I'm in a real religion, why are all the people who confess to me girls?

While I understand how you feel, I don't agree with your suggestion.

"Brother, are you just going to watch them cheat? Is winning by cheating the way the school and student council promote?"

Horikita Suzune and Horikita Manabu had a heated argument.

Regardless, Horikita Manabu rejected Horikita Suzune's request to end the competition. The reason was simple: Nagumo never said that Ryuen's behavior constituted cheating, and the rules did not mention that classes could not cooperate. Therefore, even if it was a way to farm points, Horikita Manabu saw it as just a way to quickly pass the level.

On the contrary, Horikita Suzune's suggestion was very unreasonable. If Class B was currently in the advantage, would Horikita Suzune accept the request to stop the competition and erase her results?

Obviously it is impossible.

"How many times have I told you not to call me 'brother' in front of strangers? I'd be so ashamed if people knew I had such a useless sister."

Horikita Manabu's denial caused Horikita Suzune's expression to momentarily turn pained, but it was quickly replaced by an even more determined look.

"Whether it's my older brother, Horikita Manabu, or the student council president, Class C is currently using unfair means to gain victory. Is the student council just going to stand by and do nothing?"

This was the first time Horikita Suzune had ever yelled at Horikita Shinji in such an rude and uncouth manner.

Even Horikita Manabu was taken aback; though he was secretly pleased, his expression remained extremely serious.

"Horikita, please watch your words and actions. Your every word and deed determines the school and the student council's overall evaluation of you and Class B."

"Stop with the bureaucratic talk. My time is precious. Even if we're going to punish Class B, we should at least be reasonable, right? Now, Class C..."

Horikita Suzune was interrupted by Horikita Manabu before she could finish speaking.

"You want to reason with me, right? Fine, I'll reason with you. First, you think that Ryuen from Class C and Ichinose from Class D are suspected of cheating to win the match. So here's the question: which rule in the Ikki Tou match says that cheating is not allowed?"

Horikita Manabu's question startled Horikita Suzune for a moment.

To be fair, the rules don't explicitly prohibit cheating, but isn't this common sense? Just because an exam doesn't explicitly forbid cheating doesn't mean you can cheat. There's no such logic anywhere.

"Even if it's not explicitly stated, this kind of thing clearly undermines the fairness of the competition. If a competition can't even guarantee fairness, I really don't know what the point of such a competition is."

As soon as Horikita Suzune finished speaking, she heard a "pfft" sound from the side. Horikita Suzune looked in the direction from which the laughter came with displeasure, and saw that Sakayanagi's smile was wide open, and his sarcasm was almost impossible to hide.

"Does Secretary Sakayanagi think this is a funny thing?"

"Of course, just because you can't think of a way to solve the problem, you accuse someone of cheating. Horikita-kun, don't you think you look terrible right now?"

Sakayanagi had long been dissatisfied with Horikita's bossy attitude towards Amane, and this was a good opportunity to vent her anger. She figured Horikita Suzune wouldn't have anything to say in rebuttal. Even Sakayanagi had never treated Amane that way, whether it was lecturing or beating her. Sakayanagi had never done such things, and that's why she couldn't bear to treat Amane that way, even though she knew Amane wouldn't care.

Sakayanagi scrutinized Horikita from head to toe. Apart from being somewhat pretty, she couldn't find anything about Horikita that was worth paying attention to. This girl could act recklessly just because Amane doted on her. Did she really think the school was her home?

Since Amane has no way to teach Horikita a lesson, then Sakayanagi Arisu will help Amane correct her arrogant personality.

"What are you talking about? I don't quite understand. You're not going to hold anyone accountable for such obvious violations, but instead you're blaming me, the one who raised the issue... Hmph, I hope Secretary Sakayanagi understands your current position and doesn't interfere with the student council's decisions based on your own preferences."

Horikita crossed his arms, his confident demeanor and serious expression instantly boosting his presence.

Horikita Manabu was surprised by Horikita Suzune's change, but he didn't say much, because there was nothing to say about it.

It was all just wishful thinking on Horikita Suzune's part. What makes her think that the other person's actions were necessarily unfair?

"I didn't see any 'obvious violations.' All I saw was a class leader acting like a spoiled brat. Horikita, how long are you going to act like this? Do you think we'll sacrifice the interests of other classes for you by throwing a tantrum here? Let me tell you straight, you can forget about it. We are not stopping the competition."

Chapter 444: Chess Player and Chess Piece

Sakayanagi Arisu launched an even stronger counterattack against Horikita.

