Chapter 90

Chapter 90

Horikita's POV

I arrived at the designated meeting place that Kushida-san had called me out to, which was located oddly far from the main areas of the ship, right at the far back of the ship's deck.

I couldn't help but wonder what this was about. Kushida-san had pleaded with me when she'd asked me to come here before we parted from one another earlier, saying that it was very important.

It was currently 10:30am, which meant that there were still numerous hours remaining before the first proper group discussion period was scheduled for the Dragon group – and all other groups, for that matter.

What could be so important that required a rendezvous in a secluded area of the ship like this? Especially since we'd already seen one another already today.

"Ah, Horikita. Hello."

Snapping me back to reality was a soothing voice that rang out from in front of me.

The voice belonged to Yagami-kun, a Class D student that was extremely popular within the first-year social circles. Immediate wariness and confusion crept into my mind.

"Yagami-kun? What the hell are you doing here?"

I interrogated him coldly with narrowed eyes. After the island exam especially, I had to be on guard at all times around Class D students.

"Well, in truth, it was me that called you out here," he admitted with an attractive, gentle smile that would surely captivate any girl.

Any girl but me, of course.

"Is that so? Well I have no interest in talking to you. Goodbye."

I spun on my heel and began walking away, intending to leave.

If there's one thing that's clear, it's that Class D cannot be trusted. The island exam demonstrated clearly the extent of their scheming ability.

However, unfortunately for you, Yagami-kun, I've already read this far ahead, and predicting something like this happening.

Simple math could lead anybody to realise that, from the perspective of Class D who only had one student per class, they would receive 500,000 private points in all outcomes.

For Class E, Outcome #1 was greatly beneficial because just achieving it in one group alone would give our class 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 private points. If we could achieve it in multiple, it would be a huge net gain.

However, Class D didn't have this luxury; Outcome #1 states that every student in the group gets 500,000 private points – for Class E, that means 3 or 4 students from our class get 500,000, but for Class D, only 1 student gets that amount.

In other words, trying to go for Outcome #1 makes no sense for this boy, Yagami Light. It is inevitable that Class D will aim for Outcome #3 in all groups, which also means that they gain 50 class points on top of the previously established 500,000.

And, with only one student per group, they are in such a disadvantageous position that it's unreasonable for them to expect to pull this off alone. On the island, they could work as one unit to make up for the difference.

But this exam is different. The groups are completely isolated from one another. In other words, Class D will seek negotiation with the other classes – it's their only logical move.

And what is the best way to beat an opponent? Restrict their movements and suffocate their options. And, to do just that, I will absolutely refuse to strike any form of deal with Class D.

With those thoughts resolved in my mind, I walked away.

Until...

"Wait!"

Yagami-kun called out to me, but I didn't stop. I will not allow his cheap enticements to cause my will to waver—

"Class D is willing to give Class E 50 class points for free."

I stopped.

What? Did I hear that right?

"Come again?"

The sound of footsteps padded against the ship's wooden deck as Yagami-kun approached my turned back.

"I said I'll give you class points."

I turned around to face the hazel-eyed boy, and scrutinised him suspiciously.

"What are you talking about? Why would you do that?"

"Because what I'll be getting in return will be much more valuable than 50 class points." Yagami-kun said with another smile.

"I thought it was free?"

"It is. I have two conditions, and neither of them will cost Class E nor you anything. I can promise you that."

He said that he had two conditions, but then claimed that neither of them would cost me anything? This all felt a bit too suspicious.

"The two conditions. What are they?" I got straight down to business and demanded he tell me.

In the back of my mind, I realised that I'd already allowed myself to fall into a trap, since I was now negotiating with Class D, but I pushed the breaching of my principles out of my thoughts and focused on the matter at hand.

"We will give you the class points by purposely guessing the VIP incorrectly in a group which has a Class E VIP, thereby achieving Outcome #4 wherein Class E gains 50 class points and 500,000 private points."

The method made enough sense on its own, but I still couldn't fathom why they'd even make this offer in the first place. It must be something to do with Yagami-kun's two conditions.

"That's fair enough. What are the conditions? What do you want in exchange?"

"That's simple enough. First of all, after the fact, I want you to tell me who the VIP of the group was. And secondly, well..."

Yagami-kun looked away out of apparent embarrassment for a second.

"Well, I'd also like to request your contact information, Horikita."

My composure cracked.

What?

What the hell is this idiot talking about?

A sudden thought popped into my mind.

Surely, there's no way that this boy went behind the backs of his classmates to ask this of me, right?

Did he just offer to intentionally guess his group wrong in return for my contact information?

Who in their right mind would ever make such a proposal?

"Of course, for this to work, I need to know if you actually have a VIP in the right group," he said.

I thought for a brief moment, erratically trying to get my thoughts in order.

"Right. If we don't have the VIP, the class points will not go to us..." I muttered.

"Do you know the VIPs of your class, and who is in which group?" Yagami-kun inquired.

Was it safe to reveal this to him? I pondered whether this was his true motive, not the contact information, but ultimately, I couldn't think of anything he could reasonably do just by knowing the depth of my knowledge about my class' circumstances, so I decided to be truthful.

"I know which students are VIPs, and which groups they are in. Other than that, the only group which I know the students of is my own, the Dragon group." I answered curtly.

"Does one of them happen to be in the Rooster group, perchance?"

That's quite the coincidence. As it stood, Class E did actually have a VIP assigned to the Rooster group. Did he somehow know that already? Or was it really just a coincidence?

"Y-yes. Class E does in fact have the VIP of the Rooster group." I told him.

