It was time for the results of this long and drawn out special exam.

All of the students gathered in the main hall, mingling with one another and talking to their friends about their experiences over the course of the week and their expectations of what was going to happen.

"Yuu!"

In the distance, I could see Yukina running towards me, waving widely with a bright smile on her face. Following her was Kouji, who raised his hand to greet me.

"Yukina..."

She hugged me, her arms enveloping my body as our chests touched together. I scratched my cheek, unsure of why she was so over the top with joy.

"Yuu, where were you? Me and Kouji-kun didn't see you at all in the dining hall tonight!"

"You ghosted us pretty hard. Even that A Class chick Yogen-san was looking for you, and she couldn't find you either." Kouji said.

"Sorry... I went to eat dinner on my own."

In reality, I never bothered to show up in the first place. I was too busy talking to Ryouta and resting after getting a headache from remembering about Shiba.

"Ah, I see... in any case, I'm glad this special exam is finally over though. Now we can be together again!"

Yukina beamed, releasing me from her bearhug. I nodded.

"Me too. It was rough spending the entire week without having you help me execute my plans..."

"Do you always rely on Kazuraba-san?" Kouji snickered.

"What can I say? She's good at what she does. That reminds me, good work out there supporting your group, Yukina. I heard they're in a really promising position."

"Ichinose-san's group, right? I'm pretty sure it's been confirmed by some A Class girls keeping track of the scores that they've come first place."

"He he he, thank you. We tried our very best. And yes Kouji-san, from what we've calculated, our group should come in first place, unless there's some secret point bonus we're unaware of."

I wouldn't put it past the school to introduce some last minute point bonuses to shake things up, but I doubted it since they already revealed the entire scope of the exam to A Class. It'd be weird if it turned out they were still withholding information from them.

"Looks like it paid off. I hope looking after Kita-san wasn't too much of a hassle."

"Oh, not at all! She's a surprisingly nice person. Just very shy, but I guess that's what you'd expect out of a hikikomori..."

"Building any form of relationship with her will be good for our class. Especially since she's so inexplicably tied to Ayano-san..."

"Ah, speaking of Ayano-san, what about the situation with him? Is his group still bullying him?"

I scratched the back of my head.

"...well, it's complicated. Ayano-san's been their group's main target for blame votes, so he thinks they're aiming to send him down to E Class, as their group have been losing on purpose ever since Yamaguchi-san took control. But... I have my own thoughts regarding that matter."

Yukina blinked.

"Your own thoughts?"

"I think you'll see what I mean when we get the results."

"Spooky." Kouji said.

"You really love keeping us in suspense, huh...?" Yukina pouted.

"You'll understand better if you see it for yourself."

Meanwhile, up at the front of the hall, Hiden-sensei and Toujou-sensei walked on stage with a microphone in their hand each. Hiden-sensei tapped his, filling the air with a static noise to both test the device and command everyone's attention towards them.

"Ha ha ha, hello, hello, and welcome everyone! To the announcements of the results for this peculiarly long and arduous special exam! Before we begin though, I would first like to congratulate everyone here for managing to complete all the challenges we've set up for you to do. We sincerely hope you enjoyed each and every tribulation, as well as facing it together with your fellow group members! Now that it's all over, please do relax and enjoy the ceremony, as each and every one of you all deserve it!"

A terrifying smile crept up on his face.

"Except those of you who ranked dead last, that is."

An eerie shiver ran through the crowd. Despite knowing that we were safe from last place thanks to Yamaguchi's group, Kouji still gulped. I guess he was nervous that we might've dropped to 8th.

On the other hand, Yukina remained calm, probably because her group was nowhere near the bottom rankings. She still had a hint of worry on her face though, probably for our classmates who might've ended up in groups that ranked at the bottom.

Next, Toujou-sensei stepped forward to speak.

"As a reminder, here are the rewards and punishments you can get depending on where you rank in this special exam! We'll start off with the rewards. If your group comes in first place, then the leader gets 100k Pr, and their class gets 100 Cl! The other students will get 40k Pr, and their classes will get 30 Cl! If your group comes in second place, then the leader gets 75k Pr, and their class will get 75 Cl! The other students will get 30k Pr, and their class will get +20 Cl! If your group comes in third place, then the leader gets 50k Pr and 50 Cl! The other students will get 20k Pr and 10 Cl! If your group comes in fourth place, then the leader gets 25k Pr and 25 Cl! And the other students will get only 10k Pr! If your group comes in fifth place, only the leader gets +15k Pr, and if your group comes in sixth place, nobody gets anything."

