章 66: Pride and Stubbornness
"Let the sixty-sixth Autumn Heights Festival begin!"
With the president of the school festival committee's announcement, Seirei Academy's
much-anticipated event began. Since the first day was for Seirei Academy students only, it
wasn't going to be total chaos for the school festival committee…or at least, that was what
they naively believed.
"Kuze! The next performers aren't going to be ready in time!"
"Where are they?"
"They haven't even arrived!"
"How long do we need to stall?"
"Uh…"
"Please check and get back to me as soon as you can. I'll handle things here. Host, once
these performers get off the stage, I need you to buy us some time. Can you do that? Thanks."
There were three stages set up for performances: the gym, the auditorium, and the
schoolyard. For the most part, each stage was run by the school festival committee, the
broadcasting club, and the drama club. In addition, the president of the school festival
committee specifically put Masachika in charge of making sure everything went smoothly
in the auditorium. Of course, they were working in shifts, so there were still two others who
would take his place when he was on break.
"Kuze, I talked to the performers, and they need two more minutes."
"Roger that. Host, try to buy us three minutes just in case. Cut the stage lights, leave
the audience's seats as is, and shine the spotlight on the host. This stalling is cutting into the
next break as well, so I need the next props master to switch out with the current one while
the host is buying us time."
As he checked the task schedule and time schedule, Masachika used a transceiver to give
instructions to the other auditorium workers, who quickly responded.
Although most of the others were older than him, there wasn't even the slightest hint of
disrespect in any of their voices, which was a testament to the trust that he'd built with them
during multiple rehearsals. Although they ran into a few bumps along the way, thanks to his
direction, the auditorium's stage plans went smoothly, until it was time for their break.
"All right, I'm going to start my break. I'm counting on you."
"Sounds good. Enjoy."
After one of the third-year school festival committee members took over his shift,
Masachika quickly washed his hands, then headed straight for the stage in the schoolyard.
The stage area in the schoolyard was partitioned off with traffic cones of various colors, and
there were around a hundred metal folding chairs set in front of the stage for the audience.
Even though there were a few empty seats here and there, Masachika decided to stand behind
them, close to the traffic cones. Shortly after that, two sets and a lectern were brought out
onstage and set up before two familiar faces eventually stepped onto the stage.
"Thank you all for coming to watch the quiz research club's very own quiz show!"
The final person to join them onstage was the quiz research club's leader, wearing a
silk hat and all. Masachika watched from afar as the club leader introduced the show, but it
wasn't like he was forced to stand so far away. This was a choice Masachika made himself
so he could immediately take action if an emergency arose, since there was no telling what
was going to happen on such a secretive trivia show. Ayano seemed to feel similarly…or
at least, that was the conclusion Masachika came to when he suddenly noticed her standing
as still as a statue nearby.
"Without further ado, allow me to present today's two contestants!"
After introducing himself as the host, the quiz research club's leader held out his hand
toward the two competitorssitting in the center of the stage. A close-up shot of Yuki appeared
on the screen above.
"Born into a well-known family that cultivates foreign relations, this young woman has
the brains to become a diplomat herself one day! Politics, economics, pop culture, subculture
—you name it! She knows it! But will she be able to utilize this extensive knowledge of hers
during today's quiz?! Give it up for Yuki Suou!"
The instant Yuki waved at the audience with a smile, the crowd erupted into cheers and
whistling, which gradually attracted the attention of other students in the vicinity.
"Next up, we have the top of her class—a girl who has gotten the highest grade on every
exam since she transferred to this school! There isn't a single soul here who can deny that she
is talented! She has both brains and brawn, and she is just getting started! Will she continue
being the undefeated prodigy after this show?! Give it up for Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou!"
"Damn, he's good," commented Masachika as a close-up shot of Alisa was suddenly
displayed on the screen. Alisa bowed slightly with a serious expression on her face. Her
reaction was, in a way, the opposite of Yuki's, so although she was welcomed with cheering
and a warm round of applause, the audience did seem less enthusiastic.
