6.2

There was a rocky area near the border between I2 and I3, with some bushes higher than my knees near it.

"Let's just stick to this area." I lowered the backpack I was carrying and hid it in those bushes.

Not knowing what awaited me from here on out, the pack on my back would only be a hindrance. I decide to leave everything behind, including my tablet. If I can make it back from I2, I won't have any trouble finding my way back to this rocky area. Perhaps the group with the same table as me was given a completely different designated area. I'd rather not lose a point by searching now just to find out for sure. In addition, now that I know Ichinose is involved, the option of not going is gone. If I chose to ignore this situation, it's hard to tell how much punishment he'll give her for revenge.

As I finished my preparations, I started to walk towards I2.

"Yo, Ayanokōji. What a coincidence."

Miyabi Nagumo, who was holding a tablet, was looking at me with an interesting look in his eyes. Given the situation I was in, it was unnatural for whoever it was to be in this nearby area. Is this man involved in Tsukishiro's case, other than the bounty?

No, the title of student council president probably doesn't mean that much to Tsukishiro. The fact that he showed up here doesn't seem like it needs to be connected to that case, but I'll be on the lookout.

"Why is Student Council President Nagumo in this place?"

A quick look around didn't reveal a single student in the vicinity that could be considered a member of Nagumo's group.

"Don't worry. You and I are the only ones here."

Perhaps using a GPS search, Nagumo said and tried to push my guard down.

"There are no challenges near here, where have you been?"

The direction in which Nagumo appeared was southeast.

"I was playing on the beach in I4. This is an island after all."

How could he be playing on the beach on the last day, when almost all the students were collecting scores with bloodshot eyes?

"Is that what you call the margin of champions?"

Nagumo laughs, not answering that question.

"But I'm going to return your line from earlier, Ayanokōji. What are you doing here in a place like this with no designated area or assignment.

Have you been meeting with Honami?"

It wasn't surprising that her name would come up here. Even if she didn't see Ichinose directly, it would be obvious that she was in a close position if he was doing a GPS search.

"If so, is that a problem?"

"No? If you were still with her, then there's a lot to say, but you're here alone now. That means you have another purpose. What's in store for I2?"

When I decided to ignore the question, Nagumo continued as if to change the subject.

"You're done with the exam, right? I just thought I'd have a word with you. There aren't many situations in school where you and I, the student council president, can stand around and talk alone."

"I suppose that's true."

I'm just a shady student. The other person is the head of the student council, so there's a clear imbalance. But I don't think he came here just to make small talk.

"You knew that the first-years were going to attack me, didn't you?"

"You're not so bad at guessing, are you?"

There was talk of a bounty of 20 million points if I was expelled. Even though it was led by Tsukishiro, it was an undeniable fact that Nagumo was in the middle of it. If Nagumo is as good as I think, it would not be surprising if he was observing the situation with a GPS search regardless of the date. If he had seen the movements of me and the first-year students yesterday, it would have been obvious that I was going to be attacked. I'm sure that Nagumo is as aware of the whole picture of this special exam as I am, if not more so.

"Don't feel bad about the bounty, okay? It wasn't originally my idea."

"You're working with Acting Director Tsukishiro, right?"

"If you know that much, then it's a quick story. The money all came from the acting director. I'm just lending my name as the student council president."

 Regardless of whether he wanted to or not, if it was an order from the acting director, Nagumo wouldn't be able to resist it.

"If it's an order from the acting director, I'll agree you had to accept it.

But I thought that the student council president I know would kick such an offer to the curb."

"When the bounty was mentioned, if it had been any other student but you, I wouldn't have accepted it. But the one who was nominated was none other than you. You're the only man who was recognized by the senior student, Horikita."

As I thought, Nagumo was only looking past my shoulders, towards Manabu Horikita who is standing behind me.

"Answer me, Ayanokōji. What do you intend to do in the future?"

It would be easy to say, "Don't worry about me, I'm insignificant."

However, Nagumo would not be deterred by that. As long as I don't know what awaits me in the future, I want to make the most of my time.

"This is none of your business, Student Council President Nagumo.

Shouldn't you be concentrating on the last special exam without worrying about me? The difference in scores between you and Kōenji should be close.

If you don't go back, you won't get any rewards. You'll continue to be unable to participate in some of the tasks as well."

"Don't worry. On this last day, I've got Kōenji completely under control."

Saying that, Miyabi Nagumo took out a walkie-talkie from his back pocket. So even though they were far away, he could still give instructions, and that would be enough?

"I'm also wondering what you're going to do, but if you can't answer, I'll change the question. Let me see if you're as good as the senior Horikita made you out to be. Let me see what you're really made of."

That's the main reason why he's come all the way here?

"Don't tell me you want me to fight with the student council president here?"

