Chapter 5: Ichinose Honami’s Choice

Chapter 5: Ichinose Honami’s Choice

Chapter 5:

Ichinose Honami’s Choice

B EFORE THIS SPECIAL EXAM began, there was one class that every teacher thought was going to pass it for sure, without question. On the other hand, though, while they were expecting this class to make it through the exam without any difficulty, at the same time, they feared that this class might fall behind in the competition to reach Class A in the future.

And that class was Ichinose’s Class B.

ISSUE #5: In exchange for expelling one of your classmates, gain 100 Class Points.

(In the event the class is unanimously in favor, a vote will be held to choose the student to be expelled.)

After reaching the final issue in a short amount of time, Ichinose and the other students in her class finished entering their votes and were now waiting for the results. There were no signs of anyone feeling anxious or upset…except for one person.

Kanzaki prayed as he stared at the thirty-nine other people in class who already voted. He strongly hoped that the results of the vote would show that there was a split, even if only slight.

“…Well then, I’ll now show you the results,” announced Hoshinomiya, sounding somewhat dejected as she tapped on her tablet.

As everyone watched, the results were displayed…

Round 1 Voting Results: For: 1 Vote, Against: 39 Votes

After confirming that this was the worst possible outcome, Kanzaki closed his eyes once more. It wasn’t a surprise, of course, that the overwhelming majority of students in Class B voted against the issue. They had no doubts that the class would be unanimously against it, believing that was just how it should be. They didn’t even suspect anything regarding the fact that someone had entered a vote in favor of it.

“Hey, who the heck voted For ?” said Shibata. “You pressed the wrong button, dude.”

Shibata didn’t sense any danger from the results. He simply turned and looked around behind him from his seat. Exactly—he didn’t even consider the possibility that one person could have voted in favor of the issue on purpose.

It wasn’t just Shibata, either; everyone in class had the same assumption.

Kanzaki understood this well, and that was why he felt an uncontrollable anger welling up inside of him. Up until now, he had quietly helped his classmates as much as he possibly could, taking their wishes into consideration. However, it wasn’t as though he could continue this farce of fighting only to protect his friends, no matter what situation they were in. Because of Kanzaki’s position as an adviser of sorts, he felt these concerns more strongly than anyone else.

“Welp, I’m sure we don’t need to really discuss anything anyway, so let’s just take things as they come in the next vote and…”

There was no sense of urgency. Just a mindset that no student should ever prioritize Class Points over their own classmates. After having seen these attitudes so clearly in his classmates, Kanzaki could no longer continue to be silent.

Kanzaki interrupted Shibata. “Please wait a minute… Sure, we could come to a unanimous decision and oppose this issue. But can we really say with certainty that continuing to choose to protect our classmates is the right thing to do?”

Though Kanzaki continued to speak calmly, he forcefully slammed his hands down on his desk as he stood up.

“I can only assume that every one of you is trapped by normalcy bias if none of you find it unusual that all thirty-nine voted against this issue, without any doubts, without any hesitation at all.”

The normalcy bias he referred to was a tendency to not pay attention to unfavorable events, information, and so on and thus not recognizing danger.

“If our class is going to win in the future, we’re going to have to make new decisions. We’re already on the edge of a cliff here, at a critical juncture. Don’t you think that you’re all making light of the threat we face and that we’re going to fall over that cliff eventually? If we don’t chase after Class Points more greedily, then moving up to Class A will simply be a pipe dream.”

Kanzaki wanted them to understand those things, but he knew he wasn’t very good at making speeches.

The eyes of his classmates were filled with composed indifference as they looked at him.

“What are you talkin’ about, Kanzaki?” Shibata turned to him. “Does that mean you’re the one who voted in favor of the issue?”

Before, Shibata didn’t seem convinced that Kanzaki hadn’t simply entered his vote in favor of the issue by mistake. No, it wasn’t just Shibata. Hamaguchi, Andou, Kobashi, Amikura, Shiranami too—a lot of people in class were looking at him in the same way.