Hmm… I was honestly expecting there to be a distinct, bigger difference in support…
but maybe they liked her indifferent reaction. Some people like it when celebrities are cold
and blunt, after all. Anyway, I'm glad I was wrong.
Masachika was pondering the audience response while clapping when he noticed the
influx of spectators was starting to die down a little. It was already a huge crowd, perhaps
because two of the most beautiful student council presidential candidates at school were
about to duke it out, but the fact that it was lunchtime seemed to help as well. In fact, most
students in the crowd had some sort of snack in hand, as if they wanted something to watch
while enjoying their meal.
There's not an empty seat left. Counting the people standing in the audience and those
outside the venue peeking in, then you'd have around 130 people watching.
In other words, a little under 20 percent of the entire student body was currently here.
While there was no way all of them were going to watch the entire show, there were still
more than enough people here for details to quickly spread to every single student in school.
"Now, let the game begin! This competition will contain elements related to the election
as well as elements you'd usually see on good old-fashioned quiz shows. So while most rules
follow what everyone's used to, there will be some rules like you've never seen before, too.
Of course, our two contestants aren't the only ones who can play. Everyone here is allowed
to participate. All the questions will be multiple choice, and there will be no free response
questions, since free response questions would be wayyy too hard to judge."
The host added a playful note in his voice when explaining their reasoning, then
continued:
"You get ten seconds to think after I read the question, then you have to give us an
answer! There will be six topics with five questions per topic and a final question at the end,
making a total of thirty-one questions. Whoever gets the most points wins. We have a very
nice prize for our winner tonight, whether or not they are one of our two contestants, so give
it everything you've got. Now, the question is: How do you participate if you're not one of
our two contestants? However, before I tell you all that, there is something important we
need to discuss first."
The host waited a beat before raising his voice loud enough for everyone in the venue
to hear.
"Of course, this should go without saying, but I need everyone to be quiet during the
show. You are not allowed to give the contestants any hints or answers, and if we find anyone
cheating, they will be immediately kicked out of the venue. If that happens, we will have
to start over and ask a new question. Is everyone fine with that? I'm counting on you all to
keep quiet."
The audience gradually got quieter until the area was completely silent, making the host
smile with evident satisfaction.
"Thank you all so very much! Now, I need everyone to take out their phone and scan
the QR code on the screen. This will take you to an answer sheet we made just for the show.
We also have a few signs set up at each corner of the venue with the URL and QR code, so
please use those if you need to."
Masachika took out his smartphone just like those around him and scanned the massive
QR code displayed on the screen.
Thisisreally impressive… I can't believe they did all thisjust forthe show… What the—?
The web page that came up made him raise an eyebrow. Who do you think is a better
fit for student council president? Under that question were the names Yuki and Alisa, which
you could select as an answer.
The hell is this? Some kind of survey? Is this going to be used during the quiz? Are our
votes going to be added like bonus points to their score?
When Masachika surveyed his surroundings, he noticed there were numerous others
curiously looking around as well.
"Since I'm sure most of you are still opening the web page, I will use this time to explain
the special rules for only our two contestants here. As I mentioned earlier, this quiz will
contain elements related to the election. For example, our contestants' partners, Ayano
Kimishima and Masachika Kuze, will be able to participate as guests!"
Suddenly hearing his name made Masachika immediately look toward the stage.
"Each candidate pair is allowed to 'phone a friend' one time. One pair being Ms. Suou
and Ayano Kimishima, with the other pair being Ms. Kujou and Masachika Kuze. I know it's
self-explanatory, but 'phoning a friend' means they are allowed to ask their partner for help.
Therefore, if you ever want to phone a friend, you need to raise your hand and say, 'Help.'
After that, you are allowed to talk to your partner on the phone for ten seconds tops. Oh, and
you need to put your phone on speaker so that everyone can hear."
