The Red-and-White Contest That Was Over at a Glance / Guidance from a Senpai

When asked by Yukimura Teruhiko, Mashima Tomoya shook his head and explained:

"As far as I know, the penalty for the bottom ten students will be a deduction of their Written Exam scores, corresponding to the scores of the top three students. However, I do not know the specific scores at this time."

"That's good."

After listening to Mashima Tomoya's explanation, Yukimura Teruhiko visibly breathed a sigh of relief, exuding the magnanimity of someone who, being a top student, didn't need to worry about losing points.

"Finally, and this is the most important thing to mention about this Sports Festival."

After answering Yukimura Teruhiko's question, Mashima Tomoya took out another form, walked straight down from the podium to Kitagawa Ryo's seat, handed it to him, and explained:

"This is the entry form for this Sports Festival, which lists the details of all events. You will need to discuss and decide for yourselves who to recommend and in what order to participate in which events. Once everything is finalized, please fill in all this information on this entry form and then have me, as your homeroom teacher, submit it to the school as the basis and proof of your participation on the day of the Sports Festival."

"Please note that the submission period for the entry form is from one week before the Sports Festival until 5 PM the day before the festival begins. Once submitted or after the deadline, no substitutions of the selected participants are allowed for any reason. If the submission deadline is exceeded or not all participants' names are filled in, participants will be randomly assigned on the day of the Sports Festival. I'm keeping this form with Kitagawa for now; anyone interested can check it out after class."

Mashima Tomoya's move was undoubtedly a blatant handover of full command of the Sports Festival to Kitagawa Ryo, but the other students in the class had no objections and basically nodded in agreement.

After all, his past performance is evident to all, and no one can find fault with his series of decisions and actions on the Uninhabited Island.

"Next period we'll move to the First Gymnasium to meet with the classes from other grades. That's all for now. Have a great Sports Festival!"

Meanwhile, in Class 1-D, after explaining all the details of the Sports Festival, the homeroom teacher Chabashira Sae, placed the entry forms on the desk of the class Leader, Katsuragi Kohei.

However, Katsuragi Kohei himself looked rather unwell, his brows furrowed as he crossed his arms and examined the currently blank entry form.

It's no exaggeration to say that this form is crucial to a class's success in the Sports Festival. Knowing the participating members and stage setups of other classes and strategically positioning oneself to exploit their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses is tantamount to gaining an advantage in the Sports Festival.

But unfortunately, they still couldn't find the mole in their class.

Having been unfairly blamed for the class's failure in the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, Totsuka Yahiko, also realized the problem. He immediately stood up and fiercely took the initiative to speak, preparing to expose this traitor to share the pressure and criticism:

"In my opinion, we should find this mole first!"

Seeing that all eyes in the class were on him, Totsuka Yahiko began to analyze the situation in a seemingly serious manner:

"I've been thinking about this ever since the Uninhabited Island Special Exam. The reason this mole betrayed the class's interests is either because he had a close relationship with a student in Class D and owed them a favor, or because he was promised something like Private Points. In that case, there must be a lot of Private Points transactions between him and the students in Class D. If we investigate further along this line, we'll definitely catch him red-handed!"

As he spoke, he looked eagerly at Katsuragi Kohei:

"Katsuragi, what do you think?"

Katsuragi Kohei touched his bald head, his expression strange, unsure how to respond.

Oh no, according to their logic, this mole...

The more I listen, the more it sounds like myself.

Chapter 271: A Glimpse of the Red and White Showdown

The second class meeting was held in the school Gymnasium, where more than 400 teachers and students from all three grades gathered together. The last time such a large-scale Matoba seemed to have been back to their First Year orientation ceremony or club briefing when they first entered school.

Unlike the two times when everyone just stood there, this time the school prepared seats for every attendee. However, unlike before, they were seated in groups based on red and white, not by grade. Kitagawa Ryo's Class 1-B sat with Class 1-C and Class C of Grades 2 and 3, under the guidance of their homeroom teacher.

