Chapter 8: The Expelled Students

Chapter 8:
The Expelled Students

 

SATURDAY MORNING had come. Finally, it was the day of the exam.

It seemed nearly every class had come to a consensus. For Class A, it would be Katsuragi. For Class D, it would be Ryuuen Kakeru. And Class B still believed no one would be expelled from their class.

Of course, there was the possibility that none of these students would be expelled. Or that all of them would. No one could know for sure until the results were announced. Even if you tried to eliminate someone, your plans could be foiled by that person getting praise votes from the other classes.

All that mattered was what happened now, from this moment onward. It wasn’t like I was 100% in the clear myself, either. There were no absolute guarantees in this exam.

We still gathered in the classroom at the usual time, but the exam didn’t start until nine. It was now around eight-thirty. I wondered if the school had scheduled the test slightly later out of consideration—or if it was for a much worse reason. A trick to keep the students mired in doubt, jumping at shadows until the very end.

“So, in the end, you really didn’t do anything?” asked Horikita.

“What?”

“I’m asking if you just stayed on the sidelines, even though you’re in danger.”

“Do I look like I’ve done anything?”

“…On the surface, no, I can’t see that you’ve done anything.”

“Well, there’s your answer. I didn’t do anything this time. If anything, you’re the one who saved me.”

“Then it won’t be funny if you get expelled after all that.”

“I don’t think I’d find it funny even if I got expelled despite fighting back, like you did.”

This might be the last conversation that we would have, as desk neighbors.

“I suppose,” replied Horikita shortly.

I thought we were all just going to quietly start the exam. At least, that was what I thought…but at the very last minute, the situation had changed yet again.

“Everyone, please listen to me.”

It was Hirata. He’d had a shouting match with Horikita the other day, but it wasn’t like he had actually done anything. He’d just said he’d be voting for Horikita. Of course, some of the students who worshipped Hirata might go along with what he did, but that probably wouldn’t become a deciding factor. Horikita’s standing within Class C was relatively high. Her blunt and unreserved manner might come off as prickly, but at the same time, people felt like they could count on her.

“After listening to what Horikita-san said yesterday, as well as what everyone else had said, I’ve come to one conclusion. And that’s, well…the main focus of this exam is who to use our criticism votes on, right?” said Hirata, calm and collected.

“He still has something to say?” said Horikita.

“Looks like it,” I replied. If not, he wouldn’t be bringing this up at the last minute like this.

“This is pointless. He doesn’t have a plan. All he can do is talk and try and delay the inevitable.”

I wasn’t not so sure about that. I could see something like a kind of determination in Hirata’s eyes.

“First of all, I would like to apologize for yesterday, when I said that I would use my criticism vote on you, Horikita-san.”

Just as I thought, Hirata had bowed to Horikita, apologizing to her for his rudeness.

“There’s no need to apologize. What in the world are you trying to do here?” said Horikita.

“I’ve just decided that you are necessary to this class,” said Hirata.

“Can I interpret that to mean you’ve thought of someone who is unnecessary?”

“Yes. I have,” replied Hirata definitively, causing Horikita to swallow her words and stumble a bit.

“…Can you tell us who it is you’ve thought of?” she asked.

“Yes, I’ll tell you now.”

Hirata slowly rose from his seat and went over to stand behind the podium. Just like how Horikita had done yesterday.

“I love this class. I think all of you are necessary. No matter what anyone says, I won’t change my mind on that. However, I know that won’t solve the problem here,” said Hirata.

After much agonizing, this was the answer Hirata had arrived at. I doubted it had changed from what I heard yesterday.

“I would like you…to use your criticism votes on me.”

…or he was going to say what I’d thought he might end up saying.

“Th-there’s no way we could do that!” shouted Mii-chan.

Other girls spoke up afterward in quick succession, saying similar things.

“I don’t mind if I get expelled. I’m prepared to do at least that much right now. I intend to.”

“Think about what you’re saying… Have you lost your mind?” snapped Horikita.

It would’ve been fine if she’d let Hirata say whatever he wanted to. And yet, Horikita unconsciously raised her voice at him.

“You plan on sacrificing yourself because you can’t pick someone else to expel?” she demanded.

“You said it yourself, Horikita-san. You said that if a student wanted to get expelled, then discussion would be over,” said Hirata.

“But—”

“So, I’m volunteering,” said Hirata.

“There isn’t a single person in this class who seriously wants you to be expelled. You act as the class mediator, you resolve conflicts. This is absolutely ridiculous.”

“Even so, I don’t mind.”

It was safe to say that Class C had already become a total mess. At this point, anyone might get kicked out without it being total surprise. The issue was no longer one of who would get criticism votes, but of who would get praise votes.

Without Hirata, the hurdles in our path would get significantly higher. Passing the special exams to come would probably be much harder. We risked losing one of the central figures of our class.

“There’s no way I’m voting against Hirata-kun! No way!” shouted Shinohara, speaking up for Hirata, along with several other girls.

Each time they spoke up to defend him had to hurt him even more.

“There’s nothing to be gained by defending me. I’ve already come to hate all of you,” said Hirata. He had the same tone of voice as usual, but his words were harsh. “So, please, just make this easier on me.”

“I… I’ll vote for you, Hirata!” shouted Yamauchi. “If Hirata’s asking, then I think we should all do like he says!”

“I see. So this is Yamauchi-kun’s last stand…” said Horikita.

Yamauchi had probably gone to Hirata sometime yesterday. He must have begged and pleaded for help, telling Hirata that he didn’t want to get expelled. That might have be one of the reasons why Hirata had steeled his resolve to accept expulsion himself.

Then, after a long period of silence, Chabashira came into the classroom.

“We will now begin the class poll. Students will head over to the voting room in the order that their names are called.”

Apparently, we weren’t all going to be voting at the same time in the classroom. I supposed it wasn’t necessarily impossible to sneak a peek at people’s votes if we did it that way. It sounded like this meant the school was doing what it could to keep the vote anonymous.

Well, I wonder what the results will be…?

8.1

 

EVERYONE IN CLASS A calmly waited for the results to be announced on Saturday. The question of who was going to be expelled had been settled right when the supplementary exam had been announced, with no one raising any objections. When the bell rang, signaling that the poll results were going to be announced, Mashima strode into the classroom.

He was calm and collected, as always. No matter what lay ahead today, it seemed he wasn’t thinking too hard about it—or rather, that he was trying not to think about it. This was his fourth year teaching at the Advanced Nurturing High School. He had seen many students get expelled.

“I will now announce the results of the supplementary special exam. First, the student with the most praise votes is…Sakayanagi. You’ve come in first place, with thirty-six votes,” said Mashima.

“I never imagined that you would all pick me. Thank you very much,” said Sakayanagi diplomatically, paying the class an empty compliment for politeness’ sake. She had gotten praise votes from almost every single person in class.

“Next… I’ll announce the student who had received the most criticism votes in class. I’m sure that you’re already aware of this, but the student whose name is called will be expelled. Afterward, that student will be asked to pack their things and come with me to the faculty lounge.”

There was no commotion whatsoever. No one made the slightest sound. The students of Class A just quietly, solemnly waited for the name of the student who would be expelled.

“The student in last place, with the most criticism votes, a total of thirty-six, is…”

There was a brief moment of silence. And then…

“Totsuka Yahiko.”

A name was called. The name that Mashima spoke clearly reverberated throughout the dead-silent classroom.

“This is ridiculous! What is the meaning of this?!” shouted Katsuragi immediately, raising his voice and standing up from his seat.

“K-Katsuragi-san… Wh-Why…?”

Totsuka looked at Katsuragi in complete disbelief. The results showed that Totsuka had gotten the overwhelming majority of criticism votes. A total of thirty-six, ensuring his expulsion. Mashima went on to announce how many praise and criticism votes the rest of the students in class had received. Katsuragi had come in just before Totsuka in terms of number of criticism votes, with a total of thirty.

“What is the meaning of this, sensei? I’m the one who should have been expelled, not—”

“The results are correct,” answered Mashima calmly.

One girl opened her mouth to speak, as if she trying to explain how such an incomprehensible situation had come about.

“Katsuragi-kun, it would seem you got some praise votes. I’m so glad.”

When Katsuragi heard that, he understood what had happened. This wasn’t some kind of slip-up. This was exactly as planned.

“Wait, Sakayanagi! Wasn’t I the one who was supposed to have been expelled?!” shouted Katsuragi.

“Expelled? You, Katsuragi-kun? You were never the target from the beginning,” said Sakayanagi flatly and decisively.

“Enough with the jokes. You definitely said it yourself! You talked about getting rid of me!”

“Come to think of it, yes, I suppose I did, didn’t I? Well, what I said about getting rid of you… That was a lie.”

There wasn’t even the slightest trace of guilt in Sakayanagi’s gentle, broad smile.

“Why…? Why?!”

“The answer is quite simple. It’s because Totsuka-kun does nothing to benefit Class A. On the other hand, you, Katsuragi-kun, are quick-witted and your athleticism is nothing to scoff at. That, combined with your calm, composed attitude makes you quite useful, in your own way. This exam is meant to dispose of unnecessary people. Only an idiot would eliminate someone of superior stock.”

“Grr!”

That wasn’t Sakayanagi’s only goal, either. Totsuka wasn’t the only student who’d been following Katsuragi from the start. His expulsion would probably have a significant impact on Class A in the sense that it would serve as an example, showing traitors would be punished without mercy. It planted the idea in people’s minds that if they were to cooperate with Katsuragi, they, too, would be punished straight away.

