Chapter 34 - .

Whether it's rational or not, everyone's standard of judgment is their own feelings. And after making a decision based on transient emotion, they'll construct a post hoc rationale for it. 

They throw out all sorts of arguments to justify why they hate something and why they have to avoid it. No matter how much logic you use to explain, they'll find some other point to argue. It's not even worth pulling up sources. 

"I don't really get it…," Sagami grumbled. 

…I'm talking about you, Sagami. 

I considered saying as much to her, but if she didn't understand that now, then she couldn't be self-aware about the issue. I could spell it out for her, but arguing would obviously just be a big pain in the ass. 

I decided to communicate this to her succinctly, without naming names and generalizing as broadly as I could. "What I'm saying is that if someone doesn't like you, it doesn't matter if what you're saying is right. They'll be critical of you anyway." 

The answer was just too simple. It was so plain and simple, I could practically call it the truth of the world. Nobody took issue with what I'd said. 

Miss Hiratsuka, who'd been listening silently, breathed a short sigh and said, "…So as long as Sagami continues as the chair, this problem will keep following us around." Her view was quite correct. 

Once trust is lost, you can't get it back easily. On the other hand, losing trust is simple. 

Sagami had failed. 

And the world is very harsh toward failure. 

A screwup at the initial stages of starting high school or university is fatal, and a failure near the very end or at a championship game will torture you into eternity. 

Only the successful will reassure you that it's okay to fail. Those who can't produce results can never say it, and people who aren't yet able to succeed must not believe in these honey-sweet words. 

It seemed Sagami herself could understand her failure on an emotional level, and she was paying close attention and digesting Miss Hiratsuka's words. 

And then she finally caught the point. 

"Does that mean…I should quit?" Sagami asked, bristling. 

Miss Hiratsuka smiled awkwardly. "That's not what I'm saying. You need to recover lost ground, so it'll make things that much harder. I want you to understand that." 

She was putting it delicately. Too delicately. 

Recovering from failure may not always be impossible, but it's not as simple as the older or the successful say, and in many cases, failure summons further failure. 

At this rate, Sagami would probably fall into a downward spiral. 

Miss Hiratsuka's direct gaze was like a test of her resolve, and Sagami flinched a little. "…Ah, um…," she began, then looked over at Yukinoshita. 

Maybe that meant she was searching for answers. But that was a big mistake on her part—specifically, she was seeking those from the wrong person. Look to someone who'll give you the answer you want. 

With the same neutral expression as always, but a tone quite a bit chillier than usual, Yukinoshita delivered a heavy blow to Sagami. "I wouldn't mind if you were to resign now. This wasn't something you wanted to do in the first place; you did it by our request. There's no need for you to force yourself to continue." "B-but—," Sagami started to protest. 

Yukinoshita cut her off. "I was the one who asked this of you, so I'll take responsibility." 

In other words, she would fulfill the responsibility of the appointment and carry out the work of the chair. It was a very realistic thing for her to say. Yukinoshita would most certainly pull off the job better than Sagami. That was clear based on what had happened with the cultural festival. 

This would fill the hole of responsibility left by Sagami. The problem that had been keeping Sagami in check was gone. The only question now was what Sagami wanted. 

Her voice grave, Miss Hiratsuka asked her to confirm her resolve. "What will you do, Sagami?" "I—I…" Her voice trembled. 

I think she wanted someone to stop her. She wanted us to talk her into staying. 

That way, she'd have an excuse to thrust her own responsibilities on someone else. Or more that she could maintain her self-respect by acting like she hadn't run away, that she'd made the decision herself but for our sake. 

But Yukino Yukinoshita would not allow that. 

She was taking a gamble. 

The Service Club was currently trying to fulfill the request of improving things in Class 2-F, and to that end, our goal was helping Minami Sagami regain her confidence to get rid of the negativity. And to accomplish that, we had to cut off Sagami's escape. 

If she ran away from this, then she would only be able to maintain her self-respect by trashing someone else. She'd have to make it someone else's fault. 

And if she did that, then Sagami would not have changed one bit, and neither would the mood in our class. In fact—it was possible the mood would get even worse for the sake of her pride. 

To prevent that, we needed to ensure Sagami would make the decision herself. We had to cut off her path of escape by making her declare that she would be chair of her own accord. 

"…" 

She didn't come up with an answer right away. 

That surprised me a little. 

There was actually no risk for her if she backed out now. If she turned someone of a lower rank in the class into a scapegoat, then she could maintain her reputation. When it came to Haruka and Yukko as well, they were nothing more than 'sup friends from another class; ending the relationship now wouldn't be a big hit to her. If she ran into them in school, she just had to give them a casual hi, as if she'd forgotten about everything. 

I figured the one concern for Sagami now was Hayama, if he was talked into this. And even then, she knew full well that Hayama would never speak badly of anyone, so her pride was safe. 

Personally, I thought this gamble had poor odds of success. 

But if Yukinoshita had made it, she had a chance. Yukino Yukinoshita was really competitive, so there was no way she'd jump into a losing game without a plan. 

Yukinoshita was closely watching every single move Sagami made, every single breath she took. 

Sagami let her eyes drift steadily downward under the scrutiny, but she peeked at Yukinoshita and met her eyes. 

"…If you're worried about what happens after, then your concerns are unnecessary. I don't mind if you leave it all to me." Yukinoshita struck, kicking her while she was down. 

She was pretending to be considerate, but her comment was really once again deeming Sagami's existence to be worthless. She'd all but said directly that there would be no obstacles to managing this event, whether Sagami was there or not. 

Sagami's cheeks moved just a bit. The corners of her mouth stiffened slightly into a fake smile that barely qualified as a smile at all. 

I get it—so this was Yukinoshita's plan, huh? 

She wasn't criticizing or disparaging Sagami in a concrete manner, but making Sagami realize herself what was behind those words— and then expecting her to rouse herself based on that. Yeah, I'd bet that was her goal. 

Sometimes your internal voice torturing yourself is a lot more painful to hear than criticism from other people. If someone tears you down, then you just have to give as good as you get. But if you realize yourself how much you suck and start attacking yourself, then you have no idea who to complain to. 

That method of cornering someone is harsh but honest. 

But the way Yukinoshita was doing it now was a little different. 

This motivational technique is one to use on someone who is internally motivated, someone who shows promise. It won't work on someone who's always blamed others. In fact, without any avenue of escape, she would give up. 

And Sagami really looked stricken. Her posture sagged, and even her eyes were falling closed. 

But Yukinoshita still did not relax her grip. She was ready to push even harder. "Sagami, you—" 

"Forget it, Yukinoshita." I cut her off. 

Yukinoshita looked over at me when I did, but I could tell she wasn't objecting. 

I turned away from Sagami and faced Yukinoshita instead. "It's not gonna end well if you keep going. If Sagami were going to change just because someone told her to, things wouldn't have gotten this way in the first place." 

You can give the greatest speech in the world, but it would only reach someone who would accept it. If one pithy remark could change someone's life, then the world would be a happy-happy joyjoy beautiful paradise. Anyone who achieves success from some wise sayings would have achieved that success anyway, no matter what the trigger was. 

Words have no inherent power. The question is whether the person who hears them is strong enough. 

And on that note, Sagami is definitely not. Oh, she's not the only one—a lot of people are like that. Like I'm a perfect example. 

After my interruption, the meeting room was silent again. 

That enabled me to hear this helpless-sounding voice like a mosquito's buzz. 

"…I'll do it." Her hollow voice sounded a little hoarse, as if it were struggling to escape her throat. The owner of that voice was glaring at her desk, and her fingers were scrunching her skirt so tightly, they were trembling. 

But nevertheless, Minami Sagami had answered. 

Miss Hiratsuka unfolded her arms and gently laid them on the desk. She breathed a deep, relieved sigh. "…I see. Well then, we'll ask you to continue handling it." 

But I couldn't be relieved. I was actually more anxious than before. How could Minami Sagami choose to continue as the chair? 

The Sagami I knew would never have hesitated to take any available escape route; she would even grab the thread of a spider if it were dangled in front of her. And neither Hayama nor the others from our class nor Sagami's hangers-on were even there. 

Those of us with her were all basically her enemies—certainly not her allies, at least. 

Meguri, who was the gentlest of us with Sagami, got up and went to stand beside her. "Meaning first, you've got to repair your relationship with those girls, huh?" 

"…Yeah, that's right…," Sagami muttered, not sounding confident. 

"I think if you talk about it, they'll understand," Meguri chided kindly with a clap on Sagami's shoulder. 

Miss Hiratsuka, watching their exchange, suddenly turned to face us instead. It seemed she'd judged she could leave Sagami to Meguri. "Assuming we leave the coordinating with the crew to Sagami…" 

"We'll be coordinating with the clubs. We have to put things in order before the next meeting and prepare to offer our explanation," Yukinoshita replied immediately, and Miss Hiratsuka nodded with satisfaction. At that, Yukinoshita took out a ballpoint pen and notebook. "I'll be the one to confirm all the clubs' tournament schedules and assign tasks to accommodate that…" 

As Yukinoshita swiftly made up her task list, Yuigahama slid back the chair beside her. "Then I'll contact the captains of the sports clubs. I basically know them all." 

