IT SEEMED THAT the teachers had completed the preparation for the special exam the day before. When I went to school at the usual time this morning, the inside of the classroom had slightly changed.
The five desks in the front row where Horikita and the others sat were slightly pushed forward, with a tablet and pen placed on each of them. Furthermore, dividers were installed at each end of the desk. Looks like they implemented measures to prevent students from cheating when they look to the desks adjacent to them.
Even if there were no dividers, there was still a peep-proof filter applied to the tablet. Therefore, the role of the dividers may have been to prevent indirectly communicating information, such as via eye contact.
Five new desks and chairs were placed behind the last row, probably set up for the five students who originally sat in the front row.
A maximum of five nominated students would sit in the new front row and solve the problems.
It was practically impossible to easily cheat with the new setup. It allowed teachers to closely monitor the students.
"Did you sleep well last night?"
I asked Horikita, who had just taken her seat behind me.
"About the usual. There was nothing more I could do, and all I had to do was manage my health appropriately."
"You had a tough time when you got a fever during the first deserted island exam."
"Shut up. I'll stab you."
"I'm sorry."
I didn't know why I'd get stabbed, but I didn't want to, so I apologized.
"Do you feel at ease?" she asked.
"Not at all. In fact, I might become a burden, so please be understanding."
There was no way Sakayanagi or Ichinose would attack me with a straightforward academic question.
"I'm sorry, but I absolutely won't use the protection on you."
"You absolutely won't, huh..."
It was disheartening to be in a position where no one would protect me from the start. I thought she was half joking, but it was better to think that I wouldn't be getting any support.
Shortly thereafter, with everyone in Horikita's class confirmed present and without any absences, Chabashira-sensei left the classroom with words of encouragement.
In this type of special exam, it had become customary for a homeroom teacher from another class, not the students' own teacher, to oversee the test. It was an inevitable measure to ascertain fairness.
Shortly after, Sakagami-sensei, Ryūen's homeroom teacher, appeared in the classroom.
"I am Sakagami, appointed as the teacher in charge of this class for this exam. I will notify you of the order of attack and some notes for this special exam."
Sakagami-sensei announced, calmly and concisely, and then stopped talking.
He silently operated the tablet and displayed the layout and a notice on the monitor.
Special Exam Layout
①Class B→②Class C
↑ ↓
④Class A←③Class D
NOTICE
The toilet is to be used only during the 10-minute break every four turns.
A 40-minute break, including lunchtime, will be given after 10 turns (first half).
Whispering or using your phone is allowed except for when the selected students are solving the problem.
Students who are unable to continue the exam due to ill health or other reasons deemed to be disruptive will be treated as eliminated.
Students found cheating will be immediately treated as eliminated and all their points will be forfeited.
Although the instructions included some new information, there was nothing particularly surprising. The selected students couldn't escape an attack by feigning, nor could they delay it. Unlike regular written exams, the questions were different for each participant, so there wouldn't be a situation where students hid in the bathroom to share their answers with each other. Because of that, students from other classes running into each other wouldn't be an issue. In any case, it was irrelevant if phones could be used.
The class arrangements and attack order seemed more critical.
First, the turn began with Class B, Horikita's class, attacking Ichinose's Class C. Then Ichinose would attack Ryūen's Class D, followed by Ryūen attacking Sakayanagi's Class A. Finally, Sakayanagi's Class A would attack Horikita's class to complete a single turn, which would be repeated for a total of 10 times.
All of this will be reversed in the second half as the order goes counterclockwise.
Horikita started looking at her phone immediately after confirming the flow of the offense and defense on the screen.
At this point, all strategies against Ryūen's class became unnecessary for Horikita.
She must've switched to pulling up offensive and defensive strategies against Ichinose's class and Sakayanagi's class.
With only a surface evaluation, it was a positive having Ichinose's class as an opponent, a class that was expected to only take straightforward approaches. On the other hand, it would be a negative having to wear down our nerves during a confrontation with Sakayanagi, who had a sharp mind in addition to the overall strength of her class.
As a participant, I decided to watch how it would turn out.
However, there was no time to be so leisurely.
Reviewing the 16 categories of this special exam again, I didn't plan to invalidate the interpretation that being eliminated meant expulsion; this unusual rule even made me bear the risk of expulsion when considering special exams over the last two years. I'd be able to pull through in academic subjects, but in other categories such as 'Subculture' and 'Entertainment,' to put it bluntly, I was below average. Even if there were three exemptions to protect me, there were still chances I would encounter problems I didn't know the answer to, and I couldn't deny the possibility that I could be eliminated.
If Sakayanagi and Ichinose conspired against me and made me the only eliminated student in this class, and the class dropped to last place, expulsion was inevitable.
I didn't think this rule was irrational as a student. Rather, it was only such an exam that made some students shine. It was a way to make the existence of new talents known.
"Now, let's commence the special exam. For the first turn, this class makes the first attack. Please select the category and difficulty level as previously explained and nominate five students."
Sakagami-sensei signaled to start the special exam.
The time limit for the offensive and defensive selections was just three minutes. It wasn't a very generous time limit.
There was no place for thinking during our turn, but for conveying our thoughts. It'd be better to have discussions during the longer time we get observing other classes' movements.
The only time that pattern would break would be in unexpected situations.
"We're starting while flying blind. Let's just proceed as discussed with
Hirata-kun and the others."
With a firm confirmation, Horikita reached out to the main tablet.
Since I didn't participate in the discussion, I didn't have any information on their strategies.
The category, difficulty level, and nominees were to be verbally communicated to the leader.
Following Horikita's instructions, Sakagami-sensei immediately reflected her choices on the monitor.
Category 'English' Difficulty Level 1
Offensive's Nominees:
'Kobashi Yume,' 'Watanabe Norihito,' 'Sumida Makoto,' 'Ninomiya Yui,' 'Shibata Sō'
The category was 'English.' The targets were students in Ichinose's class who weren't academically inclined. The class made a strategic choice for a subject that could be easily evaluated; a safe selection. We couldn't be flexible in selecting the difficulty level since the score was still at zero.
Given the fact that we were the first ones up, it was natural to choose an academic-related category. All of the classes, including Horikita's, would determine the tendencies of the questions and the standard difficulty level depending on the first problem.
However, many of Ichinose's students were well-rounded academically, and all their grades were currently C or higher. The students who were called upon became inevitably crucial, but who were struggling with which subjects could only be discerned from past exam results or individual interactions.