“Why would you do something like this? In such a roundabout way…?”

“Isn’t it only natural to try avoid risk as much as possible? The other classes had quite a few praise votes at their disposal in this exam. If Totsuka-kun had collected praise votes from them on his own, then I can’t imagine we would’ve been able to get him expelled, no matter how hard we tried,” said Sakayanagi.

It was impossible to completely rule out the possibility that the other classes wouldn’t try to save Totsuka on a whim. Openly naming Katsuragi the target meant no one was going to waste their praise votes on Totsuka.

“Thank you for all of your hard work, Totsuka-kun. Please take care, even after you’ve left this school.”

“U-ugh, da… Damn it! Damn it…!” shouted Totsuka, hunching forward, looking as though he were about to collapse on the spot.

Katsuragi was unable to go over and say anything to him. Normally, Totsuka would have probably been overjoyed to find that Katsuragi wasn’t going to be expelled. However, now that he was going to be expelled himself, that no longer mattered anymore. If anything, he felt resentful, wondering why it was him and not Katsuragi.

If Katsuragi had been expelled, Totsuka Yahiko could have remained in Class A. While he wouldn’t have liked it, he could have followed Sakayanagi, graduated, and had a successful life. Although he felt bad about it, he had begun to vaguely envision that future for himself. But this unforeseen attack had taken everything from him.

“We probably can’t…save him by using twenty million points, right?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, even if you add up all of our points, we can’t reach that number.”

“Totsuka, there…is no way to overturn this decision,” said the homeroom teacher, Mashima, also hiding the pain he felt.

“…………”

Totsuka was at a loss for words. All he could do was slowly nod.

“Come with me to the faculty lounge for the time being. We’ll collect your things later,” said Mashima, urging Totsuka to leave the classroom out of consideration for his feelings. It would only hurt him more to stay in the classroom after his expulsion had been decided.

“By the way, Mashima-sensei… I would like to ask you just one question,” asked Sakayanagi, stopping Mashima just as he was about to leave the classroom with Totsuka.

“What is it, Sakayanagi?” replied Mashima, instructing Totsuka to go ahead and wait for him in the hallway.

“While it is sad that Totsuka-kun was sacrificed in this exam… It has already been decided who will be expelled from the other classes, correct?” asked Sakayanagi.

“Tentatively. As soon as the results are confirmed, they will be posted on the bulletin board on the first floor.”

“So, isn’t it possible that Katsuragi-kun might still be affected, depending on the results?” said Sakayanagi.

“What are you saying, Sakayanagi?” said Katsuragi.

“I’m just trying to confirm something.”

For a few moments, both Mashima and Katsuragi didn’t seem to understand what Sakayanagi was saying. Mashima hadn’t considered the possibility that she might be referencing one particular issue. After seeing the unsettling smile on her face, however, it occurred to him.

“…No matter who gets expelled, there will be no such repercussions, no. The thing you’re thinking of isn’t going to happen, and even if it did, you probably couldn’t get someone expelled quite that easily,” said Mashima.

“Yes, I suppose you’re absolutely right. Thank you very much.”

After Mashima left the classroom, Katsuragi quietly approached Sakayanagi. Hashimoto and Kitou hurriedly stood up and blocked his path to Sakayanagi, probably to keep anything violent from happening in the unlikely chance that things got heated. But before Katsuragi could even say a word, Sakayanagi went first.

“It would be entirely unreasonable for you to hold a grudge against me, Katsuragi-kun. This is an exam where someone had to be expelled. Whether it was you or Totsuka-kun, we must come to grips with the result. The fact is that it was the students of Class A who voted. Not anyone else,” said Sakayanagi.

“…I understand.”

Katsuragi had never planned to do anything violent in the first place. He was only planning on airing his displeasure, but Sakayanagi had stopped him from even doing that.

“That’s good. I would much prefer if you didn’t fall into despair and drag Class A down. However, on the off chance that you do anything to harm Class A, then…”

“I already told you that I understand. Don’t go after any more students.”

“I’m glad we could conclude this conversation so quickly,” said Sakayanagi.

If Katsuragi had bared his teeth at Sakayanagi in resentment over Totsuka’s expulsion, then she would have someone else from Class A eliminated. That was the threat she was making. Sakayanagi was well aware of the fact that, as long as Katsuragi followed her obediently, he could contribute greatly to Class A. Now, Katsuragi had given up completely. He had no choice but to raise the white flag.

“Now then… I wonder how the other classes are doing right about now?” Sakayanagi mused aloud.

Of course, she didn’t care whatsoever about Class B or Class D. She only wanted to hear the results from Class C, the one that Ayanokouji was in. She couldn’t help but look forward to it.

8.2

 

THE SOUND OF YAMAUCHI restlessly fidgeting and rattling was extremely annoying to listen to.

“Hey… Quiet down a little, Haruki,” whispered Ike in warning.

“Sh-shut it. I know.”

“Heh heh heh. At any rate, it would seem the matter of your defeat has been decided. Am I wrong?” said Kouenji.

“The hell are you on about, Kouenji? I ain’t getting expelled,” replied Yamauchi, slowly turning and looking back with an unsettling smile on his face.

“I’m sure quite a few students in our class have voted against you,” said Kouenji.

Ike and Sudou could do nothing to help Yamauchi as he was being poked and prodded by Kouenji.

“That’s not true. I’m the one who will be expelled,” said Hirata.

“You’re still saying such nonsense? You really don’t see what’s going on?” replied Kouenji.

“…What do you mean?” asked Hirata.

Kouenji took out his phone, with an audacious grin on his face.

“I received this message from several of the girls in our class. It reads, ‘I think Hirata-kun is intending to sacrifice himself tomorrow and will volunteer to be expelled. He might say terrible things or act cruel toward everyone, but those won’t be his true feelings. Please have faith in him and only give him praise votes.’ It would seem this message made its way to everyone save for you and Yamauchi-kun, no?”

Hirata approached Kouenji and looked at the message displayed on his phone’s screen.

“Most students would feel sympathy for you after seeing a message like this. It’s not as though the fact you’ve worked hard for the class’s sake this past year has been a dream, is it? Don’t you think it makes more sense for you to get all the more praise votes?” said Kouenji.

“But, I…”

The notion of Hirata getting the most criticism votes went up in smoke. The ones who were upset about this, of course, were the students in danger of being expelled.

“You seem calm. It’s almost like you already knew what was going to happen,” said Hirata.

“You probably knew, too.”

“Even if I did, I still wouldn’t just sit back and wait so calmly. As long as there’s room for doubt, there’s still room to worry.”

“He’s the only one who should be shivering in his boots,” said Kouenji.

The eyes of almost every student in class were piercing Yamauchi’s back. How would he answer, after hearing all of that? Yamauchi slowly stood up and turned to look at Kouenji. The look on his face seemed to suggest that he was confident he was going to come out of this on top.

“…Heh,” he said, letting out a scornful chuckle in response. “Fine, whatever. Go ahead and say what you like… But I’m not the one who’ll get expelled.”

“Oh? Let’s hear the reason why,” said Kouenji.

“Fine. I’ll tell you.”

It seemed Yamauchi was done letting Kouenji say whatever he liked.

“How many of you here are going to use a criticism vote on me? Twenty of you? Thirty? I didn’t even really betray any of you, but you’re all being so horrible to me. Seriously! But it’s fine. I’ll forgive you,” said Yamauchi, smiling thoughtlessly, slapping Ike on the shoulder. “I’m sorry, Kanji. For making you worry so much.”

“U-Uh, okay.” Ike, not understanding what Yamauchi was trying to say at all, could only nod in response.

“I mean, there are a few people who could possibly get expelled from our class, right? It could be me, or Kanji, or Sudou, or Kouenji, or Ayanokouji. But you know, I’m not so sure how many praise votes you guys are gonna get. I’m just oh so worried,” said Yamauchi.

“Based on the way you phrased that, it sounds as though you’re expecting to get a lot of praise votes yourself,” said Kouenji.

“Yeah, that’s right. Truth is, I will be getting a lot.”

“Even if you get praise votes out of pity from your close friends, that would, at most, be four or five votes. You can hardly say that puts you in the clear, can you?”

“It’s okay. Even if that’s all I got, that would be plenty. Hah hah hah… Yeah, that’s right! Pointless! This is all pointless!” shouted Yamauchi, throwing his arms dramatically in the air in. “Sakayanagi-chan promised that she’d get me twenty praise votes. Which means that even if most of the class used their criticism votes on me, I still won’t get expelled!”

Realizing there was no point in hiding it any longer, he revealed his hand.

“That’s why it doesn’t matter how many of you vote against me… I’m protected by Class A!” he added.

The votes had already been cast. It was probably true that Sakayanagi had made Yamauchi such a promise. If he received five praise votes from Class C and twenty from Class A, then his final tally, even in the worst-case scenario, would still leave him with about nine criticism votes. Which meant he wouldn’t be getting expelled.

It would be me or Kouenji. Or possibly Sudou or Ike. The runners-up would be in danger.

“Then why do you seem so anxious? There shouldn’t be any need to be, no?” replied Kouenji.

Yamauchi wasn’t calm. He was trembling in fear, clearly under a great deal of psychological stress.

“That’s…”

“Since you made a deal with the enemy, I assume you procured a proper written contract, yes? That is one of the fundamentals of negotiation, wouldn’t you say?”

“N-no, but we…”

“A verbal promise is bound to be broken. That little girl isn’t that kind.”

“I know already, I know! But it’ll be fine!” shouted Yamauchi.

