Chapter 1: The Games Have Changed

I yawned and my eyes blurred. A small tear dripped from my eye and before it rolled below my cheek I wiped it off.

"Crying from a book?"

I looked up from the book I was reading to see who it was.

"This book is about gravity, Aki-chan."

Akito's face turned from a smirk to anger then ended with a sigh of frustration.

I sat up on the couch and closed the book and placed it on the small table. I grabbed the glass of milk I placed on the table and drank it and wiped my mouth. Akito then sat next to me. He was about to open his mouth when a person jumped in the gap between Akito and me.

"What, Aki-chan?" Kaori said. "Were you going to ask Tadashi-kun for advice with Harumi-chan?"

Akito was enraged and before he could do anything another person came into the living room.

"Let's not fight now." Ryoko said as she walked into the room to sort out the problem.

"What should we do today—"

Kaori was interrupted by the notification sound from our phones. Each phone had a unique notification sound however if it was anything from the school app all notification sounds were the same.

We all got our phones out of our pockets and Kaori read out the announcement.

"For the past week, there has been one member who has been acting as a member of the group." Kaori read out. "Ehh? What does it mean?"

"Are you an idiot Kaori-chan?" Akito scolded. "It means there is one member of this group who isn't actually part of the group."

"There's more." Ryoko added.

"The reward for the group to first find out who the spy is will receive 100 group points." Akito read out. "The group who doesn't find out who the spy is will receive a penalty; 300 group points will be deducted. Time limit: one month."

"300 GROUP POINTS!" Kaori yelled. "That's too much!"

"There's still more." Akito said. "The spy will be able to take however much money from any member of the group until they are found out. If they are found out then ¥1 million will be deducted from the spy's account."

"Each spy is from a group and the group where their spy isn't found out then the spy's real group will receive 150 group points." Ryoko finished the last of what had been announced.

"Is there any more?" Yatogami asked. She had somehow entered the living room without anyone knowing.

"No." Yanagizawa replied.

"Where's Harumi?" Akito asked.

"I'm here." Harumi replied. She was standing next to Ryoko.

"So everyone's here." Ryoko said.

"Ryoko, you're the one with the most money so you will be in danger." Akito said.

"Each group can also try to guess their group's spy and spies in other groups. The reward for each correct guess is 40 group points each and if the group guesses their group spy correctly receives 100 group points and for each incorrect guess 40 points will be deducted." I said. "Someone in this group is not from our group and they know they aren't and there is another person who is part of our group. If we guess who the spy of our group is and the person who is acting as part of our group correctly then we will receive 250 group points."

"And we can guess other groups as well." Karoi added.

"From rough calculations, we will be able to receive a maximum of 850-930 group points." Akito said.

"That's only if we can correctly guess everyone's spies including our own." Ryoko added.

"What would the spy be thinking now, Ryoko-san?" I asked her.

"To go to their group and announce that they are their spy so that they could get an easy 100 group points." Ryoko replied.

"Correct. Now, who here is thinking of that?"

The room was silent.

"I can't be bothered to think about this. I'm going." Kaori said before she went up to her room. Yatogami and Harumi did the same leaving only Yanagizawa, Ryoko, Akito, and me.

"Alright I'm going to play some games then." Akito excused himself before leaving.

"Kishimoto-san, are you up for a rematch?" Yanagizawa asked him.

"I'll beat you this time!"

Akito and Yanagizawa left us. Now it was only Ryoko and me left in the room.

"What was that all about?" Ryoko asked as she sat down next to me.

"You're the spy aren't you?" I whispered to her. Her face turned pale and her eyes widened. She then looked at me so now I could see her complete face clearly.

"How did you—"

"Don't ask that. The school made every group so that there are a few people who were acquainted with each other and other students who were also friends and there was at least one mutual friend between the two friend groups the school put those two groups together and made the groups now." I explained.

"So you knew this whole time?"

"I did. I knew there'd be no way the school would put you with your worst enemy so that was what made me suspect—"

"Sorry, I forgot my phone." Akito said as he entered the room, took his phone, and then left.

"Don't worry, I won't tell the others. Can you trust me, Ryoko?"

"I'll trust you then." She said before she placed her head on my shoulder and fell asleep.

The sun set on that day only to rise again however there was still the night to look forward to before the sun rises again.

