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

"Ugh."

A sigh rang in everyone's ears, and Shibata subconsciously covered his mouth. He thought it was because he hadn't controlled the volume of his sigh, but gradually he realized that everyone's gaze was not on him, but rather on Himeko behind him, and he was relieved.

"This kind of exam should be in our favor no matter how you look at it, so why does everyone think we're bound to lose? If we just choose Class C, which has the lowest average academic ability, as our opponent, our chances of winning should be maximized, right? There are only a few good students in that class, so we can just come up with a more complicated problem. I really don't understand why you guys are so pessimistic."

Ji Ye's words stung many people's hearts.

Everyone knew what Hime was talking about, but the problem right now wasn't whether they were willing to participate, but who would be willing to take the responsibility of being expelled if they lost this special exam.

The group exchanged glances, and finally Wang Cang spoke up to ask Ji Ye a question.

"Does Himeno mean you're willing to be the one who gets expelled?"

Net Warehouse's words put Hime in a very difficult position. If Hime agreed, everyone would definitely try their best to participate in the special exam without any worries.

If Hime chooses to refuse, it means that she has no right to criticize others for refusing to actively participate in exams because they risk being expelled from school.

"Net Warehouse, aren't you willing to sacrifice for the class?"

Ji Ye looked at Wang Cang with a surprised expression, and the atmosphere became awkward for a moment.

After being outmaneuvered, Wang Cang found herself in a dilemma. If she said she was willing to sacrifice herself in case Ji Ye made her drop out of school, that was something she absolutely did not want to do. But if she said she was unwilling to sacrifice herself for the class, it meant that she had no right to criticize Ji Ye either.

"Since everyone is so concerned about dropping out, I suggest we borrow another 1850 exam points from the school. There are 38 people in the class now. After deducting the 100 points the school gives us, which we need to substitute for one person, we can apply for 37 more exam points. Each person gets 50 points, so 37 people would get 1850 points. If we win, everyone's happy; if we lose, we all drop out together, how about that?"

Hime's crazy idea shocked the entire class.

"Himeno, are you crazy?"

"I... I don't want to be expelled!!"

"Are you kidding me?! Who wants to be expelled along with you?"

"If it's a battle you're destined to lose, why don't you just drop out of school!"

The classroom, which had been deathly silent just moments before, was now in an uproar, filled with complaints and angry shouts. Ji Ye, who had caused the disturbance, watched the group of ants jumping around without expression.

Do the most incompetent people always try to assert their presence by jumping around and causing trouble?

Hime ignored these guys and looked through the crowd at Kanzaki on the podium.

Kanzaki was somewhat tempted by Himeno's suggestion. Since everyone wanted to stay out of it, why not bring everyone in at once? Besides, even if they really lost the special exam, the school couldn't possibly expel an entire class at once.

Maybe I can actually make some money.

"I think what Himeno said makes a lot of sense. Since none of us want to be the ones who drop out, let's just take a gamble. If we win, our Class D will turn our lives around. As for if we lose, then we'll all drop out together."

Seeing that Kanzaki was actually going to agree to Himeno's method, the whole class started to make a fuss. Their embarrassing behavior was so bad that even Hoshinomiya-sensei couldn't stand it anymore and chose to leave early.

Like Himeno, Kanzaki ignored the arguing students and waited quietly until everyone was tired of arguing and the class returned to calm before speaking again.

"If you don't want to accept Hime-san's plan, then you'll have to listen to me. I've decided to borrow another 100 special exam points from the school. Of those, 150 are class points, and the remaining 50 are special exam points, which will be used to pay for the challenge."

This is precisely Kanzaki's brilliance: he forces everyone to choose the most feasible option between Himeno's crazy, mutually destructive plan and their own slightly costly plan.

If you put Kanzaki's plan and Himeno's plan side by side, anyone who isn't stupid will basically choose Kanzaki's plan. In this way, the basic tone for Class D's participation in the special exam is basically set.

But some people are still worried about dropping out of school.

"But Kanzaki-san, wouldn't that bring the number of people dropping out to three?"

Three people are clearly more than one person.

This means that the probability of being selected to drop out of school will become much higher.

"It's very simple, just select the students who are at the bottom of their class to drop out..."

……

3 month 6 day.

There is only one day left until the special exam.

Night had already fallen over the sky.

The streetlights on campus shone brightly, trying to signal to people that it was time to have dinner.

However, in an area behind the dormitory building that was not captured by the surveillance cameras, Horikita Suzune was waiting for something alone. Judging from her frequent glances at her phone and her looking towards the dormitory building, it was not hard to tell that she was anxiously waiting for someone.

Horikita made thorough preparations for this meeting. First, she specially prepared a meal in advance to feed Amane, and then tried her best to coax her to sleep. Only after confirming that Amane was sleeping soundly did she carefully go out to meet the other party at the agreed meeting place.

