The Final Hour

The butterflies in my stomach wouldn’t settle. Having a secret rendezvous felt so intense, like something out of an international spy thriller. I had failed to make any headway with my Ebisu teammates, leaving Sakura as the only one I had left to turn to. And in the end, she was the only person who truly mattered in this game. As the highest ranking member of Team Ebisu, she was assigned team captain and had the final responsibility of submitting our claims to Ms. Kurokawa. But could I win her over? That remained to be seen.

Warm, tropical air kissed my face and kept me comfortable as I navigated the dark streets. Summer really was almost here. Of course, nice nights like these meant it was way more likely for students to be out and about, something I witnessed first hand while scoping out the city. And that increased student activity came with an increased risk of being caught. With all the magic traps placed throughout the city, students from other teams were likely lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce. As such, going to tlak to a classmate in private was like navigating a minefield. But still, I was making progress, avoiding all the traps I had previously identified throughout the week. Hopefully Sakura was fairing just as well.

While the boardwalk running parallel to the beach was fully illuminated, the sandy shores themselves were not. That provided the perfect cover for traveling with a low profile, unlikely to be spotted. I walked close to the waterline, allowing the endless rolling waves of the tide to remove my tracks from the sand. I was untraceable.

As I made my way down the beach and my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark night sky, the precarious rocky cliffs gradually came into view. After making sure I wasn’t followed, I ducked behind the rocks, out of sight. A certain someone was already there waiting for me.

“I’m glad you made it,” I said upon my arrival.

“Thanks,” Sakura replied. “But did we really need to come all the way out here?”

It was quite the trek, but I figured we couldn’t be too cautious, especially with The Hunt deadline in just ten hours. We couldn’t afford to risk throwing away any advantage we had. And if my deductions were correct, we had just enough of an advantage to win this entire competition.

“Trust me, it’s for the best. We don’t want anyone to spot us.”

I tried my best to keep my voice low. No one should be snooping around in a deserted area like this, but you never know.

Sakura pulled her tablet out of her backpack.

“I brought my tablet, can you show me what exactly you wanted to do?”

I held out my hand and Sakura handed me the tablet. I swiped to unlock it and loaded up The Hunt official web page.

Saved as a draft was the official Team Ebisu submission form, with all the names and team identifiers filled in. Incorrectly. I deleted the entire contents of the page.

“Nakamura, what are you doing?”

In honesty, I was fed up. I spent the entire competition observing all competitors, staying up to absurd hours, and focusing on practically nothing else. I even earned Yukino, one of the top first year students at this school, as an ally. And my conclusions were quickly brushed to the side. Yes, I lost in embarrassing fashion to Ryu in my first official match at the school, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t use my brain.

“All of this is wrong. I tried explaining everything to our teammates, but they wouldn’t listen to me.”

“Those were the names the majority agreed upon though…”

Sakura wasn’t going to roll over easily. Not because she was adamant about the team’s current answers, but because she didn’t want to be the sole point of failure if something were to go wrong. It was in her best interest to appeal to the entire group. Out of respect for her, I returned the tablet to her.

“I know you don’t want to trust me,” I continued. “I know I lost to Ryu and I know I’m the lowest ranked student in Class A. I know I’m a laughing stock and have no respect from anyone at this school. But I can win us this competition.”

“I respect you.”

She was quiet, but she sounded sincere. I wasn’t trying to throw myself a pity party, I just wanted to convey my point.

“Thank you, so please trust me here.”

Jiro from Class C had practically taken over as the de facto leader of our group. And I found something very suspicious about that, although I wasn’t sure why. There’s a saying that goes “an empty vessel makes much noise.” And Jiro, while a convincing speaker and somewhat charismatic, didn’t have much value behind his words. It was those very weightless words which pushed our group towards the wrong answers. After I dealt with the threat of Megumi, Team Ebisu’s traitor, Jiro‘s thought process or lack thereof made no sense.

“Can you explain to my why-”

“Shhh.”

I abruptly cut Sakura off. Reflexively, I pulled her closer towards me and closer to the rocks, further out of view from the outside. My ear perked up as I listened for any sign of a disturbance. Someone was out there, and not far away. But who was it? And why?

After a couple of minutes, I heard nothing, and the threat was gone. Now realizing I had grabbed Sakura, I promptly pushed her away from me and let her go.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to grab you.”

She stared at the floor, cheeks red. “It’s okay…”

I needed to stay focused on the task at hand. “Look, Sato, I figured out who the traitor was for our team.”

“You did? How? Who?”

“Megumi Mazaki, from Class D. But we can’t report her, even though it would give us more points. I got her cooperation by agreeing not to report her on the final submission. I caught her meeting up with two other members of Class D, not on our team, I’m not sure what their names are.”

Unfortunately, gaining Megumi’s cooperation didn’t pan out in the long run. If it did, I wouldn’t be here with Sakura now. To everyone else on the team, having the lowest ranked member of Class A and a middling member of Class D push an agenda together wasn’t a very convincing argument.

“That’s why she was the only person siding with you…”

“Exactly. And I’m not sure what kind of pull Fujimaki has with Class C, and even with other classes, but don’t you find it strange that he sort of took over as the leader, rather than someone like Ishikawa? I mean, Fujimaki hardly did any work this entire week.”

After winning Yukino’s cooperation, I felt a bit confident, perhaps overconfident. Sakura was not as calculated and cool headed as Yukino, but I still hoped she could be convinced. In the end, it was pretty much my word against Jiro’s. Who would she trust?

“I don’t really trust Fujimaki either,” she said quietly, as though she were uncertain of her own words.

“We can win this thing together, Sato. And if we keep training hard and working together, we can both rise up the class ranks. I know it. I need you to place all your faith in me, just as I placed all my faith in you when I was at rock bottom. Meeting you in the library that day saved me. And now, I want to return the favor.”

Sakura held out the tablet towards me again. She looked nervous, yet confident at the same time. It was hard to explain.

“Okay, Nakamura, I trust you.”

I took the tablet from her hands. This was my chance to reverse my reputation at this school and help guide Team Ebisu to victory. It was time to win.