JUST MOMENTS LATER, the entirely exhausted third-year students were all
down on their knees around Kouenji, broken and out of breath. Kouenji had not
thrown a single punch, and yet their spirits had been crushed as he rendered
their attacks useless.
"Huff, huff… Damn it… Who, or what, the hell are you, anyway?" wheezed a
terrified Mikitani, starting to back away. "You're like a monster or something,
seriously… Wouldn't it have been a lot easier for you to just shake us off
instead…?"
Kouenji noticed that a gap had been opened.
"It'd be a hassle having to deal with you following me around forever," he
replied simply. "It's like having dead leaves blowing in my face all the time. Not
a pleasant feeling."
Hearing that, Kiriyama began to calmly analyze the scene, despite the tricky
situation that they were in.
"I see," he said. "I suppose it's certainly true that Mikitani would have been
prepared to chase after you, no matter how far you went. At least, he would
have before. But, if he were to see for himself the overwhelming difference in
ability between you and him, his spirit would most likely falter. You're probably
the only person who would come up with the idea to break your opponent's
spirit without fighting back and have the ability to follow through with such an
extraordinary feat."
Though Kouenji had given up on the Early Bird Bonus for his designated area,
he had completely shut down the third-years, rendering them unwilling to
attack further. Thanks to Kouenji's decision, Kiriyama and his followers found
the rug pulled out from under them.
"Are you okay, Mikitani?" asked Kiriyama.
"Y-yeah," groaned Mikitani. "I'm not hurt, but… Ugh."
Some students had fallen or been knocked to the ground as a result of their
own actions, but they were basically unharmed. At most, they had only slight
scrapes on their hands. In the face of such overwhelming power, Kouenji had
managed to show them the difference between his abilities and theirs without
taking a single swing at any of the upperclassmen.
"Well then, I'll be on my way now," he announced. "I trust you don't mind?"
"Do whatever you want, Kouenji," huffed Mikitani.
"In that case, please excuse me. Adieu!" said Kouenji, jovially.
There wasn't anyone remaining who could stand in his way. With that,
Kouenji simply left.
Afterward, Mikitani muttered to himself, heartbroken, "What the hell is he,
anyway? Is he really a high schooler?"
"There are always people who'll do something beyond your initial
calculations. Just like Nagumo," said Kiriyama.
"In the end, is that really all we can do? Just crawl on the ground like this
forever?!" Mikitani pounded his clenched fist against the ground, frustrated
with his own inadequacy. "Ugh, that little freak! He made a fool of me! Damn it!
Damn it!"
"Our fight is not over yet," said Kiriyama, looking over in the direction in
which Kouenji had left, though he was already out of sight by now.
Kiriyama took his walkie-talkie in hand.
"Are you plannin' on reporting my failure to Nagumo?" asked Mikitani.
"What would there be to gain by doing that?" Kiriyama replied. "I've already
decided that I'm going to go for the win."
"Y-yeah, guess you're right."
"Don't worry, Mikitani. I had already assumed from the very beginning that
Kouenji was beyond the realm of the ordinary. But every opponent has their
weak points. As the saying goes, 'the greater embraces the lesser,' after all."
Mikitani nodded quietly, feeling somewhat grateful for such words. Kiriyama,
on the other hand, wasn't even the least bit shaken or upset about what had
just transpired. On the contrary, he had expected it from the very start. His
overarching strategy was to catch Kouenji by surprise once the underclassman
was convinced that he had gotten rid of every obstacle standing in his way.
Though many people had gone after him to block his path, they hadn't really
done much harm to Kouenji at all. As a result, Kouenji would have gotten the
distinct impression that the third-year students really weren't that big a deal.
And that was exactly what Kiriyama wanted.
5.5
IT WAS JUST BEFORE five o'clock in the afternoon on the eleventh day of the
exam. I had arrived at my final designated area for the day, J10, just in time, and
found myself getting momentarily distracted by the scenery.
Getting points and gathering supplies from Tasks was important, but what
concerned me more was manipulating my score. It was surprisingly difficult to
keep myself in eleventh place. I needed to make sure that I hit my designated
areas in order to avoid being penalized, but at the same time, I needed to make
sure that I kept my point total close to that of the group in tenth place.
Yesterday, on the tenth day of the exam, the third designated area had been
randomly assigned. The second area was in F4, but the third was in B9. I
decided to give up on trying to get there almost immediately. Then, the fourth
designated area for the day was in C9. I didn't manage to make it to that one
either, and that left me with two consecutive misses.
This morning, however, I managed to make it to my first designated area on
time, which was in area C8. That meant I successfully avoided getting a penalty.
However, I hadn't been able to make it to the following area, which was
another randomly assigned one in H9. I did make it to I9 when it was designated
afterward, but I had a rough time doing so. It had been a very difficult day.
If you had to cover a long distance to reach a designated area, even just once,
the rest of your travels would be affected by it. Once again, I became painfully
aware of the main reason my overall score was not improving.
I reached area J10 after making my way through a path full of steep inclines
and rocky terrain. When I got there, though, I could hear the voices of people
talking with each other up ahead.
Thinking that I might know who they were, I decided to take a quick peek. The
voices sounded as if they were coming from the west—the same direction as
the ocean. When I reached them, I found a single group made up of three girls
from Class 2-B: Isoyama Nagisa, Morofuji Rika, and Shiina Hiyori.
And…then I saw there was actually another group of second-year students
there too. I hadn't seen them at all since the exam had started. The second
group included Ishizaki Daiichi, Nishino Takeko, and Tsube Hitomi. I was sure
that these groups must have started in different Tables originally. Did their
designated areas overlap this time?
"Oh? Why, if it isn't Ayanokouji-kun," said Hiyori.
The other five people were still in the middle of their conversation so they
hadn't realized I was there yet. Only Hiyori seemed to have noticed me, perhaps
because she had sensed that someone was nearby. As soon as our eyes met,
she waved at me.
"You're looking like you're in better shape than I thought you'd be," I told her.
"It's thanks to everyone's hard work," she replied. "We expanded our
maximum group size to six people."
From the sound of it, Ishizaki's group must've merged with hers. To be
completely honest, there seemed to be many students here lacking in ability,
but I figured that Hiyori could make a strong contribution thanks to her smarts.
She'd likely support her group from that angle. However, even if I was being
generous, I couldn't exactly say that she was endowed with strong physical
abilities. But considering the overall makeup of the group, I supposed they were
well-balanced in terms of functionality.
"Had you planned on joining up with Ishizaki and the others from the
beginning?" I asked.
"Yes, that's right," said Hiyori. "There were several groups on the short list to
merge and we were one of them."
She didn't deny it at all, and instead openly admitted it. She then turned her
gaze toward Ishizaki and the others. They were happily chatting away while
watching the sun go down, as if the setting would help relieve their fatigue.
Everyone in the group seemed to be getting along, because just about everyone
in it had come from Class 2-B. Tsube, the only student from a different class,
blended into the group quite well.
"Ayanokouji-kun, have you had any changes in your health?" asked Hiyori.
Even though she could see that there wasn't anyone following me anymore,
Hiyori didn't seem especially concerned about that.
"Not really, no," I replied. "So far, so good, anyway."
"I didn't think that I needed to worry, but please be careful," she said. "A
single injury could result in elimination."
"I know," I assured her.
Hiyori beckoned me to come join her with a wave of her hand, so I decided to
sit down beside her.
"Three more days to go," she remarked.
"Seems that way, yeah," I replied.
I didn't think that there was any particularly deep meaning behind her
comment. We sat there and quietly stared out at the ocean, letting it lift our
spirits. Generally, in a situation like this, when people met with a dear friend or
someone that they were close with, they typically ask about how things were
going. This was a battle for survival, so people would inevitably be concerned
about their friends.
However, Hiyori didn't seem like she had any questions for me, like how many
points I had or anything. I didn't get the sense that it was because she wasn't
interested though. Rather, it was more like she believed there was no way I
could get expelled.
"Hey, Ayanokouji!" shouted Ishizaki, beaming. He must have finally noticed
me there because he was grinning at me now. He had an incredibly happy look
on his face for some reason.
The rest of the group seemed to have noticed me there right after that, but
they quickly grabbed Ishizaki by the shoulder when he tried to walk closer.
"What gives?" huffed Ishizaki.
"Don't get in their way," said Nishino.
"Huh?" said Ishizaki. "It ain't like Ayanokouji hates me or nothin', right?"
"That's not what we're talking about…" said Nishino.
"Now, now," said Tsube. "That's exactly one of Ishizaki-kun's good points,
don't you think?"
"Uh, good points? I'd say it's more that he simply doesn't have a clue about
social situations, but whatever," said Nishino.
