"Kawahara...."

"Yeah? What's up? Don't tell me you're tired!"

Although that's not 100% incorrect, that's not really the case here, no matter how I look at it.

"Make them shut up. They are annoying the shit out of me!"

As soon as Kawahara heard my words, he waved at the crowd and the crowd full of girls from all of the three years screamed in response.

"Kawahara!"

They even know his fucking name, what is this?!

"A shame I can't talk to them. It hurts my soul having such a loyal and faithful audience when it's impossible for me to show my gratitude. Can't be helped, Daniel. Another 5 kilometers!"

"Kawahara, we are way above 5 kilometers right now! I think that we have definitely hit the 10-kilometer mark by now!"

I still don't know his routine, by the way. All we have been doing is running across the platform non-stop. It's without a doubt tiresome since 10 kilometers is no joking matter... Yet these eternal fangirl screams directed at Kawahara are pissing me off...

Because they are only directed towards him!

"Chill out! What's the harm? Don't tell me that this is too much for you? Well, is it?"

"N-No! But didn't you say that you were going with only 5 kilometers?! What the hell have you been doing this whole time?"

"Hahahaha!"

He didn't laugh at me, he laughed at the gigantic crowd gathering outside of the platform. Some are even taking pictures. Damn show-off!

"Dan, I've been doing the exact same stuff. There's really no excuse when it comes to physical practice. The more you limit yourself the weaker you become. That's why... RUN WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT!"

Said Kawahara as he took off with an explosive dash. Of course, I couldn't allow myself to be defeated and as he said, I did run with all my might.

45 minutes later.

"Ahhhh!!! Ahhhhh!!"

Shit, I haven't run like this in such a long time. My muscles are so sour that they feel like dead weight. As I looked at the massive blue cerulean sky above me while lying down on the concrete and hard ground, I tried to regain my posture yet I was only able to raise myself up after Kawahara extended me his right hand.

"Here. Get up."

Without saying anything, I just took ahold of his with gratitude.

By the way, there is no crowd now since it's class time for the other classes.

"Have you done some sort of martial arts? Or just physical exercise? It's not every day I see someone keep up with me. Well... You tried to keep up with me, didn't you? But then your arms gave in while doing push-ups! Don't feel too bad about it, okay? You were born in the same generation as I, it was bound to happen. This moment where you would lose and I would win!"

It's true. While doing push-ups, I've hit a state of physic where I couldn't bring my own body to do more push-ups than him.

His arrogant attitude, though.

"Oh, shut up. It was only by a slight margin, don't get this cocky over it."

"Hahaha, you mad? So, did you do it or not?"

"No, I didn't."

Kawahara's arms went from being folded to vastly opening up themselves in order to express his surprise.

"No way that's possible dude. How do you justify your physical ability then?"

How...?

"I just took swimming lessons when I was little. Hey, before you say anything, you shouldn't underestimate the power of swimming lessons!"

"Uh-huh. Sure, sure. Swimming lessons. Yeah, I totally trust you. Well, whatever. Onto what's important. Did you find out who she is yet?"

Kawahara's unexpected question got me confused for a great total of 5 seconds. Furthermore, I formed a stupid expression of wonder which just told Kawahara that I ultimately had forgotten about it.

"Oi..... You forgot?! How?!"

Before he could get physical on me, I quickly reminded him about it since my brain decided to click at the last second.

"U-Uhh.. No, I didn't forget! I was just too focused on the exam, you see. But, hey, how the hell am I supposed to guess if you are sleeping all the time in class?! You don't leave any clues, damn it!"

One thing is to forget about it, which I eventually did, but there is another factor to this. Whenever you are in love with someone, you are supposed to give special attention to that certain someone, but Kawahara is literally always sleeping.

That sort of behavior is contradicting, overall.

"Yeah, I know I don't. Told ya that you wouldn't guess who she is. I play hard. You're not winning this, Dan."

Midst this, I put on my shirt that was in the middle of the running platform, lost and dirty.

Nevertheless, Kawahara still remained with his top naked.

"Can't you give me at least one clue? Come on..."

"I can't. It becomes too easy if I give you a clue."

Yet that's a clue itself.

