People bring their own maids to the training camp

"I understand, this is a strategy of using one wolf to devour another?"

"However, it's hard to say who is the wolf and who is the tiger. Let's hope it doesn't end up like an orange cat fighting a tiger."

"...You have too much faith in Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, don't you? He can't even mobilize the forces of Class D. Isn't it difficult for him to fight alone like this? If he is directly defeated by Ryuen, then all our preparations will have amounted to nothing more than ideological indoctrination."

"If that's the case, I'd question whether that expensive facility is just a place for people to embezzle funds. I haven't witnessed it firsthand, but it's not child's play; it's a brutal, survival-of-the-fittest kind of training that doesn't consider the costs and damage."

“What if we try a different approach?” Hayasaka suddenly said, “Could we try to recruit Ayanokouji to our side?”

“The idea is good, but do we have any leverage to win him over? The expulsion thing was just a smokescreen put out by Chabashira,” Chihaya said helplessly. “If we could win over the Ayanokouji father and son, would I still need to come to this mental school? If I could talk to the outside world, I would definitely ask my father how he agreed to my mother’s mental plan, or was it my mother’s own idea? Did she act first and ask for permission later?”

“I’m sorry, Miss, neither the Madam nor the head of the family has given me such an order. My only order is to obey your instructions.”

"Forget it, let Ryuen find out Ayanokouji's background first. Hopefully, this nightmare is just a childhood trauma." Chihaya sighed. He had no choice. It had affected him too much, so much so that when he faced Ayanokouji, who came from a facility background, he subconsciously felt that he was no match for him.

In particular, it's certain that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka is a blood relative of Ayanokouji Atsuomi. Although it's uncertain whether he's his son, being subjected to that kind of training means he must at least be a direct descendant. Furthermore, based on the comparison with Hayasaka, the two do indeed share similarities in appearance.

"Then I'll contact Longyuan right away."

"Ah."

----split line----

The KTV room was filled with loud singing, but everyone inside remained silent.

Long Yuanxiang, sitting in the center of the sofa, was deep in thought with his eyes closed. Although his imposing posture seemed out of place with his thoughtful demeanor, no one dared to comment on it.

Several students from Class C sat on either side of the sofa, like stars surrounding the moon, quietly waiting for Long Yuan.

A few minutes later, Long Yuan opened his eyes, picked up the drink in front of him, and took a sip.

"Kinda, use the materials I'll send you later in the study session, and make sure everyone keeps it a secret," Ryuen said. "If anyone lets it slip, they know what will happen."

"Leave it to me." Kaneda pushed up his glasses.

"Ishizaki, besides the study sessions, will you go bother Class D every day from now on? But don't go too far, understand?"

"Understood, understood!"

"So our next target is Class D?" Ibuki asked. "Isn't targeting Class B more important than Class D?"

In fact, many people in Class C thought so, since Class D was a defective product that had deducted all the class points in a month, and Class C should do its best to catch up with Class B ahead of them.

“No, we can only deal with Class B if we completely defeat Class D, otherwise we will be attacked from both sides.” Ryuen refuted Ibuki’s statement. “Besides, Class B is not as simple as you think.”

"What else could Class B have? Besides being a little more approachable, what else is special about Ichinose?"

"So you're being too short-sighted, Ibuki." Ryuen laughed heartily. "I just got the exam questions for Class B and Class A. Do you know what that means?"

"What? Isn't it just betraying the class for personal gain?"

"No, no, no, it's not that simple," Long Yuan said. "This school is definitely the right choice; it's getting more and more lively."

85. Situation

One day, after a study session for Class D, Horikita Suzune asked Ayanokouji a question.

"Ayanokouji-san, what place do you think Class D will get this time?"

"Fourth place, I guess," Ayanokouji replied calmly.

It wasn't just to appease Horikita; Ayanokouji genuinely believed this. After all, even with tutoring, the best they could achieve was a passing grade for everyone. Only if everyone passed could Class D secure class points, even if they were the lowest-scoring class.

"So low?" Horikita frowned. "Shouldn't it be at least third place?"

"You're too confident in yourself, Horikita. Ensuring everyone passes is already a great victory."

