Volume 11, The Third Question(1/2)
Please translate the following into English:
私は香川県に住んでいたことがあります
Yoshii Akihisa’s answer:
“I was UDON.”
Teacher’s Comment:
....
“Yo Takashiro. Do you have some time now?”
“Oh. Natsukawa-kun, Tsunemura-kun, what do you want with me?”
“It’s not like we trust you here.”
“But let’s hear about the strategy that was planned.”
“Ah, about that, I don’t really mind.”
“That’s great.”
“Then, what are the teams?”
“We’ll basically be using the classes as units for our attacks.”
“No complains here. We can sort ourselves out without issues.”
“And the strategy?”
“We’ll have C class and D class cover the flanks since they have high attack power. E class and F class will be in the center, especially since the latter is good at stalling. A class will remain on standby in the new school campus.”
“Hm? And B class?”
“It’ll be on standby as a backup force, looking for the weakest link and attacking it.”
historical
“Ah, that’s the tactic used by that Shaka something of Africa, right?”
“Shaka Zulu? Well..it’s slightly different from his ‘Bull Horn’, but well, it’s basically that strategy.''
“Hm..is that it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You get tricked easily, but you’re definitely not an idiot. In this case, there’s definitely some other plan you have, right?”
“Well..it depends on what the opponent does, right?”
“???”
“???”
“A summoning war is a battle of points, but the ones using these points are still humans. In other words, there will be all sorts of unexpected situations that will arise.”
☆
The weather feels good on the morning we’re about to have our summoning war against the third years.
Our F class members are gathered at the usual gathering place, the 2-F classroom we’re used to staying at.
“Right, let’s announce the teams of the summoning war.”
Yuuji explains at the podium; this is already something of a common practice in this summoning war too.
“Asaga, Iijima, Udou, Kimishima, Tezuka, you’re the first team. When the war starts, stay at this position on the ground floor.”
Yuuji holds onto a note as he points at a corner of the map drawn on the blackboard and reads the names.
In response to Yuuji’s words, Hideyoshi raises his hands to ask.
“Yuuji, are 5 people going to defend such a large place?”
The 5 people mentioned agree with Hideyoshi as they nod away.
In the end, Yuuji shakes his head and answers,
“No, we’re mixing our teams with the other classes this time.”
“Mixing teams?”
“We’ll mix our points so that there won’t be any weaknesses, and the combined strength of the teams will be basically the same.”
In other words, the ones with high scores will be mixed with the ones with low scores. I guess it’s best to have a formation with no weaknesses when we’re scouting out the opponent.
“But..I didn’t think we can really come up with this.”
Yuuji says as he looks at the note.
“Eh? What do you mean?”
“Think about it. There’re almost 300 students in our year, and there will be 11 subjects tested. Under normal circumstances, will anyone even grasp the scores everyone has and assign all of us evenly?”
“Sp-speaking of which..”
It’s not like all of us have balanced scores. If there are some with high scores for some subjects, it will be troublesome to sort us out.
“I’m always frustrated when I’m trying to sort teams for you guys here.”
During a summoning war, Yuuji will have to memorize everyone’s scores and assign them. Even for this fast thinker, he has to keep checking the scores in the war. If we’re talking about the school year here, it’ll be unbelievably big. That’s why Yuuji’s nodding his head in shock.
“Well, A class do have serious people who aren’t afraid to do such things.”
“Kubo and Kinosheeta there should be used to doing such things.”
I don’t know if Kudou-san’s good at doing this here.
“We’re getting out of point here. I’ll continue on with the teams.”
Yuuji reads out everyone’s names.
“Akihisa, Shimada, Muttsurini, Hideyoshi and I will be in the 9th team.”
I feel that we’re just teaming the usual guys together again.
“Well, we’re all specialized in a few subjects anyway.”
