Opponents

On the same day, more or less everyone in Class C assembled at lunch. Those who didn’t have packed lunches went out to get something, but they were expected to return soon.

As one of that camp, I left the class. Shortly after, I found an isolated place and called two people. I’d already dropped a mail to the first earlier, so I was able to get in touch quickly. Then, I called the second. After this was done, I quickly finished shopping and returned to class.

Only two people hadn’t returned. The first was Kouenji Rokusuke, who no man could control. The other was Hirata Yousuke. Except for these two, all 37 people in class had assembled.

“It seems Hirata won’t be joining us.”

“Looks like it.” Some people were concerned about him, but we were running out of time. We needed to discuss our events for as long as we could.

“‘Change of heart’ my ass! He’s not going to help after all!” Sudou was yelling angrily, and I felt him. Maybe there were some students who’d expected Kouenji to at least outwardly turn a new leaf and become serious. But the world isn’t that simple. Or rather, no human can change that easily. For as long as he could get away with it, Kouenji would continue giving us the slip.

But that won’t work forever. Someday, there will be another test like the Class Vote. When that time comes, Kouenji will have to pick up his tab.

“Fuck him, let’s begin.”

“Don’t let him get to you. Well then, I’ll made copies of the test manual we received earlier, so I’ll give one to everybody. Study it during lunch, and we’ll start discussing specifics after school.” With no one left to control the class, Horikita had to lead them along. “If you have any questions or can’t understand something, you can come to me and ask, even if I’m eating.” It seems like she’d thoroughly studied the manual and understood it perfectly.

1

Classes have been concluded for the day.

Chabashira left after asking us to send the Keep, whoever they were, into the hall. After her, the first to get up was Hirata.

One of the girls, Nishimura, panicked and called out to him. “Um, we’ll be discussing… the events,”

As if he hadn’t heard it, Hirata quietly left the room.

“Hirata…” Nishimura and the rest of the class were struck by the intense thorny aura Hirata was giving off. The only exception was Kouenji, who was looking at his phone serenely as if he hadn’t noticed a thing.

“I’ll… be right back, I need to go to the toilet.” It was Wan Meiyui, who everyone called Mii-chan. She was probably using the toilet as an excuse to go after Hirata and talk to him.

“Now that he’s not going to be of use, I guess I’ll have to do it after all.” Horikita took the initiative and prepared to move to the podium.

“I’ll leave this to you. I have my duties as the Keep.”

“Alright, head to the multipurpose room for the selection. If you get to choose, pick Class D.”

“Cool, but don’t expect much.” I got up and left the room. As the student shouldering the responsibilities of the Keep, I headed into the hall.

“You now? Just who is the Keep?” Chabashira sighed in exasperation as she looked down where the others had gone.

“It’s me, I’m the Keep.”

“…Oh?”

Together, we headed to the special building, where the multipurpose room was located.

“Isn’t the multipurpose room too far to go to just to select our opponents?”

“We’ll also be explaining the systems for the day of the test and how to use them.”

Our footsteps echoed through the deserted special building.

“How unfortunate that you’ve been made the keep, after all you went through to get the Protect Point.”

“I wasn’t made the keep. I volunteered.”

Chabashira stumbled.

“You did what?”

“Something wrong with that?”

“Didn’t you hate standing out?”, a doubtful Chabashira exclaimed.

“The difference was just between being forced to do it and doing it myself.”

“I see. So it was like you couldn’t refuse in that atmosphere.”

It was inevitable for the holder of a protect point to become the Keep. If they refused, they’d be the only one to be safe. So they just get to choose if they want to be walked off the plank or take the fall on their own terms.

“Regardless of how it came to be, by becoming the Keep you have undertaken an important responsibility. If you do not commit to it, Class C will suffer defeat.” With nobody around, Chabashira spoke boldly.

“That a threat?” I turned to face her. She chuckled.

“Take it as you will. But I’m looking forward to it, Ayanokouji. Finally, I’ll get to see what you’re made of.” As she was aiming for Class A, Chabashira seemed to be expecting a lot from me on that front.

“There’s no guarantee I’ll win.”

“Is that so? I hate to admit it, but I can’t see you losing.”

After that, we didn’t talk about anything important.

2

We reached the multipurpose room, which was shaping up to be the main hall for this test.

“Seems like the other three are already here.”

