Chapter 4

Every teacher was confident that Ichinose’s class would successfully clear the exam, but at the same time, they were also worried that with this choice, the class would no longer be able to compete for Class A in the future. Ichinose’s classmates had finished the prior questions quickly and had just submitted their first round of votes for the last question. Kanzaki was the only one out of the 40 students who was nervous, as he prayed for a result where the votes were split as evenly as possible. Hoshinomiya looked at the results on her tablet before announcing them in a resigned tone of disappointment.

One vote for yes, 39 votes for no.

Kanzaki closed his eyes as his worst nightmare came true. None of the other 39 students felt any tension whatsoever and Shibata called out asking for the name of the person who accidentally made a mistake and pressed yes. They didn’t even consider the possibility of this single vote being intentional. That only made Kanzaki even angrier. He felt that the class could no longer delusionally continue to walk the path of protecting all their classmates. He could no longer bear this attitude which didn’t even consider prioritising class points over classmates as a possibility.

Kanzaki stands up and slams his desk. He tells the class that the fact that not a single one of them doubted whether this was the correct course of action meant that the class had already fallen into a vicious cycle of normalcy bias. He claims that for their class to climb to Class A, they need to change their way of thinking. He says that if all the other classes chose to expel someone, they could potentially fall all the way to Class D. But contrary to his hopes, all of his classmates merely looked at him with cold eyes. The only one who was listening attentively to him was their homeroom teacher Hoshinomiya. However, as a teacher, she was forbidden from making any statements to support Kanzaki’s argument.

Shiranami tried to shut down his argument by saying that there wasn’t anyone in their class who’d done anything worth being expelled for. Kanzaki’s classmates also think that other than maybe Ryuuen’s class, all the other classes will also choose the option to not expel. Kanzaki says he understands but what’s most important for him right now is the class’ mindset. He thinks the class should stop being so single-minded and there should be some students who think about prioritising the class over their friends, but they’re being suppressed by peer pressure. Kanzaki was also someone who agreed that classmates were more important than class points. However, that ideology of theirs has only made them lose whilst the two classes below them have made up that gap over time and are now almost even with them in class points. Hence he decided that something needed to change. Kanzaki desperately looks around the classroom for someone to agree with him but is met with radio silence. Even while feeling the pressure from his classmates, Kanzaki says he will not let this conclude with an unanimous vote to not expel. Ichinose says that their thoughts will not change and that she personally doesn’t want to belong to a class who would be willing to sacrifice their classmates for points. Kanzaki asks his classmates why they think this would be the last exam of its kind. If similar exams show up over and over again, their class will be left behind if the other classes repeatedly chose the expel option. Shibata replies that he doesn’t think a class which repeatedly sacrifices their friends will be able to win. He believes that the class which trusts and protects each other will end up being victorious. All his classmates nod their heads in agreement. Kanzaki tells Shibata that he’s averting his eyes from the reality. The other 3 classes which chose to sacrifice someone were steadily growing and overtaking their class. Shibata says that it’s only temporary, and even if their rank falls, they’ll be able to climb back up. Ichinose says that she understands Kanzaki’s sentiments in wanting them to welcome other methods of winning. But she says that there are some choices which must never be taken and that it’s fundamentally wrong to weigh the value of class points and classmates on a scale.

As Ichinose’s classmates grew even more resolved in their determination from her words, Kanzaki is instead greatly disappointed. From outer appearances alone, Class B looked like an idealistic class with many students who were strong academically and good at sports. Their leader Ichinose was charismatic and had unified her classmates into something almost resembling a hive mind of worshippers. They have upheld an ideal of striving to reach Class A with all their classmates intact. But if you look at it from another perspective, it also means that they are okay with being stuck as Class B as long as they don’t lose any of their classmates. Kanzaki says that he doesn’t know if he’s doing the right thing, but he decides to hold his classmates hostage. He says that even a single vote holds enormous power in this exam and proclaims that he will continue to vote to expel until the time runs out. Shibata calls him out on his bluff, saying he can’t do that since it would only make them lose 300 class points and be unable to reach Class A. Kanzaki says he doesn’t think it makes a difference whether they lost 100 or 300 class points because he thinks that if the class doesn’t make the decision to expel here, they will never be able to reach Class A. Hoshinomiya then interrupts them and urges them to vote. The results of the second vote are:

One vote for yes, 39 votes for no.

