Volume 10, The First Question(2/3)
“There’ll be a problem if she’s not here..”
Yuuji frowns slightly as he mutters,
“Recently, during morning self-revision, Himeji has been the last one walking into the classroom, and will immediately go home once lessons ended.”
“That’s true of her recently..anything you know of, Akihisa?”
“Ah, no, nothing, I don’t..”
I don’t know why anyway, but it’s not like I don’t have an idea. The thing I can think of is the weird thing Himeji-san did that morning before our war against C class. She ignored my protests and, well..kissed me. I really wanted to ask Himeji-san why she did that, but recently, she hasn’t been alone, and there would be Minami and other people around. Thus, I couldn’t ask even if I wanted to.
As for why Himeji-san would do that, the reason I can think of is—regret. She probably wishes that what happened that morning never happened, or is deliberately hiding from me out of shame. But to me, I don’t feel regret at all, just embarrassed and happy..
“But whenever I talk to her, her response is like usual..”
“Mu? Is that so?”
On hearing my inadvertent muttering, Hideyoshi responds,
“To me, I’d say that Himeji will occasionally look like something’s bothering her.”
She looks just like normal, but is in fact not—it seems that Hideyoshi views Himeji-san this way. Since Hideyoshi, who’s good at observing others, say this, it’s definitely something that can’t be overlooked.
“Also, I feel that she’s trying too hard in the summoning war.”
Yuuji says, seemingly continuing off from where Hideyoshi left off. Actually, I had this feeling as well. Himeji-san’s expression seemed a lot worse than usual during the summoning war against E class.
However, whether it was because she was working too hard or whether something was bothering her, it’s hard to associate them with what happened that morning.
In that case, Himeji-san’s actions recently have nothing to do with being shy, is it? But are there any other reasons?
I calm myself down slightly and try to think about Himeji-san. I want to recall what happened when I was living with her and find clues from there.
“Erm..”
I close my eyes, search through the sea of memories, and maybe I might find some form of hint floating on the surface.
On the day when Himeji-san came over to my house.
—Everyone had hotpot together, and she witnessed nee-san getting drunk and hugging me.
The holiday morning.
—Himeji-san woke me up from bed and found out about the Ero books I had been hiding.
That holiday afternoon.
—Himeji-san and I went shopping. For many reasons, I barged in on Himeji-san changing while having an underwear on my head.
Normally at school.
—During the war against C class, someone spread the rumors of me and Yuuji being madly in love.
That day, after school.
—Himeji-san discovered some Ero-books I was hiding.
The next day after school.
—Himeji-san discovered more Ero-books I was hiding.
“..What..wrong options have I chosen in my life..”
“Wha, what is it, Akihisa? Why are you crying out of a sudden?”
“Hideyoshi..maybe Himeji-san feels that I’m a pervert..”
“There’s nothing ‘maybe’ about it. Didn’t you just boldly proclaim yourself to be a pervert..?”
The more I recall, the more I want to beat the past me. I see, so that’s why Himeji-san wants to be alone?
“What are you two saying? Wasn’t it a well-established fact that Akihisa’s an idiot?”
“That’s true.”
“..This isn’t enough reason for her weird behavior.”
I have a feeling I’m being scolded here.
“Haa, let’s leave this aside for now. Anyway, once everyone’s gathered, I’ll explain the plan. It’s better to explain earlier, but we’ll only start fighting at 10am, so we just need to make it by then.”
After saying this, Yuuji ends this conversation.
In the end, Himeji-san and Minami enter the classroom at almost the same time as Ironman, who’s here for self-revision period.
☆
“Everyone listen up! I’ll now explain the key points to our plan in our final battle against A class!”
Morning self-study has already ended, and once Ironman walked out of the classroom, Yuuji immediately went to the podium and announced to all the students in class. This time, Himeji-san and Minami are in the classroom, so at least everyone’s here.
“..We just need to beat A class..”
“..Have to hurry up and find it..if that was seen, I’ll..”
But those two look very weird.
“Before this, we have to send our messenger—hold on, Akihisa, where are you going?”
“I DON’T WANNA! I’M DEFINITELY NOT GOING! I’M DEFINITELY NOT GOING TO BE THE MESSENGER DECLARING WAR HERE!”
The memory from half a year ago awoke within me. The higher the opponent’s position, the more it seemed that they viewed the worst F class declaring war on them as ‘looking down on them’, so I was dealt with badly whenever I declared war on them. I had enough of this merciless treatment.
“What are you worrying about..”