Essentially, you want to rank within the top four groups to get class points. That was most important, with the private points being just a very handsome bonus. Either way, as long as you ranked 6th or above, you wouldn't lose anything.

"Now, here are the punishments! If your group comes in seventh place, the leader's class loses 10 Cl! If your group comes in eighth place, the leader's class loses 20 Cl, and they get sent to E Class! And finally, if your group comes in ninth place, everyone's classes loses 20 Cl, and the leader and student with most blame votes are sent to E Class! Gosh, hopefully your group didn't come last place! And if they did, you better hope you didn't accumulate a lot of blame votes either!"

The atmosphere became more agitated after Toujou-sensei gently reminded us of what was on the line here. Unless you knew your group did exceptionally well, Hiden-sensei's advice telling us to relax felt more like a spit in the face than anything else.

"Alright, shall we begin, Hiden-sensei?"

"Of course! Tou-chan, would you like to start us off?"

"I'd be honoured to! On the girl's side, raking in the most amount of points out of every group in this special exam, and coming in first place with an outstanding 569 cumulative points is... Ichinose-san's group!"

Near the front of the crowd, the Ichinose group (minus Yukina and Kita) celebrated together, cheering and hugging one another over their success. For the rest of us though, we were shocked by just how many points they had accumulated.

Considering how many cumulative points each group had on the boy's side before this challenge, the disparity between it and the amount of points Ichinose's group ended up with after the final challenge makes me think the trend of ending on inflated scores will be commonplace.

Even so, it was still terrifying they nearly reached 600 points in this exam. I knew their group was dominating, but I didn't expect it to be by such a huge margin.

"Nya ha ha, thank you so much for your cooperation everyone! I can't believe we came first place! You're all the best!"

You could hear the cat like screams coming from Ichinose. She was really elated over this result, and thanks to the 3x multiplier their group has, her class will be receiving a whopping 300 class points just from this alone.

If A Class doesn't close the gap with similarly outstanding results, then a B Class overtake could be very real here. Even Machida, someone who despised Ichinose, was smirking happily at the result due to the huge bump in Cl it provided his class.

"Wow, that's really incredible! Bravo, Seijin-chan! Unfortunately, no group on the boy's side hit such high strides, but we still have a winner that crushed the competition by a landslide! Yes folks, I am more than happy to announce that coming in first place, with an equally just as impressive 451 cumulative points, is none other than the group led by A Class's shining star... Ryouta-san!"

Well, this was to be expected. Together, the Ryouta group (except Machida and Zyriot) cheered loudly and jumped for joy. The boost their group got from the final challenge was more than enough to skyrocket them to the top.

In the distance, I could see Ryouta thanking each of his teammates individually. Zyriot, who was standing with Shimizu, cracked a smile while breathing a sigh of relief. Kouji scratched the back of his head before nudging me with a cheeky smile.

"Makes you wish you were still in that group, eh?"

"...it only makes me wish I was the leader of that group so we could've earned 300 points. Regardless, thanks to Matsushita-san and Kawaguchi-san being there, we've gained 180 class points from their ranking. Combined with Yukina and Kita-san's contributions from being in Ichinose-san's group, our class has gained 360 Cl so far, which is very good."

It looks like things have panned out how I wanted them to so far. Next is to have Mitsuba's group and Alice's group claim second place on each of their respective sides.

"Next up, coming in second place for the girl's side with 186 cumulative points is... Minamoto-san's group!"

Even though there was a chasm of disparity between the score their group achieved compared to Ichinose-san's group, Minamoto-san's group stood with pride at coming in second.

After all, because of her leadership, as well as the 3x multiplier and Shigaisoshi-sama, another A Class student, being part of that group, A Class was earning an absurd 285 Cl in payout. It looks like B Class is starting to lose the lead they had...

