COTE Collection

by TsukasaKawaii

Collection of Cote Fanfic from many authors

12. (1) All or Nothing - V2 Chapter 3

All or Nothing

By : rainy26541

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V2 Chapter 3

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Intro

9:00 am sharp. The hands inside the school's random clock tower hit their designated time and rang their bells, indicating the start to a day very special to Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School.

Students of all classes lined up at the front of the recently built stage outside by the school's field used for these festivals, waiting for the announcement of the start of the festival.

At that moment, the student council president, Nagumo Miyabi, walked up to the stage and stood in front of the microphone.

"Good morning everyone. Welcome to this year's sports festival. I hope you all have been training yourselves to be ready for this year's one because it's going to be different than what we're used to."

As he spoke, the attention on him grew. The confident smile on his face as he gave his speech contained a bit of taunting. His expression was saying "you won't beat us in this new sports festival." As the one who proposed and likely created a lot of the new methods this year's sports festival was to show, Nagumo wanted to have as much fun with it as possible.

"For this year, we also have some alumni visitors watching us. I'd like to cordially thank you all for coming to watch us even though a lot of you may always be busy with your jobs. I'm sure we students will make sure to not disappoint you with our competition this year."

Nagumo then looked at Kiyotaka in the background of the students. It went unnoticed by everyone, but the target in question easily saw it and narrowed his eyes.

"Now it's time to get the sports festival started. The first event will be the long and triple jumps, held within the exact same areas at around 9:30am. Pick what events to choose and make sure you arrive at them on time. Commanders should head to the designated building to set up. The Commander Events will be the very last events to be held in the sports festival. I wish everyone the best of luck."

As he left the stage, the students and visiting adults applauded, some even roaring that they were going to do well in the sports festival. Kiyotaka, who was quietly standing with his class, took a moment to look at the audience. His eyes scanned for a familiar figure, familiar features and most of all familiar eyes.

His personal radar, aka his intuition and very own eyes, appeared to be in complete condition as his target finally came into view. There, standing at the very back of the crowd, surrounded by a few bodyguards, was the man he was looking for.

Yatei Ayatouji.

Also known as Professor Ayanokouji.

And most importantly, his father.

The man had his eyes closed and arms crossed, seeming very bored right now. Kiyotaka wasn't that surprised by this, as his father was someone who had a lot of work. He was actually a little surprised he had a little bit of time to attend today's sports festival, but that wasn't too important right now.

On another note, in the crowd nearby to his father was Kouenji's father, the current CEO and Chairman of the Kouenji Conglomerate, one of the very companies which supported the building and operation of the White Room financially.

"Kiyotaka. We're going to our respective tents and events to participate!"

Kei's voice next to him brought him out of his thoughts and allowed him to look back at her.

"Right. I'll be heading over to the commander tower too."

"Mhm. Are we still going with your plan during the festival?"

Her tone was serious, and when she looked back at her friend group, Kiyotaka did the same. In the background were Mori, Satou, Matsushita, Shinohara and Haruka. Mei-Yu also joined them just a few seconds after. They appeared to be having an exciting conversation as they all smiled well.

"Yes. I will drop messages to you girls through the Fitbit wearables and you should know what to do from there. This will be the best for the class, so I hope you girls do well to make it look realistic."

Kei gave a smirk, something she never really did before. Kiyotaka couldn't help but find it kinda sexy.

"Have faith in us Ki~ yo~ ta~ ka~. We'll do what we can. I'm sure Hasebe-san will also make it look absolutely realistic," she said looking at Haruka, Kiyotaka doing the same. The girl in question felt the two of them looking her way and turned to them with a smile.

"I'll be going now. I can't be late to the Commander Tower."

"Ah. I'll be cheering for you in the Commander Events. So you better not lose!"

"Of course. In this situation, I won't lose. I can't lose."

With that said, he waved back at Kei and began walking towards the special building. On the way there, he bumped into Katsuragi, who was also heading in the same direction. It appeared he was chosen as the Commander for Ryuuen's class.

Speaking of which, the deal that Kiyotaka had with Ryuuen began to make more sense to him. If Ryuuen was going to be participating in the normal sporting events, then he wouldn't be able to fight Yagami Takuya. It was possible Ryuuen could mess with Yagami's classmates to get to him, but even Ryuuen knew that wasn't a viable option. He would need to attack Yagami directly.

But with Katsuragi chosen as the Commander for their class, his pacifist nature and ability wouldn't be enough to fight against Yagami. That was why Ryuuen came to Kiyotaka.

"Compared to last year's sports festival, where we worked as a team together, this year we'll be directly against each other. I don't plan to win the Commander Events, because from what I've heard about you from Ryuuen, you're out of my league. But Ryuuen chose me as the Commander to lead the others with tactics when need be, so I intend to win those normal events and lead our class's MVPs to the rewards and total victory."

Katsuragi's declaration was to be expected. He was a very cautious man, so he didn't want a direct battle against Kiyotaka. Kiyotaka wasn't sure how much Ryuuen told him about the rooftop incident and all of his methods to win, but it didn't matter too much to him since his focus this year wasn't Katsuragi or Ryuuen.

"Oi Ayanokouji!"

As the two of them were about to enter the special building, both turned around to see Kanzaki shouting and running up to them, more specifically to Kiyotaka. Kanzaki stopped in front of them, seemingly a little out of breath running up to them as he put his hands on his knees and panted a bit. Kiyotaka and Katsuragi looked at each other before looking back at Kanzaki.

"Ayanokouji. What have you been telling Ichinose!? She's been very stubborn for ages and now she's changed just a tiny bit and it seemed to be because of you. What is the meaning of this!?"

After catching his breath for a bit, the questioning began. It seemed Kanzaki found out that Kiyotaka told Himeno some advice related to their class and then told Ichinose who likely contemplated it and then decided to take on the advice. But if that was the case, Kiyotaka wasn't sure why Kanzaki was coming to him and questioning it. For now, he decided to play along and try to understand Kanzaki's issue.

"I just told Ichinose something she really wanted to hear. It was up to her what to do with it."

Ichinose had been looking for an answer for what she should do moving forward more than once. Back when they were on spring break before the start of their second year, she and Kiyotaka had met in his room to discuss whether what she was doing was correct and all he told her was to do what she believed was right and the answer would soon show itself.

And then the same thing happened again back on the cruise ship, when the two of them met up to answer her confession before the inevitable distancing. He gave her a little bit of an answer she wanted but he still tried not to help her too much.

This time, he inexplicably told her, through Himeno as advice, what he thought was best for her class so they could continue to move forward. It wasn't different to what she was already doing, rather it was there to help her continue doing what she had been doing but support her with it a bit better.

"It may be helping us but I can't fully trust you with that. Ichinose seems to really like you, but you're too mysterious and dangerous as of yet. I want to know your true intentions right now!"

"My true intentions?"

"I can tell. You wouldn't just do this if you were not getting something out of it. Are you looking to leverage Ichinose for your class? What is it you want with her? I want to know that now!"

[Ah so that's what this is all about...] Kiyotaka thought.

Like Katsuragi, Kanzaki was also quite cautious. His class had been depleting and downgrading ever since the Class Vote special exam last year. He had been trying to convince his class they needed to do something more to be more powerful against their opponents. But he wasn't someone who wanted this to be done from an outside party, especially when that outside party happened to be someone who had hid his abilities for the longest time and was now revealing how powerful he was.

Kiyotaka wasn't all that surprised.

But if he was being honest, it was true he was looking to get something out of Ichinose doing what she was doing now. However, it was not what Kanzaki was thinking. What he wanted was for Ichinose to show him whether her methods as a leader and a fighter were better than his own, than Horikita's, than Ryuuen and Sakayanagi's.

[In other words, is Ichinose doing what she's doing better than what we may get from the White Room?]

But he kept that part to himself and answered Kanzaki.

"It's nothing what you think of. I just want Ichinose to do well. As someone who cares for her too. I don't intend to use her to my advantage the way you're thinking. We should head inside or we'll be late. If you're Class C's Commander then you should come with us and focus on the sports festival."

"Wha- Hey-"

Kanzaki had no opportunity left to try and question him as Kiyotaka walked away to enter the special building. Katsuragi soon followed behind and, after sighing a bit and giving up, Kanzaki shortly after.

For the Commanders, a room was prepared for them to have access to communication equipment, computers and monitors overlooking the entire of the sports festival events. Kiyotaka noticed it as the exact same room as the one which they used for the Event Selection special exam from the end of their first year. However, to fit for watching more than just one event for this sports festival, more monitors were added rather than just the one from the Event Selection special exam.

"This is really big for this room..."

As Katsuragi noted, the large spaces for each Commander were quite large, bigger than a typical office cubicle. The room itself was a massive hall, but being an older building, it wasn't as large as the main school building's grand hall. One would even go to say that it was one of the smallest. It was a little surprising they managed to fit large Commander cubicle offices into this hall.

"Welcome Commanders. In just 15 minutes, the first set of events will begin and you will be able to communicate with your MVPs via your own and their own earpiece, and with your other classmates using your keyboard and their Fitbits. We will individually show you a demonstration of what you will be doing during the festival. Please make your way to your designated cubicle and we'll begin."

The chosen Commanders began making their way to their respective spaces. Each cubicle was set in a row set for their respective years. For example, Kiyotaka's cubicle was directly in the middle of the left side in the middle row. And...

