Chapter 5: Battle of the First-Years and Third-Years

Chapter 5: Battle of the First-Years and Third-Years

Chapter 5:

Battle of the First-Years and Third-Years

I T HAD BEEN ALMOST three months since the new students first started here at the Advanced Nurturing High School, and they had begun to understand the state of things at this institution. The first-year students were also right in the midst of forming groups for big upcoming special exam. However, it wasn’t long after the school gave the students permission to start forming groups that things already started to not go so smoothly. The students in Class 1-D, led by Housen Kazuomi, stubbornly refused to join any groups and rejected offers to trade cards. If a student from another class came to them wanting them to be in a group, the Class D students demanded points in exchange, or otherwise they wouldn’t join.

Because of that, the new students were put into a situation where they couldn’t freely form groups. Although representatives from each of the other three classes had been hoping that Housen would have changed his mind sometime in June, even today, on the first of July, the situation still hadn’t changed. There were classes within their grade level who tried to ignore Class D, but Yagami Takuya from Class 1-B put a stop to them.

While it was easy for the other students to ignore Class D and to create groups just from their own three classes, competition with the other grade levels was an important part of this special exam. Yagami had voiced the need that, in the event that issue was to be prioritized, they would absolutely need to handpick the best of the best from each and every class to make optimal groups. At about the exact same time, with the support of students who shared Yagami’s views, the three other classes had agreed to take a wait-and-see approach until July.

However, Housen’s continued deliberate ignoring of the situation meant that those previous talks wound up becoming meaningless. And today, now that the deadline had arrived, the representatives of the four classes from their grade were supposed to gather to resolve the situation. Yagami had proposed that the gathering be done in a simple manner so as not to intentionally raise the level of confidentiality of the meeting. It was agreed that the leader of the class or someone close to the leader would attend. But as the time came after class ended that day, there was no response from Class D, the class that was at the center of all these issues.

In a hallway lined with rather unsurprising, nondescript first-year classrooms, the first person to show up to the meeting was Yagami from Class 1-B. That was because he thought it necessary that he show up before anyone else as the original advocate of the proposal. Not long afterward, Utomiya Riku from Class 1-C had shown up as well.

“Seems like it’s still just you here, Yagami.”

“Oh, hey Utomiya-kun. I was kind of expecting it would’ve been you participating in this talk,” replied Yagami.

“Although it’s not really like me to be a leader or anything, I came because no one else wanted to. While the kids in my class kinda like to go ahead and say whatever they want, they seem to not like these kinds of headache-inducing things,” said Utomiya.

“I think it’s because they know that you’re such a dependable person that they asked you to come. I saw the updated OAA values this month. It says that your Societal Contribution score got bumped up to a B, didn’t it?” said Yagami, with a bright and chipper smile.

Utomiya, despite the fact he was being complimented, responded by wrinkling his brow. The person he was talking with, Yagami, had a C in Physical Ability, but an A in Academic Ability. In addition to that, his Adaptability and Societal Contribution scores had gone up to A thanks to his repeated contributions to Class B. In terms of overall ability, he was certainly a cut above. More importantly though, Class C wasn’t exactly in a situation that they could be happy about.

“We’ve lost somebody. To be honest, I think it’s a pretty big loss,” said Utomiya.

“I didn’t think that Hatano-kun would’ve gotten expelled either. It is really unfortunate,” said Yagami.

“…Yeah.”

Hatano was a male student from Class 1-C. He was a valuable student too, with an A in Academic Ability. However, he had been dealt a fatal blow as a result of him being involved in actions that, once discovered, resulted in a penalty of immediate expulsion. The somewhat relaxed first-year students were once again reminded of this school’s harshness. Though at this point, it had already been a month since Hatano had been expelled.

Utomiya, his classmate, didn’t even have the time to regret his loss, unfortunately. Now that he had lost one of his best students, he needed to get definite results on the upcoming special exam.

“It seemed like you and Hatano were pretty close,” said Utomiya.

“He said he wanted to join the student council together. He wanted to make the school a more fun place to be,” replied Yagami.

Utomiya nodded lightly and then directed his gaze towards the Class 1-D classroom.

“Do you think that Housen’s gonna come?” asked Utomiya, wondering about the very person about which this discussion was taking place over.

“I guess I’d say it’s about a fifty-fifty chance,” replied Yagami.

“Fifty-fifty? Wow, you sure put a lot of faith in Housen, huh. I’m betting he won’t show,” said Utomiya.

“If he doesn’t show up to this meeting, then the matter is settled. We’ll go ahead and form groups with students from our three classes. If that happens, then Class D and Class D alone, which has been trying to push for getting a lot of points out of us, will be left out in the cold. Then any chance they have to win will disappear,” said Yagami.

“If he thinks that he can make us fork over our Private Points, then he really has a massive ego. He objected to the idea of trying to smoothly form groups with people from all classes together. Since the second- and third-years are our enemies here, we really ought to work together. Yet Housen still refused anyway,” said Utomiya.

Even though they were all in the same grade level, Housen wanted to compete in areas where they didn’t even have to.

“It seems that way, at least on the surface. But I can’t imagine that’s what Housen-kun actually planning, deep down.”

“I can understand that it’s a bargaining tactic on his part. But it’s one that’s not going to pay off for him.”

“If he really intends on playing that game though, then I have to wonder if that might actually be a blessing in disguise for us. Because that means that Housen-kun isn’t that much of a threat to us then,” said Yagami.

“…Yeah, you’re right,” replied Utomiya.

Yagami explained that he had arranged this meeting to gauge what Housen was thinking. As the two of them were in the midst of their debate, a third person showed up.

“Oh, hey! Riku, Takuya. I figured it’d be you two!” shouted Takahashi Osamu, from Class 1-A, greeting them in a loud voice and waving as he came closer.

Though he had a low Academic Ability ranking, just a C+, he was particularly good at getting to know people no matter who they were. He was often called up to participate in discussions. He had many friends in other classes and other grade levels too.

“Osamu-kun, did you come because you were forced into handling things for your class again?” asked Takuya.

“Well, the leader of our class is the kind of person who hates dealing with this sort of hassle, y’know? So that’s where I come in,” replied Takahashi.

“Well, this discussion is going to move a lot more smoothly now that you’re here, Osamu,” added Utomiya.

Just like in Utomiya’s case, the leader of the class didn’t have to come to this discussion. On the contrary, it would have been more appreciated by the other classes if the students who came for these talks were the ones who excelled in conversation.

“All that’s left is Kazuomi, huh?” said Takahashi.

There was only about three minutes left until the appointed meeting time. If he didn’t show up, the three other speakers would proceed with their meeting without hesitation.

“Don’t you all think it’d be better if we teamed up right at this stage? Because honestly, I really want to isolate Class D so we can crush them as soon as possible,” said Utomiya.

“We’ve been told that the exam on the uninhabited island is going to assess more than our academic abilities though. If you’re looking at academic ability alone, then Class D is at the bottom of the rankings, but in terms of physical ability, they’re a close second. It’s possible that they could play a key role in group-building,” said Takuya.

“Look, I get what you’re tryin’ to say here Riku. My class is feeling pretty darn frustrated with the situation too. But don’t you think it’s a little too early to just give up on Class D? I mean, we can’t say for sure that there aren’t going to be more exams like this in the future where all the classes in our grade have gotta work together, right?” said Takahashi.

While Utomiya had advocated for ostracizing Class D, Yagami had continued to maintain that they needed to support Class D. Takahashi, meanwhile, didn’t really take a firm stance on either side, remaining in the middle.

“If we just need to work together to tackle this exam, then we’ll be fine if it’s just us our three classes. I’ll admit that yes, there certainly are some capable people in Class D that we could use, but they’re not worth enough to the point where I want to make a request to Housen and try to get in his good graces. Besides, it’s just about time for our meeting to start. I’d like our three classes to start talking about reaching an agreement between ourselves,” said Utomiya.

Just then, almost as if he had anticipated how their conversation was going to go, the person in question appeared, with a relaxed attitude.

“’Fraid that things aren’t gonna work out that way, Riku,” said Housen.

“It seems like you came after all then, eh, Housen-kun?” replied Yagami, greeting Housen with a smile on his face.

On the other hand, Housen approached the three of them while bearing his white teeth in an unnerving manner, like he usually did. Utomiya shot a quick glance over at Housen, and then averted his eyes, looking out the window.

“Hey Kazuomi, who showed up at a great time!” exclaimed Takahashi in a friendly manner, without fear of Housen.

Takahashi’s feeling was that he wanted everyone to get along. That’s all that he wanted.

“Don’t say my name like we’re all buddy-buddy. I’ll kill you,” snapped Housen.

Housen, after trying to intimidate Takahashi, turned his eyes back to Yagami and Utomiya.

“So, decided to pay up?” he asked.

“Don’t make lame jokes. We’re not paying you a single point,” replied Utomiya.

“Now, now, let’s calm down, okay? We can’t hold a discussion if you’re fixing for a fight right from the get-go,” said Yagami.

“All right, now that everyone’s here, I guess we can get this thing started. For the groups, we—”

“Don’t just start yammerin’ outta nowhere,” snapped Housen, shoving Takahashi by his shoulder, causing him to fall down hard on his bottom.

Utomiya, displeased by Housen’s actions, shot him an intense glare.

“Housen. Don’t bring your violent attitude here.”

“Oh? What, you plannin’ on gettin’ in my way?” replied Housen.

“If necessary, yeah,” said Utomiya.

“Hmph, ain’t that interestin’. If you feel like you can bring it, then go ahead and try,” said Housen.

When Housen raised his left hand in the air, Takahashi scrambled back to his feet.

“Wait, wait, hold on! Look, I just slipped and fell, that’s all, man. Come on, calm down, Riku,” shouted Takahashi, in a panic.

“See, that’s all it was, yeah?” said Housen.

“Unfortunately for you, I’m not as nice as Takahashi,” replied Utomiya.

“In that case, why don’t ya show me what ya got?”

Just when Housen made a fist, Utomiya reached out and grabbed his arm.

“Oh…?”

Housen smiled happily upon feeling the strength of Utomiya’s grip being applied to his arm. The look in Utomiya’s eyes showed that what he was doing wasn’t just for show. He had the determination to fight right then and there if necessary. Housen had thought it’d be fun to have a fistfight right there, but then he reconsidered it. Housen certainly craved fighting against the other grade levels more than anyone else, although he did things in a unique way.

“Well, seems like I’m gonna have fun playin’ with you. I’ll save the fun for later, though,” said Housen.

“You think violence is a game, do you?” replied Utomiya.

“Sure it is,” answered Housen.

“How stupid. But if that’s what you want, then I’ll give it to you right now. You don’t have to wait until next time. But only on the condition that you never lay a hand on any of my classmates ever again.”

During this situation where things seemed like they could go off at any moment, both sides glared at each other, unyieldingly.

“Hey, hey, whaddya mean by that, huh?” said Housen.

“It means that I’m guessing you were the one who got Hatano expelled. He wasn’t the kind of student who would have broken school rules so easily,” said Utomiya.

“Come on, that little small fry just got all scared of getting’ expelled, and he blew himself up. That’s all it was, right?” said Housen.

“I clearly remember the look on Hatano’s face after he got expelled. He got screwed over by somebody.”

“And yer sayin’ that’s me?” said Housen.

“Who else could it be but you, jerk?” snapped Utomiya.

Although Housen had backed off a little earlier, sparks started flying once again.

“Hey, come on, calm down, both of you. Riku, if you just start throwing down right here, you’ll just be doing exactly what Kazuomi wants, man,” said Takahashi.

“Takahashi-kun is exactly right. The important thing right now is focusing our efforts on the upcoming uninhabited island survival exam,” added Yagami.

“Oh, right, right, we can make groups with peeps from other classes. That upcoming special exam,” said Housen, speaking as though the thought hadn’t occurred to him at all until just now.

“So what? You refused to work with the other classes. This is none of your business then, isn’t it?” said Utomiya.

“Hey now, if you really insist, and I mean like, really insist, I’ll work with ya. See?” said Housen.

“Enough jokes. I wouldn’t team up with you even if you were the last person standing,” replied Utomiya.

“Talk about ice cold,” said Housen.

