Episode 46: It’s a Win-Win!
With the student council president handover complete, Kazuma, Souji, and Hayato had come to Grand One.
“What should we do first?”
“Let’s see~. How about the classic, bowling?”
“I’ll go with whatever you two decide.”
“Alright then, shall we start with bowling?”
“Yeah!”
And so, they headed to the bowling reception, and Kazuma and the others began an all-boys bowling tournament.
“Just bowling normally is boring, isn’t it!”
“You’re right! What should we bet?!”
“Ehh~, let’s just play normally~”
Although Hayato protested, wanting to enjoy bowling normally without any bets, the other two wouldn’t listen, and they started a betting game of bowling.
“Alright then, how about we say the name of the person we like!”
“Nah, I have Aoi.”
“I have Shiori too.”
“Shitto (Shit)!!!”
Kazuma made a sophisticated retort, combining the English word “shit” with “shitto” (jealousy).
Realizing that this super classic bet was meaningless for Hayato and Souji, Kazuma made another suggestion.
“Then, let’s have the loser perform a one-shot gag at the new and old student council orientation.”
“I can’t lose this!!!”
“Maybe I should get a little serious!!!”
For some reason, it was as if the bet had already been accepted, and the three of them competed seriously.
But, annoyingly, Kazuma, whose base specs were abnormally high, bowled a perfect game, turning it into a one-on-one match between Souji and Hayato.
“This isn’t much of a bet anymore, so shouldn’t we call it off?”
“You’re right. Since Kazuma-kun is a pro, it’s invalid.”
“Hey, I’m just a regular student! Calling off the bet now is cowardly, you know!”
“Shut up! Just listen to what your elders say!”
“We’re your seniors, and you’re our junior! In times like these, the seniors’ opinions are respected!”
“That’s an outrageous theory!”
In the end, the bet became ambiguous, and the one-shot gag at the orientation was called off.
“So, what should we do next?”
“Hmm… How about karaoke?”
“By the way, Kazuma-kun, how good are you at karaoke?”
“I think I’m about average.”
“Can we believe him?”
“He handles everything flawlessly, and some things he does are even pro-level, so I can’t believe it until I see it.”
“I agree. We should only challenge him to karaoke after seeing his score.”
“That sounds good. Alright, Kazuma-kun! Let’s have a karaoke match!”
“Well then, if you’ll validate the previous bowling bet, I’ll take you up on that challenge.”
“Let’s just have some wholesome fun! Right, Hayato!”
“Yeah! Gambling is never a good thing, Souji!”
The two had decided it was better not to compete while Kazuma’s singing ability was unknown, but since they seemed to have no chance of winning if the bowling incident was brought up again, they shifted gears towards not competing from the start.
“Well, whatever’s fine with me…”
They moved to the floor with karaoke, and Kazuma and the others had a blast singing and dancing normally, without competing.
Incidentally, Kazuma’s score was neither good nor bad, leading Hayato and Souji to regret, just a little, that they might have won if they had competed.
“Man~, we played a lot, played a lot. That was fun!”
“Me too! Let’s hang out again!”
“Well then, shall we break up around here? The sun’s about to set soon.”
“Yeah. It’s a bit sad to part, but I’m heading to the hotel I booked.”
“Oh, you booked a hotel? If you didn’t have a place to stay, I would’ve invited you to mine.”
“That sounds interesting, but I’ve already booked a hotel. I’ll take you up on that next time.”
“Got it!”
And so, the boys’ outing disbanded there.
Hayato said he had other things to do, so he left first. Kazuma and Souji chatted as they headed home together.
“Are there any public baths around here?”
“There are. Are you thinking of going in?”
“It’s a bit early, but how about we go in before heading back?”
“But we don’t have a change of clothes or anything.”
“Ah~, that’s right. What should we do…”
Without a change of underwear and being empty-handed, they couldn’t go to the public bath even if they wanted to.
