I entered the computer room, which was being monitored by Ike-sensei. I guess he wasn't one of the five judges for the cooking competition.

"...this is certainly busy."

Since a lot of boys left the kitchen because they were useless in it, the computer room was pretty much packed full. However, due to a shortage of monitors available for everyone, most people were sharing a computer with the other people in their groups.

"I wonder where everyone else is..."

I looked around, trying to find Matsushita or Ikeda. Due to my crummy luck however, I ended up finding Machida first. It looked like he was browsing the stock market.

"Ehh, you're interested in this stuff?"

"Who the hell—"

Machida spun round, ready to knock me in the jaw, but stopped seeing it was me. He glared, standing up and clicking off the tab. In a rare moment, he looked genuinely embarrassed.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"...only for a couple of seconds. I just arrived."

"At least show yourself before speaking. God, you are braindead."

Machida sat down, instead searching up something about world news. I pulled up a seat and sat down next to him.

"What are you doing?"

"Sharing a computer with you. There's not enough to go around for everyone."

"Go share one with Matsushita-san. Can't you see I'm busy?"

"It's fine, I'm also interested in these topical events."

"Don't start acting buddy-buddy with me just because we're in the same group."

"Why are you so against people being friendly to you?"

I started noticing a pattern with Machida ever since this special exam began. He completely dismissed the idea of "friendship".

I first saw it when he declared all the members in his former faction were followers to him, even though they clearly saw Machida as a friend. Then, I saw it again when he blatantly refused Ikeda's attempts at getting closer with him earlier today.

And right now, he was doing it once more, but towards me with a cold shouldered attitude. I knew that Machida was someone who liked to keep his distance from others, but he wasn't the type to work alone. All his plans required other people to help him.

"I told you once before, didn't I?"

"Even if you don't need to be liked by others to achieve your goal, it doesn't mean you need to reject people's friendship outright."

"Friendship is a waste of time. I thought you of all people would get that much, at least."

"I don't think I'm a loner anymore..."

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about how people only become friends with others because they want something from them. Because you were worthless as a person, no one wanted to be friends with you. But now that you're the leader of the D Class dumbasses, everyone suddenly wants to cozy up to you and be your friend. Ever realised why?"

"...I mean, yeah. The obvious reason is they now respect me."

"That's a naive assumption. Open your eyes, Takanori-san. These people don't respect you. They're afraid of you."

"...afraid of me?"

"They see no value in you as an actual person. Your personality is as bland as milquetoast. The most interesting part about you is up here, in your twisted plans."

Machida tapped the side of his temple.

"But it's also the reason why people fear you, since they don't want to be on the receiving end of that destructive force."

"I think you've got the wrong impression of me. The first time I tried to do something impressive, it completely fell through the cracks."

"It fell through the cracks because you weren't being forceful enough. Your first plan of an internal rebellion would've worked... if you didn't stupidly surrender after one loss. Attrition is a powerful weapon, yet you abandoned that tactic immediately because you lacked the confidence in winning through it."

So this is how Machida believed the events in our class went down, huh?

"I'm surprised you kept such a close eye on us in E Class, considering you hate us so much."

"Someone has to make sure the monkeys know their place. It was good popcorn material, watching your class slowly implode on itself days before the war with Zyriot-san's class. One thing's always bugged me though."

"And that is?"

"How your class beat A Class."

Machida looked at me in the eyes.

"No matter how I examine it, the conclusion I come to is always the same... you guy's should've lost, plain and simple. However, the results of the special exam were the complete opposite of my expectations. For the longest time, I didn't understand why. But after seeing what you did yesterday... I think I know what trick you used to crush A Class."

"And that would be?"

"You submitted even harsher tests from other countries, didn't you?"

I closed my eyes. I was a little surprised that he was able to deduct my plan just from seeing my actions yesterday. It made me wonder what made him come to that conclusion.

I could've lied and said no, but since the exam was over and I'd already told my classmates, there was no harm in confirming his suspicions. It would probably look more suspicious if I tried hiding what I've done.

"...you're more or less right."

"I knew it..."

Machida laughed a little to himself, looking down at me.

"Me and you really are cut from the same cloth. To think we'd both come up with the same strategy..."

So that's how he figured out my plan. Before yesterday, he probably thought I was like the other class representatives and would only use fair tactics, which is why he couldn't see why our class won.