"Well, that's… I suppose I can't really deny that," said Tsube.
It seemed like Nishino and Tsube had opened up to one another quite a bit.
This was probably what you'd expect to see in many groups after spending such
a long time fighting together on this uninhabited island. If people cooperated to
the best of their ability to avoid getting expelled, it'd be easier to overcome the
trivial barriers that separated them.
But at the same time, there was something cruel about it too. Once this
special exam was over, the class-based battles would resume, and a future
where classes tried to take each other down awaited us. When that time came,
there would probably be more than a few students who would not be able to
make normal, rational decisions.
Since I was from Class D, I determined that I probably wouldn't have much to
talk to this group about, so I tried to get up and leave. But when I stood up to
walk away, Ishizaki quickly scrambled toward me in a panic, grabbing me by the
shoulder.
"Hey, sorry for keepin' ya, dude!" he said. "But, hey, I'm feelin' kinda outta
my element here, bein' the only guy. Why don't you stick around for a bit,
Ayanokouji?"
"Stick around…?" I repeated.
"I mean, we don't got any more exam stuff to do today. I'm sure you were
plannin' on campin' around I9 anyway, right?"
J10, which had been my last designated area, wasn't the most suitable place
to set up camp. The ground there was rocky and there were intense winds.
With that in mind, I had intended on staying somewhere around I10 while
avoiding the coast, as Ishizaki had suggested. But, well…
"That's a marvelous idea," said Hiyori, in complete agreement with Ishizaki.
She got up and approached me as she spoke. I was relatively close with Hiyori
and Ishizaki, I supposed, so there wouldn't be many problems in that regard. I
had to wonder how the other girls felt about it.
"Sure, that's fine with me!" said Tsube. "Don't you agree? I mean,
Ayanokouji-kun seems like he wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Yeah," Nishino agreed easily.
Well, apparently, there wasn't a single objection to the idea. I thought to
myself that this group had such a comfortable, friendly vibe about them that it
somehow made you forget that an intense special exam was underway. This
was the kind of feeling you tended to see in Ichinose's class. I supposed this
meant that little by little, Ryuuen's class was starting to undergo a gradual
transformation.
5.6
"AYANOKOUJI-SENPAI. Ayanokouji-senpai…!"
Late into the night when I was fast asleep, I found myself woken up by the
sound of someone calling my name. They were speaking in a hushed whisper,
quiet enough so not to be heard by anyone else in the surrounding area. The
voice seemed to be coming from right next to my tent. I checked the time on
my wristwatch and saw that it was just after two-thirty in the morning.
"It's me. It's Nanase."
I immediately shot up, fully awake, and peeked my head out of my tent. Out
in the deep darkness, I could see a panicked Nanase, illuminated by the light of
her tablet.
"What are you doing at this hour?" I asked. "You're not hurt, are you?"
"I'm perfectly fine," she said. "I was in I9, just like you, senpai. To tell you the
truth, I saw you from afar yesterday evening. I decided to avoid making direct
contact then since I was working with Housen-kun at the time."
"…And?"
"I have some urgent news that I wanted to tell you," she said. "So, today…
Well, no, I suppose it was technically yesterday, to be precise, since the date's
changed, but… Anyway, I overheard Housen-kun talking. The first-year students
are going to launch a large-scale attack against you on the twelfth day of the
exam, Ayanokouji-senpai."
"A large-scale attack?" I asked. "Did he say that he wanted you to be part of it
too, Nanase?"
"Oh, uh… No. Well, let's see. Perhaps I should start from the beginning…"
After calming down and catching her breath, Nanase began to explain it all to
me. It was unclear at what time of what day this had happened, but apparently
Housen had been asked to go to a meeting with Takahashi, Yagami, Tsubaki,
and Utomiya, but he ignored them. However, a student who was likely a
messenger of one of those four appeared on the ninth day of the exam with a
walkie-talkie in hand, and once again requested for Housen's cooperation with
them on something.
The request was that he would help force me into being eliminated during the
endgame stage of the uninhabited island exam. They also intended to hunt
down and take out the other upperclassman students who were going it alone
in this exam in a similar fashion. The specific details of the plan were to be
communicated on the day it would occur, and apparently Housen still had the
walkie-talkie on him, even now. From the sound of things, Nanase had been
told that Housen had no intention whatsoever of cooperating and that he was
only pretending to go along with it. He was planning on finding some way to
take advantage of the situation.
So, they were going to come after me in the endgame of the exam… Taking
steps in advance had been worth it.
"They made the right call, not conveying the exact details of the plan until the
very last minute," I remarked.
If word had gotten out, such as what exactly they were planning to do and
when, it would have made it that much easier for me to come up with
countermeasures. The truth was that they hadn't yet given any details to
Housen because there was a possibility that he would betray them.
"Who is going to give the orders?" I asked.
"I do not know," Nanase replied. "But I do know that it was mostly Tsubakisan that I heard speaking over the walkie-talkie."
"She seems like the kind of person who doesn't come out in the open very
much though," I observed.
"I am of the same opinion," Nanase agreed. "If I had to say, I got the
impression that Class C mostly rallied around Utomiya-kun, if anyone. It's just
that, well, Utomiya-kun and Housen-kun don't get along at all. Whenever they
get into a discussion, they start fighting almost immediately. It's possible they
specifically chose Tsubaki-san to function as an intermediary in this case."
That was possible. But it was also possible that someone like Yagami or
Takahashi might be pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
"Well, even though we only know the date that this is going to happen, I'm
grateful. Anyway, even though it's this late, it's probably best that you don't
stay too long. If they find out that you gave me information, it could spell
trouble later," I warned her.
My safety aside, it was possible that this could disrupt Nanase's life at school
in the days to come. For better or for worse, she still had to spend her days in
Class 1-D with Housen. I instructed her to leave before Housen realized that she
was gone.
"Okay," she agreed. "I will be sure to contact you if there are any other major
developments."
"Oh, no, that's okay," I told her. "I appreciate that, but what you've done for
me so far during this exam is plenty. Even if you do happen to see the first-year
students making a move, you don't have to come tell me. There's no need to
help me so recklessly, against your better judgment."
"But—"
"I've gotten plenty of information from you, Nanase," I insisted, cutting her
off. "Now you should do what you need to be doing, as a member of Housen
and Amasawa's group."
If Nanase lost all her credibility with her classmates, I wouldn't be able to get
any information from her in the future. If that happened, her value to me would
drop dramatically.
"If you say so, Ayanokouji-senpai, then…okay, I understand," she replied,
bowing deeply.
With that, she left, running off into the darkness. When she had completely
disappeared from view, I took out my tablet and thought things through a little.
My drowsiness was completely gone, and I stared at the screen. I could assume
that the information Nanase had overheard was the genuine truth. However,
whether things would actually proceed as described was another matter.
The details of Class 1-D were still unknown to me, but Housen was the type of
person who used a similar power as Ryuuen to subjugate his class. However,
while they were alike in that respect, when dealing with obstacles, Housen
tended to put himself at the center of his plans whenever he decided to make a
move. In consideration of that tendency, he had kept Nanase by his side ever
since he had started at our school.
Nanase certainly had incredible mental fortitude, far beyond that of ordinary
first-year high-school students. There was no doubt that her respectable
academic abilities and elevated physical prowess made her a valuable asset. But
the degree of trust that Housen placed in Nanase was still completely unclear. If
he didn't trust her, then would he have let her hear about the first-years'
surprise attack?
I doubted that Housen would think that Nanase was possibly my ally all on his
own. However, I wouldn't be surprised if he felt like there was something off. If
Amasawa got involved and let something slip, then it was possible that he knew
something. In any case, the idea that the first-years were planning to attack me
wasn't surprising. I had assumed from the very beginning that they'd come
after me during this uninhabited island exam since I already had a bounty on my
head anyway. I appreciated that Nanase had come to report this to me, but
nothing about what I was planning to do was going to change.
5.7
I MANAGED TO GET in a little bit of sleep after that. Then, when the clock struck
six o'clock that morning, I used the GPS search. If today really was the day that
the plan was being set in motion, then I should have been able to see some
unusual movements, primarily among the first-year students, including Housen.
"And it looks like…there's nothing unusual about their positioning," I
muttered to myself.
Housen's group, who were also in my Table, was positioned nearby. Aside
from that, though, the rest were at least three spaces away from me. No one
seemed to be setting up any kind of attack at the moment. Since it was difficult
to imagine that they would make a move out in the open and in front of other
people, I supposed that as long as Ishizaki and the others were near, I should be
safe.
Hiyori, Ishizaki, and the rest of their group started to wake up and were
getting ready for the twelfth day of the exam. Once everyone was prepared to
move, we all started walking together.
