You En's Suggestion

Saturday night.

Kyudo Club dojo.

"Not bad."

Senior Qiao Heng praised him, wiping the sweat from You En's forehead.

You En collapsed directly onto the wooden floor. After this period of training, his practice targets had upgraded from fixed to moving ones.

Beyond that, he'd also asked his senior how to craft his own bow.

Not only did she teach him, but when she saw he planned to make his own traps, she even provided plenty of materials for practice.

Under hard training, two of You En's skills had initially reached the proficient level:

"Archery (lv0→lv1, Proficient)"

"Trap Making (lv0→lv1, Proficient)"

"Want to just stay the night here?"

Qiao Heng bent down and asked.

You En panted, regulating his breath.

"No need."

He actually wanted to get intimate with his senior—that was only human nature. After all, with such a thoughtful and handsome senior dropping hints at him left and right, who could refuse?

But their relationship hadn't reached that point yet. She was mostly just joking, similar to Kushida Kikyo—don't take it lightly, or it might ruin the warming bond between them.

Still, Kushida was just a girl.

You En preferred more mature women. Not just in terms of physical age, but women whose hearts had matured—those were the ones he could accept, like his senior.

That was a small principle of his.

"Ibuki: "Come out.""

"You En: "Coming.""

"Ibuki: "The small grove east of the plaza.""

"You En: "Right now!""

You En got up and changed clothes, ready to clean up the space with his senior.

But Qiao Heng waved her hand.

"Someone's calling you, right? Go on."

You En took his leave from his senior and arrived at the east side of the school plaza.

A girl with short blue hair stood under the streetlamp.

Ibuki grabbed his arm.

"Follow me."

The two walked into the small grove. Calling it a grove, it was really just a park—since few people came here, it was a frequent spot for student couples to rendezvous.

You En looked at the girl before him and the quiet surroundings, feeling quite at ease.

"There's no one around here, so it's perfect for me to take your measurements."

Ibuki patted his shoulder.

You En asked, "What measurements?"

"Measurements for armor."

Ibuki glanced at his lower half and shot him a glare.

"What else did you think?"

You En watched as she used a soft tape to measure various parts of him.

"What kind of armor are you planning to make?"

Ibuki kept measuring, and only when she got hands-on did she realize how good his physique really was.

"Leather armor. I got some decent materials from a craftsman."

"Are you really going to fight bare-handed?"

You En asked. They'd chatted on their phones these past few days, and she didn't seem to plan on using any weapons.

"What else? This is what I'm best at. If I tried to learn something new on the fly, it wouldn't be half as useful."

Ibuki crouched to continue measuring, her fluffy short hair like blue dog ears.

"Besides, aren't you using a bow? Someone needs to tie them down up close. Let me protect you."

You En looked down at her crouching before him and spoke.

"...I just thought of something very rude."

"I know exactly what you're thinking right now!"

Ibuki looked up and shot him a glare. Whether it was bow hunting or knife hunting, you always needed hounds to assist—the hunter was usually just there to keep things in check on the sidelines.

"You're treating me like a hunting dog, aren't you!"

You En looked at the cute canine-like girl in front of him and decisively shook his head.

"No."

"I won't bother arguing with you."

Ibuki finished taking her measurements and stood up.

"Let's practice tomorrow. Morning or afternoon?"

"Evening... Morning and afternoon are packed."

You En thought for a moment. Tomorrow morning, he had to exchange teaching experience with Ichinose and the others. Since the four girls on his side had shown particularly good results in their grades, the other group leaders from Class B all wanted to meet him and learn something.

In the afternoon, he had to teach Ando Sayo, Tsube Hitomi, and the others. Since it was paid work, he couldn't put it off.

Ibuki clicked her tongue in disgust. "Womanizer. Fine, evening it is."

"They're all legitimate business."

You En explained.

