The Fifth Questioncc

Please read the following paragraph before answering the next question.

He’s such a serious person, so he should be bothered now, right?

Sachiko continued to ponder as she remained restless, and couldn’t help but knock on his door.

“Heisuke-san, I’m coming in.”

Without waiting for a response, she entered the room, and found that Heisuke was completed naked (sekishin, せきしん) and in deep thought.

What’s with that look of yours?”

Heisuke continued to remain in his own thoughts, completely oblivious to Sachiko’s existence.

Please write down how Sachiko was feeling as described from the underlined words.

Himeji Mizuki's answer

'Sachiko was completely shocked to see Heisuke's not wearing clothing and still deep in his own thoughts.'

Teacher's Comment

That’s how it is. In kanji, ‘赤身’ is mostly read as ‘akami’[1], but it can also mean ‘sekishin’. This has the meaning of ‘not wearing any clothes at all’. Thus, Sachiko was shocked to see Heisuke not wearing any clothing.

Tamano Miki's answer

‘It’s rare for him to wear a skirt, yet there’s so little frills, which angered her a lot.’

Teacher's Comment

Sensei is really shocked by such an answer that's not thought of before.

Yoshii Akihisa's answer

His necktie was crooked, so she felt really awkward.

Teacher's Comment

Is that what you're worried about? A naked man still wearing a tie?

“They’re here, Akihisa! To the left!”

“Got it!”

“DIE! YOU d.a.m.nED b.a.s.t.a.r.dS!”

I rushed forward and exchanged punches with f.u.k.u.mura-kun, but my attention was already on my summoned beast.

“d.a.m.n it…can you please stop dodging around?”

C Cla.s.s, Touyama Heita, Biology, 115 points.

Vs

F cla.s.s, Yoshii Akihisa, Biology, 72 points

Facing the attack of C cla.s.s’ summoned beasts, my summoned beasts dodged aside easily. As I’m moving about on my own, I can’t fight, but it’s not hard to dodge.

“Sensei! Noguchi from C cla.s.s wants to join in the biology battle! Summon!”

At this moment, C cla.s.s had reinforcement. There were 4 more pursuers from C cla.s.s. This isn’t good…

“Yuuji!”

“Got it! Activate!”

Just when 3 members of the FFF were chasing and fighting against Yuuji, Yuuji shouted out the keyword. At that moment, all the summoned beasts present disappeared.

“Ku…! Is this interference?”

“ALRRRIIIGGGHHHTTT!!!”

Since there’s no need to concentrate on the summoned beast, I can focus completely on the opponent in front of me. I rushed in and slammed into f.u.k.u.mura-san’s chest with blitzkrieg-like speed and smashed my fist into his chest.

“Akihisa!”

“OK!”

I responded to Yuuji’s call and tugged my right hand hard.

“Oh? UOOOOH!?”

An enemy who rushed in between Yuuji and me was tripped by the metal chain and lost his balance.

“TAKE THIS, YOU BIG IDIOT!”

Yuuji raised his left fist and slammed it down. The enemy flipped in mid-air before landing hard on the ground, and is unable to get up again.

“Sensei! Please cancel the summoning field! I’m going…summon!”

“Summon!”

As Yuuji was using the platinum bracelet, he couldn’t take part in the battle, and I could only call my summoned beast out to fight against them. 2 v 1…no, those 4 behind them will join in the fight, right? In that case, it’ll become 6 v 1. No matter what, it’s a little too much to fight against so many people at one go.

“Akihisa! To the new school compound!”

“Got it!”

As our summoned beasts fought against each other, Yuuji and I ran to the new building and kept a distance from our battling enemies.

“What…you’re too despicable!”

“Isn’t that running away from battle?”

Once we pull away a certain distance, we’ll be out of the effective range of the summoning field, and the summoned beasts will disappear. At that moment, we won’t be able to fight.

This looks like running away from battle, which is illegal, but the rules of the summoning war clearly stated that ‘if the side who declared to battle is unable to fight back, they will be deemed to be running away from battle and disqualified’. However, I did fight the opponents for a while, so it’s not against the rules, and Yuuji, who created the summoning field, was just running as he wasn’t taking part in the battle. To be honest, this really is a somewhat despicable act of flirting with the rules, but there’s no time to worry about this. We’re in a tough spot too. Besides, we won’t hesitate about using despicable means.

“Yuuji, how many times can you use ‘interference’?”

“About 7 times or so. I have to take part in battles too, so maybe there are fewer chances for me to use it.”

But there’s a flaw to such a strategy. Every time Yuuji uses his platinum bracelet, his points will decrease, and there’s a limit to the number of times he can use it. The more times he uses it, the more his points will decrease. When Yuuji takes part in a summoning battle, this will become a really disadvantageous factor. It’s really a means we don’t want to use unless we are surrounded by a few people.

“Found him! It’s Sakamoto!”

“Yoshii’s with him—hey, why are those two cuffed together?”

“Is this a show that they will never break up…?”

“““HOW PERVERTED!!!”””

The F cla.s.s members who were running up and facing us are actually saying that!

I knew that this misunderstanding would spread around, but I still feel somewhat powerless that it’s futile to explain. Once we get through this safely, I must give something even more intense and horrible for those guys to remember!

“Yuuji, your bracelet?”

“Still activated.”