Hideyoshi probably read my thoughts as he says this,
It’s true that we all have specialized subjects; Minami specializes in Maths, Muttsurini in Health Education, Hideyoshi in Classics, me in Japanese History, and the differences in our specialized subjects compared to the rest is very big. I suppose this is a way to gather all the members here and make up for our weaknesses.”
“I see, so Mizuki is in another team.”
Himeji-san doesn’t have any weaknesses in her subjects, and she scores really high in all of them, so she’ll be in another team. It’s a little lonely, but this is for the war, so let’s try to endure this.
“Then, I’ll give an overall rundown on the strategy.”
Yuuji draws a layout of the school map on the blackboard.
“The main base of the enemy is at the 4th level of the new school campus, while our main base is at the 4th level of the old school building. We can shift our base according to the base, but it’s better for us to target the 4th level of the new building.”
“Hm..? But if we assign people like this and fight the higher ranked class on the 4th level corridor, won’t the war end before the other classes can interfere?”
Hideyoshi tilts his head as he says this.”
It’s true when he says this. Since both leaders are on the 4th level, if both sides head down the corridor, the war will end with a clash of the strongest force. Even if the width of the corridor is limited, once we assign people decently, the war will end before the lower ranked classes can even reach the climax of the battle.
“To prevent that from happening, we’re not going to use the stairs.”
Yuuji draws an X on the corridor. In that case..
“..The center of the battlefield is the field.”
“Right, there’ll be battles between B to F classes at the field and other places. The side being suppressed will be supported by A class, which will be in the school defending.”
I see. So it’ll become an overall battle. That old granny considered quite a few things here.
“And this is the strategy us second years have. We’ll mix the teams up to make up for our weaknesses, and battle to scout the enemy’s strength. Once we find any weaknesses in the opening, we’ll send in B class there to quickly turn the flow of victory to our side. That’s basically about it.”
“So that’s why we’re using an even distribution of forces here.”
“It doesn’t feel like a dangerous strategy.”
“Um, that’s certain.”
“..It’s really assuring.”
“If you can all get decent scores for all your subjects, especially Muttsurini, I’ll use this strategy in the class wars too.”
“..I’ll try my best to reflect on this comment appropriately.”
Why does it feel that it’s a negative even though he’s saying that he’s agreeing with this?
“Seriously..anyway, that’s how it is. Everyone’s to follow the instructions at each assigned point. That’s all.”
Yuuji finished, and the meeting in our familiar F class ended.
☆
And so, we gather at the field.
As we gather to where the 9th team is gathered.
“Onee-sama..!”
“Ugh! Miharu!?”
Shimizu-san, who arrived first, leapt at Minami. Well, Minami, it may be nothing, but I don’t think girls at this age will greet others by saying ‘Ugh’..
“Ahh, onee-sama..we can actually fight together in the same team. This must be fate’s will..so let’s just stay here..”
“DO WHAT HERE!? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO TO ME HERE?”
“Hmm~ onee-sama’s touch, smell, voice, everything about you is the best after all!”
Shimizu-san really seems very happy. Perhaps this sort of happiness is to be expected since this is the first time she can fight alongside her most beloved Minami.
“Ahh, seriously! Anyway, let go of me, Miharu!”
“Mi-Miharu won’t! ..Miharu won’t let go of you, ever!”
“You’re scary! You’re really scary!”
“Ahaha, I’m jealous that you have someone who really likes you this much—achoo!”
What now? Why is it cold here—wait, EHHHH!?
“Wait! Where’s my shirt!? Why do I only have a T-shirt on my upper body!?”
“A-Aki-chan. It’s cold, isn’t it? If possible, can you please put on this clothing..?”
“DAAAAMMMMNNNNNN IIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTT!!! SO IT’S YOU, TAMANO-SAN!!?”
Tamano-san appears behind me without me knowing, and for some reason, she’s holding clothes that looks like an apron dress that’s of my size, a blazer and a white shirt that may have been on me up till just now.
