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Volume 8, Chapter 1: A New Special Exam - Mixed Training Camp. Part 4

That long opening performance ended and our small group was called to a halt by Nagumo.

"Our seniors are gone but do you mind sparing some time? Because you guys don\'t seem like you\'ve actually chosen your leader after all".

As Nagumo pointed that out, Keisei fell into a slight panic.

"Ehh, how could you tell?".

"When I told you all to play rock-paper-scissors, it was painfully clear how awkward his actions were. If a leader had been chosen upon group formation then he should have stepped up right away. By the way, back then one other group also had a delayed reaction. If I have to add to that, I\'d say the groups who didn\'t elect their leaders are the 3-4 class composite balanced groups".

Nagumo probably doesn\'t know each and every one of the 1st years, yet he still deduced how our groups were partitioned.

It\'s not really that hard of a deduction to make but still, it\'s not something just about anyone could tell.

The delay was only a slight one. As a matter of fact, I immediately pushed Keisei on the back and had him play rock-paper-scissors. If we held discussions there then our lack of a leader would have been revealed.

I did so because I felt it needless to reveal such a weakness ourselves. That attempt of mine seems to have been in vain though.

"I believe it\'s fine to elect a leader afterwards though".

"That\'s right. But we\'d like to have a good grasp on who the 1st year leaders are. Besides, I wanted to teach you that a leader is a role that should be assumed as quickly as possible. The later that role is assumed, the longer it\'ll take for the leader to be aware of his position and the anxiety of it will weigh all the more on him".

It\'s questionable how much of that is pertinent but there\'s no mistaking the fact that Nagumo wanted us to choose our leaders right here.

"...so what do we do?".

Keisei asks that of our group, which excluding me, he isn\'t all too familiar with. Keisei himself probably doesn\'t want to play this role either.

"It doesn\'t matter how you choose. Please just choose a leader right now".

Since it\'s the student council president himself giving us instructions, even the delinquent-like Ishizaki and Albert were unable to object.

"No one\'s going to volunteer for this. Shouldn\'t we go with rock-paper-scissors for this as well?".

Ishizaki says so to get it over with and extends a balled fist. I played along and did the same.

Nine people and nine fists formed a circle.

One person\'s missing. There\'s a student who didn\'t extend his hand for rock-paper-scissors.

"Oi, Kouenji".

Keisei calls out to Kouenji, who\'s looking out the window a slight distance away. However, Kouenji did not even look at us.

"Hey you, blondie. Get a move on".

An angry voice came from amongst the 2nd years. Kouenji then finally realized he\'s being called and turned around.

"Fufufu. You\'re referring to the striking beauty of my hair, are you not?".

"What?".

He didn\'t say anything regarding rock-paper-scissors but rather, only gave a response about his hair.

"Get serious, Kouenji".

"What do you mean by serious? Is playing rock-paper-scissors your definition of serious?".

"Hey, 1st year.....Kouenji, right? Are you mocking us senior students?".

Of course he\'d end up drawing attention. That\'s something I had expected from the get-go.

"Mocking you? No, I am not mocking anything. From the very beginning, I had no interest in you lot. You may relax".

He probably intended to say he isn\'t mocking anyone but it ended up completely backfiring.

"I will not play rock-paper-scissors. Because I have no interest in being the leader".

"I have no interest in it either and neither does anyone else. But there\'s no other way, right?".

Keisei exasperatedly tries to persuade him but Kouenji showed no sign of caving.

"You say some strange things, Boy. If there is no interest, then there\'s no reason to participate, is that not correct?".

"No. That\'s how the rule works".

"The rule is that someone from within the group must become the leader. In that case, someone else just needs to be the leader".

"Stop screwing around. You can\'t act selfishly like that here".

Ishizaki, who once had a quarrel with Kouenji along with Ryuuen, flared up at him.

"Fufufu. Then why don\'t you go ahead and make me the leader of your group?".

Kouenji said so and swiped his bangs. At that unexpected proposal, Ishizaki froze up.

"Then I\'ll have you be the leader. You don\'t mind, right?".

"You\'re free to push that role onto me. I have no intention of objecting to that each and every time. If we lack one the group will be punished right? If you\'re so afraid of that then you\'re welcome to do that".

But Kouenji\'s subsequent words shocked everyone present.

"I\'ll do whatever I\'ve decided to do. However, if I have decided not to do something then there\'s no way I\'ll do it. In other words, it means no matter who comes talking to me, my resolve will not waver. Of course, I won\'t be carrying out the duties of a leader either. I may even boycott this exam. Even if that results in our average score falling below the borderline, even if it means dragging someone down. Okay?".

".....that\'s.....if you do something like that, you\'re getting expelled!".

"Fu. Fu. Fu. Yes that would be the case".

He seemed almost as though he had no fear of expulsion.

"However, this sort of topic would normally be considered a foolish question though. Even if I score zero throughout the entirety of the exam, as long as you lot struggle hard then there\'s no risk of falling below the borderline. Just go ahead and do it without holding back".

Kouenji said so as he swiped his hair back.

