6 Chapter 1.2: The Changing Class D (2)

One such event ended, and after school on a certain day, it was now the middle of the second semester.

My surroundings began to change little by little. Class D passed the uninhabited islands and sports festivals at a slow pace, but we began to have unity as a class. Everyone's small circle of friends gradually expanded, and the people who thought they couldn't get along were getting better at handling one another.

Everyone's attitude towards classes has also significantly improved. In the past, Class D had a problem with students arriving late, sleeping in class, talking during lessons, and perpetrating all kinds of unrest. In this regard, Sudō especially showed changes.

After the sports festival, although the number of days since then is still relatively small, it's clear that his general attitude towards school has improved. Occasionally he can be seen a bit drowsy in class, but that is probably due to the impact of his intense practice in the basketball club. Even if he is behind on sleep, he always takes the time to write notes. This was because it's necessary for him to get his studies in order for the sake of Horikita and the future of the class. Perhaps her surveillance during class has had a part in things as well.

His violent attitude that he had with his friends Ike and Yamauchi had become more gentle.

He didn't want his beloved Horikita's opinion of him to worsen by letting her witness him shamefully rampaging about. I'm guessing it was mostly this that motivated him to change.

In short, Sudō is growing steadily and he has begun to gain a better reputation amongst his classmates.

At the same time, there were changes not only in Sudō's reputation, but also with my own.

Whether that's a good or bad thing, however, is hard to say.

"Are you alone?"

As I was sorting out the situation, I was called out to from the seat beside me.

"Is it bad to be alone?"

My next-door neighbor, Horikita, seemed to chuckle. I stared at her blankly.

"Your dearest friends, Ike-kun and Yamauchi-kun. They've been inviting you along much less often."

"Is that so?"

The fact that she always tends to go to the extremes reveals the bad parts of her personality.

"Ara, my mistake. At lunch you seem to be alone these days. After school as well as you can see."

We watched as Ike and Yamauchi left the classroom with The Professor. Are they heading to Keyaki Mall together?

(Note: The Professor is Hideo Sotomura's nickname.)

I had thought I appeared to be as calm as the Buddha, but Horikita seemed to see through everything.

Right. This would be part of the changes with my own reputation. After the sports festival, It's been uncommon for me to be invited out by the two people who I had gotten closest to. No, it is more like they have completely ignored me.

"No way. They thought you were all birds of a feather, a bunch of useless students, so you stuck together. But you were actually hiding a lot of physical strength from them."

"What is high physical strength? It's only that my feet are a bit faster, at best."

"But your footwork is fast, especially for a student. It's very fast. Besides, they've also probably started noticing other odd occurrences. They probably noticed that your measurement for grip strength was higher than average. You should know right? People have a basic tendency to hate others for being excellent, and your situation is that you've been hiding your excellence."

I know such a thing goes without saying. However, I also have to admit that I don't have a clear understanding of what counts as average. That I had believed that I was "just running a bit fast" was the truth.

"Enjoy your solitary life."

Horikita gave a sarcastic look before leaving the classroom, her long hair flowing.

Despite being solitary herself, her commanding manner was at least a little respectable.

As I saw her off, Karuizawa, who was still in the classroom, threw an indescribable glance in my direction. But as soon as our eyes met, she looked away naturally as if she never had any intention of looking my way in the first place. There was obviously some kind of meaning behind this look, but she followed Horikita out of the classroom without revealing anything in particular. The short length of her gently fluttering skirt was on my mind as it was a bit shorter than the rest of the girls. Though a simple one or two centimeters are easily within the margin of error, they are in fact a whole world apart.

"How's she... well, it's okay."

"Hey, hey, Ayanokōji-kun."

As I was thinking about what to do, an unexpected visitor appeared beside me.

She was the same type of hot girl as Karuizawa. Satō... I don't remember what her first name was. She is a very nice girl who had been friendly with Ike and Yamauchi in their group chat in the past. I also participated in their group chats, but we had almost no mutual interests.

