Let's Play a Real Game of Werewolf on the Cruise Ship (Continued)

After waiting for about ten seconds and confirming that no one objected, Ichinose Honami also spoke with a smile:

"It seems there's no one particularly interested in being the host, so I'll take on that role for now. First, although I roughly know everyone's names, the school has given some instructions, so I think it'll be better to introduce ourselves. Besides, there might be some of us meeting for the first time."

Because the teacher specifically instructed yesterday that "it is essential to introduce yourself during the first discussion," Ichinose Honami naturally planned to use this method to slightly increase the understanding among the Tatsu Group members, and also to facilitate the subsequent discussions.

Upon closer reflection, the insistence on introducing oneself actually serves as a subtle reminder of the importance of "name."

Although he had already figured out the pattern of the VIP, which was equivalent to passing the exam, Kitagawa Ryo still wanted to see how the other classes were doing. So he also introduced himself. After a round of introductions, the atmosphere was definitely not as dull as before.

"Okay, in this first discussion about the exam, I think we should start by reasoning about the exam itself. For example, if any of us have any questions, doubts, or concerns, we can freely raise them and discuss them together. That might help us get through the exam better. What do you all think?"

Ichinose Honami's ability to control the situation was quite good, but the discussion did not proceed smoothly. After all, although they were officially a group, they were actually there for the benefit of the class, and they were already hesitant to share and exchange information, especially since this group was full of talented people.

Katsuragi Kohei and Horikita Suzune occasionally cast wary glances at Kitagawa Ryo. In the last Uninhabited Island Exam, they were more surprised by Kitagawa Ryo's ability to read and utilize the school rules than by Class C's victory. So even though Kitagawa Ryo hadn't said a single valuable word yet, no one knew the extent to which he had understood the rules of this exam.

"If no one has any questions, then I'll start by sharing my own thoughts."

It's truly remarkable how Ichinose Honami remains completely unaffected by this silent atmosphere.

"Theoretically speaking, achieving the first result is the optimal solution for passing this exam."

Ichinose Honami offered her suggestion:

"The four classes agreed to keep it a secret, and each person will receive 500,000 Private Points. The VIP should be distributed equally among the classes, so no one will be at a disadvantage, and there's no need to worry about the Class Points."

Each person receives 500,000 points, and those VIP receive an additional 500,000 points. If Ichinose Honami's idea is followed, each class can amass over 20 million Private Points. Keep in mind that even Class A, which currently has the highest Class Points, can only acquire 4 million Private Points per month.

There's no way to guarantee that there won't be traitors.

Horikita Suzune was the first to point out the problem with Ichinose Honami's words:

"Furthermore, compared to classes A, B, and C Class D, which already has four students who have dropped out, will earn a full two million less points. Could Ichinose possibly compensate for that?"

"Moreover, the purpose of Special Exam is to narrow the gap between classes and even to facilitate promotion and demotion between classes."

"This strategy sounds good, but for Class D, it's tantamount to missing an opportunity to move forward."

"Karuizawa, Hirata, what do you think?"

Seemingly feeling that her personal opinion wasn't enough, Horikita Suzune also mentioned Hirata Yosuke and Karuizawa Kei at the end of her speech. Since Horikita Suzune's logic was sound throughout and she was acting in the best interests of Class D, the two readily nodded in agreement.

Anyway, the VIP in this group aren't in Class D, so let the other three classes argue it out.

"So, does that mean your Class D is planning to actively seek out other classes for VIP in this exam to achieve result three?"

At this moment, Katsuragi Kohei suddenly interrupted, immediately pitting Class D against the other classes:

"Taking the initiative will only make enemies everywhere."

"If Katsuragi thinks Class D' s strategy is wrong, then I'll have to ask the esteemed Class A for their opinion."

Karuizawa Kei retaliated without hesitation, even making a sarcastic remark.

"I can't equate them with Class A, but I think Class A just needs to remain silent in this exam."

Upon hearing Katsuragi Kohei's statement, Kitagawa Ryo also curled the corners of his mouth.

As expected, Katsuragi Kohei also saw the biggest drawback of the discussion session in this exam—insufficient information. Under these circumstances, even if Class A withdrew from the discussion, the other three classes would not be able to guess the VIP from Class A, since no one could risk having to choose one or even one of three or four students from Class A within their group.

[Class A's decision to forgo information gathering prevents them from attacking other classes, but Class A also prevents them from being identified and attacked by others.]

