The celebrations for both the Newcomers Division and overall
victories happened at the same time.
The three replacements who took First Place and were directly
responsible for the triumph in the Newcomers Division were all
injured in the finals, so this wasn't exactly the time for reckless
celebration. Even with that in mind, the real reason was even though
overall victory was assured, preparations still needed to be made for
tomorrow's Mirage Bat event, hence they didn't have time to really
celebrate.
Thanks to First High's newcomers turning the table, the difference in
score between First and Third High grew even further.
Currently, the difference was 140 points.
For tomorrow's Mirage Bat event, First Place earned 50 points,
Second Place received 30 points, Third Place gets 20 points, and
Fourth Place nabbed 10 points.
For tomorrow's preliminary round and the finals for Monolith Code,
First Place obtained 100 points, Second Place received 60 points, with
Third and Fourth Place each receiving 40 points.
Based on tomorrow's result, First High's overall victory might become
a certainty before reaching the final day.
The players and technicians were overwhelmed with work trying to
procure the essentials (such as the uniforms and CADs for the
Monolith Code players), so any member with time on their hands was
also thrown into the fray.
Tatsuya intentionally avoided using "Restoration" on his ruptured right
eardrum and received the usual medical treatment from the infirmary.
Afterwards, he used Self Restoration to fully repair the damage and
covered it up with the medical patch issued to him. Currently, he was
alone with Miyuki and busy preparing for tomorrow.
None of the other team members, especially the upperclassmen, knew
that he had fully recovered, so they were still in the throes of worry.
While Tatsuya felt slightly guilty about deceiving them, he had his
reasons as well. In atonement, he chose to silently endure the
discomfort caused by wearing the ear protector in the scorching heat
of summer. —He was quite aware that such a trivial matter did not
constitute as atonement.
Still, even though they were "overwhelmed with work", this could not
compare to the sheer madness from the day before.
Scratch that, maybe it wasn't even close.
Yesterday evening, he had to fully equip two people from scratch —
three, including himself — CADs included, which created a level of
frantic industry rarely seen in this field.
Although Miyuki had switched from the Newcomers Division to the
Official Division, she was originally slated for Mirage Bat anyway, so
her preparations proceeded apace. Events outside of their control had
cost them a day, but that wouldn't affect the outcome by much.
"Don't force yourself, Tatsuya-kun, take a break. You already pushed
yourself too hard yesterday."
"Miyuki-chan, you too. If you always work so hard, we'll never stop
incurring injuries."
Tatsuya expertly completed the CAD examination. Along with
Miyuki, he was practically forcibly expelled by Mayumi and Suzune,
drawing today's activities to a close.
◊ ◊ ◊
Elsewhere, at this time during the same night, another group of people
were plagued by insomnia as they were backed into a corner.
"At this point, First High's victory is practically written on the wall..."
"Fuck that! Do you want to give up? Do you want to sit down and
die?!"
"If First High wins like this, we're going to lose over a billion. In U.S.
dollars!"
"We'd be better off dead in the face of that kind of loss! HQ was never
interested in this plan because upon failure, the loss in capital would
be enormous. We were the ones who forced this plan through. Now, if
we're lucky we would be turned into 'Generators', and anyone
unworthy would become 'Boosters' to slave away for the organization
until the day we die."
The men sitting around the table turned fearful gazes on the four
frozen men standing in the four corners of the room.
"Without this plan, we might not be able to meet our quotas... but I
think we overreached ourselves."
"This isn't the time to say that! ...In that case, let's do it, by any means
possible!"
"He's right! We already spent considerable energy forcing the favored
candidates to lose their matches. By now, we shouldn't hesitate to
adopt more brutal tactics. Even if our customers are suspicious, so
long as we don't leave any evidence behind, those are only empty
accusations at the end. Now, we go all the way or bust!"
"Send agents to the assistants. For tomorrow's Mirage Bat, force all of
First High's players to withdraw — by any means possible!"
"They won't die if they're lucky. Otherwise, I guess they weren't
lucky."
The men looked at one another with maniacal smiles on their faces,
their thoughts in accord.