Endeavor

Ai Yoshioka, PD               Miyu Miyashiro, ID

Nanami Yoshioka, PD     Natsumi Masuda, ID

Amahiko Yajima, GD       Riku Aoki, RD

Ayane Morikawa, PD       Ryouta Yokoyama, ID

Azuki Miyazono, PD         Shiori Taniguchi, ID

Kaeda Morimano, PD       Shou Saito, PD

Kai Doi, PD                         Souta Kawamura, ID

Kana Chinatsu, ID             Yuu Inouye, ID

Kento Onda, PD                Yuuto Onfukeno, RD

Kotone Habane, ID           Yuudai Matsuda, ID

Mayu Ikeda, ID                  Zakari Gonichirou, RD

About thirty minutes has passed, and the hall’s noise grew. Chatter filled the space while some refused to talk. I was one of them who limited their mouth’s movements, but it wasn’t because I found it too difficult or awkward to speak. I found it easier to observe my group’s conversations that idly led to trivial things. Though, if I stay silent any further, there might be a chance I’ll be ignored into obscurity. However, the time to converse wasn’t now. The words shall be held for later, because…

The steps were so loud I thought it was right next to me, or it was done by an angry person who had or will start a fight. Nevertheless, those steps called for everyone’s attention as they reverberated on the creaking planks of the carpet-covered stage——something the venue cheaped out on.

Before I knew it, everyone decreased into silence while Yoshimura took his place behind the self-entitled podium. He didn’t need to hush the crowd, or did he need to clear his throat? His motions were all smooth and graceful—elegant——such was expected from the student president, yet, I found them to be pretentious, boastful, and unnecessary. Withal, my thoughts shall not stop him.

Taking a breath, Yoshimura glanced at his watch, “Good afternoon, everyone! Exactly thirty minutes have passed since I started speaking. I’m glad I have all your attention——appreciate it.”

After all, except for me, everyone has known each other, studying side by side, yet divided by our ‘ranks.’ But, there was this weird uniformity—harmony in the face of Yoshimura. Our obedience should be expected, otherwise, we shall experience the rage of his power, as so he demonstrated and exercised.

“What is next, I’m sure you already know. Well-informed everyone is——I made sure of that, but, let me announce it again,” he scanned the entire room which stayed silent until the end, “just to lighten the mood here.” He weakly chuckled. Perhaps that pint of humanistic emotion shall loosen the tense atmosphere, though, I felt it wasn’t effective. “All of you know what’s up! It’s the classic, ‘Do You Know Your Allies!’” The students behind him, the Camping Council, cheered——that effectively loosened the atmosphere but did not lighten it. “Excited? I know you all are, but I cannot commence the event without explaining the mechanics. It would be unfair for some of you here.” Yoshimura wasn’t subtle at all. “For the next hm…” he checked his watch again, “fifty-eight minutes, you shall strike up conversations with your groupmates—likes, favorites…” He comically took a deep breath, “Crushes!? You can talk to whoever or whatever you want, but not whenever!” He laughed; he has now integrated into the atmosphere, about to take control. “Afterwards, we will draw a group into playing a game where we ask them a set of questions. The group with the most correct answers wins! Without further ado…”

Yoshimura looked at the hall which now was brimming with excitement. Some has started talking to another for an early start, and it seemed that Yoshimura was upset, not by that, but by—

“One more thing,” he made a smirk which uncontrollably turned into a smile—a leer. His eyes expected something as his face excitedly glowed like rest, perhaps even brighter because he wanted to remind everyone that, “this event will be graded; don’t forget that! Good luck!”

Quickly, Yoshimura left the stage and disappeared behind the translucent glass doors while the hall groaned and booed. It seemed like everyone had forgotten about the unwanted, new rule imposed on the field trip.

The excitement died down for a moment; time was running, so the noise grew again. The moving of chairs and random footsteps had their fair share in unison. There remained excitement, but the gravity of the situation now weighed; all were pressured into gathering all information they can get in the remaining fifty-seven minutes——a minute fewer than what was promised. His watch might be advanced.

