Chapter: 2.5

2.4

WITH THAT, the long opening act was finally at an end. But then Nagumo called out to our small group, stopping us in our tracks.

"Hey. Now that the seniors are gone, it looks like you guys haven't decided on a representative yet."

"Huh? How could you tell?" asked Keisei, sounding slightly panicked. "When I suggested everyone play rock-paper-scissors, it took a minute

before you stumbled out. If you'd had a representative picked, he'd have stepped forward right away. I noticed one other group had a delayed reaction too. I'm thinking the groups that couldn't decide on their representatives were probably the ones with a more balanced mix of three or four classes," said Nagumo.

Nagumo probably didn't know each and every one of the first-year students. Even so, he had correctly deduced how our groups were divided, which wasn't something just anyone could do. Any delays on our part had been minor. We hadn't discussed it; I'd just shoved Keisei and he'd immediately stepped up. Most people would never have noticed anything wrong.

I'd been trying to avoid exposing what could be construed as a weakness in our group. I guess my attempt had been in vain.

"I thought the school didn't mind if we decide on a representative

later."

"That's right. But we want to know who the first-year representatives

are. I want everyone to be aware that it's better to select a representative early on. The later someone assumes that role, the more time they have to spend playing catch-up."

I wasn't sure how accurate that was, but Nagumo's meaning was clear.

He wanted us to select our representative now.

"…What do we do?" asked Keisei, directing his question to the group. Other than me, he wasn't very familiar with its members and probably didn't

want to be pushed into the role.

"However you decide is fine. Pick a representative now."

If the student council president was giving us a direct order, then even ostensible delinquents like Ishizaki and Albert couldn't object.

"No one's gonna volunteer for this. How about we go with rock-paper- scissors again?" said Ishizaki, balling up his fist. I agreed.

The nine of us formed a circle. Nine fists. That meant we were short one person.

"Hey, Kouenji," said Keisei. Kouenji was looking out a window and didn't even bother acknowledging us.

"Blondie. Hurry it up," said someone from the second-years, their voice containing a hint of anger. Kouenji finally turned around—and said nothing about rock-paper-scissors. Only his hair.

"Heh. You find my hair to be a truly exquisite shade, do you not?" "What?"

"Kouenji, get serious."

"About what? Is a game of rock-paper-scissors what you'd call serious?"

"Hey, first-year. Kouenji, right? Are you mocking us seniors?" As expected, Kouenji was already drawing attention to himself.

"Mocking you? I am not mocking anyone. I have absolutely no interest

in you at all." He might have intended to convey that he wasn't mocking them, but of course, this had the exact opposite effect. "I will not participate in rock-paper-scissors. I have no interest in being representative."

"I'm not interested in being representative either. Neither is anyone else. But this is the only option," said Keisei exasperatedly. But Kouenji showed no sign of complying.

"You say bizarre things, boy. If you don't want to do something, then there's no reason to participate. Don't you agree?"

"No. Those are the rules."

"The rule is that someone from the group must become the

representative. In that case, someone other than me will do it."

"Stop screwing around. Being selfish ain't gonna fly here," snapped Ishizaki, who once had fought with Kouenji, together with Ryuuen.

"Heh. In that case, why not go ahead and make me the group representative?" said Kouenji, brushing his bangs aside. Ishizaki froze.

"Then you'll be the leader. You're okay with that?"

"You are free to push that job onto me. I have no intention of objecting to each and every little thing. If we have no representative, then the group will be punished, yes? If you're afraid of that, I'm fine with this option," said Kouenji.

However, what he said next left everyone dumbfounded.

"I will do whatever I want to do. If I don't want to do something, then I absolutely will not do it. This means I won't be fulfilling the duties of the representative. It doesn't matter who seeks to consult me; my resolve will not waver. I may even boycott the exam. Even if that results in our scores dropping below average. Even if that results in someone being expelled.

Okay?"

"That's… If you do all that, you'll get expelled too!" "Heh heh. Yes, I suppose so."

It was like he didn't fear expulsion at all.

"However, this talk is really just silly. Even if I do get a zero on the exam, our average score is unlikely to drop to dangerous levels as long as the rest of you put forward your best efforts," said Kouenji, combing his hair.