"Fufufu. Fancy seeing you here, Ayanokouji-kun."

To his left was none other than Arisu. Turning to his right, Kanzaki was the next one and then Katsuragi was at the end of the row. It appeared their cubicles were sorted based on their class standings.

"I guess it is," was all he said in reply.

"Oh my. You don't sound too excited to be seeing me, even after what you told me a couple days ago. Hehe. Anyway, I shall keep my end of the bargain today so do not worry. You should be good."

"I see. Thanks for your help."

With that, they entered their own cubicles. As described earlier, the space had about three monitors, two of which were showing some of the areas where some of the events would be taking place. The other monitor showed a special menu, containing information about the standings, information on the rotas for students and their abilities, and some more useful information for the Commander. All of this was hooked up to a computer tower, powered by very high-powered specs.

There was also a mouse and keyboard available to operate the system, as well as a headset to communicate with the MVPs who would be wearing tiny earpieces. Everything required for the Commander to complete their role for this festival was available here for them. It was almost like he was controlling Air Traffic Control at Narita or Haneda Airport.

A teacher then entered Kiyotaka's cubicle and began explaining how to use the system and what to do to contact his classmates. After the explanation, Kiyotaka decided to read through the event schedule and his classmates' strengths and event participation. The first events were the long and triple jumps, and from the list of students in his class, the ones participating included Shinohara, Onodera, Ike and Miyake in the long jump, and Sudou, Horikita and Kei for the triple jump.

It wasn't a surprise that Onodera and Sudou were participating in the first two events already. Being the MVPs, they were allowed to participate in as many events as possible, so participating in both events was great for them. It was undoubtful that the two of them would aim for first place.

Soon, a whistle was heard, indicating the start of the sports festival. Kiyotaka, who was silently relaxing in his chair with his eyes closed, slowly opened his narrowed eyes and stared at the screens showing the long and triple jump events.

"It's time to begin the destruction..."

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Part 1

Class B was still having trouble trusting Horikita to lead them for the sports festival. Because of this, it was decided Kiyotaka would be the Commander to lead them as the next best option. However, even though Kiyotaka was chosen as the Commander for this exam, he was away from his classmates and was mostly only able to talk through devices during the events. Class B did not have a supportive leader in the middle of the events to help them.

At least if they didn't do anything to rectify that issue, that would've been the case.

Predicting there would be a little bit of discomfort even without Kiyotaka being there, Hirata and Kei took the liberty to act as the motivating leaders for Class B, helping and directing students to events they believed would work best for them.

Even though the two of them took the liberty of taking the role, it was Kiyotaka that asked them to do so. Kei and Hirata remembered what he told them before the unanimous vote special exam, and they couldn't help but think of it as being true, especially now that he was taking the lead.

"Both you and Yousuke have the ability to read the atmosphere better than the average student. It's an ability that's more important than ever, so you need to be more flexible with it and develop it further."

As Kei remembered this, she sighed and looked at her teammates and opponents for the triple jump event. There were three lanes for the triple jump, allowing for 3 contestants to participate all at once. As of right now, it was just the boys that were partaking in the event at the moment, and Sudou was one of the next people in the line.

"Yoshaaaa! I'm going to get us first place in this event!"

It was inevitable that Sudou would be fired up to win. As Class B's MVP, he was set to not only garner as many points as possible for their class, but he was also set to be likely to win the first place MVP rewards.

Sudou stood on the line, body in a ready-to-run stance. In the other two lanes were Shibata Sou from Class C and Kitou Hayato from Class A. Soon, the teacher gave the go ahead for all three lanes and the three boys ran the track to the jumping line. With a large battle cry as he ran, Sudou finally reached the line and began his process.

Hop. Skip. Jump!

It wasn't sure whether his shout upon the jump really helped him, but his three step triple jump made him land quite far. When Kei looked over at the boys, she noticed that Sudou had indeed landed the furthest.

"Shibata Sou, 11.88 metres. Sudou Ken, 12.42 metres. Kitou Hayato, 11.01 metres. The current position holder is second year Sudou Ken in first place with third year Kiriyama Ikuto in second place and second year Shibata Sou in third place."

Even after the first year boys took part in the rest of the boys triple jump, the standings did not change. As soon as it was over, Sudou shouted his victory and ran over to Kei and Horikita.

"Alright! I got my victory! I hope you get a good position too, Suzune. Karuizawa. I'm going to go check on Onodera. We have a pair event right after this so we need to be there together."

"Good work Sudou-kun. We'll do our best here. I at least can't lose right now," Horikita said, specifically looking at Ibuki Mio from second year Class D just close by.

It appeared that the two of them had some sort of deal where they would compete against each other to see who was better in as many events as possible. Kei and Sudou were oblivious to this as it was secretive to both Horikita and Ibuki, but also Kushida.

"Yeah. I'll see you later."

With that, Sudou left to head over to the Long Jump event and wait for Onodera. As soon as he left, the teacher announced the beginning of the girls' heat for the Triple Jump. The first set of third years moved to the lanes to begin their record.

As soon as that happened, the Fitbit watch on Kei's wrist buzzed. From what she was told, this meant that she had received a message from their commander, Kiyotaka. Knowing better, she immediately lifted her wrist to see the message he sent her. As she did so, she looked to her side to see Horikita wasn't doing the same, which meant this message was likely specifically sent to just her.

For now, take part in the sports festival as normal. Try your best to win even if you can't. We'll go along with the plan a little bit later.

It appeared Kiyotaka wanted her and the others to just play along with the sports festival for the time being. When she thought about it, she understood why he was telling her this. It would be very suspicious and unnatural if they conducted their plan from very early on. Kiyotaka had told her they needed to make this seamlessly connect and look realistic if it was to work perfectly.

[This will only expend more of my effort... Well, on the bright side, it may even allow me to make it even more realistic when the time comes.] She thought.

"Hehhhhh... It's Karuizawa-senpai~!"

"Geh..."

Hearing that extremely sweet and sultry voice, Kei immediately stiffened in annoyance. Turning around, she bore witness to a first year girl with scarlet red hair usually tied in twin tails but now tied in a ponytail. Her eyes were gradient dark red and golden and the smirk on her face was complimented with her intentionally narrowed eyes to sexify her image.

"Senpai is participating in the Triple Jump as well? Hehehe. What another fateful encounter. I wish Ayanokouji-senpai was here to talk too."

Amasawa Ichika laughed as she approached Kei. That laugh annoyed Kei even more, as it kept reminding her of all the times Ichika crashed her indoor dates with Kiyotaka. Kei couldn't help but picture Ichika as an annoying she-devil.

Horikita, who was next to Kei, also looked at Ichika with glare, and looking further back, Ibuki also looked her way with a glare. Kei didn't know, but both Horikita and Ibuki had a run-in fight with Ichika on the uninhabited island not too long ago, and while the two of them won against Ichika, in the end, they knew they both lost to Ichika since she was injured at the time. The two of them likely wanted another opportunity to win against Ichika.

"Ah. Horikita-senpai is participating too? Fufufu. This should be a fun event. I can see kitten-senpai over there is also participating, so I'll make sure to beat all of you when my turn comes round."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!? AND WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!?"

Unsurprisingly, "kitten-senpai" immediately stomped her way over, looking to start a fight over Ichika's teasing. However, it didn't do Ibuki good that she came rushing with anger, because in Kei's point of view, she really acted like a cat. Kei had to stop herself from giggling at the thought.

"Hehe. Kitten-senpai decided to come over. I think that name actually suits you. You should get your friends and classmates to call you that more often. Anyway, I think your turn is coming up so you better go get ready. Won't do much anyway coz I'll end up winning. Hahaha."

Ichika then walked away with a laugh, waving her hand behind her as she did so. As Kei watched her with a neutral expression, Horikita and Ibuki were consistently glaring at her. However, as Ichika had said, their turns had just come up. Hearing her name being called over, Horikita sighed and walked over to one of the three lanes.

Kei moved back as she heard Horikita and Ibuki bicker over who was going to win. It wasn't her business if the two of them made a deal to compete against each other, so she just strayed off to the side and waited for her own turn.

What mattered to her more was the message Kiyotaka sent to her Fitbit earlier on. The message about playing as normal for the time being before putting their plan into action.

Kei jumped lightly on the spot and began stretching her arms and legs. She was sure if Kiyotaka was here, he would be staring at her silky smooth and soft thighs and legs. The thought inevitably made her remember their recent times they had together at night, making her blush out of embarrassment of thinking about that here and now.

And when she thought about it, she kind of had to wonder how a penis as large as her boyfriend's could fit inside a girl like her. She wasn't small like Mei-Yu, but she wasn't large either like Ichinose. However, whenever the two of them did it, he would fit inside her perfectly. It was like her whole body was made for Kiyotaka from the very beginning and that no one else could satisfy him.

Was this God's work after all?

"Karuizawa Kei. Ibuki Mio. Himeno Yuki. Please come to the lanes in the order we have just mentioned."

Hearing her name called out, Kei shook her head to rid herself of the dirty thoughts and focused back on the triple jump event.

[I hope I didn't get wet, otherwise it might be visible from my joggers.] She couldn't help but think as she walked over to lane 1.

Kei jumped on the spot again, preparing herself to make the run. She ran as quick as she could, but not too quick to the point where it would affect her timing. And then...

Hop. Skip. Jump!

