COTE : Backed By Black Technology System

After Kushida left, Kanda Shuichi finally took out a new tool—a medical kit. He followed the instructions to check himself and was given a rather disappointing conclusion—weak body, recommended exercise. 

So much for relying on high-tech solutions for a quick recovery. 

But at least after one semester, his physical condition had improved a lot. He still wasn't on par with the other guys, but he was probably about the same as most of the girls now. 

Yeah, let's go with that! 

The next afternoon, the weekly two-hour class meeting was left for the students to use as they saw fit. The two hours from yesterday had been a special exception. 

For Class D, nobody wanted to just hand over the hard-earned 500-plus class points, so everyone took the upcoming discussion seriously. 

As soon as the meeting started, Horikita Suzune, as if determined to step out from Kanda Shuichi's shadow, immediately took the stage before Hirata could even move when Chabashira-sensei announced the start of the meeting. 

Meanwhile, Chabashira-sensei stood in the back of the classroom, looking like she had no intention of interfering. 

"I have something to say about the upcoming sports festival." 

Horikita's assertiveness caught the students off guard, but at the same time, it wasn't all that surprising. 

Seeing that no one objected, she turned her gaze to the entire class. 

"Since the start of the school year, Class D has had a rough journey. We started with 1,000 points, but by the end of the first month, we had lost them all. 

But through a semester of effort, we finally climbed back up to 511 points. At this point, none of us want to give those points away, right?" 

"Of course not! We finally got a decent amount of money to live on—I'm not going back to being broke!"

"Yeah, that's right." 

"I also think we need to protect our class points." 

As soon as one person spoke up, the rest of the class quickly agreed. 

"If that's the case, then we need to plan our strategy with the big group's victory as our main goal," Horikita said, seeming satisfied with the class's response. "That means both the order of participants in each event and the selection of recommended events are extremely important. Our training should also be based on these decisions." 

"But how exactly are we supposed to decide?" 

For Sudou, the order of individual events didn't matter—he was confident he could take first place no matter what. As for the recommended events, he planned to participate in all of them since winning those also came with extra points. 

For someone like Sudou, who struggled academically, those extra points were a huge help. 

"First, let's talk about the mandatory events. Since everyone wants to protect our hard-earned class points, we need to make sure our strongest members have the best chances to win. The same logic applies to the recommended events—our best players should go for the points, while the rest just need to avoid dragging us down." 

This approach focused on efficiency and putting the strongest people in key positions. But that also meant sacrificing those who weren't good at sports. 

 "I disagree." 

As soon as Horikita finished speaking, Karuizawa objected. 

"You're free to disagree, but can I hear your reason?" 

"The bottom ten students in this sports festival will get a penalty and lose points. What if the weaker students end up in the bottom ten? You're basically saying we should sacrifice them, right? I can't accept that." 

Karuizawa's words immediately gained support, especially from the girls. Her close friend Shinohara quickly spoke up in agreement. 

"I don't like this plan either. If I get grouped with someone really strong just because I'm bad at sports, then I'll have no chance of winning, right? The top three spots come with special rewards, and I don't want to lose that chance." 

"But this is for the benefit of the whole class." 

"Even so, does that mean we should just abandon the students who struggle with both sports and academics?" 

In Class D, there were actually quite a few students who weren't great at sports but only barely managed to pass their tests. That made Shinohara's argument sound reasonable to a lot of people. 

"So you're saying it's fine to give up on winning and let our class points take a big hit?" 

"I never said that. I just think the extra exam points from winning are really important. It wouldn't be fair to make me give that up." 

"If that's how you feel, then instead of arguing, why don't you spend this time studying? If your grades were better, you wouldn't need to rely on those bonus points in the first place." 

"Not everyone is as smart as you! Stop acting like we're the same." 

"Studying is something you build up every day. Don't use that as an excuse." 

"Exactly. I think Horikita makes a good point." 

"Yeah, I agree." 

The argument continued, with both sides unwilling to back down. But Horikita's efficiency-focused plan quickly gained support from the more athletic students and those aiming to reach Class A. 

"If it's for the class, I don't mind sacrificing myself. Only the bottom ten will lose points, right? If that's the case, just take mine." 

The class's top student, Yukimura Haruhiko, stepped forward. 

