61 Chapter 7: Paper Shuffle Concluded

A/N: Important question, but which of these two Hiyori Images do you prefer more? The fundamental difference is the hair color, so I'd like to hear your opinion.

[Image:]

I personally like her with the light blue hair, since it's also the one used in the latest novel illustrations. But please feel free to tell me which you prefer.

Also, another question, before you start reading.

Since literally everyone in ANHS has a nickname, which one would you give Kurushima?

I have one, but I'll keep it as a secret, until a soon-to-be SS Chapter, I suppose.

Anyway, here you go with the chapter.

Not very long, but I wanted to conclude the Paper Shuffle, finally.

[26th October, 15.53]

[Third Person Pov]

As Kurushima had planned to leave, going to the student council, he felt how a girl was trailing behind him. He ignored her for a while, until there was no one else who could see them.

"Kurushima-kun, can we talk?" A girl asked.

A girl, he was very familiar with. She had brown hair, blue eyes, and foremost, was a classmate of his.

It was Matsushita Chiaki, someone who confessed to him in the past, which made things lately really awkward, since he did not often talk with her.

"Yes, Matsushita-san?" he asked, turning himself around, looking at her.

But Kurushima could not deny that it felt really awkward, currently. At the cruise ship, she confessed his love to him, but he rejected her, since he did not feel anything.

Ever since, he had not really talked with her, anymore, aside from class affair matters, relating to everyone, including her.

"I'm sorry, it must be awkward for you, talking with me, isn't it?"

Kurushima did not know what to say. But before he could even think of speaking, Matsushita continued.

"But..."

"Don't worry, I'm fine. Thank you for having been so honest with me at that time. I really appreciate it, Kurushima-kun."

Saying that, she did a small bow out of gratitude.

"I don't think I did something extraordinary in particular, Matsushita-san. Truthfully, I feel like, my response, it was rather vague..."

She shakes her head. "I could immediately notice, that your heart was already at someone else. Due to that, I was able to move on, in the end. If it wasn't for that..."

"I might have given myself hope, like some other girls do..."

"But that's not for what I am here, Kurushima-kun. I'd like to discuss a matter with you, if you have currently time, naturally."

He nodded his head, slightly. "I have to be in 22 Minutes at the student council office, so if it's something long, I'm afraid I cannot talk much, currently."

She shakes her head, again. "It's nothing that will take much of your time, Kurushima-kun. Truthfully, it's something regarding me..."

"I—"

She had trouble on finishing the sentence. Her eyes looked slightly afraid, nervous, and herself, looked down on the ground.

"I hid my abilities, Kurushima-kun..."

"Your abilities...?"

She nodded, again, slightly. "I mean, I'm not this X person or anything like that. But... I'm very decently smart, above almost the rest of the class, I suppose..."

"I can also score academically within the score of the upper 80 points area, in almost all exams and tests... and physically, I'm not bad, either..."

"Until now, I was afraid... of admitting it, gaining glances of suspicions from the other's. But... since we're in Class A, or nearby at it, again, I'd like to contribute as much as possible, to the class..."

"What should I do...? I'm afraid... everyone will suddenly look at me differently, if I were to score particularly well now, even if it's just middle school questions..."

Kurushima looked in slight thought. He pondered, whether he should let Matsushita use her full abilities in the Paper Shuffle, or not.

"To be entirely honest, I'm not quite sure, Matsushita-san. If it was after me, I'd score 100 points, but... since you held back until now, there will be ton of glances, if you score high enough, already..."

Matsushita interrupted him, quickly. "Ah... when I said I was good, I meant that I could score around 85-90 points at least, but not above that, Kurushima-kun."

"Oh... I see. If that's so, how about you score at least in every of the 8 subjects above 60 points, and around the range of 70-76 points, to avoid suspicion, while also meeting the criteria of easily having you and your partner pass."

"In average, at least in our class, everyone can solve up to 20 questions easily, which should gain them 20 points, so you can be reassured. With the effect of studying, it's by far more."

She nodded her head, showing her approval.

"If it comes to the case of someone asking you regarding your results, you can just use me as your excuse, then."

"Whether it was relating to questions you had, or something else, I answered them. That should be sufficient enough, I suppose. Like Sudo, you can then, slowly raise your ranking among the class, without suspicions that you held yourself back."

"I see. Thank you, very much, Kurushima-kun. I won't disturb you any further, then. Have a great day!"