"Yes, please do." Yukinoshita smiled at Yuigahama, who nodded with an affirmative noise. She seemed glad Yukinoshita was trusting her with that. 

"Also, we must look into how much we can reduce the labor necessary for the Chibattle…" Putting her pen to her chin, 

Yukinoshita considered for a moment. Then she slid her gaze over to me. "…We have one person here whose hands are free," she said. 

"Huh…? Uh, well, um…" That made me look down at my hands. Huh? Are my hands really so worthless? People wouldn't pay a single yen for them? This is exploitation. 

"Well then, you'll go discuss cutting costs for the Chibattle. The pole pull-down isn't as high effort, so it should be fine as is," Yukinoshita said, briskly advancing the discussion when I failed to answer. 

"You can tell me to discuss it, but it's not happening. Don't give me a job that involves communication. Guys like me are best suited to tasks like making artificial flowers in the corner of a dark room or putting the strawberries on top of cakes at a factory bakery." Or reading manga in the back room of a convenience store late at night, or returning magazines I don't like. I mean, I'm not suited to work in the first place. "They say 'The right person in the right place,' right?" I repeated the wonderful saying I'd brought up before at some point. 

But Yukinoshita was not listening. "Yes, and that's why. This is something only you can do, isn't it? Who else could communicate with that…Za, Zai…Zaitsu?" 

Yukinoshita was destroying me with logic and facts here. But learn his name already! 

"I don't really feel like I'm communicating with him, though… He doesn't listen at all, either." 

"Then just text him instead." And now Yuigahama was arguing me down. 

True, maybe we could have some decent exchanges through text. Plus, I wouldn't have to see his face, so all I had to do was write out what I wanted. 

But I hate texting. 

Being the one to send the first message kind of makes me feel like a loser, and I hate it. Why does this unwritten rule exist that with texting, the boy always has to be the one to start it? That stupid rule just raises a massive hurdle, and it hits real hard when you send the first message and then get no response. And that's why you'll never find a question mark in any of my texts post–middle school, okay? 

Well, this time it was Zaimokuza, so whatever. I don't have to be careful with him at all—in fact, he'll be okay even if I treat him like less than garbage, so that wasn't something I had to worry about. 

"…Well, I'll just get it done however," I replied reluctantly. 

Yukinoshita nodded. "Thank you." 

"Mm." 

Zaimokuza was used to his proposals getting shot down anyway. I'd rip him a new one and reject everything about him. 

With that, we'd established a system for the division of labor. 

Yukinoshita was on scheduling and shift coordination, Yuigahama was negotiating with the sports club captains, and I was going to discuss the cost cuts. I could call that a decent win. 

I didn't want to get an even greater workload. I should probably consider myself lucky that this was all I'd gotten. In fact, in terms of actual labor, mine would be the easiest. 

But was it okay to leave this much to the girls? 

Yuigahama especially would certainly have a large burden. It was quite clear that communicating with the sports clubs would be difficult when these seeds of conflict had been sown. So reducing that burden would be the duty—nay, the destiny of a capable man, a gifted loner elite—a Lolita, if you will. But I didn't know any club captains, so I couldn't help Yuiga— Aaahhhhhh, wait! I do, don't I?! I know a club captain! He's a real hell of a club captain, my Totsuka— whoops, I mean my acquaintance. I do know one! 

That's gonna trigger my conscience and sense of compassion. This is totally compassion here. 

I earnestly lined up excuses for myself. A very important step. 

Once I had finished the All-Hachiman Internal Debate Tournament, I cleared my throat as if a thought had just struck me that moment. "Ah, Yuigahama, if you like, I do happen to know Totsuka's number, so how about I contact him? I mean, if I'm already texting one person, might as well text another. And it's gonna be hard for you to contact all the clubs, right? Just as a side thing, so you totally don't have to worry about it." 

It's important to make excuses to others, too! 

But this just confused Yuigahama, and she waved her hands frantically. "Huh? It's fine, it's fine, sorry, I know his number, too. Leave it to me!" She made a pair of fists, then puffed out her chest to emphasize her reliability. After such a firm declaration, I couldn't quibble and fight it. Um, well, I didn't mean you were unreliable… 

And as the finisher, Yuigahama turned away slightly, then looked up at me a little bashfully. "But…um, thanks." 

"…You're welcome." Though I hadn't at all been trying to do her a favor, I was forced to reply with that. Agh, I'd lost my excuse for texting Totsuka. And even worse, it felt like my ulterior motives had been exposed. Ouch. 

As my conscience tormented me and brought my spirits low, Miss Hiratsuka opened her mouth. "Now you have a concrete plan, so let's leave it at that for today." She smoothly stood and said to Meguri, "Shiromeguri. I'll lock the door, so you can go home now." 

"Oh, okay!" Meguri had been talking to Sagami this whole time and answered with a raised hand. Then she gently patted Sagami's back, prompting her to get going home. "Go on, Sagami. We'll try again next week." 

"…Okay." Though her voice sounded weak, Sagami did reply, grabbing her bag. And then with Meguri accompanying her, she left the meeting room. 

The rest of us soon decided to follow her, and we all picked up our bags and headed for the door. The lights flickered out—Miss Hiratsuka must have flipped the switch. 

A voice came from the twilight at my back. 

"I'm putting even more on you kids again." I turned around to see Miss Hiratsuka standing in the rays of the slanting sun. The light was coming from behind her, so I couldn't see her expression, but her tone was gentler than usual. 

"Ohhh, it's totally okay, though. I'm having lots of fun." 

"And that's what our club does, after all." 

The replies came from a cheerful voice and then a more refined one. 

"You were the one who made me do all this in the first place." 

When I offered my monotone reply, Miss Hiratsuka smiled brightly. 

It seemed we were getting further into fall, as the empty entranceway felt even chillier. 

Three sets of footsteps echoed sparsely. One ticked out a regular, fixed rhythm, while another pattered in light hops, and the final pair scraped heavily across the floor. 

Stuffing her feet into loafers with crushed heels, Yuigahama took a step ahead of me and turned back. "It's a good thing Sagamin is staying chair, huh?" 

"I dunno. I feel like if she did quit, it'd be good for a lot of things, though," I replied, throwing down my shoes with a smack and then shoving my feet into them. 

Yukinoshita walked up quietly from behind. "I'm sure it would, if you were only considering the sports festival." 

"But then nothing'd change, huh?" Yuigahama gave a couple of nods. 

Well, that was true. A very reasonable point. 

The Service Club had accepted two requests: to make the sports festival a success and to improve Sagami's reputation, giving her confidence and improving the atmosphere in the class. 

It was true that this was a great opportunity to accomplish both requests at the same time. But fulfilling both of these particular requests at once would be a difficult problem. 

The bottleneck was Minami Sagami. We couldn't eliminate or control her. It was a gutsy move to convince her to stay on the pitching mound, given the situation. 

I flicked a doubtful look over toward Yukinoshita. "But that was a hell of a way to motivate her. If you push someone like that, normally they'll quit. If it had been me, I'd have left right there." That had been way beyond telling her, like, If you're not into it, then you can just leave. Isn't that what they call an abuse of power, or a power puff or something? Mm, the latter sounds wrong. 

Anyway, Yukinoshita is the type you don't want mentoring new employees. 

But Yukinoshita put her finger to her jaw, tilting her head. Then she declared nonchalantly, "Oh, but didn't I merely tell the truth?" 

"Yeah, it was the truth, but…" 

Yeah, yeah, of course it was the truth; you don't have to be Detective Conan to get that. 

But I'm told it's a new era now. When it comes to training new employees, people say stuff like Don't be too harsh and Don't yell at them. Going too far would have the opposite effect. 

I gave Yukinoshita a look of deep doubt, but she swept her hair off her shoulders and said carelessly, "…A mouse will bite a cat when it's cornered, won't it?" 

"…" 

Is this the way you nurture talent? You're not a cat—the way you tear into people is more like a lion or tiger or something, okay? 

A cornered mouse biting a cat is cute, and this is not cute. We're talking lions. She's bad enough that I could drop proverbs like "A lion will throw its own young into a bottomless ravine and kill it." "A lion will hunt a rabbit with all its might and kill it." "One must drive all the insects out of a lion's body to kill them." 

When I couldn't find a reply, Yuigahama laughed awkwardly and changed the subject. "…Ah-ha-ha. Uh, but, like, Sagamin really hates you, huh, Hikki?" 

"Heh, guess so." 

"You're proud of it?!" For some reason, Yuigahama was shocked. 

You just figured that out? I was fully aware of that long ago. And, like, if she liked me, I'm not sure how I'd feel about myself. You know, like with Hayama. 

And it's not as if Sagami's the only one who hates me anyway. 

"Actually, you know—never mind Sagami; most people hate me," I said. 

