"Alright, all the boys hand your phones to Ishizaki Daichi, and all the girls give yours to Shiina Hiyori."
At 7:55 AM on the first day of the Privileged Student Special Exam, just moments before the school was due to send the identity notification emails, all of Class C had already gathered in the lower deck of the ship. This was one of the few locations Ryuuen Kakeru had identified as being free of surveillance. Kitagawa Ryo glanced at the time on his phone and spoke.
"No need to worry about privacy. I'll only glance at the school's message on each phone. Won't take even three seconds."
Noticing some students' hesitation, Kitagawa reiterated his promise:
"This step is crucial to clearing this exam. I hope everyone can cooperate."
Thanks to his usual credibility and track record, the Class C students quickly handed over their phones, stacking them in front of Kitagawa. As soon as the clock hit 8:00, he began checking each device swiftly, deleting the school's notification email as soon as he finished reading it.
Though the rules prohibited accessing others' phones to obtain Privileged Student information, rules were dead—people were alive. And realistically, only Class C had the cohesion and authority to instantly grasp all the Privileged Students in their class. B-Class might have decent unity, but Ichinose Honami would never do something like this. At best, she'd suggest any troubled students could come to her for help.
Kitagawa suspected there might be a hidden pattern in the identity selection of the Privileged Students. But discovering that pattern would take time—and he didn't want any of Class C's Privileged Students to give away any hints, not even a one-in-ten-thousand chance. He had to prevent it. That's why only he and Ryuuen Kakeru could know the identities.
If you want to fool your enemy, you have to fool yourself first. If even the Privileged Students didn't know they were chosen, there was no way for anyone else to guess them.
After discussing with Ryuuen, Kitagawa implemented the strategy of checking and deleting the emails himself.
Forty phones seemed like a lot, but once he got into rhythm, it only took a few minutes. After returning the phones, he dismissed the students, telling them to attend the 1 PM group discussion casually.
"How'd it go?"
Once the students had mostly dispersed, Ryuuen came over.
"Just as we guessed. Three Privileged Students. The school indeed assigned three per class."
"And the pattern? Any clues yet?"
"Too few samples. With only three, there's nothing to work from."
Kitagawa sent the names and group assignments of Class C's Privileged Students to Ryuuen while rubbing his temples.
"Need a few more. With six, maybe we can start identifying a pattern."
Despite that, both Kitagawa and Ryuuen grinned knowingly at each other.
"I've got someone in Class D."
"I can get intel from Class D."
They spoke in unison.
"Huh? When did you plant a spy in Class D too?"
Kitagawa looked at Ryuuen with interest.
"Tch. You're not the only one who can do that. Mine might even be more useful."
Ryuuen crossed his arms smugly.
"Because of your recent pool trip with Karuizawa, there's a rumor in Class D that you're dating her. A lot of their students are starting to suspect."
"Tch, it's just that Class D now has enough points to repay its debts, so Kei no longer needs to pull from B-Class's resources. But they just got through a tough spot and now they're infighting? Class D really doesn't disappoint."
Kitagawa clicked his tongue.
"So who's your spy? Someone trying to sabotage Kei?"
"No, they only had one condition."
Ryuuen gave Kitagawa a deep look, like trying to read his thoughts.
"Make Horikita Suzune drop out."
"Uh."
Kitagawa made a weird face—like finding out your ex is doing worse than you after a breakup. A smile that was half amusement, half pity, tinged with a sense of deserved karma.
"Sounds like Suzune's got it rough too..."
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"If Class D wants to seize the initiative, the Privileged Students should take the initiative to report their identity."
After confirming she wasn't a Privileged Student, Horikita Suzune proactively approached Karuizawa Kei and Hirata Yosuke. Coughing lightly, she voiced her opinion:
"Only after we know who the Privileged Students are can we take action. Whether it's to protect them or to mislead other classes into making incorrect guesses, everything has to start from knowing their identity."
"This is a great opportunity to increase our class points in one go."
After stating her thoughts, Horikita looked expectantly at the two. They were, after all, the most respected figures in Class D at the moment.