Kouenji’s words weren’t getting through to him. Yamauchi could no longer do anything but believe that he was going to get those praise votes. He had to have checked with Sakayanagi many, many times last night to make sure.

“Well then, I suppose you have nothing to worry about. The criticism vote I cast for you would be meaningless then, hm?” said Kouenji.

“That’s right! Meaningless! Totally meaningless!”

“Be quiet, Yamauchi. We can hear your shouting all the way out in the hallway,” said Chabashira, who had just come into the classroom. “Sorry to have kept you all waiting. I will now announce the results for Class C. Everyone, please take your seats.”

Finally, judgment time had come. Soon, one student would be expelled from our class. It could be Yamauchi, who was trying to tell himself that everything would be fine. Or it could be Sudou or Ike, who’d been told they were next in line as potential candidates. Or it could be Hirata, who was calmly waiting for the results to be announced. Or Kouenji, who was acting the same as he always was. Or Horikita or me, who were quietly observing the situation. Or would it be someone else?

“First, I will announce the names of the three students with the highest number of praise votes. In third place is… Kushida Kikyou,” said Chabashira.

Kushida let out a sigh of relief at hearing herself named as one of the students at the top. Even though Yamauchi had targeted her yesterday, she’d ended up getting praise votes instead as a result, huh? If you considered how she was idolized by her classmates, it made sense.

“Next…in second place…” said Chabashira, reading the results a little slower. Even I couldn’t predict what she was going to say. “Hirata Yousuke.”

“Wh—!”

The moment that his name was called, Hirata closed his eyes and looked up. His shameful behavior earlier had led to no major negative consequences. It just went to show how much hard work he’d put in over the past year for the class’s sake. He’d earned a tremendous degree of trust, especially from the girls. Even if I hadn’t moved behind the scenes to have Kei circulate that message, the results probably wouldn’t have been much different.

“B-But, if Hirata is in second… then who is in first?”

Everyone had expected Hirata or Kushida to take the top spot all along. While it was still within expectations for them to have placed second and third, that meant that there was one person who had surpassed them.

“In first place is…”

A smile appeared on Chabashira’s face before she read the name. I shut my eyes.

“Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.”

“So that was the end result after all, huh?”

“H-how?!” shouted Yamauchi, the first to respond to the announcement. We were supposed to have been fighting for the bottom. “Sensei, don’t you mean he’s first in terms of most criticism votes?!”

“No. He is unquestionably ranked first in terms of praise votes. A truly superb result. Forty-two votes,” replied Chabashira.

More praise votes than there were people in our class. Everyone present had to be stunned to hear this.

“What did you do…?” asked my neighbor Horikita, unable to hide her shock.

“I already told you, didn’t I? I didn’t do anything.”

Sakayanagi was the one who did everything.

“And now, for the student with the most criticism votes, with a total of thirty-three. Unfortunately, it’s you, Yamauchi Haruki,” said Chabashira, her words hitting him like a slap in the face, pushing him over the edge.

Before Yamauchi could even understand what was going on, he’d been told he was going to be expelled.

“Th-thirty-three votes?!” he shouted.

That pretty much proved he’d gotten no praise votes from Class A. Sudou came in second in terms of criticism votes, with twenty-one. Ike was in third, with twenty. Yamauchi’s friends understood that they were by no means in the clear themselves.

“No! Why?! Why do I have to be expelled?!” shouted Yamauchi.

Chabashira approached Yamauchi and stretched out her arm to support him, but he shook her off.

“…Haruki…” she said quietly.

Ike and Sudou, his friends, could only look at the floor. While they’d been hoping to make it through this, they’d also just been waiting for the results to arrive. And now that those results were here, they were become painfully aware of the reality of the situation. If Yamauchi hadn’t gotten expelled, who knew what might have happened to them?

“Why?! Why, why?! WHY?! This stupid-ass test! Stupid-ass exam!” shouted Yamauchi.

“You are free to think whatever you wish about it, but this decision can’t be reversed, Yamauchi,” said Chabashira.

“SHUT UP!!” Yamauchi howled with everything he had, railing at the cruel reality he couldn’t bring himself to accept. “That’s right. Sakayanagi. Please, just go talk to Sakayanagi! She said they were going to use praise votes on me! She broke her promise! Can she be allowed to just do that?!”

“Do you have anything that clearly shows such a promise was made?” asked Chabashira.

“She promised! At the karaoke place! I heard her!” shouted Yamauchi.

“While I would like to believe you, that doesn’t prove anything.”

“This sucks! This is the worst thing ever…!”

“It’s time to go, Yamauchi,” said Chabashira.

Despite her telling him it was time to leave, he didn’t budge.

“Hurry up and get out of the classroom. You have already been deleted,” said Kouenji.

“I don’t accept this!” shouted Yamauchi.

“So even at the very end, you’re still a miserable, ugly, hopeless waste, hm?”

As a result of Kouenji’s persistent, prodding provocation, Yamauchi snapped.

“AAAAAAAAHHH!!” he screamed.

He picked up the chair he’d just been sitting on, charged right at Kouenji, and swung it with both arms, aiming for Kouenji’s head. A direct hit would have hurt quite a bit. Of course, Kouenji wasn’t soft enough to let himself be hit by such an obvious attack. He casually grabbed the leg of the chair, stopping Yamauchi’s swing, and then forcefully pulled the chair from his hands.

“You came at me with murderous intent. Surely, you can’t complain if I do something about that, hm?” said Kouenji.

Yamauchi’s face stiffened.

“That’s enough,” said Chabashira, understanding the signs of danger in Kouenji’s words and moving to intervene.

In response, Kouenji promptly let go of the chair.

“Yamauchi, for your own sake, don’t do anything else,” said Chabashira.

Yamauchi’s classmates were looking at him, their gazes filled with heartbreak. Filled with pity.

Then, something broke inside of Yamauchi.

“W-waaah!”

He collapsed right then and there, letting out a sound that was like both a loud wail and a scream.

“…Outside,” said Chabashira.

Being told it was time to go once more, Yamauchi lost the last ounce of resistance he had.

8.3

 

ONE PERSON WAS MISSING from the classroom. It was the same classroom, but it now it felt completely different. The atmosphere was heavy; the inhabitants were disheartened.

It’d probably have been like this no matter who was expelled. Even so, considering that someone had to go, it was only natural that we’d had to consider the pros and cons. Which students were necessary to the class? Which students were unnecessary? That was what we’d had to decide.

One person got up from their seat. Once they did that, everyone else got up and left one by one, too, without saying much of anything. We had one day off. Come Monday, we’d be seeing each other’s faces in this classroom again. And when that time came, there would be no Yamauchi.

“He’s more seriously messed up than I thought.”

The ‘he’ Horikita was referring to was Hirata, of course, who’d been in a daze since Yamauchi left. He remained sitting at his desk, completely motionless, looking blankly ahead.

“Hirata-kun… um…” said Mii-chan in concern, calling out to him timidly.

But Hirata only shifted his gaze slightly to look at her, saying nothing. What did he think of our class right now? Only he knew the answer to that. But he had no choice but to keep moving forward.

The other students, unable to watch Hirata in such a state, slowly left to return to the dorms. Sudou and Ike quietly left the classroom, too.

“Let’s just quietly head back to the dorms by ourselves today.”

Everyone else in the Ayanokouji Group agreed with what Haruka posted in the chat.

“Guess I’ll head on back, then,” I said aloud.

Bag in hand, I went to leave the classroom. Before doing so though, I stopped in front of Kouenji, who was still hanging back.

“What is it, Ayanokouji Boy?” he asked.

“I never thought you’d take action for the class’s sake,” I told him.

“Of course. Even I would cooperate with Horikita Girl to avoid getting expelled.”

“That’s not what I mean. You incessantly goaded Yamauchi because you were trying to have the thankless job of being the sole recipient of his hate.”

Yamauchi was going to hate his classmates if he got expelled—but Kouenji had made himself Yamauchi’s sole focus by continually goading him more than anyone else. When Yamauchi was told he’d been expelled and clearly lost all sense of reason, Kouenji had taken matters into his own hands and personally dealt with him. To the eyes of everyone around him, though, he might have just seemed like a jerk.

“Hm, I have no memory of such a thing. I simply wanted a front row seat to his pathetic disintegration,” said Kouenji.

“I see. We’ll leave it at that, then.”

When I stepped out of the classroom, Horikita immediately ran after me. She grabbed my arm.

“Ayanokouji-kun. You… How much of this did you anticipate ahead of time? And when?”

When Sakayanagi offered a truce for this exam, I was more than ninety percent certain I wouldn’t have to worry about getting expelled. It was obvious that she didn’t want to beat me via a pointless sneak attack. She wouldn’t be satisfied by lying about a truce just to chase me out of school.

On the other hand, she had been using Yamauchi to try get me expelled. A clear violation of our truce—or at least, it wouldn’t be strange to think of it as such. Which meant there was a contradiction in terms. To eliminate that contradiction, Sakayanagi had to do whatever she could to nullify the criticism votes that I would be getting.

In other words, she was going to use most of Class A’s praise votes on me. That way, even if I got twenty or thirty criticism votes from Class C, I’d still be in the clear. My safety was absolutely guaranteed.

Then why did she do this? It was probably to get Yamauchi Haruki expelled. By making him play the part of the villain, she had lowered his standing within Class C.

