Tactics

Kazehara Tetsu thought about it. He did not have anything else to do.

"Sure, count me in."

"Great!"

Ichinose Honami immediately smiled, as if she had known all along that he would not refuse. "Then I'll sign you up. Come with me!"

As she spoke, she turned and headed toward the crowd.

Kazehara Tetsu followed behind her, weaving through the students watching from the outskirts until they reached the boy in the middle of the crowd who was taking notes in a small notebook.

"Add one more!"

Ichinose Honami said to the boy with a smile, then glanced back at Kazehara Tetsu. "Kagihara is joining too."

The boy made a note in his notebook, looked up at Kazehara Tetsu, and said, "Okay, got it. You're the forty-first..."

Kazehara Tetsu nodded and stepped back to the edge of the crowd, waiting quietly.

The five-minute registration deadline quickly arrived.

The organizer stood in the center of the crowd, cleared his throat, and announced loudly, "Registration is closed! We have forty-three people in total!"

A small burst of cheers and playful heckling rose from the crowd.

The organizer raised his voice so everyone could hear. "Forty-three people, split into six teams! Seven or eight per team. Teams will be assigned in registration order—fair and impartial. We can draw lots too; either way, it'll be random!"

"Then we'll play three matches in total! Each team only plays once. No advancement, no elimination brackets—once you're done, you're done! So every match is your final battle. Go all out and have fun!"

Cheers rang out from the crowd again.

"The playing field is the open space in front of the lodge. Use those tree stumps and snowdrifts as cover. Make and throw your own snowballs. Don't grab snow and fling it in anyone's face; everything else