Cote: Elite in Action

Master of Deception: The Final Move

I was completely alone in the room where the second Dragon Group meeting would take place. I was lying on the sofa, with my head tilted back and my eyes closed, lost in my thoughts. Phase two of the plan was already underway.

The sound of the door opening abruptly interrupted my concentration.

"Osawa, damn it! What the hell did you do?" Ryuuen burst into the room, visibly upset, followed by the other leaders.

"What did I do?" I replied, not bothering to open my eyes.

"Don't play dumb, bastard. I know you're the one who made six groups finish hours ago," he growled, his frustration evident.

"Well, I guess I'm guilty of the facts," I said with a mocking smile, which only fueled his irritation further.

"And what happened to all that crap yesterday about 'I don't care about the private points' or 'good luck to everyone'? You said that on purpose, didn't you?" Ryuuen spat, his eyes burning with anger.

Indeed, I had.

"How the hell did you do it?" he continued, gritting his teeth.

"There's no way I'm going to tell you, is there?" I replied calmly, not removing the smile from my face. "After all, there are still half of the groups left... Although, maybe not for long."

Katsuragi, who was a bit behind Ryuuen, intervened cautiously:

"What do you mean by that?"

"Instead of explaining it, why don't you just wait and see? It shouldn't be long before you find out," I responded, unperturbed.

As everyone settled into their chairs around the table, I couldn't help but think about how easy this exam had been. Really, much easier than the one on the island.

Flashback

I was at the back of the boat, my favorite spot. Now I had all the information needed to start the search for the VIP, which I was sure existed, especially considering the message that had burned at the school.

The VIP names from my class were as follows:

Tiger Group: Ishikawa Nanako

Monkey Group: Shimizu Yuuto

Ox Group: Kobashi Yume

Now I needed to start piecing things together, but I didn't know where to begin.

I started to think about the relationship between the zodiac groups. I was in the Dragon Group. In the context of Japanese culture, which adopts the Chinese zodiac, the Dragon represents attributes like power, wisdom, and authority. I don't think it's a coincidence that the leaders are in the Dragon Group, but there was something odd: Honami wasn't in this group but was in the Rabbit Group. This was strange, but I still didn't see a clear connection between the other groups and these.

I was lost in a sea of doubts, rhythmically tapping the table with my index finger, a habit I had whenever I thought deeply.

Kayden: —What could be the order or relationship that the VIPs share? —I said softly, thinking again.

Kayden: —Order? —I repeated, as something occurred to me.

I decided to arrange the Chinese zodiac and compare it with the VIPs from my class. However, I didn't come up with anything concrete. I thought about sorting the names of the groups each VIP belonged to alphabetically and comparing the numerical position they were in. For example, if Ishikawa-san was in the position of the zodiac sign she belonged to, there might be a pattern. But it wasn't the case; her name ended up in position 12, and since her group is the Tiger, which is 3, it didn't match.