Chapter 5: Terror Week

Scene 1: The Inevitable Project

The second week of classes began. When Monday arrived, the Shimizu sisters made sure to set every single one of their alarms so they wouldn't cross paths with Professor Shinonome, who teaches social studies, ever again. The professor is extremely strict, and since he had thoroughly enjoyed the Shimizus' misfortune at the start of the term, he decided—just like in previous classes—to show up to the classroom a full 5 minutes early. He walked in, saying: —Good morning! —The students who were already there replied: —Good morning!

He waited out the remaining 5 minutes, starting the session with extreme punctuality. Wearing a wicked grin, he began the class: —Alright guys, we covered the topic last week, so I’m going to assign a little project to see you demonstrate the knowledge you’ve acquired.

Then, his voice shifted into pure malice to intimidate them: —As you already know, in my book, bad assignments carry way more weight than good ones, so I expect you to work hard in this class.

He stepped up to the whiteboard and started writing down the instructions, including the exact formatting he wanted, as he explained: —The assignment consists of completely redesigning Tokyo's public transportation system. We will imagine we have a completely unlimited budget to achieve profitability. This includes buses, subway lines, taxis, and even bicycle parking areas and bike lanes.

Ren thought to himself: "Great, they finally thought of pairing us up with something superior!" —Kouta, Daichi, and Sora were completely stunned, thinking: "This can't be a joke," "We're so screwed." The three of them simultaneously pulled out their phones to text each other as brothers.

Daichi, keeping his cool regardless, told himself: "As long as we have time, it's not a problem." Meanwhile, the Shimizus were texting in their Lined group chat:

(This has to be a joke)

(The teacher definitely has a screw loose)

Himari replied, trying to calm the panic: (His wife definitely served him divorce papers yesterday).

At the very end, the professor told them sarcastically: —I forgot the big news! When is it due? This Friday. —Every single student went dead silent, including the Yoshidas and the Shimizus, who were thinking: "This has to be a joke," "He definitely had a bad day," all while desperately texting on Lined. Ren even thought to himself while copying down the formatting requirements: "This is already a terrible option."

Then, the professor added: —You won't be doing this alone. There are 48 students here, so I want 6 teams of 8 members. —Without a second thought, Kouta grabbed a piece of paper, wrote on it: (It's Kouta. Can I team up with you guys, and my brothers too?) and tossed the paper directly to Himari. She felt it land, read it, and texted her sisters: (Should we team up with the Yoshidas? That makes 8 of us). Without hesitating, Asuka texted back in the chat, prioritizing the assignment: (It's perfect).

Meanwhile, Kouta told his brothers in their chat: (Let's work with the Shimizus. The project will go faster and we won't have to split up). Ren, though annoyed but prioritizing the assignment, replied: (Fine!).

In the meantime, Himari tossed the paper back to Kouta, and he caught it with the message: (We accept). Right then, the professor told them: —You are dismissed! There will be no class with me this week! —And then, he snapped at them in a harsh tone: —Get out of my sight! I don't want to see anyone.

Scene 2: Power Outage at the Shimizus' House

It was the following day, Tuesday. Kouta was preparing the material for the report when he asked Asuka, rubbing the back of his neck: —I didn’t catch that, how many routes did you plan?

Asuka, very confident in her answer, replied: —I was thinking around 50 bus routes that connect with each other at different spots to make commuting faster, rather than having them all meet in one single place. —Natsuki said to Asuka, wondering how they could possibly move so many people: —But wouldn’t that be too few routes for a city with over 37 million residents?

Ren answered dryly: —Your sister has a good perspective. You should listen to her. —Not very happy with Ren's response, she said to him: —Are you underestimating me?

He replied while he kept writing: —No! I’m saying your sister is right with that logic. If small cities like Mexico City have 15,000 units running over 100 routes, how many units do you plan to add to each route? —Himari thought carefully about what Ren just said: —Ren is actually right this time. Listen to him, sister!

Asuka was already annoyed, but keeping her cool, she shot back: —But he’s not considering that it's better to add more subway lines or shinkansen /bullet trains/ to get to the destinations faster! —Sora answered very confidently with a firm voice: —That’s true, it’s faster, but it would be way more crowded during rush hours. It would be an even bigger chaos.

Suki overheard everything, so she told everyone: —Instead of arguing, we should just ask the AI. Plus, we're still missing the map that Daichi said he could find to trace the routes. —She yelled a bit loudly at Daichi because the computer was far away: —Daichi, did you find the map? —He yelled back: —Almost! —She shouted back: —Alright!

Then, Suki divided up the plans: —Okay! Let's use the AI in the meantime to be more efficient. Himari, look up how many bike spots we need; Asuka, outline the subway and bus transit; Ren, search for how many routes we would need, while the rest of us plan how to connect the whole system. After that, the AI will make the final connection adjustments.

Annoyed about being ordered around, Ren yelled at her: —Suki! You can't boss me around. —Kouta and Sora said to him with firm voices: —It's teamwork. Just do it, we need to speed things up. —Ren, giving in, answered with an annoyed voice: —Fine! But let me remind you that you can't boss me around.