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' In the end, even after I entered this school. Nothing had changed. The reason for that was very simple. I understand myself more than anyone else does. '

As Karuizawa Kei got out of the shower attached to the student rooms, she looked at herself in the mirror. Suddenly feeling dizzy and nauseated, Karuizawa Kei quickly puts her hands on the sink and vomits into it.

' Why? I repeated the same question to myself countless times. The past is immutable. I cannot change anyone or anything from the past anymore. My very personality was destroyed by the nightmare of that time; I had also lost my youth, my friends and myself to it. No matter how much they hate me, it's still better than suffering that again. The most important thing is that I protect myself. I am...a parasite, a weak creature incapable of surviving on its own. '

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[Three days have passed since the test on the uninhabited island.]

' On the luxurious cruise ship our school provided us with, nothing of note was happening and there was a peaceful lull. Even though it was against my will, I was still forced to change my original trajectory after entering this school. Initially, I chose to enter this school for a very specific reason. "Contact with the outside until graduation is forbidden". Right now, a "certain man" is attempting to contact me from the outside. '

' Chabashira-sensei was the one who informed me of this. Furthermore, she blackmailed me into helping her take the class to A Class by threatening to forcibly expel me if I did not comply. But I will not be blackmailed by her forever. For now, I will gather the necessary information, and depending on the circumstances I will have to make the first move. But, I guess, not only the environment, but I myself slightly changed, because now, unlike before, I did consider someone to be my ally and not a tool. '

Ayanokōji Kiyotaka glances at Akabane Karma, who's sitting beside him.

' Akabane Karma - my classmate, my seatmate and my... ally. It's still strange for me to consider someone to be my ally. At first, I thought he met me just to get to know a classmate better. Yes, he wanted to get to know me better, to be my friend, but also, he knew I was different. He knew there was something behind my poker face, and he wanted to get it out. That would make him my enemy right away, but he offered a compromise. '

' We would use each other in order for us to graduate. I agreed to his deal because, since he knew about my secret, he must also have kept something similar in himself. And my hunch was correct. If I had to describe him in one word, I would call him... an assassin. '

' Not only does he have good reflexes and survival skills, but he also knows how to use his bloodlust at will. If I were asked who would win the battle between him and me, I would say, "I don't know, but it's likely that I would win." I would add that phrase because, like Karma, I don't know his full potential. But even so, I would not lose to him. After all, I always win. '

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Yosuke tilt his head at the two boys. " Hmm? Have you been in your room this whole time? "

" There's no reason for me to go out, I don't have anyone to spend time with anyways. " Kiyotaka replied making Karma pout.

" Ehh?! I'm not a person who you would like to spend time with, Ayano-kun? "

Kiyotaka ignores his comment, making Karma's eyebrows twitch.

" There's Sudou and Horikita as well. I think Ayanokouji-kun will be able to make more friends if you were a bit more aggressive. " Yosuke suggestively said. " Akabane-kun on the other hand, should be quieter. I'm planning to go out with Karuizawa-san at 12:30 to have lunch together. Would you like to tag along with us? I'm sure it'll be fun to have you with us. "

Karma looked unconvinced at the explanation. " Is it just Karuizawa? "

" Not exactly, there are 3 other girls that will be with us. Do you dislike that? " Yosuke looked a bit hesitant by the answer no.

Kiyotaka's eyes focus on a daze. ' If I have to admit the truth, I've wanted to talk a bit with Karuizawa for a while now... But rather than getting excited, I have the feeling they won't like it if I'm around. '

Karma lean backwards. " Pass, I don't think I'll get along with Karuizawa's group, Ayano-kun won't too. "

Kiyotaka nod.

Hirata sits down near them, having realized that they did not want to initiate new relationships with people. " I can understand why you would be reluctant, but I want you two to depend on me. "

Kiyotaka declined by shaking his head. " Only 10 minutes to go before lunch, I think you should leave us now. "

" There's no need to hurry, besides I think it's fun being with you like this now. Then how about we have lunch with just the three of us together, will you be happy with that? " Yosuke pushed in, no bounderies on giving up.

