chap 4
Introduction
Simultaneously with the confrontation between Hirata and
Hamaguchi, the exam also started for the two
representatives of Class A and Class C. They entered the
room and immediately began examining the monitors,
observing the group of students who were about to enter
the discussion room.
"First Round of Discussion"
Participants:
Class 2A:
Naoki Shimizu, Koji Machida, Kenta Yoshida, Shinobu
Fukuyama, Chikako Motodoi, Koharu Yano, Momoe
Rokkaku
Class 2C:
Masashi Sonoda, Takumi Oda, Albert Yamada, Kosetsu
Yoshimoto, Nagisa Isoyama, Saki Yamashita, Minori
Kinoshita
Class A was represented by Sanada, and Class C by
Nishino. They were both tasked with being the "vanguard."
— Nice to meet you, Nishino-san.
Sanada, slightly nervous, politely greeted his opponent,
Nishino. Sanada prefers to maintain a polite tone when
communicating with both his classmates and students
from the opposing class, so even now, sitting opposite his
enemy, he remained true to his principles. Nishino, on the
other hand, did not enjoy Sanada's overly polite
demeanor. She had heard about his excessive politeness
everywhere, which made his company unpleasant for her,
sharp and expressive as she was.
But could she even think about pleasure now? Instead of
these lowly feelings, she felt terrible stress related to being
entrusted with defending her class's honor in such an
important exam. She couldn't shake off intrusive
unpleasant thoughts, and her body simply refused to obey
her. She sat frozen at the entrance of the representative's
room, as if she had forgotten where she was.
It was easy to understand that she was having a hard
time.
Sanada, already seated at the table, wondered if he
should extend a helping hand to his opponent.
— Ni...
Sanada began to speak but immediately fell silent. He
realized that an ill-timed display of kindness might backfire
on him later. If his opponent was stressed and unprepared
for the exam, he should take advantage of that.
Suppressing a sense of guilt, Sanada let out a quiet sigh.
When Nishino finally took her seat, the exam began
almost immediately, as if everyone had been waiting for
her.
— Let us begin our final special exam. The role of each
discussion participant is displayed on your tablets. Confirm
it, and then we will proceed with the discussion.
Nishino, still unable to cope with her stress, helplessly
stared at the screen.
— They've already assigned the roles...
Before Nishino could grasp it, the discussion had already
started. She was immediately gripped by panic. The video
in front of her couldn't be paused or rewound. The lively
conversations of the discussion participants were already
overwhelming her mind, making it difficult for her to
remember any useful details.
And this was without even understanding the rules of the
exam itself.
— Please nominate candidates or skip the turn. The time
limit is one minute.
Still panicking, Nishino looked at the tablet, which
displayed the names of all the discussion participants. She
stared at each one, as the decision time slowly ticked
away. When her eyes fell on the name Yoshida, whom she
didn't know, Nishino suddenly remembered his previous
words during the discussion. She couldn't be sure, but for
some reason, she felt he could be an "excellent student."
Nearly fainting, Nishino nominated Yoshida as an
"excellent student" and...
— Nishino-san loses 1 life point for incorrectly nominating
a discussion participant.
The sudden nomination of one of the students turned out
to be a reckless move, causing Nishino to lose one life
point in the first round of discussion. Sanada, observing
Nishino all this time, silently chose to "pass."
— He wasn't an "excellent student"? I don't understand
anything...
Nishino's muttering grew loud enough that even Sanada
could catch snippets of her frustration.
After the first round of discussion, only one student left the
room.
The second round of discussion among the 13 remaining
participants began, but Nishino's stress remained just as
high, and she once again missed the details.
Unsure of what choice to make after the second round,
Nishino looked at Sanada for the first time. He noticed her
gaze but decided not to show it. Instead, he pretended to
nominate a student, though he actually chose to "pass"
again.
Sanada wasn't very good at acting, but even this was
enough to convince Nishino to take action.
— Nishino-san loses 2 life points for incorrectly nominating
a discussion participant.
The result was just as disappointing as in the first round,
but this time Nishino lost two life points. Fukuyama, the
nominated student, left the discussion room.
