**2 weeks earlier**
One week before the announcement of the class points. It was late, Sora and Shiro were as usual playing in their room. But playing was only secondary at the moment, what they were doing mostly was thinking about what to do next. They knew that in addition to the announcement of the results, written exams were approaching soon and although they were not worried about their own results, they knew that part of the class could potentially be excluded.
Both Sora and Shiro understood that in order to compete with the other classes in this school they could not afford to lose members of their group. It was like weakening an army.
"Mhh..."
The room was silent, all that could be heard was the sound of fingers pressing the buttons on the console. They had already played several games together and as usual when Sora and Shiro played against each other, it was only draws.
There were games in which ties were impossible, but they still ended up drawing in the number of wins. Sora eventually won the game, tying with his sister who had 21 wins so far.
"Phew... It's hot."
Sora scratched his head, he who refused to get a haircut had to endure the summer heat on his head. He put his hands on his legs and decided to stand up.
"Do you want to drink something fresh Shiro? I'll go get us something from the vending machine downstairs."
"Iced Coffee in that case..."
"Are you sure? We have to get up early tomorrow."
"At this point, coffee doesn't do anything for me anymore, it's just for taste."
"I see..."
Sora almost felt regret at seeing his sister's body in such a state. He felt partly guilty. Fortunately she was still young and could return to a more normal rhythm now that they were in this school and had to adapt to a much more "human" pace.
He left the room and went downstairs to the vending machines. There was one not too far from the entrance to the dorms so he didn't have to go very far. It was dark and the only light sources there were in this dark night were the street lights that were set up all over the place as well as the strong light of the vending machine.
Sora chose the drinks he wanted and scanned the phone to validate the payment. As he waited against the wall, enjoying the soft coolness of the outside, he heard a light voice in the distance behind the building.
Normally this was something he would not be interested in, but the voice sounded familiar. He leaned against the wall and discreetly looked over. For a man who could anticipate everything, what he saw surprised him for a second even though it was an inevitable encounter.
It was her classmate Horikita Suzune who was meeting her big brother Horikita Manabu. They were not far from the street lights so it was simple to identify them.
"Big brother... Listen to me... The reason I came here was so I could become someone like you. I'll go up to class A!"
Sora could see Suzune talking to her brother in a voice so soft that he almost couldn't believe it was her. It was human nature, all of us had a much more sensitive and sincere hidden side that few people saw.
"Quiet! Your presence here is already a disgrace, seeing you end up in class D... you had no right to do that to me."
Manabu raised his voice a little, the man who was so eloquent and calm at the ceremony seemed to have a side to him as well that few people could see. He grabbed Suzune's hand and slammed it against the wall, she was in such a vulnerable position that it would make anyone feel sorry.
"You're hurting me..."
She said in a feverish voice. Manabu ignored her words and approached her, his hand ready to thrust into her abdomen. Sora continued to observe. He could see through his clothes that her brother had the build of an athletic man. Sora was ashamed to admit it, but even against a rather average student, it was difficult for him to win a hand-to-hand fight. Therefore it was impossible for him to face Manabu. However, he couldn't leave a classmate in such a situation.
Manabu ended up plunging his hand in her abdomen, he didn't give her a punch but he pushed his fingers in her pelvis. Considering the slight screams that Suzune let out, it was clear that he was pressing on it using the strength of his fingers. It was cruel.
Sora continued to watch for a few more seconds before he let out a sigh and came out of his hiding place, it was too much for him to witness a big brother mistreating his little sister.
He approached them, his cell phone in his hand, the camera pointed at them.
"That's not quite the image you were sending back to people at the entrance ceremony or am I wrong?"
Both Manabu and Suzune heard Sora's voice and turned towards him. Sora landed in front of them with a big smile on his face, the phone in his hand recording everything.
"Student Council President, Horikita Manabu-kun."
Sora added in a joking tone, one could see in Suzune's eyes that she didn't expect to see him there at all. Manabu's eyes darkened, he released Suzune's hand and abdomen and she collapsed to the ground.
"Sora-kun... what are you doing here?"
"Sora... Ah, so it's you..."
Manabu continued to stare at him, speaking in a calm voice. He ignored his sister and started to walk towards Sora. Suzune wished she could stop him, she knew what her brother wanted to do and she didn't want to inflict this on Sora.
