Chapter 6: A Treasure Hunt of Girl Troubles

Chapter 6: A Treasure Hunt of Girl Troubles

Chapter 6:

A Treasure Hunt of Girl Troubles

T HERE WERE NOW only three days of vacation remaining on the cruise ship. The days were too much, passing by too fast. Early that morning, just around the time that everyone was beginning to lament how little time they had left on the ship, the school sent out an email to all students simultaneously. Hondou, who was the first to turn his phone on, read the message aloud.

“They’re holding a game, a treasure hunt starting today at ten in the morning…” he said. “What’s this about?”

We all saw the unfamiliar word “game” in the email, and at the same time, we each proceeded to carefully read through the message.

Treasure Hunt

This is a bonus game that anyone may freely participate in

Participation Requirements: Available to men and women. 10,000 Private Points required for participation, per person.

Date: Today, August 8.

For more information, come to the venue. You must arrive on the fifth floor by 10 a.m. You are free to choose whether or not to participate after hearing the instructions.

“For a minute there, I thought this was gonna be another special exam. That part aout how anyone can participate sounds interesting though, doesn’t it?” said Hondou.

So, we were able to freely choose whether we’d like to participate, and the only risk that individuals had to bear was paying the 10,000-point fee, huh? The exact details were unknown at this point in time, but considering that it was called a treasure hunt, it was probably safe to assume that the payoff was greater than the fee. I was expecting it to be something simple, like getting Private Points.

Personally, I thought it would be a good idea to be proactive and participate if there was a chance to earn a temporary bonus since I was constantly short on funds. The fact that it only cost 10,000 points to participate also sounded reasonable. Miyamoto and Hondou naturally seemed inclined to participate, and after they had finished eating, they started talking about entering together. I was thinking of inviting Akito to join me too, but…

“Don’t worry about me,” said Akito, exhaling sluggishly as he lay on the bed. “You go have fun…”

Akito was sick in bed with a fever. Perhaps he overdid it at the private pool yesterday.

“If they hadn’t forbidden us from bringing personal belongings onboard, I would’ve lent you my game console,” said Hondou.

“I really don’t think I could even play a game, how I feel right now…”

Akito buried his face in his pillow, sounding somewhat exasperated. We let him sleep in bed. After finishing our meals, we relaxed in our room, killing time until about 9:50 in the morning. Then, the three of us decided to make our way to the venue without Akito, though we felt somewhat sorry for him.

6.1

A LARGE CROWD OF STUDENTS was packed into the designated venue. I wondered how many people were going to participate, and it looked like roughly half the entire student body was here. I expected even a few more, but I supposed that the students who weren’t interested in treasure hunts might take this opportunity to enjoy the pool or other places since there wouldn’t be as many people in those spots right now. Since this event was open to everyone, the students could spend this day however they wished.

Shortly after the cutoff time came, a great deal of commotion came from the stage in the front. From the looks of things, Takatou-sensei, the homeroom instructor in charge of Class 3-A, was going to explain how this game worked. It looked as though almost all the faculty had assembled here, but I couldn’t see Acting Director Tsukishiro, nor Shiba, the homeroom instructor for Class 1-D. If Shiba were also employed by him , then it wouldn’t be surprising if he had resigned after what happened. In fact, I imagined his appearance and his role might have become known to both Mashima-sensei and Chabashira now.

“Good morning, everyone,” said Takatou-sensei. “As it is now 10 a.m., we will no longer be accepting any more students beyond those who have gathered right now.”

One of the other teachers, who had been standing near the entrance, slowly closed the doors. I supposed that even though this was a game where participation was voluntary, rules were rules. They weren’t going to allow any latecomers, even if they were only a second late.

“Before I begin explaining the rules, I would like to tell you exactly how this treasure hunt game came to be,” Takatou-sensei said. “This event came as a result of a suggestion from Student Council President Nagumo-kun, who thought that we should offer students an interesting and enjoyable recreational activity as a way to deepen ties of friendship, especially after competing against one another by grade level while living on such a harsh uninhabited island. Please say a few words, Nagumo-kun, if you would.”

After his name was called by Takatou-sensei, Nagumo got up and stood in front of everyone who had come to participate.

“I am pleased to announce that we are hosting this bonus game with the school’s full support,” he said. “This proposal stemmed from the student council’s raison d’être, its commitment to enriching and improving our lives at this school. During the uninhabited island exam, each grade level was locked in fierce competition with the others, but in this treasure hunt, it is possible for you to team up regardless of grade level. I urge you all to take advantage of this and participate in the game.”

He concluded his remarks with a short statement that sounded typical of a student council president. That reminded me of what happened yesterday, when Nagumo appeared before Ichinose and me. Ichinose was also a member of the student council, and she was sitting by the faculty, listening to the proceedings. From what I could see from where I was standing, she didn’t seem any different from normal, but…I still remembered the tears that Ichinose had unexpectedly shed yesterday. The wounds inflicted upon her heart surely hadn’t been trivial. I’m sure she was trying to act natural, but it would take some time for her to heal. When that time came, the love she felt for me might disappear, or she might even become hostile toward me. Whatever kind of changes she underwent, I was sure this was going to be a major turning point for the future for her.

After Nagumo finished speaking, he handed the microphone back to Takatou-sensei.

“Members of the student council will not be eligible to participate in the treasure hunt as they will be managing operations for the event, meaning that they are giving up their holiday to handle clerical work. I ask that you please treat them kindly,” said Takatou-sensei.

Several student council members, including Horikita and Ichinose, were called over to assemble next to Nagumo.

“Now then, I will provide you with an overview of how the treasure hunt game will work,” Takatou-sensei said. “The rules are not complex at all. In fact, they’re exceedingly simple.”

He raised his right hand. He was holding a square-shaped piece of paper between his thumb and forefinger. It looked to be roughly five centimeters in size. There was a QR code printed on the paper.

“There are one hundred of these stickers with QR codes on them placed all throughout the ship,” he explained. “Those of you participating in this treasure hunt game will be tasked with finding these stickers. You will be awarded Private Points as a reward for scanning the codes via a dedicated app. However, you can only scan once per device. Please note that the results will be reflected immediately, and the points will be paid out to you right away once you’ve accessed the site. Of course, once a QR code has been scanned, it will be rendered invalid from that point on. Even if someone were to scan it using another device, they would not be given any rewards from it. Also, we ask that you please refrain from any illicit activities during this event, such as removing stickers without permission or using a pen to make the code unreadable. Engaging in such behavior will warrant severe punishment, even though this is just a game.”

I see. The rules were exceedingly simple, and luck was an important part of this game.

“The lowest number of Private Points you can been awarded is 5,000 points,” Takatou-sensei continued. “There are fifty of these stickers available, exactly half of the total amount. The second most common prize is worth 10,000 points. There are thirty of these stickers available.”

Unfortunately, this meant that if you got one of those fifty low-level stickers, you would be losing money. Even if we were to find one of the 10,000-point stickers, which were only 30 percent of the stickers out there, we’d only be breaking even.

“As for the remaining twenty stickers, there are ten stickers worth 50,000 points, five stickers worth 100,000 points, and three stickers worth 300,000 points. The final two stickers are the highest, at 500,000 points and one million points respectively. It would be safe for you to assume that the more difficult it is to find the hidden code, the more Private Points you will receive from it.”

With roughly two hundred people participating, that meant that one in every two people would receive nothing. But if you were to find the sticker that was most difficult to track down, you’d end up with a million points. That was an amount that you couldn’t easily obtain, even in a special exam. In that case, I wouldn’t be surprised if people felt it was worth the risk, even though half of the people here would get nothing, but…

“There are one hundred stickers, but there are two hundred or more students here,” Takatou-sensei said. “So, it is inevitable that some students will not get prizes. However, we have implemented a way for you to avoid that risk. Participants may pair up with another student from any grade level. If any person in a pair scans a QR code using their phone, the reward for that code will be paid out to both members. So, for instance, if the reward is 30,000 points, both of those students will be awarded that amount.”

If everyone were to pair up and scan all 100 QR codes, then 200 people would be able to receive rewards. The possibility of taking a loss, without even getting a single point for your efforts, would be greatly reduced. The only disadvantage was that if both members of a pair were to find QR codes, they might have a dispute over which one to scan. Despite the fact that handling that disadvantage would require some coordination, it seemed that pairing up was highly advantageous.

“Also, please note that the areas where the QR codes have been placed were determined in advance,” he added.

Even though he said earlier the codes were placed all throughout the ship, there were still some areas that were naturally inaccessible to us. Takatou-sensei continued his explanation, using the screen. To briefly summarize, stickers with QR codes would obviously not be found in the restrooms or in guest rooms. Also, employee-only floors and guest rooms were also excluded from the treasure hunt, as expected. The stickers were not hidden on levels that were off-limits to students. Takatou-sensei had strongly emphasized that placement of stickers was limited to public spaces and areas that students were allowed to go to.

“And also…we will be providing you with these as well,” said Takatou-sensei.

Just after he told us that, faculty members began handing something out to us. Not too long after they started, I received one myself: a piece of paper folded in two. It was a map of the ship that had been slightly modified. The areas where stickers were placed had been highlighted in color. There were also some unfamiliar-looking text and figures on the document.

“Essentially, this game is mostly about luck. However, we have incorporated a few elements where a little bit of skill will be involved.”

Takatou-sensei was likely referring to the text and figures on the map that had just been handed out to us.

“There are three riddles on the maps you’ve been given. If you solve them, you’ll be able to find the hidden locations of a total of three QR codes. Please assume that you likely won’t be able to find these locations without solving these riddles.”

So, by the sounds of it, out of a hundred total QR code stickers, there were three that had been specially prepared. I skimmed through the three riddles and put the piece of paper in my pocket.

“Registration is open now, and will remain open for the next thirty minutes,” Takatou-sensei said. “Please indicate whether you will participate via your phone. Also, if anyone is unable to turn on their phone because their device is out of power, please notify the nearest teacher as soon as possible.”

Students took out their phones one after another and began registering. There were several students who left the room, but it was a certainty that almost everyone here was going to sign up. The treasure hunt game would be over by five o’clock in the afternoon, and we’d need to scan a QR code by that time. I wasn’t going to be left out, so like many of the other students, I took out my phone and decided to register.

However, with this many people here, there was also the highest number of stares yet to be directed at me over these past several days. When it was on as large a scale as this, the fact that they were looking at me was naturally going to be noticed by students from other grades. I wasn’t sure if they were all coordinated or if they had been given certain instructions in advance, but the stares directed at me now temporarily diminished, and the third-years began to avert their eyes as the other students started to follow their gazes. Apparently, at this current stage, they weren’t going to let it be known that they were monitoring me yet.

They seemed to be waiting for a more effective, more damaging moment. As long as I didn’t know what their ultimate goal was, I needed to be well-positioned as well. I had to act while under the assumption that everything about me was being secretly reported. My girlfriend Kei was also among the participants here, but we didn’t even exchange glances—since we hadn’t announced our relationship publicly yet, we decided to refrain from making explicit eye contact. Of course, even though we were told that we could pair up, she and I wouldn’t. It would normally be unthinkable for Ayanokouji Kiyotaka and Karuizawa Kei to pair up in this situation since people knew us.

Just then, Horikita appeared before us all, microphone in hand.

