"In other words, I'm not planning to tell you." Ayanokoji responded.
Suzune's eyebrows slightly twitched, she didn't continue speaking, but instead turned her head and glanced at Saiki.
'I actually don't know anything. I originally didn't intend to put in effort in this exam either, it's just because...' Saiki didn't know how to answer, could only remain silent.
"Is that so?"
Suzune sighed, but at the same time stepped forward one step, extremely serious and even somewhat sharp gaze projected onto the two of them, "Forget it, I don't want to delve into your pasts, nor do I want to know the reason you two did this. But since, as of now, our goals completely align... I might as well reluctantly treat the two of you as my allies."
As Suzune spoke, she slightly pursed her lips. For someone of her personality, these words could be said to be the highest form of honor.
'Just as Ayanokoji expected..... let's temporarily agree for now. At the very least, Horikita should become slightly easier to deal with in the future.'
Saiki thought this in his heart, but just as he was about to speak, he heard Ayanokoji's inner thoughts.
[But, Horikita, from beginning to end, I never considered you as an ally. Whether it's you or Hirata, to me, you are merely tools to achieve the goal.]
'That's too much, isn't it? In the end, why does a high school student like you have this kind of character? Is it because of that "White Room" or whatever it is.'
[To me, nothing matters, as long as the final winner is me, that's enough. Saiki must be the same.]
'Seriously, don't drag me into this.....'
[The only person who is difficult to control is Saiki. But at least for now, we are not enemies. That man will definitely do everything he can to get me expelled. Maybe I can use Saiki to deal with them more easily.]
'This has absolutely nothing to do with me.'
At this moment, in Saiki's heart was only regret. Had he known this, he might as well not have allied with this Ayanokoji guy.
If he hadn't interfered, perhaps Ayanokoji might have even committed arson at the camp... truly terrifying.
'But this exam should be wrapping up, right? Next, I should finally be able to rest a bit.' Saiki thought this in his heart.
———
"Katsuragi, give me an explanation!"
"This exam's failure, you must take full responsibility!"
"All because of your wrong decisions, not only did we not get good results in the exam, we even lost all our personal points!"
In front of the area where Class A's room was located, Class A's students surrounded Kohei tightly, all accusing him.
Although Class A achieved second place in this exam, only 120 points were earned, and they also had to transfer personal points to Class D afterward. For Class A, this was an absolutely unacceptable failure.
Kohei didn't argue back at all, only silently nodded. He knew very well that it was his misjudgment that led to this outcome.
Outside the crowd, a boy with slicked-back hair, looking somewhat sloppy, leaned against the wall, watching everything from afar.
Hashimoto Masayoshi, a core member of the Sakayanagi faction.
In this exam, it was Hashimoto Masayoshi who secretly contacted Ryuen and leaked Class A's leader's identity.
Looking at the criticized Kohei, Hashimoto Masayoshi showed a smile on his face, and at the same time pulled out his phone, dialing a certain number, "Surely this time, Katsuragi's faction in the class will suffer a huge loss of influence."
"Yes indeed." A light, even slightly playful female voice came from the phone's receiver.
"But this time, Class C, no, they are now Class B, their results have somewhat exceeded expectations."
———
[Meanwhile, in Class D's Room]
"Impossible..... what is going on?"
Ibuki Mio's eyes were filled with confusion. She still couldn't believe the class point was zero.
"We guessed a certain class's leader wrong, and my identity was guessed by others, that's all."
Ryuen's expression looked very calm.
Class D scored 0 points in this special exam, but they also didn't know the specific deduction items, so for now Ryuen couldn't determine exactly where the mistake was.
[Ibuki's photo is genuine. Though Kaneda didn't get physical evidence, he shouldn't have betrayed me. Class A people, because of internal strife, are unlikely to have given me false intel on purpose.]
[This time, first place is Class C, gaining 300 points..... They upgraded to Class B in one go..... Without doubt, they must have guessed correctly the other three class leaders, including mine.]
[That means, they very likely saw through Ibuki Mio's spy identity. Then the keycard may also have been deliberately exposed. For ordinary students, it's not easy to fake a keycard.]
[Did they use some method to change the leader's identity? In just one semester, they rose from Class D to Class B. This class isn't simple, likely there's a troublesome person among them.]
Ryuen's mind was turning rapidly. His originally calm face turned serious in an instant, "My original goal was just to get a contract from Class A. The exam points were just a bonus, but I didn't expect someone to actually obstruct me. I must find that guy!"
———
On another side of the ship, Shiina was analyzing this exam's situation inside her room.
'This exam is zero points..... it can be basically confirmed that a class leader was guessed wrong, and someone guessed correctly.'
