"Y-you've…!"
"C'mon, you got eyes, you can tell what this is. It's a knife, man. A knife. And a
real one, no doubt," said Housen.
From the way it shone, it was clearly different from the retractable knife toys
you saw used as party props.
"You say no to my offer, and I'll stab Ayanokouji with this," said Housen.
"Stop this nonsense!" shouted Horikita.
"What nonsense? Nothing nonsense 'bout it. If I can get points out of it, I'll
gladly go this far. You get me?"
He slowly approached me, holding the knife in his right hand.
"After all this, though, I still don't get it. What makes you so special?" he said,
looking me in the eyes. He sounded both dismissive and exasperated. "Hey,
maybe I didn't even need to do all this, take on such a big risk and all."
What he was saying made it sound almost like this absurd series of events
was all a result of him taking precautions. Being wary of something. Step by
step, Housen drew closer to me.
The one who stepped in and tried to stop him was the person from his class.
Nanase.
"Please stop. Don't do anything else. I just can't… I can't accept your way of
doing things, after all," said Nanase.
She got between us, spreading her arms out wide, stopping Housen in his
tracks.
"Move, Nanase. You're supposed be standin' watch to make sure no one runs
away. So go stand watch," said Housen.
"I thought that if it were for the sake of our class, I could lend you my support
until the end, Housen-kun. No matter how terrible your strategies were, I was
convinced of that. But it seems I was wrong."
Even though Nanase was standing in front of Housen and barring his path, she
directed her gaze squarely at Horikita.
"It was impossible for you to work something out with Housen-kun all along,
Horikita-senpai. You got the idea of forming a partnership after Housen-kun
came to your floor and said something about your class. But…that was nothing
more than a ruse, all along. Even if you did pay them a ridiculous sum of points,
like the five million he's asking for, you would still have suffered the same fate,"
said Nanase.
After hearing this shocking truth from Nanase, Horikita couldn't help but feel
even more shaken and upset. No matter how hard she pressed Housen to
negotiate, no matter how much effort she put into it, he was never going to
actually listen to her. And this wasn't Horikita's fault at all. There was no one on
our side who could have predicted things would turn out this way.
This inexplicable series of events was probably the result of an unequal
distribution of information. There was information that was given to Housen
and Nanase, but not given to us. Under such circumstances, there had never
been a way for us to have any real negotiations.
"Damn, all your yappin' is really pissing me off. You're the one who said you'd
let me handle everything in the first place, remember? If I take out Ayanokouji,
our class is gonna get tons of cash. It's obvious how much of an advantage
that'll give us," said Housen.
"Yes, I suppose you're right. But I still cannot figure out why it's only
Ayanokouji-senpai who needs to be targeted like this," said Nanase.
"That ain't any of my concern. If you're gonna get in my way, then you can
just piss off too!" shouted Housen. His huge form barreled down on Nanase and
slapped her out of the way just like he'd done to Horikita before.
As I stood there by myself, watching this spectacle, I came to one single
conclusion. And with that, everything made sense.
"Here I come, Ayanokouji!"
Held in Housen's right hand was, quite clearly, a dangerous weapon.
Naturally, everyone assumed he had meant to use it against me. Housen,
smiling, raised the knife. I pitched forward, readying myself, while at the same
time feeling my thoughts becoming clearer.
"Ayanokouji-kun…!"
While everyone else thought I should obviously run from Housen in a
situation like this, I was, instead, rushing toward him. I bet they were all
thinking the same thing in that moment—that I had lost my mind. After all,
facing off with someone holding a knife wasn't exactly the mark of a sane
person. And Housen wasn't some weak, two-bit opponent, either. He was
already formidable to begin with.
But seeing this, Housen's smile widened. He probably thought I was an idiot
for leaping toward him. But I wasn't actually trying to stop him from stabbing
me by rushing at him like this.
Housen, sensing that I was getting in close, accelerated the downward arc of
his arm. What he was swinging the knife at—what he was aiming the blade at—
wasn't my body.
Housen Kazuomi was aiming for himself.
As he was mid-swing, I used my left hand to stop the knife from reaching its
intended destination. I didn't do so by grabbing his arm. Nor did I try to get out
of the way. Instead, I thrust my palm forward.
"Wha—?!" shouted Housen in surprise.
What I'd just done was something he clearly hadn't expected. Well, I
supposed it would've been nearly impossible for him to predict my actions. No
one would assume I'd purposefully let myself be stabbed.
The arm Housen had swung down came to a complete stop, and the smile on
his face vanished in an instant.
