<h4>Chapter 69: Chapter 5:?An Invitation</h4>


    As the prelude of the Uninhabited Ind Special exam came to an end, skirmishes red up from ce to ce, However these were but the final remnants of what was an extremely tense period. With only one week left, the group formation stage was entering its climax. By this point, more than 90% of the students at the school were in small groups of 2 or 3, and now their fates were bound together. Ishizaki, Matsushita, and the others who had invited me to join their groups had gradually given up on trying to do so. After all, theter you formed a group, the more danger you''d be in.


    I wonder what the remaining 10% will decide to do by next Friday. While I was pondering upon that, I received an email. It was a little after 9:30 AM on a Saturday morning, and the sender was Ishizaki from ss 2-B. I''ve been in touch with him a lottely, but this time, the content was different from what I usually received from him. He asked me toe to the cafe as Ryuuen was calling me. The wording of the email didn''t make it seem like a request, so I guess they weren''t giving me a choice in the matter..


    Of course, I could have turned him down, but then they would hold Ishizaki responsible for that. Although I had ns to hang out with the Ayanokouji Group today, they were thankfully for around 1:00pm, so this probably wouldn''t affect that. So I got ready, and 15 minutester, I was on my way to Keyaki mall.


    15 minutes would be enough to get there on time. As the group formation stage was just abouting to a close, it seemed like Ryuuen was breaking the silence he had maintained and was finally making his move.


    As of now, Ryuuen hasn''t formed a group with anyone. It is possible that he would invite me to his group, but I don''t think it was likely. Following this line of thought, I''m interested in what he would say beside that.


    On my way to the Keyaki mall, I ran into Kanzaki, who was probably on his way back from the convenience store.


    Two 2-liter stic bottles could be seen in his stic bag.


    "Going to Keyaki mall at this time?"


    "I won''t have any time to rx after the exam starts, after all."


    Since I had time to spare, I went up to him to talk.


    "It seems like most of the people in ss D have formed groups, but you''re still on your own?"


    "Unlike the others, I don''t have many friends, so."


    I was hoping to exchange a few jokes and have a light conversation, but Kanzaki remained serious.


    "You and Horikita, are both of you going to act as reinforcements for your ss''s groups? After all, excellent students could leave their mark in any group during the exam."


    Recently, as Kanzaki''s opinion of me rose, he also became more wary of me. Therefore, to him that must''ve seemed like the only possibility,


    "At least for now. You''re still solo, Kanzaki, so that must mean you''re performing that role as well."


    ss C''s Kanzaki was the same. He hadn''t teamed up with anyone yet.


    "Ayanokouji, Ichinose seems to trust you a lot, but can ''we'' really trust you?"


    "If I said you could trust me, would you, Kanzaki?"


    "I''d consider it, at least."


    The bottles chilled the air around them and water droplets condensed on them.


    The summer heat of over 30 degrees mercilessly came down upon us.


    "Although we''ve broken off the alliance, I don''t consider Ichinose to be an enemy."


    I told Kanzaki seriously. That wasn''t a lie.


    "That statement leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Are you saying you don''t consider ss C to be an enemy?"


    I thought I''d be able to sneak that past him with that, but Kanzaki''s guard was higher than I''d expected.


    "Kanazki, what do you want from me?"


    He seemed different than his usual self, almost like he was trying to push me into something.


    If I saw the direction he was trying to lead the conversation, I could get an idea of what he wanted.


    "Are you trying to get some sort of statement from me and have Ichinose to listen to it?"


    "You... Ichinose...no, we underestimated your perceptiveness. When we first met, I had this weird feeling, but I couldn''t quite put my finger on it. Finally, I can clearly see what it was. You''re the reason ss D is making such great progress."


    "Who knows?"


    "I''m simply going toe out and ask you for help. Ichinose trusts you a lot. That is why I want you to tell her yourself: the way she is right now, she isn''t good enough."


    A drop of water from the stic bag fell to the ground as he closed the distance between us.


    "So you''re expecting that to change the way Ichinose thinks?"


    "That''s right."


    "Sorry, but I can''t help you. I''d like to keep seeing her own way of dealing with things."


    "So you want to see us, your enemy, fall?"


    "I can''t fault you for reading too deeply into it, but..."


    I thought about it for a moment. At this stage, What fate awaited Ichinose was anyone''s guess. However, when she''s fallen so far the next fall would surely be herst...


    Just for a second, I was conflicted as to whether or not I should tell Kanzaki what I was thinking. However, I immediately stopped myself. Doing such an unnecessary thing I hadn''t ounted for wouldn''t improve the situation.


    Rather, it would only end up contaminating them.


    "Well, fundamentally speaking, one has to care of their own ss by themselves. Isn''t that right?"


    "...Yeah. I might have been too childish."


    Kanzaki bowed his head to me, as if he was regretting his actions.


    "I was going toe up with a solution on my own. But I thought there was a way to fix the problem without doing that, that there was an easy way out, so I tried to take it."


    Kanzaki walked back to his dormitory after saying that.


    As he was running out of options, he must''ve be desperate. But, as they say, a cornered rat can even bite the cat.


    In the next special exam, Kanzaki will also stand in our way as a formidable opponent.