Horikita opened his mouth, but whenever he wanted to say something, he felt like he had a fishbone stuck in his throat. The key issue now was whether Ryuen's score-boosting was reasonable and whether it violated the rules.

Horikita Suzune believed that, according to common sense, such a quick way to win was cheating.

Horikita Manabu and Sakayanagi Arisu, however, believe that such a method is simply one of the ways to achieve victory and does not constitute cheating.

At first glance, it seems like the two sides are evenly matched, each sticking to their own version of events and seemingly unable to reach a conclusion. However, in reality, Horikita Suzune is at a significant disadvantage because she needs to prove that it is against the rules.

Does winning quickly mean it's against the rules? What a joke!

How could a meritocratic school change its decisions based on mere feelings? Therefore, the only way to get the student council to change is to find evidence that Ryuen's behavior violated the rules. However, this evidence was not stated in the rules, which put Horikita Suzune in a difficult position to prove her innocence.

The only way now is to fight with their backs against the wall and directly ask the student council for their opinion. If the student council thinks there is a problem with the rules themselves, then Horikita still has a chance to turn things around. But if the student council thinks the rules are reasonable, then Horikita Suzune will have no chance to fight for it anymore.

Seeing that Ryuen had won eight consecutive games and was resting to replenish their strength, Horikita knew that even though the current situation was unfavorable to her, she still needed to fight with her back against the wall.

"So, according to the student council, Longyuan's methods, which go beyond the rules, are compliant with regulations? Other classes can just copy him, right?"

When Horikita Suzune asked this question, both Horikita Manabu and Sakayanagi fell into a brief silence. Horikita's words seemed like she was being defiant, but in essence, she was asking about the student council's attitude. As administrators, they couldn't easily express their opinions when it came to attitudes, lest they end up pleasing neither side.

For example, Horikita Manabu admitted that this method was reasonable. Then Class B took an even more extreme approach: they gave up the prize and went to other classes to help each contestant achieve a ten-game winning streak. Class B had three contestants, which meant they could earn a maximum of 1200 class points. Combined with their existing class points, they could easily surpass 2000 points. This meant the school would have to pay each student in Class B 20 personal points every month. This huge expense would inevitably make the school leaders dissatisfied. If the investigation found that it was because Horikita Manabu said that Ryuen's actions were reasonable, it would be a huge problem.

This led to other classes imitating Ryuen's practice of accumulating points, ultimately resulting in excessive financial expenditures. Even if Horikita Manabu had a good reputation in the past, he would still face the punishment of expulsion.

That's the destructive power of attitude.

Thus, the matter fell into a vicious cycle. Ryuen's actions did not violate the rules of the competition on the surface, but the student council could not openly support perverts. Horikita Suzune's suggestion did not comply with the student council's rules, but the student council could not openly oppose Horikita Suzune's actions.

Just when everyone was at a stalemate, it was Sakayanagi who broke the deadlock first, and his method was very direct.

"President Horikita, don't worry. We'll just keep at it. Ryuen is about to win. Even if it's a stalemate until tomorrow, it's fine."

Seeing that Horikita Manabu was wavering and seemed to be half-compromising with Horikita Suzune, Sakayanagi quickly spoke up to stop him.

This move was very clever. As long as Sakayanagi spoke up to stop it, then Horikita Manabu, whether or not he intended to give Horikita Suzune the green light, would no longer be able to give Horikita the green light.

Because at this moment, Sakayanagi was on the same side as Horikita Manabu, and Horikita Manabu was about to resign from his position, there was no need for him to ruin his reputation at the last moment. So after hearing this, Horikita Manabu looked at Horikita Suzune with some regret, nodded slightly, and said nothing more.

On the other hand, Horikita Suzune was extremely anxious. Sakayanagi had hit her sore spot precisely. Since the problem couldn't be solved and there was no way to compromise, she decided to stall and see who could outlast whom. As long as Ryuen won the prize, it would be almost impossible to get the student council to publicly admit their mistake. The student council, which represents the school in managing the students, would not allow students to bow down and admit their mistakes.

Even Horikita Suzune couldn't have changed the final outcome at that time.

Horikita turned around to look at the scoreboard with some anxiety.

Longyuan has achieved a nine-game winning streak.

Ayanokouji and Koenji both noticed the problem and sped up. Ayanokouji had already started the third challenge, while Koenji had already started the fifth.

