COTE : Backed By Black Technology System

"A suggestion?" 

Nagumo was intrigued. 

"That's right. Since Nagumo-senpai is so eager to play against a first-year, how could we refuse?" 

A smirk appeared on Kanda Shuichi's face. 

"How about this? We send one person to go up against you. How does that sound?" 

"I don't just play with any random nobody, you know." 

Nagumo clearly wasn't interested in wasting his time on just anyone. 

The only person he wanted to crush was Kanda Shuichi. 

In reality, they didn't have any personal grudges. 

That kick earlier was just a way to get his attention—he wanted to see for himself what kind of guy could earn fifty million points from a single exam. 

But then that same guy went and smashed a volleyball straight at his face. 

That ticked him off a little. 

"Then how about this? I'll put up one million private points. If you win, I'll hand over the million points to you, Nagumo-senpai. But if you lose, you'll have to pay me one million points instead." 

Seeing that Nagumo wasn't interested, Kanda Shuichi immediately used his financial power to lure him in. 

Nagumo narrowed his eyes at Kanda Shuichi's confident expression and began scanning the people around him. 

Ike, Yamauchi, Ayanokouji—three weaklings. 

Then he looked at Kanzaki Ryuji and Shibata—not bad, but nothing special. 

Finally, he landed on Sudou. 

This guy was a bit of a problem, but not enough to make him worried. 

Nagumo was absolutely confident in his own skills. 

"Alright, how about this? We play a best-of-three one-on-one match. One million points per round, and we have to play all three rounds no matter what. What do you think, Kanda-kun?" 

Before Kanda Shuichi could respond, two voices suddenly spoke up. 

"This sounds fun. We'd love to join in." 

Looking over, he saw Ryuen's group walking toward them.

When Nagumo saw the towering black man standing next to Ryuen, his eyebrow twitched slightly. 

"Yo, Kanda, long time no see." 

"I thought you'd be too ashamed to show your face after losing twenty million points, but here you are at the pool. Looks like you know how to enjoy yourself after all." 

Kanda Shuichi didn't hold back with his words, but Ryuen didn't mind the teasing. 

"Doesn't matter. I'll win it all back with interest. Hope you won't cry when that happens." Ryuen, dressed in a floral shirt and sunglasses, smirked provocatively. 

"I'll be looking forward to that day." 

Their casual conversation completely ignored Nagumo, which clearly annoyed him. 

Ever since he was a kid, Nagumo had always been number one, whether it was in academics or sports. Even now, he had no doubts about his abilities. 

Yet today, he was being ignored by two underclassmen. No way he was going to let that slide. 

"Hey, hey, hey, do first-years these days not know basic manners? Just chatting away like I'm not even here?" 

Nagumo's words made Kanda Shuichi shift his gaze toward him. 

"So, Nagumo-senpai, are you that eager to lose money to me?" 

"Oh? Just because you snatched a few million points in an exam, you think you're hot stuff?" Nagumo chuckled instead of getting angry. 

"Let's not waste time. Say yes or no. Three rounds, one-on-one, one million private points per round." 

If this guy was so eager to dig his own grave, Kanda Shuichi didn't mind teaching him a lesson. He was also curious to see what a second-year was really capable of. 

"Nagumo-senpai, you can pick any three people from the second-years. We'll do the same from the first-years. Ryuen, you good with that?" 

"Who do you think you're talking to? Albert." 

At Ryuen's command, Yamada Albert stepped forward. 

Standing at 190 cm with thick, bulging muscles stretching his shirt tight, Albert exuded sheer dominance just by standing there. 

"Kanda-kun, one guy alone won't be enough to take points from me. Where are the other two?" 

Kanda Shuichi smirked and glanced toward the northwest, then called out in a loud voice. 

"Koenji, how about a quick million-point deal? If we win, you keep the earnings. If we lose, I'll cover it." 

That's right. The reason Kanda Shuichi dared to propose a million-point match was because he had just spotted Koenji nearby. 

He didn't mind losing a million points, but he also didn't want to embarrass himself in public. If he wasn't at least 80% confident, he wouldn't have made the bet. 

"You're mistaken, frail boy. The word 'lose' does not exist in my dictionary." 