"Ugh, this sucks, dude, havin' to go uphill already first thing in the mornin',"
grumbled Ishizaki, who was apparently still a little sleepy and not fully awake
yet.
Nishino shot him down. "Nothin' we can do 'bout it. If we suddenly found
ourselves in a designated area, we'd lose out on points."
They probably had many back-and-forth exchanges just like that over these
past ten plus days. The rest of the group focused on walking, ignoring Ishizaki
and Nishino's bickering.
"Ayanokouji-kun, haven't you ever felt lonely being all alone in this test for so
long?" asked Hiyori as she walked beside me.
"Not especially, no. If anything, I feel like it's been pretty easy," I replied.
"I…guess I think it would be a little lonely and scary, myself," she said.
"Scary, huh? I can't really imagine you being scared of anything," I told her.
I had the impression that she had really thick skin when it came to these kinds
of topics, since she was always so nonchalant about things. I expected that even
if she were to see some kind of psychic or spiritual phenomenon, she'd just clap
her hands and say, "Wow, that's amazing" or something.
"I'm actually a pretty big scaredy-cat, you know, even now," Hiyori admitted.
"That's why I think you're amazing, Ayanokouji-kun. Honestly, I do."
"I think what Horikita and Ibuki are doing is more amazing, though. Don't
you?" I said in return.
The longer that those two battled against solitude, the weaker their metal
states would become. They'd start worrying about things that didn't really
matter. They would begin to see or sense things that weren't really there,
rattled by the sound of the wind or the shaking of a nearby tree.
"Yes, that's true… A girl trying to make it on this uninhabited island all alone…
That would be impossible for me," said Hiyori.
When she imagined it, Hiyori had a somewhat fearful look on her face, just for
a moment. I wondered if I was able to see this rare side of her just because of
this uninhabited island.
Before I realized it, Ishizaki, who had been walking on ahead of us, turned
back to look at Hiyori and me.
"Man, though, you two sure get along great, huh?" he said as he watched us.
"Hey, you really need to stop stickin' your nose where it doesn't belong,"
hissed Nishino, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck.
Ishizaki didn't seem to pay it any mind though and went on, "You guys should
jus' start datin' already! Then you can come on over to our class, 'kay? 'Kay?"
"You are jumpin' WAY too far ahead!" shouted Nishino. She swung a closed
fist down hard on Ishizaki's head, giving him a good whack. Ishizaki clutched his
head and let out a yelp.
"Ishizaki-kun sure is a funny one, isn't he?" said Hiyori, giggling lightly,
seemingly unbothered by his words.
Yeah, it'd be a hassle if you were to honestly entertain every little thing that
came out of his mouth. I decided to just casually ignore it, letting it float in one
ear and out the other.
"Damn, dude! That hurt!" said Ishizaki. "Dontcha think that's what we need if
we're gonna bring Ayanokouji over and make 'im our ally?"
"No, I don't think so at all. Besides, you're the one who seems so super
enthusiastic about Ayanokouji-kun here," replied Nishino.
I supposed that, from Nishino's point of view, since she didn't know the
specific details about our situation, this must have all looked rather strange. I
wouldn't be surprised if she just saw this as Ishizaki trying way too hard to invite
me into their class just because I got a perfect score on a test.
"Nah, man, it's more like, well y'know, that? …It's like we're on the same
wavelength. Yeah, that," said Ishizaki.
"Wavelength. Yeah, I can't imagine there's anyone on your wavelength,"
Nishino said.
Shot down by Nishino's harsh criticism, Ishizaki apparently couldn't take it
anymore because he shot me a pleading glance, looking for me to help him.
"That's not true," Hiyori spoke up. "If you look at Ishizaki-kun this way, you,
well, get…it."
Everyone present cocked their heads to the side, puzzled.
"'It'? What's 'it,' exactly?" asked Nishino.
"It's just it," said Hiyori. "I won't answer anything more than that."
"…O-okay. Anyway, aren't you glad? Gettin' complimented by Shiina-san and
all," teased Nishino.
"Y-yeah!" said Ishizaki. "I mean, I don't really get what 'it' is s'posed to mean,
but gettin' complimented doesn't feel too bad!"
Hiyori probably just hadn't been able to think of anything specific. But there
was no way that I could've said such a cruel thing aloud, so I just quietly let their
conversation wash over me.
When the clock struck seven o'clock later that morning, our first designated
areas for the day were announced. Mine was area H10. Hiyori and the others
had a different designated area, J9, so it didn't seem like we were going to be
competing with one another. I wouldn't have welcomed the idea of fighting
people in my own grade level, so thank goodness for that.
"Looks like this is where we split, Ayanokouji. See ya later," said Ishizaki.
"Yeah. There's only a little bit of the exam left, but don't let your guard down,
and keep giving it your best," I replied.
Ishizaki motioned for a high five, so I gave him one. We then went our
separate ways. After I walked a little way away though, I felt like I heard voices
coming from behind me. When I turned to look, I saw Ishizaki and Hiyori waving
at me. I waved back at them, and then I proceeded to head toward area H10.
From that point on, I repeated my typical GPS search every hour throughout
the day, but I couldn't see any changes in the first-year students' movements,
not even by five o'clock in the evening. Nanase had taken on so much risk to tell
me about their plan of attack, but it seemed like the information had been
faulty.
Perhaps Amasawa knew about Nanase's betrayal and let the others know that
the information had leaked. Or maybe they intended to carry out the plan
today, but it ended up being postponed or canceled due to some kind of
accident. In any case, I couldn't lose focus tomorrow, the thirteenth day of the
exam, or on the final day either.
I had to forego reaching both the third and fourth designated areas of the
day. The first of the two had been randomly assigned, which in turn caused me
to miss the other. Although I didn't lose too much ground in terms of the
rankings, using the search function so much had made me drop down to
sixteenth place. I had to reach my designated areas tomorrow, no matter what.
Chapter 6:
Each and Every Calculation
WE WILL NOW rewind the clock slightly, going back to the ninth day of the
uninhabited island exam: the day after Nanase parted ways with Ayanokouji.
Although Nanase, Housen, and Amasawa were a group of three, Housen had
been working entirely on his own ever since the first day of the exam. He was
still lying in his tent when the designated area was announced that morning at
seven o'clock. Shortly after eight o'clock, a figure approached and called out to
him.
"Good morning, Housen-kun."
"Huh?"
"It's me. It's Nanase."
"I could tell that from your voice," he said. "Why did ya come here?"
"Why? We're in a group together. There's nothing unnatural about us staying
in contact," she said, matter-of-factly.
It was a serious answer, but Housen laughed scornfully when he heard it.
"Yeah, like you can talk," he scoffed. "Sure seems like you had a lot of fun
together with Ayanokouji. Did it pay off?"
"It…did not," Nanase said. "I was not a match for him."
"Ha. You probably just took 'im head-on, without usin' a woman's weapons,
didn't ya?" replied Housen.
"A…woman's weapons?" repeated Nanase.
It was clear that she didn't understand what Housen was talking about, but he
went on anyway.
"You got a big chest, but it's like you got nothin' in your head," he mocked
her, exasperated.
"Excuse me, but I don't understand what relationship there is between the
size of my chest and my head," said Nanase. "Not one bit."
"Whatever. Just forget it. Anyway, so? Did you come here just to give me that
report?" he asked.
Housen proceeded to take out his tablet and used the GPS search without
hesitating at all. Not only did he not know who might have been following
Nanase, he had also decided that he needed to be wary of whoever might be
nearby. However, he didn't see any signs of anyone that he had been keeping
track of anywhere in the vicinity.
"The plan that I produced to try and get Ayanokouji-senpai expelled on my
own has failed," Nanase said. "So, I came here thinking that I might be able to
get your help, Housen-kun. If you have a plan, please let me hear it."
First, she had gone off on her own, and now she was coming to him to ask for
his help. Housen simply couldn't trust Nanase. Though really, he could never
trust anyone in the first place.
"Get lost," he told her. "I'll handle it myself."
"…I will wait here until you change your mind, then," said Nanase.
"Forget about it. Get to the designated area instead. What you can do right
now is avoid us gettin' a penalty," said Housen, trying to get rid of her.
But Nanase showed no signs of budging. Housen ignored her, closed his eyes,
and let time pass. After about ten minutes had gone by, Nanase called out to
him once more.
"Housen-kun."
"What, you still don't wanna go? You're wastin' time here, y'know that?"
"It appears that we have a visitor," said Nanase.
Housen opened his eyes only slightly and saw that there was another
silhouette in his view aside from Nanase's.
"U-um, Housen-kun… It's me," said the student, not offering their name.
"Who's 'me'? I don't know who the hell you're s'posed to be," said Housen
gruffly, his words coarse.
"Uh… I'm…K-Katagiri…from Class C."
