“It would appear that neither one of us can quite land a decisive blow,” remarked Sakayanagi.
“Seems so,” replied Ryuuen.
Ryuuen had five Life Points; Sakayanagi had eight. They had been repeatedly making nominations for a long time, and neither one of them was giving an inch. Even so, a gap was beginning to emerge. In round two of the fifth discussion, Ryuuen’s Life Points had been reduced to four thanks to an erroneous nomination. Up until this point, Ryuuen had been calmly standing his ground, carrying the momentum from Tokitou as he fought, but he continued to be frustrated. There kept being moments where he just couldn’t push the all-too-important foe, Sakayanagi, back by a single step.
Amid this, a single thought gnawed at his psyche. Namely, the reality that his own ability to calculate and predict couldn’t surpass that of Sakayanagi’s. In truth, Sakayanagi had never once made a single critical mistake. Ryuuen hadn’t just made a single mistake on nomination, he was making slight errors here and there, which were shaving down his Life Points. He felt like he was being pushed to the edge of a cliff, bit by bit.
“What the hell do you see anyway, Sakayanagi?” asked Ryuuen.
“What you notice, I certainly notice, but you may not notice the things I notice. That’s all there is to it, isn’t it? However, you are very patient. Don’t you think it is about time you exercised your right to send in a traitor, so that you can turn the tides?” asked Sakayanagi.
As long as Ryuuen was losing points little by little, he could say nothing else but that he was at a disadvantage in this situation. The fastest way for him to turn the tide was to exercise that right which only he still had. Sakayanagi was puzzled about that point, as she assumed that Ryuuen would’ve sent in a traitor at a much earlier stage. With Ryuuen’s Life Points reduced by more than half, it was entirely conceivable that he could be defeated in the next discussion if he wasn’t careful. If that happened, then he would lose without even exercising that right.
Of course, it was only natural that Sakayanagi would want to avoid him using that at all costs. That was why she was going to lay the groundwork for her move from discussion number five into discussion number six and beyond. By suggesting to him that it should be used, her intention was to actually make him hold on to it.
In the fourth round, Ryuuen took a chance. Who was the person who could most likely be considered a model student out of the remaining participants? Ryuuen made his move, believing in the answer that his brain had worked out, based on what he had seen with his eyes and heard with his ears.
“Ryuuen-kun identified Nishi-san as the model student, so Sakayanagi-san loses three Life Points.”
Ryuuen had struck first before Sakayanagi and succeeded in finding the first model student in the group.
“Looks like I’ve finally closed the gap,” remarked Ryuuen, grinning as though he warmly welcomed the idea of a slight elevation in his heartbeat.
“It would appear so. You seem to have managed to identify the student despite the low odds,” said Sakayanagi.
Many of the students were not very talkative in the discussion, and neither representative had any conclusive information in hand.
“Well, no, I suppose it is not that simple,” said Sakayanagi. “For this nomination at the very least, your insight must have surpassed mine.”
You had to recognize it when your opponent succeeded. Ryuuen was a student who merited that. The blow that Ryuuen just landed was undeniably a big one, but the opposite was about to happen in the next round.
“Sakayanagi-san identified Hoashi-san as the model student, so Ryuuen-kun loses Life Points.”
Sakayanagi had noticed the single remaining model student left in the discussion using the clues revealed to her by Ryuuen’s previous nomination.
“You…” spat Ryuuen.
“I’m grateful. Thanks to you, I was able to find the remaining model student,” said Sakayanagi.
Sakayanagi had found the answer that she could not have arrived at on her own had she not known that Nishi was a model student. With Ryuuen’s short-lived joy now no longer in sight, he was at a single Life Point, while Sakayanagi was at five. Both representatives had succeeded in nominating a model student, but unlike in a draw, the situation had developed quickly thanks to the nominations being staggered. The discussion ended and the interval started.
“Now you are finally in a situation where one slip will be your downfall, aren’t you?” said Sakayanagi.
