After a full three minutes of thought, Ayanokouji transmitted new instructions to Horikita, and as the voice announcement sounded in the room, she picked up a piece and made the correct move.
These past days, Horikita had studied chess under Ayanokouji for a while, and had reached a certain level.
But this move of Ayanokouji's she could barely make sense of at all.
Just as Horikita was puzzling over it, Sakayanagi openly voiced her admiration.
"Brilliant. Simply brilliant."
Unlike Horikita, Sakayanagi saw through the purpose of Ayanokouji's move at a glance, and marveled at it.
That said, the move had plainly caused her trouble too: it took a full few dozen seconds of thought before Sakayanagi responded.
But against Sakayanagi's twenty, even thirty-second replies, Ayanokouji answered almost in an instant.
The situation on the board suddenly turned transparent, even students who knew nothing of chess could see exactly how things stood.
The tempo now lay entirely in Ayanokouji's hands. Carried on like this, victory was as good as in the bag.
But Sakayanagi was clearly no pushover either, just as Ayanokouji had thought, the two of them were evenly matched at chess.
Gazing at the pieces, Sakayanagi, faintly excited until now, suddenly went calm.
Then, in that near-hopeless position, she caught a glimmer of victory.
"This is the first time I've ever felt cold sweat on my own skin. What a delightful battle, what a shame it must end. But, this is where it stops."
Sakayanagi picked up a piece, set it down, and the position flipped at once. The dying black army came back to life.
The one now needing twenty, even thirty seconds per move was Ayanokouji Kiyotaka; the one answering in an instant was Sakayanagi Arisu.
In a flash, Sakayanagi Arisu seized back the initiative, Ayanokouji had been lured onto the road that led to her victory.
Is it over, then?
Anyone who knew the rules of chess could read the position: Sakayanagi's advantage was enormous. Ayanokouji was in a desperate strait.
"Is it over?"
Not just the spectators, even Ayanokouji himself thought so.
His time was running short. Ayanokouji leaned back against his chair, eyes on the board on the screen.
Then the pieces on the board seemed to come alive. Countless possibilities bloomed in his mind, setting up, calculating, tearing it down, setting up again, calculating again, setting up again.
Kamio Tatsuya, too, watched the board tensely, hoping for Ayanokouji's comeback from the brink.
And Ayanokouji did not disappoint him. After a full five minutes of deep thought, his hands returned to the keyboard, and he entered his instructions.
At Ayanokouji's move, Sakayanagi froze for a beat, then her face lit up with excitement. She could even feel her frail heart pounding, hard and strong.
He would make that choice?
Truly remarkable, Ayanokouji.
After a brief think, Sakayanagi responded at once.
Then both sides returned to the blistering pace of the opening stage, Sakayanagi working her pieces ceaselessly, Ayanokouji's instructions flowing without pause from the speaker.
Fierce as her defense was, his attack was endless. The soldier he had held in reserve the whole game marched onto the final rank at the critical moment, promoted to queen. Check!
Gazing at the board before her, Sakayanagi breathed a little fast. After a long moment she let out a long breath, closed her eyes, and a contented smile crossed her face.
"You truly are a genius, Ayanokouji. This game... I lose."
With that defeat in the chess match, Class B fell to 0-3, and Class D rose to 3-2.
The exam was not over yet. The first to come back to their senses, naturally, were the teachers on hand, brilliant as the match had been, it was not the final event.
"Next is Class C's event. Kamio, please begin your draw."
Prompted, Kamio Tatsuya clicked the draw button.
Event: Judo (Class C)
Required participants: five.
Rules: three minutes per bout; direct strikes against the opponent forbidden; single-elimination format.
Commander privileges: may void one bout and have it refought.
Seeing the event, a smile crossed Kamio Tatsuya's lips.
Judo, hm? The heavens were on his side. This was the event to send Class B out with.
"I designate Class B."
Hearing herself named, Kamuro sighed, then chose to accept.
Kamuro sent out the only fighters Class B had left, Kito Hayato and Hashimoto Masayoshi. As for the other three... no help for it; she'd grab a few bodies to make up the numbers.