"Don't know, don't care," replied Housen.
"You can talk to me instead," Nanase said. "What's the matter?"
"That's… Well, uh, I have something that I need to give to Housen-kun," said
Katagiri.
"Something you need to give to him? What in the world is it?" asked Nanase.
"W-well, I'm not supposed to tell anyone but Housen-kun, and—"
Housen seemed entirely disinterested as he listened to the student, but he
must have reconsidered the situation. He popped his head out of his tent and
proceeded to exit it and stand upright, looking down at Katagiri thanks to his
massive frame.
"If it's somethin' borin', I'm gonna punch your lights out, got it?" said Housen.
"H-here!" Katagiri wailed and held out a walkie-talkie, eyes shut tight,
shaking.
"That looks like a walkie-talkie," said Nanase.
"Y-you can use this to talk with Utomiya-kun," explained Katagiri, conveying
the message to Housen despite being terrified.
"Heh. What, he wanted to contact me so badly that he was willin' to send
over a nobody like you, huh?" said Housen, swiping the device from Katagiri as
if stealing it.
"What the hell are you thinkin' anyway, going through all the hassle of sendin'
someone over to try and get in touch with me?" he spoke into the walkie-talkie.
"What, you wanna play, Utomiya?"
Housen didn't get a response back. He proceeded to turn on his tablet to
verify Utomiya's location on the map.
"I dunno if you just didn't notice me callin' you or if you're ignorin' me or
whatever," he went on, "but this is your first and last chance. You got that?"
After Housen told the person on the other end that this was their final
warning, he finally got a response.
"I didn't want to contact you. It's just that I can't avoid it if we're going to
carry out this plan," said Utomiya.
"Plan, huh? What plan?" said Housen.
"Did you already forget what happened on the sixth day?"
"Oh yeah. You said somethin' 'bout getting together for a secret meeting or
whatever. Yeah, sorry, dude, I forgot."
Nanase's expression stiffened a little when she heard that. She didn't know
anything about what happened since she had been accompanying Ayanokouji
at the time. Housen shot her a sidelong glance, but he continued to listen to the
person on the other end of the walkie-talkie, without moving.
"I took the fact that you'd ignore the meeting into consideration," said
Utomiya, flatly.
"That so? And?"
"We're going to be executing a strategy to save the first-years soon."
"Save?" repeated Housen.
After Housen said that last line to Utomiya, he momentarily stopped
transmitting so that he wouldn't be heard. Nanase hurriedly took her tablet out
from her backpack and showed him a list of the bottom ten groups in the
rankings. At the present moment, there seemed to be four groups of first-year
students in danger of being expelled.
"There are two groups from Class 1-D there too," said Nanase.
"Hah," Housen scoffed. "I don't care if garbage like them disappears or not,
big deal. Don't tell me he seriously thinks that I'm gonna do somethin' to help
our classmates, does he?"
"Stay alert. I think he might be plotting something," said Nanase.
"Shut the hell up," huffed Housen, adding that he already figured as much.
He switched the transmit button back on.
"I don't know what you're doin' or whatever," he told Utomiya, "but what's it
got to do with me?"
Nanase intuitively sensed that some form of bargaining had already begun.
For the time being, she remained completely silent and listened to their
conversation. Their location was made clearly apparent via the GPS search. She
figured that, without a doubt, they would have searched the area around
Housen before reaching out to talk. Nanase had the impression that whoever
was on the other end of the line deliberately chose not to mention that.
"Because…if we're going to save people, then you're someone we absolutely
need," said Utomiya.
Since Utomiya was speaking via the walkie-talkie, they couldn't see the
expression on his face. However, Housen felt like there were some hidden parts
to this conversation and that Utomiya was saying things he didn't really mean.
Housen wasn't so stupid as to not see through that.
"Did someone say that to you?" said Housen. "Well, ain't that somethin'."
"If you're gonna turn me down, then just say you refuse. I'm only discussing
this with you as a matter of course so I can say I went through the proper
procedures here. I thought we could do this successfully without you in the first
place."
"In that case, we're done here. I refuse," replied Housen curtly, ready to end
the transmission.
He held the walkie-talkie firmly in his hand, seeming like he was about to toss
it aside any moment. But instead, he just stood there, waiting for a response
from Utomiya.
"…Housen."
Though Utomiya was irritated, he called out Housen's name. Housen
responded with silence.
"So, this means we can't get you to cooperate. Is that it?"
Considering Utomiya's nature, he should've ended the call immediately when
Housen refused. But seeing as he didn't, Housen took that to mean that there
was someone else involved in this request.
"Wait," he said. "No one said anythin' about not cooperating."
"What…?"
Utomiya sounded a little bit flustered on the other end of the line. Housen
could guess that he'd been expecting Housen would outright refuse the offer.
"If you come all the way over here, get down on your knees in front of me,
and beg for my help, then I'll give you a hand. Got it?"
"Screw you. Who in their right mind would grovel to you?"
"Then this whole conversation never happened. You sure you're okay with
that, Tsubaki?" asked Housen, directly addressing the girl listening in on their
conversation on Utomiya's end.
"You noticed? Or did you do a GPS search?" asked Utomiya.
"Like I'd bother wastin' a whole point on somethin' so obvious," said Housen.
"I've known the whole time that she's a real shady chick."
That was a lie on his part. He had used the GPS search earlier and saw that
Utomiya and Tsubaki were in the same position, but he passed it off as if it were
his own intuition.
"Looks like I can't let Utomiya-kun handle this alone after all, I guess," said
Tsubaki.
Housen chuckled to himself at that. "What, does that mean you don't trust
Utomiya?"
"Only when it concerns you, Housen-kun," Tsubaki replied. "Everyone knows
that you two get along like cats and dogs. I'm not willing to let unnecessary
emotions cause our negotiations to fall apart."
"Okay, so what'd ya mean about all that 'save the first-years' stuff?" asked
Housen.
"You already know that four of the groups in the bottom ten are first-year
students, don't you?" said Tsubaki. "And on top of that, two of those groups are
from Class 1-D. At this rate, when this special exam is over, the damage our
grade level will sustain will be significant. And that includes your class too,
Housen-kun."
To someone who held the position of Class 1-D's leader, this was certainly a
grave situation. At least, it should have been. You would expect the leader of
that class to be panicking, thinking that they had to do something about it.
However, Housen wasn't just unfazed; it was like he didn't even care at all.
"So?" he said. "You're not seriously sayin' that we're gonna try and save all
the first-years at the bottom of the rankings, are you?"
"Before I answer, there's just one thing I want to clear up. It's safe for us to
assume that Nanase-san is on your side, right?" asked Tsubaki.
It was the first time during the conversation that she had mentioned Nanase's
presence. Tsubaki was trying to learn more about the periods of silence and the
tactless answers Housen was giving her.
"More or less," said Housen. "She's just somebody who happens to be a little
bit useful out of a class that's full of garbage."
"I see," Tsubaki said. "In that case, never mind. I'll proceed with what I was
going to tell you. And to answer your question, yes, that's correct. I intend to
save everyone, which includes those four groups in the bottom ten right now,
and a fifth group that is about to fall into there as well."
"You sure talk a big game, but can you actually do it? I mean, you haven't
exactly done anything noteworthy so far. If you're usin' up my valuable time for
no reason at all, I'm not gonna show you any mercy. Got it?"
"Though you say your time is so valuable, it really seems like you've been
taking it slow," said Tsubaki. Her words indicated that she had been monitoring
Housen since the initial stages of the exam via GPS search.
"Hey, how 'bout I beat your little lackey Katagiri half to death and send this
kid right back to you? Just for fun?" replied Housen.
The first-year in question cowered, face stiffening in terror. Even the slightest
change in Housen's temperament was enough to make most students tremble
in fear.
"Don't get carried away, Housen," Utomiya cut in. "If you lay a hand on
Katagiri, I'll make you pay."
"Hey, hold on, Utomiya-kun. Don't interrupt," said Tsubaki.
"But—"
As Utomiya and Tsubaki discussed things on their end, the call was
momentarily put on hold.
"What the hell are you doin'? Huh?" sneered Housen, looking over at Katagiri.
"Eep!"
Katagiri had unintentionally prepared to flee, perhaps because Housen's smile
looked so creepy.
"Tch. Lame. Hey, just get outta here already," said Housen, telling the other
student to leave.
"B-but…the walkie-talkie…" Katagiri stammered.
"I'll hang on to it for now," said Housen.
"But…"
"Katagiri-kun, I won't say that you did anything wrong here," said Nanase,
stepping into the conversation. "But I think that you should perhaps just leave it
with Housen-kun."
