F-Rank no Boukun Volume 1 Chapter 2 Part2

Translator's Notes:

F-Rank no Boukun is a work by Eiji Mikage, known for his Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria series. It currently has 2 volumes published. Volume 1 is t.i.tled “Ochita Tensai no Gaisen”, or, “Triumphant Return of the Fallen Prodigy”.

Translation Credits:

Translation – defan752

TLC – N/A

Proofreading – N/A

Academy President's Address

Students, become the rulers who lead the ma.s.ses!

Both its number of students and the area that it occupies make Nanahoshi Academy the largest academy in j.a.pan. Ever since our surrounding area was acknowledged as a special district, we take pride in an environment in which our students can be satisfied.

In the twenty-eight years since the founding of our school, we have, without a doubt, showcased our presence to the entire world. The abundance of elites who have graduated from our school hold important positions in every field, becoming significant, indispensable figures. In a j.a.pan that has been long denounced for its shortage of leaders, the role our school plays in innovation is surely common knowledge.

Our ability to nurture these outstanding talents should be attributed to our method of education, which coaches students into models, into leaders. This method of coaching implements the ideology of compet.i.tion and meritocracy, to bestow upon students complete independence, without excessive training. Pure, fair judgment evaluated based only on strength. Only through this can young men and women achieve self-growth.

It is also a characteristic of our school that students compete in groups and not individually. In society, what can be done as an individual is limited. It is the power of the group that drives society, not the individual. That being the case, only the capacity to lead the ma.s.ses can represent one's abilities. Therefore Nanahoshi Academy places great emphasis on the superiority of the group over the individual, and we supervise and educate students in developing personalities of leadership.

Modern times has been described as an era difficult to survive in, but we have we not heard this type of speech for several decades? Then let us face reality. There will be no end to said era, that which is so "difficult to survive in". Such an era will continue forever. If so, why must we still teach our precious young men and women ideals that are at odds with reality, and then cast them into an intensely compet.i.tive society? The education of our school does not approve of this method. We must foster students to face, accept, and confront reality.

It is no exaggeration to say that every graduate from our school is well-prepared to accept society.

I have no doubt that there will be a ruler among them, one with the capacity to properly lead the ma.s.ses. That is the duty and mission of Nanahoshi Academy: raising students who shine as brightly as the stars in the sky.1

Kazuya Nanahoshi, Academy President

Along the gravel path crunching loudly with each step between the dormitories and the school buildings, the cherry blossoms usually blooming in this area were nowhere to be seen.

Listening to boring pop music flowing out of his wireless earphones, expressly taking the time to curse, "Boring," Kanna walked along a sloping path that had been renovated into what could barely pa.s.s as a trail. Looking to his right, he saw a verdant, lush forest that, rather than a scene from nature, was more like the embodiment of nature itself. In this age of semi-autonomous cars, weasels or even racc.o.o.n dogs would occasionally pop up around here.

The roads of Nanahoshi Academy Special District were not all mountainous paths like this one. But perhaps it would be better to say that this road, connecting the special F-Ranked dormitories and School Buildings #35 and #36, and specially allocated for F-Ranked students' cla.s.ses, was an exception. The apparently considerate Nanahoshi Academy administration was sending a message that only the lowest of the low among the worst of the worst students walked this road, so there was no need to spend too much effort tidying up the area.

"…Hff."

Kanna couldn't help but sigh. It was a recently acquired habit of his.

Vending machines lined the deep greenery. Kanna had lost count of the number of times he'd walked this path, so he knew that it was possible to survey the entirety of Nanahoshi Academy from this position.

Towering above the direct center of Nanahoshi Academy Special District, Nanahoshi Academy prided itself on a vast campus far beyond any other school. Just the tidily arranged school buildings alone numbered seventy-seven, and the gyms numbered seventeen, along with baseball fields, soccer fields, an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, track fields, trails exclusively for jogging, and so on. The school was perfectly equipped. Students arrived in endless droves from the public bus stop, and a number of limousines were parked in a lot exclusively for Ranked students in place of taxis.

Kanna looked towards the school buildings afar, stunned.

(What's the point of having such clearly defined differences between school buildings, such that you can tell which Rank they're for simply by judging their exterior appearance?)

By way of example, Erika had been sipping black tea in a garden located within School Building #2, exclusively for Ranked students' cla.s.ses, and unlike the F-Ranked dull gray concrete buildings, School Building #2 was as gorgeous as a Western-styled house. Other high-ranking school buildings also made use of retro wooden styles, modern design styles and so on, each of them different.

But even more conspicuous than the l.u.s.trous scenery and gorgeous school buildings was the structure looming directly over the center of Nanahoshi Academy Special District.

It was a pointlessly tall clock tower, [Clock Star], Nanahoshi Academy's landmark.

Clock Star was a divine domain into which not even S-Ranked students could enter. According to the introduction in the guided tour handbook, apparently the Academy President's office was inside. But in reality Kanna had never seen anyone else enter or exit, other than the contracted workers maintaining the clock itself. Attracting tourists likely wasn't its goal, but the height of the 117-meter-tall clock tower was rumored to exceed that of Britain's ever-famous Big Ben.

Once night fell, since nearly all of the school lighting central to Nanahoshi Academy Special District was extinguished, the Region would become a donut-shaped ray of light ― dark on the inside and bright on the outside. But only Clock Star would continue to project a glow that made one's hair stand on end, as though it were a haughty star poised to remain in the sky even in the midst of a torrential stormy night.

If you slightly shifted your vision southward you would be able to see the ultrtall skysc.r.a.per where the Ranked dormitories were located — South Monopoly Tower, but Kanna ignored it instead and lowered his eyes.

(You can see that kind of thing whenever you want, anyway.)

Kanna's eyes left the streets of Nanahoshi Academy Special District and he began to manipulate his CCC mobile. An Aerial about the size of an eyegla.s.s lens appeared before his left eye. Aerial media in Personal Mode could only be seen by Kanna himself.

Kanna watched the silhouettes of other students quickly moving past. Every time a student pa.s.sed by, his Personal Mode Aerial would display values. As long as other students' CCC mobiles were within a one-meter radius of his own, Kanna could see those values when his own device completed facial recognition on them.

He read the values in his head.

("E, F, E, E, F, E, C" — "E, E, F, F, E, D, D" — "F, D, F, E, C, E, E"… That's the F-Ranked for you. Pretty difficult to find someone I can use.)

Every time a value showed up, Kanna committed it to memory.

Once more pondering the meaning behind the endless stream of English letters that had just been displayed on the Aerial, he smiled sardonically.

(Ah, I'm sick of this. The values that the administration gives each person bring us students of Nanahoshi Academy under their total control.)

The name of those English letters was [Status Data].

Those letters each represented, respectively, their values of Intellect, Knowledge, Fitness, Charisma, Appearance, and Bloodline. The range of status levels and the ranking system were the same: divided into seven levels from S to F. Of them, there was only one S at the very top. A accounted for 5% of the school, B was 10%, C was 15%, D was 20%, E was 40%, and F was 10%.

This was identical to the proportions of each group in the ranking system, and the additional distribution of S was also exactly the same.

Typically, just publicizing examination rankings would already incite arguments for and against this or that, but at Nanahoshi Academy even appearances were ranked. Not even a public popularity poll on idols would be so cruel.

But the students wouldn't necessarily be completely controlled if a meticulous ranking were all it was.

Status Data was like a venomous spider making itself at home within one's heart, and it held the power of the students' life-and-death in its grasp - which had to do with the accuracy of the values and their effect on the students' futures.

Status Data was updated in real-time, which granted it accuracy beyond question. Kanna had personally experienced the complete lack of suspicion around these values. This was further proof of the Status Data's accuracy in addition to the examples from before. Graduates of Nanahoshi Academy conspicuously brilliant in each area would have their Status Data and the fluctuations of which fully published on the internet. Closer inspection would reveal that all Status Data earned by any graduate consisted of striking numbers across the board.

Aside from that, there was another example that openly demonstrated the accuracy of Status Data. A lengthy 4-hour mathematics a.s.sessment was held on April 12 only a week after Kanna's matriculation, and an English a.s.sessment the day after. Not only were these two-day consecutive a.s.sessments drawn-out in length, they were also special in the sense that every student's test results had been published before the a.s.sessments even began.

This was bizarre. It was natural to be good at and poor at different sections in mathematics and English, and moreover the student's own condition at the time would also have to be considered; therefore, predicting test scores ought to have been staggeringly difficult. But the students actually earned scores matching the results published before the a.s.sessments. Judging by the pre-published data, ranking and points differed only by an inherent margin of error. During that test, the administration had completely grasped how many points each student would earn, as well as their condition.

Because of this, the students could not help but acknowledge the accuracy of the system that divided them by Status Data.

They could only accept it without question.

No one knew how Status Data was evaluated. Rumor had it that their CCC mobiles measured their brainwave signals, muscle activity and so on, and rated the relevant data to correctly ascertain each person's abilities, but its veracity was dubious.

Even if that were not the case, students of Nanahoshi Academy must occasionally undergo various tests: besides the regularly intervaled scholastic attainment a.s.sessments and IQ a.s.sessments, there were also personality diagnoses, brainwave a.s.sessments, frequent personal consultations, and so on. Furthermore, a student's every move was monitored by the administration via surveillance devices installed within the school, and their personally worn CCC mobiles. One only had to grasp the intelligence gathered from this surveillance and cross-reference it against acc.u.mulated student data, and perhaps they could derive these types of inconceivably accurate values.

Even more gnarly was the fact that if Status Data possessed incomparable accuracy, then companies and future graduate schools were bound to refer to these values as well. Whether it was company entry or school entrance examinations, all Status Data would become points of reference. Therefore, Status Data possessed tremendous impact on a student's future life.

Faced with Status Data, everyone could only try their very best.

This was the administration's scheme.

The students were controlled by Status Data.

Many students remained only under the restrictions of Rank and Status Data, completely indifferent to anything else, and because of this a great many of them had given up on school life.

But Status Data did not simply enable high scores, and effort did not necessarily translate into good results. Partic.i.p.ating in brain development programs would not raise one's [Intellect] score, and going to the gym was also not likely to change one's [Fitness] score. The vast majority of values were as immovable as [Bloodline] was: it had to do with whatever you were born with. The truth was that effort did not necessarily translate into results when it came to Status Data. Innate talent and environment were the most crucial qualities.

There were also many students who despaired at their Status Data, gave up everything, and lost their drive. It was rumored that some students went insane because of them and were quarantined in the hospital building, but they were still not enough to cause a problem, since public results showed the incontestable truth. Students were forced to toil under the ranking and Status Data systems, but in doing so they did indeed raise their own apt.i.tudes and achieved personal growth.

(Even so, the strong ones actually number very few. Most students will become sacrifices for them under this system. The administration will instill into the few strong ones, who are likely to become leaders, the idea that they are to some extent different from the weak ones, fostering confidence and conceit in them. That's the method of the Survival of the Fittest Academy.)

But Kanna was very supportive of this system.

Since he was aiming for the top of this academy, Kanna believed that it was a system that could be used.

(With so many accurate values, all I need to do is master a person's Status Data and I'll naturally be able to understand them.)

For that reason, Kanna had familiarized himself with many Status Data, and had grasped their movements. He could not avoid using others if he wanted to stand at the top, and to successfully use others, he could not neglect this type of investigation.

"[D, E, C, E, D, D, D]."

His Personal Mode Aerial displayed new Status Data again.

At that moment, someone patted Kanna on his shoulder.

([D, E, C, E, D, D, D], huh? There so happens to be two people I am acquainted who match these mediocre values: Yuzuko Araiba and Shinji Hatayama. And the one who would pat me on the shoulder like that would be—)

"Hey, Shinji."

Kanna closed his Aerial as he greeted him.

Despite knowing who it was before even facing him, Kanna still turned around and checked what he looked like before calling his name. It would do him no good if he were seen as a freak who always looked up other students' Status Data.

Of course, as he turned around, he did not forget to don the expression of an amiable honor student.

"Yo, morning, Kanna."

Grinning, Shinji Hatayama raised the hand he had used to pat Kanna's shoulder. Shinji, whose stature was small and appearance not-that-handsome, possessed an Appearance Rank of D. However, he always wore a smile on his face, giving him a friendly, charming impression. On his uniform, he was wearing a badge with a scorpion emblem of the [l.u.s.t]-led [Loden Scorpion] clique.

Incidentally, Shinji's Status Data wasn't poor among the F-Ranked. Status Data like [D, E, C, E, D, D, D] did not seem not high at first glance, but the reality was different. At Nanahoshi Academy, Status Data exceeding D was an above-average achievement.

With an Intellect of D and Knowledge of E, even if his middle school grades weren't first-rate, he still ought to be on the upper end. As for his C score in Fitness, that would just about make him the man of the century in gym cla.s.s.

But despite his decent Status Data, Shinji remained an F-Ranked.

The F-Ranked students numbered a total of 2,855 among the first-years to the third-years, yet there were a total of 28,187 students in the entire school, so they only accounted for around 10% of the student population. There wouldn't be anyone amongst the first-years sorted into the Rank in their first semester, so a population of 1,138 F-Ranked first-years was more than usual. But the F-Ranked still brought up the rear despite that.

Even with his Status Data, Shinji had probably been sorted as an F-Ranked probably because—

"Man, I don't wanna go to cla.s.s today, I wanna skip so baaad. …Hey, Kanna, wanna skip and find some cute girls?"
His personality had such a lack of crisis awareness.

In this academy, one must never loosen up and become remiss. One must never stop reflecting on how to suppress their opponent. Yet Shinji hadn't a shred of this awareness.

Kanna called people like Shinji:

Cla.s.sic F-Ranked.

However, Shinji was anything but muddleheaded; he just didn't understand the true nature of the Survival of the Fittest Academy. And a student who never understood the nature of the Survival of the Fittest was a [Normal].

Kanna had no intention of dealing with [Normals].

