It seemed like we had arrived at Keyaki mall just as we finished the talk about our previous uninhabited island exam.
We had planned to go to the cafe, but something unexpected happened.
"It's so crowded."
The cafe was already full, and there were even more students at the entrance waiting for a seat.
"What should we do? Shall we go to the second floor?"
"Just a minute."
Yagami took out his cell phone and started to operate it.
"I just checked with a friend, and the cafe on the 2nd floor seems to be just as crowded. Since we've to wait either way, why not just wait here?"
It seemed like his friend was already at the cafe, so he got in touch with him right away. A quick decision to avoid wasting time. When we agreed with his proposal, Yagami noticed a student approaching from behind. If we didn't hurry, we'd be pushed down by one more in the queue. And so while holding his phone in his left hand and a pen in the other, he wrote his name and the number of people he had brought on the reservation sheet in front of the cafe with beautiful handwriting. It was particularly eye catching when compared to the sloppy writing written by other students above him.
"Wow, your handwriting is really good, Yagami-kun~"
It was only natural for Kushida to make such a compliment upon seeing it.
Yagami, on being praised, smiled happily.
And then, accordingly, the three of us went to the waiting chairs that had been placed outside the store.
"My grandfather told me that even if I'm not good at studying, I should still be able to write well."
"Your grandpa?"
"Yes, because my grandfather is a calligraphy teacher."
"That's amazing. I don't have much confidence in my own writing."
Despite what she said, it wasn't bad at all, as I remembered seeing it a few times. Although not as elegant as Yagami's refined handwriting, I remember it was a round style commonly used by girls, which was pretty nice.
It seems like Yagami was a student who didn't show off his abilities at all. Even though his grandfather mentioned something about being bad at studying, he got an A in the OAA evaluation for Academic Ability. He was an honor student who wasn't obnoxious, and he gave me the same sort of feeling as Yosuke did.
After a while, a table of four became available, and we sat down after ordering.
"Actually— You might think, why I am talking to you after all this time, but there's something I want to tell you, Ayanokouji-senpai. There's a special exam that only a very small of 1st year students have been informed about. You already know about this, right? "
It seemed like Kushida hadn't received any explanation beforehand, and she listened to Yagami with a dumbfounded expression. This limited special exam was, of course, the one where the person who got me expelled would receive a bounty of 20 million points. From his tone it seemed like he had first hand knowledge of this fact, instead of having a surface level understanding from a rumour. I decided to be prudent about this, and just waited.
Neither confirming nor denying, I simply waited for Yagami to continue, and he nodded his head, in understanding.
"In April, I received a notification about this. However, since I wasn't interested in getting paid for setting people up, I decided not to participate."
It's true, Yagami hadn't done anything to me. Though, it wouldn't have been surprising if he had paid a little attention to me upon learning about the bounty, but it seemed as if he hadn't been aware of my existence until recently.
"Why are you telling me now?"
"I recently heard that Housen-kun had failed in his first attempt. However, Ayanokouji-senpai's left hand was injured in the process. I wouldn't have been surprised if he did something inhumane but this was beyond my expectations."
"Well, there's really no denying it."
Kushida's gaze alternated between me and Yagami, listening attentively, desperately trying to understand what was going on. It looked like Yagami was going to be telling me everything.
"There's another reason that prompted me to decide to tell you all of this."
After saying that, Yagami paused for a moment before continuing.
"For the sake of protecting the first year students, I was going to be a complete bystander. However, if I don't do anything about it, Ayanokouji-senpai… depending on the situation there's a possibility that the situation will also affect your classmate, Kushida-senpai. That's why I asked Kushida-senpai to help me out."
Kushida raised her left hand in embarrassment upon hearing that, and asked.
"Excuse me, I have no idea what you guys are talking about…"
"Can I continue to talk like this?"
"I've got no right to stop you."
Yagami asked her to come with him because he seemed to be worried about her.
Even if I had stopped him from saying it here, Yagami would have told her later without me present, so there was no point in that.
"Then I'll start from the beginning so Ayanokouji-senpai will know the entire story. It all started when I was contacted by President Nagumo of the student council. He instructed that one or two representatives were to be sent from each class and would secretly gather in the student council room. Actually, we were summoned there shortly after entering the school."
The keyword 'student council' leaked out of Yagami's mouth.
"The first year students there were Takahashi Osamu-kun and Ishigami Kyou-kun from Class A, me from Class B, Utomiya Riku-kun from Class C, and Housen Kazuomi-kun and Nanase Tsubasa-san from Class D. A total of 6 students."
If what he said was true, it was valuable information. Those two people from Class 1-C weren't simply striking conversation with me by chance. What was most intriguing though, was that Amasawa's name didn't appear on that list.
"The special exam was to get the 2nd year student Ayanokouji-senpai expelled from the school."
"Eh?! To get Ayanokouji-kun expelled?"
Yagami nodded at the surprised Kushida and continued.
From Kushida's expression, I could make out that she didn't have any foreknowledge on this matter.
