Breakfast was a delicious helping of waffles, topped with icecream, strawberries and maple syrup. Once again, I was sharing a meal with Kikyou, who had apparently managed to make time out of her busy friend life to catch up with me. It was 7:58am, and our phones were on the table ready to receive the email from the school about whether we were the VIP of dragon group or not.
"Ah, this ship is amazing! I can't get over this food, how am I going to function when we get back to school. Ugh, it's not fair."
Kikyou was in the middle of devouring a stack of triple chocolate pancakes, topped with chocolate ice cream. How she ate so much and still had a perfect figure was beyond me.
I couldn't argue with her words, though. The food on the cruise was on another level, far beyond what we could get at most of the restaurants at school. There were a few high-class places, but they were frequented mostly by third years, and required booking weeks in advance. For a measly poor first year, a meal there was virtually unobtainable.
"Just out of curiosity, would you rather be the VIP, or not?"
It was an interesting dilemma. A greedy person would choose to be the VIP, drawn to the thought of points, and completely forgetting about the danger they would be in. An overly cautious person would rather not, as being the VIP was balancing a dagger, a dangerous act that would result in a taget on your back. Of course there were several nuances to the situation, and it wasn't as clear-cut as that.
"Hmm. I think I'd like to be the VIP."
That was the answer I had expected. Kikyou wasn't a greedy person, but no one could ignore the potential 1 million points easily. Besides, she was an incredible actor. She could swear black was white and white was black, and most of the grade would take her word. If there was anyone who could get away with being the VIP it would be her.
"What about you?" She turned the question back onto me.
"I'm not sure. I suppose I'd prefer to be the VIP, but either way I'm not too bothered."
Being the VIP would provide a much greater amount of control in the group. It reduced the number of variables to consider, and allowed one to manipulate the situation, without potentially giving someone else the advantage. Along with that was the private points. I also was unable to disregard the allure of them.
As I was contemplating both choices, our phones buzzed. 8 o'clock. I looked down at the phone in front of me, and read the email from the school on it.
After thorough consideration, you have been chosen to be the VIP. Please remember to be a team player as your group tackles the challenges of this test. The exam begins today, and will be held over a period of three days. Members of the Dragon group should gather in the Dragon room located on the second deck.
The first thing I noticed was the strange wording at the beginning. 'After thorough consideration' indicated there was a method to the VIP selection, confirming a potential theory I had. If I could find enough of the VIP's, it was possible that I could find out the pattern used, and in turn figure out the rest, although I suspected that wouldn't be possible without knowing at least a few from other classes.
"Would you look at that. I guess I'm the VIP."
Kikyou turned her head up from the phone in front of her, looking at the message I was reading, before smirking.
"That makes things easier. If you're the VIP, I don't see how they could ever figure out if you're lying. Do you ever change your face?"
"I just have trouble expressing myself." She hit me right where it hurt. Betrayed, like Ceasar by Brutus, stabbed in the back by my closest confidant.
I finished what I was doing with the phones in front of me, before placing the back on the table, allowing Kikyou to pick up hers and manage the inflow of messages. Soon enough, we had the name of one of our VIP's, Minami Satsuya of Horse group, and assuming there were three in each class in the interest of fairness, we would soon know who.
But as the minutes passed by, and almost everyone had replied to Kikyou, we still didn't know who the third VIP was.
"Someone's lying to you."
She had obviously come to the same conclusion, based on the frown on her face.
"Who could it be then? I don't understand why someone whould hide that they're the VIP from their own class, or even just me."
Ah, yes, by not telling Kikyou at least, they were insinuating they had a reason not to trust her, and that they had a problem with her. I didn't think that was the case though. More likely, they were simply shy, and not brave enough to tell anyone. Whatever their reason, it didn't seem like an attack on Kikyou to me.
"Hey, someone's just asked me who the other VIP's are. Should I tell them that you are one?"
"I don't see why not. It can't hurt, after all."
Even if someone did betray me, it wouldn't be too hard to track them down. Besides, transparency would grow the trust in the class, and I really didn't have a reason to hide my name. It would probably make people in the class more comfortable if they did know I was a VIP, as someone they could somewhat believe in.
In any case, we now had to prepare for our meeting this afternoon.
"Do you trust me?"
"Yes."
Not a moments hesitation. That was the sign of a good pawn.
"When we're in the meeting, just follow whatever I say."
"What are you planning?"
A movie character would give an evil grin right here, with a red glow in their eyes.
"Psychological warfare."
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I made my way into the meeting room just before 1pm, to find that I was the last person to arrive. There was a circle of chairs set up, with only one left empty, between Horikita and Kikyou.
