Ayanokouji's POV:
"The exam will start exactly at 6 am tomorrow."
The assembly was dispersed and most were relatively happy or calm.
I can assume that they thought this exam to be simple.
On the other hand, a few people were lost in thought. They probably realised the complexity of this exam.
Unlike the last 2 years, this time, it's on the cruise ship. It may first appear as an advantage, yet the sheer amount of novelty and deceptive nature of the exam makes it a dangerous one.
I do still wonder....what caused this change to occur in the first place?... Director Sakayanagi is my primary suspicion but without definitive proof, I can't lift a finger.
Horikita walks up to me," What do you think of this exam?"
She is being extremely polite and periodically looking at Chiaki. I presume something went down between these two.
"I don't know much..but this exam is not going to be simple."
She simply nodded and quickly walked away when Chiaki came by.
"Kiyotaka, why was she here?"
"Nothing important, she was just saying sorry for being rude."
She simply smiled.....she did something to her.
"Hmm, seems like she is learning. Anyways, what will we do for this exam?"
"We can worry about it later."
She suddenly got a call and the colours of her face vanished.
She then got a very uncharacteristically strong grip on my hand and ran to the side deck of the ship and we hid behind a wall
FLASHBACK(1 day ago)
Airi's POV:
The last few days have been good. Matsushita-san and Ayanokouji-san, are such kind people. I hope we can be friends in the future. Even when I stuttered they never judged me.
It's so contradictory with my online persona, Shizuku. She is everything that I want my true self to be.
My stuttering has always been a problem no matter how hard I try it has always been a hindrance in my social life, which thankfully doesn't affect my career. Since I never actually meet my fans, it has never affected me.
This school is different, they probably thought that I must have some skills as a gravure idol, which although true, doesn't include making friends.
Thinking such depressing thoughts I sent my photos on my socials and the likes and comments flooded in. It gives me slight joy....but I think I have been desensitized to it.
One account has been continuously sending me messages which were at first extremely disgusting but they had stopped for a while after the day I met Ayanokouji....it probably was a coincidence...right?
But today again the same account send these private messages. This time though, it left me utterly shocked.
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@ notreal69
'YOU are soooooo beautiful Sakura-channnnn'
'I know where you are...Saukkkkkura'
'I will come to you Sakura-chan....your school, your cruise ship....'
*Picture of ANHS*
'If you don't want me to release your secret, pleasssseeee come to the side deck of the ship tomorrow 6pm...I love youuuuu Sakura-chann Soooo much.'
*Location*
'I will be waiting <3'
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H-How? I thought this school was safe? How did he know my real name??
No, I can't let anyone find out. People would make lewd comments on me, judge me, they will fake their kindness onto me and later on ask me for favours...disgusting.
I know how cruel the idol world can be. A perfect smile with so many hidden truths. The cutthroat competition, and most repulsive is the parasocial behaviour has led to this criminal to be formed who can destroy my school life in a click. First the news and then the idol world...they will try to broadcast my every move.
I have to go...
Thinking such anxious thoughts, I went to sleep crying, worrying and lamenting my fate...
The next day after the assembly I went to the location.
Each step was fearful for me and I soon reached the side deck and waited with bated breath.
My heart was beating loudly in my chest and then suddenly I was being pulled by a burly hand holding my mouth.
While he was dragging me across the floor I pulled out my phone and called the first number on my phone and left it on speaker.
I was then pushed down on the ground with force as I hit my head on the metal rod next to the deck. I was starting to lose my consciousness as he started trying to take my clothes off as I tried my best to push him off.
"Sakura-chan, I am your biggest fan. Love me please I have liked allllll of your videos."
"P-Please let me goo...I beg you please"
Tears were streaming down my despairing eyes...Please I need help.
"Sakura-chan, your body is sooooo good, look at me, i really love you. I came here after finding you! Look how much I want you."
"S-Stay a-a-away f-from me I d-don't k-know you...Let me go, Please!"
I started begging to him but he didn't stop. He started pulling my shirt as I tried to force off his disgusting hands.
"Don't be like this Sakura-chan. I-I am your trruee fan, I deserve youuu. Even when I got scared of that Boy back there, I still followed you all the way to this shippp. That brat can't follow us here, just youuu and mee."
