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Volume 4, Chapter 3: Intro - Double Question

"...are you kidding?" Horikita greeted me with a blaming tone of voice. "Unfortunately it is true. Kouenji just suddenly up and ended the exam for his group" I reply to her. "Are you an idiot? Why didn\'t you stop him from rampaging around like that? That was your responsibility as his roommate" she tells me. "That\'s impossible, besides there\'s no use crying over spilt milk now" I said. The brute force method that Kouenji had used to end his group\'s exam had been circulating around the students causing the class to be in an uproar. That\'s why in yesterday\'s chat, Horikita had wanted to meet me directly. It seems she\'s still unconvinced as she was shaking her head from side to side. "I\'ll scold him for it next time I see him, I\'d like to avoid such incidents again in the future" Horikita tells me. "You should know that\'s pointless, words won\'t reach him. You\'ll just get dragged into his pace. For now, let\'s concentrate on our own groups" I said in response.

Since he\'s my roommate, I might get blamed for not having stopped him in time so I decided to change the subject. "Indeed my group is full of troublesome enemies, but I won\'t fall behind them" Horikita tells me. Her attitude is as strong as ever, and I suppose I\'ll have to leave it to her in this case. On my end, too, I\'m having a bit of trouble dealing with Ichinose, who Hoshinomiya-sensei sent to scout me out. "Speaking of which, since you\'re also a girl, I\'d like to ask you something" I tell her. "What\'s with that line? I was always a girl from the start, you know" she instantly retorts, having misunderstood my words as sarcasm as she looks at me with slightly disappointed eyes.

"No. That\'s not it, that\'s not it. I was just saying I\'d like to ask you as a girl". Since it seemed she would get angrier if I kept trying to make excuses like that, I quickly got down to business. "I would like information on Karuizawa" I tell her. As I\'m planning to make contact with Karuizawa, I need information on her. If she were to make a ranking of boys in the class, I\'m sure to be at the bottom after all. "So you\'d like to consult me on the matter of Karuizawa?" Horikita asks me. I nod. "I\'d like to keep track of my group members, but I\'m finding it a bit hard. I should be able to deal with Sotomura and Yukimura, but Karuizawa\'s a problem. After the island test ended, you once got invited to lunch by Karuizawa right?" I tell Horikita.

"You should know I already rejected her, I\'m not interested in Karuizawa-san at all. If you want information on her that badly, why don\'t you go ask Hirata-kun? If it\'s him he\'ll surely be able to set you up" Horikita replies to me. That is true, but before the exam started, I had passed out on a chance to have lunch with Karuizawa and Hirata. Surely Hirata remembers the incident as well, so I\'d like to avoid asking him with this timing. "Are you worried that she might be the "target" or something of the sort?" Horikita suddenly asks me. "That\'s part of it. But right now, it\'s impossible for me to understand Karuizawa\'s behaviour. I was just curious" I tell her. "Then it\'s a waste of time, her behaviour has no reason behind it. If you care about her, it\'ll just be a waste of your time" she replies to me. "Horikita, I don\'t think it\'s a good thing to say that about others". "Say that about others? What do you mean?" she asks me. "Of course you\'ve only seen the selfish and irritating side of Karuizawa so far. But you do know she probably does have a good side too?" I reply to her.

"Is there really a good side? I can\'t imagine it. Isn\'t she just full of flaws?" Horikita asks me. Of course, currently as far as cooperativeness goes I have to admit Horikita is equal to or better than her. "When you first meet someone, the first instinct is to judge them on their appearances right? Whether they\'re cool or cute or the such. Then you\'d judge them via dialogue to see their inner self. Whether they\'re social or aggressive or passive and such". Having said that, Horikita crosses her arms and waits for my next words. "But even that\'s just still the outside. Their real mindset will not be immediately visible from just that. Take Kushida, or Ibuki or even me for instance. The \'front\' personality and the \'back\' personality are well divided" I tell Horikita. "Does Karuizawa-san have such a divide too?" she asks me. "It\'s something most people have, even if they are not aware of it. Horikita, you have it too". Because whenever she is in front of her brother, she always exposes her true, fragile nature.

"I\'m still not entirely convinced, but I can understand that you\'ll know her better through direct contact" Horikita tells me. Of course that is easier said than done, because if I hadn\'t decided to put in the effort, I would never be able to know Karuizawa\'s true nature in the first place. "And? Is there a good use for Karuizawa-san?" Horikita asks me. "I can\'t put it clearly in words yet, but if I had to say it would be the \'ability to rule\'. She has initiative and there\'s no denying that her status in Class D is unshakeable" I tell Horikita. However, in our (Rabbit) group, I have not seen that side of her yet. This is why I thought to ascertain the true nature of Karuizawa as quickly as possible. "Assuming she has such a capability, what will you do? Will you bring Karuizawa-san into our group too?" she asks me. "I wonder about that" I tell her. While I was wondering about my answer, that man from yesterday came back to us.