But there was no guarantee that was true. It was just Kouenji's self- serving interpretation that the exam wouldn't be that difficult. Or perhaps he just wasn't thinking it through, because he just didn't care. In any case, his brand of uniqueness had been thoroughly proven for all to see.

"Talk about a weirdo. He must have a few screws loose," muttered Ishizaki, taking a step back and nodding.

However, I'd noticed a contradiction in Kouenji's words. Ishizaki and the others probably didn't see it, because there were no falsehoods in what Kouenji was saying and doing. Which meant that if he'd intentionally created

that contradiction, then…

To find out for sure, I'd have to risk waiting until exam day.

"Well whatever. He probably doesn't have the guts to get a zero or anything. Just make him be the rep."

Ishizaki wanted to force the troublesome and risky role of representative on Kouenji if he could. Looking at it from another class's perspective, this meant losing the chance to earn double points. There was also the possibility of someone getting dragged down via the solidarity rule.

But if Kouenji really did boycott the exam, the consequences would be dire…

"Knock it off, Ishizaki. If you keep that up, you'll be the one getting dragged down," said Hashimoto.

"But… Damn it. All right, fine, if you can get whatever you want by being a stubborn asshole, then I definitely ain't bein' representative either."

"All right," said Hashimoto, nodding in exasperated acceptance.

Nobody thought that our group would take first place, evidenced by the fact that no one wanted the role of representative. This might prove to be more difficult than I'd imagined. If Kouenji continued to act like, well, himself, we'd lose a considerable number of points. He was the chaotic element the second- and third-year students hadn't factored into their calculations.

But then someone stepped forward and interrupted our conversation to comment on Kouenji's bizarre behavior.

"Even I've heard rumors about you, Kouenji."

Nagumo, who'd never have a reason to interact with Kouenji under normal circumstances, approached him as though he had found something of great interest. Well, this was unexpected.

"I know about you too. You're the new student council president, are you not?" asked Kouenji, brazen as always.

"Act the fool as much as you like, but do you really not care about being expelled?" asked Nagumo. "The way this school's set up is a pain, but despite that aimless attitude of yours, you've gotten this far. It must be 'cause you do want to graduate from here. But you're fine with having the role of representative foisted on you? And you say you'll boycott the exam? Bullshit.

You just don't want to put in the effort to reach Class A. But you don't want to be expelled either."

"Heh heh. You say some rather amusing things. How can you be so sure of my 'bullshit'?"

I was with Nagumo on this, though. Shortly after Kouenji had enrolled here, he'd been asked whether he had any intention of trying for Class A. He said he wasn't interested. That he only wanted to graduate.

He didn't want to get expelled, but he didn't want to climb the ranks either. Much the same as what I was hoping to get out of this school. Even if he held back on the exams, he'd be fine. That's why he was so self-assured.

"It's written all over your face," said Nagumo teasingly.

Kouenji laughed cheerfully. "Bravo, bravo." He applauded. Clap.

Clap.

Then he answered honestly, almost as if delivering a confession.

"I lied because I don't want to be the representative. Please allow me to

set the record straight. I have no desire to aim for Class A, but neither do I have any intention of getting expelled. In light of both those desires, I think an aimless attitude is perfectly acceptable," said Kouenji.

Nagumo apparently wasn't ready to accept that. "You have no interest in Class A, huh? That's a lie too."

"My, oh, my. Have I already been branded as a liar?"

"If you're not lying, then I'm curious about something, Kouenji. As of now, do you have a surefire way of graduating from Class A?" asked Nagumo abruptly.

Everyone was shocked.

"Oh? You do say some rather interesting things. Please, dazzle me with your logic."

"You sure? If I explain the logic, then that surefire plan of yours will become unusable. No. I'll make it unusable. Understand?"

"Heh. I don't mind. I want to know whether or not you have any idea what you're talking about." Rather than act frightened, Kouenji smiled.

"You plan to be promoted to Class A by using twenty million points,"

Nagumo said. "It's a strategy everyone's considered at least once, but of course, it's not easy to accumulate that many points. Not impossible either, though. Right after you enrolled here, you looked into what happens to third- year students' remaining points when they graduate."

"Keep going."

