The Seventh Question

Please fill the blank with the correct answer.

In the year 1559, Oda n.o.bunaga unified the Owari Province, and in the following year 1560, defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto at the ( ), and made himself famous.

Yoshii Akihisa’s Answer:

“Battle of Okehazama”

Teacher’s Comment:

Correct Answer. This battle can be considered the first step Oda n.o.bunaga made to become one of the prominent people in the Sengoku Era.

Shimada Minami’s Answer:

The Honnou-ji incident.

Teacher's Comment:

Wrong. This battle is the one where Oda n.o.bunaga took the first step away from being a prominent figure in the Sengoku Era.

Tsuchiya Kouta:

The Honnou-ji love affair.

Teacher's Comment:

Two people being so close yet so far, what will be the final outcome?

After lunch break, we have a group of people on the frontlines so that we don’t show that we’ve regrouped, while our gang’s gathered with the cla.s.s at the back.

“Yuuji.”

I call out to Yuuji, who has his eyes and mouth closed.

“…”

No response.

“Oi, Yuuji.”

“…”

Still no response.

“OI, YUUJI!”

“…Nn. What is it?”

After calling him again, Yuuji finally shows a response and opens his eyes.

“It’s nothing. Lunch break’s over. What’re you s.p.a.cing out for?”

After the strategy meeting’s over, Yuuji explained the strategy for the afternoon to us, and had been sitting here with his eyes closed.

“It’s already this late…wait, let me gather my thoughts.”

Pak, he slaps his head as he says this. It’s that kind of ‘slap a sleepy head awake’ act.

“Then, okay.”

Then, Yuuji lifts his head and shows his usual expression. He has completely woken up.

“Sorry. I’m sleepy because of that stupid meeting after lunch.”

Hahaha, Yuuji laughs as he shows his bold side.

Hmm…I don’t think this guy will sleep in the midst of this important battle.

I ponder as I look over at Yuuji, but Yuuji suddenly looks at me.

“What, Akihisa? Why’re you staring at me like this? It’s too disgusting, isn’t it?”

It’s rare for me to worry about what’s with that att.i.tude of yours.

“If you have time to worry about such stuff, how about you go into Zen mode like me and sort your thoughts out?”

“What Zen, you just fell asleep.”

“It’s the same thing to me.”

Speaking of which, these might be the same to be too.

“Let’s not talk about this now. Time to start getting back to our original directive. We’ll lose if we keep focusing on what we did just now. It’s most important for us to gather our thoughts and act like usual.”

Muu…that truly is reasonable. The afternoon battle seems important; I think it might be better if I don’t think about anything else and act like usual.

“And in such battles, we won’t be able to show our usual abilities. If you have the time to think about something else, you might as well focus on showing your abilities.”

Yuuji says it with his usual expression.

Since that guy has already thought of things to this extent, I’ll follow suit as well…besides, even if I say anything to him, he’ll just tell me that ‘I’m just worrying too much’.

Just when we’re talking to each other, Hideyoshi and Muttsurini arrives.

“Oh, you’re awake, Yuuji.”

“…Is it time to attack?”

“No. We’ll move a little later. B cla.s.s will open a path between 3-E and 3-B, and we’ll charge in through there.”

If we attack so suddenly after lunch break, our opponents may become more wary, so it’s best for us to sit back for a while before taking action.

“I’ll give the instructions at that time. Before that, let’s all stand by for the time being.”

“““Got it.”””

We nod in response to Yuuji’s words.

Then, let’s just follow the instructions and randomly chat about something.

10 minutes pa.s.sed.

“Holding them off again? Goodness…”

“Sometimes, I want to show off here instead of just defending and holding off.”

“We’re sent to these boring places because we’re the worst cla.s.s”

“Stop yapping. This is important for our victory.”

Yuuji calls out to pacify the unhappy voices of those in standby. Whether it’s glamorous or not, I suppose that everyone’s attracting a lot of attention…in the wrong way.

“Mu…B cla.s.s’ about to take action too.”

And right at the moment when Hideyoshi says so, there are shouts from the front,

“““Summon!”””

I hear them call out their summoned beasts. The real afternoon battle’s about to heat up.