“That’s right,” said Kanzaki. “I admit that yes, it is important to protect your classmates. However, our class has been slowly losing points from the time we started here at this school. And if the classes below us prioritize Class Points over their classmates, then this special exam will result in us dropping down to Class D.”

The only person who was probably listening to Kanzaki’s plea and hanging on his words intently was Hoshinomiya, the instructor in charge of the class. However, being a teacher, she couldn’t say anything that would sound sympathetic to his appeal.

“That’s true, but… Well, there isn’t anyone in class who’d be willing to be expelled,” argued Shiranami immediately, signaling to him that there was no room for debate.

“…I understand that. I do,” said Kanzaki.

“You say that we’re going to fall down to Class D, but I can’t imagine expelling somebody for only 100 Class Points,” said Shibata. “Well, if we’re talkin’ ’bout Ryuuen, I’m not so sure. But in this special exam, the condition is we gotta come to a unanimous decision, by way of anonymous vote, with the entire class. I don’t think that the rest of the classes would choose to expel someone.”

If they anticipated that the other classes would vote unanimously against the issue, then the gap between classes wouldn’t widen.

“It’s certainly true it wouldn’t be easy for any class to make the decision to eliminate one of their fellow classmates. But it’s the mechanism here that I’m attaching importance to. Isn’t it only natural that, if not half, at least some students here would think that they should prioritize their class as a whole over their friends?” asked Kanzaki.

“You mean you wanna argue this issue? Even though it’s pretty much a given that we’re going to vote unanimously against it?” asked Shibata.

“It’s…not a given,” Kanzaki said. “There’s still room for debate, to settle on a unanimous decision in favor of the issue.”

“No, wait, hold up,” said Shibata. “That doesn’t make any sense. It’s because we have friends that we want to work hard, to make sure that we don’t lose anybody. Right? There’s absolutely no reason for us to abandon anybody.”

Class Points and classmates. If it were a simple choice between which of those two options was more important, Kanzaki would have no doubts whatsoever. However, the situation had changed dramatically since he first started at this school. He started in Class B, but now, their class and the classes below were all neck and neck in Class Points. In the first semester of their first year, they had a substantial lead over the bottom two classes. If they had only maintained that lead, then he wouldn’t be feeling so disgruntled right now as his classmates preached to him about how their friends were so precious.

“Isn’t there anyone…anyone at all out there who has an opinion on the issue, past simply voting against it?” asked Kanzaki, looking around at his classmates. He wanted to believe in that possibility, but he was on the verge of giving up.

As it was, not a single student showed any sign that they agreed with him. Supposing even if there were some who agreed with him inwardly, even partly, there wasn’t anyone who could put it into words. Everyone believed, no, rather, expected that the second round of voting would result in a unanimous decision against the issue.

“I’m sorry, but I… I do not intend to let it come to a unanimous decision of Against ,” muttered Kanzaki. Despite the heavy pressure, he still intended to fight.

Ichinose had been quiet up until that point, but now she spoke up to ask Kanzaki about his true intentions. “Does that mean…you’ll be voting in favor in the next round?”

He paused momentarily. “…Yes.”

“But Kanzaki-kun, our thinking hasn’t changed, you know?” said Ichinose. “Sacrificing our friends to gain Class Points… We would never want our class to turn into something like that.”

“Yeah, Kanzaki,” Shibata agreed. “No matter how you look at it, this issue is like a challenge from the school. Or like a trap or somethin’. Sacrificing your classmates for Class Points in the short term. If we start thinkin’ like that, then we’re going to suffer the same kinda pain in the battles to come.”

“But if we can gain Class Points, even if it means throwing away our friends, we can get closer to Class A,” Kanzaki said. “And if chances like that come again and again, it would be all the better. On the other hand, if we only choose to protect our friends, we will be overtaken by the other classes.”

“I don’t think it’d be that easy to sacrifice so many people,” Shibata argued. “And besides, I don’t know how a class like that would even keep winning. Like, seriously? A class where people protect and believe in their friends— that’s the class that’ll win in the end. Don’t you think so?”

Almost everyone in class nodded in unison at that.

