Classroom of the Elite, Kusuo Saiki

After the tug-of-war competition ended, the other events continued.

Borrowing objects competitions, horseback riding battles... all sorts of events started one after another, and Kusuo Saiki felt a little confused. These were clearly events like kindergarten games, so why were they included in this sports festival?

However, in these matches, the Red Team, including Class B, achieved fairly good results. On the contrary, Class D's morale seemed to have become very low, which greatly affected their performance and caused them to perform very poorly.

"Strange, why does it feel like Class D has lost its fighting spirit?"

"Yeah, I don't know why their grades have gotten so bad."

"I feel the same way."

The students in Class B were buzzing with gossip, but only Kusuo Saiki knew the truth.

[Ryuen said, "Those guys from Class B are trying to wear us down."]

Ryuen asked us to skip this year's sports festival.

[We're going to lose class points again... but there seems to be nothing we can do about it...]

He could clearly hear the thoughts of the students in Class D, and it seemed that Ryuen Sho had given up on this sports festival.

Although Kusuo Saiki didn't know the specific reasons why Sho Ryuen chose to give up, it seemed to have something to do with him.

Soon it was time for the last event: a mixed-gender relay.

However, unlike previous events, this 1200-meter relay race will be held in groups of students from all grades, meaning that first-year students will have the opportunity to compete with third-year students.

Soon, everyone took their places as instructed by the referee, and Kusuo Saiki was in charge of the last leg of the race.

"Oh dear, this is really troublesome... I didn't expect to be selected for this project in the end."

Kusuo Saiki sighed helplessly. It was because of his carelessness during the physical test and a series of unexpected events that he was forced to be selected for this competition.

Because the competition was very long, each class had to send three boys and three girls as contestants. The boys from Class B were Ken Sudo, Yosuke Hirata, and Kusuo Saiki, while the girls were led by Suzune Horikita.

Judging from the lineup, our class's relay team shouldn't be too bad. If Ryuen's plan had succeeded, Horikita would probably have been unable to participate in the relay due to his injury, and Sudo's current condition might have also been affected. In that case, our class's relay results would definitely not have been ideal. However, none of this happened.

On the sidelines, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji simply watched the crowd on the field silently. Due to limited personnel, he had not been selected for the competition.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji wasn't really interested in Suzune Horikita, Ken Sudo, or even the results of the class exam.

And now he has developed a slight interest in something, like a seed that has been planted and is gradually sprouting.

If Qi Mu and I were on the track at the same time, who would win?

Since I came into this world, I have never been able to run at full speed.

Perhaps, Saiki can surpass my speed.

Unlike Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, Kusuo Saiki had absolutely no interest in this project.

He looked around, observing the other people in his group—because this competition involved all classes in the school, the red and white teams were broken up and the teams were randomly formed into groups from several classes to compete, and the final ranking was based on the time taken in the competition.

Kusuo Saiki was on the innermost track, while on the adjacent track was Hayate Shibata, who was in the same class as Honami Ichinose.

The third student was from Class 2A, and seemed to be named Nan Yunya.

Kusuo Saiki vaguely recognized the name, but couldn't quite place where he had heard it before.

And the contestant on the outermost side was someone that Kusuo Saiki had met before.

Horikita Manabu.

Previously, Kusuo Saiki had used his telepathic ability to project their thoughts, which slightly resolved the conflict between the awkward siblings and alleviated Horikita Suzune's aloof personality to some extent.

However, Kusuo Saiki and Manabu Horikita had no contact with each other, and had never even spoken to each other; they were only aware of each other's existence.

As the whistle blew, the first runners from each class rushed out almost simultaneously. Sudo Ken, an athletic star, quickly gained the upper hand, leading by several body lengths, and successfully passed the baton to Horikita Suzune, who was running the second leg.

[Rin's performance was pretty good.]

Horikita Manabu watched Horikita Suzune's performance intently.

Horikita Suzune maintained her first-place position and then passed the baton to the girl behind her—but from this moment on, the distance between their class and the other runners was suddenly shortened. If it weren't for Sudo Ken and Horikita Suzune maintaining their advantages in their respective races, Class B would probably have fallen behind the other classes by a considerable margin.

The contestants from Class B of Grade 1 were overtaken by others one after another, and the others present began to panic.

However, thanks to Hirata Yosuke's efforts, Class 1-B maintained a high ranking in this group.

But at that moment, the girl who was originally in first place from Class 3A was about to hand the baton to the fifth runner when she fell about fifty meters from the next runner. Although she hurriedly got up, Class 2A quickly pulled away after taking the lead.

"This is our victory, President Horikita—if possible, I'd love to have a race with you."

Nagumo Masashi smiled as he looked at Horikita Manabu, as if all these unexpected events were within his expectations.

"It seems like we can win in terms of total points too; this is the beginning of a new era!"

Are you really going to change this school?

Horikita Manabu's face showed no change in expression; he simply looked at Nanono Masa with utter composure.

“The student council has been so boring so far. It’s too stubborn about upholding traditions, spouting harsh words but never forgetting to provide relief. And the rules are too naive. There haven’t been many dropouts. These things are no longer needed. So I’ll create new rules and establish the ultimate meritocratic school!”

Nangumo Masayuki stared directly at Horikita Manabu, watching the fifth runner who was about to come up in front of her, already preparing for his run-up.

What are these two guys talking about?

