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WARNING! This article contains information from the light novel.
Do not read beyond this point if you want to avoid being spoiled.
Below is the long summary of volume 11 of the You-Zitsu light novel series.
Prologue
Sakayanagi gives a monologue where she reminisces about her trip to the White Room with her father. She recalls that the white room, which was located deep in the mountains, was true to its name being white and clean. Everything from its exterior to the ceiling and even the corridors were dyed pure white. The goal of the white room was to artificially develop and cultivate geniuses. Among the many children in the White Room, Kiyotaka Ayanokōji in her memories seemed to be the only one who stood out as he was able to calmly beat one opponent after the other in chess and was the only one to have attracted the young Sakayanagi's attention. It is revealed that Kiyotaka was born and raised in the White Room and that his parents and grandparents were ordinary people. Kiyotaka's father, who ran the faculty, was said to have become successful largely due to his indomitable fighting spirit rather than talent, making Ayanokōji the ideal test subject. Sakayanagi's father didn't want the experiment to succeed because its success will likely force many other children to suffer the same fate as Ayanokōji and the children will similarly not receive or know of a parent's affection. Sakayanagi promised her father that she will definitely defeat anyone from the White Room because she has the superior DNA that she inherited from her extremely talented mother.
Chapter 1
Near the end of February, just after the class voting test was formally finished, the new chairman Tsukishiro holds a discussion with other teachers regarding the final special exam of the year. While the final special exam for the second and third year students is roughly the same difficulty as before, for the first years, the special exam is significantly harder than usual. Mashima appeals for the chairman to reconsider the exam for first years. He believes that the low number of drop out among first years is not a justified reason for significantly increasing the difficulty of the exam. The director says that its a decision from the government-owned corporation which control the school and that concession in the form of the Protection Points has already been provided. The chairman also claims that the school was always trial oriented and new experiments, such as the Cultural festival in which important politician are invited, are beneficial for the school.
After the meeting, Chabashira invites Mashima and Hoshinomiya for a talk. They discuss the possibility that the director wishes to expel rebellious teachers like Mashima. Hoshinomiya asks if Chabashira was fantasying of her class becoming Class A with her reply being that she isn’t that foolish. After Chabashira leaves, Hoshinomiya declares that she won't let Chabashira's class catch up to hers. Mashima asks if she was carrying her personal feelings into the matter which she rejects, citing that she already cut off any vestigial feelings she may have had in the past, unlike Chabashira who has never gotten past her days as a student. She declares that she won’t have to worry much since Ichinose is on her side while stating that even if they get close to them, she would personally pummel them back down herself. She clarifies afterwards that she won’t interfere with the students' competition, however, she would also not allow herself to lose to Sae. It appears that this rivalry stems back to the days when they were students.
Chapter 2
On March 8th, Chabashira explains the rules of the final special exam, the Event Selection Exam to her class.
In the exam, each class is supposed to come up with 10 events and rules which decides the winner of the event. The event must be popular enough to be ubiquitous, such as rock paper scissors, poker, or chess. In the cases of situations like written tests questions and other related events, the school will decide the questions in order to ensure the fairness of the test.
The rules of the events must be adjusted to ensure that there is never a tie. All 10 events must be unique and must not take too long to finish. For any event, the minimum number of participants is 1 and the maximum number are 20, including substitutes. There can only be two events with more than 10 participants, including the substitutes. Each student can participate in only one event and cannot participate in more than 2 events. A student may participate in only one event unless all of the student's classmates have already participated in one event each, in which case the student may participate more than once.
Asides from the events, the class must also choose one "Commanding Tower". If the class wins, the commanding tower earns private points individually, but if the class loses, they will be expelled. The commanding tower needs to be decided by the end of the day. The commanding tower of each class will draw a lottery and the winner will get to decide which class they wish to compete against. If, for example, Class A's commanding tower wins the lottery and chooses to compete with Class C, naturally Class B will then be forced to compete with Class D. Though each class has to select 10 events, it needs to select 5 of them as "certain events" and those are the events the class actually wish to compete in. The remaining 5 are to be selected to deceive other classes about which events are going to be selected. The 10 events for the classes battle and their corresponding rule are to be announced on March 15. Among the 10 "certain events" of both the competing classes, the school then chooses 7 events and announces them on the day of the test, March 22. It is in these 7 events that the classes will actually compete against each other. Each event is worth 30 Class Points, i.e. the winning class receives 30 points and the losing class has 30 points deducted. The class with the most events won would be considered the winner and receive an additional 100 points.
After the explanation is finished, Chabashira promptly leaves the class. Hirata, who usually acts as the class leader, is still depressed from the recent class expulsion and sits silently with his head down, forcing Suzune to act as the stand-in class leader. Sudō complains about the recent expulsion and brings up the strangeness and peculiarity of Kiyotaka receiving 42 praise votes, from Class A no less. Suzune explains that this was just a minuscule part of Arisu's strategy to expel Yamauchi while giving the protection point to someone who is seen as unremarkable and not a threat to her class. Though most of her classmates accepts her explanation as the logical train of thought, some still can't fully accept it. To clear this doubt, Kiyotaka nominates himself as the commanding tower. Shinohara objects to Kiyotaka's self-nomination since she felt selecting someone unremarkable as him is equivalent to giving up on winning the event itself, but since no one else volunteers, Kiyotaka is chosen to be the commanding tower.
Chapter 3
At lunch break, everyone except Kōenji and Hirata are present for the planned discussion. Most students are anxious about Hirata's absence. Sudō, in particular, is also angry at Kōenji for not keeping his word about participating in class events. Due to the absence of Hirata, Horikita takes on the mantle of motivating her classmates and being in charge of formulating strategies.
After school, Hirata once again leaves the classroom. Mei secretly follows after Hirata. Chabashira asks for the commanding tower to meet her in the corridor. Before leaving, Ayanokōji is instructed by Horikita to choose Class D as the opponent if given the choice. Chabashira is surprised that Ayanokōji volunteered himself to become the commanding tower. They then went to a multi-functional classroom that is situated in the school's special building, where the commanding tower will be situated during the special exam.
The commanding towers for Class A is Sakayanagi, Class B is Ichinose and Class D is Kaneda. The respective commanding towers drew lots and Kaneda from Class D won. Kaneda chose Class B as Class D's opponent. This was due to Ayanokōji telling Kaneda that Class C wishes to challenge Class A.
The commanding towers then receive instructions from the teachers on how to operate the computer through which they will be managing their class. They are told they would have a time limit of 30 seconds per student when selecting students for the events. If the selection time has passed without the commanding tower completing the selection, the computer will automatically pick the students. During the test, the events would be displayed on the computer along with the rules for when the commanding tower can intervene. Intervention allow the commanding tower can give instructions from the computer, in form of text, to only one student per event which they choose before hand. The designated student needs to wear a headset to receive the instructions.
After this Ayanokōji returns home. At around 6 o'clock, Karuizawa comes to visit Ayanokōji as per his instructions. She is worried that other people might have seen her coming here and this could start some unneeded rumours. Ayanokōji tells her that since Hashimoto and a few other senior students have already been seen them together, there is no longer any point in hiding their relationship. He also points out that since he is the commanding officer, it would not be unusual for him to call on his classmates to discuss about the event. Kei then tells him about all the relevant information she know about every girl in the class.
To Kei's surprise, Ayanokōji had memorized all the information she told him seemingly without any difficulty. When Kei is about to leave, Ayanokōji calls her out and hands her a birthday and white day present. He bought her a 20,000 s-points heart shaped necklace. It is then revealed that he went searching for recommendations on presents at a woman's website. Kei calls it an unusual present which will give people the wrong message and says it only gets 10 points out of 100, whereas even a snack box would have gotten 15 points out of a 100. Ayanokōji tells her to give back the necklace if she doesn't want it, and that he would instead get her a snack box. Kei decides to wear and try out the necklace and says that even though the heart looks childish, she further remarks that any items will suit her. In the end, she accepts the present after giving him the benefit of the doubt by saying that it was his first time giving a gift to another person.