“Still a no go, Yuuji?”

“Nope. Let’s wait for B cla.s.s to open a path for us.”

The plan is basically B cla.s.s opening a path with their high scores, our side will hold off 3-B, and at this moment, B cla.s.s will team up with the other second year students and defeat the enemy. Our F cla.s.s’ mission is to prevent the strong people from 3-B, 3-C that will be interfering. Everyone wants to take part in the eye-catching annihilation battle, so I can understand why they’re unhappy.

“And…well, I guess this is the first time we’re not fighting while the other cla.s.ses are, right?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

Our F cla.s.s’ about to take action, but it certainly is refreshing for us to remain on standby in the cla.s.sroom and watch the other cla.s.ses fight.

“We’ve been taking part in the summoning wars here.”

“…That’s true.”

In terms of summoning war experience, we won’t lose to anyone. Maybe we have more experience than the 3rd years who don’t really fight much either.

“I guess we might be reliable to the other cla.s.ses since we’ve always been in the wars.”

“That might be the case.”

“It certainly feels as cool as being called some special ops, like a SWAT team or sorts.”

“Ahaha. There’s no way they’ll call us that.”

While everyone’s laughing away, Muttsurini walks to us and says,

“…Calling us that.”

“Eh?”

“…F cla.s.s is called that because we’re often in the wars.”

“Really!?”

“…(nods)”

Wow, I’m a little happy here. What do they call us, things like SEALs, SAT, or maybe SAS?

“…Barbarians.”

“““…”””

For some reason…there’s a huge difference compared to what I hope we’re called…

“Well, this is to be expected. We’re the only ones amongst the second years who carried out summoning wars with everyone.”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true…”

It’d be good if it were a little cooler…

“Everyone’s being so relaxed even at this moment. You’re very reliable.”

Himeji-san, who heard our conversation from nearby, says this. If this can bring this kind of feeling to others, I guess this conversation might not be as useless as we think, just like what Yuuji said.

“Oi, you guys, chit-chat’s over. Let’s go.”

At that moment, Yuuji finally give the instruction.

Right, time to begin the afternoon battle.

“Listen up! We’re going to charge to where our allies in 2-B are at, but don’t interfere with their battle against 3-E! Let 2-B handle those guys, got it!”

“““Ohh!”””

"Himeji and I will break through from the front! If you see any 2-B’s enemies, hold them off as according to plan! Let’s go!”

“Ye-yes!”

“““OHHHHH!!!”””

As what was said just now, Yuuji and Himeji-san leave our standby area. Once we reach the frontlines, we see the battle beween 2-B and 3-E.

“It’s not an overwhelming win because of the difference in experience, but at least our side’s obviously in the advantage.”

Hideyoshi looks around and whispers,

It looks like 2-B is really pushing back 3-E, and 3-E’s formation is divided into half. In that case, their mission will be done.

At this moment.

“They’re here! It’s 3-B!”

Someone’s voice came from behind.

3-B too came out to act in order to help the suppressed 3-E.

“You guys! Those are our opponents! Ignore 3-E and continue on!”

Yuuji gives the instructions. If the path leading to the 3rd level can’t be used, it’s to be expected that 3-B will appear here.

We ignore the battle between 2-B and 3-E, and proceed to face 3-B on the courtyard. If we can buy time here, 2-B’s victory will immediately turn the situation in our favor. We mustn’t let 3-B through no matter what!

“““Summon!”””

Voices calling out their summoned beasts can be heard in quick succession. Right, in that case, I—

“Wait Akihisa, don’t go first.”

“Eh? Why?”

“3-B only sent in a part of their forces, and 3-A reinforcements may come in. You better wait on standby for the time being to deal with the attacks from the side.”

“Really? Got it.”

Though we spent all our efforts dividing the enemy forces into two sides, it’ll be a battle of endurance after that, so we can’t go all out at once afterwards. Looks like I’m in charge of filling any openings.

“It’s tough when we have 3-B as our opponents, but we can still handle such numbers. We gained quite some experience with delaying opponents.”

Yuuji says as he sees our F cla.s.s guys fight against the 3-B uppercla.s.smen.

