2.2

“Ahh. Ahhh… Ahhh…”

Sakura, who’d sent me the email, was making several anxious, pained sighs.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“Wah! A-Ayanokouji-kun?!”

I didn’t think I’d spoken in an especially harsh or shocking way, but Sakura was so surprised that she looked like she’d been jolted with electricity. Her normally hunched posture straightened at once.

“Sorry for scaring you.”

“N-no, no. I’m just kind of strangely nervous is all.”

If she was that nervous about meeting a friend, her daily life must be a drag.

“Ayanokouji-kun, you’re roommates with Hirata-kun, Kouenji-kun, and Yukimura-kun. Right?”

“My roommates? Yeah, you’re right. What about them?” I wasn’t expecting her to ask that.

“Oh. Well, to tell you the truth, I…I’m a little worried about the people I’m sharing a room with.”

It sounded like she didn’t really have a good relationship with her roommates. Sakura wasn’t good at socializing, anyway. One look at her deeply troubled expression, and I understood.

“You’re worried because even though you want to get along with them, you don’t think you can?”

“I’m not sure. I have mixed feelings. I do want to get along with them, but I also want to be alone, too. I’m just hopeless, aren’t I?”

Her voice trailed off and she shied away. I didn’t know who else was sharing Sakura’s room, so I couldn’t really offer any advice. “By the way, who’re you rooming with?”

“Oh. Didn’t I tell you? Shinohara-san, Ichihashi-san, and Maezono san.”

She looked incredibly depressed while giving me the names. Those were all girls with strong personalities. Shinohara had a close relationship with Karuizawa; Karuizawa was like her boss, really. She was a reliable, trustworthy girl who didn’t run away from a challenge, even quarreling with the boys. But she could be rather relentless against people she didn’t like. I couldn’t imagine she thought much of Sakura, so she probably wouldn’t go out of her way to befriend her.

Ichihashi was usually rather mature, but also headstrong. I didn’t really know much about Maezono, but I had a bad impression of her. She had a bad attitude and seemed quick to pick a fight. She was probably the hardest type of person for Sakura to deal with. Even if Sakura tried her hardest to bridge the gap between them, if Maezono didn’t like Sakura’s attitude, she’d probably hate her. I wanted to pat Sakura on the head and tell her how great she was. I mean, she hadn’t cried until now. She was doing great.

“But why come to me?” I asked.

“I…just thought any advice from you, Ayanokouji-kun, would be good?” Sakura muttered quietly.

Apparently she’d come to unexpectedly rely on me. She murmured some words of apology.

“I-I’m sorry to just come to you for help like this out of the blue. You’re so busy, Ayanokouji-kun.”

“It’s no big deal. I don’t mind it when you come to me for advice. Whether I’ll be of much help is another story.”

Since I wasn’t really friends with any of Sakura’s roommates, I couldn’t guarantee I’d be able to help. While I was thinking of something I could do, a door opened.

“Huh? Ayanokouji-kun and Sakura-san? What are you doing here?”

Kushida Kikyou from Class D exited the room. Sakura’s bright expression immediately disappeared, like the sun hiding behind the clouds. The atmosphere around us became uncomfortable. Perhaps Sakura wasn’t good at controlling her emotions, either. Sakura’s response to Kushida’s bright and cheery appearance was one of rejection, but Kushida continued talking without showing any signs that she noticed.

“Ah, did I interrupt? I didn’t mean to. I was supposed to meet up with some friends.”

“I’m going back to my room.” Sakura retreated as fast as her legs would carry her, as if trying to withdraw from Kushida in a panic.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I guess that was bad timing. I probably shouldn’t have said anything.”

Kushida clasped her hands together in apology. There wasn’t really any reason for her to apologize, though. Sakura was just bad at dealing with people.

“Oh, that reminds me, I feel like this is the first time we’ve talked since getting back to the ship. I did see you hanging out with a bunch of girls earlier, from a distance.”

Kushida was the most popular person in Class D—no, probably in the whole school. On the day of the school entrance ceremony, she’d declared that she would make friends with everyone, and had almost accomplished that goal now. She was only missing a select few, like Sakura-san.

“I’ve made plans to go see some girls from Class C today. Do you want to come, Ayanokouji-kun?”

“Eh. Is it okay for me to join?”

“Huh? You’ll come?”