“Look at the reality we’re facing, Shibata,” said Kanzaki. “The situation we’re in is significantly different from how things were last year. We are in a crisis. We’ve lost a lot of Private Points because we chose the path of not letting anyone get expelled. On the other hand, the three other classes have all lost classmates and are doing quite well.”

“It’s not going to last forever,” said Shibata.

“What proof do you have, that you can state definitively it won’t?”

“Okay, let me turn it around then. What proof do you have that it will?”

“Just look at the current situation. We’re in second place now, but we’re in danger of falling into fourth,” said Kanzaki.

“You’re the one who should look at the current situation, Kanzaki. Right now, we’re Class B. Whether we’ve got a lead of one point or a hundred points, the fact remains we’re still Class B, right? Besides, even if we do drop a little, we can come back eventually.”

In the past, Kanzaki let himself be pushed around by the expectations of those around him. But now, with this issue, he was trying his absolute hardest to stand his ground. He was fighting desperately to make everyone question this line of thinking.

“Kanzaki-kun,” said Ichinose. “I understand that you want to have a variety of options to win. However, there are some choices that you should never make. And I feel like this choice, this issue, is one of them. It’s not because we’d be getting too few Class Points in exchange for someone’s expulsion, either. It’s because it’s wrong to weigh your friends against Class Points.”

Ichinose’s statement solidified the resolve of their classmates—or rather, they had already been firm in their determination to prioritize their friends, but now they were even more so. Kanzaki felt deeply disappointed by that. This class had often been the envy of the other classes. They were an ideal group of students: they were kind, cheerful, and fair, and they were well-balanced in both academics and sports. That was an advantage that came from their leader, Ichinose. But on the other hand, it was also a major drawback.

Her presence easily attracted followers and created an environment where people didn’t pay attention to messy things. Even if they were told with absolute assurance that if they expelled someone they’d get to Class A, the class would still prioritize friendship. It was an obsession that made them say, “I’d rather be in Class B then abandon my friends.”

Once again, Kanzaki was reminded of this fact—of Ichinose’s single, but significant, shortcoming.

“Yes… You’re probably right. Maybe I am wrong,” he said.

In order to bring that shortcoming under control, to surmount it, Kanzaki knew and accepted the risks. He was willing to take drastic measures. Although he knew that he wasn’t the one suited for this job, he had no choice but to do it, as no one else was qualified either.

“What if I continue to vote in favor of the issue until the end? One vote has a lot of power in this special exam. I can continue to vote in favor over and over, while ignoring the intentions of the thirty-nine of you.”

“Uh, no, you couldn’t?” said Shibata. “If you we run outta time and fail, that means we’ll get 300 points taken away. And if that happens, then we really won’t be able to compete with the other classes, would we?”

There was no way anyone would choose to do something like that, to let time run out. That was common sense.

“It’s the same either way,” said Kanzaki. “If we don’t sacrifice someone here and get those 100 points, I don’t think we’ll graduate from Class A. So, whether it’s 100 or 300 points we’re talking about here, it doesn’t matter. The number of points lost is a trivial matt—”

“All right, that’s time. We’ll have to stop discussion there as it’s time to begin voting,” said Hoshinomiya, interrupting Kanzaki. She then began the sixty-second timer for the voting period.

The display on the students’ tablets changed, and now there were buttons labeled For and Against .

Kanzaki quietly stared at the buttons. The class stopped moving and a hush fell over the room. There was a certain feeling in the air that seemed to tell him that the thirty-nine others in the room finished voting in less than five seconds. In truth, they really had finished voting. Hoshinomiya started moving at the same time that Kanzaki made up his mind and pressed a button.

“All right. Now then, I’ll show you the results since everyone finished voting!” said Hoshinomiya.

Round 2 Voting Results: For: 1 Vote, Against: 39 Votes

Kanzaki’s desperate attempt to persuade his classmates had been in vain. The results were completely unchanged from the first round. Of course, the same was true for the one vote in favor of the issue, which came from Kanzaki.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” muttered Shibata.

