Suzune, Completely Out of the Loop

"Hui isn't here, but the thing we were discussing was somewhat related to her. We went to the karaoke bar mainly to talk about this. If Honami wants to go, let's go together next time. The facilities at the Keyaki Mall are pretty good; they feel much better than the one we used to go to in junior high."

After taking a sip of warm cocoa from his cup, Kitagawa Ryo quickly shifted Ichinose Honami's attention away from Class A and Karuizawa Kei with a few words.

"Okay, speaking of which, it's been a long time since I've heard Liang sing. I remember Liang doesn't listen to pop songs much... But the karaoke library here is pretty comprehensive; you can find a lot of opera songs. Hmm, it should be fine."

Perhaps due to her frequent visits to karaoke, Ichinose Honami displayed a confident and knowing demeanor, but she quickly abandoned her plan with a smile.

"Anyway, it's just Liang and me, so it doesn't matter what songs we sing or whether we sing well or not, especially since Liang has such a good voice."

"Too."

Ichinose Honami brought the gradually cooling cocoa to her lips, and then suddenly added without any apparent reason:

"Actually, I recently got a premium membership at the gym in the Keyaki Mall, but since it's a private space, Liang probably didn't see me."

"... Maybe so, or it could be because the timing was off."

"How about we schedule a time to meet next time? I'd like to show Liang my results. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it seems like my waistline has shrunk a little?"

Seeing that Ichinose Honami had already put things this far, Kitagawa Ryo obediently accepted her invitation:

"Okay, I'll measure it for Honami next time. It shouldn't be Honami's imagination. After all, many classmates look thinner during the preparation for the Sports Festival. Even the girls from the Sotomura have lost some of their belly fat."

"I hope it doesn't cause a rebound... Um, I don't think there was much sugar in the cocoa Liang gave me, right?"

Suddenly becoming extra careful about her figure and weight, Ichinose Honami looked hesitantly at the cocoa in her hand and asked somewhat uncertainly.

"It's a normal amount, and Honami is already doing great. There's no need to overdo the shaping. Your approach is different from Arisu's. Just focus on developing your stamina and endurance like Airi does."

After discussing fitness-related topics with Ichinose Honami, Kitagawa Ryo glanced at the time on his phone:

"I arranged to meet Chabashira alone at the Special Building, so I have to go now."

"Chabashira? Why did Ryo suddenly decide to meet with her alone?"

Upon hearing Ichinose Honami subconsciously frowned slightly.

"And it's in Special Building, a place without surveillance cameras."

"It's related to this Sports Festival. On one hand, it's to attract the attention of the Hoshinomiya, and on the other hand, it's to set off a few smokescreens."

After giving that casual explanation, Kitagawa Ryo stood up from the sofa to leave, but just as he was about to turn around to change his shoes in the entryway, he suddenly heard Ichinose Honami's questioning voice behind him:

"Ryo is transferring to Class A, right?"

"... It's not even close to being a done deal yet."

So this means acceptance?

Ichinose Honami sat there, one hand supporting her chin, the other slowly stroking the soft fur on Hotaru's back.

Although Kitagawa Ryo couldn't see her expression, judging from her voice alone, she was clearly not in a good mood.

The next second, Kitagawa Ryo felt a weight on his back.

Before he could even accurately measure Ichinose Honami's waist to see if she had actually lost weight, the other person's hands had already wrapped around his waist.

The measurement was taken from behind by an embrace, and the result was a perfect fit, fingers intertwined tightly, as if embracing the whole world.

Kitagawa Ryo turned around somewhat awkwardly in Ichinose Honami's arms, without saying another word, but the meaning she wanted to express had been conveyed to him very clearly.

As it turns out, no matter how many more talents Kitagawa Ryo possesses, such as being a Best Film Emperor, it's still difficult for him not to soften his heart in situations like these.

To Kitagawa Ryo's surprise, Ichinose Honami suddenly let go of his hand and instead took two quick steps back, placing his right hand on her head. It wasn't that she was trying to be affectionate.

"But it's alright. Since Ryo just mentioned the time we went to karaoke in middle school, he should still remember this, right?"

Kitagawa Ryo unconsciously brushed Ichinose Honami's long, golden-pink hair with her fingertips, the movement as gentle as a lover's caress, yet heavy as if infused with all her memories.

Then, he felt an incredibly distinct sensation on Ichinose Honami's head, which had never worn any hair accessories, including hair ties, headbands, hair clips, or headbands.

