The Sixth Question

Please read the following pa.s.sage and answer the question.

“Where did Sadakichi go?”

Jihei asks, and Tasuke shrugs as he answers,

“To Okiku. He wants to express his 10 years of love to her with his self-proclaimed specialty of Poetry[1].”

After hearing Tasuke’s words, Jihei cannot help but frown,

“He wants to touch her heart by singing a love poem? I can already guess the outcome.”

“Yeah. Blame that guy for being ‘____’ despite being so bad at it’.

Question 1: Please fill in the common saying in the blank with the correct answer and explain its meaning.

Question 2: What is the ‘outcome’ highlighted in the text? Please write down the outcome Jihei and Tasuke’s expects.

Himeji Mizuki's Answer:

1: ‘ despite being so bad at it

It means that he does not know he is bad at it, but is extremely pa.s.sionate about it.

2: Sadakichi’s singing is really bad, so the expected result is that he will not get the girl.

Teacher's Comment:

Correct answer. This common sentence structure ‘despite being bad…’ has other forms of usage, like ‘act like he is good at it’. Either sentence can be used to describe that the person is actually rather bad in some things, and from this, we know that Jihei and Tasuke expect Sadakichi to fail.

Yoshii Akihisa's answer:

1: ‘ despite being so bad at it

It means that he will work hard for something no matter how stupid it may look

2: Sadakichi may be bad at singing, but Jihei and Tasuke expect that he will get Okiku's heart after seeing him work so hard to sing.

Teacher's Comment:

This answer cannot be considered the correct one, but sensei here does not hate it either.

“Yo, sempais, kept you waiting.”

“You’re too slow already, Sakamoto. The kouhais actually made us sempais wait.”

“Sorry about that. We had to deal with some unexpected happenings, so we came late. I suppose your time is rather precious since you’re so busy everyday, sempais.”

“Of course! We 3rd years are unlike you stupid guys with rotten brains.”

Yuuji and I step into the final checkpoint, and the Toko-Natsu pair are giving us sneers. That’s a relaxed expression shown only when they think they’re at an advantage.

However, it’s obvious why they would be so relaxed. Their physics scores are tops amongst the best cla.s.s in their year, and actually broke through the 400 point marks. In contrast, Yuuji doesn’t even have 200 points for physics, and I don’t even have 70. Anyone will feel that we’re at a disadvantage here.

“Speaking of which, didn’t you guys say that you want to go ‘one-on-one’ yesterday? You should be ready to bet on something, right?”

The crewcut-sempai gives a taunting look at Yuuji and me, seemingly certain of his victory. The Mohawk behind him (Tsunemura) is cackling viciously , seemingly thinking that we never thought of betting in this straight up duel. Or are they thinking that Yuuji and I will go back on our deal or even tell us off badly. Are they thinking that way?

“You can if you don’t want...but you have to kneel down and ad—”

“Alright, we agreed to it anyway. Let’s have a punishment game for this duel.”

““NAR!?””

I grin as I answer, and the Toko-Natsu pair give a weird cry in response to this unexpected answer.

“Is, is that so? Since you guys say so, so be it!”

“It’s decided then. What punishment will the loser get?”

“Well…how about ‘the loser has to agree to whatever the winner asks for’?”

““Wha, what are you saying…?””

The Toko-Natsu’s expressions change drastically. They probably never thought that I would dare to say such things.

“What twisted plan are you thinking about here…?”

“Aren’t you being too confident here?”

“What do you say?”

“This should have something to do with the camera Sakamoto just used to get someone in the cla.s.sroom to ‘call the world history teacher over here’, shouldn't it?”

Oh, so those two did notice the footage caught by the camera.

“Well, don’t think so much, sempai. The summoning system has been rather weird recently, so calling in the world history teacher is just a matter of precaution.”

Yuuji waves his hand as he answers,

“…Well, never mind. We don’t know what plan you guys are scheming, but you’re just trying some petty tricks. Let’s begin—summon!”

“We’ll definitely send you crying for your mommies. Summon!”

The Toko-Natsu glance aside to check that the physics teacher Kimura-sensei is still around before calling out their summoned beasts.

After calling out, the pattern arrays appear like usual—

“What? What’s going on? Why isn’t anything showing up?”

