Toward the Self, Toward Those Who Come After

What Amasawa Ichika wants to take revenge on is a phantom of Sakayanagi Arisu during the second simulation, but the one who actually exists here is Sakayanagi Arisu after three lives have been superimposed. Although it seems like they are having a dialogue across time and space, the two still have common ground in their feelings, because the underlying nature of their personalities is indeed difficult to change, and it will be the same no matter how many times they start over.

For Kitagawa Ryo, the information gap was always a difficult hurdle to overcome between girls. It was alright for girls like Amasawa Ichika and Sakayanagi Arisu who shared a simulated memory, but the past troubles of Ichinose Honami and Karuizawa Kei had bothered him for many years.

As time went by, Kitagawa Ryo became increasingly aware of an inevitable fact:

If he truly wants to fulfill that excessively greedy wish, then it would be best to let all those who experienced it firsthand know what happened in the past.

There is never love or hate without a reason in this world.

Only when they know and understand this can they truly get along.

... After this Special Exam is over, I'll go back and ask Hotaru.

Of course, Amasawa Ichika was unaware that Kitagawa Ryo had made such a decision because of her. She was still deliberately provoking Sakayanagi Arisu's emotions, just like imitating the villains she had seen on TV as a child who would ridicule the protagonist, trying to stimulate the other person's potential and the bonds of friendship, family, and love.

But the more she did this, the calmer Sakayanagi Arisu became.

Or perhaps it's a faint sense of weariness.

Chess is inherently a mental game that requires thinking and predicting the opponent's moves. Reality is definitely not like light novels and anime, where the existence of a certain emotion can create extraordinary miracles, nor will it be a scenario where someone suddenly awakens and makes a divine move because of another person's existence.

She had doubted, been confident, tried, worked hard, and pleaded; in the end, she also lost, failed, self-destructed, and cried bitterly.

So, where did her initial competitive spirit come from?

Is it due to her absolute self-confidence?

They have no doubt about their genius, the excellence of their genes, or anything they do, and take it all for granted that it is right.

Perhaps this is the arrogance that Amasawa Ichika was referring to.

At the end of the first simulation, Kitagawa Ryo used a single sentence to describe the style of behavior he had observed in Sakayanagi Arisu:

Knowing I was destined to be absent, I simply chose not to participate at all.

Perhaps this self-awareness is itself a manifestation of arrogance.

It's clear that what she learned from her father—the connection between people and the warmth conveyed through skin—wasn't a bad thing, but she quickly and naturally wanted to become the one who initiated that warmth.

It's as if a story from a fairy tale has happened to her too. Someone is willing to spend at least two lifetimes' worth of effort for a seemingly unattainable goal, with a kitten leading her to obtain that gift from several lifetimes. For any girl, this is probably the most perfect process and ending.

She was certainly moved, and never doubted her feelings for Kitagawa Ryo his feelings for her; he was the one destined for her.

But I still feel a bit conflicted, though I can't quite put my finger on it.

"I really envy how you can so easily attribute everything to the outcome of a game of chess."

Facing Amasawa Ichika, who was still chatting ambiguously with Kitagawa Ryo, Sakayanagi Arisu once again said what she had said an hour earlier.

She stood up wearily. The game on the board was beyond saving, and Sakayanagi Arisu resigned.

"The match is over."

The End-of-Year Special Exam Class 1-A and Class 1-B came to a close with these words spoken by Teacher Sakagami, who was quietly observing the results.

"Class B won the previous round. Therefore, the result of this final Special Exam is four wins and three losses—a victory for Class 1-B. Of course, Class A also performed admirably."

The outcome is decided.

In the final moments before the Commander's communications were cut off, Kitagawa Ryo heard Amasawa Ichika's last words, but they weren't spoken to him; rather, they sounded more like a soliloquy.

"Hello,"

"I won Liang back."