Chapter 4
During lunch break the next day, the Ayanokōji group gathers for lunch as usual. Ayanokōji asks what the class discussed yesterday when he was with Chabashira. They tell him not much was discussed due to spies from Class A listening in on their conversation after seeing people standing outside their classroom. They discuss that choosing events that only rely on luck will result in only 1.56% change of winning and thus they discuss about the importance of intelligence warfare in this special exam.
After school, several girls tries to stop Hirata from leaving but he simply ignores them all and leaves. Kōenji says that this is the only time that he will participate in the discussion and asks them to finish up quickly. Horikita asks everyone to think about things they are good at and things they would never lose. After telling those who were present that regardless of the event they put him in, the class would still be ensured victory, Kōenji leaves.
The next morning, Hirata arrives almost late to the class. Most students tries to avoid him but Mi-chan was the only one who greeted him only to be ignored. During lunch break, Hirata tries to leave, but Mi-chan once again tries to stop him. Hirata asks her to stop caring about him and tells her candidly that she is annoying. Kei then calls him out on his rude behaviour and tried to help Mi-chan as the leader of the girls in the class. Hirata then admonish her to stop referring him by his first name and acting as if they are close. When she tries to defend herself, he threatens to expose the entire humiliating truth that she tried so hard to keep to the class which finally causes Kei to begrudgingly back down.
After school, Hirata and Kōenji leaves without participating in the discussion as usual. Mi-chan is hesitant to follow after Hirata due to his prior harsh rejection and is eventually stopped by Kushida. Before the discussion begins, Keisei shares his concerns about the possible presence of spies. As a countermeasure, they ask Kushida to form a group chat with the all the students in the class and decide to talk there. Switching back to Mi-chan, she changes her mind and decides to chase after Hirata. Horikita, in an attempt to stop Mi-chan, chose to chase after her. Ayanokōji also chases after Horikita by saying her presence in the class is more important than his. Ayanokōji goes to Hirata's house and finds Mi-chan in front of it. Ayanokōji asks Mi-chan of why she is so desperate to help Hirata even though the others have all abandoned him. She tells him that even if Hirata ends up hating her, she still thinks that it is important to save him.
Ayanokōji returns to the classroom only to find Hashimoto strolling in the corridor outside Class-C. Hashimoto asks Ayanokōji why he became the commanding tower. Ayanokōji tells him that Class-C is likely to lose against Class-A so he became the commanding tower to avoid expulsion. Ayanokōji reply and Horikita's strategy of using text messages to avoid leaking information results in Hashimoto loosing interest in Class-C and leaving. Afterwards, the class discuss various things they can choose as an event in the group chat. Horikita is concerned about the limited number of one participant events that can be held.
The next morning, Ayanokōji meets Hoshinomiya on his way to school. She indirectly tells him that in the past, the students had roommates but the roommate system was abolished due to frequent conflicts between students. She also mentioned that there are higher chances of couples forming now than in the past due to the absence of roommates. They are eventually interrupted by Chabashira.
Chapter 5
While on their way to lunch, Ayanokōji's group saw Shibata fiercely complaining about Class D's recent action to Ichinose and Kanzaki. Upon noticing the presence of Ayanokōji's group, Ichinose invites them for lunch at the coffee shop. She offers to make it her treat, but the idea was kindly declined by Ayanokōji. Kanzaki tells Ayanokōji's group that Class D has been stalking, relentlessly following and attempting to mentally pressure Class B members in order to reduce their mobility and hinder their ability to make decisions. Upon hearing this, Keisei tells Kanzaki that Class A has also sent spies to monitor Class C's activities. Ichinose intends for Class B to ignore Class D's actions and instead focus solely on doing their best on the exam. After finishing their lunch Class D left.
Ayanokōji found Ichinose's behaviour when interacting with him a little strange. He noticed that she sometimes didn't maintain eye contact while talking to him contrary to the past. He notes how she seemingly has no trouble maintaining eye contact with other people. On the other hand, she sometimes only looked at him when talking to the entire group. Airi mentions that Ichinose has also started using a citric scent based perfume which Kiyotaka also noticed beforehand. Keisei changes the topic and says that he is glad that their opponent is Class A instead of Class B. Keisei thinks highly of their strong unity and above average skills while also being lead by Ichinose. As they are talking about this, Haruka notices Ike and Shinohara walking together from a distance from them. It turns out that Ike was inviting Shinohara out on a date on White Day due to receiving chocolates on Valentines day. Shinohara accepts the invitation. Ayanokōji's group briefly talk about what they just witnessed before going to their dorms.
The next day, Ayanokōji notices that the gatherings after school have been decreasing over time, and instead the group chat for Class C has become more active. Everyone except Hirata and Kōenji is participating in the group chat. Ayanokōji asks Kushida why she isn't taking initiative in the special exam this time around. She tells him that disclosure about Kushida's assistance in Yamauchi's plan has really hurt her reputation and she just can't bring herself to lead the class anymore. Ayanokōji asks her to instead give him all the information she has about the class. Kushida refuses to give him any information and says that she neither intends to help nor hinder the class for the moment. Hearing this, Ayanokōji concludes that it would be better to give up.
It is Sunday, March 14 also known as White Day. At 7 o'clock in the morning, Ayanokōji decided to put his gifts into the mailboxes of those students who had given him Valentine's Day chocolates. While doing so, Ayanokōji runs into Ichinose outside her dorm who is once again avoiding eye contact with him. She then checks her mailbox and finds Ayanokōji's gift inside. While shocked for receiving a gift from him, she frantically tells him that there was no need for this, but Ayanokōji thinks that it is only courteous to give a return gift, after which she thanks him, while also embarrassingly remarking that this was her first time giving a gift to somebody.
Ayanokōji then asks her for update on Shibata's incident. She tells him number of targets have increased from 3 to 9. They know that stalkers include Ishizaki, Komiya, Yamada, Kondo, Ibuki, and Kinoshita. Ichinose tells him that they intend to focus on defence for now. When Ichinose is asked about whether or not their class has decided on the 10 events, she affirms that they did. Ayanokōji says he has entrusted task of deciding all 10 events and rules for commanding tower intervention entirely to Horikita. He also says that he was chose to sacrifice his protection point and became the commanding tower to prevent any expulsions. Before leaving, Ichinose gloomily remarks to herself that she messed up, pointing to the fact that she did not put on her perfume after unexpectedly meeting Ayanokōji. When Ayanokōji tries to inquire about it, she frantically shrugs it off and told him that it's nothing to worry about. After she left, Ayanokōji comment to himself that she didn't put on her perfume today.
On Monday morning, the day where events of each class will be announced, Ayanokōji comes across Horikita's brother and Tachibana. Ayanokōji asks Manabu why he threatened Horikita to drop out of the school when they first enrolled. Manabu tells him that he was not disappointed by her surface level achievements but rather her inner growth. He tells him that Suzune used to be a child who smiled a lot, but because she started trying to imitate him in every aspect and thus adopted such a cold persona. She started mimicking him in terms of favourite food, colours and even taste in clothes. He tells Ayanokōji that he tried to change her habit by treating her with apathy, but in the end it was only counterproductive.
He also tells Ayanokōji that if Suzune could stop chasing after him, she will eventually surpass him and become an existence even Ayanokōji can't ignore. Ayanokōji tells him that he will do his best to change her. Ayanokōji decides that his purpose in school is trying to change Horikita. Ayanokōji also asks whether Manabu and Tachibana are in a relationship, which Manabu denies. Manabu says that he doesn't mind giving Suzune to Ayanokōji if they end up falling in love, but both Ayanokōji and Manabu think it is likely impossible. Tachibana thinks this might become some kind of flag.
At the end of morning class of the same day, Class A's events were announced. The events and rules were the following:
"International Chess”, “Mental Arithmetic”, "Go", "Modern Literature Quiz”; “Social Science Quiz"; "Volleyball"; "Mathematics Quiz"; "English Quiz"; "Long rope jump"; and "Dodge Ball".
Command Tower's intervention rules set by Class A for most events allowed limit intervention except for "International Chess”, where the commander tower could give instructions at any time, using the given time limit, of up to 30 minutes. Since "International Chess” had a time limit of 1 hour, it allowed commanding tower to have a huge influence of on the final outcome.