Now, a few remained in the assembly hall, including an entire table which hasn’t moved for a full minute; that was my group, Orange. There was this sense of unity made minutes before, but now, it seemed to be in pieces. That was because they didn’t know what to do or what to initiate. Gradually, their eyes looked at me. Silently, all of them had declared me leader——something I will not acknowledge publicly lest I offend presumption. My speech earlier had placed me at the forefront; I didn’t need to do anything else.

In those moments of deep thought, I remained silent and looked unfazed. The truth was my eyes were unfocused——my vision was blurry——swiftly thinking and conjuring up a plan. Then, someone nudged me at the moment when I decided.

“Earth to Akko!”

I shook and looked at Chinatsu.

“Geez, I’ve been calling you! Finally, I have you. What should we do?”

“What should we do?” I looked everyone in the eye. “I have an idea. All I need is your cooperation.”

In only thirty minutes, our group finished our task, and we excused ourselves into our bubbles——bubbles that were fewer and larger than before. Only a silent few seemed isolated in their own will.

And for the remaining thirty minutes, we idly spent our time. Humbly, the task was fairly easy. To accomplish this task, we only needed everyone’s honesty and cooperation. Though the event promoted friendly conversations and connections, it proved itself ineffective. This was because there was no guarantee that one will talk to everyone. One could effectively research their groupmates, but they couldn’t research the entire group in a short amount of time using the ‘conversational’ method.

And there was the fact of the classes. There remained bias and prejudice, especially against the lower classes. So if one was at Class Rhodium, chances are that they’ll only speak to whom they thought equal. One at Class Gold or Palladium would be inclined to speak untruthfully, wary about their positions.

Overall, this event was a waste of time. So, I took the ‘methodical method.’

One person per class would interview their classmates, following a list of questions that might be asked in the game, and those interviewers would pass the answers to a single person who will compile them into an organized sheet. After that, all one would need to do is to memorize the sheet.

But the problem with this method was that it was time-consuming, although it can be done under an hour. And this method had a flaw: I was the only one in Class Gold. Though it may seem to be an advantage, having no one to interview, means I couldn’t interview. Though my group seemed agreeable, I still had to be careful.

So, I must look for someone who was liked by everybody to lead this event——one who’ll ask everyone indiscriminately. And there was a person perfect for that, at least outwardly.

“Chinatsu, here,” I gave her a paper with drawn boxes corresponding to the questions. “Can I depend on you with this?”

She placed her finger below her lips. She eyed me as if she was thinking of something——something in return. “Akko, don’t think you can take me for granted! Even if I liked you, I cannot do favors for free.”

Just as I predicted. “Fine, I’ll do one thing for you.”

She frowned. It seemed that my words didn’t satisfy her. “I feel like that is lacking.”

“Lacking?”

“I feel like you’re trying to limit my choices. Shouldn’t you say something like, ‘F—fine, I’ll do anything you want!’ Then, you’ll freak out and say, ‘Not like that though,’ then you blush and look down, ‘t—though, I wouldn’t mind if it’s anything nau—’”

“Alright, enough!” I was having enough of her mockery. Her acting made my hair rise. “I’ll do one thing—anything you want that’s within my power.”

“It sounds a bit off, but sure! I’ll do this for you!”

Goodness gracious (year—year, daze), what a demanding person.

Two minutes before the game starts, the intercom of the venue arose, “All students, please gather inside the Assembly Hall. All students, please gather inside the Assembly Hall.”

After the announcement, people started filling the room, taking their respective seats. Then, my eyes caught on to a conspicuous person——though everyone was conspicuous enough with their attires.

Watching her steps, Eriki Miyazono entered the hall without anyone on her side or her behind, nor was she following someone. It seemed that she had no one to talk to, thus failing the task. It was the usual, but there was something concerning. I caught a glimpse of her face behind her flowing hair; her face was downcast—distraught as if struggling with something, or keeping her emotions in, unable to vent onto someone. How pitiful.

It was none of my business, however, nor can I make it my business. She had her group that she had to handle alone, and I had mine to manage.

On the dot, just as my watch turned ‘1:01 PM,’ Yoshimura ascended the stage and took his place. Right behind him were two other members carrying a large, white box, the size of a normal high school’s torso. It was an exaggerated presentation by Yoshimura, but it effectively sparked everyone’s interest. They placed the box beside him, and he placed one foot on top of it.

