Who Down There Accuses This Official? / Going All In Is an Art

In response to Horikita Suzune's question, Shiina Hiyori and replied, then took another bite of rice and mumbled through her chopsticks:

"But it should be considered joint property between me and Liang. Liang can use it if she wants. I'll earn it back and transfer it to you after I lose it all."

"It won't come to that. We'll help Hiyori save it carefully."

"It should be helping the two of us, since in the end it's for the two of us—wow, it sounds like some silly couple from the countryside who came to Tokyo dreaming of saving up to buy a house."

After exchanging a few playful words with Shiina Hiyori, Kitagawa Ryo finally snapped out of his reverie, which had drifted off to the other's teasing, and addressed Horikita Suzune again:

"Compared to Class C, Ryuen's personal impact on this Sports Festival is probably greater. In addition, he's been appearing and disappearing mysteriously these past few days, contacting students from all three grades. I'm starting to have no idea what he's up to."

"As for the predictions... doesn't Suzune think these students' comments make a lot of sense? If all four classes' entry forms were made public, maybe the competition and the predictions would be even more exciting?"

"But it will also significantly increase the probability of things like match-fixing and foul play."

Completely avoiding Kitagawa Ryo's trap, Horikita Suzune calmly explained her perspective:

"While it may seem that making the entry forms completely public will encourage students to participate in the guessing game, conversely, if this enthusiasm increases, the total prize pool will inevitably rise as well."

"For the athletes about to take the field, they can also see the relevant betting data in real time. The amount of betting on their opponents, themselves, or others is also transparent to them, which greatly increases the possibility of them deliberately fixing the game."

"What's worse, if a student wants to maximize the chances of someone they're betting on winning, they might even target their biggest rival in the same group. I think Class C and Ryuen are capable of doing something like that."

"Indeed, so each has its own advantages and disadvantages."

Kitagawa Ryo simply nodded upon hearing this, without even uttering a word to refute Horikita Suzune's statement about Class C. After all, during the Sports Festival he had experienced in the simulation, Ryuen Kakeru and Class C had already done things like verbally harassing training before the competition, administering laxatives, and directly kidnapping people on the day of the Sports Festival.

In fact, he had already tried to suppress Ryuen Kakeru's thoughts at the beginning, but the sudden emergence of the betting game had made Ryuen determined to gamble five million on a big win. Now, he was like a wild horse that he couldn't drag back.

Although Karuizawa Kei probably shared similar thoughts.

Judging by the timeline, Megumi should have already tricked Hoshinomiya Chie into giving her permission to collect Twenty Million Personal Points.

He knew Hoshinomiya Chie well. With the hatred mechanism always locked on Chabashira Sae, Karuizawa Kei's direct request to raise points for him to transfer classes was unlikely to be supported. Despite the high level of enthusiasm she showed him each time, constantly asking if he wanted to transfer classes, it was ultimately only because he was leading Class B against Chabashira Sae's Class A at that time.

Therefore, to persuade Hoshinomiya Chie, it is necessary to take a roundabout approach. Although the result is still that he will transfer to another class, the purpose becomes to prevent him from transferring to Chabashira Sae's class.

This statement itself is also mostly true, because Chabashira Sae herself did have such thoughts, and she gave a rather ambiguous response to Chabashira Sae during their conversation in the Special Building.

In fact, at least on the surface Chabashira Sae and Hoshinomiya Chie were both normal people at first, otherwise they wouldn't have been best friends for so many years. However, this fragile balance was completely broken after he transferred Chabashira Sae to Class A as a homeroom teacher before entering the school, because this was tantamount to humiliating and denying Hoshinomiya Chie's life over the years. She had sworn that she would never let Chabashira Sae be promoted to Class A.

It was from that time that the conflicts and contradictions between the two began to intensify. At first Chabashira Sae, who was in high spirits, didn't pay much attention to Hoshinomiya Chie's many little tricks. However, the head-stepping incident after the Uninhabited Island Special Exam and the huge drop from A to B made the originally normal Chabashira Sae somewhat obsessed. As if she was grasping at the last straw, she began to relentlessly pursue him. That's why she was easily fooled by him with a series of Fraudster Film Emperor skills, and with a few vague promises.

