Chapter 4
School Trip: Third Day
THE BUS DEPARTED from the ryokan at 9:00 a.m., arriving at our destination less than 50 minutes later.
The bus stopped near the Sapporo Station, the place where we would start our day. The Sapporo Clock Tower was located here, and there were many points of interest for tourists. As usual, we were divided into groups, but there was one difference from the previous days.
The school gave us a little test. Within a time limit (until 5:00 p.m.), the group must visit a total of six spots from a predetermined list of 15 destinations, in any combination. The group must take a commemorative photo when they arrive at the designated photo location. This process was to be repeated. Groups that intentionally split up their members to collect points or groups with students who act selfishly and fail to act in solidarity wouldn't be able to complete the tour.
The only condition for disqualification was if a group visited fewer than six spots within the time limit. In that case, the students would be deprived of free activities on the fourth day of the excursion, and a study session would be held in the ryokan until 4:00 p.m.
Each spot was assigned a score, and the group that accumulated a total of 20 points or more in the six spots will be rewarded with 30,000 private points. However, the group was allowed to decide whether or not to pursue the reward, as the score will not affect the disqualification.
Also, if the photo wasn’t clear enough to identify the person, it wouldn't be valid. Whether or not the students were aiming for a reward was another matter, but if they wanted to enjoy tomorrow's free time to the fullest, they needed to work hard and cooperate with each other to visit the designations.
There were no restrictions on the number of times students could use public transportation, but cab rides were prohibited. Students were also required to keep a record of how they visited the sites. I’m sure many of them would be happier if they had free time to do whatever they wanted on this third day, but I don’t think it's a bad idea to walk along Hokkaido under the conditions given to us by the school.
If the students were only given free time to do whatever they wanted, the school trip would end with a limited number of sightseeing spots and skiing. I’m genuinely looking forward to touring Hokkaido.
When we got off the bus, we were handed a pamphlet. It was the school's own pamphlet, and it seemed to contain some of the places we should visit.
Locations worth 1 point consisted of the Sapporo Clock Tower, the Sapporo TV Tower, and the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art. Nakanaka Island Park and the Hokkaido Shrine were worth 2. Sapporo Enmaruyama Zoo, Hokkaido Museum, and the Sapporo Central Wholesale Market were 3 points. Moerenuma Park and Shiroi Koibito Park received 4 points. Moerenuma Iwaizan Mountain was 5 points. Sunpiaza Aquarium scored 6 points. Sadajiyouzanzankei Onsen (hot spring) was 7 points. And Lake Utonai, also known as Shikotsukotsu-ko, was 8 points.
Note that it didn’t end when you arrived at the spot.
For the Sapporo Maruyama Zoo, you must enter the zoo and take a photo with a polar bear or the polar bear pavilion in the background to complete the spot tour.
“I’m not surprised. It's very typical of this school to do this...” Kushida got off the bus and said this to no one in particular.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, hey, I'm sorry, I didn't notice you at all.”
I don’t see how that’s possible seeing as I was right here, but she wasn't looking at me while speaking. She turned his head around and smiled.
“It hurts to know that if I don't do it right, I'll lose a whole day to study sessions. I wonder if the reason they let us have a whole day of free time yesterday without any restrictions had something to do with this tour.”
“That may be so.”
Now the question was what choice we, the sixth group, would make. The tour had been explained to us before the trip, but we had just been told on the bus that it would be like a test with free time at stake, and that we would be rewarded with private points. In other words, the group's policy was not set at this time. It was inevitable that there would be cases where groups moving for the private point reward wouldn’t be able to meet the time limit, and this was a risk that must be taken.
Some groups seemed to stay where they were and discuss the matter, but most of them started walking in the same direction.
“After all, it looks like many of the groups are heading for the Sapporo Clock Tower, which was just a stone's throw away.”
One strategy was to go for the high-scoring Utonai Lake, but it was risky.
“It would be more efficient to discuss it while walking.”
As for the high road, as Kushida said, the first safe route would be to go from Sapporo Station to the clock tower, take photos at the designated spot, and then head down Oodori Street Park to the TV tower. It was time-efficient, cost-effective, and allowed you to visit two spots. However, at this point, I wasn't sure if it was ideal for the process of aiming for more than 20 points.
Later, all eight members of our sixth group also finished disembarking.
“I just did a quick search on the map app, and it looks like even if we could use a cab, it would take us several hours to visit the six high-scoring spots.”
Even with full use of public transportation, it would be impossible to visit all the high-value spots in the time available.
“Does anyone here know anything about Hokkaido?”
Watanabe asked the members of the sixth group, but there was no good answer.
