Volume 11.5 Chapter 3 Intro

Chapter 3: Lost Lamb

As the spring break passed by, the 30 days of April would inevitably arrive.

I didn't do anything in particular during these past few days. I just spent my time in my room, enjoying the holiday.

I wanted to welcome the new school year carefreely, just like this…

I woke up just before 8 and noticed that I had received a text message on my phone.

It was from one of Class B's students, Ichinose Honami.

It was an invitation to meet sometime during the spring break.

It seemed like the rest of the break wouldn't end so peacefully.

The date was still in consideration, but she wanted Horikita to come along.

I could guess that Horikita was the main event, and I was just in the undercard. I could even roughly predict what the contents of the conversation were going to be.

It should be about the final examination of our 1st year, the event selection exam. Although Ichinose would've collected some information about it already, she would want to know the details of our own 3 wins and 4 losses against Class A.

The topic of us moving up a year and becoming 2nd-year students would also come up.

It would most likely relate to the cooperative relationship between Ichinose's class and mine. Would it continue? Or would it end? She should want to be sure what would happen to it.

The conversation was probably going to be a mixture of those two topics, rather than only one of them.

Especially the latter topic, discussion regarding that should take priority during this spring break.

"Has Ichinose recovered from what happened yet?"

I thought about the girl who I haven't seen at all during the spring break.

It seemed like the results of the end of year exam were still weighing on Ichinose's heart.

Although they acquired 2 wins, they also suffered 5 losses. A miserable defeat.

Despite us falling back to Class D, the differences in the scores were shrinking.

A change in the class ranks due to a new special exam was now very likely to happen. Class B and the classes below it were now evenly matched. Sooner or later, we'll have to discuss what our classes will do in the future.

The cooperative relationship established in the first year wasn't bad for either of the classes.

If we were to continue this ambiguous cooperative relationship, it would reduce our mental burden by a bit.

But in the future, the fact that this relationship would eventually become detrimental to both classes had finally crossed the mind of both parties.

And when the situation escalated, the relationship would have to be forcefully ended, which would seem dishonourable and uncaring.

To make it clear, other than the lower ranked class, the upper ranked class still had to lay out their plans for the future.

If Horikita knew about Ichinose's invitation for a talk, she would be able to figure out as much as I had.

This wasn't going to be a simple conversation. Instead, it would be an important point of divergence on the basis of what the future held for the two classes.

Even if Ichinose wasn't flexible enough to talk about it, Horikita would probably bring the topic up herself.

Essentially, this conversation was going to happen, no matter what.

Then there was the issue of time. I was available all day today, but what about Horikita?

Horikita's brother said that he would leave on the 31st and deep down, Horikita should still be yearning to talk to her brother in the short time she had left.

If they wanted to do something together as siblings, it wouldn't be surprising.

As for whether her brother would be willing to do it, and whether or not Horikita had the courage to go meet him, that is a separate matter.

I'll send the message to Horikita first.

I also added another line.

[Are you ready to talk to your brother?]

I just wrote up what Ichinose wanted to do and sent it to her. It should be read in a few seconds.

She didn't take long to reply.

[I'm available at any time.]

That was her answer.

No, you're not available at any time.

As I said that within my heart, I wanted to know what her response would be if the time was set to be tomorrow. But deliberately poking at things she cared about would prove troublesome for me.

Her reply had ignored everything to do with her brother.

[So how about April 2nd?]

Pay attention to that day, and leave your thoughts of today and tomorrow behind.

[I'm free today.]

Her reply had a sort of imposing manner to it, meaning that I shouldn't be sticking my nose in this.

Although admitting that she wanted to spend time with her brother was hard for her, all she needed to say was that she was busy.

Even if I said I had plans afterwards, it would be tough to convince her.

[Okay. I also want to deal with the troublesome things first.]

It would be troublesome to go against her now, so I decided to go along with it.

After the meeting ended, she still would have enough time to meet with her brother.

[…That would be difficult]

It seemed like those two would not meet any time before the scheduled meeting they had tomorrow.

I replied to Horikita, agreeing to meet with Ichinose today.

After confirming it with Ichinose, it was decided that our meeting would occur at 10 in the morning, at the cafe on the 2nd floor of Keyaki Mall.

1

As we approached April, the temperature gradually rose.

It was just after 9:30 in the morning. Although it was sunny today, the weather forecast said that it was expected to rain at noon. We decided to meet up earlier, so then we could avoid the rain.

There was still plenty of time left before the meeting, so I decided to go and walk around the mall first. I pressed the button to the elevator.

Since it was the holidays, I would see many students of the school on the way to the mall.

Of course, this included the students of the same grade as me as well as some of the 2nd year students.

Even though I didn't know that many people, as long as I walked around for a bit, I would encounter some familiar faces.

It's just that the presence of the graduating 3rd years were decreasing day by day, and now, there were virtually none to be seen around.

And when the first of April rolled around, only the first and second years would remain. I'm guessing the next few days would seem pretty desolate after the third year's left.

As I was thinking about that, I bumped into a familiar girl from the same grade on the elevator.

"…You again…"

The first-year student who was keeping her distance and speaking to me with a displeased tone was Ibuki from Class D.

I felt that the way she spent her holiday was pretty similar to how I did.

She was probably also thinking the same thing.

It was an elevator, so we were in an enclosed space together.

"I don't see this as particularly strange, bumping into you, especially during the holiday."

"You say that… but I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore."

"I know."

She seemed to hate coming into my room last time.

If Ishizaki didn't force her to come, she wouldn't have.

Even though she hated me, Ibuki went with Ishizaki for Ryuuen's sake.

This showed that she thought Ryuuen was an integral part of her class.

I entered the elevator that Ibuki was already in, as there wasn't much choice.

"It's not going to break down again…?"

"Now that you say it, that really has happened before."

This reminded me of summer vacation again, during which, Ibuki and I got stuck in an elevator together.

Although we were both alert in case something similar happened, such improbable accidents don't happen twice.

After arriving at the lobby on the first floor, Ibuki immediately stepped out of the elevator.

It seems like Ibuki was also heading in the direction of Keyaki mall.

"Are you fine with this? You're walking at the same pace as me."

She could have walked faster or run to quickly leave my presence.

"Why does it have to be me? Why don't you walk faster then?"

Although she couldn't stand me, it seemed like she did not want to be the one taking the initiative to leave.

This seems like exactly the kind of thing Ibuki would do, not being able to accept defeat.

Having said that, it would seem weird for me to walk faster just to get away from her.

As far as I'm concerned, walking next to her wouldn't be a problem, although it would waste some of my energy.

And as a result, neither of us backed down, and we walked side by side.

My destination should only be 5 minutes away from the dormitory. We would be separated soon enough.

"It's great that Ryuuen was able to come back."

"You're annoying. Shut up. Don't speak to me."

I couldn't even get a sentence in. I better not say anything unnecessary.

I wasn't afraid of the silence, so I decided to match her and shut my mouth.

And so we walked together within this fiery, tense atmosphere.

"Yo, Ibuki, wait for me-!"

After walking with this tense atmosphere for a good while, a loud voice came from behind us.

The voice was from Class 1D's Ishizaki.

As one of Ryuuen's close associates, he often acted together with Ibuki.

Maybe it was because of the fact we've accidentally come into contact multiple times, that we've been able to talk to each other normally recently.

Ibuki didn't look back, and her expression didn't change, and she just continued walking forward. It couldn't be because she hadn't heard.

"Hey, wait! Hey!"

"Shut up, you're noisy."

"But that's because you didn't respond-oh? Ayanokouji's with you, huh? What are you two doing? Could it be… a date?"

Ishizaki ran over to where we were and said this, so Ibuki kicked him in the knee immediately after he said it.

"Ow! What are you doing!"

"You know why you got kicked. I'm not going to say anything else, so get away from me."

"What, there's no point in doing that. We're going to see each other later anyway."

It seemed like Ibuki was meeting Ishizaki at Keyaki Mall.

"Is Ryuuen coming?"

