During break time, Ryouta and Senzaki paid E Class a visit. Shimada was nowhere to be found, but considering I didn't see him in A Class this morning, it's safe to assume he's absent.

Personally, I'm quite happy I don't have to see his face today. Dealing with such a volatile person is such a hassle.

Ryouta and Senzaki approached Matsushita and Alice. Since it seemed to be about the deal between A and E Class, I decided to join too.

"Good morning, Takanori-san."

Ryouta greeted me with a smile. He even stuck out his left hand for a handshake.

They say that in Scouts, shaking with your left hand is a sign of being close, since your heart is on the left side of your body.

"...are you left handed, perhaps?"

"Actually, I'm ambidextrous, but I prefer my left hand."

"I see."

To be courteous, I shook Ryouta with my left hand as well. It felt a bit strange, considering a handshake with left hands could also mean... actually, I shouldn't think too deeply about it. He seems genuinely left handed.

"I'm surprised you two wanted to meet with us today."

Since Shimada's overwhelming presence wasn't here, Alice was able to take heed of the conversation.

"Well, tomorrow is the deadline of your guy's decision. We maybe A Class, but we can't make a full set of exams overnight, y'know?"

As usual, Senzaki was handling the discussion as the neutral third party of the challenge between Ryouta and Shimada.

"No, no, we completely understand. We're still just mulling over our decision. It's not an easy thing to decide."

Alice was a natural liar. The two of them had already decided to go through with the deal, but they were holding out as long as possible to try and screw A Class over incase this was a ploy to get everyone in their class to pass.

"Of course, and we understand that. That's why we wanted to check up on the situation on the day before, as well as add something to sweeten the deal."

As Senzaki said that, both Alice and Matsushita raised their eyebrows.

"May I?" Ryouta cut in.

"Of course. It's your idea, after all."

"Since we understand your worries that we might be trying to do this to ensure the safety of all our classmates, as a class, we collectively agreed to completely forgo the class point bonuses from this special exam so that the gap between us and your class wouldn't grow any further."

The moment Ryouta said that, everything made sense to me.

"Eh...? Forgo the class points? But... how?"

"Easy. The only way you can earn class points, aside from the overall ranking reward, is if the students who take your test fail."

"What, so you're going to make sure none of the B Class students fail?"

When that sentence left Alice's mouth, she suddenly froze up. A look of realisation appeared on Matsushita's face.

"Wait... don't tell me..."

"That's right. On Tuesday, we submitted our exams, and on Wednesday, we gave them to Ichinose-san to ensure all the B Class students could pass. That means it's near impossible for us to gain any class points from this special exam."

So that's how Machida got his hands on the exam... there was no traitor after all. It was a conscious decision made by Ryouta for the sake of ensuring the deal between A and E Class would go through.

That's also probably why the entirety of A Class was so calm. They were all in on it... and the fact Machida didn't have direct access to the papers is because Ryouta and Senzaki shared them with Ichinose only, as she was more trustworthy than him.

That meant the "middle man" in this situation was Ichinose, who probably shared it with Machida because of his cooperation in the war. Once he got his hands on it, he took photos and leaked them to everyone in the school to stir up drama.

However, I'm sure that was also part of Ryouta's plan. He wanted this leak to be exposed so we could see it, giving proof behind their words. And the scary part was, it was working super effectively.

We had almost no reason to not accept now. They wouldn't be gaining any Cl and we'd be receiving 100 Cl from them as extra compensation. That meant we were effectively dropping A Class from 1,000 Cl to 900 Cl in one fell swoop. Who wouldn't take that?

While there was the possibility that A Class and B Class secretly made a deal behind the scenes to have a couple of B Class students fail on purpose to circumvent this, I highly doubt that after seeing Machida's actions this morning. He genuinely believed there was a traitor in their class.

So, this was Ryouta's resolve to get rid of Shimada, huh?

He must be one charming man to convince his entire class of highly competitive individuals to let this special exam go so he could properly challenge Shimada. That, or everyone was sick of Shimada to the point they'd take any chance to get rid of him.

Essentially, they were pinning their hopes on Ryouta winning the challenge to offset this loss in class points. For A Class, it was basically paying 100 Cl to get rid of Shimada from their class.

However, at the same time, Alice's strategy of waiting until the last day to accept had paid off in a very surprising way. By holding out, we managed to gather enough anxiety within Ryouta for him to act to secure our assistance.

What didn't sit well with me was how well coordinated this strategy was. Even though it was at A Class's own expense, the way it played out and fooled everyone couldn't be understated.