This was shaping up to be a bad day. Kushida’s mask had slipped a little, and her true self seemed puzzled by my response. Well, there was always the diplomatic, socially acceptable way of putting things. In other words, I had to find a polite, diplomatic way to refuse.

“I’m joking. Don’t you know by now that I’m not the sort of person who joins in on stuff?”

“Oh jeez, come on. You surprised me a little. Ayanokouji-kun, you’re funny.”

“R-really?” Deep down, I doubted she truly found me funny, but I was scared to hear Kushida’s real thoughts.

“Well, I’ll be going.”

As she bid me goodbye, both our cell phones started ringing at the same time. There was a loud, dinging sound that meant we’d received a message from the school. Usually it was a message with new instructions to follow, or some kind of modification to an event. Your phone would make a sound even if you had it on silent. Clearly, it was a message of high importance.

“What is it?” Kushida asked.

She stopped in her tracks and looked puzzled, which was understandable. Even though they’d explained this system to us after school started, we hadn’t received any important messages during our summer vacation until now. Simultaneously, an announcement could be heard throughout the ship.

“Attention. This is an announcement to all students. All students should have received a message from the school, as indicated in the contact line. Please check your individual mobile devices and follow the instructions accordingly. In the event that you did not receive a message, we apologize for the inconvenience. Please go to the nearest faculty member for assistance. Because the contents of the message are extremely important, please do not miss it. We repeat—”

“That was about the message we just got, right?” Kushida asked. “Probably.”

I pulled out my phone and saw the following message:

A special test will begin soon. Place gather in the designated room at the designated time. Anyone who arrives later than ten minutes after start time may be penalized. Please gather in Room 204 on the second deck by 18:00 today. Because it takes about twenty minutes to reach the area, we ask that you please use the restrooms now if necessary. Either silence your phone or turn it off, and make your way over. 

“A special test?”

This probably wasn’t going to be a paper test or physical fitness examination, or something you’d see at a regular school—much like the survival test on the island. However, nothing in the message implied what awaited us. Were we supposed to be able to read into something, or should we just be prepared for anything? I didn’t know.

More than anything else, certain points in the message weighed on me. They wanted us to gather in the room at 18:00, but we only had about twenty minutes to get ready and head over, which was an extremely short amount of time. Plus, it seemed like it had been decided rather quickly. Also, why was the designated meeting spot one of the ship’s private rooms? That couldn’t make a good exam room by any standard.

“Can you show me your phone for a second?” I asked.

Kushida, without hesitation, showed me that she’d received the same message. The only difference was the designated time and place. In her message, the designated time was set at 20:40, but she was also told that it took about twenty minutes to reach the area. I also noticed that her designated room was just two rooms down from mine.

“I wonder why they called us in such a strange way?”

“I have no idea.”

I only knew that I had a bad feeling about this. I hadn’t thought that our cruise would end like this. A place where all the first-year students would gather inside the ship… I’d already visited places like movie theaters, party venues, and buffets. I thought I could speculate about the contents of the test based on any suspicious activity I saw, but I’d seen no indication of anything of the sort. Why would they isolate students, limit us, and then tell us to start…whatever this test was?

I quickly messaged Horikita via chat on my phone. I saw that she had read the message immediately after I sent it, which was unusual. She’d often wait about half a day before reading and replying; several days in some cases. Was it because we’d received a message from the school around the same time? I tried asking her questions.

Did you get a message from the school just now? I typed. 

Yeah. I did. 

My designated meeting time is 18:00. What about yours? 

Mine says 20:40. That seems like a pretty big difference. 

20:40, huh?

The same time as Kushida. So were they going to separate the guys and girls? That was all I could guess at present. They did tell me that the start time for the test was at 18:00, after all.

I’m curious about the difference in start times. That might be unfair— some people will get more time to prepare than others. 

We can’t know anything for sure at this point. 

We chatted more about the school’s message. Horikita’s replies were instant.

There are several things that I’m still curious about, but we don’t really have the time. We’ll just have to show up to the meeting spot. Because your time is earlier, I look forward to hearing your report. 

Understood. 

After I sent that short reply, she stopped responding. She had apparently shut her phone off already.

“Ayanokouji-kun?”

Kushida, as if interested in my chat with Horikita, drew nearer to me. I considered talking to Kushida about my conversation with Horikita, but didn’t want to be a bother to her. I decided to wait and see how things progressed. It shouldn’t be long, anyway.

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