She gave Katagiri a look that also seemed to say, "There's no telling what's
going to happen if you don't back down here." Housen's glare from behind must
have been more than Katagiri could bear, because the student turned and fled
in terror. Katagiri bolted and nearly toppled over, but ultimately managed to
get away.
"Moron," huffed Housen.
"That was rather heavy-handed," said Nanase.
"That's how I do things," he said. "You knew that already, didn't ya?"
After a brief exchange, Tsubaki got back on the walkie-talkie.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting. Can we resume our discussion?" she asked.
"Yeah, fine, whatever. But that Katagiri kid left the walkie-talkie here and
went off somewhere."
"You were being threatening, weren't you?" said Tsubaki without pause, not
even needing to guess that's exactly what Housen did.
"Man, must be real tough, bein' bad in a fight," said Housen. "Means that the
battle's already decided 'fore it even starts. It's the same for you, right,
Tsubaki?"
"It's certainly true that in a physical fight, I wouldn't be able to win, no matter
how hard I tried. But this is different."
"This?"
"Meaning when it comes to using my head. My brains," said Tsubaki.
Housen unintentionally started laughing at her reply. She had said it so
seriously that he couldn't imagine she wasn't joking.
"Ha… If you're actually smarter than I am, then I guess you would be a big
deal," said Housen.
"There are ways of forcefully rescuing groups that are in distress," Tsubaki
went on. "We just need as many people as possible to pull it off. It looks like the
upperclassmen are already enacting a similar strategy. I simply wanted to enlist
the help of Class 1-D." Which was to say, this was precisely why she was asking
Housen for his help, despite the fact he had just been doing whatever he
pleased until now.
"Yeah, yeah, I'd love to help, really, but I've got other stuff to do. I'm real busy
right now," said Housen.
Tsubaki and Utomiya knew that Housen had a lot of free time on his hands
because he hadn't moved at all, even though the designated area had already
been announced. But Housen had deliberately chosen to respond that way, just
to see how they would react.
"Busy, huh…? As in, you're busy trying to get Ayanokouji expelled?"
"Yeah, yeah, that's it. I don't care how many pieces of garbage disappear from
my class. Ain't got nothin' to do with me," said Housen.
"But how are you planning to get him expelled?" Tsubaki asked. "It's already
the morning of the eighth day of the exam, and Ayanokouji-senpai is working all
alone. And yet, despite that, his name hasn't appeared in the bottom ten of the
rankings. According to the rules, the only two conditions by which someone
could be expelled in this exam are if they are eliminated along with the rest of
their group or if, based on their scores, they fall to the bottom of the rankings."
Considering how many points Ayanokouji had, he was clearly not going to
appear in the bottom ten.
"It seems like a few individual students were eliminated in the first week,"
Tsubaki continued, "but there have been zero group eliminations so far. As the
situation starts to get tougher, we may start to see group eliminations at some
point during the second week."
"That's true," Utomiya spoke up alongside Tsubaki. "Some groups are already
close to running out of food."
Utomiya and his team had already enacted relief measures on several
occasions, offering help to first-year groups in need of food.
"If those five groups get eliminated first, it would become practically
impossible to get Ayanokouji-senpai expelled, wouldn't it? I guess you could
think of helping the first-year students as helping to get Ayanokouji-senpai
expelled, then. Couldn't you?" said Tsubaki.
Just then, for the first time during their conversation, Housen's smile began to
fade. A hint of seriousness started to appear in his expression.
"Okay, so we're gonna save the first-years, then?" asked Housen. "Well, it
doesn't sound like a bad idea, but… Let's hear how you're gonna pull it off."
"I already told you," Tsubaki said. "We're going to come together as a grade,
just like the upperclassmen are doing. We'll have the groups that can afford to
do so absorb the groups that are falling to the bottom, thereby pulling them out
of the bottom ten. If necessary, I think we might want to try snatching away
Tasks from the second-year and third-year groups that are falling in the
rankings as well."
"I don't think it's gonna be that easy to get people to through all the hassle of
comin' together just like that though," said Housen. "Right? Class A and Class B
are involved. There's no way they're gonna help D or C."
"I don't think you need to worry about that. They already decided to
collaborate with us a while ago. Now we're just waiting for your compliance,
Housen-kun," said Tsubaki. If Class 1-D promised to commit to solidarity, they
could start making their move.
"Not a bad story," Housen agreed. "But I don't see any guarantee that we're
gonna win. After all, if we're all usin' the same strategy, then that just means
we're all on the same playing field. The only difference is the amount of
experience we each got, and that means the end result is the first-years are
gonna lose."
Though Housen had appeared to only have been halfway paying attention to
the conversation, he had actually been running a simulation of Tsubaki's
strategy in his mind. He had concluded that although the probability of saving
the first-year students might increase by going through with this plan, they
wouldn't be able to overcome the disadvantages.
"That's true," Tsubaki conceded. "If things keep going as they are, we may not
be able to bring the number of sacrifices from our grade level down to zero."
"Hold up, what you jus' said was weird, don't ya think? Weren't you just
taking about saving all of the first-years?"
"If every grade level uses the same strategy, then our grade will be at a
disadvantage. It's exactly as you interpreted it, Housen-kun. So why don't we
just work on getting other groups eliminated before the end of the final day?"
That was where Tsubaki's true nature and intentions started to come into focus.
"There are still some upperclassmen who are working alone. We just need to
sink them."
"I gotcha. If five people going it on their own fail, then we can definitely save
the first-years," said Housen.
"At first I thought that if we were going to make a play, we'd do it when
everyone was starting to get exhausted," Tsubaki said. "We originally planned
for this to happen on days eight through ten of the exam, when we reached the
second half. But some unexpected things happened."
Two thoughts immediately sprang into Housen's mind. First, Tsubaki must've
been referring to Housen's absence at the meeting on the sixth day. Secondly,
of course, there was the fact that nearly the entire seventh day had been
wasted thanks to the poor weather conditions, giving everyone a chance to
recover their energy.
"So? Tell me specifically what you're askin' me to do."
"You remember the organizer of this exam suggested something to us earlier,
don't you? He said that he wouldn't mind if we sabotaged other groups through
acts of violence. You were already planning to beat up Ayanokouji-senpai
anyway, weren't you?"
"Well, yeah, that's the only way," said Housen.
Though that was what he said, it wasn't how he truly felt deep down. No
matter what other strategies there might be, he had decided that when it was
time to crush Ayanokouji, he would do it personally, with his own two hands.
"But it's difficult to just waltz up to Ayanokouji-senpai and beat him up, even if
he is working alone. He's always on the move. Which is exactly why you haven't
been able to find the opportunity to do so yet, Housen-kun. But if there was a
wide net cast around him, then things would be different," said Tsubaki,
implying that she would take care of arranging that.
"Starting with Utomiya-kun and you, Housen-kun, I looked up how many firstyear students were good in a fight, confident enough to get violent, and who
also wouldn't hesitate to go through with it. If he were to be thoroughly
surrounded, then we could block off all possible escape routes."
"So, you're tellin' me to cooperate with you since you'll handle gettin'
everything set up?" asked Housen.
"Yep."
"Why would we go along with such a dangerous plan?" Housen demanded. "I
mean, Utomiya aside, I can't imagine anybody would do this for free."
"Obviously," Tsubaki agreed. "We've made an agreement with those who said
they'll cooperate with us in the form of a 500,000-point bonus if the plan
succeeds. I thought it would be a necessary expense to reduce your share of the
work, Housen-kun."
The proposal was that they would share the Private Points received from
orchestrating Ayanokouji's expulsion.
"Hold up, Tsubaki," Utomiya said. "Acts of violence are forbidden on principle.
Are people really going to help for just 500,000?"
It sounded like this was the first time Utomiya was hearing the exact details of
the operation too. Housen could hear his voice clearly through the walkietalkie. It was right then that Housen realized that Tsubaki had intentionally
leaked something that Utomiya didn't know. Normally, you could only hear
voices coming through the walkie-talkie if the speaker was holding the button
down. If Utomiya was about to say something inconvenient, she could have just
let go of the button. In a way, Tsubaki had indirectly clued in Housen to her own
secretive nature.
"It would've been impossible for me to ask people to do this on the first day, of
course," Tsubaki explained. "But during the second half of the exam things have
gotten rough, both mentally and physically. The stress that the students are
struggling with is considerable. Everyone is in a state of conflict between
wanting to take it easy and being comfortable or wanting to do something
drastic. And, obviously, I think that people would feel very hesitant to make that
first strike. Which is exactly why I want to have you take the lead, Housen-kun."
Tsubaki had calmly analyzed the situation and said that executing the plan
would be simple.
"When there are practically no cars on the road, more than a few people
would want to ignore the red light at a crosswalk. However, when there's
someone else watching, it makes it difficult to take that first step into the road.