...this is the strength of an A Class student, huh?

"You guys are insane..." Alice muttered.

"Ha ha, everyone in class said the same thing when I first suggested it... but that's how much we want to make this challenge between me and Shimada-san happen. To do that, we need your consent."

When faced with Ryouta's assertive words, Alice backed off. She looked over to Matsushita for support, but even he looked hesitant to reply.

After a brief pause, Matsushita took a deep breath and spoke up.

"We'll accept. On one condition."

"What is it?"

"...instead of 100 class points, we want 400."

Just like Alice told me almost a week ago, they were now trying to use reverse psychology to siphon more Cl from A Class. By starting from a ridiculously high point, they could whittle it down to 200 and make it look more reasonable.

"No. If we gave you that much, we'd drop down to B Class."

Obviously, Ryouta refused rather bluntly, but that was within expectations. Matsushita, despite sweating nervously, continued to barter with the A Class representative.

"Fair enough. Then, how about 300?"

"Still no. That's still putting us within range of being overtaken in a single swoop by B Class."

Ryouta took a firm stance against risking the safety of their own class just for this challenge to happen. They've already made concessions three times, so we were really pushing it demanding for more Cl.

"Then... 250?"

"No."

It was time to say what we actually wanted from A Class.

"...okay, how about 200?"

There was a serious tension behind Matsushita's voice as he said those words. It was almost as if he was trying not to step on any egg shells when he said it.

For a moment, Ryouta seemed to seriously consider it, but it was actually Senzaki who swung her foot down on the matter.

"No means no, you guys. We're going to offer 100 Cl, and 100 Cl only. Don't get greedy."

After hearing her stance, the consideration on Ryouta's face vanished. He also spoke out sternly against it.

"Yeah. Our offer is already generous as it is. If we gave up even more class points, you'd be gaining more from the deal than we would."

Without Senzaki's firm input in that moment, there was an actual chance Ryouta would've folded. For such a calculating guy, he actually had quite the empathetic centre.

"...I don't think so."

To my surprise, Matsushita decided to bite back.

"You guys have to remember, we're in E Class. We basically have 0 Cl. While it's great to know the difference between us won't grow even further, what would've been more helpful for us is if you increased how much Cl you gave us. That way, we'd have a safety net and you could recoup the losses in the special exam. However, that's not possible anymore due to the leak you guys did."

That is true. A Class didn't need to go to this length to try and convince us - we would've been satisfied if they gave us more Cl as compensation. However, that option was now no longer on the table due to Ryouta's strategy.

In fact, that's probably a positive of the strategy in A Class's eyes. They probably expected us to ask them for more Cl, so they cut off that option by forcing the alternative "we won't gain any" upon us instead.

"I don't think we're being greedy either... we're just being realistic to what our class actually needs. E Class needs Cl so we don't fall behind the other classes. The gap between us and D Class is at least 200. You're in a more privileged position than we are, so the least you can do is help us out."

"That doesn't mean we're a charity though. 100 Cl is a perfectly fine amount to pick yourselves off the ground. If we did give you 200, then that would put D Class at a severe disadvantage as well. The deal is between the two of us. We shouldn't be affecting other classes negatively." Ryouta said.

"Also, aren't we already being generous by giving you 100 Cl straight from our class? It'd be a different story if we procured the Cl from elsewhere, but we're the ones actually getting hurt here. It's also really underhanded of you guys to try and haggle out an extra 100 from us by pretending you want 400. Maybe you should've started with a more realistic 300, eh?"

Senzaki had completely seen through their plan and even exposed them on it. Matsushita gritted his teeth in defeat as both A Class students cornered him.

"It's fine, Isogai-san... we can still accept the offer as it is."

Alice, acknowledging their defeat, also conceded. However, before they could sign a contract Senzaki prepared beforehand over it, I decided to intervene and stop this from happening.

"I refuse."

For the first time in this discussion, I spoke up. Matsushita and Alice looked at me like I had gone mad while Ryouta and Senzaki looked at me with surprise.

"Yuuto-san, what are you saying?"

"Don't accept it, Alice-san."

"Why? What's got into you suddenly?"

Alice crossed her eyebrows as I began to act defiantly. Ryouta and Senzaki also seemed confused on what the issue was.

"Is there a problem with the deal, Takanori-san?"

"Yeah. One of your guys isn't present at the negotiation table."

Alice gave me an exasperated look, but the A Class students seemed to understand my concern.

"Right. It was the three of us who proposed it, so all three of us should be present when we finalise it. Is that what you're getting at?"