It was easier to exploit the opponent's weaknesses with non-academic, irregular categories.
This was because it could easily be fatal for students who weren't familiar with 'Subculture' or 'Entertainment.'
However, it took courage to attack like that in the first move. Because it was irregular, it would be more difficult to judge others' strengths and weaknesses than in academic-related categories, and it was also difficult to anticipate the level of difficulty.
Now, I quietly watched to see who Ichinose was going to protect.
The defensive's nominations were finished, and the screen changed.
Defensive's Protected Students:
'Ninomiya Yui,' 'Watanabe Norihito'
"So that means these two are protected, right?"
Looking at the monitor, Nishimura, who hasn't fully understood the situation, confirmed with Horikita.
"...That's right. Ichinose-san's class has unconditionally earned two points.
It was up to the remaining three to decide whether they get more points or not."
In Ichinose's class, three students had opted out of doing the 'English' category. While they had the option to choose from 36 students, excluding the leader, the fact that two of them were protected wasn't a favorable outcome.
This wasn't surprising. It seemed that they directly defended classmates who weren't good at English.
It might've been because it was the first turn, but it was a very straightforward move.
The question shown to the opponent's class was also displayed here.
'Add one word to the following sentence and rearrange it so that the meaning remains the same:'
In order for everyone to grow, a certain amount of hardship is always necessary.
[everyone/amount/necessary/always/a/grow/of/hardship/for/is/to]
(TL NOTE: The above text in brackets was originally English in the raw Japanese text, while the sentence above that is in Japanese. The students are supposed to use words from the brackets to solve the translation question.)
"What is this? Isn't this difficult!?"
Some students similar to Ike cried out, standing up from their seats and with their heads in their arms.
At the same time, academically capable students like Horikita and Yōsuke exchanged complex glances.
"The difficulty seems just about right."
"Right. It's not too difficult if you regularly study."
Looking at the given problem, the class's thoughts would've been divided in two.
Ichinose's class was academically stable.
How much the lower performing students could achieve was going to be revealed—
The results of the remaining three students who answered the first question were displayed on the monitor.
Correct Students:
'Kobashi Yume,' 'Shibata Sō'
With those two protected, the total points amounted to four. It was more than enough to start.
Next, Ichinose's class launched an attack on Ryūen's class. The category was 'Economics.'
In response, Ryūen managed to protect one person.
However, they were unable to produce any correct answers and only managed to secure one point.
The disadvantage of having many students who were weak at studying was already showing.
It was a painful situation, as Ichinose had gained four points in comparison, but there was no time to be disheartened.
They had a chance to cancel out the score if they had secured four or more points when they were on the defensive. It was important to avoid having the nominees protected and to prevent the opponents from getting the correct answers, but what was more important in this special exam was to get a high percentage of questions right when on the defensive side. Only then could they earn points.
In Ryūen class's attack, Sakayanagi protected one person, and three answered the question correctly and received four points.
Then, at the end of the first turn, Sakayanagi's class began their attack on Horikita's class.
"It's about to start."
"Yes. I wonder how Sakayanagi-san will attack..."Sakayanagi's chosen category was announced.
Category 'Arithmetic' Difficulty Level 1
In arithmetics, there were questions like simple mental math with addition and multiplication or fill-in-the-blanks. How challenging would they be at difficulty level one? There were a surprising number of students who were weak in math; seven people in Horikita's class had chosen it as one of their excluded categories.
However, the point of contention was certainly how Kōenji was treated.
If we were to stick to the promise, we'd need to protect him.
He was a guy who demonstrated exceptional talent in the deserted island exam, but he basically lived freely and didn't have a proactive approach toward special exams. Yet, there were few reasons for other classes to specifically target the highly talented and quick-witted Kōenji.
But a promise was a promise. How would they judge based on that—
Defensive's Protected Students:
'Sonoda Chiyoda,' 'Ichihashi Ruri,' 'Okitani Kyōsuke,' 'Ike Kanji,' 'Makida Susumu'
Kōenji's name was not included in the five that Horikita had chosen to protect.
Kōenji, who didn't care about the special exam, showed no reaction to the result.
"H-hey, Suzune. Are you sure you don't need to protect that guy?"
Sudō panicked. He seemed to have been keeping an eye on Kōenji the whole time.
"The exam only puts you at risk of expulsion if you get eliminated. I decided he was safe until he got two questions wrong. There's no other reason to protect him from the onset."
"Well, yeah, that makes sense..."
Sudō was surprised for a moment, but he was immediately convinced.
"However, in return, of course, Kōenji-kun is free to either answer the given task seriously or leave it blank. Are you fine with that?"
Kōenji didn't seem to have been bothered by the fact that she had asked after the plan was already established.
"Do as you like."
Even though she promised not to let him get expelled, it wasn't like she could protect him from everything like a baby. The measures Horikita took were the minimum required strategy.
Moreover, she assured him that he could freely answer the questions, but if he actually got selected, it was possible that even Kōenji would want to avoid being pointlessly eliminated. Even if someone was said to be 99% safe, they usually still worried about the remaining 1%. They wouldn't strangle themselves.
Defensive's Successfully Protected Members:
'Okitani Kyōsuke,' 'Ike Kanji'
Offensive's Nominees:
'Ishikura Kayoko,' 'Kikuchi Eita,' 'Inogashira Kokoro'
Horikita successfully protected two members in her first defense.
That was a large score of two. Although it was the first turn, she managed to rank third at this point.
If all three nominees were to answer the question correctly, she could temporarily rise to first place. But would they?
The nervous participants sat in front of the tablet displaying the question and confronted it.
Until they were finished answering, they had to remain silent, so the spectators quietly watched over them.
'Time limit 1 minute. 15 x 24 x 16 = ?'
They were asked a multiplication question. Of course, the three of them had no choice but to solve it mentally.
The difficulty would greatly increase if they had to solve it in their heads, even for an answer that could easily be found calculating on paper. It appeared to be an easy question, but seeing the panic in the participants, it was clear that they were struggling.
The minute flew by, and the result was... one correct answer.
The other two, excluding Ishikura, missed the answer and returned to their seats apologetically.
Upon seeing the choices and their results, I was curious about Sakayanagi's interesting decision in the first turn.
Ishikura is one of the strongest math students in the class. Arithmetics and math, to some extent, call for two different skills, but numbers are involved in both. Ishikura didn't need to feel at risk when trying to select the right answer. There were other holes that Sakayanagi could've targeted besides the seven that were exempted from 'Arithmetics.'
