Chapter 10: The Truth Is…

Chapter 10: The Truth Is…

Chapter 10:

The Truth Is…

B EFORE THE START of the special exam. I arrived at the bathroom first and leaned back against the door of the stall that was the furthest back in the row, waiting for Ayanokouji. With my arms crossed and my guard up, I heightened my concentration, focusing on my upcoming fight with Sakayanagi. Since the rules were disclosed to us just a bit ago, I repeatedly went through simulations in my mind to see how I should fight. Unfortunately, the fact that the representatives and participants were completely isolated from each other meant that most of the strategies that I had planned in advance couldn’t be used, but Sakayanagi was under the same conditions, so that wasn’t something to complain about.

Besides, if it had been a battle based on academics, then it would’ve been no contest, as though the game had already decided at the start. So, considering that, it was safe to say that the first barrier had been crossed. It was especially interesting because there were no absolute guarantees.

For the first time in a long while, I felt a tingling, stinging sensation all over my skin. Leaving things to chance, if I were to go out there and lose to Sakayanagi in this exam, then that would be the end. In the worst-case scenario, there was still the option of holding my revenge match against Ayanokouji outside of the school.

After a short delay, he came over to me. He had a blank expression, like usual. At the time, I couldn’t sense the creepy vibe Ayanokouji had about him. But now, I could feel his abnormality, to the point of disgust.

“Seems like you picked up on my call,” said Ayanokouji.

“Hurry up and state your business already,” I replied. “Sorry, but I ain’t got the time to pay attention to you today.”

Ayanokouji didn’t even move an eyebrow when I rushed him.

“Ryuuen, I’d like to ask you to pass on a single message to Sakayanagi, sometime between the start and the end of the special exam,” he said.

“Huh? A message? If that’s it, then you tell ’er yourself. Are you messin’ with me?” I spat.

That chick Sakayanagi was sittin’ quietly in the waiting room from when the groups were decided until just a minute ago. He would have plenty of time to go and talk to her himself.

“It’s a special message, a message that I only want delivered during the special exam,” explained Ayanokouji.

So, he was talking about a message that had meaning once the one-on-one match between me and Sakayanagi was underway, huh?

“Hah! I don’t get what that’s supposed to mean,” I replied.

“It’s okay if you don’t understand. The message just needs to get to Sakayanagi,” he said.

What the hell is he up to? I don’t think this is it, but is it possible that he’s working together with Sakayanagi?

“Relax. I may not be on your side, but I’m not on Sakayanagi’s, either. I’m simply a bystander,” he added.

He added that bit of information like he was reading my thoughts, as I was wondering just what he was doing.

“So what’s in it for me, to help you out with this hassle?” I asked.

“Sorry, but nothing in particular. If you don’t like it, you can refuse. Besides, if the situation unfolds in such a way that you win against Sakayanagi, then the message won’t be necessary.”

I had no intention of honestly cooperating with Ayanokouji, but I couldn’t allow that last thing he said to pass.

“You sayin’ I’ll lose?” I asked.

“I didn’t say that. The message is just a little particular is all,” said Ayanokouji. At this point, he was just spouting nonsense, but he continued. “If you determine that you can’t win, then just remember what I said when the time comes. If you just do that, that’ll be fine.”

I didn’t like this at all, but this guy did see into the future, in a really bizarre way. I guess that it wasn’t a totally pointless thing for me to do, at the very least.

“Unfortunately for you, I don’t plan on losin’ at all. But all the same, I’m gonna ask you. What should I pass on?” I asked.

I was getting a bit curious about the contents of this message that he was going to deliver to Sakayanagi in such a roundabout way. But…

“The contents of the message have been passed onto Hashimoto,” said Ayanokouji.

“Huh?!”

Even now, Ayanokouji was saying stuff that just went totally beyond what I imagined.

“So just tell Sakayanagi to ask Hashimoto for the message.”

“You shittin’ me? How am I even going to get her to talk to Hashimoto during the exam?”

“That’s simple,” he replied. “All you have to do is make Hashimoto the traitor. If you do that, then you can make a situation where she can engage in dialogue with him one-on-one.”

Seriously, how far was this guy going to go just to screw with me?

“Don’t make me laugh. Hashimoto’s an opportunistic rat bastard that nobody trusts. There’s no way that Sakayanagi would use Hashimoto’s group in a match against me,” I answered.

Using my right to send in a traitor on Hashimoto itself sounded idiotic, but there was no conceivable way something like that could happen.

“It depends on the circumstances. It’s actually not that difficult, depending on how things unfold,” said Ayanokouji.