The two of them pondered what to do, but decided to save the “naked fellowship” for another time and parted ways.
“Let’s do it next time then.”
“Yeah. Let’s head home for today.”
“Yeah!”
Saying that, the two walked towards the setting sun, chatting cheerfully and amicably.
Souji headed to his hotel, and Kazuma to his dorm, each going their separate ways home.
◇◇◇◇
After Kazuma finished dinner and took a bath, he called Stephen.
“Hello? It’s rare to get a call from you. What’s up, Mr. Satsuki?”
“Actually, Stephen, I have a favor to ask, or rather, something important to discuss. Is now a good time?”
“Yeah. No problem. I’m on vacation right now. So, what’s this important discussion about?”
“Yeah. Remember before, when I zapped you with Elec to check if you were Brainwashed? We talked about me granting you one wish as an apology, right?”
Previously, when Sakura Hakanai had escaped from Shindo Makoto, the leader of the Ivera Church, and was under protection in America, and a meeting with the Crimson Knight was requested, Kazuma had relentlessly zapped Stephen with Elec to confirm he wasn’t Brainwashed.
Moreover, at that time, he had suddenly zapped him without a word, doing something akin to torture to Stephen.
As a way of apologizing for that, Kazuma had made a promise to Stephen: that he would do anything Stephen asked, as long as it was within his power to grant.
“Of course. I remember it well. What about it?”
“About that, how about the liberation of Hawaii?”
“What?”
At first, Stephen couldn’t understand what Kazuma was saying, and he instinctively asked again.
“So, I was wondering, how about the liberation of Hawaii?”
“…Ah~, hold on a sec. Let me think about it for a bit.”
“Alright. But could you think about it quickly?”
“Why? Is there something urgent?”
“Yeah. Actually, I became the student council president, and there’s an orientation to deepen ties between the new and old student councils. I was wondering if we could use Hawaii for it. And I thought, maybe I could grant Stephen’s wish at the same time.”
“I see…”
Stephen listened to Kazuma’s words and thought.
His proposal was very attractive.
The Crimson Knight would liberate Hawaii free of charge.
Stephen knew that Okinawa and its surrounding islands had already been liberated from the Ibinom by the Crimson Knight and revived as tourist destinations.
If Hawaii and its surrounding islands were liberated in the same way, they could be used as resort areas and also as new sources for resource collection.
It was an extremely welcome proposal for America, but it wasn’t Stephen’s wish.
Ideally, the best outcome would be for Kazuma to voluntarily liberate Hawaii and still grant Stephen’s wish.
(However, if I did that, Mr. Satsuki would probably despise me~. He’s likely proposing this to me because he believes that if he liberates Hawaii, America will be pleased, and he himself can have fun in Hawaii. A win-win situation, killing two birds with one stone… If I were to betray that trust, he might sever ties with me.)
It was a very difficult problem, but Stephen judged that he couldn’t afford to be disliked by Kazuma and lose his connection with the Crimson Knight. So, Stephen said he would call the President once and hung up.
“What is it?”
“Mr. President. Would you like to hear the good news or the bad news first?”
“Hahahaha. You say the most amusing things. Well then, let’s hear the bad news first.”
“The promise I made with the Crimson Knight, where he would grant my wish, is now gone.”
“Did you use it without my permission?”
The President knew about Stephen’s promise with the Crimson Knight and had been keeping it as a trump card for a critical moment.
“No, he was the one who proposed it. The liberation of Hawaii.”
“I see. So that’s the good news, then… I take it he’s asking if that can cancel out the favor?”
“That’s likely the case. I haven’t heard the full details yet, but I plan to work them out.”
“Hmm… If possible, I’d like to participate in that discussion. Would that be feasible?”
“I don’t think it would be a problem, but I’ll ask just in case.”
“I’m counting on you.”
After finishing his call with the President, Stephen called Kazuma back, and they discussed the matter of Hawaii’s liberation in detail.