While it wasn't exactly the outcome I wanted, it wasn't a complete loss. Strangely, Rinbayashi was also part of that group, meaning that our class got 60 class points from her being there. Did she predict that Minamoto's group would come in second place?

Well, I won't dwell on it too much. The more important battle for D Class would be in the boy's side, where Mitsuba's group had a real shot at stealing 2nd place right from under everyone's noses thanks to their stellar performance in the final challenge.

Not only that, but I heard Nora got an incredible score on the academic aspect, and that Yukimura and Albert placed consistently near the top in the physicality aspect. Even though no one had any expectations for them, their group has done incredibly well.

In fact, I don't think they even realise just how well they've performed. All of them had a look of dread on their faces, like they were expecting to come in last place and lose a member.

Hopefully, all of their hard work will pay off here.

"And in second place for the boy's side, with a respectable score of 281 cumulative points... it's yet again another A Class led group, this time by the brilliant strategist, Yahagi-san!"

The A Class boys in that group broke into boisterous cheers, giving each other high fives and chest bumps over their placement. It seems A Class dominated the rankings...

First with Ryouta's group winning, next with Minamoto's group coming in second, and now with Yahagi's group coming in second. In fact, this result would be most devastating for the rest of us, as they were a mostly A Class group.

Even though they earned a smaller amount of 175 Cl, it was actually a bigger profit because they didn't pull anyone else up alongside them to earn it.

Sure, they gave E Class 20 Cl due to Hayashi being in their group, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to what the sheer amount they were earning. It was like A Class got their revenge on us after we worked so hard to siphon 200 Cl away from them...

And not just that, they even began reaping huge profits because of it... somehow, I couldn't help but think this was also partially my fault. But at the same time, was there anything more I could've done to stop Yahagi's group from advancing so far?

Was I too focused on stopping Shimada's plan and let them run rampant? Or should I have done more for Mitsuba's group in the final challenge to help boost their score and overturn the situation?

I shook my head, trying to discard these lingering regrets. There was no point in thinking about what I could've done better now. Even if I come up with an answer, it'd be too late to execute it.

All I can do now is hope that Mitsuba's group or Alice's group somehow scraped their way into 3rd or even 4th place.

"Next, coming in third place on the girl's side with 167 cumulative points is... Kai-san's group!"

On the surface, it sounds surprising that a group led by an E Class student managed to come in 3rd place, but when you look at their roster, it becomes clear how they got so far.

Despite being comprised of three E Class students, there were three A Class students to balance it out and carry the group. They were Ishima Tamaki, Yamamoto Yumi, and Megami Mizuki.

Considering those three are sympathetic to the lower classes, it makes sense why the distribution of their group is like this. Like Kirishima's group, this group was formed to try and help E Class catch up with the rest by securing them a victory.

It was a noble sacrifice that seemed to paid off quite well.

"And on the boy's side, coming in third place with a shocking 277 cumulative points..."

Unlike before, Hiden-sensei took a pause, his lips curling into a strange smile. While he did it for dramatic effect, it certainly did build up tension within the atmosphere.

"...is a group mostly made up of on the edge D Class dropouts, led by none other than Mitsuba-san!"

It seems I wasn't too off the mark after all.

Mitsuba looked between Yukimura and Tanaka, who then looked back between each other, who then looked back between their other group members, who then looked back at Mitsuba, before exploding in joy over coming in third place.

Despite referring to Mitsuba's group in such a snide way, even Hiden-sensei couldn't cover up the fact that the difference between their group and Yahagi's group was a measly 4 points.

Further away from them, I could see Yahagi look genuinely surprised at what had just transpired. If Mitsuba's group had placed even just one rung higher in one of the challenges, they would've been able to snatch second place away from them.

"Holy crap. That means our class did good right, Takanori-san?"

Kouji was also in awe. Yukina looked at me over her shoulder and smiled in acknowledgement.

"...I'd rather not jinx it, but so far, yes. I'd say we're doing pretty well for ourselves."

That much was even enough to get a rise out of the usually deadpan Kouji. His slumped shoulders straightened slightly, and a thin smile appeared on his face.

"While I'm glad the results are good, it seems like our group lost our spot at the top though... I don't really know how to feel about that."

