Aftermath

"Hmph, the exam results turned out the way you expected, didn't they?"

Back on the cruise ship, as he soaked in the bath with Sawahara, Ryuen spoke up.

Classes A and B had spent a great deal of Private Points to sign the contract, yet their final scores were only 130 and 195 points, respectively. Their class, meanwhile, had earned 160 points. It was clear they'd won by a landslide.

Thinking about it, even Ryuen had to admire Sawahara's ability.

"No. The results were quite different from what I expected." Sawahara leaned against the edge of the bath and gazed up at the ceiling. "If everything had gone according to plan, the final scores should've been 180 for Class A, 145 for Class B, and 160 for Class C. As for Class D... well, based on the final results, they should've had 119.

"Earlier, when I made a deal with Sakayanagi Faction in Class A, I deliberately revealed that I was our leader. I wanted to test their attitude toward this exam.

"As expected, they gave up on the exam entirely. In the end, they even deliberately caused pollution, costing Class A 20 points.

"Then, when I made a deal with Katsuragi, I revealed my identity as leader just as openly. I wanted him to realize that the leader could be changed, especially for Classes C and D, which had only a few people on the island. There was nothing to lose by doing so, so I suspected there was a very high chance their leaders would each have 50 points deducted."

"So that cautious guy, Katsuragi, would definitely give up on guessing the leaders of Classes C and D." Ryuen had investigated Katsuragi himself, so he knew exactly what Katsuragi would choose in that situation.

"Were you deliberately propping up Class A?"

Ryuen had begun to pick up on something in Sawahara's words.

"More precisely, the Katsuragi Faction. According to my original plan, Katsuragi would've taken first place for Class A in this exam. But the students in Class A wouldn't be entirely satisfied with a first-place finish that came at such a huge cost. Then..."

"The Sakayanagi Faction, who leaked their class leader's identity and pulled other tricks during the exam, would become the target of everyone's anger, setting off Class A's internal conflict." Ryuen chewed over Sawahara's plan and clicked his tongue. This guy really was devious.

"Yeah. But Class A's score of 130 clearly means three classes guessed their leader. In other words, someone in Class D leaked Class A's leader information to Class B. I underestimated Class D." Sawahara sighed. "Still, it's obvious they got a little too greedy."

"I guessed Class C's leader wrong." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka explained to Horikita Suzune how the exam results had come about.

"I never expected that two people from Class C would really be staying on the island. Earlier, I'd concluded that Sawahara from Class C had taken out the Leader Card so openly in order to mislead everyone into thinking their class would change leaders on the last day."

"Wasn't that the case?" Horikita Suzune didn't quite understand.

"Not necessarily. Everyone knew that Class C had sold their class points. Spending a week on an uninhabited island without supplies wouldn't be easy." So Ayanokoji suspected Sawahara had deliberately used psychological tactics to mislead the other classes, making them hesitate to guess, when in reality he was the only one from Class C who had stayed on the island.

"So I guessed Class C's leader, but unfortunately I was wrong."

What made things worse was that he'd disrupted the other side's plans for Class A. Next, Class D might well become their target again.

"If you hadn't stayed on the island with me, Ryuen, and everything had gone according to my original plan, our class would've ended up with only 50 points in this Special Exam, while Class D would've walked away with a massive 169 points." Sawahara's eyes were clouded with uncertainty.

He'd almost ended up completely overturned... No, he already had.

"Those guys in Class D... Maybe they only didn't fall for your trick because they're stupid." Sawahara's words quickly brought another possibility to Ryuen's mind: perhaps the people in Class D had never even considered that the leader could be changed. He thought that was more likely, given the "geniuses" in Class D.

"Maybe. But Class D did change their leader in the end." Sawahara spoke calmly. Rather than believe the people in Class D were stupid, he'd sooner believe someone there had been hiding their abilities.

"Fair enough." Ryuen reconsidered his earlier dismissal. "Was it Horikita Suzune?"

She was the only one in Class D whom Ryuen thought highly of.

"She isn't capable of that." Sawahara immediately rejected the idea that Horikita Suzune had the ability. She might have perseverance and determination, but a social outcast like her couldn't make and manage that kind of psychological assessment.

"Don't dwell on it. Get some rest and prepare for the second exam."

The students of Class B gathered together, trying to figure out what had happened in the exam based on the results.

"Our class had 295 Special Exam Points left. After we made a deal with Horikita from Class D, we got information about Class A's leader.

"But now our class has only 195 points. There are two possibilities. One is that a class guessed our leader, and Class D gave us false information about the leader.

"The other is that the information was correct, but the other three classes all guessed our leader." Kanzaki looked grim. It was hard to be satisfied with the results after spending so many Private Points.

"But we signed a contract with Class D earlier, and there hasn't been any penalty for breaking it. So it must be the second possibility."

Since three classes had guessed their leader, it was hard not to suspect that one of their classmates had betrayed them.

"I'm sorry, everyone. The failure of this exam is my responsibility." Ichinose bowed to the entire class, taking the blame for the exam's failure upon herself.

"No, it's my fault. I didn't fulfill my duties as leader." Seeing Ichinose say that, Shiranami Chihiro immediately panicked. Tears welled in her eyes as she spoke. It was all her fault. If she hadn't taken on the role of leader out of stubbornness, this wouldn't have happened.

"It's okay, Honami, Chihiro. It was only one exam." Hearing them say that, their classmates immediately began comforting them.

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

Seeing the atmosphere in class, Kanzaki opened his mouth, but in the end, he couldn't bring himself to say that someone might have betrayed them.