It was a hair clip he gave to her when they were in junior high school. It had a peach-pink background and an exquisite engraving of a mythical bird about to take flight, with its tail feathers extending outwards naturally in a gradient of bright red flames.

Nearly two years later, Kitagawa Ryo finally saw it again, pinned to Ichinose Honami's hair tie.

In that instant, Kitagawa Ryo felt that the image of Ichinose Honami that he had pieced together from those simulated words had completely vanished. The girl who had been sketched out by simple words along his fingertips at the beginning had remained in the chapter titled 'Ichinose Honami's Summer Time Rendering', and now, along his fingertips, the feeling of touch had been vividly Resurrection.

Although he had felt this way when he saw the other person confront their mother during summer vacation, it was not as vivid and real as it was now. It even made Kitagawa Ryo feel a little dazed, and his heart involuntarily pounded in his chest.

"The fact that Hui wants to transfer Liang to Class A means she understands that principle."

Ichinose Honami's lips curled up, revealing a smile of approval:

"Actually, that's what I think too."

"Inter-class romances... are indeed very troublesome."

"Right?"

"Cold."

The next morning, Class 1-D.

"Huh? We're going to have a practice match with those guys from Class B?"

When Chabashira Sae casually shared her thoughts on the upcoming Sports Festival during the morning assembly, all the students in Class 1-D simultaneously showed expressions of either confusion or frowning. Totsuka Yahiko even exclaimed in surprise before reluctantly shutting up under Katsuragi Kohei's gaze, afraid of affecting the evaluation and scoring of the class's daily conduct rules and causing the Class Points to lose one or two points.

"That's right, I've already spoken with the students in Class B and their homeroom teacher. Although the two classes are in the Red Team and White Team respectively for this Sports Festival, the school's purpose in holding the Sports Festival has always been to encourage students to pay attention to physical fitness, strengthen communication and teamwork skills. To put it simply, it's probably the straightforward 'friendship first, competition second' principle."

Chabashira Sae tapped the blackboard and continued:

"To compete while cooperating, to cooperate while competing, and to progress through both competition and cooperation—that's what the school hopes you'll learn at the Sports Festival."

After listening to their homeroom teacher's rambling, nonsensical, and utterly correct but ultimately meaningless speech, the students of Class D, as if following a pattern, all turned their gazes to Katsuragi Kohei was squinting as if deep in thought.

"Chabashira-sensei, can we discuss this ourselves?"

Katsuragi Kohei cautiously raised his hand and asked a question, to which Chabashira Sae nodded and left the classroom.

"There are about twenty minutes left in the morning meeting. You are free to use the remaining time as you wish, whether you want to chat casually or discuss things seriously."

With Chabashira Sae's guarantee and permission, the previously suppressed silence suddenly burst forth as the other students left. The other students from Class D flocked to Katsuragi Kohei, but their words were almost entirely filled with doubt and confusion, completely unable to understand why their homeroom teacher would suddenly make such a suggestion.

After a brief moment of thought, Katsuragi Kohei opened his eyes to meet everyone's gaze and slowly began to express his thoughts:

"Although Chabashira-sensei's suggestion was quite sudden, I think it is indeed beneficial to Class D."

"First of all, although this Sports Festival is divided into red and white groups, it doesn't mean that classes in the same group are necessarily staunch allies. Just like Class A, who is in the Red Team with our Class D, is more like an opponent than an ally. Stances are not fixed, let alone just training together."

As he spoke, Katsuragi Kohei glanced around at the students, his gaze lingering briefly on Ayanokoji Kiyotaka before continuing:

"I can think of three advantages right now."

"Firstly, we can take this opportunity to find out about Class B's plans, understand their strengths and weaknesses compared to our class."

"Although Class B could also use this opportunity to scout out our situation, that's precisely the second advantage. Since we haven't caught the mole yet, this data will be leaked someday anyway, so it's better to just exchange it directly like this."

"Thirdly, you should remember when we were on the cruise ship, Sakayanagi from Class B sold lottery tickets for Treasure Hunt Game, right? Anything that has market demand can be transformed into a commodity."

Katsuragi Kohei's eyes gleamed:

"We can also sell the training match results and data from Class B!"

I am feeling unwell and need to take one day off.

As the title suggests.

The temperature difference between day and night has been quite large lately, so please take care of your health.

I'm going to sleep now. Hope things will get better tomorrow. Sorry.

