This coaching is not right.

Outside the room, the scores on the screen began to fluctuate. The bright red "-10 points" appeared first, and the smugness on Class B's faces intensified, while the expressions of the Sakayanagi faction all turned ugly. Yahiko even looked at Tanihara Mao provocatively, and although he didn't say it explicitly, everyone around knew what he meant.

Based on Tanihara Mao's previous assessment, the Sakayanagi faction thought that although they did not know the specific intentions behind Ito Sawa's series of actions, it seemed to be similar to Sakayanagi's previous actions.

Logically speaking, Ito Sawa's score should have been very poor, or even worse.

This is how Sakayanagi demonstrates foresight and achieves even more remarkable results.

But this blatant display of ten points was like a slap in the face to them.

Despite being in similar groups, Ito Sawa still managed to secure a perfect score.

Although she knew in her heart that luck played a part, it still cast a shadow over Sakayanagi's previous image.

Previously, Sakayanagi was a master strategist with exceptionally good luck. But every time he faced Itosawa, he would suffer setbacks and fall far short of his usual standard.

However, the scores that appeared next made Takemoto Shigeru and the others look much better.

After the "-10 points" faded, "+19 points" appeared next, followed by "+2 points" and "+6 points".

This time, Ito Sawa's score increased instead of decreasing in this round, ultimately adding seventeen points, bringing his total score to -7.

This was the first time Ito Sawa had suffered such heavy losses. Toba Shigeru and the others all relaxed, feeling that their guess was indeed correct.

The price Ito Sawa will have to pay now is much higher than before.

Seeing the smug looks on their faces, Yahiko gave a slight snort, feeling quite dissatisfied with Ito Sawa's performance.

He wanted to use Itosawa's significant suppression of Sakayanagi as leverage, but now he's failed to do so. He's really useless.

However, he quickly remembered the lesson he had just learned and didn't dare to show anything inappropriate. He quickly composed himself and looked just as happy as everyone else.

Meanwhile, on Class B's side, watching the score changes on the screen, everyone became worried about Ito Sawa's rare defeat.

Kohashi Yume's face showed worry: "What happened to Ito Sawa? He was performing very steadily before, so why did he suffer such heavy losses this round?"

Nanfang frowned slightly and said softly, "Maybe he's really tired after going through so many rounds. Everyone has off days."

Even Chihiro Shiraha whispered, "How about we ask the teacher if we can send someone else up, even if it's just someone from the room, Honami..." She suddenly stopped, "No... no, this is so tiring, Honami will definitely get tired too. Then... can we take turns?"

Seeing their eyes light up, Hamaguchi interrupted them helplessly: "Alright, the teacher will absolutely never agree to that. If rotation is allowed, both those inside and outside the room will have far too much information, making it impossible to maintain balance."

They all became dejected and stopped mentioning the matter.

They weren't unaware of this principle, but concern can cloud judgment. Seeing how hard their classmate was working for their class, they felt somewhat sorry for him, which led them to propose such an unrealistic plan.

Beppu Ryota comforted them, "Alright, look, Azawa's expression is still normal, and Ichinose and the others don't look worried either. Azawa will definitely be fine."

Seeing that they were still not at ease, he had no choice but to resort to his trump card: "Even Ichinose thinks it's fine, do you think your judgment is better than Ichinose's?"

Now they were relieved. Yes, if Ichinose thought it was okay, then it must be okay.

...On the other side, Ito Sawa and Sakayanagi each came out of their rooms and walked towards each other, their eyes simultaneously sweeping over the expressions of Class A and Class B.

Ito Sawa frowned slightly, while Sakayanagi tilted his head slightly. Both of them read the same message from their expressions: the score in this round must not be good.

Sakayanagi's mood improved after seeing the expressions of Class A and Class B, and he even laughed.

When she lost a lot of points in the first few rounds, although she seemed indifferent on the surface, she was somewhat resentful in her heart and even doubted whether she was really that far behind him.

This was a sense of defeat she had never felt, not even when she watched Ayanokouji dominate from outside the window.

After all, she was able to use her lack of experience with chess as an excuse, and once she mastered it, she quickly became unbeatable.

But now both sides are on the same starting line. Even if there is a difference of 100% or more, the previous gap is by no means something that can be easily reversed by making things look worse.

But now, he also needs to test the waters after the details are finalized, and it seems he's doing just as well as he has.

It seems my judgment was indeed correct; my level and his are indeed comparable.

So, she smiled at Ito Sawa, a rare occurrence for her, and nodded back at him.

When Ito Sawa saw Sakayanagi's smile, he was slightly taken aback, but then returned a calm nod.

However, she quickly understood what she was thinking. It seemed that her deduction of points this time had given Sakayanagi a lot of confidence.

He thought to himself, "As expected of Sakayanagi, still so... naive."

The two continued walking forward without saying a word.

When Ito Sawa reached the room on the left, Haneda-sensei's voice reached his ears.

"Ito Sawa, your score for this round is -7 points."

Ito Sawa nodded slightly, understanding dawning on him: "No wonder they looked so concerned. Losing 27 points in one go is indeed a bit too much." He closed his eyes slightly and began to analyze the scoring situation of this round.

"The detailed rules added eight points, the two individual group sessions added two points, and the three group sessions added three points, for a total of thirteen points."

He continued his analysis: "There are fourteen points left. Two-person teams have three violations, three-person teams have five violations, and nine-person teams have one violation. If Sakayanagi thought of the same three-point rule as me, then both teams must have violated it, otherwise the number of points deducted would not be even."

Ito Sawa frowned slightly and continued to think: "If it's a duo or a trio, then add eight points, leaving six points. Ichinose and Kanzaki both had three attempts, so we should choose between the two of them."

He shook his head slightly: "But if it's four or six points, then there's a big problem."

If the minor rule is violated four or even five times, then we can rule out the possibility that Ichinose and Kanzaki are both prohibited from teaming up by Sakayanagi. However, for the extra one or two violations, we'll need to re-evaluate the specific rules.

"It seems we'll need to screen them again when judging the next group."

Just as I was about to proceed with my next thought, something suddenly came to mind.

I just forgot that I had already set the rules for groups of six or more.

In other words, the nine-person group already had a guaranteed point. This made the remaining thirteen points even more complicated. He thought to himself, "Unless it's five three-person groups plus two four-person groups, it'll be difficult to gather the remaining six points." But he didn't think he'd be that lucky.

He shook his head slightly, a bitter smile playing on his lips. It seemed his judgment had been wrong; the detailed rules set by Sakayanagi for the subcategories remained a mystery.

He thought to himself, "I was in such a hurry to finish that I didn't have an extra round to separate the two-person and three-person groups into odd and even ones. Now that I think about it, it's actually a good thing. Otherwise, it would have been even more complicated."

Iito Sawa never expected that Sakayanagi's detailed rules would so quickly overlap with the ones he had set.

In this way, a small mistake can lead to a huge discrepancy. His probing attempt, worth twenty-seven points, actually didn't provide him with much information.