"Upon graduation, private points are 'cashed in,' meaning they can be used even outside of the school. Their cash value in the outside world is naturally less than the equivalent on campus, but it's still quite an extraordinary system. You intend to buy private points from third-years by paying them more money than they could earn by cashing them in. Right?"

Everyone looked understandably thrown for a loop, unable to hide their shock.

Kouenji, hearing his strategy explained to him, gave a satisfied nod. "Precisely. I came to that conclusion shortly after enrolling here. No

matter how far I plummet during my time here, if I can obtain private points through legal means, I can graduate from Class A. Ever since then, school has become boring to me."

A miraculous gambit, and one available to him precisely because he was rich. Buying private points from students who'd given up on Class A, or from those whose victory was already secured, or from students close to graduation… It wouldn't surprise me if many students opted to take such a deal in exchange for guaranteed cash.

That said…buying points for the same price they'd net if cashed in, alone, would be twenty million yen. Not the kind of funds a high school student could reasonably be expected to have access to. Would people even believe him if he said he was good for it?

"Fortunately," Kouenji continued, "before I enrolled here, I had my picture and profile posted on the company website, proving I'm next in line to be president. I have tens of millions of yen at my disposal. It was easy to convince people to trust me."

"Yeah. I'm aware some second-years are planning to sell their points to you, and I bet a fair number of third-years are, too. You've gotten people to keep mum about it, but more than a few second-years have put their absolute trust in me. Some of them consulted me, asking if they should take you at

your word. Of course, I said it was all right. It's not without risk, but you seem to be a fairly rich guy."

Nagumo looked over the assembled second- and third-years. "However, that ends today," he said. "Even if he really is rich, Kouenji

isn't a man you can trust. As you just saw, he lies without batting an eye. It's

best not to do business with him, even by mistake. Oh, and by the way, I intend to raise this issue with the school. Purchasing private points prior to graduation shouldn't be allowed in the first place, after all."

"That's fine by me. I've merely been making plans to move up to Class

A. I hadn't decided if I was going to carry it out."

Kouenji seems to have envisioned this as but one strategy of many. What an outrageous idea. Well, truth be told, it was just the one-of-a-kind strategy that only a rich kid like Kouenji could pull off.

"I thought you were weird, but you came up with that strategy all on your own, huh? Impressive," muttered Hashimoto, sounding both impressed and exasperated.

"What's Kouenji planning to do by abandoning his own strategy then?"

Several gazes fell upon Kouenji's classmates: Keisei and me. We had no idea…though one thing came to mind. A rich kid like Kouenji didn't need to graduate from Class A. Even if he hit upon a way to make it to Class A, he didn't need to actually implement his idea. If his only goal was to graduate— irrespective of class—then making allies and cooperating with other students would be rather pointless.

It would explain why he didn't care if Nagumo blew the lid on his plans. Maybe he'd even enjoy coming up with another strategy. Nagumo's insight into Kouenji's affairs was quite remarkable.

"This was the first time I've ever seen Kouenji get busted," muttered Keisei. I had to agree.

And yet…

"However, Student Council President, this only proves I have no real reason to play rock-paper-scissors for the position of representative. Now that my plans have been revealed, I can simply say I have no intention of taking on the role."

"I see."

Whatever tricks Kouenji might still have up his sleeve, his stance hadn't changed. On the contrary, he had exposed his own lie—which was also his only vulnerability—and tossed it out himself. This left us with no way to force the role of representative on him against his will. Someone with his degree of wealth and privilege had no reason to fear expulsion; I couldn't imagine his future being tarnished at all by such an event. We could hypothetically resort to drastic measures to railroad him into being the representative, but no one in our group dared try something of the sort. If we lost, he might take one of us down with him.

"I guess I should do it," said Keisei, raising his hand resignedly.

Some of the students from other classes reacted to that. But with delinquents like Kouenji, Ishizaki, and Albert in the group, and because we had little chance of winning, no one challenged Keisei for the nomination.

"It's settled."

Nagumo dismissed the group, and we left the gymnasium as instructed.

2.5

"THIS SEEMS…a lot older than I thought it would be."

The small groups were shown to their dorm rooms, each of which had wooden bunk beds matching the number of people in the group. Ishizaki immediately walked to the bed at the back of the room and climbed to the top bunk.

