Sora's POV
The repetitive clacking of two pairs of footsteps was the only sound echoing throughout the empty second-year school building. Around ten minutes prior, I had left the cafeteria after becoming angered by Class E's defective girls clique. I couldn't stand being in their presence for even a second longer.
I walked slowly down the school corridor with my beautiful younger sister, Shiro, while carefully observing my surroundings. I decided to use the rest of my lunch break on the assignment I had been given by Light.
Realistically, Light didn't need me to do this anymore since he had already executed his plan. However, I still thought it'd be best to complete the task just so we'd have the information ready for the future. Also, it wouldn't hurt for him to look more convincing during his trial.
I peered into the final classroom on the corridor and, after looking in for a few seconds, took out a folded A3 sheet of paper from my pocket and used a red marker to write on it.
"That's the last one on this floor, Shiro." I said to my cute little sister who was holding my hand tightly.
"Right," she replied quietly.
She was quieter than normal. It was something that she was trying to hide, and no one but me would've been able to notice the difference. However, I knew everything there was to know about Shiro by now. She couldn't hide anything from me.
"Are you still thinking about lunch earlier?" I asked her softly.
Shiro gave a small nod in reply. Due to her past experiences, Shiro was hit particularly hard by the encounter. I felt my hand tighten on its own around the paper in my hand, but I forced myself to remain calm for Shiro's sake.
"You shouldn't think about it. Our class wouldn't act like that, you know?" I reassured her.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Have more faith in our classmates."
The school wouldn't have allocated someone with aggressive tendencies to our so-called 'genius' class. Furthermore, after being around them for two months now, I could say with certainty that none of our five classmates would ever bully another person.
Shiro and I climbed the staircase to the third floor. On this floor in the first-year block, our classroom was located, which made me mildly curious as to whether there was also an unused classroom on the corresponding floor in the second-year block.
I led Shiro down the corridor, adding markings to my paper as we went. This floor was a staff floor, which meant that most rooms couldn't be mapped, however the most important part was probably the corridor itself. Students wouldn't often find themselves in these staff rooms anyway.
We turned the corner, and I noted down one last marking when I got to the end of the L shape. Sure enough, though, there was an unused classroom lying in wait around the corner of the second-year block third floor as well. This would probably be the room we'd be given during our second year. I looked into the room and added a red marking to the page.
"The roof is the final location, then?" Shiro whispered as we turned around.
"Yeah. Then, we're done."
The roof was locked after hours, but during lunch the students were free to use it. That meant that this was the ideal time to complete the task I'd been assigned. I could get it done all in one go without having to come back to do the roof later.
Shiro and I arrived back at the U-shaped staircase at the end of the main corridor, and ascended upwards toward the roof. As we climbed the stairs, I noticed something odd and stopped Shiro by pulling her hand lightly with mine. She looked at me quizzically.
"Look. The door's open. That means there's probably someone up there. No one who comes up here would leave it open after leaving." I explained my thought process in a hushed voice.
Tugging Shiro along gently, I crept up the stairs until I could glance through the half-open doorway. There, I laid my eyes on a well-endowed girl with waist-length pink-tinted hair. She appeared to be alone, and was leaning on the railing, gazing out towards the campus.
"Ichinose?" Shiro whispered questioningly.
I nodded in affirmative. Out of everyone, she was one of the ones I'd least expected to be up here. What was she doing up here? Was she meeting someone? Or did she just come up here to eat lunch alone? I didn't see any food anywhere.
No, don't be an idiot, Sora. This is the second-year building, of course she's meeting someone!
They say that curiosity killed the cat, but I couldn't quell mine after making this discovery. I could probably just use the excuse that it was a calculated risk in order to gain information if anyone questions me.
"Come," I said to Shiro in a low voice, descending the stairs.
"Where?" she asked.
"It would be bad if we were spotted here, but I'm still curious. It'll be enough just to find out who she's meeting, though, so let's just wait around the corner until the person she's waiting for shows up."
"She's meeting someone?"
"Yeah. Why else would she choose the second-year building? She probably doesn't want anyone in the first-year to see her."
"But how do you know the first-year roof wasn't just already occupied?"
"Balance of probability. The roof isn't used much on any building. Also, do you think Ichinose is the type of person to avoid all of her friends just so she can eat alone? I don't think so. It's more likely that she's come here to rendezvous because it's out of the way." I explained as we reached the corner of the L-shape.
Shiro looked impressed by my deduction. "You make a lot of deductions based on probability," she observed.