"It's about fucking time. You had me worried I'd be suck here with these boring fucks without anyone to entertain me."
Ryuuen, crass as ever, was the first to notice me as I entered. As he spoke, all heads in the room turned to me, as I moved over to the seat left for me.
"Ah, Kiyotaka-kun, you made it!"
Kikyou, bright as ever was the next person to greet me, standing up and pulling out my chair, making it easier to get into the circle. Whoever created the idea of chairs in a circle was never one of the last people to arrive to anything.
Everyone else had various reactions to my arrival. Ichinose and Amikura, the latter of which I didn't know, gave me a friendly smile, along with Shiina from Class C. Ryuuen was cackling to himself over something, Horikita was pointedly ignoring me, and the rest of the students were giving me calculating looks, Katsuragi in particular.
As I was seated, an announcement played over the speakers.
"The first group discussion begins now."
A short, concise announcement. This was a group of class leaders, so I was curious who would take the lead. Most people in here would have been capable of running a group themselves, so it would be interesting to see how many conflicting attempts there were to assert leadership dominance.
"I suppose I should start this by explaining Class A's stance on this exam."
Katsuragi made an attempt to take the reins, an assert his hold over the group. Despite the fact that she wasn't a leader of Class B anymore, it seemed Ichinose wasn't going to sit out and allow that to happen.
"That's no way to start a meeting Katsuragi-san. Really, we should start by getting to know everyone. I'm sure not everyone has met yet, so we should do our best to get along."
"Kukuku, what a stupid idea. Everyone in this room who's actually gonna do shit this exam already knows everyone." He began pointing from leader to leader. "Class A retard. Class B traitor. Class B ex-leader. Class C king. Class D monster. Class D idiot." The last title was directed towards Horikita.
Everyone in this room who had any real input to the exam should already know that Horikita had nothing to do with Class D's success on the island, instead realising the credit should lie with me. For that reason, I didn't bother correcting him, and Horikita, who seemed to also have realised the same fact, didn't either, despite how much the insult must have affected her fragile ego.
"There's no need to be so rude Ryuuen. I haven't had the chance to meet either of your classmates, and if they're in dragon group with us, I'm sure they aren't idiots."
Kanzaki, the pragmatist, gave a reasonable response to Ryuuen to bail out his classmate.
And so, it was decided to go through introductions in the group. I wasn't particularly bothered by this, on the contrary I didn't really know most of the people in the group, and even though I was the VIP and didn't have to look for them, it didn't hurt to learn more about one's opponents.
"Very well. I am Katsuragi of Class A, and these are my classmates, Nishikawa, Matoba and Yano."
As they were named, each one gave a wave, with varying degrees of interest of what was being said. Nishikawa, out of the three, was the most attentive, as while the other two were paying attention, their attitudes screamed 'I don't care what this man is saying'.
"I am Kanzaki of Class B."
"I'm Ichinose from Class B, I hope we can all get along together!" Ichinose added in her own little flair.
"Hehe, hi everyone, I'm Amikura. Wow, there's a lot of scay people in here."
She was an interesting character. It seemed she was more of a playful person, something I had expected to be common in Class B but hadn't come across yet. Out of everyone here, she was definitely higher on the list of people I wanted to interact with. Someone less serious than Kanzaki, and potentially willing to take risks more than Ichinose. She was a breath of fresh air into the potential leadership pool. Someone to definitely consider in the future.
"And I'm Andou Sayo." Ah, this was the girl I had named as the leader for Class B on the island in an attempt to gauge their reactions. I hadn't seen anything exceptional from her so far, and the rest of Class B in this group already seemed to be their best line-up, but it would be too early to count her out.
The whole group turned to Ryuuen and his classmates, waiting patiently for him to introduce himself, the next lowest on the totem pole of classes. We sat in silence waiting for him to speak, before eventually he broke.
"Ah fine, why the fuck not. I'm Ryuuen. What is this, kindergarten? She's Shiina, he's Suzuki. Happy?"
Ryuuen wasn't taking this very seriously, although I agreed that this was a very superfluous occurrence. Ichinose, while she may care to be introduced to everyone, was also doing this to learn about us in a small way.
Now the baton had been handed to us, and I left it up to Kikyou to handle the talking for our Class, as Horikita and I weren't very good representatives.
"I'm Kushida Kikyou of Class D. It's great to meet you all, I hope we can all be friends! Beside me is Kiyotaka-kun, and Horikita-san. We're all looking forward to finishing this exam together!" A beautiful speech as always, but I could see most of the group members beginning to look tired of such boring talk.
"Right, now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let me explain Class A's position. We will not be participating in the exam."
