[565] The Start of War (1)
Around moonrise, a boy and a girl met behind the senior building.
Dorothy had arrived first and was waiting; Iruki showed up five minutes later.
"You're late. Five minutes."
Dorothy teased in her usual tone, but Iruki's face gave no sign he'd forgotten the time.
"You were five minutes early."
"Right. My watch is five minutes fast."
Dorothy turned her head shyly. "But I always forget."
Iruki couldn't parse what that little exchange meant to her.
"All right, let's get to the point."
When Dorothy nodded, she explained the Scramble Royal.
Iruki didn't interrupt until she'd finished.
"The Scramble Royal runs every day from noon to midnight. You can still take the morning evaluation, and if it's urgent you can attend the afternoon one. It's not a bad offer—you could drag down several people ranked above you."
"Again?"
That was Dorothy's only question.
"Again?"
"Is that why you called me? Don't you have anything else to say?"
After a moment's thought, Iruki spoke.
"There is something. Honestly, if you join the Scramble Royal you'll end up giving up the afternoon evaluation. I'm not imposing it, but in practice that's how it'll work."
"...."
Dorothy stared at him for a long moment, then gently placed her hand on his cheek and made a little "smack" sound with her lips. Iruki's expression didn't change.
"All right. I'll do it."
"Thanks. On behalf of the Supernatural Psychical Science Research Club."
"You were right — not a bad offer. I'll just come to the club on the holiday, okay?"
Before Iruki could answer, Dorothy turned and headed back to the dorm.
* * *
One day remained until the meeting to negotiate participation in the Scramble Royal, after the week's sixth-day evaluations.
Nade arrived at the club with hollow eyes, a shadow of death about him.
"I couldn't get anyone. I'm dead."
He banged out the words loudly, but most of the students he'd asked hadn't even paid attention. The risk of missing evaluations while participating was higher than expected.
"No, that's not it."
Iruki, who'd already convinced Dorothy, was the only one who looked relaxed; he flicked his fingers.
"They factored in the benefits of not participating as well as the risks."
Shirone nodded bleakly. "If we enter the Scramble Royal, we'll gain more points than our rivals while it runs."
"Aww! That's the point! If we win we can crush those Class One kids!"
Nade erupted with excitement, but Iruki stayed calm.
"Low risk, low return. It's not a bad choice. Besides, if people have that mindset they won't help anyway. It's time to consider more realistic alternatives."
A realistic alternative meant Sabina, so Nade shut his mouth, pinched. They'd welcome any help now, but none of them wanted Sabina involved.
"All right. I'll go and try to talk to her."
"Go quickly. Now. There's really no time. I'll go see Amy again too."
Shirone left the club first, sullen. Nade, following, glanced back at Iruki.
"What about me? And Shirone? The schedule's unreasonable. Both the one asking and the one refusing will feel awful. Won't this just make things awkward again?"
"Amy will join. Don't worry and take care of your own things."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Iruki muttered as if not hearing her, staring at the wall. "At this point we have no choice but to play our final card."
* * *
"Ugh, I'm losing my mind."
Nade, having turned away from going to Sabina, sat on a park bench and sighed as if the ground would swallow him.
"I know. I know."
He had to take responsibility as club president, but some things he hated more than death.
"What are you doing here?"
"Don't talk to me. My head's a mess… huh?"
Realizing the voice was Sabina's, Nade turned quickly.
"How did you get here?"
"Iruki told me to come. He said you'd be looking for me."
Iruki's sly grin flashed into his mind.
"Why didn't he tell you to sit? Didn't he find me? Just go?"
"No, you can't go, so…"
Sabina tried to hide a bubbling anger. "Hey, do you hate me that much?"
"Who said I hate you? Don't be ridiculous…"
Catching himself tiptoeing around the subject, Nade suddenly snapped.
"Then why do you keep worrying about me? I don't know what you're thinking. You're not actually in love with me or anything, are you?"
"Why would you think that?"
"Huh?"
Sabina sat down on the bench. "Okay, I'll admit it's strange for me too. From the moment I saw you."
Nade didn't move.
He stood as if frozen; Sabina felt a chill like an absolute presence she'd never experienced before.
"Ugh, this is so scary…"
After the '2000' duel last year, she'd been beaten up by Nade. Since then she'd been haunted by nightmares of him strangling her.
"How did it come to this?"
When fear becomes that strong, people sometimes surrender to it. Maybe Sabina had unlocked her heart toward Nade for that reason.
"It was terrifying. Honestly, it still is. So please… could you stop doing that?"
"Ah, sorry."
Nade pressed a hand to his face. "Damn it, another mistake."
That face — the one that slipped out without warning, the face that made him resemble his mother — made him want to smash it.
"But it's not because I'm scared that I act like I do. I've been watching you. Laughing with friends, joking around. You weren't like my Dante team. You actually looked like you were having fun."
Nade sat on the bench and said in a cold voice, "It was all a lie. That wasn't my real self."
