Chapter 4: Class C Makes Its Move

Meanwhile, in a different classroom, the atmosphere was quite cold and strained. The assembled Class C students appeared greatly intimidated by the person standing at the podium before them.

"There've been many unnatural goings-on, wouldn't you say?" he

asked.

Ryuuen Kakeru was Class C's leader and dictator. Yamada Albert,

Ishizaki, and other students adept in martial arts stood next to him. They were willing to dispense punishment with their fists, should someone oppose Ryuuen.

"First there was that test on the uninhabited island, and then the sports festival. Someone lurking in Class D knows how to think like me."

"Someone thinks like you, Ryuuen-san? I can't imagine someone like that in Class D, though," said Ishizaki. To him, Ryuuen was a strange, incomprehensible being who commanded both respect and contempt.

Ryuuen smiled at Ishizaki. "I thought so, too. But not anymore." "So, are the events on the island and at the sports festival connected

somehow?"

"Yes, exactly. But don't worry. I'm starting to see how this person handles things. Listen up, all of you! From here on out, we're going to hit Class D with everything we've got. We'll put Classes A and B aside for the time being. I'll smoke out the person working in Class D's shadows," said Ryuuen.

No one objected to his plan. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't.

They'd already made a deal with the devil himself.

"Ryuuen-san, is there really anyone competent in Class D, besides Horikita or Hirata?"

"Yes. And someone in Class C can expose the puppet master's true identity."

"What are you trying to say, Ryuuen?" asked Ibuki, crossing her arms.

She stood near the window, her posture defiant.

"Heh. Ibuki, can't you even listen quietly?" asked Ryuuen.

"I don't have that luxury. Besides, you're just trying to intimidate the entire class. I gain nothing from silence, right?"

"You know, someone with no authority shouldn't be talking. Besides, you made a rather disgraceful blunder, didn't you?" said Ryuuen.

"That's…"

Ibuki's failure in the sports festival had been significant. She'd requested to challenge Horikita directly, but been narrowly defeated.

"Like you, then?" said Ibuki, glaring at Ryuuen. "I mean, you also failed to crush Horikita in the sports festival, or to get the private points you expected. You're the same as me."

"The same as you? Don't make me laugh. My strategy was perfect," said Ryuuen.

"So, how do you explain the results? You never explain anything. You seriously expect to convince us that Class D has some master strategist?" said Ibuki.

Hearing Ibuki's comeback, the other students trembled in fear. They wanted to avoid incurring Ryuuen's wrath.

However, Ryuuen only smiled thinly. "Don't you think that a perfect strategy is meaningless if someone leaks information?"

"Leaks information?"

"Class D's success is due to the maneuverings of a mysterious person I'll refer to as 'X.' X has an ally in Class C—my class. There's a spy among

us," said Ryuuen.

Everyone looked slightly confused.

Ibuki's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, are you serious?" she asked. "It's true. It seems that my control over you isn't strong enough. It's

extremely unfortunate," said Ryuuen.

He smiled as if he enjoyed the possibility of being spied upon. Everyone in the room started praying that this would be over quickly.

"This nonsense is coming to an end right this instant," said Ryuuen. He slammed the top of the podium, silencing everyone. "First, I'll ask directly.

The person who betrayed me, raise your hand."

Of course, none of his classmates put up their hands. Some averted their eyes and feigned ignorance, while others looked around to see whether anyone came forward. Some stayed completely still to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

"If you just step forward now, I'll forgive you," said Ryuuen. The continuing silence seemed to delight him. "Yes. I knew that a spy would plan to stay hidden. Don't come forward. In fact, stay hidden at all costs."

"Wait, what? You're not seriously going to accept that Class C has a traitor, are you?"

"Shut up, Ibuki. Don't get in the way of my fun. I'll bury you if you do." Ryuuen had been all smiles before, but his face twisted as he glared at Ibuki. "I've actually tried not to get too violent so far. You may think I'm lying, but it's true. I've taken it easy on my opponents."

