Despite her soft facial expressions, Sakayanagi had been making ruthless, cold, mechanical judgments, trusting in her own logic. The incident with Kamuro and Yamamura before must have had a major impact on her if she had begun to change like this.
“It’s because of you, Ayanokouji-kun. You have changed me,” she said.
“I don’t think everything about you has changed. But I have to admit that at least one part has,” I replied.
“…Why did you act as a mediator between Yamamura-san and me, to bring us together?”
Her question sounded to me like she was saying, “If you hadn’t done that, I could still be myself.”
“Yamamura had unexpectedly suffered quite a blow because of me. So I just made it up to her in a way that was easy to understand. I can’t give you any further explanation than that,” I replied.
Yamamura was a secret spy, using her lack of presence to act as Sakayanagi’s right hand. It was only natural that I should assume responsibility for having gotten in the way of that, but it would also be pointless for me to go on and on about it to Sakayanagi right now.
“I see. I had thought for a moment there that you may have merely been doing it out of the goodness of your heart, Ayanokouji-kun, but it appears that I was wrong. You had a definite reason for it after all,” said Sakayanagi.
“Actually, wait, I’d much prefer if you could just interpret it as kindness on my part. Can I take back what I said before?” I replied.
“Heh heh. I am afraid that’s impossible.”
Sakayanagi’s voice from the phone speaker was sounding sleepier and sleepier. Up until this point, she had sounded calm and composed as usual, so I figured now would be a good time for me to hang up, but…
“You did something uncalled for,” she said.
“You are entirely prejudiced against this change in you, but it can’t be all bad, can it? If it was something truly uncalled for, you could have just forced yourself to suppress these new feelings. Right?” I replied.
“Yes… I suppose…you might be right.”
Sakayanagi did not trust others and continued to use them. In a certain way, she was like me, completely fixated on her own way of thinking. But she was starting to accept that she was changing.
“You should face them, a lot of them, all those you haven’t faced up until now. By doing so, you should be able to see an unexpected side of yourself that you never knew about before,” I told her.
Through that, Sakayanagi should surely be able to find new options as well. Whether that would become a strength or be a weakness remained to be seen, though.
“That is why Karuizawa-san and Ichinose-san have come to love you. You rudely barge into people’s hearts, trampling in without hesitation, ravage them without permission, and then you make them sprout and grow. But you are stubborn in nature, even more so than me, and you do not change easily. Heh heh, but that’s what makes you so attractive,” said Sakayanagi.
“I’ll take that as a compliment, Sakayanagi. Oh, this isn’t related to our conversation about Yamamura earlier, but there is something I need to tell you. You do remember that something happened during the Uninhabited Island Exam that put me in your ‘debt,’ right?” I asked.
That was one of the reasons I had for making this appointment with Sakayanagi and forcing her to make time for me.
“Come to think of it, yes, that did happen,” said Sakayanagi.
“I don’t intend to pour my efforts into making a prediction of whether you or Ryuuen will win your little bet tomorrow. I’m deliberately choosing to think of it as an equal 50/50 percent chance,” I told her.
“Meaning that, if I fail, you will miss your chance to repay that debt, I suppose,” said Sakayanagi.
“Yeah. Which is why I wanted to check in ahead of time. I can pay you back right now, if necessary,” I said.
I avoided expressing it directly, but I was sure that Sakayanagi immediately understood what I was trying to say. I knew that she would never demand it, though.
“My answer goes without saying.”
“I figured as much.”
To get an edge over Ryuuen in the special exam, you’ll need my help. There was no way that Sakayanagi would take such an approach, depending on others like that. I asked even knowing that full well.
“I will have you repay the debt you owe in our third year,” said Sakayanagi.
“All right, then I’ll plan on that,” I replied.
“Please do so,” she said, then yawned again.
“I think it’s probably time we end the call,” I told her.
“Are you sure that you want to hang up already? I would like to continue our conversation…”
“This is enough for today. I have a good understanding of how each class leader is doing.”
“Is that so? After the End-of-Year Special Exam is sorted out, let’s enjoy a nice cup of tea, at our leisure. After he’s dealt with, the competition between you and I will be waiting for us in our third-year, Ayanokouji-kun.”
I decided to end our conversation here, since her yawns were becoming increasingly mixed in among her words.
“Could we please…end the call here, then, Ayanokouji-kun? I would like to go to sleep with this peaceful feeling… Goodnight.”
Sakayanagi hadn’t acted nervous at all, and was calm and composed throughout our entire call. In fact, she was beginning to show a side of herself where she was letting her newfound emotions take over. That, too, must have been another aspect of her growth.
After I ended the call, I took off my clothes and changed into my pajamas.
Ryuuen and Sakayanagi. I could assume that both of them were fully prepared for the End-of-Year Special Exam. Tomorrow, one of them…would be defeated and leave the school.
I should just stand by and watch how things unfold as an observer; that would be the correct approach. However, speaking from the heart, what would my desired outcome be? I tried not to think about it, but I did have a clear preference. Which of them would I like to win? Even before our conversations, I already had an answer to that question…