Chapter 3 Part I

Ryūen finished going through the final phone, having confirmed the content of them all on his own.

The whole situation took about 20 minutes, and he spent less than a minute on each phone. It was impossible to feel as though he had thoroughly gone through all of them. Most of the students had their doubts, but none of them would dare speak up about it.

But for the spy, the tens of seconds that their mobile phone was being examined should have been very long and stressful.

"I see. It turns out that there is no information contained within these phones."

"Then Nishino or one of the others who were 'innocent' turned out to be the traitor after all…"

"That's not it."

Ibuki's irritation and doubt did not disappear even with Ryūen's assertion.

"But, in fact, you didn't find any spies, did you? Explain to me exactly what's going on here. Is there really a spy here in the first place?"

Ibuki's heart was in doubt. Ryūen said there was a spy, but was it just a lie created in order to hide his failure?

Ryūen had believed in an invisible presence working behind Horikita ever since he had received the results of the uninhabited island test, but there had been no conclusive evidence since then that such a puppet master 'X' actually exists.

In fact, other classes had started to pay attention to the girl named Suzune Horikita.

"Proof is stronger than theory. In that case, let me personally tell you something. I assume this is something everyone here already knows very well."

Ryūen played the audio file sent to him by 'X'. The voice on the recording was one that every student in Class C had heard before. The voice of Kakeru Ryūen explaining his strategy for the sports festival to his classmates.

"This was sent to me when I was one step away from victory over a desperate Suzune. Thanks to this, I wasn't even able to see her kowtow to me, much less see any points. Do you understand now?"

"Wait a minute. Even if we assume that you didn't record that yourself, but instead it was recorded by a spy, there are still strange questions left unanswered. We didn't discuss a detailed time for having Horikita kowtow to you. They managed to know the whole plan as well as the details we didn't speak of? There's no way."

Such a conclusion made sense when considering the details Ryūen gave. Not only was their strategy leaked, but the timing for his discussion with Horikita after the sports festival was as well.

"It was a coincidence, purely a matter of probability. The best time for him to make a move was after school after the sports festival was over. Besides, I don't believe the other party was interested in stopping Horikita's apology. There is nothing written in the message that came with the audio file."

"What's going on…?"

Ryūen analyzed the blank message he received that contained the audio file.

"X, the master of Class D, is very clearly telling me that he's aware of the strategy I came up with by sending me this audio file. Since he knew about my plans, he could have avoided the attacks I had targeted against Suzune at the sports festival. He should have been able to prevent Suzune from being defeated and being forced to apologize altogether. However, this X deliberately ignored these openings. Despite knowing my strategy, I was allowed to rout Suzune, and of course, she suffered due to this. She didn't expect that she would be hurt, and the results of the competition for Class D weren't going to improve. On top of all this, there's the guilt of having hurt someone else. Her mental state should be in a pretty bad place."

"By letting Ryūen-shi carry out his strategy, did he not make the audio file into credible evidence?"

It's understandable why the mushroom-headed student with glasses, Kaneda, would think this. Although the plan carried risk, if the plan failed entirely and didn't bring any results, the sound file would not be considered valid evidence. It would just be considered as 'a failed plan to defeat Horikita'.

"How very smart of you, Kaneda. As long as we execute the strategy, the audio file has meaning. Then it could make sense as evidence."

"The plans made by this 'X' are truly brutal. He knows harm will come to his partner, but he takes no steps to avoid it."

"Yes. This type of guy isn't interested in Suzune's apology. That's the reason why nothing was written in the message. This is to say, from his perspective, he doesn't hold any regard for Suzune's pride or the loss of pride that she will go through."

"I can't understand. Wouldn't it be better to prevent Horikita from getting hurt...?"

Other students were probably agreeing with Ibuki's feelings on the topic. It was clear that Ryūen had intended to target Horikita, so X should have been able to resolve the situation before the sports festival even began. There were options available such as changing the participation table according to Class C's strategy, or sending the audio file to Ryūen to stop him in advance. If he had done that, Horikita wouldn't have been hurt.

"What if X intended to submit the audio file to the school?"

If you know the plans of the enemy beforehand, the typical strategy would be to use this knowledge to save your classmates. But if there were any merits to not doing anything and deliberately ignoring the plans, it would be that you could strike a major blow at Class C. If the audio file was given to the school after the operation had already played out, Class C would undoubtedly take the most damage. If it was revealed that he had deliberately used foul play against Horikita, and then tried to squeeze points out of her as compensation, the worst outcome would be Ryūen being forced to drop out.

But now that it's already halfway through October, the possibility of this happening has almost vanished entirely. If they were to bring up such an old topic now, the investigation itself would not only be very troublesome, but Class C would be able to destroy all their evidence and plan their retreat. So why would X do such a thing?

"This naive way of fighting has saved us entirely by chance. Could it be said that he has not fully utilized his assets? He went out of his way to obtain this information, but then proceeded to act passively. If Horikita-shi had paid the private points to Ryūen-shi, we would have won, and it would have been X's defeat."

Kaneda analyzed the situation and came to this conclusion.

Since X had learned of their strategy before the sports festival, it follows that he should have had a complete victory during the festival.

"That's not right. X had found a useful way to use the information by deliberately not using it. Even if Suzune had paid out the private points earlier to make amends, he could have easily used the sound file as evidence in order to retrieve them. He could have included a message such as 'If you do not return the private points, this matter will be made public.'"

"You mean he knows how to use threats, but he deliberately doesn't use them?"

"Yeah, and he even allowed me to force Suzune to kowtow. Kowtowing, unlike the private points, is not something that has a numeric value. It's only there in the physical form. You can't undo or reverse it later, right?"

In other words, this is what it all boils down to.