"Yea-No…umm…"

I casually asked that, and Ishizaki accidentally answered.

"Stupid-idiot."

It seemed like these two were going to meet up at Keyaki Mall for some reason.

From the reaction Ishizaki made when I asked about Ryuuen, it wasn't hard to guess what that reason was.

It also seemed like the meeting was supposed to be a secret.

"Forget it, it won't matter anyway, right? It's useless to try to hide it from Ayanokouji in the first place."

Although Ishizaki quickly bounced back from his mistake, Ibuki was still serious about it.

"It won't matter now, but we're still going to have to take this bastard out to climb up the ranks."

"If you put it like that…"

Why are they talking about this when I'm right next to them?

Although I was doubtful about whether Ryuuen would indeed return, after seeing this, it seemed like it was true.

It was a secret meeting because Ryuuen had not actually officially come back yet.

For Ryuuen, who had already stepped down once as the leader, his classmates would not be able to accept his return so quickly.

Ishizaki also faced a dilemma, as he was the one who took the credit for bringing Ryuuen down.

"Hey, Ayanokouji."

"Hm?"

As I was sorting these bits of information in my head, Ishizaki spoke to me.

"In order to rise to Class A, I've devised the ultimate strategy. Want to help?"

I didn't know how I should answer, as what he said was too surprising.

"Let's hear this first. Your ultimate strategy."

"'Heh!" Ishizaki patted his chest and said this proudly. "You, come to our class. That way, we can definitely reach Class A."

"Huh? What the hell are you saying so suddenly?"

"If Ryuuen and Ayanokouji work together, they'll be unstoppable. Not even Sakayanagi and Ichinose will stand a chance."

So this was the ultimate strategy that Ishizaki came up with.

Ibuki rejected the notion of this strategy ever working. "Impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible."

Joining forces with Ryuuen….

"I don't think it's a bad strategy."

"Are…you serious?"

Ibuki shot a disgusted glance towards the two of us.

"Yeah, yeah, if you're willing to partner up with us, we'll welcome you with open arms. I think you and Ryuuen would be an unexpectedly powerful combination. I think Albert also likes you because whenever you come up in a conversation, he gets a bit excited."

This was the first time I've heard that Yamada Albert liked me.

Was it really appropriate to use the word "like" to describe his feelings towards me…

I haven't interacted with him much. In fact, the only time I really talked to him was on the rooftop.

Did he come to like me after our fight?

For me, I would have thought that the fight would only create resentment towards me.

"He didn't say this explicitly, right?"

Ibuki also seemed to have questions about this, and so she asked Ishizaki.

"Men can feel these kinds of things physically. It's intuition, I tell you, intuition."

Really unreliable intuition.

It also seemed like if I really did join Ryuuen's class, Albert might try to fight me.

The more Ishizaki thought about it, the more excited he became

I needed to thank his good intentions, so I answered seriously.

"It's impossible to achieve. How are you going to get 20 million points for the transfer?"

Although they beat Class B at the end of year exam, they couldn't have accumulated that much money.

"That, well, Ryuuen will definitely do something about that."

"He won't go out of his way to do something like that."

"Are you sure? I think that if you're willing to join us, Ryuuen will cooperate."

"He definitely won't help."

In that regard, I agreed with Ibuki. That person wasn't someone who would go out of his way to satisfy other people's demands to make them happy.

He won't rely on me just for the reason of reaching Class A.

His pride as a man wouldn't allow it.

No, I wouldn't want him to be someone who would resort to something like that either.

"I'm happy that you invited me, but I'll have to refuse. It's more fun being opponents than allies anyway."

That took precedent, even before the issue of having enough private points.

"Really? Damn, I thought it was a great idea."

"You're weird. Why are you happy about going up against him again?

Ibuki laughed grimly without even looking at me.

"Well, I'm looking forward to how he's going to attack me."

I answered honestly, in which Ibuki responded by making a disgusted face at me.

Although I didn't want to act myself too much, if the opponent was Ryuuen, I wouldn't mind having a rematch.

But for him to match me, he needed to develop even more.

He needed to show me that he could win against Horikita, Ichinose and Sakayanagi.

Not long after, we reached Keyaki mall.

"Sorry Ayanokouji, let's end it here. It would be a problem if anyone saw us together.."

Although I didn't know where they were going to meet later, exchanging ideas like this wasn't bad.

I accepted Ishizaki for looking out for me like this, something he usually didn't do.

I parted ways with Ishizaki and Ibuki, and headed towards the mall entrance.

When I first met Ishizaki, I never thought that I would be able to hold this sort of conversation with him.

Although my relationship with Ibuki might've regressed, it was still at least a change.

"It's been a year already…"

The circumstances around me had changed drastically over the year.

I could even hold conversations with Ryuuen and Sakayanagi.

Not to mention the many other students as well.

It may have only been one year, but it was a whole year.

This was evidence that time was indeed passing.

I didn't really get it before, but I feel like I've gained an understanding of the concept of time passing.

Speaking of which, this reminds me of what happened last year.

The time before I came to Advanced Nurturing high school. To prevent anyone from finding out about what I planned to do, I quietly got on with life.

I experienced small tastes of feelings I had never felt before. Especially when trying to not provoke that man… I tried my best to hide it from that person.

Because I knew that if I was discovered by that man, he would definitely stop me.

I got off lucky due to various factors. If he had been around me more, he probably wouldn't have let me run off that easily.

But that man rarely came home, as he was a busy person.

Although there was a so-called caretaker who was supposed to supervise me, he spent around 70-80% of his time that year living in a hotel.

And for me, I wasn't even that familiar with the place I called home, even though I lived there.

The white room was where I spent most of my time. For me, that home was just a temporary residence in which I've stayed in for no longer than a year. It felt no different from a hotel.

"The white room, huh."

That man hasn't given up yet.

I've already felt his intense desire to get me out of here.

I didn't know much about what happened during this past year, but I was certain that the white room would have restarted its activities.

And as long as the white room needed me, I would return.

This would happen in the not so distant future, 2 years later.

But… I still had 2 more years left of this school life.

It didn't make sense to be thinking about this now.

Basically, I was in a situation now that I couldn't have imagined would happen a year before.

And these irreplaceable memories had definitely been engraved in my heart.

I arrived at the north entrance of Keyaki Mall, where we were going to meet.

Normally, the stores would open at 10 every morning on weekdays, but some stores would open at 9 during the holidays.

The cafe on the second floor where we were going to meet was one of those stores.

"This is the life."

Doing whatever I liked, freely living my life as a high school student.

Talking with classmates with my phone as well as doing hanging out together sometimes.

Living a life like this, it always did seem a bit unreal.

But saying this life was unfulfilling would be a lie.

Of course, the campus had its own fair share of troubles.

A lot had changed from the past few months.

I had become more comfortable with the company of the multiple girls I was growing closer to.

Yeah… I seem to have turned into a real person on the surface.

I temporarily stopped thinking about it and turned my attention to the other issues for now.

I'll put my focus on the conversation that was going to happen.

"You're here early. There are about 20 minutes until the meeting time. Don't you have other things to do?"

Horikita, who was wearing casual clothes, said that as she looked at her phone.

"You say that, but aren't you also as early as I am?"

It was like we were confirming that neither of us had nothing to do during the spring break.

We didn't discuss the topic immediately, as we went up to the second floor first.

"You should be clear on what the topic of discussion is going to be about today."

She seemed to think that was the case. Maybe because she thought that since I didn't ask her about it, I must have known.

She was correct, but I'll try to confuse her a bit.

"What are you talking about."

"You clearly know what I'm talking about, so stop pretending."

"No, I don't know what you're talking about. What's Ichinose going to talk to us about?"

I wanted to forcefully push the topic, and confuse Horikita, but…

"You really don't know? If it turns out you do, then I won't let you off that easily.."

"…Well, you should first calm down a bit."

I looked at Horikita and decided to stop messing with her, as she looked like she was about to bite me.

"I can guess what it'll be about. It's not difficult."

"It's not hard to just say that, so stop misleading me like this."

