If Sakayanagi Can Do It, Why Can't I? / Ichinose's Smile Disappears

Aoyama pointed to the goal pocket, "Just tell me if it went in or not, you've scored two already, that's a lot of progress."

"Fine, whatever makes you happy."

Seeing that Aoyama patted Yamamura's head and praised him, which made Yamamura smile happily, Kamuro pouted and quickly cleared out all his lottery tickets.

With a powerful and heavy shot, the black ball went straight into the pocket after colliding with the white ball.

"Wow, Kamuro is amazing!"

"Don't call me that embarrassing name."

The billiard room wasn't just for the three of them. Facing the curious glances from students from other classes, Kamuro glared at Aoyama with some annoyance.

Doesn't this person have any sense of shame?

"Your Majesty Queen?"

Kamuro raised his cue stick. "If you want to get beaten up, just say so."

"Never mind then, it's about time, let's go eat together." Aoyama shrank back, feigning fear. "It'll start soon after we eat."

"How did you know... Never mind, I'm planning to eat something light today."

Some wanted to ask Aoyama how he knew the start time of the Special Exam, but Kamuro immediately dismissed the thought.

Given Aoyama's track record, all we'll get is a flimsy excuse.

"No problem, let's go to a light meal restaurant then." Aoyama agreed. After two days of eating rich and heavy meals since returning from the Uninhabited Island, it would be good to eat something light.

After leaving the billiards room, the three walked to a light meal restaurant. Inside, they found quite a few students, probably with the same idea as them, planning to cleanse their stomachs.

After waiting in line for a short while, they finally sat down at the table and started eating while chatting.

A while after they finished eating, sharp, piercing sounds rang out simultaneously from the students' cell phones, including those of Aoyama and his two companions.

The instructions from the school will force phones to make a sound even when on vibrate mode, so no student will fail to notice that their phone has received a notification from the school.

[This is to inform all students that the school has just sent different instructions to all students' mobile phones. Students who have received the instructions should follow them carefully. Students who have not received the instructions should contact their class teacher.]

As soon as the shrill, piercing sound of the cell phone stopped, an announcement came over the loudspeaker on the cruise ship.

It's finally started.

With a sense of anticipation, Aoyama opened the email sent by the school.

[Special Exam is about to begin. Students are requested to assemble in the designated room at the specified time. Latecomers will be severely punished. Please assemble in room 205 on the second floor before 6 PM tonight. You will have 20 minutes. Please put your mobile phones on vibrate mode.]

Aoyama looked at the two people in the Kamuro, "I'm from room 205."

"Two zero one."

"203."

The rebellious trio of Class A thus split up.

Chapter 132 What Sakayanagi Can Do, But I Can't?

As specified in the text message, Aoyama arrived at room 205 on time.

Besides Hoshinomiya Chie, the class advisor of Class B, there were two other students in the room who were also in Class 1-A.

Sakayanagi Arisu and Katsuragi Kōhei, the most elite students in Class 1-A, are all gathered here.

Separated by a table, the two sat in front of Hoshinomiya. On the two chairs that were separated by three others, Aoyama, who arrived last, could only sit between the two.

Sakayanagi chuckled, "Even I get hurt when I see a look of disgust."

"Then don't do things that people find disgusting," Aoyama replied irritably, then looked at Hoshinomiya.

Everyone's here; it's time to explain the exam rules.

Hoshinomiya nodded to himself. "Ahem, you are Sakayanagi, Katsuragi, and Shiki from Class A, right? Now, let's begin with the Special Exam."

"In this exam, the school will divide the first-year students into twelve groups, named according to the twelve Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. The Dragon Group you have been assigned to can also be called the Dragon Group. It tests your thinking ability."

"At the same time, other rooms are also explaining things to your group members. Of course, I think you can understand without me explaining beforehand, as are the students from the other three classes in your group."

"This is the Dragon Group roster. You can't take it out of the room, but you can write it down if you find something."

As he spoke, Hoshinomiya handed a postcard-sized piece of paper to Aoyama, Aoyama glanced at it and then handed it to Katsuragi.

The Dragon Group has twelve students in total. Class B consists of Ichinose, Kanzaki, and Amikura; Class C consists of Ryuen, Shiina, and Kaneda; and Class D, unsurprisingly, consists of the elite students from Class D: Horikita Suzune, Hirata, Kushida.

Only the most renowned elite students gathered in the Dragon Group.