She landed around 9.89 metres on the sandbed. Compared to Horikita and Ibuki, it was a lower score since the two of them hit 10 metres respectively. However, Kei's result wasn't bad by any means, it just wasn't the best. As she dusted herself off and moved away, she saw Horikita and Ibuki arguing over the results, causing her to sigh in exasperation at seeing two teenage girls acting like little kids. It was none of her business anyway.

With the event over and the winners announced (her not being one of them), Kei decided to head back to the Class B tent and see what a few of the others were doing. If they weren't participating in events or going to watch others, they would be around the tent planning their next move.

Speaking of which, Kei thought of her plan to make Kiyotaka's own plan work as best as possible. For what he wanted out of the class here, she had to make sure the plan worked, which was why she needed to see the others.

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Part 2

Being chosen as the MVP for the sports festival meant heavy responsibility to do well for your class. The MVP has the ability to participate in as many events as possible, while normal participants only had to partake in just 5.

But it wasn't just that. The rewards on the line for the MVPs were huge. If one were to win so many events and place first in the MVP rewards, they would receive a large amount of private points or a class transfer ticket.

For Sudou and Onodera, the two MVPs for Second Year Class B, the private points were the most important to them. So far, the two of them had participated in as many pair and single competitions and won as many of them as possible despite it still being quite early on in the day.

"It's almost time for the final. Are you ready, Sudou-kun?" Onodera asked

The two of them held their tennis rackets, standing off to the side of the court and waiting around for their turn in the final round to begin. As Onodera looked at Sudou, the man in question was staring at their opponents with a look that screamed competition and determination.

"Yeah. Let's win this, Onodera."

As the teacher announced for the players to come to the tennis court, the pair traversed their way to their side of the court. On the other side stood their opponents. One of them had their signature smirk, which pissed Sudou off, but only made him more determined to not get angry and win.

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Earlier...

"Sudou-kun. The next set of events consist of Tennis Duos which are mixed gender, 100m Dash which are separate for genders, Ball Toss and Steeplechase. I think we should participate in the Tennis Duos together, because we can gather lots of points for our class if we do."

Reading the guide Chabashira handed her just before the start of the sports festival, Onodera spoke to her MVP partner who was looking around everywhere for some weird reason.

"Suzune? Suzune, where are you right now?"

"Ah-..."

Onodera sighed and deadpanned as she watched Sudou's simp-search for their ex-leader. From her own point of view, she really couldn't see what Sudou saw in Horikita, especially after what happened recently. Sure, she led them well, but that didn't hide the fact that Horikita was still what Onodera called a "stubborn bitch".

But Onodera kept that to herself and focused back on the matter on hand.

"Sudou-kun!"

"Huh!?"

Broken from his dream of searching for his "true love", Sudou yelped in surprise and looked at Onodera. Now back in reality, he realised she was trying to explain something important to him. He bowed in apology.

"Sorry, Onodera. What is it you were saying?"

"Hmph. Well, I said that out of Tennis Duos, 100m Dash, Ball Toss and Steeplechase events that are currently available for us to try out, I think the two of us should enter Tennis Duos together and try to win since it offers lots of points."

Onodera showed the guide to Sudou, specifically pointing at the rewards section. Sudou read through it a little bit, trying to understand Onodera's point. After reading, he nodded and then handed the guide back to his partner.

"You're right, let's go for the Tennis Duos."

"Oi. Am ah hearing this shit right? The fucking dirt-monkey is going to be taking part in the Tennis Duos, the exact same one I intend to win at! Hah! You want me to beat your dead ass there too, HUH!?"

Just as they were about to make their move to join the event, they heard a gruff, pretty much threatening voice behind them. As they turned to face the person, Sudou immediately tensed and Onodera stiffened a little bit.

Approaching the two of them with an evil smirk and a fist ready to go at it was a tall, buff first year student with messy spiky silvery blonde hair and rough blue eyes. His body tone screamed he was a delinquent, and from Sudou's experience, this person was much more than just your casual run-of-the-mill high school delinquent.

It was none other than Housen Kazuomi, one of the two leaders of First Year Class D.

"Housen-kun. Please don't start any unnecessary fights and leave Sudou-senpai alone. We're here to just win and get points for our class. You know that, don't you?"

Housen's partner for the Tennis match, Nanase Tsubasa, spoke to him in somewhat of a scolding tone. Being the second leader of Class D, it was Nanase's responsibility to ensure that Housen was kept in check for the best of their class.

"Ya shut yer yap, Nanase!" Housen immediately retorted before turning back to Sudou and Onodera with a smirk. "You want me to wipe the floor with you just like I did that day? Even the damn girl you simp for had mud splattered onto her when I smacked her down. If it weren't for Ayanokouji-senpai, that day, you two would've been decimated even more. But he's not here to protect you this time, so I'll whack you both down if we face off together. Look forward to it!"

As Housen walked away with Nanase, he laughed at his own joke. It was apparent to both Sudou and Onodera that Housen was doing his best to antagonise the two of them, although it was mostly aimed at Sudou. However, Sudou kept his calm, trying his best not to blow up and give Housen what he wanted. He was somewhat thankful that Nanase held Housen back a little bit.

"Onodera..."

"...Yes...?"

Feeling a little bit nervous and uncomfortable at the tone Sudou had, and the fact she could see him clenching his fists together as hard as possible, Onodera replied anxiously. Sudou, in turn, inhaled and then exhaled, effectively calming himself down and then turned to face her with a determined look on his face.

"Let's enter the Tennis Duo's game and win. Let's win against that Housen bastard!"

Pumping his fist, he was determined to win, not just for the class, but to defeat the gorilla in First Year Class D. Onodera couldn't help but give a small smile in satisfaction and agreement. As the two of them made their way to enter the Tennis Duos, Onodera then frowned and asked Sudou a question.

"Hey, Sudou-kun. Are you worried about that first year that came up to us? Hou... sen, right? He has a real terrifying vibe..."

"...The bastard is quite dangerous to deal with. Honestly, I am a little bit worried, but I'm determined to beat him if we get a match against him. No, considering his nature and that first year girl with him, I know we'll get a match in the final against them."

"Is that so...? Well, anyway, what was he talking about with 'wiping the floor with you and Horikita-san' earlier? In fact, he even mentioned Ayanokouji-kun and how he stopped anything else from happening. It even looked like that Nanase girl knew what you were talking about."

"..."

Sudou kept silent, which worried Onodera more. He knew he couldn't explain everything without Kiyotaka's permission. Remembering the whole day really scared him. It wasn't due to the fact that he was beaten by Housen, but what happened to Kiyotaka. It was like Sudou was seeing a whole new person out of Kiyotaka, which not only led to Sudou respecting him more, but also being slightly afraid of him. But he kept that part to himself.

"...Don't worry about it. I'll tell you some other time..."

For now, he only gave her this answer. Onodera nodded, though her worry was still present through her expression and she was a little dissatisfied. But she knew the two of them had to focus back on the sports festival.

"Well, let's not think about that too much anymore. It's almost time for the games, isn't it? Are you ready, Sudou-kun?"

"Yeah, let's do it."

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Sudou and Onodera stood on the tennis court, legs stretched out, bodies slightly leaned forward and hands gripping their tennis rackets as they readied themselves for the final game. A few of their classmates appeared in the spectator stands, looking ready to cheer the two on. Even a few of the students from the other classes, mostly from Ichinose's Class C, looked ready to cheer the two on.

Seeing this, the gorilla on the other side of the court roared in laughter.

"Ahahaha! I'll be honest Sudou-paisen, I ain't ever thought I'd be playing you in the finals even after what I said! I thought you'd pussy out after being beaten by me. After all, you don't want the same thing to happen again! Do you!?"

"Housen! You don't think you can beat me at tennis, do ya? I'm going to be the one to beat you this time, so look forward to it!"

The air changed as Sudou shouted back to Housen across the net. He was not about to let Housen win this time, even if it wasn't a similar battle as the one just a couple months ago.

"The finals between the Housen Kazuomi and Nanase Tsubasa pair and the Sudou Ken and Onodera Kayano pair will now begin. Housen Kazuomi will begin the first serve."

The teacher then threw the tennis ball to Housen, who caught it effortlessly. The game was now set to begin. 1 set, 3 games. The right to serve will be rotated to the point losing team after each point. This was the setting set for each match, and it was now set to decide the winners of the event.

Holding the ball in his hands and ready to serve the first shot, Housen looked towards his prepared opponents and smirked. Sudou, who was the one standing at the back and the one to receive the serve, felt a small shiver at the smirk. But he had no time to reflect on it as the ball came right towards him just seconds later.

Sudou barely had time to react to the serve and unfortunately, the ball went past his racket after bouncing on the court. In other words, Housen aced Sudou. In just less than 10 seconds of the match starting, the score was already 15:Love to Housen and Nanase.

Grumbling at being unable to return the serve, Sudou caught the tennis ball thrown to him by the teacher and got ready to serve. He bounced the ball between the ground and his hands, preparing his own serve. His goal: try to ace Housen as revenge.

Raising the ball into the air, as soon as it dropped low enough, Sudou smashed the ball, aiming directly for the corner for the ball to fly past Housen and count as an ace. However, it was naive for Sudou to think that. His serve was very lackluster and was returned immediately by Housen with another smashing forehand groundstroke. Because it was such a huge smash, Onodera had no time to react, and even if she did, it was likely she would get hurt as the ball was aimed to fly past the left side of her face, just a few inches away.

