The following contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 4 of Classroom of the Elite, now streaming on Funimation and Crunchyroll.
With Classroom of the Elite's first Special Test of Season 2 now complete, it’s time for the next challenge for Ayanokoji and Class D. Like everything else at Advanced Nurturing High School, the Sports Festival is an event where students will gain or lose Private Points.
However, this new obstacle also comes with the possibility of students gaining or losing points on their next exam. Dependent entirely on the students' physical prowess, there’s not much for Ayanokoji to manipulate this time around – not that this stopped him from trying as Class D brainstormed their plan.
The Sports Festival’s Rules, Explained As Simply As Possible
Classroom of the Elite's Sports Festival will split ANHS’s student body into two teams, Red Team and White Team. Red Team consists of Classes A and D, while White Team is made up of Classes B and C. There are mandatory and voluntary events that can be either for individuals or groups and each competitor gets points depending on their placing -- the voluntary events net vastly more points per competitor. Once the Sports Festival ends, the points for each team will be tallied and a loser declared. For example, if White Team finishes with fewer points, then Classes B and C each lose 100 Class Points. There'll be a separate tally for points per Class, and the Class with the most points receives 50 CP.
During the individual events, students who finish in the top three can choose to receive either 1,000 Private Points or bonus points on the next exam – but exam bonus points cannot be traded, shared, etc. The student who finishes last during an individual event will lose 1,000 PP and if they don’t have 1,000 PP then they'll lose points on their next exam. This rule places unathletic students at a disadvantage as the most likely scenario for them is the loss of PP or exam points. The 10 students from the entire Sports Festival with the fewest points earned will lose 10 points on their next exam.
Class D Struggles To Agree On A Strategy
Horikita’s instinct for the Sports Festival was to orchestrate a surefire victory via her and Ayanokoji’s usual manipulative methods. However, Ayanokoji pointed out there’s only so much they can control when it comes to the stamina and athletic ability of other students. Sudo fancied himself the most athletic student in Class D; the class agreed that he should participate in all the voluntary events because they're the most valuable.
Class D felt they should approach the Sports Festival by relying on skill. Horikita suggested they put unathletic students in events with their most skilled classmates so that the skilled participants have an easier competition to guarantee more points. However, someone quickly pointed out that Horikita’s plan treated the unathletic students as sacrifices who'd become highly likely to lose both Private Points and exam points. Her argument was that the whole Class benefits from winning the Sports Festival moreso than individual students suffer from losing events.
Horikita was correct on two counts: exam bonuses only go to the top three placers -- so the unathletic students wouldn’t win them anyway – and students should be able to do well on their exams without needing bonus points. Karuizawa opposed the idea feeling it was unfair to the unathletic students, and though her popularity garnered her plenty of support, the class voted for Horikita’s idea. While Ayanokoji abstained, Episode 4 later revealed that he’d emailed Karuizawa instructing her to oppose Horikita’s plan and to request Kushida’s opinion.
What Is Ayanokoji's Plan?
As Classroom of the Elite Season 2 moves forward, the alliance between Ayanokoji and Karuizawa appears to be permanent. She carried out his instructions beautifully despite agreeing with Horikita’s idea. While refusing to explain himself fully to Karuizawa when she confronted him after class, Ayanokoji revealed his instructions were in part because he is confident that a traitor will emerge within Class D during the Sports Festival. Whether he is prepping for someone to spill their secrets or trying to goad someone into doing it isn’t clear, but Ayanokoji’s new plan is already in motion.
His odd behavior became even more suspicious during training – he asked what the average grip strength was and then proceeded to score it almost exactly. Ayanokoji even practiced a three-legged race with Horikita just to prove she needs to learn how to cooperate. He then told her to join him and one other for reconnaissance on White Team. When asked who the other person was, Ayanokoji pointed out Class D’s scariest student -- Kushida. He said she’d be joining them because she'd betrayed her group in the Special Test despite being its VIP. His intention to bring Kushida along implies either that she's the one he suspects will betray Class D, or he wants her to.
During Season 1, Horikita observed that Ayanokoji was remarkably fit given his inactive lifestyle, and he appears to be hiding physical prowess even now when he could help Class D win the Sports Festival in a straightforward manner. Ayanokoji’s plan is no doubt complicated, considering he seemed unbothered that Karuizawa's dispute with Horikita’s plan didn’t sway the class from voting for it. Between that and his plan to hang out with a secret psychopath who might throw them all under the bus, the Sports Festival is shaping up to be Classroom of the Elite’s most memorable arc yet.