Chapter 4: Casing Each Other Out

Chapter 4: Casing Each Other Out

Chapter 4:

Casing Each Other Out

D ECEMBER 26. Students from Horikita’s class, including Sudou and some others who didn’t have any club activities today, gathered at a café in Keyaki Mall. There were a total of eight people present: Ike, Sudou, Shinohara, Matsushita, Mori, Wang, Maezono, and Onodera. It was Maezono who had suggested they meet up. Everyone cocked their heads to the side in confusion when she proposed they get together, saying that she wanted to “have an important discussion about the future of the class.” First and foremost, it was far too serious a topic for Maezono to be bringing up, given how she was. Secondly, the usual key players of the class were intentionally excluded from the meeting.

Why had people like Horikita and Hirata, central figures of the class, not been invited? They were people who, by nature, were indispensable in discussing the class’s future. Most of the eight people chosen for this meeting didn’t have a strong reluctance toward the idea of getting together, and had accepted Maezono’s invitation thinking that it was partly just to hang out. It was Matsushita alone who had some suspicions about this meeting from beginning to end. However, she didn’t mention these suspicions to Maezono directly, and, at least ostensibly, had accepted the invitation from Maezono just like the other six did, as something coming from a friend. She decided to act as though she was simply showing up for a meeting, and nothing else.

Perhaps because eight people were invited to this meeting, a relatively large number, Maezono had decided that the meeting place would be a café in Keyaki Mall. When the appointed time came, at 11:30 that morning, six of the eight had gathered—everyone except for Ike and Shinohara. Upon seeing who else had gathered for the meeting, Matsushita’s suspicions grew. She wondered not only about the people chosen for this meeting, but also whether they could really discuss the future of the class somewhere so public. From the outset, she didn’t believe that there would be a substantive discussion because of Maezono’s personality and abilities.

Even so, if Maezono was going to label this discussion as important, then Matsushita wanted her to at least be more careful about the location. But Maezono showed no signs of understanding what was going through Matsushita’s mind. Instead, she simply roared with laughter as she excitedly talked about what she saw on TV yesterday. Matsushita was relatively close with Maezono and seemed to be in even better spirits lately than before.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting!” said Shinohara.

Matsushita put those thoughts aside as Ike and Shinohara showed up, having arrived somewhat late. The two of them looked quite familiar, holding hands, and they sat down side-by-side on two chairs that had been left open out of consideration for the fact they were a couple.

Sudou, though taken aback by the degree of passion of their love, made a jab at Ike. “Come on you two, don’t be doin’ PDA in the middle of the day, jeez. More importantly, yer late!”

“Heh heh heh, come on, dude, it’s not like that. Right, Satsuki?” said Ike.

“That’s right, we’re being totally normal,” said Shinohara. “Besides, Sudou-kun, you’ve got quite the history of being late, don’t you?”

Sudou let out a sigh as he watched the two of them sit down, still not letting go of each other’s hands. “I ain’t been late lately though,” he replied. It didn’t seem like his words reached Shinohara or Ike’s ears, though.

“Hey,” said Maezono quietly, “those two…”

Matsushita nodded. “Seems like it, yeah.”

It seemed that something had happened, either on the 24th or the 25th, and ever since then the two of them had clearly been acting differently. People speculated that they must have taken a step beyond what their relationship had been so far, crossing some line. Although such rumors had been going around for some time, even during the school trip, it’d never been confirmed. But even so, the way Ike and Shinohara were acting now made their classmates realize that they were right.

Sudou had been friends with Ike for a long time, and last year, they had many, many animated conversations about how they would’ve liked to do this or that if they had girlfriends. Sudou was frustrated that his friend had beaten him to it, getting a girlfriend before he did, and now he found himself exasperated seeing the two of them flirting all the time. His feelings burst out with a heavy sigh. “Kanji, you…”

Onodera, sitting next to Sudou, who couldn’t understand his conflicted state of mind, spoke to him in a whisper, somewhat worried. “What’s the matter, Sudou-kun?”

“Nothin’. Anyway, more importantly, I’m glad that the class is back to normal.”

“Yeah. Things were pretty rocky up until just a little while ago,” said Onodera.

After the Unanimous Special Exam, there were several people who’d been anxious about whether certain friendships would fall apart thanks to Kushida mercilessly exposing people’s secrets. Wang had gotten support thanks to Matsushita and some other girls supporting her after her crush on Hirata had been made public knowledge. And Shinohara, who had been made fun of about her physical appearance, had completely recovered thanks to the support of her boyfriend, Ike. These people all coming together and meeting like this today was evidence of the fact that their relationships were gradually mending, little by little.

“Maezono, come onnnnn, get this show on the road already,” said Sudou, trying to hurry things along, unable to look at the hot and heavy couple playfully flirting with each other.

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Ahem. First, thank you all for coming here today,” said Maezono.

Maezono began the meeting first by thanking all seven of the people she had approached for coming. Maezono, when she first came to this school, had been quarrelsome, willing to snap at anyone and everyone, and had a foul mouth and a bad attitude. Maturity had softened her, however, and she had mellowed out—at the very least, she didn’t appear to be disliked by any of the people currently present. In fact, she was close to being best friends with Wang and Satou. Maezono was ostensibly included in that category of good friends too. But inwardly, Matsushita didn’t think much of Maezono at all.

“I don’t mind gettin’ together or anything,” Sudou said. “But if we’re gonna be talkin’ about the future of the class, why is it just us here? This is important, ain’t it?”

He seemed to have the same question in mind that Matsushita had. After hearing her concerns being expressed out loud, Matsushita hoped the conversation would continue along those lines.

“Yeah, now that you mention it, you’re right,” agreed Ike. “Why?”

He and Shinohara exchanged glances, as though they had just noticed this issue for the first time. Matsushita had a theory tucked in the corner of her mind that Maezono simply hadn’t thought about it, but…

“Yeah. To tell you the truth, there’s a proper reason for it… I deliberately chose not to invite Hirata-kun and the others,” Maezono said. “There’s something I wanted to make clear before the third semester starts.” She seemed to be giving what she was saying proper consideration. With that established, she began to explain the purpose of this discussion. “When I say that there’s something I want to clear up, I mean regarding Ayanokouji-kun.”

So this was about a classmate? The seven students Maezono had invited didn’t react strongly. They seemed puzzled why they needed to discuss him at all.

“I know it might be a problem for me to say this,” she said, “but, well, I don’t think I like Ayanokouji-kun. Well, no, I guess that’s not quite right. To be perfectly honest, I’m not good at dealing with him.” Perhaps she had decided that her words had been a little harsh, because she softened the initial statement.

“‘Not good at dealing with him?’ Why’s that?” Wang asked, but she continued speaking before getting an answer. “Ayanokouji-kun isn’t someone who causes problems, and he’s not pushy.” Wang couldn’t imagine anything about him that would give Maezono a bad impression of him.

“Well, no, he’s not,” admitted Maezono. “But I guess it’s like, I don’t like suspicious, gloomy people, or like… If someone can’t get along with the group, it makes me feel like we’re not on the same wavelength, and I just get a weird feeling. So, I guess that’s why I’ve been keeping my distance from him, I think?”

Matsushita had remained silent until then, but now she asked pointedly, “So, you’re saying that your aversion to him is one-sided?”

“Yeah… I guess that might be true, yes,” said Maezono.

“Well, I mean, sure, I guess if I had to say, Ayanokouji’s kind of a gloomy guy,” Ike agreed. “Y’know, like, the asocial type? He’s always quiet.”

The image Maezono had of him wasn’t exactly wrong, per se. It wasn’t about liking or disliking him, merely the fact that Ayanokouji’s personality gave an impression of someone taciturn and a little gloomy.

“It’s different now, though. At least, I think so.” Sudou was the first to dissent. He provided evidence for his claims, too: “Besides, if he was that suspicious and gloomy in the first place, there ain’t no way he could wind up datin’ that Karuizawa. Y’know?”