Karma cross his arms. " We're fine with it, but you need to consider Karuizawa's feelings. "

" It's ok, I can eat with Karuizawa-san whenever I want, but with you Ayanokouji-kun, Karma-kun, I have limited opportunities to eat together. " Yosuke intently stares at the two of them.

" I don't want Karuizawa to hate us later on. " Karma add.

" It's ok, Karuizawa-san isn't the type to be angry at you for something like that. " Yosuke smiled.

Kiyotaka sweatdrop at the polite battle between the two.

Karma laughed. " No, no. Karuizawa's definitely that type of girl. "

" I think I'll cancel the lunch with Karuizawa-san after all. " With that, yosuke quickly pulls out his mobile and calls Karuizawa. They tried to stop him but Hirata uses his hands to cover their eyes and stop them.

" do you have anything to eat in particular? " Yosuke ask the two.

Karma sighed in defeat. " I can eat anything... "

Kiyotaka followed. " I'd just like to avoid heavy foods if possible. "

Hirata cancels his date with Karuizawa. They couldn't clearly hear Karuizawa's voice through the call but Hirata forcibly shut her down and cancelled the date anyways.

Karma gives a sweaty glance at Yosuke's declination. " Are you really fine with this? "

" Of course. Let's go to the deck. If it's only snacks it'll be easier to eat out there anyway. " Hirata gives a bright smile as he opened the door and pulled them out of it.

" Thank you for cooperating during the island test. I cannot thank you enough, Ayanokouji-kun, Akabane-kun. You even helped me look for the culprit "

" Don't thank us for it. The credit belongs to Horikita. She's the one who found the culprit that stole the underwear " Kiyotaka said.

Karma snort at the comment. ' Still hiding in the shadows, I see. '

They would think of it as a hero in Class D living in the shadows only to realize that he's in neither of a hero or a villain rather, it's basically like chess, he's neither black or white instead, he's the hands that move them both.

" Of course that is true, but I still want to thank Ayanokouji-kun and Akabane-kun who cooperated with me without reservation. "

Kiyotaka then looked around to see if there were any people around. " Did you return Karuizawa's underwear to her yourself? "

" Yeah, after all Ibuki-san was the culprit so she was able to accept it smoothly. "

From the elevator in the cruise ship to the deck, students seemed to be enjoying their summer vacation in their favorite dresses. Since there was also an onboard pool nearby both male and female students were boldly wearing swimsuits and swimming in the pool. By the time our trio reached the restaurant, over half the seats had already been filled. The three of them quickly secured the vacant seats that still remained amongst the crowded restaurant.

Yosuke turn his head to them. " To be honest...I have something I'd like to talk to you about "

Kiyotaka glance back. " What is it? "

" I may not be the best listener as Ayano-kun but.. do you have a short version of it? " Karma ask.

" I would like you to be the bridge between me and Horikita-san, I think Horikita-san will be an indispensable person to D Class in the future and I would very much like to work together with her. "

Once the two boys gave their full acceptance, Yosuke continued. " Even the other day, it was thanks to Horikita-san's efforts that D Class won an unexpected victory. The morale of the class is soaring. I think the number of students who like Horikita-san has also gone up which is a huge change from before. "

Kiyotaka hummed . " But even if you bridge the gap between you and Horikita, it won't go over that easily. "

Karma shake his head. " Suzu-chan's just that type of person. It's easier said than done; usually we're the ones following Suzu-... "

" To be more precise, we've never really given Horikita any opinions before. If we started giving our opinions on matters suddenly it would seem strange. " Kiyotaka cut in.

Yosuke sighed. " But as of right now I don't have any better ideas. Even if I were to talk to Horikita-san about this right now, I don't have the confidence that I'd be able to convince her to work together with us. This is my last resort. "

For now, the duo ordered sandwiches and some drinks. Students were swimming in the pool on the deck while others were eating while still in their swimsuits. The mood amongst the students seemed to be a festive one.