The door to the room was open. Inside, you could see the homeroom teachers of each class and their respective Keeps. For Class A, it was Sakayanagi, for Class B, Ichinose and for Class D, Kaneda. As everyone expected, everyone here held a protect point.

Along with them, two computers had been set facing each other, and there was a large, shared display.

“With all Keeps present, l think we should begin the selection of opponents. Each Keep will pull one sheet from this draw. The one who gets a sheet with a red circle marked on it will have the right to choose.”

The box with the sheets was held out for us. We were asked to start from Class A, but Sakayanagi refused.

“As they say, sometimes the lee is better than the wine. I don’t mind going last, so please go ahead, Ms. Ichinose.”

“Sure, I’ll take you up on that!”

Ichinose drew first. Then, in order, Class C and Class D. The sheets weren’t folded, so as soon as you drew you could see the result. Kaneda, from Class D, drew the sheet with the red stamp.

So Class D would get to pick their opponents.

“We don’t need to go so far as to draw the last one, do we, Mr. Mashima?”

Mashima drew the last sheet and held it up. As expected, it did not have a red circle. “Lees weren’t so good this time, eh?”

“I wonder. I can’t say for certain that drawing the circle would have been the most fortunate outcome.”

“As I thought, Class A will be at ease taking anyone on, right?”

“Not at all! If possible, I’d like to avoid having to fight your class, Ms. Ichinose.” Sakayanagi said. It wasn’t clear whether it was mere pleasantries or her actual opinion.

“May I know which class you’ll be choosing?” Mashima asked Kaneda, who nodded. Even Class D must have been discussing it from the morning until now: which opponent would give them the greatest chance of victory?

“I will go ahead. Class D wishes to go against… Class B.”

Kaneda declared war on an entirely unexpected foe.

“So you’re alright with Class B?”

“Yes.”

After confirming once more, Mr. Mashima recorded the choice.

With Class D going against Class B, Class C would naturally go against Class A.

“And I was so sure you’d aim for Class C. Why did you select B?” Sakayanagi inquired of Kaneda.

“In order to make our comeback, we must take points from the highest class we can. That said, we wanted to avoid fighting Class A.” After judging Class A to be far too much, they chose Class B.

“Oh, is that so? Well, I’m glad I can avoid fighting against as powerful an enemy as Class B. I wish you the best in your battles.”

She bowed in gratitude to Kaneda. This was all just a bit of theater, though. Of course, Kaneda getting the right to choose was pure luck, but we’d set it up so that it would end up this way regardless.

By the time classes ended, I’d contacted Ichinose and Ishizaki, and told them that we wished to go against Class A. Ichinose, pure as she was, wanted to go against Class A, but she owed me a favour so I got her to yield. Apparently, Ishizaki told me Class D was already aiming for Class B, so there was no need to argue.

All of this just to face off against Sakayanagi and Class A.

The worst case would be if I had won the draw. I’d been instructed by Horikita to select Class D, so I’d need a good excuse to convince her. But my chances of winning were just 1 in 4, so I wasn’t very concerned. In short, this was a done deal. Even Sakayanagi must’ve been aware that I’d fixed things beforehand. And now the matches were set.

“With that done, let me explain the system we’ve prepared for the test. On the day of the test, you will be using computers like the ones we have set up here. On these computers, the Keep will select in real time which student to assign to which event.”

The output of the computer on the left was shown on the large display. Chabashira worked the computer while Mashima continued explaining.

“Here you have all Class A students. Using the mouse, drag the profile picture of the selected students and drop it in the section corresponding to the event. If you make a mistake or reconsider, you can use the mouse to drag them out of the event section, and reselect. You can also use the touchscreen to perform these actions.”

“Oooh, this feels like a video game, right?”

“It does, yeah!”

Ms. Hoshinomiya and Ichinose seem to be having fun over there.

“The time for selecting participants in each event is limited. The remaining time is indicated by that number ticking down right now. The time limit is proportional to the number of participants required in each event. As a rule of thumb, you will get roughly 30 seconds per participant.” So, 300 seconds for 10 participants.

“If you were unable to select the required number of participants in time, the remaining participants will be chosen randomly, so keep that in mind. On the other hand, if you select too many participants, the excess participants will be removed randomly.” No mercy if you pass the time limit.

“Once the event begins, the state of the match will be displayed on the large display.” A shogi match was played on screen, much like it is in TV broadcasts. It was stock footage.

