This chapter, compared to the others, is much smaller. However, there is still a surprise that I'm sure many will find pleasant. XD

Chapter 9 - Debate - A completely unusual encounter

Pov de Ayanokoji:

May 1st came and went like the wind, before I knew it the school week was over. Lelouch along with Victorique and the others started to pay strict attention to the teachers now, which, hopefully, meant our points wouldn't be hurt any further. I noticed that Lelouch was trying his best not to lose interest in napping during class.

I share your feelings. Probably aside from Suzaku and maybe Jabami, the rest of us should already know the entire school curriculum. So imagine, as if having to pay attention weren't enough, we still had to copy all this shit, even though we already knew about the subject...

This was divine punishment indeed.

Imagine Victorique then... I really think she's going to end up dying at some point from so much boredom that she gets into classes.

I thought about it all as I walked towards today's class. And when I was heading towards school, I meet someone familiar.

"Kiyotaka-kun!"

Ichinose waves at me yelling my name, I can see some people, specifically boys, start looking in our direction. I sigh at that. Why did everything have to be so troublesome?

"Hello Ichinose." I greet.

"Do you mind if we go to class together?"

Actually yes. Learn to look at woman directions. Everyone is looking at us here. I'm sure Lelouch will come up with the harem joke again if he finds out.

"No," however I reply like that. As troublesome as it can be, it will get even worse if I reject her with all those damned looks.

Seriously, learn to take care of your own life. I think to myself as Ichinose and I started walking next to each other, Ichinose was always greeted by almost every student who passed by us, which showed his extremely high popularity. And I'm walking beside you, meaning something troublesome is definitely going to happen soon.

My mind goes back to what happened a few days ago. The conversation I had with that man. The information I got. I still haven't approached Victorique for more information. I had to keep an eye on Ryuzaki. However, I couldn't really know if he's this L guy, but I better be careful what I'm going to do.

"Say Kiyotaka-kun," I suddenly hear Ichinose's voice, snapping me out of my inner monologue.

"Yes?"

"Is that person you? I was really curious about this, so I just wanted to be sure," she says as she shows me her cell phone, with the video of me playing the piano with a censored face.

"Yes, I am the person behind the piano."

"That's amazing! I mean, why censor your face? You could get really popular, couldn't you?" she asks curiously.

"You see, at the time Class E was a secret, and some wanted to keep it that way until May 1st. Something about wanting to see the expressions of other classes. As for censorship, that was a classmate, so as not to leak too much information , and then started asking my class. And I don't really care about this thing about being popular. It doesn't make a difference to me, I guess." I say honestly.

"I understand..."

"Kiyotaka-kun, have you heard?" She says out of nowhere.

"Heard about what?" I question.

"Our vacation. Looks like we're going to have a luxury cruise taking us on some school-owned island."

Huh? Island? Luxury cruise?

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the school were able to afford such a thing. But there is something very very strange here. If what Ichinose says is true then we are going to have a luxury cruise vacation, however, she said it will take us to an island, so here comes the question, why, will our vacation be specifically on an island?

Suddenly my mind remembers Ayame-sensei's words in swimming class.

"If you can't swim, I will teach you, after all, it will be very useful in the future."

Then all the pieces came together. Vacation, cruise... island.

The perfect environment for them to introduce the first 'class wars' special exam.

This is very useful information. I must tell others quickly. I really should be grateful to Ichinose, so if she doesn't suspect anything, I'll give her a hint, if she's not able to see, then it's not my problem.

"I see. Cruise and an island, huh..."

"Do you think it's just going to be a vacation...?" She unexpectedly asks me. Is she suspecting already? Looks like I underestimated her a little.

"There's no way of knowing. However, this school is not normal at all, so too much care is never too little," I reply.

"I see...I think you're right. Thank you Kiyotaka-kun, I think it's time for me to go to my class." She then nods at me as I do the same.

"See you more Ichinose."

Surprisingly, no one approached us while we were walking, except for the little greetings they gave to Ichinose. However, from the looks of the men I got earlier, I can guess that this is somehow going to fall on someone's ears. After all, high schoolers seem to enjoy gossip.

xXx

Everyone was getting ready to leave with the end of class, but I intervene.

"Guys, can I talk to you guys about something? It's very useful new information," I say, and as soon as I speak I see that I've attracted everyone's attention.

"New information, huh?" Lelouch mutters.

"Well what are you waiting for? New information is always welcome." Sora spoke beside Shiro.

"Actually, and I also have one that might come in handy. I'm not sure yet, it's a curious thing." Light comments.

"If that's the case, why don't you go Light first? I think mine will create a lot of debate and repercussions," I say.