“I am Horikita, from the student council,” she announced. “I have a request for all students who will be participating. In the interest of curbing fraud, participants will be asked to enter their own names in a register, which will be divided by grade level. Your 10,000-point payment will then be processed, and you can leave the room. No substitutions will be allowed. Students are not allowed to have others sign their names in or write down someone else’s name. Please understand that this is a measure to prevent unauthorized participation by way of using a third party’s cell phone. Once you have received your reward, please make sure to return here to report in before the end of the event. Failure to do so may result in the invalidation of your reward.”

If we simply settled payments via our phones, then there wouldn’t be any way for the school to connect which student was associated with which mobile device. That would allow students to use another person’s phone to participate in the game. Putting aside how problematic such an action would be in and of itself, doing so would deviate from the game’s original mission of having us follow the rules and play along. However, by forcing students to enter their names into a register at the time they make their payments, it was possible to connect phones to their respective users. If I were to get a reward using someone else’s device, that final check would allow the school to detect that I violated the rules, and even if I sent the phone’s owner to go check in, it wouldn’t work because that person’s name wouldn’t be on the list. It was also possible that people who hadn’t paid the participation fee might secretly download the app, or something along those lines.

At any rate, people would be leaving the venue in order after they finished installing the app. Amongst all the hustle and bustle, I queued up, and eventually I reached Horikita, who was performing clerical duties.

“Enter your name here,” she said, in a very businesslike manner. “Once you’ve done that, I will collect the 10,000 points.”

I proceeded to enter my name in the register. Then, I took out my phone and ran it across the payment terminal, paying the required points. Now that I’d taken care of that, I had officially become a participant of the treasure hunt game.

“Next,” announced Horikita.

Since I didn’t have anything in particular to talk with Horikita about, I went with the flow and exited the room.

6.2

N OW THEN , the treasure hunt game had begun, and it would last until the evening. There were a few rules that we needed to observe, but those were essentially only things related to violations. All that was left now was pray that I caught a lucky break and play the game, I supposed, but… The immediate area was incredibly crowded because we were within range of a QR code that had been posted near the starting point. The search was on, and at a furiously fast pace too, like a swarm of locusts devouring crops.

Now that I officially joined the search too, there likely wasn’t room for me to join though. And, similarly, some students would likely decide to start searching elsewhere after seeing so many people, like another plague of insects. What’s more was that many students were also using their phones to stay connected with each other. Perhaps they were simultaneously looking for a partner to team up with while searching for a QR code. Because we could form a pair via the app without having to meet up in person, it was possible for us to split up.

“Hey, Mori-san, why don’t we start from the top?” said Kei. She came out of the room shortly after I did, walking along happily with our fellow classmate Mori Nene.

Apparently, Kei had immediately gotten hold of a classmate and they had formed a pair right away. I, being on my own of course, had decided to head down to the lowest level for the time being. If I went up to the top level like Kei was, that would mean we’d be in the same area. Even so… I hadn’t gotten a single message on my phone. In a situation like this, wouldn’t it be fine for me to invite at least one person to join me? No, don’t think about this too deeply. If I think about it, I’ll feel like I’m losing.

Besides, there weren’t many people with whom I exchanged contact information in the first place, either email or chat. Out of everyone in the Ayanokouji Group, Keisei was available, but he had announced that he wouldn’t be participating, probably because he wasn’t interested in these kinds of games. Akito wasn’t feeling well, and Haruka and Airi seemed to have partnered up right from the start.

“Ah…”

As I started to move while thinking about those things, I suddenly bumped into Satou. I casually gave her a wave and said hello, and then tried to move past her, but then…

“Ah, w-wait a minute!” she exclaimed, in a panic, grabbing my arm. “Um, excuse me, but…have you partnered up with anyone yet, Ayanokouji-kun?”

“No, I’m alone,” I replied.

I didn’t say “for now,” because I didn’t have any plans to partner up with anyone in the future either. It was one thing to make more friends, but having allies alongside me, with whom I could tackle these kinds of events, was another problem. It felt a little futile to say that aloud, though, so I kept quiet.

“W-well, um, would you…mind partnering up with me?” she asked.

I was at a loss as to how to respond to this completely unexpected proposal. Last year, Satou was the first person in my life to ever confess romantic feelings to me. I couldn’t reciprocate her feelings though, so I turned her down, and then later on, I started going out with Kei. Considering it would only be natural for her to hate me for that, I never expected that she would have asked to be my partner.

I didn’t have any particular reason to refuse her, but to be honest, I didn’t have a reason to accept either. I had just seen with my own two eyes that Kei had partnered up with Mori, but that was just to keep up appearances since we were keeping our relationship a secret. Still, whether partnering up with Satou was okay was another question.

“Are you worried about Kei-chan…?” she asked.

It was difficult for me to ask, but Satou seemed to immediately sense what I was feeling.

“I’ve heard that you two are going to let everyone know that you’re going out, officially,” she added.

“That so?” I asked.

From the sounds of things, Kei had gone ahead and told Satou that she and I were going to come out in the open about our relationship in the second semester. I had known from past conversations with Matsushita that Satou was already aware that Kei and I were in a relationship.

“We’ve been going out for a while now,” I said. “It’s not something we can keep secret forever.”

“Well, there are some couples out there who date in secret, but I think only a very limited number of people would notice you and Kei-chan are together, Ayanokouji-kun,” she replied.

Satou had talked with some girls that she was close with about how she suspected Kei and I were in a relationship. I didn’t hear her say that directly, obviously, but I didn’t have any doubt that had happened since I heard it from Matsushita when I bumped into her. Of course, Satou hadn’t done anything wrong. She hadn’t known anything for certain. All she had done was offer her own speculations.

“Oh, but hey, you know, the reason I suggested partnering is, um, I guess, I was thinking that you’d be really dependable, a good partner,” she went on. “I’m just saying that there’s no other meaning behind it. So…would that be okay?”

She emphatically stressed that she wasn’t asking me for any strange reason.

“How many Private Points do you have on hand?” I asked her.

“Um, well, it’s a little embarrassing to tell you, but…about 180,000,” said Satou.

Looking at my own financial situation, I didn’t exactly have room to talk about other people’s affairs, but considering the fact that the school had deposited Private Points into our accounts for the month, that was by no means a high number. She must have had a fair amount of determination then to participate in this game. Even though it was low risk, she was still willing to part with 10,000 precious Private Points. In that case, she likely wanted to partner up with someone so she could find one of the more well-hidden QR codes.

“I understand. If you’re all right going with me, I’ll partner up with you, Satou. I can’t guarantee we’ll get results, though,” I told her.

“Really?! Yay!” she exclaimed.

The way Satou was able to express genuine joy about the things that made her happy made me feel good about partnering up with her. We each took out our phones, put in the request to become a pair via the app, and accepted. And so we officially became a pair for this event, and now we’d each receive the reward when either one of us scanned a QR code. Now all we had to do was get a code that was worth at least 30,000 points.

“Oh, yeah, come to think of it, the teachers handed us these weird pieces of paper, right?” said Satou, taking out the crumpled paper from her pocket.

“Ah?!”

She sheepishly thrust it back into her pocket immediately after taking it out and looking at the state of it, perhaps because she had forgotten that had crumpled it up before.

“A-a-anyway, it’s uh… No matter how much I looked at it, I couldn’t understand it at all… A ha ha . You have one too, right, Ayanokouji-kun?” she asked.

It sounded like if she had thought she could’ve solved the riddles, then she would’ve folded the paper up neatly. I took out my own paper, which I had folded into quarters, and unfolded it in front of Satou.

“So, we’d be able to figure out three places where QR codes are hidden with these, right?” she asked.

“Seems that way,” I replied.

“Then, if we solve them, it’s possible we could get a million points, right?”

I felt bad about dashing her hopes, but I answered immediately. “Nah, probably not,” I replied.

“Huh? Really?” she blinked.

Only three codes out of a total of a hundred were provided to us in the form of these questions. So, while it was tempting to get our hopes up that we’d be able to get a head start on finding those codes by solving the questions on this slip of paper…

“These three riddles all seem to be around the same difficulty level,” I pointed out. “Meaning, I can’t imagine there’s any difference in the reward you’d get from solving any of these. There are a fair number of codes worth 100,000 points… Or it’s even possible these might just be worth 50,000 points.”

“Huh? But wait, if there’s three, then what are the chances these are for the three codes worth 300,000 points?”

“Well, it’s certainly true that it would be a nice fit, since there are only three of those 300,000-point codes available, but chances of that are slim,” I answered.

The pieces of paper weren’t likely going to lead us to high-value Private Point rewards.

“Huh? We wouldn’t get much even for solving problems that are this difficult?” she asked.

“Treasure hunts are completely centered around luck. On top of that, this is being positioned as a bonus game. If the quick-witted students or the students who managed to solve these problems get the rarer, high-level rewards, like one million, 500,000, or even the 300,000-point reward like you mentioned, Satou, chances are that many students wouldn’t accept it. Don’t you think so?”

If all three of the riddles were for the codes with 300,000, then there wouldn’t be any of them left in a game that was supposed to be a treasure hunt based on luck. In that sense, it would basically mean the game was a failure. So, this paper was only a modest bailout at best, and should be seen as providing only modest rewards.

“I-I see. I guess it is true that if they were all high-level codes, then I probably would’ve been frustrated by it myself…” She thought about how it might feel to someone who couldn’t solve the riddles. It seemed like she readily accepted my argument.

“There’s nothing wrong with going ahead and looking for the QR codes based on these clues, but we won’t know the results until we find a code and scan it,” I said. “If we act carelessly, there’s a chance we’ll miss out.”

Though this treasure hunt game would be going on for hours, the important part of the game would likely be decided within the first hour or two.

“Is it okay if we just ignore them, then?” said Satou.

“If we do use this hint paper, it’ll likely be sometime close to the end of the game, like if we haven’t found any QR codes. I know what direction they’re pointing in,” I replied.

Well, in that case, by the time I did try to rely on it, other students would probably have already found those codes.

“Have you…already solved the riddles on the paper, by any chance, Ayanokouji-kun?” Satou asked.

“More or less, yeah,” I replied.

“That’s awesome…!” she exclaimed.

The clues weren’t made to be that difficult. Since all students, from first-years to third-years, were allowed to participate, these hints were closer to solving simple riddles rather than a real challenge to tackle. While Satou and I had been talking, other students participating in the treasure hunt were searching for QR codes in the area around us haphazardly. They told us that there was a somewhat limited number of areas where QR codes had been posted. If all 200 participants were searching all at once, most of them would be found pretty quickly. It was also possible that some of the higher-value QR codes might have been hidden somewhere further away from the starting point too.

“Anyway, I think we should start searching the lower floors,” I suggested.

“Okay. I’ll leave it to you to decide where to start, Ayanokouji-kun,” she replied.

Satou and I walked side by side and headed down to the lowest levels of the designated searchable area. We spent the next five minutes each looking for QR codes, and found only two stickers, which were out in the open. Were we just in a bad location? Or were there more stickers hidden in more difficult-to-find spots? We weren’t having much luck, and the number of students around us began to increase little by little.

“Um, Ayanokouji-kun…?”

“What’s up? Did you find something?” I asked.

“N-no, that’s not it…” Satou sounded extremely embarrassed. “U-um, is it okay if I go to the restroom for a minute? I think I drank too much this morning… To tell you the truth, I was planning on stopping earlier, but…”

“I see. And that’s when you ran into me?” I asked.

She nodded, her face turning red.