Utomiya slowly released his grip on Housen’s arm. Yagami, who had been watching the situation unfold, cut in right then, determining this moment to be the right time.

“We’re wasting time. Shall we get started?” said Yagami.

“Wait, who said I’m joinin’ your little conversation here? I ain’t startin’ anything,” said Housen.

“Then why did you even come here? Just to kill time?” said Utomiya.

“And if I said yeah?” replied Housen.

“I wouldn’t believe you. You’re not that stupid,” mocked Utomiya.

Even though he was speaking with Housen, Yagami smiled unabashedly.

“This whole uninhabited island survival thing certainly sounds like a far-fetched idea, but the second- and third-year students have already experienced it before. We first-years have to take this test while at a significant disadvantage,” explained Yagami.

“But we’re also gonna get a handicap in our favor too though, right?” said Takahashi.

In the face of the optimistic Takahashi’s comment, Yagami continued to explain his stance in a calm and gentle manner.

“The second- and third-year students have an advance in both academic ability and physical ability because they’re older. That fact remains unchanged. If we can’t work together, the upperclassmen might eat us alive. You see?” said Yagami.

That was exactly why Yagami was stressing that cooperation amongst their four classes was essential.

“Spare me your weak sauce nonsense, Yagami. Second-year or third-year, I’m confident I can crush ’em,” said Housen.

“Yes, there are some students who are more exceptionally talented than others, of course. But there’s no hiding the fact that in terms of overall ability, our grade level is inferior. Not everyone is as blessed as you are, Housen-kun,” said Yagami.

Yagami’s constant gentleness and the fact that he demonstrated he highly valued Housen’s abilities were what kept the conversation from falling apart.

“Which is why I think it’s necessary that we need to band together, and form one optimal group with students from our grade level. One strong group made up of four people. We need to bring together a group of students who can we definitely say, similar to what Housen-kun himself had said earlier, won’t be defeated even if they take on second- or third-year students,” said Yagami.

“Meaning that we’re not going to be competing with each other over Class Points in this special exam?” said Utomiya.

“The rules make it difficult to cooperate within your grade level, which is why the second- and third-year students who have less time left here are having a harder time accepting the lost opportunity for Class Points that comes with this particular special exam. But we still over two whole years left here. That’s why we should so deliberately forego the Class Points this time around,” said Yagami.

The difference in Class Points between Class A and Class D in their grade level was still only 300 at most. While Yagami had suggested that there was no need for them to panic, Utomiya seemed to have different thoughts on the matter and wrinkled his brow in response.

“The benefits from cooperating with the other classes are too slight, though. Just throwing away Class Points would be a waste,” said Utomiya.

“If we get eaten alive by the upperclassmen though, losing Class Points isn’t the only thing we’ll have to worry about,” said Yagami.

“But it means no one is going to pull ahead in our grade level, though,” argued Utomiya, stressing that if problems arise like Yagami suggested after their battle, then that was simply inevitable.

“Oh, hey, hold on a second. I’m kind of curious about one thing you said earlier, Takuya. Why just one team? The groups who place in the top three will all get Class Points, right? Also, if we consider the fact that we can form up into bigger groups during the actual island part of the exam, then wouldn’t it be better for us to make lots of strong groups?” said Takahashi.

“You are absolutely right. However, if we try to make a lot of strong groups from the get-go, we’re going to have to think about the balance of each group. We’re going against the older students. They aren’t going to be easy opponents for us to beat. In that case, it’s important that we focus on making our strongest possible four-person group, to reliably ensure that we can take first place. Besides, it sounds like it will be difficult to freely form into larger groups during the main exam part, and even if the upperclassmen really do their best to work together, they can still only form three-person groups, representing three classes,” responded Takahashi quickly, in an effort to quell Takahashi’s doubts.

After Takahashi heard Yagami’s response, he understood what he was getting at.

“So, if we get first place, the rest doesn’t matter. Even in the worst-case scenario and we throw everything else away,” said Takahashi.

“I do think that yes, we could make a strong enough group if we were to ignore Housen-kun and just work with our own three classes. However, then we’d be essentially playing by the same rules as the other grade levels. The reason I’d like all four classes to work together is not just so that we can hand pick the best possible people. It’s also because I think it will help unify our will to fight together, as one, across our entire grade. We first-year students were the only ones given the option to create groups of up to four people. It would be a waste for us to throw away that valuable handicap we were given,” said Yagami.

If Class D alone were left out of the equation, it would naturally lead to a situation where they would try to hinder everyone else in their attempts to get first place. And if that happened, it was clear that Class D would do anything and everything in order to prevent the other classes from winning. Yagami was saying that if the four classes can cooperate fully, they should shoot for that ideal structure. Then, Yagami turned to Housen once more.

“I understand that you and you alone can hold your own in a fight against the older students. So, I hope that you’ll lend us a hand,” said Yagami, appealing to Housen that they needed all four classes.

Utomiya though, eyed Housen suspiciously. He didn’t think that the person who had refused to even discuss the matter for more than two weeks would agree to such a thing.

“All right. I’ll work with ya,” said Housen.

However, Housen had readily accepted Yagami’s proposal.

“…What are you plotting, Housen?” asked Utomiya.

“Whaddya mean, what am I plottin’? You said you wanted my help. And how can I not listen to such an adorable little request?” replied Housen.

“All right then, let’s hear your conditions,” said Yagami.

After considering how quickly Housen changed his stance on the matter, Yagami quickly urged him to speak as not to waste any time.

“Two spots in the main big group gotta be reserved for Class D students. That is an ironclad requirement,” said Housen.

“What?” balked Utomiya, naturally disgusted by Housen’s proposal, which had the possibility of benefitting only his own class.

“But what happens if we can’t form the kind of big groups we want on the island? What then?” said Yagami.

“I already told you. My conditions are that Class D students are included in the main group. No buts,” said Housen.

“I see. If we can’t bring two Class D students into the group on the island, then we’ll clear it with just the initial four students,” said Yagami.

“’Sides, if we got the four best o’ the best in a group to begin with, it shouldn’t really matter, right? Ain’t gonna mess with our chances of winnin’.”

“That’s enough of your crap, Housen,” said Utomiya.

“I ain’t bullshittin’. If ya don’t like it, then you can screw off.”

“Look here, jerk…”

Utomiya was about to get up in Housen’s face because of the absurd demands he was making, but Yagami quickly slid in between them, separating them from each other.

“Please calm down, Utomiya-kun. I’m okay with his condition,” said Yagami.

“You’re just going to hand them the chance to get all the benefits on a silver platter?” asked Utomiya.

“Our priority right now is for our grade level to come together as a unified front. We absolutely cannot lose to the other grades,” said Yagami.

“If we just let Housen get what he wants right now by acting this way, he’s gonna do it again,” said Utomiya.

“If we abandon Housen-kun’s class right here and now, will anything be any different?” asked Yagami.

“Well, I…”

“What matters is that our grade wins the upcoming exam. Anything else isn’t that big a deal,” said Yagami.

“I gotta say, I agree with him on this one, Riku. I understand how you feel, but first we have to work together as a grade,” said Takahashi.

Utomiya clicked his tongue defiantly but gave in thanks to Yagami and Takahashi’s efforts to persuade him.

“Fine then. No other demands on top of that, though. You get that, Housen?” said Utomiya.

Housen didn’t respond to Utomiya’s statement though. He simply turned his back to him as if to say that this was the end of the conversation.

“There’s one last thing that I wanted to mention that I think that our grade needs to be together on. I think that the item cards should be carefully re-distributed throughout our entire grade level to avoid any in-fighting, and so that we can use them to their maximum effectiveness. It’s also important to make sure that the students lacking in ability and in the groups that are more likely to sink towards the bottom of the ranking have the Half Off card. I assume that you will agree to that as well, Housen-kun?” asked Yagami.

“Do whatever you want,” replied Housen.

Housen then immediately left without any signs of reluctance. While the three others watched him go, Takahashi leaned over to speak to Yagami.

“Hey, by the way Takumi, who are you plannin’ on pickin’ from Class B?” he asked.

“Suffice to say, I think that the four of us who came to this meeting here today would be the best people for making our strongest group. That includes Housen-kun, of course. Do you think I’m wrong about that?” said Yagami.

Yagami looked at Takahashi, Utomiya, and then at Housen as he walked away, with his gentle but piercing gaze.

“Even if we admit that Housen is capable, it’s wrong to bring him into the fold. He’s—” said Utomiya, before getting cut off.

“Well, we can take our time and carefully decide who will be in the group later. Don’t you feel like it’s enough that we manage to find a unified direction for the time being?” said Yagami.

“…All right,” said Utomiya.

“If we work together, we can get first place. Let’s shoot for that, for right now,” said Yagami.

Although Utomiya was reluctant, he still found himself convinced and agreed to what Yagami had suggested. Afterward, they each went their separate ways.

5.1

A FTER CLASS THE NEXT DAY , at the café in Keyaki Mall.

“I hate that kind of watch. The way the second hand on the clock moves is so irritating, like tick-tock, tick-tock,” said Amasawa, expressing her dislike for the wristwatch that Housen had on his left arm as he sat directly across from her.

“Ugh, shut the hell up. Do you even have any clue how much this thing is worth?” he snapped.

“Worth? Is that like a premium one or something? I don’t have time to learn about stuff I hate,” said Amasawa.

“Pft, this is why chicks’re so stupid,” said Housen with a smile, briefly stroking his watch.

“Hey, look here you… Well, whatever, forget it. So, what did you want?” asked Amasawa.

“I called you here to talk ’bout the upcoming island exam thing. Team up with me, Amasawa,” said Housen.

“Oh, you want my help again, huh? And on the island too, hm. You thinking about something naughty?” said Amasawa.

“What?” replied Housen.

Even though Housen furrowed his brow and glared at Amasawa, she responded by flashing him a devilish grin, without an ounce of fear. Then, after slowly lowering her crossed legs, Amasawa quietly spread them wide.

“You wanna see my panties? You can peek from under the table if you want. Okay?” said Amasawa.

If he crawled under the table, he could see right between her spread legs. In the face of this temptation though, Housen leaned forward, placing his right elbow on the table.

“You seriously think I won’t raise my hand against a girl?” said Housen.

“Oh no, I do think you would, absolutely. Don’t worry. I figure you’re the type who would have no problem beating on a girl without a second thought,” said Amasawa.

“In that case, stop spoutin’ stupid crap. It’s a waste of time,” said Housen.

“Oh, a waste of time, hm? Well, all right then, let’s hear it. Your plan. Why are you inviting me?” asked Amasawa.

“’Cause you got the kinda guts not to hesitate when it comes to gettin’ Ayanokouji expelled,” said Housen.

“Well, sure? I mean, there are lots of people who know about the bounty and aren’t doing anything about it, or they’re willing to take a shot but only half-heartedly. I figure that if there’s two million at stake, you would do everything in your power to crush it. Isn’t that normal?” said Amasawa, without showing any signs of shame or guilt whatsoever. “So, what am I gonna get in return for helping you? I’m not cheap, you know.”

Just then, after Amasawa had asked Housen what she could get for this, a stern voice came from behind her.

“We will all be equal. I believe I said as much before.”

That voice belonged to none other than Nanase, who had arrived at this gathering slightly late.

“Equal? Wow, you’ve got such a cute face, but your words sure aren’t that sweet. You just came right out and said it. So, does Housen-kun appreciate the fact that you’re not timid at all?” said Amasawa.

The three of them were now seated around the table.

“All right. So, Housen-kun was thinking of having us three together in a group. Who’s the fourth person though?” said Amasawa.

“Don’t need a fourth. The winner o’ this island exam thing ain’t gonna be anyone from the second-years or third-years. It’s gonna be us three,” said Housen.

“Wow, aren’t you the confident one? But it does seem like there are lots of senior students who’re tougher than the first-years, don’t you think?” said Amasawa.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m gonna crush ’em all,” said Housen.

“Well, supposing even if you’re number one in terms of ability, Housen-kun… Didn’t we first-years talk about cooperating? You know, all four classes together? If we’re talking about the heavy hitters in Class D, then I’m pretty sure that you two would be the top picks for that, right?” Amasawa.

“I’m the one in charge of Class D. That’s for me to decide. You get what I mean?” said Housen.

