Set a Small Goal for Sakayanagi! Two-in-One!

Purple sweet potato pudding!

Chapter 72 Setting a Small Goal for Sakayanagi! (Two-in-one!)

Ryuji Kanzaki has already erupted.

It wasn't until this point that the students in Class Ichinose fully realized that this wasn't a prank, but rather Kanzaki's true intention.

He actually... wants to drop out of school.

"Think about it yourselves. Although our class has been to Class A, did we climb up there on our own merit?"

Climbing up based on... one's own strength.

No.

It was because the other classes were underperforming that Class A, led by Katsuragi, fell behind.

But that wasn't solely due to the efforts of my own class.

Rather, their class was already at a disadvantage starting with last year's Uninhabited Island Exam.

Although the Ryuen class was excessive, they were giving their all in the exam, while the Horikita's class was also leveraging their individual strengths to climb the ranks.

Their class, however, remained stagnant.

Then, during the All-School Sports Festival, everyone thought the Red vs White team were going to lose, but a miracle happened in the final moments of the Red and White Competition.

Later, it was learned that Nagumo was controlling the entire grade and manipulating things.

So at that time, their class just happened to benefit from the deal.

"..." This thought caused many students to fall silent.

And one student was even more so.

She is Chihiro Shiranam, and she is thinking about last year's Uninhabited Island Exam. She was chosen to be the class leader, but her class lost points in the guessing game.

So, if she had been able to hide her identity even better and not let Kaneda discover her identity as the team leader, then perhaps the class wouldn't have lost points back then.

"Everyone."

Ichinose keenly sensed that something was off about the atmosphere in the class.

It seems that everyone has started to reflect on their own actions.

But she had much more on her mind.

Because along the way, they have had many shortcomings in class competitions, but now the class evaluation score has not dropped too much, and no one is missing. Isn't that an achievement?

Ichinose doesn't deny the past, but she's not entirely pessimistic either.

But.

There's actually a problem in this class that hasn't been solved yet.

That was during last year's Commander Exam, when one of the students in the class was unable to participate due to illness.

The analysis concluded that... there was a traitor within the class.

For the sake of class unity and out of trust in her classmates, Ichinose did not expose them.

And now.

This person...

She seemed to know who the person who betrayed the class was.

It's Ryuji Kanzaki.

At the same time, it's not stupid to understand why Kanzaki, who was willing to drop out of school voluntarily, would do such a thing.

Because Kanzaki has been working hard to prepare for the exams, aiming for Class A.

However, their unwavering commitment to spending their high school years together and striving together has absolute flaws.

She knew that too.

That is, it is impossible to continue even if we follow the approach of not losing any companions.

That's why Hachiman Classmate Sakayanagi stopped lending them points.

Because it's a bottomless pit.

Both of them concluded that this plan could not continue to be implemented.

And this time was indeed the case; this time, it was incredibly difficult to gather the points.

But what about next time?

"Ichinose, let me speak." However, Kanzaki interrupted Ichinose. "My decision to drop out of school wasn't a sudden idea."

"Instead, I was already mentally prepared."

"But Kanzaki ..." Shibata felt deceived.

He thought he had dropped out of school, but it turned out that Kanzaki had dropped out himself.

"That..."

Some students shared this thought, "Isn't there a way to get through this exam without anyone dropping out?"

"It's no use." But Kanzaki looked at her. "Because we can't be sure if there will be another exam with such a high score next, or rather, this is a high score that our class can get. Are you going to let this opportunity slip away?"

"For example, if we are only 100 points behind Class A when we are about to graduate, would we feel at ease if we got 400 points now?"

"Instead of waiting until that time comes before everyone regrets it."

So the student stopped talking. Because she couldn't bear the responsibility.

This also indicates that there is now a debate in this class.

This has never happened before.

Meanwhile, Hoshinomiya-sensei remained silent, preparing to retract her assessment of the class.

Because Kanzaki is pretty good, isn't she?

They chose the same path they had taken.

With such a high score, we must win it, because if we don't win it here, and we can't catch up in the following exams, we really won't be able to catch up.

"I still can't agree with what you did Kanzaki," Ichinose said. "Last year's Class Vote to withdraw from the exam."

"We spent 20 million points to ensure we didn't have any staff shortages."

"And now, Kanzaki, you've chosen to drop out of school. Are you negating all our past efforts?" Ichinose said.

