"Hey, hey Ayanokoji-kun!"
Ayanokoji turned around when he heard his name being called behind him. He was met with a sight of a running Haruka and Airi.
"Hey." Ayanokoji greeted them. He slowed down so the girls can catched up to him.
"Have you received a message too?" Haruka asked him curious. Airi beside her, went along with them silently.
"Yeah, I don't know why it said to go to the classroom rather than the gymnasium though. And it was earlier than the original viewing time too." Ayanokoji said. He have a feeling that something big will happen soon, and he did not like it one bit.
The message was composed of...
«Please head to your classroom before 8 a.m. As required, bring only your phone and I.D with you.»
The message was quite brief and concise to the point. He was left wondering if this was a private viewing between classes, or if Class D is the only one in the viewing this time.
The two girls chatted while they walked. As expected, only Class D students can be seen in the hallway as most students are either still sleeping or in the Keyaki Mall. The three neared their classroom and saw almost all of their classmates waiting inside.
"Why isn't everyone here yet? It's almost 8." Ike said impatiently.
"Calm your horses," Sudo said to him the last student missing. Everyone went to their seat and waited for the projector, who magically there after being seen by the first student to come inside. Fortunately for them, they didn't have to wait longer. The screen light up and...
"Greetings, Class D. Thank you for following my message. The scene that will be shown is delicate and should be treated with caution. A clip or the upper half of the scene will be shown to the other classes, but the lower will only be shown to your class. This scene won't take up more than 15 minutes at most. The remaining time will be used to answer the questions you may have. And for the peace of your mind. I, indeed, was made to think and send messages like a robot would. Thank you for your understanding."
"Delicate?" Horikita muttered.
"So our class is the only one who will be viewing this?" Matsushita said thinking. "Why the divide?"
"Maybe the last part is confidential to the other classes?" Hirata suggested.
"Oh, mysterious." Ike laughed with his friends.
"Let's sit and get it done." Horikita sighed.
"May I have a word with you?"
"I don't really feel sociable. Is it okay if I refuse, Chabashira-sensei?"
"Chabashira-sensei?" Sato asked confused.
"Why are you meeting with her, Ayanokoji-kun?" Haruka asked curiously.
Ayanokoji let his chin rest in his palm, "I'm sure it will be shown."
"If you really don't want to, I can just start talking here. You don't mind if we stand outside, do you?"
"It's hot, so please keep it brief."
I had walked to the other side of the ship, so Chabashira-sensei took the lead. We found a place where there weren't any people around and it was
completely quiet before we started talking.
"This seemed to be private." Hirata tense. "Are you okay about watching this, Ayanokoji-kun?"
"It's fine, it's not like I can anything about it." Ayanokoji resigned himself to his fate.
Horikita saw the way his body tense for a moment and concluded that this must be serious. She remembered that this should be after he left her to answer the class's questions and before she came to question him.
"Is it safe to say that for the time being, you're satisfied?" I asked.
"Yes. First, I'd like to say that you did wonderfully. I'm honestly impressed."
"Satisfied? Impressed?" Matsushita glanced at Ayanokoji interested before focusing her gaze at the screen.
"What's Sae-chan-sensei's talking about?" Ike whispered to Yamauchi who shrugged.
Even Kushida was interested to know.
"Well, tell me something. Is it really true? Did he demand I be expelled from school?"
"Huh? Expelled?" Karuizawa said shocked.
"Why would Ayanokoji-kun be expelled?" Hirata couldn't believe that a classmate and a friend of his was a target of expulsion.
Yukimura frowned, "Ayanokoji-kun did nothing to be expelled, and how can a person demand a student to be expelled? That's impossible. This school is unreachable and communications are cut off outside the school."
"The person must have enough power and influence to demand the government sponsored school to head their demands." Miyake agreed.
Chabashira-sensei leaned against the railing and looked toward the sky.
"Do you have any basis for saying that the story is true?"
"I know quite a lot about you. Might not that be the reason, more than anything else? Other teachers don't know about your true abilities. But I have no doubts."
'True abilities? I saw some of them already, but did I saw all of them? Even I, the closest to him know absolutely nothing about him except that he practiced calligraphy, piano, tea ceremony, smart and can fight somewhat.' Horikita observed the boy called Ayanokoji Kiyotaka through her peripheral vision.
I certainly had my doubts. It was true that I stood out because of the entrance examination, but it shouldn't have been something all the teachers had inside knowledge of. But still, the sequence of events was rather odd. Chabashira-sensei had said that man had contacted the school directly. As
expected, this person was hiding something.
Miyake snorted, "Of course you're bound to stand up after scoring straight fifties."
"Why did you even did that?" Sato asked.
"I didn't knew the average score in the test." Ayanokoji admitted, "To be on the safe side, I scored fifty in every subject."
"Didn't know?" Karuizawa hummed, "Are you homeschooled, Ayanokoji-kun?"
"I am." Ayanokoji said, "This is my first time attending school and being around this many people." He played with his phone, his voice a bit weaker than before.
Horikita noted this, "What do you mean, 'this is my first time being around this many people'? She took advantage of the situation to know him better.
"My father was always strict. To the way I dress, my diet, the classes and subject I took, exercise, you name it." Ayanokoji averted his eyes.
"That's sad." Sato looked at him sadly.
"I see." Horikita said. 'You didn't answer the question though. But this is enough for me right now.'
"I'm sure that you've heard of this rather famous myth, the wings of
Icarus."
"Why do you bring that up?" I asked.
