Chapter 9: Zodiac Exam (1) – New Plans?

[Kurushima Pov]

[11th August, 8.00]

Waking up from the bed, I heard my phone vibrating. It's time, huh? I slightly looked at the rest of the room, only to see none of my roommates there.

Well, I am someone who enjoys sleeping long when the circumstances allow it.

These two weeks, no this remaining week, I am going to enjoy sleeping longer. For now, I should check the mail.

[After a period of thorough consideration, you have not been chosen as the "VIP. " Please act together as one and challenge the exam in that manner. The exam itself shall begin from 1:00 PM today onwards. The exam will be held for three days from this point onwards. If you belong to the (Dragon) group, please come up to the room marked as such on the second floor immediately.]

Uh, well, it's not like I particularly care. 

Just in case, I should figure our class VIPs out so I can analyze a potential pattern of how the VIP might be determined. That is, if there is even one.

Reluctantly, I laid in my bed for ten minutes before I would go to my classmates to get our VIPs identities, but to my surprise, a certain someone decided to visit me during this time.

But that aside, I had gotten without long talk the VIP identities of my class. Kushida from my group, Karuizawa from the rabbit group, and Minami-san from the horse group.

Each one of them approached me, which wasn't how I thought it would go, but I suppose it spares me trouble of asking for our VIPs.

Each class will have three VIPs, which was already confirmed by Mashima-sensei yesterday at the question round.

The people in our class are from the rabbit group, which is in fourth place according to the Chinese Zodiac, the dragon group, the fifth place, and the horse group, the seventh place. I thought that here might already be a pattern, but that would be too simple.

Another approach would be to look after the comparable trios of each animal with another.

In the Chinese zodiac, rat, monkey, and dragon result in one trio, ox, snake, and rooster to another one. Tiger, dog, and horse form another trio and rabbit, goat, and pig form another trio. However, neither of these shows any relation to our VIPs.

It would have been far easier if the VIPs in our class were all in one of these four trios, which could have helped identifying the leader according to this pattern. But I suppose that's also invalid, seeing that the animals and the VIPs from my class aren't proportional according to this pattern.

Naturally, I won't take the possibility out that one of the other classes might have this pattern. And the only logical one would be Ox, Snake, and Rooster. That's the only logical one here, which could be used as a pattern for another class.

Hmm, I might as well reminisce myself about all groups and their members to see a potential pattern being formed there.

Right now, I don't have any decisive clues, so either I rely on my observations on the other classes, and see who of them according to their body language is the VIP, or I might try thinking further.

Well, I'll do both either way. In situations like these, it's natural that a few people will inadvertently give their identity as the VIP price. The slightest unnatural and unnecessary movement on the body language of certain students might be worthwhile to study.

I used my widely social network and asked everyone in which group they were, which was something, no one should be objecting, as it's just sharing your group. 

Even Katsuragi, didn't seem to mind it. It's just sharing who is in which group, after all. Nothing more. 

But then I noticed it...

Hahaha...

Our three VIP's, have all something in common...

Kushida Kikyo, Karuizawa Kei, and Minami Setsuya, all these three have something slightly in common.

If you arrange the surnames of each individual of their group after the Japanese Hiragana, their names will be on the fourth, fifth, and seventh place from all fourteen group members, just like the respective order of their animal according to the Chinese Zodiac.

So that's how it is, huh? I thought the pattern would be harder, after all. 

Or that each class got one individually, perhaps, at least...

It's good that everyone in the Class trusts me that much, to approach me immediately, sharing the information of even being the VIP. 

As for the part of why I was able to figure this easily, it's simple. I memorized the name of every person in this school. 

It wasn't that particularly hard. 

It's all because I one time in the student council looked over on the desktop for half a minute over each student's names and the respective class of them. Seems like this knowledge finally pays it off, huh.

Well, in any case, I cannot say with certainty that this pattern is used. 

I'll rely on my observations and watch after Yume Kobayashi from the Monkey Group and the other people out.

For now, I'll watch after the change of her slight interior of the body language and stature.

