4 Chapter 3.3: Double Question Part 3

Unless one is an esper capable of reading minds, finding the "target" won't be an easy task. People are all born liars and are mostly used to lying. If a person that has never lied even once in their lives exists, that existence itself would be a lie. For humans, lies are an inseparable part of ourselves. At the very least, among the people gathered in this room, one of them is the "target". There is still time until the discussion proper starts, however, the reason I came early like last time was to observe the behaviour of everyone in the group. And the first ones who arrived for the night's discussion were the girls of Class C. They came in while gleefully chatting away with each other. Upon seeing me, they instantly lowered their voices in a disgusted manner and quickly distanced themselves from me.

Next was Yukimura, who entered the room with a sharp-looking face. Casually greeting me with a glance, he soon sat down near me. He didn't seem to be any different from usual. Then next came the Class A group. Machida and Takemoto. And then Morishige. As usual, since they have decided to keep their silence, they decided to sit at the far end of the room. Close to where the Class C girls were sitting. "Hey Machida-kun, today after this is over, do you want to come play with us? The three of us girls are planning on having fun after this, but haven't found someone yet". "Let's see..." Machida replied to them.

Machida usually does not participate in the discussion, but his 'presence' is still strong. Leaving aside Ichinose and Ibuki, it seems all the other girls in the group are interested in him. It's not like I'm jealous of him or anything...but I may be slightly jealous of him. Either Class C had half given up on finding the "targets" or perhaps this is still a part of their plan, but with those words they had invited Machida out to play with them. Is this how men and women deepen their relationships? It seems Machida is also satisfied with that as he looked happy while considering their invitation. Then Sotomura and Karuizawa entered the room. But rather than together, it seemed like they just happened to arrive in the room at the same time, as Karuizawa had a displeased look on her face. As soon as they entered the room, she quickly put some distance between them and moved towards the back of the room.

"Hey. That's my seat". Despite having arrived later, Karuizawa tells that to the Class C girls while glaring at them even though they arrived earlier. After seeing the other girls flirting openly with Machida, it seems Karuizawa became even more angry at them. "Don't know what you're on about, but what's your seat? Just find somewhere else to sit" Manabe told Karuizawa. "I said that's my seat. Move" she replied. "Huh? Can't you see I'm talking to Machida-kun right now? We're going to be playing tonight" Manabe tells Karuizawa. "Machida-kun, please tell her yourself. That you want me sitting next to you" Karuizawa asks Machida. Looking slightly embarrassed, Machida seemed to be torn on who to choose. But Karuizawa soon understood the situation, and quickly got in between Manabe and Machida, and held Machida's hand.

"This time, let's play together. Just the two of us. Or have you chosen that girl? I hate womanizers, so if you're going to play with that girl I won't go out with you" Karuizawa tells Machida. I was honestly surprised she would say something like that so boldly while going out with Hirata. In fact, Machida seemed to be attracted to the words "just the two of us" and had already decided which girl to choose. "Could you please move? That's where Karuizawa sits. Even this afternoon too" Machida tells Manabe. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean? Annoying...". Saying those words with face that said likewise, the Class C girls moved away from Machida. And so Karuizawa quickly moved into that empty space and sat down. In fact, she sat down so close it was almost as if she were glued to Machida. Honestly, their bodies were already connected at this point.

Perhaps the only reason people did not think those actions were frivolous was because people already knew what Karuizawa was like. Perhaps he doesn't know she is going out with Hirata, or perhaps he does, but it seems Machida has begun to open up his heart to Karuizawa, or has already fallen in love with her. If we're only talking about appearances, Karuizawa is indeed cute, and if you look at her from the perspective of liking her, it is also possible that protective feelings would be born inside of you. The interesting thing is, the group that was just formed yesterday, had already begun to develop its own hierarchy of power and ecosystem just today. A loner is a loner while a popular person will remain popular even so.

