Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume2 The Seventh Question

The Seventh Question

Please answer the followwing question.

On which year (AD) was the Kan'i Jūnikai system created?

Himeji Mizuki's answer:

'603'

Teacher's comment:

That's correct.

Sakamoto Yuuji's answer:

'603'.

Teaher's comment:

What happened? Sensei's surprised that you got it correct.

Yoshii Akihisa's answer:

'603'.

Teacher's comment:

Please forgive sensei for giving you an 'X' on seeing your name.

"Morning, Aki~"

"Good morning, Yoshii-kun."

"Ah, good morning you girls."

On the second morning of the school festival, Himeji-san and Minami arrive at school.

My mind is carefully thinking about what to say.

"AH, yes...did you two sleep well last night?"

"Eh? Yeah, I did slept rather soundly."

"Really? Then...did you finish your breakfast?"

"Yes, I came here after eating my breakfast."

"Erm, then, did you have any weird dreams last night or--"

"*Giggles* Yoshii-kun. Looks like you were thinking too much?"

Oh my, looks like I was seen through. However since they were nearly raped, it would be normal to worry about the impact on them.

"Don't worry. It was scary, but I'm really calm, so calm that it's inexplicable."

"Really?"

"Yes, because everyone was alright in the end...and Yoshii-kun came to save us."

After saying that, a natural smile appears on Himeji-san's face.

"Instead of Aki, I suppose it's better to say that we're saved by Sakamoto and Tsuchiya."

Minami also looks rather indifferent. These two sure have guts, I'm somewhat feeling a bit sorry that I underestimated them.

"I'm relaxed now that you two are so energetic. Then, this morning, we'll be--"

"...No abnormalities."

"Nothing strange's going on here."

"Really, thanks guys."

Hideyoshi and Muttsulini also arrived in school. Because of what happened yesterday, I requested Hideyoshi and Muttsulini to accompany the girls to school.l even lent a taser that I borrowed to them.

"There's no need to thank us over such a small thing, and I didn't really help out yesterday anyway..."

"Nope, it can't be helped when you're tied up."

Or it's better to say that Hideyoshi's fate was really bad, such that he was touched on the butt several times.

"Oh, are you two okay today?"

Yuuji scratches his head as he enters the classroom. Seems like he's not too worried about the girls, maybe it's because Muttsulini and Hideyoshi were accompanying them.

"Eh? Sakamoto, you're here already?"

"Yoshii-kun and Sakamoto-kun really came early today."

"We came here early in the morning to take some exams. Hooo..."

I give a yawn due to fatigue. Of course, this can't be helped when I pulled an all-nighter.

"Really, won't it affect the results later? The opponents are third years."

"Seems like it, and it's said that they have some of the best grades."

In terms of how they took action, those two really look stupid, especially that baldy.

"There shouldn't be any difference. The third years' exams are much more difficult, and the battle conditions are the same."

"It's not that, I'm worried that you two may be too weak to take them on..."

Minami's words seem to indicate that she's already giving up. Why so rude?

"If you have time to worry about this, go open the shop, huahhh..."

"You really are not interested with what's going on with the store. Aren't you going to help out with it?"

"I'm sorry, can you let me sleep for a while? I didn't really sleep much nowadays, and my mind's now a bit dazed because I stayed up all night."

No matter what, it's hard to maintain concentrate like this. I'm rather confident in my fitness, so I should be able to recover after taking a little nap.

"Is that so? Then please go and take a nap."

"That's right, leave the teahouse to me."

"...(nods head)"

"Can't be helped. I'll call you two up if you two aren't awake later. Okay?"

"Thanks. then can you please wake me up at 11?"

"11? Isn't the match's at 1pm?"

"I'll come and help during the busy lunch period."

Even though we have only 3 hours to sleep, that's enough for Yuuji and me.

"Then, wake me up as well. I'm going to the roof to sleep. Yawn..."

Yuuji uses his hand to cover his mouth as he uses his other hand to reach for the door handle.

