“What if I say that I won’t go?” I asked him.
“Well, that’d be a problem. Because there’d be no avoiding the fact that my chances of graduating from Class A would fall,” said Hashimoto.
“I deliberately didn’t ask about this before, but what about the Private Points? It’s not exactly like Ryuuen’s class has a fortune. It would take a lot of money for them to get both you and me, Hashimoto,” I replied with what I thought was an obvious question, but it only prompted a thin smile on Hashimoto’s lips.
“Well, that’s not quite true. See, I hear Ryuuen’s been makin’ deals with first-years and third-years, and he’s been rakin’ in quite a lot of Private Points,” said Hashimoto.
“Making deals?” I asked.
“I don’t know the exact details, but if he’s collecting from other grades, then it wouldn’t be unrealistic for him to have enough to cover transfers for two people, would it?” asked Hashimoto.
If that were true, then yes, it might be realistic to achieve. But I was skeptical as to how much of this I should believe.
“Well, even if we are a little short on points, there’s no need for you to worry, since the other day we got more Private Points than we expected from Nagumo. That was a huge help,” said Hashimoto.
He meant the reward promised to me by Nagumo, with whom I had made a bet at the camp. I received 3,000,000 points from that. He had given me way, way more Private Points than I had even imagined, so I was honestly shocked. I had given Hashimoto 600,000 points, 20 percent of the take, as requested, since he had taken the initiative to do the work during the camp. As for the remaining 2,400,000 points, I divided that up equally among the remaining fifteen members of our group, giving out 160,000 points to each person. As for the 20,000,000 points required for a transfer, that amount could cover a mere 3 percent of that, if at all. Nevertheless, 3 percent was more than 0 percent.
“You’re the leading man, you should’ve kept a million or one point five mil for yourself. I would have been more than okay with letting you keep that much of it. Agreeing to the same share as the rest of the group is way too saintly of you,” said Hashimoto exasperatedly as he recalled what happened at the time of the camp.
Indeed, Private Points certainly carried a role that was near omnipotent at this school. Even so, I for one wasn’t going to be clinging to Private Points alone. When I didn’t say anything in response to that, Hashimoto quietly muttered, “Well, I guess the fact that you’re not so easily influenced by money is one of your good points.”
“Anyway, I plan on laying low and keeping quiet for the weekend, but d’ya have any advice for the exam?” asked Hashimoto.
There wasn’t much that I could say to Hashimoto now. In fact, I didn’t even feel the need to say anything. It was just that…
“Wow, okay, rather than advice, I’m gettin’ silence… Okay,” huffed Hashimoto.
I had no intention whatsoever of interfering in the confrontation between Sakayanagi and Ryuuen on my own initiative, so the correct answer was to leave things be and keep a careful watch. However, it wasn’t a bad idea to be prepared to at least be able to deal with the situation in a flexible manner, as the situation arose.
“I was thinking a little,” I replied.
“Okay? So can I take that to mean that you’ve come up with some advice?” asked Hashimoto.
It sounded like he was looking for my opinion, without expecting too much.
“Hashimoto, if you continue as you are, in these circumstances, that is, if you enter this special exam without a new strategy, you may end up falling into a dead end,” I told him.
“Whoa, whoa, I asked you for advice, didn’t I, my dude? Come on, enough with the scary stuff. Sure, I might end up in a pinch, but I can handle myself,” he said.
“By weaving lies into things, as usual?” I asked in return.
“Lies are a powerful weapon, y’know.”
I knew that. Sometimes, a lie could be even more powerful than physical violence. I even once told Horikita that, a long time ago.
“Yes, it’s true that lies are powerful. It’s even easy to ruin someone with lies. But it’s also true that lies won’t work on everyone,” I explained.
“…You’re saying they won’t work against my opponent this time?” said Hashimoto.
“They won’t, no,” I replied.
Sakayanagi was extremely wary of lies and had keen sensitivity. No matter how skillfully Hashimoto manipulated his words, his battles were built on lies. Having said that, Sakayanagi’s trust in Hashimoto, who had betrayed her, was as low as it can get—down to the ground. At present, she probably wouldn’t even listen to him.
“Well, even so, I don’t have any other choice but to do it. It’s how I’ve been fightin’ all my life,” replied Hashimoto, as though that were the only weapon that he could boast. Actually, no, I supposed it was just that he didn’t know of any other way to fight. “You’ll think about it though, won’t ya? About you and me transferring to Ryuuen’s class together.”
“You’re going to be on Ryuuen’s side. You’re not going to change your mind about that?” I asked.
“Nope,” said Hashimoto.
“Then, what if Ryuuen finds himself in a tight spot, what then? What if it’s confirmed for certain that he can’t win, whether you’re on his side or not? Will you double cross again and go back to Sakayanagi when that time comes?” I asked.
“That’s—”
“If you change your position based on how the fight is going, then you’ll be nothing but disgraceful in the eyes of the people around you,” I told him.
“…Then what am I supposed to do? I’m gonna be on Ryuuen’s side. I’m gonna, but…I don’t wanna think about it, but if I do get in a jam like that, what choice do I have? All I could do is get down on my knees or do whatever I can and ask Sakayanagi for forgiveness,” said Hashimoto.