After the chance encounter with Qian Hua, whose name meant Thousand Flowers, I suddenly received a ding notification from my phone. I immediately pulled it open to see a message from Feng Mian.


    [Long Lu wants the whole ss to meet up right now, should we go?]??


    After some hesitation and thought, I quickly typed a reply.


    [Sure. Send me the time and ce.]


    *****


    Several minutester, I found myself sitting inside arge and luxurious private room within a restaurant. Around the massive table in the middle was exactly 25 seats, but only half of them had been filled.


    "I don''t care how you do it, just make theme!" Long Lu shouted into his phone then furiously tapped on the screen to hung up. "God… I can''t with this useless ss…"


    "Calm down," I said, unfazed. "It doesn''t matter if they don''t cooperate with us today. Sooner orter, they''lle crawling to us."


    "What? How can you be so sure?"


    "It''s simple. I''ve already formed an alliance with ss A, and the other two sses aren''t stupid either. Most likely, they''ve formed a partnership as well. Our ssmates will have no choice but to follow our ideas if they want to stay in the school."


    "I see… that makes sense, but how did you form an alliance with them…?"


    "We are to help them take 1st ce in this first special exam, purposely letting them win all the matches."


    At this, the girls and Long Lu both widened their eyes in shock.


    "P-Purposely lose all of our matches? Won''t that ce us inst…?"


    I sighed. "Don''t you see yet? The year has just begun. At this time, 1st ce is nothing but a bait, a position that will make the other sses target you. Why would we want that?"


    "But shouldn''t we go for 2nd or 3rd then, if that''s the case?" Feng Mian asked, confused.


    "No. The teams in 2nd and 3rd — in other words, ss B and C — will be allied. This makes it perfect for them to join hands once more and take down ss A together. The three sses will sh, causing them to develop hatred and resentment towards one another. The deeper their emotions conflict, the better for us — this way, we can just reap the benefits while they fight."


    "But… we need to end up first sometime eventually, right?" Yu An Yan murmured. "I mean, if we don''t, we''ll just stayst all the way until the end of the school year…"


    "No," I replied. "In the special exams toe, we should aim for third or even second, but never first. This way, we can steadily close the gap between us and the other sses, so that by the end of the year, the difference between us and the higher sses are minimal, despite us still being inst. That way… when the final exam rolls around… we can catch them all by surprise."


    "There is no guarantee this strategy will work, though…" Lin Luo sighed. "Then again, with how irresponsible our ssmates are being, this is the only method we can use, I suppose. Aiming for 1st in a special exam with how we are right now is nothing but a lost cause. We can only hope that by the end of the year, our ss will mature up."


    "They will," I dered. "Us being inst ce means less resources for us. Eventually, they will be fed up with jealousy and the condescending attitudes from those ced in higher sses, and want to fight back. There is no stronger motivation than revenge."


    <em>I know that all too well.</em>


    Of course, this wasn''t the true reason I was suggesting this strategy. What Qian Hua said earlier was in fact a hint:


    "You don''t have to win everything."


    The only exnation for this was that even if we don''t get first ce in many exams, there is still a chance toe back in the end. I doubted that''s how she herself did it, being the Child of the Future and all, but her saying this definitely meant something.


    As for how the exams really work… I can''t be too sure as of right now, but I had a feeling the final exam of the year will provide bonus ss points — enough to let the ss inst turn the tables and be first. The only problem was the 300 point gap… but if my n goes well and the four sses'' points stay rtively close by the end of the year, I should be able to aplish it.


    "I… I don''t really get it, but you seem to know what you''re talking about, so…" Long Lu trailed off. I ced a hand on his shoulder and shook it firmly.


    "Can''t have you with an attitude like that. You see, I''m not the best at rallying people together. You, however, are. So on the surface, you''ll be the leader of our ss, the one who nned all of this. I will just be a normal student, nothing more. So shake off that half-assed attitude… and be more confident in yourself. Otherwise, this won''t work."


    "… Yeah. I got it. I just have to y leader, right? You bet. My favorite job is telling other people what to do."


