Chapter 70: Side Story - Nanami’s Counter Strategies

Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Side Story - Nanami’s Counter Strategies

Kinko’s monologue, POV

---------

?Six days remained before the test, and the classroom had changed. The desks were still arranged in the same orderly rows.

?The enormous display at the front of the room still showed the school schedule. Students still moved between classes as if nothing unusual had happened.

?But the atmosphere was different.

?Factions C and A were not present in the classroom, and from Nanami’s arrangements, she was planning to hold a meeting with the other members.

?Some students were now more curious about the tight surveillance in the building, thinking it might actually be connected to the school. Which was logical, given the fact that the school only gave us the name, not the rules specifically; anyone would think anything within the school was connected to the test.

?Normally, you just have to wait till they announce the test fully, but seeing your potential rivals already making big moves makes one lose their edge.

?I mean, look at the past few days. The coordinates they ’accidentally’ left behind. It’s brilliant, really. They wanted us to find it.

?Scenario one, they either want us to deploy most of our effort and time chasing and trying to reveal a logical plan while they hide their true objective and strategy, ultimately wasting our time and using us.

?But if you think about it, they’ve handed us a beautiful, logical piece of work to keep us out of their way, and they’re right. It is a false strategy. I’ve kept a mental record of the events, although for myself, it all came to realization after the Hinoko incident. She was flagged by the school system’s Lex Veritas Protocol, which meant a penalty to her SOAAD metrics.

?Faction C’s leader, Ginton, isn’t someone who would let this sort of thing fly unless it was part of his plan. Hinoko’s SOAAD metrics haven’t been updated; there seemed to be some setback somewhere, so I will just wait to confirm that possibility.

?They think they’re three steps ahead of us.

?But here is the joke—the absolute, beautiful absurdity of it all is that nobody actually knows what this test is. The Overseers haven’t given us the objective. Is it a capture-the-flag scenario? Is it a war of attrition? Is it a test of sheer survival, or are they measuring our ability to adapt to a lie? We don’t know. Our rivals don’t know either. They constructed a perfect, logical strategy based entirely on what they assume the win-condition is.

?They think they are leading us into a trap. But because the true nature of this game is a black box, their brilliant real strategy could mean instant disqualification. And this ’false’ strategy they fed us? This diversionary tactic meant to sideline us? It might accidentally be exactly what the Overseers are looking for.

?It’s just another option and the reason I wasn’t against Nanami’s investigations.

?Or scenario two, this is all just a strategy to wear us down and mentally break us down before the big game. Which, for now, is my highest wager.

?Still, this is all ridiculous. If they see C making moves, why don’t they bother asking themselves why that approach? Well, I guess I can’t actually blame anyone, since C made sure to withhold any reasoning linkages.

?The announcement of the Tri-Factor Asymmetric Liquidation Test had divided the class into three distinct reactions:

?Faction C was preparing for something physical, based on the info given.

?Faction A was studying the economic implications.

?Faction B was doing both—more or less trying to figure out the others’ plans and approach to the test.

?Or, more accurately, we were trying to understand why everyone else was doing what they were doing.

?Nanami stood at the front of our group’s meeting room, a tablet resting against her chest.

?There were around twenty students gathered.

?In a group, the minimum amount of students in a Faction was 150, leaving the remaining 50+ students as members or neutral students belonging to no groups.

?Based on the SOAAD (Student Overall Ability Assessment Development) system, the metrics list:

?Social Contribution: Based on class attitude, attendance, lack of problematic behavior, and contributions like student council.

?And the SC (Student Credits) system

?SAT (Situational Awareness and Thinking): Reflects on social proficiency, situational adaptability, and communication skills as reflected in the size of groups and positions within them.

?Though connected to the SOAAD metric, the SC points/credits are distributed to the students as currency, with 1 point/credit being equivalent to 1 Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD) in value—making it approximately 500.26 JPY.

?So students like the class faction leaders (Nanami, Ginton, and Fāng Xuě) have a lot of influence not just in groups, but in capital. Bribing and control are right there at their palms.

?Some students sat around the table.

