Overtime Match

The ninth round began with Hashimoto Masayoshi from Class A, Ichinose Honami from Class B, Ryuen Kakeru from Class C, and Sakura Airi from Class D taking the stage.

"Announcing the results: Ichinose Honami wins. The scores for classes A, B, C, and D are 27, 17, 11, and 17 respectively. Class A is in the lead. Ichinose Honami will lead the next round."

As the ninth round progressed to this point, all four participants had three cards remaining in their hands.

In the previous round, Ichinose had used a white card with a value of 9 to suppress the black card with a value of 8 played by Hashimoto.

At this stage, the three cards remaining in Hashimoto's hand were values 8, 8, and 9.

The three cards remaining in Ichinose Honami's hand were values 8, 3, and 1.

The three cards remaining in Ryuen Kakeru's hand were values 9, 8, and 7.

The three cards remaining in Sakura Airi's hand were values 9, 8, and 4.

While Ichinose was still racking her brain to figure out how to secure second place, the other three on stage had all set their sights on her remaining black card with a value of 8.

The intelligence currently in Ichinose's possession was twofold: first, Kanzaki had told her after calculating the cards in the previous round that Class C had likely traded all their 8s and 9s to Class A, meaning there was a high probability Ryuen held no 8s or 9s; second, the results Ichinose had deduced through her own observations on stage.

Because Class A was far ahead in points and Class C had fallen too far behind to remain competitive, the only class that could pose a threat to Class B was Class D.

Through observation, Ichinose concluded that neither the 8 nor the 9 in Sakura's hand had been played yet.

This was because, in the first six rounds, Sakura had been unable to score points regardless of whether she played white or black cards, nor had she been able to tie with Class A, who held the advantage in card values.

In the first six rounds, Class A and Class B had each scored three points; Class A's three points had consumed Class B's low-value cards, and Sakura had responded with cards of the same color during the play phase.

As for the three points Class B had obtained, they were stolen using mid-range values, and those three points had not been intercepted by Class D either.

Therefore, Sakura's high-value 8 and 9 must have remained untouched; otherwise, she would have at least managed a tie.

With both classes tied at 17 points, and with her only high-value card being an 8 while her opponent held both an 8 and a 9, the opponent could easily suppress her by using their white 9 to lock down her black 8.

Furthermore, the other white cards in her hand would be suppressed by the opponent's black 8. If this were a one-on-one match, Ichinose felt she might as well surrender.

But this was a four-way melee, and besides herself and Sakura, there were two other variables.

According to the recorded card counts, Hashimoto likely held an 8-8-9 configuration. If she could use Hashimoto's 9 and 8 to cancel out Sakura's 8 and 9, Class B could achieve the best possible outcome under the current circumstances: Class A in first, Class C in fourth, and a tie-breaker between classes B and D for second place.

The feeling of leaving one's fate in the hands of others was unpleasant, but Ichinose had no choice; after all, Class B had been three points behind Class D when she took over, and catching up to the current score was already quite an achievement.

Ryuen was not within Ichinose's considerations, as she believed he held no 8s, making the special four-way tie condition impossible to reach now.

Ichinose's fingers hovered over two white cards. No matter which white card she chose now, it would be futile; the outcome between B and D was entirely in the hands of Class A.

Doing this was merely her way of masking the helplessness in her heart.

"I'll go with this one."

With a faint sigh, Ichinose pressed the slot containing the white card with a value of 1.

"A white card? Then I'll play a low-value white card to keep you company."

Seeing Ichinose's choice, Ryuen selected the white card with a value of 7 and gave Hashimoto a look.

"If everyone is playing white cards, I'll play my last white card too."

Having received Ryuen's signal, Sakura pressed the slot containing the value 9.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe... it's decided, you're the one!"

After pretending to deliberate for a moment, Hashimoto selected the black 8, and the round was sealed.

"Announcing the results: Sakura Airi wins. The scores for classes A, B, C, and D are 27, 17, 11, and 18 respectively. Class A is in the lead. Sakura Airi will lead the next round."

Following the announcement of the seventh match of the ninth round, enthusiastic cheers erupted from the Class D side, while words of encouragement for Ichinose drifted over from the Class B side.

As the eighth match began, Sakura chose the black 4 without hesitation, and Hashimoto chose the white 9 just as readily.

By the time it reached Ichinose, she was just thinking that the situation was settled and it made no difference which card she played, when the conversation between Ryuen and Hashimoto interrupted her as she was about to press the black 8.

"Hashimoto, you Class A people are truly disappointing. You hold eighteen 8s and 9s and still can't even reach thirty points, while we in Class C hold eighteen 1s and 2s and have managed 11 points. It's a complete joke."

"So what? A win is a win. Don't worry about how much Class A wins by; just tell me if we won or not."

"Win? You're saying that too early. If you had chosen that black 8 just now, you would indeed have won, but since you chose that white 9, the score must be recalculated from the start."

Ryuen was acting alongside Hashimoto to deceive Katsuragi's faction in Class A, while simultaneously signaling to Ichinose that there was still a chance to restart the match.

After a moment of hesitation, Ichinose moved her hand away from the black 8 and pressed the black 4 instead.

"Announcing the results: Hashimoto Masayoshi and Ryuen Kakeru tie. The scores for classes A, B, C, and D are 27, 17, 11, and 18 respectively. Class A is in the lead. Hashimoto Masayoshi will lead the next round."

"W-what? Where did you get a 9? Did your Class B give it to you? No, it must have been your Class D!"

Hashimoto played the buffoon quite dramatically, pointing his finger at Class D below the stage.

After being pointed out by Hashimoto, the students of Class D were no longer calm. By the end of this special exam, everyone knew that Class C had sold all their 8s and 9s to Class A, so the 9 that Ryuen had just played could only have been obtained from Class B or Class D.

The unity of Class B was something everyone in the first year had witnessed, so only Class D remained as a possibility.

"No need to play the final round; all four cards are 8s. Prepare for the tenth-round tie-breaker!"

After Ryuen announced this fact to the other three, all four pressed their final cards.

"Announcing the results: All four tie. Special mechanism triggered. The scores for classes A, B, C, and D are reset to zero. Each class will now send one student who has not participated in the previous nine rounds to compete."

Returning to the class area, Sakura became the only one who could remain uninvolved, because after Hirata of Class D distributed the cards to the participants, any subsequent card swapping among the participating students had been done privately.

Except for Sakura, who had clearly indicated she held an 8 and a 9 in this final round, the other eight were all suspects who might have handed their cards to Ryuen to betray the class.

With a traitor in the class, it was difficult to choose a representative for the next round, until Sakura recommended Hasebe, with whom she was very close. Considering that Sakura certainly hadn't betrayed the class, everyone agreed to the candidate she proposed.

Thus, Machida Koji from Class A—a confidant of Sakayanagi; Shiranami Chihiro from Class B—a reserve who emerged during internal class practice; Sima Zhenglong from Class C—who had agreed to the deal with Sakayanagi; and Hasebe Haruka from Class D—the choice of necessity.

These four became the participants for the tie-breaker.