Chapter 235 A Face-Up Card: Leaders Can Be Changed at Will
Ibuki Mio's expression relaxed instantly, her voice filled with relief: "Shiina, thank goodness you're here!"
She really hadn't expected the situation to take such a sudden turn. Shiina Hiyori had actually guessed Class D's leader correctly. By this count, the clash was a draw; neither side held the absolute upper hand.
But then, a question popped into Ibuki's mind: 'Could this have been planned by Ryuen all along?' He surely knew Hiyori was skilled at deduction but usually avoided getting involved, which is why he dragged her along. If Ibuki had been alone today, she probably would have been backed into a corner by Horikita Suzune with no room to fight back.
"Shiina, let's grab our bags and go!" Ibuki said decisively, urgency in her voice. Now that their identities were fully exposed, they couldn't stay in the Class D camp as "spies" any longer.
Even at this point of mutual disclosure, she didn't forget to act tough—she gave Horikita a cold snort before heading to her tent, picking up her luggage, and ducking back inside. Since no one had pillows on this island, everyone used spare clothes as makeshift ones. To take her spare clothes, she naturally had to go back into the tent one last time.
Watching her, Shiina Hiyori's expression became conflicted, as if she wanted to say something to stop her, but she hesitated for a few seconds and ultimately remained silent.
As soon as Ibuki ducked into the tent, the Class D students began whispering.
"What do we do? Are we really just going to let them walk away?"
"...Wait! If we send someone to block the tent exit right now, won't she be trapped inside? Look, the rules only say violence is forbidden and we can't destroy the other class's equipment—it doesn't say we can't block a door!"
"That... isn't that a bit much?"
"How is it a bit much? They're Class C! We still haven't settled the score for them framing Sudo, and now they sent spies. What's wrong with doing this!"
The murmurs grew louder. Horikita Suzune frowned, thinking that whoever came up with this idea was actually a bit of a genius. This way, if Ibuki wanted to leave, she either had to destroy the tent or force her way out with violence—either choice would be a violation.
'Ibuki is too foolish.'
Just to grab some clothes, she dared to crawl into a tent alone? Did she really think Class D had no way to deal with her? After such a blatant provocation, was Class D just going to let it slide? By blocking the tent opening, she became a turtle in a jar.
Lock her in first!
Sure enough, Ibuki panicked inside the tent. Looking at the fully zipped entrance and hearing the clear footsteps outside, she knew the exit was blocked. Her face darkened instantly: "What?! You guys are too despicable!"
She realized too late: she had walked right into a trap. The tent had only one exit; the others were likely guarding the zipper, waiting for her to make a move. If she ripped the zipper open in a hurry, Class C would be disqualified for "destroying equipment." Ryuen's plan would be ruined, and her Private Points would likely be wiped out.
"Shiina-san is still outside." Just as emotions were running high, Horikita's voice rang out, cold as a bucket of water, instantly silencing the noise.
Blocking the tent worked for Ibuki, but Class C had another person—Shiina Hiyori had remained outside from the start, neither as impulsive as Ibuki nor following her into the tent. Horikita had observed Hiyori's expression; she had remained calm throughout, clearly having anticipated the "blocking the tent" possibility. It was only due to her soft nature that she didn't stop Ibuki.
Now, while Ibuki was trapped, Hiyori was free to leave. Since she already knew the identity of Class D's leader, she could still report back to Ryuen even without those spare clothes. That fact hadn't changed.
But the Class D students didn't care. Someone immediately replied: "It's worth it even if we only trap one!"
"If nothing else, do it for the sake of our pride! Lock her up! This Ibuki girl is too arrogant—we kindly took her in, and she still mocks us to our faces!"
"Right! This is Class D's counterattack against Class C! Keep her in there for a day; whether it helps or not, it feels good! Best case, make Ryuen come himself to either apologize or pay points to redeem her, otherwise we won't let her go!"
The discussion became heated again, faces filled with long-suppressed satisfaction. Class D wasn't as consistently gentle as Class B; they had been messed with by Class C multiple times. Now that they had an opening, even trapping just one person was something they wouldn't pass up.
Shiina Hiyori stood stunned, her eyes drifting toward the tent, clearly worried about Ibuki. She remained silent for a few seconds before a look of mixed admiration and helplessness appeared on her face.
"Class D, it seems this time... we've lost."
"You were dragged down," Horikita said bluntly. She knew things shouldn't have gone this way. Given Hiyori's abilities, even if Ibuki had done nothing, Hiyori had already accurately guessed the leader's identity and could have completed the mission silently. Ibuki's impulsive provocation and her decision to crawl into the tent had turned her into a liability, holding
Hiyori back. If not for that, Class D would never have had the chance to confirm their spy status until they disappeared on the seventh day.
Furthermore, Horikita sensed that Hiyori hadn't come as a spy by choice—Ryuen probably hadn't told her the mission explicitly; she had deduced the leader's identity entirely on her own.
"I am curious, though. Why didn't you share your intel with Ibuki-san?" Horikita suddenly asked. To her, this was a glaring hole. Even if they weren't in the same tent, they had plenty of chances to talk. If Hiyori had shared her deduction, Ibuki wouldn't have needed to take such risks.
Hiyori thought seriously for a few seconds before answering softly: "Because from the beginning, I had no intention of making Class D lose points. Saying the answer just now was purely as a mystery lover wanting to confirm if my judgment was correct—after all, this special exam is a great test of deductive reasoning."
"I find that hard to believe," Horikita shook her head immediately. No matter how gentle Hiyori seemed, a claim of "no ill intent" was just empty words she couldn't accept.
