446 6.4

Usually, the cafeteria would be filled with students from all years, but it was quite empty today. No wonder, as many second-year students were still in their classrooms, glued to their phones just like Kei.

They valued saving time and avoiding elimination.

In other words, those who could afford to come to the cafeteria were either leaders with no risk of getting eliminated, students who were already eliminated and had nothing left to do, or those who, like me, didn't think much about it.

Deciding on the menu for two, we bought our meals and sat at the tables frequently used by second-year students, trays of food in hand, just as usual.

"We can choose seats freely."

"That's right. But it's strange, isn't it? Even though first and third-year students can secure plenty of seats today, the places most used by second-year students seem hardly utilized."

There weren't any rules in the cafeteria that determined particular areas for each year to use.

The students just implicitly made these divisions, and most of them abided by this silent agreement.

Of course, there were students who didn't pay this any mind too.

"Horikita, you don't seem to mind the details, do you?"

"Isn't it the same for you?"

"In my case, I prefer to read the atmosphere and blend into the majority."

"You don't seem to care, but you also do... I'll stop thinking about it for now. I can't afford to dedicate my cognitive resources to you."

It was a bit sarcastic, but it was rather relieving for me.

"Good day, you two Class B students. If you don't mind, may I join you?"

Just as I was about to split my chopsticks, a voice called out to us.

"Sakayanagi-san, where you sit is up to you. I don't have the right to refuse you."

Though she granted permission, she must've been surprised.

She must not have expected to be approached by an opponent's leader during a special exam.

"I don't mind eating together either, but where's your meal?"

From what I could see, Sakayanagi arrived without anything. If she went to buy now, it would result in a slight delay.

"Masumi-san and Kitō-kun are buying lunch for me now. They should arrive shortly."

Following her gaze, I did indeed see Kamuro and Kitō lined up tiredly at the counter.

"You really take care of your friends, don't you?"

"Yes, they're really helpful."

Sakayanagi, who sat opposite to Horikita and propped her cane, was soon joined by Kitō with a tray in each hand. It was a clear indication of his perpetual support of Sakayanagi.

"Now, both of you please sit down."

"Huh? Here? Eating with Horikita and Ayanokōji? I'm not up for that."

"Why not? It could be a good learning experience for you, Masumi-san."

"Planning to drag me into trouble again? I'm sick of humoring your games."

The one who raised this question was Kamuro, who was listed as eliminated in Class A, yet she showed no signs of anxiety.

Despite her rebelliousness, her attitude suggested that she thought that it was unthinkable for Sakayanagi to end up in last place. The fact that she had ended the first half in first place must've been a confidence booster.

I lightly raised my hand to greet Kitō.

Kitō didn't particularly react, but seeing him slightly nod back was satisfying enough.

"I hope you'll be gentle in the second half, Horikita-san."

"Now you say this? I felt quite pressured during the first half, you know."

"I was rather lenient, wasn't I? Isn't that evident from you being in second place?"

"You must be kidding—"

Horikita showed a hint of annoyance at the blatant claim that Sakayanagi went easy on her.

Just then, a male student appeared from behind the irritated Horikita.

"Shall I join the mix too?"

Sensing his presence, Kitō immediately stood up, displaying open hostility.

However, unconcerned, the student sat down next to Horikita without even asking for permission.

"What a rough way to show up, Ryūen-kun."

"Kuku! I just came as the wolf to check on this flock of sheep."

Despite being the only one who had fallen behind in the first half, he had an air of ease.

That said, he wouldn't show signs of exhaustion here of course, even if he had to fake it.

"Get lost."

Those quiet but heavy words came from Kitō.

"Oh? Who gave you the right to order me around? The midget over there's not saying a word."

"Let me have permission. I'll remove him now."

Stating his intention, Kitō stood up, ready to confront Ryūen.

Combined with the insult Ryūen threw at Sakayanagi, he seemed fully prepared.

"There's no need to worry, Kitō-kun. He's here simply because he's hungry. After all, we have to welcome our weak and pitiful wolf."

"But he didn't seem to bring anything. Maybe he's got someone like Ishizaki doing the grunt work?"