"Cutting cla.s.s to find cute girls, hmm? …Weeell, sorry, but I'm not interested."

"Ahh, you're so cooold. I'll be lonely on my own, come with!"

"Hmm… No, I think I'll pa.s.s. I want to ascend Ranks as soon as possible and avoid a bad impression towards the school by skipping cla.s.s."

Kanna replied this way because he knew that every student wanted to graduate as soon as possible, even a [Normal]. So they didn't want to leave a bad impression, even if they had to look serious.

"Whoaaa, you're so serious, Kanna! Me aside, with your brain, you can probably still Rank up even if you skip cla.s.s once."

"'Me aside? Please, I don't mean to climb upwards blindly. I'd like to to Rank up together with my friend Shinji if possible."

As naturally as taking a breath, Kanna pulled a fib that would make the other person like him more.

(Friend, huh? As long as I ascend, it'll only be natural to distance myself from a cla.s.sic F-Ranked like you. When the time comes, I won't be able to call you my friend anymore. It's only at present that I a.s.sociate with someone like you.)

"…Man, Kanna, I always knew you were really a good guy!"

Shinji completely swallowed Kanna's offhand lie.

(In all likelihood, in elementary school this guy probably got convinced to run with someone else in a marathon, then got betrayed and left in the dust near the end.)

Sorry, but I have no intention of running with you.

Kanna only intended to free himself of the F-Rank as soon as possible.

Remaining in the F-Rank held no benefit whatsoever. The F-Ranked suffered unequal treatment, and not just in terms of facilities like school buildings. Tuition, for example, involved F-Ranked students having to fork over nearly twice the amount as C-Ranked students. And once you ascended to Rank, not only could you enjoy perfectly equipped facilities, your tuition and lodging fees were completely waived. The reason Ranked students could enjoy such treatment was that they were supported by the exorbitant tuitions of the E and F-Ranked students, but were placed into a normal high school environment anyway.

F-Ranked people were naught but the slaves of those higher Ranked.

And yet that slave spoke:

"Ahh, Nanahoshi Academy is the best."

(This guy knows he's an F-Ranked and he can still say something like that? If that's true, then his lack of ability to grasp the current situation just slipped even further.)

"What makes you think that?"

Kanna inquired with a smile, his expression unchanging, revealing no traces of loathing.

"Hmm, well! …Uh, Kanna, are you familiar with the idol group Sun Sisters? The ones famous for their all-out performances."

"Ah, yeah."

He said he was, but only because Shinji had chattered about them before. Shinji took no notice of Kanna's questionable reaction, nodded with an "Of course you do", and continued.

"Hinata Arisugawa, the most popular member of the seven person idol group Sun Sisters. You don't even like celebs but even you should know what she looks like, right? She stands right in the middle in every music video."

"Of course."

(I have no idea who she is and I don't care. I just won't say that aloud.)

"Did something happen to this Arisugawsan?"

"Huge news! Apparently she's a Nanahoshi Academy student!!"

"What?!"

Kanna put on a shocked reaction, but he had long suspected this beforehand, and he didn't care at all either. It was not unusual for performance artists to attend Nanahoshi Academy. As long as they raised the school's ratings, they would still be able to enter the higher Ranks even if their attendance didn't meet the quota. This was Nanahoshi Academy: openly weighing candidates by their benefit to the school. Performance artists aware of this also found it easy to maintain personal privacy due to the school's boarding policies, so many of them chose to attend Nanahoshi Academy.

"So I told Taihei about this, and he also told me that Tsukuyo Sakagiki, who's got tons of hardcore fans from Sisters within Sisters also goes to Nanahoshi Academy?! I didn't even know this! But come to think of it, it's not just Sun Sisters; aren't fashion model Kurisu Tanadare and gravure idol Yui Moriuchi (who's been in dramas) also students of this school? I've actually seen Kurisu-san, it's just crazy how a celeb's face and body are different proportions than a normal person! I totally get it now when the first thing that someone who sees a celeb says is "Her head's so small!" So people with S and Ranked Appearance look like that!"

(Well, my Appearance is Ranked too.)

"So if there're so many celebs here, there's gotta be a few that Taihei and I don't even know of yet, right? So I was planning to skip cla.s.s today to try and find 'em!"

"Hah hah, so it has to do with the previous topic after all. Is that why you said Nanahoshi Academy is the best?"

At this, Shinji clicked his tongue with a tsk-tsk.

"Naive, Kanna. Even if I'm actually cla.s.smates with Hintan, that wouldn't be enough for me to call Nanahoshi Academy the 'best', would it? I think it's the best because, if I can, maybe I'll really get to go out with her!"

"Don't you think that's a little out of reach?"

"No, no, no! Just think, Kanna. An Rank is enough to get you the girls. So haven't you thought of it before? 'Huh? Then there probably are guys who have actually gotten together with celebs!' So I looked it up on the internet yesterday and it turns out that there are! Rumor is, there's actually a celeb couple out there who met each other in high school at Nanahoshi Academy! …So anyway. If I can get to Rank, then getting Hintan and doing this and that with her won't be a pipe dream anymore!"

(Shinji's not wrong. The Rank's future prospects would qualify you to run together with the celebs. It wouldn't be a dream to go out with one.)

"Ahh… Well, I talk about doing this and that with her, but as a student, dating is enough! That sort of pure relationship suits a refined girl like Hintan… we'd play tennis together — she's good at tennis; we'd race each other at virtual skiing in the Ranked-only rec center; we'd live out the moment where we seal our futures together with the unofficial wedding program they always talk about, with the VR device in the battle building they say graduates use… G.o.d! A virtual wedding with Hintan… Oh man, just thinking about it gets me so excited!"

Shinji was blabbering randomly, but Kanna paid him neither a response that was more than a conversational reply, nor much attention at all.

(Shinji dating Hinata Arisugawa is a delusion anyway. Dream on.)

Watching Shinji's eyes droop pathetically as he fantasized about his sweet springtime together with a celeb, Kanna thought.

(At any rate, you rising to Rank is already a delusion.)

This was not an overly severe a.s.sessment of Shinji. Typically you are only able to ascend a single Rank per semester, and the only circ.u.mstance where ascending two Ranks was possible was upon receipt of a rare honor (such as breaking a record in track and field, getting famous at Koushien Stadium2, topping the list in national mock exams, and so on). But ultimately, those were rewards — extremely rare exceptions, and thus were difficult to hope for. In short, Nanahoshi Academy's semesterly system made it so that even if you continued to rise steadily throughout, by the second semester of your third-year you would only be able to rise from the F-Rank to the Rank.

If you wanted to start at the very bottom and climb to the very top, throughout all three years you must not be the least bit negligent or make any sort of mistake, and you must earn consistently high grades.

(And Shinji wants to rise to the Rank? Hmph, sleep-talk makes me uncomfortable, so he ought to keep quiet if he wants to keep dreaming.)

But Kanna's own goal did not stop at rising to the Rank. He believed that as long as he rose to the Rank and became the single [Seven Ruler], he could continue to climb, perhaps even past the S-Rank.

Kanna had once sought examples of people who had risen from the F-Rank to the S-Rank, and the results were harsher than expected. There had only been two cases like this in history. Moreover, one of them had been Satoru Mikami, the CEO of HHP Company, which manufactured the semiconductors used in CCC mobiles. He was a prodigy with a brilliant business sense coveted worldwide.

Without ability matching his, he might not even be able to pa.s.s the relay station.

Upon learning this truth, it was no surprise that he had this bad habit of sighing.

Kanna was quite aware that rising from the F-Rank to the S-Rank would be a legendary achievement. To attain such legendary results, he needed not only true ability, but also luck.

(Luck… Luck, huh. I know that luck has eluded me ever since that guy set me up during the entrance exam and put me into the F-Rank, but—)

Ending his thoughts there, Kanna looked down at the badge pinned to his collar. Emblazoned with the image of a fox, it represented Kanna's membership in [Greed]-led [Navy Fox].

He had acquired the badge following his conversation with Nanami yesterday.

(—No, perhaps not. After all, I have become Nanami's boyfriend.)

Before this, Kanna did not wear a badge at all. Since he had not selected any clique to belong to, he would occasionally feel lack of sense of belonging.

But now, things were different.

"By the way, you joined [Navy Fox], Kanna?"

Shinji asked, watching him stare at his fox badge.

"Yeah."

"But why? Isn't that clique really small and doesn't really do anything? Since you're so bent on rising up the Ranks, I thought you'd join [Urban Lion] for sure… Or because… You're unnerved just by learning Eriksama's true nature?"

Bothered by Shinji's hounding, Kanna evaded the question.

"It's got nothing to do with that. I think just being an F-Ranked puts me at a disadvantage, so I can't do anything too risky."

"Reeeally?"

As per Kanna's expectations, Shinji backed off. He knew that Shinji wasn't interested in this topic.

Just as their dialogue came to an end, the hastily paved simple path followed suit, and they arrived at the school gate. The view on the road ahead from this F-Ranked-only gate was boring and uniform. There was certainly no garden like the one Erika had been in yesterday.

Still, Shinji said:

"Nanahoshi Academy's the best. Just stepping through the gate makes you feel proud."

Kanna said nothing, watching him closely.

Shinji failed to notice Kanna's gaze, continuing with a grin:

"We've got a ridiculous amount of freedom. No complaints about what we wear, either. Well, there are punishments, but the teachers never scold us. It's so chill."

(……Freedom, huh.)

Nanahoshi Academy did indeed grant its students an exceptional amount of free choice. Because students were conferred independence, the adults, especially the teachers, held an unusually weak presence. Furthermore, the degree of free choice was quite thorough. Nanahoshi Academy revolved around the student, and the adults were merely one component of the school.

From this aspect, the student ought to enjoy freedom at Nanahoshi Academy.

However, the school Kanna attended had never once felt free to him.

(It seems free, but I suspect that we're all prisoners to this school's system.)

Kanna believed that all of Nanahoshi Academy's systems, including the ranking system, Status Data, the seven cliques, the [Seven Rulers], Rating Battles, Instructs, and everything else without exception, all had the students dancing within the palms of their hands.

(It's just like partic.i.p.ating in a compet.i.tion with already fixed rules. If you back out, you'd be distancing yourself from the school's set path and reduced to a loser. You'd never be able to bounce back again. Is that still freedom? How's that different from slave labor?)

Not to mention their unremovable CCC mobiles, which conjured images of handcuffs imposed on them by the school, a symbol of their stolen freedom.

(But it doesn't matter.)

Kanna thought, watching Shinji's deluded grin.

(Because all I need to do is be better than everyone else. And then, I will stand at the top.)

As he stepped through the gate and surveyed his surroundings, ten or so fellow F-Ranked students entered his view. Faces drowsy with sleep. Faces watching other fellow cla.s.smates and smiling. Faces discontent at their own power going unrecognized. Kanna watched all of their expressions.

Then he thought.

(I'm different from these guys. They don't even know that they're being forced onto a stage of survival of the fittest.)

"You and me, we're alone, aren't we?"

He suddenly recalled someone's voice.

Kanna's mouth distorted.

(Yeah, you're right. You don't have any allies on this stage. I'm totally screwed in this respect. Tricked into the F-Rank, suddenly dropping from heaven to h.e.l.l, in the midst of despair.)

Kanna felt GO-PON, the ghost plushie in the inner pocket of his blazer.

(But I've already escaped the abyss of despair, and now, I have a battle plan.)

Kanna stroked the plushie's stiff texture as he recalled the deal he had made with Nanami in the karaoke room yesterday.

■

True to its name, "seven" was an important number in Nanahoshi Academy.

The [Seven Rulers], the seven cliques, the seven ranks, the seven types of seven levels of Status Data, the seventy-seven types of Rating Battles, the seven levels of punitive sanctions, the seventy-seven school builds, and so on; every arrangement by the administration seemed to revolve around the number "seven".

Then what about her?

Status Data [D, C, E, D, C, B, S].

Nanami Nanahoshi.

Two "sevens" had been carefully placed in her name.

"And now, here's a question for you."

Kanna and Nanami were currently in a simple white-themed karaoke room. Nanami had been happily singing alone not long ago and had now stopped, but the microphone remained gripped in her hand for some reason. There was ample s.p.a.ce on the red faux-leather sofa, but Nanami sat right next to Kanna on purpose. Within the two-person, slightly empty room, a floating Aerial played a video of a celeb interviewing a music artist.

After the incident in the PA room, when school let out Kanna was immediately summoned by Nanami through his CCC mobile, which allowed interpersonal communication once they had exchanged contact IDs. Kanna was called to the south gate, which he did not frequently used, and subsequently dragged to a karaoke establishment named "M". Among the eleven karaoke establishments in the Nanahoshi Academy Special District, it was on the expensive side and situated closest to South Monopoly Tower at the Ranked dorms.

"How do we get good results without lifting a finger in effort? Let's see, Kanchan!"

Nanami handed the microphone to Kanna. She looked the same as she did in the PA room at noon, with a head full of twintails, but right now her hair seemed to be tied a bit higher than it was at noon. Did it change height specifically depending on her mood?

Deciding not to think about it for the time being, Kanna answered Nanami's question first.

"Without lifting a finger in effort…"

Considering the reason he had been brought here, there was only one answer.

"By using other people."

"Correct!"

Nanami picked up a nearby tambourine and rattled it.

She had almost glossed over it with her cheerful att.i.tude, but Nanami had ultimately blurted out her selfish thoughts.

"You mean to use me to protect your position as [Greed], right?"

"It's just such a pain to protect it with my own strength or whatever! But I don't want you to misunderstand, because there's something in it for you, Kanchan."

Nanami stressed as she brought her face close. The scent of the same marine perfume from noon traveled over.

"What's in it for me?"

Nanami grinned foolishly as something unthinkable slipped from her mouth.

"I want to hand over the position of [Greed] to you, for real."

It was a position Kanna had been dying for.

This was too much of a G.o.dsend. An impossible condition.