But there\'s no guarantee that we wouldn\'t fall below the borderline and his words have no leg to stand on. It\'s just Kouenji\'s own prediction that this isn\'t going to be such a difficult exam.

Or perhaps he\'s just randomly spouting nonsense because he doesn\'t want to participate. However, Kouenji\'s alienness has most likely been sufficiently conveyed.

"What a guy. Must have a screw loose up there".

Ishizaki muttered as he took a step back and nodded.

However, I discovered a contradiction in Kouenji\'s words. But of course, Ishizaki and the others here definitely wouldn\'t be able to spot that contradiction though.

Why? Because there is no falsehood in his behavior itself. If Kouenji intentionally created that contradiction then......

To confirm that would require taking the huge risk of waiting for exam day to come though.

"Let\'s just calm down, he probably doesn\'t have the balls to score zero either way".

If possible, they probably wanted to forcibly push the troublesome and risky role of leader onto Kouenji.

Of course, looking at it from another class\'s perspective, it would mean losing the chance to earn double the points as well as facing the possibility of being dragged down and so they probably have mixed feelings on the matter.....

But if Kouenji really does score zero then only a disastrous outcome awaits.

"Stop it, Ishizaki. You keep that up and you\'ll be the one dragged down".

Hashimoto, in an act of saving an enemy, restrained Ishizaki.

"But.....shit, if getting your way by taking a hard line\'s allowed then I\'m definitely not doing it either".

"Well, I suppose so".

Despite his exasperation, Hashimoto nodded as though in acceptance.

Nobody actually thinks this group will place first. That\'s basically why there isn\'t a single student willing to assume the role of leader.

It might be that our group\'s in a far more difficult situation than I had expected. If Kouenji acts Kouenji-like to the very end then we\'ll lose a considerable amount of points.

The scenario in which we fail to obtain even the \'lowest score\' is probably one the 2nd years and 3rd years have not factored into their calculations.

But then someone came forth in response to Kouenji\'s bizarre behavior.

"I\'ve heard rumors about you, Kouenji".

A surprisingly unexpected person.....Nagumo, who doesn\'t seem like the type to have had much contact with Kouenji, approached him as though he had found something of great interest to him.

The two who\'d never meet under normal circumstances.

"I know you too. You\'re the person who assumed the role of the new student council president, aren\'t you?".

Showing no fear even towards the student council president, Kouenji responds in his usual manner.

"You\'re free to play the fool all you want but do you really not mind being expelled?".

Towards Kouenji, who did not show any weakness, Nagumo asked that question. And he continued.

"This school system\'s a troublesome one. Regardless of that fact, you\'ve made it this far with that noncommittal attitude of yours. That is in order to graduate from this school. But you\'ll casually accept the risk that comes with having the leader role pushed onto you here, and on top of that you\'ll even boycott the exam? Liar. You just don\'t want to put in the effort to reach Class A and you really don\'t have any intention of actually leaving this school".

"Fufufu. You\'re saying some amusing things. How can you tell that I\'m lying?".

It\'s probably true. Not too long after enrolling, the class once asked Kouenji whether or not he had any desire to aim for Class A and he\'s given us his answer before.

That he has no interest in doing so.

That he only wants to graduate from this school. He doesn\'t want to be expelled but there\'s no need for him to aim for the top either.

It\'s very similar to what I\'m hoping to get out of this school. In other words, he\'s taking a stance where it\'s no problem for him even if he holds back a fair bit in exams.

That explains his cocksureness.

"That\'s what\'s written all over your face".

As Nagumo said that teasingly, Kouenji laughed pleasantly.

"Bravo. Bravo".

Clap. Clap. He gave his applause. And he then gave an honest answer to Nagumo\'s fair reasoning.

"I lied because I didn\'t want to be the leader. Allow me to correct myself. I have no intention of aiming for Class A, but neither do I intend on getting expelled. Simply put, I think a noncommittal approach like this is best".

Kouenji answered with that almost as though making a confession. Besides, everyone seems to have accepted that but Nagumo did not.

"You have no interest in Class A, huh? That\'s also a lie, right?".

"Oh my, oh my. Am I already being branded as a liar?".

"If that isn\'t a lie then that\'d give rise to a slight uncertainty, Kouenji. Don\'t you already have a surefire way to graduate from Class A in hand?".

Nagumo suddenly said something unbelievable. The 1st years like me and Ishizaki aren\'t the only ones surprised but the 2nd and 3rd years too, were shocked.

"Hmm? You sure do say the most interesting things. If you don\'t mind, do tell me the logic behind that".

"You sure? If I explain the logic behind that here, that \'surefire way\' of yours will become unusable. No, I\'ll make it unusable, you know?".

"Fufufu. I don\'t mind. I just want to know whether or not you can really read me".

Rather than be frightened by Nagumo\'s questioning, Kouenji happily laughed.

"To promote yourself to Class A through the use of 20 million points. It\'s a strategy everyone\'s thought of and tried carrying out at least once. In practice though, it\'s not that easy to save up that many points. Yet it\'s still not entirely impossible. Right after you enrolled, the first thing you did was to figure out how the points that graduating 3rd years leave behind are treated".