?Others stood against the walls; a few looked genuinely interested, but most looked tired.

?One student finally raised his hand. A moment ago, a student had approached him before he raised his arm—that student being Nanami’s twin, Masayuki.

I see he’s already making his move.

?"How long are we going to keep doing this?"

?Nanami looked at the student. "Doing what?" she asked.

?"Watching everyone." The student sighed before adding, "We’ve spent days tracking C’s equipment purchases and watching A trade Merit Units. We’ve gathered information, but we haven’t actually prepared for the test."

?"How sure are we that’s the right approach to the test?"

?A few others nodded.

?"He’s right."

?"We should probably start training."

?"If the test really is physical, we’ll be behind." Another added.

?"And if it’s economic, we’re wasting time. The test is just a few days away from now," a female student inserted, her mockery of the strategy lingering in her tone.

?"There are just too many possibilities on the matter," another female student muttered to someone else.

?"I know, right."

?Nanami didn’t immediately respond. Instead, she placed her tablet on the table, then turned toward the screen.

?"I totally agree."

?The room became quieter. Nanami tapped the display, and immediately a simple chart appeared.

?There were no complicated formulas or elaborate predictions.

?What was shown was three columns: Faction A, Faction B, and Faction C.

?Under C were equipment purchases, gym attendance, and supply movements.

?Under A were Merit Unit trades, resource acquisitions, and several changes in their spending habits.

?B’s column was almost empty.

?"We’ve been reacting for the most part," Nanami said.

?She pointed at the screen. "C reacts to information, A reacts to value." She paused. "And we’ve been reacting to both."

?Someone frowned. "So? Isn’t that our problem?"

?Honestly, that wasn’t a bad idea from the start. Information is key if you are out of place, but when the information isn’t giving you any credibility to create ideas to solve the problem at hand, it becomes useless.

?Nanami erased the screen. "We don’t know what the test is."

?Nobody argued.

?"We don’t know what Liquidation means, or what Asymmetric refers to, and we don’t know what the three factors are."

?She looked around the room. "But that doesn’t mean we should sit around waiting for someone else to figure it out."

?Nanami took a breath. "I have a proposal."

?She switched the screen. This time, several categories appeared:

?Market Trends

?Resource Management

?Risk and Reward

?Alliance Structures

?Historical Regulations

?It would seem she has been planning on this for some time now, just in case it was looking rough for the faction. She is trying to tackle every single possibility, having both C and A strategies on hand while simultaneously bringing a new factor of our own, giving us wide avenues and branches for worst-case scenarios.

?A student stared at it. "What exactly are we supposed to do with those?"

?Obviously he didn’t like the idea. I kind of feel you; I don’t like work either, brother.

?"Study them?" another inserted.

?"I see," some students paused, already understanding where Nanami stood.

?"But wait, all of them? Isn’t that a bit much to cover?"

?"Not individually," Nanami corrected, pointing toward the first section. "We analyze the market."

?Then the second: "Examine how resources could be redistributed."

?Then the third: "And compare possible outcomes to determine which strategies create the highest risk for the lowest return."

?Someone laughed quietly. "That sounds like a lot of work for a test we don’t understand."

?"It is." Nanami didn’t smile. "But uncertainty is precisely why we need it." She continued, "We aren’t trying to guess the test. We should be trying to identify what kinds of systems the test could reasonably be built around."

?The room became quieter, though a few students still looked dissatisfied with her reasoning.

?Nanami expected that; she didn’t need everyone to like the idea, but she needed them to participate. Logically speaking, it’s best to have more heads on a plan in case of loopholes the others wouldn’t catch.

?"We’ll divide into groups." She began assigning tasks. "Three people will monitor the student market, four will study resource management theories and previous school exercises."

?"Two groups will model different risk-reward scenarios, while another group will examine possible alliances between factions."

?An alliance?

?The thought crossed my mind as a possibility, but due to the fact that the test itself wasn’t specified, an alliance would be considered a leak in information and a setback if the test turns out to be a competition played strictly between the three factions.

----------

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."

-----------