"What about this?" I mumbled as I combined two drinks scaring Suzune and I then took a sip of it. "Oh, it tastes nice!"
"That's cola and orange juice!" Suzune exclaimed.
"Yeah, good." I grinned as I held the drink to my chest and she patted my head as I happily sipped more of it.
"It's almost time." Suzune looked at her phone that was turned off, so she was just staring at herself like Kushida does and Sudo does, but he yells at his reflection instead of admiring it.
"For night?" I asked.
She gave me a hard stare. "The email." She answered making me groan and she shuffled her chair away when I did. "Why are you not happy?"
"Boring test, nothing new, just talking to people about someone, that's boring." I whined as I put my head on the table and looked to the side to see my phone leant up against Kiyotaka's arm.
We all got the email, and I'm not the Vip and Kiyotaka showed me his proving he isn't it either.
"I have the same message." Suzune informed us when Kiyotaka showed her his. "It appears none of us was selected as Vip."
"This reduces our options." Kiyotaka commented.
"Same options for me." I hummed, and Suzune looked at me interested. "Do nothing and eat ice cream." I smirked.
"What do you both...Ayanokoji, what do you think of this special test?" Suzune asked him.
"Boring." I answered anyway.
"It largely depends on how the Vip approaches it. Although I have thought of several preliminary routes to victory, but with Rekka I can for certain win." He answered shocking her.
"No, you entertain me this time." I grinned at him. "Well, only if my plan crumbles like that apple crumble, I want another one."
"Impressive indeed." Suzune commented.
"Yeah, they are amazing." I hummed and she patted my head. "I look forward to your results." Suzune informed us.
"I'm also looking forward to seeing where you take your group. Do you require our aid? If you need Rekka's there will be things needed to be offered in exchange for her help." Kiyotaka informed her.
"No, thank you. And just so that I know, the person you are most on guard for is-" Suzune went to say.
"Why don't you let me join you?" Ryuen asked us.
"Not that one." I answered as I sipped my drink.
"Suzune, are you the Vip?" Ryuen walked around the table to her side and I saw Albert and Ibuki with him.
Ibuki looked at me and I smiled at her and she turned her head away making me laugh a little.
"You know, I wouldn't tell you." Suzune rolled her eyes and Ryuen sat next to Kiyotaka. "Or would you tell me if I asked?"
"If you wished it, by all means." Ryuen answered. "But let me ask you first...How did you achieve that result on the deserted island test? Ibuki's reports showed no signs of you taking any action at all."
"Oh, did you report on how my panties looked?" I asked Ibuki and she flinched. "Suzune told me, you just need to ask for them."
"Then can I have a p-" Ryuen went to ask.
"Want a sip?" I offered my drink to him.
"Oh, are we finally getting flirty?" He smirked at me.
"Drink it." I rolled my eyes confusing him a little and he drank some and looked disgusted.
I took in his expression and then grinned. "Creepy hair dude, you might actually have some worth." I informed him.
"Huh?" He let out a little stunned and Suzune seemed impressed that I can make him speechless. "So you do want-" Ryuen started to reach a hand out to my hair again, weird kink he has.
"Keep away from my hair." I slapped his hand again and then sighed. "Everything is being so annoying." I shook the table a little.
Kiyotaka patted my head making Ryuen look at him. "Ibuki struggled against me even when I was sick and even stole from a forever sick girl to accomplish her plan." Suzune stared at Ibuki and spoke up to get the attention off of us.
"How about a rematch, then?!" Ibuki yelled, but Ryuen held his hand up and she backed off.
"The result of the previous test. It's not difficult to achieve when you know how it's done." Ryuen explained. "But very few could come up with it and execute it under those conditions. Not the kind of plan that an earnest little girl like you could think up, Suzune."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I have no friends." Suzune informed him.
"She doesn't." I added making her glare at me as I sipped my drink and Ryuen seemed a little shocked that I actually liked it. He probably thought I made him drink something disgusting on purpose, I did since I needed to check his expressions some more.
"Ayanokoji and Rekka are the best I have been able to manage." Suzune pointed out his existence to everyone. "Though he's such a bumbler, I'd hardly call him a collaborator and Rekka is just everywhere, even I can't understand what would be her next move."
"You must be tired of pathetic hanger-ons." Ryuen looked down on Kiyotaka even though he just got his ass handed to him by us.
