Suzune had always noticed Kei's excellent timing when it came to their conversations. Though she found this girl rather domineering in class, there was no denying that she was being helpful.
"Everything started when Kōenji refused to participate in the Sports Festival." She continued.
Everyone's attention shifted to a corner of the base camp, where a man stood combing his hair while gazing at his reflection in a mirror.
That man was Rokusuke.
Hmm... What did this have to do with him?
Rokusuke remained silent, watching to see what "Horikita girl" would do, aware that if the class's performance continued to decline, his share of Class Points would eventually suffer.
In his view, the class had too many poor athletes, and since the Sports Festival required points from all classmates, victory could only come if the capable students shouldered more of the burden. The strong ones needed to score points.
But despite considering himself both a genius and strong, he felt that taking on extra work would be akin to bullying the weaker students — something he had no interest in doing.
So he opted out of the Sports Festival entirely, forfeiting all events. Now he would wait and see what happened.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Kikyō: "..."
She glanced at Kei, knowing that as support, she was supposed to find the right moment to follow up on Suzune's words and relay the message.
Why was Kei better at this than her?
Feeling pressured, Kikyō said, "Actually, this was a plan created by myself, Horikita, and Hirata."
Everyone's gaze shifted to another person.
Yōsuke: "...???"
He hadn't planned anything at all.
The class situation had deteriorated significantly. After Ken's forfeit and Suzune's injury, they couldn't increase their points — making a 200 Class Point loss inevitable.
For the final event — the All-Grade 1200m Relay — they still needed a replacement for Ken in the first leg.
With Class C's defeat seemingly certain, many felt that participating would only bring shame.
An Maezono had secretly decided to forfeit the third leg, though he hadn't announced this yet.
Still, seeing Suzune and Kikyō's efforts to turn things around, he maintained a gentle expression.
"Yes. Everything is as Kushida and Horikita said." He confirmed, acknowledging his part in their scheme.
Suzune pressed on with her persuasion, "Our class's athletic ability isn't great — we need Class B to go easy on us. That's simply our limitation. But I've discovered a bigger problem: we lack unity. Everyone focuses only on themselves, ignoring the class's interests. That's how we ended up here.
But is our class hopeless? Not at all — we've made it to Class C. I spoke with Chabashira-sensei, and only one or two classes in the past dozen years have achieved this. Doesn't that prove our strength?"
Sae: "..."
The passing teacher, hearing her name, took notice.
No one looked at her, but she remained, arms crossed, observing how her Class C students would develop.
"Our class has potential. But your choices have been disappointing. You've all seen Sudō's athletic prowess, yet he left in anger — we lost a valuable teammate through our own actions.
Even after I implemented my injury scheme, you didn't notice, and our points remained abysmal. Despite Kushida's efforts, she couldn't improve our standing."
So Suzune's injury was planned?
Yes. She even participated in the cavalry battle while injured — wasn't that meant to inspire everyone?
But…
"My injury was part of the scheme, but Sudō wasn't. He participated in events with genuine enthusiasm and a desire to earn Class Points. However, during the pole toppling competition, no one came to help him. And this..." Suzune paused meaningfully.
The boys in class wilted under the girls' contemptuous stares.
Ugh…
"What was I supposed to do?" Haruki sputtered defensively, "If we had helped, we would've gotten beaten up for sure — right, Ike?"
Kanji: "..."
Why did this guy always try to drag him into it?
"I didn't mean for this to happen! I had no idea Ryūen's group would be that intimidating... And if we got hurt, our individual scores would've suffered too..." He stammered.
His explanation only made the looks of disapproval intensify.
Ugh…
"Horikita, do you have any solutions?"
He wasn't so dense that he couldn't see this wasn't just about criticism. Since Suzune and Kikyō claimed this was planned from the start, surely there was a way forward.
"Yes. We haven't failed completely." Suzune said, "I want everyone to understand that sometimes we must weigh personal losses against the collective good.
Now you see Sudō's value. While our class has many weaknesses compared to others, we also have some exceptionally strong members. This outcome stems from everyone prioritizing their individual results over the group.
We will lose 200 Class Points this time. But I hope this painful loss serves as a wake-up call. We are one class, one unit. Until we grasp this fundamental truth, we cannot progress."
"So... are you saying there's still hope?" A girl asked.
This wasn't Kei speaking, but Kikyō's friend Mei-Yu.
"Yes." Suzune nodded firmly, "Of course there's hope. If our class unites, we can move forward! Let's use this All-Grade 1200m Relay to show the whole school that we are not worthless!"
"..."
After the first month of enrollment, following the Behavioral Test where everyone scored zero points, Sae had declared them the worst class she'd ever taught. She had called them all worthless.
But now, we refuse to be called worthless anymore!
"Let's go bring Sudō back." Yōsuke said with understanding.
"Indeed, Sudō has endured a lot." Teruhiko said, the academic ace who had participated in the pole toppling competition despite his physical limitations, "I'm truly sorry about what happened."
"Sudō is incredibly fast — we absolutely need him right now!"
"His athletic ability rivals even Class A students!"
"See? Class C isn't the worst! We have students who can compete with Class A—"
"We can't afford to lose Sudō!"
And so the entire class made their way to Ken's dormitory to bring him back.
At first, furious with his classmates, he had believed them impossible to work with. He never expected anyone would come for him.
But there they were, genuinely asking him to return. They wanted him to come back and help lead the class forward.
Could he really stop here?
Though Ken excelled physically, he struggled academically. His life had been difficult from the start. Born to parents he considered worthless, he had always seen himself the same way.
Athletics was his sole talent, the one area where he could shine and earn others' recognition.
Deep down, he hated losing his temper and resorting to violence. Though born to troubled parents, he had always fought against following their path — yet found himself slowly becoming what he feared most.
These thoughts had plagued him since storming back to his room.
Would this be where his story ended? No.
He returned — and took his place at the final leg.
⍟⍟⍟
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