Sakayanagi

Biodata

Appearance

Sakayanagi is a short, white-haired girl who walks with a cane. Her formal presentation includes aristocratic curtsies and a poised, gracious manner 2 10 44.

• Cane: Provides essential support; losing it at the mixed training camp causes her to pitch forward 30.
• Fan: Uses a fan to cover her mouth while greeting Ryuuen 49.
• Characteristic expression: Frequently wears a composed smile, including while challenging classmates or concealing irritation 2 4 9.

Health

• Underlying condition: Her physical limitations originate in her heart, not her legs. At the time this is revealed, only Sakayanagi and her father know the true cause 24.
• Exercise restrictions: Her heart cannot sustain exercise, and even prolonged walking leaves her weak. She sits out PE and the swimming competition for health reasons 5 7 24.
• Personal frustration: While watching Lezheng and Kamuro practice running, she privately wishes she could run alongside them 24.
• Exam participation: She takes leave from the first deserted-island trip but later tells her father she does not want to miss the two-week, whole-grade island exam 15 49.

Personality

Sakayanagi combines polished manners with an openly competitive streak. She deliberately follows Katsuragi’s mathematics solution with two solutions of her own, then announces that she has won. Her confidence can become humiliating for opponents: during the chess tournament final, she passes up an earlier checkmate to capture every opposing piece except the king 4 13.

She is willing to discard classmates she considers inadequate. During the midterm discussions, she rejects Katsuragi’s proposal to protect weaker students, arguing that students unable to pass are not worth keeping. She also holds grudges: after Yamauchi knocks away her cane, she remembers him and later helps engineer his expulsion 8 30 34 37.

Although she initially treats Lezheng as someone to recruit, test, or defeat, she gradually acknowledges his superiority in particular areas. She concedes his greater influence over Class A and sincerely requests his help reviewing her chess defeat. Their interactions also show a playful side, with mutual teasing about romance, her stature, and his habits 3 5 34 38 44.

Abilities & Skills

Academic Ability

Sakayanagi performs strongly in written subjects and uses academic contests to challenge her rivals 4 9.

• Writes two solutions to Mashima’s difficult mathematics problem after Katsuragi presents one 4.
• Reports earning full marks in every midterm subject 9.
• Recognizes the validity of Lezheng’s explanation of the VIP exam’s gojuon-order pattern after considering it 22.

Chess

Sakayanagi is the champion of the school’s 137th chess tournament. Her play features direct attacks and a Scottish Game style, though both Lezheng and Ayanokoji demonstrate limits to her strength 13 42.

Leadership & Exam Strategy

Sakayanagi leads one of Class A’s original factions and later acts as its Command Tower 3 40.

• Delegation: Directs Kamuro’s errands and works with supporters such as Hashimoto 13 14.
• Group planning: Proposes recruiting one outside student into Class A’s girls’ group to obtain a group-size multiplier at the mixed training camp 29.
• Event selection: Builds the Command Tower lineup around mathematics, English, model repair, judo, and chess 40.
• Flexible deployment: Reserves Lezheng and other students for Class D’s events, increasing his opportunities to participate 40.
• Recognition of stronger leadership: Acknowledges that most classmates already regard Lezheng as their sole leader and bargains for his support rather than trying to exclude him 38.

Information Gathering

Sakayanagi actively investigates capable students and uses her father’s access to school records 22.

• Arranges Kamuro’s races against Lezheng to assess his abilities 5.
• Reviews Lezheng’s records from kindergarten onward, finding no evidence of special training 22.
• Knows about the White Room and repeatedly compares Lezheng’s abilities with Ayanokoji’s 25 27 38.
• Informs Lezheng about Tachibana’s predicament during the mixed training camp and Tsukishiro’s connection to Ayanokoji’s father 30 38.

Background / History

Class A’s Early Factional Conflict

Sakayanagi introduces herself to Lezheng and Kamuro near the beginning of school. After whispering something privately to Kamuro, she persuades the reluctant girl to leave with her. She soon clashes openly with Katsuragi, dismissing his proposal for class introductions as childish 2.