It didn’t feel like he was saying, “You have to tell her,” or anything like that, like he was trying to talk me into it, but seriously, this guy was an asshole who pissed me off to no end.

“Yer outta luck. I don’t care whether there’s any meanin’ to this message or not. You’re just gonna have to deliver this message or whatever it is to herself yourself after the exam. You should have least have enough time to meet with her, anyway,” I replied.

“It’s a special message, that Sakayanagi will only be able to pick up on during the special exam,” said Ayanokouji.

“You tryin’ to keep me from usin’ my traitor rights or somethin’?” I asked.

In all likelihood, Sakayanagi wasn’t gonna use that rat bastard Hashimoto anyway, but this whole message business would be impossible if I didn’t save my traitor rights for when he was in play.

“It might happen,” said Ayanokouji.

“Don’t make me laugh,” I replied. “Your message’ll never reach Sakayanagi.”

I shoved Ayanokouji’s riddle into a corner of my mind, feeling like an idiot for giving this any serious thought.

“If you want to use your traitor rights, you can use them whenever you want. I won’t coerce you,” Ayanokouji said before leaving.

I clicked my tongue forcefully while I watched his back as he walked through the door.

“What’s the message? God damn it, makin’ it harder for me to use my rights for no reason,” I spat.

I was about to be forced into a tough fight, and here he was, asking me for the most ridiculous crap.

10.1

R YUUEN HAD EXERCISED his right to send in a traitor and there was going to be a dialogue with a representative.

“I’ve gotta bad feelin about this,” said Hashimoto.

Hashimoto, who had already arrived and sat down, muttered those words to Sakayanagi as she appeared in the classroom with a smile.

“Ryuuen used his traitor rights when my group was selected,” he added. “This is a bad turn of events.”

Saying that, Hashimoto leaned his back deeply into his chair as Sakayanagi walked with her cane over to the seat opposite him and sat down.

“I can’t ask how the battle between representatives is going, but by all accounts, we’re at the climax, huh?” said Hashimoto.

“I am not so sure about that. Unfortunately, I cannot provide an answer to that question here,” said Sakayanagi.

Hashimoto was hoping for news of a development wherein Ryuuen had the upper hand in their match. But he felt that Sakayanagi, sitting before him, seemed to have a composed air about her.

“Well, that’s okay. We won’t know the details until it’s all over, anyway. More importantly, why’d you use the group I’m in, Sakayanagi?” asked Hashimoto, changing the subject a little as though he were trying to run away from that answer.

“Oh my. Now that you perceive me as an enemy, you feel no compunction about addressing me so casually?” asked Sakayanagi.

“Because, for the time being anyway, it’s just you and me here, and I don’t really care about keeping up appearances or whatever,” Hashimoto explained.

“Very well. I see that you are appropriately prepared yourself , ” said Sakayanagi.

Hashimoto was playing it cool, looking nonchalant, but his heart was beating much, much faster than normal. He desperately swallowed his saliva to try to wet his thirsty throat and pretended like things were normal.

“You have chosen to join forces with Ryuuen-kun. It is unfortunate for you that, for this once-in-a-lifetime match, it turned out to be a special exam in which you and he were completely helpless,” said Sakayanagi.

“Yeah, seriously. I was hoping for something like, by betraying you, I’d be able to overturn the odds in this contest,” said Hashimoto. Because the results were almost the exact opposite, he made a big show of being disappointed. “Why did you even use my group, anyway? Even if I couldn’t do anything to meddle, there’s no way you’d do anything that would provide an opening that could be exploited. You never know what’s going to happen in this world.”

There was no advantage to using Hashimoto, only disadvantages.

“Yes, you are correct. I was not planning to use you for this special exam, as you had expected,” said Sakayanagi.

“So why, then? What’s the purpose of having this dialogue? Don’t tell me you went this far to try to get me expelled. Is that what you’re saying?” asked Hashimoto, completely convinced that something like that would be absolutely impossible. “I can’t comply with your wishes, so how about I just hurry up and confess already? I’ll say it: I’m the traitor.”

“I would prefer that you not do so, because I am not interested in your confession at all. The reason I had called you, Hashimoto-kun, was so that I could find out the contents of the message that you had heard from Ayanokouji-kun,” explained Sakayanagi.

“…Message?” asked Hashimoto.

“Since you and I are the only ones here, surely there is no need for you to hide it, no?” asked Sakayanagi.

“No, wait, hold on a second. I have no idea what you’re talking about,” replied Hashimoto as he crossed his arms and gave it some thought, looking visibly puzzled.

