AFTER LISTENING to Ayanokouji-kun speak for only a few minutes, people's
opinions of Kushida's worth had done a complete 180. It even happened with
her friends, who should have had as strong a sense of solidarity as Ayanokoujikun's group of friends. For some reason, I couldn't help but see their
relationship as having been terribly fragile before this. Ayanokouji-kun's
narrative was so incredibly effective that even someone like me, who knew
Kushida-san's past before anyone else did, could easily move to push her out if
Ayanokouji-kun asked that I make Kushida Kikyou our target. I may have just
caught a glimpse of Ayanokouji-kun's power before anyone else did.
Right now, our class was like a scene from hell. The vote for Kushida-san, who
would likely get a majority of the votes once the interval was over, would soon
begin. This special exam was likely almost over. Our class would get 100 points,
despite our sacrifice. That would be a valuable asset to us in our efforts to get
to Class A, but… Yes, I needed to sort out this situation I found myself in first.
I was most definitely in the same moment in time as the rest of them, and yet
time was dilating for me, little by little. The passing of each second felt drawn
out. The analog clock, which even didn't look like it belonged in this classroom,
was slowing down, its second-hand ticking so slowly that it almost felt like it
was coming to a stop. But on the contrary, it was my senses becoming more
and more heightened.
What was my purpose? I answered that question myself: to graduate from
Class A, of course. That was why Class Points were so important. That was
obvious. In that case, how much was Kushida-san worth? It was difficult to
assign a clear value to every individual student. But at the very least, if you were
to ask me if she were equal to 100 Class Points, I would immediately answer no.
In that case, I'd try shifting my thinking. If we were to fail this special exam,
we would end up losing 350 Class Points. If I could protect Kushida in exchange,
could I calculate that she'd be enough of an asset to be able to make up for that
loss?
I didn't think it would be impossible…but it would be difficult. That answer
wasn't just limited to her either; the same was true for me. Allowing Kushidasan to be expelled because she wasn't worth 350 points was a normal way of
thinking. In that case, what did I, Horikita Suzune, want to do? What did I want
to do about the student named Kushida Kikyou?
Did I want to save her, without thinking too much about it? Did I want to
abandon her? By concentrating, I transcended time, even eliminating
superfluous concepts like sound. Could I just leave everything to Ayanokoujikun as things were right now? No, there's no way I could. Then, think. What was
right? What was wrong? Wasn't there anything that only I could do?
Acknowledge and respect Ayanokouji-kun's abilities and think again.
A ray of light shined through the darkness, behind my eyelids.
…Yes. I see now. I had finally arrived at just one answer. Right now, Kushidasan was going to be expelled.
And that was not the correct choice.
At that moment, I was surely the only person who could save Kushida-san.
Time had come to a stop before, but it was now beginning to unfreeze.
The second hand started ticking once again.
8.2
AS ONE STUDENT after another started to agree with the idea of Kushida being
expelled, one student stood up.
"Don't go any further, Kushida-san," said Horikita. "You won't be able to take
it back." Horikita.
"Huh? It was finally starting to get interesting," Kushida pouted. "Don't butt
in, Horikita-san."
"I can't let this go on," Horikita insisted. "I don't think I can listen to any more
of this disgraceful ranting."
"Is the real me that disgraceful?"
Perhaps Kushida took Horikita's words as a compliment. Kushida looked at
her with the liveliest expression that she had worn all day.
"Well, at the very least, I don't think that exposing people like this is
particularly beautiful," said Horikita. "But it's not just you that I think is
disgraceful here. The same is true for the people who are clamoring for your
expulsion now that you've revealed their secrets here."
That unexpected rebuke made her classmates cry out in protest.
"Why do you say we are?! We didn't do anything wrong!"
"You all told Kushida-san secrets that you didn't want other people to know.
Why was that?" asked Horikita.
"W-well, that's because we thought we could trust Kushida-san! But she…"
"That's right. Kushida-san was the most highly trusted person in class.
Normally, it's not easy to gain the trust of others, and there are probably only a
few people in your life with whom you can share secrets that you can't tell
anyone else. Of course, I can't praise Kushida-san for divulging those secrets…
and it's understandable for you to be surprised that she has another side to her.
But that being said, everyone has another side to them, whether it's big or
small. Don't they?"
A person who lived truthfully without any lies or falsehoods at all would
certainly be quite a rarity.
"B-but…isn't the fact that she kept voting in favor still a problem? We can't
forgive her for that, can we?"
"You're right," Horikita agreed. "It was a very selfish choice on her part to try
to get Ayanokouji-kun or me expelled. She has to feel the heavy responsibility
for that. But instead of making her pay for that by having her expelled, we can
have her make use of her skills for us many times in the days to come and pay
us back that way."
That was when Horikita started to convey what she really wanted to say to
her classmates.
"Are you saying that you're not going to expel Kushida-san?"
"That's right. I… I want to keep Kushida-san in this class."
"Huh? Hold on, what are you babbling about now, after you interrupted me?"
The first person who argued against Horikita's position to not have Kushida
expelled was none other than the person in question herself.
"Why are you defending me?" asked Kushida. "You don't have anyone else
here that you're going to vote for, do you? What, do you just want to have fun
torturing me to death? Wow, you have such good taste, really."
"Unfortunately, I don't really like to make jokes," Horikita replied. "I'm being
serious,."
"Well, if you say you're being serious, then I'll go ahead and change your mind
for you," Kushida said. "Let's reopen the gates of Hell, shall we?"
"From what I could see, that spectacle earlier didn't look at all like 'Hell' to
me," remarked Horikita.
"…Heh. Okay then, what did it look like to you? Tell me that."
"It was idiotic, comical, and frankly disgraceful. Nothing more. You looked like
nothing but a fool."
"Oh?" said Kushida.
"You certainly are more academically capable than the average person, but
you are fundamentally stupid to an almost fatal degree." Horikita sighed,
insulting Kushida unsparingly. "To begin with, your classmates found out about
your true nature when you were in junior high, so…you revealed their secrets
and destroyed the class. Then, you came to this school to reflect on what
happened back then, but unfortunately for you, you were reunited with me,
someone who attended the same junior high. And right after starting school
here, Ayanokouji-kun also happened to witness your hidden self? That makes
me laugh. Not only that, he wasn't even interested in your past, but you
selfishly continued to insist on trying to get us expelled, all because you couldn't
stand him being here. You even told us all about it. And to top it all off, you
thought you made a deal with Ayanokouji-kun, thinking you were taking
advantage of him, but in the end, he turned it around and used you. And this is
where everything ended up? You were too obsessed with trying to get us
expelled by voting For. Instead, you had the rug pulled out from under you."
Kushida's expression had changed. Before, she had worn a vicious smirk on
her face, but before anyone realized it, the look on her face transformed into
the demonic fury of a woman scorned.
"You're just selfishly spouting off whatever you want!" she screamed. "You
don't know what I feel! I want to be the best! Even though I'm feeling stressed
as hell, I just want to feel happy! What's wrong with trying to make you go away
when you're in the way of that?!"
"I don't know what you feel?" Horikita repeated. "How could I know? You're
always focused solely on listening to and hoarding other people's worries. You
didn't look for anyone you could talk to, to let them know what you felt."