"We were down two group members and even lost Shimada-san. This much was expected."

Kouji nodded.

"True. Better to have a group with a triple multiplier than a double multiplier take the top spot, I suppose."

"Next up on the girl's side, coming in 4th place with 158 cumulative points is... Sakigamiya-san's group!"

Thankfully, we managed to get another small win with Alice's group coming in fourth place. While it was a modest amount we would gain, due to the 3x multiplier their group had, our class would be earning 75 Cl instead.

Much like putting Yukina and Kita in Ichinose's group, I was hoping for Alice's group to do well so our class would gain a lot of Cl from that multiplier. While it didn't come to fruition, the results were still fine.

At the very least, this also proved that Yogen was trustworthy. During the bus ride, I gave her a call, asking her to support Alice, who I had tasked with creating a group where she was the leader and had a 3x multiplier to take a podium position.

Even from her current position as an A Class student, I was glad to see Yogen was willing to support our class. It looks like she was serious about joining us.

"And on the boy's side, the group coming in 4th place with 252 cumulative points is... Koishi-san's group!"

The boys were in an uproar upon hearing this. Koishi smirked, basking in the surprise that swept over them. Prior to the final challenge, they weren't even considered contenders for the top spot, yet they proved everyone wrong by ranking so highly.

Because of the 3x multiplier they had, they would be poaching 75 Cl, a bonus just for B Class. While this looked like an outcome Machida would actually aim for, judging by the disappointed expression on his face, it seems this wasn't the outcome he wanted.

In all likelihood, he was trying to utilise the same strategy I did, but using his faction instead, by supporting them while operating in another group.

However, due to the continued dominance of Yahagi's and Ryouta's group, he could only realistically aim for third place with his crew. And since Mitsuba's group stole that slot from them, they were relegated to fourth.

"Coming in fifth on the girl's side with 157 cumulative points is... Hasebe-san's group!"

Another close shave... but this time, they were only one point off from usurping Alice's group.

I would be more concerned if it was a group that was of similar standing, but Hasebe's group was made up of mainly A Class students, so Alice's group barely scraping a win against them makes sense. We really got lucky there...

"And in fifth place on the boy's side with 207 cumulative points, it's the group that once dominated the competition under Shimada-san's iron fist, before falling off hard at the end due to changing leadership over to a no-name E Class slacker! That's right, I'm talking about none other than the group led by Nakajima-san!"

With that announcement confirming our placement, my long and exhaustive plan for this special exam had drew to an end.

I would've preferred if those 30k Pr went to someone other than Nakajima, someone who already had 4 million Pr, I didn't really mind the loss since the amount didn't really affect him that much.

Other than that, I was mostly satisfied with the outcome of this special exam. I had managed to achieve more or less everything I wanted to do here.

By sabotaging my group, I was able to raise the other groups where I wanted them to be, or at least relatively close to where I wanted to be, as well as plunge our group's ranking down the ladder after Shimada's performance forced us to astronomically rise to the top.

On top of that, there were D Class students in four of the top six spots. As long as our losses at the bottom aren't very high, we should be making a profit out of this, raising our Cl even higher.

"Ouch... that was unnecessarily cruel of him to say, wasn't it?" Yukina said.

"Yeah. I'm scared to imagine what he'll say about the groups ranked even lower than that..." Kouji said.

Part of me thinks Hiden-sensei was only said that about our group because it was led by an E Class student, not because we ranked lowly or fell way down in terms of ranking.

"But wow, fifth place! Congratulations, Yuu and Kouji-san!"

"Nah, don't bother. It's nothing special. We didn't gain anything."

"But you didn't lose anything either! That's more important, isn't it?"

Yukina looked at me, and I nodded.

"Striking big points at the top is pointless if you'll just lose it all again thanks to the groups at the bottom. We've done more than enough by not ending up in the bottom three, especially with a 2x multiplier."

"Huh... fair enough. In that case... otsukare."

Kouji yawned, putting his hands together and grinning cheekily, before resting his head on Yukina's shoulder and falling asleep.

"E-eh? Eh, Kouji-san?! Kouji-san, are you okay?!"

"I think he's just sleeping, Yukina... leave him be."

"Aw, he was that exhausted? Poor thing..."