It was possible that Sakayanagi was ignorant of Ishikura's abilities, but she saw Ishikura tackle a math problem in our first year's final exam. Some other random student could've missed it, but I can't imagine Sakayanagi doing so.
Alternatively, she could've decided that we wouldn't protect students good at arithmetic like Ishikura, and therefore chose her to ensure that she would take on the task.
With all the offensive and defensive tasks over, the first turn had ended.
With three points, it wasn't a bad start, and the class got off to a safe first turn.
In the second turn, Horikita announced five names as the attacker.
Ichinose's class failed to protect any students, and two of them got the question right, earning them a total score of 6 points.
Ryūen's class successfully protected one student and one of them got the question right, earning a total score of 3 points.
Sakayanagi's class successfully protected 1 student and 3 of them got the question right, earning a total score of 8 points.
It had just started, but a slight difference among the classes had begun to form in just the second turn.
It was now the second defensive turn for Horikita's class.
Sakayanagi changed her chosen category from 'Arithmetic' to 'Gourmet Food,' with a difficulty of 1.
Even though I wasn't asked, I'd wager that my classmates have already assessed who excels or falters in this type of category. Horikita confidently told Sakagami-sensei the names of her five protected members.
Defensive's Successfully Protected Members:None
Offensive's Nominees:
'Kōenji Rokusuke,' 'Hasebe Haruka,' 'Hirata Yōsuke,' 'Yukimura Teruhiko,' 'Onodera Kayano'
Unfortunately, the protected slots ended up being a complete miss.
The problem laid in the list of people who had been nominated. Kōenji's name was listed first among the five candidates.
It was a long, 20-turn battle, and it wasn't strange that Kōenji would be
nominated…
But what mattered was how Kōenji would behave when he was given a task he could solve on his own.
'State the meaning of a knife and fork being placed on a plate in the shape of '八' while eating French cuisine.'
(TL NOTE: 八 is the kanji for 8, they are meant to trace this shape.)
It was a simple question that could easily be answered with the knowledge learned since entering school.
But Kōenji's result was… incorrect due to him leaving it blank.
He clearly hadn't even moved to pick up the pen.
Of the remaining four, it seemed that Keisei had unfortunately made a mistake in answering.
Immediately after it was announced that he was incorrect, he smacked the table as if suddenly remembering the correct answer.
Although this was a bit of a setback, an additional three points were earned, bringing the total score up to six.
"Hey! Kōenji, you're not taking this seriously, are you?!"Although he wasn't shouting, Sudō expressed his anger.
This wasn't just his personal opinion. You could say this was him taking the initiative to represent the class and warn him.
It was only natural for the others to be upset if he showed no intent to try to solve the problem.
"You're wrong to blame me. If you're dissatisfied, all you have to do is guard me next time."
"Screw you... You're just saying whatever you like..."
It was natural for him to feel dissatisfied, but there was no need to worry unless two mistakes were made.
The class must've felt a little relieved seeing Horikita's unconcerned stance on the blank answer.
It would be a problem if she didn't keep their promise and went on a rampage to expel Kōenji, but she probably didn't want to use the valuable protection slot in vain.
Kōenji, who held his ground, gave Horikita a smirk and returned to his seat.
On the other hand, Keisei, who had genuinely made a mistake on the problem, came down to apologize to Horikita.
"I'm sorry, Horikita, I was so nervous that the answer didn't come to me right away... even though I was supposed to know it."
"I'm not that worried about you. But, just to be safe, if I feel like you're being attacked in the same category again, I'm going to protect you. Alright?"
Sakayanagi would never leave any stone unturned. That was why Keisei obediently nodded, knowing that if Horikita sensed danger, she would firmly protect him. In return, Horikita also nodded.
The battle began this way, alternating between offense and defense.
Every time a question was presented, the students probably had no spare time to keep an eye on their phones as part of their strategy.
On the other hand, the leader didn't have to worry about being nominated, but they also didn't have a moment's rest.
Were they ready to appropriately change the nominated students and how would they deal the question to the opponent?
With almost no time to even talk, Horikita was scrambling between her phone and the opened notebook.
Sakayanagi's turn came around for the third time. She attacked again with a 'Gourmet Food' question.
And yet, the difficulty level remained at one. It would be an easy question. Given that we had answered correctly on our own three times, I didn't think she would pick the same category again, but it seemed that her aim was different.
Did she see a gap in how Kōenji and Keisei, two capable class members, had gotten it wrong?
As per the strategy communicated beforehand, Horikita was to protect Keisei while selecting four others.
However—
Defensive's Successfully Protected Members:None
Offense Side Nominated:
'Kōenji Rokusuke,' 'Sōshi Miyamoto,' 'Wataru Ijūin,' 'Satō Maya,' 'Sana Azuma'
This made it the second consecutive nomination for Kōenji. Moreover, the rest of the lineup was totally changed.
On the contrary, Sakayanagi hadn't nominated Keisei, whom Horikita had protected.
"Did she read us? I wonder..."
As the words suggested, attacking and defending was a game of reading each other. If they attacked in the same category, it was standard for the defense to move to prevent elimination. Naturally, there was no point in aiming for Keisei, who could potentially be protected.
However, the same went for Kōenji.
For both Kōenji and Keisei—I wondered what different criteria Sakayanagi had in mind.
One thing was for sure, it was a precise read, as if she'd seen right through our thoughts.
Kōenji, who rose from his seat again, walked up with confidence.
"Kōenji-kun. Although we can't force you as a class, I think it would be prudent to get this right for your own sake."
Once everyone was sitting at the test-taking seats, conversing was strictly prohibited, so Yōsuke had to tell him as Kōenji passed by.
However, seemingly unconcerned about being protected in future turns, Kōenji once again submitted a blank answer. This was too much for his classmates to endure, but the saving grace was that the remaining four had answered correctly.
In other words, the third question was simpler and more common sense.
It was hard to be content with Kōenji's performance. If he was participating properly, there was a chance he could answer everything perfectly, and he wouldn't even need to be protected.
At the end of the third turn, Sakayanagi's class was in first place with 11 points, Horikita's class in second place with 10 points, Ichinose's class in third place with 9 points, and Ryūen's class at the bottom with 5 points. If Kōenji had cooperated, we would've had 12 points and been in first place.
