Season 4 : Chapter 17
Ayanokouji POV
Soon because of the exams being completed this early between (Rabbit Group) and (Monkey Group), all of our phones started buzzing with numerous texts from our group chat as Hirata tried to calm the atmosphere down and told everyone that me and Koenji got the victory in our respective groups to which a lot of cheers and congratulations were reciprocated through the texts.
Now not only our own Class, I'm pretty sure Ryuuen, Katsuragi and Ichinose will be quite surprised by the quick completion of the monkey group as well. However, based on what Ichinose said earlier, I have no doubts that she might think that someone from Class-A acted as the traitor this time as well, which we can use quite nicely as a camouflage that Ichinose herself created for us.
Quite convenient, I must say. But I can't help but think there is indeed a pattern in this exam, that I need to clock as soon as possible. Soon Koenji walked out of shower humming to himself as water droplets started dripping on the mat from his body, to which Yukimura clicked his tongue in annoyance at the antics of the blonde haired boy.
"Koenji, would you mind revealing the identity of the 'Target' in the Monkey group? I'm fully confident that there is a pattern hidden inside this exam and your help will mean a lot.", with a couple of sweet words, I tried to inflate Koenji's ego wanting to coerce him into giving me the name as all he did was a small 'hmph' before turning around from me.
"The 'Target' is "......" from Class-B, Kiyo boy. You're welcome."
Without speaking any further Koenji lied down on his bed and started humming a song as I kept the name he gave me in the back of my mind.
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"You two are completely nuts, you know?"
With an exasperated tone, Suzune blamed me as she passed one glass of cold drink towards my way.
"I'll take that as a compliment. I believe that if I let the meeting continue even further, things might have gotten troublesome for me if Ichinose or Machida gained a little too much control. Also, hey now look at me. I'll be chilling for the remaining three days while you will have to experience a certain man's 'kukuku' for the time being. Being an associate of the V.I.P sure is hard, huh?"
I immediately got my well deserved result for teasing the woman beside me as she started pinching my cheek with a 'very pure' smile on her face.
"Can you repeat your words again? I think I didn't hear it correctly."
"....."
"Good boy.", she said with satisfaction before letting go of my cheek. "Say, Kiyotaka-kun, how confident are you that Class-D will win the Rabbit Group?"
"100 percent. But I want a little more information so that there is a way I can crack the whole pattern. By the way, are Karuizawa and Kushida the only 'Targets' from Class-D?", I asked her before taking a sip of my cold drinks as she shook her head before replying to me.
"Minami-san is the final 'Target' from Class-D. She is the 'Target' in the Horse Group."
"Alright. Good to know. So we have 4 Targets in our hand. 3 from our class and 1 from Ichinose's. Now all we need to check is if there is something troublesome hidden in it. Let's leave for now. If someone from other classes finds us at the moment, it would lead to a troublesome situation. If I find any pattern, I'll be sure to let you know, got it?"
Suzune nodded to my words before getting up from her chair.
"Yeah sure. Have a good night. I'll be trying to figure out the pattern by myself as well. I'll try to see if I can figure something out or not."
With that Suzune walked away as I did the same as well. In spite of finishing my group, it seems like my work is far from complete. I sighed to myself.
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While everyone was asleep late in the night, a certain browned haired boy was found scribbling on his notebook. There were a couple of pieces of crumpled paper surrounding his bed as he was constantly writing something then erasing it the next second.
'It seems like it's not by either ascending order, nor descending order. I tried to look at it alphabetically but that doesn't seem to be the case as well…. Sigh.. Hmm, let's try to connect the dots.
Karuizawa was the target of the Rabbit Group.'
With that Kiyotaka took out the sheet from where he wrote the names of the members of the (Rabbit) Group.
A-Class: Takemoto Shigeru, Machida Kouji, Morishige Takuro
B-Class: Ichinose Honami, Tetsuya Hamaguchi, Ryouta Beppu
C-Class: Ibuki Mio, Manabe Shiho, Yabu Nanami, Yamashita Saki
D-Class: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, Karuizawa Kei, Sotomura Hideo, Yukimura Teruhiko
'Alright … so In terms of numbers, (Rabbit) group is the fourth group of the Zodiac signs which we all know. If we use that fact in this format, in terms of the position of the way the names were arranged, the "Target" should have been Ichinose. But that's not the case. It's Karuiwaza.'
Lost in his thoughts however,Kiyotaka noticed something among the names as he slightly narrowed his eyes at it.
'Maybe it has something to do with our alphabets. Let's try it with the letter of our given name first. Since (Rabbit) is the fourth group, let's try it that way to see if by ascending order, the fourth name becomes the Target or not.'
With that, he once again started scribbling the names as he wrote the following :
(Rabbit) [given name] : Beppu, Hamaguchi, Hideo, Honami.
Seeing the results in front of him, Kiyotaka once again released a sigh.
'It's Ichinose once again …. Sigh. She is like that one character in a gacha game you get over and over again. Even after the exams she is causing me trouble. Alright let's start with our surnames in terms of alphabetical order this time. Hopefully I don't get Ichinose again.'