"Wait... Nii..."
"What's with the voice Suzune, where did the girl filled with pride who happens to be my classmate go?"
Sora looked at her and asked with an arrogant look, not to mock her but to remind her that she's better than that.
"Sora-kun... Run away..."
She was still struggling to speak, certainly shocked by the violence her brother had shown her but Sora ignored her request. He knew very well what was going to happen.
"It's not very nice of you, to mistreat your sister like that. I wonder what the school will think when I show them this vid-"
Sora didn't even have time to finish his sentence, Manabu sent a punch with the back of his hand making Sora waltz on the ground, his phone flying into the grass. He couldn't help but growl and hold his cheek. Suzune shouted his name but didn't dare move.
" I have heard about you and your little sister. Two bright students who had passed the entrance exam without fail. That was well done."
Manabu continued talking, picking up Sora's phone and stopping the video, before deleting it.
"Too bad you didn't show the same intelligence here."
He added, throwing the phone towards Sora. He picked it up, his hand trembling. It was the first time in several years that he had been subjected to violence, so his body was naturally unprepared.
" Sounds like it... I didn't expect such a quick hit, I must admit. It seems that the council president is abusing the system too. As long as you don't get caught, you can afford to abuse anyone."
"That was a warning. To you and... her."
He turned to his sister, giving her a look filled with disgust.
"Incompetent people should know how to recognize their limits. At least tonight you learned yours."
Manabu walked towards his sister again, his gaze weighing on her.
"Don't you dare contact me again."
He added in a cold tone before leaving the scene.
A heavy silence followed, Sora and Suzune looking at each other, without saying a word.
.
.
.
A few minutes later, the two met again at the vending machine. Sora offered Suzune a drink.
"Pretty chaotic, your brother."
"You shouldn't have seen that..."
She said, looking down at the floor, a sense of shame filling her.
"Why is he like that with you?"
"He's not wrong... after all I am indeed the shame of the family, the one who ended up in class D, unlike him."
"Student council member and class 3-A leader, indeed there is a difference."
"You understand better now, why I'm looking to move up to Class A?"
"Mhh... not really."
"Someone as smart as you should understand it easily."
"No, that's the thing, I don't understand. To what end are you looking to follow in his footsteps?"
"I... I want him to be proud of me."
This was the first time Suzune had opened up to Sora like this, when one person exposed their vulnerable side to another, it was easier for them to open up completely afterwards.
"I don't think you'll make him proud by following in his footsteps. It's not impressive to copy someone. Surpassing him on the other hand..."
Suzune looked at Sora for a moment, checking if he was joking.
" Surpassing my brother? That's a funny one."
"Why not?"
"He's a calculating man, physically capable and intellectually superior to most people. He led his class to victory while controlling part of the school through the student council. As for me, I am just a D student who didn't even notice that the school was hiding a whole meritocracy system from us. I could never compete with him."
"But now you've learned to anticipate all that. You have three more years to learn from your mistakes. In fact, you have a lifetime to learn from your mistakes. That's the beauty of being human.
"If I can learn from my mistakes then so can he, if I have to take a thousand steps to compete with him then he would only take ten steps to surpass me, that is the difference between us."
" Humans are not that simple you know. Having the ability to do something and doing it effectively are two different things."
There were many geniuses who ended up poor or unhappy. They were people who were considered intellectually superior to others, but they still ended up failing. Because intellectual capacity and its use were two different things. In those situations, could you really say that they were intelligent, given that they had failed?
"You're talking about a man who has the intellectual capacity and knows how to use it. So your example doesn't work.
"Let me rephrase it for you. If I can show you your brother's flaws, will you be motivated to surpass him?
"Show me... his flaws?"
Sora walked a few steps and stood in front of her, hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.
"I will beat Horikita Manabu. If I do, I would like you to agree to evolve and surpass him."
"You are insane! How do you even want to fight him, you're not even in the same class! Besides, you've seen what he's capable of. Turning the student council against you is anything but a good idea!"
"Seriously, we've been in the same class for three weeks and you still see me as an idiot. You think I hadn't already thought about that?"
Suzune didn't know what to say for a few seconds.