Kushida balled both of her hands into fists, clenching them so tightly that her
veins were bulging out from her skin.
"You have some personality issues, sure, but so do I," Horikita went on. "And
you are a much, much harder worker than I am."
"Don't lie, it just makes me want to laugh. You always seem to say things that
get on my nerves."
"I'm not lying at all. I'm telling the truth, which you seem to love. I honestly
admire and envy your effort and your talent, to be able to befriend so many
people, both men and women. It's honestly incredible."
When the students who were upset by Kushida heard Horikita say that, they
spoke up in disagreement.
"What's so great about her?" one of them shouted. "She's been insulting us!"
"Being kind with lies? Pretending to be nice? So, she's terrible because of
that?" Horikita asked. "That's honestly just frivolous nonsense. Think again just
how difficult it is to be kind. Do you have the talent to smile at others? To reach
out and lend an ear to everyone?"
How much stress did Kushida have to deal with daily while reaching out to her
friends? Many people wanted to be like Kushida but understood that they
couldn't. Even if they just cut out the part about listening to other people talk
about things that they didn't care about, an ordinary person wouldn't be able to
go on doing what she did. Kushida had continued to do all that with a kind
smile, continuing to stand behind a substantial number of students and
supporting them from behind the scenes.
"Stop," spat Kushida. "Just stop already. I don't want to hear any more of this
bull from you."
"Why? You're good at seeing into people's hearts so you know, don't you?
You know that I'm not trying to tease you or insult you. I sincerely do appreciate
you." Horikita then preemptively blocked the other students before they could
refute her, as if she were trying to get ahead of them. "She has talents that no
one else does. Expelling her would be a huge loss for our class."
"Knock it off!" Kushida shouted.
Horikita continued regardless. "That is why I cannot agree to Kushida-san's
expulsion. I'm willing to bet on it. I am willing to try and do everything in my
power to make use of her strengths. No, I definitely will make the most of her
strengths."
"I told you to stop!" howled Kushida.
"There were things about you I didn't know," added Horikita. "But once I
learned everything about you was when I started to take a great liking to you."
Thinking back on it, Kushida told me about the details of her past for some
reason. She wasn't trying to hide it, even though she wanted to keep it locked
away. Perhaps she had done that not because she was trying to get me
expelled, but because deep down, she actually wanted to tell people things. In
fact, perhaps she wanted to share things about herself with other people.
Huge tears streamed down Kushida's face. And then, like a child, she started
to sob. She was no longer able to hide her frustration and regret, nor could she
string words together in a sentence. She kept repeating "No, no, no, no," over
and over without end.
Of course she felt that way. Anyone who knew Kushida's true nature would
leave her. I stayed away from her myself. And yet, for some reason, Horikita—
someone who had kept her distance from Kushida until now—had moved closer
to her. There was no way Kushida could have expected something like that to
happen.
Horikita, someone that Kushida couldn't help but hate, could very well be the
first one to understand her. Whether she accepted that remained to be seen,
but there was no denying that this had definitely brought about a change in her.
I previously determined that it would have been impossible to win Kushida
over, so I produced this strategy to get rid of her. Meanwhile, Horikita had
decided not only not to get rid of her, but to protect her. However, if that was
what Horikita was determined to do, another inevitable problem was going to
emerge.
"We're still in the middle of this discussion, but the interval period is almost
over. What do we do now?" asked one student.
What should we do? Well, obviously, someone would need to nominate
themselves, or we would need to recommend someone to vote on.
"We're short on time," Horikita said. "All of you who recommend we vote for
Kushida-san right now, change your votes to me instead. I'll explain later."
Horikita appealed to her classmates to change their recommendations to her.
She couldn't nominate herself again since she already did it once before.
"S-stop fooling around!" Kushida yelled out. "I'm going to be expelled
anyway! Just recommend me and vote me out!"
"I am not fooling around," Horikita insisted. "Let me be clear. You are the one
who created this situation, and you will be held accountable for it in the end.
However, I will not accept your expulsion as your punishment. If you are
expelled, I will continue to make fun of you for the rest of your life. I will make
you into an eternal laughingstock."
I was sure that some students were still unsure of who to recommend in the
end, but that wasn't important at this moment.
"It's time," announced Chabashira. "We'll now begin the vote for Horikita as
she holds the majority of recommendations."
Hypothetically, even if Kushida were chosen via recommendation, it would be
meaningless as long as Horikita voted against her expulsion. Cheap provocation
must have worked well enough for Kushida. Everyone finished entering their
votes within sixty seconds.
Round 20 Voting Results: For: 1 Vote, Against: 37 Votes
"Now that we're in another interval period, I will reiterate my stance,"
Horikita said. "I am opposed to Kushida-san's expulsion."
Kushida was ranting and raving incoherently, but Horikita was no longer
paying any attention to her. That further wounded Kushida's pride and seemed
to have the opposite effect, successfully silencing her. If Kushida had once again
become a target for expulsion, she would have no more means to oppose
Horikita.
But still, this was all rather unexpected. I had been planning to screw over my
opponent, no matter who they were. I felt the inside of my head getting hotter.
Horikita didn't simply decide that she wanted to protect Kushida on a whim, or
as a joke. She even went as far as to declare with confidence that she would
overcome Kushida's major weaknesses and make the most of her strengths.
Horikita had set foot on the next stage earlier than I had expected from the
looks of it. Of course, that wasn't to say that there were no objections from the
other students. There were many who wouldn't mind if Kushida were expelled,
since she had been propped up as the bad guy. It wasn't like Horikita couldn't
force things ahead, of course, but it was difficult to imagine that Horikita would
get through this easily now that she had raised the issue.
I couldn't rule out the possibility that she might force the class to choose not
to expel someone by purposefully letting time run out, depending on how the
situation played out. Sorry, Horikita, that would be unacceptable.
"But Horikita-san, will protecting Kushida-san mean we're going to choose to
let time run out?" Yousuke brought up a question that needed to be answered
immediately.
"I understand that protecting Kushida-san isn't the end of this," Horikita
replied. "I have my own answer to that."
Don't tell me, you… Actually, wait, so that's what you're planning, huh,
Horikita?
"We must avoid failing this special exam. So, it's absolutely imperative that
someone is expelled."
This meant that Horikita was not only determined to rescue Kushida, but she
was also prepared to get rid of someone else. While I did certainly sense there
was growth in Horikita, I acted before she could speak. There was no need for
Horikita to take on the cruel role of being the one to declare who should be
removed from class.
I forcefully cut her off before she could attempt to go on. "Wait a minute."
No matter how justified Horikita might've been, making a judgment right here
and now would take an intense emotional toll. I could easily brush it off as a
worthwhile experience for her, but it would be a heavy burden for Horikita right
now. More importantly, if she made even a single mistake, she could very well
end up running out of time even if she didn't mean to.
There was no one but me who could get the class to make a unanimous
decision on who to expel. Wait…no. Horikita was also giving me a certain look.
That's how I understood—it was obvious that Horikita and I were thinking of
the same person.