Chapter 282: An Unexpected Suzune

After school, on the way to the Gymnasium, unlike the Class 1-D students who were excitedly discussing whether they wanted to show Class B their original Class A level or were hesitant about how to gather information, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka simply followed at the back of the group at a leisurely pace, occasionally glancing at the back of their homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, who was leading the group at the front.

As an experimental subject who grew up in White Room, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had almost only heard of the profession of 'teacher' in books, because those who taught him knowledge from childhood were called 'instructors'. Their job was simply to cram knowledge into them according to a pre-planned schedule, and then judge who could stay and who had to leave based on the test results.

Even Ayanokoji Kiyotaka himself had to admit that perhaps it was because of this lack of understanding that he agreed to Kitagawa Ryo's suggestion to exchange homeroom teachers before the start of the school year.

Just like how Class 1-A is still struggling to choose between Karuizawa Kei and Hoshinomiya Chie, the importance of the homeroom teacher is undoubtedly greater in the system of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School compared to ordinary high schools. Moreover, students in the school naturally have a near-respectful attitude towards teachers and homeroom teachers.

Even in Class C, where delinquents were plentiful, Ryuen Kakeru's ability to become a class Leader was inseparable from the support of his homeroom teacher, Sakagami Kazuma. This respect stemmed from his upbringing instilled in him the importance of respecting teachers, and also from the fact that teachers, especially homeroom teachers, wielded considerable power over students, such as the most common rewards and punishments.

The combination of these two factors naturally elevates the class teacher's moral standing in the students' minds. Even if the student rebels and doesn't feel that the teacher is acting in their best interest, scolds the teacher for being nosy, or even harbors extreme Malice, they are ultimately a minority and are unlikely to exist among the students in the original Class A and now Class D.

In fact, this is something Kitagawa Ryo realized from the incident in Class 1-A: no matter what flaws Hoshinomiya Chie and Chabashira Sae might have in their personalities, as homeroom teachers, as two famously beautiful homeroom teachers in the school, and as older sisters who had tried their best to maintain a friendly image in front of the students in the past semester, their reputation in their respective classes was actually quite high.

In other words, the two individuals wielded significant influence within their respective classes, enough to affect class decisions; this was true for both Class A and Class D.

Thinking of this, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka silently withdrew his gaze.

Thinking about it carefully, and combining it with Hashimoto Masayoshi later told him about Chabashira Sae's situation on the Uninhabited Island, it seems that Kitagawa Ryo had already begun to relentlessly pursue the Chabashira vulnerability a long time ago.

On the surface, this can be seen as another scheme by Kitagawa Ryo to exploit one of his common-sense flaws. However, if we consider it from a different perspective, it can also be seen as a new lesson he has learned in the outside world after leaving the White Room.

With the Uninhabited Island Special Exam as a dividing line, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's own mentality and thinking gradually underwent subtle changes. His current logic of action was completely different from when he first entered Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School.

"Hey, Ayanokoji, show off your skills to those students in Class B later."

A voice from the side interrupted his thoughts. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka turned his head slightly and saw Totsuka Yahiko looking at him with an encouraging expression:

"You were the top scorer in the solo team for the Uninhabited Island Special Exam, so dealing with those guys from Class B shouldn't be a problem, right?"

As soon as Totsuka Yahiko spoke, even Hashimoto Masayoshi couldn't help but roll his eyes. There were only three solo groups on the Uninhabited Island. Ryuen Kakeru was locked in the school tent halfway through the exam, Karuizawa Kei later teamed up with other groups using Reinforcement cards, so Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was the first one.

However, although Totsuka Yahiko's statement was quite idiotic, it still attracted some students from Class D nearby. Matoba Shinji also asked out of curiosity:

"Yeah, I remember you Ayanokoji pretty high scores and rankings on the Uninhabited Island, Ayanokouji, and you were even in a solo team. But lately, I haven't seen you show any outstanding performances in training. Are you hiding your strength?"

"At the time, we just happened to come across a lot of suitable research topics, and individual groups had a significant advantage in certain team-based projects. It was just a stroke of luck."

When questioned by his classmates, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka simply gave a calm explanation, then took a step back and walked behind Katsuragi Kohei, silently indicating that the other should continue to fulfill their agreement to cover for him.

"Don't be so confrontational. We're training with Class B this time. They even paid out Private Points to book the entire Gymnasium. Stop talking about looking for trouble."