“The rules for the Keep’s participation are shown for their convenience on their monitor after the event has started.” The display changed to the one on the computers, and the words “The Keep can pause the game and fix one move.” were written on it. That must be the rule for the Keep’s participation. “While checking the rules, the Keep can begin their participation by clicking on them. Keep this in mind.” The display returned to the match.

“The Keep will not be able to directly talk to the participants, but we have arranged for chat messages to be converted via text-to-speech and read out to them. After a message is typed into the box and sent, the participants will receive it via intercom.” Then, the machine will read it out to them, huh. Direct speech could be abused by the Keep, so they must have decided against it. For instance, while the rules of participation in the sample allowed for changing one move, with careful instruction the Keep could help the participant for the next 2 to 3 moves.

“If the Keep goes beyond what the rules of participation allow, their team may immediately be disqualified and the opponents declared the winner.” That’s about as expected. It would be safe to assume that all messages will be read by a third party.

“The intercom receiver can only be given to one participant per match. Even in team battles, only one participant will be able to receive directions. The Keep can select which participant will be equipped with the intercom receiver.”

Looks like I’ll have a lot on my plate, huh. A lot of things will be fixed beforehand, but I should be prepared for unforeseen circumstances.

“The Keep can participate whenever they want, so long as it is within the rules.”

It was also possible to switch around or zoom in and out of the display on your own computer. It would be a regular occurrence for the Keep to prepare for the next event while keeping an eye on the status of the participants in the ongoing event.

“That concludes my explanation of the role of the Keep and how it is performed. Any questions?” Mr. Mashima looked at all of us, but it seemed like nobody had any doubts. “Alright, that’ll be all for today. If you want to go through the system or check something, you are allowed to visit the multipurpose room under the supervision of a teacher until one week before the test. You’re all dismissed.”

The session ended, and we dispersed.

3

After getting back home, I messaged Horikita who our opponents were and started thinking of how to fulfill my duties as a Keep. Come to think of it, this would be the first time I’d be going head-on against a test here.

In all honesty, if this were a one-on-one battle I don’t think I could lose. However, this battle would involve directing the class as a whole instead, so I could only fight within the bounds of what is possible for my class. Even a peerless commander like Sun Tsu wouldn’t stand a chance against an army of adults with a battalion of toddlers. So the key to winning would be the Keep’s “participation”, but, before that, being able to fight itself would be predicated on another important matter.

That is, a thorough understanding of the current power of Class C.

Who gets along with or doesn’t get along with whom, and what are their strengths and weaknesses? The road to victory is through that puzzle.

And, my ability to gather information about this class and command my classmates, even if I start from the lowest ranked students, soon becomes woefully insufficient. Currently, I don’t even know what people like Shinohara and Onodera like to eat.

So, where should I begin?

Right, I’m going to talk to someone who knows a lot about the class. It’s a trivial matter, but if I don’t get it done I can’t pass.

The people who can help me with that are Kei, Hirata and Kushida. I want to talk to all of them, not just any one of them. However, there is no doubt that the only person who’ll help me right now is Kei. Hirata is unlikely to recover and Kushida is still reeling from the blow she took in the Class Vote. She’s not showing it but there is no doubt she holds a massive grudge against Horikita. I don’t know just how much of that extends to me as well, but it’s safe to say she’ll be on guard far more than usual.

Just before 6 PM, just as the Sun had started dipping below the horizon, a visitor rang my doorbell. Without hesitation, I unlocked my door and waved her in.

“… hey.” It was Karuizawa Kei, still in her uniform.

“Were you in the school till now?”

“Unlike you, I happen to have quite a few friends, and besides, I was the center of attention today.” What an unusual way to put it. She turned to look at me.

“The center of attention? What happened?” As if angered by my confused look, she looked away.

“… not like you care. Anyway, it’s weird for you to call me at this time. And what’s with that ‘you don’t need to be careful’ shtick? What if someone sees me, won’t that be a problem?” She uneasily looked around my room.

“Eh. After all that’s happened, and staying on guard isn’t necessary.”

“Because of, uh, Hashimoto, from Class A, right? And that senior who saw us together?”

“More or less.”

“Our relationship is slowly becoming common knowledge, no issues there?”

“None at all.”

She sighed in relief. Answering quickly seems to have put her at ease. “Ok, I guess it’s alright then.”

There are maneuvers which would only be possible if Kei and I weren’t publicly linked together. But the situation was changing slowly, and it was becoming easier to move in the open than to use subterfuge.

