I was planning to meet up with Yukina to discuss our plans during break time, but instead I got pulled away by Matsushita and Sakigamiya to start work on creating questions.

Naturally, they left me in charge with making the English exam. Our strategy for that exam would be to have A Class translate texts that contained advanced vocabulary, as well as have an oral element that would challenge them to speak difficult words clearly without an accent.

Sakigamiya was going to handle the Japanese exam since she was the best at it out of us three, and Matsushita was going to do the history exam. We were going to save mathematics and science for later, in case Ayano changes his mind or Nora wanted to change groups.

It was during lunch time that I had some free time to talk to Yukina. We decided to go outside and sit on the slope to discuss what we were going to do next.

"This special exam is really complicated..."

Yukina sighed, laying on the grass with an exhausted face.

"Don't stress out about it too much. We'll do fine... I think."

"I kind of have to, you know? I need to win that bet or else I'll go broke."

"Then we've got to come out on top, no matter what."

"Do you think we have any chance of winning against A Class?"

"Being honest? Probably not."

"Figures."

"However, we have a very slim chance on making some of them fail."

"We're essentially battling on their territory, though..."

"We just need to hedge our bets on the weaker students. Did you go through the midterm results like I asked earlier?"

During break, I sent a message to Yukina requesting her to compile the currently available data on A Class.

"Yep."

Yukina took out her laptop from her bag and booted it up, showing me a spreadsheet that organised the information neatly. I'm really glad she did this, since I'm hopeless when it comes to this kind of stuff.

"Sort it to English and scroll down to the bottom. I'm interested in seeing who had the worst grades there."

After doing as I instructed, Yukina showed me the bottom five for English.

Yahagi Kyoji: A- (90%)
Kamijo Mahina: B+ (86%)
Nashimoto Kengo: B (84%)
Mitsumori Jiro: B (79%)
Kondou Itsuki: B- (74%)

Even though they were the worst in their class, none of their grades dropped past a B. This was going to be tricky...

"Do you want to take a look at everyone else's?"

"Sure."

The more I scrolled through this list, the more I felt that our original plan of attack wasn't going to work.

"Judging by the look on your face, I'm guessing you're thinking of another plan?"

"Sort of. Being honest, what I wanted to originally do has been derailed because I've been put on the creator group with Matsushita-san and Sakigamiya-san."

"What do you mean by that?"

"While the special exam is important, it didn't change my main priority of investigating Minanohara. I wanted to get answers about that first, since it's vital for taking down Matsushita-san and Sakigamiya-san. Once I take them down, it would then become much easier to manage the special exam, since I'd be leader. That's when I'd start creating questions."

"Yuu, I think you're falling into the same problem as last time..."

"What do you mean?"

"Your management of time. That's what costed us the war. For this special exam, we have less than three weeks to do everything."

"While it's a tight time frame, with my original plan, I would forgo revising in favour of digging up dirt on their past. I figured it was safe, since the class making questions for us is D Class. I don't think I'll fail their exams, because I'm at an average level, which is the most important part here. As long as you scrape a pass, the penalty won't incur, which is what I want to avoid at all costs."

"Of course. As someone who's in the mentor group, I'll do my best to make sure no one in class fails."

"Please do teach them thoroughly, especially Katsumi-san and Mitsuba-san. Anyways, now that I'm part of the creator group, the time I could've been spending to ask around has now been replaced with making questions for the exam, which is an issue."

"Then why did you accept joining the creator group?"

"There's two reasons. The first one is to keep an eye on Matsushita-san and Sakigamiya-san. In the case their plans fall through, I can pick up the pieces and make a back-up plan on the fly so our class doesn't suffer anymore losses. The second one is to make it look like I've gained their trust."

"Oh...? I don't quite understand... wouldn't it be better to actually gain their trust, rather than to pretend to have?"

"Well, you'll see."

This was one part of the plan that I wasn't going to involve Yukina in. This was something only I could do by myself.

"Yuu, are you hiding something from me?"

"In a way, I guess. It's more like I'd prefer you not to hear about what I mean, that's all."

"Why?"

Naturally, as she was my partner, Yukina was curious about why I was keeping it a secret from her.

Truthfully, I wanted to protect her from knowing what I was going to commit, but seeing the worry in her eyes made me feel guilty.

However, I couldn't let that persuade me. I couldn't taint her innocence with the actions I've decided upon.

"You're Sakigamiya-san's friend. I don't think you'd like to hear the details on how I'm going to beat her, essentially."

So, I lied.

Lying to Yukina hurt.

"I don't mind particularly... I'm closer to you than I'm closer to her."

"Still, I'd like to be considerate of the fact you two are friends."

This part was true, at least.

"Then... I'll stop being friends with her."

"You don't have to go so far."

"I would. I'm your partner after all, Yuu."

"Then please be a good partner and stop trying to find out when I clearly don't want to tell you."

I used a slightly more harsh tone to try and get her to back down.

It seemed to have worked as Yukina retracted a little.

"Sorry..."

"You're fine, I should be the one apologising. Sorry for raising my voice a little back."

"No, it's okay. I get I was being annoying... I'll stop prying into it."

"Thanks. Really."

Yukina smiled at me supportively.

I felt guilty that I couldn't tell her, but this was for the best.

She didn't have to unnecessarily dirty her hands for my sake. That would've been selfish of me.

"For now, any ideas on how you'll make the exams?"

"I have a couple. Though, I'll probably have to ask someone for a favour. That's all."

"From who?"

"I have two people in mind right now. Most likely though, I'm going to ask the student council secretary, Xuelan-senpai."

"Oh, that's a good idea! You could ask the older students to help you out. Hmm, maybe I should ask Itteki-nii..."

Yukina mused before laughing slightly.

"Just kidding. I didn't know you were close to the secretary, though."

"I'm not. I just happen to know someone who's close with her."

A faint image of Kishou appeared in my head.

"Ah, I see. I hope all goes well then."

"Me too. Let's do our best to win this special exam."

"Yep! We can do it!"