“What the heck is this? What’s going on?”

The pattern arrays never appear, and of course, the Toko-Natsu’s summoned beasts never appeared.

“Oya, that’s really weird. Did the system really malfunction?”

Kimura-sensei, who’s standing not too far away, tilts his head as he says,

“Don’t worry, sensei. There’s a little mishap, but it seems that it’s just for physics. It can’t be helped then. Let me use the history teacher I called in for precaution’s sake to decide this duel.”

“What? Sakamoto, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d…”

“Hm? Do you still have any problems, sempais? Aren’t you rushing around because you’re so busy? It’ll be really sorry on our part if you have to waste time waiting for another subject’s teacher to arrive. Ah, looks like the world history teacher has arrived.”

“You two b.a.s.t.a.r.ds…you must have done something, right!?”

Yuuji’s att.i.tude of treating others like idiots is turning Tsunemura-sempai red with anger.

“Relax sempais. We’re switching subjects, but I won’t call out my summoned beast. This is your battle with Akihisa, and your advantageous situation hasn’t changed.”

Yuuji’s stare turns towards the physics teacher Kimura-sensei.

I suppose there’s no need for me to explain it here, do I? As what our opponents said, this is all Yuuji’s strategy.

Instead of challenging the sempais to a duel in physics, when Yuuji and my scores won’t even reach one-third of their total scores, we might as well challenge them to a duel of world history, where our scores are more similar. For this, Yuuji used his platinum bracelet and caused an ‘interference’ to negate the physics summoning field.

“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, how did you…”

“Didn’t I say that I won’t be taking part? You’ll only be facing Akihisa, so there’s no need to be so scared, right? Sempais? Or are you scared of fighting us 2 on 1 if it’s not your specialty subject even if it’s against us trashy opponents?”

“…d.a.m.ned b.a.s.t.a.r.d…!”

Once he creates the summoning field, Yuuji won’t be able to carry out a summoning. In other words, this duel has to be done by me against the Toko-Natsu pair. However, even if we do so, the differences in our scores will go from 3:1 down to 2:1. It’s slightly easier, but the fact still remains that we’re disadvantaged.

“Just what I wanted! Since you dare to say so, bring it on! Don’t forget our wager!”

“You guys shouldn’t be forgetting, d.a.m.n you! Sensei…!”

“Ahh, yes yes, I get it.”

Once Yuuji calls out, the world history teacher who was called out at the last minute, Tanaka-sensei, grants us the permission to fight. I thought the physics teacher Kimura-sensei would interfere with this, but he doesn’t do anything here, so things are still going according to Yuuji’s plan.

“““Summon.“”””

The Toko-Natsu and my summoning call echo.

This time, the summoning is different from before as the patterned arrays appear in front of us. Soon after, summoned beasts that are different from the cute versions before appear in the middle of these arrays.

A cla.s.s, Tsunemura Yuusaku, World History 144 points

And

A cla.s.s, Natsukawa Shunpei, World History, 135 points.

What appeared from the Toko-Natsu pair’s summon are the Gozu and Mezu we saw before. Unlike the physics battle we saw from the monitor before, they aren’t wearing the golden bracelet now.

F cla.s.s, Yoshii Akihisa, World history 123 points.

My summoned beast is the Dullahan with the head tucked under the armpit, its right hand waving the heavy sword. If I have to say what its greatest weakness, it’s the head tucked between the left arm and the body.

“So we’re left with the year’s average…looks like we lost quite a bit of points over here. The prelude battle yesterday could be avoided.”

“Tch, all because we were sent flying by that bespectacled guy…”

The Toko-Natsu pair had a battle against Kubo-kun and me yesterday. Because of the attacks we landed on each other, both of us lost quite a few points. Their summoned beasts were sent flying by Kubo-kun’s summoned beast, and I was beaten by that crewcut-sempai such that my score dropped to the year’s average. However, I have to thank Kubo-kun. If he hadn’t helped me back then, the situation now would definitely be tougher.

“Alright, Yoshii. It’s time for us to put an end to this battle. You guys wanted to change the subjects, so don’t call us despicable for going 2 on 1.”

