As soon as the starting signal was
given, students from each school started to move in unison.
Chihiro runs to the entrance with the
other members of Shibahou. Meanwhile, Lucille's instructions echo in their
head.
『Marika is on the first floor, I am on
the second floor, Chihiro is on the third floor, and Yuuki is on the fourth
floor. Basically, everyone should thoroughly search their own floor without
taking the stairs. Hana, you should first change into your scholarly or honor
student costume』
Each of them answered in a hearty
voice, "Okay".
* * *
Here are the details of the third
event, as described by the staff.
The third event is only in the main
school building, and does not include annexes such as training halls. The balls
are small rubber balls with a letter of the alphabet written on the surface of
each ball. The type and number of balls are not disclosed.
Interference and combat are allowed,
but if any property is damaged during such acts, a penalty will be imposed
according to the degree of damage. Players are allowed to take the ball from
someone else's possession or to exchange the ball with another team.
**a
『The school building is basically unoccupied,
but there are some staff members, teachers, and students who have urgent
matters to attend to. Please refrain from any behavior that is offensive to
public order and morals』
『In short, boys are not allowed to
enter the women's restroom. Izumi-kun, maybe it's a good thing you're dressed
as a woman』
『No, it's not good if I go in there
even in such an outfit』
There is no problem to use cell
phones and radios for communication. So, basically, each person is supposed to
collect the ball separately, gather information, and guess the answer to the
question.
（Nii-san, do you want me to help you
find the ball? It's easier to search in some places if I can walk through,
isn't it?）
（Hmm... No, let's not do that for now.
I want to keep Chisato as secret as possible）
（Okay. Then, I'll help you with the
brain work）
Obviously, Shibahou Academy's
strategy is rather simple: avoid contact with other teams, and focus on speed
to retrieve the ball. Then, as soon as the letters are confirmed, Hana, who is
waiting near the "answer" button, will be told by [Telepathy], and she
will answer the question as soon as she gets the answer.
If one person is assigned to each
floor, there will be one person left over, and it will take a lot of effort to
organize the information while running. Also, it is to avoid the case that the
answer button is too far away from the floor when the answer is found.
* * *
「Then, Izumi-kun」
「Yes. Do your best」
After changing his shoes at the
entrance, Chihiro ran up to the third floor and left Kamishiro to go out into
the corridor. Since each floor is assigned to one person, Chihiro must search
all over this floor.
At first, he looks around the
staircase area.
However, there is no ball placed on
there.
（Well, let's start from the end
nearest at hand）
（I agree）
The staircase Chihiro went up leads
to a corridor lined with classrooms and a corridor toward the back of the
building where the student council rooms are located. Deciding that the
classrooms are the most likely to hide something, Chihiro opens the door of an
empty classroom.
There, he heard a voice saying.
「Izumi Chihirooo!」
A girl screamed from the stairs in
the direction he had just come from.
Thanks to the voice, Chihiro had
enough time to avoid a kick from Kaname as he rushed to the door. He avoids the
kick by stepping into the empty classroom and turns around.
「Ibusuki-san. I don't have the ball
yet」
「I know. I'm just here to interfere
with Izumi-kun」
「Interference? We don't have to fight
in this event」
If one person can stop two or more
people, one-on-one interference will only slow down the pace of both teams.
It's also a loss considering that
there are more than three teams.
Kaname must have known this, but she
came even closer to Chihiro, and she started to throw fist after fist at him.
Chihiro backs away and dodges each
fist.
「You're limiting your search to four
people, right? If so, stopping one of your members will reduce the efficiency.
If we are competing with each other for the top position, it's worth doing」
「Then, I think it's better to stop
Lucille-senpai than me」
Lucille is the command tower during
the competition and the key to the brain work. Since she has the same level of
athletic ability and is easy to interfere, it is best to go to her to stop her.
「No. You're the only one I'm after」
But the girl's eyes light up.
**b
「I haven't forgotten what you did to
me the other day. Besides, wasn't it Izumi kun who interfered on the break?」
「...That was」
It is true that Chihiro was the one
who proposed the idea on the break, but it was everyone's power that created
the flow.
So Chihiro cannot proudly say that he
was the one who set it up.
「Always! You're always interfering me,
always interfering us...!」
Kaname's hatred seemed to be so great
that no matter how Chihiro tried to defend himself, it seemed futile.
The fists and kicks continued to be
thrown during the conversation, and before long Chihiro was backed up to the
window.
「I'll crush you here. I'm going to
crush you, right here, right now!」
A powerful straight right hand comes
at him.
If he moves to the left or right, he
can dodge it. But there is not enough space on the left side because of the
shelves and the wall. The right side is also blocked by a row of desks.
So, Chihiro could only lifts his
hands to catch Kaname's fist.
It was a solid punch. But even
Chihiro could have defended against the girl's bare muscles.
「...Ibusuki-san, why are you so
obsessed with him?」
「Because Master is all I have!」
Kaname pulled back her left leg while
her right hand was restrained.
Chihiro, who foresaw the coming kick,
used his hands to push Kaname's right hand and her body away from him.
The kick was canceled and Kaname took
a few steps backward.
Still, the wariness in the girl's
eyes did not diminish. Instead, she glared at Chihiro with growing anger.
――Is it necessary to fight?
『Ibusuki-san has attacked me. It seems
difficult to escape, so I'm going to fight while watching her』
『Understood. Take it easy and conserve
your strength as much as possible』
Chihiro reported in his mind's voice,
and immediately received a reply from Lucille.
At any rate, he received her
approval. And he has no choice but to do what he can do while watching the
situation.
「That man is crazy. He thinks
Ibusuki-san is nothing but an object. He'll use you for his own gain and throw
you away」
「I know it. But Master is loved by so
many people that I can't be special. And what does it matter? If I can be
useful to that person, I don't care if I'm an object or a tool!」
Kaname kicks the floor hard, and
throws an elongating kick.
Now there is more space to avoid the
kick than before. If Chihiro step forward to the left diagonally, he can get
away with it, but in that case, Kaname may damage the window.
So, thinking this, he gives up the
evasion and crosses his arms to catch the kick. Due to the sole of the upper
shoe, which was hit him, his wrist is shallowly injured. And the damage is
reduced to less than a scratch by the effect of [Stimulus Sharing], but
considering the burden on Aika and the others, he tries to avoid even this
level of injury.
Anyway, he continues the conversation
and try to subdue Kaname.
But when he doing this, Chihiro's
brain was filled with a series of voices.
