Volume 10, The First Question(1/3)
"Shouko."
"..Yuuji."
"It's great that A class could beat B class without a hitch."
"..I hope that you'll have time for the weekend."
"But us F class will definitely not lose that easily."
"..It's about time to discuss our wedding."
"We'll do our best, so you better--"
"..And after that, we'll have to choose the wedding ring during that time."
"JUST LISTEN TO ME ALREADY! I LOOK LIKE SOME SORT OF IDIOT MUTTERING TO MYSELF WHEN YOU MESS AROUND WITH ME LIKE THIS!"
"....Eh?"
"WHAT'S WITH THAT 'EH'? WHAT'S WITH THAT UNEXPECTED EXPRESSION ON YOUR FACE!? DID ANYTHING I SAY SEEM SO UNEXPECTED TO YOU!?"
"..I had been paying attention to you, Yuuji."
"....Eh?"
"..Yuuji, such a response is very rude."
"You don't have any right to say that about me when I was talking about the summoning war while you're talking away about marriage.."
"..I was talking about events after the summoning war."
"Hah? After that? What do you mean by that?"
"..Un, well, if I win this time--"
"If you win?"
"--I hope that you're really mentally prepared, Yuuji."
"Don't say that it's my loss before it even began. I just need to win. I just need to win to change everything. I just need to win just need to win just need to win.."
"If you win, you can get happily married with me."
"Wouldn't that sort of win be meaningless?"
"..On a side note, if Yuuji loses--"
"If I lose?"
"..I can get married happily."
"DON'T CHANGE THE MEANING OF THE WORDS THROUGH SUCH A SMALL WAY! IT LOOKS COMPLETELY THE SAME ON FIRST GLANCE! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY YOU 'WILL BE' ABLE TO GET MARRIED HAPPILY!? IS MY HAPPINESS NOT CONSIDERED HERE!?"
"..Don't worry, Yuuji. You'll be happy too."
"Hohou."
"..Ultimately."
"I mustn't lose. I definitely mustn't lose. I have to win this war right from the beginning anyway!"
"..I was joking."
"No, from your actions up till now, the chances of those words you said being a joke is nearly zero.."
"Don't worry."
"What do you mean by not to worry?"
"..I'll definitely make Yuuji happy."
"I say..wouldn't that normally be the other way around?"
"..I'll definitely make Yuuji suffer?"
"THAT'S NOT WHERE YOU SHOULD REVERSE THINGS HERE! NOBODY WILL BE HAPPY LIKE THIS!!"
"..That was a joke too."
"Your jokes can't really be considered jokes here.."
"..Though the current situation may be the opposite.."
"Nn."
"..But I'll work hard, so that one day, Yuuji will say those words to me."
".."
"..Yuuji?"
"..My head hurts."
"..I guess this is most likely--love."
"Definitely not."
Question: Please translate the following underlined part into modern language.
The samurai had disguised themselves, dressing shabbily before going to the handmaiden, who served the Lord Youken. These samurai, who served Youken, thought to themselves, ‘What manner of warrior would enter the quarters of a handmaiden?’ “Stand watch, and when he leaves the next morning, we shall lay our fury upon him,” So they said, preparing each other, and as a result, the maiden grew greatly depressed. Like another other day, dusk came, so he went to the maiden, so as the maiden cried, he said, “No such thing at all. I shall take a look and return”, and left.
Shimada Minami’s Answer:
' '
Teacher’s Comment
It is really a pity to leave the answer blank in this situation. Next time, try writing some words even if you do not know the answer.
Tsuchiya Kouta’s Answer:
‘Listen to me, Mike. My wife got involved in a traffic accident a few days ago.’
Teacher’s Comment:
I did ask you to write something..
Yoshii Akihisa’s Answer:
‘Don’t worry, Johnny. As long as you use this brand new Super☆Muscle, any stain can be washed off once!’
Teacher’s Comment:
Looking at this brand name, I think it is not used for cleaning stains, is it?
“Miss Himeji Mizuki, I feel that the principal’s proposal is rather good. This should be better for you too, right?”