"The deadline was the beginning of the 2nd semester, and you could use any means. In addition, we weren't allowed to tell anyone about the special exam. However, since Utomiya and I were the only participants from our classes, we were allowed to tell one person in our classes about it to make it fair, but I didn't tell anyone. Utomiya might have told someone though."
In other words, 6 or 7 people from their grade knew about this special exam.
"The student council president Nagumo-senpai told the six of us that he'll give 20 million points to the student who got him expelled."
"Th-that's a lot of points… I-is that sort of thing allowed?"
The exam was a surprise to Kushida who heard about it. Until now, I've been wondering how much I should trust Yagami, but he didn't seem to be lying. Nevertheless, if his lies were to reveal themselves, it would directly lead to the breakdown of my relationship with him. And if the interests of our Class 2-D were to be jeopardized, Kushida would be affected as well.
"It's no wonder that you're surprised, Kushida-senpai. Back in April, we didn't have a deep understanding about the school, but now it's very clear. This is an unusual special exam. That is what I've judged it to be, and that's why I arranged to meet you here."
The explanation has more or less come to an end, and Yagami took a deep breath and picked up his cup of tea.
After learning about the 20 million points bounty on my head, Kushida asked Yagami a question.
"Isn't it a bit strange that the student council president is conducting this special exam on his own…?"
"Yes. I too think the problem lies in how I expressed it as. I'm calling it a special test, but it would be easier to understand if you think of it as a challenge that President Nagumo made up on his own and gave to the first year students."
The possibility existed that Nagumo was involved in this matter. This also gives Horikita a clear direction to proceed. However, just when I thought he wouldn't easily reveal his involvement in this, it was leaked by someone unexpected.
"Wh-why is it Ayanokouji-kun? Are there no other students apart from him?"
"As far as I know, it's only Ayanokouji-senpai. As for why it's him, I don't think there's a specific reason behind that. President Nagumo said that the student was selected at random from the 2nd years'. It was a simple game of chance, 1 in 157."
For Yagami, who didn't know Nagumo's background, this was not something he could understand.
He didn't even doubt that it was a random selection. Of course, the chances of me being randomly selected wasn't zero. Although judging from the current situation, that was impossible.
However, would Nagumo be prepared to spend 20 million just to get me expelled? From our interactions so far, I didn't think he was someone that would do something going to such lengths as that. No, actually, he would do anything once he decided on it, but, his evaluation of me shouldn't be so high.
"Even if it's the student council president conducting this special exam on his own, how was he able to prepare 20 million points?."
I prodded Yagami in order to explore any further possibilities that remained.
"Yes. Although it might not sound good… Could it be a lie, a joke? I really can't believe he prepared 20 million points for an exam from an unknown source like this."
Even Kushida seemed a bit uneasy when faced with such a huge amount of points as 20 million.
Even if it was a student council president who offered that kind of money, it would still be suspicious.
"It really is a lot of money. I now know just how difficult it is to save up that many points. However, when I first entered the school, he was the student council president from the 3rd year, and a member of Class A, therefore he seemed more trustworthy than the average student. Above all, I held the naive perception that he could've easily accumulated those many points."
Even though the amount of points had decreased this year, all first years were still given 80,000 points when they entered the school. The points would again be given to the students every month The dormitories were well equipped and clean, and there was a shopping mall that was almost exclusive to students. There were shops everywhere. It was like a utopia, and my sense of money was greatly distorted, something that I had experienced last year.
"In fact, I've already confirmed with my own eyes that he has 20 million points."
It wasn't surprising that a person like Nagumo would have that many points.
"But wouldn't you feel a little disagreeable about participating in a special exam that wasn't officially recognized by the school?"
"Apart from the disagreeable content of the exam itself, there's nothing else unpleasant about it. I think that other than me, all the other students welcomed it. It's being treated as a legitimate special exam."
"I've never heard of a student council president issuing a special exam before."
"No, it's not because we trust the president of the student council that we're participating in the exam."
"Eh…?"
"When the student council president announced the exam, the acting director was also present."
Tsukishiro's likely involvement finally revealed itself.
It was now confirmed that Tsukishiro and Nagumo were the ones behind the 20 million points.
"Under that situation, it's only natural for one to accept it as a special exam without any qualms, right?"
"If the Acting Director was present… Yeah, that would be the case."
A special exam to get a student expelled. Just hearing about it would raise all kinds of suspicions.
However, the presence of the acting director dispelled all those suspicions.
"That's all the information I have about this matter."
"Although I'm grateful that you told me about this, you might be putting yourself in some unnecessary danger by doing so."
It's useful information for me, but it wasn't so good for Yagami.
"Yagami-kun, will you be alright? If this conversation is exposed…"
"It's fine, Kushida-senpai. I didn't hear about any punishment for talking about this to anyone."
Yagami smiled without a worry.
"Plus I'm already prepared to be hated by the 1st years, because I'm going to have to face the other classes sooner or later."
It seemed like he was ready to take them on. Yagami Takuya of Class 1-B was a more defensively minded fighter, but depending on the situation, he was also the type to preemptively strike as a self defense measure.
Though it was unclear how much Yagami understood his current situation. There were many students huddled in one corner of the shop. One of them, a female student, kept on looking here from time to time. Since she was right behind Yagami, he probably didn't notice her.
