Chapter: 7 AYANOKŌJI VS. SAKAYANAGI

After a lengthy period of preparation, the day of the first years' final special exam had finally arrived.

As per the rules, the commanders of the losing classes would be expelled from the school. However, this time, they would be stripped of their protection point instead.

The two commanders in charge of the defeated classes would lose the protection point that they had earned during the provisional exam.

While there wouldn't be any expulsions, it was important to keep in mind that the Class Points would probably fluctuate dramatically.

Depending on the outcome of the exam, there was a good chance that the standings of each class would be affected.

"Today, I want you to forget about all the notes and pointers I've given you."

As I waited for morning homeroom to begin, Horikita spoke up from her seat beside me.

"Choose whichever five events you want, and then pick whoever you want to participate in them."

"If I take charge and mess up your plans, wouldn't the rest of the class be unable to adapt to it?"

"I never told anyone which events I'd be choosing or which events they'd be participating in. I simply said that I'd be making those decisions pragmatically depending on the situation, so that shouldn't be a problem."

In other words, she had thoroughly set the stage for me to compete without running into any issues.

"Don't blame me if something goes wrong."

"This is a class competition. Even though the commanders are allowed to intervene, the exam basically boils down to the strength of our class as a whole. The opponent we'll be facing is Class A, led by Sakayanagi-san. The most formidable opponent in our school year. Even if you lose, it's not like anyone would blame you."

I cast Horikita a sidelong glance and took a look at the last message she had sent me the night before.

It was a record of everything Class C had done to prepare for the special exam these past two weeks.

There was information on what each student had shared in the class discussions, which events they had tried, and how much they had practiced.

"I'll make the most of your efforts."

As I got up from my seat, ready to go do what I needed to do, Horikita left me with a few words.

"The odds of chess getting chosen are 7 out of 10. A 70% chance isn't exactly low."

Over the past couple of days, Horikita and I had played several matches of chess against each other.

"In the end, I hardly ever won against you, even with you going easy on me."

It was true that the number of times she had beaten me were few and far between. However, there was no need for her to keep track of it. In this short period of time, Horikita's chess skills had improved considerably.

"Nobody is stronger than me, even when I'm going easy on them. Remember that."

"You sure have a lot of confidence in yourself."

Having wrapped up my conversation with Horikita, I set off to go fulfill my duties as the commander.

The remaining students were pretty much on standby in the main classroom, waiting to receive instructions from the multipurpose room.

After an event is announced, the participants would then change their clothes and go to the designated location. The finer details of the event wouldn't be shared on the monitors, so the students in the main classroom would have to wait for the participants to get back to learn what happened.

Part 1

I headed over to the special building and went to the designated location for the commanders. There, Sakayanagi and Ichinose, who had arrived before me, were engaged in idle chatter with each other. From the looks of it, we weren't allowed to enter the multipurpose room yet.

"Good morning to you, Ayanokōji-kun." "Mornin', Ayanokōji-kun."

They both greeted me at the same time, and I lightly raised my hand in response. "It doesn't seem like we're allowed to go in just yet."

"They told us to let them know once all four of us arrived."

That is to say, the school was looking to ensure that the exam was carried out in a fair manner.

If you were to enter the multipurpose room before the other commanders, you'd be able to calm your mind and adjust to the atmosphere of the testing grounds before anyone else.

And, as this was a particularly special exam, there was no such thing as overdoing it when it came to ensuring fairness.

"It seems we're just waiting on Kaneda now." "Yep."

I took a look around. While there was still no sign of Kaneda, there was no way he'd risk being late.

"At any rate, you sure are lucky, Ichinose-san." "Eh? Lucky?"

"As they are now, Class D is no different than an infant. Their chances of beating your class are pretty much nonexistent. All you have to do now is to see just how many wins you can pile up. If you win seven events in a row, Class B might even change places with Class A. That is, depending on how Class A performs."

"Oh no, there's no way to tell what's going to happen. They'll probably be desperate, so we definitely can't let our guards down."

Upon seeing Ichinose steel her resolve like this, Sakayanagi let show an amused smile. This prompted Ichinose to speak up again.

"Huh? Did I say something weird?"

"No. You just spoke like you're at the top, ready to take on anyone. At the very least, I understand that you don't view Class D as your equals. Just what I expected from the one who managed to protect Class B for an entire year."

Sakayanagi's words were slightly mean-spirited. However, Ichinose didn't let it get to her.

"Class B also came here with a strategy, ready to win. We won't lose easily, especially in an exam like this where unity and cooperation play such an important part."

"I see. That was quite rude of me. It certainly is as you say, Ichinose-san."

I stared out the nearby window as I listened in on their conversation.

With April right around the corner, the weather today was bright and sunny. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky.

Like that, about five minutes or so passed. Before long, it began to dawn on us that he might be late.

Finally, we heard the faint sound of footsteps approaching from the other end of the hallway.

"Well, it doesn't seem like he'll be late after all. I guess he didn't lose his nerve and give up either."

Sakayanagi expressed her thoughts, amused that Kaneda would be showing up at the last possible moment.

Ichinose also seemed to be bracing herself as the exam was finally about to begin.

We each took the liberty of envisioning what was about to happen.

That is, we would join up with Kaneda after he arrived, and the four of us would enter the multipurpose room together.

However─

An unexpected person showed up instead.

Upon seeing who it was, Ichinose let show a completely dumbfounded expression.

While Sakayanagi was just as surprised as Ichinose, her expression quickly changed as she narrowed her eyes in amusement.

"…Ryūen-kun? Why… Why are you here…?"

A clear, distinctive feeling of unrest coursed through Ichinose. No, neither I nor Sakayanagi had seen this coming either.

"What's wrong with you? What's got ya shaking there?"

Ryūen, the former leader of Class D, deliberately drew attention to Ichinose's trembling.

"I see… I hadn't expected this to happen. It seems I had wrongly convinced myself that the commanders for this special exam would be those of us who received protection points."

Sakayanagi was the first to put the pieces together. Indeed, this man, Ryūen, had come here alone. Kaneda was nowhere to be seen.

"The special exam can't even start without the commanders. In other words, if it just so happens that the commander is absent, then someone else'll naturally have to fill in for 'em. Ain't that right?"