“..”
“Once you lose in the summoning war against C class, F class’ facilities will be downgraded to orange cardboard boxes and straw mats. I suppose your family doesn’t wish to see this.”
“That definitely won’t happen! Because we will win!”
“..Win..is it? You can beat C class in such a situation?”
“Yes, so our facilities will not be downgraded.”
“Even so, you’re just going to get C class’ facilities. I heard that if you go there, you’ll be treated like A class.”
“Even if that’s the case..the outcome will still be the same if we beat A class.”
“That’s true. That will be the case if you win—but, what if you lose?”
“If we lose..I want to stay all the more. I can’t be so irresponsible.”
“Because your classmates will look down on you for ‘running away after losing’, is it? Your friends aren’t so kind as to send you away first for your sake.”
“Tha, that’s not true at all! Everyone’s really kind, thinking about their friend..”
“I guess so. If it were your friends, they’re definitely people like that.”
“That’s right, they’re my important—friends.”
“Is that so? Won’t your kind friends feel guilty for making you walk down this arduous path while being bound by a sense of responsibility?”
“..That’s..”
“Well, speaking of which, these are just assuming that you people lose in the war.”
“..Don’t worry. We’ll definitely win.”
☆
There’s a line called ‘rewarding according to contributions’.
This line, which was passed down since ancient times, had the meaning of ‘rewarding everyone suitably based on their contributions’.
During the Sengoku Era, people who had outstanding contributions during battles would be given land or treasures.
Though the form may vary, a summoning war’s a form of war.
Thus, the prizes we’re using to reward those who did well in the summoning war are—
“Nitta Yuu. I hereby present to you a Ero BookBible and a Secret SnapshotPortrait”
“Yes, thank you for your graciousness bestowed upon me.”
He took the health education information and left.
“Then, Sugawa Ryo, who took down the head of the enemy general during the war against E class.”
“Yes.”
Sugawa-kun straightened his back as he stood in front of Yuuji.
“Based on your contributions, I hereby reward you with Ash of a burnt Ero BookSacred Ash.”
“..”
Seems like Yuuji rates Sugawa-kun rather lowly. Well, he was the first one to betray in the war against C class and even led the uprising, so it couldn’t be helped.
But why would Yuuji have the ash of some burned Ero-books? I’m rather curious when I see some tears appear instantly in his eyes.
“Then, we’re going to hand out the rewards for the war against C class. To Yoshii Akihisa, who single-handedly broke through the enemy’s ranks and saved Himeji Mizuki from the assassination crisis.”
“Yes.”
Once my name was called out, I responded as I stood in front of Yuuji.
“Based on your contributions, I present to you highly nutritious protein-filled drink that was left behind by a certain teacher.”
Looks like his opinion of me is rather low too.
“A certain teacher..who can that be..”
“Miss Takahashi maybe? How envious.”
“EVERYONE’S SAYING THIS ON PURPOSE BECAUSE YOU KNOW THE ANSWER, RIGHT!? IT’S IMPOSSIBLE FOR TAKAHASHI-SENSEI TO DRINK A PROTEIN DRINK! THIS KIND OF THING IS DEFINITELY—”
“I’ll give everyone a hint. If you change the order of the name, it’ll be ‘Man’ Iron’.”
“EVERYONE KNOWS EVEN WITHOUT THE HINT! IT’S IRONMAN! WHO ELSE CAN IT BE! SPEAKING OF WHICH, THIS NAME HAS ONLY TWO WORDS, AND THAT’S NOT EVEN A HINT EVEN IF YOU CHANGE THE ORDER! THAT’S BASICALLY AN ANSWER!!”
I grumbled in a rapid-fire manner that caused me to lose my breath. Yuuji then gives a mischievous smirk and says,
“Well, I’m just joking.”
Heh..? Joking..?
“Yoshii Akihisa, based on your contributions, I present to you two bibles, 5 portraits and an ERO DVDart piece.”
“Eh—EHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!?”
“What? You’re not taking it?”
“No, that’s not it. Thank you for your blessing.”
