Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Kiro
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 64
Finally, the time for me to act separately from Arisu-chan had arrived.
As I passed through an old school building made of wood, all the male students were gathered in a gymnasium-like place.
After waiting there for a while, the teacher instructed us to create six small groups for each grade year. After the teacher told us they wouldn’t be involved in the group selection at all, the discussion began with dividing into each grade year. Since I didn’t feel motivated, I decided to just wait and see.
Immediately, a quarrel broke out between Class D, led by Ryuuen, and our Class B.
“I don’t care about the exams, but I can’t team up with people of Class D. They are inferior to humans.”
“What the hell did you say, you bastard?!”
A male student got furious at Totsuka’s rant. These guys were so low-level at insulting to the point I thought they were elementary school students. The majority of students, including me, looked at the two stupid people with disdain.
I wonder if she will be okay…
While the two’s argument intensified, the only thing that came to my mind was Arisu-chan.
Wouldn’t she feel cold? Wouldn’t she get injured?
This situation where it wasn’t possible to contact each other through cellphone amplified my anxiety.
“Haruto, what’s wrong?”
There was a student that talked to me. It was Kiyotaka.
“…Aah, I can’t help but worry about Arisu-chan.”
“I see. I had expected you to have such a concern… but considering the nature of this exam, there’s not much we could do to help. At least I have instructed Kei to be in the same group as Arisu. Kushida would naturally go there as well.”
“Eh, really?”
Kiyotaka looked disappointed since he couldn’t help much, but that was a pretty big help. Putting aside past Kei-chan, the current Kei-chan was a trustworthy person. She would be able to help Arisu-chan, so she was a reassuring ally.
In addition, if Honami acted as I said, the girls who were close to me would be together in the same group. I couldn’t help personally so it couldn’t be helped, but other than that, it was pretty much the best possible combination.
“I’m sorry I can’t help much.”
“No, there’s no need for you to apologize. On the contrary, I really appreciate what you did. Thank you, Kiyotaka.”
I ignored the noises around and requested a handshake with Kiyotaka.
At that moment, something shocking occurred.
“…Fuh, you haven’t changed.”
Although it was just a little, Kiyotaka clearly smiled. I was so surprised that my eyes went wide. I’ve known this guy for quite some time, but it was the first time I saw him smile like this.
It was just as Kiyotaka said, I haven’t changed at all. Rather, I think Kiyotaka was the one who started to change. The inorganic existence that only sought his victory was trying to evolve.
As I thought, solving the problem involving his father was a big factor. I wonder what Kiyotaka would become now that he earned his freedom… Even though his situation changed, my interest in him never ended. He was really an interesting person.
“A friend in need is a friend indeed. Recently, I started to think so.”
“No doubt about that.”
Thanks to him, I felt a little better. If I was all alone, I was sure I would be restless. I realized that having someone who would listen when I was worried was very valuable.
Even as we were chatting, the discussion didn’t progress at all.
Seeing the situation didn’t improve, Hirata of Class C made a proposal.
“Everyone, we’ll all be expelled if we never decide on groups. Please listen to my suggestion for a moment. I don’t mind you deciding whether to accept it or not after hearing it.”
“…You’re right. Let’s hear it out.”
Katsuragi agreed with that. Maybe others also thought it was bad at this rate, so they finally became quiet.
“Thank you. First of all, I believe that the members of the four classes have to be distributed as evenly as possible. As you may have heard from teachers, the more members of the different classes in the same group, the more rewards would be received. Conversely, even if the rank is poor, the penalties won’t increase. Because of this rule, it is overwhelmingly more profitable to have the group made of students of four classes.”
What Hirata said was correct. The system of increasing only the positive reward was undoubtedly beneficial to students. Moreover, it gave an exceptional 3 times the points earned if the group consisted of 4 classes. Considering the overall benefit, it was better to increase the number of participating classes per group as much as possible.
However, that was only in theory. In such a discussion, human emotions… the factor of illogical elements couldn’t be left out.
“It’s not like I don’t understand what you’re saying, but I’d like to be spared from being grouped with the monkeys of Class D. This is the problem before getting more points.”
Totsuka was getting carried away today. It seemed he couldn’t feel the surrounding gazes that were implicitly telling him to stop acting like a leader. I guess it couldn’t be helped since he wasn’t a person with a wide field of vision.
…It was kind of amazing he could talk big despite that. Did he forget the entire Class B were practically slaves of Honami now?
“Okay. In that case, we will only group the members of Class B according to their wishes. We will make a group or two that don’t include members of Class D and those who don’t wish to be grouped with Class D could go there. If you can accept that compromise, I think we can proceed.”
I was frankly impressed with Hirata, who immediately made such a compromise. Although I didn’t have an opportunity to interact with him, it seemed he was a very competent person.
As Totsuka fell silent, the atmosphere suggested that the majority didn’t mind things decided that way.
“Aah, I agree with Hirata’s plan. Let’s listen to Totsuka-chama’s selfishness just for this time.”1
Ryuuen, who had been quiet until now, finally raised his voice. Upon hearing the mocking tone, Totsuka’s face turned red, and he began to get angry.
