Reiryuu Academy Student Council Chapter 13

Card Game Tournament Arc
13 The Beginning and Six Shadows

The card game tournament was moving along well; the second and third gym's matches had finished and the first gym's concentration matches were approaching the final outcome.

There was the fact that no executives were partic.i.p.ating in it, so it was the event with the greatest number of partic.i.p.ants. To make it easier to decide the winner and loser, there were special rules in place.

First, the players would wear an eye mask and the refereeing teacher would randomly arrange the cards face-up. When they gave the signal, the players would take their eye mask off and memorize the arrangement for five seconds. When the signal was given again, they put the masks back on until the cards were flipped over, then removed the masks one last time before starting the match. When they made a mistake, their turn ended. The one with the most matched cards was the winner.

Because of these strict rules, the average number of cards the partic.i.p.ants took was twenty-two or eleven pairs. With the tournament progressing under narrow victories and losses, the gym was wrapped up in silence. It was quiet to the point that it was eerie.

"There's no way, right…"

Someone muttered. In an instant, the gym was engulfed by shouting.

"Those two! Up until now, every game has been perfect!"

In the first gym swelling with people, everyone clamoured looking at the names on the tournament chart that had advanced to the finals. The reason was that the who had advanced hadn't yet made a single mistake.

One of them was "Takahara Mitsuo." He was the top student of the third year. He wanted to be able to add the student council to his resume even if it was his last year, so he had enthusiastically prepared. From his appearance, one could tell he was a serious person. The other person was…

"Kusuhara! Awesome!"

Takimoto slapped Meru on the back. Meru looked at Takimoto like she was fed up with it.

"It hurts…Takimoto-kun."
"You're really amazing, Kusuharsan."

The cla.s.s rep expressed her admiration as well. Meru was currently surrounded by Cla.s.s F students. That's right. The one who had advanced to the finals was Meru.

"That you've done everything perfectly is amazing!"
"It's a fluke, a fluke~"

Maiko muttered while looking at the tournament chart and Meru repudiated.

"What kind of fluke is that!?"

Because Takimoto shouted loudly, Meru plugged her ears.

"But if you win the next one, you'll be the champion…really."

Maiko said and looked at the stage. Meru did the same. There, the five other champions were sitting like kings.

The Daifugō champion was Shoutarou. Fan-Tan was Yuuri and Speed was Laila. Of course, Hayate and Fuuga also maintained their student council seats without a problem. As she stared at them, the five each noticed Meru's gaze. Shoutarou pushed his gla.s.ses up and smiled boldly, Yuuri bobbed his head in greeting toward her. Laila mouthed "Good luck" and Fuuga pushed his fist out toward Meru with a smile.

Meru looked at each of them in turn starting from the left, her eyes falling on Hayate last. While looking at Meru, Hayate lightly brushed the empty seat next to him.

"Well then, let's begin."

Hayate's voice pa.s.sed through the microphone and resounded in the gym.

"Let's have a good match."

–The finals. Meru bowed to the man with his hair parted in a 7:3 ratio sitting in front of her, Takahara Mitsuo. That was, after all, the bare minimum of etiquette for a match. However, Takahara looked at Meru with contempt and laughed scornfully.

"Putting on airs with your second year standing… I don't know what connections you used to seduce those geniuses, but your luck ends here. The one suitable to become an executive is me."
"…"

Maiko and Takimoto who were standing a little behind Meru to cheer her on whispered complaints at that remark, but Meru herself didn't reply and quietly put on the eye mask in her hand.

"Hah, you don't even have any way to talk back. Well, it's fine."

Takahara similarly put his mask on. Confirming that their masks were on, the teacher set the cards out.

"Take off your masks."

The two took their masks off and, for five seconds without blinking even once, faced the cards. When the teacher signalled again, they promptly put their masks back on. No trickery could be seen from their behavior. The match was about to begin in earnest.
When all the cards were flipped over, the students gulped. This is where it would be decided.

"Start!"

When the signal was given, Takahara began to turn the cards over with frightening vigor. He wanted to finish flipping them over while his memory was still fresh. That was the most typical strategy when using one's memory. Within several seconds of the signal being given, Takahara had turned everything.

"again, it's a perfect game."

The students began to raise their voices in astonishment.

"Kusuhara isn't done yet, so be quiet!"

Even though Meru was still in the middle of flipping the cards over, they became noisy and Takimoto shouted at them. Contrarily, Takimoto's attempt at control was louder.

However, paying no heed to all of that, Meru was indifferently flipping the cards over one by one, slowly and accurately. Then–

"Th-That girl also finished perfectly!"

Meru finished flipping over the cards. The way Meru played was, compared to Takahara's hurried flipping, far more composed and clean.

"Wh-What now!? It's a tie!"

Everyone began to make an uproar. The two of them had advanced through the tournament with perfect games. Even if they had another match, there was a good chance that the winner couldn't be decided.

