Gifted Academy: The Perfect Student

"Are you sure this is okay? Being in your room and all...?"

"It's fine. My roommate's going to be out for a while."

Harumi hesitantly made her way inside. Looking around the room, she tiptoed to the wall. Leaning up against it, she looked up at me.

"So... what did you need from me?"

"It's pretty simple. I want you to become friends with Ichikawa Mana."

"Eh...? What exactly do you mean?"

"It's what I said, get close to Ichikawa. That's it."

Harumi looked at me in confusion.

I took a seat on my bed.

"You can leave now."

***

◤━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◥

[Fukuda Yogi POV]

"Kanako, this is the plan."

Sitting covertly at the edge of the library, Kanako and I discussed our plan for the upcoming marathon event.

Several days prior, we began making preparations. After spending some points, I transferred myself to Class 2-A and Kanako to Class 2-B. Ultimately, the idea is to weaken class 2-A and solidify Kanako's position in it. For that reason, I'm delaying her transfer to Class A.

Under the orders of her father, my job is to ensure that Kanako stays in the school, even if I need to sacrifice myself.

I had expected her to be more proactive, but it seemed that she was focused on something else. I was going to explain the plan to her, but she was staring out the window with a weird smile on her face.

"...ah! I can't believe I said that to him... eeh, it was so embarrassing~"

She covered her face, rubbing her cheeks with her sleeve.

"Um, Kanako, can I explain the p—"

"Oh, Fukuda, of course, go ahead."

"Y-yeah, so basically..."

This was the plan.

After being in class A for a few days, I've noticed some things. First of all, it was a good idea to keep Kanako in class B for the time being. There are lots of unpredictable variables in class A, with no cohesion at all. Everyone was basically fighting each other. It was likely due to the fact that there was no 'common' enemy or goal. Unlike all of the other classes, class A was at the top. There was nowhere else to go.

With constant infighting, it'd be very hard to keep Kanako safe. My strategy was to let the class self-destruct during the midterm exams. After some students get expelled or dropped to lower classes, the class as a whole will become significantly more docile.

Not only that, I noticed that there is quite a sense of superiority amongst many of the members of the class. I was treated extremely harshly when I first joined, and I still have yet to gain their respect and trust... well, not that I wanted it, in particular, but I need them to accept Kanako when she transfers in.

The best way would be to bring her in during the middle of a crisis. If everyone were busy worrying about other issues, kanako would be able to slide in nonchalantly.

As such, the plan was to bring down class A during this cross-country event.

I'd managed to form some relationships with a few members of class A, and together, I hatched a plan to send chaos through it.

The first part was to make class A come last during the cross country.

Whilst there were very large rewards for the fastest students, there were some pretty severe consequences for the lower-scoring ones.

For the last six students, they would each lose 25 class score.

If I could fill all those spots with class A students, then we would be able to lose 150 class score. Even if our average running ability is relatively high, the negative points would be more than enough to make up for it.

In the last few days, I managed to buy cooperation from a few students; Kimura, Watanabe and Yamamoto. However, I have gotten some verbal confirmation from Tachibana saying that she is willing to cooperate. Apparently, she was also planning on kicking out some students from class A. I would need her cooperation if this plan were to succeed, so I might need to bribe her in some way.

With that, hopefully, I'd be able to succeed in the first step of my plan. I still had a few more days on my hands after all.

After that would come stage two, which would occur during the midterms. If the first of my plan were successful, we would have a more difficult exam. During this stage, I would try to sabotage the class as much as possible. Eventually, many of the students might get expelled for failing the exams.

However, the second step of my plan would require external aid. I'd need the support of someone more personable and liked within the class. I had still yet to find a person who fits that description and who also wished to aid me, but I had plenty of time and points to do so.

In the end, this school was a meritocracy. If there were students who strived to reach the top no matter what, I might be able to work with them.

After all, my existence here is only temporary. There will no doubt come a day when I'd need to sacrifice myself for Kanako. The only question is when.

***

"I get what you're saying, Fukuda, but I'm worried that I'll get expelled for failing an exam."

"That is certainly an issue. That's why I'm going to try to get Class B to the top of the marathon event."

"Well, I'll start studying now, just in case."

"That is a good idea. Do you need someone to help tutor you?"

She leaned back on her chair.

"Ah, well... I think I've had enough of being tutored for the time being."

"That's fine. If desperate measures are needed, I'll fulfil them."

"Okay~"

I made my way out of the library.

After this whole schism, will Kanako's father finally recognise me? All I've wanted my entire life is his approval.

Because once I get it...