“Yeah, you mean that you’re going to unashamedly send in a couple of small fries from Class D to represent us as our main forces, for the group. You’re gonna be making enemies in all directions,” teased Amasawa.

“That all depends on what you consider the criteria for our ‘main forces’ to be. If we send in students who have high academic or physical ability at the very least, then there won’t be that much risk. Besides, if we place Housen-kun in that supposed strongest group, there will be problems,” said Nanase.

“Yeah, sure seems like he doesn’t exactly play well with others, that’s for sure. In that sense, it’s safer that we leave him out of that group. Anyway, back to the topic at hand, how much are you gonna give me?” said Amasawa.

“There aren’t any points for us to give you. As I had just said earlier, we will be equals in this partnership. Of course, we will give you an equal share of the Private Points that Class D receives,” replied Nanase, implicating adding, “Is that not enough to satisfy you?”

“But it’s not like our level of contribution is necessarily equal though, is it? After all, I’m confident that I can contribute more than anyone else, on the uninhabited island or wherever. Seems like this exam is gonna take an awful lot of stamina. Nanase-chan, you’re a little cutie. Can you keep up with me?” said Amasawa.

“Shall we test that?” replied Nanase, responding to Amasawa’s provocations with one of her own.

Amasawa turned her gaze onto Housen for a moment, but then without warning, Amasawa extended her arm, reaching for Nanase’s face. She was intending to catch Nanase off guard and surprise her with a slap to the face to rattle her. However, Nanase didn’t show any hesitation either and quickly grabbed hold of Amasawa’s arm as she extended it towards her.

“You’re pretty bold, aren’t you? Thinking you can test me right here,” snapped Nanase, in a harsh tone.

“Oh wow. You can hold your own pretty good, huh? I just love strong girls,” said Amasawa.

“You’re not exactly normal either,” said Nanase.

“Hm, maybe? Wanna test things a little more?” said Amasawa.

While one of them was smiling, the other was stone-faced. It was as if they were spending that time assessing each other’s strength.

“You, me, and Nanase are gonna make a group of three. Got it?” said Housen.

“Well, I get that Nanase-chan can hold her own more or less, but I still can’t think that we’re really on equal terms, y’know.”

“Why? Is that because the two of us are from Class D?” asked Nanase.

“I don’t care about that. I mean, sure, it seems like the Private Points will be evenly split between everyone, sure. It’s just… Well, since you’re asking me to help you, I think need something extra for it,” said Amasawa, putting her left hand into a fist, and then making the gesture of asking for a tip by pinching her thumb and index finger together and then rubbing them.

“I mean, it’s only natural you’d wanna sell yourself for a high price if someone comes along and wants to pay you for your services, right?” added Amasawa.

“You sure got a hell of an ego. Man, you chicks, both you and Nanase, have more guts than Yagami and Takahashi,” said Housen.

“Oh, don’t you know? Girls these days are stronger than boys,” said Amasawa.

“All right then, fine. I’ll hear you out. What do you want, aside from the group rewards?” asked Housen.

“Getting first place, of course. But that’s not the only important thing here,” said Amasawa.

Then, Amasawa stopped making the tip gesture with her left hand, and brought her hand up to her neck with her thumb raised and pressed against her neck. Then she slowly slid her thumb from the right side of her neck to her left, in an execution gesture.

“I get everything. All the points from getting Ayanokouji-senpai expelled. That’s my condition for helping you,” said Amasawa.

“Pfft. Now you’re really makin’ some unreasonable demands. Those are terms I can’t just sit back and agree to so easily,” said Housen.

“Oh, so are you gonna turn me down then? But what are you going to do without me? If you don’t have any allies you can trust aside from Nanase-chan, you’re going to have a pretty tough time in this special exam, aren’t you?” said Amasawa.

Just like Amasawa had suggested earlier, Housen had already been making enemies on all sides. Moreover, since the four classes were planning to work together, if Housen went ahead and just formed his own group aside from them, there was no way other students would be willing to give him a hand. At least no one besides an odd duck like Amasawa, that is.

“And besides, if I team up with Housen-kun, I’ll be even more isolated in Class A than I already am. Isn’t it only natural that I’d ask for appropriate compensation in exchange before I could say yes to you?” said Amasawa.

Housen and Amasawa exchanged long, hard looks.

“It’s true that if you hand over the entire bounty to me for getting him expelled, that means you won’t be getting a single point yourself. But you’ll get all the credit for being the one who got Ayanokouji-senpai expelled, Housen-kun. Isn’t that good enough?” said Amasawa.

“There’s no need to accept her conditions. If you think about our future, if Class A were to get an extra twenty million points, then—”

“Shut up, Nanase,” said Housen, cutting Nanase off before she could finish giving her advice, as he continued to stare intently into Amasawa’s eyes.

“I’ll give you the bounty,” said Housen.

“Thanks. You know, I think the fact you’re not a stingy tightwad is actually pretty lovely,” said Amasawa, getting up from her seat in a smooth motion.

“Looking forward to the exam!” she added.

Now that negotiations had been concluded, Amasawa had decided there wasn’t any reason to stick around much longer and she left without batting an eye.

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

“It’s fine,” replied Housen.

“I understand. It is your decision to make. But are you sure it’s okay to trust Amasawa-san? I think she’s the type of person who would betray her partners without losing any sleep over it,” said Nanase.

“Trust? Don’t just assume I’m trusting her. I don’t trust her or you,” said Housen.

“Then why did you decided to make a group with her?” asked Nanase.

“’Cause she’s different than the rest of the trash out there. There are parts of her I can’t figure out. Just like with you,” said Housen.

“I see. I suppose you might be right about that. But even so, twenty million points is an absurd condition,” said Nanase.

“It was just a verbal agreement. I don’t give a damn about it. As long as the fact remains clear that I’m the one who got Ayanokouji expelled, then I’ll be gettin’ those points, of course. Doesn’t matter to me if she comes cryin’ about it later,” said Housen.

Housen was saying that he never had any intention of honoring his promise from the beginning.

“You really are a terrible person,” said Nanase.

“Don’t matter if it’s Ayanokouji, Ryuuen, or anybody else. Anybody comes barin’ their fangs at me, I’ll crush ’em. I’m gettin’ fed up, bein’ all caught up in the crazy stupid rules at this school,” said Housen, looking like he was having so much fun that he could hardly contain his laughter.

5.2

S UMMER VACATION was approaching. It was now July 6. With the exception of Akito, who was on headed over to his club activities, everyone in our group was gathered around my seat near the entrance to the classroom. That was because we had promised to meet up at Keisei’s room later. As soon as we had left the classroom though, I was approached by Kushida, who called out to me.

“Ayanokouji-kun, may I have a moment?” asked Kushida.

“What’s up?” I asked.

This was a bit unusual though, as I had been approached by Kushida less and less frequently as of late. Even though I sent her points once a month as per our agreement, all we did was make an exchange. We didn’t engage in conversation. And since the number of Private Points each person in class received would normally be the same, there wasn’t any need for students to thoroughly check every person’s account for anything.

“To tell you the truth, a first-year student says that they want to meet with you, Ayanokouji-kun… Would right now be a bad time?” asked Kushida.

Kushida gave an apologetic glance to the Haruka and the others in the group, and then continued speaking.

“I think that it’ll probably take about an hour or so. They asked me to help set up a meeting between you,” she added.

“What’s up, Kiyopon? Maybe some first-year girl is gonna tell you she’s got the hots for you or something?” teased Haruka, her joke causing Airi to panic.

“H-huh whaaat?! R-really?!” wailed Airi.

“If it is true, then I feel like we can’t allow him to go,” concluded Haruka.

She was the one who arbitrarily suggested it was about a girl, and now she was arbitrarily telling me that she was not giving me permission.

“…Is that true?” I asked, deciding that I ought to check with Kushida if it actually was the case, just to be on the safe side.

“Huh? U-uh, well… It was a boy who said that he wanted to meet with you… Sorry,” said Kushida, apologizing to me with a somewhat uncomfortable look on her face.

Well, she really didn’t need to apologize to me for that at all though. Even though I didn’t think it was something like what Haruka suggested in the first place anyway, I was relieved to her Kushida tell me that.

“Well, it’s fine for you to go, don’cha think? I mean, I think it’s a good thing to have a little tête-à-tête with the new kids, right?” said Haruka.

“Yeah, I agree. Our circle of friends isn’t particularly good at relationships with people, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea for Kiyotaka to get to know some more first-years,” replied Keisei.

Putting aside whatever this student’s intentions were, Haruka and Keisei were saying it would be a good thing to at least have some face time, if only a little. Airi felt relieved that it wasn’t anything romantic and appeared happy and willing to send me off. In that case, I supposed there wasn’t any reason for me to refuse the offer.

“Okay. What am I supposed to do?” I asked.

“Oh, thank you! Um, well, I’ll go ahead and tell him that you said it was okay, Ayanokouji-kun,” replied Kushida.

Kushida then took out her phone and started dialing someone’s number.

“Welp, we’ll be heading out then already. We’ll meet up with you later,” said Haruka.

And with that brief exchange, the other members of the Ayanokouji Group went on back to the dormitory ahead of me.

“Sorry about that,” said Kushida.

I’m guessing that the call must not have connected yet, because Kushida had apologized to me, with the phone still up against her ear.

“It’s no big deal. Nobody in my group is going to complain about something like this anyway,” I replied.

Shortly afterward, the first-year boy seemed to have answered the call, and it connected.

“Oh, hello? Yes, Ayanokouji-kun says he’ll meet up with you now. Okay. Yeah, okay. Oh, really? Well, we’ll just wait here, then,” said Kushida.

Kushida had finished her call in less than ten seconds.

“It seems like he’s already headed this way. Let’s just wait here so that we don’t miss him then, okay?” said Kushida.

Apparently, this new student who wanted to meet with me had already set his signs on the second-year classrooms.

“It seems like you’re already on pretty good terms with the new students, Kushida,” I told her.

“Huh? Oh, well, it is already July, right? I think that’s already plenty of time…” she replied.

“…Yeah, I suppose so,” I replied.

It had already been more than three months since the new students had arrived at this school. As I gazed out the hallway window, I saw the sun shining high in the sky, with its shining, scorching hot rays hitting the ground down below. It was just about time for the first great chorus of the year of the cicadas to begin. So, I supposed that from my perspective as someone who has trouble communicating with others, it’s “only” been three months, but for Kushida, that was more than enough time to connect with people, huh?

“Ayanokouji-kun, have you made any friends out of the new students?” asked Kushida.

She had said that in such a way that it sounded like it was only natural that I should or would have, but no, that wasn’t the case.

“I still haven’t met anyone I could call a friend, no,” I replied.

“I-I see. Well… There’s no need to rush. There’s still lots of time,” said Kushida.

Kushida had offered me kind, considerate words, but her assurance seemed somewhat hollow. There were certainly several first-year students that I’ve started talking to, sure. However, we hadn’t developed any kind of relationship where we’d be contacting each other privately. My conversation with Kushida came to a sudden stop once the mood got awkward. Just when I was wondering about what I should talk to Kushida about next as we stood here in the hallway, the first-year student in question showed up.

“Kushida-senpai.”

The student who appeared after just turning the corner was none other than Yagami Takuya, who had attended the same junior high as both Horikita and Kushida. Seeing Yagami’s appearance as a chance for her to dispel the awkwardness hanging in the air, Kushida flashed a smile.

“Yagami-kun is the boy who said that he wanted to meet with you, Ayanokouji-kun,” said Kushida.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you, Ayanokouji-senpai. Thank you for making the time to meet with me today,” said Yagami.

Because he was a first-year student who was reaching out to me via Kushida, I had a certain idea of what he was like in mind.

“If I remember right… You’re in Class 1-B, right?” I replied.

“Yes, that’s exactly right. My name is Yagami Takuya.”

As one of the bystanders who saw what happened during that fiasco before with the new students, I remember that I saw Yagami there, but I didn’t end up speaking with him at all. This was the first time we had actually had a conversation, right now, before the start of summer. It was said that he had emerged as the leader of Class 1-B, but I had to wonder how far his influence has reached. He was affable, friendly, and had a cute look. That, combined with his prominent level of academic ability, made it seem like he was quite popular.