“Got it—summon!”

I re-summoned the summoned beast that disappeared as I ran out of the field. They’re F cla.s.s cla.s.smates, and to be honest, there’s no need to decide this with my summoned beast. But—

“Che! That Yoshii summoned his summoned beast!”

“That guy’s summoned beast has the unique Punishment Inspector ability, right?”

“He even beat Ironman when we peeped on the girls’ bath! This isn’t good!”

They’re right. My summoned beast is a unique version, so it can touch physical objects and humans. It looks a little small, but those guys from our cla.s.s will tremble in fear after seeing a summoned beast that’s stronger than a human by several times.

(Akihisa, once they call out their summoned beast, get out of the range to avoid battle.)

(Got it.)

Yuuji whispered to me.

They’re not opponents from C cla.s.s, and if we fight against our F cla.s.s cla.s.smates, we’ll be killing each other. Having considered the need to win this battle, we’ll be hurting ourselves without cause if we beat down our comrades’ summoned beasts. If we’re going to fight each other, I can only let my summoned beast disappear. Besides, the enemies’ summoned beasts can’t touch me even if they attack, so there shouldn’t be any problems.

“d.a.m.n it! They’re just 2 guys! There’s nothing to be scared of!”

“You’re right! We have 3 people here!”

“That’s the way! We won’t lose if we really have to fight!”

As they set their ready positions in front of us, the three of them shouted.

Ahh, this is really—

“GGGYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

A perfect Death Flag set.

“What’s with these guys? They really had no spirit when fighting.”

“Humph. Looks like it was already decided before we fought.”

It’s hard to tell whether they knew that we’re going to run away. But F cla.s.s is really F cla.s.s…ah, I think I’m from F cla.s.s too.

“Oh yeah, Yuuji. Have you thought of any new plans yet?”

“I haven’t thought of anything yet. Anyway, just stick to the original plan and continue to run! We can’t hide, so there’s no other way other than to run around.”

If we can’t allow ourselves to be spotted by the enemies, we’ll just have to continue running when we’re spotted until the enemy can’t catch up to us. That’s what he meant. Looks like it’ll be tough from now on…

“Why must we run around?”

“To increase the number of allies! If we’re successful, we should be able to get rid of the misunderstanding everyone has about us!”

Yuuji said that he hadn’t thought of any new plans, but he was thinking after all. Even if he’s all rotten inside, he really was called a ‘genius’ in the past by everyone, and that’s really reliable.

“Then we’re going to keep running until someone is willing to help us out!”

“That’s the way! We’ll just let the heavens decide our fates!”

We continued to run to the new campus without turning back. There shouldn’t be too many enemies gathered here---

“Welcome, Aki, I’ve been waiting here for you for a long time.”

Just a little bit! There’s only a little tear in my eyes!

“Shimada…perfect timing.”

“Eh?”

In front of the last boss-like Minami, Yuuji just said something I couldn’t understand. What does he mean by Minami being here at the perfect time?

“Yuuji, were you referring to Minami when you mentioned people who will help us?”

“That’s right. It’s her.”

“But—”

“Aki…it’s unforgivable that you and Mizuki are living together, but you ignored me completely! Saying that you’re more interested in Sakamoto and Kinos.h.i.ta than me…I won’t forgive you. I’ll definitely not forgive you this time!”

Seeing Minami reaching her limit, I don’t think that she’ll be willing to be our ally?

“Nonono, it’s really easy to let her be our ally. Once she kills you, she’ll listen to me. Where can you find such a reasonable ally? It’s low risk and high reward. There’s no one more suited than her.”

“…(Furufurufuru)”

“What’s wrong, Akihisa? Don’t show that you’re going to cry and refuse her.”

It’s only low risk to Yuuji, but to me, it’s a deal that puts my life on the line!

“Okay, Shimada. Once you’re done with Akihisa, just listen to me.”

“Really, you.”

“THERE’S A KILLER HERE! SOMEONE SAVE ME!”

“Fufufu. Aki, you’re really stupid. Obviously, no one will come and save you. Who will pa.s.s by here randomly during lesson time—”

“…May I know what are you people doing here?”

“Ah, Fuse-sensei.”

Someone at least pa.s.sed by here!

“Sensei! Things aren’t good! It’s a murder scene! She’s carrying out school bullying!”

I immediately asked for a.s.sistance from sensei. That’s great. At least someone’s willing to save me…

“Ah…I see…”

Fuse-sensei looked around at us, seeing who the people present were,

“Then, I’ll leave it at that for now. I still have to head for lessons.”

Leaving behind these words, Fuse-sensei left without turning back. Erm…

“…Aki.”

“Yes…”

“Everyone knows that no one will come and save you. Who will pa.s.s by here randomly during lesson time?”

“You just repeated that again! And didn’t someone pa.s.s by here!? Didn’t Fuse-sensei just pa.s.s by here!?”

Even though I was completely ignored by him.

“Stop yapping about! Just let me crush your hip bone if you don’t want your brain to be drawn out alive!”

“No, Minami! This isn’t a case of whether a girl should say this, but that your thinking’s really abnormal in a peaceful country full of humans!”

Even in mangas or light novel worlds, it’s not common to see such bone-chilling words. At this moment, a female cla.s.smate of mine would say this with such a serious expression. It’s really horrifying! This is a precious experience, but I’m not happy at all!”

