7:57 AM
I stared at my phone early in the morning while sitting inside a luxurious café aboard the luxury cruise ship. Across from me sat Yukinoshita, her attention completely focused on the notebook in front of her as she tirelessly wrote and scribbled with her mechanical pencil.
After the rules of the special exam had been explained to all first-year students and everyone had been divided into groups, the second day began with everyone waking up early, waiting for the email from the school to reveal their roles within their groups.
The way the groups had been formed was strange at first, especially since we had to work with students from the other classes as well.
Perhaps the school was trying to use this opportunity to break the barriers between classes and help students get to know one another better.
Well...
There are students who still don't even know their own classmates.
After the awkward incident yesterday with the two girls from my group, they ended up introducing themselves to me all over again...
The whole situation became unbelievably stupid.
I think the blue-haired girl with the feminine figure was named Hasebe, and the other one was Matsushita.
I tried my best to memorize their names to avoid any more social disasters.
"So, what do you think about the exam?" Yukinoshita asked as she closed her notebook and set it aside so she could pick up the cup of tea in front of her.
What caught my attention instead were the cat stickers decorating the notebook's cover.
Doesn't that cat look exactly like the one at my house?
"Just another guessing game," I replied while taking a sip of my coffee, glancing at the notebook from the corner of my eye.
"Unless the VIP happens to be one of us," Yukinoshita said while looking into the empty space inside the café.
"Yeah."
Given the nature of the exam, if the VIP belonged to our class, it would stop being a simple guessing game and instead become a matter of protecting that person while steering events toward one of the four possible outcomes.
Naturally, we'd aim for whichever outcome benefited us the most.
Our conversation was interrupted by notification sounds coming from our phones on the table.
Yukinoshita immediately reached for hers while I lazily picked mine up to check the email.
A message from the school.
My eyes slowly scanned through every line before I finished reading and set my phone back down.
I'm not the VIP.
I let out a deep sigh, raising my coffee toward my lips before stealing a glance at Yukinoshita, who was still reading her message.
After a moment, she lowered her phone, discreetly looked around the café, then quietly slid it toward me.
I looked at her for a second before glancing down at the screen.
Yukinoshita...
Was the VIP.
Just as I expected, she had first made sure no one nearby could see before showing me.
"That changes quite a lot," I said, straightening my posture.
"Yes... I think this is a good opportunity," she replied as she placed her phone on top of her notebook.
I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.
She gently rested a finger against her chin, thinking.
"I don't think the VIP selection is random. The school probably follows some sort of system when choosing the VIPs in each class. We'll try to uncover that system."
"Hmm... Alright."
The idea that the school might be using a specific method instead of random selection certainly made sense.
I couldn't imagine them leaving it entirely to chance.
Still...
There was no way to know whether that assumption was actually correct.
If we guessed wrong...
We could lose fifty Class Points and hand them over to our opponents on a silver platter.
Everything after that would simply become a game of deception.
No one would dare force another student to reveal the message on their phone, since that would count as violence.
A game...
Every special exam is a game at its core.
The only reason they feel different is because of what's at stake.
Perhaps life itself is nothing more than a game.
"We won't tell Matsushita-san or Hasebe-san when they arrive. Let's observe the first discussion meeting first, then decide afterward," Yukinoshita said.
"Alright."
She's free to decide who she wants to tell.
She didn't even have to tell me.
...Wait.
When they arrive?
"Uh... Yukinoshita. What do you mean when they arrive?"
I thought our first discussion meeting wasn't until several hours later.
Surely Yukinoshita couldn't confuse those two things.
"Didn't I tell you? I messaged them yesterday and asked them to meet us today after receiving the school's email. We need to decide our approach beforehand."
"Huh...?"
No...
This is getting weird.
What exactly are we supposed to discuss?
And since when does Yukinoshita message other girls?
Has she actually started asking people for their contact information?
As if she had read my thoughts from my expression, Yukinoshita picked up her phone and began tapping on it before turning the screen toward me.
"I got their contact information from the class group Hirata-kun created at the beginning of the semester."
The screen showed a long list of numbers belonging to our classmates, along with messages they had exchanged.
"Wait... Hold on. I've never heard about this before," I said while tapping the table with my finger.
Since when has this existed?
And why didn't anyone invite me?
Not that I like these kinds of things in the first place...
"Oh... Sorry. I completely forgot you were ignored, so nobody added you. Sorry for hurting your feelings," Yukinoshita replied, putting her phone away again with a mischievous smile.