I see, to the roof. The audio equipment that's set up for the night festival is located there, and we won't be disturbed. The weather today is extremely good, so it's good for taking an afternoon nap.

"Then I'll go up and sleep as well. I'll leave it to you later."

I press down on my heavily dazed head as I stand up.

(They're going to sleep together...)

(Can't be mistaken, he's going to lean on Sakamoto's shoulder...)

Well, I might as well abandon all the noises behind me as I leave, or else I'm going to have nightmares

"Then, let's go, Yuuji."

"You're right. Shimada, is it alright if we go first?"

"I can't do anything even if I say no, right? You're going to compete in the finals anyway."

In the end, Yuuji and I only managed to help out for half an hour. As they saw that we were really tired, they compassionately allowed us to sleep a little more. No matter what, I do feel that our classmates are really gentle.

"We'll go over to cheer for you guys later."

Himeji-san's cheongsam get-up today is as ever dazzling. Her charm is definitely one reason why the earnings on our second day increased dramatically.

"It comes down to this. Don't get careless, okay?"

"...(win)."

"I got it. I won't make the same mistake twice. Then, I'm leaving."

"Really, those words are irritating my ears."

After Yuuji and I gently punch Hideyoshi and Muttsulini's outstretched hands, we head off to the arena.

"I thought we might get distracted before the match. Didn't expect nothing to happen though."

"If it's not because they gave up due to being unable use those petty tricks, then it's because they don't know where we were."

"I see. Only those people who want to use the audio equipment would go up and use it."

And the audio equipment will only be used during the night festival later. It's basically a tailor-made hiding spot for us.

"Hideyoshi and Muttsulini were watching the shop as well."

"I heard that the taser is a dangerous thing that can also conduct electricity through clothes."

"It's alright, at least it's not fatal."

I strongly feel that the taser I gave to those two is a forbidden item, and it looks dangerous anyway. Most people would run away in fear, so there shouldn't be a problem.

"We've done everything, and now, we just need to win this."

"You're right."

After that, we remain silent, and walk down the path to the arena.

"Oh, there's quite a lot of spectators."

"As expected of the finals."

My heart paces as I arrive at the front of the arena. I'll be lying if I say that I'm not nervous.

"Yoshii and Sakamoto, please hurry up, it's time to go in."

The teacher in charge of the arena waves to us on seeing us. They even arranged for duty personnel at the arena, the finals is really different from all the other matches we had up till now.

"Then ladies and gentlemen, we've kept you waiting! The finals of the summoning tournament that uses our test battle system is about to officially start!"

The audio broadcast airs a voice that I have never heard before. Maybe the school hired some professional emcees. Since this is a highly anticipated event, it's possible that such a thing may happen.

"Will the participants please enter the arena!!"

"Then, please go in."

The teacher pats us on the back, and moves off to the audience in front.

"These two are Sakamoto Yuuji of Class 2-F, and Yoshii Akihisa Of Class 2-F! Will everyone please give a round of applause!"

The huge rain-like applause descend on us. There's quite a lot of people watching this, and Himeji-san's father would definitely be here watching as well.

"The group that managed to beat the best, Class A is unexpectedly the lowest combination of Class F! Maybe we need to change our rigid view of Class F!"

(Those words sound good for once.)

(Ya. It can also give Himeji-san's father a good impression.)

Perhaps the reason the spectators are giving us an ovation is to promote the test summoning system by showing that 'because of the test summoning system, even those who are weak would work harder'. But no matter the motive, we can't ask for anything better than that.

"And on the other side, we have Tsunemura Yuusaku from Class 3-A, and Natsukawa Shunpei, who's from Class A as well!"

The ones who were called up and appearing in front of us are the Toko-Natsu group that caused us a whole lot of trouble yesterday.

"Though they're one of the few third-years participating, they did make their way into the finals. Now, will we see them display the prowess of the third-years?"

While receiving the applause from the crowd, both of them slowly move towards us.

