Chapter 205 – Hard work

"Ah?" Perhaps Sakayanagi's request for accounting books, business statements, and bank transactions startled Fujii, causing his facial expression to become somewhat unnatural.

However, considering the influence of Advanced Nurturing High School and the payment they had already made to him in advance, Fujii really had no way to refuse: "Well, Sakayanagi-san, please follow me. Those things are all in the office and the finance department."

Matsushita, understanding the importance of these materials, knew that without knowing the specific details, she couldn't formulate strategies to increase revenue. So she also requested to go and take a look with Sakayanagi.

After all, showing one person was the same as showing two. Fujii didn't mind, especially since he vaguely sensed a competitive relationship between Sakayanagi and Matsushita, so he agreed to both of them.

He could only hope in his heart that these two girls, who looked very much like young ladies from prestigious families, wouldn't mess up the account books.

Then, Fujii let his secretary lead the two young ladies to check the reports, while he stayed behind to arrange the tasks for the students of Advanced Nurturing High School's project team.

The farthest part of the multiple small ponds was what they called the office. It was quite rudimentary, resembling a small fishing village house temporarily used as an office.

After being brought here by the secretary, Sakayanagi and Matsushita began waiting for the secretary to fetch the items they needed, with the secretary running back and forth, sweating profusely.

Matsushita poured tea for herself and Sakayanagi: "Sakayanagi-san, please have some tea."

Sakayanagi placed her cane aside, took the hot tea, and with a playful smile on her face, said, "Matsushita-san, right? From Class D. Why did the leadership suddenly change?"

"Matsushita-san doesn't seem to be the ambitious type."

"..." Matsushita's expression became slightly grave, increasingly finding Sakayanagi difficult to deal with, as even a casual remark from her was so provocative.

In fact, there was nothing wrong with Sakayanagi's earlier words. Originally, it had always been Horikita leading Class D in the competition, and now, suddenly, it was Matsushita. What was wrong with Sakayanagi asking about it? It was quite normal.

But normal as it was, Matsushita didn't have to answer Sakayanagi. Both classes were competing in the same project, and Matsushita had no reason to tell Sakayanagi everything.

Sakayanagi had anticipated Matsushita's intention to "refuse to answer," leading to her subsequent statement, preemptively blocking Matsushita's plan to remain silent.

This matter involved the change of leadership in Class D, and Sakayanagi's later words were hinting that Matsushita was a conniving person who seized the opportunity to take over when Horikita lost power.

How could Matsushita tolerate such insinuations? From the beginning, she had no interest in leading the class. She knew she was an excellent talent but not an excellent leader, which was why she hadn't stepped up to lead the class initially.

Thus, after a moment of tension, Matsushita quickly relaxed, replacing her expression with a polite smile: "Sakayanagi-san, this decision was made after consulting with Horikita-san."

"Of course, if Sakayanagi-san is doubtful, you can go out now and confront Horikita-san from our class."

At this moment, Matsushita felt extremely grateful that she had previously had a good talk with Horikita and reached a cooperation agreement, eliminating the worry that Sakayanagi might stir up trouble.

Sakayanagi gave Matsushita a mysterious look, as if trying to discern the truth from her eyes. Seeing no sign of deceit, she lost interest and just waited for the secretary to bring over the account books and reports.

In fact, this question wasn't really about probing why Class D suddenly changed leaders; it was more about Sakayanagi wanting to test if Matsushita was Ayanokouji's pawn.

From Sakayanagi's perspective, Matsushita had always kept a low profile, hiding her true abilities. But right after the sports festival, when Sakayanagi had set up a competition with Ayanokouji, Matsushita suddenly emerged to lead Class D.

It was hard not to suspect that Matsushita was Ayanokouji's pawn. However, seeing Matsushita's performance, only mentioning Horikita and not Ayanokouji, Sakayanagi realized that Matsushita had no connection with Ayanokouji.

This indicated that Ayanokouji was still hiding in the shadows, silently preparing something. Very well, Sakayanagi thought, she would wait and see what the pseudo-genius from the White Room was planning.

While Sakayanagi was testing Matsushita, the students from various classes had already started working. Besides the tasks Sakayanagi and Matsushita had secured, Sakayanagi's class was also assigned the job of handling feed.

Hashimoto looked pained as he stared at the various items in front of him: fish meal, vitamins, fish albumen, and a mixture of small shrimp, small snails, and aquatic insect powder. It all looked slimy and very unappealing.

Coupled with the unpleasant odor, which was a mix of rot and fishiness, it made Hashimoto, who was usually carefree, feel nauseous. Pinching his nose with one hand, he exclaimed, "I can't do this. It's so smelly. How am I supposed to mix this?"

Beside him, Takemoto's face was contorted with disgust. "Do eels really eat such disgusting stuff? Seeing this feed, I don't think I ever want to eat eel again."

"Hurry up and get to work! Stop dragging your feet!" Kamuro, standing a bit farther away from the large baskets of feed, urged Hashimoto and Takemoto to get on with the job.

Hashimoto, who usually maintained a gentlemanly demeanor, did not force Kamuro to help with the feed but instead tried to evade the task, "No way, this is too hard. Let someone else do it."

Kamuro was frustrated; the other classes had already started working, but their class was still dawdling. "What are you complaining about? Katsuragi is almost done mixing, and you two haven't even started!"

Hashimoto was stunned and looked over to see that Katsuragi was indeed diligently mixing the feed, surprising everyone.

Everyone had assumed that after Sakayanagi took over, Katsuragi would slack off. But seeing him work so earnestly now was unexpected.

Realizing this, Hashimoto knew he couldn't continue to be lazy. If Katsuragi, who had been ousted by Sakayanagi, was working hard, then as Sakayanagi's close aide, Hashimoto had to follow suit to maintain Sakayanagi's image in the class.

Reluctantly, he complained a bit more but then got down to work with Takemoto.

On the other side, Class D was also struggling. Their assigned task was similar to Sakayanagi's class, but instead of mixing feed, they were responsible for drying aquatic probiotics.

Probiotics, though stored at low temperatures, can generally survive at 40°C and reproduce faster.

So, when probiotics needed to be used for the eels, they had to be dried first and then introduced into the ponds, which was a challenging task for the Class D students.

With so many ponds, each one had a few students surrounding it, basking in the sun with the probiotics. They had to monitor the temperature closely to ensure the probiotics didn't get too much sun. Enduring the strange smell of aquatic probiotics, they dried them and then introduced them into the ponds.

By noon, the Class D students felt like they were getting sunburned. Their skin had dried out and become rough. Some of the more frail students were feeling dizzy and nearly got heatstroke in the early autumn sun.

The girls started voicing their complaints, so the boys had to pick up the slack and do more work. By the time the fish farm provided boxed lunches, Class D realized that Sakayanagi's class wasn't doing much better.

While they were all getting sunburned, Sakayanagi's class was dealing with an overwhelming stench.

***

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