Chapter 130. Half Time

I was confused that they were more worried about that rather than the clone easily killing himself, that I was thinking this was about. They picked up on my confusion and all had one big collective sigh. Toru then spoke up. “It is cute to see you so confused, but please just tell us about the girl.” I smiled at Toru for a second and then began to describe what I knew. “After everyone tagged out, I went…” I explained everything that happened in the field.

“After all that she did, I thought she would make a better hero then the other passed out player. I couldn’t trust she would be safe until her paralysis wore off, so I put her in the building.” I finished my story and the girls, especially Kyoka, were looking disgruntled. Kyoka then stabbed me and sighed. Momo just had a small smile while shaking her head. Mina had a bittersweet smile while looking off in the distance. Himiko just held on to me tightly. Toru was folding her arms while shaking her head. I was confused at what was so bad about what I did.

“I really do think she would be a better hero-” I was cut-off by the girls all groaning again. Kyoka just drove me away to the rest of the class. “Just go you idiot. We’ll discuss how your stupid actions need to be paid for.” I looked at the other girls and they were nodding and pushing me away as well. I sighed and went over to Shoto and Jin. They looked at me for a bit. Jin was fidgeting, while looking at me then downward. Shoto just grinned at me. “Trouble in paradise?” I blushed at that verbal jab and lowered my gaze.

I chuckled sheepishly and scratched my head. “I don’t understand why they even want to be with me. They all could have much better than me. They are actually ok with a person like me. Who is so selfish, he can’t pick one.” I sighed at my own shortcomings and continued to look at the chaos below, hoping for it to take my mind away. Jin spoke up with his nervous voice. “You are dating all of them?” I made a quick look around to check if anyone else was listening in.

I saw nobody present so I answered him. “We haven’t said it… But I just know that I love Momo, Mina, and Kyoka. We are together. In whatever other terms they agree with. Himiko and Toru… Well Himiko aside, Toru seems to also like me, and it turns out the girls were ok with her joining with the rest of them if I also fell in love with her. They want us to be closer to see if we can develop a connection. I don’t know too much about her, so she likes me more than I do her at the moment. Himiko… She is crazy, but has somehow proven to the girls recently that she loves me as much as they do. I’m having a hard time trying to keep my head on straight. They allow me to love the three of them, and push me to also find love as long as it is true love. I’m really trying not to get this out of hand. I don’t want them to feel left out, I love them. But I… If I fall in love with too many others, then they might feel less loved. But if I stop myself, then they will get mad at me for stopping how I feel for their sake.”

I let out a heavy sigh while holding my head in my hands at the stress of being in love. Shoto let out a chuckle at my plight. Jin and I looked over at him to check what was so funny. He shook his head slightly and explained himself. “I can’t help you with your problems. They are above my knowledge. However, I found it funny that even you don’t have all the answers.” I sighed while blushing and looking back down. He patted my shoulder and continued on. “Good luck with it.” It was then that the last person was accepted. The announcement came out that all contestants will have to go to the waiting room. Jin, Shoto, and I all went over to the rest of the class heading towards it.

I was surrounded by most of the class thanking me for my help and asking about that last fight I had with Camie. I explained vaguely as we were walking and around the time I finished we made it to the large waiting room. I saw our class was all here, everyone from Shiketsu High, and everyone from Ketsubutsu High school (Ms. Joke school). There were stragglers from other schools as well. In fact, I’m fairly certain all the girls from the Seiai Academy were all here as well. I looked around and saw that Shindo was still giving me a death glare behind his facade. I rolled my eyes at him, which added fuel to that fire.

I was then approached by Camie. “Hello Denki. Can I call you that? I totes don’t like using last names.” I shook my head at her. “I don’t mind. Did you manage to pass?” She nodded with her calming smile. “I totes did! Thanks so much!” I had an embarrassed smile and chuckled weakly. “Don’t worry about it, I just do things I believe in.” ‘Now please go away please, I got in hot water for some reason because of you!’ She giggled at my expression and was about to continue on before the girls got in between us. Mina spoke up first to her. “Hi! I’m Mina Ashido! You can call me Mina!”

Camie then looked at her and gave the same smile. “Hi Mina. You can call me Camie. Are you close friends with Denki?” Hearing that question gave the girls some pause before acting normal again. “I am together with him.” She gave a large smile when saying that, but the other girls were frowning a bit at her declaration. Camie was picking up on these and started to nod and smile at the scene. “Wow! I’ve never seen this before. That’s totes amazing!” The girls started to blush at being found out in a matter of seconds, except Himiko. Camie giggled and shook her head. “I can see that it is a secret. I was interested at what he was hiding, but I never expected this.” She giggled a little more at our expressions before continuing on.

“You don’t have to worry. I can understand.” They all then looked at me with deadpanned, and frowns. I sheepishly looked away from their gazes. It was then that the whole building shook. We all looked at the screens and saw everything was being demolished and different people were going around to be bystanders. We all had some time to talk after that while they were setting up, so I went into planning mode. The rest of the class huddled around to see what I might be thinking. The girls decided to focus on this too and let the matter go. Camie also decided to listen in.

“So this will be about rescuing civilians. That means we have to be search and rescuers. My best guess is they will mostly be in the urban environments to test us. We need to be able to find trapped or injured people quickly. Get them out, if we can. And lead them to a base of operation to be treated there. Getting people out will be the real test. It is very difficult to rescue people trapped in destroyed buildings. Never rush. Always think of what you're doing. Is electricity running, and sparks could start a fire? Could you just get electrocuted from a wire you didn’t see? Trapped rubble that you move could suddenly collapse on top of you. This is very difficult. Keep focus.”

Everyone got serious at how this will be difficult. Except Himiko who was drinking up my commanding attitude. I looked at everyone. “If you fail this, you fail the exam. Don’t rush, and keep the injured calm. The worst thing that can happen is losing your cool.” They all nodded at my last bit of advice and began to focus on how best to help on their own. Camie came over and smiled calmly at me. “You make a totes good leader.” I scoffed and shook my head. “I wouldn’t be so sure.” ‘I may come up with ideas but I might panic if I didn’t know the future. I don’t know how good I was with the parts of the story I didn’t remember.’