I knelt down on my knee in front of Yuuji and accepted the reward. I, I can’t believe that he rated me so highly! That Yuuji actually has a positive opinion of me..”
“Actually getting an art piece—that Yoshii has it good..”
“Leaving aside the bibles and portraits, an art piece is really quite the reward.”
“Damn it. I definitely must make a huge contribution during the next war.”
Vague voices of envy and jealously could be heard around me..so that’s how it is.
Looks like one of the reasons why Yuuji rated me so highly is to pump our class students up before the huge war against A class. Through everyone’s response, I can tell that this had quite the good effective.
“Next, it’s Hazawa, who became our stepping stone to victory in the ‘disposable armor tactic’ and didn’t oppose to it..”
Everyone’s contributions were praised as the reward ceremony continued.
“—That’s all for the reward ceremonies for the wars against Class C and Class E. Also, no one grumbled when I exchanged better facilities for worse. Good work, everyone!”
Yuuji looked around at everyone as he said this.
In the victory before this, we finally managed to win C class’ facilities, but traded these better facilities to E class when we beat them. Seems like that Yuuji uses such rewards as compensation for the action back then. It’s a tactic to beat A class, but everyone’s unhappy because we traded superior facilities to the losers. In other words, Yuuji intends to use physical goods to appease everyone.
“Once we beat A class, we’ll be able to use that super large screen.”
“I must do well, get an art piece and play it on the super large screen.”
“Let’s snatch what Yoshii got over at the same time.”
Therefore, such dangerous conversation could be heard. Not good. My precious will be taken if I’m careless.
Just as I was putting the art piece into my pocket to prevent theft, something heavy suddenly pressed onto my back. What’s going on?
“What are you hiding? Akihisa?”
My ears heard this voice that comprised of somewhat broken Japanese. This voice,
“Linne-kun?”
“That’s right. You still remember me, Akihisa!”
Linne-kun said happily as he held onto my back tightly. Ugh..this is unbearable..
“Un? Akihisa, who’s this brat?”
Yuuji asked me, staring at Linne-kun, who somehow got into our classroom.
“Ah, un. That’s Linne-kun. I met him during our battle against C class.”
“I’m Linne Kline, a first year student here starting today! Please take care of me!”
Linne-kun said with a cheery expression on his face. He, who was born with a natural blond hair and green eyes, has the Fumitzuki Gakuen uniform on his small body.
“Actually, I did skip grades, and I’m supposed to be studying in the third year, but Todou said that my Japanese is still not up to standard, so she sent me to study as a first year.”
On hearing this somewhat unfamiliar term ‘skip grades’, I felt some sort of realization. As a high school student, Linne-kun’s really too small looking.
“Then, Akihisa, what were you hiding?”
Linne-kun stared at me with a pure innocent look. No matter what I can’t tell this innocent kid that I’m hiding “Akihisa’s hiding an Ero DVD, brat”.
“Ero DVD? What’s that?”
“Seems like some educational movie film on health education.”
“Really? Akihisa’s really hardworking!”
Linne-kun’s innocent expression really hurts my heart.
“Akihisa was really cool during the summoning war before. It was amazing!”
“Eh? Is, is that so?”
“Un! Akihisa’s most active when in times of crisis, always thinking of his friends, just like a hero!”
Linne-kun continued to say words I’m not too familiar with. I do feel somewhat itchy when I’m being praised by him like this.
“““..Brainwashed..?”””
“Can everyone stop staring at me with the ‘wow, this guy’s really the worst’ expression? I didn’t do anything at all!”
My classmates’ expressions are honestly conveying their thoughts.
“Brat, is this guy really that cool?”
On hearing Yuuji’s question, Linne-kun answered loudly,
“He’s really cool! He’s the best!”
To me, who’s hiding the Ero-DVDs in my pockets, these words would only bring about a burden to me.
“How can such a cool guy have Ero DVDs?”
“If there’s such a thing, it should be left to us, the worst kind of people.”
“Yeah. An awesome and cool guy doesn’t match those things.”
And there’s a dangerous presence surrounding me.