“Yeah, the fact that he’s dating Karuizawa was a real surprise,” said Ike. “But still, I mean, come on.” While he found part of what Sudou said convincing, the image that he had of Ayanokouji in his mind was largely unchanged. Ike had judged what Sudou had said earlier to be more about sticking up for Ayanokouji than actually providing a sound argument, and he pressed Sudou on that point. “Actually, you’ve been talkin’ to Ayanokouji a lot lately, Ken. When did you guys get to be so chummy?”

While Sudou was a bit taken aback by this, he picked up his cup containing his drink. “Hey, it wasn’t just me and him. You were there too. We all hung out a bunch when we first started school.”

“Well, sure, but it was, like, just hangin’ out with classmates. We weren’t especially close or anything. Did you think we were close friends then?” countered Ike.

“W-well, I…”

Sudou had been throwing out counterarguments up until that point, but he choked on his words as he thought back to when they started school. As Sudou and Ike started glaring at each other, though, Maezono hurriedly put a stop to it.

“Hey, hold on!” she said. “No fighting! We haven’t even gotten to the main topic yet. I’ve got a bunch of questions I want to ask you today, Sudou-kun, since you’re started to become closer friends with Ayanokouji-kun.”

The standoff subsided as Ike and Sudou broke eye contact. Sudou caught his breath before turning to Maezono.

“…Me?” he said.

“Yeah, you. I think that you’d know the most about what’s going on with Ayanokouji-kun lately out of any of us.” Maezono felt there was no point in dragging this out any further. She lowered the volume of her voice a little, and started to get to the heart of the matter. She started by saying to her friends, who still didn’t understand what this was about, “I don’t think that Ayanokouji-kun is just some gloomy classmate. I think he’s hiding something.”

With that said, everyone, including Ike and Shinohara, began to understand what Maezono wanted to say.

“So, does that mean that today’s meeting is about discussing who exactly Ayanokouji-kun is? Is that right?” asked Wang.

Maezono nodded several times in affirmation. “I excluded his girlfriend, Karuizawa-san, from this meeting, of course. But also Satou-san, because she’s Karuizawa-san’s close friend, and also people who are often in contact with Ayanokouji-kun, like Hirata-kun and Horikita-san, as well as Hasebe-san and the others that he used to be in that group of friends with.”

“But why?” asked Wang. “I would’ve thought it’d be better to have as many people who know him well as possible, but…”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Maezono said. “Actually, I think they’d probably mislead us if we included them. I think that all those people I just named probably know who Ayanokouji-kun really is. Otherwise,” she muttered under her breath, “things don’t add up at all.” That was precisely why she had excluded students who had strong connections to Ayanokouji, based on what she could tell of the situation.

“Okay, but if that’s true, then why’d ya call me?” asked Sudou.

“Well, if nobody here knows anything about Ayanokouji-kun, then the discussion’s not gonna go very smoothly, is it? I figured that you’d tell us things honestly, Sudou-kun.” Maezono responded with pride in her voice, as she had thought it out in her own way and selected people that could be trusted. Someone with information would be vital if they were going to further explore the issue.

“Okay, I think I get what you’re saying,” said Shinohara, but she tilted her head to the side in confusion. “But is this really something that warrants meeting in secret about?”

“At present, yeah, it is,” Maezono replied. “I mean, sure, it would be nice if there was nothing to talk about, or like, I think that would be best, but… I mean, it’s obvious that he’s strange, right? Ayanokouji-kun, I mean.”

The people present exchanged looks. There was a period of silence for a short while, but then someone unexpectedly spoke up next, backing up Maezono’s opinion.

“…I certainly do find him a little mysterious, if I’m being perfectly honest,” Wang admitted reluctantly.

“I know, right? Right?” Maezono made no attempt to hide the delight in her facial expression at the appearance of a sympathizer to her cause.

“Mysterious? What do you mean by that, exactly?” Shinohara asked, leaning forward slightly. She wasn’t sure exactly what Wang was referring to.

“I think there’s a gap between his OAA, what the school has assessed and disclosed, and his real abilities, at the very least,” Wang said. “I suspect that his OAA scores are actually lower than his real abilities, whether we’re talking about Academic Ability or Physical Ability.”

“Come to think of it, what were Ayanokouji’s OAA scores again?” asked Ike.

Ike didn’t know offhand, so Shinohara, who was sitting next to him, brought out her phone and showed him.

“…Yeah, something’s weird,” he huffed. “I can’t accept that he’s just flat out better than me in every category.” Ike recalled he’d groaned upon seeing the scores in OAA.

“Well, it’s just that you’re no good, Kanji,” replied Shinohara.

“He has improved quite a bit, though, even from the time that OAA was first introduced,” said Wang. “Perhaps he’s just working hard to improve, like Sudou-kun, but I don’t feel like we can see any trace of that. Wouldn’t you say so?”

Sudou, who’d initially had the lowest possible score in Academic Ability, an E, had raised his score by studying day after day. His improvement in his attitude and everyday behavior was clear to everyone in their class. On the other hand, though, in Ayanokouji’s case, no one had been able to see any sign of him putting in that kind of effort. It wasn’t surprising that Wang would find it all so mysterious, wondering about the sudden, strong impression she got seeing him score high on a test and his incredible speed during a race.

“And the conclusion that we can draw from that is that he’s not giving things his best effort, right?” added Maezono. This was what she had been wanting to say since the start, the reason she had gathered her friends together.

“I think that’s reasonable,” said Wang.

“You mean he’s holding back?” asked Shinohara.

“Of course, right?” Maezono replied. “It means that he hasn’t been taking things seriously this whole time.”

“But why would he do that?” asked Ike.

“Maybe it’s like, he hates working hard, or something like that?” Shinohara suggested.

“Wait a minute, hold on,” Matsushita cut into the tide of negativity. “I understand what you’re trying to say, but that’s not necessarily always the case, right? People don’t have to show their work outwardly, whether we’re talking about studying or athletics. If Ayanokouji-kun doesn’t like to stand out by nature, it’s possible that he’s just putting in effort behind the scenes.”

She felt it was possible that in contrast to Sudou, who had been working on himself out in the open, Ayanokouji had gained competency by working on himself behind the scenes. If he had been hiding his abilities from the very beginning, then his reputation would suffer. Everyone would judge him for making no effort for the sake of the class. If the group was going to speculate without evidence, Matsushita didn’t want them to assume something negative.

“I sure didn’t have the best reputation when I started school here, for real,” Ike mused. “Maybe he’s just trying desperately hard now to prove himself to everybody? Heck, I’m working pretty hard on that myself right now, and I’ve been making progress.” He didn’t add a lot and simply seemed to agree with Matsushita.

“Do you really get what’s going on here, Ike-kun?” said Maezono, slightly angry.

“Wh-what the eff? Why are you acting like I don’t get it?”

“Because, in the special exam we had the other day, Ayanokouji-kun got five questions perfect,” she told him. “Didn’t you notice that?”

“Well, sure, yeah, I noticed, I guess… But some other people got all their questions right too, didn’t they?” Ike said. Students who had an Academic Ability score of B or better, like Horikita and Hirata, had done perfectly.

“The problems that Ayanokouji-kun solved were even more difficult than the ones that Horikita-san and the others did,” Maezono argued. “I also saw the results for students in other classes too. The questions he answered were so difficult that even some students with an A score in Academic Ability got them wrong.” She couldn’t imagine a small amount of effort would have been enough to explain that.

“But, hey, maybe it’s, y’know… Oh, if I remember right, he’s really good at math, right? If they were math questions, then it makes sense. Right?”

“Only one of the problems we solved was a math question, though,” said Maezono. She’d done her research before calling this meeting. “The rest were two English problems, one chemistry problem, and one contemporary literature problem. They weren’t all from just one subject.”

“I think you might be on to something. I was kind of wondering about that, too,” said Wang, nodding. She was an excellent student herself. “Taking that into account, I’m starting to think that the discrepancy between his OAA scores and his real abilities is actually even more immense than I thought.”