An unforeseen absence on the very day of the exam was certainly something that could happen.

There was probably some sort of system in place where one or two people would be ready as substitutes for the commander's position.

And, of course, the substitute commander would be the one to take responsibility should their class lose the exam.

"Even so, I never even considered that you might show up, Ryūen-kun."

"Well, duh? Considering the type of person you are, Ichinose, even if you broke out in a fever or got yourself injured, you'd come crawling here on your hands and knees to prevent your classmates from having to risk getting expelled."

If they lose the exam, there would be no way to prevent the commander's expulsion other than using a protection point. Just as Sakayanagi had said, the preconceived notion that the people with protection points would end up becoming the commanders had been a critical misconception.

Ichinose nervously cleared her throat.

Back when the special exam was first announced, Ichinose naturally must've been at least a little bit cautious about who the opposing commanders would be. However, when Kaneda showed up as the commander back when the class matchups were decided, she probably ended up dismissing this possibility altogether.

In her head, the process of elimination had probably happened without her even realizing it.

She ended up concluding that the special exam would be a competition between the students who had gotten their hands on protection points.

"Surely there must be some sort of penalty for you to participate as a substitute, right?"

"Yeah, Kaneda isn't allowed to participate in any events. It ain't that unreasonable."

Ryūen was saying that this penalty was something he had already taken into consideration.

"Did you do this to throw me off? Even if you did, isn't it disadvantageous for you that Kaneda-kun can't participate?"

While I didn't know the full extent of Kaneda's abilities, he was most likely a vital asset for Class D.

This meant that they had come up with a clever scheme that involved giving up on Kaneda's potential. Subconsciously, it would lead one to start pondering why.

When had they decided that Ryūen would become the commander? If it was from the very beginning, did that mean that this had all been planned from the start? With questions like these running through her mind, Ichinose was probably terribly confused right now.

"Oi, don't be so wary of me will ya? I'm just their sacrifice. If my class loses, the commander'll get expelled. It's a perfect chance for those Class D guys to kick me outta here. That's all there is to it, aight?"

"Then, are you saying you'll go easy on me?"

"Kuku. Yeah, I'll ease up on ya, so just chill out and come at me."

Ryūen spread his arms, welcoming her to come at him, but there was no way Ichinose was going to fall for it.

"When you want to win, you're the type to pull out every trick in the book. That's how you fight, isn't it?"

"If I want to win, then sure."

"I wish you wouldn't. You don't have a protection point and you're fighting with your back up against the wall. Somehow I can't help but feel like this is a bad omen for Class B."

Ichinose is the type of person who prefers to build trust, confidence, and safety from the ground up. Because of that, her capacity to deal with sudden accidents was by no means one of her strong suits. While this wouldn't be much of a problem against an average opponent, it was a different story altogether against somebody like Ryūen.

Perhaps the shock would soon spread from Ichinose to the entirety of Class B.

Everyone in her class would inevitably notice that Ryūen had become the commander.

And, even if they didn't, Ishizaki and the others would surely make it well- known anyway.

In which case, the rest of Class B wouldn't be able to hide their distress, just like Ichinose.

If Ryūen had become the commander despite having stepped down as the leader of Class D, the unpredictable nature of his instructions would be a lingering cause for alarm.

"It seems the showdown between Class B and D is going to be quite intriguing as well."

It probably wasn't so much of a laughing matter for Ichinose like it was for Sakayanagi, though.

She really should've taken action back when Class D was repeatedly stalking her classmates.

If she had caught onto the fact that Ryūen had been lurking behind the scenes earlier on, it probably wouldn't have come as this much of a shock to her now.

"Well, seeing as we're all here, let's go, shall we?"

With Sakayanagi leading the way, we entered the multipurpose room. A wall that hadn't been there the last time we were here had been constructed, dividing the inside of the room into two distinct halves. For an improvised, temporary wall, it seemed to be quite sturdy and soundproof. The four homeroom teachers in charge of the first year had been on standby waiting for us.

"Those from Class B and Class D, please move over there."

Per Mashima-sensei's instructions, the two of them disappeared to the other side of the partitioning wall with Chabashira following behind them.

The facilitators for Class A and Class C were Class D's Sakagami-sensei and Class B's Hoshinomiya-sensei.

From the looks of it, the teachers weren't in charge of proctoring the exam for their own classes.

"The test will start in five minutes. Take this time to compose yourselves while you can."

Leaving us with this piece of advice, Hoshinomiya-sensei then took Sakagami- sensei aside to have what seemed to be one final talk about the preparations for the exam.

Before the exam, Sakayanagi and I had a few minutes alone together, just the two of us.

"Finally… The day I've been waiting for has finally arrived. To be honest, I couldn't sleep last night, and I almost overslept this morning."

"I don't remember making you wait so long. It's just a coincidence that you met me in the first place."

"Are you saying that, if you hadn't come to this school, we wouldn't have met?" As I nodded in response, she laughed, promptly denying it.

"Our reunion at this school was indeed a mere coincidence. But, I was confident that I'd meet you again sooner or later. It was fate, decided long ago."

"Fate, huh? You're saying some pretty abstract things." "Well, I am a young lady, after all."

Sakayanagi smiled as she spoke, slowly approaching me with her cane in hand.

"If you hadn't enrolled in this school, I would've just postponed this for another three years or so. I was confident I could pass the time without rushing things, hiding my feelings of anticipation deep inside. But, that simply doesn't work anymore. Ever since I found out you were within my reach, every passing day has just felt so long. It has been so very difficult to subdue my feelings; To subdue my burning desire to compete with you. That's just how much I've been dreaming of today."

Sakayanagi spoke eloquently. Her wish was finally being granted, was it? "Aren't you afraid to wake up from your dream?"

Once our competition happens, there would be no going back. "Dreams have to be woken up from at some point."

She didn't seem to care. The only thing on her mind was that today was the day her dreams would finally be realized.

"Normally… I'd ask you to go easy on me, but…"

The look in her eyes was not what you'd expect from a young girl. It carried a certain kind of sharpness that you'd see from a hunter going after its prey.

"Please, face me with everything you've got."

