COTE : Backed By Black Technology System

When Kanda Shuichi arrived in class, he saw Horikita already sitting at her desk.

As soon as he sat down, Hirata approached him.

"Kanda, Horikita, I checked with the upperclassmen in the soccer club. The grouping rules for this exam are exactly as we discussed yesterday."

Hirata looked genuinely happy. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"I also asked a second-year senior I know, and she confirmed the same thing."

Kushida suddenly appeared from somewhere, backing up Hirata’s statement.

Hearing that, Horikita let out a small sigh of relief. She had been fairly confident in her guess, but having it confirmed was still reassuring.

"Since the grouping rules are now clear, the next step is figuring out the actual groups. For this, I’d like to use last semester’s final exam results as a reference. Is that okay?"

Normally, the most recent test scores would be the logical choice for group assignments.

But last time, the midterm contained a lot of junior high-level questions, while this time, the test was designed by students from other classes—making the difficulty levels completely different.

Since the midterm scores weren’t really comparable, Horikita preferred to use last semester’s final exam as a more reliable measure of each student’s ability.

Even though over a month had passed in the second semester and they had learned new material, that exam still reflected the general academic standing of Class D.

"Yeah, I also think using the final exam scores from last semester makes the most sense."

With no objections, the basic plan for Class D was decided. The next step was assigning the target scores for each student.

Friday afternoon arrived, and it was time for the class meeting.

As soon as the class began, Chabashira-sensei glanced at Hirata and then left the classroom, which surprised the students.

How could they have a class meeting when the homeroom teacher just walked out? The students in Class D were already used to Chabashira-sensei leading their meetings.

"For today’s class meeting, I’d like to hold a strategy session for tomorrow’s quiz. I’ve already gotten Chabashira-sensei’s permission, and she said we can use the time however we want. First, Horikita will speak. Is that okay?"

Hearing her name, Horikita immediately stood up from her seat and walked straight to the podium.

Some students were surprised by the Hirata-Horikita team-up, while others turned their attention to Kanda Shuichi.

Compared to Horikita, who had no proven track record, they trusted Kanda Shuichi more since he had already led Class D to two victories.

But just like during the last sports festival, Kanda Shuichi remained silent.

Back then, it was because of his poor health that he couldn’t lead them to victory. But what about this time? What was the reason?

As some students wondered about this, Horikita also noticed their reaction and spoke up.

"I know you trust Kanda Shuichi more than me, but I still hope you can believe in me to lead Class D to victory in this exam."

Her words made the class exchange uncertain glances.

"Besides, I don’t think we should rely entirely on Kanda. If he carries us all the way to Class A, will you really be satisfied with that?"

"I don’t see anything wrong with it."

As soon as Horikita finished speaking, someone muttered this under their breath.

"Yeah, it’s nice to succeed without putting in much effort. But after you graduate, will you still be able to rely on Kanda? If you don’t improve yourself, even if you graduate from Class A, what kind of future will you have in society?"

Horikita’s words left most of the class speechless. They had never really thought about life after graduation.

To them, simply making it to Class A meant their future was secure.

But after hearing her words, they had to admit she had a point.

"Kanda, what do you think?"

Why are you asking me? If you’re so sure about what you’re saying, why not speak with more confidence?

"I think you’re right. I won’t be responsible for your future. Graduating from Class A may be the goal in this school, but in life, that’s just the beginning."

Kanda Shuichi’s words made the class fall silent.

Horikita took back control of the conversation.

"I want to give it my all for the upcoming quiz and final exams. But no matter how determined I am, we won’t get through this safely unless we work together."

"We get that we shouldn’t rely too much on others, but for this exam, shouldn’t we figure out the team formation rules first?"

"No, we’ve already figured them out. If everything goes according to plan, every student in Class D can get an ideal teammate. Hirata, I’ll leave it to you."

Hirata, who had been waiting for his turn, nodded and quickly wrote down the Paper Shuffle team formation rules on the blackboard.

Each team would be formed by pairing the highest-scoring student with the lowest-scoring student.

Then, the second-highest would pair with the second-lowest, and so on, until the students ranked 20th and 21st were paired together.

"This is the purpose of the quiz and how the teams are formed. Simple, right?"

"Oh—ohhh! So this is how the teams work! I can’t believe you figured it out, Horikita! That’s amazing!"

After hearing Horikita’s explanation, many students felt like everything suddenly made sense.

