THERE WERE DOZENS of first- and second-year students gathered in the gym,Most of the people there weren't
second-years, but first-years. I supposed that many students saw this meet-and-greet as an important opportunity.
Since I didn't know who the first-years were at a glance right now anyway, I decided to start by finding out which second-year students were participating in this event.
The leader of Class A, Sakayanagi, was nowhere to be seen.
And while I didn't know ifI could exactly call him a stand-in for her, I did see Hashimoto Masayoshi. Sakayanagi had a disability affecting her legs, so her range of movement was limited, making her slow. Hashimoto played an important part in covering her to make up for that.
As far as I could tell, he was the only person from Class A here.
Furthermore, it didn't seem like he was making an attempt to talk to anyone
in particular. He was probably scouting around to see who got in touch with
whom at this meet-and-greet.
As the organizer for this event, about half of the people from Class B were in attendance, both guys and girls, lchinose included. Kanzaki was there too, by Ichinose's side, supporting her. However, I didn't get the impression that the students in attendance from Class B were those that were either very good students or those who were concerned about their academic prowess.
It scemed Class B had simply chosen to send the more sociable members of
their class.
On the other hand, after briefly looking around, I saw no sign of anyone from Class C around. It was almost as if they considered this meet-and-greet to be totally optional, right from the very beginning.
Through this one event alone, you could somehow see the motives of each of the second-year classes.
However, it wasn't the second-year students who were important to
Horikita today. She was focused on the first-years the people we hardly knew at all.
I was sure that the first-year students, who had only just started here, had no cluc as to what was going on yet. Many of them were probably struggling to wrap their heads around the situation with second-year students suddenly asking to pair up with them.
They shrank back from everyone else
at the event, clinging to their classmates-which is to say, the students that
they were alrcady close with.
Upon seeing that, Ichinose tried her best to expand their circle by making self introductions and casual chit-chat, without really mentioning the special exam. Of course, it wasn't like people were about to immediately open up or anything. Knowing this, she didn't rush things, but instead
approached people slowly, looking at them with a gentle smile on her face.Then their hardened hearts, which seemed to have been frozen like ice, began to thaw.
After only a few minutes of observation at this meet-and-greet, I had a general idea of how things were going to go from here.
"Rather than prioritizing the special exam, she's going about building relationships based on mutual trust, first. That is certainly a very Ichinose-san-like way of doing things. An admirable tactic, and one not everyone can pull off," said Horikita, giving her first impression of the meet-and-greet.
It was unknown just how much Class B was going to make use of this strategy, but it was especially important, nonetheless. What lchinose was doing could only benefit both the first- and second-year students. Horikita called Ichinose "admirable" for putting such a plan into action.
Looking at Horikita's side profile, I could guess at the strategy she must have been
thinking of herself.
"Are you thinking of a similar strategy yourself?" I asked.
"...Yes. A strategy based on using Private Points is too much for Class D to handle. That's why I thought it would be important for us to build relationships based on trust with the first-years. However, we're no match for Ichinose-san in that regard at all. Or rather, I should say, that kind of strategy
is her specialty," said Horikita.
If you wanted somcone to accept you as their partner, you necded to
offer them something. That something could be a lot of different things, like
points, trust, friendship, or a debt of gratitude.
"Ichinose Honami-san from Class 2-B is already quite well-known among many of the first-years. They know her name and face. I'm sure anxious students will flock to her, and she'll live up to their expectations,"
added Horikita.
"Yeah, I think so too," I replied.
They weren't going to bother coming up to us, Class 2-D, people they
didn't know at all.
"But even if we can't duplicate her admirable methods, there are things
we can do," said Horikita.
Apparently, Horikita had gotten some
lof idea from this event. The
crux of that idea probably had something to do with how she was constantly
looking at the first-ycars with the OAA app open. She gave no sign of
wanting to leave yet, continuing to observe the first-years.
I wasn't the only one standing beside her, watching, either. A large
figure moved by us
"But, y'know, all of 'em look like total wimps. Every last one of 'em,"
gruffed Sudou, standing beside Horikita, sharing what he thought about the
first-years.
Sudou had originally planned to head straight for his club activities
right after class today. But because lchinose's request to hold this meet-and-
greet event was accepted, and it was thus suddenly decided that the gym
would be in use until five o'clock, he offered to accompany Horikita here.