Ryuen took a picture of me, and I held up a peace sign. "Don't take her picture!" Suzune stood up.
"It's a little game." Ryuen waved his phone about. "I'm going to find out who's pulling your strings. Everyone, including your hanger-ons, is in my crosshairs."
"What is with you and hair?" I asked interested.
"Oh, well down-" Ryuen went to say making Suzune blush.
"That answer could summon puke." I quickly shut him up. "Why would I care for that? I like to meet a horse or a unicorn."
"Those aren't re..." Suzune stopped herself from saying something when I looked at her.
Ryuen got up and started to leave. "You seem awfully obsessed with Class D." Suzune pointed out.
"I know the limits of what Katsuragi and Ichinose can do. They are no threat to me." Ryuen stated as he left.
"You are suddenly the women of the hour, Horikita." Kiyotaka commented.
"And whose fault is that?" Suzune sat back down.
"We can give your hair a funeral." I offered.
Suzune has turned more into a fighter now, so it's fine to leave her alone for a while and she will be a great decoy for future use, but sadly not for this exam. There probably won't be much more pain from her from now on, so she's useless to me.
We left after that, and I was feeling the breeze on the ship while twirling my umbrella on my shoulder. "I want a tornado! Make me fly!" I exclaimed, but nothing happened making me whine.
"What do you think of him?" Kiyotaka asked me as he leaned on the railing of the ship.
"Weird." I answered. "He's intelligent and someone we should look out for since he's the closest to finding out our true abilities even though I don't care unlike you. He's annoying, he does what he wants and would definitely make me break his skull in the end."
"He's like you then." Kiyotaka pointed out making me laugh since he is right in some ways. "He was interesting to you. You don't give attention without reason."
"On the island, he wasn't devastated enough when his plans fell through, he's more aggressive than ever, so if he fell again..." I giggled to myself. "What kind of expression would that be? Would it change? Making him more confident and cocky can help."
Kiyotaka shrugged and his alarm then went off showing it's time making me drop my umbrella and hold onto the railing, but he lured me away with the promise of an apple crumble.
I kicked in the doors when we arrived at the meeting room making everyone look at us and I grinned. "Ichinose!" I ran to her, and she happily accepted my hug. "Someone who isn't boring! Do you have something better than a waterfall this time?!"
"Actually, I wanted to show you some diving games, I saw you enjoying the pool." She informed me and I was already excited.
"Not now." Kiyotaka spoke up making me whine and some of the people in the room laughed.
I saw Kei was here early for some reason, so I went over and hugged her from behind. "Kei!" I exclaimed and looked at her phone, and she flinched badly. "You're early, you really find this test interesting?" I asked.
Kei was still stiff as she put a hand on mine. "No, this has to be the worst team ever." She sighed and her hand tightened its grip on me like it would protect her. I then moved back quickly, and I saw her reach out to me a little making me giggle.
I went over to the other side of the table. "Sotomura, Yukimura. Do you think we are a bad team?" I wrapped my arms around their necks pulling them close surprising them and they had the reactions I expected.
"It isn't the team. It's just one member." Yukimura grumbled as he fixed his glasses and looked away as Kei glared at him.
"Well, I think-!" I moved away before Sotomura continued since he is boring once again and I sat next to Kei since there's potential.
Kiyotaka sat next to me and I looked at the rest of the people, it was just boys from class A, but I remember one from a stupid scene I saw on the ship.
I knew all of the Class B people, and I noticed one person from Class C was glaring at me making me turn my head to the side confused. She shook her head at me frantically showing it wasn't meant for me.
"Attention, everyone! Why don't we start with introductions?" Ichinose suggested. "The school told us to do that, after all!"
"Is that really something we need to bother with?" The leader of A class in our group spoke up. "Let's leave it to anyone who really wants to do it."
"Don't want to feel guilty?" I asked since just having a name to a face can cause guilt if you cause them grief. "What do you want with my waterfalls?"
He was just looking at me confused showing he forget to get angry with me. "I guess I can't force you, can I?" Ichinose hummed. "But it's entirely possible that the room is bugged!"
"Well..." He got nervous.
"If that's the case, the people who don't introduce themselves might be penalized." Ichinose grinned.
"I'll do it, then." He mumbled then we all introduced ourselves and everyone was weirded out by Kiyotaka's introduction like usual.
"Free like a white bird? Those birds are annoying, they are really loud, but they do poo on people." I commented and laughed remembering Suzune getting chased by one.
