Lives Of Ayanokouji Kiyotaka

Prologue: Sakyanagi Ver.

Hashimoto's voice came through the phone.

"-with this, Katsuragi's influence over the class should drastically decrease."
It had been a few hours after the island exam ended, and the students and teachers had just returned to the ship when she received a call from him.

"I see, it seems everything went as expected. Hmm... And you said that Class-D came first? So he made his move huh."
Sakayanagi Arisu stated, a smug smile on her face. She sat alone in a library, playing phantom chess against herself.

"Yes, it seems so. Though I don't get how they did it. Still... To be able to predict everything. As expected of you Hime. Your ability to see so far ahead is terrifying as always."
He replied, in a mock scared voice.

"I don't think that's something you should say to a lady, Hashimoto-kun. There could be consequences, you know."
She teased him through the phone.

"I don't know what else to call you. You're so accurate, it's scary sometimes. Then again, they do say that there is a thin line between genius and insa-"
He was about to finish before he was cut off by Arisu.

"Fufufu~, did you say something Hashimoto-kun? It seemed interesting. Hmm? I'm listening~"
Her face darkened, and her voice had gained an edge.
A very sharp edge...
Her trade mark laugh somehow seemed much more sinister than normal.

Hashimoto thankfully understood the barely hidden threat, and made the smart decision of backing down.
"N-no, of course not. I was just joking.
A-anyway Hime, is there anything else you want me to do, strike while the iron is still hot?"

"Fufufu~ There is no need for that Hashimoto-kun, for now just monitor the situation. What needs to be done will happen by itself, with this failure Katsuragi-kun will lose some well needed support , and if he doesn't step down by himself... Fufufu~ I'll take care of it then. If anything unexpected happens, or if the situation changes, inform me immediately, also please inform Masumi-san that she is to continue watching Katsuragi-kun, that's all."

"Got it Hime. See you later then-"
Hashimoto ended the call, his tone as if he was unsure whether he should be amused or terrified.

Arisu removed the phone from her ear, checking if the call had cut off properly, before dropping her smile. Her smugness was nowhere to seen, only a frown remained on her doll-like face

"The results of the exam were... unexpected"
And that was the simple truth.
She had of course anticipated that Class-A would lose the exam, after all she had engineered the situation just to remove Katsuragi-kun from their battle for leadership, even going as far as giving Hashimoto instructions to make a deal with Ryuuen to make sure the fall happened, if Ryuuen didn't do it himself.

But, what had been truly unexpected was Class-D's victory, it was not part of her plan or calculations. Hashimoto-kun had been scouting the other classes on her orders, and he had reported that there wasn't many noteworthy people in Class-D. And she trusted him, he wasn't particularly good at academic's or sports, but he was very good as a spy, and a good judge of character, which was why she had made him part of her faction, or rather why he seeked her out.

The only exceptional people in that class were Koenji Ryokusuke, Horikita Suzune, Kushida Kikyo, Hirata Yosuke and Karuizawa Kei.
They were all selected for different reasons by him. Koenji Ryokusuke, he had reported was very good at academics and claimed to be the perfect human being (What a joke! She thought, after all there was only one person, she would ever consider to be the perfect human, and he was stuck in that white hell). While not to the degree he portrayed himself as, Hashimoto had noted that Koenji may be exceptional based on his academy level - which was quite close to hers, the highest after her even - and his physique. His flaw is that he is very egoistic and narcissistic.