COTE : Oh No, I've Become the Substitute

Late at night, inside the Rabbit Group room on the cruise ship.

What should one do when the grade's most renowned beauty lies fast asleep on the floor, breathing evenly, her peaceful sleeping face exposed without the slightest guard?

Fuyuji scratched his head in exasperation, looking at Ichinose Honami sprawled across the floor of the Rabbit Group lounge like a little kitten. He let out a helpless sigh.

This girl's heart was far too big. Even though there were certainly cameras recording every movement in the room, falling asleep so openly on the floor of a public space was far too careless.

Not to mention her sleeping posture...

Her long, waterfall-like pink hair spread messily across the polished floor. Her well-rounded thighs extended boldly from beneath the hem of her uniform skirt. The black knee-high socks wrapped around her slender calves tapered down into her small leather shoes.

The central air conditioning hummed deeply, continuously pumping out cold air. The airflow stirred the hem of her skirt—already barely reaching her knees—lifting it slightly, then letting it drift back down with a faint, almost imperceptible warmth mixed with the girl's own fragrance. In the silent room, an unspoken, subtly heart-stirring allure spread.

Curled up asleep, with her phone still in hand—she'd probably been lying here thinking about countermeasures when exhaustion overtook her. While waiting for the next group discussion, she'd simply fallen asleep right there on the floor.

Faced with this scene, what Fuyuji chose to do was—

Crouch down directly. Without the slightest trace of tender pity, he extended a finger and aimed it precisely at that fair cheek, faintly flushed from deep sleep.

"Poke."

His fingertip sank in. The soft skin rebounded with a warm sensation.

The lips, slack in slumber, were pressed slightly out of shape. In the excessively quiet room, the faint, slightly moist sound rang out with startling clarity.

"Mm... nn... mmm..."

It seemed Ichinose was a fairly light sleeper. Just a single poke, and her long, thick lashes fluttered violently. She sat up at lightning speed, a trace of wariness in her eyes as she looked toward the intruder.

The moment she recognized Fuyuji, her tense shoulders instantly slumped.

She sat cross-legged on the floor in a duck pose, drowsily rubbing her eyes. The lingering drowsiness had completely stripped away her usual sharp, capable image, leaving only a touch of adorably dazed confusion.

"Gooood mooorning, Fuyuji-kun."

Fuyuji silently shifted his gaze to the window. A full, golden moon had just climbed above the water's surface, slowly rising. Moonlight spilled down, illuminating the pitch-black, churning sea.

He'd never noticed before—this girl actually had such a dazedly cute side.

"What are you doing here this late? If you're tired... why not go back to your room and rest?"

Ichinose still seemed to be in a sleepy haze, not yet fully awake. The usual image of the energetic Class B leader was nowhere to be seen. "Ehehe. Because it's quiet here. Good for thinking things through."

Fuyuji raised an eyebrow and casually pulled up a chair to sit down. "Still thinking about the special exam?"

"Mm, mm." Ichinose nodded vigorously and confessed with utter frankness. "Sakayanagi-san is far too difficult to deal with. I was thinking—if Class B runs into Sakayanagi-san in the future, what kind of stance should we take to guard against her."

It seemed that scummy loli Sakayanagi Arisu had left a deep impression on Ichinose. Through this afternoon's group discussion, Ichinose—with her extraordinarily high social skills—must have more or less sensed Sakayanagi's danger.

On the surface, she was all smiles, polite, elegant, and gracious. The moment you turned your back, she'd put a bullet in you without warning.

"To be honest," Fuyuji sighed and spread his hands helplessly, "I don't have any great way to deal with her either. That's exactly why I asked you to help, Ichinose."

The scummy loli's name was Sakayanagi Arisu. The chairman of the school's board was named Sakayanagi Narumori. One could still see traces of similarity between their features. Even if he wasn't her biological father, he was at least an uncle or some elder of that generation.

That was precisely why Fuyuji had been avoiding her all along. He couldn't be sure exactly what attitude Sakayanagi Arisu—or Chairman Sakayanagi—held towards her attending this school. Whether he might step in personally.

However, after the round of probing he'd done with Mashima-sensei yesterday, the answer was most likely: no.

"Just stalling her is enough?" Moonlight flowed quietly through Ichinose's pink strands of hair.

"Mm... just give her something to occupy herself with."

"And the VIPs in the other groups? Just leave them alone?"

"Leave them. Sometimes, people only believe what they see with their own eyes."

"Okay."

...

Time slipped by in the idle chatter between Fuyuji and Ichinose. The moonlight outside the window seemed to have climbed a little higher. Soon, the sound of chaotic footsteps came from beyond the room. The two tacitly switched topics, turning to greeting-like small talk.

Before long, all fourteen group members from the various classes had assembled once more, and the second round of discussion began.

Ichinose once again stepped forward, attempting to achieve Result One. As expected, Sakayanagi once again jumped out to disrupt things, still smiling, unhurriedly refuting Ichinose's words. It seemed she took great delight in this kind of damaging-others-without-benefiting-oneself affair.

