Kenta barely got his eight hours of sleep when the intense sun rays that seeped through his bedroom windows hurt his eyes. He glanced at his phone, which was charging wirelessly on top of his chest of drawers, and gritted his teeth when he realized there was a note on his calendar.

The note read Pray at the Ebisu-sama Shrine with friends today!

"That's right," the teenager mumbled to himself, "I was supposed to pray to one of the seven gods of fortune on Akira's behalf. I wonder, though, does she really need prayers?" 

He mentally replayed the event of last night and was immediately overcome with a wave of indignant sadness at his cousin's remark about his hesitation to sabotage Johan for her sake. 

"Perhaps instead of praying for her, I could pray that the judges play fair and don't tolerate contestants who get caught sabotaging other people in the competition," he continued mumbling, "because this is Akira we're talking about. Once she wants something, there's no stopping her but divine intervention. I hope Kami-sama and the army of fortune-bringer gods know when to intervene or I'm going to lose my faith in both Shintoism and humanity." 

Kenta's phone screen turned brighter when a notification for text messages popped up.

Baz Arakida: Hey, man, we're not canceling our trip to the grand shrine, are we? 

Kaoru Hitomi: Where are you, dude? It's way past the time we agreed to meet. Don't tell me you got lost on the way to the shrine? And here I thought you said you've been here before. 

Aiden Swenson: Don't make me regret tagging along. If you don't show up in the next fifteen minutes, I'm going to spam you with pictures of wilting plants and decaying fruits. 

Baz Arakida: You read that, Kenta? Aiden's gonna make you cry if you bail on us. 

Kaoru Hitomi: Aiden, that's not nice. Also, Baz, why are you siding with Aiden?

Aiden Swenson: What? Pictures can't physically hurt him. Plus, he needs to know that it's rude to be late to a meeting he initiated himself. 

Kenta Kinoya: I'm very embarrassed but it seems that it slipped my mind until I got an automatic reminder. Apologies. I will be there as soon as possible. Aiden, please don't torture me, I've had enough torture from the last person I thought would dare to be mean to me. 

Aiden Swenson: Not sure what you refer to exactly, but if someone's mean to you then I suggest you be mean to them back. Come on, won't you grow a backbone and defend yourself? 

Kenta Kinoya: I can't be mean when that person is my own cousin. 

Baz Arakida: You're joking. I thought Akira is protective of you and won't ever hurt you.

Kenta Kinoya: It's a long story. I'll tell y'all face-to-face, okay? 

****

While Kenta was busy texting his friends, Akira was in her room doing a video call with Ezekiel.

"I had no luck procuring any information from him," the girl said in Pinean sign language, "he is infuriatingly adamant that his boyfriend deserves his loyalty more than I do." 

Ezekiel bit his lips before replying haltingly. "I don't think what we're trying to do is right." 

"Not you too, Ezie!" Akira yelled in exasperation. "Remember why we're doing this. Winning Mathlympics as a couple is the only way I can convince my mom that you're not as unintelligent or as bad of a fit for me as she believes. We need to do this to save our relationship." 

"But if we go through with our plan to put Johan at a disadvantage, then we're ruining our friendship with him. Not to mention, Kenta would be so heartbroken at knowing that integrity no longer has value to you. Don't do this, Akira. This is not you. You're not this heartless." 

"You're calling me heartless when the very reason I want to do this is to defend you from my mom's mistaken opinion of you? Heartless, when I want to do this because I love you?" 

"Akira Kinoya!" Ezekiel shouted. "I don't think you're motivated by so-called love. I think you just want the satisfaction of proving your mom wrong. Listen, I don't care what she thinks of me. Yes, it isn't nice knowing that she doesn't believe I'm your equal, but why should that affect our relationship? If Johan and Kenta can still have a strong bond with each other despite Johan's dad being a homophobe, then why can't we be like them? Our situation is better. Your mom doesn't outright forbid you to date me, she just is concerned that I'm not suitable to be your romantic interest. Frankly, though, I am used to people thinking I'm beneath them." 

"Ezie, just because you're used to people thinking so poorly of you doesn't mean you have to accept that!" Akira retorted. "I want the world, my mom included, to know that you're an incredible person no matter your economic standing or any other shortcomings you have." 