"What he's after isn't food, but points from this special exam. He seems to have started off a bit late in the first half."

"I see. Well, true enough."

While all three classes were locked in close competition, only Ryūen's class was being left behind.

If it was meant as a taunt, it hardly sent ripples.

Confirming that there were no suspicious movements, Kitō quietly took his seat again.

"Even so, Kamuro, you seem quite relaxed for someone that might disappear today."

Kamuro paused, with fried horse mackerel gripped between her chopsticks halfway to her mouth, and glared back.

"You too, Kitō. One mistake and you're eliminated."

Sakayanagi was the one to retort to Ryūen's remark.

"My class is currently first, while you're at the bottom. Are you really in a position to have this conversation?"

"Even if I come in last, I only lose foot soldiers. But you, at the moment, are close to having Kamuro or Yamamura expelled. If Kitō or Hashimoto messes up, that number could inflate to four. You're the one who gets hurt if anyone disappears. Or in the second half, will you let Horikita painfully injure you and carelessly increase the number of eliminations as if they were trash?"

Even Sakayanagi wouldn't say that a few more were likely to be eliminated.

If someone was eliminated, you'd lose a point. That was something you essentially didn't want.

"Do you intend to eliminate people close to me?"

"Isn't that obvious by now?"

"It's hard to believe at this point. Given that your peculiar focus on the students who were within your reach during the first half clearly failed. And now, you're still relentlessly pursuing students like Masumi-san and Kitō-kun."

I had a strong impression that Ryūen's strategy was focused on a maximum of about eight people, centering on the students supporting Sakayanagi, like Kitō, Kamuro, and Hashimoto.

Yet, even under such inefficient, concentrated attacks, Sakayanagi couldn't fully protect Kamuro or Yamamura.

Even if you knew who was getting targeted, it wasn't always possible to ward off the attacks.

In fact, in all four classes, Sakayanagi had the highest rate of successfully protected students in the first half.

"Thanks to your immature strategy, our class has been able to maintain first place. So while I'm grateful, I'm also worried about you, Ryūen-kun. If you don't change your tactics in the second half, you'll just be repeating your defeat. Surely even Horikita-san could indirectly see that, right?"

"It's indeed very clear, isn't it? If it was me, and I found out that Sakayanagi-san was likely to ward off my attempts, I'd scatter my focus among more students."

I never thought an evaluation of the special exam would start here, but Ryūen was smiling as he listened.

"I highly recommend you to fight more intelligently."

But nonetheless, Ryūen also demonstrated a defiant attitude, refusing to run away and sitting upright.

"I got you figured out, Sakayanagi. Forget about the point difference for a moment, think about it. Kamuro, if the exam were to end now with two eliminations, and your class comes last, do you know how she'll judge?"

Kamuro still didn't respond, but surely she must've had some concern. How would the leader respond in that particular situation?

Horikita must've been interested as well in what criteria she would use for deciding who to expel.

But Sakayanagi continued eating without stopping.

"Can't you answer? No, is it that you don't want to answer? What do you think, Horikita?"

"What do I think? Why did you target Yamamura-san in the first place? You seemed to have narrowed it down to a few people, but she doesn't seem like the kind to be singled out, does she?"

Kamuro was brought here, but Yamamura wasn't.

From that fact alone, it was only natural to think Kamuro was more special.

Aside from Yamamura, the other students who were targeted all clearly had distinguished abilities.

But in reality, there was an unseen connection between Sakayanagi and Yamamura.

There were students who were evaluated for their invisible abilities, not just their visible OAA ratings.

"You guys probably don't know, so you better remember this. Yamamura is as valuable to Sakayanagi as Kamuro is. She cherishes her a lot behind the scenes, doesn't she?"

By forcefully bringing up Yamamura, he made sure everyone would notice this.

For the first time, Sakayanagi paused eating.

"If you think so, then interpret it that way."

Rather than being vague, she responded sincerely, inviting him to do as he pleased.

"Whether it's true or not, I don't intend to judge individuals as a third party who doesn't know anything. Kamuro-san and Yamamura-san are both excellent classmates to Sakayanagi-san."