If I were to compete with her half-heartedly, Sakayanagi wouldn't be happy with that in the slightest.

While I wasn't doing this in order to make her happy, it'd be far too troublesome to get involved with her any more than this.

But, I also had my doubts as to whether or not this special exam would be enough to satisfy her.

Then, as if she had read my mind, Sakayanagi spoke up again.

"I'd be lying if I told you I didn't feel conflicted. This special exam is far too inadequate for us to fully demonstrate the extent of our potential. Even though we're both commanders, our ability to intervene is limited."

The school would never carry out an unreasonable exam where the outcome depended solely on the actions of the commanders.

Sakayanagi was saying that, as long as there was an outcome, the inadequacy of the exam was trivial.

"Be that as it may, if the commander's ability to intervene wasn't limited, we'd run into a different problem. I believe it's important to take your situation into consideration as well, Ayanokōji-kun. You don't want your classmates to find out about your true abilities, right?"

Indeed, this consideration of hers was something I was quite grateful for. If the commander were to have a large amount of influence over the outcomes of every single event, I probably wouldn't be able to make the most of it.

"Okaaay, the exam will begin any second now~ Please take a seat~"

As Hoshinomiya-sensei's instruction came flying, we both sat down across from each other at our designated computers.

Naturally, we couldn't see each others' faces with the computer screens placed between us. On my screen, there were the portrait photographs of each student in Class C.

Excluding me, there were 38 pictures in total. Once the first selected event was announced, we'd be using these pictures to assign the students that we wanted to go and participate.

Next, the ten events Class C had come up with were displayed on the screen.

"My name is Sakagami, and I'll be the one hosting the special exam. Without any further delay, let's begin the final special exam of the first year. Each of you, please select the five events you'd like to be considered and press 'confirm' when you're done."

I selected the five events that Horikita had in mind and pressed confirm immediately.

Before long, Sakayanagi finished making her choices as well, and a total of ten events were displayed on the large monitor in the room.

For Class C's events, I had chosen Archery, Basketball, Table Tennis, Typing, and Tennis. I had toyed around with the idea of throwing in an interesting event like Rock Paper Scissors, but I ultimately decided against it.

I had discarded the idea of using our English event since it overlapped with Class A's English Test event. Despite the fact that Hirata and Onodera specialized in Football and Swimming, I decided not to go with those events because they would most likely be useful in another event somewhere down the line.

Moreover, my strategy was for Class C to focus primarily on athletic events instead of academics.

For Class A's events, Sakayanagi had chosen Chess, English, Modern Literature, Math, and Flash Mental Arithmetic. There were ten events in total. She had chosen all three of the events that Katsuragi predicted she would, and both of the events he had mentioned as a runner-up had also made it in. He had truly given Keisei and me a perfect answer.

Though, it didn't end up changing anything, and that's because I had deliberately chosen not to tell Horikita about what Keisei and I had learned.

"Moving forward, we'll hold a completely randomized drawing to determine each of the seven events that you'll be competing in."

"Anywho, Ayanokōji-kun~ It sure is a shame that you're gonna haveta go up against somebody like Sakayanagi-san. Sensei feels so sorry for you."

"Hoshinomiya-sensei. You know the rules." "Yes, sir~ Sorry for speaking out of turn~"

Upon being reprimanded by her colleague, Hoshinomiya-sensei lowered her head in apology.

"The result of the drawing will be displayed on the large monitor in the center of the room, so please do take a look."

As he spoke, Sakagami-sensei motioned toward the monitor, where the screen had changed over to something else.

There was a 3D image that had all of the events in consideration displayed together.

And then, the first event was selected.

『Basketball』 Required Participants: 5 ・ Time Restriction: 20 Minutes Total (Two Halves with a 4 Minute Intermission)

Rules: Standard basketball rules apply.

Commander Intervention: The commander is allowed to perform up to one substitution at any given time.

It was a five-on-five match in an event that Class C had chosen.

In other words, it was an event we absolutely couldn't afford to lose. "Sakagami-sensei. Are we students free to speak with one another?" "There are no rules against it. Do as you wish."

"That is, we're free to wage a war of words?"

Sakayanagi directly stated what her intention was, and yet Sakagami-sensei still didn't see a problem with it.

"Uwaa~ Sakayanagi-san is soooo merciless!"

Hoshinomiya-sensei chimed in again. She had probably interpreted this as Sakayanagi gaining full permission to launch a merciless assault against me.

"Hoshinomiya-sensei."

"Eep! I'm sorry! I won't speak out of turn anymore!"

While the students were free to speak, it seemed that the teachers were not. Hoshinomiya-sensei had been reprimanded time and again.

"Unsurprisingly, Class C ended up choosing a small number of sporting events. Although, I suppose it's perfectly understandable considering how few of your classmates can study effectively. Sudō-kun is probably the central figure of this basketball event too, wouldn't you say? After all, he's one of the best basketball players in this school. I don't think you stand a chance against us if you don't make proper use of him."

Sakayanagi jumped at the opportunity to speak her mind, looking to get me to engage with her, but I intentionally chose to keep quiet.

If at all possible, I wanted to avoid making too much of an impression on Hoshinomiya-sensei and Sakagami-sensei.

"Did Horikita-san, the true commander of Class C, order you not talk with me unless you had to?"

Upon seeing that I still wasn't going to respond, she continued.

"If so, even if you say something, it shouldn't affect who you end up selecting. Do you disagree?"

Sakayanagi was also well aware that I was looking to limit my words while we were in front of the teachers.

"Horikita warned me not to say anything excessive to you. She said that if I'm not careful with what I say, I'll just get caught up in one of your tricks and have the tables turned on me."

"Fufu. That's no good, Ayanokōji-kun. You've already gone and provided me with important information. The identity of the mastermind controlling you from the shadows is something you should've kept hidden. If you go ahead and confess that it's Horikita-san, you do know that I'll be able to infer things based on her personality and behavioral patterns, right?"

"No, that's… That doesn't necessarily mean that she's the one instructing me." "Didn't you just say it yourself, though? That Horikita-san told you what to do?"

Upon seeing Sakayanagi let out a chuckle, Hoshinomiya-sensei put her palm on her forehead as an 'uh oh' leaked out of her mouth.