This is a strategy that only Class A has the confidence to take, since they don't have the same urgent need for Class Points as Class D. They only need to maintain Class A's status. It seems that even after passing the Uninhabited Island Exam, Katsuragi Kohei's philosophy has not changed.

"Hey, silent?"

Ichinose Honami also realized Katsuragi Kohei's idea, and she also seemed to have no way to deal with this tortoise-shell tactic.

Up to now, Class A has proposed a strategy to achieve Result Two, Class B wants to achieve Result One, and Class D is single-mindedly hoping to close the gap by achieving Result Four and finding the VIP from other classes. Although no one can convince anyone else, they have all expressed their own attitudes.

This made Class C, who remained completely silent, stand out even more.

Especially.

Seeing Kitagawa Ryo yawning and looking relaxed, the three classes, who had been completely outmaneuvered during the Uninhabited Island Exam Kitagawa Ryo, felt a chill run down their spines.

"Hey, Kitagawa, why does your Class C seem even quieter than the already silent Class A?"

Karuizawa Kei tapped the table and asked proactively.

Everyone else's eyes quickly focused on Kitagawa Ryo's face, waiting for his answer.

"Oh, I just found your discussion very interesting, so I listened attentively."

Kitagawa Ryo lazily yawned:

"I'm a little sleepy from playing games for too long, sorry, sorry."

"As for this Special Exam?"

Kitagawa Ryo rested his chin on his hands, speaking in a languid and mysterious manner:

"Class C has gathered all the VIP and cleared the level."

Aside from the other three members of Class C who already knew the news, everyone else present, including Katsuragi Kohei had been resting with his eyes closed, was shocked by Kitagawa Ryo's words. They all turned to look at Kitagawa Ryo with disbelief and even horror. Kanzaki Ryuji even kicked his chair away and stood up. Horikita Suzune's smile, which she had maintained when she repelled Class B, froze on her face. Karuizawa Kei reacted even more violently, rushing to Kitagawa Ryo's side and asking with a frown:

"How is that possible? This is only the first day of the exam!"

"We don't need to lie."

Ryuen Kakeru stood up and stood between Kitagawa Ryo and Karuizawa Kei, hands in his pockets, and laughed:

"If you don't believe me, I can prove it to you right now."

The next instant, Ichinose Honami Hirata Yosuke's phones beeped with the sound of a text message being received.

What sent chills down the spines of the Leader of Class B and Class D was that the text message actually contained three names, and these three people were precisely the VIP in Class B and Class D.

"Real?"

Because Katsuragi Kohei had lost control of the class, he didn't actually know who the VIP was. However, seeing Ichinose Honami Hirata Yosuke, he asked with trembling lips.

"Excuse me, Katsuragi, what Class C said... seems to be true."

Ichinose Honami's chest heaved as she took several deep breaths to calm herself down. Although Kitagawa Ryo, the other three classes felt that the other side had truly grasped their fate.

Unlike the Leader in the Uninhabited Island Exam, the VIP this time cannot be artificially replaced. If Class C directly selects nine VIP outside of its own class, it can directly gain 450 Class Points in this Special Exam, while Classes A, B, and D will all lose 150 points. Keep in mind that the current gap between Class C and Class A is less than 200 points.

It could even be said that if Class C wanted to, they could achieve the feat of moving up to Class A in Class 1-C by the time the exams ended three days later.

"But Kitagawa, you didn't do this immediately; instead, you took the initiative to tell us... What exactly are your plans?"

Horikita Suzune was the first to come to her senses. Perhaps she was used to being defeated, because this time she quickly overcame her frustration. Maybe this is the mindset after losing too many times.

"Intend?"

Kitagawa Ryo considered for a moment, then crossed his legs and looked around before finally speaking:

"My original intention was similar to Honami's; I hoped to use this exam to gain a large number of Private Points."

"Do you two still remember the contract we signed before?"

Ichinose Honami Hirata Yosuke paused for a moment before remembering that Class B and Class D had signed a contract with Class C during the start of the school year and the Uninhabited Island Exam, respectively:

[Before the end of First Year, Class B and Class D will unconditionally cooperate with Class C in one operation, but this will not involve Class Points or student withdrawals.]

Yes, that's the one.

Seeing the thoughtful expressions on their faces, Kitagawa Ryo slowly spoke:

"With this exam, if I wanted to, I might even have a chance to get 83.5 million Private Points."

"Eight thousand... three million five hundred thousand?"

"How is that possible?"