“Isn’t it good, Aki? There’s someone who likes you and has such a good relationship with you.”
“If possible, I really hope it’s someone who likes me as I am!”
It definitely mustn’t be someone who’ll pull my blazer and shirt before I realize it, or someone who’s still pulling at my T-shirt.
“YUUJI! DON’T JUST LOOK! HELP ME, PLEASE!”
“SAKAMOTO! PLEASE DO SOMETHING!!”
“Even if you say so..fine fine fine. You two problematic kids of D class, stay.”
Yuuji calls out to Shimizu-san and Tamano-san as if he’s training dogs.
“Onee-sama onee-sama onee-sama onee-sama onee-sama onee-sama onee-sama onee-sama onee-sama onee-sama.”
“Aki-chan, you want to change clothes..right?”
But those two don’t seem to be listening. What’s with this team? Is it going to be worse than the F class comrades in the past..?
“There’ll be quite a problem before the battle even begins if this keeps up.”
“..What do we do?”
“To be honest, I don’t know what to do with them..Shimada, Akihisa, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to think of something on your own. In the worst case scenario, you’ll have to silence them when the battle starts.”
““YOU’RE HEARTLESS!!””
Minami and I lash out heavily at Yuuji, who acts as if he can’t do anything here. Hideyoshi and Muttsurini don’t look like they can help out here. Uu..so this means I can only think of a way myself?
“Well, Tamano-san, this kind of clothing doesn’t necessary need to be on me. A cool girl like Minami’s a fine choice for it too, right?”
“Hmm..I see, there’s some sense in that after all. It’s important to open a way to the new world.”
“Well, listen to me, Miharu. I’m happy, but you do remember that I..well, I kissed A-Aki before..that’s why..”
“Miharu understand. Miharu’ll eliminate that damned bastard before we continue.”
“THAT’S CRUEL! ARE YOU TRYING TO SELL ME OUT, MINAMI!!?”
“YOU’RE THE LAST PERSON I WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM!”
“Go to hell, you pigman!”
“Uwoooh!”
I barely managed to block the set square Shimizu-san stabs at me. H-her expression, she’s serious..!
“..”
“E-erm, Tamano-san? Can you please not look at me with that expression..?”
On the other hand, Tamano-san’s holding the apron dress and giving Minami an insatiable thirsty look.
“Good grief..the instruction for this 9th team to also cover those who need to replenish their test scores is really..”
Yuuji says as he looks at us now.
“As expected, things will get bad as long as we get involved with them after all..”
“Ahh. We can’t pull our group away from them..”
“..They left us so quickly.”
“Doesn’t this mean that we’re stuck in this group now?”
“So it ended up like this after all..”
Yuuji mutters as if he had given up. Eh? Does such a feeling occur in the middle of battle too!?
“Got to reduce the burden on myself at least..Shi-Shimizu-san! Muttsurini! Muttsurini’s guilty too because he took a lot of photos on Minami!”
“....!! ....Akihisa, you bastard..!!”
“Tamano-san, Kinosheeta is more interesting than me here! He still calls himself a boy no matter what, you know!?”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with me, right!?”
Minami and I seem to have considered the same thing as we immediately scatter away.
“Right..let’s kill Tsuchiya Kouta too, alright..?”
“Understood. Then, Kinosheeta-san, please put this on with Tsuchiya-kun too.”
The outstandingly problematic people of D class are showing a stronger light in their eyes than before.
☆
“Why in the world does Miharu have to be teamed up with this swine..Miharu can show off a hundred, million times my usual potential if it’s onee-sama. Miharu’s the most unfortunate girl in the world..”
“No, I’m probably the most unfortunate one for teaming up with you like this, Shimizu-san, aren’t I..?”
As the war’s about to begin, Shimizu-san and I are standing side by side as we are in front of the second year students on the field.
“Miharu, I’m going to request a change in personnel if you dare to approach me again.”
