“…Yuuji.”

“What is it?”

“…We were living together last night, but it doesn’t feel like we’re living together.”

“Of course that’s the case. Think about it, it’s not once or twice that I was bound up and gagged and kidnapped to your house. There’s no refreshing feeling here.”

“…So from tonight onwards, I’ll go over to stay at Yuuji’s house.”

“Got it. I’ll go over to your house then.”

“…Yuuji, will you wear my clothes when you’re at my house?”

“Hold on. Let me bring a clean set of clothing.”

“???...My house has a lot of socks.”

“WHY MUST IT ONLY BE SOCKS!? THERE WOULD AT LEAST BE PANTS AND BOXERS INVOLVED, RIGHT?”

“…I won’t mind wearing Yuuji’s panties and bras.”

“I’LL MIND THAT! DON’T SAY IT LIKE I HAVE A BRA!”

“…Don’t you wear underwear, Yuuji?”

“I DON’T WEAR THE TOP! BUT I DEFINITELY MUST WEAR THE PART AT THE BOTTOM!”

“…Where?”

“THIS ISN’T THE TIME TO ASK ME WHERE! DON’T UNDRESS ME LIKE IT’S NATURAL!”

“…As a childhood friend, I have a duty to check your growth status, Yuuji.”

“THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS CHECKING GROWTH STATUS, IS THERE?! IF YOU DON’T STRIP ME REGULARLY AND RECORD, IT WILL BE POINT—”

“…”

“Oi, hold on a sec. Why aren’t you talking?”

“…Will F cla.s.s continue with the summoning war?”

“Why did you change the topic out of a sudden.”

“…Can you beat C cla.s.s?”

“Ku…! Pretending not to hear things that are disadvantageous to you…”

“…Even amongst husband and wife, there are some things we can’t talk about.”

“WE’RE NOT HUSBAND AND WIFE I’m too tired to even snark back…”

“…So, how about it?”

“Hm? The summoning war?”

“…Un.”

“It’s not whether we can win or not, it’s that we have to win. We can’t fail here.”

“…Do you best. If it’s you people, Yuuji, you will definitely win.”

“Oh, thanks—speaking of which, even if you’re honestly cheering for us, you know what’s our final goal, don’t you?”

“…You’re aiming for A cla.s.s this time, right? Yuuji?”

“Of course, we’ll definitely win this time.”

“…Is that so?”

“Wait patiently. We won’t hold back.”

“…That’s fine, but—”

“But what?”

“—Yuuji, you know what will happen the next time you lose, right?”

“…….Haha, my feet are starting to tremble…is this the so-called samurai waver[1]?”

“…When you lose twice, you better get ready.”

“Gu…! I, I won’t lose!”

“…So you must work hard when fighting against C cla.s.s.”

“My heart just feels complicated now…well, I’ll do my best. It’s our wish to win in the summoning war.”

“…I’ll support your battle with C cla.s.s.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“—Speaking of which, Shouko, about that checking of growth.”

“…I have to do duty today.”

“OOOIIIII!! DID YOU REALLY CHECK REGULARLY!!??”

The First Question

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

Andy“I’m sorry about being late.”

Mary“Was there anything?”

Andy“I guided the man.”

Mary“Was there a stray child.”

Andy“No. There was an old man who had come to this town for the first time.”

Mary“I see.”[2]

Please explain why Andy was late.

Himeji Mizuki’s answer:

“Because he went to guide a lost old man.”

Teacher’s comment:

Correct answer. Andy did say that he was late because he helped an old man who came to this city for the first time. Everyone must remember to help out those in need.

Tsuchiya Kouta’s answer:

“Because he helped a pregnant lady who was about to give birth.”

Teacher’s comment:

Unfortunately, there’s no mention of the term pregnant lady.

Yoshii Akihisa’s answer:

“Because he helped an old man who was about to give birth.”

'Teacher’s comment:

Sensei’s really bothered that you forced out terms that didn’t exist at all.

“Morning Yuuji.”

After splitting up from Shouko at the new school building, I was working down the corridor of the old school building when a familiar voice rang.

“Oh, Hideyoshi, morning.”

I turned around, and saw that it was one of my cla.s.smates — Kinos.h.i.ta Hideyoshi.

“The weather’s great today.”

Hideyoshi narrowed his eyes and looked outside. To be honest, that face looks like a girl no matter what, but he’s a real man. But even if I say so, I’ve been wondering recently whether Hideyoshi was a real guy or not.

“…I suddenly had a feeling that my last wall of defense collapsed for a moment there…”

“You must be mistaken. You’re probably tired, right?”

“Muu…is that so?”

Being so sharp at such a small thing; that’s definitely a trait a girl will have.

“Even so, that was a disaster yesterday, Yuuji.”

Hideyoshi gave a wry smile as he said that. Was he referring to that when he mentioned disaster? A ridiculous confession caused those guys in F cla.s.s to go jealous and lose all sanity and even triggered a horrifying chase sequence.

“Well, a disaster’s a disaster, but I’m used to being chased all over the place.”

“That’s so…”

Even if I say so, it can’t be helped that I’m used to it.

“Instead of worrying about whether we will be chased, I’m more worried about the summoning battle later on today. Our fighting ability was grossly worn out.”

“That’s because our cla.s.s started it.”

It’s because of this that the fighting ability we had so little of became even more lacking. The opponent’s C cla.s.s, and we ended up losing a lot here. Obviously, everyone knows that this is disadvantageous to us.

“We have to endure today for the sake of winning today.”

“Endure? What do you mean?”

“My estimation is that we have to continue to endure during the first half, so we’ll be in a tough battle where we have to replenish our points and fight.”

“Continuing to replenish our points and fast…that really requires lots of willpower and concentration.”

To put it nicely, it’s replenishing, but in the end, they’re exams, so this would be draining to the body and mind. I can only think of a way to motivate everyone and make them bring their best.

“Oh yeah, Hideyoshi. Your cla.s.sic literature grades are rather high.”

“Yeah, ah. The next drama I’m acting in is the tale of Genji[3]—”

We continued to talk as we walked up the stairs, and as we saw the cla.s.sroom.

“Mu? Isn’t that Muttsurini?”

“Oh, yeah.”

We saw our cla.s.smate, Tsuchiya Kouta, a.k.a. Muttsurini, about to enter F cla.s.s cla.s.sroom.