“Ku…! SAVE ME, YUUJI! YOUR PARTNER’S IN A BIG CRISIS!”

“This is the first time I’m seeing someone who’s going to get his brain drawn out alive.”

Not only did he abandon his ally, he’s even gleefully looking forward to my execution! This guy’s not human!

“Okay, Aki. You should be ready for this, right?”

Minami cracked her fingers. No matter what, this girl’s not going to dissect me with her bare hands, right?

In that case, I can only take off my pants to distract her again! Just when I was thinking about this,

“Please wait! Let go of everyone’s idol Aki-cha—Yoshii-kun!”

Suddenly, an extremely strange sentence barged into our confrontation.

“…”

Minami looked away from me and searched for the owner of the voice. Standing in front of the corridor and putting her hand in front of her chest as she looked at us was,

“Ta, Tamano-san? What are you doing here…?”

The person who came was Tamano-san, the girl with 3 braids. That’s strange. Why do I feel that there’s going to be even more trouble…

“Aki-cha—Yoshii-kun…I couldn’t sleep soundly last night and flipped around my bed, so I couldn’t get up in the morning and was late, but you’re letting me see such a scene…”

Tamano-san looked completely intrigued and answered my question.

This can’t be helped. Anyone who hears a girl from the same school saying that she’s going to ‘draw my brain out’ will be completely shocked.

“Aki-cha—Yoshii-kun! How can you cheat on others!? I won’t allow that!”

“Tamano-san, please calm down. Anyway, you have to stop calling me ‘Aki-chan’ from now on.”

“It’s okay, I’m really calm! Aki-cha—souuke-kun[2]!”

“OI, WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME? WHAT DO YOU NORMALLY CALL ME IN PRIVATE?!”

Suddenly, I’m wondering a little bit what she cla.s.sifies me as.

“Aki…what does she mean by cheating?”

The presence of death loomed over at me. d.a.m.n it! If this keeps up, there’ll be a deadly tragedy!

“No, it’s not about cheating. I’m completely…”

“Because Aki-cha—kitty-chan is Sakamoto-kun’s wife!”

“DON’T SAY IT, TAMANO-SAN! DON’T DRAG ME DOWN AT THIS MOMENT!”

Speaking of which, everything began because I mentioned to her what seemed like a confession to Yuuji but wasn’t! I forgot about it all!

“Aki…so you and Sakamoto…”

“GYAAAAAHHHH!! MY SKULLCAP! ! MY IMPORTANT SKULLCAP!”

There shouldn’t be that many people who can grip an apple and crush it, right? Why is it that there’s so many people around me who are able to crush skullcaps?

“…End of the line.”

At this moment, someone spoke and stopped Minami. This speech pattern, it’s definitely that guy!

“Muttsurini! You came to save me!”

“…Save you? What are you saying?”

Just when I cried out in delight, Muttsurini stared back at me with an icy expression.

“…I’ll end Akihisa’s life.”

“d.a.m.n it! Don’t I have an ally at all?”

Having been hunted down by everyone in cla.s.s, I suddenly realized this thing. Do I really have these many enemies?

“Muttsurini, calm down first! This shouldn’t harm you in any way, right?”

“…Harm? Don’t make me laugh, Akihisa.”

On hearing my words, Muttsurini snorted.

“…This isn’t about that. That’s right, just like what someone said before—”

Muttsurini seemed to be reminiscing something as he then said,

“…The thing I hate most is your happiness.[3]”

“YUUJI! YOUR LINE WAS STOLEN! BEAR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THAT! YOU d.a.m.nED Sc.u.mBALL!”

“No, I have the same thoughts about that as well.”

“Ahh, I CAN’T STAND THIS! ISN’T ANYONE GOING TO STAND ON MY SIDE IN THIS ENDLESS h.e.l.l!?”

I’m supposed to be the one praying for Yuuji’s misfortune.

“Aki, what’s going on?”

“Ah…Erm…anyway, I’ll explain properly first, okay? So can you please let go of me? If this keeps up, I’m going to be unable to breathe.”

Actually, there are sounds of twigs being trampled on 2, 3 times near my temple, and there’s no need to mention further that my vision is becoming all distorted.

“You should have a reasonable explanation for everyone to accept, right?”

Minami unhappily let go of me. Very good, very good. In that case…

“RUN AWAY, YUUJI!”

“Your actions were already within our guess.”

“GUWAAHHH!!!”

Just as I was about to run, the metal chain linking our handcuffs was tugged. Guu…these handcuffs are really troublesome!

“Found him! It’s F cla.s.s’ rep!”

“Surround him and go for the decisive wing!”

Just while we’re arguing, our pursuers from C cla.s.s just had to appear. We’re dead now—

“Akihisa, now!”

At this moment, my body reacted to Yuuji’s voice. That guy forcefully pulled up his left hand that was cuffed by the handcuff and flipped the skirt up.

“Wa, wait! What are you two doing!?”

Minami, who stood between us, couldn’t help but cry out. As Yuuji and I raised the metal chain, it grazed past Minami’s skirt and flipped her skirt up.

“…There’re things more important than revenge!”

In front of us, what happened was that Minami hurriedly reached her hand out to hold her skirt down, and a certain idiot took his camera out from his clutches. Minami’s hand let go of the metal chain, and now is the best chance to escape!

