Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Solace

Vol. 5: Chapter 13.1 - Impending Doom

Horikita analyzed how everything went using the scores that she and Hirata manually tallied earlier.

According to them, having two of our classmates in the top four was a vital win condition. The disparity between fourth and fifth place was night and day. One was an addition of 8 points while the other was a deduction of 1 point. It was a 9-point difference.

Horikita's strategy was to maximize that fact. 

They took the boys' round as an example. If Hirata and Ken were to run in the first group, they could easily secure first and second places. But both of them could secure first place if they were to run in different groups. That's why Horikita wanted to spread our potential first-placers while teaming them up with fairly athletic partners to secure the top four. The unathletic ones were also tactically placed to minimize drawbacks.

It's the perfect strategy for random match-ups. Horikita made sure that every pair can yield the best possible result despite their level of athleticism. She couldn't have done it any better in that aspect.

Unfortunately, it ended in disaster. Runners like Minami and Makida had their potential to place higher stunted by extremely unlucky match-ups. Not only that. The same thing happened with the others, too. There were a few students that Ike and Yamauchi could've beaten, and that's even more so for Okitani and Onizuka who were only a bit below average. But in the end, they still finished as the last placers for their respective groups. The ones they could beat were either grouped against Ken, Hirata, or me.

"At first, we would've written this off as bad luck... But after the girls finished, that simply can't be the case anymore. Our few wins were earned too easily while our many losses were very close. If we look at it from a certain perspective, the correlation should be obvious," said Horikita. 

"Yes... We think the match-ups had been rigged," Hirata declared with a heavy expression.

Kikyou's eyes narrowed but she wasn't too surprised. Karuizawa, however, seemed to be in shock.

"R-Rigged...? But isn't that impossible? You and Yousuke-kun were the only ones who knew about our class's participation table. And our class was also the last one to submit... How...?"

"Frankly, I still have no idea. The most logical explanation would be Ichinose-san's betrayal. She might have lied to us about Sakayanagi-san submitting Class B's participation table. That in itself is already unlikely, but then what about them knowing every detail of our participation table?" Horikita's grim expression only increased Karuizawa's unease.

"This might be a horrible thing to say, but it's possible for there to be a traitor inside the class..." said Kikyou.

"Ehh, a traitor?! Well, it does make sense if you look at it from that angle, but who would do such a thing?!"

"I don't know... I don't want to suspect any of our classmates..." she replied with a pained expression.

"Horikita-san and I could only arrive at the same conclusion as Kushida-san. But I also feel the same way. I don't want to doubt anyone inside the class."

"I can understand where the two of you are coming from, but I'm sure you're already aware of how naive that is." Horikita acknowledged their compassion, but dragged them back to reality.

"Yes, you're right, Horikita-san... That's why we need to investigate and find the truth." Hirata's eyes had a regretful glint. "But... regarding our current state in the sports festival, it's not like we can change anything at this point. We'll just have to make do with our current order."

"Let's keep this to ourselves for now. Telling the class would only cause chaos. For the time being, I would like Hirata-kun and Karuizawa-san to keep our classmates in line."

"Sure."

"Leave it to us."

When the two of them left, Horikita turned to me and waited for my thoughts on the matter.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you find the traitor or anything like that. The only thing I can do for the class is to perform well in the sports festival."

"And don't get any ideas about me being the traitor, Horikita-san. I'm not interested in doing that anymore, so it would be great if you could leave me alone." Kikyou dropped her mask and confronted Horikita.

"I already expected those words, and I don't really think any of you would turn traitor." Horikita turned to Kikyou. "With that being said, would you like to help us investigate, Kushida-san?"

"I don't mind, but you don't get to order me around. If I get any clues, then I'll tell you myself."

"That's fine by me."

Kikyou still can't seem to stand Horikita, but at least she's not antagonizing her to a destructive degree. Even I can vouch for her innocence in this matter. If Kikyou really was the traitor, then I would've stopped her before she could even do anything.

"Say, Kiyotaka-kun. Is the sports festival a lost cause at this point? If the matches are rigged, then we can only hope for our classmates to overperform."

"That's basically the case."

Horikita's expression darkened, but she can't think of any solution.

"Heh, I can't even blame you for this, Horikita-san. In my eyes, I even thought you were being overly cautious and paranoid about the preparations," goaded Kikyou.

"Is that your way of making me feeling better?"

"Whatever you say," she scoffed. "I'm heading back. Good luck on your other events, Kiyotaka-kun. I'll try to keep the class's morale high. We can't have them tired and depressed at the same time."

I returned Kikyou's cheerful wave.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Yes, you don't have to worry about me. I was never under the impression that my plan was unbeatable." 

The absence of her absolute arrogance was clearly a sign of growth, but it can also hinder her.

"But I never expected the enemy to beat us this way. We're in a really bad spot, to say the least. I can't believe our participation table got leaked..." she said.

"When you tried to confirm whether Ryuuen really submitted Class D's participation table, Chabashira-sensei was the one who helped you, right?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Hmm... Teachers can't obviously say anything that topples the balance of the playing field, but knowing Chabashira-sensei, she might've given you the answer already. Or at the very, she must have given you some sort of clue."

"A clue?"

"Of course, it should be something within the bounds of what a teacher could say. But who knows? I wasn't there, so I can't say for sure."

As the new Class A, I can see that Chabashira-sensei's initial detachment to the class was slowly fading. I thought it was shallow of her to suddenly change just because the class was improving, but I think there's more to it. If my evaluation of her is right, then I'm sure she had already given Horikita the answer she needs.

"I see... I'll mull over it later," Horikita turned to the field. The upperclassmen were just about finished. "For now, we need to brace ourselves for the rest of the sports festival. It's an uphill battle from here."

"Don't worry. I don't plan on losing any event that I'm participating in."

"Is that so? That's very reassuring," she sighed.

Well, that's under the assumption that I'm going to participate.