The actress recognition event was still underway. Nomura's trio answered every round in a flash; no matter who popped up, they seemed able to name her.
Sometimes when Nomura and Suzuki didn't know, Oda answered. Sometimes when Oda didn't know, Nomura did—or Suzuki did.
In short, the three covered for one another; whoever it was, one of them could blurt it out. By contrast, Sakayanagi's three were completely outmatched: either hemming and hawing, too embarrassed to answer in front of the girls in their class, or simply not knowing at all.
After nearly an hour of Q&A, the other two boys—out of pride—had already given up; only the last member of Sakayanagi's trio kept stubbornly hanging in there, throwing away his pride and thinking of nothing but winning.
But three against one still couldn't be beaten in the end. At last a face came up he didn't recognize; he couldn't answer, and Nomura took it: "Kazami Yuka."
Only then did the referee—who'd been wearing an odd expression the whole time—hurry to announce: "Victory to the Yukio Class!"
The overall score on the big screen switched to 2–1.
What came next, however, wasn't the fourth event—it was the lunch break. Since the match ran all day, they had to leave an hour for students to eat and rest.
Twenty minutes for lunch, forty minutes for digestion, so the afternoon events wouldn't be affected.
Up in the command room, Yukio and Sakayanagi slid their chairs together, each with a convenience onigiri and a squeeze-pouch jelly they took turns drinking—utterly natural, as if the two of them living together would feel no awkwardness at all.
Mashima's face twisted at the sight; this special exam, the way Sakayanagi felt to him was more and more off. What on earth was going on?
A boy and a girl sharing a single jelly pouch was not a good omen. Sakagami chuckled, about to go clap his colleague–rival on the shoulder and say something, when the monitor feeds showed a situation.
While Sakayanagi's class was quietly eating, the Yukio Class came to pick a fight again.
In the gym, Sakayanagi's side was eating in peace. The three boys who had just finished the actress event didn't even dare look up; they could only lower their heads and eat in silence.
That was when the Yukio Class—led by Ryuen—walked straight over. "Yo, we're short on food over there. We're all classmates—how about sharing a little with us?"
Katsuragi, who had been on edge this whole morning guarding against the Yukio Class, stepped out and stood in the way, not giving an inch: "Sorry. We don't have extra. Please go back to your seats."
"Oh?" Ryuen raised his brows, deliberately getting aggressive. He reached out and grabbed a long futomaki from one of the girls in Sakayanagi's class. "But you've got so much. Look at this big roll—just give us half."
"Return it!" Katsuragi lunged and grabbed Ryuen's wrist. "You can't take our food."
Behind him, Sakayanagi's class rose to their feet; behind Ryuen, members of the Yukio Class stood as well. In an instant, the two sides were in a standoff.
"Shameless! Picking a fight during lunch?"
"Yeah? What do you think you're doing? Can't win in the events so you mess with our lunch break?"
"Heh. Can't win? You're the ones who lost the last event. We're just here to borrow a bite—got a problem with that?"
As they bickered, neither side actually threw a punch. They only squared up chest to chest, shouting and jostling—pushing that line without crossing it.
"W–what are you doing?!" The referee rushed over to separate them. "This is lunch break—no fighting! If anyone throws a punch, it's an immediate disqualification from all remaining events!"
"Cut it out! Back to your seats! Eat your own lunches!"
At that, both sides eased a fraction, but no one backed down; they kept jawing while glaring at each other.
"What? Go on, try hitting me! Come on! Right here!"
"If you've got guts, make the first move—then we can tell the school we acted in self-defense!"
It was like playing that shoulder-bumping game; no one threw the first strike, and everyone stayed just inside the no-brawling line.
In the command room, seeing the scene, Sakayanagi couldn't help glancing at Yukio. "Yukio-kun, even during lunch break you persist with interference?"
"That's not cost-effective, is it? Even if you disrupt our eating and rest, your class's lunch and break get hit too. Have them go back."
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Yukio smiled, walked back to his computer, and said a few words into his headset.
Down in the gym, Ryuen seemed to "receive" Yukio's request. He let go, dropped the long futomaki back where he'd taken it. "All right. Looks like Sakayanagi's class is too stingy. We're out."
Seeing that, Katsuragi released his grip as well, not wanting to escalate further.
What had looked like it might spiral out of control simply dispersed into nothing, and both sides went back to eating their lunches.
Only, the mood in Sakayanagi's class was sour across the board, while the Yukio Class was all laughs and jokes; you could tell their morale had climbed another notch. In terms of mentality, a gap had opened up.
Even after noticing that, Sakayanagi said nothing—she was simply pleased that Yukio had accommodated her, happy that he would heed her words.
It was just that, basking in that little pocket of happiness, Sakayanagi failed to notice the faint awkwardness on Yukio's face.
He'd only pretended to say something into the headset just now—putting on a show for Sakayanagi. After all… when Ryuen went over to stir things up, he hadn't put his earpiece back on to take commands.
The reason they "happened" to leave was because Yukio and Ryuen both knew that what needed to be planted had finally been planted in the confusion.
Still, for now the tactic hadn't been seen through by Sakayanagi. Best to keep it under wraps just a little longer~
....
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