The First Meeting of the Class Leaders? A Huge Misunderstanding About Everyone's Identities...

The Tian Shu Sha Exam was nearing its end. Only Class D's Lord game remained unfinished.

It wasn't that the Class D game had been especially intense. The players had simply spent more time talking.

Things were going very well for Class D. Five players with Rebel identities had actually won their games.

In the earlier practice matches, Rebels had had the lowest win rate.

Class D had earned a total of 90 Class Points.

Compared with the nearly 700 points each of the other classes had, 90 was still nothing to brag about. But before this, they'd had zero.

After this Tian Shu Sha Exam ended, Class D was guaranteed at least 100 Class Points. Everyone in Class D was thrilled!

So all eyes were on the final match: the Class D livestream, where Horikita Suzune was Lord.

A little earlier, in Room D.

Class D Lord Room:

Seat 1 (Class D): Horikita Suzune (Lord)

Seat 2 (Class A): Katsuragi Kouhei

Seat 3 (Class D): Ayanokoji Kiyotaka

Seat 4 (Class C): Ryuen Kakeru

Seat 5 (Class B): Ichinose Honami

Identities confirmed.

Round 1 begins:

The players' distances were, in order: 11111 → 02220.

Ryuen sneered. "What an interesting group of faces. Apart from one unnecessary extra, all the First Year class leaders are gathered here. We might as well sit down and play mahjong."

This Class D match really was an unexpected first meeting between all the class leaders.

Horikita: "Ryuen, were all the things Tennoji did on your orders?"

Ryuen laughed, his mouth curling into a brazen grin. "What, Horikita? Want to call off our agreement now? You can, if you like. In this exam, if you only kill the useless sidekick beside you, I might consider it."

Ichinose was intrigued to hear Tennoji's name brought up;

Katsuragi, meanwhile, wondered what this supposed agreement between Classes C and D was.

Horikita snorted. Ichinose was to her left, and their distance was 0, so she could kill her.

But after thinking it over, Horikita decided that the outcome of the other rooms was still unknown. As the Lord her class had placed its hopes in, she had to play it safe.

She wouldn't kill anyone whose identity was unknown, so she passed.

It was seat 2's turn: Katsuragi.

Ryuen: "Heh. What a bunch of indecisive players. The fun of this game is killing quickly. Just sit there, Lord with one point, and wait for me to kill you."

Katsuragi could kill either player beside him this round, but he didn't act either. He passed.

Ayanokoji was in exactly the same situation as Katsuragi, and he passed as well.

At seat 4, Ryuen said, "You're all so interesting. As agreed, I'll kill you, Lord Horikita."

Horikita scoffed at his blatant Rebel act. It was the strategy with the lowest chance of winning.

"I won't dodge." Horikita had 4 health.

At seat 5, Ichinose did the same thing as Ryuen and attacked Horikita.

Horikita was startled. As Lord, had she really been unlucky enough to start the game within range of two Rebels, leaving her open to a double attack?

She gritted her teeth. That meant both players to her left were Rebels, which was worse than she'd expected.

Now she could only hope that the Spy and Loyalist would make the right moves next round.

Looking at things this way, Ayanokoji might be the Loyalist—or the Spy.

She hoped he was a Spy outside the factions. Then Class D could rely on its numbers to cheat its way to victory.

"I won't dodge." Horikita had 3 health.

Round 2 distances: 21121 (When a distance of 0 triggers priority compensation, the maximum is 0–2.)

Horikita was troubled. Her distance from Ryuen was 2 this round, just like his distance from her. She could only attack Ichinose, who had also openly declared herself a Rebel.

Ichinose didn't dodge and had 3 health remaining.

This round, Katsuragi could only attack Ayanokoji, the player next in turn order.

In theory, with two Rebels openly showing themselves, the two of them shouldn't be fighting each other.

But Katsuragi's only goal was to stop the Spy from winning alone!

Katsuragi wasn't the Spy. With two players openly claiming to be Rebels, one of them was probably a Little Traitor pretending to be a Rebel from the start. That meant Ayanokoji could only be the Loyalist.

If someone could see Katsuragi's thoughts from God's Perspective, his identity would already be exposed.

Katsuragi was a Rebel.

But killing the Lord wasn't his first priority, which was why he hadn't attacked her in the first round. He'd wanted to find the Little Traitor first.

As it happened, Ayanokoji was the extra Class D player. For the sake of a fair match, eliminating him as soon as possible was the best choice.

Ayanokoji didn't dodge and had 3 health remaining.

Horikita: "What are you doing, Katsuragi? Are you the Spy? But is this really how the Spy is supposed to play!?"

Katsuragi: "Horikita, you should worry about yourself first. My identity doesn't matter. Besides, in a normal game, it wouldn't be strange for the Spy to kill the Loyalist at the start. Especially when this Loyalist seems to be from your Class D."

Horikita was at a loss. Katsuragi wasn't wrong. At this point, she really did think Ayanokoji was the Loyalist.

Her current guess was that Ryuen and Ichinose were Rebels, and Katsuragi was the Spy.

Having two players from the same class on the same side was the worst possible outcome they'd expected before the match.

The other three classes would definitely focus their attacks on one of them first. A 2v2 matchup was far fairer than 2v1v1v1.

Next round, Ayanokoji counterattacked Katsuragi with One Slash. He didn't dodge either, leaving Katsuragi with 3 health.