He then pulled out a card
"See, I applied for a job as a janitor after being fired....I really love you Sakura-san. That's what you want right. Someone to take care of you, give you sooo much love. I will always give you love."
He tore of my shirt and I fell into despair
No one will save me...
No one ever did...
My nervousness, lack of friends, weak heart...all just my mistake...
Maybe if I get one more chance, I just might....be able to change.
My mind sunk into despair as he started groping my chest and forcefully tried to kiss me.
His disgusting breath was suffocating me and his touches sent fear in my mind. My body was screaming at me to escape..but I can't. He is too strong.
He then pulled off his belt and made a clanking noise with his buckle.
"Sakura-chann, Since you love me, I want you to satisfy me....You are mine after all aren't you?? Is your duty as my future wifffeeeee."
His touches were like needles as they pierced my skin I gave a blood-curdling scream.
He then roughly grabbed my throat as he warned me
"Naughty Sakura-chan. Don't scream at your lover, it's bad manners. Loookss like I have to punishhh you!!"
He then removed his pants was going to....No please....someone...save me.
FLASHBACK END
Ayanokouji's POV:
Chiaki had immediately taken out her phone, considering no cameras were in the vicinity.
After enough evidence was recorded I decided to step in.
"Kiyotaka where are you going?"
Chiaki tightened her grip on my hand
"Call the security, I will keep him from doing anything to her."
I tried to pry my hand off
"I will call them but don't go there. What if he hurts you. They will save her, stay right here."
Chiaki has changed....and not in a good way. She is becoming strangely protective and domineering.
"Chiaki, I will be fine. If you call them quickly enough, he won't hurt me.....
"I don't care what happens to her as long as you are safe........sorry I didn't mean to say that...."
Chiaki seems to have blurted out something concerning and covered her mouth
"I trust you Chiaki."
In the last 4 words..her expression changed from fear to an eerie smile
"Alright, I won't let you down."
She then went a bit away from the deck to avoid this criminal from hearing her.
I then walked slowly towards him as he turned around in fear,
"I-It's you! I-I wasn't doing anything wrong, we were just making love!"
Such a pathetic lie, with his pink underwear and a crying Sakura below him.
" Wow, this is such a precarious situation for you to be in....I pity you.......Who am I kidding."
He then pulled out an 8-inch long knife which he probably stole from the cruise kitchen.
"Stay back kid, let me and Sakura-chan be together. You are a villain in our story. I will cut you right here in front of Sakura-chan"
I then completely desensitized myself as my eyes went dark as I stared at this creature with nothing but darkness
"I AM A VILLIAN, just not in this."
He then attacked me with a straight knife attack to my face, which I allowed to make a small slice on my cheek.
"See kid, I am much stronger than you. Runaway and let us be together. You are ruining our love story."
I got enough proof for self-defence.
He then rushed at me, this time trying to attack my stomach. I dodged it and turned to my side facing his attacking hand. I then grabbed it and twisted it and pushed my body down.
He then flipped and crashed on the ground on his back. I didn't let his hand go as I twisted his wrist causing it to shatter.
(AN: it actually shatters, since the twist is done very quickly and while holding the arm in place upon falling...Idk if the spine is heavily injured on hitting the ground or not.)
He screamed in howling pain as he shivered and curled up
"AAHHH, you b-broke my w-wrist, I am SORRY PLEASSSE LET ME GOO."
I let him go.
"Alright, I think you learned your lesson......One more thing, to confirm."
*Crack*
I kicked his groin and completely crushed it.
I grabbed his collar as I spoke
"You didn't understand when I said before when we were alone...so I will repeat one last time...I HATE SCUM."
I then let him drift into unconsciousness in sheer pain.
On that day we met Sakura. After the girls went home, I sneaked back to the store and informed the manager regarding his misdemeanour...causing him to be removed from his job.
He was seething in anger back then...and then I said those words. That was enough for some time... what I didn't realise was the extent of his so-called 'love' for her.
Emotions are tricky to handle....
The security soon arrived with a worried Chiaki
"What happened here?"
"He tried to rape this girl and when I tried to stop him...he attacked me. The proof is there with Chiaki and..."
