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Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Eighth Question

2011-09-25T20:04:54Z

89.178.73.119:

==The Eighth Question==

Please read the following passage and choose the wrong conclusion from the brackets.

:Jim and Della were a young couple. Even though they're poor, they still loved each other.
:Jim had a gift with him. It's the golden watch that's passed down from his family. And Della's treasure was the beautiful hair of hers.
:Christmas was about to arrive, and Della wanted to buy a gift for her beloved husband. She cut off her beautiful hair willingly and sold it to the wig shop. She used the money she earned from the sale to buy a platinum locket for Jim to hang on his golden watch.
:When Jim returned back home, he saw Della with her hair cut off...he wasn't angry, shocked, unhappy nor afraid, but felt complicated as the gift he bought for Della was that beautiful haircomb Della always wanted.[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume7_Translation_Notes_and_References]

:(1) Because Della couldn't use the item he bought for her.
:(2) Because he felt happy about understanding Della's feelings for him.
:(3) Because the originally beautiful Della looked ugly now that her hair was cut, and Jim felt that it was a pity.
:(4) Because Jim already sold the golden watch, and the gift Della bought for him couldn't be used anymore.

'''Kirishima Shouko's answer:

(3)

'''Teacher's comment'''

That's correct. This is a famous story about Christmas. The gifts both husband and wife got for each other couldn't be used, but they understood each other's feelings for each other. It's a heartwarming story, and sensei hope that the students can have their own wonderful families in the future.

'''Kudou Aiko's comment'''

(3) *Short hair's rather cute too!

'''Teacher's comment'''

The answer's correct, but sensei feels that your understanding seem to be a little off.

Either way, the question stated to 'note the wrong conclusion', so (3) is the correct answer.

'''Sugawa Ryo's answer'''

(Ku)risumasu' (Christmas) supposed to be the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. THIS STORY IS DAMN WRONG FOR HAVING MAN AND WOMAN EXCHANGE IN SOME SICKLY AND ICKY SWEET EMOTIONAL EXCHANGE!!

'''Teacher's comment'''

There's no such thing as option (Ku).

“ALRIGHT EVERYONE! LISTEN UP! WE HAVE ONLY TWO CHANCES TO COUNTERATTACK! WE HAVE TO GET THE POINTS AND OUR TREASURES BACK!”

“““OOOHHHHH!!!”””

“WE MAY LOSE TO THEM IN SCORES, BUT OUR ATHLETIC ABILITIES DEFINITELY WON’T LOSE! WE MUST LET THEM SEE THE ABILITY OF US YOUTH!

“““OOOHHHHH!!!”””

“WE’RE GOING ALL OUT FROM NOW ON! SO…PLEASE ASSIST ME A MUCH AS YOU CAN! WE’RE GOING TO GET OUR TREASURES BACK! OUR MOTTO IS—”

“““GET BACK ERO-BOOK!!!”””

“TIME TO COUNTERATTACK! LET’S DO IT, GUYS!!”

“““LEAVE IT TO US!!!”””

As Yuuji rallied everyone like usual, everyone got pumped. That Yuuji finally did what he had to do. Seems like he’s finally ready to bring on his real ability.

“KONDOU, YOKOMIZO, HIDEYOSHI!”

Yuuji called out the first, second and third batter, and the three people that were called out walked to Yuuji in unison.

“It’s time to carry out the plan. You guys know that we can’t win if we keep this up. Even if we managed to get a base on balls or hit by pitch, it’s unlikely that we’ll get any points from them.”

We managed to defend quite well just now, but our offense is rather pitiful. Yuuji’s right. Even if we manage to get on base somehow, we can’t guarantee that we will be able to get any points from them.

“So right now, we can only bank everything on this plan. I want you people to drag the time on as much as you can.”

“Mn, I got it.”

“For our Ero—for the sake of our reference books, I will think of something no longer how much time I have to drag on.”

“But we can’t fail this time.”

All 3 of them nod their heads and agreed to take part in this operation. It’s a rare chance for them to step up, so of course they wish to have an outstanding performance, so they agreed to the delaying tactic. Every time this happens, I always feel that they’re members of class F.

“Ero book, ero boo, ero book…”

“Pillow, swimsuit photo, bathroom curtain…”

…They’re really members of F class…

“PLAY!”

The batter will try to delay the game without breaking the rules as each of them entered the batter’s bunting position. It seems like he wants to get a foul ball to waste more time.

“Are you ready, Yuuji?”

“Of course. I already gave instructions to those guys. Now we just need to wait for the time to arrive.”

“Is that so? Then we can only pray for the three of them to delay time as much as possible.”

“Yeah.”

I exchanged words with Yuuji as I prayed earnestly inside while looking at the situation on the field. Our opponents are the teachers. I don’t even know whether we can even delay some time.

“STRIKE! BATTER OUT!”

“Ku…!”

After recovering, I found that Kondou-kun was forced into a tight spot. Even after hanging on for so long, he finally took 3 strikes.

The next batter Yokomizo-kun went all out to fight, but the opponent landed some perfect fastballs in some nice locations, and he got struck out as well. Hideyoshi’s the only batter left in this inning.

But, our chance—still hasn’t arrived yet.

“It guess it’s about time…”

“Just a little bit. It’ll begin in just a while. Do your best, Hideyoshi…”

“FOUL BALL!”

Just when we were discussing this, the match continued. Hideyoshi continued to swung the bat to try and hit the fastball the teacher pitched.

Right now, the time on the school wall is 2.28pm. it feels like time just went by so slowly because there’s no second hand.

“Damn it. If only that teacher pitched 4 balls…”

“Based on that teacher’s personality, I think he’ll pitch rather carefully.”

The pitcher for this inning is the English Writing teacher Yamada-sensei. Though the pitches he threw weren’t so fast that we couldn’t react, his control is rather good. Looking at this, I don’t think we can expect a 4 balls walk.

“Can’t we hit it out?”

“Well, we can’t possibly hit it far. Besides, the shortstop and second baseman are that Terai and Ooshima.”

One is Terai-sensei who’s young and played baseball before, and the other is the health and physical education teacher Ooshima-sensei. We can’t possibly beat them with our abilities even if we do our best. Besides, the opponent can’t possibly throw four balls, so we can only pray for Hideyoshi to do his best and hang on…

“FOUL BALL!”

I don’t know how many foul balls has it been now, and right now, It’s 1 ball and 2 strikes. While the opponent can throw a ball, we can’t allow any mistakes here. However, with the teacher throwing that many pitches, Hideyoshi’s concentration should be at his limit.

“Not yet, not yet…”

“Hang in there, please, Hideyoshi…”

I can feel these anxious emotions climbing up our backs, but as we are only watching the match, the only thing we can do is to pray.

KLANG!

“FOUL!”

Every time the ball was pitched, cold sweat would break out of my back. Looking at how things stand now, it won’t be weird for Hideyoshi to be out at this point.

The palm of my tightly clenched fist is filled with sweat as I bend my upper body on the bench, earnestly waiting for the time to arrive fast.

“…It’s here.”

Suddenly, Muttsurini muttered.

“Uu!!”

Yuuji felt jumpy and turned around, looking at the loudspeaker hanging on the school building.

“...Zzu…zu…”

Some static could be heard from the loudspeaker as the sharp sounds reached our ears.

“IS IT HERE?”

Yuuji shouted out in excitement.

The next second, the audio broadcast could be heard throughout the entire sports arena.

“Right now, there will be a borrowing race in the center sports hall. All participants, please head to the designated area—”

<big>“““IT’S HERE—!!!”””</big>

Everyone cried out in unison.

After that, Hideyoshi was thrown out and finally ruled to be out. Now, it’ll be a switchover, but even so…we achieved our objective!

“Yare yare…looks like I managed to succeed.”

“Ahh! Hideyoshi! Nice going! Nice job too, Kondou and Yokomizo!”

Patting Hideyoshi’s shoulder as he returned to the bench, Yuuji looked extremely happy. We were waiting for this moment!

“Eh? What’s wrong with them? We got 3 outs on them, yet they look so happy.”

“Uu, who knows.”

“Those guys must be planning something.”