Hiyori seemed to expect this. She looked up, scanned the crowd, spotted a certain man who had just appeared, and said suddenly: "Therefore, I plan to tell you a piece of key information. This way, everyone in Class D can rest easy—even though I know who your leader is now, on the seventh day, we definitely won't guess you."
She paused, then clearly enunciated the information that upended their understanding: "Actually, there is a detail not explicitly stated in the rules—the leader can be changed at will."
"The leader... can be changed?" Horikita repeated, her voice full of disbelief.
She immediately reviewed every detail of the rules in her mind. The rules did say that a leader cannot be changed without a "justifiable reason," but that didn't mean they could be changed "at will." There had to be requirements!
The surrounding students fell silent, their excitement over trapping Ibuki instantly cooled.
"They can change it? Then what was the point of guessing? If they just swap someone on the last day, wasn't all our work for nothing?"
"Is this intel real? Shiina-san, you're not lying, are you?"
"Meaning you've already found a 'justifiable reason' for a leader to legitimately withdraw?" Horikita asked after a moment of thought.
"Exactly," Hiyori nodded. "You just need to use 'illness' as a reason—strictly speaking, even faking an illness works."
"Faking it works?! It's that lenient?" Horikita raised her voice, then immediately followed up, "Wait, how do you know such a hidden rule?"
Before Hiyori could answer, a steady male voice interrupted them: "Shiina, did you analyze this intel based on the fact that Ryuen had a large number of Class C students withdraw on the second day?"
Horikita spun around to find Shimizu Akira had arrived at the camp and was standing right beside her, his gaze fixed on Shiina Hiyori.
'Wait! Why did Shimizu call her 'Shiina' so familiarly? When did these two meet?'
Ignoring her confusion, Hiyori's eyes lit up slightly upon hearing Shimizu's words.
She looked happy to have been guessed correctly and nodded gently: "That's right. From the first day, I was curious about the withdrawal rules; I felt they weren't as simple as they appeared. So later, I asked a few Class C students to test it—I had one person apply to withdraw under the pretense of being the leader. The staff didn't ask detailed questions; they just looked at the student's faked expression of pain and mentioned that 'withdrawal requires a 30-point deduction and a leader change,' and then they agreed."
She continued firmly: "That's how I confirmed that even a leader is allowed to withdraw if they apply under the guise of illness—you don't actually have to be sick; you just have to go through the process."
"This is basically a sure-win method!"
"Hey! This intel is too crucial! Who would have thought there was such a loophole!"
"Even if it costs 30 points to withdraw, the math makes it worth it! If we have the current leader 'fall ill' and withdraw right before the deadline on the last day and swap in a new one, no other class has a chance of guessing our final leader! All their investigation would be a waste of time!"
The crowd's tension over the leader-changing rule turned into uncontrollable excitement. The fear of being outplayed by Class C vanished, replaced by the joy of having this "counter-measure."
Horikita couldn't hide her shock. She could tell Hiyori wasn't lying; with her gentle nature, she wasn't one for fabrications. Moreover, this was easy to verify—one could just ask the staff on the beach. There was no point in a lie that could be easily debunked.
Looking back, Class C had the highest number of withdrawals. This meant Hiyori had plenty of people to use to test the school's attitude toward "withdrawing"—whether reasons were scrutinized or if the process was lax. This "sure-win" method of faking illness to change leaders could probably only be discovered by a class that had experimented with withdrawals on a large scale.
Horikita finally understood why Hiyori had so easily admitted Ryuen was the leader. Under the rule of "leaders can be changed at any time," it didn't matter if Class D guessed correctly now. Even if Ryuen's identity was public, Class C could simply swap him out at the last minute, rendering all preparations against him useless.
Hiyori was incredibly smart. Her style was the polar opposite of Ryuen's; while he used force and pressure, she used delicate observation and reasoning to master the rules.
Horikita felt the confidence she had gained from her earlier deduction vanish. She hadn't thought deeply about the loopholes in the withdrawal rules. While she might be Hiyori's equal in pure deductive reasoning, she had been completely outperformed in sensitivity to and depth of rule-mining.
Important announcement
Hello everyone!
Thank you as always for your support!
There are 2 new Fanfictions!
Emiya Shirou will change the fake Holy Grail War
A false Holy Grail War was held in Snowfield City.
Consequently, the Noble Phantasms of Gilgamesh and Enkidu flew wildly like rain. The Pale Rider rapidly infected the entire city. The Avenger Heracles surged with overflowing black mud. Even the Zealot, who possessed the eighteen secret techniques of the Hassans, had to struggle just to survive in the cracks between them.
A battlefield where gods fight is exactly like this; a duel between a human and a Heroic Spirit is, after all, a distant and irrelevant myth.
That is, if the silhouette of a certain red-haired "faker" young man hadn't happened to—randomly, inadvertently, and accidentally—pass by this world's counterfeit Holy Grail War.
COTE: Katsuragi Keima's battle of wits in love
The youth, Katsuragi Keima, was holding his game console, posting walkthroughs for various galge (dating sims) across different forums.
At that very moment, Katsuragi Keima received a new message.
[To the Capturing God]
[I've heard the rumors that you can capture any girl, regardless of who she is. While I find it unlikely, if it is true, there are many girls waiting for your capture. (This will be a super-high difficulty galge unlike anything you have ever experienced.)]
"What's this? An email full of such provocative undertones... who does he think I am? The God does not run away!"
Katsuragi Keima pressed the confirmation button.
Welcome to the Classroom of the Elite!
(Katsuragi Keima is the protagonist of The World God Only Know)
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