Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e - Volume 6 - Chapter 2.1

2.1

THE SECOND SEMESTER continued.

My surroundings changed bit by bit. Class D had made it through major events like the uninhabited island and the sports festival, and slowly but surely, we were coming together as a class. People’s friend circles gradually expanded, and soon people who had never seen eye to eye were getting along. Our classmates also began to show marked academic improvement.

Even our problem child, Sudou, was changing for the better. Before the sports festival, he’d slept through class as if it were no big deal. He often slept in late, came to class late, and chatted during lectures too. Now, he attended properly and actually took notes, probably because Horikita checked in on him after. He still got sleepy on occasion, but that was probably because he put in intense practice for the basketball club.

He also softened his rough treatment of Ike and Yamauchi. He probably didn’t want Horikita to deem him a brute if he lashed out. I could understand why he’d be so motivated to change his ways.

So, Sudou was maturing, and people’s opinions of him began to improve. However, he wasn’t the only one changing. I saw it in myself too. 

Whether that was a good or bad thing remained to be seen.

“Are you by yourself?” someone asked, pulling me from my musings.

“Is it bad to be by myself?” I asked.

Horikita appeared to chuckle at me. “Your dear friends Ike-kun and Yamauchi-kun haven’t been inviting you out much. Isn’t that right?”

It was lunchtime. Ike and Yamauchi had left the classroom with the Professor in tow, heading toward Keyaki Mall. I thought I’d maintained a Buddha-like calm, but Horikita apparently saw through me. Yeah, that was probably one of the changes I was going through. After the sports festival, my two closest friends had invited me to hang out much less often. Actually, it was more like they’d completely cut me out.

“It’s hardly surprising,” Horikita said. “They used to think that all of you were in the same terrible-student boat. Then they discovered that you were actually hiding remarkable physical ability.”

“What remarkable physical ability? I’m kind of fast on my feet, that’s all.”

“Very fast, especially for a student. What else? Aah, they also probably noticed that you scored much higher than average when you measured your grip strength. You understand, don’t you? People tend to fundamentally resent those who excel. In your case, though, they resent you because you concealed your excellence.”

She didn’t have to tell me these things. I understood them to an extent, though it was hard for me to put a finger on how I excelled, exactly. I had really thought that being “kind of fast on my feet” was the truth.

Horikita sighed. “Well, enjoy your life of solitude.”

With that sarcastic remark, she left, her long hair swaying as she exited the classroom. Even though she was usually all alone, too, her dignified conduct was worth at least a little respect. 

As Horikita left, Karuizawa, who was still in the classroom, cast a strange look in my direction. However, as our gazes met, she moved her eyes away again as if it had been nothing out of the ordinary. There was clearly some meaning in the look, but she followed it by getting up and leaving right behind Horikita. 

Karuizawa’s short, fluttering skirt caught my attention. It was a little shorter than the other students’ skirts. In cases like those, one or two centimeters made all the difference in the world.

“What’s she…? Well, whatever,” I muttered to myself.

“Hey, Ayanokouji-kun.”

I didn’t know Satou’s first name. She was the same kind of fashionable gyaru as Karuizawa. She got along with Ike and Yamauchi and even me back when she was in our group chat, but she and I hardly ever talked in the day-to-day. It seemed as though Satou wanted the kind of social clout Kushida had, but she wasn’t all that popular with the guys.

Still, Ike described her as “the sort of girl who’s used to being around guys”—based on her outside appearance, no doubt. I got the impression he’d rejected her. A man’s feelings are rather complicated, I guess.

Right now, Satou seemed to have been waiting to get me alone. She glanced around the room as if anxious.

“Do you need something?” I asked. I didn’t know what else to say, considering how odd it was.

“Uh, yeah. Several things, I guess.” She evaded the question. I couldn’t guess what she was getting at. I knew too little about her.

“Well, it’s like this. Can I borrow you for a bit? I want to talk.”

This was strange. I steeled myself and put up my guard. It was easier to summon up the courage to accept her request than to summon up the courage to turn her down.

“Well, it’s just…” Satou began. “Is it okay to do this somewhere else?” Before I could answer, though, she got up and walked out of the classroom. It seemed like she’d expected me to acquiesce.

I followed her.

Just as I left, Sakura made a sound, as if she wanted to say something. “Ah…” However, no words came out of her mouth. She didn’t follow me, either. 

Satou and I went into the passage that led to the gymnasium. It would probably be crowded after lunch for practice or play, but since everyone was off eating right now, it would be deserted. That made it the ideal place to talk. She clearly didn’t want anyone else to witness this. 

