Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Self-Test

Vol. 4: Chapter 10.2 - Closer to the Truth

Final Day, 1:00 PM.

Despite this being the last day of the exam, it didn't seem like anything was going to change.

Katsuragi and his classmates stayed in their corner, minding their own business, waiting for the hour to pass by. Ryuuen was currently speaking to him, though I don't know what they were talking about.

"Ayanokouji-kun, it's your turn!" Ichinose's voice was filled with energy.

Meanwhile, the seven students from Class B and Class C were sitting on the floor, playing Old Maid.

"O-Oh..." I panicked and quickly grabbed one card from her hand of eight.

As fate would usually toy with me, of course, I'd get the joker.

Well, I guess it's not so bad after seeing Ichinose's pretty grin.

I turned around to have my seatmate take her turn.

"Mmm..."

Kikyou narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized... my face? Is she trying to look at my reactions? She, of all people, should know that doing so is useless.

"What?"

"Nothing." Kikyou turned away with a 'hmph'.

Incomprehensible things aside, Kikyou managed to grab a good card and finished her turn.

After more turns, the game ended with Hirata's loss.

"Ahaha, it seems like I've lost." He received his defeat with a smile.

"We've racked up a bunch of losses by this time, huh?" said Kanzaki.

Considering that this was only our third game, he must've counted our games from the other days. Was Kanzaki the type of guy to remember those kinds of things?

"Ayanokouji-kun has the least amount of losses if I remember correctly." Ichinose eyed me with a grin.

"Well, Ayanokouji-kun is pretty hard to read," Tsube commented before giggling.

"I know right? You've only lost twice-- against Kikyou-chan and Horikita-san respectively."

"If there's anyone who could see through his poker face, it would be them," said Hirata.

Horikita raised an eyebrow while Kikyou silently listened with a smile.

"Ehhh, you're that close, huh?" Ichinose turned to me. "We've been friends for so long, but I'm still having a hard time reading your face."

"The other way around is also true. I'm sure Andou and the others can read you way better than I can," I replied.

In the end, we're from different classes. We haven't spent as much time together.

"I guess so." Ichinose leaned back, using her arms as support.

For the Dragon Group, the fifth group discussion was business as usual. Everything ended without much commotion, mainly because we never really talked about the exam. Most of the students would probably say that it's over by now-- that no one really won.

Well, the current standings are quite close, and none of the classes are suffering from extremely low points. So for the majority of the first-years, ending in a draw isn't that much of a big deal.

Ignorance is bliss, huh?

"Yo, how's your playtime going?"

Before the end of the session, Ryuuen made his way to our area.

"Ohh, hey there, Ryuuen-kun. We're doing pretty okay over here. How about you and Katsuragi-kun?" Ichinose effortlessly received his greeting like they were close friends.