“Sorry. I know we’re supposed to be in kind of a hurry,” she said apologetically.

There was no way I would tell her not to go to the bathroom. I gladly gave Satou the okay to go ahead.

“I-I’ll be right back!” she exclaimed.

“No need to rush.”

Anyway, after letting Satou head off to the bathroom, I resumed my search of the nearby area on my own. As I was peeking under the sofa, I heard a voice call out to me from behind.

“You’re participating in the treasure hunt game too, Ayanokouji-kun?”

I had wondered if someone had walked over, and it turned out to be my classmate Matsushita. Today seemed to be one of those days where I was getting called on by classmates I rarely associated with. At the same time that Matsushita approached, a third-year student named Tatara, who I thought might’ve been talking with Matsushita earlier, was eyeing me up suspiciously.

“…Ayanokouji, huh?” said Tatara.

“You know about Ayanokouji-kun?” said Matsushita.

Matsushita curiously looked at Tatara, examining his face. When she did so, Tatara got embarrassed and turned away. Matsushita had no way of knowing this, but it was clear that Nagumo had disseminated some kind of orders regarding me out to the entirety of the third year.

“We’re in the middle of the treasure hunt right now, so talk to him later,” Tatara said. “Time’s wasting. Why don’t we just go?”

“Well, if you put it that way, that means time’s wasting for you too, right, Tatara-senpai?” Matsushita replied. “Don’t mind me. Please go ahead and partner up with someone else.”

The fact that Tatara, a third-year student, had showed up here might be a good chance for me to probe Nagumo’s strategy.

“You’re participating in the treasure hunt too, senpai?” I asked.

However, when I tried to insert myself into the situation and speak to him, Tatara made an openly disgusted face, and turned to ignore me. Hearing Tatara softly clicking his tongue, Matsushita also sensed the change in Tatara’s demeanor.

“Is something the matter, Tatara-senpai?” I said.

When I tried calling out to him once more, it became apparent that he was hoping to flee. I could also tell from my first impressions that Tatara had some sort of fondness for Matsushita. The fact that he disliked the idea of dealing with me more than he wanted to pair up with Matsushita was a clear indication that he had received instructions not to carelessly engage me in conversation.

“See you later, Matsushita,” said Tatara.

“Ah, okay.” Though Matsushita didn’t quite understand what was happening, she answered with a casual smile, and waved Tatara goodbye.

Tatara looked over at Matsushita with an air of lingering regret but shot me a glare before he left.

“Phew. I don’t really know what that was all about, but thanks,” said Matsushita. “Did something happen between you and Tatara-senpai, Ayanokouji-kun?”

Even though she didn’t know about Nagumo’s orders, I supposed anyone would’ve been suspicious after seeing how Tatara had been acting.

“No, nothing,” I replied. “I’ve never talked to him before.”

“Huh, really?”

Though Matsushita didn’t seem too convinced by what I said, she patted her chest with a sigh, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

“Hey, are you also on your own by any chance, Ayanokouji-kun? If you are, do you want to pair up?”

“Well, actually—”

Just as Matsushita was about to invite me to join her treasure hunting, I heard footsteps rushing up from behind.

“Hold on, Matsushita-san! Ayanokouji-kun is already partnered up with me!”

Having come back from the restroom, Satou made a mad dash over to where Matsushita was, grabbing her by the shoulders.

“Huh? O-oh, is that so?” sputtered Matsushita.

Matsushita turned back, though she was surprised by the unusual speed and pressure of what Satou was doing.

“Er, I mean, I just saw Tatara-senpai a little bit ago. Wasn’t he with you, Matsushita-san?” asked Satou.

“Well, I’d say it was more like I was being followed than we were together, actually…”

Apparently, Satou also knew about this third-year student named Tatara. He had generally slightly above average scores in OAA overall, ranging between B and C. He also had long hair in an unusual hairstyle for a boy. I wondered what that kind of hairstyle was called… I didn’t really know very much about those kinds of things.

“He was too excited, and it made me recoil a bit. I was trying to turn him down in a roundabout way,” said Matsushita.

“Ah, okay, I get what you’re saying,” said Satou.

I didn’t get it, though. I went back to investigating underneath the sofa for the time being, which I had been in the middle of doing before.

“Hey, Ayanokouji-kun, don’t you think a code probably wouldn’t be in a place like that?” Satou said. “Even if there is one, I think it probably wouldn’t be a big one.”

It was true that somewhere underneath a sofa could have easily been chosen as a stereotypical hiding place for a QR code. In fact, you could see a QR code peeking out underneath the sofa, if you crouched down and looked at a slight angle. Of course, I was not going to be scanning this code.

“The important thing here is the school’s pattern,” I replied.

“Pattern?” she repeated.

“When they decided to run this game, the way they decided upon the values for the codes was important,” I elaborated.

“Um…?” She cocked her head to the side, not quite understanding me.

However, Matsushita responded right away, without even giving it much thought.

“Naturally, they’d be putting high-value QR codes in difficult-to-find locations,” she said.

“That’s right. Then, the next question is, who would determine what constitutes ‘difficult-to-find’ in this case?” I asked.

This time, it was Satou who got the answer in before Matsushita.

“The teachers!” exclaimed Satou.

However, Matsushita stepped in afterward, to append her answer with additional context.

“I’m sure it would be a lot of work to put up a hundred stickers with QR codes, right?” she said. “I don’t doubt that it was the teachers who put them up, but it’s hard to imagine that only one or two people could do it. Even if they split up the work and did it during the dead of night last night, they must have sent out several people to do the job…”

“So, did they carefully decide on where to place the QR codes throughout the ship while the students were engaged in the uninhabited island exam?” I pondered. “Or did they suddenly entrust the job to the teachers in charge of this task? Once we know the answer to that question, it’ll probably be easier for us to guess where the stickers might have been placed.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not following a single word you two are saying…” said Satou, sheepishly.

“The layout of the pathways and the decorations that have been put up are all fundamentally the same, right?” remarked Matsushita.

“Did you understand what Matsushita-san means by that?” asked Satou, turning to me.

“Well, yeah,” I answered.

“That’s amazing, Ayanokouji-kun!” Satou exclaimed.

“Anyway, I think it’s an interesting perspective to take, but considering this is meant to be a treasure hunt, it’s probably fine to be a little more casual about it, right?” I said.

“…I suppose, yeah,” said Matsushita-san.

Once that had been said, she wouldn’t be able to continue this conversation any longer. Anyway, she likely just figured it was better to try and reason things out a little so that we wouldn’t regret it later.

“Anyway, too bad for me,” she sighed. “Guess someone beat me to it.”

“T-too bad?” repeated Satou.

“I think I’ll go search around for a dependable partner myself. Anyway, see ya!” said Matsushita.

Standing around here talking would only result in all of us missing out on opportunities anyway.

6.3

L ESS THAN AN HOUR had passed since the treasure hunt began. By now, many of the participants had scattered, and there were no longer people clustered around in groups of dozens of more. However, I did see students passing by constantly, searching intensely in the same locations. Speaking psychologically, it would be difficult for someone to just go ahead and scan the very first QR code they found. Even if you considered that QR code you discovered to have been difficult to find, you wouldn’t have any frame of reference to compare it too. There was probably a certain percentage of students, me and Satou included, who could have actually discovered the 500,000- or one-million-point codes already but refrained from scanning them or decided to ignore them for now.

“Good morning, Ayanokouji-senpai.”

“Hm? Oh, morning, Nanase,” I replied.

I had thought I sensed a presence approach me from behind, and it turned out to be none other than Nanase. I guess, once again, that we were setting yet another new record for consecutive run-ins since the vacation began, huh.

“…Who’s she?” asked Satou.

For some reason, Satou seemed visibly cautious of Nanase, shooting her a glare. For Nanase’s part, though, she didn’t interpret the look Satou was giving her as anything offensive and simply bowed her head respectfully.

“My name is Nanase Tsubasa, from Class 1-D,” she announced.

“Hmm… It’s hard to believe that you’re a first-year,” remarked Satou, eyeing a particular area of Nanase’s body.

Nanase simply cocked her head to the side, puzzled.

“You think so? I don’t think I look nearly mature enough to be mistaken for someone older, though,” she said.

“H-huh? Who says you’re not mature?” Satou exclaimed. “You certainly look mature no matter who you ask!”

“Really? Hearing you compliment me like that makes me quite happy,” said Nanase. “I’ll do my utmost every day so that I may become more mature.”

“There’s no point in trying to become even more mature, is there? Err, I mean, how exactly are you going to do that?” Satou leaned forward a bit; it sounded as though she wanted to become more mature herself.

“It’s difficult to explain in concrete terms, but… Yes, I believe that mental growth is essential.”

“M-mental?” Satou repeated in surprise. “So, not like, drinking milk or getting a massage every day?”

“It’s certainly true that such actions that promote physical growth are connected to becoming mature, but in my case, I think it’s coming from the mind,” said Nanase.

“Hm… This is the first I’ve heard of that. But it’s strangely convincing.”

It’s nice that you’re so impressed, Satou, but I don’t think you and Nanase are on the same page here…

“Are you treasure-hunting too, Nanase?” I asked.

“Huh? Oh, um, no, I’m not,” she replied. “For some reason, I just felt like taking it easy today.”

It sounded like she wasn’t taking part in the event. But in that case, why did she come here?

“I’m glad to see that you’re looking well again today, Ayanokouji-senpai. Well, I think it’s time I were going now.”

Not long after I parted ways with Nanase, I happened to walk past Nakaizumi as well.

“Nakaizumi?” I muttered aloud.

“Hm? Is something up with Nakaizumi-kun?” Satou asked.

I was trying not to pay it much mind over the past few days, but it didn’t seem to be a coincidence after all. It wasn’t merely by chance that I was running into Nanase every day.

First and foremost, Nanase was deliberately making contact with me so that she could check how I was doing each day. It was only on the third day that I was the one who found Nanase instead, when she was having lunch out on the deck. But even if I hadn’t gone over to talk to her then, it was safe to assume she would’ve come to me.

And then there was Nakaizumi, who was following after Nanase. He might not have been following Nanase every time she was out, but he was certainly up to something. In all likelihood, it was Ryuuen’s shadow looming behind Nakaizumi. I wondered if Nakaizumi was investigating my relationship with Nanase, but so far, he hadn’t seemed to be paying me any mind. In that case, it was better for me to assume that that he was only keeping tabs on Nanase.

I wanted to try to deduce what reason they could have for tracking her. Ryuuen was looking for the perpetrator who had injured Komiya and Kinoshita. If that was what this was about though, Nanase was completely innocent. Simply getting testimony from Sudou and Ike would make that clear. In that case, why would Ryuuen be keeping an eye on her? Both Nanase and I knew that she saw Amasawa that day, but if Nanase knew more and was keeping that information to herself, it would be a different story.

Even if I pondered the matter further right now, I wouldn’t find anything out. I decided to just file that away in the back of my mind for now.

“I-I found one, Ayanokouji-kun!” Satou exclaimed happily, pointing. “In a kind of hard-to-find spot!”

It was on the other side of a standing lamp, in a place that was almost completely out of sight. Hidden under the shade was a sticker with a QR code. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be anyone else but us here at the moment.

“But we won’t know how many points it’s worth until we scan it, right?” Satou added.

“That’s the hard part,” I replied.

I had a feeling that this wasn’t the most commonly found QR code, as it seemed somewhat difficult to find, but was hard to judge since it wasn’t actually that difficult.

