'Hey, hey, whatever you want to do has nothing to do with me. Can you not drag me into this?'
Saiki thought to himself.
Every time he said or did something, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka would come up with a bunch of inexplicable theories about him.
Even though Saiki had previously hinted to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka that Chabashira Sae was someone who liked to bluff, Ayanokoji still seemed determined to aim for Class A.
"Ayanokoji, before we continue, I have something to ask you. Shouldn't you also desire a peaceful life? Why are you so focused on moving up to Class A?"
Saiki finally couldn't hold back and asked.
"It's because of some unavoidable reasons."
"Were you threatened by Chabashira-sensei?"
Saiki had to push the conversation forward himself.
[Saiki even noticed that? As expected of Saiki.]
'With telepathy and clairvoyance, it's hard not to know.'
[But he probably doesn't know about the White Room yet.]
'Are you talking about the White Gym? Or that White Cram School?'
[But since Saiki has already brought it up, it's okay to tell him part of the truth.]
"Yeah."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded.
"Chabashira-sensei did indeed use a certain condition to get me to help her move up to Class A. It involves my past."
"Whatever Chabashira-sensei says, there's a 90% chance she's just lying to you."
Saiki continued.
"Yeah, that's highly likely at the moment, but there's no concrete evidence yet. On the other hand..."
After saying this, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka paused, then continued,
"I've become a bit interested in the changes happening at this school. I want to know what will happen here in the future. Also, to prevent any unexpected events, I think it's best to cultivate a tool that's easy to control. That's why I want Horikita to grow, but this Sports Festival might end in a big defeat."
"Do whatever you want with that. Just don't drag me into it."
Saiki sighed as he spoke to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
"Yeah, I understand."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded.
[Saiki seems to have his own plans. I'll just observe for now.]
'Hey, hey, I just don't want to get involved...'
...
The next day, the class discussed the list of participants for the Sports Festival. The class was essentially divided into two factions.
One faction wanted everyone to have a chance, while the other, led by Sudou Ken, prioritized class performance.
Horikita Suzune was also a representative of this faction.
However, unlike Sudou Ken's simplistic proposal, Horikita Suzune had come up with more rules to accommodate students with weaker performance—students who placed in the top ranks could transfer their points or scores to lower-performing classmates if they had enough points.
Horikita Suzune also established some other rules that satisfied most of the class, and her proposal was ultimately approved.
[If it were me, I'd arrange for others to oppose Horikita's proposal. Even though it would probably pass in the end, it would at least make Horikita realize that things don't always go as she expects.]
[Karuizawa would be the most suitable candidate. She leads the largest group of girls in the class. If Karuizawa voiced opposition, many other girls would likely agree. But I'm not Saiki, so I can't fully control Karuizawa.]
[Kushida could also play a similar role, but as the traitor of Class B, she's not a suitable choice.]
Although Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had his own ideas, since Saiki seemed unwilling to get involved, he ultimately couldn't carry out his plan.
Saiki looked around. At this moment, there were still people in the class who didn't agree with the decision, but since the voting results were clear, they had no choice but to comply.
After finalizing the overall plan, the next step was to decide the participants for each event.
Sudou Ken, Horikita Suzune, and Hirata Yosuke, who had excellent physical abilities, volunteered for many events, but they only filled some of the slots. There were still many events with no participants.
"Hey, Koenji, aren't you going to help?"
Sudou glared at Koenji Rokusuke, who had been sitting to the side without participating in the discussion.
Although Sudou Ken disliked Koenji Rokusuke, he had to admit that Koenji had terrifying physical abilities.
During swimming class last semester, Koenji Rokusuke had beaten Sudou Ken.
If Koenji took this seriously, he could at least secure a high ranking in individual events.
"I'm not interested. You guys can do whatever you want."
Koenji Rokusuke responded indifferently, still fixing his hair and not even glancing at Sudou Ken.
"Stop joking around!"
Sudou Ken's anger was slowly rising.
"I'm not joking. I have no reason to be forced by you. Even if you had the authority to force me, I wouldn't listen to you."
Koenji Rokusuke maintained his arrogant smile.
"You..."
Sudou Ken's anger was reaching its peak, but remembering what had happened before, he forced himself to calm down.
"Then let's head to the gym for some physical tests. That way, we can assign events based on everyone's physical abilities. How about that?"
Feeling the tension, Hirata Yosuke stepped in to mediate, and the other students quickly agreed.
'Yare yare... There's even a physical test?!'
Saiki frowned. He had originally planned to just muddle through, but he hadn't expected this.
'No big deal. I'll just aim for a slightly below-average score, and everything should be fine.'
...
Soon, Class B arrived at the gym for the physical tests. Since the gym was open to everyone, there were quite a few people around, including students from other grades, making the place quite noisy.
The first test was grip strength. Hirata Yosuke and Horikita Suzune borrowed two grip strength meters and began testing everyone in order.