After all the teachers and students were seated, the first to speak was the newly appointed Acting Chairman of the board Tsukishiro. He adopted a very humble attitude, and his steady and composed speech was impeccable. Moreover, most students didn't really care who the school's Chairman had changed. Only a few students who knew about the relationship between Sakayanagi Arisu and the former Chairman Sakayanagi looked at her with some concern.

Sakayanagi Arisu, who already knew about this, did not show any sign of losing her composure. Instead, she gracefully offered a friendly round of applause after Acting Chairman Tsukishiro finished his speech.

After Chairman Tsukishiro finished speaking, one student from each of the red and white teams stood up. Ishikura from Class 3-B of the White Team and Fujimaki from Class 3-A of the Red Team were Fujimaki. This seemed to be a tradition of the Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School Sports Festival, where a student from the highest-ranking class in the grade would serve as the commander-in-chief of the red and white teams.

"I am Ishikura from Class 3-B, and I am in charge of the White Team this time. Please give me your guidance."

Kitagawa Ryo recognized the class Leader of Class 3-B who stood up and introduced himself. After all, the other party and his brother-in-law Horikita Manabu, were direct competitors. Also, because of this, he was closer to Miyabi Nagumo of Class 2-A. Their Drama Club had previously intentionally avoided taking on commissions from Class 3-B when the upperclassmen were working on projects.

"Since this is the first time all First Year students are participating in the Sports Festival, I want to give you some advice first. That is, please pay close attention to every event held by the school that is related to Private Points or Class Points, regardless of whether it is called Special Exam or not."

"In your future campus life, you will probably encounter many exams that at first glance seem like games, but you must take every activity seriously and make good use of the experience you gain for the next one. It may just become the key to changing the outcome in the future."

Faced with Ishikura's rather sincere remarks as a senior, Ryuen Kakeru from Class 1-C just scoffed indifferently. After all, it would be somewhat acceptable for someone from Class A to give such life-experience-like advice, but coming from a Class B student who was not long away from graduation and still showed no possibility of breaking through the impregnable Class A led by Horikita Manabu, it just didn't feel very convincing.

The students in Class 2-B and Class C of the second year were equally uninterested in this, since the entire second year was already under Miyabi Nagumo's control, and these motivational speeches wouldn't really have any real effect.

The only ones who showed any respect were probably Class 1-B and Class 3-C. Kitagawa Ryo clapped his hands as he looked at the smiling boy sitting at the head of Class 3-C. He remembered that the class Leader's surname was Ninomiya, and he was also a pawn chosen by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka in the upper grades.

Although the specifics of their transaction are unclear, Kitagawa Ryo can roughly guess Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's methods: it's nothing more than inviting someone to a banquet, beheading them, and taking them as dogs. With less than a year until graduation, and with Class 3-B having little hope of a comeback, this Class C student, Ninomiya, has already planned his escape route. After all, not everyone will be spending their entire lives at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School.

However, upon closer inspection, Kitagawa Ryo couldn't help but feel deeply worried about this cross-grade rivalry between the Red and White Song Battle.

Let's not talk about the two in third grade. He's not very familiar with Class 2-C, and as for Class B...

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Ryo glanced over and met Kiriyama's gaze. Kiriyama was the Leader of Class 2-B and the vice president of the Student Council. The other party still looked quite serious in front of outsiders. If Kitagawa Ryo hadn't known from the previous simulation that this guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes was also one of Miyabi Nagumo's people, he probably would have been fooled by the other party's appearance.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo was about to look away with a touch of melancholy, a white-haired upperclassman sitting in Class 2-B suddenly raised an eyebrow at him. It was none other than Kiryuin Fuka, whom he had met briefly during the summer vacation because of Hotaru.

