Volume 10, The Final Question

Volume 10, The Final Question

Please answer the following Question:

Please write down the reasons why Japan is experiencing low birth rates.

Kudou Aiko's Answer:

‘According to the report from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, amongst men who are 30 to 40 years old, at the point where they can raise children, one out of four work for more than 60 hours a week. This causes a work cycle where they have no time to properly take care of their children, causing the burden of raising children to be on the mothers. Also, the government has not fully maximized the use of no-pay leave in the childcare system and all sorts of systems where the parents can raise the children and take care of their jobs. Due to the different regions, some children are unable to study in kindergartens. Also, the local cooperation agencies are losing their functionality, and the temporary childcare and local conservation centers and all sorts of children services are not exactly common, so the parents have to raise the children on their own. These are all thought to be reasons for the declining birth rate.’

Tsuchiya Kouta's Comment:

“…Still okay.”

Kudou Aiko's response:

Can’t you just praise me normally? You’re not honest at all.

Kirishima Shouko's Answer:

'Based on the Cabinet Office’s International Comparative Surveys, we can understand that the top reason why the number of young people in Japan is not increasing is because of the worry over the burden of education fees. According to the OECD investigation report, the percentage of GDP the Japanese government use to finance the education sector can be said to be one of the lowest amongst the developed countries. Thus, the education fees of the children have to be paid by the families, and this is the common viewpoint on why there are low birth rates.’

Tsuchiya Kouta's Comment:

…Correct answer. Perfect.

Kirishima Shouko's Response:

…I investigated on all sorts of information regarding children the sake of Yuuji and my future.

Sakamoto Yuuji's Answer:

‘Because of the rising prevalence of getting married later.’

Tsuchiya Kouta's Comment:

…That’s all?

Sakamoto Yuuji's Response:

YOU GUYS ARE THE WEIRD ONES HERE, ALRIGHT!?

“Hide…yoshi?”

“Um, it was a switch. It was part of the plan, but I’m sorry for having to lie to you, Akihisa.”

Hideyoshi, who’s back to normal, says this to me. Eh? Ehh?

“When, when did you switch around?”

“When noon break ended.”

That means Hideyoshi has been disguising himself as Muttsurini for the entire afternoon? I have been moving with Hideyoshi, yet I didn’t realize this at all…my other classmates are all snickering. Don’t tell me I’m the only one who doesn’t know?

“But even if you did think that I wasn’t around, you actually said those things to that person called Takashiro in such an unabashed manner…do you know how much effort I had to exert just to put up my poker face?”

Now that Hideyoshi mentions it, I remember. Speaking of which, I think I did mention about how charming Hideyoshi is…DAMN IT! THAT’S EMBARRASSING! SO EMBARRASSING I WANT TO DIE!

“But you just showed an attitude of not giving up until the end. I’d say, you’re more charming than me when you’re like this.”

“Heh…?”

Hideyoshi says this with a somewhat embarrassed manner. Eh? Was I just…praised?

“Arara…we’ve been had~. Now we can’t get right back at rep.”

Kudou-san flings her arms out. Since she declared war on Hideyoshi, she’ll be disqualified for running away from battle if she doesn’t fight.

“Wha, what are you saying, Aiko! Hurry up and beat Hideyoshi and get back to rep!”

“It’s useless, ane-ue. That Yuuji and Muttsurini won’t use such a method where you can try to salvage the situation, right?”

“Uu…”

There’s buzzing coming from A classroom. Once the battle here starts, Hideyoshi will run out at full throttle to buy some time, and there’ll be F class students blocking the way, so it’s impossible for Kudou-san to get back to Kirishima-san right away.

“Then, Akihisa, I apologize for lying to you, so leave this to me. You can go over and see that battle’s proceedings.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Un. This is the wish you spent half a year trying to fulfill. It’s not good if things end when you don’t know what’s going on, right?”

Such nice words. I decide to accept Hideyoshi’s good intentions.

“Thanks Hideyoshi. I’ll go over then!”

After thanking him, I turn to leave the scene.

“Uh oh~ it’ll be our turn to return to the old school building then, Yuuko.”

“Aiko! Don’t give up, keep hanging on until the end!”

There’s such a conversation going on in the C classroom behind me.

I do feel sorry for those two, but I do feel that Kinosheeta-san and Kudou-san’s conversation is somewhat weird.

☆

A class, Kirishima Shouko, Health Education 351 points

Vs

F class, Tsuchiya Kouta, Health Education 803 points.

I step into A class, and Kirishima-san and Muttsurini have called out their summoned beasts.

