Going back to my cabin hadn't been any better than wandering around.
Hirata's gloom still permeated the air, and even Kouenji was avoiding it, finding Hirata's attitude to be damaging to his wellbeing. Even just trying to rest, there was a stifling, crippling feeling to the room, one which made conversation uncomfortable, and resting tense.
In other words, I would be better off hanging my hammock off the rail of the boat and sleeping there.
Actually, that wasn't such a bad idea. Perhaps I should find a spot on the deck where I could sleep.
So that's how I found myself relaxing on one of the deck chairs near the back of the ship, a sickeningly sweet drink in hand, enjoying the ocean breeze.
"Oh, Kiyotaka-kun, I didn't realise you were here."
And here came my partner in crime, Kushida Kikyou. One of the kindest and friendliest people in the grade, someone willing to go out of her way to help anyone, with a cute smile and a warm attitude.
There was no one in the grade I relied upon more than her.
"Kikyou."
A rather neutral greeting, but I wasn't known as someone who interacted with people often, and not without good reason. This didn't perturb her at all, the kindness of Kikyou an unstoppable force being forced into existence by herself.
"I haven't seen you in days! You haven't been avoiding me, have you?"
"Not at all. I know you have a lot of friends who want to catch up with you, and I didn't want to get in the way of that."
At my words, her face broke into a brilliant smile, although if one looked past that you could just discern a hint of glee in her eyes. Kikyou had many friends, all of which loved her and wanted to spend every second with their very own angel. In the words of my classmates, there was no one nicer, no one more reliable, no better friend than Kushida Kikyou. Yes, when it came to being nice, she truly was the best.
All the efforts she had put into this act had paid off.
"You're one of my friends too. Besides, who else are you gonna play with? It's not like you have any other friends."
It wasn't strictly true, as there were people I could hang out with, but most of those wouldn't be for fun. Kikyou was the only person I could somewhat relax around, a rather sad fact.
She took a seat on the chair beside me, stealing my drink and taking a sip. The resulting face she made was worth having a second person steal my stuff today. I could only hope this wouldn't become a recurring theme.
"Euughh! How can you drink that, it's disgusting?"
"Try going 15 years with barely any sugar, and there isn't any amount that could be too much."
"Huh?"
She gave me a quizzical look at my statement. It was true, while in the White Room, I was on a heavily controlled diet my entire life, designed to be optimally nutritious with nothing harmful at all. Obviously, while I was still given a small amount of sugar in my meals, it was virtually non-existent compared to the sugar in most foods at school.
This wasn't something that Kikyou knew about, however, and I wasn't going to be explaining any further.
"Never mind."
I laid back down on my chair, content to humour her for a while. Before I could properly relax however, both our cell phones started ringing at the same time. There was a loud, dinging sound that meant we'd received a message from the school. Usually, it was a message with new instructions to follow, or some kind of modification to an event. Your phone would make a sound even if you had it on silent. Clearly, it was a message of high importance.
"What is it?" Kikyou asked.
Even though they'd explained this system to us after school started, we hadn't received any important messages during our summer vacation until now. Simultaneously, an announcement could be heard throughout the ship.
"Attention. This is an announcement to all students. All students should have received a message from the school, as indicated in the contact line. Please check your individual mobile devices and follow the instructions accordingly. In the event that you did not receive a message, we apologize for the inconvenience. Please go to the nearest faculty member for assistance. Because the contents of the message are extremely important, please do not miss it. We repeat—"
"That was about the message we just got, right?" Kikyou asked.
"Probably."
I pulled out my phone and saw the following message:
A special test will begin soon. Place gather in the designated room at the designated time. Anyone who arrives later than ten minutes after start time may be penalized. Please gather in Room 202 on the second deck by 20:40 today. Because it takes about twenty minutes to reach the area, we ask that you please use the restrooms now if necessary. Either silence your phone or turn it off, and make your way over.