She was aware that she lacked the prestige to rally the class and feared her reputation might worsen further, so she opted to step back and hoped to use Karuizawa and Hirata's influence instead.
"While I really appreciate Horikita-san's dedication to the class..."
Hirata scratched his cheek a little awkwardly and continued:
"I hope you can also consider how the Privileged Students feel. After all, just being selected comes with huge psychological pressure. Most would probably aim for Outcome 2—hiding their identity and getting 500,000 personal points."
"I agree with Hirata. Forcing this might stir dissatisfaction among the Privileged Students in our class. If they get exposed to other classes, the consequences could be disastrous."
Karuizawa responded halfheartedly. Due to her impulsiveness at the pool earlier, she hadn't found many chances to meet Kitagawa lately. Even when they saw each other yesterday, they barely spoke. She was still feeling regret over it.
"Personal points aren't important right now. Even if all our Privileged Students manage to stay hidden, how many personal points will that bring in total?"
"We've already fallen 700 points behind the leading classes. If we don't catch up during this special exam..."
As Horikita explained her reasoning, she suddenly narrowed her eyes and glanced at the two:
"Wait a second... are one of you a Privileged Student?"
"..."
Hirata looked pained. A part of him wished Horikita had just stayed in bed sick. Maybe it was the strong impressions from the last exams, but every time she spoke, he got the strange feeling that C-Class was going to win big again.
"Of course not. But maybe it's better this way. If either Hirata or I were Privileged Students, we'd probably get exposed pretty quickly in the Dragon group."
Karuizawa played with her hair absentmindedly. She was already itching to start the first group discussion. After all, it would be a legitimate chance to talk to Kitagawa.
Seeing how indifferent Hirata and Karuizawa were, Horikita stomped her foot in frustration, covered her mouth and coughed again. She ignored Hirata's concerned questioning and simply turned to leave.
"Horikita's really not looking great lately."
Hirata stared at her retreating figure, concern evident in his voice.
"She brought it on herself. She'll be fine once she figures things out."
Karuizawa responded casually, then asked:
"By the way, Hirata, do you know who the Privileged Students in our class are?"
"Yeah. Minami from the Horse group came to me in private. She was feeling anxious, so I advised her to stay calm and keep it hidden."
"Is that so?"
Karuizawa nodded. It made sense for a girl to confide in Hirata. But if it were a boy... who would he turn to?
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[This is the list of all three Privileged Students from Class D.]
At noon, Ryuuen Kakeru received a message on his phone from someone in Class D. As he sipped his coffee, he gave a playful smile. He hadn't expected Kushida Kikyo, a student with a good reputation among both first and second-year students, to reach out and request a deal.
The content of the deal was simple: In this and all upcoming special exams, she would provide as much information about Class D as possible. In return, Class C had to do everything in their power to make Horikita Suzune drop out.
As for why she approached Ryuuen instead of Kitagawa Ryo, the de facto leader of Class C, the reason was easy to guess.
After all, rumors had spread among the students that Kitagawa and Horikita had a somewhat intimate relationship. They even addressed each other by their first names. To avoid risk, Kikyo chose to approach Ryuuen instead. There had always been speculation that despite Class C's apparent unity, Ryuuen and Kitagawa had irreconcilable differences. In fact, Ryuuen had been publicly scolded harshly by Kitagawa several times due to missteps.
"How can I be sure the list is real?"
Ryuuen typed a reply, tapping his finger like a patient hunter waiting for his prey to bite.
"You already have other means of verifying it, don't you? Just go check it yourself."
The reply came quickly, and the content made Ryuuen grin. Sure enough, Kikyo knew there were other spies from Class C embedded in Class D besides her. It might have been a bluff, but given her connections, it wasn't impossible she had deduced that from subtle clues.
She knew about the spies and still remained silent. It was clear she didn't care much about Class D.
"I've fulfilled my part. I hope Class C will uphold their end soon."
Perhaps irritated by Ryuuen's delayed response, Kikyo sent another message.