“Screw you. You must be thinking of something cowardly anyway, right?”
“Shut up. You guys are like living corpses who have become puppets of Class A. Small fries should just live quietly in the corner like small fries should. Or would you prefer I make you unable to open your mouth right here and now?”
Totsuka was unable to continue upon feeling Ryuuen’s intimidating glare. He was so lame. Everyone present recognized the two belonged at different levels. Well, there was no way mere Totsuka could do something to Ryuuen.
The policy had been decided. All that was left was just deciding who entered which group, so it shouldn’t take much time. It could be said that it was all Hirata’s achievement. There was no doubt that he was the MVP of the day.
For the time being, I decided to join the same group as Kiyotaka.
It seemed Class C had already decided how to divide their group, so Hirata and Kouenji came to us.
…These students were conspicuous in a lot of ways. That said, it was good in the sense it wouldn’t feel boring. We would live together for a week. So it was better for the members to have thicker personalities.
People of Class A and Class D also came with 3 people each, so they were evenly divided. As for people of Class D in this group… it turned out I was all alone. This was a little surprising. Even though they had a rough fight during the sports festival, it seemed that not all students of Class B completely rejected people of Class D like Totsuka. With Hashimoto as the first on the list, there were a certain number of students who could think calmly.
“They didn’t want to group with Ryuuen-kun no matter what. I guess that’s how it is.”
Hirata muttered as if he was convinced while he looked at the group of Class B students.
I looked at the person who was the reason for all this. He had a fearless smile as usual.
Indeed, Ryuuen was in my group. By that point, many students consider this group as NG. Regarding this matter, it was no longer a matter of which class he belonged to. He just earned too much hatred…
“Personally, I’m more surprised that three people from Class A actually came to this group.”
“It’s the instruction of our boss.”
The next person Hirata spoke to was Kanzaki of Class A. In their class, Honami’s order was absolute. Even though many students there hated Ryuuen, they couldn’t go against their ruler’s decree.
“…Ichinose-san is amazing.”
Hirata had a slightly complicated expression as if he had something in his mind.
After that, the person in charge was decided smoothly. It was because Hirata nominated himself and everyone else accepted it.
In the end, the appeal I made back on the bus turned out to be in vain, but the goal of not becoming the person in charge was achieved without much effort, so there was no problem. Since it was possible to end up pushing responsibility to one another, I think it was good enough to lay the groundwork as a risk hedge.
After finishing reporting to Mashima-sensei, I tried to leave in haste. However, I was stopped by a certain student’s voice.
“I have a proposal for the first years. Why don’t we form a large group right away?”
The owner of the voice was Nagumo Miyabi. Although I thought it was troublesome, I returned to Hirata.
Perhaps it was a surprising move for the teachers as well, so they were preparing in haste. Hey, you should have expected it… it seemed there were many people who only worked based on manuals.
Nagumo’s proposal was extremely simple. The six representatives of small groups of first years would play rock-paper-scissors and then nominate the senior group in order of their victory.
“The amount of information we have for the first year is small. It lacks fairness.”
A third-year male student interrupted the conversation. It was the former student council president, Horikita.
Since I wanted to withdraw quickly, I was annoyed by the act of prolonging the discussion uselessly.
“No, it doesn’t matter even if it’s unfair. In the first place, I have no idea of what constitutes fairness. Even if we didn’t do rock-paper-scissors, the representative of each group would decide the large group based on personal relationships. Does that mean that is not unfair to Horikita-san?”
It seemed he didn’t expect I would actually intervene as Horikita’s brother made a startled expression.
Nagumo grinned and looked at me happily. The gymnasium fell silent.
Since I wanted to finish it as soon as possible, I continued to speak even though I was irritated.
“Anyway, let’s decide quickly, Nagumo-san. Also, why don’t we have the first-year nominate both the second-year group and the third-year group at the same time? Having to do the order selection twice is troublesome after all.”
I looked straight at Nagumo’s eyes and conveyed my intention.
“Haah… you’re really a ridiculous guy. Okay, since Takashiro said so, let’s go ahead with it. Do the other first years have any objections?”
I would kill anyone who objected. That was what I thought, but fortunately, nobody did.
Ah~ I want to see Arisu-chan’s face. Was her heart alright? Did she fall somewhere?
My head was already full of my dear girlfriend. When could we meet?
The group selection through rock-paper-scissors proceeded smoothly.
Hirata came second, and he selected Nagumo’s group and the seemingly competent third-year group that was recommended by Nagumo. Horikita’s brother’s group was selected by Sudou’s group.
Thinking that it was finally over, I tried to quickly leave the place.
“The seniors have gone, but can I have a little of your time?”
“Eh, no way.”
Nagumo called out to me, but I didn’t give a damn. I coldly refused and left the gymnasium.
I ignored the teachers’ gazes and ran in the direction the girls were taken earlier.
Haah, we can finally meet…
I hadn’t seen the room I would be sleeping in yet, but that was a low priority for me.
This exam wasn’t worth much. Taking care of Arisu-chan was my life’s work.
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