Director Yanagi walked under the tent, where a large table had been newly added.
About a dozen teachers were already waiting there.
The staff placed the boxes on the table, and two teachers stepped forward.
One was from Silver Academy, and the other was from Indigo Academy.
The teacher from Silver Academy was a very refined-looking man wearing glasses.
The teacher from Indigo Academy was a young woman.
"Teacher Shiraishi, I'll leave this to you," Director Yanagi said to his teacher.
"Understood, Director," Shiraishi nodded.
With that, he took a waist bag out of the Indigo Academy box and poured the badges inside onto the table.
He then began to count them one by one. Once finished, he took a clipboard and recorded the data.
He noted how many Bronze Badges, Silver Badges, and Gold Badges there were. Finally, he converted the totals into an equivalent value of Bronze Badges.
After he finished counting, he pushed those badges aside, and the Indigo Academy teacher counted them again to ensure Teacher Shiraishi had not made any mistakes.
Meanwhile, Teacher Shiraishi picked up the next waist bag, poured out the contents, and continued counting.
While they were counting, other teachers watched from the side, representing both Silver Academy and Indigo Academy.
However, after watching for a while, they lost interest. Most people's badge counts were similar, and staring at them for too long was quite taxing on the eyes.
Director Yanagi and Director Kimura, meanwhile, suddenly struck up a conversation.
While the teachers were tallying the badges, Eichi and the others started chatting.
Tetsu ran over and asked, "Eichi, I seriously can't hold it back anymore. Just tell me, roughly how many badges did you collect?"
He was dying to know Eichi's count.
Director Yanagi had said the results were for the whole group, but if one person's badge count was high enough, couldn't it turn the tide of the entire situation?
He had asked the others earlier, but they wouldn't say, so he could only come and ask Eichi.
"You'll know once the results come out," Eichi said with a small laugh.
Tetsu looked dejected, but he recovered quickly and began chatting with Eichi about the events that happened in the forest today.
Time passed quickly. Half an hour later, Shiraishi finished the tally. He filled all the data into a form and handed it to Director Yanagi.
Director Kimura wanted to lean over and look, but Director Yanagi smiled and said, "What's the rush, Director Kimura? Let's go and announce the scores in front of everyone together."
Director Kimura was very nervous now. Since Director Yanagi wouldn't let him see, and because Director Yanagi's expression hadn't changed at all, he couldn't tell who had won.
Director Yanagi held the form and led several teachers toward Eichi and the others.
The atmosphere was now quite tense. The evening glow had appeared in the sky, and the sun was beginning to set.
By this time, everyone had rested enough and stood up, though Eichi and a few others remained seated.
Everyone was anxious; the situation felt similar to when report cards were about to be released.
The environment was as tense as it could be. In his previous life, Eichi would have been very nervous at a time like this.
But now, he wasn't that anxious, especially since he had great confidence in himself.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on the piece of paper in Director Yanagi's hand.
"Everyone, don't just stand there. Please sit down," Director Yanagi said as he walked into the center.
Only then did the group slowly take their seats.
Seeing everyone looking at him with eager eyes, Director Yanagi didn't waste time. "I'm sure everyone is very anxious to know the results. I will begin the announcement immediately."
"First, I will announce each individual's badge count, then the total count."
"I will announce Indigo Academy's counts first, followed by Silver Academy's."
"Finally, I will announce the result of the tournament."
Director Yanagi picked up the records and began reading. "Indigo Academy. Hirosue: 60 Bronze Badges, 10 Silver Badges, 0 Gold Badges. Total: 160 badges."
"Ninomiya: 70 Bronze Badges, 12 Silver Badges, 0 Gold Badges. Total: 190 Bronze Badges."
Eichi listened and noted that Director Yanagi was announcing the names in the order of the previous round's matches.
He continued the announcement. Listening to the data, Eichi could see that the gaps were quite significant.
Especially between the front-runners and those further back, the difference in badge counts was exceptionally large.
Director Yanagi announced quickly, and soon it was Shino's turn.
"Shino: 160 Bronze Badges, 22 Silver Badges, 2 Gold Badges. Total: 580 Bronze Badges."
Finally, a Gold Badge appeared. These Gold Badges were extremely precious and immediately widened the gap.
Director Yanagi continued.
"Mizuki: 180 Bronze Badges, 24 Silver Badges, 2 Gold Badges. Total: 620 badges."
So far, Mizuki had the highest badge count. Mizuki looked quite proud, but it didn't amount to much.
The expressions of Eichi and his group didn't change at all.
Next, Director Yanagi began to announce Asen's results. He even looked up specifically to glance at Asen.
"Asen: 340 Bronze Badges, 50 Silver Badges, 5 Gold Badges. Total: 1,320 badges."
This time, everyone was shocked. So many! It was double Mizuki's count.
Mizuki stared at Asen in shock. This was too exaggerated; even if he was better than him, there was no need to be this much better.
"This Asen guy is really strong," Tetsu remarked after hearing it. "Is there any pressure, Eichi?"
Eichi's face remained expressionless. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Director Kimura breathed a sigh of relief. Asen had really come through, finally giving him a bit of confidence.
"Alright, next are the results for Silver Academy," Director Yanagi said.
"Silver Academy. Kosei: 62 Bronze Badges, 10 Silver Badges, 0 Gold Badges. Total: 162 Bronze Badges."
This score was quite normal, similar to the equivalent students from Indigo Academy.
Ami's results were roughly the same. Next was Tetsu.
"Tetsu: 100 Bronze Badges, 13 Silver Badges, 1 Gold Badge. Total: 360 Bronze Badges."
The previous ones were fine, but suddenly a Gold Badge appeared here, immediately pulling the lead ahead.
Tetsu looked at everyone's gazes with a face full of pride.
Next, Shinta's results were okay, but when it came to Kelly, things were once again abnormal.
"Kelly: 120 Bronze Badges, 16 Silver Badges, 1 Gold Badge. Total: 460 badges."
This was getting a bit strange. This person's badge count was already close to the top five of Indigo Academy.
At this point, the Indigo Academy side began to feel that something was wrong. Silver Academy's badges were far too irregular.
Director Kimura also had an ill-omened premonition.
Director Yanagi did not stop, continuing to announce Ishida's results next.
He was similar to the Indigo Academy counterparts, though Matsumoto was still more than a little bit stronger than Ishida.