"It seems there's been quite a fuss. What happened, Horikita-san?" Though
Kushida was clearly aware of Yagami's presence in turn, she asked Horikita
about what was going on, sounding quite curious.
"Nothing that you all need to worry about," said Horikita.
"Oh, really?"
After Horikita told them that it was nothing, Kushida and the other three girls
started to head back towards the classroom.
"Um, pardon me, but…you wouldn't happen to be Kushida-senpai, by any
chance, would you?" asked Yagami.
"Hm?" replied Kushida, turning around to look at who'd addressed her.
If he knew Kushida's name, could he be an acquaintance of hers? Or so I
thought, but…
"Um, you are?" said Kushida.
She gave him a puzzled look. There was no sign that she was familiar with
him.
"It's me. Do you not recognize me? Well, I suppose that's only natural that
you wouldn't. It's Yagami Takuya," he replied.
Kushida thought on it for a while after hearing his name, but then seemed to
suddenly remember. "Yagami… Ah! Wait! You're that Yagami-kun?!"
"Yes, I am most certainly that Yagami. It's been quite a long time, hasn't it?"
"Wow, so you came to this school too, Yagami-kun. What an incredible
coincidence!"
"I never imagined I'd meet you again here, Kushida-senpai."
"You know each other?" asked Satou, curiously.
Kushida nodded. "Yes. But we hardly ever actually talked before. Anyway, his
name is Yagami Takuya-kun. He always seemed incredibly smart. but since we
were in different grades, we never said much more than hello to each other."
"So, do you know him too?" I asked, whispering in Horikita's ear to get
confirmation.
"Nope, I don't know him at all," she replied immediately.
"Well, you don't seem very good at remembering the faces of your
classmates, though."
"I won't deny that. I didn't exactly have time to pay attention to people I
wasn't interested in," said Horikita.
Apparently, Horikita didn't recognize…no, it was more like he didn't register in
her mind at all. I supposed if you were the kind of person who treated your
classmates that way, there was no way you'd remember students younger than
you.
Well, even if Kushida didn't remember this boy, he'd probably never been
able to forget her. It just went to show how captivating she was.
"I can't believe how lucky I am. To be able to go to the same school as the
revered Kushida-senpai…" said Yagami.
"Oh, no, that's a bit much, I'm nothing special…" she replied humbly.
However, if Yagami really had attended the same junior high as Kushida, then
a few concerns came to mind.
"Does this Yagami kid know about you know what?" I whispered to Horikita.
I was referring to Kushida's past, of course. In junior high, Kushida had caused
her own class to turn on itself and fall apart. As a result, she considered Horikita
—who'd attended the same school back then and knew the truth about what
happened—a bitter enemy. Kushida wanted to get rid of Horikita, considering it
too dangerous for someone to know what she'd done to her class.
If Yagami had attended the same junior high, it wouldn't be a surprise if he
knew about what happened, too, but…
"It wouldn't be strange if he did. That being said, there's no guarantee that he
does," said Horikita.
In that case, Yagami being here certainly wasn't very comforting for Kushida.
Since there were students in our grade level who'd attended the same schools
before, I supposed it wasn't out of the question for students' former juniors to
enroll, either.
"I realize this is quite sudden, but I must say I would have neither complaints
nor concerns if I were able to team up with someone like you, Kushida-senpai.
Would you be willing to partner with me?" asked Yagami.
Even though he and Kushida had only just been reunited, he asked to become
partners, extending his hand with a friendly smile on his face. Was this all to
show that he knew nothing about her past? Or that even if he did know, it
didn't matter?
"Are you really okay with partnering with me, though? I mean, Yagami-kun,
perhaps it would be better if you partnered with someone more on your level
academically?" said Kushida.
Yagami Takuya had an extremely high academic ability rating of A. Nothing to
scoff at. No wonder Kushida was being so humble. Horikita, who had her phone
out, looked up his information in the OAA app while she stood next to me, and
confirmed that he was high-ranked.
"I don't know my way around here at all. So, I'd like to partner with someone I
trust," said Yagami.
The app could give you an idea of a person's academic ability, but not their
nature. He must have decided it would be better to team up with an
acquaintance who he could be sure would produce solid results.
"Um, well, could you give me some time to think it over…?" Perhaps because
she was wary of Yagami, or for some other reason, Kushida put his offer on hold
for the time being.
"Of course, that would be perfectly fine. I will hold off on partnering up with
anyone else for a while, and await your reply, Kushida-senpai." Yagami agreed
to put the offer on hold, indicating he was fine to wait. Considering that his
academic ability was A-rank, there was no need for him to rush out and find a
partner.
"Damn, that must be nice. If it were me, I would've partnered up without a
second thought…" Sudou seemed jealous of Kushida's ability to put an offer on
hold. That made sense, considering his ranking was only E+.
"In that case, you should work harder," said Horikita.
"Yeah… I'll definitely improve my scores," he answered.
It wasn't a mean-spirited comment. Sudou was envious because he had a
desire to improve himself.
I distanced myself from Horikita and the others for a moment because I saw
Haruka beckoning me to come over. The rest of Ayanokouji Group all stood a
short distance away: Akito, Keisei, and Airi.
"H-he was super scary, wasn't he?"
The first thing I heard after joining them was Airi's first impression of Housen.
"Sure seems there's a bunch of troublemakers like Sudou-kun and Ryuuenkun in this year's batch of new students, huh?" Haruka sounded somewhat
exasperated after having watched the entire commotion play out.
Standing beside her was Akito. He remained motionless, staring fixedly at the
spot in the hall where Housen once stood.
"What's the matter, Miyacchi?" asked Haruka.
"A seriously scary dude has come to our school. Let's just say things are
probably gonna get rocky from here on out. That dude's… Well, he's so tough
that even Sudou or Ryuuen can't take him on," said Akito.
"Wait, hold up. Don't tell me you know this guy too, Miyachi. Do you?" asked
Haruka.
"I never, like, met him in person or anythin'. But Ryuuen and Housen are both
pretty big celebrities back where I'm from," said Akito.
It seemed Akito had lived somewhere close to the junior high schools that
Ryuuen and Housen had attended.
"Anyway, there used to be this gang leader at my school… The short version
of the story is that this guy was a really tough-looking badass who was
supposed to be really good in a fight. But one day, he just suddenly vanished. It
caused a huge uproar. Then, right after he disappeared, I heard he'd wound up
in the hospital after getting the crap beaten out of him in a one-on-one fight
with some dude named Housen, who was on a rampage. This Housen had
apparently just started at our junior high. He was a whole two years younger
than the other guy."
"G-gang leader? Dang, that's like somethin' straight out of a manga about bad
dudes… That's a little scary," said Haruka.
"The place I used to live in has been pretty infamous for attracting all sorts of
riff raff for a long time now," said Akito.
"Oh, wow…" Haruka looked a little bit perplexed to hear this string of
unfamiliar words from Akito.
"And just like that, Housen went around all the junior high schools in the area,
one after another, tightening his grip on all of 'em," said Akito.
"Ryuuen-kun's pretty infamous too, isn't he? But it seems like they've never
met before," said Haruka.
"I get the feeling that's 'cause they just never happened to run into each
other," said Akito.
"By the way, did you used to be a bad dude yourself, Miyachi?" asked Haruka.
"I… I quit doing that kinda stuff. These days I'm tryin' to be a proper student."
"So, you were a delinquent."
"…I had a bad temper all the way up into my second-year of junior high. Since
then, I've focused everything into archery," said Akito.
"But that means you really used to be a bad kid, though, right?" asked
Haruka.
Akito scratched his head in annoyance as Haruka, strangely enough,
continued to press the matter.
"So? What's wrong with that?" he shot back.
"No, actually, like…I think it's kinda fine? If anything, I think that means you've
got a pretty cool past. Don't ya think?" said Haruka.
"It ain't cool at all," said Akito.
I was guessing the reason he knew so much about fighting was because he
used to be that sort of person. You could certainly tell by looking at him that he
had nerves of steel and quick reflexes.
"I mean, since you were a former bad kid yourself, couldn't you just give
Housen a taste of his own medicine if necessary?" asked Haruka.
"Quit jokin' around. Even if I do fight somebody, I choose my opponents
carefully. And I especially wouldn't wanna fight Housen, for sure," said Akito.
Akito was raising the white flag before the fight even happened. He was
saying that less as an admission of his own weakness, though, and more due to
recognizing Housen's strength. Ibuki also had a certain degree of proficiency
when it came to hand-to-hand combat, and she hadn't been able to land a
single hit. There was just an overwhelming difference in their physiques. And
she wasn't a match for him when it came to speed either.
