The next day, after school on March 4th.
Ever since the announcent of the irrational "Class Poll," a heavy, prickly tension had hung over the campus.
While each class scrambled to hold discussions and orchestrate behind-the-scenes maneuvers to survive, I walked briskly down the hallway alone the mont horoom ended.
I had only one destination: the Chairman's office.
(…If the teachers, including Mashima-sensei, say they can't interfere… then I have no choice but to complain directly to Tsukishiro, the very person who's forcing this ridiculous exam on us.)
Quietly burning with internal rage, I arrived at the Chairman's office.
Giving a short, sharp knock, I opened the door without waiting for a response. There sat Tsukishiro, leaning back elegantly at his executive desk.
"…Oh. Aizen Sosuke-kun, the Vice President of the Student Council. Do you have so business with ?"
Facing Tsukishiro and his incredibly sketchy smile, I leveled a sharp, piercing glare at him and thrust a characteristically arrogant, stylized poem right in his face.
"—A transparent gambit to disrupt the board. Your petty sches, and those of 'that man' lurking behind you, have long been laid bare to my eyes. In the first place, do you truly suffer from the illusion that such re child's play can plunge Kiyotaka into the void?"
(Translation: I figure this absurd exam is the doing of you and your backer, Kiyotaka's old man. Do you seriously think a test like this is going to get Kiyotaka expelled?)
"...?"
For a fraction of a second, Tsukishiro blinked, caught completely off guard. However, he imdiately felt the extraordinary, imposing aura radiating from . His mind raced at high speed, ruminating and processing the aning behind my convoluted words.
"…Whatever could you an? This school fosters the growth of its students by instilling a sense of crisis regarding potential expulsion. As no one has been expelled from this school year yet, I simply judged that this lack of stakes was hindering your growth."
(What a blatant lie. Sure, a sense of crisis is an important elent for growth. But how is anyone supposed to grow from a completely irrational exam like this?)
Though I felt a surge of irritation internally, I maintained my composure.
(Still, he's not the type to make a careless slip of the tongue. He's probably already operating under the assumption that I've hidden a voice recorder on .)
I let out a soft, mocking scoff and piled on more words.
"—You should stop chasing illusions that far exceed your stature. That man will not fall; instead, innocent stars will rely shatter in vain to no purpose. It will bring absolutely no benefit to you, either. …Abolish this worthless ritual of sacrifice at once."
(Translation: Kiyotaka isn't going to get expelled by an exam like this. All it'll do is expel unrelated students. There shouldn't be any rit in this for you guys either. Drop this exam right now.)
Without letting his expression falter, Tsukishiro sharply scrutinized from within.
(Just as reported, he uses extrely poetic and complex language. …So this is the 'true genius exiled from the White Room,' Aizen Sosuke. I see, he certainly possesses an extraordinary presence.)
Even so, Tsukishiro refused to take off his mask as the Acting Chairman.
"Like I said, this has nothing to do with Ayanokouji-kun."
As Tsukishiro delivered that blatant lie, his eyes weren't laughing at all.
"Even if I am only acting, I am still the Chairman of this school. This is a necessary ritual to further the growth of the students here."
(…As expected, he won't let his guard down and slip up.)
"—A stubborn argunt that defies all logic. Do you call the act of personally crushing a valuable gemstone 'nurturing'? If this is an academy ant for reaching the summit, then it should preserve the stars that shine the brightest."
(Translation: I don't see how anyone grows from this thod. Plus, there's a chance excellent students might get expelled. As a school, you should be keeping the excellent students.)
In response to my perfectly logical counterargunt, Tsukishiro let out a low chuckle from the back of his throat.
"Hehehe. A 'socially inept student' who managed to get expelled by an exam like this would be useless in society, no matter how high their other abilities are, wouldn't you agree? At any rate, my decision is absolute."
Tsukishiro paused there, casting a cold gaze toward , as if reprimanding an undisciplined child.
"Furthermore, even if you are the Vice President of the Student Council, you are still just a student. Is it really appropriate for you to interfere with the core managent of the school like this? I consider this an abuse of your authority."
Tsukishiro attempted to shoot down definitively.
However, I simply scoffed at his cheap attempt at intimidation and took a slow, deliberate step closer to his desk.
"—Do you honestly believe I am standing here as a re student?"
"…Yes, of course. I recognize that you are an excellent student, but you are nothing more and nothing less."
With a perfectly cool, collected face, Tsukishiro maintained his composure, clearly looking down on .
(…Just as I thought. Even as the Student Council Vice President, I'm looked down upon as just another student. If I want to force him to retract this irrational exam or extract a compromise from here… I don't have a viable move.)
I silently turned the gears in my head.
(…No. I absolutely hate to say it, but… if it's 'that,' will it work?)
What flashed across my mind at that mont was a proven thod—one that had previously broken the indomitable spirit of the arrogant Nagumo and left him utterly traumatized. It was the full incantation of Kurohitsugi (Black Coffin), which I had blurted out on autopilot during a mont of genuine rage.