"Then now, I'll briefly explain the rules of the match. The strength of the summoned beast is equivalent to the grades-"

The announcer starts to explain the rules, and we ignore it as we're already familiar with them, continuing to glare at each other.

"Yo, sempais, have you run out of your bad ideas?"

Yuuji folds his arms as he looks like he's treating the sempais as idiots. He sure looks cool in this situation.

"We're very understanding, we don't want you guys to embarrass yourselves in front of the crowd. However, for your F-class brains, you probably won't understand it."

The baldy-sempai won't give up as he replies Yuuji, taunting us while stroking his chin. Seems like both sides are really able to agitate their opponents.

"Such a pity, I can't understand your words even if you're from Class A. You should polish up your Japanese first, you baldy king of the ape mountain."

"You, you kiddos dare to treat your sempais..."

Both sides continue to taunt each other with a volume only they can hear. Looks like Yuuji has quite a lot of unhappy words he want to express as well.

I also have something that I want to confirm with them.

"Sempais, I have something to ask you."

"Huh?"

"What's your reason for helping the head of teaching staff?"

Hearing this, the baldy-sempai reveals a shocked expression.

"...Is it? Looks like you guys know all about this."

"Sort of, so why?"

"For our graduation. If we're successful, he would write a recommendation letter fro us. We would have no need to studying for the entrance exams."

"Really? Then--Natsukawa-sempai, you're the same as well?"

"Sort of."

"...I see."

I slightly nod my head as I end this conversation. This is all I want to know.

"Actually, we didn't need to use any tricks. There's a whole world of difference in level between Class A and Class F."

"ReallY? Since you two went all the way with those things, I suppose both of you are afraid of Akihisa and me, right?"

"Ha! And you dare to say this! Your methods of winning is to use some cheap tricks by making use of the opponents' personalities and weaknesses. If your opponents are us, you would have absolutely no chance of winning."

Maybe that's true, the reason why we were able to win up till now was because we clearly understand our opponents. We can't beat these opponents if we're to use the same trick now.

"And now, the match will begin! All contestants, please get ready!"

After the explanation, the refereeing teacher stands right between us.

""""SUMMON""""

We shout out and summon our summoned beasts.

Our opponents' equipment are of traditional swords and armour. As they have rather high grades, even their equipment looks impressive.

Japanese History

209 points, A class, Tsunemura Yuusaku.

And

197 points, A class, Natsukawa Shunpei.

As expected of Class A , their marks are pretty impressive. If they can get such good marks, this means that their summoned beasts are rather strong, and not swiss cheese.

Looks like these two are rather good with their homework as well.

"So now, can you see that our marks are great?"

"Since this are marks that Class F can never see, it's expected for you to have this response."

Seeing the sempais show off like this, I'm speechless. THis really are marks that they can brag about. Very, strong.

But since they can get these grades, it means that they can graduate with their own ability, since these marks can get them anywhere.

However, they didn't challenge for something that they can definitely do, but tried to wreck our one and only second-year school festival, preventing us from creating wonderful memories--even almost creating a tragedy of us being unable to keep the most important person to me.

"Alright, let everyone see your atrocious marks."

"Tsunemaru, don't bully them too much. They're going to show it now anyway, right?"

The mohican-head sempai lets out an irritaint laugh.

Facing these two, a strong surge of emotions wells up inside me.

Because of these guys, I'm unable to prevent Himeji-san from transferring schools? THIS IS SO STUPID!

"A while ago..."

"Hm?"

"A while ago, a certain girl in my class said this."

"What? She told you how to escape before embarrassing yourself?"

The baldy-sempai laughs out.

Himeji-san's words during the summoning battle echoes in my mind. Yes, she said this.

"She said, "I can continue to work hard for the one I like"."

"EH? What dreamy words are you saying?"

"--I have a similar feeling recently."

Japanese History

215 points, F class, Sakamoto Yuuji.

And

166 points, F class, Yoshii Akihisa.

""WHAT!?""

On seeing the scores on the display screen, both of them are shocked, immediately turning pale.

