The Fourth Question

Question: Please read the following pa.s.sage from the tale of Genji and answer the following question.

Using the underlined part, please state the kind of relationship between Lady Fujitsubo and Genji.

“At this moment, Lady Fujitsubo unfortunately fell ill and temporarily went back to rest in her mother’s house. The emperor was worried about this and sighed all day long. Prince Genji saw it, and felt uneasy. However, he couldn’t endure it, wanting to take a chance to meet Lady Fujitsubo’s ever-familiar profile secretly. He was completely dazed, never went to where his lovers lived, never went to the staff office in the palace, and was always depressed. At night, he was still thinking about that royal concubine.”

Kinos.h.i.ta Hideyoshi’s answer:

“Stepmother and Stepson.”

Teacher’s comment:

Well answered. Absolutely correct. I’ve always thought that Kinos.h.i.ta-kun’s not very good at cla.s.sics, but this is much better than expected when you did study hard. Sensei heard that the drama club is going to present the tale of Genji, so sensei’s is happy that you can use this chance to have an interest in cla.s.sics. Sensei hopes that you can work hard on both your studies and club activities.

Yoshi Akihisa’s answer.

“An urgent situation where they were almost together.”

Teacher’s comment:

To put it directly, that’s what happened after.

Tsuchiya Kouta’s answer:

“It’s like the relationship between f.u.kanoshi-sensei and Fuse-sensei.”

Teacher’s comment:

Wait a second. What in the world happened between the two of them!?

“Alright! Those who are done with the maths replenishing are to rush out! Don’t let the enemy get into the cla.s.sroom!”

The subjects now at the scrimmage in front of F cla.s.s’ entrances are modern language at the front and history at the back. Muttsurini, who just finished his replenishing, joined in at the back, so there isn’t any problem, but modern language should be used up at lot…it’s about time for the maths teacher to come here. If we switch the subjects, Shimada’s points should be able to hang on. During this time, we’ll let Himeji rest and then plan a counterattack!

I again reupdated everyone’s scores as things got really confusing, and got ready to make a breakthrough. Shimada then panicked and came over.

“Sa, Sakamoto!”

“Nn? What is it, Shimada? Did you mess up the digits in your maths score or something?”

“Impossible, I’m not like that idiot Aki, but this—”

Shimada looks over at the front entrance, and I look over as well. It’s normal over there, and the scores of the summoned beast I’m used to seeing are indicated.

“What is it? It’s not like the enemies have abnormally high scores—”

“C cla.s.s, Okajima k.u.mi, j.a.panese History, 101 points.

Vs

F cla.s.s, Himuro Tadashi, j.a.panese History, 45 points.”

“! j.a.panese history!?! j.a.panese history!?” Impossible! We should have set the maths teacher over there! We did change the subjects, but it’s unexpected that it changed to j.a.panese history. Did the enemy do something…

“Yuuji! It looks like cla.s.s A and cla.s.s B are having a summoning war too!”

“B cla.s.s…is it that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Nemoto!?”

In other words, the maths teacher got taken over by them too? They took the teacher away once we’re done with the replenishing, and we’re in a tight spot here, both in terms of points and mentally.

“It seem that B cla.s.s said that they had to use maths to replenish their tests scores no matter what to get ready for their battle and brought the teacher over!”

At this time, in this situation, and with that Nemoto as an enemy, there’s no doubt that he’s working together with Koyama. We’ve been had…! The enemy had an intention of limiting the subjects over here. As long as our summoning field is limited, we’ll be in a disadvantage since we’re the weaker side here. It’s my mistake to end up caught in the enemy’s plan…!

“Anyway, I can’t help in this case. What should we do?”

The subjects are j.a.panese history and health education? Shimada’s good subjects are all sciences, so she can’t do much if we send her here.

“Get everyone whose scores in j.a.panese history are more than 60 to the frontlines, even if we have to end the replenishing tests.

“Understood.”

Once I gave Shimada the instructions, my mind was thinking of a new plan.

The enemy’s not an idiot. They’re using this strategy to remove our subject choices, so it’s pointless to remain caged here.

In that case—we can only attack, is it?

Amongst the rules of the summoning war, there’s the instruction for the cla.s.s rep to clearly indicate where they are. Since there’s no reason to defend on, we can only launch an attack and beat the cla.s.s rep.