    "d to hear it. Now then… are we going to eat, or what?" I raised an eyebrow. "We''re here already. Might as well."


    "Yay! Food!" Qing Yue cheered, clearly tired of all the serious talk.


    "Fwah..." Amane, on the other hand, was already drooling from smelling the airing from the outside. I had to admit, it did smell good.


    We all ordered whatever we wanted after that and ate like kings and queens. The restaurant was truly high-ss. Perhaps if Long Lu told everyone in the ss he was going to be treating them to eat here… they would''ve came. Too bad, I suppose.


    In any case, he did indeed pay for the meal. It couldn''t have been cheap, but he waved it off like it was nothing. Poverty didn''t exist in Fragment, after all. In this ce, everyone was rich — to the point where it wasn''t even considered rich anymore.


    After lunch, the girls decided to explore the Recreation Campus a bit more, while I sent Ming Hao a message to meet up to inform him of what I want to do for this uing exam on Monday.


    *****


    - About Fifteen Minutes Later -


    In the same ce we had met up this morning, Ming Hao and I now stood once again, facing one another.


    "Long time no see!" He joked, a bright smile on his face.


    "You responded quite… quickly," I replied, as nonchnt as ever.


    "Yeah, well, it''s not like I''m particrly busy today. The school year''s just started — we should take advantage of this stress-free time while we can."


    "I suppose that''s fair."


    "Did you get the list of profiles I sent you for everyone in my ss?" He asked.


    I nodded. "Sure, but I didn''t bother reading them. They''re not important anyway."


    "Oh? Sounds like you have a good idea on what to do for this exam."


    "Mhm. All you have to do is pair your weakest ss members with twelve people from our ss — we''ll lost on purpose. But are the rest in your ss all strong?"


    "Hm… in all honesty, there''s only about ten people in my ss I''m particrly worried about. The rest are all extremely strong, almost at my level. Oh, by the way, I''m ate-stage Advanced Mage now, heh."


    I just smirked, unable to tell him I was in fact an Ancestral Mage already. Didn''t want to ruin his moment there.


    "Even better," I replied. "You see, my ss is somewhat… disoriented. I can control 12 of our members, but the rest I can''t. Though from what I can see… they aren''t all too strong."


    "Ha! It''s fine, it''s fine. I did a bit of research into your ss — most of your ssmates I recognize, and I''m confident my ssmates can beat them. The only troublesome ones are your harem and you, of course."


    <em>Harem… hah.</em>


    He then leaned in closer and whispered, despite there being no one else around.


    "I see you got some new members in there since thest time I checked as well… nine girls? Seriously? How can you handle them at night?"


    I pushed him away and scoffed. "Secret strategies I can''t share."


    "Come on, man! I want a harem too!" Heined. "This isn''t fair…"


    "A lot of things in life aren''t fair, buddy," I replied with a chuckle. "But if it''s a harem you want… actually, yeah, no, I don''t have any advice. Actually, why are you even looking for a harem? That''s just unloyal."


    "HAH!" He nearly doubled over fromughter. "YOU''RE ONE TO TALK!"


    "W-Well, I didn''t exactly go searching for one… anyway," I shook my head, bringing the conversation back on course as Ming Hao continued to giggle. "Do you know how the teams are decided?"


    "I''m pretty sure it has something to do with ss leaders, from what I''ve heard from upperssmen… but you know, we haven''t even chosen our leader yet. We did hold a discussion about it though, and everyone said they would choose me, which is good for our alliance."


    "Did you tell them about this alliance already?"


    "Of course. And they agreed."


    "Even to bing first right at the beginning of the school year?"


    "Yep. My ss, they''re a confident bunch. Said you''d be doing us a favor, and they can take on ss B and C no problem."


    I snorted. "Well, d to have such a… reliable ally, at least. I can probably be the ss leader of my ss as well — or rather, nominate someone else to be it. We''ll talk again."


    Ming Hao nodded and prepared to head out. "See ya."


    Just like that, our deal was formed, and the first special exam of the school year was right around the corner.