Yuki promptly raised her hand. After the host acknowledged she had a question, she
spoke into her microphone with a well-projected voice and asked:
"I have two questions. First, how does the time limit work when we phone a friend?
Furthermore, if we put our phone on speaker, wouldn't the other contestant also be able to
hear the advice that was meant for us?"
"Oh, my apologies for being unclear. When you phone a friend, your rival's answer will
already be locked in. In other words, the ten seconds for answering the question have already
passed. However, if you phone a friend, you get an additional ten seconds to receive help
from your partner, then you get another ten seconds to answer the question."
"Interesting. What happens if we both phone a friend about the same question?"
"Only one person may phone a friend per question. In other words, if one contestant
declares first that they would like to phone a friend, then the other will not be able to call
their partner anymore."
"That makes sense. Thank you very much."
"No, thank you for your wonderful question. By the way, it is against the rules for either
of your partners to give you hints during the duration of this quiz with the exception of when
you call them, but I'm sure that much was obvious. Please be careful, though."
Hmm… So I only get one chance to help Alya if she gets stumped. Then again, if she
doesn't know the answer to something, I really doubt I would…
Masachika thought about the rules while shifting his gaze back down to the second
choice on his phone screen.
Of course, I'm going to choose Alya.
After he tapped on Alisa's name, another page popped up with the words please wait
while the page was loading.
"Last but not least, I would like to explain how the point system works. Not all questions
are worth the same number of points, and the general percentage of people who get the
question right will affect the score."
"What?"
When Masachika looked up, the host had just taken his eyes off the contestants and
shifted his gaze toward the crowd.
"I'm sure everyone here has watched a trivia-based game show at least once before,
right? Ordinary people are asked several questions, and then the show checks the average
percent of correct answers that they had. Put simply, the more people who get the answer
right, the easier that question is. Fewer people answering a question correctly means the
question is harder. We, the quiz research club, have the technology to use our own personal
surveys to calculate the percentage of correct answers. Normally, trivia shows have ten easy
questions and twenty hard ones, but we will be using the formula one hundred minus the
general percentage of correct answers equals the number of points! Put simply, if eighty
percent of people answer a problem correctly, then the problem will be worth twenty points.
However, if only five percent of people get the correct answer, then the question is worth
ninety-five points!"
"That's, uh…? I don't know about that."
In other words, easy questions were worth next to nothing, but difficult questions could
create a massive gap in the score between the contestants in the blink of an eye. To make
matters worse, it was a multiple-choice test…
You could make a lucky guess on an extremely difficult question and instantly getseventy
points. If all the other questions are painfully easy ones that 90 percent of people get right,
then there would be almost no way to ever catch up. It's a scary thought…but I'm sure they
worked on balancing the game before making it.
This point system seemed to be one of those unique rules the host mentioned earlier.
All right, to sum things up… There are thirty-one questions, and you get ten seconds to
answer each question. Each question is worth a different number of points, which is based
on how many individuals get the correct answer when they're surveyed. Furthermore, both
Alya and Yuki are allowed to phone a friend for help but only once.
Other than the scoring system, there wasn't anything special about the rules for the most
part and that included phoning a friend. The audience appeared to think so as well, seemingly
getting sick of listening to all the rules. However, the host was not oblivious to this and
proceeded by asking the contestants if they had any final questions. After they both shook
their heads, the host faced the crowd once more and spread out his arms.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting. Anything goes in this battle between two student council
members! Let the game begin!"
The host then moved to his lectern, where he began to use the opened laptop lying there.
"Your first topic is…social studies! First question!" shouted the host while the question
was simultaneously displayed on the screen.
"Out of the Seven Summits, which of the following has the lowest altitude?!"
What the…?! Who the hell knows that?!
But despite his bewilderment, the multiple-choice answers were promptly displayed on
the screen.
