"Saiki-kun, you're actually a very capable student, aren't you? Are you even more capable than Ayanokoji?"
Chabashira Sae asked with a smile.
Just as Saiki was about to deny it, he caught Chabashira Sae's thoughts.
[This question might be a way to test Saiki's abilities. If Saiki can see through Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's true strength, then it means he's not an ordinary student.]
"Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. If you're talking about academics, my grades are about the same as Ayanokoji-kun's, though I did get a bit luckier in the last exam."
Saiki replied.
"Is that so?"
Chabashira Sae narrowed her eyes slightly.
"This class exam is quite important for us. If we win and Class A loses, we'll have a chance to overtake them."
"Let's hope so. It'll depend on the opponents and the exam items assigned to us."
Saiki replied.
Chabashira Sae didn't say much more.
"Let's go in."
Soon, Saiki followed Chabashira Sae into the multipurpose classroom, where the homeroom teachers and students from each class were gathered.
Class A's Command Tower was Sakayanagi Arisu, Class C's was Ichinose Honami, and Class D's was Kaneda Satoru. It seemed that all of them were students with protection points.
"Now that the Command Towers from each class are gathered, I'd like to proceed with the process of deciding the opposing classes. Each of you will draw a slip of paper. The student who draws the slip with a red dot will be given the right to choose."
Mashima Tomonari, Class A's homeroom teacher, spoke up and had the four students stand in front of the drawing box.
The teacher urged the students to draw starting with Class A, but Sakayanagi Arisu refused.
"There's a saying—what's left is blessed. I can draw last. Please go ahead, Saiki-kun."
Sakayanagi Arisu smiled at Saiki and spoke slowly.
[So, Saiki is the leader of Class B?]
"Sure."
Saiki didn't refuse and walked up to the drawing box.
With his X-ray vision, he naturally knew which slip had the mark.
According to the plan, Saiki was supposed to face Class A.
However—
Saiki drew one of the slips and opened it. It was a plain white slip with no mark.
Next, it was Ichinose Honami and Kaneda Satoru's turn to draw, and they also didn't draw the marked slip.
'Yare yare, this is my plan.'
Saiki thought to himself.
Although he wanted to face Class A, Saiki didn't plan to choose them directly.
After all, his classmates had already expressed their desire to face the weakest Class D. If it got out that Saiki had actively chosen Class A, it could cause a lot of trouble.
It was better to leave the choice to Sakayanagi Arisu.
So, earlier, Saiki had used his psychic abilities to control the slips Ichinose Honami and Kaneda Satoru drew, ensuring they also didn't get the choice.
"Just as I expected."
Sakayanagi Arisu smiled slightly, then drew a slip and opened it. It had a red dot on it.
Seeing that Sakayanagi Arisu had drawn the right to choose, Kaneda Satoru's heart skipped a beat.
[Oh no, Class A got the right to choose? This is the worst-case scenario... The class with the right to choose will probably pick the weakest class... It's likely that Class A will face Class D.]
"In that case, I'll choose Class B!"
Sakayanagi Arisu turned to Mashima Tomonari and said.
"Class B? I'd like to hear your reasoning."
Mashima Tomonari asked, feeling a bit puzzled. After all, in this exam, the class with the right to choose should prioritize the weakest class.
"Because I want to widen the gap between us and Class B."
Sakayanagi Arisu maintained her smile.
"The class points between Class B and Class A are very close. If we win against Class B in this exam, we can double the gap."
Sakayanagi Arisu's tone was as if victory was already assured.
"Next, I'll explain the duties of the Command Tower..."
Mashima Tomonari then demonstrated how the Command Tower should act—inputting exam items, selecting participants... and intervening during the exam.
The exam situation would be projected on a computer screen, and the Command Tower could send intervention instructions via handwritten notes, which would then be transmitted by the school's system. Only one participant in each exam item would be allowed to wear headphones to receive instructions.
'Yare yare, this seems so troublesome... Mechanical transmission is far less convenient than telepathy—but if, as Horikita said, they prepare countermeasures in advance, I won't need to do much. It doesn't seem like there's a rule against eating here, so I could just leisurely eat cake and read manga... Will there be a teacher supervising? If so, I can't just do whatever I want.'
Saiki reached up and lightly rubbed his chin.
Meanwhile, Sakayanagi Arisu's gaze was fixed on Saiki.
[Saiki seems to be deep in thought. Is he already strategizing?]
Sakayanagi Arisu would never have guessed that Saiki was actually just thinking about how to slack off.
"That's all for the duties and operation methods of the Command Tower. Any questions?"
Mashima Tomonari asked.
"None."
"Then we'll end here today. If you need to review the operation methods or anything else, you're allowed to come to the multipurpose classroom with a teacher's supervision up to a week before the exam. Dismissed."
After the dismissal, Saiki returned to his dorm and shared the information he had gathered with the others.
This included Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
"Honestly, if this were an individual competition, the two of us would almost certainly not lose. But this exam is a battle that involves commanding the entire class. We need to mobilize the entire class, which means we need to have a deeper understanding of the students in our class."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said slowly.