“Shimada! Muttsurini! We’ll leave those guys to you!”

“We’ll leave it to you then! Get rid of C cla.s.s as members of F cla.s.s! Do your best for the summoning battle!”

We raised our hands above our heads and let the metal chain get past Minami’s head. After crossing this obstacle, we’ll definitely continue with our escape!

“You, you despicable b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Remember this! You must explain this clearly to me after this! And I’ll repay you for flipping my skirt!”

“…As for this, I really have to thank you…”

Just when we escaped from the scene, the pursuers from C cla.s.s arrived at where Minami and Muttsurini were. If they asked for a summoning battle, they will have to accept this. Now those two won’t be able to come after Yuuji and me. Also, they’re from C cla.s.s, whose standard is higher than us. Minami and Muttsurini will have to end up taking detention once they lose, right? We’ll lose our pursuers and wear down C cla.s.s. That’s two birds killed with one stone.

After running around in the new school building, Yuuji and I escaped to the second level where the first-year cla.s.srooms were. Looking at things now, there doesn’t seem to be any enemy nearby.

“That’s great…at least we managed to keep our lives…”

We stopped running around and caught our breaths. I really thought we were done for there…

“It was really a dangerous situation, but luckily those guys from C cla.s.s appeared and saved our lives.”

“It’s really great that you could escape, Aki-cha—Akiko-chan.”

“Yeah yeah—EH? WHY IS TAMANO-SAN HERE TOO!?”

“???”

Tamano-san tilted her head slightly as she gave me a confused look. But it’s pointless for her to show such a confused look!

“Ahh…I know. So that’s how it is. Sorry, Aki-chan.”

“It seems that you’re not going to stop calling me Aki-chan…can you please not call me that?”

It’s great if she can understand the current situation.

“Un. You want to be alone with Sakamoto-kun, right? Sorry, I’m just that dim-witted.”

“Oi, Tamano! Don’t get me involved in this ridiculous situation, will ya!”

Yuuji said that in a thoroughly irate manner. What is he saying? He’s the one who started all this!

Even so, I have to find a way to disperse this misunderstanding Tamano-san has.

“No, Tamano-san, I think you’re mistaken. Yuuji and I feel nothing for each other!”

“It’s alright! Even if this world’s cruel to you two, you must follow through with your love thoroughly! I and—Yuuko will cheer for you!”

“AH? Wait a sec!”

Tamano-san left these words before turning around to leave. I have lots of things to say to her, but I’m somewhat shocked to hear her mention Hideyoshi’s sister. Why did she mention her?

“Akihisa…we’ll definitely lose a lot of things if we lose this summoning battle…”

“No…even if we win, I feel that a lot of things can’t be changed back…”

At our age, there should be lots of topics of boys and girls being in love, but we’re always stuck in gay romance. This should be rather rare in this age…

“Found them! It’s Yoshii and Sakamoto!”

“““KILL THEM!”””

“Here they come, Yuuji!”

The familiar grunts rang from afar.

It was C cla.s.s just now. Is it F cla.s.s now? d.a.m.n it, we’re really busy. It’s really annoying!”

“They’re going to start surrounding the second level. Looks like we can only run up or down—”

“No, we’re going to counterattack here.”

“Eh? Why?”

There’s no stairs built in the new school building. If we don’t move up or down now, there’s almost no place to hide. If we’re stuck in a place we can’t back down from, we’ll be dead!

“This is to win this battle. Are you ready, Akihisa. It’s the stage where we show our mettle!”

We’re in trouble, but Yuuji said this confidently.

“A stage to prove our mettle…”

Since that guy said this, there should be some chance of winning, right? No matter how we escape, things will only get worse, and it may be good to follow what he says.

“Okay, I’ll believe in your plan as much as I can Yuuji!”

“You don’t have any other ideas anyway. Stop being so arrogant! We’re going for it, Akihisa!”

“You too!”

“““GO TO h.e.l.l, YOU b.a.s.t.a.r.dS!!!”””

Yuuji and I faced off against our cla.s.smates who attacked us. But even so, there shouldn’t be many people who would call for their own cla.s.smates’ blood.

“WHO’LL DIE HERE!?”

In order to not lose to the enemy’s killing intent. I screamed out and faced off against those guys.

I continued to dodge and defend against the incoming violence that came in waves, Yuuji would occasionally help out, and I would then have the slight chance to counterattack.

“You were fooling around really happily with Shimada, Yoshii Akihisa!”

“Why, an idiot like you, and Himeji would actually...”

“RETURN MY KINOs.h.i.tA! HE BELONGS TO ME!”

My cla.s.smates who should be down are like undead zombies, standing up again and again. To be honest, I feel that they're really scary...

“Yuuji! How long do we have to keep this up?”

“Be quiet and stop yapping! Concentrate on these guys!”

I dodged the wooden sword that was precariously swung at me. The wooden sword went by me and knocked into the metal chain between Yuuji and me.

““!””

The metal chain immediately tightened, and Yuuji and I lost our balance. Those guys never let go of this chance as they immediately raised their feet to trample us. Even though we're on the ground, I hurriedly rolled my body and dodged the attack. Ahhh, d.a.m.n it! I can't move as I want!