“What should we do?” asked Satou.

“Let’s see…”

Nonetheless, I had no doubt that this QR code was too good to simply throw out. I took out my phone, turned on the camera, and pointed it at the code.

“Huh? W-wait, is that okay? To go ahead and scan it?”

“Actually, I’m not scanning it.”

Satou blinked. “Huh?”

I pressed the button to take a picture, saving a zoomed-in photograph of the QR code.

“What are you doing?” asked Satou.

“I’m keeping pictures of QR codes that seem like they might be worth a lot of Private Points, like this one,” I explained. “That way, if we can’t find a better code later, then we can just have you scan the QR code from the photo I saved, Satou.”

“Huh? R-really? Will that still work, scanning it from a photo?” she asked.

“As long as it’s a clear shot, it should work without any issues.”

It would be inefficient to come all the way back here looking for a QR code we found before. Besides, our rivals might beat us to it anyway. However, if we found multiple codes and saved them, we could just scan any of the ones we had if we needed to. If we got a hit with one of those codes, we’d be in luck.

Even with just one phone, it was possible to point the camera at the QR code and display the URL. However, our phones weren’t capable of copying the URL if we didn’t access it first, which meant that if we wanted to keep the URL, we’d have to manually type it in later. And if you accidentally touched the URL, you’d start the process of redeeming the code, and then the points would be transferred into your account.

“The school said that there were benefits to pairing up, but they weren’t just talking about the fact that you share points,” I added. “Using two phones means we can use time-saving techniques, and we can prevent accidents from happening.”

I figured some students who were panicking and made a mad dash for codes may have overlooked this fact. I was sure that many other students were probably employing these techniques though. Now, we just had to hope that no one else found this QR code. If anyone spotted us standing here looking at this standing lamp, this hiding spot would be immediately exposed.

“Let’s move,” I said aloud.

“Okay,” replied Satou.

We headed to a different floor and began searching for QR codes once again. I was groping around underneath a sofa, and something caught my attention.

“Looks like there’s one here too,” I remarked.

“That’s kind of an easy pattern, isn’t it?” she pointed out. “I mean, that there’s one under this sofa here, like the others.”

“Satou, would you stand watch for a minute?” I asked.

“Sure, but what’s up?”

I sat in front of the couch and lowered my face down to take a peek.

“I thought we couldn’t expect much from these kinds of QR codes though?” she asked.

“For the QR code here, yeah,” I replied.

I started to run my hand not against the floor underneath the sofa, but rather, along the bottom of the sofa itself. Usually, I looked at the floor underneath, but I hadn’t looked at the underside of the sofa before. I supposed it might have been more correct to say that I couldn’t look at it, rather than I wasn’t looking at it. But when you touched it with your hands, you’d notice that something felt different.

The underside of the sofa should be fabric and even, so something wasn’t right. Here, there was something that caught your fingers if you ran your hand along it. It was a five-centimeter square. There was a sticker placed here. I took my phone in my hands, held it underneath the sofa, and took a picture. By using the light from my phone camera’s flash, I was able to get a picture of the QR code in the dark.

“Wow, there really was something there!” Satou said. “It’s a QR code! You normally wouldn’t find one there, for sure!”

If I had been participating in this treasure hunt game alone, it wouldn’t have been easy for me to scan this QR code. Sure, I could have still saved a photograph of the QR code by taking a picture with the flash on, but I wouldn’t have been able to scan it from my own phone. And even if I tried to flip the sofa over, I’d basically be committing to scanning the QR code without delay as doing something like that would be a big deal and rather conspicuous. However, since I was paired up with someone, I could just have Satou scan it from the photo, and everything would work out smoothly.

“It seems like you really think of everything, and so does the school,” observed Satou.

After finding a new potential code to scan, we decided to keep moving.

6.4

E VEN THOUGH THIS SHIP was quite expansive, students couldn’t just freely go wherever they wanted. Inevitably, students were concentrated in the places where they could hang out, so unexpected encounters were common here. One young man headed toward the outdoor café, while another walked back to his own cabin. Two people who had completely unrelated destinations happened to encounter one another in the corridor.

Both were walking down the middle of the hall, and neither showed any sign of backing down. They noticed each other’s presence almost simultaneously and stopped just about a meter apart.

“Yo, Ryuuen. Thank you so much for what you did the other day.”

The first to open his mouth to speak was Housen Kazuomi, from Class 1-D.

“You sure it’s okay for you to be up and about? I mean, you may as well stay in bed for another week or so, I figure.”

And the person to respond was none other than Ryuuen Kakeru.

“Don’t worry ’bout it,” Housen said. “Besides, even if I beat you half to death right here… Nah, even if I actually kill you, it ain’t even gonna make me feel any better. I’ve got two targets to kill now rather than one, so looks like I’m gonna be busy.”

“Man, you’d sure look lame if you lost to the same opponent twice,” Ryuuen replied. “Don’t push your luck.”

They were each repeatedly trying to provoke the other, but neither one was ready to start throwing punches.

“Heh,” Housen scoffed. “Anyway, loser, I heard you’ve been secretly buyin’ out Free Ride cardholders from the first-years. You bet on that third-year Nagumo, if I remember. Didn’t you make quite a bit from that?”

“ Ku ku . What, someone pissed themselves and told, huh? Who? I made sure to put a clause in the contract that they’d have to keep their mouths shut.”

Before the uninhabited island exam started, Ryuuen approached first-year students who had the Free Ride card and had them sign contracts. Those students were apparently supposed to give up all the points they earned from whatever group they had designated if that group won anything. If the group they picked only gotten into the top fifty percent, they would have only earned 30,000 points. In other words, if you were going to get even more value out of that, then some people were going to have to give up their claim to it.

In the end, Ryuuen had designated Nagumo’s group, and had gotten 280,000 points across all the students he had contracts with. Most of Ryuuen’s classmates were unaware of this fact, and only the people he used to execute his plan knew about it.

“If you lick my shoes, then I’ll give you a little bit of my leftovers. How’s that sound, gorilla?” mocked Ryuuen, with a smile.

He continued on his way, never even taking his hands out of his pockets. Housen could have stood his ground, but he took a step aside, making way for Ryuuen to pass. Ishizaki followed right after Ryuuen. Though he was wary of Housen, he continued hurrying after Ryuuen. Housen, too, strode confidently down the middle of the hallway afterward, never once looking back.

“Man, that guy’s as crazy as ever, dude, geez,” said Ishizaki. “But he got all scared and made way for you.”

“Dude’s got balls,” said Ryuuen.

“But, uh…”

“It’s a sign of his determination. He’s sayin’ that if I do somethin’ to him again, he’s gonna let me have it next time,” said Ryuuen. He had sensed Housen’s killing intent and violent nature in that brief moment when he walked past him.

“He’s trouble, huh?” remarked Ishizaki.

“Drop it. I know he’s gonna be a difficult guy to deal with, but first we gotta find the culprit.”

“Yeah. I’m gonna have Nishino help keep ’er in check,” said Ishizaki.

Ishizaki took out his phone to check something. Then, he guided Ryuuen ahead, leading the way. Shortly thereafter, Ryuuen and Ishizaki arrived at their intended destination. Before Ishizaki could announce anything though, Ryuuen approached the lone female student there.

“You Nanase Tsubasa?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Do you need something from me?”

Though Nanase had been called, being compelled to stay where she was, she didn’t seem in the least bit panicked as she looked at Ryuuen. She didn’t understand why she had drawn the attention of one of her senpai, after all.

“Sorry, but I’m gonna need a minute of your time,” Ryuuen said.

Normally, Ryuuen himself would’ve been enough for the job, or himself and Ishizaki. But they had a girl from their class, Nishino, accompany them as well to help keep Nanase there. Ryuuen knew that if they created a situation where an underclassman girl was surrounded only by guys, it could be a disadvantage to them, not a benefit.

“I wanted to ask you about something that happened during the uninhabited island exam,” Ryuuen went on.

“Something during the exam?” she asked.

Nanase still didn’t quite know what was going on, but she quickly understood after what Ryuuen said next.

“Komiya got hurt. I’m lookin’ for the person who did it.”

“Why are you coming to me?” asked Nanase.

“The five people who rushed to the scene were Sudou, Ayanokouji, Ike, Hondou, and you. Ain’t no way we’re gettin’ any leads talkin’ to Sudou, Ike, or Hondou.”

“In that case, why not ask Ayanokouji-senpai, as he is also in your grade level?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna have a chat with him too, of course,” Ryuuen said. “Depending on how things go, at least. But let’s start with you. Seemed like you were stuck to Ayanokouji like glue during the exam. Why?”

“I don’t think that has anything to do with the incident,” said Nanase.

“Let’s wait until I hear what you have to say before we decide whether it’s unrelated or not.”

Most people readily confessed anything when they were confronted by Ryuuen, bearing down on them with his coercive behavior. Nanase, however, wasn’t flustered at all.

“I am sorry, but I have nothing to tell you,” she said, refusing him calmly.

She bowed and tried to leave, but Ryuuen thrust his leg out, slamming the bottom of his foot against the wall.

“You ain’t got the right to decide to talk or not,” he said.

“You are quite a violent person, aren’t you? I think if anyone were to see this situation, it would likely create problems for you,” Nanase warned him.

“Don’t worry. I got a few other people on hand to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“I understand that Komiya-senpai is a classmate of yours, Ryuuen-senpai. However, I do not think I can be of any help to you. I do not have any leads.”

“That so?” Ryuuen said. “You’ve sure been makin’ the rounds a lot these past several days, goin’ all over the place.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Nanase. She didn’t avert her eyes and simply told him that she didn’t understand what he meant. Unfortunately, that provided an opening for Ryuuen to exploit.

“You’ve been keepin’ tabs on Kurachi from Class 1-C, all day long, while everyone else is playin’ around and havin’ fun. Haven’t you?”

For the first time since their conversation began, Nanase’s eyes widened, and she appeared visibly shaken. “H…”

“Once I heard about what happened with Komiya, I had people keepin’ tabs on Sudou, Ike, Hondou, and you, just to be safe,” Ryuuen continued. “Those three guys have been playin’ around like a buncha idiots, but that’s pretty normal here on this boat. You, on the other hand, you haven’t been havin’ any fun at all. You’ve been followin’ around a particular first-year. That don’t seem normal.”

“It’s just a coincidence,” said Nanase.

“Coincidence, huh. Lots of people are havin’ fun, like with that treasure hunt thing goin’ on today. Kurachi’s participatin’. But you’re not. And yet you were following him all this time until Nishino caught up with you. So that’s just a coincidence too, that you were doing all that today?”

If you were playing the game, then you’d have to go around looking for QR codes. But if you weren’t taking part, you could save yourself that hassle. Nanase had been so focused on watching Kurachi that she hadn’t noticed she herself was being watched.

“I suppose I still have much to learn too,” she said. “To think that I hadn’t realized that I’ve been followed day after day. I’m quite surprised.”

“Be thankful I reached out to you first,” sneered Ryuuen.

“Excellent work, Ryuuen-senpai. However, the matter of Kurachi-kun has nothing to do with what happened to Komiya-senpai.”

“Huh, that so? In that case, guess I’ll go have a little chat with Kurachi directly then.”

“That would be a problem,” said Nanase.

“Then tell me what you know. Or are you not able to say anything unless someone gives you instructions?”