“But, like… we’re a boy and a girl from the same class, you know? If someone caught me coming coming here and being alone with you, we’ll end up with a lot of awful rumours floating around.”

Did you always care about that sort of thing? “I’m the Keep for this test. It wouldn’t be out of the way for me to reach out to those central to the class, like yourself.” In order to get her to ease up, I set up a bit of cover for us.

“Yeah, I guess that’s fair…” Seems like she still has some qualms about that, though. “… speaking of which, why’d you become the Keep?! I didn’t think you were the kind of guy to feel guilty for having a Protect Point!” As expected, she’s come to understand me a bit by now.

“My personal feelings aside, I need to prove my sincerity to the class. With Yamauchi expelled, everyone’s getting paranoid, so I thought it best to do this.”

“Jus’ that?”

“Just that.”

“If it were me, I would never do something like becoming the Keep, even if everyone were yelling at me.”

That’s because Kei’s set herself up in a position where she could do that. If she insisted that the Protect Point was hers and hers alone, no one would go against her. It’s genuinely impressive, what she has done.

“Let’s leave that aside for now. I want you to tell me about the state of the class.”

“The class, huh. Where should I start? It’s not like I know everything, ok? Especially the boys, I don’t know anything about them.”

“That’s not an issue. If possible, I want to talk to Hirata and Kushida one by one afterwards.” I’m just hoping against hope. I don’t know right now if it will work out or not.

“Sure, you’ll know everything about the class if you talk to them, but…” She looked wary and folded her hands. “Ignoring Kushida for a moment, don’t you think Yousuke’s not going to work out right now? He seems like he’s given up entirely.”

“Are you concerned?”

“‘Course, nobody in Class C is happy to see him like that.”

Class C without Hirata… we’ve gained nothing and lost a lot. Without someone around to bring us all together, the class is on an edge.

“Anyway, let’s start with you.”

“Eh, it’s hard for me to start talking like that, so why don’t you like, ask me questions?”

If that’s the case, I’ll make her talk about the girls one by one. I’ll burn the profiles of every girl in the Class C roll in my memory.

4

“… it’s sort of like that.” We had barely enough time for it, but I got Kei to tell me more or less everything useful. “Are you sure you don’t want to note this down or anything? Even if you beg me, I’m not doing this again, okay?”

“I’m alright.”

“You got everything in your head?”

“More or less.”

“Ooh, neat, neat,” she praised me in a way that did not feel like a compliment.

“Besides, we’re up against Class A this time, right? That’s gotta be hard for you, too?”

“I’m not the one who’s fighting. It’ll be you guys in the ring. Even if I can ‘participate’ as the Keep, I can’t just turn things around easily. In fact, are you alright?”

“M, Me? Me..?” She tried to say something, but couldn’t. “… could you make it so I don’t have to participate?”

“That’s not up to me. Depending upon our opponent’s strategy, we might even need you to come out twice.”

“No no no, not happening. I’m dumb and bad at sports!” She vigorously shook her head from side to side to convince me. “But if it’s you, Kiyotaka, you’d win against Sakayanagi!” She flashed a thumbs-up sign. She just wants to participate as little as possible and dodge any responsibility.

But. I don’t think she truly knows just what I am capable of.

“Nobody’s expecting you to win, isn’t that a load off your shoulders?.”

“I guess it is.” To be in a situation where losing is natural is about as easy as it gets.

“Anyway, is that all you wanted to talk about? What was that ‘we must meet up’ bit?” She pouted, as if saying, “If this is it, we could’ve just done it on the phone!”

“Some things can only be understood if we talk face to face, right?”

Her expression became stiff. That clearly wasn’t the answer she was expecting.

“Cool. I guess we’re done here. I’m gonna leave, okay?” I guess she realised that this was it. With the bare minimum of what was necessary done, she excused herself.

“If I need anything I’ll call.”

“Yeah yeah.” She looked like she’d been expecting something, but had given up on it now. She wasn’t going to bring it up herself, so maybe she intended to hold it against me later. It would have made it so much easier for me, too, if she’d just come out with it…

“Hold on, there’s something left that we need to talk about.” I got up to take what I’d sneaked into a drawer when she entered.

“Just what is it this time… if you had to speak about something, bring it up sooner!”

“It’s your birthday, isn’t it?”

“Oh… so you did know…?”

I took out the present I’d prepared for her from the drawer. I’d requested a store here to order it for me, and had them wrap gift wrap it, too.

