The Supremacy Classroom Backed by Black Technology Chapter 11

"Students confident in their own abilities are welcome to apply. We will conduct a thorough investigation to determine if you are fit to serve as a member of the Student Council," Horikita Manabu continued, his expression unchanging. "There are no special requirements for applicants, but please refrain from joining other clubs. In principle, those who wish to join both the Student Council and another club will not be accepted."

Although his tone was relatively gentle, it made the atmosphere in Gymnasium 1 incredibly tense. His presence alone was enough to silence the hundred-plus people in the audience.

This ability to command a situation spoke volumes; he was a natural leader, an unquestionable superior.

Impressive!

This was the first time Shuichi Kanda had seen someone like this at this school. Just as that long-haired redhead had said earlier, was this the man standing at the very pinnacle of this school!?

Looking at Horikita Suzune in front of him, the corners of Shuichi Kanda's mouth curled up slightly. "Same surname, yet the difference between them is night and day."

Hearing this, Horikita Suzune's body shuddered, but surprisingly, she did not refute Shuichi Kanda.

"Finally, the Student Council does not desire those who harbor naive ideas about running for office. Such people, let alone being elected, would likely leave a stain on this school. The Student Council of this school is entrusted by the administration with the right and mission to amend regulations, and as such, we are held to high expectations. We only welcome those who can grasp the weight of this responsibility."

With Horikita Manabu's speech concluded, the moderator, Tachibana-senpai, hurriedly took the stage to deliver the closing remarks.

"Thank you all for your hard work. This concludes the orientation. We will now begin accepting club applications. Additionally, since the application period will run until the end of April, students who wish to apply later may take their application forms directly to the club they wish to join."

Tachibana-senpai's words eased the tension that had filled Gymnasium 1. With a superior like that, surely Tachibana-senpai must also...

No, perhaps it was precisely because of such a superior that the Student Council had a secretary like Tachibana-senpai?

After the Student Council secretary finished her summary, the representatives of each club began accepting applications from the students.

Shuichi Kanda and Akito Miyake, who had originally planned to wait until the crowd thinned out, suddenly realized that not many people were actually joining clubs.

It was understandable; the school's population was quite small, consisting of only four classes. Compared to a typical school with dozens of classes, it was quite sparse.

Moreover, the school's system was unique. Aside from club activities, there were other ways to find entertainment, so unless a student had a genuine interest, they rarely took the initiative to join a club.

Consequently, the current situation was that the Archery Club captain, Hashigaki-senpai, had only two girls standing in front of her, seemingly inquiring about joining.

Since that was the case, there was no need to wait; they could just head over.

Seeing Akito Miyake and Shuichi Kanda approach, a hint of joy clearly appeared on Hashigaki-senpai's face. When they had set out today, Club President Sato had specifically mentioned that a boy with exceptional talent would definitely come to join the Archery Club.

Based on Club President Sato's description, it had to be the boy with the short, choppy hair.

After Shuichi Kanda and Akito Miyake drew near, Hashigaki-senpai immediately stopped explaining to the girls and turned her gaze toward the two of them.

"May I ask which one of you is Miyake-kun?"

Although she asked this, her eyes didn't look at Shuichi Kanda at all.

Facing Hashigaki-senpai's burning gaze, Akito Miyake raised his hand. "Uh, that's me."

This scene made Akito Miyake feel a bit awkward. He didn't like being the center of attention in a way that left others sidelined just because of him.

Besides, Senpai, is it really okay for you to leave those two potential recruits hanging just to focus on me?

Put yourself in their shoes: if you applied to join the Archery Club, only for the person in charge to abandon you to warmly welcome someone else—especially when you were there first—what kind of experience would that be?

Although Akito Miyake didn't care much about the opinions of others, no one wanted to be on the receiving end of a sour look. If those girls joined the club as well, it would likely mean they were destined to be rivals from this moment on.

All in all, the moment Akito Miyake met Hashigaki-senpai, he felt she wasn't very good at reading the room. Simply put, her emotional intelligence was low. How could Sato-senpai let someone like her handle club recruitment?

However, the situation Akito Miyake feared did not come to pass. The girls who had been waiting there were also looking at the visibly awkward Akito Miyake with curiosity.

They had just heard that the Archery Club would be gaining a powerful newcomer this year—was it this person?

