Volume 4, The Fifth Question

Volume 4, The Fifth Question

Please write down the correct pronunciation of the phrases below, and then make sentences with them.

“相杀”

Himeji Mizuki’s answer:

“Pronunciation, SOUSAI. Sentence: Just use the profit earned from trades to offset those liabilities.”

Teacher’s comment:

Correct. It means ‘to offset liabilities’, and this term is regularly used for debit and credit.

Tsuchiya Kouta’s answer:

“Pronunciation, SOUSATSU. Sentence: Offset the enemy’s power by fighting fist to fist.

Teacher’s comment:

Unfortunately, you’re wrong. Although it can also be pronounced ‘SOUSATSU’, the meaning would be ‘killing each other’. The correct pronunciation is ‘SOUSAI’, this time your answer offsets Shimada’s sentence.

Shimada Minami’s answer:

“Pronunciation, AISATSU.

Sentence: On a quiet and peaceful morning, my friends and I kill each other.

Teacher’s comment:

I don’t think a morning such as this can be considered quiet and peaceful.

☆

After finishing the assassination, we continued to observe Class B’s every move. While the 6th period was still ongoing, Class B finally started to send a message as expected.

“Did we succeed in buying some time?”

As previously said, all of our Class F’s periods this afternoon are self-studying periods, and for now, we are gathering beside Yuuji’s seat in order to have a strategic discussion.

“Although we couldn’t buy more time, I think it’s enough to last till tomorrow…”

At least Class B won’t even have a clue that we were the one behind this before that poisoned messenger regains consciousness…

However, we can only delay this for just one day, today. Tomorrow, once that messenger revives, he’ll spit everything out, and then Class B will find Class D to sort things out. Then, a large enemy that can’t be dealt with through assassination will attack.

Our deadline is today. No, strictly speaking, it should be until tomorrow morning. Once tomorrow morning arrives, if Class D declares war against us, then our plans can be considered successful.

In this circumstance, there’s only one problem left to be solved.

“Hideyoshi, how’s your negotiation going with Class D?”

“Un, I’ve already asked Shimizu out. She’ll be waiting for us in an empty classroom of the old school building after school.”

The stage was set properly, and what was left was just to provoke Class D.

“Yuuji, have you thought on how to force Class D to declare war on us?”

“Of course, I have an ace up my sleeve.”

Yuuji’s line felt very reliable. Provoking and insulting is this guy’s specialty after all! We should have no problem if we leave this huge assignment to him.

“But, Akihisa, you will have to keep your mouth shut. If you and Shimada aren’t together, we won’t be able to provoke Shimizu, so I'll have to let you guys follow. If you are to speak anything random, there may be irreversible consequences, so you really have to keep your mouth shut.”

“I know, we’ll just leave this matter to you to sort it out, Yuuji.”

All I needed to do is follow them to the scene, and say a few words. In such a situation, we can’t allow any failures, and I do feel relaxed for the fact that I only need to say a few words when acting.

“……There’s something that I’m concerned about.”

Muttsurini, who was standing beside me and fiddling with some kind of machinery, suddenly spoke up.

“Huh? Is there any problem, Muttsurini?”

“……I think Nemoto leaked some intel to Class A.”

Speaking of Nemoto-kun, he’s the class representative of Class B. As of the current circumstances, Class A shouldn't have anything to do with this, which makes this issue rather concerning.

“That’s too suspicious. They should be focusing on Class D, so why are they trying to involve Class A? Even if they involve all the other classes, the situation will worsen, and Class B wouldn't have any benefit either."

Muttsurini’s intel seemed to make Yuuji ponder for a while.

--Pa!

Suddenly a loud noise was heard, as the class door was opened forcefully.

“……Yuuji!”

The person who appeared at the door was none other than Kirishima-san, the class representative of Class A. However, why is this normally cool and collected Kirishima-san showing such a panicked look? Did something happen?

“Shouko? Why are you panicking?”

“……It has nothing to do with me. It actually concerns you, Yuuji. Why are you still here in school?!”

Is it wrong to be in school? School still hasn't ended yet. Or rather, it should be weird if he’s not in school now, isn’t it?

“Huh? What are you trying to say?”

“……Your mom fainted. Why aren’t you rushing back home to her!”

Kirishima-san spoke angrily.

Yuuji’s mother fainted? I didn’t know anything about it.