From this perspective, this was probably the closest he ever came to being a scumbag.

Just as Kitagawa Ryo finished his lunch with a slightly guilty feeling towards Chabashira Sae, the forum was flooded with new versions of the story.

Katsuragi Kohei of Class 1-D publicly announced that his class's entry form had been submitted to the school yesterday and had been confirmed by their homeroom teacher Chabashira Sae.

At the same time, Ryuen Kakeru from Class 1-C also announced that his class's entry form had been submitted, and Class C's homeroom teacher Sakagami Kazuma, confirmed it as well.

"Oh, here comes the combination punch."

Chapter 289: Who in the audience is accusing this official? (4k5)

What's going on?

Horikita Suzune had just analyzed the drawbacks, obviously did not expect that Class 1-C and Class D of the first year would choose to make a public statement at this time. But what surprised her even more was that after Class C and Class D announced that they had submitted their competition forms, Class 1-A also followed suit and responded, putting all the pressure on Class B, who had not yet made a move.

"It's quite normal for this to happen. Actually, what Suzune just said is not wrong. Making the competition forms of all four classes completely transparent and public will indeed greatly increase the probability of match-fixing and rigged matches before the competition."

Kitagawa Ryo, however, seemed unsurprised. He casually logged into the campus forum with his student account and replied to Horikita Suzune:

"But maybe this is exactly the effect the class Leader want."

After saying that, Kitagawa Ryo also sent out a post of the same style that he had saved in his drafts. After the four First Year classes issued statements at the same time, the anonymous blogger who first broke the news made no attempt to hide it and directly exposed all the Matoba and personnel arrangements of the four First Year classes, showing them to the entire school's teachers and students the day before the guessing game started.

"In that case... didn't our previous efforts to collect information on other classes' entry forms go to waste?"

Seeing the situation change so drastically during lunch break, the remaining students in Class B who stayed in the classroom for lunch were equally surprised. Yukimura Teruhiko even subconsciously put down his bread and walked over to Kitagawa Ryo to ask him a question.

"There's nothing we can do; simply put, the version has changed."

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head, but instead of answering Yukimura Teruhiko's question immediately, he asked him in return:

"Why did we collect information about the competition entries from other classes before?"

"Well, because this way we can better plan our strategy, like Tian Ji's horse racing strategy, to maximize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses, so that more students in the class can win the games and score more points to achieve a good ranking in the class's overall score, and to minimize the Class Points being deducted too much in this Sports Festival."

Yukimura Teruhiko's language skills were quite good, and he quickly summarized Class 1-B's strategy for the early and middle stages of preparation for this Sports Festival.

"Yes, actually it wasn't just our class. Back then, whether it was Class A, Class C, or Class D, everyone was thinking the same thing. They were still trying to get more Class Points by following the old Special Exam approach, except for Ryuen."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo quickly finished packing up the lunchboxes he and Shiina Hiyori had finished eating, closed the lids, and packed them into a bundle before saying to Yukimura Teruhiko with a somewhat complicated tone:

"But winning a match doesn't guarantee you'll earn Private Points."

"Unfortunately, the class Leader of the other three classes in this year's competition are all aiming to quickly amass a large number of Private Points during this Sports Festival."

Needless to say, Karuizawa Kei was willing to temporarily reconcile with Hoshinomiya Chie because she didn't want even a single variable in Class 1-A Class A that might disrupt the plan during her all-or-nothing gamble.

Class 1-C was more like a solo act by Ryuen Kakeru, who dragged the entire Class C into this mess. However, considering that Class C had already been acting like "What's the Sports Festival? I'm going to gamble to my heart's content" before this, it's more accurate to say that Ryuen Kakeru just went with the flow and gave them a push. The only thing that Kitagawa Ryo was a little concerned about was that Class C's homeroom teacher still chose to believe Ryuen under these circumstances, although this was also related to Shiina Hiyori's sudden tendency to become useless during this period.

