2-2 chp4 part 3

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 had failed to account for the rush.

"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 use it with his left hand.

"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. He unhurriedly moved us one place further down the queue. 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. His handwriting was much better than the 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. My handwriting isn't very good at all."

Even though Kushida was modest, you only needed to see her handwriting a few times to know that it wasn’t poor at all. Although not as elegant as Yagami's refined handwriting, I remember it was a round style commonly used by girls, which was beautiful.

It seems like Yagami was a student who didn't show off his abilities at all. Even though he said he wasn’t good at studying, he got an A in the OAA evaluation for Academic Ability. He was an honor student that wasn’t disliked by others. He was on the same level as Yosuke.

After a while, a table of four became available, and we gave our orders.

“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 limited number 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 find out his stance regarding this, and listened further.

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, I won't deny it."

Kushida's gaze alternated between me and Yagami, listening attentively. She was trying to understand something she didn't quite get. If this continued, Yagami would be talking endlessly.

"There's one more... reason why I decided to tell you this."

Looks like there was another reason why Yagami didn't tell me earlier.

"For the sake of protecting the first year students, I'm going to be a complete bystander. However, if you 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'm going to tell you everything I know here."

Kushida raised her left hand in embarrassment upon hearing that, and asked.

"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.

"Then I'll start from the beginning so Ayanokouji-senpai can fully understand. It all started when I was contacted by President Nagumo of the student council. He instructed that one or two representatives from each class would secretly gather in the student council room. Actually, we were summoned there shortly after entering the school."

From Yagami, I got the keyword "student council."

"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.  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 I found out he was lying, our present and any future relationship we might have would be finished. If Class 2-D suffered losses, 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."

After explaining to a certain extent, Yagami took a deep breath, and brought his cup to his mouth.

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 the expression. We are 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."

Nagumo might be involved in this. Investigating this was one of Horikita's goals. 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 like this."

Even for Kushida, 20 million points was a huge amount.

Even if a student council president 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 secluded paradise. Last year, we had that same feeling of affluence for a short while.

"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."

That was the root cause, the existence of Tsukishiro.

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, it might be dangerous for you."

What he said today wouldn't do Yagami any good.

"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 started talking, she had appeared at the store, and managed to secure a  good lookout position in the crowded store.

And 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.

"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. If you think about it, Housen-kun of Class 1-D is the one you should watch for. He's a troublesome opponent who doesn't care about the rules, and uses extreme tactics to achieve his goals."

As I expected, even the first years knew how dangerous an individual Housen was.

"But if I'm only going to designate one person—"

Yagami, while saying that, hesitated a little.

"Forget it, we should stop here."

"Eh? Why? I’m curious."

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.

Yagami believed that as competitors, we should fight fairly.

"Although, I'm not entirely sure yet. I am guessing that he too might be dangerous."

"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? I'd like to talk to you, Kushida-senpai."

"Ye-yeah... Sure, about what...?"

Kushida obscurely agreed to it, but, even if I was a bit slow, I still noticed it.

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 suffering, 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 weren't many 1st years who could keep me engaged for this long.

Yagami who did that looked to be nothing more than an ordinary honor student.

I often think of the student from the White Room, and after meeting various students, 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.

Can a person who grew up in that facility become so natural in such a short period of time?

Anyway, let's make the most out of the information Yagami gave me.

"There are even more people now. So I'll be going first."

"You have plans?"

"No, I just want to stay out of the other 1st years sights"

It was the right thing to do, although it’s too late now. I thanked him once again, as Yagami left.

After that, I stayed there with Kushida.

"You've got a good kouhai in him, Kushida."

"Yeah... But it’s wasted on me. This wasn't the kind of development I wanted.”

With that, Kushida wiped the edge of her cup with her index finger.

Although she didn't say anything, 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.

She looked like she admired Yagami, but in reality, she still treated him as her enemy?

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."

It sounded like she already had a plan.

"The more arrogant you are about your own excellence, the more boring you are. Horikita-san and you are no exception to this."

"Didn't you agree to a ceasefire?"

"Only for now."

I had never let my guard down against her from the start, but from the look on her face I could see that she was to fight me no matter the odds.

“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.

I realized that Kushida was once again up to something sinister beneath the surface of her charming exterior.