Chapter 8 : The Courage to Step Forward

IT WAS SUNDAY, the fourth day of the training camp. Today was the day to say goodbye to the familiar campsite. We had to leave the accommodation at 10 o'clock.

The fight with Amasawa was set before breakfast, at 7 o'clock.

Before 6 o'clock, after waking up, I came to the still dimly lit lobby.

I had some time to spare until Horikita and Ibuki showed up from their shared room, and considering the risk of waking up the sleeping students, I decided to use my phone to kill time.

The lobby was chilly and cold, perhaps because the heating had just turned on.

"It seems everything is fine."

In the silent corridor, I muttered to myself while looking at my phone screen. The only message left from Nagumo, which had arrived in the middle of the night, was 'I won't say thank you.'

If Amasawa had committed a crime, the rest of the camp would've been a big mess.

After a while, as I watched the sunrise through the window, I heard footsteps.

"It's still quite early in the morning after all, isn't it?"

The one who approached me with a sleepy voice was Tsubaki from the same group.

The probability that it was a coincidence was pretty high, but…

"For the past two days, I heard from Hashimoto-senpai that you've been getting up early in the morning."

Especially since going out in the morning was something I didn't need to hide, even if someone were to ask, the impact would be negligible.

Even if Tsubaki noticed the special training, the probability of the information reaching Amasawa wasn't that high.

"So, you came looking for me?"

"Not so much looking for you, but I just thought I'd check if you were here."

Tsubaki, who didn't change her attitude towards anyone, looked at me with a slightly suspicious look.

"But if you were here, that would change things quite a bit."

"I don't think there's any reason for you to come see me anymore. The special exam given only to first-year students has been canceled."

The student who expelled me would be given 20 million private points.

That was the hidden special exam known only to a few, as Tsukishiro was involved.

"I wasn't interested in the prize money from the start, but I'm disappointed. I'm lamenting the loss of the right to expel you in a dignified manner."

"That's dangerous talk. I don't remember you ever resenting me."

I looked back on my school life, but of course, there was nothing to worry about.

"Don't you think there are more things you don't realize? People unknowingly incur resentment, you know?"

I could somewhat understand what Tsubaki was trying to say. It was true that there were both people who knew they'd be resented and still chose actions that led to resentment, and those who didn't think they would be resented but ended up being resented anyway.

"I can't tell if you're joking or serious."

"Someone might come here, so why don't we take a walk?"

"It's still dark outside."

It was getting a bit brighter, but it was still hard to see and it was quite cold.

"It's not inconvenient for you, right?"

"Well, okay."

Anyway, I was planning to go outside to accompany Horikita and Ibuki for their final special training.

The two of us left the lobby and started walking outside in the cold.

"I thought it would be snowing quite a bit in the mountains of Tochigi, but it's not as much as I thought."

"February has a drastic temperature difference. Maybe it's because we've had a few warm days recently."

In reality, it wasn't completely snow-free, and there was a bit of snow left on the side of the road. The water droplets on the cars, presumably belonging to the staff here, were slightly frozen and covered with a thin film.

"Do you like snow, Senpai?"

"I don't particularly like or dislike it. I just think I enjoy the scenery when it snows. Do you like snow, Tsubaki?"

"...I guess I do. At least more than you, Senpai."

She squatted down on the side of the road, picked up a bit of the remaining snow with her fingertips, and stood up.

She placed snow on her palm and showed it to me.

"Can you look at this?"

When she asked, I stared at the snow on her palm.

Because it was a small amount, it melted and disappeared quickly due to the warmth of her hand.

"Being in this school feels like being cut off from the outside world, doesn't it? Who do you want to see first when you graduate next year, Senpai?"

"You ask strange questions."

"Maybe."

For me, the only people I knew beyond their faces in the outside world were my father and his associates.

I didn't have any one-sided feelings of wanting to see any of them.

"Probably just my family."

So I chose a safe answer that wouldn't surprise anyone.

"Family... Anyone else?"

"Not really. I don't have any close friends, so that's about it."

"I see... Then, can I ask you one more strange question?"

Tsubaki kept asking questions that seemed to have meaning and yet didn't.

"Imagine if you had a brother, and you didn't know about his existence because your parents hid it from you for years. But one day, you were told he was actually family, would you be able to love him as a family member? Of course, assuming there is a genuine blood connection."

"That's a difficult question."

As far as I knew, I didn't have any siblings.

But, this was a hypothetical situation where they'd be hidden, so in reality, it was possible.

If that man had a son other than me... I wonder how I would feel when I met him.

I was interested in the thought for the first time, but that didn't mean I felt any unexpected emotions.

"I might not feel anything. Of course, I think it would greatly depend on the other person's personality and situation."