Several teachers feel amazed by our reaction. It’s true that our attack ended, but this is a trap for our next inning. We focused on the last inning, and we have to use that inning to get our final victory!

“Yoshii, Sakamoto. I don’t know what you’re happy about, but hurry up and get on field to defend!”

Ironman walked to our noisy bench and prompted us to hurry up and get ready.

“We know, but just wait.”

“? Wait for what?”

“You’ll see. I think they’ll be here soon.”

I smiled to Ironman who doesn’t understand anything and looked around. As expected, a few people are running over to us. They’re here! Our class F classmates!”

“What are those guys doing? Why are they rushing so fast—”

Ironman stared at the 3 students who came running here and can’t help but have a question mark above his head. At this moment, those students shouted at the supervising teachers who are on the baseball field.

“Endou-sensei! We’re having a borrowing race! Sorry, but please come along with us!”

“Eh? But I have to be in charge of the match here!”

“Just come along with us!”

“But—”

“It’s useless to talk further! An ordinary event’s much more important than the baseball tournament!”

“““—u?”””

I can see several teachers widening their eyes in shock. That’s right, this event was planned beforehand. This baseball match’s just used as a good chance to get along, and the other events are of priority.

“Ah, well…sorry senseis. I have to go first.”

“Hurry up, sensei!”

The teacher in charge of supervision in this match, Endou-sensei, got dragged by the hand.

“This can’t be helped. The teachers on the bench will have to—”

“Funakoshi-sensei! Please come along with us!”

“Takenaka-sensei, please!”

The other two teachers on the bench were called up, and the ones who called them were our F class members as well. With that, the teachers have no more additional helped.

“Sakamoto, that’s your plan, right?”

“Well, what do you think?”

“Stop messing around. Weren’t the people who came over all F class people?”

“Haha, that’s a coincidence, right?”

Of course it’s not. After knowing the lineup of the teachers, Yuuji already requested our classmates to borrow a few teachers away. I guess the paper they drew should be something completely different from what they needed to borrow.

“Ironman, there’s no other teachers left now, you know.”

“Can’t be helped. I’ll just have to ask the teachers in the previous few innings.”

“That’ll be against the rules. The rules were already decided that the ‘same subject can’t be used twice’. Didn’t you forget?”

“Then what do you want me to do? There’s no more teachers who can act as supervisor, and we can’t use any teachers who’ve supervised the previous few subjects. Are you planning on making us compete with 8 players?”

Ironman’s sharp eyes brush past our faces. He must have thought that we will use this to render the match useless. No no, who’ll do such a bothersome thing? Besides, we won’t get any benefit if that’s the case.

“I—Nishimura-sensei, there are other subjects that can be used to decide this, isn’t it?”

“What are you saying, Yoshii. The teachers who were able to supervise were taken away.”

“No. What I mean is that even if the supervising teachers were taken away, there’s another subject that can allow us to continue playing.”

This is the plan Yuuji thought of in the beginning. Using the sports meet exchange match’s programmed rules to let us continue this match, a way for us to win.

“For the 5th inning, we’ll use physical education—we’ll win with our real ability!”

We’re not deciding this through marks, but using our own bodies. Physical education is able another subject the students need to learn. We’ll use this real baseball match to thoroughly crush the teachers.

“Alright, everyone. Put on your gloves! The 5th inning’s not going to be easy!”

Yuuji stretched his arm out and pointed at the gloves we borrowed from the baseball club beforehand.

Thus, it’s now the final inning. This is the only teachers-vs-students exchange match, and it will now begin for real.

<center>☆</center>

“ALRIGHT! TIME TO BRING OUR ALL TO THE FIELD!”

“““UOOHHHH!!!”””

Again, I’m the pitcher now, and Yuuji returned back to being the catcher. Our opponent this time is the seventh batter Hasegawa-sensei who’s on for the second time. I was really scared until a while back, but at this moment, I don’t feel afraid at all.

(Outside corner, high, curve.)

I pitch the ball according to Yuuji’s direction. Although my pitching ability’s only at recreational level, but it’s enough to deal with the teachers who aren’t athletic enough!

“Uu…”

“STRIKE!”

Hasegawa-sensei just stood there blankly as the ball just flew into the catcher’s glove. With that, we managed to take the lead in the ballcount.

(Keep low. Straight.)

Nodding my head slightly, I pitched it down and middle. Now, I’ve already forced Hasegawa-sensei into a tight corner.

(Inside corner. Low. Slow ball.)

This is a feisty ball from Yuuji. I smirk slightly and pitch a slow ball as according to his instruction.

“Oh, oh my.”

Completely missing the timing of the slow ball, Hasegawa-sensei bent low but missed the swing.

“STRIKEOUT!”

We dealt with one. Now the next batter’s Ujiie-sensei, and after that, it’s Yamada-sensei.

Yuuji and I mixed slow balls and changeups to mess around the opponent’s batting. This unkind mix dealt with Ujiie-sensei and Yamada-sensei well.

“BATTER OUT! CHANGE!”

The umpire called for a change over.

“Good thing we weren’t facing Ironman or Ooshima-sensei.”

“Yeah.”

I returned back to the rest area and exchanged a few words with Hideyoshi nearby. Good thing we weren’t facing Ironman or Ooshima-sensei. In a real match. Those two will definitely be the people we need to watch out for.

“Actually, I really wished that we could borrow them in the borrowing race.”

“Let’s not talk about the kind Endou-sensei. It won’t be that easy to borrow Ironman and Ooshima-sensei.”

Hideyoshi’s right. Those two won’t let us drag them away so easily. Maybe they might even ask to see the content of the paper. If that happened, our lies will be seen through. We would end up revealing the content of the papers if we asked too much, and that’ll be adding insult to injury. So we have to play just a little risk.

“It seems that Ironman and Ooshima-sensei still don’t trust us.”

“After doing so many stupid things, it’s no wonder they won’t believe us.”

We returned to the bench while talking.

After the outfielders all returned, Yuuji looked around at everyone and finally spoke up,

“Alright…now, it’s our last chance to attack.”

Right now, the score’s 0-1. It’s now the bottom half of the last inning. This is our last attack.

“It’s not enough to get a point. We’ll lose if we can’t get a turnaround in this inning. We don’t have a chance of winning in extra innings.”

If we get into extra innings, the teachers who were taken away for the borrowing race will come back. At that time, we’ll go back to deciding this match using scores. At that point, our chances of winning will become zero.

“This inning is the time when we have to show off our real ability. No matter what, we have to get 2 points. LISTEN UP, YOU GUYS! WE ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO WIN THIS MATCH!!!”

“““OOHHHH!!!”””

Our morale’s really strong, so strong that we can see the light of victory. Now, we can only progress on.

However, at this moment—

“If that’s the case, can I switch out with Tsuchiya?”

“Eh?”

“As the first batter of this inning, Minami suddenly made this request. Switch out? What does she want to do?

“What’s wrong, Minami? Don’t you have any confidence?”

“Mn, one reason is that I don’t have the confidence. Either way, I can’t possibly play baseball as well as guys. A girl’s physical abilities can’t match a guy, and I’m not so experienced with baseball after all.”

“I see…girls don’t really get involved in baseball often.”

As compared to us who often skip class to play baseball, Minami’s experience with baseball is really minimal. However, I don’t think she would lose to anyone of us in terms of athletic ability…

“So I want to switch with Tsuchiya. Tsuchiya would definitely perform better than me. And besides—”

“Besides?”

“Besides, in moments like this, a guy showing his best in baseball looks really cool, doesn’t he?”

While saying that, Minami smiled happily.

Minami really looked cute for saying this. Though she did all sorts of terrifying things in front of us, but maybe she has the heart of a girl more than anyone. That idea suddenly popped up in me.

“…I’m going.”

Muttsurini picked the bat up and walked towards home plate. After indicating to the umpire that he wanted to exchange places with Minami, he entered the batter’s box.

“PLAY!”

The umpire called for the bottom half of the 5th inning to begin. The batter’s Muttsurini, and the pitcher we’re going up against is the P.E. teacher Ooshima-sensei.

“Ironman’s the catcher…seems like they’re wary of us making a close play.”