"Kushida, the only person who kept voting For the whole time, is the person
who deserves to be expelled," I said. "However, like Horikita said, she's also a
capable student. So, in that case, we'll have to consider a different approach."
"W-wait, Ayanokouji, hold on," Ike protested. "We all voted in favor of the
idea because we ain't traitors to our class, right? So now we're just gonna
throw all that out the window and choose someone to expel?! I can't buy this,
not for one second!"
"You're not the only person unhappy about this, Ike," I told him. "We all are.
But even so, we must make a decision. We have no other choice but to move
forward in a way that we can describe as the fairest."
"Fairest…? How could there even be a fair way of doing this?" asked another
student.
"The option of expelling someone to gain Class Points, of course," I replied.
"The expulsion part tends to give a negative impression, but if certain
conditions are met, we could turn the situation into a positive, as would have
been the case if we were to vote for the traitor who voted in favor of the issue.
If the Class Points gained are worth more than the student to be expelled, then
that would mean the choice would be worthwhile. In other words, the only
students we should consider expelling are ones who are not needed by the class
at this point in time. If so, then what are our criteria? Well, that would probably
be overall ability. We can disregard those with particular academic ability,
physical ability, or other abilities that do not fall into those two categories.
Putting it simply, think of students with leadership abilities like Horikita. Or
students with the ability to rally a group of people, like Yousuke and Kei. Those
sorts of people can inevitably be excluded from our list. Of course, if you think
that I'm showing favoritism here, you are free to argue with me on those
points."
With time running out, our classmates remained silent. No one dared
interrupt with needless commentary.
"It's better that we don't consider future prospects here, or how things might
turn out," I added. "Determining exactly how much someone will develop is
objectively difficult and requires speculation. So, if we're going to draw a final
conclusion, OAA would be an impartial means of doing so."
OAA was the school's quantification of a student's abilities that showed how
capable a student was. Feelings were completely out of the equation. As of
September 1, the lowest score in our class was thirty-six points overall.
Although many students checked their own rank and scores from time to time,
not many students knew who was in last place at any given moment.
"Right now," I said, "the student with the lowest score in OAA at this point in
time is…Sakura Airi."
I didn't look over at Airi as I spoke. Instead, I scanned the entire class.
"…Huh? What are you saying…? Don't play stupid jokes at a time like this!"
shouted Haruka. She was furious. Haruka stood straight up and glared at me.
"I'm just expressing my objective opinion," I told her. "The class can decide
whether or not they agree with it."
I planned to continue ahead and ignore things like personal opinions.
"Objective?" yelled Haruka. "What's objective about it?! Who even cares
about OAA rankings? So, what? You're saying that makes it okay to expel Airi?
But why would you… Why would you say that, Kiyopon?!"
"In that case, can you think of anyone who should be expelled?" I asked.
"Th-that's—!"
"Someone who isn't prepared to name a candidate outright isn't qualified to
choose if it's acceptable, nor do they have any right to," I interrupted her.
"Wh-what about someone like Ike-kun?! His academic and physical ability
scores aren't that different from Airi's, right?!" argued Haruka.
It was certainly true that he was in the running for last place with Airi in OAA.
But right now, he had a total of thirty-seven points. Sure, his lead was only one
point, but he was still ahead of her.
"In that case, I'll simply go ahead and ask everyone for a show of hands, right
here and now. All those opposed to Airi being expelled, please raise your hand,"
I announced.
Haruka's hand immediately shot up. Akito's and Keisei's went up at almost
the same time. Of course, being members of the Ayanokouji Group, it was
obvious that would be the case.
"Three people, huh. Next, what about the students who oppose Ike being
expelled?" I asked.
Several guys, including Sudou and his friends, raised their hands. Several girls
did too, including Shinohara, Mori, and other girls who felt obligated to help out
Shinohara. In total, there were eleven people who opposed Ike's expulsion.
"Wh-why'd…" sputtered Haruka.
"Building friendships is also an admirable skill," I replied. "I'd have to say that
means she is inferior to Ike in that respect as well."
"Could you look Airi in the eyes and say that?!" wailed Haruka.
"Is that what you really want me to do?" I asked in return.
I was about to meet Airi's frightened gaze when Haruka stopped me.
"N-no! Don't!" she shouted.
"We can have a show of hands for Hondou, Okiya, or another student. But
they're not going to have fewer than the three that Airi did," I told her.
"What is… You have seriously got to be kidding me," said Haruka. "Okay, sure,
we don't have that many friends in our group. But that doesn't mean we can
just expel Airi like this because of that!"
If there were another choice, I would have taken it, but we were long past
that point now.
"But, to be completely honest…losing 300 points would be fatal."
Those quiet words had come from someone from within the Ayanokouji
Group—Airi's friend Keisei.
"Yukimuu, you're seriously saying that right now?!" said Haruka. "Don't tell
me you agree with the idea of Airi getting expelled…?!"
"N-no! I'm not for it yet!" he flailed.
"Not 'yet'? So, what? You mean that you're going to change your mind and
vote for it eventually?! Is that it? I can't believe you!"
"N-no, I'm just…!" sputtered Keisei.
Then, as if she now understood everything that was going on, Haruka bit her
lip and made up her mind.
"Gross. I just can't even. Seriously, what's wrong with you? I thought we were
friends?" she said coldly. That wasn't just to me, but to Keisei as well as he let
his true thoughts slip.
"And the same goes for the rest of you too. No one wants to protect anyone.
Yeah, I said it. You're all fine as long as you save yourselves, so you don't care
what happens to Airi, the person you're not friends with anyway. So, what?
You're gonna prioritize Kyou-chan just because you have a little use for her?
And you'll abandon a girl trying her absolute hardest, who doesn't cause any
trouble for the class? Oh yeah. This totally is just the best class ever. Wow," said
Haruka sarcastically.
Keisei's unintentional comment proved to have been careless. It completely
revulsed Haruka. No other student would make eye contact with her. They
shrunk back in their seats as not to get involved.
"Well, whatever. I'm not letting Airi get expelled," Haruka declared. "If you
insist on it sooo much, you can go ahead and vote for me instead. I'll happily let
myself be expelled."
Unlike the strategy that Kushida had gone with, Haruka was trying to protect
Airi by volunteering to be expelled herself. I already took all of that into account
though, Haruka. If anything, your words just now only served to put the noose
around your own neck.
"W-wait, Haruka-chan! I can't let you get expelled either though!" wailed Airi.
"It's fine, Airi. You need to stay here at this school. I never liked this class to
begin with anyway. But still, after I got to be friends with you, and Kiyopon, and
Yukimuu, and Miyacchi, every day got to be fun. Even though Yamauchi-kun got
expelled, I never thought something like this would happen again. I thought we
could make things work, if everyone was together, but…"
Haruka then looked over at Chabashira and made a formal declaration. "I'm
nominating myself for expulsion. It's almost time, isn't it?" she said.
Just as I had anticipated, Haruka announced that she would take Airi's place
and voluntarily marched up to the gallows.
"Listen up, Airi," she said. "You need to vote in favor for me. And I'm sure the
rest of you aren't gonna have any complaints about this, right? You can protect
yourselves this way anyway, so there's no reason for you to vote against it."