"This one's mine."

"What are you talking about? You can't just stroll up and take what you like. That's not fair," snapped Yahiko.

"You know what they say. The early bird gets the worm," said Ishizaki. He snorted and lay down, sneering at Yahiko.

"We should discuss who gets which bed."

Keisei, our representative, tried to rein in the situation. Ishizaki probably meant to defy him just as he had

Yahiko, but I was standing right next to Keisei, and his gaze met mine for an instant. He'd been trying to avoid making eye contact with me, but being in the same group made that a foregone conclusion.

"Tch…"

For a moment, Ishizaki looked terrified. He hopped down off the bed. "Okay, so. How exactly do we decide?" he asked.

Keisei tilted his head to the side, looking puzzled by Ishizaki's sudden change of heart. Ishizaki may have interpreted Keisei's warning as being a warning from me, which was frankly paranoid. Honestly, I didn't think it was all that strange to claim our beds on a first-come-first-served basis, really— although naturally, coming to mutual agreement after fruitful discussion would be more ideal.

"Heh heh. Well, I suppose I'll go ahead and help myself," said Kouenji, leaping up onto the bed that Ishizaki had been occupying.

"What the hell, man?!" shouted Ishizaki.

But this was Kouenji. Common sense didn't apply to him. He ignored Ishizaki and relaxed into the bed; within moments, he was as at ease as if this were his own bedroom.

"God damn it. To hell with discussion."

After what Kouenji had done, people started to call dibs on beds. Ishizaki gave up on arguing with Kouenji and claimed the top bunk of a different bed. Everyone seemed united in their preference for a top bunk, save Albert, the only heavyset person here, who settled into the bunk beneath Ishizaki without any complaints.

The unspoken consensus seemed to be that discussion was no longer how we were doing things.

"Guess this is the only spot I can take," said Keisei, securing the bed underneath Kouenji. Unsurprisingly, no one else wanted to take it. The others might not have noticed, but it was significant that Keisei was willing to do the things no one else wanted to do.

In the end, I settled on a bottom bunk beneath Hashimoto from Class

A.

"Nice to meet you. Um…" Hashimoto reached his hand down from the

top bunk in greeting. He didn't seem to know my name. "I'm Ayanokouji. Nice to meet you." "Hashimoto."

We shook hands lightly, as if promising to get along.

We were now free for the rest of the day and, as such, abandoned all pretense of group unity to just do whatever we wanted. A natural-born leader like Hirata might have tried to get us talking, but…

As for me, my feelings were fixed. While it was unfortunate that I wasn't getting to know any students from other classes better, it was also a relief to not have to deal with annoying small talk.

"This might be a stupid question, but can Albert speak Japanese? He understands Japanese, right?" Hashimoto lay on his top bunk, directing the question to Ishizaki and Albert.

"Of course he does. Right, Albert?" answered Ishizaki, peering down

at his friend. However, Albert just continued to stare straight ahead in silence. "Or maybe he doesn't."

"Aren't you guys classmates?" Hashimoto laughed.

"I don't know, all right? Ryuuen-san's normally the one giving orders," replied an irritated Ishizaki.

"Ryuuen-san, huh?"

Ishizaki's respectful—and contradictory—use of the honorific was interesting.

"Is it true you guys had a fight and ousted him as leader?"

"God, shut up. Of course it is. Calling him 'san' was just…old habits, that's all."

Rather than come together as a group, we were already sniping at each other. I decided to escape the escalating conflict and take a walk around the building.

2.6

FINALLY, IT WAS mealtime. The first time we'd seen the girls since getting off the bus that morning.

The cafeteria was quite spacious, so much so that it even had stairs to a second floor with a view of the first. From what I saw, this place could apparently fit about five hundred people. And it was currently packed.

"It's not easy to meet up with someone when we don't have our phones."

Horikita and Kei were probably looking for me, but I didn't set out to search for them. If they did happen to run into me, their reactions would probably be polar opposites. Horikita would probably snap at me for avoiding her, while Kei would wait and see what happened, understanding that since I hadn't sought her out, there was no reason for us to make contact right now.

