'What's going on?'
At that moment, Saiki looked at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka with a completely baffled expression, his eyes filled with confusion.
[Horikita's actions have been more impressive than I expected. She approached Chabashira-sensei in advance and had her accept only her own test questions, while preventing others from accessing them—not only that, she also had Chabashira-sensei pretend to accept other students' questions to deceive Kushida, making her think her plan had succeeded. So, in reality, the test papers sent to Class D had been swapped, and all the answers Kushida gave Ryuen were meaningless.]
'Huh?'
[But before that, I had already taken action. I anonymously informed Ryuen about the situation. He clearly understood that cooperating with Kushida would only put his class in greater danger. Ryuen is a smart guy, he knows the pros and cons, so he had no choice but to make a deal with me and swap the test questions. As a result, Kushida's performance in this exam is bound to be poor. Without knowing the test questions in advance, Kushida's academic ability is definitely inferior to Horikita's.]
'What the...?'
[I assume Saiki has also noticed this, figured out Horikita's actions, and probably tampered with Kushida's stationery just to be safe. Or maybe it was to further break Kushida's spirit.]
'How would I know if you don't tell me?!'
Saiki was utterly speechless. Earlier, he had spent all his time on the study group and had no idea about Horikita Suzune's actions. By the time he saw Horikita Suzune, she was fully focused on studying, and he had no clue what she was thinking.
In the end, had Horikita Suzune and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka already arranged everything?
'Dammit, then what was the point of everything I did?!'
Saiki almost slammed his fist on the table.
At that moment, Kushida Kikyo had already gotten a replacement pen from Chabashira Sae. She had just written her name and was browsing through the test questions when she suddenly froze.
[Why? Why are they different?!]
[The questions Ryuen sent me are completely different from the actual exam! Did he trick me?! No, no, that wouldn't benefit him at all! What's going on?!]
[These questions... I should still be able to score over 80... but with just that, there's no way I can beat Horikita!]
Kushida Kikyo's body trembled slightly, her right hand gripping the ballpoint pen so tightly it seemed like she might crush it at any moment.
Her inner turmoil was fully displayed on her face.
[Kushida seems to be mentally shaken. The winner of this round is undoubtedly Horikita.]
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka thought to himself.
'Well, I guess this whole thing is settled now.'
Saiki sighed inwardly. He hadn't expected exams at this school to be so troublesome.
'Let's see how the others are doing first.'
Saiki then used his clairvoyance and X-ray vision to observe the test papers of the other students around him.
'Sakura, Karuizawa, and Sato... their grades are decent, so they should be fine. Miyake and Hasebe are the same... Yamauchi's accuracy is much higher than expected. Has he been studying hard these past few days?'
After confirming the class's overall performance, Saiki finally filled in his answers and calculated his score precisely.
A few dozen minutes later, the bell signaling the end of the exam rang, and everyone was given a ten-minute break.
Kushida Kikyo stood up from her seat, her body trembling slightly, her face dark with anger.
"It was you, wasn't it?"
Kushida Kikyo's murderous gaze fell on Yamauchi Haruki's face.
"W-what?"
Yamauchi Haruki instinctively shrunk back, completely unaware of what Kushida Kikyo was talking about.
Kushida Kikyo gritted her teeth, wanting to say something, but there were too many people around. She couldn't ruin her image, so she swallowed her words.
"Kushida seems off today."
"Maybe she didn't study well?"
"It's strange. This is the first time I've seen Kushida-san so out of it."
The students whispered among themselves as they watched Kushida Kikyo.
...
In the afternoon, after all the subjects had been completed, the students left the exam hall.
Horikita Suzune immediately sought out Kushida Kikyo, and Saiki had no choice but to follow Ayanokoji Kiyotaka as he trailed behind her. As for Yamauchi Haruki, he had already disappeared.
"I'm confident I scored over 98. How about you?"
Horikita Suzune asked, but Saiki could sense a faint unease in her heart.
If her plan failed, she would really be in danger of expulsion.
"Even without waiting for the results, it's pretty obvious."
Kushida Kikyo muttered self-deprecatingly.
"At best, I'll get around 80... no, maybe not even 80. So, this bet is your victory, Horikita-san."
Although Kushida Kikyo said this, her voice was filled with resentment.
"Is that so..."
Horikita Suzune frowned.
[Kushida has no reason to lie. Is her score really that low?]
"The results haven't been announced yet. Does our bet only take effect after the school releases the results?"
"That's not necessary. This bet is your win."
Kushida Kikyo said this, but her voice also trembled slightly, as if a fire was burning in her eyes.
[Is she mocking me?]
"Then can I trust that you won't interfere with me in the future?"
"Of course, I'll keep my promise, even if I disagree with it. Do you want me to put it in writing?"
Kushida Kikyo seemed impatient.
"No need. Let's start by trusting each other."
As Horikita Suzune spoke, she extended her hand, seemingly wanting to shake hands with Kushida Kikyo.
But Kushida Kikyo made no move, her eyes filled with coldness.
"I hate you. I think I'm starting to hate you even more."
Kushida Kikyo walked past Horikita Suzune, completely ignoring her handshake request.
"I won't interfere, but I won't help you either. Don't forget that."
"...Is that so? That's a shame, but I guess that's how it is."
Horikita Suzune nodded. For her, this was an acceptable condition.
