Volume 17, Chapter 4: Part 4

While some of the problems were still unresolved, the class pressed forward in their careful preparations for the Sports Festival. There were students who were opposed to competing alongside Ryuuen, but once they got going and preparations were underway, there weren’t any major arguments and the practice for the team events was also coming along well. Even those members of the class who had initially opposed it decided not to withhold their cooperation so that they could win and threw themselves into practice and training day and night.

And so finally came the day before the Sports Festival. Around 9:30 PM, I made a phone call to Horikita.

“Surprisingly late for you to call, isn’t it? I was just about to go to bed.”

Through the earpiece, I could hear a hair dryer running.

“I’ve got something important to say regarding the Sports Festival.”

“You have something important to say? I better take this somewhat seriously, then.” She said, and she must’ve quickly turned off the hair dryer because the earpiece went quiet. “Ah, before that, I had something I wanted to say. Sakayanagi-san is set on participating in the Sports Festival tomorrow, you know? Didn’t you say you could stop her?”

“What I have to say has to do with that, too. I’m thinking of sitting out the Sports Festival tomorrow.”

“…Sitting out? Wait just a moment, what do you mean?”

It was pretty clear that on the other side of the phone, she was thrown by my sudden announcement. Something clattered, and I could hear a small cry.

“Are you alright?”

“Sorry, I just dropped the hair dryer…”

I could hear her put the phone down somewhere. I guess she was hastily trying to pick up the hair dryer.

“So, what do you mean by sitting out? You’re not unwell or anything, right?”

It wasn’t unreasonable for her to be confused, given that I sounded healthy.

“Ah, no, there’s no problems with my health. Rather, it’s like I feel better than I usually do.”

“Then why? If you sit it out, we’ll lose ten points, you know? Even though I wasn’t banking on the points you win in my calculations, losing those ten points will be painful.”

The class had just 38 people—fewer than the others—so I understood why she felt like complaining.

“I’m not going to say those ten points aren’t worth much. But this is my strategy, it’s essential.”

“… Your strategy?”

Of course, it didn’t have anything to do with things like my father’s agent coming and blending in with the guests.

I brought up something I’d kept quiet about thus far.

“It’s connected to the first step of my attack on Sakayanagi, which we cannot avoid if we want to push Class A to the last position.”

“Attack on Sakayanagi…?”

“I told you. That I have a way to keep Sakayanagi from participating in the Sports Festival.”

“But I don’t understand how you sitting it out has anything to do with attacking Sakayanagi…”

She went to ask me my reasoning, but she quickly stopped in her tracks.

“I see. I won’t be able to understand what you’re planning, not as I am right now. And I suppose you won’t change your mind about skipping the Sports Festival even if I try to persuade you otherwise?”

“Yeah. First thing tomorrow morning, I’ll tell the school that I’m sick.”

“If that’s the case, I guess I have no choice but to trust you at this point.”

She was exasperated, but she allowed it and gave her consent regardless.

“Just so you know, my personal goal was to take first place at least thrice, but because of this I will have to score more than ten points myself.”

“Thanks for your support.”

I cut the call and put my phone to charge. Even though she was just about to go to bed, I imagine Horikita would be unable to sleep for a while as she adjusts her calculations for the scores in her head. What I did was a bit rough on her, but she should treat it as a necessary expense.

Now, there’s one more person I need to call. After I tell them the necessary information, all the setup will be done.