Felix's Classroom Of The Elite

"Also the price for subbing out someone from Recommended Events is much higher than in Individual contests. They will also have to be examined by the doctor if they truly cannot participate so be careful to choose healthy students." Sae-chan gave us advice with a smile.

"How much is it exactly?" Yukimura asked his first question, he was relatively quiet the entire time we were discussing the sports festival maybe because he was quite weak physically and only knew how to study.

"100.000 private points. There is still some time for you to discuss early strategy so if you want you can use that time forming groups or you can simply do whatever you want until the next period begins. The next period will be inside the gymnasium where you will meet with your 'ally' and also students from all years." Sae-chan said with nonchalant expression however when she mentioned 'doing whatever we want' she gave me a particular look then she started minding her own business.

Once the teacher gave her permission, everyone started to speak to each other in a loud tone and a lot of people started to gather around Horikita's table

"So...How should we form the groups?" Yamauchi asked the question everyone was wondering about.

"What pattern? Of course based on ability! We will form groups of the most capable people so we can take the best places and others will be formed of useless *cough* less capable people." Sudo ruthlessly said his opinion.

And sure enough, when others not so capable in sports heard him calling them useless, their faces darkened, however, none of them dared to voice out any dissatisfaction. After all, Sudo was in the right to call them useless because compared to him, they were indeed useless and no one could deny that fact.

"Why has everyone gathered around my seat?" Horikita said with a slightly annoyed expression.

Although she appeared to be annoyed she still opened her notebook and started to write down people's opinions in order of a possible chance of winning.

"First of all, let's start with pairings for the three-legged race. This probably will be pretty hard to decide." Horikita said and looked around at people standing around her for their opinion.

"Shouldn't we simply do it the same way? We will pair the most athletic guy with the most athletic girl so we can have the best possible chance to win." Sudo said aloud with a bit of authoritative tone because his voice had the biggest impact right now.

When I heard his opinion I couldn't help but chuckle quietly. Thankfully, no one heard me.

Sudo's strategy won't work like that. The three-legged race is not about speed or stamina, it's about coordination, synergy. If you use Sudo's opinion then what if the pair will hate each other or simply don't understand each other? They need to find their common rhythm, the speed in this contest is almost nonexistent. Of course, there is also a way for the one person to take a lead and another can simply follow, however, that also means that the second person has to submit to that "leader" which most girls wouldn't like.

"Wait, why do you think that will work? The three-legged race is about trust and not about athletic abilities! You can't just dump 2 people who never even talked to each other into a pair!" Shinohara rebuked in an angry manner.

"I also agree that this is not the best strategy" Karuizawa expressed her opinion while giving me a side glance.

"I also agree with Karuizawa-san and Shinohara-san" Girls immediately started to agree with Shinohara's statement when Karuizawa expressed her opinion. It seems that even though she is no longer with Hirata, her position in the class is still as strong as before.

"Why you-!" Sudo was clenching his teeth in anger how almost every single girl in the class disagreed with him while he was supported only by a few boys so he looked towards Horikita with hope in eyes.

"Alright, are there any better ideas?" Horikita simply closed her eyes when she heard them arguing.

"How about we will form pairs in random and practice during the PE lessons. We were told that there will be more PE classes so we can ȧssume that they will also give us some free time to practice whatever we need to improve." Yukimura proposed a neutral suggestion which no one could really disagree with. He was also looking towards Sae-chan who was doing her work and signing some papers at her desk, he was probably waiting for her agreement but when he noticed that she wasn't paying any attention to us, he simply let it be with a deep sigh.

"Alright, let's skip the three-legged race for now and let's focus on something else." Horikita agreed with Yukimura's proposal however, there was no reassurance that the school will allow us some free time during the PE classes so she simply postponed this contest to later. After all, there was still more than 1 week before we will need to turn in our participation table.

"Let's move on the 100 and 200-meter dash. We need to make groups of 3 people." Horikita once again looked around for some opinions.

...

The discussion quickly became one-sided with Sudo in lead. He was practically spitting image of a soft Ryuen. Koenji who was one of the most athletic guys among our class had no interest in this and I think that he will probably also drop out from the contests where his presence is required, meaning that someone will have to sub for him while paying a subbing fee.

"Alright everyone, it's almost time for the gathering inside the gymnasium. Don't forget to come there on time." Sae-chan got up from the teacher's seat in the front and reminded us not to arrive late for the gathering before leisurely walking out of the classroom with her ponytail swaying from side to side.

I took my eyes off the novel and made eye contact with her before she closed the door to the classroom. We simply smiled at each other at the exact time and after a few seconds of staring, she closed the door.

"Walker-kun, you haven't said anything during the discussion. Why is that?" Horikita approached me and asked me with her stern expression while looking at the novel in my hand.

"I simply had no ideas to say. After all, this is simply about how good you are at sports and how lucky you are."

"Are you sure you were even listening to our discussion?" She asked me with a dubious expression while glaring at me with sharp eyes.

"Of course, Sudo-kun will participate in all recommended contests while Hirata-kun will also do his best to compete in all of them and we will get the rest of the participants during our PE classes." I confidently recited what they have agreed on with a confident smile across my face.

"How about you? Don't you want to participate in the recommended contests too? Or are you perhaps planning something?" She wasn't convinced and was still suspicious of me.

"If you will glare at me even more intensively I might even disappear...Who knows, maybe your eyes will produce the laser that will erase me." I told a joke to make her ease up, however, her glare on me only intensified.