He slammed the podium twice. BAM! BAM! It was the class's death

knell.

"But maybe that was foolish. I mean, now we have a traitor among us." Ryuuen struck the podium once more. BAM! The sound reverberated

through the room. The timid students shook.

"So, we're going to play a little game. A silly, childish little game where we try to find the spy. For most students, there's really no need to be afraid. This shouldn't take long at all; just thirty minutes," said Ryuuen.

Despite his words, it was obvious that everyone was terrified. Even

Ibuki started to feel apprehensive.

"First things first. Take your phones out, and place them on your desks. I'll come by and check personally. Are there any idiots who didn't bring their phones? They should step forward immediately. One of them is the culprit," said Ryuuen.

The students immediately put their phones on their desks. Ishizaki went around the room and collected them, attaching a label with the owner's name to each phone. The labels seemed to have been prepared ahead of time. Ibuki handed her phone over to Ishizaki, looking dissatisfied.

"Ryuuen-san, I collected everyone's phones," said Ishizaki.

"Good work. Well, I think it's time for a thorough investigation, don't

you?"

"What should we check? The call histories?"

"Come now, as if someone trying to hide their identity would make an

incriminating call! Look at the email histories. Then look at the texts. Read all of them, even if it's just a minor conversation. The traitor might have used an alias."

"W-wait a minute! There are lots of really private messages on my phone, though!" shouted one girl, her desire not to have Ryuuen see her personal information outweighing the risk of him suspecting her.

"You really don't want me to read what's on your phone, Nishino?" "Of course I don't! Even if it's just you, Ryuuen-kun!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Nishino. You gave Ryuuen your phone on the

cruise ship, didn't you?" said Ishizaki. "Why are you so—?"

"Th-this is different from back then! All he did on the cruise ship was check the email I received from the school!"

Ryuuen listened to Nishino's appeal with cold indifference. "You know that this will make you a prime suspect, Nishino?"

"I-I will obey you, Ryuuen-kun, but there are some things I can't accept!"

Nishino wasn't the type to argue, but in this case, it looked like she was dead serious. She'd loudly announced that she had something on her phone

that she didn't want other people to see.

"Are you the spy, Nishino?" asked Oda. "No, I'm not the spy!"

"But the fact that you're hiding something is pretty suspicious."

"I just want to protect my privacy!"

Ryuuen showed no interest at all in the current conversation. He grabbed one of the phones. "This is your phone, Nishino?"

"Hey!" Nishino panicked, sure that he'd start reading her messages.

However, Ryuuen handed Nishino's phone to Ishizaki. "Give this back to her."

"I-Is that okay? You didn't check the contents." "I told you to give it to her."

Ishizaki quietly returned Nishino's phone. She and the other students

shook.

"Really, it's not such a mystery. I confirmed your innocence, so I returned your phone. That's only natural, right? If it's not the traitor's phone, then looking at it would be a waste of time and effort," said Ryuuen.

"If anyone here thinks that what I'm doing is unacceptable, like Nishino said, raise your hand," he added. "However, prepare to come under even more suspicion than she did."

Faced with those two options, four girls and two boys raised their hands, despite their fear.

"Six people are standing up to Ryuuen-san. The spy is definitely among them, I'm sure of it! Nomura-san, you were the last one to raise your hand. You're not jumping on the bandwagon to save your own skin, are you?" said Ishizaki.

"N-no, that's not it! I'm not doing that!" said Nomura.

While Ishizaki hurled accusations, Ryuuen wore an eerie smile. "Gather their phones."

"Yes, sir."

Ishizaki collected six phones and immediately handed them to Ryuuen.

"So, you're okay with being my prime suspects as long as I don't look through your phones?" asked Ryuuen.

All six students agreed.

"You took quite a bit of time before you raised your hand, Nomura." "Huh? No, I didn't—"

"You've been looking around all shifty-eyed. And you're sweating,

hmm?"

"Huh?!"

Nomura had a very timid personality, and he seemed on the verge of fainting. Ryuuen let out an amused chuckle before turning to Ishizaki once more. "Ishizaki. These six are all innocent. Return their phones," he ordered.