"Yo, you two. Are you having a little date in the shade?". It was Ryuuen who said that. He wasn\'t with Ibuki today, but rather, approaching us with a creepy smile on his face. "You\'re pretty free yourself, even if you corner me like this, there\'s nothing you stand to gain" Horikita rebukes Ryuuen. "I\'m the one who gets to decide on that. So, have you decided to try and find the "target"?" And again Ryuuen sits down on a chair nearby without permission. "Whatever my plans are, I\'m not telling you" Horikita says. "That\'s a shame, I thought to discuss it with you. But it looks like you haven\'t made any progress with your search yet" Ryuuen tells Horikita. "That\'s interesting, are you saying you know who the "target" is then?" Horikita asks him. But looking at her with a strange expression, Ryuuen answers her as if he had expected her to ask him that from the start. "I\'ve already discovered who the "target" is, would you believe me if I said that?" Ryuuen asks Horikita. "No I don\'t. You\'re not someone like Ichinose-san or Katsuragi-kun with allies on your side. You only have enemies. Nobody would gather that sort of information for you" Horikita replies to Ryuuen.

"That\'s not true. Indeed, I\'m not in the \'making friends\' club like them. But making friends and gathering information are two completely different things" Ryuuen says in response. He spoke to Horikita with an attitude almost resembling a teacher being disappointed in their student for not getting the right answer. "Unfortunately, I\'ve already dipped my hands into this exam. Depending on the circumstances, Class C might just be the one to win" Ryuuen says. "N-no way". No, what he says might just be the truth.

The school always makes exams based on very specific criteria. The midterms were the same, the finals were the same and the island test was also the same. If you understand the \'rules\' behind the exam, it is possible to achieve a high score and produce good results. If that is true, this exam is no different. If it\'s him, he must already understand that fact. "It\'s very simple, you just have to find the "target" is all. Disassemble the structure of the group and analyze it until you find the answer". "Indeed, anyone would\'ve thought that. But will they answer honestly? Since the school guarantees anonymity, one can just remain silent and gain 500,000 points that way." Horikita tells Ryuuen. But Ryuuen answers calmly in response to Horikita\'s doubt. "I just have to make sure it\'s a situation where they would answer honestly without lies". "A situation to make them answer honestly without lies?" Horikita asks him. "Since I asked everyone for their contacts, I can simply ask them one by one without the school ever knowing." Ryuuen says. "Are you insane? This is prohibited by the school. If discovered, you\'d be expelled" Horikita asks him in shock.

"It\'s not a problem. I\'m standing here right now because it\'s not a problem. You understand the meaning of that right?" Ryuuen says. It was a brute force method Ryuuen could only use because he has the stature of an absolute tyrant. If he forcibly looks at the phone of another class\'s student, no doubt Ryuuen would be reported and expelled. But Ryuuen is dominant in Class C. Whatever he does, no one would utter a complaint. And if there is no complaint, there is no problem. It means Ryuuen\'s actions are still within the safe limits of the school\'s rules. That must be Ryuuen\'s strategy. The strategy to forcibly strip all secrets from Class C. And if that is true, Ryuuen could have the identities up to three "targets". That would be a massive hint for him in this exam.

To put in an easy to understand manner, it would be like writing the question and answer on different sides of a panel. Normally you wouldn\'t know the answer unless you turn the panel around. But if the panel is folded like a paper, it may be possible to get a hint of the answer on the other side. Basically, Ryuuen may already know the names of all the "targets" in this exam. "It seems like you finally understand the situation" Ryuuen says at last. "...Yes. But if you already know the answer, shouldn\'t you have already mailed it over to the school?" Horikita asks him. "Maybe I\'m just fooling around". "You don\'t know when someone else will arrive at the answer, you shouldn\'t be so off-guard if so" Horikita says in response. There\'s no proof, but I have a feeling Horikita\'s assumption is correct. If he already knows the answer, there\'s no point in delaying it. He should have ended it when he could.

