4.2

Unless you were psychic, finding the VIP wasn’t going to be easy.

People are born liars. If a person ever claims to live their life without telling a lie, their life itself is probably a lie. Lies are inescapable parts of us. A kind lie is no exception; it’s still a lie.

Somewhere in this group of students was the VIP. We still had time until the discussion period began. Like last time, I was the first to arrive. I’d come early to observe everyone’s behavior.

A group of Class C girls were the first people to enter. They were chatting loudly, looking like they were enjoying their conversation quite a bit.

However, when they saw me, they instantly lowered their voices and sounded disgusted. They made sure to sit a good distance away from me. Next in was Yukimura, who was grinning. We briefly exchanged glances, and then he sat near me. He didn’t seem particularly different from his usual self.

Next came the Class A group, Machida and Takemoto. Morishige came in by himself. Since they’d decided not to discuss anything, they once again sat at the far end of the room, close to the Class C girls.

“Hey, Machida-kun. After we’re done here, do you want to hang out with us? The three of us were looking to have some fun.”

“I see,” replied Machida.

Even though Machida wouldn’t participate, all the girls noticed him.

Apart from Ichinose and Ibuki, they seemed interested in Machida. I wasn’t especially jealous or anything... Okay, I might’ve been a little jealous. The girls were probably inviting Machida to hang out because they’d given up on finding the VIP. Or maybe that was part of their plan. Was this how men and women formed relationships? Machida didn’t seem perturbed by this. In fact, he looked pleased.

Next came the other Class D students: the Professor and Karuizawa.

Rather than coming here together, it looked like they’d arrived at the same time by sheer coincidence. Karuizawa appeared openly disgusted by the Professor’s presence. After they entered, she quickly moved toward the back of the room.

“Hey, aren’t you sitting in my seat?” asked Karuizawa. Despite being late, she glared at the Class C girls. After seeing them being so friendly with Machida, she seemed even more frustrated.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. What do you mean, your seat? Just sit anywhere. Any spot should be fine.”

“Well, that’s the seat I want. That’s my spot. Move,” urged Karuizawa.

“Huh? I’m talking to Machida-kun right now. He promised to hang out with me tonight,” said Manabe.

“Hey, Machida-kun. Could you please tell her that you want me next to you?”

Machida looked a little troubled by the situation, hesitating over which girl he should pick. However, Karuizawa quickly inserted herself between Manabe and Machida, and grabbed his hand.

“How about we spend some time together, just the two of us? Or have you promised that girl you’ll go with her? I hate two-timers. If you’re going to mess around with that girl then that’ll be the end of it, I guess,” said Karuizawa.

Whoa. I was amazed she could say that with a straight face, given that she was already dating Hirata. The “just the two of us” part really seemed to strike a chord with Machida. It appeared he’d made his decision.

“Excuse me, but would you please move? That’s the seat Karuizawa’s been sitting in,” said Machida.

“Huh? What the hell? Ugh, this is bull,” Manabe whined.

The girls, looking upset, promptly got up and left. Karuizawa moved into the empty seat. Actually, she scooted so close that she was practically glued to Machida. Seriously, they were right next to each other, their bodies pressed together. Karuizawa’s actions didn’t seem petty or frivolous to me, but that was probably because I already knew what kind of person she was.

Karuizawa was dating Hirata. Whether or not Machida knew that, it looked like he’d started to fall for her. Appearance-wise, she was most definitely cute. Also, from the perspective of someone with a crush, it made sense that he’d want to protect her.

The interesting thing was that, despite how recently our group had formed, we’d already developed our own unique hierarchy, including power dynamics. The loners were loners, and the popular kids were popular. The organizers were organizers. However, not everything was business as usual.

For example, if there were two organizers in the same place, one would take charge, and the other would be dropped. It was like a microcosm of the jungle, survival of the fittest. The person who lost that battle was demoted in terms of social status.

