Chapter 2: Analysis

I stopped abruptly in the middle of the hallway to stretch my arms. I had been working all day trying to figure out who the "Spy" was for every group.

There were four groups with seven students; five groups with eight students, including mine; three groups with nine students and two groups with ten students.

From the information I received from both Akito and Kaori, the majority of the groups are asking their friends for help, either asking if they know who the "spy" in their group is or asking them to find out who the "spy" in their group is.

I only know the names of six of the fourteen groups, excluding the group I am in, which is only half of the groups. The seven groups I know of are, Group Archimedes, Group Aristotle, Group Aurelius, Group Confucius, Group Descartes, Group Goethe and Group Schopenhauer.

Ishigami was from the Aurelius group and the group Shimoda and Yamada are in is the Aristotle group.

"Tsukamoto-san, you look lost in thought. What are you thinking about?" Yatogami asked me as she walked closer and closer to me. She wore a dark blue dress and had her hair down. Her hair was extremely long and reached her knees.

"How's your—" I yawned. "—analysis going."

"I've figured out half of them already. How about you?" Yatogami asked me with a smirk on her face.

"I've figured them all out—"

"Sorry guys going through." Akito pushed through us. Yanagizawa slowly followed behind Akito and also apologised as they went past us in the hallway.

"Those guys have gone pretty close you know." Yatogami said. "Do you feel left out?"

"The other girls have been going out and you don't look feel left out."

"We're the same like that I guess." Yatogami sighed. "You know—"

"No. Don't do that Yatogami." Yatogami stood in front of me stunned at my sudden response to a question she didn't even finish.

"You should drop that act, Tsukamoto-san." Yatogami said with a smirk on her face. "I know who you are now."

"Is that so, Yatogami? Then let's create an alliance for this exam." I suggested. Yatogami was surprised at my suggestion.

"You know how I am and yet you want to create an alliance with me?"

"You have more to give than anyone else in this house. Make up your decision and send me your answer in any code you want. If I can decipher your code then I'm sure you'll have an understanding of my intelligence."

I then left her speechless in the hallway. She must have never experienced an encounter like that.

Four days left now. That's enough time to rest.

* * * * * *

"So what information have we gathered now?" I asked everyone.

We all sat in our seats in the meeting room. Harumi fidgeted with her fingers as if she was anxious. Akito and Kaori looked confident in their findings and glared at each other from across the room as if it was a competition. Yanagizawa and Yatogami observed the room quietly.

"I've found out the spy for one of the groups." Kaori announced. Akito stared at her with anger.

"I've found one as well!" Akito yelled.

"Alright, one at a time." Ryoko giggled as she treated the two like children. "Kaori-chan, you speak first."

"Satomi Fukuzawa in the Epicurus group there is one extremely suspicious student and I am sure that they are the spy." Kaori explained. "I've seen her come from the Descartes group's mansion many times when I was "exploring" yesterday."

"It could be a diversion." Yatogami blurted out. Kaori opened her mouth to defend herself but Yatogami had spoken first and by our rules, another member cannot speak over another member. "They must've seen you snooping around so they could've sent Fukuzawa-san as a diversion to throw us off and then while they did that the real spy might have taken the opportunity and ran to their real group."

"But if that happened then why would the group use Fukuzawa-san as a decoy which will be helping the other group?" Kaori asked calmly.

"Simple. They are working with each other. The rules never said you could work with another group and working with each other will benefit both groups equally however if that is the case then one of the groups is taking the opportunity and lying to the other group."

"Then if that happens then can't the other group do the same to the other group?"

"Yes, that is possible which means they don't trust each other which can result in a fight between the two groups. This was inevitable."

Yatogami clearly already had an idea of the plans of every group and is using it against the groups themselves however she might also be taking advantage of her knowledge and using it to throw our group off while she works with another group.

"Who is the "leader" of the Epicurus group?" Yanagizawa asked.

"It's Yoshihiko Igarashi-san from Class B." Kaori hesitantly answered.

"There's your answer." Yatogami smiled as she spoke. "It's him. He's the spy."

"How do you know?" Ryoko asked. Even Ryoko was getting suspicious of Yatogami. The fact she had such knowledge must've meant she was also a "spy" however I had already deducted that Ryoko was the "spy" meaning she was acting.

Or was she?

Of course, she wasn't. The act that I and Ryoko played was to throw off the real "spy" and it worked.

"It is obvious, the spy is ordering everyone and making an alliance with another group." Yatogami explained.

"In other words, the act is a disguise for the act which is also a disguise for the real thing." Ryoko added as she nodded to her own thoughts.

"So, Tsukamoto-san, what have you deducted?" Yatogami asked me. Everyone's attention was on me and they were all listening attentively.

"Let's see…so we already have an idea of who the Epicurus group spy is however we cannot confirm it now with only a discussion and a few sources of evidence. Nakamura Kiyoshi is also from the Epicurus group and Akito and Nakamura-san are good friends however even though they are good friends it wouldn't mean Nakamura-san would just let him walk into his house like that especially with everything going on. With that in mind we can make a reason to enter the house."

"Nakamura-kun said he was going to buy the new game that was coming out and it's 2-players." Akito said.

It was clear what the plan was now.

"Akito, play some games for now and I am sure that Nakamura-san will also be online so when he does come online then you should start a conversation with him. Knowing him he would start to boast about having the new game first and then after pleasing him that you want to play with him he will have to accept because, fortunately for us, he doesn't have many friends and Akito is basically his closest friend."

"How the hell do you know so much about a person you've never met?" Kaori exclaimed.

"I did my research, Kaori-chan."

"So we just use Nakamura-san?" Yanagizawa said. He didn't like the fact that we were using someone who didn't have many friends and the only person he ever felt any closeness towards in this school was Akito and we were just using him like that.

"Yanagizawa-san," Yatogami spoke. "In this world, everyone uses each other. The connections that they create are only made to benefit themselves. This world is selfish and ruthless. We will be eaten alive if we don't have a cold heart as well."

No one spoke because no one could say anything.

"So, Akito, who was the spy you figured out?" Ryoko asked, breaking the silence.

"Yamada Yoshio from the Aristotle group."

* * * * * *

After the meeting we all went up to bed however I wasn't one of the people who went to bed as I was "important" as Ryoko told me.

"Wait a minute, Ikeda-chan." Harumi was startled by Ryoko. Ryoko had tried to talk to her before but Harumi was too shy and didn't respond to anything she said.

"Yes, Nakamoto-san?" Harumi asked in a soft tone.

"I know you don't like speaking in large groups so how about we have our own discussion, without the others and only me, Tadashi-kun and you? How does that sound?"

As usual, Ryoko observes everyone and tries to grow a relationship with everyone and also tried to help them.

"What benefit would that give you?" Harumi asked. It didn't seem like Harumi liked Ryoko, perhaps it was because she always tried to establish a relationship with everyone and she might've hated Ryoko because of that.

"There's already a lot of smart people in this group so how would anything I say be useful?"

"You're not stupid though, are you, Ikeda-san?" Harumi didn't flinch at Ryoko's question.

"Who's to say I am or am not? You don't have any proof to say I am smart like you or Yatogami-san." Harumi snapped.

"Oh my, I'm flattered." Yatogami said. She was directly behind Harumi and had overheard our conversation. The two glared at each other. Harumi didn't have much emotion on her face to display her thoughts and Yatogami smiled at her.

If there was anyone who could outsmart Yatogami it wouldn't be Ryoko or Shimoda or Yamada. It would be the small, timid Ikeda Harumi. One of the most mysterious students in this academy.