The Mastermind Behind the Scenes, Starting with *The Fruit of Grisaia*

The impact on the physical and mental well-being of these teenagers is simply immeasurable!

It must be criticized!

However...

His stroll out today wasn't actually just for leisure.

It was primarily because he had just refreshed today's item—the Teigu: Spectator.

He was already itching to take it out and fiddle with it.

This auxiliary Teigu, which possesses the five abilities of Insight, Long-distance Vision, X-ray Vision, Precognition, and Illusion, had a Precognition function that was a total knock-off, capable only of predicting movements through muscle twitches.

But the remaining abilities... successfully compensated for that shortcoming.

As a chosen Teigu wielder, Su Wei had been debating whether to wear it on his head or simply keep it in his pocket as a passive skill.

Leone's Lionelle in Night Raid could be worn as a belt, so how could his own Teigu be such an inconvenient object?

Moreover, he had indeed successfully tested it.

Su Wei glanced down at Sakayanagi, who was secretly pleased with her successful prank, his expression turning somewhat subtle.

Sigh, a flat-chested board.

There was nothing worth looking at on such a small frame, so he simply deactivated the ability.

After all, the personnel reporting was finished, and the game was about to begin.

He didn't want to pollute his eyes later on.

To be fair, the Spectator still had room for improvement; couldn't it learn from spicy games and filter things out, like not showing men?

It felt less useful than the X-ray vision from the Superpower Training Box.

Perhaps Su Wei's momentary change in gaze was too obvious.

"It seems Su Wei-kun's heart is gradually opening up to me."

The young girl sighed softly, her tone tinged with a hint of regret:

"Oh, my cursed charm."

"But please, do keep a grip on yourself~"

"There will be no good outcome for us as we are now."

"..."

Su Wei's mouth twitched.

What a turn-off, truly disgusting!

Just as he was about to retort, the arm Sakayanagi Arisu had been holding onto suddenly tightened.

"Su Wei-kun."

The girl's voice became somewhat ethereal.

Su Wei looked down.

He saw Sakayanagi Arisu's calves, clad in white stockings, turning into countless blue light particles and gradually disappearing from the bottom up, as if being scanned by some kind of data.

Yet, the cane in her hand remained standing quietly in place.

"It seems we really are special, after all~"

As the data stream spread past her waist, the girl looked up and beamed at Su Wei:

"Well then... I look forward to working with you later."

"Tch."

As soon as Sakayanagi Arisu's vision focused, she heard Ryuen Kakeru's complaint.

"They said an evening exam, but it's only three in the afternoon and it's already starting... Did this damn sphere feed its sense of time to the dogs?"

Ichinose Honami stood not far away, her expression somewhat nervous, though she was clearly much calmer than she had been at the start.

She analyzed calmly:

"I already confirmed the roster with Hoshinomiya-sensei last night, and it is indeed the most recent one."

"I'm afraid that as soon as the list is confirmed, it will begin immediately, right?"

"Hehe, Ichinose-san's deduction sounds very reasonable."

Sakayanagi Arisu leaned half-heartedly against Su Wei, lifting her chin slightly.

"However, it is a pity that neither Su Wei-kun nor I signed up for this exam~"

"Eh?" Ichinose was stunned. "You didn't sign up? Then why..."

"Naturally, it is because we are both special."

Sakayanagi Arisu stated it as a matter of course.

In truth, Ichinose had guessed correctly; the process had indeed begun the moment the roster was finalized.

It was just that, as day-one players, the group had received a slight measure of favoritism.

"Didn't sign up?"

Ryuen Kakeru was equally stunned, his eyes narrowing as his expression turned instantly grim.

"To be dragged in even without signing up..."

"Does that mean we, as the initial batch, have already been locked onto by this black sphere?"

Sakayanagi Arisu's smile grew more intense. "That is why I said we are special~"

Ryuen clicked his tongue, though he did not lose his composure, quickly shifting to calculate the current situation.

If resistance was impossible, then to survive, one could only struggle with all their might.

There was truly no other way.

He scanned his surroundings.