"I am only asking you to accept my deal. If Horikita Manabu loses in front of your eyes, I'd like you to start believing that you can surpass him."
"I..."
Sora lowered himself to her level and grabbed her hand, drawing her gaze to him.
"You wanted to make him proud didn't you? This is the only way. If you're not willing to surpass him then you'll always be a disgrace in his eyes."
Sometimes it wasn't logical answers you had to use to convince someone, but their feelings.
Suzune looked into his eyes for many seconds, before sighing a small smile on her lips.
"You never know how to give up, do you?"
" Impossible!"
Sora added, with a big smile on his face.
Suzune closed her eyes and smiled.
"Very well, I accept your challenge. If you can beat my brother then, I'll beat him and... you too.
Sora was stunned for a few seconds, pointing his finger at himself.
"Me?"
"You're far too arrogant for your own good."
She said in a joking tone.
Sora laughed in turn.
"Humility huh...it's true that it would be a nice gift."
Sora held out her hand and Suzune squeezed it.
.
.
.
That evening, Sora returned home with some drinks in his arms.
"That was long, Nii..."
"Ah sorry..."
Sora went to the table and put the drinks on it.
Shiro continued to stare at him.
"Did you get it?"
Shiro nodded and Sora smiled.
"Say Shiro, what do you think is the most dangerous weapon in the world?"
.
.
.
Back in the present, during the class session.
"The exams were fake? What do you mean?! Why would an upperclassman provide Hirata with fake exams that you created? And for what purpose?!"
Suzune was still in a state of incomprehension in front of Sora.
"Your questions make sense but they have an answer, no matter how irrational it may seem to you."
Hirata had received these copies from a friend, so it was natural for Suzune to be confused, why would a friend betray Hirata? The answer was simple. She was compelled, by something far more important than her relationship with Hirata.
"The second year classes have all been through an exam."
" An... exam?"
"A special exam, as they call it."
"What was the exam?"
"It was a very simple exam. Those who managed to pass a copy of the next exam to the first years earned a bonus of private points in addition to class points."
"Huh?!"
Suzune was getting answers, but those answers only increased the number of questions she had.
"How can this be an exam? And why haven't we heard about it? If that was the only purpose of the exam then plenty of second years would have contacted us to forward their papers."
"It was because the exam had rules. For starters, if anyone found out that a second year student was passing their exam paper to a first year student then they were expelled from school."
"Expelled? But the exam was organized by the student council, why would they be expelled?"
"Special exam penalties have no limits; exclusion can be on the table. It's like a game, if you don't follow the rules of the game, you lose and you get kicked out."
"So the rule here was total discretion?"
"Precisely. A second year student had to successfully pass his copy to a first year student without the second year student getting ratted out by another student, no matter what year he was in."
"I see, that' s the reason why we hadn't heard about it. If students came to us, they were taking the risk of being exposed by another class or being reported by one of our classes and getting expelled."
"Precisely. So the second year students had to successfully give their copy to someone without anyone knowing about it. What do you think is the best strategy to do in that case?"
"Well... ideally, it would be perfect if the first-year student came and asked us for the copy himself."
"Oh, why is that?"
"If the first year student comes and asks us for a copy of the exam, it's because he needs it, therefore he won't risk reporting us because the school would realize that he wanted to cheat."
" Exactly. Since the first year student doesn't know that there is a special exam, the only reason he would come and ask for a copy is because he needed it. And since first year students don't know all the rules of this school yet, he wouldn't have taken the risk of turning in another student and getting sued for cheating."
"But there's something I don't understand Sora-kun... this strategy relies heavily on luck right? The reason why we asked for a copy from a second year student was because we noticed that there was a chance that it was the same exam as last year's. Without that information, we never would have made that decision."
"Exactly. That's what the second year students noticed too."
" What do you mean?"
"When the student council provided them with a copy of the paper they had to give to the first years, the students realized that it was the same exam as last year's. Therefore, if they wanted students to come to them for their copies, they had to make it clear to the first years that the next exam was going to be the same as last year's. And to do that..."
"They had to leave clues... I understand. That was the reason why Hirata-kun had noticed that image. But then again, it was a fluke, wasn't it? If Hirata hadn't asked for pictures of the mock exams for practice, he would never have noticed that clue about the next exam."