It was already bad enough that scary scenes were happening one after another, and yet,

“I finally caught up to you, Aki...you embarra.s.sed me and made me and Muttsurini handle those guys from C cla.s.s!”

“...It was your good fortune that you were able to keep your life. I'm going to take it for sure this time.”

“d.a.m.n it! You two are still alive...”

Unexpectedly, Minami and Muttsurini, who really are like terrifying last boss enemies, appeared right in front of us. Che! They managed to retreat under the disadvantageous situation of having to face C cla.s.s...

“It's Shimada and Muttsurini! Leave s.p.a.ce for them and don't get caught!”

“Everyone else is to attack Sakamoto!”

The enemies who surrounded us in a chaotic manner suddenly backed off, leaving lots of s.p.a.ce.

“Aki! You're an idiot, yet why are you so popular? Gu...guys always stay away from me!”

“But you're rather popular with girls, right? Isn't that a good thing?”

“That's not good!”

“...Akihisa, it's because of you that even I got strange rumors about me (Swoosh)!”

“Wah! Muttsurini! You'll understand once you hear my explanation! That's just some baseless rumor!”

I dodge Minami's direct punch and the mechanical pencils and ball-point pens Muttsurini threw at me. That's really dangerous! Girls' hands and sharp stationery aren't to be used for such things!”

“Saying that it's some baseless rumor...Aki-cha—Yoshii-kun's too much! I did confess to you sincerely!”

“SO WHY MUST YOU APPEAR AT SUCH A MOMENT WHEN YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO TURN UP, TAMANO-SAN!! KOYAMA-SAN ASKED YOU TO END MY LIFE, DIDN’T SHE!?!?”

Didn't she just go back to her own cla.s.sroom?

“Aki, it's because you keep hiding things like this that you make yourself even less reliable!”

“...I'm so envious that I want to kill you!”

Minami and Muttsurini went faster, and I could only see afterimages somewhat. I know that the emotion of jealousy will make someone stronger, but the one confessed to was my girl persona! Isn't it too weird to be treated like this!?

“Haa, haa...I finally caught up. Akihisa-kun!”

“Himeji-san?”

At this moment. Himeji-san appeared. She's not really quick, but she came here. It seems that everyone in our cla.s.s surrounded us. In other words, the current situation is such that Yuuji and I are unable to fight them off.

“In that case, Yuuji, hurry and use the platinum brac—”

I intended to use Yuuji's platinum bracelet and let my summoned beast join in the fight to increase our chances of winning. However,

“Everyone, get ready to summon! We shall take down F cla.s.s' rep—Sakamoto Yuuji's head!”

“““UOOOHHHH~!!”””

On the other side of the human wall F cla.s.s made, the army of C cla.s.s students Koyama-san led came crashing. d.a.m.n it! Even if we summon here, there's a chance that we'll lose to those guys from C cla.s.s!

“That's enough! Akihisa!”

At this moment, Yuuji finally said the keyword. I've been waiting for this for a long time!

“We're going to jump, Akihisa!”

“OK!”

Before we entered C cla.s.s' summoning field, both of us turned back and ran, and from the open window—

“HHHHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

We jumped.

If we can land safely, there won't be any damage caused from jumping down from the second level. It’s not easy to move with the handcuffs, but we should be able to succeed. We just need to summon our courage!

Thud!

The next moment, Yuuji and I landed at the same time as the sound echoed. The impact of landing rushed from our legs to our head, but it looks like we're alright.

“Those two! Running outside is too despicable!”

“We can catch up if it's the second level! Hurry up and chase them!”

“Tha, that’s too much, Akihisa-kun! I finally caught up with you!”

Shouts could be heard from where we were. Looks like n.o.body would jump off from the window just to chase us.

“...Don't think you can get away from me.”

—Except for that guy.

“As expected of Muttsurini, to get down so easily...”

“...There're some filming places without stairs. This is nothing.”

Better not ask him what he was filming.

“Aki, stand over there!”

No, it's not just Muttsurini. There's someone else who has the ability to jump down from the second floor—

“Why isn't she jumping?”

“It can't be helped. Shimada's wearing a skirt.”

Guys and girls have the pre-determined difference in athletic ability, and for Minami, who's a girl, it's embarra.s.sing for her to jump down from the window while wearing a skirt, and it doesn't benefit us at all.

“Alright. If she doesn't dare to jump, let's run, Akihisa!”

“Got it!”

Minami wouldn't jump no matter what, but we couldn't stand around there. The other guys will catch up to us if we don't leave,

Once he said that, Yuuji and I hurriedly gathered our steps and ran to the old school building.

“...d.a.m.n it! I can't catch up!”

Muttsurini may be bounded by the thought of being able to take a photo of Minami showing her panties and didn't follow us. To be honest, if we could see it, I really wanted to stay...

I had some regrets as we ran through the school. Just when we left the new school building and could see the old school building, Yuuji suddenly said to me,

“Very good. Let's go convince that guy.”

“Who?”

That's right. Yuuji said that he wanted to gather comrades, but up till now, no one in cla.s.s was willing to support us. Who's the guy Yuuji's after?

“Is there a need to say it? Of course it's that guy who didn't move too much even after such a large commotion.”

“That's—”

“That's right. Hideyoshi. I'm going to pull him to our side.”

“Hideyoshi, help us get out of this mess.”