In some cases, he or she might drop all the way to the lowest rung on the ladder. They’d be so low that their presence wouldn’t matter to those around them. You could say I was such a person.

The interesting thing about this exam was that it made people who would normally be wary of one another come together and join hands.

Ichinose might have been incredibly popular among her friends in her class, but among people who were obviously her enemies, she had a low level of influence. Would Hirata have been able to get us a little more organized?

“Hello, everyone!”

Speak of the devil. Ichinose arrived, bringing life into the depressing room. I found the air in the room especially heavy today, but thought it best not to speak carelessly. Even so, Karuizawa’s actions seemed overbearing and a little baffling. Even if she really wanted to get to know Machida better, she didn’t need to openly antagonize the Class C girls. However, that weird situation didn’t seem all that important to the exam itself.

As someone who knew what Karuizawa was like, I could already see how her personality informed her actions. I wondered if Karuizawa always wanted to be at the very top, whether it was in class or this group. Of course, it wasn’t an easy thing for a girl to stand at the top. I mean, if it was an extremely charismatic girl like Ichinose, that was one thing. But if you didn’t naturally excel, it was impossible.

However, in our school lives, relationships determined whether someone placed high or low in the caste system. Through her overbearing behavior, Karuizawa had become a leader for the Class D girls. She’d also gained a lot of influence over both guys and girls by becoming Hirata’s girlfriend.

So if you applied what you knew about Karuizawa’s behavior to how she was acting now, the truth was clear. She’d forcibly pushed herself onto the most confident man, Machida, and with him in the palm of her hand, she’d taken control of the room. That was why the Class C students couldn’t go against Machida, and had reluctantly left their seats.

If you didn’t mind being hated, what did you gain by dominating the field? A sense of superiority? Self-satisfaction? The spotlight? I still couldn’t understand the root cause of her behavior.

“This isn’t good.”

“Yeah. If things continue like this, the VIP will get away.”

Yukimura sat next to me and muttered his concerns. I opted to just roll with it.

“Now then. Will Class A not participate this time, either?” asked Ichinose.

“Of course we won’t. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, though. We haven’t changed our policy,” answered Machida.

Beside him sat Morishige, who had erased all semblance of human emotion from his expression. I had seen him around before this test.

According to rumor, Class A was divided into two different factions, one led by Katsuragi and one by Sakayanagi. Morishige was one of those who’d turned against Katsuragi during the test on the island.

Under normal circumstances, he probably wouldn’t have followed Katsuragi’s orders, but Sakayanagi was sick and thus absent from the trip. Without the presence of his leader, Morishige had no choice but to do as he was told.

I’d thought that Katsuragi would’ve lost influence, considering the damage he incurred by failing the island test. However, it looked like he wasn’t going to crumble that easily. Since Morishige had remained silent for two days now, it looked as though even he had no choice but to follow orders.

“Since it would be a waste to spend an hour in complete silence, how about we play cards again?” asked Ichinose.

Ichinose took out her cards immediately. How you approached your goal was a major aspect of this test. She wanted to narrow down the list of suspects through open, honest conversation. On the other hand, Katsuragi aimed for stability by suppressing all conversation. Then there was Ryuuen, who wanted to turn everyone into his enemy while taking complete control of his class. He said that he’d found the secret logic underlying the test.

However, I wasn’t sure.

In the end, we became absorbed in playing cards for the hour, and then disbanded. Yukimura frantically searched the area for something, but unfortunately it didn’t seem like he’d gotten any clues as to the VIP’s identity. I’m sure it was the same for all the other students.

Even if we did talk, it wasn’t as though the VIP was just going to step forward. I watched the order in which all the students left. The Class C students were usually the first out the door, but they hadn’t moved.

Meanwhile, the Class A students, typically the last to leave, were the first out the door. Well, not everyone in Class A had left yet. Machida and Karuizawa were exchanging contact information. Yukimura and the Professor got up.