Kirishima-san is the top in our year, but Muttsurini has a score of more than twice of hers that he should be proud of. It’s not because Kirishima-san’s weak…but she met the wrong opponent. Muttsurini has an advantage in both battle experience and points, so it’s impossible for him to lose.

“…Accelerate.”

Muttsurini lets his summoned beast use its unique ability, and it closes in on its target at near vanishing speed.

After an instant, Muttsurini’s summoned beast will definitely walk away victorious.

At this moment,

“Principal-sensei, if you please?”

“I get it. Really…those damned brats will be making a ruckus again…”

—Poof. Kirishima-san’s summoned beast vanishes without a trace.

At that moment, I wonder whether the difference between Kirishima-san and Muttsurini was so great that I couldn’t see the battle.

However, it doesn’t seem to be the case.

““???””

The proof is that Kirishima-san and Muttsurini are looking surprised as they look around.

I look around the noisy surroundings, and found something weird.

“The summoned beasts…disappeared…”

Besides Kirishima-san and Muttsurini, even the other fighting summoned beats disappeared.

“What happened? What’s going on now?”

“What did F class do?”

“Is this A class’ strategy?”

Both friend and foe are all puzzled. Looks like the reason the summoned beasts disappeared isn’t because of either us or A class.

Is this a system malfunction? if that’s the case, what will be the outcome of this? Will we have to fight again? But we forced A class to this state!

There’s some buzzing in the classroom.

In this situation,

“Please excuse us.”

The elegant voice interrupts us. This voice is…

“Takashiro-sempai?”

“Are you well today? Yoshii Akihisa-kun?”

For some reason, Takashiro-sempai, who should have nothing to do with this war, walks into A classroom. Even the principal, Linne-kun, Kogure-sempai and the Toko-Natsu pair walk in.

Eh? What’s with this combination? What’s the exact situation now?

“Everyone in class 2-A and 2-F, I’m really sorry to interrupt your ongoing war at this moment. Actually, there is a message I want to pass to everyone, so I have to do this.”

Takashiro-sempai puts his hand on his chest, and bows to us.

Then, he lifts his head, and says something utterly unbelievable.

“We, the 3rd years of Fumitzuki Gakuen, challenge the 2nd years to a summoning war.”

“““…What?”””

Every second year student present is giving a speechless expression.

What does this mean? What’s Takashiro-sempai talking about here?

“We request for the facilities and classrooms for classes 2-A, B and C. If we win this summoning war, you have to hand them over to the 3rd years.”

Takashiro-sempai continues to explain while we still don’t understand the situation.

Handing over classes A, B and C means—

“Then, where will us second years be studying?”

“You’ll be moving to the second and third years’ D, E and F classrooms.”

Takashiro-sempai simply says so, but we have to spent several seconds understanding the meaning behind this.

As we slowly understood this line, and once our minds processed through this,

““”STOP JOKING AROUND!!!”””

Angry roars echo throughout.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THIS! ARE YOU SAYING THAT THE SECOND YEARS CAN ONLY USE D CLASS EQUIPMENT AT BEST?”

“AND THE THIRD YEARS CAN ONLY USE C CLASS EQUIPMENT AT WORST? WHAT KIND OF JOKE IS THIS! HOW CAN WE AGREE TO SUCH CONDITIONS”

“SCRAM! LEAVE KOGURE-SEMPAI BEHIND! EVERYONE ELSE, SCRAM!!!”

It seems the roars were all from F class, but there are some in A class that are going ‘such a joke’ or ‘that’s too much’.

As for those sempais we’re familiar with, they shout out loudly, not losing to our side.

“THAT’S OUR LINE OVER HERE, IDIOTS! YOU SECOND YEARS ARE ALWAYS FOOLING AROUND, RIGHT!?”

“IN THAT CASE, YOU SHOULD BE HANDING OVER THE GOOD FACILITIES TO US!”

They appeared, the Toko-Natsu pair. These two are still a bunch of hoodlums.

“Tsunemura-kun, Natsukawa-kun, please rein down your tone. Same goes for you too, second years. As for the details, I’d like to ask the principal to explain it to everyone.”

“Seriously…how troublesome…”

On seeing that the conversation has been diverted to herself, the principal frowns slightly as she takes a step forward.

“You may find this rather abrupt, but we already had this proposal a long time ago.”

“This proposal means…”

“It’s a battle where the entire school, all the students will be fighting regardless of year, with the class facilities on the line.”

In other words, the third year C class can challenge the 2nd year B class, or something like that, is it?

“Did the 3rd years propose this?”

“No, that’s not it. The 3rd years only voiced their agreement. The proposal was raised by external parties.”

