One hour earlier, in Class D's classroom.
"Ryuen, it seems our time as classmates is coming to an end."
Manabe Shiho's face was filled with a triumphant smile as she looked at Ryuen Kakeru, who was sitting in the corner of the classroom.
Faced with such provocation, the old Ryuen Kakeru would have made Manabe Shiho pay a terrible price.
But the current Ryuen Kakeru simply smiled back at Manabe Shiho and said, "Indeed, it's time to say goodbye."
Hearing Ryuen's response, Manabe Shiho thought he had completely surrendered, and her smile grew even more smug.
[He used to act so high and mighty, but now he's completely submitted. This is great! But that expression... is he still trying to keep up appearances? I thought I'd see a more desperate look!]
At that moment, Class D's homeroom teacher entered the classroom. After quieting the students, he began to announce the results of the exam.
"...The student who received the most criticism votes this time is..."
Hearing the teacher's words, Manabe Shiho provocatively looked at Ryuen Kakeru and Ibuki Mio.
It was only then that Manabe Shiho noticed that Ibuki Mio was actually smiling.
"Manabe Shiho."
At the same time, the teacher slowly called out Manabe Shiho's name.
"How... how is this possible?! There must be a mistake! There must be a mistake!"
After a moment of stunned silence, Manabe Shiho let out a hysterical scream. She stood up and pointed at Ryuen Kakeru.
"Shouldn't it be Ryuen? Why isn't it Ryuen?!"
"After offsetting the praise and criticism votes, Ryuen-kun actually has more praise votes."
The homeroom teacher, Sakagami Kazuma, adjusted his glasses and glanced at Ryuen Kakeru before continuing.
"In fact, Manabe-kun, you received over twenty criticism votes. You are undoubtedly in last place."
Hearing Sakagami's words, Manabe Shiho's vision went dark. Even her desperate screams were futile.
"What did you do? What did you do?!"
"It seems you were right. Our time as classmates is over."
Ryuen Kakeru's face broke into a sly smile as he spoke to Manabe Shiho.
Soon, Manabe Shiho was escorted out of the classroom, and Ryuen Kakeru asked Ibuki Mio to follow him outside.
"Ibuki, what did you do?"
Ryuen Kakeru asked curiously.
He could sense that Ibuki Mio had used some kind of method, but he wasn't sure what exactly she had done.
Ibuki Mio then explained their earlier plans and actions, which surprised Ryuen Kakeru.
"So, when you came to me in the middle of the night asking for personal points, it was for this?"
Ryuen Kakeru frowned.
"And I didn't expect Shiina to take the initiative."
Ryuen Kakeru hadn't anticipated that Shiina Hiyori would choose to sacrifice Manabe Shiho to protect him.
"Shiina-kun made the judgment that you are more important to the class's future development, so she took action. I'm sure Manabe received so many criticism votes because of Shiina-kun's actions."
Ibuki Mio said.
"So, all these plans... were they all Shiina's arrangements?"
"Yes..."
After saying this, Ibuki Mio seemed to remember something and paused before continuing.
"But Shiina-kun said that this wasn't entirely her plan. It was... Saiki's arrangement. After all, there's no such thing as coincidence in this world. It wasn't a coincidence that we happened to meet Ichinose, who needed points."
"That's true."
Ryuen Kakeru narrowed his eyes slightly. Upon reflection, Ibuki Mio's words made sense. There was no such thing as coincidence in the world.
[Saiki saved me... but for what purpose? Does he want to continue using me to keep the other classes in check?]
Ryuen Kakeru's lips curled into a slight smile.
"So, he's keeping me like a caged beast? That's so like Saiki."
Meanwhile, in Class B's classroom, Yamauchi Haruki's seat was now empty.
Hirata Yosuke sat in his seat, looking utterly defeated. The other students were preparing to leave, and Saiki was the fastest to pack up his bag.
After all, he had inexplicably become first place. He was bound to be bombarded with questions later, so he had to leave now...
"Saiki-kun, could you wait a moment?"
Just as Saiki was about to leave, Horikita Suzune quickly approached him and called out to him.
'Tch.'
Saiki turned to look at Horikita Suzune.
"What is it?"
"Saiki-kun, when did you start seeing this far ahead?"
"Sorry, I don't understand what you mean."
"You became first place in the class, and clearly, students from other classes voted for you. What exactly did you do?"
Horikita Suzune hadn't expected things to turn out this way.
"I didn't do anything."
Saiki replied immediately.
He wasn't lying, because, in a subjective sense, he really hadn't done anything—
But Horikita Suzune didn't see it that way.
Saiki didn't want to continue talking with Horikita Suzune and was about to leave—
But after taking a few steps, another person appeared in front of him.
Ryuen Kakeru.
"Spare me some time."
Saiki sighed and followed Ryuen Kakeru to a secluded corner of the school.
"Since when did you become such a good person, Saiki?"
Ryuen Kakeru narrowed his eyes and looked at Saiki with curiosity.
But Saiki could still sense that Ryuen Kakeru's voice trembled slightly as he spoke.
[Saiki... this guy... is really terrifying... He's the first person to make me feel this way...]
'Are you saying I was a bad person before...? But for Ryuen Kakeru, that might actually be true... His fear of me doesn't seem to have lessened...'
