“Yes. I’m sorry, but I can’t work with you.”
“Wh-What the heck? It’s just a game! You don’t have to take it so—” Kaname was almost too confused to argue with him.
Sousuke peered seriously into her face. “Even if it is just a game, I cannot work with you.”
“Hey... are you mad at me? Because I shot you in the lab?” she whispered, looking at him with upturned eyes.
“I am not mad at you. I merely regret putting a gun into your hands. Regardless of the situation, anyone who would shoot an ally who has entrusted their life to them...” Sousuke trailed off briefly. “I simply cannot let you have my back.”
Her heart skipped a beat, and she felt like she’d been punched in the head. Uncertain of how to respond, Kaname found her voice cracking. “But... you were about to shoot Sasaki-kun and the others based on a misunderstanding! So—”
“Regretfully, that is also true. That is why I bear you no ill will. But still, I cannot work with you.”
Kaname fell silent.
Sousuke certainly didn’t seem angry, it was true. There was no real ice in his voice, either; he was simply speaking in his usual businesslike fashion, calm and professional. Kaname found herself unable to say anything more in her defense.
“Don’t worry about it,” he told her again. “As I said before, I am not berating you. But I also don’t think it’s something you can understand. And I do not require your aid in this matter.” Then, as Kaname stood in place, Sousuke began walking down the hall, leaving her behind.
Even if he said he wasn’t berating her or angry with her, she definitely felt like he was. She felt like he was calling her a traitor. Like he was saying he could never trust her again...
What the heck? she thought. That’s ridiculous. After all, she was just doing the same thing she always did... This is so stupid! It was just a shotgun instead of a fan! So why does he... Feeling extremely flustered, Kaname went back to her classroom and began preparing her things to go home.
It was dusk. The light of the setting sun streamed in through the window. Kaname shoved her textbooks, notebooks, and empty lunch box into her bag and let out a sigh.
She heard a voice calling her from the door. “Hey, Chidori-senpai.”
“Hmm?” She turned and saw Sasaki Hiromi and Sousuke’s other upcoming opponents standing in a crowd there. They weren’t all first-years like Hiromi. There were second-years, too. Some were brawny or shifty-looking men, but they were probably all students at the school.
“The truth is, we wanted to talk to you about something.”
They timidly entered the classroom and explained their proposal to the skeptical Kaname.
“Serve as your leader? Me?!” Her eyes went wide when she heard their suggestion. “But why?”
Here, the survival game students folded their arms and nodded enthusiastically.
“Ms. Vice President. We’re ashamed to admit it... We’re pretty good at what we do, but...” said their second-year leader, Ihara. He was a 190-centimeter giant with a heavily muscled frame, wearing a beret. For some reason, he had a thick goatee.
“Yeah, yeah. We got pretty far in the survival game tournament sponsored by Combat Dragon magazine. Hee hee hee...” said Ebikawa, another second-year student. He was tall and lean and occasionally licked the blade of a knife.
“Heh heh heh. We really made a bloodbath of all of them. I remember some even weeping and begging for their lives...” laughed a second-year student named Inoue, a swarthy man with thick lips, a shaved head, and a large cross-shaped scar on his forehead.
“I... I see...” said Kaname, observing that the other members of the club were all similarly intimidating. They certainly seemed like the kind of people who could beat someone like Sousuke. “Um, so... if you’re that good, why do you need me?”
“Well, because...” Their leader, Ihara, looked down, trembling. Trembling violently. “Even with everyone we have, we really don’t think we can beat Sagara-kun!”
“What?”
Tears had begun flooding from the eyes of Ihara and the others, and they all ran to cling to Kaname.
“Eek!” she shouted.
“I mean, come on! You’ve seen what he does every day! The way he moves! That look in his eyes! He’s a total professional, while we’re out of shape! We can’t possibly beat him!” Ihara said, weeping.
“Hee hee... we’re going to die. We’re totally going to die!” Ebikawa laughed emptily.
“It’ll be a bloodbath! He’s going to kill us all!” Inoue cried to the heavens.
Suddenly they were a bunch of good-for-nothing weaklings, lamenting their own fates.
“Hang on, calm down! Even so, why me?! I can’t be your leader!” Kaname said, trying to soothe them.