"I'm not the only one. In the books, Sherlock makes many deductions based off of probability. I'd bet L makes a lot of conclusions on a probability-basis as well."
"L... He's supposedly the best detective in the world, isn't he?"
"Yep. Even though he hides his identity, he's clearly very good at what he does. I'd wager that he thinks like me. It's much more effective to think up lots of possibilities using assumptions and probability and then ruling them out as you gather contradictory evidence than it is to look specifically for evidence to support the one possibility with the least guesswork involved."
Shiro was about to respond, when the tapping sound of shoes began to echo out from the floor below. I put my hand around her shoulder and pulled her behind the corner, and peeked out. Nobody would notice me from this far away, even if they looked down the corridor for whatever reason.
The visitor's blond hair and well-built figure eventually came into view as he ascended to the third floor, before carrying on to the roof. That was our mystery visitor that Ichinose was meeting with, then.
"Nagumo." I said, a triumphant smirk creeping on to my face.
"This pretty much confirms that our fifth question was accurate, doesn't it?" Shiro asked as Nagumo ascended to the roof.
"Yeah. Nagumo would have no reason to secretly call Ichinose out here if he didn't force her to do something for him in order to join the council. He's probably gonna tell her to keep her mouth shut." I inferred confidently.
Nagumo Miyabi was a very shady individual. He was also very overconfident. Even though any observant person would've been capable of figuring out that he was the one who accepted Ichinose secretly, he never considered that an outsider would discover him. Similarly, I was able to deduce that he asked something of Ichinose just because I knew that he was the kind of person to go behind his superior's back.
Overconfidence is an extremely brittle weapon to wield, Nagumo Miyabi.
"Are you going to go and spy on them?" Shiro asked.
"No. Just knowing that my suspicions were correct is enough for me. I'll find out what exactly Nagumo asked of her another time." I responded.
You can never be too cautious, and trying to spy on them would be overstepping massively here. It's best for me to just be content with coincidentally finding out anything at all.
Before long, Ichinose and Nagumo returned from the roof. Shiro and I watched as they descended the stairs together and listened to the clacking of their shoes as they left.
After the footsteps faded, Shiro and I walked to the stairs and ascended to the roof. I took a quick glance around and added one last red marking to my paper before turning around to make my way back.
When Shiro and I arrived back at the second floor, I immediately spotted a big problem. Nagumo had left, but Ichinose had stayed behind and was leaning against the wall, deep in thought. I thought I could just sneak back upstairs without being seen, but it seemed that fate had other plans.
"Sora-kun and Shiro-san, right? What are you two doing here?" The strawberry-haired girl noticed us and immediately asked.
There was a slight hint of panic in her tone, which indicated straight away that she was worried that I'd seen her meet with Nagumo. That pretty much confirmed to me that they had spoken about something confidential.
Time seemed to slow down as I kicked my brain into gear. I took into account Ichinose's non-confrontational and excessively kind and trusting personality, and began thinking of the best possible reason to give her for our presence.
I couldn't use an excuse like "I was called to a staff room," for instance, because this was the second-year building. If a teacher did actually need to talk to me, I would've been called to the third floor of the first-year building. I wasn't sure how gullible Ichinose actually was, so it probably wasn't worth destroying any chance of her ever trusting me just so I can try that excuse.
That meant that I needed a different excuse for why I'd be on the staff floor of the second-year building. Ichinose knows that I wasn't up there for lunch, otherwise she would've encountered me on the roof. Basically, there really was no reason at all to why I was on that floor.
My only option was just to tell her the truth, then. I produced the folded sheet of paper from my back pocket and opened it up, pointing it in her direction as I walked over.
"I was creating a map." I said in a neutral tone.
"A map? Why would you need to map out this building? Isn't there already a map of the school in the handouts we were given during the entrance ceremony?" Ichinose asked in confusion.
"Ah, it's not just any map," I said as I reached her side. "Look. All of the red dots I've put onto it represent a surveillance camera."
I decided that she'd be more likely to trust me if I told her the truth and let her in on some of Class D's affairs.
"You're mapping out surveillance cameras?" She asked quizzically.
"That's right. To be more precise, every student in my class has been doing so for the past week or so. This was one of the last places in the school that we hadn't mapped." I explained.
"I see..." Ichinose, who was usually a good conversationalist from what I've heard, trailed off and looked down, seemingly not knowing what to say.
After a few moments, she looked back up and made eye contact with me. "Did you see?"
"Yeah," I admitted. Might as well be straightforward.