A second shock. No one other than Ryuuen himself could understand this reasoning.

"Will you explain what's going on here?" asked Ibuki.

"Later." Ryuuen ran his hand through his hair and picked up Ibuki's phone. "Well then, let's investigate the rest of the phones. I'll start with yours, Ibuki."

"Do whatever you want."

4.1

Ryuuen checked everyone's phones himself. The whole process took about twenty minutes, no more than one minute per phone. He couldn't have checked all of them thoroughly. Even though the students had their doubts, no one said anything.

For the spy, every second must have been agonizingly stressful. "I see. No information seems to be recorded on these phones."

"So, one of the people you thought were innocent—like Nishino—is a traitor after all," said Ibuki.

"No," said Ryuuen.

"What are you doing here? Is there really even a spy?" asked Ibuki.

In her heart of hearts, she wondered whether Ryuuen had come up with a story about a traitor to hide his own failure. Ryuuen had believed some shadowy figure was puppeteering Horikita since the island test. So far, however, there hadn't been one shred of evidence that this mastermind even existed. In fact, everyone else had focused on Horikita Suzune.

"Evidence trumps theory," said Ryuuen. "Listen. I assume this is something you all know quite well, hmm?"

He replayed an audio file that X had sent. The voice on the recording was Ryuuen's, explaining his strategy to Class C.

"I received this recording when I was about to force Suzune to kneel," Ryuuen continued. "Never mind the points—because of this, I didn't get to see Suzune beg. Do you understand now?"

"Wait a minute. Even if we assume that you didn't just record that file yourself, there are still questions that you need to answer. We never discussed the details of getting Horikita to kneel before you. This other person managed to anticipate everything, including the time you were meeting her? That's impossible," said Ibuki.

"It was a coincidence. The best time for this other person to strike was immediately after the festival ended. Besides, I don't think he was interested

in saving Suzune," said Ryuuen. "X, Class D's mastermind, had this audio file. X clearly understood the details of the strategy I came up with. If he knew all my plans, including leaking the participation table, he could have foiled my attacks on Suzune at the sports festival. He could have prevented Suzune from being crushed and having to beg for forgiveness. But he didn't. Even though X knew about my strategy, he allowed me to go about my business and let Suzune suffer. She was injured, unable to keep competing, and she had to suffer the guilt of injuring someone else as well."

"So, by letting you get that far, this person turned the audio file into incriminating material?" Kaneda asked. He was a bespectacled boy with a mushroom cut.

"How very clever you are, Kaneda," said Ryuuen.

"This X person's thought process is so cruel. I mean, he just let his friend get hurt."

"Yes. X wasn't bothered by me having Suzune kneel. That's why there wasn't any text in his message. I think he couldn't have cared less whether Suzune's pride was hurt or not," said Ryuuen.

"I can't understand that," said Ibuki. "If they're from the same class, shouldn't he have protected Horikita from the start?"

Other students probably shared Ibuki's feelings. X had had several options available, including altering Class D's participation table to prepare for Class C's strategy, or sending the audio file to Ryuuen in advance.

"Wouldn't X have thought to submit the audio file to the school?"

If X had given the audio file to the school after Class C carried out their plans, it would've hurt Class C badly. If the school found out that Class C had intentionally targeted Horikita and tried to extort points from her, it probably would've kicked Ryuuen out.

With October already half over, however, that possibility had practically vanished. Why would X do all this?

"X's naivete accidentally saved us. Or perhaps he isn't taking full advantage of his assets. If Horikita-shi had finished transferring private points over to Ryuuen-shi, then X would've been defeated," concluded Kaneda.

"No, that's not quite right," said Ryuuen. "Even if Suzune had given

up her private points, X probably could've recovered them by presenting the audio. He could have threatened us with exposure, and that would've been it."

"So, he deliberately chose not to threaten us?"

"Yes. X allowed me to make Suzune kneel. That's different from winning or losing points. It's not something a person can undo, right? I'm saying that X is letting me torment Suzune."