Although she was a classmate, she was one I barely spoke to.

She's a girl who wanted to be close to boys and feels as popular as Kushida is with girls, but she wasn't as popular with the opposite sex.

Ike had said that she looks very bitchy and must be accustomed to men, so he had rejected her. What a complicated man's heart.

As far as the timing of the visit was concerned, she might have been waiting for me to be alone.

Satō looked around the room nervously.

"What's the matter?"

In the face of strange circumstances, I can only ask such questions.

"Yes, well. It's a bit."

She wasn't making herself quite clear. Unfortunately, I couldn't speculate on the content.

I was too lacking in information about the student Satō.

"Well, how can I put it? Can I borrow some time? I have something to say."

This was rather strange. I tightened my guard a little, but I'm not brave enough to refuse an offer. It is easier to gather enough courage to accept than to gather the courage to refuse.

"It's a little inconvenient here, is it alright if we go somewhere else?"

Before I answered, Satō seemed to predict that I would not refuse, and offered to change places. I obeyed her and followed behind her.

"Ah..."

As I was about to leave the classroom, Sakura made a sound as if trying to say something, but nothing came out and she ended up turning away.

We went out of the hallway to the liaison corridor connection to the gymnasium. For the rest of the day after lunch, it would be crowded because the students who played and practiced in the gymnasium would use this communication corridor to move about. But now everyone is probably eating lunch, so this is one of the least populated areas. It might be the ideal place to talk about things.

It appears Satō did not particularly want to meet other people. She stopped and then turned around.

"I'm going to ask you something a little strange... Ayanokōji-kun, is there someone you're currently dating?"

"Er, what does that mean?"

"Well... literally speaking, it means having a girlfriend... how about that?"

If I had been asked if to choose between a "yes" option, and a "no" option, I would not have had the capacity to answer anything other than "no."

Saying that was like stressing how unpopular I was, and although I felt reluctant to do so, there was no use lying, so I answered her honestly.

"No..."

"Hmm, I see... Can I take that as though you're looking for a girlfriend?"

She did not look down on me, nor pity me, but instead showed a happy little smile.

At this point, I began to understand how things were going.

Was this a trap with the goal of framing me? I was on guard, but there were no signs of someone hiding nearby. Of course, we haven't been followed since the classroom either.

So, Either Satō herself, or a friend of hers, seem to think that I'm decent boyfriend material. Why all of a sudden at this point in time?

Does this have to do with how Horikita was able to conclude that I have high physical ability?

"If you'd like to start with just being friends -- well... would you exchange phone numbers with me?"

It seems that it's not a friend of hers she's asking for, Satō herself seems to be the one that's interested.

It never occurred to me that the day of a girl's request would actually come.

This was like the act before the confession.

"Anyway, I get it."

I can't find any reason to refuse her request to exchange our phone numbers.

Getting into a relationship would be a matter of leaps and bounds into the future. As of now, I'm only being asked to exchange phone numbers.

"Well, that's that."

The mobile phone shows the completed contact registration page. To increase my number of girls' contacts is a happy thing.

After this brief interaction with Satō, there was a strange tranquility in the atmosphere.

"I'm asking a question that's a bit awkward. Why are you suddenly asking me for my contact information?"

Satō blushed a little and didn't open her eyes.

"Ask me why... During the relay of the sports festival... Should I say you were very cool? Or should I say you've been so close-by, and I haven't noticed you at all? I had thought the best guy in the class was Hirata-kun, but he is Karuizawa-san's boyfriend, so he's out of the question."

As she finished saying this, she opened her eyes and looked up at me, and awkwardly adjusted what she had said.

"Ah... should I say that I don't think you are worse than Hirata-kun? To be honest, after I got a closer look, you seem to be more handsome than Hirata-kun. You also look really reliable and gentle... That's all!"

Perhaps the feeling of shame had swelled up in her, as the I couldn't hear the last part very well, and Satō inevitably left like the wind. My thoughts couldn't keep up with what had happened with her, so I stood still.