"A special test?"
So, this was what Sakayanagi had known. It was possible she knew what the exam was, and hence found it important to keep her pawns from obeying me. This probably wasn't going to be a paper test or physical fitness examination, or something you'd see at a regular school—much like the survival test on the island. However, nothing in the message implied what awaited us. My only hint was from my phone call, and even that told me nothing.
"Can you show me your phone for a second?" I asked.
Kikyou handed me her phone without hesitation, showing me she'd received the same message. This was incredibly unhelpful. I'd hoped that it would be different, allowing for just a hint of why we were being sent to the room, but I gained nothing from it.
I handed back her phone, noticing messages had started flooding in.
"Go on, do your thing."
Kikyou smirked at me, before leaning back in her chair, fingers beginning to fly across the screen.
Never before had I witnessed someone work like this. From the glances I could get of her screen, there was over 50 people messaging her right now, people from outside our class coming to her for answers. The central hub of our grade was sitting next to me, and all of the information was flowing in.
I gave her a while, and after about 15 minutes it seemed the number of messages had decreased, most people having gotten their reassurances in some form or another.
"So?"
It was time for Kikyou to earn her keep.
"Everyone's split up, it seems. 3 or 4 to a group, with meetings for three hours tonight in 20-minute intervals."
"Are there any cross-class groups?"
"I don't think so. Our meeting is the last for the night, though, so I'll probably be able to find out what's going on before then."
It was awesome work, considering the time frame and constant inflow of messages she had to juggle. Something like that was truly impressive. It required a very special type of concentration, to be able to not get overwhelmed, as well as building up the contacts in the first place.
It was this talent in particular that made her irreplaceable.
"I suppose there's nothing to do but wait. Good work."
It was currently around 5pm. Most people would be heading to get some food now, especially if they had an earlier meeting time, meaning that nothing would be happening for at least an hour, and I wouldn't be able to confirm any details myself until then.
"You want to grab some food? It's going to be ages before something happens."
It seems Kikyou had been thinking along the same lines as me. Based on how busy she seemed to be usually, it was probably a rare chance that she got to actually decide something. More often than not, she was probably invited to an event, or asked to hang out, but never had the chance to really plan things herself.
I had no doubt that she would manipulate the situations into being something more favourable, but complete control over her life was probably something she was missing.
"Fine. I've been wanting to try that Italian place."
"Great! It's a date!"
Kikyou jumped up from her chair, hands clasped together out of happiness, the perfect picture of excitement. I could almost believe this was the real her. The closer we got, the harder it became to tell when she was acting around me.
I lifted myself up, and began to make my way back inside the ship, to hunt down a delicious spaghetti meal.
"By the way, were you looking for me? Don't tell me you missed me."
She elbowed me hard in the side, rolling her eyes at my poor attempt at humour.
"Har har. Don't you wish."
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An empty plate sat before me, one which had previously contained a large serving of spaghetti and meatballs. It had been a delicious meal, added to the fact that I hadn't eaten all day aside from half a jam croissant. It was well cooked, if a little on the cautious side when it came to spices. If I had cooked the meal myself, there would have been a larger amount of garlic, oregano, onion. One could never have too much garlic, but in a restaurant environment this was the safer choice, in order to cater to more people.
Great, now I had to cook spaghetti and meatballs when we got back. My stomach would brook no alternatives.
"I don't know how I haven't been here before. That was amazing!"
Kikyou had opted for a carbonara, which again, appeared to be impressively made. To be expected from a restaurant on a cruise ship of this caliber.
"I'm surprised you have time to eat with me. Don't you have other friends to hang out with?"
Kikyou giggled a little at my question. Apparently, I was missing something obvious.
"When will you figure out you're my friend too? I told them I was having dinner with you, it's fine," she answered. No, that was not fine.
"I've had questions about whether we were a couple. You understand the message that sends, right?"