Kamio Tatsuya's side simply fielded every last brawler Class C still had: Yamada Albert, Ishizaki Daichi, Komiya Kyougo, Kondo Reon...
Hm, still not enough people. Whatever, one more at random, then.
No need to guess who Kamio Tatsuya's first pick was: Yamada Albert, of course.
That hulking frame radiated strength at a glance, an enormous advantage in an event decided purely by physicality.
Class B's Kito Hayato showed no fear either. In raw physique he was Albert's inferior, but once on stage he flinched not at all, his fierce face full of kill intent.
If the two of them truly meant to destroy each other, Yamada Albert would probably come off the worse against Kito Hayato.
Because for all his intimidating bulk, over these six months together Kamio Tatsuya had come to see that Albert's nature was actually quite gentle.
He could fight, but he hated violence, the exact opposite of Ryuen, that all-appetite-little-skill type.
The reason Ryuen had been able to win him over as a follower in the first place was that his unyielding spirit had earned Albert's respect, not that he'd ever beaten him by force.
So in a genuine brawl, Yamada Albert would most likely lose.
But this was a match, not a brawl.
The instant the whistle fell, the two of them charged each other and locked into a contest of pure strength.
Kito, like Albert, was the strong, silent type, enemy or not, battlefield or not, he grappled on without saying a single word.
Yet against a Black opponent, an Asian body had the greater agility, but fell far short in stamina and raw strength.
Kito had opened by matching Albert blow for blow in a test of strength, pitting his own weakness against the other's strength. How was he supposed to win like that?
Had he opened with mobile, evasive tactics, he might at least have had some chance.
The pity was that he had picked his tactics wrong from the very first second.
Kamio Tatsuya shook his head...
No, setting Kito himself aside, the students of Class B couldn't all be idiots; someone was bound to see that this wasn't the way.
Which meant, perhaps he was doing it on purpose.
As far as Kamio Tatsuya knew, Kito had never joined the judo club. In that case, his judo must all be self-taught.
And there was probably no one in Class B for him to practice with, even Hashimoto's strength likely fell well short of Kito's, so he was never going to make a worthwhile partner.
Which meant Kito had never had the chance to drill mobile tactics at all.
And rather than fumble with unfamiliar evasive tactics, better to simply pit strength against strength.
Mm, explained that way, it actually made sense.
As for the result, naturally, it was a delightful one. Yamada took two bouts and won both, and even when Kamuro spent the commander privilege, it changed nothing.
Once Kito was eliminated, the rest of the bouts were easy.
Against the remaining Class B students, Yamada swatted them aside one slap apiece, cheerfully completing a one-man sweep of all five.
He didn't even need Ishizaki to take the stage; the students after him might as well have been watching a show.
And with that, Class B was out at 0-4.
Looking at the standings on her monitor, Kamuro sighed, then left the multipurpose classroom.
"For the remaining events, Class D concedes."
With both Class A and Class B eliminated, Ayanokouji raised his hand and surrendered as well.
"Even so, the procedure must be carried through to the end."
Probably a safeguard against commanders being bought off and simply conceding everything.
Well, whatever the school's reasoning, it was just procedure, it wouldn't take long.
After all, this was no longer buying off a single commander; this was strong-arming an entire class.
The procedure moved quickly, and in a matter of minutes, the exam was completely over.
In the end, Class C took it all with 8-0; Class D placed second at 3-4, Class A third at 1-4, and Class B last at 0-4.
And the instant the exam ended, every class's points changed.
Under the special exam's rules, Class A would lose 150 class points, Class B 200, and Class D 50.
As for Class C, beyond the 400 class points from its eight victories, it would also receive the first-place bonus of 200 class points from the school, for a total of 600 class points.
Class C had held 501 points; now it leapt straight to 1101, higher even than Class A's 1007 before the exam.
Besides C's, Kamio Tatsuya quickly worked out the other classes' changes too.
First-Year Class A (Ichinose Honami): 857 points
First-Year Class B (Sakayanagi Arisu): 671 points
First-Year Class C (Ryuen Kakeru): 1101 points
First-Year Class D (Horikita Suzune): 87 points
Which meant Class C had leapt clean over Class B, rising from C straight to A. From next month onward, Kamio Tatsuya and the others would be the new Class A.