"THIS TIME, WE WON'T USE ANY PETTY TRICKS! WE'LL BEAT YOU BASTARDS HEAD ON WITH OUR ABILITY!!"

The summoned beasts wield their specialised weapons as they get into a battle stance. The fight begins now.

"Akihisa, I worked hard with you all the way to this extent. I won't forgive you if you lose!"

"I know. Thanks for teaching me. Didn't expect your mind to be pretty good."

"Everyone's good when compared to you--now, we're going!"

Yuuji's summoned beast is the first one to move. Its equipment is a lot lighter, and thus, it's a lot more agile.

"Tsunemura! Leave this to me!"

The mohican-head sempai frantically stands in front of Yuuji. As he was too slow, he let Yuuji's summoned beast get close to him.

"Then my opponent would be sempai."

"Bring it on! I just got distracted, stop getting cocky!"

The baldy-sempai's summoned beast raises its sword as it attacks me from the front.

It's fast, but--

"Sempai, you're too panicky, you know? This simple sudden attack is basically inviting me to dodge--"

I slightly move my upper body aside. This straightforward attack that wasn't even thought through won't even cut the edge of my jacket.

"Damn it, you bastard...!"

Though the opponent reveals his belly out wide as he attacks, he still manages to turn around and swing his sword over.

"Ho!"

I slightly move my body away to avoid this attack, and in this instant, I strike him 3 times.

"GWAAH!"

The baldy sempai barely manages to use his sword to shield himself and takes a huge step back to regain his posture.

"You damn brat, you averaged only about 60 points during the summoning battles..."

The baldy-sempai's tone changes as he glares at me. Seems like they collected some information of our battles.

"Except for this subject, my standard now isn't a whole lot different from what it was before."

"Damn you...you planned this right from the start...?"

"That's right. You're pretty understanding."

I swing my wooden sword at baldy-sempai, who's biting his teeth hard and revealing a vengeful expression. Since my marks are so high, my wooden sword's so strong that it won't break in a direct clash with the opponent's sword.

"What now? Sempai doesn't look so good?"

"You two bastards, you're from class F..."

The conversation between Yuuji and the mohican-head sempai can be heard. Yuuji's light summoned beast is matching his opponent's attacks with his agile moves.

"Can't be helped. Though it's a bit childish to use this on second-years, let me teach you what's the difference in experience!"

After saying that, baldy-sempai's summoned beast moves back. Besides me, even baldy-sempai himself is a lot further away. If even the controller's a lot further away, what's he planning? It's tougher for a summoned beast to do battle if he's standing a lot further away.

"There're some tricks you don't know."

Baldy-sempai said some unexpected words to me while I'm still confused.Now that he said this, I'll be focused on the opponent's summoned beast no matter whether I like it or not. Just as I'm focusing on every single motion of the opponent's summoned beast, the opponent summoned beast looks like it's about to charge forward.

Do the sempais really have some unknown power that we don't know of?

"WOOOHH!!"

Baldy-sempai focuses all his strength. Though I don't know what the enemy will do, I'll take him down before he does anything!

"GO!"

I let my summoned beast charge head on. Though the battle distance is too great for me, this disadvantegeous condition should also apply to the enemy.

"See, you've been tricked."

Baldy-sempai's mocking voice can be heard, and at the same time, something flies into my eye. This...a stone? The enemy hurt my eye with a stone!

"DAMN--IT!!"

That's why he purposely made such an exaggerated action. The witnesses and audiences are all focused on the summoned beasts that's far away from each other, so no one noticed Baldy-sempai's actions. I was tricked!

"This is the difference in experience."

Not good! The enemy's attacking!

"Guu!" As I haven't regained my vision, I can only jump aside on instincts. After that, I can only feel a sharp pain on my left abdomen.

I rub off this pain as I force myself to open my eyes, and what's appears in front of me explains the pain--my summoned beast got cut on the left side of the abdomen by the enemy's sword.