I, like the other students, had no knowledge of how to travel in Hokkaido or the most efficient means of getting around, so I couldn't derive where it was efficient to go without doing some research.
“Hmm. Even if I tried to give a route on a map app, I wouldn't even know where things are, so the order would be messed up.” Amikura seemed to be typing in destinations at random as she struggled with the map app.
Since the spots were scattered to the east, west, north, and south of the station, she would have to start by figuring out their location. There was no guarantee that the spots would be accessible by public transportation, and there was no guarantee that the school hadn't listed a nasty, difficult spot on the brochure.
“Even if we get private points, it's still only 30,000. Since we're going to tour the area, why not forget about the reward and just have fun?” Watanabe's suggestion was one of the better options.
If we only went to visit places to earn 20 points in time, our enjoyment would be reduced by half. There would be no time to relax and enjoy the local scenery.
“So I'm thinking that we don't have to go overboard.”
“I think I'd rather not go where we have to, either, personally. I'd rather go to the zoo or something.”
Students who normally stayed inside the school didn't have the opportunity to go to the zoo or aquarium. It was natural for them to think that they shouldn’t waste the opportunity.
“Let's ask everyone where they want to go and gather ideas first.”
Amikura proposed that we start by asking for places to go, ignoring the scores. Six of us, including me, easily agreed to abandon the scoring and leisurely tour a minimum number of spots. However, this was something that needed to be discussed and decided by the entire group.
The opinion of Kitō and Ryūen, both of whom had neither agreed nor disagreed so far, remained.
“What do you think, Kitō?”
Watanabe asked Kitō, who remained silent up to this point.
“I have no objection.”
Watanabe and the others were relieved when they received a favorable response to their question.
Now there were seven in agreement. The last one, Ryūen, didn’t reply.
“Uh, well…”
Watanabe hesitated to ask, so I decided to ask and confirm the answer.
“We all agreed. Can we take your silence as agreement?”
But Ryūen had declared that he would accumulate 800 million points. The answer was obvious.
“I'm going to score.”
A simple reply, in other words, a direction at odds with the seven of us. Of course, it was up to each individual to decide what he or she thought of this spot tour.
I'm sure some groups would prioritize the tour for the sake of private points. However, when opinions diverged like this, additional discussions were inevitable. Watanabe became further frightened, so I decided to continue listening to him.
“Let's just ask him why, shall we?”
“Of course, it's a matter of private points. I don't think it's just 30,000.”
The points each class gets would be 60,000 for the two of them combined. It's only a speck in the 800 million ratio, but it's also a steady step forward.
“There's no reason not to pick up the money that's falling in front of you. You guys need to just shut up and follow.”
While there was a risk of running out of time or not scoring enough points due to mismanagement, there were basically no disadvantages to this tour. If you followed the guidelines and completed the objectives, the school would give you private points. In other words, there were only benefits. It’s certainly true that not taking what you can get is a loss. Of course, there was no way that Kitō would remain silent about his aggressive attitude that ignored the will of the other seven students.
“You want all of us to obey you for your satisfaction?”
“For sure. Is there something wrong with that?”
“That's a blatant disregard of democracy. In this case, I think the issue should be decided by majority vote.”
“Don’t make me laugh. Since when did this group become a democracy?”
“I don't understand your obsession with pennies in the first place. You seem stupid to me.”
“Then what would that make you?”
I no longer counted how many times they’ve bickered. No one was able to interrupt the clash between Ryūen and Kitō.
“I think you rejected the group's agreement and spoke up just to stir things up.”
“Actually, you might be right. It's funny to see you get pissed off.”
If I let the two of them continue talking, we would soon be heading in a dangerous direction.
“You also need some private points to use public facilities. If we deduct that, we won't end up with 30,000 private points per person, so even then?”
I didn't know the exact amount at this point, but some expense would be necessary.
“Even so. Even if the reward drops to nearly 20,000, I'm not going to give up on it.”
I noticed that we were the only group left around the bus.
“We're wasting valuable time while we do this. You know that, don't you, Kitō?”
He was trying to make him concede. Such was the strong pressure from Ryūen. Of course, there was no way that Kitō would remain silent with this comment, which only seemed to add fuel to the fire.
“I refuse. If you insist on getting private points and ignoring the opinions of everybody else, I won't cooperate with your tour of this spot. In other words, not only will you not get your private points, but you'll be deprived of your free time tomorrow.”
Apparently, Kitō was determined to resist completely and declared that he wouldn't accept Ryūen's wishes. So he strongly protested once again.
“Kukuku, you're the one who will be in the minority, Kitō. They'll have no choice but to follow me after a while anyway.”