“Kanzaki-kun, did you really vote in favor?” asked Ichinose.

Kanzaki’s classmates, Ichinose included, were more stunned than angry, as evidenced by their responses. However, the carefree vibe in the room was gradually changing bit by bit thanks to Kanzaki’s firm will.

“Yes. I voted For on purpose, for the second time in a row. I want us to be unanimously in favor of this issue.”

Even though the interval period had just started, the class went completely quiet at Kanzaki’s response.

“If I keep voting in favor of the issue, after a few hours pass, you’ll have no other choice but to unfreeze your stopped thought processes and think. You’ll have to debate whether voting against this issue really is the correct thing to do.”

He was telling them that he was fully prepared to use the remaining three and half hours they had remaining in this special exam.

“There’s only one way for you to break free of this situation, and that’s to change your opinion on the matter. You should vote unanimously in favor,” declared Kanzaki.

“What are you saying, Kanzaki-kun?” Ichinose said. “That’s—”

“‘That’s not realistic,’ right?” he said, interrupting her. “Because, as you have all said, none of you had any intention of sacrificing your classmates from the very beginning. No one did, except for me. Still, that said, I will not budge. I will keep voting in favor.” Kanzaki didn’t stop his resistance and continued to speak. “In that case, then there’s really only one option. You choose to vote in favor of the issue, and then you expel me.”

He wanted to change this class, even if it meant sacrificing himself. He expressed his will out loud, for everyone to hear.

“If you don’t have the courage to take a step forward in this special exam, then you won’t be able to make it to Class A,” he went on. “And if that happens, you’ll spend the remaining half of your days here at this school in vain, for no reason at all. If that’s the case, then I’d rather drop out of school and find another path.”

It sounded like a strange plan, but it was also the only way that Kanzaki could actually do anything. There was no way that this class, one that sheltered the weak, could take action that would result in them having to choose someone to expel. That being said, when faced with the serious penalty of expulsion, they wouldn’t rely on methods where they’d just leave things to chance.

Kanzaki continued to resist—they repeated the vote three more times, with intervals between them. And then, even after taking the vote five times, the results were still one For and thirty-nine Against . The same screen showed the same results, over and over again; not a single vote had been swayed.

“All right, we’ll have another interval period,” announced Hoshinomiya.

Perhaps it was because she was getting fed up with the stalemate, but Hoshinomiya didn’t try to hide her annoyance. Even so, the other teacher assigned to monitor the class from the back of the room didn’t have any problem with a teacher acting that way. The monitor’s assigned role was only to maintain fairness and that was all. It didn’t matter if the students were fooling around or if the teacher wasn’t motivated—those were all behaviors allowed within the scope of the rules.

More importantly though, another thirty minutes had passed. Meaning, in other words, there had been three further rounds of voting, and the same results came every single time. The unchanging tallies were shown back to the class every time, deadlocked.

“It’s already been over an hour, y’know?” said Shibata. “And just for the final issue.”

“But there’s nothing we can do about it,” Ichinose said. “We can only wait until Kanzaki-kun changes his vote.”

The thirty-nine who voted Against were hoping that Kanzaki would eventually run out of patience and change his vote. At first, the students were accommodating and tried to reason with him in a friendly way. Then, they moved onto admonishing him with a firm tone. They tried so many methods, but Kanzaki simply kept single-mindedly voting the same way over and over without a word.

At last, Hoshinomiya, who had been watching over her class this whole time, opened her mouth to speak.

“Hey, listen, everybody. I’m getting a little bored with this silence, so do you mind if I tell you all a story? Oh, if anyone isn’t interested, you can feel free to ignore me, okay?” said Hoshinomiya. “You see, to tell you the truth, I actually went through this same experience when I was a student here too. What do I mean by that, you ask? I mean I also took the Unanimous Special Exam. And the issue you’re voting on now is the exact same one our class voted on back then.”

“It’s rather unusual for you to talk about your high school days, Sensei,” said Ichinose. “This is the first time you’ve brought it up with us, isn’t it?”