Koenji's arrogant voice came from the distance. The surrounding crowd instinctively stepped aside, clearing a path for him. He was lounging under a parasol, sipping a cool drink. 

His long, golden hair, well-toned muscles, and ridiculously flashy triangle swimsuit made him stand out even more. 

The moment Nagumo saw Koenji, his eyebrow twitched again. Another pain in the ass. 

"Sudou, you're up for the third match. What do you say?" 

"Huh? Me?" 

Sudou froze for a moment. He was confident in his athletic skills, but a million points per match was no joke. Hearing his name called made him nervous. 

"Yeah, don't worry about it. It's just a million points. No big deal," Kanda Shuichi said generously. 

Leaving aside Kanda Shuichi's confidence, just seeing the three people on his team was enough to make Nagumo hesitate. 

Nagumo never doubted his own abilities, but he could also recognize strong opponents when he saw them. None of these three were easy to deal with. 

Still, since he was the one who started this, there was no way he could back down now.

Water volleyball isn't just about being physically strong—it takes more than that to win. 

"Alright then, let's get started. I'll choose an irregular match—one-on-one, five balls each, first to five wins." Nagumo glanced at the first-years with a mocking look. "Oh, do you need time to warm up?" 

"No need. I just swam a few laps in the pool. Let's hurry up and end this boring match." 

The first one to step up for the first-years was Koenji Rokusuke. As soon as he finished speaking, he jumped straight into the pool. 

Seeing Koenji enter, the second-years who were in the pool also started stepping out one by one. 

"Kiriyama, you're up first." 

"No problem." 

Nagumo's pick was a man with a serious expression. But this guy was actually wearing glasses at the pool, and on top of that, his opponent was Koenji. Kanda Shuichi couldn't even imagine how this guy was going to win. 

While Koenji's match was starting, Sudou and Yamada Albert were doing warm-ups. Since there were a million private points on the line, they were taking this very seriously. 

As the boys' water volleyball matches got intense, where was Horikita? 

The answer: in the girls' locker room. 

Kamuro had just finished up and left when Horikita stepped in. That's when she immediately spotted a remote-controlled car placed in plain sight. 

Being in on the plan, she knew exactly what this was—something Ike had prepared to spy on the girls' locker room. 

But why was it out in the open like this? Had someone found it? 

Who? 

And why would they take it out and put it somewhere so obvious? 

Either way, she had to hide it. There was no way she could let it be discovered. 

Horikita quickly stuffed the remote-controlled car into her bag and let out a small sigh of relief. Then, she left the locker room and headed to the pool to find Ayanokouji and Kanda Shuichi. 

At this point, the only option left was to tell Kanda Shuichi everything. 

If the school found out, Ike and Yamauchi getting expelled would be the least of their problems. Losing all their class points wouldn't even be the biggest issue. The real problem was the damage it would do to the class's morale. 

If this incident got out, Class D, which had finally started to pull itself together this semester, might never recover from the blow. 

Horikita Suzune wasn't going to let that happen. 

Carrying that heavy thought, she finally found Kanda Shuichi and Ayanokouji—only to see that they were watching a water volleyball match. 

On the court, one of the players was Sudou Ken, their classmate. His opponent was a blond guy Horikita didn't recognize. 

The two were locked in a fierce battle, hitting the ball back and forth. 

Just as Horikita got closer, Sudou suddenly leaped out of the water and smashed the ball down with full force. 

"Take this!" 

A splash of water shot up as Sudou scored the winning point. 

"That was awesome!" 

"Nice one, Ken!" 

Ike and Yamauchi cheered loudly from the sidelines, acting like they were the ones in the spotlight. 

"Nagumo-senpai, the three matches are over. You're not planning to go back on your word, are you?" 

As soon as the match ended, Kanda Shuichi crouched by the poolside and looked at Nagumo, who had just lost to Sudou. 

Nagumo had thought that even if they lost the first two matches, it wouldn't matter as long as he won the final one. That way, even in defeat, people would just blame his team for being weak. 

But Sudou was way stronger than he expected. Nagumo had only managed to score two points against him. That monstrous stamina and explosive power were on a completely different level.

