Chapter 6: Those Who Watch, Those Who Are Watched

Chapter 6: Those Who Watch, Those Who Are Watched

Chapter 6:

Those Who Watch, Those Who Are Watched

A S 9 A.M. ROLLED AROUND, the second day of Social Group began. Since we would be having seven matches both today and tomorrow, there would be a few more busy periods for the students ordered to participate in a lot of the games by their leaders. However, the work itself wasn’t any different from what we did yesterday. When the time came, you followed the instructions you received, met up with the group that would be your opponent, and played the game. On the other hand, the students who weren’t participating were free to do whatever they wanted in their free time. It would probably be all right for the students who were at the top of their class to do some experiential learning, even if they just chose things at random, and ensure that they collected stamps to receive rewards.

The sixth game was Sculpture Experience. This was an authentic activity in which the students would use the same tools artisans use in working with kimachi stone, meaning that this activity was naturally on a different level than what someone would do in school art classes. This truly was an exciting hands-on learning experience.

It was rather difficult for me to find time to do experiential learning activities freely, since I would be participating in all the games. Which meant that there were still lots of experiential learning activities left. So many activities that, if I could, I’d have liked to stay here for a week or two, not just these three days.

I held that indulgent thought as I gazed at the uncut kimachi stone, and the tools that had been prepared for the students. However, both groups were engaged in idle, trivial chatter about this or that, not paying any attention to the raw, unpolished stones we’d be using. Those stones exuded—no, were positively overflowing with charm. I supposed that for ordinary students, this experiential learning activity was just another part of school life, after all…

Well, there was also the fact that if they were that lax about it, it made it easier for me, anyway.

You would think that if a particular someone was participating in game after game, they would draw a little more attention to themselves, and in a bad way. However, my continued participation went so unnoticed that it was kind of interesting in its own right. I figured it was because the experiential learning activities were being held constantly all over the place, and the school didn’t publicly disclose details like who was participating from each group. And since there weren’t any students who were zealously going around gathering information, no one took any notice of how many consecutive wins or losses I had.

Even if I participated in all nineteen games, only Nagumo’s group would know about it, since they didn’t slack when it came to scouting out the individual results. Kushida was in the first group that I would be competing against today, and she came over and called out to me.

“It seems like your group had a fantastic start yesterday, Ayanokouji-kun, with five consecutive wins. Seems like a sign of good things to come,” she said.

“The first-years seem to be giving it their best. And it looks like you’re doing great too, with four wins,” I replied.

I had found out that the only loss her group had yesterday was against Nagumo’s group, the leading group expected to come out on top.

“Our group’s policy is to not worry about winning or losing, because we were told to do our best, work together, and have fun. But I guess everyone really has been taking it easy, since they’ve been asking me to handle things all the time. This is already the fifth time in a row that I’ve participated,” said Kushida, before expressing what she honestly thought, her smile barely slipping at all. “Honestly, it’s really stupid. This whole experiential learning thing is so lame. I just wish this camp would be over already.”

“What’re you saying and what you’re doing are exact opposites,” I remarked.

She was really something; it was magnificent that she could spew venom like that while hardly moving her facial muscles at all.

“I’m only doing this because I have to put on a happy face, otherwise it’ll come back to bite me. Honestly, I don’t think there’s any need to take this Social Group thing seriously. But there’s a shared room, large baths, meals, and people everywhere, which means I don’t have any time to relax.”

So she didn’t want a prize or anything, she just wanted to hurry up and go home already. She seemed extremely stressed about playing the good girl in a more cramped environment than the school.

“I just hope you don’t get too stressed and explode,” I replied.

“I think it’s fine for now. I’ve been able to vent to those two lately,” said Kushida, no doubt referring to Horikita and Ibuki.

“It looks like you lost against Horikita’s group.”

“I guess that’s just what you get from someone who works hard on all sorts of things with a straight look on their face, since being stupidly serious all the time is the only thing that they’ve got going for them, huh? Yesterday, too, Katsuragi wasn’t doing so well in the glasswork activity, so he seemed to go stand in line over and over and over again to immerse himself in practicing.”

It wasn’t possible for a large number of people to participate simultaneously in the experiential learning activities based around making things, due to factors such as the number of people to teach, the amount of equipment, and so on. Because that would clash with game times for Social Group, the time slots for free participation were hardly ever available, which inevitably meant that that there would be a line.