If Ike and Yamauchi were here, they'd be drooling more at the girls' swimsuits than the meal itself. Yosuke, on the other hand, paid no attention to the girls at all but instead was staring at them.

" Yeah, like Ayanokouji-kun and Akabane-kun said, my plan may have been a poorly thought-out one. It seems I'll have to rethink my approach; Horikita-san is a very serious type of person. How did you manage to get along with her, Akabane-kun, Ayanokouji-kun? "

" Let me refute one of your points. It's not like I'm getting along with Horikita well or anything too, it seems like she doesn't even recognize me as a friend. " Kiyotaka's voice still stayed monotone.

" Yeah, she only talks with us about class development. I should also add that Suzu-chan is not the type to make friends easily. " Karma point out.

Yosuke looked down a bit. " ... That might be true. I admit I wasn't thinking of her feelings but rather only my own desire for cooperation. I'm sorry, I invited you out here only to listen to my selfish request, let's eat shall we. "

After a while Yosuke became aware that someone was approaching them and looked at the duo with an embarrassed face.

" Ah...so you were here after all, Hirata-kun. " Kei stand infront of Yosuke. " Let's eat lunch together. "

" Umm...Karuizawa-san, I'm sure I called you a while ago to tell you about cancelling the lunch, but... "

Kei and her friends pull another table, joins it with their table while Kei quickly pushes Kiyotaka out of the group. The lunch suddenly became rather noisy and he, of course, has trouble socializing, which Karma notices, and smirks at him, tauntingly.

Kiyotaka quietly groaned. ' In this case I will need to use my special skill "Quickly escape the scene". '

Kiyotaka picked up his food and quietly left. Karma also stands up, and girls took notice of this.

Kei tilt her head. " Ehh? You're leaving already, Akabane-kun. "

Karma slowly turns his head with a confused face. ' Since when did we became close? '

" Yeah, I already ate and talked with Hirata, so I will be going. " True to his words, his trey was empty. Karuizawa seems a little saddened, but she then puts on a smile. "

" Okay, then bye! "

" Bye~. "

Karma quickly comes to Kiyotaka. Their eyes met with Hirata's for a moment, but soon he was surrounded by Kei and the other girls and they could no longer see him.

Having abandoned Hirata to Karuizawa, they decided to return to their rooms having no one to hang out with or talk to. There were wet stains in the corridor. They looked at each other, nodded and walked along the stains, following the stains and noticed a man walking gracefully through the corridor wearing nothing but swim pants.

A staff came running to the man. " S-sir! This is a problem for us, if you walk through the corridor while you're wet! "

The staff was already carrying a towel in his hands, as if he's always been carrying it for situations like this.

" Ha Ha Ha! It looks like you've found me. " Koenji laughed out.

" Yes, sir. It's the fourth time I've found you like this. I've told you countless times before but please wipe your body off before returning to the ship. D-doing something like this will greatly inconvenience the other guests. " The staff had prepared the towel in advance, because he'd already seen this happen many times before.

Koenji turn to the staff with a confident smirk. " I make it a principle to never wipe my body down. Do you happen to have pen and paper? "

The staff looked confused. " Huh? Uh, I do have a notebook and a pen. "

" Do you know that the signature of a celebrity can unexpectedly have a premium price, sometimes being worth tens of millions abroad? "

" And...what of it? "

Once he had finished scribbling something in the notepad with the pen, Kouenji swiftly handed it back to the staff. It was from a distance so they couldn't see properly but it seems like he had written his name 'Kouenji Rokusuke' on the notepad.

The staff became even more confused. " W-What is this? "

" Is it not obvious? It is a signature. Although it is written on such a cheap note, in the future it shall most definitely have tremendous value. I shall give this to you as a present. Accept it gratefully. Do not make me look like a fool; I am the man who will carry Japan's future on his back in the future. As thanks for helping me, I will allow you to work on a much larger luxury ship then, one large enough to make this one look like a commoner's ship. "

Kiyotaka and karma both sweatdrop. ' I'd rather not have the ship be too large and run a Titanic risk of sinking. '

Kouenji seemed to be laughing satisfactorily. The staff seemed to have lost his resolve to stop this man and only stared at the now-wet floor dejectedly. To avoid such a problem, our heroes simply and quietly walked past the two of them.

