Chapter 98

Chapter 98

In response to the question of affirmation to his classmates, a blue-haired girl named Hasebe spoke.

"Well, I don't see a particular problem with it."

Another Class E student named Onodera chimed in with her opinion, too. "It's better than sitting here doing nothing every day, anyway."

Class E had rejected the notion of non-discussion proposed by Class A, and sided with Class B, who advocated for cooperation between all the classes.

"What about Class C?"

"Well," Ishizaki, a loyal servant of Ryūen, spoke for his classmates. "We're all in the dark about what Ryūen-san is planning, so I don't know what to do. Do you know anything, Shiina?"

Shiina Hiyori was a girl I'd encountered during the last special exam. She volunteered to be a spy for Ryūen, and had successfully infiltrated Class D's camp. There, I'd become vaguely acquainted with her, though I hadn't had a chance to speak to her since yet.

"Since Ryūen-kun hasn't given us any instructions, I think we should just go with the direction of the group while refraining from doing anything drastic."

She gave a well-reasoned answer in response. It was said that Shiina Hiyori was one of the most intelligent and reasonable students in Class C, and this was definitely backed up by her words just now.

It wouldn't do if the Class C students in the Snake group did something drastic such as carelessly giving up the identity of their VIP. At the same time, though, it could also be problematic for Ryūen if Ishizaki and the others refused all cooperation and caused friction to arise.

As such, it's wisest for them to take a neutral approach right now. Shiina seemed to have realised this too, and would likely be taking the role of Class C representative within the Snake group.

"And, what about Class D?" Amikura said, bringing the focus of the room to me.

I was not used to this kind of situation, wherein I had the tentative gazes of everyone in the room all over me.

I squashed such pointless nerves and addressed the group in my usual, unwavering manner of speech.

"Whether I'll cooperate or not is not clear at this time."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

For the first time, Himeno spoke up, interrogating me rather aggressively. Her way of speaking was completely different to that of Amikura and Ichinose.

I answered her without losing any of my composure. "Just what I said. At this time, I cannot guarantee that I'll cooperate, but I can't deny that I might either."

While it was true that Outcome #3 is better than Outcome #1 for Class D, it is also true that Outcome #1 is better than Outcome #2. At least with Outcome #1, I would get some points, whereas I would walk away with nothing in the event of Outcome #2 occurring.

What this meant was that if it became apparent that I would never be able to discover the VIP's identity, it would be wisest for me to cooperate with the group and aim for Outcome #1, rather than being stubborn and allowing Outcome #2 to pass.

As a result, it was still unclear to me which route I would end up taking. I had to bide my time and see if I could discover the VIP's identity on my own and betray the group before making a full decision regarding my cooperation.

"Hmm, so Class D is taking the same stance as Class C? Could it be that Ayanokōji-kun is also yet to receive instructions on what to do?" Shiina asked me with a gentle smile.

For some reason, whenever she smiled, I felt an inexplicable urge to protect her at all costs. Is this the power of being a cute female?

"Yeah, something like that," I replied.

It wasn't strictly true, but by saying this I could massively reduce the amount of wariness and suspicion the other students directed towards me. If it became apparent that I was refraining from choosing to cooperate or not of my own free will, I would definitely be viewed much more harshly than by saying I was merely following orders.

"It seems like further discussion is pointless," Miyake said. "Class A is refusing to cooperate, and Classes C and D are taking a neutral stance as of now. Only Class B and Class E are actively advocating for cooperation, so we might as well give up for now."

As things were now, no progress could be made. We would have to wait a day or two to see.

"Huh? You want to give up already?" Amikura scolded Miyake for his seemingly unambitious attitude.

Miyake, however, shook his head calmly. "That's not what I meant. What I meant was that we should wait for Ayanokōji and Class C to receive instruction from their classes before trying to make progress."

Until Ryūen discloses his strategy for this exam to his students, they can't really act. Once he instructs Shiina and the others on what to do, though, it will allow the whole group to move forward.

As for me... by the time that happens, I will most likely have decided whether I will have more success aiming to discover the VIP or cooperating, so there should be no problems.

Following suit of the Class A students who had all taken out their mobile phones, who were presumably chatting to their friends about idle things via text, Amikura and the other Class B girls also took out their phones.