I showed him my cheek which was still bleeding.
Chiaki quickly grabbed my cheek
"H-HOW? You said you would be safe. Why did this happen? I knew I had to protect you...I shouldn't have let you leave my sight. I should have been more careful.I failed again...."
She fell to the ground. This is becoming a bothersome issue. I seem to have affected her mind more than I expected.
"It's alright Chiaki, I simply took this hit so that you would take care of me."
I tried to use a joking tone to which she had a slight smile
"A-Alright...I may have overreacted.It's just that I..."
Not wanting to listen to the rest of it I simply went up to Sakura who was unconscious and asked Chiaki,
"Let's take her to her room."
She got up and wiped her tears and we both carried her back to her room
"Let this be between us unless she wants to disclose it herself."
She nodded and walked out of Sakura's room.
She looked at me and tried to say something
"Kiyotaka, don't keep your phone silent at night."
"May I know why?"
"Didn't I just say you not to...just listen to me for once."Her tone quickly changed to the same one she had when she saw the injury on my cheek.
"Alright I won't keep it silent"
It seems this event had an unprecedented outcome on Chiaki....is she that weak?.....No, what I saw in her eyes was not weakness....it was the will to protect.
Not long ago she didn't care much about anything...yet now...things are different.
"Have a good night Kiyotaka."
"You too Chiaka."
Saying so we left....to be specific...I felt Chiaki's piercing gaze on my back as I turned around and went to my room.
There is a high possibility that I may be overanalyzing this...but
There is a small chance...I may have inadvertently created something which.....I don't know.
Time will tell..what's to come...since human nature...is known to be volatile and unpredictable.
(AN: Imo, ppl are inherently weird..they can be manipulated to an extent..but their reactions are often hard to control. eg: you can make a person do ur work, but after that how they will react/change is unpredictable. It often leads to troublesome situations.)
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Ayanokouji's POV:
The next day at exactly 6 am we all were assembled at the main deck and the classes were separated into different rooms along with our respective teachers.
Sakura seemed to be dazed by that incident while Chiaki explained to her quietly regarding the proceedings which took place.
Sae Sensei said, " Choose your leader within 10 minutes. If you go outside the stipulated time period I will do it personally."
Saying so she left the room and the room was filled with discussion
Karuizawa said, "Why bother deciding, Hirata-kun will be the leader."
Almost all the girls and many boys did agree...though some were completely unfazed by this event like Koenji
I quickly texted Chiaki certain instructions
I then got up and went to Hirata and said with a thoughtful tone," While it's a genius plan given by Karuizawa-san"
She simply made a prideful gesture at that remark
"I think even an idiot would be able to guess the leader would be you and we would be giving other classes free points."
Her previous pride evaporated with the smiles of many of the girls.
Hirata nodded understandingly," You are right..but who will be willing to take such responsibility and will be inconspicuous."
Chiaki stood up and said in a kind tone," I have an idea...what about Horikita-san? She is smart and responsible enough...right?"
To which Kushida jumped," Yes-yes, she will be an amazing leader. Isn't that right Horikita-san?"
She looked at her with puppy eyes...truly would melt anyone's heart.
Horikita being the stone-cold girl, ignored her...but agreed nonetheless.
"Only because I have to"
Sae-sensei came and assigned her the card.
"Alright then, now choose the teir you all want and Horikita, you will be unlocking the doors to the rooms, covertly. The rooms can be activated at any time and every 12 hours reactivated. Here on the screen are the different room interiors and island halves based on the teirs. Make your choices wisely."
Keisei quickly dropped his suggestion," We should go with the basic tier. We need to win this exam. Not many of our classmates are excelling at anything, unlike me or Horikita-san who excel at academics. Therefore we won't be able to participate in bets."
Mori countered," But have you ever looked at the interiors of the basic teir rooms?? It is barely livable. I can in no way sleep in a room with no ventilation and dirty mattress."
She was right, the basic teir bedrooms were very compact and I could see some marks on the bed of the photos on the screen. Keisei was also right, the capabilities of most students are not known or average.
Not just that but the bathroom photos also were in a similar state.