She rudely told me.

Seems like using this kind of method to try to figure out what Horikita was feeling would be useless.

"Were you trying to see how much I knew?"

"You're thinking into it too much."

"Am I really, though?"

Rather than say that she's become keener now, she probably just got used to the way I did things.

Simple response patterns like that would not work on Horikita anymore.

If I was questioned again, I might get attacked, so I decided to avoid the issue.

"Anyway…let's go."

I saw Ichinose waiting at the entrance of the cafe, so I changed the topic.

It was still 10 minutes before the appointed time, but Ichinose seemed to have arrived already.

"Ichinose seems just as busy as we are now."

I don't think she just arrived. How long had she been waiting for?

"She can't have as much free time as we do. Judging from this situation, I think she just simply wanted to arrive on time. She probably just hates making people wait. "

Maybe it was as Horikita said.

"So that's what you think of Ichinose."

"At first, I thought she was a hypocrite who acted like a good person."

She might have overthought that a bit too much, as well as being a bit too quick to judge from her initial thoughts of her.

"But after a year, my thoughts of her has changed completely. She really is a good person."

Many people disguised themselves as good people, and it was difficult to find one that truly did have a good heart.

Many people had ulterior motives.

As she was one of the genuinely kindhearted people, there would not be anyone who labelled Ichinose as a hypocrite.

"What kind of life did she live before, being such a kind-hearted person."

This was the only thing I didn't understand.

"Being kind-hearted is a weapon she possesses, but at the same time, it's also her weakness."

While walking towards the destination, Horikita praised Ichinose and sighed, as if she was worried for her.

The more kind-hearted a person was, the easier it was for bad people to use them.

"Do you think it's better not to be that kind-hearted?"

"Being kind-hearted would be great if you were living in the mountains, surrounded by nature. But in order to survive in this competitive society, being kind-hearted would be a disadvantage."

"I see."

"But going by her personality, she'll never stop being a kind and good person."

Horikita was saying that Ichinose would continue being a kind-hearted person, even if it were disadvantageous to her.

"Even so, Ichinose knows how to distinguish between good and evil. If something were to happen that would endanger her classmates, she would be willing to do anything.

"If that's the case then it's fine, sure, we should end this boring conversation here."

To get ready for the conversation that was about to occur, Horikita's expression became serious.

I also stopped talking and called out to Ichinose.

"Ichinose, you're really early. How long have you been waiting for?'

"Good morning Horikita-san, Ayanokouji-kun. I just arrived."

That line was very cliche. Although she said that, when did she really arrive?

Ichinose, who wore casual clothes, greeted us with her usual smile.

"It's a lot easier to get seats early in the morning."

The students already in the cafe were spread out, making it look like there were available seats everywhere.

"Okay, order whatever you want to eat, I'll treat you."

She lightly tapped her chest with a clenched fist and said that she was going to settle the payments.

"This won't- be for the sake of gaining an edge over us during the conversation, right?"

Because she had an experience using her own cooking to gain superiority over a situation, Horikita immediately raised her suspicions.

"She's not you, she won't do that."

"I don't like what you said but… you're right."

Just as Horikita noted just before, the other person here was none other than Ichinose.

She wouldn't use such a method to gain an advantage in the conversation like this.

And even if she really did gain an advantage in the conversation from that, Horikita should be able to wrestle it back.

"If so, thank you very much."

"Of course. No problem, Horikita-san, you can start ordering first."

Urged by Ichinose, Horikita went first and ordered.

I was worried about Ichinose, so I closed the distance with her to speak to her quietly.

Although it was subtle, I could smell the citrusy scent on her today again.

"Ichinose, will there be any problems with your private points?"

Although I was grateful for her treating us, her private points should be 0, as she used them all to prevent one of her classmates from getting expelled.

Although as the invitee, it was normal to treat your guests, I was still a bit worried about her financial situation.

"Ah, um, after paying here, I should still have about 3000 points. There's no problem."

April was approaching.

With that much remaining in her balance, she should have enough money to overcome this crisis.

But her private points should have been down to 0 for a while now.

Maybe after noticing my doubt, Ichinose added this:

"I got this money after selling my hairdryer to Class A's Nishikawa-san. I needed to do it so I could survive in March. The others also had to resort to this."

Although the school had a system in which one could survive without money, you still needed funds in hand sometimes.

If an item was being sold cheaper than it was priced in the store, it was common for people to buy from 3rd party sellers.

"So Ayanokouji-kun, you don't need to hesitate. Come on, you can order now."

Ichinose, who was now behind me, gently pushed my back while saying that.

Indeed, if I was too modest, Ichinose wouldn't be too happy.

After Horikita ordered, I went and ordered a cup of coffee.

Then the three of us grabbed our food from the pickup area and left the counter to sit on the seats in the corner of the cafe.

Taking advantage of the fact that there weren't many people here yet, Horikita immediately went straight to business.

"Are we going to talk about the end of year exam? Or is it going to be about the agreement between our classes April?"

Without talking to me in advance, Horikita was able to predict what the conversation with Ichinose was going to be about.

"Ahaha, so you've seen through it all."

Ichinose, who was smiling as she said this, also had a serious look in her eyes.

This was proof that they both knew that this conversation would be extremely important.

"Am I troubling you guys?"

"No, I also felt like we had to talk, so it was a big help that you were the one to initiate it. After all, you're a popular person, it's hard for us to talk to you alone like this."

"It's not like that nowadays. I'm not busy at all during this spring break. You can talk to me anytime."

As she replied, Ichinose had a slight smile.

From the expression on her face, it seemed like she was trying to hide some kind of bitterness.

It was probably because someone tried to ask her on a date, and she refused.

And as for the reason for that, Horikita should have noticed.

"The end of year exam seemed to take a toll on you."

Even though it wouldn't be a very appropriate way to start the conversation, I said that to Ichinose.

It was because even if we deliberately beat around the bush not to reopen the wound she had from it, we would eventually get there anyway.

And if that was the case, bringing it up earlier would be better as Ichinose would recover faster from it anyway.

Because she didn't want to start with that topic, Horikita had a stiff expression for just a moment.

Even so, she realised what I was doing and adjusted.

"Ahhhhh, umm, I lost. We were completely defeated by Ryuuen-san's strategy."

She seemed to have remembered something, sighing deeply, and shaking her head. Then she said that with certainty.

Drifting fretfully, Ichinose seemed to constantly sigh at her failure.

"We still don't know anything. What was the reason for the loss?"

"The reason we failed is obvious. It's because I lack the ability."

Ichinose did not blame her opponent or her classmates.

She replied without hesitation, that the reason for the failure was because, of course, of her own failure as the commanding tower.

"Although we didn't see the exam take place, it's hard to imagine you making big mistakes."

"You flatter me. Well, back then, I think I might have lost my head over fear…"

Ichinose humbly rejected Horikita's praise.

No, it was probably true that she panicked back then.

She would have been troubled due to Ryuuen's surprise appearance, which affected the outcome of the scores.

"At the start, we thought that the commanding tower was Kaneda, and when it was revealed that he wasn't, it messed up our rhythm."

"That's understandable. Ryuuen should have already stepped down from as the leader, and he didn't have any protection points, so he couldn't have been the commander. That's what we all thought, but it was all part of Ryuuen's plans."

That's right. Even Sakayanagi and I didn't expect Ryuuen to reappear.

For Ichinose, who was to be his opponent, it would be impossible for her not to be shaken.

If he lost, he would be expelled. Noone apart from Ryuuen would be willing to carry out such a high-risk plan.

"I wasn't able to fix my frame of mind at the end, so I'm responsible for our loss. This fact won't change."

While thinking about how they would fight against Kaneda, Ryuuen suddenly appeared.

Although it wasn't my problem, I still felt sympathy towards Ichinose.

The things that the commanding tower could do were extremely limited.

But during that free speech event, Ryuuen would have completely backed Ichinose into a corner with his abilities with words.

"I heard that your class achieved excellent results in your battle against class A."

Ichinose praised us in response.