“Last year when we were here, we played this game I made up, and you guys enjoy it. Wasn’t it challenging, thrilling, and competitive? After all, we always had each other, so we knew a lot about each other,” closing his eyes, he paused. He opened his eyes again; he stopped smiling and wore a severe expression. “But it seems that times have changed, and so should this game.” He stared at me while he knelt beside the box. “This time, all of you will race for time; there will be only one representative for each group. No references are allowed!”

Everyone gasped in shock. The last time they played this game, it seemed that the mechanics were a lot less difficult. My groupmates began hushing themselves.

And for the second time, Chinatsu depended on me, “What should we do?” in a voice everyone in the group can hear. The entire group focused on me, awaiting my orders.

I knew what Chinatsu did; I’ll have to thank her… privately. I didn’t want anyone else to see me being grateful, especially to this woman.

“I nominate myself as the representative.”

My groupmates’ eyes all widened as they gasped in unison, causing the other groups to momentarily stare at us.

“Are you sure?” “Can you do it?” were their general words of concern.

“If you’re fine with me. As for me, I’m confident,” I scanned the paper again, confirming my memory. “Unless you memorized all this.” I pushed the two-paged paper to the middle of the table where a flower vase was. Twenty questions for twenty persons; in turn, twenty answers of varying degrees. Some long, some short. To memorize within thirty minutes would be a feat, but not to me. And I knew, none of my groupmates were confident enough to endeavor. “Place your trust” I place my fist on my chest, “on me.”

I cannot recount how many times Chinatsu surprised me. Again, she did another that shall be added to the unmemorable number. “Yeah!” she shouted, raising one fist. “Orange!?” she looked around, with a wide grin on her face.

Everyone followed her gesture and pumped their chests with their fists, “Courage!!”

“Silence!” interrupted Yoshimura. His face contorted in severe annoyance. Quickly, he recomposed himself with a clearing of his throat. “Silence now. Do not interrupt me. Anyways, I shall start the drawing of the groups. The group with the fastest time and the most correct answers is the winner. So, let’s see now…” He dunked his hand inside the box and shuffled inside. “Which group will be…,” he stopped his shuffling and yanked out, “first!?” In his hand was a cube of color the size of his palm. His fingers barely grasped it. And, the color was, “Blue! Congratulations! Now, will Blue’s representative come out to play?” He chuckled.

And Blue’s representative they produced. A sporty-looking woman who was dressed in a coincident blue attire——ripped denim skirt and denim tank top jacket; both of which complemented her short, blue hair and athletic appearance. If she looks athletic, she might have focused on physical education and not necessarily memorized academics. It seemed that she will make a low standard that would be easy to overcome.

“Wait, isn’t that Hina Katejima?” one of my groupmates, Miyu Miyashiro, whispered to Chinatsu.

“Oh, yeah, it’s her! Oh no, we might be forced to hurdle a high bar!”

It seemed like my judgments were not necessarily accurate, so I eavesdropped further.

“Yeah, she’ll be setting the bar high,” Miyu sighed. “She’s like one of the smartest in our class!”

“She probably is the smartest. I cannot imagine how she can handle her athletic duties with studies!”

“I want to be like her!”

For a second, I saw Chinatsu’s smile fade and her eyes roll, but she returned the usual glee toward her classmate.

So, this Hina Katejima was from Class Iridium and a formidable student at that. With that thought in mind, I decided to watch her more closely.

Her gait had confidence, more refined and less pretentious than the others. I’ve seen everyone strut with the same amount of confidence, but most seemed too stiff and unnatural. The pride and confidence oozed naturally from her like she had the right to walk and talk as she should. The bar may be set, but it would seem to be set very high. Perhaps her successors might never exceed her results, but I shouldn’t expect much, since I’ve just made a similar mistake just moments ago.

Katejima sat on a lone chair on the stage; it looked like a live interrogation with the bleak setup. Then, a projector screen unraveled on stage for her to see. On the screen, the words were, ‘Do You Know Your Allies?’ before a countdown replaced it.

“It shall begin, the game!” Yoshimura shouted before he left the stage.

When the counter turned zero, a question popped up on stage, and Katejima answers accordingly. It happened twenty-four more times before Katejima finished the test.

