An invitation
As the prelude of the Uninhabited Island Special exam came to an end, skirmishes flared up from place to place, However these were but the final remnants of what was an extremely tense period. With only one week left, the group formation stage was entering its climax. By this point, more than 90% of the students at the school were in small groups of 2 or 3, and now their fates were bound together. Ishizaki, Matsush*ta, and the others who had invited me to join their groups had gradually given up on trying to do so. After all, the later you formed a group, the more danger youâd be in.
I wonder what the remaining 10% will decide to do by next Friday. While I was pondering upon that, I received an email. It was a little after 9:30 AM on a Saturday morning, and the sender was Ishizaki from Class 2-B. Iâve been in touch with him a lot lately, but this time, the content was different from what I usually received from him. He asked me to come to the cafe as Ryuuen was calling me. The wording of the email didnât make it seem like a request, so I guess they werenât giving me a choice in the matterâ¦
Of course, I could have turned him down, but then they would hold Ishizaki responsible for that. Although I had plans to hang out with the Ayanokouji Group today, they were thankfully for around 1:00pm, so this probably wouldnât affect that. So I got ready, and 15 minutes later, I was on my way to Keyaki mall.
15 minutes would be enough to get there on time. As the group formation stage was just about coming to a close, it seemed like Ryuuen was breaking the silence he had maintained and was finally making his move.
As of now, Ryuuen hasnât formed a group with anyone. It is possible that he would invite me to his group, but I donât think it was likely. Following this line of thought, Iâm interested in what he would say beside that.
On my way to the Keyaki mall, I ran into Kanzaki, who was probably on his way back from the convenience store.
Two 2-liter plastic bottles could be seen in his plastic bag.
âGoing to Keyaki mall at this time?â
âI wonât have any time to relax after the exam starts, after all.â
Since I had time to spare, I went up to him to talk.
âIt seems like most of the people in Class D have formed groups, but youâre still on your own?â
âUnlike the others, I donât have many friends, so.â
I was hoping to exchange a few jokes and have a light conversation, but Kanzaki remained serious.
âYou and Horikita, are both of you going to act as reinforcements for your classâs groups? After all, excellent students could leave their mark in any group during the exam.â
Recently, as Kanzakiâs opinion of me rose, he also became more wary of me. Therefore, to him that mustâve seemed like the only possibility,
âAt least for now. Youâre still solo, Kanzaki, so that must mean youâre performing that role as well.â
Class Câs Kanzaki was the same. He hadnât teamed up with anyone yet.
âAyanokouji, Ichinose seems to trust you a lot, but can âweâ really trust you?â
âIf I said you could trust me, would you, Kanzaki?â
âIâd consider it, at least.â
The bottles chilled the air around them and water droplets condensed on them.
The summer heat of over 30 degrees mercilessly came down upon us.
âAlthough weâve broken off the alliance, I donât consider Ichinose to be an enemy.â
I told Kanzaki seriously. That wasnât a lie.
âThat statement leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Are you saying you donât consider Class C to be an enemy?â
I thought Iâd be able to sneak that past him with that, but Kanzakiâs guard was higher than Iâd expected.
âKanazki, what do you want from me?â
He seemed different than his usual self, almost like he was trying to push me into something.
If I saw the direction he was trying to lead the conversation, I could get an idea of what he wanted.
âAre you trying to get some sort of statement from me and have Ichinose to listen to it?â
âYou⦠Ichinoseâ¦no, we underestimated your perceptiveness. When we first met, I had this weird feeling, but I couldnât quite put my finger on it. Finally, I can clearly see what it was. Youâre the reason Class D is making such great progress.â
âWho knows?â
âIâm simply going to come out and ask you for help. Ichinose trusts you a lot. That is why I want you to tell her yourself: the way she is right now, she isnât good enough.â
A drop of water from the plastic bag fell to the ground as he closed the distance between us.
âSo youâre expecting that to change the way Ichinose thinks?â
âThatâs right.â
âSorry, but I canât help you. Iâd like to keep seeing her own way of dealing with things.â
âSo you want to see us, your enemy, fall?â
âI canât fault you for reading too deeply into it, butâ¦â
I thought about it for a moment. At this stage, What fate awaited Ichinose was anyoneâs guess. However, when sheâs fallen so far the next fall would surely be her lastâ¦
Just for a second, I was conflicted as to whether or not I should tell Kanzaki what I was thinking. However, I immediately stopped myself. Doing such an unnecessary thing I hadnât accounted for wouldnât improve the situation.
Rather, it would only end up contaminating them.
âWell, fundamentally speaking, one has to care of their own class by themselves. Isnât that right?â
ââ¦Yeah. I might have been too childish.â
Kanzaki bowed his head to me, as if he was regretting his actions.
âI was going to come up with a solution on my own. But I thought there was a way to fix the problem without doing that, that there was an easy way out, so I tried to take it.â
Kanzaki walked back to his dormitory after saying that.
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As he was running out of options, he mustâve become desperate. But, as they say, a cornered rat can even bite the cat.
In the next special exam, Kanzaki will also stand in our way as a formidable opponent.