“I know, right?” said Maezono. “I mean, right? It is definitely bizarre, don’t you think?”

Matsushita thought about interrupting Maezono’s judgmental ranting, given that she’d made up her mind and this wasn’t productive, but she held herself back. It was obvious that it would be difficult for her to propose something like the idea that the questions Ayanokouji had gotten right had just so happened to be covered in the material that he’d studied. If Matsushita spoke up like that too often and too carelessly, it would make her appear as though she were simply rushing to Ayonokouji’s defense. Matsushita didn’t necessarily disagree with what they were saying, but she wanted Ayanokouji to play a useful role in the class in the future. She didn’t want to allow a buildup of aggression from other students to interfere with that. That was precisely why she had decided that she shouldn’t make a statement that would be clearly seen as a show of support for him at this time.

“Maybe he just took wild guesses and got them right, though?” offered Ike. Ike wasn’t coming in as a defender of Ayanokouji or anything, but his rather spontaneous comment ended up saving Matsushita. Ike’s ability to naturally speak up and say the things that Matsushita couldn’t on her behalf made her think that perhaps he was just the person she needed in this situation.

“No, it wasn’t guessing , and it wasn’t coincidence, either,” Maezono said firmly, with particular disdain for the word ‘guessing.’ “Ayanokouji-kun must have always been smart.”

“Is there another reason for that?” asked Wang. She seemed curious about the truth.

After taking a look around, Maezono lowered her voice once more. “This is just something I heard, okay? So…you remember how in the special exam on the uninhabited island this year, they had these tests and stuff over the island that you could get points or stuff from? I heard that there was one that Ayanokouji-kun participated in, and he answered all the questions correctly without any trouble at all, even though they were supposed to be super hard.”

The fact was that Ayanokouji had possessed a high level of academic prowess even before the special exam was held in December. Though Maezono had prefaced her statement with a disclaimer that it was something she heard from someone else, she wanted the others to take the rumor seriously.

“I don’t know what the truth is, but… I think you’re right,” said Wang. “The image I have of Ayanokouji-kun in my mind now hasn’t changed very much from the image I had of him when we started school here, but… It’s just, I kind of get the feeling that our circumstances have changed a lot. Hirata-kun also seems to trust Ayanokouji-kun a great deal, too. They call each other by their first names. I think that Ayanokouji-kun is probably the only person Hirata-kun is like that with.”

Wang had feelings for Hirata; she paid more attention to him than anyone else did. If she said something like that, then there was no doubt about it. They all listened attentively, not hesitating to trust what Wang said in the slightest.

“Horikita-san’s the one leading the class, but… Don’t you think that maybe Ayanokouji-kun’s been pulling the strings from behind the scenes, and more than just once or twice?” said Maezono.

In response to Maezono’s impassioned speech, others, starting with Onodera and then Ike and Shinohara, nodded their heads deeply in agreement. Matsushita, listening to the discussion as it unfolded around her, had come to understand something once again: everyone in their class had already begun to realize the potential that Ayanokouji possessed. That was because, of course, Ayanokouji was taking more overt action than he had during their first year, but the problem was that there was a possibility people would interpret this negatively. In that case, Matsushita decided, she should shift to a different position for the time being.

“I think that your read of the situation might be correct, Maezono-san,” she said. “Ayanokouji-kun has a long history of getting mediocre results, so it should follow that even if he’s improving, he shouldn’t suddenly leap to the results he’s getting now. And maybe if he had been serious about things from the very beginning, he could’ve had an A in Academic Ability, at the very least.”

A look of triumph settled onto Mazeono’s face when she saw that Matsushita, who had been a skeptic before, came around to her side. A woman’s intuition. The look on Sudou’s face didn’t escape Maezono’s notice, and she pressed him on it. “Sudou-kun, do you know anything special about Ayanokouji-kun?” she asked. “Preferably something the rest of us don’t know, if possible?”

Sudou looked hesitant, like he was of two minds. Maezono was bursting with anticipation, waiting for more from him.

“What? Is there something? If there is something, tell us,” she said.

At the start of their second year, Sudou had felt something when he saw what happened with Housen. He had caught a glimpse of Ayanokouji’s strength. Now, he wondered whether he should bring it up. Although that series of events was a secret, so nobody should know about it. Sudou mulled it over internally, thinking, “ I’m pretty sure they didn’t say anything about keeping quiet about Ayanokouji’s ability itself, though, right?” If it was something that they didn’t want anyone to get word of, then Sudou would have strongly reminded himself to keep quiet.

“…Yeah, okay,” he said at last. “You and the others are only focusing on the academic side of things here, Maezono, but I think his amazing growth isn’t just in Academic Ability.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” asked Maezono.

“You guys saw it yourself, right? How fast Ayanokouji was back in that relay race. He was faster than me.”

Although they hadn’t technically competed directly against each other at full strength, Sudou had to admit that he would lose to Ayanokouji, no contest required. At this stage, few people were surprised by Sudou’s claims; it was already well known that Ayanokouji had competed against the previous student council president, Horikita Manabu, and that what they saw had been unusual.

“Well, yeah, of course,” said Maezono. “Everyone knows that already. Right?”

Sudou revealed more of the truth. “But it ain’t just that he’s quick. It’s like, okay, it’s kinda frustrating for me to admit this, but he’s more athletic than I am in general.”

“M-more than you, Sudou-kun?!” exclaimed Maezono, incredulous.

Sudou continued, choosing his words carefully, perhaps because he was thinking of how best to convey how amazing Ayanokouji was as straightforwardly as possible. “If there’s anything that I could beat him at in a serious competition, basketball would pretty much be it. And even then, I wouldn’t wanna actually play against him, if possible. It ain’t like I feel like I’d lose, but it’s like, I have a feeling he’d really drive me into a corner if we were gonna play. It’s like, that’s what my gut tells me.”

Ayanokouji had made Sudou, the person with the top-rated Physical Ability score in their entire grade level, raise the white flag. That fact alone was incredibly stark.

“Okay, that’s incredible if true, but why do you think that?” Maezono was excited, but she pressed Sudou for more.

Since there was no way that Sudou could ever mention anything about that fight with Housen, he decided that he’d just need to make something up on the spot. “I got into it with Ayanokouji before. I picked a fight with him, totally uncalled for on my part. I tried to punch him, but I couldn’t land a hit on him at all. It’s like, I could feel how incredible he was from that fight.”

Sudo hid the lie behind a sip of water. Even while coming up with that story, though, he thought back to the time Ayanokouji had fought Housen. Ayanokouji was completely undaunted in the face of Housen, an opponent Sudou would have been helpless to defeat. And on top of that, Ayanokouji didn’t seem afraid of being stabbed; he fought back so calmly. The truth was that Sudou had seen plenty, enough to make him realize that he wouldn’t be able to win against Ayanokouji if they ever fought. Sudou’s words had the weight of real emotion, which made it seem truthful. Maezono was convinced.

“Maybe Karuizawa-san started going out with Ayanokouji-kun because she realized that he had more to offer than Hirata-kun…? If so, then damn, Karuizawa-san’s great at sniffing out talent.” Maezono made no attempt to mask her tone, sounding at once as if she was complimenting Karuizawa and disgusted with her.

“Yeah, I’ve been wonderin’ that too for a while,” Sudou said. “Why did Karuizawa start datin’ Ayanokouji?” That was something he didn’t understand, precisely because he had experienced how incredible Ayanokouji was. “If Karuizawa found out about Ayanokouji, saw what he was like, then she would have chosen him. I could believe that, I guess.”

But just then, another emotion was born within Sudou. He felt that, if that were true, then there wouldn’t have been any reason for Ayanokouji to choose Karuizawa as his girlfriend. Her physical appearance aside, Sudou felt that Karuizawa’s personality was unpleasant. He knew that was a subjective opinion, though, so he decided to keep it to himself.