[Even legendary strategists like Sun Tzu would have no chance if they led an army of children against seasoned adults. To fight, we need one major prerequisite: to understand Class B's current potential. Who likes or dislikes whom, what they're good at, what they're not good at—without understanding these combinations, the path to victory won't open.]
'...'
Saiki felt a bit helpless but asked:
"Do you have any ideas?"
"We can ask Kushida or Karuizawa about the situation of each student in the class. For the girls, it shouldn't be a problem. As for the boys... Hirata's condition has been a bit off since the exam."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said.
'Why not just start a poll in the group chat or something... This is way too troublesome...'
Saiki didn't want to ask each person individually, so he waved his hand.
"That's not necessary."
"Huh?"
Hearing Saiki's words, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's mind began to race.
[Understanding the information about the students in the class should be a top priority, but Saiki says it's not necessary... Could it be that Saiki already knows everything about everyone?]
In Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's mind, this thought emerged.
'Hey, hey, that's not it...'
Saiki didn't expect Ayanokoji Kiyotaka to come to such a conclusion.
In a sense, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka wasn't wrong. Saiki was well-informed about the class.
But at this point, Saiki could only press on:
"Making a big fuss would be too troublesome. We can split up. You go ask Kushida about the class members, and I'll ask Karuizawa tonight."
"Sure, thanks for your hard work."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka seemed to think of something.
"By the way, for this exam, it seems there's only one 1v1 item. Do you have any thoughts?"
"Not for now."
"I see... We'll deal with that later. Horikita should also be investigating the other students' situations."
After exchanging a few more words, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Saiki went their separate ways.
That night, Saiki called Karuizawa Kei to his room to ask about the girls' information.
Although this was meaningless to Saiki, if he didn't do anything, others would naturally become suspicious.
Soon, Karuizawa Kei told Saiki everything she knew.
"Thanks for your hard work. Get some rest."
After pretending to take some notes, Saiki prepared to send Karuizawa Kei on her way.
But at that moment, Karuizawa Kei stopped.
"Kusuo, I didn't expect you to take on the role of Command Tower this time. Why?"
Karuizawa Kei asked curiously.
"Because the Command Tower doesn't have to do anything."
Saiki spoke his true thoughts—
But of course, no one would believe that.
[Kusuo actually wants to protect the others in the class!]
Karuizawa Kei thought to herself, her lips curling into a smile as she continued to ask.
"By the way, do you know why you received praise votes from other classes?"
Karuizawa Kei's small brain couldn't figure out the reason.
"I'm not sure... But Sakayanagi just wanted to expel Yamauchi, so she tricked him and randomly chose a target, which happened to be me."
"Is that so... But... Did you have anything to do with Manabe's expulsion?"
Karuizawa Kei looked at Saiki.
[If it's Saiki, he might even be able to manipulate the exam results of other classes... Could he have deliberately caused Manabe's expulsion... because Manabe was one of the few people at school who knew about my past...]
"Not at all."
Saiki answered firmly.
"Really? That sounds just like you!"
Hearing Saiki's words, Karuizawa Kei's smile widened.
"I'll head back now! Get some rest!"
Soon, Karuizawa Kei left the room.
But before she left, Saiki heard her thoughts.
[White Valentine's Day is coming up. What should I give Saiki-kun?]
'Yare yare, there's a White Valentine's Day too?'
Saiki shook his head.
"Forget it, let's focus on the current situation."
The next day, Saiki arrived in the classroom, and Horikita Suzune quickly held a class meeting to discuss the exam items.
However, before the meeting started, Hirata Yosuke left the classroom.
Since the class vote ended, Hirata Yosuke had become a completely different person. He didn't interact with others and didn't participate in any class activities.
[In the end, I couldn't do anything right. I couldn't protect anyone.]
Saiki looked at Hirata Yosuke's back and could clearly hear his thoughts.
Hirata Yosuke was still deeply consumed by guilt.
'Yare yare, if this continues, things might get worse. Hirata is one of the few normal people in the class.'
"Hirata-kun!"
A few students tried to chase after Hirata Yosuke to bring him back, but Horikita Suzune stopped them.
"We're about to start the discussion. Do you want to reduce our numbers further?"
Hearing Horikita Suzune's words, the students stopped.
"By the way, Koenji, you stayed?"
Sudo Ken looked at Koenji Rokusuke in surprise.
"Heh heh, I'm a member of this class, of course I'll participate."
Koenji Rokusuke said with a smile.
But clearly, no one in the class believed him.
"However, I hope this discussion can end quickly, and I hope we can resolve all the issues this time. After all, I'm quite busy."
"That's a difficult request. This special exam can't be decided in a day. Even after deciding the items, to ensure victory, the related class activities will have to continue for a long time."
Horikita Suzune said seriously.
But Koenji just smiled and didn't say anything more.
"Then, let's begin the formal discussion."
Horikita Suzune looked around, her gaze sweeping over the students' faces.
"What kind of exam content should we create?"