Yet Kanna was not surprised. It was something he could expect. When Nanami had told him that she was going to make him into a Ruler, he began to have some idea of this.

However, he justifiably had some misgivings.

"Would you really do that? You aren't planning to keep the position of [Greed] while leaving the battle strategizing and action taking to me, are you? If so, then that wouldn't be handing [Greed] over to me at all."

"You're right. About that, if I don't explain it further then you wouldn't agree."

Nanami seemed ready for Kanna's reaction.

"The [Seven Rulers] each have different special skills depending on their t.i.tles. Powers only the [Seven Rulers] can use."

"Information that is news to me, for someone who ought to be as familiar with Nanahoshi Academy's rules as I am. Is such a thing true?"

"It's information that the administration keeps secret on purpose. Of course you learn about the special skills after becoming one of the [Seven Rulers], but going out of their way to reveal their existence does the Seven Rulers no good. I think the only one aware of all special skills used by the [Seven Rulers] would be me."

"So? What's [Greed]'s special skill?"

The corners of Nanami's mouth lifted as she said:

"The «Absolute Contract»."

An unsettling phrase.

Kanna crossed his arms, pressing Nanami to continue.

"The «Absolute Contract» makes sure that any agreement is effective, as long as one party makes a negotiation with another party, and it's not illegal and within school rules. If you and I make a contract, even if either of us loses [Greed], the contract will hold up all the way until graduation. For example, if we make the «Absolute Contract» to call each other every day, then we would have to fulfill it from now on."

"What happens if we violate the «Absolute Contract»?"

"You can specify a punishment in the contract details, but if you don't, the violator must be punished with something equivalent to Punitive Sanction A."

Punitive Sanction A. A severe punishment that entailed spending a month in the prison building, sinking even the Ranked to the F-Ranked. It was a punishment that Kanna, with his goal of standing at the top, could never suffer.

"They call it 'Absolute' because it's so strict. Punitive Sanction A is usually for minor offenses like violence, threats, and theft."

"And inappropriate s.e.xual relations. Like if you and I make out pa.s.sionately in school and are caught on camera, that's Punitive Sanction A."

"Why use a completely impossible example?"

"What do you mean?! It's completely possible! A cutie-pie girlfriend like me has great chances of setting your pa.s.sion aflame, Kanchan!"

Kanna interrupted the trivial conversation and returned to the original topic.

"The point is, you want us to make an «Absolute Contract», and give the position of [Greed] to me. Of course, that includes the authority of the [Seven Rulers], and the ability to use «Absolute Contract» myself?"
"Of course."

The authority of the [Seven Rulers]. The power to command the clique that one led. Like how [Loden Scorpion] held large mixer-like a.s.semblies, or how [Striped Bear] established its unique rule of "introducing a point system". Skillful use of this power could even allow skillful manipulation of the clique members.

Even Nanami's [Navy Fox] was a mostly empty clique without much power, but unconditionally gaining her power would be quite profitable anyway.

Was this really only such a single-sided sweet deal, though?

"What's in it for you? What's your goal?"

"I'd completely lose my power of [Greed] among the [Seven Rulers], but to my benefit I would be lending it away. If you can help me protect the seat of [Greed], Kanchan, the school's records would still show me as defending the position. As long as I graduate as one of the [Seven Rulers], my future will be super secured!"

"You can ride on your dad's coattails, so your future would be secured anyway."

"That's not true! My dad's a demon!"

"Will your demon dad approve of you protecting the [Seven Rulers] in this manner?"

"Doesn't matter, my dad only judges by results."

Kanna detected a hint of loneliness in her tone, but to avoid kicking a new hornet's nest he purposefully ignored that and continued:

"If I lose a Rating Battle, will [Greed] be taken away from me?"

"Yeah. And I won't be [Greed] anymore in the records, of course."

"Then what if you lose a Rating Battle?"

"I won't lose the t.i.tle, because I'm really just [Greed] on the school records only. But you understand now, don't you? We have so much in common, Kanchan! That's why we gotta stick close together like this!"

Nanami affectionately leaned her forehead against Kanna's shoulder, but he found her reason for pressing so close to him incomprehensible.

"Then in the school's opinion, if I don't get another [Seven Rulers] t.i.tle, I'll just be a.s.sessed as a normal student?"

"Oh, pretty observant. But it's really just a records-based a.s.sessment! In all other aspects, everything about [Greed] will belong to you, Kanchan!"

"No problem, then."

This did not mean Kanna paid no attention to the school's a.s.sessment, and he was planning to get the other [Seven Rulers] seats anyway. Their a.s.sessment would not change whether he had one or two [Seven Rulers] positions, so all he needed was to quickly get the other positions.

"I get the gist of it. But you won't be asking me to return [Greed] to you someday, will you?"

"Naaaah. Although, it goes without saying that if you break the «Absolute Contract», you're gonna get Punitive Sanction A."

"Meaning that the devil is in its content."

"Heh heh, I've already made a draaaft," said Nanami, as she began working her CCC mobile and called up an Aerial. A text file appeared on it.

«Absolute Contract»

Nanami Nanahoshi (hereafter referred to as Party A) will lend all powers of [Greed] to Kanna Fujishiro (hereafter referred to as Party B), but in school records, Party A will retain [Greed]. Party B may not perform any action harmful to Party A. To display the submission of Party B to A, Party B must carry a plushie (GO-PON) on his person at all times. In the event of loss or theft, Party B must prepare a replacement plushie and obtain the approval of Party A. In the event of a significant matter that will alter the status quo, Party B must immediately report to Party A. "Significant matters" entail new regulations on cliques, the acquisition of a new [Seven Ruler] t.i.tle, and so on. This contract may be terminated with the agreement of both parties. Upon termination of this contract, [Greed] will be restored to its original owner, Party A. Both parties may not face each other in a Rating Battle.

"Can I ask something first?" Kanna asked with a dumbfounded look.

"What?"

"Why is the border of such a seriously written doc.u.ment decorated with a flower pattern?"

Just as he said, inlaid around the austere sentences were decorative pink flowers.

"Aren't they cute? Doesn't it relieve the tension?"

Kanna very much wanted to respond that it only increases fatigue instead, but he didn't want to waste effort on something like that so he gave up his retort.

He stopped puzzling over it and carefully studied whether there were any issues with the actual text.

Immediately, something caught his eye.

"What does #2 mean?"

"Just means that you gotta fawn on me, the original [Greed]."

"Delete it."

"Hey, I was joking! Just kidding, you know! But look, it'd be terrible if something were to happen to cute, widdle ol' me. Wait. That's not it, is it? You weren't plotting to hurt me from the very beginning, were you?"

"That's not it, I just mean that it's too vague. If I do as you wrote here, any disagreement with your opinions might be viewed as harmful, and that would be breaking the contract."

"Now that you meeention it. How should I write it then?"

"Something like, I can't do anything that would go against school rules, even without a witness."

"Then since we won't get to have inappropriate s.e.xual relations, that means we don't even get to kiss before graduation. Is that okay?"

"Corny jokes get pretty annoying on their second run, you know?"

"I wasn't joking though! Jeez, fine! If that's how you think, Kanchan, then we'll do what you say! Oh, right, and I'm gonna say that you can't use an «Absolute Contract» against me!"

Revision: Party B may not do anything harmful to Party A. "Harmful" entails actions against school rules, and using an «Absolute Contract» against Party A.

"Whatever, we'll leave #2 like that for now. Another question: what is the goal of #3?"

Kanna had no intention of carrying such a odd plushie with him, and did not want a meaningless condition.

Nanami's personality probably meant that she would come up with something irresponsible like "it's more fun that way", Kanna thought, but Nanami's face was serious.

"Actually, I'm doing it because I want a physical representation of our contract. I have to have it."

"Why is that?"

"If you have a visible object like this on you, then you'll never be able to forget our contract, won't you Kanchan? Or the feeling of wanting to aim for the top. That's why I think this part is so important."

"I don't want to walk around with such a strange doll on me. Delete it."

"……"

Eyes narrowed, Nanami stared at Kanna as she took out her yellow cat plushie and stuffed it into his hands.

A static-like electric shock coursed through him.

"—OW! What're you doing?!"

"You have to wear it! As long as you have GO-PON, then you won't forget your feeling of aiming for the top!"

There was no grasping it, but Kanna knew that Nanami wasn't joking around. By the looks of her, she wasn't planning on deleting anything from the contract either.

It was best to drop it, then. Arguing further probably wouldn't amount to anything.

(It's an abnormal requirement. I'll have to endure it for now.)

"Are we good? Do you get that we have to do it to prevent you from forgetting your original plan?"

"Yeah."

"Anything else, then?"

Just to be cautious, Kanna reviewed the text again, then nodded.

"Then let's start!"

Nanami thrust up her left arm.  

"You too, Kanchan!"

Kanna didn't know whether it was really required, but he raised his left fist reluctantly.

"One, two, three!"

"—«Absolute Contract»."

"—«Absolute Contract»!"

Nanami and Kanna's CCC mobiles flashed brightly. Roving green light changed to gold, then produced a strong glow. It didn't seem much like — the light of a blessing. Something sinister seemed to dwell within the radiance.

Whether he liked it or not, that light made Kanna feel certain about something.

—With this, Kanna Fujishiro was now one of the [Seven Rulers]: Greed.

At that moment, Kanna's CCC mobile also vibrated. Understanding that signaled the arrival of a new email, he started it up.

He immediately recognized something.

Upon starting up the CCC, next to Nanahoshi Academy's emblem at the screen's upper left was a "☆" mark.

It was a mark indicating his position as one of the [Seven Rulers].

He immediately checked the content of the email. One of the school's two automated emails was a short message indicating "You have become [Greed]", and the other contained the currently established procedures of [Navy Fox] and a complete list of members.

There were a total of 33 people. For a clique, the not-so-functional [Navy Fox] seemed to have a very small population amongst the whole but meager seven. Moreover, most of the members seemed lacking in compet.i.tive skill and had joined for no particular reason.

Even so, as he gazed at the list of full names, Status Data, links to simplified résumés, and profiles of 33 people, he could not stop a sense of future prospect boiling up within him.

He actually felt it.

(Ah… I've obtained the power of the [Seven Rulers].)

Kanna's left hand formed a pistol barrel, and he pressed his finger to his temple.

Aiming for the top had always been his goal. There was no mistaking that it was something he truly felt. But for an F-Ranked like himself, he could not deny that it was an absurd path, and that his goal was starting to look more and more obscure.

Yet that path had materialized.

He could see the path to the top now.

It was a path filled with ferocious beasts who wolf down their prey, a path splattered in blood.

Without the resolve to make many enemies, to deceive, and to be hated, he was only heading towards failure.

That was why this path was something he could not turn back from. This was a one-way street. Perhaps he would be the one getting devoured, and that was rather the greater likelihood.

Awaiting him ahead was a brutal world with no peace of mind. He had already been forced into it.

Driving that point home in his head, Kanna—

"Heh heh… so I'm the F-Ranked Ruler now."

—laughed unflinchingly, of course.

The light on the CCC mobile ceased to flash; the tiny green light steadied and returned to its original state.

Once he saw this with his own eyes, Kanna removed his finger from his temple and exhaled softly.

"All righty, contract maaaade." Nanami sang, ignoring Kanna's excitement.

Instead, she smiled and linked hands with him.

"From now on we're a couple!"

Soft hair tickled Kanna's face.

"…It's a little late for this, but why do we have to pretend to be a couple?"

"Another question! I am a C-Ranked, Kanchan is an F-Ranked, we have cla.s.ses in different buildings, and have no opportunities to see each other. What, then is the most natural reason for a guy and a girl of similar age to be together?"

Nanami pointed the microphone at Kanna again.

"Because they're a couple?"

"Correct."

"But why do we have to stick together in the first place?"

"Well, that's 'cause things would be bad if you acted on your own, Kanchan. Aren't you planning to defeat Eriksama next? If you were to do something without me knowing and get my [Greed] stolen away, I'd be in trouble. It's a drag, but if we don't work together then we won't be able to defeat her. And also, since we're partners from now on, I can observe you to see if you can handle responsibility."

(So she was planning to surveil me after all. I see that even Nanami understands it well. If she lets her guard down, then she wouldn't just be lending [Greed] to me; I'd find some way to get it into my own hands."

No matter how you look at it, she's being exceptionally careful, Kanna thought while gazing at Nanami.

Yet the supposedly vigilant girl was humming airily while flipping through the song browser.

(…She is well aware, right?)

His brow furrowed as he studied the impenetrable Nanami. Then he roughly threw off her hand from his.

"Ah!"

Nanami stuck out her lip crossly at the separation.

"What kind of reaction is that? I know it's natural if we're pretending to be a couple, but in this karaoke box where literally no one is going to see us, there shouldn't be a need to keep up the act."

"You think we can trick people just by keeping an appearance? How naive! If we skimp on the couple act like this we'll be found out really quickly."

"I'm used to keeping an appearance, so don't stick so close to me."

"Urrgh, oooh, I don't wanna!"

"…Why?"

"I don't wanna! You need to be more like a boyfriend! This is my first time getting a boyfriend too!"

Isn't this just throwing a tantrum?

"Hold on, I'm just pretending to be your boyfriend, right?"

"Still!"

Nanami clenched her fists at her chest and looked at Kanna with upturned eyes.

"Still, you're a very special person to me, Kanchan! So you gotta do what couples do for each other!"

(Special, huh? Nanami seems pretty gung-ho about form, since she put that plushie in the contract. But this really is a special relationship. Yeah, put simply, it's like a relationship in a manga I've read before. Between a boy who gets ahold of a shinigami's notebook where he writes down the names of people to die, and a shinigami who likes apples… a relationship like that.)

How rude of Kanna.

"Oh, right. You better start showing it with actions."

Nanami began rummaging through her plushie-ridden bag, then pulled out a pink brush and stuffed it into Kanna's hand.

"Brush my hair!"

