บท 41: Chapter 41 : Feeling of Wanting to Save
After school, on my way to the entrance, I ran into A-class leader Arisu Sakayanagi. Unexpected final boss, oh boy, my heart's about to stop.
"Oh, it's Horagasaki-kun, what a coincidence," Sakayanagi said, approaching slowly with a cane. But it seemed like Komuro wasn't around today.
"Are you heading home now?" she asked.
"You can tell just by looking, can't you? Yeah," I replied.
"Hehe, sorry for catching you in a bad mood. Can I have a moment of your time?" she asked.
"Well, um... 'Can I?' ... Sure," I acquiesced.
Retreat. I couldn't resist Sakayanagi's pressure, so in the end, I ended up giving her my time. Later, we moved to a café in Keyaki Mall and began our conversation.
"Anyway, this special exam is unreasonable, don't you think? I mentioned the same thing to Ayanokoji-kun the other day. It's quite an odd exam from the school's side."
"I thought so too, but Sakayanagi, do you happen to know the reason behind it?"
"Yes, it's personal, but my father was suspended from his job recently."
Her father? What does that have to do with anything?
"Come to think of it, I haven't told you. My father is a director at this school."
Ah, I see. Perhaps she has already told Kiyotaka about this. But why was her father suspended?
"I don't know the details, but it seems something unfavorable came up for my father. From what I know, my father is not the kind of person to engage in dirty deeds... Perhaps someone is scheming to bring him down."
"...Then why did such a sleazy daughter come from that father?"
Sakayanagi widened her eyes and laughed at my blunt question.
"Hehe, you're an interesting person. There's no telling what's beneath your surface. By the way, it's just idle chatter, but what do you think of Ayanokoji-kun?"
Sakayanagi showed signs of concern for Kiyotaka from before. There must be some connection between them, something I shouldn't delve into.
"A monster... I guess. Well, there aren't many people who can match him in this school. As far as I know, it's only you and Koenji who can...?"
"I see, you seem to hold Ayanokoji-kun in high regard."
"Well, yeah, after spending a year in the same class, you get to know him. By the way, isn't it odd how fixated you are on Ayanokoji?"
"It's a simple matter. He and I are what you might call childhood friends. However, it's just from my perspective."
That doesn't sound like childhood friends, but it's strange. Why does Sakayanagi know when Kiyotaka doesn't? Both of them are excellent, not the type to be born from ordinary people. But why did she call me here?
"The dropout from Class C will likely be Yamauchi-kun, not Ayanokoji-kun."
"You definitely won't be voting for him..."
"Yes, he feels like he's made a promise without any proof, and it's also retaliation for what happened during the school trip."
"...He's an idiot. I mean, destroying someone's life, you're quite something too."
"I take that as a compliment."
She smiled defiantly at me. It seems the A-class was definitely behind this, and they probably intended to frame Yamauchi from the beginning.
"That's true, isn't it? By the way, isn't it likely that Katsuragi from A-class would be the one to expel him?"
"Hehe, there's no need for two leaders in one organization."
Katsuragi is calm and smart. He must have realized he would be sacrificed, but there's also the possibility of him not being expelled but rather drawn into his faction.
"Hey, are you trying to recruit Katsuragi into your faction?"
"Hehe, why do you think so?"
"I just mentioned Katsuragi earlier, and with your intelligence, you would casually say, 'Yes, it's Katsuragi-kun,' and neither deny nor confirm it. And this exam aims to eliminate those who are not useful."
When I conveyed that, she began to applaud.
"Well done, Jin Horagasaki. I didn't expect you to see through it so easily."
"Thanks, coming from someone who isn't good at using their body, Katsuragi is useful, and it's impossible for you to say it's Sakayanagi, but he's somewhat outstanding... It would be a waste to expel him."
"Yes, that's right. I have no intention of expelling him. I already have someone else in mind for expulsion."
"...Well, I won't ask who it is. By the way, who do you think will be the dropout from Class D?"
"It's highly probable that it will be Ryuen-kun. It seems like he's determined not to have anyone from his close-knit class drop out, but will he be able to do it?"
"Yeah, that's true. Anyway, I'm going home soon, so I'll walk you."
"Oh, you're much more considerate than you appear."
"...Maybe I should change my appearance."
Saying that, Sakayanagi chuckled and said that I looked cool as I was. Yeah, that's definitely 100% flattery!
...
On my way back after seeing Sakayanagi off, I walked along the tree-lined path. I passed by a short-haired girl with blue hair and a boy with short, spiky, dark blue hair talking to each other. They were students from Class D, Ibuki, one of Ryuen's close associates, and Ishizaki.
"Damn it... what should we do?"
"...You want to help him, don't you?"