“Nagumo’s determined to win, and he’s got some serious folks on his team, so they probably aren’t going to cut any corners,” I replied.

“Do you think they’ll win then, in due course?” asked Kushida.

“If no one makes a move, then yeah, I think that there’s a high chance they will.”

“Hm, but hold on,” Kushida responded with a curious voice. “You say ‘make a move,’ but all we can really do is practice and hope that a game will be chosen where we can demonstrate the results of that practice, right? There isn’t anything else we can do. Aside from that, all that might be left is the leader picking the right people.”

“There are many other ways we can improve our win ratio to put ourselves in the running for the higher rankings. Bribing an opposing group so that they throw the game, for example. If the offer is made in good faith and for the full amount, there’s plenty of room for negotiation, right?” I replied.

Of course, efficiency was another matter. At any rate, at most, that was just one example of a way you could increase your win ratio. Kushida imagined a situation where an opponent would offer such a proposition.

“Sure, if someone offered me even 10,000 points, there would be little reason to refuse, so I think I’d gladly hand them the win. But if someone kept doing that over and over, wouldn’t they end up in the red?” said Kushida.

That would depend on who was doing the negotiating and how much. Hypothetically, if you gave ten thousand to five opponents, that would be fifty thousand, but you could also handle things more cheaply by bribing the leaders under the table for twenty or thirty thousand each. However, that sort of strategy didn’t appear to be very popular here was because there wasn’t that much of a profit to be gained in this Social Group event.

Even if my group were to repeat this bribing process and won sixteen or seventeen times, the groups like Nagumo’s that were playing to win with everything they had obviously wouldn’t agree to a deal, so naturally our groups would come to clash. And if we came in second or third place as a result, we wouldn’t be able to recover the funds we used on bribery.

“That’s why no one would do it, yeah. It’s not profitable,” I replied.

Only people like Nagumo wanted the title of winner regardless of profit or loss.

“How could you do it without spending money?” asked Kushida.

“It would take some effort. It’s nothing flashy,” I said, “but there are a few ways you can lock down some experiential learning activities so that your rivals don’t get any practice in. Just like you said, Kushida, there are lines for the popular experiential learning activities.”

Surrounding the students from rival groups and doing things to delay them over and over would also be effective.

“That kind of sounds like a method Ryuuen-kun would be happy to put to use,” said Kushida.

“Yeah. But no one’s been doing that so far because in the end, it would lead to the same kind of problems as the bribing approach,” I replied.

“You mean that there’s no value in doing it just for the sake of it? So, it’s not worth it?”

“Yep, that’s exactly what I mean.”

An instructor wearing overalls had appeared and instructed the students to gather together for a moment.

“In case you’re wondering, I’m rooting for your group. It’d make me happy if Horikita-san lost to you,” said Kushida.

Even though they seemed to be on good terms, the part about her wanting Horikita to lose was no different from Ibuki. Although, that might’ve been exactly why the relationship between the three of them was miraculously balanced.

“If you’re rooting for me, then does that mean you’ll give me the win for this game?” I asked.

“I’m not so sure about that,” she replied.

She had an adorable smile on her face, but it didn’t sound like she was going to go easy on me. Still, the game ended with a win for my group over Kushida’s, three to two. Personally, I was able to win thanks to my passion for artistic activities, which the other student did not have. Afterward, Social Group games continued on quietly throughout the morning and afternoon, without anyone making a scene.

Playing Cards

Including the first day’s activities, this was the seventh game of Social Group, and it was the first time there was a battle with a lot of luck involved. The game resulted in a stunningly crushing defeat for my entire group, me included, and my first loss had been recorded. This meant that I could only lose one more game, but I saw that playing cards together had been quite an exciting experience for the low-key Social Group event, and many students enjoyed this game considerably more than the previous six.

Chalk Art

We drew pictures on a reasonably sized blackboard using chalk. The fact that the rules were to reproduce an image rather than to draw an original work made this a surprisingly easy challenge. Chalk was different from the tools usually employed to apply color, like colored pencils or crayons, so I struggled with the unique texture. On the other hand, this was also a moment where I was introduced to a new world of art. Because the basis of the competition was the quality of our reproductions, I was able to rack up another individual win, and we also won as a group, three to two.