Yuuji said in a tired manner. Oh yeah, thinking about it, there’re a lot of people I’m familiar with in A class, and all of them are so kind, so I probably won’t be treated so cruelly—
“—You should be used to being beaten up, right?”
No, this isn’t the main point.
“Really..in this case, we’ll decide by winner.”
Winner? Uu..
“Someone definitely has to do this, so you can’t be the only exception, right?”
For some reason, Yuuji only had the two options of ‘me’ and ‘someone else’ in his mind..haa, leaving aside this for the time being, I just need to win.
“Un, got it.”
“Alright.”
“But the contest has to be fair and decided by someone else.”
If I let Yuuji decide how we’re going to win this, it may very likely be very disadvantageous to me. I definitely can’t step aside.
“Fine. I’ll beat you no matter what kind of contest it is. Hideyoshi, can you please come up with a question?”
After agreeing to the two conditions I made, Yuuji nominated Hideyoshi to come up with the question. Un, if Hideyoshi’s the one deciding this, I can relax. He’ll definitely come up with a fair question.
“Well then..since you two are always arguing, it might be good to praise someone else.”
Once called out, Hideyoshi starts to think hard.
Then, he claps his hands and says,
“Okay, I have a question here. How about ‘Please name a good point about the principal’?”
“......”
Hideyoshi’s question caused me to inadvertently lower my head.
This is really..too painful!
“......”
However, that Yuuji’s showing a dying expression. I see, this is definitely an even contest.
“..................”
“..................”
Both of us continue to remain silent.
“..................”
“..................Ah, being healthy is considered a good point, right?”
Yuuji suddenly muttered. Damn it! There’s still this method!?
“DAMN IT!”
“Hah! Akihisa! You’re 100 years too early to beat me!”
It’s logical for Yuuji to be this satisfied. It’s an impossibly great accomplishment to raise a good point about the principal. Those who can do so definitely have the right to lift their heads up high.
“How..badly do you view the principal here..”
No, after considering the painful treatments we suffered in the test summoning, this is a logical reaction.
“It’s decided then, Akihisa.”
“Ku..!”
I have no objections to the outcome of this. But, to declare war..to be honest, I feel a heavy heart. If we’re going to declare war on A class, there shouldn’t be something wrong—even though I think, there’s something making me uneasy .
“Eh..can’t be helped. I’ll go over to A classroom later—”
“Ah, Akihisa, you seem to be mistaken.”
“Hm?”
“You’re going to ‘C classroom’. You’re not going to declare war, but give orders to those guys in E class.”
“Eh? Is that it?”
I’m going to C classroom where the E class students are now? Not A class?
“Because I already declared war on A class yesterday.”
What the. So Yuuji already did such a thing.
“That was close! You could have said it earlier if you’re giving orders to E class! I was so nervous because I thought it was to declare war.”
“Really? It’s great that you can agree to it so easily. Those guys from E class are from the sports clubs and all very hot-blooded. It seems that they’re enraged over losing to F class and being pitied by the enemy. To be honest, I kind of bothered that they’re showing ill intent to us.”
“Eh? Hold on! Is E class like this right now?”
Won’t it be bad to give orders to this class in such a situation? And it seems that E class rep Nakabayashi-san hates me a lot..
“Since Akihisa has taken the most troublesome mission, I’ll begin the explanation of our plan today. Sorry to keep everyone waiting! I’ll again explain how to win in the war against A class!”
“Oi, Yuuji! You’re basically sending an important fighting force to his death before the duel with A class!”
“Listen up. First, look at this map.”
Yuuji completely ignores my words as he starts to show the layout plan of the 3rd level (the level us second years are using) and explains. Uu..I really have a lot of things to say, but beating A class was our long-awaited wish. Since it’s a briefing of the strategy to achieve our aim, I better listen to him.
“Our F class is currently here, and the enemy is located here.”
Yuuji points to ‘E classroom’ and ‘A classroom’.
“Then, if we simply compare both sides fighting strength by points, there’s about a difference of 3 times between us and A class.”
3 times—even after hearing such a difference in strength, none of us showed shock or sigh, and some even give an expression of ‘only this difference’. Of course, the reason why everyone would have such a reaction is because we faced differences in ability far greater during previous wars. So to us, this war where we can fight in our best condition is a lot easier.
“Our basic strategy here is to try taking them all down, and absolutely no one on one battles. Once your points are worn down by even the slightest, immediately retreat to replenish and make sure you’re ready before challenging again.”
This is a strategy we’ve been using up till now, so everyone should be familiar with it.