There was nothing that could be done with Kōenji refusing to respond to Yōsuke's request.
Sakayanagi's class, which had consistently held first place since the start, should be stopped as soon as possible, but we could only wait and see what would happen in the first half of the exam, and everything depended on Ryūen's skill. However, Ryūen's class clearly seemed to be behind and struggling in both offense and defense.
Rather than being about luck or the ability to read each other, it seemed like the difference in capabilities among the class was apparent.
It was the fourth turn, and Horikita's defensive turn came.
Category 'Gourmet Food' Difficulty Level 2
Here, Sakayanagi surprisingly picked the same genre for the third consecutive time.
However, this time, the difficulty level had increased to 2, meaning she had spent one point to attack.
"Again with the 'Gourmet Food.' What the hell is Sakayanagi thinking?"
However, the class was more preoccupied with the repeated selection of the same category than the difficulty level.
Given that Kōenji was now on the brink of elimination, were they planning to intensify their attack?
Among all the classes, this was the first time the difficulty level had been raised, probably as an experimental attempt, considering that the first and second problems were simple.
"No matter how you look at it, Kōenji won't try here, right?"
"Don't you know? They might think this is a chance to defeat Kōenji-kun."
Up to this point, Kōenji had consistently left 'Gourmet Food' questions unanswered. He no longer had any leeway. Should he defend himself because of this, or was he deliberately not trying precisely because of his vulnerable position?
This category choice was clearly being swayed by the enemy with Kōenji at the center.
However, the circumstances of this class were unlike those of a typical one.
If he failed here as well, Kōenji would become the first eliminated in the class.
Given that she had agreed to protect him beforehand, if Horikita were to uphold her honor, she would have no choice but to put it into action.
If the enemy was targeting Kōenji, he could secure them a point.
However, while all eyes were on Horikita, Kōenji's name was not among the five mentioned.
Defensive's Successfully Protected Members:
'Shinohara Satsuki,' 'Sudō Ken'
Offensive's Nominees:
'Kōenji Rokusuke,' 'Sotomura Hideo,' 'Miyake Akito'
The classmates who had been quietly watching until now were visibly confused.
"H-Horikita-san?"
Yōsuke was the most astonished. He'd believed in the promise and sprang up.
"Suzune, are you okay? I mean, if Kōenji fails again, he will be eliminated, right?"
Sudō also asked the same question. However, Horikita quietly stared ahead without responding. Even though he was the one who should be most alarmed, Kōenji was the only one in this situation who didn't change his expression."Hahaha. You did it, Horikita girl."
To those who didn't think deeply, it looked as if Horikita had abandoned Kōenji.
A person who broke promises. Such an act of treachery could stick with you. Losing the trust of your class was not a wise move, considering the flow of the unanimous voting exam.
Kōenji, without uttering any more words, came forward and sat down, like the other students.
The question was indeed harder than the last two. Students looked at each other and expressed their confusion by nodding. Normally, it was uncertain how well Kōenji knew gourmet food, but there was a suspicious atmosphere about him.
The three moved to answer.
Then, the man who didn't even hold his pen twice finally moved.
From what was seen, his hand moved smoothly without any hesitation, but is he really…?
Correct Students:
'Kōenji Rokusuke'
For the first time, Kōenji's name appeared in the correct students column, avoiding both a blank and incorrect answer.
This meant that Kōenji had solved the question in order to avoid elimination."What's the matter, Kōenji? You were scared after all, weren't you?!"
Sudō made fun of Kōenji, who had seriously answered the question, and expressed his relief.
He expressed an attitude that he wouldn't want people to be eliminated, even if he disliked them.
"I'll leave that for you to decide."
Kōenji's thoughts were unclear, but according to common sense, it was only natural.
If he didn't get the right answer, he'd be eliminated and become a candidate for expulsion.
The current concern would be Horikita's choice.
The reality was that she didn't protect Kōenji, who left a blank answer twice and was on the verge of elimination.
Even if he answered seriously when cornered, one mistake would have meant the end.
It was a situation where she had to protect him, even if she was confident he'd get the correct answer.
The class was troubled by this, and even Yōsuke couldn't easily verify the truth.
Of course, this man who was directly involved was an exception.
Kōenji, who passed me by and stood in front of Horikita, muttered.
"What's your intention? I'd like to hear your reasons."
"Reasons? Was there a problem?"
"Oh?"
Kōenji smiled at Horikita, who looked up at Kōenji without any embarrassment.
"You're not out. You don't have to worry about being eliminated at this point, right?"
"But if I hadn't gotten the right answer, I would have been eliminated.
What'd you think of that?"
"But you gave the correct answer."
"Hmm, indeed. My apologies, it seems I acted preemptively."
"If you understand, could you go back to your seat? From your height, you're blocking my view of the monitor."
Everyone except Kōenji was confused by the conversation. It seemed as if she had abandoned him.
I could've calmed everyone down by explaining Horikita's thoughts and the benefits of not protecting Kōenji, but of course, I continued to watch silently.
It wasn't that I wanted to make the class nervous for no reason, but I had another aim.
The fact that Horikita, the leader, didn't explain things to her classmates was the best evidence of this.
Horikita didn't panic in the face of the class's suspicious looks. She didn't nominate Kōenji to be protected even under Sakayanagi's attack in the fifth round, which was likely to be more serious.
But at the same time, Kōenji's name disappeared from the list of those being attacked.
From other students' perspectives, without any protection on Kōenji, since he had reached this point, he would be the one to target, but Sakayanagi had avoided doing this.
There was a chance that Kōenji, who had seriously answered the question and was the only one to correctly answer the difficulty level 2 'Gourmet Food' question, was recognized as a tough competitor.
Many students probably misunderstood it this way. By Kōenji answering correctly instead of submitting a blank paper, it could no longer be expected that he'd make more mistakes. So, they started avoiding nominating him.
It was a risky bet that could've lost the trust of her peers, but Horikita won with her intuition.
Kōenji's name was absent from the nomination. Upon seeing the results, Horikita's face darkened.
"I guess the opponent won't easily fall for it…"
Being close to her, I was the only one able to pick up on her quiet mumbles.
The first half of the special exam went smoothly as countless exciting offensive and defensive battles unfurled.
