Back within Class C, the sound of Yamauchi restlessly tapping his foot was extremely distracting.
"Yo, Haruki… Try and quiet down a bit."
Ike quietly whispered a warning to him.
"S-shut up. I know."
"Fufufu. At any rate, it seems your defeat is close at hand, wouldn't you say?"
"Huh? What are you getting at, Kōenji? I'm not gonna be expelled, considering the other options."
Yamauchi turned and looked at Kōenji with an eerie smile on his face.
"I think it's fair to say that, out of everyone in the class, a considerable number of students have voted against you."
Ike and Sudō sat quietly, unable to help Yamauchi as Kōenji fanned the flames. Hirata, however, interjected.
"That's not how this will turn out. The one being expelled will be me."
"You're still going on about that? You aren't aware of it yet, are you?"
"…What are you talking about?"
Kōenji took out his cell phone with a fearless smile on his face.
"This message was sent to me by one of the girls in our class. It reads: 'I believe Hirata-kun intends to sacrifice himself and volunteer to be expelled tomorrow. He might end up saying something hurtful about everyone or make himself out to be a bad guy, but those won't be his true feelings. Please, have faith in him and don't vote against him for it.' It seems to me like it was sent to everyone other than you and Yamauchi-kun."
Hirata approached Kōenji and read the message on the phone for himself.
"Most students would sympathize with you after seeing a message like this. After all, it's not untrue that you've spent this past year taking action for the sake of the class. Wouldn't it make more sense for you to get more praise votes because of this, instead?"
"No way…"
Hirata's plan to get the most censure votes had failed.
Of course, this negatively affected the students most at risk of being expelled.
Horikita quietly turned to me and spoke.
"You're awfully composed. It's almost as if you've already foreseen what will happen."
"You probably know what will happen too."
"Even if I did, I wouldn't sit back and watch so complacently. As long as there's room for uncertainty, there's still reason to worry."
Kōenji cut in, as if responding to Horikita.
"The only one who should be worried is him."
Almost everyone in the class shifted their gaze toward Yamauchi, wondering how he would respond after hearing something like that.
Yamauchi slowly stood up and turned around to look at Kōenji.
His expression was one of confidence, one that said he was certain of his chances of coming out on top.
"…Hah."
Yamauchi laughed at Kōenji contemptuously.
"Go ahead, say whatever you want… The person getting expelled isn't gonna be me."
"Oh? And will you tell us why?"
"Fine. I will."
It seemed Yamauchi couldn't stand to let Kōenji say whatever he wanted any longer.
"How many of you voted against me? Twenty of you? Thirty? I didn't specifically betray any of you, yet you guys treat me like this? It's unreasonable! But that's fine. I'll forgive you."
With a thoughtless smile, Yamauchi approached Ike and patted his hand on his shoulder.
"Sorry Kanji. For making you worry about me so much."
"Y-yeah."
Completely unaware of what his friend was getting at, Ike could do nothing but nod.
"There are several people here who might get expelled other than me, right? There's Kanji, Sudō, Kōenji, and Ayanokōji, but I wonder how many praise votes they'll get? I'm just so worried!"
"From what you're saying, it sounds as if you're expecting to get a large number of praise votes."
"Yep, that's right. I will."
"Even if your friends felt sorry enough to vote for you, you'd only get around four or five votes, at best. Are you saying that's enough to put you in the safe zone?"
"That's fine. That much would be plenty. Hahaha… Yes, no matter who you voted for, it's all pointless!"
Yamauchi showily raised his arms up into the air.
"Sakayanagi-chan promised that she would give me twenty praise votes! In other words, even if most of the class voted against me, I still won't be the one who gets expelled!"
Having realized that there was no point in hiding it any longer, Yamauchi decided to show his cards.
"That's why it doesn't matter how many of you voted against me… I'm protected by Class A!"
The votes had already been cast.
It was probably true that Yamauchi had made a promise like that with Sakayanagi.
Assuming he got five praise votes from Class C and twenty votes from Class A, even in the worst-case scenario, he would only end up with a maximum of nine censure votes.
If he was telling the truth, he could hardly be considered at risk of expulsion.
The danger would then shift toward Kōenji and I. Even Ike and Sudō could be in trouble.
"If that's the case, then why do you look so anxious?"
Yamauchi didn't seem calm at all. He was trembling nonstop.
It was proof that, mentally, he was under an incredible amount of stress.
"That's…"
"Since you made a promise with the enemy, you made sure to sign a contract, yes? It's one of the basic fundamentals of doing negotiations."
"N-no, but that's…"
"A simple verbal promise doesn't count for anything. Miss little girl isn't that merciful."
"Of course I know that! It's fine!"
Kōenji's words simply weren't able to make it through to him.
Yamauchi could only believe that Sakayanagi wouldn't go back on her word. There was nothing else he could do.
He must have reached out to Sakayanagi many times last night to ensure everything would still go as he expected it to.
"My my, you must be so reassured, then. It seems that the censure vote I cast for you was meaningless."
"That's right, it was meaningless! Meaningless!"
"Be quiet, Yamauchi. I could hear your shouting from out in the hallway."
Just then, Chabashira arrived.
"I've kept all of you waiting. I'll get along with announcing the results for Class C. Please find your seats."