However, after seeing me act unscrupulously in that challenge, it must've given him a brand new perception of me. It put that option back on the table, giving him the final piece necessary to connect all the dots together.

"It was the only way we'd fail them, so I had no other choice. Ideally, I would've liked to use Nora-san some more."

"Like I'd believe that. You planned on doing that from the very beginning."

"...what makes you think that?"

"Because before you could submit the exams, you had to become leader. And conveniently, on the week before finals, Matsushita-san stepped down without anyone knowing. I don't think it's some kind of coincidence. If anything, I think you did something in private to force him out."

It was kind of scary how close to the truth Machida was. Just from stepping back and looking at the wider picture, he was starting to notice a strange pattern of events that couldn't be explained easily.

"He stepped down by his own will. I had nothing to do with it."

"Even if that's the case, it's still suspicious that you became the leader straight after he left his post. There's no way the class would agree to you being their new representative."

"About that... it was actually Matsushita-san who asked me to be leader."

"...what?"

"I was surprised too, but the reasoning's pretty simple. I was the only other person in class who proved they could band people together. Matsushita-san is a big advocate of class unity, and after my attempted rebellion, he knew the class would be in safe hands with me."

"So you're saying you came up with this plan only after he gave you leadership?"

"That's right. It wasn't something I was thinking of doing from the very beginning. If it was, I would've shared it with him and Alice-san to save them some hassle."

Lying through your teeth is surprisingly exhausting.

"...for a moment, I was nearly impressed by you. I guess I was wrong."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not like you. I just do things on the fly."

Being honest, I think Machida was right to an extent. We were similar people... but only in our ways of doing things. We may reach the same conclusion, but our styles of execution are very different. He likes standing out whereas I didn't.

"Whatever. You're still in D Class anyways, it's not like I'll have to worry about you any time soon."

"I wonder..."

I got up, leaving Machida with those curious words. For what it's worth, he's probably the most dangerous class leader out of us five, simply because he didn't let things like ethics stop him from doing what's necessary.

Cold and cruel people like that will always come out on top. Those who can disregard others will live happy lives. But that's also something I hate about this world.

I reentered the kitchen, curious to see if any groups were finished yet. Out of the nine groups, only seven were still present. It seems two of them had finished already.

"Ryouta-san, how are things going?"

Since Zyriot was focusing on cooking, I didn't want to bother him. Ryouta gave me a thumbs up.

"We should be able to send out out plates soon. All that's left to do is to assemble the burger and make the special sauce for the waffle fries."

"Sounds good. Which groups have already presented?"

"Shimada-san's and Kirishima-san's. They were surprisingly quick with it."

"Huh... I'm guessing the judges are in another room?"

"Yeah. It's a shame, since I would've liked to see how the teachers rated everyone else's dishes so we could get a feel for where we ranked in the challenge."

As me and Ryouta were talking, a loud cheer came from the front of the kitchen. It was Mitsuba's group screaming in delight seeing what dish Nora had made.

"They seem happy with themselves." He chuckled.

"Of course they'd be, they actually have someone who can cook on their group..."

"Oi, I'm right here."

Zyriot cut in as he lifted some crispy golden fried chicken from the deep fryer.

"If you want, we can also cheer loudly when you're done too, Zyriot-san." Ryouta said.

"I'd rather you not."

"I wonder what kind of burger they made..." Satou mumbled.

"When I went over to their station, I saw ground lamb on the table."

"They're making a lamb burger? They're really going for it, huh..."

"It makes sense. If you want to impress the judges, you have to stand out."

"And that's why we're making chicken burgers. Hopefully it'll show that we have more skill than the other groups in the kitchen too, since I'm frying chicken breast." Zyriot said.

Chicken breast, a lean white meat, was objectively harder to cook than dark meat, like the thighs, since it can easily end up dry if cooked even a hair above 165 degrees.

As such, if Zyriot manages to make the fried chicken juicy while using breast meat, it would leave a powerful impression on the judges, as well as show off how good our group's cooking skills were.

"Looks like another group has also finished..." Ryouta said.

This time, it was Shigeru's group, Ayano and Masamoto, going to present their dishes. There was also a psychological element to this challenge, since the judge's opinion on your food could alter drastically depending on when your group serves it.

If you serve your food early, when they have little to no expectations, it will be better well received since they lack a baseline to compare it to. If you serve your food last, it can create recency bias in their head, making them more likely to remember the taste of your food compared to another group's, since they only just ate it.

