Kakeru observed the scene. Suzune had remained silent during the Dragon Group discussion, but when Houtarou arrived and beckoned to her, she followed him without hesitation.
In that moment, he understood: Class A and Class D were once again working together for this exam.
Just like in the previous island exam, Houtarou must have teamed up with Rokusuke. Now, Class D's phone exchange maneuver revealed this guy's intentions.
"Oreki!"
As Houtarou was about to leave, Kakeru called out.
"What are you planning for this exam?"
"Hmm?" Houtarou, who had come to collect Suzune, turned at Kakeru's voice, "What am I planning? We just want to make money in this exam. So I'll choose the first outcome."
First outcome — meaning no rushing to answer, taking the exam honestly, sharing the privileged student information, and having group members (except privileged students) send emails to the school. This would result in everyone, including privileged students, receiving a massive point reward.
Could this really be what he had in mind? Would this guy's plans actually align with his own?
Yeah, right. Kakeru shook his head immediately. Having fallen for tricks before, he thought carefully. There was no way Houtarou would be this generous.
Making money — indeed. This guy was both wealthy and greedy. He'd even swindled 800,000 Points immediately after discovering them. And now, for this exam, the school would freely give privileged students 500,000 or even 1,000,000 points.
Would he really let that pass without taking action? Obviously not.
He'd even schemed for the 50,000 Points they needed when returning to the ship. How could he possibly sit idle when the first outcome would grant every class and student a fortune?
The more Kakeru thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He needed to discuss this with his think tank.
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Meanwhile, after collecting Suzune, Houtarou received her report.
During the Dragon Group discussion, Kakeru had viciously attacked Class B, then explicitly stated that the Dragon Group's privileged student wasn't in Class B.
Class A, under Kōhei's leadership, maintained their stance of non-discussion.
As for Class D, following his instructions, she had contained the situation. The students were using backup phones, completely unaware if they were privileged students or not.
Only she retained her original phone — the other students' phones had been confiscated and stored in a safe.
"Then let's change the safe." Houtarou said, "You remember our plan, right? The 40 million point strategy needs everyone's participation. In today's discussion, I noticed Ichinose and the others from Class B seem eager to rush answering to find the privileged student. But Class B students are angels — mere sheep. Simple intimidation will suffice.
Class A students will back me, and for Class D, you initially let them coast through the exam, where the privileged student gets the reward while others essentially skip it. Once they learn they can earn 250,000 points by following our outcome, that's easily managed."
"So that just leaves Class C, right?" Suzune nodded and said.
"Yes. Ryūen is quite cunning, isn't he? As you noted, he's determined to find the Dragon Group's privileged student by any means necessary. We need to make him cooperate and get Class C students to complete the plan. First, we'll suppress his momentum — leave him no choice but to work with us. We'll block every path until cooperation is his only option!"
"I see." Suzune nodded.
Together, they went to the safe area where key verification was required.
"Would you like to continue storing the items in the safe?"
"Yes."
The safe staff recognized Suzune from her morning visit.
With her key in hand, they transferred the Class D students' phones to another safe.
"Since these are very important items, both I and the key should be present to open it." Suzune said.
The staff member shook their head gently.
"That won't be possible, I'm afraid. We verify information based on the key alone. Please take extra care of it. If lost, you and your homeroom teacher might need to come as witnesses." The staff member explained.
They noticed Suzune storing the students' phones.
These phones were custom-made, specially designed to ensure reliable school communications. Their cost far exceeded that of regular phones.
Based on previous cases, a replacement phone from the school cost 500,000 Points. Even at cost price, these 39 phones represented significant value.
"Is it done now?" Suzune received a new key and handed it to Houtarou.
"Not yet." He said.
Houtarou maintained 'Safe 306' where Suzune and Kikyō had initially stored items.
He added his own contribution to this safe — an A4 paper with writing on it. He also paid the safe staff for their discretion.
While this effectively meant switching the safe containing Class D's phones, others remained unaware. This was carefully planned bait for Kakeru.
Securing Class C's cooperation meant winning over Kakeru first. With such high stakes and substantial points in this exam, Kakeru wouldn't yield easily.
Though Houtarou aimed for 80 to 90 million points from all students combined, taking it all at once would trigger widespread revolt.
Better to start with half. Yet even for that, Kakeru would likely resist. His class's poor exam performance would only make them more obstinate.
So Houtarou prepared an elaborate trap. He would reveal the pattern of privileged students while ensuring Kakeru couldn't access information from other classes — only his own class's privileged student details would be exposed. This would force his cooperation.
Given Kakeru's difficult nature, he needed to learn this lesson firsthand.
As for Class A, they posed no threat. With both factions supporting the current plan, any betrayal would mark someone as the prime target for expulsion in future tests.
And with Kakeru's current financial situation, he couldn't afford to bribe Class A students. This secured Class A's position.
And during the morning's discussion in the Dragon Group, that guy had ruthlessly attacked Class B, though Honami had fought back. But Class B students surely knew about how he had made their classmate cry again. Not to mention the previous incident with Mio and Satoru being spies.
Kakeru couldn't access any information about Class B's privileged students directly from Class B.
His only remaining option was Class D. However, with all their phones confiscated, Class D students remained completely unaware of their situation.
Kakeru had effectively hit a wall — though he wouldn't accept this reality until he encountered it himself.
Knowing this, Houtarou craftily prepared some bait. He deliberately created an opening in Class D by letting Kakeru discover that while the phones were stored away, Suzune held the key to the safe — and importantly, the safe only recognized physical keys.
The implication was clear: if Kakeru could steal the key, he'd gain access to Class D's privileged student information.
Following this setup, Suzune sent a group message to Class D students informing them their phones were securely stored in the safe until the exam's end. She even included a photo of the key to "Safe 306".
Now all that remained was to wait for Kakeru to take the bait.
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After handling the safe matter, noon had arrived.
The exam rules stated that testing would continue for three days, with discussions scheduled from 8–9 AM and 9–10 PM daily. During the remaining free time, students could often be seen relaxing and enjoying themselves.
Considering Masumi's presence, Houtarou invited her to join them.
The three of them had lunch together.
Yet Masumi maintained her usual behavior — just as she would eat alone when sitting beside Arisu, she now ate quietly by herself next to Houtarou and Suzune.
Moreover, Houtarou noticed that something seemed to be affecting Masumi, as she appeared less concerned about her appearance around him.
She wore no makeup today, whereas previously she would at least apply lipstick.
"Did you get dumped?" He asked after some consideration.
This insight came from Kikyō.
She would often share observations while chatting — like how girls changing their hairstyle or adding new accessories typically want compliments, or how they dress up for someone they like.
After all, women put effort into their appearance for those they want to impress. When a girl stops caring about her appearance, it usually means she's either secured her target or given up entirely.
Then there were her stories about navigating complicated situations, like concealing feelings for a friend's boyfriend.
Kikyō's social circle was rather complicated, Houtarou reflected.
He had extracted one key insight to test: when girls stop maintaining their appearance, they've either started dating someone or faced rejection.
"Dumped?" Masumi gave him a puzzled look.
Hmm. Evidently, she hadn't even begun dating.
"Kamuro-san, I hope you won't date during school time." Houtarou said, "There are still things you can do for Sakayanagi and me. If you start dating, you might not be able to complete your work properly."
"Eh—" Masumi gave him a look of disdain.
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