Like yesterday, we gathered in the hall to hear the results of the challenge now that it was over. Between the four of us, we decided not to tell the rest of the group about the hair in the sauce in order to avoid unnecessary conflict.

Instead, we told Matsushita, Ikeda, and Machida that we were "anxiously optimistic" since the judges praised our food, but it wasn't a large reaction from them or anything.

"If you had to guess, who do you think is going to come in first place?" Matsushita said.

"...it's hard to say, but I think Mitsuba-san's group has a pretty good shot at stealing first place."

"I heard that as well from the others... apparently Nora-san is a really good cook, which I had no clue about. Did you know that?"

"Yeah. One time, when I went over to his place to visit, he cooked me a hamburg steak. It was really good..."

"I guess we aren't getting first from this challenge either after all."

"Well, there's always the possibility of getting second. If you take Nora-san's ability out of the equation, I'd say we're all pretty equal in terms of cooking ability."

"That doesn't reassure me."

This time, it was Hirose-sensei who was announcing the results. However, to add some suspense, he started announcing the group rankings from the bottom up.

"In ninth place, earning zero cumulative points, is Handa-san's group."

Once again, the group made up of leftovers came dead last. How dysfunctional were they? They had managed to consecutively lose both challenges twice in a row. Things weren't looking good for them, especially for the two C Class boys in that group.

"In eighth place, earning one cumulative point, is Koishi-san's group."

Considering their group was made up entirely of the tough guy type, it didn't surprise me that no one from Machida's former faction was good at cooking.

"In seventh place, earning two cumulative points, is Ishima-san's group."

At the very least, we had managed to clear the punishment of this challenge by not coming in the last three slots. I felt especially bad for Akihiro's group, since they also placed low last time.

"In sixth place, earning three cumulative points, is Ryouta-san's group."

Shock shot through the hall as everyone's eyes fell on us. Our group, stacked with all five class representatives, had dropped from second to sixth place in the span of a single challenge.

"What... how did this happen?!" Ikeda said.

Machida wasted no time glaring at Zyriot, who ignored his hard stare by looking away. Ryouta lowered his head in shame, his eyes unusually wide. Matsushita turned to me for answers, but I signalled that I'd explain later.

"In fifth place, earning four cumulative points, is Kirishima-san's group. In fourth place, earning five cumulative points, is Shigeru-san's group."

It looks like Ayano's and Masamoto's efforts paid off. They shared a high-five, managing to double their standing from last time.

"In third place, earning six cumulative points, is Yahagi-san's group."

This left two possible groups to be the victors. Mitsuba's group and Shimada's group. Hirose-sensei's next announcement would also inadvertently reveal who won this challenge.

The atmosphere became uncomfortably tense, and the hall fell deathly silent.

"In second place, earning seven cumulative points..."

In the corner of the hall, everyone in Mitsuba's group was praying together in a power huddle. In the other corner, everyone in Shimada's group (except Shimada himself) were sweating anxiously in wait as they had no clue what Shimada did for this challenge.

The two extreme spectrums of camaraderie was fully displayed here. Would the close bond of Mitsuba's group triumph over the violent dictatorship of Shimada's group? Or would Shimada show that friendship was meaningless in the face of individuality?

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

Another wave of shock shot through the hall, but this time, it affected Mitsuba's group the most. He, alongside Nora, Yukimura, Tanaka, and John, all widened their eyes in complete disbelief at the outcome of this challenge.

"That means, the winner of the Cook Off, earning eight cumulative points is—!"

Mitsuba turned to the rest of his group excitedly and brought them in for a group hug.

"Mitsuba-san's group!"

The seven of them began screaming in joy, jumping up and down feverishly while roaring like beasts in their victory.

"IT'S OUR WIN, BITCHES!!!"

Mitsuba, Tanaka, and John, all turned to the rest of us and began flipping us off while making "L" signs with their fingers. Mikitaka, Yukimura, and Albert, all picked up Nora and lifted him into the air, crowd surfing him proudly as the MVP of their group.

"You see this absolute king right here? He's my best friend! He's MY best friend, and don't you forget it!" Mikitaka said.

They were the only group to feel joy from hearing the results. As a fellow D Class student myself, I was strangely proud of their achievement as well. I bet no one was expecting this ragtag group of misfits to do so well in the early stages of the special exam.

The rest of us felt bitter towards their landslide victory however, especially since even Shimada's group lost against them. It was a clear indication of the world of difference that was between us and Nora when it came to cooking.

Perhaps even more frustratingly, they'd earn all the surplus private points from this. With such a grand prize like that on the line, it was only natural for some people to get salty from it... like Machida, who left the hall without even saying anything to us.

After today's challenge, so far the scores of each group looked like this:
1st) Shimada's group - 15 Cu
2nd) Mitsuba's group - 14 Cu
3rd) Yahagi's group - 11 Cu
4th) Ryouta's group - 10 Cu
5th) Kirishima's group - 8 Cu
6th) Shigeru's group - 6 Cu
7th) Ishima's group - 4 Cu
8th) Koishi's group - 2 Cu
9th) Handa's group - 0 Cu

Our main goal right now is to surpass Yahagi's group. If we could secure 3rd place, and keep the rankings like this, then the outcome of the special exam would be near perfect for me. It was kind of scary seeing there was only a one point gap difference between Shimada's group and Mitsuba's group, though...