"Hello, Miyake-kun. I'm Asano Kyoko from Class 1-A, and this is my classmate, Nishida Miho." Seemingly sensing Akito Miyake's distress, the tall, flat-chested girl named Asano Kyoko immediately introduced herself to him, while also including her companion, Nishida Miho.

"Hello."

Compared to Asano Kyoko, Nishida Miho was much more introverted.

"Hello, I'm Akito Miyake from Class 1-D, and this is my friend from the same class, Shuichi Kanda."

Upon hearing Akito Miyake's introduction, especially the mention of Class D, Asano Kyoko didn't react, but a strange look flashed in Nishida Miho's eyes.

Shuichi Kanda did not miss that flicker of strangeness.

Does Class A also know about the hierarchy between the classes? And this girl doesn't seem like the leader of Class A, which means the leader of Class A must have shared this information with everyone in the class and convinced them of it.

If that's the case, Class D is already at a huge disadvantage right from the start. Hirata-kun, you'll need to step it up.

After Akito Miyake's brief introduction, Shuichi Kanda nodded slightly at them. "Hello, I'm Shuichi Kanda."

Seeing the two groups introduce themselves in a friendly manner, Hashigaki-senpai immediately crossed her arms. "The Archery Club is gaining four new members all at once this year. This is truly wonderful."

Glancing at the excited Hashigaki-senpai, Shuichi Kanda said nothing to dampen the mood.

Chapter 20: A Smile on Shuichi Kanda's Lips

In the end, Shuichi Kanda chose to join the Archery Club, though he clarified that he would not participate in daily training and would only be responsible for maintaining the equipment. Hashigaki-senpai agreed immediately.

The reason was simple: the activity budget for clubs at this school was determined by the number of members. Therefore, they would recruit even "ghost members," provided they didn't cause trouble under the club's name.

Not to mention a valuable asset like Shuichi Kanda, who was willing to handle logistics. This approach perfectly validated the old saying: to win a war, logistics are paramount!

The Archery Club's activity area was at the far west end of the school's athletic field, where a large open space served as their range.

As a long-standing club that had existed since the school's founding, the Archery Club might not have been overflowing with members, but their skill was beyond doubt.

After touring the club's activities, Akito Miyake and Shuichi Kanda prepared to head back, as formal club activities would begin tomorrow. By then, the bow and arrows Akito Miyake had purchased would also be delivered to the club.

Shuichi Kanda had originally planned to visit the supermarket after the club orientation to buy a set of cooking utensils, so not having to participate in daily club activities was a huge help.

After packing up a set of cookware and tableware, Shuichi Kanda chose to have the clerk deliver them directly to the dormitory; he had no intention of carrying so many things himself.

Since the cooking equipment was settled, the next step was the ingredients.

Well, to celebrate becoming a new student, it had to be meat, right!

Looking at the dazzling array of goods before him, Shuichi Kanda felt a bit moved. For a mere small supermarket, the selection was surprisingly complete—it was truly arrogant!

"Miyake, how about braised pork belly for today?"

"That works, but didn't you just have beef for lunch today? If you eat meat twice in one day, will your points be okay?"

"It's fine, it's fine, don't worry about it."

As he spoke, Kanda picked up a box of fresh pork belly and handed it to Miyake. According to the label, it was 500g, which should be just about right for two people once other side dishes were added.

"I'll leave this with you for now. I'm going over there to buy a bottle of cooking wine; could you help me pick up some eggs?"

Seeing Shuichi Kanda so motivated, Miyake found it hard to refuse. He took the pork belly from Kanda, gathered the seasonings they had already picked out—such as green onions, ginger, garlic, and various spices—and headed toward the egg aisle.

Meanwhile, Kanda headed in the opposite direction toward the beverage section.

He had assumed cooking wine would be in the seasoning aisle, but after searching for a long time without success, he asked a clerk and learned that this item was actually categorized under beverages. How strange.

Cooking wine, cooking wine...

Shuichi Kanda muttered the item he needed to himself while walking toward the beverage section, where he spotted a girl with long purple hair tied in a side ponytail, looking around shiftily.

What is this person doing? Students shouldn't have purchasing authorization for the items over there, right?

The legal drinking age in Japan is twenty, so while the supermarket sold alcohol, they generally wouldn't sell it to students. Was this person planning to shoplift?