The students in Ichinose’s class had a good relationship with Hoshinomiya, and they knew early on that she attended this same school. More than a few students tried asking her about her days as a student after finding that out, but it was safe to say that there hadn’t been any opportunities to get into serious conversation about it.

“I remember our class being stuck on this same issue for a long time too, like you are,” she said, “although our situation was completely different from yours.”

She wore a somewhat pained smile on her face as she recalled those days.

“It was the ultimate decision: would we choose the Class Points, or would we choose our friends? So, we fought, and we fought. Some of the guys in class were even grabbing each other by the collar.”

“I-isn’t that going a little too far?” said Shiranami, meekly.

The students in this class probably couldn’t imagine a situation where they’d be grabbing each other. Shiranami chuckled awkwardly, exchanging looks with the other girls in class.

“Well, we took the exam at a different time in our academic career too,” said Hoshinomiya. “In our case, it was the third semester of our third year. At a time like that, you’d go all out for just a single point. Still, if there was talk about a specific person being expelled, even if only a rumor, then their friends would speak up to cover for them as a matter of course. But sometimes…you just have to let go of somebody if you’re going to win, right? If you were in a situation where you only needed a hundred more points to get to Class A, would you be as firm in your decision as you are right now?”

Hoshinomiya understood very well what Kanzaki had wanted to ask the class too, and she put it into words, directly.

“We can’t expel anyone. We’ll just try our hardest to make up for it in the next special exam and—”

“And what if there is no next time? Suppose this special exam is the last one before graduation? Let’s say that at that time, you all reached Class A, which you hoped for dearly. But let’s also say that the gap between you and Class B is only a few dozen points. If you prioritize protecting your friends in that situation, you’ll go back to being Class B. So, what do you do? Of course, the class below you in that situation, the one in B, wouldn’t have a next time either, right? They’d take the points, even if they had to get rid of someone.”

No matter how many good-natured people were in your class, you would have to give that matter some thought. If you protected your friends in that situation, then falling back down to Class B was almost a complete certainty.

“Would you vote unanimously against the issue, like you are right now?” said Hoshinomiya. “Would you try betting everything on a fairy tale that the class below you in that situation would decide to give up on Class A themselves?”

The students who initially only argued against the idea were now starting to speak less and less.

“I know these are mean-spirited questions,” admitted Hoshinomiya. “To tell you the truth, that’s not the kind of situation you’re in now at all. But still, one thing is for certain—if you want to move up to Class A, a time will come that you’ll need to be in favor of an idea like this. Even if it means you have to decide over rock-paper-scissors or some other means. Letting time run out would be absurd.”

“Sensei, what… What choice did you make, back then?” asked Shiranami.

“Me? Well… As for me, personally, I choose to abandon unnecessary people. Because in the end, what’s important is yourself, even if people are talking about friends or best friends. I’m sure that all of you voting against the issue right now feel similarly, right? Deep down, you’re thinking that it’ll be fine as long as you yourself are saved.”

Everyone was aiming to get to Class A and then graduate. That’s what everyone wanted. Still, many people understood, deep down in their heart of hearts, that such thoughts were idealistic. What was more important: friends? Or self-preservation? When the students were asked that, they couldn’t find the words to answer.

“We’re being closely monitored by the other teacher at the back of the room, so I cannot tell you anything more than that,” Hoshinomiya said. “I will respect you all, no matter what option you choose. But you absolutely cannot just make a throwaway, noncommittal decision about this. If you are only friends on the surface, then don’t worry about it and prioritize Class Points. You’ve all known each other for only a little over a year and a half now, you know? They say that the sting of losing friends will heal in time. Think about this: the three other classes have had students get expelled and they’ve already put it behind them, haven’t they? But know that if you can’t make it up to Class A in the end, that is going to stick with you for a long, long time. However, if you truly value your friends more than anything else, you must put them first.”

Hoshinomiya hadn’t advocated for the students to choose either option. She avoided the monitor’s glare as she finished saying what she had to say. She merely spoke as a teacher, informing her students that there were advantages and disadvantages to either option.