Yuigahama pondered awhile before she said, "That's not what I mean. I think insults from you bother her more than anything. I mean, when you told Yukinon to forget about it, she was really glaring daggers at you…" 

"Well, I guess that's true. If someone you think of as below you talks to you like they're above you, you're gonna want to kill them once or twice. Obviously." 

"Uh, I think murder's kinda extreme, though…" Yuigahama was a little exasperated. 

But people will kill over all sorts of stupid reasons, so let's take care not to invite an untimely death, shall we? Your speech in particular is something you should watch out for. 

Usually, who says something has greater weight than what is said. Even if the point is the same. The meaning will change greatly depending on the rank, title, or caste of the one saying it. 

That's exactly why those who are not bound by caste and those who have no further to fall can say whatever they want. Loners are allowed freedom of speech. On the other hand, speech is heavily regulated for those of the top caste. Suppression of speech in this day and age—what sort of totalitarian nation is this? Loners are seriously developed countries, you know? 

Ignoring how I'd convinced myself of my superiority to the top caste yet again, Yuigahama clapped her hands like she'd just realized something. "Oh, maybe that's why Sagamin's gotten motivated now?" 

"Huh?" I asked dumbly. Where did that come from? 

Yuigahama trotted over, coming up by Yukinoshita's side to examine her face. "Hey, Yukinon, did you say that stuff knowing Hikki'd stop you?" 

"…Perhaps, or perhaps not. I really couldn't say," Yukinoshita replied briefly, and then she briskly went on ahead. 

Yuigahama and I exchanged looks. Then she gave me a rather smug smile. 

Hey, don't go reading my game… 

The air of the twilight dyed the school building, fields, and everything in crimson. Maybe even my face, too. 

A breeze blew in from the open window. When the dead of night approached, the temperature dropped heavily, and in the distance, I could hear insects chirping. 

My hands paused over the book I was reading, and I headed to the living room. 

I still wasn't sleepy. The next day was the weekend. There was no school. I could sleep till noon. 

It'd be nice to have a cup of coffee and enjoy the long autumn night. 

Switching on the light in the living room, I headed for the sink in our kitchen peninsula, twisted on the faucet, and ran some water into the electric kettle. I stopped when I had enough, then briskly set it on the stand and waited awhile for it to boil. 

As I watched the electric kettle in the quiet kitchen, I thought back on that day. 

On Sagami. 

On Haruka and Yukko. 

With things like this, I really couldn't keep saying this wasn't my business. Since it was clear I couldn't avoid work here, now the issue would be how much I could reduce my own workload. 

My main task was to deal with Zaimokuza, but that was just for the time being. As the planning of the event moved forward, the miscellaneous work would pile up, and then those miscellaneous tasks would be tossed into my lap wholesale, although it was as yet unclear what the scope of that work would be. 

Judging from my experience with the cultural festival, I'd be touching on just about everything, wouldn't I? What the hell, I'm like the newest employee at another Exploitation, Inc. 

Depending on how Sagami performed, Yukinoshita would be loaded with more work, and then work would get passed to me. The important thing would be to keep Yukinoshita from wielding that discretion. 

Though I doubted I could manage that. 

As long as Sagami was the chair, the clear problem would remain, and that was exactly what we'd discussed in the meeting room after school. 

But no matter how hopeless she was, as long as she wanted to not be hopeless, then we could reach out to her. I think that's the ideal of the Service Club that Yukinoshita believes in. 

If you have the will, then we offer the way. The issue was how to present that. 

As I mulled over the situation, I heard the water boiling. 

Well, we'd have to see how Sagami behaved after the weekend, or we wouldn't be able to come up with countermeasures or anything. She and those girls might just nonchalantly resume their old superficial, friendly relationship… 

I dropped that thought there, then dumped a random amount of instant coffee into a mug. When I reached out to the electric kettle, suddenly the door opened timidly. 

"What's up, Bro?" 

Looking over, I saw Komachi with a headband that exposed the cold pack stuck on her forehead. It seemed she'd come out for a study break. Kamakura was yawning wide at her feet. 

"…Oh, I thought I'd have a coffee. You want some?" 

"Yeah!" Komachi answered instantly, then plopped down on the sofa. Kamakura hopped up beside her. 

I quickly poured her a coffee, sloshed in some milk and sugar, and carried it to the sofa. "Here." 

"Thanks." When I handed her the mug, Komachi blew on it to cool it, then put her lips to the rim. 

Watching her, I leaned against the counter. "How's your studying going? Good?" I asked, just meaning to make small talk. 

But Komachi sighed deeply. "Study…study…stud…y…" Her words broke off, and her body went still, as if her soul had just wafted out of her. Not good, then. 

Maybe there's no point saying this now, but Komachi is dumb. Nonetheless, she's shrewd and good at thinking on her feet. She's also tactful and cute, and she can do all kinds of chores, and she's good at cooking, too. Whoops! Not sure how I ended up bragging about my little sister instead. 

Anyway, if you consider who she is at her core, I think she knows how to study properly. The fact that it doesn't quite lead to good grades for her is an issue of effort and, more than that, an issue of efficiency. 

"Listen, Komachi. With entrance exams, you don't have to get full points on all subjects. You've got to take into account what you're good at and what you're not, plus your own potential, and then figure out how you'll deal with each subject, or you'll waste time." 

"Bro… Teach me your ways…" 

What is wrong with this girl? She was looking at me with hollow eyes while she moaned a low, pained urgh. She must have had people telling her this kind of stuff all the time, as she shook her head like she was shaking it off. 

Well, I didn't want to speak in such vague and abstract terms, either. If your advice isn't specific, you're basically going on about yourself. 

Now, I should narrow down my point to offer advice. "So what subject are you struggling with?" 

"Japanese…," Komachi said, shoulders listlessly drooping. 

"I've never struggled with Japanese, so I don't know how to study it." 

Maybe it's 'cause I've been reading all the time since I was little, but I've never struggled on Japanese tests. I can suss out the feelings of the authors in reading question texts, and I can even do the same for the ones who set the questions. Then you just memorize the kanji and classical Japanese vocab and grammar, and you're done… Since I'd always solved these problems with no issue, I couldn't understand what part of Japanese Komachi was stuck on or why she got stuck. Sorry your big bro is so competent. 

When I gave her a look that said, Anything else? Komachi raised her hand with an ohhh. "Social studies." 

"Just memorize it." 

Social studies is mostly memorization. Whether it's Japanese history, world history, geography, or civics, all you need to do is memorize. There are entrance exams to some high schools that have essay answers, but if you make sure to memorize those, too, then you'll have no problem writing them. 

When I gave her a look that said, Is there any more? Komachi raised her hand yet again. "Science." "That's also memorization." 

If you're talking science in general, physics and chemistry will first come to mind, and there's a tendency to lump it in with math, but I can say definitively that the sciences in high school entrance exams are memorization subjects. It's true that there are problems you use math for, like with springs or the tilt of stars, or when they want the mass of compounds, but that's only ever tested at a very, very elementary level. As long as you memorize how to derive it, you just have to mechanically plug in the values. 

All right, so assuming we just give up on Japanese, now there's no problem with those two subjects, I thought, looking over at Komachi, but she wouldn't look me in the eye. H-huh? What's wrong, dear sister? 

And then, with a somehow resigned sigh, Komachi muttered, "…English." 

"Memorization again." 

For the English on high school entrance exams, you just have to memorize all the vocab and idioms and grammar, and you're basically okay. It's an awful way to study, but you'll ace entrance exams like that, unfortunately. It's pretty weird for school education to be like that. You'll never be able to speak English when you learn it like this—seriously, you can't expect to hold a conversation with foreigners. I can't even hold a real conversation with Japanese people, and it's my native language. What does the Ministry of Culture think about that? 

Komachi wasn't listening to me anymore. She was just fooling with Kamakura, poking him in the forehead. 

"Um, Komachi?" 

"Oh, you're done? Then next is math," she asked me in a rather offhand manner. 

However, despite all my peerless accomplishments thus far, this was the one thing I didn't have a good answer for. "…Math, huh? I can't help you there." 

That 9 percent in math and bottom rank in my year aren't just for show here. And, like, what's up with the word mathematics? Doesn't it kinda sound like masochistic? 

"You're useless…huh, Kaa?" Komachi said as she petted Kamakura, and the cat huffed. 

USE—LESS?! 

Here I was trying to help her out a bit, and this is the thanks I get. And she was giving me this rather unimpressed look, too… 

"Well, this is you, Bro, so Komachi knew that… It's okay—Komachi doesn't mind that you're just being nice without actually helping. And that was worth a lot of Komachi points," she said kindly, with a look of pity and affection, adding in some points just as a part of the flow. Although I do think it would have been cute without the points, even her shrewd calculating is charming to me these days, unfortunately. 

Taking Kamakura in her arms, that cute little Komachi turned to me. "But, like, I'm impressed you got into Soubu when your math is a mess." 

"Yeah, you have a point…" 

In middle school, I devoted a fair amount of time to studying math, but I've never been any good at it. Once I got into high school and realized that humanities university looked easy, I immediately stopped bothering with it. For regular tests, they'll let you move on to the next grade if you just do retests and take extra lessons, after all. 

