We're Rivals Again, Aoyama / She Likes Aoyama More Than I Do

"Twelve groups, you can simply name them from one to twelve. Doesn't it seem a bit strange that the school deliberately created twelve 'branch'?"

"At least on the surface, the school will ensure that the Special Exam are fair to all classes, which is why we all tacitly agree that each class has three VIP, and the school never does anything for nothing."

"If there's no pattern to the selection of those VIP, and everyone just works independently within their groups, how can we allow class leaders to truly shine?"

Kouiku's educational policy has never been about making everyone a dragon.

Of the 160 students in the first grade, the school will only value four, and these four will be the leaders of their respective classes.

By reasoning from the effect to the cause, Aoyama quickly helped Ichinose and Kanzaki understand that there was likely a pattern to the selection of those VIP. If a class had the names of six VIP, then that class's chances of winning would be maximized.

Thinking of the lovely, gentle, literary girl, Aoyama's smile softened. "Based on my understanding of Sakayanagi and Shiina, they can't be unaware of this."

"How can we guarantee that Class C won't betray us?" Ichinose suddenly felt a little unhappy.

The exam rules state that each group's exam result will only have three words: "Result" followed by "1, 2, 3, 4". Changes in the Class Points will only be reflected in the total result.

In other words, Class B wouldn't know if any class violated the contract, and it's simply impossible to sign a contract that would punish all three classes together.

If even Class B doesn't trust them, how could they possibly trust each other?

To prevent any unforeseen outcome, the school has taken many precautions.

"It's simple. Just make sure the risk is high enough that none of the three classes dare to take it." Aoyama took a sip of light tea. "Class D will mortgage Suzune, Class C will mortgage Shiina, and Class A will mortgage Katsuragi."

"As long as these three vouch for our class, and if anything goes wrong, they can just sell themselves and transfer to Class B, I think it's worth it to buy any one of them, even if it costs Twenty Million Personal Points."

"As for which class committed the act of betrayal, I have a way to determine it, but I won't provide evidence."

"Well, if Class B thinks Shiina isn't worth it, I can personally buy her out of my own pocket. I'll compensate Class B in other ways." Remembering that Ichinose had emphasized Class C, Aoyama continued.

Then he noticed that Ichinose's smile had disappeared for some reason.

Chapter 134 We've become rivals again, Aoyama.

"Aoyama -san really likes Shiina, doesn't he?" Ichinose murmured, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

However, Aoyama and Kanzaki were not far from her, so their words naturally reached their ears as well. Kanzaki's expression gradually darkened, and he felt a little worried.

He felt that, no matter how he looked at it, Aoyama Shiki was not Ichinose.

"Yeah, it's because Shiina is so cute." Aoyama readily admitted. "I'll assist you tomorrow. Generally, there shouldn't be any major problems. As for our cooperative relationship, let's not reveal it for now, just in case they become suspicious."

By having each of the three classes send out a group to deliberately make Class B guess wrong, Class B will lose fifty Class Points, but at the same time, they will gain very useful information.

For example, the VIP is from the class that receives it, and among the remaining two people, one of them must be VIP.

Moreover, with their own group exams over, the VIP are bound to let their guard down, making it not too difficult for Aoyama to test them.

To avoid arousing suspicion from the third shift, keeping the cooperative relationship hidden for now will make the plan go more smoothly.

"We'll decide on the next steps tomorrow, depending on the situation."

"Okay, thank you for your help Aoyama- kun." Ichinose pursed her lips, somewhat reluctantly standing up from her seat.

Since Aoyama has provided a highly feasible plan, she will notify the students to implement it tonight. Although the confirmation text message for those VIP will be sent at 8:00 AM tomorrow, it is necessary to allow enough time to deal with any unforeseen circumstances.

"See you tomorrow."

See you tomorrow, Aoyama -kun.

With a slight smile, Ichinose left Aoyama's room, accompanied by a hesitant Kanzaki.

Shortly after that, with a look of utter despair, Sakura Airi appeared before Aoyama, holding a piece of white paper with many names written on it.

Class A: Sawada Kyomi, Shimizu Naoki, Nishi Haruka, Yoshida Kenta.

Class B: Kobashi Yume, Ninomiya Yui, Watanabe Kiji.

Class C: Tokito Yuya, Nomura Yuji, Yajima Mariko.

Class D: Kanji Ike, Sakura Airi, Ken Sudō, Matsushita Chiaki.

After taking the blank paper and looking at it, Aoyama instantly understood why Sakura seemed so utterly hopeless.