“Well, we were the ones who said that we wanted to take revenge.”

Most likely, they’re afraid that once we hit the ball, the baserunner running to first base will collide with the catcher. If Ironman’s the one blocking main base, we’ll be blocked by him or even sent flying away no matter how hard we ram in. We have no chance of winning if we ram into the catcher.

Ooshima-sensei pitched the first ball rather forcefully as the arm swung down. The ball zipped through the wind and flew into the glove.

“…uu (PANK!)”

“STRIKE!”

Muttsurini swung the ball below the ball and missed. If he swung it below the ball, it means that the opponent’s pitch was a lot faster than he thought. As expected of Ooshima-sensei. He’s really a P.E teacher.”

“…(su)”

Muttsurini readied his bat again. Ooshima-sensei and Ironman spent some time with the signal, and the second pitch was thrown.

This pitch seems to be flying at a fastball speed, but it glided sideways at the last second. Is that…a slider!? It’s just a teachers-vs-students exchange match. What sort of ball was he pitching! That’s not like what a mature adult would do!”

“STRIKE!”

Muttsurini missed the second swing. Now, it’s two strikes, and he’s trapped now.”

“Nice pitching, Ooshima-sensei.”

Ironman threw the ball back at Ooshima-sensei as he said that. Right now, Muttsurini’s staring at Ooshima-sensei’s wrist as he gets ready to bat.

Ooshima-sensei pitched a curveball this time. Will Muttsurini be struck out?

“BALL!”

The umpire decided that this was a ball. Looking at where Ironman was putting his glove at, I thought it would be a strike again….it seems like Ooshima-sensei’s control isn’t that good.

Ooshima-sensei swung his arm and pitched the fourth ball. This ball…will he hit it…!?

“…GO…!”

The ball flew by the pitcher and rolled to third base. Hasegawa-sensei’s guarding third base, and I never heard that he’s athletic. There should be no problems.

“Oh, oh my.”

After picking up the ball, Hasegawa-sensei hurriedly threw to first base, but Muttsurini already passed first base before the ball even reached there.

“SAFE!”

“““WOOOOOHHHH—!!”””

Nice! Now we have the tying run on base. Now, it’s no man out, one man on first base, and the next batter is—

“I’LL FOLLOW TSUCHIYA AND GET ON BASE!”

The leader of the FFF—Sugawa-kun.

Sugawa-kun grabbed the bat with swagger and waits for the ball. Ooshima-sensei pitched a straight fastball at Sugawa-kun.

“…Gu…!”

“STRIKE!”

Sugawa-kun just stood there with wide eyes. He probably never expected Ooshima-sensei’s pitch to be that amazing.

Ooshima-sensei then pitched a few more fastballs, and Sugawa-kun missed. After going off, Fukumura-kun went past him and entered the batter’s box.

“…That was fast. Watch out there.”

“Mn, I got it.”

Having returned to the bench, Sugawa-kun reminded me. I have never seen Sugawa-kun look so serious, even though it was for the ero-books.

“Ku…!”

Fukumura-kun swung the bat, and the ball rolled up to the front of the pitcher. It seems like his swing lost to the power of the pitch.

Ooshima-sensei quickly picked the ball up, checked the condition at second base, and saw that the agile Muttsurini was about to reach second base with several centimeters left.

Giving up on second base, Ooshima-sensei then coolly passed to first base to throw Fukumura-kun off. Right now, it’s 2 men out with the runner on second base.

Finally, it’s time for the next batter, and I stepped up.

“Ak. The timing’s really great. You’ll be the hero if you can knock that out!”

“Well, please do your best, Akihisa-kun! I’ll be cheering for you here!”

The two girls in our class cheered for me energetically. Of course, I’m really happy that they would encourage me, and I hope to perform well now. However—

“Thanks. I don’t know if I can live up to your expectations, but I’ll do my best.”

Anyway, I can only answer like this, and I turn around and head to the batter’s box.

“So you’re the batter, Yoshii. Seems like things just got interesting.”

The catcher Ironman said that to me as I entered the batter’s box.

Yeah. I feel that this is really interesting.

“Yup. If I can get a base hit, we’ll catch up, and I’ll be the hero of our class.”

“Those girls just cheered for you, right? I know that you want to hit it out—but as a teacher, I have a pride that won’t allow me to lose. I won’t let you hit it out like that.”

“I never expected you to give me any leeway anyway.”

I answered Ironman and raised the bat.

Ooshima-sensei already got ready to pitch the ball. After that, the pitch from Ooshima-sensei flew by me and landed directly into Ironman’s glove.

“BALL!”

The first ball was a ball. It didn’t land into the strikezone well. Maybe he’s wary of me.

“I thought that you would swing at the first pitch.”

“Because you thought that I would try to act cool in front of the girls?”

“Mn, you can say that.”

Ironman pitched the ball back to Ooshima-sensei. I twist my neck lightly and stamp on the ground below me lightly to flatten the red dirt ground lightly and hold the bat in my hand tightly.

Ooshima-sensei checked that Muttsurini’s still at second base, and then pitched the ball at me. It’s a fastball this time, low at the strikezone.

“STRIKE!”

I silently let this ball fly past. Seeing me like this, Ironman seem to feel that something’s not right. It seems like he’s thinking that I’m thinking something bad again.

After checking Ironman’s signal and the position of the glove, Ooshima-sensei threw the third pitch.

“BALL!”

Facing the third pitch, I still had no intention of swinging the bat. This time, the ball felt like it was outside the strikezone. It seems like they’re becoming more wary of me now.

“What’s wrong, Yoshii? Not going to hit?”

“Yeah. Well, how should I put it…I have a lot of ideas in my mind.”

I deliberately made such a taunting tone to make Ironman more wary of me.

I don’t know what Ironman’s feeling now, but I can feel that Ironman just moved the glove slightly behind me.

“BALL!”

Another ball. Now it’s 3 balls and one strike. Right now, the opponent can only fight it out with me.

“…”

Ironman adjusted the glove for the fifth pitch, and I silently grip the bat for Ooshima-sensei’s pitch.

The ball went nicely down the middle to the strikezone. Unlike the four powerful pitches before, this pitch focuses on control instead. I don’t think it’s a curveball, so it’s time to swing the bat. Facing this ball, I have confidence that I can hit this half the time. But…

“STRIKE!”

<noinclude>
{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Seventh Question|next=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Final Question}}
</noinclude>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Eighth Question

2011-09-25T20:02:56Z

89.178.73.119:

==The Eighth Question==

Please read the following passage and choose the wrong conclusion from the brackets.

:Jim and Della were a young couple. Even though they're poor, they still loved each other.
:Jim had a gift with him. It's the golden watch that's passed down from his family. And Della's treasure was the beautiful hair of hers.
:Christmas was about to arrive, and Della wanted to buy a gift for her beloved husband. She cut off her beautiful hair willingly and sold it to the wig shop. She used the money she earned from the sale to buy a platinum locket for Jim to hang on his golden watch.
:When Jim returned back home, he saw Della with her hair cut off...he wasn't angry, shocked, unhappy nor afraid, but felt complicated as the gift he bought for Della was that beautiful haircomb Della always wanted.[http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume7_Translation_Notes_and_References]

:(1) Because Della couldn't use the item he bought for her.
:(2) Because he felt happy about understanding Della's feelings for him.
:(3) Because the originally beautiful Della looked ugly now that her hair was cut, and Jim felt that it was a pity.
:(4) Because Jim already sold the golden watch, and the gift Della bought for him couldn't be used anymore.

'''Kirishima Shouko's answer:

(3)

'''Teacher's comment'''

That's correct. This is a famous story about Christmas. The gifts both husband and wife got for each other couldn't be used, but they understood each other's feelings for each other. It's a heartwarming story, and sensei hope that the students can have their own wonderful families in the future.

'''Kudou Aiko's comment'''

(3) *Short hair's rather cute too!

'''Teacher's comment'''

The answer's correct, but sensei feels that your understanding seem to be a little off.

Either way, the question stated to 'note the wrong conclusion', so (3) is the correct answer.