But if one person starts to cross the street, things change." Clearly, she wanted
Housen to take on that role.
"Well, it ain't like I hate that way of doing things," said Housen. "But the
school ain't stupid."
"When that time comes, it'll just end up with both parties being to blame in
the fight. Both sides would just heatedly testify against the other in a he-said,
she-said scenario, and either side could end up getting expelled. At that point,
I'll assume responsibility as the ringleader who gave the first-years their
instructions."
"Huh?" Housen blinked.
"I don't have any lingering attachment to this school or anything like that,"
Tsubaki insisted. "I feel like I could just quit and leave right away, I guess.
Besides, I've given other people in my group Private Points and the Half Off
card." So, she was fine even if the responsibility fell on her entire group and not
just herself as the one who hatched the plan.
"Man, people who can self-destruct sure are scary. I'm seein' you in a whole
new light," said Housen, expressing his admiration. Tsubaki had come to this
discussion with a powerful weapon in her possession.
"I know I didn't tell you the plan before, Utomiya-kun, but are you against it?"
Tsubaki asked.
"…No," replied Utomiya. "If anything, I was thinking that it was pointless for
us to just try and pull off some random scheme. I've been observing Ayanokouji
on my own, and it's definitely no coincidence that he has a twenty-million-point
bounty on his head. I think that he became a target precisely because he's
clearly some kind of bizarre entity. Even if we tried to trap him within the limits
of the rules, he'd evade us. If you're prepared to do this, then I have no right to
stop you."
It wasn't that Utomiya was opposed to violence. He was more concerned
about the possibility of underestimating their opponent. But if Tsubaki was
going to take full responsibility, the situation was different. If Housen, Utomiya,
and the others were simply being used in this scheme, that would be a different
story for them. It was possible that they'd be penalized in some way, but it was
difficult to imagine that the school would expel the whole lot of them.
"It'll be difficult for us to get Ayanokouji-senpai expelled if we take him headon," said Tsubaki. "That's why I think that this uninhabited island was arranged
for us to use as our stage, where we won't be under such watchful eyes."
"I see. So, this wasn't a coincidence," mused Utomiya.
Housen closed the map on his tablet and switched on the record function.
"So, it was you alone who came up with this plan to get Ayanokouji
eliminated through violence, right, Tsubaki?" he prompted.
"That's right."
"And if we follow you, none of us first-years are going to get expelled. Can
you guarantee that?"
"I promise. On the off chance something happens, I'll assume responsibility,"
said Tsubaki.
Once Housen heard that, he was satisfied and switched the recording function
off.
"So, did you properly record that, as proof? Having my testimony makes you
feel relieved, doesn't it?" said Tsubaki, having seen right through him.
At that response, a smug smile of satisfaction appeared on Housen's face.
"So? When are we doing this?" he asked.
"I can't say yet. I can't just divulge information about that decision so easily,"
said Tsubaki.
"So, you're saying that you don't trust me," said Housen. "Being secretive is
fine and all, but it ain't like I can help you like this."
"That's what the walkie-talkies are for," said Tsubaki.
The walkie-talkie that Housen had snatched away from Katagiri had been
meant for him from the very beginning. Even if Housen had just gone ahead and
stolen it, the result would've been the same.
"So that's how it is, huh," said Housen.
"We'll contact you again when we see another opportunity," said Tsubaki.
"Thanks." She ended the call right then and there.
"She sure seems like a cunning chick," Housen said with a chuckle, and put
the walkie-talkie into his pocket.
"What are you going to do?" asked Nanase.
"I guess it wouldn't hurt to go along with Tsubaki's plan," Housen replied. "I
was gonna crush Ayanokouji by myself anyway."
In that case, repeated GPS searches would be necessary. If Tsubaki was willing
to provide that, Housen had decided it would be worth it to just accept the free
ride.
"I get to make as much trouble as I want and all the blame will fall on Tsubaki
as the ringleader," he said. "This is almost too good to be true."
"Don't you feel that there's something suspicious about this, though?" asked
Nanase. "Like…we're being used?"
"If it comes to that, I'd welcome it," said Housen. "Anyway, that's what the
situation is."
"…I will cooperate too," said Nanase.
"Oh?"
"I personally want to protect the Class 1-D groups as well," she said. "Please
allow me to stay by your side until we receive more detailed information from
Tsubaki-san."
Housen laughed at her offer to help. "Fine. Do whatever you want."
6.1
NOW, WE'LL MOVE forward in time, to 6:51 in the morning on the thirteenth
day of the special exam. Utomiya was looking at Tsubaki, who stared up at the
sky beside the tent.
"What are you thinking about, Tsubaki?" he asked.
"I was just running through the plan in my head one last time," she replied.
"Did you need something?"
"No, I just thought I'd come talk to you before we start the operation, I
guess," said Utomiya. "Since I figured my relationship with you might end here,
after all."
"That's true," said Tsubaki.
Since this could be the last conversation they'd have together, they shared
their thoughts with one another.
"Why didn't you just use the walkie-talkie to communicate with me?" asked
Utomiya.
"Because you can't really tell what someone is thinking unless you see their
face when you talk. You understand what I mean, don't you? After hearing my
conversation with Housen-kun?"
"That's true. I don't even know what he was thinking at all, but I still can't
trust him one bit."
"The reason you can't trust him is because he's Housen-kun, right?" said
Tsubaki.
Utomiya looked away, embarrassed. Tsubaki had hit the nail on the head.
"You're the only one in our grade level that I can put my trust in, Utomiyakun," she went on. "I wanted you to hear the plan directly from me and to tell
me exactly what you thought."
A somewhat self-deprecating smile appeared on Tsubaki's face for just a
moment before her expression smoothed out again. Though Tsubaki had just
voiced her trust in him, Utomiya remembered that there was still something he
needed to check.
"How are preparations coming along?" he asked.
"Do you want to see the screenshot I took when I ran the GPS search earlier?"
she asked in response, turning her tablet toward him. She showed off the image
she had saved after using the search function.
Ayanokouji had made camp in E5. The first-year students were positioned in
D4 and E6.
"The placement is perfect," said Utomiya. "Just as you planned, Tsubaki."
"Well, we have been preparing for this very carefully. The terrain is on our
side."
Tsubaki slowly looked up at Utomiya, who was still looking at the screen
intently. Then, another person approached the two of them.
"Tsubaki-san, may I have a moment?" It was Yagami, the leader of Class 1-B
and a member of Utomiya's group.
"Preparations are already taken care of, so I guess I have time to talk…"
grumbled Tsubaki, a suspicious look crossing her face.
"To tell you the truth, there's something I'd really like you to hear," said
Yagami.
Just as he tried to start a conversation with Tsubaki, Utomiya stepped in to
stop him.
"Sorry to ask you to put that on hold, but there's something I'd like to talk
with you about first, Yagami," said Utomiya with a stern tone.
"What is it?"
"Where did you go off to yesterday? When you just suddenly disappeared?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. My watch stopped working, so I had to rush back to the
starting point," explained Yagami, showing Utomiya his wristwatch on his left
arm.
"It stopped working, huh? That's the second time that's happened, isn't it?"
said Utomiya, becoming increasingly wary. He couldn't help feeling that there
was something suspicious going on. "What are you plotting, Yagami?"
"I find it rather upsetting that you suspect me of plotting something just
because my watch stopped working. Your watch stopped working once before
too, Utomiya-kun, several days ago. Does that mean I should be suspicious of
you as well?"
"But in my case, it was because of a simple malfunction," said Utomiya.
"That's just like what happened with mine," Yagami insisted.
Yagami kept smiling this entire time, but Utomiya glared at him.
"Hey, you two, can you please not fight at a time like this?" said Tsubaki. "We
are all friends here, more or less. Aren't we?"
"…Sorry," Utomiya said. "I'm probably just a little too on edge right now, since
we're about to start the plan."
"I went a little too far too. I apologize," said Yagami.
"So, did you spend that entire day exchanging your watch for a new one?"
asked Tsubaki. "Or was there another reason you were busy? If so, can I hear
what that is?"
"Well, regarding today's operation, I went ahead and arranged for a gift from
me to you, Tsubaki-san," said Yagami.
"A gift?" she repeated.
"The plan was to hunt down Ayanokouji-senpai and drive him into a corner,
but things won't necessarily go to plan, correct?" said Yagami.
This was a rather disturbing thing to say right before they were about to
execute such an important strategy. And it wasn't Tsubaki, but rather the
person standing next to her, Utomiya, who reacted to this.
"What are you talking about, Yagami? Even if the plan fails—"
Yagami cut him off. "I am not going to carry out a plan with the intention of
failing." He spoke in a slightly more forceful tone of voice and addressed
Tsubaki more directly, as if trying to talk over Utomiya's attempts to shoot him
down.