Of course, I couldn’t say I was one-hundred-percent certain about all this. I couldn’t completely eliminate the possibility that Sakayanagi was trying to get me expelled through underhanded means, which was why I’d lit a fire under Horikita and used her to bury Yamauchi. And, by letting everyone in class know that Yamauchi was trying to get rid of someone harmless like me, I was able to get some votes out of sympathy or because people wanted to protect me. Although ending up with the most praise votes might have been a little much, honestly.

“Didn’t I tell you before? I didn’t participate in this exam at all, in the clearest sense.”

“…But…”

“Well, I’m headed back.”

“Ayanokouji-kun!!” shouted Horikita, standing stock still. “It was you, wasn’t it…? The one who told my brother about the connection between Yamauchi-kun and Sakayanagi-san.”

I descended the stairs without giving her an answer, and took a peek at the bulletin board on the first floor. On it was a notice showing how the other classes had fared in this exam.

 

In-Class Voting Results

EXPELLED STUDENTS

Class A = Totsuka Yahiko

Class B = N/A

Class C = Yamauchi Haruki

Class D = Manabe Shiho

Only those three students will be expelled. There will be no changes to Class Points because of this test.

 

“Yahiko, huh… I guess all that talk about getting Katsuragi expelled was just a fake-out after all,” I said aloud.

The praise vote totals had been posted in addition to the criticism ones. Sakayanagi had ranked first in Class A, Ichinose ranked first in Class B, and Kaneda ranked in Class D. Of those three, Kaneda had the least number of praise votes while still being number one for his class, with twenty-seven. On the other end, Ichinose got a stunning 98 votes. Considering the fact that most of the students in Class A had given me their praise vote, that just made it clear how many students valued Ichinose.

Other students showed up as well, perhaps wanting to confirm the test results themselves. Katsuragi and Ryuuen showed up at almost the exact same time.

“I see you didn’t get expelled either, Katsuragi.”

“…You took the words out of my mouth. I thought for sure you would have been the one to disappear,” he replied.

“Heh heh. Apparently, I have the Grim Reaper on my side,” said Ryuuen.

“Grim Reaper?” asked Katsuragi.

“Don’t worry ’bout it. It’s not like you’d be able to see him anyway,” said Ryuuen, looking at the results with a smile. “Though, I gotta say, looks like that Sakayanagi chick did something pretty interesting. Man, I can’t believe she deliberately tossed your only ally to the wolves, man.”

Though Ryuuen sounded amused, Katsuragi, beside him, had a remorseful expression on his face.

“She completely robbed you of your fighting spirit, huh?” Ryuuen added.

“I have absolutely nothing to gain by acting out any more than I already have,” replied Katsuragi.

“So, what, you’re just gonna quietly follow Sakayanagi until graduation? That’s hilarious.”

“………”

There was a brief silence. However, there was something almost dreadful about the look on Katsuragi’s face. Yahiko, who had always been devoted to him, was gone. At the same time, what this meant for Katsuragi was nothing more than the absence of anyone he needed to protect.

“What, Katsuragi? I didn’t know you could make a face like that.” Ryuuen might have gotten the same impression I had. “As you are right now, you look like you could even dupe Sakayanagi.”

“…Enough jokes. More importantly, what are you planning on doing now? So, your life was spared by the Grim Reaper, hm? Are you going to challenge Sakayanagi, Ichinose, and Horikita again?” asked Katsuragi.

“I ain’t interested,” spat Ryuuen, almost immediately. “The contract I have with you Class A folks is still valid. I’ll just casually continue to bleed you dry while I hang back and play around for a while. Just thought I’d thank you for that, today.”

Apparently, that was why he’d come here. After all, from Ryuuen’s perspective, Katsuragi’s expulsion would have probably resulted in his contract being annulled.

Katsuragi went ahead and headed back to the dorms ahead of us. Now it was just Ryuuen and me.

“Come over here for a sec,” said Ryuuen.

Without refusing, I followed Ryuuen as he led me around to the back of the school building.

“Since when did you turn into such a saint, huh, Ayanokouji?” he asked.

“I had nothing to do with it. Of course, even if I say that, it doesn’t seem like you’ll believe me.” But I knew Ryuuen had to have a clear idea of exactly what I’d done. “It’s not like I did this. The people who adore you were the ones who did.”

I looked up at the sky as I recalled what had happened over the past few days.

8.4

 

AS THE TEST RESULTS SHOWED, no one had been expelled from Class B, and Ryuuen got to stay. I’d been involved in both these major events behind the scenes, starting with the day I’d met Hiyori in the library and had invited Ichinose to my room.

My doorbell rang at around ten o’clock that night. I only had a few friends who’d come visit me in my room—Horikita, Kushida, or the members of the Ayanokouji Group. But they usually sent me a chat message or a text beforehand, and I hadn’t gotten any calls or texts or anything this time. Which meant it wasn’t that kind of guest. Who in the world was paying me a visit?

“…Well, this is a first,” I said aloud to myself.

On the intercom monitor were two people I hadn’t expected to see. They looked chilly, waiting for me to answer the door.

“Well, I guess…that curfew is only for the upper levels,” I muttered to myself.

It was forbidden to enter the girls’ floors after eight o’clock at night, but even if you did break that rule, it was fine as long as you didn’t get caught. And if you did get caught, you wouldn’t be punished too severely the first couple times. Regardless, it was fine if a girl came to visit you, though.

“Yes?” I didn’t give them much of a welcome, but decided to at least respond to them in my usual fashion.

“…We want to talk to you,” said the boy, speaking up first. He peered into the camera, a close-up of his pupil appearing on the screen. It seemed this wasn’t the kind of conversation that could be had over the intercom.

“Wait a second,” I replied.

I walked over and unlocked my front door. When I did so, the person on the other side swung it open with great force. Ishizaki, from Class D, entered. He’d pushed the door open so hard that it would have smacked me if I hadn’t been careful.

“Sorry for bargin’ in. Hey, get in, quick. It’s cold out there,” said Ishizaki.

“Jeez, why do I even have to be here…?” grumbled the other person as they came into view. It was Ibuki, another Class D student.

“Come on already, just get in,” snapped Ishizaki.

“Whatever.”

At Ishizaki’s urging, Ibuki came into my room. It was true there was a chill blowing in from the hallway, so I quickly closed the door behind them. Thinking there would still be a draft if we hung around by the front door, I ushered everyone into my room.

“So, what business do you have with me this late at night?”

When Ishizaki heard me ask that, he quickly brought his hands together.

“Please, Ayanokouji! Tell us how to stop Ryuuen-san from getting expelled!!” he pleaded.

“…What?” Apparently, these two had come barging into my room in the middle of the night to ask me a completely ridiculous favor. “Did I hear you wrong? Can you repeat that?”

“I asked you to please tell us how to stop Ryuuen-san from getting expelled!” he repeated.

So I hadn’t misheard him, after all.

“Just stop, Ishizaki. It’s not like Ayanokouji would help us anyway,” said Ibuki. From the looks of things, she wasn’t here to ask me for anything, unlike Ishizaki.

“Well, yeah, you’re probably right, but Ayanokouji’s the only one I could think of,” said Ishizaki.

“Whatever. I don’t care. I only came here because Ishizaki dragged me along with him. And he called me like a million times…” said Ibuki, letting out an exasperated sigh as she showed me her phone’s screen. Her call history had at least fifty incoming calls from Ishizaki.

“It wasn’t like I could just ask him by myself! He’s our enemy, man!”

“And he’s still our enemy, even if I’m here with you. You really are a moron,” said Ibuki.

“Ugh, just shut up…” snapped Ishizaki.

They grumbled at one another.

“Well, I suppose it’s not like you’re assassins sent here by Ryuuen,” I told him. If they were putting on an act, then it was a pretty impressive one. But I doubted that was the case.

“Of course we’re not. There’s no way…that Ryuuen-san would ask us to do something like that. You know that.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Ryuuen had already shown that he was bowing out, by way of telling everyone that he had been defeated by Ishizaki. In fact, he seemed fully determined to leave the school. Even if he wasn’t planning on dropping out, he wouldn’t be seeking my help. He’d never be okay with something so pitiful as coming to me.

“You seriously don’t want Ryuuen to get expelled? Aren’t you thinking about all the messed up things he did?” said Ibuki.

“…Well… yeah, he did do lots of bad stuff. But it’s different now.”

“What is?”

“Huh? What is what?”

“I’m asking you what’s different now.”

“I guess it’s like, I understand now that Ryuuen-san is someone Class D needs,” said Ishizaki.

“I don’t understand you. Do you have any clue how much trouble we’ve had just because of him?” snapped Ibuki.

Apparently, they’d paid me a visit without first making sure they were both on the same page. It was like they were incapable of mutual understanding.

“If you’re going to fight, do it later,” I told them. When I did so, they stopped glaring at one another.

“Ugh, I wanna go back to my room,” muttered Ibuki.

They didn’t seem to be in agreement at all. Ibuki’s face was particularly grim.

“Don’t say you wanna go back. You gotta help me convince Ayanokouji.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“If you’re going to fight, do it somewhere else.”

Since the conversation was going nowhere, I decided to ask them something myself.

“Ryuuen’s entire class hates him. At least, it looks that way from the outside. That’s not wrong though, is it?” I asked.

“Well, I guess… He is kinda hated, yeah.”

“Kinda? I think you mean by almost everyone. There’s no point in lying about that,” said Ibuki.

“Shut it! What I said was fine!”

“Ugh, god, you’re so annoying. Also, stop shouting. You’re getting spit everywhere.”

“Look, I told you already, if you’re going to fight, do it later,” I reminded them.

If they created a commotion in my small room, it would carry over into the rooms next door. They seemed to finally calm down a little when I reprimanded them with a hint of anger. I wondered if they understood that they’d come in uninvited? If so, we could proceed with the conversation.