The crewcut-sempai (Natsukawa) Gozu waves the hammer in its hand and attacks me. I definitely won’t be able to dodge or take this. .h.i.t if it were physics, but I’m no longer in a situation where I’m taking a beating after this change of subject.

“Woah…!”

I straighten my body at the fastest speed possible and slam the weapon in my hand hard. The opponent does the same thing in response, and our swords clash. In fact, my dullahan’s power will increase the less I have to move. If I don’t move too much, I can put the head on its neck, and I can use both hands freely.

“Gu…u…!”

It’s a back and forth battle of strength, and after clashing for a while, I can hear the crewcut-sempai groan. If this continues, we can make them lose balance—but the opponent’s no easy prey.

“…Uwah!”

The Mezu that was standing beside Gozu suddenly attacks me. The Gozu immediately uses its body to slam the Dullahan without a further thought.

The Dullahan hasn’t landed as the Gozu raises its hammer to strike. I use the sword as a shield to block the Gozu’s attack head on, but my pitiful summoned beast that was sent flying is still blown far away.

“Not—good…!”

As I was sent flying away, the Dullahan’s head breaks away from its body.

The hands that were left empty hurriedly grab the head that was separated. I barely managed to protect my weakness, but I can’t avoid the damage that’s caused when it landed.

“Looks like you have quite some reflexes besides barking there, Yoshii!”

Gozu and Mezu wield their weapons as they close in on me while I’m defenseless. I can’t dodge if they attack me at the same time…!

“…!”

While panicking, I hurriedly let my summoned beast barge between the two opponents that are rushing over. The Gozu and Mezu can only clash their weapons with each other, and are unable to attack.

“Looking down on us!?”

Gozu swings down the hammer in its hand, seemingly trying to push the Mezu aside. This sudden attack nearly lands on me.

“Calm down, Natsukawa! This is different from the summoned beasts we’re used to controlling. I think it’s better for us to keep our distance.”

“I got it!”

Gozu and Mezu wave their own weapons and pull to a safe distance. It seems that this move can’t work anymore. Besides, I don’t want to end up in that situation of near life and death again even after managing to dodge it.

I warily watch the opponents’ movements as I pull my distance, watching out for any back attacks as I stare back at them.

At this moment, the crewcut-sempai suddenly shouts out to Yuuji, who’s watching this with his arms folded.

“Oi, Sakamoto!”

“What? You’re rather relaxed to be able to focus on me at this moment, sempai!”

“Of course I am! This idiot Yoshii can’t possibly beat us, right?”

The crewcut-sempai has further belief that he has the advantage after that clash just now, so now, he’s focusing on Yuuji.

“Forget about that, huh? How about we fight using physics? Then you can take part too, right? Or else this duel’s too boring.”

They rather use the subject they have an absolute advantage in to beat Yuuji and me instead of beating me alone with a subject they’re not good at? That crewcut-sempai’s taunting Yuuji as he says this.

However, Yuuji merely snorts as he heartily denies the crewcut-sempai’s proposal.

“How stupid. I just want to stand here and watch. I want to see how you elite rubbish sempais who called us trash get ma.s.sacred!”

“d.a.m.n you, what did you say!”

At this moment, the crewcut-sempai is completely focused on Yuuji. This taunt is brilliant,

—If I want to strike back, now’s the only chance!

“Double!”

I say out this keyword, and the platinum bracelet is activated and another summoned beast appears as well.

The summoned beast appears, and attacks one of the opponents’ summoned beasts together with the main beast that has the head tucked under the armpit. The target is the Mezu the Mohawk-sempai has. I intend to use the focused strength of the main and sub beasts to beat Mezu and fight Gozu one on one.

“Urk!”

Mezu raises its spear to block the sword of the main beast that swung down, but the sub beast has already raised its sword as it aims for the side, and it’s impossible for the Mezu to dodge.

“Too weak!”

“—!”

Just when I’m ready to attack, Gozu, which was charging at the Dullahan, slams into it, interrupting the attack.

Ku…! He’s not distracted by Yuuji’s taunt?

“Sorry to disappoint you. Did you think we forgot the existence of the platinum bracelet?”

“Who do you think fought against you in that final during the summoning tournament?”

The Toko-Natsu pair boastingly stare at Yuuji and me…did the sudden attack fail?