'Judging from the score, it should be Saiki's class who did it. Maybe they had already noticed Ibuki's identity, so they gave her false info and misled Ryuen.....'
'Could it be Saiki who did it?'
Shiina sorted out various exam situations in her mind. Although she exited early, she could still gather useful info from others' words.
'The most likely situation... is that their class replaced the leader, and earlier I heard Saiki was sick. Could that have been the method they used to switch the leader?'
'Was Saiki really sick..... or.....'
'Forget it, doesn't matter! Since Saiki is sick, of course I should go visit him!'
Shiina thought this while a happy smile appeared on her pale face, seemingly happy just from the thought of meeting Saiki.
"Perfect timing to go to the cafeteria and bring some dessert for Saiki!"
———
[Classroom Meeting Room]
"Completely unexpected, this time it's Chabashira's class that got first place."
"How did they do it?"
"Looks like Chabashira's class encountered a truly remarkable student."
The other teachers were all discussing the exam's outcome loudly. They had no idea how the exam turned out this way.
Chabashira Sae wore a smile on her face. Rising from Class D to Class B in just one semester was unprecedented in this school.
"But no matter what, the school's positioning system must be replaced now."
"Indeed. This positioning bug is way too absurd."
"Since the school was founded, such a problem has never happened. What's going on?"
———
After a dozen minutes of conversation, Ayanokoji and Suzune finally left Saiki's room.
For Saiki, those dozen minutes just now were the longest of his life.
'Yare yare, it's finally over.....'
Saiki sighed. Just as he was about to leave the room, he suddenly caught Shiina's inner voice, realizing she had come especially to visit him.
[I wonder if Saiki is feeling better, I'll go check on him quickly.]
'Shiina came too? Although Shiina is different from others, but now is the time to go to the cafeteria for special cream puffs. And I also don't like being too noticed by others, so let's pretend I'm not in the room.'
[I even specially brought Saiki the dessert he likes.]
In the next moment, Saiki was already seated at his desk, the idea of pretending to be absent vanished as if it had never existed.
Soon, knocking came as expected. Saiki immediately opened the door and let Shiina in.
"Saiki-kun!"
Seeing Saiki, Shiina's face showed an extremely happy smile, and she handed over the dessert bag in her hand to him, "I heard you were sick, so I came to check on you. You should like this, right!"
"Thank you very much."
Saiki tried hard to move his gaze away from the dessert and looked at Shiina in front of him.
At this time, Shiina's eyes quickly scanned around the room.
[Saiki-kun must be pretending to be sick, right?]
[There's no cold medicine in the room, and no tissues in the trash either. If it were a cold, the room shouldn't look like this.]
[Looks like the result of this exam really is related to Saiki-kun.]
'Yare yare..... I slipped up.'
Saiki realized something was wrong and started thinking about how to explain.
Earlier, Ayanokoji was more or less exposed in front of Suzune, and now Shiina had also noticed something from subtle clues.
There were no easy opponents in this school.
"Saiki-kun, can I ask you a question?"
Shiina first fell silent in thought for a while, then continued, "In this exam, you were probably your class's leader, and then deliberately pretended to be sick to change the leader's identity, fooling Ibuki, right?"
[Feels like this must be the correct answer.]
[If I say it directly... will my relationship with Saiki-kun become distant...]
[But if I want progress, I must know the truth.]
"I won't tell others about this. If it's inconvenient to say, it's fine..."
"You're right."
To Shiina's guess, Saiki gave a confirming answer.
'Yare yare, even if I deny it now, with Shiina's ability, she'd probably figure it out eventually anyway. Rather than creating trouble later, it's better to just admit it now. And with Shiina's personality, she wouldn't tell others about it.'
After all, Shiina only guessed the exam's process and hadn't discovered anything about Saiki's psychic powers, so after thinking for a while, he didn't deny her speculation.
Moreover, in Saiki's heart, a certain idea was born.
[Saiki-kun actually admitted it directly in front of me..... does he really trust me that much to tell me?]
Hearing Saiki's words, Shiina was slightly surprised in her heart, but soon she even felt a bit happy.
[Saiki-kun is indeed an amazing person. Although I don't want the atmosphere in class to be broken, someday, I and Saiki-kun might become enemies. Is there a way to change everything... wait, if Saiki-kun transfers to our class, wouldn't everything be solved?]
A certain idea arose in Shiina's heart.
"But this wasn't my idea."
But just then, Saiki continued speaking, "It was a plan thought up by Horikita and Ayanokoji."
"Those two?"
Shiina slightly widened her eyes, showing a trace of surprise in her gaze, but soon she shook her head.
"But the exam is already over, what's past is past, Saiki, did you finish the book I lent you before? I brought you a few more interesting ones!"
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