Class 1-D is even more formidable. Chabashira Sae has already been tricked into hinting to Katsuragi Kohei that he needs to raise Private Points to recruit him. In addition, he was half-coaxed and half-intimidated by Nagumo into using two Student Council slots as bargaining chips, and ended up with two million Private Points in interest for nothing. It's a real mess.

Moreover, Katsuragi Kohei himself wasn't as wealthy as other class Leader like Kitagawa Ryo, Karuizawa Kei, and Ryuen Kakeru. He had already given away his 150,000 Private Points to Kitagawa Ryo during the summer vacation as payment for gifts for his younger sister.

Frankly speaking, given that all three classes were tacitly orchestrating this scheme, it would have been somewhat impolite for Kitagawa Ryo not to take the initiative and lead Class B in.

Putting everything else aside, if he insists on sticking to his guns with Class B, then Class B won't need to train for the next week. The entire grade, and even students from other grades, will be able to keep an eye on them and annoy them to death. They'll think, "You're the only one who's acting high and might not fit in, right?" At that point, the students in Class B might also be subjected to waves of harassment and probing, which would ultimately be counterproductive.

After all, most students in Class B have some close friends in other classes. If this incident greatly affects the interpersonal relationships of the students in Class B, the overall atmosphere of the class will inevitably be affected as well.

With things having developed to this point, Kitagawa Ryo himself couldn't guarantee that every student in the class would win Private Points. Firstly, he couldn't force them to guess which event and which person to bet on, as many students were genuinely just playing around, and directing them would only make them unhappy. Secondly, the participation of the entire Class B would be determined by Sakayanagi Arisu based on the specific circumstances of the Sports Festival and the relevant odds, all of which were currently unknown.

However, now that the situation in the First Year has become clearer, the relevant actions of the second year can proceed accordingly.

Thinking about this, Kitagawa Ryo himself felt a little melancholy.

He originally only planned to target the second-year students during the Sports Festival and prank the incoming Student Council President, Miyabi Nagumo. Who knew that in the end, the First Year would become the focus of the entire school?

Unlike the gradually clearing situation of the Sports Festival, the fierce competition surrounding the Twenty Million Personal Points for class transfer, which has only been noticed by a few, remains shrouded in mystery, and even he himself is not quite clear about everyone's specific actions.

However, this was also the result of Kitagawa Ryo deliberately not getting involved, and the situation eventually evolved into a situation where it was not appropriate for him to take either side.

As the saying goes, not showing favoritism is the same as showing favoritism.

There was no other way but to intensify the pranks on second-year student Nagumo.

On the second day, the first day the contest officially began, the total prize pool for all categories across the three grades was instantly filled with students' Private Points. The most significant increase and the largest amount were in the First Year, which received widespread attention, even surpassing the total amount of the second and third grades in just half a day.

"Since the news that the second year was controlled by Ya had already spread, no one was really making predictions about this area, but I was too—"

Perhaps because of her easygoing personality, or perhaps because she had gradually become familiar with Kitagawa Ryo, Asahina Nazuna didn't act like a senior in front of him. After taking a sip of the fruit drink Kitagawa Ryo had offered, she rested her chin on her hand and gave him an encouraging, bright smile.

"I've bet everything on Class B for Kitagawa-kun's individual events, so do your best!"

"Thank you for trusting me so much, senior."

"But how many students are actually betting on your First Year projects, or are all the freshmen holding onto a lot of Private Points? This prize pool is growing way too fast."

She couldn't help but glance at the betting information for each game, which was updated every half hour, and then showed the screen on her phone to Asahina Nazuna Kitagawa Ryo with a look of surprise:

"Look, the total prize pool for the first group of the First Year boys' 100-meter race has already exceeded two million... Although it's mostly concentrated on Hirata Yosuke, Ken Sudō, and Shibata Sō, it seems like some people are betting on Ishizaki Daichi and the others to pull off an upset. That's outrageous."

