Tiger vs. Tiger

Two o'clock in the afternoon: the high jump.

Just as Horikita had expected, Hashimoto Masayoshi had signed up. He was tall and long-legged, with excellent physical fitness, making him a favorite to win.

The competition was single-elimination, with the bar gradually raised. Horikita was in good form and cleared the first few heights with ease. Hashimoto also made it through without trouble.

But when the bar was raised to 1.65 meters, things changed.

Horikita went first. She ran up, jumped, and cleared the bar smoothly. But the moment she landed, one edge of the mat suddenly sank!

"Ah!" Horikita lost her balance and fell to the ground.

"What happened?!" The referee rushed over to check.

The foam filling in one corner of the high-jump mat was noticeably uneven, as if someone had tampered with it. Horikita had landed on the harder part, twisting her ankle.

"I'm fine." Horikita gritted her teeth and stood up, but she was clearly limping.

Ayanokoji looked at Hashimoto. He was spreading his hands with an innocent expression, but a flash of satisfaction crossed his eyes.

It was Hashimoto's turn to jump. He easily cleared 1.65 meters, but when he landed, he "accidentally" kicked the bar. It fell right onto the spot on the mat where Horikita had landed.

"Oops, sorry about that." Hashimoto's apology was utterly insincere.

Anyone with eyes could tell he'd done it on purpose, but there was no proof.

The bar was raised to 1.70 meters. Horikita's ankle had already swollen, and she failed on both of her first two attempts. On her third attempt, she barely cleared the bar, but pain turned her face pale when she landed.

Hashimoto cleared it on his first try, even doing a deliberate trick in midair.

In the end, Hashimoto took first place, and Horikita came fourth.

After the competition, Horikita was helped over to the rest area. Her right ankle was swollen like a steamed bun.

"Go to the infirmary," Ayanokoji said.

"No." Horikita gritted her teeth. "There's the swimming relay this afternoon. I can still swim."

"How can you swim like that?"

"I can." Horikita raised her head, her gaze stubborn. "Class D is already missing Sudo and Sakura. We can't afford to lose anyone else."

Ayanokoji watched her in silence. A few seconds later, he nodded. "All right. But don't push yourself."

Three-thirty in the afternoon: the swimming pool.

The swimming relay was the Sports Festival's final event. Each of the four classes fielded four swimmers—two boys and two girls—for a 4×100-meter medley relay.

Class D's original lineup was Sudo for the men's freestyle, Horikita for the women's breaststroke, Hirata for the men's butterfly, and Karuizawa for the women's backstroke.

But now Sudo was injured, and Horikita had twisted her ankle.

"We'll make some changes." Ayanokoji made his decision. "I'll swim freestyle, and Horikita will switch to backstroke to reduce the strain on her feet. Hirata will swim breaststroke, and Karuizawa will swim butterfly."

"You can swim?" Hirata asked in surprise.

"A little."

In fact, more than a little. The body control he'd gained from [Combat Mastery (Master Level)] also applied to swimming. And the previous night, he'd temporarily exchanged system points for [Swimming Technique (Mastery)].

As the swimmers prepared for the race, Ayanokoji noticed someone new at the judges' table—Sakayanagi Arisu.

She sat in her wheelchair, a score sheet and rulebook in front of her, smiling as she spoke with the head referee.

"What's she really up to?" Karuizawa asked quietly.

"I don't know," Ayanokoji said. "But she's definitely not here to be an ordinary judge."

The swimmers from each class took their places beside the pool. Class A had a strong lineup, including two members of the swim team. Class B's lineup was complete, and Ichinose was competing herself. Ryuen was leading Class C's team in person.

The starter got ready.

"Take your marks—"

The gun fired!

The first leg was backstroke. Horikita entered the water, enduring the pain in her foot. Her movements were a little stiff, but she did her best to maintain her speed. Class B took the lead, with Class A in second, Class C in third, and Class D in fourth.

The second leg was breaststroke. Hirata's swimming wasn't especially good, but he was steady. The gap didn't widen.

The third leg was butterfly. Karuizawa entered the water. She had good explosive power and made up some distance. The standings were now Class A in first, Class B in second, Class C in third, and Class D in fourth, but the gap was small.

The final leg was freestyle.

All four swimmers entered the water at once!

Class A's swimmer was on the swim team and moved at incredible speed. Ryuen wasn't bad either, and Ichinose pushed herself to catch up for Class B.

Ayanokoji was in lane four. The moment he entered the water, he got into rhythm. His stroke rate wasn't the fastest, but every stroke was incredibly efficient, his body gliding through the water like a fish.

At the fifty-meter mark, he caught up with Class B.

At seventy-five meters, he caught up with Class C.

Over the final twenty-five meters, he was nearly neck and neck with Class A's swimmer!

The whole pool erupted.

"Go! Go!"

The cheers were deafening.

With ten meters to go, Ayanokoji suddenly accelerated and made a clean touch at the wall!

Class A's swimmer touched the wall almost at the same time.

Who had won?

Everyone looked at the timer.

Class A: 3:48.21

Class D: 3:48.23

A difference of 0.02 seconds! Class A had narrowly won!

"Wow—"

"So close!"

"Just a little more!"

A wave of disappointment swept through the Class D section, but pride was stronger. They'd gone from last place to losing by only 0.02 seconds. It was a miracle.