With a total of three life points lost, Nishino hesitated to
nominate anyone in the third round. Both representatives
chose to "pass," and Isoyama, nominated by the "excellent
students," left the room.
Sanada, who had been carefully watching the monitor,
now also observed Nishino. He noticed that she paid
particular attention to the speeches of Class A participants,
almost ignoring her classmates' behavior.
By doing so, Nishino inadvertently trapped herself, as
Sanada knew his classmates' habits much better.
The fourth round began. An unexpected event occurred.
Shimizu introduced himself as a "graduate" and stated that
Kinoshita was not an "excellent student." Meanwhile,
Yoshimoto claimed to be the real "graduate" and added
that Kinoshita was actually an "excellent student."
One of them was definitely lying.
Finally, it was time for the representatives to make their
nominations.
Sanada waited until the last moment and chose to "pass."
He wanted to nominate someone but realized he didn't
have enough information.
Nishino, fearing that Sanada would make a correct
nomination and she would lose, decided to nominate
Shimizu, who first claimed to be the "graduate," as the
"graduate," but...
— Nishino-san loses 2 life points for incorrectly nominating
a discussion participant.
Shimizu, who claimed to be the "graduate," was actually
an "excellent student," leading to Nishino's defeat. Sanada
defeated the opposing "vanguard" without losing a single
life point.
— Therefore, your total life points are now 0. Nishino-san,
please leave the room.
— This is nonsense! I didn't understand anything!
Frustrated by the unfair exam and her own defeat, Nishino
was asked to leave the room.
— Still, I was lucky to face Nishino-san...
Sanada won without making any decisions.
— Slow and steady wins the race...
After watching several rounds of discussion, he realized
that distinguishing truth from lies was far more challenging
than it seemed at first glance. For his next discussion, he
decided to aim higher.
He continued sitting in the same room, but during the tenminute interval, he began to feel conflicted. Although he
had won, he couldn't fully enjoy his victory over Nishino.
He had been at this school for two years but never got
used to winning. Winning meant someone else had to
lose, and Sanada couldn't accept that reality.
— No, I can't give in to these feelings... For the sake of my
class, I have to do my best...
Five more minutes passed, and a "main force" student
from Ryuuen's class entered the room. Shaking off his
gloomy thoughts, Sanada stood up and greeted the
newcomer:
— Nice to see you, Katsuragi-kun.
Sanada used the same polite tone he had with Nishino.
— Hello. It's been a while since we talked.
— Yes, you're right. A lot of water has passed under the
bridge.
The two representatives looked at each other. They once
studied together in Class A but were not particularly close.
In other words, they were just ordinary classmates.
— I've been waiting for our meeting since I heard the
detailed exam rules.
Hearing Sanada's words, Katsuragi froze in place and
decided to change the topic:
— Looks like you easily defeated Nishino.
— Actually, I didn't do anything special. She seemed to be
overly stressed because of the importance of this exam...
By the way, I wanted to ask something... Why did Nishinosan become a representative? I thought there were other
suitable candidates in your class... No, don't get me
wrong, she did her best, she almost succeeded, but...
Sanada insisted that he wasn't belittling Nishino but
couldn't help but wonder why she was chosen as a
representative. He initially thought she was a substitute
due to the previous candidate's absence, but the school
provided no information about absent students, so that
version was out of the question.
— Even if you ask, I can't answer. Ryuuen chose the
representatives.
— I see. So if I defeat you, I'll get an answer to my
question.
— So it seems.
Katsuragi moved and took his designated seat.
— But don't think it will be easy. Because I also have a few
questions for Sakayanagi.
Katsuragi declared that he would deal with Sanada first
and then with Kito.
— Let the strongest win.
With that, their conversation ended, and they began
waiting for the second discussion round to start.
"First Round of Discussion"
Participants:
Class 2A:
Satoru Satonaka, Taiga Tsukasaki, Hiroshi Sugio, Takuro
Morishige, Mao Tanihara, Shihori Tsukaji, Miki Yamamura
Class 2C:
Mio Ibuki, Toa Inoue, Fuyu Okabe, Miu Suzuhira, Rika
Morofuji, Mariko
Yajima, Yoshika Yube
— Please get ready for the discussion to start.