At the same time, Ishikura, the Leader of the White Team, nodded and finished his last statement:

"The only event involving all grades is the final 1600-meter relay race. All other events are within-grade competition. If everyone does their best, the White Team's final total score will definitely be high. So please gather by grade and freely discuss your strategies for this Sports Festival."

As soon as Ishikura uttered those words, which were tantamount to disbanding the class, Ryuen Kakeru, who seemed to have been waiting impatiently for a while, crossed his legs, immediately stood up from his seat, walked straight through the student area to Class 1-B, and whistled in Kitagawa Ryo's direction:

"Let's go, Kitagawa, let's talk outside."

Perhaps because he found their cooperation during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam quite pleasant, or perhaps for some other reason, Ryuen Kakeru had a very good impression of him. However, Kitagawa Ryo still shook his head and rejected his suggestion.

"Ryuen, if you have any good decisions or ideas, just say them here. After all, the Sports Festival requires the entire class to participate."

"We just need to come up with a proposed charter between the two of us."

Ryuen Kakeru's style of doing things is still as domineering and unreasonable as ever. If it were before summer vacation, there would be no problem with this behavior of completely ignoring the opinions of the students in Class C. But it has to be said that times have indeed changed.

It was almost as if Fate had struck again. Just like when he had completely ignored the Matoba at the beginning of the school year when he used violence to discipline the delinquent students in the class, Shiina Hiyori once again raised her right hand as if no one else was around.

"I think if Class C wants to achieve good results in this Sports Festival, everyone needs to work together."

As soon as Shiina Hiyori finished speaking, Ibuki Mio, sitting next to her, also curled her lip and echoed:

"I agree. After all, what if someone gets airdropped into the infirmary halfway through the exam, just like last time?"

Besides her, the other seven or eight students, represented by Nishino Takeshi, also started chattering noisily. Ryuen Kakeru glanced at Ishizaki Daichi for a long time, but the other party sat in his seat in a dilemma without saying a word, which made him roll his eyes speechlessly.

This was probably the first time since the start of the semester that Ryuen Kakeru had so clearly felt his control over the class had declined. The influence of the Uninhabited Island Special Exam was still too great. Basically, everyone in Class C could see that if it weren't for Shiina Hiyori's efforts to turn the tide in the second half, Class C would not have been able to get fifty Class Points in the end, but would have already run out of Class Points and been relegated to the bottom of Class D.

Ryuen Kakeru didn't bother arguing about it. After all, he had indeed been tricked by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka during the Uninhabited Island Special Exam. But he had always been a guy with overflowing confidence. He could just prove himself to the whole class in the next Special Exam.

Of course, although he had this plan in mind, Ryuen Kakeru's body betrayed him by sitting down again. However, he didn't reveal his plan, but instead asked Kitagawa Ryo:

"First, Kitagawa, what are your thoughts on this Sports Festival?"

You asked why Ryuen Kakeru didn't talk about himself first?

There's nothing we can do but say that all Ryuen Kakeru can come up with are underhanded tricks that can't be openly discussed, and now everyone's here.

"I don't have any special ideas. Everyone should just prepare normally. Try to submit your entry forms on the last day of the deadline. That's all I wanted to say."

When Ryuen Kakeru passed the ball to him, Kitagawa Ryo simply shook his head, gave this brief instruction, and then stood up, making a gesture as if he wanted to leave the stadium and end the discussion.

As he stood up, the other students from Class B also neatly ended their chatter and stood up to follow Kitagawa Ryo, which made Ryuen Kakeru with some surprise.

"That's all for now. The Sports Festival is still over a month away, so don't rush it. Let's talk next time."

With that, Kitagawa Ryo waved and led Class B out of the stadium, casually pulling Sakayanagi Arisu to his side:

"Just like the final project on the Uninhabited Island last time, our class will still Arisu the overall coordination for this year's Sports Festival. If you have any good ideas or projects you'd like to sign up for, just ask her."

"As for the regular training, Sudo, you'll be in charge of the boys' training, and for the girls'... I'll leave that to Honami."

