Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Self-Test

Vol. 3: Chapter 13.4 - The Hand that Beat Four Aces

The baffled faces of the students became even more apparent. At the same time, Ryuuen's classmates gasped in awe after witnessing his predictions come true. They were skeptical when Ryuuen declared that he'd have the class rise from zero points, but the results spoke for themselves.

"Y-You're amazing, Ryuuen-san..." muttered Ishizaki.

Komiya, Kondou, and Yamawaki gulped nervously, and Albert nodded with a light snort.

"Heh, who do you think you're talking to?" he shrugged. "This wasn't even the ideal result, thanks to Ayanokouji."

"Coming in second place is Class C, with 140 points." Ryuuen relaxingly tilted his head as Mashima-sensei announced the scores he predicted and calculated.

Ichinose and her classmates stopped being calm. This time, they were also subjected to the same confusion as the other classes.

"And then, Class B..." Mashima-sensei's movements stiffened a little bit before he continued speaking. "Class B comes in first... with 247 points."

At that moment, the jazz music stopped.

Ryuuen's smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed with a sinister glint.

"He figured me out..." Ryuuen muttered under his breath.

It wasn't long before another smile was carved on his face.

"Kukuku... You never cease to amaze me, Ayanokouji."

Meanwhile, at the beach...

"We won! Let's go!" cried Ken.

"We did it!" Kikyou joyfully engaged with her friends.

"Yahoo!" Yamauchi celebrated with a jump.

"Our efforts paid off!" yelled Ike.

"W-Wait-- Isn't 247 points too many-?" Matsushita softly mused to herself.

Yukimura and Nishimura had the same doubtful expression as her.

Most students of Class B, especially the boys, roistered in glee. My classmates also praised me nonstop...

No, seriously. It made me slightly nauseous...

"You guys are amazing-- Ayanokouji, Hirata!" said Ike.

"You should be giving yourself some credit too, Ike," I deflected the compliment back to him.

"Ayanokouji-kun is right, Ike-kun. You're one of the reasons why we got this result." Hirata nodded with a warm smile.

I agree. But to be honest, it's probably more accurate to say that Ike was the sole reason for this victory.

"All I did was teach everyone how to fish and distinguish good food from bad food, though." Ike scratched his head, flustered.

"That's more than enough, Kanji-kun! Your knowledge helped us a lot!" Kikyou rallied behind our praise.

The attention got split between the three of us, as a result. Our classmates thanked and complimented us, boys and girls, alike. Both Ike and Hirata effortlessly received everyone's praise...

Just how do you do it, guys...?

"That's it for your very first special exam. I hope you think about your own ramifications so you can be yield more promising results for the next tests. Enjoy your vacation." Mashima-sensei turned off the megaphone and walk towards the ship.

"What's the meaning of this, Katsuragi?!"

"Why the hell are we in fourth place?!"

"And why did we end up with 120 points?!"

Class A, our neighbor, seemed like they had something going on. Well, it was only natural. They were Class A-- the best among all classes in our year. It should've been very humiliating for them to place below Class D, which was considered as the class for defects.

"Ayanokouji-kun... Ibuki-san is approaching us." Horikita lightly whispered beside me.

"Let her. It would've been more interesting if Ryuuen came along, but he's not here," I shrugged.

Ibuki briskly walked towards us with a somber expression.

"How?" she asked me using a single word.

"I'm not obliged to tell you anything, Ibuki," I replied, shaking my head.

"Why didn't you put Ryuuen's name in?" Ibuki continued asking questions as if she didn't hear me.

"The exam's finished... I'm not in the mood to talk about this." I stood up and took my stuff.

Hirata and the rest of the class followed as soon as they saw me leave my seat.

Although displeased, Ibuki couldn't really force herself to continue. She could only watch as Class B departed for the cruise ship.

It's finally over, huh? This was a pretty interesting experience. I still have a lot of questions, but at least we finished the exam as the sole victors.