Horikita had flatly turned him down, telling him it wasn't necessary for him
to come, but I guess it must have been fine in the end, since he was going to
the gym anyway.
"Don't glare at them for no reason. There's nothing to gain by scaring them," said Horikita.
"I ain't really glarin' or anything. This is just the way my face looks.Anyway, is it really okay for us to hang back and chill like this? Won't the brainy kids get snatched up by Ichinose? What's the harm in just talkin' to 'em?" said Sudou impatiently, suggesting to Horikita that they ought to go and talk to the students sooner rather than later.
Even if a student from our grade level that wasn't in Class B went to
make a move on one of the first-years, Ichinose wouldn't get upset about it. If
anything, I was sure she'd welcome that happily.
"What are you gonna do?" I asked Horikita, since I'd been wondering about that myself.
"Do you really think we can outdo Class 2-B in a place like this, when it comes to socializing?" asked Horikita.
Right now, Ichinose seemed to be emphasizing providing relief for the
first-years over trying to make sure her own class would win. From the looks of things, not a single one of the students from Class B had left yet, and they seemed to be trying to get to know the fist-years better, to deepen their friendships. I bet the first-years had noticed their enthusiasm, too.
"Yeah, I can't really imagine that we could," I replied.
If Yousuke or Kushida were here, we could've stood a chance at schmoozing. I
Maybe. But Horikita, Sudou, and I most definitely lacked t the ability to hold our own, socially. I was sure Horikita was well aware of that fact when she came here.
Just as the discussion was about to begin in carnest, Horikita tookaction
"...Let's go," she said.
Instead of participating in the meet-and-greet, we were retreating.Which mcant Horikita had had no intention of trying to bring any of the first-years over to our side at this event all along.
"You sure that's okay, Suzune?" asked Sudou.
"More than half of the students who were invited didn't come to this meet-and-greet. Those are the students I'm going to negotiate with," said Horikita.
In other words, she was going to target the first-year students who hadn't bothered to listen to lchinose's offer. At the same time, however, the fact that those students ignored Ichinose's offer proved it would be difficult to win them over. They might think they could find a partner by themselves,
based on their own abilities, without accepting a helping hand. Or perhaps
they lacked the courage to comne out to this meet-and-greet. They might even already have a strategy in mind. Whatever the case might be, we could assume many of them probably would be a little eccentric, and hard to deal with.
"For the time being, let's hear your basis for going that route," I said.
Two reasons. As far as I can tell, from what I saw just moments earlier, an unexpectedly high percentage of the students who came to the meet-and-greet were people concerned about their academic prowess. What we are looking for right now, rather urgently I might add, are students who
have at least a B minus or better in academic ability. Meaning, the students
who have enough confidence to do battle without coming to the meet-and- greet," said Horikita.
I see. If that was the case, I supposed it made a certain amount of sense for us to have left the mecet-and-greet.
"Our top priority shouldn't be to pair two A-rank students with one another. It's about coaxing students with enough academic ability to cover for the weaker students in our class to come to our side, to make sure that
absolutev no one gets expelled," said Horikita.
However, even if Cass 2-B did save a lot of the first-years, there would naturally be a lot of them left over. Moreover, Ichinose was probably going to prioritize saving the less capable students over helping the highly capable ones. It was possible that we could have picked up some of the left over students from the meet-and-greet-ones who were better students, to an extent. I assumed her second reason had something to do with that.
"Besides, there was a little bit of a bias in the students who attended the meet-and-greet, regardless of academic ability," said Horikita.
"Bias?"
The fact that none of the students from Class 1-D attended at all," said
Horikita.
None of them had attended? I see. That certainly was a rather interesting bias.
"It seems like you understand, too," Horikita said.
Understand what? What does the fact that none of the kids from Class 1-D showed up mean?" asked Sudou, cutting in.
He cocked his head to the side, not understanding what the significance of their absence was.
"There are forty people in one class. Among those forty are students with poor grades and students who aren't particularly good at communication. And yet, not a single person from Class 1-D participated. The fact that no one had attended is obviously a reflection of the
class," said Horikita.
It was clear that someone was controlling the entire class, and had instructed them not to participate in the meet-and-greet. You could certainly say that was unusual, considering that it hadn't even been a few days since the semester started.
"So, you're sayin' there's already a leader in their class, and that person's kept 'em from going to this meet-and-greet...?" said Sudou.
