Chaoskouji

Arc 7 Chapter 4 - Beginning Our Assault

The next few days were defined by a constant flurry of messages. I had never gotten so much use out of a group chat before.

I had been in the class group chat before, and a couple of others, but I had never bothered to say anything. If I had something to say, an individual message was more effective, but speaking in person was always best. And on the afternoon of the sports festival I was added into a lot more, but I had continued to ignore them.

It was the group chat containing Horikita, Hirata, Yukimura, Kikyou, Karuizawa and myself that I actually used. While Yukimura didn't know what was going on, and could sense the tension as we planned, he was tactful enough not to bring it up.

I had been told by Kikyou that he privately admitted to her that he didn't care about the spat between Horikita and Hirata, as long as they continued to cooperate and make progress in our planning as we were.

And surprisingly, despite their challenge and ultimatum, Hirata and Horikita both had the decorum to act reasonably, and while they clearly didn't enjoy cooperating, and numerous arguments had broken out between them, they were never over serious issues. When it came to major decisions in planning for the exam, they were capable of putting aside their differences and grudgingly agree.

Most of that came from them having the exact same ideas, as much as they didn't want to admit it. This was an exam wherein the only way we could protect our classmates was to succeed and crush our opponents in the most effective way possible, meaning both Hirata and Horikita would be united in their objectives.

Obviously, they didn't enjoy such cooperation. In fact, most of the problems came from the same debate of who was going to take the lead and inform the class of the decisions made. They both obstinately refused to let the other do it, nor share the responsibility.

In the end, everyone else convinced them to do it together, since a united front would put people to rest.

Hirata had gone off directly after his confrontation with Horikita to talk to some of his senpai friends, in order to find out the best way to approach the exam. He reported back to us much the same that I found from my own investigation, and it was rather simple to come up with a strategy.

And so, it was on Friday when Horikita and Hirata both walked up to the front of the class, and after some embarrassing jostling to try and be the one to stand behind the podium, Hirata emerged victorious, with Horikita relegated to standing by his side.

"I know a lot of you have been asking questions about the special exam, and the practice test coming up on Monday. As Kushida-san pointed out, it was best for us to retreat and consider the situation, before reporting back and explaining how we will overcome it." Hirata began strong.

"For now, we have decided several of us will be writing questions for the exam, to be compiled by Kushida-san. That way, she is the only person who knows what our questions are, and we won't have another incident like at the sports festival. I'm sure we can all agree that Kushida-san is trustworthy enough for this role."

There were some afirmatives muttered across the room, and not one person seemed to argue against it. Even if they had some personal slight, there wasn't a valid reason to deny this plan.

"Thank you for your trust in me! I hope I won't let everyone down!" Kikyou stood up and promised with a bow, nervous but thankful smile on her face.

"I'm sure you won't, Kushida-san," Hirata reassured her, giving her a smile. It was very rare to see Hirata smile these days.

"The other topic of conversation we need to cover is in regard to the practice test and the selection of partners," Horikita began, taking her turn to speak. "I'm sure many of you are concerned with not scoring well enough, or getting a partner who won't score well enough, however, we believe we know how to solve that problem."