Horikita surmised that Class A's strategy must have been to select sports events that clearly requires tight coordination so that Class C can't easily focus on written test events alone. Although most of the students in Class C knew about International Chess and "Go", only Soshi Miyamoto had played Go and only Ayanokōji had played "International Chess". For the remainder of the class, Horikita continued the discussion about selecting students for the events.
During the lunch break, Keisei told Horikita that he wanted to talk to her in private about the special exam. Horikita agreed on the condition of letting Ayanokōji come along. Keisei proposes that they should ask Katsuragi, who must hold a grudge against Sakayanagi, to leak information about which events are "official events" in return for 20 million private points. Keisei says that if they win this event, they would get a minimum of 130 points, which would mean an additional 6 million private points a year for the class. This would allow them to save up 20 million points and allow Katsuragi to transfer to any class. Horikita tells Keisei that the proposal is too risky for Katsuragi to agree with it. After Horikita left, Keisei asks for Ayanokōji's help in convincing Katsuragi about the proposal.
At 6 p.m. of the same day, Horikita calls Ayanokōji to invite him over to her room to discuss something about the special exam. She told him that she will finish telling all she has to say within an hour. When Ayanokōji arrives, Horikita tells him to have a seat while she finishes making dinner. Ayanokōji reluctantly has a seat and asks to confirm whether think will really take less than an hour. She tells him that she will indeed finish saying all she has to say within an hour, but everything included can take 2 hours. Horikita told Ayanokōji that she had actively tried to cook by herself ever since she found out her brother planned on attending this school, in order to improve her culinary skills. When Ayanokōji tells her that her cooking proficiency is rather good, she tells him that such skills are useless nowadays, so it's unnecessary to praise her. When Horikita finishes cooking, she asks Ayanokōji to try it. Ayanokōji is suspicious of her intentions but reluctantly eats it.
After Ayanokōji finishes eating, Horikita gives him a notebook where she had written the combat plan she thought was most suitable for Class C. She tells him to evaluate the plan and says he is obliged to do so since she treated him to her handmade dinner. In the notebook, events for Class C were written along with analysis for who are the best candidates for both Class A and Class C's events.
The events for Class C were "English", "Basketball", "Archery", "Swimming", "Tennis", "Table Tennis", "Typing Speed Test", "Soccer", "Piano" and "Scissors-paper-stone".
The content written in the notebook matched what Ayanokōji had obtained on his own. He tells Horikita that everything written in the notebook seemed correct. Horikita also accepts Ayanokōji's request of her participation in the "international chess" event and will be receiving training from him late at night through the web. Horikita asks him whether he incited her to take action behind the scenes during the Class Poll special test. Ayanokōji affirms her suspicions while mentally noting that she will likely become increasingly difficult to control in the future. Horikita then asks if he can beat Sakayanagi, Ayanokōji replies that she shouldn't be a completely unbeatable opponent. Ayanokōji tells Horikita before leaving that he will be leaving everything, including the rules regarding the Command Tower, up to her.
A few days before the exam, Keisei and Ayanokōji successfully managed to contact Katsuragi and invite him to an isolated place. Keisei asks Katsuragi to tell him which 5 events are official in return for 20 million points. Katsuragi tells Keisei that if you could have immediately offered 20 million points, it would be a different story but currently there is no guarantee that Class C will be able to come up with 20 million even if they rose to Class A. Katsuragi tells Keisei that even if a deal can't be made, he stills feels indelible anger towards Sakayanagi and even without a deal he is willing to give them his casual prediction about which events are likely to be official.
He tells them that though Sakayanagi hasn't revealed official events to anyone, International Chess, English Test, Math Test, Modern Literature Quiz and Mental Arithmetic are most likely to be the official events. He also tells them in case he is chosen for Mental Arithmetic, he can't get simple questions wrong but will try to get the difficult ones wrong. After Katsuragi left, Keisei excitedly tells Ayanokōji that they need to inform Horikita about this. Ayanokōji asks Keisei to let him handle when to give her the report to Horikita, to which Keisei reluctantly agrees.
Chapter 6
The next day after school, Hirata, who like usual tried to leave as soon as class ended, was called out by Horikita. She asks Hirata whether he would take the event seriously if he was chosen. Hirata doesn't reply and simply leaves. The girls of the class started worrying that they won't be able to win this special exam without Hirata as he is the leader of the boys of Class C. Mii-chan runs of the classroom to follow Hirata while Ayanokōji follows her. Mii-chan tries persuading Hirata to participate, but he curtly asks her to stop pestering him. But she doesn't give up and asks him to go back to his usual self, and only stops after Hirata asks her whether she can bring Yamauchi back. He starts walking away, but Mii-chan holds his arm to stop him. Hirata pushes her strongly causing her to fall on the floor. All this while Ayanokōji is watching from a distance and decides to not intervene.
At this point of time, Kōenji interjected instead and starts berating Hirata for his unsightly behaviour, and even tells him that he expects absolutely nothing from Hirata. He points out that the reason Hirata still hasn't dropped out of the school is because he doesn't want to create more problems for the class. He also advises Mii-chan to stop going after Hirata as he's no longer a 'good' person. Hirata becomes enraged and tries to grab Kōenji's collar with his right hand, but his hand was stopped by Kōenji before he can do that. Kōenji's grip was too strong and caused Hirata to groan in pain. He then releases Hirata's hand and extends it towards the fallen Mii-chan, asking her to take it. While she shows reluctance, he gently took Mii-chan into his arms and walked towards the dormitory despite Mii-chan's struggling against him. Hirata realizes that Kōenji is going towards the dormitory, and so decides not to go in that direction. After giving it a moment of thought, Ayanokōji decides to pursue Kōenji while picking up Mii-chan's bag on the way.
At the entrance of the dormitory, Kōenji finally releases Mii-chan and advises her to stay away from Hirata. Ayanokōji eventually catches up with them. Mii-chan is confused by the two's actions, but when Ayanokōji returns her bag, she realizes that Ayanokōji was watching them from afar. She thanks him and goes inside the dormitory leaving the two behind. Ayanokōji asks Kōenji whether he was talking to Hirata for the sake of the class, prompting Kōenji to say that Ayanokōji still doesn't understand him. Kōenji says that he's just doing what he wants to do. The effects of his actions on the class are only secondary to him. He says that he talked to Hirata only because Hirata was like a bad fly to him and is making him uncomfortable. Ayanokōji notes that what Kōenji said is true: that Kōenji would act only when he wants to, the only exception being when he is at risk of dropping out the school. Ayanokōji warns him that in the future, if another special exam like the class poll takes place, Kōenji might be the first to get expelled because of his actions. But Kōenji laughs and says it's a small matter with his strength. Kōenji then remembers that Ayanokōji is the Commander for this exam, and asks him not to choose him for any event, but Ayanokōji says that it's not in his hands as Horikita is the one making the plans. Kōenji responds that it's his right to decide as he is the commander and then enters the dormitory.
Ayanokōji walked out of the dorm to search for Hirata. He deduces that since Hirata wouldn't go back to school, and since he doesn't want to meet other people, he might have gone to some secluded place. After searching for about an hour, Ayanokōji finds him sitting on a bench alone, his back looking heavy and calls out to him. Hirata responds slowly and raises his head. It appeared that Hirata hadn't slept much, evident by the dark circles under his eyes. Ayanokōji asks whether Hirata can spare some time for him, causing the latter to complain that everyone should just leave him alone. He had the impression that Ayanokōji knew him well enough and would leave him alone, but was sorely disappointed by Ayanokōji's presence there. Ayanokōji tries provoking him using his words, but the latter doesn't budge. Ayanokōji then comments that he cannot be Hirata's hope.
Ayanokōji recalls that in the short period of time after the Class Poll, many students tried talking to Hirata. They may have tried to help Hirata snap out of his current state using tenderness, but were unaware that it was just hurting him more.