Minami warns Shimizu-san with a sharp voice as she keeps her distance from us. Right now, Shimizu-san has given up the urge to leap at Minami, and mutters as she seems to have changed her ideas.
“It’s alright. If Miharu can perform outstandingly, onee-sama will undoubtedly fall for Miharu. Miharu will rip your nails out and kill you afterwards if you dare to pull Miharu down here.”
“Heh~ then what if I do well?”
“If there’s anything dangerous that can change onee-sama’s view, Miharu will rip the nails out and kill you.”
“Why are the options so limited..”
As expected, I feel that I’m the unfortunate one here.
“Aki-chan, I feel that Miharu-chan’s malice against you will change if your body and soul become a girl’s..”
“No, Tamano-san. This reasoning is flawed when Shimizu-san, a girl in body and mind, likes Minami, who’s a girl in body and mind too.”
“Why, Aki-chan..don’t just yap there and hurry up and crossdress you swine..okay?”
“ISN’T IT THE SAME, TAMANO-SAN!? YOU’RE SOUNDING REALLY CALM HERE, BUT YOUR WORDS ARE ON THE SAME LEVEL AS SHIMIZU-SAN HERE!!?”
This person can actually insult someone with filthy words even when she’s acting flustered!!
“You guys, we’re about to start immediately, alright? At least have some tension.”
Hideyoshi says this as he looks on at us in a startled manner,
And so,
“..Understood. Let’s focus on the war in front of us first.”
“Yes, I’ll take note too, Kinosheeta-san.”
The problematic duo calmed down, looking like they are not themselves any more.
“Huh? Those two immediately obeyed the moment Hideyoshi said that.”
“Miharu has noticed it recently, but Kinosheeta-san is a beauty, has some masculine charms, and the serene nature is still passable..of course, onee-sama is still tens of thousands times better than him.”
“Because Kinosheeta-san likes to crossdress as a guy, right? About that, well..I feel it’s passable..”
“..”
Hideyoshi’s eyes have gone blank. His expression is like a dead fish.
But this is a chance! It’s not good for Hideyoshi, but let me give those two a nudge!
“Shimizu-san, Tamano-san! Actually, it seems that Hideyoshi’s looking for a lover.”
“No no no! I already have a troublesome friend in Akihisa here! I don’t need a lover for the time being!”
Wha..what!? What are you saying, Hideyoshi!!?
“Understood. Looks like it’s time to put an end to this swine bastard after all.”
“Aki-chan, how about you change into a girl? All troubles will be settled if you do that.”
“You betrayed me, Hideyoshi! You’re the only one I trusted here!!”
“Do you have the right to say that about me here!?”
Guuh..! In that case, at least say something like being my lover or something..
And so, I start to look to others for help.
“..Akihisa, don’t look here.”
Muttsurini uses his hands to block the stare from me. It’s obvious from his attitude that he really doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.
On a side note, we’re basically operating in teams of two. Shimizu-san and I are in one team, Hideyoshi and Muttsurini in another, and Tamano-san and Minami..that Minami’s trying to keep her distance away by remaining at the minimum limit before Shimizu-san goes crazy.
“Seriously, I want that Yuuji to have some of our suffering here.”
“It can’t be helped. Yuuji’s the F class rep after all.”
Yuuji’s the rep, so he can’t come to the frontlines. If he’s defeated, F class will be disqualified, and we’ll lose a lot of our fighting strength.
“Since he won’t be coming to the frontlines anyway, at least he needs to be in charge of command here or work hard on something else.”
“What are you saying, you swine? The second years are working together as a whole now. If that scum of a bastard decides to take up command, there won’t be any united coordination here, right? At least use a little of your brain here, you lowlife.”
Shimizu-san sneers as she seems to feel that I’m a thorough idiot. Hm, well..if he had known of the intention behind this strategy, I think that Yuuji will be able to understand and command well.
“Humph, since you have time to think about something else, how about you think of how to survive at the beginning instead?”
