Yamamoto had won against Keisaki, knocking Yahagi's group out of their guaranteed spot. Upon hearing this news, Mitsuba's group and Kirishima's group became ecstatic, while Yahagi's group returned to their corner to discuss strategy.

"Yamamoto-san, why did you win? Didn't you want Yahagi-san's group to go through?"

As Yamamoto returned to the stands, Kishida asked that question.

"I wonder..."

Yamamoto shrugged, ruffling the back of his hair.

"Could I have my Mac Lir's back, Takanori-san?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Thanks."

In the middle of his game, Yamamoto saw Belial was in his deck and realised he forgot to switch triggers with me. Despite that, he played out the game and won regardless, so it probably wasn't a setback for him at all.

"Alright, everyone! This concludes the end of the tournament for everyone, so thank you all for participating!"

Anjou-sensei's voice echoed throughout the room as he spoke into a microphone.

"Before I announce the results, first we'll have a special feature match finals between the best two groups from this tournament! As a reminder, this match will have all three players on each side fighting at once, with each win netting them 2 points! In addition, the overall winner of the finals will earn an additional 5 cumulative points for their group!"

Yamamoto sighed. He looked disappointed knowing that we had no chance of entering this.

Well, it can't be helped. For the sake of my plans, our group had to lose here.

"With that out of the way, here are the two groups that are going straight to the finals! The first is Ryouta-san's group, who has a perfect tournament record of 9 wins to 0 losses!"

Since it was obvious they were going into the finals, no one was surprised by this announcement. Instead, everyone seemed to be holding their breath in anticipation, as we all waited patiently to hear which group out of the three contenders would be facing them.

Would it be Yahagi's group, who had been dominating this entire tournament alongside Ryouta's group?

Or would it be Kirishima's group, who was carried under the command of their B Class ace?

Or could Mitsuba's group, widely regarded as the dark horse, blindside them with a steal from behind?

Anjou-sensei's mouth moved.

"And the second is..."

Yahagi closed his eyes. Keisaki lowered his head and Mitsumori tapped his foot.

Kirishima smirked, facing forward. Suna looked away and Ikesugi sighed.

Mitsuba and Mikitaka clapped their hands in prayer together. John shielded his eyes.

"...Mitsuba's group, who had a win record of 7 wins to 2 losses!"

Yahagi opened his eyes, narrowing them slightly. Kirishima laughed, clapping for them.

Mitsuba burst into a scream of joy, before getting picked up and paraded by both Mikitaka and John, who were cheering just as loudly.

While they celebrated, everyone else was in shock seeing that the group consisting mostly of students from my class had somehow gotten the better of A Class students yet again.

In the distance, I could see out of the corner of my eye Ryouta glancing at me. Likewise, Yamamoto was blatantly looking at me while his hand clasped over his mouth.

...it seems he finally caught on to what I was doing.

"Takanori-san... don't tell me..."

"...it's exactly what you think."

Hearing that, Yamamoto pinched the bridge of his nose. Kishida looked between the two of us.

"...I see. Everything makes sense now... from the very start, you were aiming for this. There's one thing I don't understand though."

"And that is?"

"How did you know your group would be able to qualify for the finals?"

I turned around, facing my back to Yamamoto.

"Isn't it obvious? Mitsuba-san plays a helmet deck and Mikitaka-san and John-san used to belong in the class above mine. In terms of Vanguard skill, those three are the best in their group. I couldn't have asked for a better load out."

"I don't mean that. I mean about getting them into the finals spot. In the case they drew with other groups, like this one, there shouldn't have been any way for you to plan for this to happen. Hell, we don't even know how the school decided on this."

"The trick is in the bye cards, Yamamoto-san."

When I said that, Yamamoto's eyes widened.

"...Yahagi-san's group and Kirishima-san's group had their bye cards before Mitsuba-san's group."

"That's right. When you win a round with a bye card early, that win is weighted less than if you win a regular match. When deciding placements, wins in the early rounds are prioritised over wins in the later rounds. Since Mitsuba-san's group had more weighted wins, as they didn't have a bye card until the eighth round, they technically earned their spot in the finals more than the other two groups in the eyes of the school. That's why things ended up like this."

When I looked back at Yahagi, it seems he also came to this same conclusion. Since his group had no more reason to stick around, and he could hear the results from Ryouta later, he and his group left the room.

As they did, our eyes crossed paths.

For a moment, I thought I could see him snarling at me. I guess this won't be the end of things, huh?

"Did you... somehow manipulate how the bye cards would be distributed?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Not even I have the power to do that."

"Then how did you get them to have their bye card later?"

"I didn't. It was all a stroke of good luck."

Sometimes, you have no choice but to take advantage of your surroundings to make a plan work.

"Was there not at least a trick to figuring out who would get what bye cards when?"

"Nope. It was all randomly decided and distributed. The only things I could control was everyone's win records. And well... in the case Mitsuba-san's group got their bye early, I would've had to try a little bit harder to beat the other two groups."

I could hear Yamamoto sigh.

"...you're not a leech, Takanori-san."

Like Yahagi, I have no reason to be here anymore.

"...you're a monster."

The result of the finals was clear as day anyways.

"...I finally understand why Ryouta-san and Yahagi-san wanted to clash with you."

Ryouta's group would crush Mitsuba's group.

"...and Shimada-san too."

That was just how large the gap in their abilities were.

"...maybe Yogen-san was right to stick so closely to you."

There was nothing I could do about it now, so I'll let bygones by bygones.

"...what is your goal here at this school, Takanori-san?"

All that mattered was securing the group placements in this order.

"I'm going to rise to the top."

And engraving in the hearts of all these A Class students the threat of my existence.

Yamamoto let out a laugh.

It was a low, quiet laugh.

But it was one full of self-deprecation and self-hatred nonetheless.

"...I hope we never meet on the battlefield then."

My job here was done.

"I'll leave dealing with you to Ryouta-san."

I started walking away.

"He's the only one who can stop you now."