Also, if she has some slight shifts about her eye movement, it will be an essential part of figuring out whether I am right with this assumption of mine.

These are pretty unnoticeable for the ordinary person, but for someone extremely observant, they'll notice it right away.

Right now, winning this exam is secondary. The only thing I particularly care about is when I succeed in this exam, the offers of tue new advantages that I can get.

I can use this exam to solidify the allotment of a large margin of private points in the Class Bank. I would have done it either way, but with our position in Class A, it would be far easier to manipulate my classmates and get more points from them transferred.

And once I am back in the school campus, I might as well cause several disturbances by doing some mass expulsions from the third-years and frame it on Nagumo-senpai, which essentially will give Chairman Sakayanagi lots of troubles, when he's confronted with a situation like that, by the school board members, since more students than they expect will be expelled.

In recompose, he'll face more pressure by the school board and will lose with a high probability his position as Chairman when certain standards of the expulsion's are met.

It might be a specific number, which shouldn't be overstepped, perhaps twenty students, but I am not sure about that.

There is certainly a number that shouldn't be overstepped, and once we are in school, I'll find that information out.

The student council office should have thoroughly recorded that information about the past years, but I didn't find anything out during my stay there about this.

About them, too, neither. Mother, Father, you attended the school in 1987, so perhaps, I might find something, regarding your time here?

I don't have much left of you anyway, so... I'd love to at least have something like pictures of your youth, at least.

Anyhow, I shouldn't think of my past again. 

I want to ruin Chairman Sakayanagi completely, but I'm still in thought, of whether I'm going to expel someone else, now that I have the poisons in my hands, perfectly secured.

Will I?

Or... should I not?

In the first place, the plan of having this school dissolved, or in the process of it, by manipulating the public isn't needed anymore, is it? 

I achieved it...

My goal...

I have my hands on the Poison, so I don't have to involve anyone else, anymore. 

The only thing I have to do, is combing them, all-together, with certain other components...

And once I got the information from Chairman Sakayanagi, whether he hands it out willingly or not about Project WR, I'll stay as long as to expel Kanzaki and Sakayanagi out of the school and then voluntarily leave the school out of my own accord.

After having my objective here cleared, I have no further business on staying inside this school.

 In contrary, with each day I'm here, I let those four people and the person referred to as "him" grow their power, making it harder for me to exert my revenge on them.

But I should take into consideration that Chairman Sakayanagi might not know Project WR, so I might as well have try to befriend Kanzaki during my stay here so that I could also make contact with his father once he's expelled and gather that information from his father.

Either way, I still have enough cards to hold each of those four off for at least two to three years, so even if I coincidentally decide to stay her, which is non-existent, since I plan to leave the moment I have the information, I could hold them off, temporarily.

In the case of Naoe, I have information's about him as well as about thirty-five people of the citizens party for the dealings of corruption, tax evasion, embezzlement, money laundering, and bribery.

These crimes have allowed Naoe and the citizens party members to accumulate substantial wealth and power while evading accountability.

I wasn't just sitting around these past five year's, since I realized how dangerous my opponents were, as far as they went to kill innocent people, if needed, to protect that nobody ever figures out the deeds they had done.

I'm not sure if it was one of them, two of them, or several else or all of them, the fact does not change, that not only was someone from them responsible for the death of my family, but for the death of two other innocent people....

After that day, I shred the last amount of naivety and kindness I had in me.

As to Kanzaki and Amasawa, I have quite a few rumors, both partially true and false, that will severely damage their reputation once published. 

But damaging their reputation isn't my objective, but to acquire on their corporations far more shares than I initially have already, so I can sabotage them from within.

Regarding the issue of whether they would know that it's me, that's not a problem.

After all, not me, but several else owns the shares according to the pieces of paper.

Just as I was in my internal monolog, I heard suddenly a voice reaching my ears.

The person was none other than Kushida Kikyo, with whom I had met ten minutes ago, regarding her request to tell me that she is the VIP.

It seems like we are fated to meet again, huh?

