Overtime

At the start of the ninth round, Hashimoto Masayoshi from Class A, Ichinose Honami from Class B, Ryuen Kakeru from Class C, and Sakura Airi from Class D took the stage.

"The results are in. Ichinose Honami wins. The scores for Classes A, B, C, and D are 27:17:11:17. Class A is in the lead. Ichinose Honami will play the first card next."

By this point in the ninth round, all four players had three cards left in their hands.

In the previous round, Ichinose had used a white card worth 9 to beat the black card worth 8 played by Hashimoto Masayoshi.

Hashimoto from Class A had three cards left, worth 8, 8, and 9.

Ichinose Honami from Class B had three cards left, worth 8, 3, and 1.

Ryuen Kakeru from Class C had three cards left, worth 9, 8, and 7.

Sakura Airi from Class D had three cards left, worth 9, 8, and 4.

While Ichinose was still doing her utmost to figure out how to secure second place, the other three players had all set their sights on the black 8 she had left.

Ichinose knew two things. First, after counting the cards in the previous round, Kanzaki had told her that Class C had most likely traded all its 8s and 9s to Class A, meaning Ryuen was highly unlikely to have either an 8 or a 9. Second, she had drawn her own conclusions by observing the players.

Aside from Class A, which was far ahead in points, and Class C, which was so far behind that it was out of contention, the only class competing with Class B was Class D.

Based on her observations, Ichinose was convinced that Sakura's 8 and 9 had not yet been played.

During the first six rounds, Sakura's white and black cards had been unable to score points or even tie with Class A, whose cards were worth more.

In those first six rounds, Classes A and B had each scored three points. Class A's three points had come from beating Class B's low-value cards, while Sakura had responded with cards of the same color during the card-playing stage.

Class B had earned its three points by stealing points with mid-value cards, and Class D had not intercepted any of them.

That meant Sakura's high-value 8 and 9 had definitely not been used. Otherwise, she would at least have managed a tie.

With both classes at 17 points, Ichinose had only one high-value card, an 8, while her opponent had both an 8 and a 9. All the other player needed to do was use the white 9 to lock down her black 8 and reliably beat her in one round.

Her other white cards would be beaten by the opponent's black 8. If this had been a one-on-one match, Ichinose felt she might as well have conceded already.

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

Based on the recorded card totals, Hashimoto most likely had an 8, 8, and 9. If Hashimoto's 9 and 8 could cancel out Sakura's 8 and 9, then Class B could achieve the best possible outcome: Class A in first, Class C in fourth, and Classes B and D facing off in a tiebreaker for second.

She hated the feeling of leaving her fate in someone else's hands, but she had no choice. Class B had been three points behind Class D when she took over, so catching up to this score was already quite an achievement.

Ryuen wasn't a factor in Ichinose's calculations. She believed he had no 8, which meant the special condition for a four-way tie was no longer possible.

Ichinose's fingers hovered over two white cards. It didn't matter which one she picked; the outcome between Classes B and D rested entirely with Class A.

She was only doing this to hide her helplessness.

"I'll go with this one."

With a slight sigh, Ichinose pressed the slot containing the white 1.

"A white card? Then I'll play a low-value white card too."

After seeing Ichinose's choice, Ryuen picked the white 7 and gave Hashimoto a look.

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

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

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. I choose you!"

After pretending to ponder the cards for a while, Hashimoto chose the black 8, sealing the outcome of the round.

"The results are in. Sakura Airi wins. The scores for Classes A, B, C, and D are 27:17:11:18. Class A is in the lead. Sakura Airi will play the first card next."

When the result of the seventh game in the ninth round was announced, Class 1-D erupted in cheers, while Class B called out encouragement to Ichinose.

The eighth game began. Sakura chose the black 4 without hesitation, and Hashimoto likewise chose the white 9.

When it was Ichinose's turn, she had just thought that the match was all but decided and it didn't matter which card she played, when Ryuen and Hashimoto's exchange stopped her from pressing the black 8.

"Hashimoto, your Class A really let me down this time. You had eighteen 8s and 9s, and you couldn't even reach thirty points. Meanwhile, our Class C got eleven points with eighteen 1s and 2s. What a joke."

"So what? A win's a win. Don't worry about how much Class A won by. Just tell me whether we won or not."

"Won? You're getting ahead of yourself. If you'd chosen that black 8 just now, then sure, you would've won. But you chose this white 9, so now the outcome has to be recalculated."

As he and Hashimoto acted out their little performance to fool the Katsuragi Faction in Class A, Ryuen was also telling Ichinose there was still a chance to restart the game.

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

"The results are in. Hashimoto Masayoshi and Ryuen Kakeru tie. The scores for Classes A, B, C, and D are 27:17:11:18. Class A is in the lead. Hashimoto Masayoshi will play the first card next."

"W-What? Where did you get a 9? Did Class B give it to you? No, it must've been Class D!"

Hashimoto played the fool with exaggerated flair, pointing at the Class D students below the stage.

Once Hashimoto pointed this out, the students from Class D grew restless too. By this point in the Special Exam, everyone knew that Class C had sold all its 8s and 9s to Class A. So the 9 Ryuen had just played could only have come from Class B or Class D.

Everyone in the first year knew how united Class B was, so that left only Class D.

"There's no point playing the last round. All four cards are worth 8. Get ready for the tenth-round tiebreaker!"

After announcing this to the other three, Ryuen pressed his final card at the same time as the others.

"The results are in. All four players tie. The special mechanism has been triggered. The scores for Classes A, B, C, and D are reset to zero. Each class will now send out a student who hasn't participated in any of the first nine rounds."

When Sakura returned to her class, she was the only one who could clear herself of suspicion. After Hirata had distributed the cards to the participating players, the subsequent card trades among Class D's contestants had all taken place privately.

Apart from Sakura, who had clearly shown in the final round that she had an 8 and a 9, the other eight students were all suspected of betraying their class by handing their cards to Ryuen.

With a traitor among them, it was difficult for Class D to choose who would compete in the next round. Then Sakura nominated Hasebe Haruka, whom she was very close to. Everyone knew Sakura could not have betrayed the class, so they agreed to let her choose.

And so, Machida Koji from Class A—a trusted ally of Sakayanagi; Shiranami Chihiro from Class B—a backup who had been selected during the class's practice sessions; Sima Zhenglong from Class C—who had agreed to a deal with Sakayanagi; and Hasebe Haruka from Class D—the reluctant choice—became the contestants in the tiebreaker.