"Alright... I'll pay more attention to this matter. But, what about her? Is she the one?"

I pointed at Gale who was sitting far away with her back against the wall enjoying her reading session. Her face could not be seen. Essentially, all that was visible were her black sports jeans and her small hands holding a massively thick book.

"Dude, I'm not falling for that one. You're just gonna ask me about every single one of the girls in our class until I give my answer, aren't you? That's a cheap trick, ya know? Ah, but no. No way in hell. She's just too boring. Plus, I'm low-key mad about the fact that I'm going to fail the exam because of her."

Ah, damn it. I really wanted to bait him with that one. Though, thus far I've gathered about three clues on who Kawahara's crush might be.

First, he said that it would become too easy if he gave me a clue, which means that who she is, is not obvious, but that's exactly it. If I think outside the bubble here, then it will most likely become obvious who she is.

Second, he just confirmed that it's not Gale. Though, that could just be a lie. Yet I'm not buying it. And lastly, he said that she is too boring, which might indicate that someone who isn't boring is in his preferences.

Overall, that's something to work on.

But, something else captured my attention entirely.

"Kawahara, didn't you say that you had the answer to this exam? I thought all this time that you weren't talking to her because you were already on the winning side. Was I wrong?"

While we were talking to each other, we exited the running platform and went around for a stroll.

But damn, his black locks are amazing. The combination of his vast blonde hair with his dark black locks at the end of each hairpiece is phenomenal.

"Well... I'll explain that to you once we get into my secret location."

Though it caught my attention the fact that Kawahara bothered to put his shirt on, what he said to me just now was something I couldn't ignore.

"Secret location?"

"Yeah. Secret location. Since you and Kuzan will be my pawns soon, what's the point of hiding it any more? It will be our general meeting location. Don't tell this to anyone. Not even Kuzan. Kuzan will know eventually. Should you tell this to anyone, you will be branded as a traitor."

Kawahara's expression which is usually carefree and relaxed became suddenly serious in just a matter of seconds.

"Say, what happens once we are branded as traitors?"

Without wasting any moves, Kawahara did the knife throat movement with his right hand on his own throat immediately, which made me realize how serious he was about this.

"Got it? But hey, I know that you and Kuzan wouldn't be dumb enough to defy me in the first place. This is gonna be fun..."

His malicious grin worries me. Plus, Kawahara's overly confident attitude just demonstrates how much he trusts his own actions. Even though I haven't said anything about being his pawn.

It's all in his mind.

And eventually...

"Wow..."

Just... how...?

"So? What do you think? Pretty neat huh? I was bored out of my mind and I decided to come here in one night and would you look at that, there was a secret entrance with a secret room all along! Can't believe they kept us from this!"

The first thing I noticed when we arrived at this location was that I was feeling a sense of reminiscence. A sense that I have already been here and that it wasn't in a time-gap that was too far away from the current one.

Ultimately, after trespassing into this humid atmosphere, the droplets that hit my head made me realize that this was where we had our first supply exam. However, I was fairly sure that even underneath this unknown underground that there wasn't anything like this.

A place that dispels the mundane setting that this underground possesses. That's right. A secret entrance that was located underneath a hole that was not visible from the start.

Kawahara somehow had caught up on this and as soon as we entered the underground, after walking all the way to the left zones, there was an invisible hole that was covered with hard mud. Underneath it lied a wood ladder that would lead to our current location.

"How the hell did you even find this? No... How did you even get in here?"

Although we hadn't come here via the gateway, Kawahara found a secret door behind King George's fridge. It was tiny, but we eventually found ourselves here, after crawling through a mundane path.

"I told you, man! I was bored! In that boomer's room, once I found this, I almost screamed! Can you believe this?! All of this, for free?!"

"Yeah... I kinda find it hard to believe..."

For the record, Kawahara wasn't referring to the whole underground, because right now we were in a secret room that had actual conditions. As a matter of fact, it was a room that had a couch along with many other pieces of furniture.

Though, the most interesting part was how among the pieces of furniture, there was a bookshelf. There were books of literature, but there was an interesting book that caught my attention.

It was fairly simple to perceive as the title was: 'Remnant's life'.

