Chapter 171: Class D Prepares to Challenge the Sports Festival According to Plan   

The rock-paper-scissors game ended quickly. Besides Sudou, five students were chosen: Ayanokouji, Yukimura, Sotomura, Mori, and Maezono. 

Aside from Ayanokouji, who was hiding his true ability, Mori and Maezono were average at sports, while Sotomura and Yukimura were complete non-athletes. 

But if their luck was good enough, it wouldn't matter if they weren't physically strong. 

If other participants had to run back and forth while they breezed through, they'd win easily. 

That said, not everyone chosen was thrilled. 

"W-Wait, I got picked for the scavenger hunt race?!" Sotomura stammered. 

He looked like he was about to pass out. On the other hand, Ike was super jealous and couldn't believe he didn't get picked. 

"Hirata, I don't think anyone should be forced to join if they don't want to. If they're not motivated, it might even bring bad luck for the team." 

Seeing how uninterested Sotomura, Yukimura, and even Ayanokouji looked, Kanda Shuichi figured he should speak up. 

"Besides, Yukimura, didn't you decide to cover for students with lower scores? It doesn't make sense for you to join events that could earn points." 

Kanda's words made Yukimura pause. Then he nodded. 

"Yeah, if I accidentally earned points, it would mess up the plan. I'd rather contribute to the class in other ways." 

Yukimura agreed without hesitation, even thinking that Kanda's point made perfect sense. 

"M-Me too…" 

Sotomura shakily raised his hand. 

As a chubby guy with little athletic ability, he probably wasn't much better than Kanda Shuichi himself.

"Then I..."

Just as Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was about to speak, he noticed Kanda Shuichi staring at him with an expressionless face.

"Then I'll do my best."

As for the two girls who hadn't given up, their athletic abilities were decent, and since they were close to Karuizawa, their social standing in the class was also pretty good.

Therefore, they had a good chance of participating in the scavenger hunt competition and securing a spot in the top three.

"So, does anyone want to participate?"

"Me, me, me! I want to join."

As soon as Hirata asked, Ike, who had been waiting for the opportunity, raised his hand and shouted.

"Got it. Anyone else?"

"Ugh, Ike beat me to it. I wanted to join too."

"Me too!"

Seeing that several others were willing to join the scavenger hunt, Hirata nodded. "Then let's do rock-paper-scissors again. But this time, the winner can't back out. We need to decide the order quickly."

"Exactly! If you don't want to participate, don't join!"

"Don't worry, I'm determined to win!"

In the new round of rock-paper-scissors, the winners were Ike and a boy named Makita Kazuichi.

Kanda Shuichi didn't have much of an impression of this guy, but when he checked the grip strength chart earlier, he noticed that Makita's grip strength was 55.5 kg, second only to Hirata. He seemed reserved and had a few close friends in class.

"It's Ike and Makita. We'll be counting on you two."

Hirata noted their names in the notebook he always carried.

The other students didn't seem dissatisfied. Those who didn't want to participate had already given up, and those who did were given two chances. No one had any complaints.

Seeing the calm demeanor of the class members, Hirata breathed a sigh of relief. He also gave Kanda Shuichi a grateful look. If it weren't for the strategies Kanda had set at the beginning of the term, the class would likely be in complete disarray by now.

Next, they measured the class members' speed with a 100-meter dash. They only did one run since doing more would tire them out and naturally slow them down.

Based on the results, they ranked the students, with the fastest ones being seeded and the slower ones being grouped with the seeded students as support.

In this way, Class D's strategy was progressing smoothly, and they quickly finalized the initial version of the participation order.

Unsurprisingly, with Koenji not participating, Sudou was the fastest in the class. Hirata, Miyake, and Makita also performed well. On the other hand, Ayanokouji, who had decent strength, was surprisingly average in speed, only slightly faster than Ike.

After deciding the participation order for all the events, Hirata passed around the notebook.

"The current participation order is crucial for our victory. Although it's only tentative, I still think it shouldn't be leaked to other classes. So, could everyone please only note down their own order and their teammates? Please don't take photos or leave any records."

The class naturally agreed to this. Besides, during P.E. class, hardly anyone brought their phones, as they were left in the locker room.

However, this wasn't a problem for Kanda Shuichi. Perhaps due to eating too many memory candies, his memory had significantly improved compared to his past life. After just one glance at Hirata's notebook, he had mostly memorized the contents, though he would still forget if he didn't review it.

After some intense discussions, the participation order for each event and the recommended participants for certain events were finalized.

Among the boys, Sudou volunteered for all the events. However, since the sports festival had to be completed in a single day, some students were concerned about his stamina.

Still, for a small event like the school sports festival, they probably don't ban performance-enhancing drugs, right? 

Ahem, just kidding. 

After finishing the tests and deciding on the lineup for each event, the gym class was almost over. The students of Class D also agreed to start practicing specifically for the sports festival events from the next gym class onward. 

As the bell rang to signal the end of class, the students changed back into their regular clothes and left the field. 

"Whoa, look over there." 

Ike made a disgusted face as he looked toward the school building. The reason? A group of students from Class B was standing there. 

"Those are Class B students, right? They sure started scouting early—" 

Up until the deadline for submitting the lineup, every class would gather information on the athletic abilities of students from other classes and use that data to adjust their own order of participants. 

Even so, being spied on so openly like this was pretty irritating. 

But there was no helping it. They couldn't just stop practicing for fear of leaking information. If they wanted to win, they had to rely on their own strength. Worrying too much about it would be pointless. 

One thing worth noting was that Ryuen's Class C hadn't even bothered gathering intel. They hadn't shown a single sign of movement. 

That guy Ryuen sure is confident. Does he really trust Karuizawa to hand over Class D's lineup as he instructed? 

Kanda Shuichi could somewhat understand Ryuen's thinking. Even if Karuizawa betrayed him this time, it wouldn't matter. 

Because if she did, he would just completely crush her afterward. 

Given Karuizawa's status in Class D, if she went down, it would be a huge blow to the entire class. That's why Ryuen probably didn't care whether the information she gave him was real or fake. 

Ryuen's actions did make Horikita a little concerned, but she quickly brushed it off. After all, Ryuen wasn't even interested in working with Class B. That probably meant it wasn't anything too serious. 

Kanda Shuichi had been quietly observing Horikita Suzune's expression the entire time. 

He sighed to himself. 

This girl… who does she take after? She's both incompetent and arrogant. 

With that thought, Kanda Shuichi pulled out his phone and sent a message to Horikita Manabu. 

[I'm planning to make your sister suffer a little during the sports festival. That okay?] 

A moment later, he received a reply. 

[Come to the student council office after school.] 

He didn't say yes, but he didn't say no either. He just told him to meet in person. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? 

Oh well. If it's something good, great. If not, whatever. 

It's not like I'm trying to harm Horikita Suzune—I'm doing this for her own good. As her brother, surely you wouldn't stop her from becoming stronger, right? 

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