The morning assembly show was called Watch the trash get expelled together! Tragic! The end of anyone who defies the principal and vice principal! At first the hall was full of laughing at him. That laugh died in an instant.
The fake vice principal had started screaming his usual scream.
"Stop it! Stop it, zamasu! I sold my new house for this plan and even took out a loan, zamasu! If he opens that box, it gets even worse...!"
It was a cry from the soul. Leopin was too far away to hear it. On the crystal panel, Leopin walked straight up to the treasure chest like the meal had been set out for him.
He checked for traps. Then he opened it anyway.
Light and over-the-top music filled the cave. Opening the box triggered a magic show.
"Yes-man Vice Principal's treasure hunt ends here, zamasu! Class 1-K, you are great, zamasu! Hero, you are wonderful, zamasu! All this treasure is yours, zamasu! My heart is yours too...! As proof of my loyalty, I will even raise your rank, zamasu! The other classes are trash, zamasu, so I toss them aside, zamasu! From now on, please keep being good to this Yes-man, zamasu!"
Five ledgers shot out with that fawning voice. From the other side of the panel came a sigh. He sounded disappointed.
"Haa... What is this... Even a pile of these wouldn't help me..."
He was disappointed, but he still shoved the five ledgers into his coat. He did not waste things. That was how he did it.
Yes-man on the stage blew up.
"What!? You call five ledgers 'this'...!? And you finish a treasure hunt I poured my soul into with no hints, and go straight to the goal...!? What clueless trash, zamasu! I can't forgive that! I can't forgive that, zamasu!"
The students would not stop talking.
"F-five ledgers at once!?"
"Then how much does that trash have now!?"
The magic board beside the stage answered that. First place updated with a clunk.
1st place: Special Training Class, 101,200,000 Ender
Leopin had hit a hundred million Ender.
Yes-man flailed his hands and stamped his feet. The shock and the frustration were too much.
The students under the stage stared at Leopin and his new record. Then the looks turned into contempt for someone else.
"But that treasure hunt was obviously rigged, right?"
"Yeah. They set it so Class 1-K would find that treasure!"
"And they were going to raise their rank too!"
"Worse. They called us trash...!"
The event was supposed to laugh at Leopin falling. The mood was starting to flip.
I left the hidden cave and went back to looking for water with dowsing. By then I was using Five Senses too, so I would not miss even a thin splash.
Then I heard what I had been waiting for.
A splash.
"...That was a fish jumping."
I ran again. I forgot myself and raced, almost past the tip of the dowsing branch.
A wet hollow of earth opened in front of me. It stretched across the path. There was no mistake.
"At last. At last. At last... a river!"
I almost jumped in. My feet stopped at the edge.
It was a river. There was no water. At the bottom were dying fish and a little mud.
It had clearly been a river until very recently. A Sorry sign of a new design told me the rest.
"The principal and the vice principal dammed the source...!"
The people behind this had stopped hiding.
Life-size signs of Principal Nekodoran and Vice Principal Yes-man stood there. You could almost hear the laughs. Both of them held a Sorry banner.
Under the letters it said this.
"As a special favor, I will give you one last chance! Shout at the sky, Principal and Vice Principal, I'm sorry! Especially the principal, I'm sorry!"
"Cry that you will give back all the prize money so far and drop out yourself, so please just spare your life, Lord Vice Principal! Then I might help you, zamasu!"
Back on the stage, Nekodoran and Yes-man had gotten their breath back and were showing off again.
"Bahaha! That trash is in complete despair! At last he knows my power! Pouring a fortune into taking the water away from him was worth it!"
"Muhohohoho! Here comes the climax, zamasu! Everyone, burn this into your eyes, zamasu! Watch that trash cry and regret that he defied me!"
The students still hated Yes-man. They hated Leopin more, so they got loud again.
"Right! So that's it! They boxed that trash in so he'll drop out himself!"
"Good! It was weird that trash was riding high this long anyway!"
"Yeah! Popular with Lady Monaka and Lady Kotone, and a hundred million in assets? No way!"
"If that trash gives up, this will finally be a proper academy!"
"Pond blocked, river blocked. He's done! Serves him right!"
"Now, everyone together, chant with me, zamasu! Give up! Give up!"
The give-up chant rose. On the crystal panel you could only see the boy's back. His head was down. He held the edge of the sign. His shoulders shook.
He looked spent. Everyone pictured him sinking to the ground, crying, throwing away everything he had won and every bit of shame.
Then the boy moved. His knees bent. He started to fall.
Just before his knees hit the dirt, he shot back up.
A flying knee.
He hit the principal and vice principal signs with a clean blow that looked like the education committee's envoy. He did not stop at splitting them. He kicked them and stamped them to pieces.
For the finish he took the Hiroeda fire-starting stand from his coat and set them on fire.
The fake principal and the fake vice principal burned.
The hall cried out in shock.