"I suppose it isn't too bad if it's Sora-kun. You already had your suspicions, right?"
I nodded affirmatively in response. Ichinose was there when I confronted Manabu and Nagumo, so there was really no point hiding anything from her.
"I thought you two were amazing when you came into the student council room. Just by knowing that I was initially rejected, you figured pretty much everything out." Ichinose praised Blank's deductive powers.
"The only question left unanswered is 'what did Nagumo ask you to do?'" I replied.
I noticed Ichinose's expression subtly shift into one of slight discomfort after I mentioned Nagumo. Clearly, it wasn't something she wanted to be reminded of.
"Of course, I won't ask you what it is. It's your private business." I quickly added, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
"Thank you," Ichinose sighed in relief.
Ichinose's pleasant smile returned, and the mood immediately brightened up. I silently started walking back toward the stairs, my hand still interlocked with Shiro's, and Ichinose matched my pace and started walking beside me.
"Say, Sora-kun," she said, pulling out her phone. "I still don't have the contact information of anyone in your class. Could I have yours? You as well, Shiro-san."
"Sure. There's no reason to refuse." I replied, pulling out my phone as Shiro also took out hers.
The three of us traded our contact information as we descended the steps to the ground floor and walked towards the building's exit. When we were done, we put our phones away and Shiro asked me a question.
"Nii, what will you do about Nagumo? Should we expel him?"
A rather outrageous suggestion came from my little sister's cute mouth. Ichinose seemed similarly incredulous.
"Expel him? No. Why would I ever want to get rid of such an entertaining opponent?" I replied with a grin. "He's underhanded and manipulative! Just think about how fun it will be when we play against him!"
Ichinose probably couldn't decide whether to be more shocked by Shiro's question or my answer. This, though, is just how Blank operates. Our main focus is having fun. Ichinose will hopefully come to realize this eventually. From what I've seen, Nagumo could provide me with quite a bit of fun.
Besides, as far as potential opponents go, Nagumo was nowhere near the most dangerous of everyone I've encountered so far.
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Ayanokōji's POV
"So, your trial is today huh, delinquent-kun?"
Lelouch mocked Light as he sauntered into the classroom, being the last to arrive. He planted himself down in his seat and leaned back as he observed Light, who was resting his cheek on his palm at the centre of the room.
"That it is," Light responded amicably.
Light, to his credit, never showed any reaction to Lelouch's teasing even though he seems to be the target most often. To be fair, though, Light's polite demeanour never falters. It made me wonder whether it was just a façade or not.
"I hope your little plan doesn't fail. If it does, we'll be holding you accountable."
"Yeah yeah, don't fret. Justice never fails."
"Justice again?" Lelouch gave a bored sigh.
It appeared that Lelouch was fed up with talk about 'justice' and whatnot already.
Shortly after that exchange, Ishihara-sensei walked casually into the classroom with a smile on her face.
"Good morning~"
"Ishihara-sensei, would you mind answering a question for me?" Kururugi raised his hand.
"Oh, here we go, this'll be good," Lelouch snorted from beside me.
"What?" Kururugi asked, confused.
"Oh, nothing. It's just that, usually, when you ask a question, it's something stupid that everyone else already figured out the answer to ages ago."
Lelouch attacked Kururugi mercilessly, to which he merely laughed and scratched his cheek. I felt bad for Kururugi, who was usually out of the loop when it came to things that required deductive reasoning.
"So, what did you want to ask?" Ishihara-sensei interrupted.
"Oh, I was just wondering why Class E got 87 class points, the second most out of all the classes, from the midterms, even though they had by far the lowest average score of 0."
I watched as everyone's gaze slowly turned to stare at Kururugi. Sora in particular looked incredulous.
"Kururugi... Could it be that... You're actually an idiot?" Sora asked in disbelief, garnering a few chuckles from around the room.
"Huh? That isn't a stupid question, is it?" Kururugi asked, perplexed.
Sora simply sighed in exasperation. "Kururugi, did you ever hear anyone say that the class's average score was linked to the class points gained, at any point in time, even once?"
"U-uh, well, no, but I just assumed..."
"Then take this as a lesson not to make baseless assumptions. Excluding us, Class A had the highest average score out of all the classes. However, they gained less than both Class B and Class E, who both got a lower average score than them. This alone should've tipped you off. Do you seriously take everything at face value?"
Kururugi looked down in a mixture of shame and embarrassment. Even though he would be considered smart among the masses, he must feel quite dumb when placed in our group.
"Besides, it wouldn't make any sense for the rewards to be based off of a constant metric while the rest of the exam is based off of class-relative grading." Light added.
