Chapter 62
Chapter 62
Suzaku's POV
I slipped in and out of the shadows cast by the tall trees by the morning sun, making sure not to step on any branches as I trailed my target. This was the mission assigned to me by Ayanokōji.
He'd predicted that the silver-haired girl walking some distance in front of me would leave in the middle of the night. I didn't understand how he'd known that but, here she was, departing at the crack of dawn.
"I want you to wake up early, and follow Shiina Hiyori when she wakes up and leaves. If you stay hidden and don't make your presence known, you will discover useful information for us when she reaches her destination."
"Huh? How do you know that she'll leave? And why don't you do it yourself, Ayanokōji?"
"I have other important business to attend to on the fourth day. I chose you to do it instead because I thought that you'd have some experience in concealing your presence, having been military trained and all. As for how I know... I'll explain it all after the exam."
Those were the last words to me before Ayanokōji Kiyotaka vanished into the night. I briefly wondered whether the rest of Class D even knew what he was up to. I certainly didn't.
He was right, however. During my extensive training in the army, concealing my presence was one of the many skills I'd picked up. Normally, a soldier would have no reason to learn something like that, but I was no normal soldier.
An honorary Britannian. These were viewed differently to regular Britannian soldiers – they weren't viewed as anywhere near as valuable, since they were actually Japanese. Because of this, I ended up receiving very specialized training.
The Lancelot Unit. It was an experimental unit, separate from the main army branches. It reported directly to the emperor, Charles zi Britannia. I was the only soldier in it – they would never test a new training system that could easily go wrong on an actual Britannian soldier.
"Am I nothing more than a guinea pig after all?" I muttered under my breath.
The experiment ended up a success, though. Through their extensive and hellish experimental training, they were able to create in me the ultimate soldier. Britannia ended up falling before it could be tested further, though, meaning I was the only product of the Lancelot Unit. The only one in the world who'd gained this much strength in a mere seven years of training.
Of course, my existence was top-secret, even within Britannia. Few knew of me, even then, and nobody outside of Britannia would ever be able to discover me. Even Lelouch doesn't know about the training I endured.
It was comforting, but also instilled an odd feeling of loneliness in me. As if I'll never be able to relate to anyone.
"Ah, Shiina, glad you could make it."
A voice cut through my thoughts, bringing my focus back to the task at hand. It seemed that Shiina had, indeed, arrived at her destination. The voice that called out to her was undoubtedly that of Ryūen Kakeru.
"Good morning, Ryūen-san!" Shiina's voice was unexpectedly cheerful.
"So? Were you successful, even after being caught out as a spy?"
Ryūen demanded answers straight away. He didn't mess around when it came to business, it seemed.
"Eto, yes, I believe that I was able to figure out the Class D leader."
A wave of surprise washed over me. She figured out that the leader was Ayanokōji? How? When? Questions bounced around in my head.
"They were very vigilant about me, but had one slip-up. Just as I arrived, Sora-kun called out to Ayanokōji-kun, asking him how he took so long just to occupy two spots. At that time, he probably didn't notice me, as I was trailing behind Ayanokōji-kun."
Thinking back to that moment around the fire, when Shiina first turned up at our camp, Sora did say that. Apparently, Shiina Hiyori was extremely observant and sharp.
I had to commend her, even if I was feeling uneasy at the moment due to our leader being uncovered.
"I see. That's the last one, then. We now know every class' leader, except Class E's. Good work. I'll have to tell that Ibuki to get her ass moving. Ordinarily, I'd like to say you can retire now, but I don't want anyone to catch on the fact that all the spies have retired too. If they did, they might figure out that I was still on the island."
Ryūen knew three leaders? That meant that he'd gain at least 150 points after the exam, on top of whatever bonus points he gained from spots. If Ibuki is successful in finding Class E's leader, then he'll gain 200 points instead. If Ryuzaki's theory about Class C joining hands with Class A was true, and Ryūen gave Katsuragi all of the class' leaders, it would mean that every other class would lose 100 points and all their spot bonus points.
Taking that into account, plus expenses used by the class over the course of the exam, it was clear that Ryūen's class would take first place. I stopped the sinking feeling in my stomach by thinking rationally. There's no way that Lelouch and the others haven't already thought of all this.
In fact, Ayanokōji had probably sent me on this mission because he was confident that this would happen. He'd wanted to confirm something by sending me here.
I tried my hardest to use deductive logic, thinking like Ryuzaki and Sora do. What was Ayanokōji trying to find out by sending me here? He already knew that Ryūen's spying strategy would be successful, so it couldn't be that.
The other thing I'd heard here was Ryūen telling Shiina that ordinarily, he'd let her retire. On our way back from Class C's camp yesterday, Lelouch had told me that Class C's leader was either Ryūen himself, or one of the spies, as everybody else would be dropping out at the end of the day.
That must be it. Ryūen has to be the leader – he would have no other reason to go to such lengths to conceal his presence on the island. Ayanokōji hadn't wanted me to find out whether our leader was uncovered or not, like I'd initially assumed; no, he'd wanted to confirm that Ryūen intends to remain on the island until the end.
Class C's leader was undoubtedly Ryūen Kakeru. Feeling a little proud of myself for deducing that, I slipped away from the scene