With the two locked in stalemate, most of the other class members simply kept their eyes on their own business, showing no intention of trying to identify the VIPs. Perhaps it was their class leaders' instructions, or perhaps they simply felt this was fine as it was. The situation once again reverted to that of this afternoon—everyone doing their own thing.

Fuyuji, for his part, was thoroughly enjoying himself. Leisurely, under his pal's murderous glare, he wandered off to read books with Miss Shiina.

However, it seemed Shiina Hiyori wasn't in a hurry to read today. Instead, her probing gaze flickered toward Fuyuji, intentionally or not. She was probably still hung up on the topic he'd brought up this afternoon.

The second round of discussion drew to a close in this stalemated, delicate atmosphere.

A full day had passed. Not only were there no signs of any VIPs being identified, the situation had only grown murkier.

"It seems the other classes are just like us—holding the attitude of 'better to do nothing than to do wrong.'"

Inside the lounge Class A had specially rented, Katsuragi leaned against the wall, his arms habitually folded across his chest, summarizing the day's developments.

A whole day had passed, and not a single group's exam had concluded. In other words, every class was currently in a state of extreme vigilance, absolutely unwilling to casually send in a VIP's name.

"Aaahhh!" Ishida Yosuke, slumped over the table, clawed at his hair in frustration. "This is even more troublesome than finding the leaders on the deserted island! Leaders could be confirmed through key cards or contracts. For VIPs, there's basically no way to verify them at all right now."

True. Earlier, Katsuragi had publicly conducted an experiment with Totsuka Yahiko by swapping the SIM cards in their phones. As long as the SIM card was unlocked with points, you could swap phones, insert your own SIM card, and transfer the VIP's text message into your own hands without violating the school's rules.

Once the principle was understood, any class could use this method.

In other words, even if a student now pulled out their phone in front of everyone and displayed the school's VIP information to the entire group, that person still couldn't be trusted.

From this angle, rather than racking one's brains to identify the VIPs, it was better to trick other classes into submitting wrong answers. Through the addition and subtraction of points, Class A could still earn class points in the end.

At this thought, Katsuragi lowered his head and pulled out the notebook he always carried, once again reviewing the day's developments in each group.

He pondered what methods could be used to mislead the other classes.

If Class A still had no progress by tomorrow, on the final day he would consider deploying these methods.

But before that...

"Fuyuji-kun, do you have any thoughts?" Katsuragi raised his head. His steady voice broke the restless atmosphere in the room.

Swoosh—

The eyes of the entire class shifted in unison toward that figure seated backwards on his chair, both hands fiddling with his phone.

A strange feeling rose in the hearts of most of the classmates. Compared to the day before, when he'd been unusually spinning in his chair and staring thoughtfully at the ceiling, today he was undoubtedly far more normal.

Fuyuji's gaze remained fixed on his phone. Without raising his head, his voice carried a lazy, give-up tone. "Just follow Katsuragi's arrangements. Pay special attention to not blindly fill in names."

That's it? No other instructions? At least give us something to do!

The Class A students silently grumbled in their hearts.

It seemed Fuyuji-kun really had no interest in this exam whatsoever. True enough... identifying VIPs within the groups—when you got down to it, it was just finding people. Even if you did find your own group's VIP, it was only fifty class points. If he wasn't interested, that was understandable.

Just as the entire Class A student body was still arguing endlessly over the special exam—

"Buzz—!"

Everyone's phones suddenly rang out in unison, instantly cutting off all trains of thought.

It was a mass notification from the school. Only the school could do something like this.

[The Monkey Group's exam has concluded. Students of the Monkey Group are no longer required to participate in the exam. Please act with caution and do not disturb other students.]

Finally—the one to break the stalemate had appeared. The first concluded exam.

Fuyuji stopped his fingers and recalled the members of the Monkey Group. Then the corner of his eye twitched.

A demonic laugh—"Hmph haha"—began echoing in his mind. Immediately after, the figure of a blond gorilla slowly surfaced.

Koenji Rokusuke of Class D, huh. What a free man.

...

At the same time.

Inside a bar on the cruise ship, the slow, low strains of jazz drifted like smoke through the slightly stagnant air.

Under the dim, amber mood lighting, four figures sat in a row on bar stools.

Minors were prohibited from drinking in Japan. Naturally, those seated here weren't students, but the homeroom teachers of the first-year classes.

"I have to say, Hoshinomiya and Chabashira coming to drink is one thing. But why is Sakagami here too? This isn't like you."

Gently swirling the amber, translucent liquid in his glass, Mashima Tomonari asked with considerable headache.

Ever since the deserted island exam, this was already the third time. That woman Hoshinomiya, without any explanation, kept dragging him out to drink. He could figure out what she was up to with his pinky toe.

Raising a hand to push up his glasses, Sakagami Kazuma spoke flatly. "To be frank, I, too, am quite curious about that student of your class. This style of doing things strongly resembles the person our class's Ryuen has been searching for all along. Someone capable of driving Ryuen to such a state—I would very much like to meet him."