Now, a problem had arisen. Back then, I asked Ichinose to let us fight Class A.

Horikita didn't know this, as she had instructed me to target Class D. It didn't go as planned during the lottery, so we drew against Class A.

Depending on the direction of the conversation, things can get a bit tricky if something contradicted what Horikita thought was true.

It might be better to discuss this with Ichinose first, but the problem was that I told Ichinose it was Horikita who wanted to target Class A.

Ichinose thought that Horikita was the one who requested to fight Class A.

And Horikita thought I lost the draw, which resulted in us having to fight Class A.

Both sides were at a position where they didn't know the real truth.

It wasn't impossible to avoid the topic if the conversation continued.

If I were the usual me, I would have made preparations beforehand.

Or enact temporary measures to deal with these emergencies without anyone noticing.

After I thought for a while, I decided to expose myself.

As for the reason I did not act up to now.

It was to see to what extent Horikita had grown.

"A loss is a loss. I remember that I asked you to give me the right to fight Class A. If Class B was against Class A, the results might have been different."

After hearing this, Horikita's gaze turned to me immediately.

I didn't need to explain what she meant by that.

"What do you mean, asked her to fight Class A" was what her gaze meant.

But because I conformed to the flow of the conversation by saying that, Horikita decided to let it slide.

But because the look she gave me seemed natural and was faint, Ichinose did not notice it.

She understood I was saying that this wasn't the time to discuss it.

If she were the Horikita from before, she would definitely question me right there, also causing Ichinose to develop doubts.

Even if it didn't reach that extent, it would still have made Ichinose waver a bit.

Her ability to understand and her judgement had significantly improved. No, I should say that she's become more astute.

Through Horikita's patience, Ichinose decided that Horikita was the one who chose to target Class A.

Because of this, my presence would be further diminished from the perspectives of the other classes.

"Because of my request, it resulted in you having to fight a tough battle.."

To support what I was doing, Horikita apologised to Ichinose.

"It's my responsibility, so there's no reason for you to apologise."

Class B going against Class D was a bad matchup, which resulted in Class B only winning 2 and losing 5.

Which then resulted in Class B losing a lot of class points at once.

"That's a hypothetical situation. The winner of the lottery was Kaneda, who chose Class B, so it didn't matter anyway."

Of course, this was indeed the case after looking at the outcomes now.

The battle between Class B and Class D was inevitable, even if they made prior preparations for it not to happen.

"That's not something you need to reflect on, Horikita-san. I… I need to figure out a more stable strategy that can lead us to victory. I'm the one who needs to deeply reflect on this.

Although she was enthusiastic as she said that, whether her mentality had adjusted was another matter.

"If it is possible, can you explain what the strategy you used was? Of course, in exchange, we will also explain our battle with Class A to you in detail."

Horikita must have heard some of the rumours of what happened already.

But only the commanding towers knew what happened between them.

Ichinose nodded her approval towards the proposal.

The events that Ichinose chose and the events that Ryuuen chose.

The order of the events, what events were chosen, and how Ryuuen went about doing them.

Where she won and where she lost. Ichinose revealed the answers for how she had failed without concealing it.

Ryuuen's Class D adopted a style of brute force when doing the events.

To the Class B students, this exploited one of their glaring weaknesses.

"They adopted a fighting method that plays to their strengths. I'll give that to them."

"If so, we don't stand a chance against them."

"Yeah… even on the boy's side, only Sudo-san could win. No, if his opponent is Yamada-san, there's no guarantee of victory."

If Koenji was serious, he might be able to win as well, but even if so, Horikita couldn't say that aloud.

As for the girls, outside of Horikita, I didn't think anyone else could put up a fight.

"Class A might be able to win against Ryuuen's methods."

"I agree with that."

It all depended on luck. If even a bit of luck was on Ryuuen's side, he would be able to defeat every other class.

If you look at all their battles, their win rate was the highest against Class B.

That would be proof of his intention to attack Class B from the very start.

"But, you also chose a few of your own events, so how did you lose on two of them?"

Although Ryuuen's methods were powerful, it all depended on luck one way or another.

Class B chose 4 events, so Ichinose still could have won in those.

"….Ummm."

Horikita didn't know anything about this, and I was the same. So we listened to her attentively, without prior knowledge anything that happened.

What exactly did Ryuuen do? Ichinose told us everything.

He didn't do anything to the students directly. Instead, he attacked them mentally.

He forcibly contacted and pressurised Class B.

There's also the issue in which several of the competitors in Class B failed to exert their full strength due to sudden physical discomfort on the day.

After mentioning that, Ichinose added this.

"I lost at the event that I was supposed to excel at, and I wasn't able to adapt to the situation. That's all my fault as the commanding tower's."

She didn't blame Ryuuen and instead said that it was her own fault.

"Many of your classmates had stomach pain and showed symptoms of mental instability…"

Of course, Horikita recognised that this was all part of Ryuuen's plan.

"I'm sure that this was part of Ryuuen-san's trap. I heard from the students that felt unwell on the day that they bumped into Ishizaki-san before the exam when they were at the karaoke place."

Karaoke, huh? That was one of the places that students were rarely monitored.

It would be an extremely high-risk plan if they really did poison them there.

"Shouldn't you try to report this to the school?"

The exam had already ended for a week now.

The student's food and drinks have, without a doubt, been disposed of.

You could trace the purchases of the drug they used back to the pharmacy, but there will still be arguments that Class D didn't use those drugs.

"There's no harm in reporting this to the school. Even if it yields no result this time, the report you make now might play a role in the next incident. If they continue doing things like this, the school will be more strict on them."

If it was found out that Class D really were behind this, it would be a severe issue, and the school would have to take action.

"Maybe. But it doesn't matter, I won't report this to the school."

Ichinose rejected the proposal. In the week after the exam, her classmates would all have advised her to appeal to the school multiple times, and yet she still didn't.

"Why? Are you just going to submit to this humiliation? This is a serious incident that can change the results of the exam, and all you need to do is to reveal these details."

The evidence wasn't impossible to find, that's what Horikita is saying.

Depending on the situation, Class D might be subject to disciplinary action.

The longer the delay, the harder it would be to appeal.

"I will assist you if you wish."

If it were Horikita, she would have never given up on this. Because she was like this, she offered to help Ichinose.

"Thank you, Horikita-san. But I still don't want to complain. There still isn't any concrete evidence now, and… I want to use this incident as a lesson."

"Lesson? What do you mean?"

Ichinose did not submit to Horikita's persuasion.

"I think I'm lucky."

Ichinose, who had a resigned expression just now, regained some life in her eyes.

It was like a broken-down engine desperately trying to ignite.

"I don't know what would happen if this happened again during the crucial periods of the 2nd and 3rd years, but now, there's still room for recovery."

Ichinose nodded her head strongly, her eyes brimming with power.

Perhaps I was the only one who could understand her brilliance at that moment.

"Our whole class is taking this defeat seriously, and we've decided to make good use of this failure, and not repeat the same mistakes in the future."

"Well, I'm not in your class so I won't say anything more."

"Alright then."

Class B had now finished telling Class D what happened on their end.

We had finished listening to the details of the battle between Ichinose and Ryuuen. It was our turn now.

Horikita glanced at me, conveying her thoughts through her eyes.

[Are you going to talk in the perspective as the commander tower?] is what she wanted to ask.

As a commander, just like Ichinose, we had the same duties in the event selection exam.

But the details of what we did as commanders were rather bland and ambiguous.

What events we took part in, how we won the ones we won, and how we lost the ones we lost.

Of course, I won't mention anything unnecessary, like how I answered that one question in the mental arithmetic test.

"I already know the results of your battle, but it's still a great showing by your class."

"Even so, we still lost to Sakayagani during the 7th match at the end."

Chess was just a game. As long as I said that I was confident enough to win in chess, it shouldn't be investigated any further, and since I've lost to Sakayagani, they will think that I was weaker than her anyway.

"The only good news… well, you can't really call it that, but we only lost 30 points. But it's still not ideal as the gap between the classes has been opened up again."