“I dunno, dude, I feel like from your point of view, that’s an insane level of praise, Ken,” Ike said. He definitely grasped what Sudou’s explanation meant, but he seemed uncertain. “I still don’t really get it.”

“Well, I mean, it’s only natural you’d feel that way,” Sudou replied. “You won’t get it unless you experience it for yourself, I guess.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Okay then, so how do you think we can get a handle on how incredible he is?” asked Maezono, hoping that Sudou would give a little more to substantiate his claim.

“I dunno, I—wait. I got it. What about, like, suddenly throwin’ a punch at him? Come up from behind, like wham .”

“No way, dude! From behind? Forget it!” said Ike.

“Dude, there ain’t no way you’re gonna land a hit on Ayanokouji unless you sneak up on him,” said Sudou.

“Come on, man, I could totally hit him with a sneak attack,” Ike protested. “But I wouldn’t do that because it’s not fair, in the first place.”

“Okay then, why don’t you try him head-on, then?” Sudou crossed his arms. “You’d have a zero percent chance in that case, dude. Zero.”

“Hey man, we don’t know that for sure, do we? Y’know, I’m pretty confident in my fighting skills.” Ike stood up, alternating between throwing punches with his right and left fists. He was making swish swish sounds with his mouth, but his movements were sloppy.

“You’ve never actually been in a real fight before, though,” said Shinohara, exasperated, prompting Ike to sit back down. He was being embarrassing.

“H-hey, shut up. It’s just that I don’t bully weak people,” snapped Ike.

“Yes, yes, okay,” replied Shinohara.

“W-well, all right, let’s forget fighting,” said Ike. “Anyway, if this is all true, then I’d like Ayanokouji to really get serious about stuff, like, bam . If he did that, then the class’d be safe. Or like, don’t you think that maybe we’d really manage to get up to Class A? You think?”

If they could ask Ayanokouji to contribute greatly with his academic and physical prowess, then that would be a significant asset for the class.

“That’s right. We’re in the same class, and I think it’d be all right to ask him to help,” said Wang. If there were exceptional students in class, then they should definitely pull their weight.

“I agree. Let’s ask him straight after winter vacation,” replied Shinohara, immediately agreeing with Wang’s suggestion. It seemed perfectly reasonable.

Expectations of Ayanokouji were beginning to swell. That was something that Matsushita had always hoped for, but at the same time, she was keenly aware that they needed to avoid making a big mistake.

“Wait, I have just one word of warning,” she said. “I understand your desire to rely on Ayanokouji-kun, and how you feel reassured by this news, but I really think you should refrain from mentioning any of this in public and from trying to coerce him to do anything.”

“Why though? If we don’t say anything, then he’s not going to be constructive,” Shinohara grumbled. Surely Ayanokouji wouldn’t be any help if he reverted to being the same kind of student he was before, the kind who always hung in the background.

“Yes, you might certainly be right about that. But I think we also need to consider why he’s been so meek up until this point,” replied Matsushita, gently reprimanding the students who were getting excited over the idea. They should be considering Ayanokouji’s feelings.

Sudou had been hanging back and listening for a while, but this idea must have resonated with him, because he deliberately cleared his throat to get the group’s attention at that point. “Yeah, she’s right. If he hates standin’ out that much, then spurrin’ him on unnecessarily might backfire on us.”

“Yes,” said Matsushita. “And if he becomes uncooperative as a result, that would be our loss, wouldn’t it? We can tell that he has the desire to help us, like answering all those questions correctly on the last special exam.”

Shinohara and the others seemed to understand what the two of them were saying about the danger of trying to forcibly drag Ayanokouji out onto center stage.

Onodera spoke up next. “I agree. If he were someone like Kouenji-kun, the type of person where you don’t know what they’ll do if you leave them be, that would be a different story. But he’s not that type of person. I think it’s okay to just continue treating him as we have until now for the time being.” She echoed the others, as if to provide a final reminder to the rest of the group.

At this gathering, at least eight people had come to a shared understanding. Namely, that Ayanokouji was someone capable, far more so than his OAA scores indicated. And even though they expected he would demonstrate his skills moving forward, they weren’t going to rush him. However, Maezono, the person who had arranged this meeting, had something completely different in mind.

“Is that really enough, though?” she asked.

“Huh?” Onodera turned to look at her.

“I can totally understand that Ayanokouji-kun is an amazing student,” Maezono said. “But it’s exactly because of that that I’m scared, or like… I guess I find him creepy. Because I mean…he nominated Sakura-san for expulsion, even though they were close, in that same friend group, remember? Then there was the way Ayanokouji-kun pushed Kushida-san into a corner, he just totally steamrolled her… If Ayanokouji-kun felt like it, he could probably get anybody from class expelled.”

The group had gotten absorbed in their conversation. It had already been over an hour since they got together, and during that time, more groups of students had come and gone, in and out of the café. One student, who had already been at the café a few minutes before Wang—who was the first member of the group to show up to the café—had arrived, now got up from their seat. They held an empty drink cup, which had been emptied some time ago.

“That was a decision that had to be made, though,” argued Sudou. “’Cause of Kushida’s choice, remember? Our class didn’t have any chance at winnin’ unless we expelled somebody. It’s perfectly reasonable that he chose to expel someone based on OAA criteria, and didn’t bring any personal feelings into it.”

Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise at Sudou’s immediate rebuttal.

“What?” he asked, flustered. “Did I say somethin’ weird?”

Maezono gave him a puzzled look. “Maybe not weird , but it’s…”

Matsushita took over. “She means that what you’re saying is really well thought out. I guess it’s like, you’re really growing as a person.”

“Huh? The hell is that supposed to mean?” barked Sudou.

“Well, if you were the old Sudou-kun, you wouldn’t say things like ‘personal feelings’ and ‘perfectly reasonable,’ would you?” said Matsushita.

“Yes, I think so, too,” added Wang.

“Hey, that’s totally normal! How stupid do you think I am?” replied Sudou.

“Isn’t that just a sign of how much you’ve matured?” said Onodera. She had a happy look on her face for some reason, as though she were the one being complimented.

“Quit pokin’ fun at me.” Embarrassed, Sudou tried to force the discussion back on track. “Uh, let’s see, where was I? Oh yeah, that’s right. Ayanokouji ain’t really that bad a guy.”

“Yes, I know it was something that had to happen,” Maezono said. “I get that. That was an exam where someone had to be expelled, no way around it. But it’s like… How do I put this? You remember that back-and-forth he had with Kushida-san leading up to it, right? The way he was mercilessly driving her into a corner. Totally indifferently… Yeah, like a machine, you know?”

“It was a situation where he had to be ruthless,” protested Sudou, persistently defending Ayanokouji from the standpoint of someone who wanted to stick up for him. “It wasn’t like he wanted to do it.”

“So, if a similar situation were to come up, would you have Ayanokouji-kun make an emotionless decision again?” asked Maezono.

“It ain’t like we should rely solely on Ayanokouji or nothin’, but ain’t it necessary to make decisions objectively?” said Sudou.

“Objectively, huh? You think that sounds good, everyone?” Maezono said pointedly, indirectly drawing attention over to Ike and Shinohara. Their names could be found at the bottom of the ranks in OAA. There was a hint of the future: Ayanokouji would probably choose one of those students as the next candidate for expulsion.

“W-well, w-w-wait a second here, hold on,” said Ike. “Yeah, sure, I guess it’s, Ayanokouji’s way of doing stuff is kinda, y’know, out there, sure. But having lots of friends is a respectable skill too, and I’d hope he’d take that into consideration, I mean. Plus, if I were to get expelled, Satsuki would cry. I mean, that wouldn’t be efficient at all or whatever.”

“I absolutely do not want that to happen.” Shinohara, seated next to Ike, clung tightly to his arm and wasn’t letting go.

“And there’s also that whole thing about Hasebe-san really suffering for a long time because of what happened…” added Wang. Bringing up that fact, which had occurred in the very recent past, made her face cloud over.

