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"Hmph, the results of this exam turned out just as you expected, didn't they?"

Back on the cruise ship, while soaking in the bath with Sawahara, Ryuen spoke up.

Class A and Class B had spent a massive amount of Private Points to sign a contract, yet in the end, one side only received 130 points and the other 195. Meanwhile, his own class had secured 160 points; it was clear that his class had achieved a resounding victory in this exam.

Thinking of this, even Ryuen couldn't help but admire Sawahara's capability.

"No, the results of this exam differed quite a bit from what I had in mind." Sawahara leaned against the edge of the tub, looking up at the ceiling. "If everything had gone according to my plan, the final results should have been 180 points for Class A, 145 for Class B, 160 for Class C, and Class D... well, based on the final outcome, it should have been 119 points."

"Previously, when I was making a deal with the Sakayanagi Faction of Class A, I intentionally exposed my identity as the leader to test the Sakayanagi Faction's attitude toward this exam."

"The result was no surprise; the other side completely gave up on this exam, and in the end, they even deliberately caused pollution, resulting in Class A being deducted 20 points."

"Later, when I made a deal with Katsuragi, I also directly exposed my identity as the leader, thereby making Katsuragi realize one thing: that the leader can be changed. Especially for Class C and Class D, who only had a few individuals left on the island, there was no loss in doing so. Therefore, I guessed that the leaders of those two classes would most likely be deducted 50 points."

"So that conservative guy Katsuragi would definitely give up on guessing the leaders of Class C and Class D." Ryuen had personally investigated Katsuragi, so he knew very well how Katsuragi would choose in such a situation.

"Are you intentionally propping up Class A?"

Ryuen had already sensed something from Sawahara's words.

"To be precise, the Katsuragi Faction. According to my original plan, Class A would have taken first place in this exam under Katsuragi. But this first place, achieved at such a huge cost, wouldn't have made the students of Class A completely satisfied, and then..."

"The Sakayanagi Faction, which not only leaked their own class leader's information but also pulled petty tricks during this exam, would become the target of retaliation, completely igniting the internal conflicts of Class A." Ryuen savored Sawahara's plan and clicked his tongue; this guy was truly sinister.

"Yes, but now Class A's score of 130 points clearly shows that three classes guessed their leader. In other words, the people in Class D leaked the information about Class A's leader to Class B. I underestimated Class D before." Sawahara sighed. "However, it's clear that Class D was a bit too greedy."

"I guessed the leader of Class C wrong." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was explaining the origin of the exam results to Horikita Suzune.

"I didn't expect that there were actually two people from Class C left on the island. Previously, I deduced that the reason Sawahara from Class C didn't shy away from showing his leader card was to mislead others, making everyone think that their class would change leaders on the last day."

"Isn't that exactly what happened?" Horikita Suzune didn't quite understand.

"Not necessarily, because everyone knew that Class C had sold off their class's points. Living on an uninhabited island for a week without supplies is no easy task." Therefore, Ayanokoji guessed that Sawahara was using psychological tactics to intentionally mislead other classes, making them hesitate, while in reality, he was the only one from Class C left on the island.

"That's why I guessed the leader of Class C, but unfortunately, I guessed wrong."

What was more troublesome was that by disrupting the opponent's layout regarding Class A, Class D would likely be targeted again next.

"If you hadn't stayed on the island with me, Ryuen, and everything had gone according to my previous plan, our class would have only had 50 points in this special exam, while Class D would have directly received a high score of 169 points." Sawahara's eyes held a trace of bewilderment.

He had almost flipped his car... no, he had already flipped it.

"Those guys in Class D? It couldn't be that they didn't fall for your trap because they were too stupid, could it?" Hearing Sawahara's words, Ryuen quickly thought of another possibility: that the people in Class D had never even considered that the leader could be changed. For that bunch of 'geniuses' in Class D, he felt this possibility was more likely.