"I don't mind a fistfight, but I prefer a more straightforward fight. Even after this exam is over, there will still be an opportunity to fight across grade levels, so I'll take you on there."

So, it was the student council president's direct request.

"Didn't you learn that from this exam? You can't compete with me, the student council president."

In fact, Nagumo had consistently maintained his first and second place finishes in this exam. Kōenji, who was in a close race, would have a chance to turn the tables, but it would still be a tough fight.

"You've got one, and we've got seven. It's weird that it's a match."

"Kōenji is good enough to win, he's a freak, but he's undeniably talented. In contrast, I've never been able to get into the top ten groups."

I urge him to go to Kōenji if he's looking for a strong opponent.

"Well, that thing is certainly more than I imagined. He's the only one that made me make an offensive move in this test."

I shrug my shoulders, though I somewhat approve of Kōenji. I guess the offensive move refers to the fact that Nagumo is using the walkie-talkie right now.

"Using the entire third grade to get ahead in the order of arrival and monopolize the assignments is probably a trick that only the student council president can do, right?"

Unlike the freshmen and sophomores, almost the entire third year group is under Nagumo's control. If he wanted to reliably contain Kōenji, he could certainly do so by mobilizing all the third-year students. It doesn't matter how strong, fast, or skilled they are at completing their tasks. A group of them will reap what they sow. As a result, Kōenji could only get the arrival bonus from the basic movement. In the meantime, Nagumo and the others were just piling up arrival bonuses and the point gap was widening.

"Quicksilver, as expected, you've seen through that much. When did you notice it?"

"I knew it was suspicious from the Beach Flags stage. I didn't dare to fill the empty slots left by Kiriyama. That seat was reserved for the student body president."

But since I arrived first, I had no choice but to enter with the vacant members. This meant that Nagumo was leisurely playing around and waiting for Kiriyama and the others to finish their assignments.

"I had always thought that you and Vice President Kiriyama were enemies, but it seems that you're not as distant as I thought."

"He'd join forces with me, even though he hates me, if it meant he could graduate as an A student."

"So, aside from the out-of-this-world Kōenji, ordinary students are helpless."

When I replied with that, Miyabi Nagumo laughed, as if something was wrong.

"You don't really mean that, do you? You don't think I'm a great person at all."

"That's not..." I tried to deny it, but Nagumo stopped me with his hand.

"I know you think that I just mobilized all three years and won by force alone, but that's not true. Now I'm going to show you my psychic powers."

"Psychic powers, huh?"

"I'm going to guess your group ranking at the end of the twelfth day."

The only groups that had been released were the top ten groups and the bottom ten groups. Excluding those 20 groups from the total of 157 groups, there were 137 groups without the merge. Of course, I was the only one who knew my exact ranking. At the last minute, before the date changed, I was in 16th place.

"Your rank is... 11, right?" Nagumo replied confidently, but he missed the rank slightly.

On the twelfth day, I repeated the GPS search in preparation for the attack from the first years. If I hadn't spent those extra points, I could have finished 11th. The rules made it impossible to keep track of the rankings of all the groups. In other words, there was a good reason for what Nagumo had said.

"Ah, but not anymore. Now, you're in about fifteenth or sixteenth place, right?"

"Yes, I am. I'm honestly impressed."

I admitted honestly, and presumed Nagumo would calmly accept the fact.

"I know I said something about psychic powers, I was only joking. But I just stepped on the fact that if you really had hidden abilities, you would be ranked around there."

Apparently, this Nagumo guy is much more talented than I thought.

"You were inconspicuously ranked a little lower than tenth, and you were always in a position to outperform the top, right? If I or Kōenji were to clash with you and drop down the rankings, you could turn the tables."

I avoided standing out, and worked to stay hidden until the end of the 12th day. At the end of the day, when the pace of scoring points at the top slowed down due to fatigue, I had left a line to aim for the podium with a quick score, depending on the situation. No, I thought I had.

"Did you notice? That it was impossible from the start."

It meant that the strategy I had planned had been nullified by Nagumo from the very beginning.

"The tenth place has always been the third-year Kuronaga, right?

That's because I was the one who kept him in tenth place. I was keeping him in tenth place so that I could shut down the guys who were trying to turn the tables by gaining points unseen."

The score between tenth and ninth was widening, and it was getting harder and harder for me to get to the top. All of this was going according to Nagumo's plan. He forcibly eliminated the invisible enemies and narrowed it down to only the visible ones.

"I've always doubted whether you were capable, but now it's clear.

You've earned the right to be beaten to a pulp by me, and you should be happy about it."

"Is it part of your strategy that the student council president went out of his way to take command and target Kōenji on the last day?"