"Classes A and B are one thing, but can't we even compare to a class like Class C, which is so unruly?" Horikita was somewhat unconvinced. Because she had been slightly harassed by Class C a few times during study sessions, she didn't have a high opinion of Class C, which was known for its underhanded tactics and unorthodox methods.

Horikita thought it was better to read more books than to bother others.

"Why don't you think about this from a different perspective? I think there must be students in Class C whose grades are at risk, but what gives them the confidence to send these students out for a harassment strategy? Aren't they worried that their total score will be lower than Class D's and they'll be pulled closer to Class C and D?"

"Isn't it possible that he has given up on himself?"

"Why should someone with 490 class points give up on themselves?"

“…” Horikita fell silent, pondering the reasons behind it all. “Such brazenness means there’s only one possibility: they can ensure their scores… They’ve obtained papers from other classes?!”

Ayanokouji remained noncommittal; he was only responsible for guiding, not feeding. However, Horikita was teachable and had figured out the principle on his own.

"That doesn't make sense. Why would someone like Class C cooperate with them?"

"..." He was teachable, but not entirely. Ayanokouji realized that it wouldn't be so easy for him to make Horikita the main DPS while he slacked off in the background. He forgot that Horikita Suzune was too serious and had an overly orthodox way of thinking, with no unorthodox ideas in her mind.

She can understand overt strategies, but she can't grasp the concept of covert schemes.

“Nothing is impossible if there’s profit to be made,” Ayanokouji said. “Actually, Class D could also consider this.”

"No one would want to cooperate with Class D, right?"

"Not necessarily, maybe Class B can."

“Class C is a direct competitor, so that’s definitely impossible. Based on the stakes, it’s probably Class A and Class C who have reached a cooperation agreement… so we can only ask Class B.” Horikita got it right away. “But who should Class B contact? Himegami-kun?”

“Why don’t you let Kushida ask them? They’re on good terms, right? Besides, it’s a win-win situation,” Ayanokouji said. “Once Class B finds out about the alliance between Class A and Class C, they’ll definitely think about it seriously.”

"Kushida..." Horikita had mixed feelings when Kushida was mentioned, but she had to admit that sometimes you need someone like Kushida to take charge of getting things started.

“If you’re willing, you can talk to her yourself. It’s not like you don’t know her,” Ayanokouji said. “Your brother thinks highly of the Princess, right? If you get to know her better, you might discover something.”

"That makes some sense, but I can't make that decision on my own. I need to discuss it with Hirata and the others."

"If there's nothing else, I'll head back to my dorm," Ayanokouji said, standing up.

"Ayanokoji-kun," Horikita called out to him.

"Ok?"

"If I don't ask, are you not going to tell me these things?"

"You misunderstood. I only remembered it when you asked me about it."

"...It's alright, you can go back to your dorm."

"See you tomorrow." Ayanokouji nodded and left.

After confirming that Ayanokouji had left, Horikita turned on her phone and found an anonymous email in her inbox.

The email attachment contained a test paper for Class C.

"..." Horikita lowered her head, her long, straight black hair obscuring her expression.

----split line----

Chihaya obtained the C-class exam papers through a deal with the C-class.

Chihaya's side provided some of the exam papers from Class B and Class D in exchange for Class C's exam papers and Class C's subsequent attack on Class D. At the same time, they sold 4 points to Class C at a price of 25000 points per point, which means they bought 4 points for 100000 points.

Class C was very satisfied with this deal, since no matter how you looked at it, Class C was the one who benefited. Moreover, buying four points for 100,000 was a good deal. Although Class C could decide whether to buy after the specific scores were announced after the exam, the price would be different then, and there was no rule out the possibility that other classes with similar scores would raise their prices to buy.

Furthermore, what reassured Ryuen was that the purchase of four points for 100,000 yen had been confirmed by the student council. Although the identity of the person who sold the points was not publicly disclosed, Ryuen had his own answer in mind, but he could not be completely certain until there was clear evidence.

At this point, Class C has the exam papers for subjects A, B, and D, making them the most likely of the four classes to achieve the highest total score.

Qian was different. He had the exam papers from all four classes (A, B, C, and D), which basically guaranteed him first place in all subjects. Although he could still get first place without these papers, having them would be more convenient. He could finish the papers earlier and leave the room sooner.