Are we going to start a contest of patience from now that would do us no good? The best way to move Ryūen, who wasn’t going to budge, was to steer Kitō in the direction of collecting private points. 30,000 wasn’t a bad deal for the six of them, and it wasn’t completely disadvantageous.
Besides, if they were guaranteed free time tomorrow, they could make up for the sightseeing they couldn't do today.
If the six people, excluding Kitō, leaned toward Ryūen, that would be the majority opinion.
“Even if all of us are forced to follow you, I will not follow you.”
If that happens, it would make Kitō the villain by 7 to 1.
“If you're going to destroy the group by yourself, maybe it's worth giving up on the money?”
“I hope so.”
Kitō showed no sign of flinching, as if he was used to being the villain.
“Oh, calm down, Kitō!”
Watanabe, who had been timid up to this point, had no choice but to interject.
“Then you're going to have to talk Ryūen out of it, aren't you?”
“Uh...” Watanabe wondered what to do.
“Yes, that's right. Hey, Nishino, as a classmate, knock some sense into Ryūen, will you?”
“It's easy to give him a hard time, but there's no way he'll change his mind. I won't do anything unnecessary.”
I guess Nishino, who had known him for a long time, could already predict the outcome.
She was in a mood to concede early on, saying there was nothing she could do now that it had come to this.
“Hey, can I have a word? What do you think we should do about this situation?” Kushida tugged on my arm, and after pulling some distance, she asked me a question.
“I thought it would be safer to follow Ryūen-kun, but Kitō-kun has ended up like that as well. That said, Ryūen-kun won't budge if I go along with Kitō-kun. They’re really selfish people.”
They were both called out, as if their negative aspects were on display.
“It's not like there isn't a solution.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“It's just that I'd rather not recommend it if I could.”
“Can you tell me in a nutshell?”
“What Ryūen wants are private points, no sightseeing required. What the seven of us want, on the other hand, is to go where we want to go and enjoy the sights. Kitō's opinion is also on this side.”
“Yes. They're at odds with each other, aren't they?”
“Then the seven of us should just cut our losses. If we, excluding Kito, raise 5,000 private points per person and donate them to Ryūen, there will be no complaints, right?”
“Oh, I see, that's one way to solve this problem...”
But Ryūen might not be satisfied with only him receiving 30,000 private points. I continued to talk to Kushida about the risks. When this group receives their reward, each class would receive 60,000 private points. That means that, at the very least, he would collect 30,000 from Nishino, who was also in the same class. Even if Nishino declined, Ryūen would demand the money in order to line his own pockets after all.
In that case, the five of us would have to pay 60,000 private points, or 12,000 private points per person. There would be some resistance to paying that much for the sake of sightseeing.
“It's not cheap... Right?”
What was supposed to be a tour that could only result in a gain in the first place would turn out to be a loss. It was doubtful whether we’d be able to honestly enjoy the sightseeing afterwards.
It would also set a bad precedent for the majority of the group to give in to the aggressive stance of the minority.
“And worst of all, we have to consider the risk of them asking us to give them more.”
“Huh? That kind of bullshit... This is so bothersome.”
“That's what I'm talking about.”
“I understand what you mean, Ayanokōji-kun. That's why I don't recommend it.”
“I think it's best to come to a decision without anything of the sort.”
“It's not easy to have a peaceful discussion, or rather, it's impossible.”
Certainly, it was unlikely that Ryūen or Kitō would easily give in, and it was inevitable that they would be stymied.
“That's right. It's basically a contest of endurance already? We'd have to push ourselves pretty hard to collect more than 20 points, right? It's going to be tough if we waste 30 minutes or an hour here.”
So the strategy was to let them use up this time arguing. But that choice also encompassed a number of problems.
“If Ryūen decides that we don't have enough time, there’s no guarantee that he’ll maturely enjoy visiting the locations and sightseeing after that. It'll be a failure in the end. I'm pretty sure that tomorrow's free time will be gone.”
“Oh, I see.”
There weren’t many steps we could take here. We had no choice but to take some risks and try to put it all together.
“I don't want to waste this precious day either. We're going to have to endure the pain to get things going.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
I came to one conclusion, but before I did, I realized something important. The proximity between Kushida and I was maintained for too long, even if it was to avoid being overheard by those around us.
The fact that only Kushida and I were having a private conversation was clearly highlighted.
“You’re dating Karuizawa, aren't you?”
Watanabe said with a bit of a glare. Amikura also gave me a funny look as we walked back.
“It was a strategy meeting. Right, Kushida?”
“Of course. I just talked with Ayanokōji-kun.”