The opponents in the first two rounds were defeated by Koenji's one-hit kill in the fighting match, and their speed has increased a lot. However, when Koenji wanted to challenge Ryuen, he was blocked by layer after layer of D class students, which made Koenji watch helplessly as Ryuen defeated the ninth person.

Dragon Garden only needs to defeat one last challenger to achieve final victory.

Is it really going to be a loss? Horikita couldn't accept losing under these circumstances. It had nothing to do with academic ability or physical fitness. In Horikita's view, it was simply that Ryuen had exploited a loophole in the competition rules.

This was the most frustrating defeat for Horikita, because the outcome was completely beyond her control. All three of her strongest cards were blocked. What should she do?

Horikita's gaze fell on Kamuro, who was being carried away by the medical team. Kamuro had originally intended to challenge Ryuen to a duel in a special match, but he didn't expect to be targeted by Albert. Albert did nothing in the first round of the kowtow match and automatically conceded defeat. Then, in the second round of the karate match, he defeated Kamuro in one move, and Kamuro immediately fell unconscious.

Horikita knew Kamuro's special position on Sakayanagi's side. If Sakayanagi wanted to compete for class leadership, she couldn't possibly ignore the thoughts of those willing to follow her.

After all, no one wants to become a pawn like Kamuroku.

Whether letting Kamuro go on stage alone was Katsuragi's idea or Sakayanagi's arrangement, as long as Sakayanagi remains indifferent for now, she has room to maneuver.

Therefore, if we want to break the deadlock, we should start with Sakayanagi.

"Kamuro-kun really suffered a crushing defeat."

"That child tried very hard and deserves praise."

Sakayanagi's nonchalant demeanor took Horikita somewhat by surprise.

Could it be that her previous intimacy with Kamuro was all an act? Why was she so calm when she saw Kamuro injured and unconscious? Hypothetically speaking, if it were Amane who was injured and unconscious, Horikita knew she could never be as calm as Sakayanagi.

Picking up the canned coffee that Amane had bought for herself, Sakayanagi suddenly realized that Horikita was planning to do something, and her smile became even brighter.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it just now. So you were worried about my chess piece? Thank you for your concern. It's just a chess piece. If it's not working well or it breaks, I can just replace it. Horikita-kun, if you were really talking to me from a chess player's perspective, you should be thinking about how to end the game gracefully, not feeling sorry for my chess piece. You still don't understand this principle?"

Chapter 445: Give Me a Finger Back

Horikita initially felt something was amiss with Sakayanagi's theory of players and pieces, but when she wanted to refute it, she recalled that she had once advised Amane to give up on people who were not worthwhile.

So how is her behavior any different from Sakayanagi's?

Is this really the only way to end this one-on-one duel?

Just when Horikita was about to give up, a familiar figure walked towards them from afar.

"Huh? Why are there so many people here? I thought they were handing out food."

Amane suddenly poked her head out from beside Sakayanagi, startling Sakayanagi who was drinking coffee, causing her to choke and cough incessantly.

"Arisu, you really are like a little kid, you even choke on your drink!"

While gently patting Sakayanagi's back, Amane poked Sakayanagi's face with her finger.

"Cough cough cough, this is all thanks to you... By the way, how did you end up appearing from this place!"

Sakayanagi turned around and asked loudly to the innocent-looking Amane.

"I just came back from the competition and saw a lot of people gathered here. I thought they were handing out snacks to replenish energy, so I came to join in the fun. But there's nothing here. So what are you all doing here?"

Tianyin pointed to the crowd of onlookers, which were layered around her, and asked with some confusion.

As early as when Sakayanagi and Horikita had their argument, students from both classes had already surrounded the area. Other onlookers who weren't participating in the competition also gathered around when they saw what appeared to be a fight. However, because Horikita Manabu and Sakayanagi Arisu were sitting in the student council seats, no one got too close to the stage.

From a distance, it did look like they were distributing something. Tianyin was too lazy to queue, so she used her status as a student council member to go around from the back. But the scene in front of her was a little different from what she had imagined.

"Tianyin, you're back just in time. Longyuan has already achieved nine consecutive victories, and now..."

Horikita turned around and saw that Ryuen was not in a hurry to start his final victory, but was looking at the side where the argument was taking place with great interest. His confident look made Horikita grit his teeth with some resentment, but the student council could not back down no matter what.

The only way is to launch a surprise attack on Long Yuan while he is determined to succeed, and it must be a 100% successful attack, otherwise it will only benefit Long Yuan.