“Stopping Ryuuen from being expelled would be foolhardy.” I didn’t beat around the bush, but directly stated the truth, thinking they’d understand better that way.

“You’ve got that right,” said Ibuki, nodding in understanding.

However, it didn’t seem Ishizaki was going to be so easily convinced. “Isn’t there anything we can do?!” he shouted.

His motivation, at least, was genuine. There seemed to be no doubt that he really wanted to save Ryuuen.

“You really want to stop Ryuuen from getting expelled, huh?” I asked him.

“…Yeah.”

With the exception of me, Ibuki, and a few others, most students seemed to hate Ryuuen. Of course, this was because of what had happened between Ryuuen and I. Even so, Ishizaki had been on the receiving end of Ryuuen’s abuse many times. Did he really want to save Ryuuen badly enough that he would reluctantly force himself come beg for my help? I supposed it all came down to the emotions he’d cultivated over the course of the past year.

But if emotions alone could deal with this test, then no one would be struggling. I was going to have to explain this test’s complexity to Ishizaki in a manner easy enough for him to understand.

“There are two main reasons why I think saving Ryuuen is foolhardy. This supplementary exam will be decided by the number of criticism votes your class has. Even if you, Ibuki, and two or three other people use praise votes on Ryuuen instead of criticism votes, it’s very likely he’ll get over thirty criticism votes. And besides, no one else would want to get expelled themselves,” I reasoned.

“B-but…there aren’t that many people in our class who think that we can actually get to the top without Ryuuen-san’s abilities!” replied Ishizaki.

It was probably true that some members of Class D acknowledged Ryuuen’s abilities. However, that wasn’t good enough. Such students couldn’t overlook the risk of being expelled themselves.

“Going after Ryuuen, the most hated person in class, would cause students the least amount of heartache,” said Ibuki.

She was exactly right.

“Even if the worst-case scenario happens and we don’t move up to the higher-level classes, we’d still want to make it to graduation safely, right? Everyone wants to avoid being stuck with the label of high school dropout,” she added.

Ishizaki’s face told me their class had already had this discussion.

“Since you’re being treated as the person who spearheaded the revolt against Ryuuen, I’m sure you’ve already heard all this, haven’t you?” I asked.

Ishizaki nodded. He’d probably had to at least ostensibly voice his approval of Ryuuen’s expulsion, because of the position he was in.

“I think everyone in class is in favor of Ryuuen-san’s expulsion except for Ibuki, Albert, and Shiina,” said Ishizaki.

“So, he’s screwed no matter how you look at it, right?” said Ibuki.

“Yeah, he is,” I replied.

He was completely screwed.

“That’s why I came to you for help. You were the one who beat Ryuuen-san, so…” said Ishizaki.

“You’re asking me if there’s any way for him to avoid expulsion. Before we get to that, I want to ask you something.”

“What…?”

“Saving Ryuuen means that one of your other classmates will be expelled. Do you understand that?”

That was a crucial aspect of this test. I needed to ask him that.

“Well, yeah, but…”

“If you really do understand, then do you have anyone else in mind to get rid of, instead?” I asked.

“N-no, I don’t. I don’t want to get rid of any of my classmates.”

“Then we already have a problem. This test is designed to ensure someone is sacrificed.” This wasn’t a situation where you could blithely talk about wanting to save someone and leave it at that.

“Come on, you know Ayanokouji is right, don’t you? If you were really serious about saving Ryuuen, then why don’t you go ahead and just volunteer to get kicked out yourself? If you ask for everyone to give you criticism votes, then maybe you can save him that way,” said Ibuki.

A cold statement. She was basically suggesting Ishizaki be cast aside, but in truth, it was probably the most effective option available. Ryuuen had earned a lot of hatred from his classmates. Even if he was a talented person who could devise outlandish schemes and had the kind of nerves ordinary people didn’t, once you considered the fact that the class had been demoted to bottom place, it was inevitable that he’d be cut.

“So, there’s…no way to avoid someone being expelled?” asked Ishizaki.

“That’s what everyone has been thinking about, obviously. And we’ve all given up on the idea,” I replied.

“…Right,” said Ibuki, letting out a short, exasperated sigh. She hadn’t wanted to reach out to me for help because she knew this was absurd from the very beginning. “This is a complete waste of time. There’s no changing the fact that Ryuuen is getting expelled.”

“Damn it…!”

Ishizaki pounded the wall in apparent frustration.

“I think Ryuuen was planning to spend the next three years without taking action—but he immediately changed his mind when he heard the rules of this supplementary special exam. He probably knows there’s no way for him to avoid being expelled, which is why he didn’t say anything, but decided to just quietly wait for the exam to be over,” I reasoned.

Ishizaki probably didn’t consider Ryuuen’s self-sacrifice some kind of beautiful, noble act, either. He simply wasn’t resisting. That was all.

“I, I…”

Ishizaki clenched his fists tight, clear frustrated. He really wanted to save Ryuuen, huh? No matter how many enemies you had, it wasn’t a bad thing to have friends who’d follow you. Ryuuen might not admit this, himself, but he had some good friends.

An idea began to form in my mind. However, we were missing some things we’d need to make it work.

“If there’s any advice I can give you, it would be…”

“What? Whatever it is, just tell me!” shouted Ishizaki, pitching forward. He must really have been clinging desperately to hope. Unfortunately, that hope was going to be dashed.

“It would be a shame to let Ryuuen’s private points just go to waste. If he’s been continuously receiving kickbacks from Class A, then he must have accumulated millions of points. Right?” I asked.

“Yeah. He does have about that much. If he hasn’t spent them,” said Ibuki.

“There’s no guarantee that those private points will be transferred or disseminated if he’s still holding them once he’s expelled. Given that, you should probably transfer all of them before his expulsion is set in stone. They’ll be useful to Class D later,” I reasoned.

If those points were distributed among everyone, they wouldn’t be one big lump sum anymore. It was better for them to have someone pocket them for themselves now. I was sure Ryuuen would at least agree to that.

“Th-that’s not what I was askin’ for! I wanted to know how to save Ryuuen-san!” shouted Ishizaki.

“Knock it off, Ishizaki. There’s no point in pressing this,” said Ibuki, reprimanding Ishizaki with a light kick. “That being said, I have no intention of picking up those points that Ryuuen has saved up, Ayanokouji.”

She said that assertively and with force. She was serious about letting those points go rather than begging Ryuuen for them.

“I see. What about you, Ishizaki?” I asked.

“No way!” he shouted.

Despite their different thoughts on the matter, they were apparently in accord on this. They were determined to let those private points go if Ryuuen was expelled. No…I supposed it wasn’t anything quite so noble as determination.

“Unfortunately, there’s no way you can save Ryuuen.”

“Wh—!”

Ishizaki looked at me, the expression on his face somewhere between anger and frustration.

“Listen. The only thing you can do right now is collect those points. This test isn’t simple enough to let you save someone just because you want to,” I replied.

“That’s bullshit! So, what, I’m supposed to just get those points from Ryuuen-san and be like, ‘see ya later’? Ain’t no way I could do that!” snapped Ishizaki.

He raised his fist, but Ibuki immediately grabbed it and stopped him.

“It’s pointless. Just stop. He might look like a normal person, but he’s a monster,” said Ibuki.

“Even if I’m no match for ’im, I can least get one hit in!” shouted Ishizaki.

“I told you, enough already!” Ibuki promptly smacked him over the head. “Look, we just waltzed over here and made this completely crazy request. And what Ayanokouji is saying isn’t wrong—you’re just completely lashing out over it. This is just pathetic, so can you stop?”

“Ugh…”

The blood had completely rushed to Ishizaki’s head. It seemed he just couldn’t keep his cool when it came to Ryuuen.

And apparently, neither of them intended to do anything about the millions of points that were going to disappear into the ether. Those points should definitely be collected if they were thinking about Class D’s future. If Ibuki and Ishizaki—Ryuuen’s friends—didn’t want to take them, then that was that, but…

“Actually, I was really hoping to see a little more of your resolve,” I told him.

“…Huh? What? Resolve?” asked Ishizaki.

“If you can’t even collect those private points from Ryuuen, this has nothing to do with you anymore.”

With that, I brought our conversation to an end. But I was halfway convinced that Ibuki and Ishizaki would still go collect those private points from Ryuuen.

8.5

 

AT JUST PAST TEN O’CLOCK on the night before the test, my phone rang.

“It’s me. I’ve collected all of Ryuuen’s private points.” Ibuki cut straight to the chase, stating just the facts.

“Good job finding my contact info,” I replied, trying to prod her for information, but she said nothing in return. I was betting Shiina had given her my number. That was probably how she got it. “Okay, so you got the points, huh?”

I’d figured she was going to make a move, but this was cutting it pretty close.

“Can you get Ishizaki and come to my room right now?” I asked.

“Huh? Right now?”

“Is there a problem? I need to talk to you about those points that you recovered.”

“No, it’s not really a problem… All right.”

Ibuki quickly agreed to my request and said that she would get in touch with Ishizaki before ending the call. Perhaps because they had a hunch about what was to come, both of them showed up at my door about ten minutes later. I immediately let them in.

“How many points did Ryuuen have?” I asked.

“A little over five million.”

“That’s plenty. If it wasn’t enough, we would’ve needed to do some scrambling.” As I’d expected, there was no indication Ryuuen had spent any of the points.

“What do you mean? What are you going to do?” asked Ishizaki, unable to see where I was going with this.