Now that they understood the rules, they realized they could control the pairings. While they couldn’t form the teams exactly as they wanted, they could manipulate the quiz scores to get the best possible matchups.

There wasn’t much Kanda Shuichi could do about this since it all depended on everyone’s individual scores.

"This time, we’ll prioritize helping the students with the lowest grades. But since there aren’t many top students in the class, if we can’t assist everyone, I hope you all understand."

No one complained about this. The rules were clear—rather than whining about not getting good teammates, it was better to study harder.

Hmm? If that’s the case, Class D might actually be improving?

Then, Hirata wrote the names of the bottom ten students on the blackboard one by one. Sudou, Ike, and others were all on the list.

Of course, it wasn’t just boys—there were also girls like Inogashira and Karuizawa.

Even though Class D had many academically weak students, there were quite a few top performers as well. Kanda Shuichi, Horikita, Hirata, Yukimura, and Koenji were all students who ranked high even at the grade level.

Looking at it this way, the gap between the top and bottom students was really extreme.

The top students and the ones at the very bottom had nothing to worry about, but the ones in the middle weren’t so lucky. Even though this midterm was relatively easy, less than half of the students had an average score above 80. If they looked at the results from last semester’s final exam, the situation would be even worse.

Because of that, while the weakest students were relieved, the middle-ranking students started to feel anxious.

"Uh... I don’t really get it. What are we supposed to do?"

Seeing his name on the board, Ike raised a question.

Horikita answered, "For the bottom ten students, you just need to write your name on the test paper. Your score this time won’t matter, so even getting a zero is fine. The top ten students should aim for a high score—at least 85 or above. And then there are the twenty students in the middle."

As she spoke, she and Hirata wrote down the names of those twenty students on the board.

"For these twenty students, the ten with the lower scores only need to answer one question they’re confident about. The ten with higher scores should answer at least two questions.

But be careful not to score over 80. This is important—if you’re unsure, it’s better to answer fewer questions than to go over the limit.

If your score is too high and you end up paired with one of the bottom ten students, it’ll be dangerous. I’ll come up with a detailed scoring guide for each of you later."

Horikita’s words were blunt, but the students ranked 11th to 20th accepted them without complaint.

For them, being paired with someone ranked 21st to 30th was still manageable. But if they ended up with someone from the bottom ten, it would be a disaster.

So, at least for now, the students in Class D were satisfied with Horikita’s plan.

The student ranked 11th might feel a little frustrated, but if their grades had been better, they wouldn’t have needed anyone’s help in the first place.

Even if they weren’t great at studying, they still had their pride.

Watching Horikita speak confidently at the front of the class, Kanda Shuichi nodded to himself. It seemed like the sports festival had really affected her.

But more than that, he was curious about how she planned to handle the issue with Kushida.

"Koenji, you don’t have any objections either?"

"Of course not. What a boring question. Naturally, I’ve already mastered the test material."

He casually stretched his long legs onto the desk and ran his fingers through his hair as usual.

"Then, can I expect you to score at least 80?"

"Who knows? It depends on the test."

"Kouenji, I won’t ask much from you. I just hope you take this seriously. Please don’t deliberately score zero. If you do, Class D will lose two of its strongest assets, and that would throw everything off balance."

"I’ll think about it, girl."

Koenji’s response was vague, but in reality, he had already agreed. If he didn’t want to, he would’ve refused outright.

Besides, if word got out that the heir of the Koenji family got a zero on a written exam, it would be humiliating.

And he definitely didn’t want his name to end up on Kanda Shuichi’s "potential expulsion" list.

Horikita was actually worrying for nothing.

She then divided the required scores for students ranked 11th to 30th. Basically, those ranked 11th to 15th should aim for 60 to 70 points, 16th to 20th should get 40 to 50 points, 21st to 25th should aim for 20 to 30 points, and those ranked 26th to 30th should aim for 1 to 10 points.

Each group had a 10-point buffer, but even so, there was no guarantee that the groupings would be perfect. They could only do their best and hope for the best.

After finishing her report, Horikita stepped down from the podium and returned to her seat.

As she passed by Kanda Shuichi, he secretly gave her a thumbs-up, easing some of her worries.

Thanks to Kanda Shuichi’s brief reminder, Horikita not only understood the school’s intentions more clearly but also came up with a suitable solution for Class D.