There is a downside to each however. If you serve your food early, the judges will naturally compare it to the other meals they'll taste later, meaning you run the risk getting a lower final evaluation when they realise it's not as good as the other dishes. You also run the risk of being forgotten, since dishes served later are more likely to cause bigger impact if they surpass expectations.

It's also risky to serve your food last, because it'll be compared to all the dishes that came before. This becomes really dangerous if the judges have tasted an exceptional dish, since it means any dish that comes after it will seem mediocre or pale in comparison. The judges may also be full from eating so much beforehand, so they may not be able to rate your dish properly due to their own fatigue.

In the end, it all depended on how confident you were with your cooking. If you had no faith, going first would be your best option. If you were confident, going later would better. If you knew you were the best, going first would obliterate the competition.

And considering one of the first two groups was Shimada's, and Mitsuba's group just went, our group had a very rocky battle ahead of us.

"...it's now or never boys."

Zyriot patted down the final bun, smiling a little.

"Our chicken sandwiches with waffle fries and special sauce... is complete."

"Let's do this! I'm confident the judges will love our food!"

Ryouta exclaimed, pumping his fist excitedly. We all picked up a plate to carry, with Zyriot taking two each, and headed out to go where the five judges were.

However, on our way there, we ran into a problem. Standing in the middle of the corridor and blocking our path was the rest of Shigeru's group - Yamaguchi, Shibata, Sugiura, Shinra, and in the middle, Shigeru himself.

"Yo, Ryouta-san's group. Looks like you guys made some tasty meals." Shigeru said.

As he began speaking, Yamaguchi and Shibata stepped forward, intimidating us with their stares. Me and Ryouta stepped back to protect the plates of food we were holding from them.

"Zenkichi-san, what are you and your group doing here?" Zyriot said.

Fearlessly, he stepped forward to challenge him. This only made Yamaguchi and Shibata draw closer, pincering Zyriot on both sides. Following their lead, Sugiura marked Ryouta, Shinra marked Satou, and Shigeru marked me.

They were threatening us, silently conveying that, if we angered them even a little, they'd push us and spill our food on the floor. This could end badly for us, especially since Zyriot was holding two plates right now.

"We're just doing our bit now that Ayano-san and Masamoto-san are done."

"And your bit is blocking the path of other groups to stop them reaching the judges?"

"Pretty much."

This is bad. Nothing in the rules stated you were prohibited from stopping other groups, meaning this was a legitimate tactic that Shigeru's group won't get penalised for. The longer they kept us away from the judges, the quicker our food would become worse.

We wanted to serve it fresh to make the best impact possible, but if we don't get it to them soon, the carryover heat from frying the chicken would dry it out, and our toasted buns would get soft again from the moisture of the skin. Not to mention, the actual meal itself would become cold the longer it was left out.

"However, we're not cruel. We know you guys want to win the challenge and get the food to the judges as soon as possible. That's why, we'll let you guys through..."

Shigeru held up his group's monetary budget device with a grin.

"...if you pay us 10,000 private points."

"What...?"

Zyriot's eyes widened.

"If you're confused, the rules state we can increase or decrease our private points in this challenge as we like. The decrease part is obvious, since it's about us buying food. However, the increase part is what caught my attention. I wondered, how could we increase our budget in this challenge? And that's when I realised something."

Shigeru showed that we could exchange and give private points to the other groups on our devices, just like on our phones at school.

"We can increase our budget by taking money off another group, so just think of this as a passing fee. You know, like in Monopoly."

"That's not what I'm confused about. I'm more curious as to why you need the points, especially since your group has already finished the challenge."

"Sorry Zyriot-san, but that's a secret. I can't tell you."

Zyriot sighed, before turning to the rest of us.

"What should we do then?"

"Let's just pay the fee. We have more than 10,000 points left and it really doesn't change anything either way. In the end, the school will confiscate all the leftover points not used in the challenge and give the surplus to the winning group. Unless they can somehow spend it all before then, the fate of those unused points will stay the same. We'll either keep them, or we'll lose them."

In any other circumstance, I'd agree with Ryouta's argument. However, there was one factor which prevented me from doing so. In fact, Ryouta had already mentioned it in his reasoning.

It was the ability to "spend private points" in this challenge.

As long as you had enough private points, you could buy anything within reason. However, because they were linked to technology, which was banned from the outdoors school, we were unable to use them... until now.