If we were raised completely separately, it would be difficult to suddenly accept and interact with him as a family member.

"I see. I think I would probably feel the same way as you. But, if I knew that the other person had special circumstances and a sad past, I would want to grow closer. I would like to know more about my sister, who I had been separated from."

She'd asked me about a brother, but Tsubaki used a sister as an example. It wasn't unreasonable to imagine that she was just comparing it to the same gender, but the way she expressed her emotions sounded like it was based on her own experience.

"I am confused. Ayanokōji-senpai, from this school—"[17]

[TL/N: This sentence appears to be intentionally vague and fragmented]

Just as she was about to continue, Tsubaki's gaze shifted to the building behind us.

The promised time was approaching, so Horikita and Ibuki appeared.

And for some reason, Kushida was also there.

"We've been interrupted... Let's talk again later."

Tsubaki seemed to have no intention of letting the other students hear her story, and she returned to the building, shivering from the cold.

She gently nodded to Horikita and the others as they passed by, but she didn't say anything.

"That was Tsubaki-san, right? What were you talking about at this hour?"

"She said she woke up early. The training camp is over today, so we were just chatting. Though, why is Kushida here?"

"Ibuki-san here carelessly leaked about her rematch with Amasawa-san. Carelessly."

She emphasized the word 'carelessly' twice, expressing how foolish it was.

"It's not my fault! It's Kushida's fault for tricking me into it!"

"That's what you call being defiant."

"Shut up! It doesn't matter if there's one or two more spectators!"

"So that's it. I heard that you're going to fight with Amasawa-san, and I got interested."

"If both of you agree, I have nothing to say, but who are you cheering for?" My personal interest lies there.

"For me, it's like a win-win situation no matter who loses."

She had a dispute with Amasawa during the cultural festival.

In other words, no matter who won or lost, it would be a satisfying match for Kushida.

Kushida looked back at Tsubaki, who had already disappeared from our sight.

"About Tsubaki-san earlier, was it about love? I've been thinking for a while, but Ayanokōji-kun, you're surprisingly popular, aren't you?"

"Is that so?"

Tsubaki's goal was completely different, but it seemed Kushida had assumed such.

In sync with that, Horikita also started talking.

"But you're aware of it, right? You're dating Karuizawa-san after all."

"On the contrary, let me ask you in return, are you confident that you're popular?"

"Why me? I'm not popular."

"At least Sudō has shown some interest, hasn't he?"

"Really? Horikita? Haha, you'd make a good match with that idiot."

"Stop calling Sudō-kun an idiot. He's become several times smarter than you now."

"But I can knock him down with my kick!"

I didn't understand how the basis of comparison turned into combat ability, but if he really tried, Sudō would probably be stronger.

"Well, but—"

After looking at me from top to bottom, Ibuki spat out forcefully.

"How this guy's so popular—I just don't understand at allllllllllllllllllllllllll."

It was the first time I had seen someone hold such a prolonged 'l' sound in their words.

"You feel the same way as well, don't you, Kushida?"

"Eh?"

"Not 'eh?' I'm asking, you don't understand Ayanokōji's appeal either, do you?"

"...Well, it's not that he doesn't have any appeal, right? If you look around, you can see that there are no other decent men, right? Compared to such riffraffs, he might look better."

It seemed like a compliment, but it probably wasn't.

"I think they're the same to me...!"

"Then, if you had to date either Ryūen-kun or Ayanokōji-kun, who would you choose, Ibuki-san?"

At Kushida's question, Ibuki fell silent for a while, maintaining a puzzled expression.

Eventually, she broke the silence and came to a conclusion.

"I can't choose between curry-flavored shit and shit-flavored curry."

Horikita and Kushida quickly distanced themselves from Ibuki to avoid getting involved.

No one wanted to hear such a topic out loud.

If I ran away, she'd probably chase after me, so I had no choice but to become a human shield.

"What kind of comparison is that?"

I decided to retort for the time being.

"What do you mean, 'what kind'? It is what it is."

I didn't mind any analogy, but that comparison hurt a bit.

And I wondered whether I was the former or the latter.

No, I don't want to be either.

But… I deliberately thought about it.

If I had to eat one of them, I would choose the latter.

Even if the taste was improved, it would be extremely dangerous to ingest a large amount of E. coli. On the other hand, the latter would cause great damage to your taste and smell buds, but it's still fundamentally curry. In other words, the adverse effects on the human body would be greatly limited.

However, if your brain were to determine that it was dangerous solely from your sense of smell, you may suffer unexpected health risks...

"What's wrong, Ayanokōji? You're spacing out."

"It's nothing..."

I thought too deeply and felt a little unwell, so I decided to forget about it.