“Our F class’ marks aren’t as good as A class, but our summoning war experience, spirits and strength are still advantageous to us. If we continue to make use of these advantages well, we won’t lose. Also, we’re going to expand the battlefield to make use of these advantages to the maximum—in other words, we have to scatter the enemy forces. The reason why we gave up on C classroom before this and moved our base to E classroom is because of this.”
C classroom is beside A classroom. If we start the war there, we’ll be restrained in that battlefield. In that case, it will be hard to carry out Yuuji’s strategy of taking them all down.
“Yuuji, in that case, we didn’t need to take C classroom and just remain in F classroom, right?”
Hideyoshi raised his hand to ask this question I find rather reasonable.
“No, I wanted to crush B and C class before our war with A class. If we didn’t do so, we might end up getting unnecessary interference.”
Right now, B and C class lost their right to carry out summoning wars because they lost. In that case, our class won’t have any unnecessary interference for the next 3 months. This is to get rid of any potential future trouble.
Also, when talking about this Yuuji—
“You obviously thought of some sly trick, right?”
“How rude. Please call this a strategy.”
Yuuji can’t possibly start a war just to cover our backs. He must have prepared some kind of despicable plan.
“Yuuji, since everyone knows the basic plan, how exactly do we beat A class in terms of outcome?”
Hideyoshi asks again.
This question’s rather logical too. Our opponent’s A class, the strongest academic-wise amongst the second years, and the opposing class rep Kirishima-san’s grades are the best in our year. If we can’t beat her, we won’t be able to win this war. When facing the record holder for the highest score in our year, it’s rather important to find out a way to win.
“Yuuji, don’t tell me you’re going to pull a fast one on Kirishima-san?”
Kirishima-san’s outstanding in all her grades, so there logically shouldn’t be any weaknesses. But for some reason, she has good feelings on Yuuji, which is her greatest weakness. If we make use of this weakness well, and if the plan goes alright, maybe we might have a chance of winning..
“Who’s going to do that? I don’t intend to carry out this plan I’m not sure whether it will be successful or not.”
“Let’s pour sulphuric acid down the mouth.”
“Not spraying nitric acid into the eyes?”
“How about whacking the butt with a bat full of nails?”
“Un..that’s no different from usual.”
“How about we go to the library and borrow the <<Interrogation History>> for reference?”
“““Let’s do this!”””
“Besides, if we win that way, my life will be in danger.”
“Ahaha, that’s right.”
I agreed verbally.
In fact, the moment that pretty, smart and model-looking Kirishima-san fell for Yuuji, he was basically guaranteed the death sentence. The reason why he’s still alive is because he’s an important talent in beating A class. Thus, once the war against A class ends, Yuuji, who has nothing to do with planning will be eliminated by everyone—but I’ll remain silent on this as I want to see Yuuji being executed as well.
“Well, leaving aside my life, I don’t intend to do this anyway.”
“Eh? Really?”
I thought he will use any means necessary.
“Think about it. We’re what others call the worst idiotic class, but we’re going to beat the best class in our year! Won’t it be a waste to use such a boring method to win this awesome duel?”
Yuuji smirks, giving a grin brimming full of arrogance and self-belief. I feel somewhat nostalgic seeing that smile that’s like half a year ago.
“Then, back on point, there are two ways for us to beat Shouko. One of them is to grind it out with a human-wave tactic. We continue to attack to prevent the opponent from replenishing their points and wear them out to win.”
Yuuji raises his index finger as he explains.
“However, while this can be done theoretically, it’s basically impossible to do so realistically.”
The current situation Yuuji’s talking about will only happen if A class has no other forces. In fact, Kirishima-san probably won’t be isolated. Even if we manage to isolate her, we can’t keep this up for long as F class is overwhelmingly weak against A class.
“Thus we have another method. We’ll combine our class’ strength and launch an attack on her. Basically, it’ll be either me, Himeji or Muttsurini having a showdown against Shouko.”
Yuuji has improved in his grades by quite a fair bit, Himeji-san is ranked second academically in our year, and Muttsurini is unmatched in the subject of health education. These three are the record holders of having the most strength in F class’ instant attacks.
“In other words, the key to this war is ‘how to send one of the trio to Kirishima’, right?”
“That’s the case.”
In the duel before this, our plan was ‘to duel a chosen member one on one’. Then, what plan does Yuuji have this time?
“Any other questions? If not, I’ll explain some specifics.”
After saying that, Yuuji draws a member list on the blackboard.
“First, the linkway. This will be the most intense area this morning. Akihisa and Shimada will lead 20 people to watch this place.”
Yuuji draws a marking on the map. 20 people? That’s quite a lot of people.