Strangely, whoever was behind the game knew the answer to the questions since they didn’t need to confirm with their group mates. But, taking into account the simplicity of the questions, it may not have been that hard.

Nonetheless, how they knew the answers was a suspicious mystery.

“Congratulations! You scored nineteen out of twenty-five questions correctly! You know your allies very well!” spoke the synthetic voice from the speakers.

“You may leave the stage.”

Then, the Blue team cheered seeing a high score, but Katejima kept her straight face. I squinted; I saw a smile creeping at the corner of her lips. Anyone would be proud to have achieved such results. She returned to her seat.

“Which group shall be next?” Yoshimura continued.

Indigo, Green, and Violet came before us; Violet’s performance was the most remarkable since Miyazono somehow was their representative.

And the result was…

“You scored thirteen out of twenty-five questions correctly. Your allies could be your enemies!”

What went wrong—what was wrong with her? While she participated, she had an uneasy look on her face which persisted until the end. In the end, I saw her sigh and her lips quiver. She was in total defeat or was about to be when I barely heard her group reprimand her for her awful performance.n

“What are you doing!? Are you stupid!? How could you not answer at least seventy-five percent of the questions?”

Eighteen… Nineteen? Which standard would it be: forgiving or demanding?

“I—I didn’t—you know, how can I give an answer I don’t have!?” Miyazono yelled.

“Then, why didn’t you ask!?”

“Because you all wouldn’t talk to me properly!”

Her arguer paused, having received a strong rebuttal, but they soon recovered with another retort, “That’s your fault! Your attitude pisses us all; why don’t you change it, huh!? Don’t be so high and mighty, you golden crap!”

“You—!” Everyone restrained the exploding Miyazono, but not her instigator.

It seemed that she used a method inappropriate for her position, and what was worse was that she was chosen as representative, probably out of spite. She has forgotten her position—or has ignored it. She should have humbled herself and acknowledged that there were people higher than her, even if they weren’t better. This was the fault of her untainted, unlearned sense of justice.

In any case, it wasn’t my business. I had to focus on the most immediate issue: our group was next in luck.

“Orange representative, please come forward,” Yoshimura commanded, and I obeyed. I heard his sharp exhale from his microphone. “What, you?” He chuckled. “There’s no way you could score above ten, even with a great memory!”

To retort was to stoop to his level; to respond was to show weakness, so I only glanced at him as I passed by, thinking, ‘You’ll see.’

The game has started, and the first question appeared, and somehow…

“Which character in Kaeda Morimano’s show was her favorite?”

It was oddly specific.

At first, I glared at Yoshimura, who was grinning wide. I could claim the unfairness of the question, but when I relaxed, I realized they wouldn’t know these things either unless they talked to Morimano.

So, when I talked to Morimano, in the Assembly Hall. I thought back. Sometimes my eyes would wander when I processed things. And at that time, it wandered to the flower vase which had the paper placed under it so it wouldn’t fly.

The paper and the vase. There was something wrong; not with the paper, but with the vase. Something black was in the middle of the fake rose flower. Every morning, I routinely went up to the rooftop and assist the old gardener a little. Because of that, I learned about flowers. And I knew that dark thing didn’t belong there.

What was it—could it be… It should be.

I exhaled into the microphone in victory. The question was never asked to Morimano, nor did she ask it. But using the power of deduction and the fortunate decision to observe conversations, I came upon the answer.

“Oh, how could I know? It should be Mio Akiyama, isn’t it, from Ultracub?”

My answer registered, but it didn’t tell me if it was correct or not. It only blipped onto the next question, but I eyed Yoshimura’s reactions; it slipped a little, so I knew I won.

Again, I looked at the screen, and as expected, it was another oddly-specific question that has, unfortunately, hasn’t been asked. I thanked my past self for being an observant person.

When I answered the last question, I scoffed into the microphone, staring at Yoshimura, “Easy game,” and invoked anger unto him.

“Congratulations! You scored twenty-five out of twenty-five questions correctly—perfect! Your allies trust you wholly!”

All gasped in shock while my group shouted in joy.

But, Yoshimura couldn’t speak lest he let loose of his emotions, but I didn’t need him to tell me to march triumphantly back to my seat while I made my group proud.