"Great! Then this will go rather smoothly, won't it?"

"So, I assume you're the Class D student assigned to the Rooster group?"

"That's right."

Yagami-kun nodded and pulled out his phone from his pocket. He switched it on and opened up his mail, before turning the screen around so I could see it.

It was the mail we'd been sent earlier today. Yagami-kun's clearly read that he was not the VIP, and the mail also mentioned the Rooster group, as mine did the Dragon group.

Is it safe for him to reveal the fact that he himself is not the VIP? For all he knew, I could've been lying about Class E having the VIP in the Rooster group.

No, but that wouldn't make much sense. If that was the case, that means Class E and D would not be adversarial to one another within that specific group – revealing this much shouldn't be a big negative for him.

He must've concluded that it was worth the risk to make this silly negotiation.

"So, shall we get things done smoothly here and now?"

"Wait, you can do it right now?" I asked in confusion.

"Of course. We've already been supplied with the mail by which we submit guesses for this exam, right?"

I suppose that was true. I didn't consider it because it wouldn't have made sense should I not have been put in this situation, but it was actually possible to submit a guess before the first meeting even happened.

It seemed that Yagami-kun was eager to get this over and done with. To be fair, he probably didn't want to be seen making an underground negotiation with a girl from another class for her contact info.

"Well, go ahead then. Actually, do you mind if I watch? You know, just in case."

"Be my guest,"

Yagami-kun tapped the screen of the phone, and opened it to the compose a mail function.

"Say, Yagami-kun, my contact information isn't your true motive, is it? You only added it in to distract me from your other condition, the identity of the VIP."

Yagami-kun stiffed up slightly as I said that, which confirmed my suspicions. It seemed that even Class D students could be betrayed by their body language.

"Ah, you got me," Yagami-kun said with a dejected sigh as he typed a mail address into his phone.

The mail address was the same as the one I'd been told for the Dragon group's guesses, except that the word 'Dragon' was replaced with 'Rooster' in this one.

"To tell you the truth, Class D is currently hunting for as many VIP identities as we can – not to guess them, but because we think we might be able to spot a common link between them."

"You're saying that every VIP could have something in common, and that's how they were selected?"

If that's true, it means Class D could potentially deduce the identity of every VIP in the exam by figuring out the pattern behind their selection. It was yet another strategy that I hadn't even thought of.

Yagami-kun made sure I could see the screen as he finished typing in the mail address and name of a random student who was presumably in the Rooster group.

If the student you betrayed and answered early was either not in the group or was in your class, the answer would be ruled invalid and not be accepted.

The school would likely communicate that the exam has been ended by a traitor via mail, like they had with everything else so far, which would confirm that Yagami-kun had indeed made a false guess in the Rooster group and given Class E 50 class points.

"It looks good. Send it." I said, prompting him to press the send button.

"Now. How about the other two conditions?"

Yagami-kun minimized the email app and opened up the contacts screen. His implication was clear.

"What? Even though you just admitted that you aren't really after my contact information, you're still going to ask for it?"

"Of course. Having the contact information of a beautiful girl like you can never be a bad thing." Yagami-kun said with a captivating smile.

If he was expecting something idiotic like for me to blush and swoon, it wasn't happening. Over my dead body.

"Ugh, fine. Here. Take it."

I pulled out my own phone, and reluctantly opened up the screen for my own contact and gave it to him, so that Yagami-kun could add it to his contact list.

When he was done, he handed me my phone back with a "Thanks."

Shortly after that was done, Yagami-kun's phone buzzed. Yagami-kun tilted his head curiously, and tapped the screen on his phone, opening up the notification.

"It's a mail," he said, pointing the phone towards me.

Sure enough, on the screen, there was a mail from the school. It read the following:

Due to a submitted answer from a student, the examination for the Rooster group has ended. Participants of the Rooster group are no longer required to attend their meetings, as the exam is over. Details of the group's result will be mailed to all students by 11:00pm on the final day of the exam.

It seemed that, just as he'd said, Yagami-kun had indeed incorrectly ended the exam for the Rooster group. It appeared that the school would not actually tell the students whether the guess was correct or not, or who gained any class points, until the results at the end of the exam.

"Are you sure that was okay? 50 class points in return for a fraction of a possibly non-existent puzzle hardly seems worth it to me." I asked him.

"Don't worry about it. What's done is done. My class deemed it worth it. Besides, if it's not worth it, isn't that just better for you?"

Well, that was true enough. It made no difference to me whether Yagami-kun's side of the deal was worth it. All that mattered is that Class E just gained 50 class points for free.

"So, as per our agreement, may I know who the VIP was for the Rooster group?" Yagami-kun asked politely.

Seeing no reason to go back on my word and destroy my integrity, I agreed.

"Of course. The VIP was Inogashira Kokoro-san. I don't know how useful that will be for you trying to figure out a selection condition, seeing as you don't even know her, but I've stayed true to my end of the bargain."

"You don't need to concern yourself with what I can do with your information. You have indeed kept your end of the bargain, just as I have kept mine. Our negotiation is completed."

"In that case, I'm leaving. I don't want to waste time making idle chatter with you."

Yagami-kun gave a slightly off-putting grin. "Heh, cold as always."

Ignoring that bit of odd behaviour, I turned around and departed from the scene, content with the beneficial negotiation I'd made.

Even though I'd vowed not to negotiate with Class D, this was a purely positive one for me. Giving him the VIP name after he'd already ended the group couldn't negatively impact Class E in any way.

And, while it was annoying to have to give out my contact information to an obnoxious boy, I suppose it is worth it in the end.