The reason why she had to coax Amane to sleep before meeting someone else was because Horikita Suzune was afraid that Amane would overhear their conversation again, just like last time.

Horikita Suzune had lost count of how many times she had placed her finger on the number in her contacts labeled 'Brother,' but in the end, she chose to continue waiting.

Because this meeting was arranged by Horikita Suzune on short notice, Horikita Manabu did not set a specific time with Horikita Suzune, only saying around seven o'clock.

Horikita Suzune, who had been waiting there since 6:30, had clearly arrived a bit too early.

Finally, just before seven o'clock, Horikita Manabu arrived at the back of the dormitory building as promised.

"elder brother……"

"Didn't I say I didn't want you to call me by that name at school?"

Compared to Horikita Suzune's attitude, Horikita Manabu's attitude could be described as extremely hostile. Horikita Manabu was confident that he could guess with great accuracy what Horikita Suzune wanted to say when she asked him out.

When he was at this school, there was no doubt that even if he disliked Horikita Suzune, he would still try to help her overcome difficulties when she encountered them.

This caused Horikita Suzune to develop a habit of relying on others. She usually relied on Amane, and when there were things that Amane couldn't handle, she would rely on Horikita Manabu.

When will Horikita Suzune be able to stand on her own?

As far as he knew, since returning from the deserted island, Horikita Suzune had basically controlled the power of Class 1-B. With Amane helping her from behind, Horikita Suzune had not shown any outstanding qualities to consolidate her position in the past six months.

Even though Class B has achieved good results in all the special exams over the past six months, with their points steadily increasing, there has never been a unified voice within Class B.

To put it bluntly, Horikita Suzune did nothing to convince anyone, and the fact that she didn't have many followers shows that there was definitely interference from others behind these victories.

For a class leader to act like this is truly shameful.

Despite a series of victories, they couldn't unite the team's morale. However, with just a few words from Tianyin upon her return, the entire Class B was brought together. The contrast between their performances was like night and day...

"But brother... didn't you acknowledge me as your sister last time, Horikita-senpai?"

When I comforted Horikita Suzune last time, I think I said something like I was worried about this immature younger sister.

Seeing that Horikita Manabu was caught off guard and unable to refute her words, Horikita Suzune finally smiled.

Horikita Manabu, on the other hand, chose to avoid this topic altogether and went straight to today's main point.

"Enough with the nonsense, what brings you here?"

"I've come today to inform you that I plan to personally face Sakayanagi tomorrow. After defeating Sakayanagi, we will be promoted to Class A, which will make us students in Class A just like you, Horikita-senpai."

Faced with Horikita Suzune's confident words, Horikita Manabu felt his head buzzing and almost blurted out a question to Horikita Suzune.

"Are you crazy?"

Chapter 170: King vs. King? No, I want to fight!

Horikita Suzune's words were, in Horikita Manabu's view, a completely unrealistic idea.

Horikita Manabu had already witnessed firsthand how formidable Sakayanagi was during the sports festival, where he gave her the unprecedented assessment: "Sakayanagi only lacks experience; once she accumulates enough experience, she will become the best leader."

Even Amane did not receive such high praise from Horikita Manabu. Amane's strength and Sakayanagi's strength are completely different and therefore cannot be compared.

But even if Sakayanagi is inferior to Amane in some aspects, it does not mean that Sakayanagi is weak.

On the contrary, the only ones in this school who can seriously compete with Amane right now are probably Sakayanagi and that kid Ayanokouji... or maybe that guy named Koenji could too...

These people are undoubtedly quite famous in their grade.

They were simply not enemies that Horikita Suzune could handle.

To put it bluntly, if Horikita Suzune were to choose to confront Sakayanagi head-on, she would definitely suffer a crushing defeat, and Horikita Manabu was absolutely certain that the outcome would not be any different.

Even if Sakayanagi throws the game, Horikita Suzune's chances of winning are less than 30%. Sometimes the gap between people is even greater than the species gap between people and animals.

"You really don't think much of me?"

Although Horikita Suzune had anticipated that Horikita Manabu wouldn't give her a pleasant look, she hadn't expected him to react this way.

"That's right. In fact, saying you're crazy is already putting the best in mind. If you had chosen to fight Sakayanagi head-on while in a state of mental derangement, I could understand your decision. But... Suzune, you actually told me this news while you were in a sober state. It seems I overestimated you."

Horikita Manabu began to wonder if the previous encouragement had given Horikita Suzune such a mysterious confidence, or if Horikita Suzune had some leverage over Class A or obtained some trump card from Amane.

If that's the case, there's still a possibility of defeating Sakayanagi, but... the same thing can have different effects in different people's hands. Even if Horikita Suzune has an ace up her sleeve that can defeat Sakayanagi Arisu, Horikita Manabu doesn't think she can unleash the full potential of that ace.