These words silenced Kanzaki. Not because he was convinced, but because he knew Ichinose was using a fallacy of equivocation.

Kanzaki's gaze fell on Ichinose's body, then on the faces of the others. He observed their expressions.

Clearly, his classmates did not approve of his approach.

I don't want him to drop out of school.

Ichinose has a great influence, and her core belief in protecting her comrades from loss is deeply ingrained. This is also an advantage that sets their class apart from other classes; they are incredibly united.

But.

Kanzaki knew that he hadn't actually done a very good job of providing support along the way.

Again, during last year's Uninhabited Island Exam, she missed out on scoring points because she was too cautious and gave up on exploring the base information she had bought from Hachiman. She also failed to make up her mind to let Chihiro Shiranam change the team leader. Furthermore, during the Commander Exam, she caused Ichinose to lose her spot for expulsion protection.

He knew he had done a bad job.

However, choosing to drop out of school is also a way for him to make up for his mistakes.

Also, when he learned that Hachiman intended to skip a grade, he was unable to buy him over; otherwise, all the spoils of this Uninhabited Island Exam would have belonged to their class.

In this class, he can only do auxiliary work. Even though he is excellent in physical fitness and Academic Ability, he cannot gain an advantage compared to other classes.

This time, raising money became even more troublesome and difficult, and he realized that it was a bottomless pit.

But then he saw Shibata, and he saw hope in reviving the class.

So why not use my own withdrawal from school as a price to awaken this class?

Let them understand reality.

Then, because of myself, the class was able to receive an additional 300 points as a reward.

In this way, the class may not be able to graduate as Class A in the end, but at least he gave it his all.

So.

"My decision to drop out of school was made after careful consideration."

"Because I broke everyone's expectations and trust." However, Kanzaki is now revealing her own secrets. "Everyone remembers the situation during the Commander Exam, right? Many of the participants from our class were unwell and had to give up the exam, which resulted in us losing to the Ryuen's class."

"And Ichinose lost her exemption from school at that time."

"But isn't this a conspiracy by Ryuen's class?" Shibata said.

Shibata is feeling rather conflicted right now.

On the one hand, if he himself decided that he had to sacrifice, then he should sacrifice himself, but now Kanzaki is the one who sacrifices himself.

It gave him a feeling similar to Ichinose's self-narration of the past. Ichinose wanted to continue with them, but Kanzaki gave him the feeling that he was about to leave.

So he wanted to stop Kanzaki from saying anything hurtful.

"That was indeed Ryuen's conspiracy, but it wasn't an external enemy who committed the crime. I was bribed by Ryuen to do it," Kanzaki said.

Almost instantly, upon hearing that the enemy was actually inside, the surrounding classmates were filled with surprise... and disbelief.

So does that mean that Kanzaki was... drugging her classmate?

Why, why do such an outrageous thing...?

"That's not how it works," Ichinose interjected.

She had just realized that Kanzaki might be about to reveal his true colors, and she was hesitating whether to let him say it or not.

She understood as soon as she met Kanzaki's eyes.

The other party was determined to sacrifice themselves and drop out of school.

If we don't break his resolve and prevent him from saying it this time, he'll say it again in the future.

She might even punish herself like she did back then, and consider quietly dropping out of school.

The other party's pessimistic thoughts must be interrupted.

This is something that Hachiman taught her.

Now is the time for real combat.

Kanzaki feels she has made a mistake, so let's all accept it together.

However, no one would want to see Kanzaki leave here.

"I don't think Kanzaki would choose to betray the class so simply," Ichinose said. "Kanzaki, you actually discovered our class's weakness and wanted us to see the true nature of this school, right?"

"That's why I did this."

"Our class is very united and works very hard, but we are still not quite suited to this school," Ichinose said.

Her tone was somewhat sorrowful, yet it made almost everyone lower their heads.

Because yes.

Although the students in the class were very united, they were more or less aware that the school was constantly conducting exams related to dropping out.

Then, whenever they encounter anything related to dropping out of school, they can only spend money to get through it.

But... it's getting harder and harder for everyone to scrape together the money.

However, watching one's companion leave is a cruel thing.

I don't want to do it, and I can't do it.

"I don't believe that unity and kindness are bad things," Ichinose continued. "If it weren't for everyone's kindness and trust, I, with that past, wouldn't be able to stand here."

"So I am very grateful to everyone, and I love this class and am proud to be a part of it."

"Therefore I will not deny anyone," Ichinose said.