Chapter 4: Everyone’s Holiday

Chapter 4: Everyone’s Holiday

Chapter 4:

Everyone’s Holiday

B EING ON THE CRUISE SHIP came with the problem of where to have lunch every day, and what to eat. The school provided buffet-style meals to us every morning and night, free of charge. Students were free to visit the buffet or not, if they wished. Aside from being free, the food was also exceptionally delicious, so it was quite popular amongst the students. The school divided the breakfast buffet service into three separate admission blocks between seven and nine in the morning.

Each block of time was limited to sixty minutes. It operated on a reservation-style system where we used our phones to reserve whatever time we wanted. I generally had breakfast at eight o’clock in the morning, but since I was late to make a reservation, the eight-to-nine block had filled up, so I ended up having to eat a little earlier at seven o’clock in the morning. As a result, I was feeling strangely hungry by the time noon rolled around. Perhaps my body was craving energy because I’d only been meeting my minimum caloric intake requirements during the uninhabited island exam.

Dining in the open-air café was a popular option, but, regrettably, the meal prices were high. If you wanted to have a lunch combo set with a drink included, you would need at least 2000 points. If you wanted to enjoy a meal together with friends, the café would be a fine option, but unfortunately, I was alone today. It made sense for me to be as frugal with my points as possible, considering the costs, so I was extremely grateful for the concession stand kiosks.

In short, they were places where you could easily purchase items such as rice balls, sandwiches, and so on, just like at a convenience store. I quickly marched up to the kiosk and paid 250 points for a rice ball and a small tea. Then, plastic bag in hand, I went in search of a place to eat. I figured using any suitable break area that was available would’ve been fine, but most of those places were occupied, and I felt a strong aversion to sharing such a small space with someone else. I figured that if you wanted to find a place where you didn’t mind being near strangers, at least to some extent, then being outside was generally the best choice.

As I continued searching, I arrived at a spot on the deck on the sixth floor near the bow of the ship, overlooking the ocean. It didn’t cost anything for me to use this place, so I figured it was an appropriate place to eat the light meal that I had purchased from the kiosk. I’d been thinking I would enjoy the magnificent view of the ocean while enjoying my little snack, but it seemed like I picked the wrong time of day to do it. There were many other students who had come here to take in the view, and it didn’t seem likely that I’d be able to relax.

Though the deck was spacious, if there were many people on it, it would obviously be a challenge to find space. I scanned the area and found an empty bench. And, next to it, I saw Nanase from behind, seated on the adjacent bench. A sandwich and a carton of milk were placed beside her. She must have purchased them from the kiosk too. It was kind of funny—this was the opposite of yesterday, where she was the one who found me. Aside from Nanase, there were many second-year students here as well, who, like her, were enjoying their lunches while taking in the view of the ocean. For example, I spotted my classmates Ijuuin and Okiya, as well as Sakayanagi from Class A, and Nakaizumi and Suzuki from Ryuuen’s class.

Ultimately, people tended to think in the same ways. I didn’t move from my spot and turned my gaze out to the ocean. Surely, a meal would be utterly delicious if you were to eat it while taking in this spectacle. However…just as there were many students from my own grade, there were many third-year students here too. Some of the third-year students had noticed me, though it was only a handful of them. They immediately began to turn their watchful gazes in my direction. On the other hand, if I were to leave immediately, that would mean that I didn’t like the way they were looking at me, and they’d know that I had decided to run.

Doing so might encourage the third-year students further as they would likely conclude what they were doing was effective. Come to think of it, Nanase seemed to have something she wanted to talk to me about the other day. I remembered that we were interrupted at the time because Kobashi had come up to speak with me, so I decided to call out to Nanase now. It would at least provide me with some pretext to go over and talk to her.

“Nanase.”

When I called her name, she turned back with a start.

“Ah, semffai!” she said in surprise.

Apparently, I had gotten her attention just as she had a mouthful of sandwich, and she looked at me while trying her best to keep the contents from spilling out. I felt a little sorry for her when I saw her hurriedly trying to swallow her sandwich. I was just using her as a means to combat the third-years, but from the look of things, I had put her in an unnecessary panic.