Hirata asks what Ayanokōji wants to talk about with him. The latter understood that Hirata was willing to listen to him for some time, and plans to forget about it afterward. Ayanokōji says that he wants to know more about Hirata, surprising him of the unexpected comment. He thought that Ayanokōji would say sympathetic things to him. Ayanokōji elaborates that he wants to know more about Hirata's past. Upon being asked why, Ayanokōji just says that always felt like knowing these things. Hirata replies that he doesn't want to think about the past, but Ayanokōji manages to force him to admit that it's because Yamauchi was expelled from the school.
Ayanokōji notices that Hirata doesn't even have the strength left to argue with him, and that his gestures were asking him to leave him alone. Ayanokōji then asks whether Yamauchi's expulsion had anything to do with why Hirata doesn't want to talk about his past, only to get an answer that Hirata's past has nothing to do with the present. Ayanokōji refutes his answer, and goes on to explain that it's natural to feel annoyed over the expulsion of a friend, but they don't have the time to regret it right now as the special exams are just in sight. Ayanokōji then tries to reprimand Hirata for still being stuck over the past, but deliberately stops mid-way, intending to show that he doesn't want to say such types of things.
He then tells Hirata that he wants to know the past that made him behave this way. Upon being asked why he wants to know that, Ayanokōji says that he wants to tell others about Hirata. He realizes that Hirata wants to reveal the truth, but cannot, so he looks at him sharply as if he was threatening him to say it. For the first time, Hirata felt fear after briefly locking eyes with him. Hirata realizes that Ayanokōji must have made Kei reveal her past to him using similar means. Ayanokōji understands that Hirata doesn't want to die and is silently praying for someone to save him. Hirata then starts talking about his past. He starts by talking about his childhood friend who was bullied at his middle school, but is surprised when Ayanokōji mentions his name as he didn't expect him to remember it.
Ayanokōji knows how the story proceeds, that even though Hirata wanted to help his friend, he didn't for he feared that he would be then the next target. Hirata continued the story and mentions that his friend tried to commit suicide by jumping from the window, and although his life was saved, he is still in a coma. Hirata laments that he was the one who forced his friend to commit suicide, but Ayanokōji interjects by saying that it's not his fault. However, Hirata says that the people who ignore bullying are also at fault. Ayanokōji realizes that from that moment, Hirata changed and thought of trying to save everyone. In fact, every time a problem occurred, Hirata took the lead in solving it with his classmates. But he also thinks that there is one thing that still cannot be explained by Hirata's recount of his past.
Hirata notices that Ayanokōji is still not convinced and continues his story. He admit that after that incident, he thought that the bullying would stop, only to later understand how naive he was for he saw the true darkness of humans. The bullying didn't stop: they only turned to the next target. He tells that people who were only watching also got involved, and the amount of bullies in class also increased. Ayanokōji comments that it's the natural law that the second lowest person in class will become the lowest after the elimination of the previous lowest one. But Hirata replied that he couldn't let it happen again.
Upon being asked whether he took any action, he nodded and said that he took several. He admitted that he used fear to directly control the class. Even if he wasn't as strong as Sudo or Ryuen, when he raised his fist, no one would want to fight him. He became the one with all the power in the class, and everyone else became the lowest. Hirata intervened whenever there was an issue, and gave the same amount of pain to both the parties involved. He admitted his actions were no different from bullying, but he saw them as a necessary evil.
The result was that he destroyed all the students in the class. All of them lost their smiles, and spent their days like emotionless robots. The incident became widespread, thus forcing the school to intervene. The class was dissolved, and everyone was kept under strict supervision until graduation. Ayanokōji finally understood why someone as outstanding as Hirata was assigned to Class D and it was due to this incident.
Ayanokōji comments that Hirata cannot forgive the actions that made Yamauchi the target of attack. The latter replied that he planned to pretend he didn't know as long as it wasn't spread. He wanted to remain silent until the final vote in class. He also admitted that he was useless because he could neither unite the class nor save Yamauchi. He couldn't protect the things he wanted to protect, and was even thinking of using fear and intimidation to rule the class. Ayanokōji noted that Hirata's heart was on the verge of collapse, and that Hirata thought that both sadness and happiness should be shared equally among everyone in the class. If someone suffers alone, then Hirata couldn't stand it. Ayanokōji didn't know whether Hirata told anyone else about this, but he did know that each of them would have said things like 'This is not possible' or 'It's not your fault', all in an attempt to console him. They would think that Hirata is right, while all other are evil. But this would never resolve the problem. Hirata took actions to save others, so there's no point in blaming others.
Ayanokōji then mentioned that neither Yamauchi, nor Horikita nor himself were at fault for Yamauchi's expulsion. Hirata just whispered that he doesn’t blame Ayanokōji. Ayanokōji then asks Hirata whose responsibility he think it was that Yamauchi was expelled, and the latter replied that it Yamauchi's own responsibility. Even though Hirata didn't want to admit it, he still reached this conclusion. He was sure that it was because of Yamauchi's own shortcomings that he became the target for expulsion. However, Ayanokōji denied his statement, and his thoughts directly. He said that it was Hirata's fault that Yamauchi was expelled. Ayanokōji tells him that Hirata could have saved Yamauchi like Ichinose, who didn't allow a single dropout.
Hirata argues that she is a special case because she had so many private points while Class 1-C always had lower private points. Ayanokōji argues back that it was his failure as a leader for not addressing the issue of shortage of class points. Hirata argues that what Ayanokōji is saying doesn't make any sense, and Ayanokōji admits that it indeed doesn't. But he points out that this is the reality and adds that if he wishes to save everyone, then he will be responsible if anything goes wrong. 'He also explains that everyone misunderstood Hirata. They think that Hirata is a top student and is respected by most of his classmates while in reality, he's just an incompetent weak student who can only talk about things he cannot do.
Ayanokōji then admits in his monologue that this conclusion is extreme, and that Hirata is not at all an incompetent student. In fact, he possesses extraordinary talent that can rival even A class. But even so, he'll blame Hirata for everything. His goal was to apply an unbearable amount of pressure on him until he breaks down emotionally and mentally. Ayanokōji is not doing it for Hirata or to make him grow and protect the class. He's doing it simply because Hirata is a crucial part of the system known as Class 1-C. He thinks that in this high school, Hirata should go his own way and decide his own future, instead of just acting for everyone like this.
With tears flowing from his eyes, the Hirata who was wallowing in despair, was able to point out that these horrible, cruel, cold words are in fact Ayanokōji's true nature. Ayanokōji tells Hirata that if he really wants to fulfil his own expectations, he has continue fighting until the last moment. If Hirata stops now, then the students around him will fall one by one, but if he chooses to persist till the last moment, he would be able to save most of them. Hirata asks whether he has to bear everything by himself and continue moving forward, to which Ayanokōji replies that he doesn't have to. It's fine to rely on those who are following him, regardless of their position. Hirata repeats Ayanokōji words to himself, and the latter assures him that he can keep moving forward. With tears in his eyes, Hirata thanks Ayanokōji. Watching him cry, Ayanokōji ponders over how complex men are: they cannot easily cry in front of people, and that's why they think of having friend in front of whom they can shed their tears. And as long as Hirata has someone by his side who can listen to his bitterness, he will be able to continue moving forward.
The next day, Hirata apologizes to Mii-Chan and greets everyone with a bright smile. He apologize to everyone and tells them that he is okay now. He also apologizes to Horikita and asks her to tell him more about the special exam later. Horikita tells him that she will have to test him to see if he really is useful, but she is glad that he is back.
Chapter 7
A total of 7 events from 10 official events combined from both class will be selected at random. The commander acts as a leader of class in selection of participants from their class, and a medium who can intervene and guide the participants via communication through headset by voice or keyboard commands depending on the rules laid out for commander for each event.
The rules dictates that the commanders of losing classes would be expelled. However, for this exam, their protection points earned during the provisional exam would be stripped instead. Although there would be no expulsion this time, the class points and standings would indubitably fluctuate.
Horikita tells Ayanokōji to forget all the pointers she previously told him and instead to pick whichever events he wants and people he desires. Horikita had told the class beforehand that she will organise them as they go along, giving Ayanokōji some leeway to choose his events. Ayanokōji tells her not to blame him if something went amiss. Horikita respond by saying that their opponent is Sakayanagi, the most formidable of their school year who is also leading many talented people. Thus, no one would blame him even if he lost.