It was a common occurrence in all classes, but the number of students who answered wrong gradually increased. By the end of the 7th turn, Ishizaki from Ryūen's class was the first to be out. He was followed in the 8th turn by Sotomura and Ijūin from Horikita's class, along with Isoyama and Yano from Ryūen's class. Kamuro from Sakayanagi's class was eliminated as well. As the last turn of the first half came to an end, Hondō from Horikita's class, Morofuji from Ryūen's class, and Yamamura from Sakayanagi's class were also eliminated.
Results at the end of the first half:
1st: Sakayanagi[Class A]29 points, with Kamuro and Yamamura out.
2nd: Horikita[Class B]28 points, with Sotomura, Ijūin, and Hondō out.
3rd: Ichinose[Class C]24 points, with no losses.
4th: Ryūen[Class D]19 points, with Ishizaki, Isoyama, Yano, and Morofuji out.
A total count of nine people were out. It seemed like a lot, but I was sure the second half would only accelerate things.
Many students were already on the brink after making their second mistake, so the number could increase.
In spite of this, only Ichinose's class had yet to have any eliminations.
At first glance, this could've been seen as Ichinose's fine play, but it wasn't."Your strategy worked out, Horikita-san," Yōsuke praised, approaching Horikita.
"Yes, her stance hasn't changed even in this special exam. Thanks to that, we managed to keep things under control."
I wonder how many of her classmates realized that Horikita had been strategizing against Ichinose.
The reason there were no dropouts was due to Horikita's tactics. She intentionally targeted attacks to ensure that five members of the opposing side were perpetually on the brink of elimination.
Ichinose was determined to protect her classmates at all costs. Hence, to ensure that a sixth member wasn't pushed to the brink, Horikita diversified her attacks.
On the other hand, even though Ichinose understood that the attacks were being spread out, she seemed determined to continue protecting those on the brink.
Ever since those five members were put at risk, not a single protection had been successful.
If even one person failed to be protected and was eliminated, there would be a chance of expulsion.
"But she really is unyielding. Normally, no one would take such a reckless defense strategy. She knows that even if she manages to protect people in the first half, it will gradually become tougher."
Exactly. As it stood, her class had the highest number of students who answered incorrectly.
"In the second half, Ichinose-san will have to protect her class from Ryūenkun. That could be tough."
"Assuming she gives up protecting everyone in the second half, perhaps,
but..."
Knowing Ryūen, he might make a big move in the last turn or two.
"But for now, we need to focus on ourselves. With only one point behind, we still have a chance."
Sakayanagi's class was a step ahead from the beginning, but Horikita was catching up. Her class seemed to be covering for her being slightly behind.
"As far as I can tell, the school designs the questions so that, excluding cases where students have been successfully protected, roughly half of the students will be able to answer them correctly. However, when the difficulty increases by one level, the success rate drops to about 20%, and at difficulty level three, it's only around 10%."
Difficulty level three hardly left any possibility of a correct answer, and you couldn't use two points often.
Being protected could offset the losses, but the second half likely wouldn't see an increase in the usage of it.
It was interesting to watch the two top-ranked classes battling it out, but the bottom two classes were concerning too, especially Ryūen's class, which had fallen quite behind in the first half.
Assuming the trend continued and more were eliminated, the first-place line was set to be around 50-55 points. In the second half alone, Ryūen would need to score at least an extra 30 points to compete.
In general, students with higher academic abilities tend to be less targeted. However, at the same time, they may also be less protected, and there were instances where some students made mistakes in unexpected categories.
It seemed that non-academic questions, such as those related to 'Subculture' or 'Gourmet Food,' were often set to be easier due to their wide range, despite being of the same difficulty level.
Incidentally, I had slipped up once in a similarly unrelated category.
'What was the name of the animal that made headlines for being adorable when it stood on two legs in a zoo?'
On this 'News' question, not knowing what the animal was, I casually wrote 'dog' and received a cold stare from Horikita.
By the way, the correct answer was a red panda.
1
During the break for lunch, I asked Horikita for a little bit of her time and led her out into the corridor.
"The answer was a red panda, okay?"
"That's not what I mean. There was something that bothered me about the
test."
I hadn't expected her to hit me with what just happened so quickly.
"Just kidding. But I didn't think you would call me out. Did you have some advice for me?"
"Not exactly advice, but have you noticed the pattern in the order of the names when the attackers designated five names this time?"
"I wonder if there was such a pattern... I honestly didn't pay attention to the order. It wasn't in alphabetical order, or boys first and then girls either, was it?"
"I can't say for sure unless I ask the attackers from other classes, but there was no consistent pattern on the five people you named. In other words, they show in the same order as the leader voices them."
"I see. That might be true. So?"
"What caught my attention was Sakayanagi's naming order from the second to the fourth turn. At that time, Kōenji was targeted three times in a row, and he was first each time."
"In other words, she had decided to target Kōenji-kun by the second round, and continued to target him first until he got it right...? And during the second round, wasn't Yukimura-kun also wrong?"
"Yes, Kōenji would be a threat if you look at his pure ability, but Keisei is definitely more of a hassle in terms of overall ability. Yet, Sakayanagi didn't even nominate Keisei, who had made a mistake, in the third round."
"I thought she had simply read me wrong. She might have decided that I would protect him because I deemed Yukimura-kun important, right?"
"Indeed, she might have excluded Keisei as an attack target for that reason. But Kōenji's explanation doesn't add up. He was wrong twice in a row in the second and third rounds, but after he got it right in the fourth round, his name didn't show up at all in the first half of the battle from the fifth round onwards. It makes sense if he was protected, but he got the answer right in the fourth round on his own. So the other side should know that we didn't protect him even once."
"Sakayanagi-san had Kōenji-kun on her radar early on. Even though he made two mistakes and was on edge, she stopped attacking him as soon as he got one right. That seems unnatural."
It was better to create as many eliminations as possible. She should have continued to attack since he had a high chance of not being protected.
"Was she wary of his knowledge?"
"If that were the case, she wouldn't have had to make the effort to target Kōenji from the start. That doesn't explain why she nominated him three times in a row."
"...Does Sakayanagi-san know about the promise I made with Kōenji-kun?"
"That's a natural assumption. Given that there's a promise, Kōenji most likely wouldn't take it seriously, and you wouldn't protect him until he fails twice—she must have taken that into account."
Of course, there was also a chance that Kōenji would seriously answer the question or that Horikita would protect him from the start. But in that case, she should've quickly excluded Kōenji as an attack target from the third round onwards.
"But then, why did she not target him after the fifth round? I chose not to protect him with the protection slot, didn't I?"