“Oh, sorry. Should I come back later?” I asked.

Even though I said that, I knew that there was no way Nanase would allow it, considering her personality.

“Pleaze whaid a momend, howd om,” she sputtered.

She couldn’t spit the food out now that she already had it in her mouth, so she quickly started to swallow it down.

“ Gulp! …Um, sorry, excuse me,” said Nanase. “I was, um, well, to tell the truth…just having lunch.”

She said that like she was confessing some kind of secret, but I could tell just by looking that she was eating. Actually, I knew it the minute I saw her from behind.

“Um, is there something I can help you with?” she asked.

I felt like there was something a bit strange about Nanase, when I saw her so flustered like this. Her eyes were restless, darting all over the place. She seemed to be unable to concentrate on having a conversation with me.

“Well, not exactly, it’s just that you seemed like you wanted to talk to me yesterday,” I replied. “I was wondering what about. You just kind of left after Kobashi came up to talk to me.”

“Oh,” said Nanase.

Her train of thought was slow. Her words weren’t coming out right away.

“I’m sorry, but it’s already been resolved, so would you mind just forgetting about it?” she asked.

“It is? Well, in that case, all right.”

I had been planning to talk to Nanase about whatever it was because she had helped me out in many ways, but if the issues had been resolved, it wasn’t of any consequence. More than that, though, the biggest reason I decided to let it go was that I sensed that it didn’t really matter anymore.

“Sorry for bothering you so suddenly,” I said. “Anyway, I’m going to head back inside the ship. There are more people than I thought there’d be, so it doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to relax here.”

“I see,” said Nanase. “Well then, I will see you later, senpai.”

As soon as I finished getting my stuff together, I left. I looked back out at the deck once more and saw that Nanase was once again facing forward and had resumed having her lunch.

4.1

I N THE END , I made my way back to a less-populated area—the aft of the ship, on the fifth floor—to find a place to have lunch. It was the same place where I talked with Himeno the other night, and I already confirmed that few people usually went there. For a few minutes, I just stared out at the rough waves created by the ship as it sailed through the waters, forgetting about my original purpose for coming here. Then, an unexpected visitor approached me.

“You’re going to have lunch all by your lonesome here? In a place like this?”

“Sakayanagi? What a coincidence.”

As I recalled, she was on the same deck as Nanase earlier.

“That’s correct. Well, that’s what I’d like to say; however, I did chase after you, Ayanokouji-kun.”

She chased after me? But her legs were in such bad shape that she wouldn’t have been able to match even my slowest walking speed. There was no indication that she had assigned someone to tail me ahead of time either.

“It was simple deduction,” Sakayanagi said. “You made an appearance at the deck near the bow of the ship earlier to have lunch. But you gave up on the idea after seeing how many people were there, didn’t you? It wasn’t difficult to predict where you’d ultimately decide to go, given the fact that you were carrying a light meal and you were looking for a place with a view of the ocean.”

She had perfectly read my behavioral patterns and had arrived here based on them.

“I see that you also wish to enjoy your meal while taking in the view, Ayanokouji-kun.”

“Unlike back at the bow of the ship, the view here isn’t top-rate,” I said, “but there aren’t that many opportunities to gaze out at the wide-open ocean like this.”

There was no guarantee that there’d be another uninhabited island exam this time next year. There were other school trip events planned for our second year, sure, but the details remained unknown for the time being. Perhaps this would be the last chance I’d have to gaze out at the ocean in this fashion.

“I’m sure there will be many more sights like this ocean view for you to see in the future,” said Sakayanagi. “In that sense, you were probably correct in choosing this school, Ayanokouji-kun.”

“Yeah, that’s right. I think so too. You know, though, I actually had seen the ocean before, prior to coming to this school.”

Sakayanagi was, surprisingly enough, a little shocked by that. Well, no, to be fair, it might have been reasonable for her to have been surprised. The truth was that I didn’t leave the facility even once until I was fourteen years old, which would have put me in my third year of junior high. That fact was common knowledge to someone who knew what the White Room was generally like. Anyway, I had seen the ocean once. It was when I had the opportunity to be outside for a short while after I was transferred out of the facility.