The only thing that X had been aiming for:

"That is to say, X welcomes the idea of playing with Suzune."

He had used valuable information obtained from the spy for that purpose alone.

"This kind of situation… I don't understand. Class C was saved by X, who we don't even know."

Ryūen was different from Ibuki. He knew why X had done such a thing.

"Kuku... that is to say, he does not intend to reveal himself."

As long as Ryūen tracks down the source of the audio file, Class D's X will eventually be forced to show his face.

If Ryūen got desperate enough, he could even ask the school, which manages all the phones, to provide him with the email and call records, and he would then thoroughly investigate and discover X's identity.

At the same time, he did not feel an obsession with rising to Class A from X. He didn't feel like X had the desire to move upwards, this was the conclusion Ryūen had come to.

At the same time, he also came to another conclusion.

"Well, we've gotten a bit derailed, so let's get back to the point. I'm not sure what method he used, but the fact remains that 'X is someone who thinks like me', and he has made someone in this class spy for him. Because otherwise, he couldn't have gotten his hands on the audio file. However, the premise is that X's true identity will remain hidden even if we find the spy. If the spy knew his identity, this game would be over the moment I find them. Because of this, in order to be able to conduct espionage, mail or other exchanges of communication would be necessary. Although it's not impossible for them to be using old-fashioned letters to communicate, that method would be very limited and inefficient."

"But there was no evidence on anyone's cell phone. Are you sure you didn't skip over any details?"

"Of course. I looked at the phones as a matter of principle. It was only for done for the sake of appearances."

"Huh? You said you'd know who the spy is if you just looked at the phones. Right?"

"Think about it carefully. If you were the spy, would you risk leaving a suspicious mail on your phone?"

"I… would not. Because of that, I had thought that checking the phones like this was a waste of time."

"Right. If you think about it, checking the classes cellphones is an obvious result of this. It's not incredibly difficult to destroy the evidence. Even if the spy didn't think to destroy it, X would have certainly instructed them to do so. In other words, the spy attempted to look innocent by willingly letting me look at their phone. It follows that those who refused to show me their cellphones are clearly innocent, and the spy wouldn't have taken that chance."

Because of this, those who had refused to let Ryūen look at the contents of their cellphones such as Nishino and the others, were inevitably excluded from his search. If someone isn't the spy, it ultimately doesn't matter if they're under suspicion. It was a stunt that was possible simply because there were people who were able to speak up. Of course, Ryūen could have also just simply checked the contents of their mobile phones to eliminate the small possibility that he was wrong, but it would have only provoked his classmates. This tactic was selected because he was relying on power to dominate the class. Even if he had to bear some risks, his plans worked out in the end.

Because he hadn't looked at each cell phone for a meaningful amount of time, he had effectively told the students of Class C that he hadn't looked at the details of their private lives at all. What Ryūen was looking for in the phones was not the presence or absence of suspicious mail, instead, he was looking to see the extent at which the spy was dominated by their invisible partner, and how much they feared them. And what he saw from that…

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

Ryūen looked at each person's eyes and movements one by one.

"Are you afraid of the unknown X? Or of me? Ask yourself which one is truly terrible to make into an enemy. Are you making a mistake? Remember when the admissions ceremony was over? What happens to the people who resist me? Right, Ishizaki?"

"Y-Yes..."

Ishizaki slightly shivered after being mentioned. Albert who always calmly stood at Ryūen's side also gave a slight reaction. In the beginning, nobody consented to Ryūen's orders. Both Ishizaki and Albert had initially protested against him, but in the end, they both gave in to the 'violence' that Ryūen exerted. Ishizaki had far more fighting experience, while Albert clearly had superior physical strength.

However, it was these two men who had fallen to the ground in the end.

"The strongest force in the world is 'violence' when it's fully committed. I will not succumb to authority. Even if the school tries to expel me, I'd be certain to kill the traitor before it happens. Do you understand what I mean? If I end up expelled because of this betrayal, I will make sure to stomp the life out of this spy like the insect they are."

This was different from the former student council president Horikita or the current president Nagumo who had dominated the gymnasium with authority.

Instead, Ryūen marched forward in a frenzy of violence.

"I will welcome the confession of the traitor now, but this will be your last chance. If you are to confess now, I promise to not get caught up on this betrayal, and vow to prevent your classmates from accusing you in the future. As I had said in the beginning, if you believe in and obey me, I will lead this class to Class A. As long as you follow me, I will protect you."

Ryūen stepped down from the podium and stood in front of the classroom, watching the eyes of his classmates.

His words gave off the feeling that they were addressed to the entire class, and not just the spy in question.

"Do you understand? What it means to offend me?"

He stared into the eyes of his classmates one by one. For Ryūen, this was the easiest way to find the traitor.

Then, Ryūen finally walked over to a female student and stood before her.

Of course, this wasn't by chance. Ryūen had set her as the target from the beginning.

"What's wrong? Can you not look into my eyes?"

"Ah... A-A... I..."

Her breathing was disorderly, and she had a face that was about to burst into tears.

"Kuku. It's you, Manabe, Class C's traitor."

Most students hadn't imagined it to be her, and were unable to understand this unexpected revelation.

"Don't be so afraid, Manabe. You didn't take the initiative to report it to me, but I knew you were the spy from the beginning. Your complexion has been bad from the start. There was no way for you to hide it."

Ryūen smoothed out her hair next to her ear and touched her face. Manabe began trembling as if she were exposed to the extreme cold.

"Please. Sorry, I'm sorry, I---"

"Don't worry, I'll forgive you. I'll handle this with magnanimity. So let's hear it. Tell me the true nature of X who had you betray me."

Ryūen turned from Shiho Manabe and shot a sharp glance to her friends Nanami Yabu and Saki Yamashita.