“Well, I suppose it might not be appropriate for us to have our conversation standing around here, but how would you feel about heading to my room? I actually have just gotten my hands on some rather rare black tea leaves that I had ordered. It takes a while to brew, but it is quite delicious,” said Yagami, adding that if I would like some, he would love for me to partake.

I didn’t normally drink black tea, so I was a little curious. But if we did that, then we might not be able to get this meeting completely wrapped up within the hour.

“Oh, sorry Yagami-kun. To tell you the truth, Ayanokouji-kun is supposed to be meeting up with some friends later. I think it would be better if the meeting could be kept under an hour, if possible…” said Kushida.

Kushida had guessed that Yagami’s proposal would take some time, so she went ahead and gracefully rejected his offer on my behalf.

“I see. That’s all right. Well then, how about we have our talk in the café at Keyaki Mall?” he suggested.

Although he seemed a bit disappointed, Yagami readily went along with it, having understood my situation.

“Well, let’s be going then. Shall we, Ayanokouji-kun?” said Kushida.

I nodded in response, deciding to head over to Keyaki Mall together with Kushida and Yagami.

“Oh yes, that reminds me. The special exam on the uninhabited island is about to begin, right? Kushida-senpai, Ayanokouji-senpai, you had experienced a similar exam last year, right?” asked Yagami.

“Yes. It was a tough time,” said Kushida.

“Could you possibly tell me what rules there were in that exam? And about what had happened then? We first-year students don’t have the benefit of that experience, so we’d like to least gather some information,” said Yagami.

“Well, I don’t mind sharing that with you, but…I’m not too sure if it’ll be useful. It does seem like the rules this year are completely different from what they were last year,” said Kushida.

“Yes, I understand. I’ve also heard that the exam that you had taken was different from the island exam that the third-year students had before as well,” said Yagami.

“Oh yes, now that you mention it, the third-year students did have an uninhabited island exam too, didn’t they?” said Kushida.

“From the sounds of it, they had also taken it in their first year, like you. It seems that before, this uninhabited island special exam had only been conducted once during a student’s educational career at this school… Is this year an exception? Or has the rule changed starting this year?” asked Yagami.

Apparently, Yagami had a lot more information than we did.

“Do you find it strange? That I have information about the third-year students?” asked Yagami.

Yagami had directed his comment at me. I had been quietly listening up until that point.

“It’s because I joined the student council. In doing so, I was able to ask President Nagumo, and he gave me new insights into the uninhabited island survival exam that had been held the year before last. At the time, students were divided into groups of four within their classes, and a total of twelve groups had competed with each other, apparently,” said Yagami.

The rules for their uninhabited island survival exam were different from the rules that we had in ours before. It was basically safe to assume that, with few exceptions, no special exams would be the same as ones that came before.

“How did you spend your time on the island before? I was thinking that I might be able to get some clues from that,” said Yagami.

Even if Kushida and I kept quiet about it and deliberately didn’t tell Yagami, it was obvious that someone else was going to tell him anyway. There probably wasn’t any need to pointlessly try and hide it from him. And besides, there was no way that Kushida wasn’t going to answer, anyway. Then, just as expected, Kushida started to politely explain what happened during last year’s island exam. I continued to listen in silence as I followed behind the two of them.

5.3

B Y THE TIME that Kushida had finished telling Yagami about the island survival exam that we had before, the Keyaki Mall café was now just around the corner. We had expected that it would’ve been easy for us to have gotten seats at the café, but an unexpected situation had arisen.

“It’s quite crowded, isn’t it?” remarked Kushida.

The café was completely booked up. There were even students already waiting near the entrance, hoping for seats to open up.

“What should we do? Do you want to try looking at the second floor for a place to chat?” asked Kushida.

“Please just wait a moment,” said Yagami.

He took out his phone with his left hand and started fiddling with it.

“I just checked with my friend. It seems like the café on the second floor is crowded too. Since we have to wait in either case, and there only are two parties in front of us, why not just sit tight here?” he suggested.

Apparently, his friend was already at the other café, and Yagami had just contacted him via text. He had made a quick decision to avoid wasting time. At the same time that we had told Yagami that we agreed with his decision, he noticed a student approaching from behind. Maybe it was because he figured that if we dawdled too much in putting our reservation down that another group would get in front of us, but he grabbed a pen with his free hand while his other was still clutching his phone and wrote down both the number of people in our group and his last name on the board at the café entrance, with rather nice penmanship. It was quite noticeable when compared to the scrawls of the other students who had written down their reservations above ours.

“Wow Yagami-kun, you have such nice handwriting!” exclaimed Kushida.

It was only natural for Kushida to compliment him like that, after seeing his penmanship. Yagami smiled, seemingly pleased about it. Then, the three of us sat down on chairs that were placed outside near the café, to wait our turn.

“Well, my grandfather taught me that even if I’m not capable in my studies, that I should at least write neatly,” said Yagami.

“Your grandpa?” asked Kushida.

“Yes. My grandfather is a calligraphy instructor, you see,” he replied.

“That’s amazing. My handwriting isn’t particularly neat,” replied Kushida, humbly.

Kushida was being modest. As far as I could remember from the few times that I had seen her writing, I wouldn’t say that it was bad at all. Though her handwriting wasn’t as sophisticated as Yagami’s, I remembered that she had neat penmanship and used rounded, girlish characters. Even so, this student Yagami didn’t seem to be boastful about his own abilities. Even though he said something about not being capable academically earlier, his academic ability ranking in OAA was currently rated A, which was exceptionally high. He was an honors student without a hint of nastiness about him. That impression made me think that he was practically Yousuke’s double. After a while, a table for four became available, so we put in our orders and took our seats.

“To tell you the truth… Well, you might be thinking that it’s rather late for me to be mentioning this, but there’s something I wanted to tell you, Ayanokouji-senpai. You already know about the special exam that had been given only to an extremely limited number of first-year students, right?” said Yagami.

Kushida listened to what Yagami was saying with a puzzled look on her face, probably because she hadn’t received any explanation about this prior. This special exam that Yagami was talking about, which was limited to very few people, was where the school would pay out twenty million points to anyone who manages to get me expelled, of course. Considering the way that Yagami had said that though, it seemed like it wasn’t just a rumor he heard about. He seemed to know about it as a real thing. However, just to be sure, I decided to wait and see what he was going to say next. Without confirming nor denying what Yagami had said, I instead waited for him to continue speaking. In response to that, Yagami nodded.

“I had heard about it myself back in April. However, since I wasn’t interested in setting someone up to fall like that to receive a reward, I didn’t want to participate at all,” said Yagami.

It was true that Yagami hadn’t done anything to me at all. If he had been interested in getting the bounty, then it wouldn’t have been surprising if we exchanged glances once or twice. However, Yagami never seemed to have even looked in my direction until recently.

“Why are you talking to me about this now?” I asked.

“I had recently heard that Housen-kun made a pre-emptive strike which ended in failure. And that his attempt was the cause of the wound on your left hand, Ayanokouji-senpai. I don’t find the idea of him doing something inhumane unbelievable at all, but it seems like what he actually ended up doing went far beyond what I could even imagine,” said Yagami.

“Well, I’m not going to deny that,” I replied.

Kushida’s gaze flickered back and forth between Yagami and me as she listened to our incomprehensible conversation, trying to make sense of what she was hearing. At the rate things were going, Yagami was likely going to spell everything out loud anyway.

“There is also…one more reason why I decided to talk to you, senpai,” said Yagami.

However, Yagami didn’t get into telling me about that one other reason right away.

“I had intended to simply stay on the sidelines as a bystander, for the sake of protecting the first-year students. However, if I leave things as they are, then Ayanokouji-senpai will… Well, I had determined that, depending on how this situation played out, there was a possibility that the damage could even extend to your classmates, Kushida-senpai. That’s why I had asked Kushida-senpai to set up this meeting so that I could tell you everything that I know,” said Yagami.

Kushida, who had been listening to the conversation, raised her left hand apologetically, hoping to find out what was going on.

“Um, I’m sorry, but I really don’t understand what you’re talking about…” said Kushida, sheepishly.

“Would it be all right if I continued?” asked Yagami, turning to me.

“I don’t have any right to stop you,” I replied.

It seemed that Yagami had Kushida sit with us during this meeting because he was worried about her. Even if I told Yagami no, that it wouldn’t be okay for him to talk about this here, if he ended up talking with Kushida later about it, without my knowledge, it wouldn’t make a difference.

“In that case, I’ll explain everything, starting from the beginning, so that you can understand the full story. It started with a call from the Student Council President Nagumo. We were instructed to choose one or two representatives from each class and to gather in the student council office in secret. In truth, it wasn’t long after we had started school that we had been called in,” said Yagami.

The key words “student council” stuck out in Yagami’s story.

“The first-year students who had gathered there included Takahashi Osamu-kun and Ishigami Kyou-kun from Class A, me from Class B, Utomiya Riku-kun from Class C, and finally, Housen Kazuomi-kun and Nanase Tsubasa-san from Class D. A total of six people participated,” said Yagami.

If that was true, then what he said was valuable information. It wasn’t mere coincidence that those two people from Class 1-C came up and talked to me then. However, what concerned me most of all was that Amasawa’s name wasn’t on the list.

“The special exam that we were given was to get the second-year student Ayanokouji-senpai expelled,” said Yagami.

“Huh?! Getting Ayanokouji-kun expelled?!” exclaimed Kushida, surprised, but still speaking in a quiet voice.

Yagami nodded and then continued speaking. As far as I could tell, Kushida wasn’t acting suspicious or in any way that indicated she knew about this beforehand. She didn’t seem to know anything.

“We were told to get it done by the start of the second semester at the latest, by any means necessary. We were also warned to not let anyone aside from the six of us find out about the contents of this special exam. Since Utomiya-kun and I were representing our classes alone though, we were each allowed to choose one classmate from our respective classes to talk to, to make things fair, but I still hadn’t talked to anyone. There is still a possibility that Utomiya-kun may have talked to someone, though,” said Yagami.

Meaning that at this point in time, six or seven of the first-year students were aware of this particular special exam.

“It was Nagumo-senpai, the student council president, who told the six of us that he would pay out twenty million points to the student who got Ayanokouji-senpai expelled,” added Yagami.

“Th-that’s an incredible number of points… H-how could the school approve something like that?” exclaimed Kushida.

Well, I supposed that anyone would have been shocked to have heard about this exam. The question of how much I could actually trust Yagami was something that was going to bother me for a while yet, but for the time being, it didn’t seem like he’s lying. On the other hand, if he was lying and those lies were exposed later, then the relationship that Yagami and I would turn sour. If the second-year D class were disadvantaged in some way, Kushida would probably be harmed as well.

“It’s perfectly understandable why you’d be so surprised to hear this, Kushida-senpai. We didn’t know much about this school ourselves back in April, but now we know much better. We understand that this special exam is certainly highly unusual. It was only because I had been able to make that determination that I had asked you to help me arrange this meeting,” said Yagami.

After he had gotten through that much of his explanation, Yagami brought his cup close to his mouth, looking like he was taking a moment to pause and catch his breath. Now that Kushida had come to learn about the connection between the twenty million points and getting me expelled, Kushida asked Yagami a question.

“Isn’t it kind of strange though, that the student council president would hold his own special exam…?” she asked.

“Yes, I suppose so. Well, I think it’s better to say that it’s a matter of how I expressed the idea that is causing the confusion here. Although this has been called a ‘special exam’ for simplicity’s sake, when you get down to it, I think it might be easier to think of this as a sort of challenge issued by Student Council President Nagumo to the first-year students,” said Yagami.

There was a chance that Nagumo was involved in this matter. Horikita had the job of exploring that possibility. However, just when I thought that Nagumo himself wouldn’t reveal his involvement so easily, the truth came out from an unexpected party, Yagami.

“Wh-why Ayanokouji-kun, though? Are there any other students that are being targeted like he is?” asked Kushida.

“Just Ayanokouji-senpai, as far as I have heard. As for the question of why him, I don’t think there’s any significant reason for it. President Nagumo said that he chose randomly from the second-year students. Which means that he simply drew one person out of 157 names,” said Yagami.

