Chapter 35
I saw an interesting scene as I walked down the stairs back down to the fourth deck.
Horikita and Ayanokoji seemed to be talking with Ryuen about something related to the exam, but it seemed rather one-sided as Horikita attempted to ignore Ryuen.
Unfortunately for me, the three of them were directly on my path to the buffet, and knowing Ryuen's personality, he would never let me pass by peacefully in a million years.
Bracing myself for whatever nonsense came my way, I walked past them. As expected, Ryuen heard my footsteps and spoke to me.
"Oh, here comes another visitor. I was asking Suzune about our group's VIP identity."
Suzune scoffed upon seeing me and returned to drinking the tea before her. The mastermind, or Ayanokoji, just saw them expressionlessly.
What the hell was he, a doll? Do something instead of just sitting there.
Seeing that Ryuen wouldn't let me go without an answer, I raised my hands and said.
"No ideas here."
"I'm on track to win the exam. Would you two believe me if I said that?"
Technically, he's already halfway done with the exam as he has the 3 VIPs from his class, so what he's saying is logical.
Instead of giving Ryuen an answer, I looked toward Horikita, who confidently said.
"You've got enemies on all sides. I would doubt your ability to acquire reliable information."
That is true. Having no presence like me could be better than having a terrible presence. That said, I don't doubt that Ryuen could find a traitor or two to tell him about the VIP identities in their class.
In the end, money tops everything in this world.
Ryuen let out a small laugh before responding.
"I couldn't care less about what anyone thinks. Love me or hate me, I always get what I want no matter the circumstances."
Ryuen sat down on the barstool next to Horikita and continued.
"Just watch; it's only a matter of time before I have the entire exam in my hands. Believe me or not, but don't be surprised when Class C comes out on top."
Though I didn't necessarily disagree with his statement that Class C would win, I was still somewhat confused.
Why is he telling us that he'll win? Isn't that just dampening his strategy? If we know that he's only a little away from winning the exam, won't we all be on guard and trying to stop him? He's sabotaging himself by telling us this information at no cost.
"Just a matter of time before I know the VIPs of everyone inside my class, and from that, I'll be able to use it to narrow down the suspects."
Horikita, without skipping a beat, immediately responded.
"How would anyone share that information with you? If I were in the same class as a tyrant like you, I would keep it to myself and take the private points."
Internally facepalming, I sighed at Horikita's words. Of course, Ryuen wouldn't take their word for it; he's just gonna ask everyone for their phones and look at their emails to find the information. No one in Class C would have the balls to refuse him, so it's easy to work from there.
"Sure, that would be a problem, but I don't have just to take them at their word."
This conversation and bickering would continue for ages if no one stopped, so I finally intervened and asked Ryuen.
"So why are you telling us all of this? Usually, you don't tell your enemies your entire game plan."
Ryuen took a bottled beverage from the shelf and popped it up with his hands before responding.
"I have a proposal for either one of your classes. Why don't our classes work together? We're revealing the identities of all our classes' identities, and it'll be child's play to figure out the Class A VIPs from there. Then, we can utterly crush them. What do you two think?"
It wasn't a bad plan. Class A was significantly ahead of all of the classes right now, standing at over 900 class points, so this would be the perfect time to take them down a notch.
However, how would the other ranking for each class be decided? Also, no matter how good and pure a plan is, it doesn't change the fact that Ryuen made it, so there would already be some people against it solely due to Ryuen's involvement.
I doubted any class would take this offer as no one would trust Ryuen with their classes' VIP identities.
Though his offer would be tempting to an individual like me, Ryan doesn't want to guess the VIPs right now but instead gathers their names to find the pattern.
I could guess Kushida as the dragon group's VIP and get 500,000 private points. Then, I could sell the name of the VIP, I guessed, to Ryuen for around 500,000 points.
In one swoop, I would gain 1 million private points and be exempted from the week-long exam on the first day.
The offer sounded enticing, but I would like more time to consider it. If Kushida sent me the identity of another Class D VIP today, I would no doubt reject Ryuen's offer.
With 2 Class D VIPs, I would use Ichinose's nativity to figure out the 3 VIPs in Class B, and from there, I would be in control of the entire exam through the knowledge of the pattern.
I would control everyone, including Ryuen, as I could threaten to leak their VIP names to another class, losing them 150 points.
Sighing, I set an internal timer. If I didn't figure out another VIP today or tomorrow, I would sell what I knew to Ryuen and be done with the exam.
If I waited too long, Ryuen would no longer need my information and could figure out the pattern by himself, so I wouldn't gain anything.
Snapping me back to reality, Horikita once again spoke in her stuck-up voice.