“If things stay as they are right now, then that’d be good,” Maezono said. “But…don’t you think we should absolutely avoid a potential future where Ayanokouji-kun becomes the class leader?”

Maezono had finally got to what she was worried about. The thing that she had felt anxious about, that she herself hadn’t been able to see exactly in her mind before, had now been put into words.

“There’s no way that Ayanokouji will become the leader, though. He ain’t got the qualities for it,” argued Sudou.

“I’m not sure we can say that for certain, though,” said Wang. “If he is skilled, then I think he could be.”

“I think I’d welcome it, actually. If Ayanokouji-kun really is capable, then I’d be fine with having him as the leader.” Matsushita, who prided herself on her brilliance, was in favor of Ayanokouji taking command of the class in the future. While the lower-ranking students would need to fear the risk of being cut from class, the upper-ranking students, like her, would feel a sense of security in the knowledge that they would never be expelled while he was in charge as long as they were at the top of the class and didn’t do anything that would disrupt the leadership.

Horikita, who was currently the acting leader, was different. Since Horikita’s judgment was somewhat influenced by emotion, Matsushita didn’t know whether she might get cut for some reason. She felt that she couldn’t let her guard down.

“I am strongly opposed to that,” Maezono said. “I absolutely do not agree to having Ayanokouji-kun become the leader.”

“Okay then, in that case, what exactly do you think should be done, Maezono-san?” Matsushita wanted to draw out the last of Maezono’s inexhaustible concerns.

“That’s—” Maezono hurriedly tried to reply, but perhaps she didn’t have a clear answer in mind, because she swallowed her words. “Well, I guess it’s like, I don’t know the answer for sure, so that’s why we’re having this discussion. You know?” Maezono choked it out. It sounded like she was running away from the question.

“Anyway, I don’t think we can get any answers even if we discuss Ayanokouji-kun’s way of thinking any further here,” Matsushita said. “No matter what anyone says, the class leader is Horikita-san. If we dig into this discussion any deeper, we need to have her here with us. Don’t you agree?” It was a harsh statement, but Matsushita said it in as soft a tone as possible.

It wasn’t as though she wanted to fight with Maezono. And it wasn’t like she had wanted to make herself the center of the conversation, either. What she needed to do now was impede them from taking an action that would elevate Ayanokouji’s position in class, by attracting their attention. She could understand how the lower-ranked students like Ike felt, how they feared cold-hearted judgment, but that didn’t matter to Matsushita one bit. In the back of her mind, Matsushita appended her statement with a “Look, I’m sorry, but…”

“You have a point, sure, but… Maybe if we discuss it more, we’ll find an answer?” replied Maezono.

Maezono wasn’t ready to stop yet, but the conversation didn’t go anywhere new. Eventually, the topic of conversation shifted to the events of Christmas Eve.

4.1

J UST BEFORE 2:00 P.M. on that same day, a male student crammed his empty cup into a trash can placed outside of Keyaki Mall, and a female student appeared, glaring at him. Both were from the same class, and the boy jovially raised his hand, offering a wave.

“Yo, Masumi-chan,” he said. “You’re earlier than expected.”

“Look, can you stop calling me that?” she snapped. “And don’t call me up on a day off.”

“Come on, don’t say that. I got my hands on some interesting information today.”

“I know how much you love gathering info, but don’t drag me into it.”

“Oh, harsh! This is some pretty useful information though, y’know?”

“In that case, report it to Sakayanagi and earn some points,” she retorted.

“Hey, I’ve got a lot of thoughts on my mind, I’ll have you know. You’re the only person in class who understands, Masumi-chan.”

“Liar.”

“It’s not a lie. At the very least, you can voice your opinions to the Princess without fear, Masumi-chan,” It wasn’t the first time Hashimoto had told her that he appreciated her in that regard.

“So?” Kamuro scoffed. “That has nothing to do with ‘speaking your mind.’ And I hate how capricious you are.”

Hashimoto didn’t seem bothered by it, though, and tried to continue the conversation. “Come on, just hear me out for the time being. Check out what I’ve been hearing.”

He proceeded to tell Kamuro that he had eavesdropped on a certain group of people having a conversation at Keyaki Mall that day. Hashimoto began to explain what he had heard, supplementing it with his own words based on facts that he had recorded with his phone. He told Kamuro about a class discussion involving eight people including Sudou. Despite her original lack of interest, by the time Hashimoto was finished, Kamuro’s expression had shifted.

“So? Pretty interesting stuff, right?” said Hashimoto.

“We already knew about it, though, to a certain extent,” said Kamuro.

“The core of Class B. It’s not Horikita after all. That glimpse he showed us back on the uninhabited island, that strange feeling I’ve had about him, until now, that something was off—it all ties in to this. And apparently, behind the scenes during the Unanimous Special Exam, something much more extreme than we even imagined happened. It’s not easy to just drop a girl from your group of friends that you’ve been close with, is it? He can be extremely ruthless. And she wasn’t plain in the looks department either. She was cute.”

“What do her looks have to do with anything?” asked Kamuro.

“Of course it matters,” said Hashimoto. “If Sakura was ugly, then people would think, ‘Oh, okay, whatever,’ even if they did have to cut her. Looks are a surprisingly big deal.”

“You’re saying that Ayanokouji is someone who can make cold-blooded decisions based solely on the outcome, regardless of whether he’s close with the person or not.” While Kamuro didn’t agree with his opinion, she demonstrated that she understood the first part.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” he said. “On top of that, as you could tell if you’d heard that group’s discussion earlier, Ayanokouji isn’t especially high up in the class’s social structure by any means, at least not at the time of the Unanimous Special Exam. It would be extremely difficult, a Herculean task, for a person like that to seize control of the class and lead them.”

Hashimoto kept the recording on his phone saved securely, putting a lock on it so that he wouldn’t delete it by mistake.

“By the way, there’s something that’s been bugging me for a little while now,” said Kamuro.

“What’s that?” asked Hashimoto.

“How were you able to eavesdrop on such an important discussion?”

“Simple coincidence. Just got lucky is all.”

Hashimoto answered without hesitation, but Kamuro didn’t believe him in the slightest.

“Coincidence, huh,” she repeated.

The audio data that Hashimoto had recorded started from some point in the middle of the discussion that the students from Horikita’s class had been having when they met up in the café. It would’ve appeared highly likely that they had only been engaging in meaningless chitchat. There would have been no way for him to have foreseen any important discussion taking place there. Even if Hashimoto were just out gathering intelligence at random, listening for anything he could get, how could there possibly be such a convenient coincidence as that?

“Oh? Do you perhaps doubt that it was a coincidence, by any chance?” he asked.

“Meh, not really. If you don’t want to talk about it, I won’t ask. It’s fine to just leave it as a coincidence, right?” Kamuro judged that it was wiser not to pry too deeply and decided not to pry. Hashimoto made no indication that he was going to answer her question, either. “So, now what? Sure, it was interesting info, but what’s next? What’s the point of knowing?”

“Before we arrive at any conclusions… If it’s confirmed that Ayanokouji is not a normal person, then I’m starting to wonder about what he’s been doing since coming to this school before today,” Hashimoto said. “Where he did it, and when. Ryuuen was on a rampage right when we started school and then he suddenly went quiet. Recently, we’ve even seen him interacting with Ayanokouji here and there, strangely enough. Right?”

Hashimoto told Kamuro about the assumptions and predictions that he had arrived at, while skillfully interspersing facts that they both already knew.

“So, you’re saying that…Ayanokouji is lurking in the background, behind Horikita…and Ryuuen fought him and lost?” asked Kamuro.

“Ryuuen isn’t the type to obsess over one simple win or loss,” said Hashimoto. “If that was what happened, that he lost to Ayanokouji, then I think it was more than just losing. I think however Ayanokouji defeated him, he demonstrated a considerable difference in strength between them, enough to make Ryuuen just give up.”

“If that’s true, then why’s he getting involved with Ayanokouji after the fact? Is he looking for a rematch?”

