---
We walked back to our tents in silence. No one spoke a word.
Not even Daiko.
The air was thick—sharpened by anger, tension, despair. Some of the others were openly glaring at him, their expressions seething with quiet contempt. Mei's friends were sobbing, huddled together like they were mourning a death.
Maybe in a way, they were.
Daiko broke the silence. "Look… I'm sorry about what happened to Mei. We need to get her bac—"
He didn't get to finish.
"You don't have the right to say anything!" one of Mei's friends snapped, her voice breaking, tears running down her cheeks. "This is all your fault! We should've left you behind from the start—then Mei wouldn't be scared and alone right now!"
Daiko looked down.
For once, he had no dumb quip. No joke. Just shame.
Haruto stepped in next. "We can either give them all our supplies… or we plan a rescue."
I didn't hesitate. "We can't afford to lose our supplies. Since Daiko's actions made this mess, he should take the lead in fixing it."
Haruto turned toward me, eyes narrowed. "Are you sure we can even *trust* Daiko?"
I tilted my head and smiled, just slightly.
"Aren't *you* the same fool who trusted him in the first place? You shouldn't have even trusted that idiot with a *tent*."
Daiko's hands clenched at his sides, and I could see his jaw tighten. He didn't speak. Just gritted his teeth in frustration.
"So," I said, turning to the group, "are we doing this or not?"
Daiko stood slowly. "Let's do this. Let's go save Mei."
"Let's slow our horses," Haruto replied. "We need someone to spy on Class D first."
Ayame—one of Mei's closest friends—volunteered without hesitation. I made a mental note of her loyalty. That might come in handy later.
An hour passed before she returned, panting and out of breath. I met her eyes.
"Well?"
"They have more than one person captive," Ayame said between gasps. "I saw another girl. She's from Class B."
Haruto tensed. "So Class D is targeting… girls?"
Ayame nodded. "Short ones, mostly. Mei and the girl from Class B—they're both about 5'5"."
My eyes narrowed. That detail wasn't random.
"Then only the boys should go," I said.
"No," Ayame snapped. "I want to help. We *all* do."
The other girls nodded, surrounding Ayame. There was fire in their eyes. Friendship. Guts. Stubbornness.
Dangerous... but admirable.
I nodded. "Let's do this then."
We moved out, cloaked by darkness and silence. Everyone was quiet—even Daiko. For once, he was cautious. Maybe fear had finally forced him to grow a brain.
As we moved through the trees, I ended up behind him.
Perfect.
"You hungry?" I asked him casually, holding out a leafy herb I'd wrapped around a berry.
He glanced back. "Huh? Uh, yeah… Thanks."
He ate it without thinking.
Of course he did.
What he didn't know was that the berry I gave him was laced with toxins. Not enough to kill him—unfortunately. But enough to make him collapse. Enough to incapacitate him. Enough to remove him from this equation.
Daiko was more of a liability than Class D.
I didn't want a rescue.
I wanted control.
I wanted the others to realize that without me—they were helpless. And Daiko? He was the perfect sacrifice to prove it.
Thirty minutes passed.
We crouched behind the brush near Class D's camp.
And then… right on time.
Daiko grunted.
Then he fell to the ground, curled up and clutching his stomach. Moaning. Gasping. Whimpering like the useless weight he was.
The others rushed to him in concern. Haruto called out his name.
I just watched.
Expressionless.
Daiko writhed.
And then, just as I knew they would… the group decided to turn back. It wasn't safe. They had to retreat. The mission would have to wait.
They all turned around.
And I?
I disappeared.
Haruto called my name once—but by the time he turned back, I was gone.
I moved through the trees like a ghost, my footsteps light and silent. No one could stop me now.
Let them deal with Daiko.
Let them see what failure looks like.
I'd find Mei on my own.
I'd show them what *real* strategy is.
Even if I had to walk straight into the lion's den alone.
A few minutes later.....
---
---
I took a detour.
It wasn't part of the original plan, but my instincts told me to go to Class B's camp. If Class D had more than one captive, I needed leverage. Class C was too emotionally compromised to handle this right, and I wasn't about to depend on them.
By the time I reached the edge of Class B's territory, night had already draped the forest in shadows. I moved silently—no sticks snapped, no rustling leaves. Just the wind and my breath. I spotted him near the edge of their perimeter, alone. Perfect.
"Kaito."
He flinched and spun around fast, like a cornered animal. The look in his eyes said he expected someone from Class A.
When he saw me, his posture loosened just slightly. "Oh, it's just you. What the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm going to need your assistance," I said, keeping my voice even.
Kaito scoffed. "Look, I'm thankful for the help with that strategy roleplaying game on the cruise, but that doesn't mean you can just barge into our camp like this. We marked this territory. If you're caught here, you could get disqualified."
"I'm aware," I replied calmly. "But I also know one of your Class B students went missing."
That wiped the smirk off his face—briefly. Then he looked at me with a knowing gleam.
"I know about your missing student too, Kei… or should I say, *Kei Fushimiya*, of the Fushimiya family."
My heart didn't race. My expression didn't change. But for a second, my thoughts paused.
So he knew.
I took a slow breath and asked, "How long have you known?"
"Since the cruise ship," he said, casually leaning against a tree. "I overheard Ichika talking with Aoi Fushimiya—yeah, *that* Aoi. One of the smartest people in Japan. The conversation was about his little brother, Kei. You. I just connected the dots. Guess what? The student government already knows who you are—and they're praying for your downfall."
I said nothing.
I didn't need to. Not yet.
Kaito smirked like he was holding a royal flush. "You know the entire class trusts me with their individual points, right?"
I raised an eyebrow. "No. And why would I care?"
"I have over three million individual points," he said flatly.
My eyes widened before I could stop myself.
Three million?
He wasn't bluffing.
Kaito continued, relishing my surprise. "There's a guidebook for this school. Hundreds of rules and regulations. Page 728 states any student can switch to another class if they have 500,000 points. That's how Class A does it. They read the entire book. Understood it. Weaponized it. Half of my class read the whole thing too."
"And Class C?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
He smiled like a wolf. "No one in your class has. Class D? Didn't even bother opening it."
I clenched my fists.
The school didn't expect us to read past the first hundred pages. That's what they *recommended*. A convenient lie. I should've known better.
"Get to the damn point, Kaito," I snapped.
"I want you to abandon those losers in Class C and join up with us," he said. "I've been watching you, Kei. You have potential. Tactical precision. Class C doesn't deserve you. They'll drag you down."
He wasn't wrong.
But that didn't mean I trusted him either.
I looked him in the eye, cold and unreadable. "Fine. I'll think about it. For now, we work together. Let's get our classmates back."
Kaito nodded, and we moved out—side by side, walking through the shadows like wolves on the hunt.
But in my mind… I wasn't thinking about Mei.
I was thinking about *Kaito*.
He was dangerous. Intelligent. Resourceful. And now he was in my way.
And if there's one thing I've learned at NIFL…
Everyone is just a piece on the board.
Even him.
---