"Even all four classes combined don't have that many points."

Kitagawa Ryo's words sparked a wave of questioning discussion among those around him.

"OK."

"As long as everyone agrees on result one, it will be fine."

Ichinose Honami's tone was somewhat bitter, and Horikita Suzune immediately realized what was going on, but was still a little confused:

"If you use a contract to guarantee that Class B and Class D won't betray you, what about Class A?"

"Class A? Class A will only grant Class C's requests."

Karuizawa Kei glanced at Katsuragi Kohei and added:

"Don't forget, it's not just Class C and Class A that have similar point counts now; Class B and Class A also have only two hundred points each."

"If Class C is willing, we only need to provide Class B with one VIP spot from Class A."

"Tsk tsk, Class 1-A is going to drop to Class C in the first semester."

"Can the prestigious Class A accept this kind of contrast? They have no choice but to agree, after all, it's just Private Points."

Under Kitagawa Ryo's guidance, everyone present also understood his wildly imaginative plan:

[Class C is responsible for providing all the VIP. They use contracts to guarantee that Class D will not betray them, and threaten Class A to comply. After forcibly getting all twelve groups to achieve Result 1, all Private Points will be transferred to Kitagawa Ryo. There are a total of 156 students in the entire grade. Sakayanagi Arisu who did not participate in the exam, there are 12 VIP among the 155 students. They can obtain 143 x 50 + 12 x 100, for a total of 83.5 million Private Points.]

If the plan succeeds, it means that the school has been reaped more than 80 million points without changing the Class Points.

After realizing this, everyone also realized the huge gap between themselves and Kitagawa Ryo, after all, this was a full 83.5 million points. The highest point record among previous students was only 12 million, and that was under the premise of fraud.

Twenty million for a single class transfer is more than enough to transfer four people, or even more.

Someone swallowed hard, bringing the crowd back to their senses from their reverie over the enormous figure.

But then...

"As I just mentioned, this was my initial idea."

Kitagawa Ryo leaned back in his chair and turned to look at Shiina Hiyori. He knew that if he insisted on doing this, Shiina Hiyori would support him.

However, Kitagawa Ryo still cared about what Shiina Hiyori said last night, because it was the first time he had felt such a strong desire from Shiina Hiyori.

Everyone has wishes they want to fulfill.

Kitagawa Ryo looked at all the eyes that were on him, and he smiled little by little.

Karuizawa Kei wants to earn 20 million points to transfer to Class C.

Horikita Suzune wants to overcome herself and gain recognition.

Katsuragi Kohei wants to regain his place in Class A.

Ichinose Honami wants to work hard for the students in Class B.

Shiina Hiyori wants to reject everything about Karuizawa Kei; she will never accept Karuizawa Kei transferring to Class C.

Ryuen Kakeru wants to lead everyone in Class C to Class A.

Outside this room, the other students probably all have their own wishes.

At Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School, where points can buy anything, 83.5 million points are enough to satisfy most people's desires.

"I heard that the teacher who explained the exam yesterday described it as a Werewolf Game."

Kitagawa Ryo opened his arms and said loudly:

"Let's have a real Werewolf Game on this cruise ship!"

"I will open a new transparent account as the prize pool, which will contain 83.5 million Private Points. There will be a total of 12 participants, who will need to be eligible to participate and contribute 1 million Private Points to the prize pool as an entry fee."

"The total entry fee of twelve million will be used to entrust the school to monitor the entire game to ensure fairness."

Points can be used to buy anything, including school staff and even the equipment itself.

"Besides my own entry, the school will randomly place eleven invitations inside the cruise ship this afternoon."

"By 8:00 AM tomorrow, all those who have an invitation and have successfully deposited one million Private Points into the prize pool will be considered successfully registered. If not all invitations have been collected, the school will randomly select participants."

"The game will begin tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM after all participants have confirmed that everything is in order."

"To ensure fairness, all participants will remain in each other's presence throughout the game, and their voices will be processed using special equipment to ensure that no one knows the other's true identity until the game ends. Please rest assured."

"Of course, in addition to receiving a guaranteed spot in the competition, I will also be under the school's supervision, and there will be no special privileges or possibility of cheating."

The winning team will split all the prize money in the prize pool equally.

Kitagawa Ryo looked at everyone who was completely speechless and just staring blankly at him.

He knew very well that no one would refuse such a game, because they absolutely did not want to see Kitagawa Ryo gain 83.5 million Private Points for nothing.