"Yo, have a seat! Are you gonna stare into the abyss all day long?"

Kawahara told me to have a seat on the massive couch that was in this small room. The light was nice, but I just had to question how this room was here and how it was being supported with electricity. This overall event was beyond puzzling.

Nevertheless, I laid back and allowed my body to relax a little.

"Fuuh..."

But, Kawahara's words came flying at me like a barrage despite the fact that I required a bit of silence.

"You know, since that boomer is gonna come back sooner or later, it's gonna be extremely inconvenient to access this room. And it's basically impossible to access this place via main gate because the tall steel door is impossible to crack down. That's why I was thinking that we should somehow connect a path to one of our rooms."

Well, once King George returns, there is no way in hell that we are going to be able to access this room, that's for sure.

We are here because Kawahara found out a way to access the underground through King George's room.

It's suicide to consider this an option later on, so it makes sense to consider creating alternatives already.

"But how, Kawahara? Are you suggesting that we dig?"

If so, please no.

"That might just be the case. If we have an easy way to access this area then things would become a lot easy. I'm mainly talking about meetings and stuff like that. It's good because we will be able to keep secrecy between us. This way, people won't necessarily meddle in our business."

Kawahara just suggested that we should dig, AGAIN.

Seriously? Why? No, I understand why, but do we have to go through this mountain of effort just to access this room as our secret base?

"You're already assuming that Kuzan and I will be joining you in your cause... Well, I don't doubt that Kuzan will since he is gullible as fuck, but aren't you assuming too many things at once?"

Then our eyes crossed, once we tilted our necks into the opposite directions.

"That's because it's gonna happen. But... I have to prove it to you, don't I, Dan?"

"At least you know..."

That still doesn't mean that I will comply though. This is just to see whether or not I still should insist on Yulia or not. But honestly, my lack of caring is starting to increase and my desire to speak to Yulia, which might turn out to be an immense drag, is slightly decreasing.

And it would be nice if Kawahara wasn't lying through all of this. My patience is not at its peak right now.

"Mhm.... The exam right? You wanted to pass the exam, right?"

Once Kawahara said those words in a monochrome tone, I couldn't help but to raise my head a bit and crook my neck in response.

"Yeah. You said that there was an easy loophole to it and that I would feel dumb just by listening about it. Was it true or was it just a lie? Hey, if it's a lie, just tell me. I'm not with patience today... I and Yulia got into a pretty sour argument. I don't feel like being treated like shit by her if it means that what I will be doing is false and meaningless."

Though, I didn't treat Yulia that nicely either, but if we were to put this in a perspective of who treated who better, then I think that I come out on top.

I undoubtedly insisted on her and showed comprehension, not to mention, a rare sight of where I don't completely just deny her opinion. Yet despite that, she remained so stubborn about her own opinion and point.

"Dude, stop doubting me. It's pissing me off. If I tell you something isn't a lie, then that's the case."

"Ah, is that so? Then tell me. How can I pass this exam? I even screwed my situation even further. How the hell can I somehow make my situation into a positive one?"

Truth to be told, relying on people makes me feel weak, but if it means that I will have a free ticket to my freedom, then what's there to lose.

Being stubborn here for the sake of pride is not worth it. Anything or just something that can help me overcome my situation is essential right now.

"Oh well..."

With a quick impulse, Kawahara got up from the couch and grabbed a nearby plastic chair that was for some reason there and took a sit on it, with the chair backward yet with his body turned in front.

"What do you think it's necessary to do in order to win this exam, Dan?"

Pretty obvious, if you ask me.

"Me and my partner, which is Yulia, have to perform the physical tasks and excel at them respectively. That also should go for just about everyone."

"That's true. That's what that blonde bitch said anyway. Without a doubt, that's one of the winning formulae. Excel in your respective performances and you two will be granted a good score. Pretty simple, right?"

Yet there's way more to that.

But wait...

"You just said formulae, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did."

"That's the plural for formulas if I recall correctly..."

Or if my brain doesn't fail me.

"Impressive. Yes, that's the case. And that means that there isn't just one formula to this. You were presented with the respective formula that should be the mandatory and primal formula to excel at this exam, right?"

