Chapter 2: Planning The First Move

"It's so big!" Nakamoto exclaimed as we entered the mansion in which we will live.

Our group had one of the smaller mansions meaning our group only had around eight people, three excluding the people I know.

The mansions were designed specifically for every student meaning, it suited their hobbies and interests and their career path.

In my case, the school gave me multiple chess boards, a gaming setup, dumbbells, a boxing bag, a TV with a premium subscription to multiple platforms, and a whole library of books. It was almost scary how accurate the school was with their observations. The career path that I told the school that I wanted was a theoretical physicist and because I had said that, the school had given me a whole state of the art laboratory.

After we were done exploring the mansion, we realised that we have not seen the other group members and after realising this we all went to the meeting room.

The meeting room had eight chairs, four on each side of the table. There were names on the chairs and so we sat in our designated seats. Harumi, Akito, and Kaori sat on one side while Nakamoto and I sat on the opposite side. Akito read the names of the three remaining seats out.

"Yanagizawa Yosuke…Toriyama Yukima."

"TORIYAMA YUKIMA!!" Kaori and Akito yelled. "She's in our group!"

"The famous idol." I muttered to myself.

That would mean our group will attract too much attention. How much longer do I need to suffer?

"Who's the last person?" Nakamoto asked. Nakamoto and Harumi didn't seem as interested in the famous idol as much as Kaori and Akito.

"Yato…gami…Yumi…"

The faces that showed excitement were now showing fear.

I looked at Nakamoto as her face turned pale. Her eyes almost became lifeless and began to water.

"Even better." I said. Everyone looked at me, listening attentively. "If she was in any other group then our plan wouldn't be as effective however now that she is in our group then our plan will be easier."

Not everyone liked the idea as much as I did, perhaps it was because I didn't know much about Yatogami as everyone else. Compared to them, Yatogami is nothing but a child, a child compared to a beast.

There was a knock at the door. No one moved. I then got up from my seat and went to the door. I pulled open the door and there she was. Standing there like she was innocent.

She looked up at me as the height difference wasn't small. Her eyes reflected off the light yet her pupils didn't dilate.

"Hi, I'm Yatogami Yumi, nice to meet you." She said as she held out her hand.

Am I supposed to shake her hand?

She was attractive and had a perfect figure. She wasn't too tall or too short. Her dark purple hair was tied with a bow in a ponytail and her glimmering blue eyes stared at me.

I shook her hand and led her into the meeting room. Although everyone already knew who she was I introduced her regardless.

"Guys, this is Yatogami Yumi." I announced.

The room was quiet. No one spoke as no one knew how to react.

"Yumi-chan!" Ryoko yelled as she threw herself onto Yatogami. Yatogami hugged her back however the eyes which glared at me were not from the usual joyful Ryoko. This version of her would kill without hesitation.

"Oh…Ryoko-san." Yatogami said as she struggled to breathe from Ryoko's "hug". "It's been some time." She giggled.

They both had their own time before they sat down at the meeting table.

Yatogami sat down next to Kaori which startled her however when Yatogami asked if there was a problem, Kaori stayed silent and said there wasn't.

"Hi, I'm Yatogami Yumi, I'll try not to be a burden to you guys so let's get along!"

Her acting was almost flawless however there were a few mistakes that wouldn't be seen with normal eyes.

I saw Kaori place her hand on the table and almost started tapping on the table however she stopped herself knowing that Yatogami most likely knew Morse code so we had to find another way of communicating.

"Yatogami-san, do you know where the others are?" I asked.

"Sorry but I came on my own." Yatogami replied.

We were all thinking of it.

Her response sounded like someone who had just killed someone and they are now trying to cover up the fact they had just murdered someone—the typical plot of a horror movie.

"I heard Toriyama-san would not come in for another month." Yatogami added.

She didn't lie. I also heard that Toriyama Yukima wouldn't come to school for another month however the whereabouts of Yanagizawa Yosuke are still unknown.