"What the!? Argh!" She screamed as she turned around and felt the resistance from the ball as soon as it flowed past her.

In just less than a minute, Sudou and Onodera were pushed back to 30:Love to Housen and Nanase. And it wasn't long until the entire game went to the pair.

"Game. Housen Kazuomi and Nanase Tsubasa 1, Sudou Ken and Onodera Kayano 0. Change sides and be ready to begin the next game."

"What was that...!? That guy is too fast! I didn't think he had experience?"

It wasn't a surprise that Onodera panicked and felt a bit of fear as they were changing sides of the court. Housen's serves and returns were so fast and so hard that it was difficult for the two of them to just keep an eye on the ball and predict its movements. Sudou could only grumble and agree with her.

Soon after, the next game began and it was Onodera who was going to serve. Their classmates in the spectator seats cheered them on, wanting them to win the next game. As soon as Onodera served, Nanase returned it with a normal forehand groundstroke, not as strong as Housen's. This time, the opponents kept up a nice rally, however, this was only because Onodera and Sudou avoided trying to hit it in Housen's direction and specifically because Housen was standing still a little bit, letting Nanase do all the work.

However, this did not last long. Housen, who appeared to not want to participate at the moment, finally made his move and intercepted a ball that was heading towards Nanase. Unsurprisingly, with his brute strength, he whacked the ball all the way through the middle, bypassing Onodera, with Sudou only just making it but still missing.

"15:Love to Housen Kazuomi and Nanase Tsubasa pair," the referee announced.

"What's the matter, Sudou-paisen? You ain't no match for me, don't hurt yourself!"

"You!" Sudou's fist clenched his racket forcefully. He swung up and tried to slam it into the ground.

"Sudou-kun, no."

Onodera shouted to stop Sudou from doing anything more reckless.

"Ah!"

"Don't you know that you always fail when you get upset?"

"Yeah, but still!"

With no one left to vent his frustration on, Sudou was suddenly stressed out. And it wasn't just that. Though he didn't say it out loud, he knew that Housen was intentionally trying to aim the ball to be as close to Onodera as possible, making sure it gets near to possibly hitting her. It was Housen's way of both taunting Sudou and trying to make sure his team would win.

"Goddamnit!"

"Sudou. Onodera. Mind if I butt in here a little bit?"

Just as Sudou was truly about to throw his tennis racket on the ground and likely break it, a voice chimed in from Sudou and Onodera's ears. It was coming from the earpieces they were wearing. Which meant that the one trying to talk with them was none other than-

"Ayanokouji!?"

"Yes yes. That's my name."

Sudou was surprised to hear him. It was likely he completely forgot about the fact that the Class Commander had direct contact with the chosen MVPs through the earpiece. Kiyotaka hadn't used it with Sudou and Onodera yet, so he wasn't surprised that they were surprised. However, his sarcastic answer wasn't completely necessary, even if it made Onodera laugh just a little bit.

"Ah. Well... what is it Ayanokouji?"

"As the Class Commander, I have access to seeing every event where I am at. I've been watching you two in the Tennis Duos and you seem to be struggling against Housen and Nanase. I'd like to offer some input from what I've analysed that will give you a better chance at winning."

"Huh!? Really?"

Both of them were shocked, but as they wanted to win, they held onto the hope that it was true. Sudou knew Ayanokouji's abilities somewhat, so he wasn't as shocked as Onodera, but he was still surprised nonetheless.

"Yes. Of course, things could change as we go on, but with the earpieces still in your ears, I can quickly direct you two in real time, so it shouldn't be hard. Plus, I've calibrated my methods to ensure they work best for you two. This should hopefully guarantee us this game."

Sudou and Onodera looked at each other before nodding, and the latter spoke through her earpiece.

"We'll be in your care, Ayanokouji-kun."

After that, the two got back into their positions. Housen was impatiently waiting and finally grinned when his opponents were ready with the ball.

"Yer finally done talkin' to yer damn Commander right? Ain't gonna make a difference what he tells you what to do. I'LL CRUSH YOU!"

Sudou held the ball in his hands. As he was getting ready to serve, Kiyotaka spoke to him.

"Nanase is the receiver for your ball. She's fast, but even she can't handle a fastball. Your serves are alright but they aren't good enough for a fastball. Throw the ball up as normal, but before you hit it, count to three seconds and then hit it as hard as you can, aiming for the far corner. You'll get yourself an ace against her."

He nodded at Kiyotaka's explanation and got himself ready. Throwing the ball in the air, Sudou counted to three seconds, the ball getting lower and lower. Immediately as he hit three seconds, with a loud warcry and smashed the ball towards Nanase.

Just as Kiyotaka had predicted, although she was quite fast, the little puppy wasn't able to hit the ball back in time. The perfect fastball was too much for her.

"15, All."

"Huh!? How'd ya fucking miss that Nanase!?"

"The ball was way faster than I anticipated Housen-kun. That was like a perfect fastball."

"Grr. Fine, I'll end them with my version then. There's no way they can stop it!"

As Housen threw the ball in the air, Kiyotaka's voice entered Sudou's ears again.

"Housen's serves are fast, but they aren't unpredictable. He always aims to hit the far corner on the second bounce. Lower your knees and start your swing early, predict it's gonna hit 2 metres behind you and then swing once you see him hit the ball. Swing as hard as you can."

Sudou didn't understand it completely, but followed those instructions, bracing himself for the unruly shot from Housen. Soon the shot came by, exactly as Kiyotaka had expected. Sudou immediately hit the ball back towards Housen with as hard a swing as he could muster.

It was evident that Housen was not expecting this as the returned serve, as the ball went past him after bouncing once in front of him and then a second time next to him.

"15, 30."

"YES!"

Sudou cheered as soon as the teacher announced a point to them.

"The fuck was that shit!? How'd the monkey return my fucking ace shot!?"

Unsurprisingly, Housen shouted in shock and anger. Having Nanase miss a fastball serve was one thing, but having his own fastball rebounded back at him was another he couldn't handle. He was about to blow up in a storm but Nanase held him back, saying they needed to refocus back on the match.

Nanase was handed the ball to serve towards Onodera. Before the former could get ready to serve, Kiyotaka spoke to the latter.

"You can already handle Nanase's serve, however the problem will be Housen aiming for you. I've seen how he's intentionally aiming the ball so that it's really close to your face to the point it can graze your cheek. We can use that to our advantage. If you time it right, lean a bit and do a weak backhand groundstroke, it'll bounce twice to the side in front of Housen and Nanase that they won't be able to return it in time. You need to accurately hit it at 1.2 seconds as he hits it at you, which I'll leave to your judgement."

"Ah... Right."

Onodera nodded though she didn't fully understand what he was trying to say. For now, all she needed to do was to do what he said. Nanase served and Onodera returned it. At the moment it was just between Onodera and Nanase, however it inevitably went towards Housen, who smirked at his "obvious" victory when he also saw Sudou and Onodera swap positions.

As he smashed it towards Onodera, aiming it to be as close to her cheek as possible, the target in question leaned to the side a bit and performed her weak backhand groundstroke. Just as Kiyotaka had predicted, it went weakly to the side and neither of her two opponents could reach the ball before it bounced twice.

"15, 45."

"The fuck is going on!? Ah, you have that damn Ayanokouji-senpai directing you two, don't you!? I'll crush all of you and then I'll crush him!"

Unsurprisingly, again, the game went to Sudou and Onodera after another instruction given to them by Kiyotaka. Not only the two of them cheered in victory, but their classmates and friends watching them in the stands also cheered at the two of them.

"YOSHAAAA! Let's win the next game so we can win the set!"

"Ayanokouji-kun. We're under your command."

Like two generals under their lieutenant, Sudou and Onodera waited for their commander to give them the next set of orders. However, all they heard was just silence in their earpiece. For 5 seconds, Kiyotaka didn't say a word to them.

"Ayanokouji-kun?"

Acting a little worried, Onodera called out to him again. This time, she got a response from him.

"Huh? Oh, right... Sorry. I just zoned out a little bit..."

"Come on man. We need you here so don't zone out. What do you want us to do with this next game?"

Sudou reaffirmed what they wanted from him, and this time, Kiyotaka responded.

"Actually. I'll be interfering and giving you orders at a minimum for this next game. I think you two won't need me as much now. What you two have is a great connection, in other words, you two being a pair is perfect. The two of you just haven't figured out how to completely cooperate and use it to your advantage yet. However, you two can easily figure that out here. With your strength and athletics Sudou, combined with Onodera's agility and speed, I think you two can easily beat Housen and Nanase on your own with little input from me."

The two of them were surprised to hear this from him, but they nodded nonetheless. The game began and it was now more evenly matched between the fighters. Sudou and Onodera were still trying to conduct Kiyotaka's orders, working together to find a rhythm.

Luckily, they finally found what they were missing and worked together to win. Their teamwork and efficiency increased greatly, and soon, the results were announced.

"Game. Winners of the Tennis Duos final are the Sudou Ken and Onodera Kayano pair."

"ARRRGH! FOR FUCKS SAKE!"

Absolutely annoyed that he was ahead of them and then lost, Housen angrily threw his tennis racket to the ground and it immediately snapped in half.

"Yes! We won, Onodera!"

Sudou ran over to Onodera in excitement and hugged her vigorously, sharing his excitement.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Onodera panicked, unsure of what just happened for a moment. "Wait, that hurts, Sudou-kun! Lighten your load!"

