Final Day, 1:00 PM.
Despite this being the last day of the exam, it didn't seem like anything was going to change.
Katsuragi and his classmates stayed in their corner, minding their own business, waiting for the hour to pass by. Ryuuen was currently speaking to him, though I don't know what they were talking about.
"Ayanokouji-kun, it's your turn!" Ichinose's voice was filled with energy.
Meanwhile, the seven students from Class B and Class C were sitting on the floor, playing Old Maid.
"O-Oh..." I panicked and quickly grabbed one card from her hand of eight.
As fate would usually toy with me, of course, I'd get the joker.
Well, I guess it's not so bad after seeing Ichinose's pretty grin.
I turned around to have my seatmate take her turn.
"Mmm..."
Kikyou narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized... my face? Is she trying to look at my reactions? She, of all people, should know that doing so is useless.
"What?"
"Nothing." Kikyou turned away with a 'hmph'.
Incomprehensible things aside, Kikyou managed to grab a good card and finished her turn.
After more turns, the game ended with Hirata's loss.
"Ahaha, it seems like I've lost." He received his defeat with a smile.
"We've racked up a bunch of losses by this time, huh?" said Kanzaki.
Considering that this was only our third game, he must've counted our games from the other days. Was Kanzaki the type of guy to remember those kinds of things?
"Ayanokouji-kun has the least amount of losses if I remember correctly." Ichinose eyed me with a grin.
"Well, Ayanokouji-kun is pretty hard to read," Tsube commented before giggling.
"I know right? You've only lost twice-- against Kikyou-chan and Horikita-san respectively."
"If there's anyone who could see through his poker face, it would be them," said Hirata.
Horikita raised an eyebrow while Kikyou silently listened with a smile.
"Ehhh, you're that close, huh?" Ichinose turned to me. "We've been friends for so long, but I'm still having a hard time reading your face."
"The other way around is also true. I'm sure Andou and the others can read you way better than I can," I replied.
In the end, we're from different classes. We haven't spent as much time together.
"I guess so." Ichinose leaned back, using her arms as support.
For the Dragon Group, the fifth group discussion was business as usual. Everything ended without much commotion, mainly because we never really talked about the exam. Most of the students would probably say that it's over by now-- that no one really won.
Well, the current standings are quite close, and none of the classes are suffering from extremely low points. So for the majority of the first-years, ending in a draw isn't that much of a big deal.
Ignorance is bliss, huh?
"Yo, how's your playtime going?"
Before the end of the session, Ryuuen made his way to our area.
"Ohh, hey there, Ryuuen-kun. We're doing pretty okay over here. How about you and Katsuragi-kun?" Ichinose effortlessly received his greeting like they were close friends.
"Nothing special. We figured that letting you guys run free until the last group discussion is best."
"Really now? What will happen on the last group discussion then?" she asked.
"You'll see." Ryuuen scoffed at Ichinose before turning to Horikita. "You don't seem to have accomplished anything yet, Suzune. You know you can easily win this exam by using the contract, right?"
Ryuuen was bound by a certain contract. There were a lot of specific details, but the main idea was to force Ryuuen's cooperation under some reasonable restrictions. Since that contract wasn't bound by the Memorandum Restriction, Horikita could make use of it during this exam, so Ryuuen was curious as to why she doesn't.
"I'm not that incompetent, Ryuuen-kun. Sure, we might secure our promotion to Class A if I make use of the contract, but the details are tricky, especially if I consider the rules of this exam." Horikita replied with a sharp look on her face before glancing in my direction. "And besides, I'd rather have Ayanokouji-kun decide on when to use that contract. He earned it on his own, after all."
People would normally be tempted about using such a contract. Depending on how much cooperation is demanded of Ryuuen within the set conditions, we might've been able to win the exam easily. But doing so would be short-sighted.
Since Horikita was confident about winning this using her own methods, the contract remains an option for future exams. Personally, I think she'd made the right decision to save that card for later.
"Quite amusing..." Ryuuen's sinister grin widened. "But, your resistance is futile. The fact that the result of this exam is already set in stone won't change. Have fun figuring out the pattern that you're all so hung up on."
Ryuuen turned around as if the conversation didn't have to do anything with him in the first place.
"Ryuuen-kun's behavior is as strange as usual," commented Hirata.
