Factions

Ignoring Suzuki Tsubame's bewildered expression, Sakayanagi Narimori continued:

"There are three political factions in this country. The first consists of the various families that support Prime Minister Kijima's faction. Our Sakayanagi family is one of them."

"The second is the family faction led by the Koenji Family. They lean more toward the White Eagle. Your classmate, Rokusuke Koenji, is the Koenji Conglomerate's only son."

So that was it. The original story seemed to mention that Koenji had come to Advanced Nurturing because he wanted to secure his family's cooperation with Prime Minister Kijima.

No wonder he had blond hair. Suzuki Tsubame had thought he dyed it on purpose.

But thinking about it carefully... that guy went around every day saying, "I'm so beautiful." He was so narcissistic that he completely didn't seem like the type to dye his hair.

It was probably because his family had intermarried with the White Eagle.

"The last one, naturally, is the Oriental Family."

"We don't know much about the Oriental Family either. We only know that they seem to come from Dragon Country, and that they only began showing their fangs in recent years."

"They even once forced the Koenji faction to cooperate with the Kijima faction."

Suzuki Tsubame only half understood. Simply put, the Kijima faction supported by Sakayanagi and Ayanokoji consisted of locals from this island nation.

The people backing the Koenji Family, meanwhile, were from the White Eagle.

The Oriental Family was backed by people from Dragon Country.

Just how extensive is the Oriental Family's sphere of influence? I'm not going to get assassinated, am I?

Suzuki Tsubame's thoughts were in turmoil. He had no desire to get dragged into factional struggles for no reason.

As if seeing through Suzuki Tsubame's worries, Chairman Sakayanagi smiled faintly.

"Student Suzuki, there is no need to worry. The current head of the Oriental Family is still in good health. Even if they wanted to target you, they would have to wait another thirty years."

All right, looks like I don't need to worry over nothing.

The meal was fairly pleasant. The holes the system had failed to fill were answered by Chairman Sakayanagi instead. It also let Suzuki Tsubame understand just how powerful the Oriental Family truly was.

After finishing their meal.

The two headed toward the School Building.

After all, they still had classes in the afternoon. As model students, they could not skip them.

"Suzuki, do you think the original purpose behind my father founding this school... was correct?"

As they walked, Sakayanagi suddenly turned her head and threw him that question.

Was the chairman's original intention in founding the school... correct?

If Suzuki Tsubame were to answer, then of course it was wrong.

Advanced Nurturing and the White Room were not fundamentally all that different.

If not for the birth of his daughter, Sakayanagi Arisu, Sakayanagi Narimori would probably have been just like Ayanokoji Atsuomi.

He would stop at nothing for his political career.

Moreover, both had been born against the backdrop of the island nation's economic bubble era.

At that time, the island nation had no one to carry on after the older generation, and talent had withered away. They needed fresh blood to replenish it.

But things were different now.

Society had long since stabilized.

What they needed was neither ambitious politicians nor profit-driven entrepreneurs...

But having Suzuki Tsubame directly say that her father's ideals were wrong.

That was obviously not possible.

Sakayanagi's question might have been one her father asked her to pass along.

More importantly, unless something unexpected happened, he still had to stay here for three years.

After thinking for a long time, Suzuki Tsubame gave his answer.

"Chairman Sakayanagi's original purpose in building this school was simply to select talent. There is no right or wrong in that."

"But the strength-above-all ideology implemented by Advanced Nurturing has strayed somewhat from that purpose."

"The students focus on the grades in front of them while neglecting their own long-term development."

"There are also questions about fairness. Not every teacher is as fair and impartial as Mashima-sensei from Class A."

"And the students themselves vary greatly in quality. Some people are naturally more vigilant, so their elimination rate is naturally lower. But that does not mean such people are smarter than everyone else."

Sakayanagi nodded. Indeed... when it came to vigilance, there was probably no one in this school who could compare to the guy before her.

That person... probably could not either.

But Suzuki Tsubame's latter statement was somewhat wrong. Smarter people were naturally more vigilant. If someone did not possess even a little vigilance, then that person could not be considered particularly intelligent.

"Finally... and most importantly, in order to avoid elimination, students reduce information sharing and even engage in vicious competition. They develop selfish, self-serving personalities."

"Mm... looking at it from every angle, Chairman Sakayanagi's original purpose in building the school may not have been wrong, but the finer details still need to be corrected."

Suzuki Tsubame's final remark was clearly meant to give the chairman an out. After all, his real purpose in establishing the academy had been to rival the White Room.

Sakayanagi caught that as well, and she let out a soft laugh.

"Oh my~ Could it be that Suzuki is worried... I'll tell my father everything you said?"

Suzuki Tsubame scratched his head awkwardly. After all, this was her father's territory.

He was not being cowardly. He was simply following his heart a little.

"All right, your concern is actually correct. My father did indeed ask me to pose this question."

Just as I thought...

Sakayanagi's smile faded, and she said seriously:

"My father thinks very highly of the Oriental Family. Years ago, because of my health, he took me through countless countries, yet he was always helpless against it."

"And yet yesterday, the illness that had once left my father completely helpless was thoroughly eradicated by a single vial of reagent from Suzuki."

"Even my constitution seems to have become much stronger."

Chairman Sakayanagi's regard was not without reason.

If the Oriental Family, or even Dragon Country, had already developed such an Enhancement Serum without any side effects, then no one could say how many top talents it could attract.

Just look at Hawking... all for the sake of prolonging his life...

Unfortunately... that was obviously impossible. Aside from the system, even the White Eagle's most cutting-edge biological experiments came with a mountain of side effects.

They did not care how many lab rats they lost. Did he really think child protection laws were meant to protect children?

"Well, Her Highness... it looks like we're almost at the School Building."

The two walked, stopping and starting along the way.

After regaining her health, Sakayanagi had indeed become much livelier.

Suzuki Tsubame could tell that she was now far more curious about everything around her, like a bird that had escaped its cage.

"My~ Could it be that Suzuki is reluctant to part with me?"

"How about it? Would you consider transferring to our Class A? Class A will pay the transfer fee."

Sakayanagi's face was full of smiles. Trading twenty million for Suzuki Tsubame was a bargain no matter how she looked at it.

"Mm... that does sound rather tempting at first."

Stroking a nonexistent beard, Suzuki Tsubame put on a thoughtful expression.

Seeing that there was a chance, Sakayanagi immediately added:

"Our Class A has plenty of cute girls too. Kamuro, Morishita, and Yamamura are all very cute."

"Oh? Now that Her Highness puts it that way, I want to transfer even more. After all, some of the idiots in Class D really do make me lose my appetite."

"Right? After all... the current Class D is publicly recognized as the worst class in history."