Book 14: Chapter 6: Intro - The Aloof Wunderkind of Class 2-D
At just before 7:00 AM the following day, the fifth of the exam, we were pushing south along the river from area D4 to D5. After we stepped foot in G3 yesterday, we decided to forego our next designated area, H4, and travel due west on our way back to the starting area. As a result, we missed out on the next two designations — H6 and I7 — as well, meaning that we had now missed three areas in a row.
Unless a randomly designated area were to appear somewhere along our projected route by some miracle, that number would inevitably increase to four. Ultimately, the odds didn’t play out in our favor, as when the clock finally struck 7:00 AM, the first designated area of the day was revealed to be I8.
Well, on the bright side, the designated area was so far away that it made it easier to detach from the matter since I wouldn’t have to fret about going through the effort to get there.
Perhaps because it was so early in the morning, the gentle murmur of the nearby river was quite pleasant.
If it hadn’t been for the bad news that came shortly thereafter, it would’ve been a pretty solid start to the day.
“Shinohara-senpai’s situation doesn’t seem very optimistic…”
Shinohara had been left to fend for herself after Komiya and Kinoshita retired yesterday. Even though Ike and Sudō were doing what they could to support her, the number of points she could score on her own was, in the end, limited.
As of yesterday, her group hadn’t been included in the bottom ten, but when we checked the rankings this morning, she had already dropped down to the bottom eight. From the fact that the groups ranked below her would earn points at a faster rate, she would probably sink down to last place by tomorrow or the day after at the latest. Thanks to this, in an ironic twist of fate, Akito’s group had been spared from the bottom ranks, at least for the time being.
Meanwhile, there were the current rankings for the top groups that I hadn’t gotten the chance to look at yesterday. In first place was Nagumo’s group, made up entirely of students from Class 3-A, whereas second place was held by Kiriyama’s group from Class 3-B. The two top representatives of the third year were fully accounted for.