I have a life simulator.

But for the students in Class A and Class B, they were simply blinded by the illusion that "this question is very easy" and "I have a chance to be in the top three" for a moment, and then they fell for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's trick.

This is exactly what Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's strategy is for this round—

Seize that fleeting moment of greed when everyone wants to score.

However, with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's successful strategy in this round, he inevitably took the lead with an absolute advantage.

"First place: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, twenty-two points."

"Second place: Honami Ichinose, 16 points."

"Third place: Shinji Matoba, 14 points."

The point difference has widened to six points.

Moreover, given Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's surprise attack, the rest of Class A and Class B will never fall for such a trick again.

As Sakayanagi Arisu stepped onto the stage, her steps heavy, she began to ponder which existing approach, or perhaps a new one, she should use to tackle this round of challenges.

Then she saw the words she needed to describe.

Sakayanagi Arisu calmly began to wait.

After calculating the time, she began to write.

With just a few strokes, the flowing water is first outlined, and then a little person swimming in the water is drawn.

Next, Sakayanagi Arisu wrote down the number 120.

It was exactly two minutes to go.

"The first keyword hint is three words."

Some people started submitting the answer 'swimming pool,' since 120 seemed like the ticket price. Others submitted 'ambulance,' thinking that 120 was the emergency number and the person in the water was drowning.

Meanwhile, Honami Ichinose and Suzune Horikita gave a somewhat speechless twitch of the corners of their mouths, but their hands didn't stop moving, and they quickly submitted the correct answer together:

telescope!

take a day off

The first draft of the paper has been printed, and I need to revise it today according to my teacher's comments.

The new book company sent me a precious chapter from their archives, and it hurt my heart a little.

All I can say is, thank you school! After I graduate, I'll have absolutely nothing to do with you anymore. I never planned to write any groundbreaking academic papers; my only wish now is to graduate peacefully. _(:з」∠)_

Chapter 184: Mother is...

One minute to go.

"The second keyword suggests that it is an optical instrument."

Most students were still clueless, unable to see any connection between what Sakayanagi Arisu drew and optical instruments. However, they were quick to send a series of answers such as "microscope," "magnifying glass," and "telescope."

Countdown to tens of seconds.

"One of the principles is to utilize the refraction of light through a lens."

"This round is over."

"The correct answer is a telescope."

The teacher in charge quickly announced the top three in this round:

"First place: Honami Ichinose, plus 3 points."

"Second place: Horikita Suzune, plus two points."

"Third place: Ryota Beppu, plus one point."

"Five students answered correctly, and Sakayanagi Arisu gets five points."

Ryota Beppu, a student in Yuki Himeno's group in Class B, accidentally guessed "telescope" as his answer after the second keyword was revealed. Meanwhile, Kiyotaka Ayanoji was enumerating the possibilities as usual, and because he sent "microscope" first, he was two seconds slower.

As for the fifth student who answered correctly, it should also be one of the students in Class A. However, since he was no longer in the top three, it actually gave Sakayanagi Arisu an extra point.

After this round, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Matoba Shinji, who were originally ranked first and third respectively, did not score any points. On the contrary, Ichinose Honami got three points, narrowing the gap between herself and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka from six points to three points.

The ideal outcome of the information gap tactic is to allow teammates to secure the top two or even top three spots, thus maximizing the score.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji shook his head slightly. It was indeed excellent that Shinobu Fukuyama from Class A could come up with this solution, but the problem was that Kiyotaka Ayanokouji himself had never actually participated in the daily study life of Class A.

If it were Katsuragi Kohei on stage, it wouldn't be so bad, but Ayanokouji Kiyotaka was not very familiar with the four members of Matobu Shinji's group. As a result, he couldn't answer questions in the rounds after Fukuyama Shinobu and even Class A. Although they were all classmates, there was a clear information gap between them.

In fact, if he could have scored a few points in those rounds with Class A like Ichinose Honami, he should have already secured the victory based on his impressive nine points in the round he played.

Kiyotaka Ayanokouji's goal has always been only to be number one. The scores and even the food rewards for second and third place are not attractive to him. He went to great lengths to deceive Ryuen Sho and infiltrate the southern area alone, all for the sake of obtaining this opportunity to upgrade his ordinary card.

After Sakayanagi Arisu, Horikita Suzune was the second to last to take the stage.

In this final moment, every minute was crucial, and everyone was on high alert, intently waiting for Horikita Suzune to begin her drawing.

"iris."

This is the word that Horikita Suzune was assigned. To be honest, the moment she saw this word, Horikita Suzune felt that it was tricky.

Compared to a telescope, the word "iris" could not be conveyed to Arisu Sakayanagi and Honami Ichinose through information asymmetry tactics.

If the information gap tactic doesn't work, then only two options remain.

Without making a single stroke, leave your fate to the keyword deduction process, or like Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, draw out the words exactly as they are.

But either way, it's possible for Kiyotaka Ayanokoji to score points.

The final artist was Honami Ichinose, who is now almost the only student who has a chance to surpass Kiyotaka Ayanokoji.

If we think about it from this perspective, perhaps we can adopt this approach...

Horikita Suzune recalled the pattern of keyword prompts given by the teachers in charge in all previous rounds, and also thought back to the description of irises that she had seen in the "Encyclopedia of Plants".

Taking a deep breath, Horikita Suzune began to write, keeping time for the deadline.

Two minutes left.

"The first keyword hint is two words."

The outline of a flower has begun to appear in the center of the screen, but Horikita Suzune has only drawn the stem and receptacle. The most crucial and easily recognizable parts, such as the petals and even the shape of the pistil and stamen, have not been drawn.

Aside from a few students who had already started guessing the answers, most students were staring intently at Horikita Suzune's pen strokes, watching her sketch out a shape that was all too familiar.