The partitioning of the students into hierarchies is already complete. But this partitioning is not done the usual way. For instance, if two people happen to share the same status in the group, inevitably one would rise and the other would fall in status. It could even be described as a 'survival of the fittest' environment. And the one that loses in said competition would be demoted to a lower rank amongst their peers. Perhaps even to the bottom of the ladder. To the point where their existence would not matter one point even if they weren't there. For example, someone like me in this case. The interesting thing about this exam is that it forces people who had competed against each other earlier to join hands. Even Ichinose, who is extremely popular amongst her class, has trouble influencing her enemies in this class. If it were Hirata, perhaps he might have been able to organize this into a more proper group?

"Let's get along today too!" Ichinose herself arrived and brought life back into the dispirited room. I also immediately realized the atmosphere in the room is especially thick today and chose to not speak carelessly. But even so, Karuizawa's actions seemed too forceful and incomprehensible to me. If she wanted to get closer to Machida, she did not need to antagonize the Class C girls to do so. I just felt---that this event and the exam itself had no direct connection. As someone who had been watching Karuizawa since the start of the first semester, I can tell after observing her personality and her actions. That Karuizawa wants to stand at the top. Of course, she's not such a talented person that she can rise to the top of the girls group like that. She lacks the talent of Ichinose and something like that would normally be impossible for her.

But there is such a thing as 'human relationships' that come into play here. It is a fact that Karuizawa with a strong personality became the leader of Class D's girls. Furthermore, she became the girlfriend of Hirata, the guiding force of the class and gained influence with the boys as well. If one applies Karuizawa's behaviour then to this instance, the truth becomes clearer. She attaches herself to the strongest man she can find such as Machida and gains influence in the group that way. It works, in fact, the Class C girls who were unable to overpower Machida's influence were already reluctantly going back to their own seats. Karuizawa accepts the risk of being hated in exchange for absolute domination.

For a sense of superiority?

For self-satisfaction?

Or just craving the spotlight?

I still cannot see the root cause of this behaviour, but evidently something along those lines was responsible for her actions. "This isn't good". "Yeah, if we continue like this, we'll be allowing the "target" to get away". The one who answered my murmur was Yukimura, who happened to be sitting next to me. It would be awkward for me to correct him on the subject so I went along with the flow.

"Let's see, let's see. Class A isn't going to join in the discussions as usual. Right?". "Of course. Please feel free to continue the discussion without us. Our stance has not changed". The student sitting next to Machida who made that statement that had been concealing his emotions the entire time was Morishige. I've seen him before this exam. According to what I have heard, Class A currently is divided up between two factions. The Katsuragi Faction and the Sakayanagi Faction. Morishige was one of those who betrayed Katsuragi during the island test. While he would not normally listen to Katsuragi's orders obediently like this, Sakayanagi is absent from this cruise due to ill health and without someone to give him orders directly, he had no choice but to follow Katsuragi's orders it seems.

I expected Katsuragi to instantly lose influence in the class after his failure during the island test but it seems he won't go down that easily. Since he too had been keeping his silence for two days now, it seems even Morishige believes he has no choice but to endure Katsuragi's orders. "Since it'll be a waste to spend an hour like this, shall we play cards again?" Ichinose says as though she had grown used to this as she proposed a game of cards after the initial confirmation. In this exam, there are different approaches that can be taken, but Ichinose seems to want to find the "target" through dialogue while Katsuragi took the opposite approach by preventing all dialogue.

On the other hand, Ryuuen's strategy is turn everyone into an enemy while taking absolute control of his own class. But I can't be sure those are their individual strategies until the curtain falls. After all, it would be impossible to talk about that while playing cards for one whole hour. Yukimura seemed to be desperately scanning the surroundings but he doesn't seem to have a grasp on who the "target" could be. I'm sure it's the same for the other students as well and that is surely the conclusion they have all reached. Even if dialogue were to be successful, it is unlikely the "target" would name themselves. Once the hour had passed, I observe the order in which the students leave the room.