Ibuki, on the other hand, already looked determined. So she was following along.

“You’re going to use them to do something, aren’t you?” asked Ibuki.

“Correct,” I replied.

“To do what…?” asked Ishizaki.

“We’re using them to do just one thing. To save Ryuuen.”

“H-hold on, wait a second. Didn’t they say we needed twenty million to do that?” asked Ishizaki.

It was true. We didn’t have nearly that many points.

“Before we do this, I have something to ask you, Ishizaki. Are you prepared to shoulder this burden? Do you have the resolve to do that?” I asked.

“Wh-what are you talkin’ about all of a sudden? Resolve for what now? Burden…?”

“Keeping Ryuuen around means someone else will be cut loose. I told you that before, didn’t I?”

“…Yeah.” Ishizaki nodded, despite looking flustered. “Yeah, I’m resolved.”

“I see. That’s good, then. So who’s going to get expelled?” I asked.

“Who’s going to get expelled…?” repeated Ishizaki. Apparently, he hadn’t yet decided on a person yet.

“If you can’t decide, then I can choose for you. If that’ll make you feel less guilty, it’s easy enough to do. Of course, if you think I might carelessly get rid of a key person in your class, you don’t have to go along with my decision,” I told him.

“W-wait, hold on. Just let me think for a second…”

“We don’t have time.”

“I-I’ll have an answer in just a second.”

So he said, but if he could come to a decision that quickly, he wouldn’t be struggling in the first place.

“Wait a second. I don’t really care who we get rid of, but the real question is, what’s our plan here? If you say we’re going to save him with those points, aren’t we short by fifteen million?” asked Ibuki.

Her irritation was understandable. That being said, there were other circumstances to consider.

“If you want to stop Ryuuen from being expelled, then I’d like you to decide who to target instead,” I told her.

We would discuss the finer details of the strategy once that was settled. Though I felt bad for not answering Ibuki, since she was clearly disgruntled, I moved the conversation forward.

“For example, are there any troublemakers in your class?”

“Troublemakers, huh…? Well, I guess me and Komiya, probably. For girls, Nishino or Manabe, I’d say,” said Ishizaki.

“If we’re keeping Ryuuen around, then I honestly don’t think it’s a good idea to get rid of someone like you, who understands his importance to the class. If there’s another test like this, there’s no guarantee he’ll be safe the next time,” said Ibuki.

“Which means Nishino or Manabe…” Ishizaki said.

So those were the names that came to his mind after what I’d said. I remembered hearing both those names before. Manabe, in particular, was someone I’d thought about getting expelled. That being said, it was Ishizaki and Ibuki who had the right to choose. I would ask them for the name of the student they wanted to get rid of, and honor their decision.

“So, expel one of those two. Or someone else. It’s up to you,” I told them.

Ishizaki also knew about the incident with Manabe and Kei during the cruise ship exam. If that knowledge had even the slightest impact on his thought process, then Manabe would most likely be the student he decided to get rid of.

He was trying to think of Manabe’s flaws. He was searching for things that would basically give him a way out, to let him say that he had no choice but to pick her. Manabe had brought all this trouble upon herself by putting her hands on Kei. Even if she got expelled, there was nothing she could do to stop it. Such were the thoughts currently running through Ishizaki’s mind.

Also, though Kei had already put the incident behind her, there was no changing the fact that Manabe’s very presence made her uneasy. Having one less thing to worry about would give Kei some peace of mind. And if I insinuated to her that I’d been the one to get Manabe eliminated, then she would trust me even more.

However, someone unexpected piped up first.

“Is it okay if I decide?” asked Ibuki.

“Huh? You?” asked Ishizaki.

“Yeah. There’s someone I want to have expelled.”

“Who?” I asked, without waiting for Ishizaki to answer yes or no.

“I want to have Manabe expelled. That’s just my personal preference, though,” said Ibuki.

“Are you sure you’re okay with deciding that way?” I asked.

“It should be fine. Right?” asked Ibuki.

There was no hesitation in her eyes. I understood right away.

“If Ishizaki has no objections, then Manabe it is. Even though we’ve come to that decision, though, we have no way to guarantee it. We can only ensure that Ryuuen won’t be expelled. In other words, the person who gets the most criticism votes will still be expelled. Our goal is to reduce the possibility that either of you could be that person. We don’t have much time left,” I reasoned.

“Got it… Okay, I’ll tell the guys that there’s been some changes, and they should use their votes on Manabe. I think they’ll be on board if I tell them the plan is to just to scare her by giving her the second-most criticism votes in class, after Ryuuen,” said Ishizaki.

“Not a bad idea,” I replied, approving of the plan.

As long as the students thought Ryuuen’s fate was sealed and he was bound to get the most criticism votes, they wouldn’t think it mattered who they used their other votes on.

“…Well, I think I might be in trouble, though,” said Ibuki.

“Huh? Whaddya mean, Ibuki?” asked Ishizaki.

“Manabe and her friends are probably going to vote for Ryuuen and me. Which means I’ll be in a tight spot.”

“W-wait, are you serious?”

“Dude, even you know that Manabe and I don’t get along, right?” said Ibuki.

“Well, yeah, but…” Ishizaki sounded shaken, unable to keep up with what was going on.

“That just means that Ibuki’s made up her mind, too,” I said.

Of course, if someone other than Manabe got expelled, then Ibuki would have no choice but to give up.

“Well, it might be a good idea for the girls to talk to Hiyori.”

“To Shiina?”

“She might be able to help you out with this. You could get in touch with her and say you want to focus criticism votes on Manabe in order to save Ryuuen.”

“…Okay,” replied Ibuki, nodding, before sending a message to Hiyori. “So, wait, you’ve talked to Shiina? I really can’t imagine she’d be on board with getting Manabe kicked out.”

“We’ve talked a little about this exam,” I replied.

While Hiyori was a pacifist, her resolve was strong when it came to respecting the wishes of her class.

“She said she would help if it was for the good of the class. I’m sure she’ll lend you a hand, since she concluded herself that it would be in Class D’s best interest for Ryuuen to stay,” I added.

We would control the boys’ and girls’ votes as much as possible. We would reduce the number of praise votes used on Manabe and increase the number of criticism votes coming her way. On the other hand, we’d increase the number of praise votes Ibuki got, while decreasing the number of criticism votes cast for her. That alone would likely dramatically reduce the huge initial gap in one fell swoop.

“Okay then, tell me what your strategy is. How are you going to save him with only five million points?” asked Ibuki.

Her eyes were telling me to hurry up and spit it out. I picked up my cell phone and sent a text to a certain person. My message was marked as read almost immediately, followed by the recipient responding that they’d come to my room at once, since the time limit was only two hours away. We were fortunate this person was patient.

“What’re you doing?” asked Ibuki.

“Someone’s going to come and visit. They’re the secret weapon that’s going to stop Ryuuen from getting expelled,” I replied.

“Secret weapon to…stop Ryuuen from getting expelled?”

They probably couldn’t believe it. A few minutes later, my doorbell rang. Ibuki and Ishizaki were even more guarded than before.

“Are you sure it’s okay for someone to see us together?” asked Ibuki.

“Don’t worry about that. But I am going to ask you to make sure we all get our stories straight.”

In the brief window of time before the visitor arrived, I told the two of them what to say.

8.6

 

“PARDON THE INTRUSION.”

Naturally, Ibuki and Ishizaki were shocked when they saw who’d come to visit. I doubted they’d ever imagined this was who I was talking about.

“Seriously…?”

“Whoa.”

“Oh! I had thought there might be other people here… Good evening.”

“G-good evening,” replied Ishizaki. For some reason, he sounded a little shy.

The person who’d just showed up at my room was none other than Ichinose Honami, currently seated alongside Ibuki and Ishizaki from Class D. After seeing Ichinose, Ibuki finally started to piece together what was happening.

“It looks like we’ve got a common interest, huh?” said Ibuki.

“Huh? Whaddya mean?” asked Ishizaki, cocking his head to the side in apparent confusion.

“Yes, it would seem we do, Ibuki-san,” replied Ichinose.

“No one out there actually wants to save Ryuuen. Even if, hypothetically, someone showed up saying that they’d get him praise votes, we wouldn’t know if they were really telling the truth. But…there are some exceptions,” said Ibuki.

“O-Oh, I gotcha. So, does that mean Ichinose is gonna get everyone in Class B together and…?!” exclaimed Ishizaki.

It seemed he was finally beginning to understand as well.

“Yes. I’ll talk to everyone and ask them to please use their praise votes—all forty of Class B’s praise votes—on Ryuuen-kun. In exchange, Ibuki-san will help us make up the private points we’re missing,” explained Ichinose.

This was a strategy that could only work once. Ichinose had been moving to collect private points from her classmates since school started, while Ryuuen had made a deal with Class A and continued to amass private points that way. The two of them were the only students capable of executing this power play.

“If you two work together, no one will get expelled from Class B, and Ryuuen will get to stay in Class D,” I told them.

No matter how many students in Class D voted against him, Ryuuen could only get a maximum of 39 criticism votes. With Class B’s support, all the votes against him would be cancelled out, pushing him into the green.

Ibuki and Ichinose looked one another in the eyes. People who rarely interacted with one another just as rarely had a relationship of trust. But looking into another person’s eyes allowed you to judge, to some extent, whether or not they could be trusted.

Ichinose shifted her gaze briefly away from Ibuki and looked me in the eyes as well.

“So… by using twenty million points, I can save one of my classmates from getting expelled, right?” said Ichinose, before looking back at Ibuki.