“Ah? You meant my mom? She doesn’t even have a cold; she’s as healthy as an ox!”

Yuuji also didn't look like he knew about this either.

Of course, if he had known about it, he would have rushed home to his mother by the 1st period.

“……Just get back home as soon as possible.”

Kirishima-san gripped Yuuji’s hand anxiously and pulled him away with force. She looked as if she was really worried about Yuuji’s mother.

“Hey, Shouko! Just wait for a while! I still have a very important plan “

“This is not the time to say such things!”

Kirishima-san's growl, which I have never heard of before, caused my spine to immediately stiffen. I'm not the only one stunned as the other classmates from F class were speechless as they stare at her tugging at Yuuji.

“Shouko, I told you to wait! This is just plain weird! How can you know about it before me—“

“Don’t talk anymore!”

“Shouko, just calm down—“

Yuuji’s efforts to resist were in vain, as he was pulled out of the classroom by Kirishima-san in a short while.

“““……”””

This sudden turn of event stunned all of us for a short while.

“……About that, I find it rather suspicious.”

Muttsurini muttered something to me, breaking the silence.

“Uh? Is there anything wrong?”

“……Normally, if something were to happen to Yuuji’s mother, he’d the first to know about it.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

If an accident happened to his family members, Yuuji should be the first one to know about it. Even if Kirishima-san is Yuuji’s fiancée, she can’t possibly know about it earlier than Yuuji.

“I’d think……maybe they couldn’t contact Yuuji?”

“No, I don’t think so, Yuuji’s in school all the time.”

Once they know that Yuuji’s in school, the teachers will broadcast it via the school speakers. But, we didn’t hear any broadcast calling for Yuuji.

“Also, saying that Yuuji’s mother fainted……No matter how we look at it, it seems wrong.”

Yuuji never mentioned that his mother was sick. It would be more logical if it was a car accident, but fainting at home sounds more like a lie.

“Maybe……it has something to do with the news that Nemoto-kun spread out.”

“……Should be. It’s his fake report stating that Yuuji’s mother fainted.”

“How dare he!”

Hideyoshi slapped the desk in front of him.

We’ve been had. Nemoto-kun thought of using Kirishima-san to take out the troublesome Yuuji!

“This is bad! Yuuji is important in the plan to provoke Shimizu-san……”

And now, Yuuji the strategist has been taken away. In this situation, we’ll have to face the negotiation without any plan.

“Muttsurini, did that Yuuji told you anything?”

“……(shakes head)”

Muttsurini shook his head, and I didn’t hear anything from him too. From Hideyoshi’s expression, it seemed that he didn't know anything either.

Since I, who hangs out with Yuuji the most, don’t know anything, it’s even unlikely for the rest to hear anything from Yuuji.

“……I think, Yuuji must have been afraid of being eavesdropped.”

“That means Yuuji didn’t mention his plan to anyone.”

“If so, we won’t need to expect Yuuji writing any slip of paper that’s related to the strategy.”

“……(nods)”

If I had known earlier, I should’ve used that opportunity just now to ask Yuuji about his plan.

“Akihisa, why don’t you contact Yuuji with your cell phone?”

“……(nods harder)”

The duo without phones looked at me hopefully, but -

“I don’t think that’ll do. My phone has been taken for maintenance.”

“You mean that you took your phone for maintenance? If so, we have to find someone with Yuuji’s phone number and borrow his phone.”

“No. It’s true that my phone has been taken for maintenance, but that is the same for Yuuji's.”

I’m starting to regret things now. I shouldn’t have thrown Yuuji’s phone into the cup of tea. I didn’t expect things to be like this!

“Looking at Kirishima-san’s furious expression, I don’t think we can get any response even if we try to contact her……”

“I agree. If she’d be bothered to even answer the phone, Yuuji would’ve had the chance to explain things to her before then.”

I calculated the time it takes to go to Yuuji’s house and come back. No matter how I calculated, the negotiation with Shimizu-san would’ve started already before he got back. And, if Yuuji’s mother wasn’t home, it’d take longer for him to get back here.

It won’t be long until the negotiations begin, so I don’t think he’ll be able to attend it.

“Hideyoshi, can you postpone the negotiation?”

“I can’t. It’ll be fine if it’s tomorrow after school, but we can’t let Shimizu wait for a few hours after school today.”