"One, Vinson Massif. Two, Kilimanjaro. Three, Aconcagua. Four, Kosciuszko. Your
ten seconds starts now!"
"Oof! Seriously?!"
In the midst of his astonishment, a ten-second countdown appeared in the top-right of
the screen, prompting Masachika to immediately rack his brain for ideas.
Uh… Okay, Kilimanjaro is definitely not it, and I've never even heard of Kosciuszko.
The hell isthat? Wait. Hold on. The Seven Summits are supposed to be the highest mountains,
so size-wise, the smallest ones are somewhere like Australia or Antarctica, right? Wait.
Antarctica is deceptively huge, isn't it? Which leaves Australia… I'm pretty sure Aconcagua
is in the Americas somewhere…but where is Vinson Massif again…?
Not even two seconds went by as those thoughts flew through his brain. But when he
directed his gaze back to his phone…he froze.
"…? What's this?"
Because there was something he was not expecting to see. Displayed on his phone's
screen under the timer in the top-right corner were the question and multiple-choice answers.
This much was no different from what was displayed on the screen above the stage. However,
there was something else displayed above the question on his phone that was nowhere to be
found on the main screen. There were two square frames with Alisa's name written above
one and Yuki's name written above the other.
Uh…? Oh, does this have something to do with that vote from a few moments ago?
Masachika tried tapping on the box and Alisa's name, but nothing happened. The
ambiguity even caused him to forget about the quiz itself for a moment. But when the timer
reached the four-second mark, the mystery naturally solved itself.
"Hmm?"
The number 4 suddenly appeared in the box under Yuki's name, followed by another 4
written in Alisa's box one second later.
Wait. Don't tell me these are their answers…
A wave of bewildered grunts stirred the crowd, provoking the host to tell everyone to
settle down, which immediately silenced the audience.
This must be one of the features of the game… Anyway, I need to answer before time
runs out. I guess I'll go with Kosciuszko, wherever that is. Seems suspicious.
Seeing Yuki and Alisa choose the same answer gave Masachika the confidence he
needed to tap the fourth multiple-choice answer. Another second went by, bringing the
countdown to zero and locking in the answers.
"Time's up! Now, let's get straight to it! The correct answer was…number four!
Kosciuszko! Congratulations to both of our contestants for getting it right! Furthermore,
sixty-eight percent of you all got the correct answer, which means each contestant will receive
thirty-two points!"
…? Don't they usually check the contestants' answers before telling usthe right answer?
Oh! Right. The contestants don't have a screen in front of them, so I guess there's no way
to show their answers to the audience.
The two contestants had ordinary classroom desks in front of them, which were covered
with a tablecloth to keep their tablets from getting scratched. It was an extremely simple
setup, with the cloth hanging down in front of their desk, which was common with trivia
shows, and there was no screen displaying their answers, either.
The questions and answers displayed on the main screen were likely made in advance,
so they probably have no way of showing the contestants' answers. That must be why they
went with this answer form to show the contestants' answers… But still, something feels off…
Although the next question was announced, most of Masachika's focus was on the quiz
research club's puzzling solution to displaying the answers. It felt extremely unnatural and
obtuse, which made him think there had to be something else he wasn't seeing. So he decided
to follow his gut and began racking his brain.
Common sense would tell me that this just allows everyone to base their answers on the
contestants' answers, right? But giving the audience such big hints only takes away from
the fun of the game, right? Is this a feature where you're supposed to just choose the same
answer as the contestant you like? So the survey in the beginning was— Wait. No. If that
were the case, then why show both contestants' answers? Why not only show the answers of
whomever you chose in the beginning?
"Time's up! We have an incorrect answer this time! The correct answer was number
two! Ms. Kujou got it right! Number three, which Ms. Suou selected, was unfortunately the
symbol for steel cans."
Masachika suddenly looked up when he heard the host's announcement. It appeared that
Alisa had already taken the lead.