"Your classmates are slowly getting stronger, so we can't take you as lightly anymore."

Even to a future rival, Ichinose still praised us straightforwardly.

"Yeah. Our class will only get stronger."

After hearing Horikita's confident words and seeing them in her eyes, Ichinose nodded her head.

"I have something to say to you that relates to the conversation, ok?"

"Mhm."

This was the start of the next half of the conversation. The beginning of the real conversation.

It was Horikita who brought it up instead of Ichinose.

"Bluntly speaking, I want to cancel our partnership next year."

Horikita made an unexpected proposal, but Ichinose was already mentally prepared for this.

"I thought you would say that."

"We lost against Class A, and we're Class D again. If you purely look at the rankings, you could say that it was a loss for us, but if you think about the big picture, we didn't exactly lose. You could even say that we've closed the gap."

"That's true. Considering that you were at 0 points at the start of the year, your class was the one that gained the most points throughout the year. And since your results against Class A were 3 wins and 4 losses…"

After a bit of calculation, Ichinose noticed something.

The difference in those numbers was so small that it wouldn't have been surprising if we emerged victoriously in that battle.

Although Tsukishiro's interference could have affected the results, it was cancelled out by the fact that we had enough opportunities to win.

"But, can't we still maintain this cooperative relationship?"

Ichinose did not readily agree to Horikita's idea to cancel the partnership between the classes.

"Let's discuss this again when the differences in class points reduce some more."

"I'm thankful that you still want to continue this. But I still think it would be best to dissolve this cooperative relationship."

There were 2 conditions required to maintain this cooperative relationship.

The first condition was if the class point difference was so large that catching up in terms of class points would be impossible.

The other condition was that if both parties were able to establish and maintain a stable relationship.

Last May, the difference in the class points was 650 points, and Class B's points remained static throughout the year. Because of this, we were able to maintain our relationship without any problems.

However, those 2 conditions no longer apply. Class D gained 300 points, while Class B's total class points were declining, which significantly reduced the gap.

In other words, the conditions were no longer fulfilled.

"Next year, I will definitely lead our class to Class B or above. And in order to defeat Class A, I plan to obtain all of the class points possible."

In the face of Horikita, who had established such a resolute goal, Ichinose seemed to shake a little.

"…Oh, yes."

What she was saying was that our class must also defeat Ichinose's Class B.

Of course, if that's the case, then the cooperative relationship couldn't continue.

Horikita judged the unfledged relationship to be nothing more than a stumbling block now and refused to allow it to continue.

"No objections? Ayanokouji-san."

"Of course, I agree with you. This is the right move that would lead us to Class A."

Horikita asked, and I nodded. Her judgement wasn't wrong.

Ichinose closed her eyes and exhaled deeply.

"I'm grateful to you, Ichinose, having proposed a cooperative relationship with us when we were at our weakest. But… even if you resent us now, we'll still be enemies in the future."

Ichinose quietly accepted what Horikita had said with conviction.

"How can I hate you? We were enemies from the start, and we only had a temporary truce. I thank you very much for this as well."

Finally, Ichinose slowly opened her eyes and looked towards Horikita and me without a shadow of any bitterness in them.

"From the start of the 2nd year, we'll be enemies."

"Yes."

Horikita firmly shook Ichinose's outstretched hand.

Horikita had to be thinking about certain things at this moment.

Class B's weaknesses and how we could exploit them.

And Ichinose must also be calculating the strength of our class now.

I'll have to think about how to prevent that information from leaking now.

And that was the end of our brief conversation.

Starting in April, our battle with Class B would officially begin.

2

Although the meeting was over, Ichinose wanted to stay there for a bit longer.

After her defeat and the breakdown of our cooperative relationship, she probably wanted to sort out her feelings.

So we left the cafe first. Shortly after, we reached the stairs and I was just about to descend.

"Wait a second."

I was about to head back, but I was stopped by Horikita, whose voice came from behind.

Horikita stopped me and said this.

"I need to talk to you about something now, so just listen, and don't turn this way."

I did what she wanted me to do.

In the face of her serious tone, I didn't turn back, which was a sign of my consent.

"What's this?"

"So everything is suddenly fine again? Don't you have something to say to me?"

An angry voice came from behind.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

As I expressed my confusion to her words, Horikita did not hesitate to get straight to what she meant by that.

"You negotiated with Ichinose in order to challenge Class A, didn't you?"

"That is indeed the case."

"If I didn't match what you did during the conversation, wouldn't it have been troublesome?"

"But you cooperated flawlessly."

"That's because- I thought it would create unnecessary trouble if I didn't. Please explain why you've done that."

"Ichinose already said it. Kaneda won the lottery, and decided to choose Class B. Basically, no matter what I did, the end result would not have changed."

"I want to know this: why would you try to challenge Class A without my permission?"

"Because I thought our best chance of winning came from opposing Class A."

"But wouldn't fighting against Kaneda or Ryuuen would give us better odds?"

"If we were drawn against Class D, the probability of us losing like Class B did would be very high. We only have Sudo and you who can put up a fight against them."

"That's only because you know the outcome now. No matter what, Class D was the best choice at the time."

Her voice seemed closer now, as she took a step towards me.

But she didn't get too close.

"Was anything I said wrong?"

"No. Indeed, drawing Class A was the worst outcome. I can't deny that."

"Let's put aside the fact that you completely ignored my orders. What was your reason for wanting to fight against Class A?"

Even though she knew that I acted alone to get us to fight against Class A, she still didn't know the reason.

"What do you think? Why would I go out of my way to set this up? Can you guess?"

I tried to ask back. Although this was a question which she wouldn't be able to correctly answer.

She didn't know about my relationship with Sakayagani, and she didn't know anything about the white room. There was no way she could answer that.

"If I go by the data and try to reach an answer through that…then the only answer would be what you said, the "best chance of winning" was against Class A. But what about Class B and D? Why were they ruled out? Well, we can exclude Class B first."

Even if we didn't deliberately plan out our moves with them, we still had a cooperative relationship with Class B.

The probability of Ichinose betraying us and targeting our class in the exam was extremely low.

"The problem is Class D. Normally, Class D would be the most obvious pick… But in this case, Class B lost badly against Class D, because they were caught in Ryuuen's trap. If we were forced into fighting against them, there's no telling how it would end up."

We might have been evenly matched or even at a disadvantage against Class D.

"Everyone thought that Class D would be the easiest opponent. And so because of that, you had some doubts about it."

I'm afraid that this was the limit to her deductive reasoning.

"So in other words, did you predicted Ryuen's sudden return in the final exam?"

"Maybe. That's why I used Class B as a sacrifice."

"If this is true, you should've discussed this with me beforehand."

"Sure."

I did not deny it and chose to accept her words.

But that wasn't a good explanation of why I acted without her permission.

"But-is that really the reason?"

"What?"

"During the class vote, you came in first because you received a lot of praise votes from Class A. And then once you got your protection points, you decided to target Class A, without the risk of dropping out if you lost. It's like… you and Sakayanagi planned this out in advance…"

Although what she just said had some accidental truths, she started to notice my relationship with Sakayanagi and the background behind it.

"Forget it… this is absurd. Most importantly, there isn't any evidence backing what I said, just forget what I said."

Saying that… Horikita withdrew her statement.

"I want to know what you're thinking. Are you planning to work to reach Class A?"

"I just said it…"

"Sure. But I don't know if you're telling the truth. From the start of the school year up to now, you've always seemed reluctant to want to work to that objective."

"People can change. Even you changed, and it makes me feel like I've misread you from the very start."

As a matter of fact, I had already started to think about moving to the upper classes. But it wasn't unreasonable to suspect that I was untrustworthy. Especially to Horikita, as I wasn't always cooperative with her.

From other's perspectives, it's no surprise if they feel uneasy about my existence.

"Yes, people will grow… and perceptions will change."

Although she was still slightly dissatisfied with the answer, Horikita still somehow convinced herself.

However, the conversation did not end there.

