Special Exam 2

The second basketball game began.

Sudo looked full of fighting spirit, slapping his thighs hard as he shouted, "You idiots from Class C! Watch me crush you all!"

"Oh?" Ryuen and Ishizaki exchanged a surprised look as they watched Sudo.

Ishizaki pointed at his own temple and asked in confusion, "Has this Sudo gone crazy? Did he break his brain?"

Ryuen watched the energetic Sudo with some doubt in his heart, but he still remarked:

"That guy is always like this, jumping around like a pesky little bug."

"Serve!" The PE teacher tossed the basketball high into the air, and Sudo, relying on his superior jumping ability, snatched the ball directly.

"I have to admit, this red-haired brat has excellent physical fitness," Ishizaki said helplessly as he watched the smug-looking Sudo.

Ryuen stood under the basket and simply watched:

"It doesn't matter. A basketball game isn't a special exam, so what if we let him have this? Our target isn't him anyway."

With that, Ryuen's gaze swept over to Hirata on the court.

"Hahaha, I got the ball!" Sudo dribbled arrogantly, looking as punchable as humanly possible.

However, Sudo could clearly feel that there were very few people defending him.

[Huh? What's going on?]

He didn't dwell on it, though, simply enjoying the pleasure of charging through the court, essentially unstoppable.

This made Yamauchi Haruki, who was watching from the sidelines, stop eating his potato chips: "Wait, how did Sudo get so strong?"

Ike Kanji was also shocked: "Did Sudo... take drugs?!"

The other girls were also puzzled.

Shinohara asked suspiciously, "Why does Class C look less impressive than they did in the last match?"

Karuizawa Kei looked at Sudo on the court and offered a reluctant explanation: "Maybe it's because Class C exhausted too much stamina in the previous match? That's why this is happening, right?"

The girls didn't care much for Sudo to begin with, so even though he was suppressing Class C, they had no desire to praise him.

A few minutes later, Class C was thoroughly defeated, and Sudo had miraculously become the MVP!

Sudo stood with his hands on his hips and let out a roar toward the sky, not forgetting to glance triumphantly at Kiyotaka Ayanokoji in the distance.

[Look at that, Ayanokoji. I didn't use your methods, and I still beat Class C fair and square! I wouldn't stoop to using those dirty tricks!]

Ryuen watched the posturing Sudo on the court with a slight upturn of his lips, waving his hand at Ishizaki and saying, "Go, bring that red-haired kid over here."

Ishizaki sneered as well, waving his hand to signal Komiya and the others to follow.

Just as Sudo was cheering, Ishizaki walked up and suddenly threw an arm around his shoulder.

"Huh? What do you want?" Sudo wasn't afraid, frowning as he asked.

Ishizaki leaned into Sudo's ear and whispered, "Ryuen wants to have a chat with you. Come with us."

"Ryuen? What does he want to talk about?" Sudo asked, looking confused.

"Heh heh, it's about the apology, of course," Komiya said in a low voice.

"The apology?" Sudo's mouth twisted into a smirk. He sneered, "Realized how strong I am now? Want to apologize to me?"

Seeing Komiya give a wink, Ishizaki nodded and said, "Yeah, we're ready to apologize."

"Hmph, then I'll give you this chance. Let's go!"

With that, Sudo walked toward Ryuen with a smile, while Ishizaki kept his arm draped over his shoulder.

In the distance, Shinohara was chatting idly with Karuizawa when she suddenly saw Sudo walking toward Ryuen, beaming and arm-in-arm with Ishizaki.

Shinohara tapped Karuizawa's clothes and pointed in Sudo's direction: "Kei, look over there!"

"What is it?"

Karuizawa looked in the direction Shinohara was pointing and saw Sudo with Ryuen's arm around his shoulder, seemingly talking about something, though Sudo's expression looked vaguely confused.

"Hey, Kei, what do you think Sudo went over there for? Isn't his relationship with Class C terrible?" Shinohara leaned in, asking with a gossipy tone.

"How would I know?" Karuizawa didn't care at all. She quickly turned her head and said, "Forget about him, I'm going to take water to Hirata."

Saying this, she took a bottle of water from the plastic bag on the ground and walked toward Hirata.

Seeing her friend leave, Shinohara sighed.

She pouted as she watched Hirata and Karuizawa looking like a couple, and with a hint of jealousy, she muttered to herself, "When will it be my turn?"

On the other side, Sudo was very confused.

He scratched the back of his head, unable to understand.

[Isn't Ryuen supposed to be apologizing to me? Why isn't he saying anything?]

After thinking for a long time without success, he simply gave up. He walked up to Ike Kanji and slapped him hard on the shoulder: "Kanji, did I look cool on the court just now?"

Ike Kanji felt some pain from the heavy slap and pushed Sudo's hand away:

"Sudo, take it easy, will you? I was cheering for you, but all those girls were cheering for Hirata. As for how cool you were..."

Ike Kanji rubbed his chin, then curled the corner of his mouth: "Ahem, at least a third of mine."

"What? Are you really that narcissistic, man?" Sudo was very dissatisfied, but since Ike Kanji had just cheered him on, he couldn't really lash out.

"Geez, stop talking about that already." Yamauchi tossed his empty potato chip bag onto the ground, squinting his eyes as he rubbed his hands together:

"Instead of that, the girls have a tennis match too. We should go find some front-row seats to watch."

"Damn, Yamauchi, are you really that sleazy?" Ike Kanji curled his lip, putting on the air of a gentleman.

"Alright, stop lecturing me." Yamauchi said, throwing his arms around Sudo and Ike Kanji's shoulders: "Let's go, let's go, let's hurry up and grab some seats!"

Arriving at the tennis courts, the girls had all changed into their tennis outfits.

Short sleeves with skirts, dresses, tank tops, and more—the tennis attire was quite varied.

This left the boys dazzled and overwhelmed.

Sudo stretched his neck, seemingly searching for someone.

"Hey, Sudo, isn't all this enough for you to look at? Who are you looking for?" Yamauchi said, speechless.

"Ahem!" Sudo blushed, then lowered his head and whispered: "Say... how come I don't see Horikita?"

"Whoa!" Ike Kanji acted as if he had just heard some juicy gossip, saying in disbelief: "Sudo, you don't actually like Horikita, do you? Even though she's pretty, aren't you two mortal enemies?"

Sudo said sheepishly: "I don't know either, but I just have this inexplicable feeling in my heart."

Yamauchi's eyes lit up at this moment, and he pointed at Sudo, scanning his body in disbelief: "Sudo, you... you aren't a masochist, are you?"

"What?! How could I, the great me, be that!"

At this moment, on the other side, Horikita Suzune was sitting in a shaded corner of the playground reading a book, with the bustling crowd in the distance.

Just then, as she was focused on her book, she suddenly felt a chill on the back of her neck as something cold slipped directly into the collar of her shirt and down her back.

Ice cold!

Horikita Suzune shuddered, then quickly turned around to see Horikita Etsuka crouching behind her with a smile on his face.

"Sis~ aren't you hot reading here? I'm just here to help you cool off."