The time of judgment had finally come.
Very soon, one student would be expelled from this class.
Would it be Yamauchi, who was telling himself that everything would be okay?
Would it be Sudō or Ike, one of the secondary candidates for expulsion?
Would it be Hirata, who was patiently waiting for the results to be announced?
Would it be Kōenji, who was as inattentive as always?
Would it be Horikita or me, as we quietly watched over the classroom?
Or, would it end up being someone else entirely?
"To start out, I'll announce the three of you who ended up with the most praise votes. In third place is… Kushida Kikyō."
Kushida sighed with relief when she heard her name being called.
Even though Yamauchi had targeted her yesterday, she ended up earning quite a lot of praise votes.
If you take into account the fact that she's adored by her classmates, an outcome like this makes sense.
"Next, in second place…"
Chabashira began reading a little slower.
Even I couldn't fully predict whose name she would say.
"It's you, Hirata Yōsuke."
"!"
The moment his name was called, Hirata shut his eyes and looked up toward the sky.
The disgraceful behavior he showed yesterday hadn't had any significant consequences.
Hirata worked hard this past year, going through thick and thin for the sake of the class.
He had earned a tremendous amount of trust, especially from the girls in the class.
Even if I hadn't arranged for Kei to spread that text message around yesterday, his ranking would've hardly changed.
"B-but, if Hirata placed second… who placed first?"
Since the beginning, everyone had expected for Hirata and Kushida to get most of the praise votes.
It wasn't unreasonable for them to place second and third, it was just that this outcome meant there was somebody who had surpassed them both.
"…As for first place…"
Chabashira let show a slight smile before she read the name.
I shut my eyes.
"Ayanokōji Kiyotaka."
Everything turned out as I expected.
"W-what!?"
Yamauchi, the one I was supposed to be competing with for last place, was the first to react.
"Aren't you mistaking him with first place for the censure vote!? Sensei!?"
"No. There's no doubt about it. He took first place with a splendid total of forty-two votes."
My classmates all seemed to be surprised. After all, I had gotten more praise votes than there were students in our class.
"You. What did you do…?"
Horikita also couldn't hide her surprise.
"Like I said, I didn't do anything."
Sakayanagi had done all of this by herself.
"And finally, the student who ended up with the most censure votes, with a grand total of thirty-three votes. I'm sorry to say that it's you, Yamauchi Haruki."
Now, Yamauchi took yet another heavy blow.
Before he could even make sense of the situation, he was being told he had to leave the school.
"T-thirty-three votes!?"
It pretty much confirmed that he hadn't gotten any praise votes from Class A.
Second to last was Sudō with twenty-one votes. And coming in right behind him was Ike with twenty.
It was clear that his friends were by no means in the safe zone either.
"No! Why!? Why do I have to be expelled!?"
Chabashira approached Yamauchi and put her arm on his shoulder, but he shook it off.
"…Haruki…"
As his friends, Ike and Sudō could only look away.
They had been hoping that, somehow, Yamauchi would make it through the exam, but the only thing they could do is wait for the results.
And now that the results had come out, they probably realized the sad truth behind all of this.
If Yamauchi hadn't placed last, what would have happened to them?
"Why, why, why! Why me!! This is such a stupid exam! A complete joke!"
"While you're free to think whatever you want, the decision has already been made, Yamauchi."
"SHUT UP!!!"
Yamauchi shouted with every ounce of his being.
He howled, unable to accept the reality of his situation.
"That's right. Sakayanagi, go ask Sakayanagi! She said she'd have Class A use their praise votes on me! She didn't keep her promise! Is she just gonna be allowed to get away with that!?"
"Do you have something that clearly proves that she made such a promise?"
Chabashira asked.
"She promised! At the karaoke parlor! I heard her!!!"
"While I want to believe you, words alone aren't enough to prove anything."
"Oh my god, why is this happening…!?"
"It's time to leave the classroom, Yamauchi."
Despite her instructions, Yamauchi didn't move an inch.
"Get out of here quickly. Your existence here has already been deleted."
"I haven't accepted it yet!"
"So you plan to be irredeemably defective, pitiable, and ugly until the very end?"
After Kōenji's persistent provocations, Yamauchi finally snapped.
"Grahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"
He picked up the chair to his desk and charged at Kōenji.
He then lifted the chair up into the air and swung it down, aiming at Kōenji's head.
If the attack had hit him directly, the resulting injury would've been inexcusable, however, Kōenji wasn't naive enough to be hit by such a sloppy attack.
Kōenji casually grabbed the leg of the chair as it swung down at him and forcibly pulled the chair out of Yamauchi's hands.
"You intended to kill me. You won't have any complaints if I return the favor, yes?"
Yamauchi's face stiffened immediately.
"That's enough."
Chabashira intervened, having sensed the danger behind Kōenji's words.
Following her instructions, Kōenji promptly let go of the chair.
"Don't do any more than this, Yamauchi. For your own sake."
From around the room, Yamauchi noticed the heartbreaking gazes of his classmates, their gazes filled with pity.
And within him, something broke.
"U-uwaaaahhhh!"
Crumbling on the spot, he raised his voice and began to bawl.
"…Leave."
Hearing Chabashira's words for a second time, Yamauchi lost his will to resist.