I'm in a real religion, why are all the people who confess to me girls?

"I don't think they said we had to stay after the exam to wait for the final results, right? I guess I'll go back and get some sleep."

……

After the challenges from Class A, Class C, and Class D all failed.

The only challenge that remains unchallenged is from Class B.

The students from Class A were originally chatting and laughing here, waiting for the exam to end.

However, after two groups of people went in, both attempts ended in failure.

That's when Class A realized something was wrong.

Even Sakayanagi began to hesitate, though she had anticipated the failures of the previous two groups.

The problem is that, apart from proving that neither the male nor female students have an advantage, these two groups can provide her with any other information.

When these two groups came out of the back door, they were either furious or dejected. This made Sakayanagi herself feel a little uneasy. But when she thought that inside was the secret weapon that Amane could entrust to Horikita to deal with her, Sakayanagi had to be on high alert.

After looking around and finding no better options, Sakayanagi decided to take matters into his own hands.

Just then, the door to the room was opened.

Horikita crossed his arms and looked at Sakayanagi and his group with some impatience.

In fact, there is no prohibition against people taking on the challenge from going out, but it's probably only Horikita who went outside directly like that.

"Can't you guys hurry up? With so many people dawdling like this, when will we ever finish the challenge?"

Faced with Horikita's provocation and challenge, Sakayanagi, as the class leader, had no choice but to go.

"Horikita, you're too impatient. Since you're so eager to fail, let me play with you."

Chapter 175: A Glimmer of Hope (6K)

When Horikita saw that Sakayanagi had finally made a move, the provocative expression on her face immediately disappeared, showing that she had only acted that way to provoke Sakayanagi into making a move.

Horikita originally only needed to stay in the room where she accepted challenges and wait for the students from Class A to come and deliver the food. In any case, she could collect a challenge fee from each person who came to challenge her, so there was no need to have Sakayanagi take action in advance.

The reason Horikita chose to provoke Sakayanagi into taking action was because Horikita feared that things might get complicated if things dragged on. Although the special exam stipulated that students must leave immediately after completing the exam and were not allowed to communicate during the exam, there were always some ways to ensure communication between the two parties, such as sign language and lip reading.

Normally, the sign language required to convey information containing a lot of data is extremely complex and should not be a skill that a high school student should possess. However, she had seen Amane demonstrate it to her not long ago, so Horikita became more cautious and observed the other person's hand movements as they left through the one-way window.

Only after confirming that everything was normal could she feel at ease. Her only concern was whether they were still using lip reading to communicate, because she could only see the other person's back as they left from the window, so Horikita couldn't be sure whether they had used this method of communication.

The special exam for Class B relies heavily on luck, so there's really no need to be so wary of leaks. Even if Sakayanagi knew the exam content, he couldn't possibly guess whether he was holding a white or black piece during the challenge.

However, Amane believed that if Sakayanagi knew the challenge in advance, he would have a very high chance of solving it. Although Horikita did not believe that Sakayanagi could be so strong as to be unscientific, her trust in Amane still made her highly vigilant towards Sakayanagi.

In order to prevent Sakayanagi from learning the exam content and preparing a response as time dragged on, Horikita had no choice but to abandon his plan to continue accumulating points and instead use reverse psychology to force Sakayanagi to take action.

But... the result was just as she had expected: Sakayanagi decided to challenge Class B herself.

However, Sakayanagi seems to be the one taking the initiative.

Upon entering, Sakayanagi glanced at Majima-sensei, who calmly nodded in greeting before sitting down without saying a word.

Sakayanagi wasn't too surprised by this. Although Majima-sensei was usually a good homeroom teacher who cared about his students, he was also an impartial and upright person. It was practically impossible to get him to go easy on you without special circumstances.

Sakayanagi and Horikita sat facing each other, with Totsuka sitting beside them.

Originally, Sakayanagi had planned to take Hashimoto along for the challenge. Now, among the remaining boys, only Hashimoto could cooperate well with her. As for what Kushida told her, Sakayanagi actually suspected that it was a smokescreen deliberately released by Amane to confuse her with half-true and half-false information.

She was finally relieved when she heard Majima-sensei announce the exam rules, believing that Kushida's information was accurate. However, she still did not believe that Hashimoto would be turned by Amane, so she planned to take him with her to take on the challenge.

But then a little unexpected thing happened. Hashimoto, who had been keeping quiet all along, suddenly volunteered to join Sakayanagi in the challenge.

This overly proactive behavior immediately aroused Sakayanagi's suspicion. After a brief period of consideration, Sakayanagi, not wanting to take any risks, declined Hashimoto's self-recommendation and instead chose Totsuka to participate with her.

Why would Sakayanagi choose Totsuka, with whom she had a past conflict, when she could have chosen another boy instead?