“Sempai, your shoelaces are untied—AN OPENING!”

“YOU WANNA BEAT ME!? YOU REALLY WANNA!? I’LL TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THAT!”

“If you beat me here, I’ll keep whispering grudges and curses at your ears until you graduate…”

I’ll just close my eyes at how unscrupulous our tactics all. These are skills we trained ourselves in to survive.

Whatever the case, there’re no problems up till now.

“We’ve more people here! Send more men there to form walls and don’t let them pa.s.s through!”

Yuuji sends some instructions. The F cla.s.s guys with much experience in summoning wars respond to that instruction and form several human walls.

Amidst the crowd, I can see 3-B reinforcements coming over to help.

And then, there’re other people coming over from there.

“Sakamoto! 3-A’s here, but there’re a few of them!”

“Go, Akihisa! Hideyoshi and Sugawa are to help too!”

“““Got it!”””

I go along with Hideyoshi and Sugawa-kun to where 3-A is.

There’re 5 opponents, but we don’t have enough s.p.a.ce for a fight against everyone. If we fight them right, we’ll be able to hang on.

“““Summon!!”””

Both sides take over the ones that had been battling. We have 3 on our side, and the opponent has 3. 6 summoned beasts in total appears before us.

3-A, Komura Ichirou, Language, 456 Points

Vs

2-F, Yoshii Akihisa, Language, 152 Points.

3-A, Moriya Kana, Language, 484 Points

Vs

2-F, Kinos.h.i.ta Hideyoshi, Language, 212 Points.

3-A, Tada Nanaka, Language, 446 Points

Vs

2-F, Sugawa Ryo, Language, 124 Points.

Because this summoning war uses the Central Test system, ‘Modern Language’ and ‘Cla.s.sics’ are mixed together to form ‘Language’. The scores look higher than usual simply because it’s a combination of 2 subjects.

“Duel!”

Our summoned beasts rush towards our enemies. My opponent tries to swing a strike gently, and I naturally back away to avoid the attack. It’s obvious that he never used strength in this attack, but the difference in points is too great. That’s why I didn’t intend to take on this. .h.i.t directly, but decide to dodge.

“Yoshii Akihisa…so it’s this guy…?”

The 3rd year opponent mutters upon seeing me name. Eh? Don’t tell me I’m already famous? I guess that’s because of the summoning tournament. It certainly feels nice to be feared by the opponent.

“Will the idiocy infect me if I interact with such a guy before the exam…?”

I take back those words. This feeling really feels unpleasant.

“WHO’S THE IDIOT!? THOSE WHO THINK THAT SUCH THINGS CAN SPREAD ARE MORE—”

“COME ON! YOU’LL BE INFECTED BY IDIOCY IF YOU APPROACH US! IF YOU DON’T WANT TO FAIL IN YOUR EXAMS, YOU BETTER NOT APPROACH US!”

Sugawa-kun yells beside us. Is it really necessary for us weak guys to go to this extent just to survive…?

“Akihisa! We can’t survive on pride! It’s best to make use of Sugawa’s strategy!”

“Ugh…! I got it!”

Guess there’s no choice. Let’s pretend to be idiots to maintain our scores!

“I say, sempais, actually, when I went shopping—”

“NO! DON’T TALK TO US, YOU IDIOT!”

“NOOO! THE IDIOCY’S GOING TO INFECT US!”

“DON’T APPROACH US!”

“Nice going Akihisa! That’s how it is!”

“…”

It seems to this acting expert that I can fool them easily just by saying that I’m shopping.

“Lo-looks like we can only attack the normal looking one here…!”

The three 3rd years gather their attacks on Hideyoshi.

“Unfortunately for you, sempais, Kinos.h.i.ta’s an amazing idiot too!”

“That’s right! She’s someone who’s confused about her own gender either way!”

“…”

Hideyoshi bites his lower lip unhappily as he understands what we said to the uppercla.s.smen, and says to them,

“I, I’m…actually a girl, but I’m an idiot who calls himself a guy…!”

I guess that’s not a line Hideyoshi’s used to saying since it’s something (s)he can’t act properly.