"But, that's… There's no way I could vote in favor of your expulsion!" shouted
Airi, telling Haruka that she couldn't do it.
"It's all right. If I get expelled protecting you, then I won't have any regrets."
"But—!"
"That's enough talking amongst yourselves," said Chabashira. "We'll now
begin the vote."
Because of Haruka's strong will, we were now voting on whether we were in
favor or opposed to expelling her. The results were tallied and shown up on the
monitor. And they showed…
Round 21 Voting Results: For: 35 Votes, Against: 3 Votes
Though almost every student in class voted in favor, there were three votes
against. I figured it was easy for Haruka to guess who those three people were.
"Airi!" she yelled in dismay.
Of course, one of those votes had obviously come from Airi herself, without a
doubt.
"But I just couldn't do it! I just… I can't expel you, Haruka-chan!" wailed Airi.
"I'm doing this to protect you though!" said Haruka. "And Miyacchi, Yukimuu,
what the hell?!"
Haruka had been prepared to be expelled, but apparently, there were some
students who didn't want that.
"I don't want you to be expelled… I couldn't vote in favor of that." Despite the
look of anguish on his face, Akito looked Haruka straight in the eyes as he
answered her.
"So, what, does that mean it's fine if it's Airi?!" she replied.
"I wouldn't say that… But it's just, if I had to take one over the other, then…
I…" stammered Akito.
"…I'm sorry!" shouted Keisei, suddenly interrupting their conversation.
He stood up and bowed.
"I… I voted in favor… Because at this rate, our class won't…we won't be able
to make it to Class A…" Keisei spoke up to tell Haruka how he voted, even
though no one would've known what he voted for if he stayed silent.
"Huh? Wait, so then who was the other person?! Who was the other person
who voted against?!" shouted Haruka.
"That was me," I replied.
"Wh… Kiyopon, what…?! You know you don't need to defend me, right?!"
"I already told you. As part of my newly instituted policy, I should cut the least
capable student in this class. I will not be changing this policy from here on out,
no matter who comes forward, whether it's someone who wants to volunteer
to be expelled themselves like you, or like Kushida, who tried to get someone
else expelled. I won't change it."
If I took a step back right now, we wouldn't come to a unanimous decision in
favor.
"Hasebe-san… It's a fact that Sakura-san has got the lowest scores in OAA,
and besides… Cutting out the student who contributes to the class the least
isn't such a terrible thing, is it…?" said Matsushita, who prepared herself to take
the risk of speaking up in this situation.
"You've got to be joking. Think about if it were you. If your dear friend were
expelled, would you be able to laugh happily afterward? I couldn't. There's no
way I could!" countered Haruka.
"Airi is the one who should be expelled. There is no other choice at this
point," I told her.
"No… No, Kiyopon! No matter who else is in favor of this, Kiyopon, you…
Kiyopon, you and only you need to be on Airi's side! You have to!" protested
Haruka.
I know that. It's precisely because I know that, that I'm saying this, Haruka.
"My thinking won't change. Haruka, if you continue to go on like this, unable
to agree to Airi's expulsion, then this class will have no other choice but to end
things right here," I told her.
"Then why don't you just go ahead and do whatever you want, huh? I'll
continue to oppose Airi's expulsion until the very end!" shouted Haruka.
Just one person. If just one person continued to vote Against until time ran
out, then no one would be expelled. The rule was absolute. And the most
effective way to break that rule was…
"Thank you, Haruka-chan… It's okay," said Airi. She smiled despite her voice
trembling. It seemed like she understood everything.
"Ai…ri…?" stammered Haruka.
"If there really is someone this class doesn't need, then… Then that someone
probably would be me, I suppose… There's nothing wrong about what Kiyotakakun is saying at all, Haruka-chan."
"Airi!"
"Everything he said was exactly right. If someone must be expelled, then I, the
biggest burden for our class, should be the one to disappear."
The most effective method would be for the person being expelled to make
their supporter give up on voting opposed, directly.
"I can't!" Haruka insisted. "There's no way I could expel you, Airi! I just can't! I
don't care if this class doesn't get to A! We'll all graduate with you, together,
Airi!"
"No," said Airi. "Even if you could save me that way, I'm sure that I'd regret it
so, so much. I think I would regret it for a long, long time if we didn't make it to
Class A because of me."
"It's fine! You aren't doing anything wrong! This is just me being selfish,
protecting you!" Haruka protested.
"Thank you… But I couldn't possibly put that kind of burden on your
shoulders, Haruka-chan."
"What?! What do you… But that's not…!" sputtered Haruka.
Preventing a student from getting expelled was not necessarily in that
student's own best interests. Now that things had reached this point, even if
Haruka voted against her, it would cause Airi to suffer.
"Self-sacrifice sounds nice," I said. "It's got a nice ring to it. I'm sure that the
people in this class would be deeply relieved to have someone like you in their
lives, Haruka. Okay then, if it really does help make the class run smoothly, then
maybe it would be a good idea for us to make a choice like that. So, hey, Sudou,
are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the sake of the class?"
"W-well… I… Um…" he stammered.
"Satou, what about you?" I asked.
"M-me? Well, I, um, that's kind of…"
"Onodera, how about you?" I asked.
"I…probably couldn't…"
"Even if we ask others, their answers will be the same. Basically, no one is
going to sacrifice themselves," I declared.
"Well, I truly am fine with getting expelled," said Haruka. "There shouldn't be
any problem…"
"Suppose we rely on students who are willing to sacrifice themselves of their
own volition," I said. "Once the class learns to do things that way, the easy way,
we'll keep seeking people who will volunteer out of their own free will when
we're placed in similar situations in the future. It would mean losing our last
chance to make fair judgments."
"I don't care… I don't care about that kind of logic!" yelled Haruka. "I want to
protect Airi! That's all!"
"Even if you protect Airi right here and stop her from getting expelled today,
she could be expelled tomorrow, Haruka," I pointed out.
"Don't talk to me about an uncertain future!"
"There is no certain future anywhere. So, we have to choose the best option
we can."
No matter how many arguments I strung together, Haruka wasn't hearing it,
even if it seemed like she did. However, Airi was, and that was the important
part.
"It'll be okay. It will all be okay, Airi. All right? I will keep voting opposed to
your expulsion, definitely. No matter who else votes in favor, I'll—!"
"Everyone… Please…vote for me…"
Airi spoke so softly, it was like her voice would fade into the background, but
it was loud enough that everyone could hear her.
Haruka grabbed both of Airi's arms, in a frantic display of resistance. "I hate
this," she said. "I absolutely hate this… We were having so much fun together
just until yesterday, and yet…! Even this morning was just a typical morning. I
met up with Airi, and we came to school. We chatted about stupid stuff, talked
about things like the cultural festival, and… And today, after class, we were
going to call Kiyopon, and Airi was going to unveil her surprise! You're taking
that away from me!"
We had less than ten minutes remaining in the exam. This was, essentially,
the final vote. No one could easily vote Against this time, no matter who was
going to be expelled. That was the weight this final voting session had.
Airi shook her head from side to side and did not grab hold of Haruka's
outstretched hand. She was rejecting her friend's offer to save her.
"No! No, no, no!"