“I’m sure he probably has that idea in mind too, yeah. But I think it’s also likely that Ayanokouji’s personality’s got somethin’ to do with them getting all up in each other’s business, probably. Y’know? If Ryuuen assumes that he can get an advantage by getting involved with Ayanokouji, then he probably figures it’s better for Ayanokouji to see him as an ally than to see him as an enemy all the time. Don’tcha agree?”

“So, he’s using him for his own purposes,” Kamuro mused. “That’s what you mean. Well, I guess that’s what we’d expect from Ryuuen, right?”

Even if Ryuuen lost, it wasn’t like he’d simply go down. Once he took a bite out of someone, he didn’t let go. That way of doing things was exactly in line with what Kamuro imagined Ryuuen was like.

“There is definitely that, yeah,” said Hashimoto. “But in this case, I think there’s more to it.”

“More?”

“Ryuuen is probably using Ayanokouji for his own benefit, yes. But I’ve got no doubt Ayanokouji knows it too. It’s like Ayanokouji’s practically tellin’ him, ‘Okay, if you want, I’ll let you use me, so try your best.’ Like that.”

“What the hell is that all about?” Kamuro asked. “What does Ayanokouji gain from something like that? I get that supporting Horikita from the shadows makes sense, in that he helps the class improve…”

“I’m not sure,” Hashimoto shrugged. “Do you think he wants to crush Ichinose and Sakayanagi by helping Ryuuen, then, or something? If Ayanokouji isn’t the type to get his own hands dirty, then relying on someone belligerent and aggressive like Ryuuen makes a heck of a lot of sense, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, you might be right about that.”

“I’ve always had my suspicions before, but now, all that fog is finally startin’ to clear up. The most troublesome enemy in Horikita’s class is Ayanokouji. And…” Hashimoto hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Ayanokouji is even more capable than the Princess.”

“Are you certain?” asked Kamuro.

“Yeah. I’m not going to tack on a ‘probably’ or ‘most likely’ by this point anymore. That discussion today left me convinced.” Regardless of who the target of their analysis was, there was no way that Hashimoto would ever overestimate anyone to that degree.

“If what you’re saying is true, that’s trouble-trouble,” said Kamuro.

“Trouble, trouble, trouble. It gets worse.” Hashimoto calmly declared what no one else in Class A would say. “More importantly, we can expect that the final exam waiting for us at the end of the third semester is gonna result in a major point change. If we do lose against Ryuuen then, we won’t be able to hold onto the winning position anymore.”

Kamuro glared at Hashimoto, slightly annoyed by what he was saying. From this point forward, a confrontation with Ayanokouji’s class couldn’t reliably be won. Even if there was no imminent conflict, it was perfectly conceivable that it could come eventually. Their first priority needed to be the final exam that was going to be held at the end of the third semester.

“You think that we’re going to lose to Ryuuen, don’t you?” she said. “That’s why you’re worried about the future of Class A. So, what, you’re hoping that we’ll lose? That’s what you’d prefer?”

“I don’t wanna lose, come on. Wow, Masumi-chan, you really get mad over these kinds of comments.” Hashimoto was a little surprised—Kamuro was hardly one of Sakayanagi’s believers, after all. That wasn’t what made Kamuro angry, though.

“It’s just that I don’t like your pessimism is all,” she said. “You always think like that.”

“I’m not gonna deny that I take a pretty negative view,” he conceded. “But there’s nothing wrong with bracing for the worst.” One never knew what kind of upsets or loopholes were in store at this school. Hashimoto was always on the lookout for those, but he couldn’t anticipate everything.

But negativity was futile, in Kamuro’s opinion. She didn’t want to hear it. “Bracing is okay. But the least you could do is keep an open mind. You can do at least that much, can’t you?”

“Come on, don’t say that,” Hashimoto sighed. “You’re the only one I can talk to like this, Masumi-chan.”

“Sigh…”

Even though Sakayanagi used Kamuro, Kamuro hadn’t offered up her heart to her. She complained if she didn’t like something Sakayanagi said, and she would even reject it without hesitation if she thought the situation called for it. That was what Sakayanagi liked about Kamuro, and the same went for Hashimoto, as well.

“But hey, keeping an open mind is good too, right?” said Hashimoto with a smirk. He was just joking, of course; that was just where the conversation had brought them. “As long as we stay in the same class, that is.”

That last remark, though, cast what could have sounded like pessimistic thinking in a new light.

“If you’re talking about Class Transfer Tickets, that would be a risky bet,” said Kamuro. “I can’t imagine they’d give them out to losing classes, and even if they do give them out before the end of the year, there’s only a short window of time we’d have to use them.”

While Class Transfer Tickets were powerful, the truth was that those tickets didn’t offer that much benefit. The higher the class you were already in—and thus the more likely you were to earn them—the less benefit there was in moving to a lower class.

“Even if we do lose in this worst-case scenario that you’re anticipating, the classes will just be neck-and-neck at best,” she went on. “Besides, if you were lucky enough to get a Class Transfer Ticket, would you be able to use it? Even if we assume Ayanokouji’s abilities are the best in our grade, it would take a lot of faith to make the jump just for that.”

Even if Ayanokouji’s class did temporarily move up to Class A, the more competitive the classes were, the more likely it was that their positions could switch again in a single special exam. If Sakayanagi retaliated against Ayanokouji and her class rose to the top again, transferring classes would be a huge fiasco. While it was possible that they could still be saved if they were lucky enough to be able to get another Class Transfer Ticket while in Ayanokouji’s class, that was just a series of wishful what-ifs.

“Those tickets would be useless to us, unless we were clearly in a downturn, like Ichinose’s class,” Kamuro concluded.

That was hardly something that Hashimoto and Kamuro were the first to contemplate. It was a common topic of conversation among students, whenever they were chatting with each other, day or night.

“But those tickets aren’t the only method you can use to transfer classes,” Hashimoto pointed out. “Right?”

“If you’re talking about the thing about twenty million points, then that’s impossible,” Kamuro said. “That’s even more unrealistic than a Class Transfer Ticket.”

But Hashimoto was constantly keeping his eye on the possibility of transferring by cooperating with a class as a unit rather than as an individual.

“Look,” Kamuro continued, “I know this is probably none of my business, but what do you think’s going to happen if you try to profit while others fight?”

She was being vague about what she meant, but Sakayanagi was aware of Hashimoto’s suspicious moves. Kamuro herself had even reported them to Sakayanagi more than once now. Kamuro figured it was unlikely that she was the only one on it. Sakayanagi probably had several students across all grade levels probing into Hashimoto’s business and keeping an eye on him. If Hashimoto showed any signs that he was going to betray the class and try to steal glory for himself, he’d be targeted.

“No matter who wins, all we need to do is be in Class A at the end,” Hashimoto said. “It sounds difficult, but it’s pretty simple.”

“I understand what you’re trying to say. But it’s better for you if you don’t get any weird ideas.” For now, Kamuro was Hashimoto’s classmate, at least in name. As his classmate, she wanted to give him a bit of advice—a warning.

“Thanks,” said Hashimoto, albeit somewhat absently, in a small voice.

It wasn’t that he wanted to betray Sakayanagi. It was just that in order for him to graduate from Class A, he couldn’t be totally committed to her, unyielding in following her. The powerful monolith that had existed when they first started school had crumbled, and now, there were three forces vying for the top spot. No, in the back of his mind, he’d always considered the possibility of the top three duking it out. However, his initial assumption that Ichinose’s class would end up edging out the others had been a miscalculation.

He hadn’t noticed the true weight of Ayanokouji’s influence until after they’d passed the midpoint of their second year. Hashimoto had conducted reconnaissance several times, and he hadn’t ever caught a glimpse of Ayanokouji emerging as a leader. That was probably intentional, he figured. However, Ayanokouji had been acting conspicuously again and again over the past few months—almost as though his previous mediocrity had been an act.