Touching base with various students on the first day was to be expected. I doubted many people had eyes on me, but it was quite possible that Sakayanagi and Nagumo were watching. Even though I could say that Hirata and Satou had only been hanging out with us over Christmas, Nagumo understood that I had a special relationship with Kei.

I wanted to avoid conspicuous contact.

I stayed solo, observing who was hanging out with who. But first, it was time to eat. The strict allotted hour was precious. I carried my tray over to my seat and sat down alone. Back at school, students would be separated by grade level to a certain extent, but here, first-, second- and third-years mixed together.

Many of the small and large groups stuck together, but there were more than few students scouting for information. More importantly, this was the only place and time we got to see the girls, making it the only time couples could spend together.

"Siiiigh."

I heard a cute, exhausted sigh be released near me. It belonged to first-

year Class B's leader, Ichinose Honami. A bunch of guys and girls were crowded around her. I decided to sit nearby and listen in on their conversation, confident I'd remain relatively unnoticed.

"…Pathetic to be proud of taking up so little space," I muttered.

Ichinose and the others didn't react to me at all. Well, the cafeteria was crowded. They couldn't pay close attention to every single student.

"Good work, Honami-chan. Was it tough?"

"Ah ha ha. Well, I suppose it was, yeah. I thought deciding on a group wouldn't be so bad. But when people wanna fight, they're gonna fight."

"Nothing we can do about that. The other classes are enemies." "But according to Kanzaki-kun, the boys came to a decision pretty

quickly."

"Huh? Really? It took us until past noon."

The boys hadn't had an easy time of it, but it sounded like the girls had struggled even more than we had. Maybe the instructors had anticipated that, which explained why there weren't any classes on the first day.

"Do you think someone might get expelled?"

"Well, I can't say there's no reason to worry. Even though no one's been expelled from the first-year classes, we can't let our guard down." It seemed Ichinose was acutely aware of the danger.

"What should we do if someone gets taken down by the solidarity

rule?"

"It'll be okay, Mako-chan. As long as we take this seriously, it's not

going to come to that." "Are you sure?"

"If that time does come, we'll all help each other out," said Ichinose gently. Though she looked the most exhausted of them all, she remained stout-hearted as ever. "Ahh… I'm beat."

She laid her head on the table. Unfortunately, that change of position allowed her to notice me.

"Ayanokouji-kuuun!"

Oh, hey, Ichinose. Didn't notice you there. If I said that, it'd come off as unnatural. It was probably best to just answer honestly.

"Sounds like you were having fun."

"Some girls find power in gossip," said Ichinose, flopping over once

again.

I didn't really understand what she meant. This listlessness was kind of

surprising, coming from her.

"I suppose I probably shouldn't do that, huh?" said Ichinose, sitting back up straight. I stopped her.

"It's normal to do something like that when you're exhausted," I said. "Sorry for making you kind of uncomfortable."

I wasn't uncomfortable at all, but I couldn't speak those words aloud. "Sounds like you got put in a tough group," I said instead.

"I guess you could say it's been tough just getting the groups together… Like, girls are really up-front about their likes and dislikes. Or rather, there are more than a few girls who are willing to just tell another girl they don't like her to her face. I suppose guys tend to keep their personal feelings on the down-low, huh?"

"They're pretty up-front about hating Ryuuen, though."

"I feel bad for laughing at that, but I guess there's no helping it. Still, isn't Ryuuen-kun tired of it too? Being disliked by everyone has to be draining."

She wasn't wrong, but the logic probably didn't apply to Ryuuen. If anything, he seemed to be taking it pretty easy now that he was no longer shouldering the burdens of an entire class.

"Don't work yourself too hard." Concluding that it would be pointless to linger, I stood up.

"I'm okay, I'm okay. My energy's the only thing I have going for me.

See you later, Ayanokouji-kun." Ichinose waved gently in farewell.

One hour per day. That was the only time we'd have to talk to the girls.

Even though boys and girls couldn't directly intervene in each other's affairs, I imagined this hour was designed for sharing information. The school likely intended us to use the time to gather information, strategize, and continue to fight, making it an area where well-liked and well-trusted students with strong communication skills excelled.

"I'm not suited to this at all."

Just like on the deserted island, there was basically nothing I could do to help.