"If there's a person we can negotiate with who speaks for the entireclass, then it's no longer necessary for us to try and bargain with people individually," said Horikita.
In other words, her strategy was for the students in cach of our classes,
|-D and 2-D, to cover one another.
Okay ,that's all well and good. But if we do that, we're not gonna To asked.
stand: a chance at winnin' this thing, are we?" Sudou
It wasn't a bad idea at all, to keep anyone from getting expelled. But it would probably make it impossible for us to bcat the other classes in overall scores.
You're right. In that sense, I'm not planning to wage war with the other classes this time around," said Horikita.
"I ain't exactly in a position to really say much of anythin' about that, but are you sure that's what you want?" said Sudou.
Yes. Without a doubt," stated Horikita, clearly and definitively.
Although her approach was certainly different, the general idea behind her strategy was similar to lchinose's, from the sound of it. The thinking was that you'd be giving up your chance at a valuable opportunity to get Class Points, a special exam.
Class A's Hashimoto was already leaving the gym, perhaps because he was done snooping around lchinose's meet-and-greet event. Horikita followed Hashimoto, proceeding to the gym exit. Sudou and I followed her. But just before I left, I briefly looked back at Ichinose.
Ichinose, not noticing my presence, was talking to a first-year student with a smile on her face. I was sure she wouldn't hesitate to extend a helping hand, regardless of that student's academic ability score. Even if it was D or E.
She was fighting to prevent anyone in her class from getting expelled,abandoning the idea of achieving victory in this special exam. It was about the same as what Horikita was trying to do, albeit in a different way. Or was it? Was the essence of their strategies really the same?
Yo."
Just as we left the gym, Hashimoto called out to us, as if he had been waiting for us.
"Man, she's the same as ever, isn't she? lchinose, I mean," he said.
"It scems she's prioritizing saving her classmates and the first-years, yes," said Horikita.
"Yeah, for sure. Definitely doesn't seem like lchinose's a threat at the moment. Doesn't she get what a disadvantage it'll be for her to take in a bunch of morons? Man, it's like she's throwin' the game," said Hashimoto
exasperatedly.
There was no way he could have realized Horikita was going for pretty much the same thing, probably because he couldn't even imagine the thought of Horikita giving up on trying to win.
"Maybe it's because she already knew that about the first-years that she was able to set up a mecting like this in the first place?" said Horikita.
"Ah, yeah, I getcha. That's true," said Hashimoto.
"You Class A people... Sakayanagi-san understood without even needing to see the meet-and-greet. The reason she didn't participate was because she already anticipated what kind of students were going to show up here," said Horikita
.
"Well, maybe," said Hashimoto.
Even so, she had probably sent Hashimoto in alone as a scout.
"So, how are you planning to get the honors students over to your side?" asked Horikita.
That's all up to the princess. I'm just following her orders."
With that reply, Hashimoto started to walk away, perhaps because he was satisfied with the brief exchange we just had.
"Don't trust a word that jerkoff Hashimoto says, Suzune."
You don't need to tell me that. Wait, are you familiar with Hashimoto. kur asked Horikita.
"Nope, not at all," said Sudou proudly, arrogantly.
"...I see. Well, Class A has a big advantage simply by being Class A. I suppose it's only natural that they'll have some people flocking to them, to a certain extent," said Horikita.
Having enrolled here, the new students were eventually going to realize that Class A reigned supreme. Even if they didn't know that fact right now, word would get around quickly.
"Anyway, let's hurry. Class D students should still be hanging around at school at this hour," said Horikita, heading towards the first-year classrooms
We were going to see what things were like for Class 1-D. Apparently,she was seizing the opportunity presented to us while everyone else was focused on the mcet-and-greet.
4.1
WE MADE OUR WAY to the floor where the first-year students were-the floor we'd been regularly going to until just last month. There didn't seem to be many students around, considering that quite a few had gone over
to the gym. We looked around and saw several students, from Class A through Class C. Even though we didn't actually call out to them, when they spotted us and recognized us as upperclassmen, they looked away, as if it were awkward or uncomfortable.
I supposed there was no way we'd be welcomed with open arms all that easily, after suddenly setting foot on the first-ycars' floor. There were a few students who didn't seem to mind us, but most of them didn't exactly like the uncomfortable awkwardness of having us there. That would probably be the case tomorrow, and every day thereafter, too.
