COTE : Backed By Black Technology System

On the uninhabited island's beach, when Mashima-sensei announced the final results, Class D burst into excited shouts.

Even Class B, which scored 210 points, felt somewhat uplifted. Though they lost points for having their leader identified, it didn't matter.

Because from this moment on, they were officially the new Class A. Rising from Class B to Class A in just half a year—no one in this school's history had ever done that before.

Ichinose Honami's class had demonstrated what it truly meant to "win without effort" to the school's history and all the teachers.

But compared to them, the students in Class D were genuinely ecstatic.

Starting next month, their allowance would jump from 14,000 to over 50,000.

Although it was still half of the initial 100,000 at the start of the year, after enduring three months of hardship, the students of Class D felt immense satisfaction.

"Fifty thousand! Starting next month, our living expenses will be 50,000!"

"Ah! No more mountain vegetable meals from now on!"

"I'm going to buy a gaming console!"

"Count me in!"

Compared to Classes B and C, the mood in Class A was like a group of gamblers who just lost everything.

"I don't believe it! This is impossible!" Even Katsuragi, known for his composure, couldn't stay calm anymore. 

"Mashima-sensei, I demand the detailed results of the exam be made public!"

Mashima sighed slightly as he looked at the visibly shaken Katsuragi. 

"Very well. Normally, the results of such exams wouldn't be disclosed, but the outcome of this one was so unexpected that you have the right to know the details."

Indeed, under normal circumstances, students wouldn't be informed of the specifics after an exam. However, this case was an exception. 

If this exam were compared to a game of Go, most players placed one stone at a time, while Kanda Shuichi had effectively dumped an entire handful of stones on the board in one move. To prevent such occurrences in the future, the school decided to fully disclose the scoring details of this exam.

"First, I will announce the leaders of the four classes," Mashima Tomonari said as he picked up a loudspeaker. 

"The leader of Class A: Totsuka Yahiko. 

The leader of Class B: Shiranami Chihiro. 

The leader of Class C: Ryuen Kakeru. 

The leader of Class D: Horikita Suzune."

"This is impossible! I personally saw Koenji Rokusuke take over a base on the island. Ryuen even had people photograph Miyake Akito from Class D occupying a base. How could the leader be Horikita Suzune?"

"And neither Koenji nor Miyake withdrew from the exam! Even if Ryuen tricked me with a fake photo, the leader of Class D should still be Koenji Rokusuke. How did it end up being Horikita Suzune? How did they change leaders? Is the rulebook just for show?"

Katsuragi's barrage of questions echoed the thoughts of every Class A student. While they hadn't seen the photos of Miyake occupying a base, several of them had witnessed Koenji taking over one with their own eyes. 

Even if Miyake wasn't the leader, it should have been Koenji. Why was it Horikita Suzune?

"This is precisely why the details of this exam are being disclosed," Mashima Tomonari explained with a helpless expression. 

"Class D employed a multiple-leader strategy. At the very end of the exam, all leaders except Horikita Suzune relinquished their roles, leaving her as the final leader of Class D. 

Since Horikita Suzune was the designated leader from the start, the minimum requirement of not changing leaders under normal circumstances was satisfied."

"A... a multiple-leader strategy? Isn't each class only allowed to have one leader?" Katsuragi's face turned pale.

"We never stated that explicitly. The rules only said you needed to choose a leader, but they didn't prohibit you from selecting multiple leaders."

"In fact, even we teachers were unaware of this multiple-leader tactic," Mashima continued. 

"This matter was escalated to the school's examination committee, which decided, after deliberation, that for this exam alone, the multiple-leader strategy would be allowed. Future rules will be adjusted to address this."

The students of Class A looked utterly defeated. Who wouldn't feel overwhelmed by such a revelation? Multiple leaders? Seriously? How could anyone have thought of that? 

This was an outright intellectual defeat. The moment they missed this loophole, Class A's failure was sealed.

Wait, Ryuen also must have guessed Class D's leader correctly. So why did Class C still earn over 100 points? 

Even those who initially wanted to blame Katsuragi were now at a loss. This kind of move was so unpredictable that even Sakayanagi might not have thought of it.

"If we guess wrong about a leader's name, it's just a 50-point deduction, right? But we only have 70 points left." 

An Class A student brought up the topic again. 

"Don't you get it yet? Your class leader's identity was guessed correctly by all three other classes." 

Ryuen, dressed in dirt-streaked sportswear, strolled over. 

"Ryuen!" 

The Class A students glared at Ryuen, as if they wanted to tear a piece off him. 

"Don't look at me like that. No matter how you look at me, you still owe the money. Hahaha!" 

Ryuen ignored their hostility and pulled out a contract. 

"800,000 private points per month. I trust you won't default. Oh, and to make it easier, Katsuragi, why don't you collect the payments and transfer the total to me?" 

"Ryuen, you traitor!" 

Katsuragi tried to counter Ryuen's arrogance with verbal attacks. 

But Ryuen shrugged it off without a care. 

"Traitor? I'm no traitor. The contract doesn't say we can't guess each other's leaders. You're the one who carelessly exposed your leader's identity." 

"Then why didn't you guess Class D's leader?" 

Judging by the scoring breakdown, it was clear that Ryuen hadn't guessed Class D's leader—otherwise, he would've lost another 50 points. 

"Because we were working together." 

"Ryuen, you son of a—" 

You betrayed us while working with Class A, but you didn't betray Class D? 

No, Ryuen isn't that kind of person. The only reason he didn't guess Class D's leader is because he didn't know who it was. 

"You knew all along that Class D was using a multi-leader system, didn't you?" 

"Exactly. I figured it out on the first evening. Class B probably realized it not long after. So, it seems like Class A was the only one left in the dark! Hahaha!" 

Ryuen's words stung the Class A students like a dagger, and he wasn't content to stop there—he rubbed salt into the wound, leaving them in despair. 

No, soon enough, they'd basically be Class B! 

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