Only then did Ibuki's expression soften. "I thought you were going on dates with the girls in your class. Since it's part-time work for points, I'll let it slide."

You En said innocently, "There aren't that many dates. Only today, with you and me, could really be called a date."

"Huh..."

Ibuki's reaction was a bit strong. "You... what are you saying?"

"Nothing, just said it offhand."

You En waved his hand, ready to bolt after stirring things up.

"I'm heading back. See you tomorrow evening."

"...Jerk!"

Ibuki cursed first, then looked at his aggrieved expression and laughed.

"See you tomorrow. But meeting you is also legitimate business, not a date. If you want to date me... you're not good enough yet. Come talk to me when you can beat me."

"Then it's a promise?"

You En raised an eyebrow.

"Of course..."

Ibuki Mio instinctively agreed at his provocative look, but then remembered that this was how they'd first met—through a bet—and she'd lost pretty badly...

"I only said I'd consider it."

She stepped up to You En's chest, tilted her head up to look at him, and said competitively:

"Even if you can beat me someday, that doesn't mean I can't win it back later."

You En smiled, his tone confident, as if stating a fact:

"If I win once, there won't be another chance."

Ibuki Mio's breath caught. She pressed her left hand to her chest.

"If that's really the case, then I'll let you do whatever you want."

You En blinked. "Then it's settled?"

Ibuki felt that he carried the same conviction as she did, but with a confidence she couldn't match—one that even made her feel a little admiration.

Thinking back to the little moments in class, many times she couldn't keep up, and he found ways to teach her step by step. With that kind of learning ability, it wouldn't be strange for him to surpass her.

Ibuki extended her right hand.

"I won't go back on my word."

You En caught on and reached out to shake her hand.

"I won't let you down."

Sunday morning.

Ichinose Honami, Kanzaki Ryuji, and the other study group leaders got a feel for You En's teaching style.

"It's really impressive. I feel like I learned a lot myself,"

Ichinose Honami said with genuine admiration, then looked at the others.

"What do you all think?"

The higher-performing students from Class B spoke up one after another.

"That part he just explained—I could do it before, but I didn't understand why. Now I finally get it."

"It's amazing, but I can't quite put into words why."

"Their affinity... it's so strong, I can't replicate it."

Kanzaki Ryuji adjusted his glasses. "The explanation was very clear, and you can tell it was carefully designed—from concept to understanding to application, each step progressed from simple to complex. The key point is that the lecturer could control everyone's emotions and observe whether each person understood."

Ichinose Honami asked, "So, Kanzaki, can we learn this?"

"We can, but setting aside whether we can match the personal affinity and clarity of explanation, at least we can learn the structure part."

Kanzaki Ryuji hesitated, glancing at the classmates present.

"But it would take more time and energy from the students with excellent grades. I'm not sure if that's suitable."

Most of the top-performing students in Class B didn't mind, but a few had reservations, though they kept quiet.

You En noticed this, so he pulled Ichinose Honami and Kanzaki Ryuji aside to talk privately.

"I remember that most of your personal points are centrally managed, right?"

Ichinose Honami said, "That's right. For unified management and to prevent some students from losing control and overspending, we've pooled them. Why do you ask, You En-kun?"

You En glanced at the Class B group leaders, who had previously shown some resentment toward him but now only felt admiration.

"Then let me ask a question... Well, it might be a bit inappropriate, but I still want to ask.

When you students help tutor your classmates, do you receive any point rewards?"

After this question, Kanzaki Ryuji was startled first, then lowered his head in thought.

Ichinose Honami shook her head. "Isn't it normal for classmates to help each other?"

You En nodded. "That's true, but the Andou-san and the others I tutored received personal point rewards."

Ichinose Honami said, "You're from another class, and we hired you. So it's different."

You En said, "But what we're actually doing is the same."

Ichinose Honami didn't resent You En for pointing this out; instead, she thought calmly.

"But your level—we can't reach your teaching ability."