Chapter 517: Towards Oneself, Towards Those Who Come After

Unlike the intense battle between Class 1-A and Class B in the first year, which went to the very end, the match between Class 1-C and Class D in the first year took an unexpected turn. Class C, who were highly anticipated before the match, found themselves struggling and outmatched as time went on.

After the score was tied 1-1, the third task for both sides was to draw the [Speed Mental Arithmetic] task, which was also an academic skill. However, this time it was the task submitted by Class C, so the similar task submitted by Class D was also removed from the reserve pool.

Of course, this did not prevent Class C from securing the point steadily. However, since the first three rounds of the competition had already used up nearly thirty spots in the class, there were now less than ten students left in the hands of Commander Katsuragi Kohei.

This includes Hashimoto Masayoshi.

In fact, although Ayanokoji Kiyotaka didn't pay much attention to this Special Exam, he still informed Katsuragi Kohei before leaving school this morning. In addition to having him take over as the Commander, he also left instructions regarding Hashimoto Masayoshi.

"If you feel you're going to lose, put him in the loser's bracket."

Katsuragi Kohei naturally understood the meaning of those words: if Class C won this Special Exam, they would find another opportunity to deal with Hashimoto Masayoshi; if Class C lost the exam, they would use this as an excuse to expel the other team from school.

Actually, when Katsuragi Kohei drew the Tea Ceremony in the first round, he had considered whether to let Hashimoto Masayoshi lose. However, on the one hand, it was the first match, and losing it would seem like he was deliberately losing, which would be detrimental to morale. On the other hand, Shiina Hiyori's Tea Ceremony was not an absolutely dominant sport like Class A 'Sudo basketball or Yamada Albert's Judo.

With each win earning him an extra fifty Class Points, Katsuragi Kohei still wanted to be greedy. Unfortunately, the girl he sent out in the end failed to win, and in addition, he drew events in the second and third rounds that were almost impossible for Class D to win, which instead allowed Hashimoto Masayoshi to get stuck in his hands.

The fourth round of research topics was quickly finalized.

It was a dodgeball game submitted by Class 1-D. The rules were roughly similar to those of the Group Dodgeball submitted by Class 1-C, except that the number of players had been reduced from more than ten to eight, thus shrinking the scale.

Therefore, Hashimoto Masayoshi's participation and the removal of Class 1-C's Group Dodgeball event became inevitable.

From the very beginning, Katsuragi Kohei suspected that Hashimoto Masayoshi was the spy who leaked information about Class C. After all, after the two sides completely broke up, the other side's attitude towards Class C was only hatred. Even if Ryuen Kakeru didn't give him any more promises about transferring to another class, he would still spare no effort to disgust Class C in his last moments before dropping out of school.

Rather than saying this was a case of an insider or a spy, it was a completely Hashimoto Masayoshi performance by Hashimoto Masayoshi, who was leading Class C to a crushing defeat in the dodgeball event, bringing the score back to a 2-2 tie.

At this moment, there are still three items left to be drawn, but there are only three items left in the pool to be drawn: two identical English Exam and one Social Studies Exam.

At first glance, all of them seem to be academic programs that are absolutely advantageous to Class C.

But...

Katsuragi Kohei simply shook his head in distress.

With a two-thirds probability, the fifth item drawn was English Exam.

Having already completed their first round of player selection, Class 1-C scored again without any difficulty, taking the lead and holding match point, bringing the score to 3-2, and only one step away from winning this Special Exam.

"Since the remaining items do not support the number of items to be drawn, according to the rules of this Special Exam, the next items will be randomly drawn from the backup items of both parties."

Holding the documents, Hoshinomiya Chie explained the rules to the Commander of Class 1-C and Class D.

Therefore, the ten shortlisted projects were added to the pool, from which the topics for the final two competitions of Class 1-C and Class D in the first year would be selected.

So, how prepared was Class 1-C for this kind of unexpected situation?

The answer is almost zero.