Kusuo Saiki had no idea what the two were talking about, but he didn't care. As long as it had nothing to do with him, there was no problem.

At this moment, Kusuo Saiki remembered that not long after the start of the semester, he and Kikyo Kushida had gone to a senior in Class D of the second year to buy exam papers, and they happened to hear him mention the name Miyabi Nagumo in his thoughts.

It seems that the reason they became Class D was because of something Nan Yunya did.

'Looks like even older students aren't entirely normal.'

The contestants from Class A of Grade 2 have arrived, and Nan Yunya immediately received the baton and ran forward. There is no doubt that the first place in this competition will be decided.

However, due to the fall of the third-year A student earlier, the gaps between the other classes were very close, and Kikyo Kushida, the fifth batter, maintained a mid-range position.

The first place is no surprise, but there are still two spots left in the top three, and the remaining classes are vying for those two positions.

'Well, let's aim for a mid-table position then; fourth place seems pretty good.'

Kusuo Saiki pondered to himself.

But at that moment, Horikita Manabu's gaze fell on him.

"Qi Mu from Class B, first year, you may think you've done something flawlessly, but actually I've been observing the actions of each class. I noticed your out-of-place behavior. You're quite special, Qi Mu!"

Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses and his gaze fell on Saiki Kusuo.

'ah? ’

Kusuo Saiki was stunned, a hint of panic showing in his eyes.

Because the playground was large and there were many people, Kusuo Saiki was unable to accurately hear the thoughts of everyone around him, and therefore did not notice that Manabu Horikita had been observing him.

'Could it be... that my previous use of my ability was discovered?'

"Your expression has changed subtly. It seems I was right. I saw your every move during the previous pole vaulting competition and tug-of-war. I know what you did. You were manipulating the competition the whole time."

'Oh no...'

Kusuo Saiki's expression turned slightly serious. If his identity as a psychic were discovered, all sorts of trouble would come crashing down on him. And in the current situation, even using the memory eraser wouldn't help.

'What should I do...? Could it be...?'

"During the cue ball competition, you saw through everyone else's tactics, which allowed you to find an easily overlooked position in the incredibly chaotic course and ultimately score. In other people's eyes, you were just lucky to be there—but I know that it was all done on purpose."

Huh?

Kusuo Saiki was momentarily stunned, unable to immediately grasp Horikita Manabu's words—but he quickly realized that Horikita Manabu had a huge misunderstanding about him.

"Wait, wait, wait, this is just a coincidence! Are you out of your mind, like Ayanokouji?"

"During the tug-of-war, your red team was clearly at a huge disadvantage, but suddenly you reversed the situation. I've been watching you the whole time. You didn't even exert any force at the beginning, did you? At the start of a tug-of-war, the person exerting force would never be as expressionless as you. You deliberately wanted to create the illusion that the white team might win, to wear them down. But they were smart enough to realize this and simply chose to abandon the tug-of-war to minimize their losses..."

“…”

Every word Horikita Manabu uttered was completely unexpected by Saiki Kusuo; he never imagined the other would say such a thing.

"It's just a coincidence."

"I knew you would say that."

Horikita Manabu's lips curled up slightly.

"You guys were initially assigned to Class D, but you rose from Class D to Class B within six months. This is something that has never happened in the school before. I've always been very interested in your class. After seeing you at the sports festival, I pretty much guessed why. It must be your doing. So, the person who anonymously sent me the recorded email earlier was probably you."

'They started by saying nonsensical things, but somehow ended up guessing correctly by accident?'

Kusuo Saiki pursed his lips, about to continue denying the other party, but after thinking for a moment, his thoughts changed slightly.

'Wait, if we forcefully deny it, then things like the tug-of-war and pole-slamming competitions become even harder to explain... That would actually increase the risk of my superpowered identity being exposed... For now, going along with this guy's wild ideas might be a better way to hide me...'

Kusuo Saiki pondered for a moment, then asked,

"What do you want to do?"

These words seemed to be an implicit acknowledgment.

This is somewhat similar to my previous conversation with Kiyotaka Ayanokouji. Although it has caused me a lot of trouble, I don't have a better way to solve this problem in the short term.

"Nothing much, I'm just curious about you. Let's discuss other things after this match."

The conversation between the two lasted only a few seconds before the fifth runners arrived one after another at the baton exchange area.

'Oh dear, this is really troublesome...'

Kusuo Saiki felt a headache coming on; the conversation had just finished and he was feeling a bit flustered, so he could only focus his attention on the next runner.

'Has he dropped to sixth place now? Did Kushida deliberately slow down at the end? It's a bit lower than expected, and the gap between him and the people ahead of him has widened slightly. I wonder how fast Horikita runs; wearing glasses, he doesn't seem to run very fast. Hopefully, he'll stick to the plan and maintain fourth place in the end.'

As Kusuo Saiki thought to himself, he pretended to take a running start, while at the same time, Manabu Horikita had already received the baton and sprinted forward—

A second later, Kusuo Saiki successfully received the baton from Kikyo Kushida and ran forward.

Almost instantly, Kusuo Saiki caught up with the person in front of him at a speed similar to that of Manabu Horikita.

Chapter 99: The Sports Festival Ends, New Turmoil Emerges

Fourth place, fourth place.

With that thought in mind, Kusuo Saiki overtook two people and moved into fourth place.

However, he quickly realized that something was wrong.