It was a pointless question. Kikyou had an absolute understanding of all social cues and actions, and nothing she did was by accident. Every action was deliberate, considered, making sure to portray herself exactly as she wanted. She knew how this would come off, and did it anyway.
"It's fine, I can silence any rumours if they start to cause problems whenever I want. Besides, it's not like you're very good at spreading lies."
"Now what is that supposed to mean?"
She leaned back, a smug grin on her face.
"I've had questions too. About whether Horikita really was the one to win the island exam, or if it was actually you. People aren't buying it, not completely. Your reputation as a genius is working against you."
Hmm. I had anticipated this sort of outcome, and it was no problem, but it still wasn't an optimal situation. Next time I would have to confer with Kikyou to ensure I could lay a false idea in the classes mind without this kind of backlash.
Of course, it was always going to be difficult for me to convince people I had nothing to do with it. Katsuragi had forced me into a rather obtrusive position as one of the de facto leaders of Class D, and pushing it off onto the shoulders of someone most of the class disliked, while coming from the mouth of someone they all believed capable of winning the exam, was simply too much to ask for.
"It's no concern. I hadn't expected them to simply believe what I said. Just keep perpetuating the lie for now. All that needs to happen is for the class to believe it enough for Horikita to stop the class from sabotaging themselves."
"If you say so." Kikyou didn't look convinced, but luckily, she didn't push the issue. "Anyway, it's 6:20 now. Should we find out what's going on?"
Ah yes, the real reason for us waiting in this restaurant. By now, one of the Class D groups should have finished, assuming there was one group per class every 20 minutes. The only question was whether Kikyou knew who was in that group: the chances of that was very high.
"Who was just in the meeting?"
She glanced down at the list on her phone, which she'd been creating for the past hour, separating and organising the grade by their time, room and class. At this point, she'd accumulated about half of the year, an impressive feat in and of itself.
"Hmm, the only person I know is Karuizawa-san."
"Call her here. It'll be better if she explains in person."
"Alright." Kikyou seemed a little dubious about that, but I saw no problem in the situation. Whatever the school was planning had to be a convoluted plot, if they needed to separate us so much, and it would be much easier to explain the fine details in person. I couldn't truly read into a situation through simple messages.
After about five minutes, Karuizawa arrived at the restaurant.
"Hey, Kushida-san! Oh, and Ayanokouji-kun. I didn't realise you were here too."
Her face fell slightly at the sight of me, but I didn't take it personally. Kikyou obviously hadn't mentioned I'd be here too, and my relationship with Karuizawa was close to nothing. We had interacted a few times at the start of school, and she probably saw me in a slightly more favourable light than most of the boys, due to my closeness with Hirata at the time, but as for me as a person she didn't really have an opinion. At least not one based on our interractions.
"Karuizawa-san! Take a seat, you must be tired after your meeting."
I had pulled a seat around to the table earlier, and she proceeded to drop herself into it, an air of tiredness spreading around her. Normally, the restaurant wouldn't tolerate messing up their seating, but we'd just ordered more drinks, and it wasn't very busy right now, seeing as most of the grade was at their meetings, so we didn't get a second look.
"God, that was horrible. You mind if I get some food first?"
There wasn't a way for us to realistically say no, so we waited for her to flag down a waiter and order a small serving of the most expensive item on the menu. She couldn't pronounce it correctly, but it was a clear status move, and I suspected she had no idea what she just ordered.
"Do you mind explaining what happened in your meeting?" I tried to get the conversation rolling.
"Oh, sure. It's kinda confusing, and I don't really understand it all, but have you ever played the game Werewolf?"
I had not, but Kikyou's eyes showed recognition to the game. After it was explained to me, I began to understand what was going to happen.
"Right, so it's like that, but with a bunch of groups. There's 12 groups, named after the zodiac, and each one had a bunch of students from all four classes."
