The First-Year Joint Plan

Karuizawa Kei wasn't sure if her efforts would actually help the other person.

But trying is always better than doing nothing.

She knew very well that if she failed to challenge Class 2-A on the day of the Sports Festival, even if she could use 20 million points to avoid being expelled, she would inevitably be in the most embarrassing situation in Class D, because it would mean that Karuizawa Kei had deceived everyone in the class.

It might be even harder than what Horikita Suzune is going through now.

Karuizawa Kei let out a deep sigh.

But there's nothing I can do.

Liking someone is something that can't be helped.

Chapter 66: The First-Year Joint Plan

"Vice President Nagumo has received an anonymous whistleblower letter."

Ichinose Honami walked through the Student Council's doors. Today's duty officer was Miyabi Nagumo. Although she felt a little uncomfortable, she took the work into consideration and went up to report.

The Student Council has a reporting channel for students. Whistleblowers can choose to send letters to a designated mailbox or send them anonymously to the Student Council's email address. This time, the letter received was a whistleblower letter written on letter paper.

[Koenji Rokusuke, a student in Class 1-D, secretly engages in irregular point trading with upperclassmen.]

Because the text was printed out, it cannot be judged by the handwriting. The whistleblower must have taken this into consideration when choosing to print it out.

"Koenji from Class 1-D 1?"

Miyabi Nagumo held the letter thoughtfully. A few days ago, a second-year student had indeed told him that this person was buying and selling points with upperclassmen, but he hadn't taken it seriously at the time and had tacitly approved of it. However, now that someone had anonymously reported it to the Student Council, it was time for the Student Council to intervene.

After all, he is currently in a critical period of transition between two Student Council. If he ignores the anonymous reports made by his classmates at this time, Horikita Manabu might seize the opportunity to use them against him.

Moreover, this matter is not difficult to resolve; all that's needed is for the school to add a relevant regulation.

Having come up with a solution, Miyabi Nagumo smiled and stopped Ichinose Honami, who was about to leave, asking kindly:

"Ichinose, how are your Class C's preparations for the Sports Festival going?"

"Everything is progressing steadily, no need for you to worry about it, senior."

Ichinose Honami's heart skipped a beat, but she kept a straight face and answered cautiously with her head down.

Ever since she learned that Miyabi Nagumo was a treacherous person who had revealed her secrets, Ichinose Honami has become more wary of him. Although she is overly kind, it doesn't mean she will let others manipulate her.

"Really? Ichinose, is there a class you particularly dislike in your First Year?"

Miyabi Nagumo, feigning concern, rested her chin on her hand and asked:

"For example, is it Class B, which pushed your class into Class C, or Class A, which is only two hundred points behind you?"

He displayed a warm and caring attitude towards the younger generation:

"This Sports Festival is going to be a full-school battle, so if Ichinose wants, I can get the second-year students to attack them."

Unwittingly revealing her dominance over the second-year students and her strong confidence, Miyabi Nagumo also spoke with a smile.

"No need. I think even though it's a mixed battle between students from different grades, it's better if the opponents stay within the same grade."

Ichinose Honami took a half step back and blinked as she spoke.

"Is Ichinose worried that I'm being too harsh on my younger classmates?"

"Actually, I'm more worried that the seniors will fail. After all, when seniors challenge juniors, all seven events are chosen by the opponent. Although the second-year students are strong, they might still be tricked and lose the competition."

Ichinose Honami's answer was neither humble nor arrogant, which inexplicably made Miyabi Nagumo was in a fairly good mood, feel a little annoyed.

Despite having openly labeled Ichinose Honami "Nagumo Faction" over the past semester, and her attitude towards him having always been one of obvious admiration, Miyabi Nagumo noticed that Ichinose Honami had begun to act distant towards him since the summer vacation.

His original plan was to first steadily increase Ichinose Honami's affection for him, then use her dark past to create momentum, and finally take advantage of her vulnerability when her defenses crumbled. However, he did not expect such a change to happen in the middle of the process.

Seeing that Miyabi Nagumo's expression was somewhat uncertain, Ichinose Honami quickly slipped out of the Student Council's door. If she hadn't been asked to hand in the report letter today, she wouldn't have wanted to face Miyabi Nagumo alone.