"Hmm, looks like I don't need to answer the question anymore, right~?" Ishihara-sensei asked sadistically cheerfully. Was she enjoying herself?
"Y-yeah..." Kururugi muttered.
"So, pretty much, the amount of points we all gained from the midterms is just an arbitrary number. There's no point trying to look into it." Lelouch concluded on behalf of the class.
As far as class points from the midterms go, none of the obvious conjectures stand. Class E alone proved that they aren't linked to the score of the class. I also thought that perhaps they were based off of how much we improved since the pop-quiz, but our class debunks that theory as well.
Apart from those two theories, anything else would just be pure guesswork since we don't have any data to work with apart from the scores. Therefore, it would be a waste of energy to theorize about it.
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Light's POV
As the bell rang to signal the end of class, Ryuzaki and I stood up.
"Are you nervous, Light?" He asked me.
"Not at all. We've got everything we need, after all." I replied self-assuredly.
We walked out of the classroom and made our way to the faculty room. When we got there, a teacher waved at us to come inside.
"Yahoo! Hello, Class D students!"
The homeroom teacher for Class B, Hoshinomiya-sensei, gave us this happy-go-lucky greeting. "It seems like something rather incredible has happened, hmm?"
Her eyes sparkled, as if she enjoyed sticking her nose into other people's business. What a troublesome woman.
"Hoshinomiya-chan! Stop teasing my students!"
Ishihara-sensei exclaimed with a pout as she poked her head out of the faculty room.
"Ishihara-chan found me already?!"
Ishihara-sensei cutely grabbed Hoshinomiya-sensei's arm with both of hers and wrestled her back into the faculty room. A high-pitched yelp echoed from inside and, after a few moments, Ishihara-sensei emerged and closed the door behind her.
"Let's go~." She said in an unnervingly happy tone.
"So, we aren't doing this in the faculty room?" I asked politely as we walked.
"No no, there's something in the rules like, in cases like this we have to reach an agreement between the homeroom teachers and the student council, see?"
The student council, huh? I didn't expected that they would be the mediator for cases between teachers. How much authority did they hold in this school? Perhaps, it was something worth looking into, especially since Sora declared his disinterest in joining.
We left the first-floor faculty room and walked up three floors to the fourth. A placard that read "Student Council Room" was affixed to the wall near the doorway. Ishihara-sensei knocked, and we went inside.
Inside, long tables had been arranged in rectangular formation. The three students from Class C had already arrived and were seated. Beside them sat a bespectacled male teacher in his 30s.
The three students looked much worse-for-wear than they did when I last saw them. That meant that Ryūen had moved exactly as I'd expected him to. I felt a smirk form on my face.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting~," our sensei said brightly.
"It's before the scheduled start time. There's no need for apologies."
"Have you already met?"
Ryuzaki and I did not know the teacher.
"This is Sakagami-sensei, the homeroom instructor for Class C. Now then."
One lone male student seated in the back of the room attracted everyone's attention.
"This is the student council president."
The domineering student council president, Horikita Manabu, pored over the documents on his desk. Ryuzaki and I sat down in front of the Class C students, and I placed the bag we'd brought with us down next to my chair. Sakagami-sensei briefly looked at it suspiciously, but said nothing.
"Well then, I would now like to discuss the violent incident that occurred last Tuesday with the members of the student council, the involved parties, and their homeroom teachers. You may begin the proceedings, student council secretary Tachibana."
Secretary Tachibana, a woman with short hair, gave a slight bow.
"Of course, considering the magnitude of this dispute, there are times when the student council president will take over. There are several unusual things about this incident. Other than that, the bulk of the proceedings will be handled by solely by Tachibana, as usual."
"Because I am quite busy, there are certain agenda topics upon which I will defer. As a general rule, though, I would prefer to attend to these issues, as I'm entrusted to lead this student council."
This is all by chance, then. How intriguing. If the student council president acted, there was nothing we could do, even if we didn't like it. Apparently, he'd enrolled in Class A and immediately taken office as secretary for the student council. In December of his first year, he became the student council president after receiving an overwhelming amount of support in the election. Although some senior students had naturally voiced their displeasure, our current situation spoke to his incredible abilities.
Secretary Tachibana summarized the situation from both sides in an easy-to-understand manner. There wasn't any need for further explanation.
