Chapter 65

Chapter 65

"What the hell are you guys doing in the middle of an exam? Do you even know what an exam is?"

Lelouch smirked at me. "Oi guys, do you want to hear a joke?"

I already knew that whatever was about to come out of his mouth wouldn't be nice for me, but nobody could do anything to stop him from talking.

"An angel, a chick-magnet, a boy-magnet and a bitch walk into a forest clearing," he paused, and made eye contact with me. "The bitch said 'What the hell are you guys doing in the middle of an exam? Do you even know what an exam is?'"

His classmates snorted in response, while I felt my fist tighten. It appeared that they already didn't intend to take us seriously.

"Good one, very funny. But seriously, what are you trying to pull?" I glowered.

"And then she said—"

"Okay, shut up!" I snapped.

Somehow, members of this class in particular had a certain way of getting under my skin. It really started to bother me.

"Someone's a bit snappy today. Did something happen?" Sora-kun asked, placing his finger against his cheek, as if he was deep in thought.

"Maybe she's annoyed because she can't find a boyfriend," suggested Shiro-san irritatingly, resting her head against Sora-kun's shoulder.

"Maybe... Or perhaps she's annoyed because her brother is the student council president while she's in Class E?" Lelouch pondered.

I felt my frustration rising more and more at these guys' antics.

"Hmm... Maybe it's that time of the month?" Sora-kun proposed with a grin.

"It is not!" I shot him an icy glare, but he just laughed at me.

"Guys, it isn't nice to make passive-aggressive comments of that nature about a girl," advocated Hirata-kun, the ever-neutral mediator.

"But Horikita is barely a girl. She definitely doesn't act like one," Lelouch-kun retorted with a smirk. "And also—"

He wasn't able to finish his sentence, though, because he received a satisfying chop to the head which caused him to yelp in pain.

"That's enough, you guys," Kururugi-kun scolded them sternly.

I felt a sharp pain in my palm, and realized that it was my fingernails digging into my hand. Apparently, I'd tightened my fist too much. I loosened it and examined the marks dug into my skin.

"But in all seriousness, why did you guys come here? I mean, I can probably guess, but I'd still like to make sure." Ayanokōji-kun stepped forward from the volleyball game, and came over to us.

He was followed by the rest of his classmates one by one, until we were all standing face to face with each other.

"Ayanokōji-kun," I began, looking him in the eye. "It was you who captured all of the spots during the night, wasn't it?"

"That's right," he didn't deny it, and instead openly admitted to it instead.

"Hmm?" Ichinose-san looked baffled. "So you're really the leader, Ayanokōji-kun?"

"I suppose so,"

This didn't add up. If he really was the leader, there's no way he'd be so calm about it. But then again, Ayanokōji-kun was always this calm. There's also no way he could've taken the tower spot if he wasn't the leader. What game was he trying to play?

"Excuse me, Class D, but do you understand the effect your actions have had on the other classes? Now that everybody has lost their spots, they've also lost their base camps. You can control what happens at every spot now, after all. Nobody else has anywhere to camp now." Hirata-kun said gravely.

"Oh, there's no need to worry about that," Ryuzaki-kun countered disinterestedly. "'You can't change your base camp location without a justifiable reason once you've decided.' Losing your spot is a justifiable reason. Just move your camp somewhere else."

Ryuzaki-kun pointed out yet another rule that I'd overlooked. While I felt more frustration with myself, an even bigger question floated into my mind:

Just how much have these guys thought out?

They seemed to have an answer for everything. They didn't miss a single detail. Every possible thing, down to even the most minute elements, was considered in their plans. I felt chills run through my body. Is this the gap between a true genius and a mere above-average honour student?

"So we can move our camp? But that sounds like a long and arduous task." Ichinose-san said dejectedly.

"To put it as respectfully as possible, that doesn't sound like our problem." Lelouch-kun countered neutrally. "We're doing what it takes to win. Inconveniencing our enemies is just one of many things done to achieve victory."

"Is victory all you guys care about?" Kushida-san asked.

"Horikita said it herself," Light-kun replied assertively. "This is an exam. Everybody is trying to win, albeit in different ways. Our way is just objectively superior to yours."

"What, revealing your leader is an objectively superior strategy, is it?" I scoffed.

I thought about it, and there was no possible way that revealing your leader could ever bring about a positive result. I rubbed my arm as I thought about it.

"Maybe it is,"

"By the way, who is she?" Ichinose-san asked, pointing her finger at a girl who was sitting alone at a log in the centre of the clearing.

She had silver hair tied by twin black ribbons that fell to the small of her back. I'd never seen her before.

"Oh, her?" Sora-kun glanced over his shoulder at the girl. "Just some refugee from that Ryūen's class. No one important."

"A refugee?" Hirata-kun narrowed his eyes.

My suspicion of Ibuki-san increased even more. Not only was there also a Class C student living amongst Class B, but there was also one in Class D. It all seemed a bit too convenient.

"There's also Ibuki-san in your class, as well as Kaneda-kun in ours." Ichinose-san stated.

"Mhm, it's all quite suspicious, isn't it?" Light-kun replied with a gentle, heart-capturing smile.

"I was thinking the exact same thing..." I murmured to no one in particular.

"Anyway, did you get what you came here for?" Lelouch-kun asked, bringing us back to the main topic at hand.

"No. I want to know what you're playing at with this ridiculous strategy." I asserted harshly.

"Isn't it obvious? The more spots we occupy, the more bonus points we get at the end of the exam." Ayanokōji-kun answered as if it was obvious.

"But that makes no sense. If your leader is guessed, you lose all of those bonus points anyway, so what's the point?" Kushida-san looked confused, as did we all.

"Well we'll just have to not get our leader guessed then, won't we?"

With those cryptic words, Ayanokōji-kun turned around and went to sit on the logs arranged as chairs, and he was shortly followed by the rest of Class D.

Kushida-san, Ichinose-san, Hirata-kun and I exchanged looks, and wordlessly agreed to take our leave. Once we were a fair distance away, we began to talk again.

"I have more questions than answers now," I sighed in exasperation.

"Me too. I can't understand what they're thinking at all." Ichinose-san agreed.

"Well, everything will become clear at the end of the exam, I suppose." Kushida-san said, trying to brighten the mood.

"It might not be that simple, though." Hirata-kun shot her down. "There's a chance the school might just tell us the results and nothing more. They might not even tell us who the actual leaders are. In that case, we'd still be left in the dark."

We all pondered his words solemnly. Our position was extremely precarious. Not only was our class in complete shambles after being hit by three demoralizing events in quick succession, but we were also clueless as to what was going on behind the scenes. It all invoked a feeling of lingering dread.

"Well, I suppose nothing can be done about it for now," Ichinose-san concluded