Chapter 252: The Villain's Self-Cultivation of the Blond Senpai

Advanced Nurturing High School, Student Council President's office.

Compared to the rigid, fair, and meticulously austere furnishing style of former president Horikita Manabu, the current Student Council President Nagumo Miyabi's office could only be described as flashy.

"He even had the walls replaced, huh. Advanced Nurturing really is filthy rich."

Fuyuji Mikage roughly scanned his surroundings. A large number of plushies, personal items, and photographs were placed all over the place, carrying the frivolous, flamboyant style of the blond senpai.

"Just one of the privileges of being Student Council President." An amber stream of water poured noisily from the teapot. A cup of hot tea was pushed directly in front of Fuyuji by Nagumo Miyabi. "If you want, join the student council now, and next year this office will be yours."

"Forget it, forget it." Fuyuji sat in the office chair and spun it in a circle, casually gazing up at the chandelier overhead. "Too much trouble. It's the same with Katsuragi there."

Katsuragi Kohei was already the Student Council Vice President. Add to that the fact that currently, aside from him, no other first-year student had joined the student council. Unless Katsuragi himself withdrew or was expelled, the next Student Council President would basically be him.

"That's true too..." Nagumo let out a light laugh, leaned back in his chair, and crossed his legs. "Right now, there's really no one in the first year who can compete with your class. Even if I wanted to meddle in the first year, I probably couldn't get a hand in."

Seventeen hundred points. A single class holding the majority of the first year's class points. This was unprecedented in Advanced Nurturing's history.

"So, blond senpai, why did you call me here?" Fuyuji picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"No rush. Take a look at this first." With that, Nagumo handed a document to Fuyuji. "The content of the next special exam is already out."

"Is it okay to show me this?"

One had to remember that back in the day, that rigid, demonic siscon Horikita Manabu had guarded this kind of thing with an iron grip.

"No problem." Nagumo braced both hands on the armrests of his office chair and shrugged. "This will probably be brought up at the student council meeting in a few days. Katsuragi-kun will know by then too. As long as you don't leak it, this kind of thing is harmless."

Fuyuji took the document and roughly scanned it.

A mixed joint camp exam for all three grades. Boys and girls separated. Each grade would form six groups on their own. Finally, the three grades would be recombined into six large groups. Rankings would be determined by each group's average score.

In other words...

"What's being tested is coordination, or rather the group leader's ability to unify the group. But..."

"Bingo!" Nagumo snapped his fingers, a fighting spirit rising in his eyes. He said with admiration, "As expected of the class hailed as the most outstanding A Class in generations. You saw the key to this exam at a glance. This exam allows you to form a team with strong overall strength in advance and directly lock in victory. I'm a little unable to resist wanting to duel you ahead of time, junior."

"..."

Fuyuji kicked both feet and silently rolled back two positions. Go find that glasses-wearing siscon to play with!

"However," Nagumo's tone shifted, "that would be far too boring. I want to add a bit of fun to this exam."

"Invite Horikita Manabu to a duel?"

"Exactly!" Nagumo puffed out his chest and blurted out, "Invite Horikita-senpai to a duel!"

Fuyuji: "..."

Blond senpai, oh blond senpai. You've been ruined by that man Horikita your whole life.

You have tens of millions of points in hand. There's plenty you could do. But no, you have to fixate on that perverted siscon. Word is that blond mountain in Class D is buying private points above market price. Trade with him, and wouldn't your happy life for the rest of your days be set?

"Last time, because that Ryuen Kakeru from your first year stuck his oar in, my goal of dueling Horikita-senpai came to nothing." Nagumo clenched his fists, his expression beginning to twist. "This time, I absolutely must have a match with Horikita-senpai and defeat him fair and square!"

Fair and square?

Blond senpai, is that what you want? Defeat him? I don't think so.

"Will he agree this time? From what I remember, he didn't agree the last few times." Fuyuji picked up his thread and followed his meaning downward.

"You don't need to worry about that." A confident smile appeared on Nagumo's face. "Based on my understanding of Horikita-senpai, as long as this exam doesn't drag other students into it, he'll most likely agree."

"So," Fuyuji picked up his teacup and said without changing his expression, "the reason you called me here is... to add me in too?"

Nagumo raised a hand to slick back his signature blond hair, his chin pointed at Fuyuji. "Yes. Since you're a first-year, junior, your understanding of the second and third years' personnel is itself a disadvantage. Telling you in advance is what makes the competition fairer."

Then you're a surprisingly good guy.

Pretending to think briefly, Fuyuji set down his teacup and spoke bluntly. "I refuse."

"May I ask why?" Nagumo didn't seem surprised.

"Too troublesome. For this exam, whether it's your team or Horikita Manabu's team, as long as I join whichever one, the result won't be too bad. Pulling out an extra team on top of that is clearly more trouble than it's worth."

"A brilliant analysis." Nagumo slowly began to clap.

"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave first."

"Hey! Don't be in such a hurry!"

Nagumo raised a hand to straighten his collar. That head of blond hair fluttered in the warm air from the heater. He smiled and pulled his phone from his pocket...

A few minutes later, an extremely enthusiastic voice suddenly burst from the Student Council President's office.

"Oh, Senpai, you're too much of an outsider. Why didn't you say so earlier? Invite Horikita Manabu to a duel, right? Too easy." Fuyuji pushed the office door open with a bang, patting his chest with a resounding thump. "Leave it to me. This is my future brother-in-law. As long as I run off with his little sister, he'll definitely be dying to duel me. By then, blond senpai will definitely get what he wants."

"Pleasure doing business." Nagumo sat in his office chair, watching Fuyuji leave with a smile.

"Pleasure doing business."

The moment the door closed, the enthusiastic smile on Fuyuji's face vanished rapidly like a receding tide. He quickly crossed the student council corridor and walked out the main door.

The next second, his phone came out of his pocket and went to his ear.

"How's it going, Suzune?"

"That..." The cool voice came from the other end of the line, tinged with a softness it hadn't had before. She stammered, "Discussing m-marriage right now is t-too early. I need to ask my brother and my family's opinion first."

Fuyuji, who had just received three million points and was striding along with the bearing of a dragon and the stride of a tiger, tilted on his feet and nearly planted face-first into the snow.

"That's not what I meant. I meant the blond... cough cough, I meant Senpai Nagumo issuing a challenge to your brother." Fuyuji's face was full of black lines.

"Isn't it a normal challenge? My brother won't lose."

Fuyuji let out a cold laugh, gazing toward the student council building. "You're thinking too much. With blond senpai's personality, and with this exam being a group format again, there's no way it'll be a normal challenge!"

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50 [Power Stones] = Bonus Chapter!