"Based on the aforementioned facts, we would like for you to identify which version of events is true." After completing her explanation and the preface to the proceedings, Secretary Tachibana turned her eyes toward us in Class D. "Komiya-kun and two of his friends went to the special building after Light-kun called them there. There, they claim to have been beaten up in a one-sided brawl. Is this true?"
"Of course not," I answered politely yet confidently. "One day, while I was minding my own business, I was called out to the special annex by those three, where they started an altercation with me."
Sakagami-sensei stared at me in wide-eyed amazement, but I paid him no mind. My primary objective here was to dig Class C into as deep a hole as I could.
"That's a lie. Light-kun called us over to the special annex!"
"Say what you will, it doesn't bother me. However, interrupting the other party hardly looks good on you, does it?" I replied provocatively.
"What the hell did you just say?!"
"Please calm down, Komiya-kun. Right now, we're merely listening to what both parties have to say. Also, please show some restraint and don't interrupt."
"Puh, fine..."
"Both parties insist that the other called them over, so the accounts conflict. However, the stories share some commonality. There was a dispute between Light-kun, Komiya-kun, and Kondou-kun, correct?"
"I wouldn't call it a dispute. Light-kun's always picking fights with us."
I raised my eyebrow as he said that. I wasn't worried at all, but I did find it quite amusing to listen to whatever story they were trying to spin. Especially knowing that I would get to destroy it soon.
"'Picking fights'?"
"Light's always doing little things to mess with us. Stuff like shoulder-checking us as he walks past and saying derogatory things to us. He even kicked Kondou's chair out from under him as he was sitting down in the cafeteria once."
I forced myself to stifle a laugh. I suppose, to build a convincing argument, they would have to set up some background from before the incident took place. Otherwise, it would be hard to believe that I'd just call them out to assault them for no reason. They were trying to make me out to be a bully, huh?
I kept my composure and remained silent, and simply looked over at Komiya as he gave his account.
"Is that true, Light-kun?"
"No. Don't be ridiculous. I didn't even know them until they called me out to the special building." I replied calmly.
"Both sides have given directly conflicting stories, then, but now we have to come to a judgement with the collected evidence."
"Light-kun beat us senseless. It was a one-sided fight."
Class C seemed intent on focusing the discussion on their injuries. The three students did appear to have black-and-blue faces. That was undeniable. A surprisingly clever strategy. It probably wasn't theirs, though.
"If Class D has no further proof to offer, would you mind if we continued the proceedings?"
Ishihara-sensei started to look worried. Undoubtedly, from her perspective, it probably did look like I just senselessly beat down the Class C students. If the student council and the teachers continued to sit in complete silence, their judgement would almost certainly be merciless.
"It would seem there's no objection, given the arguments we've heard thus far." The student council president finally spoke. Horikita-senpai seemed as though he wanted to draw a conclusion as soon as possible.
"Regardless which party called the other over, the fact remains that it was a one-sided fight between Light and the other students. We can clearly see that from the injuries they sustained. We have no choice but to come up with a conclusion based on that."
"Say, student council president-kun, what would the penalty be if this incident, along with Class C's injuries, all turned out to be a fabrication?" Tachibana-senpai twitched at my nonformal addressing of Horikita-senpai.
"In that case, there would be harsh punishments given to Class C. On top of suspension and class point deductions, expulsion would not be off the table either."
As he uttered that, I saw the Class C students pale slightly out of the corner of my eye. Sakagami-sensei's expression also darkened somewhat. I wondered whether Horikita had noticed it or not.
"I see," I said, intending to pass the baton to Ryuzaki. "In that case..."
Ryuzaki, clearly picking up on my intentions, reached down and grabbed the bag I had placed next to our chairs. He hoisted it up and placed it down on the table beside him.
"To answer the earlier inquiry, yes, we do in fact have some proof to offer," he said as he reached into the backpack.
Class C looked at each other nervously. I couldn't help but crack a smile. This was going to be fun.
"How about I start with these?" Ryuzaki said, spilling a multitude of A3 sheets onto the table.
"Hmm?" Horikita hummed curiously as he looked at the pages.
"What's the meaning of this?" Sakagami-sensei asked in confusion.
"They're the various school buildings that my classmates and I have mapped out. The red dots each represent a surveillance camera." Ryuzaki explained. "Do you notice anything odd about this one in particular?"
Ryuzaki picked out the map of the special annex and held it up, displaying it to the student council and teachers. Ishihara-sensei suddenly adopted a look of understanding. Has she deduced all of my plan just from this? If so, she's a very sharp woman, sharper than she appeared.
"That building pretty much has no cameras whatsoever. What is your point?" Sakagami-sensei spoke up for his class sternly.