Kanji Ike and Sudo, two of the Three Idiots in Class D, are not quite as geniuses as Yamauchi, but they are not much different. To Sakura, they are no different from the big bosses.

The only girl in the class, and a member of gyaru group, is someone to be happy about, unlike Matsushita Chiaki and Sato Shinohara so assertive.

"Well, you're growing up so fast again." With a teasing laugh, Aoyama picked up Sakura and sat her on the edge of the bed, gently stroking her head.

Nestled in Aoyama's arms, Sakura shyly half-closed her eyes, "This challenge is a bit too difficult for me."

After they became a couple, she started to act coquettishly and boldly.

"I believe you, Airi."

Offering little comfort, Aoyama brushed aside Sakura's bangs.

Beneath a forehead as white and flawless as jade, were a pair of alluring, icy blue eyes that seemed to both resist and welcome.

At the same time, just like Class B, Class C also held a combat meeting.

Ryuen stood in front of the blackboard in the small conference room. "Everyone, please gather here again before 8:00 tomorrow. Then, following the principle of 'voluntary' action, everyone should unlock their phones and place them on the table."

"Important reminder: Follow the principle of voluntariness."

With a dangerous smile, Ryuen scanned the Class C students, whose expressions varied, like a gangster boss surveying his subordinates.

The exam rules state that students must not be spied on or coerced into showing their received text messages to confirm whether they are VIP. Violation of this rule will result in expulsion.

But as long as there's no evidence, that's fine. Without solid evidence, schools won't arbitrarily expel students, especially those who are class leaders.

That's what Ryuen thought, so he disregarded the rule completely.

"If you don't want to, you can walk out of this door now, and you don't need to come back tomorrow," Ryuen continued, making it clear that no one would cause trouble tomorrow.

If we don't stand up now, we'll have even less confidence to cause trouble tomorrow.

Several tens of seconds passed slowly, and the students in Class C in the small conference room just looked at each other, with not one of them standing up.

"Very good, next question." Ryuen withdrew his sharp gaze with satisfaction. "After the exam starts tomorrow, no one is allowed to send text messages guessing VIP, even if they are 100% sure they are right."

After discussing it with Shiina and Kaneda, he knew that most of the students in Class C, even if they were fooled by shrewd people like Aoyama and Sakayanagi, would only gloat and report back to him, or not report at all.

Without clearly indicating which class wins and which loses in each group, it's difficult for class leaders to determine which students in their group are misbehaving.

The reward of 500,000 personal points for correctly guessing the VIP is quite tempting for students in Class C, especially since the school encourages them to postpone the distribution of the reward points.

This way, even if you check your phone after the exam, you won't find a large amount of personal points.

Tokito Ren spoke with a blank expression, "Even being 100% sure isn't enough? What if there are students from other classes present? Wouldn't that be a loss?"

"Heh, if I find out anyone disobeys, I'll let them know that sometimes dropping out isn't a bad option."

Ryuen's indifferent gaze lingered on Tokito before returning to everyone else.

He planned to reward Tokito Ren after the exam, but since he was currently in Special Exam, it wasn't a good time to take action. He felt it was unnecessary to risk immediate punishment for being talkative.

"Tomorrow, write down the names of the other group members in your group. After the first exam discussion, the list must be submitted to Shiina immediately."

Since Shiina said she sensed a pattern in the VIP from the exams, Ryuen decided to trust her and make some adjustments to the plan.

Depending on the circumstances, he has no problem cooperating with Aoyama, as long as the benefits Aoyama can bring are large enough.

"To prevent the identities of those VIP from being revealed, I suggest that students not ask each other who the VIP is." Shiina stood up from her seat, her voice gentle yet carrying an undeniable air of authority.

"As long as you don't know who the VIP are, then Ryuen can't wrongly accuse you of unintentionally leaking information about the VIP to other classes."

Nearly ten hours have passed since all students were informed that the Special Exam was about to begin.

Aoyama hasn't approached Class C yet, which suggests that he might become their opponent again this Aoyama.

Therefore, Shiina felt that it would be impossible not to have a good defensive strategy. To this day, she still couldn't understand how the VIP of Class C had leaked the information on the Uninhabited Island.

Now we're rivals again, Aoyama.

We can finally meet openly tomorrow! I really hope tomorrow comes soon.

After sitting down, Shiina gently stroked the familiar names on the Dragon Group Class A roster in her notebook and smiled very tenderly.

Chapter 135 She Likes Aoyama More Than I Do

The next morning, around eight o'clock, at the buffet restaurant.

