Saki stared incrediously at Kumagawa who just dropped such a bomb with the most cassual attitude. She must make sure she heard him right.
Saki:Ex...Expelled? You'll be expelled?
Kumagawa:[Huh? Didn't I tell you? That's the condition Anshin'in-san set to get me to participate in the game.]
Saki:No, you didn't...
Had he? Maybe he said and she just ignored him? Or perhaps she just thought he was saying something incomprehensible again...
She never expected something like this. So under the threat of expulsion this Anshin'in-san had made Kumagawa participate in this game.
That was why yesterday he had to conquer the Russian Roulette against Uchi. And that is why today he came here looking for the Hero's Sword.
What was this? What was this overwhelming sense of discomfort?
In this entire story something was strange. There was a flaw in it somewhere.
Ah, of course. She felt uncounfortable at the idea of Kumagawa yelding to the threat of expulsion.
Of course, for any normal high school student being expelled was a pretty big deal. And most people would probably listen to anything in order to prevent that.
Actually, that is how Aki controlled Suisou in the past. But she didn't just threaten to expell students, she did expell some of them as proof of her conviction.
But this was Kumagawa we were talking about.This was Kumagawa Misogi.
Why did he yield to a threat like this? If anything, at that point he'd happily leave the academy on his own accord.
Kumagawa's reason for living was to trample on things that other people valued. Even if that thing was his own school register.
He was a high schooler with a hobby of burning banknotes in a fireplace and throwing out water in the middle of a desert. But then, why now did he bend to such normal coercion from this Anshin'in-san?
Saki:Why...Why is that, Kumagawa-kun?
Kumagawa:[That's obvious, isn't it? It's because I want to be with you, Saki-chan. I love you, and I love Suisou Academy.]
Saki:...
The answer wasn't what she expected. It was more infuriating than anything she could ever imagine.
What was this, some sort of final episode? If he loves it that much she's seriously gonna bury him on school grounds.
But continuing to question him would be useless. And they didn't have much time on their hands to begin with.
Saki:Just for reference, Kumagawa-kun. If the pool happened to be drained, do you think you'd be able to pull the Hero's Sword out? You said earlier that it didn't have to do with water pressure or buoyancy. In that case, it shouldn't matter whether you drain the water or not, right?
Kumagawa:[That's right, it has nothing to do with mechanics or physics...That's why I think we should be thinking about pulling it out through a different system or rule...But before that, there's another problem to consider.]
Saki:And what's that?
Kumagawa:[What Anshin'in-san has for All Fiction countermeasures, so to speak.]
Saki:But no matter what plan you had, All Fiction was a skill that could make the plan itself as if it never existed, so just thinking about it normally, it didn't seem like something you could make a plan for...Especially just with the water in a pool.
Kumagawa:[That's not true, Saki-chan. First and foremost, I can't swim. And secondly, I can't breathe underwater.]
Saki:...Hm? It doesn't seem like there's a big difference between the first and second things? Isn't it because you can't breathe underwater that you can't swim?
Kumagawa:[There are people that can swim even though they can't breathe underwater, right? And anyway, it's just that it's easier to understand if you consider these two separately, Saki-chan. Basically, because I can't swim, it's already a struggle to make it to the Hero's Sword at the bottom of the pool. And even if I do make it there, it produces a time lag until I can activate All Fiction to nullify the system that keeps the sword from being pulled out.]
Saki:A time lag...
That could be considered the weak point of all Skill Holders, not just Kumagawa-kun. That was the reason why skills that were constantly active without needing to be controlled surpassed Skill Holders, who you'd think would be higher in rank.
It was hard to say that Kumagawa actually controlled his All Fiction, but regardless of whether it can be called control or not, it was true that he himself decided when to use it. Naturally, that meant that when he needed to apply it to the Hero's Sword at the bottom of the pool, he needed to have the will, the intention, to apply it.
Kumagawa:[I end up drowning from that time lag. Basically, because I'm surrounded by water, I end up panicking and I can't use my skill well. You remember, right, Saki-chan? Surely you haven't already forgotten about our great predecessor, the highly esteemed former President, Jakago Aki-san.]
Saki:Right...Of course I remember.
Kumagawa:[Why was it that the skill she used, Aero Biker, such a dominating force? If we consider how she managed to dominate over the many other Skill Holders at the academy as if they were nothing, it would be because her skill that controls oxygen allows her to freely manipulate the air that surrounds us humans, right?]
Saki:Hmm...I suppose so.
To be precise, oxygen only made up about 20 percent of air, but that wasn't exactly relevant to the comparison Kumagawa was trying to make with Aki's skill and the current game. Although, if you looked at it another way, you could say that she was able to show that much dominance even with only 20 percent.
Saki:So that might be why Anshin'in-san forbid the draining of the pool...Is that right, Utsubogi-san?
Mei:Even if you ask me, I wouldn't know. My job is just to carry out the game just as Anshin'in-san told me to. It's a simple job that anyone can do.
Saki:...But, if that's the case, then it would've been fine to just forbid the use of 'All Fiction' itself. Why would she restrict you with a dull, roundabout rule like forbidding you from draining the pool?"l
Kumagawa:[There could be another reason. But fundamentally, it's probably just that. That's just another one of Anshin'in-san's tendencies.]
Saki:A tendency?
Kumagawa:[Basically, she doesn't like having to remove something from play just because it's a hindrance to her. If I describe her as someone who is overwhelmingly powerful and yet doesn't enjoy power games, then you get it, right, Saki-chan?]
Saki:No, I don't get it at all...
Kumagawa:[In that sense, I'm someone who is overwhelmingly powerless and yet doesn't enjoy power games, so there's a mutual understanding there, as well as an incompatibility. Well, if you still don't get it at all, then think about it like this. When Anshin'in-san hears, "It would've been fine if you'd just done this", she's the kind of person that responds like this. "Then it wouldn't be interesting, right?".]
Mei:...
It should be noted that Kumagawa changed his voice at that time to imitate her. Saki had never met this person before, but by the face Mei was making she guessed he didn't sound at all like her.
Kumagawa:[Well, that's what's cool about Anshin'in-san, but it's also where she shows an opening. In my opinion, it's one of Anshin'in-san's weaknesses. That's how I managed to succeed in sealing Anshin'in-san.]
Mei:If...If you're going to say that Anshin'in-san has weaknesses, then I can't overlook that, please take it back.
Kumagawa:[Ahaha. I see, so 'that' is your weakness. Interesting. I'd love to play with you a little more about that, but I don't have the time right now.]
Mei:...
Kumagawa:[I don't want to be expelled from this Suisou Academy that I love, that I'd even attend on Sundays, so I have to keep playing this game. I have to finish this quest. And I'd like to ask this just for reference, Utsubogi-chan.]
Mei:...What is it?
Kumagawa:[You called this the first quest, right? Saying it like this really makes me realize the long road I have ahead of me, but really, how many quests are there exactly?]
Mei:To that question, I was told to respond like this "The number of quests you have, in total, is four".
Saki:Four...