“Hideyoshi, where’s Koyama now?”

“They’re moving from C cla.s.s in the new building to the roof of the old school building.”

“d.a.m.n it. They’re not letting their guard down until the end.”

I can’t just recklessly attack the enemy’s general now.

If we consider the positions, since A cla.s.s and B cla.s.s have a summoning war between each other, the area in front of C cla.s.s will become a battlefield. In that case, the teachers will be around, and it’ll be easier to sneak into the crowd. It’s not a bad idea to launch a surprise attack there—but it seems that Koyama understands this very well and moved her base from there to the roof where it’s hard to launch a surprise attack. It’s impossible to go through replenishing tests as there aren’t any tables and chairs, but they can limit the exit and prevent an ambush from above. To C cla.s.s that had replenished their points thoroughly, they just got a solid and steady position.

“Where’s the guy directing the attacks? Do you know?”

“From how he’s giving the instructions from time to time, it’s likely that he’s near the stairs. I can see some people on the stairs platform between the third level and the fourth level.”

“Is that so…”

As expected of Koyama who always does things cautiously. She set up people who’re in charge of defense at the area between the fourth level and the roof. She set up her guards to deal with the surprise attacks.

“She’s really tough to deal with…”

They have twice the number of people we have, and in terms of scores, it’s really hard to imagine the difference. Also, the enemy commander set up attack squads and guards here. We can’t even fight with the enemy commander if we don’t get by them. This is way too grim.

—However.

“It’s not like there’s no way to win.”

Even we have a chance of winning. I’ll show you guys that points alone can’t determine victory.

“Himeji, Shimada!”

“Yes!”

“You got a new plan already?”

“Ahh, there’s something I want to ask you two. Shimada, get to the office now and ensure that we have teachers to replenish our scores. The time for the replenishing will be 14:00. As for you, Himeji—”

I explained the plan to both of them,

“—That’s about how it is. Can you do it?”

I tried to check with Himeji and Shimada, and both of them responded with answers that reflected their personality.

“It’s not about whether I can do it or not now, is it? We can only do this now.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll try my best.”

Both of them stared back at me with confident and st.u.r.dy eyes. In this situation, I find that these two are much more reliable than those useless guys.

“Well answered. I’ll leave it to you then.”

““Understood!””

Both them nodded their heads hard and got ready to take action.

And then…

Wait and see, C cla.s.s. I’ll definitely give you a taste of your own medicine…!”

After about an hour of replenishing tests, it’s about time for B cla.s.s and A cla.s.s to begin the summoning war.

“From what I heard, it seemed that C cla.s.s and F cla.s.s are only using j.a.panese history.”

Kinos.h.i.ta-san told me about what she heard from the other students’ intel.

“It should be easier for you then, Yoshii-kun.”

“j.a.panese history is your specialty subject since the test of courage.”

Kubo-kun and Kudou-san finished their replenishing tests and came back.

“Kirishima-san, Kinos.h.i.ta-san, Kubo-kun, Kudou-san, thank you very much.”

It was Kirishima-san’s idea that I take the j.a.panese history replenishing test during the time before the war begins against B cla.s.s and even showed it to B cla.s.s. To B cla.s.s, they will definitely think ‘let’s not choose the subjects A cla.s.s just replenished’, so they contacted C cla.s.s and let C and F cla.s.s use j.a.panese history, the one subject I’m good at.

“…Don’t mind.”

“But everyone’s scores didn’t drop, and even took the replenishing exams with me….”

Replenishing tests will reset all scores back to zero from the moment the exam begins, so if they’re careless, they might end up getting lower scores than what they got before. Once they start replenishing, they have to go all out, and even for A cla.s.s, which has outstanding grades, this isn’t easy.

“This is nothing.”

“Yeah, there’s no need to thank us. This is no different from filling worksheets during self-study.”

“Really, Yuuko, you’re always not being honest in such situations~ it’s because of this that your brother-kun is more popular than you.”

“It, it has nothing to do with this, right?”

Kirishima-san was the only one who said that she wanted to take the tests at first, but Kubo-kun and Kinos.h.i.ta-san and Kudou-san said that B cla.s.s will more likely fall for it if there were more people, and joined in the replenishing tests. The plan went well because four of the top ranked A cla.s.s students in our year joined in.

“Yoshii-kun, what do you intend to do now?”

