Chapter 77: Side Story - Bet

Nanami’s monologue, POV

———–

”Wait.” Reina looked at me.

”What?” My expression became serious.

”C didn’t give us 350,” she added.

”They did.”

”No.”

Reina immediately pointed toward the transaction. “C gave us an opportunity to lose 350.”

Masayuki’s eyes sharpened. “Explain.”

”The rules say the prediction reward is taken from the factions involved in the predicted transaction.” Reina’s voice accelerated. “If we predict C → B again because C has established that behavior, and we’re wrong, nothing happens.”

”Correct,” Masayuki muttered.

”But if we’re right…”

”We gain points.” I completed her statement.

”Yes.”

Masayuki frowned. “But that’s still beneficial, though.”

”Only if we are certain,” I added, then shook my head. “Unfortunately, we aren’t.”

I tapped on my phone, opening the SOAAD metric, with the indicator being Ginton. He had proven to be a problem, so I couldn’t trust just the notifications.

I placed my phone on the desk. Kinko, Ichika, and Masayuki noticed immediately what I was about to do, while Reina sat down, sipping on her coffee slowly.

I looked at Ginton. “And that’s exactly what he wants.”

A soft voice came from across the hall.

”Perhaps.”

Ginton had spoken. The distance between the factions made his voice carry clearly.

I stared at him. “You intentionally gave B a large amount.”

Ginton shrugged. “I transferred resources.”

”To us?” I asked.

”Isn’t that what is shown on the board?”

”But why?”

Ginton smiled. “Because you needed them.”

My expression hardened. “That’s not an answer.”

”It is, and were you actually expecting your opponents to actually give you a straight answer?”

The Lex Veritas Protocol indicator beside his name remained green on the SOAAD system.

No lies.

I knew that. He couldn’t knowingly lie, but he could choose the truth that was useful.

Ginton continued. “Your faction has spent several weeks collecting information. So why are you afraid?”

Nanami’s eyes narrowed. “We have, and?”

”I assumed you’d discover that most of the information available to you was unreliable.”

Kinko muttered. “He knows.”

Ginton looked toward me. “Your informant is quite good.”

Kinko’s eyes widened.

For the first time that morning, my detached expression cracked.

I immediately looked at Ginton.

How does he know about Kinko? Wait, does that mean he also knew about the old records?

Ginton continued before I could react. “However, information is only valuable when the person receiving it knows how to use it.”

Is he saying he interfered with the investigations? No, the old records are strictly from the school’s archives, which are strictly secured by the school’s system.

Is he trying to bluff?

I purposefully tightened my fingers.

”You’re saying our information wasn’t false,” I corrected.

”No.”

”Then it was deliberately incomplete. Is that what this is?” I asked further.

”Hmmm.” He didn’t say anything; I must have seen right through my provocation. If he was going to act as though he was aware, I could direct him into triggering the Lex Veritas Protocol.

”Which means you knew we were collecting it.”

”Of course,” he answered.

Immediately, it went silent. Around me, my faction had stopped moving.

Ginton’s gaze remained fixed on me; he didn’t react at all. His actions were now coming into view, making the leaders look useless.

Even if it might not benefit him now, it could reduce the cooperating trust between the leaders and the members.

”The moment Faction B began investigating us,” he said, “you became predictable.”

My eyes narrowed. “And what did you learn from that?”

Ginton smiled. “That you would eventually assume the information we gave you was nothing but a trap.”

I paused. What?

Ginton had not attempted to prevent me from discovering the deception. He had planned for me to discover it.

So let me get this straight: he had created false information, allowed me to uncover the falseness, and then made me aware of the mechanism.

I felt a rare sensation, not fear, but something much more irritating.

Respect.

Ginton had not been playing against my information, but my process. Not to mention that just now, the question I asked wasn’t the question he answered.

I looked at the prediction interface; twenty seconds remained.

I could predict C.

I could predict A.

I could even attempt to predict B.