“The most important mission here on the linkway is to defend. You have to seal the passage and prevent the enemy from linking in directly. This is the bare minimum. Please do so.”
Yuuji’s explaining our group’s job. Got to remember it well.
“The second mission is to beat Kinosheeta Yuuko. If that person appears here, please find a way to get rid of her.”
“Yuuji, why target Kinosheeta-san?”
“Basically, I want to cause disturbance in there. It’ll be troubling to some extent if the people who can command the forces remain there.”
In other words, I have to try and best Kinosheeta-san as fast as I can and send her into the remedial room.
historical
“Also, Akihisa.”
“Hm?”
“Don’t force yourself. Just stay at the back of the squad.”
“Eh? What? It’s disgusting to hear you say such a thing..”
These unexpected words cause goosebumps to rise up. I thought this Yuuji will tell me to attack without caring for my life.
“If something unexpected happens, I hope that you can assist our forces, so that’s why I’m asking you to do this.”
“So you want me to save my strength to provide support?”
“Un. Also, there’s a mission only you can do as the Punishment Inspector. I’ll be bothered if you leave the battlefield before that.”
“What’s the mission after that.”
“I’ll explain that later.”
“Un..I don’t really know what’s going on, but I understand.”
A plan that requires me not to work so hard is beneficial to me. Besides, while I can replenish my deducted points when my summoned beast is beaten, but the feedback pain that’s caused won’t disappear.”
“Then, next is..Himeji, your group is the patrol group. Guard the stairs and watch for any enemy ambush. If you see the enemy, send someone not involved in the fighting to report to me.”
“Ye, yes! I’ll do my best!”
Himeji-san has the ability of second rank in our year, so she won’t lose to most of our opponents. She probably won’t be having any problems if the opponent doesn’t send in a large force.
“Then, it’ll be the backup forces and the messenger forces—before this, Akihisa, you should start handing this to C classroom. You won’t be able to leave once the summoning war begins.”
Yuuji takes out a letter and puts it on my table.
“Eh? Em, but, I have to sit through this strategy planning.”
“I finished your part’s explanation already, so it’s alright.”
“I should more or less know the entire strategy.”
“You’ll forget after hearing that anyway. Go go go, hurry up.”
After hearing this explanation, I was ushered out of the door. Really, that Yuuji’s so rude. I can understand the plan..about half of it.
☆
“Then—”
The linkway links the new building to the old building, and if I move on, it’ll be C classroom. I have to go forward and hand them the letter Yuuji asked me to hand over. But..
“..I really don’t want to go..”
Even I’m not that stupid so as to head into C classroom casually after hearing Yuuji’s explanation. I’m already used to pain, but painful things are painful.
“Alright, first, time to check the situation.”
I stealthily peep inside the class to check on the situation. Now, I can see the scenery near the cupboards. The things put over there should belong to E class.
Judogi.
Bamboo sword.
Metal bat.
That’s weird, uneasy factors are piling up.
“Oh, oh yeah. Let’s check the contents of the letter!”
If I check through what Yuuji told me to hand over, I’ll be able to tell whether this negotiation can end peacefully. Anyway, let’s see the letter before deciding.
Eh, the content of the letter is..uu!
“ Invisible ink.”
Damn it! This messed up text is worrying me all the more.
“What in the world is that guy planning! If my life is offered to E class just like this, how is he going to compensate!?”
Is this an action for the sake of the summoning war? No matter how I think about it, it’s because that Yuuji personally holds a grudge against me and wants me dead!
“Speaking of which, I have to send this letter..”
As I’m hesitating—
“Yoshii-kun, what’re you doing?”
“You look suspicious clutching your head like that.”
“Ah, Kudou-san, Kinosheeta-san.”
A class’ Kudou Aiko and Kinosheeta Yuuko just so happened to pass by. For a moment, I thought Kinosheeta-san’s Hideyoshi, but..um, she’s wearing a skirt and giving off a manly vibe, so I didn’t make a mistake here. This person’s not Hideyoshi, but his sister.
“..I just find this annoying..but I’ll let you off this once. There might be problems if I do something to you before the summoning war.”
What does she mean by doing something to me? I interacted with her before during the war against C class, and I felt that there was some killing intent or something similar under that smiling face of hers.
“Oh yeah, what are you doing here, Yoshii-kun?”
“Eh? Ah, no, not, nothing.”
I hurriedly hide the letter Yuuji handed me. We’re going to have a showdown against A class later, and Kinosheeta-san is of A class. It’ll be bad if I accidentally leak out something regarding the plan, so I better hide this letter!