'''Sugawa Ryo's answer'''

(Ku)risumasu' (Christmas) supposed to be the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. THIS STORY IS DAMN WRONG FOR HAVING MAN AND WOMAN EXCHANGE IN SOME SICKLY AND ICKY SWEET EMOTIONAL EXCHANGE!!

'''Teacher's comment'''

There's no such thing as option (Ku).

“ALRIGHT EVERYONE! LISTEN UP! WE HAVE ONLY TWO CHANCES TO COUNTERATTACK! WE HAVE TO GET THE POINTS AND OUR TREASURES BACK!”

“““OOOHHHHH!!!”””

“WE MAY LOSE TO THEM IN SCORES, BUT OUR ATHLETICS ABILITIES DEFINITELY WON’T LOSE! WE MUST LET THEM SEE THE ABILITY OF US YOUTH!

“““OOOHHHHH!!!”””

“WE’RE GOING ALL OUT FROM NOW ON! SO…PLEASE ASSIST ME A MUCH AS YOU CAN! WE’RE GOING TO GET OUR TREASURES BACK! OUR MOTTO IS—”

“““GET BACK ERO-BOOK!!!”””

“TIME TO COUNTERATTACK! LET’S DO IT, GUYS!!”

“““LEAVE IT TO US!!!”””

As Yuuji rallied everyone like usual, everyone got pumped. That Yuuji finally did what he had to do. Seems like he’s finally ready to bring on his real ability.

“KONDOU, YOKOMIZO, HIDEYOSHI!”

Yuuji called out the first, second and third batter, and the three people that were called out walked to Yuuji in unison.

“It’s time to carry out the plan. You guys know that we can’t win if we keep this up. Even if we managed to get a base on balls or hit by pitch, it’s unlikely that we’ll get any points from them.”

We managed to defend quite well just now, but our offense is rather pitiful. Yuuji’s right. Even if we manage to get on base somehow, we can’t guarantee that we will be able to get any points from them.

“So right now, we can only bank everything on this plan. I want you people to drag the time on as much as you can.”

“Mn, I got it.”

“For our Ero—for the sake of our reference books, I will think of something no longer how much time I have to drag on.”

“But we can’t fail this time.”

All 3 of them nod their heads and agreed to take part in this operation. It’s a rare chance for them to step up, so of course they wish to have an outstanding performance, so they agreed to the delaying tactic. Every time this happens, I always feel that they’re members of class F.

“Ero book, ero boo, ero book…”

“Pillow, swimsuit photo, bathroom curtain…”

…They’re really members of F class…

“PLAY!”

The batter will try to delay the game without breaking the rules as each of them entered the batter’s bunting position. It seems like he wants to get a foul ball to waste more time.

“Are you ready, Yuuji?”

“Of course. I already gave instructions to those guys. Now we just need to wait for the time to arrive.”

“Is that so? Then we can only pray for the three of them to delay time as much as possible.”

“Yeah.”

I exchanged words with Yuuji as I prayed earnestly inside while looking at the situation on the field. Our opponents are the teachers. I don’t even know whether we can even delay some time.

“STRIKE! BATTER OUT!”

“Ku…!”

After recovering, I found that Kondou-kun was forced into a tight spot. Even after hanging on for so long, he finally took 3 strikes.

The next batter Yokomizo-kun went all out to fight, but the opponent landed some perfect fastballs in some nice locations, and he got struck out as well. Hideyoshi’s the only batter left in this inning.

But, our chance—still hasn’t arrived yet.

“It guess it’s about time…”

“Just a little bit. It’ll begin in just a while. Do your best, Hideyoshi…”

“FOUL BALL!”

Just when we were discussing this, the match continued. Hideyoshi continued to swung the bat to try and hit the fastball the teacher pitched.

Right now, the time on the school wall is 2.28pm. it feels like time just went by so slowly because there’s no second hand.

“Damn it. If only that teacher pitched 4 balls…”

“Based on that teacher’s personality, I think he’ll pitch rather carefully.”

The pitcher for this inning is the English Writing teacher Yamada-sensei. Though the pitches he threw weren’t so fast that we couldn’t react, his control is rather good. Looking at this, I don’t think we can expect a 4 balls walk.

“Can’t we hit it out?”

“Well, we can’t possibly hit it far. Besides, the shortstop and second baseman are that Terai and Ooshima.”

One is Terai-sensei who’s young and played baseball before, and the other is the health and physical education teacher Ooshima-sensei. We can’t possibly beat them with our abilities even if we do our best. Besides, the opponent can’t possibly throw four balls, so we can only pray for Hideyoshi to do his best and hang on…

“FOUL BALL!”

I don’t know how many foul balls has it been now, and right now, It’s 1 ball and 2 strikes. While the opponent can throw a ball, we can’t allow any mistakes here. However, with the teacher throwing that many pitches, Hideyoshi’s concentration should be at his limit.

“Not yet, not yet…”

“Hang in there, please, Hideyoshi…”

I can feel these anxious emotions climbing up our backs, but as we are only watching the match, the only thing we can do is to pray.

KLANG!

“FOUL!”

Every time the ball was pitched, cold sweat would break out of my back. Looking at how things stand now, it won’t be weird for Hideyoshi to be out at this point.

The palm of my tightly clenched fist is filled with sweat as I bend my upper body on the bench, earnestly waiting for the time to arrive fast.

“…It’s here.”

Suddenly, Muttsurini muttered.

“Uu!!”

Yuuji felt jumpy and turned around, looking at the loudspeaker hanging on the school building.

“...Zzu…zu…”

Some static could be heard from the loudspeaker as the sharp sounds reached our ears.

“IS IT HERE?”

Yuuji shouted out in excitement.

The next second, the audio broadcast could be heard throughout the entire sports arena.

“Right now, there will be a borrowing race in the center sports hall. All participants, please head to the designated area—”

<big>“““IT’S HERE—!!!”””</big>

Everyone cried out in unison.

After that, Hideyoshi was thrown out and finally ruled to be out. Now, it’ll be a switchover, but even so…we achieved our objective!

“Yare yare…looks like I managed to succeed.”

“Ahh! Hideyoshi! Nice going! Nice job too, Kondou and Yokomizo!”

Patting Hideyoshi’s shoulder as he returned to the bench, Yuuji looked extremely happy. We were waiting for this moment!

“Eh? What’s wrong with them? We got 3 outs on them, yet they look so happy.”

“Uu, who knows.”

“Those guys must be planning something.”

Several teachers feel amazed by our reaction. It’s true that our attack ended, but this is a trap for our next inning. We focused on the last inning, and we have to use that inning to get our final victory!

“Yoshii, Sakamoto. I don’t know what you’re happy about, but hurry up and get on field to defend!”

Ironman walked to our noisy bench and prompted us to hurry up and get ready.

“We know, but just wait.”

“? Wait for what?”

“You’ll see. I think they’ll be here soon.”

I smiled to Ironman who doesn’t understand anything and looked around. As expected, a few people are running over to us. They’re here! Our class F classmates!”

“What are those guys doing? Why are they rushing so fast—”

Ironman stared at the 3 students who came running here and can’t help but have a question mark above his head. At this moment, those students shouted at the supervising teachers who are on the baseball field.

“Endou-sensei! We’re having a borrowing race! Sorry, but please come along with us!”

“Eh? But I have to be in charge of the match here!”

“Just come along with us!”

“But—”

“It’s useless to talk further! An ordinary event’s much more important than the baseball tournament!”

“““—u?”””

I can see several teachers widening their eyes in shock. That’s right, this event was planned beforehand. This baseball match’s just used as a good chance to get along, and the other events are of priority.

“Ah, well…sorry senseis. I have to go first.”

“Hurry up, sensei!”

The teacher in charge of supervision in this match, Endou-sensei, got dragged by the hand.

“This can’t be helped. The teachers on the bench will have to—”

“Funakoshi-sensei! Please come along with us!”

“Takenaka-sensei, please!”

The other two teachers on the bench were called up, and the ones who called them were our F class members as well. With that, the teachers have no more additional helped.

“Sakamoto, that’s your plan, right?”

“Well, what do you think?”

“Stop messing around. Weren’t the people who came over all F class people?”

“Haha, that’s a coincidence, right?”

