Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Solace

Vol. 5: Chapter 8.2 - The True Mastermind

"You don't have to look so expectant, Horikita. I won't confirm or deny your claim. For now, why don't you give us an explanation?" I said.

Ryuuen took a seat, looking relaxed. Horikita and I did the same while Ibuki continued standing beside Ryuuen.

"Firstly, we'd have to consider the most vital students who participated during the exam. They would be the two of you, Katsuragi-kun, Ichinose-san, Kanzaki-kun, the former Class A's traitor, and Kouenji-kun," started Horikita. "Before I get to why I pointed my finger at Ayanokouji-kun, I'd have to give some context regarding my understanding of how the whole narrative was made."

The three of us listened in silence, letting Horikita continue as she pleases.

"The students of the former Class A were stressed about their loss during the island exam. However, Katsuragi-kun's faction wholeheartedly believed his explanation regarding a traitor inside their class. Because the traitor's actions weren't known to the rest of the class, all of them decided to cooperate in keeping the security tight. It resulted in Katsuragi-kun's decision to implement his strategy. That was Class A's initial move."

"For us, who were Class B at that time, our decision to protect our VIPs took priority. It was the job assigned to Hirata-kun and Kushida-san. In my case, I wanted to take the exam as a chance to gain more points. I tried to find a way to win which eventually lead to me trying to find the pattern. The last member of our group was Ayanokouji-kun, but he challenged us to tackle the exam by ourselves. We didn't mind his idea given how hard he worked during the previous special exam."

"For Ichinose-san's class, her initial idea was to wait it out until the end. She took this exam as an opportunity to make her classmates forge new relationships with students from other classes. After doing so, Ichinose-san would later reveal her strategy of isolating the VIP."

"Lastly, Ryuuen-kun's class. Your idea was the same as mine which was to find the pattern. Of course, both of us eventually realized how hard that would be without having the important pieces. In this case, the members' list as a whole along with a sufficient number of VIP names in hand."

It turns out that the envelope Horikita was holding didn't just contain a copy of the new contract. Her notes regarding her investigations were also there. She carefully presented them to us while explaining her train of thought.

"With Katsuragi-kun's strategy, Ichinose-san won't have the opportunity to earn the trust of Class A students, Ryuuen-kun would be hard-pressed to solicit any sort of backdoor cooperation, and it would hurt my progress if Class A won't be in the equation. It was a total stalemate. Honestly, I thought that would be the case until the end of the exam."

"Of course, all of that changed when Kouenji-kun suddenly submitted his answer as the Monkey Group's traitor."

Horikita was right. That simple, nonchalant move by Kouenji changed the entire game. It was the most critical point of the exam which led to our class's victory.

"Each class made their own moves against the sudden change of stakes. Ichinose-san met up with us after the news reached her. We denied their suspicion that our class was targeting theirs before confirming that the VIP name Kouenji-kun entered was indeed the right one. As a result, Ichinose-san offered to give us the half-million private point reward in exchange for a VIP name."

"That's odd. Shouldn't you just deliberately submit a wrong name in a group where the VIP is from her class?" asked Ibuki.

"On the surface, that seems like the obvious move, but we've already decided on cooperating before the incident regarding Kouenji-kun happened. There were two collaborative moves that two classes can achieve if they worked together. The first one was a devastating attack while the other one was a defensive resource," replied Horikita.