It was Class C's Sakurako Tsubaki.
As soon as we were seated, she appeared, and managed to secure a good lookout position in the crowded store.
Then she took out her phone, and seemed to be talking to somebody over it.
Was her purpose me… Or was it Yagami who was amiably chatting with me? Either way, she now knows that I've been in contact with Yagami. Whether it be by chance or choice, this was not a favorable situation for Yagami. It would be hard to escape the watchful eyes in the narrow confines of the school. Not to mention if one person wasn't sufficient they had an entire class to back them up in their surveillance. This was proof that a battle among the 1st years was unfolding, and that their competition was getting more and more intense.
"Please be careful, Ayanokouji-senpai. It's entirely possible that there might be other students who broke the rules, to tell others, just like I am doing right now."
"Taking that into consideration, who do you think I should watch out for?"
"Yeah. Generally speaking, Housen-san from Class 1-D is someone you need to be alert against. His complete disregard for the rules is very troublesome."
It seemed like even the first years knew how dangerous an individual Housen was.
"But apart from that, there's actually another person…"
Yagami, while saying that, hesitated a little.
"Forget it, we should stop here."
"Eh? Why? I'm concerned about this."
Yagami smiled bitterly and said.
"I feel like this isn't something I should be telling you senpais. If I list the names of who to watch out for, they'll of course be marked by the senpais. While I think that is important for you to know, I don't think it's fair to them if I tell you, although I already marked Housen-kun."
It's true, that if he mentioned who in what class was dangerous, Kushida and I would take suitable precautions.
We would also warn our classmates to prepare accordingly.
"Although, I'm not entirely sure yet. It's just a guess based on my feelings."
Even though he was also their opponent, Yagami seemed to want to fight fairly.
"I'll try to investigate in the next special exam. Once I'm sure that he's a threat, I'll tell you, Ayanokouji-senpai."
Looks like he would need to confirm for himself how dangerous that individual was before telling us.
"Be careful, Yagami-kun."
"Yeah. Also… after the exam on the uninhabited island is over, can I meet you alone for a bit? I'd like to talk to you, Kushida-senpai."
"Ye-yeah… Sure, about what…?"
Kushida said so while pretending not to understand entirely, but even I, who was rather slow to understand such things, noticed more or less what was going on.
The way Yagami looked at Kushida was different from the way one would normally look at their senpai.
"In any case, your information was very helpful, Yagami. Thank you."
"No problem. I felt bad that you were the only one at a disadvantage, Ayanokouji-senpai."
"I also have to thank you too, Yagami-kun, thank you very much."
"You saying that, is more than enough for me. If Ayanokouji-senpai drops out of the school, it's going tobe very hard on your class, Kushida-senpai. I really want you to graduate from Class A."
There aren't many 1st year students that I've been able to talk to for this long.
Yagami who did that looked to be nothing more than an ordinary honor student.
Usually, I was on guard when approaching someone, wondering if they were the White Room student or not, but among the first years I've met so far, he was the most natural of all the 1st years I've met so far. He never asked me for anything in particular, on the contrary, he has never hesitated to provide me with useful information.
Of course, that doesn't rule him out, but if he was from the White Room, he was an opponent I wouldn't want to face.
However, I highly doubt that the people cultivated in that facility can really become so natural in such a short period of time.
For now, let's make the most out of the information Yagami gave me.
"There are even more people now. Now that we've finished talking, I'll be going first."
"You have plans?"
"No, I just want to stay out of sight from the other 1st years."
It was the right thing to do, although it's too late now. I thanked him once again, and Yagami left.
After that, I stayed there with Kushida.
"You've got a good kouhai in him, Kushida."
"Well, as far as I'm concerned, it's kind of a pity. This wasn't the kind of development I wanted."
Kushida said, stroking the rim of her cup with her index finger.
I didn't say it, but it was obvious what she was thinking.
If they had graduated from the same junior high, he would have known about her past.
"He also knows, Yagami-kun."
Kushida simply told me what I wanted to know.
"Is that ok? Telling me something like that."
"It doesn't make a difference either way."
"In other words—"
"I'll have to get rid of him as soon as possible. Yagami-kun, that is."
There was a strange sort of determination in her eyes as she looked at me and whispered that.
Yagami looked like he admired Kushida, but that wasn't enough to let him off the hook.
I suppose she would never look kindly upon someone who knew her past.
"It would be harder to eliminate an underclassman compared to Horikita and I."
"That only depends on the method."
From her tone, it sounded like she already had a plan.
"The more arrogant you are about your own excellence, the more simple you are. Horikita-san and youself are no exception to this."
"Didn't you agree to a ceasefire?"
"Only for now."
Kushida looked like she wasn't going to let up, but I myself didn't think that the ceasefire alone would be enough to be rid of her.
"But since I kept losing to you, I will keep quiet for 'now'."
After that, she pushed her chair out, and prepared to leave.
"See you later, Ayanokouji-kun."
"Yeah."
Since there was no reason to urge her to stay, I simply watched as she left.
Through that speech, I also learned that Kushida seemed to be up to something beneath the surface.