At the same time, in a classroom on the other side of the school building, the students of Class B were on standby.
All the students were resting here, ready to head out for the exams at any moment. Although Horikita Suzune had given them a general plan in advance, those who hadn't yet participated were still nervous.
"Great job, Miyake-kun."
Miyake Akito had just returned to rest, and Horikita Suzune immediately approached him.
[It seems fate is on our side. We've had three consecutive exams with our events, and we've won all of them. This is a great opportunity... We've taken control of the situation! If we win one more match, we'll secure the victory!]
A glimmer of light flashed in Horikita Suzune's eyes. Victory was very close.
However, she was also well aware that until victory was certain, nothing was set in stone.
At that moment, the broadcast suddenly sounded.
"Fourth round exam: Class A's event, Rapid Mental Calculation."
"Rapid Mental Calculation? Just as Katsuragi predicted."
Horikita Suzune muttered to herself.
Judging from the events Class A had chosen, Katsuragi Kohei's information seemed highly accurate, which also increased the likelihood that he had genuinely betrayed Sakayanagi Arisu.
"Next, we should send Matsushita and Koenji..."
"Class A participants: Katsuragi Kohei and Tamiya Emi."
"Class B participants: Matsushita Chiaki and Horikita Suzune."
"Please proceed to Exam Room 2 immediately. Failure to arrive within ten minutes will result in disqualification."
"What?"
Horikita Suzune was surprised. She hadn't expected her name to be called, as this deviated from the original plan.
However, after a brief moment of thought, she nodded.
"I let Saiki decide the actual participants, and he chose me in the end—but this is indeed a very correct decision. After all, we're only one match away from victory now. Whether Katsuragi will really go easy on us or not, as long as we can secure this match, we'll be fine."
Thinking this, Horikita Suzune quickly made her way to the designated classroom.
...
Meanwhile, Sakayanagi Arisu, seeing the names on the large screen, was momentarily stunned.
She hadn't expected Class B to send Horikita Suzune.
"Is it because it's the deciding match?"
Sakayanagi Arisu narrowed her eyes slightly and turned to look at Saiki.
"If you're sending Horikita-kun to ensure victory, what about the later events? You need to win at least six matches to surpass Class A, right? If your key players are missing, are you going to give up on the chance to overtake us this time?"
"Ensuring victory is one thing, but do you really think we believed Katsuragi would betray Class A?"
Saiki replied expressionlessly.
"From the beginning to the end, we never believed Katsuragi would betray Class A."
"I see."
Sakayanagi Arisu pursed her lips, and a smile quickly appeared on her face.
However, her smile seemed a bit forced.
[Saiki, you really are an incredible guy...]
"It was Ayanokoji who figured it out."
Saiki added, but Sakayanagi Arisu didn't respond directly. Instead, she said:
"However, Katsuragi's abilities are also quite impressive. We might not lose this match."
Their gazes simultaneously shifted to the screen as the match officially began.
The exam screen displayed the title: "Single-digit, three numbers, five seconds."
9, 6, 1. The answer was 16. It was a simple question.
Everyone seemed to solve the first question without issue, and all the students correctly answered it.
There were ten questions in total, with the difficulty increasing. If both sides answered the tenth question correctly, the match would go into overtime.
By the third and fourth questions, the problems had become two-digit numbers, with more than six digits.
Matsushita Chiaki, with her strong math skills, continued to answer correctly.
However, the difficulty of the rapid mental calculation questions increased significantly from the fifth question onward.
The fifth question was three-digit numbers, six digits, five seconds. The sixth question was even harder: three-digit numbers, eight digits, five seconds. This was already Matsushita Chiaki's limit, and the other Class A student was also at a loss.
Now, it was a battle between Horikita Suzune and Katsuragi Kohei.
Meanwhile, Sakayanagi Arisu, who was also watching, instantly came up with the answers in her mind, faster than the participants.
'Yare yare, how terrifying...'
Saiki couldn't help but marvel at Sakayanagi Arisu's calculation skills—
But for Saiki, this was actually a good thing.
The seventh question was three-digit numbers, twelve digits, four and a half seconds. The eighth question was three-digit numbers, fifteen digits, three and a half seconds.
By the ninth question, it was three-digit numbers, fifteen digits, two and a half seconds.
For the eighth question, both Katsuragi Kohei and Horikita Suzune gave the same answer almost simultaneously.
But the ninth question was completely beyond their computational abilities. Even with the top academic skills in the school, they couldn't solve such an outrageous problem in an instant—
Meanwhile, Sakayanagi Arisu instantly came up with the answer in her mind.
Saiki seized this opportunity and used his telepathy to transmit the answer directly into Horikita Suzune's mind.
[I... I solved it!]
Horikita Suzune's eyes widened. The answer Saiki transmitted into her mind felt completely natural, and she nodded, quickly writing down the answer.
Then came the tenth question.
Sakayanagi Arisu used the command tower's ability to answer one question on behalf of her team, writing down the answer to the tenth question. Saiki, however, took no action.
"Which question did you tell her? What was the answer? I answered the tenth question: 7,619."
Sakayanagi Arisu turned to look at Saiki.
"I didn't answer because I couldn't solve it."
Saiki casually made up an excuse.
"Is that so?"
Sakayanagi Arisu narrowed her eyes slightly.
Soon, the announcement of the exam results was broadcast.
"The final result—first place goes to Horikita Suzune, who answered nine out of ten questions correctly and achieved the highest score. Class B wins!"
Sakagami Kazuma announced the victory over the broadcast.
