Dating Across Classes Is Such a Hassle

Hirata Yosuke was naturally spotted among the crowd running on the field. However, since the Soccer Club members were a mix of first- to third-year students, there were quite a few students that Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was unfamiliar with.

Soon, it was the left team's turn to take a corner kick. The members of the Soccer Club slowly moved to different positions, vying for their spots. All eyes were fixed on the player taking the kick, and the air was thick with tension.

But Totsuka Yahiko was clearly not interested in the training session. While continuing to search for Miyabi Nagumo with his eyes, he subconsciously asked a question:

"So, will Nagumo really come? I remember that Student Council members aren't allowed to participate in other club activities, right?"

"Yes, that was mentioned when I applied to join the Student Council. You could say that not being a member of any other clubs is a prerequisite for joining the Student Council. But that's to be expected, since the Student Council's work is quite busy, and it has the power to monitor other clubs and allocate club funds."

Although Katsuragi Kohei was somewhat speechless about Totsuka Yahiko's abilities and personality, he patiently explained it to him, considering that the other party was, after all, his staunch supporter.

"However, Senior Nagumo is an exception. He was the ace of the Soccer Club before joining the Student Council, but he left the club later. Even after leaving, he was still the best. Plus, he is really passionate about soccer, so he still seems to show up for practice and give various kinds of guidance."

"Tch, in the end it's because Nagumo is not only the next Student Council president, but also the behind-the-scenes controller of the entire second year. Of course he doesn't care about this matter, otherwise he would have been reported long ago."

Totsuka Yahiko scoffed dismissively.

"Just like Horikita from Class B, she's a member of the Student Council but gets so close to the Drama Club and nobody says anything, isn't it just because her older brother is the current Student Council president?"

"Let's say less of these things..."

Looking at Totsuka Yahiko was once again complaining and blaming, Katsuragi Kohei gave a wry smile, but then immediately touched his shiny bald head:

"Has the rumor that Nagumo is the mastermind behind the second-year students spread this far...?"

Totsuka to swallow the rest of his sentence, "You even know about Totsuka," Katsuragi Kohei began uncertainly:

"Although I've heard rumors about this before, this is the first time I've seen something so detailed. I remember the person who leaked this on the forum even posted the contents of a contract signed between a second-year student Nagumo, right?"

"Yeah, it's so satisfying to watch. He must be getting millions of Private Points from other students every month. And I've also heard that this Nagumo really likes pretty girls, and who knows how many he's dated."

When this topic came up, Totsuka Yahiko immediately showed an excited expression. Although his tone was still cursing, it revealed a strong sense of wanting to take his place.

However, as the corner kick officially began, Katsuragi Kohei stopped paying attention to Totsuka Yahiko's complaints and subconsciously shifted his gaze to the football field.

The ball, kicked from the corner, flew smoothly to the teammates waiting nearby. Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School's clubs are among the best in the country, and the Soccer Club is no exception; the technical and tactical skills of the regular players are all excellent.

The student who formed a clever passing combination with him was Hirata Yosuke. As one of the top students, like Ken Sudō, who was selected as a regular player as soon as he entered the school, his talent was obvious. With a stop, a dribble, and a kick, he accurately passed the ball to another teammate, who smoothly took the opportunity and, at the perfect moment, stretched his foot forward and beautifully sent the ball into the goal.

"It's Shibata Sō from Class A."

Seeing the boy in the arena Hirata Yosuke a high-five with a smile, Katsuragi Kohei's gaze sharpened, and he spoke the boy's name.

In the predictions that haven't even started yet, the most talked-about question is "who will win the overall score for the whole school or grade?" So much so that the school forum has seen many professional analysis posts in the past two days, and Shibata Sō's name has been mentioned repeatedly in them. It is believed that this sports star from Class 1-A is undoubtedly one of the strong contenders for the overall score of this grade.

"Ayanokoji, who do you think is better, him Hirata?"

Perhaps because the two were currently competing on the field, Katsuragi Kohei stroked his chin and asked Ayanokoji Kiyotaka this question.

Watching Shibata Sō swiftly dribble past opponents across the opponent's territory after the match resumed, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quickly made his judgment:

"In terms of short-range speed and explosiveness alone, he's a bit faster than Hirata."

"Hmm... looks like I'll have to avoid events like the 100-meter dash."

Just as Katsuragi Kohei muttered those two words to himself, he heard a cheerful male voice behind him.

"Oh--the game is already underway, great shot! Everyone's got so much energy today, awesome!"