“Nothing of the sort. However, the fact remains that what’s irrelevant is irrelevant.”

“Don’t make me repeat myself. You ain’t the one who decides that. I am.”

Ryuuen had a smile on his face during this entire exchange and he continued wearing it, never letting it fade. But the air he gave off changed over time. Ishizaki, who had been watching by Ryuuen’s side, had felt his intimidation many times over now, but he still hadn’t gotten used to it. He wasn’t even the one being questioned, but he almost wanted to roll over and start talking himself.

However, despite all that, Nanase looked Ryuuen straight in the eye, without showing any hint of unease.

“You’re mistaken,” she insisted. “You do not have the authority to make those kinds of judgments, Ryuuen-senpai.”

“What are you hemmin’ and hawin’ for?” Ryuuen snapped. “Why don’t you just hurry up and get on with whatever this is?”

It was certainly true that Nanase Tsubasa was feeling hesitant and full of doubt. The seed of these anxieties came from what happened during the mid-point of the uninhabited island exam. It went back to the day when Nanase took her repressed anger out on Ayanokouji, using him as an outlet for her frustrations, after Amasawa had appeared before her and Ayanokouji with a deadly weapon. That was when Ayanokouji had surmised that there was someone else out there other than Amasawa.

At the time, Ayanokouji had declined to use the GPS search. However, Nanase had secretly conducted a search in her own tent. Still, she proceeded to slip into Ayanokouji’s tent, without looking through all the details. That was because she knew that if she thoughtlessly investigated more deeply and found something out, he would see right through her and notice her shock and unrest. But thanks to her secret GPS search, Nanase had discovered that other than Amasawa, Ayanokouji and herself, there were two more people nearby at that time.

Those people were Kushida Kikyou, a second-year student, and Kurachi Naohiro, a first-year student. Normally, she would’ve investigated both people, but since Kushida was a second-year student and one of Ayanokouji’s classmates, she decided to put that on hold. Apart from that incident, Nanase had been contacting Ayanokouji on a regular basis to see if there was anything unusual going on with him—and, depending on how things were going, to protect him if necessary. It seemed that had gone unnoticed.

“This is a waste of time,” Ryuuen decided. “Come on, let’s go have a chat with him.”

Nanase hung her head low, as if she had given up. However, she suddenly looked back up.

“Unfortunately, he’s out searching for QR codes throughout the ship, so I do not know where he is,” she said.

Ryuuen let out a small chuckle and took out his phone.

“Where’s Kurachi at?” he said into the phone. “Fourth floor, where the guest cabins are… All right. Headin’ there now.”

It seemed as though Ryuuen had predicted how this entire conversation with Nanase was going to go. After his brief call, he slipped his phone back into his pocket.

“After you pulled me away from Kurachi-kun, you were still having people keep watch on him, hm?” remarked Nanase.

“Unlike you, I’ve got lots of people at my disposal, at my beck and call, to be my eyes and ears,” said Ryuuen.

“Kurachi-kun might really have nothing to do with this, though,” said Nanase.

“I don’t need you to tell me that. I’ve just gotta cross things off the list, one by one.”

The only lead that both Nanase and Ryuuen could follow right now was Kurachi.

“So? You comin’ or not?” Ryuuen said. “Hurry up and decide.”

Nanase didn’t need to bother imagining that if she refused Ryuuen’s offer, he was going to press Kurachi by himself. She nodded, deciding to go with him to see Kurachi.

Before too long, she could see Kurachi searching for QR codes, together with Taguri, who she presumed to be his partner.

“Please allow me to speak to Kurachi-kun alone first, just the two of us,” she said.

“Why?” replied Ryuuen.

“Because I’ll be able to extract information from him skillfully.”

“What guarantee do I got that you’ll get the information I want out of him?” Ryuuen demanded.

“You will just have to trust me.”

“Sorry, but I don’t.”

“Even so, you have no choice but to trust me,” said Nanase. “I will most definitely report back everything I hear.”

“Ugh, fine, whatever,” Ryuuen huffed. “But I ain’t gonna show you any mercy if you screw up, even if you’re a chick. Got it?”

“I was assuming as much,” Nanase replied.

Ryuuen gestured with his chin, instructing Nishino and Ishizaki to get Taguri away from Kurachi. Being called out by second-year students like Ishizaki and Nishino, Taguri could only do as he was told obediently.

“Could I have a minute of your time, Kurachi-kun?” asked Nanase.

“Huh? Wait, you’re… If I remember correctly, you’re Nanase from Class D, right?” Kurachi said.

Seeing his partner, Taguri, get summoned by their senpai had shaken Kurachi somewhat, and he found himself feeling quite restless.

“I would just like to ask you a few questions,” said Nanase.

“Sorry, but I’m doing the treasure hunt right now, so I don’t have time f—”

“Please tell me the reason why you were targeting Ayanokouji-senpai during the uninhabited island exam,” she said sternly, cutting him off.

“Huh? Wh-what are you talking about?”

If Nanase took her time, there was no telling when Ryuuen might suddenly butt in. She needed to get answers out of Kurachi while they were alone.

“It’s pointless to try and hide it,” she told him. “On the seventh day of the exam, during that big downpour, I used the GPS Search feature to see who was in the vicinity. Amasawa-san was there. Aside from her, there was another person there. You. And, not far from the area, there were tools meant for assaulting people. You cannot talk your way out of this.”

“I don’t have a clue what you’re on about!” Kurachi shouted in a loud voice, denying that he knew anything. He tried to get away, but Nanase clasped onto his arm.

“Do you see those second-year students back there?” she said. “They’re frantically searching for whoever tried to attack Ayanokouji-senpai. Depending on how their search goes, they might even resort to violence.”

“H-huh? Hey, don’t mess with me! What the hell is this, anyway?!”

“Shh!” Nanase hushed him. “It’s better if you don’t antagonize them by shouting too loudly.”

“B… B-but, I… I only…!” he wailed.

“Only?”

“I was told that…if I attacked Ayanokouji-senpai, I’d be paid…”

“Someone was going to pay you if you attacked him?” asked Nanase.

“Normally, I wouldn’t have accepted an offer like that,” Kurachi said. “But I spent all my Private Points, and…”

“And?” she prompted him.

“I was told that it was fine to just ‘pretend’ to attack him, that it wouldn’t be a big deal. I didn’t really do anything wrong. You get that, right?”

It was certainly true that simply pretending to attack someone could be dismissed as just a joke.

“Who ordered you to pretend to attack him and offered you money for it?” Nanase asked. “And when?”

“That’s… Well, it was before the exam…”

“B-before the exam?” Nanase was surprised to hear that. She didn’t expect that it would’ve happened that early. “Meaning, in other words…it was planned from the beginning?”

“And I don’t even know who gave the orders,” Kurachi went on. “The Private Points were just transferred into my account with me having to do anything.”

“…You’re lying, aren’t you?” Nanase said.

“Buh?! I-I’m not lying!”

“You clearly know something, and you’re hiding it. That’s how this looks to me.”

“I don’t—” Kurachi didn’t finish his thought.

“I don’t know how deeply you’re aware of this, Kurachi-kun,” Nanase said, “but your actions at that time meant that Ryuuen-senpai had to change his plans. And not only that, but Housen-kun’s plans were changed, as well.”

Kurachi furrowed his brow in unease after hearing this abrupt change in topic.

“Right now, he’s frantically searching for the culprit. I wonder, what would happen if I reported this…? I’m sure that Housen-kun would bring his fists against you quite mercilessly, Kurachi-kun. Wouldn’t you agree?”

The second-year Ryuuen and the first-year Housen. Both of those skilled martial artists were threatening to go after him.

“W-w-w-wait!” Kurachi cried. He had been whispering before, but now he frantically raised his voice. “Wait, I said! I get it, I’ll talk! I’ll talk, so just give me a break!”

Housen was the most despised and feared person among all the first-years. After trying it out for herself, Nanase had found that the power of his name was even more potent than she had imagined.

“…It was my classmate,” said Kurachi. “Utomiya.”

“Utomiya-kun?”

“Yeah. He said that he wanted me to attack Ayanokouji-senpai, and that he’d pay me after the special exam was over.”

“Is that true?” Nanase pressed.

“Seriously, yes! It’s the truth!” he wailed.

Nanase looked into Kurachi’s eyes, and then nodded once.

“I believe you, Kurachi-kun,” she said. “I have one final question for you. Do you know anything about the incident during which Komiya-senpai and Kinoshita-senpai were injured?”

“Komiya?” Kurachi echoed. “No, I don’t know a thing. Seriously, not a clue. Anyway, please don’t tell Housen that I had anything to do with Ayanokouji, okay? Okay?”

“I understand. I promise,” said Nanase.

Nanase told Kurachi that he could go, and Taguri was released at the same time. Ryuuen immediately went over and approached Nanase, demanding that she speak. Nanase told him honestly that Kurachi didn’t seem to know anything about what happened to Komiya, but Ryuuen didn’t believe her. Even though he had been watching from a distance, he could tell that Kurachi had told Nanase something.

“According to what he said…Utomiya-kun might know something,” said Nanase.

“Utomiya?”

“Utomiya-kun,” Nanase repeated. “He’s a member of Class 1-C, alongside Kurachi-kun.”

Ryuuen immediately took out his phone and looked up Utomiya’s face and abilities in OAA.

“Don’t recall ever seein’ his mug before,” he muttered. “Still, an A for Physical Ability, huh.”

“If it were Utomiya-kun, he might very well be capable enough to shove Komiya-kun down without being spotted,” Nanase said. “However, we do not have any definite proof yet.”

“You’re startin’ to connect some dots, aren’t ya?”

“…What are you planning to do?” asked Nanase.

“Ain’t it obvious?” Ryuuen said. “I’m gonna track this little punk Utomiya down and make him tell me what’s up.”

“Please wait. I do not approve.”

If Utomiya were a White Room student, then he would be a difficult opponent to face, even for Ryuuen. More importantly, though, Nanase knew that Ayanokouji wouldn’t exactly be grateful if things started moving ahead without his permission.

“A case with no conclusive evidence… No, this is a problem,” she said. “Even supposing Utomiya-kun were the culprit, if he were cleared of all allegations, then that would be the end of it, no?”

“That all depends on how you threaten ’im, just like how you got Kurachi to spill his guts,” said Ryuuen.

“I was able to get the truth out of him because I had been tailing him for the past several days and had done some preliminary research,” Nanase said. “Also, considering Kurachi-kun’s personality, I figured that I could get what I needed if I pushed him. But as for Utomiya-kun, he’s an unknown quantity.”

“Whaddaya want me to do then?” asked Ryuuen.

“Please give me some time. I’m not saying for free, of course.”

“Oh? Keep going.”

“I’ve kept quiet about this for quite some time now, but there’s another witness to Komiya-senpai’s case that you are not aware of, Ryuuen-senpai. I do not mind telling you who that person is.”

“Who?” barked Ryuuen.

“I can’t tell you now,” Nanase replied. “Not until you tell me that you will refrain from contacting Utomiya-kun. If you agree, I’ll tell you.”

“You drive a hard bargain, girly,” Ryuuen scoffed. “Well fine, whatever. I’ll accept your terms.”

“Thank you very much. I will follow up with the details.”

“But you know, if you’re lyin’ to me, you better be prepared for the consequences. Got it?”

“It’s not a lie.”

