COTE: Popularity System

Advanced Nurturing High School.

Sports Field.

The students of Class 1-A were currently training.

Takada Hikaru hung a whistle around his neck with a string, then told his classmates, "One more shuttle run, then a five-minute break."

"Another one? Seriously?"

"I've never realized how precious a five-minute break could be."

Although the Class A students grumbled a bit, they still followed Takada Hikaru's instructions and began their shuttle run.

It was already the second semester, and all students were preparing for the upcoming Sports Festival.

The results each class achieved in the Sports Festival would affect their future class points. Therefore, the Sports Festival was also considered a Special Exam.

According to his agreement with Ichinose Honami and others on the luxury cruise, Takada Hikaru had to help his class get through the next two Special Exams. Now, he was acting as a coach, personally training the students of Class A.

"Takada-san, you've worked hard."

Andō Sayo walked over, handed Takada Hikaru a bottle of water, and then said with a smile, "I never knew Takada-san was so good at coaching others. You could be a coach now, couldn't you?"

Praised by her, Takada Hikaru smiled and shook his head. "Sayo, I just have a bit of skill, not as amazing as you say."

In September, he had exchanged for a new skill.

I Know A Little Bit.

For any knowledge you need to use, your performance is indistinguishable from that of a world-class expert.

He originally thought the price of items would keep increasing, but the September item was much cheaper than expected, only requiring 500,000 Popularity Points.

Perhaps the System Mall's pricing rule is to refresh every semester?

Takada Hikaru didn't know if his guess was correct and could only find out next month.

"Takada-san, you're too modest."

Andō Sayo smiled slightly. "After your training, everyone's athletic ability has greatly improved. It's clearly your credit."

Takada Hikaru said with a laugh, "It's just that many people's foundations were too poor, a little training is enough to bring them to a normal level."

Among the first-years, only Sakayanagi Arisu could be considered frail and sickly. Most other students with poor athletic ability simply lacked exercise.

Through appropriate extra training and spending some points on supplements, it was possible to bring students with only 20 points of athletic ability up to 50 points before the Sports Festival began.

However, for people like Andō Sayo and Shibata Sō, whose athletic abilities were around 70 points, raising their athletic level to 80 points was not an easy task.

However, with Sudō Ken having dropped out, and Kōenji Rokusuke and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka not planning to give their all in the Sports Festival, the athletic abilities of these two were already considered among the top in their grade, so there was no need for further improvement.

"Speaking of which, how's the situation in Class D?" Takada Hikaru asked the girl beside him.

For this Sports Festival, the school divided the 12 classes into Red Team and White Team.

All first-year Class A and Class D students were in the Red Team, while all first-year Class B and Class C students were in the White Team.

After the Sports Festival, the school would determine the total scores of the two teams, and all classes under the team with the lower score would have 100 class points deducted.

For example, if the Red Team scored higher than the White Team in the Sports Festival, then the classes assigned to the White Team, which are all first-year Class B and Class C students, would all have 100 class points deducted.

Class 1-A and Class 1-D belonged to the Red Team in this exam, so they could be considered teammates.

However, in addition to the major team confrontation, there was also competition within each grade.

The class that placed first in their grade would gain 50 class points.

Second place, 0 class points added.

Third place, 50 class points deducted.

Fourth place, 100 class points deducted.

Although they were teammates in the major team, due to the internal grade ranking also affecting class points, the relationship between Class 1-A and Class 1-D in this Special Exam became both rivals and teammates.

Andō Sayo and Shibata Sō, because of their strong athletic abilities and difficulty in further improvement, were arranged by Takada Hikaru to gather information on other classes.

The former went to Class D to gather intelligence, while the latter went to Class B and Class C.

Andō Sayo recalled the scene she had just witnessed. "The situation in Class D is a bit grim. The athletically proficient people in Class D are Hirata, Onodera, Horikita, and Kōenji, but Kōenji doesn't want to participate in the Sports Festival, so he can be temporarily excluded."

"As expected of Rokosuke-san." Takada Hikaru nodded slightly.

Just as he had anticipated, with 40 million points that allowed him to transfer classes at any time, Kōenji Rokusuke had no intention of participating in class competition.

Before, he might have shown off a bit for the first-place prize, but now he couldn't even be bothered to show off.

What, you said Kōenji only earned 37.5 million points in the VIP Exam?

Come on, the remaining 2.5 million points could easily be solved with money power.

"Next, although Onodera is very good at sports, she's not very good at teaching others and can only manage herself. The task of teaching everyone has fallen entirely on Hirata." Andō Sayo said.

"Can't Suzune-san teach?" Takada Hikaru asked.

Even Horikita Suzune should know that this exam requires improving the athletic abilities of the class to achieve good results. Logically, she should be helping Hirata teach the Class D students.

"Well…"

Andō Sayo's eyes lowered slightly, and she said with a hint of amusement, "Horikita had a conflict with her classmates, they're not very willing to accept her guidance."

It turns out our cute Suzune-san has blundered yet again.

When practicing the two-person three-legged race with her classmates, Horikita Suzune would only rush forward, completely disregarding whether her teammate could keep up.

Even when her teammate reported the situation and asked her to slow down and cooperate, she met with a merciless rebuttal.

"Why should I deliberately slow down to cooperate with you?"

"Shouldn't those of you who are slower actively cooperate with me instead?"

"Even if you're slow, if you run with all your might, you should definitely be able to keep up with me."

Horikita Suzune's expression was completely natural as she spoke, as if she truly believed this.

Even Andō Sayo, as an observer, couldn't help but be taken aback when she heard this.

This woman… has no common sense at all!

Hearing Andō Sayo's account, Takada Hikaru couldn't help but laugh. "Suzune-san has always liked to be alone since she was little and always resisted cooperating with others. She probably has no experience with cooperation."

But that doesn't change the fact that she's really stupid.

(End of Chapter)

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