Satou stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder. “I’m going to ask you something odd… Ayanokouji-kun, are you going out with anyone?”

“Uhh, what do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean exactly what it sounds like. I’m asking you if you have a girlfriend. Do you?”

At this yes-or-no question, I would have to say no. Though saying as much would reveal just how unpopular I was, I couldn’t exactly lie. “I don’t.”

“Hmm. I see. Well, does that mean you’re looking for a girlfriend right now?”

She didn’t ask it like she was making fun of me, or inquiring out of pity. Actually, she had a small smile, as if she was happy. I started to understand where our conversation was headed. Was this a trap? Was she trying to screw me over? I looked around, but saw no sign of anyone peeking red-faced from behind a corner. No one had followed us, after all.

If that was the case, then that meant that Satou herself—or a friend of hers—had thought that I would make a good boyfriend. Why the sudden interest in me? Maybe this had something to do with what Horikita meant when she said I was fast?

“If you’re okay with starting out as friends, then… Well, how about we exchange phone numbers?” Satou asked.

Apparently, it wasn’t a friend of Satou’s, but indeed Satou herself who wanted my number. This was… Well, it was halfway to a romantic confession. I had never imagined I would receive a proposal like this from a girl, but I couldn’t really come up with a reason to refuse.

“All right,” I said. “Sure.”

As for whether we’d date, well, that was a conversation for much, much later. As for right now, just exchanging phone numbers was far more than I ever could have hoped for.

“Okay. Got it.” Once I entered Satou into my contacts, the words “registration complete” displayed on my phone screen. Having more girls in my contacts was amazing. After I put Satou’s number in my phone, there was a strange feeling of tranquility in the air.

“This might be kind of blunt, but why did you suddenly want my contact info?” I asked.

Satou blushed and averted her eyes. “Why? Well, it’s just…the sports festival, the relay. I guess you looked so incredibly cool, Ayanokouji-kun. It’s just that I just never noticed you before now, even though you were right nearby…like you were completely off my radar. I thought the best guy in class was, you know, Hirata-kun. But since he’s Karuizawa-san’s boyfriend, there’s nothing I can do about that, right?”

Satou looked back up at me, seeming almost panicked.

“Uh, I’m not saying I think you’re worse than Hirata-kun or anything like that, Ayanokouji-kun. To be honest, after getting a good look at you, you’re even cooler than Hirata-kun, and more mature and gentler, too. S-so, anyway, that’s…”

I didn’t hear the end of her sentence, since she chose that time to turn and run like the wind. She must have been overwhelmed with embarrassment. I stood completely still, unable to wrap my head around what had just happened.

I’d received a romantic confession from an unexpected person, at an unexpected time, in an unexpected place. No one can see the future, it’s true, but I could never have imagined this. What was I even supposed to do? I didn’t feel anything for Satou, good or bad. In fact, I saw her only as a classmate, nothing more. So, should I have turned her down?

Then again, Satou hadn’t said that she wanted to go out with me or that she liked me. All she did was ask whether I had a girlfriend, and if we could exchange phone numbers. She’d added that she wanted to “start out as friends.” If I turned her down, she could just say I misunderstood her. That would be embarrassing.

It was one thing to observe romance as a bystander, but it was weird to be confessed to. Now I understood how Sakura had felt back when Yamauchi said that he liked her.

As I made my way back to the building, conflicted, I bumped into Katsuragi and Yahiko from Class A. I planned to just walk by, but Katsuragi stopped in his tracks and said to Yahiko, “Sorry, but you go on ahead. I have a little something to discuss with Ayanokouji.”

Yahiko put up his guard for a moment, but he immediately nodded and agreed to Katsuragi’s orders.

“Horikita isn’t with you,” Katsuragi said.

“It’s not like we’re joined at the hip,” I replied. Talking to other guys was much easier than talking to girls. I felt like an idiot for struggling so hard to make friends.

“I suppose that’s true. I just wanted to say that I was surprised by your performance in the sports festival’s final relay. I doubt anyone could’ve expected it,” he said.

“Class D won’t always be the losers,” I said.

“Perhaps. But most of your own classmates looked shocked, too. Unless everyone in your class is a talented actor, it appears that few of them knew how fast you are.”

In the midst of all that chaos, Katsuragi had observed me closely. He did the same for every class; he was conscientious like that.

“Imagine whatever you like,” I told him.

“No matter. I didn’t think I’d get anything more from you.”

“You thought you’d only get a little bit of information from the enemy? Or are you saying Class A will never see Class D as a threat?” I asked.

Katsuragi looked slightly troubled. He took a couple steps forward, then looked out the window. “I have enough problems right now. I simply can’t afford to focus on other classes,” he said.

