Otherwise, how could anyone deny that this place was full of geniuses? You could pick out just about anyone at random and send them out into the world, and they'd become a successful professional.
He didn't want to keep going in circles with this girl, either. "I know you're waiting here because you have something to ask me. If it's about Arisu, I can't explain the reason. If that's all, I'm going back to the classroom."
Morishita Ai blinked twice, feeling thoroughly embarrassed. She hadn't expected her flawless acting to be seen through, let alone called out.
"What do you think about the competition for class leader? You're definitely supporting Sakayanagi, right? Judging by the situation, Sakayanagi does seem to have the advantage. She's sure to win." Morishita Ai asked another question, this time a much more serious one.
"You're wrong. She won't win—or rather, she doesn't want to."
"She doesn't want to win?" Morishita Ai raised an eyebrow.
"She wants to build Katsuragi's faction," Yagami Shizuka continued. "She'll deliberately lose this gamble."
"But why?"
"Her first goal is to help us understand this school as quickly as possible, but she doesn't want to take action herself. That's why she proposed the gamble and let Katsuragi handle things.
"Even if she does nothing and lets Katsuragi win, the class will think Sakayanagi simply didn't want to win. And because she warned them earlier, they'll be grateful to her.
"Katsuragi's in a different position. If he does nothing, the class will reject him. So he has to act, and he has to do it well."
"Huh? How does that work?" Morishita Ai was astonished by what Yagami Shizuka had said.
But when she thought about it carefully, he was right.
Sakayanagi had made a truly masterful move. She'd been in an unbeatable position from the very start. Whatever Katsuragi did, he could only lose one stone to Sakayanagi.
"Then what about building Katsuragi's faction? Won't that split the class into two sides? Is that good for the class?"
"Of course it is," Yagami Shizuka explained. "A dove faction and a hawk faction can quickly bring the class together while also uncovering students' hidden talents.
"As a hardliner, Sakayanagi Arisu took the initiative from the start. She can propose aggressive ideas, while Katsuragi, as the one carrying them out, can choose whether or not to follow them."
He paused, then continued. "If he follows her ideas and wins, the credit goes to Sakayanagi Arisu. If he loses, it's the executor Katsuragi's fault.
"If he refuses to follow her ideas and loses, that's his fault for putting forward his own opinion. If he wins, then it's simply his duty as the executor.
"Hard to believe, isn't it? Sakayanagi Arisu started out with a three-in-four chance of winning and no risk at all, while Katsuragi has only one option: keep winning.
"If this were a game of Gomoku, Sakayanagi Arisu would be going first, with three stones already placed, while Katsuragi had only placed one.
"Think that's the end of it?
"Sakayanagi Arisu could even sabotage Katsuragi and make sure he lost. In other words, Katsuragi's odds of winning are zero."
As Morishita Ai listened to Yagami Shizuka's analysis, she grew more and more incredulous.
So Katsuragi had fallen into Sakayanagi's trap from the very beginning. Even if he beat her and became the class leader, there was an even deeper trap waiting for him.
And he had no choice but to take the bait unless he surrendered and gave up opposing Sakayanagi altogether.
Otherwise, in less than a year, Class A—which Katsuragi had worked so hard to put in order—would become Sakayanagi's wedding gift. He'd even have to thank her, and regret not realizing who she was from the start.
It was terrifying.
And this strategy had been devised by a delicate, frail-looking girl who seemed as though a gust of wind might knock her over.
"No, this is too strange. Is there really any need for all this?" Morishita Ai was deeply perplexed.
She had considered that there might be schemes and intrigues at school, but this level of maneuvering was rare even in the military.
Had the class battles really reached this level?
Yagami Shizuka didn't want to say much. He casually replied, "Just as Sakayanagi Arisu said, this school isn't as simple as you think. You'll understand eventually."
"W-wait. How do you know so much? And you confessed to Sakayanagi Arisu as soon as you arrived. There must have been a reason, right? Did you do that to escape the game board Sakayanagi Arisu set up?"
A lot of thoughts came to Morishita Ai all at once, but she couldn't immediately fit the information together.
The biggest question was that Yagami Shizuka had left the game before Sakayanagi Arisu even made her move.
That meant the young man standing before her was even more frightening than Sakayanagi Arisu.
"You're clever," Yagami Shizuka said calmly. "There are things I can't tell you the truth about. You'll understand someday."
With that, Yagami Shizuka stood and walked away.
"Wait! You ran away yourself, so can't you at least point me in the right direction?"
"No need. I haven't run away. I've just found another way into the game. With me around, you can lie back and watch me perform."
His clear voice lingered in Morishita Ai's ears. It was a long time before she came back to herself. By then, the inscrutable young man had already left.
"What kind of people go to this school?"
Thinking about what Yagami Shizuka had said, she couldn't calm down for a long time.
"But doesn't that make it more interesting?" Once she'd thought it through, a faint smile returned to her lips.
By the time she got back to the classroom, many people in the class were already talking.
One topic was that Katsuragi Kohei had tried to join the Student Council and been rejected.
Katsuragi Kohei reassured everyone. "Don't worry. I haven't succeeded yet, but the Student Council president said club applications and Student Council applications are open tomorrow. I'll try applying again then."
Katsuragi Kohei still wasn't giving up.
That was understandable. After serving as Student Council president for so many years, anyone would be unwilling to accept suddenly being unable to join the Student Council.
He'd thought that as long as he joined the Student Council, many problems would be easily resolved. But instead, they'd told him he wasn't qualified.
Was it because his grades were bad? His attitude? His character? His lack of experience?
Or did you have to be both a scholar and a fighter, with every skill under the sun, to join the Student Council?
He'd thought about it for a long time and still couldn't figure it out. Horikita Manabu's blunt "You're not good enough" had especially devastated him.
Was it because being bald hurt his image and made him ineligible for the Student Council?
That wasn't fair. He'd been born bald!
He'd finally realized that this school was unusual.
Sakayanagi Arisu's words had come true.
He'd thought Sakayanagi would mock him, but she did nothing and didn't even look at him.
"This place is so strange. I asked a senior girl in the cafeteria, and she just smirked without saying a word. In the end, she told me to wait a month and said I'd understand then."
"Yeah, I asked a few senior girls, too. One told me I'd better not spend all my points. If I did, I'd be done for."
"A senior girl in my dorm told me I'd better memorize the student code of conduct. We have to behave in the classroom, in the dorms, and outside, too. Otherwise, next month we'll be stuck eating free meals."
"A senior boy told me we're not really Class A yet, and we could still be demoted to Class D right from the start."
"Is that true? A class can be demoted? That's terrifying!"
"Do any of you have a clue what's going on?"
Most of the students who'd gathered information were girls. The boys were comparatively lazy and weren't very good at asking senior students for information.
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