4.3
AFTER CLASS ENDED, I was approached by Horikita, just like yesterday. As we
were about to leave the classroom together, Sudou insisted on accompanying
us as well. Horikita tried to refuse him, but just like last time, she seemed to be
won over by his eagerness to help until he found a partner of his own. She let
him come along on the condition that him taking time to help her wouldn't
interfere with his club activities or his studies. It was certainly surprising for
Horikita to be so kind, or perhaps I should say accepting.
But I supposed there was a good reason for her allowing him to come. There
were about ten days left until the special exam. Considering how exceptionally
difficult the written exam was going to be, it was a good idea to secure a time
and place where you'd be able to concentrate on your studies, even if just for a
little while. But if Sudou was constantly worrying about what Horikita was up
to, he wouldn't be able to concentrate.
It was clear to see that Horikita wanted to find a partner for Sudou as soon as
possible, so that he could have time to devote himself to his studies. Horikita
understood Sudou Ken very well—except for one particularly important thing.
Namely, Sudou's feelings for Horikita. She hadn't recognized that there was a
reason, deep down, why he just wanted to be by her side.
Of course, I wasn't going to deliberately point out what was an important
driving force for Sudou.
Instead of heading toward the first-year classrooms, Horikita decided to head
towards Keyaki Mall, perhaps because some first-years had caused quite a bit of
trouble after coming up to our floor today during lunch. She was being careful
to ensure a comparable incident didn't take place.
Or maybe it was the problem child Housen, from Class 1-D, who had caused
Horikita to change her mind. I supposed we'd find out soon enough. As soon as
we entered the mall, Sudou stuck the little finger of his left hand in his ear to try
and block out some of the sound, seeming a little irritated by the noise. He then
gave his honest thoughts on the new students we saw out and about in front of
us.
"Man, I gotta say it's loud in here, dude. Guess that's 'cause of the first-years
kickin' up a ruckus and all."
"There certainly are quite a lot of students around," replied Horikita.
They were all over the place, chatting away happily, discussing things like
what they wanted to buy or what they wanted to eat.
"And yet we're all seriously lookin' for partners over here," huffed Sudou.
Wasting day after day trying to decide on a partner wasn't good for either the
second-years or the first-years. However, there was one particularly huge point
of separation between the first-and second-years. That was the difference in
our perception of the special exams. Very few of the new students felt a keen
sense of urgency, just like the ones we'd seen yesterday after class. This fact
was even more apparent when we set foot outside the school building.
"It's no wonder. I mean, it was the same for us, back when we were the new
kids," I replied.
"Yeah, that's true…" said Sudou.
With the hefty sum of money deposited into their accounts right after they
had enrolled here, the new students were spending day after day in pursuit of
idle amusement. Even if they were in Class A, it hardly made a difference.
Regardless of how they were using their points, the fact was that they were all
enjoying what this school had to offer to the absolute fullest.
The most annoying thing of all, though, was the fact that there was a
difference in the penalties we faced and the ones the new students did. We
faced expulsion, while all they stood to lose were three months' worth of
Private Points.
"Look at 'em, not a care in the world, man," said Sudou.
"I wouldn't be talking if I were you, Sudou-kun. Have you forgotten what you
were like a year ago?" said Horikita.
"N-no, I didn't forget or anythin'… I've been doin' a lot of soul searchin'," said
Sudou.
Probably because he was the first student in our class to be faced with the
real threat of being expelled. The relief measure that we had utilized at the time
was no longer available to us, of course. The privilege of being beginners had
already been used up.
"For the time being, let's try talking with a group of people," said Horikita,
spotting a group of three first-year guys sitting on a bench, chatting and
laughing among themselves.
Their names were Kaga, Mikami, and Shiratori. They were all students in Class
1-D and all had an academic ability ranking of B-or better. Before calling out to
these students, Horikita had pulled up their information in the app, just to be
sure. It seemed she hadn't changed her mind about going after students from
Class 1-D, after all.
"Excuse me, do you have a moment?" asked Horikita.
"…What is it?" replied one of the students.
They could probably tell just by glancing at us that they were dealing with
upperclassmen. The joyful expressions quietly faded from their faces and were
quickly replaced with looks of caution.
"We're looking for partners for the upcoming special exam. Have you found
partners yourselves yet?" she asked.
"Oh, uh, no. We still haven't partnered up with anyone yet," said one of the
students.
"If you'd like, we'd be happy to talk to you about partnering up," said
Horikita.
"Yeah, we'd definitely be okay with that. Right?" said one of the students.
After hearing Horikita's proposal, the three of them nodded in response,
almost as if they had discussed matters in advance. We got an unexpectedly
good vibe from their response, and it seemed like they had relaxed their guard
a little bit. Sudou looked surprised, like he could hardly believe how positive
they were acting.
"However, while I'm very sorry to say this, our top priority right now is to find
—"
"Partners who can help out the students with poor grades to prevent them
from being expelled, right?" said one of the students, finishing Horikita's
sentence.
It seemed that idea had already spread among the new students.
"Yes. If you understand that already, then this discussion will be quick," said
Horikita.
"Um, well… so, you'd like… one of us to team up with Sudou-senpai?" asked
one of the students.
They'd also checked out our profiles on their phones, which was why they had
no hesitation in talking with us.
"Yes. He's one of the students we'd like to find a partner for. There are many
others, as well," said Horikita.
"Oh, okay, I see. Let's see, Sudou-senpai has an academic ability ranking of E+,
huh… That does sound quite difficult," said the student.
He was being diplomatic, but it was still clear he was pointing out just how
low Sudou's academic ability ranking was. Even though what he said was true,
Sudou seemed upset. Still, he barely managed to keep it together and not let
his dissatisfaction show on his face.
"Shiratori, you should be able to handle it just fine, right?"
The other two students looked to Shiratori, who sat at the far-right end of the
bench.
"My academic ability ranking is A, at least for the time being," said Shiratori.
"Yes, so it seems. If you're willing to partner with him, I would certainly not
complain," said Horikita.
"In that case… how about this much?" Shiratori held out his hand with all five
fingers up, making a proposal in return.
For a moment, Horikita didn't understand what he was suggesting, so she
looked back at Sudou and me.
"My oh my. You want to partner up, right? If so, I should think something like
this would be obvious. No?" said Shiratori.
When Horikita heard that, she understood what he meant. "…I suppose
you're referring to Private Points."
"Of course. I mean, if someone like myself were to team up with a smart
student, I could shoot for the top spot. Since I'll be giving up a chance at getting
the top-tier rewards by partnering with a student with a low academic ranking,
it's only natural that I ask for something in return," said Shiratori.
"Say what? You want points from us?! And you're askin' for fifty thousand…?
Dude, that's way too much," said Sudou.
For someone like Sudou, who was constantly short on funds every day, that
was an extraordinary number of points to ask for.
"Senpai, please stop joking around. There's no way I could accept fiftythousand," said Shiratori.
"Huh?" said Sudou.
"I meant five hundred thousand. If you can give me five hundred thousand, I'll
happily partner up with you right here and now," said Shiratori.
"F-five hundred thousand?!" shouted Sudou.
"It would be quite difficult for you if a student got expelled from your class,
right? We've been doing a bit of research ourselves, you see," said Shiratori.
Apparently, this year's batch of new students were quite different from how
we'd been last year. They had already begun to understand how this school
worked, and on top of that, they understood their value. Between our grade
level and theirs, it was difficult to tell which of us were the seniors and which
the juniors. Looking at the situation we were in, it could easily be interpreted
the other way around.
"It's certainly natural to want some kind of remuneration if you're being
asked to partner with someone with a low academic ability ranking," said
Horikita.
"H-hey, Suzune! I ain't got five hundred large though, y'know?" said Sudou.
"I know that. Be quiet for a minute," said Horikita.
The three first-year students wore sarcastic, wry smiles on their faces after
hearing Sudou carelessly divulge his financial circumstances.
"It's only natural to want points, yes. However, is chasing after short-term
desires really a good idea?" said Horikita.
"Meaning?" asked Shiratori, speaking as a representative of the three
students.
"Meaning that if you ingratiate yourselves with us here and now, we might be
able to provide help to you down the road, in similar situations," said Horikita,
explaining to them that it would be to their advantage later if they were to
exchange in some give-and-take with us in a form other than Private Points.
"Well, putting you aside, Horikita-senpai, since you have an A ranking, I can't
really imagine having Sudou-senpai or Ayanokouji-senpai there would really be
of any help to us. Wouldn't you say?" said Shiratori.
