THERE WERE DOZENS of first- and —second-year students gathered in the gym. Most of the people there weren't second-years, but first-years. I supposed that many students saw this meet-and-greet as an important opportunity.
Since I didn't know who the first-years were at a glance right now anyway, I decided to start by finding out which second-year students were participating in this event.
The leader of Class A, Sakayanagi, was nowhere to be seen. And while I didn't know if I could —exactly call him a stand-in for her, I did see Hashimoto Masayoshi. Sakayanagi had a disability affecting her legs, so her range of movement was limited, making her slow. Hashimoto played an important part in covering her to make up for that.
As far as I could tell, he was the only person from Class A here. Furthermore, it didn't seem like he was making an attempt to talk to anyone in particular. He was probably scouting around to see who got in touch with
whom at this meet-and-greet.
As the organizer for this event, about half of the people from Class B were in attendance, both guys and girls, Ichinose included. Kanzaki was there too, by Ichinose's side, supporting her. However, I didn't get the impression that the students in attendance from Class B were those that were either very good students or those who were concerned about their academic prowess. It
seemed Class B had simply chosen to send the more sociable members of their class.
On the other hand, after briefly looking around, I saw no sign of anyone from ClassC around. It was almost as if they considered this meet-and-greet to be totally optional, right from the very beginning. Through this one event alone, you could somehow see the motives of cach of the second-year classes.
However, it wasn't the second-year students who were important to Horikita today. She was focused on the first-years the people we hardly knew at all. I was sure that the first-year students, who had only just started
here, had no clue as to what was going on yet. Many of them were probably struggling to wrap their heads around the situation with second-year students suddenly asking to pair up with them. They shrank back from everyone else at the event, clinging to their classmateswhich is to say, the students that
they were already close with.
Upon seeing that, Ichinose tried her best to expand their circle by making self-introductions and casual chit-chat, without really mentioning the special exam. Of course, it wasn't like people were about to immediately open up or anything. Knowing this, she didn't rush things, but instead
approached people slowly, looking at them with a gentle smile on her face. Then their hardened hearts, which seemed to have been frozen like ice, began to thaw.
After only a few minutes of observation at this meet-and-greet, I had a general idea of how things were going to go from here.
"Rather than prioritizing the special exam, she's going about building relationships based on mutual trust, first. That is certainly a very lehinose-san-like way of doing
An admirable tactic, and one not everyone canpull off," said Horikita, giving her first impression of the meet-and-greet.
It was unknown just how much Class B was going to make use of this but it was especially important, nonetheless. What Ichinose was doing could only benefit both the first- and second-year students. Horikita
called Ichinose admirable for putting such a plan into action. Looking at Horikita's side profile, I could guess at the strategy she must have been thinking of herself.
"Are you thinking of a similar strategy yourself?" I asked.
"....Yes. A strategy based on using Private Points is too much for Class D to handle. That's why I thought it would be important for us to build relationships based on trust with the first-years. However, we're no—
match for Ichinose-san in that regard at all. Or rather, I should say, that kind of strategy
is her specialty," said Horikita.
If you wanted someone to accept you as their partner, you needed to offer them something. That something could be a lot of different things, like points, trust, friendship, or a debt of gratitude.
"Ichinose Honami-san from Class 2-B is already quite well-known among many of the first-years.They know her name and face. I'm sure anxious us students will flock to her and she'll live up to their expectations," added Horikita.
"Yeah, I think so too," I replied.
They weren't going to bother coming up to us, Class 2-D, people they didn't know at all.
"But even if we can't duplicate her admirable methods, there are things we can do," said Horikita. Apparently, Horikita had gotten some kind of idea from this event. The
crux of that idea probably had something to do with how she was constantly looking at the first-years with the OAA app open. She gave no sign of wanting to leave yet, continuing to observe the first-years.
I wasn't the only one standing beside her, watching, either. A large figure moved by us.
"But, y'know, all of 'em look like total wimps. Every last one of 'em," gruffed Sudou, standing beside Horikita, sharing what he thought about the first-years.