“I see……”

If we postpone it to tomorrow, we won’t make it in time. By that time, Class B would’ve declared a Summoner Test War already and finished all of us off with ease. Even so, making Shimizu-san wait until Yuuji comes back will be a huge problem. It’s after school, and we’re asking her to wait for a few hours - Shimizu-san won’t have any reason to agree with this unreasonable demand.

“Damn it! Nemoto-kun, you are ruthless……”

“Ya, we’d only want to buy some time by making Class B suspicious of Class D, but now things have taken a bad turn.”

“……It has become troublesome.”

Is Nemoto-kun trying to buy some time too? Or maybe he’s got a plan that has something to do with the battle against Class D, and tried to get Yuuji out so we can be taken out with ease? I can’t read his thoughts, but no matter how Nemoto-kun thinks, he weakened us a lot by doing this.

“Hideyoshi, Muttsurini, do you guys have any good plan? Like……one that can provoke Shimizu-san?”

“That’s not easy……It’s easy normally, but our numerous movements today have aroused Shimizu’s suspicion. Under this condition, to be able to provoke her and make her freak out……only Yuuji is able to do such a thing.”

“……I have no plan either.”

We’re screwed. So am I, since I can’t think of any good plan. How should we do this……

I’ve racked up my brain, but couldn’t even get a small bit of idea. Damn it, we really are finished this time!

“……It’s time.”

“Eh?”

I looked at the wall clock, and the clock's hands were pointing at the time the 6th period ends. The negotiation with Shimizu-san starts now.

“……How?”

Muttsurini asked. But—

“Is there any other way? Since Yuuji isn’t here, we’ll have to bite the bullet and go anyway.”

Even if we have faith in that absent bastard, it won’t change anything. We’re going there without a plan, and even if we don’t have confidence that we can successfully provoke her, we can only charge in.

“I agree. At this moment, we have no way back.”

There's not even five minutes left; we have to get ready soon.

“Anyway, only the three of us and Minami are going, right?"

“No, Muttsurini should be positioned somewhere, unnoticed. The reason I told Shimizu was ‘we’d like to apologize about the stealing issue’, so their class rep Hiraga and the girls' representative should be there to accompany her. That’s why I think we should send the same number of people as them.”

I see. If we are to discuss about the stealing incident, Hiraga-kun, the class rep of Class D, and Shimizu-san, who is at least looking angry, will attend. If the provocation goes smoothly, maybe she’ll declare war on us there and then.

“I know. We’ll just forget about the apology that we were going to give, then try our best to provoke them.”

“That’s right, our target is not only Class D’s rep Hiraga. We must try to put in more effort to provoke Shimizu. All the decision-making in Class D right now can be considered to be in Shimizu’s hands.”

“……The guys don’t even have the right to speak.”

From Muttsurini’s scouting, we noticed that the boys of Class D are always ignored, and the girls of Class D follow Shimizu-san’s lead. Thus, the key to this battle is Shimizu-san.

“Good, we must piss Shimizu-san off!”

“I understand.”

“……(nods)”

And so, the negotiation that is crucial to our class’ fate is getting closer by the second without Yuuji’s presence.

☆

After school, once we stepped into the class where we agreed to meet, we noticed that Class D’s rep Hiraga-kun and Shimizu-san were already sitting on the chairs, waiting for us.

“Sorry for letting you guys wait.”

We pretend not to be sincerely apologizing, and simply let it pass with a ‘sorry’. We asked them out to ‘apologize’, but our actual aim is to provoke them. If we fail to provoke them, then asking them out is just a waste of time.

With these objective, we intended to show them more of our rude attitudes, but -

“Onee-sama! Miharu really misses you!”

“Miharu, wait! It’s stuffy, stop hugging me!”

But, our target ignored out presence completely as she tackled Minami straight on. It seems that other than Minami, everyone else is nothing in her eyes.

“Onee-sama, you've agreed to be alone with Miharu in an empty classroom……Onee-sama treats Miharu—

“Where, where are you touching?! And aren’t you looking at the people around you?”

“Ahah……onee-sama’s breasts are just too good……That’s right, just like a calm sea……”

Although Shimizu-san described it in a poetic way, but it’s still the same, it’s still means ‘like a horizontal washing board’.

“Onee-sama……Miharu really loves onee-sama from the bottom of her heart……”

“Don’t, don’t be like this! I’m not interested in that!”

