-173- How could you possibly notice

"...!?"

Seeing the key card appearing in Nanaya Hori's hand, Ryuen Kakeru's pupils suddenly contracted.

Immediately, Ryuen Kakeru quickly reached into the dirty pocket of his tracksuit with one hand, but froze in the next second.

Because Ryuen Kakeru's hand touched nothing but air.

In that pocket, there should have been the key card of Class C's leader.

Now, it was gone.

No, not gone, but taken away.

Nanaya Hori was holding the key card with a hint of mockery, and it was the key card of Class C.

"This..."

"How is this possible?"

The surrounding students immediately began to clamor.

Even Ibuki Mio was stunned.

And even bystanders were like that, so one can imagine how chaotic Ryuen Kakeru's heart was as the holder of the key card.

"When...did you...!?"

At this moment, Ryuen Kakeru finally couldn't stop the change in his expression and revealed a trace of emotion.

"When?" Nanaya Hori began to become expressionless.

"Didn't I say from the beginning? Idiot."

Here, "from the beginning" does not refer to the time a week ago when they met on the beach, but the moment when Ryuen Kakeru brought Ibuki Mio in front of Nanaya Hori to announce victory.

"I didn't want to interrupt you so enthusiastically, but I still took away some welcome gifts from you, which should be enough to be the surprise you mentioned."

Nanaya Hori tossed the key card back to Ryuen Kakeru.

Ryuen Kakeru caught the key card, but couldn't say a word.

The rest of the people present were also watching this scene, holding their breath.

The truly terrifying attack is not the invisible one, but the one where the attacker is right in front of you, and you don't know when you were attacked.

The same principle applies.

A truly terrifying assassin can completely dispense with hiding his identity or even his figure. As long as he can accurately hit the target's vital points and take away the target's life, he is undoubtedly the strongest.

Perhaps, to ordinary people, an assassin who can hide his identity and figure, and launch a surprise attack when necessary to kill the target is formidable.

But unfortunately, in the eyes of the heirs of the Nanaya clan, that is the lowest of the low.

Just like Nanaya Hori, who mastered all the mysteries of the human body, with just a gentle touch of his fingertips, he could not only intensify Ishizaki Daichi's pain as he did during the last trial but also take away his life in an instant.

Now, it's the same.

"If I wanted to take something from you, with your ability, how could you possibly notice?" When Nanaya Hori said this, he had neither the sarcasm from earlier nor the usual calmness, only indifference to everything.

That kind of indifference, like being indifferent to the death of a life in front of oneself, was chilling.

But that's the truth.

Once, Nanaya Hori infiltrated the KTV room of the Keyaki Mall without anyone noticing and recorded the evidence of Ryuen Kakeru planning the violent incident last time.

Now, Nanaya Hori could also, with his abilities, unwittingly take away the key card from Ryuen Kakeru's body even while standing in front of him, and likewise, take Ryuen Kakeru's life without him noticing.

In this way, Nanaya Hori confirmed Ryuen Kakeru's identity as the leader.

"No matter what you're planning, I was planning to take away Class C's key card at that time and confirm the identity of Class C's leader."

Nanaya Hori glanced at Ryuen Kakeru and said calmly.

"Even if you really intend to give up the exam, I will still fill in Class C's leader."

That's why Class C is doomed to fail.

From the very beginning, Ryuen Kakeru was destined to fail miserably.

It can be said that once Nanaya Hori unknowingly took the key card from him, Ryuen Kakeru lost all chances of winning.

Everything that followed was just a sideshow.

Of course, Nanaya Hori also planned to use the same method to make contact with Class A and then unknowingly take the key card from someone in Class A to confirm the identity of Class A's leader.

However, before Nanaya Hori could make contact with Class A, their loophole was discovered. Through a simple probe, most of the effort was saved.

However, saving this effort also had its drawbacks.

At least, the probe at the time led to the actions between Katsuragi Kouhei and Nanaya Hori, which led to finding Nanaya Hori yesterday and establishing the agreement not to guess each other's class leaders.

Although Nanaya Hori could have ignored Katsuragi Kouhei and not made this agreement.

After all, as just said.

"Not only was the leader guessed, but you also guessed wrong about the leader of Class D."

Speaking of this, Nanaya Hori's gaze shifted imperceptibly from Ryuen Kakeru, who had been silent, to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

If in this special exam, Nanaya Hori was responsible for investigating the leaders of other classes in Class D in secret, then Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was responsible for concealing the leader of Class D.

Although Nanaya Hori also made efforts, if Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had not deliberately exposed the key card, Class C would not have obtained the photo and confirmed Ayanokouji Kiyotaka as the leader of Class D.

As the one who personally confirmed this, Ibuki Mio spoke up.

"Ayanokouji is clearly the leader!" Ibuki Mio's voice was full of uncertainty, but still asserted, "I've been watching him all along and saw him take out the key card myself. The name on the key card is also his, there's absolutely no mistake!"

"Yeah." Ryuen Kakeru also raised his head, speaking coldly, "Only the name engraved on the key card is the true leader. There's no doubt about it."

Unless the key card is fake, that is, a forged card.

But in the deserted island and forest without anyone, and without any equipment, how could people make a key card with their own hands?

It's not paper, let alone wood, but a hard card that can be used on sensing devices. It's impossible to manufacture on a deserted island with insufficient conditions.

As for purchasing from the school with points, it's even more impossible.

If the school provided conditions for selling and making fake key cards, then the guessing game of leaders in this exam would be a joke.

If everyone used fake key cards to deceive others, who could guess the leader?

In view of this, it's impossible to forge key cards.

The name engraved on it is definitely the leader.

"Either the leader has been replaced." Ryuen Kakeru said so, "But without a legitimate reason, it's impossible to change the leader, the school is not stupid."

For example, letting the leader abdicate and replacing them with someone else would also result in an endless situation.

Once the leader is exposed, they would immediately change, and this exam would not be conducted until all forty people in a class were changed, and no one would guess the leader.

The school also emphasized that there must be legitimate reasons.

Therefore, don't think that lying like Kouenji Rokusuke and those from Class C, saying they don't feel well, would work. The wristbands provided by the school are worn on everyone's hands and can even confirm their pulse. It's easy to confirm everyone's physical condition.

If a student becomes degenerate and wants to return to the ship regardless of losing points, the school will simply ignore them.

But if the leader wants to abdicate and change, unless there is a legitimate reason, the school will never agree.

Not to mention, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is right here, how could he be replaced?

To Ryuen Kakeru's thought, Nanaya Hori just smirked.

The response was this:

"Who told you the leader was replaced?"