A Rash Decision?

The temperature had already reached the point where you would start sweating without even realizing it if you stayed perfectly still in the shade.

It would get even hotter over the next few days, so things would probably grow increasingly chaotic.

"Hmm, you guys made this, didn't you?"

After changing his shoes in the locker area, Ayanokoji spotted a notice posted on the bulletin board at the landing near the stairwell, not far from the shoe lockers.

"Yeah. Didn't I tell you that you'd find out in a few days? You could say this is the result of our group's efforts."

"The contact information..."

"It's for the leader of my group, Kanzaki. Once he gets a message, he'll send it to me. But so far, my inbox is still empty."

"I'm impressed by how capable you are. Thank you very much."

"I'll pass your gratitude on to Kanzaki."

"Didn't you help make the notice?"

"Of course I did, but I didn't do much..."

Haha, I'd only shown up at the end to admire it. Making the notice had turned out to be easier than I'd expected.

"Good morning, Raku, and Ayanokoji!"

Just as we were admiring Kanzaki's handiwork, Ichinose arrived at school.

"What are you looking at? Whoa, is this what Raku's been working on for the past few days?"

"Kanzaki made it. I only helped out a little."

"I see. Somehow, I'd completely forgotten about Kanzaki." Ichinose sheepishly scratched her cheek.

Could someone with such a strong presence really be forgotten? He was our class's vice president, after all.

"Hmm, perfect timing. Kanzaki, over here!"

Anyone who got involved with me seemed to fall into a chain of coincidences. As it happened, Kanzaki was in the hallway, glancing at the clock on the wall.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nothing. I just happened to see your group's work and wanted to check it out. And the people from Class D are here, too. Ayanokoji, this is Kanzaki."

The two of them exchanged casual greetings.

"You came because of the messages, right, Ayanokoji? I haven't received any useful leads on my end, though. Almost all the texts sent to me have been junk."

"I see... Today's the last day, isn't it? I'll take a look at the bulletin board from earlier, too."

"Did you make a notice as well, Ichinose?"

"Not exactly. I meant the bulletin board on the school's official website. The school website gets more traffic from our students than any other site we know of. So I posted a request for everyone's help there."

With that, Ichinose showed us the announcement she'd posted.

It explained the situation and offered a points reward.

For some reason, seeing the announcement made me think of the scam texts I'd received on my phone before the school year started.

Human society really was too treacherous.

"A points reward... Isn't that too high a price for Class B to pay?"

"We did it on our own initiative, so please don't worry too much about it. Besides, isn't this a cooperative effort? Oh, there's a message."

As soon as Ichinose finished her last sentence, the three of us turned our attention to the message. After reading it, we learned that Ishizaki from Class C had been a gang member in junior high who was very good at fighting.

To get further proof, we'd have to pay the corresponding number of points.

"In other words, if Ishizaki and the other two really did get into a fight with Sudo, then the victim from Class D wouldn't have come away unscathed, either."

"What do you think, Raku?"

"About the same as Kanzaki."

"If Ishizaki is still the same as he was in junior high, then what they did this time only makes sense if someone planned it from behind the scenes. Even so, the fact that they were the ones who attacked him can't be erased."

"Yeah. Even if this information backs that up, they can still claim they've changed for the better and try to smooth things over. Winning will still be very difficult... How are things going in your class?"

"It's hard to say right now. Horikita's basically in control of the situation."

"Sounds like this is a pretty tricky matter after all. It'd be great if we could find stronger proof online. For now, all we can do is pay the points and get this information."

Open, aboveboard methods would only get us so far. Dirty tactics were what would give us an edge.

Unfortunately, the students in Class B had always fought fair and square.

"The other party seems to want to be paid anonymously... Does anyone know how to do that?"

Even though students from his own class had paid Ichinose anonymously countless times, he still didn't know how it worked.

"I'll show you. Think of it as a small way of returning the favor for your class's help." Ayanokoji promptly answered Ichinose's request.

"Sorry for the trouble."

"If they want to be paid anonymously, they gave you their email address, right?"

"They did, but it's one of those free email addresses you get online. Will that be a problem?"

"That'll be enough. First, open the transfer screen and check your ID number."

"Okay..."

I'd planned to just watch them finish, but only when I saw them gradually drawing closer did I realize how serious the problem was. So before Ichinose could react, I pulled her into my arms. Ayanokoji froze at the sight, while Kanzaki looked as if he'd seen it all before.

"Whoa—Raku, Raku?"

As I felt her soft, sweet scent in my arms and watched Ichinose's cheeks turn visibly red, I felt a secret thrill at having pulled off my plan.

Still, there were too many flaws in my act. For instance, anyone could tell I didn't have a strong possessive streak.

"I'll do it instead."

Ayanokoji furrowed his brow slightly at my answer, then seemed to understand.

"I see. You and Ichinose have that kind of relationship, too. Then I was being presumptuous."

"Huh—" Just as Ichinose was about to cry out in confusion, I rubbed her cheek, pretending we were close.

It was soft.

"I'll leave you two alone. As for the information, please send it to me later if you can. I'll pass it on to Horikita."