I was in an unexpected situation at an unexpected place with an unexpected person. Although nobody knows what the future holds, no way did I expect this to actually happen. What am I supposed to do about this? I feel neither negative or positive about Satō, only considering her as an ordinary classmate. Does this mean that the right thing to do is to refuse her confession?

No, she didn't say she wanted to be with me or that she liked me. I was just asked about my relationship status and was asked for contact information. Even if I assume her intentions a bit, I was only asked to become friends with her and to exchange contacts. If I refuse her confession, perhaps she will spit at me, saying I misunderstood something. That would be very embarrassing.

Being a bystander to a confession or being confessed to is totally fine, but when you yourself become the target of either of them, it just becomes troublesome. Now I understand how Sakura was feeling before being confessed to by Yamauchi.

While I was returning to the classroom, pondering about the complicated situation, I ran into Katsuragi and Yahiko of Class A.

I thought that there was no need to talk, but Katsuragi stopped and said to Yahiko:

"I'm sorry, go on ahead. I have something to say to Ayanokōji-kun."

Yahiko took up his guard, but because it was the instructions of Katsuragi, he immediately nodded his head and left.

"Horikita doesn't seem to be with you."

"We don't always stay together."

What should I say? Compared to speaking with girls, talking with boys is really easy.

Considering this, I feel like an idiot for struggling to make friends.

"That's true. To be honest, I was surprised by the relay race at the sports festival. It's probably something no one else in the school would have expected."

The topic of the conversation would, of course, be this. I was not surprised at all, and said indifferently:

"Class D won't always continue to be the losers."

"That's fine, but most of the students in Class D looked surprised as well. As long as their reactions weren't an act, then there seems to be a limit to the number of people who knew how fast you can run."

Katsuragi is skilled... He's sharp to have observed his surroundings so well in that turmoil.

Most people would have only paid attention to myself and the student council president. He not only paid attention to his own class but carefully observed the other classes as well.

"You are free to imagine what you will, but I'm not going to say anything."

"It doesn't matter. I'm not trying to get anything out of you."

"If it's a hostile class, don't you want as much information as you can get? Or, from the point of view of Class A, do you not see Class D as an adversary?"

Katsuragi gave a slightly vexed expression and took a few steps forward, stopping at the window. His gaze shifted towards the outside.

"I'm being overworked with all sorts of tricky problems at this time. I simply don't have the luxury to pay attention to other classes."

"You told Horikita to pay attention to Ryūen."

I only spoke information that I knew to Katsuragi.

"That guy always moves while disregarding his image for the sake of winning. He does whatever it takes to come out on top, even if he has to utilize things like intimidation and violence."

However, Katsuragi should not just be wary of Ryūen. It would be better to say that he should be wary of Sakayanagi who was lurking in Class A. Despite that, I deliberately did not bring that up.

Sakayanagi is a student who knows my past and is full of mysteries. If I don't handle the situation carefully, I'll only get bitten by the snake.

"Intimidation and violence? It would be dangerous if the school found out about it."

"He is the type of person who will do that kind of thing skillfully and covertly. Please continue to urge Horikita to not look down on him. Although this all might seem as though I'm helping an enemy and make you wary, Ryūen is a common enemy of Class A, Class B, and Class D."

It is true that Class C is actively fighting against all the other classes. However, there is evidence that Katsuragi and Ryūen had previously joined forces with one another. I'm not sure if I can believe him unconditionally.

As I think of this, Katsuragi seems to feel my distrust.

"You don't believe me?"

Due to his concern, I decided to dig a little deeper into what he knows.

"To be honest, I can't believe you entirely. It's hard for me to decide if I want to tell Horikita what you said. I can't tell you the source, but there are rumors that you were in partnership with Ryūen. Are these just rumors?"

"...Where did you hear that? No... There is no need to delve into that."

Katsuragi seemed to come to an answer right away. He did not lose his composure and continued:

"I regret it now. Although it was a momentary feeling and there was no leeway, I really shouldn't have taken the risk and involved myself with him. That's why I want you to take this advice. If you become involved with that guy, you'll be damned."