Because the rule is to choose five out of ten from the beginning, most students will not do any extra preparation for the other five items, which are just a pretext. After all, it already takes a lot of time to practice the five official items they submit and to guess the other party's five official items.

To everyone's surprise, Class 1-D would use this method to exchange items with Class C, forcibly dragging the competition into the realm of randomized alternative items.

Even at this point, Katsuragi Kohei still couldn't figure out Ryuen Kakeru's intention in going through such a long and complicated process.

If Class 1-D's actions were intended to catch Class C off guard, and the actual projects prepared were all backup projects, then why not just submit the backup projects as the official ones from the start? In the end, wouldn't it all come down to luck?

However, at this point, Katsuragi Kohei couldn't afford to think about such things anymore, and instead focused all his attention on drawing the sixth item.

Undoubtedly, the best choice would be the official project [Social Studies Exam] that their Class C hadn't yet been drawn for, but the one in eleven chance was too slim. In the end, the result was not as Katsuragi Kohei had hoped; they were drawn for a simple game of rock-paper -Rock Paper Scissors, which was purely based on luck and was the project submitted by Class 1-D.

In fact, when all ten items from both sides were first revealed, many students from Class 1-C, including Katsuragi Kohei, were convinced that Rock Paper Scissors would definitely be the official item for Class D. After all, the other academic items seemed too abstract, and it was quite normal for Class D, whose class strength was obviously weaker than their Class C, to try to cheat in this kind of luck-based item.

That's why Class 1-C had actually practiced Rock Paper Scissors a few times under Kushida Kikyo's guidance, and they never expected to actually draw this topic today.

However, it must be said that in this crucial match point, drawing such a topic is definitely a good thing for Class 1-C. If they are lucky, they can easily pass this Special Exam.

With that in mind, Katsuragi Kohei naturally selected three girls, led by Kushida Kikyo, as his players on the screen.

After all, Kushida Kikyo has quite a few friends in Class D, so she might run into a student who knows the other person's Rock Paper Scissors habit.

With this in mind, Katsuragi Kohei nervously turned his gaze to the live broadcast screen. Sitting opposite him Ryuen Kakeru still maintained his nonchalant demeanor. If it weren't for the rule against putting your legs on the table, he probably would have already done so.

In the rules of Class 1-D, the Commander's intervention in this event is very weak, with only one rule. "It can suggest to the players what to play before the Rock Paper Scissors rock-paper-scissors." Naturally, Katsuragi Kohei would not exercise this completely useless Commander authority, and Ryuen Kakeru also had no intention of using it.

The match was a best-of-three series, and the outcome was decided in almost ten seconds. Class 1-C seemed to be a little less lucky, as two of them, including Kushida Kikyo and another girl, lost their match, ultimately losing to Class D with a score of 1 to 2, handing over the winning point to them.

"The score between Class 1-C and Class 1-D is now 3-3, and the two sides will proceed to the final draw."

Mashima Tomoya, who was serving as the proctor, said in a deep voice that even he himself did not expect that Class C and Class D would fight to the very last moment before a winner was decided. Although it seemed that Class C had benefited from luck, he still felt that something was not right.

But Class 1-D' s good fortune didn't seem to be over yet. In the final draw, one of Class D' s backup projects was confirmed on the big screen. However, the ratio of four to six was already close to 50/50. But at the last moment, which determined the outcome of the Special Exam, it still made people want to sigh.

[Karate].

This was the final project for Class 1-C and Class D in the first year.

If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad, because Class 1-C also has Kito Hayato, a student whose physical abilities are enough to rival those of Ken Sudō and Yamada Albert from Class A, and Hirata Yosuke is also quite good.

However, this project was deliberately suffixed with "(Girls Only)".

Among the girls in Class 1-C, it seems that only Kamuro Masumi is outstanding in terms of physical fitness.

But this is definitely someone Katsuragi Kohei would find difficult to place in the decisive game.