"After all, this is the first major match of the Sports Festival, and with top players from each class participating, it's natural that it's attracting a lot of attention."

Kitagawa Ryo was not surprised by the large influx of Private Points into their First Year prize pool. After all, the fact that Class 4 had made the entry form public did attract a lot of second and third-year students to try their luck. Moreover, Miyabi Nagumo had lent ten million Private Points to both Class 1-C and Class D of the first year.

If the students in Class D can still resist the temptation to place bets, then Class C are probably already throwing money around. All these factors combined have created the unprecedented level of attention this First Year students are receiving.

However, this is exactly the situation that the Leader of First Year class want to see, because only in this way can they find opportunities to achieve big results with small investments.

Thinking this, Kitagawa Ryo glanced at Asahina Nazuna's phone screen again. Just as everyone had expected, the most anticipated prediction in the First Year was still the winner of the overall score leader in the grade.

Compared to the three-way competition between Sudo, Hirata, and Shibata in the first group of the 100-meter race, the situation for the First Year top scorer was more diverse, with even the most favored scorer only accounting for about 25%.

However, this does not mean that only a quarter of the bettors believe he will win the top scorer title. This percentage simply represents the proportion of the Private Points placed on him within the total prize pool for this event.

For example, the total prize pool for the First Year top scorer is currently around five million. If Ryuen Kakeru were to bet five million of his own money now, his support percentage would immediately rise to fifty percent, instantly placing him at the top of the leaderboard.

"Compared to this, it seems like your second-year students are really lacking. It seems like only the second-year top scorer project has a lot of votes, and they're all for Senior Nagumo."

Kitagawa Ryo's seemingly casual remark immediately drew a sneer from Asahina Nazuna, who promptly launched into a sarcastic comment:

"There are a lot of people, but actually everyone is just symbolically betting the minimum of one thousand Private Points. It's less about betting and more about showing Ya that even the second-year students acknowledge him as the strongest... really."

"What about Senior Nagumo himself? He seems to have quite a few Private Points, you could even say he has the most in the whole school. I thought he would be the most generous and extravagant one in this contest."

"Ya does have a lot of Private Points, that's for sure. Although I don't know the exact number, it should be around thirty or forty million. However, he's a cautious person, and there aren't many good bets in the second year, so it's normal that he didn't participate."

Asahina Nazuna herself seemed a little helpless about this. She reached up and tucked a few strands of hair that had fallen beside her ear back behind her ear, took another sip of her fruit drink through the straw, and then continued:

"If he really wants to place bets, he'll probably only bet on the last two events: the mixed 1600-meter relay race and the overall top scorer for the entire grade."

"Is it because of Horikita-senpai's in the third year?"

"Hmm, Kitagawa-kun, you also know Horikita Manabu from Class 3-A? Oh, right, your girlfriend is his younger sister, isn't she?"

Asahina Nazuna spoke, a hint of a headache in her voice:

"Aya has always wanted to defeat Horikita-senpai, but since they are not in the same grade, they rarely have the opportunity to face each other directly. Taking over as Student Council President from him was originally a good thing, and I thought Aya would stop thinking about him after that. But these past two days, someone on the forum has been stirring up trouble."

"Hmm? Is there something going on in the forums? I've been reading posts in the Sports Festival section lately, so I haven't really paid attention."

Kitagawa Ryo had an innocent look on his face, but his tone was full of doubt and curiosity.

"Yeah, I don't know who's been posting things like, 'You've never beaten Horikita Manabu even once, how dare you become Student Council President?' 'I'm not optimistic about Miyabi Nagumo becoming Student Council President; the darkest day in the history of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School is coming.' ' Nagumo hasn't even become Student Council President yet and he's already being arrogant and loaning money to lower-grade students at exorbitant interest rates.' 'He can clearly manipulate the entire second-year competition, yet he pretends to let people vote for his own second-year top scorer; with such ability, why don't you let your dog bet on you to become the top scorer in the entire grade?' Miyabi has been quite annoyed by this lately."

"... I think some of what they said actually makes a lot of sense."