“The school I used to stay in before said that they will want to do this if they integrate the test summoning system.”

Linne-kun pokes his face out as he says this. The school he used to stay in? Integrate the summoning system?

“Ah…don’t tell me it’s that piece of paper you dropped during lunch break, Linne-kun?”

“Hm? Did you see it, Akihisa? That’s the one. What’s on that paper were things the school I used to stay at ‘hoped Fumitzuki Gakuen’ would try.”

Then, the thing Linne-kun was talking during the 3rd years meeting was the summoning war that’s going to include the entire school year, is it?

“Besides, this is what I wanted to give to you, Akihisa. Sorry for handing it to you so late.”

Linne-kun takes out a few pieces for paper and stuffs them into my pocket. I’m grateful for this, but right now, I don’t have the will to be concerned about this.

“Oi oi…what’s going on?”

“The principal and the seniors…what exactly is going on?”

A little later, Yuuji walks into the classroom too. It seems that Kubo-kun is here with him too.

“The seniors are here to congratulate us on our victory—I suppose not, is it?”

After seeing everyone present, Yuuji narrows his eyes and says,

“Damned old granny, what’s the situation now?”

“Humph, if you want me to explain, change your tone first, damned brat.”

“Oi, Akihisa. Just tell me briefly what just happened in a single sentence.”

“‘Impossibly amazing! The old demon hag appeared in the summoning war’.”

“Sorry, I can’t understand anything else when you say this other than that the damned old granny principal appeared.”

“My name never even appeared once here!”

It’s really hard to explain this with one line.

“Sakamoto Yuuji-kun. It is I who requested the principal-sensei to accompany me here.”

“…Hoho…?”

Yuuji looks back and forth at Takashiro-sempai and the principal. Did that principal actually agree to a student’s request like that? What kind of relationship do these two have?

I start to rack my brains to clear this situation that’s definitely impossible. The only possibility I can think of is—

“I see, so you’re pregnant…?”

“I’ll kill you, you damned brat.”

I see. So that’s why the principal would appear together with Takashiro-sempai.

“Old granny, I understand your relationship now. I don’t intend to interfere, but go somewhere else where you can do whatever you want.”

“WHAT DID YOU UNDERSTAND TO SAY SUCH THINGS!? YOU NEVER BOTHERED TO LISTEN TO ANY OF MY EXPLANATION HERE!”

“I’m sorry, principal-sensei. As you know, I intend to study at the university over there, so even if I do have your feelings in my heart, I’ll feel bothered by it.”

“YOU’RE BEING RUDE TOO, TAKASHIRO! SINCE WHEN DID I SAY I HAVE FEELINGS FOR YOU!?”

“(Grinning) It means I’m mistaken?”

“WHAT’S WITH THAT GRIN ON YOUR FACE!?”

Ah, does Takashiro-sempai still believes in the lie I said at noon? For some reason, I feel like I did a little bad thing.

“Well, leaving aside this romance the hag has been waiting for for half a century, what actually happened here, Akihisa? Did we win the summoning war?”

“Eh, well…”

“…The summoned beasts disappeared. We can’t decide the winner.”

Muttsurini, who was facing off against Kirishima-san before, walks over. So the summoned beasts disappeared not because the teacher removed the summoning field because there’s a winner between the two classes, but because of other reasons?

“You say we can’t determine the winner? Did something happen to the system again?”

Yuuji’s expression changed the moment he heard Muttsurini’s explanation.

“Relax, damned brat, the system’s fine.”

The principal turns to us and says this, perhaps because she doesn’t like hearing that the system’s not working.

“Not because the system is faulty? Then why did the summoned beasts disappear, damned old granny?”

“Because I switched off the system.”

In response to Yuuji’s question, the principal says this without any signs of remorse.

Switching off the system. This may sound easy, but it’s really unbelievable to us. We finally managed to earn victory in the end after working so hard, yet it disappeared like dew at the last second. If this situation isn’t handled properly, it will create an uprising.

Even though she already said this…

“Really? What’s your reason for doing so then?”

Yuuji still asks the principal in a rather calm manner.

“If we’re going to have a test summoning war between years, it’ll become a grand scale battle that’s never seen before. I switched off the system for adjustments.”

“Grand scale battle? Sounds interesting, but there shouldn’t be such an urgent need to carry out adjustments, right?”

“That’s right. There’s no need to be so hasty with the adjustments. But if you win, the facilities will be switched, and if there is a swap of facilities during the war between the school years, that would be troublesome, wouldn’t it? That’s why I interfered with your war before you guys won.”