Haruka shouted and screamed, denying what was happening, rejecting it like
a child. Every time Haruka protested, Airi tried to express her gratitude to her,
but was still trying to persuade her to accept what was happening.
The situation could no longer be changed.
Haruka, understanding everything at last, sat on the ground as if she collapsed
right on the spot.
"Someone who doesn't have any ability accepted the situation and came
forward," I said. "We have an obligation to respond to her wishes. It would be
easy for you to vote Against in the next vote, but even if you did that, Airi likely
won't stay at this school anyway. She'd be torn apart by strong feelings of selfcondemnation for having dragged her classmates into this situation, and would
leave the school, unable to face forward. Haruka, the only way to save your best
friend Airi is for you to vote For and make her face forward."
"I-I…!"
Airi hugged Haruka while she was still collapsed on the floor. "Thank you,
Haruka-chan… Thank you for helping me so, so much, all this time. I couldn't
give you anything in return, but… Please, listen to my final selfish request."
"I hate this, Airi… I can't…" muttered Haruka.
"Vote in favor for me."
Airi thanked Haruka, gently stroking her hair as Haruka sobbed. Then, she
addressed Chabashira, speaking up loud and clear.
"I'm nominating myself. Please vote for me."
Then, after making Haruka get up and return to her seat, Airi returned to her
own seat to accept everything that was about to happen. However, even after
Chabashira had declared it was time, the vote didn't end as normal. Even sixty
seconds, seventy seconds after the vote started, the period hadn't ended.
Students had a total of ninety seconds of extra time after the sixty-second
voting period. That meant that in over seventy seconds, Haruka's expulsion
would be set in stone.
The thought, if my best friend Airi is going to disappear, then I'll disappear
too, may have crossed her mind. If she chose that weak option here, then that
would be that. Although the class would suffer from losing another person,
we'd still come to a unanimous decision without any issues, because that would
mean Haruka's vote would be eliminated. Now that 100 seconds had passed,
Haruka had forty-something seconds remaining. Haruka just kept crying and
showed no signs of reaching for her tablet.
"HARUKA-CHAN!"
There was anger in Airi's voice, something I had never heard from her before.
It was also the loudest she had ever shouted.
Haruka quickly looked up in surprise, like someone had slapped her on the
back. Airi looked at her crying face, smiled, and nodded. If Haruka didn't come
to a decision and vote right now, then it would be denying everything Airi was
doing.
"…Voting has finished," said Chabashira. "I will now show you the results."
Round 22 Voting Results: For: 38 Votes, Against: 0 Votes
Chabashira, who had been watching the entire spectacle, forgot to report the
voting results aloud. She simply stared at Airi and Haruka. Airi, with her
expulsion now confirmed, just looked straight ahead as though she had
accepted what had happened. On the other hand, Haruka was struggling
desperately to hold back her tears. She couldn't protect her friend Airi. Despite
her attempts, she couldn't hide her sobbing from the now speechless class.
"Um… Um, Chabashira-sensei," said the monitor. "Ahem. Please continue."
Even the monitor, who had been silent and composed throughout, only
uttering the bare minimum necessary to give reminders and warnings, seemed
to have forgotten to prompt Chabashira to signal to the students that it was the
end of the special exam.
"Regarding the matter of the expulsion of Sakura Airi…the final issue is now
complete with the class having come to a unanimous decision in favor,"
Chabashira said. "The decision has been validated and you will be awarded 100
Class Points. Just as a reminder, there is only one way for you to cancel her
expulsion. If you had 20 million Private Points at this moment in time and you
used them to…"
Chabashira was about to continue providing us with the explanation as she
was obligated to do, but she suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
"Well, I suppose no further explanation is necessary," she admitted.
Hypothetically, even if we were to gather up all the Private Points everyone
had, there was no way we'd come close to 20 million.
"The other three classes have already finished their special exams, so you will
be heading back to the dormitories immediately. As for Sakura, you will remain
in the classroom for now, but you will come with me to the faculty room
afterward."
"I understand."
Although Airi responded to Chabashira quietly, unlike her shouts from earlier,
she still answered without hesitation.
"That is all. Everyone, please get up from your seats and leave the room as
instructed," said Chabashira.
After that announcement, we all got up from our seats, although not all at
once. Airi, of course, remained where she was as instructed. Haruka couldn't
seem to stand up. She struggled to get to her feet, but her knees shook, and she
couldn't seem to find her balance well. Her breathing was labored, and she was
starting to show symptoms of hyperventilation. Akito, unable to bear the sight,
rushed over to her and helped her to her feet, forcing her to stand upright.
Nothing good would have come from just leaving her here, after all.
I stepped out into the hallway right away, and my phone was immediately
returned to me. Keisei came out after me and called out to me.
"Kiyotaka… I'm not going to tell you that you did the wrong thing. It's just…
Still, I… I don't know if I can say what I did was right, I guess. No, there's no
point in me asking you this anyway… Just forget it."
Even though he still had plenty of things on his mind that he wanted to get
out, Keisei turned his back to me and started walking down the hall. Even if I
waited around for Haruka and Akito, it would likely be pointless. Things like
justifiability were irrelevant. There was no way that they wouldn't feel
something after I had gone ahead and thrown away a precious member of their
friend group.
Kei approached me. I noticed that she seemed upset and on edge, so I
stopped her with a glance. It would probably be better to have Kei settle down
quietly right now as well since she was probably grieving over the loss too.
There was no need for me to incur hate from others by doing something
necessary.
If I remembered correctly, Chabashira mentioned wanting to meet with me
after the special exam. I looked at my phone and saw that I had received a
message, telling me that we were supposed to meet at six o'clock. That was a
while off, so I decided that I should leave, figuring that it would be best if I
didn't stick around for too long. Still, I knew if I headed straight for the
entrance, I would likely bump into Keisei and other students… In any case, since
I had an appointment with Chabashira, I supposed I'd just wander around the
less-populated parts of campus.
I had known there was someone following me, but they didn't call out to me
until there was no one else around.
"Ayanokouji-kun."
"What's up?" I asked. "I would've thought you'd be talking with Kushida."
"No, not really. I just urged her not to do anything desperate, that's all," she
replied.
Kushida had many friends before the exam, but no one went to talk to her
after it. It made sense—as people would've found her difficult to approach right
after witnessing her intense true nature.
"I'm sorry." Horikita's hair was a little longer now than it used to be, and it
swayed when she bowed deeply. "This special exam… I… I wasn't good
enough…"
"Not good enough? You did the best you could though, didn't you?" I asked.
"Besides, this year's exam was a much, much more difficult battle than last
year's In-Class Vote."
"Still, no matter how difficult it was, you ended up with such a big burden on
your shoulders… You took on all the responsibility, which should have been
broken up and dispersed."
It was inevitable that someone would be expelled. That was precisely why
Horikita wanted to illustrate her intentions.
"I was the one who told you to be quiet," I assured her. "It's fine."
"No, it's not fine. It left a huge scar on your treasured friend group. It's very…
I can't imagine that it's ever going to recover."
"It's all right. If anything, there might come a day when they'll see this as a
good thing."
If Horikita had gotten involved, then the blame certainly would have been
divided equally between the two of us. I hadn't wanted that to happen.