Good job, Alya. You learn that from one of those trivia books?
There was no way Alisa would lose to Yuki when it came to knowledge that could be
found in simple textbooks, but Masachika knew this wasn't enough to win a trivia show.
Therefore, when he had stopped by the quiz research club to discuss the trivia game, he
casually memorized all the names of the trivia books he saw lying around. He then got copies
for Alisa to study at a later date, which she ended up using to memorize every single fact in
them like a sponge, exceeding even Masachika's expectations.
They most likely pulled a decent number of problems from those trivia books… I'm sure
they modified some of them, but it's nothing Alya can't handle!
Simply watching his dependable partner lifted his mood tenfold; he gazed at her with
praise and support. Alisa, however, didn't notice his stare, since she had her eyes glued to
her tablet and wasn't planning on letting her guard down for even a second.
…She still looks pretty tense, though. I really hope she can remain focused until the very
end…
A bit of anxiety clouded Masachika's heart when he realized that he missed how many
points the last question was worth. Wondering how much of a lead Alisa was in, he
immediately looked down at his phone…and discovered that their score wasn't displayed.
What the…? Their score isn't written anywhere onstage, either. Dammit. Is this going
to come back and bite us in the ass?
He panicked somewhat until the host announced their score.
"All right! That does it for our first topic. The current scores are Ms. Suou, 148 points!
Ms. Kujou, 192 points! It looks like Ms. Kujou has a slight edge over her opponent!"
"Oh, wow. She has an even bigger lead than I thought."
Masachika honestly didn't believe she would already be in the lead after the first five
questions. Unexpected but greatly appreciated, he thought, but it was still soon to get
comfortable yet because depending on the next topic, there was always a high chance of Yuki
taking the lead in the blink of an eye. Alisa was especially ignorant when it came to subculture
and pop culture, so all Masachika could do was pray nothing like that ever came up…
"Let's move on to our next topic! Our next topic for the day is…"
Masachika naturally tensed in fear as the host began to announce the next topic.
"…cuisine! Here is your first question!"
After breathing a sigh of relief, Masachika returned his focus to the curiously displayed
answers of the contestants, since he was sure that Alisa could handle the quiz itself without
him.
This show contains elements related to the election…which means people can use the
contestants' answers to cheer on their favorite candidate. That seems like the most natural
reason for doing this. So would that mean the survey in the beginning was to let the audience
know this was to cheer on their favorite…? But wouldn't this just motivate the audience to
give their favorite candidate a hint if they end up selecting the wrong answer…? Then again,
that is against the rules, so…
Or was it only against the rules if they got caught? Still, the issue here was that it was
unlikely that either of the candidates had realized this mechanism even existed. Plus, the tensecond clock made it hard to have any sort of effective system set up for cheating.
On second thought, if you did manage to tell a candidate about this system, then it would
be an easy enough system to abuse. The candidate could just slowly choose each answer
until their accomplice in the audience gave them a nod when they picked the right answer.
That should work, and it would be subtle enough for someone to pull off without anyone
noticing, right?
A little cheating during the election race wasn't a problem as long as you got away with
it. You could even be kind of obvious about it if you left no evidence. In fact, it could improve
your reputation if you did pull it off without the other person finding out how you did it.
But how am I going to tell Alya all this? That's the issue. Plus, the problems are honestly
really hard, so this might actually not help her at all.
Masachika had been making sure to look up each question until now, but most of them
didn't seem like they were something you could look up online and find an answer in under
ten seconds. In reality, the accomplice would probably have only a maximum of five seconds
to find the right answer online.
Hmm… I guess it wouldn't really be feasible.
But even then, he turned his focus to Alisa onstage, since he figured letting her know
about this was still better than nothing. Having said that, she was still completely focused on
her tablet, never glancing even once in his direction.
…Alya?
A seed of anxiety and panic began to grow inside Masachika when he realized that she
clearly wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her.