"Ah. Sorry!"

Sudou regained his composure as his thick arms that hugged her tightly lightened and he let her go. However, he still gave her one of his best smiles so far, despite it still being quite early on in the sports festival.

"Anyway, we did it Onodera! We really are a good team."

"Ah... Hehe. We are. But we still have the rest of the festival to show how good of a team we are. Let's keep this up!"

"Yeah!"

"Good work you two."

Kiyotaka's voice ran in their earpieces again, congratulating them on their win. The two of them smiled and replied.

"Thanks to you, Ayanokouji-kun. We couldn't have done this without you."

"Thanks Ayanokouji! We'll continue to do well for you!"

Onodera watched Sudou pumping his fist in the air and was somehow mesmerised by the sight. Likely because of the unexpected hug he gave her, Onodera might have only just realised Sudou's body and how different he was from the image he portrayed since they first started at this school.

"You should get closer to him so he can change his image of Horikita. It will be for the better and you'll even have someone for yourself. A win-win I'd call it."

So when Ayanokouji whispered that in her earpiece, she immediately blushed from embarrassment and shouted "idiot", completely confusing Sudou who did not hear it from his own earpiece.

The sports festival continued on without issue.

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Part 3

The Kouenji Conglomerate was an extremely large company, one of the most well known corporations in Japan and the world. In the top 50 companies ranked by market capitalization, revenue and profit, the Kouenji Conglomerate ranked around the 30s, only just a little bit behind Toyota Motor Corporation.

Behind the chair of such a large corporation was the man known as Kouenji-sama, the CEO and Chairman of the company. Under his direct leadership, the company went from just a small startup from a rural house in the countryside of Fukuoka to a corporation with several offices spread across Tokyo, London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Beijing and many other cities across the world.

People stood behind Kouenji-sama as a leader as he brought the corporation to the scale that it now is today. However, one's reign would always come to an end at some point, and for Kouenji-sama that time was soon as his son, Kouenji Rokusuke, was soon set to become the new heir to the Kouenji Conglomerate.

However, despite being the heir to the Kouenji Conglomerate, Kouenji was still a high school student, and needed to learn a bit more about high school and normal life before becoming the new leader for the corporation.

That was part of the reason why Kouenji was attending the Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School. There were, of course, some other, more personal reasons Kouenji had been admitted to this school instead of a normal one, but those reasons were to be told for another time.

Kouenji stood at the field where the Capture the Flag event was being held. This was a mixed event between boys and girls, so it wasn't a surprise to see all genders around. Kouenji was with the rest of his team for Class B, which consisted of him, Sudou, Hirata, Akito, Onodera, Horikita, Mei-Yu and Chiyo Sonoda.

Their team, in itself, was quite a strong one. Sporty students like Sudou, Hirata and Onodera were a huge benefit in winning the Capture the Flag event while Mei-Yu and Chiyo were just extras. Horikita, Akito and Kouenji were very capable students, but they weren't exactly very sporty, though a special case was set for Kouenji.

"Kouenji-kun participating in a team event is really a surprise. He usually keeps to himself. I'm glad."

"Hmph. It's good that he is, but I still can't respect him as well even if he's really great."

Mei-Yu and Chiyo conversed about Kouenji's presence. The man himself heard the conversation behind him but he didn't really care as he just stared off at their opponents with a smirk.

It was true that this was one of the first times that Kouenji had actually participated in a team with his own class. Usually, he would either abstain from participating with the excuse that he was either ill or just unable to participate for other reasons, or if he did participate, he would do it alone because he was all he needed. It was for this reason that Class B, at times, had a hard time trusting Kouenji.

"But like... Kouenji-kun probably has personal reasons why he does what he does, don't you think? Ayanokouji-kun is almost similar in a way. Even though Horikita-san said the two decided that Ayanokouji-kun would hide his abilities to prevent other classes getting onto him, I can't help but think they were lying and it's more personal reasons that Ayanokouji-kun was hiding his abilities."

"Well... When you put it like that, I guess I can kind of see it now... Doesn't make me respect Kouenji-kun any more though..."

He was surprised that Mei-Yu was protecting him, but he didn't hate that fact. She was indeed close to the truth, but he didn't intend to let her know of that.

"The Mixed Capture the Flag game will begin shortly. Second Year Class B and Second Year Class A, please get into your positions."

The third year teacher, who Kouenji couldn't help but laugh at the fact their face looked exactly like a chipmunk, announced the beginning of the event. The students of both classes frolicked their way to their respective sides.

"Alright team. I'd like to go through our strategy a little bit here. Can you all please listen?"

Hirata called out to his classmates and they all gathered together, Kouenji included. Huddled all together like a flock of fish swimming in the ocean, Hirata began talking.

"I think we should strategise a little bit in order to guarantee a good victory. So I would like to propose Sudou-kun, Onodera-san, Miyake-kun and Kouenji-kun to be our front horses while the rest of us defend our flag as much as possible. I think this would be the best course of action."

Explaining his plan for action, he looked at everyone to confirm whether they agreed. Horikita just nodded, knowing things would likely turn bad if she spoke, agreeing with the plan. Chiyo and Mei-Yu immediately agreed with Hirata, saying "if Hirata-kun says so".

"Fine by me. I'll push through these fuckers and steal as many flags as possible!" Sudou screamed in excitement.

"We'll do our best, Hirata-kun." Onodera replied with a salute, Akito doing the same.

Everyone then looked over towards Kouenji, who hadn't spoken a word.

"Oi, Kouenji. At least say something like you agree or whatever!"

"Fufufu. Of course I am on board with this plan of yours Hirata-boy. Did you really need me to say that I agree?"

"You-"

"Sudou-kun!"

Onodera immediately suppressed Sudou's annoyance. The latter clicked his tongue while Kouenji just kept his normal smirk. After, the team got into their positions, Hirata and Horikita taking each side towards the back of their homebase, while Mei-Yu and Chiyo just camped the flag itself. The other four stood at the front where they would begin to run for the princess in another castle.

With everyone finally in position, the teacher running the event began a countdown. As soon as it reached zero, the game began. Sudou, Onodera and Akito began running, aiming to traverse the obstacles standing in the middle of the field and arrive in front of the mock-up castle residing on the other side.

"Um... Kouenji-kun...? Aren't you going to join Sudou-kun and the others like you're meant to?"

However, Kouenji did not move from his spot at all. Seeing this Hirata called out to him to question the action.

"Relax Hirata-boy. I know my role. It's just not my turn yet, so I'm biding my time."

Kouenji answered Hirata immediately, which the latter understood was very different from how he would usually reply. Hirata also noticed that Kouenji's expression did not hold the usual outgoing, nonchalant, confident and somewhat arrogant demeanour. Instead, in its place was one that looked more analytical, more serious, like a military tactics specialist trying to analyse everything handed to them for their general or a football coach watching every player's move in the middle of a match.

Knowing better than to just question him even further, Hirata stayed silent and continued to just watch the defence from his position. It would do no good if he were to focus on what Kouenji was doing when the Class A attackers were just around the corner ready to steal their flag.

The front horses, Sudou, Onodera and Akito continued to charge through the obstacles, their goal: Class A's base. At the forefront of this charge was, unsurprisingly, Sudou, giving some kind of warcry as he kept advancing forward. If one were to try to differentiate Sudou and a viking or a pirate in this situation, they would probably struggle.

However, one thing Class A did not struggle with was halting Class B's advance. The supposed strongest of the participating Class was Kitou Hayato. Being a martial artist, Kitou knew a thing or two about halting advances of opponents, so it wasn't a surprise that he was able to hold Sudou off, which in turn allowed other students to block Onodera and Akito's paths.

"Grrrr! Let me pass you tall bastard!"

Sudou tried to force his way through Kitou, but every attempt was negated, making Sudou angrier.

"Sudou-kun! Don't worry, we'll go get the flag!"

He turned to the voice of Onodera, who somehow managed to get past her blockades. Onodera had quite great agility and balance from being an amazing swimmer, so she probably used that to her advantage to get past those who were blocking her.

However, this wasn't going to last long, as the next blockade blocked her from getting any further. As for Akito, just like Sudou, he was stuck behind a blockade, making it hard for him to get past.

The two attackers for Class A walked past all three of them, making their way towards Class B's base. Seeing this, Sudou gritted his teeth. He believed Horikita and Hirata could likely stop them, but being someone who wanted to crush Class A and win to gain more points for the MVP awards, he couldn't be optimistic.

Kouenji, who was watching everything from his spot, turned toward the spectators. His eyes scrutinised every audience member until his eyes fell on a single person who was just arriving at the spectator seats.

It was a man with the same blonde hair as Kouenji. The style was also similar, with slightly long hair coming down to the man's shoulders though the cowlick was missing and replaced with a few bangs. The same brown eyes, though more narrow than Kouenji's own.

It did not take a genius or rocket science to figure out that this man was none other than Kouenji-sama. In other words, Kouenji's father.

The expression on his face was serious as he watched from the stands. At that moment, the family members crossed glances and stared into each other's eyes. Similarly to how Kiyotaka and Kei conversed by just looking at each other, the same happened between the father and son.

However, this didn't last long as another man appeared behind Kouenji's father. It appeared that his name was probably called out by said person as he turned around to face the approaching man. Upon a further stare, Kouenji immediately recognised who this man was.

He sighed and turned away from the spectators' seats.

"Hmm... Looks like we both might be in a little bit of trouble, Ayanokouji-boy."