Class A divides into Sakayanagi’s faction, Katsuragi’s faction, and a self-described neutral faction. Sakayanagi tries to draw Lezheng closer, but he refuses involvement in her conflict with Katsuragi. Their disagreement over protecting weaker students during the midterms further exposes the divide between the two established leaders 3 4 8.

Lezheng’s Rise and the White Room

After discovering Lezheng’s sale of old midterm papers, Sakayanagi challenges him to a future Special Exam and asks him to defeat Katsuragi in the next one. Her health prevents her from joining the first deserted-island trip, leaving her at school while the others travel 10 15 20.

Lezheng’s rapid solution of the VIP exam prompts her to investigate his background with her father. His apparently ordinary upbringing and lack of special training make his abilities particularly intriguing to her. She later visits him more frequently and raises subjects such as the White Room and artificial genius 22 27.

Mixed Training Camp and Her Father’s Suspension

At the mixed training camp, Yamauchi knocks away Sakayanagi’s cane. Lezheng catches her by the collar, retrieves the cane, and escorts her away. She thanks him but asks that any future rescue be more graceful 30.

After the camp, she reveals that her father has been suspended as chairman following a move by the White Room. She later explains that Acting Chairman Tsukishiro works under Ayanokoji’s father and that her own father is at home under investigation 34 38.

Voting Exam and Yamauchi’s Expulsion

Concerned that Tsukishiro may target her because of his hostility toward her father, Sakayanagi seeks the voting exam’s one-time expulsion exemption. Class A coordinates both its praise and criticism votes around her, then uses Private Points to waive the resulting expulsion penalty 36 37.

Separately, she offers her faction’s outside-class praise votes to Ayanokoji in exchange for help spreading damaging information about Yamauchi. His scheme to transfer to Class A is exposed, and he is expelled 37.

Command Tower Exam and Leadership Concession

Sakayanagi selects Class D as Class A’s opponent and asks Lezheng to support her appointment as Command Tower. In exchange, she offers to place both herself and her followers under his command afterward. Her personal objective is a chess match against Ayanokoji 38.

She loses the chess match, but Class A wins the overall exam. Afterward, she acknowledges that Lezheng would likely have secured a less narrow victory and tells him she will rely on him going forward 42.

Second-Year Cooperation

Sakayanagi learns that Lezheng approached Kiryuin to help her father return to school administration. She leaves Lezheng homemade belated chocolates and returns for a chess review. During their conversation, she considers his proposed semesterly class reshuffles too radical 44.

As preparations begin for the next whole-grade island exam, she supports Lezheng’s decision to compete alone. She and Katsuragi offer to handle cooperation with other classes on behalf of a united Class A 49.

Equipment / Items

• Walking cane — Her regular mobility aid 2 30.
• Tournament chessboard — Awarded with her chess championship prizes 13.
• Expulsion-exemption voucher / Protection Point — Obtained through the voting exam; she is subsequently among the protected Command Towers 36 37 42.
• Fan — Carried during the second-year island-exam preparations 49.

Relationships

• Lezheng Youyan — Classmate, chess rival, and eventual partner in Class A’s leadership. He helps her after the cane incident and seeks assistance for her father; she ultimately accepts his leadership and requests his chess guidance 30 38 42 44 49.
• Sakayanagi Narumori — Her father and the school chairman. He helps investigate Lezheng’s background and knows the true nature of her heart condition 22 24 46.
• Katsuragi Kohei — Rival faction leader whose protective approach conflicts with her willingness to eliminate weaker students. By the second-year island preparations, they jointly represent Class A 8 49.
• Kamuro — Close associate whom she directs on errands and uses to test Lezheng. Kamuro also accompanies her socially and teases her about her relationship with him 5 14 34.
• Hashimoto — Faction supporter who calls her “Princess” and represents Class A in chess before she takes over as Command Tower 13 40 42.
• Ayanokoji — A focus of her interest in the White Room and her chosen chess opponent. They cooperate against Yamauchi before facing each other in the Command Tower Exam 37 38 42.
• Haruki Yamauchi — Knocks away her cane at the training camp. She remembers the incident and later helps arrange his downfall in the voting exam 30 34 37.
• Tsunenari Tsukishiro — Acting chairman connected to Ayanokoji’s father. His position and her father’s suspension motivate her to obtain protection against expulsion 36 38.