Chapter 34

[A/N: I had 3 AP exams this week so that I couldn't post any chapters for the past 2 days. Hopefully, we are back to one chapter a day now]

Horikita's face turned bright red as the words escaped my mouth, and Ryuen broke into some hearty laughter. I had told him the real story earlier, but this fairytale-like story was much more entertaining.

Icihnose stared at me with an expression that said, "Did you really have to overexaggerate like that?"

Katsuragi seemed deep in thought. After all, I had just confirmed that a mastermind in Class D that could outsmart the three other classes existed. Whoever this person was, they would surely be a severe threat to Class A's position.

Hirata and Kushida, who were beside Horikita, looked at her in confusion. They clearly had never heard of this Class D's mastermind.

It truly surprised me when Class D accepted their first-place award without any suspicion. You, the worst class in the entire school, get first place on an exam, and you believe that it was just because of your hard work? The intelligence of Class D never fails to surprise me in a bad way.

After a few moments of silence, Horikita regained her composure and responded seriously and harshly. 

"What are you talking about?"

I couldn't take her seriously as her red face contradicted her serious tone. Before I could respond to Horikita's question, Ryuen interrupted and mockingly said.

"Were you enumerated with your prince that you forgot?"

I could see Horikita's face once again go tomato red. I really couldn't believe this person was related to the emotionless student council president.

Seeing Horikita's hostility, Ichinose stepped in again to calm the conflict. It was like she was a parent taking care of us children. "Come on, kids, stop fighting!" 

Looking back at the cards on the table, Ichinose pointed towards Ryuen's chips and asked.

"Ryuen, would you like to raise your bet or-"

Ryuen scoffed at Ichinose's weak intervention and pushed some chips towards the middle of the table.

After another round of poker, I kept getting the wrong hands, so I decided to tap out in favor of playing on my phone. Ryuen shared the same opinion even though he was up 10,000 private points, so he stepped back and imitated Class A by staring mindlessly into the phone.

Seeing that everyone was tired of poker, Ichinose was about to suggest another game when Horikita spoke first.

"So are we just letting Class A get what they want?"

Ryuen, not even bothering to look up at Horikita, responded.

"You do whatever you want; Class C will be on top."

Ryuen's cockiness did make sense in this scenario. He was already 2 VIPs away from discovering the pattern, and when that happened, he could gain 450 class points or 50 points per group besides the 3 groups where Class C was a VIP.

Looking at Katsuragi's strategy, I knew it was impossible for him to know of the pattern as he was way too passive, and I doubted that Class D could figure it out unless their mastermind made a move. Seeing that Ayanokoji went to such lengths to hide his identity, and now Ryuen was looking for him, I doubted he would make any moves during this exam.

And Class B was Class B....

With Ryuen's cocky comment, the first meeting was officially over as an hour passed. Not wanting to catch up with Ichinose, I was the first to exit.

However, my efforts were futile as Ichinose's persistent personality forced her to catch up with me. Instead of trying to start a conversation with me, Ichinose just cheerfully said.

"Ah Hikigaya, Hoshanomiya-sense told me to tell you that she is waiting for you at the bar on the top floor of the ship."

What does she need from me? The last time I had seen her was over 5 days ago when I dropped out of the exam. I actually hadn't seen any teacher on the ship yet apart from the Class D teacher who explained the exam rules.

Also, the bar? Why am I not surprised that she's drinking while on vacation? Also, is it ok for her to invite me to the bar when I'm clearly underage?

Knowing I had no reason to refuse my teacher's offer, I nodded at Ichinose and headed towards the highest deck. There were seven decks, three underground and four above, so it wasn't unusual for me to have not visited the upper deck yet.

After asking some attendants for directions, I finally arrived at the staircase leading up to the upper floor. 

Upon reaching the top of the stairs, I saw a small bar similar to the place where I had drunk coffee earlier. Hoshanomiya was drinking something on one of the barstools.

She was too entranced by her drink to notice me, so I awkwardly approached the bar.

The place was surprisingly empty except for the bartender and Hoshanomiya. So, where do the other teachers go during the day?

Hearing my loud footsteps, my teacher gave me a smile before patting the barstool seat next to hers. 

Ignoring my teacher outright would definitely anger her and cause me problems in the future, so I agreed to meet her here. However, wasn't she being too comfortable with me? Drinking alcohol next to me and inviting me to a bar. 

Where did she draw the line?

At this point, resistance would be futile, so I sat down on the barstool and looked ahead. The bartender seemed to be surprised at me sitting next to the teacher, but he didn't dare intrude by asking any questions.

While tapping the glass with her long red fingernails, Hoshanomiya turned away from the bar and faced me.

"So, what did you think of the previous special exam?"

Why was she asking someone like me about this rather than the class leader, Ichinose? Also, she knew I dropped out way before the exam ended, which obviously meant I wouldn't say I liked it.

When I remembered her nice attitude adjustment toward me right after I pulled that stunt with Class D, I realized what this was all about.

Was she feeling that Class D would overtake them? But why was she worried about Class D and not Class C?

Someone could come up the stairs and mistake Hoshanomiya and me for something else, so I decided to get straight to the point.

"Ah, is this about Class D?"

"And if it is?"

Answering my question with another question. Wouldn't this go on infinitely?

