In the opening three events, Class A had already lost two of them outright.
They had known this exam would be unkind to Class A, but not this unkind, an opening straight out of hell.
Thank goodness Class C had just taken on Class B's math test; otherwise Class A would be staring at 0-3 now instead of 0-2, that would have meant standing at the cliff's edge for real.
And Class D certainly wouldn't have minded giving Class A a push on the way down, one good turn deserves another, after all. It might well have ended 0-4 and out.
Before long, Class D's event came out too: kyūdō.
Kyūdō, huh. Thank goodness it wasn't an English test, if all three classes ended up fielding written events, that really would have been something.
Event: Kyūdō (Class D)
Required participants: two.
Rules: standard kyūdō rules apply; the competitor with the highest score wins.
Commander privileges: may void one arrow and have it retaken.
Class D had chosen this event because the class had a member of the kyūdō club: Miyake Akito.
Ayanokouji glanced at Kamio Tatsuya and chose Class A, but Ichinose refused once again. Next came Class B, and Kamuro refused as well.
Ichinose refused for lack of confidence; Kamuro refused because her mission was to stall as long as possible until Class B drew chess.
And this, naturally, was all part of Kamio Tatsuya's calculations.
When it came to Class C, Kamio Tatsuya accepted directly, exactly in line with his guess.
As for why he chose Class A and Class B knowing full well they would refuse, naturally, it was because Class C had a kyūdō club member of its own: Yoshimoto Kousetsu.
And word had it that Yoshimoto was even a cut above Miyake.
Normally, of course, one goes for the softest target first, so Class A and Class B had to be tried first. Going straight for Class C would have defied all common sense.
But if Class C was picked only after Class A and Class B had refused, then even in defeat, neither of them would suspect that C and D were in league.
In short: until one class had been sent packing, the C–D relationship was better kept in the dark.
With the opponent settled, Kamio Tatsuya and Ayanokouji each arranged for their participants to take the stage.
Two participants, nominally, but everyone knew this would be a duel between Yoshimoto and Miyake, with the other two merely going through the motions.
The kyūdō match moved quickly, and the screen at the front of the multipurpose classroom showed Miyake and Yoshimoto in turn.
The referee appeared to be the kyūdō club's adviser; in any case, everything proceeded in good order.
In the end, Yoshimoto won by a narrow margin.
To be clear, it was a victory won on pure skill, under all those watching eyes, making Miyake fumble into some amateur mistake was never realistic.
Much the same as the text he had sent Horikita just before the exam began.
[Until one class has been sent packing, Class D may fight for wins with everything it has.]
But if your raw ability falls short, don't blame me.
After one round, Class A stood 0-2, Class B 0-1, Class C 3-0, Class D 1-1, Class C led across the board.
Next came the second round of draws.
With the first round as a template, Ichinose quickly settled on her event: the 100-meter dash.
Event: 100-Meter Dash (Class A)
Required participants: two.
Rules: based on standard 100-meter dash rules.
Commander: may order one of the students to run again; the faster of the two times counts as the final result.
Seeing this event, Ichinose's face brightened.
"I designate Class B."
"I refuse!"
Kamuro refused at once, of course, Class B had no one guaranteed to beat Class A's Shibata, and her task right now was to stall. If she could avoid entering an event, she would.
Ideally the three of them would brawl themselves ragged and forget all about her.
Then Ichinose looked toward Kamio Tatsuya.
"Give it up, Ichinose. I'm not accepting a match I'm guaranteed to lose. Aside from me, no one in Class C can beat Shibata, so I won't accept."
At that, Ichinose could only offer a wry smile and designate Class D instead.
Ayanokouji accepted without hesitation, naming the class's ace on the spot: Sudou Ken.
Class A, naturally, sent out their track star, Shibata Sou.
Before long, the screen showed Sudou and Shibata standing on the track.
Though he hadn't gotten to play in the basketball match, Sudou was still brimming with drive.
Shibata, for his part, was the same.
Class A now stood at 0-2; if he lost, Class A would be standing right at the cliff's edge. So while Shibata was just as full of fight, his expression was graver than its usual optimism.
Sudou, by contrast, radiated confidence.
Watching this, Kamio Tatsuya shook his head inwardly.