Hold up. Relax… How is panicking going to solve anything? If Alya is nervous, then I
need to be the calm one.
He shook his head, shifted emotional gears, and looked back down at his phone.
I should keep an eye on Yuki first. If she's already cheating, then there has to be some
kind of hint of it within her answers.
Once he reached that conclusion, Masachika peered hard at Yuki's answer while
glancing a few times at Ayano to see if they really were up to no good, but neither of them
seemed to be doing anything suspicious.
They aren't acting any different from how they were acting earlier… Besides, I doubt
Ayano has it in her to cheat.
Maybe she could do it if Yuki gave her the orders, but Ayano wasn't the kind of person
who would even get the idea to cheat, let alone be able to pull it off. She was far too pure
to do something so dirty.
"That does it for our second round. The current score is Ms. Suou with 304 points and
Ms. Kujou with 390 points! Ms. Kujou is still in the lead!"
"Oooh!" Masachika exclaimed when he heard the host's announcement. He immediately
looked over at his partner with genuine admiration in his eyes, but Alisa was still far too taut
with tension to notice.
Meanwhile…
I've answered every question correctly so far. All that studying has paid off. I can do
it. I can beat Yuki all by myself.
The extremely short ten-second period for thinking, in addition to the subsequent anxiety
and relief felt once the answer was announced, ended up being far more mentally draining
than Alisa had imagined. The fact that this was only a third of the entire show made her
slightly less confident that she would be able to focus until the very end. Nevertheless, she
fought through her fears and focused on the questions before her.
…That is, until the host announced the next topic.
"Our next topic is trends! Here's your first question!"
Alisa was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of danger that was almost immediately
proved to be well-founded.
"Last year, the TV show Detective Family Holiday took the world by storm. Your
question is: What did the protagonist famously say in episode eight during this scene?!"
…! I have no idea!
Although she had heard of that TV show on the news before, she had absolutely no
idea what it was even about. At the very least, she thought she could guess which line was
right based on the scene, but all the choices were extremely similar. The only difference was
vocabulary used and the order of the words, but all the lines essentially meant the same thing.
Whoever wrote the question expects us to have a general idea of what the protagonist
said, so the question is simply testing if we remembered it correctly… I basically just have
to go with my gut and guess!
The option to phone a friend did cross her mind, but Alisa immediately ruled that out.
I'll be fine. I can beat Yuki in any ordinary topic. Even if she gets the lead on me this
round, I can still pull ahead in the later rounds.
She convinced herself of that while going with her gut to pick an answer, but when the
time came for the host to announce the answer…
"The correct answer is…number one! Oh nooo! Ms. Kujou got her first answer wrong!
Ms. Suou is catching up, folks!"
She got it wrong. The fact was like a heavy weight in her stomach. It was emotionally
devastating whether or not she wanted to acknowledge it, but her iron will wasn't going to
allow her emotions to get in the way.
I'll be fine. I have a one-in-four chance of getting the answer right, so even if I guess
every time, I should still get at least one or two of them right. In addition, if I do get two
of them right, there's almost no way Yuki will outpoint me, even if she does answer every
question correctly.
"Question number two! This mascot has been a huge hit on social media lately! But what
city and prefecture is he originally a mascot of?"
It's okay. Just two questions. As long as I get two correct…
"Question number three! This hot product is used for what?"
It's okay. I can still…
"Whoa! Would you look at that?! Ms. Suou has finally taken the lead!"
Just one more question. If I get this one correct…
......
"That does it for round three! Ms. Suou is now in the lead with 496 points, with Ms.
Kujou still with 390 points! I bet everyone was as shocked and upset as I was to see Ms.
Kujou getting every question wrong this round! This is major! Anyway, that does it for the
first half of the game, so let's see how our contestants are feeling! Let's start with you, Ms.
Suou. That was one impressive comeback."