"Our class is growing, and it will continue getting stronger. But that's still not enough to reach Class A.

"What are you trying to say?"

"So far, you've been half-heartedly participating, in both athletics and academics. You've been just an average student who isn't a burden, but also hasn't contributed anything."

These words hurt to hear. However, on the surface, it did seem like I haven't contributed at all.

"Will you free yourself from these restrictions? From today onwards, I hope that you will do everything you possibly can do. Only then can you prove to me that you truly want to reach Class A."

This isn't the same as a threat or a request.

This was to probe out what my thoughts were. Of course, the fact that she said that in such a thorny way was understandable.

"I refuse."

"As expected."

Instead of being surprised, she laughed bitterly.

"You're all talk, you don't actually want to help me reach Class A."

"At least that's the case for now."

I retaliated against Horikita and reversed the flow of the conversation.

Horikita will soon understand what I meant by that.

"What? For now?"

Previously, she thought I would have never cooperated with her.

However, I think that the me right now would be able to cooperate to a certain extent.

"There's a reason I'm conservative with this. If I suddenly went all out right after the break, there'll be rumours within the class, no… the entire year. I wanted to avoid this situation if possible."

"I acknowledge that you truly are an excellent student, but even for a self-evaluation, you speak highly of yourself. In terms of academics alone, even students in our own class such as Yukimura and I, as well as students in the other classes such as Ichinose and Sakayanagi, are on the same level. There are others as well, specialising with their own subjects. Can you compete with those people?"

Horikita said this with disbelief, she didn't think I could compare to those people.

"Although suddenly showing a huge difference in your ability would garner negative attention, as long as your grades are stably in the top 10 to 20 per cent, you'll slowly be accepted as one of the excellent students. After all, it's not unheard of for students to suddenly achieve outstanding results in a short period of time."

After considering it, Horikita reached that conclusion.

If her evaluation was correct, maybe we could stop here.

But if that wasn't the case, this conversation would not end just yet.

"Sorry, Horikita. I don't think anyone in the year is on the same level as me."

Apart from the students who hadn't reached their full potential yet, or hadn't seriously used their abilities.

"… You're really going to say something like that! Unbelievable!!"

Horikita didn't agree with my claim and retorted.

"Although brother acknowledges you, that doesn't prove anything. You still haven't shown the true extent of your abilities yet."

"Couldn't you see it throughout the year?"

"Can you prove that you're the best in terms of academics? How about the things outside of academics?. If you want others to recognise your bold claims, you'll need to be able to overcome everything. Even though you consider chess to be one of your best talents, you still lost against Sakayanagi. I admit it was an extremely high-level battle, but you still lost. And you still dare claim that you have no equal."

"You can think about it as much as you like, Horikita. I could also be bluffing right now."

"At the end, you're still running away from this again. You're nothing more than a swindler."

"Feel free to call me that, if it makes you happy."

Faced with that response, Horikita stayed silent.

If what is needed to satisfy her was for her to stop being so angry, I'll stop the conversation here.

And as I was about to take a step down the staircase-

"-Let me test you."

She spoke with an unyielding tone.

"Test what?"

"Your true strength. Although I know that you're smart as well as physically capable to an extent, you're still a mystery. I still don't know your true abilities."

Did she want to measure me with her own methods?

"I want to know if your strength is something worth hiding."

"Are you sure you can measure my strength accurately?"

"I'm confident I can beat you in the written exams if I get serious."

Indeed, throughout the year, Horikita's scores had always been better than mine.

I also understood that Horikita thought that even though males had the superiority when it came to physical ability, when it comes to strategy and tactics, she could take the advantage.

But actually, Horikita fought admirably against Ibuki while under poor health conditions herself.

And she also saw me having a tussle with her brother.

And based on what she understood from those incidents, she confidently said she could beat me in an exam.

"So, how do you want to test me?"

"As many as you want. Whether it's something I'm good at or you're good at, we'll use a written test to decide the winner."

She didn't allow me to turn backwards to face her to avoid any contact other than sound.

Just by looking at someone else, you could figure out what they were thinking or feeling.

She judged that to be unfavourable in this situation, so she stood behind me.

She didn't want to wage psychological warfare against me, so she was vigilant.

"I can accept that, but I have nothing to gain from this, especially if you're the one choosing the event."

"Is this really a question of loss or gain? I know about your strength that you keep so secret. If you don't accept my challenge, I will spread your secret around. You've been gaining some attention recently, and if I do that, there's no way you can cover it up, is there?"

It's too weak a threat. As long as she understood that spreading it wouldn't have any benefit in the future, Horikita wouldn't do it anyway.

However, since Horikita has grown, it may be better for me to

compromise with her.

Horikita quietly waited for my answer as I thought for a while.

"How about this. In our next written exam after April, let's decide on a subject to compete for the highest score. But if that's what we're doing, if I get 100 points, you could just accuse me of desperately cramming for that subject."

And if the scores on the other subjects weren't very high, this was a perfectly acceptable reason.

"Using this method to measure strength isn't enough…Is it really a good idea to compete in a formal setting?"

"I'll have to think about that if I lose to you. I want to make sure, in case I get a high score in all my future subjects.""

"Fine, I'll agree with your plan. But how are you going to decide on the subject?"

"It's up to you. You can decide any time you want. In addition to that, you can tell me what subject you choose right before the exam starts, I won't care."

"I see… so you intend to win even without prior knowledge of the subject, so studying all subjects would be the minimum requirement. This way, even if there is only one subject that mattered, your true strength will be displayed nevertheless."

If it's like this, Horikita should be able to accept it to a certain extent.

"If I win, I'll judge that your abilities are only at that level, and in the future, I want you to do everything you can and work towards Class A, is this fine?"

"Yes. But if I win, you'll grant me one wish."

"Sure, this is a one-sided agreement anyway. What do you want?"

"I don't know yet. I'll think about it."

"… Aren't you being a bit unreasonable here? If I agree, then I might have to accept some strange requests."

"Are you already worried about the consequences when you lose? I thought you were more confident about this."

"Are you seriously saying this…"

"There's no need to force yourself. If you don't have the self-confidence, you should just ignore the outcome of the battle, it won't matter anyway, because I'll win."

If I say that, Horikita could no longer back down.

"Fine, if I lose, you can ask anything of me. Happy?"

"That's enough. So it's settled."

So this was how a clash between Horikita and me in the written exam had been decided to take place after school started.

Horikita stepped forward and stood next to me.

Then she took another step, went ahead of me and started walking down the stairs.

"I'm looking forward to direct confrontation with you."

Of course, Horikita will adopt all possible measures to challenge the exam.

Well… I'll just act as usual.

I stood there and watched the determined Horikita's back until it was no longer visible.

"Now, what should I do next?"

I planned to go straight home, but I changed my mind slightly.

I'm a little worried about Ichinose's condition.

Although she asked us to go back first, what was she thinking about now?

Just as I was thinking about this, I saw a man looking at my direction.

As if invited by his gaze, I descended the stairs.

3

At the 2nd-floor men's toilet of Keyaki mall.

Two men stood there, conversing.

One of them was Ryuuen Kakeru, who once stepped down as a leader, but returned to the front stage once again.

And the other student was Hashimoto Masayoshi, of Class A, the class that had maintained its leading position for the entire year.

They did not meet by accident, Hashimoto contacted Ryuuen, and they chose this secluded location to meet up.

"So? What kind of prank are you trying to pull on me, calling me out here?"

"Calling it a prank doesn't sound very good. I just wanted to summarise what happened this year."

Hashimoto nonchalantly replied.

Ryuuen didn't necessarily hate this type of mysterious and unpredictable person.

However, he didn't necessarily like it as well.

Muscle-bound idiots like Ishizaki and Ibuki were easier to understand, and they gave more of a favourable impression.

Of course, Hashimoto didn't trust Ryuuen, nor did he think Ryuuen trusted him.

Their relationship was based on mutual interests.

However, both of them knew that in some cases, that kind of relationships might develop into something more stable.