Stepping out of the student club building, although it was already September, the "autumn tiger" was still raging, and the temperature on the street was still very high. The girls passing by were holding up parasols, wearing sandals, and having ice cream in their mouths, as if only by doing so could they barely keep out the heat.

Ichinose Honami was also quite tempted and walked to the convenience store by the roadside to buy an ice pop for herself. Unexpectedly, as soon as she pushed open the door of the convenience store, she bumped into Kitagawa Ryo, who was carrying a large bag of groceries and was queuing in front of the counter to pay.

"Honami."

At the same time that Ichinose Honami noticed Kitagawa Ryo, who had come out to buy groceries, also spotted Ichinose Honami entering the convenience store and waved to her.

Good afternoon, it's chilly.

Ichinose Honami smiled and responded to Kitagawa Ryo's greeting. She walked to the freezer and picked out her favorite popsicle without hesitation, intending to join the queue at the end.

"Get me one too, I'll just pay for it all at once."

Kitagawa Ryo saw Ichinose Honami's actions and had an idea. After all, he was almost at the front of the line. If he directly asked Ichinose Honami to hand over the popsicles he bought to pay for together, the other party might feel embarrassed. So he came up with this idea.

"... Thank you for your help. I'll send the points to Liang in a bit."

Holding the two popsicles, Ichinose Honami hesitated for a moment. If she insisted on arranging them from the end as she originally planned, it would trouble Kitagawa Ryo to wait for her a while. If she only gave him his popsicle, she might as well give him both at the same time.

So in the end, she obediently handed both popsicles to Kitagawa Ryo.

"Honami, did you just come out of the Student Council building...?"

Because this convenience store was closest to the club building, Kitagawa Ryo easily guessed the other party's whereabouts.

Together with Kitagawa Ryo, they tore open the popsicle wrappers, savoring the cool and slightly sweet taste that bloomed on their tongues. Ichinose Honami, her eyes half-closed, replied:

"Yeah, I just came from the Student Council."

"That must have been really tough."

Kitagawa Ryo devoured the popsicle with large, sweeping bites, almost several times faster than Ichinose Honami. It felt like only a moment later, Kitagawa Ryo had already eaten about 70-80% of the entire popsicle.

"Um."

Ichinose Honami responded, and as the two walked around a corner together, she suddenly spoke up:

"This year's Sports Festival may present a challenge to the First Year."

"That was to be expected, since the theme this time is a full-grade free-for-all."

Seeing that Kitagawa Ryo didn't seem to take her words seriously, Ichinose Honami said somewhat anxiously:

"Don't you think there's something fishy about this Sports Festival, Ryo?"

"Compared to previous years' Sports Festival, it's like a completely different one."

"Honami is a member of the Student Council, so he should know more about this than I do."

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head, threw the leftover stick in his hand into the trash can by the roadside, and said:

"I've heard rumors about the Student Council before, and this Sports Festival is definitely unusual."

"If I were to define it..."

Kitagawa Ryo stroked his chin thoughtfully and said:

"It's probably a second-grade attempt at a full-scale attack on the first and third grades."

"I remember your Student Council Vice President Nagumo, controlled the entire second year of high school."

Seeing the somewhat surprised look in Ichinose Honami, Kitagawa Ryo chuckled and said:

"Even though I've been in a relationship for the past two days, it doesn't mean I've become deaf and blind."

"Besides, I clashed with this Nagumo once when the semester started. At that time, I used a few upperclassmen who weren't actually in Class 2-A, but in the end, it was Nagumo who came forward to negotiate with me."

"From that moment on, I realized that the other party's control might extend to an entire grade level."

Stretching, Kitagawa Ryo let out a big yawn:

"But speaking of which, being able to manage an entire grade sounds pretty impressive."

"This means that every Special Exam at the school is essentially providing Private Points to Nagumo, and he can decide all the rewards and punishments for the Class Points. For example, if someone had been able to control the entire first First Year, they could have amassed over 80 million Private Points in the VIP Exam."

"There's no need to go through all that trouble, signing contracts with this class and threatening that class."

Ichinose Honami also agreed with Kitagawa Ryo's words. If Horikita Manabu was the strongest Student Council in Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, then Miyabi Nagumo was the strongest student Student Council vice president. If Horikita Manabu hadn't performed so well, Miyabi Nagumo Horikita Manabu n't have had to wait until almost graduation before taking over as Student Council president.