Excluding the lazy students from Class D, the only students from Classes A, B, and C present here are four from Class 1-A.

Aoyama Shiki, Kamuro Masumi, Yamamura Miki, and Hashimoto Masayoshi, who was forced to come by Aoyama with Hashimoto Masayoshi smile.

At eight o'clock sharp, Hashimoto obediently turned on his phone and placed it flat in front of Aoyama.

"You can leave now." Having discovered that Hashimoto wasn't VIP, Aoyama showed him no respect whatsoever, clearly indicating his distrust and asking him to leave.

He had suspected that the person who helped Sakayanagi on the Uninhabited Island was Hashimoto, but without concrete evidence, he kept the suspicion to himself for the time being, since it might come in handy in the future.

Just like now, he can still control Hashimoto to self-destruct; if he doesn't, it means he has something to hide.

"I'm not."

"Neither do I."

After Yamamura finished speaking, Kamuro also denied that he was VIP. It was not normal for three people to be selected as VIP out of forty.

Without much hope, Aoyama opened the text message he had received.

[After careful consideration, you were not selected as VIP...]

As expected, he wasn't VIP either. Now, let's see if there's any good news from Karuizawa and Kushida. In the original story, both of them were VIP in Class D.

It was during this Paper Shuffle Special Exam that Kushida revealed her identity as a traitor.

"I've received all the necessary information; let's get started."

After waiting for a while and receiving several more text messages, Aoyama's face lit up with joy. He then led Kamuro and Yamamura to meet up with Ichinose.

He wasn't surprised that Karuizawa was VIP, but he didn't expect Kushida to VIP of the Dragon Group. Akito had changed, Kushida was still in the same position.

He could confirm that there was a pattern in the selection of those VIP, but he had long forgotten what that pattern was. He only remembered that it was related to the twelve earthly branches and names. The Dragon Group was the fifth in the earthly branch ranking, which meant that the Dragon Group was the fifth in the name ranking.

With the addition of Kushida and Karuizawa, the three VIP in Class B make up five, nearly half the total number of VIP.

Unable to deduce any pattern from this, Aoyama felt he might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes.

Good morning, Amikura.

In the cruise ship's pedestrian passageway, Aoyama could see Amikura in the distance. Wearing a school uniform, she stood prettily at the conference room door. Underneath her slightly short pleated skirt, her snow-white thighs possessed a beautiful, toned curve from exercise.

The absolute territory created by wearing over-the-knee stockings must be very pleasing to the eye, it's a pity.

Aoyama thought with some regret that very few girls at the Kouiku wore knee-high socks, which was a real shame for him, a fan of the absolute territory (absolute territory).

It has to be Suzune.

Nostalgic for Horikita Suzune's absolute territory, Aoyama followed Amikura into the conference room.

Ichinose and Kanzaki, who were discussing something in front of the projection screen, stopped their conversation when they saw the four of them enter. They went up to greet them and introduce themselves.

"The Dragon Group's VIP is Kushida, Rabbit Group's is Karuizawa."

With his gaze fixed on the projected lists of various groups, Aoyama provided his intelligence, which increased the number of circled names on the lists from three to five.

As soon as the new name was circled, Amikura pouted, "Putting Kikyo aside for now, how did Karuizawa tell you her identity? You didn't just agree to date Kikyo to take advantage of her, did you?"

She could also name two VIP, and while she was happy for Aoyama class, she was also worried about her friends.

She wondered if Aoyama had lied to get such VIP status from the kind-hearted Kushida.

Aoyama chuckled playfully. "You guessed pretty much right."

He did use her, but he didn't agree to date Kushida; instead, he forced Kushida to date him.

Admitting it was also to protect Kushida's reputation; as for his own, that was no big deal.

"Don't you think this is too despicable?" Amikura suddenly became furious, his tone full of accusation.

Kamuro suddenly stood next to Aoyama, "Aoyama is a selfish bastard, isn't that common knowledge? So why did your Class B cooperate with him? Are you trying to play the innocent now?"

"The problem is, I didn't know Aoyama would do this before we started the collaboration."

"STOP! Stop, you Komako." Ichinose, standing between Kamuro and Amikura, looked somewhat helpless. "Sorry, Kamuro, Komako is just worried about your friend."

Aoyama placed his hand on Kamuro's shoulder. "Are you standing up for me, my Kamuro?"

"Who stood up for you? And I already told you not to use that shameful title anymore."

With a slight pout, Kamuro yielded to the pressure from Aoyama's hand and retreated, no longer confronting Amikura. On the other side, Ichinose also whispered something to Amikura and persuaded her.