Intrepid to 'Insidiation'

It was jampacked in an orderly fashion. People who looked like they could be celebrities poured in through the doors and found themselves a seat.

Though, I noticed the parents of the higher classes occupied the front rows while the parents of lower classes sat aback.

It was these kinds of subtleties that demeaned my class.

The banquet was to be served after the performance, and the winners would be announced near the end.

But, before all those things, we had a chance to socialize with our parents——a unique thing reserved for the Gold Class, because Class Rhodium, Iridium, and Palladium mingled with each other, laughing wholeheartedly like the rich people they were. Meanwhile, our lonely parents observed, only interacting with each other.

As for me, however, I sat at the isolated table in the darkest corner. To make it even more lonesome, I had no parent with me——my mom that was. So, I spent my time observing around, reciting the steps and repertoire in my mind, and creating fallback plans when something goes awry.

For example, if someone had stolen all of our dresses, I would make my class wear any dress they owned and switch up the music a bit.

Frankly, such a situation would be very hopeless and far-fetched.

Then, I settled on a more realistic scenario: If someone bribed the orchestra to not play, I would use my phone to connect to the speakers to play the music anyway.

In all honesty, that would be just horrible; I reckoned that we’d be forever mocked for such an incident for the rest of high school.

But the thought of victory wasn’t thrown away. I didn’t need to spoil myself with my fantasies when that happens. I can’t feel safe. Our victory might only be silver and not gold; such wasn’t complete victory otherwise.

Though, on this day, I felt weirdly confident.

When I was engrossed in my visions, someone stood opposite my table. It was quite dark, so I had to examine it for a while.

“Lonely, aren’t you?” It was Miyazono.

“No, just alone. Lonely and alone are two different things.”

“I wasn’t referring to your literal state.”

“No, I don’t feel sad. I’m alright being alone.”

“That’s what sad people say.”

“Besides, I need the calm before the storm.”

“So even you have some weaknesses.”

I was surprised when she said this. Did I seem invincible until now?

“I wasn’t trying to look strong in particular.”

“Is that so,” she said in a doubtful tone.

And that sentence marked my world record for the longest conversation with the coveted Miyazono. And that sentence was her leave.

Suddenly, I remembered something. First, I groped my pockets. My phone and wallet were in it. Then, I took a coat covering the outfit required for the presentation. If I were to lose this, then I couldn’t make my performance.

I knew no one would dare pickpocket someone, because rich people didn’t need more, but I wouldn’t know if there were such unlikely characters.

It was time for me to go backstage to join my participating classmates.

I arrived in the assigned dressing room for our class, and I found more people than expected. All of my classmates were there, and they seemed to be arguing about something.

“So, you’re telling me, you participated in a bet gambling the entire class!? Are you an idiot!?”

“Why did you pull us into this mess!? We are guaranteed to lose! What makes you so confident this time!?”

“Chillax, chillax,” Ito tried to appease, but the non-participants overwhelmed the participants.

And when I entered, someone ambushed me. An arm wrapped around my neck, choking me, and they pulled my hair.

I shouldn’t be thinking about this, but I was conscious.

The arm was firm but supple. Strands of hair rested on my shoulder; it smelled like vanilla. I felt the ragged breaths of my arrestor.

Then, I found myself in the middle of a girl’s circle——it was that conservative girl group. Meeting my impressions, they were dressed like nuns or grievers. They were respectably and uniformly dressed, covering all the skin they could. They flaunted their ‘class,’ but their choice of colors and style was depressing.

And they were the instigators of the ongoing argument.

“You were the mastermind of all of this, aren’t you!? Why did you pull us into trouble? Do you want to humiliate us, you poor scholar!?”

“What are you going to do when we lose!?”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“What makes you think that we could somehow win?”

“We’ll win,” I suddenly said. “We’ll win. You know why?”

They stayed silent.

“Because your classmates put in the effort unlike you who gave up instantly. Do you think victory will come to you without any effort?”

“I’m sorry to interrupt your speech, but…” Morisaki cut through the circle. “We are missing our dresses, not just the girls, but the boys too.”

“What?”

No way. Was this happening? Did I jinx it in my mind? Did I curse when I imagined all the scenarios? I didn’t it would happen, but I thought about it.

