Volume 16, Chapter 3: Two Teachers, The Fated Special Exam, Part 6

“Here you are Kushida-senpai.”

Several hours before. After school ended, Kushida arrived at the first year dorm, at Takuya’s room.

The lights of sunset subtly pierced through gaps in the steady curtains. Staring at the steaming black tea prepared on the table, Kushida did not extend her hand.

“It’s not drugged or poisoned you know?”

“I don’t really care, could you start talking already?”

Without even trying to hide her irritation, Kushida took her phone out with a severe expression.

“Excuse me. Then let us hear it without reservation.”

Pressing a button, Chabashira’s voice explaining the outline of the Unanimity Special Exam was heard. It started at the middle of her explanation.

After listening to everything she said while they were in class, Yagami returned the phone to Kushida.

“Kushida-senpai wants to crush Horikita Suzune and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. That’s true, yes?”

As if it weren’t something that had to be answered at this point, Kushida continued to be silent.

“I’ve heard the explanation from a senpai before, but it really is an extremely simple special exam. From several choices, coordinate such that you will achieve unanimity over repeated votes. There are a total of five motions, and you are given five hours. What did you think when you heard that?”

“…Simple, isn’t it.”

“That’s right. It’s extremely simple despite being called a special exam. The only thing harsh is the limit. There’s no mistaking that the school has created this with the premise that you will clear it. They’ve considered that as you near the time limit, you will desperately approach unanimity. Even if nobody liked the choices, they would want to avoid the penalty.”

Yagami extended his hand to the steaming black tea before Kushida and held the cup.

“Now for the main issue. The second years are already at their midpoint. Although you want to have those two expelled, you haven’t availed of the best opportunities to do so until now.”

“I myself think that’s partially because of you, but it’s fine now.”

Having nothing to gain from flaring up at Yagami, Kushida endured.

“Have you told Horikita-senpai?”

“Yeah… Have her become the leader? More or less. Well, even if I hadn’t said anything that meddlesome person would have done it herself though.”

“It is not good to leave things uncertain. Horikita-senpai pledging herself to that role, is important for Kushida-senpai.”

“What do you mean? That I’ll be able to have them expelled next special exam?”

When she replied, Yagami smiled with a fuu and brought the cup to his mouth.

“That’s exactly right. I’ve asked you to take an audio recording just in case something was missed or there was a difference in our interpretations, but the next special exam… it’s quite possible.”

“…How do you figure? The sole condition for being expelled is to pile up your accumulated time from the voting time. Do you think Horikita will make that kind of mistake? Let alone Horikita, nobody would make that kind of mistake.”

“Of course, there’s no fool who would be expelled as a penalty from their accumulative time, is there. But I read that there will be some way to expulsion even aside from that.”

“Haa?”

“Expel Horikita-senpai, or depending on the situation, Ayanokouji-senpai. It might be possible to crush who you want to crush. When it comes to that you should guide the discussion towards either one.”

Yagami told of an example of a motion that he thought might be in the special exam.

“-Is that, true?”

“Of course I don’t think it will be the same word-for-word. However. There’s an ample possibility that a motion similar to the one I just said will appear.”

Yagami hadn’t heard of this special exam from Tsukishiro, but he had an idea of what sort of motion could be given from the teacher’s explanation.

“When a motion similar to the one I’ve just said appears, there is one thing Kushida-senpai can do.”

And he explained how she could corner Horikita and Ayanokouji.

“What do you think? Can you see the word, expulsion with this? Of course the whole class will cry, but for you that is a small thing isn’t it?”

“Do you… think I can do it?”

“I see that you have the power to. Is my judgement wrong?”

“You have quite the high opinion of me don’t you.”

“I’ve tested if you were someone who could be of use at our first meeting after all.”

“…What do you mean?”

“『It’s me. Do you understand?』。 Do you remember me saying that?”

“Since it startled me. So?”

“So? You and I had never once seen face-to-face. We were both complete strangers to each other. Despite that, you adapted to what I was saying right away and tried to get through that place ad-lib. That’s how I realized that you were quite a competent person.”