Like usual, we had the rest of the day free to ourselves. In my spare time, I explained to Matsushita about the unfortunate accident which probably cost us our ranking. Without it, I think we would've gotten at least 5th, potentially even 4th. However, I think we were lucky to leave with just a few scratches, rather than a complete elimination.

Earning three points was better than zero points. Everyone could agree about that.

When dinner time rolled around, I met up with Yukina to discuss the results of the girl's side. Joining us today was Kouji. He sat next to Yukina while I sat across from her.

"Miso soup is the best..." Kouji sighed happily.

"Don't sip from the bowl, that's bad table manners." Yukina said.

"But it's more efficient that way... I get more soup from a single slurp than from using a spoon."

"It's still rude though, so try to avoid it."

"Why are you so anal about this... fine."

Kouji switched to drinking his soup with a spoon.

"Yukina, what's the current standing for your group, Alice-san's group, and Shouko-san's group?"

These three were the main groups I wanted to win since we'd get the largest payout from them as Yukina's group had the 3x multiplier stacked with two D Class students, and Alice's and Shouko's groups were being led by D Class students.

"Right now, my group is currently staying strong at 1st place, Alice's group is at 4th place, and Shouko-san's group is at 6th place."

So only one of them were in the top three currently? Today's challenge must've been very competitive on the girl's side then, since I thought Alice's group would at least be able to break into the top three thanks to it.

Yukina then proceeded to explain the rest of the rankings on the girl's side to me. It seems they were being beaten out by two groups with a high concentration of A Class students, Shigaisoshi-sama's group and Kai's group.

In exchange, I told her how the boy's side was currently shaping up. Her eyes widened a little hearing my group were currently in fourth place.

"What...? But your group took second yesterday..."

"Unfortunately, we had a mishap that dropped us all the way down to sixth place today."

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it either when Hirose-sensei read that out loud. Was your dish that bad?" Kouji said.

"No. The teachers were praising it completely until... well, one of them found a hair in their food."

"Yikes. I'm surprised you weren't eliminated for it."

"Ryouta-san and Satou-san got on their knees and begged for us to be spared. If we didn't do that... I think we would've came dead last."

Yukina frowned.

"Oh, Yuu... wasn't there anything you could've done to stop it?"

"Probably not. I wasn't involved in the cooking process, so I had very little input in this challenge. Though... I have a hunch that our group was sabotaged."

"What...?"

"I think Shigeru-san's group is responsible. I might've not been part of the cooking team, but I did help them serve the food to the judges. I can personally verify that, before leaving the kitchen, everything on the plate was spotless. Something must've happened between then and us serving it to the teachers for the hair to have been there. Our trip there should've been smooth, but there was one bump in the road that would've been the perfect opportunity for them to plant that hair— it was when Shigeru-san's group blocked us from advancing unless we paid a fee."

Kouji raised his eyebrows.

"I think I know what you're talking about... Kawaguchi mentioned something similar to it to me earlier."

"Yeah. On the surface, it looks like a trick to gain private points and spend them, which I'm most certainly sure Shigeru-san did, but it also doubled as a ruse to misdirect our attention. Really, what they were trying to do was plant a hair in our food to try and get us disqualified. Ryouta-san and Satou-san aside, there is one person in his group who also has long black hair: Sugiura-san."

I looked over to Sugiura Motofumi, an artist and troublemaker from C Class.

"And conveniently, he was the one who marked Ryouta-san when they confronted us. It must've been during that opening where he slyly dropped it into the sauce."

At the time, all of our attention was drawn towards Shigeru, since he was the one loudly making demands. Like a magician, he used sleight of hand to distract us.

"It can't be a coincidence that the plate Ryouta-san served contained a hair. Sure, he might have black hair too, but that just makes him an easy target, since it'd fool us into thinking that it was our fault for being careless. And with his personality, he'd be first to blame himself before anyone else, meaning the possibility of outside interference wouldn't even be considered. Since he's the leader, if his plate had a mistake, it would make the rest of our group look really bad. Not to mention, this plan fits with Shigeru-san's way of doing things. It relied on chance, just like his strategies in the past, since there was no guarantee the judges would even find or notice the hair."

From the deceit, to the underhandedness, to the risky gamble of it, this plan looked and smelled like something Shigeru would come up with. There was no doubt in my mind that his group was responsible for what happened.

"If you knew this much, why didn't you tell the teachers? You could've saved your podium position and get them disqualified for cheating!"

"There's two issues with that. Firstly, I don't have any proof. Everything I just said is technically my own conjecture. Without hard evidence, my explanation is merely a theory in the eyes of the school."

"But you made such a compelling argument..."

"I agree. From the sounds of it, it's definitely Shigeru's doing." Kouji said.

"Even if I raised a complaint, it'd turn into a big "he said, she said" argument. That's the second problem. Realistically, the only way to definitively prove who's at fault is to run a DNA test on the hair to see who it belongs to, but that's a pretty unreasonable request to do for what is essentially petty sabotage. I'd rather not go through the hassle."