Horikita, it seemed, wanted to avoid being used as a factor in swaying Sakayanagi's considerations.

"Both are excellent? Ha, don't make me laugh. Sakayanagi doesn't evaluate people based on their OAAs. How easy they are to use and how obedient they are, that's the standard."

"Behind the scenes, then?"

Kamuro looked at Sakayanagi and quietly asked for confirmation.

"Kamuro seemed taken aback by the mention of Yamamura's name."

Ryūen, who evidently wasn't privy to all of Class A's intricacies, expressed his observation.

Whatever the relationship between Kamuro and Yamamura was, it was apparent that there was some tension or antagonism between them.

"Were you close to Yamamura?"

"It's just his baseless provocation."

"I didn't know you had any connection to Yamamura. I was just asking."

Kamuro made a small pause, but I wondered how many people noticed it.

"As I said, it's just his way of provoking. It's pointless to take him seriously."

She wasn't evading the topic because it was sensitive; she genuinely viewed it as irrelevant.

Although Ryūen had stopped, he seemed to enjoy watching Kamuro react so sensitively to his words, displaying the confidence of someone formidable.

"You should decide now who to expel."

It didn't seem like Ryūen had appeared to provoke Sakayanagi.

The goal was to avoid having any more eliminations from Class A, and instead, only push key players like Kamuro or Yamamura, as well as Kitō or Hashimoto, into expulsion.

"I hope you won't be swayed by his meaningless remarks."

In order to stop him, Sakayanagi said this to Horikita.

"I know."

But Horikita was fighting to win.

She didn't go into the exam intending to expel anyone from Sakayanagi's class.

If it was effective for winning, that would be another story, but sure enough…

Deciding there was no more to be gained from his cheap provocations, Ryūen switched the topic to the other classes.

"Speaking of which, the only one not here is Ichinose, right?"

"It seems that her class has made it clear that they don't intend to have anybody eliminated. No one from her class is in the cafeteria. It's only natural, I suppose."

Sure enough, nobody from Ichinose's class was in the cafeteria. Even before coming here, I didn't see them anywhere else except for doing whatever was necessary, like going to the bathroom.

They had prepared food from the beginning and fought every single minute and second.

"She's prepared to lose in order to keep anyone from her class from getting expelled. She's a seriously stupid woman."

If anything, Ichinose was probably concerned about the eliminations in other classes. But if you lost in a battle, your class would inevitably be hurt. To avoid that, you needed to become ruthless and eliminate others so they couldn't earn points.

"That's true. She never flinches in any special exams. That's why I've been able to keep her in third place by exploiting her weaknesses."

Horikita, who had been eating for a long time, stopped her chopsticks and reflected on the first half of the exam.

"Ichinose's determination is so extreme, it's almost pathological. If she continues this strategy in the second half, she'll risk discarding her protection slots to their very limit. That should work to your advantage, Ryūen."

Just like Horikita, Ryūen would be attacking Ichinose's class.

Unless he increased the number of people who had incorrectly answered twice and were on the brink of elimination to six or more, there was a high chance that he'd be able to hit all the protection slots.

Even if you wouldn't gain more points by eliminating the opponent's students, it was necessary to suppress the higher-ranking class to raise your placement.

"But next, I'll be the one attacking your class. Even if the protection success rate increases as the elimination rate rises, I wonder how many points I can get."

Like her setup against Kōenji, Sakayanagi read what the opponent's leader was likely to think of ahead of time.

Depending on how Ryūen used the protection slots, there may be times when he can't get the points he should get.

It was especially difficult to protect classmates who would probably answer incorrectly.

"I'll look forward to it."

Ryūen abruptly stood up from his seat.

"Well, now that the one who was stirring the pot has left, let's resume our meal."

When he turned his back away from Sakayanagi and walked away, Ryūen quietly brushed up his hair.

Contrary to the surrounding thoughts at that moment, he had a powerful expression that hinted that he'd be making a move in the second half of the exam.

It wasn't a mere coincidence that he only momentarily showed me this expression.

It was a forceful message telling me to watch silently.

It was hard to see beyond his desperate situation, but I did wonder how he would overturn it.

The second half of the exam was about to begin soon.

(Illustration)