-190- The changed evaluation

In the following days, everyone finally welcomed a real summer vacation.

The school's summer vacation plan included spending one week on an uninhabited island and another week traveling around the ocean on a cruise ship, before returning to Advanced Nurturing High School.

In other words, there was still one week left before the end of the summer vacation plan.

As if to reward the students for their hard work during the special exam on the uninhabited island, they enjoyed a period of calm after the exam ended.

The lively young students began to forget the hardships of their wilderness life, indulging themselves on the luxurious cruise ship, trying to make up for lost time, filling the ship with laughter and joy every day.

Even Class A and Class C seemed to have moved past their failures in the special exam, no longer fixating on previous conflicts and instead frequenting various entertainment facilities.

Of course, not everyone was like this.

For example, Horikita Suzune seemed to have completely disappeared after returning to the cruise ship. She didn't attend the previous celebration party, nor did she visit any entertainment facilities. She only showed up at the rooftop restaurant for meals, before quietly returning to her room.

According to her roommate, Horikita Suzune had been reading in her room the whole time.

Just like before, she seemed to find no joy in life.

Sakura Airi, on the other hand, appeared a few times at Kushida Kikyou's invitation, but each time she quickly ended the gathering and ran back to her room, spending her time alone, seemingly still uncomfortable in crowded places.

It is worth mentioning that Sakura Airi seemed to be constantly concerned about that incident. She hadn't come to find Hori in the past few days, only communicating with him via text messages on her phone, discussing various topics.

As for Hori, he continued to be a loner as usual.

Even after the special exam on the uninhabited island, whenever Hori appeared, students from various classes would immediately pay close attention to him. Many classmates extended invitations to Hori, but he showed little interest in most of them.

However, unlike Horikita Suzune and Sakura Airi, who stayed in their rooms, Hori would occasionally visit various places.

Sometimes he watched plays in the theater.

Sometimes he drank at the bar.

Sometimes he read mystery novels at the rooftop open-air café.

He fully embodied the essence of freedom.

In the past, students wouldn't have paid attention to such a solitary and unremarkable person.

Unfortunately, after the special exam on the uninhabited island, Hori could no longer be considered unremarkable.

No matter how much Hori continued to be a loner, after the special exam, no one in the first year could ignore him.

After all, Hori had defeated Class C, toppled Class A, supported Class B, and led Class D to victory in the special exam, securing first place and earning over 300 points for Class D.

Before the special exam on the uninhabited island, students might have only heard rumors about Hori and were skeptical of his abilities. But after the exam, no one could doubt Hori's capabilities any longer.

Even Class A no longer dared to dismiss Class D as defective and problematic, instead watching Hori with a mix of caution and regret, as he calmly enjoyed the attention and spent these days in peace.

On the contrary, students from Class B interacted with Hori several times over these few days.

They wanted to thank him for what he did on the uninhabited island.

They were also curious about Hori, who was known as Ichinose Honami's boyfriend, and mustered the courage to greet him when they saw him.

Hori did not show much resistance towards these people, receiving them quite normally.

This gradually put the students from Class B at ease.

"Nanaya-kun isn't as difficult to approach as the rumors said."

"He's just a bit solitary."

"But that's kind of cool."

"Yeah, he has a certain charm."

"I'm so envious of Ichinose-san."

The students from Class B thus formed these impressions of Hori.

Clearly, Hori's impressive performance had significantly improved his standing in everyone's eyes.

This is reality.

A solitary person without abilities is just showing off.

A solitary person with abilities is impressive.

Just like Horikita Manabu, whose personality was equally cold, yet because he was the most outstanding student council president since the founding of Advanced Nurturing High School, his coldness was seen as a sign of nobility.

Now, Hori's solitude was similarly seen as having character, making many girls look at him with changed expressions.

If it weren't for the rumors of Hori and Ichinose Honami being a couple, he might have been approached by many girls.

In the end, everyone here was just a group of high school students.

Hori not only had the ability to lead Class D to surpass the other three classes, but also rumors of his athletic prowess, being able to compete equally with the student council president in a race, made him a prime candidate for admiration among high school girls. A boy who is both intelligent and athletically gifted would easily win the hearts of these young girls.

Therefore, Hori was already beginning to be seen as the most outstanding individual in Class D.

His popularity even surpassed that of Hirata Yousuke.

At least, that's what Hirata Yousuke would say to Hori every time he returned to their room.

"Today, several girls asked me about you and even wanted to know your phone number. Unfortunately, I don't even know your number myself."

Hirata Yousuke said this with a gentle smile, devoid of any jealousy, genuinely happy for Hori.

Naturally, Hori didn't pay much attention to this.

It was Ayanokouji Kiyotaka who felt bothered by it.

"…You're really popular."

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's eyes gradually took on a look of admiration as he gazed at Hori.

For a gloomy guy who couldn't even make a few friends, this was probably something he could only envy.

Hori had said something to him about it.

"If you want, you could take an opportunity to stand out."

With Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's abilities, if he did so, he would definitely attract some admirers.

Unfortunately, Ayanokouji didn't even think about it and outright refused.

"I can't do something like that. Don't make things difficult for me."

This man's reclusive tendencies were almost like an illness.

Thus, the first-year students spent three very peaceful days on the cruise.

There were only about four days left until the end of the vacation plan.

Just when everyone thought the next four days would peacefully end at this pace…

A new challenge quietly approached.