The moment the words fell, Chabashira Sae, who had been silently nursing her green cocktail in the corner, quietly perked up her ears.

"..."

Mashima silently stiffened his cheeks, maintaining his usual stern expression.

The events Ryuen Kakeru had suffered—he could hardly claim to be unaware.

Had Fuyuji Mikage been behind it?

Knowing what he knew of Fuyuji... eight or nine times out of ten!

Among the first-years, the capable ones were just these few. After an entire semester, even if they were hiding their strength, the homeroom teachers of each class more or less had an understanding of their own students.

Scanning through the list of who could have done such a thing—all that remained was that unorthodox, stunt-loving student of his.

"Sakagami-sensei, competition between students is not something we, as teachers, can directly participate in. Doing so is a clear violation of school regulations." Mashima furrowed his brow and warned.

"Naturally. No matter how highly I think of Ryuen, I couldn't possibly sacrifice my own job to help him, could I?" Sakagami spoke with pointed meaning.

"In that case, when assigning the groups, why did you specially adjust the positions to place your class's Shiina into the Rabbit Group?"

Sakanoue deflected the blame at light speed. "Because I saw Chabashira-sensei had also moved her class's Sakayanagi there."

"Me?" Suddenly called out, Chabashira raised her head. Her face still wore that perpetually unchanged cold expression. Her voice was utterly devoid of fluctuation. "It was because Chie first placed her class's Ichinose Honami into the Rabbit Group. I merely followed suit."

"By convention, shouldn't students of that caliber be assigned to the Dragon Group?"

Three gazes instantly converged on the woman who had already lifted her head from the rim of her whiskey glass—her cheeks flushed crimson, looking as though she might collapse into a drunken stupor at any second.

Class B's homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya Chie, acted as if she hadn't heard the question. She theatrically grabbed a freshly poured glass of amber liquid and gulped down more than half of it in one go. Then, with a sharp slap, she slammed the glass down heavily, wiped the corner of her mouth carelessly with her sleeve, and—thud—her entire face crashed squarely onto the cold bar counter.

"..."

She was blatantly pretending to be drunk!

The faces of the three present darkened simultaneously.

Leisurely swirling the soda water remaining in his glass, the ice cubes clinking faintly, Sakagami spoke unhurriedly.

"Still, following that logic... Mashima, shouldn't that hidden trump card of yours also have been placed in the Dragon Group?"

"And how do you know I didn't place him in the Dragon Group?" Mashima replied without blushing or missing a beat.

Though he couldn't interfere in student competition, acting within the bounds of the rules for the sake of convenience was still permissible.

Besides, Fuyuji Mikage had barely shown his true strength a handful of times. Based on his admission data on paper, he could be considered merely average.

At that moment, all four phones buzzed simultaneously. A notification from the school had been delivered.

"Oh my, the first group's results are already out? This group is... it seems..." Hoshinomiya, who had just been pretending to be dead drunk, had sat up at some unknown point. The expression on her face, as she leaned close to the phone screen, instantly crumpled.

Having participated in the group adjustments themselves, they naturally knew the rules.

The Monkey Group's VIP... was from Class B.

"Relax. This time, thanks to the school's supplementary rules, identifying the VIPs is far more difficult than in previous years. Who wins is far from certain yet." Sakagami offered in consolation.

At the very edge, in an unnoticed corner, Chabashira, who had remained silent the entire time, curved the corner of her mouth into an almost imperceptible smile.

Koenji Rokusuke. In that group, the only one who could have identified the VIP in such a short time was this student of Class D.

It couldn't be denied—this self-absorbed student who always did exactly as he pleased, possessed extraordinary ability. Last time, he had been the first to leave the deserted island, indirectly triggering Class D's collapse, and had already incurred widespread resentment.

Although he himself appeared utterly indifferent to such things, Chabashira judged he wouldn't pull the same stunt twice. The VIP he had identified should be correct.

It was impossible for Sakayanagi Arisu not to have detected the pattern in this exam. Add Class D's three VIPs to that, and that made four. Without a doubt, Class D was currently in the lead.

"That's true..."

After agonizing over it for a moment, Hoshinomiya shook her head helplessly and cheerfully gave up. She refocused her attention on the amber liquid before her, and at the same time, didn't forget to elbow Mashima beside her, her tone carrying a touch of schadenfreude-laced teasing.

"Hey, hey. What's going on with Class A? How did Sae-chan's class take the lead? If you can't handle it, I'm sending Ichinose in, you know."

"This exam clearly favors your Class B. It wouldn't be strange at all if you won."

Mashima pocketed his phone and unhurriedly poured himself another glass. Ice cubes bobbed and sank in the clear liquor, refracting dazzling, multicolored light beneath the lamp.

Before the exam had officially begun, Fuyuji Mikage had asked him a question.

And at that moment, he had known—

Class A had already won.

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