"Icarus flew out of the tower where he was imprisoned in order to gain his freedom. However, that wasn't achieved through one person's abilities alone. It was because his father, Daedalus, had constructed wings and instructed him to fly. He didn't fly because of his own intentions. Don't you think that sounds exactly like your current predicament?"
"I don't understand." Ike held his head groaning.
Matsushita took pity to him and explained, "What Chabashira-sensei meant was like Icarus, Ayanokoji-kun was trapped in a tower, in his case, his house. Ayanokoji-kun's father like Daedalus was the reason Ayanokoji had those abilities in the first place. All of those was not because of Ayanokoji-kun's wanted to learned them, but was forced by his father."
"Do you get it now?" Matsushita asked him, but Ike, Yamauchi, and Sudo only looked at her wide eyed. She sighed, the three looks like they are about to burst from the amount of information they learned, not understand.
"I can't understand."
"That man—no, your father—said this: 'Sooner or later, Kiyotaka will gladly chase the means of his expulsion from school.' You're welcoming your end, much like how Icarus fell into the sea and died after his wings were burned, because he'd flown too close to the sun."
Many are silent when they heard this. Ayanokoji stared at the screen with unreadable expression.
The three idiots? Well, let's just say that their head exploded from the amount of information they couldn't understand.
The wings of Icarus, huh?
"So, what do you plan to do?" she asked.
"You should know, Sensei. Icarus won't heed Daedalus' warnings."
Even though his wings burned, Icarus flew as high as he could in search of his freedom.
'Strict father. Dislikes trouble. Freedom. Hates standing out.' Horikita noted all of these in her mind.
'Think all you want, Horikita. But you will never learn anything important about me. For now.' Ayanokoji stared at her using his peripheral vision.
After that, Chabashira-sensei left. Ayanokouji gaze back at the play where Icarus was held by his father. He turned around and was about to leave when he heard Horikita.
"Hold on!" Horikita reached out to Ayanokouji. He looked back and saw Horikita, she's holds on her knees panting.
"You again? What is it now?" Ayanokouji asked.
"What exactly is going on?" Horikita asked confused. She glanced at where Ayanokouji is standing.
'So he did something in the island.' Kushida thought.
'Satisfied. Impressed.' Matsushita furrowed her brows. 'Did Chabashira-sensei forced Ayanokoji-kun to take action? No, Ayanokoji-kun was helping the class even without the interference of Chabashira-sensei. But it was never this big. If I remember correctly, Ayanokoji-kun hates standing out or trouble.'
'She must have forced him.' Horikita thought. 'If all the teachers knew everyones' past then she certainly knows about Ayanokoji-kun. And she used that as a leverage to manipulate him.'
"Why are you asking him about what's going on?" Sudo asked her.
"Yeah, didn't you, or the the both of you planned the strategy?" Ike added.
Horikita shook her head. "No. He did it on his own."
She probably wouldn't be convinced unless I explained things. Soon, a quite angry Horikita met up with me, radiating a silent pressure.
"Things have turned out as I expected." A girl holding a chess piece said. "Katsuragi-kun and his followers will lose a lot of support"
"Oh a change of scene." Inogashira said.
"That's Sakayanagi Arisu, right? The other leader of Class A." Hirata mused.
"Turned out better than she expected? Lose support?" Yukimura asked confused. "So she did do something to sabotaged Katsuragi-kun."
"They're from the same class." Miyamoto argued, "Why would she do that?"
"Class A is currently ruled by two leaders. The Sakayanagi faction and Katsuragi faction. The reason for this divide must be the clash of different approaches and principles." Horikita said.
"Class A is above everyone when it comes to its students and class points. The lower classes are in shambles. Ichinose-san's class just suffered an attack from Ryuuen-kun and are slowly recovering. Ryuuen-kun's class is focused on knowing all they can about the s-system, and our class isn't even in the competition with the little amount of class points we have. Sakayanagi-san can afford to dismissed the other classes and focused on her own because of that. To gain fully control of her class, she sabotaged Katsuragi-kun after he took the reins to lead the class with her absence." Horikita analyzes. She wrote the important details in her notebook while watching.
A tall guy with blonde hair answered, "Yes, Class A is going to start the second semester without any weak points." He continued to walk while talking.
"Katsuragi's here. I'm going to hang up now." He said a bit quietly. He hang up the call and proceed to walk to where Class A are gathering.
"Who's that?" Ike asked.
"If I remember, I think his name is Hashimoto-kun?" Nene said. "I heard Sakayanagi-san saying his name once."
"He's quite handsome." Sato giggled with her friends.
"Looks like cunning too." Matsushita noted.
"All right. Great job." The girl replied back.
"How are you going to take responsibility, Katsuragi-san?!" A Class A student said furious. "That contract you signed was a huge mistake!"
"Didn't you all agreed to it and signed your names?!" Yahiko said, defending Katsuragi.
"So there is a deal with Class A and C." Horikita narrowed her eyes.
"Does the entire class has to agree for a contract to be made?" Sudo asked her.
"No. Generally, the leaders or the representative of each class will signed, but they need to informed their classmates first before signing a deal." Horikita answered him.
"But a large scale contract that involves every single person in a class needs their signature and agreement before the contract is made." Hirata added.
Katsuragi remained calm, eyes closed. He listened to all of his classmates complained and angry voices.
"Aren't you pathetic, Katsuragi?" Hashimoto said amused. Katsuragi opened his eyes.