Kouenji shook his head before turning back to the game in front of him, the very Capture the Flag event he was supposedly participating in.

It appeared that Class B was still barely making any progress. Sudou was still being trapped by Kitou, though he did get a bit closer to their base. Onodera and Akito had gotten as close as possible, but the defenders had completely blocked their way in. Hirata and Horikita were doing their best to defend against the attackers, and it just wasn't worth stating what Mei-Yu and Chiyo were doing.

"Fufufu. Looks like it's finally time for me to reveal myself to the world."

After taking a few more seconds to analyse the situation, Kouenji then cracked his knuckles, stretched his arms and legs, sighed and then...

"Oraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

...ran at full speed towards Class A's base with a shout.

The shout gathered the attention of not just Class B and A, but the spectators as well. They all watched the out-of-his-mind (in their eyes) Kouenji Rokusuke pedal himself to the enemy base.

It took a moment for the Class A defenders to react to Kouenji charging towards them, and by the time they did and got ready to stop him, it was already too late. Kouenji's speed was too much for Class A to handle.

Still blocking Sudou, Kitou was unsure who he should continue to block as he glanced between Sudou and Kouenji. However, even this proved to not be a good idea as Sudou took this as an opportunity to charge past when he saw the right time. With two wild boars now charging towards Class A's base, panic in the target class began to build.

"Go! Sudou-kun! Kouenji-kun!"

Onodera shouted this as motivation for the boys. Sudou took it as that, while Kouenji just smirked at the fact that a girl was cheering for him as per usual. The two continued to charge, flying past the defenders and finally reaching the area where the flags were being held.

Since all the Class A fighters were either trying to stop Sudou, Onodera and Akito at the time, or they were attacking and trying to get past Horikita and Hirata. So it wasn't a surprise to Kouenji that their flag post was unattended.

Arriving at the same time, there were two flags they needed to capture in order to win the game. Kouenji and Sudou looked at each other, nodding as if saying they both agree to the plan they're about to perform.

They both quickly took the flags available at their disposal and immediately began their escape routine. Pushing through and avoiding the Class A fighters, Kouenji and Sudou ran for their lives back to their base in order to end the game. And unsurprisingly, just a minute later, the two of them arrived at their base and placed the flags in their dedicated captured holders.

"Game over! Class B has stolen both of Class A's flags and has won the game."

As the teacher announced the results, applause from the spectator stands was heard, probably enamoured by Kouenji's performance combined with Sudou's. Thinking that, Kouenji smirked in pride, but then turned serious again as he turned back to face the spectator stands. The two men he was intending to take in with his glance had disappeared. Kouenji wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Kouenji-kun! That was amazing."

But he soon put those thoughts away for the moment as he heard someone call his name and approached him. Turning to that person, he found it to be none other than Mei-Yu.

"Fufufu. Of course. I am perfect after all, Princess-girl. With my help, we'll do a lot better."

"You should team up with Sudou-kun more often. I'm sure if you two work together, you'll be unstoppable."

For once, Kouenji actually stayed silent for a few moments, which surprised Mei-Yu. Usually he would immediately reply with a "I'm perfect so I don't need to team up with trash like Red-Hair-kun."

However...

"Perhaps that might be worth considering. But no one is as perfect as me or Ayanokouji-boy. I'll be more likely to team up with him more often, but maybe some refined red bulls could be a good ally for my team too."

He said that instead. It was very different from how he would usually answer questions or statements like the one Mei-Yu had brought to him.

"The perfect existence needs to get ready for the next event, which is a solo one. I shall be taking my leave now. Take care Princess-girl."

With that, Kouenji left Mei-Yu and the rest of Class B, intending to go somewhere that wasn't the next event.

[I'm going to find out what those two left to do. Whatever it may be, I feel it won't be good for me and Ayanokouji-boy.]

.

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Part 4

The boys cavalry battle ended without any of Class B participating. From what Kiyotaka had told the boys, he wanted them to avoid that event and focus on better ones. However, he mentioned the opposite for the girls, and so Kei, Shinohara, Mori and Matsushita stood with the other three second year classes as they waited to get ready for the cavalry battle.

"Hey. Doesn't this remind you of the same event in last year's sports festival?" Shinohara said as she turned back to look at her friends.

When Kei thought about it, what Shinohara was saying was indeed true. Just like last year's sports festival, Kei was the rider with the band on her head while Shinohara, Mori and Matsushita were the horses holding her up.

"Hehe. It does. Kei-chan was really into it last year. Will you be the same this year?" Mori giggled at the memory.

"T-that was because Kiyotaka was watching... and even though we weren't dating at that time, I didn't want to disappoint him... Yeah. That's it!"

"If that's the case, doesn't that mean you'll be doing the same thing again here? Because you want to make your boyfriend proud."

Matsushita added the final blow to make Kei a slight blushing mess, making her workhorses giggle a little bit. Should workhorses really be giggling like that? Kei wondered.

"Well. Even if that were the case, we probably shouldn't overdo it too much. Ayanokouji-kun hasn't given us the go ahead to go along with the plan yet, but he probably will soon. Let's just at least play and have fun while we can."

"Yeah!"

As the girls cheered, the mediator, or teacher in this case, for the event announced it was about to begin shortly and the teams should get into position. All the second year classes spread themselves out, creating a sort of diamond formation. 4 class teams. 4 girls in each team.

Looking at each of the teams, Kei could see that she was up against Masumi Kamuro from Class A, Ichinose Honami from Class C and Shiina Hiyori from Class D. In other words, the horseman riders were not athletic at all, and minus Ichinose's group which had 2 athletic girls being the workhorses, none of the workhorses themselves appeared to be athletic.

[Looks like this game will be both fun and competitive. Just what we needed...] She thought.

And when she thought about it more, she remembered seeing Nanase Tsubasa and Amasawa Ichika in the First Year blocks for this event. No doubt that if this was entirely a mixed year game, Ichika most likely would've targeted her, and it was possible Nanase would do the same though Kei couldn't be too sure.

"Cavalry battle for the Second Years will now begin! You can start when the whistle blows!" The same teacher announced.

The horse's legs spread. The rider's arms ready. Kei and her workhorses got ready to make their move. And right after that, the whistle blew. The girls' Cavalry Battle begun.

Kei immediately ordered the girls to move towards the far left of the field, towards where Shiina's group was. For now, her plan was to play defensive and analyse her opponents. It was what Kiyotaka would probably tell her to do, so she did so.

Shinohara, Mori and Matsushita directed their legs to the far left side, making sure to balance themselves in order to keep Kei upright on top of them. Acting as the role of a workhorse, they appeared to be doing a good job, even if none of the three were athletic. Whether this was because of experience from last year or the fact that their cooperation went far beyond what many thought was possible was unknown.

As Shiina's group moved to avoid Kei's, the latter one stopped at the exact spot the former was once in. At the moment, it seemed to be the same with the other groups. All were avoiding each other for the time being.

However, this did not last long. Kei had been analysing Shiina and Masumi that she failed to see Ichinose coming at her until the final moment. Ichinose's hands were just seconds away from grabbing the band on Kei's head before she quickly avoided it in time and ordered the girls to fall back.

"Whoa! That was close! Where did Ichinose-san come from!?" Mori shouted after taking a moment to catch her breath from only narrowly avoiding a direct attack.

"Keep moving! She's coming again!"

Seeing Ichinose's group charging towards them again, Shinohara, Mori and Matsushita moved again. However, Ichinose's attack was a little more fiercer than they expected, resulting in Kei having to dodge while the girls were moving.

Balance is a key factor in ensuring both you and your horse can manoeuvre and fight well. If a tiny bit of balance is off centre, it would spell disaster, something which the fights of the 1800s would tell the tale. Kei, upon realising this fact, then understood why Ichinose was charging her so much.

Taking a small moment to look towards the side, Kei saw that Shiina and Masumi were also fighting, but they appeared to want to join in on this battle too.

"Damnit! Why is Ichinose-san targeting us? She hasn't even moved to get Class A or D!"

Even after all the defence they had been making, it was only now they realised that Ichinose had not even tried to go after Shiina or Masumi. Ichinose was specifically going after Kei, similarly to how Ryuuen had always targeted Horikita in the last sports festival.

Hearing gasps of awe, both groups stopped fighting for a moment and turned to see that both Shiina and Masumi's groups had gotten each out at the same time. Shiina had managed to steal Masumi's band, but in exchange, she accidentally fell off her horses, resulting in her getting out too.

It was a base of bad luck for Shiina and Masumi. But now that only left Kei and Ichinose's groups, the two who had been fighting since the very beginning. Now it was going to be a final battle.

"Karuizawa-san!"

Unexpectedly, before they could continue the match, Ichinose called out to Kei. Her expression was one of caution, determination and competitiveness all at once. Kei had to wonder what was happening right now.

Showing her full attention towards Ichinose, Kei waited for her to speak up again.

"You're Ayanokouji-kun's girlfriend. You have been for quite some time now. So that means you know much more about him than anyone else and know everything he has been doing to help others too, right? That should also mean you know I confessed to him not too long ago, right?"

Of course Kei knew a lot about Kiyotaka. Originally, she never knew about his past, but he had finally told her everything not too long ago. The emotions she felt when she heard everything were too much for her that they ended up blowing out and leading to their first time.

