Chapter 288 The Idiot Manager / I'm Going to Start Pursuing Shimizu Akira!
The Student Council moved quite quickly.
A few days ago, they distributed the clarification notices, thoroughly explaining the matters he had been questioned about and completely clearing his name. Just as Ichinose Honami had said, the Student Council members went so far as to stuff a clarification letter into every single mailbox.
Truth be told, even without that letter, few people in his own class actually suspected him of so-called "illegal fund collection." Shimizu later specifically looked up the school's definition of illegal fund collection: "Any act of collecting personal points from other students or defrauding students of points through abnormal means that violate school rules."
The consequences for illegal fund collection were severe—expulsion was the only outcome.
Looking at it this way, Ryuen Kakeru's method of collecting class fees and Nagumo Miyabi's practice of gathering personal points from all four classes in the second year practically fit that definition perfectly!
It turns out the people actually engaging in illegal fund collection were others! Perhaps that complaint letter even made the new president, Nagumo Miyabi, break into a secret cold sweat.
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Shimizu Akira walked into the classroom today and checked the daily intelligence as per his routine:
Horikita Manabu of Year 3 Class A is still studying chess recently and plans to continue teaching Shimizu Akira personally. Nagumo Miyabi of Year 2 Class A has promoted Kiriyama Ikuto of Year 2 Class B to the position of Vice President of the Student Council. Shiina Hiyori of Year 1 Class D is responsible for creating the exam questions for Class B in the "Paper Shuffle" special exam.
Seeing the first item, Shimizu was left slightly speechless.
'Chess? Why is Horikita Manabu still obsessing over this!'
Ever since he offhandedly mentioned on the phone last month that he didn't know how to play chess, Horikita Manabu had been calling him for two or three hours almost every week to teach him step-by-step. Looking at the situation, it seemed Horikita Manabu, the teacher, was secretly refining his own chess skills just to ensure he could teach him successfully.
In most countries chess is significantly more popular than shogi. Last time, Horikita Manabu had mentioned—whether accidentally or in passing—that a chess-themed problem had appeared in a past school special exam.
Thinking about it, it probably was a good idea to learn it; it might come in handy later.
He also heard the school had a chess club; he might check it out when he had time.
As for the second item—Kiriyama Ikuto became the Vice President? And Nagumo Miyabi promoted him personally? Shimizu was genuinely startled.
Weren't these two competitors before? He remembered clearly that before the Student Council selection, Kiriyama had even campaigned on the forums, standing in direct opposition to Nagumo.
Nagumo Miyabi was notoriously petty and vengeful; normally, after taking office, even if he didn't suppress his opponents, he certainly wouldn't give them power.
Yet, he didn't target Kiriyama; he promoted him directly.
Was he not worried that Kiriyama might become a threat once he gained real power? Or did Nagumo believe, deep down, that Kiriyama lacked the ability to shake his position?
The last piece of intel was quite crucial. It turned out Ryuen Kakeru intended to have Shiina Hiyori create the questions for Class B. Given Shiina Hiyori's intelligence, the questions she crafted would likely stump Class B.
Then again, it was exactly as Sakayanagi Arisu had predicted: Class D was indeed launching an attack on Class B. Did they use "money power" for this?!
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After school, on the final day before the mock exam, Class C held its class meeting as usual. The core content of this meeting could be summarized in two points.
The first was regarding the pairing method after the mock exam. The school would assign partners based on the mock exam results following the pattern: "the student in last place pairs with the student in first place, and so on." This rule was confirmed by Kushida Kikyo after she specifically asked an upperclassman. No one was surprised; everyone had a premonition that the school would intentionally bind high-performing students with low-performing ones.
The second was the class decision: Class C had decided to choose Class D as their opponent for this special exam. Whether it was Class D sending a spy to discover Class C's leader's identity during the island exam, the attempt to bribe Yamauchi Haruki for VIP info, Ryuen using Yamauchi to figure out Class C's formation during the sports festival, or the
recent slandering of Shimizu Akira—every incident had caused Class C to accumulate a lot of resentment.
From a strength perspective, Class D was the "soft persimmon" among the three remaining classes.
Under Ryuen's leadership, the Class D students acted more like a bunch of delinquents; in terms of overall academic ability, they were clearly far inferior to Class A and Class B. It was a perfect time to settle both old and new scores.
