Mutual Sabotage

The two leaders analyzed the information on 1W and made the necessary arrangements.

At last, Class 1-D seemed to have returned to normal.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka of Class D leaned against a hallway corner, watching Hirata Yosuke hurry past.

Katsuragi Kohei of Class A was recording something in front of the bulletin board when he suddenly turned and met his gaze.

Their eyes crossed, then quickly shifted away, like black and white pieces temporarily holding their positions on a chessboard.

The only change was that all four classes had agreed to collect information and establish diplomatic relations with the others.

Chabashira Sae returned to the office in high spirits.

Her black heels clicked across the marble floor with a spring in their step, lighter than usual. The hem of her suit stirred the papers in the hands of students passing by.

When she pushed open the door, the teacher duty roster hanging behind it was still swaying slightly. The words "Class D," circled in red, glinted in the sunlight.

As soon as she sat down, she took out a cigarette and prepared to light it.

The crisp snap of her silver lighter sounded especially clear in the silent office. The moment the flame leapt up, the distinctive aroma of burning tobacco had already begun to fill the air. But the next second—

Hoshinomiya Chie, beside her, said,

"Little Chabashira, you can't smoke in the office."

A figure carrying the scent of citrus perfume suddenly appeared from behind the copier.

Her friend put both hands on her shoulders. The hand holding the cigarette barely paused.

Then Chabashira put it away.

"Class D finally has a few promising students."

"Don't tell me you still haven't given up on your obsession with climbing to Class A, Little Chabashira?"

Obsession? That wasn't quite the right word.

Perhaps regret was more fitting.

Those who had never been poor couldn't imagine, let alone understand, the suffering poverty could bring.

Chabashira Sae was born in an ordinary village.

There was an elderly woman in the village who was kind and gentle.

When Chabashira was little, she would sometimes go over to play.

Back then, young Chabashira had been curious.

"Granny, why do you live alone?"

The old woman said nothing. She just patted her head and smiled.

When Chabashira got home and asked her parents, they fell silent.

Years later, the old woman passed away.

Only when the villagers were burying her did her parents tell Chabashira the truth.

The old woman had once had a family of her own.

She had a loving husband, two sons, and a daughter.

"Then how did she end up alone?"

The answer was that one day the old woman had cooked a pot of wild mushrooms.

They poisoned her three children and her husband.

She hadn't eaten a single bite, because times had been so hard back then.

She couldn't bear to waste any.

After that, she never remarried. She stayed in that home until the day she died.

Chabashira's family had also been poor, though they lived in the same village.

But her family was there with her, and they had food and drink.

After school, she helped her mother with the housework and her father with the farm.

In her free time, she played with her friends, and life was happy enough.

So she had never imagined that poverty could bring such suffering.

Just from her parents' words, she could picture what had happened.

It had been a scorching summer. The old woman, still young then, had been out gathering wild greens when she was lucky enough to find a patch of wild mushrooms.

She had been overjoyed on her way home.

The family was so poor that everyone went hungry.

These mushrooms would give her husband and children a little nourishment.

She had hummed as she cooked. When mealtime came, her family returned.

She had watched them eat, her face full of happiness. When they urged her to have some, she had claimed she'd already eaten.

Not long afterward, she had seen her husband and children fall to the floor, their faces twisted in pain.

Unable to believe it, she had frantically called their names and shaken their bodies.

She had gone to the neighbors for help, then collapsed to the ground, unable to accept what had happened.

Afterward, pain, guilt, regret—all those feelings had bound her fast.

She became a living ghost, trapped in that house, her heart forever imprisoned on the day she cooked wild mushrooms for her family.

In that moment, silence passed through time from the old woman to Chabashira's parents, then from her parents to her.

In that moment, the girl seemed to grow into an adult.

She made up her mind to give her family a better life.

After that, she studied hard, but her family was poor and couldn't afford tutoring.

Fortunately, when she graduated from middle school, Advanced Nurturing High School sent her a recommendation.

She passed the entrance exam and successfully enrolled.

That day, she shared the good news with her family.

Some time after enrolling, she discovered that the school's promise applied only to Class A graduates.