Even the students in the middle ranks, who were more likely to struggle, were assigned detailed score targets.

Still, Horikita couldn’t shake her concerns. There were too many students in Class D who fell into this middle category, and many of them had serious weaknesses in certain subjects.

"You’ve done a great job."

Noticing her concern, Ayanokouji spoke up to reassure her.

"I just followed the usual approach step by step," Horikita shook her head, then stared at Kanda Shuichi’s back. "Kanda, if it were you, would you be able to secure a complete victory for Class D?"

Hearing her question, Kanda Shuichi turned his head, looked directly at Horikita, and nodded.

"Of course."

"Can you tell me how?" Horikita asked seriously, "I want to know the gap between us."

Kanda Shuichi nodded again. He had no reason to refuse because his method was something that couldn’t be copied.

"Your strategy in this exam is to strengthen the students’ academic abilities to handle the difficult questions Ryuen might throw at us. This is a defensive approach, a common one, and you’ve executed it flawlessly."

Kanda Shuichi acknowledged her efforts. Even he wouldn’t have been able to do much better using the same approach.

"But have you ever considered that if we could get hold of the questions Ryuen submits, we wouldn’t just avoid expulsions—we could win easily?"

If Horikita’s plan was to win through a straightforward battle, then Kanda Shuichi’s approach was about winning with a clever strategy.

"Of course, I’ve thought about that. But getting the questions from Ryuen seems nearly impossible, doesn’t it?"

"Yes, it’s difficult. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible."

Kanda Shuichi neither confirmed nor denied her words.

Seeing his expression, Horikita’s face changed slightly. "You mean... you can get the questions from Ryuen without him noticing?"

"That’s my business. As for how, I’m afraid I can’t tell you."

Kanda Shuichi didn’t give a direct answer, but Horikita already understood.

How could he possibly take the questions from Ryuen without anyone noticing? She couldn’t figure it out no matter how much she thought about it.

In reality, there were two possible methods.

The first was using some advanced technology, like a time-traveling surveillance device, to record the questions when the teachers reviewed them after Ryuen submitted them.

The second method involved Karuizawa Kei.

If Karuizawa approached Ryuen, saying she was at risk of failing, there was a high chance that Ryuen would give her some of the questions.

Of course, he wouldn’t give her everything. He only needed to ensure Karuizawa didn’t fail. She was too useful for him to discard so easily.

That said, Ryuen would be taking a risk by doing this. But he was confident—no, arrogant.

Since he had leverage over Karuizawa, he believed she wouldn’t dare to betray him. So, if she asked for the questions, he would definitely hand over some of them.

However, this only worked if Karuizawa first gave Ryuen the questions that Horikita prepared.

If she failed in her role, then Ryuen wouldn’t be kind enough to help her.

He would only give her a hand if he was certain he could completely crush Class D. Otherwise, he wouldn’t care about whether she got expelled.

This plan was based on Kanda Shuichi’s understanding of Ryuen.

But obviously, he couldn’t explain any of this to Horikita.

Watching Horikita deep in thought, Kanda Shuichi could tell she was probably overthinking things.

Does she think I planted a spy in Class C too?

That’s ridiculous. Getting a spy into Class C is nearly impossible. Unlike Class D, Class C is run like a dictatorship under Ryuen. There’s no way anyone could steal the test questions right under his nose.

After thinking for a long time, Horikita still couldn’t come up with an answer, so she decided to just let it go.

"By the way, you said you’d handle the math questions earlier. Can I take that seriously?"

"Of course. Once I’m done, I’ll let you check them." Kanda Shuichi smirked.

Fifty math questions—even at a first-year level—would be more than enough to give Class C a hard time.

Math is a strange subject. Some people are really good at it, while others just don’t get it at all.

Kanda Shuichi didn’t need to make the questions impossibly hard. He just had to make them a little tricky.

He planned to design them in a way that looked simple at first glance but actually required multiple steps to solve.

Even if someone knew how to do them, the steps would take up a lot of their time, and the exam had a time limit.

With that, not just the weaker students, but even top performers like Kaneda or Shiina wouldn’t be able to score too high.

And this set of questions would be the key to Kanda Shuichi reclaiming the 20 million points Ryuen took.

Hearing Kanda Shuichi’s confident response, Horikita nodded in agreement. Having someone to share the burden with was definitely a relief.

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You can read 10 advanced Chapters at my patreon.com/YeyeQiu