Small tapping could be heard on the window and a gust of wind blew and a howl could be heard. Harumi jumped up however Akito kept her calm as he held her tightly.

Suddenly, a flash of light illuminated the room for only a second then went. A crash of thunder then caused Kaori, Nakamoto, and Yatogami to jump up. Then there were other flags of light followed by another crash of thunder. Another flash of light illuminated the room, revealing a silhouette in the window.

The squealing of Kaori and Ryoko was truly deafening however by the time another crash of thunder came, the silhouette was gone. The lights then went off then back on and what we saw surprised all of us.

Nakamoto was on top of what seemed to be a male student. She had a butterfly knife on the student's throat. Nakamoto then got up from the boy and apologised multiple times.

"I'm so sorry!" Nakamoto apologised. Yatogami then started to burst out laughing. "You did this!"

"I'm sorry! I couldn't help it after I saw an opportunity like this." Yatogami giggled.

Is no one going to speak about the butterfly knife?

"You scared all of us." Kaori snapped.

"I'm sorry you guys, I just thought it'd be funny!" The boy apologised as he bowed.

He then stood up straight and introduced himself. "I'm Yanagizawa Yosuke, I hope we all get along!"

The boy was around Akito's height and had light brown hair and green eyes. He seemed to be another extrovert however he did seem easy to use.

"Yanagizawa? You're part of the Ten Elites then." Ryoko said. She seemed knowledgeable about the different types of families.

The Ten Elites are ten wealthy families who helped during and after the war. They were Japanese families who now own many large companies. The total net worth of all families combined is around ¥150 quintillion.

The Yanagizawa family supplied equipment for the war. They own many farms and factories around the world and have monopolised multiple places.

"Yes, I am." Yanagizawa replied.

"So that's four of the Ten Clans." Kaori added.

Tachibana, Ashikaga, Yamada, Shimoda, Fujiwara, Yatogami, Asano, Minamoto, Asakura, and Yanagizawa—The Ten Elite Families or the Ten Clans.

"We should tell them about the contract." Akito suggested.

Yanagizawa sat down in the seat opposite Yatogami meaning there was a single seat between Yanagizawa and me. Nakamoto and Harumi were opposite each other; Akito and I were opposite each other, Kaori was opposite the empty seat, and Yatogami and Yanagizawa were opposite each other.

"We have made an alliance with the Aristotle Group—"

"Shouldn't we have code names for each group?" Yatogami suggested.

It was a good idea however there could be a traitor amongst the group so I should think of something for that.

"Yeah, we should but there is a slight problem." Kaori explained. "We don't know all the group's names or how many groups there are."

It was simple, count how many students there are in a single year then divide them by seven and ten and you'll have your answer. In Class A there were 28 students; Class B had 29 students; Class C also had 28 students and Class D had 30 students so in total there are 115 students in the first year. So there are 15-17 groups.

"There should be over 15 groups." Nakamoto said. "We only know one excluding our own which is the Aristotle Group."

"Asagiri-san, you're pretty popular aren't you?" Yatogami asked which startled Kaori.

"Y-Yeah."

"Then you have a lot of connections so if we could use that then we could find out a lot of information on other groups." Yatogami suggested.

Akito, Kaori, and Nakamoto are definitely the most sociable people in this group meaning they already have some friends. If we could find out information from any of the friends about their group then we could gather a lot of information and I'm sure Kaori is the most likely out of anyone in this group to be asked out by a guy in the next couple of days so we could also use that to our advantage.

"Well even if she did, we can't just use people like that." I said.

"That is true however, if we do use those "friends" then we could beat everyone and get the emerald prize which would put us ahead of everyone. I'm sure all of us want that."

No wonder they said she was dangerous however she still has room for improvement.

"Well let's think about that tomorrow." Nakamoto said and we all headed up to our rooms.

* * * * * *

"You're plotting an attack on me aren't you?" A voice came from behind me. I looked back and saw her.

"They didn't lie when they said you're dangerous." A small smirk crept on her face.

How interesting.