The students of Class C who were always one of the first out the door do not seem to be leaving yet while Class A, always the first to leave, did so as usual. However, it seems Machida and Karuizawa are busy exchanging their contact numbers with each other and making arrangements to contact each other. Then Yukimura and Sotomura got up to leave. "Let's go back, Ayanokouji you're leaving too right?". "Yeah". And at the same time, Karuizawa also stands to leave while talking to someone on the phone, seemingly chatting about something interesting. And as she leaves, the three girls from Class C also pass through us to follow her.

"Those three girls. Don't they seem a bit strange to you?". Yukimura seemed to have noticed somethign unusual about them and looked at me with a worried face. "Do you believe so? I have not noticed anything" Sotomura replies to him in a crazy tone of voice. Leaving aside Sotomura's opinion, Yukimura's intuition is correct. It seems the Class C girls are storing up quite a bit of anger in them as well. Yukimura and I slightly peak out of the room into the corridor outside. And we saw the three girls chasing Karuizawa swiftly in the corridor. I would rather not follow them alone. And Ibuki, who also seem to be disinterested in Karuizawa, is not there. "Might be a personal quarrel between them?" Yukimura looked at me as if to ask what to do.

"Let's follow them. It might not end up in violence but it might cause a bit of uproar". "Damn that Karuizawa, always doing things that makes people hate her...even though I wanted to find the "target" myself". While Sotomura left to return to his room, Yukimura and I quickly followed the four girls quietly.

As I reached a corner, I heard the sound of a door slamming shut and saw the entrance to the emergency stairs closing. But there was no reason to use the emergency stairs unless the elevators were broken, which meant something else is happening here. "Hey, what're you doing bringing me to a place like this?". I quietly opened the door to the emergency staircase and heard a voice from inside. "Don't play dumb with us, you pushed Rika right? Start talking". "...w-w-why. Why are you accusing me? I told you you've got the wrong person didn't I?". The three girls then closed in on Karuizawa and drove her back to the wall as if to prevent her from escaping. But even in a situation like that, Karuizawa continued to deny the accusations without apologizing. Is it really not her then?. "I have something to do now, would you mind moving aside?".

"Then let me confirm it now. I'm going to call Rika now. If it's really not you, then I'll forgive you". "I don't know what you're talking about, I'll call the teachers". "What are you going to tell the teachers? It's not like we're using violence on you right now. If you tell them, we could also tell them you pushed Rika and make it a problem for you too". It seems like they have no intention of backing down as they grabbed Karuizawa's arms as she tried to escape and pushed her back towards the wall.

One of the girls then began using her phone to contact the girl named Rika. "W-wait a minute". Once she realized the situation was that serious, Karuizawa tried to stop them from making the call. "Why are you in such a hurry?". "...I just remembered. I accidentally bumped into that girl" Karuizawa quickly tells them. "You filthy liar, you remembered her from the start didn't you? I don't care either way, but you're going to apologize to Rika?". "No. She's the one in the wrong. She's an airheaded girl". I thought Karuizawa would accept responsibility for it, but it seems she's as headstrong as ever. Despite knowing she would rile the Class C girls up even more she still said those words.

"She's really pissing me off. I was even thinking about forgiving her for her actions earlier if she apologized to Rika. Never mind, I'm not forgiving her now". And with that, she pushed Karuizawa's shoulder with the palm of her hand. "You weren't going to forgive her anyway from the start...right?". It was a girl named Yamashita who had always followed behind Manabe until now, that said that. "Shiho-chan, I can't hold back anymore. I really won't forgive Karuizawa". "I know right? I'm sure Rika shares the same feelings as you. Let's seriously bully her".

This time, with more force, she hit Karuizawa's shoulder with her palm again. Yukimura tried to open the door quickly, but I grabbed his arm and stopped him. Even if we stopped this now, Karuizawa will inevitably be assaulted again in the future. But allowing them to use violence to their heart's content right now will serve as a deterrent for them in the future. And depending on the degree of violence, it might even be possible to threaten them with contacting the school. And most importantly, right now Karuizawa Kei's existence is about to change.