"You… Ayanokouji!" he snarled.
He was baffled, naturally. Anyone would have been perplexed by my decision
to deliberately allow myself to be stabbed. My actions must have seemed
desperate and reckless.
Fresh blood spurted from where the knife had impaled my palm.
"That knife. Or to be more accurate, that petty knife. It's the one I
purchased," I told Housen.
"What are you on about…?"
"You were going to stab yourself in the leg using that knife. A knife that
belongs to me. Afterward, all you had to do was make a fuss about being
stabbed, and then you'd have me expelled, using your wound as physical
evidence. That was your plan, wasn't it?" I asked him.
Judging from the way Housen had held the knife as he swung it, it was clear
he wasn't intending to stab someone else. He was keeping the blade at a height
that made it look like someone else was stabbing him, and it was obvious he
swung the knife while holding the handle in reverse, so he could thrust it into
his leg with more force.
"Ha…! So, you figured all that out, but still let yourself get stabbed, huh? You
outta your mind?" replied Housen with a dry chuckle, though he was certainly a
little shaken.
"Because this was the best way to stop you completely. Besides, you had a
similar plan in mind, anyway. You came here prepared to receive a severe
injury."
Even if you understood it to be a valid strategy, most people couldn't bring
themselves to commit such a dangerous act of self-harm. Which was exactly
why he would've been able to stab himself and claim I'd been the one to do it.
"It seems there's some other kind of special exam going on. One that was
given to a limited number of you first-years. And judging from your
conversation with Nanase, the nature of that exam is about getting me
expelled. The idea was to somehow lure me out to this place and force a fight
to happen. You'd torment Horikita and Sudou, then say I flew into a rage and
came at you with a knife that I happened to be carrying, just in case, and
stabbed you. Then you'd have me expelled… That's your entire absurd plot," I
told him.
Even if the school was supposedly being more tolerant of fighting, going so far
as using a knife wouldn't be met simply by suspension. It would probably lead
not just to expulsion, but also to criminal charges.
"I heard you weren't nobody to mess with. But to be real with you, I didn't get
the feelin' that you were all that tough, so I didn't think much of you. I mean, I
never imagined you'd just let yourself get stabbed like that… How'd you even
know this knife belongs to you?" said Housen.
"I've been doing some research of my own. As of yesterday, I was still the only
person who'd purchased a petty knife here. And yet, you have one. Which
means the answer is pretty obvious."
It would have been simple enough for me to slip under Housen's swing and
grab his arm. However, that wouldn't fundamentally solve the problem at hand.
All he had to do was get his distance from me and try to stab himself all over
again. The only way to stop him for certain was to make sure he couldn't pull
off his strategy at all.
Housen tried to pull the knife out of my hand, but I kept his fist locked in
place with the sheer strength of my grip.
"…What the hell… are you…?" huffed Housen.
Having understood the extent of my strength, he completely lost the
composure he had just moments ago.
"Well, then, what're you going to do now?" I asked him. "Even though I'm the
owner of this knife, you're the one who stabbed me. And on top of that, I know
you tried to buy one yourself ahead of time. If you can't talk your way out of
this, you're going to be expelled, Housen."
My fingerprints were on the handle, but so were Housen's. And the fact that
the knife was sticking through my palm right now couldn't easily be explained
away. The very strategy Housen had devised had come back to bite him.
"Wait, you saw this far ahead…?!"
After Housen had finished glaring at me, he let go of the knife and put some
distance between us. The knife remained embedded in my palm. And now, the
tables had completely turned.
In the meantime, Horikita and Sudou slowly stood back up, beginning to
recover their strength.
"A-are you all right… Ayanokouji-kun?" asked Horikita.
"Ayanokouji…" said Sudou, amazed.
"Don't worry."
It was understandable that my two classmates were perplexed by everything
that was happening, but that would have to wait. It was essential for me to
completely shut Housen down right now.
"Damn, how much do you even know…? Wait, Nanase! Don't tell me you
went and blabbed to him. Did you?" said Housen.
"I didn't say anything," replied Nanase.
"I first felt like there was something odd back when I was shopping with
Amasawa at Keyaki Mall," I replied.
"Amasawa-san? Are you saying she's involved in this…?" asked Horikita.
"Yeah. When Housen was about to buy a knife, she stopped him. The store
clerk saw it happen. You're the one who came up with this absurd plan, Housen,
but Amasawa was the one who perfected it. If you stabbed yourself with a knife
that you'd bought, the school would investigate and you'd be in trouble. But if
you could somehow make sure I had bought the knife instead, there was a good
chance you could completely turn the situation around."