"A good thing…? Whatever do you mean by that?" asked Horikita.
"Nothing, don't worry about it," I replied. "It's trivial."
Of course, I didn't expect Horikita to accept that and immediately change her
mind about things, but I also didn't want this special exam to become
something that would drag her down in the future.
"Think positively," I added. "We earned 100 precious Class Points, which will
help us move up to Class A. We cannot foolishly dismiss those points."
"But…we lost Sakura-san," said Horikita.
"That's a positive, because it raised the average value of the class as a result.
It was the perfect conclusion."
"Stop. You don't need to force it, trying to act cruel."
"Force it?"
I thought about denying it, but I ended up getting caught on one thing she
said, deliberately repeating it back to her.
"That's right. Maybe you're trying to push away painful feelings," said
Horikita.
"Kiyotaka-kun!" called a kind, familiar voice, from far down at the end of the
hallway.
Horikita, startled by the voice, turned around. She was surprised to see who
was approaching us.
"Wait… Sakura…-san?"
Airi, who had no stamina to speak of, was completely out of breath. She
walked over to us.
"…I'll be going now…" said Horikita.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," I answered.
Just as Horikita walked past Airi, she tried to say something to her, but she
hesitated, and ultimately said nothing. She probably couldn't think of the right
words for when someone was about to leave.
"I really want to show you while I have this last chance, Kiyotaka-kun… What
do you think?" said Airi.
Just before we took the final vote, Haruka mentioned that Airi wanted to
unveil something. This was it, huh?
"You look completely different," I said. "No wonder Horikita didn't recognize
you for a minute." "I guess… I was a little late in working up the courage to do it
though… He he." Airi stood there with her glasses off and her hair done up in a
fashionable style. She smiled shyly. "I know this probably isn't for me to say,
but… Please take care of Haruka-chan."
"I understand," I answered.
"Bye-bye… Kiyotaka-kun." Airi showed me an extraordinary smile, the likes of
which I had never seen before.
She then turned away from me and started to walk away. However, her steps
gradually slowed town, and it seemed like she was about to come to a full stop.
Even so, she desperately kept putting one foot in front of the other, pushing
ahead without looking back. I could hear her wordless voice carrying down the
hallway—the sounds of her sniffling and desperately fighting back tears.
The sight reminded me of something I often saw in the past. The failures
would always look back on their miserable situation and be filled with regret,
even though it was too late for them. It was just as true here in this school as it
was in the White Room.
Chapter 9:
Farewell to the Past
THE UNANIMOUS SPECIAL EXAM lasted for approximately five hours and was
now over. Not long after, we heard that our class was the only one out of the
four that chose to expel someone. It was likely that more than a few students
would be strongly resentful over what happened. However, the fact that we
had gained 150 Class Points from this special exam while the other three classes
only got fifty was most certainly going to be a positive factor in the battles to
come. If this didn't change by the time September was over, we would finally be
moving up to Class B.
After school, I stood on the stairs leading up to the roof, waiting for the
person I was scheduled to meet as promised. About ten minutes after our
meetup time, the person in question showed up.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting," said Chabashira. "I had my hands full taking
care of some things afterward. It was time-consuming."
"I don't mind. So, anyway, did you get the conclusion you wanted? Or was it
the opposite?" I asked.
"Don't ask me such tough questions. Besides, there's no real correct answers
in this exam… Or that's what I think, anyway. It's possible someone could see us
here. Let's get moving."
"That would be wise."
The corners of her mouth raised slightly. Chabashira began to climb the stairs
to the rooftop and took out a key with a simple blue nameplate on it.
"Every year, the school gets increasingly resistant to the idea of people using
the rooftop," she said. "Perhaps even this school won't be an exception to the
norm anymore, and it'll become difficult for anyone to come up here at all."
Even though there was a fence installed up here, there was still a danger of
falling, after all. Besides, there were other issues with the rooftop as well; it
could be used for nefarious purposes, like the way Ryuuen had used it before.
After quietly stepping out onto the roof, Chabashira leaned against the railing
and exhaled deeply.
"Today was a long day… It really, really was."
Chabashira was simply expressing her feelings about the special exam as
though she were thinking aloud.
"I mentioned this before during the exam, but…I took this same one when I
was in my third year of high school."
"It sounded like it."
I wondered what she was looking at so intently. Chabashira was simply staring
straight ahead at the open sky, tinged by the evening glow.
"If you don't mind…would you listen to my confession?" she asked.
"You're talking about the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, right?
Well, I don't know very much about religion, but you can go ahead, if you
want," I answered.
She had gone through the Unanimous Special Exam back when she was a
student too. Though her class had the same issue posed to them, the look on
her face suggested that what happened in her class was such a significant
development that it changed her class for good.
"I remember that day like it was yesterday," she said. "We, Class 3-B, were
finally on the verge of catching up to Class A. Our graduation exams were right
around the corner. There was only a difference of seventy-three Class Points
between us. Even though we couldn't surprise them with what little time we
had left in school, we were in a position where we could have turned the tables
on them with just one special exam."
An awfully close race indeed. I was sure that their Class A must not have
thought they held the lead by that wide a margin either.
"Then came the Unanimous Special Exam. There were five issues in all. Just
like with your class, we were able to forge ahead smoothly all the way until the
fifth issue, even though there were some minor differences in opinion in the
first four."
"And if I recall, you had said that your final issue was the same as ours," I said.
"That's right… That's right, I did. My memory of today's exam already seems
to be a little fuzzy."
Perhaps the overlap with her past had thrown the sequence of events into
disarray in her mind, confusing her on what she wanted to think and say.
"Of course, there were only a few votes in favor and many opposed in the
first round," she continued. "But as the discussion went on, things started to
change dramatically. If Class A voted unanimously in favor, the gap between our
classes would've widened to 173 points."
"At that point, you didn't know what the graduation exam was going to be
like, did you?" I asked.
"That's exactly right. You've probably already guessed as much, but special
exams don't always result in large Class Point gains, even if you win them. Even
if our Class B took first place in the graduation exam, and Class A placed second,
there might not have been that big a difference in the awarded Class Points."
Did that mean the difference in Class Point rewards for first and second was
just 100, or maybe 150? Well, I supposed that it could have even been 200 or
more, of course, but there was no guarantee of that.
"The debate heated up as time went on. There were some who argued that
there was no way Class A was going to choose to expel someone and they were
going to vote unanimously opposed to the issue. And if that was the case, they
argued we should do the same and get through the exam by voting Against.
After that, we should've strived to overtake Class A by beating them in the
graduation exam. But there were others that enthusiastically argued that if
Class A wasn't going to expel someone, that it meant it was our chance to turn
things around. We discussed every possible angle."
Even if the text of the issue was the same, it ended up being completely
different depending on the situation of the class. There were only two options,
but the only way to arrive at one of those two was to navigate through many
winding paths.
"We spent so much time on it and discussed so much, but even then we never
found the right answer. Should we work on getting to Class A, no matter the
sacrifice? Or should we choose our friends and throw ourselves into a difficult
battle ahead…?"