A tall boy in the Soccer Club uniform walked past the group of spectators, his blond hair, which shone brightly in the sunlight, instantly attracting everyone's attention.

"Good morning, Senior Nagumo."

Good morning, Nagumo- senpai.

As soon as Miyabi Nagumo arrived at the soccer field, the other Soccer Club students respectfully stopped what they were doing and greeted her.

"You're a little late today, Nagumo."

It was probably a third-year student who spoke up. Faced with the senior's question, Miyabi Nagumo simply waved her hand dismissively:

"Oh, I overslept a bit, sorry, sorry."

"Can you go on stage right away, Nagumo?"

A man who looked like a club advisor walked over, his face full of smiles.

Everyone's waiting for you.

"Sure, I just ran to the track and my body's already warmed up, so I'll go right up."

As he spoke, Miyabi Nagumo naturally clapped hands with a student on the court to make a substitution. As he entered the court, the atmosphere on the entire court changed again. After the game restarted, the ball and players almost immediately began to gather around Nagumo, treating him as the absolute core of the team.

Hirata Yosuke and Shibata Sō, who had just performed exceptionally well on the court, were easily overshadowed by him. After being toyed with by his opponent like beginners, the audience outside the court naturally erupted in cheers and applause.

"Those are all second-year girls, tsk."

Watching Miyabi Nagumo Totsuka Yahiko couldn't help but make a sour comment:

"What's so great about it? There's no soccer event at the Sports Festival."

Unlike Totsuka, who was initially filled with envy and jealousy, Katsuragi Kohei was relieved by Miyabi Nagumo's arrival and began to mentally prepare his conversation, planning to ask her some questions after the training session.

Since it was just a routine training session, the Soccer Club didn't plan to play the entire match. After waiting for about half an hour, the morning's training ended with the instructor's whistle. Just as Katsuragi Kohei was about to step forward, Miyabi Nagumo stepped out from among the girls who were handing him towels and water and came over to them.

"I remember you're Katsuragi, Totsuka, and Ayanokoji, all First Year students, right? We're all in the Red Team for this Sports Festival, nice to meet you!"

Somewhat surprised that the other person would come over and greet him first, Katsuragi Kohei was taken aback for a moment before belatedly extending his hand to shake his:

"I also hope that Senior Nagumo will give me more guidance."

"It's nothing, it's nothing. Speaking of which, the last time I saw Katsuragi was during the Student Council interview at the beginning of the semester, right? Although the final result was a bit of a pity, in my opinion, with your talent, you are fully qualified to serve in the Student Council."

It must be said that Miyabi Nagumo's demeanor in front of the public is as elegant as ever, and her handsome appearance easily gives people a pleasant feeling.

"After the Sports Festival in October, the Student Council will recruit one last batch of new members. If you haven't joined another club yet, Katsuragi, would you be interested in giving it another try? Of course, Totsuka- kun and Ayanokoji are also welcome to apply."

"Is that so?"

Seeing Katsuragi Kohei completely caught up in the other's rhythm and being led by the nose, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka also slightly averted his gaze, already sensing that the other's seemingly casual remark at the end was actually his true purpose.

He was inviting himself to join the Student Council.

Although Ayanokoji Kiyotaka Miyabi Nagumo had already crossed paths at the beginning of the school year and had indeed obtained a lot of information from each other afterward, this was the first time that Kiyotaka Ayanokouji had been invited to join the Student Council so directly.

After a moment's thought, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka understood the other party's intention. It was simply that he felt it was a bit inappropriate for the Student Council to have only two First Year members from Class B. Horikita Manabu knew that he was supporting another vice president, Kiriyama, to limit him, and he certainly couldn't allow a situation where First Year would become too powerful.

While Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was lost in thought, Katsuragi Kohei also snapped out of his reverie. After all, Student Council recruitment wouldn't happen until after the Sports Festival, and the most important thing right now was the matters related to the Sports Festival. Therefore, he quickly gathered his thoughts and lowered his voice to ask Miyabi Nagumo:

"Senior Nagumo, do you have any leads on the information about the upperclassmen that was recently leaked by Kitagawa from Class 1-B?"

"Kitagawa? That's Horikita-senpai sister's boyfriend, right? What inside information could he possibly have? As a third-year student, I can't say for sure, but second-year students definitely don't have any."