Kanzaki Ryuji shook his head. "As You En said, these are just details. In reality, helping classmates does sacrifice one's own time and energy, and it's reasonable to receive some compensation. But how should we do it?

You En, since you brought it up, you must have a solution, right? Could you explain it?"

You En's idea was actually quite rough, because he didn't understand the overall ecology and structure of Class B, so he could only offer a general suggestion:

"My suggestion is to treat each tutoring group as a whole. After each exam, based on their progress, they receive corresponding personal points... Or, instead of settling with personal points, the class could cover the cost of buying ingredients and drinks for each group to hold a small celebration or dinner."

Ichinose Honami's eyes lit up—she liked this suggestion. But when she saw You En's gaze hinting at something, she immediately calmed down.

The idea was nice, but implementing it still had some difficulties. For example, how should progress be measured? Who made more progress?

Kanzaki Ryuji also noticed this problem. "Between the group leader and the members, which side gets a larger share?"

You En said, "Of course, the group leader. But the leader's reward is tied to the members, though you need to set a relatively easy-to-reach upper limit."

"Why is that?"

Ichinose Honami felt it was meaningful but didn't understand the purpose of this setup.

Kanzaki Ryuji vaguely grasped You En's meaning. At this point, all his previous objections to You En had completely vanished.

Because the other party was thinking about the core problem of their class and had proposed a relatively feasible plan, even pointing out the potential pitfalls.

You En smiled. "Think it over carefully. How to implement it is up to you. I'm just offering a suggestion."

After he left, Ichinose Honami and Kanzaki Ryuji discussed it and decided to have the group leaders eat lunch together. They went to Hoshinomiya-sensei's office.

"Honami, Ryuji, what's the matter?"

Kanzaki Ryuji stepped forward and repeated everything You En had said.

After hearing it all, Hoshinomiya couldn't suppress her smile. She hadn't expected the payoff to come so quickly.

The problem You En had pointed out—she, with her more extensive experience, understood it immediately.

This was an issue that previous Class B groups had always chosen to ignore, but it always erupted in the end.

Unity requires sacrificing the interests of some people. So how do you mediate the emotions of those people?

There were only two ways: one was to give them some benefit, and the other was to build a sense of group honor.

But the former easily becomes corrupted, while the latter tends to create endless oppression. So what do you do?

You set limits—limit the benefits the group leaders can gain, and also confine all attainable honor within a certain range.

"That's really brilliant."

Hoshinomiya Chie said. Since a student had already brought it up, explaining it further wouldn't violate the rules.

Happily, she broke down You En's words bit by bit and explained them thoroughly.

Ichinose Honami listened, and for a long time, she could not calm down.

She had never considered such a thing, only choosing to believe, and believing that everyone would surely believe as well.

Kanzaki Ryuji felt that as Class B's strategist, he had been somewhat negligent.

"Don't be disheartened. This is a very good thing—to find a way to solve a problem while it's still in its infancy. There's nothing better than this."

Hoshinomiya Chie's good mood infected the two before her.

Kanzaki Ryuji became slightly more optimistic.

"Understood, teacher."

Ichinose Honami also decided that she would work harder to maintain the class.

"We'll find a way to do our best."

Hoshinomiya Chie stood up, saw the two students to the door, and instructed them:

"You understand now how important this boy is. Find a way to pull You En over to our Class B. If he agrees, come find me."

"Mm." Ichinose and Kanzaki replied in unison.

Hoshinomiya Chie watched them leave.

Having led so many classes of Class B, she knew where the crux of the problem lay, but it was almost never fixable. She never expected to stumble upon an unexpected answer today.

It was a shame for someone like that to be stuck in Class D.

Class D would hold him back, preventing his talents from fully blossoming.

Only Hoshinomiya—only her class—could let him maximize his potential.

She still had to think of a way.

Hoshinomiya Chie decided:

She absolutely had to pull him into her class.