As Yukina took pity on him, I couldn't help but feel irritated for some reason...

I pushed those thoughts to the side, focusing my attention back to the announcements. While I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, I couldn't let my guard down just yet.

The results were still being announced, and our class could still be in danger depending on who ends up at the bottom. Plus, there was still one thing in this special exam that hasn't been resolved yet...

At first, I ignored it, if only due to the sheer ridiculousness and arrogance of such a plot.

But ever since I found out about it, I became very aware of what laid waiting ahead.

The trap that's been set from the very start was about to bare it's fangs.

"Coming in sixth place for the girl's side with 149 cumulative points is... Amanda-san's group!"

"Brrrap, brrrrap, brrrrrrrap! Gyal like Amanda moving like dat, dun kno! Maaaaad ting bruv, big up da levels, big up da chick donnies and mandem and dat! She a sweet one, peng ting, leng ting innit styll, dun kno! Mans never doubted you mans innit bruv, skyat!"

John burst into cheering for her in English, despite the fact that, firstly, sixth place earned nothing, secondly, he wasn't even in her group, and thirdly, no one but me could even understand him.

"And in sixth place for the boy's side, with a modest 199 cumulative points, is the group led by B Class's own heir to the Dragon Empire... Kirishima-san!"

"Alright, let's go!"

Kirishima jumped for joy, cheering while fist bumping the sky. Even though they ranked in the middle, he had managed to achieve his goal of protecting the C and D Class students in his group from falling to E Class, so it was still a win his eyes.

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone!"

"N-not at all! Thank you for taking care of us, Kirishima-san!" Suna said.

"Yeah... you aren't a half bad guy after all."

Even the silent loner in our class, Ikesugi, managed to have good words to say about Kirishima. I really should try to have a full fledged conversation with him someday...

"Now, here's the unpleasant part... I have to announce the losers..."

Toujou-sensei sniffled, clutching her stomach like it was queasy.

"Ha ha ha. If it's too much for you to handle, why not have someone else handle it? Like, say..."

Immediately, Hiden-sensei's gaze shot towards Chabashira-sensei, who was standing on the sidelines with her arms crossed. She looked back at him with a stern expression.

"...Chacha-chan?"

Toujou-sensei's eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands together in excitement.

"Ah, that's a great idea! Shizuka-chan-sensei, could you please take over for me? You're a bit of a sadist yourself, aren't you?"

"Why are you telling that to..."

Chabashira-sensei realised what she was about to say, before stopping short and glaring at Toujou-sensei.

"A ha ha ha... I-I said nothing, I said nothing! Kids, forget I ever said anything!"

Toujou-sensei gulped, before running off the stage and shoving the microphone in Chabashira-sensei's hands.

"You're kidding me..."

The crowd laughed over the three teacher's unintended impromptu comedy scene. Even Yukina giggled a little bit.

"Alright, swiftly moving on... shall we continue where Toujou-sensei left off, Hiden-sensei?"

Chabashira-sensei sighed, speaking into the microphone while walking onto the stage.

"Why of course. Would you like the honours, Chacha-chan?"

"Sure. Coming in seventh place on the girl's side, with a total of 146 cumulative points is... Fujimura-san's group."

Somehow, I couldn't help but feel that it was a little cruel that the first group Chabashira-sensei had to announce was led by someone from her own class... it's almost like those two set her up.

In any case, this wasn't an ideal start for our class, and I'm sure Shouko knows it too. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see her shoulders drop at the sound of the announcement. Like me, she and her group were standing near the back of the hall.

"Oh no... what have I done...?"

Shouko muttered to herself, lowering her head and covering her mouth. Her friends tried consoling her by saying that at least she wouldn't be getting sent to E Class over this, but it seemed like that wasn't what she was upset about.

I think she wanted to earnestly try and help D Class out by becoming a leader and forming a group with 3x multiplier. However, as her group ranked in the bottom three, her attempt at helping us turned into a penalty for our class instead.

Shouko lifted her face slightly, catching a glimpse of me looking at her. Her eyes widened and she frowned, turning away.

"Poor Fujimura-san..."

"Did you know about how their group was doing?"