"That's not necessarily true. This school isn't just about academics. There are
times when you'll need physical ability, too," said Horikita.
That was especially applicable to Sudou, as he was the only student in our
grade level who had an A+ in physical ability. Horikita had been intending to use
that as a weapon in her arsenal for this negotiation, but…
"I know that. But still, you're just Class D in the end, right? If we were to
ingratiate ourselves within anyone, it would be Class A or Class B," said Shiratori
calmly, having apparently come to an objective conclusion.
Seeing that, Horikita probably understood. "…I see. So that's how it is."
Considering how smoothly they handled themselves after hearing our offer
and the number of points they came back with as a counter-offer, we didn't
need to think too hard about what was going on here.
"Wh-what do you mean by that?" asked Sudou.
"Before you arrived, we were approached by senior students from other
classes," said Shiratori.
"And they told you not to sell your academic abilities for cheap. Right?" asked
Horikita.
"Yes. Please understand that we won't partner with you if you do not offer us
suitable compensation in points," said Shiratori.
In the face of Shiratori and his classmates, Horikita kept her composure, and
then continued talking.
"It's certainly true that you shouldn't sell yourself cheaply, in that case.
However, were you really approached by other students from our grade,
though?" said Horikita.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Shiratori. He looked irritated, like his
pride as an A-ranked student had been wounded.
"You're also in Class D, just like us. I can't imagine students from higher-level
classes would have approached you so casually," said Horikita.
Horikita was bluffing. As long as you had an elevated level of academic ability,
you'd be useful to have around in this exam, regardless of whether you were in
Class D. She was trying to confirm who had talked to them, and how much they
had said.
Perhaps because Shiratori's pride had been called into question, he rebutted
this in a somewhat abrasive tone.
"It's true, though. We were invited by Hashimoto-senpai from Class 2-A. On
top of that, we were approached by students from Class 2-C, who offered us
quite a few points to partner up with them. Isn't that right?" said Shiratori,
glancing at his friends, who both immediately voiced their agreement.
"We're not the only ones, either. Most of the smart kids have been
approached," added Shiratori.
Just as Horikita had calculated, Class 2-A and Class C had gone with the idea of
trying to buy students out.
"I see… In that case, I suppose we cannot meet your expectations right now,"
said Horikita.
"Oh, but as long as you give us points, we will not refuse you. We intend to
see how things go for about a week. If you were to offer us five hundred
thousand points during that time, we'd be happy to partner with anyone, even
Sudou-senpai," said Shiratori.
Five hundred thousand points to prevent someone from getting expelled. A
large sum to be sure, but if you looked at it from another angle, you could say it
was the price of your safety. However, we couldn't make a snap decision here.
Nor did we intend to.
"By the way… How many points did Hashimoto-kun and the others offer you
for your cooperation?" asked Horikita.
She was hoping to know the specific number of points that were offered, but
Shiratori and his buddies weren't that naïve.
"We promised not to say. All I will say is that for five hundred thousand
points, we will help you," said Shiratori.
"I understand. I will take that into consideration. However, we would like to
ask you for one favor. Would you be willing to introduce us to some of your
fellow students in Class D?" asked Horikita.
"Introduce?" Shiratori repeated.
"We've already prepared to work with your class, to a certain extent. But
approaching each person individually and explaining the same thing over and
over would take up a lot of time and energy. If possible, we'd like to gather all
of you in one place and have a more concrete discussion then," said Horikita.
She had hinted at the idea of forming a partnership, but didn't say specifically
what that would look like. The three students exchanged glances, though they
all looked uncomfortable about something.
"That's… Well, asking us to do something like that might be a little difficult…
Right, guys?"
"Yeah. If we go ahead and do something like that without getting permission,
Housen-kun will probably get mad at us. Don't you think?"
The name 'Housen' came up in the conversation they were having among
themselves.
"I'm sorry senpai, but could you please ask someone else to handle that…?"
asked Shiratori.
It seemed Housen was the one who held Class 1-D's leashes, after all.
Horikita, sensing that the mood had clearly changed, decided not to pursue the
matter further. "Thank you. I will call on you again if the need arises," she said.
"A-all right. We'll be waiting," said Shiratori.
We walked away from the bench and started heading towards the café on the
second floor. I secretly peeked back at them as we left, and saw that Shiratori,
phone in hand, seemed to be hurriedly calling someone.
"We got some information, but it's hard to say that we made any actual
progress. The only thing we know for sure is that if we were to offer them an
absolutely absurd five hundred thousand points, they would agree to cooperate
with us on the spot," said Horikita.
"They're totally tryin' to take advantage of us and price gouge, makin' those
ridiculous demands," huffed Sudou.
"It certainly is a ridiculous amount they're asking for, yes. But it's also true
that they have no reason to sell their talents on the cheap," said Horikita.
Even more so if they were ranked A in academic ability. This was certainly a
much more direct way of earning points than shooting for the one-hundredthousand-point reward for getting high marks on the exam.
"So in the end, the only way for me to save myself is by payin' somebody a
bunch of Private Points?" asked Sudou.
"It's certainly getting harder and harder to say for sure that there are any
students out there who will help you for free."
The notion that points would be the key to forming partnerships had already
spread. It would be best if we assumed it wasn't just Shiratori and his friends
who believed so, but rather that their entire grade level knew to ask for points
in exchange for partnerships.
I was sure we could safely say this was part of Sakayanagi and Ryuuen's
strategy, too. Normally, doing things in exchange for points was frowned upon.
Such transactions brought with them a sense of shame, and so, they were
usually done in secret. But by conducting a large-scale buy out operation, they
had essentially made the new students realize that offering their services for
free would be losing out.
Even so, there was something that bothered me about the conversation we
just had with Shiratori and his classmates earlier. Though they had already been
approached by students from other classes, they'd said that they were going to
wait a week. Even if they were just waiting that long so they could try and fish
for more points, I was concerned by the fact that all three of them had seemed
to be in agreement about their course of action from the very beginning.
I would have thought students would have wanted to seek reassurance by
finding a partner right away. Was it just that those particular three happened to
be bullheaded? Or perhaps…
"Even if we continue to ask around randomly like this, we'll probably keep
getting the same answers, won't we?" I told them.
Scoping out Class 1-D was fun and all, but the real problem came after that.
What Shiratori and his friends said about Housen getting angry with them if
they acted without permission stuck in my mind. Judging from the way Shiratori
and his friends talked, I was certain that Housen Kazuomi oversaw their entire
class.
"Housen likely gave his classmates some instructions," I added. "He probably
told them something like, 'Hey, you can team up with anybody you want, but
you can only make a snap decision to team up if they offer you five hundred
thousand points. If they don't make that offer, put their request to team up on
hold, even if they're from Class A,' or something like that."
"But wait, if they do that, won't that mean Class 1-D gets left behind?" asked
Sudou.
"I'm saying they're planning on that happening. They intend to be the last
ones," I replied.
"Huh? I don't get it," said Sudou.
"It's only we second-year students who are afraid of getting hit with the
penalty for not finding a partner. He was probably thinking that he can hold
that over our heads and use it to rip us off for as many Private Points as possible
toward the end," I told him.
If all the honors students outside of Class 1-D had already been bought up,
we'd eventually have no choice but to shell out to get the ones from Class D to
cooperate with us, whether we liked it or not. Even if that meant paying a
million or two million.
"It's an incredibly rash strategy, made with absolutely no thought about
what'll happen in the future," said Horikita.
"Tell me again, how exactly do you plan on fighting this?" I said.
We'd already figured out what Class 1-D was planning to do. So, having taken
that into account, I wanted to know what Horikita was thinking. Would she try
and force herself in between what Class 2-A and Class C were starting to do
right now, with their extreme buy-out strategies? Or would she perhaps adopt a
strategy more like what Ichinose was doing, forming relationships built on trust
by accepting many lower-ranked students, regardless of what class they were
in, and appealing to the honors students for their cooperation?
"I decided to set three goals when we heard the outline for this particular
special exam," said Horikita.
"Three goals?" asked Sudou.
He seemed to be interested in what she was about to say, since he was
leaning in closer.
"The most important of which is to not let anyone from our class get expelled.
That goes without saying," said Horikita.
"Yeah, for sure," replied Sudou, nodding.
"The second is to shoot for third place or better in overall points, in the
competition against other classes," said Horikita.
"Wait, third? You mean we're throwin' away our shot of going after first or
second right from the get-go?" asked Sudou.
"No one said anything about throwing away our shot of going after those
places. I said third place or better," said Horikita.
True enough, saying she was hoping for third place or better technically
included first-and second-place. But that didn't seem to be precisely what she
meant, and it most likely had something to do with her third goal.