Kurushima nodded, returning it. "You too, Matsushita-san."

Slowly, she walked away, leaving him standing there.

"Well... I suppose, I should head out now, too. Nagumo-senpai does not like to see any one of his student council being late, including me. I'm just keeping the position for the points, still."

"The reason I'm getting 125,000 Private Points is because I'm the only member from the first year at the student council, yet. If someone else join, they'll be divided, in equivalence to the size of the members from the first year."

"Just like club activities, the student council rewards its members, very well. It's a position of honor itself, in this school already, much more, if you're the president."

"There're many kinds of advantages you can get, such as job offers, scholarships, or other kind of things, but they all, do not interest me."

"Why should they, to begin with...? I can study wherever I'd like..."

"It's also... neither a problem of money, itself..."

Kurushima stared at the floor, deciding on walking further.

"Haah..."

With a defeated sigh, he entered the student council room, knowing what awaited him was mostly paperwork, once again.

[26th October, 22.53]

[Third Person Pov]

"Huh...? A Message? This late...?! Who the fuck disturbs my sleep..."

Ryūen Kakeru, the current leader of Class C, from next month, Class A, looked over his phone, upon the notification of a message.

Seeing that he received a message, he pondered in thought if it was X, who decided to contact him. But to his surprise, it was someone entirely else, with contents he did not expect at all.

The message on his phone reads as follows: [Kushida Kikyo will lose].

"So you're telling me, Suzune anticipated her betrayal from the beginning already, and took precautions measures...?"

"If that's so... the questions she provided us are entirely useless..."

"Kuku..."

"X..."

"He must have known that, too, then..."

"Once again, I was played by his hands..."

"Y..."

"It's been more than 3 months since the last time you contacted me..."

"What's your goal behind all of this...? Are you really preparing your class transfer to my class...?"

"Otherwise, I can't possibly explain the help you've given us in the Island Exam..."

"Kuku... If you have the same hand as X, I can understand your confidence. But is that really it...?"

"... Once I'm finished with X, you're next..."

[12th November]

"It's just as Y mentioned, huh...?"

"Suzune did indeed anticipate my strategy...?"

"Although, she's being protected by X, in secret..."

"But it won't matter..."

"Hiyori and Kaneda, these two, they prepared sheets for all of my classmates, already, for the summary of middle-school relating questions."

"... Both of them have confidence of scoring between the ranges of 90-95 Points and higher, at the very least..."

"Now it's a battle between our classes in academics. Our class was always slightly better, but... they've had more study preparation time."

"Even if we lose, it does not matter."

"No, it's better, because my class would let me do more things, freely. I'm getting already a decent amount of Points monthly, along the 5 Million from the Zodiac Exam..."

"Ever since the beginning of the school, half of our Private Points goes to me."

"Adding that with the deal of Katsuragi, and I'm quite fortunate, already. Nearly at 20 Million Private Points."

[Private Points: 16.297.420]

"That damn guy Kurushima..."

"Who the fuck can run five hours long with three broken ribs...? And still score in various competitions as the best...?"

"That guy..."

"He's seriously on a complete other level..."

"If it's a matter of a fight, I'll definitely lose..."

"My strategies... he also predicted them."

"The Island Exam actually, if Y did not interfere, and the Zodiac Exam."

"As for the Sports Festival, he did not..."

"It's because of my sudden wildcard, Kushida Kikyo... But with this, I'll throw her away, officially now."

"X, huh...?"

"He ruined my plans, once again..."

"It's between Hirata, Ayanokoji, Yukimura, and Koenji."

"But Hiyori... she does not suspect the latter one, Koenji. Apparently, these two talked once, about Kurushima."

"It'd also not make sense, I suppose... or would it...?"

"Ibuki did not see him in the Island Exam during the late Day 1, and Hiyori saw him on Day 4 at the Cruise Ship, present."

"To predict all of this, it should not be possible, without being present..."

"X..."

"He planned all of this, when he saw Ibuki..."

"It's definitely not him..."

"But even if not, I'll use this chance to talk with that freak."

"Just so you wait, X..."

"You'll pay the price for using me..."

"Starting with her..."

"Karuizawa Kei, the one you're using..."

Ryūen looked over the two messages he received today, once again.

[Provide Class C's finalized questions and answers for the end of term exam.]