"Ah, Kurushima-kun, are you also heading up to eat breakfast?" Kushida asked.

"Ah, yes," I answered.

"Do you want to eat together, Kurushima-kun?" she asked.

"I don't mind, Kushida-san."

While walking, I looked slightly at the clock, which showcased that it was 9.30 a.m. now.

After eating with Kushida, for the remaining time, I met up with some of my classmates and asked them whether they could record the conversation in their respective group once the meeting would start.

No one in particular denied my request, so I could also shift the attention on the recordings of how I realized the VIPs through a small analysis of mine, about who is the most suspicious and who isn't.

It's not like I would like to announce that I have figured this after one hour and ten minutes out and the only reason why it took that long was because I didn't know the identities of our VIPs until 8.10-9.20 a.m, and the people in their group.

Well, I wonder if Ryūen figures this out. If not, perhaps I might decide to give him some subtitle hints again.

In the meanwhile, I observed all the narrowed down suspects in the cafeteria, seeing a light shift of change in their body language.

Normally, I am not the kind of person who observes others thoroughly because I don't see any particular need, but in times like this, it seems to be quite useful.

In the first place, there's no need to observe someone here if they aren't a threat.

The only person whom I am going to thoroughly observe is Ayanokoji since he's one of the few variables in my plan, which I would like to prevent happening.

But anyway, I am more than sure enough that this easy pattern is used in the exam.

From the people I observed, I saw a slight forced posture, the sudden shift of their pupils, a faster erratic breathing in comparison to their normal ones, and a fast-paced, yet not noticeable speed of gulping their throats two to three times per fifteen seconds.

Well, it seems like I hit the bull's eye with the four people I observed.

How... boring. 

Hopefully, there's something to do in our group, such as playing Poker or anything else.

Later that day, until 1 p.m., the four of us in the group discussed on which outcome we want to aim in the Dragon Group.

Outcome 1, where everyone benefits, was at the end of the day our choice.

Also, sixty percent of the earned Points in our group would be put in our Class Bank account after I managed to convince them with headstrong arguments.

For now, I'll stand back and be quiet while observing the other classes in my group. I plan to bring Poker tomorrow up to the table.

It would be detrimental for today when no classes have any progress with the deduction of this pattern, and I cannot create my believable lie right away with Poker.

--

[Ryūen Pov]

[11th August, 8.09]

Tch...

For figuring out this pattern, I need more than just our three VIPs.

If there are VIP's from Class A, nobody is going to tell me since they have their eyes on the Sakayanagi fraction.

Especially that Hashimoto guy. 

That crazy bastard misused a spot in the Island Exam and told me their leader all for Katsuragi just to lose. And then there is also X and Y whose threats still remain mysterious during this exam.

Ahahaha, truly interesting. I should better pay Suzune a visit. "Ibuki, Albert, we'll visit Suzune."

"Tch..." Ibuki muttered.

"Yes, Boss." Albert responded.

After walking for more than fifteen minutes, I saw Suzune with some apathetic looking brown-haired guy sitting.

Hahahaha, Suzune, I hope you are ready.

"Suzune, the offer is still standing. My room. You and Me. Think carefully," I proposed, taking a seat next to the brown-haired guy.

"In your dreams," she said.

"And also Ryūen-kun, please refrain yourself from dreaming about me in any way possible. So, for what are you here? I assume it's not because you had the urge to talk to me suddenly, right?" she asked disdainful.

"Ahahaha, that's right. I'm here to talk about that mastermind behind your back during the Island Exam."

"Here, take a look at this leaf."

"A leaf?!" she asked.

"I didn't imagine you to be such a weird and stupid person for giving me a simple leaf. Guess I acquired additional information about you, Ryūen-kun," she said, taking a slip of her tea.

"Before you talk all high and mighty, just be aware that the mastermind behind your back just like they have been playing me was also being played from another hand. From someone who was already aware of their strategy at day one or two, who knows. The only thing I have from them is one of these two leafs," I explained.

"Huh?!" she looked in shock, with her seductive and alluring face, just wanting to be dominated by me.

