Unlike the other classes, which took only about a minute to decide their representative for the personal ability segment, Class D got mired in a long, heated debate.
"Come on, it's a test of personal ability—who knows what that even means? Shouldn't we just send Horikita? She may not be the best person, but she's still capable, right?"
"Shut up! She's lost so many times before – how many points has Class D lost because of her? You'd still trust her abilities? Sending her is no different from forfeiting that entire category!"
"Then who do you suggest?!"
"Matsushita, obviously! She's super strong. You saw how well she did in the Workplace Special Exam, didn't you? If Matsushita goes to the personal ability event, success is guaranteed!"
Before long, it was a noisy free-for-all. If you wanted to be charitable, you could say everyone was eagerly offering their opinions; if you weren't, you'd call it a mindless shouting match. No one was calmly considering the big picture; they were just clamoring away. They were running out of time, too, since the school required them to submit their choice before getting off the bus. Less than an hour remained after the rules were announced, yet Class D was still arguing pointlessly.
Homeroom teacher Chabashira, watching this unfold, couldn't help pressing her fingertips to her temple, muttering to herself in exasperation. She wasn't sure why, but this time, she felt particularly tired. Or perhaps from the moment she was assigned to this year's Class D, she'd been exhausted constantly.
Back at the start, Chabashira had zero expectations for Class D. She assumed they'd be yet another batch of hopeless losers at the bottom, so she figured she'd let them coast and wait for next year's students. But then Horikita, Ayanokoji, Koenji, and others had emerged. Even Matsushita, who had hidden her talents deeper than anyone, suddenly gave Chabashira hope they might reach Class A; so she'd been quietly supporting them. Now, though, taking a fresh look, she realized most of the students really hadn't changed from day one, and it wore her out.
Matsushita, for her part, was even more stressed. She'd already gone to Horikita, asking who should represent them. Sure, everyone in the class talked her up as if they believed in her wholeheartedly, but that didn't mean she wanted to go. She was perfectly aware of her own limits: while her mind might be clever, her physical gifts were nowhere near those of her male classmates. If she joined and wound up losing, could Class D still trust her? Maybe that would accelerate the class's infighting, which would be a disaster.
Horikita had, in fact, proposed the personal ability segment precisely because of Class D's situation. After that Student Council meeting adjourned, she'd told Matsushita what she had in mind. Matsushita had been astonished, wondering why Horikita wanted this category. Horikita had blushed—she certainly couldn't admit it was a hasty, spur-of-the-moment suggestion. Thoroughly embarrassed, she fibbed, saying she was worried about the huge gap between the class's highest and lowest performers—hence the personal ability event. Matsushita accepted that explanation.
But once faced with the actual exam, the question remained: Who would represent them?
Matsushita asked Horikita for guidance, while Horikita turned around to fix her gaze on Ayanokoji, who was seated nearby in the same bus aisle. That cool stare spoke volumes—Ayanokoji, you do it. But no one could match Ayanokoji at feigning cluelessness; he seemed not to notice Horikita's signals at all, gazing vacantly into space, leaving Horikita scowling in frustration.
Luckily, Ayanokoji was just her Option One. Horikita had a backup plan. She shifted her eyes to that outlier in their class—Koenji.
Matsushita, a bit startled, covered her mouth with her hand and lowered her voice. "Horikita, you mean to have Koenji take part?"
"Mm." Horikita had prepared for this. If it was purely about personal ability, Class D's strongest two were Koenji and Ayanokoji. Between them, Horikita couldn't say which was better. But if Ayanokoji was determined to lie low, refusing to stand out, then Koenji was their only real hope.
Perhaps sensing their eyes on him, Koenji—leaning back with his arms folded and eyes closed—suddenly opened them. "Oh? Horikita-girl, you're hoping I'll go to the personal ability event?"
He had this theatrical, operatic style of speaking that people found jarring, but Horikita's face remained impassive. She inclined her chin. "Yes. When it comes to personal ability, you're the only sure bet I can think of, Koenji. I suppose you might also be interested. After all, you'd be competing for first place among all the top students in school. Wouldn't that match your vision of beauty?"