“Brat, no matter how I see things here, this guy’s not such a cool guy, right?”
“HE’S REALLY COOL! EVEN THOUGH HE MIGHT BE A BIT DISAPPOINTING ORDINARILY, IN TIMES OF EMERGENCIES AKIHISA WILL TRANSFORM INTO A HERO!”
“Is that so? So, in times of trouble, Akihisa will transform himself into a HENTAI..”
“Hey, your transform only has the same first syllable! And it is not even that similar!”
Linne-kun continued to insist on his own opinion. At this moment, Yuuji stares at me, shows an evil grin and asks,
“Then, Akihisa, what do you feel? Are you a hentai(pervert)? Or a hero?”
Gu..does this guy intend to confiscate my treasure based on my answer? How dirty can this guy get, to take back a treasure after raising everyone’s spirits..
Thoroughly humiliated, I forced myself to squeeze out the words.
“....ntai..”
“I can’t hear you if you don’t speak up.”
This guy..I’ll definitely send him flying later!
“A, a hentai.”
“Who’s that?”
“I’M A PERVERT!”
GARAK!
Hideyoshi walked into the classroom, and the timing was so coincidental I bet it’s deliberately planned.
“..”
Hideyoshi went past me, who’s speechless at the point, put his stuff on his table and says,
“..So you already knew?”
“UWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!”
I’M HURT! IT’S PAINFUL ENOUGH TO LET HIDEYOSHI HEAR THIS WEIRD SHOUT FROM ME, BUT WHAT HURTS ME THE MOST IS THAT HE’S COMPLETELY UNMOVED BY THE DECLARATION THAT I’M A PERVERT!
“Akihisa, are you a hentai?”
“Ah..eh..well, how do I put this..”
This is a question where it’s hard to either deny or admit it.
“It’s alright! I’ll save Akihisa with my love!”
“Thank you, Linne-kun, but if you want to help me, I’ll be more grateful if you don’t add another ‘—con’ to me.”
Because of Hazuki-chan, I got the title of ‘lolicon’. Because of nee-san, I got the title of ‘siscon’. If I get another title called ‘shotacon’ in this situation, it’ll basically be hitting a turkey . These three black marks will become a huge hindrance to me, preventing me from walking down the path of a proper human life.
“Also! I want to see Akihisa being cool in many ways! Akihisa’s really cool when facing trouble! I love it the most!”
“No no no, I say, Linne-kun, that’s—hm?”
Just when I was about to deny it, I saw that a book dropped beside Linne-kun. No, it’s more like a notebook than a book.
Anyway, I pick the book up and look at the cover.
“What is this? ‘Tagebuch’?”
I don’t know what that word means, so I take a look inside, but all the words there are in non-Japanese alphabet. It doesn’t look like it belongs to us since it’s of a foreign language, and since it’s dropped beside Linne-kun, it probably belongs to him.
“Linne-kun, you dropped something.”
“Eh? I dropped something?”
I handed the notebook over to Linne-kun, who blinked and showed a surprised expression.
“Isn’t it? It looks like English inside.”
“Uu..did I accidentally bring it over from home? Thank you, Akihisa.”
After thanking me, Linne-kun takes the notebook. Looks like Linne-kun can be rather klutzy sometimes, to not notice something he dropped.
“Since I let you see how I look in uniform, I should head over to the staff room, Akihisa.”
“The staff room?”
“Un! I’m going to prepare what I’m going to say in the afternoon! Bye bye!”
After waving goodbye to me, Linne-kun leaves the room. This boy’s really lively.
“Afternoon meeting? Since it’s today afternoon, it probably refers to the 3rd years guidance counseling, I guess?”
“Un? What is it, Yuuji?”
“No, I’m just thinking whether a first year really has to take part in a 3rd year meeting?”
Now that he mentions it, this is really a little weird.
“Because he’s a foreign student?”
“Maybe. Some 3rd years will definitely want to study in foreign universities.”
I see, so Linne-kun has to take part in the guidance counseling to explain about the schools and cultures overseas.