But they emphatically refuted her. “But you can. We all know how you whipped our rugby club into shape, and you’re the only person who can kick Sagara-kun around like you do. You’re the scariest student at Jindai High School.”
“What the heck?!”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s a compliment.”
“It is not!” Kaname shouted, wanting to cry.
But Ihara and the others refused to back down. “Still, we talked it out and decided that if you helped us, we might just be able to work out a plan to take out Sagara-kun. So we’re really hoping you’ll help us. We’re begging you. Chidori-san. You’re our last hope for forming a survival game club.”
“But... I don’t...” Kaname didn’t know how to respond to a request like that out of the blue.
Ihara leaned forward immediately. “Of course, we’ll reward you. The moment we win... you know how so-and-so is coming to Japan on tour in a few days? We’ll give you luxury box tickets to his concert.”
“So-and-so? Wait. Do you mean...”
“Yes,” Ihara said immediately. “Supreme Soul Brother. Mr. Dynamo. The Godfather of Funk. Him.”
JB! It’s James Brown! Kaname found herself gulping. The fact that she lost her mind over an old man with a face you might see in Planet of the Apes rather than pretty boy idols around her own age suggested odd things about her, of course... but Kaname was a woman of taste. She knew what made a true entertainer.
“Urgh...” She wanted them. She really, really wanted them. She had, of course, been planning on going to the show already, but she wasn’t able to get luxury seats like those. How could Ihara have them?! Oh, she thought. But...
Even if it was a mock battle with airsoft guns, Sousuke was a fearsome opponent. She’d seen him use his true power several times by this point, and he’d dealt with highly trained terrorists time and again with ease. His techniques were highly refined, and he moved so swiftly that untrained eyes couldn’t follow him.
The power of a professional. Real power. There’s no way we can win. It’s completely pointless. If he gets serious against us, I’m not sure even I could lay a single finger on him...
Then Sousuke’s words played back in her mind: “I simply cannot let you have my back.”
In that instant, all thought of the tickets vanished. That’s right. It’s not just about that. Obviously, she wanted the tickets to the show... but that wasn’t all. Sousuke. What was that he’d said to me? He can’t trust me with his life? How dare he say something like that, to me, of all people? He was doing his usual stupid thing in the laboratory, and I was just stopping him in my usual way. What exactly is wrong with that? After all, he’s the one at fault! I understand he’d hold a little bit of a grudge, but he didn’t need to be that mean about it!
No. I just can’t accept it. Saying that he didn’t want to work with me... I can’t just let that go, she realized. After all, we have a special relationship, don’t we? Where did something like that come from? It’s really against the rules. Whatever. If he’s going to talk that way to me, I guess I’ll just have to teach him a lesson.
While all those thoughts ran through her mind, Kaname kept her eyes fixed on the ground and whispered, “Okay. I’ll do it.”
“What?”
“I think you’re right. I think I’m the only person in this school who can beat him,” she said firmly.
The boys let out a murmur of appreciation. “I’m not sure if it’s appropriate for me to say this after we came to recruit you... but you’re really confident, Chidori-senpai.”
Hiromi’s words got on Kaname’s nerves. “But it’s true, isn’t it?”
“R-Right...”
“No need to worry. The point is, I’m taking the job.” Kaname took in a deep breath. She had to get it together and project an aura of confidence. “Okay,” she said again, “I’ll do it. Let’s get training! We’ll need a whole lot of it... yeah, we’ll work you out until two in the morning, to build up the stamina you need. Training starts at seven. Until the day of the match comes, I’m gonna run you ragged!”
“What?!” Hayami and the others looked less than enthused.
By comparison, Kaname felt power rising up out of her fists. “Shut up! If you’re gonna ask me for help, you’d better do what I say! I’m gonna whip you into shape like Manager Hoshino would! Anyone who can’t keep up is off the team! So you’d better get ready!” She stood tall and threw her fist into the air.
“Okay...”
“But let me make one thing clear... Whether it’s a sport or a battle, the fundamentals are all the same! In other words...” she pointed right in front of her. “No chickening out! Effort! Teamwork! That’s the only way to win this! We’re gonna work on those three fundamentals, and put Sousuke in his place! Got it?!”