Sakagami-sensei was also taken aback. He stood there, shaking his head, watching as Sakayanagi extracted information out of me all too easily.

"No, I just said that Horikita warned me… The instructions could've come from somebody else."

"Could've? In a situation like this, you won't get yourself anywhere if you don't state definitively that it was somebody else, even if it's a lie."

Not only did Sakayanagi see through what I had been trying to do, but she even spoke up to support me in doing so.

This exchange alone must've been more than enough to convey the overwhelming difference in power between the two of us.

Now that we had worked together to trick both of the teachers who were watching over us, the special exam would truly begin.

"What does it matter anyway? Class C came to face this exam after carefully thinking about what strategies you would come up with, Sakayanagi. Even if you've realized that Horikita is the one that came up with our strategy, then all that's done is level the playing field."

"My goodness, you've gone and admitted to it so straightforwardly. Though, since when was I the one who came up with Class A's strategy, exactly? Just like you, Ayanokouji-kun, I have as many minds to help me decide things as I do classmates. Did it ever occur to you that Class A could've also chosen to face this exam after running through all sorts of simulations on what Class C might do?"

"That's─"

Dozens of seconds had passed since the teachers had given her permission to engage in a war of words with me.

Unable to stand and watch this happen any longer, Sakagami-sensei pushed forward with the exam.

"Do remember that time is limited. While I did say that you were free to speak with one another, please don't neglect your task at hand."

Of course, my conversation with Sakayanagi had absolutely no effect on my mental state.

The only ones who were worried here were the teachers. For me, and also Sakayanagi, this was nothing more than an idle conversation.

Once the both of us had finished making our choices, the list of students who'd be participating in the basketball event was announced.

Class C's participants were Makida Susumu, Minami Setsuya, Ike Kanji, Hondō Ryotarō, and Onodera Kayano. Critically, Sudō was not among them. Furthermore, I had even included a girl in our lineup. The team's ace was Makida. According to Sudō, as long as Makida practiced for it, he should be skilled enough to pass the exam. In addition, although Onodera's true specialty was swimming, her basketball skills didn't seem to be all that bad. From the looks of it, Horikita had decided that choosing her would be better for the team than choosing a boy who didn't have any experience. As for our opponent, Class A chose Machida Kōji, Toba Shigeru, Kamuro Masumi, Shimizu Naoki, and Kitō Hayato. Sakayanagi had thrown a girl into the mix as well.

According to the information I had gathered from Hirata, Kei, and Kushida, the team I had chosen should be more than ready to take home the win.

Sakagami-sensei was standing over near Sakayanagi, so I couldn't see his face very clearly. However, Hoshinomiya-sensei was standing near me, and I could easily see hers. At a glance, I could tell that she had her doubts about the participants I had chosen.

After all, Sudō Ken, the man considered to be the main focus of the basketball event, was nowhere to be seen.

Of course, this was a strategy that Horikita and the rest of Class C had decided upon, not me.

Though, it's only natural that Sakayanagi would see through a strategy like this.

"So you're looking to win without using Sudō-kun, is that it? With reflexes like his, it wouldn't be all that unusual for him to succeed at both tennis and table tennis as well. Well, either way, it's all within the realm of my expectations."

With Sudō in the lead, we would've been able to safely guarantee ourselves the win. Meanwhile, Class A wouldn't be very happy about seeing basketball get selected. After all, Sudō is the first person who comes to mind the moment anyone thinks of the basketball event. Class A's chances of winning would be quite a lot lower if they were to take on a basketball team led by Sudō, and they knew that.

In which case, the next logical conclusion for Class A would be to avoid making the mistake of wasting any of their skilled students on the basketball event.

Then, with Sudō out of the way, Class A might have the upper hand in the sporting events that would come later on.

In light of this, Class C intentionally made the decision to not use Sudō in the basketball event. If at all possible, we wanted to preserve his valuable potential that could shine in the remaining sporting events.

Whether or not Sudō had already participated in an event would also be a deciding factor in case the tennis or table tennis events were to get chosen later on.

However, based on the people in Class A's lineup, it seems that Sakayanagi had seen through this short-sighted plan of ours.

"By the way, who was it that came up with these rules regarding commander intervention? Was this also Horikita-san's idea? You do realize that it completely exposed what your goal was, right?"

"Sorry, but I can't answer that."

"Is that right? If you can't answer, then I suppose it can't be helped."

On the other side of the monitor, we watched as the preparations for the event went underway. The match would be starting soon.

In the meantime, the only thing we'd be able to do is sit and watch the event unfold.

As the commanders, our only means of influencing this event was our ability to substitute one of the players.

But, that one, single decision could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

At the sound of a whistle, a strenuous 10-minute match of basketball began.

At first, even though they didn't have Sudō on the team, Class C was almost equally matched with Class A.

The moment one team scored a lead, the other would come right back and equalize it. It was truly a neck-and-neck match.

Even the teachers found their eyes being drawn to the fierce battle unfolding on the monitor, completely unsure of who exactly would win.

As the one chosen to take Sudō's place, Makida wasn't bad at all. Even though he was nowhere near as good as Sudō, his above-average skills allowed him to

carry out the role of the team's ace quite well. On the other hand, Class A's ace was none other than Kitō, who was proving himself to be an equal match for Makida every step of the way.

By the point halftime came around, there was only a one-point gap in the score at 12 to 11.

Class C had only just barely taken the lead. "An interesting match, this one."

Sakayanagi expressed her thoughts on the match. It would be hard to say which team would win during the second half.

The second half of the match was set to begin after a brief four-minute intermission. However, Sakayanagi still didn't make her move. Even though Class C was leading by one point, she still seemed to think that the two teams were equal in strength, and was instead looking to see how the match would play out. I, however, reached out for the keyboard in front of me without the slightest bit of hesitation. I made the decision and called for Sudō to swap out with Ike.

It's certainly true that, at a glance, the two teams seemed to be evenly matched. It seemed like there was no way to tell how the game would play out.

For the last ten minutes, I had been quite torn over whether or not I should substitute Sudō into the match.

"Fufu."

Sakayanagi let out a faint chuckle. It didn't seem like she had any intention of letting me preserve Sudō's potential.