The reason Amasawa had deliberately chosen the petty knife was because it
was the only one that came with a sheath, which likely made it the most
convenient choice for Amasawa and Housen. Of course, there were other ways
to conceal an exposed blade, but if you considered that you'd be carrying it
around with you, buying one with a sheath was the easiest and most reliable
option.
I had felt like there was something off when Amasawa had picked out this
knife, without any hesitation whatsoever, in a store that she should have never
been in before. That was the first thing that struck me. Then, Amasawa visited
my room on Friday. She said she'd lost her hair tie, but the only reason she'd
come by was to recover the knife. It was safe to assume she'd deliberately
planted the hair tie or was simply lying about it.
Also, it was possible I'd notice the knife was missing if she came to retrieve it
too soon. So she made sure to wait until the last possible minute, seeking the
right time. She took the knife out of my room without getting her own
fingerprints on it and offered it to Housen. If she hadn't been able to recover
the knife, they probably would've postponed their plan.
"Tch. Guess workin' with that rando was a mistake, huh?" said Housen.
"No, not really. It was thanks to Amasawa that your plan came together. If it
were just you acting alone, everything would've fallen apart," I replied.
"Whatever. Anyway, looks like you've got the upper hand here now though,
Ayanokouji-senpai."
The blood from my wound had also gotten on Housen's clothes. There was no
way he could talk his way out of this. Even if he took the knife back now and
stabbed himself in the leg, he wasn't going to be able to spin this in his favor. Of
course, if he did try to do that, I'd just use my full strength to stop him.
Housen, standing across from me right now, could likely sense this much
himself. The important part was what came next.
"Horikita, Sudou, and I can keep this matter between us," I told him.
"What are you plottin'? You're just gonna throw away this valuable chance to
get me thrown outta school?" said Housen.
"In exchange, I have two conditions."
"Two?"
He probably knew the first one without me having to say it.
"You'll agree to initiate a fair, cooperative partnership with Horikita, between
our two classes."
"Well, ain't like I got much of a choice, since if I say no, I'll get kicked out.
What's the other condition?" asked Housen.
"I want you to partner with me for the upcoming special exam."
From the moment I'd first laid eyes on Housen, I had thought that if I were in
a position to select whatever partner I wanted, he'd be the guy I'd pick. While I
had several reasons for thinking so, the biggest one was that he didn't seem to
care one bit about attracting attention to his problematic behavior. If I were in
Tsukishiro's position, I would have instructed whoever he sent after me to avoid
doing anything to stand out.
If negotiations with Horikita didn't work out, I'd considered reaching out to
Housen privately and trying to come to terms with him. In that sense, this chain
of events was actually quite convenient for me.
"…You serious?" asked Housen.
"You've only just enrolled here. There are still countless things you haven't
done yet. If you get expelled right now, it'll be all over. You'll never get to enjoy
any of them. I don't know how things were back when you were in junior high,
but all that talk about how you're a match for Ryuuen will end up being just that
—talk. People will say you really weren't that big a deal. And based on what I've
seen from Ryuuen over the past year, you can't even begin to compare to him
as you are now. He's strong," I replied, taunting him.
"You…!"
Housen Kazuomi was an incredibly proud guy. He thought highly of himself,
considering himself a strong person. Even though he might be physically
stronger than Ryuuen, it would infuriate him to be told Ryuuen was actually
better than him.
More importantly, though, there was no way he could stomach the idea of
being outsmarted by me. If Housen, who had a B+ in academic ability, were to
deliberately score a zero on the test, he would inevitable be expelled.
Of course, it was entirely possible he'd try and take me down with him as
revenge. While I was as certain as I possibly could be that he wasn't the White
Room student, it was also true that I wasn't 100% certain. I could never fully
clear him of that one suspicion, no matter how thoroughly I investigated and
examined.
However, that had changed now. Even if Housen did deliberately cut corners
on the test, the fact that I'd been stabbed remained. If it was clear there'd been
something bizarre happening behind the scenes, not even Tsukishiro would be
able to force my expulsion right away. The school would certainly want to
investigate the matter to figure out exactly what had happened, and why
Housen got a zero on the exam. Whatever tricks Tsukishiro tried to pull, I'd hold
my ground until expulsion was no longer a possibility.
"Hey, all right, pretty good there, Ayanokouji-senpai! Never had an opponent
that got my blood pumping like you before. You should know, I ain't gonna be
tryin' to just make you surrender with brute strength anymore. I'm gonna really
beat ya to death, so I hope you're lookin' forward to it," said Housen.