“Does F class have some plan?”
Both of them continue to stare at me. Uu..how troublesome..I’m really bad at hiding secrets..
“Un~oh well, it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s something you don’t want us to see, right?”
“Eh? Doesn’t matter?”
Unexpectedly, both of them didn’t pursue this matter further. Such a straightforward attitude caught me off guard.
“Because we already knew you’re planning something when you swapped facilities with E class.”
“Nn nn, we already knew~”
“Muu..”
We got C classroom, but deliberately shifted over to the lousier E classroom. This weird action is known through the entire school year, not just A class. Since we deliberately did this, our opponent must be expecting something.
“And someone like Sakamoto-kun definitely won’t use a plan that will fail because someone spots you. He must be planning some countermeasure, right?”
Kinosheeta-san really looks up to Yuuji, huh? I’m rather curious what will her reaction be after seeing this letter that requires heating of invisible ink?
“Ah, that’s right, speaking of Sakamoto-kun.”
“Hn? Wha, what is it?”
“When he came over to declare war on A class, he even said to us ‘thanks for your help in our war against C class’.”
“He didn’t need to worry about such a thing. Besides, we already heard the important information from you that ‘B class and C class are working together’, Yoshii-kun.”
That’s true, but without Kudou-san and the rest helping out, that would be our complete loss. Thus to us, it won’t be enough no matter how much we thank them.
“And in our war against B class, we obtained a very weird letter from Nemoto-kun!”
“That letter really shocked us. To think that Nemoto-kun is that kind of person. We thought that he would use some weird lie to agitate class rep, but..”
“Unexpectedly, it was a wedding invitation of him and Nishimura-sensei. We were really shocked!”
“Legally, this may not be allowed. This is probably about declaring that they’re getting married.”
Kudou-san and Kinosheeta-san nodded as they said.
Eh? Do they really believe in the content of that envelope?
“Ahaha. We’re just joking, Yoshii-kun. Nobody will believe such a thing.”
“Somebody from somewhere must have switched the letter meant to trick class rep. We wanted payback for this.”
Both of them give me hesitant looks. Then, what do they mean?
“Well, Nemoto-kun got his comeuppance, right? He did lots of immoral things before.”
“That’s the karma he deserves~”
Kudou-san chuckles. This time, the one who first interfered with other people’s summoning wars was Nemoto-kun, so he’s got what he deserved.
“Oh yeah, Yoshii-kun. It might be weird for us to say this to you when we’re disturbing you, but do you have time to actually chit-chat with us here?”
“Eh? Ah, you’re right.”
I have to hand the letter over to E class.
“I don’t know what you plan to do, but other classes are having lessons, so be careful not to get scolded.”
“Yeah. See you at the summoning war later, Yoshii-kun.”
After saying that, Kudou-san and Kinosheeta-san leave.
“Eh? They’re saying it’s class time now..”
In that case, why are they appearing in such a place? Is A class preparing something as well? But it doesn’t look this case..
“What are you thinking about, Akihisa?”
“WAAAHHH!”
Some kind of impact came from my back. It’s not really heavy, and from the weight pushing down on my neck, I can tell that it’s him.
“Linne-kun?”
“Un, we meet again.”
Linne-kun grins as he gives a happy smile.
“Is there something you want from me?”
“Un.”
Linne-kun gently gets off my back and moves in front of me.
“Akihisa, the book you just handed me wasn’t Sverige .”
“Eh? Really?”
“Un, so I’m guessing its something else.”
I don’t know what this Sverige is, but I do understand that Linne-kun is telling me that this doesn’t belong to me. Really? Not his..
“I look inside and found that there’s a lot of ‘Akihisas’ in there. So I feel the owner of this notebook has some relationship with Akihisa.”
“Un? With me? Who?”
If it’s someone related to me, the chances of the owner of the notebook being a member of the E class student that used the classroom before is lower. Since that notebook has English written all over it, the only one who’ll have such a book will be Himeji-san. Is that the notebook she uses to study English? But if that’s the case, the notebook should have some Japanese..
“I’ll help translate the notebook content for you, Akihisa! You can return it to the owner then.”
Just when I was giving a troubled expression, Linne-kun proposes something I’m really grateful for.
“Really, Linne-kun?”
“Un! It’s just a small matter.”
“Thanks.”
“Nope, don’t mind.”
Linne-kun said cheerily. He’s really a good kid.
“Then, see you later~”
“Un, I’ll leave it to you then.”
Linne-kun energetically waves his hand and walks down the stairs before leaving.
“I can’t remain in thought here for long. Have to hurry up and-->>