"My third goal is to avoid participating in these money games. I plan to do
battle with those three principles in mind," said Horikita.
"Huh…? B-but…" stammered Sudou.
"I understand what you want to say. Namely, that if we're not going to
compete using Private Points, then we have no hope of winning this thing.
However, even if we try and compete using the points that we have, the reward
isn't worth the risk. Even if we do finish in first place overall, we will only gain
fifty Class Points. Meaning that over the course of a year, our class would only
get a little over two million Private Points," said Horikita.
If we got five thousand points per person per month, (excluding the deposit
that we got in April, which had already passed) and multiplied that amount by
the remaining eleven months, then we'd end up with two million, one hundred
and forty-five thousand Private Points.
"And if we pay five hundred thousand points per person, that means we'd be
in the red after paying for five people. We can't possibly be so naïve as to think
that we could win this thing just by getting four or so first-years who have an
academic ability ranking of A, right?" said Horikita.
Even if we were to carry that into the next two years—that is, until we
graduated—it would still only be four million, four hundred and eighty-five
thousand Private Points. Which covered a maximum of eight recruits.
Moreover, this was all based on the supposition that not only could we
assuredly draw in those students at five hundred thousand at most, but also,
that we would be getting first place in the overall rankings by grade level.
Considering the risks, it would likely be far more efficient for us to simply wait
for an upcoming special exam and use our Private Points then.
"Private Points and Class Points are not equal. I'm well aware that there is
more to it than just what we get in return. However, I think that even if we do
pump all our points into this test, we'd only have a slim chance of winning, so
we shouldn't try and push it. Am I wrong, Ayanokouji-kun?" asked Horikita.
"Not at all. Your decision is the right one," I replied.
The difference in overall academic ability between us and Class 2-A had been
clear from the start. If we wanted to win overall, I couldn't really imagine we'd
gain much of an advantage from bringing in eight students. Of course, Horikita
was resourceful. She would probably consider paying out Private Points if there
were students who were willing to partner up for fifty or a hundred thousand. It
was just that she didn't want this battle to come down to what was in our bank
accounts.
"In order to achieve those three goals, I still think we should try to negotiate
with Class 1-D, after all," said Horikita.
"Wh-why though? Weren't all the kids in their class told by Housen not to
team up with us for anythin' less than five hundred large?" said Sudou.
"As far as the honors students are concerned, yes, that's true. However, there
are students in their class who have an academic ability ranking of C or below,
too. What do you think would happen if they were neglected?" asked Horikita.
"What would happen…?" repeated Sudou.
"Students who should normally have been fine would also receive penalties,
and their position would be thrown into question," I replied.
Horikita nodded at what I said, and then continued from there.
"There's no way those students would willingly give up the Private Points they
could get every month. Which means at some point, Housen-kun will have no
choice but to abandon his current stance," said Horikita.
Even if all the honors students in 1-D tried selling themselves for five hundred
thousand points, the rest of the students in their class couldn't do the same.
Putting aside the issue of whether second-year students would get expelled or
not, Housen would fall behind in the battle between the first-years.
"If he's looking for a way to win, there will definitely be an opening that we
can exploit," said Horikita.
It seemed she was intent on dealing with Class 1-D then, the class that
everyone else wanted to avoid.
"That being said, it would be dangerous for all thirty-nine of us to try and
engage with Housen-kun's class. We need to minimize the risk as much as
possible," said Horikita.
If our negotiations failed, then it would be the students with less academic
skill who would be in trouble.
"Considering that the exam period has only just begun, I suppose it's not
strange some kids are asking for entirely unreasonable conditions to partner
up," said Horikita.
"Well, I hope you're right… I mean, as far as I'm concerned though, I kinda
doubt there's anyone out there for me," said Sudou.
"In any case, the only way we'll find gifted partners is to reach out to a lot of
people," said Horikita.
As we were waking up the steps to the café on the second floor though, we
heard a voice come from behind us.
"Hey! If you're looking for a gifted partner, I'm right here, y'know?"
When we turned around, we saw a lone female student looking over at us,
with a big grin on her face, from ear to ear. As soon as our eyes met, she slowly
walked up the steps. Horikita was the first one of us to let her suspicions show
on her face.
"Were you eavesdropping on us?" she asked.
"Oh, gosh, no, senpai, I just shouted out because I only happened to hear
what you were saying is all. And umm…" The girl spoke without looking over at
Sudou or me, keeping her gaze locked onto Horikita. "Senpai, what's your name
and academic ability ranking?"
"… My name's Horikita. I'm from Class 2-D. My academic ability score is A-.
What of it?" she asked.
"Oh, wow, you're smart!" replied the girl.
"And your name is?"
"I'm Ichika Amasawa. From Class 1-A. I'm the same as you, Horikita-senpai.
I've got an A in academic ability."
She looks like a girl who only cares about popularity, but is actually quite a
smart student. Just to be sure, Horikita checked her information in the app.
"If you want to shoot for the top, I'll work with you. Okay?"
Amasawa asked that question without even asking anything about our
backgrounds. If students with A-and A ratings teamed up together, it certainly
wouldn't be impossible for them to get first place. As for Horikita, she had
deliberately lowered her score for Sudou's sake in the past, so if you took that
fact into consideration, it wouldn't be unfair to say she actually was an A, not an
A-.
Though this was unexpected, Horikita could very well end up settling on a
partner for herself, not Sudou or anyone else. This might be a coincidence, but a
student with an academic ability ranking of A did just reach out to her. If
Horikita were to say that she instead wanted Amasawa to partner with a
student with a lower ranking, Amasawa might choose to walk away.
"I sincerely appreciate the offer, but I'm actually not looking for a partner
right now myself. Instead of partnering with me though, could I possibly ask you
about partnering with him… With Sudou-kun?" asked Horikita.
Horikita took that risk anyway, introducing the girl to Sudou. Though Sudou
was a little perplexed by the situation, he gently bowed his head to Amasawa,
giving her a proper greeting.
"Uh, let's see, what's Sudou-senpai's academic ability ranking?" said
Amasawa.
"E+. Certainly not a good grade, by any stretch," said Horikita.
'Not good' was putting it mildly. If anything, he was in the running for the
lowest ranking in our entire grade.
"I gotcha. So that means you're looking for help, Horikita-senpai. You're trying
to find a partner for him so that he won't get kicked out of school." Amasawa,
having grasped the situation, looked over at Sudou. "E+, huh. If we teamed up,
forget about getting the top spot. We'd probably end up scoring a little under
the middle of the road."
"Yes, that's true. There's hardly any advantage for you in it," said Horikita.
I wondered if Amasawa was going to bring up points now, but there was no
sign she was going to do that.
"Well, still, if you're askin' for help, I certainly wouldn't mind lending you a
hand," said Amasawa.
Things were clearly looking much more favorable for us than how they'd gone
with those three boys earlier. Amasawa then looked in my direction.
"What about him? Is he looking for a partner too?" she asked.
"His academic ability ranking is C. He's not exactly a top priority for us.
However, if Sudou-kun is a no-go for you, we'd still be very appreciative if you'd
team up with Ayanokouji-kun, as a worst-case scenario," said Horikita.
"Wait, no, hold on—" I replied, cutting in.
While this was probably a kind gesture on Horikita's part, I had to put a stop
to it. I couldn't just decide upon a partner right now without thinking about it.
"Is there something wrong with her?" asked Horikita.
"No, it's not like that, it's—"
"Oh, hey, wait a sec. I still haven't said which one of them I'll pair up with yet
though, y'know?" Amasawa, seeing that the conversation was moving ahead
without her actual consent on the matter, spoke up and put a stop to it.
"Do you have any conditions you would need fulfilled for you to partner with
either of these two, then?" asked Horikita.
"Conditions, conditions, huh. Yeah, okay. I suppose I am entitled to at least
that much, right?" said Amasawa.
Horikita had decided to bring up the topic herself, to see if Amasawa had any
conditions for a partnership. She hadn't changed her basic policy of avoiding
engaging in a spending competition with the other classes using Private Points,
but if Amasawa's price was low enough, there was room for consideration. I just
prayed it wasn't too high a price, like what Shiratori and his friends were asking
for…
"Well, I really like strong people, y'know," said Amasawa, saying something
that had absolutely nothing to do with this exam while wearing a devilish little
grin.
"What in the world are you talking about?" Horikita furrowed her brow
suspiciously, having expected the topic of discussion to shift from studies to
points.