He was incredibly smart but had almost no athletic ability. Since he was determined to make it to Class A, he firmly supported Horikita's plan. Even if he ended up at the bottom of the rankings, he didn't care. 

Losing a few dozen exam points? No big deal to him. 

"Umm… I'm not very good at sports either, so…" 

Seeing Yukimura step up, another high-achieving but unathletic student, Wang Meiyu, raised her hand. 

Then, with Kanda Shuichi—who also struggled with sports but excelled academically—joining them, that made three people willing to take the fall, immediately reducing the risk of anyone else landing in the bottom ten by a third.

No, there's also Sakayanagi from Class A, who's definitely going to be one of the last-place finishers. That already takes up four spots, so what are you all even worried about? 

With that, more voices started supporting Horikita. Even some students who weren't great at sports began siding with her. After all, there were plenty of first-year students—if they just put in a little effort, they wouldn't end up at the bottom, right? 

As Horikita's side grew stronger, Shinohara had no choice but to shut up. 

Karuizawa, on the other hand, had already stepped back entirely. In fact, everything she had said earlier was something Kanda Shuichi had told her to say. It helped boost her positive image in the class, even if just a little. 

"See? If you had done this from the start, we wouldn't have had all this drama. And seriously, Shinohara, if we lost because of you, would you be able to take responsibility? Huh?" 

Even though Shinohara had already gone silent, Sudou still took the chance to step on her one more time, venting his frustration. 

Now that things had calmed down, Horikita spoke up again about her thoughts. 

"But to make up for the private points lost by those who place at the bottom, I hope that the top-ranking students can use their extra points to balance things out—" 

"I'll cover those points. Any private points lost by the students who finish last in the sports festival, I'll pay for them." 

Sudou's sudden statement shocked the whole class. 

Each individual event had ten groups. If Class D's students all placed last, that would mean losing 10,000 private points per event. By the end of the festival, the total could reach nearly 100,000. 

Since when was Sudou this rich? 

Some students were confused. 

But others knew the reason—back at the pool, Kanda Shuichi had made a bet with Nagumo, and Sudou had been one of the participants. Since he won against Nagumo, Kanda Shuichi had given him the points he won. 

That meant Sudou was now sitting on a fortune of one million private points. 

With that, Class D's strategy for the sports festival was decided: make full use of their best athletes while letting the weaker ones take the fall. 

Now that the required events were settled, it was time to decide on the recommended events, starting with who would participate. 

"As for the recommended events—" 

"I'm entering all of them. If anyone has a problem with that, I'm happy to settle it with a direct competition." 

Sudou's bold statement made his presence even stronger. But rather than seeing his words as arrogant, the class actually felt reassured. 

Having someone as athletic as Sudou step up and take responsibility put a lot of students at ease. 

After that, Horikita, Hirata, and Miyake also made similar statements. 

As the discussion went on, Class D's top athletes were chosen one by one, and the lineup was finalized. 

"Hey, Koenji, you're not planning to help?" 

At the end of it all, Sudou turned to the man who had remained silent the entire time. He had his reasons for calling out Koenji—he knew that Koenji's physical abilities were at least equal to, if not greater than, his own. 

That had already been proven back on the deserted island. If Koenji took the competition seriously, he would easily place at the top. 

"I'm not interested. Do whatever you want." 

"You've gotta be kidding me." 

"I'm not. You have no right to force me. Even if you did, I still wouldn't listen." 

The moment Kanda Shuichi heard that, he knew—this guy had no intention of taking the sports festival seriously.

Right now, he was in a very safe position. There were four people ahead of him as candidates for expulsion, so he had nothing to worry about. 

As for private points, he had earned quite a bit during the special exam and summer vacation, so he wasn't lacking in that area either. 

That's why, when it came to the sports festival, he might just skip it entirely—he had no intention of showing his full strength. 

"I don't think we need to decide everything here, Sudou. Koenji must have things he's good at and things he's not. Forcing him might not be the best idea." 

Hirata stepped in to mediate. Honestly, his ability to say things with a straight face was getting better and better. 

"For now, we can at least decide on our class strategy and the events each person wants to join. We can finalize everything later." 

Hearing Hirata's words, Sudou calmed down a little. 

He might have become a more upright person, but his short temper hadn't improved at all. 

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