Most of this I had already guessed, based on the timings of the groups. The groups would probably be 12 or 13 people, with 3 or 4 from each class. It was likely that the students in Class A, B and C who were also in Karuizawa's group had been briefed at the same time as her, just in different rooms.
"Every group has one person called the VIP, and basically they play the role of the werewolf. Like, it's everyone else's job to figure out who they are."
It really was a reversal of the Island Exam. While both have one central figure who needs to be hidden, the island exam was a physical test, this was a purely psychological one. It would involve reading actions, detecting lies, making strategies. Everything in this exam came down to how well you could lie.
"And what are the outcomes of the exam?"
Karuizawa, who had been speaking explicitly to Kikyou, turned to me with a dirty look.
"I've got no idea; I couldn't understand it properly. Mashima-sensei wouldn't stop talking and the two boys with me wouldn't shut up. Like, seriously, just answer me when I ask a question! Isn't that the point of the meeting?"
Apparently Karuizawa had maintained herself consistent with expectations and hadn't paid attention, whilst simultaneously blaming everyone else around her.
"Do you at least know who's in your group?"
She brightened once more, no longer giving me the stink eye. As she pulled her phone out and opened up the notes app, the reason for that became clear: I had asked her a question she could actually answer.
"Oh yeah, totally. They told us everyone who was in our group, even the people from other classes. Here, take a look if you want."
She passed her phone to Kikyou, who in turn passed it to me. I took a quick glance, memorising the list of names, before handing it back. Now that I had them, I could start formulating the lists for all twelve groups, figuring out if there was any kind of pattern or theme. So far, from Karuizawa's Rabbit group, I couldn't identify one, but I only had that and about 50 other student groupings so far, so it was still early days.
Going over her group, it was easy to see why she was so upset about the classmates in it. Sotomura was difficult enough to deal with at the best of times, and Yukimura wasn't someone capable of managing people he saw beneath him, and to him that was categorised solely by IQ. To him, someone like Karuizawa was dirt, as he was unable to recognise any value besides intelligence, priding himself so much on his.
"Is there anything else you remember Karuizawa-san? Anything at all?" Kikyou asked her. She had decided that I wasn't going to be getting anywhere with Karuizawa's obvious lack of interest in me. It wasn't that she hated me, or disliked me in any way, but Kikyou was simply a more appealing person for her to talk to, someone she trusted more than me.
"Well, ok, I think I can remember the outcomes Mashima-sensei explained. There were four possibilities, two of them good, and two that made the exam really stupid. Like really, how the hell am I supposed to figure this out now. God, if only I had a better group."
That was all that we would be able to get from Karuizawa for now, but even so it was a good start. I had a pretty clear picture of how the exam worked, and could predict these complex outcomes to a certain degree, since there were only a few possibilities for this sort of game.
Either way, I was finished with this conversation.
"Thanks for explaining all that, Karuizawa. You've been a big help."
She waved it off. Apparently, us calling her here hadn't been a big deal. I was surprised by this, since I had expected her to be busy right now, but perhaps all her friends were in their meetings now. No, that couldn't be right. Maybe she just was that close to Kikyou, although I knew that wasn't correct either. She had a second reason to run to us, and run she had, arriving quite soon after we messaged, and I didn't know what it was.
"Eh, it's fine. Maybe you can use your super brain to win. This really isn't my thing." She got up to leave, but couldn't resist throwing out one final tease. "Sorry for interrupting your date. You really are a cute couple."
Kikyou, ever the collected person under pressure, blew off the situation in the perfect way. If someone accuses you of being attracted to another person, reacting in an extreme manner, denying it vehemently, even if it's not true, will only lead to further teasing and rumours. The best response is to act as if it isn't a problem, and the situation usually blows over.
"We aren't a couple. Kiyotaka-kun is just a good friend of mine."
"Hmm. If you say so Kushida-san."
Apparently, that didn't work in this situation.
As Karuizawa was about to walk away from the table I called out to her on impulse about one last thing.