“You met with Ayanokouji-kun before the special exam, did you not?” asked Sakayanagi.

“Yeah, I did. But I didn’t get anything like a message for you from him,” said Hashimoto.

“Time is limited. If you were entrusted with something, I cannot imagine there is any need for you to pointlessly keep me in suspense,” pressed Sakayanagi.

“No, really, I seriously have absolutely no clue what this is all about. Give me a minute here. Let me think.”

It was true that Hashimoto met with Ayanokouji, but he truly didn’t remember being asked to deliver a message to Sakayanagi. He frantically searched through his memories.

“Ah, wait, hold up… Don’t tell me…” he thought aloud. “Could that be it?”

“It would seem that you do have an idea of what it is, after all,” remarked Sakayanagi.

“No, well, I mean, that was definitely not a message though. It was just…” said Hashimoto, before snapping his mouth shut just as he was about to say the words.

“What is it?” asked Sakayanagi.

“He gave me one warning before going into the special exam. ‘Don’t lie to yourself,’ was what he said,” replied Hashimoto.

“You are a liar, after all. I suppose that is why he had given you that advice.”

However, that likely wasn’t a message for Sakayanagi, as Hashimoto was hesitant to say.

“Right? Honestly, there was nothing else,” he said. “No message or whatever.”

Sakayanagi thought for a moment. It didn’t look like Hashimoto was lying about this matter. On top of that, she couldn’t imagine that Ryuuen was lying about it either. There was no doubt that he had already given up on the exam, since he didn’t even watch the discussion. In that case, there was only one answer remaining.

“You were entrusted with a message by Ayanokouji-kun, but you were not informed that it was a message. That is why you cannot find the answer, even if you search your memory,” said Sakayanagi.

“What are you talking about? If that’s true, then there’s nothing I can do, right? I have no clue,” said Hashimoto.

“There is no need for concern. I will find that message.”

To do so, it would probably require maximizing the time for dialogue.

“Examiner, I will ask you this ahead of time. I will now ask him whether or not he is the traitor, and at this stage, I will only be asking how he would answer. Can I please ask that you not take what he says to be his official confession?”

After informing the examiner that she did not want the confession yet, Sakayanagi confronted Hashimoto.

“Can you tell me if you are the traitor or not?”

Hashimoto glanced at the examiner. The examiner nodded slightly in agreement, promising that anything said for now would not be taken as a confession either way, whether innocent or guilty.

“What are you after?” asked Hashimoto.

“I just thought I would like to speak with you. You said something earlier, didn’t you? You said that Ayanokouji-kun told you not to lie to yourself. Please allow me to confirm whether that is true. If you are on Ryuuen-kun’s side, then there should only be one answer here.”

“I’m not going to just carelessly believe you, no matter how many times you’ve made an announcement to the examiner. So, let me put it this way: If you ask me to confess right now, I might say that I’m not the traitor,” said Hashimoto, providing himself some insurance by being vague and noncommittal.

“I see. Then you were simply called here, even though you were cast into a different role. Is that right?” asked Sakayanagi.

“Yeah. I’ll tell you how I really feel,” said Hashimoto.

“I do not mind that stance. I feel that if you can tell me what is really on your mind, then I can get to the message. Shall we have a short chat then, before we get to the confession?”

Immediately after that, a one-on-one conversation between Hashimoto and Sakayanagi began to unfold, unrelated to the special exam.

“What do you want to ask me?” asked Hashimoto.

“Please allow me to ask you something that I could not ask the you from before. The old me would not have been interested in such things, but I believe that your character and thoughts are built upon your past experiences, Hashimoto-kun,” said Sakayanagi.

“Who can say? Maybe that’s true, maybe it isn’t.”

“Even if you are not going so far as to lie, are you unwilling to simply answer the question?”

“We don’t have the kind of relationship where we could talk about the past with each other.”

“Well, then, perhaps I will go ahead and take a few guesses myself , ” Sakayanagi said. “I thoroughly investigate both allies and enemies, and you must be aware that you have some strange bad habits. Whenever you have a problem or are worried about something, you tend to shut yourself away in a bathroom stall.”

When Sakayanagi pointed that out, Hashimoto’s shoulders suddenly twitched at the thought that Sakayanagi, sitting across from him, knew about a habit that he had no intention of letting anyone find out about.

“Wow, that’s a major surprise, for sure…” he said. “How and when did you find that out?”