If I need to do it, I'll do it, and if I don't need to, then I won't. 

People are all like that. Life is just a constant stream of unpleasantries, and therefore, being alive is unpleasant, but you can't just give up on living. 

So then how to deal with it? How to smoothly sidestep the unpleasantries? If you consider what you have to do to accomplish that goal, the answer emerges on its own. And studying methods are just the same thing. 

Basically, that was the way I approached dealing with math. 

"You know, there's a way to do things even when you're struggling," 

I said. 

And now Komachi eagerly scooted up to my side. "Ohhh, do tell." 

Despite her question, though, it wasn't that big of a deal… Well, whatever. 

This was really the basics of the basics, the elementary of the elementary, but maybe when you're really stuck, going back to the basics is a part of the process. 

I figured I'd give her a brief explanation. "There's no point in forcing yourself to do something you don't understand. The major problems, you just sort of tackle based on intuition, while you answer the other stuff perfectly. Long story short, you abandon some of the questions. The success rate for difficult problems is lower than the rest, so you skip them and eliminate errors in the places where you can manage. That's basically it." 

To resign yourself from square one: That's the key. 

But still, this sort of methodology is something you absorb from taking tests normally, and, well, consciously adopting that strategy might be somewhat effective. 

I thought this was pretty standard advice, but when I looked at Komachi, she smiled and softly, dramatically wiped away fake tears. "Bro, that's the sort of advice Komachi wanted from the start…" If she was pretending to cry, that must mean she accepted it. Well, if something like that would solve her concerns, that was fine. 

My long speech had dried out my throat, so I moistened it with coffee. In that same moment, Komachi also brought her cup to her lips. 

Then she lifted her face and glanced at me. "But you should still be doing it properly now, though." 

That was indeed a very reasonable view. Someone who doesn't practice what they preach won't sound very convincing. 

But the world has many things that can't be resolved or explained with logic. 

So I just said one thing: "I…abandoned my future in math…" 

"The way you said that was so cool! It's like you gave up on your dreams!" Komachi's eyes were sparkling. 

"Right? It's like I abandoned baseball because of an injury but couldn't leave it behind entirely, and I'll eventually come back to the diamond, right?" 

"Yeah, it's about as cool as, like, if your right arm's broken, then you go with your left, and if that's broken, you switch to batter!" 

Oh, really, it was that cool? That's major-league coolness, huh? 

"Ha-ha-ha!" 

"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" 

Komachi and I both laughed… What's with this eccentric family? 

Maybe it was the late-night excitement talking, but both of us were laughing over the dumbest stuff. And then the way things suddenly got quiet after that passed was also particular to the late hour. 

Our laughter faded, and Komachi and I both drank our coffee in silence. 

"That reminds me, what about getting a recommendation?" I asked her. "Weren't you on the student council?" I didn't know exactly where Komachi's scholastic abilities were at this point, but based on her typical test scores, she was far from getting in. Wondering if there wasn't some other way, I hit on something: I seemed to recall Komachi had been on student council. I think she'd said something to that effect in the car on the way to camp during summer vacation. 

And being on student council would be a pretty juicy position, what with the favor from teachers and recommendations for schools. I mean, like, it seems to me about half the people on student council in middle school are after that. The other half of them have this aspiration because of manga or anime, and then when they actually try it, they get disappointed that the experience is nothing like what they expected. 

"You're an idiot, so wouldn't it be better for you to get recommendations and stuff rather than betting it on the one shot of victory in exams?" I said. 

Komachi smiled boldly. "Heh-heh-heh. Bro… Komachi is an idiot, so she gets bad grades at school, you know?" 

Why the heck does she sound so proud…? I thought, exasperated. 

Komachi must have hurt herself by saying that out loud, as she clutched her chest with a moan. "So I don't have the grades for it…" And then she broke down sobbing. 

Uh, you brought that on yourself. And you were already after the recommendation, huh…? 

But the Hikigaya way is to not look back on the past and mope. I've abandoned much of my own past, too. Of course, Komachi being the Ultimate Communication Weapon of the Hikigaya household, she's also certainly inherited that trait. 

Snapping her head up, with a nonchalant look as if nothing had happened, she continued talking totally normal. "You did good on regular tests, too, Bro—you should have tried to get a recommendation." 

"Heh, you fool. I had a bad attitude in class, and the teachers don't like me. So I never even considered it." For some reason, I said that triumphantly, too. It seemed that some of the mysterious late-night energy was still lingering inside me. 

Komachi nod-nodded. "Hmmmm, I see," she murmured, as if this convinced her. 

Hmm, I dunno about that attitude, though? Big Bro might be feeling a little hurt. 

But of course she would accept this. That stuff about my attitude in class and teachers' impressions of me went without saying, but I was also terrible outside of the core classes. Even if I scraped by on tests for the five main subjects, for the rest of them—gym, art, music, shop, and home economics—that wouldn't work. It's a totally evil system where the teachers' pets win. And then when those teachers are the advisors for specific clubs, they'll blatantly favor club members and be super-lenient in their assessment of cute girls and students they like. I was not enough of a devil survivor to survive that sort of environment, so I'd wound up basically abandoning all four of those subjects, too. 

There was also the fact that Soubu High School was a prep school for university, and if you wanted to get in through recommendation, your total for all nine subjects needed to be at least 40. If you got a 5 in all nine, that's 45, so it's a pretty high bar. 

Well, I'd never even considered getting a recommendation. Rather than conducting yourself flawlessly for two and a half years and worrying about the numbers on your report card, it's more efficient to kill yourself studying for half a year. 

I learned that just as art quality is not what makes or breaks an anime, the numbers on a report card can only do so much against entrance exams! 

Basically, the destination is more important than the journey. 

"Well, you just have to get the points on the exam. Do your best." She was a little far away for a shoulder pat, so I lightly raised my mug. 

Komachi responded with a slight raise of her own mug. "Yeah, Komachi will." 

I was saying some pretty stupid stuff, but if this could get her even a little bit more motivated, then that would be enough… 

Well, I guess I'll lie around awhile and read until I fall asleep. I tossed back the rest of my coffee, then circled around to the kitchen to leave my mug in the sink. "Then I'm going to b—" 

The instant I started to speak, Komachi shot up. "Yeaaah! Komachi's going for it, Bro!" 

"Huh? To do what?" A night battle? Is it a night battle? Big Bro was planning to go to bed now, though… 

As if to say Sheesh, you kids, Kamakura yawned, then stretched wide and left the living room. 

The table was piled with reference books and problem collections from past exams. The short hand on the clock had already passed the top, but it seemed Komachi still planned to keep studying. 

There was a set of study tools here that she'd brought all the way from her room. Eyeing them, I poured my second cup of coffee that night. 

Komachi was looking like she'd hit peak motivation, gripping her mechanical pencil tight. "Bro, Komachi realized. Like with that math test before, there really is a way to study." 

"Oh-ho, that's some serious progress." In fact, I wondered why she'd never grasped that until now, but maybe everyone was this way. After all, at school we learn the subjects, but we don't necessarily learn stuff like how to study or how to take notes. Maybe, when everyone's all taking the same classes, it's this discovery that separates the wheat from the chaff. 

So now Komachi had reached the trial-and-error stage. 

"There's actually a way to memorize things, too, isn't there?" she asked. 

I thought back on my study methods. Yeah, I had an idea as to that. But some people might find my idea kind of creepy, so I really didn't want to say it… 

"Well, there is, but it's tailored for me. I don't know if that style will work for you, too." 

"No, it will!" She could declare that with full confidence, for some reason. 

Though I'd waffled a little and given her an ambiguous answer, if she was gonna be like that, I couldn't keep it from her. When she looked straight at me with those sparkling eyes full of hope, I just had to tell her… "The way you do it…is through association." "Be specific!" she demanded. 

O-okay… What are you, my boss? If I'm gonna explain stuff or do a presentation, I have to think it through first, or I can't explain myself… 

I picked up a nearby history book and flipped through it. "Okay… For example, world history, here." I opened it to a section on modern history. 

Sliding her chair over, Komachi came up beside me. She was near enough that our elbows touched, and her face was super-close. She's kinda in the way, and it makes it hard to explain this… But it's fine. 

"With history, you learn it as a course of events." 

"Ohhh, a course of events, huh?" Komachi repeated the words like she didn't really understand them. People often say to remember things that way, but they don't explain in detail how specifically to do it, so maybe the concept is difficult to grasp. 

I cleared my throat with a hmm. Once my voice was ready, I began speaking in a smooth, low tone. "Once, a long time ago, there lived Ms. America and Ms. USSR…" 

"Huh? Wait, what's this about, Bro?" Komachi stared at me as she jerked away in abject horror. She even pushed her chair away. She was recoiling so hard, I could hear her thoughts: Where's this coming from? Ew. 

You jerk… I'm trying to explain this for you… "Just shut up and listen. I'm telling you how to remember stuff." 