“Let us tell you guys this. We have our prides as seniors!”

“Even if it’s not the subject we’re good at, it’s not interesting for us to have 2 people fight 1. You should know why that is, right?”

Are they still unhappy even though they feel the conditions are advantageous to them? Because they know I will call out two summoned beasts to fight against them?

“Do you still intend to just watch when things are like this now, Sakamoto?”

The crewcut-sempai gives Yuuji a smirk as he asks.

Our surprise attack failed, and he probably thinks that the fact that our side is disadvantaged hasn’t changed, right?

It’s true that even if I call out two summoned beasts, the situation will not just become advantageous to us like that.

“No matter which side I attack, it will just cause damage to both summoned beasts, right? Once the first attack missed, it ended up bringing another attack target for us, so we’ll have to thank you about it.”

“If Yoshii has to control two summoned beasts alone, we just need to increase our attack speed so that he can’t respond.”

The Toko-Natsu pair are right. No matter which summoned beast they attack, I have to find a way to dodge. If not, both summoned beasts I control will be damaged as well.

“What do you intend to do, Sakamoto?”

Looks like they insist on dragging Yuuji into this battle. That’s why crewcut-sempai is prompting Yuuji, who’s outside the battlefield.

However—

“I don’t intend to do anything. Akihisa’s the one fighting you guys. Didn’t I say that I’ll just be watching?”

Yuuji remains unmoved as he takes a step back, firmly showing that he’ll just be watching this battle.

“Seriously…I was wrong about you. You really don’t want to let everyone see you suffer utter defeat?”

“Even if you’re not willing to battle, it’ll be your loss once Yoshii loses. You should be clear about that, right?”

“There’s no need to remind me about that. I do understand that well. However—is it really alright for you guys to keep chatting with me?”

“Nn—UOOHHH!”

The Gozu the crewcut-sempai’s controlling hurriedly raises its hammer to parry the Dullahan’s incoming sword away at the last moment, but the Mezu beside it is attacked by the sub beast and sent flying.

“You have guts, Yoshii! If you want to keep fighting, we’ll gladly accompany you!”

“Don’t regret this!”

Gozu and Mezu attack me in different directions. The Gozu aims for the main beast, while the Mezu aims for the sub beast at the same time.

However, the main beast had already stepped forward before the hammer in Gozu’s hands was raised to the highest point. It nimbly stabs out the broadsword while taking advantage of the opening right between the moments the Gozu raises its weapon and strikes down. Gozu can only frantically move its body aside to dodge the main beast’s attack.

On the other hand, the sub beast a.s.sumes a defensive position, putting the broadsword in front as it parries the spear away. Mezu stabs out its spear to avoid my attack, but it’s a lot easier to dodge this limited attack, and the metal gauntlets push the spear grip from the side to dodge.

“Tch! How long are you going to keep up with such annoying and weak attacks?”

“Go to h.e.l.l!”

I slightly duck down to avoid the flying kick at the main beast, and use the sword to push aside the attack aimed for the side attack. The main beast doesn’t have time to swing its sword, so it can only kneel down on its knees to pull its distance and swing the sword with all its strength. I just need to focus on the sub beast and use the sword to block the opponent’s spear attack. It seems that the Toko-Natsu pair are all very insistent on using weapons to attack, so in that case, I should be able to block them all.

“d.a.m.n it…you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

“How annoying!”

I try my best to duck as I face the rushing Gozu, and keep using the sharp blade to attack its legs with small and quick movements. It seems that the Mezu wants to attack the head the sub beast’s left hand is holding, so I reach my right arm forward in a defensive position and wave the broadsword at the opening the opponent hasn’t guarded well.

This small-scale skirmish that can’t deal fatal blows to the opponent continues for a while,

“Tsunemura, force those two together!”

“Got it!”

The crewcut-sempai is annoyed by this situation that’s going nowhere as he commands the Mohawk-sempai.

Gozu and Mezu use their weapons as shields as they charge over in a tacit manner as they force my main and sub beasts to the same place. I guess this plan is to make me confused, and they’re trying to close the distance so that I’ll be unable to tell whether I’m controlling the main or sub beast.

“Looks like you’re in a tough battle, sempais.”

“Shut up! Just watch, d.a.m.ned Sakamoto!”

