Chapter 257: Kneel to Show Respect (Bonus Chapter)

The bus was filled with the stifling atmosphere of a long journey. The unbroken shadows of trees outside the window flitted past at high speed. Every so often the bus would jolt, making the seats creak.

“Here we go again…”

Tsukasaki Taiga let out a helpless sigh, leaned back, and slumped into his seat, looking like a man resigned to being slaughtered.

By now, the students had basically developed immunity to the school threatening them with expulsion every few days.

“But teacher,” Matoba Shinji raised his hand, his brows furrowed, “if I were the leader of the last-place group, even if it really was my own classmate dragging us down, I’d probably still just pick a student from another class to take down with me. The documents clearly state that every expelled student costs 100 class points. Isn’t that rule completely unreasonable?”

Indeed. Compared to a classmate you’d spent two semesters with day in and day out, directly expelling someone completely unrelated, or even someone dangerous to the class, was undoubtedly the more cost-effective choice.

In an even more extreme case, you could use a self-destruct tactic. Pretend to accept another class’s leader, deliberately score badly, and then take them down with you one-for-one.

“Regarding that situation, the school and the student council have given it serious consideration.”

Mashima nodded in approval at Matoba.

“Only when the school recognizes that this student was one of the causes of the group’s score falling below the line does joint liability hold. So as long as you don’t deliberately fail or cause trouble, there won’t be any problem.”

Here it comes!

Fuyuji, who had been sitting in the back flipping through the documents, straightened his back slightly. His lowered eyelids lifted, and his brows arched slightly.

“Demonic teacher, the thing written up there, ‘the school recognizes that this student was one of the causes of the group’s score falling below the line,’ how does that actually get established? I’ve seen that the cameras at this forest school aren’t nearly as dense as at Advanced Nurturing. How would the school determine it was this particular student who caused it?”

After thinking it over, if blond senpai wanted to pull a dirty trick on Horikita Manabu, this was the only angle to work.

This kind of large-group team battle wasn’t what blond senpai wanted at all. From the last supplementary exam, it was clear. What he was hoping for was probably a one-on-one, real-man duel with Horikita Manabu.

With the strength of third-year Class A, even at their worst, they couldn’t fall to last place. Even if they lost, the points deducted would be negligible, not exceeding a hundred. But if it were joint liability and a funeral escort, just losing one member would deduct a hundred class points. And if they wanted to rescue that person, it would cost an additional 20 million private points and 300 class points on top of that. One move could shake third-year Class A to its core.

That way, no matter how the final results turned out, blond senpai could unilaterally declare himself the winner.

“Regarding that…” Mashima lowered his head, carefully weighed his wording for a moment, and said slowly, “It should be judged based on the evaluation of this student by each member of the group. The school will ask every student in the group to evaluate each other before the exam ends.”

“…” Fuyuji’s mouth slowly curved into a smile. He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Alright, I have no more questions.”

He’d roughly guessed blond senpai’s scheme. What came next was determining blond senpai’s specific target. If his guess was right, it should be quite obvious.

[Fuyuji Mikage: Colonel Suzune, the arduous mission of saving Private Horikita Manabu is yours. For the next eight days, you will receive no reinforcements. Infiltrate deep into enemy territory and single-handedly save your brother’s… classmate?]

Not long after the message was sent, Horikita Suzune’s reply came.

[Horikita Suzune: Classmate? You know Nagumo-senpai’s specific plan?]

[Fuyuji Mikage: Yes, but I can’t say. I did take his three million, after all.]

Anyway, blond senpai had no intention of actually expelling Manabu, and whether he even really wanted to drag Manabu down from third-year Class A’s throne was a question mark. Why bother sticking his neck between the two of them for nothing?

At the very worst, if things developed into the worst-case scenario and third-year Class A really did get hit, given Manabu’s personality, he would most likely choose to use points to save the person.

Back and forth, it would basically come down to a clash of private points.

If their points decreased, wouldn’t my first-year Class A’s points increase? By then, I could sit back and reap the fisherman’s profit, and take the chance to extend a hand toward the upper grades.

[Horikita Suzune: Tell me.]

Two blunt words. Even through the screen, you could feel Horikita Suzune’s straightforward nature.

[Fuyuji Mikage: No can do. This is my big moneybag. I can’t easily offend him.]

[Horikita Suzune: Didn’t my brother give you a lot of points too?]