"The fight took place in this building. In that case, there's only one conclusion to make, isn't there?"
"Are you saying that this fight was premeditated, and that the orchestrator specifically chose this building because of the lack of surveillance?" The student council president asked, clearly picking up on Ryuzaki's implication.
"That's right," he replied matter-of-factly.
Sakagami-sensei clearly didn't get it yet though, as he laughed in response.
"This is ridiculous. If anything, aren't you just admitting to your own guilt? You're clearly the only ones who've planned far enough to locate all the cameras on school grounds."
"Don't be silly. Why would I present evidence that works against me? Think about it like this. If you're going to frame someone for assaulting you in a place without cameras, you need some other evidence to incriminate them. Following that logic, the organizer of this incident could only be from Class C, couldn't they? Your excessive visible injuries perfectly fit the criteria."
"Isn't all of this nonsense just you attempting to pardon your friend's actions? Everything you've said so far could've easily been thought-up in hindsight."
Ryuzaki's eyes, the twin orbs of deep black, gazed right into Sakagami-sensei. I guessed that his thoughts were probably similar to mine. This teacher would go as far as to lie on his students' behalf, even if it meant supporting immoral schemes like these. In other words, he is an accessory to evil.
"That's true." Ryuzaki said flatly, invoking some surprise around the room. "However, the main point of me saying all this wasn't to convince you. In fact, I just want you to see my thought process."
A silence befell the room as everybody pondered what he'd said. The Class C students in particular looked lost as they attempted to comprehend his words.
"Class D," the student council president spoke up, seemingly understanding the situation. "Your claims are clearly leading up to something. Can you stop wasting time and get on with it?"
"Of course," Ryuzaki replied politely. "Recently, Class C students have been harassing students from every other class, not just ours. Once my class heard of this, we came to a hypothesis. Ryūen Kakeru, the leader of Class C, is deliberately trying to start a fight and frame his target as the perpetrator."
"That's all a lie! You're just trying to—"
"Let me finish." Ryuzaki commanded, cutting Komiya off. "After finding this out, we mapped out all places on the school grounds. It's obvious that a plan like the one Ryūen had come up with would only work if there were no witnesses or camera footage, so once we'd mapped out everywhere we sat down and pinpointed the most likely place Ryūen would've chosen to execute his scheme."
Ryuzaki spread out the A3 papers in a neat fashion, arranging them all side-by-side so they can easily be viewed by the teachers and student council. We're almost at the good part!
"In particular, this building stuck out as an especially obvious choice." Ryuzaki put his finger on the page mapping the special annex. "Coincidently, Lelouch, who we'd assigned this building's mapping to, noted that it was especially hot and stuffy in the special annex. In other words, it'd be harder to think rationally and keep a lid on your temper there should an altercation take place."
I noticed that the Class C students looked uncomfortable as Ryuzaki dug up all of their plans. Although Horikita-senpai had told us to 'get on with it,' he didn't stop Ryuzaki from carefully explaining every detail. He was probably evaluating him right now.
"So, we deduced that Ryūen would lure his target out to the special annex, the perfect building to frame someone in. Of course, the easiest move would've been to just avoid the special building and all Class C students. However, if we'd left it alone then another class would've surely fallen victim to this plot instead. Some of us found that unacceptable."
I felt like Ryuzaki was specifically referring to me with that last part. I didn't mind, though. Justice must be served to those who commit foul acts. Even children know that much.
"The other option, then, was to expose the scheme instead." Ryuzaki finally got to the good part, and reached into the backpack once more. "I bought this specifically for the occasion."
In his hand was the device he'd spent 20,000 of his points on. A high-quality camera. The Class C students gulped as he pulled it out, apparently deducing what was on this camera. I finally decided to make my move.
"Class C," I said, drawing everyone's attention to myself. "I'm going to give you a choice."
Sakagami-sensei eyed me suspiciously, while the student council president raised his eyebrow. I ignored them, though, as I was far more focused on the amazing situation in front of me. I felt a smile emerge on my visage.
"Knowing that you'd lure me out to the special annex, Ryuzaki set this camera up there recording video in advance. In other words, we have video proof that all of my actions were in self-defence, and that your injuries are fabricated."
My grin grew even more as I watched the Class C students pale.
"You get to decide whether you think I'm bluffing or not! If you willingly withdraw your complaint now, we won't pursue you, but you'll also never know if I was bluffing! You might just be throwing in the towel even though I really do have no defence! Alternatively, if you don't withdraw, and it turns out I do actually have proof, then I won't allow you to escape. Even if you withdraw after I present the video, I'll just put in a complaint of my own about how you attempted to frame me using fictitious injuries!"