"So you're a 'punishment inspector'? The next hit will be painful, you know?"

After that, the enemy hits me on the chin with a punch, and I can only see blank as my head gets concussed.

With the feeling of the head being shaked up and the burning pain on my abdomen, I feel like puking. Looks like this isn't good...

This unbearable pain makes my vision all blurry, and my consciousness start to sway.

"AKIHISA, LET ME SEE YOUR DETERMINATION!!"

"--!"

POM!

I stamp hard onto the floor and regain my footing.

"Well done, partner. Ready to continue on?"

"...Of course!"

Yuuji's roar helped me. Yes, I can still fight. And yes, I don't want to lose to this sort of person EVEN IF I DIE!

"STOP TRYING TO HANG IN THERE, I'LL GIVE YOU A BASHING YOU'LL NEVER FORGET!!"

Baldy-sempai's summoned beast charges forward again.

My summoned beast has lost some strength. I won't have a chance of winning if I don't settle this now!

"--HA!"

I endure this pain as I let my summoned beast go past the enemy, and then send a kick to the enemy while he's completely exposed at the back.

"AIYA!"

Though the injuries cause me to be weakened badly, it's enough to make the enemy lose balance and allow me some time.

"YUUJI!"

"Ho!"

Yuuji confirms my situation before letting his summoned beast charge directly at the other enemy, the mohican-head sempai.

"DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME!"

Mohican-head sempai swings his longsword, yet Yuuji doesn't let his summoned beast

dodge.

"GOT YOU!"

The blade's about to hit the head of Yuuji's summoned beast. However, at that instance--

CLANG!

My summoned beast tosses it's wooden blade and hits the blade precisely, changing the trajectory of the blade.

"Ugh! OH NO..."

Just as the blade misses, Yuuji's summoned beast lands right at the best position.

"WATCH ME SEND YOU FLYING!!"

The huge impact of the punch moves towards the enemy, as Yuuji's shout is complimented with the roar of the crowd.

"YOU BRAT! YOU DARE TO THROW YOUR FAVOURITE WEAPON AWAY!"

After that, baldy-sempai's summoned beast charge over. I'm unarmed, and the enemy's a 3rd year student, so it's different from students of the same year who aren't used

to controlling the summoned beast, since I can't just take him head on barehanded.

However, if the opponent's distracted, I can still dodge the first hit.

"ACK! WHAT'S THIS--?"

Baldy-sempai's summoned beast freezes for a moment, and this is because mohican-head sempai's summoned beast was sent flying over in front of him. This is revenge for the little stone just now.

I use this gap to let the summoned beast advance. Baldy-sempai's summoned beast missed the best chance to land his longsword since his rhythm got messed up, and so, I can dodge past it!

"CHEH!"

Pulling back the missed sword, the enemy tries to come up with another attack. This time though, it's my turn.

"WATCH THIS!"

I use this momentum to let my summoned beast headbutt him. Though the power isn't great, it's enough to restrain his actions.

I endure the minimal pain on my head as I wait for my partner's response.

"AKIHISA!"

Yuuji's summoned beast kicks the wooden sword that I threw just now right back at me. He's not used to controlling the summoned beast, yet he can pass it rather well!

"I'VE KEPT YOU WAITING!"

I let my summoned beast quickly pick up the wooden sword. With this, it'll be over!

"DAMN IT! HOW CAN I, A THIRD-YEAR, LOSE TO YOU SMALL FRIES--"

"GO AND DIE!!!"

CRACK! A sharp pain can be felt in my left wrist, and the pain spreads from the hand to the fingers, as if my entire hand got sliced off.

The back of my abdomen got injured as well. I can no longer fight on, but--

"Oh, for your standard, that's rather good, Akihisa."

The enemy's blade slices my left hand--and I managed to use my wooden sword to inflict a critical wound by stabbing through the throat.

"Sakamoto and Yoshii's group wins!!!"

"Gr...eat...!"