At first, Ayanokouji had been someone who laid low, and appeared uninterested in the class competition. What was the reason for the about-face? Had this been his strategy from the beginning? Or had Ayanokouji just decided it was time to start pulling his weight, after dragging his feet all this time? Questions kept fading in and out of Hashimoto’s mind, one after another.

Whether it was Sakayanagi, or Ryuuen, or Ichinose, Hashimoto had a clear picture of what they were all about—the kind of person they each were, and what kind of philosophies they had. But when it came to Ayanokouji, Hashimoto couldn’t see an answer to any of those questions. It was troubling.

“For the time being, I still want information,” Hashimoto said. “I plan to keep on digging into Ayanokouji and what’s going on around him.”

“I don’t really care,” Kamuro replied. “You can go ahead and do that on your own, can’t you?”

Hashimoto had never been ordered by Sakayanagi to conduct any reconnaissance or gather information related to Ayanokouji, after all. As far as Kamuro was concerned, if he was so worried about it, then he should just do what he wanted on his own. Truthfully, she could admit that the audio recording Hashimoto had gotten hold of today was going to be useful for the battle ahead… However, at the same time, Kamuro suddenly realized something. As early as the beginning of last year, Sakayanagi had given her orders to investigate Ayanokouji. Had Sakayanagi already noticed his abilities way back then?

“Actually, Masumi-chan, that’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” Hashimoto said.

Kamuro wondered, though, if Sakayanagi had really been able to understand everything that Ayanokouji was truly capable of at that time. One possibility emerged in her mind. Could it be that Sakayanagi had already known about Ayanokouji’s true abilities, but in a way that they didn’t expect…? She wondered.

“Hey, Earth to Masumi-chan?” said Hashimoto.

Hashimoto waved his hand in front of Kamuro’s face as she stood there, lost in thought. Coming to, she aggressively batted his hand away.

“…What?” she asked.

“No, it’s just, you were spacing out there,” he said. “What I’ve got to say next is important.”

“I have a bad feeling about this for some reason,” said Kamuro, but she put a stop to her train of thought for a minute to listen attentively.

“Would you help me contact Ayanokouji?” Hashimoto asked. “You know, together?”

“…Why me?”

“Because people are definitely wary of me. If I’m not careful, Ryuuen could catch me out.”

“Even if I’m with you, you’re still there,” Kamuro pointed out. “That’s what together means, remember? More importantly, even if I’m there too, Ayanokouji will still be wary.”

“If there are twice as many people to deal with, then Ayanokouji’s sense of vigilance will increase accordingly, but if we have four eyes and four ears between us, we’ll be able to pick up twice as much information. Right?”

“I’m willing to go along with this, but I have conditions,” said Kamuro.

“Oh, and what are they? Do tell.”

“Never call me Masumi-chan ever again. That is an absolute requirement.”

“…O-okay. So, uh…Kamuro-chan is safe, then, I guess?” Hashimoto thought that was more than enough, but Kamuro had more to say.

“And one more thing. I’ll be the only one to make contact with Ayanokouji.”

“Just you, Kamuro-chan?” Hashimoto looked puzzled.

“If Sakayanagi caught wind of me working with you, it would cause unnecessary misunderstandings,” she said.

“I won’t deny that.” Kamuro’s concern that Ayanokouji’s guard would be raised if they worked together wasn’t unfounded, but for Hashimoto, that was not an appealing proposition.

“I’ll find out what you want to know,” Kamuro insisted. “Compromise.”

Hashimoto figured that if he tried to push the issue, she wouldn’t show him any mercy; she’d just pretend the whole conversation never happened. And she was refusing to let him call her Masumi for some reason, too. After spending close to two years together with Kamuro, though, Hashimoto had come to understand her well.

“Well… Guess I don’t got any other choice. Okay. Let’s shake on it.” Hashimoto extended his right hand. But Kamuro didn’t take hold of it. All she did was shoot him an icy stare. “Dang, frigid as ever,” he chuckled. “I actually like you quite a bit, Kamuro-chan. You know that?”

“How can you spew stuff like that when you have a girlfriend?” she snapped back.

“Oh, so if I break up with her, will you go out with me?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Aww man,” replied Hashimoto, holding his hand to his forehead in a show of dismay. The thinly-veiled smile on his face made it obvious it was a charade, and Kamuro just shook her head, done with putting up with this.

“I’m leaving now,” she told him.

“Sorry about that. Oh, but make sure you tell me what day you’re going to do this, and what time.”

On that point alone, Hashimoto was insistent.

4.2

O N THAT SAME DAY, a day on which various students were following their own respective agendas, I, who had no way of knowing what those students were doing, ended up spending time with people that I didn’t usually see. It was December 26. Christmas had already passed. This day was also known as the day when stores sold the least amount of cake in a year. Well, no, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it was famous for being the day when cakes were marked down.

There were theories as to why this was, but one of the reasons was that Christmas had passed. Japanese people quickly changed their mindset, shifting from focusing on Christmas to focusing on New Year’s, the next holiday. Although it seemed like people had developed the custom of eating cake all year round nowadays rather than limiting themselves to specific events, the fact remained that this particular day was categorized as the day of the year when cakes didn’t sell. Which was precisely why, in recent years, a not-insignificant amount of people intentionally bought cake on December 26 to take advantage of the markdowns.

None of that was really on my mind when I woke up early that morning, though—I figured I’d spend the entire day in my room. The day that Kei would be recovering from her illness would soon be here. Her fever had already subsided, and she was now able to move around a little bit. If she wanted to repair the relationship, then we would go back to the way things were before.

My room was clean enough, but there was probably still dust in the corners and other hidden places, so today, I was going to thoroughly wipe everything down and clean the place up. With the cleaning supplies I had prepared in advance laid out on the table, the battle was about to begin. Thus began my struggle. Starting that morning. I moved the furniture, wiped everything down with a dust cloth, and thoroughly sterilized everything with alcohol disinfectants and such. Of course, once I was finished cleaning my room, the next step was the toilet, and then the bath, and then the closet.

By the time the kitchen, my final stop, was cleaned to perfection, I noticed that the sun was setting outside. Although it wasn’t snowing at this time of day, there still wasn’t any sign of the snow melting.

“I wonder if there’s any leftover Christmas cake,” I mused.

The 26th was almost over. Many of the cakes that hadn’t been sold today were probably going to be thrown away. Expiration dates and all that.

Should I go and look, to see if they’re selling them cheaply, just in case? I thought to myself. I didn’t need a whole cake, but if they were selling slices of cake at a discount, I was interested in trying. My mind made up, I decided to head to Keyaki Mall and enjoy the sunset.

4.3

W HEN I ARRIVED that evening, Keyaki Mall looked different once again. Since Christmas had already passed, the trees and decorations had already been removed, and preparations for New Year’s were underway, as expected. There were no stores in the mall that specialized solely in cakes, so I went to the section of the supermarket where cakes were sold. However…

“None.”

The usual cakes that they always had were up on display, but there weren’t any discounted cakes to be found. The special section set up for Christmas was gone as well, and there wasn’t even a whole cake in sight. Were the cakes sold out? Had they just been tossed? Maybe they just hadn’t wanted to pointlessly stock up too much, since the customer base they served was limited to who was here on campus. It wasn’t like I had especially wanted it or anything, but now that I was here and found there was nothing, I felt a little disappointed. It was a wasted trip, but I didn’t want to make an unnecessary expenditure here. I walked around the supermarket, taking two or three laps through the aisles to see if there was anything I needed, but in the end, I left the store empty-handed.

“Ayanokouji-kun.”

Just as I was about to leave Keyaki Mall though, I heard a voice calling to me, from off to the side. It was Sakayanagi, sitting on a bench, waving at me.

“Are you already returning to your dorm room?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“I notice that you only stayed in the store for approximately fifteen minutes.”

“You were watching, huh?”

“I just happened to see you when you left the dormitory earlier.”