Of course it’s not. After knowing the lineup of the teachers, Yuuji already requested our classmates to borrow a few teachers away. I guess the paper they drew should be something completely different from what they needed to borrow.

“Ironman, there’s no other teachers left now, you know.”

“Can’t be helped. I’ll just have to ask the teachers in the previous few innings.”

“That’ll be against the rules. The rules were already decided that the ‘same subject can’t be used twice’. Didn’t you forget?”

“Then what do you want me to do? There’s no more teachers who can act as supervisor, and we can’t use any teachers who’ve supervised the previous few subjects. Are you planning on making us compete with 8 players?”

Ironman’s sharp eyes brush past our faces. He must have thought that we will use this to render the match useless. No no, who’ll do such a bothersome thing? Besides, we won’t get any benefit if that’s the case.

“I—Nishimura-sensei, there are other subjects that can be used to decide this, isn’t it?”

“What are you saying, Yoshii. The teachers who were able to supervise were taken away.”

“No. What I mean is that even if the supervising teachers were taken away, there’s another subject that can allow us to continue playing.”

This is the plan Yuuji thought of in the beginning. Using the sports meet exchange match’s programmed rules to let us continue this match, a way for us to win.

“For the 5th inning, we’ll use physical education—we’ll win with our real ability!”

We’re not deciding this through marks, but using our own bodies. Physical education is able another subject the students need to learn. We’ll use this real baseball match to thoroughly crush the teachers.

“Alright, everyone. Put on your gloves! The 5th inning’s not going to be easy!”

Yuuji stretched his arm out and pointed at the gloves we borrowed from the baseball club beforehand.

Thus, it’s now the final inning. This is the only teachers-vs-students exchange match, and it will now begin for real.

<center>☆</center>

“ALRIGHT! TIME TO BRING OUR ALL TO THE FIELD!”

“““UOOHHHH!!!”””

Again, I’m the pitcher now, and Yuuji returned back to being the catcher. Our opponent this time is the seventh batter Hasegawa-sensei who’s on for the second time. I was really scared until a while back, but at this moment, I don’t feel afraid at all.

(Outside corner, high, curve.)

I pitch the ball according to Yuuji’s direction. Although my pitching ability’s only at recreational level, but it’s enough to deal with the teachers who aren’t athletic enough!

“Uu…”

“STRIKE!”

Hasegawa-sensei just stood there blankly as the ball just flew into the catcher’s glove. With that, we managed to take the lead in the ballcount.

(Keep low. Straight.)

Nodding my head slightly, I pitched it down and middle. Now, I’ve already forced Hasegawa-sensei into a tight corner.

(Inside corner. Low. Slow ball.)

This is a feisty ball from Yuuji. I smirk slightly and pitch a slow ball as according to his instruction.

“Oh, oh my.”

Completely missing the timing of the slow ball, Hasegawa-sensei bent low but missed the swing.

“STRIKEOUT!”

We dealt with one. Now the next batter’s Ujiie-sensei, and after that, it’s Yamada-sensei.

Yuuji and I mixed slow balls and changeups to mess around the opponent’s batting. This unkind mix dealt with Ujiie-sensei and Yamada-sensei well.

“BATTER OUT! CHANGE!”

The umpire called for a change over.

“Good thing we weren’t facing Ironman or Ooshima-sensei.”

“Yeah.”

I returned back to the rest area and exchanged a few words with Hideyoshi nearby. Good thing we weren’t facing Ironman or Ooshima-sensei. In a real match. Those two will definitely be the people we need to watch out for.

“Actually, I really wished that we could borrow them in the borrowing race.”

“Let’s not talk about the kind Endou-sensei. It won’t be that easy to borrow Ironman and Ooshima-sensei.”

Hideyoshi’s right. Those two won’t let us drag them away so easily. Maybe they might even ask to see the content of the paper. If that happened, our lies will be seen through. We would end up revealing the content of the papers if we asked too much, and that’ll be adding insult to injury. So we have to play just a little risk.

“It seems that Ironman and Ooshima-sensei still don’t trust us.”

“After doing so many stupid things, it’s no wonder they won’t believe us.”

We returned to the bench while talking.

After the outfielders all returned, Yuuji looked around at everyone and finally spoke up,

“Alright…now, it’s our last chance to attack.”

Right now, the score’s 0-1. It’s now the bottom half of the last inning. This is our last attack.

“It’s not enough to get a point. We’ll lose if we can’t get a turnaround in this inning. We don’t have a chance of winning in extra innings.”

If we get into extra innings, the teachers who were taken away for the borrowing race will come back. At that time, we’ll go back to deciding this match using scores. At that point, our chances of winning will become zero.

“This inning is the time when we have to show off our real ability. No matter what, we have to get 2 points. LISTEN UP, YOU GUYS! WE ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO WIN THIS MATCH!!!”

“““OOHHHH!!!”””

Our morale’s really strong, so strong that we can see the light of victory. Now, we can only progress on.

However, at this moment—

“If that’s the case, can I switch out with Tsuchiya?”

“Eh?”

“As the first batter of this inning, Minami suddenly made this request. Switch out? What does she want to do?

“What’s wrong, Minami? Don’t you have any confidence?”

“Mn, one reason is that I don’t have the confidence. Either way, I can’t possibly play baseball as well as guys. A girl’s physical abilities can’t match a guy, and I’m not so experienced with baseball after all.”

“I see…girls don’t really get involved in baseball often.”

As compared to us who often skip class to play baseball, Minami’s experience with baseball is really minimal. However, I don’t think she would lose to anyone of us in terms of athletic ability…

“So I want to switch with Tsuchiya. Tsuchiya would definitely perform better than me. And besides—”

“Besides?”

“Besides, in moments like this, a guy showing his best in baseball looks really cool, doesn’t he?”

While saying that, Minami smiled happily.

Minami really looked cute for saying this. Though she did all sorts of terrifying things in front of us, but maybe she has the heart of a girl more than anyone. That idea suddenly popped up in me.

“…I’m going.”

Muttsurini picked the bat up and walked towards home plate. After indicating to the umpire that he wanted to exchange places with Minami, he entered the batter’s box.

“PLAY!”

The umpire called for the bottom half of the 5th inning to begin. The batter’s Muttsurini, and the pitcher we’re going up against is the P.E. teacher Ooshima-sensei.

“Ironman’s the catcher…seems like they’re wary of us making a close play.”

“Well, we were the ones who said that we wanted to take revenge.”

Most likely, they’re afraid that once we hit the ball, the baserunner running to first base will collide with the catcher. If Ironman’s the one blocking main base, we’ll be blocked by him or even sent flying away no matter how hard we ram in. We have no chance of winning if we ram into the catcher.

Ooshima-sensei pitched the first ball rather forcefully as the arm swung down. The ball zipped through the wind and flew into the glove.

“…uu (PANK!)”

“STRIKE!”

Muttsurini swung the ball below the ball and missed. If he swung it below the ball, it means that the opponent’s pitch was a lot faster than he thought. As expected of Ooshima-sensei. He’s really a P.E teacher.”

“…(su)”

Muttsurini readied his bat again. Ooshima-sensei and Ironman spent some time with the signal, and the second pitch was thrown.

This pitch seems to be flying at a fastball speed, but it glided sideways at the last second. Is that…a slider!? It’s just a teachers-vs-students exchange match. What sort of ball was he pitching! That’s not like what a mature adult would do!”

“STRIKE!”

Muttsurini missed the second swing. Now, it’s two strikes, and he’s trapped now.”

“Nice pitching, Ooshima-sensei.”

Ironman threw the ball back at Ooshima-sensei as he said that. Right now, Muttsurini’s staring at Ooshima-sensei’s wrist as he gets ready to bat.

Ooshima-sensei pitched a curveball this time. Will Muttsurini be struck out?

“BALL!”

The umpire decided that this was a ball. Looking at where Ironman was putting his glove at, I thought it would be a strike again….it seems like Ooshima-sensei’s control isn’t that good.

Ooshima-sensei swung his arm and pitched the fourth ball. This ball…will he hit it…!?

“…GO…!”

The ball flew by the pitcher and rolled to third base. Hasegawa-sensei’s guarding third base, and I never heard that he’s athletic. There should be no problems.