Kanna wondered whether that was something couples usually did, but listening to Nanami's fussing would also be a bother, so he took the brush and helped brush out her hair. It was slightly permed, but the brush slid easily through the strands. Nanami seemed somehow satisfied as he brushed.

"Heheh, well? Tempted? Are your protective instincts tempted? Any possessive feelings?"

"Uh-huh."

Kanna gave the appropriate response.

"I can style it however you like, Kanchan. Like, how about a ponytail? Don't guys love ponytails?"

"Straighten it and dye it black, then."

"Theeere it is! There's your bias for long black hair!"

Ignoring her excitement, Kanna looked down at GO-PON.

(Relationships, huh…)

He still found it difficult to understand.

But in any case, in accordance with their agreement, he was no longer able to rid himself of this ghost plushie.

■

That had happened yesterday, and now Kanna was the [Greed].

He'd been contemplating strategies for defeating Erika the [Pride] while sitting fourth period in his cla.s.sroom, [F128]. The cla.s.s was [Monarchical Rule]; the current topic revolved around [the art of controlling a man's heart].

(About time this stuff started showing up.)

Kanna copied and pasted the material from the electronic blackboard, then appended his own annotations to the side. He couldn't cut any corners because anything he wrote down with the help of his CCC mobile like this would affect his Status Data, but he did almost all of it between tasks. He intended to use this time to figure out how to bring Erika down.

Like the cla.s.s he was in at the moment, [Monarchical Rule], there were other cla.s.ses unique to Nanahoshi Academy, but F-Ranked instruction was exceedingly typical and bore few differences compared to a normal academy; basic subjects were on the level of your typical prep school. There wasn't even any specialized material to speak of distinguishing them from other schools.

Of course, once you changed Rank, the quality of your education would too. Students end up forced to cope with it, but the school felt it better to let them figure out such trivial matters on their own, so all they could do was utilize supplementary lessons provided for those who wanted them. Because it included specialized subjects, Nanahoshi Academy's curriculum was comparatively larger than other schools, so even Sat.u.r.days were stacked full. Despite that, you would still find it difficult to keep up with your schoolwork if you weren't a disciplined student, and that was how Nanahoshi Academy worked. As one entered the higher Ranks, cla.s.s size shrank and you gained the ability to pick subjects, const.i.tuting a more sophisticated system. Students of Nanahoshi Academy hardly found time to come up for air.

That was why Kanna wasn't necessarily unable to sympathize with Shinji's desire to skip cla.s.s. Besides, if you did, all you would get was a verbal reprimand from the school. You just needed to do well on tests and your grade would be unaffected; the only result would be a gap in your attendance records. Nanahoshi Academy granted its students the freedom to make their own decisions, and here, whether or not they attended cla.s.s was their own responsibility.

Kanna watched the back of Shinji, who sat in front of him. This morning he'd been yammering about going off to find cute girls but he'd avoided missing cla.s.s in the end. He didn't have the guts to skip by himself. He wouldn't be Shinji without his knack for giving up halfway through things.

Kanna turned his gaze back and an empty seat came into view. It was where Yamabuki usually sat, but after suffering Punitive Sanction S, he would not be returning. Kanna didn't feel a shred of sentimentality towards this, only a sense of achievement at having kicked aside a nuisance. It wouldn't be long before a high-ranking student under their own Punitive Sanction came to fill Yamabuki's seat.

Suddenly, Kanna's CCC mobile vibrated. He'd received a text. He tapped his Aerial to open it.

"Sorry, Kannkun! Today's Monarchical Rule cla.s.s kinda went over my head, so could you teach it to me after school? ♡ Yuzuko's coming too! ♡"

Kanna glanced over at the sender. Reino Sekiguchi, Status Data [E, F, F, D, E, B, D], was making a pleading gesture at him. With a B Appearance, Reino was fully aware that she was extremely pretty and had determined that all she needed to do was smile like that and would painlessly get his help.

(If this had happened before yesterday, I might have gone with her to build rapport with my cla.s.smates…)

As an outwardly-presenting honor student, Kanna routinely encountered such requests, but he could no longer arbitrarily accept them. As [Greed], he had to spend every waking moment thinking of ways to defeat Erika, so he couldn't waste his precious after-school time.

"Apologies, I've been kind of busy lately and don't have time to teach you. I'm really sorry."

Kanna put on an apologetic face to Reino and returned the text.

"Whaaat? Fine then, what a b.u.mmer."

That's how her text read, but in truth she pouted sulkily, probably because she knew exactly how cute she looked that way.

(Guess she wasn't just trying to get me to tutor her. She also wanted to get close to me. How asinine. You might look somewhat cute, but with such a low Intellect, there's no way I'd be interested.)

Kanna spat cruelly in his head, and the text vanished.

At that point, everyone's CCC mobiles began glowing red, indicating the end of cla.s.s in lieu of a bell. A moment later the teacher also declared dismissal and the cla.s.s president — that is, Kanna, called out the commands to stand, salute, and sit.

That was a very average scene in cla.s.s for Kanna.

"h.e.l.l yeah, lunch break!"

Shinji clapped Kanna's shoulder, grinning. Kanna felt that he was being overly intimate, but would never reveal his inner thoughts, keeping the smile plastered on his face.

"Shinji-kun, Kannkun."

Shinji's best friend Taihei Oohara immediately walked towards them both. Status Data [D, D, F, F, E, E, B]. His characteristics included a pair of thick eyebrows and slightly rotund physique. As his B Lineage suggested, he acted completely like a young master. His personality was also very gentle, perhaps the result of excessive pampering.

(A face like a meek dog again. Gentle personalities are easy to like, but you just can't ignore that it's completely out of place in the Survival of the Fittest Academy. This kid's just like Shinji. He'll never be able to leave F-Rank.)

"Dining hall again, today?"

Taihei's rigid expression cracked into a half-hearted semi-smile as he looked towards the other two to confirm.

It was habit for the three of them to walk together to the dining hall for lunch.

Like the E-Ranked students, F-Ranked students had a permanently designated dining hall in one of the five dining halls among the 17 school buildings. For the F-Ranked students, sharing a dining hall with the E-Ranked students meant that you weren't able to feel at ease there. You would understand once you hear of an E-Ranked using an Instruct to force F-Ranked students to give up their seats. That was why many F-Ranked students instead opted to buy bread from the school store or purchase their lunch from a  off-campus convenience store.

Laidback and docile, Shinji and Taihei didn't seem too bothered by this. Kanna on the other hand had to endure the discomfort, but still wanted to go with them. In an area with so many students congregated together, all he needed to do was pay the slightest amount of attention and he'd obtain unexpected intel.

That was why eating at the dining hall had become habit for the three of them.

"Uhh, sorry, but I can't go today." Kanna tactfully declined with an apologetic look.

"Huh? Why? Is it a girl? …Ha ha, I'm just kidding. It's not like someone as uptight as you can suddenly get a girlf—"

"It is."

"——Huh?"

Shinji stared.

Kanna took advantage of his reaction and pressed forward on the attack, smiling: "I need to spend time with my girlfriend, so I can't go with you guys."

Shinji and Taihei looked stupefied.

A hubbub broke out around them, amongst students who had happened to overhear the scandalous honor student gossip.

"…Wha? Y-You got a girlfriend, Kanna?!"

"That's what I just said."

The cla.s.sroom buzz intensified. A closer look revealed that even Reino looked to be blinking back tears.

(Christ, I knew this would result in some level of chaos, but what a pain in the a.s.s. I can't lie, though, because Nanami's going to get here soon. I have to make our relationship public to hide the fact that we're helping each other out.)

Kanna exhaled surrept.i.tiously and continued to explain, "She's someone very important to me. She should be here soon, and I'll introduce her to everyone."

(To keep playing the part of a serious honor student, I need to appear like I have a healthy approach to our relationship. Openly expressing that I have a girlfriend should be pretty suitable.)

"Wh-Who the heck is it, Kanna?!" Shinji demanded, so worked up that spit was flying from his mouth.

"It's—"

"Kanchan."

At that moment, there was a voice he had gotten much too familiar with over the entire course of yesterday.

Shinji and Taihei's eyes simultaneously swept towards the cla.s.sroom door where it had come from.

Standing in the doorway was Nanami Nanahoshi, her hair tied exceptionally high today.

"Huh? You're not telling me she's your girlfriend?!"

"Y-You're joking! Kannkun, for real?!"

The first thing his F-Ranked cla.s.smates reacted with upon witnessing the exalted academy president's daughter Nanami Nanahoshi personally coming to an F-Ranked cla.s.sroom was disbelief.

Most had been listening intently to Kanna's admission of getting a girlfriend, and now they were arguing over another: "No way, he's dating the academy president's daughter!" "Fujishiro-kun's girlfriend is Nanahoshi-san!" "d.a.m.n, what a catch!"

"K-Kanna… you're a lolicon?!"

Only Shinji's surprise was directed at something slightly different.

"So the prince likes them small… what a shocker…" "I thought he was literally perfect. So lolis, huh…?" "Always wondered why the cla.s.s prez was F-Ranked. So this is why." And yet, after hearing what others were saying, it turned out that Shinji wasn't that different from everyone else after all.

(Hmph, just as expected.)

Kanna cared nothing if people called him a lolicon.

It didn't matter if they viewed him as one as long as he was an honor student. To display his defiance, he intentionally crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Kanchan, let's go eat—"

Nanami walked up to him and extended her right hand. Kanna took it in his left and they crossed their fingers tightly together.

So that other people didn't view them as unnatural, they had to make it widely known to the other students that they were dating, so Kanna had promised Nanami in the karaoke box yesterday that they would do this when they next met in his cla.s.sroom.

The bewitching sight of their intertwined fingers made Shinji and Taihei whisper.

"S-So intimate."

"They really are. Dang."

Kanna watched the confusion from those two and other students as he thought.

(Heh, looks like it's having an immediate and rippling effect.)

Satisfied, he released Nanami's hand.

Nanami, grinning smugly for some reason, turned towards Shinji and Taihei.

"Are you people friends of Kanchan? Sorry, I'm borrowing him!"

Having Nanami speak directly to them surprised Shinji and Taihei so much that they looked helpless.

"U-Um, p-please feel free however you like, Nanahoshi-san!"

Even after he had ridiculed her as underdeveloped, Nanami's status as the academy president's daughter still made Shinji incredibly nervous when she talked to him.

Nanami pouted crossly and informed him: "It's Nanami."

"Huh?"

"Calling me Nanahoshi makes me feel like you're addressing the daughter of the academy president! So I want you to call me Nanami."

"Uh, ah, then… Nanami… san?" Shinji asked cautiously, and Nanami nodded, pleased. Shinji let out a slackened breath.

"Well, you guys really are a good match. Truly a handsome couple." He said sycophantically, fundamentally unable to forget her high status.

But this made Nanami's face break into real displeasure.

"W-What?"

"Did you say that… knowing that I'm a B Appearance… and Kanchan is an A?!"

"Huh? I-Is that right?!"

"Yes it is! Ugh… how?! Why am I stuck with a B Appearance when I'm so cute…"

"D-Don't worry about it, because you really are very cute, Nanami-san! That's just the opinion of the school! Don't the rumors all say that Status Data is extra harsh against loli— I mean, cuter people?!"

"Urgh… really?"

"Yes! There's nothing wrong with your face, it's a small thing with your height and—"

Shinji continued desperately in an effort to pander to her, "there's no bulge on your chest at all!"

But he ended up treading on a landmine.

Nanami, who was usually always smiling, now saw the grin on her face instantly vanish.

"U-Uh? Why are you looking at me like I'm a cicada you accidentally stepped on?"

"So you're saying… my chest is a chopping board, a pot lid, the Kanto plains, nothing but 2D…"

"Huh?! No! Did I… say that…?"
Unfortunately, he did.

Nanami's smile was absent, but the corners of her mouth lifted. It clearly wasn't a happy grin, and Shinji began to stammer.

"Normal people don't like to rely on their parents' power, but not me. I'm completely on board with sponging off my father. I welcome the favoritism."

"U-Umm…"

"So I use his full power to get what I want."

"…"

"I'll tell Daddy from you that you called me flat-chested. ☆"

"Eeek! Joking! I was joking! You've got huge b.o.o.bs, Nanami-san!"

Kanna didn't feel like entering such a stupid conversation, and his eyes began to drift into s.p.a.ce. He didn't give a c.r.a.p whether Nanami's chest was small or large.

When his wandering eyes fell on a female student standing at the cla.s.sroom door, he couldn't help but frown.

"Mei?"

The demure-looking girl he called out to shyly raised her hands.

"Ah, Mei-chan, why are you still standing there? Come on in."

"O-Oh."

Mei leaned forward at Nanami's voice. Unlike Nanami, she walked in timidly and recoiled from her surroundings, perhaps uneasy from the stares being given to her upon her entrance into a cla.s.sroom of a different grade.

Kanna nudged Nanami's shoulder.

"…Nanami, why did you bring her?"

"Mm? She heard I was looking for Kanchan and wanted to come along for some reason."

(…Looks like Nanami's unaware of the relationship between me and Mei?)

"H-h.e.l.lo, Kannkun."

"Ah, yes. h.e.l.lo."

Mei Otosaka. Status Data [C, D, E, F, E, A, B]. A C-Ranked student in Nanami's cla.s.s.

She didn't give off a dazzling impression, but as her A Appearance would suggest, her facial features were quite pleasing to look at and she possessed a fine figure. Her drooping eyes, kind face, and her beautiful pale shoulder-length hair granted her a great deal of male-attracting charm. But unlike Nanami and her casually-worn uniform, Mei wasn't the type to display her charm on purpose. Even the first b.u.t.ton on her blouse was properly fastened, and details such as her tightly knotted bow suggested a guarded personality. She was the type to silently attract a lot of male popularity and many hidden fans.

The emblem of [Navy Fox] was pinned on her collar. From this, one could tell that Nanami and Mei were close.