"Hirata was manipulated. I spoke with him earlier, in reality it wasn't him who asked to receive those pictures."
"Seriously?"
"His second year friend had influenced the discussion, she had directed the conversation to the upcoming exams and had ended up offering to send Hirata her exams from last year so that he could practice."
"I see... she had sent the mock exams but had not sent him the upcoming exam."
"Yes, if she only sent the exams from before and not the next exam, she wasn't going against the rules, so even if she got reported, she wouldn't risk anything."
"And so by sending out the previous exams, she left a clue for Hirata, pointing out that her mock exam this year was the same as last year's."
"So Hirata had finally come up with a theory, that the next exam could also be the same as last year's."
"And so, he on his own contacted his friend again... and that's how she won the exam."
"A simple, low-key method that most of the students in second year used."
"They became friends with the first year students and subtly dropped hints to lead the students to come and ask them for last year's copy on tomorrow's exams."
"The easiest way to pass the exam. Of course, it is not impossible that some students tried more risky methods, but in any case, it was essential for them to remain discreet and not to be reckless, their place in this school was at risk."
"So no matter what method was used, it was impossible for information about this exam to leak, otherwise someone was inevitably going to get expelled."
"The only way for one class to report another was by providing evidence of a copy exchange with the first year student so all they had to do was communicate through their phone and that evidence would be nonexistent."
"Couldn't they have asked for a smartphone inspection?"
"Smartphones are a part of students' private lives, to get to the point of requesting their investigation, a class had to bring a legitimate reason to the student council, but since there was no physical evidence then there was no legitimate reason."
"In other words, the only people who could turn in second year students were the ones who interacted with them directly, which was the first year students. It was pointless for another second-year class to try to turn in another second-year class, since bringing the evidence was very difficult."
"So the most effective way to do the exam was to pull off a discreet exchange with a first-year student who you were sure wasn't going to report you. Attacking other classes was difficult and exposed students to risk thus no one was going to attempt that method..."
Horikita was slowly understanding all the subtleties of this exam.
"Wasn't there a risk of a second year class manipulating the first year students?"
"If a second year class let a first year class understand that there was a special exam, then they were exposing themselves to the risk of blackmail. The first-year class understanding that they were not risking anything in this exam could have instead forced the second-year classes to obey their blackmail."
"That's right...since the first-year students are not risking exclusion, they can freely negotiate with the second-year classes and force unfavorable conditions on them."
"Therefore, it was essential for the second-year classes to remain as discreet as possible about the existence of this exam."
Horikita now understood how this exam had come about and why she had not heard about it. But suddenly she was faced with a wall, something that contradicted everything she had just learned.
"Wait a minute... if this exam was so discreet... why do you know about it? And also, going back to our original conversation, how come these exam papers are fake? And why are you getting a million private points? Everything you just explained to me doesn't make sense."
"The key point of this exam is its discretion. Students must be able to influence and negotiate with other individuals without getting caught. That's what this exam teaches us. It also means that this is its weakest point because the moment someone knows about this exam, they can manipulate classes to their liking."
"You've been... manipulating the second years?"
"This exam has been going on for 10 days. At the end of the sixth day, I walked into a classroom of second years and told them that I knew about this exam."
"What?!"
Suzune was a little louder than usual which drew the attention of the students around for a few seconds. She coughed and straightened up.
"Please excuse me."
The students didn't understand and resumed their discussions, there were still a few minutes before the teacher arrived.
Suzune began to whisper.
"What do you mean?!"
"I walked into their classes and told them I knew about the exam. I was willing to negotiate with those who wanted to buy my silence."
"Why would they want to negotiate with you? Didn't you tell me yourself without evidence there was no point in reporting a class?"
"Yes...but they didn't know that I didn't have proof. I'm a first year student who somehow knew about the exam. Suddenly, I walk into their classroom and offer to buy my silence, what do you suppose they'll think?"
"Someone told you the truth..."
"The logical conclusion to make was that another class had revealed the truth to me and was using me to threaten their class."
"But Sora-kun, unless you have exchanged with a student from the class you are threatening, you have no concrete evidence against them. It would then be enough for the students to communicate with each other and say that they never exchanged with you so that the class realizes that you have nothing against them."