“But what if I had asked who you were at that place? You might have just forgotten.”

“Of course not. As long as you didn’t know where we met, we might have been registered at the same middle school. So it was possible that I knew about your past. From the words of my mouth, 『I know about that case』, I might have leaked what had happened in the worst-case scenario.

In order to negate that possibility, Kushida quickly adapted to what he was saying.

“If I were not from the same middle school, but, for example, from the same cram school, or a kouhai who lived in the neighborhood, then the risk that I was someone who knew your past would have greatly decreased. After all, you could laugh it off as a misunderstanding. You prioritized finding if I had originated from the same middle school as you didn’t you? And if I had shifted the topic to something that had to do with your past even a little then you could have easily dodged it.”

When he drank a fourth of the black tea, he placed the cup on the tablet.

“Who are you? Why do you know my past despite not even going to the same middle school…”

“I understand your caution, but please think of me as a guest with a special position. Only, yes. My goal is to play with Ayanokouji-senpai.”

“Ha? To play with that guy?”

“Yes, well, I don’t believe he knows me at all though. Right now, trying out various things without him noticing me is all the rage with me.”

“When we had our first meeting, what if I had wavered and didn’t give the reply you were expecting?”

How would he reply if that had happened? Kushida was curious.

“I think that’s interesting. Ayanokouji would have surely noticed something was wrong and looked at me with doubt. He would have likely started investigating me earlier.”

“…Could it be, that you went to the same middle school as Ayanokouji?”

“Now I wonder. That’s a small detail for Kushida-senpai. Let us face the special exam now.”

“Got it. If the motion you’re aiming for comes… when it does, I’ll try doing it.”

“Try doing it… you say. That’s weak.”

“…Weak? What are you calling weak?”

Yagami stood and approached her. Kushida reflexively tried to escape, but her shoulders were grabbed.

“Hey, what are you doing!?”

She tried to escape, but despite seeming slender Yagami’s strength was more than she had expected and she couldn’t move.

“Please listen well. You are in a more precarious situation than you think. You’re not just involved with Ayanokouji-senpai and Horikita-senpai, but also Amasawa-san and I. People who continue to threaten the safety of your daily life… isn’t that right?”

“That’s… true…”

Yagami stared at her head-on. Kushida unfalteringly returned a glare.

“This is obvious, but it’s not easy to kick down classmates who are supposed to be your allies. I take quite the effort from my daily life in order to force them into expulsion. If there is an opportunity to expel them in a special exam like this, then it’s indubitably a once-in-a-lifetime chance.”

“I know that. But if I go too far then I might be put in danger myself.”

“Then you must prepare your resolve. Eliminate or be eliminated-“

Fight for one of those two. The strong pressure towards her said so.

“Of course, the one who will decide will be Kushida-senpai. If I told you to 『make sure that either Ayanokouji-senpai or Horikita-senpai are expelled if you don’t want the chaos in your past classroom to be leaked』 here, then I would simply be coercing you into breaking the rules after all.”

“Are you threatening me…?”

“Excuse me. The truth is that I do not intend to threaten you. But I think that Kushida-senpai’s resolve not being enough is a fact. Eliminate them no matter what you must sacrifice. If you do not do that much, then you will not be able to corner them into expulsion. No matter when.”

Taking his hands off, Yagami once again returned to his seat and sat down.

“Please tell me once more. You want to have those two expelled. Is that right?”

Towards Yagami’s eyes looking towards her again, Kushida showed an expression mixed with great anger and dissatisfaction.

That doesn’t even need to be reviewed.

For the past year, that’s what she had continuously been wishing, like a curse.”

“…Yes. I want to expel Horikita and Ayanokouji. I’ll definitely have them expelled…!”

“It has been conveyed. I was finally able to confirm that the conviction Kushida-senpai holds is real.”

Kushida made her resolution. That in order to avoid opening any more wounds than this, she will have Horikita and Ayanokouji expelled immediately, and also Yagami before her eyes, speaking as he pleased.