“““BRING IT ON THEN, 3-A!!”””

“Why’re these guys giving such pressure of reckless abandon…?”

If they aren’t going to attack, we’re going to start the attack!

My summoned beast holds its wooden sword tightly and flies at the enemy. The target enemy dodges in a ridiculous manner.

“Do-don’t touch me!”

And he swings back with a large motion. Hm, such a reaction really saddens me.

“Too naïve, sempai! If it’s an idiot of Yoshii’s level, it’s possible to be contaminated through air! Now you know why F cla.s.s has so many idiots, right!?”

Now he’s blaming me for his own stupidity. Sugawa-kun, we need to have a long chat after this war, don’t we?

“Ah, ah, aaahhhh…!”

The senior’s overcome by fear and looks at me with blank eyes. Will an exam really break a person’s soul like this? It’s really scary…

“In-in that case, we can only get rid of the mastermind…”

“Right, let’s destroy that demon.’

“If he’s stuck in the detention room, it’ll be alright…!”

Uwah!? Why have they given up on themselves!?

“Too…!”

“Tch! Don’t dodge!”

“Please hurry up and vanish!”

The seniors swing their weapons wildly at me. I’m already used to dodging attacks from guys with scores higher than me, but this really causes me to break out in cold sweat. They’ve one more year of summoned beast control experience than me, and are more nimble in their control than those enemies from before. They’re attacking wildly in a confused manner, but these attacks are sharp. This is an advantage to the enemy that can’t be seen on the score. Even so, it still can’t compare to me since I’ve resonated with the summoned beast and have been doing a lot more trivial stuff.

“Die, second year!”

One of the enemies shouts as he swings the sword at me,

“Akihisa!”

At this moment, Hideyoshi’s affirming voice reaches me.

Hideyoshi and Sugawa-kun combines together to send a 3-B summoned beast flying to my side.

“Alright!”

I grab the summoned beast by the back of its collar, and use it as a meat shield.

The sword swung down at me can’t stop, and the summoned beast of the 3-B senior becomes a meat shield as it takes a hit.

3-A, Komura Ichirou, Language, 456 Points

Vs

3-B, Haramura Yousuke, Language, 177 Points.

The scores of both guys after damaging each other are shown. It’s fine even though there’s not enough power to beat both sides completely, since it’s better for me if they’re alive.

“Ugh…! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d…!”

“So-sorry! I didn’t intend to attack you there!”

“I know that, but at least watch your surroundings…!”

And just like that, there’s a sense of distrust amongst the opponents. Now the enemies have to watch the surroundings too. Such petty tricks are very important when we’re trying to delay them.

“d.a.m.n, it’s hard to handle them…!”

Our opponents hate such a narrow place and start to retreat. It’s a good thing to us since we don’t intend to attack.

“Right, Akihisa, fall back! f.u.k.u.mura, take over his place!”

Yuuji gives a clear instruction. He probably thinks that there’s no need for me to be here, so I’ll just retreat as he said.

“Yoshii, change."

“Yeah, I’ll leave it to you, f.u.k.u.mura-kun.”

“I don’t really believe that I can inherit your idiocy, but I’ll try my best to act like one.”

“No problems, you’re a bigger idiot than me anyway, f.u.k.u.mura-kun.”

“No no, I’m no match for you when you’re naturally an idiot even without acting, Yoshii.”

““…””

“Oi, you two! Now’s not the time for grabbing each other by the chest now, right?”

Humph. You dodged a bullet there, f.u.k.u.mura-kun.

It’s impossible for us F cla.s.s to go through with a strategy that calls for us to abandon distrust; that’s because we never trusted each other in the first place.

“Alright, bring it on, sempai! This f.u.k.u.mura Kouhei famous for his ‘F cla.s.s red marks’ will take over Yoshii and be your opponent!”

“““…”””

“I’d say, f.u.k.u.mura…don’t red marks mean that you fail your tests…?”

“……Eh? Seriously?”

Hm, there’s definitely no problem if it’s f.u.k.u.mura-kun.

I feel relieved for some reason, and return to where Yuuji’s at.

“Akihisa, your scores still alright?”