They celebrated as they chanted “Orange Courage! Orange Courage!!”

Because of Yoshimura’s unresponsiveness, one member had to take over, “P—please step up, the next group!”

Then, another member quickly walked and whispered to them, and the new host blushed. “O—oh, I—I will draw the next group now!” They chuckled, trying to cover their embarrassment. The crowd made a small chuckle, but that didn’t liven Yoshimura.

“You did well—no, perfectly, Akko!” Chinatsu took every chance to involve herself with me, so she grabbed my arm and buried it between soft mounds—soft mounds? I inspected my left arm and realized the detriment it was in.

“H—hey, don’t get too close to me.”

“Why?”

Sighing, I looked away, at my groupmates. They seemed to mock me for the situation I was in.

“So, it’s true!”

“Get a room!”

“Why don’t you just date already?”

“Yajima, you lucky coward. Shouldn’t you confess already?”

I groaned, trying my hardest to pull the parasite away from my arm. I shouldn’t underestimate a woman’s grabbing strength, but I couldn’t forcefully yank unless I wanted to hurt her.

Then, the Miyazono in my group joined in the mock party, “Isn’t this cheating?” She leered along with her eyes.

Cheating? “Excuse me, what?”

“Never mind, never mind,” she giggled.

I didn’t know if I was leading the group or if it was playing me. In any case, Chinatsu refused to yield my arm for the rest of the event.

Maybe, I shouldn’t thank her after all.

Indigo and Red groups came after, but they only have come close to our score, even with much easier questions compared to mine; the winner’s made clear, and so was the inequity.

Yoshimura left the room to go elsewhere along with some of the members, thus leaving the remaining the responsibility of the host.

“Congratulations, Team Orange! As you know this event is graded, so expect bonus points to be added to your account. As for the FieldCamp, Team Orange has gained one point from this event, placing them in the lead. So, the others must catch up or be left behind!”

This script was supposed to reveal the rewards and hint at the more desired rewards——their grades——riling them up. I wondered if this was the ordinary FieldCamp, excepting the graded aspect.

“If you’d please look at your printouts,” a shuffle of papers arose, “the next event will be starting shortly. This event is called ‘Thou Maketh Group’. For those who don’t know, in this event, you should create a flag and chant for your group in an hour. Materials will be provided, and smart devices will be allowed. The group that makes the best flag and explanation for it will be the ‘Flag’ winner; The group that makes the best chant or cheer will be the ‘Chant’ winner. The judges will be your teachers and some of the faculty. There will be criteria displayed on the screen behind me to guide you to victory.”

After the materials——a twenty-five inches rectangular cardboard, a wooden stick, colored markers, pencils, papers, and crayons, glue and scotch tape——arts and craft things——have been distributed, the event began.

“Let’s move to an open space; maybe to a cottage near that artificial beach. It would inspire creativity,” I invited, and they all followed as they discussed what we should create.

When we arrived, they all started brainstorming. Sometimes, they’d ask me for ideas, but I insisted I had none; I was too adamant to waste my brain power on such a childish thing. I knew I should be cooperative, but I could help in some other way. Besides, shouldn’t this event have been done when we were younger? I guessed they already had done this, and I haven’t, but I felt that this should have been left to our kid years.

So, I waited for them to make progress, checking the time frequently.

They haven’t made progress for ten minutes. Everything was disorganized; the materials were scattered everywhere, and the cardboard was slightly wet and damaged. I tried my best to unobtrusively organize things, but atrophy was the victor.

It wasn’t only the material things that were disorganized, but the people too. They had no sense of teamwork or unity. One had a slightly different opinion that opposed the other. Rarely did our group agree on anything.

I looked around, and it seemed that this was a common case, maybe except for one group I could barely see in the distance, across the beach.

I should stop being idle, and wasting time. It was about time I should step in and assert leadership, but I sensed a presence behind the bushes that separated the beach from the other areas.

I stared for a while but retreated my eyes and pretended to do something until I ascertained the presence’s leave. Then, I involved myself, fifteen minutes in.

“May I have your attention please?” The chatter and arguments continued; only some paid attention. As usual, Chinatsu was attentive to me, and she did the favor of reiterating my request.

