After the afternoon's physical training and a short rest, Sakagami came by the dormitory again. This time, instead of calling the students outside to assemble, he began distributing what he referred to as Buddhist sutras—the materials for the Cohesion Project.
Having returned to his dorm, Yukio was handed one of these sutras, noticing how new it looked and how it wasn't even bound. It still felt warm, freshly printed in fact.
"All right," Sakagami said as he gave the printed sutra to Yukio. "This is Volume One of the Golden Light of the Most Victorious King Sutra, thirty-nine pages total. You'll decide among yourselves who's responsible for which page, memorize it thoroughly, and then write it out from memory."
"On Day Eight, you'll enter a single-person room, in order by your assigned page number, and copy down what you've memorized. If a page gets lost or damaged, don't worry—just let us know, and we can print fresh copies any time."
With that, Sakagami departed. The other classmates crowded around, curious to see just what this sutra-copying business was about.
Ishizaki, a proper yes-man, was the first to inch closer. After taking only a brief look, he was already dizzy. "Huh? What in the world is this?"
Everyone else peered over his shoulder, looking equally befuddled. Even Kaneda, a solid academic performer, could only barely parse the text:
"When one perfects the four methods, they can cast aside karmic obstacles and attain purity. Which four? First, refrain from all wrong thinking, and fulfill upright mindfulness. Second, do not slander profound teachings…"
Kaneda rubbed his eyes and removed his glasses. "Oh man, this is brutal. Who's going to memorize all this?"
"Exactly!" Ishizaki chimed in, nodding vigorously as he griped about the school's arrangement. "Having us memorize this is pure torture! If they wanted to test our cohesion, they could've made us fight another class or something. This is nuts!"
Komiya chimed in as well, dismayed. "Couldn't they come up with a different test method? Why the heck do we have to copy a sutra? Does the director of the school board practice Buddhism or something?"
Although two semesters had passed and the class's academic performance had improved with support from Kaneda and Shiina, this kind of rote memorization still felt painful to most. It was likely why Sakagami had left so quickly: after a quick glance at the sutra, he must have anticipated the students' reactions and decided he'd rather not stick around to be bombarded with complaints.
Not that anyone could blame them. Even for someone like Yukio, seeing this material made him want to reach for eyedrops. To teenagers with no real interest in Buddhism, the archaic text felt tedious, obscure, and genuinely torturous.
To be honest, even Yukio couldn't see the school's rationale here. This was nothing like the AN High School's usual style. Usually, they'd have the students survive on an uninhabited island, pit them in strategic mind games, or prepare them for real-world challenges like the workplace exam. This kind of purely memorized test seemed off-brand. It made him suspect the school had some hidden motive.
Still, there was no choice but to comply, given that it was part of the test. So even though just looking at the text made his scalp prickle, Yukio started distributing the sheets.
"All right, enough complaining. We have seven days. If we work at it, we can memorize it all by brute force. Grab your share—maybe look for a page that seems simpler or has fewer characters."
"Who knows? Maybe this cohesion project isn't as simple as it looks; there could be more to it than meets the eye."
"I'll go first!" Ishizaki exclaimed. He spread out all the pages on his bunk bed, not too concerned about deeper meanings—he just wanted to pass without dragging the class down. If the school had something else planned, well, that was what big bro Yukio was for, right?
And so, the guys ended up huddled around Ishizaki's lower bunk like they were fighting over supplies in a war, everyone trying to snag a page with fewer words.
"Hey! This one's good! Really good!" Ishizaki triumphantly held up a sheet. Compared to the others, which were crammed with text, this one had a ton of blank space and just a couple of short lines:
Concentrate on upholding the three virtues;
Do not slander profound dharma.
Contemplate the wisdom of all things;
Let compassion wash away karmic hindrance.
Apparently it was the ending page of a section, which meant the next page started a new chunk of heavy text. This made Ishizaki's eyes light up; it was way easier than the rest.
Unfortunately, his delight only lasted three seconds before Yukio cut in. "Ishizaki, give that page to Albert. Go pick another."
It was like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, striking Ishizaki's tender heart and making him want to collapse on the spot. But he couldn't disobey Big Bro's instructions; he understood the logic—Albert's language skills were the weakest, given his background. For the good of the class, Ishizaki would have to make the sacrifice. Eyes growing misty, he reluctantly handed the precious page to Albert.
Albert was touched by Ishizaki's gesture, taking the sheet with a huge paw. "Ishizaki, you…you are my best bro…my best…brother?"
He tried to pull the page toward him, but Ishizaki clutched it so tightly that it wouldn't budge.
"Y-yeah," Ishizaki replied, face contorting like a wife who'd just been scolded at home. After an internal struggle, he finally let it go. Yukio and Albert tried to console him, but Ishizaki had already plunged back into the fray with the other guys. "Don't hog it all! Let me pick again! Yukio-san said so! Aw man, save a decent one for me!"
Only once the guys finished divvying up the sutra pages, in a near free-for-all, did Yukio carry the rest off to the girls' dorm, asking Shiina and Ibuki to come down and distribute them to the girls.
Soon after, the half-hour study time ended, and the broadcast chime sounded for dinner. Of course, after dinner, they could keep on studying, but most people didn't feel up to it. One after another, they tossed their assigned page aside, rubbing their temples.
"Nope, I can't. I need to refuel my brain. This is making me dizzy."
"I'm gonna puke if I keep looking at this. None of it makes sense, and the wording's so dense."
"Let's eat first, then tackle it again. I refuse to believe we can't handle it!"
...
1 extra chapter every 50 stones