I supposed that Yagami wouldn’t have a way of understanding the full story as he didn’t know about Nagumo’s background. He didn’t seem to even doubt the idea that I had been randomly selected. Of course, it wasn’t like there was a zero percent chance that Nagumo had gone through the trouble of setting up some kind of lottery system and I had just been chosen by completely chance, but given the circumstances, I didn’t think that was likely.

I had to wonder if Nagumo would go through the trouble of preparing twenty million points to deal with me. From what I had seen of him through now, I couldn’t imagine that he was the type of guy to go that far. Well, no, to be more precise, I’m sure that he would do anything if he decided he’d do it, but I wasn’t sure that his opinion of me was high enough to warrant it.

“Assuming that this is a special exam initiated by the student council president personally, how could he have gotten the twenty million points?” I asked, prodding Yagami a little to find out what hidden possibilities could still be in store.

“Yes, that’s a good question. I’m sorry to say this, but couldn’t this all be a lie or a joke? I can’t believe that he would put up twenty million points for such a puzzling exam,” said Kushida, incredulous.

I had expected her to react that way. Twenty million points was just far too large a sum. If the student council president suddenly told you that he was going to pay out such a high amount, anyone would normally be suspicious.

“It certainly is a hefty sum, for sure. I can see now how difficult it would be to accumulate that many Private Points. But at that time, we first-year students had only just started here, and with him being a third-year student, student council president, and someone from Class A, we naturally trusted him more than any regular student. More importantly though, I suppose we naively thought that of course he would have that many points,” said Yagami.

Although the amount of points the students got this year was lower than what we started with last year, the new students still all received 80,000 points upon entering the school. And that amount was deposited into their accounts every month. The dormitory was clean and well-equipped, and the Keyaki Mall was almost exclusively for the students’ use. There was a wide variety of stores. For students coming here, it was like being tossed into a dream world. We had experienced firsthand the sensation of losing our idea of what money was worth ourselves, after first coming here last year.

“And the truth of the matter is, I had confirmed with my own eyes that he does have the twenty million points,” said Yagami.

It wasn’t strange at all that a man like Nagumo would have amassed such a vast sum.

“But didn’t you find the idea of participating in a special that wasn’t sanctioned by the school to be a little, well, uncomfortable?” asked Kushida.

“Putting aside the unpleasant nature of the assignment itself, no one really felt uncomfortable about the whole thing. I think that all the students aside from me were very open to it. They said that it was a legitimate special exam,” said Yagami.

“I’ve never heard of the student council president issuing a special exam, though,” said Kushida.

“Well, it wasn’t because he trusted President Nagumo that we accepted the idea of the exam, though,” said Yagami.

“Huh…?” replied Kushida.

“When the student council president told us about the exam, the Acting Director was present, as a witness,” said Yagami.

And so, Tsukishiro, the person who had suspected was most likely to have been involved in this matter, had now come into play. The fact that Tsukishiro and Nagumo were working together and behind the twenty million points being put up had now been confirmed.

“In a situation like that, it would be entirely reasonable to accept what was said as a special exam without question, don’t you think?” said Yagami.

“Yes, if the Acting Director was there… Yes, you’re absolutely right,” said Kushida.

A special exam to get a student expelled. Some students would find that idea outrageous and suspect something was up after hearing something like that. However, the fact that the Acting Director was present had drowned out those suspicions.

“That is all the information I have on the matter,” said Yagami.

“Although I’m grateful that you told me all of this, you might have brought some danger on yourself by telling me,” I told him.

This was immensely helpful advice for me, but there wasn’t any benefit for Yagami.

“Will you be all right, Yagami-kun? If the fact you told us about this happened to get out, then…” said Kushida, trailing off.

“I’ll be all right, Kushida-senpai. I didn’t hear anything about any sort of penalty for telling other people about it,” said Yagami, flashing a smile, ignoring the concerns.

“Besides, I’m already prepared for the hate that I’ll be getting from the other first-years. We were destined to clash with each other sooner or later anyway,” he added.

It seemed like he was fully prepared to meet the challenge, from the sound of it. Yagami Takuya of Class 1-B was most likely, fundamentally speaking, the type of person who adopted a nonaggressive defense policy. However, he might also make a pre-emptive strike out based on the principle of self-defense if the situation called for it. However, the extent to which Yagami was able to see the situation was unclear.

In a corner of the café, among the many students there, a female student occasionally glanced over in my direction repeatedly. She was seated directly behind Yagami, so he probably hadn’t noticed her there. It was Tsubaki Sakurako, from Class 1-C. Not too long after we started our conversation, she showed up at the café and positioned herself perfectly amongst the crowd, observing us from her seat. She had her cell phone in her hand and appeared to be talking to someone.

Was she after me…? Or perhaps her intention was to monitor Yagami, who had been casually chatting with me, at length? In any case, Tsubaki now knew that Yagami and I had been in contact. Whether this was coincidence or an inevitability, this was not a desirable situation for Yagami. In the relatively small confines of this campus, it was difficult to avoid being watched, no matter what you did. Even if a student couldn’t track a person on their own, they could cover a large area if their entire class were working together. This was also proof that the first-year students were engaged in their own battles.

“Please be careful, Ayanokouji-senpai. It’s quite possible that there are other students who, like me, broke the rules by telling their friends about this special exam,” said Yagami.

“Okay, with that in mind, who do you think I should watch out for then, Yagami?” I asked.

“Let’s see. I suppose that if you really think about it, Housen-kun from Class 1-D is definitely someone you should be wary of. An opponent who completely disregards the rules when he comes after you can be quite troubling,” said Yagami.

So, it sounded like Housen was perceived to be a dangerous person, even among the first-year students after all.

“However, if I had to name just one person to watch out for, then—”

Yagami was just about to say someone’s name, but he seemed hesitant to finish his sentence.

“No, I think I’ll stop here, actually,” said Yagami.

“Huh? Why? I’m kind of curious,” said Kushida.

Yagami let out a slight chuckle, and then responded.

“I feel like this isn’t something I should talk about with you or the other students in your grade. If I mention the name of the name of the person that I’m wary of, then you’ll naturally take notice of that person, right? I think that it is important, but I don’t think it’s fair. I am sorry that I had said that about Housen-kun earlier though,” said Yagami.

It was true that Kushida and I would be wary if we were told that someone in one of the classes was a danger. We could also warn our class about whoever it was and prepare.

“Also, I’m not entirely sure yet still. I only have something of a hunch that this person is dangerous,” admitted Yagami.

Yagami seemed to think that even rivals should fight fairly.

“I’ll look into the matter during the next special exam, for the time being. If I find that this person really is a danger, then I will tell you about it then, Ayanokouji-senpai,” said Yagami, promising to warn me after he confirmed the facts with his own two eyes.

“Please take care, Yagami-kun,” said Kushida.

“Yes, I will. Oh, and also… I don’t mind if it’s after the uninhabited island exam is over, but I would like to make some time to meet with you again, Kushida-senpai, just the two of us. There is something that I have to talk to you about,” said Yagami.

“O-okay. Sure. What about, though…?” said Kushida.

Kushida had pretended like she didn’t know what was going on by responding like that, but even someone like me, who was a bit slow on the uptake when it came to these kinds of things guessed that there was something. The way that Yagami looked at Kushida was different from how a student would normally look at an older student.

“In any case, the information you gave was very helpful, Yagami. I appreciate it,” I told him.

“It’s all right. I felt like it was it was ridiculous for you to be the only one at a disadvantage, Ayanokouji-senpai,” said Yagami.

“I’d like to say thank you too, Yagami-kun. Really, you’ve been a major help,” said Kushida.

“Just hearing you say that is reward enough for me. If Ayanokouji-senpai were to be expelled, it would inevitably cause your class to suffer a great deal of damage. And I really do want you to graduate from Class A too, Kushida-senpai,” said Yagami.

There weren’t many first-year students that I had spent a long time talking to like this. Out of all of them, Yagami seemed to be an exceptionally ordinary honors student, and nothing more. I had always been on my guard as I had interacted with various students, thinking that someone might be the White Room agent, but so far, he seemed to the least unnatural first-year student with which I had interacted.

He hadn’t really done anything in particular to me so far. Far from it. He has been quite generous in giving me helpful information. Of course, that didn’t mean he was innocent. I wasn’t going to rule him out, but if Yagami was the White Room agent, then I felt like he was an opponent that I really didn’t want to deal with. I did have my doubts that someone raised in that facility could become so natural in such a brief period of time. Anyway, for the time being, I’d just make the most of the information that Yagami had graciously given to me.

“It looks like there are even more people here now. I’ve finished my piece, so if it’s all right with you, I’ll be going on ahead now. Please excuse me,” said Yagami.

“Do you have something else going on?” asked Kushida.

“Oh no, I just want to avoid letting the other kids from my grade see me,” said Yagami.

Though it was too late now, it was still the right idea. I thanked him once again, and then Yagami made his exit. After he left, I stayed behind with Kushida.

“Seems like you’ve got yourself a good kouhai there, Kushida,” I remarked.

“Yeah. He’s almost too good for me, really… But this really isn’t the sort of development I was hoping for,” said Kushida, tracing the rim of her cup with her index finger.

I didn’t say anything aloud, but I already knew what Kushida was thinking about without really having to give it any thought. If Yagami had attended the same junior high that she went to, there was a possibility that he had known about her past.

“Yagami-kun knows,” said Kushida.

Kushida simply came out and told me the answer to the question that I was curious about.

“Is that okay? For you to just come out and tell me that, I mean,” I replied.

“Even if he didn’t know, it wouldn’t make a difference,” said Kushida.

“Meaning—” I replied, before getting cut off.

“It means that I’ll have to make him disappear as soon as possible,” said Kushida.

When Kushida muttered those words, looking at me as she spoke, I saw that there was a kind of intense determination in her eyes. Yagami clearly seemed to adore Kushida, but despite that, she still viewed him as an enemy? It seemed like Kushida would never, ever look favorably upon anyone who knew about her past.

“It’ll be harder to eliminate an underclassman compared to Horikita or me,” I told her.

“I suppose that all depends on how you go about it,” replied Kushida.

Judging from the way she said that, it sounded as though she already had a plan in mind.

“It’s the people who think that they’re so good, those who are so boastful of their excellence, who are the ones who get done in so easily. You and Horikita-san are no exception, Ayanokouji-kun,” said Kushida.

“I thought we had agreed to a truce?” I replied.

“For now,” said Kushida.

I hadn’t really been planning to let my guard down to begin with, but Kushida seemed like she was especially motivated.

“At the moment I’ve been on something of a losing streak right though, so I’m going to just sit quietly. For now,” said Kushida, pushing her chair back, showing me that she was ready to leave.

“See you later, Ayanokouji-kun.”

“Yeah.”

Since there was no reason for me to stop her, I simply watched Kushida go. What I had just learned now was that Kushida was working on some kind of strategy from behind the scenes.

5.4

A FTER PARTING WAYS with Yagami and Kushida, I headed over to the convenience store since I thought that I’d bring a little something with me for Keisei and the others when we met up. I also wanted to give the person who had been following me a at a safe distance a chance to make contact. I decided to buy some random snacks and several drinks.

“Um…” said a voice.

It was long and drawn-out. Just as I was about to pay for my items, Tsubaki from Class 1-C approached me from behind. I saw that she was holding some kind of lollipop in her hand, probably meant as some slapdash way of appearing like she had simply come into the store to buy something.

“Oh, Tsubaki. You need something from me?” I asked, without mentioning the fact that she was at the café.

“I want to talk to you about something. Could you wait outside for me?” she asked.

Tsubaki, looking somewhat listless, went ahead and paid for her candy. It was truly that we couldn’t exactly have a conversation right at the register, so I decided to quietly wait outside the store. I had waited for a while, but there wasn’t any sign of her coming out. When I turned around though, I saw that Tsubaki was simply looking at me while holding onto her phone and talking with someone. Wow, that was a pretty bold thing for her to do, making someone wait for her like that.

“Sorry I made you wait,” said Tsubaki.

Tsubaki peeled the candy wrapper off with her delicate fingers as she started walking. She was headed in the direction of the dorms.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” I asked.

“There was something I wanted to tell you, Ayanokouji-senpai, the next time I saw you,” said Tsubaki.

Okay, so she had been thinking there was something she wanted to tell me. What, though? I thought she would’ve stared getting into it right away, but she just kept licking her lollipop, not saying anything. Rather than being interested in me, it seemed like she was just paying attention to what was in front of her.