“I was just messing with you.”

“Ehh, don’t play dumb like that. If you had something prepared, you should’ve handed it over early. I’ve got a ton of good stuff from my friends, so you’ve got a high bar to cross!” As she said that, she turned her head away but stretched her arm out towards me. I looked at her hand and stopped.

“Were you looking forward to this?”

“N, n, not particularly!”

“Oh, if that’s the case, I won’t force it on you.”

“W, WHAT? If you’ve decided to give it to me, you should follow through on that!” She started babbling nonsense at me.

“This’ll also be my return gift for White Day, though.”

“Ahh, there it is! You’re trying to pull a fast one on me because this is convenient for you!”

She sighed in exasperation and took the present from me.

It was a small, square box. Because it was very light, Kei looked at it with suspicion.

“Is there even anything in this?”

“I don’t have the guts to give you an empty box.” I can vividly imagine her getting mad at me for doing that.

“Then, you don’t mind if I check it right now?” As if she was a police officer interrogating me, she started opening it.

She peeled off the gift wrapping neatly, and opened the lid of the box inside. Inside the box was a shining piece of golden metal.

“Wh, what is this?!” She seemed surprised, but anyone in their right mind would know what it was.

“It’s a necklace.”

“I know that much! What’s this incredibly serious present?”

“Serious?”

“A necklace isn’t the sort of thing you buy for your friends!”

I don’t know what to make of this… I tilted my head, baffled by what she was saying. It didn’t seem like she was waiting for a response, rather, she looked like she wanted to keep going.

“And, get this! This doesn’t even suit me! A heart shaped necklace!” At the center of the necklace was a heart-shaped pendant.

I guess the present I picked just wasn’t good enough. “A heart shaped necklace!” She seemed particularly peeved by that, and repeated it emphatically.

Even I felt hurt looking at her face turn deep red in protest. A present is meant to make someone happy, after all.

“This must’ve been expensive?”

“Wasn’t cheap, for sure. Around 20 grand.”

“Twe… ?! Just why did you go out of your way to get an expensive necklace?”

“Why…?”

Her face was turning redder by the moment as she kept looking at me. It would be better to answer her honestly.

“To be frank, I’ve never given a birthday gift to a girl. So I thought I’d look around on the internet, and on this really big online shopping site, bmazon, this necklace was the #1 suggestion in the ‘birthday gifts for girls’ section. They billed it a hit with high school girls.”

I remember the description claiming it made for a very appropriate return gift, regardless of whether it was for lovers or not. Since I was giving her just one gift for both white day and her birthday, I thought that kind of money was fair.

“God…” She looked at me and cringed. I guess I messed up a bit?

“How can you be so smart and yet such an idiot when it comes to this sort of thing? Were you born yesterday? First of all, when something is a ‘hit with high school girls’, it’s because those girls pick it for themselves. This is the sort of thing you pick if you like it or it suits you. At least this wasn’t a ring or something that wouldn’t fit me unless you knew my size… Look, if I had to rate this, you get 10/100, get it?”

A disastrous result for an expensive present. I had to face the brunt of a high school girl’s anger, but I guess I do have a lot to think about. I’d picked something I thought would be good, but I’m beginning to doubt whether I’d thought out how she would feel about it.

“What if I’d gotten you a more appropriate box of chocolates?”

“15/100, I’d say.”

A box of chocolates is worth more than a necklace that set me back 20,000 yen.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to return it now that the seal is off, but if you don’t want it you can give it back. I’ll get you a box of chocolates later if you’re okay with that.” Deeply regretting my own lack of knowledge, I made her that offer. She would appreciate a 15/100 present more than a 10/100 present, right? I thought so, but…

“………………….”

She looked at the necklace, and then at me. And then, just as I’d begun to think of it as useless, she wore it. Excusing herself, she ran to the mirror in my room and examined her neck. “Hmmm… the heart pendant is as childish as I thought it would be… But I’m a very good base, so of course anything goes well with me~”

I never thought I’d see a high school girl say that, but Kei was serious. She examined herself from all sides, and finally nodded with a sense of satisfaction. I thought she’d return it after checking it out, but she put it neatly back in the box and kept the box in her bag.

“Well, it’s your first time giving a gift to a girl and all, right? So I’ll be nice and take it, okay?”

“… okay, that’s nice.”

It’s not like I could give to anyone else if I took it back anyway.