" Oh. If it isn't Ayanokouji-Boy, and Karma-Boy? What a coincidence. "

Unexpectedly hearing their names being called out like that, the duo looked back at him to see the staff boy happily smiling that the target of Kouenji's whims had shifted from him to them.

Karma didn't seem to mind when he's being called by his first name. They did have fun during swinging the trees like Tarzan before.

" Hey, Goldie! "

Kiyotaka ask. " Do you have some business with us? "

" No, no. No such thing. I am simply calling out to you two as fellow classmates. After all, you do happen to be my roommates. "

Then Koenji swiped down his hair and almost like a shotgun, water droplets flew off his hair and landed on their faces and uniforms. Of course, Koenji seemed to be so absorbed in himself he did not even realize their predicament, and the twitching eyebrow and smile of Karma.

The staff bowed. " Then I will excuse myself. "

" What were you talking with Kouenji about? " Kiyotaka ask the staff.

For a moment, the staff boy seemed to have been slightly angry at being denied a chance to escape Kouenji. " It seemed he was wet, so I thought to provide him with a towel...but it seemed I have troubled you three, please excuse me. "

" I see. So he was making an attempt to take care of me? " Koenji state with a chuckle.

" Y-Yeah. That seemed to be it. " Karma looked done.

The two boys managed to get away as koenji walk to his room.

Desiring to avoid another awkward encounter, Kiyotaka instead opted to turn right instead of left and chose to return to his room some other time.

Karma chooses to go to his room and nap.

Kiyotaka instead went to the nearby guide board on which the map of the ship was illustrated. As he listlessly walked through the corridors, he met some girl.

Kikyo beamed as she run towards him. " Oh. It's Ayanokouji-kun, what are you doing here? "

Kiyotaka didn't seem a bit pleased by her encounterance. " Just walking around. Anyways, I haven't talked to you ever since getting back to the ship, Kushida. You were out with quite a lot of friends after all. I even thought I saw you with Karma. "

At the mention of Karma's name, Kikyo winced, but tried to hide it. " I'm going out with Class C today; do you want to come with me, Ayanokouji-kun? "

Kiyotaka raise his head. " Err...can I join? "

The girl perk up. " You're coming? "

" I'm joking; you know I'm not the type to hang out like that. "

" Hmm...I was surprised for a bit, Ayanokouji-kun you're very funny. "

" R-really? " Kiyotaka went silent a bit. ' I don't think those were her real thoughts, her true thoughts would definitely be a lot scarier than that. '

' Still, when I mentioned Karma's name, she winced, which means she probably already knew about his presence during our talk, when she revealed her personality. When I meet with him, I should ask if she knows about the recording or not. '

Kikyo then smiled. " Then I'll be off. "

Just as she said that, both Kikyo's and Kiyotaka's phones vibrated at the same time.

At the same time, an announcement started over the ship's speakers.

[ This is an announcement to all students; you have received mail to your phones earlier. Check the contents of the mail and follow those instructions closely. If you have not received the mail, please contact your nearest available faculty member. This is a very important announcement so please make sure to not miss it. I repeat—the voice repeated the message. ]

The following was written on the mail in Kiyotaka's phone:

"A special examination will be starting soon. Gather at the designated time in the designated rooms. Students who are more than 10 minutes late for the meeting will receive a penalty. Go to room 204 on the second floor by 18:00 today. Since there is only 20 minutes left until then, please wash your hands and keep your phone in silent mode or turn it off entirely."

Kikyo peered near him. " Can I see your mail? "

He showed it to her. She showed him her message too, but despite the basic structure being the same, the gathering point for her was two rooms down from his and the gathering time was 20:40 instead of 18:00.

" I wonder why they'd give us such strange instructions. "

" ... No clue. "

Kiyotaka quickly sent a message via mail to Horikita and she replied to him almost instantly.

Ayanokōji Kiyotaka: [Did you receive an email from the school just now?]