“Is it about Utomiya?” I asked.

When I said the name of the student I could think of just then, Tsubaki stopped licking her candy.

“Seems like I was right,” I added.

“He said that he’d be right over,” said Tsubaki.

So, the person she had been speaking to on the phone back in the café was her classmate Utomiya after all, huh? A brief time after Tsubaki had called him, Utomiya came walking this way. Utomiya gave a gentle nod as he met up with us.

“Sorry for calling you out to talk like this,” said Utomiya.

“What in the world is this about?” I asked.

Was this about Yagami? Or was this perhaps about the special exam I’ve heard about?

“It’s about Housen Kazuomi,” said Utomiya.

What came out of his mouth though was the name of a student that I hadn’t been expecting.

“Ayanokouji-senpai, you had partnered up with Housen during the special exam in April, right?” said Utomiya.

Back then, Tsubaki had been looking for a second-year student to partner up with. Utomiya had approached me to ask if I could partner up with her, but I had turned them down.

“I never imagined that your prior engagement was Housen,” said Utomiya.

“Is it that surprising?” I asked.

“I’m sure that you’re already well aware that Class D doesn’t cooperate with others that easily. Even in this uninhabited island survival exam we have now, they’ve been entirely uncooperative, even up until the last minute,” said Utomiya.

Housen should already know that there’s no advantage in being isolated. Housen seemed like he was going to keep acting bullheadedly without backing down.

“And?” I asked.

“We want to catch him off guard and hit him with a surprise attack in this exam,” said Utomiya.

His previously polite tone had become more aggressive, and his lips tightened.

“However, we don’t understand what the exam is going to be about. And the rules aren’t very clear either,” I replied.

“Well… Yes, it’s certainly true that there’s no guarantee that we can lay any traps for the other groups or anything. But as long as the fact we’re competing with one another is a definite, I’m sure that something along those lines is going to be involved,” said Utomiya.

That interpretation of the situation was most definitely correct. The idea that groups would be fighting against other groups was a given.

“Housen doesn’t have that many Private Points right now. Meaning, if he were to be eliminated during this exam, even considering the lighter penalties that first-year students get, Housen won’t be able to pay up,” said Utomiya.

In which case, Housen Kazuomi would unavoidably be expelled from Class 1-D.

“Are you saying that you want to get him expelled?” I asked.

“You bet your… I mean, yes, I do,” said Utomiya.

Although he kept dropping his more polite tone and his word choices got more casual throughout our conversation, he answered without hesitation.

“Can I start by asking why?” I asked.

“A boy from Class 1-C got expelled. His name was Hatano. I’m guessing that Housen had something to do with it,” said Utomiya.

I supposed if he was willing to throw out a name, then that meant he had collected a fair number of clues.

“So, this is payback then?” I asked.

“I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t hold a grudge, of course. But the important thing is to make sure that no one else gets inadvertently expelled,” said Utomiya.

“Yeah. Thanks to that, we lost a hundred Class Points,” mumbled Tsubaki dryly, popping her candy back into her mouth.

“All right, I get the reason why, but what does this have to do with me?” I asked.

“Housen, fundamentally speaking, does not work together with anyone outside of his group. However, he worked with you, Ayanokouji-senpai,” said Utomiya.

So, he thought that by reaching out and contacting me, he might find some kind of weakness of Housen’s that he could exploit. Judging from Utomiya’s attitude, it seemed like he really did want to defeat Housen. Tsubaki didn’t seem to feel the same way, but I supposed that she was willing to cooperate with Utomiya. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have functioned as a go-between to connect me with Utomiya.

“Please help me,” said Utomiya.

“I can’t really just say yes to that when I don’t know what exactly we’re going to be evaluated on in this exam,” I replied.

“In that case, would you please at least consider the offer and keep it in mind? If you do help us to eliminate Housen at an early stage of the test and manage to get him expelled, then… When that happens, we will pay you reward you handsomely,” said Utomiya.

He seemed to be offering to buy my services, but there more than a few things about this that I found difficult to swallow.

“Didn’t you consider the possibility that maybe I’m on Housen’s side? We might even have a decent relationship, considering that we were partners before. Didn’t you think that there could have been a risk in telling me what you just did?” I asked.

In any case, he was divulging way too much information, without trying to protect himself at all.

“Well, that’s—” said Utomiya, before suddenly stopping.

Utomiya then directed his attention over to Tsubaki for the first time during the course of our conversation. I followed suit, looking over in her direction as well. Her lollipop was starting to get smaller, and Tsubaki looked somewhat forlorn. Perhaps she hadn’t realized that she had attracted the attention of both of us, but she just stared at her candy. Not too long afterward though, she opened her mouth to speak.

“Didn’t you get the injury on your left hand during your altercation with Housen-kun though?” she remarked, proceeding to lick her candy again with the tip of her tongue.

“What makes you think that?” I asked.

“Because we were after the twenty-million-point reward, too,” she replied, openly admitting to it without seeming to feel any guilt over it.

“I see. So, you were taking part in that special exam too then? I’m guessing that means when you approached me before, you were pretending to look for a partner?” I asked.

Even though Yagami had already given me information about their involvement, I pretended that I didn’t know they had taken part. On the other hand, though, Tsubaki didn’t mention anything at all about the fact that I had been in contact with Yagami.

“Yep, exactly,” she answered.

“But even if I had partnered up with Tsubaki back then, there wasn’t anything you could have done to have forced me to be expelled, right?” I asked.

While it was true that they could have gotten me expelled if Tsubaki had given up on the exam herself, that would’ve meant she would’ve been expelled, too.

“Probably can’t answer that,” said Tsubaki.

Up until this point, I had thought that out of the two of them, Utomiya had been the brains of the operation. However, judging from how things looked now, I could see something that suggested that wasn’t the case.

“I do apologize for that. However, we’re no longer participating in that exam,” said Utomiya.

“Why?” I asked.

“Even if we were able to get you expelled, Ayanokouji-senpai, word about it would spread throughout the school in the blink of an eye. And it would obviously make us and Class 2-D enemies then. It’s only natural that your classmates would resent us for having pushed you out of the school,” said Utomiya.

He was essentially saying that he had realized that fact now, precisely because his own ally was expelled due to Housen’s actions.

“Okay then, in that case, wouldn’t it be the same thing if you got Housen expelled?” I asked.

“I don’t believe so. Housen’s own class is afraid of him. In fact, I believe that many of his own classmates would rather see him gone,” said Utomiya.

If you weren’t worried about people holding a grudge against you, you could do whatever you wanted without hesitation, I supposed.

“Anyway, please keep my offer in mind. All we want is to defeat Housen,” said Utomiya.

After he had reiterated that part specifically, Utomiya and Tsubaki left, heading towards the first-year students’ dormitory. These students from Class 1-C didn’t let me on to what they were thinking, neither this time they had reached out to me nor the last time. Even so, the question of their relevance to the White Room agent was still unclear. For the time being, I would stay on my guard, and keep in mind what they had told me about Housen.

5.5

H ORIKITA HAD JOINED the student council, but even after officially becoming a member, I wasn’t getting any new information. Personal opinions about Nagumo aside, it seemed like the student council operated smoothly. Things got set in motion over the weekend, when we were about to finish with task of forming groups after the first week. I had gotten a call from Vice President Kiriyama. That was how this got started.

Kiriyama had originally supported the previous student council president, Horikita Manabu, who had graduated last year. He had intended to stop Nagumo from running amok. But in the end, time had passed without the situation taking a turn for the better. Perhaps Kiriyama had given up too. At least that’s what I had thought, but then he came up and said he wanted to meet with me personally, setting up an appointment.

Still, what in the world was he thinking, calling me out to talk in broad daylight after class on a weekday? If he wanted to keep this meeting a secret from Nagumo, he could have chosen to meet late at night or early in the morning. That wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary. If he had been planning to act with caution, then he should have done that. I didn’t bother to point that out to him though. I just agreed to his request.

After class, I went over to Keyaki Mall to meet up with Kiriyama.

“So, you came,” said Kiriyama.

“What on Earth does the Vice President want with me?” I asked.

“Don’t be in such a hurry to wrap this up. I’m going to ask you to stick around for a little while today,” said Kiriyama, urging me to walk with him.

I proceeded to walk alongside him.

“The large-scale uninhabited island survival special exam is going to start at the end of this month. Are you prepared for it?” he asked.

I was expecting him to talk about the student council, but what he brought up instead was the special exam.

“I just intend to do what I can. What about you, Vice President Kiriyama?” I asked.

“I’ve formed a group of three people, representing the three classes other than A,” he replied.

In other words, he was trying to avoid a tough battle to shorten the gap between Class A and the rest. In the case of the third-year students, the gap in Class Points between Class A and the rest was even greater than what it was like in our grade. If the lower-level classes wanted to hold onto the possibility of turning the tables on Class A, it was necessary for them to snag the top spots in this exam with groups made up of their own respective classes.

“I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that if we, that is to say, third-year Class B, were going to make a comeback, we would absolutely need to take first place in this exam with a group made up students from our own class and only our own class. And that the only way we’ll be able to make a win possible is if we continue to win the special exams that follow by an overwhelming margin. But that’s just far too unrealistic,” said Kiriyama.

I supposed that if miracles could happen so easily, then he wouldn’t have been put into this predicament in this first place.

“I’m hoping to use this particular special exam to stage a personal battle with Nagumo,” said Kiriyama.

“A personal battle?” I repeated.

“It has been quite a while since we had lost our battle with Nagumo and were demoted down to Class B. And now he’s the student council president and has control of not just our entire grade, but of the entire school. It’s safe to say that things have already been settled as a class,” said Kiriyama.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. I think so, too,” I replied.

The majority of the third-year students were following Nagumo now simply because they had given up on trying to get to Class A.

“But speaking personally, I don’t think that I’m inferior to Nagumo,” said Kiriyama.

The third-year Class B student known as Kiriyama did have high scores in OAA. He had scores of B+ or better all around, and no apparent deficiencies. It was no wonder that he’d be so confident in himself. However, Nagumo Miyabi was even better in terms of overall ability. You could say that Nagumo’s cocksure attitude was actually commensurate with his abilities.

But it was also true that OAA wasn’t everything. There were some students who didn’t demonstrate their full potential, and there were other students who had unique talents, like quick-wittedness or insight, which are difficult to express as numerical values and thus are not reflected in OAA. If Kiriyama personally believed that he can beat Nagumo though, then he must have some chance of success.

“You can form groups of up to a maximum of six people, regardless of class. And in order to win, you need an eye for talented people that you need on your team, as well as the ability to actually bring them onto your team—In that respect, I don’t think I’ll lose to Nagumo,” said Kiriyama.

This was a special exam that had two distinct aspects. While you could also compete with other grade levels, you could also use this test as a way to fight people within your own grade. It seemed that this island survival exam was one of the few remaining chances that Kiriyama had left.

“I understand where you’re going with all this, but this really isn’t something that you specifically needed to report to me about, is it?” I asked.

I couldn’t imagine that there was any benefit for him in telling me all of this.

“I don’t want you to get in the way,” he replied.

“I’m not interested in your fight with the Student Council President,” I answered.

“I understand that. What I’m trying to say is, I don’t want any outsiders to do something that would hamper me.”

“Outsiders?”

“I’m talking about Horikita Suzune. The person who just joined the student council,” said Kiriyama.

“I see. It seems like you’re seeing her as a hindrance, but just for your information, I sent her to join the student council based on the wishes of her older brother, the former Student Council President,” I answered.

Maybe that no longer mattered in Kiriyama’s mind anymore. Still, I decided to point that outright though, just to make sure.

“It’s meaningless now. He only has a few months remaining as President, anyway. If there’s anything that I can do from this point onward, it’s not trying to remove him from his position, it’s just to trying to settle the score, as individuals,” said Kiriyama.

“Well, if that’s what you want, Vice President Kiriyama, then why not just go ahead and do it?” I asked.

It wasn’t odd at all for him to want to settle things properly, as individuals. The only question here was what this all had to do with me.

“The reason why you had Horikita-senpai’s little sister to join the council was to keep an eye on Nagumo, right?” he asked.

