Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Self-Test

6th Day, 2:48 AM.

"I'll only let you go after I see that poker face of yours start bursting into tears. You can run while pissing your pants by then." I mocked Ayanokouji while narrating the things I wanted to do.

He was one slippery son of a bitch, but his moves are predictable. This time, I'll make sure to land another clean hit.

I pounced at him, trying to grab his clothes. His dodging speed was fast but formulaic as usual. I reached out with my hands the moment he jumped to the left.

"What the-?"

Betraying my expectations, Ayanokouji grabbed my wrists and threw me to the side. I staggered badly and almost tripped over. I could only watch as Ayanokouji ran off into the distance.

"Kukuku... Interesting... Really interesting. Hahaha... Hahahaha!"

That guy was fucking around the entire time, huh? What a way to piss me off.

"Get your ass out here, Ibuki. I know you watched the entire thing."

"I only started watching when you kicked him in the gut, moron," she replied, moving away from her cover behind a tree. "That's the part where I got interested."

"Did you notice anything?" I asked.

She snorted hatefully.

"That guy knows how to fight, I can guarantee you that... But he was so good at playing dumb that I couldn't exactly gauge his abilities... He's dangerous."

"Heh, I knew that already," I scoffed. "I'll just have to destroy him more thoroughly, then."

"With Albert and the others?"

"And with you, of course."

"Why the hell do you want to involve me again?" Ibuki asked with a very displeased expression.

"Don't kid yourself, Ibuki. I know you want to find out how strong he is..." I drew closer to her and smiled. "I know you want to see how you'll fare against him."

Ibuki clicked her tongue as she looked away. She sat by the campfire and munched on some berries.

"Leave the ones on the right. They're for me."

"I know. I wouldn't eat them even if you asked me to, anyway."

I sat across Ibuki and stretched my body.

"Ahh... Doesn't it feel good to have everything in the palm of your hand?" I asked, looking for a jolly conversation about the genius of my machinations.

"I know that you got what you want, but I don't have a grasp on what's really happening. Explain it to me so I can understand. I'm a vital part of your plan, remember?" Ibuki sighed in exasperation.

"Kukuku, I'm glad you asked," I replied. "Well, we've basically won, for the most part."

"Yeah, you've been saying that we won since last night, but how?"

"Our contract with Katsuragi was already the cream of the crop. Let's get that out of the way, first."

I've already explained how the contract works to Ibuki. Of course, I didn't bother telling her every detail, but at least she understood its value and how it would benefit us in the future.

"Kaneda was under heavy pressure in that other class. He couldn't get any evidence in the end. Was that part of your plan, as well?"

"It doesn't matter as long as he got their leader's name. Katsuragi's main target was Class B, anyway. He must've been really happy with our gift for him."

"So you got every class's leader, right? Your main goal was to negate every provisional point from them if I remember correctly."

We were fortunate enough to find out Class C's leader before the fourth day. Even Kaneda admitted that he got lucky on the second day when Ichinose made him help Shiranami Chihiro and her group. He tried his hardest to get some proof, but Ichinose's class was too tightly knit.

Meanwhile, Class B made the mistake of completely ignoring Ibuki, even if they were suspicious of her. Apart from their leader's name, she also got a hold of the information about their point expenditure, props to that dumbass Hirata. Not only that. She also figured out Ayanokouji's rotation patterns by observing him repeatedly.

"What's with that creepy chuckle?" Ibuki asked, looking disgusted.

"I can't help but laugh, you know?" I faced Ibuki with a serious expression this time. "But you were being naive if you think everything's going to be that easy, Ibuki."

"Huh?" Her eyebrow rose in confusion.

"I confirmed it yesterday during our conversation... It was Ayanokouji. He was the true mastermind behind my loss back in July."

"And so? What does that have to do with me?"

"Ayanokouji thinks like me. Do you really think you can outsmart someone like that?" I snickered.

"Stop kissing your own ass and just tell me already. You're pissing me off."

"I'm saying that he knew about you."

Ibuki's fuse cooled down in an instant.

"What... are you..."

"Do you really think he'd leave the key card inside his bag without taking you into account? Only dumbasses would fall for that, Ibuki."

When she told me everything about her inner workings with Class B, I immediately found that detail suspicious. I was expecting her camera to get found which would result in her getting questioned, so we prepared a story just for that. However, nothing happened at all. Naturally, I did some investigating. I found some interesting things that proved my hunch.

Ibuki turned speechless as she tried to wrap her head around my claim.