The old Class A would drop to B, the old Class B to C, and Class D, as it happened, stayed right where it was.
Kamio Tatsuya was not the only one to realize it. On the face of Okabe Kazuma, Class C's homeroom teacher, a smile spread that he couldn't press down no matter how he tried.
It worked!
Believing in Kamio Tatsuya had been the right call!
Chabashira Sae, meanwhile, stood there in a daze. All of this, it should have been Class D's honor.
In today's exam, Kamio Tatsuya's performance hadn't even been outstanding, it looked as if he had merely done what needed doing.
But never forget: the reason Class C had sailed through so smoothly was the preparation he had made before the exam ever began. Because the preparation was thorough, the exam itself could be this easy.
And beyond that, she had glimpsed a little of Ayanokouji's true strength.
Say nothing else, winning the chess event against Sakayanagi alone counted for a great deal in her eyes.
If she hadn't made that mistake back then, hadn't taken such a hard line and forced them to work for Class D's sake, then perhaps, one day, Class D might have risen to Class A too.
But life was like a game of chess: no taking back a move once it fell. Mistakes, missed chances, none of it could be undone.
"The exam is concluded. Students, please leave the classroom promptly."
Glancing once at the hollow-eyed Chabashira, Kamio Tatsuya turned and left the multipurpose classroom.
This, perhaps, was the greatest revenge one could visit on a woman so obsessed with reaching Class A.
Outside the door, Kamio Tatsuya checked the time. Already past twelve, lunchtime had long since come and gone.
Fair enough, most of the events hadn't taken long, but the two written tests plus the chess match had eaten up a good three hours between them.
The cafeteria must be packed by now.
With that thought, Kamio Tatsuya walked out of the special teaching building, and then...
In front of the building, nearly all of the first-year Class C students stood waiting, and the wheezing of a good portion of them said enough.
They must have sprinted all the way over.
Tch. Staging a whole production, I was almost moved there.
"Good work out there, Tatsuya."
The one at the very front of the crowd wasn't Ryuen, it was Shiina, her chest rising and falling; she had clearly not had an easy time of it.
Hearing her say that between breaths, Kamio Tatsuya couldn't help laughing.
"No, the hard work was all yours."
"Mm. Well done, everyone of Class C."
A chorus of "Good work, Kamio!" rang out from all sides.
Hearing it, Kamio Tatsuya knew it hadn't been for nothing, bringing these people up to Class A. At the very least, they could read the situation, and knew who had thrown them the lifeline.
Unlike that Class D crowd, most of whom hadn't an ounce of self-awareness.
This was Kamio Tatsuya's first time facing a reception like this, and, how to put it, he felt a little embarrassed. After all, he hadn't brought Class C this far purely for the students' sake.
It was mostly for himself.
In that case, time to bring out the ultimate move!
"Right, you all haven't eaten yet, have you? Let's head straight to that restaurant in the mall. My treat today, call it a victory party."
A roar of approval went up.
Class C's old balance had been 501 points; even with a monthly allowance of fifty thousand private points, that restaurant in the mall wasn't the kind of place you'd normally set foot in.
Per-person bills there ran ten or twenty thousand at the drop of a hat, hardly within reach of the average student.
But today Kamio Tatsuya had declared it his treat, so naturally everyone could cut loose for once.
After the cheering, Kamio Tatsuya took Shiina's hand and led the way to the front of the crowd, the rest of Class C trailing joyfully behind.
Such a grand procession, those in the know understood it was a dinner party; those not in the know might wonder what on earth had gotten into them.
"Oh, right, where's Ryuen? I don't see him."
"Ryuen said he doesn't like this sort of scene, so he didn't come from the start."
That guy...
Don't tell me he's sulking.
"I'll send him a message. It's a victory party, without all of Ryuen's usual work, we'd never have climbed to Class A this easily."
It might look as if Kamio Tatsuya had been carrying the team since the second semester, but without Ryuen, the stabilizing pillar of the class, he wouldn't have bothered looking after Class C at all.
So how could a victory party be complete without its greatest contributor?
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