Sudou had originally planned to head straight for his club activities right after class today. But because lchinose's request to hold this meet-and- great event was accepted, and it was thus suddenly decided that the gym would be in use until five o'clock, he offered to accompany Horikita here. Horikita had flatly tuned him down, telling him it wasn't necessary for him
to come, but I guess it must have been fine in the end, since he was going to the gym anyway.
"Don't glare at them for no reason. There's nothing to gain by scaring them," said Horikita.
"I ain't really glarin ' or anything. This is just the way my face looks. Anyway, is it really okay for us to hang back and chill like this? Won't the brainy kids get snatched up by Ichinose? What's the harm in just talkin' to
'em?" said Sudou impatiently, suggesting to Horikita that they ought to go and talk to the students sooner rather than later.
Even if a student from our grade level that wasn't in Class B went to make a move on one of the first-years, Ichinose wouldn't get upset about it. If anything. I was sure she'd welcome that happily.
"What are you gonna do?" I asked Horikita, since I'd been wondering about that myself.
"Do you really think we can outdo Class 2-B in a place like this, when it comes to socializing?" asked Horikita.
Right now, Ichinose seemed to be emphasizing providing relief for the first-years over trying to make sure her own class would win. From the looks of things, not a single one of the students from Class B had left yet, and they seemed to be trying to get to know the first-years better, to deepen their
friendships. I bet the first-years had noticed their enthusiasm, too.
"Yeah, I can't really imagine that we could," I replied.
If Yousuke or Kushida were here, we could've stood a chance at schmoozing. Maybe. But Horikita, Sudou, and I most definitely lacked of the ability to hold our own, socially. I was sure Horikita was well aware fact when she came here.
Just as the discussion was about to begin in earnest, Horikita took action.
"..Let's go," she said.
Instead of participating in the meet-and-greet, we were retreating. Which meant Horikita had no intention to bring any of the first-years over to our side at this event all along.
"You sure that's okay, Suzune?" asked Sudou.
"More than half of the students who were invited didn't come to this meet-and-greet. Those are the students I'm going to negotiate with," said Horikita.
In other words, she was going to target the first-year students who hadn't bothered to listen to lchinose's offer. At the same time, however, the fact that those students ignored Ichinose's offer proved it would be difficult to win them over. They might think they could finda partner by themselves, based on their own abilities, without accepting a helping hand. Or perhaps
they lacked the courage to come out to this meet-and-greet. They might even already have a strategy in mind. Whatever the case might be, we could assume many of them probably would be a little eccentric, and hard to deal with.
"For the time being, let's hear your basis for going that route," I said.
"Two reasons. As far as I can tell, from what I saw just moments earlier, an unexpectedly high percentage of the students who came to the meet-and-greet were people concerned about their academic prowess. What we are looking for right now, rather urgently I might add, are students who have at least a B minus or better in academic ability. Meaning, the students who have enough confidence to do battle without coming to the meet-and-greet," said Horikita.
I see. If that was the case, I supposed it madea certain amount of sense for us to have left the meet-and-greet.
"Our top priority shouldn't be to pair two A-rank students with one another. It's about coaxing students with enough academic ability to cover for the weaker students in our class to come to our side, to make sure that
absolutely no one gets expelled," said Horikita.
However, even if Class 2-B did save a lot of the first-years, there would naturally be a lot of them left over. Moreover, Ichinose was probably going to prioritize saving the less capable students over helping the highly
capable ones. It was possible that we could have picked up some of the left over students from the meet-and-greet-ones who were better students, to an extent.I assumed her second reason had something to do with that.Besides, there was a little bit of a bias in the students who attended the meet-and-greet, regardless of academic ability," said Horikita.
Bias?"
"The fact that none of the students from Class 1-D attended at all," said Horikita.
None of them had attended? I see. That certainly was a rather interesting bias.
"It seems like you understand, too," Horikita said.
"Understand what? What does the fact that none of the kids from Class 1-D showed up mean?" asked Sudou, cutting in.
He cocked his head to the side, not understanding what the significance of their absence was.
"There are forty pcople in one class. Among those forty are students with poor grades and students who aren't particularly good at communication. And yet, not a single person from Class 1-D participated. The fact that no one had attended is obviously a reflection of the will of the class," said Horikita.