As soon as she arrived in front of Kanna, she stared right into his face. It was not natural; she was intentionally studying his gaze. He would inevitably end up looking back at her and their eyes would meet.

"Ah." Mei appeared slightly surprised. The corners of her mouth lifted somewhat in a smile, and she reached out and tightened Kanna's necktie, which he had intentionally left loosened.

"……Your tie's… loose……" Mei said softly, and broke her gaze. Despite having initiated the action completely on her own, she looked down with a very red face.

Page 131

The brief intimacy between the two caused Shinji to raise his eyebrows.

"Excuse me, but what kind of relationship do you have with Kanna?"

"Ah, m-me…? We…"

Mei stole a glance at Kanna's face as if to confirm with him.

(Stop, don't say it.)

However, she could not hear his inner voice.

"It's… a little embarra.s.sing, but…"

Blushing again, Mei looked down and whispered:

"I'm his girlfriend…"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

It wasn't just Shinji and Taihei. Even Nanami let out a thunderstruck shriek.

"Huh? Whuh? Aren't Nanami and Kanna dating? Wh? Girlfriend?"
Shinji's bewildered questions went over Mei's head, who tilted it in puzzlement.

The entire cla.s.s became enveloped by a whirlwind of astonishment. Amongst them, Kanna looked to be the only one who was calm, but his mind was vexed.

(I'm done for, now.)

In this situation, all he could do was pretend that Mei Otosaka was lying.

If she had lied, then all he needed to do was correct her.

(The problem is—)

The problem was, that had been the unadulterated, bonfide truth.

Which meant that Nanami Nanahoshi was his false girlfriend, and Mei Otosaka was his true girlfriend.

If he said the wrong thing here, then Mei would get angry and it would be very difficult to clean things up after that. Two-timing when he already had a girlfriend — if that got out, the honest image of an honor student Kanna had worked so hard to cultivate would be easily obliterated.

"K-Kanna, wh-what the h.e.l.l is going on?" Shinji demanded, his mind spinning out of control.

Just then, his brain straining under pressure, Kanna suddenly realized something.

(Come to think of it, I haven't actually made clear who my girlfriend is. In that case…)

Kanna opened his eyes wide, as if he were confused as to why everyone was looking so surprised.

"What do you mean…?"
He put his arm around Mei's shoulders, who was still blushing and silently bowing her head.

As though the events of his and Nanami's tightly intertwined fingers had never happened, he said with perfect composition:

"This is my precious girlfriend, Mei Otosaka."

■

"What the heck is going on?! Why are Kanchan and Mei-chan dating?! How did I not know this?!"

Kanna dragged Nanami's hand as they left the cla.s.sroom, which was now uproarious from the exposure of an unantic.i.p.ated girlfriend of the honor student they called the prince, and arrived again at the PA room from yesterday.

But he couldn't leave Mei, who was positively redder than a boiled octopus upon hearing his confession of love, in cla.s.sroom [F128] forever. He planned on discussing the essentials with Nanami and then going back as soon as possible.

Kanna leaned against the wall beside the tiny window in the PA room, scratching his ear as he watched Nanami maddeningly wave her hands around and making incessant accusations.

"Betrayed! You betrayed me! I'm breaking the contract with you!"

"Hold on, I haven't betrayed anyone." Kanna said truthfully.

"So Mei-chan was lying?"

"No, she was telling the truth, but that doesn't count as betrayal. I only knew that I was supposed to pretend to date you, so even if I already had a girlfriend, that wouldn't be betraying you."

"Urrghh… what kind of logic is that?! …Ugh, though I didn't exactly check with you whether you had a girlfriend or not…"

"And although I say that, I was planning on breaking up with her anyway to keep playing couple with you."

"You're so casual! You can't just break up if you feel like it!"

"Hmph, who has the time for romance in the Survival of the Fittest Academy? I only started dating her for my own benefit. And her A Appearance helps put me in the mood to play around with her."

"You're horrible! Horrible, Kanchan!"

Ignoring Nanami's understandable scorn, Kanna thought.

(But I've already defiantly declared our relationship to publicize Mei as my girlfriend for the sake of keeping the story straight, so it's going to be even more difficult to split up with her if I don't want to betray her trust.)

"…No. I can't think of a plan right now. In any case Nanami, cooperate for the time being."

"What? Why would I want to help you when you're so horrible, Kanchan?!"

"If you don't, then there will no longer be a reason for me to stick around with you. Does that sound okay?"

"Oh."

"Of course, it also puts me in a bind. You're so conspicuous that I can't always be with you for no reason. So I have to think of a way to bring back the couple relationship between you and me."

"This is the first time in my life I've heard someone talk about wanting to restore a relationship so carelessly…" Nanami hung her head, crestfallen.

"I even psyched myself up to fawn on you like a girlfriend would. My poor inner romantic… ooh… You better think of a plan now! Fast! Anything that crosses your mind!"

At that, Kanna pressed the tip of his index finger to his temple and thought.

"Okay… It's going to wreck my honest image, but I can two-time."

"Y-You mean you want me to be your mistress? No way!"

"No? …Well, okay. How about you start dating Shinji?"

"What?"

"You'll pretend to date Shinji instead of me. He might not help me with battle strength, but he'll definitely make a good partner. It'll be two couples, Mei with me and you with Shinji, and that way we can all meet up often. It won't seem weird for you and I to be together, will it?"

"Th-This guy… You really have no conscience at all… I wonder if your blood is actually green instead of red… I'm not some casual girl who'll let just anybody brush my hair! You moron!"

Kanna found it difficult to comprehend Nanami's outrage when he had only suggested a different target for a fake couple, and she wouldn't be actually be dating anybody. But in any case, he was now certain that she had no intention of accepting that proposal.

"…Then I can't think of a plan right now."

He casually glanced out the window.

It just so happened to be around when it happened yesterday.

(Today as well, as I expected.)

Just like yesterday, entering his view came Erika Kagurazaka, accompanied by her a.s.sociates. He was looking at her from behind, but Kanna could still feel her unrivaled presence and beauty.

…He'd long since felt it. It had been more than a year since Kanna had begun to notice that Erika was a unique existence, but he could still feel her peerlessness.

(I won't recklessly use other people's feelings like Erika does. No, it's a complete accident that I'm dating Mei, and I'm not deliberately using her.)

His eyes left her.

(I want to do my best not to harm Mei, but continuing to use her feelings like this will make me feel guilty… and feeling guilty because of this is not a good thing for me.)

Continuing to ruminate, Kanna fell silent.

Watching him like that, Nanami interpreted his silence as an inability to come up with a plan, and felt discouraged.

"I got it. I'll cooperate with you for now, Kanchan… unwillingly… really unwillingly."

"It's the best for both of us."

Nanami squinted at Kanna's unconcerned tone to communicate her chestful of resentment, but he turned a blind eye to her. She sighed deeply and continued, "…Urgh, whatever. Let's get back to Mei-chan and the others… but before that, I have another question for you."

"What is it?"

"When you said that you were only dating Mei-chan for your own benefit, what benefit is that?"

Kanna hesitated over whether to respond honestly, since the genuine answer would definitely impact Nanami and Mei's future relationship. Even if he didn't want that to happen, it would s...o...b..ll into a complicated situation.

But after thinking about it some more, he decided to tell her the truth. He had to tell her eventually anyway.

"Just think about why I said that I've always known from the start you were [Greed], and you should be able to figure it out."

"Huh?"

Nanami's eyes widened in surprise. A second later, after finally grasping the meaning behind Kanna's words, her face turned ashen.

"You're joking… Ah, how…"

Seems like she got it.

She got the fact that Mei Otosaka, a genuine core member of [Navy Fox], had divulged the true ident.i.ty of [Greed] to her boyfriend, Kanna Fujishiro.

■

"I've already left cla.s.sroom 28, Kannkun. I'm planning to head towards the square in front of the sports grounds with both of your friends. Please proceed there. I have actually made a bento today and want to give it to you."

As soon as he exited the PA room, Kanna's CCC mobile received a text from Mei. They had exchanged contact IDs, since they were a couple after all.

(It's been a week since we started going out, but she's still using honorifics in her texts.)

Alone, he made for the square in front of the sports grounds she described, temporarily separating with Nanami, who had gone to buy bread.

Before leaving, Nanami had asked: "Did you make Mei-chan do it against her will?", and Kanna had simply replied, "Yeah." That had alleviated Nanami's pallor somewhat.

Nanami had probably grasped the full situation by now.

Like the fact that Kanna had deceived Mei into revealing [Greed]'s ident.i.ty.

"Now then."

Since there were too many people, Kanna didn't immediately spot the trio after arriving at the square. It was fantastically sunny with sweeping scenery, making for a mildly popular lunch spot. The clear weather had attracted a high number of F-Ranked students.

"Hey, Kanna!"

Shinji stood up and waved his arm wildly, and Kanna finally saw them.

The three of them were sitting on a step between the sports grounds and the square.

(Anyway, all I can do now is to go along with what happened in the cla.s.sroom and the idea that Mei is my darling girlfriend.)

So, Kanna reasonably sat in a spot right next to her. Mei immediately inquired about Nanami's whereabouts, and Kanna told her the truth.

Shinji silently accepted it, but the moment Kanna sat down, he hastily continued Mei's topic.

"Kanna, listen! I asked Mei-chan why you guys started dating, and she got so embarra.s.sed that she won't say anything."

"You asked me how we started dating… That…" Mei awkwardly clutched her burning cheeks.

"Don't put her on the spot like that, Shinji… Jeez, why didn't you stop him, Taihei?"

"Heh heh, sorry about that. I really wanted to know, too."

"What am I gonna do with you guys?" Kanna gave them a dry smile. On his other side, Mei handed the bento to him, no doubt the handmade lunch she had mentioned in the text.

"Um… Please don't have high expectations. I can't really cook that well."

(Christ. Looks like I'll have to do as they expect now.)

And so things proceeded just as Kanna thought they would. At the handmade bento, Shinji looked on eagerly while Taihei ogled with a sneaky grin, and Mei looked bashful. Kanna took the bento, saying  "Thanks". Then he opened the lid, and went "It looks really good". He placed a piece of tamagoyaki into his mouth, commenting "Yep, it's delicious". It was as if he were reading off a script to handle an annoying situation. Cold and indifferent, Kanna wanted only to deal with impending risk. His actions held no sincerity for his girlfriend's handmade bento, nor for the person herself.

And yet, n.o.body could tell what he was really thinking. Everyone believed they were the interactions of an intimate couple.

(And now I'm in the clear.)

"Hey, Nanami-chan's here!"

Just then, Nanami finally arrived holding a piece of bread. She was grinning widely, perhaps because she had come round to the situation with Mei.

"Ah!"

But she quickly saw that Kanna was eating Mei's handmade bento, and her face went sour.

"Urgh… Grrr."

She looked visibly unhappy, but did not go out of her way to make that clear. Nanami was very aware of who the leading role was in this situation.

"I was supposed to take the leading role… I was perfectly acting the part, too…"

"What, Nanami-chan?"

"N-No, I didn't say anything, Mei-chan."

"Hey, hey, what do you like about Kanna, Mei-chan?"

(I knew it, but it looks like I have to keep this going.)

Shinji's ragging caused Mei's head to droop even lower, her cheeks sandwiched between her hands.

"I-I can't really think of anything right now… How much I respect him. How I can hold my own beliefs around him. And how our values are close together."

"Whoa! You came up with that many right away! You really do like Kanna!… Now you, Kanna! What do you like about Mei-chan?"

"She C-Ranked, but she treats me as an equal. She appears reserved, when in fact she doesn't compromise easily. Her elegant mannerisms from her upbringing. And her smile, and her cuteness, and so on."

Kanna said without a trace of embarra.s.sment.

"He said a bunch of things too! What sort of couple is this?!"

(As long as she keeps her position as my precious girlfriend, getting through something like this is practically a cakewalk. I'll just intensify it and make it look like I'm deeply in love with Mei.)

"And also, her weakness is that sometimes she can't see anybody except for me." Kanna said frankly, eyeing Mei with a slightly mischievous look.

"Sh-Should I change?" Mei asked to that.

"I won't mind even if you don't."

"Y-Yep. I don't think it's that bad, either."

They met eyes and smiled.

No matter how you looked at it, they seemed to be a sickeningly sweet couple madly in love, completely submerged in their own world.

"I'll tell you what, the more I look at their intimacy, the more I think I'm going to get mad."

"Don't worry, Taihei, me too."

Kanna sensed an expression more terrifying than the ones on their faces. Nanami was glaring in his direction, apoplectic with rage, but he couldn't do anything and was only able to leave her be for now.

And yet Mei was completely oblivious to Nanami's stare. The weakness that Kanna brought up might not have been a joke at all.

"Ah, you finished your tamagoyaki."

"Yep, it was delicious."

"I still have some, here you go."

Mei brought her tamagoyaki up to Kanna's mouth.

"Come on, ahh—"

(Mei is practically ecstatic… I can't go along with her anymore. If I open my mouth, we'll become a degenerate, lovesick couple. That's too far from my honor student image. I have to properly demonstrate self-control.)

"Um, Mei, doing that in front of others, it's kind of…"

"Ah! Y-You're right! I-I'm sorry."

Mei looked downcast for a second.

(But that'll only give a heartless impression, taking away from my ability to persuade that we're deeply in love. To avoid that, I need to — Got it!)

Kanna leaned forward and bit off the tamagoyaki still suspended in Mei's chopsticks.

"Ah…"

Mei blushed.

"Just this once."

And Kanna smiled.

"Y-Yep. Sorry… Thank you."

Mei stared at Kanna with a gaze burning so intently that heart shapes seemed ready to float into being.

(Hah. This way, I'm still in total control and made it seem like we're deeply in love.)

However, he was only temporarily able to bask in the satisfaction of successfully getting it done.

—Bam!!

"That's enough!"

Nanami stamped her foot and stood up.

"Y-You weren't even that affectionate with me, why are you treating Mei-chan so differently?! There's gotta be a limit!"