"Yes... but I hadn't come forward as an individual. I had come forward as a representative of class D."
"Representative... of class D?"
"Yes, at least one person from their class had certainly started talking to students from class D. It's even possible that a few students from our class have already received copies of tomorrow's so-called exam."
"Why wouldn't they have shared it?"
"Two reasons. First, there is no guarantee that tomorrow's exam will be the same as last year's, therefore, students don't want to risk giving a fake copy to their classmates, they might be considered traitors."
"In that case, it would be enough for those students to say that it wasn't reliable information, right?"
" We get to the second reason, if students provide a copy that would potentially be different from last year's copy, that could lead to the exclusion of students who only studied with that copy."
"And so?"
"And so, the excluded students could out of frustration report the student who handed out those exams and report his or her exchange with the second year students."
"Right..."
" That makes it much safer for those students to keep those papers to themselves and let the others figure it out on their own."
"And so, what role did you play in that?"
"I had gone to the second-year Class D and offered them to pay me 1 million private points to keep my silence."
"Why would they obey you?"
"Because they don't know whether I communicated with my class or not. There was a risk that I had already exchanged with my class and suggested them to threaten the second-year Class D in exchange for money."
"I see, the second year Class D must have figured that you had the evidence of the exchanges between the first year Class D and the second year Class D and that you were going to present it to the student council if they didn't comply."
"Precisely, I gave them a few days to make up their minds however I also knew that I had to make my threat even more believable so I took a new initiative. I reported the system to the student council who felt compelled to change tomorrow's exam."
"Huh?"
Suzune was confused again.
"The student council visited each of the classes and had told them that the exam had been exposed and that it was therefore cancelled. In other words, no class was a winner of this exam, but that wasn't all. The Student Council had also said that they were in the process of investigating the class that had exposed the exam."
"I understand better... Class D of the second year must have sensed that they were going to end up being ratted out, so they came back to you to negotiate."
"Precisely. Also, I refused any contact in writing so they could only negotiate with me if they met me physically. Therefore, there is no proof that I blackmailed Class D, but the danger that I can expose them does exist so they eventually gave in. The only way to prove that I had threatened class D was to use the cameras in the classroom but that was not enough. In my speech to Class D, I had not clearly specified that I wanted to sell my silence. It was a very subtle statement. Therefore, I am innocent."
"Are you going to get the private points?"
"One million private points at 6:00 pm. That was what we agreed to last night."
"I can't believe it... I have to say that you're really amazing Sora-kun, however I still have two things I wanted to say."
"What are those?"
"For starters, because of your manipulation, the last hope we had to save the failing students in our class died."
"Not at all, that's the simplest part of the plan."
"The simplest part? I'm sorry, but unless there's a miracle, it's impossible for them to pass tomorrow's exam."
"That miracle does exist. Because they're not going to pass tomorrow's exam."
"Where are you going with this?"
"Tomorrow we will all together fail the exam."
"Fail the exam? I don't follow you. If we fail the exam, we will all be expelled. You don't think the school is going to spare us just because we're a whole class that failed, do you?"
"Not at all. It's something much simpler. You'll understand soon enough."
Suzune was curious as to what he was getting at, but before that, she had one more question for him. An ultimate question.
"And finally... I still don't understand what's going on. Why did this special exam take place? Why do you know all the details of the exam? Why did you say that you created fake exams with Shiro?"
"Ah, about that. You misunderstood me. I didn't say that the papers themselves were fake. Those exams are indeed last year's, however they were made fake thanks to me and Shiro, because by reporting the existence of the exam to the student council, I forced them to change the paper. I don't know what kind of test will take place tomorrow."
"Sora-kun, that still doesn't answer my question. How did you do all this?"
"We simply kept our end of the bargain."
Sora put his hand on Shiro and stroked his hair.
"We beat Horikita Manabu."
A/N :
This chapter was truly fun to write and I loved everything about it. If you haven't noticed, the title of this chapter is a reference to the best OST from No Game No Life called the King's Plan, you can listen to that while reading this chapter, it's more fun that way ! I didn't find interesting ways to include Shiro into this but trust me she'll have a key role in the next exam. Thanks for the read and please share your opinion with me about this. I'm also on Wattpad now ! Username : RyuzakiWriter, I posted this fanfiction there too!