"Brother, Horikita-senpai, you underestimate me! I'm not the same Horikita Suzune I used to be. I've led the class from Class D all the way to Class B, and I'll soon be a member of Class A just like you. Why don't you believe me?"

It has been proven that different perspectives can lead to cognitive biases.

Horikita Manabu believed that even he knew how formidable Sakayanagi Arisu was, so Horikita Suzune, who was in the same first year as Sakayanagi Arisu, should know even more clearly that Sakayanagi was a genuine genius, and should not have been so careless as to think that she could defeat Sakayanagi.

From Horikita Suzune's perspective, however, it's completely different. Horikita Manabu thinks the exact opposite. Horikita Suzune has never had any direct combat experience with Sakayanagi so far, whether it's a private contest or a strategic battle. Because of Amane's intervention, Horikita Suzune has never faced Sakayanagi head-on. She rarely has the opportunity to compete with Class A during special exams, but to play it safe, Horikita Suzune often chooses to compete with Class D.

They missed the opportunity to accumulate experience and face off against Sakayanagi.

This led Horikita Suzune to completely disregard the fact that Sakayanagi possessed such a powerful deterrent effect.

The reason for this special exam to be a showdown with Class A is twofold. Firstly, Amane intends to fulfill Horikita Suzune's wish by advancing to Class A to prove to Horikita Manabu that she is an excellent younger sister. Secondly, Horikita Suzune wants to extinguish Sakayanagi's arrogance on another battlefield by defeating her.

However, the second situation was naturally something that Horikita Suzune found difficult to talk about, so Horikita Suzune's actions seemed like those of a silly little sister who was eager to prove her abilities to her brother.

“I also want to believe in you, but based on the current intelligence, you have no chance of winning. There is no need to take risks to prove something. You will only end up harming yourself and everyone else.”

"But I..."

Let's end the conversation here.

Horikita Manabu raised his hand to interrupt Horikita Suzune before she could finish speaking.

"I know you want me to see your best side, but in my mind, being excellent isn't just about getting into Class A. I originally wanted you to figure this out yourself, but it seems like you've gone astray, Horikita Suzune."

"elder brother……"

"Don't live in my shadow. There are many people stronger than me. Don't just focus on me. I'm about to graduate while you still have two years to live here. You should focus your attention on the people who truly care about you. Sometimes... never mind."

Horikita Manabu originally wanted to tell Horikita Suzune that sometimes you shouldn't always hide in other people's shadows. If you want to defeat those monsters, you have to understand them. You have to learn about their attack methods and weaknesses through repeated failures, and then deliver a fatal blow when they are careless.

Instead of hiding in someone else's shadow and using a stronger monster to defeat the opponent, or choosing to escape and bully weaker enemies, or rushing in to their death like a fool.

A purposeful failure and being utterly defeated are different concepts. Horikita Manabu has so much to teach Horikita Suzune. He has gained a wealth of combat and social experience here, every single one of which is extremely important to Horikita Suzune now.

But... can Horikita Suzune really listen to what he says? For example, when he said that Sakayanagi Arisu was very strong, Horikita Suzune didn't refute him but asked him if he didn't believe in his younger sister.

What does it matter whether someone is strong or not, or whether they are believed or not? Horikita Suzune wondered when she would understand that strength is not something you are strong because others acknowledge it, but rather something that others will acknowledge because you are truly strong.

Sometimes, if the order of things is reversed...

"Ugh."

Horikita Manabu sighed and turned to leave.

There are some things that Horikita Suzune really has to learn on her own.

Hearing faint shouts coming from behind, Horikita Manabu hesitated for a moment, but only for a moment, before speeding up and leaving the place.

Only a dejected Horikita Suzune remained standing there.

……

Click.

Horikita Suzune paused for a moment when she opened the door.

She remembered turning off the lights when she left, but now the lights were on when she entered the room, which could only mean one thing.

"Welcome back~ I've brewed some tea, the water temperature should be just right."

Amane's familiar voice brought Horikita Suzune a sense of reassurance.

After taking off her shoes, Horikita Suzune went into the room. She had originally planned to have some tea to warm herself up, but she stopped when she passed the table.

She looked at the chessboard on the table with some surprise.

Tianyin is playing Go against herself, a game that looks like a game of Go but almost completely covers the board. Both black and white players can see through each other's moves at the same time, so they can make the most 'correct' response immediately. In the end, the game is so fierce that it is hard to tell which side is better than the other.

Horikita glanced at the time subconsciously; it had been almost two hours since she left. Could it be that the music had already stopped playing...?

"Would you like to play chess with me?"

Tianyin asked without looking up.

"Alright, but my chess skills are no match for yours, Tianyin, so you mustn't laugh at me if I lose."

Horikita first went to the kitchen and brought over the tea and kettle that Tenon had brewed.