Inside the council room(part 2) - Dead Logic

The wide glass panels that usually let sunlight pour in were now smothered behind dark shades, turning the outside world disconnected from inside.

Only thin strips of LED light ran across the ceiling, casting a pale, artificial glow that sliced the student council room into sharp edges and long shadows were seen stretched. It was right after winter so luckily there was no problem of feeling hot inside that locked room.

The air was heavy and thick enough that it could be cut with a knife.

Earlier, they had done a rock, paper, scissor and Hiroshi won. Hiroshi decided to volunteer at first. That meant, Hiroshi would be the active player in the first turn.

On the long table at the center, twelve identical envelopes lay arranged with unnatural precision. Each one looked harmless. Each one carried the weight of consequence.

A quiet ripple passed through the council members watching from the sides. No one spoke. No one dared to.

Then—

"R-Rei… go ahead."

The voice came out strained. A boy stepped forward. His name was Rei Takamura. He was the designated extractor. And right now, he looked like he regretted ever existing in this room.

His shoes made faint sounds against the polished floor, each step louder than it should've been. When he reached the table, he stopped.

If the wrong envelope was drawn, the balance of power could tilt—toward Akari. Toward a completely different rule over the school. Policies, authority, control… all of it inside the school could shift from this single act.

His trembling hands moved forward to grasp an envelope but stopped midways. He was too nervous.

At that moment, a bang was heard on the council room's door. Everyone was so busy staring at the game that none had noticed that the door was knocked once.

A middle aged teacher entered, "Hiroshi! What is this? How can a mess happen in the time you are in charge!" he shouted.

Everybody's gaze shifted towards the teacher. Hiroshi immediately left his spot and went towards the teacher, "I will do it later," he said, referring to the gamble that was about to take place, "Duty comes first."

After a few minutes, Hiroshi returned to the room. A worried look on his face, "Sota, he has made a big error." Hiroshi announced suddenly.

Every council member was surprised to hear that. Sota was in the student council, working for the past many months. Till now, he had cleared every computing problem without any problem. So a common question spinned inside everyone's mind: what happened this time?

"Looks like I can't loose my position as president even more now as I need to teach one individual a lesson." Hiroshi said, looking at Akari.

It took some time but finally after gaining some courage from inside his own heart, he picked up one envelope from the middle and opened it. Everyone saw what it was. The number 4 was displayed on the paper.

"I will take it." Hiroshi immediately said, without a second thought. This action of his made Akari think a little as he was playing this game for the first time. At the same time, another council member wrote a note on the number's current position.

"He just…took it? He still has 3 passes.", Akari thought, staring at the boy who was going to grab the second envelope from the top right corner.

"Wait, I am overthinking. Why would someone call pass in the first turn? Saving it is the best choice. If a number reveals which is dangerous in the future for me, I can utilise my passes at that time. That means, not first, not second either but I have to think about using the passes from the 3rd turn."

The number which got revealed was 8. This made Akari go into his deep thoughts again,

"Four? If I call pass, senpai would have a pair of 4 point differences! That's a burden on its own. But if I do that, the number 3, 5, 7 and 9 will give him a d value of 1. Then in that case, it's better to go according to my previous idea…" Akari thought.

"I'll take it." Akari said. The paper was deposited into Akari's slot.

"Oh I see," Hiroshi said, "You figured it out, didn't you?"

"Figured out what?" Akari pretended to not understand what Hiroshi said.

The collector gulped, then picked up another envelope. This time, the number 11 was revealed. Ray was slowly getting used to it and the nervousness in his mind was getting cleared little by little.

"Who is the active player this time?" The girl who was taking notes asked.

"It is me who is the active player. And I have decided to pass." Hiroshi said.

Akari's heart skipped a bit. The reasoning he made was completely disproven by Hiroshi's action. He thought calling pass early was a critical mistake and the opponent can just get a better possible pair by doing that.

For example, since Hiroshi called the pass, the number 11 was put into Akari's slot. It made the numbers 7, 9, 10 and 12 strong since getting any one of them would result in Akari having a pair of 1 point difference.

"A 4 out of 9 chances to create an unbeatable pair! What is he doing?" Akari thought.

Then he saw the bigger picture. The probability was still against him. The remaining numbers were 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 12. Excluding Akari's strong numbers, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 were still dangerous for him. Among them, the number 1 was the most dangerous.

If Akari at that point got the number 1 then, possible pairs were (1, 8) and (1, 11). It was a loss in both cases. The worst part, only the number 2 could be used to reduce the danger of 1. But getting 2 was still a 1 out of 9 chances.