Because of this, Yuuji and I ran to the old school building to meet Hideyoshi in F cla.s.s’ cla.s.sroom. I see, so Yuuji lured everyone to the other side to achieve this aim.

“Un…but, I really heard this news personally. It is…Akihisa got confessed to by Tamano and said that you and Yuuji—”

“Nonono! That’s really a huge misunderstanding! I’m only interested in girls!”

“But don’t you often say some strange things to me, a guy…”

“Un, because I’m only interested in girls.”

“Why do I feel that we’re not talking about the same thing!?”

I feel that it’s alright though…but there’s no time to talk about this. We’ll talk about this later.

“Anyway, those are rumors. They’re not real!”

“Even if you say so…”

“Think about it. Aren’t there rumors that you like me, Hideyoshi? It’s not real, right? Rumors are rumors. They have nothing to do with reali—”

“…”

“Eh? Wa, wait a minute, Hideyoshi? What’s with that response?”

“No, that’s not it! It’s not what you think! I’m just thinking…if we’re friends who have quite the good relationship, wouldn’t that mean that I’m lying? That’s why I’m troubled!”

What the heck. So it was like that…well, I suddenly felt a little disappointed…

“Okay, since you say so, I’ll help you out.”

“Sorry Hideyoshi. It’s great that you’re willing to help us out.”

“But the situation’s rather bad now, right? I don’t think you guys stand a chance.”

Hideyoshi was rather definite in his words. It’s true. Like Hideyoshi said, the current situation’s really bad for us. Even so—

“Even so, we have to fight for it! Hideyoshi, even if it’s 99 times impossible, if there’s a teeny-weeny possibility.”

“From the way you calculate that, it’s completely impossible.”

“It’s impossible even if you reincarnate 8 times.”

I said wrongly! It’s 99%!

“Let’s ignore Akihisa’s calculations. If Hideyoshi is willing to help out, we’ll still have a chance of winning this war. It’ll be promising if we can resolve the misunderstanding our cla.s.smates have.”

“Even if you want to clear the misunderstandings, how many of them will believe us?”

“There’s no real need for them to believe in the truth. We just need to remove the antagonistic att.i.tude those guys have.”

??? I don’t understand what Yuuji meant at all.

“In other words, you want to tell a lie those guys from F cla.s.s can believe to cover up those rumors, is that it?”

“That’s right. We need your help to do this, Hideyoshi.”

“Uu…I still don’t understand what’s really going on, but I got a rough gist of it.”

I don’t understand the plan at all, but anyway, there’s a resolution to this situation. We can relax now, right?

“Thanks, Hideyoshi.”

“No, no worries. I should bear a little responsibility for spreading the rumors like that. It’s my duty to help you.”

As expected of Hideyoshi. So kind! Completely different from those idiots who’re sharing the same fate as me and yet betray me!

“Say it then. What do I need to do?”

“To ease everyone’s misunderstanding of us, we have to make those guys stop and listen to our explanation. So—”

“Found them! They’re back at F cla.s.s!”

“Seems like they’re sweet-talking Kinos.h.i.ta! Those two are really carefree even in this situation!”

“Kill them! Erase their existence and leave no bones behind!”

“Argh! Our pursuers are here! Where should we run to, Yuuji?”

“d.a.m.n it! They’re faster than I thought! I wanted to head to the audio broadcast room on the second level…”

“It’s too risky to continue on downwards.”

“Yeah!”

The voices came from downstairs. They just left the school building to look for Yuuji and me, and logically, they would head back to the cla.s.sroom from downstairs.

“What should we do?”

“Anyway, get out of the cla.s.sroom first! We’ll be trapped if we remain here!”

““Understood!””

Unlike just now, the three of us were running towards the stairs to escape. But at this moment—

“It’s F cla.s.s rep Sakamoto! Hurry up, beat him and get the peace we’ve dreamt of!”

“““OHHHHH!!!”””

Those guys from C cla.s.s were running over from the corridor link on the other side. We’re now pincered! This is the worst situation!

“Yuuji, you said that you need to go to the audio broadcast room, but you just need audio equipment, right?”

“Yeah! We don’t have to face those guys head on and make them listen quietly to us. The best way is to use audio speakers!”

“In that case, let’s hurry to the roof! There’s audio equipment over there!”

“The roof, you say…didn’t Yuuji and I break it the last time?”

“Didn’t we use it during the sports meet? I guess that audio speaker on the roof should be repaired.”

The roof…we can only run up anyway. This is perfect!

“Okay, Akihisa! Let’s run up!”

“Okay!”

We leapt three steps at a time and ran up the room. The F cla.s.s members who came running up from the lower level met up with the C cla.s.s members who came from the corridor, and to be honest, we don’t even know who’s chasing us.

“What do we do, Yuuji! Even if we need audio, we need to stall for time!”

“I know! Hideyoshi, lend me your ear!”

“Hm?”

As we ran up the stairs, Yuuji whispered something to Hideyoshi’s ears. If we’re not going to accept the enemy’s challenge, we will be locked into the detention room no matter the reason. Thus, if it really came down to that, we can only accept their challenge…but because of the handcuffs, I can’t get away from Yuuji at all. Even if I want to buy more time, it doesn’t seem possible. What should I do now…

We finally got up to the fourth level and ran towards the new school building—

“C cla.s.s’ Yamas.h.i.ta Kiyomi requests a battle in chemistry!”