I'd also like to avoid telling my other group members about this since I don't want to cause any trouble. I know that Machida would take suspecting Shigeru of sabotage as ample reason to do something extreme to him in revenge.

"You can barely call it justice though..." Yukina said.

"I know, but what can you do? The challenge is over anyways, so there's no reason to make a fuss about it. We'll just move on and do our best to win in the next one."

"What if he ends up trying to sabotage your group again?"

"I won't let him. Now that I know he's using cheap tricks to knock us down, I'll be vigilant about it."

After finishing my meal, I rendezvoused with my group to decide how we'd spread our "praise" and "blame" votes today.

It was quite ironic since we wanted to "praise" Zyriot for carrying the group today, but to follow our plan from yesterday, we'd also need to "blame" him. I guess it was basically a net zero in votes.

Likewise, Zyriot would move one down and "blame" Machida today. It was kind of fitting, considering he did absolutely nothing to help our group out. If anything, he would've hindered us more if he was present at the judging.

After doing our votes, I went to the lounge and sat on the sofa, killing time by reading a book I borrowed from the library. At this time of the night, most people have returned to their rooms, so I was the only one here.

"Yo, Yuuto."

I looked over my shoulder, seeing Shimada stand behind me.

"...what did you find out?"

"He bought blame votes."

"...figures. I had a feeling his group wouldn't last for much longer."

I closed my book and set it down on the table.

"I'd give it until day four tops before they implode on themselves. Did you see the state they left your classmate this evening?"

"I haven't. How bad was it?"

"Same as yesterday. They thrashed him about and left some marks, but it's nothing to get him retired... yet."

"...I don't think that's their true goal here."

He is a master of deception, after all.

"Of course it isn't. I bet you've already figured it out, though."

Shimada grinned as he stared down at me.

"So, what are you gonna do?"

"I'm just going to sit back and watch. I don't have any incentive to stop him anyways."

In some ways, I'd actually prefer this outcome.

"Heh, are you saying he's not even worth your time?"

"More or less. I've already got my hands full helping you anyways. I don't want to do anymore than what's necessary."

"Right. Well, keep up the good work then, and we won't have any problems."

He walked away without saying anything else. I got up, picked up the book I was reading, and returned to my room as well.

"Takanori-san, there you are..."

When I entered, Ryouta breathed a huge sigh of relief. I raised my eyebrows.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Ah, I was just worried about you, since you were gone for so long..."

For some reason, Ryouta was blushing.

"My bad. Did the results of the voting come in yet?"

"Yeah... and well, it's just like yesterday."

Ryouta showed me the contents of the envelope.

Praise vote distribution
● Zyriot Feirbuster - 6
● Satou Ishigami - 1
Blame vote distribution
● Zyriot Feirbuster - 5
● Machida Kouta - 1
● Ryouta Hane - 1

"Someone in our group voted for me again."

"...that's strange. Do you have any idea who it might be?"

"No... not at all."

"If you ask me, there's one obvious culprit for this."

Joining our conversation was Satou. He looked over at Machida, who was fast asleep on his futon.

"You think... it's Machida-san?"

"Who else could it be? He's the only one petty enough to do this."

"I agree with Satou-san. Machida-san is the only one who doesn't get along with the rest of us, so I wouldn't put it past him to do something like that." Ikeda said.

"Plus, doesn't he hate your class? I can see him "blame" you out of spite too since the votes are anonymous." Matsushita said.

Satou nodded in agreement. Ryouta scratched his chin.

"I don't know about that... I feel like it'd be too clear-cut if Machida-san was the culprit. I don't think he'd do something as obvious as "blame" vote me again and again, since suspicion would eventually fall on him due to his reputation."

"What, are you saying one of us five is trying to frame him?" Matsushita said.

"That is a possibility, yes. Because of all the factors you three mentioned before, he would be the perfect scapegoat for anyone who is secretly blaming me. However, that doesn't rule him out as a suspect entirely."

"I still think it's Machida-san. Red herring or not, he's the only one who has a reason to "blame" vote you." Satou said.

"It can't be me or Takanori-san, since our class would be put at a disadvantage if you went to E Class." Matsushita said.

"The only person who'd have an incentive to send you to E Class would be..."

Ikeda's words trailed off as the man he was about to refer to, Zyriot, joined our conversation.

"Personally, I think it's pointless to try and figure out the identity of this person. Whether it's Machida-san or not, as long as we keep our group above eighth place, who gets "praise" and who gets "blame" votes doesn't really matter in the end."

"...that's true. These votes are just safety nets, after all." Satou said.

"Plus, I'm getting minimum five "blame" votes each round. Even if someone keeps voting Ryouta-san, by the end of the challenge, he'd have seven votes whereas I'd have thirty-five. If we did get ninth, I'd be the one punished for it."

Zyriot was right. It was pointless trying to figure out who the traitor amongst the group was since their actions don't actually affect us in the long run. As long as the six of us cooperate, we could clear this special exam without any problems.

That's what they're hoping for, anyways.