#83 Scouting

"Here you go" Kamuro said with her usual serious expression as she was handing me the stack of papers.

"That was fast, should I say, as expected of Sakayanagi-san?" I muttered as I was going over the papers she has just given me.

"Hm? What's this?" I asked her while showing her the last paper.

"Class A's participants of the recommended contests only" She simply said with a disinterested expression as if it was normal or expected.

"I didn't ask for it but whatever..." I said and looked especially at this last paper.

When I saw the participants on the three-legged contest, my expression became a bit weird.

"...You are going to participate in the three-legged contest?" I asked her while showing her the paper with her name on it.

"That's what Sakayanagi-san instructed me to do so I recommended myself. As we don't really have many athletic girls in our class, Katsuragi was forced to let me participate even if I am known as Sakayanagi-san's right hand." She explained with folded arms and slightly dissatisfied expression

"I see...are you perhaps expecting me to tell you who will be your partner?" I asked uncertainly while watching her expectant expression.

"Well, it would be better for my mind to know that information but I guess in the end, it wouldn't make any difference in terms of performance." She said so, however, it didn't look like she was leaving any time soon.

"Well, our class still hasn't agreed on this so even if I wanted to tell you, I can't." I told her with a wry smile and she just glared at me, displeased with my words.

"Alright, Sakayanagi-san didn't especially tell me to discover who will be my partner so I guess I can let it go. That should be everything I wanted to discuss with you. We should now limit our contact as much as possible." She told me with a wariness visible on her face.

"Alright, give my thanks to Sakayanagi-san for me. See you later" I told her and put the stack of papers I have received into my bag before leaving.

"Hmpf!" In response, she just snorted and didn't even say goodbye.

What's up with her? I thought while secretly looking behind me at Kamuro who stood there with an irritated expression.

---

'How about thanking me too? No?' Kamuro thought with an irritated expression while glaring at Felix's slowly distancing back.

---

I also have to take care of that matter with the contract and also to check on the guys from Class B...*sigh* what a busy day. But I guess the night will be even worse, I probably won't be able to get any sleep for a few days straight.

I took out my phone and contacted a few people and told them to come to the cafeteria if they have spare time and want to help me with something.

"Walker-kun, I have read your message and I was close by so I decided to come here earlier, I hope it's not inconvenient for you." One of the few I have invited came almost immediately, it was Yukimura. I have a favorable opinion of him and although our relationship isn't the one where we could be called friends but I would say that we have mutual respect for each other. As for why I have a favorable opinion of him...simply, there aren't that many people in Class D who can make a favorable impression on me and he is one of them. He is smart, diligent and as of now even modest. He used to look down on most of the people in our class however the survival exam and upcoming sports festival totally changed his mindset. He is someone who can realize and acknowledge his mistakes to change himself, not everyone can be like him, in short, he has a lot of potential.

"Of course I don't mind, please take a seat and while we wait for others, I will explain to you what I want to do and who else will be joining." I said with a friendly smile while pointing with my hand at the chair opposite of me.

"Then please excuse me" He slightly bowed his head and sat down.

"First of all, let me explain why you are here and who will be joining us later..." I started explaining everything to him.

...

"I see...so your plan is to scout out Class B's abilities? But when do you want to do it? Most of the people from Class B indeed attend some clubs but scouting everyone individually would waste too much time." He nodded after he heard my plan and instead of complaining or questioning my choices of people who will be joining us, he just asked about the main problems with a serious expression. I guess I got his attention on this.

"Class D has lunch break right now, however for every class it's different because the school doesn't want cafeteria to get crowded. Actually, Class B has PE class right now as we are talking and we are free to observe them as long as we don't disturb them. Are you in? Although you don't know much about sports, having more eyes is always better, after all, there will be a lot of students to observe" I explained with a smile while occasionally sipping on my coffee.

"I see...I guess there is no harm in-" He wanted to agree but was interrupted by a nearby voice talking to us.

"Hey~ we are here!" It was Matsushita and Kei who came, however, Matsushita was the one who took the lead.