It was clcar that someone was controlling the entire class, and had instructed them not to participate in the meet-and-greet. You could certainly say that was unusual, considering that it hadn't even been a few days since the semester started.
"So, you're sayin' there's already a leader in their class, and that person's kept 'em from going to this meet-and-greet...?" said Sudou.
"If theres a person we can negotiate with who speaks for the entire class, then it's no longer necessary for us to try and bargain with people individually," said Horikita.
In n other words, her strategy was for the students in cach of our classes,1-D and 2-D, to cover one another.
"Okay, that's all well and good. But if we do that, we're not gonna stand a chance at winnin' this thing, are we?" Sudou asked.
It wasn't a bad idea at all, to kcep anyone from getting expelled. But it would probably make it impossible for us to beat the other classes in overall scores.
"You're right. In that sense, I'm not planning to wage war with the other classes this time around," said Horikita.
"I ain't exactly in a position to really say much of anythin' about that,but are you sure that's what you want?" said Sudou.
Yes. Without a doubt," stated Horikita, clearly and definitively.
Although her approach was certainly different, the general idea behind her strategy was similar to lchinose's, from the sound of it. The thinking was that you'd be giving up your chance at a valuable opportunity to get Class Points, a special exam.
Class A's Hashimoto was already leaving the gym, perhaps because he was done snooping around lchinose's meet-and-greet event. Horikita followed Hashimoto, proceeding to the gym exit. Sudou and I followed her. But just before I left, I briefly looked back at Ichinose.
Ichinose, not noticing my presence, was talking to a first-ycar student with a smile on her face. I was sure she wouldn't hesitate to extend a helping hand, regardless of that student's academic ability score. Even if it was D or E.
She was fighting to prevent anyone in her class from getting expelled, abandoning the idea of achieving victory in this special exam. It was about the same as what Horikita was trying to do, albeit in a different way. Or was it? Was the essence of their strategies really the same?
"Yooo."
Just as we left the gym, Hashimoto called out to us, as if he had been waiting for us.
"Man, she's the same as ever, isn't she? Ichinose, I mean," he said.
"It seems she's prioritizing saving her classmates and the first-years,yes," said Horikita.
"Yeah, for sure. Definitely doesn't seem like Ichinose's a threat at the moment. Doesn't she get what a disadvantage it'll be for her to take in a bunch of morons? Man, it's like she's throwin' the game," said Hashimoto
exasperatedly.
There was no way he could have realized Horikita was going for pretty much the same thing, probably because he couldn't even imagine the thought of Horikita giving up on trying to win.
"Maybe it's because she already knew that about the first-years that she was able to set up a meeting like this in the first place" said Horikita.
"Ah, yeah, I getcha. That's true," said Hashimoto.
"You Class A people... Sakayanagi-san understood without even needing to see the meet-and-greet. The reason she didn't participate was because she already anticipated what kind of students were going to show up here," said Horikita.
"Well, maybe," said Hashimoto.Even so, she had probably sent Hashimoto in alone as a scout.
"So, how are you planning to get the honors students over to your
side?" asked Horikita.
" That's all up to the princess. I'm just following her orders."With that reply, Hashimoto started to walk away, perhaps because he was satisfied with the brief exchange we just had.
"Don't trust a word that jerkoff Hashimoto says, Suzune."
"You don't need to tell me that. Wait, are you familiar with Hashimoto-kun" asked Horikita.
"Nope, not at all," said Sudou proudly, arrogantly.
"...I see. Well, Class A has a big advantage simply by being Class A. I suppose it's only natural that theyll have some people flocking to them, to a certain extent," said Horikita.
Having enrolled here, the new students were eventually going to realize that Class A reigned supreme. Even if they didn't know that fact right now, word would get around quickly.
"Anyway, let's hurry. Class D students should still be hanging around at school at this hour," said Horikita, heading towards the first-year classrooms.
We were going to see what things were like for Class 1-D. Apparently, she was seizing the opportunity presented to us while everyone else was focused on the meet-and-greet.