Real teaching, hypocritical gray life

"Although Horikita-san doesn't think we can cooperate across classes in this exam, I think there is still a way."

"cooperate?"

"Well, although Class A's defense is difficult to break, I think this is also an opportunity. So I tried to lay out everything."

"What do you mean by everything...?"

"The purpose of this exam is to find the favored ones. In this case, it is a routine operation for me to exclude the members who are not favored. So I want to tell you..." Ichinose looked at me first, then said firmly, "I am not a favored one, and I will use this to win for the team."

"If I were a favored person, I would want to hide my identity. Even if someone else asked me, I would still do the same... because I can do my best for Class B."

The three of us fell into an indescribable strange silence at the end of this conversation.

I can understand the reasoning, in order to find the preferential treatment, the scope of the characters was narrowed down, and talking to Ayanokouji was to seek help from other classes.

In that case, shouldn't she take out her phone to prove her innocence? Or is Ichinose the kind of stupid woman who thinks she can convince others with just her words?

"..."

No, maybe there is another possibility.

If that hypothetical principle is true, I can understand everything Ichinose did before. Why did he show that expression last night, why did he pay so much attention to me.

Then if I am not mistaken, my text messages will be deliberately directed out by her.

"...Would that be weird?"

Seeing that we were all silent, Ichinose spoke anxiously.

"No... It's just that you're so frank that I'm a little confused... Normally, shouldn't you lie here to cover it up? Say that if you were the one being favored, you would choose the option of the group winning."

"I will win for the sake of the class. So I won't lie about things like this. I will tell necessary lies when competing in exams, but I try to be as honest as possible in normal times."

"This is my only chance to break the impasse in this exam..."

"..."

"Ah, Ayanokouji-san, you don't have to force yourself to answer. I'm just expressing my feelings. I think if I convey this to you, things will go more smoothly."

"I understand. Then I am not the one who is being treated preferentially, and the surviving students are also—"

"Wait, wait a minute, I don't mean for you to reveal your identity."

"But if I don't answer, it may hurt the relationship later. Although I can't maximize the cooperative relationship, it is also very important to consolidate it."

"But wouldn't that be like me forcing you to say it?"

"I fully agree with your strategy. This is my own choice... I can definitely say that Yukimura is not one of them, but I don't know the situation of Karuizawa and the other villages."

Ayanokouji did not hide anything from this, and told the result as frankly as Nozose.

"This, this... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause trouble to you."

Ichinose was suddenly attacked by guilt. Maybe it would be better for me to actively cooperate at this time, but the price would be that I would completely lose the chance of recovery.

But if Ichinose asks me, I might suffer the same consequences. It's really bad to be attacked from both sides.

But in the final analysis, the current situation is the result of my own actions.

"Um... Could you please make an exchange with me..." Ichinose asked me weakly.

Facing this kind of development, I could get rid of suspicion if I could refuse it at this moment, but after seeing Ichinose's expression, I just couldn't make up my mind.

[So what?]

The unknown mumbling resurfaced in my mind, and then my thoughts followed this consciousness and took action.

Actions that I immediately regretted upon coming to my senses.

"can."

I opened my phone and placed the school's email directly in front of Ayanokouji. After confirming the message, Ayanokouji said he understood.

Afterwards, Ichinose called Hamaguchi over again and repeated the situation to him, and he verbally admitted that he was not the one being favored.

"You didn't confirm your class."

“This should be the feeling of leaving it to individuals to act autonomously.”

"That's really thankful. But I don't have anything to tell you about Class D. To be honest, we can't say that we have a good relationship, and there is no guarantee that what you ask will be true."

"Well, it's okay. Even if you're the only one willing to help, I'll be satisfied."

"Then, how do you plan to find the person who mistreats you? Even if I ask him directly, I don't think he will come forward. It would be difficult for us to trust each other just by words."

"Isn't this exam about trying to do something about this?"

After saying that, Ichinose smiled.

It was an extremely sweet smile, but in my eyes it was a devil's smile. Unlike the mysterious smile of Mona Lisa, behind Ichinose's sweet temptation was a strange viciousness.

After finishing this conversation, Ayanokouji left this place. I can basically predict what will happen next.

"Then the next step is to tell Kanzaki-san about the outcome of this matter."

After confirming his actions, Ichinose took out his cell phone and made a call. At the same time, my cell phone rang.

[Call from Ichinose]

"…Wrong number, Ichinose."

"Eh, is that so? ...Ah, sorry, because your contact information and Kanzaki-san's are next to each other in my phone."

"fine."

I shook it and hung up the phone.

After this little episode, my suspicions grew even more.

Yeah, I don't want to confirm.

I already know the truth of the matter, but I still don't want to face the outcome.

Although I had predicted my own betrayal before the exam, I didn’t expect it to be so thorough, to the point that the preparations I had made lost their original meaning.

Yes, at least Ichinose will be able to see my true face after this exam.

"..."

[If the hypothetical principle can be affirmed, then why was the betrayal text message not sent?]

I still have a glimmer of hope in my heart.

The luck that I never had before but was given to me by Ichinose today, or the expectation that was born from another me.

I hate this feeling.

Chapter 101 Joker

"If I remember correctly, when the party ended at 1pm, Sotomura-san told us that Karuizawa-san has a boyfriend now, and that Hirata-san who is also in Class D..."

