Chapter 83

Chapter 83

"Mhm... so that would be where our missing information was, then? We had no way of knowing that Chabashira-sensei would go to such lengths just to win."

"Right. We're all smart, but none of us are omnipotent. It would be impossible for us to have predicted the actions of a teacher we barely interact with. For that reason, you should just stop worrying about it and keep it in mind next time."

I advised Sora like this. It would do him no good to keep thinking about unnecessary things that are in the past.

"But what if that's not what happened? If the person who orchestrated Class E's plan is not Kōenji, then that means there's a genius hiding in Class E, playing the dumb student. You know, kinda like you, Ayanokōji."

Sora refused to give it up, though. How troublesome.

"Occam's Razor says that that isn't the case," I retorted.

"Occam's Razor cannot completely discount the possibility." He shot back.

I sighed in exasperation. I suppose that this sort of reaction is to be expected from a person who is all to used to clean victories.

I rationed that, were it just Sora, he wouldn't be nearly as bothered. However, he was also working together with Shiro, along with the rest of Class D, yet this slip-up had still occurred on our part.

Blank had apparently always won in the past, and if one of the siblings made a misstep, the other was there to cover for them. Even if it's just a minor error that doesn't affect the final result, an oversight such as this would be greatly unnerving to Sora.

It was counter-intuitive, though – if Sora and Shiro had actually predicted that Chabashira-sensei would force Kōenji in cooperation, or that there was a secret mastermind in Class E, it would've helped us for this exam, but it'd be evidence of flawed thinking in the long-term.

Thoughts such as 'What if there is a secret mastermind in their class,' or 'What if the teacher has forced Kōenji to cooperate,' were obvious in hindsight, but thinking of them while constructing your plan could be called nothing but foolish.

If a person thought like that, they'd be lost on the first step, pondering over countless possibilities that would likely never contain any actual hint of accuracy to them.

Such a line of thinking could be called nothing but extreme paranoia.

The island exam's results weren't a mistake on Class D's part – no, it was nothing more than somebody in Class E doing a very good job of hiding themselves, whether that be a secret mastermind blending in or the teacher pretending to be disinterested in her class' endeavours.

Sigh.

Just like that, I'd started objectively analysing the situation regarding Class E and the island exam, even though I was supposed to be enjoying a relaxing cruise.

I forced myself to forget such matters and return to embracing the peaceful atmosphere that enveloped the ship.

"Well, I'm gonna drop by the arcade. Wanna come, Ayanokōji?" Sora asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Among the many top-notch facilities that the Speranza was equipped with was a spacious arcade, filled with games and machines of all kinds. I'd heard about it from Blank, the gamer duo that had conquered all forms of game, but hadn't yet visited it myself.

"Well, I suppose I have nothing better to do today,"

Sora lifted Shiro off of his lap and stood up, prompting me to do the same, and we began walking towards the ship's arcade.

As usual, Sora was holding Shiro's hand. At the start of the school year, they sometimes got some odd looks and chatter toward them as a result of this but, by now, it seemed that everybody had gotten used to it.

Before long, we arrived at the bustling arcade, which was one of the main attractions for students. It seemed that people of all types shared a unanimous love for arcades. It was a part of Japanese culture that I had entirely missed out on while growing up.

"Dood, look at all the prey lined up for us today!" Sora exclaimed excitedly, pointing toward a cluster of students huddled around an arcade machine.

My curiosity was piqued by what he was referring to.

"Hey guys! Anyone fancy a quick match?" He called out as we approached the machine.

"Oh, look, Sora is here again. We should leave."

"Yeah, it's probably for the best."

"W-wait! Don't you guys just want to play one game with me?!" Sora protested as the group began to disperse.

"Nah, we're good."

With that, the once bustling arcade machine was now completely vacant, with only the three of us near it. I took a glance at the game on the machine, which was titled Street Fighter II.

"W-why..." Sora sniffled. "Why don't they want to play with me?"

"Nii, your record in the last three days at this machine alone is 176 wins and 0 losses, and a lot of those had private points bet on the outcome. You won too much."

"B-but... if they quit now... h-how will they ever improve?"

It seemed that Sora had a fundamental misunderstanding about the average student. I suspected that a majority of people came to an arcade to have fun, not to polish their skills.

As a result, they wouldn't have the patience to play against someone like Sora – it wasn't enjoyable to get destroyed repeatedly, after all.

Still, I found myself impressed by Sora's record. Although he had already told us that Blank had never lost, seeing it in person and witnessing the effects of such a strong record was still quite incredible.

"Nii, you just want to siphon all their money from them."

"T-that's not it! I'd just as gladly play a game with no stakes!"

The brother attempted to protest, but the sister's eyes saw right through his intentions.

Shiro stared at him intently for a short while, until Sora eventually slumped his shoulders and hung his head.

"Well, can you blame me? It was easy money..."