“Are you sure?” I was in disbelief. There was no way someone took all of our dresses. “There are still some dresses, right?”

“Well, it’s not missing, but,” she nervously showed her dress to me. It was ripped in many places. It was unpresentable at the very least, and it would be impossible to dance in these clothes with the style of our presentation.

“You should have—” I stopped myself. Blaming them wouldn’t help. “Is everyone’s outfits like this?”

She nodded sadly.

I thought about it, but I wasn’t prepared; that was an error on my part. It was obvious who would have done this. It would be a surprise if it wasn’t for them. But there was no point cursing them now. I went through my list of ideas based on my simulations.

“Morisaki, do you have experience in sewing?”

“Yes, but I’m not very skilled.”

“You can take this as a chance to be very skilled. Here’s what you’re going to do—”

The door opened. I looked back. It was Miyazono who entered, carrying her dress on a hanger.

“Miyazono, your dress!” one exclaimed.

“Yours isn’t damaged!”

“Did you safe keep it?”

She stopped and scanned the room. Then, a smirk appeared on her face momentarily, and she settled in a corner.

I thought the smirk suspicious, but there was no time to think about it.

The PA system announced, “Rhodium Class will be starting momentarily. Please be ready for your turn when we call you.”

There were approximately fifteen minutes for each presentation. The maximum time would be thirty, but our class will be doing twenty. Judging from the past and factoring in their confidence, their performances wouldn’t be long. So, we only had a little time to improvise.

“Okay, here’s what you’ll do, Morisaki. As for the theme, we will make some changes, but the dance steps will be the same.”

It was announced that it was Class Palladium’s turn to perform. And we have almost completed our improvisations. I ran to where our hired orchestra was waiting and requested a change in their repertoire.

“Are you serious? We can’t do this. We don’t have time to rehearse—”

“I—I’ll pay you more!” It pained me to say this, but I couldn’t loan from my classmates any further. “200,000 yen! Is that enough?”

“Make it 300,000”

“250?”

“Fine.”

After instructing them to hide their dresses, I went to spectate Class Palladium’s performance from the green room. It wasn’t anything spectacular. It was only an ordinary school show, only exaggerated and elaborated by the large stage lights.

But something surprised me.

I didn’t see Takeuchi and his friends on the stage. Rather, they seemed to have skipped on the performance and burdened their classmates with the responsibility of performing. It seemed that it wasn’t required for everyone to go on stage. And since they were performing, as long as you perform, your class was recognized.

Realizing this, I rushed back to the dressing room.

As I thought, this gave them the time to invade and harass us.

They jeered loudly.

“What are you going to do?” one said in such a tone.

“Your outfits are ruined. Are you going to go out there and dance in such ragged clothing?”

“So, you guys were poor after all!” At this, they all laugh.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded an answer from Takeuchi.

“Well, there wasn’t a rule in a bet that limited anything, right?”

“So, it was you who destroyed our dresses.”

“Ha, I didn’t mean that, but we did it.”

I only stayed in silence as the others continued mocking us.

“Where are your dresses? Did you throw them away?”

“You give up? Too late!”

“So, do you concede?” Takeuchi asked.

I didn’t answer.

“Do you concede!?” he shook my shoulders.

“You’ll know the answer soon enough.”

“Don’t be so cocky!” He was about to punch me, but I couldn't have any of it.

If I looked bruised during the dance, I would be embarrassed.

So, I dodged his attack.

“Hoy, don’t dare dodge me! Take this, my punching bag!”

I dodged again. The others started to take action.

I knew they’d overwhelm me with their numbers, so I swiftly took Takeuchi. I punched him in the gut and kneed him in the face, disorientating him. Then, I arm locked his neck, choking him.

“Release him!”

“Come any closer, and I’ll snap his neck!”

“You think we’ll listen to you?”

I strengthened my lock causing Takeuchi to cough miserably.

“D—do what h—ugh!”

“Leave the room, now.”

They hurriedly retreated, and I released Takeuchi with a kick and slammed the door shut.

Then, a round of applause arose.

“Woah! That was amazing, Amahiko!”

“When did you learn that?”

I was working out after all. I had to put it to good use at some point.

Then, I felt a tap behind my shoulder. I tensed my muscles, preparing for a counterattack. I quickly turned around with my hands ready, but it was just Miyazono.

“We have to talk.”