The reason is actually quite simple. In Sakayanagi's view, although Totsuka has a conflict with her, it is a private matter within the class. Even if Totsuka does not obey her management, he can't possibly side with outsiders during special exams, can he? If he does that, how will he live in the class in the future?

Moreover, Katsuragi, whom Totsuka trusted, had become a traitor and defected to Class B. This was undoubtedly a huge blow to Totsuka, as evidenced by Totsuka's extremely hostile attitude towards Class B and Katsuragi at the hotel last time.

Therefore, Sakayanagi believed that even if everyone else was turned, Totsuka would not be.

Therefore, the male candidate, Sakayanagi, chose Totsuka to participate in the challenge with her.

"Our rules are simple: guess black or white. One of you will be blindfolded as the challenger, while the other will act as an assistant and participate in the challenge with my assistant, Kushida."

"Except for the challenger who needs to be blindfolded, everyone else is not required to be blindfolded. First, I will take out a white chess piece and a black chess piece and randomly distribute them to the left and right hands. The challenger needs to choose 'left hand' or 'right hand'. After choosing, they can ask the two assistants questions about the black or white of the chess piece or about topics related to this special exam. Before answering, the assistants will draw lots with 'Truth' written on them. The assistants must answer the challenger's questions truthfully. If the assistant draws 'Lies', they must give the challenger an incorrect answer."

Sakayanagi initially thought the rules were quite simple, as she was very good at this kind of luck-based game. However, her expression changed when she heard the later parts of the rules.

She finally understood why Amane dared to have Horikita oversee things here; it was because to pass this challenge, she needed to defeat neither Horikita nor Amane.

Instead, you must first defeat your inner self.

The more suspicious a person is, the more difficult this challenge will be for them. So, who is the most suspicious?

The answer, of course, is that the smarter a person is, the more suspicious they are.

Sakayanagi is the most suspicious type of person, and this challenge seems to have been specially designed to trap her in her own paranoia.

For a time, Sakayanagi even asked Totsuka to guess the color of the chess pieces while she acted as his assistant.

But when she thought about Totsuka's strength...

Totsuka certainly has some ability, but he can't show it at all in this kind of scheming special exam, while Kushida is sitting on the other side.

If we were to ask someone else for help, we would probably have to rely on Kushida, who just made a deal with Sakayanagi.

But Sakayanagi never even considered it. She knew that Kushida would never try anything funny on such an important occasion. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a question of whether he could stay in the class, but rather that he would definitely be expelled.

Kushida would never take such a risk for the sake of a previous transaction involving hundreds of thousands of points. Besides, it is indeed possible to play tricks on someone like Horikita without being discovered, but someone who could do that is definitely not Kushida.

"Then I'll be the challenger. I'm counting on you, Totsuka-kun. Oh, by the way... could I check the pieces before the challenge begins?"

Sakayanagi made a reasonable request, and since Kamuro had also inspected the pieces, Horikita handed over the two pieces to Sakayanagi without much thought.

Sakayanagi's inspection was much more thorough than Kamuro's. He not only observed the color of the two pieces but also gently dropped them on the ground next to him, seemingly to determine their material.

However, Horikita saw these inspections as nothing more than a bluff. In the end, all she needed was a 'black' or 'white' answer; she didn't require any other response.

Even the color of the chess pieces was indicated by the assistant. There was no need for Sakayanagi to check the chess pieces so carefully. In this special exam, if one wanted to cheat on the chess pieces, the only way would be to change their color, such as taking out two black pieces or two white pieces, which would affect Sakayanagi's result.

But Totsuka and Mashima-sensei aren't just for show; how could they not see such obvious cheating?

Therefore, Horikita believed that Sakayanagi's act of putting on a serious inspection was simply a way to put pressure on her, and that this trick wouldn't fool her.

After the inspection was completed, Sakayanagi put on a blindfold, and Horikita began to shake the two pieces in his hands and then distribute them between his left and right hands for Horikita to choose from.

"I choose the left hand."

Without a second thought, Sakayanagi chose the piece on his left.

Horikita opened his left hand, inside which lay a white chess piece.

"Can you put the chess piece in my hand?"

Horikita hesitated for a moment when faced with Sakayanagi's request, but still chose to hand the chess piece to Sakayanagi.

"Thank you."

Sakayanagi held the Go piece, rubbing it to himself, a smile playing on his lips.

"Kushida-kun, what color is this Go piece in my hand?"

"It's black."

After receiving an answer from Kushida, Sakayanagi looked at Totsuka.

Just when everyone thought Sakayanagi would definitely ask what color the chess pieces were, he suddenly asked a strange question.

"Totsuka-kun, are you a boy or a girl?"

Faced with this sudden and strange question, Totsuka was completely stunned, and it was Horikita who reminded him.

Please do not ask questions that are irrelevant to this exam.

"Is this a trivial question? I think it's very important, because... Totsuka-kun, what color is this Go piece in my hand?"