That slight hint of him wavering was now a thing of the past. Housen had
already changed gears and was focusing on the next battle.
"I'll stay here. There are still some things I should explain to Ayanokoujisenpai," said Nanase.
"Huh? What are you plottin', Nanase?"
"I've decided it would be in the best interests of Class 1-D for me to tell him
some things. Ayanokouji-senpai and Horikita-senpai are intensely wary of us
right now. If that's the case, don't you think it would be a good idea for us to
make sure they're cautious of all of the other classes, too?" she answered.
While I didn't understand exactly what Nanase was getting at, Housen
seemed to accept her proposal.
"Whatever, go ahead," he replied.
And with that, he was the first to leave, heading for the dormitory.
7.3
IT WAS NOW just Horikita, Sudou, the first-year student Nanase, and me.
While I was sure there were a few things for us to discuss, there was something
else we needed to attend to first. Namely calming down Horikita, who had lost
her cool after seeing the knife piercing my left hand.
"Wh-what should we do…? The…the knife, I mean, should we…should we take
it out?" she stammered. The normally cool and collected Horikita had probably
never been in a situation like this before.
"No. I know it's probably not great to look at, but we should leave it alone for
the time being." If we just carelessly pulled it out, it might result in me losing a
lot more blood. "More importantly, what about you two? Are you okay?"
"Looking at your injury, I'd say I'm practically unscathed…" said Horikita.
"Yeah… I'm definitely okay too," said Sudou.
He came closer, until he was standing right beside me. His face contorted in
disgust when he saw the miserable state of my left hand.
"Dude, how can you be so calm with your hand like that?"
"Hm, dunno. I wonder."
I just did what I normally did. Nothing special.
"But, dude, like…you are crazy good in a fight, wow…" added Sudou.
"I just forced myself to stop the knife is all," I replied.
"…That ain't how it looked to me though, man," said Sudou, speaking his
mind about what he'd thought when he saw me charge at Housen just a little
while ago.
Sudou had been in a number of violent situations in his lifetime. I didn't think
I could fake him out, and I probably couldn't deceive Horikita, either.
I took out my phone with my right hand and dialed the number that would
connect me with Chabashira.
"I'm going to need a little help. I'm behind the first-year dormitory building
right now. Can you hurry on over? Discreetly, of course. Oh, and also, please
bring a bath towel," I told her.
Although Chabashira seemed a little baffled by my sudden call, she sensed the
urgency of the situation and promised to head over right away. In the
meantime, it would probably be best not to move from this spot. It would be
awkward if we tried moving locations and another student happened to see my
hand.
Even so… Nanase showed no signs whatsoever of being upset. She was
completely unfazed, remaining calm and collected even after seeing the knife
impaling my hand and the spurting blood. She didn't seem bothered one bit by
the graphic, visually arresting spectacle.
"So, Nanase, can you tell us what's going on?" I asked.
"If I don't, it seems it would only put my class at more of a disadvantage," she
answered.
"You were aware things were going to turn out this way… Is that correct?"
said Horikita.
"That's correct. The idea was that Housen-kun would stab himself in the leg
and have Ayanokouji-senpai expelled," said Nanase.
She didn't seem to feel guilty or ashamed at all. She explained what they had
planned in the same polite tone she usually used.
"Are you saying that the friendliness that you showed us—it was all just part
of the act?" asked Horikita.
"No, that's not true. I really do want to join forces with you, Horikita-senpai,
and for our classes to support one another. It's just… The plan to target
Ayanokouji-senpai was our top priority," said Nanase.
Which meant that the reason why Housen and Nanase were so obsessed with
our class was because I was in it.
"Why would you do all of that? Also, unlike Ayanokouji-kun, I don't recall ever
forgiving you for what happened tonight. Depending on how things play out, I
might consider reporting you to the school right away." Horikita, unable to
understand why I'd been targeted, pressed Nanase to answer.
"I think there were problems with how we did things, yes, but trying to get
Ayanokouji-senpai expelled from school itself is not counter to the school's
wishes. Very few first-year students know about this, but it's possible to earn a
considerable number of points by having Ayanokouji-senpai expelled," said
Nanase.
Now, the reason why I'd been targeted by Housen finally became clear.
"We were given a special exam. For this exam, we were told that anyone who
managed to get Ayanokouji Kiyotaka from Class 2-D expelled would be paid
twenty million Private Points," explained Nanase.