Katsuragi finally got his chance to speak and gave us his firm stance.
"Hm? What are you talking about Katsuragi-kun?"
Kikyou began to make her move, inserting herself into the important conversation going on.
"I mean that we will not be speaking. I've decided that the strategy for Class A will be to stay out of the exam. Every group results in Outcome 2, and the only loser is the school. From there, it's up to each individual to decide if they share the points, but as I assume the VIP's are evenly distributed between classes, this is the most achievable outcome."
It was an interesting strategy, but I could see from the looks on peoples faces that almost no one believed him. Of course, if it got to the end of the exam, Class A wouldn't hesitate to use Outcome 2, but in the meantime, there was no reason to trust what he said. If the VIP came out, they would instantly be betrayed. Katsuragi had the right idea, but the wrong execution. His plan could only work if every other class went along with it. Otherwise, it would be only Class A who lost. He knew that, and we knew he knew that, meaning we know that he knows he can't follow the plan.
It was all a stupid game of we know you know we know, and it would never amount to anything.
Ryuuen had obviously come to the same conclusion as I had, as he started to cackle.
"You moron, you really think anyone here will buy that? Maybe in other groups but we aren't idiots."
"Either way, we will not be speaking."
"But don't you think that option one is a much more desirable goal, Katsuragi-san?"
A silver bell spoke up, the voice of Shiina silencing the room. She had a point. Going for Option 2 was worthless, because it was Option 1 but with less value. There was no reason to hide. And thanks to that, I had my opportunity to freeze the group.
"You aren't wrong, Shiina. Katsuragi had a good idea, but it will never work, for one reason. I'm the VIP."
All eyes turned to me as I said this. Admitting that you were the VIP was the opposite to a reasonable strategy, and for that reason no one had even considered it. But it was the most effective way to force Outcome 1.
"You... what are you saying Ayanokouji?"
Kanzaki couldn't speak in his disbelief for what I just said. Of course, no one would believe it, but that was part of the strategy.
"I'm the VIP for dragon group. To prove this, I'll first have Kikyou and Horikita show you their emails from the school to prove they aren't."
I looked at the two girls sitting on either side of me. Kikyou, my loyal partner, acted hesitant for a moment, before bringing out her phone and showing the group the negative email. Horikita instead gave me a flustered look. She had heard from Kikyou that I was the VIP, and was currently running through hundreds of scenarios, trying to figure out how this would help the class.
"Horikita-san?"
Ichinose called her name, trying to hurry her up. After a moment's consideration, she steeled herself and pulled out her own phone, displaying another negative email.
"It's clear now that Horikita-san and Kushida-san are not the VIP. This in turn doesn't prove that you are, unless you foolishly intend to show us your email?"
Nishikawa spoke up, with a reasonable question. She spoke in a refined, processed manner, one befitting of Class A, and from what I could tell was one of Katsuragi's last supporters. It was fortuitous that she was in this group with him.
"No, I won't be showing you my phone. But either way, now there is no possibility but Outcome 1. I don't believe anyone here is foolish enough to submit my name without proof, and you won't be getting any. Conversely, you can't prove that I'm not the VIP.
"If I really am the VIP, then no one else can come out pretending to be one. If, let's say, Ichinose pretends to be the VIP and her name gets submitted, that's still a positive outcome for me. If I'm not the VIP, all I have to do is figure out who the real VIP is and submit their name, confident that it's not me."
Ryuuen, the bravest soul in the room, began typing on his phone, holding it up to show everyone. The name 'Ayanokouji Kiyotaka' was typed out in a draft email to the submission address.
"And what if I submit your name right now? Are you really that confident I won't?"
I stared him down, looked him right in the eyes. No, Ryuuen was bluffing. He wouldn't send the email now, because despite his desire to win, he's not an idiot.
"Go ahead. Are you confident I'm not lying?"
My face was unreadable, and this was one of the times I was quite happy with that. They could never get a reaction out of me.
"Unless you want to be the Class Leader who lost Dragon group, there's nothing to do but sit here until the end, when I will prove myself to be the VIP, and we can secure Outcome 1."
Shiina put her hand on Ryuuen's shoulder to give him a warning, and while he brushed it off, everyone saw him delete the draft as he leaned back in his chair, relaxing once again, enjoying what I had just done in his own way.
This time it was Matoba's turn to ask a question.
"This can only work if you're confident that your class has the VIP. Just by doing this, you're proving that it must be one of you, and we know that Kushida and Horikita aren't the VIP."
"Are you willing to risk it on just that?"