Now that Sakayanagi could identify a winning strategy for the next discussion, she was determined to throw down the gauntlet without self-pride. Ryuuen on the other hand, closed his eyes and tilted his head toward the heavens. He absolutely had to prevent Sakayanagi from making the first move. Still, the fact that he had successfully nominated a model student brought him a small measure of relief. It would be a mistake to pass up on nominating like that because you wanted to wait and see.
But there was no way of recovering from this. The faint signs of a surprise victory from behind were fading. Is this it? Is this as far as I go…? he wondered. In order to show Ayanokouji how good he really was, he challenged Sakayanagi head-on. Ryuuen had laid bare everything he could, using all of the ingenuity he could summon. But it was a step too far, and the gap wasn’t closing. The next discussion would definitely be the final, decisive one. If given the chance, Sakayanagi would come after him and cut his Life Points down by making a nomination, without fear of risk.
Would he have been able to put up more of a fight if he had exercised the right to send in a traitor, rather than leaving it on the table? He thought as much for a moment, but then he also realized that it wouldn’t have even been enough to even the score. Based on how she had been fighting thus far, Sakayanagi showed that she would’ve been able to quickly eliminate the traitor. There was nothing more he could do. All that remained was to just nominate the model students, who made up only two out of fourteen participants in the discussion, and believe in a miracle.
Even in the unlikely event that a miracle like that happened once, it probably wasn’t going to happen a second time. Regardless, he had no other choice but to go for it. Ryuuen had wondered how it would feel when he lost, but actually, he was looking a little bright and sunny. That was because Ryuuen himself had come to a point where he had no choice but to admit that the little classmate before him was most definitely capable, despite appearances. Her ability to look ahead in special exams, the breadth of her vision, and more importantly, the fact that she had put up an iron wall of defense, where she made no mistakes.
If Ryuuen mainly used coercion in how he fought, through a false show of power, bluffing, and threats, then Sakayanagi fought using her own inner convictions as her weapons. When challenging her to a proper, fair fight, he came to realize that there were still many areas in which he wasn’t as skilled as Sakayanagi.
“Man, never thought things’d turn out this way,” huffed Ryuuen.
Ryuuen had one Life Point remaining, while Sakayanagi had five. No matter how many times he looked at the monitor, the current point values wouldn’t change.
“There are only so many moves you can make, no? Why not go ahead and exercise your right?” asked Sakayanagi.
The only way for Ryuuen to claw back the possibility of a victory at this point was to send in a traitor, whom he had been saving. It sounded like advice from Sakayanagi, but Ryuuen saw through that and knew it was a lie.
“I ain’t gonna turn the tables by using the traitor at this point. Actually, all it’d do is lower my odds. We’ve been killin’ each other up to this point, but I don’t remember fallin’ so far that I can’t see the battle before me, y’know?” said Ryuuen.
Even if it could become something of a trump card for Ryuuen, it was already too late. Exercising the right to send in a traitor would create a desire to pass and move the rounds forward. It would cause his mind to get caught up in the sweet promises of potential, thinking that it might be possible for him to get by without anyone nominating the model, despite difficult odds. In other words, it took time to pay off, for the benefits to be gained from exercising the right of sending in a traitor. Once he had gotten information about one or two people from the traitor, he would eventually have to turn a blind eye to them and identify the model students twice in a row.
Even if he succeeded in that game, Sakayanagi would probably prevent at least one of those nominations from going through. Besides, Sakayanagi would likely find the position holders in the discussion and defeat him first. The endgame was truly in sight.
“I see. It seems you still have some wisdom, enough to be able to see through that much,” said Sakayanagi.
In that case, why not go out with a bang and not use the right to send in a traitor?
“You’re stro—”
Just when Ryuuen was about to say something half-hearted, a moment of reflection arose in his mind.
“This match… I lose,” said Ryuuen.
An early declaration of defeat, brought out by his true feelings. He had resisted voicing it at first, but once he finally put it into words, he felt refreshed. It was unmistakable proof that he felt that Sakayanagi really was a cut above the rest.
“It would appear that you too have seen the checkmate in this battle,” remarked Sakayanagi.