Chapter 100

Chapter 100

Suzaku's POV

Seated at a café table were the four of us whom shared a guest room aboard this luxurious cruise liner, Speranza. I was beside my childhood friend, Lelouch, whilst Light and Ryuzaki sat opposite us.

Plop!

...

Plop!

...

Plop!

Lelouch, Light and I all slowly looked and stared at the unruly, black-haired boy.

Plop!

...

Plop!

...

Plop!

He was adding an extremely excessive amount of sugar cubes to his coffee. And, what's more surprising, was the fact that he was casually dropping them in as if nothing was wrong.

Plop!

...

Plop!

...

Plop!

That made 9. 9 Sugar cubes. In one cup of coffee.

"Ryuzaki..." Lelouch said uncertainly.

The boy froze, his hand hovering above the coffee with a sugar cube pinched between his thumb and index finger.

"Hm? What is it?" Ryuzaki asked.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Ryuzaki tilted his head in genuine confusion, as if he had no idea what the problem was.

"Why are you adding so much sugar?" Light asked in equal confusion.

"Isn't it obvious? To make it sweeter." Ryuzaki answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But..." Lelouch began in disbelief. "... But that isn't 'sweet.'"

He pointed to the cup in front of Ryuzaki as he continued.

"What's in that cup isn't coffee anymore! That's liquid diabetes!"

The three of us snorted in laughter, which was only amplified when Ryuzaki let go of the sugar cube between his fingers, causing it to splash into the cup.

"Do you drink that much sugar on a regular basis?" Light asked once the laughter died down.

"Yes. Why?" Ryuzaki replied, picking up the cup.

"I-Isn't that bad for you?" I stammered.

Ryuzaki shifted in his seat and took a sip of the liquid diabetes.

"I burn the calories by using my brain," Ryuzaki rebutted, tapping his head.

Everyone narrowed their eyes sceptically as we heard his refutation.

"Does that really work?" Lelouch asked incredulously.

"The brain alone accounts for approximately 20% of the body's total energy consumption. Naturally, it is also the organ that burns the most calories within a human." Ryuzaki told us, taking another drink of his 'coffee.'

"I still think regular exercise is more effective, though?" I said with doubt in my voice.

"Hm, speaking of, Suzaku, have you been exercising since you enrolled here?" Lelouch inquired.

"Yeah, I have. If I allow my body to fall behind, then I really will be useless." I joked.

It wasn't nearly as intense and strenuous as the training I'd endured during my years in the Britannian military, but I'd still been doing some decent-level workouts.

"Speaking of, Kururugi," Light spoke. "Your physical ability seems extremely high-level. Doesn't mere casual exercise cause it to deteriorate?"

He asked me a logical question. For a normal person, it would be natural to assume that maintaining this level of physical prowess would require extensive training. However, I was no normal person.

"Actually, no. I haven't noticed any decrease at all. In fact, if anything, I may have even gotten a little stronger." I replied.

The eyes of the other three widened in shock.

"What?! You've improved?! How the hell does that work?" Lelouch exclaimed.

"Well, it's simple. For an average person to reach this level, it would require years and years of hellish and torturous training, and equal efforts to maintain it – that's why there is pretty much no other high-schooler on my level." I informed them.

"Right. But that doesn't explain how you aren't deteriorating at all at the moment." Ryuzaki pointed out.

"Well, the answer is that I'm not just an average person. It seems that I'm gifted so much in physical ability that it eclipses even the most naturally proficient of athletes. For that reason, my baseline is much higher than average. That's why I can maintain it, even with a pretty standard exercise regime."

Of course, if it wasn't for my excessive military training, this potential of mine would never have been unlocked.

Some may claim that I got this kind of power easily, and that it's unfair to those who've worked hard their whole lives.

However, the harsh reality is that humans have never been born equal. Not now, not ever. Throughout history, there have always been those born with natural gifts, and those born with better conditions and more accessible resources for improvement.

Many people like to preach about how hard work triumphs natural talent, but what happens when somebody like me comes along who has natural talent AND works hard? In my opinion, such a person cannot be surmounted except by another person with even greater natural ability.

"So, that's the reason why you were placed in Class E, huh." Light surmised aloud.

"Yeah. That must be it," I responded with a light smile.

Well, if I could be sure of one thing, it definitely wasn't because of my mental capabilities.

Bzzt!

At that moment, all of our phones vibrated simultaneously. It was either a mail from the school, or a message in the Class D group chat from one of the other three who weren't here right now. The latter was more likely, but—

"A mail from the school, huh..." Lelouch muttered as he clicked his screen open.

All of our eyes seemed to widen as we read the contents of the mail displayed on our screens:

The test has now ended for the Monkey group. Those in the Monkey group are no longer required to participate any further. Please do not disturb the other students.

"Hey wait a minute... 'Monkey group?' Isn't that your group, Ryuzaki?" Light asked as he read the mail.

"Indeed," Ryuzaki answered him with narrowed eyes.

"Did someone figure out the VIP...?" I wondered aloud.