Even after he voted ‘yes’ again, his classmates aren’t angry at him and are merely exasperated without taking him seriously. Kanzaki believes that the pressure of the approaching time limit will eventually force his classmates to break out of the herd mentality and think for themselves about what would be the best solution for the sake of the class. Kanzaki says that since he’s going to continue to vote to expel, the only way to clear this exam will be switching to an unanimous vote for expulsion and choosing to expel him. He wants to become a sacrifice to forcefully change the class. He says that he doesn’t see the point of meandering about without having the courage to take the steps necessary to aim for Class A. If such a future is awaiting him, he would prefer to leave the school and seek a different future. The next 3 votes continued to be one vote for yes, 39 votes for no. Nobody was swayed by his words. One hour passed and still nothing changed. His classmates tried various methods like appealing to him in a friendly manner or shouting at him angrily, but nothing worked and Kanzaki continued to vote to expel. Hoshinomiya gets bored of the silence and tells her class that she also took the same exam during her school days. Her students are surprised since this was the first time she had talked about her time at school. Although Hoshinomiya had a good relationship with her class, she had always brushed off their questions whenever they asked her anything about her time at school. She says that her class also took quite a long time to decide. Hoshinomiya asks them if they would be able to make the same decision if they were at the end of their 3^rd year and only one step away from Class A. When one of her students asks her about the choice that she made at the time, Hoshinomiya says that she chose to cut off people who she thought were unnecessary. She says that everyone is the same and when it really comes down to it, will always prioritise protecting themselves over others. She says that even if you call someone your best friend, you will still end up prioritising your own safety. She says that she can’t say any more than this since she is being closely supervised. She says she will respect the class’ decision regardless of what choice they end up making. But she wants them to make the choice that they truly think is the right thing to do. She tells them to go ahead and prioritise class points if they think the friendships they have are fake. She says that they’ve only known each other for one and a half years and likewise, the 3 students who were expelled from other classes have already moved on with their lives. She says that if they are unable to reach Class A because of this, they will remember it for the rest of their lives. However, if they truly believe their friends are important, then they can go ahead and prioritise their friends.

But in the next vote, the results continued to be one vote for yes and 39 votes for no. Hoshinomiya isn’t surprised at this result and merely accepts it as the class’ resounding answer to her question. Himeno urges Kanzaki to give up because even if people were to start changing their votes right now, they would run out of time to convince the entire class. She and her other classmates would be willing to even run out of time if it meant they didn’t have to expel one of their classmates. Ichinose then says that she understands what Kanzaki and Hoshinomiya were trying to say but she will continue to uphold her ideal of graduating in Class A without losing any of her classmates. She wants them to do their best so that they will never need to face such a choice because she thinks a Class A achieved by walking over the corpses of the classmates that they sacrificed is meaningless.

Kanzaki thinks she’s being unrealistic but Ichinose says that’s the kind of class she wants to aim for. All her classmates around her nod in agreement. Kanzaki gives up and realises that he doesn’t have the ability to change this class. He doesn’t know if this class would end up being Class B or Class D but the one thing he has understood today is that this class will never be able to reach Class A. But there’s nothing he can do about it because none of his classmates have realised that reality. The results of the tenth vote were:

0 votes for yes, 40 votes for no.

None of Kanzaki’s classmates noticed, but the expression on his face wasn’t of agreement, but resignation. Hoshinomiya tells the class that Sakayanagi’s class had already completed the exam but Ryuuen and Horikita’s class were still in the middle of theirs.

⇐ Предыдущая 6 7 8 9 101112 13 14 15 Следующая ⇒