“I’ll hear about what Linne-kun wanted to say at the entrance, and then tell it to Yuuji. If it’s j.a.panese history, I’ll most likely meet up with them once I manage to find a chance.”

I have no idea what Kogura-sempai is planning, but if I tell that guy, he’ll definitely think of some great strategy, so I have to meet up with F cla.s.s first.

“…Do your best.”

Kirishima-san even cheered me on. I’ve been bothering her for the entire day, so it won’t be enough for me to thank her again.

“Thank you, Kirishima-san. Everyone. Don’t lose to B cla.s.s.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t.”

“We’re still waiting to deal with F cla.s.s. Deal with them quickly~”

“Don’t worry about the rest. Just do your best.”

As I thanked them, I left A cla.s.s. I’ve worked so hard. We definitely must beat C cla.s.s!

Being careful not to be spotted, I secretly went down the stairs of the new school building. I heard talking at the staff room when I reached the first level. Wait, they sound familiar…?

“That’s the end of the line, Shimada. Give it up already”

“I thought I shook them off…so you guys were hiding in the staff room.”

“Of course, things are getting serious here.”

Ahh, so it’s Minami’s voice. Does she have some special mission? She looks like she’s alone…

Anyway, let’s get closer.

“Let’s finish this once and for all, Shimada. Summon.”

“You’re nothing other than maths—summon.”

“Summon.”

C cla.s.s, Niiyama Takeshi, Chemistry, 89 points

and

C cla.s.s, Oota Ren, Chemistry, 93 points.

Vs

F cla.s.s, Shimada Minami, Chemistry, 75 points.

The scores of Minami and the two guys were shown.

“You do have marks, unexpectedly…but it’s easy for us to win if it’s two vs one.”

“Don’t call us despicable. This is war.”

“No need to worry about this being despicable or what—fine. If you think that you can win easily, bring it on.”

Even when she’s losing in terms of points in a 2 v 1 battle, Minami just looked very composed there.

“What’s with this self-belief…? Are there other F cla.s.s guys around?”

As Minami’s looking like this, one of the guys from C cla.s.s twitched his eyebrows in surprise.

“Impossible. F cla.s.s is already like that. How can they possibly have such strength left?”

“That’s true. If there’s a guy coming through here in this situation, it’ll be an idiot who doesn’t know what’s the situation now—”

“How rude.”

““Huh?””

I let out my voice from behind and caused the 2 guys from C cla.s.s to cry out in surprise.

“Summon!”

Using this chance, I summoned my summoned beast and immediately launched an attack without waiting for the scores to be indicated.

“Wa…Yoshii!? Why the h.e.l.l are you here UWAAHHH!!”

The sudden attack meant that the enemy was unable to do anything as he’s unguarded, and he was taken down in one hit.

One’s left. Just when I’m thinking,

“Thanks, Aki. You helped me out a lot.”

The other one was already beaten by Minami. It’s hard to tell, but Minami gained lots of experience in using the summoned beasts, so she can’t possibly be beaten by a panicked enemy.

“Speaking of which, aren’t you resting at home because of a cold?”

“I was just late. It’s not that serious anyway.”

My cold really wasn’t too serious, and I wasn’t lying.

“Fuun…? Well, alright, thank you for saving me, Aki.”

“It’s nothing at all. This is just a small thing.”

When I consider that you’ve forgiven me for being late, this itself will be hard to pay back.

“Anyway, Minami, you just looked confident when you went there. Did you guys have any ideas on how to break through?”

“Eh? How can there be such a thing?”

“Huh?”

If you don’t have any plans on how to break through, what do you intend to do?

“I’ll just bluff my way into the office and explain the situation to the teachers while I’m fighting. F cla.s.s wants to request a replenishing test, and we want to ask them to come over at 2pm.”

After hearing what she said, I checked the current location. If it’s here, the office is still in the summoning field, and Minami’s plan may work, but…

“But you’ll definitely end up dying in battle after that, Minami.”

“That can wait till later.”

She merely said that. That’s gutsy of her. I shouldn’t be thinking about that for girls…but she’s really manly there.

“But Minami, since you have to come alone to a tightly guarded area, it seem like things are really tough.”

It’s likely that Minami’s actions are the key to turning this situation around. It’s such an important mission, yet we only sent one person. I can imagine what kind of state F cla.s.s is in now.