We finally got all the way up to the roof, yet the guys from C cla.s.s caught up to us. As we were running around for the entire day, we started to slow down.

“Finally caught up to you, Yoshii! Taste how thick our jealousy is!”

At the same time, Suzuki-kun from F cla.s.s caught up to us. There were even more people from C cla.s.s and F cla.s.s who arrived.

Can’t be helped. If Yuuji loses here, F cla.s.s loses this summoning battle. Hideyoshi is the only one who can carry out the next plan. Looks like I can only step forward.

“Understood. F cla.s.s’ Yoshii Akihisa—”

Just when I was about to say ‘I accept this challenge’…

“F cla.s.s’ Suzuki accepts your chemistry challenge!”

But I heard Suzuki-kun say this.

“Eh?”

Suzuki-kun looked shocked as he looked at the teacher. It’s obvious that Suzuki-kun would be shocked as he had no reason to accept Yamas.h.i.ta-kun’s declaration. Also, if he accepted this, he won’t be able to attack us.

Just as I was surprised and unsure of what’s going on, Hideyoshi secretly winked at me. Ah, I see, Hideyoshi mimicked Suzuki-kun’s voice!

“Wa, wait a minute, sensei! I don’t have any intention of declaring battle—”

“You’re not going to call out your summoned beast? I’ll treat it as you’re running away from battle…”

“I’ll send him to the detention room. Follow me.”

“WAH! IRONMAN! WHEN DID YOU COME OVER!?”

One of the pursuers of F cla.s.s cried out ‘NOOOOOO’ as he was brought to the detention room. That’s really great.

“Then, F cla.s.s’ Seto will accept this challenge!”

“Eh?”

“F cla.s.s’ Takahashi wants to take part too!”

“No, I do not!”

“Shibasaki wants to summon!”

“WA—IT!?”

Hideyoshi immediately used different voices and caused a few F cla.s.s students present to take part.

“““Ku…summon!”””

Those guys that were forced to summon could only summon their summoned beasts reluctantly. Having just seen Suzuki-kun forcefully taken into the remedial room, it’s obvious that they would make such a decision. It’s nothing to hunt Yuuji and me down as compared to the h.e.l.lish detention.

“Let’s go, Akihisa, Hideyoshi! Let’s get away at this moment!”

“Okay!”

“Un!”

Having stopped them in their tracks, we hurriedly ran towards the roof and pushed the heavy metal door aside. The voice mixer and microphone were located under the Prefab roof. Very good, that’s the one!

“Let’s see. We just need to broadcast through the 3rd and 4th levels…”

I have no idea how these machines work. Which b.u.t.tons should I press?

“I don’t know how to use it too. How about we press this emergency broadcast b.u.t.ton?”

“That can’t be pressed. If you press it, everyone inside school and even the audio speakers outside can hear the broadcast. Move aside and let me operate it.”

Hideyoshi stood in and operated the machine. So that emergency b.u.t.ton is just like what the name implies, it’s a b.u.t.ton that’s to be used only for emergency, not just all around the school. If even the nearby residents hear it, it will be really embarra.s.sing and so we can’t just press it. We nearly embarra.s.sed ourselves in front of the entire town.

“Okay, this will do. Then, what should I say?”

“Just pretend to be those who were involved in the rumors and explain to them that we had no such intention. It’s best if you can express their irritation at us.”

“Uu…so it’s to make an even bigger lie about whom everyone likes?”

“That’s how it is.”

I see, so this is Yuuji’s plan. It’s true that this can divert the jealousy everyone has against us.

But...

“Wouldn’t this bother others if we do this?”

Regarding love, there should be some people who will be bothered that we would lie like that. Like those people who like Himeji-san and the rest will have to give up, or even have some misunderstanding about whom Himeji-san and the rest like…

“Of course, we’ll broadcast again later and clarify to everyone that ‘that broadcast was just Hideyoshi’s acting’. Right now, the most important thing is for everyone to calm down and listen to us.”

It seemed that Yuuji even thought of this and said this to me.

Is that so? Will it be alright after an explanation?

Speaking of which, the rumors circulating outside were all fake too. If we don’t get rid of this misunderstanding, we won’t be able to change the fact that lots of people are troubled.

“If that’s the case, I understand.”

Hideyoshi nodded his head understandingly and turned the mic on.

“Ah, ahh…I’m Kudou Aikou from A cla.s.s. Can everyone please listen to me?”

And then, Hideyoshi changed his voice as he started talking into the mic. Is he going to start from Kudou-san?

“There seems to be rumors that I like Yoshii-kun, but that’s a misunderstanding! I have no interest in Yoshii-kun at all. To be honest, he’s the type of boy I really can’t handle, you know?”

“GUU!!!”

“Yoshii-kun looks like he has no experience at all~ I’m not interested if it’s not a boy who’s experienced and knowledgeable. I can’t confess to him, and even if he confesses to me, I can’t go out with him. Sorry~”

“GOFUAAA!!”

This confession really…will bring mental trauma…

(Not bad, Hideyoshi. Pretend to be like your sister.)

(I understand.)

“Me too. Yoshii-kun looks like a really big idiot. Also…I only have interest in cute boys who are younger than me.”