"Thank you very much. I was quite surprised by how difficult these questions turned out
to be. Are the trivia questions you ask one another in your club always this difficult?"
"No, these questions are actually…"
Even though the host and Yuki were speaking, Alisa hardly heard a word. Her unfocused
eyes stared at her tablet, and she gritted her teeth. Being stubborn ended up only putting her
far behind in points, and it was going to take more than one right answer to catch up. Despite
being prepared for a bad round, Alisa couldn't help but curse her poor intuition after getting
every single answer wrong.
"I try hard to keep up with trends in order to stay informed about others' interests…but
trends are seemingly unimportant to Alya. If I were her, I would have phoned a friend…"
Hearing Yuki call her out snapped Alisa back to reality. She looked up from her tablet
and turned to face Yuki, who was staring in her direction with a very ladylike smile.
"Did you not phone a friend out of pride, even though you knew the topic would be
difficult for you? Or perhaps you only plan on phoning a friend if I do so first?"
Pride… It was pride, but it wasn't her rivalry with Yuki that made her too stubborn to
ask for help. Alisa was doing this for herself, and her pride wasn't going to let her back down.
"…Why did you agree to do this show?"
Yuki blinked in confusion, as if Alisa's question had caught her off guard, but before
she could even get a chance to reply, Alisa continued:
"I agreed to come on thisshow to demonstrate what I was capable of. I want to prove that
I am fit for running for student council president and that I am fit to stand by Masachika's
side. And that's why…"
Alisa grabbed her smartphone off the desk in front of her, then flipped it over as if to
show that she wasn't planning on using it.
"…I don't plan on getting Masachika involved in this. Whether I win or lose this battle
depends solely on me."
Her determination was awe-inspiring, still shining even in the face of despair, and it was
this great pride of hers that captivated the audience.
"I will not rely on anyone but myself to defeat you, no matter what."
The perfectly still audience swallowed their breath when they heard just how determined
she was. Even the host was speechless for a few seconds. Of course, Masachika was no
different as he watched over Alisa from afar.
"Alya…"
He unconsciously muttered his partner's name as she shone so brightly that he wanted
to squint.
Heh… She's so cool.
And he meant that from the bottom of his heart. She was putting everything she had into
improving so she could become the ideal version of herself. Masachika truly felt that her
single-minded pursuit was not only beautiful but admirable as well.
Ha-ha… I guess we don't need to cheat…
He lowered his smartphone with a bit of shame. All he could do now was believe in his
partner, trust that she could turn this around for herself, and watch over her.
Anyway…I had no idea she felt that way.
Masachika himself seemed to be the cause of Alisa's unusual tension lately. In other
words, although he hadn't really taken what Yuki said seriously at the time, she turned out
to be right.
I was only trying to help her with the election, since I have experience, but it looks like
I might have ended up only making her feel cornered.
Looking back, he did feel like he might have been helping her too much. Perhaps his
overprotectiveness made Alisa believe he didn't trust her. Perhaps it made her feel like she
wasn't good enough to do anything on her own.
But you have nothing to worry about… You're always going to be walking ahead of me
and going farther than I ever could.
Masachika gazed at his partner onstage with a hint of sorrow in his heart. She was a
brilliant star in the night sky, and he was but a single spectator watching her from the ground.
It was as if this were some kind of metaphor for the future to come, which drained his heart,
leaving him with a strange sense of loneliness.
"Now, let's move on to the final half of the show!"
The audience erupted with passionate cheers the instant the host announced that they
were resuming the show. There was probably not a soul left in the crowd who saw this as
merely an attraction for the school festival anymore. This was a serious match with two
student council presidential candidates' pride on the line, and the passionate cheers from the
crowd were proof of that.
"Our next topic…is math! Here's your first question! Which of the following is the
correct geometric net for this three-dimensional object? Timer starts now!"