Aside from Iruki, this was the first honest confession he'd ever made.
"What does 'real self' even mean?"
Nade looked at Sabina. "Whether you're scary or pretending to be nice, it's still you. There's nothing fake about you."
Sabina smiled gently. "You're Nade who desperately hides the scary side. That's you — the Nade I saw."
Nade pressed his lips together. If his face relaxed even a little he felt he'd burst into tears.
"I just want to know you a little better. So don't worry. If I'm not skilled enough to help, I won't be of use."
When Nade stayed silent, Sabina gave up and stood. "If you change your mind..."
"Scramble Royal."
"Hm?"
Nade looked up as if he'd made a decision. "Want to do it with me? If you help, I think I can actually pull it off."
Sabina gave a little wink.
* * *
Finally, the day of negotiation arrived.
Nade looked remarkably better in one day, but Shirone looked like a corpse.
Even friends had never seen Shirone tremble like this.
"What should we do? We couldn't convince Amy after all."
"Tsk. Stubbornness deserves some credit, though."
Nade clicked his tongue. "There's nothing else we can do. We'll steer the negotiation and try to balance things."
"But even that means giving up one bargaining chip. Sorry! This is my fault..."
When Shirone began to cry, Nade patted his shoulder. "Don't say that. If you couldn't persuade her, no one could. It can't be helped."
"Aaaah! It's all my responsibility."
Seeing Shirone hide his face with both hands, Iruki stood. "I'll be back in a moment. Get ready to receive the guests."
"Where are you going? There's only a few hours left."
"I have a prior engagement."
With that, Iruki left Istas and headed straight for the cafeteria.
It was quiet because it was a holiday. Amy was there, drinking coffee, and raised her hand.
"How's Shirone?"
"He's a goner. There's no saving him."
Amy looked guilty. "Is there really no countermeasure?"
"There is. You can participate."
"Not that again. I told you no. This is my second graduation exam. I can't afford a mistake."
Iruki nodded. "I know. So I won't ask you again."
"Then why meet me?"
"To blackmail you."
Amy raised an eyebrow. "How are you going to blackmail me?"
"You know Kaden? He's the president of the Women's Anatomy Club."
"Oh? I wouldn't have guessed."
Amy tried not to show interest. "You probably heard the rough outline from Shirone: the Scramble Royal has a lot in common with extraregulation matches. If you set rules, they manifest."
"So?"
"Kaden's liked Maya for ages. And Maya likes Shirone."
"So?"
A chill told her she shouldn't hear more.
"Kaden hates Shirone. He'll probably propose a condition like this: if you lose, you can never date Amy for the rest of your life."
"And…?"
"Just saying."
Amy slammed a hand on the table. "Are you kidding? What kind of blackmail is that? Me and Shirone? We're nothing. When he came back, we already agreed it was over."
"I don't know about that. This is the last chance to reverse it, so you should at least be told."
Iruki stood. "So Shirone must've been desperate. Don't be too hurt that he didn't consider your situation. We're all rooting for your graduation more than anyone."
Watching Iruki leave the cafeteria, Amy gulped down the rest of her coffee.
* * *
"No! Absolutely not!"
Back at the dorm, Amy checked the time and realized the Scramble Royal negotiation table would open soon.
If they lost, there would be no future with Shirone.
"Hmph! Who's the one dating who? Men are ridiculous. They get delusional from the slightest attention."
Participating in the Scramble Royal would cause massive losses on the graduation evaluation.
"Even if that's possible, so what? If you throw away your graduation for a relationship, what a stupid thing to do."
Amy opened a thermodynamics textbook at her desk. 'Right, forget it! Study! Shirone isn't the only guy in the world. No need to ruin my life over this. Besides… Shirone's team might win, right?'
She flipped through the pages fast.
"Kaden."
She slammed the book shut hard enough to make a thud and leapt to her feet. "No, but that bastard really…!"
* * *
The hour hand reached noon.
Istas activated and the Supernatural Psychical Science Research Club descended to the first floor; the six allied teams arrived at the appointed time.
Hersh checked the numbers first.
'Five.'
Amy's inclusion had been mispredicted, but that was actually good news. 'Istas is on our side.'
Both sides sat facing each other as negotiations began.
"Let's set the settlement deadline for midnight tonight."
"Fine. Twelve hours is tight, so let's outline things broadly: match rules, rewards and costs, and taboos..."
At that moment the door burst open.
"Hey! Kaden!"
All eyes turned to where Amy stood.
"Amy?"
Shirone was the most surprised, but she didn't look at him; she strode straight up to Kaden.
"Do you want to die? Who gave you the right to interfere in someone else's romance, let alone their marriage?"
Kaden closed his eyes as if to ignore her. "I don't know what you mean. Nothing's been decided yet."
"Huh?"
Only then did Amy recover and look around.
The Scramble Royal participants stared at her in stunned silence.