The judges began confirming the results. But just then, Sakayanagi Arisu raised her hand.

"Head referee, I have an objection."

The whole pool fell silent.

Sakayanagi wheeled herself to the edge of the pool. Her voice rang clearly across the venue through the microphone. "Under Rule 7, Clause 3, freestyle swimmers must touch the wall with one or both hands at the finish. I noticed that the Class D swimmer used a 'flip turn' technique when touching the wall. His touch wasn't clear."

She paused and brought up a slow-motion replay. "Please take a look. At the moment Ayanokoji touched the wall, his body was still rotating. It was his shoulder that touched the wall, not his hand as required. This should be ruled a foul, and his time should be disqualified."

The big screen replayed the moment in slow motion. It was true that, during the fast flip turn, the point where Ayanokoji touched the wall was unclear. It looked more like his shoulder had made contact first.

"Hmm..." The judges gathered to discuss it.

"That's so underhanded!" Karuizawa couldn't help shouting. "We were only a little behind, and you're invalidating our result over some technicality?"

"But the rules are the rules." Sakayanagi smiled. "If we allow ambiguous touches like this, every swimmer will start looking for loopholes."

She looked at Ayanokoji. "What do you think, Ayanokoji?"

Everyone's eyes focused on him.

He didn't argue. Instead, he calmly asked, "What's the full text of Rule 7, Clause 3?"

Sakayanagi paused, then recited it smoothly. "'Freestyle swimmers may touch the wall with any part of their body when turning and at the finish. After turning, however, they must begin swimming from a supine or prone position.'"

"Then," Ayanokoji asked, "does the rule say that you have to touch the wall with your hand?"

Sakayanagi's smile stiffened.

The entire venue fell silent.

Ayanokoji continued, "You just said that swimmers 'must touch the wall with one or both hands.' But that's the rule for breaststroke and butterfly. The freestyle rule says that you can touch the wall with any part of your body. I touched it with my shoulder, which is within the rules."

He looked toward the head referee. "If the judges have any doubts, they can check the rulebook."

The head referee immediately had someone bring over the rulebook and turned to the relevant page.

A few seconds later, he looked up and announced, "After checking, the freestyle rules do allow swimmers to touch the wall with any part of their body. The Class D swimmer's touch was legal, and his result stands!"

A reversal!

"Yeah!" The Class D section erupted in cheers.

Sakayanagi Arisu sat in her wheelchair, her smile not fading—instead, it grew even brighter. She applauded softly. "Well done, Ayanokoji. I deliberately got the rule wrong, and you immediately spotted and corrected me. You won this game."

So this had been another one of her tests. She'd intentionally misstated the rule to see if Ayanokoji would be bluffed or if he could calmly spot the flaw.

"Then," Ayanokoji said, looking at her, "is this what you meant by 'a clean way'?"

"Yes." Sakayanagi nodded. "Competing by the rules themselves—that's the Game of the Wise. However..."

She paused. "The game isn't over. There'll be a new Special Exam after the Sports Festival. I look forward to facing you again on the real battlefield."

With that, she gestured for her assistant to wheel her away.

The final swimming relay results were confirmed: Class A in first, Class D in second, Class B in third, and Class C in fourth.

Five o'clock in the afternoon: the closing ceremony.

The final overall standings were announced:

Class A: 380 points

Class D: 355 points

Class B: 335 points

Class C: 245 points

"Here are the final overall standings," Horikita Manabu announced. "First place in the first-year Sports Festival goes to Class A! Second place goes to Class D! Third place goes to Class B! Fourth place goes to Class C!"

Amid the applause, representatives from each class went up to receive their awards.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stood with the Class D team, looking at the silver medal in his hand.

[ Ding! Main Quest "Battle for Glory" completed! ]

[ Completion Rating: A (Led Class D to second place overall) ]

[ Rewards issued: Personal Points +8,000, Class Points +300, "Tactical Deduction" experience +100. ]

[ Ding! Hidden Quest "Game of the Wise" completed! ]

[ Evaluation: Successfully saw through and defeated Sakayanagi Arisu's "Rule Trap." ]

[ Rewards issued: Logical Thinking +15, Sakayanagi Arisu "Recognition" +20. ]

[ Current Sakayanagi Arisu Recognition: 35/100 (Curiosity → Initial Recognition) ]

The rewards were generous, but Ayanokoji didn't feel particularly happy.

He looked at the area below the stage.

In the Class A section, Sakayanagi Arisu smiled and nodded at him.

In the Class C section, Ryuen Kakeru looked frighteningly grim as he spoke in a low voice with Ishizaki and Albert, whose right arm was in a cast.

In the Class B section, Ichinose Honami gave him a thumbs-up, but her smile looked forced—the effects of the Tetsuya Hamaguchi incident were still being felt.

Within Class D, Kushida Kikyo applauded, but deep in her eyes lurked something cold.

The Sports Festival was over.

But, just as Sakayanagi had said, the game wasn't over.

A new Special Exam was coming.

And the enemy in the shadows had already begun to move.

As the award ceremony ended, Ayanokoji received an anonymous message:

"Be careful of Kushida. She's about to make a move. —A 'traitor's' warning"

The sender was unknown, but Ayanokoji had a guess.

Mio Ibuki.

It seemed the peaceful days really were over.