"So, I\'m finally at the last stage". "Ryuuen-kun, by the way can I ask you something? Yesterday the (Monkey) group\'s exam ended. What do you think about that?" Horikita asks him. "Nothing in particular, I don\'t care about what the weaklings are doing". Ryuuen simply left those words behind as he walked away. "I don\'t know how much of what he said is true". Horikita had a perplexed expression on her face while staring at the back of Ryuuen who was walking away. And then with confidence, I looked beneath Horikita\'s chair and there I found a single phone with its recording mode activated. On that phone, one chat. Just one chat. Was sent to it. It had neither a ringer nor vibration activated. And did not see the full contents of the chat but for a moment, I saw the words "Sorry about yesterday" sent by someone to Ryuuen on it.

Perhaps there\'s something wrong with his class? I didn\'t want to dig any deeper into that and returned to my normal posture on my chair. Horikita quickly grasped the situation too, and quickly took out her own phone and typed this to me. "If that phone is indeed his, better not to talk carelessly" she typed to me. What she said is indeed true. "Do you think what Ryuuen said was true? What he said about pinning down the "targets" from every class. Horikita looked at me in surprise for a moment but then she quickly understood the meaning behind my words. "I wonder. I can\'t say for sure with 100% certainty, there\'s not much time for this exam after all". "You have it rough too".

"I\'m going to work you to the bone, we also need to find the "targets" as quickly as possible" Horikita then tells me. "Easier said than done, there\'s no way I can do that" I tell her. "I\'m not expecting much from you too, but I just wanted information on the (Rabbit) group from you" she says. By having this conversation, I was able to highlight Horikita\'s talent and my own incompetence. In doing so, suspicion would be diverted off me to a certain degree. After all, Ryuuen did try to eavesdrop using his own phone. "If there\'s no particular expectation on me, I\'ll give it a shot" I tell Horikita. Then without saying anything else, Horikita pressed a button on the elevator and left. Now, should I go back to my room and sleep? Or come up with a strategy for the exam?

In any case, I decided to leave Ryuuen\'s phone as it is. And with that, I decided to head back to my own room. I can also learn more about Horikita\'s group from Hirata there after all. And fortunately, Hirata, also happens to be in the same room as me. And he should be approaching this exam with a different perspective from Horikita after all. But Hirata was not in the room when I got there, only Yukimura. And he was sitting on the edge of the bed with a stern expression on his face. "Is something wrong?" I ask him. I cannot ignore a roommate like that after all, and Yukimura also realized I was there since he sighed quietly and muttered at me. "It\'s about our group. Why do we have to be Karuizawa and Sotomura?" he grumbles. "What\'s with you, all of a sudden". "Haven\'t you heard? It seems there\'s a pattern to how the groups are assigned. The (Dragon) group has the most excellent students assigned to it. That makes it worse" he says. I see now. That\'s why he was feeling anxious. Indeed, the (Dragon) group to which Horikita belongs has the best ones.

There\'s no doubt about that judging by the conversation of the teachers yesterday and Ryuuen\'s own assessment. If we go by academic ability only, however, Yukimura is up there with Hirata and Horikita too. Of course he would not be satisfied by being placed in the (Rabbit) group instead. Yukimura did avoid using her name directly but he was looking at me intently. There\'s nothing I can do even if you say that. I then decided to head to my bed and wait until Hirata gets back. But Yukimura was looking at me with suspicious eyes the whole way. "Ayanokouji. I just want to check with you to be sure. But you\'re not the "target" right?" Yukimura asks me.

"I\'m going to deny it, but is there even meaning in checking?" I ask him in reply. "Of course, in this exam \'cooperation\' is of the essence. In other words, if you cooperate we won\'t lose" he tells me. "That\'s true. Unfortunately, I really am not the "target" here". "That\'s true right? You better not be trying to hog points for yourself" Yukimura tells me. Since it seems to be his personal policy to doubt others, that was unsurprisingly Yukimura\'s response to me. "I\'m not the "target", can I believe you\'re not as well, Yukimura?" I ask him.

"Of course I\'m not. By the way Sotomura is also not the "target", you know" Yukimura tells me. This was a confirmation between friends, almost like a code word saying \'do not betray each other\'. "I also asked Karuizawa and she denied being the "target" too but believing in her words is a different matter" Yukimura continues. It seems Yukimura, who dislikes Karuizawa, is inclined to disbelieve her words. Of course, to know for sure, he could have simply checked her phone but given the relationship between them, that seems difficult to do. It seems Yukimura was satisfied for now since he didn\'t ask any further. I bury my face in the pillow and closed my eyes. I felt uneasy having someone in the room watch me sleep, but it\'s not that unpleasant. I can be as adaptive as a chameleon when I need to be, in terms of making friends as well. It seems even Yukimura has started to acknowledge me as a friend. I then fall asleep after hearing Yukimura\'s slight sigh again from across the room.