"Perhaps that's possible, but Class D did end up changing their leader." Sawahara said calmly. Rather than believing the people in Class D were stupid, he preferred to believe that someone in Class D was hiding very deeply.

"That's true, too." Thinking of this, Ryuen put away his contempt. "Is it Horikita Suzune?"

She was the only one in Class D who could make Ryuen look at them with a bit of respect.

"She doesn't have that ability." Sawahara denied Horikita Suzune's ability without hesitation. She might have resilience and determination, but this kind of psychological guessing and control was simply not something that social idiot could achieve.

"Don't dwell on these things. Get some good rest and prepare to welcome the second exam."

The students of Class B were gathered together, speculating about the situation of this exam based on the results.

"Our class originally had 295 special exam points remaining. After trading with Horikita-san from Class D, we obtained the information about Class A's leader."

"And now, our class only has 195 points. There are two possibilities: one is that one class guessed our class's leader while Class D gave us the wrong leader information."

"Or, the leader information was true, but the other three classes all guessed our class's leader information simultaneously." Kanzaki's expression was very ugly; after paying a large number of Private Points, this result was truly unsatisfying.

"However, we signed a contract with Class D, and there was no penalty for violating the contract, which means it must be the latter situation."

Being guessed by three classes simultaneously made it hard for him not to suspect whether a classmate had betrayed the class.

"I'm sorry everyone, the failure of this exam is my responsibility." Ichinose bowed to all the students in the class, taking the responsibility for the failure of this exam upon herself.

"No, it's all my fault. It's because I didn't fulfill my duties as the leader." Seeing Ichinose say this, Shiranami Chihiro became anxious, tears welling up in her eyes. It was all her fault; if she hadn't tried to be brave and taken on the position of leader, it wouldn't have turned out like this.

"It's okay, Honami, Chihiro, it's just one exam." Hearing the two of them say this, their friends in the class immediately began to comfort them.

"That's right, it was just a mistake. And didn't we already get first place? We should be happy."

Looking at the atmosphere in the class, Kanzaki opened his mouth, but the words suspecting that someone had betrayed the class could not be spoken after all.

When the people in the class gradually dispersed, Ichinose declined her friends' invitations and stayed behind, because she knew Kanzaki had something to say.

"Ichinose, it's possible that in the class..."

"Kanzaki-kun, I believe that no one in our class would betray the class, and I ask you not to say such things." Ichinose interrupted Kanzaki.

"Sorry." Kanzaki also knew that it wasn't good to suspect his own classmates, but...

"The one who discovered our class leader's identity should be Horikita-san." Ichinose hesitated for a moment before saying it.

"That shouldn't be right. If Class D had mastered the leader information of two classes, the final score should have been 119." Kanzaki shook his head. He had also suspected this, but Class D's final score was only 69, of which 19 points were from occupying strongholds, meaning they weren't deducted points for having their leader guessed. That meant they must have only guessed Class A's leader.

"...Actually, during the exam, I saw Horikita-san go to meet Sawahara-san." Ichinose said.

Because Horikita had gone out alone just after recovering from a cold, Ichinose hadn't been very at ease, so she had followed her a few times.

And on the day Horikita went to see Sawahara, she had actually seen it. Although she didn't know what they had said to each other, judging from the results of the exam, she could already guess many things.

"I see." Kanzaki let out a sigh of relief at first, seeing that there was indeed no issue with their classmates, but then he frowned.

"In that case, it must be that Class D guessed the leader of Class C incorrectly, which is why the results are as they are now."

If that were the case, everything would make sense, but there was still one problem.

"Why didn't you say so when everyone was here earlier?" Kanzaki didn't understand. Since she already knew where the problem lay, why not tell the class instead of taking the responsibility upon herself?

"If I did that, Horikita and the others would surely be targeted with hostility." Ichinose twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. "Besides, it was my failure to take proper precautions that led to this result."

Kanzaki had nothing to say. This was Ichinose; she was kind and always considered others, but... was this really okay?

"Katsuragi, is this the result you've given us? How did you guarantee it before!"

