Novel Bin Volume 8, 2: Human Nature Put to the Test Part 5
Volume 8, Chapter 2: Human Nature Put to the Test Part 5
Perhaps it\'s because this is the first day of our lessons, since despite our exhausting marathon training the rest of our lessons consisted only of explanations regarding this school and what will be taking place during the rest of the week. The majority of the lessons consisted of something along those lines. However, it\'s made abundantly clear that what we will be learning is \'sociality\'.
But even if it\'s put that way to them, the 1st year students probably won\'t get it. The senior students are acting calm. Apparently the experience gap between the 1st years and the 2nd years is an insurmountable one.
"Uuu..........".
Our final lesson for the afternoon, Zazen, just ended but Keisei collapsed right there and then, unable to move.
"Are you alright?".
The first day. Brought to a close with Zazen.
"I\'m fine, is what I\'d like to say but my legs feel numb...please give me a moment".
Looks like this has been an unexpectedly hard lesson for Keisei. For about two minutes, he remained stiff and still while waiting out the numbness in his legs. Among the other students, it appears Ishizaki too, had a hard time with Zazen as he leaned forward in pain.
"Shit, eat and bath. Yeah, bath. Give me a hand here, Albert".
Albert silently came over and lifted Ishizaki up by his arm.
"Geh! Do it more gently! Let go".
Slam. Ishizaki collapsed.
"Gaaaah!".
Seeing that little interaction play out, I ended up thinking it seemed fun. However, the other students in our group could only see Ishizaki and them as parasites. Keisei too, ignored them and moved to leave and so I daringly stood my ground.
"They\'re an amusing bunch, aren\'t they?".
I daringly said so and drew Keisei\'s attention.
"It\'s better to leave them be, Kiyotaka. They\'re just fooling around. If you don\'t want to draw their attention, it\'s best not to look at them".
Keisei said so, trying to obstruct my field of view.
"He might not be as bad as Sudou but Ishizaki is also the type of guy to hit first and ask questions later. It might end up being Ryuuen all over again, you know".
"Still, we\'re in the same group. I\'m sure they\'ll be fine with a certain degree of contact, won\'t they?".
I pointed. And Ishizaki, noticing us, glared back. Keisei cowered for a moment but Ishizaki quickly dragged Albert and left the dojo.
"What?".
"...you\'re surprisingly brave, Kiyotaka".
In truth, it\'s because I already knew all about the true state of affairs between Ishizaki and his group but I\'d like to let them know, indirectly, that drawing attention to that here is inadvisable. As long as Keisei is the leader, controlling students from other classes will be essential, to a degree.
"Keisei, we may have to peel off another layer here at this outdoor school".
"A layer? What do you mean?".
"It means we\'ll have to befriend Ishizaki and Albert too. At least to a certain extent".
"That\'s absurd. I\'ll admit we\'re in the same group but we\'re essentially enemies here. No matter what, befriending them isn\'t something I can do. Because this isn\'t the last special exam we\'ll be going through after all".
There is no reason for us to get along with them. That\'s what Keisei is saying. I felt the same way too at first after enrolling here. As a matter of fact, this school thrives through that kind of conflict. However, recently I\'ve started feeling that there may be another way besides that.
"I hear the student council president Nagumo\'s succeeded in uniting the classes".
"That\'s---just his charisma. It\'s because he\'s special. I don\'t have that sort of talent.....no, I don\'t think that\'s a feat anyone from the other classes would be able to pull off either, right? In the first place, we still don\'t know if Nagumo-senpai\'s method will hold out until graduation or not. I don\'t know what he has in mind but no matter how much they get along the only ones who will be getting the last laugh in are the students who graduate from Class A in the end. The other classes will just end up in tears".
Keisei said so and left the dojo.