“Ah, yeah, that’s right.”
The 3rd years are at the opposite end of the field, getting into position. There are many teachers in the middle, spaced out evenly to prevent overlaps. It’s possible to think that there’ll be quite the chaos when we start and charge forward.
“Really, are you really this confident in your language, you relaxed swine?”
Shimizu-san says as she looks at the language teacher in front of us. She’s asking me whether I have confidence in my language, why?
“Listen up here. This time, I!”
“On a side note, Miharu has 211 points here.”
“..It’s fine. Besides, someone like me..”
“it sounds like there’s no need to hear the exact score, right?”
The language subject used in this war is a combination of ‘modern language’ and ‘classics’, and this is a rule set as part of the Center Test conditions or something.
“—Now, we’re going to begin the summoning war between the second and third years of Fumitzuki Gakuen.”
As we’re talking, the loudspeakers in the school and on the field let out this announcement.
“So we’re finally starting?”
Miharu-san whispers softly. She just talked to me even though she probably hates me. Maybe she’s tense now for talking to herself like this.
“Well, it can’t be helped anyway. This really is an impressive scene.”
I guess there are 400 students gathered on the field. Half of the people won’t be involved in the first wave of battles, but this certainly is impressive. It’s understandable for us to be overwhelmed by this.
“Everyone is to follow the rules and act properly like students here. Now—let’s begin!”
“Miharu’s going first, you swine!”
“They’re here!”
Shimizu-san says this to me, and dashes towards the center. Once we step into the field, I immediately hear shouts,
“““Summon!”””
Patterned arrays appear below our feet, and the summoned beasts appear from them.
“Summon.”
I too call out my summoned beast behind Shimizu-san.
I see the enemy summoned beasts charging at us from the front. This look like a direct confrontation, a contest of pure power.
“Onee-sama! Please look at Miharu’s activeness here!”
Shimizu-san charges forward and crashes into the enemy. Since there’s no room for tricks here, we’ll show off our abilities best by attacking directly. Shimizu-san’s reckless attitude is scaring our opponents, and she continues to use the blade to stab through the opponent.
3-C Shimamoto Mina, Modern Language, 106 points
Vs
2-D Shimizu Miharu , Modern Language, 211 points
“Kukuku..be very afraid of Miharu here, sempai.”
“Ku..that girl’s giving the look of a hungry carnivore here..!”
If we minus the fact that the expression goes for both ally and foe, she certainly is reliable here.
“Damn..do we retreat for now?”
“This reckless attack wore us down. it’s really annoying..”
I can hear such voices from the 3rd years far away.
This is all part of Kirishima-san’s strategy. When we’re packed so closely that we can’t move freely, we can attack quickly, and negate the ‘difference in summoned beast control experience’ between the second and third years.
The assault right at the beginning went just as expected, but now, we can’t keep this up, or it’ll be a dogfight. Kirishima-san expected this, and let the frontline members be in pairs.
“Shimizu-san, please retreat for a while. I’ll take over.”
“Leave your dream talk for your dreams, you despicable stupid moron inept swine.”
Why is it that I’m being scolded like this when I merely asked to change positions.
“Miharu just wants to get as much contribution here and offer it to onee-sama.”
Shimizu-san’s certainly happy about being on the same team as Minami, but she looks like she’s way into this.
“If I perform well here, onee-sama will definitely praise Miharu..she’ll change her view of Miharu..she’ll accept Miharu..she’ll fall for Miharu again..”
Shimizu-san starts to mumble to herself again.
“..Let’s do it!”
What do you want to do?
“Anyway, Shimizu-san, please calm down! You might be able to change her view of you here successfully!”
“Kukuku..today, Miharu will offer the fresh blood of the 3rd years for this great anniversary with onee-sama..!”
“Hey, that id—Yoshii-kun! Can you hurry and swap with her, please?”
