The Dragon Group's Card Game and Karuizawa's Abnormality

The Dragon Group's fourth meeting took place as scheduled, once again in the cruise ship's public seminar room. Sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting mottled shadows across the tabletop, while an oppressive silence hung in the air. At the previous meetings, Honami Ichinose had always tried to steer the conversation, hoping to encourage the group members to speak openly and identify the hidden VIP. But every attempt had been interrupted by the others' evasiveness and wariness, and the discussions had ultimately gone nowhere.

This time, Ichinose didn't make another futile attempt to guide the conversation. She sighed softly, took a deck of cards from her bag, and placed it in the middle of the table. Her fingertips brushed lightly over the cards, and her tone held a hint of helplessness and a touch of deliberate lightness. "Since nobody wants to discuss the VIP, there's no point in staying deadlocked. Why don't we play cards for a while and pass the time?"

As she spoke, she spread the cards out across the table, indicating that everyone was welcome to join in. The group members exchanged glances. Clearly, none of them felt much like playing. After all, this VIP test affected their Class Points and rankings; nobody in the Dragon Group could truly relax and enjoy a trivial card game.

Ryuen Kakeru leaned back in his chair, folded his arms over his chest, and swept his sharp gaze over everyone present before dismissing the idea flippantly. "No need. I don't have time for this kind of boring game." He didn't care in the slightest about Ichinose's suggestion, and his composed air made it clear he wanted nothing to do with anyone. The violent boy, frustrated by the group's refusal to talk, was growing irritable and didn't know what to do.

Kikyo Kushida sat in the corner with a gentle smile on her face, though she remained alert. She shook her head lightly. "Thanks for the offer, Ichinose. I'm not very good at cards either, so I'll sit this one out." As she spoke, she stole a glance at Yoshikage Kira from the corner of her eye. At their last meeting, Kushida hadn't revealed that she was the VIP.

Lately, Kushida had felt that she was facing a major problem. It seemed that Suzune Horikita had gone to the same middle school as her. After making inquiries and dropping subtle hints, Kushida had recently become almost certain of it.

Her smile unchanged, she now wondered whether she should use her VIP information to secure Yoshikage Kira and Class B's help. She couldn't let Horikita connect her to her past self and spread the word. Ideally, Horikita would be expelled.

The others also declined one after another, and before long, the seminar room had fallen silent again. The deck of cards in front of Ichinose seemed out of place. Meanwhile, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, seated in the corner, hadn't paid the slightest attention to the cards from the start. His thoughts had long since wandered elsewhere, turning over the information he'd gathered the day before as a trace of contemplation lingered in his eyes.

According to a D Class student who had been gathering information, several of the girls in Class C's Rabbit Group, led by Shiho Manabe, had repeatedly targeted Kei Karuizawa during recent discussion group meetings. Their words were full of provocation and hostility, and on several occasions, things had nearly erupted into a fight. What concerned Ayanokoji more was that when Manabe and the others went after her, Karuizawa didn't turn to the boys in D Class for support, as would have been expected. Instead, she spent a long time with Machida and the others from Class A, relying on their protection to evade the Class C girls' harassment.

Ayanokoji unconsciously rubbed his fingertips over the tabletop, the faintest bitter smile tugging at his lips as he wondered, Isn't she dating Hirata? If she ran into this kind of trouble, Hirata should have been the first person she went to. But she chose to rely on Class A students instead. That's strange.

He remembered the D Class student who had given him the information. Ayanokoji hadn't needed to press him repeatedly before he shared it. The moment Ayanokoji asked about Karuizawa's whereabouts, the student had immediately explained in detail how she'd been behaving at recent discussion meetings. At the end, he'd added, looking troubled, "Ayanokoji, could you please tell Hirata about this? I really don't know how to bring it up with him. I'm afraid he'll misunderstand."

Ayanokoji understood why the student felt uneasy. Hirata had always cared about harmony in the class and was deeply concerned about Karuizawa. If he learned that the Class C girls were targeting her and that she was deliberately keeping her distance from him while relying on students from another class, he would probably feel hurt. It might even distract him from his class duties. That was exactly the kind of situation Ayanokoji didn't want to see.

In fact, Ayanokoji had noticed Karuizawa's particular qualities as early as the first term. She had a powerful influence over others and was good at ingratiating herself with boys who seemed reliable and capable, getting them to stand up for her before gradually bringing them under her sway. She then formed her own clique among the girls, claiming a territory of her own. Her way of doing things showed a certain pathological shrewdness, but also a subtle vulnerability.

But why had she developed this habit? Did it come from an innate sense of superiority and the self-satisfaction of being surrounded and protected? Or was it... an extreme need for attention and possessiveness, an attempt to fill an emptiness inside by controlling others? Ayanokoji thought it over repeatedly but couldn't find an answer. He could only conclude that Karuizawa was more complicated than he'd imagined.

The silence in the seminar room continued. Seeing that nobody had touched the cards, Ichinose reluctantly gathered them up, a trace of disappointment on her face. Her seemingly lively suggestion had failed to bridge the gap or dispel the wariness between them. As usual, the Dragon Group's discussion had made no progress: they had uncovered no useful clues and reached no consensus.

When the meeting officially ended, Ayanokoji got up at once and slipped out of the seminar room while everyone else was still gathering their things. He didn't want to waste any more time on a pointless standoff. Karuizawa's unusual behavior and the Class C girls' hostility toward her both seemed to point to a hidden clue—one that might prove key to breaking the deadlock in the test.