"Karuizawa. Did you ever find out what happened to your underwear?"
I saw her tense slightly, along with Kikyou. Both of them had reason to be nervous, although I was more interested in how Karuizawa reacted. She turned to me, smile on her face, and her entire body the picture of a care-free student. As I looked closer however, it was clear that her entire body was stiff, her smile strained, her hands clenched into fists.
"Nah, I don't know, we never found them."
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry that happened. I had to leave before I got a chance to say so."
Her smile faltered for a moment, before resurfacing, this time in a more genuine manner.
"Thank you, Ayanokouji-kun, but it's not your fault. Don't worry about it, everything sorted itself out. Besides, I know you were busy winning the exam, and I really don't think it was you. You aren't like the other boys."
It was clear that this wasn't a topic she wanted to talk about, even though my words had somewhat found their way into her heart.
"Good night, Karuizawa."
"Bye and thanks for your help, Karuizawa-san!"
With a smile and a wave, she bounced around and made her way out of the store, completely forgetting about the meal that I could be seen being delivered to our table as she moved out of view.
"That was enjoyable wasn't it, Kiyotaka-kun? I always love having a chance to chat with Karuizawa-san."
I had never heard a statement so dripping with sarcasm in my life. It was understandable, since Kikyou had to keep up an appearance, and Karuizwaw was definitely a tough presence to keep a level head around.
"It was certainly informative. We have a pretty good idea of what the exam is now."
"Mhm! Now we just need to double check that with the people in the next group."
It was currently 6:35pm, meaning the second group should almost be finished their session. Luckily, Mei-Yu Wang was in this group, and if there was anyone in the class we could rely upon to remember what happened clearly, it was her.
In the meantime however, I decided it would be a waste to not eat Karuizawa's Penne all'Arrabbiata, and so I picked up my fork, deciding it couldn't hurt to split the plate with Kikyou.
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At 8:30, Kikyou and I made our way to the seond deck, where the private rooms were for our meeting. At this point, we knew almost every detail about the exam, aside from those that could only be really understood in person. Mei-Yu had been very helpful, and so were Mori and Nene, along with my messages to Yukimura asking for him to explain anything they had missed.
It was at the point where I could probably recite the meeting scripted speech along with the teacher.
Aside from that, we had been continually getting lists of students and how they were organised into groups. As the slots began getting taken up, it became more and more obvious that there was a select group of students missing. We hadn't seen the list for the group that was currently on, for obvious reason, but Kikyou knew enough people in those groups to rule them out, leaving our group to contain the leaders of the grade.
We arrived at the room we had been allocated and found Horikita waiting outside the door. This was another person I had calculated to be with us, and while I hadn't told Kikyou, it was likely that she'd figured it out as well, simply because she was one of two people in our class that didn't tell Kikyou her time. Kouenji had gone in earlier.
"Oh. So, you two are in my group."
Horikita had a frown on her face, probably because the two people she disliked the most were in her group. Although, I had a strange feeling that she wouldn't have cooperated with her group members, no matter who they were.
"Hi, Horikita-san! It's been ages since we last had a chance to chat, I'm so glad we're gonna be in a group for the next week."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
Ah. She didn't have an information network at all. Even though our class held some newfound respect for her, one on one they weren't likely to offer information, and she wouldn't ask. There was only one person she could possibly have gotten information from.
"I see Sudou is still in his meeting."
"Yes. Unfortunately, I have been unable to learn what is going on. I assume the two of you have some idea, then?"
Kikyou smiled sweetly, although I could see a sadistic glint at beating Horikita at something else.
"We've got a pretty good idea, although it's kinda complex. It'll be explained once we go in."
As Kikyou spoke, the door to our room swung open, and a few class A students made their way out, giving us glares as they did so. Understandable, since we were the ones who crushed them on the island, but it didn't hurt to show some respect.