Miyabi Nagumo simply shook her head dismissively, seemingly unwilling to delve any further into the matter. Smiling, she approached Katsuragi Kohei and countered with a question:

"Katsuragi asked this because he's also interested in the betting? But I still suggest you only bet on your own grade's games. After all, you've only been in school for one semester since you were First Year, so you probably don't know much about the older students. It's pretty hard to win by pure luck."

"Especially projects that your class is particularly confident about... I heard you guys suffered a big setback on the Uninhabited Island, this is a great opportunity, and if you encounter any difficulties, feel free to come to me, after all, we're all allies of the Red Team."

At this point, Miyabi Nagumo patted Katsuragi Kohei on the shoulder with the air of a senior.

Kiriyama had already informed him that Kiryuin Fuka would be fully committed to the Sports Festival, but Miyabi Nagumo couldn't completely trust him. He did acknowledge Kiryuin's physical attributes and athletic abilities, but he was also well aware of Kiryuin's carefree and irreverent personality. Therefore, he couldn't rule out the possibility that this was also a trap she had set.

However, it cannot be denied that with the addition of Kiryuin Fuka as a variable, it is actually more difficult for Miyabi Nagumo to perfectly control the entire second year as before. This is because there are already mixed-grade events such as the 1600-meter relay race, and with the addition of these two events, there are countless unexpected situations that will arise.

That's why Miyabi Nagumo was even less willing to put his Private Points into the second-year contest. Besides, the prize pool for the second-year contest was already shallow because of his mismanagement of the second-year contest. Rather than paying the school a handling fee, he would rather focus on the first and third-year contests.

In addition to this, Miyabi Nagumo also made more prudent preparations.

There's never a guarantee of winning in betting, but there are promissory notes.

He could easily use the tens of millions of Private Points he has accumulated to lend money out and collect interest.

In a sense, this market was indeed created for him by the betting, since thanks to the school's free support, there were really not many students at Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School who were so destitute that they had to borrow points from others to make ends meet. Even if there were, Miyabi Nagumo herself wouldn't care about such a small amount of money.

But prediction contests are different.

Human greed is endless and has no limit. In Miyabi Nagumo's eyes, no matter what kind of embellishment the school puts on this event, its essence is gambling. Before enrolling, she had already seen too many adults who had lost all their wealth through gambling, let alone high school students whose minds are not yet mature.

Watching from afar as Katsuragi Kohei Miyabi Nagumo, Kitagawa Ryo could almost guess what the two were talking about.

If Miyabi Nagumo really intends to lend money to First Year, the easiest targets would definitely be Class C and Class D. The former goes without saying, as many of those delinquent teenagers had already been "inherited" by their families and were self-taught in horse racing, betting, and pachinko before entering school. In addition, with Ryuen Kakeru Sho absent Shiina Hiyori not in charge, the situation is naturally rampant.

The latter is mainly because the class's situation has dropped to Class D. Just like a gambler who is desperate to win big and win back his losses, many people would probably be tempted. Moreover, if Kitagawa Ryo's prediction is correct, there will also be exchanges of benefits related to the Student Council involved.

From any perspective, it's highly unlikely that the incoming Student Council President Miyabi Nagumo, would only have two First Year members: Horikita Suzune and Sakayanagi Arisu. After all, that would mean the next Student Council President a year from now would have to be either of them.

Miyabi Nagumo wants to promote his Classroom of the Elite Studio philosophy throughout the school, so he must be worried about the situation where people become indifferent or lose influence once they leave.

Just as he is currently only the vice president but still tries to make a good impression in front of the president Horikita Manabu, it is conceivable that when he steps down as Student Council President in his third year, he will want to support his own people.

However, neither Horikita Suzune nor Sakayanagi Arisu are on the same page as him. Considering the actual situation of the First Year, it is easy to turn one's attention to Class D, which is currently in trouble and urgently needs external help. Moreover, Class D, formerly Class A, has a certain level of overall quality and will not turn the Student Council into a mess.

As Katsuragi Kohei and Miyabi Nagumo parted ways, Kitagawa Ryo slowly walked out of the playground, his thoughts turning to something else entirely.

Although he had discussed the 20 million yen transfer with Megumi on the cruise ship, Kitagawa Ryo was well aware that this was not something that could be achieved in just one or two months. In his view, no matter how hard Megumi tried, it would be at least possible by the end of the current second semester.

Without the VIP Exam allow students to exploit loopholes in the rules to rack up large amounts of Private Points, coupled with the school's deliberate encouragement of students to spend their Private Points, and the fact that Class Points Class A currently only has a little over 600 points, the total Private Points earned by the entire class each month are just over two million.

