Miyake Akito: B]

Thinking back on this student, he seemed to be a Taciturn boy with few friends in class. I remembered that he was in the Archery Club. Although I didn't know his exact skill level, since his physical ability was B, the same as Hirata Yosuke's, it meant that he must also be quite outstanding. I'll find out about his Kyudo skills later. If possible, I could consider designing an individual "Kyudo" sport for him.

[Onodera Kayano: B]

This is the last person on the list whose physical ability is above C. Karuizawa Kei has a fairly deep impression of Onodera. After all, as a girl in Class D who stands out in swimming class and is even comparable to the boys in terms of athleticism, it is reasonable for her physical ability to be rated as B.

After some analysis, although the specifics of their opponents were still unclear, Karuizawa Kei had finally figured out the distribution of strength within her class.

Adding to the list of students, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, whose panel only shows [C-], Class D can field a total of eight outstanding individuals, each with their own area of expertise, when it comes to physical abilities.

With proper planning, it's not impossible to score four points in seven matches.

Basketball, swimming, Kyudo, sprinting...

While designing the project and considering communication with Koenji Rokusuke, she occasionally searched for useful information on the school forum. When Karuizawa Kei looked up again, she realized it was already 11 p. m.

Shaking her slightly dizzy head, Karuizawa Kei stood up to stretch her body. After sitting for so long, the sudden dizziness made her stagger two steps, barely managing to hold onto the chair to avoid falling.

She bit her lip hard; the slight sting brought her back to her senses. She wiped her face with the now-cold towel beside her, which made her feel a little better.

Karuizawa Kei knew very well that although her actual physical abilities were not as bad as the school's assessment of [D] when she first entered the school, they were at most at the level of an average person with a [C] rating.

In fact, looking at the data alone, Karuizawa Kei is quite ordinary and unremarkable.

However, in reality, Karuizawa Kei became the Leader of Class D, while Horikita Suzune had excellent stats in all aspects, found herself isolated and helpless in Class D.

However, Karuizawa Kei was also very clear that excellent data does not necessarily mean that the person is excellent, but outstanding people must be outstanding in a certain data.

Therefore, she still needs to work hard to move forward.

Just like what she's doing now.

After resting for a while, Karuizawa Kei hugged the huge teddy bear that had been on her bedside table and continued her work.

She suddenly remembered something she had discussed with Kitagawa Ryo.

Karuizawa Kei quickly opened her phone's contacts and dialed the numbers of the two people one after the other.

"It's hard to believe I'd receive a call from Karuizawa Girl this late at night."

Koenji Rokusuke dried himself off with a towel, his tone full of surprise, as if he had never imagined that someone would call him at 11 p. m.

"I hope you can participate in Class D' s Sports Festival this year."

Without any pleasantries, Karuizawa Kei went straight to the point and stated her request.

"But I remember saying during the day that I wouldn't participate in this boring game."

Koenji Rokusuke's tone was slightly impatient. He had initially thought that Karuizawa Kei must have something more interesting to say calling so late, but if it was just to persuade him to participate in the Sports Festival... he was already prepared to hang up.

Anyway, he had found the easiest and quickest way to pass this school. Since the start of the semester, apart from the Werewolf game that he had enjoyed a little recently, Koenji Rokusuke had basically given up and refused to cooperate with the other exams.

"You seem so confident; you must have already bought quite a few points from the third graders, right?"

However, Karuizawa Kei's next words made Koenji Rokusuke change his mind about hanging up the phone.

The [Private Points] used by this school are useless after graduation, so the school designed a rule that the points held by graduates would be converted into Japanese yen at a certain ratio upon graduation. However, Koenji Rokusuke noticed this early on. While the students in Class D were still worrying about tens of thousands of points, he made connections with the senior students in the third year.

He used a technique that only he could employ. As the heir to the Koenji Conglomerate, Koenji Rokusuke possessed greater credibility and wealth compared to other students, allowing him to easily acquire huge amounts of Private Points from upperclassmen at prices higher than those charged by the school.

You can transfer to a higher class with 20 million points; graduating from Class A means you've cleared the game.

That's why Koenji Rokusuke was so uninterested in everything about the school. He easily overcame the principle of Classroom of the Elite Studio with his wealth, so why bother trying?

"Looks like you know quite a lot."

Even though his secret operation had been exposed, Koenji Rokusuke showed no panic whatsoever. Instead, he laughed heartily and said:

"Although I don't know if you discovered this yourself or if Kitagawa told you, I have to say, you've at least piqued my interest in hearing what you have to say next."

"If I remember correctly, you not only bought Private Points from third-year students, but you even communicated with second-year students, right?"

"Really."

Koenji Rokusuke doesn't care what year the other person is in; as long as they're willing to sell him Private Points, that's enough.

"Originally, buying points from only the third-year students wouldn't have been a problem, but because of your contact with the second-year students, Nagumo from Class 2-A has already noticed you."

"Nagumo?"

Karuizawa Kei explained to Koenji Rokusuke:

"He is the Leader of Class 2-A and the vice president of the Student Council, uniting the entire second year."

"So he basically gets news about everything that happens in the second year."

"If nothing unexpected happens, the Student Council will issue relevant regulations in a couple of days. At that time, you won't be able to buy Private Points as openly as before, Koenji."

Koenji Rokusuke seemed unconcerned that his strategy had been exposed; he even casually whistled.

So what?

"How about Koenji tries to get a little revenge on Nagumo?"

"So this is your real purpose, isn't it? So you wanted to challenge Class 2-A?"

Koenji Rokusuke responded with great excitement:

"As expected, Karuizawa girl is someone who can lie without batting an eye."

"Same to you."

"The next Student Council is certainly interesting, but if you want me to take action, you'll have to add another two million points as a reward."

"My expenses have always been quite high."

Koenji Rokusuke has finally begun negotiations, which is a welcome development.

"However, I will only participate in one event. As for whether it's an individual event or a team event, that's up to you Karuizawa girl, to choose."

As expected, the other party remained lazy and indifferent; two million points plus the fabricated conflict with Nagumo could only buy them one project.

However, Karuizawa Kei had already anticipated this before the phone call, and she nodded in agreement.

"By the way, it has to be a project that allows me to compete face-to-face with Nagumo."

However, Koenji Rokusuke then made an even more outrageous request, because Class 2-A would most likely choose Miyabi Nagumo as their Commander, and Class 1-D had no way of predicting which project the other side would intervene in.

"Good."

Karuizawa Kei agreed anyway.

The negotiations with Koenji Rokusuke finally came to an end.

Karuizawa Kei let out a deep breath, her gaze naturally falling on the photo frame on the desk. Inside was the half-photo that Sakayanagi Arisu had given her, a solo portrait of Kitagawa Ryo. The photo, cut in half, suddenly seemed eerily ghostly in the quiet night, but Karuizawa Kei didn't seem to care as she held the frame in her hand and reached out to stroke the boy in the photo.

Her fingers traced the other person's uniform, as if she could touch the specific texture of the clothing through the medium of the photograph. Seemingly finding a sense of peace, she placed the photo frame on the bedside table closer to her and finally slowly closed her eyes.