“Un. I didn’t get hit just now. I’m still unhurt up till now.”

“Is that so. We’re just holding off for now. Don’t go too deep into the enemy’s camp and cause unnecessary losses.”

“Got it.”

Our mission is to buy time and wait for 2-B behind us to defeat 3-E, and then they’ll go beat the other cla.s.ses. We never hoped that we can beat the enemy here.

“And things are going better than I expected. I thought we’ll have more resistance after dividing their side in half.”

“I’m a little worried about that too…”

I guess this is the reason why Yuuji and Himeji-san are standing at the front. Even so, we’re worrying too much here.

“3-B’s not attacking either. The battle here’s our win, right?”

“Well, 3-A’s coming out. They know that they’ll have a handicap if they lose here. I don’t think they’ll go along as what we planned.”

Yuuji narrows his eyes at the new school building where 3-A is. This guy’s really having it tough thinking about so many things; I’m already having a headache over our opponents in front of us and the replenishing.

I think about this, and look around. Is there anyone that can be used as shield when we battle—eh?

“Eh?”

“What is it, Akihisa?”

“No, I get the feeling that our allies here are increasing.”

‘Huh? Increasing allies.”

“Yeah.”

There’re more familiar faces than before, and the sense of pressure is weaker.

“Oi, don’t tell me…!”

Yuuji turns back behind anxiously to look. What appears in front of us is the battle between 3-E and 2-B that was proceeding as before.

“What is it, yuuji?”

“Not that! We entered the enemy’s side in a straight line! If our allies are gathering, that means!”

“Our advantage?”

“No! Those guys at the back are beating our allies and sending them here!”

“Eh!?”

Now that he mentions it, I suddenly realized it. There’re no signs of allies on the path we walked down on without us knowing. We’re already surrounded by the 3rd years.

“What’s going on!? 2-B with better grades are sent retreating rather than us F cla.s.s?”

“It’s impossible for a lower ranked cla.s.s to have an advantage! The problem is our current situation!”

With our escape route back sealed off, our 2-F and 2-B is isolated in the middle of enemy territory. We intended to surround the enemy and defeat them, but we’re the ones who’re about to be defeated…!

“Anyway, we’ll be completely defeated if we stay here. Let’s find a place to run to first…”

Just when Yuuji’s thinking,

“Sakamoto! Us B cla.s.s will retreat first! I’ll leave it to you!”

B cla.s.s rep Nemoto-kun’s voice rings from behind.

“Eh!? B cla.s.s’ retreating!? Wait! Then what about us fighting here!?”

“Hold off the enemy properly!”

I look back, and find that the place where B cla.s.s was at is completely empty. Nemoto-kun instructed everyone to retreat to the old school building, I guess. He probably intends to meet up with where cla.s.ses C, D, E are at, and abandon us.

“OI, YOU IDIOT! COME BACK, NEMOTO!”

“It’s a tough decision, but something that can’t be helped! You F cla.s.s being eliminated is a lower cost than us B cla.s.s being eliminated!”

“NO! THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M SAYING!”

Yuuji yelled out, but B cla.s.s has already left us.

“That big idiot…!”

Yuuji grits his teeth hard.

“Yuuji! Now’s not the time to sigh! We have to follow B cla.s.s too!”

“No, this situation’s planned by the 3rd years. If we want to meet up like this, there’ll be a trap. We’ll end up right in the enemy’s hands if we run off like this…!”

“Ah…!”

At that moment, I finally realized why it was a lot easier to enter than what I expected.

““Deliberately lure the enemy in, isolate them and eliminate them. I see.”“

““So you can set people with high scores there to ambush.”“

““Looking at the average scores, it seems that they’re looking for us. That’s why I lured them into breaking up within, and causing them to revert to their original cla.s.ses. In that case, there’s no need to talk about what strategies they can use.”“

““That’s how it is, huh.”“

““I don’t understand at all.”“

““That’s why I say that’s how it is.”“

““No…you may be stupid, but you do know how to be smart at times.”“

““I do feel that you just said something rude to me.”“

““I’m praising you, be happy.”“

““Oh, is that so? Thank you very much then.”“

““…You’re really so smart yet so stupid at the same time…”“

“This isn’t good, Sakamoto! The guys at the back are forced back!”