Although I didn’t have any direct contact with the water, I walked along a path with a view of the sea. However, the first time I saw it, I wasn’t moved or anything. I simply walked through the outside world, emotionless. Nothing more.

“Have you heard of Beneath the Wheel?” asked Sakayanagi.

“It’s a novel by Hermann Hesse, right?” I said.

Out of all of the novels he had written, that work was particularly well-known in Japan. In some languages, it was called The Prodigy instead.

“Hans, the protagonist of the story, was a genius gifted with incredible talent,” said Sakayanagi. “Though he attended an elite school and had a bright future ahead of him, he only lived for his studies. Eventually, he began to have doubts about himself. He tried to live up to the expectations that were placed upon him, but he suffered setbacks and started to decline.”

The protagonist, Hans Giebenrath, met a tragic end. At the end of the story, he fell into a river and died.

“What of it?” I asked.

“I don’t think he was a prodigy, myself , ” she said. “The reason being that real, honest-to-goodness prodigies do not suffer failures like that. And choosing death at the end was just sheer stupidity.”

Sakayanagi seemed to have interpreted his death as a suicide rather than an accidental one.

“Some time ago, I told you, ‘People can come to know warmth by touch. And that is precious. The warmth of another’s skin is by no means a bad thing.’ Do you remember that?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think I recall you saying something like that.”

Was that at the end of the third semester of our first year? Right after the special exam ended?

“Hesse, who wrote Beneath the Wheel , was also troubled and suffered setbacks in his life, just like Hans, the protagonist of his story,” she explained. “However, he said that it was because of his family that he was able to keep going. He didn’t feel the need to take his own life.”

From the sounds of things, the author, Hesse, and the book’s protagonist, Hans, had strikingly similar personal backgrounds. You could therefore see the story as the author’s psychological projection of his self. As Sakayanagi looked out at the ocean, she was suddenly hit by a strong gust of wind.

“Ah—”

I saw the instant Sakayanagi’s hat started to fly away, and I immediately reached out my hand to catch it.

“Whoops… That was close,” I said, taking hold of it.

If my reaction speed had been even slightly delayed, her hat probably would have been carried off into the vast ocean.

“Thank you very much,” said Sakayanagi.

“It’s not safe to wear that on the deck,” I warned.

“ Fu fu , yes, I suppose you’re right,” she said. “But it is my trademark, of sorts.”

She held the hat in her hands, holding it tenderly against her chest.

“Something quite nostalgic sprang to mind, just now.”

“Nostalgic?” I repeated.

“Oh, it’s nothing important. It’s just that I have a few memories of the ocean,” said Sakayanagi.

I supposed that even a single body of water, though it would look the same to anyone, could hold many different memories to different people.

“By the way, you never told me the reason why you chased after me,” I told her.

“Is it so much of a bother that I came after you without one?”

I was wondering what she was going to say, but she responded with an answer that I hadn’t even considered.

“You don’t have one?” I asked.

“I just thought that I wanted to talk to you, Ayanokouji-kun. I could have approached you before, at the place you just left. However, I imagine that you wouldn’t want to be seen speaking with me that much, no?”

That meant she was trying to be thoughtful and considerate, for which I was grateful. However, I wasn’t a skilled conversationalist, so I didn’t have any particular topics that I could go into with her.

“Would you mind if I led the conversation with some idle talk?” she asked.

“That’s fine. Is it okay if I eat while I listen?”

“Please, by all means, go ahead. I do not mind. If you simply lend me an ear and listen, that would be plenty for me.”

I took a single rice ball out of the bag and began to peel off the wrapping with my fingers.

“You know, Ichinose came to see me yesterday,” said Sakayanagi.

“She did?” I asked.

“Yes.”

Sakayanagi recalled yesterday’s events, telling me what had happened as she thought back on them.

4.2

“U M, EXCUSE ME … Sakayanagi-san? Do you have a minute?”

After lunch, I was enjoying a nice relaxing break in the café on the ship’s deck when Ichinose-san approached me. Since I was enjoying my tea alone, I had no reason to refuse her.

“Whatever is the matter?” I asked.

I already knew what this was all about before she even said anything, but I deliberately cocked my head to the side anyway, making myself appear puzzled.