Cursing the annoyance of the situation, Kanna replied without missing a beat in his smile.

"What are you talking about? We're dating, so of course I'd treat her differently, right?"

Looking anxious, Mei watched Nanami after her sudden outburst.

"U-Um… What's wrong, Nanami-chan?"

At Mei's fl.u.s.tered look, Nanami also became bothered.

Add that to the look Kanna was giving her, as though warning, "If you don't cooperate, there'll be trouble for you, too."

"U-Urrrgh… Nothing!"

She sat down forcefully, then stood up again and started to tear up the gra.s.s beside her without regard for getting her hands dirty.

"Ridiculous! Ridiculous! This is so ridiculous!" Nanami grumbled to herself as she ripped up the gra.s.s.

After tearing for a while, and seemingly still angry, she tossed aside the gra.s.s in her hands and walked towards Kanna. Furious, she drew closer and closer, right up until her forehead was about to collide with Kanna's face.

"What?"

(She's not about to declare that she's my real girlfriend or something, is she?)

However, at present it seemed like she might do something like that at any moment.

Staring ferociously at Kanna, Nanami finally spoke.

"Gimme candy!"

He took out the lollipop he had been carrying today as well for some reason and handed it to Nanami. Nanami swiped it, removed the wrapper, and stuck it in her mouth.

"Hee hee."

She looked somewhat satisfied.

(What an incomprehensible girl. Tell me she hasn't gotten too into character while pretending to be my girlfriend and actually taken a liking to me. Spare me.)

This back and forth was irritating Kanna immensely. He turned to look far away, but was unable to see anything.

That was because his vision had been obscured by a leaflet thrust out to him.

—[Anti-Leviathan].

A line of words entered his view.

"Thanks for your support—"

Two female students in casual clothes were grinning widely at Kanna — Kanna and the others, rather. Kanna took the leaflet doubtfully.

One of the gla.s.ses-wearing second years continued, still smiling.

"Um, if you're interested, please let us know, and we'll be glad to explain!"

With that, the female student turned tail and left, immediately handing out more leaflets to other students. She probably intended to give one to as manys students gathered here as possible.

"Kanna, what is it?"

Shinji leaned towards him to look.

Kanna's eyes fell upon the leaflet.

The first thing he saw was a line of words slightly larger than the rest of the text.

We of [Anti-Leviathan] oppose Nanahoshi Academy's Ranking System and Seven Cliques System.

Kanna looked towards the gla.s.ses-wearing female student still nearby. Pinned on her chest was the emblem of a fantastical water dragon with a large X on top of it. Students belonging to [Anti-Leviathan] all wore that badge.

"Oh, what… It's a leaflet from Anti-Le."

Disinterested, Shinji looked away from the leaflet. Anti-Le was a somewhat disparaging abbreviation of [Anti-Leviathan].

Kanna remained silent, and continued to read the leaflet.

I refuse to endorse all the current systems of Nanahoshi Academy that bully the weak and allow the strong to seize everything.

Ever since Nanahoshi Academy gained outstanding accomplishments in modern society, its system has been lauded as innovative. However, this evaluation is categorically false. On the contrary, I advance that this is the the most ancient, primitive system there is. This is a system that is blind to human rights and filled with violence. Do you not feel that Nanahoshi Academy's dissemination of the Survival of the Fittest ideology conflicts with social welfare systems and devalues society as a whole?

And are we, the ones ridiculed for studying at the Survival of the Fittest Academy, incapable of feeling the bias in this ideology?

As you attend Nanahoshi Academy, do you truly feel that this system is right?

I think not. I believe that most students view our current system as distorted. Once you scrutinize the personal relationships, everything else will begin to appear suspicious. Do you not feel uneasy in this suffocating academy?

To receive the students who believe the above, I have created an unofficial eighth Clique, [Anti-Leviathan].

We are recruiting followers and supporters of this movement.

Anti-Leviathan Representative, F the [Vainglory]

Printed beside F's name was a design of an X'ed out water dragon, identical to ones on the badges.

"Kanna, are you interested in Anti-Le?" Shinji asked, probably noticing how attentively Kanna was reading.

(Interested? There can't be anything else I'm more concerned by.)

"No, I'm not."

Kanna's reply ran counter to his thoughts.

"I came to this academy fully aware that its system has been called a survival of the fittest, so of course I don't support a movement that goes against the system."

"Yeah, you're right."

"I think there'll be people who come here and then realize that it's crueler than they'd imagined, but instead of opposing the system, they ought to try their best to acclimate. That's what I think."

Perhaps because the conversation had become too serious, Shinji gave a strained smile and eased the tension.

"This F representative person is the actual funny one. Doesn't he always wear a mask? Why would he hide his ident.i.ty? Maybe he's actually an F-Ranked too and formed an opposition party because he was dissatisfied with the discrimination."

"Hmm, you think he's an F-Ranked? His faith is questionable, but his energy is impressive. I heard [Anti-Leviathan] started being active after our opening ceremony, but less than a month after that, the guy's managed to recruit those members who are handing out leaflets. I don't think an F-Ranked could organize something to this degree."

"Then shouldn't it be like, where he's superior, but got put into F-Rank because he failed the overnight compatibility test during the entrance exam. Like you, right, Kanna?"

"Hm?"

"I know even if you've never mentioned it. There's no way someone as brilliant as you got put into F-Rank for no reason. You also messed up the entrance exam, didn't you?"

Kanna kept silent. It was the truth. He hadn't gone out of his way to hide it, but he hadn't expected even Shinji to be able to tell.

(All things considered, Mei's probably bursting at this point after listening to what we've been talking about.)

Kanna turned towards her. Just as expected, she was just about to open her mouth. As if only Mei could understand, Kanna shook his head slightly from side to side, motioning for her to keep quiet.

Mei awkwardly lowered her head but obeyed his signal.

Since she kept silent, Taihei spoke in her place.

"But I didn't expect the number of people to keep increasing. I hear they meet regularly but it sounds like it's fine even if you don't go. You just have to wear the badge and declare your opposition to the current system, as part of [Anti-Leviathan]. That sort of carefree att.i.tude is probably why they keep getting members."

"You seem pretty knowledgeable about it, Taihei. Perhaps you're interested in Anti-Le?"

"Honestly… I have been discriminated against as an F-Ranked, and I don't like compet.i.tion anyway. I only came here because my parents forced me to. But it doesn't mean I'm extremely dissatisfied, so going out of my way to oppose the system is kinda…"

"I see—"

"It feels like there's a lot of F-Ranked who feel the same as I do. They're not proactive enough to partic.i.p.ate, but I do think F speaks for those types of people."

"Hmm."

At that, Shinji linked his hands behind his head.

"You don't seem too concerned, Shinji." Kanna said with a dry smile.

"Not necessarily—, because sometimes I do wonder why the F-Rank has to accept such inequality. But in the end, I still like Nanahoshi Academy, so I kinda have trouble understanding the people who join Anti-Le. And just the fact that their representative wears a mask is shady."

"But…"

Shady.

Perhaps it was that word that made Mei unable to hold it in anymore.

"I was really moved when I listened F's speech under Clock Star two weeks ago. If he's able to recruit so many people in such a short time, I think there must be something really powerful in his words."

Mei clenched a fist to her chest and said a little pa.s.sionately:

"I respect F."

Upon hearing this candid, contrary opinion, Shinji looked startled and seemed to finally notice the thing pinned on Mei's chest.

Apart from the fox badge, the other thing that Mei was wearing on her collar was the emblem of [Anti-Leviathan].

"Ah, umm… I-I'm not looking down on F! I also think he's really great and respect him too!"

"Shinji… you're quite flexible."

"Kanna! Don't make fun of me! I'm not being flexible! I've always wanted to avoid being hated by pretty girls, so I've been consistent!"

"…Great."

And he truly meant it, too.

Kanna's eyes fell upon the leaflet again.

(F the [Vainglory]. [Vainglory] was absorbed into [Pride] when the eight cardinal sins were revised into the seven deadly sins.)

"…Um."

Mei's finger poked Kanna's shoulder, and he looked up from the leaflet.

Covering her mouth, she leaned over to lightly kiss his ear — at least close enough to, and whispered.

"I'm sorry. I didn't listen to you when you wanted me to keep quiet. But—"

Mei's voice was low, but she spoke in a very pa.s.sionate tone.

"I won't allow anyone to look down on you, Kannkun."

When had anyone ever looked down on Kanna?

Shinji was looking down on F, not Kanna.

In other words, that meant—

Kanna's eyes did not pause on Mei. He was looking not at her, who was close enough to tickle him when she breathed, but at Nanami, who had become oddly quiet moments ago.

And now he was sure.

(I knew it.)

To be honest, he had suspected it ever since Nanami had declared her intention to hand [Greed] over to him. But judging by her cool att.i.tude and lack of partic.i.p.ation in the conversation, it was even more proof that his prediction was right.

Nanami and Mei had arrived at the same conclusion.

The conclusion that Kanna Fujishiro was F.

■

With the end of lunch break and afternoon cla.s.ses, as well as cleaning duties appropriated to the C-Ranked and below, Kanna arrived alone at the student council room in School Building #35.

Nanahoshi Academy was immensely large, so one could find empty unused cla.s.srooms in any given situation, such as the PA room or this student council room in Building #35. Other factors aside, the student council didn't select members from the F-Ranked anyway, so this particular room had lost its original purpose. That was why there were many items situated here that had been moved from who knows where, and it was now used as a storage facility.

Kanna searched for his target among the objects strewn higgledy-piggledy. It was said that the best hiding place was among exactly identical items, but it wouldn't seem out of the ordinary for an electronically-locked metal box to appear within a pile of junk anyway.

He entered four numbers in succession and disengaged the lock.

Opening the box exposed F's mask inside.

Two weeks ago, Kanna had purposefully allowed Mei to witness him removing F's mask here.

He knew that Mei held feelings approaching adoration for what [Anti-Leviathan] did, or rather, the F behind it all.

That was why Kanna had used the reveal of himself as F to capture her heart.

Why did he need to win her support?

Because he needed to obtain the t.i.tle of [Greed].

As soon as Kanna came to this school he had researched the situation of the Seven Cliques and arrived at two conclusions: the one he had to defeat was Erika the [Pride] and the easiest one to deal with was [Greed], one of the [Seven Rulers]. Kanna deduced that [Greed] hadn't yet been able to properly manage their entire group, so they were probably still a novice.

There were three ways of becoming one of the [Seven Rulers].

A [Seven Ruler] graduates, and upon indicating a current student as their successor, bestows their t.i.tle unto them. A [Seven Ruler] graduates without indicating a successor, or having suffered a stripping of their t.i.tle as punishment, and the school will select a suitable candidate and bestow the t.i.tle unto them. Win against a [Seven Ruler] in a Rating Battle, and receive their t.i.tle upon victory.

By way of example, Erika belonged to the first type, having almost completely received [Urban Lion] from the previous generation. The fact that the current [Urban Lion] had been able to maintain its membership size was the very reason it was now an enormous, vastly powerful organization.

Something as small in scale as [Navy Fox], however, would not fit the first type.

Kanna considered it broadly and deduced that [Greed] had probably gone through the second route.

This was because [Navy Fox]'s member distribution clearly revealed a lack of preparation and experience. The second and third year members were widely spread out without any sense of regularity, but the first year students were the opposite, comprised of six C-Ranked students, along with one E-Ranked and one F-Ranked student each. Evidently an unbalanced a.s.sortment of people.

Provided the above, the following was logical:

A C-Ranked first year student had been nominated by the school and suddenly chosen as [Greed]. Panicked, [Greed] didn't want to lose face, so they divulged their ident.i.ty to their close friends and drew them into their own camp.

At that point, it shouldn't be difficult to discover their true ident.i.ty.

And Mei Otosaka was not only a first year student, she was a C-Ranked member of [Navy Fox].

In other words, there was a very high possibility that she had been one of the members who [Greed] had personally lured in. That alone was enough to serve as a clue in Kanna's search.

So he had asked her a trap question.

"You know the true ident.i.ty of [Greed], right?"

And he had chosen to ask her just as she witnessed her beloved F removing his mask.

At this point, it was natural that Mei would experience some inner turmoil. But this disturbed reaction of hers was the very thing allowing Kanna to tell that he had hit the nail on the head.

When he confirmed that she knew, the next logical step was to persuade her into revealing who it was.

Unlike other people, Mei could be persuaded.

He used her adoration of F.

To agitate her, Kanna stringed together a bunch of superficial sentences that tickled her faith. He meant none of what he said; it was purely in order to weasel out the ident.i.ty of [Greed] from Mei's mouth. He did not support the ideology of [Anti-Leviathan] in the first place, so whatever he said was only to put on an appearance.

However, no matter how much he tried, her lips were sealed tight. She knew how dangerous revealing [Greed]'s ident.i.ty to someone else would be. She wasn't about to betray her best friend Nanami that easily.

So Kanna employed his last resort.

(And I asked her to enter a relationship with me. I told her that she needed to lend me her strength and so on for [Anti-Leviathan].)

Hearing a confession from someone she admired, Mei bet her bottom dollar and trusted that Kanna knew what he was doing. She was going to tell him [Greed]'s ident.i.ty even if she had to shoulder a betrayer's burden.

How heavy of a decision had that been for timid old Mei? She really did bet everything on F to be able to do something like that.

Kanna, however, was of course unable to repay the adoration that had driven Mei to make such a grave decision.

That adoration would be utterly neglected.

(Of course it will. [Anti-Leviathan] is nothing but a stepping stone for me to achieve my ambitions, so there's no way I can repay Mei's expectations for F's ideals.)

Kanna's mouth curled as he reached to loosen the tie that Mei that tightened for him at lunch.

■

After school, Mei Otosaka sat at her desk preparing for future lessons and doing her homework. At a normal school she would be ridiculed as being too serious, but it was trivial and commonplace at Nanahoshi Academy. Understanding lecture material ranked among the very basics of the basics. If you neglected that part, your Rank would eventually be demoted for sure.

