March 15th—the last day of the first-year, and the day the Project Selection special exam officially began.
A little after eight in the morning, the students serving as class commanders gathered in the special teaching building, while the rest of their classmates headed to the gymnasiums.
Yukio's class and Sakayanagi's class were assigned to Gym 1; Ichinose's class and Class D were assigned to Gym 2.
All this had been texted out by the school early that morning: finish breakfast and assemble at the designated locations.
When Yukio reached the third floor of the special teaching building, he realized everyone was waiting on him—so he was the last one to arrive, huh.
Ichinose, who would usually greet him with bright energy, looked a bit shy today; she only gave him a small nod by way of hello.
They'd only confirmed their relationship yesterday, and with other teachers and students present, Ichinose couldn't bring herself to run up to him—much as she wanted to. It was just too embarrassing.
By contrast, Sakayanagi was perfectly composed. "Good morning, Yukio-kun." Class D's commander, Matsushita, also chirped a light greeting his way.
"All right, Yukio, Sakayanagi, the two of you, in here." Ever-stern Mashima opened a classroom door. "The exam starts in three minutes. Before that, I need to walk you through the equipment."
Chabashira opened the other door and waved Ichinose and Matsushita inside as well. Hoshinomiya, meanwhile—who in public acted as if she were especially close with Chabashira—was hanging off her with both hands on her shoulders. "Sae-chan, let's work well together this time~"
"I told you not to call me that." Chabashira walked in with a put-upon air, then, almost as an afterthought, glanced back at the students. "Well? Are you coming or not?"
But when she said it, her eyes flicked toward Yukio with an extremely complicated look, as if she still hadn't fully sorted out her thoughts.
That morning in front of the first-year dorms—Yukio's words were still ringing in her ears, impossible to forget. Could she really… make up for new mistakes, now?
Before she could dwell on it, Yukio had already gone with Sakayanagi into the other classroom, and Chabashira withdrew her gaze.
On Yukio's side, Mashima handled Sakayanagi's briefing, while Sakagami naturally took charge of his most brilliant student in years: he brought Yukio to a computer.
"This," Sakagami said, opening the lid and powering on, "is the commander's terminal. All your operations are handled here."
"The school will automatically pull up both classes' event lists, then randomly draw seven of the twenty total to form the match slate."
"Once the draw is confirmed, you'll see those seven events displayed down the left. The right side lists your classmates."
"During the match, you just use the mouse to assign people to events—this is all stuff you've already arranged anyway. Of course, if something unexpected happens and you need to switch someone in on the fly, it's still just a few clicks."
"Across the bottom is the chat window, which lets both commanders text during the match. It can be used to negotiate… or to talk trash. Up to you."
"Finally, on the upper right is the 'intervention' button. Clicking it pops a panel listing all permissible commander interventions for the current event. Choose what you want to do, then confirm."
"As for anything mechanical—equipment, setups, station assignments—the gym staff will handle it. The two of us will be here supervising, and we'll transmit any on-site issues to you right away."
Yukio listened, nodded, and quickly got a feel for the system. It wasn't complicated—straightforward enough to pick up in moments.
Soon, a chime sounded.
"Here we go," Sakagami said, glancing at the clock. "Eight-thirty. The Project Selection special exam begins now. The draw comes first—five seconds."
"Four… three… two… one."
As he counted down, the computer auto-loaded both classes' lists and began the draw. Seven icons settled neatly into the left column.
Seeing the results, both commanders immediately looked up across the room and met each other's eyes for a beat.
In that moment, without words, the two of them silently acknowledged the same thing: our luck's about the same—neither side really got favored by the draw.
They looked back to their screens at the same time and started handling assignments in order.
Yukio moved especially fast, his clicks clean and decisive—he had clearly rehearsed all the pairings long ago.
Sakayanagi, too, was crisp and efficient. Although she didn't type as fast as Yukio, her speed was still striking; it only took a moment to slot everyone in.
"When you've finished your assignments, press confirm." Mashima prompted them. "After both sides confirm, the gym will broadcast the event order to all students."
"Got it." Yukio hit confirm.
"Understood." Sakayanagi hit confirm as well.
"Good." Mashima nodded, satisfied with how smoothly it was going.
On the other side, Sakagami was in even higher spirits: this one looked to be a wonderful match—just the sort that would make a teacher proud to watch.
The event order quickly appeared onscreen:
International chessDodgeballMathematicsVolleyballGo1,500-meter runMental arithmetic
Seeing that, Yukio lifted his head, looked past the monitor, and called across, "Sakayanagi, did you bring water and food?"
Standing behind Yukio as proctor, Mashima's face twitched. That was the question he led with? But since this might be "mind-games to rattle the opponent," he couldn't interfere. He could only watch in silence.
"I did." Sakayanagi raised a hand so he could see from across the room the squeeze-pouch jelly she was holding. "When it's noon, should I share half with you, Yukio-kun?"
Good grief. Hearing that, Mashima's expression turned even stranger. Why did his ace student sound just a bit cozy with the enemy?
It was a squeeze jelly. With no knife or bowls here, if she split the pouch in half—wouldn't that be an indirect kiss?
It must be a tactic. Right, it's a ploy to shake a boy's heart. Mashima reassured himself. As expected of Sakayanagi! Even against the widely acknowledged top dog, Yukio, she could counter in an instant and half-seize the initiative. Surely even he would get flustered at a line like that.
"Sure." To Mashima's shock, Yukio agreed in a heartbeat—and pulled two packs of instant rice balls from his uniform jacket pocket. "I only packed onigiri and no drinks. I'll mooch half your jelly, and I'll split the rice balls with you."
…Hah?! Mashima's eyes went wide. His usual stern look almost broke apart as he stared at Yukio's back. This guy! How is his skin that thick? He's seriously fine with splitting it fifty-fifty?
He lifted his head in disgruntlement and shot a glare at his colleague across the room.
Sakagami blinked. Why's Mashima suddenly looking so upset? Oh—he got it. Mashima must be thinking Sakayanagi was doomed against Yukio and feeling sour about it.
Hahaha. Can't be helped. After all, how could you beat luck like his—getting this student assigned to you as homeroom teacher? That was luck, Mashima!
Sakagami basked in that thought, pleased with himself.
Meanwhile, Yukio and Sakayanagi kept chatting, blissfully unaware that, without anyone saying a word, their two homeroom teachers' train of thought had each just taken eighteen wild turns.
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