"Hashimoto!" Yahiko clenched his fist and glared at the boy. The rest of Class A turned around and looked at the newcomer. "Having an untrustworthy person as you around is why Katsuragi-san couldn't move around in a crowd! And because of that ..."
"Huh, so he was the one who moved against Katsuragi-kun." Karuizawa said.
"Seeing as Sakayanagi-san was not present, she can't actively participate directly to challenged Katsuragi-kun. She ordered a student from her faction to act for her." Horikita said.
"It's sad, a person in their own class sabotaged them." Hirata said.
"They can't really compete with the other classes seriously if their class itself was divided by two faction. The chain of command between the two and their inner circles will be confusing. " Matsushita commented.
Yahiko was cut off when Katsuragi placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Hashimoto, you were working with Ryuuen, weren't you?" Katsuragi said. The two of them stared at each other. "You told him who Class A's leader was."
Hashimoto smiled slightly, he closed his eyes before turning around the hallway to walk away. Katsuragi stared at his retreating form.
"What do these test results mean? What in the world happened?"
"It's Horikita-san and Ayanokoji-kun again." Sato pointed out.
"Finally. We're going to find out what really happened behind the scene." Matsushita said.
"And it made it clear that Horikita-san didn't know the strategy executed in the island." Yukimura fixed his glasses.
"You look like you don't have any idea at all."
"I just can't imagine it. I don't understand it at all. I have a mountain of questions."
"You look so confused." Ike blurted out.
Horikita glared at him, "Of course I was! The last thing I remembered during the exam was that I passed out, and then everyone is crowding around me, throwing praises and congratulations left and right."
Horikita ordered a drink from an attendant. I started talking.
"I'll tell you everything. However, my one condition is that you stay quiet on this matter. I won't compromise on this."
I'd assumed it would come to this, considering Horikita hadn't retired of her own will. This story was for Horikita's ears only.
"Why though?" Nene frowned.
"It's private?" Miyamoto asked unsure.
"Because it will exposed Ayanokoji-kun as the one who plotted against Katsuragi-kun and Ryuuen-kun." Matsushita rolled her eyes.
"You know," Sato stared at her for a long time. "I never knew that you were smart, Chiaki-chan, If I remember, your test scores are always a bit above average. Then suddenly you're saying complicated and complex things."
Matsushita grew nervous. She was carried away by the display of Ayanokoji's abilities. Her ticket to Class A while relaxing herself. "What do you mean, Maya-chan?"
"It looks like you're hiding your abilities or something." Sato thought hard, "You're not holding back are you?"
Luckily, their conversation was not heard by anyone. Matsushita glanced around her before leaning in to whisper to her. "Please keep quiet for now. I'll explain everything later."
Still suspicious, Sato let the matter go.
"What would you like to ask?"
"What were you doing during the test? Tell me," she said.
That was a much better question than I'd expected. She wanted to hear everything at once.
"When the special test was announced, I didn't focus on anything except for the additional rules. I roughly understood how to manage the 300 points, but you couldn't manipulate them as an individual."
"Manipulate them as an individual?" Yukimura asked warily. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Calm down, Yukimura-kun. I'm sure it will be explained later." Miyake said. "Let's watch for now."
'He seemed to like to manipulate people to achieve his goals.' Horikita thought. Her mind went back to when Ayanokoji manipulated her by creating false evidence during Sudo's case. Chabashira's words, her praises about Ayanokoji's abilities. It all kind of made sense now.
"But the additional rules were really difficult to understand. If you did things normally, you wouldn't have been able to identify the leaders. Right?"
"Yeah. First of all, I volunteered to join the search for the base camp. Able to move freely, I planned to search out spot locations ahead of everyone"
"You make it sound simple, but no one should have known the spot locations."
"That's not true. You didn't understand because you were ill and holed up inside the ship, but the school already gave us hints about the locations when we were sailing around the island."
"I didn't noticed anything." Ike said.
"It's because you're dumb." Sudo retorted.
Ike glared at him, "Huh? Like you are one to talk!"
"Boys, boys. No need to fight to know who's dumber." Yamauchi wore a smug smile. "It's obviously the both of you. Be glad you're friends with someone like me."
"Excuse me?" Sudo looked at him from head to toe.
"Don't even start. You're dumber than than the both of us combined." Ike snapped.
Katsuragi had also noticed this when the ship circled the island at an unusually fast speed. Horikita fell silent. The ship had been traveling nearly three times faster than a usual cruise ship. Besides, if it were just for sightseeing, it wasn't normal to use a strange expression like
"significant scenery."
Kouenji had noticed this hint, too. Well, it was probably a waste of time thinking about Kouenji, anyway.
"It is most certainly not a waste of time to think of my perfect existence, mysterious boy." Koenji said haughtily.
"Yes it is." The class silently muttered.
"Mysterious boy?" Ayanokoji stared at him.
"Then, I reached the cave. I thought it was the most important base."
"The cave was the most important base? Don't you think that the river and the well would have been more convenient, though?"
"The spot itself wasn't what was important. Its location was."
There were no spots close to the river or the well. However, there were two spots near the cave: the hut and the tower. It was the perfect place to exercise control. Horikita looked like she understood once I explained.
"Class A had 3 spots? Lucky." Yamauchi looked envious.
"Why didn't you tell the class?" Sato asked Ayanokoji curiously.
"It's not like I have a good reputation in our class, and everyone thought that it was a normal summer vacation. Even if I did told you, our class can't handle that type of responsibility. Our leader would have been discovered right away." Ayanokoji explained. During their stay in the island, multiple disputes happened. The most infamous was over a missing underwear.