"O-okay…" Komachi stretched her back, then turned to me with a serious look. But she didn't scoot up to me again, making her big bro a little sad. 

Attempting to smother my sadness, I continued in a tearful voice. "Ms. USSR is levelheaded and beautiful, while Ms. America is highenergy and cute. And they're both bitches." 

"They are?" 

"Indeed," I declared, but, well, I was just assigning them character traits, so it didn't really matter. If I'm erased by the CIA or the KGB, then you can assume this statement was the cause. 

The point was the story these two bitches wove together—what came next. 

"The two of them were in the same class, and rivals competing to be the most popular. They both wanted to be on top, so they had spats every so often." 

"That stuff's pretty common…" 

It's common, huh…? Girls are so scary. I'd meant to hide my shock, but my voice may have shaken a bit as I spoke. "…I guess. But if they were to be openly antagonistic to one another, people would notice—well, let's say boys would notice. So that made things difficult. So Ms. USSR and Ms. America have a sophisticated information war, harass each other a bit, and, like, they create cliques to battle each other, basically." 

"Information war and harassment…," Komachi murmured with deep emotion. 

"That's right. They were saying things like I hear that girl is dating that college boy at her work or She wouldn't say hi to me or Nanoha's sold out. Stuff like that." 

"Yeah, you see that a lot…" 

That's common, too? Enough, I'm not gonna think about what kids in Komachi's class are talking about. Concentrate on the explanation, come on. 

"That was a conflict between communist and capitalist nations, what's called the Cold War." 

It seemed that term was familiar to her, as she nodded. If she was getting it so far, then it should be okay to move to the next part. "So as they're having this dispute, Ms. USSR and Ms. America both hold big secrets that could lead to each other's destruction. They both have a hold on each other's weaknesses. What do you think happens?" 

"They can't just mess with each other…" 

"That's right. She might be able to destroy her enemy, but then the inevitable retaliation would cripple her beyond any hope of recovery. If that were to happen, there's a very real possibility the class would fall apart. In real life, those secrets were nuclear bombs and stuff." 

When both parties have a grasp on a means to destroy the other and are clearly aware of that, it's called mutually assured destruction. 

"That's basically it." 

"Ohhh… I feel like I get it, but also I kinda don't." 

Though I'd finished my little speech on the Cold War, Komachi's reaction wasn't the greatest. But the important thing here wasn't what the Cold War was about—the issue was how she would remember things. 

"Well, I just explained it in a really basic way. You can anthropomorphize things or whatever, but for history, just remember it as a kind of story. The way you memorize things is to create a framework for it, then flesh it out with details. Just trying to remember a bunch of words isn't very efficient." 

If you learn it like this, then you can even explain things for essay responses, and you can just bang out answers one after another. That's my recommended study method. Although there's no one but Komachi for me to recommend it to. 

Komachi's mouth was open like Huhhh, but it seemed my wisdom was gradually sinking in, and she gave me a little nod. "So basically, you novelize your textbook!" 

"That's the gist. But my way isn't the only right way, so you should figure out what works for you." 

Upon finishing my explanation, I yawned, thinking I'd be able to go to my room and lie down this time for sure. But through my watering eyes, I could see a blurry Komachi going straight to scribbling something down with her pen. 

"Well," I said, "I guess I'll stick around for a little longer." 

The sound of her mechanical pencil running across paper rang through the quiet room. Pages turned, her eraser rubbed, and occasionally there was the squeak of a marker's cap twisting off. 

"Will Komachi get in…?" she asked, hands never stopping. 

"Dunno… But I hope you do." 

It wasn't an answer to her question. It was just a hope. 

Even if she did go to the same school as me, I doubt she'd bother involving herself with me there—that was how it had been in elementary and middle school. I'm not the kind of family Komachi can brag about. I might brag about my little sister, but she couldn't brag about me to anyone. 

There's no advantage or necessity to us going to the same high school, but if that's what Komachi wants, then so be it. 

Komachi's hand paused in her writing, and she looked up from her notebook. Her eyes appeared to be focused on something looming in the near future. "…Yeah. There's stuff I wanna do, too." "Stuff you wanna do? Like clubs and stuff?" I asked. 

Komachi paused, momentarily considering. "Hmm… Well, more or less." 

"What club are you gonna join?" I asked. 

It seemed she wasn't going to tell me, though. "Tee-hee, that's a secret," she said, winking with her pointer finger up. It was an irritatingly cute gesture. 

But no matter what club she would join, there was something I should tell her, just in case. "Just don't join the Service Club. We don't even know how long it's gonna last." 

"Huh? Really?" Komachi stared at me with surprise. Her smile and lighthearted cheer faded. 

All that remained was the midnight quiet. 

I took a swig of coffee to wash down whatever had caught in my throat. Once it was safely contained, I opened my mouth. "I don't even know how long I'm gonna be in it, and the same goes for Yuigahama. I don't know about Yukinoshita, though… So if something happens, I'm sure it'll just evaporate." 

The club had only three people. And we were already in our second year. Unlike with sports clubs, there was no clear retirement period, but that time could only exist until we graduated. And time isn't the only reason those relationships could crumble. 

Komachi reached out for her coffee and took a drink. Then she made a bitter expression. "Bro…what do you mean, 'something'?" "…I dunno." I smiled and dodged the question. 

I think I'd already realized it. I was well aware of it. 

Yukino Yukinoshita, Hachiman Hikigaya, Yui Yuigahama—the club composed of just these three people would eventually come to an end. With our different positions, environments, and personalities, our relationships would eventually fall apart. 

This wasn't a phenomenon limited to just us three; the connections between people are fundamentally fragile. Probably far more fragile than I feel they are. 

Before I knew it, my gaze had dropped to my coffee. The surface of the black liquid wobbled with unsteady ripples, reflecting an even darker pair of eyes. 

"Bro?" Komachi said. 

I answered automatically. "I'm listening. So what'd you say?" 

"No you're not…," she said, exasperated. However, she quickly energized herself again, gripping her mechanical pencil tight. "It's like, you know, Komachi has to do her best and get into Soubu!" 

"Well, whatever. Do your best." Suppressing the smile that threatened to slip out, I drank the contents of my mug. 

5. Based on the aforementioned, Hachiman Hikigaya has a hunch. 

There were more people around than usual in the classroom at lunch. Those who'd gone out to buy their lunches were all filtering back into the room, too. I was one of those people. 

I pulled my pastries from their paper bags and spread them out on my desk. Normally, I'd eat my lunch someplace I could feel free and at ease, but not today. 

Water streaked along the window, raindrops hitting the veranda railing. 

It had started raining that morning, and it neither grew heavier nor petered out—it just kept drizzling steadily down. Watching the halfassed shower made me feel kind of cold. 

But inside the classroom was even more bleak. 

At the front of the classroom, the air was so heavy, you might think the rain had blown in. It looked like another showing of The Tragedy of Sagamin was open to rave reviews. With a seat in the front half of the classroom, I got a good view. 

It seemed there was a new show on the program: My Crush Suddenly Asked Me to, So I Wound Up Sports Festival Committee Chair, and There's Some Obnoxious People, and They Were Saying Stuff About Me Again, You Know. That's a long title. How do you abbreviate that? 

There was Sagami with a particularly morose expression, and sitting opposite her was some girl from our class, and then there was one other girl who was standing at her side with concern. 

"They wouldn't come out and say it, but they basically told me to just quit…" 

"What? That's pretty mean." 

I could feel them glancing over at me just for an instant. C'mon, don't steal glances at me, or I'll think you have a crush on me. 

The capacity to detect looks of derision and scorn comes standard for loners. Loners are essentially those who make the world the enemy; for them, daily life itself a battlefield. Therefore, they gain such skills to protect their own life and spirit. It's just like how a master can sense the presence of another or nearby hostile intent. Or I guess it's a little different. Yeah, it's different. 

If you know it's coming, then you can break the fall. It was just like the rain falling outside right at that moment. If you know it's raining, you can bring an umbrella. Although you'll get wet whether or not you have one. 

"I wasn't doing a very good job handling things, though, so it's my fault. But, like…" 

"Nooo, that's not true! The one at fault here is…" 

The Sagamin low-pressure front—otherwise known as a depression—continued to whip around and gather force. Its damage was spreading to other regions as well, attacking passersby. 

"Ohhh man, this rain sucks! Everything was dripping wet in front of the school store." 

The one to get caught there was Tobe. It seemed he'd lost some game and been made to go buy everyone lunch, as his arms were full 

of pastries. When he came strolling in from the front of the classroom in his usual flippant manner, he was caught in the indoor cyclone. 

"Oh, hey, Tobe, did you hear about what happened?" 

"Huh? What, what, what happened?" The paper bags in his arms crinkled as Tobe perked up his ears. 

The girl quietly leaned in close to Tobe. 

…Huh? She's blushing a little—it's not that she actually has a crush on him or something really dumb like that, is it? Damn you, Tobe… 

As I was glaring at him with murderous eyes, Tobe jerked back and smacked himself in the forehead. "Whoa! Geez, figures. Hikitani's nuts, for real!" 