"I doubt it. Ryuzaki, did anybody in your group stick out as obviously the VIP?" Lelouch retorted with suspicion edging his tone.

"Well, there were two or three students all of the same class whom I observed to be acting oddly compared to the rest, but there is basically no way to differentiate between those who are genuinely nervous because they're the VIP, and those that are simply putting on an act to cover for the real VIP based on behaviour-observation alone."

If that's the case, then that means...

What does that mean, exactly?

"I'd say there are two possibilities. The first is that somebody just took a shot in the dark at one of the students in the 'oddly-acting' class. The second is that somebody intentionally guessed wrong." Light deduced.

Those are two possibilities, but is there not a third?

"Couldn't it also be that somebody figured out the pattern?" I pointed out.

"I doubt it," Lelouch disagreed, much to my confusion. "If somebody figured out the pattern, they'd wait right until the very end to make their move so that there's no room for a counterattack. Plus, why would you go to all the trouble of finding the pattern just to betray one group?"

"I see."

So that's it, huh? The difference between them and me.

Lelouch and the others are capable of understanding how the enemy would think and move, which allows them to make these kinds of predictions. I myself am able to notice a possibility, but I can't see past that at the depth beyond the surface.

"I may be able to shed some light on the situation," Ryuzaki told us. "Kōenji Rokusuke is also in the Monkey group."

"That's who Ayanokōji theorises to be behind Class E's movements on the island exam..." I murmured out loud.

"Well, I suppose Kōenji's behaviour can be rationalised regardless of whether Ayanokōji is correct or not," Lelouch said.

"Eh? What do you mean?" I asked.

"Put it like this," he began. "If Kōenji didn't do anything during the island exam, then him just throwing this exam and ending it early because he finds it troublesome is consistent with his nature which we deduced from the very beginning."

Indeed, everything lines up in that scenario. However, I had trouble seeing it from the other side.

"But what if he did do something during the island exam? That would mean that our deductions about his personality were wrong, wouldn't it? And in that case, it probably wouldn't be him who made the betrayal for his group." I retorted.

"Actually, even if he did make some movements on the island exam, that doesn't necessarily mean we were wrong about him," Light countered. "We didn't make a miscalculation based on what we knew. The reason why we dropped some points was because we didn't have the information that Class E's homeroom teacher could potentially resort to using force to make Kōenji act. As Sora would say, information is the strongest weapon. And we were missing a key piece of the puzzle."

The guys' deductions about Kōenji didn't have to be incorrect for the island exam theory to be accurate. However, there was still one thing that didn't line up.

"But, if that's the case, then he still shouldn't be throwing the exam this time, should he?"

"Well," Ryuzaki interjected. "The only plausible explanation is that Kōenji has somehow managed to escape whatever Chabashira-sensei was using to force him to act. For example, if it was blackmail, he may have found a way to nullify the leverage she holds over him."

So that was it, huh? A sudden understanding flowed into my mind. No matter how many times it happens, I didn't think I'd ever get used to this feeling.

But wait. If all of this does turn out to be true, doesn't that mean that the only powerful card that Class E had to play has been lost? It's hard to imagine that Class E could win without the help of the mastermind backing them.

"Well, in any case, we won't know the truth until we do a bit of digging on our own." Lelouch said.

"Do you think anyone else is suspect of the Class E mastermind too?" I asked.

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if Ryūen was. Maybe Sakayanagi, too, once she hears about this." Light mused.

Honestly, I found it oddly frightening that these guys could make these sorts of deductions with confidence about Sakayanagi having never actually formally met her.

We'd only seen her one time, and that was when she visited our classroom on May 1st. But, even then, none of us actually held a conversation or introduced ourselves to her – she was merely there to take a quick look around before leaving.

If I could recall correctly, she didn't even say much in general to us as a collective.

"Heh. Maybe we should ask Ryūen if he has any suspicions. He could even help our investigation." Lelouch said with a laugh.

"Work with Ryūen? No way." I replied.

"Why not? He certainly has the ability and resources available."

"But he's the type that doesn't care about his methods as long as he wins."

"Yeah, so am I. So what? You still work with me."

"That's something I'm not proud of..." I muttered.

Ryuzaki, who had been watching our back-and-forth along with Light, clicked his phone screen on and checked the time.

"Well, it's almost time. You guys should go have fun in your meetings," he said.

"Oh. Right. Ryuzaki's group just ended." Light said, standing up.

"Maybe you should go and stay with Shiro, seeing as she's all alone for this hour?" I suggested.

To my surprise, however, Ryuzaki shook his head.

"I can't do that. I'm no good at comforting people."

"It's not like you need to do anything, though," Light rebutted.

"Shiro would probably feel uncomfortable with my gaze glued to her in silence. And I wouldn't know what to do otherwise. She'd probably feel safer alone than with me."

Ryuzaki firmly rejected the proposals like that.

"Well, I guess nothing can be done about it, then..." I murmured, pushing my seat out and rising to my feet.

Lelouch also stood up, and joined Light and I.

"Well, see you later, Ryuzaki," he waved, before the three of us turned around and departed from the scene.