Chapter 196 – It’s hard not to expose you

With just one question, Matsushita had already earned the respect of many students in Class D. Unlike Horikita, who was also very smart and always asked similar questions that made people think she was clever, Matsushita's approach was different.

Even though Horikita was intelligent, the class members couldn't bring themselves to support her. They found Horikita too annoying, whereas Matsushita's gentle speech and soothing tone naturally made people want to support her.

In this context, Matsushita's close friends should have been puzzled by her excellent performance and happy for her, just like Satou and Shinohara.

However, their leader, Karuizawa, felt a bit conflicted. She was no longer the naive girl she used to be.

Being around Yukio for so long had taught Karuizawa to think things through herself. She might not be as smart as Horikita or Matsushita, but she could at least understand many things clearly.

For instance, Matsushita's performance was anything but ordinary. She had hidden her abilities for over a semester, only to step up when Class D was almost ready to give up on the special exam. It seemed like she was trying to turn the tide.

Karuizawa wasn't sure if Matsushita could achieve this. If she could, it would be necessary to report everything about Matsushita to Yukio.

'Chiaki, couldn't you just continue hiding? By stepping out like this, it's hard not to expose you.' Karuizawa looked at Matsushita with an indescribable feeling.

While Karuizawa was lost in thought, Ayanokouji, sitting in the last row of the classroom, was also quietly observing Matsushita.

This Matsushita could serve as a visible target to attract most people's attention, allowing him to stay hidden more effectively.

Ayanokouji had already decided that he would remain in the shadows, helping Matsushita to defeat Sakayanagi's class. Winning against Sakayanagi would keep her from causing trouble, and he could then enjoy a peaceful remaining school life.

"Are there any other questions?" Chabashira looked around at most of the students, seeing their approval and support for Matsushita, but she couldn't perceive Karuizawa's inner thoughts or Ayanokouji's plans.

Thus, she continued to give Matsushita room to perform, even subtly encouraging her to push harder and ask more questions. At this moment, with Ayanokouji playing dumb and Horikita remaining silent, Chabashira placed significant importance on Matsushita, who had suddenly emerged as a talented individual.

"There is." After explaining to Satou and the rest of the class, Matsushita turned back to Chabashira, "Teacher, I also want to ask, since the task is to create our own strategies to increase revenue."

"The most critical issue is that most strategies require expenses. Will these costs be covered by the fish farm or by us students?"

Class D students hadn't even considered such matters. They were already confused by the series of special exam rules. Now, hearing Matsushita's question, they finally realized something was amiss.

"What? We have to pay for it ourselves? That's ridiculous! Aren't they the ones who need to increase revenue? It's not like we do!"

"But, but Matsushita's point makes sense. The fish farm surely wants to make more money, but we also need to achieve good rankings through the task."

"The problem is, where are we going to get the money? How are we supposed to do that?"

This was another key point in Matsushita's inquiry. Even if the costs were not to be covered by the students' own money but by the personal points distributed by Advanced Nurturing High School, it would still be a significant challenge for Class D because they were poor—extremely poor.

Especially after being repeatedly suppressed and schemed against by Yukio's class, many of them had been surviving on the free vegetable set meals from the cafeteria for several months. Life was hard, and they had no personal points to spare for developing strategies.

Chabashira, more pleased than ever, allowed a hint of a smile to break through her cold demeanor, "Another excellent question. This strategy is indeed the crux of this special exam."

"The school is aware that as first-year students, you have a certain gap in personal points compared to higher-grade students. Therefore, for strategy development, you first-year students need to cover 60% of the costs, and the fish farm will cover 40%."

"Of course, you also need to consider the actual situation of the fish farm. If the costs exceed the budget, the school will not intervene; it will simply count as a failed strategy. Meanwhile, higher-grade students will need to cover all costs themselves."

This was what Yukio and Horikita Manabu had discussed in the student council—the school's preferential treatment for first-year students in the workplace special exam. Whether it was the score increase or the strategy costs, there was some degree of bonus...

Matsushita realized that this special exam was extremely disadvantageous for first-year Class D. Without needing any investigation, she could easily figure out that in this project, they were definitely the poorest.

Every month, a significant portion of their points was siphoned off by Yukio's class. Where would they get the extra capital to develop strategies?

But even so, she couldn't give up easily. A glint of determination flashed in her sapphire blue eyes: "Then, Chabashira-sensei, I have one last question."

"Four classes are participating in this project, and each will submit their own strategy. Will the fish farm implement all the strategies together, or will they only choose one?"

On the surface, this special exam seemed to just let students experience the workplace in advance and earn extra points for good performance. But in reality, to gain more points and beat the other classes in the exam, it was essential to develop revenue-increasing strategies.

This was the most critical scoring aspect.

In other words, the most intense competition among the four classes would be whether their submitted strategies would be adopted. Given this, Matsushita had to ask how the fish farm would decide which strategies to use.

Chabashira didn't hide anything and revealed all the information she had: "That depends on the specific situation."

"If the remaining cash flow of the fish farm is sufficient, it might adopt all four classes' strategies. But if it isn't, it might only choose two or even just one. It will depend on which class's strategy is more convincing."

"But as you analyzed earlier, Matsushita, considering the fish farm is poorly managed, the cash flow might be limited. You can probably guess whether it will be sufficient or not, right?"

Matsushita nodded, indicating she understood. Chabashira, having no more information to provide, confidently walked away in her high heels, feeling satisfied.

With a series of soft "tap-tap" sounds, Chabashira left the Class D classroom.

The remaining students watched her leave, and as soon as she exited, many wanted to surround Matsushita to ask more details about the special exam.

But Matsushita didn't give them much of a chance. She first apologized to Karuizawa and the others, saying she would explain the details to her close friends later.

After maintaining her standing within her group of girls, Matsushita then walked over to the silent Horikita: "Horikita-san, can we have a talk?"

***

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