I understood. In that case, it was probably understandable that she’d promptly call out to me like that, considering there was no indication that I had purchased anything. Kei was bedridden due to influenza, and I had spent Christmas doing nothing. I explained to her that I had come to the supermarket because I had thought I might’ve been able to eat some cake at a discount.

“Ah, I see,” said Sakayanagi.

“I guess I just missed the time window,” I said. “It feels like at this rate, the opportunity’s just going to slip through my fingers.” I supposed that it likely wasn’t going to happen this year, considering I hadn’t eaten cake even on the 25th, let alone the 24th. “It’s too bad that I missed out this year, but I’ll have some next year.”

Sakayanagi chuckled elegantly from her spot on the bench. “Ha ha.”

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“No one has any guarantee that they will be able to eat cake at this school next year,” she said. “Am I wrong?”

“…No, you’re certainly not wrong.”

“Especially so in your case, Ayanokouji-kun. Once you return to your family home, you’ll have a life devoid of cake.”

“I won’t even be served cake on my birthday,” I agreed.

Should I turn on my heel right now and head back to the supermarket? I wondered.

Sakayanagi, who couldn’t see that superficial thought running through my mind, stood up with her cane. “By the way, I do not recommend the cakes from the supermarket.”

“Really?”

“I’m sorry to say this, but they’re the mass-produced sort you can find anywhere,” she said dismissively. “Cakes should be produced by artisans.”

“Sure, but there are only so many places where you can buy cake,” I said.

“The convenience store has surprisingly good cakes available.”

I see. The Mont Blanc that Sakayanagi brought me before had come from the convenience store, if I remembered correctly.

“I suppose if you want a satisfying flavor, though, you have no other choice but to special order,” she added.

She started to walk away, but then she stopped just as she was passing by me. “I wonder if you would perhaps like to join me for a short while. What do you say?”

“Where?” I asked. “We’ll stand out too much if I’m out walking all alone with the leader of Class A.”

“Please rest assured. We will not remain alone for much longer.”

As she said that, Sakayanagi gently raised her hand in a direction away from us. When she did so, a male student spotted her and briskly drew closer to us.

“My apologies, Sakayanagi-san,” he said. “Were you waiting long?”

“You certainly are a little late. However, I was able to pass the time in an enjoyable fashion thanks to your tardiness, so I suppose it was a good thing.”

I figured she meant chatting with me.

“Sanada-kun, have you ever spoken with Ayanokouji-kun?” asked Sakayanagi.

“No, truthfully, today marks the first time we’ve ever talked,” Sanada replied, bowing politely to me.

I’d seen him around many times, as someone in my same grade. I hadn’t ever had the opportunity to talk with him. His name was Sanada Kousei. His OAA scores were as follows:

Academic Ability: A

Physical Ability: C+

Adaptability: B+

Societal Contribution: B+

Overall: B

He was an extremely bright individual with an A in Academic Ability, a score that only a few second-year students had achieved. He was average in Physical Ability and above average in other areas, and he had no obvious weaknesses. Although Sanada was an exceptional student, I had never seen him with Sakayanagi before now. Though I had been encountering students from Class A more often lately, I was reminded now of how little interaction I’d actually had with Sakayanagi’s classmates. At the very least, it didn’t seem like these two were here by chance.

“Actually, I’ve been wanting to talk with you sometime, Ayanokouji-kun,” said Sanada. His tone of voice was polite, and his demeanor gentle. I didn’t feel bothered by another man wanting to talk to me.

“Really?” I asked. I didn’t think I had done anything that would’ve drawn Sanada’s attention.

“Oh my, I see. What about Ayanokouji-kun happened to catch your eye?” Sakayanagi asked him.

“Well, he’s emerged as one of the prominent students among Class B lately, and also…”

Sanada approached me, still smiling. He gently took hold of my right arm and pulled me away from Sakayanagi, who I had been standing next to, putting distance between us.

“Please pardon my rudeness,” he said, “but what is the nature of your relationship with Sakayanagi-san?”

“The nature of our relationship? We don’t really have one,” I replied.

“She is the leader of Class 2-A. She is not someone you can approach for no reason.”

I wondered if Sanada had this strong perception of me as an enemy. From the depths of his polite, courteous words, a sense of unidentified anger—or perhaps a chilly caution—oozed out.

“The fact she would be so familiar with a member of the opposite sex, one-on-one, is incomprehensible to me,” he said.

That was an interesting way to put it. I wanted to say that it wasn’t like that, but that would’ve been difficult. I got the impression that Sakayanagi didn’t do very much on her own—that a high percentage of her activities were, in fact, done with multiple people present. Cases where Sakayanagi was alone with someone, and someone of the opposite sex on top of that, were carefully limited. Even if it were a common sight for students in the same class, it wasn’t something that students from other classes would do often.

But I supposed it wasn’t a good idea to think too deeply about it right here. I was just going ahead and picking apart Sanada’s phrasing and word choices on my own; how much of what he was saying was actually on his own behalf was hard to say. Actually, if he was someone who would say these things for his own sense of propriety, then it’d be simpler for me to just play the role of a quiet, unsociable blockhead who wasn’t aware of anything.

“I had the opportunity to talk to her last year during final exams,” I told him. “That’s the extent of our relationship. Nothing more, nothing less.” I decided to evade the question with a safe response. Whatever the intention behind his question, that was the better choice.

“I see,” Sanada said. “I understand. Please forgive me. I asked you that question in a somewhat intimidating manner.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I answered.

“Have you two young men finished jawing?” asked Sakayanagi.

“Yes,” Sanada replied. “Ayanokouji-kun, would you mind accompanying us for a little while, if it’s not too much trouble? If Sakayanagi-san permits it, of course.”

“Hm?” I said.

“Oh my, what an unexpected coincidence this is, Sanada-kun. I actually just invited him myself,” said Sakayanagi.

Although I wasn’t sure what was going on here, Sakayanagi and Sanada seemed to have the same idea. They exchanged glances and laughed. I followed their lead and quickly walked back from the exit, entering the mall once again.

“Here we are.”

Shortly afterward, we arrived at the general store. It was a popular store selling a variety of small items that were especially popular with the girls. Both Class A students strode inside and started looking for whatever it was they were going to buy.

“Ayanokouji-kun, please give us just a moment. If you don’t mind, please go ahead and look around the store at your leisure,” said Sakayanagi.

Even though I was told to go ahead and look, having not been given a detailed explanation about what was going on, I could do nothing but stand by and watch. The background music playing throughout the store made it difficult for me to pick up on their hushed conversation, but I had no choice but to keep my distance from them, since I couldn’t join in. I looked around the store to kill some time, but five or ten minutes later their conversation was still going strong, and there wasn’t any sign of their shopping trip coming to an end.

I was made to wait a pretty long time, and eventually I ran out of things to browse. Eventually I approached Sakayanagi and Sanada to see what was going on. As I did, Sanada hurriedly reached into his pocket.

“Please excuse me. I’m afraid I must take this call,” he announced.

After excusing himself politely, he walked out of the store and stood outside.

“I was out on a date with Sanada-kun today,” Sakayanagi told me. “I spent Christmas with him.”

“I see. That’s news to me.”

I’d thought there was sort of a date-like vibe going on, but that was certainly a surprising revelation. Until now, I’d had no idea Sakayanagi had a partner like him. Was there some event that had spurred a major relationship change right before Christmas? Or had they been together for a while and just never disclosed it?

“Is that okay, though?” I asked. “Doing things so openly like this, I mean. If it becomes known that someone is important to you, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone tried to use that against you.”

Protecting a third party was a significantly different matter from simply keeping yourself safe. Especially in Sakayanagi’s case, since having a limited range of mobility meant that the chances of her falling one step behind were not small.

“Of course,” I added, “I guess that’s just how confident you are in yourself, and… What’s the matter?”

Sakayanagi was staring at me in silence. But it wasn’t any normal silence. She seemed angry.

“Couldn’t you tell that was just a little joke?” she asked.

“What was?”

“Come now. Of course I didn’t agree to a date with Sanada-kun.”

“Hm?”