Shibata and Sudou were actually about even in speed, race ten times and it would come out roughly five-five. But Shibata was clearly carrying mental pressure now, and the odds would tilt Sudou's way.
Bang—!
At the crack of the starter's pistol, the two runners shot forward like arrows leaving the bow.
But Sudou soon pulled a full body-length ahead of Shibata. Shibata chased desperately, yet Sudou remained the faster, holding his lead.
Right up to the finish line, Shibata couldn't close the gap, all he could do was watch from behind as Sudou crossed it first.
"Hey! Shibata! You won't beat me like that!"
Shibata, with no time even to rue his loss, was struck dumb by the words.
"Wh-what did you say?"
"You weren't running at full strength just now, were you?" Sudou suddenly seized Shibata by the collar. "Don't think I don't know exactly what you're thinking. Class A's at 0-2, so you figure you have to win, am I right?"
Shibata opened his mouth, then closed it again, unable to find any words, because Sudou was exactly right. That was, in fact, all he had been thinking: that he had to win.
"If that's what's on your mind in the middle of a race, you'll never beat me."
Sudou released his grip and jogged back to the starting line, he had just been notified that a commander had invoked the commander privilege, and the race would be run once more.
Before long, Shibata returned as well, but something about him seemed different this time. The severity had left his face, and his eyes were full of light.
The pistol cracked, and the second race began.
This time, Shibata's performance was clearly better than before, hanging onto Sudou tooth and nail, neither man able to open a body-length's gap.
In the end, though, Sudou came out a cut above and took the victory.
And the instant Sudou won, the color drained from Ichinose's face.
0-3 now.
One more loss, and Class A would be out.
But this was a battlefield, and everyone in it was an enemy. No one would choose to pity an enemy, striving one's utmost to send them out was, if anything, the highest respect one could pay them.
So no one opened their mouth to comfort Ichinose. Even if they had, the moment a suitable event came up, everyone would send her out without a second's hesitation.
So for now, it was better to say nothing at all.
While all this was going on, Class B's drawn event came out as well.
Event: Rapid Mental Arithmetic (Class B).
Required participants: two. Time: thirty minutes.
Rules: mental arithmetic, contested on accuracy and speed; the class of the student who takes first place wins.
Commander privileges: none.
"Commander privileges: none" again, sure enough.
Seeing this event, Kamuro let out a breath of relief, everything on Class B's side had gone exactly as expected so far.
For the rapid mental arithmetic, Class B's seeded pick was Katsuragi. As for the opponent, Sakayanagi hadn't named anyone in particular, only that if the event came up before chess, he was not to choose Class C.
Beating Class C here and now would, admittedly, have been a good thing.
But there was the risk of Kamio Tatsuya meddling afterward, even at the cost of a loss, he might well make it impossible for Sakayanagi to have her chess match with Ayanokouji.
Class A was already at 0-3. In that case, give them a push on the way out.
Kamuro chose Class A without hesitation, and to everyone's surprise, Ichinose did not refuse this time, accepting directly.
At this point, Ichinose could only stake everything on one throw. She sent out Class A's ace, Kanzaki Ryuji, with Tokito Katsumi as the second participant.
Hm, another Tokito. Reportedly a distant relative of that slicked-back guy.
Not that Tokito Katsumi was being sent out to win at this point, he was there to be cannon fodder.
Class B's approach was the same: their ace, Katsuragi Kohei, alongside cannon-fodder pick Totsuka Yahiko.
Heh. An eye for an eye.
Class B fielding Katsuragi was only natural, this was the very event Katsuragi had signed up for. Class A sending out Kanzaki, though, took people by surprise.
Over the past week, the Class C students had done their scouting, and Kanzaki, for one, had been seen practicing tennis.
Which meant the tennis event Class A had registered was Kanzaki's event.
Not that Kanzaki would get his chance on the tennis court now, if he lost this mental arithmetic, Class A's run ended here.
So the urgent priority was simply to win this one match.
Still, could Kanzaki actually pull it off?
His opponent was that Katsuragi, after all, Class B's former leader, and not the least bit lacking in ability.
By the time Kamio Tatsuya had finished these thoughts, the event was ready to begin.