He is a guy who has an insatiable desire for s.e.xual stuff, and is a powerhouse in health education that no one can match. Even though his combine scores are relatively low, he’s a reliable ally who has the breakthrough ability with his focus on one subject.

“We’ll need him to fight hard today.”

“n.o.body can match Muttsurini in health education anyway.”

“Yeah. He’s a precious rare fighting ability of ours.”

Hideyoshi said as he walked over to Muttsurini.”

“Morning, Muttsurini.”

And then, he tapped him on the shoulder.

“…”

But Muttsurini didn’t respond at all…un?

“What is it? Did something—”

Happen? Just when I was about to continue,

“……(FLUSSSHHH)!!!”

Muttsurini spurted out lots of nosebleed and fainted.

“THE IMPORTANT FIGHTING FORCE IS—!?”

WHAT? WHAT’S GOING ON!? DID HE GET POISONED!? IS IT A TRAP!?

“d.a.m.n IT! WHO KILLED MUTTSURINI!?”

I stepped over Muttsurini’s corpse “…There’s no need…to step over me…” and entered the cla.s.sroom.

“We, well, Minami-chan, you should.”

“(Pinch pinch pinch) They’re really big~. What did you eat to make them so big?”

“Just normal rice.”

I saw Shimada rubbing Himeji’s b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

“………You two, what are you doing so early in the morning……”

“Ah, morning, Sakamoto.”

“Good morning, Sakamoto-kun.”

Shimada and Himeji finally noticed us and greeted me. …Is this the reason why Muttsurini collapsed…

“What are we doing? Just interacting around a little, you know?”

“Your little interaction caused an ally of ours to be on the brink of death…”

“And I’ll say, it doesn’t seem right when you stepped over your friend like that after that.”

Really, it’s thoroughly forbidden to give Muttsurini such stimulation.

“Then, why do you need to have such a weird way of interaction?”

“Nn~…no particular reason.”

As she said that, Shimada turned to look at Himeji’s table.

“Mizuki’s been studying hard ever since she got to school, so I want to help her relax.”

“I’m happy that you’re concerned, but it’ll be great if you can use some other way to help…”

Looking over, I saw that Himeji’s table was filled with reference books and revision test questions. I see, so she’s been working hard with such will so early in the morning. I’m really encouraged as the cla.s.s rep of the summoning war when I see this.

“Sorry, Himeji. It’s great that you are helping out like this.”

From the previous study group, I knew that Himeji was more of a prodigy who gained her talent through hard work rather than being an outright prodigy. This hard-working att.i.tude will always bring about motivation with the people around her. And with that pretty face of hers, the other people (though most of them are b.a.s.t.a.r.ds) will work hard without grumbling.

“I’ll work extremely hard today.”

And also, I don’t know if it’s thanks to Shimada’s worrying or because she didn’t think too much, but Himeji wasn’t forcing herself and was rather full of enthusiasm. Being tense without forcing herself can be said to be the best condition to fight.

“Sorry, Himeji. —Look, you guys. If you have the time, get ready to take replenishing tests like Himeji. The points we have here aren’t enough to win.”

“““Understood—!!!”””

I can use Himeji to inspire everyone.

However, I never ever dreamt the day would come when I would actually end up saying something like ‘go study’ to my cla.s.smates…

It’s been about 20 minutes since the conversation just now, and there’s still 10 minutes till the morning homeroom period.

Just when I was checking the attendance of our cla.s.s, I suddenly noticed something.

“Speaking of which, Akihisa isn’t here yet.”

“Akihisa? Looks like he didn’t come here.”

Sitting beside me and studying was Hideyoshi, who heard me mutter and lifted his head before answering back.

Almost everyone in our cla.s.s is here except for that idiot. Let alone normal days, he should be here earlier on the day of a summoning war to get ready and fight.

“Aki may have overslept.”

Shimada joined in the conversation as she may have heard Akihisa’s name.

“Overslept…is that true, Himeji?”

I asked Himeji, who was studying nearby. On hearing that, Shimada immediately gulped.

“No, it’s not that he overslept—”

“…In that case, you’re really living with Aki, right, Mizuki? Hey, Mizuki, tell us the specifics.”

“Well well, calm down, Shimada. Akihisa’s sister at home too, and it’s that Akihisa we’re talking about. Nothing can possibly happen.”

“Well, that’s true…”

Hideyoshi coaxed a jealous Shimada. Nice going, Hideyoshi. If we mention that troublesome topic and start off another commotion like yesterday, things will be tough to handle.

“Ermm…Akihisa-kun seemed to have a cold…so he’s taking a break today.”

“Eh? Aki got a cold? Really?”

“Yes.”

Immediately, Shimada and I asked back. Akihisa will miss a summoning war because of a cold?

“I don’t think that idiot will miss a summoning war because of a cold.”

“…I agree.”

Muttsurini came over to us and nodded his head in agreement.

That guy’s body is rather strong since he normally eats coa.r.s.e grains, and today’s the important summoning war day. I can’t imagine that that idiot will take a break from school when it’s an important day for him to take a step forward.

“I feel that he would at least send a message over to Yuuji either way.”

Like what Hideyoshi said, if he can’t take part, he would at least make a call to tell me something like ‘win even if you must die’. Has he lost consciousness if he didn’t even send one? But since Himeji, who’s staying with him, came to school, it shouldn’t be that serious. If it’s already critical, Himeji would definitely take a leave and stay with Akihisa.

In that case, there’s only one possibility to be considered.

“That idiot b.a.s.t.a.r.d…I told him time and time again to watch what he eats…”

“He couldn’t refuse at all…how pitiful…”

“…Let’s clasp our hands together and pray.”

So the reason is Himeji’s cooking. That’s more convincing than a cold.

“But Akihisa’s strength is that ‘there won’t be a decrease in fighting ability even if he’s not around’. No problems.”

“I just feel that it’s the same thing as ‘even if he’s around, he can’t be a part of our fighting force’…”

That’s what I intended to say.

To be honest, even if we don’t talk about that guy’s offensive ability, his summoned beast’s dodging skills are something worth looking forward to. Even if it’s that idiot, if he’s not around, our chances of succeeding will be affected too…but there’s no need to talk about such stuff now and create restlessness amongst everyone.

I scanned around the cla.s.s, and everyone sans Akihisa is here. There’s still time, and we’re about to begin.