Horikita placed her hopes on Amane, but Amane's expression remained calm, as if she wasn't worried about what was happening.

"That guy is very fast, which means he's about to win, right?"

Amane put her hand on Sakayanagi's shoulder, her gaze meeting Ryuen's through the crowd, and then... Amane gave Ryuen the middle finger. After a few seconds of shock, the latter realized that Amane was mocking him. He was about to retaliate when he realized that giving each other the middle finger was too childish. Ryuen picked up a mineral water bottle from the side of his feet, but then realized that not only was there a sea of ​​people, but if he hit someone, Horikita might make a big deal out of it.

Not to mention what if they accidentally hit the student council president? That would be a huge mess. In the end, Longyuan had no choice but to choose the most childish method.

"Hey, Ibuki, give that bastard the middle finger back... Why do you look so pale? Losing the match is no big deal, it's just a few dozen class points, no need to worry about it, it was all part of the plan anyway."

When Ryuen saw that Ibuki's expression was a bit unpleasant, he assumed that Ibuki was a little resentful after losing to Amane, so he didn't take it to heart and casually comforted him. After all, the points he had earned were several times more than the points he had lost, so there was no need to care about such trivial matters.

Ibuki was initially too lazy to pay attention to Ryuen's words, but when she thought about how she could openly despise that bastard, she found a chair, stood on it, and raised both middle fingers in response towards Amane's position.

But then she saw Amane hiding behind Sakayanagi and pretending not to see anything. This scene made Ibuki's blood pressure rise. She had never seen such a shameless person.

"Arisu, look! Ibuki is giving you the middle finger!"

Horikita, standing to the side, couldn't help but sigh and rub her forehead. She thought her provocation was direct enough, but Amane's instigation was even more childish. No one would fall for such a trick, right? Rather than wasting time with Sakayanagi, it might be better to launch a decapitation strike on Ryuen now, which might still offer a glimmer of hope.

Just as Horikita was about to persuade Amane to launch a sneak attack on Ryuen, he was surprised to see Sakayanagi nod seriously.

"Yeah, that guy was definitely mocking me. So what should I do? How would you like me to deal with that guy who was mocking me?"

Sakayanagi affectionately patted Amane's head, and after discovering that it was wet, he looked at Ibuki with a somewhat unfriendly gaze.

It seems Ibuki has chosen to compete in swimming with Amane. While I'm stuck here watching this boring competition and being bothered by that unreasonable, stupid woman Horikita, Ibuki gets to watch Amane in her swimsuit? This is so unfair. It seems I need to teach Ibuki a lesson.

It actually worked!!!

Horikita could hardly believe that Sakayanagi would fall for such a scheme that she could see through at a glance. If she could, Horikita really wanted to ask Sakayanagi in person what she was thinking. How could Sakayanagi think that such a blatant scheme, which practically had her sowing discord written all over her face, made sense?

Horikita, feeling a bit of a headache, couldn't understand why such childish actions by both sides had actually resolved what she had been trying so hard to accomplish. What was the point of her confrontation with Sakayanagi just now?

After Sakayanagi asked her a question, Amane first touched her lips. Just as Sakayanagi's face turned slightly red, her eyes suddenly lit up.

"Hey~ Hey~ Let me see how strong Kito is? Last time in the school building, I only managed to defeat him in one go because of my advantage. Later, I heard from Masumi that Kito is actually the strongest person in Class A. I'm quite curious about Kito's fighting style. Let me see how he is."

Amane hugged Sakayanagi's arm and said in a coquettish manner.

In an instant, both Sakayanagi and Kito, who was mingling in the crowd, changed their expressions.

Sakayanagi's doting expression turned unusually serious.

"How did you know? The only person who could leak this information... besides Ghost Head himself, is..."

Sakayanagi turned his gaze to Horikita Manabu, who was standing to the side.

Horikita Manabu noticed Sakayanagi's suspicious gaze, picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and then shook his head.

"I have no idea what you're discussing, but my stance will always be neutral and as fair as possible."

It wasn't Horikita Manabu who leaked the secret... Could it be that this guy really figured it out on his own?

Are you kidding me? How could such an outrageous thing happen?

Chapter 446: A Dangerous Woman

"Arisu? What kind of riddle are you playing?"

Tianyin casually picked up an orange from the table and started eating it.

Looking at Amane's innocent appearance, Sakayanagi's expression became very complicated. On one hand, she found it hard to accept that her plan had been so easily exposed by Amane without any flaws.