11:23 AM
The school courtyard buzzed with normal chatter.
But beneath the surface, the game was already shifting.
Arisa's Counter
Arisa Kurobane sat at her desk, eyes half-lidded, one hand casually doodling in her notebook.
But her mind?
Her mind was orchestrating a trap.
Takumi Hoshino's move had been obvious.
"I trust you."
"You're special."
"Help me with the project."
Classic positive reinforcement.
Classic bait.
But Arisa wasn't going to bite.
She was going to flip the game.
Step One: Play Along.
At lunch, she approached Takumi with calculated timing—just as he was surrounded by classmates but looking slightly stressed.
"Hey, Hoshino."
Her voice was calm, but she dropped it just low enough so no one else could hear.
"I found something weird in the teacher's records."
His eyes flicked toward her, masking surprise.
"Oh? What do you mean?"
Arisa leaned in, whispering near his ear—close enough for the gesture to seem intimate from a distance.
But the words were anything but friendly.
"I saw your last test wasn't perfect," she whispered. "Seventy-nine percent, right? Funny. Everyone thinks you're still at the top."
Takumi's blood ran cold.
No one should know that.
His mind scrambled. Did the teachers leak it? Did someone hack the records? He couldn't afford for anyone to think he was slipping—not now, not during the game.
Arisa smiled gently, eyes sharp like a scalpel.
"I won't tell anyone," she whispered sweetly, "but… you know. Since you trust me so much, I thought you'd like to know I know."
She stepped back, her expression smooth.
"Looking forward to working with you, Hoshino."
And then she walked away, leaving him standing in the courtyard, smile frozen in place, a crack forming beneath his perfect facade.
Arisa's Point Calculation:
+5 Psychological Pressure Applied
+3 Control over Target's Emotional State
Her control points ticked upward.
Aika's Spiral
In her room, Aika Fujimoto stared at her phone again.
The conversation had continued for hours.
Unknown:
"You know, I think you're the most underrated artist in this school."
Her cheeks flushed.
Aika:
"How would you know that?"
Unknown:
"Because I see things no one else sees."
Her stomach twisted, but not in a bad way.
It felt like… gravity bending. Like the world was finally noticing her.
What she didn't know was that Yuto Sagawa had already matched her IP address to the school Wi-Fi. He knew exactly who she was.
And soon, she'd become addicted to his validation.
Private Rankings Update
1st: Arisa Kurobane – 17 points
2nd: Yuto Sagawa – 16 points
3rd: Takumi Hoshino – 12 points
Others: Updating…
The Director's Note
In the private surveillance chamber, The Director tapped a finger against the desk.
So far, no one had broken any rules.
No one had exposed the game.
But that wouldn't last.
Humans weren't designed for this level of manipulation without consequences.
Someone would snap soon.
Maybe Takumi.
Maybe Aika.
Or maybe, the Director thought with a small smile, the predators would start eating each other before the prey even realized they were dead.
In Marionette Protocol, that was always the most entertaining part.