Chaoskouji

Arc 4 Chapter 11 - Preparing the Contestants

Once again, Dragon group had convened, on the night of the third day. Everyone in the room was growing bored, as the number of meetings went on and on, and the stalemate continued. Even Kanzaki seemed to have given up making meaningful progress. It was an interesting reversal from our very first meeting.

Thanks to my deal with Ryuuen, Shiina, Ichinose and Amikura, there was no real effort to find the VIP any longer. In fact, it was only Class A that was making an effort still, the complete opposite of how we originally started. Every now and then one of them would come up with a new question for me, and I would brush it aside without any interest. Even Kanzaki was slowly running out of questions, beginning to accept the inevitable result that was drawing closer and closer.

"Do you really intend to secure Outcome One, Ayanokouji?"

"Of course. One more Outcome 3 or 4 wouldn't affect the ultimate results too much, and I'd really like those private points."

The private points didn't actually interest me. I still had a rather large collection of them, but more could never hurt. It also provided a reason for the group to use to try and understand me, and later predict my actions. Throwing them off now could become useful in the future.

Kanzaki sighed at my words. "I suppose there isn't much we can do. No one's going to prove it at this stage, and I doubt any of us are actually trustworthy right now." He looked around the room, accentuating a fact that everyone should have accepted by now. Pretending that we could work in a group was a moot point. Since there was one untrustworthy person, Ryuuen, everyone else had to be willing to stoop to his level. Which meant that not a single person in the room could be relied upon to act in the best interests of the group.

"You really are confident that no one will submit your name, Ayanokouji-kun. Perhaps I should do that now?" Matoba made another useless bluff. Ryuuen had done the same thing on the first day, and it hadn't worked then. The possibility of someone caving to it now was even lower.

"Go ahead. I wouldn't mind getting out of this group early. Besides, how do you even know that the VIP is in Class D?"

"Don't be stupid Ayanokouji. The school equally divided them between classes, and every other class had three named."

Ryuuen perked up at this, hearing a potential argument to get involved in.

"When the fuck did the school say that, baldy? There's no proof that every class gets three."

Katsuragi sat up straighter as a proper challenger appeared to debate. "I find it unlikely to believe that they would give one class such a handicap, whether you see it as an advantage or not. Besides, every other group is accounted for, meaning that the VIP in Dragon group must be from Class D."

"Hmm, but perhaps Ayanokouji-kun colluded with someone from another class," Ichinose considered, posing a wrinkle in Katsuragi's theory.

"But Honami-chan, no one would be crazy enough to team up with Ayanokouji-kun now, not after him beating us all on the island! They'd have to be trying to lose!"

I groaned slightly. Amikura needed to learn when to keep her mouth shut. It was a reasonable argument that seemed to have effectively allayed Katsuragi's concerns, but she was having a terrible time at holding her composure together and not laughing.

For that matter, so was Ryuuen, although from the flicker of his eye to me I could tell he was intentionally doing it to try and piss me off.

"I suppose. But again, it can't be ruled out." His gaze shifted to the entirety of Class B. "None of you have allied with Ayanokouji, have you?"

"Of course not," Kanzaki snorted, shaking his head. His three classmates followed suit, successfully denying any collusion between our classes under the perceptive stare of Katsuragi as he tried to pick out a liar.