"But what advantage is there in going into the cave if you don't have a keycard?"
"Well, I'd intended to explore various things, but in the end I discovered the leader's identity."
"Well, I suppose that Katsuragi-kun was careless."
No, that wasn't it.
"There was that guy, Yahiko, remember? The one following Katsuragi around? He was the leader. I saw Katsuragi and Yahiko at the cave, but I didn't see the moment they occupied it. After the two of them walked away, I checked if the cave was occupied or not."
"His most trusted lackey, huh?" Karuizawa pondered.
"He should have brought several other students with him. With the two of them, the leader was narrowed considerably fast." Matsushita said.
"It's not like Katsuragi-kun can trust anyone at that time." Horikita said. "Their class was divided. He's cautious of even his classmates, not knowing when he would be stab in the back. And it did happened."
"Poor Katsuragi-kun." Sato said.
I explained the situation. When I saw them, Katsuragi had been standing near the entrance with the card in his hand. Yahiko came out of the cave, and they left together.
"Wouldn't you have mistaken Katsuragi-kun as the leader?" she asked.
"Do you think that the leader would have shown off the card so carelessly in front of people?"
"I guess no." Ike said slowly.
"Then why is the card with Katsuragi-kun then?" Haruka asked.
"To throw off possible people spying on them." Hirata replied.
"He's so smart, I'm jealous!" Ike whined.
Horikita should have known how unbelievably stupid that was, precisely because she'd been appointed as the leader.
"But why? Why bother deliberately holding onto the card, then?"
"Because he didn't have any other choice. As far as I can tell, Katsuragi is a calm and collected man, excessively cautious. There's no way he didn't understand the high risk of occupying a spot immediately after finding it. In other words, the person who occupied it was enticed by shortsighted greed."
"Oh you're right, Hirata-kun!" Sato gushed.
Ayanokoji looked at her way when she squealed loudly. Several of their classmates also glanced at her direction. Sato, realizing this, buried her face in her palms.
'Does she like him?' Ayanokoji thought curiously.
How does one even realized that they are crushing on a person? What is even love? He can't understand why love is so important to people. Love overrides your reasoning. It makes you act carelessly and rashly. What does it even mean to fall in love? To be in love? What's the purpose? Is it to procreate between to people?
All the books he read said that love is between two people that wants to share everything with them. Whether it's pain, happiness, regret, past, or their life together. It made love sound like a fairy tale when in reality it's not. Those fairy tale books must have mislead many people.
"That's…why there was another person."
"Yes."
When Katsuragi found the cave, he didn't intend to occupy it. Nevertheless, he was holding the space down, probably because Yahiko had been careless. Even though he thought no one would be watching them, he'd probably wanted insurance.
By holding onto the card and displaying it, even in the unlikely event that a witness was present, he could mislead them into thinking that he was the leader.
"So, aside from their base, Class A held down at least two spots, but we didn't confirm how many they were occupying by the end of the test. If I correctly guessed the identity of their leader, though, I could invalidate all of their points."
After I'd narrowed it down to Yahiko, putting effort into anything else would've been a waste of time.
"I'm still not convinced. If he figured out the spot's location at such an early stage, and if he were acting alongside a lot of other people, shouldn't he have avoided trouble? Even if he just had someone standing watch by the cave, it should have been sufficient claim of ownership. Why would they occupy it?"
"That was probably Class A's disadvantage."
Their overall points on the test were high, and they didn't receive a negative assessment due to behavior in class like Class D. However, their class was divided internally. In other words, there was a reason why Katsuragi couldn't rely on other people.
"Horikita's right!" Sudo cheered.
"I wonder why didn't Sakayanagi-san participated?" Airi whispered to Haruka.
"Maybe she's sick? She's also holding a cain when we saw her." Haruka suggested.
"That must have been sad. She can't participate in any physical activity because of that." Airi said sadly.
"Their class appears perfect at first glance, but it actually has a huge schism in it."
That was why my methods had revealed Class A so easily. Well, that was simple luck. It was like getting a good score by exploiting a mistake. Class A wasn't vigilantly watching for a surprise attack from overhead, so there was nothing to be done.
"That's why I excluded Class A at that stage, and turned my attention toward Class C. Katsuragi was easy to understand, but with Ryuuen, there
were many unknown variables. To tell you the truth, he was gathering more information than I was. He'd found out the identities of all of the leaders."
"Wha...?" Ike was lost for words.
"How did he?" Yamauchi frowned.
"Ibuki-san was in our camp, right? That must be it." Sudo said.
"Are you stupid? Horikita-san chased her that's why she fell sick and retired." Shinohara shook her head.
"Oh right."
"I forgot for a minute."
"You did forgot. No excuses."
"W-wait, he found out the identities of all of the leaders… So not only Class D, but also the leaders for Classes B and A? But that's strange. We were far from being penalized; we ended up getting first place by a wide margin. How do you intend to explain that?"
"This is a little difficult to explain, but the reason I made you retire is the answer."
"Made you?" Ike whispered to Sudo, he doesn't want to be called idiot, stupid and dumb again, thank you very much.
"I thought Ibuki was the reason Horikita retired?" Sudo whispered back.
"Ayanokoji must have chased after them and made Horikita retired after passing out?" Yamauchi said.
The two stared at him.
"What?" He asked.
"I didn't know you can say something smart. That's something." Ike and Sudo said in unison.
"What! I am smart!"