The likelihood of chess being chosen was a 7 in 10. It’s revealed that Horikita has been training with Ayanokōji in this aspect for the past few days though she hardly won against him even after going easy on her. Ayanokōji advice her that no one is stronger than him, even if he goes easy on them and that she'll do well to remember that. Horikita scoffs at his seemingly overconfidence as he departs to fulfil his duties as their commander.
After arriving at the Special Building, he sees Ichinose and Sakayanagi engaging in a conversation. After greeting them, Ayanokōji remarks how they couldn’t enter the multipurpose hall yet as Kaneda hasn’t appeared. Sakayanagi remarks how Ichinose is extremely lucky as the current Class D wouldn’t be able to hold a candle to her Class B. If they could win 7 in a row, they may even overtake Class A as a result. Ichinose remains humble as she mention how nothing is determined and considering their mentality, they couldn’t afford to let their guard down.
Hearing her resolve, Sakayanagi showed an amused smile at how Ichinose seemed to already be at the pinnacle and that it was as expected of someone who protected the entirety of Class B by herself for an entire year. Despite Arisu's condescending tone, Ichinose disregarded it as she declares that Class B was in it to win it, especially when cooperation was key. Arisu apologies for her rudeness while Kiyotaka continues listening in. After 5 minutes, they could hear the faint footsteps of someone approaching as Arisu expressed that Kaneda didn’t lose his nerves after all. Though the person that appeared was unexpected for all three of them.
Recovering from her astonishment, Arisu quickly became amused while Ichinose remain stupefied. Ryūen the former leader of Class D appears and question why she was so unnerved. Arisu shares how she wrongly convinced herself that only those who received Protection Points could be commanders. Ryuuen reveals that if the commander is sick, it’s normal for someone else to fill in for them though they will be held responsible if their class loses. Ichinose comments how she didn’t even consider him to be the substitute which Ryuuen responded that it's because she's the type to drag herself here even if she’s injured so as to save her classmates.
Ayanokōji ponders how Ichinose attain a false sense of security after Kaneda was chosen as commander and thought the exam's result would be decided by the students. She unconsciously eliminated this possibility and made the same misconception as did himself and Arisu. Ichinose inquires for the penalty of such a substitute with Ryuuen revealing that Kanade is banned from every event. Ichinose notes how they sacrificed Kanade abilities as a result and wonders whether they did it to throw her off. Ryuuen tells her not to worry too much as he is just the class sacrifice if they loses, presenting the perfect opportunity for those discontented with him.
Ichinose didn’t fall for his deception and comforting words as she says he’s the type to use any and every trick conceivable to win. No matter the circumstance, Ryuuen was still in a more vulnerable spot though deep down, she sensed something is still amiss. She is the type to build trust, security and confidence from the ground up so dealing with sudden accidents wasn’t one of her forte. An average opponent wouldn’t be a problem but Ryuuen was a separate story. The shock that will resonate in Class B couldn’t be underestimated as well as their performance may be negatively impacted.
Ayanokōji recalls how she should have taken action back when Class D was stalking her classmates. If so, the situation wouldn’t had been the same as it is now. The throughly entertained Arisu invites them to move along as the teachers guided them to their respective venues. Arisu and Ayanokōji had alone time just for themselves for a few minutes. Arisu reveals that she’s been eagerly anticipating this day for the longest time and because the excitement caused her a hard time to fall asleep, she almost overslept in the morning. Ayanokōji was perplexed as he mentions how their meeting was coincidental though Arisu quickly denies that. It’s true that their reunion in the school was up to fate but she was confident that they’ll cross path sooner or later.
Ayanokōji was confused further by her abstract words as Arisu explains that even if they hadn’t met here, she was sure that she'll meet him after graduation, slowly and painfully suppressing her desires. However, because he’s here now, it has become difficult to continue waiting. Especially since he was in her reach every passing day, she couldn’t repress her feelings to challenge him. That was how much she has dreamed of this day since she first laid eyes on hm. Ayanokōji asks if she’s afraid to wake up from that dream as it will finally be granted. She answers that dreams had to awoken at some point as she pleads with him to give her everything he's got, like a hunter chasing her prey.
Despite wondering if this small exam would satisfy her, Ayanokōji notes internally how he has no intention to hold back since he would finally be free of her always waiting to challenge him. This would save him from future troubles as well as at least in small part quench her thirst. As if reading his mind, Arisu mentions how an inadequate exam such as this wouldn’t be enough for them to show their full capabilities, causing her much conflict. They also had their limitations as commanders being unable to intervene fully as per the school rules. She also mentions how she’s aware that he’s hiding his abilities from his class, and that she'll take all these factors into consideration. Ayanokōji was grateful for her as Hoshinomiya tells them that the exam will be conducted shortly.
They were seated across from other another with a screen in front of them showing the photographs of their respective classmates. Sakagami is the facilitator and tells them to choose five events. Ayanokōji chose 'Archery', 'Basketball', 'Table tennis', 'Typing Speed Test' and 'Tennis' while Arisu chose 'Chess', 'English test', 'Contemporary Literature Tests', 'Math Tests' and 'Flash Mental Arithmetic'. Sakagami says that they’ll put the events in a randomiser and that seven events will be chosen.
Hoshinomiya shares how she feels sorry for Ayanokōji that he has to compete against Arisu. Sakagami quickly berates her for speaking out of turn. A 3D image was displayed on the monitor as the first event was shown to be basketball. The standard rules was applied with the required participants to be 5. Arisu asks if the commanders could wage a war of words with one another. There were no rules against it with Hoshinomiya saying she’s merciless, and was soon reprimanded once again.
Arisu comments that it's understandable why Class D chose this event and that if Sudo one of the best basketball player in the school wasn’t chosen, Class D wouldn’t stand a chance against Class A. Ayanokōji deliberately kept silent so as to not capture the attention of the two teachers. Arisu saw through his intention and continues trying to get him to respond, asking if Horikita the true commander ordered him to refrain from speaking. Ayanokōji responded that she cautioned him not to speak too much.
With his answer, Arisu shares that the mastermind could be deduced, and that she'll be able to formulate plans depending on that person's personality and patterns. Ayanokōji couldn’t reject that notion and gave a vague response, causing the teachers to react in their own way as this valuable information was extracted so easily. Ayanokōji continues playing along with her story as they collectively crafted a believable story to duped the teachers. Now that the stage was set, they were both ready for the commencement of the special exam.
Sakagami interjects into their war of words and reminds them that time is limited. Ayanokōji chose Makida, Minami, Ike, Hondo, Ryotoro and Onodera, mysteriously, Sudo was not among them. Upon examining his choices, Hoshinomiya gave a doubtful expression. Class A choices were Machida, Toba, Kamuro, Shimizu and Kito. According to the information they received, Ayanokōji suspects them to be able to take this win handily. This was done to evenly distribute the class skillsets to garner the most win. However, Arisu seemed to have seen through this ploy from the start. The match was about to begin with their role being to watch the events and substitute one player if necessary.
The match began and the classes were evenly matched. In the last 10 minutes. Ayanokōji was apprehensive on whether to substitute Sudo in but eventually relented after recognising Arisu's intention of not letting Sudo preserve his potential. He argues that even though Class C was leading by one point, it is imperative for them to secure this win. Arisu plays along and chose not to replace anyone on her side, since their winning line was decided from the start. Immediately after Sudo entered, all of Class A's movements sharpened, demonstrating that they were suppressing themselves from the beginning to draw Sudo out.
Kito began Arisu's second strategy by instigating Sudo, going on to explain how his class only had a week to train and how he is being blocked by amateurs. Sudo began slowing down but due to his improvements over the year, he was still able to retain most of his concentration. Hoshinomiya praises Class C for winning the first event, though it came at a cost of conceding one of their strongest assets.