"I appreciate your vote of confidence in me, I really do, but pressuring me to help you bring Johan down at the Mathlympics is not something that agrees with my conscience." 

"You're just afraid of getting caught."

"Partly, yeah, but also, if Aiden heard about this then what should I say to him? I've always lectured him about the importance of being a good person and if I don't practice what I preach then I'm just going to give my brother a cognitive dissonance." 

"What if we make sure nobody would find out that we're sabotaging Johan?" 

"Akira, I didn't know you can be this wicked!" Ezekiel's jaw hung open. 

"You would sing a different tune when we get the award and my mom is forced to admit she's wrong about you," Akira said with a hint of bitterness in her voice, "and then you would pretend nothing ever happens. Come on, Ezie, you know deep down you crave approval too." 

"I don't like this side of you at all. What happened to the sweet girl I knew?" 

"If you say no one more time," Akira said slowly, "then I'm going to edit a recording of this conversation and broadcast it at the next scheduled live radio session of East Hinotori High. Everyone in our metropolitan area would think you're the one with the idea to sabotage Johan. Your boss at the restaurant you work at would hear about this too and fire you." 

"You're not serious, are you? A smear campaign, really?" 

"I'm the most serious I've ever been in my life," Akira replied with a malicious smile, "because our future depends on whether or not we win the Mathlympics. I've always envisioned the two of us both getting admitted to Blue Orchid University and it's not gonna happen unless we eliminate our competitors. Don't you want to be in the same university as me?" 

"I do, Akira, I do. But not at the price of hurting innocent guys." 

"Innocence is subjective," Akira jeered, "just like everything else is subjective." 

"If you do edit this conversation, you do know that I can challenge you in court, right?"

"No, you can't!" Akira laughed. "You forget that you need a lawyer to represent you and you don't have any money to hire one. Your measly salary as a waiter in a restaurant isn't enough to pay the fee most lawyers in our city would require. You're powerless against me." 

"I hate this," Ezekiel started crying, "I hate what you're turning into. I hate my life." 

"You'd hate your life even more when the edited conversation is broadcasting." 

"Fine," Ezekiel said through tears, "I will help you but only because you give me no other options. Dang it, I never thought being penniless would put me in a predicament. Maybe Aiden was right when he told me that wealthy people are not to be trusted." 

"I'm not wealthy anymore," Akira sighed, "and I thought I told you this already. My father can no longer afford to shoulder the expenses related to my education past twelfth grade after blowing his entire savings on taking care of my mother's medical needs." 

"Still wealthier than Aiden or I could ever dream of becoming." 

"That could change, you know?" Akira grinned. "The reward for winning the Mathlympics would be enough not only to cover the costs of going to Blue Orchid University but also to put into buying a lot of stock at the most profitable companies on the planet. We could invest the money and get so damn rich from being shareholders. Wouldn't that be amazing?" 

"Akira, there are people who need the money more than we do, if I'm being honest."

"Are you backing out? Remember our deal. If you back out, then I'm releasing the edited version of our conversation. Last chance, Ezie. Are you on my side or not?" 

"Fuck my life," Ezekiel swore under his breath, "I gave up. Yes, I'm gonna be on your side." 

"Good. Now let's brainstorm how our Johan-elimination-agenda should play out." 

****

Despite Kenta being extremely late to the prayer session, Aiden did not proceed with his threat of spamming him with pictures of languishing plants. Instead, the blond-haired boy shot him a look of concern for how disheveled and unkempt he looked. 

"What did Akira do to you?" Aiden gasped. "You look like a walking dead." 

"She wanted me to help her make sure Johan would lose the Mathlympics," Kenta shuddered, "and she said it would make us even because Johan's already a potential cheater, anyway. She brought up the fact that he plans to have a fake girlfriend as a justification for what she asked me to do. I tried not to let her words affect me emotionally, but--" 

"Of course it's affecting you!" Aiden balled up his fists at his sides. "She was trying to manipulate you and, I hate to say this, but she's a pretty good manipulator. Good for you for not falling for her tricks. I'm very sorry, you didn't deserve to experience manipulation, especially not at the hands of your own family member." 