With this, Kiyotaka started scribbling in ascending order, based on their surnames as he got the following result :
(Rabbit) [Surname] : Ayanokouji, Ibuki, Ichinose, Karuizawa.
Seeing the result in front of his eyes, Kiyotaka nodded his head for a second, feeling a little bit satisfied after getting at least one conclusion.
'So I got Karuizawa after using the method of arranging the letters of the surname according to the number of the group. Since (Rabbit) is the fourth group of the Zodiac Sign and in terms of ascending order, Karuizawa is the 4th person in terms of surnames, she is chosen as the Target.
This theory of mine is still not credible enough. Let's see if it matches with that of Kushida as well. Dragon is the fifth group. So I guess, let's see if Kushida comes in 5th position there.'
With that Kiyotaka took out his phone and started texting his girlfriend.
「ayanokouji : would you mind sending me the paper where you noted down the names of the members of the (Dragon) Group?
seen
horikita suzune is typing ••••••
horikita : sure. give me a second.
horikita suzune sent an attachment file. Click to open.
ayanokouji : thanks a lot. I think I figured out the pattern but it's way too early to say that. I'll let you know when I am 100 % confident.
seen
horikita suzune is typing •••••
horikita : alright. Good to know. But you should go to sleep right now. It's way too late to stay awake you know? It might be detrimental for your health.
ayanokouji : why are you awake then?
horikita : …….
ayanokouji : i know that just like me you are trying to figure out the pattern. My exams are over. I have a lot of free time. I can catch up on my sleep whenever I want. Whereas you still have meetings to attend. Go to sleep.
seen
horikita : very well. It seems it's your victory this time. However don't stay awake for too long or I will beseech the power of the demonic compass upon you.
Good night♡.」
Kiyotaka looked at the final text his girlfriend sent him with a weirded out gaze as it was the first time she sent him an emoji while texting.
'Whatever. Now let's see if my theory is indeed correct or not.'
With that he opened the image file and slowly started jotting down the names of the members of the (Dragon) group on the empty area of the paper.
Class A : Katsuragi Kohei, Nishikawa Ryouko, Shita Shinji, Yano Koharu
Class B : Sayo Ando, Kanzaki Ryuuji, Tsukabe Hitomi
Class C : Oda Takumi, Suzuki Hidetoshi, Sonoda Masashi, Ryuuen Kakeru
Class D : Kushida Kikyou, Hirata Yousuke, Horikita Suzune
Kiyotaka soon memorised the names of the (Dragon) group and started writing them in the following order.
Dragon : Hirata, Horikita, Kanzaki, Katsuragi, Kushida.
'Bingo. It seems like this indeed is the case. However what if by chance, this pattern only works for our class though … it's never too bad to stay over conscious.'
With that he sent a message to a certain trusty spy of his, who within a second sent him all the three names of the Targets of Class-A with a message of 'put it to good use, boss👍.'
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Ayanokouji POV
I woke up at around 10:23 a.m. I looked around the room only to find Koenji humming to himself while scrolling through his mobile phone. Other than him, it was completely empty. It seems like both Yukimura and Hirata are doing their own stuff. As I sat up, Koenji's eyes went towards me as he lazily raised his hand as a means of greeting.
"Good morning Kiyo-boy. I assume you had a decent sleep?", he asked to which I just gave him a small nod before walking towards the bathroom.
"Yeah. Unfortunately I stayed up very late, having to crack the pattern of the exam. So you can say my sleep schedule got screwed up because of it."
All Koenji did was hum to my words with his smug smile as he dropped his phone on the bed.
"So? Have you figured out the pattern, Kiyo-boy?"
"Yup. Having the names of 7 Targets out of 12 made it pretty easy to figure it out. All I needed was to figure it out by putting the names in that exact 1 pattern and then it got pretty easy to figure them all out. Why are you asking? Do you want to know?", I asked him as I started brushing my teeth, to which Koenji appeared to shake his head, refusing my proposal.
"Nope. It's fine for me. I would rather enjoy the remaining days by myself relaxing and enjoying my free time instead of worrying about this exam that I already completed. I know that you want your class to advance as much as possible, but I just want to let you know one thing, Kiyo-boy? You don't have to work 24/7 you know? Otherwise where's the freedom in that?"
With that Koenji put on his headphones once again before humming to himself once again as I couldn't help but rethink his words over and over again.
In order to gain freedom for the rest of my life, I'm putting the small freedom that I gained on the line and am completely wasting it, just for a future which might be uncertain. Ironic, isn't it? Even after staying miles away from that man, it seems like his shackles are still bound all over me controlling each of my actions.
I sighed to myself before splashing some water over my face.
There's no need to think about it now that I've put myself in this deep end. I've made the choice of accepting his proposal right? So I have to stay true to my words. I know that man is anything but a liar … He can deceive someone or keep information to himself, but he is not someone who will ever lie with a straight face, unlike me. He is too prideful for that.
I'll stay true to his word, and if graduating from Class-A is all it takes for me to get my freedom, I'll do whatever it takes. That's a promise.
Emd of Chapter 94
Words : 2901
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter ... You guys might get a double update today, later on, if I feel motivated enough ... since I've already completed half of it already.
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