Mixed Training Camp

Since Nagumo had the entire second year under his control, the gaps between the classes could not be too large if he wanted to reap the greatest benefits.

Before leaving on the trip, Lezheng had made a special visit to the second-year building to verify his guess. The gap between each class was less than 200 Class Points. Kiryu had told him that the other students had to give Nagumo half their Private Points after each payout. No wonder he had an enormous number of Private Points in his personal account.

Of course, Kiryuin and Asahina were exceptions. One did not give a damn about Nagumo, while the other was the most special person at his side. After Kiryuin stopped getting involved, some people had stood up to oppose Nagumo, but he had defeated them all. The greatest threat had already been expelled.

There were still ways to deal with Nagumo. The simplest and most direct was to beat him down-physically. That was also how Ryuuen ruled Class B.

"President Horikita, ever since you got off the bus and the boys and girls split up, the situation over there has already spiraled out of control," Lezheng said.

"Nagumo was targeting Tachibana from the start. I overlooked it." Horikita Manabu was unusually angry.

"Let's ask Tachibana about the situation over there during lunch."

"That's our only option."

Lezheng had also successfully teamed up with Horikita Manabu, and they added a second-year team to form one large group. It hardly mattered which second-years they chose. They were all Nagumo's people anyway.

The dormitory was an old wooden building with bunk beds. All fifteen members of the group shared one room, which meant one person could have a little more comfort. There were no tables or chairs in the room, so they could only sit on the beds.

To keep things fair, Lezheng chose to draw lots. He went outside and found fifteen sticks, blackened the end of one, and took the last stick himself. But his luck really was that good.

The large dining hall where they ate lunch was the only place where boys and girls could openly meet. They were allotted one hour.

"Anything unusual on your end?" Lezheng sat down at Sakayanagi's table.

"If we're talking about anything unusual, Ichinose joined the Class D girls' group on her own." Sakayanagi put down her utensils.

"Huh? Sounds like her." Lezheng froze.

"Tch. If you two want to talk business, can you do it somewhere else? You're ruining my appetite." Kamuro looked thoroughly annoyed.

"Yamamura, what do you think of the food?" Lezheng changed the subject.

"Ah... I don't think it's as good as the food at school," Yamamura answered honestly.

"No need to ask Kamuro. Whatever she eats is pig slop."

"You bastard. You're the one who eats pig slop." Under the table, Kamuro stomped hard on Lezheng's foot.

The afternoon class began with a forest relay, though it was really just the teacher leading them on a jog to familiarize them with the mountain paths. The saying that going up a mountain was easy and coming down was hard was absolutely right. If you ran too fast downhill, only the first few steps were under your control. Not a single step after that was voluntary.

The unlucky Machida had nearly rolled down the mountain just now. Fortunately, Lezheng had grabbed him by the back of his collar in time.

Back in the classroom, they practiced seated meditation. The purpose was to calm their minds, and moving within the allotted time would cost them points.

Starting with breakfast tomorrow, each group would have to cook its own breakfast. Lezheng counted only eight people in their group who could cook, including himself, a mere amateur. With two people per team, each team would cook for exactly two days.

"I'll have to let you taste the world's best egg fried rice." Lezheng loosened his wrists.

"I can make all the usual home-cooked dishes. Tell me if there's anything you want." Katsuragi was also eager to show off his cooking.

"I'll pair up with Lezheng. We can't eat egg fried rice two days in a row." Satonaka teamed up with Lezheng.

The remaining seven, who could not cook, volunteered to gather firewood and wash the ingredients.

Cold weather instinctively made people enter "energy-saving mode"-in other words, they did not want to get out of bed. But no matter how sleepy they were, a splash of cold water on their faces would wake them up.

Lezheng and Satonaka prepared breakfast that day, while everyone else was assigned to sweep the courtyard. Premium ingredients often called for the simplest cooking methods. For instance, the key to egg fried rice was day-old rice.

Nagumo came over to Lezheng's camp.

"Lezheng, you can even cook."

"I never thought you'd discover my secret." Lezheng glanced up, then lowered his head and continued frying the rice.

"Mind if we have a private word?"

"Go ahead. I'm listening."

"I'll give you twenty million Private Points to give up the position of Student Council President. What do you think?"

"So, in your eyes, Nagumo, the presidency is something you can measure in Private Points?" Lezheng started by pinning that label on him.

"Didn't your teacher tell you when school started? Here, Private Points can do anything." Nagumo was not intimidated in the slightest.

"What ideals do you want to implement?"

"Eliminate the weak and let the fittest survive. The current rules protect the weak at every turn. I want to turn this school into a place where ability truly reigns supreme," Nagumo said excitedly.

At those words, Lezheng stopped frying the rice and raised his head to look at Nagumo seriously. "Why do you think you're strong? What do you take this school for?"

"So, Lezheng, is that a weakling's excuse, or a strong person's definition?"

"Do you have time tonight, Nagumo? I'd like to show you what it means to be strong."

"Tomorrow night. I'm sure you'll crown me as one of the strong." Nagumo waved and left.

Satonaka asked no questions and simply continued his work.

In the corridor after dinner, Kamuro and Yamamura went to the restroom together after finishing their meal, leaving Sakayanagi walking alone among the crowd. But something unexpected happened. Someone suddenly pushed against the otherwise orderly flow of people. Sakayanagi instinctively moved aside, but the person swayed from side to side as though drunk, and her cane was kicked away anyway.

Without her support, Sakayanagi pitched forward. Fortunately, a hand reached out from behind and caught the back of her collar. Then she saw the person who had knocked her cane away fall to the floor.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Yamauchi yelled as he stood up.

"You're too short. I didn't see you." Lezheng handed Sakayanagi her cane.

"You... you..." Faced with Lezheng, who was much taller than him and looked distinctly unfriendly, Yamauchi could not get a word out for a long while.

Sakayanagi rested her hand in the crook of Lezheng's arm. As they passed Yamauchi, she asked, "You're Haruki Yamauchi from Class D, aren't you? I'll remember you."

"Thank you," Sakayanagi said softly.

"You're welcome."

"One more thing. The next time you play the hero and save a damsel in distress, Lezheng, could you choose a slightly more graceful method?"

"Next time, for sure."

Sakayanagi: "Things are going very badly for Secretary Tachibana."

Lezheng: "Is she being excluded and isolated?"

Sakayanagi: "Do you have other informants?"

Lezheng: "I guessed. First they exclude and isolate her, then drag her down with them when they fail on the last day. Girls are better at this sort of thing."

Sakayanagi: "If you understand girls so well, why did you grab me by the back of my collar just now?"

Lezheng fell silent and chose not to answer.

Sakayanagi: "Then how do you boys usually solve this sort of problem?"

Lezheng: "Super strength."