Yukimura awkwardly looked at Kei and she did the same, they stared at each other for a slight moment before Kei nodded at him as to greet him. This greatly surprised Yukimura as he stared at Kei with wide-open eyes before he woke up and also nodded at her. Well, this kind of awkward reaction is expectable, considering their not so good past but that was before Kei started changing, it could be said that right now she was completely someone else. Well, at least in her mindset, she still pretends in front of her friends to be the same old Kei.

"Hello, thank you for accepting my request." I greeted both of them with a smile.

"Hehe, no problem~" Matsushita giggled and waved with her hand to show that she doesn't mind it.

I wanted to invite one more person but that person has the other worries so 4 of us should be enough not to draw any special suspicion. If I went alone then it would complicate things later on.

"Alright, what I want to do is..." I explained my plan to the girls.

"Good, I don't mind taking a look at the other class, at least it will serve as good motivation for us." Matsushita agreed with an excited smile and an overly enthusiastic voice.

"Let's go before our lunch break ends, the next class is PE and I doubt we want to miss that. Sudo-kun wouldn't be especially happy about this." Yukimura stood up and said with a serious tone while adjusting his glasses.

Kei refrained from talking too much because our group is definitely an unusual one. If the others saw us talking to each other like buddies then it would only get more complicated. Like this, others will think that this was Horikita's idea and her choice of the people inside the group.

We went to the school's sports field where Class B was currently having PE class. It seems that we arrived a bit late and there were only 15 minutes remaining before their class ends but that should be enough time for me to check their abilities a bit, at least for now it should be enough.

Class B also noticed our presence but they weren't disturbed by this and continued with their class as usual.

...

We observed their practice while making our own comments and opinions from time to time. After their class ended, Ichinose immediately run up to our group.

"Hi everyone!" She greeted us with a smile, there wasn't even a shred of displeasure on her face, as if she didn't care about us scouting on them.

"Hi..." Everyone greeted her with a slightly awkward expression, perhaps they felt guilty for scouting out people like Ichinose, however, I was glad for them to do that.

"Haha, there is no need for you to feel guilty about this. Our class was thinking about doing the same thing so no worries." Ichinose obviously also saw their awkward-guilty expressions so she just laughed off and told us not to worry.

All of us nodded and sighed in relief after we heard her say that.

"So what do you think?" She asked us with a confident and expectant smile.

"Eh, well, your class is indeed very athletic." Yukimura answered what all of us were thinking.

"Thanks! I look forward to competing against you guys! By the way, whose idea was it?" She asked us with a curious expression.

I saw Yukimura open his mouth to speak again however, this time, I stopped him.

"Horikita-san, she wanted us to check your class out during our lunch break." I said with a slightly annoyed tone to show that I was annoyed with Horikita for denying me my chance to eat lunch.

Yukimura was slightly surprised by my words however he quickly hid it away. Matsushita and Kei just wore their slightly bored expressions, not being disturbed by my words.

They are getting better at reading my intentions, hehe.

Seeing this, Ichinose gave me a last suspicious look before switching to a pitying look.

"I am sorry to hear that but I am sure that Horikita-san has a lot of work on her own so don't feel bad about her." She optimistically said and even tried to convince us not to hate Horikita.

We didn't chat for too long because Ichinose just finished her PE class so she had to take a shower.

...

"Why did you say that?" Yukimura asked me with a confused expression, he even looked at the 2 girls who were accompanying us but seeing that they didn't care about that detail almost shocked him.

"Truth be told, having Ichinose's attention on your back isn't the best feeling. She is a smart person and if she knew that it was my idea she would keep an eye on me." I simply told him that I didn't want to stand out, at least not yet and definitely not in that sense. I want to alarm everyone about my physical abilities and not about my cunning side. Of course, something like this can't be called cunning, however, Ichinose is extremely careful and aware of her surroundings so she would definitely mark me as one of the few students to look out for. Not to mention that she knows that my circle of people around me is extremely small and it would be hard for me to gather so many people unless her information about me was indeed wrong.

