Episode 56: Two Wishes

The periodic test was over.

Swordsmanship exam, magic exam, horsemanship exam, written exam, chivalry exam.

It was quite hard to handle all of these in one day, but well, I think I managed to display a good performance somehow.

The students were now gloriously free and would surely enjoy the long yet short holiday.

However, the students of the knight course unfortunately had their entire summer vacation taken up by a training camp.

It seems they would be heading to a place like a southern country, but they probably wouldn’t be able to relax much.

Of course, I was no exception to this, and would be leaving this academy for a while.

…Before that, how should I handle the student council work and the matter with Eleanore?

That would be settled in today’s battle.

***

“Everyone, good work… wait, what are you doing…?”

The door to the student council building conference room opened and our vice president Emily showed her face, but she immediately made a confused expression and voice.

That was only natural, as right now a somewhat strange atmosphere was drifting in this room.

Eleanore and I were facing each other across a desk, with the three idiot seniors surrounding us as if watching over the situation.

A somewhat tense atmosphere had settled in this place.

“Ah, Emily senpai. Right now we’re having a test score showdown between first years.”

Carlos, the mischievous public relations officer, answered in our place.

“Score showdown? Between the knight course and nobility course, wouldn’t that not work as a contest?”

“Well, they’re apparently adjusting for that. With grade rankings and such.”

Chrome, the glasses-wearing boy treasurer, added supplementary information.

Originally we intended to settle this with just a one-on-one contest, but combined with today being student council meeting day and Eleanore’s wishes, we had the senior officers sit in as well.

…Maybe she was making sure I couldn’t escape from the penalty if I lost… I thought, but that’s probably overthinking it.

“I see… so, who’s winning right now?”

“Look at this!!”

Sharon, the glasses-wearing and competitive secretary, approached Emily with a vigor that was almost like pleading.

“We’ve announced three subjects so far… but is it even possible to do this well?!?!”

What she thrust at Emily was the paper with our test results we had just revealed.

What was written there was…

“W-wait, calm down. Let me see… wait, they’re all 100 points?!”

Emily let out an astonished voice.

All 100 points.

The six test results Sharon showed were all perfect scores.

In other words, Eleanore and I were currently even.

It had become quite a high-level battle.

“Last year I could only manage 70 points at best…!”

“That’s just ’cause you’re stupid, Sharon.”

“Huh?? You were a regular in remedial classes!”

“You’re both so noisy. Hearing monkeys howl is unpleasant.”

“Monkeys… you barely passed everything except written subjects too!”

Setting us aside, the three idiot seniors made a fuss.

Were these people really characters from an otome game?

And were they really members of the elite group that boasted outstanding popularity?

At this point I couldn’t deny the feeling of a stupid trio…

But, outside of each capture route, they might have actually been like this.

So this was the reality of that elite student council…

“…Shall we reveal the next two at once?”

Eleanore, who never stopped smiling cheerfully, casually spoke up.

But that smile was probably a poker face.

She didn’t let any emotion show through at all.

“I see… that’s fine with me. There’s no point dragging it out too much.”

I placed my hand on the remaining face-down test result papers.

…This would decide the match.

The loser would have to listen to anything the winner said.

…Now that I think about it, I feel like we’ve bet something a bit outrageous, but once I’ve agreed to something, it wouldn’t be allowed to take it back.

For my sake, for Eleanore’s sake, and also for my sake, I can’t lose here!

“Well then, let’s flip them on the count of three. …One, two, three!”

In sync with her voice, I determined my fate.

The two papers I flipped both had the numbers 1-0-0 carved on them.

In other words, perfect scores on all subjects.

I started studying at the last minute and barely made it, but a result is a result.

It’s commonly said that the knight course tests are harder than the nobility course.

With all perfect scores, it was almost as if I had won.

…That should be the case, but…

“…What are these scores…”

I had no choice but to raise a question after seeing Eleanore’s results.

Why were things like “Awesome!” and “Amazing!” written in the score section? Just stick to numbers.

“It seems I received high praise from teachers like the art teacher… so it resulted in this.”

…No no, is that even possible on an official test?

…I guess it is possible since this is what happened.

So, in this case, what’s the score…?

What should I use as the standard for judgment…

“What!? Art, from that difficult teacher!?”

“That person has such an artist’s temperament, the test was incredibly strict, right?”

“Really. I still can’t forgive them for giving me the humiliating score of 0 points around this time last year.”

“…That was your own fault though.”

The three idiots and Emily said such things in unison.

It seems to be a well-known teacher in the nobility course.

If it were just the second-year seniors it’d be one thing, but since Emily says so too, they must really be a strict teacher.

And Eleanore who broke through such a stronghold and received great praise.

…Which side won this?

“In the end, which one wins, I wonder.”

Emily voiced my thoughts.

This is quite a difficult part to judge.

“…But, if that teacher recognized her this much, I think Eleanore-san wins after all.”

“I think we should appropriately evaluate that she made the one who gave me 0 points submit.”

“No, the knight course tests are pretty tough, you know? I mean the average score is apparently around 50. I think Arcs wins.”

The three idiots were 2-to-1 for Eleanore…

…Or rather, since all the student council members are from the nobility course, there’s no one who knows the feel of knight course tests, so if we decide by majority vote, aren’t I at a disadvantage?

Wait, so I lose…?

I broke out in a bit of a sweat.

No, it’s not decided yet, but I should probably prepare myself for whatever Eleanore might say…

I noticed my lips were dry and tried to moisten them when,

“…How about we call this a draw?”

Eleanore spoke up.

“A draw… you mean?”

“I honestly didn’t expect such a match to happen… and it seems difficult to decide a victor.”

Well, it’s true you can’t predict a perfect score giant monster battle.

We’re both top students for now, but whether we can stay at the top all year is quite difficult.

“…That’s, well, understood. That’s fine. Then, what about ‘the loser will listen to anything the winner says’?”

I brought up the topic of the bet we had established before.

“Eh, they were betting something that extreme?”

“They look so serious but do such bold things…!”

“Initiative is wonderful, but…”

The three idiots started commenting on the content of the bet one after another, but I was vaguely thinking that too! Don’t say it all!

I protested internally.

“Let’s see… Since it’s a draw, how about instead of anything… we ‘listen to one thing the other says as much as possible’?”

Eleanore slowly spoke like that… well, that does feel like a good compromise.

…But, is Eleanore okay with that?

I had thought she might have something tremendously important she wanted me to do, to impose such a strong binding of “anything”… but is that not the case?

In any case, this is exactly what I hoped for.

Though my wish might not be within the scope of “as much as possible.”

“…Understood. I’m fine with that too.”

When I agreed, Eleanore slightly raised the corners of her mouth.

Though her overall expression didn’t change much, I felt her emotions were well expressed in her subsequent actions.

She leaned forward from the desk and drew close to me.

“Then, starting with Arcs right away… please tell me your wish for me!”

She seems really eager…

It’s as if the emotion of excitement is written on her face.

“F-from me? Let’s see…”

Being watched by the student council seniors while saying it does feel somewhat embarrassing… but well, it’s probably fine.

I’ve been thinking about this several times since then.

There’s no need to hesitate now.

It’s because you hold back with these things that it becomes a problem—if you say it plainly and simply, it’s no big deal.

“…Um, Eleanore-sama.”

“Yes!”

“Please come with me to the summer training camp.”

“”””Eh?””””

The other four simultaneously let out voices in unison.