“Well, about what happened during the special exam… I felt like I needed to apologize,” said Ichinose-san. “I did something really selfish on the last day, and…I am truly, deeply sorry!”

Ichinose-san bowed deeply with as much respect and intensity as she could manage. She must have been prepared for the worst, assuming this to be a situation in which I would accept no excuses from her. To be honest though, I didn’t think that she would have made careless excuses to anyone. I was sure that she probably felt as though her actions had angered me, the leader of Class A. And, also, she probably assumed that what she did had caused our cooperative partnership to be dissolved. It wouldn’t have been surprising at all for her to feel that way.

“Please lift your head back up, Ichinose-san. I am not angry about anything at all,” I told her.

“Huh…?” she blinked.

“If anything, I must say that I recognize your efforts as a fellow member of the group. You have contributed well. You masterfully played a vital role in the harsh, unforgiving uninhabited island experience by bringing together our disparate allies, and also by getting a high percentage of correct answers on Tasks. As a result, we managed to achieve third place in spectacular fashion. Did we not?”

“B-but…” she stammered.

“Yes, it certainly is true that you acted somewhat selfishly on the final day of the exam. However, the loss our group incurred as a result of that was only a few points at most. If we were to compare that to your contributions, then it’s hardly anything worth chastising you over. If we had fallen into fourth place by a slim margin, then you might have been on the receiving end of some criticism, but that didn’t happen,” I answered, cutting her off.

“But that’s a conclusion we can only make in hindsight…” she insisted.

“Sometimes, though, it can be a good thing to simply look at the results, no?” I argued. “Things don’t necessarily always go as planned. Supposing we had slipped down to fourth place by a narrow margin in the end after fighting with everything we had, then surely the psychological damage you suffered would have been great.”

I had wondered if my attitude of not putting any blame on her whatsoever was actually making Ichinose-san feel even more guilty and apologetic. Her feelings of remorse had not yet faded away.

“The face you’re making seems to be saying that you won’t feel like this has been resolved until you take responsibility for it somehow,” I observed aloud.

“Um, well, I suppose that’s…not inaccurate,” she conceded.

“Well then, in that case, I can hand down a punishment, if you would like.”

Ichinose-san seemed to be intimidated by the scowl I was wearing, but she still gave a small nod.

“Yes,” she said. “I think that would make me feel better about this.”

“ Fu fu , you certainly are a strange one. Well then, in that case… Please sit down, right here.” I urged Ichinose-san to step forward and take a seat.

Ichinose-san was as timid as a little lost lamb. I asked the wait staff to get a menu for her.

“Go on. Please order whatever you like,” I told her.

“Um, excuse me, but…what about my punishment?” she asked.

“You are to sit down for about thirty minutes, starting now, to accompany me for afternoon tea,” I replied.

“Huh? Th-that’s my punishment?” she stammered.

“Yes, it is. I am taking up thirty minutes of Ichinose-san’s valuable time. Clearly this is nothing other than a punishment.”

“I-I’m not sure about all that…but, if you say so Sakayanagi-san, I’ll obey your order,” said Ichinose-san.

Although Ichinose-san didn’t seem to understand what was going on, she nevertheless followed my instructions and ordered a drink.

“You really are quite honest, Ichinose-san,” I remarked. “You were humiliated by me in the past, and yet you don’t seem to be showing the slightest hint of it now. You’re even willing to accompany me like this.”

“I don’t think that you humiliated me, though. Besides…the truth of the matter is that I did make a mistake in the past, after all.”

“At the very least, though, I’m sure that you would want to hide an incident that you felt guilty about, as something that you wouldn’t want others to know. Even if it is true as you say it is, Ichinose-san.”

Thus far, in my life, I had seen many outstanding people up close, ranging from children to adults. While still knowing that I, of course, was the best, there were many whom I recognized for their talents.

On the other hand, I had probably seen dozens of people who were completely useless and incompetent. Yet, regardless of excellence or incompetence, I had never known a single person that could be called purely good. That was the same for even my own father, my mother, and Ayanokouji-kun.

“You are quite a difficult one to qualify,” I said. “Perhaps that’s why you seem so very terrifying to me at times.”