"Meru…"

Maiko ran up to Meru with a worried face. Thinking about it normally, the more the match dragged on, the one who would be at a disadvantage was Meru. Takahara was the top student of his grade at Reiryuu, but Meru was different. As far as Maiko knew, Meru was Miss Average, the normal girl. She almost couldn't believe Meru's memory that had maintained perfect games until now. She was the same as the executives on the stage, everyone had an uneasy expression. Everyone, that is, except Hayate.

"Let's have one more match."

At Hayate's quiet voice, the commotion fell to silence in an instant. As if to say the match was his, Takahara struck a triumphant pose. Maiko and the other Cla.s.s F students grimaced in disbelief.

Within that, Meru stared at Hayate. Hayate also stared back in the same manner. They were both recalling the same thing.

"Kamishiro-kun, actually…"

Meru quietly spoke in the empty cla.s.sroom.

"I won't hold back anymore."
"I see."

Hayate wasn't surprised. As though he had already known that, he simply nodded.

"I'll definitely win. No matter what, I will definitely win. …Can you believe in me, Kamishiro-kun?"

Hayte announced.

"The time for memorization in the next match won't be five seconds, but instead three. Furthermore, a rule that the two pairs of numbers must be gathered in a row moving in order from 1 to 13 will be added."1

Everyone's eyes grew round. Takahara turned pale at that statement as well. Hayate's modification of the rules was outside of the norm. With that, deciding the outcome would, like Old Maid, be influenced by luck.

"KKamishiro Hayate! Don't say such stupid things! If we do something like that, the match will…"
"Understood."

What interrupted Takahara's protest was Meru's affirmation.

"Meru! What are you saying!?"

Maiko asked with her voice rising in surprise. The spectating students also looked at Meru as though they couldn't understand her.

"Y-You!"
"You can't do it, Senpai?"

Meru said an unusually provoking remark. At those words, Takahara flushed and he glared at Meru.

"I'm just thinking that trusting it to luck is unfair, ok!? I can't lose to someone like you!"

When the indignant Takahara shouted that, Hayate took it to mean his approval of continuing the match, and the students' clamour increased all the more.

"Meru, is this ok!?"
"Maiko-chan."

Meru grinned.

"I'll become your pride, Maiko-chan."

That carefree tone was the usual Meru. She clapped both of her cheeks and laid her hands on her eye mask.

"If I win, I won't let someone like you into the school."

Takahara said in a voice shaking with rage. Meru laughed while putting on her mask.

"Even without you doing that, if I lose, I couldn't show my face in public."

Takahara seemed like he was going to make a complaint in response to Meru's words, but the refereeing teacher told him to hurry and put his mask on and he reluctantly acknowledged.
When the cards were lined up, the two took their eye masks off. The period for memorization was such that it made one wonder how a two second difference could be so large. In contrast to Meru who graciously put her mask on, Takahara's face expressed impatience.

"Start!"

Under the teacher's signal, the match began.

Takahara began flipping cards over with the same staggering vigor as before. The four 1 cards face upward, then the 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's… Then, in the midst of collecting the 6 cards, his hand stopped. The surroundings grew noisy. This was the first time in this tournament his hand had stopped.

"Kuh…"

The result he was worried about emerged, the card he drew was the 9 of spades. The number of cards Takahara had collected stopped at twenty-two. However, that was a considerably valiant effort. He was certainly amazing for memorizing so much in that single instant.
Yet before the surrounding students could raise their voices in admiration, that splendor quickly disappeared.

"Oi, she…! It can't be…!"

Everyone held their breath.

Meru slowly and steadily flipped the cards. She also easily matched all four 6's and Takahara's pupils dilated in despair. And then–

"Perfect…"

When Meru gathered up the last king, the gym saw the biggest climax of the day.

"What the heck!? That! What kind of memory is that!?"
"It's too amazing!"

With Maiko at the head, everyone in Cla.s.s F jumped toward Meru.

"Meru!"
"Kusuhara, you're awesome!"
"Kusuharsan! Amazing!"

At the edge of the gym, Matsudsensei was also striking a victory pose.

"Meru-chan! Congrats!"

On the stage, Fuuga was waving with a smile filling his whole face. Laila, Shoutarou, and Yuuri were also smiling in relief.

However, the man in front of her was different.

"I-It's trickery!"

While everyone was celebrating, Takahara shouted to break the mood.

"Think about it! That kind of perfect game is impossible, right!? And also don't the executives like this woman! She cheated somehow!"

That voice resounded throughout the entire gym. The seniors, juniors, and cla.s.smates who had been pointing at Meru and making an excited racket until just a moment ago agreed with those words. Meru's result was practically a cheat.

"Th-That's right! Was she always peeking at the cards from the bottom of the eye mask!?"
"Was she aware of the card arrangement beforehand!?"
"It's unfair! That kind of thing!"

The cheers had become criticism before one could notice.

"Wh-What's up with that! Kusuhara wouldn't do something like that!"
"Don't badmouth Meru!"

Maiko and Takimoto, along with Cla.s.s F's students fought back against that. The gym was engulfed in an explosive tension.

"…Kusuharsan."
"Putting a false charge on Ruu-chan…tch!"
"I'll go help…!"
"Kamishiro?"