On the other side, Class B erupted in cheers.
4:0.
No one had expected this result.
"We beat Class A!"
"Are we really this strong?"
"Everyone did amazing!"
The Class B students cheered, while the Class A students' expressions gradually darkened.
For the first time, they, who had always been smooth sailing, tasted the bitterness of defeat.
And it was a crushing 4:0 defeat.
[The former Class D... actually beat Class A... How is this possible...]
Even Sakagami Kazuma couldn't believe his eyes.
Meanwhile, Horikita Suzune returned to the rest room, where the other students swarmed around her.
"Horikita, you're amazing! How did you solve that?"
"I... I'm not sure. It felt like a sudden flash of inspiration."
Horikita Suzune shook her head. If she had to do the same event again, she wasn't confident she could get it right.
"We finally beat Class A! Let's celebrate!"
"Although we've won, it's not enough!"
At that moment, Horikita Suzune's expression became extremely serious.
"If we win four out of seven or five out of seven, we'll still remain Class B. But if we can win six matches, we can use this exam to rise directly to Class A! So, everyone, let's give it our all and push for one final effort!"
Hearing Horikita Suzune's words, the morale of the class soared even higher.
...
Multipurpose Classroom.
[I lost?]
[Although it's a test of the participants' overall abilities, and there's a lot of luck involved, the fact that I lost... is undeniable...]
[How is this possible...]
Sakayanagi Arisu bit her lip, but soon a smile appeared on her face. She maintained her composure, not revealing her inner thoughts.
"Katsuragi-kun wouldn't betray us. Being able to solve up to the eighth question shows his limits."
"It seems this match was won by Class B. We've lost quite thoroughly, but the battle between us isn't over yet. From now on, this match will turn into a war for Class A to defend its position."
"Let's look forward to the next matches."
Sakayanagi Arisu knew her defeat was unavoidable, so she could only try to salvage some dignity in the remaining events.
"Our classmates worked really hard."
Saiki immediately responded.
"Is that so?"
Sakayanagi Arisu looked at Saiki.
[Saiki definitely could have solved the last question, but he didn't use the command tower's ability. Instead, he believed Horikita would defeat Katsuragi and that Katsuragi couldn't solve the ninth question... Wait, does this mean Saiki has such a deep understanding of Horikita and Katsuragi's abilities?]
Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly felt a chill and clenched her fists.
'Yare yare, you can even connect this to me? Though in a way, you're not wrong.'
"The exam continues. Next is the fifth round."
As Sakagami Kazuma spoke, he began the draw again. Now that the outcome was decided, Saiki no longer planned to use his psychic powers to interfere.
Fifth Round Exam:
Math Exam: Requires seven participants, with a time limit of fifty minutes.
Rules: Answer questions from the year's curriculum, with scores compared.
Command Tower: Can answer one question on behalf of the team.
Saiki followed Horikita Suzune's earlier instructions and assigned the best possible team: Hirata Yosuke, Yukimura Teruhiko, Ishikura Kayoko, Wang Meiyu, Higashizaka Sana, Kushida Kikyo, and Nishimura Ryuko—these were the best math students in Class B.
In contrast, Class A sent Matoba Shinji, Morishige Takuro, Nishikawa Ryoko, and others—a group of high-achieving students, mostly male, who were either on par with or better than Class B's team.
The written exam ended, and the teachers quickly calculated the scores.
"Now, I'll announce the results of the math exam. Class B scored—631 points."
"Next, Class A's result... 655 points. Class A wins."
In terms of academic ability, Class A was still superior to Class B. This was undeniable, especially since Horikita Suzune couldn't participate, and Koenji Rokusuke was an unstable factor. If Saiki had recklessly sent him out, he might have been blamed for the loss.
'Just follow Horikita's plan. That way, the credit won't fall on me.'
Saiki thought to himself.
"Phew, it seems we avoided the embarrassment of a complete shutout."
Seeing that her team had won one round, Sakayanagi Arisu let out a sigh of relief. The pressure on her had lessened slightly.
Defending Class A's position had become a bit easier.
"Now, let's begin the draw for the sixth round."
Sakayanagi Arisu's expression became serious. If she could win one more round, she could secure Class A's position.
Soon, the sixth round exam was announced.
As if fate was playing a trick—
Chess: Requires one participant, with a time limit of one hour (lose if time runs out).
Rules: Follow standard chess rules. However, after the 41st move, the time limit will not increase.
Command Tower: Can issue instructions at any time during the game, for up to thirty minutes.
'Yare yare, chess of all things?'
Saiki knew that chess was Sakayanagi Arisu's most passionate event.
Even though she had lost in the class exam, Sakayanagi Arisu still cared deeply about winning or losing in chess.
[Finally, it's this event!]
A glimmer of light flashed in Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes. Her only worry had been that this event wouldn't be selected.
Thinking this, she selected Hashimoto Masayoshi as the participant for this round.
Saiki, however, had no choice.
'Since this exam is about determining the winner, there's only one choice.'
Saiki thought to himself and then entered Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's name.
After both sides revealed their participants, Sakayanagi Arisu nodded in satisfaction. She had finally gotten the chance to face Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
Although it wasn't exactly what she had expected.
"Saiki, if you two are going to team up..."
Just as Sakayanagi Arisu turned to look at Saiki, she noticed that he was already talking to Hoshinomiya Chie.
"Do you two need something to drink?"
"Do you have milk tea or any other drinks?"
"Yes, what would you like?"
"Just regular milk tea is fine."