“I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t part of it at all, but the main reason for it was something else entirely. Just as Horikita herself said in front of President Nagumo before, it’s so she could follow the same path that her older brother took,” I replied.

“In that case, she’s not going to try and get in Nagumo’s way?” he asked.

“As long as Horikita doesn’t think that Nagumo is an obstacle, no,” I replied.

“That’s not good enough. I want her to abandon any and all thoughts of trying to deal with Nagumo. Anything more will only lead to unnecessary conflict,” said Kiriyama.

So, he was basically taking back what he said to me before and asking that things go back to how they were. Originally, I couldn’t have cared less. But now, I just had a desire to see what Nagumo was going to do up close. If Horikita determined that what Nagumo was doing was wrong, she would most likely stand up to him. But it was a bit odd that Kiriyama was telling me not to let her do that, saying that it would be meaningless.

I listened to his warning and thought I’d give him a vague response just to keep things moving.

“I’ll keep what you said in mind, Vice President Kiriyama,” I replied.

Perhaps Kiriyama didn’t like hearing such a non-committal answer because there were signs of disapproval in his eyes.

“I meant that as a polite, indirect way of saying, ‘Don’t do anything,’” said Kiriyama.

“I thought I was responding in a roundabout way too, saying that I understood what you meant,” I replied.

“In that case, you’re swearing to me right here and now that you are not going to do anything. Can I interpret what you said as such?” he asked.

“You can interpret what I said however you like, but I’m not saying anything,” I answered.

As this pointless back-and-forth continued, the typically calm, collected Kiriyama now started to raise his tone a bit in anger.

“Nagumo had known, more or less, that I had been working with Horikita-senpai. But because I’ve been Nagumo’s yes-man and doing everything he asks, he’s just been keeping a low profile, quietly watching. Even something as simple as Horikita-senpai’s little sister joining the council could be troublesome. And if she were to do something unnecessary—”

“Then it would put you in danger, Vice President Kiriyama?” I asked, finishing his sentence for him.

“…Yes, that’s right.”

So, that was the reason he had specifically called me up and giving me this stern warning. On the face of it, what he was doing out of concern for us. But in reality, it seemed to be coming more from a place of self-preservation. Of course, I wasn’t saying that was a bad thing. I had no intention of voicing any complaints about the relationship between Nagumo and Kiriyama, a relationship in which a winner and a loser had already been decided.

“Do you want that chance for anyone to graduate from Class A? What Nagumo had proposed?” I asked.

“I…” he stammered.

The former student council president, Horikita Manabu, held onto a policy based on the premise that students would win as an entire class. Well, no, that was actually the school’s policy as a whole, until just this year. Going with that policy though makes it impossible to win against the third-year Class A, led by Nagumo. In truth, it was basically as though it had already been decided that Kiriyama would be graduating from Class B.

However, if he followed Nagumo and won based on his own personal strengths, then this situation might change. If Kiriyama was an exceptionally talented individual, then there was a possibility that he could rise to Class A. He said that he wanted to have a personal battle with Nagumo on the island, but in the end, he just wants to get to the top so that he can collect Private Points. He was just using this whole thing as a pretext so that Horikita and I wouldn’t get in his way. That was all. In fact, he probably wasn’t planning to do anything like throwing down the gauntlet at Nagumo’s feet and issuing him a challenge.

“Is it so strange…to want to graduate from a Class?” he asked.

There was nothing strange about it. Kiriyama continued speaking. I supposed he was saying this for the sake of protecting his own pride.

“What is the point of even coming to this school if you’re going to graduate from a class other than A? I don’t want to end up like those who had the talent but gave up the fight. I don’t want to go down that road. And I absolutely do not want to go down with the rest of the incompetent losers and freaks in Class B,” said Kiriyama.

I wondered if Manabu would have been disappointed if he heard what Kiriyama was saying right now. Or would Manabu simply say that he had already known that Kiriyama had this weak side all along, from the beginning?

“At any rate, I think you understand what I’m trying to get at,” said Kiriyama.

“Yes, I do, very well. I also understand why only you were present aside from Nagumo, Vice President, when Horikita had joined the student council, while the other student council members were introduced to her later,” I replied.

He had been worried that I or Horikita might have said something unnecessary.

“You can say anything you—”

“Kiriyama.”

While we were in the midst of our conversation, a voice called to Vice President Kiriyama from nearby. Although Kiriyama’s name was called specifically, he didn’t seem to react to it right away.

“Kiriyama. Don’t you hear me?” said the voice, slightly louder than before.

“Ugh, speak of the devil…” muttered Kiriyama in a faint voice before turning to who had been calling him, somewhat begrudgingly.

What I looked myself, I saw that there was a female third-year student sitting down on the bench. She seemed to be relaxing, sitting with back against the bench, legs crossed, and arms outstretched. I compared the face of the person I saw there against the records in OAA, to see what her name and abilities were. So, looks like this was…Kiryuuin, from third-year Class B.

“What do you want?” asked Kiriyama.

They were supposed to be classmates, but Kiriyama’s disgruntled look on his face wasn’t changing when he turned towards her. These two didn’t seem to be very compatible, from the looks of things.

“Fu fu. Well, it just looks like you’re together with an interesting kouhai, so I thought I’d say hello,” said Kiryuuin, directing her gaze over at me.

“Your name’s Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, right? I’ve heard that you’ve become a bit of a celebrity after you got a perfect score on that tough math test,” she added.

Before I could respond to her though, Kiriyama butted in, speaking in a raised tone.

“This has nothing to do with you, Kiryuuin,” snapped Kiriyama.

He started to walk away, seemingly trying to put some distance between us and Kiryuuin.

“What are you doing, Ayanokouji? Let’s go,” he said, calling out to me when he noticed that I wasn’t moving.

“You know, you’re not going to get anything from spending time with a guy like him,” said Kiryuuin.

It was like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. With the rock and a hard place being two third-year students. Which side was the correct one to listen to? Well, to be completely honest, I didn’t want to listen to either of them…

“It’s far more meaningful for him to spend time with me rather than you,” said Kiriyama.

“That’s for Ayanokouji to decide, isn’t it? Kiriyama, won’t you please just hurry up and get out of here?” she replied with a scornful chuckle, as she still sat comfortably.

“Why don’t you and I have a more meaningful conversation? Just the two of us,” she added, turning to me.

“…Gr,” huffed Kiriyama, through clenched teeth.

Kiriyama seemed to dislike the fact that she was interrupting our conversation more so than the fact that she was teasing him.

“You can ignore that girl,” said Kiriyama, issuing me a warning, his tone aggressive.

“She’s a third-year student, though. Just like you, Vice President Kiriyama. So, I can’t do that.”

“…That’s Kiryuuin. She’s in Class B, same as me.”

“I saw in the OAA app. She’s a highly rated student, isn’t she?”

“In terms of grades, yes. But Kiryuuin doesn’t have anyone backing her up, like Nagumo does. She doesn’t even have a single real friend.”

Kiriyama was basically saying that there was nothing to worry about if we were to ignore her then.

“Hey now, don’t compliment me so much. You’re going to make me blush.”

Even though he certainly wasn’t complimenting her at all, Kiryuuin wore an audacious smile.

“If we were to compare her to somebody from your grade level, I’d say she’s like Kouenji. Whatever you say, whatever you do, it’s just a waste of time to try and engage with her,” said Kiriyama.

Well, that was a name that I never expected to be heard as a point of comparison for someone. Kouenji had a peculiar personality, the likes of which you could say was one-in-a-million, but here was someone else just like him. Anyway, she did certainly seem to have a unique personality too. My curiosity had been piqued, but at the same time, I felt like it would be better for me to not get involved.

I did notice, however, that Kiryuuin’s grades of academic ability and physical ability were both A+. She was the only student in our entire school, male or female, who had an A+ in both of those categories. Her societal contribution score wasn’t necessarily that low at a C+. Her sole flaw was her adaptability score, which was rated D. If you simply looked at the scores, then you could say she was the best in our school.

“What’s up? Aren’t you coming?” she asked.

“Are you talking to me?” I replied.

“If you don’t come with me, I’ll just go with you instead. But are you okay with that, Kiriyama?” asked Kiryuuin.

“…This is exactly why I’m cursed to be stuck in Class B, because of people like you,” said Kiriyama in a low voice.

“With exceptional classmates like her though, aren’t you able to resist President Nagumo?” I asked.

“I just told you that she’s exactly like Kouenji, didn’t I? As a human being, she’s a lost cause. She has not contributed to the class in the past three years in any way, other than focusing on her own performance. She’s always only ever acted alone. She’s like some foreign contamination in our class who just selfishly butts in when she wants to,” said Kiriyama.

It was certainly true that looking solely at OAA, she had maintained an outstanding record. But I had never once heard her name from a third-party before. If she were someone that Nagumo or the recently graduated Horikita Manabu had been keeping an eye on, it wouldn’t have been surprising if I had heard about her from them.

“Aw, thank you for the compliments, Kiriyama,” said Kiryuuin, whispering directly into Kiriyama’s ear.

“Ack?!”

Now that she had gotten up from the bench and was standing, I saw that she was unexpectedly tall. I think she was over 170 centimeters tall. Her extreme athleticism was also evident from her graceful, well-built body. Icouldn’t believe that there was a third-year student who gave off this sort of impression. It reminded me of something that Kiriyama had said in our conversation earlier. Something about how he was not wanting to go down with the rest of Class B, which was full of incompetent losers and freaks. I supposed that Kiryuuin was one of those freaks that he had referred to earlier.

“If you’ve got something to say, come out and say it,” snapped Kiriyama.

“I intend to, of course. But you’re in the way, Kiriyama,” said Kiryuuin.

“…Fine, do whatever you want. I’m leaving,” he replied in a huff.

It seemed like he had no intention of being around Kiryuuin, so Kiriyama decided to make his exit.

“Don’t forget what I was just telling you, Ayanokouji. Depending on how this plays out, I might become your enemy too,” said Kiriyama.

I received some friendly words of advice from the Vice President. Normally, I would have been leaving at this point myself, but this other person, Kiryuuin, was also from third-year Class B.

“Let’s not stand while we have our little chat. Why not sit down?” said Kiryuuin, urging me to take a seat on the bench.

“Sure…” I replied.

I was hoping that I could be let go from here as soon as possible.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” I asked.

“Anything. If I can find out what kind of person you are, then that’s plenty” said Kiryuuin.

“Find out what kind of person I am? Vice President Kiriyama said that you didn’t really contribute to your class though, Kiryuuin-senpai. Doesn’t that mean that you’re not interested in what your classmates are like?” I asked.

“Being interested and cooperating are completely separate things, aren’t they? There are some interesting people among my classmates, and sometimes I want to have a friendly conversation with someone, like what we’re doing right now,” said Kiryuuin.

I see. That’s certainly true, I supposed.

“I’m not interested in the system here at this school of trying to reach Class A. It seems like the biggest selling point of it all is that if you graduate from Class A, you can go on to higher education anywhere you like or get a job anywhere, but I’m convinced that I can already down that with my own abilities anyway. I chose to go to this school on a simple whim,” said Kiryuuin.

Judging from what she was saying, she certainly did give off a similar impression to Kouenji. She had absolute, overwhelming confidence in herself. And she did receive an A+ in academic ability and physical ability, which supported that confidence.

“Would you have not chosen to come here, if you had known beforehand that this school’s curriculum is designed around the assumption that you’d cooperate with other students?” I asked.

“No, I wouldn’t say that. I like this school. In fact, I’ve never once felt dissatisfied about anything here, even once. The point system is also very pleasant,” said Kiryuuin.

Kouenji seemed to be enjoying himself fully too, so I’m guessing he must also like this school, as well. Students who could manage to do anything on their own after graduation didn’t need to cling to Class A.

“It seems like you don’t mind being disliked by other people,” I told her.

“Other people’s evaluations don’t mean anything to me,” she answered, boldly and confidently, followed by a strange smile.

“I had wanted to as you some questions, but it seems like you’re the one asking me all the questions,” she added.

Kiryuuin, as if she were switching from being on the defensive to going on the offensive, immediately went ahead and prompted me to speak.

“I think it’s about time you tell me about yourself , ” said Kiryuuin.

“Why me, though? There are lots of academically gifted students here,” I replied.