"Everyone was, Kawahara."

Not a single person from my class was told otherwise at the very exact moment when Yuka-sensei told us how we should perceive the exam.

But wait a second... She didn't tell us how to perceive it... She only told us how we should go about it and she ultimately only told us about the main formula...

Which means...!

"Judging from your shocked face, it seems that something clicked. So, are you feeling dumb yet?"

It can't be...! Shit, I'm so shocked that I'm even facepalming at myself. How could I have been this ignorant about it...

"But relax. Although you have realized the reality of the situation, it wasn't always evident. As a matter of fact, the blonde bitch played it out quite well. She didn't exactly make it obvious in the first place, so if you have found yourself struggling in the past over this matter, then think nothing of it. It was necessary for you to struggle about it to finally realize that you couldn't reach the conclusion on your own."

His words always cut me like swords, but it's true. If Kawahara didn't make me realize about it, then I couldn't have arrived at the conclusion at hand.

"There's more than one formula, right? That's what I think I've discovered... It is, isn't it?"

There was also a chance that my sudden realization could be wrong, so I just wanted to confirm.

"Yes, that's correct, Dan. Did you know, an exam like this can't be accepted in the first place?"

"Huh? Why not? Isn't it just your average physical exam?"

"Average?! Hahaha!! Sure, for us. But, hey, take a look at your partner. She can't do jackshit about it. It's also not just your partner. Mine hasn't even tried a single exercise. It also doesn't exactly matter if I insisted. Fuck, I was pissed off when I was paired up with a weakling like her, but it was obvious from the start that I was on the losing side here."

That's because you were the fastest... In contrast, Hyunda and Sagasuga were most likely the ones who took this into consideration the most.

Of course, this is assuming that Hyunda purposely trolled.

"I don't get it. Why does the physical condition of the other students have to come into play here?"

This is something that I just can't understand. Physical exams are obviously unfair for those who are physically incompetent, but that's just the nature of the exam.

Or am I missing something?

"Dan, get this. For an exam to be accepted, an acceptable criterion has to be created in the first place. Without it, it's impossible for it to be accepted. And considering that we haven't had that many P.E classes, suggesting an exam where every student has to perform such surreal tasks is insane."

"But isn't this their way of being unfair? They know that we are criminals so they are willing to punish us..."

Plus, this isn't the first time that I have witnessed this. I can understand the harsh treatment because apparently it's reasonable to treat others who did evil things accordingly.

Accordingly as in, they get what they deserve.

"That's not an unreasonable way to look at it, but that's also not it. One thing is that monster who constantly throws chalk and calls us retards all day long."

Basara-sensei really loves throwing chalk at our heads every time we try to be a little expressive. But almost never against the girls.

Why?

"Another thing is this blonde bitch, whose pattern of actions dictates that she must obey a moral code. The monster doesn't give a fuck, but not the blonde bimbo. She cares. If so, then she wouldn't issue such an unreasonable exam in the first place. Furthermore, as I have mentioned, the criterion must be acceptable. There's no way in hell that this criterion is acceptable. It's flat-out unreasonable. Therefore, in all common sense, there is only one logical explanation regarding this whole bullcrap.

So according to Kawahara, what actually matters here is Yuka-sensei and since she is a morally righteous person, she would therefore not issue an exam full of unfairness or just about any unfairness at all.

If that's the case, then this doesn't make any sense at all.

"Then--"

"Hold it. Let me boil it down for you."

Coincidentally, I was in his way of speech, so I backed off.

"As I was saying, since this whole exam is unreasonable and that the criterion should not be acceptable, there is only one possible logical route of options here. That being, it's a facade."

Kawahara's most likely referring to how there is a secondary formula, which would lead to the ultimate path.

"I've already explained why the first formula doesn't make much sense. Little time to prepare and beyond unreasonable tasks were proposed. Certainly, calling this a facade might be wrong, but the first formula is only a small fragment of what you are actually being evaluated. Don't get me wrong, if you nail the first formula along with your partner, then you really don't have to worry about this, overall. Yet, let's be real. That's not the case."

His words are starting to be like magic. After explaining how everything revolves, it's all starting to come to life.

