Chapter 6 Part III

Since today's the last day before the exam, the situation has also changed significantly. The mood of in the cafeteria itself hasn't changed much from the usual but now there's a clean divide between the laughing ones and the melancholic ones. In other words, it has become clear which groups were able to make it work and which groups failed to do the same. As I walked out into the corridor, Kei was there leaning against the wall of the cafeteria.

Casually, as though we were only passing each other by, I received a piece of paper from her. Kei then immediately entered the cafeteria. She'll probably meet up with her friends in there to eat. After Kei and I split up, I looked down at the piece of paper before shredding it into many small pieces and throwing bits of them into the many trash bins installed throughout the school. She held up pretty well throughout this week but it looks like she's finally at her limit. I left the cafeteria and moved towards a certain corner of the school building. Because the person I had Kei keep an eye on is now wandering around in hopes of getting some alone time.

And alone time in this training camp is hard to come by. There's midnight but if she goes missing for a long time from her shared room, others would notice. In that case, the ideal option would be to use this time when everyone else gathers at the cafeteria. As I walked in the direction that person went, I saw her crouching down as though concealing herself. She didn't notice me there as she continued crying while muffling herself. And for a moment, I hesitated. However, no matter how hard this place is for people to stumble upon, there's no telling when another student might come across this place. In that case, I should wrap this up quickly.

"If you're in trouble you should be consulting Horikita...the former student council president, shouldn't you?"

"!?"

The girl who raised her face was Tachibana Akane from Class A of the 3rd years. Panicking over having shown me that pathetic figure of hers, she wipes her tears away.

"What do you want?"

"It's not about what I want, it's about what I just told you."

"It's not like I'm in any trouble or anything."

"If you're crying without a reason then that in itself is a problem."

"I'm not crying!"

Saying that, Tachibana averted her eyes from me. The reason she's not moving from that place is that if she goes somewhere brightly lit, her reddened eyes and the traces of tears on her face would become clearly visible.

"Sometimes I just want to be alone."

<Illustration >

"We certainly don't get much private time to ourselves, do we?"

A toilet break's about the only time for that but even then, it's abnormal to use it for long periods of time. There would also be more than a few students seeing you go in and out.

"For the record, I'm also on President Horikita's side."

That's a lie. But if I say that, Tachibana will probably trust me more.

"Still, you wouldn't be of any help."

Well…if she's going with that then I don't really have a reply. On the contrary, we'd just be risking the leak of information.

"Please just count yourself lucky that we didn't end up as enemies."

"Please stop talking so casually to your seniors. I didn't say anything until now because Horikita-kun was also there but..."

More importantly, I became curious about how she usually refers to him as 'Horikita-kun'. It's also strange how she continues to refer to him as 'President Horikita' despite him having left that post. She could call him the 'former' one too but the way Tachibana refers to him is unnatural.

"You...it must be good being a 1st year. So optimistic."

"That's a rather fearful statement. Are you anxious about the exam coming tomorrow?"

"I don't really feel anything in particular. There's the leader and all but it's not like there's bad blood within our group or anything. On the contrary, things are going swimmingly."

"Then why are you crying here?"

"I'm telling you, I wasn't crying."

When I pointed at Tachibana's eyes, she panicked and used her hand to check whether or not her eyes were still wet. After realizing they were dry, she turned to glare at me with a slightly angry expression.

"Horikita-kun's the one I'm anxious…worried about."

It's a lie that's not quite a lie. I'm not going to go there yet.

"Worry, huh? Is there anything to worry about when it comes to that man?"

"Horikita-kun…Horikita-kun's always been fighting alone. Until now, he's been fighting against the 2nd years and also the 3rd years. You couldn't possibly understand what it must be like to fight against everyone all on your own and how difficult it must be."

Even if I tried to understand, there's no way I'd understand.

"I do know a bit about how Nagumo and the 2nd years led by him are the enemy but I didn't know there were enemies among the 3rd years too. There can't possibly be that many people rebelling against the man who assumed the role of student council president, right?"

"Aren't you misconstruing Horikita-kun as some kind of dictator? Even though he was the student council president, he didn't abuse his authority unlike Nagumo-kun. Because there's no room to be lax in any exam."

Even if she says all that, I never had the opportunity to familiarize myself with the 3rd years' internal affairs much less have a clue about the older Horikita's background. But by saying there's no room to be lax in any exam means... "Could it be that the class conflict between the 3rd years is still going on?"

"At the very least…if Horikita-kun falls, Class A will definitely go too."

"Heh…"

That's certainly also what Nagumo's been saying. That the gap between the 3rd years' Class A and Class B is only 312. It's definitely possible if the older Horikita is their only strength or if Class B possesses talented students of their own.

"So that means even he's just a normal student in the end, huh?"

"Horikita-kun is——-!...it's nothing."

She stops herself as though trying to hold herself back from raising her voice.

But as though spitting out her frustrations, she slowly continued.

"Because the other Class A students were always a liability…we lost a lot of class points we shouldn't have lost and even our private points—he's always sacrificed himself for the sake of protecting his comrades."

If what Tachibana says is true then that means the older Horikita is the Hirata type. To be honest, it doesn't seem that way to me. Of course, that's what the one actually part of the 3rd years' Class A, Tachibana, is saying so there must be a degree of truth to it. In all likelihood, there were probably many instances where he dealt with matters behind the scenes without revealing his virtuousness.

The person who's seen those things happen more than anyone else from beside him is this girl here.

"In other words, you're feeling down because of the current situation?"

"Even I am aware of the boys' situation. The fact that Nagumo-kun challenged Horikita-kun and that he's unable to make a move because of that. And also, that we are unable to do anything to help him."

"Whether or not you can help him also depends on your tenacity, right?"

"I know that."

Perhaps tears welled up again in her eyes, Tachibana once again wiped them away with her arm.

Her thoughts about the older Horikita may be the reason for those tears but there are other reasons as well.

"You're in some sort of trouble, aren't you?"

"…no. Not really."

She denied it.

"Is that really true?"

"You're persistent, aren't you? I'm not in trouble or anything."

"If—no, if you say that then I must have misunderstood."

"Yes, you misunderstood. Please don't say anything weird to Horikita-kun."

"Sure."

After warning me harshly, Tachibana went back towards the cafeteria. On the off chance, she probably doesn't want the older Horikita to know the truth I suppose.

But you're making a mistake, Tachibana. This isn't a problem you can solve by sacrificing yourself.

"I suppose this means it's going to be checkmate unless I make a move."

After seeing Tachibana's fragile back, I confirmed that to myself.