"If no one imposes." Light speaks, and when no one said anything, he began to speak.

"Well, in the library, I saw that some groups were studying for the intermediate exams, but there was something very curious. I saw Class E (Old Class D), among these groups, Class B was also. In class E was that one boy, Hotaro Oreki, along with Horikita trying to teach what appeared to be... how can I say, 3 people who seemed to be properly stupid?"

He started and when he gets to the end I can see several raised eyebrows. Well, I can assume that one of these three is definitely Sudo. And then he continues.

"They made some scene, however, the curious thing is the subjects. I asked the subjects they were studying, and luckily that Hotaro boy told me. I don't think Horikita would say... and then I soon realized something. The subjects that they were studying, were different from ours."

This seemed to attract several raised eyebrows. I could see Victorique thinking steadily, followed by Ryuzaki. Miyuki, Jabami and Shiro looked curious about this, while Sora and Lelouch were clearly deducing something.

"The subjects, could they be different for each class?" Lelouch said.

"Yes, I think it's possible." Sora agreed with him.

"Yeah, at first I thought that too, and that's why I went to check on Class B affairs, and they were just like ours. So I was confused by that." Light said.

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would the teacher give a different subject? unless you—" Sora was saying as comprehension dawned on him.

"Unless what?" Kururugi asked.

"Unless the teacher gave the wrong subject on purpose." Victorique and Ryuzaki spoke at the same time.

"But why would she do that?" Miyuki asked clearly confused. I don't blame her, I mean, what would the teacher gain by doing such a thing?

"Maybe she's pissed off or disappointed in the gang that decided to throw them into the deep end for once?" Lelouch deduced. Well that was possible, strange as it seemed, but it does lead to something.

"If that's the case, why bother with it when you could just wait for them to go down alone. I mean, what's going to change?" Jabami said, joining the conversation.

"I have a theory." I said getting everyone's attention.

"And what would it be, Boyfriend-kun?" Lelouch said. I sighed at that. Not even in important moments will he stop calling me that, huh.

"We know that only Grade A graduates have a 100% job acceptance rate. What if the teachers are something similar? I mean, what if the teacher gets some kind of bonus or a reward if your class graduates in Class A?" I say.

I can see some eyes widening in the process. Did I say too much?

"I see... this is possible, after all, this is an elite school as you say, isn't it?" Victorique mutters.

"If that's the case, don't you think she would be trying to get something more out of it?" Ryuzaki says, and then we all turn to face him, urging him to continue.

"Let's assume, we know that her Class, as bad as it is, has some interesting elements, like that Hotaro and Koenji character, so what if Sensei got the subject wrong hoping someone would find out? If they don't find out, then what? if they get screwed, and if they find out, they have the potential to go up. She kills two rabbits in one whack, don't you think?" He finished his deduction.

This was indeed a very good deduction from Ryuzaki. Plus I'm starting to think that I really have to keep an eye on him if he's really L. But the E-Class teacher could actually kill two rabbits with one shot by doing that. And that just supports my earlier theory that teachers gain something if their class graduates from Grade A.

After all, if we take into account that she is actually doing this. Can we assume she's a little...desperate? I think that's the word. Desperate for your class to rise in rank. So, this makes me wonder, what do teachers get?

"If that's true, then she might be able to blackmail some student into believing she has the potential to move her class up in the rankings." Victorique theorizes.

That's true. Depending on what the teachers earn, it must actually be a very good thing, to maybe get the teacher to blackmail him in the process. However, this is all speculation, however, I believe they are right. Even more when it comes from Victorique. She so far hasn't been wrong in any deduction that she's made at all, so believing her words feels right to me right now, and by looking at others, I can tell they feel the same way as I do.

"Well there are a lot of interesting theories indeed, however, we're not sure of anything yet. So we'd better be careful." Sora says.

"I agree then, Ayanokoji, and your information?" Lelouch says speaking to me, forcing everyone to turn their gaze to me.

"Yes, Kiyotaka-san said it was important, right?" Miyuki said.

"Yes, though, before I start, Victorique." I say looking at her getting her attention before continuing. "Do you remember what Ayame-sensei said to you, when you said if you could skip swimming class because you said you didn't know?" I asked her. I can see her thinking and then nodding her head.

"Yes, she said she would teach, and that it would be useful in the future..." She starts and then I can see her eyes widen a little, along with a few others, probably guessing where I'm headed.

"Yeah, I ran into Ichinose on my way to class, and she said our vacation would be on a luxury cruise."

"Luxury cruise...huh? Then there will be games to bet on, right?"

Seriously? Is that your first thought Jabami?

"Sounds fun." Miyuki said. However I can see that Victorique knows not to be as fun as she said.