"What about them? Aren't Classes A and C much bigger threats to us than them? They're still at only 300 class points."

Hoshanomiya took another sip of her drink and seemed to ponder for a bit before responding.

"It just seems like there is a suspicious person in Class D we might need to keep our eyes on."

Unlike the students of Class D, the teachers had brains, so Hoshanomiya probably doubted Class D's first-place finish on the special exam. Still, it was surprising for Hoshanomiya to worry so much about a single exam win. 

Our class was only 200 class points away from reaching Class A, yet it seemed like she was more worried about Class D than the prospect of reaching Class A.

Not wanting to give away the fact that I had information about this Class D mastermind, I emotionlessly responded.

"hm, it is quite interesting that Class D got first place on the last exam."

However, it seemed like my words did not fool Hoshanomiya, and she took another sip of her drink and responded in a playful tone.

"student, you're still acting all coy after I let you drop out of the special exam for no reason."

How did she know I knew something about Class D's mastermind? Did the teachers have access to the audio recordings of our group's discussions? 

That would be the only way unless maybe Ichinose told her while we were inside the room still, but that theory did not seem possible. What type of teacher would ask their student to spy on their other student?

Ah, we're talking about Hoshanomiya here. Nothing is impossible with her!

Being on my teacher's good side seemed to come with some perks. She let me drop out of the special exam without even testing me, and she even seemed to trust me enough to share her suspicion of Class D.

"On the last day of the exam, I saw a student from Class D exchange leaders with the use of the last rule. Due to this change, classes A and C probably lost 50 class points."

Hoshanomiya's expression visibly brightened as she seemed to think now I trusted her, so she asked again.

"Was it Ayanokoji?"

I had no idea whatsoever how she got his name, but I guess the teacher's information network could be doubted.

I nodded my head at her words, so she went back to drinking.

"So, what do you think about this exam, Hikigaya?"

I responded honestly because there was no reason to hide anything anymore.

"Class C will most likely win."

Rather than seeming distressed or shocked at my proclamation that another class would take the special exam, she continued drinking without changing her expression.

Did she actually care about the class at all?

"Why do you think so?"

"Ryuen already has the identities of all the VIPs in his class; it's only a matter of time before he finds 2 people willing to sell their VIPs. Once he figures out the pattern, it's over."

Further confirming my theory, Hoshanomiya didn't seem surprised at the existence of the pattern, but she continued questioning me.

"What about you? Couldn't you lead Class B to victory if you also know the pattern?"

There was no way in hell I would do anything like that, so I refused.

"I have almost no connections within the school, so even with Class B, I doubted I'd be able to figure out the pattern."

That much was true. Ryuen's status as leader of Class C meant he probably had a wide network of connections that he could use to buy the identities of the VIPs. On the other hand, I didn't even think 3/4 of the people at the school knew my name.

However, I did have Kushida, and she had already given me the name of one VIP. But it was sad to think that my success on this exam solely relied on that two-faced freak.

Hoshanomiya didn't question me or try to persuade me to help Class B further, so she seemed satisfied with my answer. Either that, or she didn't care at all about Class B's exam placement.

Seeing Hoshanomiya drink more and more, I was about to ask if she was done with me. Seeing her attitude when she was normal, I couldn't even dare imagine how she would be when she was drunk.

"Teacher is i-"

As soon as I started speaking, Hoshanomiya turned to face me before lunging towards my barstool. She threw her arms around me and playfully said.

"y-you k-know y-you're my f-favorite s-student."

Even some cold-hearted loner like me couldn't help but be overwhelmed by our physical contact. She was leaning her entire body against me to the point where if I made any movement, she would fall out of her chair and onto the floor.

Is she drunk?

This deck is public; any student can come up here anytime. What would a student think if they saw a teacher hugging and smothering another student? Surely, the school would have to step in then.

"Teacher, are you drunk?"

I attempted to put her back in her chair to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, but it seemed like her hands were permanently attached to my shirt.

The bartender, who had been quietly observing our conversation, now looked visibly shocked at the scene before him. 

I tried to face him, but he stood in utter shock, watching us. I wanted to scream HELP ME! DO SOMETHING!, but I knew this would draw the attention of other students.

Hoshanomiya began muttering some nonsense, and since the distance between us was very low, I could smell the scent of alcohol all over the clothes.

How could a teacher get drunk in the middle of the afternoon?

Snapping me out of my thoughts, I heard a frantic and strict voice coming from the stairs.

"HOSHANOMIYA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

The source of this void was the Class D teacher, Chabashira. She rushed towards us frantically and quickly dragged her off me. 

In return, Hoshanomiya embraced Chabashira and continued muttering some nonsense about her ex-boyfriend.

Seeing the situation was no longer my problem; I left the helpless Classroom D teacher to deal with her colleague.

There was going to be another group meeting in the evening, so I walked back down the stairs and headed toward the buffet. While heading down the stares, I could hear two voices arguing.

"HOSHANOMIYA, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING WITH THAT STUDENT?"

"oh, calm down, Sae-chan, have some fun."

"HE'S A STUDENT!"

"you have to ruin everything, don't you, Sae-chan? You know, if you used your looks, you could get a boyfriend in a matter of seconds."

"I DON'T WANT A STUDENT BOYFRIEND."