"I've tallied all our exam results since the start of the semester—two midterms, three monthly exams, and one final. After removing unreasonable bonus points and penalties, I've recalculated the averages and organized a new class ranking. Everyone, please take a look." As Horikita Suzune spoke, she taped a piece of paper filled with names onto the blackboard.
"Wait, Horikita-san! Is it necessary to go to all this trouble? Can't we just refer to the results of the last midterm?"
"Yeah, yeah! Why tally the previous scores? I did pretty well last time!" Several students immediately voiced their confusion.
Horikita Suzune didn't rush to respond, instead explaining logically: "First, the school clearly lowered the difficulty of this midterm, likely considering that the Student Council just finished the sports festival. Second, the last scores included bonus points and penalties from the sports festival—some students intentionally placed in the bottom ten and lost 10 points, while others gained many points due to excellent performance. It cannot be used as the sole reference.
Furthermore, a single exam inevitably has accidental fluctuations.
For the sake of fairness and accuracy, we must combine all past results to calculate the ranking."
"Ah, that makes sense! There were indeed a lot of extra points in the midterm."
"Yeah, this is indeed fair and more accurate."
After the explanation, the students nodded in agreement.
Take Sudo Ken, for example: he ranked 12th from the bottom in this midterm, but that was thanks to sports festival bonus points; his true strength was actually in the bottom three.
He certainly couldn't be measured by the 12th-from-the-bottom ranking.
Meanwhile, Yukimura Teruhiko and Wang Mei-Yu ranked fifth and sixth respectively this time, but that was because they intentionally chose to forfeit and were automatically docked 10 points; their true rankings should have been higher.
Shimizu Akira followed the crowd's gaze to the blackboard to see the ranking Horikita Suzune had integrated. He was no longer in fourth place but had dropped to eleventh.
At the start of the year, his Japanese score hadn't even passed—it wasn't even 30 points. Although his grades slowly improved later, he was only barely passing and had never exceeded 80. The last midterm had easy questions, and since he put all 12 bonus points into Japanese, he barely hit 80.
Now, with the average taken, his rank naturally dropped.
"Damn, I'm still third from the bottom!"
"Ha, my composite score is second from the bottom!"
"I feel like I'm really dragging the class down..." Sudo Ken and Ike Kanji looked at the ranking with faces full of embarrassment.
"Alright, don't overthink it; everyone has things they aren't good at." Yukimura pushed his glasses up and comforted them.
"In the island exam and the sports festival, the contributions from you two were already very large."
"That's right! I pulled out of the sports festival because I'm not good at sports. Now that we're letting academic results talk, it's my turn to contribute." Wang Mei-Yu nodded in agreement.
It was clearly detectable that the current Class C was much more united than before.
Seeing this, Horikita Suzune's tense expression softened slightly as she continued, "According to these composite results, the top ten students, please try your absolute hardest on tomorrow's mock exam. The bottom ten students, please just leave your papers blank. This will ensure you are paired with the top ten."
"Got it, understood!" Everyone nodded in agreement without much objection.
Kushida Kikyo added with a smile, "As for the middle twenty students, try to follow the 'top ten + bottom ten' logic for pairing. However, considering that everyone has subjects they are weak in, we won't do random assignments. Instead, we have fixed slots; we will arrange partners with complementary subjects. I've posted the specific list in the group chat. If everyone aims for the corresponding scores according to the list, you can pair with your designated person."
Karuizawa Kei felt both anxious and expectant. Her composite rank was 28th, placing her in the lower-middle range, while Shimizu Akira was 11th. According to the grouping logic, Shimizu would likely choose a partner from her, 29th-place Hasabe, or 30th-place Sakura Airi.
She and Hasabe had never gotten along; they had argued about tutoring at the start of the semester.
Although Chiaki apologized later, Karuizawa never felt she was in the wrong.
She always gave Hasabe a cold shoulder, and Hasabe would return the favor with a sour face. The three of them had been roommates on the ship during summer vacation; she only had a decent relationship with Sakura Airi.
After all, both of them had previously invited Shimizu for a date, and in the end, Shimizu had chosen her.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but secretly curl her lips into a smile.
A second later, she heard whispers around her. "I want to pair with Shimizu-kun!"
"He clearly has top-ten strength; he was just dragged down by his initial Japanese score. He's basically top three in individual subjects!"
'These people are actually thinking the same thing as me!'
Karuizawa's heart tightened, but she immediately calmed down. After all, Shimizu had previously promised to pair with her. She quickly opened her phone. The list in the group chat clearly displayed:
[Shimizu Akira & Karuizawa Kei (Japanese / Math subject-specific complementarity)]
"Great!" Karuizawa couldn't help but whisper aloud.