(Back then, it just slipped out of my mouth on its own, and I thought I was going to die of embarrassnt… and now I'm going to voluntarily recite that of my own free will? …No, if sacrificing a piece of my dignity can save students from an irrational expulsion…)
Bracing myself, I unleashed my "absolute ruler" aura to its maximum capacity and began the pinnacle of chuunibyou cringe—the full incantation.
"—Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy."
"...?"
"Boil forth and deny. Grow numb and flicker. Disrupt sleep. Crawling queen of iron. Eternally self-destructing doll of mud."
"W-What are you…?"
"Unite. Repulse. Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness—"
I looked down at Tsukishiro, declaring it like an ultimatum of absolute despair.
"—Hadō #90. Kurohitsugi."
Naturally, in this world where spiritual pressure does not exist, absolutely nothing happened. It was nothing more than a highly stylized poetry reading.
(Uaaaaaahhhhhh!! The embarrassnt!! It's way too painful to say this of my own free will!! Please let this have an effect!!)
Internally, I was writhing in agony, feeling like I was about to explode from sheer sha.
However.
"…!!? W-What is this pressure…?!"
Tsukishiro's eyes widened in sheer shock, and he collapsed back into his chair with a heavy thud. Beads of cold sweat poured down his forehead like a waterfall.
(I could more or less interpret and understand the aning of his poetic words from earlier. But… I cannot read the intention behind his words just now at all! And yet, despite him simply weaving words together… what is this absolute presence of death and skin-prickling pressure…?!!)
Faced with an incomprehensible existence, Tsukishiro was entirely paralyzed with terror.
(I should not provoke this man any further…!)
"I-I understand…!"
Gasping for breath, Tsukishiro finally threw up the white flag.
"F-For this exam, we will set the cost of the right to cancel an expulsion to half-price—'ten million points'…!"
(!!! I thought I was going to die of embarrassnt, but the incantation was totally worth a shot!! I an, it was the sa with Nagumo, but absolutely nothing happened physically, okay?! This old guy is just scaring himself out of his wits entirely on his own!)
While delivering a massive internal monologue of ta-comntary, I maintained an utterly cold and ruthless expression on the outside.
"Ho."
"However… I cannot offer any further concessions than this. Forty students have received twelve installnts of private points, and there are rewards from special exams as well. If a class lacks the points under these conditions, it can only be interpreted as a lack of crisis awareness and capability on both a class and individual level, and you cannot complain about that, right?"
In a desperate bid to maintain his dignity as an "adult" holding the title of Acting Chairman, he forced the words out through a twitching expression.
"…Besides, in this exam to begin with, the rules state that the number one student who gathers the most praise votes in each class will be awarded a 'Protection Point' that can negate an expulsion exactly once. A Protection Point is originally worth twenty million points. Since such a massive benefit has been prepared for the students, I hope you understand that reducing the fee to ten million points is already an exceptional concession on the school's part…!"
Hearing Tsukishiro's compromise and his desperate justification, I instantly crunched the numbers in my head.
(…Lowering the expulsion-evasion threshold to ten million points. He does have a point. From our class's perspective, it's like buying a Protection Point for ten million points. Though, if you ask whether a Protection Point that can only protect one specific student is truly worth twenty million points, that's not exactly true either.)
I quietly lowered my gaze, scanning the entire board once more.
(…Ten million points. By simple math, that's 250,000 points per person. With the savings of our Class A or Class B, everyone can undoubtedly get through this completely unscathed.)
(But considering the current state of Class D, who dropped their class points to zero imdiately after enrollnt and haven't earned much since… even at half price, raising ten million points is still going to be incredibly tough…)
But—I cast another glance at the pale-faced Tsukishiro.
(His target is strictly Kiyotaka. He couldn't care less whether other unrelated students get expelled or not. That's precisely why he absolutely cannot make any further concessions that would guarantee the survival of Class D, where his target resides. If he's a subordinate of Kiyotaka's father, he wouldn't be permitted to pull his punches to a fatal degree.)
(In that case, extracting any more concessions from this man is impossible.)
"—Very well. Even the pieces on the board require a scale to weigh their fates equally. We shall settle on those terms."
Turning on my heel, I placed my hand on the doorknob. Then, casting one final glance over my shoulder at Tsukishiro, I delivered an utterly cold and arrogant statent of fact.
"—It seems you are making one fatal misunderstanding. No matter how much that man tries to pull strings from the outside, this miniature garden is already within the palm of my hand. No one has the right to trample through my garden with muddy boots. …The next ti you avert your eyes from and commit a foolish act, you will be the one disappearing from this stage."
Leaving behind only the lingering echo of those intimidating words, I walked out of the Chairman's office.
On the way back to the dorms.
Walking through the campus bathed in the colors of the sunset, I quietly shifted my train of thought.
(…I couldn't stop this irrational exam, but for now, keeping Tsukishiro in check and extracting a concession went well. No, it's great that it went well, but… I am absolutely, positively never doing the full incantation of Kurohitsugi ever again, okay?! Just rembering it makes feel like my face is going to burst into flas from pure sha!)
Desperately using the night breeze to cool down the embarrassnt that made want to writhe in agony, I pulled myself together and focused on the upcoming developnts.
