COTE: A Mute Guy

Vol. 5 Chp. 2: Preparation

'Italic': Sign language

The school is preparing for an upcoming sports festival scheduled to take place in a month. Our regular two-hour homeroom has been replaced with a free period, allowing us to utilize the time as we see fit. Two critical decisions will be made for the event: determining the order of participation for the Universal Participation events and determining which students will participate in the recommended-only events. These decisions will significantly impact the outcome, and our class leader, Hirata, is taking the lead in addressing these decisions.

Chabashira-sensei, who moved towards the back of the classroom as though she were vacating the stage, did not say a single word. She likely intends to watch over the situation.

"In preparation for the sports festival, we will begin to take action, but before we start our practice, I believe there are several things we need to decide on. The important things are the order of event participation and the Recommended Only Participation events. I think it's important to decide how to approach those."

"Even if you say decide, how will we do that?"

From Sudou's perspective, a rather uninteresting discussion is starting.

"Yeah. For instance, in the case of Universal Participation..."

Hirata gripped the chalk and began writing on the blackboard.

He appears to be a man who handles this sort of thing capably. 'Raising Hands' and 'Ability.' Those two were written down.

As he explains, Hirata adds a postscript.

"It's still a rough sketch, but I think it comes down to these two systems. The first is the 'Raising Hands' system, which will allow us to listen to your preferred order of participation. The second is the 'Ability' system, where we'll assess your abilities to improve efficiency. It has to be one of these two. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. The pros of the 'Raising Hands' system are that everyone would get their preferred order of participation and be able to have fun. The cons are that not everyone can have it their way if the desired orders overlap, and the outcomes will become uneven."

If we adopt a system where we let everyone have it their way regarding the order, inevitably, that would be the result.

However, it can smoothly lower the emotional hurdles.

"Next is the 'Ability' system. This is extremely simple, and it's the optimal arrangement to ensure that the ones with the highest abilities win. The pros are that it could raise the chances of winning beyond that of the 'Raising Hands' system. However, since it relies only on strong individuals, it could decrease the chances of winning for the others. It worries me that it'll ignore what each of you wants. In theory, we can also say the same for the Recommended Only Participation events. I've thought about it roughly, but if you have any ideas other than these two, please feel free to speak your opinion."

Hirata finishes his brief explanation. Even the students who could not understand the verbal explanation from the blackboard details could slowly comprehend each system's pros and cons.

The thoughts of most of the students must have fallen under one of the plans Hirata had proposed, especially since no other plans were forthcoming.

"No matter how you look at it, we should decide based on ability. You know yourself best, after all," Sudou said.

It seems Sudou has no intention of choosing anything other than that as he said those words.

"If I win, then the chances of the class winning will also rise. That's a cause for celebration." Sudou said.