She was probably remembering her past self at that very moment. When I
stole a glance at Chabashira's side profile, her eyes seemed to be welling up
with moisture from the rays of the setting sun.
"Eventually, little by little, our classmates' attitudes began to change. They
started to feel that if we were trailing behind Class A by only a slight margin,
then we should get those 100 points, no matter what the cost. As the discussion
proceeded with more and more students operating on that assumption,
students from the opposition camp started drifting over and joining the side For
the issue, one by one."
"Even so, it wouldn't be that easy to come to a consensus in favor of the
issue, would it?" I asked. "Considering that the result was that someone would
be expelled… Students with a low level of ability or students with poor
communication skills, for example, or students with one or two peculiar quirks,
they would likely be the first choices for someone to expel. That much is
unavoidable."
"Yes. Once you unanimously voted in favor of the issue, it was impossible to
take it back. You're exactly right—no one was voting in favor so readily."
That meant that something happened to change the situation. Something like
how I prompted people to vote in favor during our special exam by promising to
only have the traitor expelled.
"There was a guy in my class," Chabashira said. "He was… Well, if I had to
compare him to someone from your class, I suppose he was a combination of
Hirata and Ike. I think that's probably the best way I could describe him."
"Yousuke and Ike, huh…I can kind of imagine it, I guess. But that's a
personality that I can't quite picture all that well in my mind."
"He was earnest, but he could be kind of silly too. He was smart and was a
good friend, but he couldn't read social situations all that well. He was
something of a leader for our class, but at the same time, he was a class clown."
I see. From her description, that meant he was the sort of person who had
both Yousuke's strengths and Ike's strengths—and downsides.
"He was struggling the entire time we dealt with that final issue. In the end,
our class chose that we would vote in favor. And because of that, he took the
leadership role on himself to decide who was going to be expelled."
Chabashira started gripping the railing even more tightly.
"And then…he arrived at his answer. After he brought us to settle on a
unanimous decision in favor, he told us what he had decided. He said that he
would nominate himself for expulsion. I guess it was probably because he
decided that he couldn't just abandon his friends who he had been fighting
alongside for three years by that point."
"The only exam left after that would be the final exam before graduation," I
mused. "The absence of a leader would be painful, but even so, I suppose…it's
not like that would be completely off the table, as an option."
Of course, you couldn't exactly call it a wise choice. But if all their classmates
were close to being on even standing, it would've been extremely difficult to
pick one person. It would have been possible to leave the decision up to
chance, but few students would've accepted that.
"But even after that, we never came to a unanimous decision," said
Chabashira.
"Why was that?" I asked. "It was agreed that the leader would be expelled
though, right?"
"Well… It's because there was one student who kept voting Against over and
over until the exam was done. That one person never changed their vote. And
eventually, they used up all their remaining time," Chabashira said. "And the
person who continued to vote opposed was none other than myself."
Based on how this conversation had been going, I thought that might have
been what happened, but… If that was true, then that meant…
"That means that to you, Chabashira-sensei, that student wasn't just the
leader, was he?" I asked.
Chabashira closed her eyes and chuckled at herself in self-deprecation before
slowly opening her eyes once again. She then looked up at the colorful sunset in
the sky and confirmed what I had suspected.
"That's right… To me, he was…a leader, a friend…and…a lover. Someone more
precious to me than anyone… Though we had only just started being involved at
that point. There's the added irony that we had started seeing each other the
day before the special exam was held."
The two of them had overcome many hardships and had come to understand
one another. They were supposed to have a future where they would grab hold
of the most amount of happiness that they could get in their remaining days at
school while striving to end up as Class A. Chabashira couldn't let go of that.
"I knew that if I kept voting Against, my classmates would obviously be
perplexed and angry. There were some who decided to come after me instead,
making me their target. Well, that was to be expected."
"But you didn't get expelled either, Chabashira-sensei. Which means…"
"That's right," she said. "I protected him, and he protected me. We were
locked in a stalemate and it dragged on and on. In the end, we were unable to
finish the special exam in time, and our class was penalized by 300 points. On
top of that, Class A had chosen to expel someone, and after the exam, that
meant that there was a difference of 450 points between us. When added to
their existing lead, that brought the total gap to 523 points. The distance
between us and Class A had been within our reach before, but it became
hopelessly vast in an instant."
That was a point difference that would be impossible to overcome, no matter
how big a chance there was in the graduation exam.
"It might not be any consolation, but your boyfriend didn't get expelled, did
he?" I asked.
"I don't know why I was protecting him," sighed Chabashira. "Our relationship
ended right after the Unanimous Special Exam was over. It only lasted a day…
No, actually, it didn't even last a full twenty-four hours… After that, we ended
up losing the final exam in a direct competition. Our three years ended with
nothing."
"What happened to him after?" I asked.
"I haven't seen him since. I don't know where he is or what he's doing right
now. When I was a high schooler, this school was everything to me, and he was
everything to me too. Heh… Thinking back on it now, it's all so stupid. Overall,
the three years you spend in high school is just a tiny part of your life. Even if
we didn't make it to Class A, we should have fought until the end with no
regrets."
This meant that Chabashira had been regretting the error of her choice for
the past eleven years. Well, no, I supposed that in this case, it would be better
to say that she continued to agonize over whether she made the correct choice
or not rather than to call it an error.
"I didn't have what it took to graduate from Class A," she said. "But what was
I supposed to do? Should I have aggressively persuaded him to have me
expelled instead? Or should I have abandoned him after he told me that he
nominated himself to be expelled…?"
"There were no real right answers in that special exam," I replied. "If you're
voting purely from the heart, it would probably be impossible to come to a
unanimous decision. Unless, of course, you have a student who is thoroughly
incompetent and no one needs them. In that case, it'd be a different story…"
But even then, that wouldn't necessarily mean that person wouldn't have a
way out.
"If I had to say anything, I think the reason your class failed was because he
failed to see things through with his strategy," I said. "I think that there was
only one way for your class to get to Class A, Chabashira-sensei."
"Because he failed to see things through…?" she repeated.
"When he convinced everyone else in class to give up on the idea of voting
Against, he made the decision to be expelled himself for you to hold onto the
possibility of getting to Class A. What he did was, he first brought the class to a
unanimous decision in favor, and then he thought about what to do afterward."
Chabashira nodded, reflecting on what happened back then.
"So if I had let him go, then…"
"Was the graduation exam easy enough that you could've won, even without
an exceptional leader?" I said, cutting her off. "Your class failed the Unanimous
Special Exam even though you hadn't gotten anyone expelled, right?"
"That's right. If we had come together as one and performed flawlessly, we
might've won, or we might've been evenly matched."
"Meaning that it's unthinkable that you would've chosen to be without your
leader," I said. "Still, even if you were missing someone else aside from him, you
still wouldn't have beaten Class A. With that in mind, the only option you
could've chosen was to hold your ground between the two choices, to agree or
disagree. You should have turned down all attempts, all temptation, to sway
the vote to be in favor of the issue."
"But even if I had held my ground, the other students weren't in a position to
be persuaded to vote against it. You admitted as much yourself, Ayanokouji."
"There wasn't any need to persuade them," I replied. "Opinions in your class
were divided on how to win. If the vote wasn't united, then defeat would be
inevitable once time ran out. So, when time was about to run out, those who
were in favor would have absolutely changed their mind and voted Against.