“Excuse me, Akko here has something to say. Could we please quiet down?”

My name was Amahiko Yajima, not ‘Akko Mahiyajima.’

Now, everyone’s attention belonged to me, and I spoke the hard truth, “Please be patient with me, but I should speak the fact: for the past fifteen minutes, you have progressed nothing, only damaged your minds and things. You must realize that we are a team. I know your intentions on debating, but you have debated enough—”

“Why…” a person interrupted me; all eyes were turned toward them. “Do you have the right to say this when you also did nothing for the past fifteen minutes!?” His words resounded; it was stern and proper. Yuuto Onfukeno had a balanced amount of indignance and patience. His motions were controlled as he faced me. “I’ve only been following the crowd for a while now. It seems that you’ve asserted yourself as the leader, even if you haven’t acknowledged it. Don’t you think I know what you’re doing?”

“Onfukeno…” This was bad. I had to choose my words carefully lest we have a fallout, and I will be exiled. I could feign innocence by, ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ but that would sound prideful and mendacious. I should admit my mistake and humble down. “I’m sorry.” ‘I didn’t mean to,’ wouldn’t help. “It was my fault.”

And he paused for a moment. His mouth was prepared to scold me in the next moment, but my response was unanticipated, so he had to change his response. “Oh, so you do admit.”

No, I was trapped. I cannot say no and claim innocence. But if I stay silent, I would be admitting defeat. “Yes, I do admit that I had my ego way too high for a moment. Please pardon me.”

He scoffed, “As expected from the lowly Class Go—”

“No!” He has made Chinatsu hostile. “Don’t finish that sentence.”

“Ah, Kana Chinatsu of Class Iridium. What serves you to interrupt?”

“If you say that about Akko, then aren’t you the same?”

I had to wait for the perfect timing.

“Excuse me?”

“Didn’t you say you were following the crowd? Those who follow the crowd do nothing, but those who are the crowd——those who have a destination in mind and know where to navigate——are the leaders! The fact that you’ve just been sitting there, contributing nothing of value proves you worse otherwise.”

“Chinatsu, I hate to say this,” his face contorted in wrath, “but do you know who you’re speaking to?”

“I know, but what class you’re in doesn’t matter. So you just—”

“Alright!” I clapped. “Enough. This isn’t about you,” I pointed to him, “or you,” I pointed to her, “or me. It’s about this group, don’t you agree?” I looked at Yuuto. “Can’t you? I know you’d hate me to be your leader, but I’m not trying to be. Just treat me as another member stating an opinion, so if I may have your eyes and ears, I’ll reword my sorry sentence.” I waited for Yuuto if he would counter, but he only looked at me with eyes growing amiable. “Could we assign two teams for this event?”

When I started the plan, they all agreed, stunned by their inefficiency. Now, the group was divided into two equal groups; one would make the flag and one would make the chant. I was part of the flag team since it would be more bearable, and this time, I inputted some of my creative opinions.

But the rest was done by my groupmates. I only organized and optimized the process of flag-making. I also invented meanings for the design they gave and wrote down a script. Other than that, I did nothing.

And the intercom announced to gather in the Assembly Hall within two minutes.

Most flags were mostly finished; some rushed to add final touches, hoping for the stage host to come in later. The flags that were finished were attached to the long wooden stick and waved into the air. All flags were unique in design and quality. Some seemed to be rushed; some seemed to be meticulously designed, but there was a flag that copied a country’s flag.

How lazy.

My team may be confident with our flag, but I wasn’t after I looked around. Of course, our ‘cheerleaders’——Chinatsu and the other cheerful people——boosted our morale saying that we had the best flag, but, wearing objective glasses, we were at least average.

And I was certain we would not win this event because a flag caught my eye. It was that group that was across the beach from us. As I thought, organization, efficiency, and teamwork were the keys to this event. Skills wouldn’t cut it. Maybe if only the entire group was skilled at arts.

Then, the door opened with a bang. That was Yoshimura with his usual condescending stance as if he were above all. It seemed that he washed his face from the shock I gave him; he has refreshed his mind with more assurance than before.

He glanced at my group’s flag and smirked. He thought what I thought: ‘You don’t win this one,’ with a laugh that demeaned.

“So, are you all ready?”