Although he couldn't see her face, both her skin and figure were top-tier. He hadn't expected her to do something like this; it was quite interesting. Should he do something?

At this thought, a smile tugged at the corner of Shuichi Kanda's mouth. He stepped back slightly, moving into a blind spot in the girl's line of sight.

He then took out his phone, opened the camera, and waited for that crucial moment.

"Click!"

The instant the girl picked up a small can of beer and tried to hide it, Shuichi Kanda pressed the shutter on his phone's built-in camera.

The sound of the shutter startled the girl, and it startled Shuichi Kanda as well.

I clearly set it to silent mode; why did it still make a sound when I took the photo?

Clang!

The canned beer fell to the floor and rolled slowly to Shuichi Kanda's feet.

Immediately after, Shuichi Kanda saw the girl's panicked and furious face as she began to walk quickly toward him.

"What's wrong, Kanda!"

Nice! Good Timing!

What perfect timing! Akito!

The dull thud of the can hitting the floor had brought Miyake running over immediately. Since Shuichi Kanda was in poor health, Miyake had finished picking out the eggs quickly and rushed over.

Seeing Miyake arrive, the purple-haired girl stopped in her tracks.

If it had just been Kanda alone, she might have been able to snatch the phone and delete the photo. In her eyes, the pale and frail-looking Kanda was just a weakling.

But now, another guy who looked like a real handful had arrived. This was bad.

If this incident blew up...

She didn't even want to think about the consequences.

What should she do? Would he tell anyone?

She looked at Shuichi Kanda, feeling nervous.

"Nothing, I was just curious about this thing and lost my grip on it," Kanda said, sliding his phone into his inner jacket pocket before bending down to pick up the canned beer.

Watching Kanda, Miyake looked speechless. "You aren't actually thinking of drinking, are you? That's not exactly a good thing, you know."

"Oh? Don't tell me you've tried it, Akito?"

"Don't joke around, I'm not even twenty yet."

Shuichi Kanda joked as he placed the beer on a nearby shelf, then picked up the cooking wine and left the beverage section with Miyake.

As for the girl, Shuichi Kanda didn't pay her any more attention; it was better if Miyake didn't know about such things.

At the checkout counter, after clarifying the use of the cooking wine, the clerk processed the purchase.

Back at the dormitory, the set of cookware and tableware he had ordered earlier had already arrived. One could only say that money makes the mare go; the efficiency after paying the delivery fee was truly high.

After prepping the ingredients, Shuichi Kanda skillfully began the process.

He boiled the eggs, blanched the meat, cooked the rice, and then started caramelizing the sugar to braise the pork.

Now, all that was left was to wait a few dozen minutes for the slow simmer, and they would have delicious braised pork!

And so, an hour later.

"Itadakimasu!" *2

"Delicious! Truly delicious!" After putting a piece of freshly cooked braised pork into his mouth, Miyake immediately shouted, "At this level, you could easily open a restaurant! Shuichi, is your family in the restaurant business?"

"You're exaggerating, Akito. This is just a hobby."

Shuichi Kanda also picked up a piece of meat and put it into his mouth.

Hmm, a bit too sweet. I'll skip the caramelized sugar next time and just use cola instead; it'll save some effort.

"If only we always had enough points, then we could eat this every single day."

"Cooking for yourself is cheaper than eating at the cafeteria, so even if you eat it every day, the average cost per meal is less than 500 points. After all, water and gas are free."

"Really? Put that way, the prices actually seem quite cheap."

That was true, and it was one of the strange things about the school; even though the cafeteria food was expensive, the raw ingredients were sold quite cheaply.

"I saw you spend several thousand points just a moment ago."

"That was mostly due to the seasonings. You don't use all of those at once, so I can use them again later."

Miyake nodded. "That's true, but I'll have to participate in club activities often, so I might not get the chance to eat this very often."

"Don't worry, I'll make it when I have time. Besides, I saw that there seems to be a kitchen over at the club. Maybe one day we can use the Archery Club's budget to eat something good."

"There's something like that? I didn't even notice."

Chapter 21: I'm rich, I'm rich, I don't even know how to spend it

After sending Miyake off to wash the dishes, Shuichi Kanda sat at his desk and began to organize the day's events—in short, he was writing in his diary.

Weather: Sunny. Date: April 2nd.