I look around the cla.s.sroom, and went up the podium.

“Alright, we’re going to start our strategy meeting!”

Everyone let out a loud noise on hearing this.

The summoning war starts at 9. There’s not much time, so I’ll simply explain a bit.

“The important point in today’s strategy is the replenishment tests. We must try to regain the points we lost during the commotion yesterday quickly.”

The trap C cla.s.s’ Koyama set caused F cla.s.s to have inner turmoil, weakening our forces here greatly as a result. F cla.s.s was already overwhelmingly weak as compared to C cla.s.s, and yet we lost points because of infighting. Right now, the difference in fighting ability is really big.

“But wouldn’t our difference with C cla.s.s be larger if we continue to replenish?”

Shimada raised her hand and asked. It’s true that if everyone ended up being worn out like what she said, the difference between both sides will increase, and the simple reason is that the enemy’s maximum value in points are different from us…however,

“That’s not the case. The enemy has finished the replenishing.”

While F cla.s.s had the infighting going on, C cla.s.s temporarily went back to regroup. This is a cautious decision made in the midst of the chaos. Even though we had some replenishing done too, we had infighting amongst our side, and they, who had the advantage all the time, have a difference in how much they were worn out as compared to us. But they were basically done. In other words, the replenishing tests will decrease the difference instead of increase.

“Then, what’s the basic plan?”

Hideyoshi asked. The other people in the cla.s.s looked like they wanted to hear about the specifics rather than the overall plan.

“The enemy will most likely start swarming here, and we won’t have a chance of winning with our points worn down by a lot. Therefore, we have to solidify F cla.s.sroom. We’ll defend the two entrances of F cla.s.s, set them as the fighting area, and wait for the replenishing inside the cla.s.sroom to be complete.”

With their replenishing done, C cla.s.s will go for the decisive blow before we can take action—it’s not to that extent yet, but they will keep us in our cla.s.sroom while making us unable to do anything else. Looking at how the enemy rep Koyama took action, it seemed that the enemy is being wary of us. It’s not hard to imagine that they will decrease our movement range.

“We lost out on a lot of points, and we already lost a lot of people. We won’t have a chance of winning if the enemy uses the ‘retreat once worn out’ strategy.”

In terms of numbers, we still have around 30 people (on a side note, the number of people in a cla.s.s is 50), but the enemy has more than 40 people, and the difference in numbers is already about 30%. Also, there’s the difference in personal abilities between C cla.s.s and F cla.s.s, and this is already a self-explanatory situation.

“Therefore, we’re going to use up our points as much as possible.”

“Use up, as in fighting until we can’t fight?”

“That’s one, but that won’t be enough. We won’t be replenishing our points before we go down, but we’ll switch the deciding subject. In that case, the same people can still continue to fight.”

“Change subjects, how?”

Shimada tossed out a question. That’s a good question.

The rules state that we can’t switch subjects when fighting the enemy. If we want to switch subjects, we have to fight until the battle’s decided. In other words, a certain side of students taking part in the battle of this subject has to be defeated first. Then, if we lose out, the enemy will rush in through both front and back entrances, and things will get worse.

“At that moment, we’ll need Himeji’s attacking ability and immediately ask the teacher for a change in subjects once the enemies in the field are defeated. Can you do it?”

“Yes! Please leave it to me!”

Himeji said enthusiastically.

Himeji, who has the ability as the second-ranked student in our year, has constantly high marks in all subjects. This is a very important point for this fight. All the subjects may require a decisive fight, so we need to sweep the enemy while changing subjects. Shimada’s maths and Muttsurini’s health education are rather strong if we talk about how specialized they are, but the enemy will think of changing the subjects, and if we have such a defensive battle, their strength can’t be used. Thus we need Himeji’s power as an add on.

“So we’d need Himeji to appear when changing subjects. The main forces of the defense will be taken by other people, is it?”

“Ahh, that’s the case. Once we start, we’ll be grouped with Muttsurini and Shimada at the center.”

The front entrance will be defended by Muttsurini’s health education, and the back will be defended by Shimada’s maths. On a side note, these two are highly specialized, so we have to call them back when switching subjects.

“According to the current situation, I’ll be able to hang on for about 20, 30 minutes.”

“…I have no confidence in fighting an endurance battle.”

We’ll ignore Shimada for now, but it’ll be a different case for Muttsurini, peerless in health education, to fight a battle of attrition. The ability of the ‘golden bracelet’ is powerful, but will eat up points when used, and will have a side effect when facing lots of enemies. The only one in our entire year who can get away from many enemies is that idiot. It’s because of this that it’s a huge loss for that guy to not be here…

“I’ll work hard for Akihisa-kun’s sake. We promised.”

Himeji’s eyes seemed to show a glow of strong will. It seemed that she’s more active than before when Akihisa’s not around. In a certain sense, perhaps it’s good that Akihisa isn’t here.

“Alright. Then, please take note of the area you’re in charge of.”

As we continued on, the strategy meeting ended. And so…how will the battle today end up like?

“Are you done, Yoshii? —Are you listening to me, Yoshii?”

“Eh? Ah, yes, sorry.”

Ironman’s coa.r.s.e voice brought me back to reality. d.a.m.n it. I seemed to have s.p.a.ced out again.

“What is it? You haven’t written down anything yet? Hurry up.”

With Ironman prompting me, I looked down at the latecoming slip.

—Yes, the latecoming slip.

Right now, the time is 10am, and I’m in the office. As for why I’m here at such a time, the simple answer is that I was late, and sensei asked me to write a latecoming slip.

“It’s rare that you weren’t late by just a bit. Did you oversleep?”

“No, that’s not it…”

I woke up slightly earlier than usual. Even so, it was 9.30am the moment I noticed it. Looks like I s.p.a.ced out on the bed for more than 2 hours. It’s really suitable if I say that time was taken away without warning.

“Whatever. Just hurry up and write. I have to go back to the remedial room earlier.”

“Okay~”

Under the ‘cla.s.s’ column of the latecoming slip, I wrote ‘2-F’, ‘Yoshii Akihisa’ under the ‘name’ column, and the reason why I was late—

“…”

“What is it, Yoshii? Why are you blushing?”

I wanted to write the reason why I was late, but stopped again.