Once all preparations were complete, the monitors
displaying the discussion room lit up again. Both
representatives remained silent, closely watching every
move of the discussion participants. Although the first
group was replaced by the second, the overall atmosphere
at the start of the first round was no different from the first
discussion, making it just as difficult to determine who had
which role.
The first round of discussion might not have provided
much useful information, but the two representatives still
eagerly watched the monitor. Each feared to blink, not
wanting to miss anything important. The experience
Sanada gained during the previous discussion clearly
showed that he needed to watch the entire picture. This
was the strategy Sanada aimed for.
The first round of discussion, which seemed to last
endlessly, finally ended. It was time for the
representatives.
— Please nominate candidates or skip the turn. The time
limit is one minute.
Sanada decided to repeat the actions he had performed
with Nishino. He understood that a random wrong choice
would only widen the gap between him and Katsuragi,
who already had a two-life point lead. Although the "main
force" had the initial advantage, Sanada wasn't going to
give up early. His goal was to take away two life points
from his opponent to even the score.
However, Sanada wasn't in a hurry to press "pass." He
again tried to confuse his opponent with long
deliberations, forcing him to make a mistake. Katsuragi,
encountering this system face-to-face for the first time, did
not take his eyes off Sanada.
— Does participating in the first discussion give you an
advantage in the second one?
— Do you think? I believe even this five-minute discussion
provided enough information.
Hearing these words, Katsuragi narrowed his eyes, as if
he understood the trick Sanada was trying to pull. He
continued to stare intently at his former classmate:
— Are you wondering whether to nominate someone or
not?
— More likely, yes than no. A few students looked
suspicious, so I think it's worth making a decisive move
and nominating them.
Sanada used all his time to convince Katsuragi that he
was going to nominate someone. He waited for his
mistake.
— Have you already decided what you're going to do,
Katsuragi-kun?
— I can't answer that question. But since you've already
experienced the game with Nishino, you should
understand what needs to be done now.
Katsuragi repeated that he believed Sanada's participation
in the previous discussion gave him an advantage.
Whether he hadn't understood the essence of the special
exam or was just pretending was unclear to Sanada.
Thinking about this, Sanada decided to back down:
— You know what, never mind. It's quite challenging to
narrow down the suspects right now.
Sanada and Katsuragi almost simultaneously finished their
operations with the tablets. And just when Sanada thought
he could relax...
— Well, that's entirely your choice.
— Eh?
— Announcing the results. Sanada-kun loses 1 life point
because Katsuragi-kun "blindly" nominated Morishige for a
role.
Sanada expected Katsuragi to either make a mistake in
the nomination or press "pass," but his first nomination
was correct, immediately widening the gap between him
and Sanada.
Sanada lost 1 life point before the second round even
started.
— But how did you figure it out?
— The question is rather how you didn't, Sanada?
Morishige studies in your class.
As it turned out, Katsuragi had been watching only the
participants from Sakayanagi's class during the entire first
round. Sanada knew too little about Ryuuen's class
students to replicate this strategy. Instead, he chose to
observe everyone at once.
— I had other suspicions too, but now I decided to ignore
them.
Katsuragi repeated the same strategy as Nishino, but he
did it much better.
— You ruled out half of the participants...?
— I deliberately chose a group whose members wouldn't
act, at least in the first round, so I could concentrate on
your class's students. By the way, it was clear from the
beginning that Morishige had some role. Did you miss
that?
Morishige did indeed act strangely. He avoided making
eye contact with anyone and only occasionally smiled
slightly. Katsuragi, focusing solely on Sakayanagi's class
group, couldn't overlook this, carefully considering what
role Morishige might have. Of course, there were no
guarantees, but Katsuragi made a risky but effective first
move. And it paid off.
— Well played. But next time, you won't succeed.
Sanada regained his composure and again stared at the
monitors, waiting for the second round to start. But the
seeds of doubt sown by Katsuragi were already ready to
sprout.
He didn't know whether to focus on Class A, as Katsuragi
had, or look at Class C, about which he had little
information. Or perhaps continue observing everything at
once?
The second round of discussion began.
— I actually figured out your strategy based on your
victory over Nishino. Don't try to repeat it.