Kei also knew about the fact that Ichinose had confessed to Kiyotaka on the cruise ship and that he still wanted to help her. Kei didn't think too much of it, because Ichinose was special in her eyes. Of course, she still didn't want Kiyotaka to fall in love with Ichinose and date her, but Kei was sure that wouldn't happen.

She narrowed her eyes and nodded to Ichinose's question, prompting her to continue.

"Ayanokouji-kun is amazing. We both know that all too well. Which is why I can't give up on him even if you are his girlfriend. Ayanokouji-kun acknowledges me, but I want him to see me more. That will satisfy me the most. So I'll fight you to get his attention if I have to. We're rivals for his attention after all!"

With that, like a bull, Ichinose and her horses charged towards Kei again. As a result Kei ordered her workhorses to fall back again while she defended herself. The situation was dire.

"If you don't fight back Karuizawa-san, you'll be losing more opportunities to make Ayanokouji-kun proud. Moving forward, I'm going to do everything I can to repay him for the times he's helped me, but I also intend to get closer and closer to him so even as his girlfriend, you need to step up to keep having his attention on you. So fight, Karuizawa-san!"

After Ichinose said that, a spark was felt inside Kei's body. A spark so shocking that it changed her view of what she wanted to do for this game. Her expression was unreadable, completely hidden by her hair.

"Nene-chan. Matsushita-san. Shinohara-san."

Breaking away from Ichinose, Kei then called out to the three girls carrying her. All three looked at her, only to see her unreadable expression turn into one extremely determined and competitive.

"We're charging at Ichinose and we're taking her down. Get me close to her and I'll fight her."

Seeing that expression, the girls could only smile, smirk and nod in agreement to follow their leader.

"Kei-chan's getting competitive again. And against Ichinose-san, who she fought last year too. To think they would cross paths again this year."

"Let's win against her again this year. We're counting on you Kei-chan."

"Fight for your Ayanokouji-kun, Karuizawa-san!"

With all that said, Matsushita, Shinohara and Mori charged towards Ichinose's horse group comprising of Andou Sayo, Minamikata Kozue and Amikura Mako. Ichinose smiled and got ready to fight for the band on Kei's head.

The audience in the background, filled with outsiders and students in each class watched with gasps and awe, looking to cheer for the battle between the two girls over impressing just one boy. If one thought about it, it almost seemed kind of sad and weird, but also quite exciting and interesting.

Kei and Ichinose. The second sports festival cavalry battle between the two girls began. Hands and arms flew at each other, eager to both grab the other's headband and defend against the oncoming attack. The competitive expressions on each of them as they tried to aim to win was impossible to ignore.

"You can do it Karuizawa-san!"

"Win, Ichinose-san!"

"Kei-chan! Go for it!"

"You're our hope, Honami-chan!"

Cheers from their respective classmates could be heard across the arena stands, motivating both groups to do well. Soon, those cheers spread to a few of the spectating adults. It appeared this very funny yet intense battle was enjoyable to those watching.

Neither side appeared to be letting down, however it was apparent that both were getting tired from the constant barrages they were both giving and receiving due to the sweat pouring down their foreheads. It wouldn't be long before one of the two sides would give into their fatigue and allow the other to steal the band.

And that time arrived just two minutes later for the both of them. Knowing this, the two of them agreed that this next grab for the band would determine the winner. With some kind of warcry, the two of them made a grab for each other's band. Who would be the winner? Who would steal the band first? The winner was about to be decided here and now at this final moment.

"Game over! The winner is Ichinose Honami and her team!"

Unfortunately for Kei, despite coming to the same idea as Ichinose at around the same time, she was just a couple milliseconds slower at executing it, resulting in Ichinose grabbing her headband first and winning the bout.

Both girls got off their workhorses and looked at each other. They then smiled after giving each other a small competitive expression.

"You beat me there Ichinose-san."

"It was close, Karuizawa-san. But I was just a little ahead of you."

Kei nodded at her, feeling slightly defeated despite still smiling.

"Even though Ayanokouji-kun is with you, just know that I won't give up. I won't exactly aim to be together with him like you are right now, but the most I can do is fight you for his attention. So just continue to be ready, coz I'll be fierce just like today."

"Heh. As Kiyotaka's girlfriend, I can't lose to you. I'll fight with everything I have if we have to come to this again."

The competitiveness was still present in their eyes as they stared at each other. They were pure rivals, different to what Kei and Airi were. The difference likely was that Kei and Ichinose didn't hang out with each other too much compared to what Kei and Airi had done before the latter departed.

With that, Ichinose walked off with her teammates, leaving Kei to approach her teammates who watched the conversation between the two girls.

"I never knew Ichinose-san liked Ayanokouji-kun so much. And now she's competing against you for him. Who would've thought!?" Mori said.

"I used to insult Ayanokouji-kun so much for being... gloomy. But I hate myself for doing that. Ayanokouji-kun is really special so if he helped Ichinose-san quite a bit, it's easy to understand why she of all people would fall for him too," Shinohara replied.

"Look at that, Kei-chan. You've got a love rival. It almost seems like some kind of rom-com, don't ya think? You better not lose to Ichinose-san, otherwise Ayanokouji-kun might get taken away from you," Matsushita teased.

At that exact moment too, Kei received a message on her Fitbit. It was from Kiyotaka. She raised her wrist to read it.

I saw your fight with Ichinose in the cavalry battle on the monitors here. Quite intense but it's unfortunate that you didn't win seeing how competitive you were. I was impressed by it though, so good job. I'm proud of you.

"A message from Ayanokouji-kun? Is he absolutely praising you even though you lost?" Matsushita teased again. Kei, who was already blushing, just flew her arms up and down and replied embarrassed.

"Mouuu. Stop teasing me you guys! Let's just get to the next event!"

Kei, Shinohara, Matsushita and Mori all left the arena, heading towards the next event. The sports festival continued on as normal.

.

.

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Part 5

Hasebe Haruka couldn't care less about the sports festival. In fact, she didn't care about it at all.

She still hadn't gotten over the fact that the class had agreed with Horikita to vote out Airi from the last special exam. She still hadn't bothered to talk to anyone in her class other than Kiyotaka, the Ayanokouji Group and Kei and her friends.

Haruka didn't trust anyone else in her class, nor did she particularly like anyone else in her class anymore other than the aforementioned. Using that logic, her nature to feel like she wouldn't do anything for this sports festival would make sense. However, Haruka participated in this sports festival as normal.

At least that's what it would have looked like...

At around 11:30am of the sports festival, just half an hour before the lunch break would begin, the next events on the list consisted of the boys and girls tug of war, archery and the 200m race. It was the tug of war event that Haruka would be partaking in, along with Kei, Mori, Satou and Matsushita.

As the team was approaching to begin the event, all five girls received a message to their Fitbit watches. They all raised their wrists to read the message from Kiyotaka.

It's time. I'm counting on you girls to put the plan into action now. Try to make it look realistic and I'll ask the same from Akito and the others too.

Seeing this message, Haruka couldn't help but smirk. She had been waiting for this message since the sports festival began. She looked over at the other four girls and saw them with expressions of interest, excitement and amusement. Her glance caught theirs and they all nodded.

"The Girls Tug of War event will begin shortly. Please make your way to your lanes."

Hearing that announcement, Haruka, Kei, Matsushita, Mori and Satou walked over to the pits where the Tug of War event would happen. Their opponents happened to be a third year group, Class A to be precise. Haruka noticed that when a few of the third years saw Kei, they began staring at her specifically with caution and amusement in their eyes.

Haruka had heard from Kiyotaka that Nagumo had ordered the entirety of the third years to keep an eye on him, which meant that all the people he met and talked with were in their knowledge. They knew what Kiyotaka and Kei did a lot when they were alone. They knew what her, Kiyotaka and the rest of the KiyoKei band did whenever they could. It was like what Ryuuen had ordered parts of his class to do back before Christmas last year when he was searching "X" which Haruka ended up finding out was Kiyotaka.

Well, it wasn't like their stares on her and Kei mattered right now. Winning against the third years was not their goal, and Haruka didn't care about winning this event anyway.

"You girls know what we need to do right?" Kei asked before taking hold of the rope on the ground.

"Yeah. Let's do this for Ayanokouji-kun," Satou replied, to which Matsushita and Mori also replied with a "Yeah" and a smile. Haruka just nodded.

All the girls grabbed the rope, grips tight and ready to tug it towards them.

"Begin!"

Both the third year Class A students and Haruka and the girls began pulling on the rope, trying their hardest to tug it towards them. At the moment, the rope barely moved in either direction, going to show that everyone was indeed tugging as hard as they could.

Soon the third year girls began to pull even harder, intending to gain the upper hand in the battle. Seeing this, Haruka, who was at the front of her team, turned her glance to look at them and nodded, resulting in the other four nodding back at her.

[We'll start slow and make this look like we're not strong enough to win.]

As the third years kept putting in more strength to pull the rope, Satou, who was at the back of the five girls, began to loosen her grip on the rope, followed right by Mori who was just in front of her. The Class B girls began losing their stand as they were starting to be dragged towards the pit.

Seeing this, the third year girls began to get more confident at winning this event so they put even more strength into pulling, which actually began to tire them out. However, that didn't matter as the pull was enough to bring Haruka even closer to the pit. Matsushita had put less strength into gripping the rope.

Haruka and Kei were the only girls left who had complete strength and grip on the rope, which wasn't enough to bring them out of losing. The confidence present in the third year girls was enough to allow them to continue pulling harder despite their tiredness from trying really hard already. Were these girls really that unathletic?