"You... You're just playing a game here, aren't you?" Sakagami-sensei stammered eventually.
"Yes! That's right! Remember, you three might even end up getting expelled if you make the wrong choice here! Will you risk it all for the sake of your little scheme? Or are you going to back out under the pressure? Decide, now!"
If I were a character in an anime, my eyes would definitely be glowing a deep red right now.
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Ryūen's POV
The door to my classroom swung open and my three obedient, beaten servants walked timidly through it. The eyes of all the Class C students that I'd kept behind turned toward them. I already felt some anger building up in my core. Judging from their body language, the result was not satisfactory.
"How did your trial go?" I asked, dictating.
"Uh, well, you see..." Komiya began, but trailed off.
"What?" I let a bit of anger seep into my tone, causing the three to recoil slightly.
"We... We withdrew the complaint." Ishizaki said defeatedly.
It could've been worse, but I felt annoyed regardless.
"And why the hell did you do that?"
"T-they threatened us with camera footage!" Ishizaki flinched.
"Camera footage?" I murmured.
How could they possibly have camera footage? I'd personally ensured that there were no surveillance cameras in the special annex during the first month. They couldn't have installed any since then, right?
"They said they'd deduced that we'd bring them out to the special annex, so they set up a personal camera there in advance."
They saw through my plan? Or did they just buy a camera as a prop to bluff with during the trial? If that class was as incredible as the school made it out to be, then they probably could've seen through my plan. But whether or not that class is actually anything special is something I've yet to confirm.
"I see. And, were they bluffing?" I asked.
If I recalled correctly, Yagami Light and Rue Ryuzaki were the two students who were representing Class D for the trial. Finding out whether they were bluffing or not would tell me a lot about their personalities and methodologies.
"We... don't know. They refused to tell us." Komiya looked down in shame.
I hit the teacher's podium that I'd been standing at in irritation. Hiding as much about yourselves as you can, are we? It's okay, though. Your refusal to tell me whether you actually had the footage or not tells me something else, anyway.
"Hmm... If you'd stuck with your complaint and it turned out that they actually did have camera footage, we would've probably been penalized severely. On the other hand, if they didn't, then we just missed out on vital information for no reason." I thought aloud, my subordinates looking at me with interest and some hope.
"Don't worry. I won't punish you for your decision. It'd be best if you don't take uninformed risks, anyway. Go and sit back down for now, I have something else that I'd like to discuss. You've kept us all waiting for quite some time."
Once my three lovely helpers sat down, I moved on to the main topic of the day. While it was annoying that my experiment had failed, there was no use crying over spilt milk. Moreover, there was a much more interesting mystery that I'd like to unearth.
"Class E employed a strategy of getting all zeroes in the midterms last month," I began, scanning my eyes over the room. "This is a strategy that only someone who really thinks outside of the box would be able to come up with. That someone might even think like I do."
It was a truly crazy strategy, one that would only be thought-up by either a genius or a madman. Either way, this person would be very entertaining to crush.
"For Class E to even consider this strategy, it must've been proposed by someone very trusted. There are only two candidates: Hirata Yōsuke or Kushida Kikyō. However, neither of these two could've been the one to come up with the strategy, which means that they were used by the mastermind of the idea to increase the odds of everyone accepting their plan. From now on, I'll be referring to this mastermind as 'X'."
For X's plan to work, absolutely everyone would've had to have been on-board and trust the person proposing the plan. Hirata and Kikyō are the only two who would be able to bring their class together like that. If I had to guess, though, Kikyō was more likely to have been used as the voice of X simply because the boys of Class E liked her more than they did Hirata.
"This tells us that X themselves wouldn't have been trusted by the majority of Class E. There are two possibilities, then. Either X is an unpopular person from Class E, or X is someone who isn't even in Class E. If the latter is true, then the most likely class that X is actually from is probably the very same class we just had our little incident with."
I simply didn't see anyone from Class A or B being X. Class B was far too lovey-dovey for this kind of thing, and Class A was far too engrossed in their own internal conflict to be making moves behind-the-scenes already. Class D, on the other hand, seemed to have everything together and were cruising along.
"Based off of their level-of-trust by Class E and their required intelligence to think up this plan, I've narrowed the identity of X down to seven people. Of course, X could very well not be one of these seven, but I'm around ninety percent sure that they are."