" I could have earned 400 or 500 points if I wanted to, but that would have been somewhat problematic. However, it's not very interesting, is it? I gave him hope he could beat the first and second years. Besides, if we lose in a close game, I might be able to see Kōenji's disappointed face."

Nagumo had been fighting as the strongest group for the past two weeks. And now, on this last day, he wants to show off his presence by sinking Kōenji and taking the top spot himself. If Nagumo is serious, he can find out all the scores that a particular group gets, whether they got the seating rewards or not, and how they did in the challenges, using GPS search and the eyes of his friends. Even now, on the last day of the tournament, when the scores are unknown, Nagumo knows exactly how many points Kōenji has. In other words, it's possible for him to pull off a dramatic victory like winning by one point.

"Well, I don't care about Kōenji anymore. The last thing I'm going to do in this school, is defeat you, Ayanokōji."

Nagumo, who has always been chasing the shadow of Horikita Manabu, is trying to see that figure in me. I guess he wants to defeat him completely and make it black and white, even if it's in a different way.

"The leader of the second year D class is Horikita. Even if there was a special exam where I had to compete with the third-year students, I wouldn't be fighting against the student council president Nagumo."

"Then I'll have to force you to come to the front? Including the bounty."

So, he's threatening to reveal everything about me?

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to hurry ahead. Please leave the rest of this story for another time."

"You think I'm going to let you off easy? I'm not leaving until you say you'll fight me, okay?"

Nagumo walks behind me, as if he intends to follow me.

If there's something waiting for me down the road, I'll be forced to involve Nagumo. We're dealing with Tsukishiro. In the worst-case scenario, Nagumo will lose everything he has built up and may even be expelled in the name of power. Even if I tried to persuade him with words here, he would not respond. Of course, I couldn't just lie and take the easy way out. I stopped and looked back at him.

"So have you decided?"

I pressed hard without warning on the chest of the misunderstood and delighted Nagumo. I'm sure he didn't expect to be touched by a younger kohai, and without any resistance, he fell to the ground on his buttocks. The tablet he was holding and the walkie-talkie in his pocket spilled out and fell to the ground.

"What...?"

He doesn't understand what happened to him, or so it seems. Before his understanding catches up, let me finish what needs to be done.

"Miyabi Nagumo, the Student Council President. Even with this, I still think I'm underselling you. You have different abilities than that of the student council president Horikita, and you have successfully reached the top of this school. In fact, it's not an exaggeration to say that you've not only maintained a comfortable top position in this special exam, but you've also completely dominated it."

I continue my words before he can recall his calmness, or his anger.

"There are just some areas that you shouldn't step into. Please pull back here."

"Ha... don't be sil y Ayanokōji. Are you trying to order me around?"

"It's because I have great respect for you as my senior, that I'm not going to show mercy here."

"Ah? Who the hell do you think you...?"

I look into Nagumo's eyes with all the killing intent I can muster.

"Don't you understand that I told you to back off?"

Nagumo stood up forcefully, refusing to admit that fear had been instilled in him.

"Enough of this, okay? You're the first person who's ever treated me this hard, Ayanokōji..."

At that moment, a call came over the walkie-talkie that had fallen beside Nagumo.

"We've made our way up, Nagumo. This is the third time in a row that I've prevented a challenge from Kōenji. Give me your next instructions."

I hear the voice of one of the delighted third-year students. The strategy to seal off the Kōenji seems to be going well. Nagumo makes no attempt to react to the voice and glares at me.

"Hey, Nagumo, the senpai's won't move unless you tell them to. Didn't you have to keep attacking Kōenji until the end of the exam if you wanted to make sure he'd drop to second place?"

"Pres, are you there?"

Even though the conversation was only audible, I could tell that it was important to Nagumo. Nagumo takes the walkie-talkie in silence and turns the power knob to off.

"It's not Kōenji that's important to me."

Without even trying to wipe the dirt, Nagumo comes closer to me.

"I'm going to fuck you up. That's the last thing I'm going to do as student council president."

Willfulness, I wondered. He inspired himself as the student council president and shook off my intimidation.

"Me...?" Without hesitation, I slammed my fist into Nagumo's chest.

"Shit...!"

He instantly lost his ability to breathe, and Nagumo temporarily collapsed on the spot as if he was losing consciousness. I catch Nagumo and lean him against a large tree where the sun doesn't shine. Since he wouldn't listen to my advice, I had no choice but to do what I had to do here.

Nagumo's watch detected an abnormality and sent out a warning alert, which sounded for five seconds. It shouldn't be long before he wakes up. Maybe twenty minutes, maybe thirty. At any rate, I wouldn't have to involve Nagumo in what was to come. Of course, there would inevitably be other issues that would come up after the exam was over. But for now, it's just a small matter.

If I don't solve the problem of Tsukishiro, there's no point in thinking about the future anyways.