Chapter 40

Ryūen's POV

The door to my classroom swung open and my three obedient, beaten servants walked timidly through it. The eyes of all the Class C students that I'd kept behind turned toward them. I already felt some anger building up in my core. Judging from their body language, the result was not satisfactory.

"How did your trial go?" I asked, dictating.

"Uh, well, you see..." Komiya began, but trailed off.

"What?" I let a bit of anger seep into my tone, causing the three to recoil slightly.

"We... We withdrew the complaint." Ishizaki said defeatedly.

It could've been worse, but I felt annoyed regardless.

"And why the hell did you do that?"

"T-they threatened us with camera footage!" Ishizaki flinched.

"Camera footage?" I murmured.

How could they possibly have camera footage? I'd personally ensured that there were no surveillance cameras in the special annex during the first month. They couldn't have installed any since then, right?

"They said they'd deduced that we'd bring them out to the special annex, so they set up a personal camera there in advance."

They saw through my plan? Or did they just buy a camera as a prop to bluff with during the trial? If that class was as incredible as the school made it out to be, then they probably could've seen through my plan. But whether or not that class is actually anything special is something I've yet to confirm.

"I see. And, were they bluffing?" I asked.

If I recalled correctly, Yagami Light and Rue Ryuzaki were the two students who were representing Class D for the trial. Finding out whether they were bluffing or not would tell me a lot about their personalities and methodologies.

"We... don't know. They refused to tell us." Komiya looked down in shame.

I hit the teacher's podium that I'd been standing at in irritation. Hiding as much about yourselves as you can, are we? It's okay, though. Your refusal to tell me whether you actually had the footage or not tells me something else, anyway.

"Hmm... If you'd stuck with your complaint and it turned out that they actually did have camera footage, we would've probably been penalized severely. On the other hand, if they didn't, then we just missed out on vital information for no reason." I thought aloud, my subordinates looking at me with interest and some hope.

"Don't worry. I won't punish you for your decision. It'd be best if you don't take uninformed risks, anyway. Go and sit back down for now, I have something else that I'd like to discuss. You've kept us all waiting for quite some time."

Once my three lovely helpers sat down, I moved on to the main topic of the day. While it was annoying that my experiment had failed, there was no use crying over spilt milk. Moreover, there was a much more interesting mystery that I'd like to unearth.

"Class E employed a strategy of getting all zeroes in the midterms last month," I began, scanning my eyes over the room. "This is a strategy that only someone who really thinks outside of the box would be able to come up with. That someone might even think like I do."

It was a truly crazy strategy, one that would only be thought-up by either a genius or a madman. Either way, this person would be very entertaining to crush.

"For Class E to even consider this strategy, it must've been proposed by someone very trusted. There are only two candidates: Hirata Yōsuke or Kushida Kikyō. However, neither of these two could've been the one to come up with the strategy, which means that they were used by the mastermind of the idea to increase the odds of everyone accepting their plan. From now on, I'll be referring to this mastermind as 'X'."

For X's plan to work, absolutely everyone would've had to have been on-board and trust the person proposing the plan. Hirata and Kikyō are the only two who would be able to bring their class together like that. If I had to guess, though, Kikyō was more likely to have been used as the voice of X simply because the boys of Class E liked her more than they did Hirata.

"This tells us that X themselves wouldn't have been trusted by the majority of Class E. There are two possibilities, then. Either X is an unpopular person from Class E, or X is someone who isn't even in Class E. If the latter is true, then the most likely class that X is actually from is probably the very same class we just had our little incident with."

I simply didn't see anyone from Class A or B being X. Class B was far too lovey-dovey for this kind of thing, and Class A was far too engrossed in their own internal conflict to be making moves behind-the-scenes already. Class D, on the other hand, seemed to have everything together and were cruising along.

"Based off of their level-of-trust by Class E and their required intelligence to think up this plan, I've narrowed the identity of X down to seven people. Of course, X could very well not be one of these seven, but I'm around ninety percent sure that they are."

