COTE : Backed By Black Technology System-Chapter 181 - : Ryuen’s Revenge**

Katsuragi was truly a master of defense. Under his command, Class B worked together flawlessly, making it impossible for Class D to break through and knock down their pole.

Defense couldn't hold forever, but in a short match like this, the defending team had the upper hand—especially when the only way to win was through brute force.

On Class D's side, the only real powerhouse was Sudou. Thanks to his tall frame and sheer strength, he was pulling students off the pole one after another.

But aside from him, only Miyake and Hirata were somewhat useful.

As for Ayanokouji, even though he had shown that he could grip with 60kg of force, he was just standing there, happily slacking off.

But Sudou's moment in the spotlight didn't last long before he was stopped.

A few students from Class B suddenly rushed at Sudou and tackled him to the ground, piling on top of him like a stack of dominoes.

"Damn it! How many of them just jumped me?!"

With three or four guys holding him down, even with all his strength, he couldn't break free.

The others were also quickly blocked by students, and the situation turned into a deadlock.

Meanwhile, on the other side, under Ryuen's command, the mixed-race student, Yamada Albert, charged straight at Class A's formation like a battering ram.

Unfortunately for Class A, they had no one strong enough to stop him. Standing nearly two meters tall with muscles bulging under his tracksuit, he didn't even look like a high schooler.

In front of Yamada Albert, they were nothing more than little chicks. He grabbed them one by one and tossed them aside with ease.

Even Shibata Sou, who was one of the fastest runners, was completely useless. The students guarding the pole were all thrown off one by one.

Besides, Ryuen's class had plenty of students skilled at fighting. The rules might not allow direct combat, but on a dusty field, sneaky moves were impossible to catch.

So, the more upright students from Class A didn't stand a chance. Soon, the red team's pole started tilting, and as expected, it fell.

The whistle blew, and the students from Class B got off Sudou.

Freed from his restraints, Sudou immediately lashed out at the Class D students.

"Damn it! What the hell are you guys doing?! You have to fight back with everything you've got!"

"I mean... those guys were crazy strong! Ugh... I got all scratched up."

"That's just a scratch! Bite them, knee them—do whatever it takes to fight back! Useless!"

"That's against the rules, isn't it? If we got caught, we'd lose right away."

"They already took down one of our poles. We have to focus on defense now."

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Hirata gently patted Sudou's shoulder to calm him down, then started helping put the fallen pole back up.

"Ugh... We absolutely have to hold our ground! You guys hear me?!"

"I-I got it! I'll do my best!"

"Not just your best! You have to hold out no matter what! Even if it takes one hour or two hours, you don't let go!"

For the sake of winning—for the chance to call Horikita by her first name—Sudou was ready to push Class D's students to their limit.

But Kanda Shuichi wasn't optimistic about this pole-toppling match, which relied heavily on brute strength. Class A's students were nimble, but they clearly lacked power.

Class D only had a few students who could put up a fight, while the other side—just Class C alone—had several strong contenders.

"And you two... Miyake, Ayanokouji, you're the second and third strongest in the class! Even if you die, don't let them take down the pole!"

"Yeah, yeah."

Miyake, who had the second-strongest grip strength after Sudou, nodded absentmindedly. His mind wasn't really on the conversation. Before the pole-toppling event started, Kanda Shuichi had told him that winning didn't matter—he just needed to keep an eye on any dirty tricks from Ryuen.

If he spotted anything, he was to report it immediately and give Ryuen a hard time.

Meanwhile, Ayanokouji was stuck holding up the pole alongside Sudou, looking completely miserable.

As for Kanda Shuichi, he stood at the very edge of the group, planning to sneak off to the sidelines as soon as the match began.

The moment the whistle blew, Kanda Shuichi started moving toward the edge of the field. But at the exact same time, Kaneda from Class C moved as well.

Kaneda Satoru—a strategist-type guy from Class C, supposedly pretty smart.

Now, Kanda Shuichi was stuck dealing with him.

"What are you doing? Ryuen is working so hard to dominate the competition, and you're just slacking off?"

Kaneda Satoru blocked his path completely, which irritated Kanda Shuichi. The guy was standing right in front of him, cutting off his view entirely.