“What do you think? Are you going to take the deal or not? It’s up to you to decide, Ichinose,” I told her.

Ichinose had the right to choose. She did still have the option of rejecting Ibuki and Ishizaki’s offer and asking for Nagumo’s help instead.

“I’ve made up my mind. As long as Ibuki-san and Ishizaki-kun are okay with it, I would like to go ahead and work together,” said Ichinose.

“Are you really okay with this?” I asked.

“Yes. I can tell their feelings are genuine,” replied Ichinose.

“You’re an idiot, aren’t you, Ichinose?” said Ibuki.

“Huh?” asked Ichinose.

“Even though all those nasty rumors about you were going around, you still collected and saved up those points from everyone. And now you’re going to blow them all on something like this?” asked Ibuki.

“Well, we can always just start saving up all over again. We know now that it’s not entirely impossible to save up close to twenty million points in just a year. Besides, I don’t know if you can really point that finger at me right now, Ibuki-san. I mean, you could keep those five million points for yourself, but you’ve decided to spend them all on Ryuuen-kun,” answered Ichinose.

Ibuki averted her eyes, without answering.

“I’m not like you… Besides, someone else from our class is going to end up going home in tears in Ryuuen’s place. It could very well be me,” she said.

“Even so, you’re going to save Ryuuen-kun, aren’t you?” asked Ichinose.

“He’s… I just don’t like the thought of me ending up owing him a weird debt is all.”

Ibuki offered Ichinose salvation, prepared to earn the resentment of her peers in return. She sent the designated number of private points to Ichinose via her phone.

“Check it,” said Ibuki.

“Okay.” Ichinose immediately took out her own phone and checked her own point balance to see if it now displayed twenty million. “Thank you. Looks like it was sent over successfully.”

She showed us her phone, proving that she did indeed have the twenty million points.

“I’ll act as your witness in these negotiations. I’ve also been recording this conversation,” I said, pulling out my own phone, for the sake of fairness. “Ibuki offered roughly four million points. In return, Ichinose will ensure that all forty praise votes from her class go to Ryuuen. If there’s any breach of this agreement, then—”

“If I think that I haven’t fulfilled my end of the bargain, I will voluntarily drop out of school,” said Ichinose.

Of course, none of us actually thought Ichinose would ever go back on her word. In fact, an exchange involving such a huge sum would be kept in the school’s records. It wouldn’t even be surprising if they flagged it as a fraudulent transaction. But it was precisely because this was Ichinose Honami we were dealing with that Ibuki and Ishizaki felt like they could rest easy and let her handle it.

And that was the story of what happened between me, Ichinose, Ibuki, and Ishizaki.

8.7

 

THE BACK OF THE SCHOOL building was quiet.

“You asserted that if you took this seriously, you could’ve gotten through this test without getting expelled. You were thinking of the same method too, I’m guessing?” I asked.

“Yeah. I knew that Ichinose chick was saving up points. And besides, she’s a goody two-shoes. I knew there was room to negotiate, even if she didn’t like me. But I didn’t think Ibuki had the wits or the skill to negotiate using private points. So, I was just planning on resting easy, and letting her have ’em… I didn’t think you’d get involved, though,” said Ryuuen.

“Ibuki and Ishizaki just happened to ask me for a favor. I took advantage of that opportunity and made good use of them. As far as I’m concerned, it was an excellent opportunity for me to build trust with Ichinose, so I’m grateful for that. If I’d come to you directly, you would’ve seen through my plans and refused to hand over the points. Right?” I asked.

“You made the right call not explaining anything to Ibuki,” he replied.

If I had done that, Ryuuen would have grown suspicious. He would have seen what was going on and noticed me acting behind the scenes.

“So, were you the one who targeted Manabe?” he asked.

It was only natural he’d think I’d targeted her, I supposed, given the fact that Manabe had bullied Kei.

“No, that was simply a coincidence. You do know that Ibuki and Manabe weren’t on good terms with each other either, right?”

“Ah, I gotcha. That was pretty gutsy of her. Manabe was crying her eyes out.”

I could vaguely imagine how she had reacted when her name was called in the classroom.

“This means I got saved by Ishizaki and Ibuki then, huh? Talk about unwelcome favors, man.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I deliberately held back from delving into the matter any further.

If Ibuki and Ishizaki hadn’t paid me a visit in my room that day, I would probably have broached the subject with Hiyori, then had her collect the private points in the same fashion. I’d done it so Ichinose would owe me a debt of gratitude. At the same time, I didn’t want to let Ryuuen be expelled, for some reason. Those thoughts were swirling around in my head as I went through this exam.

“What are you doing to do if the next exam is like this one?” I asked.

“Heh heh. Who knows?” he replied.

He didn’t say he wouldn’t do anything. I supposed that might mean Ryuuen felt at least something for Ibuki and Ishizaki, deep down. Things might get interesting if he returned to the fold in the not-too-distant future.

Of course, whether or not that happened was entirely up to him.

My cell phone rang. Ichinose’s name was displayed on the screen. When Ryuuen saw me getting a call from someone, he headed back into the school building without saying another word.

“Seems like Class B made it through without anyone getting expelled,” I said on the phone.

“Yes. Kanzaki volunteered to be the one to be expelled, so everyone focused their criticism votes on him. Then I paid the twenty million points to prevent his expulsion. Everything came together at the very last minute, but all of Class B managed to make it through safely, without any expulsions,” said Ichinose.

“I see. But the price you paid wasn’t cheap,” I answered.

Thanks to this, Class B was now even poorer than Class D, albeit temporarily. Even though they’d see points deposited in April, they were probably facing some rough times ahead. Besides, we were about to be starting our second year. We might need private points right away. Though I supposed I didn’t need to confirm any of that right now.

“If we lose our private points, we can always get them back. But if we lose even one precious friend, there’s no getting them back,” said Ichinose.

I might’ve said too much. Ichinose spoke without hesitation. I could tell that she was firmly determined to make sure everyone in Class B made it to graduation.

“Ryuuen-kun might not like this result, though. It seems Manabe-san was the one who got expelled, in the end,” said Ichinose.

I decided to not comment on the fact that I’d just met up with Ryuuen a second ago.

“Were you close to Manabe, Ichinose?” I asked.

“Not really. I think we’ve only spoken a couple of times. But even so, it’s still sad. Totsuka-kun from Class A and Yamauchi-kun from Class C are gone, too…” said Ichinose.

She sounded like she still couldn’t believe it had really happened.

“I wonder if someone else is going to disappear like this again, somewhere down the line?” asked Ichinose, clearly uneasy.

“Maybe,” I replied. A student you’d thought you were going to see every day might suddenly be gone. “But even so, you’re going to continue to fight it, right?”

“Yes. I’m going to move up to Class A with all of my friends and we’ll graduate together,” said Ichinose.

Before today, there might have been some people who would’ve branded Ichinose a hypocrite. But now any notions of her being a hypocrite would have been completely swept away. No matter what, Ichinose would fight to protect her class until the very end.

“…Thank you so much, Ayanokouji-kun. If you weren’t here, I…” said Ichinose, trailing off.

“Would have started going out with Nagumo?” I replied, finishing her sentence.

“…Yeah,” she answered, confirming it. “I know it’s stupid. I was trying to convince myself that it would be a small price to pay if it was for the sake of saving my classmates. But…I was deeply relieved to know I didn’t have to choose that route, after all.”

She must have been patting her chest. I heard her let out a deep sigh of relief on the other end of the line.

“I think I definitely would’ve regretted that decision eventually,” she added, letting out a laugh afterward.

“If neither the student council president nor I were around, what would you have done?” I asked.

“…Do you have to ask?” she replied.

“Just curious. I mean, it’s not like you didn’t come up with something, right?”

“Yeah, I had two plans. One option was for me to quit school myself,” she replied.

Just as I thought. Ichinose had been considering sacrificing herself too, huh?

“But I had a feeling that wasn’t quite the right choice. I thought that as a student at this school, I should be willing to fight until the end,” she added.

Which meant her other plan would’ve been her real choice, I supposed.

“And the other plan was…was to draw straws.”

“I see…”

The strategy seemed simple enough that anyone could’ve come up with it. But it wasn’t something you could pull off without everyone’s consent.

“Was everyone in Class B prepared to start drawing straws?” I asked.

“Yeah. We discussed it and decided that if we couldn’t come up with a way to avoid expulsion by the day of the poll, we would draw straws and use criticism votes on the three people who pulled the short straws. We didn’t discuss who would get praise votes, though—we decided to just let people pick those themselves and see how it went.”

I supposed there was probably no other way to judge students equally, without paying mind to who was superior or inferior. Even if Ichinose had ended up pulling a short straw in that scenario, I was sure it would’ve been offset by the praise votes she would get—and sure everyone would have been fine with that.

“That’s probably the fairest way you could have handled the situation. But that method definitely wouldn’t have worked in the other classes,” I replied. The more gifted the student, the intensely they would reject such an idea.

“No one wanted to get expelled, but no one wanted to see their friends go away, either. Once I explained things properly to everyone, they understood,” said Ichinose.

That was precisely because they were so completely united under a leader like Ichinose.

“I’m impressed,” I told her.

Even though it couldn’t be conveyed over the phone, I bowed my head, expressing my respect for Ichinose. The strategy by itself wasn’t all that great. But the fact that she was in a position to actually execute it was amazing.

“Well, I’ll talk to you later. Really, thank you so much, Ayanokouji-kun.”

“I was just the middleman. If you’re going to thank anyone, thank Ryuuen and his pals.”