[Otherwise, make significant changes to the questions and answers you provide Kushida Kikyo.]

[25th November, 15.53]

"You're late, Kikyo. Were you having trouble slipping away from your classmates?"

"What do you mean by that, Ryūen-kun?"

Kushida appeared on a remote rooftop. She drew closer to Ryūen without trying to conceal her true nature.

"Ah?"

"The questions and answers you gave me turned out to be completely different from the ones on the exam."

"Oh, yeah. I switched out the questions right before the deadline. What about it?"

He laughed a bit scornfully before taking a drink of mineral water from his plastic bottle.

"Like I told you. I will force Horikita to drop out no matter what I have to do. Solely for this reason, I betrayed my classmates and secretly submitted Class D's exam questions. The condition was that I'd get the questions and answers for Class C's math questions in return. If you had kept your promise, Horikita would've voluntarily withdrawn herself from school by now. And yet, you betrayed me."

"What? Are you mad about something like that?"

"Something like that? You come out ahead against Class D, and you're just going to end it with that?"

"You're fundamentally misunderstanding the situation, Kikyo. The questions you made weren't used on the exam."

"Huh? What are you talking about? I turned in the exam questions as soon as possible just as you instructed. I also confirmed everything with Chabashira- sensei. There were no mistakes."

"Did... Kurushima-kun do something...?"

Her tone was slightly becoming nervous. In comparison to Horikita, offending him was abruptly said, very stupid. He was someone she could not deal with alone.

Under normal circumstances, that is. Now that there was this situation of him being suspected as a traitor, although still unofficial and not widely spoken, the chance of beating him was indeed possible.

Although, contrary to what she thinks, that it's nothing Kurushima can do against it, he easily could, if he wanted. He had her audio file, and even if not, there were other easy methods, too.

While the class itself did not much care him anymore, he did try on making them independent from him, before he came together with Hiyori.

Now he simply felt indifference against them.

They benefited through his actions, so for them not to appreciate it, even suspecting him, just showed how foolish they were.

As he says, "Biting the hand that feeds you," was not recommended.

But their decision, their consequences.

"Kuku. Don't worry, Suzune kept quiet about it, as she told you. She wants you to work together with the class, and Kurushima, he'd certainly not be able to trust you, anymore."

"For her, telling him that, would take its entire purpose away, of accepting your bet. It definitely is something she pulled off, not Kurushima, Kikyo."

"If you have not realized everything yet, then you're stupid. Suzune took the steps ahead of time to prevent your exam questions from being formally adopted."

Although, through Y's interference, they easily were able to learn in time. But in case, he kept his door open with Kushida.

Y could have been wrong. Trusting Y's words, it's something Ryūen greatly disliked.

He was played by two hands, both X and Y.

"Wait a second... Ahead of time? Such... No way..."

"You can ask her, if you don't believe me. But our agreement, it's invalid. I can't afford to show you the correct answers to the exam questions if I don't receive anything in return. That's the natural turn of events."

"Tsk...!"

"Though I'll tell you this, Kikyo. You have no right to bear any grudges against me so how about thanking me instead?"

"Thanking you!? I lost to Suzune, you know!? What do you want me to thank you for!?"

She thought back to the humiliation of being forced to declare defeat before Horikita. It was enough to make her blood boil over in anger.

"For you to get caught in this trap without even knowing it, you sure take things easy."

Ryūen drew close to Kushida and grabbed her uniform.

He then forcibly unfastened the button of her blazer and began to reach inside.

"Hey! What are you doing!?"

Ryūen smiled as Kushida pushed away from him in a panic.

"Jeez, I'm not going to do anything. Search inside your pocket."

"...Inside my pocket?"

While still on guard, Kushida slowly reached into the inner pocket of her blazer.

There was a paper feeling that she wasn't expecting to come across. After taking it out, she found a folded piece of paper.

"What is this..."

Ryūen shouldn't have had the time to put something inside just now.

In other words, it had already been placed there beforehand. When she opened the paper, she found a list of questions and answers for the recent math exam.

However, these weren't the questions that were on the exam that was given today. Instead, they were the ones that Ryūen originally said he would submit.

"Why is something like this in my blazer..."

"There'll probably be more than that. There should be several cheating materials scattered throughout your personal belongings. You'll find them if you try looking for them later."

"I don't understand what this means."