[Fuyuji Mikage: That’s why I told his sister about the news.]

Fuyuji typed with perfect righteousness, then added a bit of gentle coaxing.

[Fuyuji Mikage: Besides, Suzune, don’t you want to single-handedly save your brother’s classmate, and make your brother bow to you in respect every time he sees you from then on?]

From the other end of the phone came a long silence. Clearly, for this image, Horikita Suzune was fiercely tempted!

Seeing this, Fuyuji pressed harder.

[Fuyuji Mikage: See, Horikita Manabu’s sister, Horikita Suzune, during this joint camp exam, keenly detected the current Student Council President’s scheme against her brother and crushed it in one move. If it goes like that, blond senpai can’t say anything either. After all, you two are siblings. It’s only natural for you to do this.]

After another moment.

[Horikita Suzune: Um… what if I really can’t think of anything?]

[Fuyuji Mikage: Here’s a hint. Murder on the Orient Express. The path to redemption lies within!]

[Horikita Suzune: Alright…]

Seeing that the students had no other questions, Mashima wrapped up.

“Finally, and equally important, the group leader must be decided before tomorrow morning. If the group cannot decide internally who will serve as leader, that group immediately loses its qualification. In other words, all members of the group are forcibly expelled.”

“The above is the general content of this special exam. For detailed content, you can read further in the documents, or come ask me.”

Having said all this in one breath, Mashima returned to his seat and left the discussion time to the students.

Immediately after, Katsuragi Kohei, who had been sitting up front in silence, stood up to pick up the thread and delivered the speech he had long prepared:

“Everyone, if nothing unexpected happens, the other three classes will all choose to form a single optimal 11+3 formation (the girls would be 12+3) and try to score high. The rest will form teams based on the situation on the ground. After we get off the bus, if conditions allow, we’ll go with the 11+3 formation. Otherwise, we’ll choose the most conservative strategy and split directly into two groups plus a small number of students from other classes.”

So that’s it… the most aggressive and the most conservative?

A few quick-thinking Class A students had a flash of understanding in their eyes.

Right now, the point gap between Class A and the other three classes was simply too large. Here was an exam where, even if it was a low-probability event, if they took first place on both the boys’ and girls’ sides, they could catch up in class points in one breath. And with this formation, each additional class doubled the points. The gains outweighed the risks. Any class leader who wasn’t stupid would choose the mode that earned the most points.

Class A naturally couldn’t give up such an enormous amount of class points. If conditions allowed, Class A would choose the most aggressive formation and compete on the same stage as the other classes, fighting for first place.

Conversely, if that formation was difficult to assemble, Class A would choose the most conservative formation. No matter how the final results turned out, the maximum points the other classes could gain would at least be reduced by a third. Naturally, it would become harder for the other classes to close the point gap.

In other words, when it came to team formation, Class A was the side holding the initiative.

“But Katsuragi-kun,” Satonaka Satoru, the first-year heartthrob, raised his right hand and asked weakly, “if each group only needs one student from another class, won’t the other classes join forces and unilaterally isolate our Class A? The rules say a group must contain at least two classes.”

“As for that, Satonaka doesn’t need to worry,” Hashimoto Masayoshi said cheerfully from the side. “I don’t know about the other classes, but for the Class D boys, as long as you promise enough private points, a few will definitely come running over eagerly.”

With that, a few black lines crawled onto his forehead, and his tone suddenly dropped. “Though their ability is mediocre, and they might drag us down, it’s still enough to form a two-class team.”

That seems right…

The Class A students’ mouths twitched in unison.

At the same time, Fuyuji quietly glanced at his screen.

[Private points: 31,142,240 pr]

Fuyuji: “…”

With this amount of points, even if he went head-to-head with blond senpai in a point-smashing contest, he might not lose.

He knew that last time, at the sports festival special exam, blond senpai had spent roughly seven million all told. Fuyuji had also skimmed some off him. If this exam really went the way he thought, blond senpai would definitely spend another twenty million. He’d surely keep a reserve for himself. And considering the whole business of him unifying the second year around the start of the school term…

Maybe Uncle here is actually the richest man in Advanced Nurturing now.

At this thought, Fuyuji put his phone away, rubbed his palms together, and, with an awkward smile, poked his head over next to Shiraishi Asuka.

“Shiraishi-mama, this exam…”

Shiraishi seemed to have anticipated this scene long ago. The corner of her mouth lifted slightly, and her gentle voice flowed out like water.