"Kind of? They were mostly in the middle of the pack during the entire special exam, so I think the final challenge is what must've buried them down to seventh place..."

In other words, Shouko narrowly escaped the jaws of death, huh?

"...yeah, that would make most sense. Even our group's initial ranking dropped by a huge amount due to the final challenge."

Let's just hope that, from here on out, this was the worst of our losses.

"And on the boy's side, coming in seventh place with 152 cumulative points... it's the group led by one of the original E Class slackers, who miraculously climbed his way up into D Class, only to then be betrayed and plummet back down to E Class by the hands of his own friend... that's right, I'm talking about none other than the show-stealing Ishima-san!"

As he was saying those cruel words, Hiden-sensei's eyes were directly focused on me. Some people from the upper classes started laughing at that exaggerated description, but practically no one from the lower classes was laughing at his words.

Not even the delinquents felt like making fun out of Akihiro. That was just how well respected he was among his peers after beating Zyriot in a cardfight.

"That was so unnecessary of him to say... you never betrayed Aki-kun, Yuu!"

"Let them believe what they want to believe. We know what the truth is."

Akihiro certainly did. Instead of shooting a glare Hiden-sensei's way, he merely cocked a smile and laughed under his breath. Somehow, that subdued reaction by taking his words to the chin, made him look more scary than his face ever could.

"Coming in eighth place on the girl's side, with a total of 141 cumulative points is... Kamuro-san's group."

Kamuro was a C Class student, and her group was made up with a C Class majority. As such, both Suzune and Ikeda were shocked by the news.

In particular, Kamuro herself stared wide-eyed at Chabashira-sensei, like she was pleading that that this was some sort of mean joke that was being played on her.

"As a result... Kamuro-san will be sent to E Class."

However, as Chabashira-sensei turned away, the coldhearted reality settled in for her. She gulped, closing her eyes and looking down. Ikeda waded through the crowds, rushing to go comfort her.

"Kamuro-san! Kamuro-san, are you okay?!"

However, before he could reach out, Kamuro's tears were already falling. Ikeda gritted his teeth and pushed through, reaching Kamuro and giving her a big hug.

"Hey, it'll be alright... it'll be alright, Kamuro-san. Don't worry, you're just changing classes. That all it is. You're not being expelled. You're a smart person, Kamuro-san... I know you have the power to make it all the way back up to C Class! And when you do, everyone... all of us... together... we'll rise up to A Class and graduate as the strongest!"

Beneath his calming and reassuring words were a sense of panic that I'd never seen on Ikeda's face before.

Even though he was a popular ikemen, even though he was good at handling other people's emotions, even though he was one of the most thoughtful people in C Class...

It wasn't enough to overcome the fact that one of his own classmates was being forcibly ripped away from his class.

Suzune was standing completely still, watching their interaction from afar. Even though her serious expression wasn't showing it, there was an underlying fear in her eyes.

...and when I looked at what group remained in the girl's side, I immediately understood why.

On the other side of the hall, a single girl dropped to her knees.

"T-then... then that means..."

She dropped her head, a twisted frown appearing on her empty face.

"M-my group... my group came... l-last?"

It was Yoneda Yui.

One of Suzune's two best friends in C Class.

Chabashira-sensei turned towards Yoneda, who was on her knees and pulling at her ginger hair in disbelief.

"...and in ninth place on the girl's side, with a total of 135 cumulative points..."

Yoneda looked up at Chabashira-sensei with an expression that begged for her not to say it.

"...is Yoneda-san's group."

Ikeda's arms around Kamuro loosened upon hearing the news.

Suzune's lip began quivering as she looked over at her friend.

Yoneda screamed, punching the linoleum floor once while tears streamed down her face.

The tension in the atmosphere intensified by tenfold.

It was like everyone in the crowd finally understood the gravity of the punishment the school was starting to bring down on us.

C Class had just been hit by double losses, but more was still yet to come for them.

Chabashira-sensei continued.

"As a result, Yoneda-san, the leader, will be sent to E Class... and in addition, Houki-san, the person who accumulated the most blame votes in their group, will also be sent to E Class."

Houki, Suzune's other best friend, nodded her head, bitterly accepting what had happened.