8.8

 

AFTERWARD, I SAW that I had received another message.

“Sakayanagi, huh.”

I didn’t know where she got my contact information, but I figured I might as well meet with her. I’d been expecting her to come check out the bulletin board herself, but…

As per Sakayanagi’s message, I made my way over to the special building, where she said she would be waiting. Even though it was already past the time she had asked to meet in her message, I figured I could still catch her if I left now. Once at the special building, I went immediately to the spot where we’d talked last time.

“I’m ever so glad you came,” said Sakayanagi.

“If you have my e-mail address, doesn’t that mean you also have my phone number?”

“Even if I couldn’t meet you in person, I wouldn’t have minded,” she replied.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“I was just thinking I would explain things to you, more or less,” she replied.

As Sakayanagi spoke, she held onto her cane, moving forward and slightly closing the distance between us.

“I was afraid I might have made you uneasy by causing something of a disturbance. But I suppose such concerns were unnecessary on my part,” she added.

Of course, she was referring to the fact that she’d used Yamauchi to gather criticism votes and focus them on me.

“Back when we had our talk about wanting to postpone our contest, I was about ninety percent certain that you were being truthful. But I couldn’t trust you completely. So, I made a couple of moves myself, just to be safe,” I replied.

“I know. However, you do agree this doesn’t mean that I’ve broken our promise, hm?” she replied.

“You didn’t do anything to impede me. Besides, you didn’t lie.”

Setting aside the mental strain of recent events, the end result was that I’d gotten an overwhelming number of praise votes. I hadn’t even the slightest reason to hold a grudge against Sakayanagi.

“Thank you ever so much,” said Sakayanagi, showing her gratitude by bowing lightly. “By the way… Totsuka-kun should have gotten a total of thirty-eight criticism votes, but he only got thirty-six. Did you give him a praise vote?”

“I wasn’t entirely sure. But when you talked about having Katsuragi expelled, I thought you might be bluffing,” I told her.

If that was true, I felt it was more likely that she was going after Yahiko, Katsuragi’s follower. So I voted for him, even though it was only one vote and it wasn’t going to change anything.

“Wonderful. I knew you were the opponent I needed to defeat, after all.”

“So? Was this all just because you wanted to mess with me?” I asked.

“Well…I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t part of it. But there’s a reason why I wished to postpone our contest. I mentioned something along these lines a short time ago, but this supplementary special exam was undoubtedly arranged by a certain someone just so that they could get you expelled. In fact, this certain someone sent me an e-mail, specifically asking me to have you expelled,” said Sakayanagi.

“An e-mail?”

“Yes. I’m sure the sender was the person who had my father suspended from his position. It would seem they originally intended to only allow students to cast criticism votes for students from other classes. But that would’ve been far too outrageous of an exam, wouldn’t you say?” said Sakayanagi.

“If that rule had been put in place, it wouldn’t matter what kind of student you were. If classes colluded, they could get anyone expelled.”

It would’ve been an entirely ridiculous exam. One where people could even take down the likes of Sakayanagi and Ichinose, if they wanted to.

“Yes. The current staff were vehemently opposed, and it seems they were able to prevent that rule from being put in place. At any rate, cooperating with this individual to get you expelled that way would be the dullest possible thing. I decided to allocate every praise vote from Class A to you, in order to protect you no matter what. That way, even if someone was acting in secret to get you expelled, it wouldn’t work,” said Sakayanagi.

“In that case, why Yamauchi? Did he just happen to be the one you picked to use?”

“Do you not recall? When we were at the school camp, he bumped into me. He was quite rude,” she answered.

Come to think of it, yeah. That had happened.

“It was retribution for that,” she added.

So that was all it took for Sakayanagi to make him a target, huh? Well, I supposed that was more than enough reason for her.

“However, I only created the opportunity. In the end, he was eliminated because he was unnecessary to your class.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Even if Sakayanagi hadn’t gotten involved in this test, the end result would probably have been almost the same.

“So there you have it. That’s the main reason why I asked we not have our contest this time around. Now, while I would love for my father to be reinstated to his position as soon as possible, and for school management to be returned to a state of normalcy…”

There was no one else in the special building. It had only been the two of us. But suddenly, a figure appeared, casting a shadow in the space between Sakayanagi and me.

“Oh, hello.”

It was a man clad in a suit.

“This is my first time at this school. Do you happen to know where the faculty lounge is?” he asked.

“My, my. I must say, if you’re looking for the faculty lounge, then you’re looking in entirely the wrong place. Oh, by the way—please excuse my rudeness, but who are you?” asked Sakayanagi.

“My name is Tsukishiro. I’m the new acting director,” he replied, giving us a gentle smile and a kind, polite wave.

He was probably in his forties, about the same age as Sakayanagi’s father. A young director.

“Heh heh. Is that so? Well, I must say, our new acting director must be quite directionally challenged, if he just so happened to get lost and accidentally came all the way here. Or perhaps… I wonder if he spotted us on the security cameras and came here to check on us? This is the place Ayanokouji-kun and I used to hold our secret meetings during the exam. If the director was always watching, it would be rather easy for him to come pay us a visit,” said Sakayanagi.

As Sakayanagi spoke, I recalled the strange look she’d given the cameras earlier. If someone had been watching us meet here, she might have done that to lure them out. That had been Sakayanagi’s plan. And it would appear that this person had fallen for it.

Director Tsukishiro avoided her implications with a smile.

“You’re a girl who says very interesting things. Well, I have heard this is an exceedingly delightful school. I wonder if all of the students are like you, hm? If you’ll excuse me…” He moved forward, as if he intended to walk between us.

“If you’re looking for the faculty lounge, shouldn’t you to turn around and go the other way? You’re in the wrong building.”

As Sakayanagi gave him that polite advice, Tsukishiro, still smiling, kicked her cane out of her hands. The unexpected action naturally left Sakayanagi unable to react, and she started to fall.

“Whoa!”

I rushed over and grabbed her to keep her from falling. In the next instant, a large arm came swinging right at me. Since I was holding Sakayanagi, unable to dodge, I took the hit, doing my best to absorb the impact. I set Sakayanagi down on the floor and he followed immediately with another swing, catching me by the neck and pinning me against the wall with monstrous force.

“You’re not as good as the rumors say, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka-kun.”

He was pressing so hard on my throat that I couldn’t make a sound. His strength was almost impossible to comprehend, given how he looked. It seemed it was going to be difficult for me to shake him off.

“…Well, you’ve gone and done something quite contemptible, haven’t you, Acting Director?” said Sakayanagi.

“I was sure you were given orders. To have him expelled.”

“Oh, that e-mail was from one of your people, hm? I suppose it’s understandable that you’d want to rely upon someone like me, since school officials can’t just blatantly have a student expelled,” she replied with a smile, while slowly getting back up. “Thank you for helping me, Ayanokouji-kun.”

I couldn’t possibly have told Sakayanagi, with her disability, to dodge the attack. She might have done more than just fall.

“Don’t you think there might be a problem with the acting director getting violent with students?” she asked.

“There’s no need to worry. The surveillance cameras have already been rigged to show dummy footage.”

Meaning, no matter what happened, there would be no record of it.

“Now then, I have a message from your father. He says, ‘I’m not playing these childish games anymore. Come home at once.’ How about you blink twice for yes?” said Tsukishiro.

He didn’t let me speak, and didn’t even give me the option of saying no. This was certainly something that man would do. I didn’t answer, but simply remained silent.

“So you have no intention of leaving this school voluntarily, huh,” muttered the acting director, sounding bored. “Aren’t you going to at least try to resist? Show me that you’re not just some normal kid.”

He started applying more force on my throat. This wasn’t an opponent an ordinary student could handle. He was a well-trained foe.

“You have more than just observational skills, right? I want to see what you can do,” he goaded me once again. But I still wasn’t showing the slightest sign of resistance.

Finally, realizing that I had no intention of fighting back, Tsukishiro let me go.

“I officially start work at this school in April. I sincerely hope you’re looking forward to it.”

And with those parting words, he left the special building.

“You made a wise choice, Ayanokouji-kun,” said Sakayanagi, praising my decision to not resist.

“He’s the acting director. Had I carelessly decided to fight back, I don’t know what he might have used against me,” I replied.

He’d said the security cameras were showing dummy footage, but there was no guarantee he wasn’t still recording what was happening here. It would’ve been checkmate if he had cut the footage to just show me being violent with the acting director.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“Don’t worry. I’m used to this kind of thing. More importantly, Sakayanagi?”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Let’s officially have our contest in the next exam.”

Sakayanagi’s eyes widened in apparent surprise. “I never thought you’d say that directly to my face.”

“If Tsukishiro’s going to be involved come April, we’re not going to have time for me to deal with you much longer. I’d like to make things explicitly clear. I want to end this.”

“I do not mind. There won’t need to be a second or third time. I will happily be your opponent,” said Sakayanagi.

The final exam of our first year was about to begin. And I was going to bring an end to the confrontation Sakayanagi was hoping for.

8.9

 

MONDAY.

I was sure some of the students in our class were wondering where Yamauchi was. Wondering if all that talk of getting expelled in the last test was just meant to scare us. But reality was cruel. After that weekend, the number of desks in the classroom had decreased by one. Yamauchi Haruki’s place was already nowhere to be found.

Hirata’s smile was gone. Kushida’s smile was gone, too. Neither Sudou nor Ike looked like they had any energy at all.

“…Now then. I will announce the final exam of your first year.”

And so we, the students of first-year Class C, advanced toward the final special exam of our first year.