A New Masterpiece (COTE x OC)

Chapter 27 - The Beginning

If we had more time or didn't just come off a grueling physical exam, the possibilities of discovering this method of finding the VIP would have been a piece of cake, but the school deliberately made that exam a little more challenging, and right after another to throw us off.

"That's why they worded the email that way," I said aloud.

Everyone at the table looked at me with a slightly confused faces.

"Remember the email at the beginning of the exam that determined if we were the VIP or not? I found the wording slightly suspicious, as instead of the school stating, 'You're not the VIP' the message went something like, 'After thorough consideration, we have decided you are not the VIP.' They were giving us a hint that there may have been a method of how they picked VIPs, but we were too ignorant to notice this."

The members at the table shook their heads in agreement as they recalled the start of that exam.

"But," Ayanokouji spoke for the first time. "Class C. More specifically, Ryuuen managed to figure this out, just based on the results of the exam."

"They managed off only 3 VIPs that were picked from Class C to figure out this method. Honestly, I only think of that as a pure gamble," Horikita mused.

"That gamble did work, though," Hirata continued. "Somehow, they managed to identify multiple VIPs and close the gap with the other classes."

It was a mystery as to how specifically Ryuuen pulled this off. But, nonetheless, it was a stroke of genius that it worked for him. If he was wrong, he could have completely thrown this exam and ruined his class ranking.

That got me thinking for a moment.

After the results of the exam were posted, Sakayanagi from Class A contacted me.

She said that she used this exam to destroy someone within her own class and pity another class.

And since my class obviously did not gain any class points from my group.

Did that mean, Sakayanagi also figured out this method of decerning the VIP but purposefully leaked the answer to someone in Class C from my group?

Considering how poorly Class A did, and from the information I gathered, they were following Katsuragi's plan of complete defense. Not uttering a single word in any meeting. Sakayanagi probably used this as an opportunity to further crush Katsuragi's ranking within Class A by purposefully not turning traitor and gaining her class points.

In all honestly, that was a genius idea to turn the tide in her favor as Class A's sole leader and possibly to spite Ryuuen too.

Class A's Sakayanagi could be a fearsome opponent for anyone if that was true.

"Fukumoto-kun?" Hirata called out to me as I lost my train of thought.

"Sorry. I was thinking," I replied.

"That's new," Horikita commented at my remark.

"As I was saying," Hirata continued his previous discussion. "I believe since these past two exams, our class has become closer. But we are still that one step away from truly unifying."

Hirata took a short breath before continuing.

"I've tried as much as I can in unifying this class. But I believe certain people within this class have a skill set that I lack, skills that can truly unify this class."

"Who do you mean, Hirata-kun?" Kei responded.

"Horikita-san and Fukumoto-kun," Hirata turned his vision toward Horikita, then to me. "Will you help me in unifying Class D; and giving us the best chance to move forward?"