Before Summer Vacation

"Classmate Sawahara, you really are quite ruthless." Sakayanagi reined in her emotions; she wasn't actually surprised by this outcome. "Even for a frail girl like me, you refuse to yield the initiative?"

"A frail girl?"

Though she certainly looked delicate, could a girl whose aggression rivaled a tyrannosaurus really be considered frail?

"I want Classmate Sawahara to crush Katsuragi in the next special exam." Since Sawahara refused to yield the initiative, she had no choice but to bring it up herself.

Sawahara had already guessed this objective; it was clear that Sakayanagi no longer intended to maintain the current fractured state of Class A.

"And what's in it for me?" Sawahara asked.

"Victory in the next special exam."

"That was already something that belonged to our class to begin with," Sawahara said, shaking his head. "You can't just get a free ride, Classmate Sakayanagi."

"Hmph, it's clearly you who is being too greedy, Classmate Sawahara." Sakayanagi pouted slightly, which actually made her look rather cute.

"Since we've finished discussing matters, I won't disturb you any further." Sawahara knew that saying anything more would be meaningless; the other party had already achieved her goal.

"The swimming pool?"

After school in the afternoon, Manabu Horikita had summoned the Student Council members to the school's swimming pool.

There were two pools at the Advanced Nurturing High School: one indoor pool used for classes, and this other swimming pool that only opened during the summer.

"Yes, since summer has arrived, the school swimming pool will be opening starting next week," Manabu Horikita explained, pushing up his glasses. "So, we need to get the pool cleaned up this week."

Such work naturally fell upon the shoulders of the Student Council members.

"Nagumo is responsible for duty today, Kiriyama is in charge of inspecting the facilities in the men's locker room, and Tachibana is in charge of checking the facilities in the women's locker room.

Sawahara, you will clean the pool with me."

"Understood."

After Manabu Horikita finished assigning the tasks, everyone went to complete their work according to his instructions. Sawahara looked at the massive pool and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

"President, may I call some other people over to help?"

"Work is also a form of discipline." The president rejected Sawahara's proposal. The president did not approve of Sawahara's attempt to use his status as a leader to shirk work.

"The president is as strict as ever." Sawahara sighed, but didn't say anything more, picking up the mop in his hand and working diligently.

Cleaning the pool took two days, as it was a large pool meant to accommodate students from all three grades. However, because Sawahara was on duty on Friday, he wasn't there.

Later, he heard from Tachibana that Nagumo had brought over a dozen people from the second year to help clean the pool; otherwise, they would have had to spend another half-day cleaning on Saturday.

"It seems Senior Nagumo's discipline is not quite up to par."

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was July. Because the final exams were approaching, even though the school pool had opened, not many people actually went there to play.

Especially for Class D of the first year, having experienced the previous painful ordeal, no one dared to neglect their studies.

"If only we could still buy the answers, we'd have time to go play at the pool," Yamauchi had complained, reminding many in the class of unpleasant memories.

Even without such painful memories, they didn't have a single cent to their names, so they had no ability to purchase past exam papers.

Class C had a study group organized in conjunction with Class B, so they had no need for past papers. Class A possessed enough strength on its own, making it even less likely for them to purchase past papers.

Therefore, the past papers were stagnant, help us... ahem, the seniors who had hoped to earn points through past papers were destined to be disappointed.

"You all performed well on this final exam; everyone passed successfully, and no one failed."

Similar words echoed simultaneously in every class of the first year.

After this exam, the points for each class changed slightly once again.

A: 1090

B: 840

C: 730

D: 120

Class D's Class Points had finally reached triple digits, yet they didn't feel happy; instead, they felt quite miserable, as the gains from these Class Points all belonged to Ryuen of Class C.

"It looks like the next special exam will take place on this luxury cruise trip."

After announcing the grades, Teacher Sakagami brought up this matter. Next, all first-year students would participate in a two-week luxury cruise. It was obvious, given the nature of this school, that this trip would definitely not be simple.

"Just as Sawahara-kun guessed earlier." Shiina put down the book in her hand.

This form of address had only been changed recently; because she had heard Ichinose call him that, she had changed her own address as well, as if they were competing.

"However, even though there is an exam, we should still relax properly when it's time to relax. There's no need for others in the class to know about the exam," Sawahara said to the few people in front of him. After all, even if they needed to think of countermeasures for the exam, only the people in front of him would be useful.

"For this exam, the Sakayanagi faction of Class A is going to launch an attack on the Katsuragi faction."

"Ho, it looks like this exam is going to be a bit boring." Two classes had effectively withdrawn from the competition, Ryuen felt slightly disappointed.

"But it will be easier to win."

"Hmm, regarding the room assignments, Kaneda, Ryuen, you two will share a room with me so it will be easier to communicate later." Sawahara said, finalizing the room assignments on the cruise ship.

"Fine."

"Agreed."

Ryuen and the other didn't think twice and agreed immediately.

Sawahara let out a sigh of relief; at least now, everyone staying in the same room as him would be people he knew.

"Be a little careful during this summer vacation trip."

Before the summer break, during the final Student Council meeting, the president specifically asked Sawahara to stay behind and said these words.

Sawahara was somewhat surprised. "President, wouldn't this count as leaking the test questions?"

"It wouldn't." The president shook his head. "After all, every batch of freshmen has to face this; it's something you can find out just by asking the upperclassmen.

Besides, hadn't you already guessed it before?"

Sawahara nodded, then thought of another matter. "Has the president mentioned this to his younger sister?"

"...No." The president was silent for a moment before giving his answer. "I cannot get too close to her."

"It seems Vice President Nagumo has put quite a bit of pressure on you, President." Sawahara quickly understood where the crux of the problem lay. Previously, Nagumo had used Class B of the Third Year to attack the president's class, trying to provoke Manabu Horikita into a showdown. It was hard to guarantee he wouldn't use the same methods against Horikita Suzune.

"I will give her a heads-up, though there isn't much of a chance for their class in this exam anyway." Sawahara had already understood the reason the president asked him to stay, so he gave his assurance.

"Thank you."