“ Ku ku, all right. All right. Get back to me before I lose my patience,” said Ryuuen.

Nanase responded with a brief acknowledgement, nodded, and then walked away.

6.5

W E HAD FOUND several QR codes so far, but there was still just the one that seemed like it might be worth a lot of points. There were several students in sight who were searching for codes, so the competition was most definitely fierce. Since we were prohibited from employing non-participants to engage human wave tactics—that is, throwing large numbers of non-participants into the game to help us—it was unlikely that many students were going to do anything openly dishonest. But with over 200 students participating in this game, it was inevitable that some of them would cheat.

I noticed that Satou had suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned around.

“What should I give my all in?” she said aloud. “What can I work at so that I don’t make trouble for the class?”

“What’s this all about, all of a sudden?” I asked.

“Sorry for asking a weird question out of nowhere like that,” she said. “But this isn’t something that just randomly popped up into my head, y’know? I’ve been thinking about it since before the uninhabited island exam. I’ve been thinking about how I can be useful to our class.”

She looked down, looking at the palms of her hands.

“I wish I could go back and talk to my old, excited self, before I started school here. Back when I was all fired up and all I could think about was just having fun doing whatever in high school, and that I could get a job anywhere. I’d tell her that this place isn’t a normal school. That it’s a totally ridiculous place.”

To put it a little less kindly, Satou was, overall, less capable than the average high school student. Still, she was on the higher end of the class’s social hierarchy, and her voice carried a good deal of weight. Although improving academic ability, physical ability, and communication skills each came with varying degrees of difficulty, many people could improve with some effort. If you wanted a clear example, Sudou’s name would be the first to come to mind. He had been at the bottom of the class in academic ability but showed remarkable growth and quickly improved his academic abilities by leaps and bounds. As you could see from that example, the important thing was promise, room for growth.

“If you want to work hard for your classmates, then studying is probably essential,” I replied.

“Ugh… Yeah, you’re right.” Satou sheepishly hung her head low and scratched her cheek, as if to say, “I figured as much.” “Oh, Ayanokouji-kun, I don’t suppose…you would tutor me, would you?”

“Me?” I asked.

As soon as answered, though, Satou immediately thrust out her hands, waving them in a flustered panic.

“Oh, sorry, sorry! Forget what I said just now! Karuizawa-san would get mad at me…!”

“Wouldn’t it be okay to just have Horikita tutor you?” I asked.

“Horikita-san? But, um, she and I don’t really get along too well, y’know?”

That was putting it quite mildly. Satou hadn’t really made any effort to make friends with Horikita in the past year and a half.

“Putting aside the fact that you two would need to get along, I think she has a strong reputation when it comes to tutoring,” I replied. “After all, she helped whip Sudou into shape.”

There was absolutely no need for me to go into detail about Horikita’s nature or her teaching methods. It was just true that she had been able to develop Sudou, the biggest problem child in our class.

“Well, Sudou-kun certainly did overtake me in a flash… That’s for sure,” Satou agreed.

“You don’t want the dishonor of being given the title of worst student in the worst class in our grade, do you?” I asked.

“A-absolutely not.”

Satou was one of the students near the bottom of the rankings in our class, so she felt a powerful sense of urgency on that point.

“Then…could I ask you to be a mediator between me and Horikita-san, Ayanokouji-kun?” she asked.

“If that’s all, then sure, that’s no problem.”

If there was some hope that this would improve our class’s academic performance, there was no way Horikita would turn Satou down. Sudou might have some conflicting feelings about having more people around Horikita regardless of whether they were the same sex or not, but he wasn’t going to refuse either.

6.6

“H ORIKITA-SENPAI , it’s time for a shift change,” Yagami-kun said. “Please take a break.”

It had been about two hours since the treasure hunt game had started, and it was just about noon. Yagami-kun approached me because it was his turn to take over checking the reward payouts. I closed the register of first-year students and slowly looked up at him.

“I’m not particularly tired, and I don’t mind continuing the task of verifying rewards on my own,” I replied.

I wanted to cherish this time I had right now, to be able to freely look through the roster of students with just a small group of people.

“That will not do,” said Yagami-kun. “I also have a job that I’ve been given. If I just let you handle everything, Horikita-senpai, then I couldn’t call myself a member of the student council.”

“…Yes, I suppose you’re exactly right. That’s true.”

It was unlikely that someone who subscribed to the idea, “If I can take it easy, then I will,” would join the student council. I decided not to fight it, and instead, backed off.

“Thank you. In that case, I suppose I’ll take you up on your offer and take a break,” I added.

“Of course. Go ahead,” said Yagami-kun.

That meant that I would be helping verify rewards again later, starting at two o’clock, and then my role would be over. I supposed it wasn’t much of a burden if I looked at it as a time for work, but…

“Horikita-senpai, how many people have received rewards thus far?” asked Yagami-kun as he looked down at the register of names.

“If we’re including those in pairs, about forty students, I believe,” I replied. “There was a student who actually got the 500,000-point code, but I get the impression that a surprisingly large number of students have misjudged the codes they found and ended up with only 5,000 points.”

“They likely don’t want other students to find the QR codes they found, thinking that they were the only ones who saw them,” Yagami-kun said. “They probably wanted to hurry up and scan them. I can understand that, more or less.”

I supposed that if they passed over a QR code they found, there was no guarantee that they’d be able to find it again later. What I was more concerned about right now was the other person who Yagami-kun had come here together with. Yagami-kun turned toward that person with a smile on his face.

“Well then, I will see you later, Kushida-senpai,” he said.

I had heard that she and Yagami-kun were close during their junior high days, but from the looks of things, their relationship had continued in this school too.

“Yes, see you later, Yagami-kun,” she replied.

I couldn’t help but notice that the friendly way she sent him off made it seem like they had transcended the boundary of mere friends. I supposed I would describe their apparent relationship as something more than friends, but less than lovers. It seemed fitting way to describe it that way.

“If anything happens, call me, and I’ll come running,” I urged him.

“I understand. Thank you very much,” he replied.

Yagami-kun had only been involved in student council affairs for a brief time, but he had strong communication skills and the ability to handle obvious work that needed to be done. He was a dependable junior in the sense that I could trust him with the job, and there was no doubt that he was much more capable than the other two first-year students who joined the student council at the same time he did. And although such a discussion was a long way off, I felt that I could say he was the best candidate for student council president for the generation after us.

When I had left my post, I saw that Kushida-san had also left instead of staying by Yagami-kun’s side. It was only natural that she’d do that, though, since she wouldn’t want to get in the way of the work that he needed to do. I had to assume that the fact she was walking next to me, side-by-side, meant something.

“You were with Yagami-kun earlier, weren’t you? Why aren’t you participating in the treasure hunt game, Kushida-san?” I asked.

“Hmm. I suppose I just didn’t feel like participating for some reason. There are quite a few people like that, you know?”

“It’s true that the participation rates for the second-year and third-year students wasn’t as high as I thought they would be,” I conceded.

It meant that people prioritized their vacation days over the chance to earn a high number of Private Points. I supposed that the time we could spend here on this ship was precious, even if it was just a vacation.

“You’re going on break right now, right, Horikita-san?” said Kushida-san. “If you wouldn’t mind, would you like to have lunch together?”

“With me?” I couldn’t hide my suspicions about Kushida-san’s unusual proposal.

“Is it strange that I’m inviting you out? Well, actually, I suppose it is, isn’t it?” said Kushida-san, smiling in amusement.

She didn’t let that smile she showed to everyone crack. This wasn’t a situation where she even needed to think about it.

“All right,” I agreed. “I have some other student council work to do later, so I suppose I should put something in my stomach. But it’s possible I could get called away on short notice, so is it all right if we just buy something from the kiosk?”

“Of course,” she replied.

I knew there weren’t many opportunities for Kushida-san to call on me like this. This might also be a good opportunity for me to ask some questions that had been smoldering deep down inside me.

“May I ask you a potentially insensitive question?” I asked as soon as we started moving, not wanting to waste any time.

“About the reason I invited you out, Horikita-san?” she asked.

“Well, yes, there’s that, but—”

“The reason why I’m close with Yagami-kun?”

It seemed as though Kushida-san already knew what I wanted to ask her, as if it were entirely obvious.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t on my mind,” I admitted.

Kushida-san herself was bothered by the fact that her behavior would be incomprehensible under normal circumstances.

“You’re trying to hide your past, about what happened in junior high,” I said. “That’s why you’ve made me, someone who attended the same school as you, and Ayanokouji-kun, who found out about your past, your enemies… That much makes sense.”

Kushida-san continued facing forward, listening without looking in my direction.

“Even if Yagami-kun doesn’t know anything, I have the impression that you avoid getting involved with certain kinds of boys. Putting it somewhat harshly, it seems like you’re ‘everybody’s friend,’ a scheming people pleaser. Or, if I were to put it more nicely, someone who treats everyone impartially.”

“There wasn’t any need for you to give me the harsh version, was there?” she asked.

“…I suppose not. I’m sorry if I’ve offended you.”

“ A ha ha. You can relax, I’m not mad.”

I didn’t intentionally mean to speak harshly—I just gave my personal impressions. While I thought it was careless of me, I supposed there was no taking it back.

“Why do you think that I’m close to Yagami-kun?” she asked, turning the question around.

“Do you…have that kind of relationship with Yagami-kun, by any chance?”

I was hesitant to come out and say it directly, so I asked my question in a somewhat vague manner.

“By that kind of relationship, you mean if we’re dating?” she asked.

“…Yes.”

“Unfortunately, no, nothing of the sort. I’m not planning on dating anyone in particular while I’m in school.”

That’s exactly what it meant to be everyone’s friend, I supposed. I knew that Kushida-san was well-liked by the boys, even though I didn’t normally pay much attention to that kind of thing. There was no avoiding the fact that her popularity would be affected if she had a lover, whether it was a junior or not. I didn’t think such a thing would suit Kushida-san, a person who wanted to be seen as better than everyone else.

“In that case, why are you so close with Yagami-kun, then?” I asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” she replied, covering her mouth and giggling. “What a funny thing to ask. It’s because the best way to get rid of someone is to get onto their side first.”

“…I see.”

I thought that might have been the case, but I felt overwhelmed by the fact she was smiling, and that she had answered me straight out, as I had imagined she would. In other words, this meant Yagami-kun was a target for elimination, just like Ayanokouji-kun and I were. Still, this didn’t mean that all my questions had been answered yet.

“What are the chances that he knows about your past?” I asked. “You can’t say anything for certain, can you?”

“I suppose you’re right. There’s no proof that he knows for sure.”

“In that case—”

“But there’s no proof that he doesn’t know for sure, is there?” she continued, still smiling. “Yagami-kun seems to have some feelings for me that go beyond a normal junior-senior relationship, so sticking close to him is much easier than you might think. That’s why I’m waiting by his side until I find an opening.”

Even if was only a one or two percent chance that he knew, as long as it wasn’t zero, he had to be eliminated. That was Kushida-san’s fundamental stance. So not even a junior like Yagami-kun is an exception…

“The number of obstacles in your way just keeps increasing, doesn’t it?” I mused. “You still haven’t gotten Ayanokouji-kun or I expelled yet, and now you’re intending to make even more enemies for yourself?”

“You must think it’s stupid, don’t you, Horikita-san?” she asked.

Well, I didn’t think it was a wise move at the very least.

