Cote: Elite in Action

—Which events would be most advantageous for us? Honami asked beside me.

—All of those that are academically focused; after all, our class is the best at that, right? I replied.

—And what about physical events? Do we have any standout students in sports?

—That's true, we could propose soccer, the 100-meter sprint, or women's volleyball. If we focus on those, I seriously doubt we'll lose.

—But we also need to consider which class we would face. Which one do you think would be the most challenging?

—Academically, Class B is the toughest. As for physical performance, both Class C and Class D have some good students. I'd need to analyze it a bit more.

—Horikita-san's class has very strong students physically, like Sudou-kun, Koenji-kun, Ayanokouji-kun, Hirata-kun, and of course, Horikita-san herself. Though I would rule out Ayanokouji-kun since he must be the commander after earning the protection point.

—Correct. In Ryuuen's class, there are Ichizaki, Ibuki, Kinoshita, Albert, and other boys who play basketball, though I can't recall their names. If we analyze it, I'd say Class D is superior to C in terms of physical performance. Of course, excluding Koenji, I doubt that guy will participate in anything.

Honami and I kept discussing which events we could select to maximize our chances of winning. I was confident that our class would win most of the competitions, whether academic or physical. However, my ambition went further: I wanted to win every possible event. That's why I had already started preparing my classmates for this special exam; everyone was studying and training more intensely.

In the end, Honami and I agreed that our main rival would be Class B, the closest to us. Even though the gap between both classes is considerable, I didn't want that gap to shrink, so facing them would be my best option.

—Of course, we'd need some luck, since the matchups will be decided at random. Though there's a chance to arrange a duel between both classes, it would require the other classes to agree — I said, sighing at the tediousness of the situation. — Let's leave it to chance; let destiny choose our rival.

...

After several days of planning, Honami and I had designed the 10 required events: five official and five to confuse the rest. The selected events were as follows:

Official events

Event: Women's Volleyball

Rules:

Best of three sets: Each set is played to 15 points.

Quick tiebreaker: If there's a third set, it's played to 10 points.

No extended timeouts: Each team gets one 30-second timeout per set.

Direct point: In case of a foul, the point goes directly to the opposing team.

Members:

6 active players on the court.

2 substitutes (can be swapped once per set).

Event: Men's Soccer

Rules:

40-minute match: Two 20-minute halves, with a 5-minute break between them.

No ties: If the score is tied at the end of regular time, the match will be decided by a 5-penalty shootout per team.

No extra time: Only the 40 minutes of regular play and, if necessary, the penalty shootout.

Members:

11 players per team, including the goalkeeper.

5 substitutes, with a maximum of 3 substitutions allowed during the match.