"Keep going".

"After graduation, your private points are encashed so that you\'ll be able to use them outside of the school as well. Their value would decrease, of course, compared to when they were still points but that still doesn\'t change the fact that this is an unprecedented system. You were intending on buying those private points from them at a price higher than the one they\'d get from encashment, right?".

Hearing Nagumo\'s explanation, the rest of them were understandably shocked and couldn\'t hide their surprise.

And Kouenji, who had that pointed out for him, nodded in satisfaction and then opened his mouth.

Kouenji too, replied accurately.

"That\'s exactly right. Not too long after I enrolled, I concluded as such and arrived at the truth. That no matter how low I fall during my time enrolled here, as long as I legally acquire those private points at the very end, I will still be able to graduate from Class A in no time. And since I came up with this exploit all too easily, school suddenly became a bore to me".

A miraculous strategy he\'s capable of pulling off precisely because he\'s rich, is what it is.

Buy private points at a high price from students who have already given up on aiming for Class A, or from students whose success is already guaranteed or from students whose graduation is fast approaching.

If there\'s a guarantee that their points will be purchased after graduation, it wouldn\'t be strange even if a great many students are willing to make the transfer.

However, this is extremely difficult under normal circumstances. If you purchase them at the same value it\'d be after being encashed, that would be 20 million yen.

Unless it\'s within a high school student\'s means to prepare such a sum, it probably wouldn\'t be a trustworthy matter even if they say they\'ll pay for it.

"Fortunately for me, before I enrolled here at this school, I set up a profile on my company\'s homepage with my picture on it as next in line to be CEO. It means I possess the power to easily move tens of millions. It was extremely easy to get them to trust me".

"Yeah. As a matter of fact, there are many 2nd year students who plan on selling their points to you. There are probably more than a few of those among the 3rd years too. You seem to have sealed their lips but there are quite a lot of 2nd year students who have placed their absolute trust in me. There were also students who consulted me on whether or not they should fall for your cajolery. Of course, I approved of it as a plan. It\'s not like it doesn\'t have its risks but you seem to be a fairly rich guy. But that ends today".

Nagumo said so and looked towards the 2nd and 3rd years.

"Even if he is actually that rich, Kouenji isn\'t a trustworthy man, as you can see. If necessary, he\'s more than willing to lie. It\'s best to not make any transactions with him regarding points, even by mistake".

He said that and added one more thing.

"Just in case, I\'ll report this to the school. Because purchasing private points prior to graduation isn\'t really something that ought to be permitted after all".

"I don\'t mind. I had only been making preparations to ascend to Class A after all. I haven\'t yet decided whether or not to actually carry it out".

At best, Kouenji had only been considering it as one out of many strategies. Still, what an absurd story.

Well, in reality, unless you can prepare a great sum of 20 million then this is a strategy that\'s exclusive to Kouenji.

"...I always thought you were a strange one but your strategy hinges on the outside, huh? Bravo".

Hashimoto muttered that as though in both admiration and exasperation.

"By tossing that strategy out the window himself, what\'s Kouenji planning on doing?".

A lot of eyes fell on Kouenji\'s classmates, Keisei and myself but there\'s no way we\'d know that. No, to be more precise, there\'s only one thing that comes to mind.

That is that there\'s no reason why Kouenji needs to graduate from Class A.

Looking at it from Kouenji\'s perspective, since he only wants to \'graduate from this school\', cooperating with his allies must have felt like a pointless endeavour to him.

Even if he\'s found an exploit, there\'s no real need to force himself to use it.

That\'s why he didn\'t really mind it being revealed. Or perhaps he\'s found enjoyment in finding another exploit.

Nagumo\'s insight into and information regarding Kouenji is considerable.

"This is the first time I\'ve seen Kouenji having to explain something away".

I also agreed with those mutters that came from Keisei. However......

"But student council president, now there\'s no more reason for me to play rock-paper-scissors. On top of having confessed to everything, allow me to say that I have no intention of accepting the role of leader".

"...I see".

Certainly, Kouenji may have had a way of raising money. But there\'s no change to his stance. On the contrary, he revealed his one advantage and threw it away himself.

You could say that now there\'s no way of forcing Kouenji to assume the role of leader. Kouenji is extremely wealthy and even if he\'s expelled, it\'s not like his future prospects have gone dark.

I can hardly imagine a person like that being afraid of expulsion. Of course, we could take drastic measures and force Kouenji into the leader role but I doubt there are any students in our group brave enough to do so.

Because they\'ll be damned if they get dragged down by Kouenji.

"You know, it might be for the best if I just take that role.....".

Resignedly, Keisei raised his hand.

Starting with that, students from the other classes reacted but there are students in our group that will be hard to deal with such as Kouenji, Ishizaki and Albert.

And also, the prospects of us winning against the other groups are low. As such, there aren\'t any other students who volunteered as though this were an auction.

"Then it\'s decided".

Nagumo oversaw the election of our leader and then dismissed the group.

After that, in accordance with the instructions we received from the school, we left the gymnasium.