"Ha...haaa". Karuizawa seemed to be having trouble breathing. Or perhaps she seems to be in pain. But she grabbed her head with both hands. But the sight of her suffering, instead of evoking empathy, brought forth more anger from Manabe and the other girls. "Even if you act all feminine like that I won't forgive you anymore". She then grabbed Karuizawa's hair and forcefully raised her head. "I always hated Karuizawa's face, don't you think she's really ugly?". "I know right? Do you want to cut up that face of hers?" one of the girls asked.

"S-s-stop". "S-stop, she's saying. What happened to that determination you had a while ago?". It would seem the more you hate your enemy, the more you seek to attack their advantages. If we're only talking about beauty, there's no doubt that Karuizawa is the better one. But it seems Manabe, Yamashita and Yabu won't be satisfied until they deny Karuizawa's appearance like that. After shaking silently, Karuizawa became unable to move. There was no longer any trace of the usual her to be seen right now. The true nature of a person always comes out in a dilemma like this. A little more of this and soon I'll be able to see and know more of Karuizawa Kei.

But it seems Yukimura's sense of justice had kicked in, as he seems to be unable to hold it anymore. He then quickly opened the door with force and surprised the three girls inside. On the other hand, as though she had been saved, Karuizawa looked at Yukimura with a face of relief. "What are you doing?". "W-w-w-w-what? I was just talking with Karuizawa-san, right?". Manabe looked at Karuizawa with a threatening expression as if daring her to say a word, but Karuizawa isn't the sort of person to be intimidated by just that.

"Hey Yukimura-kun, do something. They abducted me violently out of the blue and started pushing me around. They're the worst right? They were annoying so I told them to leave me alone but". Normally Karuizawa would never care about Yukimura, but she's probably grateful to him now that he's appeared here to save her. Her face seemed to convey her relief. But Class C seemed to be hatefully glaring at Yukimura. Almost like saying this has nothing to do with Yukimura. "I'm just helping Rika with her Karuizawa problem. Since you came here you must have also heard the story right". "...I think you should let it go. If they just accidentally bumped into each other, it's not like Karuizawa's at fault you know". Yukimura had no choice but to answer like that.

"You shut up. This has nothing to do with you". ".....". Since he got told to shut up by the Class C girls, this time Yukimura had no choice but to obediently shut up. Karuizawa then started to look at Yukimura as if looking at a pathetic man while I slowly took out my phone quietly.

"Just leave me alone already. Otherwise I'll call for someone" Karuizawa tells them. "Call? Call who? Hirata-kun? Machida-kun? Or perhaps a prostitute like you can call as many men as you like". It is said that a fight between women is dirty, and cannot be resolved easily through violence like a man's conflict. As someone who had gotten himself involved in this, I found it painful to both look at and hear. "There was a teacher that passed by earlier, I think it's best if you left". Having no other choice, I stepped in and said those words to break the fight up. I'm sure Class C also does not wish to cause a scene here.

"I'm absolutely going to make you bow your head down before Rika". It was a threat to Karuizawa by the other side saying they would use any means necessary for that. Karuizawa desperately tried to act strong but it's obvious she's no longer capable of that. It seems the other girls have also sensed Karuizawa's weakness as they looked at Karuizawa from above with condescending looks. "Are you ok?". Unable to leave Karuizawa, who seemed to be hyperventilating, Yukimura asked her that.

"Leave me alone!". Karuizawa quickly slapped Yukimura's hand away as he moved in to help her. "What the hell? I came to help you because I was worried". "Shut up! Nobody asked you to do it" Karuizawa said while getting her breath back. Yukimura took a step back as if overwhelmed by her words. I also stepped back to not get involved in it but Karuizawa stared at me intensely with an angry expression before opening the door of the emergency staircase with force. And then slamming it shut behind her. "What the hell is her problem? Always causing trouble for us". I do understand Yukimura's feelings of resent towards her. A 'troublemaker' is a nice way to describe Karuizawa.

But it seemed he was also tired out by the ordeal, as Yukimura did not say anything more and left from the emergency staircase door as well. Now alone on the emergency stairs, I thought about Karuizawa. And the vulnerable side the leader of the Class D girls had shown then.

The terrified appearance Karuizawa had just now was not only because she was being threatened at the time but due to something else.