"You defeated Class B in the final exam of the year. Can I interpret this as your complete return?"

"Who knows. Maybe it's just a whim."

Ryuuen casually replied, raising his arms and flashing a cocky smile.

"A whim? If that's the case, what a terribly frightening whim. I cannot take it if you're aiming for Class A on a whim!"

Hashimoto gently raised his hands to show that he didn't want a fight, as if he were raising a white flag.

"Are you that cautious of me?"

"You, who once retreated back into the shadows, showed up once again in front of everyone. Being cautious of you is normal."

People always paid special attention to others who might obstruct them from accomplishing their objectives.

"Are you here on Sakayanagi's orders?"

"Unfortunately, this isn't an easy question to answer."

Although Hashimoto was vague, Ryuuen knew that he wasn't doing this on Sakayanagi's orders.

To understand the situation, Ryuuen purposefully threw Sakayanagi's name out there to gauge Hashimoto's reaction.

"So, now what? What do you plan to do in the future?"

"Do I have any plans?"

Ryuuen approached Hashimoto with a sneer.

Hashimoto, who stiffened up, went into a defensive stance, just in case.

Although Hashimoto chose this place himself, it was still an inaccessible toilet.

There were no surveillance cameras that could provide any kind of protection in case something happened.

Although if Hashimoto had known earlier that this was going to happen, he would have used his phone camera to record all this, but if he was discovered, his relationship with Ryuuen would be destroyed.

"Don't think you can win just by wandering in the middle of the two sides as a double spy."

Although he was smiling, the pressure he exerted was not something that could be from an ordinary person.

"Ha! Even after getting defeated and coming back, you're acting superior. How bold!!"

Although Hashimoto felt a bit anxious, he still felt a bit happy at the same time.

Although Class A's current position was stable, this could change at any time due to Sakayanagi's whims.

And if their ranking dropped, there was a high probability Ryuuen's class would be the one to replace them as the new Class A.

Therefore, preemptively taking action would be the best action he could take.

Because of this, Hashimoto pointed out what was wrong with what Ryuuen said.

"Sorry, Ryuuen. I don't plan on saving myself by just relying on two classes."

"Oho, what does this mean?"

"Although it's a bit early-"

Hashimoto took his phone out and showed Ryuuen what was on the screen.

While proving that he wasn't recording the conversation, he called someone. Soon, the other person picked up.

Ryuuen quickly realised that the other person was waiting for his call.

"Come here. It's the place we talked about in advance."

After that short message, the call ended.

"Who do you think that was? Ryuuen."

"Who knows."

"It's Ayanokouji."

"Ayanokouji? Ah, for a moment I thought it would be him."

Ryuuen didn't seem to be affected by Hashimoto mentioning that name.

Hashimoto's hopes of trying to gain whatever information he could unexpectedly fell through.

However, he felt it was too early to give up, and stubbornly continued to pursue what he wanted,

"Can you think of a reason why I called Ayanokouji here?"

"No."

Ryuuen bluntly replied, and then quickly continued.

"Did you really call him over? I don't think you did."

The original objective was to feel him out, but now, Hashimoto was being felt out himself.

"…Really! It seems like vague lies won't work on you."

Hashimoto tried to test Ryuuen by saying Ayanokouji's name and seeing if it would bring out a reaction from him.

But Ryuuen acted as if he heard nothing at all, and was being a bit troublesome.

"What you're talking about is a complicated and chaotic situation. Do you have an inside story about it, Hashimoto?"

Instead, he asked the suspecting Hashimoto if he had gotten any information from an insider.

Ryuuen wasn't putting on an act, saying those words.

Even so, it didn't eliminate the doubts that Hashimoto had around the situation with Ryuuen and Ayanokouji.

It was because there was no way the all-powerful Ryuuen could be easily defeated by Ishizaki and the others.

He could also see Ayanokouji's shadow behind Sakayanagi's actions.

If he had just one more clue, his doubts on the matter could be removed.

"The one who's really coming is──."

The sounds of footsteps approached the second-floor toilet, and then a male student appeared.

"Ah? Looks like you called out an interested person, Hashimoto!"

Appearing in front of Ryuuen and Hashimoto was first-year Class B's Ryuji Kanzaki.

These three people who normally didn't exchange words came together.

"He said he really wanted to talk to you. So I acted as a middleman to bring you two together."

"So? What do you get in return?"

"Isn't it obvious? Of course, it's a cooperative relationship with Class B."

"Sayakanagi framed Ichinose. In other words, they're enemies. Do you really think Kanzaki could accept it?"

"He'll accept it. Right? Kanzaki."

"I won't trust you, Hashimoto. But you're of value."

"You heard him!"

Hashimoto showed Ryuuen that as long as their interests were the same, even he and Kanzaki could cooperate.

Then, Hashimoto put his hand on Kanzaki's shoulder while laughing out loud.

"Listen to what he wants to say, do it for me."

"So that's it. You don't plan to save yourself with only 2 classes.

Until now, Hashimoto had only been interested in Ryuuen's class.

But after Ryuuen stepped down, he seemed to have expanded his connections.

"Ah. I intend to plant my seeds in Ayanokouji's class too."

Hashimoto declared his intent to save himself, no matter which class came out on top.

But Ryuuen's attention had moved from Hashimoto to Kanzaki.

"You're not going to bore me, are you?"

"Although I don't know what you're expecting from me, I'm not going to say anything which will please you."

Kanzaki continued without fear of Ryuuen.

He came here to say these very words.

"The end of year exam. That's what I want to talk about."

"Are you going to recount your feelings after suffering that crushing defeat?"

"I'm sorry Ryuuen, I don't think we lost to you."

In response to his resolute statement, Hashimoto whistled.

"You played dirty to steal the win from us. Don't forget this!"

Kanzaki's complaints were not hard to understand.

It was because he had the confidence that he could beat Ryuuen in a head to head confrontation, but the victory was snatched away from them due to Ryuuen's despicable strategy.

"How boring. Did you come here today to specifically talk about that?"

In Ryuuen's eyes, there was no difference between a clean and a dirty strategy.

A victory was a victory. And Kanzaki's defeat was something that would never change.

"Anyways, what dirty strategy are you talking about? Is it about me being the commander?"

"Don't act stupid! I'm talking about the stomach ache and your mental attacks on my class on the day of the exam."

Hashimoto, who didn't know much about the details of their exam, applauded happily.

"No wonder he's that angry. What a beautiful attack, Ryuuen!"

"I'll say this now, this kind of vile behaviour will not work against Class B in the future."

"Hahaha. Do you think Ichinose can defend against my attacks? Or do you intend to cry and complain to the school?"

"No, she shouldn't be able to do anything about it."

Kanzaki immediately denied it. Because this was not something that a kind-hearted person like Ichinose could do.

"Then who can prevent it?"

"I will."

Facing off against Kanzaki without hesitation, two conflicting thoughts emerged in Ryuuen's mind.

Was he just bluffing, or──

"But as Ichinose's follower, what can you do by yourself?"

Ryuuen tried to feel out what Kanzaki meant by saying those words.

"Throughout the year, I stood by Ichinose to support her as her assistant. But that's because at the moment I came to this school, I decided that her leadership skills were superior to those from the other classes. That's it. My trust in her hasn't wavered yet, but she lacks the ability to deal with these emergency situations. She also has a huge weakness in being unable to abandon the weak."

"Oho? I thought this was going to be a bore, I didn't expect you to be this interesting. Who would have thought that someone from Class B, valuing cooperation and friendship and all that, would have such thoughts."

But Ryuuen was not at all worried.

"But you're all talk. Even a dog can yell out empty threats."

"Watch me. I'll prove it."

Hashimoto only helped Kanzaki in order for him to establish a relationship with Class B, but now his evaluation of Kanzaki had changed. Maybe he was more capable than he initially thought.

"Sure. If you wish, I'll beat you down even harder next time."

"I don't know what dirty trick you still have up your sleeve, but I'm not the same as Ichinose. I won't show mercy. I hate that we lost in our own territory, so I'll fight with everything I've got."