"Sigh, I was still beaten to it by Karuizawa-san."
"It's actually math and Japanese complementarity? Come to think of it, Karuizawa-san's math scores are indeed shaky, and Shimizu has gotten perfect scores in math for all these exams."
"I'm so jealous, getting to pair with Shimizu-kun!"
Envy and minor jealousy rose up around her, but she didn't care at all, instinctively turning her head toward Shimizu. He still had that calm and indifferent look, as if he had expected this result long ago.
Noticing her gaze, Shimizu just gave a slight nod.
'How is this guy always so calm!'
Even though she was so happy she was practically bubbling over, he remained completely unfazed. Karuizawa thought about it and couldn't resist sending him a message.
Karuizawa Kei: Shimizu, we really have a lot of fate!
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After reading the message, Shimizu couldn't help but look up. Karuizawa was lifting her small face with eyes curved into crescents; anyone could see how happy she was.
Sigh. He let out an involuntary soft sigh.
Calling it "fate"—his silly club manager really was adorably stupid. This wasn't luck; it was clearly the result of his deliberate guidance.
A few days ago, when the four of them—he, Hirata Yousuke, Horikita Suzune, and Kushida Kikyo—had their meeting, Suzune originally planned to group based directly on the last midterm scores. It was he who intentionally brought up the pitfalls of the midterm—the lowered difficulty, the interference of sports festival points, etc.—and then guided her to suggest calculating the ranking based on all exams since the start of the year.
Otherwise, how could he have landed exactly at 11th place, perfectly meeting the criteria for pairing with Karuizawa Kei? As for the complementary subject distribution, he had specifically asked Kushida Kikyo for help to get himself and Karuizawa into the same group.
That said, Shimizu didn't plan to tell Karuizawa everything. Forget it; she's his own class manager—let her be happy for a while longer.
Shimizu looked back at his phone and continued reviewing the detailed rules and list Horikita Suzune had posted.
According to the requirements, he, ranked 11th, needed to answer 29 questions correctly on the mock exam. Karuizawa, needing to hit 30th place, only needed to answer 10 questions correctly across all subjects. Following the pattern, 12th place needed to answer 28 questions, and 29th place needed 11.
The top ten students would give their all to score above 600; the bottom ten would leave their papers blank.
This way, they could ensure the middle twenty people accurately paired with their intended partners without any deviations. Because they were answering very few questions, it was very easy to calculate the scores and such. Everyone would only answer questions they were sure of, without guessing randomly.
After each subject's exam, the middle twenty students had to remember the questions and answers they were certain they got right. Hirata Yousuke and Horikita Suzune would organize the answers for the morning and afternoon exams during lunch and after school as quickly as possible, checking everyone's progress one by one. If someone accidentally got a question wrong or answered too many, they could dynamically adjust the rankings in time to ensure the grouping was foolproof.
With this insurance, every person's pairing could be precisely controlled.
Thinking that Karuizawa likely didn't fully understand the intricacies of the rules, Shimizu sent her another message.
Shimizu Akira: You just need to get ten questions right in total. If you aren't good at the other subjects, you can answer more in Japanese. That will keep you exactly at 30th place. Don't answer more, and don't answer less; you just need to get 20 points.
Karuizawa replied instantly: I know! You're treating me like an idiot again!
She looked up and gave Shimizu a slightly haughty glare, but after two seconds, she couldn't help but sneak several more glances at him, her smile impossible to hide.
'So, if you aren't an idiot, what else could you be?'
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After the meeting ended, most of the class left the room, eventually leaving only Shimizu Akira, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, Hirata Yousuke, Ike Kanji, Koenji Rokusuke, and Horikita Suzune. There was actually one more matter to handle from this meeting.
"That guy is also in the bottom ten." Horikita Suzune's expression was grim. "Because of the pairing rules this time, we still can't get him expelled."
The "trouble" she spoke of was Yamauchi Haruki.
They still couldn't touch him in this special exam, because if they got him expelled, the person paired with him would also be dragged down. Furthermore, Yamauchi was currently the absolute last in the class; according to the rules, the person in first place would be forced to pair with him.
"In that case, let me pair with Yamauchi Haruki." Hirata Yousuke spoke up proactively without a moment's hesitation.
Shimizu looked at him. In terms of self-sacrifice for the class, probably no one could match Hirata Yousuke; he truly gave his all for this class, no question about it.
