The corridor's shadows were sliced into fragments by the setting sun. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka leaned against the window, absently rubbing the second button of his uniform between his fingers. In the distance, Class B's leader, Ichinose Honami, was quietly discussing something with her classmates. Her gentle smile was like a blunt knife, slowly cutting through the school's hypocritical order.
"The Special Exam's theme is 'Resource Battle,' right?" Ayanokoji suddenly spoke, his voice so soft it seemed to dissolve into the air. Ryuen Kakeru, a Class C student passing by, stopped and narrowed his eyes at the guy who was always aloof from the crowd.
"You're pretty well informed, you little D-Class nobody." Ryuen grinned, baring a sharp, canine smile. "But this exam won't be as simple as the last one. Each class has to choose five 'resource managers.' Once a manager's identity is exposed, the opposing class can plunder points from the entire class."
Ayanokoji lowered his eyes, his lashes casting cobweb-like shadows on his pale skin. Ryuen would never know that this conversation was a trap Ayanokoji had carefully laid. Three days ago, he had "happened" to glimpse a draft of the exam rules in the teachers' office. Two days ago, he had "casually" let Ishizaki Daichi, Class C's spy, in on Ryuen's secret dealings in exam questions. And now Ryuen was following the script Ayanokoji had written, handing him the crucial information himself.
The Special Teaching Building at night was like a massive coffin. Ayanokoji stood at the edge of the roof, with an abyss below him that devoured all light. He heard unsteady footsteps behind him. Ibuki Mio of Class C was shoved in front of him, her hands bound behind her back. Dust covered her uniform, and a cut at the corner of her mouth oozed beads of blood.
"Why did you betray your class?" she rasped, staring fixedly at the boy in the shadows.
Ayanokoji slowly crouched down, his fingertips brushing her trembling eyelid. "I made three copies of the surveillance footage you secretly recorded when you broke into the teachers' office last week." He pulled out his phone. On the screen was clear proof of Ibuki sending photos of the exam questions to students from another school. "If Ryuen finds out you've been selling information to two rival high schools, which do you think he'll break first, your left hand or your leg?"
Ibuki's pupils contracted sharply, like a sparrow caught in a vise.
"After the exam starts tomorrow, I need you to become one of Class C's resource managers." Ayanokoji's voice was wrapped in honeyed gentleness. "Then, at exactly two o'clock on the afternoon of the third day, use this USB drive to replace the access key on Ryuen's command-room computer." He slipped a silver USB drive into her bloodstained pocket. The metal reflected the girl's deathly pale face. "Of course, you can refuse—provided your mother's heart transplant can wait until you've scraped together the medical expenses next month."
The second day of the exam. The Class D command room.
Horikita Suzune irritably swiped across the digital map. The red markers representing Class C suddenly began to contract on a large scale. "Something's wrong. Their defenses have an obvious opening." She turned sharply toward Ayanokoji, who was resting with his eyes closed in the corner. "When you suggested Hirata-kun take a team to raid Class C's warehouse, did you already know..."
A piercing alarm suddenly blared, and a crimson warning box appeared on the screen: [Class C resource manager Ibuki Mio has been exposed. Class D gains the right to plunder 200 points.]
When Hirata Yosuke returned with his team, someone's blood stained his shirt. "We walked right into a trap!" He slammed his fist on the table. "Class C's warehouse was full of empty boxes! Ryuen's main force wasn't there at all!"
Ayanokoji opened his eyes, an inhuman gleam flickering in their depths. "We can still make it to the gym." He brought up the surveillance footage. Ryuen was leading the real resource managers toward the gym's underground storage room. "But they left ten minutes before us. We'll need someone to draw away their main force."
Everyone's eyes suddenly fixed on Sato Maya in the corner. The girl who was always clinging to Ayanokoji was gripping her skirt tightly. She had drawn Class D's resource manager role that morning.
"I'll go." Sato suddenly stood up, her ponytail tracing a desperate arc in the stark light. "I know the gym's layout better than anyone, and..." She looked at Ayanokoji, her eyes misting over. "You said you'd protect me, right?"
Ayanokoji gave her a perfectly timed smile, like a carefully crafted mask. "Of course."
When Sato's scream came from the gym corridor, Ayanokoji was standing at a junction in the ventilation ducts. Ryuen had fallen for it, just as expected. Class C's entire main force had been lured to the wrong area. Ayanokoji unlocked the underground storage room's electronic lock. Five resource terminals, their lights glowing green, lay inside.
His phone suddenly vibrated. It was an encrypted message from Ibuki: [USB implanted. Ryuen's command system will shut down in five minutes.]
He entered the final password. Suddenly, something heavy hit the ground behind him with a dull thud. Sato crawled into the storage room, her face covered in blood and her left hand bent at a grotesque angle. "Ayanokoji-kun... hurry... Ryuen and the others are almost..."
"Thanks for the effort." He didn't turn around, his fingers flying across the terminal screen. "Your sacrifice will bring Class D victory."
"Wait! You said you'd protect me—"
As the iron door of the storage room slammed shut, Ayanokoji inserted Sato's student card into the access system. A piercing alarm rang across the campus: [Class D resource manager Sato Maya has been exposed. 150 points deducted.]
Ayanokoji calmly escaped through the ventilation ducts. Below, Ryuen's furious roar mingled with Sato's fading sobs. On the digital map, Class C's points were being ruthlessly plundered by Class A. The USB drive contained no virus at all; it had simply synced Class C's real resource coordinates to Katsuragi Kohei.
Cold rain began to fall on the roof. Ayanokoji watched the warning lights flashing in the direction of the gym, tasting a metallic tang on his tongue. Horikita Suzune's accusatory text blinked on his screen. He quietly pressed delete.
The most wonderful moment in a game of chess was always when a piece realized it was nothing but a puppet wound in ink-black strings. And the most precious spoils of this exam were now sitting in his contacts: an invitation to cooperate from Ichinose Honami, attached to detailed profiles of every one of Class B's resource managers.
Humming a tuneless little song, he walked into the rain. In the shadows of the school building behind him, a pair of amber eyes watched his retreating figure. Chabashira Sae toyed with the bloodstained USB drive she had picked up from the trash can, a snake-like smile curling across her lips.
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