“I’m…terrifying?” Ichinose-san asked.

I was sure that no one had ever said something like that to her in her entire life. However, I was also certain that one or two people had been afraid of the person known as Ichinose Honami.

“All people who live in this world have some evil in them to some degree, but I don’t sense any evil in you whatsoever. You’re like a bundle of goodness.”

“You’re really overestimating me though,” she replied, sadly. “I have done bad things, just like that time in junior high…”

Her shameful past, something that she could by no means be proud of, remained an indelible reality, even now.

“The goodness that I’m speaking of has nothing to do with such things,” I said. “Besides, even if you did engage in some temporary wrongdoing at that time, there was still an irreplaceable familial love behind it in the first place.”

Even if what she had done then was deemed as wrong in the eyes of the law, it could still be interpreted as good in other ways, depending on your perspective.

“That goodness of yours is both your strength and your weakness,” I warned her. “Please be careful not to let others take advantage of it.”

“Do you mean Ryuuen-kun?” she asked.

“Yes, but not just him. I myself, as well as Horikita-san, would also use your goodness for the sake of winning.”

I took a deep breath, and then continued, adding the most important part.

“And that includes Ayanokouji-kun too.”

It applied to all of the class leaders, including Ryuuen-kun, who she had mentioned herself. However, the sudden mention of Ayanokouji-kun’s name seemed to have resonated with Ichinose-san, and she appeared shaken.

“Most likely, it was thanks to your efforts that Ayanokouji-kun was saved on the final day of the uninhabited island exam,” I added.

“W-wait a minute, what? Um, what does that…?” she stammered, trailing off.

“This is nothing more than my own speculation. There are honestly many things which I do not understand myself, so please simply regard what I said as me thinking aloud, to myself.”

I could easily imagine that if I pursued the matter further, Ichinose-san might shed some light on the more unclear parts of what happened, but it would be less fun to go about asking that way.

“Looking at you, I can more or less infer that your feelings for Ayanokouji-kun are different from those you have for other students,” I remarked.

“H-huh?!” she wailed. “W-wait, I, um, well, that’s, um…!”

“Well, that’s a good thing, though. After all, it’s only human instinct to have special feelings for a particular someone of the opposite sex. However, excessive devotion may result in painful repercussions. Especially so if the person in question is Ayanokouji-kun,” I added.

“I don’t really understand what you mean by that, Sakayanagi-san,” said Ichinose-san.

Today was just a warning. I was not going to delve into the matter any further at this time.

“Let’s leave it at that for the time being,” I replied. “It’s time for afternoon tea.”

Right now, Ichinose-san likely wouldn’t even be able to enjoy the taste of the black tea she brought to her lips all that well. I was sure that the words I had uttered would be stuck in her head, leaving her unable to forget them.

That was a slight maliciousness on my part, my pity, and my strategy.

4.3

S AKAYANAGI FINISHED telling me about the exchange she had with Ichinose. I had finished eating and had also just finished drinking my 200 milliliters of tea.

“To be able to win the heart of Ichinose-san, one of the most popular students in our entire grade? My, you are quite the sinful person, aren’t you?” said Sakayanagi.

It might have sounded like a flirtatious remark, but I couldn’t take her comment in a positive way, not even in the slightest.

“Harsh, Sakayanagi,” I replied.

“ Fu fu fu , it’s my nature, after all.”

Sakayanagi was acting like she was trying to protect Ichinose, as if she was preparing for something in advance. At the same time, she was setting things up so that she could use Ichinose herself.

“And if I do anything to hurt Ichinose, she’ll trust you more,” I replied.

“If I can gain her trust, then it will be easier for me to take action in the future,” she said.

Though Sakayanagi was partially my ally, at the same time, in a way, she had another side to her that was my enemy. Just like how a coin has two sides, she was making use of the relationship we had.

“Why tell me all of this?” I asked.

“What I just told you was about Ichinose-san, but that’s not important right now. The number of people who know about you at this school is gradually increasing, Ayanokouji-kun. And those people seem to have a strong interest in you.”

It was certainly true that if Ichinose and I only had a tenuous relationship during the uninhabited island exam, then she wouldn’t have rushed over to my side at the risk of causing trouble for her allies.