(Sigh… well, whatever. With this, he probably won't throw any more absurd, tyrannical curveballs anyti soon. Once the reduction of the relief asure is announced in tomorrow's horoom, our class's savings will have a considerable cushion. …If that happens, knowing Ichinose's personality, she'll definitely say, 'I want to help Class C or Class D even if it ans lending them our surplus.')
(Personally, it irks to see anyone get expelled according to Tsukishiro and his backers' plans, so I'm in favor of lending the points itself. …But no matter how much leeway we have now, these are the precious savings of everyone in the class. Even if we lend them, we need conditions that everyone can agree on.)
I paused for a mont, mapping out my strategy for the future.
(After tomorrow's horoom, I'll first consult with Ichinose and the others to decide on a concrete plan.)
While feeling a sense of relief that I had forced open a path to avoid the worst-case scenario at the cost of my own dignity and sha, I quietly moved forward, harboring a faint anxiety about the unpredictable board ahead.
Sitting down on the sofa in my room, I organized the dizzying changes of the day in my head.
(…To avoid unnecessary confusion, it's probably best to keep the information that I interfered with Tsukishiro to get the price reduced a secret. …For tonight, I'll just tell Ichinose and the others about the contract I made with Sakayanagi last night.)
I quietly closed my eyes, and a sudden question crossed my mind.
(But… now that the relief asure has been cut in half, if I had stord into the Chairman's office first last night before negotiating with Sakayanagi, I might have been able to make a move to earn points under even more favorable conditions.)
However, I imdiately dismissed that thought.
(…No, that's not right. If Sakayanagi hadn't told about Tsukishiro's true identity and his real objective, I wouldn't have moved any further. Even though I lodged an objection with Mashima-sensei alongside Nagumo as part of the Student Council, the mont we were shot down with the explanation that the teachers couldn't overturn the decision, I had resigned myself to thinking, 'As long as no one from my class gets expelled, that's fine.')
(But… knowing that this irrational exam is born from the selfish personal grudges of an outsider changes the story completely. I cannot tolerate this academy being trampled upon by the whims of an outsider. Besides, if I overlooked such tyranny, I wouldn't be able to face Horikita-senpai and the others who built the foundations of this school.)
Reaffirming the "secret affection for this school" that ford the core of my actions, I let out a quiet sigh.
That night.
I invited Ichinose, Hiyori, and Kanzaki to my room, and while serving them a homade dinner, I explained the outco of last night's negotiation with Sakayanagi.
"Mmm~! So delicious! Aizen-kun, your cooking skills have improved again, haven't they?!"
"Yes! Sosuke-kun's cooking is the best in the world, after all!"
"Indeed. This deep flavor… it is a supre realm that easily lts even my 'rampart of the soul.'"
The mont Kanzaki uttered such a cringeworthy poem with a completely straight face, Ichinose let out an exasperated sigh.
"Hold on, Kanzaki-kun! You're using that strange way of speaking again! If you keep that up, you're definitely going to have trouble when you enter the workforce in the future, you know?!"
"M-My apologies… When I let my guard down, it just slips out accidentally."
Faced with Ichinose's perfectly logical lecture, Kanzaki awkwardly averted his eyes.
(S-Stop it, Ichinose!! That flawless logic is piercing deeply into my chest as I sit right next to him!! It's turning into a massive boorang aid at my own future and dealing a fatal amount of damage to too!!)
In front of the two who were engaging in a peaceful scolding session while thoroughly enjoying my ho cooking, I was internally coughing up a massive amount of blood. However, maintaining a cool expression on the surface, I set down my teacup and started speaking smoothly.
"—And so, our hand, which consists of the external praise votes, has been entrusted to that man… Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. In exchange, we will receive a compensation of 1.5 million points from Class B. …It was a selfish move played entirely out of my own personal sentintality, completely detached from the logic of the board. Allow to apologize for making this decision unilaterally."
As I spoke with a hint of apologetic nuance, Hiyori let out a soft chuckle and delivered a flawless translation.
"'—And so, our external praise votes will be cast for Ayanokouji-kun of Class D. In exchange, we've signed a contract to receive 1.5 million points. I'm sorry for deciding this on my own,' is what he ans!"
Hearing that, Ichinose imdiately flashed a bright smile and shook her head.
"I don't mind at all! We hadn't decided who to give our praise votes to anyway, and getting private points is a substantial benefit for the class."
Ichinose looked straight into my eyes, smiling happily.
"Besides, you see, we've been helped by Aizen-kun all this ti. So… feel free to voice your selfishness whenever you want! If Aizen-kun feels that he 'wants to help Ayanokouji-kun,' then we will cooperate with all our might too!"
"It's just as Honami-chan says. We believe in Sosuke-kun's decisions, after all."
Hiyori also smiled gently, and Kanzaki gave a quiet nod of agreent.
(Everyone…! You guys are seriously too nice…!)
Deeply moved internally by the warmth of my comrades, I quietly stoked my fighting spirit for the upcoming "Class Poll" and the "End-of-Year Special Exam" that lay beyond it.
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