This challenge finally broke the floodgate open, giving us a window of opportunity to buy whatever we wanted using the points the school preloaded on these devices.

Even though they were meant to buy ingredients, none of the rules stated that the points had to be used just for that. They were implying that we could spend them on whatever we want if need be, just like at school.

Shigeru wanted to take advantage of this situation and buy something while he still could, but he'd need extra points to afford it. That's why he was extorting us while we tried to get through to the judges.

For someone as perceptive as Ryouta, I'm surprised he didn't notice that this was Shigeru's true goal. The next question is, what was he trying to buy? It must've been quite expensive if he's asking for 10,000 from us...

"Alright then, let's get it over with. Ryouta-san, could you wire it over?"

"Sure thing. Give me a moment..."

Ryouta handed me the plate he was carrying and took out the device from his pocket, transferring 10,000 private points to Shigeru's device. After confirming it was a success, Shigeru nodded and ordered his group to get out of the way.

We squeezed past them and reached the judge's room, which was located at the very end of the hallway behind two double doors. It was getting strangely tense now.

Leading our group was Ryouta, who pushed open the doors with his free hand. The five judges, who were sitting around a single table in the middle of the room, turned their heads to look at us.

It was all five of our homeroom teachers, Hiden-sensei, Toujou-sensei, Akusa-sensei, Mikazuchi-sensei, and Chabashira-sensei. They were going to be the people we were trying to impress, huh?

"Here comes the fifth group to present, Ryouta-san's group!"

We started placing the dishes in front of them. Naturally, we were drawn towards serving our respective homeroom teachers since they were the easiest to approach.

"Oh my, what do we have here? It looks delicious!" Toujou-sensei said.

"This is a southern style chicken sandwich made with breast meat and dill pickles, served with a side of hand-cut waffle fries and tangy homemade special sauce. Please enjoy." Zyriot said.

As he bowed, so did the rest of us. The teachers began tucking into their meals.

"Hmm... this would be better without the pickles." Akusa-sensei said.

Zyriot chewed on his fingernail.

It was a risky bet to include pickles in the burger since they were a very divisive food. Some people loved them, and some people hatred them. Hopefully, the number of judges who liked them would be more than the number of judges who disliked them.

"I agree. I'm not a fan of them either... the chicken is very well done though." Toujou-sensei said.

"If you don't want them, I'll have them." Hiden-sensei said.

"Help yourself!"

Akusa-sensei picked the pickles from her burger and plopped them on Hiden-sensei's plate. Toujou-sensei did the same.

"You two are children." Mikazuchi-sensei said.

"If you like pickles, there's something definitely wrong with you." Akusa-sensei said.

"Does that mean your boyfriend has something wrong with him?"

"Definitely! But I already knew that."

I'd appreciate if they didn't start talking about their personal lives when the point of this session is to judge our foods... it's already stressful enough as it is for us, so the least they could do is take it seriously.

"I can't believe you hand cut these fries. How intricate..." Chabashira-sensei said, holding one up.

"That was the handiwork of Ryouta-san. He's surprisingly good with a knife." Zyriot said.

"Oh, it was Ryouta-san? Very well done."

Ryouta blushed slightly, shaking his head.

"I-it's nothing really! I just knew how to cut them that way, so it was convenient for me, a ha ha..."

I don't think you learn how to cut such an intricate shape for convenience...

"Who made the burger then? It's very delicious." Hiden-sensei said.

"That would be me." Zyriot said.

"Ho, I didn't know Adokenai-kun could cook. I suppose with such an American flair to your group's meal, it had to be you who made it."

"He even nailed down the juiciness of the breast meat! Even though there's no sauce on the burger, it doesn't feel dry at all!" Akusa-sensei said.

"The sauce also pairs well with both the sandwich and the fries. It's got a dual purpose, which I like." Chabashira-sensei said.

So far, everything has been positive aside from the pickles. It looked like our group would be able to rank highly in this challenge too.

"Not to mention how crispy the skin is... tell me, what breading did you use?" Toujou-senei said.

"I used a special blend of panko breadcrumbs, potato starch, and my secret ingredient... crushed cornflakes."

"C-cornflakes?!"

"That's right. By mixing three drastically different coatings for fried chicken together into one, you get an exquisite double layered mouthfeel as you bite into the chicken. You get the crispiness from the panko, the flakiness from the starch, and the crunchiness from the cornflakes."