To be honest, the reason why I was late this morning was because Himeji-san…well, ki—no! Erm, actwd like nee-san. But I can’t use that as an excuse. That will create lots of problems if I write that, and will bring trouble to Himeji-san. But (even if Himeji-san was mistaken) my cold’s better now, so I can’t write that I’m sick…

I pondered for a while, and my hand holding the pen started to write again. Can’t be helped. I’ll write this then.

“Sensei, I’m done.”

“Alright, you can leave.”

“Yes.”

I handed over the latecoming slip and got ready to leave the staff room.

“I’ll take back what I said. Come back, Yoshii.”

“What is it?”

I got called back by Ironman. What now?

“Rewrite it.”

“Rewrite? Is there a problem?”

“Writing ‘youth’ as the latecoming reason can’t possibly be accepted!”

“THEN WHAT OTHER REASON CAN I WRITE!?”

“I SHOULD BE THE ONE YELLING HERE!!”

How unreasonable. I definitely thought through and finally wrote a big fat truth here!

“Yare yare…never mind. Since it’s Yoshii…you probably picked up some ero-book on the way to school.”

It seemed that my youth here is being grossly misunderstood.

Even so, I can’t say the real reason, and I have no idea what that signified. Is she trying to imitate nee-san? Was Himeji-san dazed from her sleep? Was it some kind of spell? No, it’s really too weird even if it’s like that.

If I think about it, don’t tell me, actually, Himeji-san—

“…”

“Why are you blushing all of a sudden? How dangerous is that ero-book you picked up!?”

d.a.m.n it, I got even more misunderstood.

“Really, can you really take part in the summoning war? Let me say this first. Our cla.s.s is in a state where we can’t think about anything else, you know?”

Ironman sighed and muttered.

Now that he mentioned it, I focused my attention back here. F cla.s.s’ situation…

The summoning war began while I was writing the latecoming slip here. I didn’t arrive at any conclusion after s.p.a.cing out for more than 2 hours, so there’s no time to worry about this.

“…Yeah. I should be focusing on the summoning war.”

“Yeah. I don’t want to say that studies are your top priority, but the summoning war is important for you and Sakamoto, right? Forget about everything else and just focus on what’s in front of you.”

As an elder, Ironman gave this advice, and it’s true that the summoning war is important to me. It’s not something that I can play around with, yeah…un, well said!

“Yes, I got it!”

“Good answer. No problems, right?”

“None! I’m good at forgetting things!”

“Don’t puff your chest and say such a thing, idiot.”

I’m not good at thinking about so many things in the first place. I can’t check on what happened with Himeji-san, so I should first focus on the important summoning war!

“I’ll be off to the remedial room then. I’ll give you a good lesson if you die in battle.”

Ironman took the latecoming slip and went back to the office. Now, I should start thinking. I have to meet up with F cla.s.s and take part in the summoning war!

“—But even if I say so, what’s going on…”

After handing my latecoming slip over to Ironman, I just stared over at F cla.s.s blankly.

“Charge right in! The enemy’s just F cla.s.s!”

“Those who’re done with replenishing are to come back! Replace those worn out!”

“Got it! Those at the back are to take over!”

I came to the entrance of F cla.s.s, and what I saw was a battle with swarms of C cla.s.s students attacking ferociously and F cla.s.s defending till death at the entrance.

The time now is 10+, and the battlefield of the summoning war that restarted is now at the entrance of F cla.s.s in the old school building. Right now, there’s an intense battle going on, and as I could see, it feels like C cla.s.s is trying to surround F cla.s.s and keep them in the cla.s.sroom.

C cla.s.s Koyama-san leaked false information to crush F cla.s.s, causing F cla.s.s to have infighting. Even though we managed to resolve this, and both sides went through replenishing tests — there’s still a huge difference between C cla.s.s and F cla.s.s. There’s already a difference in ability, and with the commotion yesterday, the damage caused was great. Of course, F cla.s.s had overwhelmingly more casualties than C cla.s.s.

The so-called replenishing test is to let those with their points worn out to regain their points. In other words, it is meaningless to those who died in battle. During yesterday’s commotion, those C cla.s.s people who were worn down retreated, but F cla.s.s was different. The raging F cla.s.s members attacked over and over again even if they’re worn out, and so, naturally, a lot of them died. In this situation, both sides had to go through replenishing tests, and it’s to be expected that there’s a huge difference in the amount of recovery in the fighting strength. This huge difference created the current situation.

“That Yuuji already foresaw something like this, didn’t he…”

Even though we managed to overcome the commotion yesterday, the war hasn’t ended. Rather, it had just begun, and it’s disadvantageous on our side.

Looking over, I can see that F cla.s.s is being held down. It’s really amazing how the defensive line hasn’t collapsed.

“SA, SAVE ME, f.u.k.u.mURA! I HAVE ONLY 12 POINTS LEFT! I DON’T WANT TO GO TO THE REMEDIAL ROOM!”

“I’M IN THE SAME BOAT HERE! JUST USE THOSE POINTS TO HELP!”

“SPEAKING OF WHICH, DON’T YOU HAVE ONLY 20 POINTS!?”

I could only hear screams from F cla.s.s, and from where I’m standing, I could only see the backs of C cla.s.s surrounding F cla.s.s.

“No, but if I can see the backs of C cla.s.s, doesn’t that mean that I can ambush them?”

To be honest, I haven’t regained my points completely. It couldn’t be helped. I ran around all over the place yesterday, being chased by almost everyone from F cla.s.s and C cla.s.s, so it wasn’t enough to use one or two subjects to fight then. There’s a limit to how much points I can get back after half a day of remedial. If I fight in such a situation, I’ll be sent over to the remedial room without being able to do anything.

“No no. For the sake of my allies, it would be helpful somewhat if I rush in suicidally…”

Should I help everyone and fight by rushing in? Better check the current situation. This is troublesome.

Just when I’m thinking about this, I can see the faces of my F cla.s.s cla.s.smates from the gaps between the C cla.s.s people. They all seemed to notice me and gave me glances.

(You’re here, Yoshii?)

(You can’t rest on such an important day!)

(Let’s fight together, Yoshii!)

Their eyes were telling me this.

Is that so…so they were waiting for me…in that case, I should reciprocate their trust and join in the fight for everyone’s sake.

…Yeah. Fight for everyone and give my life up. If I am going to save everyone, I have to rush in with the realization that I have to go to Ironman’s h.e.l.lish remedials.