"Well, it's like, I was racking my brain over what I should do for this exam and
stuff. I was thinking, should I study super hard, team up with someone around
A-rank like Horikita-senpai, and try and shoot for the top? …Or, like, should I
kinda take it easy, just try and get through the exam? And if I'm going to take it
easy in the test, I'd wanna team up with someone I like, you know what I
mean?" said Amasawa.
I supposed that was certainly preferable to working with someone you didn't
like or someone you didn't care about at all.
"I like strong guys," added Amasawa, repeating what she had just said earlier.
Horikita's head spun as she tried to understand what Amasawa was saying.
"Meaning… you're asking if Sudou-kun is strong or not, then?" asked Horikita.
"Right. And I'm not talking about, like, being mentally strong or anything. I'm
asking about whether he's physically strong. Well, I can tell easily enough that
you do sports or stuff just from looking at your physique," said Amasawa,
pointing her finger at Sudou, a student who normally should be a non-entity to
someone with an A in academic ability.
Sudou was confident of his strength, so while he was somewhat shy about it,
he nodded in agreement.
"You wanna partner with me?" asked Amasawa, extending her hand and
caressing Sudou's cheek.
"W-well, I mean, if I had an A in academics, then we'd be a lot better off
though… Are you really okay with me?" said Sudou.
"If you really are strong, then sure," said Amasawa.
She ran her thin fingertip along Sudou's chest, mesmerizing him with her
allure.
"I-I'm strong," he replied.
"Well, I don't dislike guys who are full of confidence," said Amasawa.
"What exactly do you mean, if he's really strong?" Horikita, who had taken on
the responsibility of getting Sudou situated, expressed her lack of
understanding of what Amasawa was talking about.
"It means what it sounds like. I like strong people who are good in a fight.
That's why I wanna partner up with someone strong," said Amasawa.
"In that case, I think Sudou-kun can measure up. I can vouch for his physical
strength," said Horikita.
"Words aren't enough for me, though. I'll have to confirm it with my own
eyes," said Amasawa.
"…With your own eyes?" asked Horikita.
"I mean like, go out, round up a bunch of strong second-years, have 'em fight
each other. And then I'll partner up with the toughest one there," said
Amasawa.
"Are you joking? There's no way we could do something like that," said
Horikita.
"Why not? Hey, I've been serious this whole time we've been talking, right?"
Sudou, who couldn't believe Amasawa was being serious either, spoke. "Let's
go, Suzune. Stayin' here's just a waste of time."
It sounded almost as though he was admonishing himself for falling for
Amasawa's charms, even if only for a moment.
"Eh, I don't really care if you just wanna pretend this conversation never
happened," said Amasawa.
She was saying that to her, this whole thing was nothing more than a little
fun. She certainly didn't have to go out of her way to partner up with an E+
ranked student, if she wanted. Considering the fact that Amasawa's class and
abilities were nothing to scoff at, she'd probably have no shortage of people
willing to pay to be with her.
Still, this might be fortunate for us, to a certain extent. If we agreed to her
request, Sudou would gain the right to partner with a student with A-rank
academic ability. And even if he didn't end up getting to partner with her, we
lost nothing.
"You're not saying this just to make fun of us, then? You're really serious
about this?" asked Horikita in response, a serious look in her eyes.
"Of course I'm serious," said Amasawa.
"I see. In that case, I suppose we'll take this seriously too, and hear you out,"
said Horikita.
"H-Hey, Suzune?" said Sudou.
"Come on, it's fine! I wanna team up with someone strong, after all," said
Amasawa.
"All right. In that case, Sudou-kun, you should accept her offer," said Horikita.
"W-wait, hold up, Suzune. The school ain't just gonna let us have a fight or
whatever. Stuff'll get pretty bad if we fight, won't it? I mean like what
happened last year, and at lunch, with that little tussle with that Housen dude.
Right?" said Sudou.
Last year, Sudou had gotten in a fight with several guys from Ryuuen's class
and it had turned into quite the problem. And just today, there had been a big
commotion when Housen came by.
"It's certainly true that fighting isn't exactly praiseworthy. But if both sides
consent, there should be no issue. Don't you think so, Ayanokouji-kun?" said
Horikita.
I took a moment to consider what Horikita's intentions were in asking me that
question. If she was asking me if there was no issue with such a fight, then my
answer would obviously be that yes, there would be issues. Win or lose, even if
both parties agreed to fight and then started swinging, there was essentially no
way that school administrators would approve of something that essentially
amounted to a duel. However, Horikita had responded to Amasawa in a way
that sounded like she was condoning the idea of such a brawl.
"I suppose you're right. If school officials heard talk of a fight, there's no way
they'd agree to let it happen. If the students involved all consent to the fight,
however, it doesn't seem like it'd be a huge issue." I purposefully answered her
back in a way that communicated I had no problem with it.
"H-hey, Ayanokouji!" wailed Sudou.
"On top of that, no matter who you picked from our grade level, no one
would be able to beat Sudou-kun in a fight," said Horikita.
"Got that right," I replied.
Sudou didn't understand what was going on, but Horikita and I were taking
turns passing the baton back and forth to each other in this conversation. The
important thing right now wasn't to affirm the idea of actually having a fight. It
was to prove that Sudou was the strongest—without actually having him fight
anyone.
"To be frank, Sudou-kun, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Think about
it. Normally, it would be extremely difficult to pair you up with a student with Arank academic ability. However, Amasawa-san has said that she's willing to
partner with you. Understand? On top of that, she's agreeing to partner with
you on the condition of you winning a fight. A test of strength. Something
you're better at than anyone else. You should take this deal without a second's
hesitation," said Horikita.
There was no way a second-year student familiar with the school rules would
carelessly agree to engage in a fight like this. On top of that, if their opponent
was Sudou, the outcome was as clear as day. In other words…even if we agreed
to her terms here and now, the fight might never actually end up taking place.
And even in the off chance that someone did take the challenge, Sudou could
put them down.
"Ooh, nice! Nice! I'm gettin' kind of excited!" Amasawa, having just enrolled
here, naturally knew none of this. There was no way she could understand how
different this place was from a normal junior high or high school.
"But, could you promise us one thing, first? If no one shows up to this fight
other than Sudou-kun, then you'll agree to partner with him," said Horikita,
hoping to confirm an important part of the deal.
If Amasawa didn't agree to that condition, this discussion would go any
further.
"Sure. I promise. If no challenger shows up, then he'll win by default," said
Amasawa.
After Amasawa gave us her word, Horikita nodded, apparently satisfied.
"All right, Sudou-kun?" she asked, turning to Sudou.
"…Sure. If you don't have a problem with it, Suzune, then I don't mind at all,"
said Sudou, balling both his hands into fists and then smacking them together in
front of him, hard.
As far as Horikita was concerned, Amasawa's proposal was both a product of
chance and an invaluable opportunity.
"Okey dokey, I'll post a general message in the app for everyone to see. I'll tell
anyone who feels confident about their physical strength to shoot me a direct
message before the end of the day if they wanna join in," said Amasawa.
"Heh. No matter who shows up, I'll take 'em." Conveniently enough, Sudou
didn't seem to understand what Horikita was thinking. He was probably just
getting excited over the idea of fighting somebody hand-to-hand.
"Would it be all right if we select the location? We'd prefer not to
unintentionally let things slip to the school," said Horikita.
"Yeah, sure. I think you guys would probably know more about that than me
anyway. I'll let you handle that part." Amasawa must have finished composing
her message, because she turned to us for a final confirmation before sending it
out. "Okay, so once this goes out, we'll have our little test of strength. That okay
with you?"
Horikita nodded back in response. Amasawa slowly looked over all three of
us. Then she turned her phone's screen off and put it back in her pocket.
"Actually, let's not, after all," said Amasawa.
I had thought maybe she had a sudden change of heart, but that didn't seem
to be the case. Judging from the look on her face, we should assume that she
had been testing us, trying to feel us out. However, both Horikita and Sudou
were flustered by Amasawa's abrupt change.
"What's wrong?" asked Horikita.
"Even if I put out a message asking for people, it doesn't seem like anyone
would show up. Based on Sudou-senpai's physique, and the way both Horikitasenpai and Ayanokouji-senpai are acting, I can tell he's top dog in terms of
strength in your grade level," said Amasawa.
So she'd come to understand there was no need to go through the trouble of
making people fight to compare them. It seemed the little act Horikita and I had
put on, as well as Sudou's natural reaction, had been even more effective than
we had expected. If Amasawa had only noticed all this after she posted the
message, Horikita probably wouldn't have let her take it back.
In order to not let Amasawa realize that we had been acting before, Horikita
expressed her dissatisfaction. "Are you making fun of us?"