"I see..." He nodded his head in understanding, however, that didn't stop him from carefully looking at me with caution visible in his eyes.

I understood the meaning behind his gaze but I pretended not to notice it.

---Next day---

"Finally, I was able to borrow it!" Hirata who stood before our entire class said with a relieved smile, it was evident that he was in a good mood but it would be more of a miracle if he wasn't in a good mood.

It was once again, another PE class and our class wanted to borrow all kinds of tools and devices for practicing. The first one we wanted to borrow was grip strength measuring device, reason behind this was especially the tug-of-war contest. We needed to know everyone's abilities to also know how to form groups.

"Alright, let's start with..." Hirata spoke and as he was about to give the device to Sotomura, someone took it from his hand by force.

"Let me start first. Having high standards might motivate some students to perform better." It was Sudo who took the device and without even listening to other opinions, he started.

"Haa!" He shouted and gripped the device with all his strength until even some of his veins were visible on his arm.

The device immediately started measuring and it immediately started on 50 then immediately jumped on 60 then 70 and slowly climbed up to 80 kg where it finally stopped moving.

Hm? That's pretty strong for a high schooler. I thought while looking at the final numbers on the device's display, even I was impressed who had a completely different outlook on the strength itself.

"Aaah..." Sudo heavily sighed out.

"Haha, the next one...here you go Ayanokoji" When he looked at the students standing around him, looking at the numbers he produced with dumbfounded expressions on their faces, he confidently laughed. Then he handed the device to the closest person standing from him, who was coincidentally Ayanokoji himself.

"That was freaking amazing Sudo-kun!" Ike, impressed by Sudo's show of strength immediately exclaimed once he woke up from his daze. His exclamation also woke up others who were evenly stunned by Sudo's performance. Some of them weren't happy how Sudo stole the device from his classmate.

"Well, well...I brought 2 pieces so who will take the other one?" Hirata also noticed the displeasure others were feeling so he decided to intercept the whole conversation.

Everyone calmed themselves, however, no one wanted to take the second piece and who would want it? After Sudo's show of strength...anyone else with much lesser strength would look like a clown.

Hirata also noticed it so he gave me a pleading look.

*sigh* I guess I will be the one who motivates the other people. It's not like I wanted to set a record with a mole inside our class. This way, I will be able to motivate others while having an average score.

"If no one wants to do it then I will try" I said with a raised arm and unmotivated expression.

Hirata thanked me and handed me the device. I took it into my right hand and started to observe it.

"Sudo-kun, about how much would be the average score?" Ayanokoji asked him while giving me a side glance.

"Hm? Around 60 kg, I think." Sudo replied with a clueless expression.

"60...huh?" Ayanokoji muttered while glancing at me.

...I am sorry buddy. Although I know that average should be at least slightly lower, I can't tell you because I need to take advantage of the situation when others will be too focused on your score...

I played as if I didn't notice his gaze and kept on examining the device.

"Walker-kun, it's not a written exam, you won't find any answers by simply looking at it." Sudo noticed my actions so he urged me to begin however, it was at that time...

"Oh?!" Ike exclaimed and everyone's attention turned on Ayanokoji who was gripping his device with a strength of 50 kg and it was still slowly rising up.

I have to take advantage of this...

I am still very unfamiliar with my power and I have no idea how hard I have to squeeze my hand to get at least strength of 45 kg.

I squeezed the device with ease and display immediately started at 150.

F*ck, f*ck, f*ck!

I immediately eased my grip and it slowly dropped down until it became stable at 50 kg.

"Whoa, Ayanokoji, you are pretty strong! Where were you hiding that strength?" Sudo happily said while slapping Ayanokoji's back.

I took a look at his final score and it was slightly over 60 kg.

...So much for not standing out, huh? I thought while giving him a pitying look

Hirata wrote down his score so I approached him to tell him mine.

"I got slightly over 50" I reported to him.

"That's really good, thank you" He replied with a smile while writing my score down on his paper.