"Since you didn't sign up, then who is your class's participant this time?"

"It is Katsuragi-kun," Sakayanagi replied without hesitation.

"Katsuragi?"

Before he could clear his thoughts, several flashes of fluorescent light appeared.

Soon, five figures materialized out of thin air.

Class A's bald-headed Katsuragi Kohei;

Class B Ichinose's close friend Shiranami;

Class D's high-achieving Horikita Suzune;

From his own Class C, Shiina Hiyori, and... Sakayanagi Arisu's lackey, Kamuro Masumi?

Ryuen Kakeru's gaze fixed on the girl who wore a look of "who am I and where am I," his brain whirring at high speed.

Su Wei, Sakayanagi, Ichinose, and I belong to the fixed roster and were bound to appear.

So, for Class B and Class C, which occupied class slots, the automatically filled substitutes are Shiina and Shiranami?

And I don't see that woman Kushida... Could Kamuro Masumi have replaced her? Aside from the fixed group and the sign-up group, is there a purely random slot?

Just as Ryuen was brainstorming, attempting to parse the black sphere's selection logic, the newcomers finally reacted.

Shiina Hiyori, who had been observing silently, noticed the presence of the two celebrities, Ryuen and Sakayanagi Arisu.

The girl's eyes brightened, and she seemed to heave a sigh of relief, but seeing Ryuen's "stay away" demeanor, she was sensible enough not to disturb him, standing quietly in place and curiously surveying her surroundings.

On the other side.

"Chihiro!" Ichinose Honami had already rushed over to help her friend up.

"Ichinose?! You're here too? Thank goodness..." Shiranami Chihiro acted as if she had found her backbone. "Where is this? I was clearly on the stairs just a moment ago, saying I was going to look for you..."

"Kamuro-san, good afternoon~"

Sakayanagi Arisu looked at the equally bewildered Kamuro Masumi and greeted her with a light chuckle.

"This..."

Kamuro Masumi noticed Sakayanagi intimately clutching Su Wei's arm and her mouth twitched.

Why is it these two again?

And this strange place... is there no end to this?

"There, your helper."

Su Wei elbowed Sakayanagi with a hint of disdain, signaling her to let go.

"Kamuro-san should be very happy to serve you."

"That won't do~"

Sakayanagi Arisu not only refused to let go, but gripped even tighter.

"After all, on this battlefield where one could die at any moment, while Kamuro-san is useful, she clearly doesn't provide me with the same sense of security as Su Wei-kun."

As she spoke, she tilted her head slightly, her eyes filled with feigned resentment.

"Besides, haven't I already paid? Why is your attitude still like this?"

Su Wei remained expressionless.

"Since you've already paid, why should I still provide you with service? You want to have your cake and eat it too, don't you!"

"..."

Sakayanagi Arisu was choked by this shameless logic.

But seeing that Su Wei didn't actually intend to push her away, she couldn't help but want to laugh; despite his words of disdain, his body was being very honest!

She shot Su Wei a look of annoyance.

Heh, men.

Watching this display of flirtation as if no one else were around, Kamuro Masumi felt like she was going to throw up her breakfast, and she wasn't joking.

She clicked her tongue slightly, deciding to ignore the pair of lovebirds, and turned her attention to studying the black sphere in the center of the room.

At this moment.

Ichinose Honami, having finished comforting Shiranami Chihiro, decided to step forward.

As the only decent woman among the veteran players, she gave a grave warning:

"Although it's hard to believe, I must warn those of you who are new—"

"In this exam, people actually die."

"So, please, take this seriously! This is absolutely not some kind of prank!"

"Die?"

Upon hearing this word.

Katsuragi Kohei and Horikita Suzune, who had detached themselves from the crowd, both showed expressions of surprise.

Katsuragi Kohei looked at the unnaturally smooth black sphere in the center of the room, a realization dawning on him.

Horikita Suzune frowned and spoke coldly:

"What do you mean? There should be a limit to how much you try to scare people."

"If this is just a low-level tactic to make us retreat so you can monopolize the points, it's far too crude."

Ichinose opened her mouth.

As if to verify her words.