In response to Katsuragi's bitter jab, Sanada could only
give a strained smile. Right now, he could only carefully
watch the discussion, but Katsuragi's words and actions
wouldn't let him relax.
So another five minutes passed.
— Please nominate candidates or skip the turn. The time
limit is one minute.
— I pass.
As soon as the announcement was made, Katsuragi
hurried to declare his pass and quickly set his tablet aside.
Sanada wondered if he was telling the truth.
Although no new important information had surfaced
during the discussion, some participants seemed
extremely worried. Would Katsuragi ignore this? But there
was also a high probability that this time he might miss
with a "blind" nomination. So maybe this time he wasn't
lying.
— ...
But Sanada knew this exam was a waiting game. So to
avoid failure next time, he had to nominate someone now.
In the worst-case scenario, he would lose just 2 life points.
— Is that so? Well, Katsuragi-kun, that's entirely your
choice.
Sanada echoed Katsuragi's previous round statement.
Right now, there were only 12 discussion participants left,
with one role definitely absent. Does this mean it's time to
target the "excellent student"? If everything went
according to Sanada's plan, his opponent would lose 3 life
points, and their scores would equalize. With these
thoughts, he nominated Rika Morofuji from Class 2C as an
"excellent student" and pressed "OK."
A few silent moments passed after submitting the request
and...
— Announcing the results. Sanada-kun loses 2 life points
for incorrectly nominating a discussion participant.
Due to Sanada's incorrect nomination, Morofuji left the
discussion room. Sanada's mistake in identifying the
"excellent student" cost him another 2 life points.
— That's not like you, Sanada. Usually, you wouldn't risk it
without enough information.
Katsuragi spoke as if he still studied in the same class with
him.
— Morofuji-san's behavior seemed suspicious to me.
— Maybe so, but how much do you know about Morofuji?
Or perhaps nothing at all? Moreover, even if you decided
she was an "excellent student," it would have been wiser
to confirm it better since I chose to pass.
Despite Katsuragi's attempts to break Sanada's spirit, he
wasn't going to give up easily. Yes, this mistake cost him
dearly, but he could still fight. If he could identify the
"excellent students" in the future, he would easily strip his
opponent of all his lives.
In the third round, Inoue and Tanihara accused each other
of being involved with the "excellent students," but neither
brought enough arguments. The conversation suddenly
turned into a real chaos, where it was impossible to
distinguish truth from lies. But discussing irrelevant topics
wasn't against the rules, so no one could stop the
discussion.
Sanada couldn't handle the information he had, so he had
to press "pass." Katsuragi, however, dared to "blindly"
nominate Tsukaji, but this attempt was futile, and his life
points decreased from 7 to 6.
It seemed like either Inoue or Tanihara would be
nominated by the "excellent students," but instead, Tsukaji
was told to leave the room along with Satonaka.
Most of the fourth round was again filled with a dialogue
between Inoue and Tanihara. This time, the "excellent
students" chose Okabe, and he left the discussion room.
There were only seven left. However, since the progress in
the discussion hadn't moved forward, it was extremely
difficult to determine anything. One could only be sure that
the participants nominated "blindly" had roles, but it was
impossible to determine if those excluded by the "excellent
students" had any roles.
In other words, it was impossible to tell how many
discussion participants with roles were still in play.
Sanada wanted to fight but couldn't, knowing that any
careless move could lead to his defeat. He wanted to see
one more round of discussions to narrow the circle even
further. He was sure that another round would definitely
give him a chance to win. Sanada believed Katsuragi was
thinking the same, so he quickly opened the "pass" menu
and was ready to confirm it, but...
— Looks like you're passing? In that case, I'll attack.
Only one click separated Sanada from passing, but
Katsuragi's words made him change his mind.
Katsuragi said he was going to attack. This meant that if
his answer was correct, Sanada would likely no longer be
able to continue the game. He canceled the previous
operation, quickly chose the name of a new target, and
confirmed the nomination.
— Sanada-kun loses 2 life points for incorrectly
nominating
a discussion participant. Therefore, your total life points
are now 0. Sanada-kun, please leave the room.
There was a clear contradiction between Katsuragi's
statement and the announcement.