Zyriot really did manage to make the chicken the main star of the show here. Not only was the breast meat perfectly cooked, but his special blend for the breading gave it a texture the teachers had never tasted before.

"So that's how you managed to achieve such a unique crust... as expected of a student from my class. Amazing work, Zyriot-san!" Mikazuchi-sensei said.

"Indeed... this is a superb meal your group has managed to put together. It's one of my favourites so far." Chabashira-sensei said.

"You'll have to teach me the recipe for this later! I've got to cook this for my boyfriend!" Toujou-sensei said.

"Thank you all for the praise. I am humbled by it."

However, just as Zyriot said that, Hiden-sensei made a strange noise.

"Heh...? What's this doing in my food...?"

From the sauce, he plucked out a long strand of black hair. Everyone's eyes widened.

"One of the rules was to be hygienic, isn't it? This could be grounds for elimination if you don't properly explain yourselves."

Just as everything was going well... of course something had to go wrong at the last second. Since Hiden-sensei has green hair, it was impossible that it was his. In fact, none of the teachers had black hair.

Chabashira-sensei was the closest since she had dark brown, but it was impossible for it to be her hair since she sat furthest away from Hiden-sensei. Since I had blonde hair, that ruled out me.

However, Ryouta, Zyriot, and Satou all had black hair, meaning that it had to be one of those three. Judging by the length and who served Hiden-sensei, it was obvious whose hair it was.

Just as Zyriot was about to say something, Ryouta stepped in front of Hiden-sensei. Then, he got on his knees and lowered his back, prostrating into a dogeza.

"I am very sorry for what happened... while bringing the food over, a strand of my hair must've fell into the sauce. It was an honest mistake, so I implore you to please overlook this error for the rest of my group, but not for me."

Instead of arguing with the judge, who was the equivalent of a customer, Ryouta instead accepted all responsibility and begged for the rest of us to be spared.

"This is a look bad for you Torisu-kun, especially since you're the leader."

"I'll take on any punishment you want, just please don't eliminate the entire group for my foolish actions!"

Satou also stepped forward and got down on his knees, prostrating into a dogeza.

"If necessary, you can also penalise me as well. In the first place, it might not be Ryouta-san's hair. It might be mine, since I was the one in charge of making the sauce. I'd feel guilty if he was punished for my mistake."

Catching onto Ryouta's strategy, Zyriot also joined in by bowing his head deeply.

"And as head chef, I also apologise on the behalf of Ryouta-san and Ishigami-san. It was my responsibility to notice this while doing the final checks, but I failed to do so, resulting in this inexcusable mistake. I am also to blame for this. I can assure you that, if one of us noticed, we would've switched out the sauce entirely for a fresh new cup."

Going with the group, I also lowered my head. In some ways, I was glad it was just us four that was here. If Machida was with us, he'd stubbornly refuse to apologise and would probably even accuse Hiden-sensei of planting the hair there himself.

"When you all bow down at me like that so earnestly... I'm going to be the one who starts feeling guilty here, you know?"

Hiden-sensei chuckled slightly, putting the hair down on the table and wiping his hands.

"Alright. I'll overlook it for now, but I will consider it's impact on my experience, including theoretical, during our deliberation."

"That's fine...! Thank you very much, sensei!" Ryouta exclaimed.

After that, the teachers finished judging our food and told us to leave. A small sigh escaped Zyriot's lips while Ryouta buried his face into his hands out of sheer embarrassment.

"After such a strong start... it's a shame we ended on such a bitter note."

Everything was praise up until the end. It was clear everyone was frustrated by it, since it was such an easily avoidable mishap, yet somehow, all of us had managed to overlook it.

"I'm... I'm so sorry, everyone... I messed up... I messed up so badly...!"

Ryouta gritted his teeth, beating himself up over the hair in Hiden-sensei's sauce. Satou shook his head.

"We don't know that. It could've just as equally been my fault. In the end, what's done is done... we can only hope that the other four teachers give us stellar reviews to outweigh Hiden-sensei's potentially negative opinion."

"Ishigami-san's right. Even if we trip up here, we still have the rest of the week. We can make up for it then. Besides, you said it yourself: I can't see our group losing in this special exam."

Ryouta sniffled, looking at Zyriot and Satou. Then, he smiled a little and bowed his head towards them.

"...thanks you two. I needed that wakeup call."

I left.