The pain corrodes my entire body, and I can't restrain this vomitting feeling for long. However, I'm so happy that I feel like I'm on the clouds.

“It’s been tough for both of you. It’s really impressive.”

“Ah hahaha, not really.”

“Baka onii-chan was brilliant~!”

“Hazuki, you’ll make Aki feel really troubled, you know?”

Minami can only smile awkwardly as she looks at Hazuki, who’s constantly rubbing herself on my chest.

If this keeps up, it would end up being a fatal injury for me. Thus, I politely push her away. Though Hazuki does looks unhappy, she obediently followed what I did.

“Erm, Yoshii-kun.”

“Ah, Himeji-san. Did you see my exciting performance just now?”

“Yes! It was really brilliant! It was so great that I wanted to get a tape from Tsuchiya-san!”\

Himeji-san’s eyes are glittering. Seeing her like this, it seems like my hard work finally paid off.

“Erm…the tape. Did Muttsulini record it?”

“Yes. He was very focused in filming it, right?”

“…(Turning the face away)”

Muttsulini looks away. Did this guy ignore the match and went on to film some of the audiences wearing mini-skirts?

"You did rather well for your Japanese History, Sakamoto, considering that your grades were really bad during the summoning battles."

"It's because my grades were really bad during the summoning battles that I worked hard on this subject after that."

"So you can get such good grades because of that?"

"It's simple saying it, but it was tough for us. Especially since after Akihisa heard about those things (Himeji-san transferring schools), I've been forced to stay back every night and revise it with him."

"Oh...forget about Sakamoto, it's really unexpected for Aki to get such good grades."

"That's because that guy wanted to see what he can do if he really worked hard. Also, it's also a case of 'hard work overcoming stupidity. To be honest, his concentration is really amazing."

Yuuji continued to converse with Minami while their backs are facing Himeji-san. This is to prevent the rest from knowing that we knew about Himeji-san transferring schools.

"Erm, about, about that..."

"Hm, ah, is there anything?"

Himeji-san continues to play with her fingers in front of her. She really looks like a cute kouhai girl confessing to a male sempai.

"I got something to say after the night festival, please come over to the carpark!"

After saying this while blushing like a tomato, she runs off to continue her work as a waitress.

Oh, that really sounds like a confession. Looks like I just saw something good.

"...Eh?"

Suddenly, I feel that something's amiss. What the hell? Eh--who was Himeji-san saying those words to?

[That's you. Yoshii Akihisa.]

Oh my--it's been a while since I last saw my inner devil. You're still trying to trick me with that smooth talk. As expected of a real devil.

[Nope, I'm not lying. This is real. You should know if you think through the whole conversation, right?]

The whole conversation? If so...

[THAT'S A LIE!! HOW CAN A STUPID AND UGLY AKIHISA END UP WITH THIS? I CAN'T LET THE DEVIL'S WORDS TRICK ME!]

"GET OUT, O WHITE ANGEL!"

I thought that it would finally come out now, yet I didn't expect it the words to come out of my mouth!

[Then check it out for yourself. If I'm wrong, go ahead and finish off Himeji-san's cooking.]

[Bring it on! If I'm wrong, you'll do the same!]

I'm sorry, but can you please stop ignoring the host and say it like this? If I have to say it, no matter which side loses, I'll be the one who would undergo this test of life and death.

"Sakamoto, Akihisa, sorry to interrupt you, but can you help out at the teahouse? The number of customers have increased because of your win, so we're really busy here."

Just as I was worrying about how to try and calm myself down, Hideyoshi, who's in a really skimpy cheongsam, comes running over. Come to think of it, what's he wearing underneath the cheongsam?

"Ah, you're right. Oi, Aki! The tournament's over, so you got to do your best and help out, okay?"

"Mm, I'll make up for the lack of effort before this."

"Ooo, i feel so weak."

"Sakamoto, stop complaining!"

"I know, this is for Himeji-san, right?"

Yuuji intentionally looked at me, but I turn away.

Himeji-san, huh? What did she mean when she said those words?