“Oh, oh my.”

After picking up the ball, Hasegawa-sensei hurriedly threw to first base, but Muttsurini already passed first base before the ball even reached there.

“SAFE!”

“““WOOOOOHHHH—!!”””

Nice! Now we have the tying run on base. Now, it’s no man out, one man on first base, and the next batter is—

“I’LL FOLLOW TSUCHIYA AND GET ON BASE!”

The leader of the FFF—Sugawa-kun.

Sugawa-kun grabbed the bat with swagger and waits for the ball. Ooshima-sensei pitched a straight fastball at Sugawa-kun.

“…Gu…!”

“STRIKE!”

Sugawa-kun just stood there with wide eyes. He probably never expected Ooshima-sensei’s pitch to be that amazing.

Ooshima-sensei then pitched a few more fastballs, and Sugawa-kun missed. After going off, Fukumura-kun went past him and entered the batter’s box.

“…That was fast. Watch out there.”

“Mn, I got it.”

Having returned to the bench, Sugawa-kun reminded me. I have never seen Sugawa-kun look so serious, even though it was for the ero-books.

“Ku…!”

Fukumura-kun swung the bat, and the ball rolled up to the front of the pitcher. It seems like his swing lost to the power of the pitch.

Ooshima-sensei quickly picked the ball up, checked the condition at second base, and saw that the agile Muttsurini was about to reach second base with several centimeters left.

Giving up on second base, Ooshima-sensei then coolly passed to first base to throw Fukumura-kun off. Right now, it’s 2 men out with the runner on second base.

Finally, it’s time for the next batter, and I stepped up.

“Ak. The timing’s really great. You’ll be the hero if you can knock that out!”

“Well, please do your best, Akihisa-kun! I’ll be cheering for you here!”

The two girls in our class cheered for me energetically. Of course, I’m really happy that they would encourage me, and I hope to perform well now. However—

“Thanks. I don’t know if I can live up to your expectations, but I’ll do my best.”

Anyway, I can only answer like this, and I turn around and head to the batter’s box.

“So you’re the batter, Yoshii. Seems like things just got interesting.”

The catcher Ironman said that to me as I entered the batter’s box.

Yeah. I feel that this is really interesting.

“Yup. If I can get a base hit, we’ll catch up, and I’ll be the hero of our class.”

“Those girls just cheered for you, right? I know that you want to hit it out—but as a teacher, I have a pride that won’t allow me to lose. I won’t let you hit it out like that.”

“I never expected you to give me any leeway anyway.”

I answered Ironman and raised the bat.

Ooshima-sensei already got ready to pitch the ball. After that, the pitch from Ooshima-sensei flew by me and landed directly into Ironman’s glove.

“BALL!”

The first ball was a ball. It didn’t land into the strikezone well. Maybe he’s wary of me.

“I thought that you would swing at the first pitch.”

“Because you thought that I would try to act cool in front of the girls?”

“Mn, you can say that.”

Ironman pitched the ball back to Ooshima-sensei. I twist my neck lightly and stamp on the ground below me lightly to flatten the red dirt ground lightly and hold the bat in my hand tightly.

Ooshima-sensei checked that Muttsurini’s still at second base, and then pitched the ball at me. It’s a fastball this time, low at the strikezone.

“STRIKE!”

I silently let this ball fly past. Seeing me like this, Ironman seem to feel that something’s not right. It seems like he’s thinking that I’m thinking something bad again.

After checking Ironman’s signal and the position of the glove, Ooshima-sensei threw the third pitch.

“BALL!”

Facing the third pitch, I still had no intention of swinging the bat. This time, the ball felt like it was outside the strikezone. It seems like they’re becoming more wary of me now.

“What’s wrong, Yoshii? Not going to hit?”

“Yeah. Well, how should I put it…I have a lot of ideas in my mind.”

I deliberately made such a taunting tone to make Ironman more wary of me.

I don’t know what Ironman’s feeling now, but I can feel that Ironman just moved the glove slightly behind me.

“BALL!”

Another ball. Now it’s 3 balls and one strike. Right now, the opponent can only fight it out with me.

“…”

Ironman adjusted the glove for the fifth pitch, and I silently grip the bat for Ooshima-sensei’s pitch.

The ball went nicely down the middle to the strikezone. Unlike the four powerful pitches before, this pitch focuses on control instead. I don’t think it’s a curveball, so it’s time to swing the bat. Facing this ball, I have confidence that I can hit this half the time. But…

“STRIKE!”

<noinclude>
{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Seventh Question|next=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume7 The Final Question}}
</noinclude>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume4 The Second Question

2011-09-23T21:11:59Z

89.178.73.119:

===The Second Question===


'''Please answer the question below:'''

"Please write the full name of the person who discovered the American continent in AD1492."

 
'''Himeji Mizuki's answer:'''

"Kurisutofaa Koronbusu (Christopher Columbus)."

'''Teacher's comment:'''

"Correct. He is a famous noble person in the story of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_of_Columbus Egg of Columbus]. Even though Columbus is a famous name, surprisingly, his first name was not known to many. This was supposed to be a trick question, but it seems like this does not concern Himeji-san at all. Well done."

 

'''Shimizu Miharu's answer:'''

"Koron Busu (Colum Bus)."

'''Teacher's comment:'''

"Don't understand the meaning of 'full name'? 'Columbus' alone is his family name, and 'Colum Bus' does not make it a full name. Please remember that."

 
'''Shimada Minami's answer:'''

"Busu (Ugly Woman)"

'''Teacher's comment:'''

"What a thing to do to a historical noble person."

----


What is this. This strange atmosphere.

The classroom was filled with an unprecedented silence. It seemed so unreal for the usually noisy F class.

My classmates who had not uttered even a single line of idle talk. The writing sound of Sensei’s chalk on the blackboard reverberated.

“......hn?”

Abruptly, I felt someone’s eyes on me and turned around.

As I did that, there was a person who seemed to have caught my glance and she frantically lowered her face.

--- Minami.

What, what’s that. Could she be looking in my direction all this while? Doesn’t that seem like...... the behavior of a person towards someone she likes......

As I considered that, a ‘don’, ‘don’, throbbing began escalating to a rapid rate.

Uw, uwah...... Somehow, even I felt embarrassed......I could feel my cheeks burning. That kiss, could it be that Minami, towards me......? But, up till now, I’ve only been beaten severely by her; it didn’t seem like an element of lov......

“Now, Sugawa-kun. What chemical is needed to yield 3 mole of ammonia?”


“Pour hydrochloric acid into Yoshii’s eyes.”

“Wrong. Well then, Asakura-kun.”

“Pour hydrochloric acid into Yoshii’s nose.”

“It’s meaningless if you pour it into the wrong place. Well then, Udou-kun.”

“Pour hydrochloric acid into both Yoshii’s eyes and nose.”

""That’s it!""

“That’s not it. And when you’re answering, don’t look in the direction of Yoshii-kun, but look in the direction of Sensei here.”

With that kind of atmosphere that was different from usual, the chime rang to signal the end of the first period.

“Eh.........., that’s all for today.”

Sensei let out a large sigh and left the classroom.

“That damn Yoshii had made eye contact with Shimada......!”

“That damn bastard had the eyes that were aiming for Shimada......!”

“Bastard......! Following Himeji and Kinoshita, if he were to have Shimada as well, then doesn’t that mean that the only hope of this class is no one else but Aki-chan......!”


As the killing gazes shoot me in turns, I could see someone making her way to my seat.

''Swing'', ''swing'', like the tail of a horse, approaching me,

"Mi, Minami?"

"Aki. Good, good morning......"

Greeted Minami with her eyes downcast.

"Uhn, good morning."

For some reason, I couldn't look at her as well. There were many times I couldn't look at her straight in the eye when she was seething with anger, but this occasion was a first.

"Erm, you know, Aki. I have two requests, will you hear them......?"

"Request? What is it, I wonder?"

Without looking at each other, our conversation continued.

"Erm, regarding the first one, I would like to use the same [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chabudai chabudai] as you......"

"Huh? Chabudai?"

