Chapter 194 – Misjudged

Every class had planned to relax after the midterm exams, but the arrival of the workplace special exam brought different changes to each class.

In Sakayanagi's class, upon seeing the project group assignments posted on the blackboard by Majima-sensei, Sakayanagi was secretly delighted. Yukio had given her an almost perfect stage.

As long as she could defeat Ayanokouji in this workplace special exam, the so-called White Room, which tormented many children to create artificially trained geniuses, would finally be rendered obsolete.

"Princess, what should we do this time?" Hashimoto lazily asked. Unlike Yukio's class, they didn't have the same level of realization—they just needed to follow the lead of their powerful figure.

Sakayanagi had no objections to this. A tool that could be controlled was a good tool: "First, look up some information about this project online. At the very least, you need to know how to work when the time comes."

"No problem."

Ichinose's class remained as united and cohesive as ever. After Hoshinomiya announced the special exam, she left the class, and the members gathered around Ichinose.

"Honami, if we all work together, there won't be any problems!"

"Yeah, Honami, I've always been curious about how the food street operates. It's exciting that we get to come up with strategies for it!"

"And I've learned how to make takoyaki during my junior high school festival! If there's a takoyaki stall at the food street, I can handle the work there and earn points for our class!"

Feeling the trust of all her members, Ichinose also displayed a dazzling smile that could intoxicate anyone: "Alright then, let's all do our best together!"

Sakayanagi's and Ichinose's classes remained unchanged from before. The only class significantly impacted by the special exam was the first-year Class D.

"Alright." Class D's homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, with her usual icy expression, looked down coldly at the students: "That's the gist of it. Your opponent this time is Sakayanagi's class."

"And the third-year Class D and second-year Class D. Any questions? If not, class is dismissed."

On the surface, Ayanokouji still looked as listless as ever, as if he hadn't slept at all. With that expression, one might wonder if he had been up all night practicing one-handed spells.

However, internally, he was already on alert because he had noticed something Chabashira had said casually while explaining the special exam rules.

"All project group assignments are randomly assigned by the school and the student council."

There was no need to say more. Just seeing that his Class D was matched up against Sakayanagi's class was enough to confirm that this project grouping definitely had Yukio's fingerprints all over it. It was anything but random.

At the same time, Ayanokouji was secretly surprised by the high authority of the student council. Could they really do something like this? It seemed he still knew too little about the school's rules.

Yukio joining the student council and even becoming the vice president wasn't exactly a secret. It had already spread around during the first few days of the second term, so Ayanokouji had come to this conclusion.

It seemed that this confrontation was unavoidable. Thinking of this, Ayanokouji silently turned to look at Horikita at the neighboring desk, curious to see if this girl, who was determined to reach Class A, had any thoughts.

Horikita seemed to be deep in thought, staring at the blackboard incessantly. Ayanokouji couldn't help but wonder, was this really Horikita? Why had she suddenly become so calm and quiet? It was a bit unsettling.

After every special exam rule explanation, Horikita would usually rush out, asking various questions and then planning tactics. Why was she silent this time?

Could it be that after the sports festival, where the class members forced her to bear Sudou's debts, causing a rift, she had given up?

Was she just giving up?

After all, Sudou had originally volunteered to drop out, and the points earned from his excellent performance at the sports festival had to be compensated to the school due to contractual obligations. The school had previously advanced the monthly personal points lost to Yukio's class for them.

This had left Horikita burdened with a huge debt.

However, Horikita shouldn't be someone who would be easily defeated.

Little did Ayanokouji know, Horikita wasn't staring at the "Eel Farming" project that her Class D was participating in. She was fixated on the Yukata Workshop project.

The information showed that in the Yukata project, Horikita Manabu's third-year Class A was matched against Yukio's class.

Seeing this, Horikita instinctively clenched her teeth. Damn it! Has she already fallen so far behind Yukio?

Ever since the sports festival, Horikita had been diligently learning from Yukio's class management experience, feeling that she had made progress and could gradually catch up and eventually surpass him! She wanted to follow in her brother's footsteps and rise to Class A.

But now the reality was that Yukio was already facing her brother head-on, while she was still stuck in Class D. This filled Horikita with a deep sense of frustration.

If this continued, forget about surpassing Yukio; she would only be left further and further behind, the gap widening until it would be impossible to catch up, eventually being completely left in the dust, out of sight.

"No questions, right?" Chabashira frowned inexplicably, growing more disappointed with this year's Class D. Had she misjudged them?

Despite having exceptional talents like Ayanokouji, Horikita, and Koenji, and decent students like Hirata and Kushida, was this year's Class D still not up to par?

With Chabashira's question, many Class D students became nervous. They understood her implication: if no one stood up to ask questions, she would leave without further explanation, and they would be participating in the special exam in a fog, destined for a crushing defeat.

But even if they wanted to ask questions now, they didn't know what to ask. Many students looked at each other in confusion, exchanging bewildered glances.

"No, Chabashira-sensei, I have many questions to ask." Just as Chabashira sighed in frustration and was about to leave, while the Class D students were still tense and confused, a clear and confident female voice rang out in the classroom.

"Eh? Chiaki?"

"No way, I thought it would be Horikita asking a bunch of questions again. How come it's Matsushita?"

The girl who suddenly spoke up was Matsushita Chiaki, a member of Karuizawa's small group of girls, often seen hanging out with Karuizawa, Shinohara, and Satou. She was considered one of the top-tier girls in the class.

Karuizawa looked slightly surprised at Matsushita Chiaki, who suddenly stood up from the seat next to her, thinking to herself, Chiaki probably just wants to ask a few questions, right?

Maybe something like, increasing revenue is impossible for us high school students, right?

Unfortunately, her guess was wrong. Matsushita Chiaki's face was radiating confidence: "Chabashira-sensei, for this special exam, can we know the specific name and location of this eel farming site?"

Eels are particularly popular on Sakurajima. Whether it's the famous kabayaki eel or eel rice, they are beloved dishes.

This love leads to high consumption, which causes wild eel populations to gradually dwindle, eventually necessitating artificial farming.

And since many people love eating eel, there are bound to be numerous artificial farming sites.

Matsushita Chiaki intended to first find out the name and location, then gather information about the farm online in advance, so she could formulate a revenue-increasing strategy.

"Oh?" Chabashira's cold expression softened slightly as she looked at Matsushita Chiaki with a hint of surprise and delight in her eyes. This girl, who usually didn't stand out, had exceeded her expectations.

It seemed she had misjudged her class, 'Matsushita Chiaki, huh? Even better at hiding her talents than Ayanokouji'.

***

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