Miniature Golf

Going from the indoor Social Group events in the morning, we went outside to experience golfing on a small course. Apparently, there were many male volunteers who wished to play before we began, and the group leaders kept that in mind and chose mostly boys. That on its own was a bit unusual, and on top of that, no one had any experience with this game when we started it. However, perhaps because we were all beginners at more or less the same level, it had the opposite effect you would expect, and the game was just as exciting as when we played cards, maybe even more so. Although I had won my own personal competition, the other four players from my group had lost by a narrow margin, and so we collectively suffered our second loss as a group.

Patchwork

A word that you might not hear very often, patchwork refers to a type of handicraft in which small pieces of cloth are joined together to form one large piece of cloth. We were evaluated based on things like how much we were able to complete within the time limit and the quality of our designs. Our opponent this time was Tatebayashi’s group, which had some friction on the first day thanks to Kouenji’s selfish behavior. Their record thus far was one win and nine losses.

All five of their participants were girls, and they were powerful opponents with plenty of sewing experience. On top of that, I had the misfortune of going up against Inokashira, who was exceptional even among those with sewing experience. Thus, I had my second personal loss, and we suffered our third loss as a group.

Archery

I wanted to avoid a consecutive loss in the eleventh game, which was yet another outdoor sport that brought us outside. Even without any prior experience, you could probably guess the rules rather easily. We competed in a rule style called recurve, where we competed one-on-one in hitting the targets. In normal recurve, arrows were shot at targets seventy meters away, but for this experiential learning activity, targets were set at twenty meters. Each student was given six arrows to shoot at the targets and we completed for total score. The center of the target was worth ten points and the outermost part was worth one point. The only slight mishap our group dealt with was Morishita volunteering for the event because she wanted to try but not being able to hit a single target because she couldn’t handle the bow very well. Despite that, we successfully managed to avoid a consecutive loss, both in terms of our group record and my personal record.

Glasswork

The final game of the second day was glasswork. The facility was furnished with a fairly large workshop, and the students were able to take home the things we made, which made it a popular activity. Our opponents had a low win rate, and it felt like they were focused on making whatever they wanted to make, rather than winning. I was awarded the victory by the judges, perhaps because we were evaluated based on completion and production speed. As for the group as a whole, Hiyori once again demonstrated her dexterity and contributed to yet another win.

With the second day, the halfway point, coming to an end, the total record for our group in Social Group was nine wins and three losses out of twelve games.

6.1

J UST BEFORE 6 P.M., it was time to settle down after Social Group. I could see that the rest area in the building was a little crowded, likely because a free drink area had been set up as a show of appreciation for the tired students. There were several kinds of soft drinks and small paper cups lined up in upside down stacks. I happened to bump into Sanada, who had come to the rest area at almost exactly the same time I did, and he called out to me.

“Your group seems to be doing quite well,” he remarked.

Kiryuuin’s group was currently tied for sixth place, with nine wins and three losses. Depending on how tomorrow went, we just might be in the running for the winner’s circle.

“I’ve got support from dependable allies,” I replied.

Hiyori in particular was someone clearly recognized as being good at detailed work. She was far, far more capable than the average student in handling things that required not only technical skill but also an artistic sensibility, like pressed flowers or glassblowing. This was something I probably never would have noticed about her if we hadn’t spent time together in these experiential learning activities.

“What about the students from Class A? Are they cooperating with you properly?” asked Sanada in a reserved voice, likely concerned about his classmates.

“Hashimoto isn’t participating in games at the moment. If anything, I’d say he’s mainly focused on providing logistical support. Yamamura has been participating in games, and she’s been honest and helpful,” I replied.

Yamamura had seemed to be feeling down for quite a while recently, but I wasn’t going to mention that. When I told Sanada just about the good things going on with those two, Sanada was delighted to hear it, as though he were the one being praised.

“And then Morishita, she’s…well, she’s cooperative. Uh, well, no, rather, she’s creative,” I added.

“Creative. Yes, I suppose that’s a good way to put it.”

Compared to Hiyori, Morishita was not particularly good with her hands. Actually, if I had to be honest, I’d say she was clumsy. She did things diligently but had little success. She might have had something that would resonate with artists though, in that she always ended up creating very bizarre things. Also, as I mentioned earlier, she had cheerily volunteered for archery, which had gone terribly for her.

Sanada and I stood in a fairly long line as we chatted, and once we got to the front, I poured myself some tea. Meanwhile, Sanada chose to have hot coffee.

“I see. To be honest, I am glad that those three are in a group together with you for all this, Ayanokouji-kun,” he said.