Because the other party had already shown signs of betraying the class during the Mixed Training Camp Special Exam, if nothing unexpected happens, after Hashimoto Masayoshi drops out of school, the next target for investigation in Class 1-C will be the other party.

However, according to the legendary observer Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Kamuro Masumi might only show signs of betraying the class towards Kitagawa Ryo, and should still be trustworthy when it's unrelated to him.

Therefore, after much deliberation and hesitation, Katsuragi Kohei still chose Kamuro Masumi and another girl from the class as the final participants in the event. Since Class D had already used their one-on-one spots for the Tea Ceremony, the Karate this time adopted a two-on-two rule.

It's just a ring battle format, where students who defeat their opponents can continue to the next round.

Katsuragi Kohei looked up at the screen. The confirmed members for Class 1-D were Ibuki Mio and Nishino Takeshi.

Without a doubt, the key to victory and the focus of this match was the first round between Ibuki Mio and Kamuro Masumi, because neither of the two could defeat the victorious challenger in the subsequent rounds, given the significant gap in both physical attributes and skills.

The Commander's intervention power in this round was still negligible, merely granting the ability to pause for ten seconds at any point in the game. However, this was consistent with Class 1-D's style in this Special Exam; the projects they submitted were designed with considerable caution in terms of Commander intervention, completely different from their usual approach of centering everything around Ryuen Kakeru.

Within the scene, Kamuro Masumi and Ibuki Mio were each led into the competition venue by staff members and did some simple warm-up exercises.

Because it was the last match, and unlike the Chess between Class A and Class B next door, which required a quiet and enclosed environment, other students from Class 1-C and Class D also came along. They wanted to witness the results of this Special Exam firsthand and also to cheer on their classmates up close.

"Consider it for the sake of Hiyori."

Before going on stage, Ibuki Mio heard Nishino Takeshi pat her shoulder and say this to her from behind.

"I know, you've said it so many times, it's just that Class D won against Kitagawa this time and agreed to transfer here."

Ibuki Mio simply rolled her eyes at this:

"You know, I actually support Suzune quite a bit too."

"Then we should work even harder!"

"What's wrong?"

"Just received news that the Special Exam for Class A and Class B next door have all concluded. Class 1-B narrowly defeated Class A 4-3. If Class D loses this match, then Class C will surpass Class A."

"Is that so?"

Ibuki Mio stretched her limbs, adjusting her body to its optimal state:

"Don't worry, I grew up in a dojo, and I was trained a lot by my elders when I was a kid."

"Even if my opponent's Kamuro is similar to me in terms of physical abilities, he definitely can't compare to me in terms of Karate skills."

At this point, Ibuki Mio turned her gaze to Kamuro Masumi, who was also warming up across from her, and gestured with her chin toward Nishino Takeshi Takeko:

"Furthermore, I didn't feel that the other side had that particular desire to win, at least not as much as I did."

"... For whom do you hold this belief?"

"For Suzune, for Hiyori, and of course, for our class."

As she spoke, Ibuki Mio waved to the other Class D students behind her, eliciting cheers and encouragement, before turning back to continue her conversation with Nishino Takeshi:

"Although I initially thought this class was terrible, it's also something I've been in for a year and will be in for another two years, something that has been a part of my entire three years of high school."

"Besides, the changes in the class recently have been quite good."

Why would Class 1-D go to the unnecessary trouble of having an academic ability test against Class C in this Special Exam?

In the end, it all comes down to luck.

Ibuki Mio understood the answer that puzzled Katsuragi Kohei.

Because that wasn't a match against Class 1-C, but against their own team.

It is their proof to themselves, and also to Kitagawa Ryo, whether he comes or not.

"Well then, it's my turn to go on stage."

Finally, Ibuki Mio nodded vigorously at the camera and at Ryuen Kakeru, the Commander in the Multimedia Room.

The outcome will be decided in ten minutes.

Class 1-D won the final event and took the End-of-Year Special Exam against Class C with a total score of 4 to 3.

Please take one day off.