When Sakayanagi saw the list, Sakayanagi gently placed the blank paper back on the table, followed by a silent silence.

"You kids are not cute at all." Hoshinomiya pouted after waiting for a while for a question from the students to come. "Now, let's continue explaining the Special Exam. Look at the rules first."

Hoshinomiya pulled out three crumpled sheets of white paper from the folder and distributed them to the three people.

Taking the crumpled white paper, Aoyama frowned slightly because he smelled the stench of alcohol.

Why hasn't the school expelled you yet?

Thinking to himself, Aoyama glanced at both sides of the blank paper and tossed it back to Hoshinomiya, the speed of which puzzled Hoshinomiya.

"Not going to look at it? I think you should take a look. There are many prohibited items, just like the list, and these are things you can't take away."

Aoyama rolled his eyes at Hoshinomiya. "I have a good memory and I've memorized it all. And as the Student Council Vice President, I must warn you, don't drink while working."

"Is this what the genius realm is? Damn it." Hoshinomiya pouted, her cuteness perfectly natural.

It's a pity she's a crazy woman.

Glancing at Hoshinomiya's beautiful face, Aoyama closed his eyes and recalled the exam rules.

Tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM, the school will send a text message to all students, in which 12 people will be selected as VIP, one person per group.

The results of the Special Exam will be used to assess those VIP.

The exam will officially begin tomorrow and will last for four days, but there will be one day in between that is a completely Free Day. On the exam day, group members will go to the exam room at the designated time for a one-hour discussion.

The discussion is up to you; you can just sit there and relax, as long as you're present.

As for why we're discussing this, it's obviously to encourage students to use their thinking skills to guess who the hidden VIP is, and there will be four possible outcomes depending on the situation.

Result 1: If all students in the other three classes, excluding the class of the VIP and its classmates, guess the VIP correctly, then all members of the group will receive 500,000 personal points, while the VIP will receive 1 million.

Result 2: If no one in the group answers or answers incorrectly, only the VIP will receive 500,000 personal points.

These two results will only occur on the fourth day of the exam, while the group still exists.

Special Exam are bound to change along with Class Points. The methods for results three and four can end the group exam during the exam process.

Result 3: Students outside the class of the VIP who submit their answers to the school before the exam is over will receive 50 Class Points for their class and 500,000 personal points for themselves if they answer correctly.

The class of the person whose identity is discovered will have 50 Class Points deducted.

Result 4: Students outside the class of the VIP who send their answers to the school before the exam is over will have 50 Class Points deducted from their own class if they answer incorrectly, while the VIP's class will have 50 points added. At the same time, the VIP will receive 500,000 personal points.

"Could you please behave yourself this time, Aoyama- kun? I'm willing to pay a high price."

Having understood the rules of this Special Exam, Sakayanagi knew that if Aoyama were to sabotage Special Exam, the consequences would be disastrous.

As long as the Dragon Group's VIP are not students from Class A, or even Aoyama himself, Aoyama can betray the class's interests at any time to gain over a million personal points.

Aoyama opened his eyes and looked at the serious-looking Sakayanagi. "How tall? Taller than the sky?"

"I hope you can be like Uninhabited Island, Aoyama." Katsuragi frowned. He naturally sensed that Aoyama was up to something, but Class A couldn't afford his antics anymore.

He believes that as long as Class A remains united, they might have a chance to maintain Class A position in this Special Exam.

"If Sakayanagi can do it, why can't I?" Aoyama shook his head at Katsuragi. "It's not just me. In this Special Exam, Yamamura, Kamuro, and Hashimoto will also not follow Sakayanagi's orders."

Since Kamuro expressed her willingness to stand with him through thick and thin, he wouldn't push her away to a safe place for the sake of Kamuro- being.

How could he possibly back down from a mere Sakayanagi Arisu?

"As long as Sakayanagi remains in the leadership position, Class A will never have peace."

"Unless—you can expel me from school."

Patting Katsuragi's shoulder, whose expression was unusually serious, Aoyama stood up from his seat. He had fully understood the exam rules, and there was no need for him to stay any longer.

"Don't think I'll lose just because of this, Aoyama." Sakayanagi purple eyes were filled with coldness.

Even if Hashimoto Aoyama other two could self-destruct and end the exam, Class A would only lose 150 Class Points. As long as there are nine groups left, she has a perfect plan and can manipulate the other classes at will.

There's still hope for Class A; they might win, although it's very difficult.

"Hehe."