"That choice is exactly why. When her aim to force you to use up one protection slot on Kōenji fell through, she saw no benefit in eliminating Kōenji.
Rather, she decided it would be a loss."
"Even though she can get us to lose a point with each elimination?"
"Yes. You said before the test that you had a way to keep the damage to a minimum in case we ended up at the bottom. That choice was to eliminate Kōenji, wasn't it?"
"...You knew, huh?"
"The promise with Kōenji was not to 'expel' him, but to 'let him do as he pleases.' Since you didn't impose any restrictions on Kōenji in this special exam, it goes without saying that you kept the promise to let him do as he pleases. The other promise was to not let him be expelled. Even if Kōenji ended up being the only one eliminated, the expulsion could be avoided by coughing up the Protection Point."
Kōenji had won a Protection Point with his victory in the deserted island exam, thus giving him the right to prevent his own expulsion.
"That's right. I never promised to protect Kōenji-kun's Protection Point. As long as he isn't expelled, my promise holds. There is no reason to hold a grudge."
Even if we lost one point due to elimination, all we needed to do was use up Kōenji's Protection Point when others were eliminated. This meant there was no risk of someone being expelled due to the class coming in last place.
"However, I suppose I made everyone in class anxious by not protecting him."
"If you explain, Kōenji will realize your intention."
"Exactly. Still, it seems like he realized that I wasn't guarding him really quickly. It would've been easier to manage the second half of the battle if he had been eliminated early."
So, Kōenji got the answer right on his own.
He thought it was too much of a hassle to have his Protection Point stripped from him.
"It's reasonable to assume that Sakayanagi, given her personality, didn't want to relieve the pressure of 'a possible expulsion' against our class," I said.
"Yes, her personality is reflected in every action she takes. But why didn't
Kōenji-kun aim to answer correctly from the first question?"
"I can't answer that. He might have thought that it wasn't too late to start from the third question. Anyway, what I want to say is that there may be students in the class who are leaking information to the other classes."
I decided to tell her, judging that this was for the sake of not only the current exam but for future ones as well.
"Thank you. I will be careful about that from now on."
"Let's end the discussion here. What are you going to do for lunch?"
"I didn't have time to make a boxed lunch, so maybe I should go to the cafeteria. How about you?"
"Well, I might as well. Kei is probably having a staring contest with her phone."
As I answered her, turning towards the classroom, Horikita nodded as if she understood.
In the first half, Kei was not nominated by Sakayanagi and got through unscathed.
But of course, that didn't mean she was safe. She could be eliminated in a minimum of three questions.
She wanted to cram knowledge into her head, even if just barely, to avoid that.
2
The Survival and Elimination Special Exam had begun, and the first turn was progressing leisurely.
Ryūen, who received the first attack from Ichinose's class, had only one successful protection out of the five he nominated. Furthermore, none of the students answered the question correctly. The start was anything but good.
But this was not surprising. Ryūen's class had many students he had to protect for their academics but had obvious points of weakness. Even apart from the students who chose to exclude 'Economics,' the category Ichinose chose, about half the class would be anxious about that category.
On the other hand, as a result of the attack from Horikita's class, Ichinose's class scored a total of four points.
A gap of three points had occurred from the first turn, and a heavy air had already begun to form.
However, it wasn't because they couldn't score points.
"Now, as the next attacker, please make the nomination against Class A!"
Hoshinomiya cheerfully sent instructions to the leader, but Ryūen didn't move.
He quietly stared at his phone.
"Hello~ Can you hear me?"
She called him again from the podium just in case he hadn't heard her, but Ryūen still didn't move.
As could be understood from the prior rule explanations, the nomination time was steadily decreasing by the second without stopping.
In the first-turn attack, selecting who to target was usually decided ahead of time. Even though Hoshinomiya thought it should be common sense, Ryūen didn't move even after 60 seconds had passed.
Normally, it wouldn't be strange for classmates to ask, 'Are you okay?' However, no one pointed it out. No, most people in this class couldn't point it out even if they wanted to.
After returning to the front lines, Ryūen exuded an even more overwhelming sense of domination than ever before.
It was rare for Hoshinomiya to see the tense situation in Ryūen's class, but it wasn't the same for the classmates.
This was their everyday usual scenery.
If Kaneda, who was in the role of advisor, moved, the situation would be resolved quickly, but typically, he tended to wait for Ryūen's instructions, so nothing could be expected.
During such times, the gaze of the lost classmates naturally turned to Katsuragi more often.
He was a transfer from another class, but he was already recognized in that class as Ryūen's advisor.
Along with his exceptional overall abilities in the OAA, his most important factor was his fearless attitude towards Ryūen.
Ibuki could be irrationally arrogant, but Katsuragi was rational. However, the well-relied-on Katsuragi... didn't move.
He closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and allowed the offensive's time limit to pass.
Maybe he resigned himself, knowing that nothing would change even if he raised his voice in this situation.
Or maybe he was calmly waiting, having already expected something like this to happen.
Either way, many students could only silently watch.
"You know, it's still the first turn, right? A difference of 3 points isn't that big of a deal. You shouldn't get too worked up."
Hoshinomiya cheered them on, treating the fact that they couldn't withstand merely the first attack as a trivial matter.
Her actions lacked impartiality as a teacher, but she couldn't remain silent for the sake of the students, who were most likely full of anxiety.
This was an excuse. The reality was that she couldn't let Sakayanagi's class, who were up against her class led by Ichinose, score points. If they kept getting high scores with a reckless strategy, there would be no chance of winning.
Although it was a calculated move, in the ensuing silence, Hoshinomiya realized that her judgment was wrong.
Even though many students felt suspicious about Ryūen's lack of action, hardly any felt uneasy.
Normally silence could often lead to bad outcomes, but this class had nurtured a unique strength.
They accepted the abnormal situation where no one was named for nearly two minutes.
Hoshinomiya began to think that perhaps there was a secret strategy in this silence.
Sakayanagi's class would have zero successful protections and an ideal nomination that could cause many students to answer incorrectly—was he pondering such a fanciful strategy?
As the remaining time neared thirty seconds, Ryūen announced five names.
"W-wait, wait, wait. I'll input it quickly." Following his voice, Hoshinomiya swiftly operated the tablet.
