The seven-day time limit for the special exam reached its final day, and the members of Class A finally realized something was wrong.
Seven days, a full seven days, and not a single student in Class A had the identity of the White Cat.
From a probability perspective, this was indeed possible, but according to the school's standards, this was impossible.
The game rules should be fair to every class, and right now it wasn't fair.
This was the biggest point of suspicion and the direction everyone was investigating.
Thinking further...
It was highly likely that Class B had also not had a White Cat appear even once.
If a White Cat had appeared in Class B, they should have immediately revealed the White Cat, just like his class would, to directly surpass Class A's class points.
One class never having the White Cat might be an accident, but if their assumption was correct…
Two classes never having the White Cat could not be explained away as an accident.
The clueless Kanzaki looked at the distressed Ichinose, hesitating to speak: "Class President Ichinose…"
Ichinose clearly understood Kanzaki's meaning. She shook her head, dismissing the idea, and returned her gaze to the Rubik's cube Ren had given her.
Ichinose had already solved the scrambled order. Judging only from the surface, this was a completely ordinary, plain cube.
She slightly twisted the cube, trying to find some clue on it.
Ren appeared beside Ichinose sometime during her contemplation and spoke, interrupting her: "Honami, what do you think it is?"
"A Rubik's cube."
Ichinose answered without hesitation. The cube in her hand had been twisted countless times.
Ren took the cube from Ichinose's hand, pulled a white sheet of paper from a nearby desk, and wrapped the cube inside. "Is it just a Rubik's cube?"
"Mmm…"
Not understanding what Ren meant, Ichinose propped her chin up with her hand and looked at Ren with wide eyes, hoping the young man would give her a new hint.
Although she didn't know whether Ren had found the White Cat, if it were Ren-kun...
Regardless of whether it was right or wrong, the rest of the class would surely support Ren's decision.
As if seeing through Ichinose's intentions, Ren flicked Ichinose's fair forehead with his finger.
Pat~
A small red mark quickly appeared on Ichinose's forehead. Ichinose covered the painful spot and looked at Ren mournfully.
"That is the price for you, Honami, to get a hint." Ren looked amused at the distressed Ichinose.
The compensation had been received; now it was time to trade information.
"Pay attention to the questions. The special exam explicitly states the White Cat is hidden among the Black Cats, and the White Cat's movement setting is moving around everywhere."
"The White Cat is the odd one out."
"This White Cat has extremely high visibility."
Ren placed the wrapped cube on Ichinose's head. Then he turned and went back to playing with Airi.
Knock, knock. The sound of knocking came from outside the Class A door. Masumi Kamuro stood at the entrance with her arms crossed. After attracting the attention of most of the students in Class A, she spoke.
"Arisu Sakayanagi says there is a way for all of us to win this special exam. She hopes the Class A leader can go discuss it with her. Someone has also been sent to invite the leaders of the other two classes."
After speaking, Masumi Kamuro looked toward Ren, who was walking toward Airi.
"Honami will go."
Ren had no intention of participating in this special exam and immediately handed the decision over to Ichinose.
Masumi Kamuro then looked at Ichinose, who had a white cube resting on her head.
"?"
Unable to understand what Ichinose was doing, Masumi Kamuro decided to ask, "Ichinose-san… are you practicing balancing?"
Ichinose quickly took the cube off her head, took a deep breath to calm herself, and then gave Masumi Kamuro her usual warm smile.
"No problem, Kamuro. But can I bring a few classmates along?"
After receiving Masumi Kamuro's affirmative answer, Ichinose looked toward Ren. "Ren-kun."
"No!"
Ren, who had finally managed to fix the single flyaway strand of hair on Airi's head and was happily playing with it, answered without hesitation when Ichinose called him.
The process of making that flyaway stand up was challenging, but the success was indeed fun.
Ren curiously flicked the strand with his finger, but the flyaway just swayed like a tumbler without falling down.
"So… so embarrassing!"
Airi blushed, lowered her head, and tightly gripped her skirt over her thighs.
"My apologies, Kamuro. Please wait for me for a moment."
Ichinose stood up and apologized to Masumi Kamuro. She then moved toward Ren with a clenched pink fist.
Unfortunately, Masumi Kamuro did not get to see Ichinose hitting Ren's head.
Ichinose came up behind Ren, relaxed her fist, and skillfully wrapped her arms around Ren's neck. The girl leaned close to Ren's ear and gently blew a breath of air before speaking softly.
"Dea~rest~"
Ichinose's drawn-out "Dearest" made Ren's body go soft.
Ren finally gave in to Ichinose's pleading: "You can go, but I'm taking Airi with me!"
Ichinose, whose plan succeeded, did not immediately release Ren. She used the same pleading tone to whisper into Ren's ear: "No problem, Airi comes with us~"
...
First Year Class C,
Kakeru Ryūen, with his legs crossed on the desk, looked sideways at the unwelcome guest standing at the entrance of his classroom: "Katsuragi, why are you here this time? Where is Hashimoto?"
Similar to Class A, Class C had also not had a White Cat appear in these seven days. Kakeru Ryūen also saw through the nature of this special exam.
Finding the White Cat was merely the superficial objective of this exam. The correct approach should be to strongly fake the appearance of a White Cat in their own class.
The goal was to mislead the other three classes into making a wrong accusation, allowing their class to be the sole survivor and claim the 200 class points the White Cat represented.
This was not a game of luck; this school was fundamentally built on competition and calculation.
Kakeru Ryūen hadn't even had time to act yet, and Class B had already approached his class first.
"Hashimoto went to Class D, and Ryūen-kun, your Class C also hasn't had a White Cat appear, right? Sakayanagi asked me to invite you to discuss a win-win collaboration for our four classes."
Similar to Masayoshi Hashimoto, Kōhei Katsuragi was also acting as an envoy.
As for why it wasn't Masayoshi Hashimoto...
Kōhei Katsuragi honestly felt reluctant to send Masayoshi Hashimoto, whose hand was still bandaged, to see the culprit, Kakeru Ryūen. So he proactively took on the mission of persuading Kakeru Ryūen in Class C.
Kōhei Katsuragi was confident in his physique. At the very least, he could guarantee that Kakeru Ryūen wouldn't attack him in public.
And this confirmed it: there truly had been no White Cat in this assessment.
Kakeru Ryūen's internal assumption was further confirmed by Kōhei Katsuragi's words.
"Go to Class D? Coward." Hearing that Masayoshi Hashimoto went to Class D to persuade them, Kakeru Ryūen curled his lip in disdain.
"Let's go. I want to see what kind of win-win collaboration Arisu Sakayanagi can come up with."
Today was the last day of the special exam. It was impossible to successfully mislead the other three classes into making a wrong accusation now.
Kakeru Ryūen decided to follow Kōhei Katsuragi to find out more.
-----------------
Currently on Patreon: 260 chapters available.
My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/LEYI396