"However, there's no need to imagine things to be too difficult."

After acknowledging Miyabi Nagumo's abilities, Kitagawa Ryo smiled easily again.

"The fact that someone can unify an entire grade means that the entire second year... lacks any talent."

"Let's use the First Year as an example again. Honami, do you think our year will produce someone like Miyabi Nagumo who can unify the entire grade?"

Ichinose Honami moment before answering somewhat uncertainly:

"I don't think so."

"It's not that it shouldn't happen, it's that it simply won't happen."

Kitagawa Ryo switched the bag containing the ingredients from his right hand to his left hand:

"Because every class has some really troublesome guys."

In other words, many First Year students simply don't want to be subordinate to anyone else.

"The fact that a second-grade class can be controlled by one person and one class means that the other three classes are too weak."

This information was obtained from Kiryuin Fuka. In fact, if Miyabi Nagumo could win over Kiryuin and earn his complete respect, Kitagawa Ryo might think more highly of him. But unfortunately, Kiryuin Fuka had no interest in the Student Council Miyabi Nagumo at all.

The fact that such an unconventional senior could stay in the second year so far, not to mention the many intimidating incidents that Miyabi Nagumo caused by dropping out, shows that he simply has no way to control truly capable people.

So, while Miyabi Nagumo seems aggressive in targeting both First Year and third-year students at the same time during this Sports Festival, it's highly likely she'll end up gaining nothing from either side.

Putting everything else aside, Kitagawa Ryo was certain that even if Class 2-A were to choose seven projects, they would likely still be no match for Class 3-A led by Horikita Manabu.

If Kitagawa Ryo were in Miyabi Nagumo's shoes, he would definitely avoid Class 3-A and instead have other second-year classes send points to Class 3-B.

As for the failure of the class Commander to be expelled, then you just need to designate the student with the worst overall quality in the class as the Commander from the beginning.

In any case, the only goal is to lose.

The most likely scenario on the day of the Sports Festival is that Horikita Manabu's Class 3-A will directly challenge Class 3-B.

Because Class 3-A has no time to waste entangle with Grade 2, they only need to limit Class 3-B's Class Points.

Therefore, on that day in First Year, they would face immense pressure from the entire second grade and the remaining two and a half years of third grade.

After listening to Kitagawa Ryo's account, Ichinose Honami was also deeply shaken:

"Then what will we do then...?"

"Actually, the best solution is for First Year students to attack each other, at least they won't end up being besieged by upperclassmen."

Kitagawa Ryo casually said:

"For example, let our class play against Class 1-A, and your class will play against Class 1-D."

"But this is a rather ideal state."

"Why?"

"Because Class 1-A is very likely to choose to challenge Class 2-D."

Kitagawa Ryo knew Sakayanagi Arisu's personality quite well. Although the other party always liked to talk about challenging him to a duel, she would never do it at the Sports Festival.

After all, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't bully Sakayanagi Arisu, who had a physical defect and was rated [E-] by the school.

If Class A chooses to appoint Sakayanagi Arisu as Commander, then Class A will directly lose the Commander's [Direct Intervention] ability.

If Class A chooses to have Sakayanagi Arisu participate in the group project, it will be equivalent to losing one person.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Class 1-A was at a natural disadvantage.

Sakayanagi Arisu wouldn't go against Class 1-B under these circumstances, so it would be more advantageous for the girl to directly challenge the bottom class of the second year.

Since they can directly select seven competition events, instead of choosing between Class C and Class D, where they might lose, it's better to target the higher-level students.

The softest and easiest persimmon to squeeze in the upper grades is naturally Class 2-D.

"Therefore, Class 1-A will not participate in the battles within the First Year. In other words, one of the three classes, B, C, and D, will definitely face off against students from higher grades."

Ichinose Honami their Class C's overall physical fitness was indeed good, there were only a handful of top athletes. In terms of high-level combat strength, they might not even be able to compete with Class D. If they were to face upperclassmen, even if they could choose their own events, it would be difficult to guarantee victory.

Is there any way to cool down?

"Have."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded affirmatively:

"First Year group collaboration."