“…”

I looked at the faces of my pleading allies.

(Yoshii…)

(Yoshii…!)

(Yoshii…!!)

“Fmm…I see.”

I took a deep breath and thought calmly.

……I have no obligation to go to such an extent!

If I think about it carefully, the reason why we ended up like this was because everyone went jealous and started attacking. Also, I’ve been badly treated everyday too.

“Alright. Time to watch them die.”

Yuuji can definitely think of something! I should think about how to get past this perimeter and gather with the cla.s.s—

“YOSHII! F CLa.s.s’ YOSHII AKIHISA! HURRY UP AND SAVE US! WE’RE HERE!”

“OI, C CLa.s.s! LEAVE US ALONE AND ATTACK YOSHII OVER THERE!”

“YEAH! THAT GUY MUST HAVE BEEN ORDERED BY SAKAMOTO SECRETLY! HE SHOULD BE SOMEONE IMPORTANT!”

“Cheh! As expected of my cla.s.smates!”

The moment those guys spoke up, I immediately turned my back around and started to run off.

It seemed that my decision to abandon those guys and their decision to sacrifice me was made at the same time. It can be said that the thinking of sacrificing other people’s lives to protect our own lives is the creed of our cla.s.s.

“Eh? Yoshii? No sign of him.”

“Don’t be fooled by them! These guys are from F cla.s.s! D cla.s.s ended up in turmoil because of this! We should first focus on the enemy in front of us!”

“IT’S TRUE! TRUST ME! OH YEAH, IF YOU LET ME RUN AWAY, I’LL TIE YOSHII UP AND BRING HIM OVER—”

I heard some lousy words over there. Isn’t selling other people out to survive the worst idea! Really, these guys.

“I’ll just ignore them for now.”

If I think about it carefully, the situation is rather bad. If I’m revealed to have come here, I won’t be able to secretly meet up with F cla.s.s.

“Let’s see if there’s any other path to meet up…”

First I have to leave the battlefield to ensure my own safety and check the situation out. Un…sneak in through the window of that empty cla.s.sroom beside F cla.s.s — it’s tough. The empty cla.s.sroom’s right beside the battlefield, so the enemy will quickly discover me…anyway, let’s go to the other empty cla.s.srooms to check it out and find a way to sneak in.

I went from the third level of the old school building that was the battlefield to the area near the empty cla.s.sroom on the second level. If I can climb up to the window from there…

I remain vigilant and check to see if there’s any enemies nearby and put my hand on the door of the empty cla.s.sroom. I then heard some people talking from inside. Un? Who could it be?

“…Sorry to look for you at such a time. The cla.s.s representative shouldn’t be taking action independently in the middle of a summoning war.”

“It’s alright if it’s like this. F cla.s.s is being walled up inside their own cla.s.sroom.”

“That’s good. If they’re stuck inside the cla.s.sroom, the enemy can’t pull any tricks.”

There were two girls’ talking to each other, and they just seem so familiar…they also mentioned about things like ‘F cla.s.s’ and ‘summoning war’. Don’t tell me…?

I was wondering about it, and put my ear on the door to listen carefully.

“Well, sempai. About what I asked this morning…”

“Un, the strategy against F cla.s.s, right? I’ve asked for you.”

“Sorry to bother you at such a busy time.”

“It’s alright. The third years are doing self-study during this period.”

It's definitely them! It’s C cla.s.s’ representative Koyama-san! Is this ‘sempai’ she called that bewitching looking—Kogure-sempai?

“What’s the situation now?”

“The enemy’s stuck in their own cla.s.s…”

“But we can’t get over to the rep, right?”

“Yeah. Also, that second-ranked girl in our year is working really hard to me, and we couldn’t win according how I think we would. I’m also uneasy over what Sakamoto will come up with…”

“The second-ranked girl in your year? She doesn’t have much physical ability, so wouldn’t be easy if you make her tired?”

“Well…for some reason, she just seemed really motivated today.”

“She has become one huge obstacle, is it?”

“Yeah…from the way things stand, we can’t do anything if we don’t find some way to deal with her.”

As I heard this, I suddenly noticed something. Just now, (I think) Kogure-sempai said something like ‘I asked for you’. So that means the suggestion given to Koyama wasn’t thought up by her…?

“Is that so? We’ll ignore the enemy’s strategy for now. Let’s first talk about the rest. The basic plan.”

“Yes.”

“How about you get the other cla.s.ses to help out?”

“The other cla.s.ses?”

“Yup. A common frontline. Is there any other cla.s.ses you can get to help?”

“…I think, B cla.s.s’ representative is a little…”

“Isn’t this B cla.s.s representative your ex-boyfriend?”

The ex-boyfriend, B cla.s.s rep. On hearing that, a guy’s man appeared in my mind. Uu…I do feel somewhat guilty here. What Nemoto-kun did to Himeji-san was unforgivable, but there’s a guilt over whether I went overboard on hearing the word ‘split up’.

“I heard that you split up from him because he tried to kiss you forcefully and you gave him a tight slap to the face.”

“…Please don’t remind me of that.”

I take that back. Looks like there’s nothing to pity him about.

“But it’s not that you broke up with him completely, right?”

“Ehh. Sort of.”

“That can do. Please ask B cla.s.s for a.s.sistance.”

“Erm…how?”

“Let B cla.s.s fight with other cla.s.ses. Then, designate the subjects they’re to use.”

“Designate the cla.s.ses we should use?”

“Yeah. There’s a limit to the number of teachers, so make all the teachers who have replenished the enemy’s points go over to the summoning battle on that side. In that case, no matter much momentum the enemy has, they have to fight with low points.”

“I see…then we can also use the teachers who replenished the marks of B cla.s.s’ opponents to fight, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

I heard this sly plan. Un? Make the enemy fight with the subjects without being allowed to replenish points? Won’t that be disadvantageous to us?

“If we are to get B cla.s.s into a summoning war, the only opponent left will likely be A cla.s.s. How about it? Does 2-B have the thought of challenging A cla.s.s?”

“They do have that sort of motive…but no matter what, it’s too reckless for B cla.s.s to challenge A cla.s.s.”

“Perhaps B cla.s.s’ rep still wants you to change your mind, right? You once said that you liked brainy guys, right?”

“Eh? No way?”