“Nemoto’s the only one from B cla.s.s who managed to escape! The rest were crushed! I’d say, it’s just a matter of time before our side is defeated!”

Minami and Hideyoshi, who should be far away, are forced to retreat back. We have enemies everywhere. It’s to be expected that they’ll come right at us after breaking up apart successfully; there’s no way they’ll let us go at this point.

“Yuuji!”

I call out to Yuuji with a glimmer of hope within me.

After looking around quietly,

“…Over there.”

He says softly as he looks at the new school building.

“TO THE NEW BUILDING! HIMEJI, SHIMADA AND ALL THOSE WITH SUFFICIENT POINTS ARE TO STAND AT THE FRONT! WE’LL BREAK THROUGH THE ENEMY’S RANKS WITH ALL OUR STRENGTH! AKIHISA, GO SUPPORT THOSE WHO CAN’T CATCH UP!”

Yuuji gave this instruction, and charged right at the enemy’s lair.

“Is this really okay, Sakamoto? That’s opposite of where our allies are at!”

“It’s better to listen to Yuuji now, Minami! There’s no mistake in that guy’s decision making at this moment!”

“…I get it. I’ll leave the back to you then, Aki!”

“Okay!”

Minami proceeds to the front, while I head to the back. On the way over there, I pa.s.s by Himeji-san, but she looks completely serious, and didn’t notice me as she heads forward.

“F cla.s.s is to follow me! Don’t fall aside!”

“Let’s go!”

“Righto!”

Himeji-san and Minami’s voices came from where Yuuji’s looking, but is going there really a good thing?

“Oi oi, those 2-F guys are coming over here.”

“It’s a little bad, right? They’ll enter the school building now.”

“Huh, what’s the matter now, Tsunemura?”

“Think about it a little, Natsukawa. We gathered the forces at where they’re going to meet up, right? In that case, we don’t have much forces to stop any enemies from coming here.”

“That is true, but there’s no need to worry if it’s that number of forces, right? They’re already half defeated.”

“But our opponents are that Yoshii and Sakamoto.”

“No, there’s no need to worry, Natsukawa-kun, Tsunemura-kun. This is to be expected.”

“See Tsunemura? You’re worrying too much.”

“Is that so? I hope that’s the case.”

“Tsunemura-kun, please instruct B cla.s.s to focus on pursuing 2-F.”

“Oh, got it.”

“Then…I suppose, let’s prepare for what’s going to happen next.”

“HURRY UP AND GET INTO THIS CLa.s.sROOM! HIMEJI AND SHIMADA ARE TO SECURE THE ENTRANCE THERE! AKIHISA AND I WILL COVER HERE!”

We follow the half Himeji-san opened, charge into the new school building, and hurry into this 3-B cla.s.sroom no cla.s.ses are using. Then, we quickly follow Yuuji’s instructions and seal the entrances.

““Summon!””

Yuuji and I summon at the same time, and we block off the entrance here. While letting our escaping cla.s.smates enter and blocking the enemies, I ask Yuuji,

“Yuuji, what do we do!?”

“We have to defend here no matter what! Seal the entrance if you want to live!”

“But if we continue to defend here…!”

Right now, we’re in a cla.s.sroom of the new school building. In other words, the 3rd years main base is right in front of us. Our enemies in front of us are the strongest cla.s.s 3-A; if we want to get back to our base, we need to break through the other cla.s.ses. We’re completely isolated.

“Don’t give up! There’s a reason why we’re here! We won’t be sacrificed for no reason if we fight here!”

Yuuji encourages everyone in our cla.s.s.

It’s a good thing that we’re used to running away, and that we’re fast. We have less than half our scores left, but there’s no one dead in battle yet. In that case, we still have a chance to replenish our scores, we still have a chance!

“d.a.m.n…! In this situation, no matter what others say now, we can only look through the situation and decide accordingly…!”

Yuuji lets out a groan.

The wide B cla.s.sroom clearly emphasizes how few people we have, and the cla.s.sroom’s filled with a gloomy atmosphere.