Next to her, Matsushita was quietly astonished at Horikita's approach. She never would have believed the old Horikita—sarcastic, contemptuous—could suddenly tailor her words to suit each person's mindset. But here she was, appealing to Koenji's prized obsession with beauty. Who wouldn't be surprised?
"Ha-ha-ha!" Koenji broke into thunderous laughter, so loud that two boys sitting near him reflexively clapped hands to their ears. His laugh was outright painful. When the laughter subsided, he fished out a palm-sized mirror and comb from his pocket, fussing with his bleached-blond hair. "I see, Horikita-girl, so you've finally noticed my beauty."
"Which means," Horikita said, face lighting with cautious optimism, "you'll accept?"
"Huh?" Koenji paused mid-comb. Then, without a shred of courtesy, he burst out laughing again: "Ha-ha-ha! Accept? Oh, I never said anything about agreeing to Horikita-girl's request. My beauty is my business—what does it matter if I take first in some personal ability event or not? Ha-ha-ha! Whether I miss first place doesn't diminish my beauty in the slightest; taking first just adds some trivial sparkle to it."
"…" Koenji's flamboyant, narcissistic response left Horikita quietly fuming, her face rigid with annoyance. Matsushita tugged Horikita's sleeve from behind—maybe it was hopeless to reason with this guy. Better to give up.
At that point, even Chabashira was losing patience. She walked over to Horikita and Matsushita, two students she considered the class's most promising. "Have you decided or not?" she asked. "We're already close to the forest camp. If you don't decide soon, the school will pick someone at random."
Everyone knew how risky a random draw could be. Sure, maybe they'd randomly land on Koenji, that unstoppable wild card, but the odds were only 1 in 40. More likely it'd be someone else entirely. Nobody wanted to take that gamble.
It was do-or-die time. Horikita had run out of other options. She tried coaxing Koenji again. Sure, she could just pressure Chabashira to pick Ayanokoji or Koenji by force. But either of them might sabotage the event—Ayanokoji might deliberately throw the match to maintain his low profile, while Koenji would likely do as he pleased, or might even skip it. After all, he'd pulled something similar back on the uninhabited island exam.
So Horikita had no choice but to persist: "Koenji, won't you reconsider?"
Koenji, brushing his hair in the mirror, simply kept admiring himself, ignoring her entirely.
Matsushita, at a loss, tried to help. "Koenji, the teacher just said that if you sign up for the personal ability event, you'll be separated from everyone else. You might not even stay at the same lodging as the rest of us."
"Perhaps you could have a private room," she said, guessing that might appeal.
Koenji just snickered. "Oh, Matsushita-girl, don't misunderstand. I'm not against having roommates. If anything, letting more of humanity marvel at my beauty is an expression of my generosity. On that luxury cruise, remember, I was quite willing to share a room with Ayanokoji-boy and Hirata-boy."
Matsushita's left cheek twitched faintly. Holy crap, this man is impossible. Even for a well-bred rich kid like her, it was almost enough to make her swear out loud.
Still, she swallowed her annoyance. "All right, but what if your roommates are, uh…not especially beautiful people?"
Koenji froze for a beat, then cast a glance across Class D, focusing on Ike and Yamauchi, the outcasts among outcasts, buried at the bottom of the class's pecking order. They figured they might as well keep existing in the class—any arrangement was better than dropping out. If the school changed policy later, maybe they'd manage to graduate. At least they wouldn't do anything as stupid as Sudo did, voluntarily quitting.
Koenji, so confident in his own radiance, frowned—he didn't mind normal people ogling him, but being forced to share a room with guys that unrefined?
"Ah. My beauty can't be tainted by the likes of them. All right, I'll let my beauty gather just a little extra glow this time."
Having spoken, he resumed humming to himself. But that was good enough for Chabashira, Matsushita, and Horikita; at least he'd said yes. Chabashira and Horikita cast approving looks at Matsushita—none of them had guessed she'd use that pair of unwanted students, Ike and Yamauchi, to corner Koenji into accepting.
As for Kushida, Karuizawa, and even Sakura—though they'd seemed off to the side, minding their own business—they quietly took out their phones, texting Yukio to inform him that in Class D, the one joining the personal-ability event would be Koenji…