As the class Leader, Katsuragi Kohei said a few words, and the atmosphere in Class 1-D quickly returned to normal. Everyone shut up, displaying perfect discipline, and the group soon entered the Gymnasium, where Class 1-B was already waiting.

Seeing that his own homeroom teacher had already started chatting with the other homeroom teacher Mashima Tomoya Katsuragi Kohei, as the class Leader, also quickly took two steps forward and took the initiative to approach Kitagawa Ryo, who was standing at the front of Class B.

"Chabashira's homeroom teacher has already explained the situation to us, so please take good care of Class B during this time."

"No, no, not at all."

After a brief handshake and a few words of pleasantries with Katsuragi Kohei, Kitagawa Ryo turned and pointed to the several venues and equipment that had been prepared behind him:

"The main reason I invited everyone from Class D here today is to practice the team events for the Sports Festival. After all, these are different from individual events and are difficult to practice in daily training. I appreciate everyone taking time out of your busy schedules to come."

After Kitagawa Ryo's explanation, Katsuragi Kohei showed a look of sudden realization.

This Sports Festival does indeed have both individual and team events. The former mainly consists of track and field events, while the latter includes several events such as Four-Way Tug-of-War, Cavalry Battle, and Bo-taoshi. All of these require the participation of the entire class, so as Kitagawa Ryo said, it is indeed not very convenient for daily practice.

Upon hearing that the training would involve team activities, the members of Class 1-D who had come along immediately perked up. After all, the difference in the number of students between the two classes was a stark reality: Class A had thirty-nine students, while Class D only had thirty-four.

According to the school's explanation of the rules for group events, events such as pole-pushing and tug-of-war require all participants to be present. However, for Cavalry Battle with four people per group, only complete integer groups of students can participate, and the number of groups is rounded down. For example, if there are 21 boys in Class D, then five groups will be used with one student remaining. If there are 18 boys in Class B, then four groups will be used with two students remaining.

But no matter what, with 39 people against 34, the advantage is in my hands!

Although this confidence was quickly and ruthlessly destroyed, or rather, crushed, at least in the boys' group.

From tug-of-war to Cavalry Battle and pole-fighting, the boys in Class D successfully experienced the entire process of starting with grand pronouncements, falling silent in the middle, and ending with nonsensical ramblings. It can be said that they were completely outmatched by the iron triangle of Ken Sudō, Yamada Albert, and Kitagawa Ryo.

But Ayanokoji Kiyotaka still experienced a unique kind of torment.

Kitagawa Ryo, with his rather perverse sense of humor, clearly disapproved of his passive, slacking-off behavior during these three games. Whether it was through a wary look, a forced tone that was clearly audible despite being lowered in voice, or his roll call instructions within the game, he was deliberately conveying a message to the students of Class D.

This child is terrifyingly powerful and should not be underestimated.

With Ken Sudō and Yamada Albert nodding solemnly beside him, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had almost foreseen a certain future.

However, perhaps due to Kitagawa Ryo's presence, or perhaps due to other factors, during the men's 4x400m relay race, which was a brief training session near the end, he volunteered to take over the last leg and stood next to his opponent.

Hirata Yosuke was chosen as the third runner for Class 1-D, while Ken Sudō was chosen for Class 1-B. The two of them ran up behind each other at almost the same time and awkwardly handed the baton forward.

But Kitagawa Ryo and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka still steadily took over the baton together, and then started running almost simultaneously.

Even though they were still in a closed Matoba, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who had also launched himself from the same spot as Kitagawa Ryo, couldn't help but recall the Open Water Swimming competition they had had side by side on the Uninhabited Island. The world in front of him seemed to open up in an instant.

He recalled the trembling of Hirata Yosuke's arm as he passed the baton, and the thunderous heartbeat he heard in his chest as they brushed past each other.

The cheers and shouts from Class 1-B and Class D almost lifted the roof off the entire Gymnasium. Nearly eighty students created a 3D surround sound effect. Even Totsuka Yahiko had been urging and mocking Ayanokoji Kiyotaka to show his true skills, was now immersed in the atmosphere, his eyes fixed on the figure sprinting there. It was a speed that no student from Class D, including Hirata Yosuke had just run the third leg, had been able to achieve.

Kitagawa Ryo was slightly ahead of him on his right, about a body length ahead, and the voices of Class 1-B couldn't help but grow louder.

For Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, everything he saw and heard was completely different from when he calmly ran around in the emotionless room.