“Aren’t you very cute there? Then,”

“We, well, it’s not like I hated him…”

B cla.s.s declaring war on A cla.s.s. I don’t think A cla.s.s will lose, but if B, C cla.s.ses limit the subjects, it won’t be easy to win easily. Besides, the cla.s.s rep of B cla.s.s is that infamously sneaky Nemoto-kun. He will come up with some dirty trick and do something to attack A cla.s.s’ rep Kirishima-san’s weakness, Yuuji and make her surrender. Kirishima-san’s smart, but can’t make decisions calmly whenever it comes to Yuuji. That will be troublesome.

“In that case, if you beat F cla.s.s, and the gap between B cla.s.s and A cla.s.s will be reduced. Both cla.s.ses won’t lose out. Won’t that be an ideal deal?

“That’s true…”

The meeting on the other side of the door seemed to be progressing smoothly.

This isn’t a joke. B cla.s.s and C cla.s.s won’t lose out, but us F cla.s.s and A cla.s.s that get involved will be in trouble. I’m worried about A cla.s.s, but our F cla.s.s will be in even more trouble. It’s already a disadvantageous situation to us, and our chances of winning will decrease greatly if we’re forced to use only certain cla.s.ses? We’re aiming for A cla.s.s, so how can allow this to happen? We must stop this plan no matter what.

“Then if B cla.s.s beat A cla.s.s, you can attack whichever side you want. If they lose, you can consider attacking A cla.s.s after checking that they’re worn out.”

“That’s true…I can’t say that the deal we had earlier is fake then.”

The deal before would refer to the information Koyama-san and Yuuji exchanged, where they will attack after that. I thought they were just lying, but it seemed that they intended to follow their promise. I don’t know what’s their true intentions though.

d.a.m.n it, there’s no time to think randomly! F cla.s.s and A cla.s.s will be in a bad situation if this keeps up!

My mind’s thinking about doing something, but I can’t think of some specific plan. I’m really envious of Yuuji’s thinking speed at this moment.

Just when I’m being puzzled, time slowly ticked away.

“Nn…? Isn’t that—F CLa.s.s YOSHII!? OII! YOSHII’S HERE!’

“WHAT!? IS THE NEWS THAT HE TOOK LEAVE FALSE!?”

And then, voices could be heard from behind.

d.a.m.n it! I focused too much on what’s inside the cla.s.sroom and didn’t pay attention to my surroundings!

I looked over at where the voices came from, and it seemed that the C cla.s.s students who were intending to attack F cla.s.s from another direction brought the teacher down from the third level.

I left the door to get away quickly. The door to the empty cla.s.sroom opened, and the people who walked out from inside were C cla.s.s’ rep Koyama-san and the third year bewitching looking sempai I met before—Kogure-sempai.

“Yoshii!? That guy heard our conversation just now—”

“…Unfortunately, I didn’t expect someone to come here at such a time and take part in the summoning war…he’s really a child with lots of irregular factors around him.”

“Anyway, hurry up and get rid of him! He won’t be able to contact the rest if he’s sent to the remedial room through a summoning battle—everyone, crush Yoshii!”

“““Got it!!”””

On Koyama-san’s command, the people of C cla.s.s immediately came over.

“Sensei! C cla.s.s’ Enokida Katsuhiko challenges with j.a.panese history! —summon!”

The floor immediately reacted to the keyword as an array appeared. Then, the summoned beast that was a miniature version of the person appeared in the middle. Ku…I can only fight back…1

“Summon!”

I summoned my summoned beast to fight with the opponent, and it still had a poor look with a school uniform and a wooden sword. We finally got a change of equipment, and I only got a dragon drawn on the cloth of my clothes. How pathetic.

C Cla.s.s, Enokida Katsuhiko, j.a.panese History, 115 points.

Vs

F cla.s.s, Yoshii Akihisa, j.a.panese History, 121 points

Our scores appeared in the air. Luckily, the deciding topic was j.a.panese history, one of the subjects tested during the replenishing yesterday and my only specialty. What luck!

“C cla.s.s’ Koube Shin will fight too! Summon!”

“Same cla.s.s, Niinuma Kyouko’s going too. Summon!”

Another 2 summoned beasts appeared on the opposing side. 3 vs 1, and my enemies are from C cla.s.s. Even if I am good at controlling my summoned beast here, it’s a tough situation for me.

“GO TO h.e.l.l, YOSHII!”

The enemy raised his weapon, a spear and rushed over. I use my wooden sword to parry the spear and let my summoned beast rush at the enemy.

“Another one here!”

An axe came swinging in from the side, and my summoned beast took a step back to dodge. I lost my chance to attack, but it couldn’t be helped. There’s too many enemies, so I can’t win if I fight so many at one go.

“Yaa!”

Another girl joined in the battle, and the naginata swung over at the wooden sword horizontally, chipping it off. It’s okay if there’s a difference in strength, but with our marks on similar levels, it’ll be disadvantageous to use a wooden sword to fight back. I can’t take the strikes of the enemies’ blades now, I have to dodge them…!

I managed to take on the three people’s individual attacks. I have to take care of where I’m standing so that I won’t be surrounded…!

“This guy’s from F cla.s.s, but isn’t he on the same level as us with those grades?”

“I remember that j.a.panese History is the only subject Yoshii’s good at.”

“We’re really unlucky to use this subject to fight him.”

Even when grumbling, they never slowed down. It’s really tough to take this. the way they’re attacking is a lot more restrained as compared to those guys from F cla.s.s yesterday, but the summoned beasts’ strength can’t be compared.

The enemies’ attacks didn’t hit me, but my attacks didn’t hit them. We continued our battle back and forth, and then,

“Why must you take so much time fighting an idiot!? It’s frustrating!”

Koyama-san said anxiously and faced the teacher standing nearby,

“Sensei, C cla.s.s’ Koyama wants to fight. Summon!”

The summoned beast appeared on Koyama-san’s command. It’s a 4 vs 1 situation now, and it’ll be tougher if I want to beat everyone and try to get away.

However—

“I’ve been waiting for this!”

At that moment, my summoned beast sped up. I've been waiting for this moment. It’ll be even harder if I want to win in a 4 vs 1 situation, but if I beat the enemy’s rep, the summoning war will be over. I’ll beat the summoned beast Koyama-san summoned and win this war…!

“““!?”””

