Real teaching, hypocritical gray life

【...】

[Swallowing the wind and spewing out the mist in the auspicious clouds, chasing the waves with great momentum. 】

【...】

"I am back."

0

After finishing the afternoon group discussion, Ichinose and Hamaguchi, who were in the same rabbit group as me, went back to their rooms to rest and take care of the gains they had made on the field. I thought I would be able to meet the 8pm gathering notice so easily, but I didn't expect to be caught off guard at half past five.

I picked up the napkin beside me and wiped my washed hands.

"It's so rare that you would actually take the initiative to invite me to dinner."

"I am also surprised by your choice. I never thought you would accept it without hesitation."

"Don't tell me you invited me knowing I would refuse..."

"of course."

"...So this is just a coincidence? Or did my acceptance disrupt your plans?"

"It's the same everywhere, I don't care too much."

"This sentence is really hurtful..."

I expressed my resentment to Kanzaki, but he didn't even look at me and continued reading the book in his hands.

"Why, do you like this book very much?"

"I just wanted to kill some time while someone was taking a dump."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kanzaki closed the heavy pages of the book with a loud 'bang', and the airflow was clearly visible between the strands of hair flowing in front of his forehead.

"There's no title, no painting on the cover, and the content is so mixed that it's hard to describe it as 'all-encompassing'... Where on earth did you get this book?"

"It was given to me by a bookstore owner who I am close to. He also wrote the content himself. He just randomly added one sentence every day, and over time it became this work."

"It's just a random compilation. No wonder it has nothing to do with the 'system'..."

"You can tell from the fact that it has not been published, and the pages are loose and can be disassembled at will."

"But some of the content is quite difficult to understand, and there is no clear explanation... Are you sure you can understand it?"

"The profundity of the content should not be my observation of the text."

"......What does this mean?"

"As you can see, it means literally."

As I took the returned books, I tried to smile triumphantly.

"You don't have to show such a sad expression... You just read without understanding the content. I admire your ability to continue reading."

Ha, sad expression? I was obviously smiling!

"Just treat it as getting to know each other. At least it doesn't require too much brainpower, right?"

"Ha, you know each other? Is this some new kind of international joke?"

"Please don't worry about the details... So, what do you want to talk to me about?"

"What if I say I just want a simple meal?"

"Don't give me that. The day before yesterday, the four of us invited you to go with us, but you didn't agree. Instead, you went to the cinema by yourself and had fun."

"I've already told you in advance, but you just didn't listen. It's normal that you don't know, but Shiratori and the others must know."

Ah, what a bunch of bad friends who never speak their mind.

"I came to you this time to tell you about my news and to inquire about the situation of your Rabbit Group."

"..."

"You look very subtle."

"You must be mistaken. You shouldn't tell me about this kind of thing, right?"

"There's nothing I can do. Ichinose is being pestered by other students to analyze the situation, and Hamaguchi is seriously thinking about the battle plan, so if you want to pass on a message or get information, you're the only one left."

"You don't have anything to do anyway."

"How dare you say that..."

"That's the truth. When I went to your room to look for you, didn't you just sit on the bed and see it? You even brought it out."

"I was forced to do this. If the discussion hadn't been difficult, I wouldn't have done this."

"Did the students in Class A make the choice to withdraw from the exam?"

"That's right." I nodded, and then described the whole process to him, of course skipping the small episode about Karuizawa. When I got to the end when Ibuki proposed to cooperate with our class, Kanzaki fell into deep thought.

"By the way, Kanzaki, which group are you in?"

"...I'm in the Dragon Team."

"The Dragon Group... What's so special about the Dragon Group? I am also a little concerned about what Ibuki-san said to Ichinose."

"You'll understand after you look at the list of Dragon Team members."

Although Kanzaki's words had some profound meaning, I didn't intend to think about it further. I directly took the note he handed over and revealed the truth.

Dragon Team Members List

Class A: Katsuragi Kohei, Nishikawa Ryoko, Toba Shinji, Yano Koharu.

Class B: Sayo Ando, ​​Ryuji Kanzaki, Hitomi Tsube.

Class C: Takumi Oda, Hidetoshi Suzuki, Masashi Sonoda, Sho Ryuen.

Class D: Kushida Kikyo, Hirata Yosuke, Horikita Suzune.

"Katsuragi, Ryuuen, Horikita, and you... I see, the members of your Dragon Team seem to be quite impressive."

"He is the representative of the class. That's why it would be unnatural if Class Leader Ichinose wasn't here."

"If we consider academic ability, Ichinose ranked first in the entrance exam, and his ability has never declined in the class. He is a well-deserved leader..."

"Even though we know the details of Captain Ichinose's abilities, we still don't know what's going on."

"...Then it can only be a simple grouping, there is no special reason. Look at the list, wasn't Sakayanagi-san, another member of Class A who has leadership qualities, also not selected into the Dragon Team?"

"That's what I said, but this kind of member allocation still makes people feel strange, as if there is some hidden secret."

"Anyway, it will undoubtedly be very hard on your end."

"That's it. To be honest, it's quite tense."

"Fortunately, I don't need to think about it."

"Don't hold back."

"I'm not that bad... so is that all you need me to tell you?"

"No, there is one more thing. It's about the cooperation with Class C Ryuen—"

Chapter 98: The purest starry sky may be the void

[The rich have wine and meat, but the poor are freezing on the streets.]

This line of poetry comes from "Five Hundred Words of Thoughts on the Way from Beijing to Fengxian County" written by Du Fu in the Tang Dynasty.