Before long, Sudō arrived on the other side of the monitor, warmed up and ready to go.

Even though it wouldn't be surprising if he had his doubts about being called in at this point, his expression was still extremely serious.

From the looks of it, Sudō inevitably seemed to realize the same thing that I had.

"Both teams are evenly matched. Or, no, Class C is winning right now. Isn't your decision to call in Sudō a bit premature?"

"I just thought I should guarantee that we pick up the win."

"This is quite an important first match, so I understand how you feel. After all, there's no way to be sure that tennis or table tennis will get chosen after this. There's no reason to hold onto Sudō-kun if there's no event that can make proper use of him."

"Shouldn't you be swapping out one of your players as well?"

"There's no need for that. I chose a winning lineup from the very beginning." Kitō, who had been marking Makida, switched over to marking Sudō.

From the main classroom, Sudō should've been watching over the entire match since it first started.

Furthermore, Sudō should've already noticed the difference in their abilities.

After the 4-minute intermission was over, the second half of the match started.

Kitō guarded against Sudō tightly, and his movements were about twice as sharp as they were earlier.

[I knew it…! You bastard, so you were holding back, eh!?] We could hear Sudō's voice yelling through the monitor.

I knew from the beginning that Class A had been holding back in order to drag Sudō out onto the court.

However, there was no way to tell just how much of their potential they had been hiding until Sudō tried his hand against them.

Kitō fought fiercely, but Sudō was still a level above him.

He shook off Kitō's defense and forced his way into Class A's territory.

In order to stop him, Class A's entire team desperately tried to hold back Sudō's advances.

Despite the fact that Sudō was a head and shoulders above the rest, Class A's players still seemed to be a step above his teammates.

The score was 17 to 13. While the point difference had grown wider, instead of slowing down, the opposing team's movements gradually began to pick up pace.

[Oi Kitō, you son of a bitch, you know what you're doin', don't you!?] [Nah. You're just being pressured by a bunch of amateurs.]

[You liar!]

[Why would I be lying? My friends and I have only been practicing for less than a week now. It seems you've got a lot of confidence in your basketball skills, but you're not all that impressive.]

[You bastard!]

Since there was no cheering going on in the background, we could just barely make out the exchange going on between Sudō and Kitō over the monitor.

Instigated by the fact that he was struggling against supposed amateurs, Sudō's performance slowly began to lose some of its color.

"Fufu, that was a lie. Kitō-kun is an experienced basketball player."

Having Kitō incite Sudō like this was most likely also part of Sakayanagi's plan.

"By messing with his mentality like this, Sudō-kun will inevitably collapse. No matter how superior one's technique really is, if the mind is still immature, it will give rise to an opportunity for someone to take advantage of you."

The student named Kitō seemed to be quite skilled at playing basketball. He intentionally hid his abilities and played at an equal skill level as the students from Class C for the first half of the match. His goal was to stage a comeback once Sudō got on the court and steal the win.

And, if that didn't work, he'd look to win by instigating a fight with Sudō to break his concentration.

It would be fair to say that Sakayanagi's two-part strategy had completely poked a hole in our own.

"My team will be catching up with yours soon enough."

Kitō cleanly sent the basketball flying straight into the basket. The score was now 17 to 15. Class A was definitely putting the pressure on.

Sudō's mental turmoil had indeed nearly evened out the playing field. However─

"You said that Sudō's mind is still immature, but… When exactly did you hear that?"

"What do you mean?"

Sudō had grown up a lot over this past year. Now, his willpower wouldn't crumble because of something like this. He knew that there was no way that Horikita would care about how cool he was during the match. That would only come for carrying his team to victory.

[Oraa!]

[Nngh!?]

Although his tone of voice was rough, the smoothness of his play returned. He overtook Kitō and made his way to the basket, and nobody was able to stop him. He finished off his run down the court with a dunk, once again extending the lead for Class C.

[Heh… I got a little bit heated there, but… there's no way you're beating me.]

Even though Kitō was a skilled player, with a calm mind, Sudō was easily a step or two above him.

"I see. So he's done some growing up of his own?"

After that, Sudō's mind didn't waver again, and he brilliantly led the team until the end.

Eventually, the sound of the whistle rang out, signifying the end of the match. [Hell yeah! I did it Suzune!]

Sudō struck a triumphant pose. He looked so excited that you'd think he had just won a basketball tournament.

It was only one win, but his excitement was well deserved given everything he had just accomplished.

"I thought we had a chance, but his skills really were on another level after all."

Apparently, Sakayanagi had seriously set her sights on picking up the win, with or without Sudō on the court.

The final score was 24 to 16. The first event had come to an end with a splendid victory for Class C.

"Who would've thought that Class C would win first! You never really know when it comes to these things huh?"

Hoshinomiya-sensei mumbled her thoughts to herself, impressed with what had happened.

Though, despite our win, we had conceded one of our strongest assets in return.

It had been an event that literally required our victory from the moment he stepped out onto the court.

Part 2

The time came for them to choose the second event. The result of the drawing was…

『Typing』 Required Participants: 1 ・ Time: 30 Minutes

Rules: A competition of speed and accuracy over three different formats of typings skills: Vocabulary, Short Passages, and Essays.

Commander Intervention: The commander will be allowed to notify the participant of one mistake they make during the test.

Once again, the event was one of the ones Class C had come up with. It would be a one-on-one competition.

Apparently, the luck of the draw was on our side.

The event had been proposed by The Professor, who, out of everyone in our class, was the most proficient at anything that had to do with computers.

In fact, his typing speed was second to none amongst everyone in Class C. His speed was unquestionably fast, even when compared to the national average. However, that's not to say that everything would go perfectly. The primary reason for this is that we had no way of finding out just how many students were proficient at typing in Class A, and just how skilled at it they really were. We had no choice but to place our faith in The Professor's skills, and his skills alone. That being said, there was still a reason why he was chosen for this project.

"Class C's gone and chosen another interesting event. Although at first glance it may look like a game, typing is one of the most fundamental skills in the world of information technology. You could even go so far as to call it essential. I suppose it's only natural that the school would accept it as an event."

When it comes to academics, Class A was at a major advantage.

