Ayanokoji's explanation, though somewhat annoying, was plausible, even if Horikita still had some doubts.
Albert, having finally escaped the D Class base, his first reaction was to rush towards the C Class base.
When most people thought that C Class had all withdrawn, no one was paying attention to the C Class base anymore, even though occupying these bases could earn a considerable amount of points.
But no one intended to do so.
Because C Class had withdrawn, forfeiting all their points, and had also publicly revealed the names of their key card holders and infiltrators, there was naturally no need to occupy the C Class bases and seize their last few tens of base points. That would seem inappropriate.
But they probably didn't expect that these bases had actually been swiped by someone after C Class left.
C Class's card swipe time started at 8 PM.
Logically, they should have already swiped by now, but today was an exception. After Ryuuen discovered Hashimoto colluding with D Class, he planned to take advantage of the chaos Amane-san created for A Class to snatch A Class's key card.
However, he didn't expect A Class's key card not to be with Katsuragi, which caused Ryuuen's plan to fall through.
And to set up this plan, he had to ambush A Class in advance, because Ryuuen didn't know when Amane-san would act; the only thing he could be sure of was that it would be tonight.
This resulted in the C Class bases still being unswiped.
Originally, no one would have idly gone to the C Class base, but now that they had offended D Class, D Class would definitely retaliate against C Class by trying to occupy their bases.
So, Albert had to renew the base's key card before Class D could react, otherwise...
When Albert arrived at the Class C base, panting.
The countdown timer above shocked Albert.
"How can this be? No, they shouldn't have reacted so quickly... Then who could it be?"
...Class D base.
Amane looked gloomily at Ryuuen-san, who was playing dead and silent beside him.
"I never thought that our next meeting would be like this."
Amane said, reaching out to search Ryuuen-san's body.
"You're not looking for the key card, are you? Hmph, didn't Horikita tell you that I already gave the card to Albert?"
Ryuuen-san showed a defiant expression, looking at Amane with a playful sneer.
"Who knows if you have another one on you?"
Hearing Amane's words, Ryuuen-san's expression remained unchanged, and he said calmly,
"How could there be two cards? What are you talking about?"
"Still pretending? It's just the two of us now, and I might as well tell you, I've seen through all your tricks. I should even thank you for working so hard for me... But you didn't prepare two cards... Tsk tsk, it seems I overestimated you."
Ryuuen-san's face finally changed. Just as he was about to speak, he instinctively gritted his teeth.
He didn't know if Amane was bluffing him. He had already given his last trump card to Albert at the last moment.
He thought he had done it perfectly, but seeing Amane's confident expression, a hint of unease spread within him.
To dispel the unease in his heart, he could only choose not to answer. He understood that loose lips sink ships.
Seeing Ryuuen-san playing dead again, Amane didn't care. He looked at the time on his watch; it was almost eleven o'clock.
A smile curved his lips.
"How boring. I originally planned to pass the time with you. Well, you're worthless now anyway, so just wait to be treated, rule-breaker."
"What rule-breaker? I don't know what you're talking about."
Suddenly hearing that term, Ryuuen-san's face changed dramatically.
In the end, Ryuuen-san still decided to test Amane.
He didn't believe Amane could see through his plan.
This time, there was no unnecessary meddling from Ichinose, Kanzaki, and others.
He had absolute confidence in his scheme.
"Never mind, you're going to be out anyway, so I might as well tell you. Guess why I came back a step late? Because I went to find the school staff first, and coincidentally... I just happened to hear that someone swam from the cruise ship back to the island. How should I put it? You truly live up to your name, Ryuuen-san. How does it feel to draw water with a bamboo basket?"
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