Even if they vocally resisted it, if there was just one minute remaining and it was
the final vote, what do you think they would've done? If they voted in favor,
there wouldn't have been time to expel anyone anyway. The interval times
were fixed ten-minute periods, but the voting time was a maximum of sixty
seconds. If you adjusted the timing by deliberately delaying voting periods, you
could force everyone into a final vote with no wiggle room."
If those students voted For, the class would have failed and been penalized
300 points. But if they voted Against, they would pass and get fifty points. It
would be impossible for anyone to choose the former in that situation.
"No matter how much those students lost their cool over it or how angry they
got, there would be no way that they could look away from the reality of the
situation," I went on. "Either they would run out of time and lose 300 points, or,
even if it meant forgoing the additional 100 points, they could pass the exam
for certain and gain fifty points and still be able to challenge Class A in the
graduation exam. There would only be one conclusion to make. Of course, it
still wouldn't be certain whether you could've made up for that 173-point
difference though."
The students in her class were fixated on those 100 points dangling in front of
them, unable to throw away their chance of winning. The leader had leveraged
those students' states of mind and successfully guided the class to a decision in
favor. However, that strategy in itself was a mistake. He had failed to see
Chabashira's heart and her stubborn will, as the person of the other sex with
whom he had a romantic entanglement.
"I… If we had a student like you around back then, then maybe…"
Chabashira was about to continue, but then stopped.
"No, it'd be pointless to say anything about it now. I can't go back to the past.
But let me ask you something, Ayanokouji. Sakura must have been someone
you were close with, as a member of your friend group. And moreover, she had
special feelings for you."
"You're well informed," I replied.
"I'm your homeroom teacher. I can figure out lots of things just from the way
my students look at me," she said. She didn't sound proud, but instead seemed
somewhat exasperated. "Wasn't there a way you could've saved Sakura and
sacrificed someone else?"
"I'm not so sure," I replied. "At the time, Horikita had this force about her that
prevented me from saying if there was another choice or not. There wouldn't
have been enough time to challenge her on it."
"You're being very businesslike about this. Didn't it…hurt, emotionally?"
"If I could've kept Airi from getting expelled, that would've been the best
option, of course. As for me, personally, I tried to lead the class to a unanimous
decision Against in every way possible, but Kushida wasn't letting me. Then,
after we chose to expel someone, I decided that there wouldn't be any solution
unless I cut off Kushida's every escape route and drove her into a corner. Still,
while it's possible that this is just a conclusion based on hindsight, there might
have been a possibility we could've come to a unanimous decision Against," I
admitted. "At the time, Kushida's heart was in such disarray over Horikita's
presence that she accepted the choice to remain at this school. I didn't foresee
that at all. As it turns out, I'm not the only one who wants to help the students
close to me. Anyway, I figured that since things had come to that, the only
option I had left was to remove people. I had no other choice but to weigh the
relative merits and flaws of my classmates. Were they academically capable or
not? Athletic or not so much? Communication skills. Insights. Observational
skills. All I could do was look at objective data, meaning their OAA rankings."
If you used the system the school had created, you would see who should be
expelled, even if you didn't want to.
"Of course, there were a few students whose abilities aren't that much
different from Airi's," I added. "However, if arguments broke out over those
students, then those students' friends would naturally take their sides and
defend them. But in Airi's case, the only major obstacle was Haruka. And even if
Haruka nominated herself, we'd only lose ten minutes."
"Meaning that you intentionally chose one of your own friends…"
"Personality was one of the deciding factors. Taking Airi's into account, she
wouldn't be good at pleading her case with people, telling them that she didn't
want to quit school or appealing to them not to vote for her. That meant I could
take any number of convenient measures to counter that. A good friend, in this
case, Haruka, would never, ever vote in favor of Airi's expulsion. However, the
exception to that rule would be if Airi herself came forward and made a
statement, asking her friend to vote for her. There would be no way that Airi
could choose to stay at this school after causing trouble and making the class
sacrifice 300 Class Points."
"So, you even understood Sakura's mentality," said Chabashira.
"Her overall abilities, those people close to her, and her personality. And as
one final push, for Airi to be told by someone precious to her that she was the
person who should be expelled. If she were to hear that come from my mouth,
then she'd have no choice but to understand," I said.
"Ayanokouji… You're…"
"People might call those who think like me monsters or fiends," I admitted.
"No one wants to take on the role of the bad guy. Even so, I need to carry that
out at times, without hesitation, when it's necessary. That'll be inevitable to
protect the class, or in other words, the system."
"In this school, expulsion is always a looming threat, in every possible
situation. As a teacher at this school, I'm prepared to accept that. Even so, I will
never be able to make a decision like you did, without hesitation, for as long as I
live," said Chabashira, admitting the weakness in her own heart. "I don't know
you very well, but…how many people have you cut down without a second
thought? How many people would you have to cut down to reach that level of…
No, don't answer that. I'm sure that there's no way I'll ever understand."
How many people would I have to cut down, huh? I had never thought about
that before. Just like you wouldn't remember the shape of every single little
stone on the side of the road, both those you studied with and those who
taught you would be removed and disappear if they were incompetent. That
was artificial selection.
"Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today, Ayanokouji,"
Chabashira said. "I've been standing still for a long, long while now, regretting
my past choices. But I understand now that I don't have the time to keep
standing around. I will fulfill my role as a teacher and guide the students of my
class so they can continue to fight without regret."
"It sounds like you've been able to bid farewell to your past through this
special exam," I said.
When I saw Chabashira's face from the side as she spoke, she looked
somewhat sunny, unlike moments earlier.
"Even now, it's not like I haven't been dreaming of reaching Class A," she said.
"Even when I try not to think about it, I still end up hoping. I pray that I might be
able to make my unfulfilled dream come true. And every time I think those
things, I ridicule myself for being so stupid and erase it from my memory. I've
been stuck doing that."
Then, Chabashira turned and smiled at me. It was something I had never seen
her do until now.
"I've made my decision, Ayanokouji. I am going to get your class to graduate
from A, no matter what it takes."
"It's all well and good to be enthusiastic, but please don't deviate from your
position as a teacher," I replied.
"Hmph… Well, yes, I do understand my position, of course. There is only so
much I can do, but what I mean is that I am prepared to do that much. I have to
say though, every time you say something, it doesn't sound like something a
student would say."
"Like what a student would say, huh? And what would have been the correct
way for me to have answered you then?" I asked.
"I can't tell you that. I'm not a student," said Chabashira.
Ugh. She was such a ridiculous person.
"If we're done talking, I'm leaving," I told her.
"I understand," she said. "Sorry for taking up so much of your valuable time."
"No problem. Anyway, I'll be heading out now, Chabashira-sensei," I put
deliberate emphasis on calling her that, even though I was already calling her as
such lately.
I wondered if she thought I was just being impertinent. Chabashira-sensei
smiled back at me and nodded. She'd probably be all right now. She had grown
just as much as her students did through this special exam. Her heart had
stopped when she was in her third year of high school, but all at once, it was
beginning to catch up with her current age.