"Someone in Class B was prepared to take you out. What would happen if you were accused of cheating during or shortly after the exam? What if I decided to use those questions after all? What do you think would happen if they found that paper on you after you had done well on the exam?"

"I'd be expelled? Even if I didn't cheat? That's stupid!"

"There should be some way to prove it if you're truly innocent, but it's also true that you got the answers beforehand by joining forces with me. So even if you're determined to be guilty, it can't be helped."

But even if, the suspicion of guilt would not disappear. Something X deliberately planned out, for Kushida.

"When did this cheat sheet manage to..."

"You don't have any idea? Have there been any strange things going on around you recently?"

Since Ryūen knew of Karuizawa Kei's bullying past, it's also easily to deduce X had Karuizawa in his pockets, manipulating her.

All he needed now, was the essential proof from Kushida, herself.

"It's possibly... no, but... I went to the final strategy meeting with Horikita and the others at Karaoke last week. Kurushima-kun was busy with the student council, so he tagged along, forty minutes later."

"But I suppose something a little strange thing did happen then. It's not clear why, but a girl began to throw accusations around and then poured her juice on me out of anger."

"After that, she insisted on taking it to the dry cleaners to make up for it. It's understandable given the situation... and I don't think there's any connection... but it's somehow still on my mind."

"I'll take a guess at who that girl is. Karuizawa Kei, right?"

"...How do you know that? Don't tell me you saw it?"

"How could I have possibly seen it? The reason is simple: deduction."

Ryūen tapped his finger against the side of his head to emphasize his deductive capability.

'How funny...'

'X...'

'Once I crushed you...'

'I'll go after Y...'

The conversation between him and Kushida continued. Kushida explained him everything, but then realized, that Ryūen gave X the papers behind the math exam, for the cheating blazer in her uniform.

Ryūen knew he did not need to do this, but Y's involvement was something he intended to keep quiet about. Especially towards X, for now.

[29 November, 6.53]

"Haah..."

"Lately, my nightmares have become more frequent, again."

"But right now, my body..."

"It's trembling just full of excitement..."

"How should I do my entrance...?"

"Kick his door...?"

"Enter his room normally...?"

"Should I see if he's ready to tell me the information without threatening him...?"

"Hide my face behind a mask...?"

"Or should I let him desperately see the Monster he is responsible of creating, altogether, with the other culprits...?"

"I can't help but think of these kind of things frequently, ever since, recently..."

"It's not like I'm not prepared..."

"Everything is prepared already..."

"It's just that I'm constantly imaging how I'll confront him..."

"Kicking his table, slamming his face against his desk..."

"There's so much I'm imagining, currently..."

"I just have to wait a bit longer..."

"The 18th December.."

"At that day, it'll be already 8 Years and 163 Days, since July 19th..."

"I've waited a long time for this moment..."

"And now..."

"The opportunity, it's finally soon there..."

"The truth I was unable to discover..."

"You'll tell me it..."

"Willingly or not..."

"It's your choice..."

A/N: And this concludes the chapter.

I wanted to conclude the Paper Shuffle as fast as possible, so I finished it within this Chapter.

I have written all the chapters already, so we can move on. Volume 7, it's there, and who knows, what Kurushima will do here.

Tell me your predictions.

Also the SS Chapters will be at the end of the Volume. A decent amount I'd say.

Halloween and Swimming with Hiyori was already implied, but as far as the rest goes, you'll see.

Also regarding Ryūen, ever since they were in Class D, at the beginning, and he knew of expulsions taking Class Points away, due to Kurushima, who expelled early on 3 people, he's been taxing 50% of his classes points.

He would not let them expelled, since it'd be not beneficial to him, so he could easily convince them, too.

In principle, almost like the class bank system in Kurushima's case.

Here an overview, quickly:

[Class Points—Private Points]

[June, July, August: 601—60,100]

[September, October: 874—87,400]

[November: 924—92,400]

[3.606.000 Private Points (June, July, August)]

[5.000.000 Private Points (Zodiac Exam)]

[= 8.606.000 Private Points]

[3.496.000 Private Points (September, October)]

[1.848.000 Private Points (November)]

[2.340.000 Private Points (Katsuragi Deal, 3 Months)]

[= 7.684.000 Private Points]

[8,420 Private Points from himself]

[Overall = 16.298.420 Private Points]

Anyway, thats's all.

Have a good day.

Original: (7 Months, September, October, November, December, January, February, March: 5.460.000)

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