"I don't get it. So, X has been helping Class C?" Ibuki said. Unlike Ibuki, Ryuuen understood what X had done.

"Heh. So, you really don't intend to reveal yourself, all the way to the

bitter end, eh?" he said to Class C.

If Ryuuen kept digging for the audio file's source, he'd eventually force X to reveal himself. He could even contact the school and request that they provide him with email and call records. After thorough investigation, he'd probably arrive at X's identity.

In addition, Ryuuen didn't get the feeling that X was fixated on moving up to Class A at all. Gaining assets didn't matter to X.

"I'm not sure what method X employed, but I'm certain that he thinks like me, and that someone here is spying for him. If the spy knew X's identity, it'd be game over for X the moment I found them out. Therefore, I'm certain that X used email or similar tactics to remain anonymous," said Ryuuen.

"But there wasn't any proof on anyone's phone," said Ibuki. "You didn't even look at them carefully."

"Of course I didn't. That was just for show."

"Huh? But you said you'd know the spy's identity if you looked at our phones."

"Apply some common sense here. If you were the spy, would you intentionally leave a suspicious email on your phone?"

"Well, no, I wouldn't. That's why I thought that checking our phones was a waste of time."

"Right. It was obvious how investigating everyone's phones would

turn out. The spy is someone who thought that they could look innocent just by giving me their phone. Therefore, those who didn't show me their phones are innocent, whereas the spy wouldn't have taken that chance," said Ryuuen.

So, it had all been a stunt. Ryuuen hadn't actually been looking for an incriminating message on Class C's phones. Rather, he was evaluating how much the class feared him, and how much influence X had over the spy. And his conclusion was…

"I'm going to ask the spy to show himself again."

Ryuuen looked at each individual in the class, studying their body language.

"Are you scared of this mysterious X? Or are you scared of me? Which one should you truly fear? Are you sure you're not making a big mistake?

Remember what happened after the entrance ceremony? You saw what terrible fate befalls those who oppose me. Right, Ishizaki?"

"Y-yes…"

Ishizaki started trembling. Albert, who stood quietly by Ryuuen's side, also reacted slightly. Both Ishizaki and Albert had resisted Ryuuen at first, but the violence he wielded had ultimately brought them to their knees.

"Violence is the most powerful force in the world. I will not yield to authority. Even if the school tries to expel me, I'll kill the traitor before they kick me out. Do you understand? If I end up getting expelled because of this, I will stomp the life out of the spy, like crushing a bug."

This wasn't former-president Horikita or current-president Nagumo's style of authority. Ryuuen wielded his insane violence like a sword.

"I'll welcome the traitor's confession even now. However, this is your last chance. If you step forward and honestly admit what you've done, I promise to forgive and forget. I also swear that I won't let your classmates harass you. As I said from the very start, if you believe in me, I'll raise us all to Class A. As long as you follow me, I will protect you."

Ryuuen stepped down from the podium, gazing over every one of his classmates.

"Do you understand what it means to make me angry?"

He looked them in the eye, one by one. Ryuuen stopped beside a

female student, standing right in front of her. Of course, it wasn't random. He'd been targeting her since the start.

"What's wrong? Can't look me in the eye?"

"Ah…ah…I…" Her breathing was ragged. She appeared so terrified that she seemed on the verge of tears.

"Heh. It's you, isn't it, Manabe? You're the traitor." Most of the students were dumbfounded.

"Don't be afraid, Manabe. Although you didn't come forward and tell

me, I knew you were the spy from the very beginning. You've looked sick, like it was written on your face. There was no way you could hide."

Ryuuen brushed aside Manabe's hair and caressed her face. Manabe began trembling.

"I-I'm…I'm sorry. I-I—"

"Don't worry. I forgive you. I will handle this with tolerance and magnanimity. Tell me about it, hmm? Tell me about who this X really is."

Ryuuen turned from Manabe Shiho, fixing his sharp gaze upon her friends, Yabu Nanami and Yamashita Saki.