But every prediction revealed what I believed, and every revealed belief could be exploited.

I deleted my first prediction.

Then the second, the third.

Masayuki watched me. “You’re submitting nothing?”

I didn’t reply to his question.

”Why? Is it related to Ginton? You know he was probing you, right?” he added.

”Because Ginton wants us to predict,” I answered. Ginton’s expression changed slightly, which I immediately noticed. There was a reaction.

Was it real?

I smiled faintly. “Got you.”

Ginton’s smile faded by a fraction.

I continued. “The first transaction was designed to establish a behavioral pattern.”

I pointed toward the screen. “A gives 400 to C. C gives 350 to B. That creates the appearance of a triangular redistribution.”

Reina nodded. “Which encourages us to predict that the next interval will continue the cycle.”

”Exactly,” I confirmed.

But Masayuki remained quiet; I expected him to say something.

”But why would Ginton want that?” he finally uttered.

I looked at him. “Because if we predict his next transaction, he gains information about our assumptions.”

”And if we don’t?” he asked.

”Then he learns that we’re cautious.”

Masayuki’s expression hardened. “So either way—”

”We give him information,” I finished.

The prediction timer reached five seconds.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

{{PREDICTIONS LOCKED}}

The results were displayed.

Faction A had submitted two predictions.

Faction B had submitted none.

Faction C had submitted three.

Nanami’s eyes moved to C’s predictions.

Her expression changed.

”Wait.” Kinko leaned over. “What?”

I stared.

C had predicted:

A → C: —

B → A: —

C → B: —

My eyes widened slightly from shock.

”They predicted us.”

Masayuki immediately understood. “C predicted B would transfer to A.”

”Yes. But we didn’t,” Kinko answered.

”Which means—” I muttered, turning to look at Ginton.

He smiled. I wasn’t sure if it was because his prediction had succeeded, but his expression implied it hadn’t.

It was merely a prediction, but now I knew something.

Ginton had expected B to retaliate.

He had expected me to attempt to balance the resources and modeled my behavior.

And he had been wrong. For the first time, Nanami felt the balance shift.

I smiled. “Good.”

Ichika looked at me. “Good?”

I nodded. “We finally have something.”

”What? Evidence?” she asked.

I pointed at Ginton’s predictions. “He’s not omniscient, Okay?”

Ginton’s eyes narrowed, but I continued anyway. “He predicted our behavior based on our previous strategy.”

My smile grew slightly. “But our previous strategy doesn’t exist anymore.”

The monitor chimed.

?? END OF INTERVAL 1. ??

TRANSACTION RESULTS

Faction A: 700 Liquidation Units

Faction B: 1,250 Liquidation Units

Faction C: 1050 Liquidation Units

Then another line appeared.

■○ PREDICTION RESULTS PENDING. ●□

The room became silent again; I stared at the numbers.

The first interval had ended. Nobody had won or lost.

Not really. They had only established the first layer.

Capital, information, and stability.

Three factors, resources, and ways to attack.

I looked toward Fāng Xuě. The leader of Faction A was watching Ginton. Then I looked toward Ginton.

Who apparently was watching Nanami. And finally, I looked at my own faction.

Kinko was smiling while Ichika looked excited.

Reina remained composed and calculating. Masayuki looked almost pleased with the outcome, which sort of pisses me off, cause I feel like I’m being played by him again or something.

I returned my attention to the black screen.

A final message appeared.

■□●○ REMINDER ○●□■

[The objective of the examination is not to maximize capital.]

[The objective is to maximize final evaluation.]

I stared at those words, and then I understood something even more important. The test wasn’t asking us to win. It was asking us to decide what winning meant.

Which was ridiculously worse, but I just played with it.

I closed my tablet. “Everyone.”

The four others turned toward me, my voice calm. “We’re changing our strategy.”

Ichika asked, “Already?”

”Yes.”

”What are we doing now?” she asked.

I looked across the hall, at A and C, and at the two leaders who were already trying to understand my next move.

———-

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”