The second event will test the precision and speed of 'Typing', it being the second event that Class C had proposed and was chosen. The commanders are allowed to notify participants of one mistake they made during the test. Considering how essential it was to the future, Arisu wasn’t surprised the school accepted the event. However, this test is strongly suited for those gifted in the skill, making it biased and subjective depending on the classes. Hideo Sotomura was chosen for Class C while Class A chose Yoshida Kenta. The results were 90 points for Hideo and 83 points for Yoshida, cementing Class C's second win.
The third event was 'English Test' put forth by Class A, and the winner will be determined by the highest overall score of 8 students in each Class. The commanders are allowed to answer one question on behalf of one student. With the limited academically gifted students in Class C, Ayanokōji ran into a dilemma when distributing the right students while also holding back some for subsequent events.
Mei-Yu Wang was immediately selected though it took awhile for Ayanokōji to finally choose the others. Sensing his apprehension, Arisu correctly deduced that Horikita gave him two strategies to employ which was to either spread the talents and try to win both or forsake one to win the other. Having already chosen her representatives and being unable to contain her excitement, Arisu asks which he would choose. Arisu accurately extrapolated Ayanokōji's fear that Class A may be saving their better students and hence, would be forsaking this exam. After feeding him more frivolous information to pressure him, Ayanokōji decides to cast aside this event, believing that Arisu wouldn’t risk losing this event. Though the one hint she gave him was that girls perform better of a wider spectrum of subjects compared to boys based on scientific research,
Maya Satō, Kei Karuizawa, Satsuki Shinohara, Kokoro Inogashira, Kyōsuke Okitani, Hakuo Minami, Chiyo Sonoda & Ruri Ichihashi were eventually chosen to be the sacrifice. For Class A, 6 out of the 8 participants were girls. While it wasn’t the strongest team, it was still a fairly solid. During the exam, Ayanokōji chose to intervene and answer a particular question that most students had difficulty in. The results were 651 for Class A, while Class C scored 443. Arisu comments that their average was roughly 81% and that if he had combined the most gifted students in Class D, he may had very well won this event as well. Ayanokōji was impressed by Arisu's courage of saving her strongest students without flinching at the possibility of losing 3-0.
The fourth event was 'Math Test', requiring 7 students for 50 minutes with the same procedures as the English exam. Arisu comments how Ayanokōji's earlier choice may prove advantageous though she also wonders if he intends to save his 'cards' for the Modern literature test. Arisu shares her research that boys tend to do better in Math than girls which she finds extremely fascinating herself. Filtering out her commentary, Ayanokōji didn’t allow himself to be swayed by her words and remained steadfast in his choices.
Class C scored 631 points collectively with an average around 90% per student while Class A scored an even more impressive 651 points in totality, hence tying up the scores of the classes. Arisu shares how if Ayanokōji had chosen Horikita or Kōenji, they might have won though Ayanokōji felt that it wasn’t a guarantee either.
The fifth event was "Flash Mental Arithmetic", requiring 2 students for 30 minutes. This being the third event suggested by Class A, with the commanders being allowed to answer any one question. Rokusuke Kōenji & Chiaki Matsushita were selected after Horikita suggested them beforehand. Arisu chose Kōhei Katsuragi & Emi Tamiya with the latter being known as unimpressive by Ayanokōji as per the insider information given by Katsuragi. 10 questions would be given with subsequent questions becoming progressively more difficult.
Koenji immediately folds his arms and closed his eyes, signalling his disinterest at participating. With Horikita's original plan backfiring, it was down to either Matsushita winning or Katsuragi fulfilling his promise of making a mistake. Arisu voices how Koenji really is peculiar and deduced Ayanokōji's plan on solely relying on Matsushita. By the 6th question, Matsushita began struggling to keep up with the 3 digit equations, increasing number of rounds & decreasing timeframe. By the 7th onwards, her answers were unfortunately inaccurate. By the 9th question, students had to solve 3 digits equations for 15 rounds in 2.5 seconds. Both Hoshinomiya and Sakagami protested at the complexity of the exam as they fail to derive the answers. Ayanokōji and Arisu naturally knew the answers for all 9 questions thus far but chose not to intervene yet.
By the final question, fifteen 3 digit numbers were shown for 1.6 seconds. None of the participants could even raise their pen before it was over including Katsuragi. Arisu swiftly signals to the stunned teachers that she’s ready to answer with Ayanokōji following suit. Both gave the right answer of 7619, hence, it was a face-off between the two participants. Koenji asks if the answer was 7619 with Arisu praising him for getting it right. In the end, Class A scored 8 out of 10, while Class C scored 7. Arisu sympathises with Ayanokōji, with him asking whether it was a mistake trying to persuade Katsuragi.
Arisu replies that it wasn’t wrong to advantage oneself using such a strategy, however, she wasn’t naive enough to let it go unnoticed. By examining both personalities, she already warned Katsuragi that if he had betrayed her, many earnest students in their class would be personally expelled by her. She elaborates that he's not the type to sacrifice others to satisfy some selfish grudge. She inquires whether he’s worried or agitated since Kōenji could had possibly gotten a perfect score. Ayanokōji says that those are just speculation and that a person not willing to do anything is just as bad as a person not being able to do anything. Those types can’t be counted on to perform as even if they may seem different, they are still similar. This was something akin to an Achilles Heel for their class to settle and so, it was a total defeat.
With this, it was two losses and three wins in favour of Class A. Arisu shares her sadness at how the exam is ending with only two events and one special exam left to go. Ayanokōji asks if she could let them win which she rejects as it was still a serious competition for the both of them.
Chapter 8
Switching over to Class B vs Class D, the results of the fourth event had just concluded. The results were two wins and two losses for each class, however, three out of four events were suggested by Class B. Ichinose was clearly distraught while Ryuuen remained lackadaisical. Ichinose turns her attention to Mashima, asking if the students in Class B had returned from the restroom. Mashima replies that two of them were still suffering from stomach aches with several others beginning to feel unwell.
The reason behind Class B unexpected loss at the Chemistry event was that many in their main fighting force had mysteriously fallen ill. Additionally, the day before the exam, many students in Class B were confronted by Class D, dealing a further blow to their morale. She knew that these underhanded tactics were employed by the man before her yet, she couldn’t afford to lose herself now as she regained her composure. Ryuuen immediately began hurrying the teachers to start the next event, accusing Class B and Ichinose for plotting their strategy in the bathroom. Ryuuen also started blaming the teachers for making concessions for very suspicious and coincidental incidents just for Class B. With their hands tied, the teachers began drawing the next event, causing a grin from Ryuuen to appear.
The fifth event was Karate, requiring 3 students from each class. Sundome Karate rules apply and commanders can call for one rematch anytime. Class B was obviously outmatched with this being the swiftest and most decisive loss thus far. If Class B loses the next event, they would lose the entire exam. Ryuuen snidely remarks how Class B was probably assured that they could win since it was Class D, but ironically, all she can do now is silently pray for a draw. The sixth event chosen was Judo with commanders being allowed to invalidate any one matches and call for a rematch.
Seeing this event, Ryuuen mocks Ichinose for her poor luck since Judo was chosen out of every possible option. If it was a Class B event, they could had still won. Ryuuen immediately locks in Albert while mentioning to Ichinose not to give up since the strongest person doesn’t constitute an automatic win. Ichinose couldn’t stomach sacrificing any of her classmates on this suicide mission and failed to choose a participant on time. Mashima declares that Class D wins this event by default. Normally, one student would be randomly chosen if the commanders failed to pick, however, Mashima knew that it was frivolous and dangerous to draw the exam out. Any students picked by Ichinose would undoubtedly give their best efforts even if their opponent was Albert, but that dangerous possibility shouldn’t be tested. This secures Class D victory over this exam.
Flashing back to the day the exam was first announced, Ishizaki was chasing after Ryuuen. Reason being that no one in their class was capable of formulating any plans that could give them even a slimmer hope of victory. Everyone hoped that their opponents would be Class C as Class A & B were too formidable for their skillsets. Ishizaki was the only one against this idea and approached Ryuuen despite his previous orders still being applicable. Ishizaki begs him to lend Class D his strength however the latter felt that they were just prolonging the inevitable. Ryuuen was vehemently against his pleas and comments how Class C is the last class he wants to face if he was the commander, especially with Ayanokōji lurking behind. Ryuuen advised the pseudo leader that if they want to win, Class B is their only hope.