The third year upperclassman facing Shimizu-san calls out to me in a pleading-like manner. I want to swap with Shimizu-san too, but she doesn’t seem to be listening to me at all.
“Shimizu-san, we only need to charge in at the beginning! It’s going to become a battle of endurance!”
“DEAR MY HOONNNEEEEEYYYY!!”
As I expected, Shimizu-san’s not listening to me at all as she starts to charge right at the group in front of us.
“It’ll be dangerous if that kid’s not imprisoned in the detention room as soon as possible!”
“I-if she’s charging in alone..!”
The enemies on the front and sides raise their weapons and charge forward as Shimizu-san charges at them. She’ll be skewered on three sides if this keeps up!
“Shimizu-san!”
Even as I want to help as I follow her, I don’t have enough room to move around because of the many allies and enemies around me.
“Can’t be helped here.. Shimizu-san, sorry!”
I let my summoned beast charge forward and target the back of Shimizu-san’s summoned beast—I use it as a jumping board and let my summoned beast jump up.
“““What!?”””
My summoned beast jumps over the summoned beasts of Shimizu-san and the third years, and it lands behind the enemies.
“Hah!”
As the summoned beast falls, I let it swing its wooden sword and attack the enemy, who were unable to react to my attack and falls backwards.
“This—swine! Why are you doing such unnecessary things!?”
And so, as the enemies turn their focus back, Shimizu-san’s summoned beast attack. The trio’s points drop after they took our attacks.
“Here too!”
As I managed to break behind the enemy’s ranks, I start to attack another enemy. He still managed to turn around and get into position, but I still managed to attract his attention.
“Don’t get cocky, you second year brat!”
The enemy starts to attack me as I start to cause chaos in their ranks.
I dodge a strike that’s swung down on me, and immediately countertattack,
“Take this!”
“Whoa!”
The enemy attacks with a roundhouse kick without giving an opening. T-that’s too dangerous..he’s certainly well trained, to be able to switch to a kick after I dodged his attack..!
“But..you’re still na?ve, sempai!”
I use the wooden sword to block the kick. The blade cut a little of the opponent’s side belly, which reduced a few points. They’re skilled, but that’s just the experience gained from the summoning war. There’s no way they can match my experience in being used for menial tasks!
“Raaahh!!”
Right now, the opponent’s unable to stay upright, so I better retreat back to my side for now. Since the formation is messed up, let’s start with the battle!
☆
At the places with many people fighting, there are a lot of people switching in and out in their battles.
I lost count of how many people I battled, and I faced off a powerful opponent.
“Ku..! This is so troublesome..!”
I never thought that I’ll be fighting this person here.
How in the world do I break away from here..?
“Go and die, you swine. You deserve a thousand deaths for being more eyecatching than Miharu..!”
“Well, Shimizu-san, our battle here is really weird, you know!?”
I really can’t control this person at all..!
“Why did it end up like this!? Our battle is completely meaningless here!”
“Shut up, you despicable scum of a swine! You have been active all this while..! I can clearly see that you want to take onee-sama away from Miharu, you bastard! I can’t allow you to live anymore!”
“Calm down, Shimizu-san! If you start fighting against your ally here, Minami’s opinion of you will only drop!”
“How laughable! Do you think that onee-sama’s opinion of Miharu can drop any further!?”
“Shouldn’t you be working hard to improve on it if you realize this!?”
“There’s no need to worry. Once I eliminate everyone here, onee-sama will have no choice but to be with Miharu in the end!”
This is exactly the same line of thinking as a dictator using terror in politics.”
“And once I get rid of you here, I’ll eliminate all living things here!”
“You mustn’t do this! I’ll protect everyone’s lives!”
Unbelievably, the summoning war with the third years is still going on, but for some reason, I feel like I’m a warrior facing a demon lord.
“Just try if you can! You written rotten ordinary man of a story Yoshii Akihisa!”
Shimizu-san attacks m-->>