"H-hey! Tobe, you're too loud…" 

I'd thought for sure this would lead to the sudden start of the Tobe Love Story theatrical release, but such concerns of mine were clearly misplaced, and the subject was me after all. I'm the center of conversation here? Damn, I'm so popular. 

"Man, that's wild. I mean, Hikitani can be like that, though. Like, just a while ago…" 

Ugh, and now they've dug up that old stuff again… Stop talking about the same stuff over and over again… Well, if you pull something once, people will keep bringing it up forever, and you just gotta deal. But if you talk about the same thing too many times, then you might find your own social status dropping, you know? 

It looked like Tobe was ready to jump right into that conversation as he dropped the bags of pastries on the desk. 

…Is that okay? Didn't your friends ask you to go buy those? I wondered, and I was soon proven right by the click-click ing sound of nails tapping on a desk. A high-pressure system was heading directly for the center of this cyclone. 

Glancing behind me, I saw Miura was irritated. Deep in the slight glare of her eyes, I thought I could see a blazing flame. You're really scary, man… 

"H-heeey! Tobecchi, hurry, hurry!" Yuigahama beckoned him, sensing that Miura was in a mood. 

Noticing that, Tobe waved back at her. "Oh, coming! …Sorry, they're calling for me, so I've gotta go," he said, and the depression clique easily released Tobe. 

"Oh, okay." 

Maybe they didn't care about speaking to Tobe, and anyone would do. Or was she keeping her mouth shut because she could see Miura behind him? Well, it could be either, which got Miura even more irritated. 

"Sorry!" Tobe said, setting up all the pastries, and Hayama and their group were all like, Oh, hey, thanks, nice, while Miura was narrowing her eyes in displeasure. 

"That took a while," she said without trying to hide her ill humor, but in the process of choosing her snack, her mood improved somewhat. She picked up a chocolate cornet and chuckled triumphantly. Maybe she was just hungry? 

But I couldn't be looking off elsewhere forever. I mean, Yuigahama kinda seemed concerned and was glancing over at me. 

Guess I'll eat my stuff quick and hole up in the library. 

When I exited the classroom that lunch break, the hallway was bustling. 

It was noisier than usual, maybe because people couldn't go outside like they wanted. Nobody was gonna play tag in the halls, of course (although we did have a contingent of idiots who might get carried away), but the kids coming and going from the classrooms were energetic. 

Every time I passed the doorway of a second-year classroom, I could sense eyes following me. Together with the humidity, the barely withheld snickers as I passed were the most uncomfortable thing. 

It seems there's a tendency for students in this school to erroneously believe that once you've met with criticism one time, they're allowed to bash you openly. Standing out is bad, and when bad stands out, it's their duty to target you. 

The important thing here is not to cater to or give into it. As long as you don't acknowledge a loss, then it isn't a loss, and if you don't make a problem a problem, then it won't be one. The very moment you acknowledge defeat is when you get hit the hardest. Thanks to a prevalent belief that justice prevails, those who lose will be branded as bad—and you can attack bad as much as you like. 

That's the rule of school society. 

You may attack those of low status, the failures, the loathed. That's how school is—you're constantly being judged. All are plaintiffs and all are accused. The prosecution, defense, and jury are all the same group. And the judge who makes the verdict is also the masses. Ultimately, we are continuously tied by the concept of "everyone." I doubt the day will ever come when we're freed from that. 

The normie tendency to gleefully hang out with others may actually be a countermeasure to avoid that judgment. I've come to suspect that's a precautionary measure taken to prevent people from talking bad about them behind their backs. 

While ignoring the eyes following me and occasionally returning glares to intimidate them, I arrived at the first-floor vending machines. Before going to the library, I had to buy a postprandial coffee. 

My hand was going straight for the button when I heard light footsteps from behind. It seemed someone else, like me, had come to buy a drink. 

I took the Max can from the machine and quickly moved out of the way. I know I'm good at not getting in the way. 

But I didn't hear the footsteps come forward. 

What, are they afraid to even come a step closer to me? I wondered, and I turned around. 

Whereupon I saw the one in question, Hayato Hayama, smiling uncomfortably. 

He nodded casually at me as if just checking that I wasn't going to say anything, then went for the vending machine. His fingers hesitated on which to pick before buying a black coffee. Oh, he's buying a coffee that's not MAX in front of me—is he picking a fight? 

He popped open the tab with a spritz, and even what he said next was kind of inflammatory. "…Sounds like things aren't going very well." 

"Huh?" 

That statement was on a vague line between trying to start a fight and admonishing me, but if you knew how much he tries to avoid conflict, you could tell this was sincere concern. He was probably talking about the sports festival. He'd roped Sagami into this for us, so it wouldn't be strange for him to be aware of what was going on. "People always fight when you put them in a group." 

This was something that I—No, I think Hayama would probably recognize this maxim, too. With impromptu groups like these committees in particular, it was less common for everyone to be all buddy-buddy. The more people you have, the more quarrels you get. 

And I told Hayama as much with a slight hint of mockery for bringing it up this late in the game. He didn't smile. "That's not what I mean. I mean with the class." 

I'd thought for sure he was talking about the Sports Festival Committee, but it seemed not. By "with the class," did that mean he was talking about Sagami? Was he concerned about her, like Miura was? 

Not that it made a difference. 

"The answer's still the same." 

That ultimately didn't change the root of the problem. Essentially, the only point was whether she could get along with people. 

Relationships are a pain in the ass, after all. Whether that's in the macro or the micro, it makes no big difference in what you do. 

This is why I could say the same thing for both cases. 

"Once things go sour, you can never go back," I said. 

He didn't seem satisfied by my answer. Instead of raising his open can of coffee to his lips, he just gave me this accusatory look. "…You think?" 

"Yeah, I do," I said flatly. I was turning around to go back to the classroom when I heard his voice from behind. 

"I'm sorry about the sports festival." 

"What?" 

I turned to see Hayama's gaze slightly lowered. "This is happening because I recommended Sagami without thinking it through…" 

"Oh, we'd already decided to make her do it anyway. Even if we hadn't asked you, we'd have found a way. You actually helped us by saving us trouble. So it's got nothing to do with you, really." Intervening in anything he sees that resembles a quarrel is kind of Hayato Hayama's nature. We'd made use of it, and now here we were. That's it. It didn't make sense for him to apologize to me. 

"But I agreed to do it. If there's something I can help with, I will, so let me know." 

"O-okay…" 

But despite his offer, this would need more than "something." 

Or so I was about to say, but Hayama picked up on that and offered a charming smile. "I've heard some things from my club." Uh-huh, so it's already gotten spread around, huh? 

But this was a more serious blow than I'd thought. 

Perhaps due to the character of its captain, the soccer club was on the gentler side. And even the soccer club, led by the absolute charisma that is Hayama, was in a bad place. 

So things would be even worse in the other clubs. They could well become even more uncooperative from here on out. Talking behind someone's back both engenders a sense of unity and solidifies opinions so that people persist in them more stubbornly. By gaining agreement and consensus, it entrenches them. 

One option here would be to pull the Hayama card. 

By winning over influencers like Hayama and the soccer club, we could manage the sports festival without a hitch. 

But that might help further Hayama's reputation, not Sagami's. It would bring about the same results as Yukinoshita righting the ship during the cultural festival as the de facto chair… Still, Sagami herself would probably be glad to have Hayama helping her. 

But that would upset Miura even more, and then if Sagami backed away in deference to Miura, the class atmosphere would sink into a deflationary spiral. If it turned into a standoff instead, that'd be a pain, too… 

No, hold on here. I could be certain the committee would dislike Sagami even more if she got help from Hayama, so it was very plausible they'd oppose us even harder… 

Both Hayama and Yukinoshita were certainly wild cards, but hard to use. This time, we had to move around the pawns, keeping Sagami at the center. 

While I was working out simulations of people's actions like a chess problem, I heard a confused-sounding voice. 

"Is something wrong?" Hayama shot me a questioning look at my sudden silence. 

"Oh, no… Well, you know. I bet it'll be fine, so you don't need to worry." 

"…All right." 

"I'll let you know if anything comes up. See you," I declared, then spun around to go. 

Hayama seemed like he still wanted to say something, but he realized I wasn't going to listen. Instead, he silently raised a hand. 

I strode swiftly down the hall. 

Hayama was an excellent trump card against Sagami and also against the crew of the committee, but I couldn't use him on both parties simultaneously. Now that Sagami and the crew were in opposition, you couldn't make use of Hayama's peacekeeping skills for both sides. In fact, it would sow new seeds of conflict. 

First, I had to do something about the conflict between Sagami and the crew. 

And to that end, I'd decided on the move I would make at the meeting that day. I considered myself basically prepared. 

But even so… 

Once things go sour, you can never go back. 

My own words stuck like a knot in my chest. 

Every set of footsteps coming into the meeting room was heavy. 

Considering where we were when we'd ended the last time, that was no surprise. One day isn't going to erase that discomfort—in fact, you'd still be distilling it in your own head. 