"Horikita-san, don't forget. My bet only covers not interfering with you. As for Yamauchi and Ayanokoji, my bet doesn't include you!"
As Kushida Kikyo spoke, her gaze fell on Saiki.
"And you, Saiki-kun. I never expected you to be on Horikita's side. That was my mistake. From now on, you're also on my list of enemies."
'Yare yare, was everything we did completely meaningless?'
Faced with Kushida Kikyo's words, Saiki could only feel a sense of helplessness.
'And I'm not on Horikita's side either. I'm just a psychic who got dragged into this mess... I didn't expect Kushida to play word games like this. To avoid future trouble, I'll have to do something about it.'
Saiki's gaze fell on Kushida Kikyo, who had already walked away.
'It seems like today, I really need to give Kushida Kikyo a little personality adjustment.'
...
Ten minutes later, in front of a secluded grove on campus.
"You're late, Kikyo. Did it take you a while to shake off your classmates?"
"What do you want, Ryuen-kun?"
At this moment, Kushida Kikyo had completely dropped her facade, revealing her furious side. Her gaze was as sharp as a blade.
"Huh?"
Ryuen Kakeru's face showed a meaningful smile.
"The questions and answers you gave me—why were they completely different from the actual exam?!"
Kushida Kikyo's killing intent was palpable.
"Yeah, because I swapped the questions before the deadline. What about it?"
Ryuen Kakeru looked completely unfazed.
"I told you, didn't I? That I'd do whatever it takes to get Horikita expelled. To that end, I betrayed my classmates, secretly swapped Class B's questions, and exchanged them with Class D's math answers. If you had kept your end of the deal, Horikita would have already dropped out. But you betrayed me!"
"What's this? Are you mad about that?"
"About that? This was a chance to get Horikita Suzune expelled and drag Class B down, giving your Class D more points!"
"You've got it all wrong, Kikyo. The questions you proposed weren't used in the exam."
"What?!"
Hearing Ryuen Kakeru's words, Kushida Kikyo was stunned.
"How is that possible? Chabashira-sensei accepted my questions and confirmed them!"
"You still don't get it? Horikita Suzune took action first to prevent your questions from being officially used. Thanks to that, not only did we miss out on victory, but we almost died because we were all counting on this plan."
As Ryuen Kakeru spoke, a chilling killing intent also emanated from him.
"No, that's impossible! How could she have acted before me...?"
"If you don't believe me, wait for the exam results. Class D probably lost to Class B. Our agreement is void. We didn't get anything out of it, so it's only natural that we wouldn't let you see the correct answers."
As Ryuen Kakeru spoke, he leaned slightly forward, his gaze fixed on Kushida Kikyo.
"Let me tell you something, Kikyo. You should be thanking me, not hating me."
"Thanking you? I lost to Horikita! What exactly should I be thanking you for?!"
For Kushida Kikyo, losing to Horikita Suzune was a great humiliation.
"Check your pockets and your bag."
Hearing Ryuen Kakeru's words, Kushida Kikyo quickly reached into her pockets—
And her face immediately showed a look of horror.
Because Kushida Kikyo clearly felt that her pockets were stuffed with several small pieces of paper, all filled with answers.
"How... how is this possible?!"
"Probably not just that."
Ryuen Kakeru smiled.
It was Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, under the alias "X," who had contacted Ryuen Kakeru, informing him of the situation and leading him to cut ties with Kushida Kikyo.
"Your surroundings probably have a lot more cheat sheets..."
Kushida Kikyo was utterly shocked. She then opened her bag, which was filled with even more cheat sheets.
Seeing the sheer number of cheat sheets pulled from her bag, Ryuen Kakeru's eyebrow twitched slightly.
The number was much higher than he had expected.
As the two of them faced off, Saiki, using his invisibility, silently observed them from a few meters away.
'Yare yare... I forgot about this. I might have overdone it with the cheat sheets...'
Saiki pursed his lips.
Using his psychic powers, he had easily created numerous cheat sheets and sent them to Kushida Kikyo during the exam. The number was indeed a bit excessive.
But after hearing Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's thoughts, Saiki had completely forgotten about it.
"When did these get here...?"
Kushida Kikyo's eyes were filled with confusion.
"Did anyone get close to you?"
"No one... no, no, no, it was Yamauchi!"
Kushida Kikyo suddenly remembered something and immediately said,
"During the exam, my pencil case and stationery were damaged. During that time, only Yamauchi, who was paired with me, had the chance to get close to me!"
"You knew Yamauchi was suspicious, yet you still kept him by your side? How foolish!"
Ryuen Kakeru sneered.
"I thought if he was by my side, I could monitor him better. If he did anything unusual, I'd notice immediately... But when did he tamper with my things...? I didn't notice at all..."
'It was psychic powers. Of course, you wouldn't notice.'
Saiki responded in his mind.
"Interesting, interesting. You thought you could control Yamauchi, but in reality, he's been monitoring you all along. He saw through everything you did. And Yamauchi is very clever; he knows how to disguise himself. He even deliberately walks to and from school with others. Even I can't openly take action against him, or he might use that to report me to the school. But—"
Ryuen Kakeru's face showed a wolfish grin.
"Then we'll just create a situation where Yamauchi has no choice but to show his true colors."
Ryuen Kakeru took out his phone, which showed a video of Karuizawa Kei and Manabe Shiho.