"Do you know why I asked you to tell me where you hid the radio? I wasn't interested in the hiding spot itself. My real goal was to snoop around the area. Of course, I managed to gather some nice clues. Class B students tend to leave marks on trees. And they left the same mark on the exact tree that you were sitting by," I shrugged. "It's a safe assumption that they went back to investigate the area like crazy."

It wasn't just that. Footprints were scattered all over the place and there were a lot of leftover marks of unnaturally dug-out holes.

I won't even be surprised if Ayanokouji figured everything out the moment he saw Ibuki's camera. There's no way someone like him wouldn't investigate her bag in advance.

"But... I didn't really notice any changes when I got back."

"Idiot. You think they'd let you have that luxury?"

"Then what the hell are we going to do?" Ibuki asked with an aloof expression, but I saw through that facade and felt the panic in her tone.

"Relax, Ibuki. That's what I told you before, right? We've basically won, for the most part. It sucks, but Class B will most likely change their leader before the exam ends."

"What reason do you think they will use?"

"Who knows? They'd probably stage an accident," I answered with a shrug.

"But the problem remains. If we can't figure out their new leader, then Class B's provisional points will stay valid..." Ibuki pondered for a second before turning vigorously. "Wait! Ryuuen, you... Did you figure this out all the way back on the fourth day?"

"Huh? Of course, I did." What a strange question.

"So you knew Ayanokouji's leadership wouldn't last, but you still showed the picture to Katsuragi?"

"Yeah, doesn't it feel great? Katsuragi thought he'd earn a bunch of points because of it. Hahahaha!" I laughed heartily, holding my stomach with both hands.

What a joke. He won't be able to complain, anyway. After all, I didn't do anything to breach our contract.

"That doesn't change the fact that Class B's leader will stay unknown. They'll be the ones who'll come out on top... and with an overwhelmingly large gap, too," she said.

"I already got that covered. That's the entire purpose of him finding this place and you being here." I opened my arms widely as I announced the ace in my pocket.

Ibuki listlessly stared at me with a muddled look.

"I can already hear the cogs turning inside your head. Why don't I help you out?" I stretched my body once again. "You told me about his schedule, right? Using some simple deduction, it was easy to predict that he'd be on top of that hill around 1:00 AM to 2:00 AM in the morning. That's why I made a campfire, both last night and tonight."

"You purposely lured him in."

"I was trying to hold back my laughter, you know? Ayanokouji was talking like he caught me off-guard. What a joke."

"So the reason I'm here... is to replace you as the leader, correct?"

"Basically, yeah." I leaned back with a grin. "I told you before, right? I have everything covered. Once Class B puts my name in, their hard work will go to shit. In the end, Ayanokouji's class would barely take the top spot. Meanwhile, Ichinose's class will take second place by playing house. It pisses me off, but they'll have their time in the future."

Class A's 270 points will drop to a mere 120. 100 points will be deducted from them after Class B and D put down Totsuka Yahiko's name. And course, another 50 points will be deducted after Katsuragi incorrectly guesses Class B's leader.

Class B's 143 points will not see any increase after Ayanokouji puts my name as the leader. Their 50-point bonus from correctly guessing Class A's leader will be canceled out by the 50-point deduction from incorrectly guessing ours. Of course, their provisional points will be nothing but dust.

Class C's 190 points will drop down to 140 because I know that Shiranami Chihiro is their leader.

And finally, Class D will come out with 126 points for guessing Class A and C's leaders on top of the provisional points we'd gather by tomorrow morning.

1st: Class B - 143 points

2nd: Class C - 140 points

3rd: Class D - 126 points

4th: Class A - 120 points

I wanted to get those juicy 176 points while placing first, but Ayanokouji has mildly spoiled my plans yet again. However, I'm alright with just dodging a bullet. It would've been an atrocious result for Class D, otherwise.

"So everything went according to your plan in the end, huh?" Ibuki winced at me with a strange look. "Just how do you see these things...?"

She may hate my guts, but even the prideful Ibuki acknowledges my capabilities.

"Does it matter? I hate working hard, so using other things in my arsenal to destroy our opponents was necessary."

"So this doesn't count as "working hard", huh?"

I could only smirk in response.

"Let's go, Ibuki. We'll have to find Sakagami-sensei so I can transfer my leadership to you." I said, grabbing one of the red round berries on the right side of the pile.

"Tch." Ibuki stood up and followed my lead.

Oh well, there will always be a next time. The feat of single-handedly disintegrating their hard-earned provisional points is enough to satisfy me for now. In fact, it's not really a stretch to say that I won. If I add the 200 points from my contract with Class A, then we've come out with a total of 326 points. What a wonderful landslide victory!

But of course, I won't nitpick like a lame loser. I'll be lenient and consider this a draw, Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. Next time, I will win alone.