— I incorrectly identified the "excellent student," but...
What were your results, Katsuragi-kun? Were you right or
not?
— You were halfway to the right choice, but you took the
wrong turn.
— What...
— I chose "pass."
— Huh...?
— My previous words were a lie. I did it because I decided
it was better for you to attack than for me to do it.
— I see... And I didn't get it...
Sanada replied almost in a whisper. He didn't notice it, but
his pulse had significantly increased. Nishino's
nervousness had eventually affected him as well. He
thought he was close to delivering a fatal blow to
Katsuragi, but Katsuragi's actions had a significant impact
on him. Sanada, who was absolutely sure of his victory,
ended up being unable to do anything and lost.
Before leaving the room, Sanada said to Katsuragi:
— You lost only one life. That's not scary at all... Stay calm
and move forward.
Katsuragi said nothing and just crossed his arms over his
chest. His next target would be the opponent's "main
force." Then he would finally reach his goal and be able to
let his emotions out.
Part 1
Kito quietly entered the room and, without uttering a word,
took his seat. The battle between the "main forces" began
in absolute silence. However, the situation between them
was markedly different from the two previous discussions.
Immediately after the first round of discussion, Kito
nominated one of the students as an "honor student"
without hesitation, while Katsuragi, lacking precise
information, could only press "pass."
— Announcing the results. Kito-kun loses 1 life point due
to an incorrect nomination.
Kito clicked his tongue slightly, but his expression
remained unchanged. The probability of hitting an "honor
student" was only 3%. Apparently, he just went all in.
Seeing this, Katsuragi didn't lose his composure:
— You're very radical, Kito. What are you going to do
next?
— Whatever it takes.
Even though Kito had already lost one life due to an
incorrect nomination, he decided to try his luck again in
the second round of discussion. This time, the probability
was about 7%.
— Announcing the results. Kito-kun loses 2 life points due
to an incorrect nomination.
He was wrong again. Moreover, he hit either a "teacher" or
a "graduate," so he lost two lives instead of one. Katsuragi
couldn't ignore such a strange manner of play:
— Now you have only 4 life points left. Are you going to
continue nominating everyone indiscriminately?
— Of course.
— Either you didn't quite understand the meaning of this
special exam, or... Sakayanagi gave you these
instructions.
Kito said nothing, which only further convinced Katsuragi
of the correctness of his assumptions. Furthermore, even
his chaotic tactics had a chance of success. After all, in
case of a miss, Kito lost from 1 to 2 life points, while in a
successful scenario, he could make Katsuragi lose 3 life
points at once.
However, for two rounds, Kito failed to inflict any damage
on his opponent. It was noticeable that this fact greatly
unnerved him because he kept tapping his fingers on the
tablet screen.
Katsuragi ignored his actions with all his might, fully
focusing on the monitor. Kito, apparently, relied only on his
inner intuition. In the third round, he made an incorrect
nomination again and lost 1 life point, leaving him with
only 3.
The fourth round of discussion began. And again, Kito
decided to nominate an "honor student." Initially, Katsuragi
intended to press "pass" again but then changed his mind.
For three rounds, Kito had incorrectly nominated an "honor
student," gradually increasing his chances of hitting one.
This time, the probability of hitting was already 25%.
That's why Katsuragi decided to nominate. Even if he and
Kito both hit the same "honor student," their results would
cancel each other out, and in case of a wrong answer,
Katsuragi would lose only 1 or 2 life points.
And then...
— Announcing the results. Katsuragi-kun correctly
nominated Yamawaki-kun as an "honor student." As a
result, Kito-kun loses 3 life points. Thus, his total number
of life points becomes 0. Kito-kun, please leave the room.
Kito, the representative of the "main forces," failed to find
the "honor student" and lost in the fourth round.
— Why?! Damn it!!! Why did you figure it out, and I didn't?!
Kito slammed the table with such force that it nearly broke
in half, demonstrating his anger.
— You can't win this test without a strategy. And since I
know the students from both these classes, I can read
their actions.
Katsuragi's high accuracy was due to his familiarity with
the students of both classes. He had been the leader of
Class A for some time and kept an eye on all his
classmates. That's why he easily tracked changes in their
tone of voice, gestures, and behavior.