"Another hour of non-interaction, huh..." Amikura muttered as she tapped her phone screen.

Like that, with everyone keeping to themselves and doing their own thing with their phones and whatnot, the hour passed. In the end, no discussion was had, just like the first meeting earlier today.

I quickly left the room, seeing no reason to stick around, and headed aimlessly back to the guest room I shared.

It was important to get back there quickly, because Shiro was holed up in the room all alone.

Unlike the initial explanation meeting, the group discussions were all held at the same time. That meant that all of Class D excluding Shiro were with their groups simultaneously.

In other words, there was nobody to stay with Shiro.

I genuinely felt bad for her situation, and found myself walking at a faster pace than usual to get back to her.

Coincidentally, though, on the way, I ran into a boy who was doing the exact same thing as me. I called out to his back as we walked in the same direction, him a little in front.

"Hey. Sora."

He stopped and swivelled around, turning to look at me.

"Ah, Ayanokōji. You coming back to the room too?"

"Yeah. Want to walk together?

"Sure."

We walked silently shoulder-to-shoulder, which I found quite odd. I took a glance at Sora's face, and noticed something equally odd. His expression was rather complicated, as if he was deep in thought about something disconcerting.

"Something the matter?" I asked him, my curiosity piqued.

"Uhm, well... the truth is—" Sora looked as if he was about to speak, but the words got caught in his throat and he stopped.

He paused, as if contemplating something in his mind, before shaking his head and continuing.

"–I'm just worried about Shiro. That's all."

"I see. This situation is most definitely unpleasant for her, more than anyone." I replied.

"Yeah. Being apart from the one you've spent so long depending on isn't easy."

"Speaking of, how are things going in your group, Sora?"

Sora seemed slightly shaken for just a split second as I said that, but it quickly disappeared with no traces left behind, as if it had never been there in the first place. It appeared that being apart from Shiro was harder on him than expected.

"Well, it's going neither good nor bad, I guess. Ichinose is trying her best to keep everyone together after Class A bowed out, but we haven't been able to make any progress whatsoever since the start of this exam. This past hour, we did nothing but play cards."

The Rabbit group was in a similar deadlock to the Snake group from the sounds of it. Katsuragi's 'Castle Gate' defensive strategy had affected every group heavily, almost single-handedly preventing any hope of progressive discussion.

"The situation is the same in my group, too," I said. "Did you tell your group that you don't intend to cooperate with them?"

Unlike other classes such as Class A and Class C, who were thoroughly led by just one person during these exams, each member of Class D was left mostly to their own devices when it came to our tactics.

Every Class D student was competent, which meant that there was no need for a leader-figure to instruct us on exactly what to do. Just coming together as a class beforehand and discussing our general game plan was enough – from there, everybody trusted each other to act with our outlined strategy in mind.

Resultantly, I didn't know how Sora was approaching the exam within his group. There were many ways to pursue Outcome #3, after all, and I had no way to know which one Sora had chosen.

Of course, there was a chance that he hadn't taken any action at all due to his dulled ability.

"The opposite, actually," Sora answered. "I told them that I will cooperate."

I found myself surprised by his words. His declaration of cooperation must've raised a few eyebrows within the Rabbit group.

Ichinose, at least, was intelligent enough to realise that pursuing Outcome #1 was foolish from a Class D perspective. She surely must've been suspicious.

Or maybe she wasn't. Ichinose was the type to simply trust the word of others, after all.

"I thought that it would be best to lay low for now, and then betray them when they least expect it," Sora elaborated. "It is a perfect plan! If I can win their trust, then they'll never see it coming! And also—"

He seemed like he was about to continue, but abruptly cut himself off and went silent.

"No, that's not it," he said eventually.

A self-deprecating laugh escaped from Sora's lips, and he wore an expression that looked as if he was lamenting his own incompetence.

"This is just self-deception, isn't it? The truth is, I was simply too scared to go against the crowd without Shiro there. There's no great strategy or plan behind it at all. It's nothing more than mere cowardice." Sora spat.

In laymen's terms, Sora was referring to peer pressure. It was incredibly difficult to speak out and actively go against a group, even more so when you're completely alone within it.