Horikita probably wanted to choose skill-based competitions that wouldn't be influenced by things like that.

"Everyone has one or two things that they're good at. However, when it comes to competing over such things, it's hard for anyone to say whether or not they're absolutely better at them than somebody else. It seems like someone in your class has quite a lot of confidence in their typing skills."

Generally speaking, most students with special skills who can win in a one-on- one competition also have the potential to succeed in another event, like with how we chose to put Onodera in the basketball match even though she specializes in swimming. On the other hand, by allocating a student like The Professor, who is only good at doing one thing, to the one-on-one match, we would gain an advantage in the events that would come afterward.

I, naturally, chose The Professor… Sotomura Hideo.

Sakayanagi, on the other hand, selected Yoshida Kenta, a student I knew practically nothing about.

For this event, we tried to restrain the commander's ability to intervene with the event as much as possible.

Our strategy was to let The Professor do his thing without giving Sakayanagi much of a chance to butt in.

The outcome of the event was to be judged by a computer application that had been prepared beforehand by the school.

The results were…

"Class C, Sotomura Hideo: 90 Points. Class A, Yoshida Kenta, 83 Points. Class C wins."

Once the test was over, Sakagami-sensei announced their scores. The difference between the two of them was a mere 7 points.

The results were pretty scary to hear given how close it was, but being up by even one point was still a victory.

"While it's only a bit, it looks like we still fell short. Things really aren't going to be that simple, are they?"

Class A losing two times in a row had been an unexpected development, but in a way, it had been inevitable.

After all, both of the events had been put forward by Class C, so there wasn't very much Sakayanagi could've done about it.

Part 3

Thus, Class C had won the first two events.

So far, luck had been on our side, and all of Horikita's plans were coming together beautifully.

There were 8 events left for the drawing to choose from. It would've been great if it had kept selecting events that Class C had suggested, but…

『English Test』 Required Participants: 8 ・ Time: 50 Minutes

Rules: The test will be within the scope of the first-year English curriculum. Victory will be decided based on the class with the higher overall score.

Commander Intervention: The commander can answer a single question on behalf of one of the participants.

The third event was a written test, something we all knew would be coming sooner or later.

The crux of this special exam was figuring out how to win in the events that the opponent had suggested.

If we managed to win this event, we'd gain an advantage far greater than a mere victory.

Starting with Mii-chan, I came up with a lineup of students who were skilled at English. Although, it was frustrating that I couldn't make use of strong trump cards like Horikita and Keisei yet. Class A had suggested three different written

tests, English, Math, and Modern Literature, so it would be difficult for me to evenly distribute those of us with better academic abilities.

Horikita had outlined two different strategies in the notebooks she had made in case two written test events ended up getting chosen.

The first was to aim for both wins by evenly distributing the capable students between the two events. The second was to deliberately lose one of them and pour our resources into trying to win the other.

Sakayanagi quickly decided on her eight participants, but I took a moment longer to consider my options.

"This is the first time you've had to take time to think. It seems that Horikita-san left you with more than one option to choose from."

There was no guarantee that another test would get chosen later, but there was also no guarantee that we'd be able to win now.

But, the most frustrating part about this was that Class C had a tendency to do worse in English.

In other words, I had to choose between the two strategies. Do I balance the two teams and go for both wins? Or do I simply throw away our chances to win this one?

"Will you give up on the English event? Or… maybe you'll choose to fight and use up all your strength here?"

Sakayanagi prompted me with a question, struggling to contain her excitement. However, I was not afraid of losing here.

"I can tell what you're thinking, Ayanokōji-kun. You're afraid that we anticipated the fact that you might choose to give up on the English test and, as a result, preserved our better students for the later tests, aren't you? After all, if we were to compete with a suboptimal team, it would give you a chance at winning. It's not so easy to give up on this event, now is it?"

After some thought, I made the decision to give up on the English event.

"Based on recent global trends, it seems that girls tend to perform better in a variety of subjects than boys do, and score higher than boys as well. And, as it would turn out, English happens to be one of those subjects. But of course, those are just trends. It's just a reference for you, if you will."

Sakayanagi spoke up one last time just as I was about to make my decision on who to include in the event.

She was looking to put pressure on me by feeding me with unnecessary information.

In any case, Class A couldn't afford to lose in the English test. She would undoubtedly choose several powerful contenders for the event.

Once we had each finished choosing the participants, their names were displayed on the larger monitor.

The eight people listed for Class C were Okiya Kyōsuke, Minami Hakuo, Karuizawa Kei, Satō Maya, Shinohara Satsuki, Inokashira Kokoro, Sonoda Chiyo, and Ichihashi Ruri. They were all students who wouldn't be needed in any of the events that would show up later on.

The eight people listed for Class A were Satonaka Satoru, Sugio Hiroshi, Tsukaji Shihori, Tanihara Mao, Motodoi Chikako, Fukuyama Shinobu, Rokkaku Momoe, and Nakajima Riko. While they weren't the best options Sakayanagi had available, it was still a fairly solid group. It seemed like she had made use of the trend she had mentioned just a bit earlier, as six of her eight selections were girls.

"It seems like you've chosen to give up on English and focus on the future. An acceptable decision."

As expected, she had a very good grasp of Class C's academic abilities.

Even though we had the power to intervene for one single question, for the most part, the only thing we could do is sit and watch the event unfold.

At a certain point, we were able to switch between the student's answer sheets in real-time.

Making use of my intervention, I helped one of my classmates answer a question that most of the students seemed to be struggling with.

However, whatever impact this may have had was negligible. At best, it would only improve our score by a handful of points.

After they were done, the school collected their answer sheets and immediately began grading them. Before long, the results were in.

The outcome of the test would be based on the cumulative scores of all eight participants.

"Class C scored a total of 443 points, whereas Class A scored 651. Therefore, Class A wins."

As expected, the difference between the two scores was overwhelming.

"We only scored an average of about 81%. If you had chosen to go all out instead of giving up, you might have been able to win this one."

Like Sakayanagi had said, there had indeed been an opportunity for us to take advantage of their low average score, but things just weren't that simple.

It was probably better to avoid thinking of this as a win that I let get away from me.

Sakayanagi's courage to hold onto her more capable students without being afraid of losing three events in a row was nothing short of admirable.