“A hunch. My intuition is telling me that this student who was passing by is no ordinary person,” said Kiryuuin.

So, she was asking because of her instincts, with no real basis for anything whatsoever. I had already thought she and Kouenji might be similar, but now they seemed like the same exact person.

“Are you planning to get first place on the uninhabited island survival exam?” she asked.

“There aren’t any students who don’t want to be first, are there? Except for people like you, Kiryuuin-senpai, I suppose,” I answered.

“Putting aside first place, I am one of the people shooting for one of the top spots. If I get a high score, I can get Private Points. I’m the type of person who spends whatever she has on hand, so I’m always short on money,” said Kiryuuin.

So, Class Points and Protection Points were secondary to her. In the end, it seemed like Kiryuuin was only participating in this exam to get Private Points.

“Nagumo and Kiriyama and the others are naturally hoping to get first. And I’m sure there are some quite competent underclassmen lined up as well, right? This upcoming special exam will be a battle to determine who gets first place in the school,” said Kiryuuin.

“It certainly might be, yes,” I replied.

The abilities needed in this exam weren’t limited strictly to academic ability or physical ability. If this was a battle of overall ability, then you could say that was exactly what you needed.

“Whether or not my interest in you fades will depend on what you do on the island,” said Kiryuuin.

“If I had to say anything in response to that, it’s that I’d rather that you lose interest in me, senpai,” I answered.

“I see. You say some intriguing things. I’m looking forward to fighting you, Ayanokouji,” said Kiryuuin.

And with that, Kiriyama waved me away like she was trying to shoo away some small animal, signaling that I should leave.

“If you’ll please excuse me,” I stated, before walking away.

Although I had a meeting with a rather bizarre third-year student just now, one thing was for certain. If I wanted to get one of the top spots in this upcoming exam, I was going to have to defeat Kiryuuin as well. And it looked as though she’d be just as troublesome as Nagumo and Kiriyama, or perhaps even more so.

5.6

E VEN AFTER Ayanokouji had left, Kiryuuin continued to stay put. Her daily routine was to simply relax and enjoy the day at her leisure, according to her own whims. In her line of sight, she saw a familiar head of blonde hair swaying about. Next to the owner of that blonde hair was Student Council Vice President Kiriyama, who had walked off just moments ago.

“Well, well, well! It looks the faithful dog has returned, and he’s brought his master with him,” said Kiryuuin.

“What…?” huffed Kiriyama.

“Well, if what I’ve said there is making you angry, it seems that it’s because you had interpreted it a certain way, Kiriyama. I don’t remember stating exactly who the faithful dog and master are between the two of you right here. I’m just saying this as a third-party, someone who doesn’t know your situation. Why do I say this? Because you’re the one who walked away earlier Kiriyama, and thus, you’re the only one who fits the description of a faithful dog,” she replied, as Kiriyama approached her with Nagumo standing beside him.

“What an irritating chick…” mumbled Kiriyama.

“That’s a rather unpleasant thing to say, Kiriyama. It certainly doesn’t sound like something a serious vice president should say,” replied Kiryuuin.

“Nagumo, engaging with her is a waste of time. You already know this quite well,” said Kiriyama.

“Yeah, I’m of the same opinion. Can the both of you please get out of my sight, immediately? This is just a waste of my precious time,” said Kiryuuin.

“Who do you think you are? First of all, you—”

Nagumo cut in, gently tapping Kiriyama on the shoulder to cut him off.

“Kiryuuin, please don’t wound my precious colleague like that,” said Nagumo.

Nagumo then forced Kiriyama to back off and he stood in front of Kiryuuin.

“Oh, a precious colleague, hm? I didn’t feel any kind of emotion from you when you said that, though,” said Kiryuuin.

“That’s just your imagination,” said Nagumo.

“Now then, I wonder what business the student council president has with me? I had thought we wouldn’t ever be speaking with one another again,” said Kiryuuin.

“I don’t want to stay around you for too long, if at all possible,” said Nagumo, aggressively taking a seat on the bench right next to Kiryuuin.

“You’re beautiful, but you’re utterly lacking in charm. I’m only interested in women with charm, after all,” added Nagumo, expressing that as the reason he didn’t want to stick around.

“I do have charm. It’s just that I haven’t found the right gentleman that can draw it out,” said Kiryuuin.

“If there’s a man out there who can bring out your charm, I’d like to see him,” said Nagumo.

“Me too. However, your tastes aside, why is it that I am not popular, hm?” asked Kiryuuin.

“It’s because a woman who is too capable and too talented is difficult to handle. Unfortunately, I can’t bring myself to like that kind of woman either,” said Nagumo.

“I see. Well, in that case, I suppose that I’ll never pass your standards. If the reason I haven’t gotten a boyfriend yet at my age is because I’m just too good, then yes, I guess that does make sense,” said Kiryuuin.

After enjoying a bit of meaningless conversation with Kiryuuin, Nagumo cut to the chase.

“I heard something from Kiriyama. I would have never imagined that you, who didn’t show any admiration for neither Horikita-senpai nor myself, would have been interested in in Ayanokouji. I was shocked when I heard about this,” said Nagumo.

“And that’s why you’ve come all the way over to talk to me? You must have a lot of free time on your hands, President,” said Kiryuuin.

“I’ve finished my administrative work. I have some extra time right now,” said Nagumo.

“It would appear that you’ve misunderstood something here. I’m not entirely indifferent to people, Nagumo. I make it a point to talk to people who rouse my interest at least once. You and Horikita Manabu had caught my interest before,” said Kiryuuin, gently stroking Nagumo’s bangs.

“It seems like you never slack off when it comes to taking excellent care of your hair. I can tell that you take better care of it than I, a woman, do mine. It’s no wonder you’re popular, President. Say, has your love life been fruitful over these past three years?” said Kiryuuin.

“You’ve never been with a man before. How would you know anything about love?” countered Nagumo.

“While it’s certainly true that I don’t have any experience in that arena, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, some could say that it actually makes me more valuable, don’t you agree?” said Kiryuuin.

“Seems like you still have absurd ideas, as always,” replied Nagumo.

Kiryuuin and Nagumo once again veered off into a bizarre tangent, but Nagumo proceeded to steer the conversation back towards the topic at hand.

“So, what did you think of Ayanokouji? Is he someone deserving of holding your attention?” asked Nagumo.

“I just paid him some lip service because he’s a cute underclassman. But that was all,” said Kiryuuin.

“That was all? Does that mean that you don’t feel impressed with him?” asked Nagumo.

“I’m putting that question on hold for the time being. We did have a brief face-to-face conversation, but I didn’t get a grasp on his true abilities. Though you could say that in itself is a type of skill, I suppose. Anyway, he is more entertaining to me than you, President, who I’ve lost interest in,” said Kiryuuin.

“You’re the only person in our grade level who can talk to me with that much sass,” said Nagumo.

Nagumo then drew in close, with his mouth near Kiryuuin’s ear, and lowered his voice to a whisper.

“If you think that you’re better than me, I’m more than happy to correct that vain idea you seem to have in your head. Understand?” he threatened quietly.

Nagumo issued her a challenge, effectively issuing a challenge for the upcoming special exam on the island.

“When you lose, what you lose is incalculable, President. It seems like you’re misunderstanding something here. But it’s not as though I’m underestimating you. I don’t have the outstanding leadership skills that you and Horikita Manabu possess, nor do I have any talent for making friends. In fact, I’ve never even had anyone that I could truly call a friend. Right?” said Kiryuuin.

Nagumo moved his face away from Kiryuuin’s ear, seeming somewhat bored.

“However, in other matters, it’s different,” said Kiryuuin.

Although Nagumo had started to pull back from Kiryuuin, their faces were less than forty centimeters apart. Nagumo shot Kiryuuin a sharp glare.

“Are you saying that I’m inferior to you in some respects?” he asked.

“Well now, can you state with absolute certainty that there are no areas in which you are inferior?” countered Kiryuuin.

“I have given you several chances to test that, and you have done nothing. And the result is that you’ve ended up in B,” said Nagumo.

Up until this point, Nagumo had competed against Kiriyama and Kiryuuin’s class via the numerous special exams. But never once did Kiryuuin actually take part and cooperate with her class. And as a result, her class was demoted from A to B.

“It’s certainly true that if you only look at those results, I have been thoroughly crushed,” said Kiryuuin.

Kiriyama continued to glare at Kiryuuin, who was pleasantly enjoying the conversation, but Kiriyama didn’t interrupt at all.

“Well, I know that you’re not the kind of person who really cares about A or B though,” said Nagumo.

Nagumo then got up from the bench, signaling that this was the end of their conversation.

“Sorry for bothering you, Kiryuuin. Enjoy the remainder of your time here at this school,” said Nagumo, preparing himself to leave.

“I had said earlier that I was going to put the question of whether or not Ayanokouji was someone I’m impressed with on hold. I do think he’s an interesting student,” said Kiryuuin.

“What?” asked Nagumo.

“That was the answer you were hoping to hear from me about Ayanokouji, wasn’t it?” asked Kiryuuin.

One of the reasons why Nagumo had come over to talk with Kiryuuin was because he wanted to find out what she thought about Ayanokouji.

“Interesting? I would think that this personality is far from interesting. Don’t you think?” said Nagumo.

Kiryuuin smiled, as if she were saying, “See, you’ve taken the bait, after all.”

“Well, you know how the proverb goes, ‘a skilled hawk hides its talons.’ Isn’t that right? I had heard he had gotten a perfect score on a rather difficult mathematics test,” said Kiryuuin.

“Sure, there are people out there who hide their talents because they don’t want to stand out. I’ve beaten all of them though. And I don’t think that they were all that interesting,” said Nagumo, then directing his gaze over at Kiriyama, who had been waiting for him while standing some distance away.

“If I had to say anything, it’s his vibe, I suppose. He has a different vibe that you and Horikita Manabu,” said Kiryuuin.

“Well, that’s rather abstract,” said Nagumo.

“Well then, why don’t you test him and see?” asked Kiryuuin.

“Of course, I intend to. Maybe I’ll get to see what he’s capable of during the uninhabited island survival exam,” said Nagumo.

“You seem like you’ve been bored ever since Horikita Manabu graduated. Will this underclassman be a good playmate for you? If you’re serious about this challenge, you’ll most definitely get first place in the island text, Nagumo,” said Kiryuuin.

“Obviously, I’m going to take first. Or perhaps Kiriyama will, since he’s been dying to compete with me. But we’re going to need one more group if we’re going to take all three top spots in the exam, aren’t we? You are going to take on that role, Kiryuuin. I will provide you with some useful companions, if necessary,” said Nagumo.

And then, Nagumo touched on the main reason he had reached out to Kiryuuin today. Kiryuuin smiled, as if to say that she understood what he was asking.

“I see. So, you met up with me because you’re seeking my help,” said Kiryuuin.

“You might think that I’d let the younger students at least take third place, but I’m not that nice,” said Nagumo.

“You have countless pawns at your disposal that you can move about the board, don’t you? You don’t need to rely on me,” said Kiryuuin.

“Meaning that you’re not willing to do this?” asked Nagumo.

“Somewhere in the top fifty percent is fine for now. Sorry for wasting your time,” said Kiryuuin.

Nagumo, as if he had already known that she was going to answer like that, had turned his head to look off far into the distance.

“You really are that kind of person, I suppose. I thought I’d try talking to you, as someone from my grade, but it seems like it was a waste of my time,” said Nagumo, his statement suggesting that he was going to leave now.

He walked over to where Kiriyama stood.

“Since you came all the way here to talk to me, I’ll give you one piece of advice,” said Kiryuuin.

“You’re going to give me advice? Sorry, but I don’t need that from someone beneath me,” said Nagumo.

“By that logic, you wouldn’t be able to get advice from anyone,” said Kiryuuin.

Nagumo, with his back turned to Kiryuuin, let out a scornful chuckle. Kiryuuin continued speaking.

“Well then, just thinking of what I’m about to say as me speaking to myself. You should be looking ahead, not paying attention to the younger students. If you focus on the younger students behind you, you’ll going to be in for a lot of pain,” said Kiryuuin.

“What a boring monologue,” said Nagumo.

Nagumo seemed to have decided that standing around any longer would’ve been a waste, so he left.