13 Chapter 4.1: The battles of the 1st graders and the 3rd graders Part 1

The next day, after school, I was at the cafe at Keyaki mall.

"The tick tock sound of the second hand going round, and round, and round is so annoying. I dislike these kinds of watches."

While Amasawa stared at Housen's watch on his left arm, she cursed at Housen, who was sitting in front of her.

"Shut the fuck up. Don't ya know how much this is worth?"

"Worth? Is it worth a lot? I don't have the time to care for things I hate."

"Huh? This is exactly why girls are so boring."

After saying that with a laugh, Housen touched his watch.

"You... Well, never mind. So, what do you want from me?"

"I called you out because of the upcoming uninhabited island exam. Team up with me, Amasawa."

"You want me to help you out again, huh? And on the uninhabited island? Are you thinking 'bout doing something vulgar?"

"Huh?"

Even as Housen frowned and stared at Amasawa, she fearlessly returned with a devilish smile.

Amasawa slowly lowered her crossed legs, then quietly opened them up.

"Want to see my panties? You can sneak a peek at them under the table, yeah?"

If one went into a crawling posture, one could see between those legs.

Faced with this temptation, Housen placed his right elbow on the table and leaned forward.

"You think I wouldn't lay my hands on a woman?"

"Not at all. Don't worry, I reckon you're the type of guy who would beat a girl up and act as if nothing had happened."

"Then stop sprouting your bullshit. It's a waste of time."

"A waste of time, huh. Then let me hear it first. Your plan. Why did you invite me?"

"It's because you were bold. On the matter of expelling Ayanakouji, you didn't hesitate at all."

"Well, that's true? The other guys either knew about the bounty and didn't do anything, or wanted to do something but gave up halfway. 20 million points is a large amount, isn't it normal to go all out?"

Amasawa said that without showing any signs of guilt.

"Then what's my reward if I group with you? I'm not cheap, yeah?"

Right after Amasawa asked for what she could get, a serious voice came from behind her.

"We should be on equal footing. Didn't I already say that before?"

It was Nanase, who came a bit late.

"Equal? You have a cute face, but your words are so bitter. So this boldness is what Housen-kun likes about you?"

After Nanase sat down at the table, all three of them had arrived.

"I see. So the group that Housen-kun was thinking of forming was the three of us. What about the fourth person?"

"That's not necessary. The winner of this uninhabited island exam will neither be a 2nd nor a 3rd year group. It will be the three of us."

"Cocky, aren't you? But, it seems to me there's a lotta formidable upperclassmen compared to the first-years though?"

"So what? I'll crush them all."

"Well, even if you're the strongest, Housen-kun... Didn't the 1st year agree to work together as four classes? If we're talking about the main force in Class D, there's no doubt the two of you will be considered as such, right?"

"That's up to me, who's in charge of Class D, to decide. Understand?"

"So that means you're just going to openly send in the small fries to represent the main forces. All the other classes are gonna be mad."

"Depends on what the main force's criteria is. As long as we send students with high academic or physical abilities, it won't cause too much of a dispute. Besides, problems will definitely rise if Housen-kun joins the strongest group."

"Well, teamwork probably won't be a thing if Housen-kun joins. In that sense, excluding him from the group is a safer option. Anyway, let's go back to the topic. How much would you give me?"

"There are no points for you. Like I said earlier, you're on equal footing with us. Of course, we will evenly split the extra private points our class gets from the rewards."

It was as if Nanase was asking Amasawa "Was that not enough for you to be satisfied?".

"But, that reward won't align with my contribution, don't you think so? Whether it's the uninhabited island exam or something else, I'm confident that I'll be able to contribute the most. This exam seems to require quite a lot of physical strength. Nanase-chan, cute and lovely as you're, can you keep up with me?"

"You wanna test it now?"

In response to her provocation, Nanase also responded with a provocation. Amasawa turned her attention to Housen for a moment, then without warning stretched her hand out suddenly to Nanase's face and wanted to slap her in order to rattle her.

But Nanase grabbed her arm that was quickly extended without hesitation.

"You've got guts, eh? Trying it here."

"Woah. Damn, you're pretty good aren't you? I love strong girls."

"You're not bad yourself."

"Maybe? You wanna test again?"

One side was laughing, the other was stone-faced.

Time passed as they were testing each other's strength.

"Nanase and I, and you. We'll form a group of three. Alright?"

"Although I now know that Nanase-chan has considerable skill, I still don't think she and I are on equal footing."

"Why? Because two out of three of us are from Class D?"

"I don't care about that. It seems like the private points will be evenly split, but.... it's you guys that asked for my help, so if I don't get extra it's kinda..."

After Amasawa said that, she made a fist with her left hand, then made the gesture of asking for a tip: pinching her thumb and index finger together and then rubbing them.

"Since you're trying to bribe me, isn't it natural for me to increase my price?"

"What an arrogant attitude. Be it Nanase or you, both of you women are bolder than Yagami and Takahashi."

"Don't you know? Nowadays, girls are the stronger ones."

"Fine, I'll listen to what you have to say. What else do you want, besides the group rewards?"

"First place, of course, but that's not the only thing that's important—"

Amasawa changed the position of her left hand, and raised only her thumb to her neck.

Then, slowly slid it from right to left...

"I must receive all the points from the bounty to expel Ayanokouji-senpai. That's my condition for forming a group with you."

"Hah, you're demanding a lot, eh? That's not a condition I can easily agree to."

"So you are gonna say no? However, what will you do without me? If you don't have a comrade apart from Nanase-chan that you can trust, won't you have a difficult time during this special exam?"

Just like Amasawa had said earlier, Housen had already made enemies on all sides.

Moreover, since all four classes had already decided to work together, if he were to create a separate group, no other students would help him apart from an odd person like Amasawa.

"Besides, if I group up with Housen-kun, I'll be even more isolated in Class A than I am now, so isn't it only natural for me to not say 'yes' if I don't get the corresponding rewards that would compensate for that loss?"

Housen and Amasawa's gazes collided with each other.

"It's true that if you give me the bounty for getting him expelled, you won't get any money, but the reputation for getting Ayanokouji-senpai expelled will be given entirely to you Housen-kun. Is that enough for you to accept the condition?"

"There's no need to accept this condition. Consider the future if Class A gets an extra 20 million points..."

"Shut up, Nanase."

Interrupting Nanase's advice, Housen continued to stare at Amasawa.

"The bounty is yours."

"Thanks. The fact that you're not a stingy guy is just brilliant."

After saying that, Amasawa briskly stood up from her seat.

"Please take care of me during the official exam."

Now that the negotiation was over, Amasawa judged that there was no need to stay and left without hesitation.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, since you're the one who makes the decision after all. But are you sure it's okay to trust Amasawa-san? I think she's the type who would betray her partners without giving it a second thought."

"Trust? Don't just assume that I trust her. That goes for you too, I don't trust either of you."

"Then why did you decide to group up with her?"

"Because she's different from the rest of the trash. There are parts of her that I can't see through, just like you."

"I see, that may be true. Even so, 20 million points is too much."

"It's just a verbal agreement anyway. As long as it's clear I am the one who gets Ayanakouji expelled, I'll be the one who receives the points. I don't care if she cries about it later."

Housen expressed that he had no intention of keeping his promise from the start.

"You really are a terrible person."

"Whether it be Ayanokouji, Ryuuen, or the others, whoever comes at me with their fangs, I'll crush them all. I'm sick of being bogged down by the trash rules of this school."

Housen was so happy he couldn't help but laugh out loud.