So what?

She wasn't afraid of competition. She was only afraid of being denied even the chance to compete.

Just as she had been unable to afford tutoring in middle school.

She improved her academic performance and trained her body.

She united her classmates and fought with everything they had.

Finally, the last Special Exam of their third year of high school arrived.

The gap between them and Class A was tiny. If they won, they could graduate as Class A.

Everyone could fulfill the hopes they'd had before enrolling. Everyone could have a happy life.

Unfortunately, for one reason or another,

they lost that Special Exam.

They missed out on Class A.

How ironic. They had kept moving forward through the darkness, only to fall just before dawn, on the very eve of sunrise.

After that, the regret of reaching for something and never attaining it bound her like chains.

She never escaped—not when she graduated from high school and entered university, nor when she graduated from university and entered society.

In the end, she chose to return to the school as a homeroom teacher.

Sometimes she wondered what it would be like if she succeeded one day.

Would her life finally feel complete once she overcame her regret?

Would she greet her new life with an ecstatic smile?

Or would she suddenly realize that time could not flow backward, and that relying on someone else's actions was nothing more than self-comfort and self-deception?

Like the old woman, her life had been trapped on the day of the last Special Exam of her third year of high school.

She didn't know how things would turn out.

None of the classes she had taught had ever graduated as Class A.

"Little Chabashira?"

"Little Chabashira?"

After Hoshinomiya Chie called out several times, Chabashira Sae finally came back to herself.

"What were you thinking about just now? I called you several times, but you didn't respond."

Chabashira's mood was a little low. She said wistfully, "I was thinking of an old woman from my village. She passed away."

"I'm sorry, I..."

"It's all right. It wasn't your fault."

"Are you still planning to climb to Class A, then?"

The question was a little out of place.

But they had been classmates once, and friends for years.

Chabashira could tell that Hoshinomiya wanted to change the subject and improve her mood.

"You're overthinking it. You know as well as I do that the class divisions have become more and more pronounced in recent years."

"I just hope they climb a little higher so they can earn more each month and get a bigger year-end bonus."

"I didn't really feel it when I was a student, but after graduating and entering society, I realized just how much everything costs. Food, clothing, housing, transportation, cigarettes, alcohol, bags, cosmetics—which of them doesn't cost money?"

Hoshinomiya covered her mouth and chuckled.

"I see. That's certainly something to be happy about. Why don't we get together tonight? We could ask Sakagami, Mashima, and the others out for a drink."

"What's there to get together for? We see each other at school every day. It's not like we're old classmates meeting again after years apart."

Chapter 21: Mutual Sabotage

The Boxing Club.

Kiryuin Fuuka hummed a little tune as she pushed open the training room door. Her freshly painted mint-green nail polish was still on the metal doorknob.

Ever since she'd successfully talked the club president into changing the match format yesterday, the corners of her mouth hadn't come down once. She looked just like a cat that had stolen a salmon.

"Club President, is it a free-for-all today or a gauntlet match?"

The sweat smell hit her as she entered, making her wrinkle her nose.

The Boxing Club President was standing with his back to the door, wiping down his gloves. Sweat rolled over his bronze back muscles, glistening under the fluorescent lights.

The clanging of metal rang out from the equipment area. Three burly men were putting the weight plates back in place.

"Three on one."

The club president tossed out the three words without looking back. Then he suddenly turned around with a grin, as if he'd just pulled off a prank.

"But if you want to join in, you can be one of them. After all, you love watching blood flow."

The girl's mint-green fingernail dug into the wooden doorframe with a sharp click.

"You tricked me?!" She slammed the door with an explosive bang, shaking the punching bags hanging on the wall three times over.

Students passing through the hallway scurried away with their heads covered, thinking there'd been an earthquake.

The Boxing Club President paused as he wiped his gloves.

"And you call that enjoying yourself? You don't have the slightest understanding of what it means to be a fun-seeker. Your fun-seeker purity is way too low."

"A true fun-seeker should have the courage to put themself into the game."

He put away the sweat-soaked towel, shaking his head and clicking his tongue.