Chapter 6 Part I

One problem's been solved and now it's time for some morning cleaning. When Keisei tried to start cleaning as usual, Ishizaki picked up a dust cloth.

"Take a rest. If doing this means you won't be able to run at the long-distance relay, then that would be far more troublesome."

"No, but—"

"Rest. In exchange, do your best with the written exam. Get at least 120 percent on it, alright?"

"…yeah, 120 percent is impossible but I'll try aiming for a 100 percent..."

Ishizaki understands what give-and-take is.

Keisei, after thanking him, sat down.

"That's a good attitude, Delinquent-kun."

"Shut it, Kouenji. You haven't done a single thing since the very first day!"

"Is that so? HAHAHAHAHA."

Kouenji took neither a dust cloth nor a broom in his hand but rather, went for a stroll through nature. Even when he's drawing attention from the 2nd years and the 3rd years, he's really acting boldly.

"He's a disease. Can you guys even get yourselves promoted to the upper classes with a guy like that in your class?"

Even Class D ended up worrying about us.

"…can't say I have much confidence in that."

Keisei always feels strongly about aiming for the upper classes but it looks like Kouenji is beyond the norm. How Kouenji will act tomorrow is also a big factor. During our morning discussion, we got him to promise us he'd do the bare minimum but it's not like that's an absolute guarantee. He may not give it his all when he's out of our sight.

If he refuses to do even something like cleaning, then there's an extremely high chance we'll end up in last place. Even the senior students overlooking this now may bare their fangs at us. Even though I also think Kouenji is the calculating type who wouldn't do something like that, I am still wary of the fact that he's beyond common sense and may betray my expectations. Perhaps he noticed Keisei's anxiety, Ishizaki went over to him.

"Don't worry about it. We just have to compensate for it."

"That line doesn't suit you. You've become rather mature in just one day."

"Shut it, Hashimoto. You got a problem with that!?"

"No problem. The group's standing will have an impact on my plan as well so I'd like for us to rank as highly as possible. Right, Yahiko?"

"…well, I guess so. Since we're in this troublesome group there's no other choice. If we perform badly, Katsuragi-san will be disappointed in us."

Hashimoto bitterly laughs at Yahiko, whose sole focus is on Katsuragi, and hit him on the shoulder once. Yahiko too, knows that he will be a liability when it comes to the physical side of things like our marathon training. Despite saying all that, he's been acting rather modestly from the start.

"I've acted against Katsuragi several times on Sakayanagi's orders. I think you'll despise me for that but in this case, we're genuine allies. Please forget the bad blood between us for now."

"Hmm. I wonder about that."

Yahiko didn't raise his voice but he didn't seem to trust Hashimoto all that much. He probably couldn't forgive the fact that Katsuragi had been hindered by his own classmates until now.

"Wasn't it you who made Katsuragi-san the leader this time around too?"

"I had nothing to do with that. That was Matoba's plan."

Yahiko didn't seem convinced even with Hashimoto denying those claims. Even so, he restrained himself and acted as one member of the whole group. I'd like to praise him in that regard.