"You're wasting your breath. No one is going to accept your proposal."
..? is she speaking for me? Why is she saying that no one will accept it when I haven't even given my opinion yet?
Ryuen then looked towards me, so I responded.
"I'll contact you today or tomorrow to accept the deal, depending on my circumstances."
Horikita looked away, shocked by the answer, while Ryuen seemed interested.
"No matter what you do, one single person can't figure it out faster than an entire class of people."
Ryuen had an entire class as tools for him to use, but unfortunately, I also had something up my sleeve.
A two-faced social freak with connections that stretched through the entire school!
Ryuen got up from his barstool seat and prepared to leave.
"Well, that's too bad; it was a good offer, Suzune. And I look forward to your decision, Hikigaya. Just remember, don't be too late."
Seeing that the conversation was over, I prepared to leave as I neared the stairs.
Upon reaching the restaurant, I was about to sit down when I saw Ichinose waving at me from a distance. Kanzaki was also there but seemed too immersed in whatever was on his phone.
This would be a good time for me to gather information on Class B's VIPs in case Kushida pulled through, so I reciprocated the wave.
Of course, the angel, Ichinose, gestured towards an empty chair next to her.
Who am I to deny the invitation of the flower of the school?
Besides Kanzaki and Ichinose, Amikuro and Himeno sat at the table. They didn't seem displeased when Ichinose invited me to sit, but they didn't seem content.
I sat down in the empty chair, and as usual, Ichinose cheerfully started the conversation despite the awkward silence.
"So what did Hoshanomiya want to speak with you about?"
"Ah, just some questions about the deserted island special exam."
Hearing that, Kanzaki perked up from his phone and asked.
"Speaking of that, did you actually see some from Class D on the last day."
Recalling the version of the story I told earlier today almost made me laugh, but I held it in and responded.
"Yeah, I saw one of the teachers carrying Horikita onto the ship. I couldn't see the person who exchanged Horikita, though, as the distance was too far."
Mixing some truth with some lies always works!
The silent Amikuro finally spoke up and asked.
"Switched leaders? What do you mean?"
Ah, right, they still haven't figured that part out.
"The last part of the rules said that the leader cannot be exchanged unless there is an emergency, so if there was to be one, the leader could be exchanged."
It's still funny how a rule that single-handedly changed the exam results slipped by everyone except Ayanokoji.
I was also surprised that Amikura and Himeno didn't display harsh feelings towards me. After all, I did drop out of the special exam, which cost them 20 class points. Ichinose must have convinced everyone I was in terrible shape, and those kind-hearted fools believed it.
Kanzaki put down his phone and asked everyone.
"So, what do you all think of the special exam?"
Of course, I stayed silent while Ichinose seemed to ponder something in her head by responding.
"I think we can use Class A's strategy to our advantage."
"How so?"
"By letting the discussions drag on until the last day, we can use the situation to force people to show their emails to prove their identity as VIP or not. Then, of course, someone will inevitably betray the group. If Class B stays neutral and does not employ this strategy in our VIP classes, we can breeze through the exam while the other classes lose class points!"
Although the strategy was not terrible, it did not consider that Ryuen would probably discover the pattern by the 3rd day of the exam.
Even if we ignore Ryuen's existence, I would argue that the plan could be improved upon. Ichinose mentioned the possibility of traitors guessing the VIP, but what if Class B were to take on the role of a traitor? By staying neutral, we're gaining 0 class points, but if we were to betray, our profit would be +50 class points.
In the end, betrayal and negative shit like that weren't in the cards for Class B, I guess.
Upon hearing Ichinose's plan, Himeno and Amikuro began pouring out compliments.
"Wow, Honami-san, you're so smart!"
"I can't believe you thought of that yourself! I'm glad you're in our class!"
"You're the best!"
Kanzaki seemed as disillusioned as I was, so he returned to eating. My food had also arrived, so I dug into the delicious food.
Some small talk was made while eating, mainly between the girls, though Ichinose would occasionally attempt to pull Kanzaki and me in. Both of us shared the sentiment as we gave one-word, uninteresting responses.
After we were all done eating, the four of us got up and headed our separate ways.
At least, that's what I thought would happen; however, before I could escape back to my dorm room, Ichinose gestured at me to follow her. Even Kanzaki was there with her.
"Come on, Hikigaya, let's head to the meeting together!"
Seeing my confusion, Kanzaki silently took out his phone and pointed at it.
Ah, the Class Group Chat. It's been a while since I've checked that.
Thankfully, the girls didn't notice Kanzaki's gesturing or my confusion, so I followed Ichinose and the others to the second deck of the cruise ship.
I was on route to Information Central!
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