"No way, it's nothing like that, really. It's just, like, it's no fun when the
outcome's so obvious. I just want to see it with my own eyes and make sure
he's the strongest. So please don't get all mad at me, senpai."
Amasawa pressed her forefinger against her lips, lost in thought for a
moment.
"I'll still give you a chance though, so come on, forgive me?" she added.
Horikita was trying to stay in control of the conversation, but kept getting
knocked off balance by Amasawa's peculiar approach. It seemed she didn't jive
so well with people like Amasawa.
"Well, I guess besides strong guys, I like guys who can cook," said Amasawa.
"Cook?" said Horikita.
Amasawa's newest suggestion was once again something completely
unrelated to the special exam.
"So, Sudou-senpai, right? Would you make me a home-cooked meal?
Something, like, super extra yummy?" said Amasawa.
"A h-home-cooked meal?!" stammered Sudou.
Sudou, who had been brimming with confidence just moments ago, now
seemed overcome with shock after hearing her unexpected request.
"I mean, it being tasty is a prerequisite, of course. It's gotta be good. But you
also have to make something that I specifically request," said Amasawa.
"W-wait, I ain't ever cooked a meal in my life—"
"Is that so? Well, I guess that means I take back giving you a chance, hmm,"
replied Amasawa, cutting him off.
Horikita jumped into the conversation, not wanting to let this opportunity
pass us by. "Can I do it then, in Sudou-kun's place?"
"Nope. I told you before, didn't I? I said I like guys who can cook. 'Sides, if the
guy I'm partnering up with can't cook, then there's no point in partnering with
them at all," said Amasawa.
Meaning it didn't matter how well Horikita could cook. If you were a girl,
Amasawa wasn't interested.
"Well, if Sudou-senpai is no good, why not give up on him and try to find a
classmate who can cook? Oh, is that because even if you did go out and find
someone in a hurry, I still wouldn't be partnering with Sudou-senpai then, hm?"
said Amasawa, flashing a devilish grin. "Maybe you should work on turning
Sudou-senpai into a master cook. Of course, I gotta wonder if you can really do
that in time, huh. I am pretty popular, you know. If you don't hurry, I'll probably
find a partner."
That wasn't just a hollow threat. She would probably find a partner in the nottoo-distant future. There were many exceptionally talented students other than
Horikita in our grade level. There was no need for Amasawa to deliberately take
on the risk of partnering with the likes of Sudou. If anything, this was nothing
more than a playful whim on her part. If she changed her mind even a little,
that would be the end of it.
But a classmate who had poor grades and was a guy who was good at
cooking? No one else came to mind at the moment. In that case, this request
from Amasawa might just be a no-go for Class D. Giving up on her and going
after other students would probably be a better use of our time.
When Amasawa saw we weren't giving her an answer, she went on to add
something else.
"Okay. Well, how about I give you a little special treatment? I did want to
partner with a guy who's good at cooking, but… If you can satisfy my taste buds,
I'd be willing to team up with a good fighter like Sudou-senpai," said Amasawa.
She was offering us a compromise. Amasawa wanted to partner up with a guy
who was a good fighter or a good cook. In that case, we could certainly satisfy
her.
"I guess it would be like teaming up with a good cook and a good fighter at
the same time, huh?" she added.
Amasawa was saying she would be willing to partner up with Sudou as long as
another guy could satisfy her. I wondered how Horikita would respond…? But
the problem was that I couldn't really think of a student who fit the bill. We also
seriously lacked the time necessary to teach someone how to cook.
"Ayanokouji-kun. If I recall, you once boasted to me that you're quite the
skilled cook, didn't you?" said Horikita.
What in the world was Horikita thinking, asking me a question like that so
openly? I had never once told her anything of the sort, much less boasted about
it. While it would have been easy for me to deny her assertion, it seemed
necessary for me to play along and make sure our stories matched. The chances
of Sudou being able to partner with a student with an A in academic ability
weren't exactly high.
"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that cooking is my one and only area of
expertise," I replied.
"Yes, quite. Well then, if you'll permit it, Amasawa-san, how about
Ayanokouji-kun?" asked Horikita.
"As long as it's a guy, I don't care who. But is he really a good cook, though? I
mean, you can go ahead and say whatever you want, talk is cheap, but I'm
going to judge you pretty harshly, okay?" said Amasawa.
"That'll be fine, of course. Isn't that right?" said Horikita, turning to me.
"Yeah, I guess so."
As soon as I agreed to it, Amasawa immediately clapped her hands together.
"Okay! How about we get this show on the road and you show me what you
can do?"
Things were moving way too quickly. However, what Amasawa had just said
seemed like she was both sealing the deal and giving us an ultimatum. She
wanted to avoid giving me enough of a grace period that I could go learn how to
cook. She wanted to ascertain whether I really was as good as I claimed to be.
Since Horikita needed to make sure Amasawa believed her lie, she couldn't go
ahead and say yes to her request. Even if I were to go ahead and cook for
Amasawa now, with my current level of skill, it was clear it wouldn't amount to
much. And even if Amasawa didn't actually judge me that harshly, I would
probably still end up failing to meet her standards.
"While we'd love to, could you possibly give us a little time? Ayanokouji-kun
and I are in the process of reaching out to first-year students to find partners
for our classmates. Aside from Sudou-kun, there are many other students who
need help. If the other classes beat us to the punch, then we'll really be hurting.
Even at this very moment, our rivals are scrambling to find partners," said
Horikita, explaining our situation to Amasawa, to see if she understood what we
were dealing with. "If possible, we'd like to put this on hold until after class on
Friday."
She rejected Amasawa's request to have me cook something for her right
away. On top of that, she asked if we could postpone things for a couple of
days, suggesting we could make some time on the weekend.
"I see, I see. Well, I suppose you're right, it wouldn't be good for little ol' me
to take up all your time myself." Then Amasawa offered a new proposal. "I'd be
all right doing it later tonight, though. What about that? That wouldn't be a
problem, would it?"
"A first-year student going to a second-year student's dorm in the middle of
the night—and a boy's room, to boot—would most certainly be improper," said
Horikita.
"Oh, I see. But waitin' until the weekend is kinda tough for me. And I'd lose
the chance to partner up with any other of my senpai then… Right?"
Just as I'd thought, Horikita's suggestion to wait until the weekend wasn't
going to fly. Amasawa came back with a pretty harsh reply this time.
"But since this is kinda, like, fate or something, I'll give you just one day. If you
tell me you can't cook something for me tomorrow after class, I guess we'll just
have to pretend this whole thing never happened," said Amasawa.
That was probably the very last compromise she was willing to make. She was
drawing a hard line. I got the sense that if we got too greedy, Amasawa would
immediately pull back. If Horikita didn't slip up in her bargaining, then…
"You're right. I certainly cannot deny that my request would place quite a
burden on you. And besides, I'm sure you don't want to carelessly give us time
to practice cooking. Right?" said Horikita.
"Oh, gosh, no, I didn't think that far ahead or anything," said Amasawa.
"…All right. Can we seal the deal then, with these terms?" asked Horikita.
We only had one day of preparation time. However, if we didn't stick to those
terms, we weren't going to be able to hold onto Amasawa. What Horikita was
agreeing to could be interpreted as desperate measures taken under pressure
of necessity, but she signaled that she agreed to the amended proposal all the
same.
"It's settled, then." Amasawa agreed readily, having no objection to meeting
up tomorrow after class like she'd suggested earlier.
"However, that's as long as you don't take back what you said, like you did
earlier when we were talking about having a fight," said Horikita.
"Okay. I promise. If I determine that his cooking skills are legit, then I'll team
up with Sudou-senpai right then and there." Although it was just a verbal
promise, Amasawa nodded and answered honestly.
"Please, I'm beggin' ya, Ayanokouji. Use your cookin' skills to get me a
partner, somehow!" wailed Sudou.
Given the situation, I figured I'd play along. But I never imagined things would
turn out like this.
"Okay, so, how about we meet up in front of Keyaki Mall at four thirty
tomorrow after class? Would that be okay, Ayanokouji-senpai?" asked
Amasawa.
"At the mall? Not at the dorms?" I asked in return.
"What I'm gonna ask you to make is a secret! And besides, you're gonna have
to buy the ingredients and stuff to make it, right?" said Amasawa.
I see. So she was going to judge me on everything, starting with what I
bought.
"Is it okay if I accompany him too?" asked Horikita, probably looking to offer
me advice, so that our ruse wouldn't be discovered.
But our opponent wasn't going to let that slide so easily.
"Nope! You could give him advice, by like, signaling with your eyes and stuff.
I'm going to be reaaaaaally strict with how I judge!" said Amasawa.