"Of course. When the time is right, Horikita Suzune will drop out."
Ryuuen casually brushed her off, leaning back against the headboard and glancing at Kitagawa, who was still lying on the other bed, enthusiastically gaming with a controller. The special exam had already started, yet this guy didn't look serious at all.
Ryuuen double-checked the names Kikyo gave him and confirmed that Minami from the Horse Group, whom Kitagawa had learned about through Karuizawa Kei, was on the list. That gave him some reassurance.
Still, he didn't immediately interrupt Kitagawa, who was fully absorbed in the game. Instead, Ryuuen began analyzing the six names and their groupings, trying to discern the selection pattern of the Privileged Students.
"Hey, Ryuuen, your spy's kinda slow, huh? It's almost time for the first discussion."
About twenty minutes later, Kitagawa took off his headphones and asked casually.
"Just play your game. I'll tell you when it arrives."
Ryuuen spun his pen and replied grumpily. Kitagawa chuckled and turned back to the screen, soon fully immersed in his game world once more. His laser-sharp focus was obvious even from his expression.
"Damn it..."
Furrowing his brow as he dismissed yet another hypothesis, Ryuuen muttered and started on a new round of permutations and combinations. He knew that if he called Kitagawa over, they'd probably crack the pattern in no time. Yet for some reason, Ryuuen stubbornly held back.
It wasn't about proving he was better or anything childish like that.
He just genuinely wanted to be of help to Kitagawa—on his own terms.
Sighing, Ryuuen glanced over at Kitagawa, who was still engrossed in his game, then gave a disgruntled snort.
But soon after, he couldn't help but smile.
Let this guy enjoy himself a bit longer.
It was certainly better than the last time, when Ryuuen had gone to pick a fight with Kitagawa full of fire, only to see him being carried out of the school building on a stretcher.
Ryuuen hated that powerless feeling of reaching the scene only to find everything was already over.
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"It's in gojūon order."
At exactly 12:50 p.m., Ryuuen Kakeru finally discovered the pattern behind the selection of the Privileged Students. He had initially assumed that the school would adopt a more sophisticated or complex method for choosing them, but the final answer was so simple it left him stunned:
By arranging the names of the group members in gojūon (Japanese syllabary) order, the pattern revealed itself: the first name in the order within the Rat group was the Privileged Student, the second name in the Ox group was the one, and so on. Once this logic became clear, it also explained why the school chose to use the obscure Zodiac cycle of "Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit..." instead of simple numeric labels like Group 1, 2, 3, etc. It was a deliberate obfuscation.
Moreover, the rule prohibiting students from photographing or taking the complete group list outside the room now made sense as well. The discussion sessions were essentially red herrings. If students relied solely on conversation and deduction from others' statements, they would miss the obvious solution hidden within the foundational group list. In that sense, the school's design was quite clever.
"Whoa, Ryuuen, you're amazing."
Only now did Kitagawa Ryo notice Ryuuen's quiet breakthrough. He gave Ryuuen a hearty slap on the shoulder in admiration.
"Damn right."
Ryuuen took the compliment without hesitation, but then paused before asking:
"So, what do we do now?"
He knew Kitagawa's original plan was to use this special exam as a way to earn a large number of private points. However, last night, Shiina Hiyori had suggested a new tactic: rather than splitting the rewards, they could crush all three other classes and let Class C claim sole victory. Kitagawa hadn't given a clear response or rejection to that idea.
"What about you, Ryuuen? What do you want to do?"
"Me?"
Ryuuen blinked, then hesitated. Eventually, he chuckled and said:
"Just do what you want to do."
It was a vague, non-committal answer—very unlike Ryuuen, who was usually ruthless and goal-oriented in every move he made.
The last time he had said those words, Kitagawa Ryo had picked up a stray, emaciated white cat he could barely afford to feed.
The time before that...
A vivid flash of blood-red surged through his mind. Even after several years, it still burned behind his eyelids.
So he understood why Shiina Hiyori had said what she did the night before.
Karuizawa Kei... really shouldn't be seeing Kitagawa Ryo anymore.
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