We entered the room, finding Sakagami to be the teacher leading our meeting. Kikyou phased out during the meeting, since we had heard this exact same speech word for word twice at this point, and then jumbled and butchered once more by Karuizawa. I was also fighting off boredom, but I kept my attention on Sakagami just enough to watch as he delivered the speech. From what I could tell, he wasn't lying or hiding intentions, but simply stating the facts. There was no secret information to derive.
I perked up as he began to speak again, however, reaching the point in his script where he gave the names of our group. This was the only piece of information I needed confirmation on.
"Right now, you shouldn't spend your energy on trying to understand this test. Rather, focus on how to think. Your group assignment is 'Dragon. Here is a list of the members. You will be required to return this list when you leave the room. If you feel it's necessary, I would recommend trying to memorize it now."
He passed over a postcard-sized piece of paper. On it were listed fourteen names of people in our group. As Sakagami had told us, apart from us four, all the others were from Classes A, B, and C.
Class A: Katsuragi Kouhei, Nishikawa Ryouko, Matoba Shinji, Yano Koharu
Class B: Amikura Mako, Andou Sayo, Ichinose Honami, Kanzaki Ryuuji
Class C: Ryuuen Kakeru, Shiina Hiyori, Suzuki Hitedoshi
Class D: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, Kushida Kikyou, Horikita Suzune
The leaders of all four classes were indeed in Dragon group. I couldn't believe that was a coincidence, rather the teachers selectively putting the best students of each group together for maximum results. The interesting thing was that Ichinose was among them. While she was definitely a good student in Class B, she was no longer their leader. Perhaps the teachers didn't know about that yet, or perhaps Hoshinomia had put her in for a different reason entirely.
Kikyou and Horikita both had a similar look on their face, of concentration and worry. It was a tough group, if only because Ryuuen was there to cause some chaos. I however, was looking forward to this immensely. I wanted to get a proper read on the minds of my fellow year mates, and a test like this would be the perfect way to learn about them. Who could lie, who could come up with strategies? And if any of them were capable of matching my mind.
The explanation continued on again, and while Kikyou spaced out once more, Horikita continually got more and more worried, trying to balance all the outcomes, rules and intricacies of the exam all at once. I just sat there, letting Sakagami's words wash over me, as I considered the situation. Outcomes 3 and 4 were almost inevitable for all the groups. Despite how appealing Outcome 1 was, it was virtually unobtainable as a result of human nature. Or was it? There was one way to force Outcome 1, and it was rather simple, but would only work in certain cases. The question was whether anyone else would realise this.
Outcome two wasn't even worth thinking about. If the VIP reached the end of the exam time without being discovered, they would of course prove their identity and ensure they received the million points. If a single group ended in outcome 2 I would be amazed.
The anonymous results was another thing I already knew, but it simply made the exam that much more complex. You could betray your own class, if it came to it, and no one would ever know who it was. Although, due to the rule about no binding contracts during this exam, it would be extremely hard to betray your own class for a promise that could be broken.
Before I knew it, the meeting was over, the explanation exactly the same as before. The only real thing I had wanted to confirm was the names of our group, along with the rules about the emails. It was understandable that we couldn't modify the emails in any way, as that would make the test far too complex for anyone to win. Even creating a new one as a replica with slight changes so it wasn't a copy seemed too close to the rules that I wasn't willing to risk it.
After that, the meeting was over and we were told to leave the room. Kikyou, Horikita and I moved out into the corridor, and tried to leave as fast as possible. I could see the other members of Dragon group leaving their respective meeting rooms and I had no intention of dealing with them now.
"Wait, Ayanokouji-kun. Don't you want to talk about the exam? We need to come up with a plan."
I turned to face Horikita, who had a serious look on her face. Apparently she had every intention of winning this exam, and had focused so much on that idea, that she had missed there was nothing we could do right now.
"What's there to plan? Either we have a VIP or we don't. Until then there's no reason for us to think about it too deeply."