But today she just could not concentrate.

(Oh, jeez… I'm too happy.)

Her hands masked the impulsive grin sneaking onto her face. She tried as hard as she could to restore her face to normal, but as soon as her eyes fell upon that empty lunchbox, it was all over. When Kanna's gentle expression as he ate her tamagoyaki swam to her mind, the English vocabulary displayed on her Aerial would no longer sink in.

(If this goes on, I'll be demoted… I don't want that to happen… but then I'd need to break up with Kannkun, and that's just impossible. My priorities are flipped. If I break up with Kannkun, there would be no reason to be at this academy.)

Mei bit her lip.

(I'm only here to support Kannkun, to strengthen [Anti-Leviathan]. I've already decided that nothing else will matter to me.)

She sighed and looked around the cla.s.sroom.

Her cla.s.smates were in their own seats, their heads buried in their books as they desperately tried to surpa.s.s their fellow students. Unlike their F-Ranked cousins, a C-Ranked cla.s.sroom seethed with murderous air. Here, students always strove to climb upwards while leaving others below.

(Ahh… It really is scary.)

The Survival of the Fittest Academy did not suit Mei at all. It had felt inappropriate even before she took the entrance exam, and reality reflected that. Mei only came to Nanahoshi Academy because she didn't have the courage to go back on her parents' and middle school teachers' wishes.

She was alert enough to sense the true nature of the system. Would she be devoured today? Tomorrow? The day after? Every day went like this for her, always with her heart in her mouth wondering when she would sacrificed. She couldn't imagine herself as the hunter, so there would ultimately come a day when she became the hunted and get devoured. That was the state of mind with which she lived at the Survival of the Fittest Academy.

As soon as she matriculated, she could feel her spirit deplete. Her body constantly felt heavy and her head would ache repeatedly. It wouldn't matter as much if she could cry in the privacy of her bed, but she also broke down time and again in cla.s.s. She exhausted herself poring over how she would be able to leave this place, but there was no way of dropping out of Nanahoshi Academy. Escape was not an option.

Mei had nowhere to run.

She had reached the point where she seriously considered getting herself acutely ill and hiding away in the infirmary.

And just then, Mei met F, and [Anti-Leviathan].

(I keep feeling like I've been allowed to stay here.)

Mei never ceased to self-criticize. She blamed herself for being too weak to acclimate to the Survival of the Fittest Academy.

However, F told her that this school was aberrant. It was natural to think like her. The jumbled questions in her mind about the Survival of the Fittest Academy had been plainly articulated by F into language.

F's words had liberated Mei from the self-reproach that had burdened her.

—So, it's okay to oppose the school.

Out of the blue, that concept had come to her rescue. It goes without saying that she began to feel goodwill towards her savior, F. Respect. Adoration. It quickly transformed into love. Mei was in love with the masked boy.

Even more so, she wanted to dedicate herself to him.

(And, F is — Kannkun.)

For the benefit of [Anti-Leviathan], Kanna Fujishiro wanted a seat amongst the [Seven Rulers]. He wanted [Greed]. Of course, Mei had hesitated, but he had justified it to her until she agreed.

It was enough to make her ecstatic. The secret only she knew, and a coveted secret at that, filled Mei's heart with no room to spare.

What was more, Kanna had said something that elated her.

"It's my first time meeting someone so like-minded. Ahh… maybe you'll think less of me if I tell you this so suddenly, but I've actually had feelings close to love for you for a long time."

"I want to be together with you. Do you understand what I mean now?"

"Will you fight alongside me from now on?"

She would not hesitate anymore.

Mei decided to fight alongside him.

For Kanna's ideals, she, who once wanted nothing more than to leave this place, would sacrifice whatever it took.

(I want to oppose the Survival of the Fittest Academy together with Kannkun.)

And now that her heart was set, revealing the true ident.i.ty of [Greed] became Mei's only choice.

"Mei-chan."

Mei looked up in surprise, only to see a grinning Nanami with her chin against Mei's desk.

"Nanami-chan."

Every time she saw her face, Mei felt a twinge of guilt.

Nanami was a friend who sensed Mei's weak side and had always treated her kindly. Mei was quite aware that Nanami had dragged her into [Navy Fox] to provide her with a goal after she had lost herself.

She had betrayed such a friend. She had told Nanami that Kanna was F, but it was not enough to wipe out her betrayal. And it was all for [Anti-Leviathan]'s cause that she revealed F's ident.i.ty to Nanami. She believed that as long as she told Nanami what was going on, she would give up [Greed] to F. And then, after some persuasion in reality, Nanami indeed did so.

But she had willingly revealed the ident.i.ty of [Greed] without discussing it with Nanami beforehand. That was an unchangeable truth. She had done something unforgivable, and wanted to hide why she had revealed the secret.

She wanted to apologize.

But there would be no meaning in an apology to settle her feelings. Mei had made her choice. For Kanna, she had chosen to live in the Survival of the Fittest Academy.

So she did not confess to the leak. If Nanami knew that she had been betrayed and demanded to end their friendship, then there was nothing she could do about that.

"Nanami-chan…"

It didn't mean she wanted to lose her friend, however.

With her chin still pressed against the desk, Nanami tilted her head and asked.

"How much do you like Kanchan, Mei-chan?"

"I'd devote everything to him no matter what." She replied without hesitation.  

"Ugaah—"

Nanami pinched Mei's cheeks and pulled on them.

"Ow, ow! W-What?"

"You think I'd let you do whatever you like!? That was supposed to be my position! Dammit!"

"??? O-Ouch!"

Nanami must be this angry because she knew that Mei had leaked her true ident.i.ty, Mei thought. But Nanami was smiling. Mei grew increasingly confused as to why she was pinching her cheeks.

"Hey!"

Her cheeks were finally freed.

"Oooh…"

Mei caressed them.

(Nanami-chan… To be honest, sometimes I really don't understand her.)

Still smiling, Nanami inquired: "Still studying, Mei-chan?"

"Yup."

"I see, then I can relax and attend to my daily routine."

Mei tilted her head in confusion.

"Daily routine?"

Nanami's mouth curled into a broad grin.

"Stalking the one I love."

■

Inside the student council room in School Building #35, Kanna Fujishiro loosened his tie as he thought.

(F the [Vainglory] really has a way with words.)

Mei's affection annoyed him. The fact that the affection was not directed towards him, but towards F, annoyed him even more.

F and Kanna's thoughts ran counter to each other, so agreeing with F and gaining affection for that was equivalent to opposing himself. Mei's intrinsically aimless affection really was [Vainglory] in every sense of the word.

But for that [Vainglory], Mei had devoted everything to Kanna.

(Mei Otosaka. Poor girl.)

"Okay, you better come out now."

Kanna spoke in the direction of the doorway.

The sound of a surprised gasp.

Perhaps realizing that it could no longer remain hidden, a voice rang out a moment later.

"You knew that I was following you?"

"Yeah."

Nanami appeared at the doorway, sticking out her tongue, but seemed to have her usual devil-may-care att.i.tude after being discovered. The change in height of her tied hair, and the fact that it had now been changed to a very low angle, also annoyed him.

She immediately noticed the mask in Kanna's hand.

"So you really are F, Kanchan. Mei-chan was right."

"So Mei did tell you that I'm F."

"Huh? Oh, yup."

Nanami admitted it easily. Probably thinking that it wasn't worth it to hide the truth.

Kanna did not understand why Nanami viewed him as an enemy who might seize [Greed] from her.

It would make sense if she found out that he was F.

"But I only noticed you because you are you, Kanchan. [Anti-Leviathan] isn't a real Clique anyway. F doesn't have any power yet."

"…Right."

Yet.

But if Kanna had thought that he would always remain powerless, then there was no way he would willingly put on F's mask.

Kanna had a.s.sessed that [Anti-Leviathan] would grow into an immense organization in the future. The Seven Cliques were in a lull right now with no change, but he knew that this state would not persist for long.

Because of her.

The leader of [Urban Lion], Erika Kagurazaka the [Pride].

It was about time she began trampling on the other Cliques. Like him, Erika wanted all of the t.i.tles of the [Seven Rulers] for herself. That would cause the people in other Cliques to lose their support, and more and more people tired of the Survival of the Fittest framework would appear. At that moment, a great many of them, especially lower Ranked people, would flow into [Anti-Leviathan]. Ama.s.sing their numbers would allow them to wield enormous power, even if they weren't an official Clique.

Kanna had put on F's mask because he had seen that future.

(No, that's wrong. Why am I still saying that sort of thing?)

Kanna smiled bitterly and corrected his way of thinking.

His pressed his left index finger against his temple and he smirked.

(Erika won't be the one to destroy the lull. I will. I'll crumble the lull by defeating Erika.)

Kanna turned towards Nanami.

"Nanami. It took a lot for us to be alone together. Let's figure out the situation first, then think of a way to defeat Erika."

"Alone together…"

Repeating that phrase incessantly for some reason, Nanami approached Kanna and brought her grinning face close. As usual, the smell of marine perfume wafted over.

"What? You wanna headb.u.t.t me because I was too intimate with Mei?"

"Wrong!"

She stuck out her head with force again.

"Rub my head!"

He didn't get it, but to allow the conversation to continue, Kanna reached out and stroked Nanami's head. Nanami closed her eyes as though it were ticklish.

"Now then, here's a question. I'm planning to defeat Erika in a Rating Battle. Even if I get [Greed]'s power, I'm still F-Rank and there aren't many people in [Navy Fox]. There's no way to have a fair fight. What do you think I should do?"

Nanami replied as he stroked her hair.

"Well—, first you have to know what kind of Rating Battle Eriksama will be using."

"Right. If we don't know that, we'd be running in place without going anywhere. That's where we need to start if we're going to think of a winning strategy."

"So what we have to discuss right now is how we're gonna investigate Eriksama's Rating Battle, right?"

"Yeah."

"Should we send someone to challenge her? But how do we get Eriksama to agree to a Rating Battle?"

He had tried to investigate using Yamabuki, but that barely got off the ground.

If Erika was willing to accept a Rating Battle of no merit to her even if she won, they should be able to send anyone to do it. But since she would lose her [Seven Ruler] position if she lost, then it really wasn't likely for her to accept a challenge for no reason. S-Rank and Rank were realistically equivalent in Rating Battles, so they would be able to battle her if they had Ranked chess pieces, but Kanna couldn't think of any suitable candidates.

In other words, you could say that if they did not create a benefit for Erika as well, then she would not accept.

And even if they had already thought of a plan in which Erika were willing to accept, there was also the question of whom to send as that particular chess piece.

The outcome of a Rating Battle affected your score, so almost n.o.body challenged someone knowing that they would lose, even if they had to risk that Erika keeping an eye on them from then on.

Just then, someone flashed across Kanna's mind—

(Mei Otosaka.)

She would not deny a request from him.

(But I've always been using Mei, and even now I've long ignored how she feels about all of this. Is it… conscience that I still want to avoid using the poor girl? Conscience is something I can toss aside. But even so, the way I'm brooding over it now — the more I concern myself with it, when I actually do use her, I'll feel guilty.)

But why was he feeling so troubled about this?

(What I plan to do is use other people's absolute trust in me. But it always feels so familiar… Ah, right. That's exactly what Erika did to me.)

With that, Kanna felt a pain that was difficult to put into words.

"So, if everything is ready, Eriksama will accept your challenge, Kanchan?"

Nanami's well-timed question shifted Kanna's train of thought.

"Good question, Nanami."

"Heh heh, rub my head again."

He did.

Nanami closed her eyes in glee.

"But there's no problem here. I'm [Greed], and Erika is planning on gaining all of the [Seven Rulers] t.i.tles and unifying all of the Cliques. So she wouldn't pa.s.s up this chance."

"I see—… Is that true?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is Eriksama really that kind of person? Most people would be satisfied with leading the biggest Clique [Urban Lion], right? That alone secures your future in a way. So why did you do you say that about her, Kanchan?"

Nanami's observation was very true.

But Kanna knew that Erika was exactly that kind of person.

If he was going to tell her outright, he had to first explain why he was certain.

"Also Kanchan, you're unusually fixated on Eriksama, aren't you? I don't feel like it can be explained just because you went to the same middle school. But that's why I'm going to help you out."

Fixated.

Such an annoying word.

But he could not deny it.

To Kanna, Erika Kagurazaka was someone special.

He was a bit reluctant, but it seemed that he had to explain Erika's personality and the relationship between her and Kanna.

"I'll tell you about when we went to Keihou Middle School together."

Kanna was only going to tell her the truth of that time.

"Erika Kagurazaka controlled Keihou Middle School."

Nanami's eyes widened in shock.

"C-Controlled? You're exaggerating, right?"

"I mean it. Erika controlled everything at Keihou like a reigning queen, forbidding all kinds of dissent. And—"

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"I was her right hand man."

■

—Totally bewitched.

That was Kanna's impression of Erika Kagurazaka when they first met.

At the time, middle school second year Kanna was reclining on the roof, the door to which he had broken the lock on. He detested the prevailing cla.s.s system at Keihou Middle School, so he frequently retreated to the rooftop during lunch break.

His grades were decent, but he wasn't at the top; he was in B-Cla.s.s. He had no goal to speak of and lived through his school life absentmindedly. Remembering he still had several decades worth of life to live through in future was unbelievable torture. Every day was dull, meaningless, and colorless.

That day, Kanna was watching the sky meaninglessly, like normal.

He was killing time, his future, and his self-worth.

But just then, his vision became suddenly obscured by a shadow.

Which was immediately followed by a pair of jet-black pupils.

That alone made Kanna think, "Oh no". It was an instinctive reaction towards the person peering into his face.

He was totally bewitched.

Erika's shoulder-length hair hung over him. There had to be a vast expanse of azure sky behind her, but Kanna's eyes reflected only her pupils, as though they were being engulfed by the darkness in them, unable to reflect anything else. Unsure of what to do, Kanna kept staring at his own reflection in those pitch-black pupils.