"I'm more of a thinker, not a fighter. Ryuen's attacks don't need me," Kaneda adjusted his glasses with a sly smile.

"Then leave me alone. You're in my way."

"Sorry, but I can't do that. My job is to keep an eye on you, Kanda."

Kaneda had no intention of backing down. He didn't need to do anything aggressive—just standing there and blocking Kanda Shuichi's line of sight was enough.

In the previous round, Ryuen had noticed Kanda Shuichi acting suspiciously. To him, Kanda Shuichi was just as good at playing dirty tricks as he was.

So, to prevent any funny business, Ryuen had assigned Kaneda—who wasn't useful for the pole-toppling event anyway—to keep an eye on Kanda Shuichi.

Basically, Ryuen was worried that his own shady tactics would get exposed, so he sent Kaneda to distract Kanda Shuichi.

As long as he blocked Kanda Shuichi's vision, there was no way he could interfere in the match. With his weak physical abilities, he wouldn't be able to contribute in any other way.

In all honesty, Ryuen's move was spot on.

For someone like Kanda Shuichi, who had little physical strength, a power-based event like this was hopeless. The only way he could make an impact was by catching Class C breaking the rules—something both he and Ryuen knew very well.

The problem was... Kanda Shuichi had never planned to do that in the first place.

He had already decided not to take action during the sports festival, and he wasn't about to go back on his word. A promise was a promise.

But clearly, Ryuen was paranoid that Kanda Shuichi might pull something, or maybe he just wanted to beat him at his own game. Either way, he had sent Kaneda to mess with him.

And honestly, it was working.

Kaneda successfully blocked Kanda Shuichi from enjoying the show. Now he had nothing to watch and nothing he could do about it.

In the end, people just have to accept their own limitations.

Out of Kanda Shuichi's sight, Ryuen started making his move.

As soon as the match began, Class C repeatedly made borderline illegal elbow strikes. In no time, they pushed through to the final line of defense.

"Guh?!"

In the middle of the chaos, Sudou, who was holding onto the pole, let out a grunt. In front of him were Yamada Albert and Ryuen, with Ishizaki and Kondo nearby.

"Who was it?! Who punched me in the stomach?!"

Sudou shouted in anger, but the attacks on him didn't stop. Even so, he was too focused on holding onto the pole with both hands to fight back.

Bending his body like a turtle, he endured the hits with all his might, only letting out occasional roars to try and scare his opponents away.

But Ryuen wasn't the type to be scared. According to him, the word "fear" didn't even exist in his dictionary.

Still, he didn't waste too much time on Sudou, because over at their own pole, Class A was close to breaking through Katsuragi's defense.

So he put all his strength into a kick to Sudou's back, knocking him off balance and sending him crashing to the ground.

At the same time, the pole was pushed over by Ryuen's side, kicking up a cloud of dust. The match was decided.

Sudou lay on the ground, glaring furiously at the one who had kicked him—Ryuen.

"Haa... haa... You bastard... that was a foul!"

"Huh? Where were you? I didn't even notice."

Saying that, Ryuen walked away without a trace of guilt—no, with a smug grin on his face.

Sudou wanted to chase after him, but the pain in his back was so bad that he couldn't even stand up.

The pole-toppling match ended in defeat for the Class A and D alliance.

The Class B students returned, their expressions heavy.

"Sorry, Hirata."

Kanzaki Ryuji's face was grim.

"No, it's not your fault. I never expected Ryuen to be this bold, even with cameras everywhere." Hirata shook his head. It wasn't that their side wasn't strong enough—it was that their opponents were just too dirty.

The next event was tug-of-war, following the same rules as the pole-toppling match—best of three, with no need for a third round if one side won the first two.

Kanda Shuichi glanced up at the sun and sighed. It was already noon, yet they still weren't allowed to eat. Seriously?

Meanwhile, the first-year girls were competing in a ball toss.

It was a team event limited to girls, much more peaceful compared to the pole-toppling match. The goal was simply to throw as many small balls into a basket as possible.

Before long, the match ended, and the teachers acting as referees began tallying the scores.