“Well, that’s really tough. But,”

“But?”

“It’s because of you guys that the teachers don’t trust us, isn’t it?”

I have nothing to say about this.

“I’ll be going to find the teachers. What about you?”

“I still have something to do…what do you intend to do after talking to the teachers?”

“I’ll be troubled if there aren’t enough teachers around, so after this, I intend to check out the prep room. After that, if possible, I intend to take part in the final battle.

“I see. Not all the available teachers will be in the staff room.”

“You’re really working hard today, Minami.”

On hearing what I said, Minami just nods her head as if it’s to be expected.

“Yeah, anyone will be motivated after seeing Mizuki like that today.”

“Himeji-san?”

“Un, this morning, she already took part in 7 replenishing tests.”

“Ah? 7?”

The time now is around 13:45…if the war started at 9am, that will mean it was less than 5 hours. If we count by 1 hours for every replenishing test, the outcome won’t be completely correct. Even without breaks, she would need the shortest time possible to finish each replenishing test.

“She continued to think many times faster than we could and answered the questions, and immediately thought of taking replenishing tests once her points were used up instead of resting. The Mizuki today really impressed me.”

A lot of people in this world know that exams are more tiring that what anyone can imagine. It’s never ending if anyone seriously wants to challenge. Koyama-san and Kogure-sempai said it before…but to think that Himeji-san really worked this hard…to do so much and work far more for the cla.s.s than me; if she intended to make up for me because I have a cold, this itself will be way overboard.

Just when I’m thinking about this, Minami stared at me with a probing expression.

“Nn? What is it, Minami?”

“……Aki, do you, like…those who work hard?”

“Un.”

“That was fast…”

That’s true. There’s nothing to hate about a person who works hard. Therefore,

“You’re rather cool today too, Minami.”

“FUEEHH!?”

That’s my honest opinion. Whether it’s the Minami before who had the determination to fight to the end, or the Minami now that intends to go back and work hard today, they’re both really charming.

“Wha, what are you saying, Aki!? An-an-any-anyway, I have to get going.”

Most likely, Minami’s not used to being praised as she suddenly panicked.

But she’s right. It’s better not to stand around and waste my time talking. Got to move.

“I’ll go do what I have to do.”

“Alright. We’ll talk after the summoning war then.”

“Un.”

We nodded at each other, and I went my separate way from Minami at the office door. Now, I have to go meet Linne-kun at the school gate.

“Arre…? Speaking of ‘cool’, that’s not something a guy will say to a girl, right…?”

Anyway, got to run. All sorts of dangers are closing in.

“Akihisa! You kept me waiting!”

After I parted from Minami, I kept vigilant and wary of C cla.s.s people as I waited. At this moment, Linne-kun came running over from the entrance of the new school building. How energetic.

“You had it hard, Linne-kun.”

“Nihi—you really remembered my real name well.”

“Un, you said that you hope that I remember, Linne-kun.”

“Eh…? I said that so that I could make fun of you.”

Ahh, speaking of which, it seemed I was made a fool by him. However,

“I don’t think it was a lie when you told me to remember your name.”

Linne-kun was stunned for a moment once he heard my words, and then showed a radiant smile.

“Thank you, Akihisa! You’re really kind! Just like an anime hero!”

“No no, I never did anything that’s worth making you remember such a thing…”

I just remembered his name.

“But is there a reason why you’re so kind to me?”

“Reason? Reason…”

I don’t have any specific motive, but I may be somewhat interested in Linne-kun. As for why, that’s because—

“Probably because you do resemble a girl I know, maybe…?”

Coming back from overseas and being all alone; I just can’t help but think of Minami who looked uneasy when she first came to this school when I consider both points. The reason why I’m worried about him may be because of this.

“Huh? A girl?”

My words caused Linne-kun to tilt his head. It’s not that they’re similar in terms of appearances nor personality, but their positions. He won’t understand if I don’t explain further.

“Akihisa, do I, look like a guy?”

“Nn~ I can’t say that you don’t resemble one at all, right?’

“Nihi—too bad, I’m a real boy here.”

Linne-kun chuckled teasingly. He really looked happy.

“Speaking of which, are you done over there?”

“Un! I’m all done here! It’s so boring!”

Linne-kun just said what he felt honestly, without any restraint at all.