"The fact that the blonde bitch didn't bother to even tell us that this was the only absolute mandatory way of nailing the exam is basically proof. If there wasn't another formula, then she would've said something regarding that, yet she didn't."

But, um, weren't you away from class back then, Kawahara? How the hell do you know all of this? What? I don't get it.

"Kawahara, sorry to interrupt, but how do you know all this? Weren't you away from the whole time that Yuka-sensei explained all of this?"

"I stayed close to the classroom. Although I said that I was going for a walk, I stood in a place close to it and listened to the explanation fully."

"Ah, okay."

Then, was it all just an act or was that slap you gave to Akimiyashika the real thing? I don't get this man. So bipolar but so logical. It's confusing.

"Continuing on, I immediately suspected this and thought about it for a bit. Eventually, after gathering and trying to link all the pieces, some just didn't fit in. The criterion, the little time we had, the fact that the exam was essentially proposing something unfair which the blonde thot would just not go along with. Nothing really matched."

"And that was how you arrived at the conclusion that the only logical solution was that there could only be another formula?"

By the way, Kawahara has some serious issues with Yuka-sensei or just blonde people in general. He can't stop insulting her every damn time he mentions her.

"Yes. Although, I can't deny the possibility of there being more formulas. Strictly speaking, I've thought of other formulas, but after observing her behavior and how the blonde hooker progressively mentioned that we needed to understand our partner and how it was essential for both you and your partner to work together, I found it strange. Why would the blonde attention whore mention the fundamentals of teamwork but not how to generally improve when it came to physical exercise? That didn't make much sense because what does teamwork matter if the students are able to nail every single exercise? Would it simply not make more sense to suggest the pairings to train?"

Now that Kawahara mentions it, it doesn't make much sense honestly.

Why suggest the improvement of teamwork fundamentals instead of suggesting the improvement of your physical abilities?

"Plus, you have to take into consideration how she doesn't even stay vigilante anything at all. Why? At first, I thought that this was just mere incompetence. She's blonde, after all."

Lol.

"But, no, that also didn't make much sense. I hate to admit it, but the whore is far more clever and logical than that. Therefore, what? What was I missing? What would she accomplish by not staying vigilant? Hey, Dan. Answer that question for me."

"Maybe she wanted the pairings to work on their own issues independently? I think that if she intervened too much, then all the potential individual pieces of interaction formed between the two elements wouldn't be as strong as their own individual interaction."

Besides, we both know that if Yuka-sensei was constantly insisting about it that the interaction would be far too forced.

In other words, it's a good move to allow the pairings to interact in their own space at their respective pace.

"That's what I thought too. But why? Just to increase their interactions? Or was there something else? If we take into account that it doesn't make any sense to prioritize how the pairings interact instead of potentially giving us some actual surveillance on how to pass the exam through the formula that was presented, then why would the fucking cow give us so much free space? It just didn't click to me at first, but then I saw it!"

Did I mention how Kawahara literally always talks up a storm? I bet he could form a drama just with his lines alone.

Crazy if you think about it.

"What did you see, Kawahara?"

"I saw how obvious it was. Shit, I laughed so hard at the moment that I felt like dying!"

"Just tell me what it is, man... Or do I still have to understand something else?"

I'm assuming that the main reason as to why he didn't just get to the point was because he was too busy explaining his thought process. Though, I'm actually pretty grateful for that, honestly.

"No, the explanation is done. I can deliver you the conclusion. The conclusion was that, since it didn't make sense to pair contrasts with one another, there was essentially an unknown layer. A layer so thick yet translucent. That layer is the second formula."

Kawahara is over-glorifying his own words right now and basically, he is delaying the actual answer........

"Dan, the reason why contrasts were paired up with each other, the reason why the physical gap is there, that's all a facade. It's something that the blonde witch made you think that was relevant, but what was relevant was not that, but it was in fact, somewhat irrelevant. I say somewhat because it's not totally irrelevant..."

...............................

Is this guy ever going to get to the damn point...?

"However! Since it was all a facade, it means that the facade was enticed with a reason. That reason was, there was something to hide. In other words, the already mentioned second formula!"

"Yeah, I know! But what the hell is that second formula?!"