"Then let me look forward to when your class isn't so shit."

Ryuuen laughed half-heartedly and started to relieve himself.

Hashimoto, who wanted to continue talking, walked towards where Ryuuen stood.

"It's getting interesting, Kanzaki. If anything ever happens, you've got to talk to me about it."

Hashimoto thought that Kanzaki would leave after his declaration, so he left him with a parting message.

Instead, Kanzaki walked towards Hashimoto, and ended up next to him.

He exerted a pressure that was felt by everyone present, to show that he had no intention of losing to them.

After finishing off his business, Kanzaki once again spoke with conviction.

"Remember what I said, Ryuuen."

He left the toilet after saying that, a step ahead of the other two.

"Hehehe. How scary!"

"So are you going to completely destroy Class B now?"

"Who knows."

Ryuuen laughed as he avoided the question, and then remembered something completely unrelated.

And that was the conversation involving Hashimoto and Kanzaki, which happened about an hour ago.

4

After leaving Ichinose and Horikita, I was torn about whether I should go back or not.

However, I bumped into Ryuuen, who led me to a deserted corner in Keyaki Mall.

We kept our distance, so if someone saw us, we could just pretend to just be passing by each other as well.

"Did you hear this from Ishizaki? Me being at Keyaki Mall, that is."

"Yeah, I was looking for you."

So he talked with Ishizaki and Ibuki for about an hour? Or did it end earlier?

In any case, Ryuuen's eyes had more spirit in them than before.

"You know my contact details. Wouldn't talking on the phone be easier?"

"I wanted to talk to you and look at your senseless, severe face at the same time."

Well, I'll listen to what he had to say for a bit.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That"- would be referring to the message I told Hiyori to pass on to him.

I would have gotten more than 5 wins using a better strategy. I told her to tell this to Ryuuen. It seems like she had done her task well.

After hearing my message from Hiyori, it led him to try to find me, was probably how this went.

"I mean what I meant. I would have done a better job if it were up to me."

"I'm free to use whatever means necessary."

"I don't want it to end like this. If you continue with your reckless strategies and get expelled as a result, I might even feel a bit lonely."

I said those words casually, but it didn't seem to affect Ryuuen's frame of mind.

"Ahaha, what a joke. Losing to Sakayagani and you're still this calm!"

"Our class did indeed lose to Sakayanagi. And since I served as the commander tower, I can't be excused from the responsibility of failure. But is Sakayanagi stronger than me? Fight her, and you'll find out."

"Ha- are you underestimating me?"

Ryuuen's smile disappeared as he approached me.

"You, who have defeated even me, can't be weaker than Sakayanagi."

It seemed like he was trying to provoke me, deliberately saying such demeaning things.

"Although I'm grateful for you trying to cheer me up after losing, but even if it's me, I can't possibly be lazy and not go all out during an exam, right?"

"Sorry, I don't believe it at all. Rather than believe that you were serious during the exam, it's more believable that you didn't care about winning or losing from the start… it may also be because of the school arranging it to make Class A win to save face. That's more believable to me."

Although it wasn't the correct answer, it was close to the mark.

Only Ryuuen had such a ridiculous comprehension ability in the whole school.

Because he had previously battled against me, he had an absolute conviction on this.

"So…? What do you plan to do after your return, Ryuuen?"

"Don't say I've returned without my permission. I intend to enjoy the holidays for just a bit longer."

Ryuuen meant that he wouldn't officially participate in the battles between the classes for a while.

"But… If I get tired of this, I'll destroy Ichinose and Sakayanagi as a warm-up."

"What an extreme change of heart!"

"Kukuku, indeed. I'm shocked myself. I didn't expect to be able to get revenge on you so soon. I'm getting pumped up."

"So that's how it is."

The snake was about to wake up from hibernation.

If that happens, neither Class B nor Class A could ignore Ryuuen.

Although regarding Sakayanagi it might be right on the money, it wouldn't be strange to see either class come out on top.

"I'd be grateful if you did that. If you're able to destroy Ichinose and Sakayangi, it'd be a great help. Since it would allow us to accomplish our goal of reaching the upper classes without a hitch."

Having the upper classes fight each other was essential for us in order to rise in the rankings.

"I thought you weren't interested in the battles between classes."

"It's a little different now. My class will be ranked near the top next year, even if I'm not here next year."

"Ah?"

"Even if I'm not here". Ryuuen seemed to be surprised by that.

"Maybe I'm being targeted right now from a distance. If that's the case, it wouldn't be strange if I suddenly dropped out, right?"

If Tsukishiro really intended to do this, some unavoidable situations will occur on my part.

This would be the case even if I took unyielding measures to try to defend against them.

Of course, I'm not going to make it any easier for my opponent.

"Relax. The only person who can get you expelled is me."

Ryuuen said in his characteristic confident style.

"But-"

Ryuuen, who was about to speak, suddenly disappeared from my field of vision.

He attacked suddenly, going for my face without the slightest hesitation, his sharp fingertips poised at my eyeballs. I had no choice but to dodge.

"Aha!!"

Ryuuen used the momentum to spin around and attempt to kick me with his right foot, but it was just a feint, and passed right over me.

The real attack was from his left leg, using the force of the spin to make it even more powerful.

I dodged it again, and distanced myself from Ryuuen.

"Ha, you can even dodge like that after a surprise attack. How much of a monster are you!"

"And you still dared to attack me first."

Although it was just him and me, there were still a lot of surveillance cameras around.

However, if the students in question didn't cause any problems, they'll turn a blind eye to these small things. This was what allowed Ryuuen to go ahead with his characteristic brazen behaviour.

"My instincts are telling me that I should eat you alive."

Even in hibernation, snakes eat their prey by instinct.

"Why aren't you attacking?"

"I wanted to avoid the risk of fighting with you here. Besides, it's not the right time yet."

"Haha. So this is the so-called calmness of the strong? You seem to be genuine about this, and it's making my skin crawl."

His eyes were shining like it had been before. No, this was even brighter.

This wasn't the Ryuuen who had been lurking under the water for the past few months.

"You've got a chance. Because of it, you'd better grow even stronger, Ryuuen."

Maybe he didn't like the fact that I said it in a very patronising way, so he punched the wall.

"Grow even stronger? Who are you, my teacher?"

"I'm telling the truth. You're willing to use any means necessary, even relying on despicable, criminal means in order to achieve victory. I don't have any problem with that, but try not to be so obvious about it."

"Ah?"

"I've heard from Ishizaki that you used laxatives. Drugging them in the karaoke room was a good idea, but if the food and drinks were kept as evidence, it would have been over for you. That's an act that will get you expelled without question. Even if what you did was ignored, peculiar behaviour during the exam will deepen the school's distrust of you. Your only salvation was that Ichinose didn't seem to want to complain about it."

"Ichinose being a pushover was taken into consideration in my plans."

"If that's the case, it's nothing more than a naive consideration. You'll never surpass me like that."

"…You really said it now."

Ryuuen approached me once again.

But it wasn't like before, as he didn't seem to want to attack me.

Even if he was just suppressing his attacking intent, he wouldn't be too hard to deal with anyway…

"You don't have to listen to my advice. But-fighting me now is impossible."

Would Ryuuen accept advice from his enemy? This could determine whether he had a certain ability or not. Ryuuen seemed to calm down and took his fist off the wall.

"I'll accept your garbage advice now. But one day I'll defeat you."

"That's not a bad motivation, Ryuuen. If I get expelled because of you, that wouldn't be so bad."

Although he was angry, Ryuuen listened to what I said.

And as a result, Ryuuen's future strategies would become even more ingenious.

The competition we faced in the second year was now getting harder to imagine.

Would Ryuuen sweep Sakayanagi out of the way and ascend directly to Class A, or would Sakayanagi stop him?

Or would Ichinose come back even stronger in the future?

Faced with the three-pronged attack, how deep would Horikita plunge into the battlefield?

The battlefield would be a lot different than what it looked like during our first year, and it wouldn't be long until we were able to witness it first hand.