"Hey! What if that guy Yamauchi cheats or something! Won't that drag Hirata down into expulsion too!" Ike Kanji scratched his head and asked.
"Yamauchi Haruki probably won't use cheat sheets." Ayanokouji Kiyotaka thought for a moment and said slowly, "He probably feels very secure having a top-ten student backing him up."
"Come to think of it, Yamauchi Haruki has skipped class for two weeks now, hasn't he?" Horikita Suzune suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"It won't be long before he has to get lost on his own."
The school rules explicitly stated that if a student skipped class continuously for a certain number of times without an approved leave of absence, they met the criteria for expulsion.
This school would never allow a student to skip class and idle away in the dorms indefinitely. Skipping class wasn't considered cheating; if it came to expulsion, only Yamauchi would be handled, and the class wouldn't be implicated.
However, Shimizu felt things wouldn't be that simple.
It wasn't that Yamauchi was smart; it was precisely because he was an absolute idiot. But Ryuen's side, logically, should remind him—after all, Yamauchi still had some utility for Ryuen at the moment. But if that utility disappeared, then who knows.
Following that, Hirata Yousuke remained very insistent on choosing Yamauchi as his partner. He was truly the type who couldn't be persuaded otherwise.
Extremely stubborn.
The others looked at each other and could only agree. To ensure he would definitely get Yamauchi, they specifically contacted the other nine people in the bottom ten and explained that Hirata really wanted Yamauchi; those individuals all decided they would answer at least one question right for a baseline of two points. If Yamauchi left his paper blank, he would definitely be last.
As for whether Yamauchi would leave it blank, everyone felt he would, because the student in last place would definitely be paired with the top student—even an idiot would understand that.
Afterward, Hirata messaged everyone in the top ten except himself and Horikita, asking them to slightly suppress their scores to around 90 points. After handling this, Hirata looked at Koenji Rokusuke, who was still in his seat, and spoke sincerely: "Koenji-kun, you are also in the top ten this time. Could I ask you to hold back slightly in the mock exam to let me take first place? That way, I can pair with Yamauchi Haruki."
Koenji Rokusuke let out a light laugh.
"Hirata-boy, those are interesting words. Are you certain I would take first place? But as for this request..."
At this time, Ike Kanji also stepped forward, lowering his head in a plea: "I'm begging you too, Koenji! I've heard about it—during the last VIP exam, after you showered, you didn't mop the floor in the dorm at all; it was Hirata who quietly cleaned up for you! Besides, do you really want to be in a group with Yamauchi? Let that guy take advantage of you on purpose?"
Koenji paused, then frowned.
"Hirata-boy's service that time was indeed satisfactory to me. And Ike-boy, you've changed quite a bit since the start of school. Yamauchi Haruki? That ugly fellow indeed doesn't deserve to be my partner. Fine, I accept your request."
Koenji never deigned to lie; since he promised to hold back, he wouldn't break his word. Shimizu had originally thought Koenji would refuse without a second thought; he didn't expect the deterrent of "pairing with Yamauchi" to be so great that it made even this man who pursued freedom feel that much disgust.
This was probably the first time he had seen Koenji Rokusuke frown; clearly, he was revolted to his core at the thought of pairing with Yamauchi.
Then again, don't look at Koenji as still being a self-centered person. Compared to the start of school, his attitude and behavior had actually changed quite a bit.
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As Karuizawa Kei walked out of the classroom, her good friend Matsushita Chiaki quickly followed and explained the situation in detail.
"Eh? What do you mean?" Karuizawa blinked, her face filled with a confused daze.
"I mean, a while back, Shimizu-kun specifically messaged me and told me to look out for you." Matsushita Chiaki spoke seriously.
"Then, a few days ago, he suddenly said he wanted to pair with you. Knowing Shimizu's personality, he isn't someone who sits around waiting for luck; this was most likely something he specifically arranged for you."
"Ah... Oh!" To be honest, her best friend's words still left her a bit dazed, but after thinking it over, it really did make sense.
After all, it was Shimizu Akira. So all of this was his deliberate arrangement! No wonder he looked at her with that slight hint of subtle disdain earlier—he must have been thinking she was an idiot again!
But on second thought, knowing Shimizu had done so much for her behind the scenes, Karuizawa felt a sweet happiness rising in her heart again.
Her emotions were just that simple and direct, coming in waves. When she was down a while ago, she was so sad she couldn't get motivated for anything. Now that she was this happy, she'd probably be humming in the shower for the next few days.