"More like incomprehensible. Since he's teaming up with Katsuragi, it's obvious that they're up to something. However, I can't bring myself to fully believe the things he's telling us. If he figured out the identity of all the VIPs, there wouldn't be any point in delaying things. Even if we believe his reason of "playing around", Katsuragi isn't the type of person who'd tolerate that," added Kanzaki.
"Kanzaki-kun is right. I don't see a point in waiting around if you don't know when someone might actually figure out the pattern. It's like he's so sure that no one will find it," said Ichinose.
"But if we're trying to make sense of Ryuuen-kun's actions, wouldn't it be reasonable to say that maybe... just maybe... What if the pattern doesn't exist?" mused Kikyou.
At that moment, Horikita's eyes widened. A wave of sudden realization dawned on her.
"Hmm... Like maybe the school put all those obvious clues to bait us into thinking that a pattern existed?" asked Ichinose.
"Yeah... Maybe the VIP assignment was done at random, after all," answered Kikyou.
"That's certainly a reasonable theory. Given how no one has found the pattern even after piecing the necessary clues together, the possibility of a random selection would definitely come to mind," added Tsube. "All this time, the school might've been giving us clues with the goal of distracting us from the truth."
The sound of chairs rubbing against the floor could be heard as soon as Tsube finished speaking. Katsuragi and his classmates stood up and exited the room, same with Ryuuen and the other Class D guys.
Every one of us stood from our seats. However, it was noticeable that Horikita was trying to rush out.
"H-Horikita-?"
Unfortunately, coupled with Horikita's realization was her collapse. She fell to the side before getting caught by me.
"Horikita-san, are you okay?!" Ichinose approached us with a panicked expression.
The others also voiced their concerns.
"I-I'm fine... I think... I just need some rest."
"You haven't slept a wink, have you?" Hirata asked with a grave expression. "You worked tirelessly yesterday, running around the ship and asking students some questions... But I didn't think you'd continue working all throughout the night."
"I'm sorry, but I'll be fine..."
Hearing her forceful yet gated response, the rest of us chose to not talk further.
And with that, the fifth session was finished. Horikita was hellbent on leaving, so we escorted her to the elevator. I suggested that either Hirata or I would take her all the way to her room, but she refused.
"I think I'm about to figure out the pattern," she said.
Two things felt strange with Horikita's words. Her reaction to the sudden acknowledgment of the "Random Selection" theory was noticed by everyone. So, all of them immediately thought that Horikita was swayed by it, albeit for different reasons. But it seems like that wasn't the case right here. Another thing was her current conclusion and confidence. Just what did Horikita realize in the first place?
All of the big clues were laid down.
Even at the cost of efficiency, we were still briefed in a very specific order. They obviously wanted us to see that it mattered. Next, Hoshinomiya-sensei stated that they did consider something to assign the VIPs. It's hard to imagine that the teachers would explicitly lie to the students. They would structure the instructions in a way that would mislead us, but they wouldn't say anything false. In conjunction with that, Hoshinomiya-sensei also stressed the fact that the school is impartial about everything, so it was obvious that the number of VIPs was equally distributed among all classes. This fact was also confirmed with the help of our alliance with Class C.
On top of all those clues, everyone knew 4 of the VIPs' identities.
They considered everything and left nothing. But where did that leave Katsuragi, Hashimoto, Ichinose, Kanzaki, and Horikita? They were all stuck on the same dead end.
"Are you sure, Horikita-san?" Her surprised reaction lasted for a split second. Ichinose's face turned serious.
"I'm about 90% confident," replied Horikita.
Kanzaki and Tsube had worried expressions, but Ichinose remained calm.
"Then it would be great if you could honor our agreement. We'll definitely pay you back in the future," she said.
Ichinose's classmates didn't seem convinced by her composure. If the identities of all the remaining VIPs were uncovered, their plan would've been all for naught. They wouldn't even have the chance to implement it. Not only that. Even if Horikita cracks the code while leaving Class C alone, they still had Class A and D to worry about. However, Ichinose didn't seem concerned at all.
"Yes... it's regrettable, but I have to rest first. My mind and body wouldn't be able to function if I try to force myself any longer." With Hirata and Kikyou in charge of defense, Horikita will have to go on the offense all by herself.
She turned around and walked away. Despite the fact that she almost collapsed, her hurried steps still exuded elegance and poise.
"Horikita-san is amazing, isn't she?" Hirata watched her walk away with a smile along with Kikyou.
"You can say that again." Ichinose grinningly shrugged her shoulders.
It's just as I expected. I'm looking forward to how you'll deliver the finale, Horikita Suzune.