Back in Class D, many was suspicious as to how and why Ryuuen attained so many praise votes. Those that knew remained silent so as to not add fuel to the paranoia. Hiyori dutifully fulfilled her role of convincing Kaneda that Class B would be their ideal opponent to win against. However, she also knew that without a leader, their chances are moot. Hiyori invites Ibuki and Ishizaki to a Karaoke room to discuss their strategy. Ibuki was getting impatient and attempts to leave, and so, Hiyori reveals that Ryuuen was also invited and may be a little late.
Although the agreed upon time was 4pm, the time is now past 8pm. The exasperated Ibuki began ranting despite singing more than 10 songs. As she reaches for the door, Ryuuen appears. He began laughing after seeing that they waited for so long despite having no assurance from him. Ryuuen shares how in the beginning, he tested Class B on their unity and somehow, they passed with flying colours. Ibuki and Ishizaki were against fighting Class B due to this fact while Ryuuen turns his attention to Hiyori. She shares her opinion of how Class B greatest asset is their cohesion, and generally their grades were above average, but that was all they have going for them. They do not pose much of a threat and is just a close-knit class. Ibuki was surprised at her candid analysis despite having such a gentle face.
Ryuuen began sharing how Class B greatest flaw is Ichinose or more specifically the absence of a leader. Ichinose and Kanzaki aren’t natural born leaders and are more suited in serving those with strong leadership foundations. That is why even the 'rotten' Class D stands a chance at winning. However, he isn’t ignorant and also acknowledged how Class D is below average in everything, which meant that Class B could also be their worst opponents. Though he suggests that if they factor in trickery, deception and some borderline egregious actions, their chances will shoot up to at least 50%.
Ryuuen hands his plans over for the others to vet, with the most apparent detail being that all 10 events were physically taxing. In terms of one-on-one, Class B isn’t lacking in athletic people. However, by making use of the rules, hypothetically they could solely send Albert to win against even 10 opponents in Class B, guaranteeing a victory. Even if all goes well, the chances are still 50-50. Ryuuen tells them that they’ll 'sin to win'. Until the date of the exam, Class D would continuously harass Class B, who would ignore them under Ichinose's orders. He caution them not to go overboard and to save violence till the last moment. Their objective is to steal intelligence and even if Class B students remain silent, their possessions like phones would be easy pickings.
Lastly, he shows them some laxative that will begin to take effect after 48 hours. The others were worried at the probable ramifications though Ryuuen tells them its too late to worry and that he doesn’t care. If they are gonna lose anyway, he isn’t above doing some damage and offers to take responsibility if they are caught. Moreover, he isn’t above sacrificing a few of his 'incompetent' classmates through fights to take down some Class B students before the exam. He declares that he won’t go easy on Class B and that he'll be acting as commander to make Ichinose lose her cool.
When asked why he would go so far for their class, Ryuuen thinks back to Ayanokōji. He previously thought that he had severed his vestigial sentiments to this school, however, after his total defeat, he couldn’t stomach the idea of leaving this school. His strongest desire now is to face him in battle again. Only through experiencing this exam and being put in this difficult position could he truly decide whether he has forsaken himself or is finding a way to survive.
Epilogue
The battle between Class A and Class C resumes, with the sixth event being Archery. Akito was chosen and was able to win the match after displaying an arduous amount of effort. This ties the Classes with three wins and losses each. Ayanokōji examines Arisu to be extremely quiet throughout the entire match, almost as if hoping that Class D could win and tie up the score. The last and final match selected was Chess. Each person has 1 hour and if it runs out, it will count as a loss. Commanders will be allowed to intervene and guide participants for up to 30 minutes, with standard rules to apply.
Arisu shares how she couldn’t be more elated at the circumstances now with the stakes being this high. She was extremely happy that Chess would be their deciding factor since this specific event has a long history for them both. Ayanokōji predicts them to intervene around the same time, right at the peak of the match. Ayanokōji caution Arisu that he was rather good at chess which Arisu returns the same words, finding it a peculiar coincidence and potentially a mistake for them to suggest it on their part. Ayanokōji inquires whether Arisu had miscalculated since they were able to push Class A all the way to the seventh event. Arisu plays his words off while happily stating that the result of the last event will be purely decided on the commanders true abilities.
Ayanokōji chose Horikita while Arisu picked Hashimoto. After trading some banters, Hoshinomiya asks if they like some water, hoping to alleviate the tense atmosphere. They both reject her offer hoping the match would begin soon while looking at the two participants who were preparing themselves. The last match will now begin.
It cuts to Horikita whom a week ago didn’t even know the rules of chess. Hashimoto wishes her luck and tells her to go easy on him. Horikita reflects back to Ayanokōji and how she wouldn’t had stood a chance against either of the two commanders if they were here. Although the match hadn’t officially began, the two participants are already trading words, with truth and lies being carefully planted. Horikita reflects on Ayanokōji arrogant words from earlier of how he won’t lose if he’s serious, and as unbelievable as it sounds, she felt that it was reliable. This feeling infuriates her to no end but she’s adamant on not wasting this chance.
She was given the first move advantage and moved her pawn to E4. Despite trying to get him to play defensively, he continued playing one offensive move after the other, contrary to every standardise strategies. He caution her of how he learnt much from Arisu and that he won’t allow her to limit him right from the start. He continues initiating a conversation with her and turns it to revolve around Ayanokōji. He was certain that her current level wasn’t something self-taught and was most likely drilled by someone skilled. He asks if Ayanokōji was the one behind the scenes. Horikita plays it off but he could tell how shaken she was. That said, he was slowly being pushed into the corner and had to take a longer time planning his next moves.
Switching back to the commanders room, Arisu comments how although she likes to see how it plays out, she couldn’t allow this to continue after seeing Hashimoto's verbal assault being ineffective. She asks if Ayanokōji wishes to interject as well however, he's curious to see how Horikita would do against Arisu. With that, Arisu sent her orders to Hashimoto who looked like had a sudden epiphany. Arisu comments how she may have gone too hard on Horikita. Whenever she makes her move, it takes less than 5 seconds for Arisu to choose the right counter-attack. The despair began to take hold of Horikita as her hand stopped moving entirely for a few minutes. Seeing how she was completely lost, Ayanokōji signals that he's ready to take over. Arisu happily remarks that their real match can finally start with just the two of them.
Each of their moves takes between 10 to 20 seconds to formulate while also directing their orders to their proxies. The two proxies were blown away at how different their matches were, and profoundly felt the juxtaposition between their amateur match and this professional one. Ayanokōji gasped at how profound Arisu's moves were and was forced to respect her abilities. He could even envision her reaching the top of chess globally given a few years. He reminisces about the professional instructors he defeated in the white room and how the person in front of him currently was leagues ahead of them.
Arisu asks if her moves had reached his heart which he answers painfully so. Despite attempting to enlarge the lead given to him, it took his full abilities to prevent her from closing in. She would indubitably capitalise on a victory if he had made a single less than perfect move. Sensing his worries, Arisu comments that Ayanokōji would never made a careless mistake. He asks if she could give up then which she rejects his proposal as the desire she wants most is to defeat him with her true strength. Arisu's hand mysteriously stops causing Hashimoto to fret.
A few minutes later, she made a powerful move. Despite not making any mistakes, this time it was Ayanokōji's hand that halted. Two minutes and counting ticked by, as he was given only 5 minutes left. They were now on even field with his next move being either life or death. Arisu comments that something of this level isn’t enough to stop someone of his calibre and asks him to show her what he's got. Instead of winning, Arisu was focused on drawing out Ayanokōji's full potential. She didn’t care who the victor of this exam could be as long as she can enjoy herself. Deciding to reward and return her desires, Ayanokōji finished planning ahead and sent his next orders with only 2 minutes left.