I didn't mean to shout, but I might've been hiding a bit of frustration. All of this because Kawahara remained stubborn about getting to the point.

He said that the explanations were done, but they were not.

Although I'm complaining, I'm deep down grateful.

"Chill, bro. I told you that I would get there. Don't interrupt my phenomenal thought process."

"Ah, sure, okay."

"From what we already know, given that the first formula is a facade and from the queen of all lying blonde bitches in the world's behavior, we can safely assume that she definitely prioritized the progression thus far of the pairings and not the overall physical progression of each pairing. Because, with such little time, what would be the point of prioritizing that?"

Ahhhhhhh.......

Why are you such a narcissist dude........

"...There is no point. I get it, I really do. Don't worry, it's obvious that Yuka-sensei prioritized increasing each pairing's interaction progressively throughout all of this instead of actually persisting with our physical growth. But what's the point on going all over this again, Kawahara?"

That's what I really don't understand. It's like he's overthinking or just creating a storm of ideas.

"The point was so that you would get that the chances of the blonde Lilith being up to something that would generally involve the interaction of pairings and not the actual physical work are actually quite high. So, tell me, what do you generally call the perfect interaction between two people who are contrasts?"

Lilith? This time I don't really get i-- Ohhhhhhhh.

"Um, isn't that what you call soulmates? Two opposites attract?"

"Dude, what the fuck are you on about? Don't give me shit like that. I wasn't talking about love or bullshit like that. The interaction between two people on a high scale, a positive one at it, is called teamwork."

"Teamwork?"

"Yes. If you think about it, it's been inforced several times that the pairings should get along. Yet why? Getting along won't allow your partner to suddenly pass the exam..."

That's certainly true. Yulia and I were on the right foot a while ago but the end goal was disastrous.

"That's why, this second formula clicked immediately, Dan."

"And I've been meaning to ask you, what's that second formula you speak of!?"

"What are you talking about? I already told you the second formula."

What?

"Huh? When...? Ohh... Wait, seriously, that's it?"

"Fucking simple, I know!"

Holy shit... Kawahara was right, once I knew about this, I would feel extremely dumb.

Though, only through a reasonable amount of reasoning was Kawahara able to arrive at this conclusion. Furthermore, there is no actual evidence that this is it.

"But how can you be sure? Isn't this all just a speculation?"

"Yes, Dan. This is speculation. A theory. A possibility. The majority of things are. Yet people constantly bet on their own speculations day by day. Speculations that evolve into theories, through reasoning become possibilities and that's why I bothered to explain all of those details. It was to increase the credibility of my theory. Whether you believe me or not, that's your choice. But Dan, let me tell you something."

"What?"

Before speaking, Kawahara posed with his right palm on his face and smirked confidently.

"My theories are never wrong."

And after that, he took a seat right next to me in the comfortable blue couch.

That alone, symbolized that he was done explaining, as he sighed deeply as soon as his back hit against the couch.

"So... I should aim for teamwork with Yulia in order to pass the exam?"

Although Kawahara had explained his theory, the method that I should take was not yet settled.

"That should be the gist of it. In front of the blonde queen of the red light district, you have to demonstrate that you and your partner are essentially on the same page. And no, I don't mean that from a physical perspective. You both have to demonstrate that despite your contrasting physical capabilities that as a team, you and her, are attempting to overcome the odds. That's quite it. Teamwork doesn't necessarily mean to win, but that you and your partner are on the same page, synergy-wise."

"Well, thanks a lot, I guess. But there's still something I don't understand in all of this."

And trust me, this has been on my mind for a while...

"What is it? I like questions, just ask me."

"You know all of this but you haven't taken action and you said that you were already failing the exam... What the hell?"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh.... That's what's bugging you? Hahaha, what the fuck. It's pretty simple, my dude."

Subsequently following his own words, Kawahara pointed with his right index finger at himself.

"I. Only I. No one else. No fucking way in hell am I teaming up with someone. Fuck, I'll do the tasks, I'll ace them for fucking real, I will. Now, teaming up with someone? That's a fucking no if I've ever seen one!"

I sometimes forget what sort of person Kawahara truly is.