“It’s so boring that I want to you tell you everything that’s useful to you, Akihisa!”

“Really? Thank you, Linne-kun. You’ve been a great help.”

“That’s because it’s a promise.”

After saying that, Linne-kun showed the usual happy smile. He may look carefree, but he may or may not be someone who keeps his word.

“First, the current situation. F cla.s.s is in a disadvantage, so we might see the outcome soon. Just now, it seemed that F cla.s.s sent a detachment.”

Detachment…as in Minami who I just saw. However, there must be some breakthrough if she’s to break out from the cla.s.sroom in such a situation. As commander, Yuuji can’t join in that force, so the leader is likely Muttsurini or Himeji-san.

“The detachment’s aiming for the office.”

Office. Minami’s already there, so the objective should be complete.

“—It looks that way, but there’s another plan.”

“Eh? Another one?”

“The other objective is the empty cla.s.sroom on the fourth level. That’s what Takashiro said.”

The empty cla.s.sroom on the 4th level? What’s going on?

From the information he provided, either Himeji-san or Muttsurini weren’t with Minami, who broke out. In that case, they may be aiming for the empty cla.s.sroom on the fourth level.

“Speaking of which, who’s that Takashiro you’re talking about? Isn’t Kogure-sempai the one giving Koyama-san ideas?”

“Uun, Koyama is just listening to Takashiro. The one who came up with the idea was basically Takashiro.”

“Ah, I see, so that’s how it is.”

I randomly heard Koyama-san and Kogure-sempai’s conversation in the morning, and I remember that they mentioned about this plan that someone came up with. That’s why they called Koyama-san out at this moment. The one who came up with the plan is likely that ‘Takagi’.

“Nn…? What Koyama-san and Kogure-sempai were talking about this morning…?”

A weird feeling floated up my mind, causing me to think of the conversation I heard this morning. I remembered what they said was,

“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?”

My mind replayed the situation I saw this morning and what I heard.

At this moment, I finally knew what was bothering me.

At that time, Kogure-sempai did say ‘ignore the enemy’s strategy for now’. It wasn’t about limiting the amount of subjects we have, but a plan to make F cla.s.s lose. I didn’t hear the details behind this plan, so I still don’t understand the truth behind it. That’s why I had a bad feeling about this.

And then, what was the ‘countermeasure’ Kogure-sempai thought of—

“And then, this is what you want to know most of all, Akihisa! Kogure—or to put it, what Takashiro planned!”

“Eh? Ahh, un.”

“Takashiro said that there’s still a continuation to making use of the war between A cla.s.s and B cla.s.s. If C cla.s.s move towards the roof to defend, Sakamoto will send a main force to take an empty cla.s.sroom for them to attack. They just need to make this main force exit.”

“? Exit? Will C cla.s.s gather forces to surround us?”

But Yuuji might have foreseen that. Or rather, he might see the imbalance in fighting ability on the enemy’s side, and it will be a good chance for us to take down Koyama-san.

“Ahaha, that’s not it, Akihisa. That’s not making someone exit.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Now that a foreign kid just pointed out the mistake in my j.a.panese, I just feel really bothered here.

“It seem like he’s going to make use of the rules of the summoning war.”

“Summoning war rules?”

“Un. it seem that they’ll make someone from B cla.s.s come over and force that F cla.s.s person to make a challenge.”

“………Eh………?”

Immediately, my mind went blank. Using someone from B cla.s.s, which isn’t fighting against F cla.s.s as an opponent and challenge…?

“In that case, won’t the one challenging be disqualified…?”

“That’s right. That’s Takashiro’s aim.”

My mind that wasn’t working much finally started thinking.

Normally, this is still alright, but B cla.s.s is fighting against A cla.s.s. If cla.s.ses at war challenge other cla.s.ses that are fighting, it will undoubtedly result in interference of another war and be adjudged to have fouled. Also, if someone raised the challenge personally, there’s no reason to defend.

I, who is calmly a.n.a.lyzing this for some reason, continued to hear Linne-kun’s voice.

“And then, he said that the target’s undoubtedly the one person that when crushed, will bring about an obvious effect.”

“Linne-kun. Is that person…”

“Un, I remember the name is—”

Don’t tell me,

“—Himeji, or something like that.”

On hearing those words, I immediately went sprinting off from there.