“In addition to that, the third-year students are giving you odd looks, aren’t they?”

I see. Sakayanagi had said she chased after me because she wanted to chat, but by the sound of it, that must’ve been the main topic she wanted to get to. In only a short span of time, Sakayanagi likely noticed that I was being monitored by the third-year students. I expected no less from her.

“Has there been some kind of trouble with the third-years?” she asked.

“Well, I guess ‘trouble’ is certainly one way of putting it,” I replied. “Seems like I made an enemy out of a particularly worrisome foe.”

“A worrisome foe… The student council president, then?”

Nagumo was probably the only person who would come to mind among the upperclassmen who might be a difficult opponent.

“I had a little incident with the student council president on the final day of the uninhabited island exam,” I told her. “That was the reason he missed out on getting first place, and now he sees me as his enemy.”

“He had the rug pulled out from under him while he was attempting to stage a dramatic victory, didn’t he?” said Sakayanagi.

“You picked up on all of that?” I asked.

“I’m sure that the majority of those participating in the uninhabited island exam held the opinion that Kouenji-kun was an unparalleled lone warrior without peer,” said Sakayanagi. “However, I discovered early on that the student council president was intentionally suppressing his own score. If he led the way by too wide of a margin, it would have made it blatantly obvious that the entirety of the third-year grade was working together to make a particular group win. I noticed it when I saw the cards in his possession, which enabled me to deduce his strategy.”

I had thought that I was already fully aware of Sakayanagi’s abilities, but she exceeded my expectations. That was proof that she had a perfect grasp on everything that happened during the uninhabited island exam and on the sequence of events.

“Is there anything that I can do to help?” she asked.

“No, it’s all right,” I replied. “Nagumo can’t make any dramatic moves so easily. Besides, I’m already quite indebted to you for what you did for me during the exam. I can’t rely on you anymore than I already have.”

“Oh, no, you don’t need to worry yourself about that,” said Sakayanagi. “I was quite glad that you relied on me, and besides, I took full advantage of your proposal.”

“Took advantage?” I repeated. “Meaning what?”

She giggled softly and looked out at the ocean with narrowed eyes.

“As we neared the final stages of the uninhabited island exam, I determined that it would be difficult for me to take first or second place,” she said. “That was because the pace at which Kouenji-kun and the student council president’s group were scoring points far exceeded the maximum that my own group could have collected.”

Well, that was because those two groups were fighting on a completely different level.

“I was intending to get third place, but one of my rivals during the final stages of the exam was actually Ryuuen-kun. Though he was in a small group comprising only two people, the other being Katsuragi-kun, their group still showed incredible tenancy. That was why I decided to appeal to him for help, and had him clash with Housen-kun,” Sakayanagi explained.

“I see, so that’s what you meant,” I remarked.

“No matter how or why, drawing Ryuuen-kun away from the core focus of the exam would slow his efforts to score points. In the end, he was eliminated, which was the best possible result for us.”

Sakayanagi was able to successfully crush her rival Ryuuen while helping me at the same time. Even after hearing all of that, though, there were some things that I still didn’t understand. Ryuuen had been working tirelessly for a whole two weeks to try and get into a top spot, and yet he had readily cooperated with Sakayanagi. And he had to have anticipated that he wouldn’t come out of a clash with Housen unscathed. The only thing that was clear to me was that they had made some kind of promise, but… If Ryuuen had to give up on the possibility of taking third place in the exam as part of the deal, then I was sure whatever was in it for him couldn’t have been something minor.

“Appropriate compensation…” I mused. “Did he possibly ask you to pay out a hefty number of Private Points or something?”

If Sakayanagi had made clever use of the Bonus card that one of her classmates had, then she should have taken in quite a sum of points. It would make sense if she had made an offer of that to Ryuuen, as he was trying to collect an enormous number of Private Points.

“I have not paid out a single point, nor do I plan to pay anything in the future,” she answered.

“Meaning it wasn’t money?”

At our school, the exchange of Private Points was the standard form of doing business.

