Standing at the Top

Part 14 (Volume 3)

"I see. Wow! This is surprising. You're quite ingenious aren't you Ayanokouji-kun."

"I'm nothing special."

"No need to be so modest Ayanokouji-kun. No one can just come up with a plan like that, even in Class A. Sakayanagi-san might, but I think she would just do something a bit different."

"I think you're overestimating me."

"You're certainly unique."

"You can about it. He'll just continue to deny your claims." I interrupted.

"Really? Then I apologize if I annoyed you."

"It's fine. You didn't bother me at all."

"Anyways, we still have to wait for the days for now right?"

"That's right."

"Then I look forward to working with you Ayanokouji-kun!" She left while giving a smile.

"Then I suppose I should brief Morishige of what to do."

The 5th morning.

Time flew by slowly, all that happened was that Ayanokouji found the base of Class B on the second day, and then he snuck out at night on the third day with a flashlight. That doesn't matter much though. It's early morning and I don't have the energy to do anything. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the look on Katsuragi's face.

I can already see that Yahiko was restless the minute he woke up. Katsuragi was trying to calm him down.

"Oi, what's with all the ruckus?"

I decided to further tease them.

"My my, such a serious look on your face Katsuragi. What did you screw up?" He was seriously pressured by my words, which means the situation has gone dire.

"I suppose there's no need to hide it...I'll ask this now. Did anyone take the keycard?"

The class went into an uproar. It's not that surprising. The keycard was one of the most important things in this exam after all.

"Calm down. For now, we will begin inspecting our belongings."

After thirty minutes of searching around the base, Class A has yet to find the keycard of our leader.

*Crack!*

The sound of something breaking emanated from the ground.

"Wait, did I step on something?" blurted Nishikawa. She tried to dig out where she placed her foot and the murmurs of the class became audible. A broken camera was found buried a few inches below the ground.

"Ayanokouji." Katsuragi called out to. The others looked confused as to why he would want to talk with him.

"Do you still have the camera you bought?"

"It's right here. That one is not ours." He raised his hand slightly to showcase a camera in perfect condition.

"What should we do Katsuragi-san?!" Yahiko raised his voice.

Katsuragi remained silent. This is so pitiful. I could barely contain my laughter.

"Does this mean that the other classes have our keycard?!" Yahiko rambled.

"Most likely." He said in a lovered voice nearly a whisper.

"Hey! What the hell are we supposed to do Katsuragi?!"

"Yeah! All the points we've earned will be nullified!"

"All our hard work collecting spots would be reduced to nothing!"

This is music to my ears. I could listen to this all day.

"Katsuragi." Ayanokouji interjected. Everyone fell silent for a moment because Ayanokouji would never do this.

"Prepare to lose at least 100 points." He finished.

"""!!!"""

"...What do you mean?" Katsuragi questioned with a dejected look.

"Why use a camera? Why steal the keycard? Wouldn't looking at it be sufficient enough for whichever class to just see it?"

"Perhaps they sent a clumsy student to do this."

"If they sent a clumsy person to find out the other classes' leader then they should not have sent one at all. They would just become an unreliable source."

Class A was silent.

"But...which classes could it be?" Katsuragi queried.

"That's not important anymore, ain't it? Whether it's Class B and Class D's alliance or Class C's doing." Kito responded.

Katsuragi just faced downwards. What a sight.

"...What shall we do then?" Katsuragi reluctantly asked for a consultation.

"There's nothing you can do. Keep occupying spots and hope for the best." Kito left saying those sharp words.

I felt as if Ayanokouji and Kito could win for the best actor if they honestly tried. I wish I could've recorded Katsuragi's face. Well, I guess I should probably do what I'm supposed to a bit later.

The 6th night.

Everyone was feeling dejected. Most people didn't even bother to hide the fact that Yahiko was our leader. The majority concluded that the most damage we could do to the other classes was to guess their leaders. But the strength of Class C is what will decide if we actually get some names.

I looked around and saw Yahiko in pain as he held his stomach. Nishikawa is without a doubt reliable. Getting him sick, now we only have to wait for tomorrow.

"Yahiko." This time Ayanokouji addressed Yahiko instead of Katsuragi. Everyone reluctantly turned their gaze to him.

"I just thought of an idea. Please retire."

"""!!!"""

"Why would you say that to him?! We can still have more points if he just holds on for a bit longer. It's nothing that serious." Someone argued.

"It's not about that. I just want to switch leaders."

"""!!!"""

"What do you mean Ayanokouji?" Katsuragi inquired.

"There's a rule, isn't there? That you can change leaders with suitable justification."

"But th-"

"Isn't the failing health of the current leader enough reason? If the leader was not able to move around the island, then we would be at a massive disadvantage. If the rights to exclusive possession disappear, then we won't be able to collect any points. The rule was made to fix that issue."

"..."

"Well, Katsuragi you have already received the names from Ryueen, right? The only thing left to do is change the leader. "

Opposite to what Class A was anticipating even after we changed leaders, The gap between the classes widened by a decent margin when the results were announced.

A/N: This chapter was brought to you by my insomnia. Seriously, I had 5 hours of sleep and I have been awake for 22 hours. How do you fix this?