Meaning I would somehow have to make it work all on my own tomorrow.
"You'll be fine, right, Ayanokouji-senpai?" asked Amasawa.
"Yeah, no problem."
I figured that I'd give her a straight answer for the time being, but man, this
had turned into quite the ordeal.
"Okay, then I'll see you tomorrow. Bye bye!" said Amasawa, before
proceeding to go back down the stairs, seemingly satisfied.
"Horikita, I'm sure you already know this, but—"
"Be quiet right now. I'm thinking of a plan," said Horikita, cutting me off.
Even though she told me she'd think of a plan, we only had one day. Just how
far could I really go, considering I had only the bare minimum level of cooking
skill?
Chapter 5:
Ichika's Test
WEDNESDAY ARRIVED, marking the third day of the special exam period. At
eight in the morning, the OAA app was refreshed for the second time, and the
number of partner options we had inevitably dwindled.
"Thirty-four new partnerships have been decided, huh?"
Combined with the ones decided on Monday, that came to a total of fifty-six
partnerships. Considering that there was a maximum of one hundred and fiftyseven possible pairs, that meant that 30 percent of students had already settled
into partnerships.
The number of partnerships established yesterday were largely driven by
Class 2-B, meaning many of them had something to do with Ichinose. It seemed
several first-year students had carefully thought through their options after the
meet-and-greet, and then decided to partner up afterward. Basically, I could
confirm that many first-year students with a low level of academic ability had
partnered with Ichinose and others from her class. Also, considering that some
honors students' names were now gone from the list of first-years, and some
names of Class 2-C students were also gone, I could infer that Class C had
successfully negotiated a few using points or the like.
In my own class, five partnerships had been decided, starting with Kushida. I
checked Class 1-B's page and saw that Yagami Takuya also had a partner. He
might have paired up with Kushida. But the strange thing was that not a single
person from Class 1-D had formed a partnership yet. Looking at the entirety of
both of our grade levels, this was unique. If I didn't get out there and really
make a move now, I would probably be stuck. There wasn't a single student
here who could look at my scores objectively and tell me, 'Hey, let's team up.'
It was only natural that a student, regardless of whether they were
academically gifted or not themselves, would want to team up with someone
smart. Unlike the second-year students, who had learned to act for the sake of
the class, the first-year students probably weren't going to care that much
about anyone else. They were more likely to see even their own classmates as
rivals.
At the very least, people would put off looking at me until the high achieving
students were taken. That was exactly why Tsukishiro must have told his agent
not to let this opportunity slip by. Naturally, any student who came to me
looking for a partnership or allowed me to partner with them would arouse my
suspicion flag. However, if I remained indecisive forever and didn't settle on a
partner, my chances of getting paired up with Tsukishiro's assassin would
increase.
I needed to be certain that my partner wasn't Tsukishiro's assassin, but that
probably wasn't going to be easy. In truth, I couldn't even imagine what kind of
act this person was putting on to pass off as someone else. I could look up
everyone's face, name, and scores in the OAA app, but there were no clues to
be found there. If all one hundred and sixty first-year students were my
enemies, then that would be checkmate for me. No hope of escape.
That was such a ridiculous notion. I didn't think even Tsukishiro could possibly
pull all that off, but…
No, that wasn't it. The important thing was for me to figure out a way to
survive, even if everyone was my enemy. For now, I needed to pick a safe
choice from the remaining one-hundred and four available students. There was
no discrimination on the basis of sex for students raised in the White Room,
making it impossible to narrow down the list of suspects on that front because
they adhered to gender equality as a principle.
So how should I exclude people as possible suspects? One conceivable way
would be based on physique. Meals served in the White Room were strictly
controlled, down to the finest details. It was basically unthinkable that any child
raised in that environment could become obese. Meaning that if I were to pick
an obese student as my partner, I could avoid the White Room agent… That was
one simple plan that came to mind.
But that wasn't an absolute guarantee. It was entirely possible that the
student from the White Room had been preparing to get me expelled for
several months now. With that in mind, it wouldn't be impossible for them to
plump up or slim down if they wanted to. That would be easy for someone who
endured the rigorous curriculum of the White Room to pull off.
But even if I were to put all that aside, I still had some doubts about choosing
a student with a sub-standard physique. Granted, it was hard to be sure,
because full body pictures weren't displayed in the OAA app. There were only
two students who were clearly obese, but I couldn't rule out the possibility that
either of them could have been sent by Tsukishiro. That was because I had to
assume that the assassin might not just be someone from the White Room, but
also someone from the general student population. They might have been
offered the chance of going to a better college upon graduation if they got me
expelled, for instance.
My next thought was to see if I could narrow down the list based on academic
ability. That would also be difficult. If the student came from the White Room,
then it wouldn't be a problem at all for them to get a perfect score on the
entrance exam. They could easily get an academic ability ranking of A or A+
without even trying.
In other words, they could freely control what scores they got. And I was sure
whoever this agent was had heard about the OAA app being implemented. It
wouldn't even be surprising if the agent had gotten an academic ability ranking
of E and was lying in wait for me. Similarly, it would be impossible for me to
narrow it down based on whether they had been sorted into Class A or Class D.
I understood all that, but right now, I had nothing to work with. No way to
narrow down the list of suspects, no matter what angle I came at this situation
from. There was something I needed to do now. Namely, I needed to look at
students with my own two eyes and confirm their authenticity. If I knew for
sure that they weren't not my enemy, I could partner with them or ask them to
become a collaborator.
I set myself one goal. Starting today, whenever I arrived at class in the
morning, during lunch, and after class ended, I would reach out to the first-year
students that I saw over the course of the day, in the order I saw them. Then, I
would try to gain their cooperation. There was no way Tsukishiro had sent
someone I could detect at a glance, so I had no choice but to fight back with the
element of chance, which was something he couldn't interfere with.
My academic ability ranking, C, was by no means high. I wouldn't be able to
use that as a weapon. But it wasn't like there would be no students willing to
partner up with me. If I did some digging, I'd probably find some people.
5.1
I WALKED OUT OF THE DORMS and headed to the school building. While on my
way, I quickly spotted a couple of first-year girls walking along and chatting with
one another. Their names were Kurihara Kasuga and Konishi Tetsuko. They
were both in Class A, but unfortunately, also academically gifted students who
had solidified partnerships on the first day. It would be impossible for me to ask
either of them to be my partner.
Well, I supposed the fact that they'd already decided on their partners wasn't
that much of a problem. If anything, it made them the best kind of students to
turn into collaborators.
It's just, well, it was kind of difficult for me to actually talk to them…
Even though there was the fact that I'd be approaching them under the
pretense of needing to find a partner for this special exam, how exactly would a
second-year guy approaching a couple of first-year girls appear to an observer?
I couldn't help but wonder. I didn't really have the guts to just start talking to
them and go "Good morning!" like Yousuke or anything. It was probably out of
the question for me to just stroll up to them and confidently ask them to
introduce me to a friend I could pair up with, too.
At any rate, I couldn't afford not to at least try. Giving in right here and now
wouldn't exactly be smart. Right. Precisely so. I'd made up my mind.
But what was the best time to make my move? Rather than insert myself into
their conversation while they were happily chatting, I thought I should wait until
that conversation died down a bit.
While I was observing the two girls, another voice called out to me from
behind.
"Good morning, Ayanokouji-senpai."
It was Nanase Tsubasa, the girl who was with Housen the other day. She was
now the third first-year I'd seen today, and she was giving me a sunny smile.
"Oh, hey. Morning."
I hadn't expected someone to come up and try to talk to me, so there was a
bit of an awkward pause.
"Do you need something from those two girls? Would you like me to talk to
them?" said Nanase, suggesting she reach out to them on my behalf.
Nanase was a first-year student, too. If she did call out to those girls, it was
highly likely I'd end up talking to all three of them at once. That would be an
even greater hassle.
"Nah, it's okay," I replied.
"Oh, really?" said Nanase curiously. She walked by me, just about keeping
pace.
Just as I was trying to figure out how to approach those other two girls, I'd
unexpectedly started up a conversation with Nanase. I was extremely grateful
she'd saved me the hassle of trying to talk to somebody, but…
There was no way a first-year student coming up to talk to me was a
coincidence. It was quite possible she'd been waiting for me to come to school,
timing her move just right. And that possibility didn't just apply to Nanase, but
any and every first-year student who took the initiative to come up and talk to
me. Just like Amasawa yesterday, she was a student who'd approached me,
rather than the other way around.
"I apologize for Housen-kun's rudeness the other day," said Nanase.