Akari immediately did the math and came to the conclusion that Hiroshi wanted to take a risk and win it. In that case, playing safe could backfire. His safe playing would include maintaining a balance but that could easily be countered if Hiroshi got a.closer card by chance.

In the next turn, the collector picked up an envelope with the number 1. Now Akari had two choices like before.

"I got the one, huh? One can only be neutralized by 2. I could take a chance to get 2 but…" Akari looked at Hiroshi, "He also knows that." I could call a pass and make the first pair a draw." He thought.

At the end, he decided to pass. At that point, both players had a pair. Akari had a (8, 11) and Hiroshi's was (4, 1). The next number picked by the collector picked the number 7. Hiroshi decided to take it. Akari could immediately figure out the reason behind that action.

If Hiroshi called a pass, then Akari had gotten a pair of (7, 8) which had the difference of 1. The strongest type of pair possible. So in order to prevent that, Hiroshi took the loss for now.

The next active player was Akari and he got a 3. The same thinking process went through Akari's head too.

If he had called pass then Hiroshi would have a pair of (3, 4) and beating it would be hard. So he took it.

The next number that appeared was 9. Hiroahi took it. It was then only a pair with the 'd' value of 2 arrived in Hiroshi's hand and that was (7, 9).

Akari, seeing this, realized that the game was becoming harder from that point. He couldn't come up with a practical strategy to beat this game. If the opponent is too lucky then it's over for him.

The only time he could influence the pairs of his and Hiroshi's was when it was his turn of being the active player. He would have the ability to call pass and make Hiroshi's hand bad.

The next number that came up was 5. It was Akari's turn and Akari took it. Now he also had a pair with the d value of 2 and that was (3, 5)

Hiroshi passed the next number that appeared, which was 12. Now Akari was beyond shocked. It made him worry. If Hiroshi was keeping track of the numbers then he would realize that Akari had a 11. Passing 12 to Akari was giving him a chance to create one unbeatable pair. He couldn't come up with a logical explanation behind the act of Hiroshi.

Akari kept the next number which was 6. Then the girl who was keeping the record spoke up, "And thus it completes the first part of the game."

Akari turned to her, "Wait, how? There are still 2 numbers left! 2 more rounds should still be played!"

"Yes, the two rounds will play and both cards will go to Hiroshi senpai." Tue girl cleared, "Did you forget the rule? You can only take or pass if both players' slots are empty. Check your hand. You have completed your 6 numbers."

It was at that moment Akari realized what he failed to understand in the middle of the game. Why did Hiroshi pass the number 12 to Akari? It was all calculated. Hiroshi was the one coming forward to explain what was going on, "You see," Hiroshi started, "There was a rule mentioned at first. Players can take or pass numbers but one can only acquire 6 cards at max. If all 6 slots of a player are full then the other cards automatically go to the other player."

Then the girl keeping the records moved forward, "May we proceed to the next stage?"

Before Akari could say anything, Hiroshi stopped him by moving his arm to the side, indicating to be quiet.

"He as a player has the right to know why it happened."

Hiroshi then explained it to him, "I am sure you did card counting in your head like me. You would notice that when you took the number 5, there were only 4 envelopes available on the table. The numbers were 2, 6, 10 and 12."

Akari's memory took him back to that point while Hiroshi talked about it. It was kind of an unconscious fact check that Akari did automatically.

"That's when I came up with a strategy." Hiroshi continued, "If I had gotten 12 then I planned to pass. Then would come your turn. No matter which number you had gotten between 2, 6 and 10 your 6 cards would be complete and I would have gotten the other cards.

It was enough to make Akari realize that strategy he applied. If the number 10 was picked then 2 and 6 would go to Hiroshi. Both of the cards would allow Hiroshi to create (2, 1) and (10, 9). Both were at the d value of 1, the lowest.

If the number 2 was picked then the numbers 10 and 6 would allow Hiroshi to create (10, 9) and (6, 7). Again the strongest pairs.

It was the same case with picking the number 6 which practically happened in the game.

Akari got nervous, he never felt this much…struck before. "But…hold on a moment. What if I had passed number 5 instead of taking it? Then Your entire strategy would colla…"

"No you wouldn't. It's because you know I have the number 4. Giving me 5 would just kill your chance of winning. So can we move to the 2nd stage?" Hiroshi casually said.

"One last question. What if after my picking 5, you didn't get 12 but something else like 10 or 12?" Akari charged with another question.

"Oh that wouldn't be a problem at all. You see, no matter which cards came to my hand after that point, at least a pair of 1 d value is guaranteed." Hiroshi said.