"Exactly. You know how Shimada-san is about this kind of stuff. If we're going to commit to a contract, I want him to be there to watch us sign it. Otherwise, he could throw a complaint that he wasn't involved and scrap the entire challenge."

To be honest, this was just an excuse to delay the deal by one more day. I first needed to take care of two more things before I could let it go through.

"Eh, yeah, that's true. That guy'll do whatever he wants if it suits him." Senzaki sighed.

"But Shimada-san's not here today... it's kind of impossible to sign off on the deal now." Ryouta said.

"I guess we'll just force him to come in tomorrow then?"

Senzaki shrugged, like this wasn't that big of a deal. Since it was only an issue on my end, Matsushita and Alice no qualms about it either. They were going to accept tomorrow anyways, so it doesn't change anything for them.

"Yeah, alright."

Ryouta took back the papers, but I also stopped him from doing that.

"Mind if I read through the contract?"

"Sure."

With a nod, Ryouta handed it over to me with his left hand. As I read through it, Matsushita and Alice looked at me weirdly, making snide comments.

"He kind of looks like a lawyer right now..."

"I swear Yuuto-san, when did you become so bureaucratic?"

I'd like to think of it as covering all my bases. There was one clause in the contract that didn't sit right with me, so I took a picture of it on my phone to keep a record of it. Then, I handed it back to Ryouta.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Guess we'll see you guys tomorrow morning?"

"Yup. Thanks for everything, you two!"

Alice cheerfully thanked Ryouta and Senzaki before they unceremoniously left. Once they were no longer in the classroom, Matsushita sighed and loosened his tie.

"That was nerve wracking..."

"For such an innocent face, Ryouta-san can be seriously scary."

Alice sighed, before turning to me and pouting.

"What were you trying to pull at the end?"

"What do you mean?"

"You had an ulterior motive to stop us from accepting immediately, didn't you?"

"I guess."

"Since you took a photo of the contract, I'm guessing you found something unsavoury? Or something that would put us at a disadvantage?"

"Something along those lines. You don't have to worry about it though."

I got up and left. Even so, Alice still chased after me.

"Let me see! I want to know."

"It's fine. I only took the photo because I wanted to confirm something with it."

"Still though, if it's grounds for suspicion, I'd like to be aware of it."

I sighed. I took out my phone and showed Alice the picture I took. She raised an eyebrow when she read it.

"You're worried about that...? Really?"

"It's not what's in there that I'm worried about. It's about what they left out that I want to investigate."

"I don't really understand..."

"You don't have to. Just leave it to me, alright?"

Alice sighed but smiled slightly.

"Fine... I'll trust you just a little bit, Yuuto-san." She giggled.

"Good. By the way, uh..."

"Hm? What is it?"

"Do you... want to go karaoke with me tonight?"

"Ah? Eh? Ehhh?!"

Considering how outlandish my request was, I expected her to scream in surprise. At this stage, we should be preparing for exams and revising, not goofing off and having fun. Yet here I was, asking her to play with me.

"W-with me?"

"Yes... with you."

"W-wouldn't you prefer to go with someone like Yukina-san? O-or..."

Like me, Alice also seemed flustered about this.

"She's busy with her study group. In fact, everybody that I've asked told me the exact same thing."

Due to how they organised the class for the special exam, only me, her, and Matsushita had free schedules. Everyone else were preoccupied with their study groups and revision sessions.

"Ah... yeah, I guess that's true. Going alone wouldn't be much fun either, would it?"

"It'd be pretty sad if I went by myself."

"Still, I'm surprised you of all people enjoy going to karaoke. I'm even more surprised you'd want to go with me! I have an awful singing voice."

"I'm in the same boat... but it's a good way to blow off some steam. In those rooms, you can scream and shout as much as you want, and no one can hear you."

"He he, that's true. I might go karaoke after the exams just to scream all my frustrations out."

A lot of the times the karaoke parlour isn't exactly used just for singing... I've heard rumours of people having sex in there too since love hotels are basically nonexistent on the island.

"Ah, screw it. I don't feel like going over my notes for the thousandth time today. Does 7pm sound good to you?"

"I can do whenever. It doesn't really matter to me."

"Perfect, I'm free then."

"Great. I look forward to it."

"Me too! It'll be the first time I'm going karaoke with you, Yuuto-san! I'm so excited!"

"Yeah, same here. I'll see you tonight then."

"Yup! See you then!"

Waving goodbye to Alice, I walked away and returned to my seat.