"Wait, the answer is you made me retire? What in the world did you do?"
"Oh, that reminds me. I didn't return it to the school yet."
I took a single card out of my pocket and handed it over to Horikita.
"This is a keycard. Why do you…?!"
Horikita was astonished when she saw the letters engraved on the card.
"Wait, why does…?"
The name read "Ayanokouji Kiyotaka."
"Why does Ayanokoji-kun's name in it?" Sato asked. "Horikita-san was the leader, right?"
Matsushita eyes widened. She remembered the rules. 'He used the that to his advantage. Incredible.'
"The test had to be fair. The rules were fundamentally created to be fair."
That was quite natural, something you would have seen if you'd carefully confirmed the additional rules. Only one person could be chosen as leader. The leader could not be changed. Only the leader held the rights of exclusive possession.
"What do you think would happen if the leader retired because of poor health?"
"The rights to the spots and points would disappear?" Yukimura said unsure.
"Additional rules?" Hirata muttered.
"That's… The leader would be absent. So the rights of exclusive possession would disappear…"
"Wrong. In the manual, it says, 'It is impossible to change the leader without suitable justification.' Don't you think that retirement is suitable enough justification?"
"Because Horikita-san retired of poor health, we can replace our leader." Karuizawa realized. "When that happened, you name yourself the leader!"
"If Ryuuen-kun knows all the class' leaders and he schemed with Katsuragi-kun and named Horikita-san the leader they're penalized because it was wrong!" Yukimura eyes widened.
"That's why we avoided being penalized. Ayanokoji-kun was our leader." Miyake said.
It seemed like the additional rules had been made to be broken if someone were absent due to poor health or injury. I could predict setting up a new leader.
I was able to figure this out by looking at the other rules. For example, we couldn't change the base camp without suitable justification after we'd first decided where it would be, but there were suitable reasons.
We'd occupied the riverside area, but if we were careless and it was taken by another class, then that would have counted as "suitable justification." You couldn't stay in the base itself, so if there wasn't a system where you could search for a new base camp, everything would collapse.
"So then, you made me…?"
Horikita Suzune had retired, and I was appointed in her place. Of course, that meant that I was the leader they were supposed to guess at the end of the test. There can only be one.
"Oh my god!" Sato covered her mouth.
"Ayanokoji-kun's amazing!" Haruka cheered.
"I didn't knew that the additional rules would have played an important role in the exam." Yukimura sighed defeated.
"It's amazing how you took advantage of it." Hirata smiled.
"That's why even though Class C knew you were the leader, we avoided penalties."
"But wait. Ibuki-san stole my card, but what if I'd protected it really thoroughly?"
Horikita recalled the day of the accident.
"Did you drop the card on purpose back then? Well, I suppose that Yamauchi-kun's actions might have provided Ibuki-san the opportunity to hatch a plan to steal the keycard…"
'He made Horikita-san retired purposely? I saw Horikita-san's state during the last scene. She looks pale but nonetheless okay. It's possible that her health deteriorated during the last day. Did Ayanokoji-kun knew that? If so, then he took advantage of her already frail health and set up the stage for her to retire.' Matsushita analyzed. 'That means Ayanokoji-kun anticipated the whole outcome.'
I'd been holding onto the muddy Horikita, so in that sense I had no choice but to give up the keycard.
"Unless I knew what Ibuki-san was aiming for right at the start, I couldn't have done anything…"
Right. Ibuki had been picked up by Class D purely by chance. I'd been almost convinced until I heard about the guy named Kaneda in Class B. He'd been sent as a spy by Ryuuen. I wasn't so good-natured as to believe that two
people just happened to be saved by two separate classes completely by chance.
"You mean naive?" Yamauchi scoffed.
"Do you think Ichinose-san's class suspected a thing when they found Kaneda-kun?" Sato asked.
Horikita frowned, "Most likely not. Ichinose-san must had been focused on her classmates to think of Kaneda-san being a spy sent by Ryuuen-kun."
"And because of that, Ryuuen-kun discovered their leader." Miyake grimaced.
"Besides, Ibuki has a habit of looking people in the eye when she's lying."
You could say that the bigger the lie, the more obvious the habit.
"Wait, when she lied she would look the person in the eye? Isn't it usually the opposite?"
"Generally speaking, you avoid eye contact if you have a guilty conscience. However, it was the opposite for her. I think that she made eye contact to make the person think that the lie was the truth. She probably didn't even notice it herself."
"But how did you know that she had that habit?" Matsushita asked.
"I already knew that time that she was the one that stole Karuizawa-sans's underwear. It simply eliminating possible suspects." Ayanokoji said. 'Should I say that I searched her bag and found a digital camera? The girls will surely be at my throat if they found out.'
Even when we were talking about the underwear theft, she looked me straight in the eye.
"Her goal was probably to find the keycard, but she might have intended to disrupt Class D at the same time."
What had happened to Karuizawa, and the underwear in Ike's bag, might have otherwise been seen as mere coincidence.
"But I have to wonder why Ibuki-san specifically stole my keycard. All she needed was to check my name."
"Doesn't Ryuuen-kun trust Ibuki-san?"
"Wow, dude has trust issues."
"No. That must have been a part of their deal with Katsuragi-kun." Horikita objected. "I remember Ryuuen-kun was talking with someone that time. I think it's Katsuragi-kun."
Hirata looked deep in thought, "Ryuuen-kun said all he knows about the class leaders to Katsuragi-kun then? But in exchange of what?"