"So, how should we go about this?" Ichinose asked after we were done with introductions. "If you don't like the idea of me playing moderator, let me know, okay?"
Everyone looked to the people in their groups, but no one spoke up and as she planned Ichinose became the leader of the conversations we will hold for the whole test. "First, I think we should talk out any aspects of the test that seem unclear." Ichinose spoke up, and I started to spin on my chair confusing people. "Nervous?"
"Bored." I answered as I kicked the table to make my chair roll to the windows to look outside to see just water. "Where did the dolphins go?"
"Does anyone have any questions?" Ichinose asked, but there were none. "I guess I will start, then! I feel like we should try to complete the test together. In other words, our best option would be to go for Case 1. What do you all think?"
"That's a no-brainer, right?" Kei answered showing she is paying careful attention to her words even though she was looking at her phone.
"I'm in favour, naturally." Ryota from Ichinose's group added.
"Agreed." Kiyotaka approved. "I'd like to have more private points, and I prefer to cooperate when I can."
"I just want the test to finish, so I can spend more time outside." I sighed, and I saw in the reflection of the window I got some looks of sympathy. "Sea bitch!" I yelled and went to grab it.
"Rekka!" Kei exclaimed as the window had stopped me from grabbing it.
"Why did you want the bird?" Kiyotaka came over and started to check my head after helping me up.
"It had a hotdog." I explained and we saw it swoop by with the hotdog in its beak shocking everyone.
"We of Class A have resolved to abstain from discussion." Machida spoke up as I expected since they had such a harsh defeat their class must be leaning more towards Sayakanagi now and they are at the top, so it's best not to risk and let other classes gain points.
"Abstain? For what purpose?" Sotomura spoke up.
"I guess I came on too strong, huh?" Ichinose laughed nervously.
"Did you get scared from losing so badly?" I asked making Machida stare at me as Kiyotaka made me sit back down.
"It's a little red." Kiyotaka mumbled.
"My hair?" I asked.
"Skin." He answered. "We will go to the nurse's office after since it isn't red enough to be dangerous."
"Are you o-" Machida coughed getting our attention. "The simplest and most certain way to benefit from the test is to abstain from participation from beginning to end." He informed me, and it was easy to tell Katsuragi gave those orders so I just grinned at him.
"Good strategy!" I exclaimed since the test could end early then since they all seem likely to betray.
"To refuse discussion and let the unknown Vip run away with the points?" Ryota said confused.
"What is the least desirable test result?" Machida asked and looked to Kei for some reason.
"Huh? Um...someone figuring out the Vip and betraying everyone?" Kei answered.
"Precisely." He nodded. "The worst-case scenario results from having a discussion, someone suspecting someone else of being the Vip and getting it wrong."
"Is there any paper in the room? Kiyo, give." I demanded.
He gave me some, and I started to make a paper plane. "I acknowledge the wisdom of abstaining from discussion. But neglecting to identity Vips could heighten the point disparity between the classes, couldn't it?" Ryota asked him. "What if the Vip distribution is extremely uneven, with Vips being overrepresented within one class?"
Kiyotaka was sitting with me watching me spin and make a paper plane and Sotomura seemed kind of impressed that I'm multitasking.
"Hamaguchi's concern is warranted." Kiyotaka mumbled.
"Fairness." I retorted. "For this school, you need to put in the effort to get higher, so that wouldn't happen...oh, the window just shook."
Kiyotaka pulled my chair away after I had kicked the window and he moved me further down so I could continue. "Fairness for all classes, this is a rule to which the school scrupulously adheres. I would expect an even distribution of Vips among the classes." Machida explained.
"You may be right." Ryota grumbled.
I got bored again after I had thrown my paper plane making it fly and everyone was watching it. I went to look out the window and smacked my head against it again.
"The nurse said you have to stop hitting your head against things." Kiyotaka reminded me.
"And those people also told me I was supposed to be dead by 10, they can be wrong." I pointed out as I turned my head to him and my cheek was pressed against the window.
"By ten?" Ichinose asked nervously showing she has been listening in quite intently since we were very quiet.
"Yeah, first it was at birth, then 2 then 3 then it kept going up by a month at a time then they gave up on guessing." I explained. "Anyway, I rather talk about pancakes or baseball, so move the topic."
Ichinose grinned brightly at me for some reason.
"I can agree to that." Machida mumbled.