“Essentially, I do not think there’s any need for us to be enemies,” I said. “If you were dealing with someone who loved to talk, that would be one thing. But Ayanokouji-kun and I don’t let anything slip.”

I’d been wondering why she couldn’t seem to understand that part, so I thought I’d press the matter, venturing into territory that I hadn’t touched on before.

“And where’s your proof?” Kushida replied. “Can you say that with 100 percent certainty?”

“Well, I could say it’s as close to 100 percent as you could possibly get… But I suppose that’s not going to convince you, is it?”

“Knowing that I have a past I have to protect… That alone is like I’m exposing my heart, rendering it defenseless. Eventually, you’re bound to come grab hold of that heart, Horikita-san.”

“I can’t understand what you’re saying,” I said. “There’s no need for me to do something like that.”

“Sure, if there’s no need, you won’t. But what if the need arises?” said Kushida-san.

“…What do you mean?”

“What if I took one of our class’s secrets and tried to leak it to another class? What if I betrayed you and tried to move to another class? Can you state with absolute certainty that you and others would never come to me with a warning, telling me something like, ‘If you don’t want your past getting out, do not betray us?’”

“That’s—”

It was certainly true that I couldn’t guarantee Kushida-san’s past wouldn’t come up if a situation came up where she needed to be controlled. I couldn’t rule out the possibility that I might need to use that as a secret weapon for the sake of protecting my classmates… That was definitely true. Of course, Kushida-san would try and get out of most things by saying that they were fabrications. However, some slight cracks had started to show in Kushida-san’s credibility recently. A strategic error in the In-Class Voting event resulted in her needlessly drawing attention to herself.

“It’s up to me, right?” she said. “You know, I’m feeling incredibly frustrated about this situation and that I have to have these conversations and talk about this. It makes me feel nauseated, and to be honest, I’m feeling very distressed.”

Despite her words, she had a smile on her face, and her tone of voice remained calm throughout. She was able to control much of her anger and was masking what she was feeling on the surface.

“I kind of understand what you’re trying to say, more or less… But I still feel like you’re overthinking this. I’m worried about you,” I told her.

“Heh, is that so? You’re worried about me?”

“I would like to ease some of your emotional burden, if at all possible.”

“ A ha ha ha , you don’t need to worry, Horikita-san. I’m fine,” Kushida-san insisted.

“You’re fine?” I repeated.

“I’ve also had enough of this. I’ve been thinking that I need to get this nasty business over and done with.”

“Meaning…?”

“Meaning, I’m thinking of a way that I can get rid of that burden in my own way.”

In that case, did that mean Kushida-san approached me today having thought of some kind of solution?

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot,” she went on. “If things continue as they are, with the situation gradually getting worse and worse, the number of people who know too much will only increase. Which is why… I’m going to ask you, first, Horikita-san. Won’t you drop out of school?”

Naturally, the most logical way for her emotional burden to be lightened would be for me to be removed from school. But I couldn’t consent to this, of course. More importantly, it wouldn’t resolve everything, anyway.

“It doesn’t seem like that’s connected to our conversation,” I replied. “What about Ayanokouji-kun’s presence? What about Yagami-kun? Even if I am expelled or drop out, there will still be people who know about you.”

I couldn’t imagine that me leaving would completely ease her emotional burden.

“I’m well aware of the fact that Ayanokouji-kun is someone who cannot be taken lightly,” said Kushida-san. “But you know what? He’s actually supporting me with Private Points.”

“Supporting you…?” I blinked.

That was something I had heard about from Ayanokouji-kun himself earlier, but I decided to respond to Kushida by pretending that I didn’t know.

“I think he called it a defensive tactic, so that he wouldn’t be expelled,” she said. “That means it’s proof he understands that I’m an enemy, and, at the same time, tells me that he’s afraid of me. If I show him that I can have you removed, Horikita-san, then even Ayanokouji-kun will have no choice but to keep quiet, right? And, if he slips up at all, he could be expelled himself.”

Kushida-san flashed me an unsettling grin and brought her face a little closer to mine.

“At any rate, even if I’m only able to get you alone removed from school, Horikita-san, that would bring me a certain degree of peace of mind. And that would give me time to think of another way to get rid of Ayanokouji-kun. As for Yagami-kun, I’m sure I can handle him at any time. He’s a serious little boy who likes me.”

Her large eyes seemed to have color in them, but at the same time, they didn’t. It was possible to read a person’s emotions from their eyes, but Kushida-san was most definitely an exception. Her strong determination to have me expelled never wavered.

“The reason I want you to disappear first, Horikita-san, is because you attended the same junior high school that I did,” she said. “If other people investigated it, they might be able to arrive at that fact too. But Ayanokouji-kun met me here in high school, so even if he were to try and expose me, I could just get out of it by saying that he was lying, right?”

True enough, what Kushida-san was saying was correct. If someone were to ask which one of us, between and or Ayanokouji-kun, would create more trouble for Kushida-san by exposing her past, then the answer would most definitely be me by a huge margin, as the person who went to the same junior high.

“Do you think that a person can’t simply get someone else expelled so easily, even if they say they’re going to? That’s what you’re thinking, right? After all, I haven’t been able to do anything to you over the past year and a half, Horikita-san. That’s a fact. Therefore, I won’t be able to get you expelled, even in the days to come… But is that really true, though?”

“If we were enemies from different classes, then that might have been a possibility,” I said. “But that’s not the case. It’s no simple task to expel an ally from your same class.”

“I will definitely prove to you that it’s possible,” said Kushida-san.

“Can’t we come to understand one another?” I said. “I am striving to graduate from Class A together with all my classmates. That includes you too, Kushida-san. And to do that, your help is essential.”

“Mo~ron.” She cursed at me in such a quiet voice that the tail end of the word seemed to disappear into nothing. “I am not going to help you. Stop saying things that make me want to vomit.”

“Kushida-san…”

“I’m looking forward to the second semester this year. I think we’re definitely going to have a fun time together.”

She slowly moved her face back away from mine, and the wickedness in her expression faded as she did. Even so, it was clear that there was a mixture of hatred and anger behind that smile.

“Whatever I try, it’s impossible, isn’t it…?” I sighed.

Kushida-san began to walk away from me, as if to tell me she’d had enough of our conversation.

“But, I believe… I’m sure that one day, I’ll get you to understand,” I muttered.

What I had just said should have reached Kushida-san’s ears, but she didn’t stop walking.

6.7

I T WAS JUST AFTER two o’clock in the afternoon. There was still plenty of time left before the treasure hunt was over, but it was probably safe to conclude that we had searched most of the ship by now. I had taken pictures of a total of six QR codes. I had objectively determined three of those codes to be a four-out-of-five in terms of how difficult they were to find. Therefore, I figured it would be promising to first choose from those three.

“Can you open your camera?” I asked.

“Which one are you going to scan?” said Satou.

“You can pick whichever one you instinctively think is a good one,” I replied.

“H-huh? Whichever one I think? Wh-what if I pick a bad one though?”

“We selected these QR codes carefully,” I said. “Besides, there’s a chance that they’ve already been scanned, so we might need to end up trying them all in the end.”

We’d have a better chance if we made a quick decision here rather than taking our time to think about it.

“O-okay, I got it,” she answered.

I took out my phone, and had Satou proceeded to swipe through the pictures on it. She seemed to agonize over the decision for a few seconds, but then she steeled herself and pointed her own phone’s camera at one of the pictures. It was the QR code that I found when I held my phone out underneath the couch. However…

“Ah, seems like this one’s no good,” she said. “It’s already been scanned.”

Although that code had been quite a challenge to find, it seemed like other students had been able to find it too.

“Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “Pick another one.”

She nodded, and without hesitation, scrolled through the pictures, selected another, and scanned it. But apparently the second code had also been scanned already, and Satou stomped her foot on the ground in frustration.

“Ugh, and after we went through all the trouble of finding that one too!” she huffed. “Darn it!”

Satou hurriedly scanned a third code. She stared at the screen for a while, but then, delighted, she made a great leap into the air.

“It scanned! Look! Something like a treasure chest popped out!”

It was a simple illustration of a treasure chest, with the word TAP next to it.

“I wonder how many points we’ll get…” she whispered.

She brought her hand to the screen to tap on the treasure chest with her pointer finger, but she stopped just before she made contact.

“A-Ayanokouji-kun, you press it!” she cried.

Apparently, she was scared to see the results, so she handed the phone over to me. I supposed that from Satou’s point of view, she spent 10,000 precious Private Points to participate in this game, so it was scary to see the results. I took the phone from her and touched the treasure chest on the screen.

“A-Ayanokouji-kun, you’re so bold!” she exclaimed.

I didn’t really do anything so significant that it could be described that way, though. The treasure chest glowed, and then a blue light began to surge out from inside the box. And then…

“Ah!!! …Oh…”

For a moment, Satou had been intensely surprised, but she quickly realized the truth, and her joy faded. The reason being was that what came out of the treasure chest was…not the one-million-point prize, but rather, the 100,000-point prize. She had been dreaming of getting the 300,000-, 500,000-, or one-million-point prizes, so she was slightly let down.

“Apparently, that QR code wasn’t as difficult to find as we thought it was, from the looks of it,” I observed.

“Yeah, seems that way… That’s too bad,” she sighed. “Still, though! Even after subtracting the participation fee, we’re still getting 90,000 points, so that’s plenty!”

Needless to say, with a result like that, I felt like I could proudly say that I was glad I had taken part in this game.

“Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun,” said Satou.

“I should be the one thanking you,” I replied. “You were the one who found the code that hadn’t been scanned yet, Satou.”

“…Hehe.”

Satou was acting bashful, the expression on her face seeming both happy and embarrassed.

6.8

S TUDENTS WHO SCANNED a QR code in the treasure hunt had a responsibility to report it to the school.

Satou and I returned to the starting point, and we headed over toward Horikita, who was waiting by the reception desk.

“Thank you. With that, the procedure is complete,” said Horikita.

Hearing the news, Satou expressed her genuine joy.

“Anyway, Ayanokouji-kun, thank you again for everything today,” she said. “Let’s hang out again sometime, okay?”

With that, she waved goodbye and walked away happily. Now that we had gotten a bit of extra income, it probably wasn’t a bad idea to spend some time enjoying ourselves a little more lavishly.

“Excluding the participation fees, you two have earned a combined total of 180,000 points,” said Horikita. “Great work.”

“Thanks,” I replied.

At this time, it looked like most of the participants had reported back, and only a few more students were still coming in.

“Looks like you’ve been hard at work too,” I remarked. “Have you taken any breaks?”

“Yes, for about an hour,” she said. “But I can’t complain. It was my own idea to take on this job. I appealed to the school directly for this, for the sake of fraud prevention.”

“A direct appeal, huh. It’s small, but it’s a step toward becoming student council president, right?”

Making a good impression with things like this would be appreciated by both the student council and the school.

“It’s not like that,” said Horikita. “Even if I hadn’t suggested this, there likely wouldn’t have been many instances of cheating anyway. It’s just… Well, I just wanted to be at least of some help, even if only a little.”

I didn’t really understand why, but it seemed like Horikita’s attention was elsewhere as she was looking off in another direction.

“So, who got the highest number of Private Points in our class?” I asked.

When I did though, she turned my question back around.

“Who do you think?”

“I’m hoping it’s not me and Satou,” I replied.

“Well, good news for you, you’re correct. It’s not you. One pair got the 500,000-point code. Kouenji-kun and Wang-san.”