"Nah, no worries. He didn't do anything to me. There's no need to apologize,"
I told her.
"Still, that doesn't change the fact that he caused trouble for you. Even
though I was there to stop Housen-kun from doing things like that, I'm now
keenly aware that I'm, well, powerless," said Nanase.
Unlike the wild, aggressive Housen, she was extremely personable and spoke
in a polite manner. Her highly preferable attitude, combined with the fact that
she had a B in academic ability, made her a fantastic candidate for a partner. It
wouldn't have been surprising if she'd been scouted by people other than me.
But here we were, on the third day of the exam period, and she still hadn't
partnered with any second-year students.
However, that was probably due to Class 1-D's policy. Aside from her
academic ability, she had scores of C+ or greater in physical ability, adaptability,
and societal contribution. Very well-balanced scores. At first glance, I couldn't
see anything about her that remotely resembled a flaw.
Which was exactly what begged the question of why Nanase Tsubasa was
placed in Class D.
Basically, the idea of Class D was that students who were assigned to it
tended to have some kind of problem. For example, people like Yousuke and
Kushida might appear perfect on the surface, but when you dug deeper, you
realized that wasn't the case. Meaning I couldn't deny the possibility that
Nanase also had hidden problems of her own. However, there was also no
guarantee that this year's batch of Class D students would necessarily follow
the same trend.
Personally, I didn't mind if someone had a few problems with their
personality or their values. Whether I asked her to be my partner or my
collaborator, the only important thing was whether Nanase was on Tsukishiro's
side or not. I was concerned about the look she gave me when I met her for the
first time the other day, when she was with Housen, but…that look was gone,
now. The way she looked at me now seemed normal.
"Have you decided on a partner for the upcoming special exam?" I asked her,
deciding to press forward to try and find out more about the person known as
Nanase.
"Me? No, I haven't decided yet," she replied.
"So, have people been coming up to you, to ask?"
"Yes, they have. So far, I've been approached by upperclassmen from Class A
and Class C," said Nanase.
As expected of someone who had a B in academic ability. It seemed like
people had been talking to her.
"Why haven't you agreed to partner up with anybody?" I asked.
I didn't know if it honestly had to do with academic ability, or if it was about
points, but decided to press the matter anyway.
"I'm sorry, but I can't answer that," Nanase apologized, bowing her head.
"No, you don't have to answer any questions that you don't want to. There's
nothing to apologize for."
It didn't seem likely I'd get any answers about whether this was a personal
problem on Nanase's part or a problem with Class 1-D at this stage. In that case,
I figured I'd try attacking this situation from a slightly different angle.
"If it's okay with you, how about we have both our classes work together to
help find suitable partners? Class D to Class D?" I suggested.
The proposal I made included finding a partner for myself. Horikita also
considered Class 1-D the key to this exam, and Housen seemed to harbor some
kind of feelings towards Class 2-D. It probably wasn't a bad suggestion.
"Have our classes…cooperate with one another?" said Nanase.
"Yeah. A lot of students are trying to team up with people who are
academically gifted for the sake of getting good scores on this test. But if they
do that, the students who struggle academically won't get picked, and a lot of
them will be left behind. If the students who struggle academically pair up
together, those students will be in danger of being expelled. That includes both
us second-years and you first-years," I reasoned.
"Yes. I understand that. I'd like to avoid that happening as well, if possible,"
said Nanase.
"Yeah. In order to make sure that doesn't happen, we need a proper balance.
Even though we won't be able to secure one of the top spots, we need to find
partners who can make sure no one gets a failing grade."
We were Class D. In terms of public image, we were by far the worst off.
Which was exactly why Class 1-D, which had the same position as us in the
hierarchy, should be likely to agree to this proposal.
"What do you think?" I added.
"I agree with you. I would like to cooperate with you, Ayanokouji-senpai, if
possible. It's just…" said Nanase.
"It's just?" I repeated.
"I don't know how many of my classmates would be willing to lend a hand.
And on top of that, some of the students who are more confident in their
academic abilities are already in the process of deciding who their partners will
be, privately," said Nanase.
Many of the students who could be major players in this exam and really help
with our efforts were instead looking for solid partners of their own, aiming to
get top scores on the exam. The two girls walking up ahead of me fit that
description to a tee. The reason that students hadn't settled on a partner yet
was probably because of other issues, like points.
After all, the important thing to know about this test was that the top thirty
percent of scorers would be rewarded. So, the act of rescuing students with
poor grades meant throwing away your chances at those rewards.
"We don't exactly need everyone to cooperate though. If we coordinate
things well, we should be able to make it through this special exam just fine," I
said.
Even if some of the students had already set up partnerships, it wouldn't be a
major problem.
"That's true. However, it's not as though there are no other problems."
Nanase seemed to agree with the core idea of my proposal, but she had a grim
look on her face. I didn't need to think hard about the reason why. I could see
it.
"You mean… Housen, I think his name was, right? It sure seems like he's a
major player in Class D." I pried further into the internal affairs of Class 1-D,
bringing up something that I was almost completely certain about, thanks to the
interaction I had with Shiratori the other day.
"Yes. Many of the boys and girls in our class have already started obediently
following Housen-kun's orders," said Nanase.
So what was once just speculation had now become certainty. It seemed
Housen had already seized control of his class and was trying to keep it in his
grasp. Which meant their strategy of blocking partnerships from being easily
established might have been put forward by Housen, too. If that was the case,
then Housen wasn't just a student with significant strength. He also had the
insight, observational skills, and composure to take stock of what was going on
around him.
"Are you in a kind of a special position or something, Nanase? I didn't get the
feeling that you were all that subservient to Housen."
"That's because I will never yield to violence," said Nanase.
Her words were so forceful that it was hard to believe they came from her
mouth, given her appearance. The statement wasn't something she threw out
there casually. There was something significant behind it. I thought I sensed
something—maybe confidence—reflected in the frank depths of her eyes.
"Senpai, what…do you think about violence?" she asked.
"What do I think?" I repeated.
"I mean, are you pro-violence or anti-violence?" said Nanase.
If she was looking for my thoughts about Housen's way of doing things, then
there was only one answer I could give her.
"I suppose if I had to choose between those two answers, then I would say
pro," I stated, clearly.
I was expecting some kind of immediate reaction after I said that, but I was
met with silence. When I turned my gaze toward Nanase to check her
expression, I noticed that the reserved look she had moments ago had
disappeared. Now, she had the same eyes as when she looked at me the other
day, when she was walking away with Housen.
After a couple seconds of waiting, Nanase finally spoke up. "If I had to pick
one, I'd also choose pro."
I couldn't sense any emotion behind the response. What she'd just said could
be either the truth or as a lie. Had Housen acknowledged the force of her
conviction to not give into violence, and placed her by his side?
No… That wasn't the only reason. Back then, Housen reacted strongly when
Nanase had mentioned "that," whatever it was.
There was no guarantee whatsoever that Housen was necessarily a stronger
person than Nanase. I was curious about that, but this probably wasn't the right
time to ask about it. She didn't seem like the kind of student who would talk
unnecessarily about things that shouldn't be said. I shouldn't carelessly do
anything that might make her even warier.
Should I pull back for the time being? There would probably be a chance to try
again, with Horikita.
"In any case, if Housen's the one deciding what your class does, this plan
might be difficult to pull off." I started to ponder the idea of contacting other
classes while still maintaining a good relationship with Nanase, but…
"Well, um, pardon me, but if you're all right with it… Would you like me to try
to help set up a meeting?" Nanase offered, perhaps because she thought my
suggestion about forming a cooperative relationship between our classes was a
good plan.
"I really appreciate the offer, but are you sure that's okay?"
"Yes. But I don't know how many students will cooperate, so I cannot make
any definitive promises. In the worst-case scenario, it might just be me. Is that
all right with you?" asked Nanase.
Let's put aside for a moment the question of what I thought about Nanase. It
was important, for the time being, for Horikita and I to have as many
opportunities as possible to develop connections with Class 1-D, for the sake of
our classmates.
"Of course. I'm sure Horikita will be overjoyed, too."
"Is Horikita-senpai the leader of Class 2-D?"
"Yeah. She's the one keeping our class together right now."
I decided to tell Horikita it would be a good idea to set up a meeting between
both Class Ds, with Nanase's help. I didn't know the best way to go about doing
that, though, since talking openly about it in the classroom would definitely get
people's attention.
"Oh, uh… I might not be able to give you a response immediately. Is that all
right?" said Nanase.
"Yeah, that's fine. I'll try to get things set up on my end as soon as possible."
"Okay."
Nanase and I then exchanged contact information, agreeing to get in touch
later.