-214- Group discussion

Luxury Cruise Ship, Second Floor

Compared to the time of the examination briefing, the second floor was undoubtedly more lively, filled with shadows of people everywhere.

After all, the examination briefing was conducted in groups, with each group consisting of a dozen students, coming at different times, naturally not making it very lively.

But now it was different.

Now it was almost 1 PM, meaning the first discussion of the first day of the special examination was about to begin.

Moreover, it would be conducted simultaneously.

That meant all the first-year students would inevitably be on this floor.

There were 159 first-year students in total, with only Sakayanagi Arisu from Class A absent.

In such a situation, it was natural for the second floor of the cruise ship to be bustling.

Fortunately, this cruise ship was luxurious and large enough. Even with more than a hundred students flocking to this floor simultaneously, it was lively but not crowded.

Nanaya Hori only came down from the room on the third floor at 12:55 PM and arrived at the examination venue.

Naturally, accompanying him was Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, who was in the same group and shared the same room.

"It's not easy."

After arriving on this floor, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka looked around and spoke as if talking to himself.

"Hirata had to put in a lot of effort to get Kouenji to participate in the exam, but he finally succeeded."

Yes.

Until just now, Hirata Yousuke had been in the room persuading Kouenji Rokusuke, urging him to at least not miss the twice-daily discussion sessions.

Finally, Hirata Yousuke succeeded.

"Letting the people in this school witness the greatness of my existence is indeed necessary."

Kouenji Rokusuke said this cheerfully and finally agreed to participate in the exam.

However, Hori was somewhat indifferent to this outcome.

"Judging by how cheerful Kouenji was, he probably didn't plan to skip the exam from the start."

Kouenji Rokusuke, although egocentric and wanton, wouldn't outright ignore the school's rules.

It's not that Kouenji Rokusuke feared expulsion, but rather that he hadn't found a reason to drop out yet.

If he wanted to drop out, Kouenji Rokusuke wouldn't have chosen to attend this school in the first place.

Therefore, it's safe to say that Kouenji Rokusuke had no intention of voluntarily dropping out.

Since he didn't have that intention, Kouenji Rokusuke would at least comply with the basics.

So, Kouenji Rokusuke probably never intended to break the rules and face punishment. He was just amused by Hirata Yousuke's earnest persuasion and decided to play along.

"Hirata is really pitiful."

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka seemed to have figured this out as well, expressing his sympathy for Hirata Yousuke with a simple statement.

While talking, the two arrived in front of a room.

On the door of this room hung a nameplate that read "Rabbit."

This room was assigned to the Rabbit Group for their discussions.

Hori and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka pushed the door open and entered.

"————"

As soon as Hori and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka stepped into the room, all sounds vanished.

Inside the room, the other twelve group members, except Hori and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, were already present.

Ichinose Honami and her two classmates sat together, smiling slightly when they saw Hori enter.

Yukimura Teruhiko was also already there, looking very serious.

Karuizawa Kei sat alone, playing with her phone out of boredom, only showing some interest when Hori entered.

The three students from Class A sat together, watching Hori with wary eyes.

In contrast, three students from Class C sat together, while one person, seemingly out of place, kept a subtle distance from them.

That person was Ibuki Mio.

At this moment, Ibuki Mio was glaring at Hori with intense hostility.

No wonder.

During the special examination on the uninhabited island, Ibuki Mio, acting as Ryuen Kakeru's spy, managed to obtain D Class's leader information, but it all fell apart because of Hori.

Even though it was Ayanokouji Kiyotaka who set her up and gave her false leader information, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka had already deflected all responsibility, claiming it was all under Hori's instructions.

As a result, Ibuki Mio's hostility towards Hori was naturally high.

But it seemed that only Ibuki Mio had such hostility.

The other three students from Class C, instead of showing hostility, displayed a bit of fear when looking at Hori.

Obviously, compared to the aggressive and thorny Ibuki Mio, these three were intimidated by Hori's notorious reputation.

Generally speaking, this was the normal reaction.

After all, Class C was ruled by Ryuen Kakeru through violence and terror.

In that class, the majority were surely those who feared Ryuen Kakeru.

And Hori had made Ryuen Kakeru suffer a big loss, even bringing him down during the violent incident and on the uninhabited island.

Thinking about this, those who feared Ryuen Kakeru would undoubtedly fear Hori as well.

Only Ibuki Mio would display such obvious hostility towards Hori—truly a bold woman.

Thus, the members of the Rabbit Group were gathered.

Besides Hori and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, the other twelve group members sat in a circle, creating a round table-like scene.

There were only two empty seats left.

Naturally, those were for Hori and Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

The two's seats were with the students from Class D, between Karuizawa Kei and Yukimura Teruhiko.

It seemed that the conflict between these two wasn't over. Even though they were from the same class, they refused to sit together, leaving two vacant seats.

Ayanokouji Kiyotaka silently walked over and sat next to Yukimura Teruhiko.

Not daring to sit with Karuizawa Kei, he remained timid in handling interpersonal relationships as always.

This made Karuizawa Kei uneasy.

"No way...?"

Karuizawa Kei muttered in a barely audible voice.

The remaining empty seat was beside Karuizawa Kei.

Karuizawa Kei had no choice but to sit with Hori, who she didn't know how to deal with.

This seemed to make Karuizawa Kei a bit flustered.

Hori, however, ignored her, acting as if Karuizawa Kei didn't exist, casually sitting in his seat, causing Karuizawa Kei to momentarily stiffen.

The members of the Rabbit Group were now all present.

And, as if on cue, a broadcast voice rang out.

"Now, the second special examination during the summer vacation officially begins."

The broadcast voice reached everyone's ears.

"Commence the first round of group discussions."