-172- Didn't I say it long ago?

A week ago, when Hori first saw Katsuragi Kouhei on the deck of the cruise ship, this is what Katsuragi Kouhei said.

"I heard that Ryuen suffered a loss in your hands, so I felt I should say hello to you."

So, the question arises.

"Where did this 'I heard' come from?"

Nanaya Hori's simple question instantly rendered Katsuragi Kouhei speechless.

Ryuen Kakeru also squinted his eyes.

Indeed.

That's the problem.

As mentioned before, apart from the parties involved, the two class teachers, and the student council, nobody else knows about Ryuen Kakeru's involvement in the previous violent incident.

Even Horikita Suzune learned it from Chabashira Sae, so where did Katsuragi Kouhei hear it from?

The parties involved?

But Nanaya Hori, as one of the parties involved, definitely did not mention it, and the trio from Class C could not have told anyone about this thing they had tried so hard to deny.

The two class teachers are out of the question.

One of them is complicit in Ryuen Kakeru's reign of terror and wouldn't leak anything that would expose Ryuen Kakeru or Class C to further scrutiny.

The other is indifferent even to matters within his own class, so why would he tell anyone from Class A about this?

As for the student council, that's also out of the question.

As the host of the deliberations, the student council has an obligation to keep the contents of the incident confidential.

Furthermore, whether Ryuen Kakeru was involved or not has not been confirmed yet, so there's no need for them to spread unconfirmed information.

So, none of them could have leaked this information.

In that case, where did Katsuragi Kouhei hear it from?

It's simple.

It must have been Ryuen Kakeru himself.

Perhaps Ryuen Kakeru contacted Katsuragi Kouhei before the exam even started?

The reason is easy to guess. Since Class A currently has the highest class points in the first year, they also receive the most personal points from the school every month.

For Ryuen Kakeru, who wants to acquire a large number of personal points, this is undoubtedly a big target.

With this in mind, Ryuen Kakeru must have contacted Katsuragi Kouhei before the exam and told him about it.

"Even though the exam hadn't started yet at that time, and you hadn't determined the nature of your cooperation, isn't it obvious that there would be a special exam during the summer vacation that could overturn the current class situation?" Nanaya Hori said with a half-smile.

"So, even if you hadn't formally started cooperating, you had already made contact at that time. In order to achieve your respective goals, you would inevitably end up cooperating in the end. Just being able to confirm this is enough."

This was Nanaya Hori's last event of confirming that Ibuki Mio was a spy.

Class A had already begun some kind of cooperation with Class C in secret.

Classes B and D both took in members from Class C.

And Ryuen Kakeru had already moved behind the scenes, secretly planning something.

All of this told Nanaya Hori that there must be something going on.

After that, everything was clear.

During the negotiations with Ichinose Honami about cooperation, Nanaya Hori let Ayanokouji Kiyotaka slightly reveal the existence of the key card.

As a spy for Class C, Ibuki Mio couldn't help but pay full attention to the negotiations between Classes B and D. Therefore, she must have noticed this detail.

Nanaya Hori also said at the time.

"If spending 50 points can confirm an enemy, I think it's worth it."

This so-called "enemy" was also referring to Ibuki Mio.

And then, everything became clear.

In order to find an opportunity to take a photo of the key card, Ibuki Mio frequently made contact with Ayanokouji Kiyotaka in the following days.

"Could it be..."

As if realizing something, Ibuki Mio turned her gaze towards Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, who was hiding among the crowd.

And if Ibuki Mio could think of it, Ryuen Kakeru naturally couldn't not think of it, and his eyes full of danger turned to Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.

If Nanaya Hori had already confirmed that Ibuki Mio was a spy from that time, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka would not have continued to make contact with Ibuki Mio without any caution, eventually leading to being photographed with the key card when taking over the base.

But this did happen, proving one thing.

"Was all this calculated by you?"

Ryuen Kakeru stared at Ayanokouji Kiyotaka and questioned him.

To this, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, who had been silently hidden in the crowd, just replied expressionlessly.

"I was just following Nanaya's orders."

This guy actually pushed everything away.

Nanaya Hori did not instruct Ayanokouji Kiyotaka to deliberately expose the opportunity to photograph the key card.

In other words, this matter was entirely orchestrated by Ayanokouji Kiyotaka himself.

"You guessed wrong about the leader of Class D," Nanaya Hori revealed the mystery behind the result of this special exam.

"And we guessed right about the leader of Class C, so all the reward points that Class C could get will be declared invalid."

Class C will receive 0 points, and that's the reason.

After all, Class C has already used up all their initial 300 points, and what's left are the reward points obtained from guessing the leaders of other classes and the reward points obtained from occupying bases.

Once these reward points are declared invalid, Class C naturally gets 0 points, and there is no second result.

So, in the morning, Nanaya Hori filled in the name of the leader of Class C.

At that time, the result that Class C would get 0 points was already predetermined.

But...

"How...how did you know the leader of Class C?" This question almost blurted out from Ibuki Mio's mouth.

Even Ryuen Kakeru said so.

"I have never taken out my key card in front of anyone, and no one knows that I am the leader," he added.

Even when he occupied a base in the forest and accumulated 25 reward points, Ryuen Kakeru did it secretly when he was alone, and he didn't even show it to Ibuki Mio and Kaneda Satoru.

Even though there must be a leader among the members of Class C who remained on the island because everyone else abstained, there was still the possibility that Ibuki Mio or Kaneda Satoru was the leader, right?

If that's the case, how did Nanaya Hori determine the leader of Class C?

For this question, Nanaya Hori's answer was like this.

"Didn't I say it long ago?" Nanaya Hori said without changing his expression. "From the beginning."

This statement made Ibuki Mio gasp for breath.

"...Are you trying to say that you confirmed I was the leader from the beginning?" Ryuen Kakeru remained silent for a moment and then sneered, "Impossible. When I was on the beach, I never took out the key card, and I have always kept it hidden on me. When I used it, I was always alone. You couldn't have done this."

This statement earned Nanaya Hori a sarcastic expression.

"So, you're saying your key card was never taken out, and it's been kept hidden on you the whole time, right?" Nanaya Hori sneered, holding up a key card in his hand.

A name was written on it.

---Ryuen Kakeru.