The third year girls looked at Haruka, Kei and the others with smug looks, knowing full well that they were going to win this Tug of War event. However, to their complete and utter surprise, instead of seeing some scared or defeated look, the third year girls witnessed Class B, more specifically Haruka, evilly smirk at them.

They had to wonder what Haruka's smirk meant, but they didn't have enough time to think about it too much as both Haruka and Kei loosened their grips and lowered their strength. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in the two of them being dragged to the pit. The flag that was in the middle of the rope over the pit finally crossed onto the third year's side, indicating their victory.

"Game over for Lane 3! Winners are Third Year Class A!"

The teacher announced just before Haruka was thrown into the pit. She sighed and moved back to join the other girls who were just making their way to sit out and wait for the other games to finish.

"Hey! What was with that smirk you gave us!? Are you mocking us by losing on purpose!?"

However, one of the third year girls called out to her just before she was about to leave. Haruka turned to glance at the girl and saw her wearing somewhat of an angry expression. She appeared annoyed by what Haruka had done earlier during the game.

Haruka faced her and replied.

"What are you talking about? You won fair and square. You were quite strong, stronger than my class so you managed to win. Why are you complaining about that?"

"You-! You're definitely mocking us! Is that what this Ayanokouji guy told you to do!?"

"Nothing like that. Anyway, you won so take your victory. If we're done here, I'll be going."

Haruka left the annoyed third year girl and joined Kei and the others who were sitting nearby. She sat with them, waiting for the next round to begin.

"What did that third year want to talk with you about, Haruka-chan," Satou asked her immediately when Haruka sat down.

"I may have gotten a little bit too excited when we made the final move to lose on purpose that I gave an expression that they thought was just me mocking them. She was confronting me because of that."

"Hm. It does feel exciting to be part of Kiyotaka's plan. I've been working with him for over a year as his partner so I know all too well how it feels. But try not to let that show in your expression because it'll make it more obvious, Hasebe-san. We need to make sure that us losing looks as realistic as possible and doesn't raise suspicions from outside our class."

When Kei explained this, Haruka nodded. She forgot that Kei had been a part of Kiyotaka's plans since the zodiac exam, something which she only learnt after the unanimous special exam. Her experience meant that it was easy for Kei to conduct Kiyotaka's plans without getting caught. If Haruka wanted to be the same as this moving forward, she would need to listen to Kei's advice.

"You're right. I'll be careful, Keipon."

Kei felt a little embarrassed at the nickname. It wasn't the first time Haruka called her that. Ever since they formed the KiyoKei band, Haruka had been calling Kei by that nickname, which Haruka had taken from Kiyotaka's nickname Kiyopon. Even though Haruka kept calling her that, Kei still was getting used to the nickname.

She then smiled at Haruka before speaking again.

"We're in this together Hasebe-san. I know you want to get revenge on everyone in the class except us, but in order to do that and make Kiyotaka's plan work, we all need to work together. So let's do this together, Hasebe-san."

She held her hand out after that, resulting in Haruka smiling and taking it. Mori, Matsushita and Satou all smiled at this.

"Let's do this together then. For myself. For us. For Airi. And most importantly, for Kiyopon!" Haruka said as she and the other girls stood up.

"Yeah!" They all cheered back.

The teacher then announced the start of the next few games, resulting in the girls moving to their next lane. Their next opponent was against First year Class B. Unlike the Third year Class A girls, these girls from Class 1B looked more athletic, which in Haruka's eyes, was actually a good thing.

[It'll be easier for us to lose to them if they're quite athletic.] She thought.

When the game began, just like their first game, both teams were even. It was apparent that Class 1B were holding back a bit just so they could gauge what Haruka and the others would be like. Unbeknownst to them though, this played to Class 2B's advantage in allowing their plan to action. Unsurprisingly, when the Class 1B girls began to try harder, Haruka and the others began loosening their grip, and lost in the end.

This one was more realistic than the previous round, and at the same time, Haruka held back her expressions to make it look less suspicious. They would have to continue doing this as the sports festival continued.

Haruka recalled the conversation with Kiyotaka about conducting this action for the sports festival.

.

When the training sessions for Class B had begun, Kiyotaka, Sudou, Hirata and Onodera took point in being trainers for the class. For Haruka, Kei, Mori, Matsushita, Satou, Shinohara, Akito and Yukimura, their trainer was none other than Kiyotaka himself.

After the sessions, Kiyotaka had asked all of them to come with him to Pallet Cafe. It was notable that with the tone of voice he had, quite authoritative and almost cold to be exact, they couldn't refuse to follow him. Even if he had asked them normally, they would have listened to his request and followed like sheep being guided by their shepherd.

"What did you want to talk about Kiyopon?"

When they arrived at Pallet Cafe and ordered some refreshments, Haruka got straight to the questioning. Her tone still had an etch of coldness as she was keeping up her act of being cold in front of everyone due to the results the unanimous vote special exam provided them.

However, her tone was less cold due to the fact she was with her friends. They all understood that so they didn't call her out over her cold tone. The rest of the group looked at Kiyotaka expectantly, waiting for the reason he called them out here since they all understood it wasn't just because he wanted them to refresh themselves.

Kiyotaka was silently sipping his iced coffee with his eyes closed when Haruka asked him that question. After that, he placed the cup back onto the table and looked at her with very serious eyes.

"Haruka. Do you still hate most of our classmates? In other words, are you still looking for revenge for what they had done?"

Haruka immediately stiffened. It wasn't that she forgot that she wanted revenge on her classmates other than her friends, it was just that she didn't know how to yet. Kiyotaka had offered his help in order to achieve this motion, but they had yet to conduct the action.

Of course, while everyone in the room was quite surprised, it wasn't that they didn't know about Haruka's views of the class and her goal of revenge. In fact, minus Yukimura, they all knew about it and were actually on her side for the most part.

"I'm listening." was all she said in reply as she leaned forward.

This was enough confirmation for Kiyotaka to nod and continue speaking.

"Horikita's leadership of the class has completely deteriorated to the point no one trusts her. That's why thanks to your help, I was elected to be the leader for the sports festival. Both Horikita and the class are aiming to win the sports festival as a whole. However, I don't want that to happen."

He surprised everyone with his explanation. Kiyotaka didn't want his class to win the sports festival at all. What did he mean by that?

"Let me elaborate on that. I don't want our class to win the main class rewards, however, having Sudou and Onodera win the MVP rewards would be very beneficial, so I'll be having them work for those rewards. And I will be aiming for the Commander rewards because I have a use for that request ticket and the private points will be good to have too. However, what's best for the class is for us to lose, just like last year."

"Lose...?" Shinohara asked, completely confused and a little fearful of what that meant. It was the same with everyone else in the room. Kiyotaka continued on.

"Frankly speaking, our class is still on the verge of collapse even though we're still just rebuilding it. While winning the sports festival would provide some leeway to rebuild the class even more, if we win too much, it'll cause issues. We need to remind everyone of that. Also, if we do it this way, it'll motivate the groups to do even better and work together under my leadership."

It was the exact same reasoning Kiyotaka had talked about with last year's sports festival. Thanks to that, the class did indeed get stronger to the point where they worked well to get to Class C. And now they had done a lot of work to get to Class B in the uninhabited island exam, the Talent Show and the Unanimous Vote special exam. If they continued to win, they would be more likely to reach Class A, but it could cause issues. Kiyotaka believed that losing every now and then would be beneficial.

"Of course, most of the class won't agree to this, even though I'm their leader, because there's still some distrust around. So, this is where you all come in. I would like you all to act as if you are doing terribly in the sports festival, like your opponents are somehow just so much better than you. But in reality, you're losing on purpose to make sure we get as little points as possible. That will be your chance of revenge against the class."

He said this while looking directly at Haruka. This was her chance to get the revenge she wanted against the class. Even if it wasn't the complete revenge she was looking for against the class, it was definitely enough to count as revenge enough for them voting for Airi's expulsion.

"Also, doing this and what I'm aiming for will ensure none of the class will even think of doing something stupid again. I'll be aiming to get this class on my side so that they won't think twice of going against me as the leader."

"Does that have to do with the request ticket you're aiming to get from the commander rewards?"

It was unsurprising that Kei understood what he was doing, at least somewhat. Being around him for so long allowed her to understand how he planned his movements, what he based his thinking on, and everything all between. Kiyotaka looked at her proud that she was able to see that.

"Yes, Kei. However, I can't tell you yet what I plan to use it for if I win. That will be for later. The main point is I would like you all to help me ensure this class loses the main class rewards. Try and act like you are realistically losing each event to ensure we get as low points as possible. I want us to aim for 3rd place, so that we don't actually lose any class points but we don't win either."

As he looked expectantly at Haruka and the rest around them, they all took the time to think. However, the girls didn't take that long to think so they turned to Haruka to see what her answer was. Seeing all these gazes on her, Haruka decided to answer.

"I said I would help Kiyopon with his plans and Kiyopon said he would help me get my revenge. I'll do it. I'll make sure we lose as many events as possible," she answered with resolve in her eyes.

"We're with you Hasebe-san. We'll follow you and Kiyotaka and ensure we lose as much as possible," Kei said with the rest of the girls agreeing and even Akito and, reluctantly, Yukimura nodding in turn.

And this was the start of the revenge and losing plan against Class B.

End of Chapter 3...