“The girls’ side?”

“Yes!” Fuyuji nodded repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice.

“Who?” Shiraishi said with a half-smile.

“Her!”

With a swoosh, Fuyuji held the phone screen, bearing Shiina Hiyori’s photo, up in front of Shiraishi.

Fuyuji wasn’t worried about the others. Ichinose had her social ability maxed out. Cha-Cha and Horikita were together. Senpai… never mind Senpai. As long as she didn’t go torment other people, that was already good. Only Shiina, the little darling, delicate in health and not good at socializing, could really stumble if her luck turned bad.

“The girls’ side can just use the most conservative strategy. You few form one group, and the other group goes to Tamiya and the others.”

“Tch!” Kamuro Masumi, arms crossed beside him, shot him a cold sideways glance, her eyes like she was looking at a paramecium. “Scumbag. Just how many girls outside do you actually know?”

“There are no more. Really, no more.” Fuyuji dropped to his knees in surrender without hesitation.

Kamuro sneered. “I think when we get back, we should just break your legs.”

Fuyuji’s spread legs snapped together instantly.

Bro, don’t say such terrifying things…

“Shiina-san?” Shiraishi immediately recognized the girl on the screen, holding a book, standing gracefully beneath the cherry blossom tree. “I heard she’s a quiet girl. I understand. If she ends up alone, I’ll invite her in. But Fuyuji,” Shiraishi crooked her little finger to lift a strand of fallen hair, “are you really not going to ask for a score? If the girls’ side is handled well, we might be able to take first place, you know.”

“Ah.” Fuyuji nodded and reached out to hold Shiraishi’s soft little hand. “The uncertainty on the girls’ side is just too great. As long as we make sure we don’t fall to last place, that’s enough.”

In any world, a dormitory having several group chats on the girls’ side was standard practice.

Fuyuji had once seen, on Cha-Cha’s phone, the terrifying sight of dozens of group chats that couldn’t be scrolled to the bottom in one swipe. Unless you had an absurd, unreasonable level of affinity like Ichinose, mutual scheming was probably the norm. In a situation like that, there was really no guarantee some unexpected thing wouldn’t suddenly blow up.

Given that, the only option was to choose a relatively conservative strategy: split the Class A girls in two, directly occupy the vast majority, and avoid creating waves.

At least the Class A girls, in Fuyuji’s view, were relatively reasonable.

“Boyfriend, boyfriend,” Morishita Ai, who had woken up with nothing to do, grabbed Fuyuji’s arm and shook it hard, her pink-blue eyes sparkling, “What about me, what about me? Is there anything you need me to do?”

“Girlfriend,” Fuyuji clapped both hands onto Morishita’s shoulders, his expression solemn, “your mission is extremely arduous…”

“What, what?”

“Guard world peace!”

The corners of Morishita’s raised mouth instantly collapsed. She said expressionlessly, “Boyfriend-kun, the consequences of fooling Morishita-sama are very serious.”

Fuyuji’s gaze drifted away.

‘Can I really say that you staying quietly in this boring school for eight days is already incredibly impressive?’

At this moment, Katsuragi had largely finished the arrangements for the special exam, and the whole class’s eyes tacitly converged on Fuyuji.

Fuyuji, who was in the middle of roughhousing with his girlfriend, caught her fair little wrist and pressed it down without changing his expression. “Later, if things go smoothly, we’ll split into two teams. Katsuragi leads one, I lead the other. Then…” His gaze swept past Hashimoto, whose neck was craned out like a giraffe’s. “Kito, help me cover for the next eight days.”

Kito Hayato nodded silently and tied up his seaweed-like, loosely spread hair.

“If the classes want to form the 11+3 formation, there will inevitably be a few students left alone. And most likely, they’ll be students who are normally well-liked in class and reasonably capable. Prepare yourselves mentally in advance. Depending on how they perform, the class will give these students private point rewards after the exam. But remember, this is under the precondition of first guaranteeing you don’t get expelled. If you notice anything off, report to Katsuragi immediately. Understood?”

“Understood!” A unified voice rang out from the moving bus.

“Then… the Mixed Joint Camp exam officially begins!”

Through the long mountain ranges, past the streams, the bus came off the highway and slowly drove up the paved mountain road.

The forest school slowly came into view.

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100 [Power Stones] = Bonus Chapter!