— Kito, leave the room.
Instead, Kito slammed the table several more times.
— Kito-kun, please leave the room immediately.
Despite the examiner's reminder, Kito didn't even think of
getting up. He didn't move and continued to stare at
Katsuragi.
— I don't understand why you're hesitating. The winner
and the loser have already been determined.
These words were the trigger for Kito. He let out a
terrifying roar, stood up from his chair, and approached
Katsuragi.
— The exit is on the opposite side.
— KATSURAGI!
With a sharp movement, Kito grabbed Katsuragi by the
collar, lifting him from his chair.
Katsuragi continued to stare unflinchingly into Kito's eyes,
which were filled with hellish anger.
— Stop. Violence is strictly prohibited.
Katsuragi, showing no panic, tried to prevent Kito from
making a mistake. But Kito's grip did not weaken at all. On
the contrary, he squeezed even tighter.
— You're strong, but this special exam isn't for you. That's
all.
Kito, frozen in place and listening to Katsuragi's
admonitions, felt the anger of losing to Katsuragi but held
it back. He restrained himself because he knew they were
being watched.
— Immediately release your hand and keep your distance
from each other. If we see even the slightest inappropriate
action, Kito-kun's actions will be considered violent.
The examiner once again called the representatives to
order. Kito was full of rage but did not defy the
administration, so he removed his trembling hands from
Katsuragi's body.
— My fault...
Kito growled angrily, turned his back on Katsuragi, and
abruptly threw open the door.
— I thought you, Kito, were angry at me. But in reality,
you're angry at Ryuuen.
Katsuragi threw this phrase as a farewell, but Kito had
already left the room, slamming the door loudly. Saying
goodbye to his opponent, Katsuragi decided to take a
breath. He didn't know exactly what caused such a violent
reaction in Kito, but he could guess. He knew that Kito, for
some reason, tended to see Ryuuen as his main enemy.
Apparently, this time he wanted to defeat Katsuragi so he
could later unleash his rage on Ryuuen.
And just when Katsuragi thought he had a whole 10
minutes before his next opponent would appear...
— I came a little early.
The door opened again, and Arisu Sakayanagi, the
general of Class A, entered the room. When they first
entered the school, she and Katsuragi studied in the same
class and vied for leadership. This time, Katsuragi would
not fight like he did with Sanada and Kito. Now he was
determined to win. Finally, the moment he had long
awaited had come.
— To be honest, I'm surprised that our vanguard and main
forces fell to you, losing only one life.
Sakayanagi was absolutely calm.
— Appointing Kito as a representative was clearly a
mistake.
— He wanted to personally defeat Ryuuen-kun. Besides,
in this special exam, the defeat of two representatives is
allowed. The main thing is that the general remains alive,
right? So I thought I could hand over the other two spots to
whoever I wanted.
— Such arrogance could lead you to defeat.
— Fu-fu... First of all, I'd like to commend you. I
underestimated you a bit, Katsuragi-kun.
Although Katsuragi had previously studied in Class A,
Sakayanagi couldn't have expected him to defeat two
representatives without any significant losses. Katsuragi
responded with a note of solemnity in his voice:
— I worked hard for this day. To take revenge.
— Revenge? Oh, you must mean Totsuka Yahiko-kun,
whom I expelled from school?
Katsuragi clenched the fist lying on his knee tightly. That
was his answer.
— It was hard for me to understand your feelings before,
Katsuragi-kun. But looking at the situation now, perhaps I
should have approached the matter of expulsion more
carefully.
— Are you saying you regret your decision?
— I don't care how you interpret it. You can be angry as
much as you want, but your revenge will not come to
fruition. Now you will have to deal with me.
Katsuragi knew what Sakayanagi was capable of, even
though he had not been in her class for a long time.
Moreover, he believed this exam was perfectly suited for
her. And as if that wasn't enough, their life count still stood
at 6 to 10. Nevertheless, Katsuragi was ready to fight to
the very end.
— Let's begin the next discussion.
As soon as this announcement was made, Katsuragi and
Sakayanagi took seats opposite each other. The battle
between Katsuragi and Sakayanagi begins.