“I see, this thinking is rather logical.”

“As the principal of this school, this is to be expected.”

“No no no, there’s no need to be so humble. This is really impressive.”

The principal and Yuuji happily exchange words that I don’t understand. Eh…that’s weird. No matter what I think about this, I feel that our long-awaited wish was prevented by the principal. Isn’t that the case? Did I miss something out here?

Both of them ignore me as I continue pondering as they continue to talk,

“Speaking of which, Sakamoto, you’ve become a lot sensible.”

“Oho, it’s an honor to be praised by you like that, principal.”

“I thought someone like you would be grumbling non-stop.”

“No no no. I’m not that immature. At least I know what’s right and what’s wrong.”

Yuuji smiles as he uses his eyes to give me a message. Eh…what what?

immediately, prepare, 4 dozen, bats with nails on.

………………………

“I’m sorry. To be honest, I always thought you were a hopeless idiot.”

“Hahaha, humans are creatures that grow.”

On closer inspection, I see that Yuuji’s eyes aren’t smiling at all. That guy…is for real. He really wants to kill the principal.

“Un? What is it, Yoshii? Why are you staring at me? Do you have something to say?”

The principal notices me while I’m watching these developments as she asks me.

Well…as for what I want to say to the principal…

“Hideyoshi, go prepare a shovel. The land at the back of the hill is rather hard.”

“Ca, calm down, Yuuji. You’re showing a scary expression I’ve never seen before here!”

The conversation that reaches my ears is between Yuuji, who has his back facing the principal, and Hideyoshi, who’s terrified by this atmosphere. Looks like things have gone to such an extent that he wants to finish off business.

“Yoshii, if you have something to say, just say it. I hate beating around the bush here.”

“…Principal. There’re a lot of pretty red leaves on the back of the mountain during this season. I hope you won’t feel lonely, so please enjoy your last trip.”

“Hm? Why are you saying such things?”

Even if she doesn’t know, she’ll understand the meaning of my words later.

“Takashiro-kun, your lover is in trouble. You should take her away as far as possible.”

“Lover, you say? There’s no such person around.”

“I’m referring to the principal. Isn’t she your lover?”

“Oh really? It’s really rare for you to joke around like this, my lady.”

“Do you feel that this is a joke?”

“Please say that this is a joke, okay?”

“My apologies. I’m really bad at lying.”

“……”

“Takashiro-kun, even if you hand your wallet over to me, the fact won’t change.”

“Alright, you guys. Have everyone gotten their bats and shovels?”

“““OSSSSUUU!!!”””

“Sorry to make everyone do manual labor after a war. Please work hard!”

“““OSSSSSUUUUU!!!”””

The situation is A classroom is getting more and more chaotic. Yuuji’s expression is becoming abnormal, and my mind’s a mess as I don’t know what’s going on. Hm…what should I do here?

Alright, anyway—

“Takashiro-sempai, can you please take the principal away from here?”

“Oh my, Yoshii Akihisa-kun. I didn’t expect you to think of hiding the principal from your viewpoint.”

“Yes. Once the carpet is covered in blood, it will be very hard to remove the stains.”

“I see, this thinking is rather logical.”

“Can both of you please hold on? Compared to that situation, can you please explain that there’s really nothing between the principal and me besides a teacher-student relationship?”

“Hold it right there, Takashiro. Did you just describe my life with ‘that situation’?”

Damn it. It looks like we’re going out of person.

I really lost hope for someone to properly explain the current situation. At this moment,

“We, well…what’s with this commotion? The result of our summoning war is—”

Himeji-san finally arrives in the classroom, being a lot later than everyone else.

“Miss…Himeji Mizuki…”

After seeing Himeji-san, Takashiro-sempai mutters happily.

“Eh? Ta, Takashiro-sempai? Why are you here?”

However, Himeji-san’s response is an expression full of doubt as she blinks.

“I understand, Yoshii Akihisa-kun, Miss Kogure. Since you two say so, I’ll use this to prove who my lover really is.”

After saying these ridiculous words, Takashiro-sempai walks right at Himeji-san.

My mind immediately sounds the alarm. It’s saying that Takashiro-sempai is dangerous right now.

“Miss Himeji Mizuki. Is it convenient for you now?”

“??? Ye, yes. May I know what’s the matter?”

Takashiro-sempai walks towards Himeji-san, and then reaches his hand out to her face. NOT GOOD!!!

“WATCH OUT! HIMEJI-SAN (THUD)”

“KYAAHH!”

I hurriedly pushed Himeji-san away—

“……”

“……”

To me, this act brought about the greatest tragedy in my entire life.