But even after pushing my summoned beasts together, my control isn’t affected at all. I continue to fight with them, using the main beast on Gozu and the sub beast on Mezu.

As Gozu and Mezu try to swap, both summoned beasts will move. When both of them aim for one, the other summoned beast I control will aim for its original target and attack. I won’t make the mistake of falling into disarray just because it’s a close combat.

“What’s going on? One of those two summoned beasts is controlled by you, isn’t it, Sakamoto!”

“Stop spewing wild speculations, sempai. I can’t do it even if I want to, you know?”

“Then how? It’s absolutely impossible for one person to control two summoned beasts so fluidly!”

I deflected the tip of the spear that the Mezu keeps thrusting out, and the opponent spins it and stabs over with the spear grip. The sub beast takes half a step back to dodge.

“Sempais, aren’t idiots interesting? Once they get hooked onto something in a trance-like manner, they’ll show an abnormal amount of concentration, like a karate idiot, or a kendo idiot. In such situations, being called an ‘idiot’ is a praise of ‘being focused on one particular thing’.”

I swing the broadsword down at Gozu, and it takes the blade while sending a flying kick at me. My two summoned beasts haven’t changed attack targets, and up till now, it’s the main beast attacking Gozu, and the sub beast attacking Mezu in this endless battle.

“How annoying. What are you trying to say?”

“Well, to put it simply.”

Gozu and Mezu attack at the same time, and the main and sub beasts move away from the side and switch defensive positions.

“—You guys activated this guy's switch the moment you made Himeji cry.”

Gozu and Mezu, which are surrounded by the main and sub beasts, immediately get into a defensive position. My eyes are staring at these preys, and I let both beasts throw their weapons. The one to attack first is the main beast, and the second beast throws it despite a missed timing.

““—!?””

The duo, which had been used to close combat up till now, never expected a ‘throwing’ attack and can only duck awkwardly to avoid the attack. And then, the thrown weapons return to the beasts that are now standing diagonally from each other. The main beast throws the broadsword, and the sub beast throws the,

“Head!?”

The head that was viewed as a weakness flies by Gozu and Mezu that ducked down to avoid the attacks. The main beast then suddenly charges forward, reaching its arms forward while looking like it’s protecting its weaknesses, and raises its shoulder to slam into Gozu.

“Gu…u…”

As they ducked down, Gozu can’t stabilize itself when the main beast slammed into it, and it falls back on Mezu. Both summoned beasts trip over. At this moment, the sub beast readies the broadsword with both hands, standing right in front of Mezu and ready to deal the fatal blow.

“No…no way…”

The next moment, Mezu hurriedly raises its spear to block the first blade. But no matter how quick it is, it can’t dodge the incoming second strike from the side.

Thus, one hit from the Dullahan cleaves the Mezu’s body horizontally in half.

“Stop joking around! In this situation, how can we—”

Gozu awkwardly stands up as it steps on Mezu’s carca.s.s. Right now, it’s too late to do anything.

The main beast deliberately grabs the head that was deemed a weakness, shaking it right in front of Gozu as if it’s showing off a treasure, and suddenly throws it right at Gozu. The opponent’s attention will be focused on the thing flying at it, and will naturally be attracted by it in mid-air. At this moment, the sub beast throws the broadsword in its hand to the main beast, and brings Gozu down with a sliding tackle.

“Gu…!”

The main beast steps on Gozu’s body that’s tripped by the sub beast, ridding it of the freedom to move. Now the opponent can’t move.

“Looks like the winner’s decided, huh, sempai?”

“…You two b.a.s.t.a.r.ds…!”

My Dullahan raises the broadsword in its hands and pierces the head of the monster lying on the floor. Now, the Toko-Natsu pair can’t turn defeat into victory no matter how unwilling they are. In other words—

“This duel’s our win here, sempai.”

“…………………Gek! What do you…want me to do?”

Natsukawa-sempai vengefully asks as he realizes his defeat.

My wish was very clear right from the beginning. It’s because I wanted him to do this that I set this stupid wager that ‘the loser has to obediently follow what the winner asks of them’.

That’s right, there’s only one thing I want these two guys to do.

“—I want you guys to apologize to Himeji-san.”