“You told Horikita to be wary of Ryuuen, though.”

I only hit Katsuragi with the information that I knew firsthand.

“He’ll do anything for the sake of winning, regardless of how it looks. He truly abides by a ‘whatever it takes’ mentality. Even if that means resorting to blackmail or violence.”

Ryuuen wasn’t the only person Katsuragi feared. He also had to be on his guard around Sakayanagi Arisu, another Class A power player, but I wasn’t going to bring that up. Sakayanagi was a mysterious student who knew me. If I stirred the pot, it might not end well for me.

“Blackmail and violence, huh? Sounds like Ryuuen would be in trouble if the school found out.”

“He’s a clever person,” Katsuragi replied. “Please warn Horikita not to underestimate him. I understand why you may not trust me, but Ryuuen is everyone’s enemy.” 

In other words, Class C was fighting against all the other classes. I got that, but there was evidence that Katsuragi teamed up with Ryuuen at one point. I wasn’t sure whether I could trust Katsuragi, and he seemed to sense my feelings. “You don’t believe me?” 

I decided to probe further. “To be honest, I’m not sure I do. I’m not even sure I should tell Horikita what you said. I can’t tell you my source, but there are rumors that you worked with Ryuuen. Is that wrong?”

“Where did you hear that? Well, I suppose that doesn’t matter.”

It seemed as though Katsuragi had arrived at his answer immediately; he continued speaking without even a dip in his composure.

“I regret it. Even though I felt that I had no other options at the time, I should never have gotten involved with Ryuuen. That’s precisely why I’m warning you.”

I didn’t know what he had reaped or endured for his efforts, but it sounded as though Katsuragi was speaking from personal experience. Although I couldn’t be certain about the credibility of his story, it was strangely persuasive.

“I should’ve known the risks of teaming up with him.”

“So, you want to join forces against Ryuuen?” I asked.

Katsuragi quietly chuckled to himself. He seemed tense, so I asked something else.

“I understand that you’re wary of Ryuuen, but isn’t that mainly Class A and Class B’s problem? I saw the class point totals back in October,” I told him.

Katsuragi pursed his lips. It appeared to be a sore spot for him. After the uninhabited-island test, Class A saw their points increase to 1,124. However, their points fell during the special exam on the cruise ship. After the sports festival, they were down to 874. Class B was closing in on them with 753 points. Plus, Class C was sitting at 542 points. Class D had 262 points. Right now, things were critical for Class A.

“I admit we’re in a bad situation. I didn’t understand how the school was structured, and my inability to grasp the point system didn’t help,” he replied. Naturally, he didn’t touch on the subject of Sakayanagi.

Still, he was right. The point system was a problem. It appeared simple at first, but there were strangely unclear layers to how it functioned. The school was particularly tough on absences, tardiness, and poor class behavior; Class D had been hit hard by that. In one month, our class lost all the points we’d started out with. The memory still haunted me. Students now took class more seriously, but I doubted the penalties were all completely gone. They were surely just as important now as they had been early on.

“I attended a local junior high school before enrolling here. This is unlike any high school I ever imagined.” Katsuragi crossed his arms, looking dissatisfied. “The school operates on a mysterious, incomprehensible system that many students struggle to understand. I’ve really been reminded of that lately. Students in the same grade should get along, not be hostile toward one another.”

The school thrived on competition, without a doubt. The animosity between classes could increase the cohesion within a class, but, well, only Class B seemed peaceful right now. Several students in Class D chipped away at our sense of unity, and Class C was a dictatorship. Then there was Class A, currently divided between two factions locked in a power struggle.

“Aren’t you concerned, Ayanokouji?”

“Honestly, no. I can’t judge whether the school is good or bad based on its unique way of operating. This place is fascinating, in fact. It’s almost moving. With a certain degree of hard work, we don’t need to worry about necessities like food, clothing, and shelter, and we can use our points to enjoy ourselves. The facilities provided are all more than satisfactory, so I have no complaints,” I answered.

Everyone probably felt the same way. People tended to welcome this system with open arms, unless they were an eccentric sort who liked the idea of, say, living an extremely difficult life alone in the mountains like some kind of hermit, unburdened by earthly desires. Katsuragi couldn’t make a rebuttal.

“I agree. If anything, the environment they provided us is too perfect. I can’t imagine that it’s good to treat teenagers like this. Anyway, to return to the point, please warn Horikita about Ryuuen.”

After receiving advice from the taciturn man, I promised I’d tell her. Ryuuen was certainly Class D’s enemy. 

“Guess you just want to live in peace, too? Our problems never end,” I muttered.