Hayate held the executives who were about to head off the stage with a single raised hand. In contrast to the anxious executives, a smile was floating on Hayate's face.

"Takaha.r.s.enpai."

The gym fell silent. The one who had spoken was Meru. Takahara glared at Meru with sharp eyes, but as expected, Meru wasn't bothered by that.

"I'm not doing something like cheating."

"…! Something like that, you can say as many lies about it as you want, right!? There's no evidence!"
"There's also no evidence that I cheated."
"That you won is evidence!"

Takahara's words were already nonsensical. Meru looked directly into Takahara's eyes and spoke calmly.

"You lost to me, senpai."
"Wha…!"
"Let's pretend for a moment that I did cheat. Those executives on the stage would definitely make the game a draw."

Meru's voice rang out calmly and clearly.

"I mean, isn't that fitting for the Reiryuu Academy Student Council executives?"

Those words pierced deeply into Takahara's heart. It was as though he had been struck back by his own earlier speech. This time, Takahara had nothing with which to retort and absentmindedly fell to the ground, slapping his hands against it.2

"But then…what about that girl's cheating?"
"She declared that she didn't do it right?"
"But that might be a lie…"

Although Takahara had fallen silent, the root of the doubt that had been born once in everyone's heart remained. As the discussion that hadn't been settled began once again, Hayate opened his mouth.

"Cheating… First of all was peeking from the bottom of the mask, right?"

Hayate hoisted up an eye mask. Next to him, Laila was more sullen than anyone else on the stage.

"These eye masks are something I, Hiiragi Laila, modified for today's Concentration games to prevent cheating. The people who used them understand the best. No matter how you wear the mask, not a single big of light will pa.s.s through, so things like peeking from under it are impossible."

When Laila said that with a serious face, the students were dumbfounded. That Laila alone modified such a ma.s.sive amount of eye masks astonished everyone including Meru. On the stage next to Laila, Shoutarou stepped forward.

"Furthermore, Kusuhara knowing the arrangement of cards is also impossible. The arrangement is something the teachers in charge randomly place on the spot. The teachers responsible for the games were decided just before the matches. It's a situation where even the executives standing here couldn't know beforehand."

Shoutarou's tone was lower and colder than usual. Fuuga and Yuuri also came forward.

"With all that, if someone was able to cheat, I think it'd conversely be worthy of respect."

"And you could say that we executives would also bear responsibility for allowing cheating."

In other words, Yuuri was saying that blaming Meru any more than this could also be considered as blaming the executives. If he said that much, no one could say anything. The students quieted down and Hayate opened his mouth once more.

"Even with this, are there still any objections?"

Hayate looked out over all the students in the gym. Faced with the definite truth from the executives and under Hayate's pressure that didn't let them speak a word, no one opened their mouths.

"I'll take your silence as confirmation."

Hayate changed his line of sight to Meru. Looking at her, Hayate smiled.

"Well then, Kusuhara Meru. To the stage."

Doing as Hayate had said, Meru headed to the stage.

Meru hated being in the center attention. However, right now wasn't so bad.

"Meru-chan."
"Good work."
"We were waiting."
"…You went over the time limit, idiot."

When Meru mounted the stage, Fuuga, Laila, Yuuri, and Shoutarou smiled at Meru. Hayate, immediately in front of her, gazed at her affectionately.

"Can you believe in me, Kamishiro-kun?"

Meru's resolute face at that time reflected in Hayate's eyes was, to him, more beautiful than anything else.

"If you become an executive, I'll support everything you say and do."3

"Thanks, Kamishiro-kun."

Hayate had kept the promise they had exchanged at that time. Even under the establishment of unreasonable rules, he believed that Meru would definitely win. He believed in her instant memorization ability and accepted it. Just because of that, she wouldn't regret it even if the eyes turned toward her now were swirling with criticism.

"What for?"

Hayate smiled in satisfaction. Meru stepped up next to Hayate and on the stage, six shadows lined up in a row.

"The reformed student council executives are decided with these six."

The story wasn't pa.s.sed down. Nevertheless, there was certainly one girl there who had been recognized by those five geniuses at that time…

1 So they're playing with a full deck of cards, which means there are four 1's, four 2's, etc. up to Kings. Therefore, with this added rule, they first flip over two 1's first, then the other two 1's. After that, they flip over two 2's, then the other two 2's, proceeding this way up to the four kings. It's phrased a little confusingly, so I wanted to explain it a bit more. Though it becomes clear later in the chapter. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

2 Think OTL lol

3 The literal translation is "I'll affirm all of you/every part of you." This doesn't quite get the nuance across, though (and is also weird in English hah). He's basically saying he won't stand out against her and will agree with everything she says.

Phew…that was a long one. And with this, the card game tournament arc has drawn (hah puns) to its conclusion. We've finally reached the true beginning. From here on out, there's always an “intermission” between arcs which has a short, half-chapter and an updated character information sheet. I'll release the full intermission and the first chapter of the next arc next week. For those interested, the next arc is the Athletic Festival Arc. Please look forward to it~