4.2

After Ryuuen finished grilling everyone, he released Class C and cleared the room. Only Ryuuen himself, Ishizaki, Kaneda, Ibuki, and the three spies remained.

"Do you know who gave you instructions?" Manabe and her friends denied it.

"Next question. Why did you betray Class C? Tell me." "That's—"

"There's no point in hiding. If you choose to stay quiet right now, then

tomorrow I won't treat you as classmates anymore. You'll all be treated like worms, forever."

Manabe and her friends had no choice but to tell the truth. "Do…do you know a girl named Karuizawa Kei, from Class D?"

"Just her name and face. She's Hirata's girl, isn't she?"

"She, um, well, she acts all tough, but…it seems she was bullied long

ago."

"Oh?"

"Well, Karuizawa treated Rika horribly, so we thought we'd give her

some payback…"

Manabe explained to Ryuuen what'd happened on the cruise ship. She told him the truth about everything, including how they were in the same group as Karuizawa, and about Karuizawa's past. The spies even told Ryuuen about what they'd done to Karuizawa.

Manabe said that she began spying because she'd received threats promising to expose her and her friends for what they did. If the truth came to light, Manabe and her friends would be suspended, or worse.

"I see. Well, it sounds like you've been having quite a wild time." "What?" said Ibuki. "If they're being threatened by someone they

don't know, that hardly seems 'wild.'"

"Come on, Ibuki. When humans are cornered, they become such weak creatures." Ryuuen didn't chastise the spies any further. "Here's the big question. Was anyone else there while you were bullying Karuizawa?"

Manabe and her friends nodded. "At the time, Yukimura-kun and Ayanokouji-kun from Class D saw us."

"Someone sent us a picture after. It was a photo of us with Karuizawa." "I see," said Ryuuen. "I expected that there was some kind of evidence.

So, someone took your picture, huh? Where is it?" "I-I deleted it. If someone saw it, then we…" "I understand completely."

"So, that means it's either Yukimura-shi or Ayanokouji-shi, right?" said Kaneda, who'd been quietly listening.

"Hold on, Ryuuen. I don't know much about this Yukimura guy, but I can't really imagine that Ayanokouji is the one pulling the strings. Can you? I've met him, and I don't see him as the type."

"Well, I suppose that Yukimura does look a little suspicious. He seems pretty smart," added Ishizaki.

"Can we really say that for sure, though? Ayanokouji-shi is always with Horikita-shi, isn't he? Moreover, Ayanokouji-shi hid his athletic abilities until the sports festival. I think he's the more suspicious of the two," said Kaneda.

"I think they're both irrelevant. Ayanokouji is just quick on his feet, and Yukimura is only good at studying, right? The mastermind would need more than that."

"Who else could it be?"

"There are other capable people in Class D. People like Hirata." "Him? I can't imagine he's this type of person."

Ryuuen wore a thin smile while his classmates talked on and on. Then, SLAM! He pounded his fist against the podium.

"Shut up."

A terrified silence enveloped the entire room.

"Did I ask for your opinions? I will find Class D's puppet master. You are nothing more than my pawns. Right now, the facts state that only Yukimura or Ayanokouji could have taken that picture. However, concluding that one of them is the mastermind merely because of that? No. They, too, might be mere pawns acting under someone else's orders," said Ryuuen.

That was where things got complicated.

"But, Ryuuen-shi, shouldn't we be especially suspicious of Ayanokouji-shi?" Kaneda dared to speak up.

"I agree," said Ryuuen.

With regard to Ayanokouji, he had felt something was fishy from the beginning, primarily because of Ayanokouji's connection to Horikita Suzune. However, if Ayanokouji were the mastermind, and had been close to Horikita Suzune from the beginning, he would never have let her be hurt.

"So, you're saying that the real mastermind's hiding right under our noses? I find that hard to swallow."

The situation felt hopeless.

"How about we try using him?" said Ryuuen.

They'd come this far; it made sense to go further. Ryuuen made his next move and sent a text message.