For some reason, it seemed that I heard a scream that came from deep within the soul going ‘EVERYONE ALREADY FORGET ABOUT THHHHHIIISSSS!!!’

(Next, D cla.s.s’ Shimizu.)

“Miharu hates that swine the most! How can I possibly have feelings of him? Stop kidding around! More than that guy, I'd rather love a stinky drain rat! If I have to touch him, Miharu would rather jump into a swimming pool full of worms!”

(Tamano too?)

“I have no interest in Yoshii-kun because I like Aki-chan! Yoshii-kun who’s not in girls’ clothing is as worthless as chewing on chewing gum that has lost flavor!”

(Kubo…should be even more pa.s.sionate, right?)

(Why must it be the reverse now!?)

“Everyone, how can you say that? I love Yoshii-kun the most! No matter whether it’s his lousy brain or his clumsy aspects, I’ll accept them all. Yoshii-kun, I love you, I love you the most! If you’re willing to accept my feelings, I’ll work hard to enter politics and change the laws in this country for your sake!”

(Oi, Akihisa, don’t jump off from here. We’ll be banned from entering the roof if an accident happens.)

(Let go of me, Yuuji! If such content is allowed, going to the roof should be the real thing that should be banned!)

(Alright, calm down. Next, Muttsurini. Never mind. We’ll leave him aside. Let’s choose between Shimada and Himeji…I’m sorry to them, but we can only lie until the end. I’ll leave it to you then, Hideyoshi.)

“I, I don’t have any interest in Aki! I like—wild guys like gorillas or apes! Aki’s not within my consideration!”

Instead of it being a lie, it’s more like the confession she made right in front of me.

(Okay, finally, Himeji. But…)

But at this moment, Hideyoshi went into deep thought. About the rest, those words that came from Hideyoshi’s mouth had some truth (well, except for Kubo-kun, the rest were all true). Maybe Hideyoshi is silent at this moment because he didn’t know how to express Himeji-san’s feelings?

But about Himeji-san’s true side, there’s only one thing I know.

(Hideyoshi, about Himeji-san’s words, just say this.)

(Hm? Akihisa, what should I say?)

Hideyoshi turned off the mic for the time being and leaned over to listen to me. I’m worried F cla.s.s would come attacking like an avalanche, but they should’ve stopped their chase.

(Uu…if you say so, it’s alright…)

(…)

On hearing my explanation, Hideyoshi nodded slightly, and Yuuji stood beside us as he looked at me.

Then, Hideyoshi turned on the mic and spoke.

“I’m Himeji Mizuki from Cla.s.s 2-F.”

The voice that came from Hideyoshi’s mouth would sound just like Himeji-san’s to anyone unaware about this.

“I have someone I like.”

The voice that came through the mic was Himeji-san’s adamant voice.

“But, that person’s not Yoshii Akihisa-kun…because I—”

That’s right, because Himeji-san, she—

“I already liked someone else since I was young…he’s my first love, even until now.”

Himeji-san didn’t like me—but someone else.

That’s what Himeji-san herself told me when we were in primary school. And the one and only fact that I would use to watch myself.

(Alright. Now we just need to explain everyone’s misunderstanding about me before we close things.)

(Yeah. If we don’t explain clearly, Kirishima-san won’t return us the key.)

The problem is how to clear up the misunderstanding. However…

(Farewell, Yuuji.)

(What? Why are you sudden—GUUH!)

I used the handcuffs to choke Yuuji’s carotid artery hard and took away his ability to speak. Very good. Now things are a lot easier.

(Hideyoshi, I’ll leave it to you.)

(Un, leave it to me.)

Hideyoshi nodded and faced the mic in front of him again. Okay, now for the last step.

“I’m F cla.s.s’ Sakamoto Yuuji. About me being confessed to by Koyama—that’s their trap. C cla.s.s’ Koyama deliberately set the trap for F cla.s.s in the summoning battle. It’s the same with that ridiculous rumor about Akihisa and me being gay for each other.”

After taking a deep breath, Hideyoshi then said.

“—So Shouko, I’ll promise you anything you want me to do! Just hurry up and give me the key!”

“!”

“And also, everyone in F cla.s.s, the most important thing is to win this battle. After that, you can cook me, grill me or roast me! Anything you wish!”

“(Shakes head violently)!”

Even when his blood’s unable to circulate, Yuuji still tried his best to shake his head. Sorry Yuuji, but I won’t let your sacrifice be in vain.

“A trap…so that’s how it is…that’s true. If not, how can those guys be so popular with girls?”

“Despicable C cla.s.s! Messing around with Sakamoto and Yoshii who have no luck with girls!”

“We must let C cla.s.s know the rage those two had when they were being hunted!”

No, the ones who chased us down like rats seem to be you guys from F cla.s.s…

I tried my best to hold back the urge to comment and looked downstairs through the window in the metal door leading to the roof. It seemed that those F cla.s.s students on the stairs finally calmed down and started to focus on this summoning battle.

“This isn’t good…those guys may do random things if this becomes a messy battle…C cla.s.s, retreat for now, regroup and fight them later!”

Once she saw that their plan was seen through and that their group was obviously wavering, Koyama-san had to call C cla.s.s to retreat for the time being.

In the end, we ended up glaring at each other as we took replenishment tests for the rest of the day, and the designated time for the summoning battle ended quietly.