"The two of them only knows the details."
"That was likely Ibuki's intention from the start. However, she ran into unexpected trouble."
That was the catalyst that led to verifying the leader of Class C.
"Ibuki had a digital camera in her bag to take a picture of the keycard."
"How did you even know that?" Matsushita asked suspicious.
"I stumbled on her bag when I was walking. Her bag tipped over and the contents spilled." Ayanokoji lied. 'It's not like Ibuki will tell them that. And she has no evidence that I didn't stumbled on her bag to refute me.'
"To take a picture…with the camera? Why would she go so far?"
"If she had a picture, then the leader's identity would have been clear for anyone to see, right? If she had convincing evidence, she would have
profited."
"I don't quite understand… Did Ryuuen-kun not trust Ibuki-san?"
"That wasn't it. If the discussion only stayed within Class C, then there shouldn't have been any need for her to take a picture with the camera or steal the card."
In other words, that meant there had been people involved who didn't trust Ibuki's words alone; they'd wanted reliable evidence.
"And it was Katsuragi-kun." Sato concluded.
"From here on out, I don't have any evidence of what I'm saying. Think of it as my intuition, which I derived from the test results. At the end of the test, Class A had 270 points."
In other words, they hadn't used a single point during the test.
"Classes A and C were connected, working together behind the scenes. Class C sacrificed their own points and bought whatever Class A needed. Also, by taking all of C's tools, Class A was able to spend the week without using any points."
"H-how did you know that?"
"What?"
"He even knew that Class C gave their tools to Class A?"
"So that's why Class A retained a all of their points."
"They were still penalized after their leader was guessed."
"Yeah, that Hashimoto guy must have sold that information."
Ibuki had obtained evidence and given it to someone in A Class.
"By the way, I became aware of Class C's leader after half of the students retired. It was certain that the leader would have remained on the island, right?"
"Even so, we weren't supposed to know who was left."
"No, I was almost one hundred percent sure that Ryuuen was still on the island."
I figured it out when I saw Ibuki hiding a wireless transceiver in the ground. Ibuki had used it to stay in contact with Ryuuen. Retired students shouldn't have been able to use a transceiver. In other words, someone was left on the island for her to communicate with.
He'd casually set the transceiver on top of a table while enjoying his vacation. No one else was controlling it, just him. His mistake was that he didn't trust anyone.
"He was discovered because he was careless of the transceiver?" Matsushita shook her head in disbelief.
"That's a disadvantage of not trusting your classmates, I supposed." Hirata said.
"Still... That seems to be a pathetic reason to lose, right?" Sato said.
"We won. Why do we even care about the other classes?" Sudo said.
"My god… I don't even have the words," Horikita answered, facing the truth.
If I were to summarize this test, I'd say that Class A's first mistake carried through to the end. They didn't function well due to an internal rift.
Class B went through the test with a thoroughly defense-oriented strategy, which did neither harm nor good. Their only mistake was that, because there were so many good-natured people in Class B, they'd permitted Kaneda to stay, and they'd believed him.
"You had seen through their strategy." Matsushita stared at him astonished.
"And perfectly countered against it." Hirata added.
"I don't have the words." Sato stammered.
Class D was in state of shock and disbelief. They were hinted of Ayanokoji's abilities, but this... This is amazing. He analyzed every class; their weaknesses, strengths, attitude, mannerisms, and thought process. Because of that, he managed to foresee every class' movements, including Ryuuen.
I don't know how Kaneda got the evidence, but he'd obtained something, and probably told Ryuuen. If you looked at the fact that Class A didn't get any points, you might think it was because they hadn't obtained any physical evidence.
Then there was Class C. We were able to avoid damage because I'd been appointed as the leader. In addition to sending people off as spies to find out the identities of the other leaders, Class C had profited from some kind of negotiations with Class A. Ryuuen might be our number one enemy.
"I'm sorry... "
Class D was snapped out of thought when Horikita apologized.
"Huh?" Ike looks confused.
"Why did Horikita apologized?" Sudo asked.
"Yeah, you did nothing wrong, Horikita-san." Inogashira said.
While I was lost in thought, Horikita apologized.
"Why are you apologizing to me?" I asked her.
"There's no one else who knows the truth about how we won except you. "
"Well now we know." Nene smiled.
"We are beyond grateful for your help, Ayanokoji-kun." Hirata bowed in thanks.
"If it we're for your interference, our class probably lost." Sato added.
Ayanokoji remained quiet.
"If you think things are bad, them make some reliable friends. Start there first."
"That's a difficult advice... No one would want to be with me." It sounded like she'd resigned herself to unhappiness. Perhaps there was a trace of masochism in her. I laughed.
Horikita glared at him.
"We can be friends, Horikita-san." Sato said smiling.
"Yeah! Call us if you want to hang out anytime." Nene agreed.
"Don't forget about us!" Ike grinned at her.
Horikita looked away from her classmates gaze. This feelings are still new to her. She was used to being a loner by choice. Relying in no one, being independent and working alone. But, this... Feels kind of nice.
"It's unpleasant to be made fun of, though..." Horikita glared at me weakly.
"No, no, that's not it." I said. "It's just that you've started to sound like you need allies."
Normally, Horikita would have been insulting me, but right now her words carried a different weight. She was blaming herself, or she wouldn't have said something like that. Still, it wasn't going to be easy.
"I should have understood that a long time ago."
"Stop blaming yourself, we have already won." I said to stop her from self-deprecating.
