While Sakayanagi had chosen to pass, Ryuuen had gone ahead and made a nomination. Ryuuen, knowing the risks, had determined that Tamiya was a model student. However, he didn’t think of this result as a serious blow, but as a necessary expense. As long as his opponent was coming at him while using the traitor, he had to keep moving forward.
“Unfortunately, it would appear that you chose incorrectly,” said Sakayanagi.
“Ain’t a big problem. But y’know, for all the big talk you’ve been makin’, you’re kinda slow in makin’ a move, huh? Goin’ second, then?” said Ryuuen.
“Heh heh. Yes, that might be so,” she replied. “Slow and steady wins the race, as they say.”
Not denying it, Sakayanagi nodded her head honestly. For her part, there was no need to rush. In fact, she thought that it would be a waste for her to name a student with a position so quickly. In that sense, she didn’t really want the discussion to progress prematurely. However, in the first round, two pairs of students unexpectedly emerged as possible model students. Supposing even if one of the model students were to be nominated at this time, the other would inevitably be targeted in the next round.
If that happened, then a tie would be probable. Considering that she would end up losing her right to send in a traitor, she decided that a nomination at an early stage wouldn’t strike a good balance. On the other hand, Ryuuen wanted to either find the traitor or push through the discussion fast and reset it. Also, he was going to be strongly tested on who he’d engage in dialogue and how he would exercise it. It was only natural that Sakayanagi would choose to wait, with the intention of making Ryuuen go through more instances of having to think, to make him suffer.
“Ryuuen-kun will now be leaving the room temporarily to engage in dialogue.”
Ryuuen, who had chosen to engage in dialogue in no time at all, immediately moved to take action to smoke out the traitor.
“I hope your war efforts prove fruitful,” said Sakayanagi.
If Ryuuen made an error in his judgment here, it was possible he’d lose even more Life Points. The person that Sakayanagi had chosen to be a traitor was Takarajima Miko. And the person that Ryuuen chose to engage in dialogue was Nakaizumi. Which meant that, at this point, no matter how Ryuuen tried to suss out the traitor in this round, he would not be successful. Only about two minutes after getting up out of his seat and leaving the room, Ryuuen returned.
Ryuuen had asked one simple question: “Are you the traitor?” That direct question was all he needed. If you lied to Ryuuen, you would face the risk of immediate expulsion. There were no Private Points or Class Points worth taking risks to protect. Since Ryuuen had determined that he wasn’t the traitor, he didn’t lose any Life Points and remained at nine. One person was supposed to have been ejected from the room thanks to a model student’s nomination, but it was reported that the teacher had successfully blocked the nomination, and so none of the students left.
After that, Sakayanagi was given the casting information for just one person, thanks to the traitor still being in the discussion. The information displayed on Sakayanagi’s tablet showed that Morishita Ai was a graduate. The discussion seemed to be progressing well, and her identity being revealed to Sakayanagi was a positive. If the capable Morishita continued to wield her power carelessly, the discussion could develop quickly, so a prompt nomination would be required.
When the second round began, Morishita began questioning once again. Even though it was impossible to tell over the monitor who was being investigated, the search for a new position holder had begun. When the time came for the representatives to make their nominations, Sakayanagi did not hesitate to nominate Morishita as a graduate. Eliminating her on this turn was a definite. Ryuuen had also nominated Morishita, but he had only determined that she wasn’t a model student and avoided unnecessary risks.
“Morishita-san has been nominated as a position holder by Ryuuen-kun and identified as the graduate by Sakayanagi-san, so Ryuuen-kun loses one Life Point.”
Although they had both answered correctly, Ryuuen’s points had slowly but surely been whittled down to eight because he hadn’t been able to figure out Morishita’s exact role. Sakayanagi remained untouched by Class C, the class in which a traitor lurked, and Ryuuen was unable to touch her. This time, Ryuuen had called up Kaneda for dialogue, and he returned as quickly as before. Thanks to the traitor, whom Ryuuen could not eliminate, the fact that Shimazaki was an underclassman was conveyed to Sakayanagi.
At this moment, Sakayanagi briefly adjusted her plans in her mind. The traitor brought her useful information, but she wanted Ryuuen to find the traitor before either all of the model students or all of the average students were eliminated. The reason being was that if she allowed the traitor to survive, Takarajima would gain either an enormous number of Private Points or a number of Class Points that couldn’t be ignored. The two students who had definitely been removed from the room at this point were Tamiya, whom Ryuuen had nominated erroneously, and Morishita, the graduate. Two people. That left twelve remaining.
Ryuuen would most definitely nominate again in the upcoming third round. His guess had proven to be spot-on, and he had nominated Shimazaki from Class A as a position holder. Sakayanagi had nominated Shimazaki as well, as an underclassman. By nominating the same students, Sakayanagi’s strategy was not allowing the model student to eliminate one more of their peers.
“Shimazaki-kun has been nominated as a position holder by Ryuuen-kun and identified as the underclassman by Sakayanagi-san, so Sakayanagi-san gains one Life Point.”
Sakayanagi had identified the underclassman. Normally, her Life Points would have been restored by two, but since Ryuuen was correct in identifying Shimazaki as a position holder, they were instead increased by one. As a result, her Life Points were restored to ten, and Shimazaki was removed from the room. From that point, Ryuuen had chosen Suminokura to engage in dialogue. Another swing and a miss. The role communicated to Sakayanagi this time was Kaneda’s, an upperclassman.
Next was round four. Sakayanagi thought now was the time to make a decision and nominated Kaneda as an upperclassman. Meanwhile, Ryuuen was trying to make a move once again. He nominated Takanashi, who had been acting suspiciously since the beginning, as a model student.
“Ryuuen-kun identified Takanashi-san as the model student, so Sakayanagi-san loses two Life Points. Sakayanagi-san identified Kaneda-kun as an upperclassman. We will also disclose two new roles at random to Sakayanagi-san.”
Sakayanagi’s points were reduced to eight, which was immediately reflected on her tablet along with information about two people. The fact that Komiya and Toba were both average students was disclosed to her. Now, the point totals were eight-to-eight. In the fourth dialogue, Ryuuen had finally called up Takarajima, and he succeeded in discovering her identity as the traitor.