With a sneer, Aoyama didn't even glance at Sakayanagi before pushing open the door and walking out of the room.

He has people in Class BCD, so Sakayanagi can win, how useless must he be?

Chapter 133 Ichinose's Smile Disappears

[Chicken Group, members: Shiraishi Asuka, Nishikawa Ryoko.]

[Tiger Group, Morishita- kun, Motodo- kun.]

After replying to messages from Kamuro and Yamamura regarding the room that had been Hoshinomiya, Aoyama put away his phone and turned his attention back to Ichinose and Kanzaki of Class B.

Standing behind Ichinose like a bodyguard, Kanzaki had a cold expression on his face from the moment he entered the room.

It's as if Aoyama owes him tens of thousands.

"Have all students hand in their cell phones by 8:00 AM tomorrow, and make sure they don't know whether they are VIP or not."

"Isn't this a blatant lack of trust in one's partners?"

No sooner had Aoyama finished speaking than Kanzaki couldn't wait to refute Aoyama, saying that the benefits of confiscating all the students' cell phones were enormous, as even the VIP wouldn't know they were VIP, and students from other classes wouldn't have any opportunity to commit fraud.

The consequence of this is that students are likely to harbor resentment towards the leaders, and the reason is quite simple.

You don't trust me? Then why should I trust you?

Aoyama gave Ichinose an approving look, "I believe that if it's Ichinose, there won't be any problems. Will you have any complaints about Ichinose because of this?"

Ichinose's immense personal charisma led the students in Class B to blindly trust Ichinose, and this blind trust swelled even further after the Uninhabited Island Special Exam.

This is also Ichinose easily persuaded her classmates to prioritize collecting personal points.

Kanzaki quickly interjected, "Of course not, how could we not trust Ichinose?"

"Kanzaki, I'm a little embarrassed by what you're saying," Ichinose said with an embarrassed smile. "I think Aoyama -san's suggestion is fine; some kids are just too naive."

Shiranami Chihiro's exposure on the Uninhabited Island made her realize that some things shouldn't be abandoned just because they seem bad.

In her own class, Ichinose believes there are quite a few students like Shiranami.

"The next goal is to lure and coerce Class ACD into achieving Result 1, where Class B 'Class B group of VIP will receive five-sixths of the school's reward points, which is about 15 million."

Each of the twelve groups has at least twelve members. If the four classes cooperate and achieve result one, they can receive at least 18 million personal points from the school.

If the plan succeeds, Class B's class savings will increase by nearly eight million, as will Aoyama, who has equal rights to the distribution.

Ichinose gazed gently at Aoyama. "So, how do we seduce and coerce the other three classes, Aoyama- kun?"

The reward for outcome one is so great because that outcome is extremely difficult to achieve.

This can only be achieved if, between 9:30 and 10:00 PM on the night the exam ends, none of the students from other classes in Class ACD 3 betrayed their status and preemptively sent out their VIP status.

To prevent students from colluding after the exam and revealing the VIP to others before 10 PM, the school specifically established a taboo rule.

During a specific period after the exams, all students in the four classes are prohibited from meeting with students from other classes, and mobile phone communication is also forbidden. Anyone found doing so will face expulsion.

"Each class receives one red envelope. Class B deliberately guesses the VIP, allowing their class to gain fifty Class Points."

"The coercion is that if you don't agree, we'll sell the names of the Class B VIP to the Class D only five million—a windfall from the sky."

The class that correctly guesses the VIP will not only receive Class Points, but will also receive a reward of 500,000 personal points for the student who guesses correctly. In other words, Class D only needs to pay a little over 3 million points to receive 150 Class Points.

Anyone who doesn't buy it is a fool.

A smile appeared on Aoyama's Suzune. "As long as there are enough benefits to be had, Rin will make the right choice, and Sakayanagi and Ryuen will definitely not stand idly by."

Kanzaki stared intently at Aoyama. "Why? This shouldn't be unacceptable to Sakayanagi and the others, right? Class B has fewer Class Points, and Class D, which poses little threat, has more, it won't be taken seriously."

He believed that Class A or Class C shouldn't be too wary of Class D, whose performance was disastrous. Even though the rules were explained in advance not long after the start of the semester, the Class Points left.

Class B's real competitors are only Class A and Class C.

"It's simple. Once Class B tells Class D the name of the VIP, Class A and Class C have already lost."

"Why do you say that, Aoyama -kun?" Ichinose couldn't help but smile as she looked at Aoyama's confident expression.