"Tch..."
Nothing irritates me more than that smile.
Whatever.
I'll make my own group.
And I won't invite a single person from class.
"Good morning, Yukinoshita-san."
Suddenly, two girls approached our table and greeted Yukinoshita first.
"Ah... Good morning."
Yukinoshita nodded before quietly gesturing for them to sit.
Matsushita and Hasebe had finally arrived.
Hasebe sat beside me while Matsushita took the seat next to Yukinoshita.
"The school's email arrived. Neither of us is the VIP," Hasebe said.
Well...
We already knew that before they even arrived.
Each group only has one VIP.
The two girls turned toward me, seemingly waiting for my answer as well.
"No. Me neither," I answered under their uncomfortable stares.
Their attention shifted toward Yukinoshita.
Her lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to say something but couldn't.
"Hmm..."
Matsushita looked at her from the side, clearly not expecting that reaction.
"Uh... I..."
Yukinoshita hesitated.
She quietly picked up her notebook and mechanical pencil before writing something on a sheet of paper and showing it to the others.
«I'm the VIP.»
Her handwriting was as elegant as ever.
"Ah... You...!" Hasebe suddenly shouted.
Yukinoshita quickly raised her index finger to her lips, stopping her before she could say it out loud.
While everyone else focused on that scene...
My eyes unconsciously drifted to the part hidden behind her finger.
For some reason...
I suddenly felt my face growing warm.
I immediately forced myself to focus on the coffee cup in front of me.
Stupid cup...
Stupid coffee cup...
But why had Yukinoshita suddenly changed her mind and decided to tell them?
Like I said before...
That was her decision.
"This changes everything, doesn't it?" Matsushita quietly asked while glancing around the café.
"More or less."
Yukinoshita flipped through her notebook until she reached the page where she had summarized the four possible outcomes of the exam.
"What do you all think is the best possible outcome?" she asked, sliding the notebook to the center of the table.
"Isn't gaining fifty Class Points the best one?" Hasebe replied after reading the page.
"Y-Yeah... I think Hasebe-san is right," Matsushita agreed hesitantly.
"That's true. But I think Case One is the most suitable," Yukinoshita said while pointing at the first case.
In Case One, everyone in the group submits the correct answer.
As a result, every member receives five hundred thousand Private Points, while the VIP receives one million.
"We already earned Class Points in the previous exam. This time, however, we have a chance to earn an enormous amount of Private Points. We may never get another opportunity like this."
No matter how I looked at it...
She had a point.
Half a million Private Points was the equivalent of roughly five months' worth of income, assuming the school continued giving us one hundred thousand points every month like they did at the beginning.
...Huh.
I've actually gotten better at math.
"But isn't that extremely difficult?" Matsushita murmured.
"It's impossible," Hasebe added.
Telling students from the other classes who the VIP is would create endless opportunities for betrayal.
Everything could collapse in an instant.
"Hikigaya-kun. What do you think?" Yukinoshita asked, turning toward me.
Well...
If I thought about it carefully...
It wasn't impossible.
It would simply require perfect coordination and planning.
"I don't know."
That was my short answer as I watched the girls continue discussing it.
"You didn't say it was impossible," Yukinoshita replied with a warm laugh.
I felt both girls turn their eyes toward me.
Pretending not to notice, I took another sip of my coffee.
It's fine.
I'm only saying whatever comes to mind.
"For now, we won't reveal anything during the first discussion meeting. We'll simply try to guide the conversation, especially since the other classes certainly won't hesitate to pressure one another."
Yukinoshita closed her notebook once again.
"Alright."
The two girls answered in unison.
"If students from the other classes try to attack you, don't panic or respond aggressively. Even if something serious happens... I'll step in."
She was laying out the general strategy we would follow.
"Hikigaya-kun may look like a lonely boy who's terrible at talking..."
"But he's actually good at playing with words and provoking people through sheer nonsense."
"He'll be useful too," Yukinoshita said while pointing at me.
"...Wait a second."
"Was that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Just an insult," Yukinoshita answered coldly before turning her attention back to the two girls.
"What I'm about to ask may sound strange..."
"But don't tell anyone else in our class about this."
The two girls simply stared at each other, trying to process what Yukinoshita had just said.
Perhaps she didn't want the rest of the class to know for now.
Well...
She originally hadn't even planned on telling them.
Maybe she simply decided that working together openly from the very beginning would be better.
Yukinoshita was still Yukino.
She really wasn't good at lying.