"The strategy that you've devised is perfect, of course, Tsubaki-san," Yagami
went on. "Our battle formation is so airtight that there isn't even a gap wide
enough for an ant to slip through. We're going to challenge him with the
maximum amount of strength that we first-year students can possibly muster,
which is why I have no doubts as to our success. However, don't you also think
it would be best to also take all possible precautions?"
Though Tsubaki felt there was something suspicious about Yagami as he
eloquently blabbed on and on, she listened quietly and urged him to continue.
"Personally, I don't want to do anything irregular," she said. "But do tell me
what you want to say."
In the back of her mind, Tsubaki told herself that she could just decide to
accept or reject his proposal once he explained it.
"Tsubaki-san, I believe that you're going to repeatedly use the GPS search
function to keep track of Ayanokouji-senpai's location as we hunt him down,"
said Yagami. "But doing so would inevitably consume a large number of points,
correct?"
"Which is why we've prepared spare tablets from other groups," added
Utomiya.
Yagami quickly told Utomiya that he understood as much, just to placate him.
He then continued speaking. "However, we can't say that would be an efficient
method, even if we're being charitable. Do you understand why that is?"
"If we don't know where Ayanokouji-senpai's designated areas are, we can't
predict his movements," replied Tsubaki.
Yagami, as if satisfied by her response, nodded once.
"That's correct. If we could predict what kind of movements Ayanokoujisenpai is going to make, like whether he's headed to a designated area, going
after a Task, simply running away, or whether he's prioritizing something while
choosing to discard something else, then our level of efficiency would increase
dramatically."
"If it were that easy to find all that out, then we wouldn't be having any
trouble," replied Tsubaki. "That's why we've prepared multiple tablets to
conduct GPS searches as many times as needed."
"I have spent a considerable amount of time researching the matter to see
what I can do to be of use," Yagami said. "The most important thing is for us to
find out which of the twelve possible Tables Ayanokouji-senpai has been
assigned to."
Tsubaki had been fiddling with her hair and seemed disinterested, but her
hand stopped moving when she heard that. At that exact same moment,
Utomiya stopped protesting as well.
"Meaning that you know?" asked Tsubaki.
"Yes. Well, technically, no, not me specifically," Yagami said. "Rather, it's this
tablet that can tell us, actually." He held out a single tablet in his hands.
"And why is that?" asked Tsubaki.
"This is something I've borrowed from one of my peers in Class 1-B who is in
another group," explained Yagami. "The owner of this tablet just so happens to
be in the same Table as Ayanokouji-senpai."
"In other words, if we have that, then we can decipher Ayanokouji-senpai's
movements without any time delay."
Yagami slowly nodded. If they could know what Ayanokouji's designated area
was at the same time that he found out, then it would be easy to get ahead of
him.
"Can you really say for sure that this tablet belongs to someone from the
same Table as Ayanokouji?" Utomiya asked.
Yagami cast Utomiya a sidelong glance for having rudely butted into the
conversation, and then continued conversing with Tsubaki.
"As for the question of how I found out, well—"
"You used the GPS search over and over to identify what Table, yes," said
Tsubaki, answering for him.
Tsubaki had managed to see through what Yagami had done without even
needing to give it another thought.
"Impressive…just as I'd expect. Was it unnecessary for me to have done all
that?" asked Yagami.
Yagami had thought he could surprise Tsubaki a little bit, but instead had
been surprised himself.
"No. If you could lend me that tablet, I'd appreciate it," Tsubaki told him.
"When I consider how much we would have had to spend from here on out, I
would like to avoid pointless waste as much as possible. Is that okay with you,
though?"
"We're all in this together," said Yagami. "Your success, Tsubaki-san, will lead
to my success as well. Besides, speaking as a representative of our grade,
though my and Utomiya-kun's group has been fighting hard in this exam, it's
become difficult for us to break into the top three. Now that things have come
to this, we have no other choice but to put our best efforts elsewhere."
They had gathered here today like this because they couldn't make much
more of a difference with the number of points that they had managed to earn
thus far. If they had been in a position where they could have shot for first
place, they wouldn't have time to stand around and meet right now.
"And on top of that," Yagami went on, "if you don't accept my proposal, then
I won't be able to provide you with insurance."
"Insurance?" Tsubaki repeated. "What are you talking about?"
"Our first priority in carrying out your strategy, Tsubaki-san, is to corner
Ayanokouji-senpai and force him into elimination. But that could end in failure
for whatever reason, like if, for example, Ayanokouji-senpai were acting
together with a third party on the day we went after him. We can't attack him
in the presence of others, after all."
"We don't have to worry about that. He's basically been all on his own since
the eighth day," said Utomiya, rebutting Yagami's claim and indicating that
they'd already investigated the matter.
But Yagami simply shook his head.
"That may be so, but we can't say for sure whether he'll be alone on the
thirteenth day," he said.
"That's certainly true. So?" said Tsubaki.
"In the event the unexpected happens and the plan ends in failure, we can
change up our methods and switch to a plan that focuses on making him miss
his designated areas, thereby snatching away his points," Yagami proposed.
"And then tomorrow, the fourteenth and final day of the exam, there will be
three more designated areas to hit via the Basic Movement System. We'll stop
him from getting to all of those as well."
"So, you're saying that we're going to get him hit with penalties five times?"
said Utomiya.
"No, actually, we can get him a maximum of seven penalties," Yagami said.
"For people in Ayanokouji-senpai's Table, the third designated area on the
twelfth day was randomly assigned and it was quite far away, all the way in area
D4. The fourth area was then in D2. Ayanokouji-senpai didn't make it in time to
either of those, meaning that he had two misses in a row. I have already
confirmed that he's shifted his attention to focusing on Tasks instead."
"Assuming that it ends up as seven penalties, that means he'll have twentyeight points taken away… That's not an insignificant amount," said Tsubaki.
Only two days remained in the exam, so losing twenty-eight points in that
time would be quite a significant blow. Utomiya was realizing the magnitude of
the insurance that Yagami had produced.
"Ayanokouji-senpai is currently acting alone," Yagami added. "It's unclear
how many points he has exactly at present, but since he is alone, it's probably
not many. Besides, he might end up using the GPS search himself during our
attack. If we can get ahead of him and block off any Tasks as well, then it's
highly likely we'll have a chance to sink him down to the bottom five."
"Well, that's certainly true," said Tsubaki.
"If we successfully manage to get Ayanokouji-senpai eliminated by way of this
insurance policy, then what do you say that we divide the bounty so that I get a
five-million-point share and you get a ten-million-point share, Tsubaki-san? I
imagine that the groups that fail to catch Ayanokouji-senpai will agree to
receiving a five-million-point share as well," said Yagami.
"Not a bad idea," said Utomiya. "What do you think, Tsubaki?"
Utomiya was genuinely surprised by Yagami's proposal, but in contrast,
Tsubaki barely gave any reaction to it.
"Tsubaki, I think that we should accept the insurance policy," he added, giving
his support to the idea again.
"Well, if you've gone as far as to provide me with a tablet from the same
Table, then there's no way that I wouldn't go ahead with that plan. But…"
Tsubaki paused, taking out yet another tablet.
She now had her own tablet, a spare tablet, and this third tablet.
"What is that?" asked Utomiya.
"Another tablet with the same Table as Ayanokouji-senpai," said Tsubaki.
"Wait, what? When did you…?" sputtered Utomiya, trailing off before he
could finish his thought.
Tsubaki already had everything she needed at her fingertips, without even
needing Yagami to have gone to such lengths.
"You are beyond my expectations, Tsubaki-san," said Yagami. "This means
that you also came up with the same back-up plan."
"In that case, why didn't you say anything before?" asked Utomiya.
"I just didn't really like the fact that Yagami had come up with the same idea
of blocking the designated areas," said Tsubaki. "I thought that I'd feign
ignorance and let it slide, but his plan was just too much like mine."
Thinking that this was a somewhat childish reason, Yagami and Utomiya
briefly exchanged glances.
"In that case, I suppose I can no longer accept a reward, can I?" said Yagami.
"I withdraw my request for the 5,000,000 points and I'll watch what happens
from a short distance away."
"Thanks. It's hard to do this when there's someone nearby that you honestly
can't trust, so that helps."
Tsubaki made that straightforward comment without even trying to sugarcoat
it. Yagami took it in stride and without complaint. After Yagami left and was
some distance away, Utomiya leaned over to talk to Tsubaki.
"Tsubaki. Supposing if we were able to defeat Ayanokouji by physical means,
would he still be eliminated?" asked Utomiya.