"There are ten questions in total. The later questions are harder, but worth more points. Only if the top score ends in a tie will a tiebreaker be held, continuing until one side answers wrong."
After the teacher announced the basic rules, the event began.
With both sides in position, the screen started putting out questions. The first: single digits, three numbers, a five-second limit.
Six, nine, one, the answer, sixteen.
A trivial question; anyone whose intelligence was intact could manage it.
The opening questions were clearly just a warm-up.
But the questions that followed climbed steadily in difficulty. The digits grew from single digits to double digits, and not only that; the number of digits increased too, while the time given to compute them shrank.
Question five: three digits, six numbers, five seconds.
Question six went further still: three digits, eight numbers, five seconds.
Yet through all of it, Kanzaki and Katsuragi had answered everything correctly.
Question seven: three digits, twelve numbers, four and a half seconds. Katsuragi frowned, then wrote down his answer.
Kanzaki on the other side, meanwhile, remained utterly untroubled.
Question eight: three digits, fifteen numbers, three and a half seconds.
Question nine: three digits, fifteen numbers, two and a half seconds.
As for question ten, three digits, fifteen numbers, one point six seconds, the time ran out before either of them had even fully memorized the fifteen numbers.
Kanzaki's face showed his regret as he submitted his answer; Katsuragi across from him did the same.
"Final tally, first place goes to Kanzaki Ryuji, with nine of ten questions correct and the highest total score. Class A wins."
He even got question nine right. Impressive, Kanzaki.
For what it's worth, by question eight Kamio Tatsuya had managed to note down all the numbers, but before he could compute a thing, question nine came along, damn it all.
And then he failed to finish question nine.
So this Kanzaki fellow was quite something, huh.
Kanzaki's appearance had earned Class A a point, and Ichinose breathed a small sigh of relief. Whatever happened from here on, at least Class A wouldn't be leaving without a single win to its name.
And seeing this, Kamio Tatsuya felt a twinge of guilt, because next, he would, without the slightest doubt, be the one to send Class A out.
This exam, unfavorable as it was for Class A, did carry one advantage of a sort: the event draw began with Class A.
Unfortunately, both events Class A drew had ended in defeat.
One of them...
After the mental arithmetic ended, Kamio Tatsuya pressed the draw button, and the event that appeared this time was, wrestling.
Event: Karate (Class C)
Required participants: three.
Rules: three minutes per bout; direct strikes against the opponent forbidden; single-elimination format.
Commander privileges: may void one bout and have it refought.
"I designate Class A."
As the words left his mouth, Ichinose sighed.
This time she did not refuse, accepting directly, she understood perfectly well that Kamio Tatsuya had aimed this at Class A from the very start.
Class A now stood at 1-3, right on the cliff's edge. One more loss, and it would be saying goodbye to the competition for good.
Against an event like the one Class C had chosen, the other classes had no real means of resistance. Now that Class C had decided to send Class A out, Class B and Class D were only too happy to oblige.
They would certainly refuse Kamio Tatsuya's designation, and in the end, Class A would still be the one standing across from Class C.
In that case, Ichinose saw no point in putting on a show. A death-throes struggle was simply undignified.
Though leaving first didn't necessarily mean finishing last. Class A at least had one win to its name, while Class B was still sitting at 0-2.
Class A couldn't earn any more points from here, true, but what if Class B ended up with nothing at all?
With these complicated feelings, Ichinose accepted Kamio Tatsuya's designation.
Then she sent three people up: Sumida Makoto, Watanabe Norihito, and Yonezu Haruto. Whatever else could be said of them, at least they had practiced.
Kamio Tatsuya, meanwhile, was thinking, thinking about whom to send up.
Class B stood at 0-2; once Class A was eliminated, it would take only two more matches to knock B out as well. There was no reason to hold anything in reserve now.
So Kamio Tatsuya chose three: Suzuki Hidetoshi, Oda Takumi, and Ryuen Kakeru.
Suzuki had been held in reserve for Class A's tennis event, but with Class A about to go out the door, his tennis was unlikely to see any use.
So he might as well burn off some of that energy here.
The result was self-evident: the match was over before Ryuen even took the stage.
Class A, 1-4. Exit stage.
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