"It's black!"

At this moment, everyone's eyes were on Totsuka.

"Some of you are lying..."

It's impossible for two people to give the same answer to this question; if that happens, it proves that one of them is lying.

The price of telling lies is...

"Totsuka violated the challenge rules, and this challenge is deemed a failure."

Majima announced the results of the challenge without any hesitation.

Horikita finally showed a relieved expression.

"You lost, Sakayanagi-san."

"I lost, but I didn't lose to you. Totsuka-kun, you did a great job."

Sakayanagi let out a cold laugh, while Totsuka stood there without any remorse, staring back at Sakayanagi.

"The challenge is over. Challenger, please leave immediately."

Urged on by Ms. Majima, Sakayanagi picked up his cane and slowly left through the back door, completely ignoring Totsuka behind him.

"Totsuka-kun, you..."

Horikita was about to say something when Totsuka reached out and interrupted him.

"This was my own choice, and..."

Totsuka glanced somewhat guiltily at the impassive Mashima-sensei, then swallowed the rest of his sentence.

He simply gave Horikita a look that could only be understood but not explained.

however……

Horikita was completely bewildered; she had no idea what Totsuka's gaze meant.

What should we do next?

Kushida sat quietly in the corner the whole time, showing no emotional fluctuations because of anyone's wins or losses. In her eyes, everyone was just a puppet dancing on Amane's script. However... this challenge was an unfinished script. Amane's script had only been written up to this point. The challenges to come would depend on Horikita's luck.

If Amane were here, according to her estimation, Sakayanagi wouldn't send anyone to probe but would directly challenge her. If she defeated Sakayanagi from the start, Class A's morale would definitely be severely damaged. Coupled with Amane's 'undefeated' reputation, the remaining people would probably be reluctant to give up and would rather choose to lose than come up and help Amane boost her record.

Although Horikita defeated Sakayanagi, it only proved that the challenge was difficult. Everyone before them had failed, and Sakayanagi's failure was unexpected but not shocking. In addition, Horikita's reputation was not comparable to Amane's. So, although the Class A students were in turmoil after seeing Sakayanagi's failure, they were calmed down by Hashimoto.

"Hashimoto-san, what should we do next?"

After seeing Sakayanagi's failure, Motohi Chikako, somewhat at a loss, came to Hashimoto's side.

Although Hashimoto wanted to say, "How should I know what to do?", he was the only one in the entire class who could carry the banner of leading Class A to victory. In other words, in just a few minutes, he had become the backbone of the class. If he gave up, the class would be immediately swallowed by despair, just like Class D.

Hashimoto couldn't help but feel sorry for the D-class students who always looked miserable while eating their vegetable set meals in the cafeteria, thinking that they deserved to live such a miserable life after losing their class leader.

Now the same situation has befallen him.

Sakayanagi was unable to give them any more instructions, which left Hashimoto, who had been giving Sakayanagi instructions, at a loss as to what to do.

"Let's gather everyone together first."

Hashimoto could only try to stabilize morale first and then see what the next step would be, but he also knew that the school wouldn't give him that much time to prepare.

The results will be announced at 11:30, which means the exams will end around 11:00, and the current time is 10:30.

They have less than half an hour left to either complete the challenge or... concede defeat.

Soon, all the boys and girls in Class A who hadn't taken the exam gathered in front of Hashimoto.

It must be said that Class B's lineup is quite impressive compared to Class A, and their theoretical strength completely overwhelms that of other classes when participating in intelligence-based tests.

Among the boys who consistently score above 90 on all regular exams are Nakajima, Matoba, Shimazaki, Shichijo, Sugio, and Ishida. Among the girls are Motohi, Morishita, Nishikawa, Tamiya, Nakajima, Rokkaku, and Tanihara, among many other outstanding individuals with academic abilities ranging from B+ to B. In terms of overall average ability, the previous Ichinose class was simply perceived as having very average abilities by outsiders because of Ichinose himself.

In reality, no class can compare to Class A in terms of average performance. Students like Shinmuro and Kito, whose academic performance is average, would be considered failing in Class A.

Class A is a class where students with a C-level academic ability can be classified as poor students.

Perhaps due to the high average, Class A has many outstanding talents but few leaders. Sakayanagi is one, and Katsuragi, who left, is another. Out of forty people, there are only two people with leadership abilities.

Why did no one complain after Katsuragi left? Because after Katsuragi left, the only person left in the class with leadership skills was Sakayanagi. If Sakayanagi stopped taking charge one day, the disintegration of the class would be imminent.

What? Hashimoto too?

Hashimoto himself didn't think he had leadership talent. Although in terms of execution, Hashimoto was even better than Ayanokoji, who was always slacking off, he was still just a useful pawn. If the player is gone, do you expect the pawn to win the game on its own?