“Then, since the reward ceremony is over, we’ll begin preparing for the war against A class today.”
After saying that, Yuuji returned to his seat and took out a notebook. He must be checking everyone’s scores for today’s war.
Maybe I should start preparing in my own way. As I thought about this, I saw a girl with a ponytail muttering as she lowered her head and walked into the classroom. That’s Minami.
“..Where did my diary go to..”
“Good morning, Minami.”
“..I did have it yesterday and accidentally brought it to school..what should I do..if someone sees it, I..”
I greeted Minami, but she doesn’t seem to notice me as she seem to be thinking about something. What’s with her?
“Minami?”
“Eh? Ah, ahh, good morning, Aki.”
“Un, good morning.”
We greeted each other good morning, but Minami doesn’t seem to be paying attention. Is there something on her mind?”
“A, actually, Aki, there’s something I want to ask you..”
“Wha, what is it?”
Minami looks rather serious, so I tensed up the moment I was asked.
“It’s nothing, it’s not something really big! Un, really, I just want to ask about something trivial.”
But it doesn’t look trivial to me..
“Well, my Tagebuch—no! Eh, have you seen my classic literature reference book? I think I dropped it somewhere..”
“Classic literature reference book?”
The moment I hear her say this, I start to look around, and see that there’s something hidden behind someone’s bag and edge of the chair.
“Ah, is that it? It looks like it has the classic literature title on it.”
“Eh? Where?”
It seems that Minami couldn’t see it.
“This one—erm, eh?”
I get up from the seat and pick up that thing to have a look. In the end, what dropped there was only the cover of the reference book, and the book’s not inside.
“Oh dear, only the cover?”
“Ah, Aki..where’s the book inside?”
“Un..I can’t seem to find it..”
I look around, but can’t find the book inside. It’s weird for the cover to drop here. If the book cover drops off because the book fell, the book itself should be somewhere nearby.
“I did see an English book of similar size..”
“WHERE IS THAT BOOK!?”
For some reason, Minami’s grabbing me in a very agitated manner.
“Ca, calm down, Minami! It’s just an English book, not a classic literature book!”
“Did you read it? Did you read what’s inside!!?”
Minami sounds really agitated. Is there something that’s causing this?
“Minami, don’t tell me you—”
“Wha, what?”
“Did you use the reference book cover as a disguise to hide another book inside?”
“THAAAAAAAAT’S NOT THE CASE! IT’S NOT YOUR WORLD HISTORY REFERENCE BOOK EITHER, AKI!”
“HOW DID YOU KNOW OF MY REFERENCE BOOK’S SECRET!”
I JUST HID THE HIDING PLACE RECENTLY! IS IT NEE-SAN!? DID NEE-SAN START REVEALING IT EVERYWHERE!!??
“Leaving aside that, Aki, did you read through what that book has carefully?”
“Nope. I opened it before, but I have no idea what’s written on it.”
“Is, is that so? That’s true. It’s impossible for Aki to understand a foreign language in his lifetime.”
Minami seems like she seems to heave a slight sigh of relief. It’s true that I can’t read it, but there’s no need for her to say that I’ll never be able to understand it in my lifetime.”
“Then, just show me the reference book. Where is that English book?”
“I handed it to that foreign first year student because I thought it was his book.”
“I SUDDENLY REMEMBER SOMETHING I FORGOT!”
After hearing my words, Minami rushed out of the room without a second thought. Most likely, she’s going to check whether that book, is the classic literature reference book. But Linne-kun’s heading to the staff room, and shouldn’t be in the first year classrooms.
Hideyoshi and Yuuji seem intrigued by Minami’s panicked reaction as they head over to my table and ask,
“What’s with Shimada?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Un..I think there shouldn’t be a problem. Looks like she’s trying to find a classic literature reference book.”
“A reference book? Is there a need to panic so much over it?”
“You ask me. I don’t know either..”
Maybe she’s going to borrow a book from someone else?
“Fmm..for some reason, the girls in our class are a little weird recently. Even that serious Himeji has been arriving at the classroom late.”
“That’s true. Looks like Himeji’s still not here yet.”
