Classroom of the Elite: Alter - Solace

SS.25 - The Fifth Deck

1st Day, 9:45 PM.

After eating, we split up and decided to go back to our respective rooms. Hirata and I saw Yukimura and Kouenji doing their own thing. And by that, I meant Yukimura looking at his phone-- and Kouenji... enthusiastically doing his push-ups.

"Ah, Hirata, Ayanokouji, you two are finally here. I wanted to talk about the exam. Can I have some of your time?" Yukimura asked.

"Of course, Yukimura-kun," replied Hirata.

"Sure," I followed.

He told us what happened during the Rabbit Group's second group discussion.

"I don't know if she did that on purpose, but Karuizawa just made their hate for her skyrocket because of it..." Yukimura sighed.

"I mean, I'd be mad too if someone stepped on my foot and just ran off without a sincere apology," I shrugged.

"Hirata, aren't you going to do anything about Karuizawa's actions? She was also flirting with some Class A dude, you know?" he said.

"I'll be sure to talk to her about it. I want to hear Karuizawa-san's side before making a judgment," Hirata replied with a thinking expression.

"Well, Karuizawa's issue aside, did you really not find any clues about the VIPs' assignment?" I asked.

"No, unfortunately. Class A shut themselves off from the rest of the group. And apart from me, Hamaguchi was the only guy that proactively tried to progress the discussions. I guess that works in our favor since Karuizawa and Kushida are the VIPs for our respective groups, but unless we figure out that mystery pattern, all of this will end in a stalemate." Yukimura shook his head.

If things continue this way, then I'll have to make a move myself. I can't really force a win even if I could. Ending the exam this way would be detrimental to the class's development, especially Horikita. However, it'll be different if, at least, a fourth name is revealed to them.

Kouenji started humming while the three of us were talking. Yukimura got upset after holding on for so long. He stood up and faced him, clearly frustrated.

"Kouenji, would you drop the happy-go-lucky act already? We're not asking you to take things seriously, but you need to participate, at the very least. We don't want you to screw things up again like last time."

Of course, Kouenji didn't care.

"If you're talking about the island fiasco, I couldn't exactly help it. I was in awful shape. I couldn't force myself to do the impossible," he replied without stopping his push-ups.

"No one here is stupid! You just faked being ill to get out!"

Nobody would buy his excuse, but Kouenji already knew that. I personally tried to stop him, but I didn't really care whether he retired or not. I knew we would win in the end, anyway.

After a few seconds, Kouenji stopped exercising. He stood up and grabbed a towel to wipe his neck.

"My, this test is nothing but troublesome, wouldn't you say?" Kouenji-kun suddenly commented on the Zodiac test.

"Troublesome? You're not even thinking about this test at all!" argued Yukimura.

"Well, there isn't any point in continuing a test that doesn't interest me, is there? Finding a liar is simple."

Kouenji grabbed his phone and started typing something. After a few seconds, all of our phones received a notification.

[The test has now ended for the Monkey Group. Those in the Monkey Group are no longer required to participate any further. Please do not disturb the other students.]