“I believe you may have already realized her identity, but I have had Yamamura-san investigate a number of things for me, for quite a long time. That is how I know you have been in contact with Ryuuen-kun on a regular basis and that you have spent a lot of time with him,” explained Sakayanagi.

“In that case, does that mean you also had Yamamura trespass into the men’s bathrooms?”

“Thinking back on it now, I suppose that I did force her to do some difficult things,” Sakayanagi said, not denying it but instead nodding in acknowledgment of the fact. “You shut yourself away in bathroom stalls when you have no business to do in there. Either you want some time alone to think, or that is a place where you can escape from reality. I suspect it’s the latter. I do not know if it was while you were in primary school or in junior high school, but I am sure there must have been some event that created that behavior. And, if we factor in your personality…there are things that become clear.”

Hashimoto responded to Sakayanagi cutting to the core of him with perfunctory applause and chuckled to himself as he filled in the blanks for her.

“It’s not that unusual a story,” he said. “A long time ago, I used to get chased around by people who didn’t like me. A lot. And, on the campus of the school I went to, there was this bathroom that was so dirty no one would go near it. I would hole up in there and do a lot of thinking by myself. I just haven’t been able to shake that habit is all.”

He could have lied, but he figured he’d tell the truth since it was just about this. Even if Ayanokouji had advised him to do so. He didn’t want to displease Sakayanagi by being thoughtless.

“You speak so optimistically cheerfully when you say that, but your past was quite painful, wasn’t it?” asked Sakayanagi.

“Who can say?” replied Hashimoto, dodging the question. Because, if he had answered it, it naturally would have dug up unpleasant memories.

“You had realized something through those experiences. You came to believe that it was right to betray others before you were betrayed yourself, and you learned that the art of survival was to lie in order to win. That is Hashimoto Masayoshi.”

“Don’t talk like you know. Don’t show me you understand, as someone who has never seen hell before,” spat Hashimoto. Slightly overcome with anger, he reflexively smacked his knee. “I don’t know what Ayanokouji’s message is, but it’s got nothing to do with me. I have to graduate from Class A. I need results. Results that’ll show those people who think that I’m nothing but a piece of shit that they’re wrong.”

Sakayanagi, Ryuuen, Ayanokouji. Hashimoto didn’t care, no matter who it was. He was going to graduate from Class A. With only that goal in mind, Hashimoto continued to fight.

“Enough of this already. Let’s just move onto my confession,” said Hashimoto.

“What will you do once we move onto the confession? You were told not to lie to yourself, and so now, you will confess that you’re not on Ryuuen-kun’s side and that you are the traitor. Is that what you’re intending?” asked Sakayanagi.

“Obviously,” Hashimoto replied. “If I say that I’m not the traitor, even as a joke, you’ll declare that I am the traitor and get me expelled, acting all high and mighty over nothing, like you slayed some great beast. There is no way I am going to let something like that happen.”

“Yes. I will not promise something like ‘I will not make that judgment, no matter what you say,’ either, of course. My answer to you is a definitive one: I will judge you as such,” said Sakayanagi.

“In that case, then this conversation is over. I—”

Hashimoto, who had tried to bring this dialogue to an end himself, went speechless as he looked into Sakayanagi’s eyes.

“What? Why are you making that face?” he asked.

Sakayanagi was wearing a calm, gentle expression, which he had never seen on her before. It wasn’t the kind of face someone made when they were mocking another person but a warm smile, like a mother looking over her child.

“Maybe it is because my understanding of you has deepened, Hashimoto-kun,” Sakayanagi said. “I promised Masumi-san that I would have you expelled. But…just now, I thought that it might be a good idea for me to reconsider that.”

“Huh? There is no way I could believe that,” said Hashimoto.

“I did not say that I would rescind it. If you are going to continue to betray the class, then the consequences are not over. But if you trust me and follow me, then things will be different. That is all that I am saying,” said Sakayanagi.

“Do you really think I’ll believe that?” Hashimoto shot back. “Of course you’ll betray me.”

“I am not so sure about that,” said Sakayanagi.

“You’re gonna trick me, catch me off guard, and then retaliate. Aren’t you?”

“Hashimoto-kun, please give it some thought.”

“You’ll obviously betray me. Definitely. I…have to defeat you…”

Suddenly, a droplet of water trailed down Hashimoto’s cheek.

“What is…?” said Hashimoto.

He didn’t even understand it himself, it was just so sudden. It was only when he wiped it away that he realized it was a tear.

“What the hell is this? There’s no reason to cry, so what’s going on?” he asked with a helpless laugh at the physical abnormality going on with his body.