Saiki replied in his mind but still spoke up.
"I don't understand what you mean."
"You used Ichinose and Ibuki to save me from expulsion. Are you trying to use my value?"
"It was just a coincidence."
Saiki replied immediately.
"I don't believe such a cheap lie."
Ryuen Kakeru said immediately.
'I'm telling the truth! Why doesn't anyone believe me?!'
Saiki felt helpless.
"I'm sure Manabe's expulsion was also your doing."
"Huh?"
Saiki hesitated for a moment. He didn't know who had been expelled from Class D, nor did he care.
"Manabe and I weren't on the same side. I'm sure you guided Ibuki and Shiina to take action against her. And this way, the past issues with Karuizawa would also be buried. Killing two birds with one stone—only you could come up with such a plan."
"..."
Saiki didn't know how to respond.
At that moment, Saiki's phone rang. Seeing the incoming call, Ryuen Kakeru smiled slightly and left.
"Saiki-kun, thank you so much this time."
"Huh?"
"No one in our class was expelled, and it's all thanks to you, Saiki-kun."
"There's no need to thank me..."
"We concentrated our votes on Kanzaki-kun, who was willing to accept criticism votes, and decided on the expulsion candidate. Then we paid twenty million points to cancel the expulsion. Although it was a tight schedule, everyone in Class B is safe!"
Ichinose Honami's voice fell silent for a moment before she continued.
"Saiki... if it weren't for you... I might have..."
Ichinose Honami almost blurted out that she had been forced to become Nagumo Miyabi's girlfriend, but after some thought, she chose to keep it to herself.
However, Saiki already knew about it.
"Anyway, thank you so much, Saiki-kun!"
"Sure..."
Faced with Ichinose Honami's rapid-fire thanks, Saiki could only respond like this.
After a while, Ichinose Honami finally ended the call, and Saiki prepared to return to his dorm.
But just then, an anonymous message suddenly appeared on his phone.
Unknown: Saiki-kun, could you come to the special teaching building now?
"Ugh, is this never going to end?"
Saiki sighed.
Meanwhile, in the special teaching building, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka looked at Sakayanagi Arisu.
"Did you call Saiki here?"
"Yes. At this point, I want to understand that person better—after all, I've realized that Saiki is one of the few students you care about in this school."
"So, what's your goal this time?"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said slowly.
"Although we were indeed planning to cooperate to deal with Saiki, this time, your motives are different, aren't they? And it seems you've also decided to postpone our showdown."
"That's true. But I have a reason for wanting to postpone the outcome this time. Although I said something similar not long ago, this exam was undoubtedly prepared by someone who wanted to expel you. In fact, someone sent me a letter asking me to expel you."
"A letter?"
Although Ayanokoji Kiyotaka asked the question, he wasn't surprised.
Or rather, this was exactly what he had expected.
"Yes. The sender is likely someone from the school who forced my father to take a leave of absence. Originally, this additional exam wasn't supposed to involve praise votes for other classes but was intended to be conducted solely through criticism votes. So, there's no mistake. This exam is completely unreasonable, don't you think?"
"If such rules were forced through, we could collude to expel any student."
"Yes. It was only because of the strong opposition from the current faculty that such a situation was avoided. Assisting in expelling you would be the most boring outcome, so I don't want you to be expelled."
"But you shifted your target to Saiki."
"I want to bring Saiki-kun into the public eye. If he's being watched by others, can he still strategize as effortlessly as before? However, I have to admit that Saiki's disguise is excellent. Even I didn't notice his existence at first."
"Is it possible that all your actions were also within Saiki's calculations? After all, in the end, even though your goal was achieved, Saiki was still the ultimate winner."
Sakayanagi Arisu fell silent for a moment but soon smiled again.
"That's possible, and I can accept it."
"In that case, why Yamauchi? Was he just a coincidence you used?"
"Do you remember? During the training camp, he bumped into me and was very rude. This is my revenge for that."
Sakayanagi Arisu's face showed a slightly sly smile.
"But I only created the opportunity. He was expelled because he was an unnecessary student in the class."
"True."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka nodded.
[In this exam, even if Sakayanagi hadn't interfered, the result would have been almost the same. In any case, Yamauchi was the least valuable student in the class. His expulsion was inevitable. But Sakayanagi called me here for another reason. When I arrived, I felt like someone was following me.]
"These are my main reasons for avoiding this exam. Additionally, if my father can return to his position soon and the school returns to normal operations, that would be great—"
"Hello, you two."
Just as they were talking, a man in a suit appeared before them.
"This is my first time at this school. Do you know where the faculty office is?"
"The faculty office? You're in the wrong place. By the way, sorry to ask, but who are you?"
Sakayanagi Arisu narrowed her eyes slightly.
"I'm the acting chairman, Tsukishiro."
The man, Tsukishiro Tokinari, waved politely and smiled gently.
"I see. But to accidentally get lost and end up here... It seems the acting chairman has a poor sense of direction—or perhaps you found us through the surveillance cameras and came to investigate. This is the place where Ayanokoji-kun and I meet during exams. If you've been monitoring us, it would be easy to come here."
Sakayanagi Arisu knew exactly why he was here.