"Yeah, no lies. There's no one else I can rely on now, but... I don't know where he is."
As they noticed my presence, Ishizaki's expression relaxed, and they hurried over.
"H-Horagasaki! Please! Tell us! Tell us how to help Ryuen-san!"
"...Huh?"
"Stop it, Ishizaki. Even if it's you, it's an impossible request to make to Horagasaki."
It seems Ibuki is being dragged along.
"So, Ryuen's in the most trouble right now, right?"
"Yeah, he's in deep trouble. It seems Shina, Albert, and everyone else except us are going to vote against Ryuen."
It's quite a dire situation.
"So, are you guys trying to help Ryuen?"
"I don't like him. But I acknowledge his abilities. Without him, Class D wouldn't function."
Ishizaki must have been oppressed by Ryuen a lot, but still, he wants to prevent his expulsion to this extent. This means Ryuen has some degree of popularity. Indeed, he has charisma, so Ishizaki also admires him.
Frankly speaking, after Ryuen falls, there's no need to be cautious of Class D at all.
"To be honest, I think it's tough, but this time, it's determined by the number of negative votes. Even if a few people send commendation votes, if the negative votes exceed 30, it's meaningless."
"Aiming at the unpopular Ryuen is the least painful."
Ibuki's point is valid.
"But, Ishizaki, trying to help Ryuen means sacrificing other classmates, do you understand that?"
"That's true, but..."
"Then, are there students you're willing to sacrifice?"
"T-There aren't any. I don't want to sacrifice my classmates."
"Then, are you willing to be the sacrifice?"
"W-Why should I! I don't get it!"
"If you don't understand, it's no use. This exam is designed to have dropouts, no matter what."
It's not easy to just say you want to save someone in this exam.
"Isn't Horagasaki right? If you really want to help Ryuen, you should be the first to volunteer to drop out, right? If everyone agrees to vote negatively, maybe we can save him."
Although Ibuki's words are cold, there's a high probability that it would indeed save Ryuen.
"Isn't there any way to avoid dropouts for everyone...?"
"If there was, wouldn't everyone be doing it?"
"I suppose so."
Ibuki sighed shortly, seeming exasperated. She knew from the start that it was an unreasonable request.
"It's a waste of time. Ryuen's expulsion can't be changed."
"Darn it...!"
Ishizaki pounded his fist against a tree in frustration. He wants to save Ryuen, huh? No matter how many enemies he has, having even one trusted friend can comfort the heart. Even though he probably doesn't want to admit it, I think Ryuen has some good friends.
And with that, a piece fell into place in my mind.
"A...?"
"What's wrong? Tell me anything, Horagasaki!"
"So, about Ryuen... That guy has a ton of Private Points, right?"
"Yeah, he should have quite a lot. If he hasn't spent them. But Utsurozaki, I'm not interested in picking up Ryuen's accumulated points."
Ibuki insisted that it would be better to abandon the request than to beg for it.
"What about you?"
"Me? Forget it!"
It seems their ways of thinking differ, but their direction is the same.
"So. Saving Ryuen like this is just wishful thinking."
"Argh!"
Ishizaki looked at me with a mix of anger and frustration.
"What you guys can do is only to collect points. And if you can't even do that, don't talk so lightly about wanting to help. This exam isn't that easy."
"Are you kidding me? Just collecting points and then what, say goodbye? That's impossible!"
Ishizaki clenched his fist tightly and seemed like he wanted to swing it at me. But Ibuki immediately grabbed his fist.
"Stop it, Ishizaki. This guy probably has quite a brutal fighting power. There's no way you can match up."
"Yeah! I know that! But I can at least land one hit!"
"Impossible."
Ibuki gave Ishizaki's head a light tap, and he was left dumbfounded.
"Besides, we made an unreasonable request, and what Horagasaki is saying isn't wrong. So getting all worked up like this is just embarrassing."
"Ugh..."
Ishizaki's blood boiled, unable to contain his emotions about Ryuen.
"Well, for you guys who can't even collect points, this doesn't matter."
With that, they left. They reminded me of Horikita and Sudou.
...…
On the night before the exam, around 10 p.m., I received a phone call.
"Hey?"
"It's me, Ibuki. I've collected all of Ryuen's Private Points."
"Oh, I see. You managed to find my contact info."
I asked, but Ibuki didn't respond. She probably asked someone like Shiina for it.
"Well, if you've collected them, that's great. Then, could you and Ishizaki come to Room 304 now?"
"Huh? Right now?"
"Yeah, any problem? I have something to discuss with you using the collected points."
"Nothing in particular... Okay."
Ibuki agreed and immediately hung up to contact Ishizaki.
About 10 minutes later, the two of them entered the room.
"What the... Why is it so spacious!?"
"I don't know what's going on, Horagasaki..."
