Thinking Exam Ends

"Katsuragi, sign the contract now. You should understand that you have no other choice. If you refuse, I will not hesitate to end the exam for the group where your class's VIP is located." Sagara delivered his ultimatum to Katsuragi.

Katsuragi clenched his fists, yet he had no choice but to let them drop powerlessly. Just as Sagara had said, he was out of options; if he didn't want Class A to slide into total ruin, this was the only path left to him.

"Signing a contract requires a teacher as a witness..."

"One moment." Sagara immediately sent a message to Sakagami, then turned to the members of Class B. "I don't think I need to say anything more about the situation here. Sign the contract, and this exam ends right here."

"This is really... I've lost to you again, Sagara." Kanzaki wore a bitter smile, though it was tinged with a sense of relief and guilt. Ichinose had been right after all; I shouldn't have doubted my own classmates.

"...Perhaps that is the case." Sagara only chuckled softly, saying nothing more.

Sakagami arrived quickly; or rather, it would be more accurate to say he had been waiting right outside the room for Sagara's signal.

'Party A, all members of Class A, first year, shall assist Party B in achieving Result 1 in the remaining groups during the Thinking exam. All Class Points obtained by Class A, first year, in this exam shall belong to Party B, Sagara Zoya, first year, Class C. Additionally, 600,000 Private Points shall be provided to Sagara Zoya every month, and 50,000 Private Points shall be provided to Ryuen.'

'Party B, Class C, first year, shall not guess the VIP of Party A's class during the Thinking exam, nor shall they sell information regarding Party A's VIP to other classes.'

Ryuen looked at the glaring figure of 50,000 on the contract and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Katsuragi frowned as he read the terms of the contract.

"Regarding the first clause, we must assist in achieving Result 1 in the remaining groups? This condition was never mentioned before."

If they agreed to this, they wouldn't even be able to guess the VIP of Class B in the upcoming rounds. Wouldn't that mean they would lose any chance to recover their losses?

"We cannot agree to this clause."

"Are you sure, Katsuragi? You need to think clearly. This condition isn't just in the contract for your class; it is also present in the contract for Class B." Sagara reminded him 'kindly'.

"..." Katsuragi fell silent.

"Of the six remaining groups, Class A has three VIPs, Class D has one, and Class B has two." Sagara stated the current situation calmly. Even though Koenji was an anomaly, he had done his best to compensate for it just to ensure they reached a balance at this moment.

If Class A refused this clause, Class B would do the same, and they would continue guessing each other's VIPs.

Class A, holding the most VIPs, was like a massive, conspicuous piece of prey. Deductive reasoning required clues, and Class B could easily cooperate with Class D, agreeing to non-aggression while sharing the spoils of Class A's three VIPs.

Which side would be faster at finding the pattern: the one with six VIPs or the one with three? And would they be able to ensure they found the pattern before the exam ended?

What if Class A sought cooperation? No matter who they targeted as prey, there wouldn't be enough to go around in the end. And once the prey figured out the pattern on their own, it would be hard to say who the real prey was.

Therefore, it was actually Class A that needed to make Class B agree to this condition.

Kanzaki quickly grasped the situation as well. He looked at Sagara with a hint of gratitude, knowing this was the best time to secure benefits for Class B.

"We in Class B do not agree to this condition. We have already lost one VIP, and this loss must be compensated."

"But no one knows for sure that the one from Class D, Koenji, guessed correctly, do they?" Katsuragi quickly shifted into negotiation mode.

"But what if he did guess correctly? What if he discovered the pattern for this special exam on the very first day? Class B cannot take that risk."

"The probability of such a thing is far too low. To see through the exam and find the pattern for the VIPs all by himself on the first day—how could someone like that be assigned to Class D?"

"But what if? You cannot deny the risk involved."

"But that is a matter for your own class, Class B, isn't it?"

"Isn't whether or not to agree to this condition also a matter for our class, Class B?"

"We can provide some Private Points."

"This isn't a matter of Private Points."

On the second day, Group Dragon finally looked like it was having a discussion, though it was more of a debate. Horikita Suzune only felt a sense of chaos; the situation was changing so rapidly that she couldn't keep up.

What exactly was she supposed to do?

What was the root of the conflict between Class A and Class B? Class B wanted information on a leader to make up for their losses, but it was clear that Class A did not want their Class Points to suffer, which was why they were acting this way.

However, there was actually another solution to this problem.

"Everyone, the incident this time was caused by a student from our class, Class D, guessing the VIP information of Class B. Therefore, it should be resolved by us in Class D, shouldn't it?" Kushida Kikyo, who had been silent and hadn't expressed her opinion, suddenly spoke up.

"..." A flush of shame appeared on the faces of Katsuragi and Kanzaki. At this point, how could they not see it? It was obvious that the VIP information left behind by Class D was intended to resolve this very issue.

Didn't that make their intense debate and negotiations look like a monkey show? And they were the monkeys.

They couldn't help but feel the heat rising from their necks to their faces.

"Wait, Kushida, you..." Horikita, who hadn't expected Kushida to speak up at this moment, hurriedly tried to stop her.

"Horikita-san, we have no other choice, do we?" Kushida looked at Horikita with a bitter smile on her face.

"..." That was true; there was no choice at all. Even if they didn't provide the VIP information, once Class A and Class B reached an agreement, they would quickly deduce the VIP information for Class D.

Everything was completely under the control of that man...

Watching Horikita's dejected expression, Kushida felt genuine pleasure. Horikita, even someone as arrogant as you can show an expression like that.

However, her mask, worn for years, allowed her to keep her expression in check.

After another round of haggling between Class A and Class B, they finally bought the information on the last VIP of Class D for 400,000 points from Class A and 300,000 points from Class B. This money was compensation for the VIP. After all, even if Class A and Class B wanted to cooperate, they were full of contradictions; if they couldn't fully reach a contract today, neither class wanted to see the variables that might follow.

"Group Dragon exam concluded."

Two days later, all remaining groups achieved Result 1, and with that, the Thinking exam officially came to an end.