Chapter 10: The Shadow Reveals Itself
The end of the special exam had brought a strange calm over the campus.
Three days of psychological battles, strategies, silent betrayals... and in the end, no one really understood how Class D had managed to hold the line so firmly.
No one except Kenta, leader of Class C.
Sitting at the back of his classroom's common room, eyes blankly fixed on the electronic board displaying the final scores, he murmured to himself:
— "It's too clean… Too smooth… Something’s off."
Next to him, a classmate replied carelessly:
— "Come on, they just got lucky this time. It happens."
Kenta slowly turned his head toward him, his eyes gleaming with cold clarity.
— "Lucky? You really think they identified three avatars and stole that many cards without a mastermind behind it? Salia isn’t sharp enough to orchestrate all that."
His classmate shrugged, uncomfortable.
— "You’re getting paranoid, man..."
Kenta didn’t reply. He stood up. He would investigate. He would find the truth.
That evening, he prowled near Class D’s common room, like a hunter lurking in the shadows.
He spotted a small group of students huddled around a table, speaking in hushed tones.
He approached, a smile on his lips.
— "Yo. Mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"
The students exchanged nervous glances.
— "Uh… What’s the matter?" one of them asked.
— "Nothing big. I’m just curious. How did you guys manage to identify Class B’s avatar so easily? We thought we had them well protected."
A scrawny boy tried to answer, unsure:
— "I think… uh… Salia had a hunch, or something like that..."
Kenta smiled, but his gaze turned icy.
— "A hunch, huh? Didn’t it occur to you that maybe someone else was pulling the strings?"
The group fell silent. One student frowned.
— "What are you trying to say?"
— "I’m saying that what you experienced wasn’t a coincidence. Someone was guiding you. Quietly. Without you even realizing it."
Another student, visibly more aware, lowered his eyes and muttered:
— "...We just followed the instructions. We didn’t ask questions."
Kenta stared at him for a long moment, then nodded with a knowing smile.
— "Now that’s an honest answer."
He turned to leave, but his mind was racing.
Someone was behind all of this. Someone smart. Silent. Calculating.
The next day, he decided to observe Salia more closely.
He saw her in the hallways, surrounded by classmates. She spoke loudly, laughed, gave orders. But something felt off.
She was overacting.
During a break, he heard her say:
— "Just like I said, everything went according to plan! We executed my strategy perfectly, and here we are!"
A girl from her class, clearly impressed, replied:
— "You’re amazing, Salia! Thanks to you, we climbed back up!"
But behind her, a boy whispered to a friend:
— "Honestly, I don’t get it... We just got some anonymous notes in our lockers. Instructions. Even she seemed surprised it worked..."
Kenta smiled. He turned to another Class D student he had questioned the day before.
— "Those anonymous notes… Did you keep a copy?"
The boy stared at him, hesitated, then shook his head.
— "No. It was… it was just instructions. Strategies to follow. We thought they came from Salia."
— "You thought. Not knew."
An awkward silence followed.
Kenta knew he was onto something.
---
Across the hallway, Winner watched everything.
He was leaning against a wall, a book in hand, hidden behind a column.
He saw Kenta’s gaze, the way he analyzed everything.
He smiled faintly.
— "He’s starting to understand…"
But he wasn’t afraid. On the contrary. He had expected Kenta to react. He was a smart opponent. Dangerous.
Winner closed his book and walked away slowly, like a ghost fading into the night.
That evening, in his room, Kenta reviewed his notes.
— "Someone is manipulating this class. And it’s not Salia."
He paused for a moment.
— "Who could be smart enough… to guide an entire group… without ever being noticed?"
His eyes drifted into the void. He knew he was close to uncovering the truth.
But he didn’t yet know…
That the shadow pulling the strings… was already watching him.