"As expected, Kitagawa-kun thinks so too."

Seemingly somewhat disappointed in her childhood friend's recent actions, Asahina Nazuna rested her chin on her hand and sighed:

"It was the exposure of that contract that made many students think that Aya dominated the second year through such tricks. But Aya herself is still very good, both academically and athletically. Even if the Sports Festival hadn't been manipulated, if it were a real competition, Aya should still be the top scorer in the second year."

"It's no use for Asahina-senpai to say that to me. It would be better to explain it to Asahina Nazuna Senior Nagumo to face. After all, if I can prove myself to the whole school and Horikita Manabu at the Sports Festival, I can take over the Student Council President position with more confidence, and it will be easier to carry out the work afterwards."

"That makes sense. I'll talk to Ya about it later."

After that topic ended, Kitagawa Ryo continued his act, chatting with Asahina Nazuna about many other everyday things.

It has to be said that deceiving this girl next door, who was a year older than him but had absolutely no guile, gave Kitagawa Ryo quite a subtle psychological feeling.

But thinking about it is one thing; the pit still has to be dug.

However, Kitagawa Ryo already had a vague feeling about it, or rather, he had already sensed it when he first saw this hastily launched guessing game.

The person actually responsible for digging the biggest hole for Miyabi Nagumo at this Sports Festival should have been the Acting Chairman.

Miyabi Nagumo probably never realized that the power he cherished so much— the Student Council positions he gave up to join, including the football club, as well as the vice president and president—was essentially just a share of the profits.

The Student Council of Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School holds a higher status than that of ordinary high schools. This is because the school has a unique set of operating rules that are different from those of other schools, including a financial system centered on Private Points and a competitive system centered on Class Points. The medium and method of operation for these rules is the regularly held Special Exam. The power of the Student Council comes precisely from their ability to make suggestions and amendments to the Special Exam and other school rules.

Miyabi Nagumo can find loopholes in this set of rules and exploit them with ease; the contract and the current situation of the second year are the best examples of this.

So much so that he forgot.

The power to make the rules does not actually lie with the Student Council, nor with him alone.

In Kitagawa Ryo's view, Acting Chairman Tsukishiro could even choose the most shameless option: simply overturning the table.

He just needs to refuse to acknowledge the contract terms regarding the Twenty Million Personal Points that Miyabi Nagumo lent out; after all, Class 1-C and Class D of the first year would be overjoyed to accept this fact.

Chapter 290: All-in Poker is an Art (4k5)

"Regarding the handover ceremony for the Student Council President, there are some things I'd like to discuss with you privately. Please proceed to the third floor of the Special Teaching Building immediately after receiving this message."

Just as Kitagawa Ryo and Asahina Nazuna were chatting and drinking, Miyabi Nagumo, who was handling daily affairs in the Student Council, suddenly received a text message from Tsukishiro, the Acting Chairman Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School.

Although the other party was only a temporary Acting Chairman, since it involved matters concerning the Student Council President that he was most concerned about during this period, Miyabi Nagumo immediately stood up from her seat, briefly explained something to the two deputy secretaries nearby, and then hurriedly rushed to the third floor of the Special Teaching Building.

During non-teaching periods, almost no one comes here on their own initiative, and today was no exception. The corridor was so quiet that Miyabi Nagumo could clearly hear the sound of her own footsteps.

"Nagumo -kun, right?"

Just as he stepped into the third-floor corridor, a man in a suit appeared in front of Miyabi Nagumo.

"Hello, I am Tsukishiro, temporarily serving as the acting Chairman of the school's board of directors."

As Tsukishiro greeted her, he very politely extended his hand to Miyabi Nagumo. Although he should only be in his forties, his smiling expression easily evoked the adjective 'amiable'.

"Hello, I am Miyabi Nagumo, the vice president of the Student Council Chairman Tsukishiro asked me to come here today because--"

Since the other party had only just taken office this semester, Miyabi Nagumo had only met Tsukishiro once at the opening ceremony, her tone was quite cautious. She even suppressed her Tsukishiro's right hand, showing great respect.