2.4

I returned to my room, dying for a moment of peace and quiet. In the middle of dozing, I thought I heard a noise, and propped myself up in bed. Neither Yukimura nor Kouenji were in the room.

“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

Hirata, who’d been putting his luggage back in order, looked up with a slightly apologetic expression. He was putting on his uniform, which made me think he was getting ready to leave.

“Nah, I wasn’t really in a deep sleep or anything. I’m pretty thirsty anyway, so it’s a good time to get up.”

I went ahead and shut off the alarm that had been about to go off. I’d wanted to check on Horikita anyway, so there wasn’t a problem.

“Would you like to come with me? I was thinking the school’s message should be coming pretty soon.”

It was just before 20:30, then. Whether due to coincidence or fate, that just happened to be the time Horikita had been summoned to her meeting. I had no reason to refuse, so Hirata and I stepped out into the hallway, with me still wearing my jersey.

“The test seems really unusual. Well, that’s just a feeling I have.”

It seemed like Hirata already knew the test’s specifics. I wondered if he’d heard about it from another student.

“I heard it from Yukimura-kun. He told me about it while we were eating. He told me all about the Rabbit group. It seems like everyone has been receiving explanations of the test. Several people have come to talk to me about it.”

Yukimura didn’t exactly like Hirata much, but maybe he thought telling Hirata would improve our chances of winning. If you understood the rules beforehand, it would be easier to glean more information when you were listening to the official explanation. Yukimura might have told Hirata in order to hear what Hirata thought afterward, and to see if there was anything new to think about.

Of course, that was surprisingly bold. I’d have liked to follow his example and team up with a superior student.

“Did you notice anything, Ayanokouji-kun? If it’s okay, I’d like you to share it with me.”

“Can’t really say. I haven’t been thinking about the exam like you, Horikita, and Yukimura have. I’m not smart, either, so I haven’t really noticed much.” I tilted my head to the side, as if nothing sprang to mind.

I wasn’t going to tell Hirata anything more.

“Well, I was wondering why the explanations are so…scattered. I thought maybe the school wanted to avoid the confusion and trouble that would come from explaining things in one large group, but after thinking about it, I don’t believe it would take much more effort to announce the rules to everyone at once.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right, Hirata. It would definitely be more efficient to explain the test to all the students at the same time, rather than dividing us into groups and doing it in stages.”

Hirata’s doubts were right on the money. The school had adopted a clearly inefficient method. Perhaps we should consider why they would split us up, and for what reason. It was possible that our “thinking” was already being tested.

“I’m planning to ask the teacher about that later.”

I wondered how things would shake out. Hirata normally acted on behalf of Class D. Considering he’d be lumped in with other classes, I couldn’t imagine what he thought of these rules, or what he’d do about them.

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