The only question now is whether Horikita Suzune will choose to use that C-class exam paper. If she does, then the D-class, whose total score has increased, will inevitably attract the attention of other classes—especially the C-class.

Since the accuracy rate for each question in the midterm exam is not published, it's impossible to verify which classes' exam questions the high-scoring classes received.

However, this would make Dragon Garden pay more attention to Class D.

The only loser in this scenario is probably Class A, as not only were some of the questions exposed, but they also didn't receive the questions from other classes. This means that other classes can improve their average score by at least ten points with relatively little effort.

Although Chihaya leaked part of Class B's exam paper, her first-place finish in all subjects undoubtedly gave Class B a significant lead, since the final score was based on the total score.

Thus, thanks to Chihaya's planning and the tacit cooperation between Class A and Class B, the midterm exam once again turned into a test of "information gathering" ability.

86. Planning (two-in-one)

With the midterm exams approaching, all club activities have been suspended, and all classes have entered the final sprint review stage.

Each class is reviewing systematically, after all, they already have at least 25% of their own class's test paper to study, so there's no worry about not having enough to review. If you can thoroughly understand your own class's test paper, it's practically impossible to fail.

In this respect, Class B was the most focused. After all, it was Chihaya, not Honami, who received the anonymous email, so he naturally kept the exam paper. He believed that Class B should just focus on studying at this stage, and there was not much for Class B to do regarding this final exam.

The inclusion of Class A was a pleasant surprise. If it weren't for Class A, Chihaya had originally planned to exchange more BD papers for Class C's papers and to deal with Class D. However, since Class A contributed three papers, giving Class C too many BD papers would likely result in an absurdly high average score for Class C.

Chihaya's original intention was not to let Class C grow too big, so the BD exam papers in the transaction only included five out of ten subjects, which were exchanged for five subjects from Class C.

The transaction of exam papers does not involve points, so there is no need for notarization by the student council.

To put it another way, having the student union act as a notary might cause unnecessary trouble.

The authenticity of the exam papers became a game between the classes, and it was up to the leaders to decide whether they were genuine or fake.

This is actually the same approach Chihaya took when she sold archaeology questions before; you have to judge their authenticity yourself. However, unlike the archaeology questions, this time each class created its own questions, making it impossible to verify—at this stage, everyone is keeping their own class's questions a closely guarded secret. It's already very difficult to obtain and trade them, let alone find students from the class in question to verify their authenticity.

Even if it is forcibly confirmed, that class will definitely change the exam paper immediately afterwards.

The atmosphere in Class B was quite relaxed. Everyone's grades were already decent, and the presence of the top student in the grade made them quite confident. Honami had also mentioned at the study session that Chihaya's questions were of a very high standard; as long as students understood Chihaya's questions during the session, they wouldn't have much trouble with the questions from other classes.

This greatly encouraged Class B, demonstrating their ability to apply knowledge to other situations. Class B was quite confident about the midterm exams.

However, just like Class D, no one had considered the possibility of trading questions; their thinking was too upright.

However, not everyone was unaware of this.

"What place do you think Class B will get this time?" Kanzaki asked Chihaya privately.

"Based on academic ability, we should aim for second place and strive for first," Chihaya said quite honestly. "With good luck, first place wouldn't be surprising."

"What I'm about to say might sound a bit strange, but you don't have to worry about it too much."

"Of course, please go ahead, Kanzaki-san."

"Regarding the midterm exam, before the 'archived questions' were reported, I didn't blindly believe in the so-called 'archived questions.' But does the subsequent cancellation of the exam content mean that the 'archived questions' actually existed? Passing the exam through one's own efforts is one way, so obtaining 'archived questions' through information asymmetry is also a way to pass, right? Or rather, if the 'archived questions' hadn't caused such a big stir, this would have been the most successful way."

Chihaya nodded without speaking, but gestured for Kanzaki to continue.

"The fact that there are archaeological questions shows that the school intends to test our information gathering skills, which is exactly the same as the assessment in the first month. If we don't spend points recklessly in the first month, we will definitely have enough points to buy archaeological questions in the second month."

"Very reasonable."