Part 3
“Good morning Horikita-san. Do you have a moment?”
During the break after first period, Y?suke went and paid a visit to Horikita at her seat.
For whatever reason, I decided to watch over them from my own seat.
“I went around talking to a bunch of people yesterday, but it’s proving difficult to get anybody to cooperate. A couple people told me they’d be willing to pair up, but…”
Despite being fellow comrades of the soccer club, the recruitment process didn’t seem to be progressing very smoothly. After all, getting the first-year students who had only just joined the club to completely open up to him would be difficult, even for somebody like Y?suke.
“They asked you for points, didn’t they?”
Upon seeing Y?suke nod in response, Horikita continued.
“They’ve got the opportunity to sell themselves at a high price. It’s not surprising.”
Private point buyout tactics had spread throughout the entirety of the first year, just as I had imagined.
“I was told that Class 2-A reached out to them, asking them to pair up, but then Class 2-C went and offered points for the same thing. It’s not just the guys I talked to either. Class C has tried to poach nearly everybody that Class A has reached out to as well.”
“It’s only natural since the smart students are so hotly contested.”
Deep down, Horikita had already predicted this.
However, what Y?suke said next was a little bit different.
“Though, it seems that they’ve even reached out to some students with C or D ratings. I’ve even heard stories that they were willing to pay large sums of points for them as well.”
“So you’re saying that they aren’t necessarily prioritising the academically stronger students?”
“As far as I can tell, at least.”
“Alright. If you can remember anybody’s name in specific, could you perhaps share them with me?”
“Of course.”
Y?suke listed off the names of the first-year students that he knew Class A had given offers to. Horikita then looked each of those names up in the app and quickly understood what was happening.
Even though those who had been approached had low Academic Ability ratings, they each had something exceptional about them outside of that. They were valued for their excellent Physical Ability, Adaptability, or Social Contribution ratings instead.
“I see… As expected, I should say.”
“Instead of getting caught up on the short-run, they’re probably thinking about the long-run.”
This wouldn’t necessarily be the only exam where we’d have to cooperate with the first-year students. That being the case, non-academic skills would naturally become essential. The thought process is that, by providing a lifeline to the students who are academically insecure now, they would be helpful in their own field of expertise later on down the line. It was a decent plan.
Setting that aside, the interesting thing about this was that Ry?en’s class was doing it as well.
Instead of just aiming for the students with high Academic Ability ratings, they were closely following in Sakayanagi’s footsteps.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login