The trio standing in front of me flailed their weapons. I didn’t bother to dodge, raised the tip of my blade and rushed at the enemy’s commander.

“Gu…uu…!”

Sharp pain can be felt on my arms, shoulders and thighs. The feedback of the summoned beast that was being hacked at went to me, and a lot of points disappeared.

…However…it’s not like I’m immobilized now!

“GOOOOO!!!”

I was attacked after I leapt forward. In other words, the attack this time will be based on the points just now. I got ready to be bounced back as I attack.

“Da—!”

Koyama-san’s anxious voice reached my ears. Got her! With a full-powered attack of more than 100, even the opposing C cla.s.s’ rep can’t take this!

The wooden sword was stabbed at the enemy’s throat —

“You can’t do that, Koyama-san.”

At this moment, the enemy’s summoned beast vanished. Wha…?

“Ko, Kogure-sempai…”

“The cla.s.s rep can’t carelessly summon the summoned beast. Even if you have a bigger advantage, it’ll be over if you lose.”

Kogure-sempai pulled Koyama-san on the sleeve and dragged her out of the summoning field. Ku…is it because of this that the enemy’s summoned beast disappeared…!?

F cla.s.s, Yoshii Akihisa, j.a.panese History, 13 points

The result of the attacks just now is shown. d.a.m.n it! I wanted to settle this once and for all! Ain’t I dying here now!? It’ll be tough fighting against three people from C cla.s.s with such points…

“Sorry sempai. You really helped me there.”

“It’s fine. This is for my cute kouhai after all.”

“Thank you. I’ll act cautiously from now on.”

Koyama-san lowered her head in front of Kogure-sempai.

My desperation attack missed, and I have no way out. And I’ll be treated as running away from battle if n.o.body comes up to sub me, and I’ll be disqualified. Before that happens, I have to at least let my side know the enemy’s plans…”

“In that case, we can catch him now.”

Kogure-sempai smiled meaningfully as she said that. Did she see through what I wanted to do…!? Use Koyama-san as bait to break this deadlock!?

Right now, the situation is such that I’m in a disadvantage no matter whether it’s the battle situation or my points, and I’m not allowed to run away. To be honest, I have no other way now, but—

“At least I might pa.s.s the message…!”

I have to continue dodging to buy time even when my points are few. How can I just give up like this? Don’t, don’t tell me there’s no other way…!

“…You just won’t give up, huh?”

Kogure-sempai muttered as she saw me like this. Of course I won’t give up. Our wish is to win the summoning war, so I have to struggle until I die!

I’ll immediately be unable to battle if I get even a graze, and this thin ice-like battle continued under such a state. I continued to look around to see if there’s any way out.

At this moment, I saw something flying out from the window. Is that — a soccer ball? I may be able to use that!

I immediately adjusted my position. Then,

“BUBAHH!?”

The soccer ball that broke through the gla.s.s window hit my face and sent me flying.

“Ahh! No way!?”

“Just one more would do!”

My body rolled out of the summoning field, and my summoned beast disappeared.

“Sensei! Isn’t that disqualification when the enemy runs away!?”

“No, that probably couldn’t be helped…”

The C cla.s.s girl went to ask the teacher. Alright, now!

“Sensei! I’m nosebleeding! I need to go to the infirmary!”

“Ah! Oi! Yoshii! Stop running away!”

“Sensei! Isn’t this running away from battle!?”

“Ermm…what happened just now was an accident, and Yoshii-kun can’t be deemed as running away from battle when he’s injured…”

This debate continued to echo behind me. I got a pair of fast legs that can run away because of my training in my everyday life, so since I managed to run away, n.o.body can catch up to me!

I darted down the stairs and ran towards the new school building that wasn’t a battlefield.

“Un…I managed to get out from there, but what should I do?”

I reached the new school building, checked that no one was following me from behind, and stopped to think of what I should do.

“It’ll be best if I can meet up with everyone from F cla.s.s…”

From the way things looked just now, I will have to break through if I want to meet up with them. Their backs were facing me just now, and now they have discovered me, so they will be wary. I’ve also lost a lot of points, and if I force my way through, I’ll be the one being surrounded instead.

In that case, there’s only one thing I can do to help our cla.s.s win.

“Prevent C cla.s.s from working with B cla.s.s, I guess.”

As of now, I don’t know whether F cla.s.s can win. However, the commander’s Yuuji. That guy will definitely think of something when F cla.s.s is in a war.

Therefore, I shouldn’t be worrying about that.

“That guy’s really not used to fighting against the opposite s.e.x.”

From what Koyama-san said just now, it seem that it’ll be fine if I stop their plans to make use of Nemoto-kun’s feelings. Really.

“It’s really tiring when I have a cla.s.s rep who’s so slow to react to a woman’s heart.”

“…Yoshii’s the last person he want saying such a thing.”

“!!??”

I suddenly heard this voice, and immediately backed away. Who, who is it?”

“…??”

Tilting her head and giving a puzzled look is,

“Ki, Kirishima-san?”

“…Un.”

The beautiful long-haired 2-A cla.s.s rep and the valedictorian, Kirishima Shouko-san.

“That scared me. I thought it was C cla.s.s there.”

“…C cla.s.s?”

“Your opponent in the summoning war that appeared at F cla.s.s, correct, Yoshii-kun?”

The one standing behind Kirishima-san was Kudou Aiko-san, also of A cla.s.s. She’s a girl with boyish charm.

“Since that’s the case, why are you here when there’s a summoning war, Yoshii-kun?”

“…Is there some special mission?”

“Ah…un, it’s really different from the rest.”

Of course, they won’t naturally think that I was late and couldn’t meet up with everyone.

“Anyway, why are you two here? Aren’t you having cla.s.s now?”

“…Self-study period.”

“Well, to put it simply, sensei’s busy with the staff meeting and couldn’t come out, and we had enough progress with the lessons, so she gave us a day off today for self-study.”

Our F cla.s.s had to offer our holidays for supplementary lessons. What’s with this difference in treatment? Is this the so-called difference in society?

“…So we’re going to the office to get new worksheets.”

“Ah, so that’s why…”

So they didn’t come out of cla.s.s to play truant just because it’s self-study…as expected of the best cla.s.s in our year. It’s no wonder why they would have such different treatment from us when we’re always thinking of running away from cla.s.s.

“I say, just leave this for now!”