And no, from the looks in the eyes of everyone in the room, it was clear there was no one bold enough to do so. It wasn't being brave, it was taking an unnecessary risk, very early into the exam. Not only would it be damaging to make a mistake, but everyone in the grade would also hear about how one of their leaders got cocky and lost their Class 50 points.
I had been waiting for a question like that though. Before Matoba had brought that up, it was possible I was just bluffing, and there was a ¼ chance it was a different Class who had the VIP. But now it had been made clear my strategy would only work if the VIP was a Class D student, they now had to figure out if I really was the VIP, if one of my classmates was somehow the VIP, or if I really was bluffing, which was seeming less and less likely.
Most of the group was sitting in silence, trying to figure a way out of the iron lock I had on the group. It was now impossible to progress, or even have a chance to figure out who the VIP was, since all the evidence pointed to me, even though my admitting of that made it impossible.
The silence was broken by a small giggle.
I turned my head to find it was Amikura who had laughed. She had her hand over her mouth, trying to stop any more laughter come out, but her shaking shoulders showed that she found the entire situation hilarious. Not in the way Ryuuen did, as a savage brutal enjoyment, but genuine hilarity in how much of a bind I had them all in.
"Sorry. I'm sorry. It's just... hahaha... it took you three minutes, to completely win this group. It's crazy, I mean when Honami-chan told me about you I knew you were impressive, but... hahaha. The best our grade has, and you beat us all in moments. It's really embarrassing."
I leaned back in my chair, my work for the week done. All I had to do now in every meeting was give nothing away, and insist I was the VIP, all the while halting all progress.
"All I want is Outcome 1, for obvious reasons. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, but I'm going to be following Katsuragi's example from now on."
I had spoken a lot already, and it was only a few minutes into the meeting. It was uncharacteristic of me, sure, but I had to spell out the situation. It was a complex trap I had come up with, and if I didn't explain it well enough, it was always possible that one of the less crafty students here could accidentally miss it and submit my name. I wasn't going to be beaten because my opponents were too stupid.
Suddenly, though, a phone started ringing. I looked to my right, and saw it was Kikyou's, still lying on her lap from earlier. She picked it up to see who it was, and I was surprised to see the caller ID was 'Ichinose Honami'. The call was cancelled moments after, before Horikita's phone began to ring. Sure enough, it was a call from the same person.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to distrust you, but I just wanted to make sure."
"Make sure of what," questioned Kikyou?
"You two are very close. It would be understandable if you switched phones. That gets around the no changing the email rule, after all. But no, those phones and emails really are Kushida-san's and Horikita-san's."
Ichinose drooped, her face the shape of confusion. Obviously, she had thought she was onto something there, and it was a reasonable assumption. I was glad someone else had brought it up. It was something I had wanted to address but was unable to without raising suspicion on the phones myself.
With that, my work was done. I had nothing more to offer this group, having stopped all possible progress. It was up to the rest of the members to push the group forward, and I was curious to see what they would come up with.
"Is it really so bad to accept Outcome 1? I suppose if we have half the group intent on achieving it, there's not a lot we can do about it."
Kanzaki finally said something that everyone had considered. It was significantly harder to progress in this situation, so perhaps it would be best to embrace the inevitable.
"If you really want this over so badly, go ahead and submit a name. I'm quite happy with how this all played out."
Ryuuen, of course, refused the cowards way out, intending to fight to his last as the exam continued. Despite this firm opinion, however, the group slowly devolved, the tight knit that Ichinose had formed dissolved now that there was no clear way to proceed. It was likely to remain in this state, at least until the next meeting, when everyone had a chance to rethink their strategies.
None of the people in Dragon group were stupid, or foolish, by any means. I was sure almost everyone had come in with a plan, some preparation, that they were confident would give them an advantage over everyone else.
Ichinose tried to form a close bond with everyone, to get to know them better: this was intended to help Class B figure out who was the most likely to lie.
Katsuragi had his own strategy, an inferior version of what I had devised. It would have worked, to an extent, but the group would still have been able to make progress in their discussions, albeit slowly.
None of these were viable anymore, at least without some modifications. It would take the break, a chance for the classes to regroup before they could again try to prove whether or not I was the VIP.
I wasn't expecting much of that to happen, however. The sharpest in the group would recognise this as a fruitless attempt. No, they would turn their complete focus to the other 11 groups, attempting to find a way to win them.
As it was, they would have done the same before my speech, but also had to juggle this group. Now, people like Ryuuen, Katsuragi and Kanzaki could focus all their attention on winning the other groups, negating the loss I had created here.
Sacrificing a lost cause was a valid strategy, and the best choice in this situation. The only obstacle they faced now was that I could do the same.