"What are you talking about? This makes no sense. Who in the world came up
with such an incredibly stupid, outrageous special exam?" asked Horikita.
Nanase didn't answer that question.
"…I've told you what I needed to say, for now. I'm sure this will make you far
more wary of every class in my grade level, not just us now. Won't it,
Ayanokouji-senpai?" she said instead, turning to me.
Nanase hadn't said much. Really, she'd only told us the bare minimum she
needed to. She and Housen obviously knew what was going on, and needless to
say, Amasawa was aware of the second special exam, too. Given everything I'd
heard, it was reasonable to assume that some students in Class 1-B and Class 1-
C probably knew about it, too.
"How do you think we could possibly be satisfied with an answer like that?
The truth of the matter is, Ayanokouji-kun was seriously injured, and—"
"I'm fine. Just getting an understanding of the situation is enough. Thanks for
your help, Nanase," I told her.
"I chose to cooperate with Housen-kun for the good of the case, despite
knowing how unjust this is. Because the fact remains that if the twenty million
points were to fall into the hands of another class, it would create a significant
gap between us," said Nanase.
Twenty million points was essentially a single ticket to Class A. But when you
considered things like this current special exam, the more financial power you
had, the more advantages you'd gain.
"However, that is not the only reason why I lent Housen-kun a helping hand,"
said Nanase.
She spoke softly and calmly, but there was something about the way she
looked at me, like she was staring daggers at me.
"'Cause I really didn't… I mean, because I did not think that Ayanokouji-senpai
was someone suitable for this school," said Nanase.
For the first time, she openly stated her intense hatred for me. But I couldn't
really figure out why.
Not too long afterward, Nanase bowed to us and left.
Chapter 8:
A Deepening Mystery
THE FOLLOWING DAY, Monday, Nanase and Horikita held a discussion that
resulted in them successfully forming an equal, cooperative partnership
between our two classes. By Tuesday, a total of one hundred and fifty-seven
pairs had been made, and everyone moved on from there to concentrate on
the written exam. Kouenji didn't exactly appear willing to cooperate, but when
Nanase went to him in person and asked him to be her partner, he agreed to
her request surprisingly easily. That surprised both Horikita and me.
My left hand was seriously injured, but I supposed I could say it was worth it.
Many students were quite surprised to see my hand wrapped up in bandages,
but with the help of both Chabashira and Mashima-sensei, everything was kept
secret. And, thanks to that, I was able to tackle the special exam without
increasing the number of people who knew the truth.
Even though I'd had many opportunities to interact with the first-year
students over the past two weeks, in the end, I still didn't know who the White
Room student was. Considering their apparent lack of activity even after the
special exam ended, I was honestly starting to doubt whether this person really
existed at all. Regardless, all the people I'd come into close contact with were
possible suspects I needed to watch out for.
Normally, one would think I could exclude Housen from that list, since his
exploits from junior high had become public knowledge. However, neither
Ryuuen nor Akito were directly acquainted with Housen. In other words, it was
possible this person was an imposter who'd contacted the real Housen and
gotten all kinds of information about his past.
Nanase hadn't seemed like she bore me any ill will at first glance, but the way
she'd closed the distance between herself and me, the way she acted in the
karaoke room and afterward, and the fact that her contact with me from the
beginning had been calculated were all factors that couldn't be overlooked.
Amasawa was someone I needed to be wary of, considering she'd tried to get
me expelled by working with Housen. But when I considered that everything
that they'd done was for the purpose of securing twenty million Private Points,
it made sense. In any case, I didn't have a single shred of evidence linking any of
them to the White Room. It also seemed like if I presented even the slightest
weakness for someone to exploit, I'd be eaten alive. And it seemed that was
going to be the case for a while.
And then… We arrived at this day. The first of May. The day we'd find out the
results of the special exam, which would be announced during sixth period, the
final class period of the day.
"I will now announce the results of the special exam. The results will be
shown up on the blackboard, but they can also be viewed on your tablet
devices, so you can look over them in detail," said Chabashira.
Our tablets let us zoom in and magnify any part that we wanted to, without
having to stare at the blackboard. I could tell Horikita's eyes were on me. There
was no doubt that this special exam was the most difficult we'd had, in terms of
how hard it was to get a high score. It was unlikely our contest would end in a
tie.
On the day of the written test, the subject Horikita chose to compete with me
in was Mathematics. I opened up the app and went to the results page, bringing
up the test results on my tablet. Most of the students in our class didn't really
pay attention to the other numbers, but went to check their own scores first. I,
on the other hand, didn't bother looking at my score. Instead, I scanned the
overall state of things with our class.