Ryuen: "Aw, what a shame. I can't reach the Lord anymore."

Ryuen's true identity was actually Loyalist!

He'd attacked the Lord at the start partly because he couldn't stand Horikita, but also because he wanted to draw out everyone else's identities.

For example, now he couldn't tell whether Katsuragi or Ayanokoji was the Spy or the Rebel.

If Ichinose had been the Spy pretending to be a Rebel, then the two Rebels on the other side would be fighting each other. That would be interesting too.

With Ryuen, the Loyalist, pretending to be a Rebel from the start, the four players in Room D had become deeply suspicious of one another.

Ryuen's distance was 2 this round. Horikita was also at distance 2, while the other three players were all at distance 1 and within reach. But would he kindly help his Lord kill an enemy?

"I'll kill Katsuragi."

Whether he killed Katsuragi or Ayanokoji made little difference to Ryuen, but for some reason, he'd rather kill someone from Class A.

Katsuragi didn't dodge and had 2 health remaining.

At this point, Katsuragi's initial read on everyone else's identities was clear:

Ayanokoji was Loyalist, Ryuen was Spy, and Ichinose was Rebel.

This was going well. There was no way the Loyalist and Spy had both attacked the Lord at the start, was there?

Katsuragi was confident in his assessment. His target was simple: kill Ryuen first!

After that, whenever he had a chance to finish off the Lord, he'd take it. No matter what, the Spy couldn't be allowed to win!

When Ichinose's turn came, she couldn't reach anyone. It didn't matter, so she passed.

Round 3 distances: 12220

Ichinose: "Another round where I can't do anything, huh? Sigh~"

Horikita had no choice but to attack Ichinose, who had openly declared herself a Rebel. Ichinose had 2 health remaining.

Rebel Katsuragi fell into thought. Should he kill the Lord or the Loyalist this round?

His Rebel teammate Ichinose had been at distance 0 in two out of the three rounds.

A quick kill on the Lord seemed unlikely now.

Meanwhile, the Spy Ryuen, as Katsuragi saw him, still had all 4 health, while Ichinose beside him was down to 2.

Could the Spy Ryuen end up stealing the Rebel victory?

The Spy having a huge advantage was exactly what Katsuragi least wanted to see.

And with the Lord and Loyalist on either side of him, was he supposed to kill the Lord by himself?

Wait! Katsuragi had never attacked the Lord. In Horikita's eyes, he was the Spy.

Then he wouldn't attack the Lord. He'd pretend to be the Spy instead! Let everyone focus their attacks on Ryuen, the real Spy.

It just meant letting down his teammate Ichinose. Katsuragi could accept even letting the Lord win the match, but he couldn't accept the Spy winning alone.

Katsuragi: "End Turn."

Horikita: "Hmph. Only now you've figured out how the Spy should play?"

Katsuragi's actions did make Ryuen a little wary.

And so...

From Loyalist Ryuen's point of view, Ichinose was a Rebel, Ayanokoji was possibly a Rebel, and Katsuragi was the Spy?

From Rebel Katsuragi's point of view, Ichinose was a Rebel, Ryuen was the Spy, and Ayanokoji was the Loyalist.

From Lord Horikita's point of view, Ichinose was a Rebel, Ryuen was a Rebel, Ayanokoji was the Loyalist, and Katsuragi was the Spy.

From Rebel Ichinose's point of view, Ryuen was a Rebel, Ayanokoji was the Loyalist, and Katsuragi was the Spy.

Aside from Ichinose's Rebel identity, everyone was completely wrong!?

And what did things look like from Ayanokoji's perspective?

He was, of course, the real Spy.

Everyone knew that the Spy was the easiest identity to figure out. All you had to do was find the Loyalist.

But in this Class D game, from Ayanokoji's perspective, Katsuragi should have been the Loyalist.

Yet Katsuragi was now pretending to be a Little Traitor?

Could he actually be the Loyalist?

No. Looking back at the first round from Ayanokoji's perspective, Katsuragi had already given himself away.

At the time, Katsuragi's distance from Ayanokoji was 2, while Horikita was at distance 0.

If Katsuragi was the Loyalist, had he passed up attacking Ayanokoji, the player next in turn order, just to play it safe?

Not only that, but there were Class D players within reach on both sides of him, and he hadn't attacked either of them.

That was hardly the Loyalist's behavior. Did he have no intention of winning this match at all?

But if he wasn't the Loyalist, he hadn't attacked the Lord or the extra Class D player, and he couldn't be the Spy.

Then it was simple... What if he was a Rebel?

And so, from Ayanokoji the Spy's perspective, the identities were:

Katsuragi was a Rebel pretending to be the Spy; Ryuen was a Loyalist pretending to be a Rebel; and Ichinose was a Rebel who'd been baited.

All correct!

Still, there was nothing to be proud of in a Spy correctly guessing everyone else's identities.

In two more rounds, the misunderstandings about everyone's identities in Room D would be cleared up. The clever class leaders would all figure things out.

Ayanokoji had no interest in making their confusion last any longer.

He didn't care who won this match.

The Loyalist was supposed to have the least health, but with 5 health, he was a Spy who was truly loyal to Class D. Most likely, Class D would win in the chaos.

What Ayanokoji was thinking about now was something else: the hidden meaning behind this preferential exam...