“I think it’s time to head back. You coming, Ayanokouji?” Yukimura asked.

“Yeah.”

While we spoke, Karuizawa answered her phone and stood. She exited the room, chatting away on the phone, seemingly talking about something funny or interesting. As she walked away, the three Class C girls brushed past me and made their way out.

“Hey. Did you get a weird vibe from those three just now?” asked

Yukimura. He turned to me with a slightly puzzled look.

“You think so? I can’t say that I noticed anything of the sort,” answered the Professor.

The Professor’s tone was ridiculously pompous. However, I thought Yukimura’s feelings were right on the money. The Class C girls had looked considerably angry. Yukimura and I peered into the hallway to see what was going on. We saw the three girls closely following Karuizawa. Being alone, she was at a disadvantage. The situation had me worried. Also, Ibuki, who might’ve mitigated the other three, wasn’t around.

“You think they have a bone to pick with her?” asked Yukimura.

“Let’s follow them. I don’t think there’ll be violence, but it could lead to an uproar.”

“Damn Karuizawa. She’s always making people hate her. I wanted us to spend our precious time finding the VIP,” Yukimura grumbled.

While the Professor headed back to his room, Yukimura and I quietly chased the four girls. When we turned the corner, I heard the ka-chack sound of an emergency exit door slamming shut. The elevators weren’t even crowded, so it wasn’t like there was any reason to use the stairs. There had to be another reason why they’d gone in there. I opened the door and heard voices.

“Hey. why’d you bring me to a place like this?!”

“Stop playing dumb! You did push Rika, didn’t you? Start talking.”

“H-huh? I already told you, you’ve got the wrong person!”

The three girls surrounded Karuizawa, forcing her up against the wall. They were preventing her from escaping. However, even surrounded, Karuizawa offered no apologies. She continued to deny what they were saying. Maybe she really was innocent.

“Look, I have plans later. Can you please move?” asked Karuizawa.

“Okay, let’s confirm it right now. I’m going to call Rika. If it wasn’t you, we’ll forgive you.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ll call the teacher.”

“And what will you tell the teacher, exactly? It’s not like we’re being violent with you or anything. Besides, if you talk to the teacher, we’ll tell on you, too. We’ll say you pushed Rika. You’ll also get in trouble.”

Neither side intended to back down. Karuizawa tried to escape, but the girls grabbed her arm and pushed her up against the wall. One of the girls took out her phone, probably to call Rika.

“W-wait!” Karuizawa pleaded with them to not call.

“What? Why should we wait?”

“I just remembered something. I bumped into that girl before.”

“You’re a total liar. You remembered her from the very beginning, didn’t you? Well, whatever. So, are you going to apologize to Rika properly?”

“No way. She was in the wrong. She’s a complete airhead.”

I would’ve thought Karuizawa would take responsibility for her actions, but instead, she refused. She refused despite knowing it would upset them.

“You’re seriously pissing us off. We might’ve forgiven you if you’d actually apologized to Rika. But now, we definitely won’t forgive you.”

The girl pressed down against Karuizawa’s shoulder.

“Whatever. You probably never planned on forgiving me.”

After Karuizawa spat out those words, one of the girls, Yamashita, lost her patience. “Shiho-chan. I’ve had enough. Karuizawa’s unforgivable.”

“I know, right? She should understand exactly how Rika felt. Why don’t we bully her for real?”

She struck Karuizawa’s shoulder with a little extra force. Yukimura started to throw the door open, but I grabbed his arm. Even if we stepped in now, Karuizawa would be threatened again at some point. However, if they got even a little violent while we were watching them, it’d be a deterrent for later. Also, depending on how violent they got, we could possibly threaten them, telling them we’d report them to the school.

More importantly, Karuizawa Kei looked like she was starting to change.