That meant the participation rate was slightly lower than the day before, and there were a lot of people who came in just barely on time, or late. 

Accordingly, the meeting started five minutes behind schedule. 

Meguri, who'd been staring intently at the door the whole time, glanced over at the clock. "Sagami, I think we could get started about now…but do you have a minute, first?" 

"…Yeah," Sagami replied, but she didn't quite get up. 

"I-I'll go with you…" Yuigahama started to get up, perhaps to prompt her, but Yukinoshita grabbed her hand to keep her here. Yuigahama reluctantly sat back down again. 

That was for the best. 

What Sagami was about to do was an act of ritual purification. No one else should be getting involved. The shame of being seen during this would be unbearable for Sagami. 

Sagami blew out a deep, deep sigh, then stood with resolve. If she waited any longer, then one of us would wind up being witness to it. I'm sure she wanted to avoid that. Her pride—or maybe her vanity— was a quiet thing. 

Her steps were fast, considering how slowly she'd stood up. She headed for the back of the meeting room, where the central figures of the crew were sitting. 

There were the aforementioned Haruka and Yukko. 

They shot Sagami looks as she walked up to them. Were those looks of contempt, or scorn? Or maybe just curiosity. 

Sagami was going to tell them the reason she'd come here. 

"Um, do you have a minute?" When she addressed Haruka and Yukko, the two of them looked at one another. After an instantaneous conference via eye contact, they both looked up at Sagami. 

"Sure, but…now?" 

"We can't do it later?" they asked back at her. 

Highly aware of all the people around her, Sagami took a steady breath. "…Now would be best," she said, and this time, the girls answered without sharing a glance. 

"Then…go ahead." 

"The meeting's about to start, so we can talk here, right?" 

When the girl smoothly added a condition, Sagami's words caught in her throat. "…Huh?" 

A ripple of nearly inaudible snickers escaped from Haruka and Yukko's group of friends. 

Meanwhile, the others in the meeting room deliberately maintained silence. They just listened closely, without saying a word. 

This was her purification ritual—and her punishment. 

With all eyes watching, blushing to her ears with shame, Sagami's shoulders trembled slightly. 

But nevertheless, she managed to put one word after another. "Um, I'm sorry… I wanted things to be fun, so I wasn't thinking about anything else…," she apologized. 

Haruka and Yukko, plus everyone else, listened in silence to her fragile voice. 

This was verging on public shaming. 

But someone who stands in an exposed position will be the target. It's the rule of society that when something bad happens, it's okay to attack and grind down and sneer at the person who occupies the top position. Hence the demand for Sagami to talk here. 

Had Sagami's apology satisfied their desire? 

Haruka or Yukko (I don't know which) awkwardly fiddled with her hands a bit as she opened her mouth. "…It's fine. We weren't thinking about anything but our club, so we were at fault, too." 

The crowd from the sports clubs seemed to be on the same page. 

They were quiet, but there were a few distinct yeahs and uh-huhs. 

Maybe Sagami heard that, as her words gradually evened out. "Yeah…um, so… I really do want to make this a good time, and I want to work hard at it. So it'd help a bunch if you could work with me… Oh, of course, I'll try to make sure we don't overburden the clubs," she said, firmly raising her chin. In response, the crew members averted their eyes just slightly instead. 

But nevertheless, her intent reached them enough to earn her a reply. 

"…Yeah, we'll do what we can, too." 

"Thanks. I'll be counting on you." Sagami bobbed her head, and that seemed to end the conversation, as she turned around and came back to us. 

Meguri breathed a sigh of relief as she watched the situation come to a close. "That's that, then." She turned back to me with a bright smile, and it kept me from doing anything but nod. 

"…Yeah." But as the word rose in my throat, I had to choke down an uneasy discomfort like a little fish bone stuck in my chest. 

If you were just looking at the surface, then it had indeed been wrapped up. In terms of the formal protocol, it was easy to assume this was resolved. 

But if you looked a little deeper, a number of things came into view. 

This is a bad habit of mine. 

What Sagami had said sounded like an attempt to save herself and even blaming them by showing how her position was justified, while Haruka's and Yukko's apologies just sounded like a formality with no actual promises made, using their club activities as a shield. 

It was awful to picture. 

However, assuming the worst of a situation usually means you're right. I'm right so often that occasionally I get deluded into thinking I have the power to see the future. 

As I sincerely prayed to be wrong for once, I quietly waited for the meeting to start. 

After waiting for the arrival of latecomers, the meeting began. 

Under the watchful eye of Miss Hiratsuka, the first to open her mouth was Meguri. With what had just happened, maybe she felt uneasy about suddenly leaving it to Sagami. 

"All right, then let's begin the meeting. First, we've come up with an improved plan since the other day. Yukinoshita, can I ask you to give us the rundown?" she said, and Yukinoshita stood. 

"Of course." Yukinoshita glanced over at the others of the student council, and then they swooped into action. It seemed that, at some point, they'd become absolutely obedient to her. 

The student council gave everyone printouts. Yukinoshita, with those same printouts in hand, began to explain. "Concerning scheduling with clubs, we've created a rotation of shifts from now until the day of the event. We have taken all the club tournaments into account, so please take a look." 

A stir of confused murmurs rose from the crew, who'd been looking over the sheets as they listened. It seemed something here was unexpected, and they were taken aback. 

Well, depending on how you looked at it, it could seem like she'd decided this for them arbitrarily. But we were ready for that. 

"Um, this plan is to fix things, so if there are any more issues, we'll make adjustments. We've explained this to the club captains, and I don't think it should be too tough…" Yuigahama swiftly came in to back up Yukinoshita. Since she was associated with the upper caste, everyone would know she could easily coordinate with the captains of all the clubs. 

That kept anyone from voicing anything resembling a complaint… Although, I'm sure Yukinoshita assumed this matter was already settled. 

"And also, regarding the Chibattle, we will amend some of the rules and simplify the costumes to reduce the burden. This way, we can expect a reduction in the work required, so we should be able to manage with fewer man-hours than the goal brought up at the meeting the other day." Yukinoshita calmly continued with her explanation. 

What the heck is a man-hour? Is that the hour after you come back late at night from a day of grueling, unpaid overtime to watch old recordings of PreCure and cry? Mmm. Maybe not. 

This explanation of hers not only didn't give them any choice here— it was close to a threat. 

The shift sheet Yukinoshita had made up very courteously included a comparison with the old one. I couldn't tell if she was a fast worker or if she'd just had the extra time. Probably both. In all likelihood, she'd included it to prevent the crew from arguing their way out of this, so I'd add her twisted personality to that list of reasons why no one could get out of this. 

Still, it worked, and the crew decided to comply. 

After scanning the dead-silent meeting room, Yukinoshita took a seat. It seemed she meant to leave the rest to the chair. 

Picking up on her intent, Meguri prompted Sagami. "Then continuing from the other day…" 

"R-right. So then we'll be assigning tasks based on this schedule…" 

Watching as Sagami lead the meeting, I quietly rested my chin on my hand. 

We'd planned things out to this point. We'd adjusted the schedule, which had been the issue during the meeting, and coordinated with the captains of all the sports clubs. We'd also proposed cost cuts for the Chibattle, which seemed like the most labor-intensive task, and we'd also arranged the reconciliation between Sagami and the core figures of the crew, Haruka and Yukko. 

In the current situation, there was nothing else for me to do, and this should be enough of a fix to make a recovery. 

But still, my eyes moved of their own accord, trying to weed out every single element of uncertainty. 

My powers of imagination always suppose the worst and never sleep. 

It's less to avoid such situations and more to soften the shock when the inevitable blow occurs. Which is rather sad, if I do say so myself. 

I mean, the pain when you know ahead of time versus when it's a surprise is different, right? You aren't affected as much if you have the sense that it wasn't gonna work anyway, certainly not as much as when you're feeling confident and get totally crushed. If you can keep the damage to a minimum, it won't take long to recover, either. This is life wisdom. 

In the meeting room, the labor was solemnly allotted. From what I could see, there weren't any really big problems. 

Sagami was managing things smoothly, and Meguri was by her side. And with Miss Hiratsuka's watchful eye from the edge of the room, no one would cause any fuss. 

Superficially, it seemed as if there were no quarrels to be had. 

But nevertheless, I spotted that one moment. 

When Haruka and Yukko came forward to write their names on the whiteboard, their faces went blank right when they passed by Sagami. And then after they'd passed her, they sort of nodded at each other. "Hey…" 

"Yeah…" 

I could hear them whispering. Maybe they'd been talking about other things, too, but I couldn't know about that. 

Well, they had just apologized. It was unlikely that the awkwardness hanging between them would disappear right away. 

I abandoned any further observation or speculation, leaning back in my chair until it creaked, and I stretched my back. 

When I leaned back far enough to nearly fall over, I saw the world upside down. 

All I could see were the droplets streaking over the window behind me. The rain had yet to stop. 

Some time had passed since the meeting the other day, and the committee was functional now. 