"Luxury cruise, huh? The school is really generous, don't you think?" Lelouch said.

"Yes indeed. This is all weird though," Sora said while he was thinking, and then I saw his gaze flick back to me. He seems to have understood a little of what I'm getting at, but the most important information is still missing, which I'm sure will make everyone realize quickly, probably aside from Kururugi.

"So the school is going to let us take a luxury cruise vacation? Isn't that good?" Kururugi said.

"That's exactly the problem here," I said getting everyone's attention again. "Ichinose said, it looks like the cruise will take us to an island owned by the school." And when I'm done saying it, I can see several eyes widen, understanding what I mean. Shiro looked a little confused.

"What do you mean by that, Ayanokoji?" Shiro asks in his usual low tone.

Since Shiro and Sora started hanging out with the girls, Shiro started talking a little more in our discussions. Although, this little more is still very low, it was a good evolution. However, when I was going to answer, Sora did it for me.

"He means, my dear sister, that this vacation isn't exactly going to be just a vacation." Sora says. Shiro still looked a little confused, and so I add.

"Shiro, we know that in the future we will have class wars, right?" I say and she nods her head. "So what's the perfect environment for us to have the first 'class wars' special exam?" I speak and then her eyes widen. Kururugi too. Those who hadn't noticed before have noticed now.

"I see, so the island will be the trigger, right?" Miyuki asks which I nod in agreement.

"This is getting interesting, so what do you think they're going to do?" Sora asks.

"I have no idea though, I think it's good to try and get more points." I said. They seemed to stare at me a little before realizing it.

"Yeah, probably, maybe, we have to spend points on something on this exam." Ryuzaki says.

"I agree, but how do we do this?" Victorique asks.

"Well, I think Jabami will manage on his own. However, Shiro, Sora, Lelouch." I get their attention. "If I'm not mistaken, there's a chess club where people place bets on them, and they seem to be a little tall, probably no one in the first year has found out about it yet except for me, which I found out by pure accident. This one is. the best environment for you to get some points, no?" I ask.

"Oh, are you sure of this information, Ayanokoji?" Lelouch asks.

"Yes," I say simply.

"If that's the case, then we're going to have some fun, don't you think?" Sora says with an evil smile looking at Lelouch while smoothing Shiro's hair. Lelouch returned his evil smile.

"Is that you, Ayanokoji? I mean, aren't you good at chess too?" Kururugi asked me.

Well, actually, I'm really good at chess though, I can get points in other ways .

"I'll try other ways. If I can't, I'll try chess. And folks, try to lose at least one game every 8 or 10 wins, or it might ban you." I say to the three.

"Don't be an idiot, Ayanokoji, Blank doesn't lose." Sora spoke.

"Well, you don't really expect to play as Blank, right?" I shoot back. I see him open his mouth just to say nothing and close it.

"...Right..." he said. Looks like I won the argument now.

"However, what do you think we're going to use so we need multiple Ayanokoji-kun points?" Jabami asks me curiously.

"Well, I think if it's an island test, it's likely they'll come up with something for survival, and then take out our gadgets like cell phones and headphones. So I'm assuming that with the right amount of points, we can pay to go. these items." I said.

"Did you really think about it like that? You're insane..." Kururugi mumbles, baffled by my train of thought.

"It's no biggie," I say.

"I wouldn't say that, Boyfriend-kun." Lelouch said sarcastically.

"So let's think about it later, for now, I think it's time we left." Sora called.

"In fact, I'll see you tomorrow," Light said as he left.

And then we all said our goodbyes.

xXx

I make it to my bedroom door, then open it. But the moment I step on it, I notice something extremely strange and go on high alert.

I start walking slowly, until I reach my room where I hear a small breathing sound, and then a female voice reaches my ears.

"Finally, you took too long. I'm starving here."

I reach the spot where my bed is, and quickly blink at the scene. A figure, a woman is lying on it. And then the woman starts shifting, and then she sits on my bed and starts looking right at me. I quickly get flustered here.

What the hell is happening? I really had no idea. And then I start looking at the picture more closely.

A girl with long, light green hair, almost to her waist, and golden eyes. She is of average height. She is wearing quite strange clothes, more precisely, she looks like a white straitjacket that resembles some clothes worn by prisoners.

I quickly started to question a lot of things.

Who the hell is she? What is she doing in my room? Is it why my room? Is she someone associated with the White Room? Did that man move faster than I expected?

I'm completely lost in my thoughts when the girl's voice snaps me out of my inner monologues, and I look at her.

"So...when are you going to make me something to eat?"

With all the problems I had at this school at just a month and a half, I really can't help but think of something in this situation.

I'm too young for this shit.