As for who was getting expelled… Well, it seemed we'd successfully managed
to avoid having anyone get expelled this time. When I brought up the list of
scores in order, I saw the lowest combined score was five hundred and seventynine points. It seemed everyone had managed to make it through without a
hitch.
The students had worked hard, of course. But this also proved the school
hadn't been planning to hit us with a tremendously difficult exam right away in
April, at the start of the new school year. The actual test questions were the
sort that Ike, Satou and other students could easily score two hundred and fifty
points or more on. In other words, the predicted scores chart that we were
shown at the start of the test period had featured intentionally low scores.
Sighs of relief and shouts of joy could be heard one after another from the
students around me. Now, then, let's go ahead and check Horikita's score, just
in case.
I filtered the results to show math scores, and then set them to display in
order, with the highest scores first. Wow. I supposed it really showed that this
was the subject we'd decided to compete in. Horikita had scored eighty-even
points. Considering that the person after her was Keisei, with eighty-four points,
I couldn't even imagine how much effort she had put into studying for this.
The students who came after those two were all generally those with high
academic ability rankings, close to A. But it seemed that the eighty-point mark
was a pretty significant hurdle for everyone, in all subjects. After all, out of the
possible one hundred points, the final ten points or so worth of questions were
based on things completely outside our curriculum from the past year. And they
were difficult questions, to boot.
While our class was overjoyed with how things had turned out, I could tell the
students were gradually starting to stir. Of course, I didn't really need to
wonder why. I felt Chabashira's gaze on me, and the gazes of the other students
who had noticed the truth of the matter.
That was no wonder, I supposed, after they saw my name above Horikita's in
the test results list for math, even though she had eighty-seven points.
"A-a perfect score… Wait, seriously?"
Even if you went and sorted the results for any subject, no one in our class
had scored ninety points or higher. There was only one exception.
Mathematics, with my score. Incidentally, I had generally scored around
seventy points, give or take, in the other subjects. Most of the students
probably couldn't comprehend why I had scored so highly in just one of the
subjects.
The written exam was more difficult than I had expected it to be. Despite the
risk that I would get a perfect score, I deliberately chose not to hold back. It was
inevitable that doing so would draw my classmates' attention, and the attention
of the school at large. But considering what Tsukishiro would be doing in the
days to come, I supposed there was no harm in showing everyone just a glimpse
of what I could do. If anything, it was probably better for me to make the first
move, so that I'd have fewer problems to deal with later on.
Sudou, who'd normally be making a fuss together with Ike in situations like
this, looked at me, shocked but quiet. Considering he'd seen what I'd done up
to this point, and what happened with Housen and I the other day, I supposed
he would be less surprised than other students.
Anyway, things had started to change greatly in April. I supposed I ought to be
prepared to have lots of conversations with the students who were looking at
me strangely.
8.1
WHILE CLASS WAS IN SESSION, no one could come up to me to talk. But after
class was a different story. As soon as Chabashira dismissed us for the day, the
first person to come up to me wasn't Horikita, but rather someone from the
Ayanokouji Group. Keisei.
"Hey, Kiyotaka, you got a minute?" he asked.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that Keisei was the top student in Class D,
boasting high scores. Which was exactly why he knew how difficult it was to get
a hundred points. I was sure he had several questions in mind.
"I'm sorry, but would you mind waiting until later, Yukimura-kun? I would like
to have a moment with him first," said Horikita, cutting in, pushing Keisei aside.
"Yeah, okay. Sorry Keisei. I'll chat with you later," I told him.
"O-okay," he answered.
As I left the classroom with Horikita, I saw it wasn't just Haruka and Airi who
had their eyes on me either. I'd attracted the attention of many other students,
too.
After a few moments of silence, Horikita confirmed that there was no one
else around and then looked at me.
"I'm not going to make any excuses. I did the best I could, yet you got a
perfect score," she said.
"You don't want to go for a rematch?" I asked.
"I couldn't even understand what the final questions said. There was no way I
could even solve them at my current level of knowledge. I honestly don't even
know when I'll learn how to solve those problems," said Horikita.
"Hm, well, I guess stuff like measurement and Lebesgue integration…
Probably when you get to college, I'd say?" I replied.
I wasn't very familiar with how things worked for ordinary students in a
regular curriculum, so I couldn't give her a precise answer. I mean, even if I told
her that those were things I'd learned when I was a small child, it wasn't going
to be of any use to her.
"…Never mind. It was stupid of me to say anything," said Horikita.