Though if you were to ask if things were going smoothly, the answer was, not quite. We'd come up with a shift schedule, but the labor efficiency had actually gone down. 

It's a fantasy to think that nailing down shifts and a schedule will make everyone operate according to plan. 

We're not machines. Sometimes we don't feel well; sometimes we're sleepy. Sudden plans will come up, and there are times when we'll just kind of flake out, too. That's why you put in a certain amount of buffer when you assemble shifts and schedules. I'm sure Yukinoshita had, in fact, done that. 

But still, there are things you can't make up for. 

Shifts are basically an establishment of roles. It's a promise and an oath in a way, and it's also a limitation that states once your role has been decided, you'll absolutely not do any more—you don't have to go beyond. 

In conclusion, having laid out a complete division of labor had, paradoxically, unfortunately fixed a ceiling on their labor values. Ironically, the very thing we'd come up with to motivate them to work had instead become shackles on their productivity, creating a reason why they didn't have to work. 

Well, I get it. There are many times in life when you want to complain like, What? That's not my job, though… It's not right when you're forced to foot the bill for something that someone else didn't do. It's not right. Seriously, I really mean it! 

…So why do I have to be doing so much damn hard work? 

As I was putting together the program and simulating the flow of traffic during the event, yet another stack of documents was thumped down next to me. I flipped through it, wondering what it was this time, and found it was the application documents for the items to be borrowed for events. 

"…" 

With a rough scratch at my head, I stood up from my seat for a bit. 

I needed a breather. I might just go outside for a little and go home for a sec and get in the bath and eat and then go to bed. As a breather. Breathers are important. 

Figuring I'd buy myself a coffee or something, I was about to leave the meeting room when Yuigahama caught me. 

"Oh, Hikki! Great timing." 

I seemed to recall she'd been involved in constructing the entrance gates or something outside. What, is she on a break or something? I wondered, and I asked with just a movement of my head if she needed something from me. 

"Man, we don't have enough people! Come help out, Hikki." 

"Uhhh, I've got work, too… And wait, what happened to the crew?" I asked. 

Yuigahama laughed weakly. "Ah-ha-ha… They said they have club…" 

"Again?" 

That had been a frequent pattern these past few days. 

Using Sagami's promise to "not overburden the clubs" as their shield, many had been leaving before committee time was over or simply skipped entirely. And the attendee decrease had lessened the focus of those people who were present, and efficiency was dropping like a rock. 

Everyone has their own things to deal with, and it's not like you can always be ready to work at full force. So when a hole opens up somewhere along the line, someone else will wind up filling it. However, as long as everyone was only considering their own shifts, those holes would not be filled. We'd prepared an ample buffer to avoid such a situation, but we were still losing our ability to cover it. 

That was the reason all of us executives were out working ourselves. Yuigahama in particular went out of her way to help wherever she could, busying herself with the event coordination as well as doing hands-on work herself. 

But if you sat down and thought about it, she wasn't really suited for construction… Partly because she's a girl, but especially because, if her taste in cooking is any indication, I kinda get the feeling she doesn't have much aptitude for making anything. I wouldn't want her to be causing trouble for others right now, and it'd be an issue if the labor lagged further behind. This was around the point when I was getting sick of doing nothing but desk work, and getting on my feet for a bit seemed like it might be nice, and also…also… Well, I guess I was fine with whatever. 

"…Well, I can help a little while I'm on my break." 

"Okay! Thanks." Yuigahama gleefully prodded me along. 

Cracking my shoulders and neck, I obediently went where she directed. 

We walked through the hallway and down the stairs, and I saw a bunch of people in this pillared courtyard area making some unidentifiable bar-like object that I guessed would be the entrance gate. I assumed the crew was handling this for us, but it turned out the one grinding away with a saw was one of the student council. 

The crew weren't moving around much, and they were constantly glancing over at the clock. 

"What the hell is going on here…?" 

"Well, ah-ha-ha…" Yuigahama laughed to smooth over the awkwardness, but I frankly couldn't find the humor. It wasn't like we had that much extra time until the sports festival. And this was where we were? 

I'd imagined this would happen, but actually witnessing it still just about broke me. If we were in this state, then did it even matter if I flaked out? 

"…This is like…me at my part-time job." 

"Hikki, I'm impressed you didn't get fired with that attitude…" 

I wonder about that, too, but for some reason, I still don't get fired even when I totally half-ass it, you know? Though I actually wanted to get fired. Also, if you just feign ignorance, they often leave it at that. The store had to be aware of the risks in hiring high school kids. 

I'd even hazard they could find a replacement fairly easily. 

We wouldn't find replacements for this committee easily, though. Of course, we could try talking and negotiating with all the clubs and soliciting more people, but we didn't have the time or personnel to communicate everything from square one. Working things out together should be the fastest way. 

But still, I surveyed the scene again with my characteristic rotten glare. I could scan this crew all I wanted, but none of these people were motivated to work. And as a completely unmotivated person myself, I know what to look for. 

As I was wondering about just what to do here, beside me, Yuigahama scratched her cheek with a wry smile. "I thought about trying to talk to everyone here, but the time didn't seem right…" 

"No, that was the right choice." If she'd made a big speech now, it would have only stirred up animosity instead, and then we'd be done for. We'd already gone past the stage of trying to motivate people. 

It would be best to go with my usual style of not counting on others for everything. If someone's not doing it, they're never gonna do it, no matter what you tell them. 

We've gotta make signs and entrance gates and lots of other stuff, huh? For now, I guess we'll just finish up what's been started. 

I managed to find one familiar face among the student council members there and headed for where he was working. Looking over, I saw a bunch of guys taking a break behind him. Maybe they were taking turns working? (I'm playing dumb here.) 

"I brought some help!" Yuigahama said, pointing to me, and the student council boy looked relieved. 

…Yeah, you've done some good work on your own. Without a word, I extended my hand. He picked up on my intention and passed over the hammer. I nodded. He nodded back at me, then walked over to the shade and took a seat there. 

The members of the student council were a valuable labor force. We couldn't be pushing them too hard, now. Go have a nice break. 

Dangling the hammer in my grip, I checked over the job, then squatted and got into position. "Then let's do this." 

"Yeah!" Yuigahama replied, crouching on the other side to hold down the piece of lumber. 

Uh, um, if you squat down right in front of me, I can almost see your panties… Put on your gym pants for this stuff! Agh! I don't even know where to look! 

I swung the hammer in an attempt to sweep away such intrusive thoughts. If I didn't concentrate, I'd hit my fingers. 

While we hammered away together, the guys who'd been resting all this time unsurprisingly seemed to get uncomfortable. "Guess we'll help out," one of them said as they finally started to get up, among other worthless comments. And then, very graciously and kindly, they resumed working where we could clearly see them. They had to feel like they were being monitored. This had actually worked to deter them from slacking, more or less. 

Occasionally checking that they were still working, I hammered in nails. Guess this is what you might call hammering a point in, huh? Heh, that one was pretty good… 

We continued working for a while, and then suddenly, one of the guys from the crew called out. Of course, not to me. "Oh, hey, Yuigahama." 

"Yeah, what's up?" Yuigahama reacted, turning around. That threw off the balance of the board I was hammering, and I nearly smashed my finger. Whew, that was close; if I'd hit my finger, I might've screamed something like Kugyu! 

Hey, that's dangerous, okay? Hold it down like you're supposed to, all right? I thought, lifting my head to complain, but Yuigahama was looking off in another direction. It seemed the guy who'd come to talk to her was showing her something. 

"Does this look good?" he asked. 

"Yeah, I think it's fine… I don't know for sure, though." 

You don't know…? She sure is careless… 

The student council member scooted over, whispered a word of advice to her, and left again. 

"Oh, it sounds like it's okay." 

"Thanks. That helps. Oh, and so, like, some more things might come up that I don't know about, so if you could give me your number…" 

"…You hear that?" Yuigahama said, looking over to the aforementioned student council guy. He popped out from the shade and pulled out his phone, and they immediately exchanged contact info. 

"Th-thanks…" The guy from the crew thanked her with a stiff, difficult-to-read expression. 

…Well, some guys are like that. They'll use events as an excuse to hit on girls. There's nothing to be done about this. Ignore it, ignore it. Just don't pay attention to any of it. Right now, I'm nothing more than a craftsman pursuing the art of swiftly hammering in nails. I won't be concerned with anything else. So if I wasn't concerned with it, then I wonder why I could hear their voices so clearly? How mysterious. This was one of the top three seven wonders of the world. Oh wow, that's twenty-one wonders in total! 

"So anyway, what do you do on the weekend?" 

Even knowing he wasn't saying it to me, I still glanced over at the guy and saw he'd already stopped working and was fully in chat mode. Come on, even on Emiko Kaminuma's Chatter Cooking, she keeps her hands moving a little more than that as she does it. Learn from Emiko. 

But it was inevitable that the conversation would continue. 

Yuigahama won't ignore people when they start conversations with her. 

"Huh? Just normal stuff. Oh, but lately, I've been busy working on the sports festival. Including today."