Classroom of the Elite: Free Will

V5: Chapter 2 - Goals

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka POV

We began making comprehensive preparations for the sports festival, which was only one month away. The teachers said we could use the weekly two-hour homeroom period as wished. Horikita and Hirata took the initiative standing up and walking towards the podium while Chabashira-sensei moved toward the back of the classroom without uttering a word, probably intending to watch.

"Before we start practicing, we need to decide the order we'll participate in, and who will enter the recommended-participant competitions. Horikita-san and I have been talking about this," Hirata declared while Horikita took a piece of chalk and wrote something on the blackboard.

She put two headings on the board, "Raising Hands," and "Ability."

"These are the two main approaches we defined. The 'raising-hands' system lets people nominate themselves to participate in competitions. The 'ability' system identifies everyone's individual talents and seeks to assign them to maximize efficiency. Both approaches have their pros and cons, of course. The strength of the raising-hands system is, naturally, that everyone gets to voice their wishes. The downside is that, if people's choices contradict each other not everyone is going to get what they want. The strength of the ability system is that we can expect a higher chance of victory than we would with the raising-hands system. However, because the ability system favours the most athletic people in the class, it reduces the other students' chances of winning at something. That's the gist of what we've come up with so far, but if you happen to have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them," Hirata finished his explanation.

Even the least intelligent students could understand each system's pros and cons. Almost everyone would go along with this proposal since it was the only one.

"We should obviously decide based on ability, shouldn't we? I mean, the only one who knows a person is himself, right?" Sudou said. "I also think I should be in all recommended competitions. If I win, then it's more likely our class wins. That puts us way ahead."

Sudou's athletic ability would be paramount to the class during the sports festival.

"Well, it makes me kinda mad, but I suppose you're right," Azuma muttered.

The boys also mumbled agreeing with Sudou.

"I'm really not that great at sports. If Sudou's okay handling the recommended-participant events single-handedly, I'm fine with that," Kikuchi affirmed.

"Then it's decided, right? I'll do all the events for recommended participants," Sudou declared.

"And what about what Tomori-san mentioned the other day?" Karuizawa spoke. "Are we going to make the participation table alongside Class A or not?"

Our classmates who had no idea of Nao's proposition began mumbling amongst each other. Horikita quickly silenced them by slamming her hand against the podium.

"I have a meeting with Sakayanagi-san this afternoon," Horikita replied. "I cannot guarantee our cooperation though. During our last conversation, Tomori-san inferred that Class A would only work with us if we aligned the strongest, fastest students together to maximize our chances of winning."

"What would happen with the slower people then?" Shinohara inquired. "No one wants to throw away their shot."

Several voices agreed with Shinohara.

"And how that's supposed to maximize our chances of winning? Wouldn't we be competing against the best of Class A on the same events?" Yukimura questioned.

"I will discuss the specifics with Sakayanagi-san, but the main idea would be for our two classes to monopolise the top spots to secure the first two places of our year," Horikita answered. "I understand that everyone wants to have an opportunity but it's for the sake of the class. The special exams gave us momentum, we cannot allow ourselves to relax. If we do this right we could inflict an important blow on the White Team."