According to the rules, anytime two pairs crossed paths and agreed to fight, a battle would then begin. But since everyone was currently grouped up in the same location, we were instructed to scatter ourselves all across campus to spice things up.
Music played over the intercom speakers, signaling the start of the event.
“Let the games begin! Hold your heads up high as you trample your opponents’ corpses underfoot! Only one pair may reign victorious, and to that pair we shall grant the school’s highest honor... Why are you having me read this drivel?”
But Tanaka-sensei’s complaints fell on deaf ears as the entire student body roared to life. I could smell the bloodshed on the horizon. From now on, I was a competitor like all the rest.
Technically the student council was in charge of running this event, but since it’d be a crying shame to miss out on participating, they had joined the fray. For the early stages, since there were no formal judges, students were expected to follow the honor system to determine the winner and loser of each battle; the losers would then go back to running the event.
“It’s finally begun,” I murmured as I concealed myself behind the hedges at the back of the school building.
“Sure has... So, uh, why are we hiding, exactly? Shouldn’t we be out there fighting?” asked my partner, Watase Shingo.
“First things first, we need to plan our battle tactics.”
“Oh, good point. We could probably survive two or three battles by just winging it, but if we’re going to win, I guess we’ll need a strategy.”
“Fortunately, I’ve already devised the perfect plan, and now I’m going to put it into motion.”
“Damn, that was fast!”
I moved stealthily, crouching along the ground, making sure no one would notice. Likewise, Watase followed suit.
“Uhhh... what are we doing?”
“Stay low!”
He started to peek over the hedges, so I grabbed his head and pulled him back down behind cover. How could he possibly think it was safe to lower his guard?
“Seriously, why are we hiding?”
“Ever heard of reconnaissance? If we underestimate the power of the current, it’ll pull us under. Thus, before we take action, we need to determine which of our opponents are the most dangerous.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” he nodded. “I guess we ought to play it safe if we’re really trying to win. Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”
Fortunately, my partner was the sensible sort. I was starting to think I made the right choice by pairing with him.
“Well then, I take it you know what our next step will be?”
“Um... Make a list of games we’re both good at, then challenge our opponents to something from that list?”
“Too pedestrian! A strategy like that would require at least one of us to be skilled in the art of persuasion. After all, if the other pair rejects our challenge, we’ll be forced to draw something from the Battle Box instead.”
Per the rules, we were allowed to choose whatever style of competition we liked, as long as all participating parties agreed. However, if the competing pairs couldn’t come to an agreement, they were then required to locate one of the many “Battle Boxes” filled with challenge suggestions and draw from it at random. This would ensure a fair fight between students.
“So what do we do?” Watase looked at me, perplexed.
“We pick off the weak ones, that’s what we do! I call it Operation Survival of the Fittest!”
“What?”
“Ideally, the stronger players will take each other out in the meantime. This is an elimination-style tournament, so the number of opponents will shrink rapidly over time. That’s why we had Tanaka-sensei talk about ‘trampling corpses underfoot’ and all that — after all, it wouldn’t be much fun if everyone was trying to be sneaky, now would it?”
“Then why are we trying to be sneaky?”
“Oh, they won’t notice if it’s just one team! Obviously we can’t stay hidden forever. We’ll be the dark horse candidate at the end!”
“Is this really going to deepen our friendships...? I guess I shouldn’t worry about that if we’re trying to win...”
“What are you muttering about? Look! The Yaegashi-Inaba pair is about to battle!”