Chapter 73: Side Story - The Test

Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Side Story - The Test

Nanami’s monologue, POV

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?The hallway of Karafuguru High School felt unusually quiet, a strange silence that usually meant trouble was coming from the administration.

?Two days before the ’Tri-Factor Asymmetric Liquidation Test,’ all the school gossip had completely stopped. The frantic talk about faction rules and possible point penalties vanished overnight, replaced by an eerie, careful quiet.

?Walking toward my classroom, my mind immediately started thinking about the change. A sudden drop in rumors didn’t mean peace; it meant someone was hiding things. Someone had muzzled the campus information network. Ginton, the leader of Faction C, was the only one smarts and connections enough from Faction C to create such a quiet environment.

?I thought about launching a surprise move, a small test to see what his faction was planning. But Ginton’s security was too exact. If I pushed too hard, the trail would lead right back to Faction B, exposing our plans before the test rules were even announced.

?Instead, I chose to do nothing and stay completely still.

?For forty-eight hours, I isolated myself. I ignored messages from Kinko and Reina, keeping my head down between my desk and the quiet walls of my dorm room. No contact, no exposure.

?On my final evening of prep, while taking a rare walk near the courtyard, I spotted a familiar face: Hinoko, a female student in Faction C. Months ago, I found out she had a bad record involving a major lie. Yet, here she was, walking around freely through the academic block.

?What?

?A quick suspicion popped into my head. I pulled out my phone, opened the school’s statistics app, and looked up her student ID. Her status and stats were completely locked. According to school rules, only a faction leader had the high-level access to hide a member’s stats from public view.

?Which meant...

?Ginton had done it. But why? To hide her data update from public view, protecting a hidden weakness that could change the game. My deductions mapped out a strategy based on her hidden status, forming the core of my plan.

?This seemed like trouble for us, but either way, we kept moving forward.

?The day of the test arrived with a heavy, serious mood.

?The first thing I noticed when I walked into the class hall in the morning was the silence.

?Not the normal silence of students waiting for a teacher.

?There was no teacher at the podium. Instead, the massive black screen at the front of the classroom flashed to life, casting a cold, digital light over our terrified rows of seats. The doors clicked shut, locking automatically from the outside. No one could enter or leave until the timer hit zero.

?It was the silence of people who realized they were in trouble and didn’t yet know how to handle it.

?The huge black screen covering the front wall was fully lit.

?Hundreds of thin blue lines ran along its frame, lighting up the dim hall. The desks were set up in three large sections, each matching one of the three factions.

?A.

?B.

?C.

?My eyes moved across the room. One look was enough to tell that Faction A was nervous, while Faction C was not.

?That alone was annoying.

?I walked toward our faction’s section without changing my expression.

?"Did you notice?" I asked.

?Kinko was already sitting in his usual seat, resting his chin on his hand.

?He looked like he was waiting for a train rather than the announcement of a potentially disastrous school exam.

?I placed my tablet on the desk.

?"Notice what?" he asked.

?"C."

?Kinko’s eyes drifted toward the opposite side of the hall.

?"Something’s different," he replied. I followed his gaze. Ginton was sitting in the center of Faction C. Calm, relaxed, almost annoyingly so.

?Several members around him were talking quietly, but Ginton wasn’t joining in. He was just watching the room.

?Watching, not worrying?

?I narrowed my eyes, wondering why. The fact that the student from earlier wasn’t anywhere near their group was also suspicious. I had thought he would try to pretend nothing happened to her, which would have been painfully obvious.

?"I noticed," I muttered, looking back at him.

?"Mm," Kinko murmured softly.

?"Is it just me, or... you seem really worried right now," he muttered.

?"....." I couldn’t respond to that. I was just analyzing things.

?"That’s what worried people do—keep quiet."

?I ignored him.

?The seats behind us started filling up. Ichika arrived first, dropping into her chair with way more energy than the situation called for.

?"Good morning!"

?Nobody answered. Ichika looked around, and our eyes met for a second.

?"...Wow. Tough crowd."

?Reina entered right after her, carrying two tablets and a cup of coffee. She sat down without a word.

?Wait, what is she doing with a cup of coffee in class?

?Masayuki came last, looking like he was in a hurry. My twin brother took the seat behind me next to Ichika and Reina, looking up at the huge screen.

?His face was neutral—too neutral.

?"You’ve been awake all night," I said.

?Masayuki looked at me. "Hmm, well, so have you?"

?"I slept. We need our minds in good condition."

?"For forty-three minutes, I suppose."

?I paused. How did he know my sleeping schedule?

?Kinko giggled, Ichika covered her mouth, and Reina quietly took a sip of her coffee. A few other students looked at us, but the heavy tension kept them from reacting much.

?Masayuki leaned toward my back. "You are actually not that difficult to predict."

?That was pretty arrogant of him to say.

?"Neither are you," I shot back.

?"Incorrect."

?I looked back at him. He was becoming a real pain in the neck.

?Masayuki’s eyes had already gone back to the opposite side of the hall.

?"You’re assuming my lack of visible worry means I’m confident?" he asked. Most of the students were already in class, and we were still waiting for the test to be revealed.

?"It usually does," I answered.

?"Usually doesn’t mean always, though."

?I didn’t say anything. That was true, and I hated it. Was everything supposed to be a debate or a little game to him?

?The students of Faction B had spent the last several weeks preparing for this exam.

?They had looked up old tests, figured out past faction strategies, and kept an eye on their rivals.

?I had spent most of that time doing what I thought was the most reliable thing possible:

?Gathering information.

?I had people helping.

?Kinko was my hidden source of info, someone who could slip through social circles without drawing attention.

?Ichika gathered facts almost by accident because she could talk to anyone. Reina analyzed patterns, and Masayuki was good at spotting inconsistencies—even if he refused to cooperate most of the time.

?Our faction had spent weeks building a model of Faction A and Faction C. Since the test wasn’t against an outside school, having our competitors’ strategies ready just in case the test turned into a battle between factions would give us an edge.

?We had studied their habits, relationships, past choices, and leadership styles, even looking through old exam records.

?And then today arrived, and everything we prepared was suddenly thrown into question. Not because our info was wrong, but because the test itself completely changed the value of what we knew.

?The screen suddenly came to life.

?Every conversation stopped. A single white line appeared across the black screen.

?Then letters formed:

?○●□■ ACADEMIC INSTITUTION ■□●○

?[EVALUATION SYSTEM]

?The screen flickered, and a new title appeared:

?TRI-FACTOR ASYMMETRIC LIQUIDATION TEST

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"The distinction between true and false consciousness, real and immediate interest still is meaningful."

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