"The second keyword suggests a type of plant."

As the teacher in charge spoke, he ignored the same answer that was sent to his tablet in an instant. He looked thoughtfully at Horikita Suzune, and guessed what she was thinking.

In a sense, the opposing team successfully utilized the school in this round.

With ten seconds left, Horikita Suzune stopped drawing. Before her was a vibrant red rose, and the teacher in charge announced the final keyword:

"Related to love."

"This round is over."

The teacher in charge took a deep breath and read out an answer that most students hadn't expected:

The correct answer is 'iris'.

The audience was in an uproar.

Horikita Suzune nodded slightly. She had made the right bet this time. This scam that fooled everyone had two prerequisites.

First, the iris itself is regarded as the "messenger of love" in love, and its flower language is long-lasting longing, which is similar to the flower language of the rose to some extent. In each round of keyword prompts in the school, the first round is always about the number of words, the second round is always about the general scope, and the third round is about the description of the words themselves. This leaves room for manipulation.

Second, so far, this project called "Pictionary" has only resulted in three situations: no drawing at all, drawing words that only acquaintances would recognize but which are often unrelated to the words themselves, and drawing very clearly and carefully.

But there is actually a fourth way, which is to deliberately draw it wrong.

After several rounds of the game, almost everyone agreed on the basic premise that the images must contain information, since it's a game of drawing and guessing, and the drawing is meant to make people guess.

But if you don't intend to let anyone score in the first place, then you can pull off this scam.

After a brief moment of hesitation upon receiving the term, Horikita Suzune quickly devised a plan: to ensure that everyone, including herself, would fail to score in this round, keeping the score difference between Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Ichinose Honami at three points, and ultimately deciding the winner in Ichinose Honami's final round.

However, the teacher in charge did not follow Horikita Suzune's plan to say something that no one answered correctly. Instead, he looked through all the answers and then read out the two names:

"First place: Honami Ichinose, plus 3 points."

"Second place: Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, plus two points."

"Third place: Sakayanagi Arisu, plus one point."

"Three people answered correctly in this round, with Horikita Suzune getting three points."

Surprisingly, three people got it right... The first place went to Honami... That seems acceptable... But what exactly happened?

With this thought flashing through her mind for a moment, Horikita Suzune walked off the stage with some confusion.

At the same time, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji was slightly surprised. He had never fully believed Horikita Suzune's painting from the beginning. Although he submitted the answer "rose" when he heard the second prompt in the last minute, after the last prompt came out, Kiyotaka Ayanokouji was still quite cautious and typed as many two-word flowers and plants related to love as possible in the last ten seconds.

Roses, lilies, bellflowers, daisies, irises...

If I'm not mistaken, Sakayanagi Arisu also used the same exhaustive method.

But how did Ichinose Honami answer correctly? And even before herself?

However, such doubts did not last long, because Ichinose Honami, as the final artist for the project, had already prepared to draw.

Although Kiyotaka Ayanokoji still holds the top spot in the overall score, the gap between him and Honami Ichinose has narrowed to two points. Furthermore, Shinji Matoba, who is in third place, is too far behind the top two and has lost any possibility of advancing further.

So theoretically, Honami Ichinose and Kiyotaka Ayanokoji have already secured the top two spots in this competition, but who will be first and who will be second will depend on the results of this final round.

Honami Ichinose was naturally aware of this as well.

Actually, she got first place in the previous round by sheer luck.

At the beginning, Honami Ichinose submitted the answer "rose" like most other students, but when the third keyword was announced in the countdown, Honami Ichinose suddenly remembered the iris.

This is the kind of flower planted in the green belt downstairs from her apartment.

For Honami Ichinose, the earliest flower associated with love that she knew was not actually the "rose," but rather those unremarkable irises.

Because in Ichinose Honami's memory, Kitagawa Ryo would wait for her on that path lined with irises on many mornings—until that moment.

Perhaps it was because of this feeling of nostalgia that I subconsciously sent out the answer about irises, and unexpectedly it turned out to be a lucky hit.

However, this would give them a better chance to defeat Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, which would also be a help to Ryo.

With this in mind, Honami Ichinose looked at the given words.

Her jewel-like blue pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints in surprise, as if Ichinose Honami had seen something unbelievable.

Under everyone's gaze, Ichinose Honami stood there, motionless.

Her pen strokes trembled slightly in the center of the screen, leaving a black dot that kept spreading out in the center of the pure white page.

Three minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

"The first keyword hint is two words."

Some people, as if suddenly enlightened, confidently sent the answer "Go" to the teacher in charge, but many more, because of Horikita Suzune's previous deception, remained on the sidelines, waiting for the next keyword to provide a clue.

"The second keyword suggests that there is a special holiday for commemoration."

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji began to exert his influence, sending out not only Japanese holidays but also Chinese festivals and mythological figures such as Qu Yuan and Chang'e.

Sakayanagi Arisu was somewhat surprised, frowning and completely unable to understand Ichinose Honami's current behavior. She had a strong sense of observation and could sense that this was definitely not a strategy like Horikita Suzune's, but genuine confusion. Ichinose Honami stood there as if she had lost her soul. The black dot had never meant anything from beginning to end; it was just that the pen stroke happened to be there.

In Sakayanagi Arisu's memory, Ichinose Honami rarely behaved so out of sorts. The last time she saw him with such an expression was... a few nights ago on "Truth or Dare".

In that instant, Sakayanagi Arisu immediately noticed the unusual situation.

"There is a special holiday to commemorate it..."

This answer also matches perfectly.

Countdown to tens of seconds.

"It is a type of immediate family member."

Combined with the second keyword hint, the final answer is already quite obvious.

But all four students in Class A stopped writing and did not submit their answers.

"Help them."