I was sure that some students, trying to find a partner as soon as possible, would approach first-years at all times of the day, both mornings and afternoons. But that
was a dangerous gamble that might end
up backfiring. Even so, there were students chatting and laughing happily in the
first-year classrooms into which we pecked. Maybe they felt like there was no need to panic about this special exam. Or perhaps they didn't see it as that big a deal yet.
"Well, it seems likea lot of the students who had stayed behind aren't too worried, after all," said Horikita.
"Well, that's nice. And here I'm freakin' out and all," gruffed Sudou.
The first-year students would only have their Private Point payouts suspended for three months i f they scored 1 I five hundred points or less on the exam. That was still definitely a huge loss, of course, but since the initial
deposit into their accounts should have been made right after the entrance ceremony, they probably felt no sense of impending danger.
Just as we were finishing our inspection of Class 1-C, Horikita heard a familiar voice call out to
"Ku ku. You got here pretty late, Suzune."
The owner of that voice was none other than Ryuuen Kakeru, from Class 2-C, staring at us fearlessly. Just up ahead, we could see the classroom for Class 1-D. It looked like Ryuuen had just stepped out of that room.
"Are you here scouting out first-year students too, Ryuuen-kun? I don't recall seeing you at the meet-and-greet," said Horikita.
"It was just a buncha moronic half-wits who got together at the gym, right? I didn't even need to go see it to know that," said Ryuuen.
He had come here looking for students who didn't go to the meet-and-greet, just like Horikita had been planning to do. Judging from the way he was talking, it was clear he was after the top-level first-year students. There had been only about a slight twenty- or thirty-minute difference in our timing, but...
With that much time, it was possible that he had already successfully scouted a number of students. We would be able to check whether each student had settled on a partner at eight o'clock the next morning.
"Relax. Still haven't settled on anybody yet," said Ryuuen.
Not that the other two people with me today would believe him so easily, though. That is, until the app actually refreshed, and it showed what partnerships had been finalized or not for Class 2-C.
"You look like you don't believe me," sneered Ryuuen.
"Well, I'm taking everything you say with a grain of salt, at the very least," replied Horikita.
"Huh, okay. Looks like you've gotten pretty wary of me, huh?"
"Oh? I can't recall ever once not being wary of you before though. Hm?"
"Kukuku! Well, yeah, guess you've got a point there," said Ryuuen.
Sudou glared at Ryuuen, perhaps not liking the mocking way he spoke to Horikita. A normal person would have shrunk back in fear from that glare alone, but such a direct attack wouldn't work on Ryuuen.
"Looks like you've hired yourself a bodyguard. But you chose a dumb one, lady," sneered Ryuuen.
"What'd you say?" huffed Sudou.
He looked ready to fly off the handle, but Horikita kept him in line with a gentle wave of her hand.
"Oh, do you need brains to be a bodyguard? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, hm?" said Horikita.
She didn't avert her eyes from Ryuuen as she delivered that comeback, still holding her hand out to keep Sudou back.
"Are you planning on scaring the first-years? I'm afraid that taking that kind of attitude with them is going to backfire on you," said Horikita.
They would certainly shrink back if they saw Ryuuen strutting about like he was the cock of the walk.
"I figured if I threatened 'em a little, they'd immediately agree to cooperate," said Ryuuen.
Horikita had been going tit-for-tat with Ryuuen so far, dishing back what Ryuuen was giving her. But Ryuuen did the opposite this time, actually affirming what she had just suggested.
"...You're kidding, right? Do you really think that's an acceptable way of doing things?" asked Horikita.
"Acceptable or not, who friggin' cares. What's the problem if someone feels a little threatened? We were told that we couldn't force someone to get a lower score or anythin', but there wasn't anythin' about not using threats to find a partner in the rules," said Ryuuen.
"That's because it should go without saying that it's not okay, without it needing to be outlined in the rules. If there is a problem, you'll be in trouble," said Horikita.
"Then show me where the problem is. I ain't gonna do something dumb enough that it'd get traced back to me, anyway," said Ryuuen.
He was as bullish and cocksure as ever. Not only was he saying it was extremely likely that he'd made good on his threats, but he also stated, quite definitively, that the truth of the matter would never get out.
Whether what he was saying was truth or falsehood, Horikita, too, must have realized once again that Ryuuen would always opt to rule with the iron hand of a military dictator.
"Well, in that case, do whatever you like. But if any evidence should present itself, I will raise the issue, without question. Or mercy," said Horikita.