Cardfight!! Vanguard: Generations Volume 3 [Alice Secret]

- Part 10

During break time, Ryouta and Senzaki paid E Class a visit. Shimada was nowhere to be found, but considering I didn't see him in A Class this morning, it's safe to assume he's absent.

Personally, I'm quite happy I don't have to see his face today. Dealing with such a volatile person is such a hassle.

Ryouta and Senzaki approached Matsushita and Alice. Since it seemed to be about the deal between A and E Class, I decided to join too.

"Good morning, Takanori-san."

Ryouta greeted me with a smile. He even stuck out his left hand for a handshake.

They say that in Scouts, shaking with your left hand is a sign of being close, since your heart is on the left side of your body.

"...are you left handed, perhaps?"

"Actually, I'm ambidextrous, but I prefer my left hand."

"I see."

To be courteous, I shook Ryouta with my left hand as well. It felt a bit strange, considering a handshake with left hands could also mean... actually, I shouldn't think too deeply about it. He seems genuinely left handed.

"I'm surprised you two wanted to meet with us today."

Since Shimada's overwhelming presence wasn't here, Alice was able to take heed of the conversation.

"Well, tomorrow is the deadline of your guy's decision. We maybe A Class, but we can't make a full set of exams overnight, y'know?"

As usual, Senzaki was handling the discussion as the neutral third party of the challenge between Ryouta and Shimada.

"No, no, we completely understand. We're still just mulling over our decision. It's not an easy thing to decide."

Alice was a natural liar. The two of them had already decided to go through with the deal, but they were holding out as long as possible to try and screw A Class over incase this was a ploy to get everyone in their class to pass.

"Of course, and we understand that. That's why we wanted to check up on the situation on the day before, as well as add something to sweeten the deal."

As Senzaki said that, both Alice and Matsushita raised their eyebrows.

"May I?" Ryouta cut in.

"Of course. It's your idea, after all."

"Since we understand your worries that we might be trying to do this to ensure the safety of all our classmates, as a class, we collectively agreed to completely forgo the class point bonuses from this special exam so that the gap between us and your class wouldn't grow any further."

The moment Ryouta said that, everything made sense to me.

"Eh...? Forgo the class points? But... how?"

"Easy. The only way you can earn class points, aside from the overall ranking reward, is if the students who take your test fail."

"What, so you're going to make sure none of the B Class students fail?"

When that sentence left Alice's mouth, she suddenly froze up. A look of realisation appeared on Matsushita's face.

"Wait... don't tell me..."

"That's right. On Tuesday, we submitted our exams, and on Wednesday, we gave them to Ichinose-san to ensure all the B Class students could pass. That means it's near impossible for us to gain any class points from this special exam."

So that's how Machida got his hands on the exam... there was no traitor after all. It was a conscious decision made by Ryouta for the sake of ensuring the deal between A and E Class would go through.