Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Aia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 9
The result of the midterm exams had been announced.
Needless to say, my name was among the top scorers this time around. It was a perfect score on two subjects, with an average of over 90% on every other subject. It was a result I would be proud of, if not for the fact it was the result of cheating. It still made me happy, though.
Arisu-chan also had just about the same scores.
She didn’t try for a perfect score across the board again, probably because she didn’t wish to stand out.
Unaware that I had a hold of the past exam questions, I felt some surprised gazes from the students of Class A shoot my way.
“Takashiro, you did surprisingly well. I guess it’s obvious, since you are in Class A, but… did you hold back during the quiz?”
Totsuka came forward. Was he trying to provoke me?
It was pretty annoying. Downright unpleasant. Well, sorry to see your completely true, totally-did-not-cheat score, man!
He looked like he had something else to say, but noticed that Arisu-chan was staring at him, so he felt awkward and left.
Class A boasted considerably high scores. To be honest, the average was pretty amazing on its own despite them not using the past exam questions.
However, with the rumors that other classes scored perfectly, the class atmosphere felt grim.
Perhaps Katsuragi also felt a sense of danger, because he was about to hold a class meeting to plan out future possibilities and countermeasures. We didn’t want to participate in such a thing, though, so we hurriedly left the classroom.
While we were at it, I saw several people who left quietly. It seemed like the cracks in Class A were already beginning to show.
So, how did this happen?
“Sakayanagi, what are you trying to do?”
The location: a Class C classroom.
The interrogator: Ryuuen Kakeru, the king of Class C.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t be a nuisance by trying to play the fool. The past exam questions.”
“I see… did you find 20,000 too expensive?”
“Tch… how annoying.”
Arisu-chan sold the past exam questions to Class C.
But instead of handing it over directly, she asked Kushida to do the dirty work. Kushida did everything, from copying the questions and negotiating with Ryuuen to receiving the points.
Just like that, Kushida bore the entire risk of being confronted by Ryuuen instead.
With her assignment complete, Kushida, who did everything that Arisu-chan asked, was praised. They were supposed to cut the earnings in a 50-50 split, which meant that 10,000 points would go to both Arisu-chan and Kushida, but Kushida refused. It seemed that the praise was enough of a reward for her.
Ultimately, all the classes, except Class A, got their respective past exam questions.
As expected, even Ryuuen couldn’t understand why Arisu-chan had intervened this way, so he summoned us like this.
“I’ve seen the results of the midterm exams. Just from the scores, Class A is clearly unaware of the existence of past exam questions. To think that you would actually betray your class, during the first semester, even. Don’t you think you went too far?”
Ryuuen wrinkled his brows, outright admitting that he couldn’t understand her.
Uwah, to think Arisu-chan managed to make Ryuuen that disgusted.
I was always by her side, so I didn’t realize until now, but…
Ryuuen Kakeru was someone who cared about his people despite whatever he said and did.
He was violent but was more obsessed with the class’ victory than his own personal victory. What a leader-like person.
In this way, he might just be the complete opposite of Arisu-chan.
“Fufu, you’re saying some interesting stuff. I didn’t betray anyone, you know?”
“Then what?”
“I’m just thinking of ways of bringing down Class A’s class points and going through with it. It just so happened that I got all the other classes to cooperate to get there.”
“If you don’t consider that betrayal, then what is?”
Aah, I really don’t get her, Ryuuen seemed to say as he scratched his hair.
One of Arisu-chan’s specialties was to confuse her opponents like this.
Ryuuen was blatantly frustrated, and having seen that, the surrounding Class C students were terrified.
“Is that all?”
“Keh, I pity Class A for having a woman like you among their numbers. If they knew, they’d go crazy.”
“I don’t know about that. I never talked to anyone aside from Haruto-kun in Class A… I’m not really interested in them, after all.”
“…I see.”
Was that so?
Now that I thought about it, it did feel that way.
So that’s why Arisu-chan didn’t consider it a betrayal.
Betrayal was when you turned away from your allies and looked to the enemy.
But Arisu-chan never considered Class A as an ally, strictly speaking, so whatever she did couldn’t be a betrayal.
“Oh well. Sakayanagi, let’s just set aside what to do about you for now. Saying this now, though, there’s no doubt that we’re on two completely different levels. After winning the inter-class battle at the very end, I will crush you.”
“Don’t get too excited. I’m sure I could help you out a little more, you know?”
“I don’t feel good being dependent on a shitty woman like you. Whatever you’ve already done is enough already. Just get the hell out of here.”
“Oh my, weren’t we called here by someone called Ryuuen-kun?”
Arisu-chan provoked him.
“I told you already to get the hell out! If you don’t next time, I’ll kill you.”
“Fufuh, how scary. Please excuse us.”
“Don’t you dare come here again.”
And so, we were kicked out of Class C.
This first encounter with Ryuuen was somewhat surprising for me.
Wasn’t he actually a rather decent person?
But this was just relative to everyone else around me. My standards were Arisu-chan and Ayanokouji, so I hardly got surprised about people nowadays.
But there was one thing that bothered me. Ryuuen was… how do I say this?
When he told us not to come again, he looked a little lonely. Was it possible that he was actually disappointed that Arisu-chan had no intention of getting involved in the class competition?
If that was the case, then perhaps that was why I considered him a ‘decent’ person.
“Ryuuen-kun noticed the past exam questions right from the start. I probably did something unnecessary, no?”
“Considering his personality, I guess there’s no doubt about it.”
Arisu-chan muttered quietly.