Category 'Lifestyle' Difficulty 1
Offensive's Nominees:
'Kitō Hayato,' 'Kamuro Masumi,' 'Hashimoto Masayoshi,' 'Machida Kōji,' 'Yamamura Miki'
Hoshinomiya quickly finished inputting the names, but she was taken aback upon seeing which five students were selected. To her, it seemed that students close to Sakayanagi were picked.
Defensive's Successfully Protected Members:
'Machida Kōji'
After much deliberation, a decision was made, and Class A was only able to successfully protect one student. But a problem laid ahead.
Correct Students:
'Kitō Hayato,' 'Kamuro Masumi,' 'Hashimoto Masayoshi'
Out of the remaining four, three got it right.
Giving the opposing class four points, they were only stuck with one; a bad start. Indeed, they were not promising. Hoshinomiya thought they looked surprisingly cool, which almost made her admire them. But inside, she realized that they weren't up to the task. It was unlikely that they'd crush Sakayanagi's class.
Ryūen's strategy, even after this, could hardly be called sharp. Most of the students designated were the same as in the first round.
Some changes were made to disrupt, but those were mostly kept at a rate of every other turn, continuing to nominate Kitō, Kamuro, Hashimoto, Yamamura, Machida, Sanada, Satonaka, and Matoba.
Sakayanagi too, of course, kept efficiently piling on the protections.
But still, Ryūen didn't significantly change his nominations.
Stuck at the bottom, they just kept racking up the turns.
But by the fifth turn, halfway through the first half, some students had already made two mistakes, and a sense of trepidation should start to creep in. At this time, Hoshinomiya noticed something puzzling.
"Everyone doesn't seem to be panicking at all..."
The reason they couldn't break free from being at the bottom had less to do with their attacks and more with their defense. Clearly, they had a lower percentage of correct answers than any other class, and they weren't earning the points they should. Normally, one would seek clues to find the correct answers every single minute and second.
However, there were students who weren't even tense.
Hoshinomiya pretended to keep watch, walking around the classroom, casually peeking at each student's phone.
They weren't playing around; they were browsing various websites and videos, gearing up for their weak spots.
Maybe they couldn't make a sound because they were under Ryūen's control and were too tense.
She thought about it, but—
"Kaneda-kun, it seems like you're not doing anything. Are you fully prepared?"
Among the students who were busy preparing, Hoshinomiya pointed out Kaneda, who wasn't even touching his phone.
"I've been focusing on studying, and I try not to unnecessarily cram knowledge. It's not good to disrupt the routine."
Lifting his glasses a bit, Kaneda smirked confidently.
"Oh, I see. Smart kids are strange, huh?"
Looking somewhat taken aback by his response, Hoshinomiya lost interest in Kaneda.
On the other hand, Ishizaki even dared to doze off during the waiting time.
He had already made two mistakes and seemed to have reached the point of giving up.
"What's going on with this class...?"
Feeling a bit disgusted, she continued to go through the turns as their supervisor.
3
Right after Sakayanagi notified the teacher of the second attack's five nominations from Horikita's class, Hashimoto stood up and walked towards Sakayanagi.
His expression wasn't the usual slight smirk, rather, it was quite stern.
Everyone except Hashimoto was in their seats, making his behavior conspicuously unusual.
"What's wrong, Hashimoto-kun?"
"I thought I'd remind you about last night, just in case. You have no intention of using the information I gave you?"
Category 'Gourmet Food' Difficulty 1
Offensive's Nominees:
'Kōenji Rokusuke,' 'Hasebe Haruka,' 'Hirata Yōsuke,' 'Yukimura Teruhiko, 'Onodera Kayano'
He pointed with his thumb to the names of the students displayed on the monitor behind him and voiced his dissatisfaction.
"Does it look that way to you?"
"Yes, it does look that way."
"Indeed, your phone call last night was a little bit too meddlesome.
However, the information received is still information. Of course, since it has been etched in my brain, I don't intend to just pointlessly ignore it."
"So… why did you target Kōenji?"
"You said that Kōenji-kun is the one that I should avoid targeting the most within Class B, huh?"
"He has a promise with Horikita. In other words, he might be one of the protected students, and if you target him, there's a good chance that they'll automatically receive a point. I thought among the several pieces of information I gave you, this would serve some use."
He thought it would be useful, but his patience ran thin when it was trampled on so soon. Sensing a change from his usual cheerful demeanor, Kitō slowly pulled back his chair.
"Don't worry, Kitō-kun. Hashimoto-kun has a dry tone."
Sakayanagi quietly chuckled after and explained why she had targeted Kōenji, who would most likely be protected.
"Horikita-san and Kōenji-kun might have an agreement, however, it's only to prevent expelling him and letting him do what he pleases."
"I see..."
"There's no point in continuously protecting him and wasting a valuable protection slot. We should wait and see, at least until he gets a problem wrong after being targeted. In order to win, we must do at least that much, don't you think so?"
"But Horikita is an upstanding person. If her class finds out that she didn't protect him, they'll be in disarray."
"Well, if they're going to be perturbed by that, let them be. Additionally, while fulfilling the promise is important, continuously wasting a valuable protection slot on Kōenji-kun would cause others to question her qualifications as a leader."
As she explained, Horikita's class had apparently decided on which five people they'd protect, and the monitor's display switched.
There were no successful protections, and the five people Sakayanagi targeted would proceed to attempt the question.
"What do you think? As expected, Kōenji-kun wasn't given a protection
slot."
Seeing the results, Hashimoto couldn't make a strong argument on the matter.
"...Well, I suppose. But is there a point in trying to get a point out of Kōenji? He's got a weirdly sharp head, right? The probability of him answering correctly compared to the small fish is high, isn't it?"
"Do you really think so? He's an unquestionably free man. He can't be obligated to seriously answer since he's even managed to get Horikita-san's approval on this. He might deliberately answer incorrectly."
As if she could see into the future, Sakayanagi's conviction didn't falter.
Hashimoto, in disbelief, waited for the monitor to switch.
As a result, just as predicted, Kōenji answered the question incorrectly and was one step closer to elimination.
"You took a bit of a risk, but you scored a point. Well done, Princess."
Hashimoto was relieved for the moment, but that relief would soon vanish in the next turn. The moment her turn as attacker began, Sakayanagi immediately called out Kōenji's name.
It was also the same category, as if she was confirming that she was targeting him intentionally.
Not only Hashimoto, but the classmates who had been following the flow of selections also began to stir.
"What's going on? It's the same category, and they're just going to protect Kōenji."
Kamuro, also unable to understand Sakayanagi's actions, retorted.
