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 et up earlier, so then we could avoid the rain.
There was still plenty of ti left before the eting, 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 sa grade as as well as so 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 so 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 sa grade on the elevator.
"...You again..."
The first-year student who was keeping her distance and speaking to 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 sa 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 seed to hate coming into my room last ti.
If Ishizaki didn't force her to co, she wouldn't have.
Even though she hated , 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 of sumr vacation again, during which, Ibuki and I got stuck in an elevator together.
Although we were both alert in case sothing similar happened, such improbable accidents don't happen twice.
After arriving at the lobby on the first floor, Ibuki imdiately 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 sa pace as ."
She could have walked faster or run to quickly leave my presence.
"Why does it have to be ? Why don't you walk faster then?"
Although she couldn't stand , it seed 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 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 so 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 co back."
"You're annoying. Shut up. Don't speak to ."
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 -!"
After walking with this tense atmosphere for a good while, a loud voice ca 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 co into contact multiple tis, 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 imdiately 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 ."
"What, there's no point in doing that. We're going to see each other later anyway."
It seed like Ibuki was eting Ishizaki at Keyaki Mall.
"Is Ryuuen coming?"
"Yea-No...umm..."
I casually asked that, and Ishizaki accidentally answered.
"Stupid-idiot."
It seed like these two were going to et up at Keyaki Mall for so reason.
From the reaction Ishizaki made when I asked about Ryuuen, it wasn't hard to guess what that reason was.
It also seed like the eting 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 seed like it was true.
It was a secret eting because Ryuuen had not actually officially co 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 .
"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, co 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 ca 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 welco you with open arms. I think you and Ryuuen would be an unexpectedly powerful combination. I think Albert also likes you because whenever you co up in a conversation, he gets a bit excited."
This was the first ti I've heard that Yamada Albert liked .
Was it really appropriate to use the word "like" to describe his feelings towards ...
I haven't interacted with him much. In fact, the only ti I really talked to him was on the rooftop.
Did he co to like after our fight?
For , I would have thought that the fight would only create resentnt towards .
"He didn't say this explicitly, right?"
Ibuki also seed to have questions about this, and so she asked Ishizaki.
"n can feel these kinds of things physically. It's intuition, I tell you, intuition."
Really unreliable intuition.
It also seed like if I really did join Ryuuen's class, Albert might try to fight .
The more Ishizaki thought about it, the more excited he beca
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 sothing about that."
"He won't go out of his way to do sothing 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 soone who would go out of his way to satisfy other people's demands to make them happy.
He won't rely on 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 soone who would resort to sothing like that either.
"I'm happy that you invited , 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 .
"Well, I'm looking forward to how he's going to attack ."
I answered honestly, in which Ibuki responded by making a disgusted face at .
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 , he needed to develop even more.
He needed to show 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 et later, exchanging ideas like this wasn't bad.
I accepted Ishizaki for looking out for like this, sothing he usually didn't do.
I parted ways with Ishizaki and Ibuki, and headed towards the mall entrance.
When I first t 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 had changed drastically over the year.
I could even hold conversations with Ryuuen and Sakayanagi.
Not to ntion the many other students as well.
It may have only been one year, but it was a whole year.
This was evidence that ti was indeed passing.
I didn't really get it before, but I feel like I've gained an understanding of the concept of ti passing.
Speaking of which, this reminds of what happened last year.
The ti before I ca 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 .
I got off lucky due to various factors. If he had been around more, he probably wouldn't have let run off that easily.
But that man rarely ca ho, as he was a busy person.
Although there was a so-called caretaker who was supposed to supervise , he spent around 70-80% of his ti that year living in a hotel.
And for , I wasn't even that familiar with the place I called ho, even though I lived there.
The white room was where I spent most of my ti. For , that ho 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 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 , 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 mories had definitely been engraved in my heart.
I arrived at the north entrance of Keyaki Mall, where we were going to et.
Normally, the stores would open at 10 every morning on weekdays, but so stores would open at 9 during the holidays.
The cafe on the second floor where we were going to et 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 sotis.
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 beco 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 eting ti. 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 imdiately, 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 seed 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 ssing with her, as she looked like she was about to bite .
"I can guess what it'll be about. It's not difficult."
"It's not hard to just say that, so stop misleading like this."
She rudely told .
Seems like using this kind of thod 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 beco 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 ti, but Ichinose seed 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 ti as we do. Judging from this situation, I think she just simply wanted to arrive on ti. 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 sa ti, 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 sothing 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 beca 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 paynts.
"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 imdiately 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 thod 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 sll 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 overco 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 sotis.
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. Co on, you can order now."
Ichinose, who was now behind , 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 imdiately went straight to business.
"Are we going to talk about the end of year exam? Or is it going to be about the agreent between our classes April?"
Without talking to 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 extrely 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 anyti."
As she replied, Ichinose had a slight smile.
From the expression on her face, it seed like she was trying to hide so kind of bitterness.
It was probably because soone 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 seed 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 mont.
Even so, she realised what I was doing and adjusted.
"Ahhhhh, umm, I lost. We were completely defeated by Ryuuen-san's strategy."
She seed to have rembered sothing, sighing deeply, and shaking her head. Then she said that with certainty.
Drifting fretfully, Ichinose seed 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 bla 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 . 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 outco of the scores.
"At the start, we thought that the commanding tower was Kaneda, and when it was revealed that he wasn't, it ssed 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 fra 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 extrely 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 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 sothing 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 , I would have made preparations beforehand.
Or enact temporary asures to deal with these ergencies 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 rember that I asked you to give 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 imdiately.
I didn't need to explain what she ant by that.
"What do you an, asked her to fight Class A" was what her gaze ant.
But because I conford to the flow of the conversation by saying that, Horikita decided to let it slide.
But because the look she gave seed natural and was faint, Ichinose did not notice it.
She understood I was saying that this wasn't the ti to discuss it.
If she were the Horikita from before, she would definitely question 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 judgent had significantly improved. No, I should say that she's beco 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 anyway. The winner of the lottery was Kaneda anyways, who chose Class B, so it didn't matter anyway."
Of course, this was indeed the case after looking at the outcos 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 sothing 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 ntality 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 so 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 thod 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 thods."
"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 thods 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 sa. 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 ntally.
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 ntioning 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 bla Ryuuen and instead said that it was her own fault.
"Many of your classmates had abdominal pain and showed symptoms of ntal 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 extrely 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 argunts 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 ti, 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 tis, 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 an?"
Ichinose did not submit to Horikita's persuasion.
"I think I'm lucky."
Ichinose, who had a resigned expression just now, regained so 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 mont.
"Our whole class is taking this defeat seriously, and we've decided to make good use of this failure, and not repeat the sa 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 , 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 sa 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 ntion anything unnecessary, like how I answered that one question in the ntal arithtic 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 ga. 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 sothing 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 ntally 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 sothing.
The difference in those numbers was so small that it wouldn't have been surprising if we erged 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 so 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 seed 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 judgent 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 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 mont.
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.
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