Certainly, if it was Ryuuen, he might have noticed it on his own.
Or, it was also likely that Ryuuen already secured the past exam questions on his own. Despite that, Kushida suddenly appeared and said she was selling the exact same thing, so he grew suspicious. Then, to draw the person behind Kushida, in other words, Arisu-chan, out he still chose to play along.
Arisu-chan and Ryuuen.
Their values may have been totally different, but their logic and reasoning might actually be quite similar.
“Ah, Arisu-chan!”
Kushida was waiting in front of our room by the time we went up with the dormitory elevator.
“Hello, Kikyou-san.”
“Let’s go in, hurry!”
Kushida’s was the very picture of a child who was waiting for her parents to return.
She visited our room every three days.
She pretty much just complained or cussed out the world. When her mental state was especially bad, she would definitely come.
Every single time, Arisu-chan would welcome her in, and listen.
“…What?”
Kushida sat on the bed and embraced Arisu-chan tightly.
“I just thought that you’re going to be especially intense today.”
“Shut up. You monopolize Arisu-chan all the time. Let me do this.”
I smiled wryly as I watched the two.
Kushida’s loyalty to Arisu-chan was considerably high.
So much so that I think she would do anything that Arisu-chan asked her to.
“Kikyou-san, you shouldn’t be that harsh to Haruto-kun.”
“Ah… sorry, sorry. That was rude of me.”
After Arisu-chan reprimanded her, Kushida apologized to me.
Yes, it really was like that. Her standards of morality were slowly being replaced with ‘whatever Arisu-chan says.’
Perhaps she started to get dependent on Arisu-chan ever since the day she received too much kindness.
“No, I don’t mind at all.”
Since it would be a problem if she kept bowing her head, I replied silently.
“Fufu, you were able to apologize properly. That’s amazing.”
“Arisu-chan, you don’t hate me?”
“There’s no way I’d hate you.”
“Good girl,” said Arisu-chan as she patted Kushida’s head. What the hell am I watching right now?
I did intend to entrust Arisu-chan to someone else one day, but I never expected it to be Kushida.
What would happen during the deserted island exam? Has she even thought about making a plan for that yet? You wouldn’t be able to meet Arisu-chan for an entire week, you know?
But she wouldn’t know that like I already did.
No, in the first place, what should I do? I had never been separated from Arisu-chan for more than a week ever since I met her. But as expected, the class wouldn’t accept the penalty of two people not participating in the exam. Since Class B was about to turn the tables, Katsuragi was already in a panic. How troublesome.
Anyway, I was worried about Arisu-chan.
Would she get injured if I left her to herself? Would her disease suddenly flare up, just like before?
Memories of the past flashed back to me one after another.
I never wanted to see her tears, now or ever. As I thought so…
“Haruto-kun, are you okay?”
Having not spoken for a while, deep in thought, Arisu-chan peered at me worriedly.
I had no choice but to participate in the exam.
I snapped out of my reverie just as I came to a resolution.
“Aah, sorry, sorry.”
“…Haruto-kun, take care of yourself. You are the only one who can protect Arisu-chan after all.”
Even Kushida was worried.
Oh?
“You actually called me by name.”
“There are three of us who hang out together here. It’s weird if only the two of us referred to each other differently.”
“So that’s how it is. Then, can I call you Kikyou-chan?”
“Whatever you want.”
I was still a little reluctant to call her name directly, so I used “–chan” instead.
Kushida, or Kikyou-chan, still had her poisonous tongue.
After Kikyou-chan left, I was thinking about the deserted island exam again.
No matter how many times I thought about it, I wasn’t convinced.
In the first place, it was annoying to receive the same point penalty as a normal dropout when there were special circumstances that specifically pointed to congenital physical problems. They said it was about actual employee training, but would a company really impose a penalty over the non-participation of a disabled employee?
How irritating.
Even if I asked for a voluntary dropout, I could easily see its refusal over the class’ concern with the class points. Those 30 points were worth shit to me, though. To put it how Arisu-chan would, those points were better lost. Ah, how dull.
I would participate, but I might just snap when the day came.
…Huh?
Wait a minute?
I came up with something while thinking about the dropouts.
It was just the nugget of a thought, but I think it was a good idea.
Hey, it might be unexpectedly simple.
I just need to force nine people from Class A to drop out.
Since they wanted to avoid the point penalty that occurred when I dropped out, I just needed to create a situation where the points could no longer be reduced.
Once that happened, nobody would complain. It was a good idea if I say so myself.
It might be hard for a small fry like me to come out victorious in the exam, but I could mess with the exam itself.
Those who wreaked havoc on the powerful elites came from those who were weakened, after all.
First of all, I guess I need to make a secret pact with Ryuuen.
Then I should do this… and that…
It was getting fun, wasn’t it?
Arisu-chan usually came up with something to entertain me.
It was the time to repay the favor. If everything happened according to my plan, I think the result would be quite interesting.
I didn’t give a damn who won or lost at the end.
As long as Arisu-chan was smiling, all was well.
They were trying to take away that world’s cutest, fearless smile.
I just found that unforgivable. So I would have them pay the price.
There was still some time before then, but I already made up my mind.
Without Arisu-chan beside me, I had nothing to lose.
I would make them learn to fear someone like that.
Author Note:
I already thought about how the deserted island exam would end, but as for things after that…
Everyone, thank you for reading.
Want early access to Cannon Fodder, Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer, and I Was a Man Before Reincarnating, So I Refuse a Reverse Harem? Support the translator on Patreon!