“Kouenji? I’m surprised he participated in the first place, but the fact he partnered up with someone is even more so.”

I didn’t notice Kouenji earlier when the school was explaining the rules to us because there were so many people there.

“I’m of the same opinion,” said Horikita. “I don’t know what kind of circumstances led to him participating and partnering with someone, but he’s made a considerable amount of money in just the past two weeks.”

“No matter what Kouenji does, he certainly breaks the mold.”

I never imagined that on top of possessing astounding physical abilities, Kouenji had luck on his side too. Or, I supposed, it might have been a QR code that his partner had found.

“Not being able to use Kouenji-kun in the future is going to be a huge drawback for our class,” said Horikita.

“He was never the sort of person who’d work with us in the first place,” I said. “Can’t you just be satisfied with the fact that he took first place this time?”

“There’s no way I could be satisfied, is there?” she replied. “It’s far too much of a waste not making use of his talents if we’re going to be striving for Class A. Don’t you have any ideas?”

A way to make effective use of Kouenji? I felt it was a waste of resources even just thinking about it.

“It’s impossible,” I said.

“That was a fast response.”

I was confident that I could control other people, at least to a certain extent, but it was safe to say that the sole exception to this was Kouenji. I had run many simulations in my head on how to control all my classmates, and Kouenji was the only one who, no matter how many times I tried, evaded my control.

“Even if you give up, I won’t,” said Horikita. “His strength is essential.”

Trying to control what couldn’t be controlled was, simply put, a contradiction.

“Even if it’s a waste of time?” I asked.

“You’re saying we don’t need Kouenji-kun?”

“I think that as long as he doesn’t cause any harm, the best course of action is to leave him be,” I replied. “And now that Kouenji has been given a Protect Point, it’s become even more possible for us to do just that.”

“That certainly is a rational line of thinking, I suppose,” she conceded.

“If our class couldn’t win without Kouenji, then I could understand why you’d be so worked up about it. However, your class has already grown to be capable of competing against the other classes. And it will continue to grow from here onward.”

“That’s certainly true. Compared to a year ago, the class has become much more dependable,” said Horikita. “While striving for Class A is my priority and my ultimate goal, I want to keep the class together as one. I want to lead the class in such a way that everyone works together.”

That meant she didn’t want anyone to be left out, not even Kouenji, huh. Horikita was looking straight at me when she spoke. Her gaze was so piercing that it almost made me choke on my words. If Horikita could reel in the man known as Kouenji to her side, he certainly would make an irreplaceable and dependable ally. However, clearing that hurdle was probably going to be more difficult than reaching Class A.

In the past, I wouldn’t have taken her statement seriously and I would’ve just dismissed what she said as nonsense, ramblings about something beyond her means. Horikita’s growth was slow, but she was progressing step by step. Well…despite that, I still couldn’t say for certain that even Horikita would be able to move Kouenji someday. Honestly, Kouenji was the only guy who just wouldn’t fit into my calculations.

“What’s up?” asked Horikita.

“Hm?”

“You just looked like you were thinking about something.”

“Nah, not really,” I said. “I was just wondering how I should use these Private Points I’ve gotten.”

“…I see. Well, considering you’ve been giving half of your earnings to Kushida-san, you should cherish the Private Points you’ve received today and not spend them recklessly,” she warned.

“That’s true. I’ll plan to do just that.”

I decided to walk away quietly, since hanging around here any longer would only mean getting in the way of Horikita’s work.

6.9

I T WAS NOW AFTER five o’clock. I was getting together with a certain someone that I had been planning to meet before the dinner hour started at six. Just after I left my guest cabin to make my way to the fifth-floor deck, I happened across Sudou. He had just come out of his own guest cabin two doors down.

“It’s almost time to eat. Where ya off to?” he asked, presumably thinking that I was on my way back to my room.

“Just going for a little walk before dinner,” I replied.

“Dude, you kinda sound like an old grandpa,” Sudou said. “Welp, I’ll see ya at the restaurant then.”

We exchanged a few words and were about to go our separate ways, but Sudou must have remembered something because he called back over to me.

“Oh, sorry, dude! Actually, to tell you the truth, something kinda surprising happened!”

“You mean how Ike and Shinohara are going out now?” I asked.

“H-how the heck did ya know already?!”

“I just happened to hear, by coincidence.”

“Still man, that sure was a surprise for me,” said Sudou. “He beat me to it… Anyway, more importantly, he said he wants to study together. He wants to join Suzune’s study group.”

That was unexpected. Or I suppose I should say that was quicker than I imagined.

“Low academic ability is fatal here in this school, after all,” I reasoned.

Many students were in danger of being expelled because of that. A student’s main responsibility was to their studies.

“It’s a precious time for me, since I can be all alone with Suzune,” said Sudou. “But if he’s motivated, I ain’t got no choice but to support ’im, right? So, Kanji’s gonna hit the books hard, starting in the summer term lead-up.”

From what Sudou was saying, he really was planning to start his studies right after our trip was over. Whether or not Ike demonstrated immediate results depended on his efforts, but he might show some growth early in the second semester. Both Sudou and Ike could undergo a profound change thanks to their respective romances.

“You might have another person joining your study group too,” I replied.

“Huh? Seriously?”

“Ike’s not the only student who’s started thinking that they’d like to be tutored by Horikita.”

Sudou came over and grabbed hold of my shoulders, with a serious look on his face. “It ain’t a guy, is it?”

“No… It’s not. It’s Satou. Just Satou.” I hadn’t intended to say her name, but I felt like I had been forced into revealing the truth against my wishes because of the intense pressure.

“A girl, huh,” said Sudou. “Well, in that case… Wait, Satou, huh? But if it’s not just me there, but Ike too, she probably ain’t gonna join the study group then, will she?”

“Don’t you think you’re making some assumptions here? Besides, she sounded determined.”

“Hmm. Well, all right then, that’s good. I ain’t gonna lose though, no matter who joins,” he said with a forceful snort, showing off his strong resolve to continue his studies.

“Isn’t it pretty tough for you though, with your club activities going on at the same time?” I asked.

“Well yeah, it’s not easy,” he admitted. “But hey, I’ve always had enough stamina to brag about it. The first time I really tried stretching my brain, I got super sleepy in just a minute. But now, I can go on and on and… Well, actually, I can only concentrate for about an hour or so, but still.”

Still, if you could concentrate and study for that long, you wouldn’t have any problems. Studying for an hour, taking a break, and then studying for another hour… If you repeated that process, that would be more than enough.

“But, y’know… Damn, dude. I can’t accept the fact that Kanji got a girlfriend before me,” said Sudou. He was smirking, but he sounded frustrated too, like he was deeply lamenting that fact. “I’m gonna hold a grudge about that and give him some thorough training. Gonna put that Spartan training from the basketball club to use.”

They were partners in crime with a love-hate relationship between them. From the sounds of it, Sudou was going to take good care of him (or rather, torment him).

“In moderation though, right?” I said. “I mean, it’s not exactly easy to start liking studying, when you used to hate it.”

“Yeah, I know, man. I mean, I was super against studying myself , ” said Sudou, sticking out his tongue like he had just swallowed something bitter.

After Sudou and I parted ways, I reached my intended destination. I saw Kushida up ahead on the deck and hid myself from view. It was already about five minutes after the time we were scheduled to meet, which naturally meant that she had been waiting for me for at least that long. I took out my phone and called her. She picked up after about two rings.

“Hello?”

After I confirmed that I had heard her voice, I walked out onto the deck where Kushida was. Mobile phones were designed to prioritize phone calls because of their intended use. Even if Kushida had turned on the recording function on her phone, once I called her, it would have automatically shut off. Since I called her, that meant that the conversation we were about to have right now would be between me and Kushida alone.

“Sorry I’m late, Kushida,” I said over the phone. “I’m on my way there right now. Are you already there waiting?”

“Yes. Um… Oh, over here!” Kushida looked to her left and right, and, spotting me, waved me over. I didn’t end the call on my phone but proceeded to run over to where she was. We then each hung up, at about the exact same time.

“Sorry to have made you wait. I got a little lost,” I told her.

“Huh, even you make mistakes too, Ayanokouji-kun. Anyway, what’s up? You said that you wanted to talk.”

“I’ve been wondering about what I should do over the past couple years, but in the end, I decided that I should just come out with it and lay it all out,” I said.

“Hm? Lay it all out? What?”

“Did you know that I participated in the treasure hunt?” I asked.

“Yes. You partnered up with Satou-san, right?”

She gave me a puzzled look, as if to say, “What about it?” , not understanding what this conversation was leading to.

“The QR code I scanned earned me a reward of 100,000 points,” I said. “Meaning that I came away with 90,000 points after subtracting the participation fee. If you divide that by two, you get 45,000 points. I thought that giving you half would be the right thing to do, Kushida.”

After telling her all that, I held out my phone, showing her a record of deposits and withdrawals into my account. It clearly showed that 100,000 points had just been deposited into my account a little while ago.

“Wait, what? It was just a game though. I don’t think you need to worry that much about it,” said Kushida. She was surprised about the unexpected turn this conversation had taken and held her hands out in front of her to show that she was refusing to accept the points.

“To be honest, I thought so too, at first. Well, I tried to think that was the correct answer, but I couldn’t help but feeling like it was a dishonest, unfair way of thinking. I figured there was a possibility that you’d say you didn’t need the points, or that if I kept quiet, you wouldn’t find out about it. It’s because I felt ashamed about my own way of thinking that I decided to give you half.”

“But…”

No matter how much I tried to reason with her, it would probably be difficult for Kushida to accept them.

“To tell you the honest truth, though… I want you to take these points as a token of my good faith,” I said.

“Good faith…?” she repeated.

“I’m giving you half of the Private Points I earn so that I can buy my safety from you, Kushida. If I demonstrate that to you here, then I think that you’ll show me the same.”

I appealed to her with my eyes, as if to add, “Am I wrong?”

“Besides, it never hurts to have more Private Points, even if only a little. Right?” I added.

“That’s true, but isn’t this quite distressing for you, Ayanokouji-kun?”

“It’s fine. It’s nothing compared to fighting with you, Kushida.”

“Somehow…the opposite seems a little scary,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, Ayanokouji-kun, lately I’ve been hearing about how you’re such an amazing student. Are you really giving me half of your Private Points because you want to make a truce with me?”

“In my opinion, it’s more dangerous for me to make an enemy of you, Kushida. I interact with you every day, compared to students like Sakayanagi or Ryuuen. I only fight with them during special exams,” I replied.

Although she was somewhat wary, Kushida nodded her head, seemingly satisfied.

“I understand. Still, are you sure you’re okay with this?” she asked.

“Of course.”

Using my phone, I transferred half of the Private Points I had received from my account to hers, just like I had done time and time again.

“I hate to say this after giving you points, but if I do ever have money-related troubles, I might come to you for help,” I told her.

She giggled, as if she found my pathetic comment amusing. “Oh? That’s kind of uncool, Ayanokouji-kun,” she teased.

“Still, I think what you’re doing is much, much smarter than what Horikita-san is doing,” she went on. “I can’t say I dislike your approach.”

“That so?” I asked.

“Honestly, from my perspective, you’re the only person I don’t want to make an enemy of either, Ayanokouji-kun. I hope we continue to get along.”

“Yes. I’d like to keep this relationship going. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

And with that, Kushida and I went our separate ways, as if nothing had happened.