"You guys, what are you trying to do!"

The students of Class A had blocked Katsuragi. Among them were not only members of the Sakayanagi Faction, but also members of the neutral faction and the Katsuragi Faction.

Faced with such a massive loss, even the students who originally supported Katsuragi found it hard to endure.

Facing such questioning, Katsuragi did not offer a defense, but instead looked at Hashimoto, who was reporting to Sakayanagi.

"Yes, if we enter the next semester like this, there won't be any more flaws in our class."

"Is this the result you wanted?" When Katsuragi spoke, his hands were tightly clenched into fists.

The final result of this exam for Class A was 130 points. They had originally had 250 Class Points remaining. If they had successfully guessed the leader of Class B, it would have been a gamble, but if they guessed wrong, the class points would have become 200. If they were then guessed by another class as the leader, the points would certainly be a multiple of 50.

Even if they had been guessed by another class, he might have felt frustrated, but he would not be as angry as he was now.

A score of 130 points meant that someone in the class had deliberately sabotaged the environment, resulting in a 20-point deduction.

The Sakayanagi Faction had betrayed the class; there was no doubt about that. If they had guessed the leader of Class B, it meant the leader information of Class A had been leaked to the other three classes; if they guessed wrong, it meant it had been leaked to at least one class.

To go to such lengths just for internal class strife—had they completely disregarded the overall interests of the class?

Katsuragi felt incredibly angry at the actions of the Sakayanagi Faction, yet he was helpless to do anything about it.

"What are you talking about? Everyone in our class acted exactly according to your instructions during this special exam." Hashimoto hung up the phone and responded to Katsuragi's questioning with a smile on his face.

"..." Katsuragi fell silent. "I will take responsibility for the failure of this exam. After returning to school, I will resign from my position as leader."

Katsuragi bowed to the angry students in his class, saying nothing about the Sakayanagi Faction, choosing instead to shoulder the responsibility directly.

"This..." The students of Class A were stunned by Katsuragi's words and couldn't help but look at each other.

Following this, the students of the Sakayanagi Faction couldn't help but show joy, while the original members of the Katsuragi Faction became flustered; this was not their intention at all.

However, regardless of their reactions, Katsuragi ignored them. With a confused and bewildered Totsuka in tow, Katsuragi left directly and headed toward his dormitory.

"Thank you for being so understanding, Katsuragi." As he walked past Hashimoto, he heard these words.

"We welcome you to join us, Katsuragi. Her Highness has always admired your abilities."

Refusing Hashimoto's invitation, Katsuragi walked straight away, his pace never faltering for a moment.

"Katsuragi has a strong sense of responsibility; he is not someone who would shirk his duties." Although they hadn't interacted much, Sawahara had already grasped what kind of person Katsuragi was.

"If Class A failed this exam, he would definitely take responsibility. At the same time, to prevent Class A from continuing this kind of vicious internal strife like in this exam, he would definitely choose to resign as leader.

If Class A had taken first place in this exam, then even if someone in Class A tried to cause trouble, they would be unable to shake his position. Instead, the conflict would have intensified due to the Sakayanagi Faction's malicious behavior during the exam. Even if he didn't want to, the students of their faction would have pushed him into internal strife.

A setback and a failure are two completely different things for Class A."

Sawahara explained the difference to Ryuen.

"One last thing, why let Class D take the points? Based on what you just said, you never thought about guessing the leader of Class D, did you?" Ryuen asked the final question regarding this exam. "Don't tell me you've taken a liking to someone in their class?"

Ryuen glanced at the part hidden beneath the water and asked with a wicked grin.

"That guy is going to have a hard time."

"Why would you think that?" Sawahara was a bit stunned. "When the exam started, I promised the students of Class D that I would give them 10,000 points each month. If their class didn't get 100 Class Points in this exam, wouldn't I have to compensate them?"

"..." Ryuen fell silent upon hearing this, then cursed under his breath, "You heartless bastard."

"I'll take that as a compliment."