I don't know what the pros and cons were, but Katsuragi should have experienced it himself. The credibility of his words isn't guaranteed, but his request is still inexplicably persuasive.

"I knew right from the start that there was a risk in joining forces with that guy."

"Then what's the value in accepting your proposal to join forces against him?"

Katsuragi laughed to himself.

I thought it was unnecessary, but there was no calmness in Katsuragi's face. He shouldn't have been anxious or upset by my question, so I decided to dig even further.

"I know you are working to stop Ryūen, but that problem should belong to Class A and Class B. I saw the public class points that were displayed at the start of October."

Katsuragi shut his mouth, it seems that he is indifferent on the matter.

After the end of the uninhabited island test, Class A had their class points increase to 1,124. It was a positive situation for them at first, but there was a significant loss of points during the second special examination and the sports festival, taking Class A down to 874. In contrast, Class B wasn't that far behind, sitting at 753. Apart from having started at the same level, this was the closest gap between any of the classes at present time.

To supplement this, Class C was currently at 542, while Class D has 262.

"I really can only admit that this is not a very good state for Class A to be in. I was fooled by the school structure. My inability to perfectly understand the system of class points is also a factor."

He did not mention the subject of Sakayanagi carelessly.

Sakayanagi aside, as Katsuragi had said, it is also true that the school has a misleading point system.

The system seems simple, but unexpectedly there are many difficult to understand and unclear points being rewarded and removed.

In retrospect, it should have been easy to spot. Immediately after admission, the school conducted a rigorous review of lateness, absenteeism, and class attitude. In fact, our Class D was so affected that we lost all the class points we started out with at once, an experience that remains fresh in my memory.

Now, however, class attitude and so on do not reflect the increase or decrease with points as much.

Of course, students across all of the class had begun to take classes seriously, but I'm not certain that the penalty deductions have completely disappeared.

Now that I think about it, that might have been the original "Special Exam".

"I was born in the countryside and went to a local middle school. This place is very different from the high school life I always imagined."

After Katsuragi had said so, he clammed up a bit out of frustration.

"Although we all know this, this school is an incomprehensible and incredibly structured place. I have recently felt it again. Students of the same grade should be friendly to each other and should never be hostile to one another."

There is no doubt that this is different from a normal school life. The school had created a fine-tuned system that discourages students from getting along with students from other classes. It can also be said that the school is constructed based on competition. Depending on the situation, there will be cases where mutual hatred eventually leads to conflict. This is just the kind of school we go to.

In the same way, a system like this causes unity in one's own class to increase significantly.

Well, whether this class unity exists for any other class other than Class B is doubtful.

Class D has had a number of individual actions happen that go against the concept of unity, Class C is effectively run as if it was a dictatorship, and Class A is divided between two competing factions in an all-out power struggle. Overall, the topic of unity is a difficult situation for most of the first year students.

"Are you not wavering, Ayanokōji-kun?"

"Honestly, not at all. It doesn't affect my judgment of how good or bad this school is. If the goal of reaching or maintaining Class A is put aside, this is definitely a charming and moving school. With only a certain amount of hard work, students don't have to worry about things like food and clothing. We even get money to spend on entertainment because of the points the school pays. Everything in the school is impeccably well prepared and thought out."

This is an idea shared by all of the students living in this school. As long as we don't desire to live like gods, no one would not welcome the current environment. Katsuragi is unable to refute this as well.

"I agree. If there is something to be disgruntled about, it is that the environment is too perfect. I don't think this is the way a high school student's life should be experienced. Students at this school didn't pass a particularly difficult test or anything... It's all just nonsense. Regardless, please tell Horikita about the threat that Ryūen poses."

I was advised by the reticent man and promised that I would communicate this to Horikita.

In fact, Ryūen was already launching a solid attack on Class D in an attempt to defeat us.

"You also just want to live peacefully too? The worries never seem to end... for both of us."

I couldn't help but murmur.