"Whoa?!" exclaimed Masachika at the strangely difficult question. This was obviously
not something you could solve within ten seconds, no matter how you looked at it. Maybe
you could put two of the nets together in your head if you were quick enough. As a result,
both Yuki and Alisa punched in their completely different answers almost simultaneously
when there were only two seconds left to go.
"Time's up! The correct answer is number three! …Oh no! This is the first time both
contestants got the answer wrong!"
"Yeah… Not much anyone could have done about that," said Masachika with a bitter
smirk.
It was essentially a luck-based question, after all.
"Incidentally, only eleven percent of people got the answer right! I guess ten seconds
was a little too short, huh?"
"…What?"
Masachika's smile fell.
Wait… What did the host just say?
A chill ran down his spine, and the clearly unusual comment instantly put Masachika's
slowly drifting brain into overdrive.
Only 11 percent of people got the correct answer? That doesn't seem right. Probabilitywise, you have a one-in-four chance of getting the answer right. But if we assume there were
at least a few people who actually knew the answer, then wouldn't at least 20 percent be
more realistic? There's no way only 11 percent of people got the answer right… Unless…
Unless the people answering were influenced by Yuki's and Alisa's incorrect answers.
"…!!"
The instant it hit him, Masachika's heart began to race. He couldn't even breathe as
something similar to fear shot through his body.
Wait, wait, wait. Then that means…
There was no time to worry about how the quiz was going any longer. Masachika placed
a hand on his chin, getting lost in his own thoughts.
The percentage of correct answers from non-contestants wasn't something they
calculated beforehand after surveying strangers. They're using the audience's answers to
calculate the percentage. In other words, the audience can manipulate the score. But that
sounds like it would be pretty pointless if Yuki and Alya kept getting the right answer… Wait!
How stupid am I?!
There was an obvious way to manipulate the scores to one's advantage, and it was right
under Masachika's nose.
So that's why they have the answers displayed here!
Although an extreme example, what if everyone here copied Alisa's answer? If she got
the answer correct, then the general percentage of correct answers would be 100 percent. In
other words, she would get zero points. But if Alisa got the answer wrong and Yuki got it
right, then the general percentage of correct answers would be a whopping 0 percent, which
would instantly give Yuki a hundred whole points in the blink of an eye. And if that were
to happen, then there would be no way for Alisa to catch up, no matter how many questions
she got right.
Ha…ha-ha… This is a feature of an election. Each answer the audience gives is a vote
that directly influences how many points Alya and Yuki get.
There were probably not that many people in the audience who had realized this…yet.
But what if people started to catch on? How many people in the audience were fans of Yuki?
At the very least, she had far more people who would vote for her over Alisa. Which meant…
I need to get as many people on my side as possible and have them copy Yuki's answers!
That should at least prevent her from getting a huge advantage! There's one more thing I
need to do—
Masachika sprang into action, pulling out the contact list on his phone while turning on
his heel to leave the area.
…Masachika had the right idea, but he made a huge mistake in his calculation… There
was already someone who had caught on to this point system long before he did.
"Sorry, Kuze, but I need you to stop right there."
"Huh…?"
Once he started to walk away, a familiar female student suddenly appeared right in front
of him. Immediately, another familiar face appeared on his left and yet another right behind
him.
"You guys are…"
They were friends of friends, so he had met them a few times before, and there was only
one reason why they would prevent him from leaving.
"I am deeply sorry, Master Masachika, but I must ask you to stop what you're doing."
Right when he heard yet another voice coming from his right, someone grabbed his right
wrist tightly, stopping him from using his smartphone. He immediately looked down to find
a very familiar girl looking up at him with her usual blank expression.
"You… Oh."
Masachika wasn't the first person who realized how the scoring worked, but it wasn't
one of the hundred members sitting in the audience, either.
"I am well aware of how disrespectful this is of me, but I am doing it all for Lady Yuki's
victory. I am not letting you go until this trivia show is over."
It was Yuki's partner, Ayano.
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