On the second night of the special exam for favored students, Hamaguchi and I arrived at the Rabbit Team room together. However, as soon as we stepped into the room, we noticed the gloomy atmosphere. The three girls from Class C stared at Karuizawa with malicious expressions, while Karuizawa and Machida from Class A were leaning against each other, even holding hands, so close that one could mistake them for a couple.

"Yeah, that's what Sotomura-san said, you're not mistaken."

"Then her behavior is too...bold."

"Maybe Karuizawa-san is just an open person... Also, she has some misunderstandings with the girls in Class C, so maybe she's looking for help or something."

"...How should I put it? It's hard for me to comment on this kind of thing."

“No one is forcing you to express your opinion.”

"But I really can't stand this kind of behavior."

Hamaguchi exhaled a breath, closed his eyes and pressed hard on his temple with one hand, trying to clear his mind.

There is still too little information about the character of Karuizawa.

Less than three weeks after the start of school, she had won over Hirata, a very popular girl, and gained a high reputation in the girls' group.

If I only analyze this information, then I will most likely conclude that Karuizawa is a scheming woman who is obsessed with power.

However, this would make it impossible to explain her behavior in this exam.

She just agreed with other people's opinions and even had no independent opinion. Although she was very tough in the face of the difficulties raised by the students in Class C, she was unable to solve the problem independently, which can be seen from her behavior of staying close to Machida. If I am not mistaken, the conflict between her and the students in Class C has intensified, and she even made some mistakes at all costs.

What is revealed only from the side is inconsistent with the hypothesis.

If we divide the identities of people at all levels of society into a pyramid and select the highest level through competition, then it is difficult for me to define the existence of Karuizawa Megumi. She may be a powerful person, or a humble weakling who relies on the power of the host like a humanoid parasite, or maybe it is something else.

After sitting in their seats for a long time and being on guard against each other, Ichinose finally arrived at the battlefield. From then on, all members of the Rabbit Team were in place.

"Everyone, please give me your guidance."

"Well, it's a waste to not talk for an hour, so let's play poker this time."

Perhaps sensing the heavy atmosphere, Ichinose did not rush to talk to the others one by one as he did before. The situation on the field did not change at all, and Ichinose was used to it. After confirming the attitude of Class A, the familiar poker cards were taken out again.

Yukimura-san desperately observes our expressions, trying to get clues about who is doing the favoritism.

Machida and his friends still did not change their mind. They left the conference table and casually scrolled through their phones in the corner.

It was mentioned earlier that Morishige, one of the three members of Class A, was under the command of Sakayanagi, another leader of Class A. The reason why he followed Katsuragi's instructions was because Sakayanagi missed the exam due to illness, and I learned this news not long ago.

As for the girls in Class C, except for Ibuki, they were chatting about desserts and clothes. Ibuki didn't do anything, but I couldn't figure out what she was thinking.

Then Ichinose drew the card on my left, which was a two.

"Ah, I lost again."

"Excuse me, how many rounds have you lost?"

"... twenty-seven... or thirty-one? I can't quite remember."

We decided at the very beginning that the theme of this poker game was to "draw the joker card", which means who gets the joker card last. Then, every game after that, the joker card will be passed to me and will not move forward. Even in the two-choice phase of Ichinose just now, I still couldn't escape this curse, it was as if there was an irresistible factor behind it.

I abandoned myself and threw the Joker into the deck, consciously accepting the punishment of a loser.

"...Or I can help you shuffle the cards this time."

"The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. I understand this principle, so don't pity me."

I directly rejected Hamaguchi's kindness and actively ignored the sympathetic looks from people around me.

If you don't look at me like this, maybe I won't feel better. In addition, I should control the messy mouths of the outsiders. I feel that the degree of ridicule is no less than that of the keyboard warriors on the Internet.

After dealing the cards to everyone, I started to check the cards in my hand.

First up - The Joker.

"..."

I knew it would come, but I didn't expect it to come so soon, and it would be the first one.

To be honest, I don't hate clowns, at least they also have extraordinary wisdom. The examples I cite are not the clowns in operas or the comic performances in acrobatics, or those who are not serious and good at making fun of others, but the opposite of heroes.

Just as Sherlock Holmes can be called a hero, his opponent Professor James Moriarty is a clown. They have outstanding wisdom to play with people, and their sharp and meticulous insight can always turn danger into safety and grasp the key points from thousands of clues.

As a loser, I can only be a clown.

As if he noticed something was wrong with me, Ichinose moved to my side regardless of the rules and looked through the cards in my hand. I didn't cover my eyes, and it was obvious that I was going to lose again.

"Why don't we play another game?"

"...Could it be that the joker is falling over there again?"

"That's it."

"I'm impressed by your luck, too. Shouldn't the class mascot always be accompanied by good luck?"

"Unfortunately, it seems that my personal luck is very bad, and it seems that all the luck points are distributed to the team."

"I didn't expect that His Highness Luo was assigned the wrong reset point when he was reborn. There's nothing I can do about it. After all, I've made the same mistake before."

The prerequisite for rebirth is one's own death, so please don't curse me so bluntly.

"So continue Monopoly?"

"At least finish this one first."

I was unwilling to withdraw from the 'Draw Ghost Cards' event with a complete defeat, so I sent a final request to stay.

"Well, then I'll go first." After saying that, Ichinose took the joker card from my hand with lightning speed and accuracy, and stuck out his tongue at me at the same time.

"..."