"It's simple. We just need to calculate how many points have been added or deducted. I heard from Shiina that you finished the exam for many groups all at once? Tell me how many of those groups you guessed correctly."
Ryuuen took a bite of an apple and pointed in the direction of Himeno.
"Let me check... The first batch of groups where we identified the favored person includes the Rat Group, Ox Group, Tiger Group, Horse Group, and Dog Group. The strange thing is... the class of the favored person we selected is exactly the same as the class you reported, but judging from the results, it seems we were judged to be wrong? Could the school have made a mistake?"
Upon discovering this, Himeno felt a little excited. In her view, if the school had made a mistake, then there might still be a chance to turn things around.
Perhaps...
Perhaps Class B would become the absolute winner of this Special Exam.
"It shouldn't be a mistake, because when you were collecting the playing card numbers, we already had someone swap the numbers."
Katsuragi's words made Himeno's expression turn ugly instantly.
Had her last hope been shattered just like that?
Hamaguchi, who was on the side, was silently calculating without saying a word, but suddenly he spoke up and interrupted Katsuragi.
"But that's not right. Even if Class A shuffled the order, we also collected numbers from Class C and Class D. Especially Class D, who were unwilling to trade with us, we even paid a high price to buy them privately in pieces. How could there be a problem with those too?"
Hamaguchi looked towards Ryuuen. Ryuuen shrugged to indicate he didn't know, then looked at Shiina.
"We also participated in swapping the playing card numbers."
Hamaguchi's gaze shifted to Horikita.
"To be honest, I don't know either."
Horikita's words made the people from the other classes look surprised. As a class leader and the first person to be eliminated, how could Horikita not know about such a big matter?
"Don't look at me like that. I really don't know about this. Ayanokoji, do you know anything?"
Horikita didn't expect Ayanokoji to give her an answer. Originally, she just intended to go through the motions and then have Amane answer this question, as she felt Amane's information would be more accurate.
"I had Kushida-san organize the classmates to trade with Class B privately, and we also shuffled the order."
With that, the truth was revealed.
When Shibata ordered the purchase of the playing card numbers, everyone already knew that the playing card numbers were closely related to the identity of the favored person, so the three classes teamed up to set a trap.
Shibata, caught off guard, fell into the trap in a miserable fashion.
And the most brilliant part was that all three classes considered that Shibata might cautiously check the purchased numbers of a single group to confirm if there were any duplicates.
Because once a duplicate appeared, it meant someone was lying, which would make it easier for them to urgently adjust their countermeasures.
Therefore, all three classes chose to swap within their groups, which resulted in the numbers having no problems at all. Shibata could never have imagined that the other three classes would actually join forces to deal with him.
"So that's how it is. It seems our loss wasn't undeserved. Finally, someone in our class guessed the favored person of the pig group, but it seems they guessed wrong."
Himeno sighed. Facing the combined forces of the other three classes, it didn't seem like they lost unfairly? But if Shibata had been more cautious, they wouldn't have lost so miserably regardless of the outcome.
"So, which favored persons from other classes did Class A guess?"
Ryuuen had solved the most complex Class B issue and scanned his provocative gaze back and forth between Sakayanagi and Katsuragi, looking as if he were waiting for whoever was the actual leader of Class A to speak.
Katsuragi closed his eyes in pain.
The failure on the Uninhabited Island had cost him his say. If Sakayanagi had failed this time, they would have been even, but he didn't expect Sakayanagi to still achieve some results, while he had been "accidentally" guessed, causing his class to lose 50 class points. Now, his influence would be stripped away all at once.
Sure enough, Sakayanagi spoke without the slightest hesitation.
"I guessed Horikita of the dragon group correctly, and the Monkey Group where Katsuragi is located was guessed correctly by Koenji."
"As for Class C, Kaneda-san guessed the Class D favored person of the chicken group. He also has an imp card, which should deduct 100 class points."
Shiina looked at Amane with some embarrassment, but Amane touched her thigh across Ryuuen, causing her face to flush red instantly.
Ryuuen lifted his leg to knock away Amane's dishonest hand, earning a click of the tongue in response.
"Tch."
"Class D guessed correctly three favored persons of Class B: the Rabbit Group, the snake group, and the sheep group, as well as the favored person of the Monkey Group from Class A. Among them, the sheep group and the snake group were guessed by holders of imp cards."
As soon as Horikita finished speaking, it immediately caused exclamations.
"You had two imp card holders who guessed correctly? Then why are the points you received less than Class C?"
Himeno looked at Horikita curiously. From everyone's words, Himeno knew that Class D had many bonus items, yet the final first place was Class C. No matter how she looked at it, it felt a bit unreasonable.
"Well, that's just how it is."
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