With all these factors combined, 20 million is indeed a rather distant figure.

But now there is an opportunity to quickly bridge this vast distance.

Perhaps... Ryuen Kakeru, who entered the game with five million Private Points, is not necessarily the most reckless gambler in this contest.

Chapter 281: Cross-Class Romance is the Most Troublesome

As dusk fell, on his way back to the dormitory, Kitagawa Ryo once again encountered Chabashira Sae, who was watering the plants and bouquets in the green belt, about one or two hundred meters away from the dormitory gate.

Since the start of this semester, it seems like the other party has been eyeing him. Through this position, in Kitagawa Ryo's eyes, he has almost become a wild NPC that respawns at a fixed time and place, and even the opening dialogue is the same.

"Are you practicing on the playground this late again today, Kitagawa?"

As always, she took the initiative to talk to him. It's fortunate that Chabashira Sae had already abandoned her usual icy image since being assigned to Class A and had been practicing a more approachable style. Otherwise, this overly obsequious and incongruous feeling would have drawn suspicious glances from other students nearby.

"Yeah, the Sports Festival is coming up soon after all."

If it were Kitagawa Ryo from yesterday, he probably wouldn't have added that second half of the sentence; at most, he would have just nodded and said "hmm," and then prepared to quickly get rid of the other person's entanglement.

However, because he made a promise to the members of Class A today, he could only go into full "Fraudster" and "Film Emperor" mode at this moment, and show off his veteran Thespian skills that shocked Zhang Yimou.

"I know that our class advisor, Chabashira, has something she wants to say to me, but it's inconvenient here with so many people around. How about we go to the Special Building to talk after we finish our work?"

Chabashira Sae herself hadn't expected Kitagawa Ryo, who had always been unyielding, to suddenly say such things to her today. After a slight pause, she immediately nodded in agreement, because, just as Kitagawa Ryo had said, she did indeed want a situation and opportunity to talk to him alone.

See you in half an hour.

After saying that, Kitagawa Ryo waved his hand, stepped over the water pipe that had somehow been hanging down from Chabashira Sae's hand onto the lawn and was now flowing water, and walked straight back to his room.

As it turns out, thanks to the spare keys that had somehow ended up scattered around, Kitagawa Ryo's room had become like Schrödinger's cat box—you could never know for sure whether a girl was inside until you opened it.

Take today, for example.

"I'm back."

When Kitagawa Ryo habitually opened the door, changed into his indoor shoes, and greeted him, it wasn't Hotaru who responded, but rather Ichinose Honami had somehow arrived at the living room sofa.

"Ah, Ryo already knows I'm here?"

Ichinose Honami, clearly unaware that Kitagawa Ryo's daily "I'm home" was actually directed at Hotaru, smiled somewhat confusedly, then picked up the kitten enjoying the pampering in her arms and waved her two front paws in front of Kitagawa Ryo:

"Hmm--Welcome back."

"Honami's here today, what would you like to drink?"

Dazzled by the girl's smile, Kitagawa Ryo bent down to neatly arrange his shoes, then walked familiarly into the kitchen next to the door and began to take out tea sets from the cupboard.

How is Coco?

"Hmm, do you need my help?"

"It's alright, it'll only be a moment."

"Oh."

A few minutes later, Kitagawa Ryo came out with two cups of cocoa that had been prepared, placed them on the coffee table, gestured for Ichinose Honami to make herself at home, and then leaned back and lay down on another small sofa, stretching vigorously.

"It feels like the weekend flew by, and tomorrow it's back to school."

"It seems like Liang has been on the playground for almost a whole day. It doesn't feel much easier than going to class."

"It was alright. This morning I went to the karaoke bar at Keyaki Mall with Kanzaki and the others from Class A to relax."

Kitagawa Ryo made no attempt to hide his whereabouts from Ichinose Honami. After all, when it came to intelligence networks, Sakayanagi Arisu Honami's network was far more extensive than that of Sakayanagi Arisu, who only had one informant, Matsushita Chiaki. Perhaps Amikura Mako, whom he had met today, was even better than his own.

In terms of interpersonal relationships, Ichinose Honami is definitely at the top of the class, just like Kushida Kikyo. The only difference is that she doesn't like to dig up secrets to satisfy some strange fetish.

"Ryo goes to karaoke with the students from Class A... That's quite unusual. Could it be that Megumi is there too?"