The rich families had so much wine and meat that they could not eat them all and they became spoiled and stinked, but there were corpses of poor people who froze to death on the streets.

The "red door" in the poem refers to the wealthy family, and freezing to death is not just death due to the cold, but also includes starvation and the disaster of being penniless. The word "bone" is used to highlight the seriousness of the problem.

This sentence is the best description of the real world at that time, and it also reflects the hardships of people's lives and the corruption in the officialdom.

It was so cold in November that the meat had already spoiled and started to stink, but the people were still unable to have enough food and clothing. This shows the huge gap between the rich and the poor in society.

As for why I thought of this sentence at this moment, it is because the current situation in the venue can be fully described in this metaphor.

I originally thought that the failure of Class A and Class C in the last exam would make them eager to take action in this special exam, which would lead to tension and fierce competition. However, it seems that being able to become a class leader requires a calm mind, not to mention that they have been through three days of precipitation.

Class A did not participate in the discussion at the second gathering, and the other three classes also became nervous and did not dare to speak freely due to the unstable relationship between the parties. Even though Ichinose tried to find a breakthrough in the deadlock, it was useless after many attempts, and all he got was students randomly swiping their phones.

This is how life is like for everyone.

In short, we are unable to take any punitive measures against Class A's actions. After all, the school's constraints only require us to gather at the designated location within the specified time, and there are no mandatory regulations on behavioral measures during the relevant time period.

All we can do now is meaningless small talk.

"I don't think I can open my heart or anything like that, but we have to have this discussion, right? Otherwise, won't the people who are favored by others remain in hiding?"

"In fact, if we keep our mouths shut, we won't get anything useful from our discussion. After all, the interests of the people who give preferential treatment will be more obvious."

"But at least it won't be as tormenting as this. If you stay here in silence for an hour, isn't that like being in prison?"

"You can't say that, survivor. Although we can't leave this place, our activities are not restricted in any way. Playing with mobile phones and reading books are allowed. At least it can be called a vacation, right?"

"..."

"If you really want to talk, I can chat with you like a friend." Ichinose said these words of comfort to Yukimura-san from Class D who was eager to find the one who was being treated preferentially. However, he did not expect that Machida-san from Class A who had been silent all this time suddenly spoke at this time.

"Is that really okay? They say they're just chatting like friends, but who knows what traps they'll set to get information from them. Or do the D class have absolute trust in the B class students?"

"Machida-san should have paid attention to the members of his own group when he said that. Let alone trusting students from other classes, can you trust your classmates unconditionally?"

"...Isn't this the natural thing to do?"

In response to Ichinose's question, Machida's gaze suddenly shifted to a student named "Morishige" beside him.

I see. Although they obey Katsuragi's strategic orders on the surface, they are secretly subordinate to the leader Sakayanagi.

As expected, they would try to get stabbed in this exam, and with the uncertain targeted activities of Class C...

Later, Ichinose used Yukimura and Karuizawa's desire to find out who was being treated favorably to force Class A to answer, but this trick failed after a few attempts. Hamaguchi was also looking for a breakthrough; the students of Class C and Ayanokouji stood at the edge of the battlefield and observed the situation. Although some of the conversations between them caught my attention, I was still immersed in the book most of the time.

The deadlock that had arisen last time continued until the end of the second special exam gathering, and nothing changed.

"Alas, this is too difficult. Even though it's an exam, the process is too demanding."

After all the students left, Ichinose complained in a spoiled way, and the cute expression on her face made me stunned.

"Luo Jun is the same, he is like a piece of wood and has no reaction at all."

"Hamaguchi-san has already helped make up for my lack of effort. Besides, even Ichinose couldn't successfully reverse the deadlock, so what else can you expect me to do?"

"Can I excuse me for a moment?"

While I was still responding to Ichinose's dissatisfaction with me, I heard a slight noise in my ears, but I didn't make a sound, and tried to divide my attention equally into two parts.

"If Luo Jun is serious, he will be able to achieve as much success as I do. He is obviously very smart and has great potential... It is because Luo Jun did nothing that he is in this state now."

"That's clearly Class A's class strategy. Unless I infiltrate Class A and become a celebrity, there won't be any other results even if I join the talks. If the current deadlock is caused by me, then Ayanokouji and the students of Class C are also partly responsible. It's too unreasonable to put all the blame on me."

"Well, I just hope that the next exam will go a little smoother...Anyway, that's all I want to say for today, let's go back."

0

"That way all needs are in place."

After confirming that there was nothing wrong with the actual object in front of me, I followed the emergency passage to the cinema on the third floor underground, and then took the elevator back to the first floor deck.

It was almost midnight, and I had no intention of returning to my room when most people were about to go to bed. Through my powerful sleeping ability shown in front of Shiratori and the others, I successfully misled them into thinking that I was awake at all times, so they would not worry about my situation.

Although the school asked us not to go out at night, there was no mandatory order. There was no trace of people on the deck, but in fact the izakaya on the cruise ship was still open at this time.

I came to the top of the deck alone, and the endless starry sky suddenly came into my sight.

Just those few stars reminded me of a painter I had to pretend to accompany when I was a child.

[The starry sky is mysterious, and that is what destiny represents. ]

【Lovers never separate, passing on thoughts, eternity. 】

【So you need to calm down and feel the balance of light and dark in the picture. 】

It's always like that.

Starlight is the brightest part of the star painting clock and also the most saturated color composition.

What kind of scenery, what kind of trees, their brightness level will be much lower than super long.

The night is dark, but the scenery is darker; the moon is bright, but the shooting stars are more dazzling.