What the heck am I chit-chatting away with Kirishima-san! I have something important I have to do!

“…What is it?”

“Ah, is it about the special mission?”

“Un, yeah. Because of the trap C cla.s.s and B cla.s.s set, F cla.s.s and A cla.s.s will be in danger. Got to tell the people at A cla.s.s.”

“Danger?”

“Yoshii-kun, what’s going—”

“Then, Kirishima-san, Kudou-san, I’ll be going first.”

“…We’re A cla.s.s here, you know?”

“Un, it’s lesson time now, so there’s a teacher watching.”

“No, I say, Yoshii-kun!”

“Can’t be helped. In that case, I can only open the back door slightly and inform the person near there.”

“Just calm down first (flap)!”

“If I can’t pa.s.s the message, it’ll be bad (DABDABADABA)”

d.a.m.n it! When did I nosebleed so much! Is this C cla.s.s’ trap or something? I can’t do anything if I can’t stop the bleeding!

But, but…

“But maybe it’s not so bad to die like this…”

“Oh my my…I thought Yoshii-kun could calm down like this, but he’s still freaking out.”

It’s a completely different feeling from being hit by the soccer ball. It’s a nosebleed that felt really good. This…isn’t so bad.

“…Aiko, stop teasing Yoshii.”

“Yes~. The guys from F cla.s.s are especially bad at this.”

“…Yoshii. Tell me about A cla.s.s…I’m the cla.s.s rep here after all.”

I recovered and found Kirishima-san staring at me. Ah, I see. I was too anxious and forgot the fact that I could have just told her.

“Perfect! I have something to say to you, Kirishima-san.”

“…Un.”

“Well, about that, actually!”

My momentum cause me to lean over at Kirishima-san, and Kudou-san saw me like this,

“Ahaha, I just feel that this is like a confession.’

She joked. No no no. Kirishima-san’s cute and pretty, but she belonged to someone already.

“You can’t do that, Aki-cha—Yoshii-kun. Don’t you already have a perfect man that you love?”

“AN EVIL PRESENCE HAS COMETH!”

“…(Hides)”

For a moment, I just felt that there was some evil presence and looked over. However, I just couldn’t see the owner of this presence as this person is hiding behind the wall. On first glance, it looked like there’s a girl’s braid. Was that, Tamano-sa—no, definitely not. She can’t possibly be here since she’s in D cla.s.s.

“…Yoshii?”

“Sorry. I’m fine here, Kirishima-san.”

“…I see.”

“Speaking of which, what do you want to talk about, Yoshii-kun?”

“Un, actually—huh? Kubo-kun? When did you appear?”

“I was going to the washroom and heard a conversation. Is there anything I can help with? It may be rude of me though.”

“Thank you, Kubo-kun. Always being able to help us out.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I just like to do this.”

“Really? You’re really kind, Kubo-kun.”

For a moment, I just thought that there’s something weird about his ‘I just like to do this’, but my instincts immediately told me in unison that ‘this is just my imagination’ and denied it. It may really be just my imagination here. How can such a nice guy have ulterior motives?

“…Anyway, let’s go to the ranch in our cla.s.s if we don’t want to be overheard.”

“Yeah. There’s some secrets with regards to this summoning war, right? Yoshii-kun?”

“Seems like you’re being pursued here. It may be good for you to hide for a while.”

Kirishima-san and the rest gave me such suggestions.

“Thank you, everyone.”

“““No problems.”””

And so, I followed Kirishima-san and went over to A cla.s.s to explain what’s going on and ensure my own safety.

“Then, what exactly is going on, Yoshii-kun?”

“Un, and then, I heard from Koyama-san of C cla.s.s that—”

“Okay, Yoshii-kun. This is nice, you know♪?”

Mgu mgu mgu mgu

“(Gulp) It seems that B cla.s.s is going to declare war on A cla.s.s—”

“…Yoshii. Do you want to eat this?”

Kari kari kari kari.

“(Gulp) and their plan is to call the teachers out and make the subject—”

“This is rather good too, Yoshii-kun. Also, I personally recommend the sweets here.”

“Wait a sec, Aiko, prez, Kubo-kun! We can’t proceed with the conversation like this! Feed him later if you want to! Stop eating too, Yoshii-kun. Say what you want to say!”

The one who spoke as she sat at the sofa in A cla.s.s in front of me is Hi—Kinos.h.i.ta Yuuko-san, and she’s angry now.

“Ahaha, sorry, Yuuko. Yoshii-kun’s been enjoying himself with the food.”

“…Just like a little critter.”

“Sorry, he looked really hungry, so I accidentally…”

“Really. You should be more alert when it comes to the summoning war…”

Kinos.h.i.ta-san seemed to be unhappy as she was grumbling about something. She looks exactly like her little brother Hideyoshi as they’re twins. It seemed that Yuuko is a lot fiercer. Her traits are her eyes, which are more of pretty than cute. The sisters are really bishoujo when gathered together. I suppose the Kinos.h.i.tas must be living a fantasy…

“In other words, B cla.s.s is going to attack us, is it? Coming up with such a despicable tactic too.”

“Un, that’s the case.”

Kinos.h.i.ta-san was able to understand even with such a disjointed explanation, and the other three showed looks of comprehension. As expected of A cla.s.s; all of them are smart people who think fast.

“To be honest, we can’t possibly lose to this strategy, so there’s no real…”

“Even so, Kinos.h.i.ta-san, Yoshii-kun is troubled right now. Don’t you think we should offer some a.s.sistance?”

“Don’t feel the need to. It’s against the rules to get involved in other cla.s.ses’ summoning wars anyway.”

“…Yuuko, don’t say that.”

“Nope. It’s self-study period now, but we’re still having lessons. I won’t allow such a thing to happen.”

It’s just like what Kinos.h.i.ta-san said. It’s lesson time now. If everyone in A cla.s.s help out, they’ll be skipping lessons.

“…But I want to help them.”

“No matter what you say, it’s impossible. I’ve been closing an eye to Yoshii-kun coming here, so just endure this.”

“…Yuuko…”

“U…that’s not fair, prez, using such an expression…”

“…Please.”

“…Tha, that’s why I said, no.”

“…I’ll do whatever you ask me to do next time, Yuuko.”

Kirishima-san gave such a final blow. Kinos.h.i.ta-san seemed to finally relent after