"Sora, just many points did you con out of people?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Uh, well... probably about 80,000?"

That was quite an impressive number. That meant that Sora was probably playing matches for somewhere between 500 and 1000 private points each time.

An unexpectedly effective money-making method.

Of course, it was one that could not be done by just anyone. In fact, Sora and Shiro were probably the only two that could pull it off. I had no doubt that I'd lose humiliatingly if I played a video game against them, after all.

"Well, Shiro, we can still play a match, right?"

"I won't lose."

With that, the two of them situated themselves at each side of the machine, each equipped with a joystick and multiple buttons.

Usually, arcade machines accept coins as their participation fee for playing, but it appeared that the school had gotten rid of the entrance fee entirely for these machines.

The objective of such participation fees normally was to earn money for the arcade but, since the students at this school didn't actually have any cash, there was no way for them to earn actually money.

Of course, the school could've rigged it such that the students had to pay private points to play on the arcade machines, but in the end that would serve no purpose other than siphoning funds out of the students. The school had no reason to do so.

They must've judged it more beneficial to just leave the students to enjoy their vacation freely than senselessly charge them for these amenities.

"Just so you know, Shiro, nobody can beat me at fighting games! It's a genre of game where the neutral play is most important! Perfectly executing sequences of inputs, which is your strong suit, is what comes after you land your starter, but what good is that when your opponent is someone that can read your every move?!"

Sora taunted his sister as he slammed his hand around the joystick, clearly fired up.

"I have been close to Nii for a long time. I know how you think." His sister retorted, calmly wrapping her hand around her joystick.

"Aha! But, dear sister of mine, I know how you think I think! As such, you will fall to my ruses and trickery!"

"But, I know how you think I think that you think."

"That's all well and good, but I know—"

Just as the competition between the siblings seemed to be heating up to its peak, they were interrupted by a buzzing vibration.

My, Sora and Shiro's phone all vibrated at the same time – no, the phones of every student in the arcade buzzed. Even in silent mode the tone still rang out clearly, this must be important instructions sent by the school to all students.

Sora and I looked at each other, and then he slowly took out his phone and clicked it on.

"What is this..."

Despite the various instructions we've received after starting school, this is the first time we've been contacted in such a manner. This summer vacation is the first time we received instructions like this. At the same time, an announcement started over the ship's speakers.

"This is an announcement to all students; you will have received a mail to your phones earlier. Check the contents of the mail and follow the instructions carefully. If you have not received the mail, please contact your nearest available faculty member. This is a very important announcement so please make sure to not miss it. I repeat---" the voice repeated the message.

"That'd be this mail we just received, then." Sora said, tapping his finger against his phone.

As he did that, Shiro and I both opened up our phones' mailboxes and checked what we'd received. The following was written on the mail in my phone:

"A special examination will be starting soon. Gather at the designated time in the designated rooms. Students who are more than 10 minutes late for the meeting will receive a penalty. Go to room 201 on the second floor by 19:40 today. Before you go, please wash your hands and keep your phone in silent mode or turn it off entirely."

So, it's another special exam. This is not going to be like the paper examinations we do nor a physical fitness test. Just like the island exam, this is something that ordinary schools wouldn't do. Only our school would test us in such a way.

Nothing else about the exam was written. Was there something we can infer from the mail, or is the exam itself still fully unknown? Either way, there's only one way to find out. The gathering point seemed to be room 201 at 19:40. That was two hours from now.

"What did you guys get?" Sora asked.

I turned my phone around and showed it to him. He skimmed his eyes over my message, before glancing back at his own and speaking.

"Same mail but different room and time, huh... what does yours say, Shiro?"

Shiro didn't give a response, however. She had a haunted expression on her face as she glanced repeatedly between her own phone and Sora's. I could probably guess what was wrong right away.

"Shiro? What's up?"

"N-Nii... Nii is in a different r-room to me..."

For Sora and Shiro, a pair of inseparable siblings, this special exam where the students of each class would seemingly be separated would be a massive hurdle that they may or may not be able to cross.

"What time and room is yours, Sora?" I asked.

"Mine's room 204 at 18:00..." Sora glanced down at the phone in Shiro's hands. "And Shiro's is room 207 at 21:00... this is quite the problem..."

Without even saying anything, it seemed that the three of us had come to the same conclusion that the school would most likely not allow students to go to a meeting point that they weren't allocated to.

In other words, there was no way for Sora and Shiro to face this obstacle as one – as Blank. No, they had to fight alone this time.

"Yours is just twenty minutes from now, then, Sora." I pointed out.

"Looks like it." He replied matter-of-factly.

A brief silence set in, an air of awkwardness surrounding the three of us.

"... Do you think you can do it?"

Without any need for elaboration, Sora understood exactly what I was asking, and took a deep breath before answering.

"It will be hard, especially when I've had no preparation, but..." Sora clenched his fist tightly. "I think... I think I can manage."