"Hmph, you Class D students are really laid back. Coming to the discussion room every day just to sleep; I don't know, one might think this is a pig farm."
The girl, whose personality could be considered hot-tempered even in Class C, was haughtily expressing her disdain for Class D.
"Miyahara-san, please don't cause trouble for everyone like this..."
The boy sitting to Miyahara's right made a stomach-ache expression and tried to persuade her.
"Huh? What do you mean I'm causing trouble for everyone? Isn't what I said the truth?"
Just as Miyahara was retorting, snoring sounded from the Class D side, and everyone's expressions turned strange.
Miyahara tossed her long brown hair triumphantly.
"See? I told you it was like a pig farm, but you didn't believe me."
With the facts right in front of them, even the boy from before couldn't say anything more to persuade her and could only sigh.
"Hamaguchi-san, you really have it tough."
A voice that seemed to be expressing emotion but actually contained no personal feelings rang out, immediately drawing Miyahara's fire.
"If you intend to mock me, you might as well say it directly; there's no need to be so roundabout."
Facing Miyahara's direct questioning, the other person shook their head calmly.
"I am merely stating my true thoughts."
"You..."
"Enough! Miyahara-san, how much longer are you going to keep making a scene?"
Hamaguchi, who had been silent just a moment ago, suddenly slammed his fist onto the table, startling many people, and even the two who were sleeping were jolted awake.
Miyahara was also stunned into silence by Hamaguchi's aura for a moment.
The reason she was acting so abnormally was because of the rumors that Ichinose had withdrawn from the exam. Even though this had absolutely nothing to do with Class D, she stubbornly believed that Class D had caused the current situation, which was why she was verbally attacking Class D.
Hamaguchi was a supporter of Ichinose, just like her. The difference was that Hamaguchi was Ichinose's other strategist. Although Ichinose had left the Special Exam, she had entrusted all the power in her hands to Hamaguchi to coordinate.
Unfortunately, Hamaguchi had always hidden behind Ichinose to devise strategies, which was why people like Miyahara chose to ignore him.
"Sorry... I just... I just..."
"Is it useful to say sorry to me?"
Hamaguchi looked directly at Miyahara. Even though he looked like a weak boy, his gaze had an incredible power.
Finally, Miyahara lowered her head in front of the girl with red-rimmed eyes.
"Sorry, Morishita-san, I lost my composure just now."
"Hmm, you did indeed lose your composure, but I forgive you."
Morishita nodded as if it were only natural. Her words were equally devoid of emotion, and even Ayanokoji couldn't tell if she was deliberately trying to anger Miyahara or if this girl named Morishita truly felt nothing about such things.
Miyahara was so angry she clenched her fists, but under Hamaguchi's gaze, she sat down obediently.
Such an intense confrontation right at the start made Ayanokoji somewhat vigilant. Under normal circumstances, Class B should have tried to minimize their comments and keep a low profile.
But with Miyahara causing such a scene, everyone's attention was drawn to her behavior. Given that there was a high probability of Class B being the favored person among the remaining groups, she had absolutely no need to do this.
Unless...
Suppose, suppose they were acting? A person who high-profilely attracts attention and is then forced to apologize must look very embarrassed, so switching to silence and keeping a low profile would be a reasonable thing to do.
Would Class B really adopt such a tactic? Ayanokoji had been observing Miyahara for a long time, and her every move didn't look like acting.
"Since the conflict has been resolved, how should our Rabbit Group end this Special Exam? Hamaguchi-san, you Class B students should have some clues by now, right?"
A boy with an exceptionally handsome face—so handsome that even Ayanokoji felt he was excessively dazzling—stepped forward, attempting to push the discussion forward.
"Unfortunately, we haven't collected all the playing card numbers for this group, so we don't know who the favored person is yet. Speaking of which... I recall that your Class A strategy, Satonaka-kun, was to use silence to drag it out until the exam ended? How come you've started to get interested in the favored person?"
Hamaguchi's words were very clever. He first said the playing card numbers weren't fully collected, but since all the playing card numbers except for Class D's had been bought by Class B that day, a simple explanation directly pointed the finger at Class D.
Now everyone knew that Class B bought the numbers to find the favored person, so Hamaguchi had no need to hide it. Next, to avoid making his implication too obvious, he pretended to ask Satonaka-kun why he changed his strategy, while also subtly undermining Class A. The situation now appeared confusing and mysterious.
Ayanokoji gave Hamaguchi a score of seventy in his heart. Such a person was a qualified deputy; perhaps not as well-rounded as Shibata, but a rival who was on par or even a level higher.
Class B had already ended up like this, yet there were still guys with hidden strength?
"That's not Sakayanagi's intention; it's just that I want to finish early and go back to rest. After all, there are only four discussion groups left now. Watching others finish the exam early and enjoy themselves, to be honest, I'm a bit envious, hahahaha."
Satonaka's smile made even girls like Miyahara unable to help but show an adoring look.
He was worthy of being the number one man on the list of the most handsome boys, voted by the First Year girls, surpassing both Shibata and Ayanokoji.
"I envy them too, but unfortunately, I reckon we still have to wait for a while. Once the evening discussion is over, this exam will end, and everyone will be able to rest well by then."
Hamaguchi smiled and responded to what Satonaka said to deliberately liven up the atmosphere.
"The favored person must be someone from your Class B, right?"
Unfortunately, the atmosphere that had just livened up was directly ruined by that girl named Morishita.
"Morishita-san..."
Satonaka wanted to lean in and remind Morishita not to ruin the atmosphere.
Just then, Morishita's emotionless eyes suddenly swept over. Her gaze, cold as frost, made Satonaka feel a chill in his heart.
"I also think Class B is the most likely."
Since someone had started it, Ayanokoji judged that this was the best time to make a move.
"Ayanokoji-kun, what evidence do you have for saying that?"
Hamaguchi asked symbolically. No matter what Ayanokoji answered, he wouldn't react too much, because it should be common knowledge that Class B had the most favored persons among the remaining groups.
"I don't have any evidence..."
"Then don't talk nonsense here—"
"But someone told me the favored person is you, Miyahara-san."
Miyahara's words were interrupted before she could finish. Immediately after, upon hearing Ayanokoji's accusation, a look of shock appeared on her face.
A miscalculation.
Hamaguchi frowned.
Someone told him? Shibata couldn't possibly ruin his own operation, so who could it be? It couldn't be Ichinose, right?
Hamaguchi's mood was complicated at this moment.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"