“It might sound like a riddle, but I’m afraid I can’t tell even you about it right now, Ayanokouji-kun. That’s the promise that he and I made. Or at least until I am told to carry out my end of the deal in near future, that is,” said Sakayanagi.

Sakayanagi had said, “That wish of his might end up strangling him in the near future.” Thinking about it further, I supposed I could understand why she hadn’t repaid him in the form of money, like Private Points.

“At any rate,” said Sakayanagi, “please do be careful, Ayanokouji-kun. You may have solved one problem, but the issue of the White Room student still remains, and now there’s the problem of the third-years, as well.”

“It’s definitely been one hassle after another, but I’ll try to be careful,” I replied.

I heard a ringtone coming from somewhere on Sakayanagi’s person. Sakayanagi gently signaled to me to excuse her for a moment, and then she took the call.

“…I see. I will head there straight away,” she said into the phone.

Without even speaking for five seconds, Sakayanagi ended the call and moved away from the railing.

“I’m afraid I have an engagement to meet with someone,” she said. “So, if you’ll please excuse me.”

“Ah, okay. See you,” I replied.

“It was quite fun speaking with you. Well then, ’til we meet again.”

After I watched Sakayanagi slowly walk away, I decided to gaze out at the ocean for a little while longer.

4.4

T HAT SAME DAY , Amasawa was walking around the ship aimlessly, all by herself. Though some of her classmates tried to speak to her at times, she’d just flash them an amicable smile and that would be that. She never once did anything like hang out with a group of friends.

“I wanna see Ayanokouji-senpai,” she muttered listlessly, stepping out onto the deck.

Her voice was so faint that what she said was drowned out by the wind. Amasawa was someone who had no interest in other students at all; Ayanokouji was the only person who stirred her heart, and she considered the times she spent with him the only instances where she felt bliss. However, due to the position she had been put in, she had to intentionally refrain from contact with him at the moment.

“Ughhh,” she whined. “I’m sooo bored, I feel like I’m gonna die…”

“Good day to you, Amasawa Ichika-san.”

The person who approached Amasawa as she gazed out at the ocean on the deck alone was none other than Sakayanagi Arisu from Class 2-A. Amasawa, not particularly surprised by this, didn’t even turn her head. She simply directed her gaze at her visitor.

“And you are?” She cocked her head to the side in apparent curiosity, as though she had never seen Sakayanagi before today.

“My name is Sakayanagi Arisu, of Class 2-A. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” said Sakayanagi respectfully.

“Sakayanagi…senpai? What do you want from me?” asked Amasawa.

“ Fu fu ,” Sakayanagi chuckled. “There’s no need for such a farce. You are a White Room student, aren’t you, Amasawa-san? Surely you already know who I am as well, I assume?”

Once Amasawa had heard the words White Room student from Sakayanagi’s lips, she immediately understood what was going on. There was no way she wouldn’t understand.

“Hmm, I see, I see. So, you’re the chairman’s daughter, the person that Ayanokouji-senpai relied on recently. Well, seems like you know at least a little about the White Room, so I guess this might be inevitable. So?” Amasawa was unsurprised. She just wanted to know what business Sakayanagi had with her.

“Well, it’s only natural that I would wish to find out what this White Room student that he’s concerned about is capable of, you understand,” said Sakayanagi.

“Well, it’s nice that you’re so willing and motivated, but does this mean that you have Ayanokouji-senpai’s permission?”

“Permission?” said Sakayanagi. “Oh, no, I don’t need a thing such as that. I’m here of my own volition.”

“Wow, you’ve got such great confidence in yourself, don’t you, Arisu-senpai?” teased Amasawa.

“I am proud to say that I at least have that degree of competency,” remarked Sakayanagi.

“Wow, so cooool!”

Though Amasawa was complimenting and applauding Sakayanagi, she seemed somewhat aloof and absent-minded.

“But hey, sorry, but like, I’m feeling kinda sentimental right now. So can we do this another time?” asked Amasawa.

“Of course, I don’t mind at all. I simply wanted to come see you today, face-to-face. That was all,” said Sakayanagi.

Sakayanagi, satisfied after having introduced herself, politely bowed and then turned to leave.

“Oh, hey,” said Amasawa, “while I’ve got you here, Arisu-senpai, do you think you can knock off the surveillance you’ve got me under now?”