I wrote seven names on the blackboard behind me. Kōenji Rokusuke, Horikita Suzune, Lamperouge Lelouch, Ayanokōji Kiyotaka, Yagami Light, Rue Ryuzaki and Sora.
"Within Class E, only these two have the required intellect to possibly spot the loophole in the exam rules," I said, tapping my knuckle against Kōenji and Suzune's names. "This is just judging by their pop-quiz scores and my impressions of them, though. I don't know enough about Kōenji or Suzune to deduce whether their mindset is right for this kind of plan or not yet."
Kōenji certainly appeared to possess the ability to be X, although his flippant attitude I'd witnessed on May 1 told me that he'd be unlikely to make a move like this behind-the-scenes for the sake of his classmates. In Suzune's case, she'd appeared smart enough, but I wasn't sure whether she was the scheming type or the too-serious type yet. Guess I'd have to wait and see.
"In Class D, I've ruled out Kururugi Suzaku because apparently his main strength is in his physical ability. He probably isn't the brains of Class D. I've also ruled out Shiro, because I've heard that out of the siblings in that class, Sora is the schemer." I explained to my silent classmates.
I briefly wondered about how much of what I'm saying was actually going in, but dropped the thought. As long as they understood my approximate intentions, it was good enough.
"We're going to have to try and get to know these seven more, to see which of them fits most with X's personality. We don't know much, but what we do know is that X is bold. Also, it means he's trying to show off by flaunting his control over Class E. There are definitely other ways Class E could've passed this test, but X specifically chose this method, which could be picked apart by someone such as myself."
The main question on my mind wasn't actually related to X themselves, but more to which one out of Hirata and Kikyō had been used to propose the plan. Were they forced/manipulated, or did they willingly cooperate with X? Knowing this could be the key to unlocking the mystery.
If they were forced, then that meant that X has complete control over Class E. On the other hand, if they willingly cooperated, then that means that X not only has underground connections with a Class E leader but also had an incentive to help another class during the midterms.
X was definitely someone who can entertain me, but at this stage there are far too many unanswered questions for me to hunt for them. Besides, I shouldn't rush the process. The chase is half the fun, after all.
"Well, you're all free to go now. My experiment was a failure, but I learned something intriguing from it, nevertheless. And now that you all know my intentions of discovering X going forward, you should be able to avoid being a hindrance, right?"
After I said that, my classmates cautiously rose from their seats and began making their way towards the door. Just before they left, there was one more thing I had to say to them.
"Oh and, while I doubt any of you will do this, I'd better make it absolutely clear. None of what I said just now is to leave this room. If it does, there will be punishments. If X catches wind of the fact that I'm onto them, it'll make them much more difficult to find."
Left with that threat, my classmates departed from the room, leaving me alone. An excitement began to bubble within me, but I swiftly quelled it. I couldn't let it get to me yet.
I'll drag you out of hiding eventually, X. Just you wait.
This school could turn out to be very entertaining after all. I couldn't wait.
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22:37:45. A phone call between two unknown people.
I'm sorry for not reporting sooner. It's taken me a while to gather anything meaningful to report.
It's okay. What did you want to discuss?
The idea of enrolling at this school came to me on a whim, and I wasn't sure that it'd lead anywhere. But now, I'm ninety-nine percent sure that it was the right choice.
Did you find something out?
Nothing concrete. However, I am certain that the one we're looking for is a student at this school.
So, you think your prediction was accurate?
Yes. It was the best guess at the time, but after spending two months here, I'm almost positive it was right.
You're going to stay there, then?
As long as I need to. I've always been devoted to the cause, and this case will be no exception. I will uncover our target, even if it takes me three years of solitude.
Have you made good progress?
I'm more than ninety-percent sure that it's one of the five people that I've narrowed it down to.
That's incredible. At this rate, it won't be long until your mission is a success.
The key phrase is 'at this rate.' Narrowing it down to a select bunch was the easy part. Confirming the target's identity beyond a shadow of a doubt will be a long and arduous task. But it's one that I'm prepared to endure.
I expect you'll bring back great results, as always.
Right. Thank you. I've given you a briefing of my progress so I'm ending the call now.
Good night.
A/N: 7491 words. This chapter wraps up v2 and also brings about its own fair share of mysteries and plot threads!
Sorry for taking a bit longer than usual to update this time. I had mock exams so I had to use some extra time preparing for those.
The first special exam will make it's debut next chapter! Anyone looking forward to reading about how it unfolds? I'm definitely looking forward to writing about it.
Thanks for reading <3