"Sign the contract now, Katsuragi. You should understand that you have no choice. If you refuse, I'll have no hesitation in ending the exam for the group with your class's VIP in it," Sagara said, delivering his final ultimatum.
Katsuragi clenched his fists, but then let them fall helplessly to his sides. Just as Sagara had said, he had no choice. If he didn't want Class A to slide into ruin, this was his only option.
"The contract needs to be witnessed by a teacher..."
"Wait a moment." Sagara promptly sent Sakagami a message, then addressed the people from Class B. "I don't think I need to say any more about the situation. Sign the contract, and the exam ends here."
"I really... lost to you again, Sagara." Kanzaki wore a bitter smile, but there was also a hint of relief and remorse on his face. Ichinose had been right after all. He was the one who shouldn't have doubted his classmates.
"...Perhaps so." Sagara merely chuckled and said nothing more.
Sakagami arrived quickly. In fact, he had probably been waiting outside the room for Sagara's message all along.
"Party A: All members of Class 1-A will assist Party B in achieving Result 1 among the remaining groups in the Thinking Exam. All points earned by Class 1-A in this exam will belong to Party B, Class 1-C, and to Sagara Zoya. In addition, Class 1-A will provide Sagara Zoya with 600,000 Private Points each month, and Ryuen with 50,000 Private Points.
"Party B: Class 1-C shall not attempt to identify the VIPs in Party A's class during the Thinking Exam, nor may it sell information about Party A's VIPs to other classes."
Ryuen looked at the glaring figure of 50,000 on the contract and clicked his tongue in displeasure.
Katsuragi furrowed his brows as he read the terms.
"About the first clause: we have to help achieve Result 1 in the remaining groups? That condition was never mentioned before."
If they agreed to it, they wouldn't even be able to identify the VIPs in Class B. Wouldn't that leave them with no chance to recover their losses?
"We can't agree to this clause."
"Are you sure, Katsuragi? Think carefully. This condition isn't just in your class's contract. It's in Class B's contract, too," Sagara reminded him "kindly."
"..." Katsuragi fell silent.
"Among the six groups still left, Class A has three VIPs, Class D has one, and Class B has two," Sagara said calmly, laying out the current situation. Koenji's group had been an unexpected complication, but he'd done his best to make up for it so that they could reach a balance now.
If Class A rejected the clause, Class B would do the same, and they would go back to trying to identify one another's VIPs.
Class A, with the most VIPs, would be a huge, conspicuous target. They needed clues to work out the pattern, and Class B could easily cooperate with Class D, agreeing not to target each other while sharing information about Class A's three VIPs.
Which side would be more likely to work out the pattern and identify the VIPs before the exam ended: the one with information on six VIPs, or the one with information on three?
If Class A sought cooperation, it wouldn't matter which side they targeted: there wouldn't be enough to go around. And if someone worked out the pattern on their own, it would be hard to say who the target would be.
So, in the end, Class A was the one that needed to make sure Class B agreed to the condition.
Kanzaki quickly figured out the situation, too. He glanced at Sagara with some gratitude, knowing this was the best opportunity to secure an advantage for Class B.
"Class B won't agree to this condition. We've already lost one VIP, and we have to make up for that loss."
"But no one knows for certain that Koenji from Class D guessed correctly, do they?" Katsuragi quickly slipped into negotiation mode.
"But what if he did? What if he saw through the pattern of this Special Exam on the first day? Class B can't take that risk."
"The chances of that are far too small. Someone who could figure out the exam and the pattern behind the VIPs on the first day, all by himself, wouldn't have been placed in Class D."
"But what if he was? You can't deny there's a risk."
"That's your own problem, isn't it?"
"Whether we agree to this condition is our own business, too, isn't it?"
"We can offer some Private Points."
"This isn't about Private Points."
On the second day, Group Dragon finally seemed to be holding a discussion, though it was more like a debate. Horikita Suzune was confused. The situation had changed so quickly that she was still trying to catch up.
What was she supposed to do?
What was the real conflict between Classes A and B? Class B wanted information on a leader to make up for its loss, while Class A clearly didn't want to lose Class Points. That was why things had come to this.
But there was another way to solve the problem.
"Everyone, this happened because someone from Class D guessed the identity of Class B's VIP. So it should be up to Class D to resolve it, shouldn't it?" Kushida Kikyo, who had stayed silent until now, suddenly spoke up.
"..." A flush rose to Katsuragi's and Kanzaki's faces. At this point, how could they not see it? Class D had clearly kept its last VIP information in reserve for the sake of resolving this very problem.
Hadn't they just argued and negotiated so fiercely, like a pair of monkeys putting on a show? And they were the monkeys, too.
Their cheeks burned with embarrassment.
"Wait, Kushida, you..." Horikita had never expected Kushida to speak up now, and hurriedly tried to stop her.
"Horikita, we don't have a choice, do we?" Kushida looked at Horikita with a bitter smile.
"..." That was true. They really had no choice. Even if they didn't provide the VIP information, Classes A and B could reach an agreement and quickly work out the identity of Class D's VIP.
Everything had been completely under that man's control...
Seeing Horikita's dejected expression filled Kushida with genuine delight. So you can look like that too, Horikita, you arrogant woman.
But years of wearing a mask kept her expression under control.
After another round of haggling between Classes A and B, they finally settled on Class A paying 400,000 points and Class B paying 300,000 points for the identity of Class D's last VIP. The money would compensate the VIP. After all, Classes A and B had many conflicts between them, even if they genuinely wanted to cooperate. Neither class wanted to see what might happen if they failed to finalize the agreement that day.
"Group Dragon Exam ends."
Two days later, all the remaining groups had achieved Result 1. With that, the Thinking Exam came to a complete end.
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