"Yeah. Last week, because of various things that happened with Miharu, my chabudai has become a little difficult to use."

On hearing that, I took a look at Minami's chabudai, and it appeared pretty roughed up. The tabletop was full of scratches and one of the legs were broken. I didn't think anything could be more difficult to use than that.


"Aki. Is it ok?"

"Erm, yeah. I don't mind."

"I see. Thanks."

She broke into a smile like a flower bursting into bloom,

"Then, I'm sitting down now......"

Minami took a seat beside me.

Right. While I didn't really mind......

"............"

"Wh-what's wrong Aki. Why are you keeping quiet?"

"No. Erm, nothing......"

Was I imagining it...... Isn't she a little too close......?

"And, you know, Aki. About my second request...... if you don't mind, shall we...... have lunch together today?"

The second request was an invitation to lunch. Up till now, everything seemed normal and routine, but, today, there was something different.

"Erm, y-yeah, sure. Then, let's go to the place where I drink water......"

Even though I was merely replying, I was abnormally nervous somehow.


"No. Not that, since I've made Aki's portion as well......"

Just as Minami was about to take out something from the bag she was holding,

"Onee-sama! What are you doing!? Why are you sticking so close to that pig-head!?"

A strained voice, which sounded close to a shriek, rang out in the classroom suddenly.

"Mi-Miharu!? Did you come to interfere with me!?"

"Of course! How can I keep quiet after seeing that pig-head stick so close to you!"

The girl who was glowering at me with bitter tears flowing was Shimizu Miharu-san from D-class. As the name implied, she is a girl, though for some strange reason, she likes girls more than guys and was carrying a torch for Minami.

"I-It can't be helped for us to stick close together right!? Since there's no substitute chabudai, and it's a little small, it won't do if we don't stay close together......"

It would be spacious if she had sat opposite me, but, in order to pay attention to the lessons, she would have to sit beside me. To say that it couldn't be helped to sit close together, was something that couldn't be helped.

"Onee-sama. If that's the case, you could have sat beside Himeji-san right! Why would you have to sit beside that pig-head!"

"Th-That's...... Because it's not good for me to become a bother to Mizuki's studies right? And by the same point, at any rate, even if I don't become a bother to Aki's studies, his results will still be bad......"


"Minami. I kind of felt that you were talking bad about me in a subtle way though."

But yet, it felt kind of soothing for some reason. How used was I to such verbal abuse, I wonder.

"Erm, Minami-chan. I don't think of you as a bother, so please come over here. Besides...... there are a few things I'd like to talk to you about......"

Himeji-san, who had heard the exchange, called out to Minami in a timid manner. It seemed like her earlier distraught mode was finally over.

"I'm really happy about that though...... But, Mizuki, since you're kind, you'll probably bear with it even if I prove to be a bother right?"

"N-No. Really, you won't be a bother."

"That's right Onee-sama! Change your seat, and let's eat your handmade [http://www.google.com.sg/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=wiki+bento bento] together! After I caught sight of you yesterday buying ingredients for a handmade bento, I didn't eat anything and came with a totally empty stomach!"

"But, I made this for Aki."

"The fried food seasoned with handmade [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tare_sauce Tare-sauce] that Onee-sama had taken the trouble to wake up at four in the morning to prepare, the hamburger made from extravagant minced meat, and the potato salad made from specially selected local potato produce; just by thinking about that makes me, makes me......!"


"Wait a second Miharu! How did you know all that!?"

"And a heart-shaped pattern on the rice!?"

"Miharu ---!?"

Minami yelled with a totally flushed face. She was probably greatly embarrassed.

"Erm, say, Miharu. Listen to me carefully. Although I've been patient with you till now, I'm requesting you to not go on any further. Because ---."

With a red face, Minami announced it clearly to Shimizu-san.

"--- because I'm going out with Aki."

"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami Tatami] reversal!"

''Shukkakakaka.''

Numerous razors came flying towards me, who had erected a tatami shield in an instant. That was dangerous. If this classroom uses a wooden floor, I would have lost my life.

"""--- tch."""

Flicking tongues could be heard throughout the classroom. Making a count of the razors on the tatami, it seemed like there were more than two per head. Strange. Normally, bringing just one razor to school should be more than enough.

"O-Onee-sama......? You must be joking about that right......?"


Shimizu-san staggered, as if grief-stricken. Minami quietly turned her head to the side and replied.

"I'm not joking. It's true."

"Th-Then, Onee-sama. Was this morning's kiss that Miharu thought was a hallucination real......?"

Minami, appearing to have recalled something, stopped moving for an instant, and then,

"...... yeah."

She nodded slightly.

I see. That was indeed neither a dream nor a hallucination.

"So, Miharu. From now on."

"...... things such as men."

"As much as possible, continue to be friends with me."

"...... it's because of things like men, that Onee-sama......"

Shimizu-san was trembling.

"Miharu, are you listening?"

"It's because of things like men, that Onee-sama has been led astray!"

Immediately after that, she started pouncing forward. And the target of her aim was --- me!?

"I shall exterminate this pig-head! And I shall become the Yoshii Akihisa number two and tie the knot with Onee-sama!"


"Wa-wait a minute, Shimizu-san!? Aren't you getting confused!? I think it's a little difficult to eliminate me and take my place though!?"

Before that, am I going out with Minami!?

"After eliminating you with utmost care in order not to inflict a wound onto your body, I shall carve your skin out and wear them to become Yoshii Akihisa!"

"That's damn gross! And you're actually seriously considering that!"

"It'll be fine! The raccoon dogs from the old stories of Japan did that too!"

"Besides, the original story is surprisingly cute!"

The movements of the attacking Shimizu-san was abnormally fast. Even though I frantically tried to escape, it was a matter of time before I get caught.

There was only one person who could deal with these movements.

"Save me, Muttsulini! Stop Shimizu-san!"

The ninja of the modern society, Tsuchiya Kouta, a.k.a Muttsulini, would be able to keep up with such movements. I shall leave this to you, Muttsulini......!

"............ right now, I'm busy using eraser residue to make a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneaded_eraser kneaded eraser]."


'''(Kneaded Eraser) > (Life of a Friend)'''

My life seems to be a rather cheap thing.

"Damn, I really hate the Muttsulini who's pretending to make a kneaded eraser while taking this chance to peek under the skirt of the bustling Shimizu-san."

"............!! (dang dang)"

While adopting a pose of denial, his eyes didn't flinch away. Isn't his nickname Mr Stylish?

"Men can just disappear from this world! What Onee-sama needs is me!"

"Wait Shimizu-san! Don't you also have a father? Don't say sad things like 'men can disappear from this world'!"

"That man should disappear before any others!"

The thought of a berserker fleeted across my mind.

What should I do now. I can't find a counter argument.

"Er, erm...... did something happen?"


"...... I don't want to remember."

Shimizu-san's body shook as if she just recalled something repulsive. What's that, I wonder. Was she forced into the bath with him, I wonder.

"Anyway, I must erase the pig-head! And I shall marry Onee-sama, and our daughter shall take a character from Onee-sama's 'Minami' and be named 'Mirai'<ref>'''Mirai(美来):''' Literally Beauty-Comes. </ref>!"

"Wait a minute Shimizu-san! What if you give birth to a boy!"

"If it's a boy, then 'Namihei'<ref>'''Namihei(波平):''' Literally Wave-Ordinary. </ref> is more than enough!"

"That's too much!"

"The two of you! Before that, realize that there's no way Miharu and I can have a child duh!"

But even so, the fact that she could still take a character from Minami's name was praiseworthy. As expected of a D-class member, there's no opening at all.

"Now, I'll give you five seconds. Say your prayers to God."

"Ku......!"

Shimizu-san approached slowly. Is this the end......?

''Slide.''

"Alright, class is starting. Today, Endou-sensei is out because of some other matter, so I'll ---? Well well...... Shimizu-san again...... Class is starting so get back to your own classroom."


The door opened at the right timing, and Ironman appeared. He looked at Shimizu-san and sighed.

''Again'', for Ironman to have said that, something must have happened during our suspension last week.

"To-today is different from last week. It's a matter of utmost importance! Nishimura-sensei, please overlook this for once!"