Arisu's moves progressively took longer to make for minutes at a time while Ayanokōji responded within one or two seconds each. He predicts that with the next move, it would be checkmate in his favour. Arisu praises his skills as she sunk back in thought. With only 40 seconds left, the anxious Hashimoto finally received her orders. She laments how it's a pity that the match had to conclude so soon, with her voice being as calm as ever. Upon witnessing her move, Ayanokōji actually felt shivers down his spine. Somehow, she was able to resuscitate her side and turned everything against Ayanokōji. That was when he realised how he's been lured the entire time.
Even Horikita could sense the despair enveloping their side as the prospect of losing became apparent. She pleads with him that she doesn’t want to lose nor admit defeat. She beseech him to do something, to win against Arisu as she herself was completely outmatched. Ayanokōji closed his eyes, recognising the uncharacteristic and emotional plea from his classmate. With only a dozen second left, Ayanokōji sent out his last bet at victory. Assessing his move, Arisu compliments him for the third time, sharing how she never came across a powerful opponent such as himself. However, although his move was perfect and would be a pipe dream for an ordinary person to make, it was still within her calculations.
The pieces moved across with no further dialogues between them before finally, Arisu checkmated him via queen sacrifice. Despite trying to use the same move, she was a few steps ahead. Horikita look to him to see if there was something he could do, but all he did was removed his hands from the keyboard. Despite entrusting everything to him, thinking he could save her, in the end, the opponent was too formidable to overcome. This loss wasn’t hers alone as he admits his defeat as the timer reaches 0. With that Class A won their 4th event, signalling the end of the exam.
Ayanokōji was preparing himself from the criticism he might face since he lost and it being his choice to intervene. Hoshinomiya congratulates him for a well done while offering her chest as somewhere he could cry on. After saying it was a joke, she began to reflect on what he displayed from this exam alone. She asks if he was hiding his talents though he chalk it all up as coincidences. Deciding to play along, she laments that Sae could have him all to herself while also promising to keep her lips sealed. As she turned to leave, her smile disappeared as she warns him that although she doesn’t dislike him now, if he became an enemy of hers, she may end up despising him most.
After being officially dismissed, Arisu leisurely walk towards him and thanked him for the day, which he returns the gesture. He could see that she was satisfied by the escapade today as he compliments her abilities and victory over Class C. He inquires whether she wants anything else from him which she replies saying that her dream had already been fulfilled. Suddenly, acting director Tsukishiro appears and praises their phenomenal match.
After examining his demeanour, Ayanokōji understood that there were hidden meanings behind his choice of phrasing. Tsukishiro then tells them that Class D or more accurately Class C had won against Class B. Ayanokōji felt that Class B would had won if it were not for Ryuuen as he wonders whether he did it for himself or the class. Tsukishiro orders the teachers to leave as they begrudgingly did so after several workers barge inside. Arisu senses something was amiss but decides to suppress them when Tsukishiro questioned her gaze. Ayanokōji attempts to leave however, Arisu asks whether the move he made at the end was really the best he had.
Ayanokōji replies that she won and that she should be happy. Arisu solemnly apologises, saying that she imagined something silly and how she secretly hoped to lose to him. To alleviate her concern, he reiterates that he didn’t go easy on her though she was still dubious. Ayanokōji then realised that she had a greater impression of him than what was of reality. Tsukishiro interjects from behind and says Ayanokōji is a cruel man, further revealing that he should had been the rightful winner of that match.
Ayanokōji states that he did indeed lose and that’s a fact. Tsukishiro agrees but added that the input was quite different than originally intended. Listening attentively, Arisu realises her suspicions were true as her next sentence went past regret or disappointment as it was fuelled with indignation. Tsukishiro shifts the responsibility to Arisu as she disobeyed his orders and went as far as to give Ayanokōji a protection point. Thus, he had to be a bit more forceful to take that grace away.
Tsukishiro went on to disclose how and why the duration for the last instruction sent to Horikita was prolonged, as they didn’t expect such a move to be made despite countless simulations. Hence, they had to configure a separate but still powerful move as a substitute to make the match realistic. He went on to praise Arisu for even finding a weakness to their move. Arisu disregards his praise and asks why Ayanokōji didn’t alert anyone during this breach of conduct. Tsukishiro answers for him, candidly stating that nothing would have happen and that Ayanokōji knew not to draw further attention to himself especially after forcibly sneaking himself to this school.
Tsukishiro then tells her that she should be grateful for her victory. Arisu rebukes his provocations while offering a threat in return, warning that he'll pay dearly for this. Tsukishiro smiles at her threat while saying that for a first-year, she talks big with that inflated hubris of hers despite only playing princess with those from the playground. He then welcomes her to do something about it if she can. After a brief silence, Tsukishiro leaves stating that adults have things to do. Stepping in-between them, he reiterates to Ayanokōji to drop out voluntarily.
Arisu shares how everything's been ruined and is deeply unsatisfying. Ayanokōji offers an apology but she tells him not to. She’s infuriated that these adults had to intrude in the affairs of children, taking away her most precious memory and trampling on it. She asks if it's unreasonable for her not to accept this, which he affirms that she’s not wrong. She then excitedly request for them to have a rematch beginning for the move before Tsukishiro interfered. Ayanokōji considered how if he rejected her proposal, something in her as well as him would be broken and that was something he didn’t want.
Arisu and Ayanokōji went to the library as she swiftly set up the chessboard so Ayanokōji could show his original move. Ayanokōji wins after a couple back and forth, however, Arisu looks satisfied and acknowledged her loss. Ayanokōji shares how things may had gone differently under pressure as even he wasn’t imperious to it when she is his opponent and when stakes are high. Additionally, Horikita had passed him a significant advantage when battling Hashimoto so it was unfair no matter how you look at it. Ayanokōji internally admits that if there were playing from the start, he was unsure whether he could win and would rather avoid fighting her altogether.
Arisu chuckles at his comforting words though he replies that he’s just stating facts objectively. He goes on to inquire as to why she didn’t use this as a one on one event. She answers that she didn’t want those around him to get suspicious and there was no guarantee that it would be chosen. Though that also allowed Tsukishiro to take advantage of them. Ayanokōji recognised how she planned out the Special Exam while also being considerate to his circumstances, and therefore sympathises with her anger at Tsukishiro.
Sakayanagi says that they are about even in chess and would probably win 5 rounds each in 10 matches. Ayanokōji agrees completely and is confident that her prediction would come to fruition if it happens. Irrespective of the situation, she counts this as a lost for herself. She reasons that it was understandable considering Ayanokōji's longer history in this field, as her competitive spirit reignites. However, chess is suppose to only be a leisure activity for her and she would lose the fun if she used this to enact revenge.
Ayanokōji asks if she saw him back then in the White Room which she confirms. She shares how her fondness for chess stems from the day she saw him overwhelm every opponent back then, and her wish to go against him. Ayanokōji helps to keep her chess items as she reveal her regret at having to distance herself from him once again. She shares how she's been dying to get to know him and how he was like a childhood friend she never met, someone she’s been desperately chasing after. Ayanokōji could sense the affection coming from her eyes as she mentions how it's not the time for students to fight amongst themselves. He was grateful at her implicative words as now he only had to focus on Tsukishiro.
As they left the library, she joyfully exclaims that it was the first time that they were alone. She apologies for her slow walking speed but Ayanokōji oddly felt grateful that they could spend a longer time together. When asked about his plans, he replies that he'll be focusing on Tsukishiro but since he's the director, ordinary methods won’t touch him. Secondly, he'll make Horikita improve with Arisu hoping to see her grow soon. Arisu shares that she'll continue enjoying herself, signalling out Katsuragi, Ichinose and Ryuuen as possible entertainers and that school life won’t be boring after all. Arisu apologies for one last lie as she reveals that her avoidance of a one on one match with him wasn’t because she fear the spotlight will be on him, but rather spending time with him, even a second longer was her true wish.
She extends her hand as Ayanokōji held it close. She then envelope it with her left hand, while telling him that human warmth is a precious thing and by no means bad. She then asks for him to remember that as a belated message. Although still perplexed, Ayanokōji knew she wouldn’t explain further as they left for the dorms. As they made their way, it was the first time they could gossip freely and talk like close friends could. No objectives, no ulterior motives as they exchanged stories about their daily lives, until the very moment they arrived.