He had already forgotten whether he initially reacted with surprise, panic, or fear.

But he remembered how she reacted.

Without any feeling, she dispa.s.sionately parted her beautiful lips and spoke to him.

"Will you entrust your heart to me?"

And that marked the end of Kanna's colorless school life.

In the heart of the Tokyo metropolitan area, Keihou Middle School inst.i.tuted a pyramidal cla.s.s system from A to D, like a miniature version of Nanahoshi Academy. All students were divided into each, without any room for disagreement with the higher ups. Any forms of dissent were met with severe consequences.

Schools that modeled themselves after Nanahoshi Academy — which had successfully became the largest high school — and created their own set of similar systems were not uncommon. Importantly, however, Keihou's system was not created by the school itself, but by a student.

The one who created the ruling system and reigned from the top over all was Erika Kagurazaka.

When Kanna came, Keihou was rife with violence, because it had been the first tool Erika ruled with. In order to create the system, her first step was to rope in notorious delinquents whom even the teachers found difficult to deal with as her subordinates , forming — the [Regulatory Force]. Through violence, Erika acted on her own judgement to decide what Cla.s.s the students would be part of and forced them to accept it. Dissenters would be met with brutality from either the [Regulatory Force], or the higher ups who supported this system, and then appropriated by Erika to D-Cla.s.s, the lowest one. Once they were in D-Cla.s.s, they would become outcasts. Rather than rebelling, everyone was more afraid of being placed in a lower Cla.s.s, so they obeyed the system. The horror before them was enough to rapidly quell any predictable opposition.

Just like that, an exploitative structure was formed. It was plain that Erika was the only one distinguishing between the Cla.s.ses, but you could ascend to the upper ranks if you sucked up to a [Regulatory Force] member. And so people started currying favor with the [Regulatory Force] left and right, with the situation soon shifting into the exploitation of the lower Cla.s.ses by the upper ones. Occasional dissatisfaction that bubbled up among the lower Cla.s.ses was extinguished by [Regulatory Force] punishments that made examples of offenders.

Erika justified it to Kanna.

"It was never my intention to rule with violence. Neither did I intend for exploitation to become rampant. However, in order to create the new order, it is necessary to first destroy."

This system couldn't satisfy Erika at all.

That was why everything changed some weeks later.

If you ruled with violence, you could spurn dissatisfaction as much as possible with punishment, but no matter what, it would always acc.u.mulate past the point of suppression and proceed to wreck the ruling structure. One year into the violent rule, things arrived at a point where the system might disintegrate at any given moment.

But Erika was fully aware of this development.

It would be more accurate to say, in fact, that it had been her plan all along to use this acc.u.mulated dissatisfaction and convert to an even newer system.

Her plan — Public sentencing.

The most ruthless member of Erika's [Regulatory Force] was a boy named Yamada. As soon as it was declared that anyone a.s.sociated with him would suffer the same sentence, no one stood with Yamada any longer. Other [Regulatory Force] members recorded Yamada's wanton cruelty and broadcast the video to all students. Ultimately, Erika exposed his out-of-school criminal record and had him sent to juvenile detention. She then used the same method to demote Mitsuya and Saitou, particularly violent members of the [Regulatory Force], to D-Cla.s.s, where they became an outlet for students to vent their dissatisfaction. Anyone who had been terrorized by the [Regulatory Force] flamboyantly mistreated Mitsuya and Saitou.

Erika contended that the structure rampant with violence up until then had never been her intention. From then on, she would create a peaceful academy and maintain it as best she could.

Having dealt with the ruffians, Erika was now a hero.

In the end, the question of who had created those ruffians in the first place was muddied past scrutiny.

Erika had started a revolution but sustained her topmost position. Some students objected to this, but Erika wasn't on the verge of being banished quite yet. If she, the creator of the order, was dethroned, then things might revert back to rampant violence and n.o.body wanted that. Even if you didn't want Erika banished, all you had to do was develop your own a.s.sets and you too were able to climb the upper Cla.s.ses. Realizing this, the students gave up their defiance of Erika and advanced towards working on themselves within the system.

And so, a system not inferior to that of Nanahoshi Academy was created at Keihou Middle School.

Of course, the system couldn't stay accident-free and remain successful just like that. Whenever there was a problem, the newly formed [Regulatory Force] still allowed Erika to keep her topmost position. Unlike the old one, the new one did not terrorize the students. Apparently acting in the name of justice at first glance, the new [Regulatory Force] even became adored by every student.

The leader of that [Regulatory Force] was Kanna Fujishiro.

And after Erika graduated, he was the one who a.s.sumed her position.

Every day that came upon Kanna was full of excitement. All of the boredom up until now seemed to have been a lie; those were days br.i.m.m.i.n.g with energy that got his blood boiling. His grayscale life filled with color, transforming into a overly stimulating world where one wrong move could set things drunkenly spinning out of control. Every day, Kanna's mind would seemingly be filled with endless noise, making him constantly think. He was besieged by a burning sensation, as though he could feel the pain from inside of his body. But it was a sort of pleasure. A pleasure that shuddered with joy.

Totally bewitched.

It seemed that his impression of Erika when they first met had been right.

There was no denying Kanna had been captured by Erika's jet-black eyes back then.

He was not disgusted by it, but held no grat.i.tude or goodwill for her either. As for exactly what Kanna felt towards her, not even he knew.

However, the reality was that she was an inseparable existence from him, an existence quite unlike other people. That is, she was like another half of him that shared his world.

A person who was not him who had become his other half.

It was an incredible burden.

But Kanna did not dislike that sort of burden.

Kanna was not simply the new leader of the [Regulatory Force] and Erika's successor. As his t.i.tle of right hand man suggested, he was practically a part of her and the two of them acted together almost all the time, not just at school, but also outside it. Erika had visited Kanna's home several times, and he had frequently called upon Erika's mansion as well. Most of their time was spent together as they did their utmost to eliminate the differences between them. They held no reservations and treated each other candidly. It was extremely abnormal behavior for normal middle school students, but at the time, Kanna did not think it to be strange in any way.

They also went out together often. Today, they were picking out clothing for each other in a Shibuya department store, each wearing something the other had chosen. To them, they were doing something very natural.

For some reason, Kanna asked a question as he picked out a dress.

"Why me?"

He had always been confused as to why Erika suddenly chose a stranger like him as her right hand. It was just that he could no longer remember why he had chosen to question it at that particular moment. Perhaps the timing itself was meaningless.

Erika gazed at Kanna with her typically dispa.s.sionate expression. Then she formed her right hand into a gun shape and pressed her index finger to her temple. It was her habit when she was thinking.

With her finger poised, she spoke without even a slight change in her look.

"I do not trust anyone."

"Then—"

Would it be fine even if it weren't me? Kanna thought. But Erika read his mind and shook her head.

"At the time, you said that it was your first time meeting me. But I had been watching you ever since a certain moment."

"Why?

"Because loneliness has fallen too deeply in love with you."

Even Kanna, who usually understood the meaning behind Erika's words to some extent, couldn't immediately comprehend her.

"Being liked and loved by loneliness. That is the essence of a ruler, and it is a talent. Technically speaking, it is one's nature, is it not? But you must be careful."

Erika pointed the finger against her temple towards Kanna.

"Your nature as a ruler will bind you."

Then, she pressed the finger against Kanna's temple.

"Now then, I do not trust anyone. So what do I believe in?"

Erika took the dress that Kanna was holding and answered herself.

"The one thing I believe in is what you possess; the nature of a ruler that binds me as well, and leaves me unable to escape."

Erika gave him a push from behind and pulled him into the fitting room. In that narrow s.p.a.ce, she began to undress.

"You are similar to me, and I can understand, control — and possess you."

She had now stripped down to her underwear without hesitation. Yet Kanna's eyes did not avert from her figure.

Erika caressed Kanna's cheek as his eyes fixated directly on her slender, fair body.

Like that, she silently slipped into the black dress that he had picked out for her.

As Kanna watched her now in that black dress, a thought came to him. It was a natural thought. A natural thought that he had always held towards her.

—She's beautiful.

As Kanna continued to stare at her figure, Erika embraced him.

"Mm."

Then, she slid her tongue into his mouth. Without questioning it, he put his arms around her shoulders, sucking her tongue, turning it over.

Incredibly, Kanna felt no immediate strong emotion towards his actions at the time. He only accepted all of what Erika gave him.

Erika pulled her lips away.

"I would not do something like that to what I do not possess."

He understood.

Ah, by all means, he belonged to her.

"Please make certain to never forget that."

And then the corners of Erika's mouth lifted slightly.

Kanna knew.

That expression of hers, one that might not even qualify as a smile, represented her at her absolute happiest.

■

"As her former right hand, it's only natural that I understood her decisions as a ruler, right?"

There was no need to mention too many irrelevant things, so Kanna only told Nanami that he had spent an extremely long time together with Erika and became her successor. But maybe that alone was enough to cause a great shock; her eyes went wide in the junk-filled student council room.

"Why?"

Nanami continued to ask, her eyes slightly swimming with tears for some reason.

"Why did you and Eriksama become enemies, Kanchan?"

It was a natural question.

In reality, Kanna had only come to Nanahoshi Academy because Erika had. After successfully and completely taking over her position at Keihou Middle School, he had planned on becoming her capable right hand once again.

He had considered this a logical move and never once questioned it.

"Because I was rejected."

But Erika had not accepted him at all.

"Why though?!"

"Because she thought I wasn't able enough for her. Didn't I say it already? Erika Kagurazaka doesn't trust anyone. The only thing she does trust is that person's talent and nature."

■

Kanna remembered every word and every sentence Erika had said back then.

He could never forget them.

On the first day of school, Kanna headed for the garden, the one where it seemed a fairy tale could unfold at any time. He hadn't called Erika once after graduating since she had already moved into the Nanahoshi Academy dorms. He thought it was extremely natural. Save one single exception: the text from Erika asking to meet in the garden just now.

Sitting in a tall-backed garden chair, Erika Kagurazaka waited.

It was their first meeting in a year. She was even more arresting and impactful than Kanna had remembered. Seeing her figure, Kanna realized that he would once again be confined within that jet-black darkness of hers.

Erika, too, welcomed him with a slight smile as the corners of her mouth lifted.

However, after Kanna told her everything that had happened at Keihou after she had graduated, and what had happened during his entrance exam, Erika's expression gradually transformed. And then, upon hearing that Kanna had been unavoidably placed into F-Rank, Erika's att.i.tude experienced an undisguised change.

Afterwards, she said:

"It would appear that this is the end."

Kanna was silent. She continued.

"At Keihou Middle School, there was no one other than you with the grounding to become my right hand. However, at Nanahoshi Academy, there are many more suitable than you at becoming my right hand."

But Kanna was confident that there was no one more suitable than he was.

And he told her exactly what he thought.

"Did you misunderstand?" Erika said coldly.

"You and I are alone, are we not?"

It was the instant he heard those words.

Kanna, who until then had never once considered anything other than being Erika's right hand, immediately decided in his mind that he would oppose her. It was a change at a speed even he had trouble believing.

"Ah, you must feeling the desire to contend against me now? But I advise you that dropping such a notion would be a wise decision. I completely understand your thoughts, because I taught you to think that way. I expect that I would even be able to thoroughly read whatever moves you make. Most unfortunately, you will be no match for me." Erika proclaimed.

"You would do well to abandon your desire of becoming a ruler, and instead abide by your lonely nature."

Then, everything ended.

That was how Erika had effortlessly abandoned Kanna.

She turned away, her face as expressionless as it always was.

It was a final scene that couldn't be more anti-climactic.

To Kanna, Erika was everything. This meant that everything had ended. However, Kanna calmly accepted this end of all things. His vision confined by darkness was newly released, the richly colored scenery reverted to grayscale, and he immediately acclimated to this external stimulation that had now become dull.

Yes, Kanna had been confined by her, and logically, he had planned on dedicating everything to her.

But she was different. He was the only one who was confined, and Erika had always been alone, from start to finish.

To Kanna Fujishiro, Erika Kagurazaka was someone special.

But to Erika Kagurazaka, Kanna Fujishiro was not special at all.

That was the end of the story.

Once he understood that, Kanna Fujishiro became liberated from the jet-black darkness.

■

(But Erika was right. Everything that Erika said was right.)

The student council room was completely silent. Kanna thought.

(If I keep doing what I do, I won't be able to surpa.s.s Erika. I'll only be able to do as she predicts, and I'll be crushed. I forgot that. How conceited of me.)

He already knew the most effective strategy, so he could not ignore it.

(Why don't I do as Erika herself did, and use other people's trust in me? Why don't I imitate her? Why am I still unable to get rid of my naivete?)

Kanna's left hand formed a gun.

(If I can't even do as Erika once did, then I will never be able to surpa.s.s her.)

His index finger pressed against his temple.

And he made his decision. Even if it hurt him inside, he decided to utilize the most effective strategy.

"Nanami. I've made my decision."

"…What?"

"In order to learn about the Rating Battle that Erika will use, I'm going to sacrifice Mei Otosaka."

"…Huh?"

(Ah, and this guilt is going to haunt me forever, isn't it? But it's the best choice.)

It hurt, but Kanna still wanted to climb to the top.

He was going to defeat and surpa.s.s Erika Kagurazaka, who had always walked ahead of him, and once controlled him.

Kanna manipulated his CCC mobile and, to prevent anyone else from seeing, opened an Aerial in Personal Mode. On it was a photo of Erika in middle school, with the red letters [LION] scrawled over it.

Gazing at it, he was reminded.

Erika Kagurazaka was a solitary lion.

Kanna Fujishiro's goal was also to become a solitary lion.

And no two lions could exist at the same time.

References

1. The name "Nanahoshi" (七星) literally means "seven stars".↩
2. Koushien Stadium, where the j.a.pan National High School Baseball Tournament is held.”↩