Saying that, Kushida quickly moved away from me. It was an over-acting gesture, as if she was blatantly walking away from someone she didn't like, and it wasn't very pleasant.
But it seemed to satisfy Watanabe and the others, so I guess it was the right move. I regained my composure and approached Kitō, who was still glaring at Ryuen, and Ryūen, who was looking at his cell phone without a care. I then turned my back to them and faced the other five.
“I have something I want to confirm with you all again, except for Ryūen and Kitō. I want to recount the opinions at this point. Do we prioritize sightseeing or private points? If anyone has changed their mind on the latter, please raise your hand. You don't have to worry about the mood at the moment, just indicate your intentions.”
Watanabe and the others all looked around to see what the others were doing, but none of them wanted to raise their hands. I could tell by their demeanor that none of them seemed to be lying.
In other words, no one agreed with the policy of prioritizing tourism aimed at obtaining the required score.
“So what? I ain't gonna change my opinion no matter what you say, Ayanokōji.”
I knew he didn't care whether he had any allies to support him.
“Sorry, but I need to talk to the five of you right now.”
I quickly shifted my gaze from Ryūen and turned around to continue talking to the other five.
“Since we're in this situation, I've concluded that all eight of us will never be able to come together, and that it's a waste of time to talk about it.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
Nishino, as someone who wanted to do some sightseeing, made no attempt to hide her dissatisfaction.
“It doesn't have to be like this. Individual opinions should be respected as much as possible, but as a group, only one-eighth of the right to decide is in effect. Kitō's opposition to Ryūen is only one-eighth of the total. Even without my opinion, the five of us here have five-eighths of the right to decide, which is more than half.”
“I know that, but that's why we're in trouble, isn't it? Whether it's one-eighth or five-eighths, we can't move forward unless we all make the same choice.”
“Yes, that's right. However, it’s undeniably the five of us who have the right to decide what to do about this situation. If you don't agree with Ryūen's methods and ideas, you don't have to follow them. In other words, we can make him give up the choice to get private points. We can drop the idea of visiting the spots now, and each of us can do our own free sightseeing.”
“You mean we're going to abandon the free time tomorrow?”
“Correct. Even if we follow Ryūen's plan here, there’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to go to the places the group wants to go during tomorrow's free time after all. If we insist on not leaving the inn, at that point, this group won't even be allowed to go out. On the other hand, we’re promised freedom today.”
“But only until 5:00 p.m., right?”
“That's not true. 5 p.m. is for the group that's going to be touring the spots and planning their free time for tomorrow. We have the right to do as we please until curfew, when we have to return to the inn. And we can do whatever we want as individuals. We can even join a group that has our good friends. The school can't fault us for that.”
To abandon the fourth day and turn the third day into a day of completely free activity that no one could restrict.
“This is the absolute authority that only the five of us have. It isn't up to Ryūen or Kitō to decide what to do, so I want you all to consider this proposal.”
“I agree.” Kushida looked into the others’ eyes without unnecessary conversation and was convinced that their opinions were united as one.
“Ryūen-kun, we’re still not going to try to win private points. We all want to discuss where we want to go together today and have a fun day. If you don't want to go with us, we'll probably have to go our separate ways from here on out. What happens after that is just as Ayanokōji-kun said. Maybe tomorrow we'll all get along and have a one-day study session.”
Nishino laughed at these words, and Amikura, Watanabe, and Yamamura nodded their heads, as if they were ready for the day ahead.
In response, Kitō's lips turned up at the corners, but only slightly.
“That's a good proposal. I'll take you up on it.”
Kitō, who had been opposed to Ryūen up to this point only out of rebellious spirit, now sided with the five of us. With everyone having come to a conclusion, the ball would effectively be passed to Ryūen for the first time.
He could either follow Kushida’s opinion and give up the private points, or rebel and ignore the plan. Either way, he wouldn’t get the private points he wanted. On the contrary, he’ll even get a study session tomorrow as an added bonus.
“You've gone the extra mile, Ayanokōji.” He expressed his dissatisfaction in words, but he didn’t seem to be truly dissatisfied.
To those around him, though, it must’ve seemed like he was putting up a front.
“I'm not going to come all the way to a tourist destination to study. I'll listen to you.”
I wondered how far the line would be pushed, but Ryūen backed down. If he could’ve gained private points by breaking up the group, he would’ve done so without hesitation. As it turned out though, there was no gain, so he avoided trouble.
After that, we, the sixth group, followed the school's instructions and went on a tour, visiting spots around the city center and the zoo that we wanted to visit.
As a result, we got less than 20 points, but it was a meaningful and satisfying experience.
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