"I'm going to try to get up to Class A using my own abilities. I'll definitely recover from this failure." Horikita swear to herself.
"We will help you, Horikita-san!" Hirata vowed.
"Our class will definitely graduate from Class A." Sato said.
"You guys..." Horikita stared at them, "Thank you."
I stood up and stretched out my hand.
"I don't mind helping you get up to Class A. However, I have one condition. Do not investigate me. If you promise not to touch on this subject ever again, I will help you."
Class D made a mental note about that.
They can somehow know why Ayanokoji doesn't want them knowing his past. What his father made him do, what he went through must have been traumatizing to the point he doesn't want anyone knowing and talking about it.
Horikita took my hand without hesitation.
"If you don't want to talk, there's nothing I can really do about that. If you'll help, I have no reason to refuse you. I'm not interested in digging things up that are better left buried. After all, you dislike trouble." Horikita suddenly avoided looking directly in my eyes.
"I will acknowledge you as an ally. Still, I don't want you acting buddy-buddy with me once we're back at school. We're only working together to reach Class A. But ... I will say one thing. Thank you. Not that I'm saying that I need you or anything ..." Horikita averted her eyes. She thanked me silently.
"Oh, look at Horikita going shy all of the sudden." Ike teased her.
"Shut it." Horikita glared at him.
But unfortunately, Horikita, you were wrong about one thing. Right now, just for this moment, I'll tell you.
"Huh?"
Class D looked at the screen dumbfounded.
"Ayanokoji-kun?" Horikita muttered.
I have never thought of you as my friend. Not you. Not Kushida. Not Hirata. All people are nothing but tools. It doesn't matter how it's done. It doesn't matter what needs to be sacrificed. In this world, winning is everything. As long as I win in the end... That's all that matters.
"What...?" Horikita looked at Ayanokoji eyes wide.
"Huh." Sudo looked confused. Every students in class D looked confused.
"Ayanokoji-kun." Haruka called him, "What do you mean you never saw them as a friend?" She asked quietly.
"What the hell do you mean that people are nothing but tools?!" Miyamoto snapped at him. "What's wrong with you?!"
"You see us... Humans as nothing but tools?" Yukimura asked in disbelief. "What does this mean, Ayanokoji-kun?"
"Guys, calm down" Hirata tried to calm his class down.
"Huh." Kushida looked at Ayanokoji interested.
"Calm down?" Miyamoto said, "How can we calm down?!"
"How can Ayanokoji-kun answer your questions if you keep on talking!" Horikita snapped. "Can you explain yourself, Ayanokoji-kun?"
Ayanokoji looked at them detached, "What's there to explain? You heard me."
"What?" Miyamoto said.
"You bastard!" Sudo stood up and was about to punch Ayanokoji when Horikita stopped him.
"It's not like he can help himself." Horikita said loudly. She kept her eyes on her classmates rather than Ayanokoji who's staring at the window.
"What do you mean, Horikita-san?" Sato asked.
"He said so himself that he didn't have a normal and nice childhood." Horikita began explaining."His father used him, made him do his biddings and follow his orders. Children, on a young age looked at their parents for guidance. They follow their mannerisms, attitude, everything. They copy their parents. Ayanokoji-kun was simply the same. He acted like his father when he was forced to follow every decision of his, treating him like he's nothing to him, a son, flesh and blood. He treated him like a tool."
"You remembered the scene with Sudo-kun's case? He said that he was a horrible human being. He's aware of his own faults and defect. He's trying to changed himself little by little. " Horikita added.
"That can't be change overnight." Karuizawa butted in. "Despite his cold personality he helped the class. He helped our class passed the midterms, Sudo-kun over his failure at the test, and his case against Class C and now during the special exam. He could have let us lose, but he didn't. That's enough for me."
"Aren't you creep out by the way he manipulated you? Treated you as tools?" Yukimura argued.
"So what?" Karuizawa said.
"Huh? What do you mean so what?"
"I don't mind being treated as a tool." Matsushita confessed.
"Matsushita-san?!" Miyamoto looked at her shocked.
"You heard me." She shrugged. "If being manipulated, or being used as tool can make me graduate from Class A then count me in. Does it matter how we ascend? No, the important thing is to graduate from the top. I'll gladly be useful to Ayanokoji just to graduate from A."
"If it bothers you so much then are they any alternative choice for us to take?" Matsushita asked.
Class D was quiet.
"Ayanokoji-kun may have manipulated Horikita-san and called us a tool but I personally still think of him as a friend." Hirata smiled at Ayanokoji who looked at him.
"If Ayanokoji-kun think and act that way then it's up to us to make him see us as a friend. We can make him open up about his past; the things he's comfortable to share, of course. We're here for him, aren't we? We'll help him in every step of the way." Hirata added.
Sato furrowed her brows, "I think all of them are right. All of us here got issues we kept to ourselves, some are worse than the others. Ayanokoji-kun was just unfortunate because his was revealed. You don't want people to poke and asked about your past, don't you?"
Ayanokoji, taking advantage of the situation spoke up, "I'm not asking for you to act friends with me after what you saw; you can stay away, act like you don't know me, or don't even speak with me at all, It doesn't remove the fact that I'm trying to change but at the very least respect my privacy."
"I think of Ayanokoji-kun as my friend even now!" Haruka declared loudly.
"Same with me!" Airi built up her courage to say that in front of the class.
"I was a delinquent why back and happy that people still accepted me despite that fact. And I think Ayanokoji-kun need to have people to guide and support him. So I'm still his friend, no matter what." Miyake said hands in his pockets.