The next round of voting came just as Hoshinomiya finished her speech.

Everyone started to feel a strange sense of discomfort as they looked at the For and Against buttons on their tablets. It took some time for the results of the vote to come, but they still showed one in favor and thirty-nine against. Just like every time before it, not a single vote had been swayed. Hoshinomiya in particular wasn’t surprised by this. If anything, it was like she had been shown the composition of the class.

“Hey, come on, Kanzaki-kun. Can you just knock it off already?” asked Himeno. She sounded exasperated and spoke up as soon as the voting period ended and the interval period began. “Look, I completely understand what you’re trying to say, Kanzaki-kun. And after hearing what Hoshinomiya-sensei had to say too, I understand it even more. But still, it’s just, I don’t think it’s going to end up with everyone else voting in favor of the issue right here and now. That fact’s probably not gonna change, even if we run out of time.”

The class was going to let time run out if it meant protecting their friends. That was the view that Himeno and most of the other students in class had.

Ichinose then spoke up, sharing her own thoughts on the matter. “I can understand very well what you’re saying, Kanzaki-kun, and what Hoshinomiya-sensei told us as well. But still, I’d like to say something about what you were talking about before, when you asked what we’d do if we were put into a situation like that. I understand how everyone’s hearts and minds can be swayed, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing necessarily. But…if I were put in that kind of situation, I wouldn’t think there would be any meaning in reaching Class A by expelling my friends. So, what can we do to get to Class A still? I think what will be important then, in order to avoid a situation like that from even happening, would be to get Class A within our grasp while making sure we avoid putting ourselves in a scenario where we have to make such unreasonable choices.”

“That’s…idealistic,” said Kanzaki. “Putting ourselves so far ahead that we’d be an overwhelming Class A with no one being expelled? How many Class Points would we even need to collect to make something like that a reality…?”

“We may not be good enough to pull it off right now,” Ichinose replied. “But that’s the kind of class I’d like for us to be.”

Their classmates listened intently to Ichinose. It was a story that could have only been interpreted as a fairy tale, but they nodded repeatedly after hearing it. Kanzaki’s resistance wouldn’t have any meaning anymore. As Himeno had said, even if he continued to vote in favor of the issue, they would simply let time run out.

“Let’s do our best together, Kanzaki-kun,” said Ichinose.

“…I understand,” he replied.

The one person standing alone against the rest had been preyed upon and devoured by those who didn’t know fear.

“I wanted to change the class, in my own way, even if I had to force it somehow,” he said. “But it would seem that I’m not qualified to do that… No, it seems like I even lack the ability to do it.”

Enough time had passed to convince Kanzaki that this class was not going to change. He didn’t know if they would be Class B or even Class D in the end, but he knew they’d never reach Class A. There was absolutely no vitality in Kanzaki’s facial expression as he decided to change his vote, though it was unlikely anyone would notice. The time for voting came again, as though there had been no disputes or anything since the beginning. And the answer that the forty students had come to was…

Round 10 Voting Results: For: 0 Votes, Against: 40 Votes

The class had chosen to throw away the Class Points and protect their classmates instead.

“Well then, now that you’ve come to a unanimous decision on the final issue, that means that this special exam is now over,” announced Hoshinomiya.

“Hey, it’s all right, Kanzaki,” said Shibata. “We’re gonna get fifty points as a reward.”

It had taken them roughly three hours to finish. They had to leave the school building and would now have free time.

“By the way, it sounds like Class A already completed their special exam as well,” said Hoshinomiya.

“Whoa, for real? Guess that makes sense, being Sakayanagi’s class and all,” said Shibata.

“I guess that means Ryuuen-kun and Horikita-san’s classes are still taking the exam,” noted Shiranami.

“All right, everyone. If you’re going to chitchat, you’ll have to leave the building,” said Hoshinomiya. “The other classes are still in the middle of the exam, so please don’t disturb them. We’ll lead you out now, so please get up from your seats quietly.”

While the rest of the class expressed their joy after finishing the special exam, Kanzaki emotionlessly got up from his seat.