Akari realized that he had completely outplayed. Hiroshi from the very beginning was trying to shape his hand with a way that even if the remaining cards came into his hands, he would have good pair.

Even if Akari had gotten 10, 11 and 12, he couldn't use the 3 completely. Only one pair was possible with 3. One had to be paired with another number and that would create a burden because of having large d value.

They moved to the 2nd phase. The pairing part. There was nothing complicated about it. Even a beginner would figure out that to win, one must create pairs with lowest d values. Average won't work here.

They created their pairs and revealed their hands. Akari had (5, 6), (11, 12) and (3, 8). Hiroshi had (1, 2), (9, 10) and (4, 7). Their first 2 pairs made it a tie but Hiroshi's 3rd pair had lowest d value thus Hiroshi won the entire game.

"So as promised, you can never take food inside the council room." Hiroshi said.

The number papers dropped from Akari's hands and he loosened both of his arms. His arms got to both sides and swung for a few times, his head down.

Without being able to control his rage, he made a loud cry looking above. Instantly, he kicked the table in front and it dropped to the ground at a 90 degrees. He started to tore the papers and even went to the nearby book and tables, destroying everything that came to his sight.

Some of the council members rushed to stop him but at that moment, Rina grabbed one of them's hand from behind. Her grip was strong enough to stop him right on the stop.

"Please leave him!" Rina begged, "I promise I myself will do all the fixes and even pay for repairing. Just let him do it." she had understood Akari's mental situation better than anyone else in that room due to having a longer history.

They stopped and turned around just to see Akari laid on the floor, surrounded with stuff. Tears started to roll down from his eyes. All because he couldn't achieve his desired setting.

From the very start of their batch in the organization, Akari wanted to be the best and beat all others. He wanted to prove his worth. This idea came to his mind after Omega or Utaro had escaped the organization. But no matter what he did, Shuhi was always seen as superior in the instructor's eyes. Every exam, every trial, every challenge came with a loss due to Shuhi.

When Shuhi also ran away from the organization, Akari became the current best student. But he knew that Shuhi was there somewhere. So as long as he didn't defeat her, he was not number 1.

Due to Shuhi running away, he never got to prove his superiority after that. This thought of being stuck as 2nd always gutted Akari from inside. 2nd position was like a deep pit. Not good enough to be the best but not bad enough to be the last.

This mission of theirs, to bring Shuhi back gave Akari a chance again. That's why he orchestrated an unknown person identity who knows too much about her. He even predicted that the path she would choose would be to get council's influence by making the 3rd candidate, Ondo the president and track the mysterious person through him.

That's why he wanted to make sure everything goes well in the election. When he heard that the 2nd candidate might drop out, he couldn't withstand the fact that it would make the competition easier and Shuhi would automatically have one less obstacle and her goal would be easier.

So he took matters into his own hands and went for Hiroshi's gamble to be the president. That way, he would be able to maximize Shuhi's struggle of making Ondo the president. This created a challenge even she couldn't beat. Every step Shuhi made in this challenge was calculated and shaped by Akari. This was he believed to truly be superior to someone.

_____

After the game, Akari left the room. Rina, as promised, stayed there and cleaned the entire room all by herself. She managed to talk out the council members by saying that she had taken the punishments of Akari too. The punishment was more cleaning tasks than Akari had made. She, without a question, did it.

Aside from the things broken, Rina placed the table right on the spot. She told me to repay the broken things the next day.

She was back in front of a 3 storey apartment where they were staying for the time being. She reached her designated room's door but just then she noticed her key was missing.

"Oh I remember, we didn't make a duplicate. Akari must have had that."

She knocked on the door a few times and waited. The door slid open but she couldn't see anything inside. A strong smell of ink came to her nose.

She closed the door and saw the room's walls were filled with mathematical problems. Many kinds of letters and symbols covered the walls, leaving not a single inch.

"I knew this would happen. He always tries to distract himself from his bad thoughts by solving math."

She saw Akari in the kitchen, taking a bottle of water from the fridge. Haruto didn't seem to come home either.

"Listen…about what happened, your scheme is still ongoing. Even if Delta has less difficulty, she would still have to make some nobody the president." Rina started to explain,

"You did realize that Hiroshi senpai is no joke. So take this positively! You just verified the difficulty of Delta's goal."

Akari turned back, his anger and sadness gone. Wearing a smiley face he said, "You got a point."

Rina understood at that point, deep down that smile, lied someone who was suffering from tragedy because of one's own beliefs.

Chapter 45 - Inside the council room(part 2)