Because we were proceeding with the rewards, almost all the boys came to class early. But right now amongst the girls, only Hideyoshi is around.
“I’m not sure what’s with Minami, but did Himeji-san mix up the classroom?”
“That’s you yesterday.”
“Uu..because we’ve been changing classrooms all this time..”
I went to the F class classroom as per usual yesterday, and was shocked to find that there were C class students there. Koyama-san even glared at me.
“Haa, I won’t mix up the classrooms, but even I can’t be certain which class is using which room.”
“Yeah, it’s a little complicated.”
“You guys.. this isn’t that complicated. Remember this properly.”
Yuuji sighed, pointed a finger and started to explain.
“Listen up! Our former F class’ classroom is changed to C class’ classroom and into E class’ classroom, and the former E class’ classroom is now the C class’ classroom now while the former C classroom..”
“That’s enough Yuuji. Akihisa has given up on thinking.”
“That’s not true. The former F class has become E cup while the former E class has become C cup..”
“I see. I was wrong.”
Yuuji and Hideyoshi showed helpless looks. But how am I supposed to understand when he’s saying such complicated things at one go?
“You’re right..so in order not to mess things up, I’ll give up on saying ‘the former F class’ classroom’. Even after switching over to C classroom, we still call ourselves F class, so this should be easier to understand.”
“Un, that’s true.”
“Then, as for facilities..since it’s ‘C class’ classroom’, we’ll call it ‘C class’ room’.”
“Haa, that’s the case. If we replace it with ‘cup’ as Akihisa says, those guys in our class may rush towards F classroom.”
That’s true. It’s not hard to imagine that many of our classmates will ignore Yuuji’s order to attack ‘A cup’ and even come up with their own order to ‘attack F cup’.
“In other words, the current situation is—”
“Us F class is in ‘E classroom’, C class is in ‘F classroom’, and E class is in ‘C classroom’.”
“That’s a whole lot easier.”
Yuuji said as he drew a map on the notebook. Now I can understand it..I guess.
“Eh, so the remaining A class is in ‘A classroom’, and B class is in ‘B classroom’, right?”
“No, A class is fine, but B class lost to A class before, so they’re using ‘the B class that has facilities downgraded to C class’.”
During the summoning war, the losing lower ranked class doesn’t have to change their classroom, but their equipment will be downgraded. The school can’t let the losing class swap with other classes that haven’t done anything, and it’s impossible to change the classroom to look more tattered.
“Now that you see it, there’s quite a bit of changes.”
Amongst the 2nd year classes, D class is the only one that hasn’t taken part in the summoning wars, while the other classes have taken part. This war has become quite huge.
“And there’ll be quite the shake-up today too.”
“Yeah.”
Hideyoshi and I stare at Yuuji, and Yuuji, who’s being looked at, nods hard,
“If everything’s set, we’ll start our war with A class at 10am today.”
The moment he said that, the tension immediately went through us. To F class, it has been half a year since we lost in the summoning war to A class. The time for revenge has finally arrived—as I think about this, my body can’t help but tense up.
“Thus, I want to explain the crucial points about this strategy once everyone’s gathered. However..”
Unfortunately, not everyone’s here. As for our class attendance, there’s Minami who left the classroom just now, Himeji-san who hasn’t arrived at school yet, and..
“Muttsurini isn’t here yet, is he?”
“..I’m here.”
Hideyoshi muttered, and Tsuchiya Kouta, nicknamed ‘Muttsurini’, suddenly appeared from somewhere. Hideyoshi never attended the reward ceremony, so it seems he doesn’t know that Muttsurini’s here.
“What now, so you’re here already, Muttsurini? Where were you?”
“..There’s a lot of places to deal with in the new classroom.”
Muttsurini’s pockets are showing my tools I’m not familiar with. I see, so he disappeared to install microscopic cameras in the new classroom?
“In other words, Himeji’s the only one who’s not here, right?”
We, who are normally frivolous, are already at school, yet the most outstanding role model in our class hasn’t arrived at the classroom yet. This c-->>