Nagumo thought that if he hadn't taken advantage of his opponent's unfamiliarity with water volleyball to score two points, he might not have gotten any at all. 

"Don't worry, it's just three hundred thousand points. I'm not the kind of person who'd go back on my word." Nagumo smiled and then called out to a girl nearby. "Nazuna, bring me my phone." 

After that, Nagumo climbed up the ladder from the pool and stepped onto the deck. 

"Looks like this year's first-years are really something. Not only do you have brainy types like you, but also some crazy athletes. That makes me really happy." 

Nagumo didn't seem the least bit upset about losing the three hundred thousand points or the match. Instead, he looked cheerful and excited. 

At first, he thought he'd be bored in his third year after Horikita Manabu graduated, but now it seemed that might not be the case. 

The first-years had given him a surprise right from the start. How could he not be excited? 

Losing a private match like this didn't bother him at all. 

"Here you go, Nagumo." 

The girl called Nazuna had long orange hair and wore a sunflower hairpin. Her figure wasn't as exaggerated as Kushida's or Ichinose's, but she was still an outstanding beauty. 

Nagumo took his phone, while Kanda Shuichi pulled out his own from his sun-protective shirt. Since he hadn't planned on getting in the water, he had kept it with him the whole time. 

In no time, three hundred thousand private points were transferred from Nagumo's account. 

"Looking forward to seeing you again, Kanda." 

"We'll meet again." 

Kanda Shuichi smiled slightly at Nagumo's words. 

Then, he split the newly acquired three hundred thousand points between Ryuen, Sudou, and Koenji, who had already left. 

"That was a good workout. Let's grab something to eat," Nagumo said to his group before leaving. 

As Kanda Shuichi watched Nagumo walk away, he had to admit the guy was something else. If it were an average person, they'd probably be fuming after being humiliated like that. 

But Nagumo took it all in stride, completely unfazed. 

And he honored his bet without showing a hint of frustration from start to finish. 

"We're heading off too, Kanda." 

Ryuen, who had just received a hundred thousand points, was clearly in a good mood and even bothered to say goodbye. 

"Take care," Kanda Shuichi replied casually. 

That was when he noticed Kamuro, whom he had sent off earlier, had returned along with Horikita, who had slipped away at some point. 

When Kamuro caught Kanda Shuichi's gaze, she gave him a slight nod, signaling that the job was done. 

Meanwhile, Horikita Suzune approached him the moment she saw he was free. 

"Kanda, I need to talk to you. Can you come with me? You too, Ayanokouji." 

Her expression was serious, completely out of place in the lively poolside atmosphere. 

So, she figured it out? Nice work, Masumi! 

"Alright, I'll be right back." 

Since most of the people around were still focused on him, Kanda Shuichi spoke to the group before leaving. 

"Yeah, we were really pumped up watching the match, so we're going to play a bit too. Come find us by the pool later, Kanda-kun," Kushida said, nodding. 

As she moved, the motion sent ripples of white waves across the water. 

"Masumi, can you wait for me over there? I'll be back soon." 

"Sure. Want me to set up a beach chair for you?" Kamuro asked. 

"That would be great. Thanks."

After Kamuro and the others left, Horikita turned to Kanda. 

"What exactly is your relationship with Kamuro from Class A? Could she be a spy sent by them?" 

"We're just good friends. There's no rule saying people from different classes can't be friends, right?" Kanda Shuichi asked, puzzled. 

"Hmph, that girl is always following Sakayanagi from Class A around. I'm just worried you're falling for their honey trap." Horikita snorted and looked away. 

"A honey trap, huh? Well, I wouldn't mind if they put in more effort." 

Kanda Shuichi shrugged, clearly not taking Horikita's words seriously. 

"You—!" 

Horikita turned her head sharply to glare at Kanda Shuichi, her chest rising and falling with her breath—quite a sight to behold. 

What, are you planning to use a honey trap on me too? 

To be honest, Horikita looked pretty good in that white bikini. 

"Follow me!" 

Leaving that one sentence behind, Horikita walked toward a quieter area. 

Kanda Shuichi glanced at Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, and the two of them shrugged at the same time, exchanged a look, and then followed along. 

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