I figured that he was trying to be diplomatic and saying something for the sake of being polite, but still, what he said struck me as odd.

“Why would you think so? I’m sure there must be a lot of other students out there who are on friendly terms with them, though,” I replied.

Even if we were just talking about Horikita’s class, Yousuke and Kushida were far, far more capable than me.

“Actually, I think that how Sakayanagi-san sees you is quite important too. Even I can see that she treats you with special regard, Ayanokouji-kun. Even Kitou-kun, who has been rather tense since the previous special exam ended, is likely still able to maintain his self-control precisely because you are by Hashimoto-kun’s side,” said Sanada.

It’d been a series of unaccounted for lucky breaks for Hashimoto since that day he came to my room.

“Were the three of them able to fit into the group comfortably? I think that Hashimoto-kun is good at handling himself, but I feel like Morishita-san and Yamamura-san are probably not,” said Sanada.

“I dunno. Honestly, I leave it to the girls to take care of each other. Are you worried about them?” I asked.

Did he have some particular feelings for the two of them? Or was he simply worried about his classmates? It wasn’t surprising that he would be concerned, since they both had such distinctive personalities.

“To tell you the truth, I normally watch over Morishita-san with a fair amount of worry,” said Sanada.

“I bet if your girlfriend Miya heard that, she’d cry,” I replied.

“H-huh? O-oh goodness no, I didn’t mean like that , not at all. Miya-san is the only one for me!” The usually mild-mannered Sanada corrected me, obviously very flustered. From how he looked and sounded, I could sense that he did not want there to be any strange misunderstandings. “It’s simply because we’ve been seated close to each other since we were first-years… She isn’t timid in the slightest, or rather, she’s the type of person to say everything that is on her mind, and there have been more than few little problems because of that.”

Come to think of it, just recently she has repeatedly made remarks that made Hashimoto flinch.

“She certainly seems to be the oddball of your class,” I remarked.

“Yes, I suppose so… I feel bad for saying so, but there certainly are times where she’s perceived as such,” said Sanada.

I figured that not everyone in Class A got along the way they did in Ichinose’s class. Some of them liked each other and some disliked each other. Some of them probably showed it in their attitude. That was normal.

“I don’t really know much about her situation to say anything,” I said, “but Morishita isn’t worried, is she?”

If Morishita preferred to be alone in her situation, then it wasn’t other people’s place to say anything. I supposed that was precisely why Sanada expressed it as watching over her.

“Well, I don’t think so. It hasn’t ever looked like she’s cared about it, but…” said Sanada.

“I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, but I understand what you’re trying to say, Sanada. I’ll keep an eye out for the remainder of our time here.”

“…All right. Thank you very much.”

Sanada, lightly blowing on his cup of hot coffee to cool it down, took a sip. I could almost hear him thinking, “Phew, finally, I can take a breather.”

“Sanada-senpai!”

Miya, a girl from Class 1-B, spotted Sanada and came running up to him as the two of us were relaxing next to each other. Once she realized that I was next to Sanada and we were talking, she hurriedly offered me a courteous bow.

“I’m gonna get out of your way and head on back to my room. See you later, Sanada,” I announced.

“Yes, until next time,” said Sanada.

Although Sanada and Miya hadn’t been dating for a long time, they seemed to get along extremely well. I could imagine that they were always together, even during concert band, and I was sure that they were having fun times together as students. It would be best for me to quickly let them be, so I didn’t cause them any unnecessary trouble.

6.2

A FTER DINNER, it was the time when many students were relaxing in their rooms or in the baths. Tokitou saw a message from Ishizaki telling him to come over and quietly left his shared room. In that group’s shared room was the first-years number one problem child, Housen Kazuomi. However, Ishizaki didn’t consider the boy’s existence to be that much of a problem and would even make harsh but honest comments about the boy’s violent and high-handed behavior.

Tokitou wasn’t the strongest fighter, nor was he clever or had a way with words. However, he remained undaunted no matter the circumstances due to his strong backbone, which had remained unbroken despite being under Ryuuen’s control. It was undeniably thanks to his two years’ worth of experience.

Tokitou’s destination, the area where people would gather to go to the experiential learning classrooms, was already empty and quiet. Ishizaki had called Tokitou to come out in front of the ceramic arts classroom. Peering through the corridor window, he saw an array of works made by students. Just like with the glasswork experience, the ceramics and such made here could be shipped to the students’ homes after they were fired, if they so wished. One of Tokitou’s works was on display here as well, as he had participated in the ceramics painting game that morning.