Although Horikita Suzune and Onodera Kayano seemed to be better choices in terms of physical fitness and athletic ability, Kitagawa Ryo ultimately assigned Ichinose Honami after considering personality and other factors.

"No problem."

Ken Sudō first nodded in agreement, then opened his arms and put them on either side of the shoulders of the two boys with the least physical strength in the class— Yukimura and Sotomura —and said with a smile:

"Let's ignite our youth together starting tomorrow morning, boys!"

Perhaps because he spent a lot of time with Yamada Albert, Sudo started occasionally throwing in a few simple English phrases.

There were no problems with Ichinose Honami either. After all, she was the most popular and well-regarded girl, and she was also in a period of high enthusiasm after summer vacation. She readily agreed to Kitagawa Ryo's arrangements.

"Good."

"So, what about Liang? Is he planning to wash his hands of the business?"

Just after Kitagawa Ryo assigned the work in a few words, Horikita Suzune asked a question out of curiosity.

"Me? I'm planning to talk to the senior students. After all, if we lose the cross-grade red-white match, it won't matter how well we perform."

As he spoke, Kitagawa Ryo helplessly spread his hands:

"Alright, everyone, you can either disperse here today, or go practice on the playground if you want. I have something to do, so I'll be leaving now."

Without giving anyone else a chance to ask any more questions, Kitagawa Ryo and quickly took a step after speaking, disappearing from the sight of the Class B students in the blink of an eye.

While Class B, who had already left the stadium, managed to draft a provisional charter, Class C, inside the stadium, found themselves in a rare situation of conflicting opinions.

"Hey, Ryuen, I know this might sound harsh, but for this Sports Festival, how about we let Hiyori and discuss things with Class B in your place?"

After being treated coldly by Class B, Nishino Takeshi took the lead and sounded the charge, directly targeting Ryuen Kakeru.

"Hiyori and Kitagawa from Class B already have a good relationship, and they cooperated perfectly on the Uninhabited Island last time. Since Class B and Class C are natural allies due to the red and white grouping, it's fine for Hiyori to represent our class in all aspects, right?"

It must be said that Nishino Takeshi's remarks were quite clever. She directly replaced the cooperation between Class B and Class C on the Uninhabited Island with the cooperation between Shiina Hiyori and Kitagawa Ryo, which was somewhat of a veiled criticism, implying that Ryuen Kakeru dared to take credit for what he did on the Uninhabited Island.

"Furthermore, before the Uninhabited Island Special Exam even started, you insisted that the students in the class who got the 'Free Ride' cards fill in Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's name. And what was the result? In the end, no one got a single Private Points. You still haven't given us a reasonable explanation for this, have you?"

As soon as he made this statement, the students in Class C who had originally gotten Free Ride cards but ended up with nothing quietly echoed his sentiments, making Ryuen Kakeru feel a little embarrassed.

The truth is, his ability to control Class C doesn't mean he's the best fighter in Class C. Rather, before Shiina Hiyori showed her talent, she was not only a great fighter, but also the most quick-witted person in Class C.

"Tsk--"

However, Ryuen Kakeru just clicked his tongue. In his life so far, he had tasted failure at least a hundred times, so he did not have an excessive emotional reaction this time.

Faced with the overwhelming questioning from Class C, he simply turned away, clasped his hands in his pockets, and walked out of the Gymnasium alone.

"Do as you please."

Finally, only this one sentence, carried by the wind, reached the ears of the students in Class C.

In the Gymnasium, which housed all classes except for the departed Class 1-B, many students noticed the commotion and watched thoughtfully as Class C's sudden internal conflict erupted.

"As expected of First Year student, what a farce."

Kiriyama, from Class 2-B, clearly heard the mocking laughter from his classmates behind him. Just as he turned around to ask them to lower their voices and save face for their fellow White Team ally, he suddenly realized that someone seemed to be missing from his class.