Surprised, the two of them, I welcomed them with open arms.
"Welcome to the Panic World! In this Panic World, you'll say, 'Wow, they have Super Smash Bros! And the TV is huge!! They even have a PlayStation!!'... Hey."
"Ishizaki, you shouldn't crush Horagasaki's jokes..."
"Thanks, Ibuki. I'm feeling incredibly sad and happy right now."
"Well, I used up all the points I saved."
That's a lie, but leaving that aside, I quickly changed the subject.
"So, how much did he have?"
"About 5 million."
"That should be enough."
"What do you mean? What are you going to do with the Private Points?"
Ishizaki still couldn't see where this was going.
"You're going to use them for something, right?"
"For something...?"
"Just one thing. To save Ryuen. But Ishizaki, leaving Ryuen aside means you're going to push someone else down... Are you prepared for that?"
"Uh, yeah."
Although flustered, Ishizaki nodded.
"Okay, then. So, who are you going to push down?"
"Uh, that's..."
It seems Ishizaki still hasn't decided who to push down.
"If you can't decide, I'll choose randomly."
"W-Wait a minute..."
Unexpectedly, Ibuki's voice interjected.
"Can I decide?"
"Huh? You, really?"
"Yeah. Because I want to expel someone."
"And who is that?"
I asked straight ahead without waiting for Ishizaki's yes.
"Manabe. I personally don't like her, that's all."
"Can you decide just like that?!"
"Isn't that fine? Is there a problem?"
There was no hesitation in Ibuki's eyes. It seems it's to lower the possibility of Ibuki becoming the target.
"Tell Manabe that there's been some adjustments with the boys' votes and let her in. Say that she was the next highest after Ryuen in terms of criticism, just to make her nervous. I think she'll go along with it."
I see. Ishizaki, who is outwardly set up to have defeated Ryuen, is currently the de facto leader of Class D.
"Well, I might sink as well."
"What do you mean, Ibuki?"
"Most likely, Manabe and the others will write my name alongside Ryuen's. Consequently, I'll also be in trouble."
"Wait! Seriously?"
"You know that Ryuen and I have a bad relationship, right?"
"Yeah, but..."
It seems Ibuki has also made up her mind. If it turns out that it's not Manabe, then there's no choice but to give up.
"Why don't you consult with Shiina?"
"Hiyori?"
"I think she might be able to help in some way with this situation. Just tell her that you want to gather criticism votes for Ryuen to help him. You're connected to Hiyori, right? I doubt she'd employ a strategy of pushing people down."
"Shiina is not stupid, and if you tell her that leaving Ryuen behind is better for the class, she'll probably lend a hand."
Adjust the votes of the boys and girls as much as possible:
- Decrease praise votes for Manabe and increase criticism votes.
- Increase praise votes for Ibuki and decrease criticism votes.
Just with these adjustments, the significant gap seen earlier would be greatly reduced.
"So, what's your strategy with the 5 million points?"
Feeling the pressure from Ibuki's impatient gaze, I took out my phone and sent an email to a certain person. The person immediately read the message, and with less than two hours until the deadline, they managed to hold out and wait... Ichinose.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm preventing expulsions."
"Huh?"
About ten minutes later...
"Excuse meee!"
The two were naturally surprised by the unexpected guest.
"Seriously...?"
"Whoa..."
"Well... I had a feeling someone might be here, but... Good evening."
"H-Hello."
"Don't be shy."
For some reason, Ishizaki seemed a little bashful. I gave his head a light tap. Yes, the visitor to my room was the grade's Madonna, Honami Ichinose. Ibuki seemed to have finally reached an answer after seeing Ichinose.
"It's a matter of mutual interests."
"It seems so, Ibuki-san."
"No one in B Class is keen on helping Ryuen. But there are exceptions..."
"Right... So, Ichinose is the one pulling B Class together."
Finally, Ishizaki seemed to understand.
"Yeah, if you guys are okay with it, I'll ask for cooperation to allocate all the remaining 40 votes from B Class to Ryuen-kun."
If the two collaborate, no one will be expelled from B Class, and Ryuen will stay in Class D. It's a win-win situation.
"What about you, Ichinose? It's up to you."
While Ichinose sometimes agrees with Nanjo's or my proposals...
"I've made up my mind. If you two are okay with it, I'll help."
"You're such an idiot, Ichinose."
"Huh?"
"You're willing to throw away all the points that everyone has gathered, despite being subjected to various rumors."
"If that's the case, then I'll just gather them again. I've realized that it's not impossible to accumulate points close to 20 million in a year."
I acted as a witness during the negotiation, and I also recorded the conversation. The school will have records of the huge sums of money exchanged, so it wouldn't be surprising if it's considered fraud.
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