"Fine, fine...I can try to compete in all of them but I really have no idea why you want me to participate in all of them. I know that I have told you about my past experience but that doesn't have to mean that I am as good as Sudo-kun." I told her with a helpless expression.

"I know but I am definitely sure that you are at least more nimble than him if not stronger. What is your opinion on the three-legged race?" She confidently said as if she already knew that but it's the truth that I have won my race in swimming against Sudo some time ago.

"You mean the one within our class or the other one in the recommended contests where we will have to team up with Class A?" I asked her while watching students slowly walking out of the classroom for the gathering inside the gymnasium.

"Both" She shortly replied.

"Not much. I agree with Yukimura's strategy as for the other one in the recommended contests...dunno. It's all down to the luck what kind of partner you will get. Students from Class A tend to be arrogant so I can already imagine that contest ending in catastrophe for our team." I shrugged my shoulders, telling her that I have no personal opinion about it.

She decided that there would be no advantage of pestering me any longer so she simply nodded and walked out of the classroom, leaving me all alone inside our classroom.

I guess I should go too. I got up and threw my bag over my shoulder.

However, when I left the classroom, I saw Kei leaning her back against the wall, she was probably waiting for me.

"What were you talking about with Horikita?" She asked me with a curious look.

"Nothing interesting, just about my participation in the incoming sports festival. What are you doing here?" I replied with a nonchalant expression and asked her back even though I already knew why.

"Waiting for you of course. I wanted to ask you if you have something in mind I can help you with." She told me with a cheerful smile right after she checked if anyone was around eavesdropping on our conversation.

She is eager to help? I am even slightly surprised that she would think that I would already have something in mind...does she trust me that much or was it simply luck on her side?

I double-checked the surroundings just to be extra sure before replying to her.

"There are indeed some things you can help me with." I said in a low voice.

"Please tell me!" She indeed looked very eager to help, she even brought her head closer to me.

"I want you to somehow persuade girls to do their hardest during the PE classes. There is also matter with..." I explained everything she could help me with and she was nodding with a serious expression on her face.

"There is one thing that doesn't make any sense to me..." She said with a slightly confused expression.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"Why would you want me to do that thing with the participation table? Wouldn't that only increase the chances of our information leaking out?" She asked me with a doubtful expression and I wasn't really surprised by this because what I have asked for her to do would indeed look strange in the eyes of others.

"That's what I exactly want to happen, I have many other reasons why I want you to do that." I didn't want to reveal too much so I simply told her.

"Anyway, what do you think about the strategy of how to form groups? Do you support Sudo's suggestion?" I asked when we started to walk towards the gymnasium.

"Personally? I don't think it's good to just abandon everyone who isn't athletic but I will go along with whatever opinion you have." She said with a determination in her voice

"I don't really have opinion about how to form the groups." After all, every class has to make the same participation table so there can be a strong group against a weak one or a strong group against even stronger group. You can practically form groups in random and it won't matter if you won't know other classes' groups and in which order they will participate.

"Seriously?" She asked with a slightly surprised and lame expression.

I let Kei arrive in the gymnasium before me so we wouldn't create any unnecessary rumors.

When I arrived in the gymnasium, there were too many students to even count them, they varied from 1st years to 3rd years. All students divide themselves into 2 groups which were the Red Team and the White Team.

Then the 3rd-year guy from Class A named Fujimaki introduced himself as a leader of the Red Team and started giving some advice. Most of them were for us, the 1st years.

I was slightly surprised that the leader wasn't Manabu Horikita but I couldn't care any less about this fact.

I noticed that Katsuragi from Class A approached us and started talking with Horikita and Hirata. However, he didn't look overly happy to cooperate with us so I guess from what strategy he had picked during the special exam on the cruise, he will probably propose not to hinder each other and nothing more. It would be good to at least get the names of their participants on the three-legged race and it looks like even Horikita realized it and started to negotiate with him but judging from how he was shaking his head, the negotiation didn't go well.

"*Hey, what's up with that girl?*" Ike who was standing almost next to me whispered.

I was hesitating whether I wanted to turn to look at who he was talking about but after a while of consideration, I decided to take a look, after all, if it was just some stupidly overly cute girl or extremely beautiful girl, his voice would sound much more excited.

When I looked in the same direction as he was looking, I saw Sakayanagi who was sitting on the special chair perhaps prepared by the school.

She also noticed our gazes and when she saw me, she lightly smiled at me, however, she refrained herself from greeting me in front of so many people.

"Oh? Did you see that?! That girl smiled at me!" Ike was trying his best to whisper but he was too excited and others could clearly hear him...including Sakayanagi who lightly chuckled when she heard his comment.

Ike realized what he has done and started to panic a bit due to many people weirdly staring at him, however, there was still a smile on his face...maybe he thinks that she chuckled because she thought that his behavior was cute? Who knows, this idiot is really hard to understand...

I notice Sakayanagi taking out her phone, she started typing something and after a while, she stopped typing and at the exact time she has stopped, my phone vibrated.

Why would she contact me here and now?

I waited a few minutes before taking out my own phone and checking the new message I have received.

[What a coincidence for our classes to ally after we recently formed that pact but I certainly don't mind it. How would you like to cooperate? However, I need to warn you that Katsuragi's faction still has some power so I might not be able to fully cooperate with you.]

Well, Katsuragi's faction looks much smaller than before but that doesn't mean that he has no power in the class so I can understand her reasoning.

[Let's talk about that later and not actually here where anyone can look into our phones.] I quickly sent the message and put my phone inside my pocket, without any intention of taking it out again.