Sakayanagi had been constantly monitoring Amasawa’s location using the students of Class A and had waited to approach her until she had found Amasawa alone.

“I instructed them not to be detected, yet you noticed them anyway. Right?”

“ A ha ha ha! Oh, wait, they were supposed to be hiding ? That’s so cute.”

“My sincere apologies for any discomfort I may have caused you,” Sakayanagi said. “However, as you can see for yourself, I am disabled, and thus it is not easy for me to locate and come see you otherwise. Please pardon my rudeness.”

“Oh, actually, there is one thing I wanna ask you. I’m the kind of girl who can smack a disabled person without hesitation. Is that okay?” asked Amasawa.

“Violence certainly is a strong card to play,” said Sakayanagi, “however, it is not necessarily the strongest there is.”

She then lightly tapped her cane against the deck a couple times, with a quiet tok tok . That must have been some kind of signal, because her classmate Kamuro appeared somewhere in the distance, as if on cue.

“Oh, that’s the senpai that’s been following me around,” said Amasawa. “Are you suggesting that she might be able to compete with me?”

“No, that’s not what I’m implying. This means that uncivilized acts can be quickly detected.”

“So, what, you want to engage in a battle of wits with me? Don’t make me laugh.”

“You are rather hasty, aren’t you? Please don’t arbitrarily jump to conclusions. After all, though you may be a White Room student, aside from Ayanokouji-kun, you’re all failures, no? I don’t expect too much from you.”

For the first time during their conversation, Amasawa’s eyes sharpened as she glared at Sakayanagi.

“What I mean to say is that no matter the stage, I will show you who’s the clear winner and the loser,” added Sakayanagi.

“Heh. So that does even include what we talked about before? Violence?”

Amasawa licked her thumb, just now becoming interested in Sakayanagi for the first time.

“Yes, of course,” said Sakayanagi amicably. “Please use whatever means you like.”

“I’ll remember you, senpai,” said Amasawa.

“It would be my pleasure to be etched into your hippocampus. Well then, good day to you.”

Sakayanagi slowly walked away, and Amasawa took a deep breath, standing on the now empty deck.

“I might be able to have a little bit of fun, even without Ayanokouji-senpai,” she mused. “Do I torture Kushida-senpai and have my fun with her? Or would looking at Arisu-senpai’s crying face be better? Normally, I would probably be feeling really excited, but…”

As she placed a hand gently on her aching abdomen, she thought about what was to come.

“…I guess I’ll just sit tight and watch carefully, for the time being.”

It would take a little time before she was fully recovered. Besides, Amasawa couldn’t make a move until she saw how things were going on the other side.

As for Sakayanagi, she left with Kamuro in tow and returned to the passage.

“That first-year seems like bad news,” said Kamuro.

“Oh, my, how you can tell?” Sakayanagi responded.

“Just a feeling, more or less. Maybe after hanging around you for so long, I’ve developed a bit of a strange intuition. To be honest, I don’t want to get involved with her any further.”

“Please cherish that sense you’ve developed. Nevertheless, she should be monitored to a certain extent.”

Though Amasawa had warned Sakayanagi not to monitor her anymore, Sakayanagi had no intention of complying, not in the least. If Amasawa knew that she was being relentlessly followed, she wouldn’t be able to ignore Sakayanagi. And if that was the case, it was possible that Sakayanagi could provoke Amasawa into making a move.

“She noticed that I was following her though, didn’t she?” said Kamuro. “Are you going to use Hashimoto?”

“If I use him, I suppose he might be able to skillfully talk his way out of things even if he is discovered, but…”

Engaging clumsily with a student of the White Room could possibly prove detrimental in the future.

“At any rate,” said Sakayanagi, “thank you for your efforts, Masumi-san.”

Having finished her part, Kamuro quickly left. Afterward, Sakayanagi took out her phone and made a phone call.

“Can you please continue?” asked Sakayanagi, speaking to the person on the other end of the line.

She was asking the person on the other end to keep monitoring Amasawa. After making her request, she had added one final comment.

“After all, you seem to be the only one in class I can count on, Yamamura-san.”