When the two reached the cafeteria, Sato Maya had already secured a spot and was waving energetically: "Chiaki! Kei!"
"Maya~"
"...Maya."
Matsushita and Karuizawa ordered their food and walked over slowly. Karuizawa's gaze toward Sato Maya was oddly complex; even her voice hitched when saying her name.
After all, this person had messaged her a few days ago saying she would "compete fairly" for Shimizu Akira.
Argh!
Thinking about that, the joyous mood from being paired with Shimizu was instantly halved.
What do you mean "compete fairly"! She was the one who spoke to him first, and he's her club member! Then again, Sato Maya was the one who asked Shimizu to comfort her in the first place, otherwise she wouldn't have successfully become his partner!
Thinking of this, Karuizawa said, "Thanks for everything back then."
"It's nothing, we're good friends!" Sato Maya smiled, then asked with concern, "Kei, your mood seems low again. It couldn't be because of those messages I sent last time, could it?"
"Not at all!" Karuizawa denied it instantly without thinking. There's no way she'd admit to that!
But after a few seconds, as if she suddenly thought of something, she offhandedly mentioned: "Oh right, the members of the boxing club are going out for a tournament during summer break. According to the captain's requirements, it seems they're forbidden from dating lately."
This was a lie.
In fact, the captain didn't care about the members' romantic lives at all; she just instinctively wanted to tell her two best friends: Shimizu Akira is my important club member—stay away from him for now!
"Pfft..." Matsushita Chiaki couldn't help but laugh out loud, then looked at her with a sort of "caring" gaze.
That gaze was... how to put it, extremely familiar.
Karuizawa thought about it for a while and suddenly realized: that was the same look Shimizu gave her earlier!
'Why is Chiaki treating her like an idiot too!'
"Hey, don't look at me like that, Chiaki!" Karuizawa frowned and glared at her.
Sato Maya pondered for a while before suddenly asking: "By the way, Kei, you really do like Shimizu-kun, don't you?"
"...Huh?! Wh-what are you talking about!" Karuizawa hadn't expected her to be so blunt; she was completely stunned, her cheeks instantly heating up.
"Look!" Sato Maya counted them off on her fingers.
"At the start of school, you were always talking to Hirata Yousuke, but once you got close to Shimizu, you've been sticking to him. You even became the boxing club manager for him!
When you skipped work for a few days recently, Shimizu gave you one call and you acted like the sky was falling and rushed back.
Oh, and most importantly—last week Chiaki and I talked about Shimizu, and then I sent you those messages. Chiaki said you would definitely find all sorts of excuses to stop people from approaching Shimizu, and she was right!
After all, I only said I'd compete fairly—I never once told you the person I was competing for was Shimizu!"
"What?!" Karuizawa was completely floored, her brain buzzing.
Wait, the messages Sato Maya sent were at Chiaki's suggestion?! They were testing her feelings all along!
"Looking at your reaction, you really do like Shimizu-kun." Sato Maya smiled.
"Actually, during the sports festival, I was a bit attracted to him; I've always liked boys who are good at sports. Kei, don't blame Chiaki; this was my idea too. I asked you about your thoughts on Shimizu before and you were always vague, so I thought of this. Since it's like this, I'll temporarily withdraw!"
"Eh..."
Karuizawa opened her mouth, her brain still unable to process everything, not knowing how to respond.
Her mood was like a roller coaster; one second she was reeling from being tested, the next she was caught off guard by this sudden "buffer period."
So Sato Maya was testing her feelings to decide whether to temporarily back off.
"Wait! What do you mean by 'temporarily withdraw'?" She couldn't help but huff and follow up with a question.
"I mean, for this semester plus summer break, I won't make a move!" Sato Maya said decisively.
"Since you used to be a 'gyaru,' Kei, if you can't land Shimizu in two months, it means he probably doesn't feel that way about you. When that time comes, it'll be our turn to compete fairly."
'Who are you calling a gyaru!'
She was the one least suited to be a gyaru among the three of them! The real gyarus were the two in front of her!
But on second thought, Sato Maya had given her two whole months to focus on pursuing Shimizu Akira.
How should she put it! She was actually quite confident.
After all, she was the manager, his classmate, and soon to be his partner for studying and reading. Being in a favored position, two months should be enough, right?
Then again, she had confessed to him once before, but that time was for utility without feelings—it didn't count!
This time, she would show her true skill!
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