"Since those methods are coercive, it's not like there wouldn't be any
problems for us," Tsubaki said. "If we were to assume the worst-case scenario,
then I'd say there's a nonzero possibility that only we first-year students who
set up the attack in the first place would be the ones to get expelled in the
end."
"If that includes the groups that are helping us, then that means a significant
number of people could get expelled," said Utomiya. His expression hardened
at the thought of only the first-year students getting kicked out of school.
"However, in reality, the probability of that happening is closer to zero,"
Tsubaki told him. "The one who would suffer the most serious punishment
would be me and me alone as the mastermind behind the whole thing. After all,
the school really couldn't expel ten or twenty first-year students."
"That in and of itself would be a problem, though. Are you really planning to
bear the entire punishment yourself?"
"I was the one who originally suggested that we get Ayanokouji-senpai
expelled when the special exam was announced to us," Tsubaki replied. "You
just went along with it, Utomiya-kun."
"Well, yeah, but…"
Utomiya recalled the special exam that had been held shortly after he had
enrolled in this school where they had been partnered up with second-year
students. To top it all off, there was an additional, unique special exam that
offered twenty million points for whoever could get Ayanokouji Kiyotaka
expelled. Initially, Utomiya had expressed his disgust at this and suggested that
Class 1-C just sit out and watch from the sidelines. However, Tsubaki had
repeatedly tried to persuade him otherwise and made him her ally.
She told him that the twenty million points would be a great asset for Class 1-
C if they were going to aim for a higher class in the future. When Utomiya asked
Tsubaki about the kinds of measures they would take in trying to force
Ayanokouji's expulsion, she immediately told him what she planned to do. She
said that she would pair up with Ayanokouji for the test and self-destruct to
take him down, deliberately choosing to forfeit the exam.
Tsubaki would have been expelled and the twenty-million-point reward would
have gone to her collaborator, Utomiya. Tsubaki then told Utomiya that she
wanted the points to be used for the good of Class 1-C in the future.
"When you first came to me with this plan, you said that you didn't want to
go into too much detail about it, like regarding your circumstances," said
Utomiya.
"Do you care? About the reason I'm fine with getting expelled, I mean?"
"I'd…be lying if I said that I didn't care. It's unusual to want to get kicked out
of a school so soon after getting in."
"Well, I'll admit that Class 1-C is a lot more comfortable than I thought it
would be," Tsubaki said. "That's why I decided that if I was going to get kicked
out anyway, I might as well do something for the sake of the class and then give
up."
That was all that Tsubaki had said. Sure enough, it didn't seem like she was
going to talk about her circumstances after all. Utomiya, feeling like it would be
against the rules for him to ask her any more questions, directed his gaze
toward the woods.
"Shouldn't I be going too, after all?" he said. "I'm confident I can take
Ayanokouji in a fight, one-on-one."
"That's a no-go," said Tsubaki. "You're indispensable to Class 1-C, Utomiyakun. Besides, there would be a possibility that you could end up being judged in
similar fashion to me, even if I took responsibility. Let the others handle
Ayanokouji-senpai."
"That would be enough if he were a normal opponent. But Ayanokouji is
worth a 20,000,000-point bounty. He's not normal. And considering the fact
that Housen made the first move against him and didn't do so well, we should
do what we can."
"I suppose so. I'm sure it's safe for me to assume that you're at Housen's level
too."
Even so, Tsubaki did not give Utomiya the sign to go on ahead. She instructed
him to stay put.
"All right… I'll stay close and watch your fight," he agreed.
As he tried to put enough distance between himself and her so that he
wouldn't be in her way, Tsubaki called over to him. "Hey, Utomiya-kun?"
"What is it?" he asked.
"You seem like you're pretty darn strong. Where did you learn to fight? You're
not a delinquent, are you?"
"It's not that important. Besides, there's no need for either of us to pry into
each other's affairs," said Utomiya.
"That's true," Tsubaki conceded. "But let me ask one thing, just in case…
You're not hiding anything else from me, are you?"
"Hiding anything?" said Utomiya. "No, nothing. My head's only useful for
fighting."
"In this case, that's a good thing," said Tsubaki.
When seven o'clock came, the test began for the day. With her walkie-talkie
in one hand and her tablet in the other, Tsubaki opened her mouth to begin
issuing orders to the groups. Ayanokouji's destination, C3, was displayed on the
tablet she was holding.
"This is a message to all groups. The enemy's designated area is C3. Groups in
D4, you are on standby. Groups in E6, start moving north and prepare for a
pincer attack. Even if you do see him, you are forbidden to make contact until I
give you permission to go ahead."
She then quietly ended the transmission.
"After eliminating Ayanokouji-senpai, we'll take out several second-year and
third-year students who are working alone before I get discovered… Who
should we go after, I wonder?" she muttered to herself.
Tsubaki began to organize her final thoughts on who to target.
6.2
I NOTICED SOMETHING UNUSUAL around seven o'clock that morning when the
designated area was announced. Mine was C3, by the way. I performed a GPS
search just as I had been doing over the past several days as a customary
practice, and I started scanning for any rivals who might've been racing me to
reach the same area. Among the results, I noticed that three prominent firstyear students were clustered together. They were labelled as Utomiya, Tsubaki,
and Yagami.
Utomiya and Yagami were in the same group, so there wasn't anything
particularly strange about those two being together. However, Tsubaki being
there gave me pause. On top of that, I didn't see any other members of their
respective groups aside from them. But then, I recalled what Nanase had told
me the other day and had a hunch about what was happening.
Today was the day that the first-year students were going to launch their
attack.
Naturally, the first-year student groups had been scattered all across the
island, but I noticed that their positions had changed significantly from when I
checked yesterday evening. Quite a few groups had amassed in areas D4 and E6
and were effectively surrounding me.
"Should I get moving, then?" I muttered to myself.
Even on a large, uninhabited island like this, it would be difficult to completely
avoid bumping into enemies head-on if they were using the GPS search to its
limits. The fact that Nanase and I were in the same Table had been known for
several days now, so I had to assume that they had determined what
designated areas I would be headed toward. In that case, I couldn't simply
continue as normal and head to C3. On the other hand, getting hit with
penalties now that we had gotten into the exam's endgame would be quite
risky.
As of yesterday, I had missed two designated areas in a row. If I failed to reach
the remaining seven designated areas, how far would I fall in the rankings? I
didn't know if they had intentionally timed their attack to come after I had
missed those two areas or if it was just a coincidence, but either way, this was
the perfect time for them to strike.
"It seems like they know how to fight, at the very least," I remarked.
They had made the right call in deciding not to force things prematurely,
holding off on attacking me at night or in the early morning. If they attacked in
the middle of the night when visibility was poor and I could slip away, it
would've been impossible for them to catch me, no matter how many times
they used the GPS search. And if they attacked in the early morning, it would
have been difficult for them to come up with a solid plan of attack without
knowing my next designated area.
Still, they certainly had a fair number of people on this. I had kept in mind the
possibility that an exceedingly small number of particularly capable people,
such as Housen, might come after me to try something, but this was beyond the
scale of my expectations.
Housen's position had remained unchanged since last night, and he was still in
area D4.
If I headed toward my designated area, we'd certainly bump into one
another. If I was attacked by the first-years, it was highly likely that the school
administrators would advocate for me. But at the same time, I would become
established as someone bizarre and unsettling among the entire school, and my
goal of trying to lead a normal life at school would be shot.
Even the teachers who didn't know anything about me or the situation might
change their impressions of me and think I was unusual. Although the teachers
positioned at Task locations guaranteed my safety in those spots, letting myself
get chased by a swarm of people would hardly be a wise decision. And, while I
did have the option of trying to collaborate with other students, I thought it
best to assume that my enemies were not only the first-year students, but also
the third-year students under Nagumo's banner.
At present, running away from the first-years again and again until they ran
out of steam and gave up on pursuing me was one viable option. Ten minutes
after I had finished packing up my tent and getting ready, I did another search.
It picked up GPS signatures from the younger students who were closing in
around me. I could tell that they were approaching—and fast.
What Nanase had told me before was that if they found me, they'd resort to
violence. That warning was about to become a reality. Whoever was behind this
plan was clearly not afraid of expulsion. In the unlikely event that things went
sideways, the ringleader had to be completely prepared to accept responsibility
for it. If that was the case, I figured I should do everything and anything possible
to avoid careless hostilities. It might even mean I would have to ignore a total of
six designated areas, including the ones I had missed yesterday.
Surrounded by rivers and mountains, I was tempted to flee by crossing the
mountains, but that wasn't a wise choice, considering their positioning. It was a
far better bet for me to escape to the south, even if it was a little dangerous.
Perhaps if I chose to stay far away from my designated areas, my enemies
wouldn't pursue me too much. I took something out of my backpack and
started walking