Chapter 74 (1/2)

TLN: Happy birthday, Lala!

“Alright. There are the rules.”

Apparently, even this Manliness Rankings compet.i.tion had some rules.

Fii took a seat and listened attentively.

“The period for the compet.i.tion is roughly a month. First, every partic.i.p.ant starts with 500 points. During the month, you distribute those 500 points to people who you think are manly. The person who ends up with the most points is the one who is accepted as the manliest man.”

“I see~”

The rules were simple and clear.

In other words, you competed in manliness while getting others to acknowledge it.

The boy who explained things handed Fii a new piece of paper.

It was different to the rankings paper from before.

Neat lines were drawn along the page, and there were two columns for names and one for reasons, as well as various other details.

“Use this paper when you want to hand points over. You don’t have to write the reason, but it’s better to.”

“Why?”

“Because handing over points is also manly. That’s why if you give a manly reason, you can instead get manliness points from others.”

(I see!)

Fii was impressed. So handing over points was a strategy as well.

She asked the boy a question.

“Can you give yourself points?”

In that case, it would be entirely easy to avoid the punishment game.

“It isn’t against the rules. But it’s not a manly thing to do. You’ll stop getting points from the others. It would become impossible to aim for the top.”

“A guy who gives himself points because he’s afraid of a punishment isn’t manly at all.”

“A guy who gives points to someone else even though there’s a risk of the punishment game is what real manliness is about.”

“I seee.”

The two boys around her seemed to be boasting of their own manliness.

To be honest, Fii thought that the rules were full of holes, but to these manly boys, it was apparently not a problem.

“Also, you can transfer the points you’ve gotten to someone else.”

“Transfer? Is there really anyone who would do that?”

Fii couldn’t think of any benefits at all.

“No, transferring your points to someone else is pretty manly too. Even if it drops your rankings this time, you can expect your rankings to rise next round.”

“Transferring all your points to someone else, and waiting for the next round at the bottom. It’s pretty d.a.m.ned manly!”

“I see…”

(It sounds like a plain idiot to me…)

It sounded like a valid strategy to the boys.

“But n.o.body has ever done it, so I’ve been last every time…”

Unfortunately, Remié stated the reality.

In the end, it was just an interesting idea, and n.o.body had ever actually done it.

“Whoa, whoa, contenting yourself with being last three times in a row is pretty manly too, yanno. I’ll give you ten points.”

“Mn. I’m impressed that you haven’t tried protecting yourself after three times in despair. I’ll give you ten points as well.”

With that, a number of boys wrote the lamenting Remié’s name on the Fourth Round paper.

“T-, Thank youuu…” he said with moist eyes.