She let out a deep, forced sigh, almost like she was giving up on something,
and then looked at me with a stony gaze.
"It's frustrating, but I admit defeat. The two things that had happened
recently make me feel as though I can't help but acknowledge you. If I resist any
longer, I'll only end up feeling like an idiot," said Horikita.
Horikita had tried her absolute best and fought admirably but complimenting
her right now would only have the opposite effect.
"So, about the condition that you mentioned earlier—"
"Ah, there you are, Ayanokouji."
Horikita was probably going to talk to me about the student council, but she
was interrupted. It seemed our homeroom teacher, Chabashira, had come
looking for me.
"Do you need something?" I asked.
"Wow, that's cold. Wouldn't you be in quite a bit of trouble right now if I
didn't come to help you?" said Chabashira.
"Yes, that's true. You really helped me out there."
"I'm heading back for today. We'll talk again later."
As expected, Horikita wasn't able to say what she wanted to in front of
Chabashira, so she excused herself and left. After Chabashira watched her go,
she set her sights back on me.
"It seems I've interrupted your conversation, but this is urgent. Acting
Director Tsukishiro has been calling for you. Come along," she said.
"I see," I replied.
That was certainly something she needed to tell me about, even if that meant
interrupting.
Chabashira continued talking to me while walking slightly ahead, not turning
back to look at me. "In case you're wondering, according to Mashima-sensei,
Acting Director Tsukishiro didn't exhibit any unusual behaviors during the
special exam."
"That makes sense. He only made his move before the exam. When I was
getting ready," I told her.
During the special exam, all he'd done was wait for the results to come out.
"Is there any possibility he might use strong-arm tactics in the future?" asked
Chabashira.
"Meaning?" I asked.
"It's not every day you get stabbed with a knife. That's a pretty big deal,
wouldn't you say? Your father was making his move, wasn't he?"
"My hand has nothing to do with that."
I hadn't reported the precise details of what had happened to Chabashira. Of
course, I hadn't told her about the issue of the twenty million points either.
Chabashira likely knew nothing about that.
"I certainly hope so. I thought he might try to restrain you somehow. and
forcefully drag you out of this school," replied Chabashira.
"He would need to actually get his hands on me to do that. That's nothing you
need to worry about," I answered.
Trussing up a little rabbit was one thing, but you couldn't abscond with a fullsized human quite as easily.
"In that case, good. Because I need you to be of use to me. The fact that you
got a perfect score on the math test this time has made it perfectly clear to me
that you are quite special," said Chabashira.
Getting a perfect score in that exam had quite a few downsides. And while
there were only a few side effects of me having gotten that score, this was
certainly one of them.
Shortly afterward, we arrived at the reception room. I left Chabashira behind
and stepped inside by myself.
"Thank you for going to the trouble of coming to meet me here, Ayanokoujikun," said Tsukishiro.
"Going as far as using my homeroom teacher, huh? What are you playing at
with that? She probably suspects something is up," I replied.
I wasn't going to reveal the fact that I'd already gotten Chabashira over to my
side, so I pretended to be puzzled by the Acting Director having called me to his
office so suddenly.
"Well, now, I can't exactly go parading around the classrooms as the acting
director now, can I?" said Tsukishiro.
He kindly urged me to take a seat, but I chose to ignore his prompting and
remained standing. After he noticed that, he started talking once more.
"Well, now that April has ended, have you managed to figure out the identity
of the student who was sent in after you? I was just thinking I should make sure
of that," said Tsukishiro.
So he wanted to talk about the little game he'd proposed. He told me that if I
figured out the identity of the student from the White Room before the end of
April, he would back off.
"Unfortunately, I don't know the identity of the person from the White
Room," I replied.
"What a flat answer. Shouldn't you at least list the names of students you feel
are reasonably suspicious?" said Tsukishiro.
"I won't say anything about something I'm not certain of. At least, not in this
situation," I answered.
"I see. So, that child has managed to conceal their presence quite well, then."
Tsukishiro nodded, apparently impressed by that, a look of satisfaction on his
face.
"I haven't been able to detect even the slightest telltale signs of the White
Room agent. They've managed to cover their tracks quite beautifully," I
remarked.
"Well, I suppose that's because for the past few months, they've engaged in a
specialized curriculum to learn how to act like a high-school student," said
Tsukishiro.
Which meant they'd been planning all this well in advance. Well, if they
hadn't been doing that, we wouldn't be having this conversation at all.