One by one some of the Class D students agreed, some are still wary and reluctant to agree but was polite nonetheless.
"What about Kushida-san?" Nene asked.
"What about me?" Kushida spoke up.
Nene looked at her, "Do you really hate us that much, Kushida-san?"
"You said it yourselves didn't you? I hate the fact that you know my past." Kushida glared at them."Is it fun for all of you? Knowing my true personality? Is it amusing knowing my weakness? Huh?! " Kushida stood up and kicked her chair.
Airi and Mei-Yu flinched at the loudness.
"Not at all, Kushida-san." Sato said to her.
Kushida stared at her in disbelief. "Don't joke with me. Are you disgusted? Don't want to be my friend anymore?" She turned around and pointed angrily at Horikita. "This happened because of you! Why did you have to enrolled in the same school with me?! Why did you have to know about my past?! Are you happy? What not going to mock me?!"
"It does not benefit me in anyway to be amuse with your situation, nor happy." Horikita stared at her indifferent.
"Kushida-chan,"
Kushida looked at Nene who called her.
"Despite the way you think of us, your real personality, I had fun, happy, whenever we hang out together. I still think of you as a friend." Nene smiled at her sincerely.
"What?" Kushida gaped at her. "What is wrong with you?! Did you hit your head?! Can you stand the thought of being my friend after the way I said and thought about all of you? Is it fun playing around with me?!" Kushida gritted her teeth, eyes turning glassy with tears.
Sato and the girls slowly approaches her.
"Stay the fuck away! Don't touch me with your filthy hands!" Kushida backed away when they attempted to hold her, "I said stay away!" Kushida's voice become weak and her knees gave out under her. The girls held her tenderly.
"What the fuck is wrong with you all." Kushida sobbed.
"We don't care if your personality is shitty." Sato stroked her hair.
"We don't give a damn if you don't see us as a friend." Shinohara murmured hugging her.
"We're still your friend. Through thick and thin. We accept you just the way you are, Kushida-san. Never forget that." Nene said quietly. Kushida's tough exterior and cold attitude melted. She allowed herself for the first and last time to cry her eyes out. To be finally the real her. No pretences, no fake smile and laughter. She allowed them to touch and whisper encouraging words to her.
"It's almost 9. Should we go to the gymnasium already?" Ike quietly asked.
Hirata smiled at him, he glanced at the girls noting that Kushida was already wiping her face.
"I supposed so," Horikita stood up before walking out of the classroom first.
Ayanokoji followed her but stopped when Haruka called him. He hesitantly turned around towards her.
"Is it okay for us to walk with you?" Haruka asked him, she pointed to herself, Miyake and Airi.
Ayanokoji took a long time before responding. "If you want."
Haruka beamed at him, she grabbed Miyake's arm and begin walking towards their destination.
"You hate standing out and trouble because of your past, right Ayanokoji-kun?" Haruka asked him suddenly.
"Haruka!" Miyake hissed. Airi stared at her friend shock at the bluntness.
"Yeah. I don't want to necessary stand out." Ayanokoji answered.
"Do you hate standing out because it puts the spotlight at you, or because you want to have a normal high school life?" Haruka fired another question.
Miyake stared at her flabbergasted.
Ayanokoji think for a second, "I guessed the latter."
Haruka smiled widely. "Then let me give you some advice, Ayanokoji-kun. Think of this as a help from a friend to another."
"Advice?" Ayanokoji asked curiously. Nobody have given him any advice before in his life, aside from Matsuo, his father's butler.
Haruka gaze at the front, still walking. "You shouldn't be concern whether how to live your high school life. Being a loner, popular, have large circle of friends, join the student council or a club, etc. All of those are normal high school life. You should not let your past affect the way you act and think about your life."
They neared the gymnasium and saw many students walking inside.
"Life is unpredictable, and that makes it fun and perfect. Not knowing what happens tomorrow, learning the mistakes of the past, growing up as a individual, that's what's makes us humans. We shouldn't be ashamed of it." Haruka paused when they passed the doors. She turned around and caught Ayanokoji's gaze with her own.
"The bottom line is, don't be ashamed of your past, embraced it because that's what made you, you. It's what makes you unique. Be yourself, Ayanokoji. Don't let others dictate what you should do to your life." She smiled.
Ayanokoji let her words sink in in his head. The four of them went inside not knowing what awaits them.
The door closed with a loud thud.
-x-
Previous Chapter: False Teamwork.
Word Count: 8632
Hey guys! Tool Monologue is finally out! I was beyond excited to published this chapter, so I finished it today. I modified the dialogue between the LN and anime ver. i personally liked the way the chapter ended up, and I hope you did too!
As you read, I made Hirata and Matsushita took an important role in this chapter, whether it's analyzing or the tool part. Hirata discovered on his own that Kiyotaka was X and somehow guessed that he have a connection to Karuizawa. Matsushita on the other hand, she noticed Kiyotaka's abilities based on what she saw him do, and what Sato and Shinohara has been guessing and telling her. I was amazed on how she deducted that Kiyotaka and Karuizawa have a 'relationship' based on how she noticed them looked at each other without the others knowing.
I based Kushida's attitude here about being confronted in Year 2, Volume 5. I observed that Kushida just wanted someone to accept her the way she is. Especially how she reacted to Horikita still befriending her despite her friends staying away from her. The girl she wished died, and hate still tried to befriend and be close to her and it made her cry. That's how I perceived it, for me at the very least.
Sayonara!