“Ahh...ahh...” She panted as if she were having a hard time breathing. She held her head in her hands as if she were in pain. When Manabe and the others saw her suffering, they weren’t sympathetic. The opposite, actually. It irritated them.

“Act as girly as you want, we’re still not going to forgive you.”

They grabbed Karuizawa’s hair and forcefully yanked her head up.

“I’ve always hated your face, Karuizawa. I mean, don’t you girls think she’s just butt-ugly?”

“Yeah, for sure. Don’t you just want to cut her face?”

“St-stop. Stop it.”

“‘St-stop it’, she says. What happened to your big attitude?”

The more you envied your enemy, the more you hated them, to the point where you wanted to strip away their advantages. If we were talking looks, then Karuizawa had them all beat. But Manabe, Yamashita, and Yabu wouldn’t be satisfied until they’d verbally torn Karuizawa’s pretty face apart.

Karuizawa trembled, frightened. She was on the verge of tears, still unable to move.

People show their true colors when they’re in jeopardy. A little more pressure, and I’d know who Karuizawa Kei really was. However, Yukimura couldn’t stand by any longer. He threw open the door. The three girls were naturally shocked by his sudden appearance. Karuizawa, on the other hand, looked like he’d saved her life.

“What are you doing?!” Yukimura shouted.

“What? Nothing. Right? We were just talking to Karuizawa-san.

Yeah?”

Manabe glared at Karuizawa, as if telling her not to say another word. But Karuizawa wasn’t the sort to shy away.

“Yukimura-kun, these girls just abducted me and started getting all violent. They’re seriously the worst, aren’t they? They were being, like, super annoying, so I told them to get lost,” said Karuizawa.

She’d normally never talk to Yukimura, but she was probably grateful to him now. Meanwhile, the Class C girls glared at Yukimura. Their eyes seemed to say, “This has nothing to do with you.”

“Well, I’m just talking with Karuizawa about her problem, what she did to Rika. You heard how Karuizawa slammed into her, right?”

“Don’t you think it’s better to just let things go? They bumped into each other. It’s not like Karuizawa was at fault,” Yukimura said.

“You shut up. This has nothing to do with you.”

“...”

Under the weight of their glares, he fell silent. Karuizawa shot a look at Yukimura, like she thought he was pathetic. She quietly took out her phone.

“Just leave me alone. If you don’t, I’ll call someone.”

“Who are you going to call? Hirata-kun? Machida-kun? I mean, I guess a **** like you has a hundred guys on speed dial, right?”

Fights between girls often got dirty, and unlike with men, violence wasn’t really an option. This was painful to watch.

“A teacher was just here. I think it’d be better if you left,” I said.

I had no other choice but to step in and break this up. Class C probably didn’t want to cause a scene.

“You better bow your head and apologize to Rika.”

The Class C girls kept intimidating Karuizawa, who desperately tried to keep a brave face. But it was obvious that she’d lost her confidence. The other girls seemed to know that. They continued their hostility.

“Are you okay?” asked Yukimura, who seemed unable to leave Karuizawa to their mercy. She was hyperventilating.

“Just leave me alone!” As Yukimura drew nearer, Karuizawa slapped his hand away.

“Hey, what the hell? I only came to check on you because I was worried!”

“God, shut up! Nobody asked you!”

Karuizawa’s breathing grew even more ragged. Yukimura stepped back, overpowered. I decided to let sleeping dogs lie and stepped back, too.

Karuizawa glared at me as she opened the emergency stairwell door and slammed it as hard as she could after she left.

“Jeez, what’s with her? She’s always, always causing trouble for people!”

I understood Yukimura’s feelings of resentment. Karuizawa was certainly a troublemaker. Yukimura, seemingly exhausted from the ordeal, left without saying another word. I stood alone in the emergency stairwell and thought about Karuizawa. The leader of the Class D girls had shown her vulnerable side. However, the threats hadn’t frightened her; she’d been terrified for another reason.

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