I wrote seven names on the blackboard behind me. Kōenji Rokusuke, Horikita Suzune, Lamperouge Lelouch, Ayanokōji Kiyotaka, Yagami Light, Rue Ryuzaki and Sora.

"Within Class E, only these two have the required intellect to possibly spot the loophole in the exam rules," I said, tapping my knuckle against Kōenji and Suzune's names. "This is just judging by their pop-quiz scores and my impressions of them, though. I don't know enough about Kōenji or Suzune to deduce whether their mindset is right for this kind of plan or not yet."

Kōenji certainly appeared to possess the ability to be X, although his flippant attitude I'd witnessed on May 1 told me that he'd be unlikely to make a move like this behind-the-scenes for the sake of his classmates. In Suzune's case, she'd appeared smart enough, but I wasn't sure whether she was the scheming type or the too-serious type yet. Guess I'd have to wait and see.

"In Class D, I've ruled out Kururugi Suzaku because apparently his main strength is in his physical ability. He probably isn't the brains of Class D. I've also ruled out Shiro, because I've heard that out of the siblings in that class, Sora is the schemer." I explained to my silent classmates.

I briefly wondered about how much of what I'm saying was actually going in, but dropped the thought. As long as they understood my approximate intentions, it was good enough.

"We're going to have to try and get to know these seven more, to see which of them fits most with X's personality. We don't know much, but what we do know is that X is bold. Also, it means he's trying to show off by flaunting his control over Class E. There are definitely other ways Class E could've passed this test, but X specifically chose this method, which could be picked apart by someone such as myself."

The main question on my mind wasn't actually related to X themselves, but more to which one out of Hirata and Kikyō had been used to propose the plan. Were they forced/manipulated, or did they willingly cooperate with X? Knowing this could be the key to unlocking the mystery.

If they were forced, then that meant that X has complete control over Class E. On the other hand, if they willingly cooperated, then that means that X not only has underground connections with a Class E leader but also had an incentive to help another class during the midterms.

X was definitely someone who can entertain me, but at this stage there are far too many unanswered questions for me to hunt for them. Besides, I shouldn't rush the process. The chase is half the fun, after all.

"Well, you're all free to go now. My experiment was a failure, but I learned something intriguing from it, nevertheless. And now that you all know my intentions of discovering X going forward, you should be able to avoid being a hindrance, right?"

After I said that, my classmates cautiously rose from their seats and began making their way towards the door. Just before they left, there was one more thing I had to say to them.

"Oh and, while I doubt any of you will do this, I'd better make it absolutely clear. None of what I said just now is to leave this room. If it does, there will be punishments. If X catches wind of the fact that I'm onto them, it'll make them much more difficult to find."

Left with that threat, my classmates departed from the room, leaving me alone. An excitement began to bubble within me, but I swiftly quelled it. I couldn't let it get to me yet.

I'll drag you out of hiding eventually, X. Just you wait.

This school could turn out to be very entertaining after all. I couldn't wait.

22:37:45. A phone call between two unknown people.

I'm sorry for not reporting sooner. It's taken me a while to gather anything meaningful to report.

It's okay. What did you want to discuss?

The idea of enrolling at this school came to me on a whim, and I wasn't sure that it'd lead anywhere. But now, I'm ninety-nine percent sure that it was the right choice.

Did you find something out?

Nothing concrete. However, I am certain that the one we're looking for is a student at this school.

So, you think your prediction was accurate?

Yes. It was the best guess at the time, but after spending two months here, I'm almost positive it was right.

You're going to stay there, then?

As long as I need to. I've always been devoted to the cause, and this case will be no exception. I will uncover our target, even if it takes me three years of solitude.

Have you made good progress?

I'm more than ninety-percent sure that it's one of the five people that I've narrowed it down to.

That's incredible. At this rate, it won't be long until your mission is a success.

The key phrase is 'at this rate.' Narrowing it down to a select bunch was the easy part. Confirming the target's identity beyond a shadow of a doubt will be a long and arduous task. But it's one that I'm prepared to endure.

I expect you'll bring back great results, as always.

Right. Thank you. I've given you a briefing of my progress so I'm ending the call now.

Good night.