Chapter 82: Chapter 82
Chapter 82
Ayanokōji's POV
"So, this is the fabled swimsuit episode..."
Sora sighed in content as he rested his eyes on the grouping of swimsuit-clad students playing in the on-deck pool from our spot on the poolside, sat around a circular table situated just next to the cold drinks bar.
"Now I'm just waiting for one of them to have an 'accident' and have to cover their breasts with their hand!"
"Nii, that only happens in doujinshi."
Shiro shot him down from her position on his lap, to his dismay.
"A-are you sure that none of them might not have 'accidentally' gotten a size too small?"
"I'm sure. Girls aren't that careless about those things."
"B-but what about my dream swimsuit episode?!"
I observed this exchange between the peculiar siblings in silence, not entirely sure why I was even here.
I'd been dragged out of bed by these two, my roommates on the ship, for breakfast, and had eventually ended up here, sitting by the pool with drinks.
I briefly pondered about what the other four Class D students were doing right now. Speaking of, we were presumed to be promoted to Class B quite soon. It was currently August 11, which means that the class rankings would be update in twenty-one days assuming that we don't endure a drop due to some form of misconduct, or even another special exam.
Three days had passed since the test on the deserted island and the students had spent the time in bliss as a peaceful lull set in. While I found it unlikely that the school would spring another special exam on us this quickly, the possibility definitely couldn't be discounted.
It seems that the boys, like Sora, who were in the prime time of their youth, had begun succumbing to their carnal urges after having lost their rational judgement due to the long and arduous task of surviving on an island like we had. We boys had collectively began to expect a destined experience with the girls.
Besides, I've already heard quite a few stories of students hooking up with each other on this cruise and new couples being born every other day. Unfortunately, that sort of encounter is unlikely to happen with me and I continue to spend this time in relative solitude.
"Are you sure you don't want to go for a little play in the water, Sora?" I asked, motioning to the pool.
Sora followed my gesture to where Kushida and her friends were enjoying their summer vacation to the fullest. Kushida's swimsuit was especially erotic, perfectly highlighting her curves and generous proportions.
"While I'd love to go and join Kushida, I think that Class D has wordlessly agreed to leave her for you, you know?" He retorted with his signature sly grin.
I sighed. I don't know how it'd happened, but it seemed that one of my classmates had caught on to my connection with Kushida at some point and it had now become a primary topic among them.
While at first I found it disconcerting, it seems that all they're doing is exaggerating what they perceive as us being acquainted in some way. My classmates should have no suspicions about my actual relationship with Kushida.
"As I've said before, there is nothing going on between me and Kushida."
"Yeah, right." Sora said sarcastically.
"If Nii actually suspected that Ayanokōji had such a cute girlfriend, he wouldn't be so calm about it." Shiro interjected with an unexpectedly sadistic grin.
"O-oi, what are you saying, dear sister of mine?!" Sora panicked, waving his arms around. "It's not like I'm desperate for a girlfriend, or anything! I wouldn't be bothered in the slightest if Ayanokōji scored Kushida!"
For Sora, who had been a shut-in all his life, following the path of getting a girlfriend and experiencing romantic love was one of his main ambitions. It wouldn't be surprising if he became depressed after failing to do so while having to watch others around him succeed.
I noticed Shiro wearing quite a complicated expression, staring down at her drink in her hands.
"Something on your mind, Shiro?" I asked her.
"It's just... Nii wants to find another girl to fall in love with, but all I need is him. Am I not enough?"
Sora's features softened as he placed his hand gently on top of Shiro's head and stroked her hair.
"That's not it," he said, shaking his head. "No matter what happens, Shiro will always be the most important person to me. That being said, however, I can't engage in romantic or sexual endeavours with my sister."
Well, like every boy, myself included, the urge to fulfil such desires is ever-present within Sora. While not impossible, it's greatly frowned upon to pursue such things with one's own relative.
"B-but..."
Shiro began saying something, but quickly sealed her mouth shut and didn't elaborate further. My curiosity was mildly piqued, but I decided not to press the topic.
"Hmm... this is unexpected..." Sora murmured, looking over my shoulder.
I turned to see, as he said, a rather unexpected sight. Katsuragi was walking past the scene, clothed in his full school uniform, completely alone.
"He's quite solitary for a class leader," Shiro remarked in her usual, whisper-like tone.
"Well, I suppose that after his extremely sub-par results on the island exam, his classmates have begun to lose faith in him." I responded.
"And who's fault is that again?" Sora grinned maniacally.
"Ryuzaki was the first one to suggest the idea of us sabotaging Class A," Shiro relayed like an audio recorder. "We should put all the blame on him."
"Yep, it's entirely his fault."
Sora nodded in agreement, content with throwing Ryuzaki under the bus in the case that something goes wrong as a result of our actions.
"We've inadvertently helped Sakayanagi by giving Class A's leader to Classes B and E." I said.
"Right. As we said before, Sakayanagi's Class A will be much stronger than Katsuragi's. We might've indirectly made our lives harder in the long term." Sora agreed.
Katsuragi was similar to Ichinose in the sense that he was unable to properly combat the kinds of strategies employed by Sakayanagi, Ryūen, and obviously some of my very own classmates as well. For this reason, Class A would be easier to defeat under his rule than it would be under Sakayanagi's.