She took the leaf out of my hand without a second.

"Huh? On the leaf is a phrase?" she asked bewildered.

"Grace the hidden heel?! And why is it written on blood?" she asked me, looking confused.

"Ahahaha," I suddenly couldn't hold my urge but to laugh.

"Why are you laughing?" she asked in an infuriated tone.

"It's just so funny, Suzune. That mastermind behind your back has not told you anything about this. Kukuku, how does it feel being played like a puppet? Does it infuriate you? Or makes you angry?"

"What are you even talking about? There's no person behind my back? And what does this message mean?"

"Ahahaha, I need to thank you. Just now, you have taken every ounce of suspicion I hold about you. If you were intact the one responsible for the Island Exam, you should have figured out this phrase and the message behind this message. Someone like you, with these petty abilities, can not win such an exam like that."

"Kukuku, Suzune, you really are stupid. But don't worry, if X ever abandons you, there's always a remaining bed waiting for you."

"Ryūen...You...Humph, there's no way I would ever agree to something like that in a millennium," she responded, her tone remaining one of arrogance.

But that's fine. It's going to be much more amusingly seeing that arrogant girl crumbling in front of me. I'll make her kneel in front of me, soon enough.

"And what's with the other leaf?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

"Suzune, you really are funny. Do you really think I would give you the other leaf just like that. But I am going to make a singular exception for you. You and me, at my room, in ten minutes. If you are able to satisfy me, I might decide to give the other leaf to you. With that, you would be finally useful for Kurushima and X. Or are you keep going to stay useless?"

Suzune didn't seem to comprehend my words and looked at me bewildered in surprise. "Useless? Me?! Don't make me laugh?" she refuted.

"Hahahaha, you really are some funny girl. Allow me to explain why you are utterly useless, Suzune. Firstly, unlike X and Kurushima, you have never even once profited your class. Kurushima explained to you guys his theory about the S-System and helped more than enough with your failures of classmates to study for the midterm exam. X has won the Island Exam singlehandedly and would have even defeated me if it weren't for the warnings of Y. And what did you do?"

"You were able to convince these three idiots of retracting their complaint, and now? That's nothing impressive."

"Before I forget another aspect, Kurushima immediately figured more than ninety percent of my strategy out, only by seeing Ibuki with a digital camera and wireless transceiver. If it weren't for the fact that Ibuki even though she has a tiny brain has lured Kurushima to the area of the snakes, X wouldn't have need to reveal themselves, and I would have took a major hit."

I saw Ibuki from the side looking at me angrily. "Tch...Bastard..." she muttered.

"Suzune, your superiority complex turns me on. I'll definitely make sure to crush that complex and make you crawl to me on your knees."

With that, I left the scene, leaving an unsure little girl about her abilities remaining.

I slightly looked at my phone, which vibrated.

[1 New Message]

Opening my phone, I saw who messaged me.

[Kushida Kikyo:]

[Ryūen-kun, do you mind meeting me again? Yesterday, Ayanokoji-kun's presence interrupted us. If you do, I have a small present for you which you might like. But there's a condition I would like you to follow if I am giving you that present. Let's meet up at night again, but this time, it is a different location. (8.11)]

[Kukuku, I hope it's a good present, Kikyo. (8.11)]

[Don't worry, it's one you'll surely like. (8.12)]

[Kukuku, let's meet at this location...(8.13)]

[Sure, I'll be there after our meeting at the dragon group in the evening. (8.13)]

Kushida Kikyo, huh? Let's hope her present has something to do with this exam.

If not, I'll be really disappointed.

--

A/N: I'm curious, but whose perspective do you guys want to see the most?

I'll be doing a sort of mix through the perspectives of the major people perhaps during the Zodiac exam.

Also, another question; Do you think the strategies I have made so far were okay or good? I'm not really that sure, so I'd like to hear a few opinions on that matter.

Aside from that: How did you like this chapter?

I hoped you liked it.

Comments, votes, and your support would be highly appreciated.

Goodbye, have a good day.