She narrowed her eyes at me, apparently figuring out what I was thinking.
"You already have a plan, don't you? If you want me to be the class leader, then work with me, Ayanokouji-kun. I need to know what's going on."
Did she really not understand? I would be surprised if the girl known as Horikita hadn't figured out the truth of the situation. No, I suspected she was simply in denial.
"I don't need you to be a leader Horikita. I need you to organise the rabble. I gave you your position so you can do the job I can't be bothered to do. You're our leader in nothing but name, so go do your job and connect with the class."
I turned and walked away, leaving Kikyou alone with Horikita. I could hear the former pestering the latter, offering to help her make friends, asking her out to get a drink with a few people. As always, Kikyou found the perfect way to get on Horikita's nerves, whilst still trying to become her friend. What a devil of a woman.
This exam was proving to be very interesting. Both my group, and the idea as a whole. Now all that mattered was figuring out who the VIP of dragon group was. But, as I said to Horikita, there was nothing to do until tomorrow.
This exam was rather stupid. As it was now, after the island exam, the Class Points had changed significantly:
Class A: 1158 (+70)
Class B: 1178 (+180)
Class C: 817 (+50)
Class D: 540 (+290)
Currently Class B had more points than Class A, but until it was the next month and we returned to school, the standings would remain the same.
This exam had twelve VIP's and if one class managed to find them all and name them, it was possible to gain 600 Class Points, an absurd amount for one exam. Not only that, the classes would swing by 750 Class Points, as the other three classes each lost 150 points each. It was a ridiculous exam, and clearly the teachers assumed that worst case scenario would never occur.
If it did, Class D would become Class A, with 168 points between them and the next class. It was an obscene possibility, and if Class A managed it, as the teachers should assume was possible from the the students they had deemed most capable, it would be virtually impossible to catch up to them. They would receive over 7 million private points each month and could stop an expulsion every four months if they wanted. Such a lead would be unbeatable.
In other words, I couldn't let just one class win the exam. Because where's the fun in that?
Authors Note:
So, as I had Ayanokouji notice, I think the Zodiac exam was rather dumb. Yeah, it's a really cool concept, and out of all the exams they did in the books so far that would be the one I would probably enjoy the most myself, it has just too high possible rewards for one class to get. No other exam had the posibility of such a swing. For example, the mixed sports event one at the end of year 1, even if you won all seven events, you could only get a swing of 520 between two classes, and that's with complete domination. Really, this exam seems too extreme.
But I digress. This chapter was a lot of setup, preparing for the zodiac exam. A bit of filler, but thats the way it goes before the exams begin. Not much to say, other than here's the current class points. I've been struggling to find a way to fit them into the story, so I tagged them onto the end, just to sate any curiosity.
First time writing Karuizawa since Arc 1 (and I'm trying to forget that garbage) and I'm pretty happy with the result. Also cut out most of the explanation for the exam, since it's rather dull, just an info dump, and most of it had already been explained by Karuizawa's mess of speech. If you need a refresher, hop over to the wiki page and give it a read. Not necessary, since this exam isn't too complex, but it's worth keeping fresh I suppose.
https://you-zitsu.fandom.com/wiki/Cruise_Ship_Special_Test
I just wanted to say, thanks to all of you who stuck around. One weeks break isn't a long one, but it's heartening to see so many people still reading right when I come back. This story is for me, but it's also for you guys. Part of what I believe is when someone starts any task that affects others, it's their obligation to finish it, to pull through as best they can. Of course circumstances can interfere, but imagine if J.K Rowling just stopped writing before deathly hallows, or George R. R. Martin just didn't finish A Song of Ice and Fire (wait, that sounds familiar). It's something I believe is important, that comitment, and so I'll do my best to get this story to it's conclusion, no matter how far away that is. For me and for you all.
Anyways, as always, hope you enjoyed! Banger chapter coming next.