"A matter of utmost importance? What would that be? Don't tell me it's something like last week's ''I want to attend lessons with Onee-sama in the classroom where the obstructions are not around'' huh?"

What a simple-minded fella she is.

"Noo! The matter of utmost importance is about ''eliminating all the men in this classroom'' ---"

"From now onward, you're banned from this classroom."

''Bam''.

Ironman drove Shimizu-san out of the classroom and slammed the door shut.

''"O-Onee-sama! I still have something to say to you! At the very least, sit away from that pig-head and protect your chasti ---"

''Bang Bang Bang'', Shimizu-san knocked on the door loudly.

"Shimizu. Recently, your actions have been too much. ...... do you really want a life counseling session so much?"


Abruptly, the knocking sounds stopped.

Ironman's life counseling. Even me and Yuuji who have been a regular at that hellish session have yet to become used to it. Not to mention to a person who lacks the necessary resistance, there's no place that can be more scary than that.

"Onee-sama......! If you are using the chabudai as a reason for getting close to the pig-head, I won't be just keeping quiet about it...... !"

After peering through the window and glaring at me, Shimizu-san spouted something inappropriate and without further aggression, she put our classroom behind her.

"Now, everyone take your seats. Turn to page 86 of your textbook. Today's lessons ---."

Without any other eventful thing happening, the lesson started. It seemed like Endou-sensei had to go invigilate the exam of another class. Because of that, the fact that Ironman became our relief was the worst possible thing that could have happened.

" --- ''''I wish I were a bird.'''' This is a special use of past tense to express [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood subjunctive mood] ---"

That being said, it was a fact that I was saved thanks to Ironman's arrival. After what he said, I doubt that Shimizu-san will be coming to this classroom anytime soon.

" --- In other words, if we translate it directly to Japanese, it becomes 'I wish I were a bird' --- "

However, I can't imagine that she will just give up on Minami so easily. No, before that, she has misunderstood that Minami and I are going out ---


''Brush''.

"Hya!"

A breath was squeezed out of my lungs as I felt something brush across the back of my neck amid my thoughts.

(Ah, sorry Aki.)

Minami apologized softly as she held down her hair with her hand. So that was Minami's hair huh......

(Er, well, don't worry about it......)

My hand went to the back of my neck which was still feeling ticklish. So this is what it meant when the girls often talk about how undesirably ticklish the neck can get with hair which has been grown to a half-ass length. Indeed, this might be quite unbearable ---

''Brush''.

"Hya!"

It came again. As I turned to look, Minami was looking at me playfully with her hair in one hand.

(Aki, I say, your 'Hya!' sounds weird.)

That was on purpose huh. Ku......! Don't make fun of me!


If she did it on purpose, then there's no way I will take it down lying. I will teach her that she's not the only person sitting at a range where she could carry out her attacks.

Even though I said that, my hair is short so I couldn't do the same to Minami. While it'd be good if I have something that resembles a brush, I wonder what can I use?

I only pondered for a few seconds. Quite readily, I remembered the thing I had placed inside my pencil box previously. I didn't recall clearing it out before, so it should probably be still there......

I rummaged through my pencil box to search for the thing I wanted.

(...... Aki, what are you doing?)

(I'm of course preparing something to take revenge on you. With this, I'd be able to do the same to you ---)

''Brush''.

"Hya!"

This was the third time.

(N-not fair, Minami! It should be my turn to attack this time! Don't interfere!)

(It's only obvious that I'd interfere if you're preparing something like that right!? Isn't it full of ink!)

My hand got pressed down by Minami, and I ended up dropping the calligraphy pen in my hand. My means of attack......!


(Damn! If that's the case, I'd have to use your hair!)

(Wa-wait a minute!?)

I stretched my hand towards the head of Minami, who was holding onto me as well as her hair. The tight space between us meant that she wouldn't be able to resist.

Before long, Minami's tied-up hair was gathered in my hand. Alright. With this, I can strike back with full force, with full force ---

(............)

(...... A-Aki? What's wrong?)

As a result of the sudden stop in my movements, Minami peered at me doubtfully.

(No, erm......)

I said in a faltering tone involuntarily.

Something's strange. This isn't the hair that I know of. The hair I know of, that is my own hair, doesn't feel so nice to touch; it doesn't have such a nice smell; and needless to say, it doesn't make my heart race. In other words, this is something foreign to me I guess. From its appearance, it looks just like normal hair similar to those on top of my head, but, this hair-like thing is not hair. Which means, this is ---


(I see. It's a wig......)

(What the heck are you talking about!?)

In order not cause an unexpected incident as a result of over-pulling it, I let go of my hand. Even Minami has her own problems huh......

(Heyyy! Don't let go of your hand and leave such an incredible misunderstanding alone! Touch it properly and ascertain it yourself!)

Minami reached to the back of her head and ''whish'', she pulled out something. Following that, her bundled up soft hair spread out in the air. As the flowing hair received the rays of the sun, like elegant silk, they were dazzling like silverware and jewelry.

(This is the well groomed hair that I'm proud of, you know! Don't mess with me by calling it a wig! Touch it and ascertain it yourself!)

Minami handed me a bunch of her hair that had been released from her hair rubberband.

But, I didn't touch it to ascertain it.

(Sorry, Minami. I misunderstood.)

(? That's suspicious. Do you really get it?)

Minami threw me a doubtful gaze. But I really got it. Because,

(Of course. Even if it's me, I won't make a mistake about this............ thing.)

[[Image:BTS_vol_04_049.jpg|thumb]]

(This, what?)

(Th-that is......, this, beautiful......)

(...... huh......?)

That's right. Even if it's me, I'm not so stupid as to mistake such a beautiful thing for an imitation thing. This is a genuinely made article ---

"""We can't take this anymore --- !!"""

At that moment, all of a sudden, an angry roar was heard in the classroom.

As I looked up frantically, I saw my classmates facing me with their razors raised. What in the world!?

"We've been watching you for a while, you dare flirt openly to show off!"

"We'll kill you. Seriously. Most definitely. We'll kill even your soul."

"...... to touch Onee-sama's hair...... even if you are torn to eight pieces, I can't forgive you......!"

"Reinforce the exit! Let's kill him here!


Everyone started going into throwing motion together. That! If my tatami reversal is breached ---

"All hands, after throwing your razors, with lightning speed, strike him with your chabudai! Make sure you guys don't hit Onee-sama in the process!"

"""Roger."""

Damn......! What precise instructions! Stopping my movements with the razor blades and then delivering the finishing blow with an overwhelming number of chabudai. Faced with attacks from every direction, there's nowhere I can run. Bastard, as expected of Shimizu. Just by being in D-class, she has good thinking---

A stinging, uncomfortable feeling.

"Onee-sama! Quickly retreat to here! It's dangerous to stay with that pig-head!"

"Shimizu-san, when did you get there!? And why is everyone listening to Shimizu-san and preparing your chabudai!? You should treasure your classmate!"

"Miharu, you still haven't given up on me? If you keep this on, it will just make things difficult for the both of us though......"


"Onee-sama, you are just deceived by that pig-head! The only person who truly cares about you is me---"

"You all! We're in the middle of a lesson you know!!"

At last, Ironman bellowed at us while we were engaged in our heated arguments.

The classroom fell silent all of a sudden. The bellow of Ironman was extraordinary.

"Shimizu. What happened to your lesson?"

"Th-this is not the time for that......! Onee-sama."

"Shimizu."

Ironman called out her name softly, and with just that alone, Shimizu-san kept quiet.

"This is the second warning. Behave yourself and get back to your own classroom. I'll say this again, but you are banned from coming to this class. Understand?"

"...... understood."

Reluctantly, Shimizu-san left the classroom. During then, as she was leaving, she once again glared at me as if I were an enemy of her parents.


"You guys, don't play around during lesson time. Do that during your breaks."

On hearing that, my classmates put away their razors and put back their chabudai.

With that, thanks to Ironman this time, things had come to a close --- it seemed.

<center>☆</center>

'''~54%'''

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===Translator's Notes===
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{{BakaTest Nav|prev=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume4 The First Question|next=Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume4 The Third Question}}
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