"Fifty-eight in total, Red Team wins."

Hearing the referee's announcement, the boys immediately perked up a little.

"Yeah! Let's go...!"

"Is your back okay, Ken?"

"My body's twice as strong as the average person. Besides, even if it hurts, complaining won't fix anything."

Seeing how unconcerned Sudou was, Kanda Shuichi couldn't help but admire him. This guy really wanted to win.

Unfortunately, reality is harsh. No one can win all the time, not even Kanda Shuichi. Just now, he had been completely tied down by Kaneda and couldn't do anything.

The four classes gathered in the middle of the field, split into red and white teams, then spread out to their respective sides.

Shibata walked up to Hirata and spoke in an energetic voice. "Let's go all out with the plan we discussed, Hirata!"

Judging by his excitement, the previous loss didn't seem to have affected this Class A version of Ichinose at all.

"Yeah, I got it. Everyone, get into position."

Under Hirata's command, everyone took their places in the same formation they used during practice—shorter students in the front, taller ones in the back. It looked well-organized.

On the other side, the BC alliance was a mess. The students from Class C didn't seem motivated at all, lazily grabbing the rope without much effort.

Unlike the pole-toppling event, tug-of-war took place right in front of everyone, so even if Ryuen wanted to pull some tricks, there wasn't much he could do.

As soon as the starting signal went off, the AD alliance pulled with all their strength.

"One, two! One, two! One, two...!"

With their synchronized chanting, it took less than ten seconds for the AD alliance to win the first round.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! That was easy!"

"Yeah! Did you see that? Man, that was pathetic!"

Sudou roared at the students on the other side.

The students from Class B frowned at the result.

Meanwhile, Katsuragi walked straight up to Ryuen.

"Are you really planning to lose so badly just because you won't cooperate?"

"Oh wow, you're really serious about this, huh, Katsuragi?" Ryuen chuckled as he gave instructions to his class. "Hey, short guys to the front."

Then, the Class C students formed an odd formation—short students on both ends, with taller ones in the middle.

"Hey, are you guys giving up already? There's no way you can win with that setup," Sudou mocked Ryuen without holding back.

But Ryuen completely ignored him and simply grabbed the rope along with his classmates.

The break was over, and the second round of the tug-of-war match began.

Unlike the first round, this one dragged on for a long time. Just as the AD alliance sensed something was wrong and tried to pull harder, the rope suddenly became unbelievably light. The AD alliance students were caught off guard by the sudden loss of resistance and were immediately pulled backward by their own force, falling to the ground.

Led by Sudou, almost everyone had no idea what had just happened. They lay on the ground, furious.

Damn, Ryuen, you really had the guts to pull this off.

Kanda Shuichi crawled out from the pile of fallen students, placed a hand on Miyake's shoulder for support, and looked at Ryuen, who was smirking on the other side.

"What the hell are you doing, Ryuen?!"

Katsuragi also got up from the ground, his face dark. Class A clearly hadn't expected this either, so some of their students had fallen as well.

Before long, everyone's attention turned to the only team where not a single person had fallen—Ryuen's side.

"We stopped because we knew we couldn't win, so we decided to take a break," Ryuen said casually. Then he turned to the AD alliance. "It must feel great to win like this, huh? Watching you all collapse like that was pretty entertaining."

Even though they lost, Ryuen was grinning like he was having the time of his life.

"You bastard!"

Sudou, now back on his feet, saw Ryuen's smug smile, and his anger flared instantly. Without thinking, he charged straight at him.

"Wait, Sudou!"

"Let me go!"

Clearly, Hirata wasn't able to stop Sudou in time.

Well, it made sense. First, Ryuen had beaten him up, and now he was messing with him again. How could Sudou possibly stay calm?

By now, Kanda Shuichi could see it clearly—Ryuen wasn't just targeting Horikita. He had his sights set on Sudou from Class D as well.

As for why, it was probably payback for the fight between Sudou and Ishizaki's group. Back then, because Kanda Shuichi got involved, things didn't unfold the way Ryuen wanted.

Now that Kanda Shuichi had made it clear he wouldn't interfere in the sports festival, Ryuen was free to have his fun.

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