Satou tried to suggest," Hey, how about we choose the Mid teir rooms? If we can earn more points we can then transfer to the Royal tier."
That would be plausible if we had a definitive way of winning points. Bets if not placed properly will lead to either >= 50% chances of defeat.
Not to mention, we only have 7 cards.
The Mid teir rooms were moderately sized and well enough to properly accommodate us....but the royal teir rooms were simply too lavish.
Sudo then suggested," I think that could work. Maybe we can make bets on basketball. I can then win a bunch of points."
Many people agreed to that idea. But that will work just once since it would be spread to almost all classes about his abilities, causing it to be a one-trick pony.
Horikita then gave her idea," Let's just buy the Basic tier and then use Sudo to get enough S points to shift to Mid-tier rooms."
That was a midground in their idea and hence was readily accepted by the majority.
Now the issue was, how to actually activate the rooms without being noticed.
Shinohara said." Why don't we just go and open the door? I am pretty sure other classes have already taken the rooms so no one will see us....let's just get this over with and Sudo..go win the points so I can relax in the mid-tier rooms at least."
Sudo wanted to retort but considering the importance of the situation decided to stay quiet.
Her idea is based on luck.....which is a fickle thing, relying on it will only get you killed.
But I wasn't interested to point that out.
Ike said," Hey what if we just let one person go out first and check if someone is outside and then let the leader go. This will make everyone confused and we can simply win."
It was not a bad strategy but there was a risk, if any class actually kept proper monitoring they would immediately notice this obvious plan. Even if this worked out, the number of probable leaders would go down from 1/30 to 1/2.
Chiaki then suggested," What if we all go together and then let everyone act like they are opening the door and finally when the last student acts it out, the door will be already opened, which will confuse the other class if we meet them."
This mitigates the entire issue posed by Ike...not bad Chiaki. It is time-consuming but effective.
There was a much more effective & quick strategy that could be employed...but if I did say it out loud, it would cause the focus to shift on me.
This was agreed by Horikita readily," Let's carry out Matsushita-san's plan. In this way, the chances of being caught are almost 0."
We all walked up to the doors and started opening them in this fashion. Luckily, it seems that we were late enough that no other classes were activating the rooms.
Upon unlocking the rooms, some students have realised the true difficulty of this exam.
The food and water are less than the required amount for 30 humans to survive. This will inevitably lead to internal feuds and hamper our performance.
I had realised it back at the assembly where they oddly specified the Calories and Litres of water.
They did this theoretically to monitor how students will react to extreme situations.
"This food and water won't be enough to suffice our needs. We need more."Horikita said calmly in contrast to the rest of the students panicking
Kushida thought of a solution," Maybe we can ask other classes...I have a few friends there, they might help."
Horikita immediately rejected that notion," Asking other classes will cause a debt...maybe we can find something on that island."
Ike soon said with excitement, " I know fishing, maybe at the island we can get some food and water."
Hirata then suggested, "That would be a viable idea but we need to check whether we can buy a fishing rod from the brochure." Upon checking the brochure the idea became feasible.
In this way the class won't face starvation and dehydration if the part of the island assigned has those amenities, else things will get worse sooner than expected......but this is just the beginning of a long list of challenges...I wonder how this class will face them.
It will be interesting to watch.....
------------------------------AUTHOR'S NOTE------------------------
Dear Readers,
In LN, Kiyo's plans generally didn't include controlling emotions. Hence they were easier to predict....but emotions are very unpredictable and since he is trying to control that as well....he will be able to complete the required task with the tool, but after that what the tool will act as, will be hard to predict.
Airi stutters a lot...true...but she still is an idol which means....she has enough knowledge on how the world works even if she ain't book smart and is a nervous mess....to be an idol and hide her stuttering and other nature is worthy of praise.
So ya...I made at least somewhat smarter since she is in the school of the elite.
Ike redemption-ish arc
Since this exam has a lot of complexities and every step needs planning, classes are all reasonably logical and their ideas will be decent-ish......mostly....since I can't waste time thinking of dumb ideas......again, I need to justify their eliteness...
Except a few ;)
eg: Ryueen won't hopefully make the dumb mistake of keeping the receiver in open sight.
Will be doing updates slowly...exams
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Thank You