Just as Class A was presented with their first win, the selection for the fourth event had begun.

『Math Test』 Required Participants: 7 ・ Time: 50 Minutes

Rules: The test will be within the scope of the first-year math curriculum. Victory will be decided based on the class with the higher overall score.

Commander Intervention: The commander can answer a single question on behalf of one of the participants.

English test was followed by an additional written test.

"Looks like your choice paid off. You'll undoubtedly have to go all-out this time. Or… perhaps you plan on waiting for the Modern Literature test?"

In this situation, it was best not to place my bets on the Modern Literature test. Instead, I chose to make use of all of the academic ability Class C had at its disposal.

"I said earlier that girls have a tendency to score higher, but for math, the opposite is true. Apparently, boys tend to do better than girls. Fascinating, isn't it?"

No matter what ideas she may try to ingrain within me, the choices I would make still wouldn't change.

I chose Hirata Yōsuke, Yukimura Teruhiko, Ishikura Kayoko, Wang Mei-Yu, Azuma Sana, Kushida Kikyō, and Nishimura Ryūko. It was the strongest seven- man lineup that I could make from Class C. As for our opponents, Class A had chosen Matoba Shinji, Shimazaki Ikkei, Morishige Takurō, Tsukasaki Taiga, Ishida Yūsuke, Yamamura Miki, and Nishikawa Ryōko. It was a lineup of mostly male students of equal, or even higher academic ability than the previous ones she had put forth. This was set to be an all-out competition where we had put forth our strongest contenders, Horikita and Kōenji not included.

Not long after, the math test went underway. Unlike the devastating results of the English test, there were pretty much no mistakes this time, with Yukimura Teruhiko, that is, Keisei, taking the top spot.

Even though I had Nishimura, the one with the lowest overall scores in math, wear the headset, I was only able to help her with one question, so it was difficult to imagine that this would have a significant impact on the results of the test. Considering the fact that Sakayanagi would undoubtedly be able to do the same,

having the commanders intervene successfully was pretty much just a basic requirement of the test.

After the written test finished, the teachers immediately began grading the answer sheets.

Given that this was an event that Class A had proposed, if we managed to win, our overall chances would rise exponentially.

We'd be able to challenge the fifth event with the possibility of taking home the entire special exam.

"Well then, I will now be announcing the results of the Math Test event. Class C: 631 points."

Our average score for each student was around 90%, a very impressive result.

However, if the questions on the test weren't very difficult, there would be other things to worry about.

"And for Class A… 655 points. Class A wins."

Sakagami-sensei reported the two cumulative scores, revealing that we had lost the event by a slim, narrow margin of just 24 points.

"That was dangerously close. Everyone in Class C must have studied quite a lot. If you had chosen Horikita-san and Kōenji-kun, you might have won, don't you think?"

"…Maybe so."

It was regrettable that we hadn't been able to steal the win this time. If I had included both Horikita and Kōenji, it's true that we might have won. But even so, it still wouldn't have been a guarantee either.

Furthermore, we were now facing the reality that, if the Modern Literature Test were to be drawn next, we would pretty much just lose automatically.

Class C simply didn't have anyone left whose academic abilities would be good enough to surpass those of Class A.

With this, the lead we had was gone. The score had once again evened out at two wins and two losses.

Part 4

And so began the drawing for the fifth event.

『Flash Mental Arithmetic』 Required Participants: 2 ・ Time: 30 Minutes

Rules: Victory will be decided by the student who takes first place in terms of both speed and accuracy using abacus-style mental arithmetic.

Commander Intervention: The commander can change the answer to a single question of their choice.

It was the third event in a row that had been proposed by Class A.

Normally, this would be an unfavorable turn of events for us, but this particular event was a special exception to that. Keisei was probably feeling elated right about now. After all, this was the event that Katsuragi had promised to ease up on.

However, it was still too early to celebrate. If Katsuragi doesn't get chosen, our fleeting fantasies of winning would disappear.

"Another one of our events. We absolutely can't afford to lose this one."

Disregarding Sakayanagi's chatter, I went with the strategy Horikita had come up with, selecting Kōenji Rokusuke and Matsushita Chiaki to participate.

Between the two of them, I had Matsushita wear the headset. Even if I had Kōenji wear it, there was no reason to believe that he was going to listen to me anyway.

Horikita's decision to assign Kōenji to participate in the Flash Mental Arithmetic event was probably the correct one. Instead of being based on whichever class

had a higher overall score, the win would be given to the class of the student who placed first. There was a chance that Kōenji might meet our expectations and pick up the win. But, just in case he didn't take the event seriously, Matsushita would at least be there as a backup. Matsushita has a quick mind for math, so the plan had always been to use her in the Math Test or Flash Mental Arithmetic events. Even if we had used Matsushita in the math exam, it still didn't mean that we would've won, so you could say that the fact that we could still make use of her had been a blessing in disguise.

The students Sakayanagi chose were Katsuragi Kōhei and Tamiya Emi.

According to the information Katsuragi had leaked to us, Tamiya's abilities weren't all that impressive.

As proof, Katsuragi was the one wearing the headset for Class A.

"There will be ten questions in total. Although the questions will progressively get more difficult, the points awarded for getting them correct will rise as well. In the event of a tie for first place, the event will be extended until one party gets a question wrong."

Moving forward, the numbers for each of the questions would be displayed on the monitor in the audiovisual room.

Since the commander could only intervene with one single question, we would most likely wait to do so until the end.

Even though the event was just about to begin, Kōenji folded his arms in front of him and closed his eyes.

"…So it backfired, huh?"

His attitude hadn't even slightly changed from back when the special exam first began.

For the first question, different single-digit numbers would flash upon the screen three times over the course of five seconds. It was a question of level 10 difficulty, the lowest level.

6. 9. 1. The answer was 16.

This first question was a problem that anyone would be able to solve. After the numbers disappeared, the students were prompted to write down their answers.

Matsushita answered correctly without putting in much effort, but Kōenji had left his answer sheet blank. It made sense though, considering the fact that he hadn't even bothered to look as the numbers were being displayed on the screen.

At this point, it seemed like we had no choice but to rely on Katsuragi making a mistake like he had promised.