"You're not going to tell me he won't be protected next time, are you...?"
"I believe that will be the case. That's why I specifically nominated Kōenjikun."
Although he thought it was a ridiculous prediction, he didn't leave his seat and stared at the monitor, waiting to see what would happen next.
Defensive's Successfully Protected Members: None.
"Seriously... What is Horikita thinking?"
Hashimoto grumbled at the fact that Kōenji was once again unprotected.
Moreover, Kōenji did the unthinkable and made the same mistake again.
"I don't want to side with Hashimoto, but why'd you think he wouldn't be protected the second time around?"
"It's the same logic as the first time. Since you're allowed to make two mistakes, there was no need for her to go out of her way to protect him. If she knew that she had to protect him in the end, she'd leave it until the last minute.
Though, Horikita-san probably wanted him to get the correct answer.""I see. So Horikita has no choice but to protect Kōenji now."Having understood those words, Kitō muttered so.
As long as Horikita deemed that he had room to make mistakes, she wouldn't allocate a protective slot to Kōenji.
In other words, Sakayanagi took a risk in order to ensure that the opponent lost one slot in the later turns.
That was how it was interpreted.
It couldn't be helped that the two consecutive 'Gourmet Food' questions were easy.
Every class was currently learning the difficulty level for each category.
"I apologize for doubting you, Princess. So there was a plan. However, couldn't you have targeted Kōenji from the first turn? Then you could've destroyed the opponent's protection slot for the remaining eight turns. That's one turn wasted."
"I was 99% sure that they wouldn't protect Kōenji-kun, but I decided to do it on the second turn to ensure that they wouldn't protect him. It's also important to lay the groundwork to invite his second mistake. What would happen if I had started from the first turn, and Horikita-san had decided to protect Kōenji-kun? After that, it would be hard for me to make a move."
There was a risk of being tossed about by the deceptive protection slots. If the defense succeeded consecutively, there might be room for complacency, leading to the risk of handing over the momentum to the opponent.
"Moreover, thanks to him making a mistake on the first easy question, I was able to determine that there's a higher possibility of him making a wrong answer the second time as well, so the results are satisfactory—all thanks to the information you provided."
With the emphasis on the part that it was indeed useful, Hashimoto also felt relieved and nodded, taking his seat.
"Now, let's finish with Kōenji-kun, shall we?"
In the fourth turn, Sakayanagi selected Kōenji's third nomination first, surprising everyone again.
"We must be diligent. This will act as a threat that we'll target him whenever we see an opportunity. Thanks to Hashimoto-kun's intelligence gathering, we know the inner workings of Horikita-san's class, however, the opponent doesn't know that the promise with Kōenji-kun has been leaked."
"I see... Certainly, that would make them feel like they have to keep protecting Kōenji."
She chose the same 'Gourmet Food' category, but raised the difficulty level to 2 to observe the increase in difficulty.
Hashimoto thought that Kōenji would be protected, but he didn't bother to point it out.
But here, a development that not many anticipated took place.
Defensive's Successfully Protected Members:
'Shinohara Satsuki,' 'Sudō Ken'
Horikita made an unthinkable decision not to protect Kōenji.
"Why didn't she protect him?"
"Was the promise you told me about misinformation?"
"There's no way...! Horikita definitely promised to protect Kōenji!"
In the end, Kōenji answered correctly and avoided elimination. However, Hashimoto was still confused.
On the other hand, Sakayanagi managed to grasp the situation. Horikita didn't use up a protection slot on Kōenji, so after answering incorrectly twice, he answered correctly in order to avoid elimination.
"So Horikita has abandoned Kōenji..."
"Then it's our chance. We can crush him in one go."
Rather than thinking negatively, Kitō advised that they should target Kōenji from then on.
"That's right, that might be a good idea. Horikita's credibility and morale would be damaged."
Hashimoto thought the enemy class was in disarray because Horikita chose not to use the protection slot.
On the other hand, Sakayanagi came to a different conclusion.
"I was thinking they might protect him unconditionally, or better yet, we could just eliminate him... but it seems Horikita-san has a different plan. If we keep
targeting Kōenji-kun, it would just be pleasurable for her."
With a slight laugh, Sakayanagi turned on her phone.
"Anyway, I'm impressed that she's carefully thought about how to fight me."
Sakayanagi wondered whether Ayanokōji was lurking behind Horikita or not.
Who had been the driving force behind these tactics?
"He's definitely not involved."
If Ayanokōji had been pulling all the strings, she would have felt it beyond the classrooms.
The unusual and bizarre feeling would pierce Sakayanagi. She didn't feel that.
However, there was a faint hint of Ayanokōji in Horikita's way of thinking.
"It's only natural that she grows. She sees his back closer than anyone else."
She could see the trend. Sakayanagi wouldn't be lagging behind Horikita in this tactical battle.
"The problem is—"
For Sakayanagi, who was in charge of Class A, the most alarming thing wasn't a specific class.
Whether two or three classes were secretly teaming up… that was more problematic.
That was Sakayanagi's only concern.
Although she had conducted some investigation and surveillance since the special exam was announced, there had been no signs or reports of such movements. However, it was easy to form alliances in secret.
Therefore, although she could only judge whether there was an alliance during the exam, she thought that the probability of being teamed up against currently was near zero. There was nothing unnatural in the other classes' offense and defense.
"Shall we go claim first place?"
Sakayanagi had won 29 points by the end of the first half and was in the lead.
Being in first place was pleasing, but right behind her was Class B, trailing by only one point. Hashimoto, who forgot to get up from his seat, was staring at the results displayed on the monitor and the remaining time they had left for the break.
"Masumi-san, would you like to join me for lunch? Since you were eliminated, there won't be a problem, right?"
"I don't mind, but you really don't care about your opponents, do you?"
While Sakayanagi wasn't praised, she still smiled happily and started walking with her cane.
When they stepped out into the corridor, Kitō quietly moved aside upon seeing the two.
"When did you invite her?"
"Over the phone just now."
"Hmm. And Hashimoto doesn't need to be invited?"
Whenever Kamuro and Kitō were together, Hashimoto was almost always with them. It seemed they were concerned about this.
"I did properly invite him, but he declined. He's also being targeted by Ryūen-kun, and he's made two mistakes. It's only natural that he wouldn't want to be eliminated."
Imagining Hashimoto desperately scouring for information on his phone, Kamuro let out a dry chuckle.