* * * * * *

Oh yeah.

I looked at the desks of the students. After the first semester ended and the second started, the desks were no longer for more than two students, the desks were only for each individual student; with one desk per student.

I sat down in my seat waiting to see if people I knew also came to this class.

Why did I choose to be a physicist and an engineer?

"Oh, Tsukamoto-san, you're here."

I turned my head from the window and saw a girl sitting in the seat behind me. I didn't want to socialise because I'd rather sleep or do something better however not many people approach me for some reason, which I do like.

"Who are you?" I asked the girl.

"I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Ishigami Hanako."

The girl had dark hair, and deep blue eyes and she had black round-lens glasses. She wasn't extremely attractive but wasn't bad looking so she was probably above average in looks. She didn't look like she was smiling but it felt like she was. She seemed cold but warm. I could see the kindness in her heart and also a sense of hatred she had for someone. Perhaps, I reminded her of someone or it was something else.

"Ishigami? Are you—"

"Yes, I'm Ishigami Tatsuya's sister."

Wasted no time there.

"Do you enjoy physics, Ishigami-san?" I asked her. I wasn't much of the type to converse with others however I was sure that Ishigami and I had some things in common that we could talk about.

"Yeah I do but I usually sleep around in these lessons because I'm already ahead of them." Ishigami replied. Her expression didn't change.

"We have that in common, I guess." I added. Ishigami looked at me and for a second I saw a slight smile from her before it changed back to her serious expression. "Have you ever done any experiments?"

"This is a mathematics class, Tsukamoto-san." My face was confused for a second. I ran a quick check in my brain to see if it was and as I was trying to remember I saw Ishigami laugh. "Hahahaha!"

What? I made someone laugh?

"What, Ishigami-san? What's wrong?" I didn't get a reply, instead, she kept laughing.

The whole class's attention was now on Ishigami as she laughed hysterically.

* * * * * *

After the class had ended, I was trying to run back home as I was in desperate need of rest after all the attention and socialising. As I began to walk, my blazer was pulled back by someone. I turned my head around to see who it was and it was Ishigami-san.

"Oh, Ishigami-san. What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Oh…I just wanted to apologise for getting you in trouble."

"It's fine, a few points deducted from my group won't matter." I sighed.

"If you don't have any plans then could you come to the cafe at 7 o'clock?" Ishigami asked.

I guess she wants a favour.

"Alright, I guess I have nothing else to do." I said and her eyes widened with joy.

"Thank you!" She said before walking off to her next class.

* * * * * *

I had already found Ishigami waiting near the cafe. She wore a black turtle-neck sweater and some black jeans. She had also tied her hair into a ponytail for some reason or it's just how her hair is after school or when she goes out. I wore a black shirt and a white t-shirt underneath it with black trousers.

We entered the cafe and found a table with two seats. We sat down at the table and ordered and waited. Our food arrived a couple of minutes later and Ishigami didn't waste any more time and already started eating.

"So why did you call me out here?" I asked her.

"I'm sure you have an idea but I'll say it anyway." Ishigami prepared herself before asking me and took a sip out of her coffee. "I know you will win against my brother easily so if I could ask you to do something on that day. I will help as well and you may use me as you want so please help me."

She did sound desperate for help and she did go to me and she knows that I would win against her brother. Her brother was no normal martial artist capable of destroying a wall with his punches while also not even moving his whole body. He was once the world champion in Muay Thai. He is also proficient in many other martial arts.

"What do you want me to do then?" I asked her. Ishigami smiled at me.

"I need you to find out who the spy is in the Aurelius Group and in return I can give you all the information of every group." Ishigami negotiated.

If I helped her find out who the spy of the Aurelius Group is then I'll be able to receive information on every group however, the information may be false and then I would have helped her for free and had gotten scammed.

"Do you trust me?" I asked her. Ishigami didn't respond instantly and took a second to think.

"If I didn't trust you then I wouldn't have asked for your help, Tsukamoto-san."

"Your brother. He's got something to do with this as well doesn't he?" Ishigami's face changed. "Let me guess, you want to prove something to him."

"Why would I need to prove anything to my brother?" Ishigami hissed.

"I don't know, anyways, I'll help you then."

Ishigami then thanked me and stormed off and exited the cafe.

Too easy.