Once the others had gradually dispersed, Ichinose turned down her friends' invitation to leave and stayed behind. She knew Kanzaki had something to say.

"Ichinose, someone in our class might have..."

"Kanzaki, I believe no one in our class would betray it. And please don't say something like that." Ichinose cut him off.

"Sorry." Kanzaki knew it wasn't right to suspect his classmates, but...

"I think Horikita from Class D discovered who our leader was." Ichinose hesitated, then said it anyway.

"That doesn't make sense. If Class D had information on the leaders of two classes, their final score should've been 119." Kanzaki shook his head. He'd considered that possibility too, but Class D's final score was only 69. Nineteen of those points had come from occupying checkpoints, which meant they hadn't lost points because their leader had been guessed. They must've only guessed Class A's leader.

"...Actually, during the exam, I saw Horikita meet with Sawahara." Ichinose explained.

Earlier, when Horikita had gone out alone soon after recovering from a cold, Ichinose had been worried, so she'd followed her a few times.

She'd actually seen Horikita meet Sawahara that day. She didn't know what they'd talked about, but judging from the exam results, she could already guess quite a lot.

"I see." Kanzaki first breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed there really was no problem with anyone in their class. Then he frowned again.

"Then Class D must've guessed Class C's leader wrong, which is why they ended up with their current score."

If so, it all made sense. But there was still one question.

"Why didn't you say so when everyone was here?" Kanzaki didn't understand. If she already knew what had gone wrong, why hadn't she told their classmates? Why take all the blame herself?

"Then Horikita and the others would've become targets of their hostility." Ichinose twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "Besides, this happened because I didn't take proper precautions."

Kanzaki had no answer. That was Ichinose for you. She was so kind that she always considered others. But... was that really a good thing?

"Katsuragi, is this what you call a result? What happened to all your assurances?"

"What do you people think you're doing?"

The students of Class A had surrounded Katsuragi. The crowd included members of the Sakayanagi Faction, as well as members of the neutral group and the Katsuragi Faction.

Faced with such a huge loss, even the students who'd supported Katsuragi couldn't stand it.

Katsuragi didn't try to defend himself against their accusations. Instead, he looked at Hashimoto, who was reporting to Sakayanagi.

"Yeah. Once we enter the next term, there won't be any weaknesses left in our class."

"Is this the result you wanted?" Katsuragi's hands clenched into fists as he spoke.

Class A had ended the exam with 130 points. Their class had started with 250 Special Exam Points remaining. They'd taken a risk and guessed Class B's leader correctly. If they'd guessed wrong, they would've had 200 points left. If another class had guessed their leader as well, their score would've had to be a multiple of 50.

Even if another class had guessed their leader's identity, he might've felt defeated, but he wouldn't have been as furious as he was now.

A score of 130 meant that someone in the class had deliberately damaged the environment, costing them 20 points.

There was no doubt the Sakayanagi Faction had betrayed the class. If they'd guessed Class B's leader correctly, that meant Class A's leader information had been leaked to the other three classes. If they'd guessed wrong, it had only been leaked to one.

Had they really gone that far just for an internal power struggle, completely disregarding the interests of the class as a whole?

Katsuragi was furious at the Sakayanagi Faction's actions, but there was nothing he could do.

"What are you talking about? Every one of us followed your instructions to the letter during this Special Exam." Hashimoto hung up the phone and answered Katsuragi's accusation with a smile.

"..." Katsuragi fell silent. "I'll take responsibility for this exam's failure. When we return to school, I'll step down as leader."

Katsuragi bowed to his angry classmates. He said nothing about the Sakayanagi Faction and simply accepted the blame.

"Th-this..." The students of Class A were stunned by Katsuragi's words and exchanged glances.

The Sakayanagi Faction's students couldn't help looking pleased, while the members of the Katsuragi Faction grew flustered. This wasn't what they'd wanted.

But regardless of their reactions, Katsuragi paid them no further attention. With the confused Totsuka in tow, he left and headed straight for his room.

"Thank you for being so magnanimous, Katsuragi." As he passed Hashimoto, he heard him say that.

"You're welcome to join us, Katsuragi. The princess has always admired your abilities."

"I just don't want Class A to go on like this. I still can't accept what you're doing." Rejecting Hashimoto's invitation, Katsuragi walked away without another moment's hesitation.

"Katsuragi has a strong sense of responsibility. He isn't the kind of person who shirks it." Even though they hadn't spent much time together, Sawahara had already figured out what kind of person Katsuragi was.

"If Class A lost this exam, he'd take responsibility. And to prevent Class A from continuing this kind of ugly internal conflict, he'd definitely choose to step down as leader.

"If Class A came in first, then even if someone challenged him, they wouldn't be able to shake his position. Instead, the Sakayanagi Faction's disgraceful conduct during the exam would only deepen the conflict. Even if he didn't want to, the students in his faction would push him into a power struggle.

"For Class A, defeat and failure are two entirely different things."

Sawahara explained the difference to Ryuen.

"One last thing. Why let Class D get the points? You said you never intended to guess Class D's leader, didn't you?" Ryuen asked the final question he had about the exam. "Don't tell me you've got your eye on someone in their class."

Ryuen glanced at what was hidden beneath the water and asked with a smirk.

"That poor girl's in for a rough time."

"Why would you think that?" Sawahara was at a loss for words. "At the start of the exam, I promised the students in Class D I'd give them 10,000 points each month. If their class didn't get at least 100 Class Points from this exam, wouldn't I have to make up the difference for them?"

"..." Ryuen fell silent at that. Then he muttered, "You're a heartless bastard who doesn't even leave the bones."

"I'll take that as a compliment."