"You, on the other hand, seemed to struggle quite a bit when you first arrived
at this institution. From the way you talked to the way you behaved, the way
you thought, even the way you spent your time. You came off as rather
unnatural, in many respects," said Tsukishiro.
He sounded like he was merely teasing me, indicating that he had control
over everything.
"That's because the reality of being a regular high school student had only
ever been a fantasy to me," I answered.
"At any rate, you haven't found out their identity for now, Ayanokouji-kun.
Now that I've confirmed that much, this meeting is finished. You may leave,"
said Tsukishiro, indicating that this talk was over and urging me to leave the
room.
There was no sign he intended to comment on the bandages on my left hand.
I stood my ground firmly, making no attempt to leave, and instead continued
speaking to Tsukishiro.
"Acting Director Tsukishiro, is it possible that you perhaps made a
miscalculation?" I asked.
"What in the world are you talking about?"
"It's already May now. Didn't you want to have this matter settled by the end
of April?"
"No, no, there's no need for me to rush. I've actually been given a surprisingly
long extension. Longer than you might think," said Tsukishiro.
"Oh, is that so? And here I was thinking you must surely have run into some
unexpected trouble or something."
"Now, that's a rather interesting statement. What's your basis for that?" he
asked.
"Well, I had the impression you were fully prepared to get me expelled with
this special exam. All that remained was for the White Room student to get in
contact with me, partner up, and that'd be it. However, none of the new
students showed any signs of even attempting to do that."
Of course, there was Tsubaki, who had come up to me earlier hoping to
partner up…but that hardly counted.
"Actually, I'm almost tempted to think there isn't a White Room agent among
the first-year students at all," I added.
"You don't really think that, do you?" he asked.
"In any case, it just doesn't add up."
"Thanks to the OAA app, I knew you were having trouble finding a partner
until about the midway point of the exam period," said Tsukishiro. "But you're a
special person. I decided it would be dangerous to simply send the White Room
student after you and subsequently be discovered by you. I thought it would be
wiser to go after you next time, or sometime after that."
"Talk about taking your time."
"That might be true."
"Or, despite your wishes, the person from the White Room didn't follow
orders, Acting Director Tsukishiro. If you think about the situation that way, this
whole sequence of events seems to fit into place."
"My word. You certainly come up with some interesting ideas, don't you?"
Tsukishiro, smiling and apparently amused, took a sip of tea out of his cup.
After a moment of silence, he brought the cup away from his mouth.
"Very well. It really is quite a bother for you to question the credibility of my
words, but I'll admit it. We really did plan to have you expelled for sure with this
special exam. However, that child ignored those plans," said Tsukishiro.
Though he'd denied everything at first, he immediately changed his mind and
admitted the truth.
"They are a child, after all, I suppose. If this is simply due to them being in a
rebellious phase, well, we could consider that endearing. But if that's not the
case…let's just say it won't be a laughing matter," said Tsukishiro.
The student who had been given orders and sent into this school hadn't
followed Tsukishiro's instructions. If that really was true, it certainly wouldn't be
a laughing matter at all.
"Please do be careful, Ayanokouji-kun. I wasn't the only one who decided to
send in someone from the White Room this time. Also, considering that the
assassin has disobeyed my orders and started acting on their own, I fear my
superiors might be considering something questionable," said Tsukishiro.
"What, are they thinking of giving up on you? I mean, your performance has
been awful."
"That might be true. However, the fact that I've been ordered to have you
expelled hasn't changed. Even if I'm being used as a pawn, I will continue to
carry out my orders until the very end. If I fail and am cast aside, so be it. I'll
simply move on to my next post."
I had thought of this White Room student and Tsukishiro as one entity, a
monolith. But now the possibility that their relationship wasn't quite so simple
had emerged. But if what Tsukishiro was saying is true, then what are they
after? If they worked together to get me expelled, then their chances of
successfully pulling it off would certainly go up. Or was this perhaps a feint,
meant to mislead me?
Was the White Room student running wild…? Or was he pulling the strings
from the shadows? I'd say the odds of either being the case were about even. It
was also important for me to keep in mind just how deceitful Tsukishiro was. At
the very least, he didn't seem hurried at all, nor did he seem shaken.
"Oh, one last thing… If that child is ignoring your father's wishes, then
depending on how things go, it may be better for you to choose to drop out of
this school yourself. After all, the more unshakeable your position as the
magnum opus of the White Room, the more unfathomable their jealousy and
hatred for your position will be. I shudder to think about what that child will do
to you before they're satisfied," said Tsukishiro.
The warning sounded so dire I could almost interpret it to be a joke. I turned
my back to him and left the room.