“There’s three hundred and sixty days in a year, and there’s not a day that Miharu isn’t thinking of onee-sama……”

I think she forgot to add in New Year’s Day and Obon.

“Just let go of me!”

Minami used all her strength to get Shimizu-san, who was hugging her tightly, off her.

Why does it seem that the enemy just scored the first point? Can we really piss Shimizu-san off like this?

“Shimizu, I really think that you should stop. Shimada is Akihisa’s lover, you must not simply touch Akihisa’s girlfriend.”

Hideyoshi threw the first blow. If she doesn’t really care about our apology, it’ll be best if we mention this.

Once Hideyoshi finished speaking, Shimizu-san changed her facial expression as if finally noticed that Minami’s not the only one here.

“Are you joking? Just by looking at onee-sama’s attitude, I know that she has no relationship with that swine.”

From her words, it seems she knows everything about this. After all, they just need to gather some intel, and then they’ll find out that Minami and me in a relationship is fake.

“……That’s……”

Minami didn’t react to Miharu’s reply.

She’s still angry with me, and wants to deny the fact that I’m her boyfriend, but for Class F, she has to play along. Will she deny it or just play along? I think Minami must be busy thinking about which choice to make.

“As I was saying, that swine doesn’t suit onee-sama in any way.”

Shimizu pointed at me when she was saying that.

--Doesn’t suit her?

“You are right, I know my homework sucks, and I don’t participate in any co-curriculum activities, but……”

“Homework? Co-curriculum activities? I don’t think you understand! What Miharu meant wasn’t that, it’s something more basic.”

Interrupting my sentence, Shimizu-san stared at me condescendingly and said: “Miharu has always observed both of you, and noticed that this swine’s attitude really sucks.”

My attitude really sucks? Uu……there are too many possible reason I can think of.

“The way you treat Himeji-san and onee-sama is too different.”

As Shimizu-san was saying this, Minami jerked a little.

“You treat Himeji-san like as if you are treating a princess, but what is your attitude towards onee-sama? Not only you don’t care about her, but you don’t even give her the basic respect you should give to someone of opposite gender.”

Minami bit her lips. She looks like she is going to cry, giving a pitiful and helpless vibe.

“I’ll make it clearer, that swine doesn’t notice onee-sama’s charm, doesn’t care about onee-sama, just treats her as if she’s just another of his male friends, and is a really huge idiot. Compared with homework and looks, your basic attitude is a bigger problem, and yet, you still dare to say that you suit onee-sama. Besides……”

As if she’s about to deal me the finishing blow, Shimizu-san smirked, and then says each word slowly.

“Even if it’s just an act, when onee-sama said ‘I like you’, you dumped her, and then went to chase Himeji-san. A normal person wouldn’t have done this. You actually see onee-sama as a guy, right?”

“Uu!”

I don’t know whether Minami finished hearing what Shimizu-san said as she had already lowered her head and rushed out of the classroom.

“Minami?”

She looks rather weird. I should chase her down quickly!

“So what if you chased her? You’ll treat her as a guy, and say something vicious to her? You still want to hurt onee-sama?”

Miharu’s scolding stopped me on my track.

“Akihisa, leave Shimada to me. Even if you go and chase her now, it won’t do any good.”

Hideyoshi tapped my shoulder, and then left the classroom to chase after Minami.

Suddenly there were so few people left, and what's left was an atmosphere hard to describe around the classroom.

“……I don’t know what's happening, but may I take my leave? I don’t think now’s a time for apology.”

Hiraga-kun, the class rep of Class D who was waiting silently, stood up awkwardly, and then makes his way out of the classroom. Maybe he couldn’t stand this atmosphere.

Finally, there’s only Shimizu-san and me left.

“Miharu doesn’t know how this conversation benefits you all, but Miharu doesn’t think of you as a love rival anymore. To be jealous of someone who can’t understand onee-sama’s charm, and a swine that treats her like a guy, it's just wasting Miharu’s time……After all, Miharu is the only one who understands onee-sama’s charm, and that’s enough.”

Shimizu-san finished and got up from her chair.

It seems that this negotiation is a failure. I guess Class D won’t be declaring war on us anytime soon.

But, I don’t care whether they declare war on us or not, the Summoner Test War doesn’t matter now. There’s something that’s more important than the Summoning War, something that I can’t back off on. I must make this clear.

“Shimizu-san, please wait.”

“……For what? Do you still have anything to say to Miharu?”