"Fufu. He really is such a peculiar person."

Even though Sakayanagi couldn't see what he had responded with, she could tell just from looking at him that he hadn't responded with anything.

"However, since Matsushita-san seems to be the one you're banking on, there aren't really any problems, are there?"

As Sakayanagi spoke, the event continued playing out before us.

By the time they got to the third and fourth questions, the number of digits had increased to two and the number of rounds had gone up to six.

Matsushita was unfazed by this and still answered each question correctly.

However, as they approached the fifth problem, the overall difficulty increased yet again.

Question five was 3 digit numbers in 6 rounds over 5 seconds, and question six had even more with 3 digit numbers in 8 rounds over 5 seconds.

Matsushita was at her wit's end as she tried to calculate the numbers inside her head.

The answers she had managed to squeeze out had been correct up until the sixth question where she was just barely able to keep up.

But, that was as far as she could go. The next question, question seven, had 3 digit numbers in 12 rounds over 4.5 seconds. Question eight had 3 digit numbers in 15 rounds over 3.5 seconds.

By the time they had gotten to the ninth question, it was 3 digit numbers in 15 rounds over 2.5 seconds.

"T-this is like, waaay impossible!"

Just like the students, Hoshinomiya-sensei was understandably also at her wit's end upon seeing the questions the students were getting.

"The difficulty level may be a bit too high…" Sakagami-sensei agreed, not knowing the answer either.

Even though Matsushita's answers had been correct up to the sixth question, from the seventh question onward, they, unfortunately, were not. What's more, Kōenji still hadn't given an answer to a single question. At this point, even if he

managed to answer the last question correctly, he had already gone past the point of no return.

Naturally, I had already memorized the answers to all nine questions, and Sakayanagi had probably done the same.

The commander was only allowed to change the participant's answer to one of the questions. So the plan was that, If I couldn't solve the tenth question, I'd go with the ninth. And if I couldn't solve the ninth, I'd go with the eighth.

The extent to which Katsuragi decided to throw for us would greatly influence the outcome of the event.

The tenth and final question in the Flash Mental Arithmetic event began. It consisted of 3 digit numbers in 15 rounds over 1.6 seconds.

One by one, the 15 numbers flashed on and off of the screen in quick, rapid succession.

For a moment, everything fell silent.

Whether it be Katsuragi, Matsushita, or Tamiya, none of them even managed to pick up their pen. They all just sat there in mute amazement at the question that had just passed them by.

Sakayanagi signaled to the teachers that she wanted to make use of her intervention, and, of course, I did the same.

"Eh…? Well then, would the commanders please provide an answer for one question. Remember: the later the question, the higher the score."

Naturally, the question I answered was the last one, question ten.

Matsushita obediently complied with my instructions and wrote down the answer I provided her with.

She herself didn't know the answer, so she didn't have any reason to turn down the one I had given her.

[Fufufu. Flash Mental Arithmetic is quite an interesting game. I've never tried it before.]

Kōenji, the man who Sakayanagi and I had already stopped paying attention to, had apparently opened his eyes again at some point.

With an amused smile, Kōenji cast a glance at the surveillance camera we had been watching the event through.

"Which question did you provide an answer for, Ayanokōji-kun? I chose the tenth with an answer of 7619."

The answer I had given Matsushita was… "I did as well."

Apparently, Sakayanagi had managed to solve the last question as well.

"In terms of commander intervention, it seems we were evenly matched. In other words, this has come down to a face-off between Katsuragi-kun and Matsushita- san."

As the teachers collected everyone's answer sheets, the man who hadn't responded to a single question once again opened his mouth.

[The answer for the last question was 7619, yes?]

"My my my─ how surprising. He's correct."

Overhearing Kōenji's answer, Sakayanagi applauded, praising him for a job well done.

The teachers hurriedly began tallying up the scores.

If Katsuragi had gotten the seventh, eighth, or ninth question correct, Class C would lose.

But on the other hand, if he had gotten less than six questions correct, we would win instead.

"After tallying up the results, with eight out of ten questions correct, first place goes to Katsuragi Kōhei. Class A wins."

We had wanted to gain the upper hand by winning the fifth event, but victory smiled upon Katsuragi instead.

Sakagami-sensei's announcement marked the end of the fifth event. "It's quite regrettable, Ayanokōji-kun."

"Was trying to persuade Katsuragi a mistake?"

"It was certainly safe to assume that he holds a grudge against me. It wasn't wrong to try and take advantage of it either. But, did you really think I'd overlook a weakness like that so easily?"

Even though I couldn't see Sakayanagi, I knew that she was smiling.

"I told him beforehand. That, if he were to betray me, I'd expel more of the earnest, hardworking students in our class. Despite how he looks, he cares quite

a lot about his friends. He's not the type of person who would sacrifice those around him because of some selfish grudge."

Sakayanagi had known him for much longer than I had. She was very familiar with his strengths and weaknesses.

"Facing defeat after you thought you would win. This must have been quite a large blow to your morale. Are you worried about the final events?"

"Who knows."

"Katsuragi-kun wasn't on your side, but that's not the only thing that went wrong for you, now is it? If Kōenji-kun had taken the event seriously from the beginning, it's possible that he could've gotten a perfect score. That is, you could've been able to win the match, no?"

"That's just speculation. Having power you can't control is the same thing as not having power at all."

Just like how students who lack special skills, academic ability, or physical prowess couldn't be counted on, students who weren't willing to take things seriously couldn't be either. Even though they seem different on the surface, they were the same. At least, that's how it was for this exam.

Of course, our inability to persuade Kōenji to take action was a problem on our side of things as well.

With this, the score was two wins and three losses. Class C was standing at the edge of a cliff.

"Only two more events left and the special exam will be over. It's really such a shame."

I could hear Sakayanagi let out a sigh, wanting to enjoy the moment for as long as possible.

"Now that it's come to this, wins, losses, all of it feels trivial." "If that's the case, then it'd be great if you'd let us win."

"I'm afraid I cannot do that. This is a serious competition, after all."

As Sakagami-sensei moved forward with the exam, the drawing for the sixth event began.

At this point, if it drew another event suggested by Class A, we would definitely lose.