“…Seriously, he’s the one who called me out, and he’s still not here yet?” huffed Tokitou.

Irritated, he reached into his jersey pocket to retrieve his cell phone. As soon as he did, though…

“Yo. Sorry to have kept ya waitin’,” announced Ishizaki.

“Whaddaya want, Ishizaki?” replied Tokitou.

There was irritation in Tokitou’s voice as he called back to Ishizaki, who nonchalantly strolled up to him. But rather than answer his question, Ishizaki merely stopped right in front of Tokitou.

“Dontcha know what this is about?” asked Ishizaki.

“How the hell should I know…? You didn’t really write anything in your message,” replied Tokitou.

All that Ishizaki had said to him in his text was “hurry and get over here,” and it radiated tension.

“Well, I actually dunno either. To be honest, I ain’t got a clue what this is about,” said Ishizaki.

It was a bizarre situation: Ishizaki himself, the person who had contacted Tokitou and told him to come, didn’t know why he’d called him out.

“ You don’t know? That doesn’t make any sen—”

Just as Tokitou was about to voice his complaints, he felt a powerful pressure on his back. Immediately afterward, he found himself pressed hard against the wall.

“Hey. What the hell d’ya think you’re doing?”

The devil whispered into Tokitou’s ear, grinning.

“Ryuuen…?! What am I doing?! What the… What the hell are you doing?!” shouted Tokitou.

Though Tokitou was surprised, he somehow managed to keep his agitation to a minimum, only directing his gaze behind him.

“Guess I didn’t give ya enough discipline, so I made a surprise appearance,” hissed Ryuuen.

Tokitou was held down firmly, and even though he struggled, he was unable to break free. Even if Tokitou was able to free himself from his restraint for a moment, he knew all too well that Ishizaki, who was standing watch nearby, would come in as reinforcement.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” groaned Tokitou.

Tokitou’s arms were bound tightly, and he felt pain crawling up his back.

“You really don’t know?” answered Ryuuen.

Truthfully, there was one thing that came to mind that he had done, but Tokitou couldn’t just up and say it, and he instead feigned ignorance.

“I didn’t do anything…” he huffed.

“Oh, really? I got a report from my underlings ’bout ya, though,” said Ryuuen.

“H-huh? Th-the hell does that mean?! What are you talking about?!” snapped Tokitou.

Tokitou insisted that he was clueless, but he was assailed by a throbbing in his chest, which got faster and faster as he got more ruffled. Tokitou hoped that what they suspected was completely unrelated, but his hopes were immediately dashed.

“I’ve got eyewitness reports that you’ve tried to get friendly with Sakayanagi four, count ’em, four times since we came to camp,” barked Ryuuen.

Even Tokitou couldn’t feign ignorance once Sakayanagi’s name came up, so he stopped trying.

“I just bumped into her by chance is all, and we chatted. That’s it. I don’t see what’s wrong with that!” he protested.

“A plausible story. Unfortunately for you, I don’t believe a word of it,” replied Ryuuen.

Considering the frequency of contact between two people who weren’t even in the same group, it was difficult to make the excuse that they simply happened to be in the same place together that many times by sheer coincidence.

“Besides, you don’t ‘see what’s wrong’ with that? That’s a funny thing to say,” added Ryuuen.

“Urgh…” groaned Tokitou.

Tokitou, his story now blown, averted his gaze. Ryuuen, as if chasing after him, brought his face closer to Tokitou’s and forced eye contact between them.

“She’s flagging right now. And with the final exam comin’ up next, she’s gonna fall, and that’ll be the end of her. Which is why I told you all not to stupidly intervene. Remember?” said Ryuuen.

Ryuuen had been particularly thorough in making sure to issue that warning to Kondou and Yajima, who were in Sakayanagi’s same group, when the group assignments were announced back on the bus. The bus had been otherwise silent, so there was no way that Tokitou wouldn’t have heard his warning.

“We just chatted… H-how is that supposed to count as intervening?” asked Tokitou.

“It just does. ’Sides, didn’t I tell you before? I said, either you leave her entirely alone, or, if possible, you corner her thoroughly, to inflict psychological damage. Can you interpret either of those to mean ‘having a fun little conversation,’ Ishizaki?” said Ryuuen.