Chapter 272: Guidance from a Senior Student

Whether it's her striking white hair, her tall and slender figure that stands out among girls at over 1.7 meters, or her unique demeanor and temperament, Kiryuin Fuka is always the most eye-catching person in a crowd.

But after searching high and low for a long time, Kiriyama still couldn't find any trace of the other party.

"That's strange..."

Kiriyama muttered to himself for a moment, but he was too lazy to ask his classmate Kiryuin Fuka where she had gone. After all, they had been classmates for over a year, and he knew her personality very well.

If when he first entered the school he still held some hope that Kiryuin would step up and support the class, now Kiriyama had gotten used to it; trying to communicate with them would only leave him feeling frustrated.

Thinking about it carefully, he was originally the class Leader of Class A and the vice president of the Student Council. As a result, he had to be annoyed by the students in his class during class, and after school, he had to whisper to Nagumo, who was clearly in the same grade, in the Student Council. It can only be said that Vice President Kiriyama's mental fortitude and thick skin have indeed been trained.

Of course, it's not necessarily true that Kiriyama has completely resigned himself to his fate. After all, less than half of their three years of high school have passed, and only one semester has passed since Miyabi Nagumo started controlling the entire grade and manipulating the school's Special Exam. The point difference between the classes, especially their Class A and Class B, has not become a completely rigid and unchangeable situation.

Moreover, Kiriyama himself was well aware that there must be a considerable number of students in the second year who were dissatisfied with Miyabi Nagumo's style of doing things, especially in their Class B. After all, everyone was originally a student in Class A, and being squeezed out would naturally cause some dissatisfaction.

It must be said that Kiriyama is a student with considerable self-awareness. He is well aware that the reason he can be ranked Miyabi Nagumo as the vice president of the Student Council is essentially because he embodies the dissatisfaction of other students towards Nagumo. After all, his position as the Leader Class 2-B and his past entanglement with Nagumo make him too easy and too suitable to be expected to fulfill such expectations.

In Kiriyama's view, even the current Student Council President Horikita Manabu, might have had similar intentions when he was willing to promote him.

Of course, the reason why Miyabi Nagumo valued him and won him over with the promise of transferring him to Class A before graduation was because of this value he possessed. From this perspective, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a traitor who let down the expectations of the class and other students.

Perhaps this is why Kiriyama has always been unwilling to communicate with Kiryuin. He knows he will lose control of his emotions, and he knows he will inevitably blame the other person for all the pressure and mistakes, complaining about this genius who possesses talent but never acts for him... or for the class.

"So, that's probably what Kiriyama was thinking. He was probably feeling resentful and complaining, like, 'It's because of people like this that I have to stay in Class B,' or 'Why are they unwilling to cooperate with the class and just watch our class get defeated by Class B?'"

Kitagawa Ryo listened attentively to Kiryuin Fuka's complaints, whom he had just met. He had noticed her mouthing "come out and talk" after they made eye contact in the stadium, so he made a special trip to keep this appointment after parting ways with his classmates.

"Sitting all the time is boring. We've already been sitting in the Gymnasium for ages. Let's get up and walk around."

As she spoke, Kiryuin, who had been sitting on a roadside bench, suddenly stood up. Among the girls Kitagawa Ryo knew, she was probably the tallest. She had a straight back and didn't have the bowlegs common among Japan girls. Her sudden standing up was quite impressive.

Although it's unclear what grade the other person received on the evaluation form at the beginning of the school year, their excellent physique suggests that Kiryuin possesses considerable physical strength. The description of him as a female version of Koenji, as mentioned by Sakayanagi Arisu, seems quite apt.

"Your cat is very interesting."

Seemingly unwilling to discuss the messy affairs of her own Class 2-B, Kiryuin Fuka, striding confidently down the road, quite naturally brought up Hotaru:

"When you left it with Asahina Nazuna a few days ago, I took the time to visit it. To be able to keep it for so long without the school finding out, you and this little guy are definitely quite clever."