'Yare yare, grip strength first?'
Saiki observed the equipment around him, trying to guess what kind of tests would come next and how he should handle them.
'I should be toward the end of the line. I'll just aim for the average of the people ahead of me...'
Just thinking about it gave Saiki a headache.
"Saiki, you're up."
Before Saiki could react, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka handed him the grip strength meter.
"What? Why so soon? Shouldn't I be one of the last?"
Saiki's eyes showed a hint of confusion.
"Sudou said he wanted to go first to show off his 'leadership' strength, so the order was changed. He went first, I was second, and now it's your turn."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka explained.
"Alright..."
Saiki carefully took the grip strength meter. He had been lost in thought earlier and hadn't noticed the change in order.
'Damn it, I was supposed to be one of the last, but now I'm third?! Damn it, with only Sudou and Ayanokoji's results as reference, I'll have to adjust accordingly.'
As Saiki thought this, he immediately used his X-ray vision to look at the notebook in Hirata Yosuke's hand, which recorded the grip strength of the first two people.
Sudou Ken: 82.4
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka: 60.6
'What's the average grip strength for a high school student? I have no idea... If Ayanokoji got 60, then I'll aim for around 60 too.'
Saiki thought to himself as he carefully controlled his strength, slowly applying pressure.
For Saiki, this was the most difficult thing in life. He needed to maintain extreme focus.
"Hurry up, Saiki. What's taking so long?"
Sudou Ken, standing nearby, impatiently urged him.
'Don't rush me.'
Saiki felt a bit annoyed in his heart.
But this momentary distraction caused Saiki to lose control of his strength. The needle on the grip strength meter spun wildly like a mad dog—
'!!??'
At that moment, the lights in the gym flickered, but they returned to normal half a second later.
"Huh? What's going on? Is the school's power unstable?"
Everyone started murmuring in confusion, while Sudou Ken turned to look at the grip strength meter in Saiki's hand. The needle had stopped at 70.1.
'Yare yare, that was close...'
Saiki let out a mental sigh of relief, a slight smile forming on his lips.
Because of the momentary distraction, his grip strength had reached a truly explosive level.
To avoid causing panic, Saiki immediately used his psychic powers to make the gym lights flicker, diverting everyone's attention.
At the same time, Saiki continued to apply pressure, making the needle spin once before returning. However, since the time was too short, Saiki didn't have time to fine-tune the result, and it ended up stopping around 70.
'For a moment, the grip strength meter's casing was almost damaged. Thankfully, I used my restoration ability in time. Sudou got over 80, Ayanokoji got over 60, and I got over 70. Is that too high? But it should still be within an acceptable range, right? It's the average of their scores.'
Saiki thought to himself, then turned to look at Sudou Ken—
Only to be met with Sudou Ken's utterly shocked expression.
???
"Saiki... I didn't expect you to be so strong?"
"?"
"You look so skinny, but you're actually this strong?"
"??"
"I thought Ayanokoji was the dark horse, but I didn't expect you to be even better."
"???"
Saiki had a bad feeling.
Earlier, after Sudou Ken finished his test, he handed the grip strength meter to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, who was behind him.
But Ayanokoji Kiyotaka also didn't know the average grip strength of a high school student, so he asked Sudou Ken, who jokingly told him it was 60.
In reality, the average grip strength for high school students was only around 40.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's 60 had already surprised Sudou Ken, but he hadn't expected Saiki to score as high as 70.
"Saiki got 70?"
"That's amazing! Is it real?"
"It's hard to believe... He looks so skinny..."
The people around them started murmuring, while Saiki's face was full of dark lines.
'I messed up! I forgot that Ayanokoji's data was completely unreliable. Damn it!'
Saiki never dreamed that all his careful planning would be ruined by Sudou Ken's joke.
"The Professor, 42.6..."
"Miyamoto, 48..."
These numbers stabbed into Saiki's heart like knives. He felt as if the world had gone silent.
"Saiki-kun, you're really amazing."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka walked up to Saiki with an expressionless face, pretending to compliment him. To Saiki, it sounded more like sarcasm.
[Saiki showed off his grip strength on purpose? Is he trying to use this to gain more influence in the Sports Festival?]
'On purpose, my ass!'
Saiki's heart was filled with regret. He hadn't expected things to turn out this way, but there was no turning back now.
"I didn't expect Saiki to be second in the class, and Ayanokoji to be third..."
Sudou Ken shook his head in dissatisfaction, then continued,
"You two didn't sign up for any events earlier, right? You'll have to participate in the remaining events now, especially you, Saiki! How did you train? I never noticed..."
Ike Kanji, who had just finished his grip strength test with a pitiful score, looked at Saiki with envy.
[I really want to participate in these events! I can earn points and get the attention of the girls...]
'Then take my spot!'
Saiki screamed in his heart, but he knew it was impossible.
This Sports Festival was destined to be anything but easy for Saiki.