"Why is she making a lot of fuss about the Mathlympics, anyway?" Baz chimed in. "I never got the impression that she's into mathematics. It's also weird that she drags Ezie into it."

"How did you know that she forced Ezekiel to pair up with her?" Kenta tilted his head. "What did he tell you, Baz? Did he mention Akira bribing him or otherwise pushing him into a corner?"

"He cried the other night at dinner time, saying that he doesn't want to compete at the famously cutthroat Mathlympics but he has no clue how to say no to his girlfriend. Kaoru and I told him that he needs to break up with Akira if she doesn't stop treating him like a doormat, but he is way too much of a people-pleaser to heed our advice," Baz explained, "And as much as we want to interfere in his relationship problem, we can't help someone who won't help himself." 

"Maybe I should give him an earful," Aiden interjected, "if nobody is going to smack some senses into him, then I will. He needs a stern talking to or he's gonna be a doormat forever." 

"Do you think Akira would actually go behind Johan's back and play unfairly?" Kaoru, who had been silent through the whole discussion, finally spoke up. "That's so unlike her." 

"Akira is desperate to go to Blue Orchid," Kenta replied in a mix of Japanese and Pinean signs before translating his sentence into English for Aiden, "and I'm afraid in her desperation she's not thinking rationally. She sees me as a rival and, by extension, Johan is her rival too."

"But why does it need to be Blue Orchid?" Aiden scratched his head. "Just because Lee-sensei teaches at the xenobiology department of that university doesn't mean his daughter has to follow in his footsteps, does she? What am I missing?" 

"Cultural context," Kaoru volunteered to explain before Kenta could get a word in, "I don't want to perpetuate stereotypes, but in this case, it seems there's some truth in the stereotypes that Asian girls feel obliged to be dutiful daughters who make their parents proud, especially if their parents had sacrificed a great deal to get them where they are in life. I'm assuming Akira feels guilty that she can't do anything to lessen her mother's suffering, so she takes it upon herself to bring honor to the Kinoya family by continuing the family tradition of studying xenobiology." 

"Only Asian girls?" Aiden frowned. "Why don't Asian boys feel the same obligation?" 

"This is another stereotype," Kaoru grimaced, "but boys in Asian households usually are given all the attention and support they need to thrive. Unlike girls who are expected to be nurturing, generally boys are given the freedom to be themselves. Girls are raised to be nurturers and boys are raised to be providers, thus the emphasis for girls is to put aside their own dreams to support other family members' dreams and the emphasis for boys is to study hard so that one day they can be leaders of their households. Also, I suspect Akira is carrying the burden of the Kinoya family's pride just because she's female. This is going to sound like gender studies, but don't you think that being a female means Akira is aware of the injustice her mother faces by virtue of being a woman and so she thinks she needs to make it up to her mother?" 

"That's--that could be true," Kenta nodded in Kaoru's direction, "I mean, Akira's own father seems to have closer bonds with me than with her. Maybe she thinks that Uncle Lee would finally pay her more attention if she follows in his footsteps." 

"That still doesn't justify the mean comments she directed toward you!" Aiden stomped his feet. 

"I know it doesn't," Kenta let out a sorrowful sigh, "but at least now we have an explanation."

"If she does end up cheating at the Mathlympics, then what?" Kaoru asked worriedly. 

"I don't want to think about it," Kenta looked at the ground, "let's pray she's gonna change her mind. I don't think my heart can take it if she cheats on the day of the competition." 

"We will be with you come hell or high water," Aiden offered his pinky finger, "and I will be watching the CCTV closely, if I could somehow gain access to the CCTV room. It's no guarantee that we will be catching Akira in action if she does choose to cheat, but it's a precaution. We care about you, Kenta, and always will." 

"I'm going to guard the CCTV too!" Kaoru exclaimed. "I'm good at sneaking around, remember? I sneaked us out of the prom and I'm sure I can help you guys sneak to where the CCTV is." 

"Count me in!" Baz flashed them a wide grin. "If you fail to sneak in, I will create a distraction."

"Thank you, everyone," Kenta bowed gratefully, "you are truly the best."