The race for the rest of the VIP's was on, but unlike my opponents, I had a secret weapon.
My thoughts were broken when someone moved their chair over to sit with me. People had been moving around the room, and Kikyou had left me at some point while I was lost in my thoughts, moving over to talk to the Class A students in a futile attempt to get them to participate. Horikita had moved her chair into the corner, and was doing her best to ignore Ryuuen getting on her nerves.
No, sitting in front of me was none other than Shiina Hiyori.
"Ah, Ayanokouji-kun, do you mind?" She gestured at the spot in front of me where she was moving her chair.
"Not at all."
And so I was faced with a silver-haired beauty, with angel like features, serving the devil of our year, here to tempt me into revealing my secrets.
"I must say I was incredibly impressed with your strategy, Ayanokouji-kun. It was marvelous, like something out of a mystery."
"I've read a lot of mystery books as a kid, so part of it came from that. It's natural I suppose to be influenced by what I read."
At my words, her eyes widened, shining with excitement.
"You like to read?"
"I suppose."
She clasped her hands together, staring directly into my eyes. This conversation had taken a turn I had not expected, and while I was still on guard, it seemed she had dropped hers entirely, forgetting about the exam at the excitement of finding someone who liked to read.
"I read a lot of books, but my favourite are mystery novels. I guess that's why I wanted to talk to you, what you did seemed like a character come to life. An Agatha Christie story, where everything comes together, or... I'm sorry, I got too excited for a moment there. I haven't met anyone else at this school who enjoys reading yet, so I'm afraid I overreacted."
"No, you don't have to apologise. I was wondering why you ended up in dragon group, but now I know. You were the one who helped Ryuuen plan on the island, weren't you?"
Something about the situation struck me as odd. Ryuuen was not the sort of person to consider allowing anyone else to be the leader, but even so, he still made Kaneda the leader of Class C. I had finally found the external influence on him, who convinced him to take such a clever strategy: someone who enjoyed mystery novels to the nth degree and was smart enough to apply them.
"Hehe, yes, I was the one who helped Ryuuen plan on the island. Even so, it didn't matter. You figured out my strategy."
That was no reason for her to put herself down. Shiina had come up with an admirable addition to the plan and did more than Class A or B did in any case.
"That doesn't discount the strategy. It was a stroke of luck that I found Kaneda asleep, if not you might have succeeded."
A wistful look overcame her face, as she contemplated what might have been.
"Ah, he's quite smart, but Kaneda isn't considered very wise. It was a stupid mistake he made, I guess."
She was incredibly blunt too. Brutal kind honestly, that was the best way I could sum up this girl.
Her motives for talking to me had in no way been pure. She had opened the conversation with a compliment, in an attempt to butter me up, before proceeding to attempt a segue into a hidden line of questioning for me. I had been able to divert the conversation away from the exam, to hide my intentions just a little longer, but it wasn't foolproof.
Shiina was an intelligent girl, someone who had read quite a few novels, and understood how to speak. I suppose I wouldn't mind spending the hour debating with her.
Authors Notes:
Right, so I was super fucking proud of this chapter, namely Ayanokouji's strategy in his group. I was eating a Whopper, and came up with the idea, then spent a few hours refining it with my beta, figuring out every possible escape or flaw in his plan. If you can figure something out, do tell, because I'd like to know just how good this strategy is.
Shiina finally has a role to play. I don't believe I've explained why she's more involved now, but that is coming in an upcoming chapter. She has a good reason that I invented and it gave me a chance to add her into the mix of characters I'd like to learn about.
A couple of things to address from the last chapter. First, Mori and Nene. I was so fucking proud of myself at 3am for remembering two different classmates, and as soon as someone commented they're the same person I actually wanted to end myself. However, I will not be changing mistakes like these in the story. Only twice have I edited a chapter after uploading it, and both of those were to fix continuity errors in the story. All of my mistakes, flaws and such, I can remember every single time someone has made a comment, and I've had to rethink something. They're important memories, and I believe holding onto those mistakes is improving me as an author, so I will not be fixing them up.
That's not to say don't point them out, for the love of god shit on me, it's always hilarious to find when I've fucked up something like 'KaruizaUwU'.
Also, my favourite meal is spaghetti and meatballs. I seem to have offended an italian, and I apologise, but I will use an entire garlic next time I make them. Fuck you. J.k it's always cool to learn more. My current knowledge is 'spaghetti is italian therefore entire meal is italian QED'.
As always, hope you enjoyed! I had a super giga brain moment on my night IGA run just now, so I'm gonna see if I can work that into the plot (for a later arc), but thats all for now. See you next time!