"Thanks." I nodded, and Ayanokoji left.

"So you really are officially together?" After Ayanokoji was gone, Kanzaki said it as if he'd expected as much.

At the same time, Ichinose looked at me nervously from my arms, seeming at a loss.

"Sorry. I overstepped just now. I was only acting in self-defense." I apologized to Ichinose, then continued explaining.

"Self-defense—"

"Open the transfer screen."

"Huh?"

"You'll understand once you open the transfer screen, Ichinose." If it was for the class's strategy, then she was worth protecting, even if I had to sacrifice a little.

Even after I let her go, Ichinose stayed dazed for a while. It was only when Kanzaki urged her with a look that she slowly began to act.

"Ah." Ichinose let out a quiet exclamation.

"I see..."

We didn't know the full extent of this school's S System, but we knew that S Points were an important part of it. After learning that, our class came up with a treasury strategy: we pooled the students' points into Class President Ichinose's account for centralized management. Everyone else could only keep thirty thousand points for living expenses.

"I'm impressed you thought of that."

"It was just a coincidence. Talking about points reminded me that our class had some kind of plan related to them."

"But I was pretty shocked by your self-defense just now, too."

"Sorry. I had no other choice."

"I-It's okay. I don't mind." Ichinose hurriedly waved her hands.

"Tch, there's not much time... I have something personal to take care of, so I'll leave the transfer to you." Kanzaki glanced at the clock on the wall, then hurried off.

"Sorry for being so rough with you just now."

"I-I already forgave you... Besides the transfer, there's something else I wanted to ask you, Raku..."

"What is it?"

"Well, it's about what you said during the rehearsal last time... You were only joking then, right?"

"Yeah. If I upset you, I apologize again."

"No, you didn't... I was just a little curious... Ah, it's nothing. Anyway, let's carry on."

A Careless Decision?

[The following nine traits are enough to make a failure.]

I'd mentioned before that I had very few friends in class, but we were close. We often gathered in each other's rooms, and each room had its own theme. For instance, my room was for chatting and snacking, while Okabe's was for video games and other entertainment.

Not long ago, I got an invitation to meet up in Okabe's room. I weighed my options for a long time before deciding to go. Naturally, by the time I got there, I'd already missed my chance to join the first game. After that, they asked if I wanted to play, but then they decided I was taking too long to think and simply left me out.

When everyone was sitting around chatting, I could only try to listen rather than become a speaker, because I was afraid they'd criticize my ideas and how I handled things.

After everything I'd been through, I'd become certain of one thing: I wasn't capable enough to connect to the shared network of men. Even the student network was a stretch for me.

See? I really was pathetic.

If those things were bad enough, how was I supposed to explain what came next?

When I got lost, I'd confidently made a plan to map out the entire facility. But after three minutes, the heat had defeated me, and I'd given up halfway through, disheartened.

Kanzaki was always saying I made excuses to cover up my own weakness and was terrified of facing setbacks, which was why I acted so timidly about everything.

Teacher Hoshinomiya also often dragged me in for a talking-to, saying I didn't like studying.

Indecisive, short-lived enthusiasm, afraid of rejection, self-limiting, avoiding reality, ridiculous excuses, refusing to study, afraid of things... And the last one, procrastination, went without saying. Wasn't that a common flaw among all lazy people who believed in conserving energy?

"...Looking at it this way, I've got all nine traits of a failure."

"Raku, you're not nearly as hopeless as you make yourself out to be." Ichinose had come up behind me at some point and started reading the article that had popped up in my browser. After hearing my muttering, she pouted in disapproval and argued back.

"So I don't even have any self-awareness. Doesn't that make me even worse?"

"That's not true!"

Just then, Kanzaki let out a deep sigh. "Honestly, sometimes you really impress me. You'll go so far as to describe yourself like this just to avoid wasting energy. It's just a matter of waiting for the outcome. Do you really have to go this far?"

"Tch." I clicked my tongue and stopped my "self-criticism."

Today was the day of the meeting, and we knew exactly what it was about: the circumstances of the fight and the decision on the case.

The meeting was happening at dusk, at the hour of twilight. Why had I chosen today of all days to sit around spacing out in the classroom, just like always? Fate really was unfair to me.

"I just mean that even if I go, I won't be any help, right? The Student Council will decide the outcome."

"You can't be sure of that, Raku. You always help out in unexpected ways. Like yesterday, when we were transferring the points."

"That was just the one time, wasn't it? I can't get a word in during our usual strategy meetings."

"Not true. You've helped in plenty of other ways, too. You just keep it to yourself."

"...Why does that make me sound like a thief?"

"And as a witness, don't you want to know the outcome of the meeting?"

"Ayanokoji's taking part, isn't he? I can just ask him later."

"Hmm, Raku, apart from being too lazy to bother, you're great in every other way."

"Thank you for the compliment, Ichinose."

"That wasn't a compliment!"

"Class President Ichinose, to Raku, your words are practically a compliment—and a pretty high-level one at that."

"How? I thought I was being really harsh."

"Is that really harsh...?" Hearing Ichinose's reply, Kanzaki looked a little hurt as he leaned against the tree.