It might've been more worth it for us to actually let Class A have the 100 class points for now, and try for a more long-term goal of defeating Sakayanagi before she even assumes the position of sole Class A leader.
It would be nipping the problem in the bud, so to speak.
"Even if Class D lends him a hand, it will be substantially difficult for Katsuragi to gain the favour of Class A students now." Shiro commented while still enjoying having her hair stroked by Sora.
"And he'll probably only need one more failure to lose the battle with Sakayanagi completely." Sora added.
I was yet to formally meet Sakayanagi but, if what I'd heard about her was true, she could turn out to be quite the troublesome opponent. If Class D got complacent, it wouldn't be out of the question for us to be defeated by her.
We'd need to be careful to remain vigilant in the coming future.
"Ah, Sora-kun, Shiro-san and Ayanokōji-kun! I wouldn't expect you guys to be here."
Waving to us as she approached was Ichinose Honami, the current representative and leader of Class 1-B. She was joined by her female friends, who, along with her, were all wearing fashionable swimsuits.
As soon as she arrived at the scene, the gazes of all boys in the proximity turned towards her incredible figure. Somehow, Ichinose seemed oblivious to the fact that she'd enraptured the eyes of all males in the area, and approached our table with a smile.
I fought with myself to keep my eyes from drifting away from her face, and gave an awkward wave back in return.
"O-oh, uh, Ichinose! Fancy seeing you here, ha ha..."
Sora gave an extremely awkward greeting in response. It seemed that he too was waging an internal battle right now.
Unlike me, however, Sora had a great motivator to win that battle against himself because of the deathly glare that Shiro was shooting him.
"Hmm, Class D are quite popular, right? There's quite a lot of people looking over here," Ichinose remarked.
No, Ichinose, I think they're actually looking over here because of you.
"Well, Class D has been a major conversation topic among all students after the island exam," one of Ichinose's friends commented.
I believe her name was Akimura.
"Mhm, and Ayanokōji-kun especially because he was the centre of attention during the second half!" Another girl agreed.
Apparently, my actions had spurred quite some gossip. Well, it was only to be expected after the stunt I'd pulled.
"The other classes will probably take us seriously from now on," Sora said.
"Hmm, before there were quite a number of students skeptical about your class' ability." Ichinose nodded. "Now they will realise that the school wasn't exaggerating."
Well, it was natural to be suspicious of an alleged class of seven that contained only the most elite of all students within Japan. Nobody could blame the students that didn't believe it at first.
"So, how is Class B doing?" Sora asked, changing the topic.
"Well, despite our loss in the special exam, we're still going as strong as ever! I'll make sure that we come back stronger next time!"
Ichinose clenched her fist resolutely. It seemed that, despite enduring a setback and falling to Class C, her resolve hadn't wavered.
"Well, I certainly look forward to fighting you and all, but do you really think Class B can win?"
"I have confidence that, as long as we all work together as one, we can overcome any obstacle." Ichinose nodded in response.
"She's optimistic," commented Shiro rather apathetically.
"Class E was able to do it on the island, so why can't we?" Ichinose retorted with a smile.
"Ah, Class E..." Sora muttered, briefly losing his amicable demeanour.
"Something wrong, Sora-kun?"
"Ah, it's nothing."
It seemed that Sora was still somewhat disconcerted by the results of the island exam. I couldn't blame him, though – while us losing out on 100 points wasn't the end of the world, it was a pretty big hit to our confidence.
"Honami-chan! The other girls are ready!"
"O-oh, okay, I'm coming!" Ichinose turned to us. "I'd better get going, I wouldn't want to keep the girls waiting. I'll see you later, Sora-kun, Shiro-san, Ayanokōji-kun!"
With that, Ichinose and her friends departed to meet up with the rest of the girls they'd seemingly come out with.
A brief lull of silence set in on our table, before Shiro decided to ask a question.
"Nii is unnerved,"
"Of course I am! Class E managed to outmanoeuvre me! Class E! Me!"
I decided to cut in. "It was just one mistake in our calculations. It isn't a big deal."
"No, that's not it," Sora shook his head in denial. "We planned everything flawlessly. I'd accounted to every detail,"
Sora paused for a second to look into my eyes.
"That is, going off of everything we knew. In other words, we didn't have sufficient information. What did I tell you about information?!"
Sora struck his fist against the table in irritation.
Information is the strongest weapon, huh? That phrase is pretty much Sora's mantra at this point. It would be strange if I'd forgotten it.
"I've been thinking about it a lot. What information did we overlook? Is there actually a secret mastermind lurking in Class E? Or could it have been the work of Kōenji?" Sora thought aloud, talking unusually fast.
"But Nii, didn't we deduce that Kōenji would never help Class E?"
"I actually think I can shed some light on that," I said, attracting the attention of the siblings. "On the first day, I'd asked Ishihara-sensei and discovered that the homeroom teachers were not told any information more than the students about the special exam to prevent bias. In other words, there exists an incentive for homeroom teachers to be biased."
Sora narrowed his eyes as he thought. "The school wouldn't take such measures if there's no reason for homeroom teachers to be biased, huh..."
"Yeah. Following on from that, it wouldn't be unthinkable for the homeroom teacher of Class E to force Kōenji into assisting the class."
Weekly Power Status
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