She dropped to Yoneda's level and hugged her from behind with tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Yui-chan... I couldn't protect you... or Suzu-chan... or our friendship... this is all my fault..."

Yoneda stopped blindly freaking out, instead turning her cries towards Houki as the two embraced each other.

Seeing them weep in solitude, Suzune's tough expression finally broke.

She wanted to remain strong until the very last moment, but her heart had enough of this sick joke fate was playing on her.

Not only was her class going to take huge damages in both members and Cl... two of the people they were going to lose were also the two people most close to her.

The wavering in her body that she had earlier dissipated the moment she began stumbling and sprinting through the crowd, going over to her two friends as fast as her shaking legs could take her.

She stood in front of them, unsure of what to do or say.

Her eyes poured over Yoneda and Houki, her eyes focusing on their pained expressions, before joining their hug and hiding her face away from everyone else.

"Why... why did it come to this...?"

As Suzune muttered dejectedly at herself, Houki raised her head and pointed at herself.

"Because of me... it's my fault..."

"How...? How is it your fault, Kimi-chan? There's no way you could've done anything wrong!"

"But I did... remember when you told the class that we should put our blame votes on the E Class students to prevent a situation like this from happening...? Well... Yui-chan opened up to me and said that she was scared of our group losing... that she couldn't stand the thought of being alone in E Class with none of her friends."

Upon hearing this, Suzune's eyes widened in realisation.

"S-so... because I was confident we wouldn't end up in last place... and because it would be bad if our group leader was worrying all the time... I told Yui-chan that, if she were to be sent to E Class... I would join her. And that's why... that's why I asked everyone... to put all their blame votes on me."

Suzune's face went pale.

"So please, Suzu-chan... don't blame Yui-chan... blame me instead. It's my fault you're losing both of us... I didn't think this would ever happen... I thought we were strong enough... a-all I wanted to do was comfort Yui-chan... and yet..."

Houki's tears ran down her cheeks.

"...and yet you're the one suffering most from all of this, Suzu-chan... I-I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry... Suzu-chan..."

Suzune swallowed the lump in her throat and hugged Houki and Yoneda tighter.

"What are you two crying for?! Wipe away your tears and hurry up back to my class instead! Don't make me wait forever for your return..."

Houki and Yoneda stared in awe at the bright smile Suzune managed to muster up from the depths of her heart.

...but I could tell this situation was tearing her up from the inside.

"Alright, and to round off the results, on the boy's side, coming in eighth place with an embarrassing 89 cumulative points... it's the group made up of rejects no one wanted, led by the C Class student Handa-san! As a result, he'll be sent to E Class!"

Once again, C Class was suffering another loss. They were down yet another student, and down even more Cl.

Ikeda perked his head, looking over at Handa, who was gritting his teeth and narrowing his eyes in disappointment. He knew this was coming, but it felt like the situation was forced upon him.

Handa had no control over being part of a group made up of leftovers, and had even less control over becoming their leader, as the E Class delinquents bullied him into it.

"And finally, in last place—"

Before Hiden-sensei could announce the last group, the doors of the hall were kicked open.

"Hang on. Hold it right there."

Hobbling into the hall was somebody everyone had thought disappeared from the special exam for good.

"Don't start the party without me, old man."

Making his grand return wearing a callous smirk and holding a set of crutches was none other than the E Class delinquent, Shigeru Zenkichi.

"Zenkichi-san? You're back?"

Zyriot was shocked. Just like last time, he made himself disappear early on, only to pop back up at the very last moment.

"Heh, more or less. Let's just say I've been sitting on this for awhile."

Shigeru snickered under his breath, making his way towards me.

"Oi, Takanori-san! Remember what you told me back before this stupid special exam started?"

While C Class was preoccupied with the losses their class was currently suffering, everyone else turned their attention towards me and Shigeru.

"...not particularly."

Yukina wanted to get in between me and Shigeru, but I stuck my hand out to tell her to stay back.

"Think real hard then. You're not that dumb, are you?"

"It must've been a painfully unremarkable encounter if I were to forget about it that easily. Care to refresh my memory?"

Of course, I already knew what was going on, but I was just playing along with Shigeru's delusions of grandeur to mess with him.

"You told me to execute a plan that was even better than the one you did for the Test Shuffle."

Shigeru stopped just inches away from me, leaning forwards on his crutches that were encroaching in my personal space.

"And?"

"In mere moments, you're going to see the fruits of my labour."

"Shigeru... so this was what you were planning..."

Coming up from behind me was Ayano, who narrowed his eyes at Shigeru.

"Oh. Have we been found out already?"

Shigeru snickered, his laughter spreading to the other delinquents in their group.

"Yeah... you have. You were planning on dragging me down to E Class, weren't you?"

Instead of answering him, Shigeru's group just laughed even harder. Ayano sighed, looking at me.

"...forgive me, Takanori-san. Because of me, you got caught up in all of this. I fell hook, line, and sinker for his trap."

Considering Ayano has no attachment to our class, his frustration must stem from the fact that he had been manipulated by someone like Shigeru instead. I could understand the feeling, since I was once in the same position as him.

"...well, before you jump to any conclusions, let's hear the rest of the announcement first. You might be surprised."

When I said those words to try and calm Ayano, I noticed that Shigeru's laugh also quietly trailed off.

I guess he wasn't expecting me to know about his true intentions, huh?

"Ahem. Before we were so rudely interrupted by Paradox-kun's sudden and unexpected return... I would like to announce who came last place for the boy's side. With a pathetic score of 0 cumulative points, this group, which coincidentally was led by Paradox-kun before his retirement, is led by none other than the defective D Class dropout... Yamaguchi-san!"

Even though it seemed like a horrible result to achieve, with the devious smile Shigeru was proudly showing off, it was pretty obvious that this was what he and his group were aiming to achieve.

"He was trying to attack our class points directly...?"

Yukina mumbled that, thinking Shigeru used Yamaguchi and manipulated Ayano to deal a huge blow to our class in revenge for our performance in the Test Shuffle. However, while that fits his modus operandi, it wasn't exactly what he was aiming for.

"As a result, Yamaguchi-san will be sent to E Class! And, joining him in E Class, the person with the most blame votes is—"

Ayano closed his eyes, accepting his fate. Kita, who was standing besides him, looked up at him with terrified eyes.

"K-Kanzaki... w-why did you keep this a secret from me...?"

"...because I didn't want to worry you. That's all there is to it."

Kita bit her bottom lip and shook her head.

"N-no matter where you go, Kanzaki... I'll follow you to the ends of the earth. I-if they force you down to E Class... I'll come down with you."

"Hana..."

Ayano looked down at Kita, smiling thinly.

"Yuu, this is bad... at this rate, we'll lose three D Class students!"

Yukina was understandably worried.

However...

"Why would Shigeru-san choose Ayano-san of all people to make fall?"

When I said that, her eyes widened.

"You're right... it doesn't make any sense. If he wanted to force someone to drop to E Class... then Kawaguchi-san would've been the obvious target."

It's also why I instructed Kawaguchi to join Shimada's group from the start. That way, if Shigeru decided to change his plans and join Shimada's group to try and force Kawaguchi to drop down, Shimada's plan would've let me safely transfer him out for me.

"There's no way I'd be able to convince that guy to join my group either way."

Shigeru chimed in, shrugging.

"Well, say your goodbyes while you still can, Takanori-san. Kazuraba-san. It's game over."

Right up to the very last second, he was still bluffing.

"You just don't know when to give up, do you?"

When I said that, Shigeru closed one eye and flashed a thin smile.

"When did you figure it out?"

"On the second day."

"And how'd you do that?"

"Because it was obvious."

"—Masamoto-san!"

When Hiden-sensei announced that name, the entire crowd went silent.

"You're still lightyears away from catching up to me."

"Ah... I don't know about that. Wait until the very end to hear my explanation, okay?"

Shigeru smirked confidently, showing off his pearly white fangs.

"...huh?"

Masamoto blinked in disbelief, pushing up his lagging glasses.

Ryouta's eyes widened as he looked over at him.

Shigeru smiled proudly as his plan was executed without a hitch.

This was the main reason I didn't interfere.

From the very start of this special exam, Shigeru's aim wasn't targeted at me, or Ayano, or D Class.

Instead, it was instead at Masamoto Manabe— the sole A Class student he duped into joining his group.